Impact of Globalisation on Nation Borders

Impact of Globalisation on Nation Borders Globalization has had its impacts on world cross-border flows e.g flow of capital. There has been an increase in international economic activity which has expanded world trade and general capital flow. Goods are flowing across national borders easily through reduced trade barriers and new transportation methods. However, it cannot be stated that the world has become borderless. The aim of this paper is to show (through examining the U.S’s border and trade between Canada) that borders still exist and impact daily trade. In fact, it can be anticipated to see that there are new types of borders or divides being formed within countries such as the U.S. Borders are being used to reinforce protection, define territories and influence prices of material imported from other countries. Borders can be viewed differently depending on their purpose and distance from which the border is being viewed. From those different perspectives we can see that the world still has borders, they just c hange in their function depending on different aspects (Globally, Transnationally or Realistic). Economies of nations are correlated through trade of goods, services, information and even migration. Economic integration reduces barriers between national economies through governments lowering tariffs and other trade barriers strengthening trade and helps create a borderless world. Technological advances in communication have also promoted integration in the way that they ease access to knowledge of further consumers and products. Borders still have impacts on markets even close countries such as, U.S product markets and neighbouring country, Canada. The idea of having no borders and complete economic integration means having no trade barriers between countries. Canada and USA have eliminated numerous barriers of trade between them, CUSFTA and NAFTA had eliminated barriers to bilateral trade for numerous goods before the recent trade agreements (Ceglowski, pg 22). Geographically, these countries are in favourable locations for trade. Greater distances would lead to higher costs for transportation and services hindering the economic integration between them. USA and Canada share one long border which can easily be crossed through land or water. Over  ¾ of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S border therefore the two countries share a number of social, political, cultural aspects. Majority of these countries’ population speak the same language which all together encourages bilateral trade and other cross border activities. They currently exchange approximately $1 billion goods and services per day, they’re the world’s largest bilateral trade flow. However, the border still affects economic activities between them. Research shows that Canadian provinces trade much more with other Canadian provinces than the U.S states of same economic size and distance. Ontario which is roughly the same distance from Br itish Columbia and Washington traded 7 times more with B.C than Washington in 1990. Despite Washington being a larger economy there was an apparent home bias in Canadian merchandize (Ceglowski, pg 23). There are other nontariff barriers such as licensing, health and safety regulations, gov’t procedures that often impact trade. For example, in early 1990’s Ontario established a 10% tax on all can beers with the aim to encourage container reusing. However, the U.S beer manufactures saw this as a protectionist rule because they mostly sell their beer in cans which meant the tax would have a huge impact on their product (Ceglowski, pg 24). If borders were non-existent and had no impact on trade, there would be no price difference or different currencies between same products in the two countries. In the case of USA and Canada, despite the distance being significantly lower than other trading countries, prices between a city in Canada and USA are higher than it would be between cities within the same country. Even between U.S.A and Canada, there is a difference in currency which is another indicator of a border. International transactions have risks which also act as barriers for international trade (Ceglowski, pg 25). Borders still play critical roles in politics. Some may argue that their functions are changing rather than them fading. Malcolm Anderson considers borders as a dynamic element of the state; they’re used as an instrument of state policy. When governments change the place and function of their borders, it’s for specific benefits for their state and citizens. The policies and actions of state authorities are determined by clearly defined borders and borders are used as national identities. Moraczeska compares the role and place of borders according to their perception, importance and actions taken to execute rules within the borders. In her comparison, Moraczeska compares these aspects from a realistic, transnational and global aspect: Figure 1.0: Table comparing border roles, perception and importance from three aspects (Moraczewska, pg 333) From Moraczeska’s table it is clear that from a realistic, technical view, borders serve as an element of nationality and separation. It acts as a