Education policy Essay

Education the basic need Object of Education: Importance of Education: Background of Pakistan’s Educational System Educational System in Pakistan: Key Performance Indicators for Education Systems PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN 1. Medium of Education: 2. Disparity of System at Provincial Level: 3. Gender Discrimination: 4. Lack of Technical Education:: 5. Low allocation of funds: 6. Inefficient Teachers: 7. Poverty: 8. Corruption: 9. Social imbalance: 10. Mismanagement of System: 11. Infrastructure Problems: 12. Private school system: 13. Lack of educational policies: 14. Increase in population: 15. Lack of attention of the authorities: 16. Lack of uniform educational system: 17. Medium of Instruction: 18. Education as a business: 19. Delay in renewal of policies and syllabus 20. Political Interference: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: 1. English should be medium of Instruction: 2. Talented and qualified Staff 3. Fulfill the lack of teachers 4. Primary education should be made compulsory: 5. Increase in teachers incentives 6. Translation of foreign research to local language 7. Check on distinctive education:- 8. Scholarships and financial support to students: 9. Special Financial packages: 10. Betterment of education policies and teachers workshop: 11. Infused Technical Education: 12. Promotion of primary education: Conclusion Essay Education the basic need Education is the light of the life. Education proves to one of the most important factors for the development of human civilization. Education enhances human status and leads everyone to propriety. it is a continuous and lifelong process. It attributes most important, precious and permanent property of an individual. Education provides manpower, strengthens national unity and uplifts public awareness. It invites positive and constructive change in life. It makes our life really prosperous and meaningful. Everyone wants to be well educated. Life can be successful by the help of appropriate education. Educated person can only judge what is correct and what is wrong And takes the appropriate and right decision but uneducated person fails to do so. Object of Education: Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as â€Å"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. † We should give our youth the way to educate themselves. Edward Everett said that â€Å"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. † Importance of Education: We all know the importance of education. It is the most important aspect of any nation’s survival today. Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a nation. ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of Education according to ISLAM is â€Å"to know ALLAH† but I think in our country we truly lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassa’s (Islamic Education Centres) are truly educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing them for â€Å"Money†. We aren’t educating them we are just preparing â€Å"Money Machines†. We are only increasing the burden of the books for our children and just enrolling them in a reputed, big school for what, just for social status On the other hand in our madrassas we are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern society. Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet. A madrassa student can’t compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world. There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quraan but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the current education system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of widening it. There is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools and in madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the space to become Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The education system we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa. Background of Pakistan’s Educational System Numerous international assessments could explore that Pakistan is lagging behind many countries in achieving the Education for All goal (EFA). We were the signatory to the treaty under Dakar Framework where it was decided by all the developing countries that they will be trying to achieve the target of EFI in the meeting held in Senegal in 2000. UNESCO rates in Pakistan are at a lower EFA development Index (EDI) because of low; enrolment at primary school, adult literacy, gender equity and equality, equalities in education and quality of education. The adult literacy in Pakistan, in spite of concerted efforts, fail to go beyond the border line of 50 percent. The women literacy is much more belittling as thirty three percent of the adult women cannot even read. The more embracing would be that we would not be catching the target to achieve the adult literacy by 2015. Progress towards the achievement of the targets is exceptionally slow, while gender parity goal is at risk of not being achieved by 2015. Moreover, more than 6 million children are out of school. Educational System in Pakistan: Education system in Pakistan is really having a bad configuration at the moment. There is no doubt in accepting the fact that education stands the backbone for the development of nations. Looking at the history of nations, we may safely reach the conclusion that the advanced nations of the world could reach the zenith of prestige and power taking support from education. The allocations for education are too meager, and in spite of allocation, the amount is not spent for what it was meant for as the corruption is found in all the tiers of education and also because of the same delivery from the government institutions that is much below the desired and aspired levels. Private education in Pakistan is far reaching for the poor and the turnover of this quality education does not serve the country the way they are supposed to. Planning for education does not go in congruence with the needs and implement remains ever ignored, so by this way the system is getting more spoiled rather than flourishing. Our universities have failed to produce the planners, developers, implementers, and decision makers. Rather the turnover is a mismatch with the ground realities, the half backed persons we are producing are of no use to us. The students we come across are degree seekers rather than the knowledge. The increase in number of colleges and universities does not mean that we are going by the standards rather these are worsening, a simple evidence of which is that no Pakistani university could find a space among the top 1000 universities of the world. The socio-economic scenario is directly attached with the status of Education in the country. The developed world managed to scale up their education in line with the needs and market requirements. Despite the recent achievements, a lot more is needed to be done as the country still faces numerous challenges which cause deterrence. We are under obligation to raise the education of our population to the level of our South Asian neighbors, to combat our own social and economic wants to the satisfactory level. The very scale of Pakistan’s education sector — more than 150,000 public education institutions serving over 21 million students and a huge private sector that serves another 12 million – presents formidable challenges. Education is found to be the cheapest and tangible defense mechanism for a nation on the social, political, and economic fronts. But the down trodden condition of education in Pakistan bears an ample testimony of the fact that it is unable to defend its own sector. Over the span of 64 years, the nation has been given the 23 policies and action plans but we could not start the march towards success and are waiting for a savior who could take the system out of turmoil. There were ample spending in the government of Pervaiz Musharraf on education and due to which, we could see the visible positive educational change in Pakistani society. Currently the economic situation in Pakistan is under severe stress and education sector has received the highest impact in Pakistan. The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has led to the fact in the following words, â€Å"The state of Pakistan shall remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period. † In Human development Report, Pakistan is placed at 136th position because its 49. 9% population comes under the definition of education. The dropout rate is alarmingly high at the primary level; consequently, it is revealed by the Data Center of UNESCO, that 33. 8% females and 47. 18% in males could pass through the most initial level of education. We may be conclusive about the ground reality that people in the 6th largest country of the world have no access to the basic education even. Key Performance Indicators for Education Systems The frequently used indicators for assessing education and its systems are adult literacy rates, male and female enrollment at different levels of education, participation rate in the different areas of the country; the dropout rates, the amount of resources allocated to education as a proportion of the GDP and some measures of the quality of education being pursued. At the moment, the workability of these indicators rests on the footing of authenticated and recent data so that the planning details may be worked out with confidence. Irony of fate, the indicators, their footings and the quality of data all want more authenticity, but unfortunately, Pakistan’s record lacks objectivity and rationality on all counts. PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN 1. Medium of Education: The system of education in Pakistan is operative in match with the local needs and ground realities. It is almost a decisive factor that the education in the mother tongue surrenders more dividends but we have the system more segregated and diversified just contrary to our requirements. A good example of it is that we fail to decide about the Medium of education over the span of 64 years. Different mediums are operational in both, public and private sector. This creates a sort of disparity among people, dividing them into two segments. 21. Disparity of System at Provincial Level:: The Regions of Pakistan in the name of provinces are not at par as regards the infrastructure, availability of staff, their training, content mastery allocation of resources and their utilization. This develops a disparity not only in the system but in the turnover too. There is a need to revisit the schools in Baluchistan (The Largest Province of Pakistan by area) because these are not that much groomed as that of Punjab (The Largest Province of Pakistan by Population). In FATA, the literacy rate is deplorable constituting 29. 5% in males and 3% in females. The conditions are to be made more congenial about teaching and learning in all parts of the country without any discretion. 22. Gender Discrimination:: We should have know how of the population comprising females, unfortunately their education is not attended to the way it was deemed fit. The gender discrimination is a cause that is contributing towards the low participation rate of girls at the basic level of education. The male and female participation ratio is projected at the primary school in the shape of ratio of boys & girls as 10:4 respectively. In the decade passed, government invited private sector to shoulder the responsibility of education of the youth. The intent was also to provide the education at the doorstep to the children especially the female students. The private sector took up the challenge and there was an increase in the growth of private schools but this step didn’t cause the increase in the students or the quality. The masses could not be attracted because of precious education. It created clear cut tiers of society and created a gap among those with the haves and have not’s. 23. Lack of Technical Education:: There is a craze for the white collar jobs for the same pupils. Select the general rut of education, though they have the least tilt or the capacity to cope with the demands. China, Japan and Germany have the ruts for those who have a taste for and do not achieve the excellence in the general rut of education. We have kept the opportunities open for all to participate in general education at all levels especially the university level. We could not attract the general masses towards technical education making them to earn of their own act as the entrepreneurs and make their living without being the burden on the government. Education system is needed to be revamped making a space for the science, IT, management, and pupil with the excellence to go to the higher education pursuing the education of their own choice. Lesser emphasis on technical education means the lesser manpower for industry and hence the lesser finance generation. 24. Low allocation of funds:: The allocation of funds for education is very low as it never went beyond 1. 5 to 2. 0 percent of the total GDP. Even this amount was not utilized and had to be surrendered back to the government because of want of expertise and the knowledge of codal formalities and in time release of funds. There is a need to increase it around 7% of the total GDP keeping in view the allocations by the neighboring countries, there is also a need to rationalize the share at the different levels not ignoring any. 25. Inefficient Teachers:: Government fails to attract the potential candidates for teaching with the zeal vigor and excellent carrier. Teaching is rated as the lowest among the jobs for the youth, because of lesser incentives, slow promotions and lesser fringe benefits. The teachers in government schools are not well groomed and equipped with knowledge and training. People who do not get job in any other sector, they try their luck in educational system. There is a need to reorganize pre-service and in-service trainings making them matched with the requirements rather to keep them ideal, unique and novel. 