Business systems in Japan and China Essay

Introduction After the World War Two, Japan embarked on a journey of reviving its economy. The fast industralisation process is nothing short of spectacular. Japan’s basic infrastructure was basically destroyed in the war and she grew from a war-torn state to a world leading economy in a few decades. This requires good company and government governance, in order to achieve this result. Japan is also a major technology and export hub in Asia and she is currently the world third largest economy by Gross Domestic Product. (World Bank, 2014). Prior to the economic reform of Deng Xiao Peng, the Chinese government has total control of all the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) under the communist system. It is a very highly centralized system that only the Chinese State government has power and control over it.(Laaksonen, 1988) Under the reformation policy, individuals are allowed to trade and sell surplus products in rural area and small businesses are allowed in urban or city. This marks the start of the China’s Socialist market economy. As a result of the open door policy, Chinese economy grew from a third world country to the second largest economy of the world in less than four decades. (World Bank, 2014) Despite the great differences of these two economy, the fact that its governance and cultures are deeply influence by the idea of Confucianism. (Chan, 1986) Hereby, in this article, discussion will be separated into two parts that are based on the similarities and differences between the two business systems. Differences 1. Keiretsu Vs Reform Policy In Japan, Keiretsu formed the largest business group and its one of the key contributors to the Japan’s economy which usually employed Japanese style of management and system. Zaibatsu was the forerunner of Keiretsu which are family run and it is the main business system before Second World War. There are two types of Keiretsu: namely horizontally organized Keiretsu and vertically organized Keiretsu. In horizontally organized Keiretsu, capital and human resource are closely knitted together and cross directorships and holding of stock among group members are not uncommon. The cross-holding of stock among the top 6 corporate group was as high as 24% (Tokyo Business Times, 1989) in the late eighties. This allows the group to be very close  and strong. Some of the examples of company with this structure are Mitsubishi and Sumitomo. (Okumaru, 1976).The governing of company are handed to professionals or agents to prevent dispute among group members. In vertically organized Keire tsu, it is formed by a huge parent company. She has its own supply distributorships and suppliers. Every flow and operations of the company follows a top to down process so as to control inventories and manufacturing quality. Many small and medium sized enterprises in japan utilize this system. Some of the example of such company are Sony and Toyota. In 1979, China started her reform programme after the initiating of economic open door policy by Deng Xiao Ping. The state government vows to liberalise and modernised China’s key industry like agriculture, technology and defence. More autonomy are given to the State Owned Enterprise to manage their own division. For example: The State Owned Enterprises are given the rights to form their company structure in accordance to the needs of leaner production process or market maximization. Hence, workers are now able to choose and change job with respect to their interest and expertise. This highly promotes the effectiveness of the State Owned Enterprises. (Lichtenstein, 1993) The state government also implements the use of Profit and Loss contract (yinkuibaokan) whereby a portion of the profits are contributed to the state government and the remaining profit can be kept by the State Owned Enterprise. China’s state government also undertake a few other methods to reform, this includes the downsizing of the State Owned Enterprises , setting up of stock exchange in Shanghai and Shenzhen and transformed some important industry to shareholding companies so that it can trade. All in all, this gives rise to the socialist market economy in China whereby capitalism way of managing the economy is enforced. 2. Developing its own industries Vs Foreign Direct Investment Ever since the Second World War, Japan has decided to become an export driven economy, and the Japanese have been fast to recover its economy by competing fiercely in the ever increasingly saturated market. The products they are churning out are of good reliability and they often undercut its co mpetitors by a huge margin to win the contract. As illustrated in the case of Hitachi at a sales presentation in 1985, Hitachi stressed to undercut its competitors severely. (Fallows 1993) Japan owed its rapid industralisation process to the huge domestic exports. The export ranged from the early days textile to  automobiles and later on, high technologies products such as semiconductors. Japan invested heavily on research and development to create high value products to make it desirable to the world. As a result of the severe undercutting of competitors. Japan’s enterprise have to come out with several ways to enhance efficiency to ensure profitability. Toyota created a system called Just-In-Time (JIT) which emphasize on the redundancy of keeping live inventory. (Uno, 1987) It was first created in the 1950s and later slowly dispersed into the different industries and plants in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. It requires close and collaborative relations with all suppliers for it to work. However, with good implementation, it can ensure lean production with little slack and good flow process. This process brings about the envy of the industrialised world especially in the United States. Other industrialised nations tried to emulate the success of JIT, but not always with positive results due to the poor implementation. Japanese companies also used Total Quality Control(TQC) in manufacturing. It is first coined by Professor William Demming of New York City but it is the Japanese that utilize it.The ideas of Total Quality Control is to have no or little tolerance for rework. Reworking a product are deemed as a wastage of time. By adopting a do it once, do it well approach, further time and cost can be saved to make the production lean. After the 1979 economic reforms by the Chinese state government, the state government allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to enter into Chinese market. It is the movement of long term foreign financing that allows a shareholding of at least 10% of the State Owned Enterprises. This usually includes the transfer of technology and know-hows to the host country from the Multi-Nationals Companies (MNCs). As a result of the transfer of technology, the host country in this case the State Owned Enterprises will have gained insights on the production process. Hence, further research and development by the State Owned Enterprises is possible. Also, in 1979, the state government created four Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Guangdong and Fujian province to encourage the facilitation of Foreign Direct Investment that mainly foreign investment will stay in this four zones. The state government realizes that by creating four zones is not enough to open up the market. Therefore, in the 1980s wholly-owned foreign enterprises are allowed and also more east coast ports are opened up to encourage foreign trades and investment. China State government viewed  Foreign Direct Investment as a very important catalyst to improve its economy. Subsequently, foreign enterprises are given the same treatment as a State Owned Enterprise and the joining of World Trade Organisation in November 2001 makes a very huge milestone in China’s economic history. Due to rising manufacturing cost Japan industries, Japan has begun to pour Foreign Direct Investment into China to cut cost. As evidenced by (Kunii et al., 2002) , during the period of first six months of 2002 , Japanese firms concluded deals of $3.15 billion. This goes to show the importance of Foreign Direct Investment for both countries in a win-win situation. Japan can benefit from the low production cost and China can benefit from the capital inflow and technology transfer. As of 2012, China is the leading Foreign Direct Investment in the world. (Perkowski, 2012). 3. Socialist Market Economy Vs Capitalist Market Economy The socialist market economy is the only model that are used by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is based on the dominance of State Owned Enterprises and maintaining a free open market, its origins can be traced from the Chinese economic reforms introduced under Deng Xiao Ping. During the early stage of economic reform in China, socialism are deemed as the basis for the reform, and therefore has to adopt capitalist techniques to survive. It is also known as the social capitalism despite adopting the free market system of capitalism. (Schweickart, 2006) Japan adopted the system of capitalist market economy which got its influence from her western counterparts. It’s a system that encourage free trading in the market in the forms of products, shares and commodities. Despite Japan uses Keiretsu in their business systems, it is still by large using a capitalist system. The need for consumption of luxury products and export of domestic shows the use of capitalist system. Similarities 1. Intervention of government bodies Historically in Japan history since Meiji Restoration, Japanese government has always played a very important role in the industrialisation. To be able to play catch-up with the western nations, the government deemed the intervention necessary. It also enable the government to be strengthened through the lending of private funds and invest it in key industries such as  shipbuilding, communication in the Meiji’s government. The intervention of government in financing benefited the big groups of zaibatsu and later on Keiretsu. After the Second World War, the Japanese government once again realised the importance of state support for the companies and economies to grow quickly. (Johnson, 1982) In recent times, Japanese government agencies such as Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) have been actively participated in business by giving funds and supports to industry that are of utmost national interest. On the other hand, big business can exert huge influence on the political scene by endorsing political candidate that are beneficial to the interest of the big corporation. With respect to Japan, Korean government intervention of chaebols (big conglomerate) are largely similar to Japan. In the earlier days, the Korean government invested heavily and provide financial aids to chaebols such as Lucky Goldstar and Samsung. With the strong backing of the government, these companies are able to flourish. (Song, 1990) By 1990s, the reforming of State Owned Enterprises especially small and medium state enterprises became a top priority for the Chinese state government. After a carefully study by the state government, a new reform system formed under the name of â€Å"the Regulations for Transforming Managerial Mechanisms of the State Owned Enterprises’ ( Liberation Daily, 1992). This includes of fourteen kinds of power to instill self-management. Even though, it’s a move by the Chinese state government to liberalized State Owned Enterprises. But, government steps by steps intervention of the process is still very much needed. Especially, during the early periods of reforms, they are many uncertainties and fluctuations in the market that requires government intervention to ensure the reformations process is smooth and steady. 2. Confucianism Influence All the major East Asian management system have been influenced heavily by the Confucian tradition. (Oh, 1983). This includes China, South Korea and Japan which has some olden Chinese co-relation. It does not only has heavy influence towards these countries culturally but also economically. For example: In Japan, huge emphasis is put on the seniority in both workplace or at home. Similarly, likewise for Korea. Respect are to be given to elders or person with high seniority. Individualisms and competitiveness are not  part of the teaching of Confucianism. In the economy of these East Asian countries, they are generally competitive and placed a lot of emphasis on individual actualization. Though, these countries are influence deeply by Confucianism, its more applicable to the management level which is at micro level. At macro levels, the government efforts and communitarianism could be the explanation for the competition in the world market. Conclusion In conclusion, this article has discussed about the similarities and differences between Japan and China. There are three main differences that are discussed in this article. Firstly, its Japan’s Keiretsu and China’s reform policy. Japan’s Keiretsu was the predecessor of zaibatsu and it’s the dominant force of Japan’s economy. Deng Xiaoping pushes for economic reforms and turned its communist economy to a socialist economy. Secondly, Japan invested heavily in the research and development of technology as to become world major exports nations. Through the process of undercutting its competitors, Japan’s enterprises utilize Just in Time process and Total Quality Management to ensure high efficiency and lean production cycle. On the other hand, China relied on Foreign Direct Investment to boost its economy. In the process of Foreign Direct Investment, not only it creates jobs for the country but also learn about foreign technologies through technology transfer. Lastly, the Chinese employed a socialist economic models which is often referred as state capitalism whereby the government still practiced one party communism. Japan on the other hand, support a free trade market which is similar to the capitalist systems in the west. The article also discusses the importance of government or state intervention of the economy. For Japan, the government provides good infrastructure and financial aids to industry that are deemed promising. In china, the Chinese state government slowly guides its economy through intervals of reforms to prevent the reformation for being too fast or slow. Lastly, Confucianism plays a big role in influencing the management style of Japanese and Korean organization but not so much in China State Owned Enterprises. References Businessweek, (2002). In Japan , China is Sexy. pp.22-23. Chan, W. (1986). Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism. 1st ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Johnson, C. (1982). MITI and the Japanese miracle. 1st ed. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. Laaksonen, O. (1988). Management in China during and after Mao in enterprises, government, and party. 1st ed. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. Liberation Daily, (1992). Regulations for Transforming Managerial Mechanisms of the State Owned Enterprises. Lichtenstein, N. (1993). Enterprise reform in China. 1st ed. Washington, DC (1818 H St., NW, Washington 20433): Legal Dept., World Bank. Oh, T. (1983). A Comparative Study of the Influence of Confucianism on Japanese Korean, and Chinese Management Practices. 1st ed. Honolulu: Academy of International Business Asia-Pacific Dimensions of International Business. Okumaru, H. (1976). Six Largest Business Groups In Japan. 1st ed. Tokyo: Diamond Publishing. Perkowski, J. (2012). China Leads In Foreign Direct Investment. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jackperkowski/2012/11/05/china-leads-in-foreign-direct-in vestment/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2014]. Schweickart, D. (2006). China: Market Socialism or Capitalism?. p.137. Song, B. (1990). The rise of the Korean economy. 1st ed. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Tokyo Business Time, (1989). Intimate Links With Japan’s Corporate Groups. pp.14-19. Uno, K. (1987). Japanese industrial performance. 1st ed. Amsterdam: North-Holland. World Bank, (2014). Gross Domestic Product 2013. [online] Available at: http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP.pdf [Accessed 31 Jul. 2014]. 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Case Study Cdos

