How to Find the Best Firewood for Burning

Essay on Student Loan Debt Should be Forgiven - 1256 Words

Does the amount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, â€Å"two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with an average debt of twenty-six thousand dollars† (Fischer). This means that the average student debt has doubled since 2007 (Ross 24). The total student loan debt is $1.2 trillion with $1 trillion being from federal student loans (Denhart). This debt accounts for six percent of our nation’s $16.7 trillion debt (Denhart). Since student loan debt is such a big part of the national debt, if the student†¦show more content†¦A graduate who wants to be a public school teacher has the option of applying to the Teacher Forgiveness Program. In this program up to â€Å"seventeen thousand five hundred dollars of federal Stafford loa ns or the entirety of their Perkins loans can be forgiven in exchange for five consecutive full-time years as a teacher at certain low-income elementary or secondary schools† (Atteberry). This sounds like an excellent program, but what if the graduate student cannot find a job at one of these schools? The economy is not very good in today’s society and many schools are facing budget cuts. These budget cuts often effect the teachers by their salary. Also, if the teacher in the Teacher Forgiveness Program got laid off because of budget cuts before their five years where up then none of their loan would be paid. Another option that students with debt may take would be joining the military. The military has its own loan forgiveness program. Another thing that the military has is strict rules about who can be in the military. People in the military rather it is the Army or the National Guard have to be healthy. It is not someone’s fault if they are not in perfect cond ition because for the most part our health is out of our hands. Basic things like not smokingShow MoreRelatedShould Student Loan Debt Be Forgiven?1344 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Student Loan Debt: Should We Forgive? EN1123 Most Americans would agree that higher education is important. Compared to years ago, when a high school education was acceptable in most jobs, a college degree is now required in the majority of positions. But what if you can’t afford to get a degree? What then? For many, student loans are the only way to finance one’s education. Paying out of pocket simply isn’t a reality for most, so they rely on state and national government to provide them theRead MoreIntroduction. In The Recent Years, There Has Been An Increasing1016 Words   |  5 Pagespaying tuition fees for college students. This has been brought about by high cost of living and inflation. In addition, college tuition fees today as compared to 50 years back have increased exponentially. As a result, more students are opting to applying and taking student loans provided by the federal government. Consequently, statistics show that the amount of student dept is souring. This has led to economists start debating on the impact the ever-increasing student dept has on the economy of theRead MoreWhy Is Not Student Loan Forgiveness?1161 Words   |  5 PagesStudent loan forgiveness remains such a vital topic to many individuals because the exorbitant costs of post-secondary education require a majority of students to take on debt in order to simply improve themselves and advance intellectually. Thousands of students are graduating college every year, each with several thousands of dollars in debt. This area is important to research because it will provide insight into the futures of all college students immersed in the deep debt that appears to consistentlyRead MoreThe Debt And Interest Of Student Loans1164 Words   |  5 Pages The amount of student loans that one accumulates throughout post-secondary education can become a heavy burden. In addition, the study conducted by Scheresberg, Lusardi, and Yakoboski (2014) show that a surprising amount of students are not aware of the financial burden that they have acquired until they are deep in debt and interest. They summarize that: Overall, there is a notable mismatch among college-educated Millennials between their perceived and demonstrated levels of financial literacyRead MoreStudent Loan Loans Should Not Be Forgiven938 Words   |  4 Pages Should student loan borrowers be forgiven for their debt? The cumulative total of student loan borrowing has already reached $1 trillion dollars already make up more than half of what Barack Obama is pushing to cap the amount any borrower must pay back and forgive outstanding debt after 20 years, even so calling to forgive some or all of the debt that is escalating. Robert Applebaum, the Author behind the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, believes that student loan should be forgiven to highlight anRead MoreForgiving Student Loan Debt Essay examples822 Words   |  4 Pagesamount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, â€Å"two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with debt in tow† (Fischer). Among these students, the average amount owed is twe nty-six thousand dollars (Fischer). There is a six month grace period after graduation to allow the student timeRead MoreReducing The Burden Of Student Debt1526 Words   |  7 PagesStudent debt has been growing