My Ideas Essay Example for Free

My Ideas Essay Australian vision means that which are seen or imaginative image and people mind. Therefore the phrase †Australian vision† simple means something which are seen or imagined on people’s mind to describe Australian as a unique country. On the film â€Å"Strictly ballroom†, show Australian vision on every figure’s vision was obvious on the mind. One of the ideas about Australian is the multicultural; its obvious vision of the film about Australian’s vision. The vision show on the part of Scott dance Paso doble on Fran’s home, that Australian vision is multicultural. Fran’s family come form Spanish, is different to Scott’s cultural, Scott is a local of Australia, they are living on different cultural, even so they are make friendly and respect each other, happy dance together, enjoy a freedom steps world, Scott looked like a part of the Spanish family, in effect he not a real a Spanish, but it relevantly show sense of Australian is multicultural. We can saw very clearly, Scott is a professional dancer, he always dance wears colorful clothes, dance on dance hall, but in the film of part of dance on Fran’s home, Scott just wears comfortable clothes and dance on the backyard of a house, near railway, the very noise when the train passing. He is happy and enjoys it, dance with Fran’s family, and integrate with the Spanish family. Can be got idea about the vision, the vision for Australian, are multicultural country. On the life in Australia many different colors of people, many different cultural of people, and many different languages of people, the country just like a palette, many different come together, many possibility.

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Finances

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Finances Summary The objective of this research is to study the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on financial performance. The trend of CSR addresses a major challenge in providing a broader representation of the business environment, understood not simply in its economic and financial but also social, human and ecological through an operationalization and verification of the theoretical model proposed in a sample of Tunisian firms, evidenced by a questionnaire sent to 30 companies Tunisian drawn. The results are the lack of link between CSR and financial performance measured by the accounting ROA, while there is a positive if financial performance is measured by ROE. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility of Firms, Financial Performance, Rà ©sumà © Lobjectif de cette recherche est dà ©tudier limpact de la Responsabilità © Socià ©tale de lEntreprise (RSE) sur la performance financià ¨re. La RSE rà ©pond à   un enjeu majeur, en proposant une reprà ©sentation à ©largie de lenvironnement des firmes, entendu non seulement dans ses dimensions à ©conomiques et financià ¨res, mais aussi sociales, humaines et à ©cologiques. A travers, une opà ©rationnalisation et une và ©rification du modà ¨le thà ©orique proposà ©, au niveau dun à ©chantillon dentreprises tunisiennes, matà ©rialisà ©, par un questionnaire adressà © à   30 entreprises tunisiennes tirà © au sort. Les rà ©sultats obtenus relà ¨vent labsence de lien entre la RSE et la performance financià ¨re mesurà ©e par lindicateur comptable ROA, alors quil existe un lien positif si la performance financià ¨re est mesurà ©e par lROE. Mots clà ©s: Responsabilità © Socià ©tale de lEntreprise, Performance Financià ¨re 1- INTRODUCTION In the 1850s, the role of the company was seen as a purely economic, and bounded to the maximization of profit for shareholders. In this regard, such an approach is consistent with a classical view of the firm where management essentially concerns managers and shareholders (Friedman, 1970). Further, the company was faced increased pressure from its stakeholders (Freeman, 1984). In this regard; it should take into account the effects of its activities in the communities where it operates. This brings her back to reconsider its relations with its stakeholders and to reconcile the often conflicting objectives of various interest groups. The idea of social responsibility of business now (CSR) responds to this challenge by providing a broader representation of the business environment, understood not simply in its economic and financial but also social, human and ecological. Any company that wants to ensure its sustainability, an imperative for financial performance, but also should not ignore or largely ignore the societal benefit that is to say, to engage in a societal approach. The objective of this research is twofold , first to study the impact of CSR on financial performance. Second in a more explicit, we wish to study in the target companies in our survey, the degree of perception of the concept of social responsibility through five dimensions namely: economic, legal, ethical, discretionary, and environmental. In this part, our problem is as follows; What is the impact of social responsibility of corporate financial performance? 2. SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COMPANY (CSR): TOWARDS THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW CONCEPT Being responsible is to ensure their actions and their consequences and to accept accountability. But when this term is applied to the company, it is a concept that can be understood in different ways. Nowadays, the definition and delimitation of the concept of social responsibility still the subject of controversy and conceptual differences. So, social responsibility has been the subject of increased attention by many organizations of diverse nature, the European and global institutions, professional associations and business networks, Its emergence is born with Bowen (1953) who scored in the first initiative CSR refers to the requirement for businessmen to carry out the policies, decisions and follow the guidelines spreading objectives and values that are considered desirable in our society. Subsequently, MC Guire (1963) argues in his work that the idea of social responsibility implies that the firm has not only economic or legal obligations but also has responsibilities to society that go beyond these obligations . Then, Davis (1973) emphasizes that CSR refers to the consideration by the business issues that go beyond its economic obligations and the technical equal and close to the answers that gives these companies problems. This means that CSR begins where law ends. For Carroll (1979) CSR integrates all economic expectations, legal, ethical and philanthropic society may have in respect of a company at a time. While Jones (1980) stresses the idea that companies, by then the statutory or contractual obligation to have a societal actors. Similarly, Wood (1991) anchors his discussion on the meaning of the liability can be seen that through the interplay of three principles: legitimacy, public responsibility and distinction of three levels of institutional analysis, organizational and individual. In reality, these definitions are generally content to highlight the discretionary nature of CSR, highlighting the fact that it recognized the dimensions beyond the purely economic or legal activity of the company. What brought Carroll (1979) distinguish four categories of CSR: The economic responsibility The legal liability, Responsibility Ethics Responsibility discretion. 2.1 Approaches to CSR measures Measuring CSR is a necessary condition for knowledge of their own social responsibility and thus to control environmental and social impacts. Assessing the social and environmental performance, the establishment of a steering system for the performance and accountability on these external dimensions imply the existence of metrics to assess the quality of management of the business related non-financial. In fact, the existence of these metrics is also of particular importance to other stakeholders that ethical investors who require such information to select the best performing companies on the main criteria the quality of resource management Human and respect for human rights. This leads companies to establish a legal and socio-technical infrastructure to make measurable CSR stakeholders. In theoretical terms, the extent of CSR faces similar problems to those identified to define the concept of CSR: the multiplicity of approaches and dimensions of this complex concept, difficult to r eport objectively its components more subjective often linked to an assessment based on criteria related to ethics or a social context. 2.1.1 Measuring CSR in the academic literature Among the different methods of measurement of CSR that have been used, we can distinguish five categories: Measures of speech, such as content analysis of annual reports, which are to be based on remarks made by companies to assess their CSR, for example by counting the number of lines or words dedicated to themes CSR in the annual report of a company; Indicators of pollution provided by some agencies to assess the pollution of businesses, such as the Toxic Release Inventory in the U.S., or for example measurements of the diffusion of CO2 by businesses; Measures of attitudes and values aimed at assessing the sensitivity of members of the organization (eg managers, employees) to the various dimensions of CSR and are generally administered in the form of a questionnaire; Measures of reputation, such as the indicator of reputation developed by Markowitz in the 1970s in the American magazine Fortune, which includes criteria related to CSR that are assessed by a panel of industry experts to which operates within the enterprise in question; The behavioral measures or audit, developed by the agencies that specialize in the assessment of social behavior and environmental responsibility, such as the U.S. KLD, EIRIS in Britain or in France Vigeo. 3. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: DEFINITION Performance is tried to rely on market efficiency that ensures the best allocation of resources and rejects any notion of corporate responsibility other than making profit for its shareholders. As a design performance based on an external view (the current shareholders and potential), often linked to the stock exchange during the action of the company. The performance measures are thus based on data from financial statements. The control and management are geared towards the minimization of costs and return on investment. It is a large building which includes questions on the financial performance within the organization. For a financial indicator, the financial performance of the organization is measured by its financial validity, such as accessibility to different sources of funding or its profitability compared to its investments, its assets or its equity. 