Online Exam Essay Example for Free

Online Exam Essay Answers processed and marks awarded Instantly. * View Results immediately upon Submission. * Generation of General Mark Lists Summary (Total marks Obtained) as well as Detailed (Topic Wise marks Obtained) * Individual Answer Sheets Generation. * The computerized examination system has a facility to Add students details, View Student List as well as Edit student details. Password based access (Authentication Via Sessions, password is stored as a MD5 hash in the database) for Individual Answer Sheet, General Mark Lists and Trends Graphs. * Trends Graph showing the number of students which have passed individual subjects . Trends Graph showing the number of students which have passed topic wise of each subject. * Trends Graph showing the number of students which have passed topic wise in each subject at the midterm as well as final exams. * The Exam Software is well suited to conduct competitive exams like recruitment exams and Common Extrance Tests (CET). Can Be Customised for any Educational Institution or Training Academy depending on your requirement The above details are of an Online Examination System developed for a leading Maritime Academy located in Goa, India. What Features Should be Included in Online Examination System With the development of the Internet technology, online examination has become more and more poular since it helps people save much energy and time. As an efficient and effective way of teaching and learning, online examination can prevent from cheating and ensure the fairness of the examination results. A good examination system should be developed based on the needs of a real examination. Here are some features an examination system should provide: Examination Instructions The examination instructions will show the basis contents of the examination and something that should be paid attention to. Usually the following elements such as total questions, full score, passing rate, passing score, time limit, etc. are included in the instructions page. Accessibility of Examination Content Preset accounts and passwords can be set to protect the contents. And participants can register themselves online. Only authorized users can take the assessment contents. What’s more, domain hosting limitations can be set. Even if the participants have downloaded the flash assessment, it can not be played. Valid Time of Examination Content The participants can log in the examination system with their accounts and passwords to access the relevant page to complete the testing in the valid time. The examination will be unavailable when the valid time expires. Time Limit of the Examination Participants may log in the system to take the examination after the start time. When the testing time is used up, the examination results will be submitted by participants. Even if the examination is not completely finished at that moment, it will be submitted to the reporting system too. The start time and end time will be recorded precisely in seconds. Time Reminder for the Examination The time reminder will tell the participants how much time left during their examination. When it comes to the end of the testing, some alter audio will remind you of submiting your examination paper. Submission Ways Two ways to submit your answers to the reporting system: 1. Submit one question at a time. 2. Submit all at once. The former one means the participants can not review and modify their answers to their submitted questions. However, with the latter way of submiting, the participants can review and modify their answered questions before they submit the final answers. Result Release Immediate release or timed release can be set to the examination. For some examinations consisting of objective questions, the scores can be calculated automatically when the testing is over. The participants can view the results instantly. If you don’t want the results to be viewed so early or there are some subjective questions needs manual grading, you can finish the grading job first and then the participants can visit the system website to check their testing results. Chapter 1: Preliminary Investigation about Existing System 1. 1 INTRODUCTION Modern technology has added a new ingredient to this mix the Internet. The Internet can be regarded as a cheaper and improved version of the self-education resources. Some people like to take exam in a classroom is traditional manual examination because they are happy to sit there and have the teacher tell them what to learn, and when they get stuck, they are happy that there is someone there to help them, and they enjoy the social environment while taking exam. The traditional approach to measuring a persons level of knowledge in a topic has been the examination. These days there is often more emphasis on internal assessments, which may consist of assignments and projects given out and then marked or assessed. However examinations remain a popular component of many assessments. Source: Phillip Dorrell (2006) The author have noticed that most students wanting to acquire an admission into higher problems usually find it hard to achieve because those institutions make it a requirement to for the students to attain English certification which would verify that the students do speak and understand English. In order to help students acquire these scores, the author took it as a challenge to develop a test engine which would allow students to get the scores with ease. Examinations have the advantages of confidence that a large number of students are all being assessed equally and reduced opportunity for cheating. Users can use the system for writing the test and know about the system functionality. An individual can make use of the system by login in and taking a test. The main aim of carrying out a preliminary investigation is to attain much knowledge about understanding of problem, defining the project scope and constraints, identifying the benefits, estimating the time. Manual Exam Manual Exam is sort of an assessment that is intended to measure an individuals knowledge, skill and aptitude of a certain student or individual. This is also commonly known to test takers as â€Å"Written Tests† and is a manual exam developer’s choice of which style or format to use in creating and developing a written administered on a sheet of paper. A test taker who takes a written test could respond to such specific test items by writing it down manually within a given space of an examination paper or any separate sheet of documenttest is usually given that there is no such standard of testing. Be that as it may, certain exam style format have become widely used than others. Online Exam Online examination is an assesment that use network connection or internet in its process. Individuals and students must sign in on an assessment program or web link by entering their username and password. Then they choose the course that will be tested and the student start answering the questions that is shown on the screen. After they have finished the examination, the student taking the exam must click on a certain button that would require finishing the examination process. Even though this seems easy, online examination has its advantages and disadvantages as well. The students who agree that online examination is good has many advantages. Online examination can make the student’s life easier because they don’t need any paper and pen to do the examination. Furthermore, online examination can be effective and efficient. The students don’t waste much time to answer the questions because they only click on the best answer that is provided. One other advantage of online examination is that we can know our scores just after the exam. Sometimes, instructors can be very busy on a given day and do not have any time to check the exams. Online examination can solve this problem. The instructor does not need to check all of the exams. Online examination can do

A Review Of Employee Management Systems Information Technology Essay

A Review Of Employee Management Systems Information Technology Essay Nowadays, Employee Management System is being adopted by many sectors in the real world whether it is small or large scale. But currently most of the fast food restaurant does not have this system implement to the website. Thus, the author decided to develop a web-based employee management system for fast food restaurant. The system will be built consists of human resource management function such as leave request, employee report and job application, this function will be integrated to this web-based system. The aim of this project is to design and develop a web based Employee Management System using PHP and MySQL. In this project, a web-based Employee Management System will be developed for Carls Fast Food restaurant to manage employee job information, working schedule, leave request, employee report on achievement, training and evaluations. In addition the system will also manage job application information that apply job online by visitor. In this web-based system basically it has 4 main users that are administrator, manager, employee and visitor. For employee, manager and administrator they can login to the system through online to perform their different task respectively that available for them, for visitor they can apply job. Where manager can do managerial work such as view/modify/create employee report, in addition it also can approve/deny/view leave request, accept/decline/view interview for job candidate, search for employee information and modify/view employee schedule. Manager can upload a doc file to the administrator, if there is any change about employee and manager information. In addition manager can search for specific employee information, view and print information. In employee, it can request leave and check for leave request whether their leave is approve or deny. Employee also can view working schedule that has been arrange by the manager and search for colleague to view their basic information. Administrator has just a small task such as create new user if there is any new employee, manager and administrator. In addition, it also can modify user information and delete user, and download doc file that uploaded by the manager to update the require information. And lastly the visitor can apply job online through the job application This web-based system is important where it can improve the way of managing and keep track of employee information such as leave request, employee performance report and others. Thus, this can determine the success level of the fast food restaurant. 1.1 Company Background Carls Fast Food Restaurant is one of the fast food restaurants in Malaysia, located at Cheras, Kuala Lumpur which founded in the year of 2008. This fast food restaurant is relatively similar to another fast food restaurant, which primarily sells french fries, fried chicken, hamburger and soft drinks. The restaurant has a traditional way and manual system of managing their employee information, hence the restaurant itself has the intention to improve the management of their employee. 1.2 Problem Statement One of the problems of the current Carls Fast Food restaurant is, they still using the manual way of managing the employee information and records, in term of keeping employee information such as employee leave request, employee report, and employee working schedule. The existing management task on keeping employee records and information of the still has to be done manually by hand written and record it in paper document. Employee records is not always reliable because is it hand written and might cause human error for example manager might write a wrong title in a report. Data duplication problem might happen when manager cant find require information. There is a possibility that data might get misplace when doing manual filling. Due too many data and paperwork that needed to record it could consume a lot of space in the filling cabinet. The retrieval of data can time consuming because it has to be searched from the filling cabinet. This will cause waste of resource in term of time and money. In addition it would also cause inconvenience and ineffectiveness in daily work. Plus, the manger will face difficulties when need to update employee working schedule, report and leave request, In the employee point of view, when they need to request for leave they need to fill in a leave request form manually and submit to manager personally and wait for confirmation, this is time consuming. Other than that, if there are any changes in working schedule, employee might have wrong information in the working schedule because the schedule might not update immediately, therefore the employee might not satisfy with the working schedule. 