Summer in Tulum free essay sample

Last summer in Cancun, I was bored so I convinced my family that we should go to Tulum. Tulum with its beautiful days and tropical weather all year round, where the sun is almost always out, where the sea is turquoise blue, and where the sea wind blows gently and warm but still refreshing. A place where some will dream to be. A place where the mysterious but ingenious Mayas habited a long time ago, and were they built a beautiful city of rock next to the beach, where they would observe the sea and the stars. Today, from my grandfather’s house I am able to look at the ruins. I am there sitting at the beach but this is a special beach for me, far away from big hotels and people, it’s like if you had your private beach, a private beach in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We will write a custom essay sample on Summer in Tulum or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Besides being a beautiful and quiet beach there is something special about this place, there is a place that we call â€Å"caleta†. This place is a part of the sea right next to the beach, a place rounded by rocks and with an entrance to the sea, a place where the water is sweet and you can open your eyes and there is no salt to hurt your eyes, this place is perfect for swimming, the water is a little colder than the sea beside it but never to cold it is perfect for the hot weather. The nature in Tulum is gorgeous and diverse with the different ecosystems like the â€Å"cenotes†, the jungles, the reefs. The town of Tulum is not too far away from my grandfather’s house. I like the town just the way it is right now; without any tall buildings, with a slow and tranquil rhythm, with abundant nature, not too industrialized, without fast-food restaurants and franchises. I especially like this place at night when the small restaurants with their unique and different st yles and delicious food and abundance of people from different places, it is just a place where I love to be. Because it is a small town at night you can observe a lot of stars. The people in the town are usually very kind and will always try to make you feel good and make sure you are enjoying the town. I like Tulum when I go with my family or when I go with my friends. I love spending time with my family and more when it is in such a wonderful place. I love to go there every time I am in Cancun it is just an hour an a half drive to a place that makes me feel so happy and in peace.

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War

Battle of Crecy in the The Hundred Years War The Battle of Crà ©cy was fought August 26, 1346, during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). Largely a dynastic struggle for the French throne, the conflict began following the death of Philip IV and his sons, Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. This ended the Capetian Dynasty which had ruled France since 987.   As no direct male heir lived, Edward III of England, Philip IVs grandson by his daughter Isabella, pressed his claim to the throne. This was rejected by the French nobility who preferred Philip IVs nephew, Philip of Valois. The War Begins Crowned Philip  VI in 1328, he called for Edward to do homage to him for the valuable  fief of Gascony. Though initially unwilling to this,  Edward relented and accepted Philip as King of France in 1331 in return for continued  control over Gascony. By doing so, he surrendered his rightful claim  to the throne. In 1337, Philip VI revoked Edward IIIs control of Gascony and commenced raiding the English coast. In response, Edward reasserted his claims to the French throne and began building alliances with the nobles of Flanders and the Low Countries.   In 1340, Edward scored a decisive naval victory at Sluys which gave England control of the Channel for the duration of the war. This was followed by an invasion of the Low Countries and an abortive siege of Cambrai. After plundering Picardy, Edward withdrew back to England to raise funds for future campaigns as well as to deal with the Scots who had used his absence to mount a series of raids across the border. Six years later, having assembled around 15,000 men and 750 ships at Portsmouth, he again planned to invade France.   A Return to France Sailing for Normandy, Edward landed on the Cotentin Peninsula that July. Quickly capturing Caen on July 26, he moved east towards the Seine. Alerted that King Philip VI was assembling a large army in Paris, Edward turned north and began moving along the coast. Pressing on, he crossed the Somme after winning the Battle of Blanchetaque on August 24. Tired from their endeavors, the English army encamped near the Forest of Crà ©cy. Eager to defeat the English and angry that he had failed to trap them between the Seine and Somme, Philip raced towards Crà ©cy with his men. The English Command Alerted to the approach of the French army, Edward deployed his men along a ridge between the villages of Crà ©cy and Wadicourt. Dividing his army, he assigned command of the right division to his sixteen-year old son Edward, the Black Prince with assistance from the Earls of Oxford and Warwick, as well as Sir John Chandos. The left division was led by the Earl of Northampton, while Edward, commanding from a vantage point in a windmill, retained leadership of the reserve. These divisions were supported by large numbers of archers equipped with the English longbow. Armies Commanders: England Edward IIIEdward, the Black Prince12,000-16,000 men France Philip VI20,000-80,000 men Preparing for Battle While waiting for the French to arrive, the English busied themselves by digging ditches and laying out caltrops in front of their position. Advancing north from Abbeyville, the lead elements of Philips army arrived near the English lines around mid-day on August 26. Scouting the enemy position, they recommended to Philip that they encamp, rest, and wait for the entire army to arrive. While Philip agreed with this approach, he was overruled by his nobles who wished to attack the English without delay. Quickly forming for battle, the