2.1 MEASUREMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE According to empirical studies, accounting measures provide most of the time positive correlations between CSR and financial performance. (Cochran and Wood, 1994; Waddock and Graves, 1997; Preston and O Bannon, 1997; Stanwick and Stanwick, 1998; Balabanis, Hugh and Jonathan, 1998, Moore, 2001; Rufetal, 2001). In addition, these measures from the accounts have the advantage of providing a more relevant measure of economic performance of the company and predict a more reliable the possible link between CSR and financial performance. On the other hand, the stock market measures have the advantage of being less prone to managerial manipulation. Especially since they represent scores of investors on the business ability to generate economic benefits (Mc Guire et al, 1988). However, these variables are evaluated specific investor and does not allow to reveal the economic reality of the business (Ullmann, 1985), the results that emerge from studies using measures such as stock market are mi xed, Markovitz, (1972) found a positive relationship, Vance (1975) proves otherwise, and Buchotz Alexander (1978) found a weak correlation or no. Griffin and Mahon (1997) stress that results from market-related measures are mostly negative and called for greater use of accounting measures. To better understand the financial performance and provide a more comprehensive or less of the latter, further research incorporating both measures at a time (Mc Guire, et al, 1988; Balabanis, Hugh and Jonathan, 1998, Moore, 2001 ; Seifert; Maurras and Barktkus, 2003, 2004). 4. SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 4.1 CSR and financial performance: theoretical approaches 4.1.1 The existence of a relationship between CSR and financial performance The theoretical approaches to corporate social responsibility are essentially based on the current contract philosophers and sociological neo-institutionalism. They particularly questioned the compatibility between market logic and the goal of maximum profit that underpin the economic rationale of the business and societal concerns such as sustainable development, intergenerational equity, the general interest which are purposes prior to appearing foreign or contrary to the entrepreneurial logic. In other words, the exercise of social responsibility of business is it an impossible synthesis between the collective demands long-term expectations and short-term private? The theoretical basis is between two opposite poles: on one side, the neoclassical theories, based on market efficiency, reject any idea of social responsibility of business other than making profit for its shareholders (Friedman, 1970). On the other, theories that mobilize a teleological principle and argue that there i s a moral responsibility of policy makers towards future generations and a large number of societal problems. However, the only approach moralistic-ethical is not sufficient to illuminate the strategic behavior of firms in the societal area because it does not understand the motivations of corporate behavior. In this approach, stakeholders influence policy decisions of leaders and they are accountable to them about how they took into account their expectations. 4.2 The stakeholder theory From the 1980s, the theory of stakeholders (Stakeholders theory) is gradually accepted as a framework to further specify the groups vis-à  -vis what the enterprise is (or should exercise) its societal responsibilities. The work of Freeman (1984) popularized this theory by proposing to define as stakeholder all persons or groups who are likely to affect and / or be affected by the conduct of the strategy of undertaking. The theory of stakeholder theory is now the most frequently mobilized both by researchers as actors in the business. She entered the company at the heart of a set of relationships with partners who are not only shareholders (Shareholders), but players interested in or affected by the activities and business decisions. The stakeholder theory is not exempt from a normative vision and ethics but it seeks to integrate economic goals: it states that cooperation contracts establish trust between the firm and its stakeholders and provides a competitive advantage the company. One might wonder whether the inclusion of stakeholder expectations is not rather the result of traditional rules of management that the outcome of a deliberative process of integrating moral principles. Despite its omnipresence in all the literature on corporate social responsibility, this theory remains ambiguous about its theoretical basis and presents a number of limitations. On the one hand, it is part of a relational representation of the organization based on fair contracts that involve conflicts of interest may be resolved by ensuring a maximization of the interests of each group. On the other hand, it would be unrealistic to consider a comprehensive consideration of all potential stakeholders. The rationality of leaders is necessarily limited by the urgency of the problems, pressures and information systems available to them that they decided to put in place. A first theoretical approach suggests that the company is more successful socially; it is more efficient economically and financially. Instead, the company will be more economically efficient and less it will be socially. Finally, beyond these two extreme views, it is possible to consider the assumptions of positive and negative synergy that cross the different conceptual foundations. With these assumptions also added a generic assumption of neutrality of interactions: Gond, 2001) and assuming a more complex relationship. 5. CSR and financial performance: Many theoretical explanations The theoretical explanations to clarify the nature of the relationship between societal and financial performance are numerous. They can be organized into three distinct categories: explanations postulating the existence of linear relationships between these two constructs, explanations suggesting no link between the two constructs, and finally explanations assume the existence of nonlinear relationships between these two variables. 5.1 The models suggest a positive link between CSR and performance Two theoretical models support the idea of a positive impact of CSR on financial performance (Social Impact Hypothesis) and the assumption of funds available as excess resources available to discretionary managers or Organizational Slack (Available Fund Hypothesis). According to the hypothesis of positive social impact, companies with a high level of CSR demonstrate their ability to master the implicit costs and negative externalities of the organization and report to stakeholders and the quality of their management. The theory of stakeholders (Stakeholders theory) that establishes the hypothesis of the influence of social practices, has created a vast literature on the interaction between CSR and firm performance (Freeman, 1984, Cornell and Shapiro, 1987; Ullmann, 1985, Clarkson 1995, Donaldson and Preston, 1995): Satisfaction with the business objectives of stakeholders promotes the improvement of economic and financial performance (Freeman, 1984). The second model, that of Organizational Slack addresses the link between social performance and economic performance by proposing the idea that this is not the social responsibility that is the condition for obtaining a high level financial performance but, instead, the level of financial performance which allows the company to engage in socially responsible actions. Mc Guire et al, (1988) reported that financial performance could improve the level of social performance and their work has been partially confirmed those by Preston et al, (1991). The profitability of the business differential is then a condition of social behavior; Kraft and Hadges (1990) have shown that excess resources and the attitude of managers towards society strongly influence the level of responsibility social enterprises. 5.2 The models suggest a negative relationship between CSR and financial performance Unlike the two previous models, others say that companies realize the best social performance are also those with the worst economic performance and vice versa in this spirit, a negative relationship between societal performance and financial performance dominates. The literature suggests two models that assume a negative relationship between CSR and performance, distinguished by the nature of causality assumed. The first model Trade-Off Hypothesis or assumptions arbitration assumes that the inclusion of corporate social responsibility involves additional financial costs resulting therefore a competitive disadvantage (Friedman, 1962, 1970). In this perspective, any move away from socially responsible leaders of their goal of maximizing profits (Aupperle, Carroll and Hatzfeld, 1985). Drucker (1984, p.58) states that making a profit is fundamentally incompatible with the social responsibility of business 5.3 The models suggest a positive or negative synergy The typology developed by Preston and OBannon (1997) suggests two hypotheses that are based on different theoretical approaches outlined above. Indeed, in the context of a comprehensive model explaining it is possible to envisage a virtuous circle (positive synergy): a high level of social performance leads to improved financial performance that provides the opportunity to reinvest in social actions responsible (Waddock and Graves, 1997). In contrast, a low level of societal performance led to a decline in financial performance limits, therefore, socially responsible investment (negative synergy). 5.4 The models suggest a missing link The conceptual contributions of Mc Williams and Siegel (2001) lead Gond (2001) to complete the typology of Preston and O Bannon (1997) by formulating the hypothesis of no link between the two dimensions. Indeed, Mc Williams and Siegel (2001) propose a model of supply and demand for social responsibility that helps explain the lack of consensus results obtained by empirical academic studies. According to them, there is a supply and demand for social responsibility, in a standard micro, who led each of them to invest socially to meet the demand of stakeholders. Market equilibrium cancels costs and profits generated by successively supply of social responsibility. This approach leads to a hypothesis of neutrality of interactions between social performance and financial performance. 5.5 The models suggest a more complex relationship The results obtained by Bowman and Haire (1975) led Moore (2001) also refine the typology of Preston and OBannon (1997) and the hypothesis of positive relationship between more complex two-dimensional. Indeed, Bowman and Haire (1975) but also, more recently, Barnett and Salomon (2003) showed a non-linear U-shaped inverted between social performance and financial performance, indicating an optimum level beyond which socially responsible investment longer improves financial performance. The multiplicity of theoretical hypotheses advanced to explain the nature of interactions between CSR and financial performance has led to develop empirical tests to define the conditions of validity of the various mechanisms invoked.. 