Case Study – CDO CREATIVE BALANCE SHEET RISK MANAGEMENT: VALUE CREATION? 1) What is a CDO? Who buys CDOs? CDOs are a type of asset backed security composed of bonds issued by special purpose vehicles (a corporate entity that holds the assets as collateral, packages them and sells the resulting notes to investors). Normally, the bonds issued are divided into tranches with different risk characteristics and debt rating. Each tranche carries a different rating which determines the interest and cash flow for each layer. There are several types of underlying assets that the special vehicle can buy.The most typical are corporate bonds, corporate loans, trust preferred stocks, mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate bonds. Those described above are conventional CDOs. Banks also created synthetic CDOs. The main characteristic is that the credit risk is transferred by a derivative (credit default swap, normally) but the originating bank retains the underlying pool of asse ts in the balance sheet. Nevertheless, with synthetic CDOs credit risk is transferred and the originating bank obtains an important relief in capital requirements.There are several investors interested in buying CDOs. The motivations for those investors are different depending on the tranches they buy. In general, investors buy CDO assets with certain rating that offer a higher return than more traditional securities and benefit from the theoretical diversification buying a CDO portfolio. Risk adverse investors such as mutual funds and pension funds will buy the senior tranches in order to obtain a higher return than buying treasury bonds.Senior tranches pay a spread above LIBOR even if they are rate AAA. Other investors, such as hedge funds, banks or private banking organizations can sometimes prefer junior tranches such as mezzanine notes and equity notes, tranches offering yields normally not available in other fixed income products. 2) Who sell CDO and why? CDO is a form of secu ritization. When securitizing, banks manage to transfer their loans out of their balance sheets, transferring also the credit risk of these loans. The main CDOs issuers are investment banks.Transferring credit risk, banks require less capital to accomplish Basel II capital requirements. Moreover, banks will use capital ‘excess’ and the cash they receive from the loan transfer to lend again money to more attractive lenders, generating additional fees, returning higher incomes and improving RoAA and RoAE. This constituted the principal objective for Richard Mason for issuing CDOs in RBS. The second important reason for banks to issue CDOs are the commissions and the fees they earn during the CDO life.Thus, CDOs are in theory a very attractive product for originating banks which explain their development in the last decade reaching a volume of $520 billion in 2006. In practice, issuer banks transfer their loans to special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will package these loans and sell notes with interest and principal payments to the interested investors. 3) What are the main characteristics of the SEQUIL/MINCS deal described in the case? SEQUILS/MINCS is a specific structure that combines both plain vanilla and synthetic CDO structures and uses two separated SPVs.In the case, RBS sells a portfolio of loans to the SPV SEQUILS. SEQUILS will issue notes from this portfolio and sell them to investors. SEQUILS will also buy a credit default swap from Morgan Guarantee, paying a regular fee and transferring in theory the credit risk to JP Morgan. As JP Morgan will hold the risk, SEQUILS will be able to issue some notes with AAA rates even if the underlying loans were rated BB- to B+. Then, JP Morgan will back the loans with its own credit default swap while at the same time transferring the CDS to investors through a separate SPV (MINCS).By doing this it separates the funding and the credit risk on the loan portfolio into two separate pools of investors. 4) F rom a pool of loans  « below investment grade (BBB)  », the deal promise the creation of investment grade securities (some AAA and the worst is a BBB). Fantastic! How is this possible? The main objective of this structure is to transform low rating loans into higher rating notes in order to attract more investors. It also eliminates or minimizes the equity tranche, therefore, transferring the risk from the bank to a third party.The structure starts with the originating bank (RBS) owning a portfolio of loans worth $852. 5 million of low-rated loans from BB- to B+. Because RBS wants to improve its capital requirement ratios it will remove them from its balance sheet. The bank creates the first SPV, SEQUILS that is consisted of a traditional CDO structure. SEQUILS would issue low rated BB- to B+ notes to sell to investors. To achieve an investment-grade rating, SEQUILS insures its notes by a credit default swap provided by Morgan Guarantee Trust.SEQUILS would pay Morgan Guarantee a percentage of the $852. 5 million as a periodic fee using the spread. Being backed up by a highly rated entity boosts the ratings of the tranches issued by SEQUILS to AAA, AA and BBB loans. This repackaging of loans attracts more investors and minimizes the risk on RBS. The second step is to create a separate SPV, MINCS that uses a synthetic CDO structure. Morgan Guarantee Trust buys credit swaps from MINCS –the second SPV. MINCS would issue notes worth $144 million based on the original 852. 5 million-loan amounts.MINCS would provide Morgan Guarantee Trust insurance through a credit default swap 6 times its capital of $144 million (6 x 144m = 864). Therefore, investors in MINCS would be receiving higher yields, 6 times the credit swap, on the $144 million, yet they are exposed to the full risk. To boost the ratings MINCS would invest the proceeds of the $144 million into a AAA security. 5) Imagine to be a portfolio manager of a large pension fund, would you buy Mincs securi ties (the BBB ones)? What are the risks from the perspective of the investor?What are the risks from the perspective of RBS? A portfolio manager of a pension fund should invest in financial instruments with low risk since a pension fund is a scheme which provides retirement income. Buying MINCS notes means receiving higher yield but also being exposed to the full risk. In reality Morgan Guarantee Trust did not fully insure SEQUILS in case of the default of investors. It only insured 16% to 17% of this SPV (144/852. 5). If it has fully insured SEQUILS, then all the tranches created by SEQUILS could have a triple-A rating.MINCS only issued notes that are worth $144 million, which is almost 16% on the original loan portfolio. However, regardless of whether SEQUILS was partly or fully insured by Morgan Guarantee Trust, this structure keeps transferring the risk from one party to another. From RBS’s perspective, it is a good deal because the bank is not exposed to the risk anymore , the equity tranche was minimized or even eliminated and the bank obtained a better rating for its portfolio of loans.In practice, pension fund managers trusted the ratings that MINCS notes received by the rating agencies and were not fully aware the risk they were holding by buying those notes. This kind of complex structure helped to transfer the credit risk from company to another. Additionally, it was another important risk factor that was not almost taken into consideration by investors. Loans had a high default correlation with themselves. When one mortgage defaulted, many would, which would trigger many credit defaults at the same time.

Airline Supply Demand Curve

Airline Supply Demand Curve Airline industry provides us air transportation that improves our lives by shortening the time it takes us to reach a destination and also deliver goods. Airline industry undergoes oligopoly market, where only a few sellers that provide similar products or services but differentiated in the branding and the promotion method. Basically, there are four main categories in the airline industry, which is international, national, regional, and cargo. International flights provide services between countries; both national and regional flights are domestic flights within a country, but regional flights have shorter distance compare to national flights; cargo is mainly for the use of transport goods. In this assignment, we are going to briefly explain the determinants and the changes in market condition that affect the demand and supply of the airline industry. There are few determinants that will cause a change in the supply demand curve in the airline industry. Determinants on demand curve . The first determinant is income. When a country experiences a growth in the economy, the average income of citizens will increase. In this case, air ticket plays a role as a normal good, this is because an increase in the income will lead to an increase in the demand of air ticket purchased, one example is families might travel more often as they are in good economic condition. The second determinant is prices of related goods, where a change in price of a good might affect the demand of the other good. In the airline industry, the price of fuel has a direct influence to the demand of air ticket. When the price of fuel increases, airline industry has to increase the price of air ticket to maintain its revenue. Therefore, the fuel price and the demand of air ticket have a relationship of complements, where increase in the fuel price leads to a decrease in the demand for air ticket. However, in some special cases especially during a decline in the economy, the airline industry will not raise the price of air tickets because the customers would scare away. Therefore, the demand of air tickets is also quite dependent to the condition of economy. The third determinant is number of buyers. The more the buyers in the airline industry, the demand of air ticket will be higher. When a promotion is held by the industry airlines, there will be more buyers on the purchase of air ticket. This is because the air tickets normally sell at a lower price to attract more customers especially during a not-so-peak season. Thus, the demand or air tickets will increase and the airline industry will gain more profits even though the air tickets are selling at a lower price. The last determinant is expectation on future income and future price, which means the prediction of consumers on how much they will earn and the value of a good in the future. For example, if the economy has a positive development, where people expect a higher income in the future, they might go for a vacation a nd shift the demand curve of air ticket to the right. However, if they realize there will be an increase in price of air ticket in the future probably due to peak season, they will choose to purchase now then later and cause the demand curve to shift to the right.