1.3 Objective The main objective of this project is to develop a web-based employee management system for Carls Fast Food Restaurant. The project objective is important because it define the purpose of the project. William (2009) identifies one of the reasons of project objective: They help frame the project. If you know the project objectives, you can determine the deliverables needed to achieve the objectives. The objectives of this project are as shown below: To understand and defining the fast food restaurant requirement for an employee management system. This objective is to ensure the greater understanding of fat food restaurant when developing an employee management system To analyses and designing a database suitable for the fast food restaurant This objective is crucial because it serve as a mainstay of the employee management system Build up a database that will store information such as employee working schedule, leave request, report, and job application and employee details. To perform a programming language analysis, compare and contrast the different programming language, which to use to develop the system This objective is to analyses information that has been collected. Select a suitable programming language to implement the system. To design a user interface for the fast food employee management system This objective is to design a user web interface that is user-friendly To allow a better and more flexible employee management system for this fast food restaurant. Improve the employee management of the fast food restaurant, analyses a better way to review data and ensure the system can adapt the specification needs. Improve efficiency of information management and improve data integrity To provide better capabilities for manager. Improve the capabilities and managerial work for manager to record employee report, employee leave request, employee working schedule and job application information for job candidate on interview. Improve better viewing of employee and job candidate information such as employee report and job application. To provide capabilities for administrator Where administrator can manage employee, manager and administrator information such as create new user and user information maintenance. To provide capabilities for employee To allow employee have better information and viewing of working schedule. Allow employee to search for their colleague information. 1.4 Scope This system will be focusing on developing of a web-based employee management system that would suit the fast food restaurant. The project scope is important because it define the need of the project. The main module is leave request, approve/deny leave. check approve/deny and employee report. Employee information management module will keep track of employee report. Another module is employee working schedule, with this working schedule in the system employee work time can be manage more effectively. The last module is accept/decline interview of job candidate that has been applied by visitor through job application. There are 4 main users in this system. One of the users is visitors, who like to apply job for the fast food restaurant. Employee is also one of user that able to apply leave online, check leave approve/deny and view working schedule. Manager of the restaurant able to view, print, modify, remove and create employee report, leaver request, working schedule. For administrator, it can create, modify, and remove new user. In this project, the web-based employee management system has several modules and feature, as listed below: Job application for website visitor Login page for administrator, manager and employee Account setting for 3 user (User profile and change password) Online leave request Check Approve/Deny leave View working schedule Search for colleague information Create new user for administrator, manager and employee User information maintenance Download doc file to update manager and employee information Approve/Deny leave request View approve/deny leave request View/Modify/Remove/Create employee report (Achievements, Training and Evaluations) View and modify employee working schedule Accept/Decline/View interview for job candidate View and print information Upload doc file to administrator. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction Martyn Shuttleworth (2009) defines that A literature review is a critical and in depth evaluation of previous research. It is a summary and synopsis of a particular area of research, allowing anybody reading the paper to establish why you are pursuing this particular research program. A literature review is a summary research on existing of journal, articles, and other appropriate sources. 2.2 Fact Finding and Technique The author will conduct research to understand more about the of web-based employee management system by come up with question and answer. The author will also conduct a research of existing employee management system, to gather more information about employee management system. In addition, the author will discuss the advantages of web-based system over manual system. The chosen technique such as research, interview and surveillance will be use to gather information. Most of the research is based on Internet searches. 2.3 Definition of Web-Based Employee Management System. In order to have better understanding of the term web-based employee management system, the author will break it down into few terms and perform research about it that are web-based, employee, management system and employee management system. 2.3.1 What is Web-based? Bestbrief.com, (n.d.) provides a meaning of web-based: Web-based is Information or an application made available via the World Wide Web. It is accessible anywhere in the world as long as there is an Internet connection. Basically web-based also known web application, where is it convenient to the users, can log on to web-based system through the Internet using a web browser. 2.3.2 What is an Employee? It is defines that An employee is an individual who was hired by an employer to do a specific job. The employee is hired by the employer after an application and interview process results in his or her selection as an employee.(Susan n.d.). Employees play the most important roles in business where it can determine the success stage of a company. 2.3.3 What is Management System? Bluerockassociates.co.uk, (n.d.) defines that: Management systems are those systems that are used to help operate a business successfully. They work by helping to make it function correctly, by creating a management framework within which decisions are made and in which processes operate. Management system is crucial because it can assist the organisation by setting objective and outline the plan to improve and manage the organisation. 2.3.4 What is Employee Management System? Alan (2009) argues that Employee Management System is all about workforce, thus businesses that are serious about proper workforce should use employee management system. Employee management system is used to does the work of assembling, managing and organizing the valid information about the employees of a company. From another point of view, employee management system can assist an organisation to maintain employee performance report and keep track all of employee information, this can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. 2.4 The term of human resources in market The term such Human Resources Information System (HRIS), Human Resources Management system (HRMS), Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Employee Management System (EMS), from the author point of view those terms is relatively has the same connotation and there is not much difference in meaning. The terms that the author stated just now are few of the term in human resources market, there are still other term arising in the human resources market. Clay (2008) argues that It seems like the more simple terms which may have been created by IT people or programmers slowly become replaced by more sophisticated terms created in the marketing world. The difference that might have is the module or functionality of the system. For example a company requires a system that can manage their employee training information, the term for it most likely will be Employee Training Management (ETM). It usually depends on the requirement of the company or organisation. Madison et.al (2010) describes that When a difference between personnel management and human resources is recognized, human resources is described as much broader in scope than personnel management. 2.5 Existing System The employee management system available in the market currently is similar to human resources management, employee leave management, and employee performance management. On the other hand, the scopes are smaller for restaurant and do not provides much management system for restaurant like Carls Fast Food. Below show the links of HRMS software that purchase by companies to manage employee: http://ubshelp.com/software-lists/ubs-human-resource-management-system.html http://www.hr2000.com.my/product.htm The HRMS software as stated is a software that need to install to a computer in order to run the software. The features that UBS has mainly is to manage employee information such personal details, education, employment history, salaries listing, and many more features for managing employee. It also has report in employee training, skills and leave. For hr2000, it has 2 main products that are QUICK PAY and QUICK STAFF. In QUICK PAY it has features such as management reports, data import export feature, and many more features that mostly about payment, salary, tax computation and shift rates. In QUICK STAFF it has features to manage employee historical information and human resources that consists of accident, appraisal, benefit, career development, education history and many more modules for managing employee information. Both HRMS software is powerful to cater company that managing employee in a centralized way. However, there is some problem, that it needs to install the software t o a computer to run the system, where it can cause time consuming and for some cases user have to log on to a specific computer to use the system. The problem the author just stated just now doesnt mean that the software is not good or inappropriate, the suitable word to describe it should be lacking. Therefore, a web-based system would be much more advantages over the HRMS software that the author point out above, below shown the links of web-based system. http://www.orangehrm.com/ http://whentowork.com Although web-based system has many advantages, it also has their own weaknesses or disadvantages. The user might have problem of login to the system due to the internet connection speed is slow and not stable, this can disrupt the daily task of the user. There will be a security issue such as virus threat, viruses might be able to corrupt or delete data. Another security issue is unauthorised access to the hosting server that stored the data, hacker can break into the network to steal, view, delete and change information such as password and confidential information. The advantages web-based will be discuss more detail in the next section of this chapter that is advantages of web-based system over manual system, comparison of comprised system manual system and benefits of web-based system. 2.6 Advantages of web-based system over manual system In this section advantages of web-based system over manual system research will be conducted because it can identify the concurrent problem of Carls Fast Food restaurant facing due to the restaurant itself mainly record their employee information in a manual system. Furthermore, it can assist the author when developing this project because the term of web-based system is related and relevant to the web-based employee management system that the author is going to develop. Although manual system is relatively low cost but it is time-consuming to access data held in a manual filing system.(Deskdemon.com n.d.). Since, the paper and document is store in the filling cabinet, as task or work amount increase on paperwork this will consume a lot of space in filling cabinet. Furthermore, if the task of a manager increase, it can lead to cause data miss-filling because too much of task to be perform. In web-based system, it can eliminate paper costs or reduce paperwork as daily task can be done by using computer and internet technology. This therefore, can increase the effectiveness of daily task and information can be manageable. In addition information maintaining and updating can be more systematic. From other point of view, the manual system has to records data by hand written manually into paper, it could cause the information to be incorrect or inaccurate because that might be possibilities that the manager accidentally written the incorrect information in the document. Other than that, it can cause data duplication because some task has to be repeatedly over and over again. While in web-based system, Everything is computerised managers just have to enter the specific information into the system.