French did not wait for the bulk of their infantry or supply train to arrive. The French Advance Advancing with Antonio Doria and Carlo Grimaldis Genoese crossbowmen in the lead, the French knights followed with lines led by the Duke D’Alencon, Duke of Lorraine, and Count of Blois, while Philip commanded the rearguard. Moving to the attack, the crossbowmen fired a series of volleys at the English. These proved ineffective as a brief thunderstorm before the battle had wet and slackened the crossbowstrings. The English archers on the other hand had simply untied their bowstrings during the storm. Death from Above This coupled with the longbows ability to fire every five seconds gave the English archers a dramatic advantage over the crossbowmen who could only get off one to two shots per minute. The Genoese position was worsened by the fact that in the rush to battle their pervises (shields to hide behind while reloading) had not been brought forward. Coming under devastating fire from Edwards archers, the Genoese began withdrawing. Angered by the crossbowmens retreat, the French knights fired insults at them and even cut several down. Charging forward, the French front lines fell into confusion as they collided with the retreating Genoese. As the two bodies of men tried to move past each other they came under fire from the English archers and five early cannon (some sources debate their presence). Continuing the attack, the French knights were forced to negotiate the slope of the ridge and the man-made obstacles. Cut down in large numbers by the archers, the felled knights and their horses blocked the advance of those to the rear. During this time, Edward received a message from his son requesting aid. Upon learning that the younger Edward was healthy, the king refused stating â€Å"I am confident he will repel the enemy without my help, and Let the boy win his spurs. As evening approached the English line held, repelling sixteen French charges. Each time, the English archers brought down the attacking knights. With darkness falling, a wounded Philip, recognizing he had been defeated, ordered a retreat and fell back to the castle at La Boyes. Aftermath The Battle of Crà ©cy was one of the greatest English victories of the Hundred Years War and established the superiority of the longbow against mounted knights. In the fighting, Edward lost between 100-300 killed, while Philip suffered around 13,000-14,000 (some sources indicate it may have been as high as 30,000). Among the French losses were the heart of the nations nobility including the Duke of Lorraine, Count of Blois, and the Count of Flanders, as well as John, King of Bohemia and the King of Majorca. In addition eight other counts and three archbishops were slain. In the wake of the battle, the Black Prince paid tribute to the nearly blind King John of Bohemia, who had fought valiantly before being slain, by taking his shield and making it his own. Having earned his spurs, the Black Prince became one of his fathers best field commanders and won a stunning victory at Poitiers in 1356. Following the victory at Crà ©cy, Edward continued north and laid siege to Calais. The city fell the next year and became a key English base for the remainder of the conflict.

Facts You Should Know About the Holocaust

Facts You Should Know About the Holocaust The Holocaust is one of the most notorious acts of genocide in modern history. The many atrocities committed by Nazi Germany before and during World War II destroyed millions of lives and permanently altered the face of Europe.   Holocaust Key Terms Holocaust: From the Greek word holokauston, meaning sacrifice by fire. It refers to the Nazi persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people and others considered inferior to true Germans.Shoah: A Hebrew word meaning devastation, ruin or waste, also used to refer to the Holocaust.Nazi: German acronym standing for Nationalsozialistishe Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party).Final Solution: Nazi term referring to their plan to exterminate the Jewish people.Kristallnacht: Literally Crystal Night or The Night of Broken Glass, refers to the night of November 9-10, 1938 when thousands of synagogues and Jewish-owned homes and businesses in Austria and Germany were attacked.Concentration Camps: Although we use the blanket term Concentration Camps there were actually a number of different types of camps, with different purposes. These included extermination camps, labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and transit camps. Introduction to the Holocaust Adolf Hitler, chancellor of Germany, is welcomed by supporters at Nuremberg in 1933. Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images   The Holocaust began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers. The term Holocaust is derived from the Greek word holokauston, which means sacrifice by fire. It refers to the Nazi persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people and others considered inferior to true Germans. The Hebrew word Shoah, which means devastation, ruin or waste, also refers to this genocide. In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted the Roma, gays, Jehovahs Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution. Those who resisted the Nazis were sent to forced labor camps or murdered. The word Nazi is a German acronym for Nationalsozialistishe Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party). The Nazis sometimes used the term Final Solution to refer to their plan to exterminate the Jewish people, although the origins of this are unclear, according to historians. Death Toll According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, up to 17 million people were killed during the Holocaust, but no single document exists recording the total number. Six million of these were Jews- approximately two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe. An estimated 1.1 million children died in the Holocaust. Number of Holocaust Deaths The following statistics are from the U.S. National Holocaust Museum. As more information and records are