over the years rapidly, not just because the majority of people attending college but also because the prices of college have gone up. One of the reasons is that parents don’t really look into making a college fund. Most parents haven t saved a penny for education or for anything else in recent years. There has been so many students today that are in major debt and don’t know how to get out of the hole they have made. Student debt is still going up here recently inRead MoreStudent Lo 7 Students Loan887 Words   |  4 Pages7 student loan myths debunked When it comes to student loans, there is a lot of information to take in—especially for a new college student who is exploring their financing options for the first time, or a new graduate who has just started paying off their student loan debt. With all of the different information out there, it can be easy to get confused, and perhaps even misunderstand certain things about student loans. The following are some common student loan myths, debunked: Myth #1: I’m notRead MoreAvoiding Using Student Loan932 Words   |  4 PagesAvoid Using Student Loan Most Millennials constantly try to stay on trend, and believe that a high-paying job is very important to do so. With the state of the economy, I have to agree I feel the same way. College is a means of furthering one’s education, gaining more knowledge and a foundation stone to securing a career. However, the means of attaining a college education is rather tedious. The bane of going to most colleges is paying tuition and fees but this is unsurprising, nothing good comesRead MoreIs Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good Idea?1009 Words   |  5 PagesForgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?† states Robert Applebaum’s solution for student loan debt is a â€Å"radical and wildly unfeasible solution† in both economically and politically. Applebaum’s proposal is to â€Å"provide a one-time bailout of student debt†¦as a way to stimulate the still-limping economy.† However, Webley counters the solution has to have â€Å"the purported benefited a nd fairness of a one-time student loan bailout.† In Webley’s essay, in the sixth paragraph she mentions the average debt total

Organisational Change Management Free Essays

string(106) " gets their commitment through their participation- should be used to get valuable inputs from employees\." Definition The only thing consistent in the recorded history of mankind is change (Paton and McCalman 2008). Heffron (1968) argues that â€Å"change is inevitable for individuals, organizations, and society, such as technology changes, values and attitudes change, goals and needs change, resource availability changes, laws change, political control of government changes† (p:152). Likewise, business corporations are faced with an inevitable challenge of undergoing change. We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational Change Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now Business management practitioners have explored organizational change management for many decades. In an organizational context, the likelihood of successful change can be increased through a purposeful change management strategy. Berger (1994: p. 7) defines change management as â€Å"the continuous process of aligning an organization with its marketplace and doing it more responsively and effectively than competitors.† Various academicians have underscored the importance of conducting a thorough internal and external assessment of forces of change and of organizational characteristics. This assessment can facilitate the change process (see Witherspoon and Wohlert 1996). An organization can be affected by external factors such as: market environment, government policies, tax structures, technologies, and globalization. Internal factors of change include profitability, reorganizing corporate structure, resolving conflicts between organizational departments, and changes in social and cultural environments. According to Champy and Nohira (1996) â€Å"there are three major drivers stirring organizational change faster than ever before are as follows: technology, government and globalization†. The current case pertains to a car components manufacturing company called D2 which is facing threats from those competitors that manufacture their products in low-cost countries. D2 has four components manufacturing plants; 2 in France and one each in Spain and the UK. In my analysis, the company has had a focused generic strategy in that it focuses upon high quality products by prioritizing product innovation, new technologies and high performing workforce. D2 has been able to compete through this strategy so far. However, due to the rising pressure from low-cost manufacturers, D2 is losing its market share and needs to reduce its production costs to sustain competitiveness. For that, the company has planned to achieve greater economies of scale by limiting the production of car components at fewer sites. D2 is planning the closure of its Didcot (UK) production plant which has the most outdated production facility and at the same time is enhancing the production load of Blois, one of its French facilities with the most advance production facility which has not been used up to its fullest. According to my assessment, the external factors driving this change include the