Creating a business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Creating a business - Essay Example The business plan of the company aims at providing the travelers with the opportunity of taking a private jet to begin travelling from their ultimate objective within Europe to the airlines focal point, to embark upon the linking flights within the First class otherwise the Business Class to the Air blue objectives all over the world. The innovative classified jet service, a supplementary augmentation inside the lofty end marketplace, they can also be utilized for the flights connecting almost all the European airports. The Air Blue Private Jet is idyllically also what complements the private airline jets intercontinental association by totaling up to 2,000 private flight alternatives. The joint venture primarily behind this innovative as well as private Air Blue produce had been authoritatively authorized by the CEO of Air blue jets , along with the international association of Private jets around the world . (Travel daily news.com, 2005) The people, who are making a... ing to the primary research conducted by the company, there have been several potential clients who have made the company realize that the customers are actually looking forward to the element of utmost elasticity during their travel arrangement. Curbing down the actual travel time can act as a very significant feature in business success. With our new offering, designed to meet the requirements of the companies most discriminating clientele, the company aims to bring together Air blue's distinguished quality principles by way of the compensations of classified travelling. In the form of the international private jets corporation, the company has also been able to recognize the collaborator for this subdivision. The corporation is the globe leader in the private aviation industry, with nearly the employees almost having 3 years understanding, lofty industrial standards, professionalism in getaway development in addition to association as well as the uppermost safety principles additi onally; the customers are content to be with acquaintances with Air blue private Jet. Ensuring their majority expensive customers they have extraordinary choice and flexibility. The customers market usually overjoyed that the intercontinental street chosen the worldwide association as its collaborator - as no one have the social contact of more with regards to the deviation within the US head. This justification makes the additional, than self honorable of the safety confirmation and service .Additionally, choosing a preferred collection of the First and Business Class travelers moreover all honoring members. These travelers have the advantage of putting together the utilization of the private Jet examinations, which have been bordered as a magnate furthermore other than an approximate

Thomas Cook Plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Thomas Cook Plc - Case Study Example Thomas Cool was a former Baptist minister and a very religious man and he firmly believed that alcohol was the major factor casing problems among the working class in England. It was with this in mind that the above-mentioned train journey was arranged. The first unofficial tour was this trip in open carriages, which took nearly 500 temperance supporters to Loughborough, and back in July 5, 1841. In 1845 Thomas Cook organized a tour to Liverpool which was accompanied by what must have been the first tour brochure ever printed in the world. His first international venture was to Paris during the time of an international exhibition which was held there. Further tours to other cities in Europe began and an established tour itinerary began to fall in place. A tour to Switzerland and later to Italy was conducted in 1864. With his clientele shifting from working class to middle and upper class passengers, Mr. Cook began to make arrangements with hotels in Europe by using something called t he hotel coupon. This enabled tourists to pay for the hotel rooms in advance and to stay at hotels without paying cash. Another innovation was the circular note, the forerunner of 'travellers cheque.' Trips to the US soon followed and later a trip by steamer up the river Nile was also arranged. All this success naturally led to thoughts of expanding further overseas to the US and Asia. Mr Cook himself was part of a trial world tour which covered the US, Japan, China, Singapore, Ceylon and India. This tour went on to become an annual event in the company's tour calendar.. An unexpected move by the then two owners saw the company being sold off to a Belgian tour operator called Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Europens in 1928. Certain events during the world war saw the company near collapse and a deal was made where by the ownership changed back to British hands, this time by the government owned railway companies. Even though the company could benefit from the post war travel boom, things began to slow down by 1955 due to the emergence of new and dynamic tour operators. In 1972, Thomas Cook became privately owned once again through a purchase by a c onsortium of the Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association. The famous red logo of Thomas Cook was introduced during this time. The company did well during this period and even managed to survive the 1970's depression. The Company came under the sole ownership of the Midland's Bank in 1980 and again sold of to Germany's third largest bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) and LTU group (an airline charter company). Thomas Cook later became the subsidiary of the German bank and soon acquisitions of Sun World, Time Off and Flying Colours took place. In 1999 a merger with Calrlsons Liesrue Group took place. The Company Thomas Cook Group PLC was formed in June 2007 through a merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group Plc. "It is now part of Thomas Cook Group plc (www.thomascookgroup.com) which was formed on June 19th 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and My Travel Group plc." (A Brief History). Business Strategy: Corporate growth strategy: The merger of Thomas Cook and My Travel has resulted in a very powerful tour operating company and has a string presence in UK and some European countries. This merger came about so that both the companies could compete more efficiently in a

Reforming the mandatory minimum sentencing policy Research Proposal

Reforming the mandatory minimum sentencing policy - Research Proposal Example The spread of mandatory minimum penalties for offences together with the great increase in the numbers of people in prison has led to those dealing with criminal justice to re-evaluate this age-old issue. The number of people in US prisons has increased by approximately eight hundred percent since the eighties and this has forced the federal prisons to operate at almost forty percent above their normal capacity (Reamer, 2003). Despite the fact that the US has only 5% of the inhabitants of the world, its prisons hold almost twenty five percent of all the prisoners in the world. There are more than half a million federal prisoners in United States prisons and almost half of all these prisoners have been locked up for crimes that are linked to drugs and abuse of various substance. Furthermore, about nine million more people go through the country’s jails every year while around forty percent of the forty percent of people previous held as federal prisoners and almost sixty percent of those formerly held as state prisoners are arrested again of have their supervision canceled only three years after they leave jail. The mandatory minimum sentencing laws oblige compulsory prison sentences of specific lengths for the individuals who are found guilty of particular federal and state offences. These rigid legislations may appear as quick fix solutions for crime but they destabilize justice through inhibiting judges from giving the punishments to individuals based on the circumstances of their crimes. These laws have resulted in the number of prisoners increasing exponentially and thus leading to overcrowded prisons, unreasonable costs to the taxpayers as well as diversion of funds from other areas such as law enforcement (Cole & Smith, 2013). Most of the sentences under these laws are applicable for crimes associated with drugs; however, they also target other crimes such as specific gun, pornography and economic crimes. The mandatory minimum

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark - Essay Example Another prevailing point concerning this issue argues that like many of the people’s common views during the time of Jesus, the disciples might have the significant thought that Jesus will have to immediately take political control of the government, as heir to David’s throne (LaHaye 96). This means that talking about the death of Jesus to save the humankind will not make sense at all because that would only mean not being able to fulfil the idea as what the disciples might have thought among themselves. This also may have impeded the probable expectations of the disciples that were hovering over their imaginations concerning Jesus’ future role. If we try to consider these arguments, one thing that can be remarkably clear is that confusion of the disciples was triggered by the prevailing way of thinking and as Shea explained, it was conventional consciousness that must be radically changed prior to understanding what Jesus meant by his death to save the humankind . Due to this conventional way of thinking, LaHaye’s thought concerning the disciples’ expectations may significantly apply. ... ving in mind the things of God are at their profoundest truth, which must require a substantial change of the conventional consciousness to the path of a more radical one. The Scripture says, â€Å"‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord† (Isaiah 55:8; NIV). Thus, with human understanding alone, it will be harder to fathom what Jesus told to his disciples who were not having the exact idea on what was the next thing to come. At a specific example, this confusion that eventually bred fear resulted to Peter’s denial and the rest of Jesus’ disciples during his trial and crucifixion. Question number 4 Jesus said, â€Å"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them† (Matthew 5:17; NIV). Concerning his teaching about anger towards the neighbours, Jesus wants us to know that it will eventually be the same with a murder. Jesus want s the people to know that such anger will lead someone to be in danger of the fire of hell. â€Å"But anyone who says, ‘You fool’ will be in danger of the fire of hell† (Matthew 5:22c; NIV). Jesus also wants us to know that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He said, â€Å"You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at the woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart† (Matthew 5:27-28; NIV). Concerning divorce, Jesus’ said, â€Å"But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery† (Matthew 5:32; NIV). This is in line with what Jesus’ said that â€Å"Therefore what

Japanese Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Japanese Culture - Essay Example Allied Forces occupied Post-War Japan (1945-1952) and the General Douglas MacArthur of the United States ruled there. This order and these changes have exerted a significant impact on Japanese culture. A democratic world order has seized Japan’s military rule of the world. The war was devastating and many territories of Japan had to be subjected to the newly existent order. There was a constant intention of the Japanese nation to gain superiority in some spheres of their activities. For example, Japanese engineers came to the US companies made systematic attempts to improve different production modes. At this point technological background of popular culture development can be found. Thesis: Therefore modern culture of Japan is developed with respect to military context, changes of post-war period, social oppression and innovative social order of the society. Japan after war After war Japan intended to find new ways of profits gaining. In the result of their practices, Japan t urned into a consumer-oriented producer. Electronics was one of the most important concerns for Japan. Moreover, a great attention was paid to innovative automobile design (which was borrowed from the principles of Japanese aesthetics). After 1980s Japan gained reputation of the largest creditor nation on earth, and America turned into the largest debtor. Japanese popular culture has been spread all over the globe after rapid growth of industrialization and information bum. The Asian world wanted to reach pace of Japan development1. Post-war period of the country's development was marked by unique and vibrant culture, which is often associated with innovations in China and Korea and the rest of the Asian world. It cannot be denied that "markers of loss" after the war have been gradually disappearing from the Japanese culture. Culture development from the 1950s to the mid-1960s it was difficult for Japanese people to find their identities. They were puzzled by numerous losses after t he war. For example, we can refer to the drama and film,  Kimino na wa, the film  Gojira  (Godzilla), and the professional wrestler Rikidozan, where specific features and cultural templates of Japanese culture can be identified2. In the chapter "From the Anti-Security Treaty Movement to the Tokyo Olympics: Transforming the Body, the Metropolis, and Memory" the restructuring images of the resurfaced memories of the past are discussed. It can be claimed for sure that the memories should have been transformed and cleansed till 1964, the year of Tokyo Olympic. Tokyo has been changed into a clean and successful city. The Japanese volleyball team gain victory against the former Soviet team and this team signified the path of Japan's progress and a gradual restoration. Thus, there is a consequential transformation of the Japanese culture. The central principle of cultural development of Japan after war was a peaceful strategy3. The eternal peace was very important issue for the Japan ese culture. A rejection of military service in Japan has left a significant impact on the country's development. Igarashi integrates post-war concerns of the country in the context of popular culture development4. Igarashi claims that post-war crisis in the Japanese culture can be identified at different levels and different factors are influencing the process of cultural development in post-war Japan. The author is focused on psychological aspects of nation history development. Identity of historical development can be traced with respect to historical factors. In Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa (2004), the issues of family difficulties after war are considered. Family members showed their following social norms though they were puzzled by