(John n.d.). Since everything is computerised possibilities of error can be reduced greatly. Moreover, it can avoid data duplication because most of the computerised system there will be a data deduplication. Data deduplication is essentially refers to the elimination of redundant data, if there is any data duplication, the duplicate data will be deleted and leaving only one copy of data to be stored. (Webopedia n.d.). The retrieval data is time consuming and slow as it has to search the records or information manually, from different filling cabinet area. Since the data is store in filling cabinet, the data might fall into wrong and use it against the organisaiton. Moreover, if the data in the manual record document lost, the will be lost completely. While in web-based system it can reduce the time consuming, because data processing and retrieval is much faster than manual system. Information is store in database, where only different user only can access to specific information only. A computerised database in web-based system is reliable, fast and well systematize in term of information. 2.6.1 Comparison of Computerised System and Manual System Below shown the comparison of computerised system and manual system, in a table form. Computerised System Manual System Fast when search for information. Time consuming when search for information. Greatly eliminate paperwork Too much paperwork and documenting. Systematic information maintenance Bad information maintenance. Information more accurate Less accurate information Better data security Lack of data security 2.7 Benefits of Web-based According to db net solutions, web based applications have evolved significantly over recent years and with improvements in security and technology there are plenty of scenarios where traditional software based applications and systems could be improved by migrating them to a web based application. In these recent years, many companies that are using manual system or conventional system has transform their system into web-based system due to, there many advantages in using a web-based system. Here are some of the advantages: Data centralized The data is centralized so that is it accessible from the Internet anytime with computer. And data is stored in a secure server, so anything goes to the computer it wont affect the data. No Software to Install or Update User need to login to the web-based system from any web browser, web-based system doesnt take up any spaces in the computer hard drive. It is located on separate secure host server. (Taublee.M,). More manageable The db net solution defines Web based systems need only be installed on the server placing minimal requirements on the end user workstation. This makes maintaining and updating the system much simpler as usually it can all be done on the server. User-friendly Most of the web-based is user friendly, it is convenient where user can get use to the system easily. 2.8 Interview session Date : 22th June 2010 Time : 11.00am 11.30am Interviewer : Mr.Kumar 1. Can you briefly describe about Carls Fast Food Restaurant? Carls Fast Food Restaurant is one of the fast food restaurants in Malaysia, located at Cheras, Kuala Lumpur which founded in the year of 2008. This fast food restaurant is relatively similar to another fast food restaurant, which primarily sells french fries, fried chicken, hamburger and soft drinks. 1. How do manage employee data? Manual or computerised system? Manual, we record employee information such as leave request, working schedule and employee report manually and stored the data in the filling cabinet. 2. If manual, question this: Do you satisfy with the current manual system of handling data? No, 3. If No, mention the reason. Due to too much of paperwork, hard to keep track of employee information because filling cabinet is messy. Time consuming when searching for employee information. 4. How many employees do you have in the restaurant? Currently we have 16 employee working in this restaurant with different shift that is morning shift and night shift Chapter 3 Methodology 3.1 Introduction Choosing a suitable methodology is important because it serve as a guideline when developing the system step by step. There are a lot of different methodologies that have been created to serve certain system development. Without proper guidance from any these methodologies, the system development always fail due to poor planning and management during development. 3.2 Project Methodology Thus, the author chooses System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to serve as guideline when developing this web-based system. SDLC is framework for describing information in developing system successfully (Pasupuleti 2008). Pasupuleti (2008) specified that The overall process of developing information system through a multi-step process from investigation of initial requirements through analysis, design, implementation and maintenance. Waterfall Model of software development process is not suitable for developing this web-based system. Therefore, to overcome this problem, iterative and incremental software development process is selected to use as software software development process for this project. Although Iterative and Incremental process is quite similar to the waterfall model but it can overcome the problem that Waterfall Model have and cover the disadvantages. The Waterfall Model is linear and sequential design process that normally use in software development process (wikipedia.org, WF n.d.). The Waterfall Model consists of 5 phases that are requirement specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance. In Waterfall Model, once one phase of software development is completed, the development of next phase will start and there is no turning back. Hence iterative development is use to solve the problem, this development could exit at any phase and return back to the previous phase to ensure positive at the end of this project. According to PCMAG (n.d.) iterative development is A discipline for developing systems based on producing deliverables often. Each iteration, consisting of requirements, analysis design, implementation and testing, results in the release of an executable subset of the final product. 3.3 Iterative Developed Model Figure 1: Iterative Development Model 3.3.1 Requirement Analysis Phase In this first phase, the author will focus on the requirement of the web-based system. Analyses the end-user needs that is Carl fast food restaurant and develop the user requirement. The problem statement will be done to identify the current problem of this fast food restaurant is facing by analyses the problem. The project objective purpose will be define to know the deliverables that needed to be achieved, refines the objectives into defined function. The research is will be done such as research of existing system in the human resources market. Research on manual and computerised system will be done about advantages of computerised system over manual system. Interview is done to gather more information about the fast food restaurant current management. 3.3.2 System Design Phase In this phase, the requirement specification is transform into system design to focus on how to deliver the required functionality. This system design phase is will focus on the architecture of the web based system, the database design and interface are defined in this phase. This phase must be done carefully, any malfunction can cost time and money to resolve. The next phase will be implementation phase. 3.3.3 Implementation Phase In this implementation phase, the transformation stage of the system design to executable system. The design from the previous phase will be translated into programming language that selected by the author according to the need of this web-based system. If the design from previous stage is carry out properly, the codes can be generated easily without much problem. The author selected PHP programming language to develop this web-based system and for the database the author selected MySQL as database because it can perform well with PHP language. After the implementation, the next phase will be testing. 3.3.4 Testing Phase In this testing phase it is a very important phase in system development of this project. A test is perform to obtain clearer understanding of the system. It is also important cater the author on how well the system had met its requirement and specification. To efficiently test the system, a few testing has been done that is test plan test case, performance testing and user acceptance testing. Test Case In this testing, it basically use to test the functionality of the system to check whether it working correctly or not. Hower (2010) describes that a test case is an input, action, or event and an expected response, to determine if a feature of a software application is working correctly. A test case might consist of test case name, test objective, actual result, expected result and conclusion (Hower, 2010). Performance testing Performance testing can be important measure that the system should be emphasis on. Basically the accomplishment of the project should be measured by the performance of the system to determine speed and effectiveness of the system. Hence, testing to know how well the system is behaving is crucial. User Acceptance testing User acceptance testing is a very important testing because it can determine whether the system developed is success or not. User such as manager or the owner of the fast food restaurant is important people to test the system because they are the end user. Therefore, their feedback and comments for the developed system are the most important factor in deciding the success of the system. Users will be asked to use the system to perform the task and they will validate the web-system based on their first time experience using the system. Users will ask to grade the web-based system. 3.3.4.1 Performance and User Acceptance Testing Evaluation on Performance Testing: Module : Leave Request Objective : This will allow user to request leave. Success Criteria : 1. Users able to request for leave after submitted their leave request form online. Expected results : 1. Users can check approve/deny leave after submitted the form. Actual result : 1. Users can check approve/deny leave after submitted the form. Evaluation : Majority of the users were satisfied with the web-based system. They were comfortable and did not hesitate to use the features. Hence, the web-based system is evaluated as satisfactory. Evaluation of User Acceptance Testing: Objective : The testing will involve the web-based system. This will test how well the users understand the use the features/module offered. Test Steps : The users will have a firsthand on using the web-based system. Users will be given the freedom to do whatever they want to the web-based system. Users will be observed to check if they are uncomfortable or irritated when using this web-based system. Users will be requested to grade this web-based system. Expected results : Users should be able to understand the functionality of the web-based system and know how to use the buttons and navigation buttons provided. Users should not feel irritated or uncomfortable when using the web-based system. Users should not feel lost or unsure of what to do with the web-based system. Actual result : Most users were able to understand the functionality of the web-based system and know how to use the buttons and navigation buttons provided. Users did not feel irritated or uncomfortable when using this web-based system. Users did not feel lost or unsure of what to do with the web-based system. Evaluation : Majority of the users were satisfied with the web-based system. They were comfortable and did not hesitate to use the features. Hence, the web-based system is evaluated as satisfactory. Test Plan Name: Please (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡) where applicable. Performance Testing: Test Result Good Average Bad Determine if the leave request able to submit to other party User able to track leave request and approve/deny leave. All buttons will be tested for errors.