6. CSR and financial performance: empirical approaches Clarification of the economic impact of CSR has always been a major concern in the field of study on the relationship between business and society. It is therefore not surprising that empirical work on this issue have been very numerous, there were in 2007 more than 160 empirical studies on the subject. This work focused on the nature of interactions between the firms ability to achieve a high level of CSR and financial performance by studying the interactions between on the one hand, social performance (or societal) Company (CSR) and, secondly, its financial performance (FP). These interactions have been studied mainly through two levels of analysis we will present successively: Many publications over the last twenty years have highlighted the link between social responsibility and financial performance of the company. But these studies show conflicting results do not establish clearly the existence of a positive or negative relationship between social responsibility and financial firms (Preston and OBannon, 1997; Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Mac Williams and Siegel , 2001, Margolis and Walsh, 2002). The lack of theoretical foundation and conceptual studies, lack of uniformity in evaluation of social responsibility and financial and methodological shortcomings found explain the poor results obtained. Studies most recent research (Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Roman Hayibor and Agle, 1999, Margolis and Walsh, 2003) found a slight advantage for the detection of positive links between societal performance and financial performance . The synthesis of the literature identifies 122 studies published between 1971 and 2001 with an accelerating pace of recently published (35 studies between 1997 and 2001) and far (2007) on more than 160 empirical studies on this subject, but also this research were sometimes biased in the direction of the illumination of a positive relationship. For example, the 122 education fifty and claim a positive association between social responsibility and financial performance twenty get mixed results, twenty seven indicate no ties and seven observed a negative relationship. 6.1 The hypothesis of impact-social Social Impact Hypothesis According to (Freeman 1984, Donaldson and Preston, 1995), stakeholder theory has explained the origin of the favorable influence social behavior on financial performance. Indeed, CSR is an indicator of the ability of business to effectively meet the demands of various stakeholders. This has consequently regained their confidence and thus improve profitability (Balabanis, Hugh and Jonathan, 1998). Waddock and Graves (1997) speak of Good Management Theory that there is a high correlation between good management practice and CSR, simply because an improvement in social activity entails a special relationship with Key Stakeholders Groups (Freeman, 1984), implying more performance. In addition, a review of empirical literature confirms a positive relationship between the two components (Mc Guire et al, 1988; Waddock and Graves, 1997; Preston and OBannon, 1997; Verschoor, 1998, Stanwick and Stanwick, 1998; Mc Williams and Siegel, 2000, Moore 2001, Ruf et al, 2001, Orlitsky, 2001; Kohers an d Simpson, 2002). Allouche and Laroche (2005) identified 82 research, 75 of them have found a positive link, while Margolis and Walsh (2003) who counted 54 out of 127 studies confirming the positive relationship. Hence our first hypothesis H1: Social responsibility has a positive impact on financial performance. 6.2 The Trade-Off Hypothesis This hypothesis refers to the classical theory of Friedman (1962, 1970) that CSR is an investment that increases costs and takes place at the expense of financial performance. For example a decision to invest in equipment acquisition environmentally friendly while other competitors do not, can generate a competitive disadvantage. Hence the reduction in profitability which may cause discontent among shareholders. This finding was also confirmed by Aupperle et al, (1985), the authors conclude that social activities such as donation to charity, environmental protection and community development dissipate more resources and generate additional costs, which disadvantages the company against its competitors less engaged in social actions. Searches return the negative relationship to abnormalities in particular methodological tools to measure financial performance. The negative association is due to the use of market variables as a measure of financial performance (Griffin and Mahon, 1997). In reality, the number of studies that lead to a negative relationship is very small, Margolis and Walsh (2003) identify 127 studies dealing with the subject in question, and they found that only 8 of them expect a negative correlation between the two dimensions. of where our second hypothesis H2: The social responsibility has a negative impact on financial performance. 6.3 The lack of connection between the two dimensions Some authors suggest that CSR and financial performance are both built entirely separate. Ullmann (1995) emphasizes that the link from a pure coincidence. The correlation is generated, according to the author, by intervening variables that occur in an unpredictable manner and that link the two constructs. Meanwhile, Waddock and Graves (1997) show that the methodological problems in operationalizing CSR tend to obscure the link. A multitude of empirical studies have provided no link between the two dimensions (Aupperle et al, 1985; Fogler and Nutt, 1975; Abbot and Monsen, 1979, Freedman and Jaggi, 1986; ONeil, Mark Saunders and Carthey 1989; Seifert, Maris and Barkus, 2004, Graves and Waddock, 1999). Others state that the link is weak or nonexistent (Alexander and Bchholz 1978, Cochran and Wood, 1984; Krauz and Pava, 1996; Berman et al, 1999; Balabanis, Hugh and Jonathan, 1998, Seifert and Morris Barktkus , 2003). Griffin and Mahon (1997), Balaban, Hugh and Jonathan (1998) found that the results are inconclusive: the variables selected do not distinguish between successful firms and inefficient firms. In this context, our third hypothesis H3: There is no link between social responsibility and financial performance. 7. CSR and financial performance: The effect of control variables Research has shown that the relationship between CSR and financial performance is not absolute, it must take into account the weight of the elements of each company (Ullmann, 1985; Waddock and Graves, 1997) and are likely to moderate the relationship between the two constructs. These characteristics are operationalized as control variables. 7.1 The effect risk The risk is variable, with several studies in different contexts have shown that it controls the relationship between the two dimensions. The argument assumes the risk that companies have a low risk to commit advantage in social activities, and vice versa. Companies with low risk have a stable performance model, and therefore, this situation seems very conducive to investment in social activities (Roberts, 1992). Aupperle et al, (1985) postulate that firms more socially responsible are identified as being better managed and risks are minimal. This finding is especially approved by the study of Mc Guire et al, (1988); ONeil, Mark Saunders and Carthey (1989), Waddock and Graves (1997), Graves and Waddock (1999). In contrast, Aupperle et al, (1985) found a correlation, positive correlation between CSR and risk accounting, and negative but not significant between CSR and market risk. 7.2 The effect size The argument for the size stipulated that organizations undertake major advantage in social actions; small organizations do not give importance to social activity (Waddock and Graves, 1997). Burke et al, (1986) argue that companies, as and as they grow, give more attention to external factors and better meet the demands of stakeholders, Stanwick and Stanwick (1998) found that size, measured by the volume of sales and total assets is positively related to CSR. Mc Guire et al (1988) find a positive but not significant between CSR and the size measured by total assets. 7.3 The effect sector The sector as designed in the literature is a moderating effect of CSR and PF relationship, eg the extent of the consideration of environmental responsibility by a chemical company is not the same a financial institution. A plurality of researchers took into account the control variable as in include: Waddock and Graves, 1997, Griffin and Mahon, 1997, Graves and Waddock, 1999; Balabanis, Hugh and Jonathan, 1998, McWilliams and Siegel 2000, Moore 2001, Ruf et al, 2001; Seifer, Morris and Barktkus, 2003.2004. 8. theoretical model 9. METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH The objective of empirical research is to empirically test our research hypotheses and the theoretical model proposed. In order to test the validity of our assumptions on a sample drawn from all Tunisian companies, we proceeded by two steps the first is to measure the perception of Tunisian companies to the concept of CSR and then study the impact of this latest financial performance. Through our research, we chose the method of direct interview, and for several reasons, we conduct a field investigation, by adopting the technique of direct investigation on the basis of a questionnaire. The survey covered a sample of 30 Tunisian companies selected from different sectors. 9.1 The scale of measurement of CSR predictor For measurement of CSR, we will adopt that developed by Maignan et al (1999), which forms part of the work on measuring social performance. This scale operationalizes the concept of social performance by measuring the dimensions of the construct. In fact, two major scales have been developed in this perspective: The oldest is that of Aupperle, Carroll and Hatfield (1985) measuring the orientation of managers towards social responsibility, the latest and most complete is that of organizational citizenship Maignan et al. (1999), reused by Maignan and Ferrell (2001). These two instruments take over the traditional classification in four types of social responsibilities of Carroll (1979): economic, legal, ethical and discretionary or philanthropic organizations that are a reflection of society see the company actively engaged in its local environment and / or global defense of social causes and public interest. Regarding the scale of Aupperle et al (1985), it is intended to measure only the views of leaders on the relative importance of each of the four dimensions of social responsibility of business. While the scale of Maignan et al. (1999) is designed to gather perceptions of the social performance of the business stakeholders throughout the company (Maignan and Ferrell, 2001). Indeed, the scale was constructed from academic studies describing activities commonly accepted as citizens by the three main stakeholders ie employees, customers, stakeholders public. These authors manage this work, mainly to executives (Maignan et al 1999, Maignan and Ferrell, 2001) to have completed the questionnaire as relevant as the leaders and general information about the company cutting. Hence, our questionnaire has five dimensions are those of Carroll (1979), added an environmental dimension whose items are inspired by the Global Compact (1999). This choice is argued by the importance it attaches to the environment today, and the pressures that companies face to reflect the impact of its activities on the environment in which it operates, it is relevant namely the impact of the inclusion of the natural environment on the financial performance of Tunisian firms.

