REPORT ON MISSOURI :: essays papers

REPORT ON MISSOURI GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Missouri has had four constitutions: 1820, prior to statehood; 1865 and 1875, in the aftermath of the Civil War; and 1945. Amendments to the constitution may be proposed by a majority of the legislature or by petition signed by 8% of the voters in two-thirds of the state's congressional districts. Proposed amendments must be approved by a majority of the voters in a statewide election. A constitutional convention must be called every 20 years to review the constitution for possible changes. The Missouri general assembly is composed of the senate of 34 members, half of whom are elected every 2 years for 4-year terms, and the house of representatives, with 163 members, all of whom are elected every 2 years. The general assembly meets annually. The governor is elected for 4 years and may succeed himself once. The chief judicial officers are the 7 supreme court judges. The Missouri Plan for selecting judges, adopted in 1945, has become a nationwide model for the nonpartisan assignment of judges. Each of Missouri's 114 counties is governed by a 3-member elected county commission. St. Louis functions as an independent city with county status. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have considerable electoral strength in Missouri, but since World War II the Democrats, strongest in the cities and the Bootheel, have more often controlled the legislature. Elected state offices and Missouri's representation in the U.S. Congress have been rather equally divided between the two parties. Missouri's Democrats tend to have a more conservative political philosophy than Democrats nationally. Republicans retain strength in suburban regions and in the southwestern part of the state. STATE SYMBOLS The state flower is the Hawthorn. The state bird is the Eastern Bluebird. And the state tree is the Dogwood. Government Configuration Missouri has had four constitutions: 1820, prior to statehood; 1865 and 1875, in the aftermath of the Civil War; and 1945. Amendments to the constitution may be proposed by a majority of the legislature or by petition signed by 8% of the voters in two-thirds of the state's congressional districts. Proposed amendments must be approved by a majority of the voters in a statewide election. A constitutional convention must be called every 20 years to review the constitution for possible changes. The Missouri general assembly is composed of the senate of 34 members, half of whom are elected every 2 years for 4-year terms, and the house of representatives, with 163 members, all of whom are elected every 2 years.

Performance Measurement Systems Essay

Performance Measurement Systems Performance measurement systems are an integral part of the management control systems. Management control is a process through which management ensures that resources are obtained and used effectively and efficiently in accomplishing the organization’s goals. To be most effective performance measures should be tied to the strategic objectives of the organization. Two key principles of performance measurements are; measurement of performance and compensation based on measured performance. The goal of performance measurement system is to implement strategies. A performance measurement system is simply a mechanism that improves the likelihood the organization will implement its strategy successfully. Any performance measurement system blends the financial information and non-financial information with each other. In setting up such systems, the senior management selects measures that best represent the company’s strategy and these measures can be seen as current and future critical success factors. Uses of Performance Measurement According to Behn (2003) the uses of performance measurement are as follows: 1) To evaluate. To evaluate performance, the senior managers need to determine what a business unit manager is supposed to accomplish. 2) To control. Performance measurement can ensure the senior managers that their subordinates are doing the right thing. 3) To budget. Sometimes budgets increase could be the answer to improving performance. 4) To motivate. Performance measurement systems give people significant goals to achieve and then use performance measures—including interim targets—to focus people’s thinking and work and to provide periodic sense of accomplishment. ) To celebrate. By achieving specific goals, people gain sense of personal accomplishment and selfworth. 6) To promote. To convince the stockholders that their organization is doing good, manages need easily understood measures of those aspects of performance about which many stockholders personally care 7) To learn. Learning is involved with some process, of analysis information provided from evaluating corporat e performance (identifying what works and what does not). By analyzing that information, corporation able to learn reasons behind its poor or good performance. 8) To improve. In order for corporations to measure what it wants to improve it first need to identify what it will improve and develop processess to accomplish that. Performance measurement systems develop a feedback to assess with plans to achieve improvements and to determine if those processess create forecasted results (improvements). Limitations of Financial Control Systems 1. It may encourage short-term actions that are not in the company’s long-term interests. . Business managers may not undertake useful long-term actions, in order to obtain short-term profits. 3. Using short-term profit as the objective can distort communication between a business unit manager and senior management. 4. Tight financial control may motivate managers to manipulate data. Comprehensive Performance Measures Comprehensive performance measures must address: 1. Financial performance 2. Custome r satisfaction 3. Internal business process developments and 4. Allow an organization to learn and grow. Financial Performance can be measured by: 1. Residual measures (accounting profit measures) such as net income, operating profit, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) 2. Ratio income (accounting return measures) such as Return on Investment (ROI), Return on Net Assets (RONA), or Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC). Customer-related measures 1. Bookings 2. Back orders 3. Market share 4. Key account orders 5. Customer satisfaction 6. Customer retention 7. Customer loyalty Internal Business Process Measures 1. Capacity utilization 2. On-time delivery 3. Inventory turnover 4. Quality 5. Cycle time Learning and Growth measures 1. Learning and growth identifies the infrastructure an organization must build to create long-term growth and improvement. 2. Growth comes from: people, systems and organizational procedures. Implementing a Performance Measurement Systems Implementation of a performance measurement system involves four general steps: 1. Define Strategy: * The BSC builds a link between strategy and operational action. * Therefore, it begins with the strategy first, to achieve the goals and objectives. 2. Define Measures of Strategy: The next step is to develop the measures to support the formulated strategy. * The organization must focus on a few critical measures and should not overload with the measures. * And importantly, the measures should be linked with each other in a cause and effect manner. 3. Integrate measures into the management system: * The scorecard must be integrated with the organization’s formal and informal structures, cultu re and human resource practices. 4. Review measures and results frequently: once the scorecard is implemented and running, the senior management should review is constantly. The organization should look for the following: * How the organization is is doing according to the outcome measures? * How the organization is is doing according to the driver measures? * How has the organization’s strategy changed since the last review? * How has the scorecard measures changed? Difficulties in implementation Performance Measurement Systems 1. Poor correlation between non-financial measures and results 2. Fixation on financial results 3. Measures are not updated 4. Measures are overloaded 5. Difficulty in establishing trade-offs

A Vindication of the Right of Women and Woman in the...