Examining Family Business Corporate Governance

Examining Family Business Corporate Governance This dissertation sets out a study of the family businesss corporate governance, addressing the relationship between the owners and the management. Family businesses constitute a wide spectrum of enterprises, from small family owned and managed companies to a large internationally operating family controlled corporations. There are several definitions illustrates the family owned businesses, however the majority agree that Nebauer Lank definition illustrate the family business in a simple way and puts it as A firm can be regarded as a family business if a given family holds the voting control of the firm (Nebauer Lank, 1998). This dissertation argues that, given the duality of the economic and non-economic goals family firms pursue and the complexity of the stakeholders structure, family firms need governance structure that matches the complexity of their constitutes stakeholders. According to that a better research and empirical understanding as how family firms are governed is needed. In this study the focus will be on assessing the level of understanding of the corporate governance concept overall and the codes provided by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Capital Market Authority in Oman focusing on strengthen the family owned business by incentives them to go public. The CMA is just recently in the process to create a corporate governance to help the Family business to be prepared to do so. In this study, the focus will be to create an understating and help to create a better code to help the family business sustain in the future. On the other hand there will be an evaluation of the agency theo ry and how the family owners acceptance of this model. Furthermore a research by McKinsey quarterly shows that 95 per cent fails to succeed the generation due to the lacking of succession planning and roles defining, therefore the dissertation will be evaluating the practice and preparation if any on how the existing owner prepare companys succession planning rules and codes to handover their responsibilities to their successors. In this study the focus will be on the family businesses in Sultanate of Oman, a country in the Arabian Gulf with a fledgling capital market. Oman has made significant efforts to improves the level of corporate governance, particularly in the listed companies and now the capital market would like to expand its corporate governance codes to the family owned businesses to strengthen the chances of the sustainability of its growth. Aims And Objective This dissertation will focus on the unique corporate governance challenges that any family business faces and propose structures and practices that can mitigate these challenges and ensure the viability of the business. The detailed objectives that guide the dissertation process are: To review and analyze relevant theoretical, and other, streams of literature that focus on corporate governance and family business Analyzing the practice of the existing code of corporate governance that applied by the CMA and if it fit to be implemented in the family business companies. Asses the ownership structure and polices in the companies and testing the theory of the ownership and control separation. Asses the long term planning by the company owners and how the successor is been appointed. To assess the significance, reliability, and validity of the results; to discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the findings; to assess the limitations The impact of corporate governance in family businesses performance. Scope of the dissertation The present study addresses the governance of family firms, focusing on the nature of various governance mechanisms and how they affect firm performance. Family businesses provide a fruitful research context to study corporate governance due to lack of governance research in the area and the distinctive characteristics of family firms. The family business context, especially, enables the study of how aspects of formal and social control vary according to characteristics of ownership structure. Research Approaches and method The methods to gather the required data will be a qualitative, where the participations will be selected based on their history and age of the company in practice. The research will be analyzing their policies and corporate governance practice. Interviews will be placed with the owners and senior managers of the companies to get all the data required for the findings and results. Structure of the dissertation Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter included the background of the study, the aim, purpose of the study, research questions and limitation of the study and it will present the structural framework of the study. Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter will review the historical perspective, theories and related studies of corporate governance, family business and related theories to corporate governance. This chapter will include the secondary data which will be used in discussing the findings. Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter describes the methodology and procedures that were used to carry out this study. Furthermore, this chapter will review the population and participants of the study, instruments and data collection procedures. Chapter 4: Results and Findings This chapter will present the data and findings related to the research questions Chapter 5: Data Analysis and Discussion This chapter presents the data analysis and the discussion of the finding. Chapter 6: Conclusion In this chapter, the researcher will present a summary of the study and the findings, conclusion and recommendation. The structural framework of the dissertation is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure Literature Review Introduction A growing number of studies have been done on the family business ownership and management separation or combination in the past few years and what is the linkage between the performance and these two elements. In this chapter we will be presenting the theories and the studies that are related to it and selecting a frame work that will be the base of the evolution of the practice we examine in the family businesses. Family Owned Business Family enterprises or family owned businesses represent the oldest form of businesses in the world. The family owned businesses constitutes more than 70 percent of all business in most of the third world countries and in some developed countries (IFC, 2009). In the IFC research Family Businesses Corporate Handbook shows that family owned businesses are the higher contributor in any country growth in terms of economic development and employment. In Spain, for example, about 75 percent of the businesses are family-owned and contribute to 65 percent of the countrys GNP on average. Correspondingly, family businesses contribute to about 60 percent of the cumulative GNP in Latin America (IFC, 2009). in addition to, accordingly to recent researches that 95% percent of employment in the Middle East and especially in the Arabian Gulf Peninsula is in the family owned businesses. There are several definitions that explains the family business corporations, the IFC define it as a company where the voting majority is in the hands of the controlling family; including the founder(s) who intend to pass the business on to their descendants, in another words is A business actively owned and/or managed by more than one member of the same family. There are two systems that control the family businesses; which are the family system, and the management system, the two system overlap due to the dual roles that any family member take, like a family member may be a manger or an employee in the business and here where the conflict arise. The family system is based on emotional, love and care. The family system is based on the relationship in the family and they take most of these values to the business. Where in the business system is the professional values are the edge of the decision. (Managment Resources, 2010) To define a family business need to understand the environment from one to another, here are list of family business definitions that made by researcher past the year that cover the family business from different view but reserving the concept. Table Family business Definitions A company is considered a family business when it has been closely identified with at least two generations of a family and when this link has had a mutual influence on company policy and on the interests and objectives of the family. (Donnelley, [1964] 1988: 428). Controlling ownership rested in the hands of an individual or of the members of a single family. (Barnes Hershon, 1976: 106). Organizations where one or more extended family members influence the direction of the business through the exercise on kinship ties, management roles, or ownership rights. (Tagiuri Davis, [1982] 1996: 199). It is the interaction between the two sets of organization, family and business, that establishes the basic character of the family business and defines its uniqueness. (Davis, 1983: 47). What is usually meant by .family business.is either the occurrence or the anticipation that a younger family member has or will assume control of the business from an elder. (Churchill Hatten, 1987: 52). We define a family business as one that will be passed on for the family.s next generation to manage and control. (Ward, 1987: 252). A business in which the members of a family have legal control over ownership. (Lansberg et al., 1988:2). A family business is defined here as an organization whose major operating decisions and plans for leadership succession are influenced by family members serving in management or on the board. (Handler,1989b: 262). Firms in which one family holds the majority of the shares and controls management. (Donckels FrÃÆ' ¶hlich,1991: 149). A business where a single family owns the majority of stock and has total control. Family members also form part of the management and make the most important decisions concerning the business. (Gallo Sveen, 1991: 181). A business firm may be considered a family business to the extent that its ownership and management are concentrated within a family unit, and to the extent its members strive to achieve, maintain, and/or increase intraorganizational family-based relatedness. (Litz, 1995: 78). A business governed and/or managed on a sustainable, potentially cross-generational, basis to shape and perhaps pursue the formal or implicit vision of the business held by members of the same family or a small number of families. (Sharma et al., 1997: 2). A family enterprise is a proprietorship, partnership, corporation or any form of business association where the voting control is in the hands of a given family. (Neubauer Lank, 1998: 8). Family businesses share some common characteristics, largely due to the interacting and overlapping domains of family, ownership and management (Tagiuri Davis, 1982). Family firms have a complex stakeholder structure that involves family members, top management, and a board of directors. Family members, who are often significant owners, usually play multiple roles in managing and governing the firm (Tagiuri Davis, 1982). This involvement promotes loyalty and also commitment to long-term value creation (Dyer Handler, 1994) and reduces problems that arise from separation of ownership and control, as experienced in large, public corporations (Jensen, 1989). Also, family businesses may enjoy a competitive advantage due, for example, to remaining entrepreneurial in character and having a strong sense of responsibility to society (Neubauer Lank, 1998), fast verbal and nonverbal communication, aided by a shared identity and common language of families (Gersick, Davis, McCollom Hampton Landsberg, 1997), family members. Business expertise gained during early childhood onward (Kets De Vries, 1996), and a strong organizational culture contributing to external adaptation and internal integration (Schein, 1983). However, the familys involvement in governing the firm may induce a focus on business and non-business goals, possibly leading to inefficiency (Schulze, Lubatkin, Dino Buchholtz, 2001). If the owner family is not regularly informed about the companys affairs, differing visions of the companys future may develop between management and the family. The resulting feuds between family factions may distract managements attention from value-creating activities and so reduce their commitment to strategic decisions. Owner-managers also may act opportunistically by satisfying their own needs at the expense of the companys performance and long-term survival. Entrenched owner-managers may not share their powers with others, especially not with the companys board. Furthermore the common characters of all family businesses are illustrated in the diagram below. Figure The individual represent the family members who are directly involved in daily bases with the operation, the family symbolizes the whole family where in some family businesses called the family counsel and the management dimension represents the family managers and non-family managers. McKinsey quarterly stated in the report keeping the family in business that only 5 percent will continue to create shareholders value after the third generation. Moreover; the IFC also mentioned in the family business hand book, while the third generation takes over; 95 percent of all family businesses will not survive the ownership around. These consequences might be a result to the lack of commitment and proper business education of handling the business demands. In addition, the survival of family firms is often challenged by dictatorial rule, resistance to change, lack of professionalism in management capabilities, confusion in family and business roles, rivalry and enlarged human emotions among family members, conflicts between interests