Neoclassic vs Baroque Essay -- Essays Papers

Neoclassic vs Baroque The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David is Neoclassic art style. The painting shows Socrates, condemned to death, calm and at peace, discussing the immortality of the soul. Surrounded by his grieving friends and students, he is teaching and philosophizing. His wife was dismissed to the hallway to grieve due to her weakness. Plato is depicted as an old man seated at the foot of the bed. Socrates has the body of a young athlete, as well as others in the painting. Each one of the twelve subjects surrounding him is meticulously drawn in detail. The dramatic use of light and dark (chiaroscuro) is seen in the focus, or emphasis, towards Socrates. There are definitive lines on the walls. These create shadows in the room and in the hallway. The texture of the floor and walls seem smooth and hard. The cloaks worn are colorful and seem soft to the touch. The painting has a high degree of communicative value do to the variety of colors used. In Neoclassical art, the emphasis is on form, simplicity, proportion and restrained emotion. The aesthetic attitudes and principles were based on the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome in antiquity. It invokes characteristics such as harmony, clarity, restraint, universality and idealism. The artists of this period concerned themselves with human affairs ruled by reason, the outgrowth of the Enlightenment. There was a regard for tradition and reverence for the classics, with an...

The Importance of Airline Safety Essay -- Airlines Airplanes Aviation

The Importance of Airline Safety Many people travel by airplane all around the world. For some people it is the only way they can get to where they are going. On a daily basis, averages of 28 to 30,000 seats are filled on airplanes (Bear, Stearns Co. URL www.hotelonline.com). At each airport, there are hundreds of arrivals and departures worldwide. Even though airline officials say flying is safe, accidents kill many people because airlines neglect to prevent human error or repair faulty equipment. Sometimes I think the only reason an airplane could crash is if something on the plane were to break. However, most of the time that is not the case. A survey conducted by Boeing found that flight crews were responsible for at least seventy-three percent of all fatal airplane accidents. (Gray 17). Forty-one percent of these accidents occurred during landing because of unstable approaches. Also an investigation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on the causes of airline accidents revealed that more than eighty percent of all airline accidents involved some degree of human error (Helmreich 62). This is very alarming when people are putting their lives in the hands of flight crews. Forty-four passengers died aboard a new British Midland 737 after its crew shut down the wrong engine after the other one malfunctioned (Greenwald 40). Do you really think that flying on an airplane, over which you have absolutely no control is very safe? Reasons for flight crew error can be explained by the conditions under which they are flying. Flight crew fatigue is a largely increasing problem on many of the jumbo jet flights today. Although there are laws that prohibit cockpit crews from sleeping in flight, there have been many weary pilots that have been known to nod off on occasion during some of their seventeen hour, non-stop flights (Urquhart 15). Perhaps laws should regulate the number of hours a flight crew is in the air instead of prohibiting sleep in flight. Another condition, alcohol abuse, has been found to inhibit the abilities of some flight crews. A northwest crew flying from North Dakota to Minnesota was found to be intoxicated on the job ("Air Safety" 61). Some people refuse to drive at night because of the number of drunk drivers on the road. Would passengers want a drunken pilot to be responsible for their... ... since the 1960s (Shrontz 40). Getting to some places throughout the world depend solely on air travel; therefore, people must trust their lives to flight crews, safety inspectors, and maintenance crews and believe that all problems are being addressed and corrected. Bibliography 1. Bear, Stearns, Co. Internet Connection. URL www.hotelonline.com 2. "Air Safety". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Business Notes. 26 March 1990: 61. 3. Gray, Paul. "Our Regularly Scheduled Crash" Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Grapevine. 20 August 1990: 17. 4. Greenwald, John. "Tarnished Wings". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Business Notes. 13 March 1989: 40. 5. Helmreich, R.L. "Managing Human Error in Aviation". Scientific American. May 1997:62. 6. Nelan, Bruce W. "Are 747s Safe To Fly". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Europe. 19 October 1992: 52. 7. "New Qualms about the DC-10". Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Nation. 7 August 1989:20. 8. Urquhart, Sidney. "This is Your Captain Snoring" Time Magazine. Compact Publishing, Inc. Grapevine. 7 October 1991: 15.

Iago of Shakespeares Othello :: free essay writer

Iago of Othello Of all the characters presented in Shakespeare's literature the most sinister one is without a doubt Iago. He is a ruthless sociopath. No other character can even come close to his evil. Most of the antagonists present in Shakespeare's plays have valid reasons for the troubles the cause. Iago doesn't for the most part he just has a burning hatred for the world especially Othello. Iago is the whole reason there is any conflict in Othello . If he never had entered the play Othello would have married Desdimonia and they would have lived happily ever after. Right from the beginning of the play to the very end he causes conflicts. He is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of: Othello Desdimona, Emilia, Cassio, and Roderigo. Which happen to be all of the main characters. I believe Shakespeare didn't just want Iago's character to be evil. I think he wanted him more to symbolize it. All of the problems he causes are through lies, treachery, manipulation, and a deep unknown hate. Some of his hate is fueled by jealousy and revenge. The ironic part is that he wants to be known as "honest Iago". Every act contains an evil plot set up by Iago. They all play into his "grand scheme". In the very beginning of act 1 Iago displays his hatred for Othello. He is angry at him for making Cassio the lieutenant. Jealousy is his first motif. He than tells Roderigo (a fo rmer suitor of Desdimonia) that Othello and Desdimonia are getting married. The two of them then go and tell Desdimonia's father, Brabantio that Othello and his daughter just got eloped. This infuriates Brabantio. Soon after Brabantio gets a gang after Othello. Iago's treachery is first displayed hear. When Othello is confronted Iago is on his side. Iago was the person who insighted the whole ordeal. Act 1-3 is where Iago pieces together his whole sinister plot to get revenge. He first tells Roderigo to sell his lands and move to Cypress to court Desdimonia. The last stanza is where he manifests his "grand scheme". His idea is to get Othello into thinking Cassio is in love with Desdimonia. That way Cassio will be dismissed from lieutenant and Othello will lose Desdimonia. Shakespeare does a very good job in showing what kind of person Iago is right from the beginning of the play. Iago of Shakespeare's Othello :: free essay writer Iago of Othello Of all the characters presented in Shakespeare's literature the most sinister one is without a doubt Iago. He is a ruthless sociopath. No other character can even come close to his evil. Most of the antagonists present in Shakespeare's plays have valid reasons for the troubles the cause. Iago doesn't for the most part he just has a burning hatred for the world especially Othello. Iago is the whole reason there is any conflict in Othello . If he never had entered the play Othello would have married Desdimonia and they would have lived happily ever after. Right from the beginning of the play to the very end he causes conflicts. He is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of: Othello Desdimona, Emilia, Cassio, and Roderigo. Which happen to be all of the main characters. I believe Shakespeare didn't just want Iago's character to be evil. I think he wanted him more to symbolize it. All of the problems he causes are through lies, treachery, manipulation, and a deep unknown hate. Some of his hate is fueled by jealousy and revenge. The ironic part is that he wants to be known as "honest Iago". Every act contains an evil plot set up by Iago. They all play into his "grand scheme". In the very beginning of act 1 Iago displays his hatred for Othello. He is angry at him for making Cassio the lieutenant. Jealousy is his first motif. He than tells Roderigo (a fo rmer suitor of Desdimonia) that Othello and Desdimonia are getting married. The two of them then go and tell Desdimonia's father, Brabantio that Othello and his daughter just got eloped. This infuriates Brabantio. Soon after Brabantio gets a gang after Othello. Iago's treachery is first displayed hear. When Othello is confronted Iago is on his side. Iago was the person who insighted the whole ordeal. Act 1-3 is where Iago pieces together his whole sinister plot to get revenge. He first tells Roderigo to sell his lands and move to Cypress to court Desdimonia. The last stanza is where he manifests his "grand scheme". His idea is to get Othello into thinking Cassio is in love with Desdimonia. That way Cassio will be dismissed from lieutenant and Othello will lose Desdimonia. Shakespeare does a very good job in showing what kind of person Iago is right from the beginning of the play.