uncovered, it is likely that these numbers will change. All numbers are approximate.6 million Jews5.7 million Soviet civilians (an additional 1.3 Soviet Jewish civilians are included in the 6 million figure for Jews)3 million Soviet prisoners of war (including about 50,000 Jewish soldiers)1.9 million Polish civilians (non-Jewish)312,000 Serb civiliansUp to 250,000 people with disabilities196,000 to 220,000 Roma1,900 Jehovahs WitnessesAt least 70,000 repeat criminal offenders and asocialsAn undetermined number of German political opponents and activists.Hundreds or thousands of gays and lesbians (might be included in the possibly also 70,000 repeat criminal offenders and asocials number above). The Beginning of the Holocaust On April 1, 1933, the Nazis instigated their first action against German Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses. The Nuremberg Laws, issued on Sept. 15, 1935, was designed to exclude Jews from public life. The Nuremberg Laws stripped German Jews of their citizenship and prohibited marriages and extramarital sex between Jews and Gentiles. These measures set the legal precedent for anti-Jewish legislation that followed. Nazis issued numerous anti-Jewish laws over the next several years. Jews were banned from public parks, fired from civil service jobs, and forced to register their property. Other laws barred Jewish doctors from treating anyone other than Jewish patients, expelled Jewish children from public schools, and placed severe travel restrictions on Jews. Kristallnacht: The Night of Broken Glass Shattered fronts of Jewish-owned stores in Berlin after Kristallnacht. Bettmann/Getty Images   Overnight on November 9 and 10, 1938, the Nazis incited a pogrom against Jews in Austria and Germany called  Kristallnacht  (Night of Broken Glass, or literally translated from German, Crystal Night). This included the pillaging and burning of synagogues, the breaking of windows of Jewish-owned businesses and the looting of those stores. In the morning, broken glass littered the ground. Many Jews were physically attacked or harassed, and approximately 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps. After World War II started in 1939, the Nazis ordered Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so they could be easily recognized and targeted. Gays and lesbians were similarly targeted and forced to wear pink triangles. Jewish Ghettos The Lublin Ghetto in Poland. Bettmann/Getty Images After the beginning of World War II, Nazis began ordering all Jews to live in small, segregated areas of big cities, called ghettos. Jews were forced out of their homes and moved into smaller dwellings, often shared with one or more other families. Some ghettos were initially open, which meant that Jews could leave the area during the daytime but had to be back by a curfew. Later, all ghettos became closed, meaning that Jews were not allowed to leave under any circumstances. Major ghettos were located in the cities of Polish cities of Bialystok, Lodz, and Warsaw. Other ghettos were found in present-day Minsk, Belarus; Riga, Latvia; and Vilna, Lithuania. The largest ghetto was in Warsaw. At its peak in March 1941, some 445,000 were crammed into an area just 1.3 square miles in size. Regulating and Liquidating the Ghettos In most ghettos, Nazis ordered the Jews to establish a Judenrat (Jewish council) to administer Nazi demands and to regulate the internal life of the ghetto. The Nazis routinely ordered deportations from the ghettos. In some of the large ghettos, 1,000 people per day were sent by rail to concentration and extermination camps. To get them to cooperate, the Nazis told the Jews they were being transported elsewhere for labor. As the tide of World War II turned against the Nazis, they began a systematic plan to eliminate or liquidate the ghettos they had established, by a combination of mass murder on the spot and transferring the remaining residents to extermination camps. When the Nazis attempted to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto on April 13, 1943, the remaining Jews fought back in what has become known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Jewish resistance fighters held out against the entire Nazi regime for 28 days, longer than many European countries had been able to withstand Nazi conquest. Concentration Camps Although many people refer to all Nazi camps as concentration camps, there were actually a number of different kinds of camps, including concentration camps, extermination camps, labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and transit camps. One of the first concentration camps was in Dachau, in southern Germany. It opened on March 20, 1933. From 1933 until 1938, most of the people held in concentration camps were political prisoners and people the Nazis labeled as asocial. These included the disabled, the homeless, and the mentally ill. After Kristallnacht in 1938, the persecution of Jews became more organized. This led to the exponential increase in the number of Jews sent to concentration camps. Life within Nazi concentration camps was horrible. Prisoners were forced to do hard physical labor and given little food. Prisoners slept three or more to a crowded wooden bunk; bedding was unheard of. Torture within the concentration camps was common and deaths were frequent. At a number of concentration camps, Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments on prisoners against their will. Death Camps While concentration camps were meant to work and starve prisoners to death, extermination camps (also known as death camps) were built for the sole purpose of killing large groups of people quickly and efficiently. The Nazis built six extermination camps, all in Poland: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, and Majdanek. Prisoners transported to these extermination camps were told to undress so they could shower. Rather than a shower, the prisoners were herded into gas chambers and killed. Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp built. It is estimated that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.