26. Poverty:: Poverty is growing over the years. The average class is vanishing like anything. It happens to be a curse for the nation that exists without having the average income group. The escalation of poverty has restricted the parents to send their children to tasks for child labor or at least to public or private schools. In these schools, the drop out is very high because schools are not the attractive places, the curriculum is dry and the teaching does not match the live situations. Poor parents are constrained to send their children to madressahs where the education is totally free. 27. Corruption:: Corruption causes the educational policies, plans and projects to fail because of being the major contributing factor. There is no accountability and transparency in the system, the salaries are low, the incentives are too less to be accounted and even those are uneven. An estimated Rs. 2,594 million out of a total of Rs. 7,016 million provided for improvement of school facilities such as buildings, electricity, drinkable water, etc had gone unaccounted during the fiscal periods 2001-06 (UNESCO Bano, 2007). Similarly, more than 70% literacy centers in Punjab remained inoperative or exist only on paper (ADBP, 2007). The chances of ghost schools should be evaded by involving the community in the processes of inspection and monitoring. 28. Social imbalance:: The students from the elite class follow the â€Å"O† and â€Å"A† levels curriculum instead of Pakistan’s routine orthodox and stagnant curriculum. They have little or no awareness of their religion and culture whereas those passing out from Urdu medium schools are usually destined to work in clerical and lower level positions. Religious madrassas churn out yet another class that is usually unaware of the world outside their own perception. 29. Mismanagement of System:: Teachers’ absenteeism, poor professional training, sub-standard materials and obsolete teaching methods act as the major contributive factors towards the low enrolment in schools. Burki (2005), opines that most of the public schools are either mismanaged or poorly managed. They are found imparting education of second-rate quality through substandard textbooks and curricula that do not cater the needs of the 21st century. The education should be based on learning outcomes through suggesting multiple books rather than following a single book as an obligation. 30. Infrastructure Problems:: The dropout rate of those lucky enough to be enrolled goes beyond 45% as has been divulged by the several reports. Most of the public sector educational institutions stay in a status of poor condition lacking even basic facilities, resultantly shaking the presupposed standards of education. There are four areas that snivel for pressing concentration which are curriculum, textbooks, examinations, and teacher training (Hoodbhoy, 2001). The textbooks need be made more facilitating, student and learning friendly. 31. Private school system:: Private Schools in Pakistan enroll more students than in other countries of the region. They least bother about the capacity and facilities available, they rather over burden the teaching staff. The rapid mushroom growth of private schools and academies of teaching reflect the people’s lack of trust in the public sector schools coupled with a deficiency of sufficient educational institutions to cater to the needs of the fast growing population. However, there are certain private schools which are slightly better than the public ones. In the elite schools where the quality education is offered, heavy fees is charged that continues to be a problem. These private sectors schools are meant only for a special sector of the population and are out of the reach of general masses. The private sector schools should be brought under the control of rules making these somewhat accessible for the common population. 32. Lack of educational policies:: The National Education Policy (1998-2010) was developed prior to Dakar. It has a clear cut vision and direction to support the education department. Since the 2001, the Ministry of Education has developed a number of policy documents including that of National Education policy (2009) but the endeavors remain focused on paper work more rather than the operationalization, though the involvement of NGOs and international development agencies is very much there. The simple reason is that the plans are vicious and not the ground reality based. The policies should be environment friendly. . 33. Increase in population:: Literacy in Pakistan has risen from 45 to 54 percent within the span of 2002 to 2006, simultaneously primary enrollment rates have also increased from 42 to 52 percent. The population explosion could not enable to catch the targets. In spite of the increase in the certain parameters, the participation rate in Pakistan remains the lowest in South Asia. Alongside it, there are marked male-female, inter-regional and rural-urban disparities: Only 22 percent of girls, compared to 47 percent boys, complete primary schooling. Female literacy in rural Baluchistan is only 32 percent compared to high urban male literacy rates (and 80 percent among the urban male in Sindh) 34. Lack of attention of the authorities:: Most of the criticisms leveled against the education procedures and practices may be rationalized through improving governance and accountability. It would be tangible and workable if we could go for considering the merit, enabling capacity building, increasing investments in education as an industry and finally giving the heir and fire powers to the administrative heads. The private sector and the banks should finance the educational milieu with confidence, as at the moment, we are spending 2. 3 percent of GDP which is the lowest in South Asia. 35. Lack of uniform educational system:: There is a crying need for quality which calls for homogeneity among the procedural formalities like the observance of the curriculum. Had it been uniform the working for it, further extension becomes easier and getting the intellect skimmed out of masses becomes possible. Currently, the poor are deprived of education in the elite institutions which are causing the development of a special class. This class doesn’t work for the nation; they work elsewhere but are fed through the national resources. 36. Medium of Instruction:: We took a long period in deciding that what our medium of instruction would be, till now we don’t have a clear picture before us. It is good to have the National language as the medium of communication provided; we have a rich treasure of knowledge. In our case, we do not fail to develop Urdu to cope with the intellectual needs nor do we translate the treasure of knowledge available for our national use. 37. Education as a business:: Education has been pursued by some of the people as an industry but because of being illiterates, they fail to cope up with the stipulated standards. The leader with vision spoils the mission as well as the projects undertaken. Their only intent is money making that has caused the decay in the standards, induction of sub-standard staff, and depriving the deserving to grow. They don’t want to catch with the move of success but they try to be good entrepreneurs. 38. Delay in renewal of policies and syllabus/Political Interference:: There is a need to continuously update the curriculum because if it goes stale, it does not equip the beneficiaries with the saleable skills and expertise. At the first place, the problems cited have arisen due to lack of commitment and inefficient management on the part of state. The policies lack long term vision and its implementation strategies are being affected by undue political interference. In addition to it, the measures taken are not evidence based and geared by the vested interests of the authorities. Whatever strategies have been applied failed to promote the rational and critical thinking skills amongst the students. At the second place, we find lack of resource commitment and realistic implementation alongside poor allocated resource utilization. As relevant statistics are not available, implementation of the education policy has not been successfully executed. At the third place, we come across weak budgetary planning because of staggered data and least coordination among the data maintaining units (USAID, 2006). The coordination, match with the assessment, project design and implementation are not to the desired level within the government and with the donor agencies. The harmonization is missing too between the federal and provincial governments which cause drastic problems in the policy implementation. The policy formulating, planning and implementing bodies work in isolation as the water tight compartments. The government’s consultation is very much restricted and does not go beyond its specific quarters. It should have to be extended to non-state sectors to initiate and mobilize the action. Teachers does not normally form the part of policy making process, hence the process of sharing and consultation remains missing. It leads to implementation of educational policies without consultation, thus the efforts go in vain (UNESCO, 2007). Over the span of time, what we have learnt is to go for dialogue, and keeping the private and public sector on board. The matter of access to education and challenges to quality remain at stake as being unresolved despite much policy deliberation. Recently, Minister of Education announced a new Education policy for that next 10 years ignoring the fact that the previous educational policy span still persists that was from 1998 to 2010. The policy has projected new plans and promises to the nation pointing to the fact that all the public schools will be raised to the level of private schools within the shortest period of time. In the absence of a plan of action, the suggested plan of action would not work. The schools have been put under obligation to use the national curriculum and encourage the students of 5th and 8th class to take board exams. This has disturbed the students of private sector also. It is urged that the Universities should be the research centre’s and must not be allowed to act as the examining bodies for graduate or post-graduate examinations. Allocations are supposed to be made to the aspired levels as UNO suggests a country to allocate at least four percent of its GDP towards education but here in Pakistan we are just allocating less than two percents of GDP. Even that is not fully utilized because of procedural formalities. Suggested Solutions for Educational System: 13. English should be medium of Instruction: English language should be the medium of instruction from beginning to the higher levels of learning. National language should be a supporting language for communication facilitation and every day business. Efforts should be made to enhance the knowledge treasure in the national language through translation of the research based information. 14. Talented and qualified Staff Hiring should be made from amongst the highly qualified and the teachers should be paid not according to the level of education but the qualification of the staff. 15. Fulfill the lack of teachers: Efforts should be made to bring down the student-teacher ratio to 15:1 in lieu of current 40:1. Consequently, the number of teachers will have to be enhanced, leading to the rise in number of teachers and enabling the competent persons to be inducted to the system of education. 16. Primary education should be made compulsory: Primary education should be made compulsory and free (it is already free of cost but not compulsory). It should also be made appealing, impressive, interesting and utilitarian to attract the general masses. 17. Increase in teachers incentives Teachers should be offered more financial benefits by increasing their pays. 18. Translation of foreign research to local language University professors should be encouraged to conduct and share the research to the concerned stakeholders. They should also be asked to translate the foreign research into local languages for sharing it with the lower formations of education enabling them to implement/take benefit out of it. 19. Check on distinctive education:- Government should strictly check all private educational institutions for keeping a balance of standards and level of practices. 20. Scholarships and financial support to students: Students should be offered more scholarships and government should support the intelligent and outstanding students to prosper, develop and serve their local community rather than migrating to the big cities. 21. Special Financial packages: The dilemma here in Pakistan is that students are genius but they use their intelligence in negative way, hence, contributing nothing towards the development of country. Another problem with Pakistan is brain drain. Capable and outstanding professionals prefer foreign jobs instead of serving in their own country. This is due to the low financial benefits and indifferent attitude of government towards them. Recently Government should provide them facilities and special financial packages to encourage them to stay in their own country. 22. Betterment of education policies and teachers workshop: In the view of importance of education, the Government should take solid steps towards implementation instead of projecting policies. In this regard, the allocations should be made easy and timely from provinces to districts and then to educational institutes. Workshops must be arranged for teachers as a continuous feature for learning. 23. Infused Technical Education: Technical education should be infused into the regular system stream. The education board of Punjab has projected a plan to give tech- education to the children of industrial workers. 24. Promotion of primary education: Promotion of the primary education should be made possible by consulting teachers, professors and educationists while devising any plan, syllabus or policy for it. There should be a balance in reliance on public and private for enabling education to reach the general masses in its true shape. Students’ outlook is to be broadened by taking them out of the books into the practical realities. Education is the only cure of disability of the state and for bringing revolution through evolution and by eradicating the social evils through education. Conclusion Education serves as the backbone for the development of nations. The countries with the effective impressive need oriented, saleable and effective system of education comes out to be the leaders of the world, both socially and economically. It is only education which can turn a burden of population into productive human resource. Pakistan’s current state demands that the allocations for education be doubled to meet the challenges of EFI, gender disparity and provision of teachers in the work places earlier than 2018 as per stipulated qualifications. Millennium Development Goals are yet to be realized latest by 2015. The natural calamities, political turbulence, provincialisms, and political motivations make the best planned, fail. The allocations towards the sector of education could not be enhanced because of the earlier. We have to revisit our priorities to keep the country on the track of progress.

Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Essay

This is the title of the 1990’s Best Selling book which tells that Men and Women are different in their own natural ways. But nowadays, most of the people think that sometimes this is not applicable to both genders. Dual Personality is very common and frequently seen in these days. In fact, Male Vanity is widely experience by most of the men. They are typically described as ‘vain’ in the way they take excessive measures in making sure they always look gorgeous in social situations, quietly suffer from stress levels that are more taxing than what women experience for the same thing, according to researchers. A lot of women wonder how do men became meticulous and how to identify if a man is already becoming vain. So here’s some of my observations regarding with the reasons why a lot of men are experiencing male vanity and the signs of being vain. Women are known for being beauty conscious. We really like to have fair and white skin, looking sexy and gorgeous all the time and to be beautiful inside and out. And to achieve these things, we sometimes depend on beauty products, herbal medicines and Derma Clinics. But nowadays, the rise of male grooming has led to men taking almost twice as many electrical items with them as women, based on new researches. Beauty Products for men are frequently seen on TV ads. They are answering the demand with products streamlined for the male consumer. Clinique has developed an entire line of skin care products exclusively for men. Their ‘All About Eyes’ cream ‘diminishes the appearance of eye puffs, darkness and fine lines.’ They point out that the cream-gel ‘actually helps hold eye makeup in place.’ Yes. We’re still talking about the men’s line. Generally, looking clean and pressed is a good idea. But applying expensive moisturizers, powders and creams before and after bedtime is another thing. Should we call it ‘Vanity’? I guess so. Most of the propagandas that women usually read has reached men. Especially in terms of Diet and Health. We can say that a man that is considered vain is also a diet-crazed. A basic guy’s activities to maintain his good health like sports, balance diet and manual labor are enough to offset a normal diet. But if a man knows about yoga, ab cruncher, pilates or a guy who works for better biceps have no purpose for bigger biceps other than self-admiration is not normal anymore. In terms of their outer looks, Fashion and pop culture have a lot to do with the change. The ultra-slim silhouette and skinny jeans that hit the high-fashion world several years ago have infiltrated men’s departments in mainstream stores like Banana Republic and Old Navy. And because of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, men constantly are confronted with photos of fit male celebs. Men like to live up to a certain standard, a certain level of providing income. The image of a career, however, has become more important than the actual work. Today, men seek clean, domesticated, polite, sedentary jobs. Fathers used to be firemen, farmers and construction workers, which meant getting their hands dirty. Plastic surgery clinics are reporting a surge in business from men seeking a helping hand to stave off the ageing process. And men aren’t just interested in looking younger, but also thinner and more polished. It is no surprise then that according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), nearly 171,000 Americans under the age of 18, had some form of plastic surgery in 2000 – with the most common operation being rhinoplasty or surgery to change the size or shape of the nose. Joshua Parilla, 25 years old and a call center agent was asked if he shows some signs of being vain as what people had observe to him. And he replied, â€Å"I visit the Parlor twice a month because I want to have a different styles of haircut. Then I visit a massage spa at least once a month as a reward for myself every time I receive my monthly salary. And sometimes I went to a Derma Clinic to maintain my good skin. And I must admit it.† Not only the ordinary men experienced Vanity but also the once who we did not expect to be vain. I had watched a show titled Palaban, hosted by Mareng Winnie Monsod, Malou Mangahas and Miriam Quiambao. Palaban discusses male vanity with Dr. Kho, actor-model Alfred Vargas, Navotas Mayor Toby Tingco, cosmetic surgeon Dr. Manny Calayan and Carole Sarthou of market research firm Synovate Philippines. Women swoon over them and some of their secrets are regimen that includes regularly going to the gym, use of skin care products, getting a hot oil treatment, and even having cosmetic laser treatment. Some of them have taken to stuffing their bag with their own â€Å"kikay kit† (vanity kit). They use products intended for women too. So now, who says only women can be vain? It seems that Vanity truly changed the name of men. And the rise of Male Grooming has changed the point of views of many people. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus but we are on Earth so there’s no boundaries here. Self-improvement is a good thing as it makes us feel more confident when we face the world. However, our confidence is and should always be in our own selves as individuals.

Quality is Being Perfect

Achieving quality† is said to be a major issue throughout industry, commerce and government bodies. It†s just not passing craze of flavour of the month. Quality is vital for growth, survival and prosperity of every organisation. Nowadays, more and more organisations are placing greater emphasis on quality in order for them to prosper and become successful. In this essay I will be explaining the different concepts of quality, which are established by different institutes and people. I will then compare these concepts and give my view on each of them. In the second part of this essay I will be looking at areas of commonality and difference between ‘quality of product manufacture† and ‘quality in service†. Quality is difficult to define but what is sure is that we all know when it is achieved and when it is not. This assessment of quality is subjective and it can vary from different perceptions of individuals. It is the perception of the individual, by what influences his experience and what he thinks. Overall, the word quality can mean different things to different people. For example, the first car that I bought appeared to me to be of superior quality, even though it was thirteen years old, had many rust patches and the roof was leaking. On the other hand, a company director who drives a Rolls Royce may think that the car is a load of scrap. The second-hand car to me was quite satisfactory where it got me to my required destinations, but the company director may think it is bad advertisement and unreliable. For this reason, quality can be defined as ‘fitness for purpose†. It can be defined as fitness for purpose because the second-hand car was fit for my purpose. The definition ‘fitness for purpose†, was defined by an early American quality guru, Dr Joseph Juran. He always believed that if a product was fit for purpose, then it was a quality product. But from my perspective, this is not always true. This is because the second-hand car that I bought was fit for my purpose (transported me in safety), but it was not conceived to be a quality car by many of the people who I showed it to, except the sycophants who always tried to please me. Many people stated that the car was a ‘reject† due to the fact that it was rusty and the roof was leaking. Now that I have sold it, I would agree with these people, it was not a quality car, but it was fit for purpose. So therefore, this prime example gives you an indication that ‘fitness for purpose† does not always mean quality. The definition begs the question of ‘whose purpose? † Plato†s (philosopher) theory suggests that it was the customer who defined the purpose and the customer who defined quality. But Juran†s definition does not even mention the purpose of the customer. Another problem with the fitness for purpose definition is that the purpose may not always be known. Juran believes that the majority of quality problems are because of poor management, rather than poor employee work. In general, he believes that management controllable defects account for over 80 per cent of total quality management problems. Overall, Juran†s definition is too elementary where there is a need to closely define to what is going to be offered, then quality can become ‘conformance to requirements†. Conformance to requirement is widely used in industry to define quality. â€Å"This definition is often attributed to Philip Crosby, another well-known guru of quality†. (Owen,B 1995). Crosby believed that if a product were conformed to requirement, then there would be no such thing as a quality problem where the company itself has established its products based directly on its customers† needs. The Crosby definition places an emphasis to meet a certain specification that also leads to an emphasis on the reliability of the product or service. Reliability ranks with quality in importance where â€Å"it is the ability of the product or service to continue to meet the customer requirements†. (Oakland, 1995). Crosby also states that when a product is produced or when a service is delivered, it should have ‘zero defects†, where you should ‘get it right first time†. What zero defects means is not that people never make mistakes, but that the company does not start expecting them to make mistakes. But from my point of view and from Juran†s perspective, the zero defects approach cannot always help an organisation to achieve quality. Juran believes that employees should be given long-term training, where it should start at the top of the hierarchy of the organisation. The problem with Crosby†s quality control approaches are that there can be clear dangers that the customers can become less important than the standard of the product because there is too much emphasis on control and getting things right first time. This is because every organisation should be able to make certain mistakes and learn from them the next time around. One advantage of his approach is that he places more emphasis on prevention, rather than inspection, so therefore, there can be increased quality where the costs can decrease and thus increasing profits. The main problem with Crosby†s definition is that it is too simplistic. Producing a product that is conformed to requirement that has had no problems during the manufacturing process does not necessarily mean that it is a quality product. For example, a golf player who completes a round without breaking the rule is not necessarily a good quality player. Also, a driver who drives home without breaking the law is not necessarily a quality driver The fitness for purpose and conformance to requirement definitions seeks to establish a level of performance that is acceptable to customers where their needs are met and where they have no cause to complain. But between these two levels there is a ‘grey† area, where the specification is achieved, but where the customers may feel that they have not gained value. For this reason quality can be concerned with ‘ providing a service that delights our customers†. This definition was originated by the late American quality guru, Dr W. Edwards Deming. â€Å"He was the first American quality expert to teach Japanese managers about quality. â€Å"Deming†s work in Japan has been identified as putting Japan on the road to leadership in international business and industry†. (Internet). Deming argued that the customer should not just be satisfied, but delighted in order to gain repeat custom. He also stated that you should always keep ahead of your customers† expectations that include every aspect of supplier-customer relationship, not just the product or service being provided. From my perspective, Deming†s approach to quality is much more perplexing than Juran and Crosby†s definitions. Both Juran and Crosby were focused too much on the product, but Deming covers all of the aspects of quality. Deming also allocates the measurement of quality through statistical calculations where Juran and Crosby are more concerned with the production process measurements. Another quality guru, Armand V. Feiggenbaum who is the chairman of the International Academy of Quality, stresses that quality does not mean ‘best†, but ‘best for the customer use and selling price†. What Fienbaum†s definition is trying to say is that products should be produced to customer requirements and be sold at a good reasonable price, thus achieving quality. From my perspective, this is a good definition. For example, if I buy a television that contains a lot of features, it†s reliable, unique and it is at a good reasonable price, then it would be a quality product to me. Also many people associate price with quality, people expect better quality when paying more, thus Fienbaum gives a good clear definition of quality. To Fienbaum, quality is a way of managing an organisation. He stresses that quality does not only mean that customer problems have to be fixed faster. Like Juran, he says that leadership is essential to a company†s success. Finally, I am going to talk about a well known Japanese guru, Kaoru Ishikawa who is known as the father of ‘quality circles†. Ishikawa stresses that ‘quality does not only mean the quality of a product, but also of after sales service, quality of management, the company itself and the human being. Ishikawa†s definition is trying to say that all of the aspects of the organisation have to be known to be of good quality standard. For example, Rolls Royce produces quality cars but also the company itself and the management is known to be of good quality. So therefore if all of the aspects of the organisation are good quality, then this can lead to good corporate reputation, thus increasing sales and profits. Overall, Ishikawa†s definition is similar to Deming†s and Fienbaum†s definition, where there is a focal point to look at all of the stages of providing quality. In conclusion, all of the guru†s definitions are different and have all proved to be successful in their own situations. It is also worth remembering that all the gurus are consultants and have different definitions due to the fact that they come from different business backgrounds, so therefore, their approaches to quality differ from each other. Now that I have defined the different concepts of quality, I am now going to explain the difference between ‘quality in product manufacture† and ‘quality in service delivery†. A product is any goods other than land, bridges or buildings and includes a product which is comprised within another product whether by virtue of being a component part or raw material or otherwise†. (Dale and Plunkett, 1994). On the other hand â€Å"A service encounter is any direct interaction between a service provider and customers†. (Dale and Plunkett, 1994). Industries, such as financial services, health care, tourism, government, transport and communications have their business activities focused on services rather than products. Quality customer service is now a focus of every organisation where it is typically achieving a competitive advantage. â€Å"Consumers, be they individuals, households or businesses, are more aware of the alternatives on offer; in relation to both services/products, and to provide organisations and rising standards of service†. (Dale and Plunkett, 1994). Overall, the quality of service delivery has become as important as the quality of product manufacture. However, they have several characteristics that distinguish them from each other when providing quality to customers. One main difference between quality in product manufacture and quality in service delivery is that products are tangible and services are not. So therefore when manufacturing a product, a firm will have to make sure that there are no defects on the product and that the product is conformed to requirement. This is because if there are any defects on the product, then consumers have a right to complain with tangible evidence (the product). On the other hand, services are intangible; there is usually little or no tangible evidence to show once a service has been performed. For example, when a mortgage adviser has given his proposition to a consumer, later the consumer will have little or no evidence of the service delivery to prove how good or bad it was. So consequently, from one perspective, service organisations can afford to make mistakes and not get blamed for them, although it can lead to a bad corporate image and serious damages, such as in health care situations. Overall, quality in a product will be evident but quality in service delivery does not always have to be evident due to the fact that services can be intangible. Another key difference between these two is that poor quality products can be replaced but poor quality services cannot always be replaced. So therefore, as Philip Crosby says, you will have to ‘get it right first time† with ‘zero defects† when delivering a service. Overall, an organisation can afford to make mistakes when achieving quality in a manufactured product. But an organisation cannot afford to make mistakes when delivering a service due to the fact that it is very hard or impossible to rectify a poor quality service. For example, if a nurse in the hospital drops a baby and as a result, the baby has a brain damage, then this mistake in the service will be very impossible to rectify. So therefore, in services, such as health care, there are generally fewer errors than in products due to the serious consequences that a service organisation (hospital) can face if it makes a mistake. As Deming states, organisations will have to delight the consumer through their services in order to achieve quality. So therefore, it is essential for service providers, such as doctors, to get it right first time. One other major difference is that it is more difficult to use quality standards in services than products, in the conventional sense. This is because there is the characteristic of heterogeneity, where variability exists in services as a function of labour inputs and non-standardisation of delivery. (Dale and Plunkett, 1994). There can be small variations in products but services can have large variations, it all depends on the individual who is delivering the service. Overall, different individuals deliver services in various different ways. Elimination of the virus of variability in products is easier to tackle than services. Deming†s concept of statistical control is widely used in industry in order to eliminate variation in products. The behaviour of the process remains the same over time with controlled variation and by the use of statistical control. If no statistical control is used, then the behaviour of the process is likely to change, usually in unpredictable ways and at unpredictable times with uncontrolled variation. So therefore, statistical control over the manufacturing of products can achieve quality and eliminate variation. But the problem with the statistical concept is that it cannot eliminate variation in service delivery, the statistical concept is only suitable for manufacturing products. From my perspective, training the staff can only eliminate service variation as Juran says. Overall, I think that huge variations in products such as Walkers Crisps can devalue the product because consumers expect the same taste from each packet, that is said to be of good quality and number one in the UK market. However, there is slight variation in Walkers Crisps, but this is usually common with ever packet of crisp. Recently, there was a research taking place in the UK that is working towards eliminating the variation of tastes of each crisp. The elimination of variation in crisps is another step towards achieving quality in product manufacture. On the other hand, it is sometimes said that the variation in services often produce quality. However, variations in services are usually dealt with by training the staff. Last of all, I think that it is harder to achieve and control quality in service delivery than product manufacture. This is because services (such as doctors† time) cannot be stored to meet fluctuations in demand, but products can be stored. In order to conform to requirement and delight the customer (achieve quality), service organisations will have to meet demands at perplexing times, or otherwise they will find it very difficult to achieve quality. An organisation that does not meet fluctuating demands can gain a bad corporate image, thus decreasing the overall quality of the organisation. I think that service organisations can only meet fluctuating demands by setting out standards. For example, opening seven days a week rather than five days a week or specially opening when demands are excessively high. Realistically, this can be very difficult to achieve. A recent example of a service organisation that is not meeting fluctuating demands is the National Health Authority (NHS). The flu syndrome has recently affected many people in the UK, including the elderly. As a result, more people have been attending to the doctors and hospitals, thus making it more difficult for the NHS to cope with the increasing demand levels. Many appointments and operations have been cancelled in many hospitals due to the increase of patients. This prime example gives you an idea that service organisations cannot always deliver quality due to the fact that they cannot always deliver there services on time. In the above example, many people have criticised the NHS of not providing quality services, in other words, not coping with the fluctuation of demand levels. Overall, I think that only if the whole organisational chain is functioning efficiently can quality be achieved in both products and services. The quality chain links all of the business, and its external suppliers, to provide quality to the consumers. This objective is only achieved if each chain link provides quality. If one fails, then the overall objective of achieving quality is very unlikely to be achieved, the chain will not be functioning properly. For example, if a sales assistant does not have enough knowledge on a certain product, then the customer will not receive sufficient information on the product by the sales assistant,thus the quality of the product will be unrecognised. So therefore, the sales assistant is letting every one else down in the quality chain, thus, the chain will not will moving effectively. In overall conclusion, I think that different individuals perceive quality in different ways because everyone has different perceptions. I also think that in their definitions of quality, the gurus are looking at different aspects of quality in order to find different ways of saying the same thing. Basically, ‘meeting customer requirements† achieves quality because you are producing and delivering what the customer wants you to produce and deliver. As well as meeting customer requirements, ‘delighting the customer† is also a good concept of quality because you are going beyond your customers† expectations when delighting your customer with a product or service. However, all the gurus have different definitions due to the fact that they specialise in different business backgrounds, thus they all give a good definition of quality based on their past experiences. There are many differences in achieving quality in a product than achieving quality in a service. One of the differences is that services are tangible and products are not. Thus leaving little or no evidence of service delivery, even though is was not perceived as good quality. However, if mistakes are made in certain services, then these can not always be rectified, but when manufacturing a product, mistakes can usually be rectified easily without facing serious consequences. The main difference between quality in product manufacture and quality in service delivery is that products can be stored to meet fluctuations in demand, but on the other hand, services cannot always be stored, thus decreasing the quality of service delivery. A good example of a service not being stored is the NHS that is not meeting its recent demand levels. Also, another difference between these two is that there is more variation in services than products. Product variations can usually be controlled, but service variations are more difficult to control, thus this can decrease or increase the quality of service delivery. Last of all, I think that it is more important for service providers to ‘get it right first time† due to the fact that poor services are hard to replace, where faulty products are easily replaced.