Motivational factors on the employee’s commitment Essay

Today’s organizations and companies want their enterprise to be around in the future, successful and sustainable; avoiding the risk of performance or any negative effect. They consist of employees known as personnel that turned into human resources. Some of the major factors shaping the outcome are the quality that you hold: if employees are the right people; how the manager could keep it up; how they can be motivated for good performance. Motivation is a necessary tool for management or leadership providing a reason to employees to perform in a certain way. In addition, the essay will include the academic background of motivation theories as that of Herzberg, Maslow, Adams and Vroom. Setting goals is an essential motivating process and has been the focus of recent research and theory on work motivation (Locke and Latham, 1990). Thus, examples would be provided for further and practical explanation of theories, as the cases of Starbucks, Freese and Nichols (FNI) and Apple†™s iPhone. At the start of the 20th century fundamental theories of motivation are presented, models about what motivates workers and their responses. Several theories of motivation try to analyze and estimate who wants, what and why. This is the reason why the theories of Herzberg, Maslow, Adams and Vroom have implications on the contemporary business. First, the bigger portion of Herzberg is that he developed the motivation –hygiene theory, which believes that there are many factors that workers could be motived. Byhese factors generate satisfaction and dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg (1959) accomplishment, the work itself, responsibility, growth and recognition, and company policies, work  conditions, supervision including relations with peers and management, salary causing respectively the two different distinctions. Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction portrait two different human needs driven by salary to purchase shelter and food and by actions leading to grow and attain (Herzberg, 1987). However, job satisfaction does not imply always-high level of productivity or excellence of motivation response. Practicing in business, the challenge at work is to raise the utility of ability of employee leading to the growth of responsibility levels. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and Maslow’s are the main theories of motivation. Continuing with Maslow’s model, Maslow classifies the human needs and examines how the classifications are connected to each other. A person starts at the bottom level, where they try to satisfy basic needs (food and house). When the needs have been fulfilled, there are no longer a motiving force and the individual goes to the next stage. Moving on the rest hierarchy; we can recognize safety needs (loss or protection against unemployment), social needs (communication, teamwork), esteem needs (human to be accepted and valued by others, respect from others) and self-actualization (how people think about themselves) (Maslow, 1954). If the management can find which level of need each employee expects, they can then decide corresponding rewards. Besides, one of the most relevant process theories of motivation is Adams’ Equity Theory. According to Adams, the theory argues the comparison of employee’s job input and outcome and also the same with that of other person at the same level (Mowday, 1991). Adam identified inputs as characteristics (age, sex, education, social status) that guide individual to ‘’social exchange’’ for an effort. Outcomes are specified as the benefits, the rewards or privileges (money, work duties, better status, power, authority). The employee is not moved to an action when there is a balance between inputs and outcomes, because they are already satisfied and equality exists. However, if the individual notices that the ratio of outcome/input is less than that of expected, then inequality exists and motivation forces start to build up the lost equity. It should be noted that there are two main different ways to restore the equity. Either the individual might choos e higher outcome based on their lower inputs, or reduce the inputs in relation  to the same outcome (Adams, 1965). The actual purpose is the equality between input and outcome. Therefore, inequality could be when the employee is either over-rewarded or under-rewarded (Fok et al, 2000). It was initially proposed in the early 1960s the Expectancy Theory by Victor Vroom, which premises the significance of motivation. The theory tries to examine why individuals choose specific behavior or action. According to Vroom (1964), there are three central components; Expectancy (effort leading to a particular level of performance); Instrumentality (that performance will lead to outcomes); Valence (the value that the individual places on the outcome). Droar (2006) suggests that for a person to be motivated the key elements must be linked. Otherwise, Porter and Lawler (1971) argue that Expectancy theory needs to be updated, because it includes some flaws. For example, an employer gives a reward, such as a promotion or financial bonus hence the employees will bonus their productivity to gain the reward. However, this only works if the employees believe the reward is favora ble to their actual needs. Apple is a company that can be used to exemplify the theory of Herzberg. Behind Apple and the design of products by employees is the psychology of extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics driven by the question ‘’Will I enjoy using this product myself? ‘’. The extrinsic motivation is based on rewards for executives by giving them 3%-5% bonus of their salary. Next, all Apple employees receive discounts on products or they might receive free iPhone or iPad if they are on the developing team (Issaacson, 2011). This is more efficient than the increase of the salary as long as they see in front of their eyes the results of the effort, but also it is cheaper for Apple. In addition, intrinsic motivation is driven by corporate culture. Employees are weightily committed to their job, as ‘’monotonous encoding’’ that they enjoy it (Issaacson, 2011). The culture of Apple was forced by Steve Job. What motived him to follow his dream and his heart was the passion, creating innovative products based on enjoying using himself rather than to bring profits to Apple. The core principles for this are: Do something direct for your life; Get better and better at something that matters; There is no reason not to follow your instinc ts and your heart, nothing to lose (Awareness of his death) ; Understand that you live only once. Apple is a company that works and thinks outside the box helping people to change the world (Gladwell,2011). Furthermore, Freese and  Nichols (FNI) is a practical example of expectancy theory. FNI is the first engineering/architecture firm to receive this honour. Employees are trained to improve quality in the work and seminars and FNI University training offered by the company. Workers have the authority to work on their own. In 2010 FNI gained the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. In addition, Starbucks Corporation, the most famous chain of coffee shops in the world, attracts customers for its quality and the good value for money while the prices are high. Beyond, the employees are also satisfied. Major motivational principle of king of coffee is the equity, meaning how fair the employees are treated by the employers during their work (Economist.com , 2009). For Starbucks employees are partners, not just employees, giving them valuable knowledge and training and providing them with rewards and benefits. Besides, Starbucks offer a creative and excellent work place, as part of ethics program, where the company treats its ‘’partners’’ with respect and prestige. Motivation theories should be examined in a deeper and macro level. Firms corporate operate and have subsidiaries in different countries, where there are different employees around the world with different cultures and values. It is complicated for an organization to motivate different cultures, for the reason why each has different temperament and the ranking of needs differs among cultures. The motivation to work differs across cultures and this could be illustrated the following example. In countries where there is high risk of economic failure the reward of success is low, like Greece, where there is an enthusiasm for work because the deep recession. Great enthusiasm for work could be found when high uncertainty of outcome combined with positive reward (Triandis,1982). To conclude, according to the background theories, personal goals are contributing to the developing of human behavior. They are used by individuals to monitor, to modify and evaluate their behavior. Generally speaking, motivation can be preferential and selective aspect of particular behavior. It should be understood that motivation is important for the explanation of force toward a particular behavior or action. Vroom’s expectancy theory also places emphasis on the importance of motivation in the explanation of why people choose a particular action or behavior. Managers’ responsibility is to inspire, empower, envision and motivate employees for the fulfillment of their needs based on the different cultural  background. References Adams, J. (1963) Towards an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67 p.422-436. Adams, J. (1965) Inequity in social exchange . Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press. Droar, J. (2006) Expectancy theory of motivation. Economist.com (2009) Woke up, smelled the coffee. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/14536977 [Accessed: 23rd October 2012 ]. Fok, L. et al. (2000) Human factors affecting the acceptance of total quality management. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 17 (7), p.714-729. Freese and Nichols Website (2010) Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Report. [online] Available at: http://www.freese.com/sites/default/files/Malcolm%20Baldrige%20Service%20Sheet.pdf. Gladwell, M. (2011) The Tweaker: The Real Genius of Steve Jobs. New York:. Herzberg, F. (1987) One more time:How do you motivate employees. Harvard Business Review, 65 (5), p.109-120. Herzberg, F. et al. (1959) The Motivation of work. 2nd ed. Barbara B. Snyderman:. Isaacson, W. (2011) Steve Jobs. New York: Simon and Schuster. Locke, E. and Latham, G. (1990) A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance. Prentice Hall: Englewood, NJ. Maslow, A. (1954) Motivation and personality. New York: Harper and Row New York, p.91-93 , 256. Mowday, R. (1991) Motivation and work. New York: McGraw-Hill. Porter, L. and Lawler, E. (1968) Managerial Attitudes and Performance. Homewood: IL:Richard D. Irwin Inc. Triandis, H. (1982) Cross-Cultural Management :Conceptual Analyses. International Studies of Management and Organization, 12 (4). Vroom, V. (1964) Work and Motivation. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