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

History - Essay Example These letters show how many Americans were affected by the Great Depression, yet it also examines individual experiences and reactions to such experiences.1 2. What are the advantages of using letters as opposed to oral histories or reports by New Deal investigators to learn about the responses of ordinary people to the great depression? How did people respond? Did different classes (upper, middle, lower), racial groups, age groups, or men vs. women respond differently? There are certainly advantages to McElvaine’s use of letters in his account of the United States during the Great Depression compared to using oral histories or indeed using the reports of New Deal Investigators. Oral histories are not always accurate if they are recounted years or even decades after the events they describe. People may not always remember things accurately, or they might get details muddled up. On the other hand reports by New Deal reporters may not always be considered to be reliable, as with any organization set up by a government they could have presented a more positive light on events. Such inaccuracies would have been to demonstrate that the New Deal was successfully countering the worst affects of the Great Depression. People of different social, economic, and racial groups wrote the letters as the Great Depression had an impact on all sections of American society. Whilst previous economic recessions had hit the poorest the hardest, the Great Depressi on was unprecedented in scale and severity with up to 30 million people affected. President Hoover’s attempts to restore confidence in the economy failed whilst measures to alleviate poverty and unemployment proved wholly inadequate. 2 The Great Depression hit agriculture and industrial workers hard, the collapse of banks affected everybody. The agricultural sector was particularly affected by

Pre Marital Counselling Essay Example for Free

Pre Marital Counselling Essay Premarital Counselling is therapy with two people prior to their marriage, to help give them more realistic ideas of what to expect and how to cope with living with another person as a spouse; relating to each other as a committed pair. By taking the time to explore the reasons you came together, your similarities, your differences, your hopes and your dreams, as well as your expectations of one another, it is sometimes possible to avoid the disappointments that many couples face with the passage of time. Pre-marital counseling offers the opportunity to explore your differences in a relatively safe, supportive, constructive environment. And while some couples may choose to postpone their union until key differences can be resolved, most couples find that pre-marital counseling helps to prepare them for the kind of life they would like to build together. Premarital counseling can help ensure that you and your partner have a strong, healthy relationship — giving you a better chance for a stable and satisfying marriage. Premarital counseling can also help you identify weaknesses that could become bigger problems during marriage. Through premarital counseling, couples are encouraged to discuss a wide range of important and intimate topics related to marriage, such as: Finances, Communication Beliefs and values Roles in marriage Affection and sex Children amp; parenting Family relationships Decision making Dealing with anger Time spent together. The initial period of any relationship is called the honeymoon period; and after that fairytale, marriage can be a rude reality check. In most cases, quarrels over money, family and trust break a couple apart. A pre-marital session helps partners accept each other better and avoid future complications or conflict. Contrary to popular belief, pre marital counseling isn’t only for couples who are going in for an arranged marriage. It is also very important for couples who have had long courtships or have been living together. In arranged marriages, the people going to spend their life together are perpetual strangers, with no idea of what lies ahead of them. In India specifically, arranged marriages are sealed with just one word of advice for the bride â€Å"you HAVE to adjust, and you HAVE to compromise. Premarital Counselling ensures that the couple do not just â€Å"fulfill† the responsibilities of marriage for their family, but also participate in it wholly as individuals. In india marriages are seen as a ‘union of two families’ and the individuals who are supposed to spend the rest of their life together, they get lost in the entire plan. Pre Marital Counselling ensures that doesn’t happen. People who have had long courtships and have been living together, need it perhaps more than than people who’re going in on for arranged marriages . Why? Because once you’re living in with someone ,you think you know everything that there is to know about that person and marriage cant spring any surprises. But guess what? You WILL be surprised greatly by what surprises pre marital counseling will bring for you. Marriage changes the set of expectations two individuals have from each other. More issues have to be dealt with, like children, financial planning etc. Most couples spend more time planning their weddings than their marriages!. If you think about the amount of financial and emotional investment that goes into preparing for the wedding itself, doesn’t it make sense to invest a little in strengthening the relationship at the onset? Many couples preparing for marriage honestly believe they are strong going into the union – and they probably are in a lot of ways. Being caught up with all the loving feelings and other feel-good stuff going on ahead of nuptials, couples often don’t consider the potential pitfalls. Those â€Å"pitfalls† are often times what leads them into a therapist’s office some time down the line. Here six great reasons to get pre marriage counseling: 1) Strengthen Communication Skills:  Being able to effectively listen, truly hear and validate the other’s position is a skill that isn’t necessarily a â€Å"given† for many people. Couples that really communicate effectively can discuss and resolve issues when they arise more effectively. You can tune up your talking and listening skills. This is one of the most important aspects of emotional safety between couples. 2) Discuss Role Expectations:  It’s incredibly common for married couples to never really have discussed who will be doing what in the marriage. This can apply to job, finances, chores, sexual intimacy and more. Having an open and honest discussion about what each of you expect from the other in a variety of areas leads to fewer surprises and upsets down the line. 3) Learn Conflict Resolution Skills:  Nobody wants to think that they’ll have conflict in their marriage. The reality is that â€Å"conflict† can range from disagreements about who will take out the trash to emotionally charged arguments about serious issues – and this will probably be part of a couple’s story at one time or another. There are ways to effectively de-escalate conflict that are highly effective and can decrease the time spent engaged in the argument. John Gottman’s (www. gottman. com) research has shown that couples who can do this well are less likely to divorce in the end. 4) Explore Spiritual Beliefs:  For some this is not a big issue – but for others a serious one. Differing spiritual beliefs are not a problem as long as it’s been discussed and there is an understanding of how they will function in the marriage with regards to practice, beliefs, children, etc. ) Identify any Problematic Family of Origin Issues:  We learn so much of how to â€Å"be† from our parents, primary caregivers and other early influences. If one of the partners experienced a high conflict or unloving household, it can be helpful to explore that in regards to how it might play out in the marriage. Couples who have an understanding of the existence of any problematic conditioning around how relationships work are usually better at disrupting repetition of these learned behaviors. ) Develop Personal, Couple and Family Goals:  It amazes me how many married couples have never discussed their relationship goals – let alone personal or family. I honestly think it just doesn’t cross their minds! This is a long term investment together – why not put your heads together and look at how you’d like the future to look? Where do you want to be in five years? Approximately when would you like to have children? How many children? There are many areas that can be explored and it can be a fun exercise to do together. Pre marriage counseling doesn’t need to be a long process, especially if you feel you’re starting out with a very solid foundation and only need some clarifications and goal-setting. For some people who are poised to start out the marriage as a â€Å"higher conflict† couple or have deeper issues to contend with, the process could take a bit longer. Regardless, be sure to take the time to invest in your marriage as you might in the event itself. The return on your marriage investment has the potential to be life long What you can expect Premarital counseling typically includes five to seven meetings with a counselor. Often in premarital counseling, each partner is asked to separately answer a written questionnaire, known as a premarital assessment questionnaire. These questionnaires encourage partners to assess their perspectives of one another and their relationship. They can also help identify a couples strengths, weaknesses and potential problem areas. The aim is to foster awareness and discussion and encourage couples to address concerns proactively. Your counselor can help you interpret your results together, encourage you and your partner to discuss areas of common unhappiness or disagreement, and set goals to help you overcome challenges. Your counselor might also have you and your partner use a tool called a Couples Resource Map — a picture and scale of your perceived support from individual resources, relationship resources, and cultural and community resources. You and your partner will create separate maps at first. Following a discussion with your counselor about differences between the two maps, youll create one map as a couple. The purpose is to help you and your partner remember to use these resources to help manage your problems. In addition, your counselor might ask you and your partner questions to find out your unique visions for your marriage and clarify what you can do to make small, positive changes in your relationship. Keep in mind that you bring your own values, opinions and personal history into a relationship, and they might not always match your partners. In addition, many people go into marriage believing it will fulfill their social, financial, sexual and emotional needs — and thats not always the case. By discussing differences and expectations before marriage, you and your partner can better understand and support each other during marriage. Early intervention is important because the risk of divorce is highest early in marriage. In Pre marital counseling, as couples you become aware of so many issues that you never thought existed earlier between you two. Premarital counseling is a way to pull the darkness out from its hiding places so that you can turn it over in the light and see it for what it actually is. Remember, preparing for marriage involves more than choosing a wedding dress and throwing a party. Take the time to build a solid foundation for your relationship.