Patricia Benner Theorist Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Patricia Benner Theorist - Assignment Example Such is the fundamental message of Benner’s From Novice to Expert. This paper analyzes and discusses Patricia Benner’s From Novice to Expert. The first section introduces the life and theory of Benner, and the key components of the theory. The second section discusses how the theory can connect theory, research, and practice. Then the last section explains how this theory is relevant to my practice goals and how can I apply the theory now and in the future. Patricia Benner of the University of California was a forerunner in clinical practice research; specifically, she examined the traits of experts and the development of expertise. Employing a qualitative design, as well as interview and observation, she studied several nurses involved in clinical activities—from novice nurses to expert nurses. From this research she wrote her book From Novice to Expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing (2001) wherein she identified a hierarchy or pyramid of practice in medical nursing. The five phases of development described by Benner are ‘novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert’ (Alber et al., 2009, 126). Benner’s work covers clear, perceptive explanations of every stage and the framework has been applied by others in examining their profession and creating academic programs. This paper analyzes and discusses Patricia Benner’s From Novice to Expert. The first section introduces the life and theory of Benner, and the key components of the theory. The second section discusses how the theory can connect theory, research, and practice. Then the last section explains how this theory is relevant to my practice goals and how can I apply the theory now and in the future. Patricia Benner is a nursing graduate from Pasadena College. She later on obtained a Master’s Degree in nursing from University of California in 1970, with her primary focus on medical-surgical nursing. Benner has a broad array of clinical knowledge and experience

Usability of a Principles of Marketing Course in the Field of Essay

Usability of a Principles of Marketing Course in the Field of Information Technology Project Management - Essay Example Understanding the relationship between the two fields therefore involves analysis of their scopes for convergence. The scope of information technology involves application of technology in preparation and management of information for timely and efficient communication to users of such information. Such a scope involves analysis of business systems, designs, and development of solutions for communication initiatives. Information technology also involves preparation of schedules and task lists, databases, reports and evaluations (Churchill and Lacobucci, 2009). The scope of a principle of marketing course therefore offers information for applicability of information technology. It for instance involves surveys and analysis of strategies such as price, distribution, promotional concepts, and consumers’ response to marketing initiatives. All these aspects are measurable in numeric data that requires information technology for efficient recording, analysis and communication (Churchill and Lacobucci, 2009). As a result, a principle of marketing course is applicable in the field of information technology because the scope of marketing deals in data that is handled and managed by information technology

Businesses are not Behaving Ethically Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Businesses are not Behaving Ethically - Essay Example Also, if a company follows ethical practices in its operations it is able to gain customer loyalty. And it is not necessary that to be ethical a company incurs more costs than one that doesn't. It's a win-win situation for ethical companies (Rupal). There may be numerous reasons for businesses to be considered as acting unethically. Actions used to cut down costs, access more resources, raise their profit earnings, or simply to enter into a new market could be taken in an unethical manner. The prime example could be of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has captured the U.S. market for retailers. But in its search for cheaper products to beat out its competition with, it offers its laborers in developing countries with barely subsistence wages due to which laborers put in hundreds of man-hours yet still earn an income which could barely support them (Nassar). Their entrance into foreign markets bring business to that country but the conditions of the people living there do not improve as they are still below their poverty line and there is no rise in their gdp/capita. To provide their consumers with the cheapest products in the market Wal-Mart is abusing its workers and providing them with miserable working conditions. A similar sweatshop case was witnessed when people found out that the "lovable" Disney franchise was using laborers working in miserable conditions to manufacture the products which helped sustain the multi-billion dollar industry that relied on Disney products such as their clothing line and the other products sold at their theme parks. In our immediate present we can see how Lehman Bros. helped cause the economic collapse which sent tremors all over the world. By giving mortgages to people who could not afford them they created the sudden defaults which would later cause a chain reaction which would not only affect the U.S. but the entire world. Whole economies collapsed and the tax payer's money was diverted towards the protection of these banks rather than on any infrastructural projects for which they should have been spent. Immense unemployment arose worldwide, countries had trouble importing items since they did not have sufficient funds, defaults in payments for national debts, and fall in investments were observed. This whole incident single handedly brought down the GDP of many European nations as well as the U.S. The state of our national healthcare system is ample proof that businesses on a whole are unethical if given the choice and freedom to be. Given the slightest laxness from the government and the assurance of no action to be taken on them on legal grounds corporations begin to adapt behaviors which are unethical. Why Act Unethically Most businesses act unethically when they know that their actions would result in no consequences to harm them. If they had the fear that they would be persecuted or that they might face negative opinions in the market then they would not resort to unethical means to jump ahead of their competition. This could probably be a reason why unethical practices are observed more in developing countries where the government regulations are weak and corruption