A Review of Potential Teacher Development Opportunities

TABLE OF CONTENT Topics Page Numbers 1 A Review of Potential Teacher Development Opportunities in Improving Literacy Skills of EAL Pupils Introduction This evaluative essay focuses on reviewing teacher professional development strategies in using assessment for learning (AfL) to improve English as an additional language (EAL) for primary pupils in England.Teaching is a difficult job. Improvement and constant development are therefore necessary to ease the burden of hardworking teachers. As a result, teacher professional development is a mandatory requirement in many jurisdictions (Wiliam, 2011). Shimahara (1998) stated that teacher professional development is a typical concern in industrialized countries because it is the key to improving teaching. However, William (2011) mentioned that teachers feel inundated as they are continuously ‘bombarded’ with innovative strategies to increase their working efficiency.Keeping teacher professional development in mind, the focus he re also relates to the teaching and learning of English as an additional language. Globalisation plays a major role in stressing equal opportunities and social equity for all learners. Due to the long tradition of migration trends across the globe, the international concerns also encompass of contextualise social justice for multi-lingual learners (Cajkler and Hall, 2009). To highlight this matter, a statistic from the Department for Education in 2011 shows an increased in the number of ethnic minority pupils in English state funded primary schools (DfE, 2011).This reflects the circumstance of England primary schools where pupils whose first language is other than English has increased in number. The urgency of this matter is supported by Ofsted (2012) by stating that English has a momentous position in the school curriculum. Thus, teachers’ 2 strategies to tackle this situation become the centre of attention. Where the English language has served as a lingua franca for ethni c minority pupils in England, literacy skills play an important role in their academic and everyday routines as well.By putting forward the two important aspects of this essay; teacher professional development and EAL in primary schools, it is only necessary to mention the relevance of combining both of these aspects in a topic for discussion. With all due respect to other core subjects in the curriculum, the reality of teaching as a difficult job and a statement made by National Association for Language Development in Curriculum (NALDIC, 2009:1) on EAL that it is a ‘very complex phenomenon’, seem to have formidable implications for teacher professional development.Educational reforms such as curriculum reform, does not guarantee necessary changes in classroom practices. It is well known that how a subject is taught wins over what is taught, hence ‘pedagogy trumps curriculum’ (Wiliam, 2011:13). Therefore, when curriculum frameworks only work as far as guidi ng teachers in dealing with EAL, thus assessment for learning (AfL) is then best integrated in pedagogy to further develop the practice of serving teachers and raise pupils’ achievements. 3English as an Additional Language Classrooms in England According to a brief description by NALDIC (2011), there are over a million bilingual pupils participating in teaching and learning contexts in United Kingdom. According to statistics from Department for Education and Skills (DfES, 2006a:8), there has been an increased of ethnic minority pupils in primary schools from 18. 3% in 2004 to 19. 3% in 2005 and then reaching 20. 6% in 2006. Each of these pupils enters school communities with minority language that is not English as their mother tongue language.It is stated by Hughes (2002) that teachers need to consider pupils’ diverse culture to establish learning environments that are meaningful. It is important that teachers attend to their learning needs in order to achieve teachin g goals. The diversity in culture that may cause challenges in pupils’ learning according to Hughes (2002) includes the kind of spoken language use by them outside of school context such as at home. English as an Additional Language (EAL) according to Davison (2007) refers to ethnic minority pupils who are perceived as to needing support with their English development.These pupils possess language other than English (LOTE) as their mother tongue language. The terminology of English as a Second Language (ESL) is also commonly used by many researchers and teachers to identify these LOTE pupils. However, there has been a rise of issues about the usage of ESL as a term in pedagogy hence, the term EAL is said to be a more appropriate term to be used as it suits the context where the English language abilities of bilingual or multi-lingual pupils are multi-leveled (Davison, 2007).These issues revolve around the fact that LOTE pupils should not all be assumed to take English languag e as their second language. These pupils can be 4 fluent in speaking and writing in their mother tongue language but not in English language, or it can be vice versa (NALDIC, 2009). On the other hand, these pupils can be more fluent and able to socialise with their schoolmates in English language informally, but not be able to engage in academic writing and meet the requirement of the national standards.Cummins’ (1979) distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive and Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) as cited in DfES training toolkit programme (DfES, 2006b) shows that communicative or conversational skills (BICS) of pupils usually develop first in verbal exchanges context before they develop their cognitive (thinking and learning skills) and academic languages (CALP). In general, it takes two to three years for upils to be fluent in English as an additional language and an average of five to seven and even ten years for bilingual pupils to be competent in cognitive and academic domains. Essentially, EAL teachers need to know that only by pupils achieving development in both of their cognitive and academic language can they contribute to their academic success (DfES, 2006b). In an actual fact, how successful is the teaching and learning of English language subject in England primary schools?According to inspections done by Ofsted from April 2008 until March 2011 in over 133 primary schools, the report highlights the finding that primary schools have less improvements in English attainments in comparison to secondary schools (Ofsted, 2012). The problems listed are encompassed of having fewer pupils achieving national expectations in reading, and quality in teaching writing is varied such that less efforts were given in spelling and handwriting. Slower improvements in primary schools are then linked to the fact that there is a lack of specialists present in the teaching and learning context.Although, due to 5 inspect ions done by Ofsted consist of individuals, there might be biased element involve in the evaluation. Nonetheless, Therefore, I do believe there should be more researches focusing on the competences of teachers through teacher training programmes and continuing professional development. Relevance of Formative Assessment in EAL â€Å"Sensitive formative assessment of pupils’ classroom performance demands a high level of teacher awareness of pupil needs†¦teachers need to take account†¦the even more complex and less ‘visible’ aspects of language use. (NALDIC, 2003: 1) I can relate to the above quoted statement by NALDIC (2003) where teachers are required to carefully plan formative assessment for pupils’ learning by considering the complexity of language education especially EAL. According to Wiliam (2011), there has been a lack of researches done for teacher professional development. Learning styles, educational neuroscience and content area knowle dge are the common areas included in teacher professional development. Thus, why focus on formative assessment in this context?Getting into the basic details of understanding assessment, Green and Johnson (2010:14) define assessment as more than just tests and quizzes for the purpose of grading. Furthermore, assessment is viewed as a mix of methods to implement before, during and after lessons by taking advantage and making good use of pupils’ former or current knowledge to enhance learning. From the definition itself, they feasibly elaborated three main purposes of assessment 6 based on occurrence of the instructions.Diagnostic assessment happens before teaching, formative assessment (assessment for learning) happen during teaching and summative assessment (assessment of learning) happens after teaching (Green and Johnson, 2010). Thus, the terms diagnostic, formative and summative can be seen as defining the functions or purposes of the wide range of assessments. Black, Harr ison, Lee, Marshall and Wiliam (2003:31) mentioned that there are four ways of assessing pupils; questioning or classroom dialogue, feedback or feed-forward, self and peer-assessment, and formative use of summative tests.The relevance of focusing on formative assessment is due to its compatibility alongside many other aspects that contribute to pupils’ achievements (such as age, abilities and multileveled language). NALDIC (2003) agrees on the insufficiency of only using National Curriculum English and thus resulted in Assessment for learning (AfL) which is synonymous to formative assessment, to be used on a daily instructional basis (NALDIC, 2009). According to Stiggins (2005) as cited in Wiliam (2011), Assessment for learning exists throughout the process of pupils’ learning.AfL provides pupils with information of their learning progress through feedback as evidence and at the same time, assist pupils on how to improve and meet achievement standards. NALDIC Formative descriptors consist of assessment framework to assist teachers on day-to-day methods or provide stages for diagnosing pupils’ progress, and also to help teachers plan and integrate AfL into EAL teaching approaches (NALDIC, 2009). Issues in Assessing English as an Additional Language 7 We have only looked at the complexity of language in terms of its terminology.Davison (2007) mentioned that knowing what to be taught and learnt in classrooms must precede the action of assessing EAL pupils’ development. Other