rising competition in market lead by the low-cost manufacturers and consumer demand for cheaper components. The internal factors for this change include the existence of an outdated production facility at Didcot and a relatively advance and unused production capacity at Blois. The degree of change undergoing this situation is revolutionary, as the company would be required to make a breakthrough shift in its business operations. The level of change in this particular situation is department/business unit/organizational level as one of its business unit will cease working while other will be working at an enhanced capacity. Discovery In this case, I have identified the following key issues. Firstly, the company needs to tackle its employees working at Didcot site who might largely face redundancy. Secondly, it needs to encourage some of its key knowledge workers who are important for the continued product innovation and hence the success of the company to relocate at the Blois site. Finally, the company also needs to ensure that its employees do not feel generally insecure due to the ongoing redundancies and changes. I suggest that these changes can be successfully managed through an effective leadership particularly aimed at dealing with these challenges. According to Kanter (1988), every change, innovation and developmental project can be successfully pursued by a visionary leader who is able to successfully sell his vision to others. Based on Kanter’s proposition, I am of the view that one of the most critical components of successful change management is leadership. There are numerous theories regarding leadership and management, however, it will be viable to discuss leadership from the perspective of leaders of change. Edgar Schein (1987) proposes three approaches that leaders and change agents may adapt to manage change. These approaches were originally identified for external consultants, but they have significant implications for all leaders of change in an organizational context. The three approaches are: the expert mode, the doctor-patient mode and the process consultation mode. The expert mode: This mode refers to a situation where the problems have already been identified and analyzed by an organization. The organization explains it to the leader/manager or consultant, who then uses his/her expertise to come up with a solution and implement it. The doctor-patient mode: In this mode, the roles of a leader/manager or a consultant varies in that he/she has to diagnose the problem first based on the available information and then prescribe a solution and implement it. The process consultation mode: In this mode, the leader/manager or consultant is to operate as a facilitator. The central premise of this approach is that the leader does not take ownership of the problem, but help others identify problems, and find and implement possible solutions. Schein (1987) points out that this approach allows for extensive participation of others and provides them with more opportunities for utilizing their knowledge and insights. Recently, Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) have identified six different styles of leadership namely: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding (Goleman et al. 2002). Visionary: Attracts and gathers people towards a common vision – it is appropriate when a new vision or a clear direction is required. Coaching: Connects people’s desires and goals with that of the organization- it is appropriate when the goal is to improve performance of employees and build long-term capabilities. Affiliative: Creates accord among people- should be used to mend rifts and resolve conflicts, or to motivate people in difficult and stressful times or to reinforce relationships. Democratic: Values the knowledge and insights of people and gets their commitment through their participation- should be used to get valuable inputs from employees. You read "Organisational Change Management" in category "Essay examples" Pacesetting: Meets deadlines, challenges and existing goals- it is appropriate in getting high results out of a motivated and capable teams Commanding: Gives direction in an emergency situation and exerts control- appropriate with problematic employees or in an emergency. First and foremost, I suggest that D2 should set up a dedicated leadership involving the top management to address this situation. The leadership style for the leader here should very much consultative in terms of Schein’s range of leadership styles. The leadership should adapt the role of a ‘process consultant’. Since there is not much the company can do in term of providing alternative employment opportunities for all the workers, the company can at best try to facilitate a smooth transition by being considerate and concerned about its workers while at the same time doing what it needs to do to sustain its profitability which is its primary responsibility towards its shareholders. Throughout the change process, the leader should never appear to impose this change onto others through force coercion. Instead, the leader should convey the company’s plan of closing its Didcot facility and shifting operation towards the Blois facility and let others realize it s implications so that they cope with them on their own terms. The leader can facilitate the staff to have a