Default Determination Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Default Determination - Term Paper Example This paper thus is going to handle and talk about the termination by default or default termination to every detail while analyzing everything that it entails, as well as the remedy of default termination in the context of federal procurement in reference to the nature of the course. In termination for default, the government always wants to have the upper hand on the contract hence always trying to make sure that the contract is always to their advantage. So in that case, in order for the government to prevail in the defense of a termination by default, the government must establish that the termination of the contract by default prior to the contract completion date was effective, proper and correct. Since this default termination is such a drastic action, the federal procurement must show how its determination was well grounded and had no hidden motive or agenda, and is supported by solid evidence. Moreover, the agency must show/demonstrate through convincing evidence that there was no reasonable likelihood that the contractor could complete the work in time as agreed. The untimely performance of work which does not affect the critical path does not provide a basis for a default termination. The above said, there are suggestions that it is improper for the government to terminate a contractor for his or her failure to make progress where the contactor had reason to be expected to complete the work to finish the job contracted fro in due time. In such cases the federal procurement must consider all available factors and reasons when they are determining whether to terminate a contractor using the default termination. Moreover, if the totality of the state of affairs shows or indicates the unsupported and arbitrary nature of the decision to terminate for default the law requires conversion of the action to termination for convenience. There are laws put in reference to this type of termination

Fair Compensation Budgeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fair Compensation Budgeting - Essay Example She has held this position for the last two years though she has not been very successful. This is because she was under a male manager who could not work with female workers freely. The former manager did not treat workers equally because, in this business, women were not paid the same salary as men. The new manager noted that women were not paid an equivalent rate as men for the same work. Question 1 What factors in the current compensation system for the county not identified here might influence Amy’s response? The current compensation system for the county pays women less salary than women. This is not fair because all workers are entitled to the same remuneration. However there are a number of things that will influence Amy in order to change the situation of unequal treatment of men and women in Adam County. First, Amy should research and find out whether both men and women are allocated the same duties in the company. She should evaluate this to find out whether, the f act that women are paid lower salaries than men is justified. Apparently, the previous manager might have been paying men more money probably because they were subjected to more work load. Amy should find out exactly why this was the case and address the situation from that point. Secondly, Amy might be influenced by the fact that women take more leave days than men. ... Such skills include ability to team work, working under pressure but not expecting an extra pay. For women this might seem hard because of their biological make up and their household responsibilities. These responsibilities such as child bearing and raising might be inhibiting the full performance of women at the workplace and therefore cannot be relied upon, for example, to do activities such as those of departmental heads. In addition, by the fact that departmental heads work involves a lot of travelling, women might not handle such tasks because of the constraints put on him by society. For example women who take a lot of time away from their husbands are often branded bad and false accusations of engaging in extra marital affairs while away for a prolonged time. Amy might also consider the commitment workers have towards the business. She will be influenced by those workers who have a spirit to work rather than those who work to earn money. To identify these workers she will be guided by how, for example, workers are punctual to work. The quality of work that such a worker does is also a crucial item to consider. If for example, workers are assigned similar duties, the manager should determine who among those workers the first to do the job is. The manager may also consider commitments outside the workplace, for example, commitment in family affairs and other matters connected with that family. There is a direct link between the performance of the work and the relationship with spouses at home. Workers spend a lot of time in the workplace and also in the family place. The balance between the two places is important for the profitability of the company. In addition, the number of dependents the worker has maybe

Government of Zanzibar v British Aerospace Essay

Government of Zanzibar v British Aerospace - Essay Example In the case, the Government of Zanzibar had contracted with British Aerospace (supplier) in order to purchase an executive jet from the company. As part of the deal, the Government of Zanzibar entered into a separate contract with a financing company that eventually bought the plane before leasing it back to the government. However, the plane was soon found to be defective. It was returned back to British Aerospace for repair but the faults persisted even after the repair. The Government of Zanzibar immediately stopped its payments of the semiannual installments to the financing company. In order to recover their costs, the financing company (CIBC) took possession of the plane and sold it. The Government of Zanzibar then initiated an action against British Aerospace either to rescind the contract or alternatively be awarded damages under the British contract laws.Additionally, the government of Zanzibar accused the supplier (British Aerospace) of false representation in the contract for having claimed that the Jet was airworthy, reliable and without any construction or design defect. They also appealed to rescind the contract and put them back to the pre-contractual position. For example, it could be by returning plane to the Government in its original position or compensation for damages due to misrepresentation. This was particularly because the government claimed that the contract with British Aerospace is subjected to fraudulent misrepresentation (deceit).

Nonverbal communication in Crash Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nonverbal communication in Crash - Term Paper Example From the movie, we are able to clearly see the communication difference that exists between people of different cultures (Knapp). The lives of people from diverse cultures in the movie seem to be at stake due to inaccurate perception and ineffective verbal communication. This movie portrays behind the scenes that all humans are good in nature and if they add a little of the good aspects of communication then most of the problems in the society are likely to be solved (Crash. Dir. Robert Lantos). It is clear that the movie under review and analysis is the movie ‘Crash’ by Paul Haggis and the concept under analysis is nonverbal communication and their general impacts in the society. Effective communication is very important not only to the society but also in an individual’s life for the sake of their personal, professional and civic interactions and development. Therefore, it is wise to always create or look for room to develop and learn so that we are better communicators (Wood). From the movie, we are able to see this fact openly manifested and goes further to show us the consequences of not being able to communicate effectively (Crash. Dir. Robert Lantos). Through the characters of the movie, we are able to see the impacts of communication to ourselves. To other people or the public, organization and most importantly we are able to pinpoint the drawbacks of the inability to perform effective intercultural communication as witnessed in most of the movie characters. The movie shows us the clash that exists between the law and ethics due to mishap in communication (Wood). It is ethical for the police or corps to pull the vehicle over yet against ethics to harass and abuse the people in the vehicle. This has come about because of the poor communication exhibited by the police a perception that sets prototypes about some members of the society hence a motivation to act differently in handling issues. Therefore the

Causes and effect of opiate drug use among teenagers between the age Research Paper

Causes and effect of opiate drug use among teenagers between the age of thirteen and seventeen in our communities - Research Paper Example hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and levorphanol. Artificial or synthetic opioids are also available and include fentanyl, meperidine, methadone, propoxyphene, and tramadol. While the former have chemical structures similar to natural opiates that of synthetic opiates is distinct. Irrespective of nature of origin, opiates have acute as well as chronic psychological effects and are known to be addictive (Kim-Katz & Anderson, 2011). Drug abuse is one of the major issues dealt by governments worldwide with approximately 185 million people being directly involved during the period spanning 1998-2002 according to UNODC estimates. Of this 0.4% of the population in the diverse age group of 15 to 64 years was found to be addicted to opioids with half using illicit opioids such as heroin and the remaining addicted to prescription opiates. In U.S., specific patterns are observed in nature of drug use. While illicit drug use is more prevalent among the black adolescents; prescription drug is used more frequently by whites (Schroeder & Ford, 2012). Global burden of illicit opioid use is indicated by the fact that it was reported to be responsible for 0.7% of global disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in the year 2000 (Hall et al., 2006). Teenagers in the age group of 13 to 17 years form a highly vulnerable set of population with respect to drug abuse. National Drug Intelligence Center data indicates that in the year 2 003 alone approximately 7.5 million individuals of this age group had fallen prey to illicit drug use at least once, of these 3.3% were reported to have used heroin (NDIC, 2004). A comparison of the data for the years 2008 and 2009 indicates a statistically significant rise in illicit drug use incidences in this age group (SAMHSA, 2009). Evidence based researches investigating the etiologic factors of opioid use are few. Personal factors that have been reported to be responsible for opiate use among teenagers can be listed in to three