barrier against threats, the border acts to fragment regions with the aid of infrastructure made for securitization purposes and militarisation at the borders. At a transnational perspective, borders still play the role of fragmenting regions but it’s not a solid dividing line. It’s considered permeable where there’s a gradual abolition of infrastructure which opens up flows of goods, money and people. Globally, the borders are perceived as international markets. They’re viewed as a â€Å"virtual line†, a line only seen on a map but don’t exist for global markets which reinforces the concept of the world as a whole becoming borderless. We can also see that globally, the importance of a border is downplayed. It’s not viewed as a barrier but as a unifier for international flows. The border functions as a mixed market system and legal system. So the border is still connected with a territory but its function changes in the way that it divides one zone (economically, monetary, politically) from another but it’s not related to a nation-state but to a market. Borders between these different zones can be sources of profits/benefits or losses therefore, the idea of a borderless world isn’t completely true even from a global perspective (Moraczeska, pg 334-336). Whereas borders seem to be more porous when it comes to trade, U.S borders are becoming more securitized when it comes to immigration. After the terrorist attacks September 11, 2001, the U.S (and multiple other states) has become determined to gain more control over their external borders. The USA has reinforced visa requirements and immigration procedures to control international movement of people. The US has also began construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along its border with Mexico. This process doesn’t only restrict material flow from Mexico to USA but also cuts off thousands of people who benefited from job opportunities (Newman, pg 149). Many other nations around the world such as Thailand, Uzbekistan, Iran, Brazil, Botswana, Spain have also strengthened their existing border barriers (Alexander and Hagen, pg 1197-1198). U.S.A’s border strengthened since the 2002 hearing. During this hearing, technology experts were asked to find a way to fight the war on terror using risk profiling techniques. Two years from this hearing, the US Department of Homeland Security announced a $10 billion project (US VISIT) to restructure and manage US air, land and seaport of entry security. According to Accenture, this project is designed ‘to operate far beyond US boundaries’ enabling Homeland Security to assess security risks of all US-bound travellers, preventing potential threats from reaching the US borders. This biometric border brings extends the government’s ability to examine and govern multiple aspects of daily life. The US VISIT programme acts against the idea of porous international borders that are open for business. It objectifies and categorizes people as subjects and breaks them up into predictable risk factors for him or herself (e.g gender is taken as a possible risk factor f or the subject) or to others (e.g illegal immigrants) (Louise, pg 339). This programme creates multiple boarders even within USA itself. In 2003, Accenture organized workshops for American citizens suggesting that ‘well intentioned Americans should volunteer to help fight the war on terror’ however, insinuations of citizen profiling for the other ethnicities in America such as Arab Americans are never questioned for being more racial and ethnic targeting. This creates a divide between ethnicities within USA (Louise, pg 346). Even though the U.S and other nations around the world have become more open to trade, borders between nations still exist and impact trade flows. The border between USA and Canada has large impacts on the trade flow and prices between the two nations. It can be seen that if two neighboring countries such as these still have border impacts despite the banishing of a lot of barriers and tariffs, countries trading from further will be faced with border impacts as well. This proves the idea of globalization making the world borderless irrelevant. We also saw that borders can be viewed differently and can have different roles. Borders viewed from a global aspect tend to play an integrative role were as from a realistic and transnational perspective, they take on a dividing role. Borders cannot be viewed from a single perspective; they continue to function differently in different scales. Throughout this paper it was also established that borders aren’t just the markings or fences that separate one nation from another, virtual borders within countries (e.g USA) can be formed and are being formed. Therefore, it cannot be argued that the world is becoming borderless. Rather, borders are transforming. Bibliography: Amoore, Louise. Biometric Borders: Governing Mobilities in the War on Terror. Political Geography 25.3 (2006): 336-51. Political Geopgraphy, 2006. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. Ceglowski, Janet. â€Å"Has Globalization Created a Borderless World?’ Bangkok: John Stirling for The Nation, 1973. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. Diener, Alexander, and Joshua Hagen. Theorizing Borders in a ‘Borderless World’: Globalization, Territory and Identity. WILEY Online Library. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 18 Mar. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. Moraczewska, Anna. The Chnaging Interpretation Of Border Functions In International Relations. Revista Romà ¢nă De Geografie Politică XII.2 (2010): 329-40. University in Lublin, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. Newman, David. The Lines That Continue to Separate Us: Borders in Our borderless World. Progress in Human Geography 30.2 (2006): 143-61. Sage Publications. SAGE, 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. Newman, David. World Society, Globalization and a Borderless World: The Contemporary Significance of Borders and Territory. World Society Foundation, 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. Sparke, Matthew. From Geopolitics to Geoeconomics: Transnational State Effects in the Borderlands. Taylor Francis Online. Routledge, 19 Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. Word Count: 1510 1

Leadership Essay -- Leader essays research papers

Everyone has probably played the game â€Å"Follow the Leader† back in elementary school. It is a game where the leader stands in front of the line. He or she can say or do anything, and her followers (standing in a straight line behind her) must repeat exactly the same thing he or she does or says. Whoever was picked to be the leader must have loved the experience because one had the freedom to do whatever they please, while others followed miserably or happily depending on what the leader is saying or doing. However, if one was the follower, one would wait anxiously to be the next chosen leader. At the same time, one must somehow express his or her self in a fashion that will make them stand out from the rest of the students. Whether he or she is perfectly imitating the leader or behaving really respectfully of others. Nonetheless, who determines who should be the leader? What kind of characteristics must a leader possessed? What makes a great leader (Robbins, 2005)? Is the re only one kind leadership? These questions will be answered as you continue to read on. In addition, you will come across case studies, real life experiences, and my own observation on how leaders in my work setting exhibit leadership behavior and how followers respond to it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Leadership is the capability to influence a person or a group to achieve many goals (Robbins, 2005). To elaborate, leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objectives and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent by applying their leadership attributes such as values, ethics, knowledge, skills, and belief (Clark, 2000). Most importantly, not all leaders happen to be managers, and not all managers are leaders (Robbins, 2005). Even though one is positioned as a manager or a supervisor (he has the power to accomplish certain tasks within the organization) it does not necessarily mean he is a leader unless he makes people want to achieve high goals and objectives. He has the authority to tell his subordinates to do the task and they will do it just to complete it but is not interested in achieving higher goals. However, â€Å"leaders can emerge from within a group as well as being formally appointed [manager]† (Robbins, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is great leadership? According to the trait theories, some personality traits may lead pe... ... be technically proficient; one must know his job and the duties of his employees. A leader should always look for new ways to guild your organization to new heights. And if it does not work, re-evaluate, take corrective action and move on to the next challenge. However, do not look for someone to blame. A good leader is not an authoritarian leader. A good leader sets good examples (employees should also see and hear what they are expected to do) and work as a team. A good leader always look out for the well being of their people and always keep them informed. (Clark, 1999). Leadership is like an ART! REFERENCE Ballentine, k., George, A., and Hamburg, D. (1999). Preventing deadly conflict: the critical role of leadership. Archieves of General Psychiatry; 56, 971-976. Clark, D. (2000). Big dog’s leadership page-concept of leadership. Retrieved on December 02, 2004 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html. In Brief; do women make better leaders? (2004). Harvard Mental Health Letter, pNA. Pree, M.D (1992). Leadership jazz. New York: A Dell Trade Paperback. Robbins, S. (2005). Essentials of organizational behavior. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Overtime vs Hiring: A Case Study Essay