better outlook towards them, make them feel valued, and consequently allow them to make their own choices. In terms of Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) leadership styles, the leadership style for this particular change management situation should be that of coaching as well as affiliative. The leader should truly put its customers first was by valuing their contribution. A positive attitude towards them can be most appealing when it comes out as a natural response rather than as a forced one. The leader should try to bridge the gap between employees’ aspirations and the company’s objectives and promote a sense of accord and harmony among the staff to lessen any sense of insecurity and lack of commitment. Dream As mentioned before, it is imperative for organizations to apply change management strategies to successfully cope with a change situation. Formal change management strategies can provide viable solutions for dealing with change situations. Here, I have applied two different models of change which can be integrated to deal with the three key issues highlighted earlier. A popular model for change management is one proposed by Kurt Lewin (1951). This model is important here as it essentially deals with the human factor pertaining to change management, i.e. it is focused towards persuading employees to recognize change by varying their attitudes towards a circumstance. It involves three steps: â€Å"an unfreezing of the first attitude, i.e. a recognition that it may possibly be wrong a forming and shaping of the new attitude a freezing of the new attitude, i.e. a commitment to it†(Lewin, 1951) According to this model, the first and foremost step towards successful change management is to unfreeze the attitudes of the stakeholders. Stakeholders, who include top management, board members, and employees, often have fixed (frozen) attitudes because of their inability to observe problems or limitations of the existing system. Likewise, they might not realise the extent of the existing problems and its impact (Hayes, 2010). In this case, the top management of D2 has already acknowledged the problem pertaining to the company’s current business strategy and have devised a plan to mitigate it. However, it is the employees who may or may not already know the changing external environment and how it can affect their existing employment prospectus. This can be termed as â€Å"what we are now†. It is worthwhile to note that often stakeholders justify existing problems as necessary inconvenience or might be of the view that situations are difficult to change (Hayes, 2010). Here, it would be justified to assume that some middle managers and employees at the Didcot production facility may be aware of the pressure upon the company in terms of achieving higher cost efficiency and the plant’s outdated technology. However, they may have been dealing with this situation as a necessary inconvenience or may be thinking that despite the prevailing problems with the plant it is unlikely to be closed. These attitudes should be ‘unfreezed’. This can be concluded as the â€Å"the ideal situation†. The change agent, which in this case would be the change leader, must raise the problems with the existing system i.e. the external and internal drivers of change, and highlight the opportunities being missed in terms of competitive advantage. The change agent can also highlight the negative consequences of not changing i.e. the company losing its profitability in short-term and losing solvency in long-term to prepare the employees for accepting the change. Unfreezing the attitudes must be followed by forming new attitudes. It is best to set out an outline of the proposed change first, rather than dwelling into the details from the beginning. For instance, the change agent at D2 can identify the group of employees who are to be encouraged to relocate to the Blois manufacturing site and try to convince them in doing so. At this point, the advantages of relocating and disadvantages of not relocating or missing out the opportunity can be discussed. Here, a number of different strategies can be applied by the change agent to successfully shape new attitudes. Some of those strategies are: â€Å"Make an effective rational argument, based on costs and/or benefits Make an emotional appeal Pay attention to the quality of the presentation, to influence the other party Involve the other party in the process of forming the proposal Direct and command the other party† Use friends and allies to represent or reinforce your case (Lewin, 1951 in Hughes, 2010) Finally, once the change has been accepted, the change agent can secure a commitment from the employees to re-freeze the new attitude. In my view, this can be achieved by exhibiting the organization’s commitment towards the plight of its employees by ensuring effective change management. Design By analysing the aforementioned application of theories, I am of the view that the process consultative leadership style and the unfreeze/reshape/refreeze change management model are compatible with the characteristics of the organizational development model which underscore the importance of (1) Leading/facilitating change; (2) Collaboration and involvement; (3) Humanistic Value Orientation and (4) Systems Approach (Cannon and McGee, 2008). Considering the alignment