Economics for Lawyers (Law and Economics) Essay

Economics for Lawyers (Law and Economics) - Essay Example This is not the case in real interactions between firms. In order to dissect the concept further it would be pertinent to explore different points of views on the firm and its unique position in the market. The views of Coase, Penrose and finally Richardson will be explored in this paper in order to see how firms interact to form market structures and how these structures require the assistance of the law. 2. Defining The Firm Within the perspective of business, a firm can simply be seen as an organisation that is involved in the provision of goods and services or a combination of both to consumers1. Here it must be kept in mind that the work of such an organisation is determined by market consumption otherwise this definition would fit other organisations as well such as military organisations and the like. Therefore, the actions of a firm can be seen as being driven through competition in the market that requires the efforts of a team. Another major consideration to look into over here is the basic unit that composes the domain of economic activities. Firms are conglomerations of people who are geared to a common purpose namely the creation of economic value. In themselves, firms are actually composed of individuals and so individuals must be the basic unit of economic activity. ... This idea has been espoused by Coase who adds another dimension to hiring the services of other individuals. 2.1. Coase’s Ideas on The Nature of the Firm The earliest ideas as to why firms exist in an economy were presented by Coase2 in his article The Nature of the Firm (1937). It was recognised well before Coase’s ideas that firms existed but there had been little investigation into their need for existence. There was a visible change in emphasis of the dominant economic theory after the First World War. Analysis tended to shift from the level of industry (which relied in large part on market analysis) to the level of individual firms. This move can be attributed to a change in thinking over perfect competition. Previously perfect competition was seen as an effective model to delineate how firms behaved. Up till this point in time the emphasis of the economic theory had been to study the markets in order to understand their behaviour. There had been little work on und erstanding reasons as to why firms existed. In themselves, markets are guided Coase holds that in a perfect market, that is efficient, it would make sense to contract out services rather than hiring people. In Coase’s time the traditional theory of economics provided that entities that were best at providing goods or services were already providing these goods and services because the market was efficient. This would then have the implication that any entrepreneur looking for goods and services would tend to contract out goods and services to the best providers3. However, the actual market practice was just the opposite – entrepreneurs looked to hire people instead of contracting out services. It is only in recent years that outsourcing has

The Difference Between What is Known and What is Believed Essay

The Difference Between What is Known and What is Believed - Essay Example For one, it occurs logical to acknowledge the truth that she loves me because I am her daughter, her offspring above all. We cannot deny the biological fact that we are related by blood and we share certain traits by genetic transfer so that this evidence altogether constitutes a scientific basis for the natural loving bond between us. Moreover, I should recognize that my mother truly loves me because she had religiously managed serious domestic efforts all through my childhood days. That includes the typical obligation which every other good mother fulfills such as providing for me a safe and comfortable shelter, cooking and cleaning for the household which I am a regular member of, preparing my needs for school, and attending to me diligently for relief from sickness. Besides all this knowledge, I can further attest to the belief that my mother loves me as I constantly sense her affectionate concern. With my mother’s demonstration of concern comes the presence of warmth whic h is something that I could not readily observe as present and spontaneous from my experience of other people’s help approach. ... ter how excruciating, nevertheless, she had endured pains of labor and delivery not only to allow me to live but even to sustain my living in a considerable span of time so that it convinces me to perceive her natural motherly inclination as an utmost manifestation of a more profound level of desire, which is love. As another empirical evidence, I notice that while others exhibit their concern by spending time with me in difficult situations, they often do so yet merely to some extent unlike my mother who would stay and never leave my side until my troubles are all over. Not only does my mother go with me an extra mile, she is sensible enough to feel my specific needs even if they are indirectly conveyed to her understanding. Upon thorough examination of the aforementioned evidences by reason of logic and perception out of experience, I still maintain the claim that knowledge of the material world must hold according to physical evidence. However, love is immaterial though we have ge nerally accepted its truth and this appears to be an exception because the reasons that speak of love cannot help being enhanced and supported by a number of experiences beyond thought. Apparently, these empirical accounts seem to be in harmony with logic where logic alone bears no more capacity of proving how love may be viewed in a material context. I am but a human being who is normally accustomed to associating read or spoken ideas to tangible images of things in order to gain knowledge of the world in which case, it is inevitable to make use of our senses. By seeing, hearing, smelling, or touching concrete objects in repeated patterns over time, we are able to figure what exists and identify it based on color, shape, size, and other essential characteristics. It is part of our nature

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Compensation Instruments Commerce Essay

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Compensation Instruments Commerce Essay Compensation is the remuneration received by an employee in return for his/her contribution to the organization. It is an organized practice that involves balancing the work-employee relation by providing monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees. Compensation is an integral part of human resource management which helps in motivating the employees and improving organizational effectiveness. Components of Compensation System Compensation systems are designed keeping in minds the strategic goals and business objectives. Compensation system is designed on the basis of certain factors after analyzing the job work and responsibilities. Components of a compensation system are as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Job analysis à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Salary structures à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pay structure Need of Compensation Management A good compensation package is important to motivate the employees to increase the organizational productivity. Unless compensation is provided no one will come and work for the organization. Thus, compensation helps in running an organization effectively