Abstract This report aims to address the debate over whether it is more beneficial to hire new employees when faced with shortages, or cover the shifts with overtime. The issue is examined from the viewpoint of Columbia University’s Department of Public Safety, and takes into account factors and costs as found therein. This report includes a graphical comparison of the costs associated with each option, and analyses and discusses the greater expense of hiring. One of the most debated topics in management is whether it is more beneficial to hire new employees or pay overtime to increase production or coverage. Many factors go into this decision, including benefits, duration of the period of extra work needed, and even type of work involved. In Columbia University’s Department of Public Safety, this issue gets more attention than at most places of business. Minimal staffing levels, union regulations, and round-the-clock posts – among other factors – conspire to make this decision one that is faced often. When all factors are considered, is it better for the department to hire new officers when coverage is lacking, or to utilize overtime to staff positions as needed? Executive Summary In almost all instances, it is more cost-efficient to fill gaps in coverage with overtime rather than hiring new officers in this department. This report will examine the factors involved, analyze the financial implications, and discuss exceptions to the findings. Explicit and implicit costs to the department will be discussed, along with their relevance to the decision-making process. This report will also compare the costs of new hires and overtime to find an equilibrium point beyond which the decision should change, and introduce the concept of diminishing returns. Finally, it will summarize the process and discuss application. Definition In Columbia University’s Department of Public Safety, there is a minimum level of on-duty staffing required at all times. Department employees are licensed, uniformed personnel belonging to the Transit Workers’ Union, Local 241. Management is required to ensure sufficient coverage on a daily basis, while conforming to the guidelines of the collective bargaining agreement. Sick time, vacation time, requests for guard services or special details, and emergencies such as natural disasters can create shortages in coverage that need to be addressed. Failure to cover these openings is not an option, and so management is left with two choices: hire additional full-time personnel to cover the openings, or pay overtime – at the rate of one-and-one-half times normal salary. Spending large amounts on overtime raises concerns in multiple areas, such as yearly budget reviews and union negotiations. This report aims to examine the issue in depth, and decide which option is mor e fiscally appropriate in a given situation. Factors and Costs As previously mentioned, there are numerous factors that influence this decision. The following are the most critical points that must be considered: * Department employees are unionized. Due to contractual agreements, the department must maintain all currently occupied positions. Any vacated position must be filled, somewhere in the department; for example, if an officer resigns, the department must fill that vacancy, whether in the same position or laterally, or be found in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. * Note that this is regardless of shortages, and only applies to permanently vacated positions. If the department has three extra officers on a given tour, and one resigns, the department may not continue to operate with two extras; rather, it is necessary to hire a new third extra. If an officer goes out on extended disability, however, it is not contractually necessary to fill that opening. In these cases, the department can cover the shortages, if any, through other means. Hiring remains an option, but the mandate to retain positions applies to newly created positions as well. In effect, if a new officer is hired in this situation, and the disabled officer returns to duty, the department is now obligated to keep both positions filled permanently and has a new minimum level of staffing. * New hires are paid at a rate of 80% salary for the first two years, then 82.5% the third year, 85% the fourth year, then 100% from year five on. * Overtime is paid at one-and-one-half times salary for any work done beyond 40 hours in a week. If an employee works a shift during all 7 days of the pay period, work done on the 7th day is paid at twice salary. * Any mandatory overtime performed without at least one hour of advance notice is paid at double time. This is relevant because when electing to not cover openings with additional personnel, any emergency shortages could lead to mandatory overtime without notice. * Most posts on campus require continuous coverage 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This means there are three distinct tours with their own unique dynamics for coverage. The 8Ãâ€"4 tour, for example, has the highest concentration of senior officers, meaning they accrue more vacation time than junior officers. The summer months are obviously prime time for vacation picks, and two officers are allowed out at a time during summer. This means that summer vacation time is booked solid on the 8Ãâ€"4, so the tour is perennially short two officers all summer. Also, as a medical research facility in addition to a university campus, there are more posts open during the 8Ãâ€"4 tour than any other. As a result, it makes a difference where the shortage occurs. * Shortages on the night tours are easier to absorb, because there are fewer posts, but there