of the organizational change management strategy with the characteristics of organization development, it would be advisable to consider the organizational development methods for implementing the change. These methods are: â€Å"Sensitivity Training Training groups that seek to change behaviour through unstructured group interaction Survey Feedback Approach The use of questionnaires to identify discrepancies among member perceptions; discussion follows and remedies are suggested Process Consultation Team Building High interaction among team members to increase trust and openness Intergroup Development Organisational Development efforts to change the attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions that groups have of each other Appreciative Inquiry Seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organization, which can then be built on to improve performance† (Garrow, et al. 2009) Here, I suggest that an integrative strategy (comprising a mix of all these six organizational development methods) should be used to ensure that D2 is able to reach the desired level of organizational development wherein its key knowledge employees are retained and relocated to its Blois manufacturing site and that all its existing employees have a high level of commitment towards the organization. For instance D2 can develop training groups that can facilitate the smooth integration of employees transferred from Didcot facility to Blois within the organizational context as well as the social and cultural context. Survey feedback can be used from time to time to assess the success of change management and achievement of goals in terms of employees’ motivation, satisfaction and commitment. Appreciative inquiry can be used to build upon the existing strengths of the organization. Process consultancy which was already integrated in the change leadership style can be extended to further refreeze the attitude of employees. Destiny It can be critiqued that the organizational development methods for implementing change lack an emphasis upon the vital success factor of organizational change management strategy i.e. communication strategy. Although communication is imbedded in all of the six methods, I suggest that goal communication strategy should be explicitly prescribed for effective implementation of a change management and organizational development strategy. Barksdale and Lund (2002) propose a framework for the effective goal communication in organizational context. According to the authors, first, key messages should be determined. Second, the target audience should be identified. The target audience should be categorized as ‘employees, sponsors, managers and other stakeholders of an organisation’ (Barksdale and Lund, 2002). Each of these groups should be presented with different messages. Third, the management should identify ‘communication points and work out a communication timetable’ (Barksdale and Lund, 2002; Ackoff, 1970). Fourth, the top management should provide the essential resources to support the communication of the organisational development goals and change. This detailed and logical communication process can be aligned and worked with the leadership style, change management model, and organizational development methods to ensure an effective change management. References Ackoff, R. (1970) A Concept of Corporate Planning, Wiley-Interscience, New York, NY, pp. 4 Barksdale, S. and Lund, T. (2002) Rapid Strategic Planning, American Society for Training and Development, pp. 108-109 Burnes, B. (2000). Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics. Third Edition. Prentice Hall. Cannon, J. A. And Mcgee, R. (2008) Organisational development and change. CIPD toolkit. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Champy, J. Nohria, N. 1996. Fast Forward: The Best Ideas on Managing Business Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Garrow V, Varney S, Lloyd C. (2009) Fish or BirdPerspectives on Organisational Development (OD), Research Report 463, Institute for Employment Studies. Available from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/wp22.pdf (cited on 10th May, 2013) Goleman, D, Boyatzis, R and McKee, A (2002) The New Leaders, Little Brown Hayes, J. (2010) The Theory And Practice Of Change Management. 3rd Ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Heffron F. (1968). Organization Theory And Public Organizations. New Jersey. Hughes, M. (2010) Managing change: a critical perspective. 2nd ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Kanter, R. M., Stein, B. A. Jick, T. D. (1992).The Challenge of Organizational Change.The Free Press. Kanter, R. M(1988) in Robert L Kuhn (1988)Handbook for Creative and Innovative Managers, McGraw Hill Kotter, J. (1995) ‘Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail’ Harvard Business Review March-April Lewin, K. (1951) Field Theory in Social Science. Harper Paton, R.A. and McCalman, J. (2008) Change Management: A guide to effective Implementation, 3rd Edition, Sage Publishing. Schein, E. (1987) Process Consultation II, Addison-Wesley Witherspoon, P. D. Wohlert, K. L. (1996). An Approach to Developing CommunicationStrategies for Enhancing Organizational Diversity.The Journal of Business Communication, vol. 33, iss. 4, Oct. How to cite Organisational Change Management, Essay examples