and accomplishing its goals. Salary is just a part of the compensation system, the employees have other psychological and self-actualization needs to fulfill. Thus, compensation serves the purpose. The most competitive compensation will help the organization to attract and sustain the best talent. The compensation package should be as per industry standards. The financial assets of a company have always occupied central importance whenever it has come to management decisions. However worlds recent plunge into financial crisis has raised this importance to critical level. This has particularly put direct effect upon financial sector such as banks. The fact that organizations cannot control their external environment in current period of recession has put direct emphasis. Compensation management deals with the ability to effectively compensate the employees to work and create a competitive advantage through highly motivated human resources (HR). Compensation is the cornerstone of an effective talent management strategy. The ability to enable consistent, reliable and standardized compensation processes that are linked to performance drivers of individual and organizational strategies can affect many facets of the business. Some of these facets include: (1) Improved employee morale and retention, (2) Increased employee engagement and productivity, (3) Strengthened governance and compliance with company and regulatory issues. Motivation is the set of reasons that determines one to engage in a particular behavior, having phenomenological and physiological dimensions. The term is generally used for human motivation but, theoretically, it can be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, hobby, goal, state of being ideal. Employee satisfaction helps the company to maintain a standard increase productivity by motivating the employees. As human resource is the most important resource for any organization, so to study on employee satisfaction helps to know the working conditions what are the things that affect them to work properly or otherwise. These factors become really crucial when we talk about financial institutions that have nothing more than services and that also of financial basis to attract their customers. In this condition it becomes really important for them to deal in an effective and committed way to their customers. Because they have no real brand names to back them up, and also customers feel very protective while dealing with financial products, services or institutions. The strength of any financial service provider lies in it human resources. It is logical that if you have a strength that can be your competitive advantage and is directly related towards your operations it will help in evading your threats in external environment. A satisfied and motivated workforce will have convincing influence upon customers and can attract them even in most gruesome conditions as we can find nowadays. 2. OVERVIEW OF THE BANKING SECTOR IN PAKISTAN Pakistan is a developing country, and being a developing country the recent financial crunch has the worst impact over it. Where developed countries like America and that of European Union managed to sustain their financial institutions through the strength of their governments. But it is evident that countries like Pakistan lack such government strength. So businesses and especially financial institutions in a country like Pakistan has no hope to control the effect of any such calamities through bailing out by factors like government from their external environment. So then what they must do? It is the question that has to arise. We have already discussed the problem of financial institutions for lacking any strong brand and having sensitive customers. In this scenario financial institutions may only count on the strength of their internal environment. Observing financial sector of Pakistan, it becomes clear that banking sector dominates it. Banking sector for Pakistan has been somewhat static and slow moving for decades, until government let go of all banks except National Bank of Pakistan in private hands. This started a new revolution in banking sector, with changes erupting in almost every aspect of private banks. This brought about a serious competitive environment in the banking sector. But with all the positive impacts it also brought some big question marks and doubts. Doubts regarding employees and customer satisfaction. Question marks about who is the best. But with financial crunch these doubts have changed to which bank can survive, and who can still have trust of its customers. In banking sector if one name cant be ignored then it is National Bank of Pakistan, The bank that has not only the largest branch network nationwide but also in foreign country, largest reserves, highest authority and strong corporate brand posi tion with government backing. National Bank of Pakistan National Bank of Pakistan was established under the NPB ordinance in 1949 and was 100% govt.-owned. NBP acted as an agent of the Central Bank wherever the State Bank did not have its own Branch. It also undertook Government Treasury operations. Its first branches were in jute growing areas in East Pakistan. Offices in Karachi and Lahore followed. In1950 NBP established a branch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. By this time NBP had branches in London and Calcutta, in 1955. In1957 NBP established a branch in Baghdad, Iraq. In 1962 NBP established a branch in Dar-as-Salaam, Tanganyika. In 1964 The Iraqi government nationalized NBPs Baghdad branch. In 1965 the Indian government seized the Calcutta branch on the outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan. In 1967 The Tanzanian government nationalized the Dar-Es-Salaam branch. In 1971 NBP acquired Bank of Chinas two branches, one in Karachi and one at Chittagong. At separation of East Pakistan NBP lost its branches there. NBP merged with E astern Mercantile Bank and with Eastern Bank Corporation. In 1974 the government of Pakistan nationalized NBP. As part of the concomitant consolidation of the banking sector, NBP acquired Bank of Bahawalpur (est. 1947). In 1977 NBP opened an offshore brain Cairo. In 1994 NBP amalgamated Tehran Bank (EST. 1991). In 1997 NBPs branch in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan commenced operations. In 2000 NBP opened a representative office in Almay, Kazakhstan. In 2001 State Bank of Pakistan and Bank of England agree to allow only 2 Pakistani banks to operate in the UK. NBP and United Bank agreed to merge their operations to form Pakistan International Bank, of which NBP would own 45% and United Bank 55%. Also that year, NBP closed its branch in New York. In 2002 Pakistan International Bank renamed itself United National Bank Limited (Ileana Gumby, 2009). The ownership structure of the UNB remained as before. The only change to the shareholding structure is that UBL had recently been privatized in Pakistan and was now owned 49% by the Government of Pakistan and 51% by a joint foreign consortium of Abu Dhabi. In 2003 NBP received permission to open a branch in Afghanistan. Today NBP has 1450 domestic branches nationwide spread over 23 regional segmentation. It has assets up to 350 billion rupees (NBP, 2011). 