is also night differential to consider: any officer working between 4pm and 8am makes an extra stipend of $1.80 per hour for night differentia l. As a fixed bonus separate from salary, however, night differential has no impact on this decision, as shown later. * New employees must be trained for a minimum period of one month before being able to assume post unsupervised and unassisted. This not only reduces the utility of a new hire for the first month, but also reduces the utility of the officers assigned to train him or her. * The department provides, as a service, officers for hire on campus for special events. The department charges $50 hourly for this service per officer assigned. If there is extra coverage on the tour during which the guard service is requested, an officer may be reassigned from a non-mandatory post, at a significant savings to the department. By using already assigned personnel as opposed to paying overtime for another officer in addition to the scheduled non-mandatory officer, the department can significantly reduce the overtime budget. For the purposes of this report, it will be assumed that no overtime is covered in this way, to preserve an empirical comparison of salary costs. * Officers are paid hourly, and thus are a variable labor cost. If the amount of time worked during a pay period changes, the officer’s salary for that period will change accordingly. For the purposes of this report, it will be assumed that labor costs are fixed. All officers not assigned to overtime always work exactly 40 hours per week, and those assigned to overtime always work in increments of exactly 8 hours per additional shift. Docking pay for tardiness will be disregarded. * The department pays an amount equal to 37.7% of each officer’s salary for his or her benefits package. This payment remains in effect so long as the officer is on the University’s payroll, whether or not he or she actually works or is paid. Officers on vacation, sick leave, or disability still incur this cost. While the cost of benefits itself is highly relevant, and will be used extensively in analysis, the fact that disabled officers still incur this cost even when not being paid by the department is not relevant to this discussion. Measurement In trying to determine how best to fill coverage, the most obvious comparison is between costs of a new hire and overtime. As previously stated, overtime is equal to one-and-one-half times salary (S). Cost of overtime can therefore be represented by the equation COT=h(1.5S), where h represents hours worked. New hires, who incur a cost of 37.7% of their salary, have a cost of CNH=h(1.377S). New hires always have a starting salary of 80% of full pay, while officers working longer than two years have a gradually increasing pay scale. One eight hour shift of salary at the rookie wage scale is equal to $149.20. For a third-year officer, that rises to $153.84, then $158.56 for a fourth-year employee. Finally, upon completion of four years of employment, the wage scale tops out at $186.48. A new hire will always work 5 shifts a week, leading to CNH=5(1.377)(149.2), or CNH=1027.24. COT, on the other hand, varies based on how many shifts of overtime are required that week, and the seniority of the officer performing the overtime. Plotting those equations against each other leaves us with the first graph below, labeled Weekly Salaries, New Hires vs Overtime at Each Level of Seniority. As expected, officers receiving full pay cost significantly more to cover with overtime than any other officer, but even at that escalated rate, there would need to be shortages in excess of 3 positions per week to justify hiring a new officer. For all other levels of seniority, 4 shifts of overtime could be covered per week at a lower cost than one new hire. In order to simplify the situation, this report will henceforth take an average of the salary levels and assume that all officers working overtime earn that rate of pay. Weekly Salaries, New Hires vs Overtime at Each Level of Seniority After applying this assumption, full pay is removed as an outlier, and it becomes always less expensive to fill four shifts of overtime than to hire one new officer. Weekly Salaries, New Hires vs Average Overtime Rate for Day Shift As seen in these graphs, the presence of night differential increases cost equally across the board, and therefore has no impact on this decision. Weekly Salaries, New Hires vs Average Overtime Rate for Night Shifts Analysis The graphs provide striking evidence that new hires are significantly more costly for small to reasonable shortages, seemingly four or fewer per week. However, due to the nature of the department, this is an underestimation. Since all three tours need to be covered, and officers must contractually be assigned to a stable tour, each tour must have its own graph. It is clear in every graph above that if there are five or more shifts of overtime per week, it is always less costly to hire a new officer; this is not completely accurate. During a given stretch, if there were expected to be 6 shifts of overtime that need to be filled each week, but the shifts are distributed evenly, with two shortages per tour per week, hiring one new officer will not account for five tours of overtime, but two. As presented by Bob Thomas (2006, p.13), â€Å"adding officers does not automatically reduce an equivalent number of overtime hours by the amount of the actual hours worked.