than that, teachers must also take notes on pupils’ knowledge prior to lessons to provide them with better learning opportunities. Shepard (2000) talked about two different problems in relation to teacher practices and pupils’ prior knowledge to learning. She stated that quite a number of teachers only documented results from pre-test and post-test assessment tasks however failed to subsume pupils’ pre-test results for enhancing pupils’ learning.In another case, a sizeable amount of teachers involved in reading and language subject had the tendency of using activities that acknowledge pupils’ background knowledge but failed to comprehensively integrate them with assessment. In practice, EAL pupils would have more predicaments in learning English as their additional language in comparison to native speakers of English pupils learning English. Hence, teachers are required to be more sensitive towards the cultural background and prior knowledge of these EAL pupils to help fulfill their learning needs.Language as a second language contains facets such as grammatical, socio-cultural and strategic abilities taken from models that can be referred for assessing. However, Widdowson (2001) as cited by Davison and Leung (2009) stated that the complexity of language is mainly due to the absence of comprehensive views and researches on the relations of these components, thus resulting in theoretical issues arising such a s on the ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’ on assessing criteria of language.For an example, in assessing writing, there may be a question on the validity of perhaps teachers putting more emphasise on grammar proficiency in comparison to creative writing. 8 Thus, theoretically, with the nature of language being multifaceted and the different abilities of LOTE speaking pupils in mind, one has to wonder how teachers deal with and monitor their development and progress. Of course there are NALDIC Formative descriptors which provide framework and guidance to teachers; however, there is the persistent question of whether or not this is enough.An experiment was done by Davison in 1998 (Davison, 2007) involving ten Hong Kong immigrant students in Australian secondary schools. The result of the research indicates that teachers of these immigrant students had the tendency of creating a ‘community of dialogic exchanges’ (Davison, 2007:542). Referring to forma tive assessment, classroom dialogue is one of the areas used to assess students to enhance learning, nonetheless, it is the way that teachers use this method that really determines the outcomes to be positive or negative for their learning.Here, the teachers seemed to acknowledge the background of the EAL students but omitted their learning needs. The teachers developed negative judgments towards these students such as perceiving them as depending too much on their mother-tongue language and having no motivation to learn and speak in English. Thus, this poor discernment by teachers as assessors should be a major professional concern. Furthermore, in reflection to Davison’s research, I would like to include some issues raised by Cumming (2009) in the Forum section of TESOL Quarterly.Briefly, Cumming put forward problems that relate teachers and assessment. Firstly, the problem is on teachers’ lack of knowledge on assessment, and also questioning their professional abili ties since there are still a lack of studies done to help answer how language teachers build up their competences 9 throughout their career. Secondly, teachers having a hard time in choosing assessment approaches that would work better in helping pupils meet the curriculum standards. Lastly, there are issues involved to how teachers relate assessment with pupils’ development and learning needs.As a result, the judgment skills, knowledge and abilities of teachers as assessors, are some of the many factors that should be considered in improving within teacher professional development. Teacher Professional Development: Novice to Expert? The demands put on teachers’ shoulders can be quite a jargon to others who are not involved directly in the related profession. There is even a saying that I was once told and here it is; the works of a teacher to others as they see it is only a tip of an iceberg.Throughout my teaching experiences, I slowly grasped the meaning of it as the reality of the profession manifested itself through the extra hours of marking, lesson planning and researching. During my earlier periods in the teaching diploma programmes, I believed teachers with years of school experience ought to master the techniques of teaching. It was my assumption that veteran teachers should outperform novice teachers. Nonetheless, with the passing of time, I have learned to believe that experience would only give positive impacts on pupils’ outcomes when the serving teachers bring with them developments in their practices.Of course the time factor contributes to teacher professional development, such as to give ample opportunities to teachers to experience and develop their skills. However, for judging on how good a teacher is, it does not entirely matter on the length of time the teacher has taught, but what the teacher does within this time that is really a concern. 10 Such as, how teachers develop teaching approaches on bringing in greater lea rning experience for pupils in EAL classrooms or setting.Referring to my old belief, a trite assumption that I’d probably make would be that teachers should just be left in schools for a period of time to eventually learn to teach better. Surprisingly, this assumption is proven to have a little bit of truth. Wiliam (2011) has put forward research done by Leigh (2010) on 90,000 Australian elementary school students. The research shows a small gap of differences on the impacts of students’ progress as a result from the teaching between veteran and novice teachers (see Appendix A).Hence, a couple of years advance by veteran teachers in the career put them at a slightly better teaching result, yet Leigh stated the majority agree that the case is not always the same. The attention of even on the tiniest bit of truth on the assumption that veteran teachers teach better than novices, is better turned to how they teach and develop their practices. That is, by improving their i nner developments; wisdom, knowledge, experience and polishing their critical judgment skills (Dadds, 2001).On the other hand, it is vital to realise that the whole process of developing teacher practices does not evolve entirely on teachers simply catching up with the latest educational trends (Wiliam, 2011). Metaphorically, it is not as easy as reading ingredients off a recipe book and lacking of involvement in the process of cooking itself. Putnam and Borko (1997) as cited in Shepard (2000) agreed that constant experimentation and reflection on pedagogical models in real classrooms context by teachers precede beneficial changes to their teaching practices, beliefs and attitudes. 1 Teacher Professional Development Strategies in EAL Looking from an international view, Shimahara (1998) stated that teacher professional development in every countries differ from one another in terms of its strategies. In Japan, the strategies of professional development encourage peer-development, mea nwhile in America; the strategies are focused on following paradigms for self-development. Higgins and Leat (2001) talked about effective teacher development by linking its models in a mapping diagram (see Appendix B).They attempted on linking models such as those that seek on transitional stages of novice to expert teachers, teachers’ professional reflection, pedagogical knowledge, subject knowledge, socialisation and personal explanatory. This goes back to relate on the previous research on 90,000 elementary students in Australia on the differences of performance between novice and veteran teachers (Wiliam 2011). It would not be enough to prepare individual teachers with only a specific skill in teaching development such as on pedagogical approaches alone.This is because teacher professional development is multi-faceted and the components are interrelated. Although there are imperfections on trying to map out the complex relationships of models within teacher development du e to many different meanings of the concepts in literature, however, they agreed on stressing the importance of teachers in having explicit work purposes (Higgins and Leat, 2001). Due to the major focus on mainstreamed classrooms in English schools, Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) therefore aims in providing all pre-service teachers 12 ith the experiences of EAL integration across all curriculum subjects (Cajkler and Hall, 2009). In my home country, the curriculum has a vast of English Language medium subjects listed for the majority local and non-native English speaking pupils. Thus, in the previous years, preservice and post-service teachers in Brunei had the opportunity to choose upon entering the teaching training programmes such as to specialise in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).However, it is acknowledged by Cajkler and Hall (2009) that despite the urgency to meet the demand of increasing EAL pupils in England, the inclusion of EAL specialisatio n in pre-service teachers training programmes is out of the question due to the already ‘very crowded programme’ (Cajkler and Hall, 2009:154). In the initial training, the confidence level of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) was low especially in the fields of assessing English and teaching of literacy.The study also noted that the training provided pre-service teachers with less involvement with the national guidelines for assessment of EAL pupils; Language in Common. As a result, 45% from one hundred and fifteen respondents prioritised teaching skills for EAL as the most essential further training category for continuing professional development (Cajkler and Hall, 2009). Thus, assessment and language developments are suggested to be centralised in the teacher training programmes.Therefore, in 2006, the introduction of training toolkit for EAL Excellence and enjoyment: teaching and learning for bilingual pupils in the primary years (DfES, 2006b) to schools aims to raise understanding on EAL pedagogy and provide guidance on teaching approaches for bilingual learners. Then, White et al (2006) in their evaluation of the pilot programme of the DfES toolkit (DfES, 2006b) mentioned that there has been a positive improvement in teachers’ confidence and better comprehensive view of EAL pedagogy by teachers. 