3. PROBLEM STATEMENT This paper will look in to the perspective of compensation management system in banking sector by knowing about what motivates employees in baking sector. Nowadays banks have become extremely decentralized in nature and due to privatization of banks the level of competition has entered in a new dynamic phase, which directly has its effects over employees of banks. Continuous increasing market demands have literally over loaded employees of banking sector and stretched their working hours in an absurd way. All of this has resulted in employee complaints about work pressure, stress, strain, lack of fulfilling family expectations etc which really have a bad impact over employee motivation of banking sector and ultimately their performance. To handle this situation banks are using different compensation (both intrinsic extrinsic) and reward policies for motivating their employees. The question is whether banks are applying the appropriate compensation strategies with respect to their em ployees? Are these strategies achieving the desired results? Which type of compensation has more motivational effects? These issues if remained unaddressed then can lead to problems like de-motivation, dissatisfaction of employees and customer, high turnover etc and therefore needs to be studied with care. 4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The paper will find out different aspects of a compensation system having motivational effects by finding what employees perceive to be the most motivating factor in their compensation system by the assessment of instruments used for extrinsic as well as extrinsic compensation through checking the effectiveness of different intrinsic instruments regarding job satisfaction and motivation to work among the employees of National Bank of Pakistan, Attack city. 5. LITERATURE REVIEW Swinton (2006) described a relationship between Maslows hierarchies of needs with Herzberg theory. Maslows theory state a persons needs hierarchy with basic needs at base followed by security needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualization needs. She is of the opinion that up to esteem needs level employee motivation or satisfaction can be maintained by factors which Herzberg called hygiene factors. This includes salary, benefits, job security, company policy etc while to deal with people at self actualization level factors known as motivators would be needed. This includes employee achievement, employee recognition, and employee growth. By keeping in mind this relationship among two basic theories of management organization may find it easy to manage their HR and other operations. Kidman and Golding (2006) are of the view that knowledge management system could play an integral part in increasing any organizations performance and can help it to compete in such highly competi tive environment as todays. They say that knowledge management system if applied can bring improvements in decision making, increase in customer value, improving relationships with consumers and bringing new value in to sight by including the concept of innovation. Sureshchandar et al (2002) in their research studied banking sector of India and analyzed how different banks apply concept of total quality service in their functions. They found that these applications are inconsistent and incongruent with in all banks. Which makes it highly sophisticated sector. According to them banks of India can be divided into three groups based upon their perception about total quality services in operations. Barney and Wright (1997) describe that although human resources are accepted to be organizations most important assets yet organizations decision often depicts contradiction with this belief. They further say that HR should not be neglected because they can bring competitive advantage to orga nization. Therefore they should be managed with equal importance with other functions of the business. Hustled (1995) has emphasized on the fact that usage of high performance work practices i.e. comprehensive employee recruitment, Incentive compensation and performance management, extensive employee training and involvement programs surely increase competence of employees, it increase their motivation and reduce turnover. This results in retention of quality employees and also is a useful way to eradicate poor performers from the organization. Nowadays organizations have been persuaded by competitive environment to apply a progressive HR strategy. As stated with the relevance of Pfeiffer (1996) the past decade has presented with many testimonials to the value of progressive HRM practices and system of such practices. In particular, employee participation, empowerment and job redesign, extensive employee training and performance contingent incentive compensation, are widely believed to improve the performance of organizations (John T Delaney and Mark A Hustled, 1996, Mark A Hustled, 1995). Human Resource management and productivity of organization has a direct relationship with each other. If employees are managed appropriately i.e. job analysis, recruitment, training, motivational tools like compensation etc they are destined to give high performance in their operations so will improve the overall productivity of the organization (Casey Ichniowski et al., 1997). While Catanzaro (2001) described the effects of compensation over employee motivation, he stated that compensation has a profound effect over employee motivation. He also discussed several factors of compensation which include both intrinsic and extrinsic factors and their possible effects over motivation in detail. He also emphasized that monetary values are not the only motivators but non monetary factors have more importance towards motivating employees. In Hong Kong, base salary, merit pay, year-end bonus, annual leave, mortgage loan, and profit sharing were the most important factors to retain and motivate employees. In China, base salary, merit pay, year-end bonus, housing provision, cash allowance, over time allowance, and individual bonus were the most important factors to retain and motivate employees (Randy K Chiu et al., 2002). Reward and recognition programs can positively affect motivation, performance and interest within an organization. While a little more problematic, team-based incentives, if designed appropriately, can also encourage and support a range of positive outcomes (Patricia Milne, 2007). Promotion and wages positively influence employees work motivation. A comparison of the relative strengths of the effects reveals that fair promotion was a more powerful motivator than wage level and wage increase. The reason why fairness in promotion was more effective than wage to motivate employees was discussed in light of the unique career system existing in Japanese companies and the agency problems between companies and their supervisors. Takahashi (2006) explores past and present attitudes of employees concerning work-related motivational factors. Understanding the factors that employees consider motivating lends insight to the rewards to which they more positively respond. It compares the results of four motivation surveys conducted in 1946, 1980, 1986 and 1992. The comparisons revealed that employees motivational preferences vary over time. In addition, the results of the 1992 survey indicate that the factors that motivate todays workers are more extrinsic than they used to be. Although employees differ on how they rank these factors, they overwhelmingly selected good wages as the top motivator. A good wage is an extrinsic reward with intrinsic potency. On the surface good wages seem to be purely extrinsic. Yet, at a deeper level, monetary rewards communicate what the company values and affect employees emotional and familial wellbeing (Carolyn Wiley, 1997). 