Employee Rewards Essay Example for Free

Employee Rewards Essay Introduction The purpose of this essay is to critically examine the processes used by Scotia Learning and identify if their rewards are appropriate to those of the market. The report will begin by discussing the background of Scotia Learning and follow on to define reward management highlighting the objective and constraints within the reward strategy. We will then consider the legal framework and examine why there are variations in pay and how job evaluation can ensure equity and fairness is achieved. Finally we will discuss the concept of motivation and the implications of pay for performance within the reward strategy. The report ends with an analysis of the key issues of the topic. Scotia Learning is the case study for this essay and is one of a network of university-based study centres offering preparation for students wishing to study undergraduate and postgraduate degrees for progression into university degree courses. The company has joint venture partnerships with top universities throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and United States of America. â€Å"Reward management is concerned with the formulation and implementation of strategies and policies that aim to reward people fairly, equitably and consistently in accordance with their value to the organisation† (Armstrong Murlis, 2007, p3). Research by Redman Wilkinson (2009) indicates that reward is an enormously complex issue and has to take account of three fundamental principles in determining systems and structures: internal equity, external equity and business strategy. In addition Thorpe Homan (2000) state that the organisation should identify what objectives and behaviours the payment system should have for example, labour market competitiveness and management skills whilst Perkins White (2009) highlight the importance of legal regulations that can put constraints on organisations, for example minimum wage (legal), collective bargaining (trade unions), and the external labour markets. Scotia Learning does not recognise a trade union however it does recognise that collective bargaining has been influential in discussing and setting pay arrangement due to internal and external rates of pay not being equal. Within the employment legislation pay has always been an area of controversy especially when one considers employee’s collective concerns (Brown et al., 2003). The introduction of The Equal Pay Act 1970 outlawing unequal pay for men and women having since evolved into equal pay for equal work and the Equal Pay (Amendment) Regulations 1983 after the UK joined the EU in 1973 (Perkins White, 2009), now gives employees a certain degree of protection in their employment relationship. To strengthen current legislation The Equality Act 2010 was introduced highlighting human rights and discriminatory factors, such as equal pay, sex discrimination, race, disability and equality (religion, sexual orientation, and age) (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2012). In response to this Scotia Learning are aware that they have a ‘duty of care’ to all employees and comply with the Equal Opportunities Policy by ensuring the relevant training is undertaken by managers and employees ensuring everyone understands the importance of and their responsibilities under this Policy. This is also promoted in all recruitment documents, ensuring that wording of job advertisements does not discriminate against any potential applicants. As part of this legislation, employers are legally required to ensure their pay structures are not discriminatory against men and women in terms of valuing work between them in their employment and in order to defend themselves against equal pay claims, organisations must be able to prove that the jobs within their grading system are valued according to the job rather than the gender of the person doing the job. Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in a tribunal claim and if proven the organisation will have to pay all money accrued which can be backdated six years in England and five years in Scotland. In the case of (Birmingham City Council v Abdulla and others [2012] UKSC 47), the Supreme Court ruled that equal pay claims brought in the High Court more than six months after the end of the claimants employment, which would have been out of time in an employment tribunal, should not be struck out under section 2(3) of the Equal Pay Act 1970. The reasons for a claimants failure to bring a timely claim in a tribunal are not relevant in any way to the notion of convenience under section 2(3). (PLC Employment Law Weekly email). Within Scotia Learning pay and benefits are provided on the basis of objective criteria, free from discrimination taking into account the principle of equal pay for equivalent work or work of equal value. In addition we ensure transparency within the reward system is clear to all employees in that they understand how their pay is worked out and what is required from them to achieve this. Job profiles and person specifications for each new vacancy are drawn up in keeping with other jobs of a similar size and responsibility which focus on the skills, experience and qualifications that are directly relevant to the job. Armstrong Murlis (2007, p115) state that â€Å"the payment system is important as it not only conveys a signal to the employees what the organisational priorities are but also acts as a catalyst for wider organisational change† a view reiterated by Armstrong (1996) in which he proposes that the foundations of reward management are to achieve the individual and organisational behaviour that a company needs if the business goals are to be met. Therefore the term ‘employees are the key to enhanced organisational performance’ becomes relevant with links to Kessler and Purcell (1994) where they emphasise that payment systems are related to recruitment, retention and motivation of staff and that the determination of pay is not only the interaction of market forces but also employers. It is also acknowledged that variations in pay can occur for a variety of reasons and from a legal perspective it is important to understand why (Redman Wilkinson, 2009). Firstly the power scenario, in that if labour is scarce, employees will have more power and hence may be able to demand higher pay, in contrast with an over-supply of labour employers have the power and hence may be able to hold pay at lower rates (Redman Wilkinson, 2009). Secondly, it has been acknowledged that ‘the rate for the job’ should be the same for employees doing the same job but considering organisational performance is reliant on the employ ee’s effort, skills and competencies, it is not logical to assume that effort should be rewarded and pay should vary accordingly. A view shared by Redman Wilkinson (2009, p161) who advocate that â€Å"variable pay schemes (VPS) are said to hold out the promise towards the creation of internal labour market that is fairer in rewarding people as it is only ‘fair’ that rewards should have a direct link with effort†. The argument with this theory is that ‘risk adverse’ workers will be less willing to ‘gamble’ on pay related performance than a set amount of pay. Thirdly, we should also take into consideration the external market rate of pay and uneven market pressures such as differing regional or occupational rates of pay as Kessler (2007, p167) states â€Å"external equity is an organisational imperative as failure to respond the labour market changes will leave organisations at a disadvantage competitively†. Scotia Learning responds to these challenges by regularly benchmarking and studying the market rate of pay within the educational sector. Data collected i s beneficial in determining pay to ensure pay scales are in line with and competitive with similar jobs. For example, when recruiting teaching staff, the use of organisations such as SATEFL and other educational websites are particularly useful, for administration staff we would use S1jobs.com and jobseeker.gov.uk website and with management we would use agencies. However, although the aforesaid strategy is very useful, Scotia Learning is a relatively large organisation with Centres worldwide and other factors have to be taken into consideration, such as location and cost of living. In determining the value of jobs within our organisation, although we consider the external market pay rates, decisions concerning pay are done through a coherent wage and career structure internal to our organisation which ensures consistency and fairness in our reward systems. It has been reported that issues with this reward system have arisen within the banking sector resulting in Government intervention to deal with inequalities of pay setting at senior management/director level and low pay via the nati onal minimum wage. This is not an area of concern for Scotia Learning as the annual salary increase is a % rate consistent throughout the organisation and our pay structure process involves a job evaluation â€Å"a systematic process for establishing the relative worth of jobs within an organisation† Redman Wilkinson (2009, p141). In addition Scotia Learning is accredited to the British Council and British Accreditation Council and all HR policies and personnel files are properly documented and filed. Our job evaluation comprises of an analytical (i.e., jobs are broken down into individual components) broad-band pay structure with a range of factors such as knowledge and skills, problem solving, decision making and then allocating points to them. It is interesting to note that research by IRS (2007) showed that an average of 86% of organisations use this form of job evaluation. Within this broad-band pay structure we have 6 wide overlapping salary bands made up of management, HR, teaching staff , finance, student services and cleaning staff with a salary range for each bank of at least 75%. Progression up the bands will be by skills and qualifications, performance and competence enhanced through individual career development thus supplying the motivation for continuous learning. To support this, the annual performance review takes place, however it is not linked to pay or rewards and is based on the objectives of skills and competence which are linked to organisational performance. In terms of equity and fairness the rate of pay for full-time and part-time teaching staff is calculated on the same hourly rate therefore ensuring consistency and fairness within the system. It is interesting to note that research by Redman Wilkinson (2009, p139) argues that by paying an hourly rate â€Å"employers control over pace and performance is reliant on either direct supervision or the willingness of employees to engage with the task† synonymous with the argument surrounding ‘risk adverse’ workers. This point of view may be viable in organisations such as ‘call centres’ where technology enables the monitoring and regulating of work by measuring output and input and within the customer service industry where we have the ‘secret shopper’, but within the education sector autonomy is part of the job as is their professional code of ethics which includes commitment, motivation and discretionary behaviour which is contradictory to the argument by Thorpe Homan (2000) who suggest that non-financial aspects are secondary and rarely given the same prominence in the design of payment systems. Managing rewards is largely about managing employee expectations linking to their psychological contract which is concerned with pay, performance and the development of skills (Armstrong Murlis, 2007). The argument then becomes, if reactions to rewards depend on the psychological makeup, values and needs of individual, one cannot wholly rely on performance related pay schemes to enhance all employees’ performance as not everyone is motivated by money. Motivation only takes place if rewards are worthwhile to the individual and if the process is seen to be fair, therefore, it would require to be customised for every individual in the organisation (Armstrong Murlis, 2007). For example, an employee nearing the end of their career may be more interested in job satisfaction (intrinsic reward), whereas a graduate beginning their career may be more interested in training and development (extrinsic reward). For that reason it can be argued that both intrinsic rewards such as respect, recognition, job satisfaction and responsibility are just as important as extrinsic rewards such as pay rises, bonuses, training and development opportunities and benefits such as annual holidays, company sick pay and company pension. This highlights the importance of implementing an equitable and fair reward strategy in that by incorporating financial and non-financial rewards is that they can be used as a tool to enhance employee motivation resulting in improved organisational performance. Finally the importance of management skills cannot be undermined as they are a fundamental element of human resource management. The management strategy within Scotia Learning is based on autonomy, communication and high levels of trust between management and employees. Evidence to support this is the turnover rate of staff with one employee resigning over the past two years and the annual absence levels within Scotia L earning for all staff inclusive stands at 0.1% of working hours, which is the lowest in the entire organisation. Conclusion This objective of the report was to establish the processes that ensure equity and fairness in the reward systems. We have covered the legal aspects, strategies, market awareness, motivation, job evaluation and performance appraisal and it has become evident that Scotia Learning complies with all legal legislation, and displays equity and fairness within the reward systems. However there was an air of negativity surrounding performance and reward as within Scotia Learning the annual appraisal is not yet connected to pay for performance. It is possible that issues could arise if this was implemented, namely, it could seriously affect the dynamics of the office environment between a very closely-nit team of employees, managers and directors in that, how does the manager justify their decision in the event of a low reward without affecting the equilibrium of the office environment and within a unionised organisation all trade unions argue against performance linked to pay. Schemes relating pay to performance, although generating a tremendous amount of interest have very little in the way of conclusive evidence concerning their effects on performance (Redman Wilkinson, (2009). This echoes Thompson (1992) findings in which he states, â€Å"research fails to provide convincing evidence of a link between individual performance-related pay schemes and improvements in productivity†. The evidence supports that other approaches should be considered in rewarding employees, for example a one-off bonus payment which would not affect the employees’ annual salary. References Armstrong, M. (1996) Employee Reward, London: Kogan Page/IPD Armstrong, M., and Murlis, H. (2007) Reward Management. 5thedn. London: Hay Group Brown, W., Marginson, P., and Walsh, J. (2003) The management of pay as the influence of collective bargaining diminishes. In: P.K. Edwards, Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice, Oxford: Blackwell IRS (2007) Job evaluation is thriving, survey finds: Employment Review, 667 Kessler, I. (2007) Reward Choices: strategy and equity. In: Storey, J. HRM: a critical text 3rd edition, London: Thomson Learning Kessler, I., and Purcell, J. (1994) Performance Related Pay: Objectives and application, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol.2, No.3 Perkins, S. J., and White, G. (2009) Employee Reward: Alternatives, consequences and contexts, 2nd edn. London: Chartered Institute Of Personnel and Development, Redman, T., and Wilkinson, A. (2009) Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text Cases, 3rd edn. London: Prentice Hall, Thompson, M. (1992) Pay for Performance: The employers experience, Brighton, Institute of Manpower Studies Thorpe, R., and Homan, G (2000) Strategic Reward Systems, Harlow: Financial Times Williams, S., and Adam-Smith, D. (2006) Contemporary Employment Relations: A critical introduction, Oxford: University Press Equality of Human Rights Commission, available from: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/ date accessed 23/10/12 PLC Employment Law, available from: [emailprotected] – date accessed 26/10/12