of the family and the business, and a low rate of investment in business development (Donnelley, 1964; Gersick et al., 1997; Kets De Vries, 1993). All the definitions are focusing on the shareholders and their power in voting and management and these two points are actually the core strength and weaknesses of any family business. However there are other dimensions that a family business can be measured of its strength and weaknesses like: Culture Ownership and governance Succession planning Family involvement This dissertation will be reflected somehow in the culture dimension due to the strength of the factor here in the Arabian Gulf Countries and Oman. Different researcher came up with different definitions of the family business; however, the definitions imply six themes for clarifying the boundaries of the domain of family business: (1) ownership, (2) management, (3) generational transfer, (4) the familys intention to continue as a family business, (5) family goals, and (6) interaction between the family and business. These themes are similar to those found in the extant literature. For example, Handler (1989a) categorized family business definitions under four headings: ownership and management, interdependent subsystems, generational transfer, and multiple conditions. The extant literature on family business research has largely neglected the definition of the family itself. By modifying Winter.s, Fitzgerald, Heck, Haynes Danes (1998) definition of the family, the present study defines it as a kinship group of people related by blood or marriage or comparable relationship. This definition allows a multigenerational view of an extended family. Family Business in Oman According to the family firm institute (FFI) the around the 75% of Omans private companies are family owned, with their firms creating 70% of the country employment. There are 12 top families who are controlling around 75% of the contribution over all in Oman. The family owned business also control 90% of commercial activity according to Tharawat (Fortunes) Magazine. Oman is a part of the GCC Region where in the region is estimated that family businesses worth more than 1 trillion dollar, that is ready to be handled to the next generation. All family owned business share same characteristics as mentioned above, even the strengths and the weakness are similar to some extant in all family businesses. However, the family business can be categorized to two categories: Listed family businesses Non-listed family business The listed family businesses are set to fulfill the listed companies corporate governance code as per the CMA regulation, but the non-listed are not treated that way; whats so ever the size or the operations are. The CMA in Oman are concentrating nowadays to establish an attractive market and safe to all sizes of family businesses, the CMA is concentrating on converting the family closed family business to go public by Initial Public Offering(IPO) offering them a less strict rules and requirements to commence the IPO as the Head corporate governance Center declared. Furthermore there are different points that might affect the operation of any family businesses such as: family relations affect the assignment of the management family indirectly runs the company major family influence/dominance of the management (in terms of  strategic decisions) significant proportion of the enterprises senior management most important decision made by the family family control of the management of the enterprise at least 2 generations having had control over the enterprise These points might be strengthen the family business in the initial stages of the operations but there must be some kind of governance or policies on whom can make a decisions and how is not. Corporate Governance Corporate governance is a topic that has been a subject of significant debate since 2001 Enrons and other US companies crashed. Some analyst say lack of corporate governance was the main reason behind the crash (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, 2002). The international Swaps and Derivatives Association highlight that the failure was due to interests that extended certain managers at the expense of the shareholders. While the United States capital market where busy analyzing the reasons behind the crash of Enron and World Com, Sultanate of Oman has also experienced its share of corporate trouble affecting not only large companies such as Rice Mills SAOG and Oman National Investment Company Holding SOAG but also dozens of smaller companies, which have had to turn to the government for assistance (Dry, 2003). The year 2002 was the birth of the new corporate governance standards from the Capital Market Authority (CMA), but it was only covering the list companies in the Mu scat Security Market only. Since then the CMA focused on upgrading this standards and code and refine it to be in a worldwide acceptable standards and to include the best practice for the companies. The standards have been modernized since 2002 on the listed companies and the closed shared ones but nothing was mentioned on the family business side. In 2009 the CMA established the corporate governance center to help the companies implement the codes of corporate governance and to regulate the practice and monitor it, in addition to create a new standards to fit the family businesses practice. Till today the CMA and the Center did not establish a full concept on how they can produce a set of codes to be acceptable to the share holders of these businesses due to the lack of information on the family owned businesses in Oman. Theoretical framework related to Corporate Governance. The corporate governance model did not came from one framework or a certain theories, but I was built up on different practices and theories which results of different frameworks that today any economic system can customized to suit the needs to regulate the market. There are certain theories that been always associated with corporate governance practice which is set out the relation between the principle (shareholder) and the agent (management): The agency theory Stewardship Theory Stakeholder theory The agency Theory Agency theory having its roots in economic theory was exposited by Alchian and Demsetz (1972) and further developed by Jensen and Meckling (1976). Agency theory is defined as the relationship between the principals, such as shareholders and agents such as the company executives and managers. Agency theory argues that in the modern corporation, in which share ownership is widely held, managerial actions depart from those required to maximize shareholder returns (Berle and Means 1932; Pratt and Zeckhauser 1985). Since Jensen and Meckling (1976) proposed a theory of the firm (Agency Theory) based upon conflicts of interest between various contracting parties à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" shareholders, company managers and debt holders à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a vast literature has been developed in explaining both aspects of these conflicts. Jensen and Meckling (1976) further specified the existence of agency costs which arise owing to the conflicts either between managers and shareholders (agency costs of equity) or between shareholders and debtholders (agency costs of debt). Financial markets capture these agency costs as a value loss to shareholders. The agency theory argues that an agency relationship exists when shareholders (principals) hire managers (agents) as the decision makers of the corporations. The agency problems arise because managers will not solely act to maximize the shareholders wealth; they may protect their own interests or seek the goal of maximizing companies growth instead of earnings while making decisions. Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggested that the inefficiency may be reduced as managerial incentives to take value maximizing decisions increased. Agency costs are arising from divergence of interests between shareholders and company managers. Agency costs are defined by Jensen and Meckling as the sum of monitoring costs, bonding costs and residual loss. (1) Monitoring Costs Monitoring costs are expenditures paid by the principal to measure, observe and control an agents behavior. The economic impact of asymmetric information also results in various corporate agency problems. Firm managers (insiders) know more about their firm than shareholders and debt financiers (outsiders). When outsiders are unable to judge over the firms performance, they tend to qualify a firms performance as moderate. A result of this asymmetric information is that shares of a firm with a great performance are undervalued and vice versa. More specifically, information asymmetries between shareholders or bondholders and corporate executive management creates the necessity of monitoring (costs) and complications for the structuring of financial contracts. They may include the costs of preparing reliable accounting information and audits, writing executive compensation contracts and even ultimately the cost of replacing managers. Denis, Denis, and Sarin (1997) contended that effective monitoring is restricted to certain groups or individuals. Such monitors must have the necessary expertise and incentives to fully monitor manager. In addition, such monitors must provide a credible threat to managements control of the company. (2) Bonding Costs To minimize monitoring costs, managers tend to set up the principles or structures and try to act in shareholders best interests. The costs of establishing and adhering to these systems are known as bonding costs. They may include the costs of additional information disclosures to shareholders, but management will obviously also have the benefit of preparing these themselves. Agents will stop incurring bonding costs when the marginal reduction in monitoring equals the marginal increase in bonding costs. As suggested by the agency theory, the optimal bonding contract should aim to entice managers into making all decisions that are in the shareholders best interests. However, since managers cannot be made to do everything that shareholders would wish, bonding provides a means of making managers do some of the things that shareholders would like by writing a less than perfect contract. (3) Residual Loss Despite monitoring and bonding, the interest of managers and shareholders are still unlikely to be fully aligned. Therefore, there are still agency losses arising from conflicts of interest. These are known as residual loss, which represent a trade-off between overly constraining management and enforcing contractual mechanisms designed to reduce agency problems. There are some other types of agency costs as following: (4) Agency Costs of Debt There are three groups of participants in a firm, suppliers of equity, debt suppliers and firm managers. It is logical that they would try to achieve their goals with different measures. Suppliers of equity, or shareholders, are interested in high dividend ratios and high share prices. Debt suppliers, on the other hand, are interested in interest and debt repayments, whereas firm managers would be focused on their financial remuneration. These conflicts of interest give rise to opportunity costs (whereby best strategies are often not adopted) and real costs (e.g., inspection costs). These costs decrease the market value of a firm. Kim and Sorensen (1986) investigated the presence of agency costs and their relation to debt policies of corporations. It is found that firms with higher insiders (managers) ownership have greater debt ratios than firms with lower insider ownership, which may be explained by the agency costs of debt or the agency costs of equity. (5) Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow The free cash flow theory presumes that there are enormous conflicts of interest between shareholders and stakeholders. This implies that managers decisions do not always maximize the value of a firm (Jensen, 1986). Jensen (1986) also emphasized the continuous agency conflicts between top managers and shareholders. These conflicts are especially severe in firms with large free cash flows. A free cash flow is the balance of money a company is left with when all projects are financed. If top managers hold more cash than profitable investment opportunities, they may overspend money on organization inefficiencies or invest it in projects with net present value (NPV) less than zero. The logic has it that higher debt levels reduces free cash flows and consequently increases the value of the company. Examining Family Business Corporate Governance Examining Family Business Corporate Governance This dissertation sets out a study of the family businesss corporate governance, addressing the relationship between the owners and the management. Family businesses constitute a wide spectrum of enterprises, from small family owned and managed companies to a large internationally operating family controlled corporations. There are several definitions illustrates the family owned businesses, however the majority agree that Nebauer Lank definition illustrate the family business in a simple way and puts it as A firm can be regarded as a family business if a given family holds the voting control of the firm (Nebauer Lank, 1998). This dissertation argues that, given the duality of the economic and non-economic goals family firms pursue and the complexity of the stakeholders structure, family firms need governance structure that matches the complexity of their constitutes stakeholders. According to that a better research and empirical understanding as how family firms are governed is needed. In this study the focus will be on assessing the level of understanding of the corporate governance concept overall and the codes provided by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Capital Market Authority in Oman focusing on strengthen the family owned business by incentives them to go