† Thomas explains that while adding officers reduces overtime, it also raises costs disproportionately in an example of diminishing returns, an effect found mirrored in the previous graphs in this report. In essence, hiring additional officers beyond a certain point will produce reduced utility with each new hire. Hiring additional officers will add utility, but at a much higher cost per unit of utility, creating an inefficient Summary The measurements set forth in this report clearly show that only the most extreme of shortages justifies hiring an additional employee from a cost-effectiveness standpoint, but this is not the only factor to consider. Most important among these is the contractual obligation of the department to hire a new officer each time a position is vacated. Fatigue is a concern that is often raised regarding the use of overtime to fill gaps in coverage. Steve Earley’s report for the Riverside Fire Department (2001, p.14) cited studies finding a correlation between the number of hours worked and work-related injuries. The department has already taken steps to mitigate this, as employees are prohibited from working longer than 16 consecutive hours, and are strongly dissuaded from working 7-day weeks. Overtime is also distributed in a rotation, by seniority, so that no one officer has significantly more overtime opportunities than any other. In conclusion, the data is so compelling that whenever possible, shortages should be covered with overtime rather than hiring. Works Cited Earley, S. (2001). An Analysis of the Utilization of Overtime Versus Hiring Additional Personnel. Riverside, CA. Thomas, B. (2006). Corrections Overtime Planning Study. Olympia, WA.

Ethnography on People Who Do Hot Yoga - 3167 Words

Yogis For many people with hectic, stressful lives, relaxation means zoning out in front of the TV at the end of the day or getting some extra sleep at the end of the weekend, but for a certain group of people relaxing does not include this. These people are called yogis; those who achieve relaxation through the art of meditation, breathing, stretching, and finding inner peace. In today’s fast paced society it is hard to find a way to fully relax because people are constantly being forced to push their minds and bodies to the limit, which can result in high levels of stress. Rather than fighting against life’s hardships, people who practice yoga value deep relaxation in order to be free of stress and live each day in peace and harmony†¦show more content†¦Also, the use of cell phones is a big contributor to high levels of stress in people. In an article, â€Å" Stress of Cell Phone Use Disturbs Sleep, Mood,† Dr. Z writes about the effects of cell phone usag e and how it increases people’s stress. He explains, â€Å"A major prospective study over a period of one year of young adults who used their cell phones frequently reveals significant disturbances to sleep patterns, increased stress symptoms, and an increased incidence of clinical depression.† (Dr. Z) A cell phone is something that pushes people to use their minds and can cause a lot of problems. People who do yoga don’t want this fast-paced society to get to their heads, so they choose to exclude anything that will stop them from achieving peace and relaxation. We sat down on a colorful little bench to fill out our forms, and we both agreed to be respectful during the session. While Caroline was still filling out her forms I took a look around the entrance room. There were a lot of peace signs, Buddha’s, and flowers, which made the scenery calm and peaceful. These types of decorations are all a part of achieving inner peace. Peace signs stand for peace, Buddha’s are looking to achieve peace, and flowers are always peaceful and welcoming. Yogis value peace because they are people who are always striving for harmony and balance to reach inner peace. WhenShow MoreRelatedThe Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers10413 Words   |  42 Pagespresent two key theoretical oversights. First, global brands carry meanings that stand in sharp symbolic contrast to local alternatives, meanings that exist against a backdrop of societal anxieties about the power We changed the way people live their lives, what they do when they get up in the morning, how they reward themselves, and where they meet. ( ORà N SMITH, Starbucks CEO) T he marketing success of Starbucks is legion. The Starbucks revolution transformed gourmet coffee from a yuppieRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesAppendix A Research in Organizational Behavior Comprehensive Cases Indexes Glindex 637 663 616 623 Contents Preface xxii 1 1 Introduction What Is Organizational Behavior? 3 The Importance of Interpersonal Skills 4 What Managers Do 5 Management Functions 6 †¢ Management Roles 6 †¢ Management Skills 8 †¢ Effective versus Successful Managerial Activities 8 †¢ A Review of the Manager’s Job 9 Enter Organizational Behavior 10 Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study 11 Disciplines