Airport Security Recruitment

Airport Security Recruitment 1. Introduction The Recruitment of personnel is a very important task which in larger organizations is usually conducted by a Human Resource department or in smaller organizations by the responsible individual, either way it is very important to make the right decision in the selection process since mistakes can have catastrophic consequences for the organization. If the recruitment and selection process is poorly conducted meaning that the wrong candidate has been employed can result in long lasting damage caused by the employee. The employee could spoil relationships with customers and suppliers, negatively affect the production and the quality of service and even influence the commitment of colleges. In the extreme case mistakes in the recruitment and selection process could result in the bankruptcy of the company. (Dale, 2003) Due to the threat of criminal acts and terrorism imposed on air travel, companies in the aviation industry face many regulations which intend to regulate the effectiveness and contribute to the safety of air travel. Employees in this industry often operate very sensitive and expensive equipment therefore governments and Airport operators require employees to undergo a variety background checks to ensure, as good as possible, that the individual has no intention to misuse his privileges of employment for any criminal activity. Some countries even require background checks which include biometric data such as fingerprints and the scanning of facial features to verify the employees identity. (Wells Young 2004; Kenneth 1991) Companies are facing difficulties associated with criminal acts and terrorism. If an employee misuses his access to the secure area to commit a crime which can cost the lives of humans the employer could be sued for compensation as well negligent hire. In addition, in such a case, authorities might question the companies reliability and thoroughness and might put the company out of business. Customers might question the reliability and the quality of service provided which can easily lead to the failure of the business. not to mention ethical issues when it comes to the lives of people. Recruiters have to face such issues when searching for new employees. A mistake in the recruitment process can not only lead to the failure of the business but can also cost lives of human beings. 1.1 Research Questions This Thesis ojective is to: Examine which channels are being used for the recruitment of personnel in the secure area of airports? Find out if background checks are being conducted in excess of the Zuverlassigkeitsuberprufung required by law? And weather or not the mandatory background checks have an influence on the selection of the recruitment channels? 2 Setting the Scene 2.1 Airport Environment The airports are in many ways unique environments. Airlines transport passengers and cargo from and to nearly every part of the world. Thousands of passengers and tons of cargo need to be handled and processed as fast, effective and safe as possible. It is therefore very important to coordinate all ground handling procedures as effective as possible. Many Airlines have outsourced their ground handling to save costs. This led to the fact, that many firms offer ground services such as loading, boarding, check-in or catering as well as maintenance service and provide aircrews with briefing information and documentation needed to conduct their flights. Airports are home to not only airlines but as a result of the outsourcing of the various services airlines need, many businesses have developed, providing equal services that their customers request. Especially at major airports airlines can chose from a number of companies providing ground handling services. This leads to another special characteristic of the work at airports, since various companies provide their services and products for their customers (Airlines) working in a relatively small area. It is well possible that a companies biggest competitor is located just next door and both their employees share the same facilities such as dining rooms etc. 2.2 Different Areas at airport According to Wells Young (2004) the Airport premises can be categorized into 6 areas. The public area of an airport is freely accessible for everyone. This area usually includes parking lots, terminal lobbies, Check-in areas, Passenger pick up areas and the curb frontage. The air operations area (AOA) is defined as all areas where aircraft movement takes place including taxiways, runways and aircraft parking areas. The area where movement of passengers ,baggage or cargo between aircrafts and the Terminal building take place is referred to as the secure area. The sterile area can be accessed by passing the passenger checkpoints. Therefore this area is accessible for the public but each individual and his or hers property will be inspected by security personnel. This area includes duty free shops, restaurants etc and boarding areas. SIDA is short for security identification display area and defines the area within which all persons must display the required identification or be accompanied by an authorized individual. Usually the SIDA includes the air operation area as well as the secure area. 2.2 Threat of criminal activity and Terrorism Terrorism is defined by the US Department of Defense as the unlawful use of or threatened use of force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives (Martin 2006). Furthermore does Criminal activity include acts of assault, theft, and vandalism against passengers and their property, aircraft, and all airport facilities (Wells Young 2004). The first act associated with terrorism occurred in 1930 when Peruvian revolutionaries took over the control of an Pan American mail plane with the intention to drop propaganda leaflets over Lima (US Centennial of Flight Commission). In the five years between 1968 and 1972 acts of terrorism in the form of hijacking were at its peak. During that time the U.S. Department of Transportation recorded 364 Hijackings worldwide. In recent history terrorism has taken an even more threatening shape. On September 11th 2001 four commercial airliners were hijacked of which three were intentionally piloted into the two Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon (Security Council, 2001). The Hijackers managed to take weapons through the passenger security check points and onto the aircrafts. As a result of these horrible attacks almost 3000 people, mostly civilians lost their lives. (CNN, 2006) These attacks clearly show what effect a breach in security can have. With over a thousand flights a day transporting approximately 45 million passengers per year, JFK International Airport in New York is one of the busiest in the world. In June 2007 four individuals have been charged with conspiring to attack the JFK International Airport in New York. Their intention was to bomb the Terminal building, the jet fuel reservoirs and a fuel pipeline. The four individuals belonged to an extremist group based in Trinidad. One of them is a former JFK Airport employee who worked for a cargo Handling company with access to the secure area of the airport. Different law enforcement agencies have observed these men and seven additional individuals who they believed to be compliances for a period of 18 months. Fortunately this suspected terrorist plot was at an early stage of planning their attacks and were stopped early enough. (CBS) This case is a clear example of how legal employment and its privileges can be misused for criminal activity and terrorist acts. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) was signed resulting from the attacks on September 11, 2001 which implemented the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the USA. Its objective was and still is together with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase airport and aviation security. Their work and changes in restrictions and safety recommendation have also affected Air Transportation in many other countries such as all over Europe (Wells Young 2004). As the previous examples show, terrorism is a realistic and constantly present threat which Aviation security has to deal with. 2.4 Problems of airport regulatory policies All airport operations are subject to national, state and local laws. Since these laws can vary within countries and regions it affects the airport operations respectively (Wells Young 2004). In addition, many organisation have formed over the past decades that influence airport policies to a local and even international extend. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was born in 1967 but has existed in a different form since 1933. Its purpose is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation primarily in the United States but its restrictions and recommendations influence Air travel on a worldwide basis (Federal Aviation Administration). The body of the Joint Aviation Authorities represents the aviation authorities of the European States and was founded in 1970, originally named Joint Airworthiness Authorities and received its current name in 1990. Its objectives are similar to those of the FAA with an emphasise on International Standardisation and a tighter co-operation with the FAA as well as the ensuring of fair and equal conduct of business in the industry (Joint Aviation Authorities). The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was established 1944 with the objective to enhance the cooperation between member states. Its major concerns are the regulation of technical issues such as navigational rules. The ICAO currently counts 190 members (International Civil Aviation Organisation). Even though aviation including airport operations underlies the laws of each country individually the organisations mentioned above have a great influence on the day to day operations civil aviation and determine to a large degree how all aviation related processes are conducted. 3 Literature Review Definitions Recruitment is defined as the set of activities and processes used to legally obtain a  sufficient number of qualified people at the right place and time so that the people and the  organisation can select each other in their own best short and long term interests (Schuler Randall 1987). Recruitment is defined as the Process of identifying the best-qualified candidate from within or outside of an organization for a job vacancy, in a most timely and cost effective manner(Businessdictionary.com). The process of Selection which is often integrated in the Recruitment process is the action of choosing suitable candidates from among the potential candidates previously determined (The Times 100). 3.1 Range of Recruitment Channels: 3.1.1 Introduction When an organization is in need of employees it has different recruitment channels available. In general one has to differentiate between internal and external recruitment of personnel. The following describes the mostly used recruitment channels available to most organization to fill an open post. 3.2 Internal Recruitment Internal recruitment is the promotion of a job vacancy inside the organization. This channel of recruitment can take the shape of posting the job vacancy in the company or transferal of existing personnel. (Dessler 2000) There is a range of advantages associated with internal recruitment. In the case of promotion the job applicant is already known to the organization and the management is in most cases aware of his abilities and skills. Furthermore it is usually easier to train staff which has been working in the company before because of the familiarity to the companies` environment and its day to day operations. In addition, transferring existing personnel is cheaper and less time consuming than the recruitment through external sources and the transferal can increase the motivation of the employee which in return results in an increase in the quality of performance of the respective employee. Disadvantages associated with internal recruitment could be that due to a limited quantity of employees the organization might be unable to find a suitable candidate for promotion. Another problem can occur if through promotion of existing personnel the initial position becomes vacant and personnel is missing at another level in the organization. (Richardson 2006) 3.3 External Recruitment External Recruitment can either be formal or informal. Formal recruitment channels have the characteristic that the recruiting company and the applicant have no previous connection. Examples for external, formal recruitment are advertisements in newspapers Journals or magazines as well as Temporary work agencies and Recruitment Agencies along with Recruitment Fairs. (Richardson 2006) Informal Recruitment on the other hand does not reach as much potential applicants as the formal way. The employer usually has knowledge of the applicant as in the case of re-hiring former employees or in the case of a referral from a current employee.(Richardson 2006) 3.3.1 Print media: When recruiters choose print media to advertise a job vacancy they have the option to choose between local or national newspapers or Trade and Professional journals. Each of the ones mentioned above usually tend to have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on the advertised job. Ads being places in local newspapers tend to be cheaper than in the local press but on the other hand national newspapers therefore have higher circulation and cover a wider geographical area than local newspapers. Newspapers often tend to attract elderly people because of their relative unfamiliarity with the internet as an alternative resource, therefore newspapers often display advertisements for senior positions (Dale, 2003; Roberts, 2000). If a company intends to attract applicants with specific skills or knowledge placing the ad in a specialist periodical or trade journal seems appropriate since these journals are more likely to be read by individuals with the respective professional background which helps to target the intended group of people (Roberts, 2000). 3.3.2 Word of mouth recruitment According to Dale (2003) who is supported by Cook (1988) claims that many employees get into touch with other employees and after their dismissal from the company they remain in touch with their former colleagues due to same job interest or for other reasons, this gives employers the chance to recruit personal from this source. If a current employee becomes aware of a job vacancy within the company, he might forward this information to former colleagues he has worked with in the past. This applies to the recruitment of personnel for all hierarchical levels within organizations. A major advantage when using this channel is that the promoted colleague (applicant) has often worked in the industry before and matches the advertised criteria pretty well and the costs of using this channel are very low for the company compared to other channels. 