6. HYPOTHESIS After conducting literature review the following hypotheses have to be tested. H1: Compensation plans are significantly associated with extrinsic and intrinsic factors of motivation. H2: Extrinsic factors are significantly contributing to the overall compensation plan. H3: Intrinsic factors are significantly contributing to the overall compensation plan. 7. METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN A case study research design was adopted by taking National Bank of Pakistan as special case. In fact case study is research, which is an intensive analysis of an individual unit (e.g., a person, group, or event) stressing developmental factors in relation to context. Total 50 bank employees were interviewed, including officer cadre employees like branch managers and operation managers and non officers cadre employees like cashiers, tellers and dispatchers of the branches located in Attack city, Karma, Makah and Ghorghushti of the district Attock. Structured Interview technique was adopted as primary data collection tool. Five sub variables were developed for extrinsic compensation variable and four sub variables were developed for intrinsic compensation variable. Total 30 statements were asked from the respondents regarding both intrinsic as well as extrinsic compensation factors, which can motivate them, in such way that 17 statements were about intrinsic compensation and 13 statements were about extrinsic compensation. The statements were firstly scaled according to the Likert Scaling technique by assigning weights to it on poly-cot scale from 1 strongly dis-agrees to 5 strongly agree. The weights of each statement were added in such way that they were multiplied with total statements, that is, (30X5=150) to get total score of 150. Then low, medium and high categories were made. The score of (30-to 60) was considered as low score. The score of (70 to 100) was considered as medium score and the score of (110 to 140) was considered as high score. The framework of the study consists of two main variables for the total compensation system, i.e. Intrinsic and extrinsic. The intrinsic variable has been further divided in to five sub variables, i.e. salary, benefits, short term incentives, long term incentives and perquisite. On the other side, the extrinsic variable has been divided into four sub variables, i.e. job itself, career development, autonomy and delegation. These factors are the motivational elements for the employees. 8. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS The data has presented in shape of tables, in such way that the table, 1 is about the Demographic Characteristics of the respondents Scores of the Respondents, and the table 2 is correlation Analysis for knowing the relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic variables. The above table shows the demographic characteristics of respondents as well as the scores achieved in each variable. The data shows that gender wise, there are more males employees in the National Bank of Pakistan, Attock Branch. On other side age wise there are more employees in 20-25 years age as compared to other age groups. Marital statuses wide there are more married as compared to single employees. The scores of the employees shows that gender wise females were more motivated both about intrinsic as well extrinsic compensation factors by having 137 out of 150 score as compared to counterpart males, who have got 119/150 score. Age wise the young employees in age category of 20-25 years had got more score i.e. 138/150, which mean that this age category was more motivated as compared to other age categories. Marital status wise, the single employees had more score 131/150 as compared to married one. The correlation analysis shows that there has been strong positive relationship between the both types compensation factors used by the National Bank of Pakistan, Attock branches. The 1st sub variable, salary is highly positively correlated with job (r: 0.78), career development (r: 0.69), autonomy (r: 0.73) and delegation (r: 0.64). In same way Benefits is also highly positively correlated with job (r: 0.81) and career development (r: 0.71), but moderately positively correlated with autonomy (r: 0.68) and delegation (r: 0.58). In same way short term incentives is also is highly positively correlated with job (r: 0.82) and career development (r: 0.78), but moderately positively correlated with autonomy (r: 0.73) and delegation (r: 0.67). So far as the long term incentives is concerned. It is strongly positively correlated with Job (r: 0.76) but moderately positively correlated with career development (r: 0.67), autonomy (r: 0.64) and delegation (r: 0.59). In the last there is perquisite which is strongly correlated with job (r: 0.80), but moderately correlated with career development (r: 0.68), autonomy (r: 0.59) and Delegation (r: 0.62). This moderate, and high correlation between the compensation variables show that in one or other way all of the compensation variables have impact on each other and they motivate the employees at the National Bank of Pakistan, Attack branch. 9. DISCUSSION The Findings of this study shows that nine compensation factors have been used in the overall compensation strategy by National Bank of Pakistan and these factors have positive relationship with each other in such way that all of them are contributing positively towards development of motivation among the employees of bank. The scores of the employees shows that female employees were more motivated by these motivating factors of compensation as compared to male employees, this could be because the female employees are more contended with their jobs and family lives and have less responsibility. On other side the young employees regardless of gender, in the age category of (20-30) were more motivated by these compensation factors as compared to other age groups. This is probably because the young employees are more energetic and have more involvement towards job as compared to old employees, who get fed up from job. Furthermore the young employees have less home as well as job related responsibilities as compared to old people who have tension of both family as well as job. Marital status wise, the single employees were more motivated with the compensation factors, most probably because the single employees have less familial responsibilities and less expenses as compared to married one, who have more familial responsibilities and expenses, and thus they remain under tight budget and their motivation level is less. It was found that employees had general acceptance that their salary and benefits package are better. And a high level of satisfaction was felt and observed in employees regarding their extrinsic factors. However intrinsic factors of compensation were more important, like the permanent nature of the job. So employees can deliver their best with a sense of satisfaction. Employees who were interviewed strongly advocated that no other bank in Pakistan except National Bank of Pakistan keeps its employees this much close. Nor do they really do much for employee loyalty, and development. For instance regular promotions of employees cannot be observed in other banks like Habit Bank as quoted by several employees. Also creation and observation of this sense of belongingness to a prestigious organization to and by Employees of NBP cannot be seen else here. Reason for this claim was related mostly towards privatization of other banks. From interviews it became a reality that National Banks employees are one of the most loyal Human Resources an organization may find regardless of the fact that they have to work more hours and hectically than other banks. There were complaints about low staff distribution in many branches of small cities and long working hours disturbing employees social life but even these overcame by the positive effects created by National Banks compensation strategy upon its employees over the years. 