Exploring Optimal Levels of Data Filtering

Exploring Optimal Levels of Data Filtering It is customary to filter raw financial data by removing erroneous observations or outliers before conducting any analysis on it. In fact, it is often one of the first steps undertaken in empirical financial research to improve the quality of raw data to avoid incorrect conclusions. However, filtering of financial data can be quite complicated not just because of the reliability of the plethora of data sources, complexity of the quoted information and the many different statistical properties of the variables but most importantly because of the reason behind the existence of each identified outlier in the data. Some outliers may be driven by extreme events which have an economic reason like a merger, takeover bid, global financial crises etc. rather than a data error. Under filtering can lead to inclusion of erroneous observations (data error) caused by technical (e.g. computer system failure) or human error (e.g. unintentional human error like typing mistake or intentional human err or like producing dummy quotes for testing).[1] Likewise, over filtering can also lead to wrong conclusions by deleting outliers motivated by extreme events which are important to the analysis. Thus, the question of the right amount of filtering of financial data, albeit subjective, is quite important to improve the conclusions from empirical research. In an attempt to somewhat answer this question, this seminar paper aims to explore the optimal level of data filtering.[2] The analysis conducted in this paper was on the Xetra Intraday data provided by the University of Mannheim. This time-sorted data for the entire Xetra universe had been extracted from the Deutsche Bà ¶rse Group. The data consisted of the historical CDAX components that had been collected from Data stream, Bloomberg and CDAX. Bloombergs corporate actions calendar had been used to track dates of IPO listing, delisting and ISIN changes of companies. Corporations not covered by Bloomberg had been tracked manually. Even though few basic filters had been applied (for e.g. dropping negative observations for spread/depth/volume), some of which were replicated from Market Microstructure Database File, the data remained largely raw. The variables in the data had been calculated for each day and the data aggregated to daily data points.[3] The whole analysis was conducted using the statistical software STATA. The following variables were taken into consideration for the purpose of identifying outliers, as commonly done in empirical research: Depth = depth_trade_value Trading volume = trade_vol_sum Quoted bid-ask spread = quoted_trade_value Effective bid-ask spread = effective_trade_value Closing quote midpoint returns, which were calculated by applying Hussain (2011) approach: rt = 100*(log (Pt) log (Pt1)) Hence, closing_quote_midpoint_rlg = 100*log(closing_quote_midpoint(n)) log(closing_quote_midpoint(n-1)). Where closing_quote_midpoint = (closing_ask_price+ closing_bid_price)/2 Our sample consisted of the first fifteen hundred and ninety five observations, out of which two hundred observations were outliers. Only the first two hundred outliers were analyzed (on a stock basis chronologically) and classified as either data errors or extreme events. These outliers were associated with two companies: 313 Music JWP AG and 3U Holding AG. Alternatively, a different approach could have been used to select the sample to include more companies but the basics of how filters work should be independent of the sample selected for the filter to be free of any biases so for instance if a filter is robust, it should perform relatively well on any stock or sample. It should be noted that we did not include any bankrupt companies in our sample as those stocks are beyond the scope of this paper. Moreover, since we selected the sample chronologically on a stock basis, we were able to analyze the impact of these filters more thoroughly on even the non-outlier observations in the sample, which we believe is an important point to consider when deciding the optimal level of filtering. Our inevitably somewhat subjective definition of an outlier was: Any observation lying outside the 1st and the 99th percentile of each variable on a stock basis The idea behind this was to classify only the most extreme values for each variable of interest as an outlier. The reason why the outliers were identified on a per stock basis rather than the whole data was because the data consisted of many different stocks with greatly varying levels of each variable of interest for e.g. the 99% percentile of volume for one stock might be seventy thousand trades, while that of another might be three fifty thousand trades and so any observations with eighty thousand trades in both stocks might be too extreme for the first stock but completely normal for the second one. Hence, if we identified outliers (outside the 1st and the 99th percentile) for each variable of interest on the whole data, we would be ignoring the unique properties of each stock which might result in under or over filtering depending on the properties of the stock in question. An outlier could either be the result of a data error or an extreme event. A data error was defined using Dacorogna (2008) definition: An outlier that does not conform to the actual condition of the market The ninety four observations in the selected sample with missing values for any of the variables of interest were also classified as data errors.[4] Alternatively, we could have ignored the missing values completely by dropping them from the analysis but the reason why they were included in this paper was because if they exist in the data sample, the researcher has to deal with them by deciding whether to consider them as data errors, which are to be removed through filters or change them for e.g. to the preceding value and hence it might be of value to see how various filters interact with them. An extreme event was defined as: An outlier backed by economic, social or legal reasons such as a merger, global financial crises, share buyback, major law suit etc. The outliers were identified, classified and analyzed in this paper using the following procedure: Firstly, the intraday data was sorted on a stock-date basis. Observations without an instrument name were dropped. This was followed by creating variables for the 1st and 99th percentile value for each stocks closing quote midpoint returns, depth, trading volume, quoted and effective bid-ask spread and subsequently dummy variables for outliers. Secondly, after taking the company name and month of the first two hundred outliers, while keeping in consideration a filtering window of about one week, it was checked on Google if these outliers were probably caused by extreme events or the result of data errors and classified accordingly using a dummy variable. Thirdly, different filters which are used in financial literature for cleaning data before analysis were applied one by one in the next section and a comparison was made on how well each filter performed i.e. how many probable data erro rs were filtered out as opposed to outliers probably caused by extreme events. These filters were chosen on the basis of how commonly they are used for cleaning financial data and some of the popular ones were selected. 4.1. Rule of Thumb One of the most widely used methods of filtering is to use some rule of thumb to remove observations that are too extreme to possibly be accurate. Many studies use different rules of thumb, some more arbitrary than others.[5] Few of these rules were taken from famous papers on market microstructure and their impact on outliers was analyzed. For e.g.: 4.1.1. Quoted and Effective Spread Filter In the paper Market Liquidity and Trading Activity, Chordia et al (2000) filter out data by looking at effective and quoted spread to remove observations that they believe are caused by key-punching errors.   This method involved dropping observations with: Quoted Spread > à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5 Effective Spread/Quoted spread > 4.0 % Effective Spread/%Quoted Spread > 4.0 Quoted Spread/Transaction Price > 0.4 Using the above filters resulted in the identification and consequent dropping of 61.5% of observations classified as probable data errors, whereas none of the observations classified as probable extreme events were filtered out. Thus, these spread filter looks very promising as a reasonably large portion of probable data errors was removed while none of the probable extreme events were dropped. The reason why these filters produced good results was because it looked at the individual values of quoted and effective spread and removed the ones that did not make sense logically rather than just removing values from the tails of the distribution for each variable. It should be noted that these filters removed all the ninety four missing values, which means that only five data errors were detected in addition to the detection of all the missing values. If we were to drop all the missing value observations before applying this method, it would have helped filter out only 7.5%[6] of probab le data errors while not dropping any probable extreme values. Thus, this method yields good results and should be included in the data cleaning process. Perhaps, using this filter in conjunction with a logical threshold filter for depth, trading volume and returns might yield optimal results. 4.1.2. Absolute Returns Filter Researchers are also known to drop absolute returns if they are above a certain threshold/ return window in the process of data cleaning. This threshold is subjective depending on the distribution of returns, varying from one study to another for e.g. HS use 10% threshold, Chung et al. 25% and Bessembinder 50%.[7] In case of this paper, we decided to drop (absolute) closing quote midpoint returns > |20%|. Perhaps, a graphical representation of time series returns of 313music JWP 3U Holding can be used to explain why this particular threshold was chosen. Figure 1. Scatter plot of closing quote midpoint return and date As seen in the graph, most of the observations for returns lie between -20% and 20%. However, applying this filter did not yield the best results as only 2.5% of probable data errors were filtered out as opposed to 10.3% probable extreme events from our sample. Therefore, this filter applied in isolation doesnt really seem to hold much value. Perhaps, an improvement to this filter could be achieved by only dropping returns which are extreme but reversed[8] within the next few days as this is indicative of data error. For e.g. if T1 return= 5%, T2 return= 21% and T3 return=7%, we can tell that in T3 returns were reversed, indicating that T2 returns might have been the result of a data error. This filter was implemented by only dropping return values > |20%| which in the next day or two, reverted back to the value of return, +/- 3%[9]of the day before the outlier occurred as shown below: r(_n)> |20%| |r(n-1) -r(n+1)| |r(n-1) -r(n+2)| Where r(_n) is closing quote midpoint return on any given day. This additional filter seemed to work as it prevented the filtering out of any probable extreme events. However, the percentage of filtered data errors from our sample fell from 2.5% to 1.9%. In conclusion, it makes sense to use this second return filter which accounts for reversals in conjunction with other filters for e.g. spread filter. Perhaps, this method can be further improved by using a somewhat more objective range for determining price reversals or an improved algorithm for identifying return reversals. 4.1.3. Price Filter We constructed a price filter inspired by the Brownlees Gallo (2006) approach. The notion behind this filter is to gauge the validity of any transaction price based on its comparative distance to the neighboring prices. An outlier was identified using the following algorithm: | pi -   ÃŽÂ ¼ | > 3*à Ã†â€™ Where pi is the log of daily transaction price, the reason why logarithmic transformation was used is because the standard deviation method assumes a normal distribution.[10] ÃŽÂ ¼ is the stock sorted mean and à Ã†â€™ is the stock sorted standard deviation of log daily prices. The reason why we chose the stock sorted mean and standard deviation was that the range of prices vary greatly in our data set from one stock to another, hence, it made sense to look at each stocks individual price mean as an estimate of neighboring prices. This resulted in filtering 56.5% of probable data errors which were all missing values. Thus, this filter doesnt seem to hold any real value when used in conjunction with a missing value filter. Perhaps, using a better algorithm for identifying the mean price of the closest neighbors might yield optimal results. 