3 If I insisted on my previous assumption on letting novice teachers evolve to experts, Higgins and Leat (2001) pointed out that there are again stages involve in the transition to increase expertise. These transitional stages are not shown in the mapping diagram (see Appendix B). Nonetheless, it triggers such questions as to what extend do we measure achievements of teachers to confirm their expertise in teaching, hence, what makes one a teaching expert?Does defining one’s expertise help others to improve, such as through demonstrations of teaching to pre-service and post-service teachers? Changes can only occur and produce results when teachers are willing to first, change from within. Perhaps I can look at it from this point of view where education reformers provide new teaching models to schools, but instead, all these innovative strategies are making teachers feel inundated by them and as a result, changes intended never take place in classrooms (Wiliam, 2011).Let’s also reflect on the situation of the ten Hong Kong students where teachers assess them through classroom dialogue activity but misinterpreted in using that assessment to make judgments that did not contribute in helping them to learn better. As a result, Dadds (2001:51) emphasise teachers to cultivate their inner ‘voice’ and judgment or the ‘expert’ within them before accepting and using instructions from the ‘expert’ outside. Teachers are learners themselves. They need to learn on how to look at their rooted values on the profession first before thinking on improving and catering the learning needs of p upils.Suggestions to Overcome Issues in EAL 14 Other than participating actively in the schools or the nation’s teacher professional development programmes, there are also many other individualistic ways for serving teachers to successfully implement AfL in EAL pedagogical approaches. In the context of teacher professional development, it really depends on teachers to improve their knowledge and professional abilities; to trust their instincts, experience and wisdom in order to help pupils attain better in their learning.Also, it is essential for teachers to be explicit on the learning intentions before assessing pupils for learning. For lesson preparations, teachers in England are opened to a wide range of resources for EAL and assessment tasks such as from EAL publications, DfES toolkit (2006b) and NALDIC official website which provide great research platforms for teachers and tutors. Teachers can use information on pupils’ background and prior knowledge to adapt sui table assessment tasks in classrooms.According to Shepard (2000), teachers may even evaluate their own practices through classroom assessments by becoming liberal and open into discussing matters related to improving instructions with pupils. Another way of helping teachers to develop their assessment practices is by using video or audio recorder while assessing pupils as media to allow teachers to reflect and improve their approaches, as well as, to enable teachers to better understand the learning needs of their pupils.For peer-development, EAL teachers may make informal meetings with their EAL teaching colleagues to discuss and make amendments on certain assessments criteria (Davison, 2007; Davison and Leung, 2009). In addition to the issue of assessment ‘validity and reliability’, the matter can be partially put at ease if the assessing of pupils is done by teachers who know them very well. In addition, 15 teachers should be given great autonomy to plan and help the learning of their own pupils (Davison and Leung, 2009).However, if the case of ‘validity and reliability’ is over-emphasised, therefore, I believe that the status of teachers as assessors may be perceived as weak and the whole focus of AfL would be none other than a replacement of standardised traditional ways of assessing. As cited by Shepard (2000), Assessment Reform Group (1999) which consists of researchers from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, put forward their discourse to the government policies on three important aspects. Firstly, to amend inspectorate policies to help guarantee teachers as qualified assessors for pupils’ learning.Secondly, increase the funding on professional development opportunities for teachers. Finally, relieve teachers from the apprehensive pressure of standard examinations when planning instructions for pupils’ learning. Conclusion The impetus of this essay derived from the fact whereby is supported by NALDIC (2009) that English as an Additional Language (EAL) development is a rather difficult situation that gives impact to teachers’ professional experience. There has been a great emphasise on EAL in England due to its long tradition of migration and mainstream classrooms in primary schools.In relation to the urgency, teacher professional development in England becomes the foreground in dealing with the increasing number of language other than the English (LOTE) speaking pupils in state funded schools (DfE, 2011). On the other hand, the integration of AfL in the teaching of EAL is seen to be the best way to assist teachers in increasing pupils’ literacy competences. NALDIC Formative descriptors, established in 2009, serve as assessment framework that provides teachers with 16 approaches to diagnose the progress of pupils in EAL and provide them with feedback evidence to improve learning (NALDIC, 2003).Language education is very complex. The nature of language involves stage s of competencies and encompasses of many interrelated components (Davison and Leung, 2009). Thus, trying to figure out the abilities of bilingual or multilingual pupils in English language and which aspect or components of the language to use to judge their competences, is quite the phenomenon. Therefore, there are issues involving teachers’ critical judgments and wisdom whilst assessing EAL pupils that highlights the necessity of teacher professional development.According to Higgings and Leat (2001) by referring to Teacher Training Agency (1997), primary teacher training in United Kingdom provided a course where pre-service teachers are to obtain all the needs of professional learning by attending ample of lectures on subject knowledge, teaching approaches and a number of demonstrations on teaching. However, from a study done by Cajkler and Hall (2009), the result shows that there is inconsistency in the focus of EAL in the teacher training programme provided by TDA in Engl and.Time is an essential element in development but it is also relevant to look at teachers as individuals with different abilities. From my experience, some teachers could be talented and creative than the others, and some teachers could be more motivated. Therefore, arguing on which aspect contributes more in improving teacher practices is impossible due to the fact that it is beyond my capability for discussion and the limitation of this essay. In a nutshell, I agree that that teacher professional development is complex.Education reformers should not merely focus on one area of teaching practices but also to acknowledge other teaching related factors. 17 Nonetheless, Wiliam (2011) paraphrased Doug Lenov (2010) and stated that teachers have no maximum limitation of success and should think that striving for continuous development throughout their career is necessary. After all, teachers are not just essentially required to help develop EAL pupils into becoming capable learners in their classrooms but, they also help them to become capable members of the schools and cultural societies (Davison, 2007).Therefore, teachers’ skeptical attitude towards innovative strategies that would help improve their teaching has to be countered with other strategies that would prepare them with the changes they need from within. Iteratively, professional development for teachers needs to be guided with intentions that are relevant and supportive to their continuous professional development in order to face the continuous challenges of the evolving society nowadays. 18 REFERENCES Black, P. , Harrison, C. , Lee, C. , Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. 2003) Assessment for Learning: Putting It into Practice. England: Open University Press. Cumming, A. (2009) What Needs to Be Developed to Facilitate Classroom-Based Assessment? In TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 43(3), 515 – 519. Dadds, M. (2001) Continuing Professional Development: Nurturing the Expert Within. In Burgess, H. , Craft, A. and Soler, J. (Eds) Teacher Development: Exploring Our Own Practice, 50 – 56. London: The Open University. Davison, C. (2007) Different Definitions of Language and Language Learning: Implications for Assessment. In Cummin, H. nd Davison C. (Eds) International Handbook of English Language Teaching, Vol. 1, 533 – 548. Norwell, MA: Springer. Davison, C. and Leung, C. (2009) Current Issues in English Language Teacher-Based Assessment. In TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 43(3), 393 – 416. DfE (2011) DfE: Schools, Pupils and Their Characteristics – January 2011. http://www. education. gov. uk/researchandstatistics/datasets/a00196810/schools-pupils-and-theircharacteristics-january-2, accessed November 20, 2012. 19 DfES (2006a) Ethnicity and Education: The Evidence on Minority Ethnic Pupils Aged 5 – 16.London: DfES. 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NALDIC (2009) EAL Assessment Frameworks, Models and Useful Documents for Classroom Teacher. http://www. naldic. org. uk/eal-teaching-and-learning/eal-resources/eal-assessment, accessed November 21, 2012. NALDIC (2011) Bilingual and Dual Language Resources. ttp://www. naldic. org. uk/ealteaching -and-learning/eal-resources/bilingual, accessed November 20, 2012. 20 Ofsted (2012) Moving English Forward: Action to Raise Standards in English. http://www. ofsted. gov. uk/resources/moving-english-forward, accessed November 27, 2012. Shepard, L. A. (2000) The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture. In Educational Researcher, Vol. 29(7), 4 – 14. USA: American Educational Research Association. Shimahara, N. K. (1998) The Japanese Model of Professional Development: Teaching as Craft.In Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 14(5), 451 – 462. Great Britain: Elsevier Science Ltd. White, K. , Lewis, K. , and Fletcher-Campbell, F. (2006) Raising the Achievement of Bilingual Learners in Primary Schools: Evaluation of the Pilot/Programme, Research Report RR758 (National Foundation for Educational Research). London: DfES. Wiliam, D. (2011) Embedded Formative Assessment. USA: Solution Tree Press. 21 APPENDIX A A graph that shows the rate of teacher productivity in relation to t heir years of working experience (Leigh, 2010) cited in Wiliam (2011:28)