10. CONCLUSION The paper had concluded that Compensation management has a direct relationship with employee motivation and performance. Extrinsic benefit plans plays a delight role in perception of an employee towards its organization and its work. And these factors play the role of satisfiers. Instruments of intrinsic factors have a profound impact upon an employees loyalty and an organizations turn over. Intrinsic factors play the role of motivators for the employees and associate them with their job and organization. They feel important and consider their performance as organization performance and image of organization as their own image. It is recommended that banking sector must focus a lot upon the well being of its Human Resources by properly designing their compensation system. So that banks can achieve a competitive advantage through their employees and stand apart as well stand strong in such hard times as in current global financial crisis when financial sector is experiencing a tight squeeze in external environment. Intrinsic Instruments are strongly advised to be more aligned for the entire banking sector. The paper recommends extrinsic factors as the basis but intrinsic as the beauty as only the inner satisfaction can produce optimum quality. For the future research, studies which can find out the relationship of other factors of compensation, especially the subjective one, with motivation would be of great value. 11. THEORY AND PRACTICE The final findings were compared with the Best Practices Compensation policies. This led to the following observations. 1. The bank offers very few pay incentives. Best Practices recommend little emphasis on pay and therefore the banks policy is in line with Best Practices recommendations. Most employees however demand higher pay incentives. 2. The bank does not have any policy for rewarding individual level job performance. This is contrary to Best Practices Compensation recommendations 3. The Bank does not have any policy for rewarding team or group performance. This is in accordance with the Best Practices recommendations. 4. Most employees suggest that the bank should pay certain rewards on the basis of individual level job performance as does Best Practice theory. 5. Bank policy indicates an increased emphasis on seniority when it comes to pay decisions. This is contrary to Best Practices recommendations. Most employees also suggest that seniority should remain an important factor when it comes to pay decisions. Although the Bank has based its policies on long-term goals but it appears that it is unable to implement this. It seems that short-term goals have been given priority in practice. The Bank offers excellent benefits package in accordance with the Best Practices Compensation policies. However most employees want more benefits. 12. RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations have been suggested in accordance with the Best Practices Compensation policies:- 1. The bank must device policies to reward individuals for the individual level performances. This could be in the form of performance bonuses, rewards or profit sharing. 2. The Bank must consider reducing the emphasis on seniority. Although it is not a matter of concern for most of the employees, but in the long run, this may adversely affect the performance of the Bank. 3. The Bank must continue with it exists benefit package in accordance with best practices. 4. The Bank must communicate the importance of its excellent benefit package to the employees of the Bank. This may help to increase the motivation level of the employees. 5. The bank must continue its policy for not awarding any incentive for group performance. 6. The bank must refocus its attention on long-term goals.

Letter of Successful Probation Essay

Letter of a successful probation period template |You can use this letter to provide an employee with written confirmation that his or her employment will continue beyond the | |probation period (if applicable). You are not required by law to provide a letter like this or to have employees on probation. | |Information you will need to fill in: | |the end date of the probation period | |that the probation ended successfully, and | |the start date of the person’s ongoing employment with the business. | |Please note, a probation period does not affect any entitlements employees receive under the National Employment Standards or a | |modern award, such as annual leave, personal leave, and notice of termination. The probation period may be different to the minimum | |employment period for unfair dismissal applications. | Suggested steps for preparing a letter of successful probation period If at any time you need more information or assistance, call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 or visit www.fairwork.gov.au. Step 1:Create your letter of a successful probation period It is best practice to confirm with your employee that his or her employment will continue beyond the probation period. The letter should be given to the employee before the end of the probation period. When drafting the letter you should: †¢ review the letter of engagement to check the length of the probation period, and †¢ check whether the relevant industrial instrument (e.g. an award or an enterprise agreement) contains any compulsory rules about probation. This template has been colour coded to assist you to complete it accurately. You simply need to replace the red < > writing with what applies to your employee and situation. Explanatory information is shown in blue italics to assist you and should be deleted once you have finished the letter. Step 2:Meet with the employee While it is best practice to meet with an employee towards the end of their probation period, there is not a legislative requirement to do so. Meeting face to face is an opportunity for you to: †¢ provide feedback to the employee about their performance or conduct, and †¢ explain why the probation period was successful. Step 3:Keep a copy of the letter of successful probation period Keep a copy of the letter given to the employee and document the meeting for your records. Private and confidential Dear Probation successful Your probation period with is due to end on . I am pleased to confirm your ongoing employment effective . The terms and conditions of employment set out in your original dated will continue to apply to your ongoing position. Thank you for your contribution to . Yours sincerely, ———————– PLEASE KEEP A COPY OF THIS LETTER FOR YOUR RECORDS ———————– Fair Work Ombudsman is committed to providing useful, reliable information to help you understand your rights and obligations under workplace laws. It is your responsibility to comply with workplace laws that apply to you. The information contained in this publication is: †¢ general in nature and may not deal with all aspects of the law that are relevant to your specific situation; and †¢ not legal advice. Therefore, you may wish to seek independent professional advice to ensure all the factors relevant to your circumstances have been properly considered.