public. The CMA is just recently in the process to create a corporate governance to help the Family business to be prepared to do so. In this study, the focus will be to create an understating and help to create a better code to help the family business sustain in the future. On the other hand there will be an evaluation of the agency theo ry and how the family owners acceptance of this model. Furthermore a research by McKinsey quarterly shows that 95 per cent fails to succeed the generation due to the lacking of succession planning and roles defining, therefore the dissertation will be evaluating the practice and preparation if any on how the existing owner prepare companys succession planning rules and codes to handover their responsibilities to their successors. In this study the focus will be on the family businesses in Sultanate of Oman, a country in the Arabian Gulf with a fledgling capital market. Oman has made significant efforts to improves the level of corporate governance, particularly in the listed companies and now the capital market would like to expand its corporate governance codes to the family owned businesses to strengthen the chances of the sustainability of its growth. Aims And Objective This dissertation will focus on the unique corporate governance challenges that any family business faces and propose structures and practices that can mitigate these challenges and ensure the viability of the business. The detailed objectives that guide the dissertation process are: To review and analyze relevant theoretical, and other, streams of literature that focus on corporate governance and family business Analyzing the practice of the existing code of corporate governance that applied by the CMA and if it fit to be implemented in the family business companies. Asses the ownership structure and polices in the companies and testing the theory of the ownership and control separation. Asses the long term planning by the company owners and how the successor is been appointed. To assess the significance, reliability, and validity of the results; to discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the findings; to assess the limitations The impact of corporate governance in family businesses performance. Scope of the dissertation The present study addresses the governance of family firms, focusing on the nature of various governance mechanisms and how they affect firm performance. Family businesses provide a fruitful research context to study corporate governance due to lack of governance research in the area and the distinctive characteristics of family firms. The family business context, especially, enables the study of how aspects of formal and social control vary according to characteristics of ownership structure. Research Approaches and method The methods to gather the required data will be a qualitative, where the participations will be selected based on their history and age of the company in practice. The research will be analyzing their policies and corporate governance practice. Interviews will be placed with the owners and senior managers of the companies to get all the data required for the findings and results. Structure of the dissertation Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter included the background of the study, the aim, purpose of the study, research questions and limitation of the study and it will present the structural framework of the study. Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter will review the historical perspective, theories and related studies of corporate governance, family business and related theories to corporate governance. This chapter will include the secondary data which will be used in discussing the findings. Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter describes the methodology and procedures that were used to carry out this study. Furthermore, this chapter will review the population and participants of the study, instruments and data collection procedures. Chapter 4: Results and Findings This chapter will present the data and findings related to the research questions Chapter 5: Data Analysis and Discussion This chapter presents the data analysis and the discussion of the finding. Chapter 6: Conclusion In this chapter, the researcher will present a summary of the study and the findings, conclusion and recommendation. The structural framework of the dissertation is illustrated in Figure 1. Figure Literature Review Introduction A growing number of studies have been done on the family business ownership and management separation or combination in the past few years and what is the linkage between the performance and these two elements. In this chapter we will be presenting the theories and the studies that are related to it and selecting a frame work that will be the base of the evolution of the practice we examine in the family businesses. Family Owned Business Family enterprises or family owned businesses represent the oldest form of businesses in the world. The family owned businesses constitutes more than 70 percent of all business in most of the third world countries and in some developed countries (IFC, 2009). In the IFC research Family Businesses Corporate Handbook shows that family owned businesses are the higher contributor in any country growth in terms of economic development and employment. In Spain, for example, about 75 percent of the businesses are family-owned and contribute to 65 percent of the countrys GNP on average. Correspondingly, family businesses contribute to about 60 percent of the cumulative GNP in Latin America (IFC, 2009). in addition to, accordingly to recent researches that 95% percent of employment in the Middle East and especially in the Arabian Gulf Peninsula is in the family owned businesses. There are several definitions that explains the family business corporations, the IFC define it as a company where the voting majority is in the hands of the controlling family; including the founder(s) who intend to pass the business on to their descendants, in another words is A business actively owned and/or managed by more than one member of the same family. There are two systems that control the family businesses; which are the family system, and the management system, the two system overlap due to the dual roles that any family member take, like a family member may be a manger or an employee in the business and here where the conflict arise. The family system is based on emotional, love and care. The family system is based on the relationship in the family and they take most of these values to the business. Where in the business system is the professional values are the edge of the decision. (Managment Resources, 2010) To define a family business need to understand the environment from one to another, here are list of family business definitions that made by researcher past the year that cover the family business from different view but reserving the concept. Table Family business Definitions A company is considered a family business when it has been closely identified with at least two generations of a family and when this link has had a mutual influence on company policy and on the interests and objectives of the family. (Donnelley, [1964] 1988: 428). Controlling ownership rested in the hands of an individual or of the members of a single family. (Barnes Hershon, 1976: 106). Organizations where one or more extended family members influence the direction of the business through the exercise on kinship ties, management roles, or ownership rights. (Tagiuri Davis, [1982] 1996: 199). It is the interaction between the two sets of organization, family and business, that establishes the basic character of the family business and defines its uniqueness. (Davis, 1983: 47). What is usually meant by .family business.is either the occurrence or the anticipation that a younger family member has or will assume control of the business from an elder. (Churchill Hatten, 1987: 52). We define a family business as one that will be passed on for the family.s next generation to manage and control. (Ward, 1987: 252). A business in which the members of a family have legal control over ownership. (Lansberg et al., 1988:2). A family business is defined here as an organization whose major operating decisions and plans for leadership succession are influenced by family members serving in management or on the board. (Handler,1989b: 262). Firms in which one family holds the majority of the shares and controls management. (Donckels FrÃÆ' ¶hlich,1991: 149). A business where a single family owns the majority of stock and has total control. Family members also form part of the management and make the most important decisions concerning the business. (Gallo Sveen, 1991: 181). A business firm may be considered a family business to the extent that its ownership and management are concentrated within a family unit, and to the extent its members strive to achieve, maintain, and/or increase intraorganizational family-based relatedness. (Litz, 1995: 78). A business governed and/or managed on a sustainable, potentially cross-generational, basis to shape and perhaps pursue the formal or implicit vision of the business held by members of the same family or a small number of families. (Sharma et al., 1997: 2). A family enterprise is a proprietorship, partnership, corporation or any form of business association where the voting control is in the hands of a given family. (Neubauer Lank, 1998: 8). Family businesses share some common characteristics, largely due to the interacting and overlapping domains of family, ownership and management (Tagiuri Davis, 1982). Family firms have a complex stakeholder structure that involves family members, top management, and a board of directors. Family members, who are often significant owners, usually play multiple roles in managing and governing the firm (Tagiuri Davis, 1982). This involvement promotes loyalty and also commitment to long-term value creation (Dyer Handler, 1994) and reduces problems that arise from separation of ownership and control, as experienced in large, public corporations (Jensen, 1989). Also, family businesses may enjoy a competitive advantage due, for example, to remaining entrepreneurial in character and having a strong sense of responsibility to society (Neubauer Lank, 1998), fast verbal and nonverbal communication, aided by a shared identity and common language of families (Gersick, Davis, McCollom Hampton Landsberg, 1997), family members. Business expertise gained during early childhood onward (Kets De Vries, 1996), and a strong organizational culture contributing to external adaptation and internal integration (Schein, 1983). However, the familys involvement in governing the firm may induce a focus on business and non-business goals, possibly leading to inefficiency (Schulze, Lubatkin, Dino Buchholtz, 2001). If the owner family is not regularly informed about the companys affairs, differing visions of the companys future may develop between management and the family. The resulting feuds between family factions may distract managements attention from value-creating activities and so reduce their commitment to strategic decisions. Owner-managers also may act opportunistically by satisfying their own needs at the expense of the companys performance and long-term survival. Entrenched owner-managers may not share their powers with others, especially not with the companys board. Furthermore the common characters of all family businesses are illustrated in the diagram below. Figure The individual represent the family members who are directly involved in daily bases with the operation, the family symbolizes the whole family where in some family businesses called the family counsel and the management dimension represents the family managers and non-family managers. McKinsey quarterly stated in the report keeping the family in business that only 5 percent will continue to create shareholders value after the third generation. Moreover; the IFC also mentioned in the family business hand book, while the third generation takes over; 95 percent of all family businesses will not survive the ownership around. These consequences might be a result to the lack of commitment and proper business education of handling the business demands. In addition, the survival of family firms is often challenged by dictatorial rule, resistance to change, lack of professionalism in management capabilities, confusion in family and business roles, rivalry and enlarged human emotions among family members, conflicts between interests of the family and the business, and a low rate of investment in business development (Donnelley, 1964; Gersick et al., 1997; Kets De Vries, 1993). All the definitions are focusing on the shareholders and their power in voting and management and these two points are actually the core strength and weaknesses of any family business. However there are other dimensions that a family business can be measured of its strength and weaknesses like: Culture Ownership and governance Succession planning Family involvement This dissertation will be reflected somehow in the culture dimension due to the strength of the factor here in the Arabian Gulf Countries and Oman. Different researcher came up with different definitions of the family business; however, the definitions imply six themes for clarifying the boundaries of the domain of family business: (1) ownership, (2) management, (3) generational transfer, (4) the familys intention to continue as a family business, (5) family goals, and (6) interaction between the family and business. These themes are similar to those found in the extant literature. For example, Handler (1989a) categorized family business definitions under four headings: ownership and management, interdependent subsystems, generational transfer, and multiple conditions. The extant literature on family business research has largely neglected the definition of the family itself. By modifying