Education of Women in A Vindication of the Right of Women and Woman in the Nineteenth Century In two centuries where women have very little or no rights at all, Mary Wollstonecraft and Margaret Fuller appear as claiming voices, as two followers of feminism. Two women separated by a century but united by the same ideals. In these male- dominated societies, these two educated women tried to vindicate their rights through one of the few areas where they could show their intelligence: literature. So, in the 18th century we find Wollstonecraft ´s A Vindication of the Right of Women and in the 19th her successor Margaret Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Two books written with the same purpose: to vindicate the rights of†¦show more content†¦To render also the social compact truly equitable†¦ women must be allowed to found their virtue on Knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits as men.† (Wollstonecraft 293) She put emphasis on physical health, insisted on exercise and play and suggested that all should study biology in order to be better parents: â€Å"In public schools women should be taught the elements of anatomy and medicine, not only to enable them to take proper care of their own health, but to make rational nurses of their infants†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wollstonecraft 298) She thought that men and women should be educated to a great degree by the opinions and manners of the society in which they live, here we understand that the most perfect education for women is that which enables them to virtuous and become independent. This was Rousseau’s opinion and she extended it to women. Rousseau was against the education of women and Wollstonecraft is going to make clear throughout the book that she completely disagreed with him. Although Wollstonecraft assumed the education ofShow MoreRelatedThere are numerous numbers of novels and books that offer different portrayals of the female gender1700 Words   |  7 Pagesin the early nineteenth century, each novel shedding a different light on women, their gender role, and the definition of femininity during this time period. The first thought that pops into most people’s minds is Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman or any Jane Austen novel. People do not typically think of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Nonetheless Frankenstein offers us the reader an extremely well portrayal of the female gender in the early nineteenth century while also providingRead More Mary Wollstonecraft Her Legacy Essay examples1520 Words   |  7 PagesLegacy Following the Enlightenment, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the feminist novel The Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In this novel she applied rights to females that had formerly been reserved to males, such as unalienable rights. Her novel impacted different areas of society. Wollstonecraft called for the advancement of women’s rights in areas such as education, work, and politics. She also proposes that women are just as capable as men and have a far greater purpose than simply to be pleasingRead MoreSummary Of A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women By Mary Wollstonecraft1208 Words   |  5 PagesDuring the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their â€Å"place† in society and demand changeRead MoreThe Vindication Of The Rights Of Women1369 Words   |  6 Pagesaddresses the work of Mary Wollstonecraft, The Vindication of the Rights of Women. To investigate this, I will first summarize her work and someone else s interpretation of it, then analyze the author, voice, message and significance, and finally analyze the two works to answer the question, What are the current ideas about your philosopher? How have their ideas influenced us today?. My first souce will be the primary source of the Vindication, and my secondary source will be Matilde MartinRead MoreThe Equal Rights Of The Sexes Movement1196 Words   |  5 PagesThe Equal Rights of the Sexes Movement Women have been fighting the fight for women’s rights for a long time. In fact, evidence can be traced back centuries of women’s desire for equality. Specifically, women have fought for their rights in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The eighteenth century had its share of freedom supporters. The eighteenth century is a time of the included focus points of the daughters of liberty, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Judith Sargent Murray. Right after the revolutionRead MoreA Vindication Of The Rights Of Women1560 Words   |  7 Pagesit was not until 1920 that women were granted suffrage. To put that in perspective, in the United States, women have been voting for less than 100 years. With Mary Wollstonecraft’s book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects being published in 1792 and launching 19th century feminism and the fight for women’s rights going since then, many would think that equality would be here by now.Unfortunately, it is not. However, women did receive suffrage in theRead MoreThe Equal Rights Of The Sexes Movement1430 Words   |  6 PagesThe Equal Rights of the Sexes Movement Women have been fighting the fight for women’s rights for a long time. In fact, evidence can be traced back centuries of women’s desire for equality. Specifically, women have fought for their rights in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The eighteenth century had its share of freedom supporters. The eighteenth century is a time of the included focus points of the daughters of liberty, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Judith Sargent Murray. Right after the revolutionRead MoreWomen During The Nineteenth Century1562 Words   |  7 PagesWomen both in Europe and America during the nineteenth century were living in a society that was characterised by gender inequality (Wwnorton.com, 2015). In the early periods of the century, women were expected to remain passive and subservient to the male counterparts. They were denied many of the legal, social, or even political rights, which in the modern world we consider as a right (Wwnorton.com, 2015). Thus, generally speaking women who belonged to the middle and upper classes remained home;Read More Females According to Christina Rossetti and Mary Wollstonecraft1387 Words   |  6 Pagesintellectuals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the exercise of reason men become moral and political agents. Of course, this Enlightenment theory does not include women. Rousseau declares his opinion of the female, â€Å"O how lovely is her ignorance!† (253) The woman is the mans fantasy, the mans student, the mans plaything. Controlled, contained, and defined by the man, the woman is inferior to him and thus, not human. Eighteenth century writer and mother of female liberalismRead MoreFeminist Theory And Gender Inequality1731 Words   |  7 Pagesthat women have faced throughout the years due to a patriarchal society. Women were expected to fit the traditional female and conform to the gender norms that society has constructed. According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, â€Å"Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the text’s investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture† (227). Patriarchal power has oppressed women economically, socially, and politically. Women were associated