3.3.3 Internet The use of the internet to recruit personnel has increased tremendously when compared to the time ten years ago. The advantages seem obvious as the recruiters can reach potential applicants almost world-wide. In addition the submission of applications via internet is faster than via mail and can save the company and the applicant money. Companies who advertise job vacancies online might on the other hand experience an excess amount of applications of people who do not match the published criteria but still submit their application because the cost of application is low (Dale, 2003). In addition companies received many applications which did not meet basic requirements and contained too many spelling mistakes or were formally unacceptable. According to a research by the IT services firm Parity has revealed that from 2001 and 2004 companies in the UK have pulled out of online advertising due to the relatively large portion of unsuitable applications while an increasing number of people is using the internet to search for job vacancies.Implementation of a certain software could overcome this problem. Companies might consider using online testing before the application is being submitted or simply use CV scanning software to filter applications that that do not meet minimum criteria posted by the advertising company (Amble 2004). 3.3.4 Recruitment Agencies Using an agency to recruit personnel can have many advantages. Recruitment agencies usually have a high competency in placing advertisements for job vacancies in different media. Due to the high frequency of placing such ads these agencies acquire higher discounts which are often passed on to the customer (companies in search for employees). Due to their technical expertise and experience in describing the vacant position along with the requirements for the job applicant, recruitment agencies are able to achieve a relatively high response rate from applicants and minimize the portion of unsuitable and unwanted applications.(Roberts 2000) 3.3.5 Head Hunting Recruitment Agencies often specialize in Head Hunting as a channel to recruit personnel for their customers. HeadHunting can be understood as the act of approaching a current employee directly and convincing him or her to work for another employer. This is a commonly used technique when companies are in need of special personnel with skills higher than average. (BNET) According to Maurice Ellett, director of Signum Executive Search International and Don Jaine, director of Swann Group, Headhunting is very useful when a company is in need of executive employees. This group of employees are relatively hard to find and very hard to access through the different ways of advertising a vacant position since currently employed executives often do not respond to ads placed in newspapers or trade journals and will most likely not be found on internet job search sites. (Prattley 2007) Campbell Hepburn, the acting general manager for Hudson Recruitments Wellington agency disagrees by claiming that companies need to consider every possibly way to advertise for a job vacancy even if a high profile candidate is needed. That would include newspapers, trade journals the internet etc. Hepburn additionally sees an ethical problem in the fact that many recruitment agencies contact individuals who are currently working for their own clients. Once an individual has been successfully recruited it is easier to keep track of his performances and re- recruit him afterwards. Therefore most search consultants in that industry do not recruit personnel from previous clients for a limited period of time. Additionally the restraint of trade clauses in many employee contracts prohibit an employee to work for a competitor for a certain period of time after his previous contract has been terminated. (Prattley 2007) Head hunting can be a very useful way to recruit appropriate personnel but as stated above, can have a downside if the head hunting agency turns toward previous clients to recruit for other clients. 3.3.6 Recruitment Fairs Recruitment Fairs are organized events intending to bring employers and job seekers together. These fairs often take place to freshly graduated college students to make initial contact with a company they are aiming to work for. Furthermore companies have a chance to present themselves in terms of their products, environment or future outlooks of the industry etc. Often these events are designed for companies of a certain industry to better match the demands for applicants and employers. Disadvantages could be the relatively expensive and time consuming set up as well as the fact that the applicant does not experience the real environment that the company is working in. But all in all Recruitment fairs offer a great opportunity for both sides, recruiters and job seekers, to arrange further meetings and interviews. 3.3.7 Temporary work agencies Making use of temporary work agencies is a way outsourcing the recruitment. The workforce usually has a contractual relationship with the agency and if a client is in need of employees the agency provides them for it. (Mehta Theodore 2003) This form of accessing workforce has grown to a huge industry in recent history as in the USA from 1993 to 2000 the demand for temporary workers has increased by over 90 %. (Brogan 2001) Van der Heijden (1995; cited in Koene et al.(2004)) claims and is supported by Timmerhuis and De Lange (1998; cited in Koene et al (2004)) that the main reasons for companies to acquire temporary workforce are due to seasonal fluctuations, unexpected peaks, economic cycles or simply if a temporary replacement is needed for a permanent employee. According to Segall and Sullivan (1997) temporary workers in return have to suffer from certain disadvantages compared to a permanent employment. Temporary workers usually have less labor market security than permanent workers and are more prone to possible unemployment and even the wage is in average 20 % below those of permanent employees. The results is supported by an analysis conducted by the OECD in 2002 on 28 states that temporary work is most likely found in positions of rather unskilled labour as well as administrative staff and medical labour exercising rather lower skilled tasks. (OECD, 2002 cited in Koene et al (2004)) 3.4 Pre employment screening 3.4.1 Introduction Robert Woodman, president and founder of Berkeley International Intelligence Inc., a business investigation company highly recommends to conduct intensive screening of applicants before they are being employed. Referring to an example in which a Toronto based non profit organization which operated retirement and nursing homes employed a new director to raise funds for a new project. The director shortly after employment submitted false pledge certificates with forged signatures and additionally turned in numerous bills for her expenses including expensive Hotel-, restaurant- and even limousine service bills. As company investigators accused her of fraud she disappeared shortly after but was arrested and convicted for several counts of fraud and received a four-year prison sentence. Since most of the money she gained was already spend, she will not be able to pay back the full amount. Further investigation into the directors past revealed that she was not properly screened before being employed. A background check would have revealed that she has committed similar crimes and caused damage to three previous employers. (Woodman 2006) Benoff (1989) and Brennan (1997) give more example of employees without background checks, committing crimes at work where at the end the employer was being sued and found guilty of negligent hiring. Personnel is a very important asset in every company. The recruitment process is time consuming and can be very expensive. But companies can not risk to make poor decisions in this process since employing the wrong personnel can make the difference between success and failure of a business since companies can be held responsible for their employees. (Lam Kleiner 2001) Background checks can be expensive but the cost associated with bad performances, theft of assets or confidential information as well as the costs associated with possible law suits is much higher. (Norred 1993) Companies basically have two options to collect the data needed. Either they investigate an applicant by implementing their own employment security department (internal) or companies can contact professional employee screening companies to collect the date for them (externally). 3.4.2 Employer References To inquire information about a job applicant from a previous employer is a useful way of verifying the authenticity of information provided by the applicant. The problem associated with this method is that there might be a number of employers who do not give any information at all, often because of the fear of being sued for invasion of privacy by the former employee and if they do, the information might be very basic. But in general it is recommended since the new employer can learn about some ones employment dates, job titles and responsibilities of the tasks performed by the former employee as well as get information about working habits which are often very valuable. (Lam Kleiner 2001) 3.4.3 Academic References To check academic references is fairly easy, the employer can ask the applicant provide proof or just request information from the institution the applicant has stated. (Doty-Navarro Kleiner) This seems to be highly recommended especially if a company is recruiting to fill a vacancy which required certain skills and knowledge such as a special education since people tend to make more false statements about their academic references than over previous employment references. Therefore companies should be aware of the authenticity of an applicants academic background. (Kaiser-Lee 1995) 3.4.4 Credit Records If an employee is in contact with company money or other valuable goods it is recommended to run a credit history check which comes in the form of a credit report and can obtained through credit agencies. Credit Reports contain information about bankruptcies, legal judgments, tax liens, credit card balances as well as child support obligations. Credit reports can give a rough idea about the financial situation of an individual and can help to evaluate the risk of the employee committing theft (Doty-Navarro Kleiner 2000). 3.4.5 Driving Record If the employee operates a company vehicle, a driving record should be obtained in advance. The employer is obliged to verify that the person operating the vehicle is legally certified by asking to present the driver license. If the employer fails to comply, the company will be liable for all the damage the employee has caused with the company vehicle. Driving records can be requested through governmental bureaus and contain data such as traffic violations as well as other driving related offences such as if the driving privileges were suspended. (Steingold 1994) 3.4.6 Criminal Records According to (Doty-Navarro Kleiner 2000) the need for running a criminal record check is very important if the future employee will deal with sensitive and valuable assets for example driving a company car or having access to cash registers. They also emphasize on the urgency to perform a criminal record check to avoid law suits for negligent hire by customers in case the employee gets involved in criminal activity during his employment. But there are certain difficulties associated with the completeness of these records. Odom (1995) points out certain limitations such as the limited accessibility of criminal record databases. He also claims that different courts, depending on their geographic and legal jurisdiction do not report to the same databases and some courts do not have to report to a database at all. The conclusion is that criminal databases are everything but complete and investigators, internal or external, sometimes have to go through intensive investigation to get an authentic result. 3.4.7 External employee screening Companies performing background checks serving other companies from different industries have soared in the US in recent past. According to Terhune (2008) the biggest US companies in the business are Choicepoint (Alpharette, GA) serving Wal Mart and UPS among others, USIS (Falls Church, VA) serving Federal agencies along with Transportation companies, First Advantage (Powey, GA) , providing services to companies in the manufacturing and financial sectors. These companies business is to screen people in every legal way possible. (Terhune 2008) The services they provide include the checking of criminal records, driving records, credit histories (including bankruptcy filings, tax liens, legal judgments and lawsuits), as well as investigative consumer reports which contains information gathered through interviews with friends, neighbors, former co-worker and in some cases even family members with the aim to reveal data about some ones personality. (McGreevy 2007) Since the major employee screening companies conduct their background checks specialising on only few industries, providing their information to even bigger companies on a regular basis, they even maintain their own or shared databases containing information about individuals who have worked in the respective industry before. These databases include statements of previous employers about individuals such as the reason of dismissal and even accusations of criminal acts without legal proof from a court. (Terhune 2008) This practically means that individuals seeking jobs can be accused of having conducted a criminal act in the past even though they have not been convicted for a crime by a court of law. Terhune (2008) emphasises this matter with an example of Truck driver who was employed by Marten Transport based in Mondovi, Wisconsin. He was dismissed from the company after only two weeks as a result of his numerous complaints about the safety of the truck he was driving. He sued Marten Transport and was awarded with over 31.000 US Dollars in back pay. In addition, the judge ordered Marten Transport to remove any unfavourable work record information from a database named DAC which is maintained by USIS. As he shortly after his dismissal from Marten Transport re-applied for a job at J.B. Hunt Services, his application was denied due to his DAC record stating that he was dismissed due to excessive complaints. (Terhune 2008) furthermore refers to a comment to this example by Kristen Turley, the director of market development and communications at USIS who claims that their system (as used in regards to the DAC database) contains mistakes and in the case of false information being sub mitted USIS would require proof from the previous employer to undermine his accusations. USIS does not ask for proof up front since their belief is that this would hold past employers from submitting information in the first place. 