4.2. Winsorization and Trimming A very popular filtering method used in financial literature is trimming or winsorization. According to Green Martin (2015a), p. 8, if we want to winsorize the variables of interest at ÃŽÂ ±%, we must replace the nÃŽÂ ± largest values by the nÃŽÂ ± upper quantile of the data, and the nÃŽÂ ± smallest values by the nÃŽÂ ± lower quantile of the data. Whereas, if we want to trim the variables of interest by ÃŽÂ ±%, we should simply drop observations outside the range of ÃŽÂ ±% to 1- ÃŽÂ ±%. Thus, winsorization only reduces extreme observations rather than dropping them completely like trimming. For the purpose this paper, both methods will have similar impacts on dropping outliers outside certain ÃŽÂ ±%, hence, we will only analyze winsorization in detail. However, winsorization introduces an artificial structure[11] to the dataset because instead of dropping outliers it changes them, therefore, if this research was to be taken a step further for e.g. to condu ct robust regressions, choosing one method over the other would depend entirely on the kind of research being conducted. The matter of how much to winsorize the variables, is completely arbitrary,10 however, it is a common practice in empirical finance to winsorize each tail of the distribution at 1% or 0.5%.5 We first winsorized the variables of interest at the 1% level, on a stock basis, which led to limiting 100% of probable extreme events and only 42.9% of probable data errors. Even though intuitively it would make sense for all the identified outliers to be limited because the method used for identifying outliers for each variable considered observations which were either greater than the 99th percentile or less than the 1st percentile, and winsorizing the data at the same level should mean that all the outliers would be limited. However, this inconsistency in expectation and outcome results from the existence of missing values winsorization only limits the extreme values in the data, overlooking the missing observations which have been included in data errors. We then winsorized the variables of interest at a more stringent level i.e. 0.5%, on a stock basis, which led to 51.3% of the identified data errors and 18.6% of probable extreme events to be limited which doesnt exactly seem ideal as in addition to data errors, quite a large portion of extreme events identified was also filtered out. Taking this analysis a step further, the variables of interest were also winsorized on the whole data (which is also commonly done) as opposed to on a per stock basis, at the 0.5% and 1% level. Winsorizing at the 1% level led to limiting 51% extreme events, 24.2% data errors and an additional one thirty four observations in the sample not identified as outliers. This points toward over filtering. Doing it at the 0.5% level led to limiting 28% extreme events, 12.4% data errors and an additional seven observations in the sample not identified as outliers. Thus, it seems that no matter which level (1% or 0.5%) we winsorize on or whether we do it on a per stock basis or on the whole data, a considerable percentage of probable extreme events is filtered out. Of course, our definition of an outlier should also be taken into consideration when analyzing this filter. Winsorizing on a per stock basis does not yield very meaningful results as it clashes with our outlier definition. However, doing it on the whole data should not clash with this definition as we identify outliers outside the 1st and the 99th percentile of each variable on the data as a whole. Regardless, this filter doesnt yield optimal results as a substantial portion of probable extreme events get filtered out. This is because this technique doesnt define boundaries for the variables logically like the rule of thumb method, rather it inherently assumes that all outliers outside a pre-defined percentile must be evened out and outliers caused by extreme events dont necessarily lie within the defined boundary. It must also be noted that the winsorization filter does not limit missing values which are also clas sified as data errors in this paper. Thus, our analysis indicates that this filter might be weak if we are interested in retaining the maximum amount of probable extreme events. Perhaps, using it with an additional filter for limiting missing values might yield a better solution if the researcher is willing to drop probable extreme events for the sake of dropping probable data errors. 4.3. Standard Deviations Logarithmic transformation Many financial papers also use a filter based on x times the standard deviation: xi > ÃŽÂ ¼ + x*à Ã†â€™ xi x* à Ã†â€™ Where xi is any given observation of the variable of interest, ÃŽÂ ¼ is the variable mean and à Ã†â€™ is variable standard deviation.[12] An example would be Goodhart and Figliuoli (1991) who use a filter based on four times the standard deviation.[13] However, this method assumes a normal distribution, 9 so problems might arise with distributions that are not normal and in our data set, except for returns (because we calculated them using log), the rest of the distributions for depth, trading volume, effective and quoted bid-ask spread are not normally distributed. Therefore, we first log transformed the latter four distributions using: y = log (x)[14] Where y is the log transformed function and x is the original function. The before and after graphs, using log transformation are shown in Exhibit 4. We then dropped observations for all the log transformed variables that were greater than Mean + x*Standard Deviation or less than Mean x*Standard Deviation, first on a stock basis and then on the whole data for values of x=4 and x=6. Applying this filter at the x=6 level on a stock basis seemed to yield better results than applying it at the x=4 level. This is because x=6 led to dropping 25.6% less probable extreme events for a negligible 3.1% fall in dropping probable data errors. The outcomes are shown in Exhibit 3. However, upon further investigation, we found that 100% of the probable data errors identified by the standard deviation filter at the x=6 level were all missing values. This means that if we dropped all missing values before applying this filter at this level, our results would be very different as this filter would be dropping 7.7% extreme events for no drop in data errors. Applying this filter on the whole data led to the removal of less outlier than applying it on a per stock basis. Using the x=6 level (whole data) appeared to yield the best results 58.4% of probable data errors were filtered out while no probable extreme events were dropped. For more detailed results, refer to Exhibit 3. However, even in this case, 100% of the probable data errors identified were missing values. This means that if we were to drop all missing values before applying this filter, this filter would identify 0% of the probable extreme events or probable data errors. Thus, the question arises if we are actually over filtering at this level? If yes, then should x Data cleaning is an extremely arbitrary process which makes it quite impossible to objectively decide the level of optimal filtering, which is perhaps, the reason behind limited research in this area. This limitation of research in this particular field and inevitably this paper should be noted. That being said, even though some filters chosen were more arbitrary than others, we have made an attempt to objectively analyze the impact of each filter applied. The issue of missing values for any of the variables should be taken into consideration because they are data errors and if we were to ignore them, they would distort our analysis because they interact with the various filters applied. Alternatively, we could have dropped them before starting our analysis, but we dont know if researchers would choose to change them to the closest value for instance or filter them out, therefore, its interesting to see how the filters interact with them. Our analysis indicates that when it comes to the optimal amount of data cleaning, rule of thumb filters fare better than statistical filters like trimming, winsorization and the standard deviation method. This is because statistical filters assume that any extreme value outside a specified window must be a data error and should be filtered out but as our analysis indicates, extreme events dont necessarily lie within this specified window. On the other hand, rule of thumb filters set logical thresholds, rather than just removing/limiting observations from each tail of the distribution. The outcomes of different filters which are shown in exhibit 1, 2 and 3 are represented graphically below. Figure 2. Box plot of outcomes of all the data cleaning methods As shown in section 4.2 and the graph above, Winsorization whether on a stock basis or on the whole data, tends to filter out a large portion of probable extreme events. Thus, it is not a robust filter if we want to retain maximum probable extreme events and should be probably avoided if possible. As far as the standard deviation filter is concerned, as shown in section 4.3, applying it at the x = 6 level, whether on a per stock or whole data basis, seems to perform well but it is not of much value if combined with a missing values filter and all other scenarios tested, actually dropped more probable extreme events than data errors. Therefore, it is not advisable to simply drop outliers existing at the tails of distributions without understanding the cause behind their existence. This leaves us with the rule of thumb filters. We combined the filters that performed optimally spread and additional return filter which accounts for reversals, along with a filter for removing the missing values. This resulted in dropping one hundred and two i.e. 63.4% of all probable data errors without removing any probable extreme events. At this point, a payoff has been made: in order to not drop any probable extreme events, we have foregone dropping some extra probable data errors because over scrubbing is a serious form of risk.[15] This highlights the struggle of optimal data cleaning, because researchers often dont have the time to check the reason behind the occurrence of an outlier, they end up removing probable extreme events in the quest to drop probable data errors. Thus, the researcher has to first determine what optimal filtering really means to him does it mean not dropping any probable extreme events albeit at the expense of keeping some data errors like done in this paper, or does it mean giving precedence to dropping maximum amount of data errors, albeit at the expense of dropping probable extreme events? In the latter case, statistical filters like trimming, win sorization and standard deviation method should also be carefully used. The limitations of this paper should also be recognized. Firstly, only two hundred outliers were analyzed due to time constraint, maybe, future research in the area can look at a larger sample to get more insightful results. Secondly, other variables can also be looked at in addition to depth, volume, spread and returns and more popular filters can be applied and tested on them. Moreover, a different definition can be used to define an outlier or to select the sample for e.g. the two hundred outliers could have been selected randomly or based on their level of extremeness but close attention must be paid to avoid sample biases. Future research in this field should perhaps, also focus on developing more objective filters and method of classifying outliers as probable extreme events. It should also look into the impact of using the above[16]two approaches of optimal filtering on the results of empirical research for e.g. on robust regressions, to verify which approach of optimal filtering performs the best. Table 1: Outcome of Rule of Thumb Filters Applied Table 2: Outcome of Winsorization Filters Applied Table 3: Outcome of Standard Deviation Filters Applied Figure 3: Kernel Distribution before and after log transformation 3.1 Depth 3.2 Effective Spread 3.3 Quoted Spread 3.4 Volume   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Figure 4. Kernel Distribution before and after log transformation of transaction price   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   References Bollerslev, T./Hood, B./Huss, J./Pedersen, L. (2016): Risk Everywhere: Modeling and Managing Volatility, Duke University, Working Paper, p. 59. Brownlees, C. T/Gallo, M. G. (2006): Financial Econometric Analysis at Ultra-High Frequency: Data Handling Concerns. SSRN Electronic Journal, p. 6 Chordia, T./Roll, R./Subrahmanyam, A (2000): Market Liquidity and Trading Activity, SSRN Electronic Journal 5, p. 5 Dacorogna, M./Mà ¼ller U./Nagler R./Olsen R./Pictet, O (1993): A geographical model for the daily and weekly seasonal volatility in the foreign exchange market, Journal of International Money and Finance, p. 83-84 Dacorogna, M (2008): An introduction to high-frequency finance, Academic Press, San Diego, p. 85 Eckbo, B. E. (2008): Handbook of Empirical Corporate Finance SET, Google Books, p. 172 https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0080559565 Falkenberry, T. N. (2002): High Frequency Data Filtering, S3 Amazon, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tick-data-s3/pdf/Tick_Data_Filtering_White_Paper.pdf Goodhart, C./Figliuoli, L. (1991): Every minute counts in financial markets, Journal of International Money and Finance 10.1 Green, C. G./Martin D. (2015): Diagnosing the Presence of Multivariate Outliers in Fundamental Factor Data using Calibrated Robust Mahalanobis Distances. University of Washington, Working paper, p. 2, 8 Hussain, S. M (2011): The Intraday Behaviour of Bid-Ask Spreads, Trading Volume and Return Volatility: Evidence from DAX30, International Journal of Economics and Finance, p. 2 Laurent, A. G. (1963): The Lognormal Distribution and the Translation Method: Description and Estimation Problems. Journal of the American Statistical Association, p. 1 Leys, C./Klein O./Bernard P./Licata L. (2013):   Detecting outliers: Do not use standard deviation around the mean, use absolute deviation around the median, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, p. 764 Scharnowski, S. (2016): Extreme Event or Data Error?, Presentation of Seminar Topics (Market Microstructure), Mannheim, Presentation Seo, S. (2006): A Review and Comparison of Methods for Detecting Outliers in Univariate Data Sets, University of Pittsburg, Thesis, p. 6 Verousis, T./Gwilym O. (2010): An improved algorithm for cleaning Ultra High-Frequency data, Journal of Derivativ