Winter.s, Fitzgerald, Heck, Haynes Danes (1998) definition of the family, the present study defines it as a kinship group of people related by blood or marriage or comparable relationship. This definition allows a multigenerational view of an extended family. Family Business in Oman According to the family firm institute (FFI) the around the 75% of Omans private companies are family owned, with their firms creating 70% of the country employment. There are 12 top families who are controlling around 75% of the contribution over all in Oman. The family owned business also control 90% of commercial activity according to Tharawat (Fortunes) Magazine. Oman is a part of the GCC Region where in the region is estimated that family businesses worth more than 1 trillion dollar, that is ready to be handled to the next generation. All family owned business share same characteristics as mentioned above, even the strengths and the weakness are similar to some extant in all family businesses. However, the family business can be categorized to two categories: Listed family businesses Non-listed family business The listed family businesses are set to fulfill the listed companies corporate governance code as per the CMA regulation, but the non-listed are not treated that way; whats so ever the size or the operations are. The CMA in Oman are concentrating nowadays to establish an attractive market and safe to all sizes of family businesses, the CMA is concentrating on converting the family closed family business to go public by Initial Public Offering(IPO) offering them a less strict rules and requirements to commence the IPO as the Head corporate governance Center declared. Furthermore there are different points that might affect the operation of any family businesses such as: family relations affect the assignment of the management family indirectly runs the company major family influence/dominance of the management (in terms of  strategic decisions) significant proportion of the enterprises senior management most important decision made by the family family control of the management of the enterprise at least 2 generations having had control over the enterprise These points might be strengthen the family business in the initial stages of the operations but there must be some kind of governance or policies on whom can make a decisions and how is not. Corporate Governance Corporate governance is a topic that has been a subject of significant debate since 2001 Enrons and other US companies crashed. Some analyst say lack of corporate governance was the main reason behind the crash (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, 2002). The international Swaps and Derivatives Association highlight that the failure was due to interests that extended certain managers at the expense of the shareholders. While the United States capital market where busy analyzing the reasons behind the crash of Enron and World Com, Sultanate of Oman has also experienced its share of corporate trouble affecting not only large companies such as Rice Mills SAOG and Oman National Investment Company Holding SOAG but also dozens of smaller companies, which have had to turn to the government for assistance (Dry, 2003). The year 2002 was the birth of the new corporate governance standards from the Capital Market Authority (CMA), but it was only covering the list companies in the Mu scat Security Market only. Since then the CMA focused on upgrading this standards and code and refine it to be in a worldwide acceptable standards and to include the best practice for the companies. The standards have been modernized since 2002 on the listed companies and the closed shared ones but nothing was mentioned on the family business side. In 2009 the CMA established the corporate governance center to help the companies implement the codes of corporate governance and to regulate the practice and monitor it, in addition to create a new standards to fit the family businesses practice. Till today the CMA and the Center did not establish a full concept on how they can produce a set of codes to be acceptable to the share holders of these businesses due to the lack of information on the family owned businesses in Oman. Theoretical framework related to Corporate Governance. The corporate governance model did not came from one framework or a certain theories, but I was built up on different practices and theories which results of different frameworks that today any economic system can customized to suit the needs to regulate the market. There are certain theories that been always associated with corporate governance practice which is set out the relation between the principle (shareholder) and the agent (management): The agency theory Stewardship Theory Stakeholder theory The agency Theory Agency theory having its roots in economic theory was exposited by Alchian and Demsetz (1972) and further developed by Jensen and Meckling (1976). Agency theory is defined as the relationship between the principals, such as shareholders and agents such as the company executives and managers. Agency theory argues that in the modern corporation, in which share ownership is widely held, managerial actions depart from those required to maximize shareholder returns (Berle and Means 1932; Pratt and Zeckhauser 1985). Since Jensen and Meckling (1976) proposed a theory of the firm (Agency Theory) based upon conflicts of interest between various contracting parties à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" shareholders, company managers and debt holders à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a vast literature has been developed in explaining both aspects of these conflicts. Jensen and Meckling (1976) further specified the existence of agency costs which arise owing to the conflicts either between managers and shareholders (agency costs of equity) or between shareholders and debtholders (agency costs of debt). Financial markets capture these agency costs as a value loss to shareholders. The agency theory argues that an agency relationship exists when shareholders (principals) hire managers (agents) as the decision makers of the corporations. The agency problems arise because managers will not solely act to maximize the shareholders wealth; they may protect their own interests or seek the goal of maximizing companies growth instead of earnings while making decisions. Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggested that the inefficiency may be reduced as managerial incentives to take value maximizing decisions increased. Agency costs are arising from divergence of interests between shareholders and company managers. Agency costs are defined by Jensen and Meckling as the sum of monitoring costs, bonding costs and residual loss. (1) Monitoring Costs Monitoring costs are expenditures paid by the principal to measure, observe and control an agents behavior. The economic impact of asymmetric information also results in various corporate agency problems. Firm managers (insiders) know more about their firm than shareholders and debt financiers (outsiders). When outsiders are unable to judge over the firms performance, they tend to qualify a firms performance as moderate. A result of this asymmetric information is that shares of a firm with a great performance are undervalued and vice versa. More specifically, information asymmetries between shareholders or bondholders and corporate executive management creates the necessity of monitoring (costs) and complications for the structuring of financial contracts. They may include the costs of preparing reliable accounting information and audits, writing executive compensation contracts and even ultimately the cost of replacing managers. Denis, Denis, and Sarin (1997) contended that effective monitoring is restricted to certain groups or individuals. Such monitors must have the necessary expertise and incentives to fully monitor manager. In addition, such monitors must provide a credible threat to managements control of the company. (2) Bonding Costs To minimize monitoring costs, managers tend to set up the principles or structures and try to act in shareholders best interests. The costs of establishing and adhering to these systems are known as bonding costs. They may include the costs of additional information disclosures to shareholders, but management will obviously also have the benefit of preparing these themselves. Agents will stop incurring bonding costs when the marginal reduction in monitoring equals the marginal increase in bonding costs. As suggested by the agency theory, the optimal bonding contract should aim to entice managers into making all decisions that are in the shareholders best interests. However, since managers cannot be made to do everything that shareholders would wish, bonding provides a means of making managers do some of the things that shareholders would like by writing a less than perfect contract. (3) Residual Loss Despite monitoring and bonding, the interest of managers and shareholders are still unlikely to be fully aligned. Therefore, there are still agency losses arising from conflicts of interest. These are known as residual loss, which represent a trade-off between overly constraining management and enforcing contractual mechanisms designed to reduce agency problems. There are some other types of agency costs as following: (4) Agency Costs of Debt There are three groups of participants in a firm, suppliers of equity, debt suppliers and firm managers. It is logical that they would try to achieve their goals with different measures. Suppliers of equity, or shareholders, are interested in high dividend ratios and high share prices. Debt suppliers, on the other hand, are interested in interest and debt repayments, whereas firm managers would be focused on their financial remuneration. These conflicts of interest give rise to opportunity costs (whereby best strategies are often not adopted) and real costs (e.g., inspection costs). These costs decrease the market value of a firm. Kim and Sorensen (1986) investigated the presence of agency costs and their relation to debt policies of corporations. It is found that firms with higher insiders (managers) ownership have greater debt ratios than firms with lower insider ownership, which may be explained by the agency costs of debt or the agency costs of equity. (5) Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow The free cash flow theory presumes that there are enormous conflicts of interest between shareholders and stakeholders. This implies that managers decisions do not always maximize the value of a firm (Jensen, 1986). Jensen (1986) also emphasized the continuous agency conflicts between top managers and shareholders. These conflicts are especially severe in firms with large free cash flows. A free cash flow is the balance of money a company is left with when all projects are financed. If top managers hold more cash than profitable investment opportunities, they may overspend money on organization inefficiencies or invest it in projects with net present value (NPV) less than zero. The logic has it that higher debt levels reduces free cash flows and consequently increases the value of the company.

Ludwig Van Beethoven :: essays research papers

Ludwig van Beethoven was, and remains today, an Olympian figure in the history of classical music. His influence on the last 150 years of music is unequalled; while generaly a member of the Classicist fold, he was in fact the first Romantic, and pre-figured virtually all music that followed the Romantic era as well. Perhaps no other composer in history wrote music of such exhilarating power and expressiveness; certainly no other composer did so against greater odds. Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770. His father, a music enthusiast, dreamed of molding his son into the next Mozart. Beethoven never exhibited the astonishing prodigy characteristics of his predecessor, but he was unusually talented, learning the piano, organ and violin at an early age. At 14, he was already proficient enough on the organ to receive a professional appointment. His family life was chaotic; his father was an alcoholic, and his mother died suddenly when he was only 17. After that tragedy, his domestic situation declined even more, and this condition - combined with support from Haydn - compelled him to leave home in 1790 and travel to Vienna to study composition. In Vienna, Beethoven first studied with Haydn, but eventually became frustrated with that great composer's teaching methods, moving on to study with other composers. He performed frequently in salons of wealthy nobility, but strangely enough, did not perform in public until he was 25. But from this point onward, he was embraced by both the common folk and the aristocracy of Vienna, so much so that he never had to rely on court appointments or private patrons for his livelihood. He did receive stipends from admirers and friends, but he remained independent of the shackles of conditional patronage that frustrated so many of his contemporaries. Beethoven was lucky in one sense; he rose to prominence in the musical world at a time when social strata were becoming more flexible, and the emerging power of the middle class provided him many opportunities for performances of his music for public audiences. This, combined with lucrative publishing arrangements, allowed him to live relatively well. He was not ignorant of the benefits of aristocratic support, however; throughout his career, he cultivated a romantic, moody and mercurial image with the upper class and leveraged this persona to achieve a social status equal to the Viennese nobility. Beethoven was a master symphonist - the master symphonist in the eyes of most musicians and composers. His compositions for orchestra were revolutionary in his day; while he adhered to Classical musical forms, his melodies and orchestration were of such unprecedented power and beauty that they astonished even the most hardened listeners.