3.4.8 Background checks required by law To access the secure area of an airport all individuals whom is granted access on a regular basis (excluding passengers) need to be issued an SIDA badge. Before the SIDA badge is issued the German law requires background checks. According to .7 of the German Aviation Security Act (Luftsicherheitsgesetz) the German Department of Aviation Security (Luftsicherheitsbehorde), whos purpose is to serve the safety and security of Air Transportation, has to conduct a Background check on authorized staff, the so called Zu Airport Security Recruitment Airport Security Recruitment 1. Introduction The Recruitment of personnel is a very important task which in larger organizations is usually conducted by a Human Resource department or in smaller organizations by the responsible individual, either way it is very important to make the right decision in the selection process since mistakes can have catastrophic consequences for the organization. If the recruitment and selection process is poorly conducted meaning that the wrong candidate has been employed can result in long lasting damage caused by the employee. The employee could spoil relationships with customers and suppliers, negatively affect the production and the quality of service and even influence the commitment of colleges. In the extreme case mistakes in the recruitment and selection process could result in the bankruptcy of the company. (Dale, 2003) Due to the threat of criminal acts and terrorism imposed on air travel, companies in the aviation industry face many regulations which intend to regulate the effectiveness and contribute to the safety of air travel. Employees in this industry often operate very sensitive and expensive equipment therefore governments and Airport operators require employees to undergo a variety background checks to ensure, as good as possible, that the individual has no intention to misuse his privileges of employment for any criminal activity. Some countries even require background checks which include biometric data such as fingerprints and the scanning of facial features to verify the employees identity. (Wells Young 2004; Kenneth 1991) Companies are facing difficulties associated with criminal acts and terrorism. If an employee misuses his access to the secure area to commit a crime which can cost the lives of humans the employer could be sued for compensation as well negligent hire. In addition, in such a case, authorities might question the companies reliability and thoroughness and might put the company out of business. Customers might question the reliability and the quality of service provided which can easily lead to the failure of the business. not to mention ethical issues when it comes to the lives of people. Recruiters have to face such issues when searching for new employees. A mistake in the recruitment process can not only lead to the failure of the business but can also cost lives of human beings. 1.1 Research Questions This Thesis ojective is to: Examine which channels are being used for the recruitment of personnel in the secure area of airports? Find out if background checks are being conducted in excess of the Zuverlassigkeitsuberprufung required by law? And weather or not the mandatory background checks have an influence on the selection of the recruitment channels? 2 Setting the Scene 2.1 Airport Environment The airports are in many ways unique environments. Airlines transport passengers and cargo from and to nearly every part of the world. Thousands of passengers and tons of cargo need to be handled and processed as fast, effective and safe as possible. It is therefore very important to coordinate all ground handling procedures as effective as possible. Many Airlines have outsourced their ground handling to save costs. This led to the fact, that many firms offer ground services such as loading, boarding, check-in or catering as well as maintenance service and provide aircrews with briefing information and documentation needed to conduct their flights. Airports are home to not only airlines but as a result of the outsourcing of the various services airlines need, many businesses have developed, providing equal services that their customers request. Especially at major airports airlines can chose from a number of companies providing ground handling services. This leads to another special characteristic of the work at airports, since various companies provide their services and products for their customers (Airlines) working in a relatively small area. It is well possible that a companies biggest competitor is located just next door and both their employees share the same facilities such as dining rooms etc. 2.2 Different Areas at airport According to Wells Young (2004) the Airport premises can be categorized into 6 areas. The public area of an airport is freely accessible for everyone. This area usually includes parking lots, terminal lobbies, Check-in areas, Passenger pick up areas and the curb frontage. The air operations area (AOA) is defined as all areas where aircraft movement takes place including taxiways, runways and aircraft parking areas. The area where movement of passengers ,baggage or cargo between aircrafts and the Terminal building take place is referred to as the secure area. The sterile area can be accessed by passing the passenger checkpoints. Therefore this area is accessible for the public but each individual and his or hers property will be inspected by security personnel. This area includes duty free shops, restaurants etc and boarding areas. SIDA is short for security identification display area and defines the area within which all persons must display the required identification or be accompanied by an authorized individual. Usually the SIDA includes the air operation area as well as the secure area. 2.2 Threat of criminal activity and Terrorism Terrorism is defined by the US Department of Defense as the unlawful use of or threatened use of force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives (Martin 2006). Furthermore does Criminal activity include acts of assault, theft, and vandalism against passengers and their property, aircraft, and all airport facilities (Wells Young 2004). The first act associated with terrorism occurred in 1930 when Peruvian revolutionaries took over the control of an Pan American mail plane with the intention to drop propaganda leaflets over Lima (US Centennial of Flight Commission). In the five years between 1968 and 1972 acts of terrorism in the form of hijacking were at its peak. During that time the U.S. Department of Transportation recorded 364 Hijackings worldwide. In recent history terrorism has taken an even more threatening shape. On September 11th 2001 four commercial airliners were hijacked of which three were intentionally piloted into the two Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon (Security Council, 2001). The Hijackers managed to take weapons through the passenger security check points and onto the aircrafts. As a result of these horrible attacks almost 3000 people, mostly civilians lost their lives. (CNN, 2006) These attacks clearly show what effect a breach in security can have. With over a thousand flights a day transporting approximately 45 million passengers per year, JFK International Airport in New York is one of the busiest in the world. In June 2007 four individuals have been charged with conspiring to attack the JFK International Airport in New York. Their intention was to bomb the Terminal building, the jet fuel reservoirs and a fuel pipeline. The four individuals belonged to an extremist group based in Trinidad. One of them is a former JFK Airport employee who worked for a cargo Handling company with access to the secure area of the airport. Different law enforcement agencies have observed these men and seven additional individuals who they believed to be compliances for a period of 18 months. Fortunately this suspected terrorist plot was at an early stage of planning their attacks and were stopped early enough. (CBS) This case is a clear example of how legal employment and its privileges can be misused for criminal activity and terrorist acts. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) was signed resulting from the attacks on September 11, 2001 which implemented the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the USA. Its objective was and still is together with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase airport and aviation security. Their work and changes in restrictions and safety recommendation have also affected Air Transportation in many other countries such as all over Europe (Wells Young 2004). As the previous examples show, terrorism is a realistic and constantly present threat which Aviation security has to deal with. 2.4 Problems of airport regulatory policies All airport operations are subject to national, state and local laws. Since these laws can vary within countries and regions it affects the airport operations respectively (Wells Young 2004). In addition, many organisation have formed over the past decades that influence airport policies to a local and even international extend. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was born in 1967 but has existed in a different form since 1933. Its purpose is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation primarily in the United States but its restrictions and recommendations influence Air travel on a worldwide basis (Federal Aviation Administration). The body of the Joint Aviation Authorities represents the aviation authorities of the European States and was founded in 1970, originally named Joint Airworthiness Authorities and received its current name in 1990. Its objectives are similar to those of the FAA with an emphasise on International Standardisation and a tighter co-operation with the FAA as well as the ensuring of fair and equal conduct of business in the industry (Joint Aviation Authorities). The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was established 1944 with the objective to enhance the cooperation between member states. Its major concerns are the regulation of technical issues such as navigational rules. The ICAO currently counts 190 members (International Civil Aviation Organisation). Even though aviation including airport operations underlies the laws of each country individually the organisations mentioned above have a great influence on the day to day operations civil aviation and determine to a large degree how all aviation related processes are conducted. 3 Literature Review Definitions Recruitment is defined as the set of activities and processes used to legally obtain a  sufficient number of qualified people at the right place and time so that the people and the  organisation can select each other in their own best short and long term interests (Schuler Randall 1987). Recruitment is defined as the Process of identifying the best-qualified candidate from within or outside of an organization for a job vacancy, in a most timely and cost effective manner(Businessdictionary.com). The process of Selection which is often integrated in the Recruitment process is the action of choosing suitable candidates from among the potential candidates previously determined (The Times 100). 3.1 Range of Recruitment Channels: 3.1.1 Introduction When an organization is in need of employees it has different recruitment channels available. In general one has to differentiate between internal and external recruitment of personnel. The following describes the mostly used recruitment channels available to most organization to fill an open post. 3.2 Internal Recruitment Internal recruitment is the promotion of a job vacancy inside the organization. This channel of recruitment can take the shape of posting the job vacancy in the company or transferal of existing personnel. (Dessler 2000) There is a range of advantages associated with internal recruitment. In the case of promotion the job applicant is already known to the organization and the management is in most cases aware of his abilities and skills. Furthermore it is usually easier to train staff which has been working in the company before because of the familiarity to the companies` environment and its day to day operations. In addition, transferring existing personnel is cheaper and less time consuming than the recruitment through external sources and the transferal can increase the motivation of the employee which in return results in an increase in the quality of performance of the respective employee. Disadvantages associated with internal recruitment could be that due to a limited quantity of employees the organization might be unable to find a suitable candidate for promotion. Another problem can occur if through promotion of existing personnel the initial position becomes vacant and personnel is missing at another level in the organization. (Richardson 2006) 3.3 External Recruitment External Recruitment can either be formal or informal. Formal recruitment channels have the characteristic that the recruiting company and the applicant have no previous connection. Examples for external, formal recruitment are advertisements in newspapers Journals or magazines as well as Temporary work agencies and Recruitment Agencies along with Recruitment Fairs. (Richardson 2006) Informal Recruitment on the other hand does not reach as much potential applicants as the formal way. The employer usually has knowledge of the applicant as in the case of re-hiring former employees or in the case of a referral from a current employee.(Richardson 2006) 3.3.1 Print media: When recruiters choose print media to advertise a job vacancy they have the option to choose between local or national newspapers or Trade and Professional journals. Each of the ones mentioned above usually tend to have certain advantages and disadvantages depending on the advertised job. Ads being places in local newspapers tend to be cheaper than in the local press but on the other hand national newspapers therefore have higher circulation and cover a wider geographical area than local newspapers. Newspapers often tend to attract elderly people because of their relative unfamiliarity with the internet as an alternative resource, therefore newspapers often display advertisements for senior positions (Dale, 2003; Roberts, 2000). If a company intends to attract applicants with specific skills or knowledge placing the ad in a specialist periodical or trade journal seems appropriate since these journals are more likely to be read by individuals with the respective professional background which helps to target the intended group of people (Roberts, 2000). 3.3.2 Word of mouth recruitment According to Dale (2003) who is supported by Cook (1988) claims that many employees get into touch with other employees and after their dismissal from the company they remain in touch with their former colleagues due to same job interest or for other reasons, this gives employers the chance to recruit personal from this source. If a current employee becomes aware of a job vacancy within the company, he might forward this information to former colleagues he has worked with in the past. This applies to the recruitment of personnel for all hierarchical levels within organizations. A major advantage when using this channel is that the promoted colleague (applicant) has often worked in the industry before and matches the advertised criteria pretty well and the costs of using this channel are very low for the company compared to other channels. 3.3.3 Internet The use of the internet to recruit personnel has increased tremendously when compared to the time ten years ago. The advantages seem obvious as the recruiters can reach potential applicants almost world-wide. In addition the submission of applications via internet is faster than via mail and can save the company and the applicant money. Companies who advertise job vacancies online might on the other hand experience an excess amount of applications of people who do not match the published criteria but still submit their application because the cost of application is low (Dale, 2003). In addition companies received many applications which did not meet basic requirements and contained too many spelling mistakes or were formally unacceptable. According to a research by the IT services firm Parity has revealed that from 2001 and 2004 companies in the UK have pulled out of online advertising due to the relatively large portion of unsuitable applications while an increasing number of people is using the internet to search for job vacancies.Implementation of a certain software could overcome this problem. Companies might consider using online testing before the application is being submitted or simply use CV scanning software to filter applications that that do not meet minimum criteria posted by the advertising company (Amble 2004). 3.3.4 Recruitment Agencies Using an agency to recruit personnel can have many advantages. Recruitment agencies usually have a high competency in placing advertisements for job vacancies in different media. Due to the high frequency of placing such ads these agencies acquire higher discounts which are often passed on to the customer (companies in search for employees). Due to their technical expertise and experience in describing the vacant position along with the requirements for the job applicant, recruitment agencies are able to achieve a relatively high response rate from applicants and minimize the portion of unsuitable and unwanted applications.(Roberts 2000) 3.3.5 Head Hunting Recruitment Agencies often specialize in Head Hunting as a channel to recruit personnel for their customers. HeadHunting can be understood as the act of approaching a current employee directly and convincing him or her to work for another employer. This is a commonly used technique when companies are in need of special personnel with skills higher than average. (BNET) According to Maurice Ellett, director of Signum Executive Search International and Don Jaine, director of Swann Group, Headhunting is very useful when a company is in need of executive employees. This group of employees are relatively hard to find and very hard to access through the different ways of advertising a vacant position since currently employed executives often do not respond to ads placed in newspapers or trade journals and will most likely not be found on internet job search sites. (Prattley 2007) Campbell Hepburn, the acting general manager for Hudson Recruitments Wellington agency disagrees by claiming that companies need to consider every possibly way to advertise for a job vacancy even if a high profile candidate is needed. That would include newspapers, trade journals the internet etc. Hepburn additionally sees an ethical problem in the fact that many recruitment agencies contact individuals who are currently working for their own clients. Once an individual has been successfully recruited it is easier to keep track of his performances and re- recruit him afterwards. Therefore most search consultants in that industry do not recruit personnel from previous clients for a limited period of time. Additionally the restraint of trade clauses in many employee contracts prohibit an employee to work for a competitor for a certain period of time after his previous contract has been terminated. (Prattley 2007) Head hunting can be a very useful way to recruit appropriate personnel but as stated above, can have a downside if the head hunting agency turns toward previous clients to recruit for other clients. 3.3.6 Recruitment Fairs Recruitment Fairs are organized events intending to bring employers and job seekers together. These fairs often take place to freshly graduated college students to make initial contact with a company they are aiming to work for. Furthermore companies have a chance to present themselves in terms of their products, environment or future outlooks of the industry etc. Often these events are designed for companies of a certain industry to better match the demands for applicants and employers. Disadvantages could be the relatively expensive and time consuming set up as well as the fact that the applicant does not experience the real environment that the company is working in. But all in all Recruitment fairs offer a great opportunity for both sides, recruiters and job seekers, to arrange further meetings and interviews. 3.3.7 Temporary work agencies Making use of temporary work agencies is a way outsourcing the recruitment. The workforce usually has a contractual relationship with the agency and if a client is in need of employees the agency provides them for it. (Mehta Theodore 2003) This form of accessing workforce has grown to a huge industry in recent history as in the USA from 1993 to 2000 the demand for temporary workers has increased by over 90 %. (Brogan 2001) Van der Heijden (1995; cited in Koene et al.(2004)) claims and is supported by Timmerhuis and De Lange (1998; cited in Koene et al (2004)) that the main reasons for companies to acquire temporary workforce are due to seasonal fluctuations, unexpected peaks, economic cycles or simply if a temporary replacement is needed for a permanent employee. According to Segall and Sullivan (1997) temporary workers in return have to suffer from certain disadvantages compared to a permanent employment. Temporary workers usually have less labor market security than permanent workers and are more prone to possible unemployment and even the wage is in average 20 % below those of permanent employees. The results is supported by an analysis conducted by the OECD in 2002 on 28 states that temporary work is most likely found in positions of rather unskilled labour as well as administrative staff and medical labour exercising rather lower skilled tasks. (OECD, 2002 cited in Koene et al (2004)) 3.4 Pre employment screening 3.4.1 Introduction Robert Woodman, president and founder of Berkeley International Intelligence Inc., a business investigation company highly recommends to conduct intensive screening of applicants before they are being employed. Referring to an example in which a Toronto based non profit organization which operated retirement and nursing homes employed a new director to raise funds for a new project. The director shortly after employment submitted false pledge certificates with forged signatures and additionally turned in numerous bills for her expenses including expensive Hotel-, restaurant- and even limousine service bills. As company investigators accused her of fraud she disappeared shortly after but was arrested and convicted for several counts of fraud and received a four-year prison sentence. Since most of the money she gained was already spend, she will not be able to pay back the full amount. Further investigation into the directors past revealed that she was not properly screened before being employed. A background check would have revealed that she has committed similar crimes and caused damage to three previous employers. (Woodman 2006) Benoff (1989) and Brennan (1997) give more example of employees without background checks, committing crimes at work where at the end the employer was being sued and found guilty of negligent hiring. Personnel is a very important asset in every company. The recruitment process is time consuming and can be very expensive. But companies can not risk to make poor decisions in this process since employing the wrong personnel can make the difference between success and failure of a business since companies can be held responsible for their employees. (Lam Kleiner 2001) Background checks can be expensive but the cost associated with bad performances, theft of assets or confidential information as well as the costs associated with possible law suits is much higher. (Norred 1993) Companies basically have two options to collect the data needed. Either they investigate an applicant by implementing their own employment security department (internal) or companies can contact professional employee screening companies to collect the date for them (externally). 3.4.2 Employer References To inquire information about a job applicant from a previous employer is a useful way of verifying the authenticity of information provided by the applicant. The problem associated with this method is that there might be a number of employers who do not give any information at all, often because of the fear of being sued for invasion of privacy by the former employee and if they do, the information might be very basic. But in general it is recommended since the new employer can learn about some ones employment dates, job titles and responsibilities of the tasks performed by the former employee as well as get information about working habits which are often very valuable. (Lam Kleiner 2001) 3.4.3 Academic References To check academic references is fairly easy, the employer can ask the applicant provide proof or just request information from the institution the applicant has stated. (Doty-Navarro Kleiner) This seems to be highly recommended especially if a company is recruiting to fill a vacancy which required certain skills and knowledge such as a special education since people tend to make more false statements about their academic references than over previous employment references. Therefore companies should be aware of the authenticity of an applicants academic background. (Kaiser-Lee 1995) 3.4.4 Credit Records If an employee is in contact with company money or other valuable goods it is recommended to run a credit history check which comes in the form of a credit report and can obtained through credit agencies. Credit Reports contain information about bankruptcies, legal judgments, tax liens, credit card balances as well as child support obligations. Credit reports can give a rough idea about the financial situation of an individual and can help to evaluate the risk of the employee committing theft (Doty-Navarro Kleiner 2000). 3.4.5 Driving Record If the employee operates a company vehicle, a driving record should be obtained in advance. The employer is obliged to verify that the person operating the vehicle is legally certified by asking to present the driver license. If the employer fails to comply, the company will be liable for all the damage the employee has caused with the company vehicle. Driving records can be requested through governmental bureaus and contain data such as traffic violations as well as other driving related offences such as if the driving privileges were suspended. (Steingold 1994) 3.4.6 Criminal Records According to (Doty-Navarro Kleiner 2000) the need for running a criminal record check is very important if the future employee will deal with sensitive and valuable assets for example driving a company car or having access to cash registers. They also emphasize on the urgency to perform a criminal record check to avoid law suits for negligent hire by customers in case the employee gets involved in criminal activity during his employment. But there are certain difficulties associated with the completeness of these records. Odom (1995) points out certain limitations such as the limited accessibility of criminal record databases. He also claims that different courts, depending on their geographic and legal jurisdiction do not report to the same databases and some courts do not have to report to a database at all. The conclusion is that criminal databases are everything but complete and investigators, internal or external, sometimes have to go through intensive investigation to get an authentic result. 3.4.7 External employee screening Companies performing background checks serving other companies from different industries have soared in the US in recent past. According to Terhune (2008) the biggest US companies in the business are Choicepoint (Alpharette, GA) serving Wal Mart and UPS among others, USIS (Falls Church, VA) serving Federal agencies along with Transportation companies, First Advantage (Powey, GA) , providing services to companies in the manufacturing and financial sectors. These companies business is to screen people in every legal way possible. (Terhune 2008) The services they provide include the checking of criminal records, driving records, credit histories (including bankruptcy filings, tax liens, legal judgments and lawsuits), as well as investigative consumer reports which contains information gathered through interviews with friends, neighbors, former co-worker and in some cases even family members with the aim to reveal data about some ones personality. (McGreevy 2007) Since the major employee screening companies conduct their background checks specialising on only few industries, providing their information to even bigger companies on a regular basis, they even maintain their own or shared databases containing information about individuals who have worked in the respective industry before. These databases include statements of previous employers about individuals such as the reason of dismissal and even accusations of criminal acts without legal proof from a court. (Terhune 2008) This practically means that individuals seeking jobs can be accused of having conducted a criminal act in the past even though they have not been convicted for a crime by a court of law. Terhune (2008) emphasises this matter with an example of Truck driver who was employed by Marten Transport based in Mondovi, Wisconsin. He was dismissed from the company after only two weeks as a result of his numerous complaints about the safety of the truck he was driving. He sued Marten Transport and was awarded with over 31.000 US Dollars in back pay. In addition, the judge ordered Marten Transport to remove any unfavourable work record information from a database named DAC which is maintained by USIS. As he shortly after his dismissal from Marten Transport re-applied for a job at J.B. Hunt Services, his application was denied due to his DAC record stating that he was dismissed due to excessive complaints. (Terhune 2008) furthermore refers to a comment to this example by Kristen Turley, the director of market development and communications at USIS who claims that their system (as used in regards to the DAC database) contains mistakes and in the case of false information being sub mitted USIS would require proof from the previous employer to undermine his accusations. USIS does not ask for proof up front since their belief is that this would hold past employers from submitting information in the first place. 3.4.8 Background checks required by law To access the secure area of an airport all individuals whom is granted access on a regular basis (excluding passengers) need to be issued an SIDA badge. Before the SIDA badge is issued the German law requires background checks. According to .7 of the German Aviation Security Act (Luftsicherheitsgesetz) the German Department of Aviation Security (Luftsicherheitsbehorde), whos purpose is to serve the safety and security of Air Transportation, has to conduct a Background check on authorized staff, the so called Zu