breastfeed or bottle-feed? Essay -- essays research papers

Is the mom going to breastfeed or bottle-feed? I must tell you that breast milk is usually best for your baby. -Each mother’s breast milk is made especially for their own newborn. It contains all the Vit., Min. & iron that your baby needs( where as bottle milk has as little as 5-10% of all vit., min., & iron that are used by your baby.) Breast milk also continues to chg. as your baby grows to meet the changing needs of your infant, no formula is capable of such a chg. Breast milk contains protecting agents to help insure your baby’s health, these agents (WBC’s and immunoglobins) help fight DZ and INF. Advantages of Breastfeeding (Disadvantages to bottle feeding): 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  promotes bonding between mom and infant, easily and quickly digested. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfed babies have fewer illnesses and faster recovery. The antibodies found in breast milk provide immunities that make it easier for a baby to fend off illnesses such as colds and ear infections. So not only do breastfed babies tend to get sick less often but when they do get sick, they get better faster then babies that are bottle fed. Pre-mature babies who get breast milk also have less GI problems 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast milk has long term health benefits for your baby. The positive effects of breastfeeding last well beyond babyhood. Studies show that babies breastfed for the first six months are 43% less likely to become obese as children, if breastfed for more then 1 year they are 72% less likely to be overweight. Breastfeed babies have a lower risk of HTN later in life, they also have a lower risk of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea later in life. Breastfeed babies also have an average of 8 to 10 IQ points higher then bottle-fed babies. Finally breastfed babies have a lower incidence of SID’s 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfeeding helps to take the pounds off after pregnancy. Producing breast milk requires 500 calories a day 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breastfeeding also helps benefit mom’s health. Some studies indicate that breastfeeding decreases or lowers a woman’s risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer. It also appears to protect against osteoporosis. 6)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast milk is inexpensive as opposed to bottle feeding which tends to run around $1400 to $1800 a year. 7)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  &n... ...oiling, soaking in antibacterial solution (instructions are on the packet), or microwave bottle sterilizer. Store sterilized bottles in the refrigerator. Prepare the formula and shake thoroughly. Warm to room temp then give to baby 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Feeding the baby – Cuddles and comfort are as important for your baby as feeding is, bottle fed baby’s can bond too. Cradling your baby in your arms is the best position. Never feed the baby while he or she is laying down! Problems while Breastfeeding: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sore nipples (usually during the first week) Check the latch on technique and position of the baby during feedings. You want to vary nursing positions. You can also use OTC lubricants or express a little milk or colostrum onto your nipples before and after nursing, gently pat dry (antibacterial qualities) In most cases sore or cracked nipples are no longer painful once good positioning and latch on are achieved. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast engorgement usually occurs in 2-3 days but is usually temporary and last only 3-7 days. For treatment and prevention wear a comfortable bra to support your breasts (no under wire at this time)

A necessary Evil

I am completely against the proliferation of supermax prisons. Despite the fact that these people who are put in there are put with a reason I still think that this is not a final solution but instead it is a beginning of a bigger problem. The fact that these prisoners will one day be set free and come to join us is actually threatening after looking at the effects these super max prisons have on the victims.I will want to discuss the effects of these as analyzed in `A Necessary Evil? ` By Vince BeiserThese super max prisons are turning prisoners into mental cases; the set up of these prisons is very different in terms of isolation and activities. Unlike other prisons including Maximum security prisons where inmates can play basketball, work in the laundry room or in the dining room, the super max prison one can hardly take in to any activity, there aren’t any jobs, nothing educational.You are left alone and there is no human contact! One is locked in a room of 8 – by à ¢â‚¬â€œ 10 foot almost the whole time. One can not even see other prisoners or the prison guards. It is truly a cage of isolation. These places are meant for those prisoners who commit crimes while in prison and therefore can be as ‘prison in prison’When one is left in such isolation for a long period, a lot of things are likely to happen affecting especially the psychology of the victim. ‘Psychiatrists, activists and some correctional officials say the intense isolation of supermaxes is producing prisoners who are uncontrollably furious and sometimes violently deranged. Most of those Prisoners will one day be set free.In the past three years, in fact, Nearly 1,000 California SHU inmates at the end of their sentences were moved to less-restrictive prisons for just a few weeks, and then released’. As seen from Dr. Stuart study of effects of solitary confinement for a period longer than two decades, the examination was on more than one hundred super max priso ns and his conclusion was: super max can literally drive inmates crazy. The fact that there are many cases of people who never suffered psychiatric illnesses but once they went through super max prisons they developed such illness. This is enough good prove that these institutions are doing more harm than good. People going through these institutions are expected to come out worse than they were in the beginning. Dr Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist based in Oakland who has many years of experience in prison work had this to say â€Å"I've almost never seen self-mutilation among adult males anywhere else, but it's very common in SHUs.† At the landmark Madrid v. Gomez federal trial in 1995 over conditions at Pelican Bay, even the prison’s senior staff psychologist acknowledged seeing psychiatric deterioration among some SHU prisoners.There are problems faced and experienced by the prison in the super max prisons such as hypersensitivity to external stimuli, paranoia and sometimes hallucinations. Prisoners some time develop panic attacks, hostile fantasies involving revenge, torture, mutulatuion and outbursts. This at times gets to higher extents and the prisoner can even gorge out their eyes, they can bite chucks of their own flesh†¦ The speech of one prisoner featured is â€Å"Matthew Lowe’ he confesses that in his years at the super max prison he only had a chance to speak to five or six people in the whole period of three years. He says that he just sat there and thought of doing something crazy all the time.He has known that since then he has become paranoid and jumpy; ‘†So many times I've come so close to snapping since I got out,† he says. â€Å"One time in a store, someone cut in front of me in line—a 50-year-old guy, I don't think he even realized it. I had to catch myself, because my first thought was just to smash him.†An interview conducted to the other prisoners of the regular prisons support the fact that those in the supermax prisons are getting damaged psychologically was by Dr. Grassian. Almost all the inmates interviewed including one correctional officer admiited that other prisoners suffer serious mental deterioration in the SHU; they could be heard screa ming, banging on doors cutting themselves.

Mixture Lab Write Up

| Separation of a Salt, Sand, and Water Mixture| Jamie Schurz and Austin Hoggard| | Date experiment was performed: September 6 and September 7| | | Introduction Purpose: The purpose of the experiment was to use various lab equipment and lab techniques to separate a mixture of salt, sand, and water. Background: An element is the simplest form of a substance that retains the properties of that substance. A compound is a substance formed by combining two or more elements set in fixed proportions. A mixture is a system of two or more distinct chemical substances. Unlike compounds, mixtures can be physically combined.Because the components are physically combined, they can also be separated using physical properties. Physical properties are properties that do not change the chemical nature of matter. In this lab, a mixture of salt and sand will be separated using the listed equipment and separation techniques. Hypothesis: If a mixture of sand (3. 3g), salt (1. 2g), and water is separated using filtration and boiling point, then most of the sand and salt will be recovered. Safety Information: During the experiment, appropriate safety wear should be worn at all times such as: goggles and an apron (to prevent salt or hot water from entering the eye).Beaker tongs should be used to remove the heater beaker from the appropriate heating fixture and then it should be carefully transported onto the designated pressed fiber pad to cool. Materials and Methods * * Graduated cylinder * Small beaker (100 mL) * Large beaker (600 mL) * Hot plate * Small ring * Funnel * Filter paper * Glass stir rod with rubber policeman * Hot mitts * Beaker tongs * Pressed fiber pad * Weigh boat * Electronic balance * Scoops * Salt and sand sample * water Experimental Procedure 1. Put on appropriate safety wear. 2. Begin this experiment with 47 mL of water, 1. 2 g of salt, and 3. g of sand. * Use the 100 graduated cylinder to find the 47 mL of water, reading from the meniscus. * Put the weigh boat onto the electronic balance and zero it out, then slowly add the salt until you have 1. 2 grams of it. Do the same for the sand. * Also mass the larger of the two beakers 3. Combine the 1. 2g of salt and 47 mL of water into the 100 mL beaker and stir until the salt is dissolved 4. Add the sand and wait until it settles onto the bottom of the beaker. 5. Mass the filter paper and then fold it into a small cone. Wet sides before placing into funnel that is inside a ring stand.Place larger beaker underneath funnel. 6. Slowly pour sand and salt mixture through filter paper. Let the sand dry. 7. Take large beaker with salt and water and place on top of a hot plate. Set hot plate onto its highest setting and let boil. 8. Once salt starts popping lower temperature on hot plate. When most of the water has evaporated remove from hot plate using beaker tongs and let rest on pressed fiber pad. 9. Turn hot plate off. 10. Mass out recovered sand and salt. Results Raw Data: object| Mass (g)| start ing mass of salt| 1. 2g| Starting mass of sand| 3. 3g|Dry filter paper| 0. 7g| Larger of the 2 beakers| 103. 1g| Total mass of beaker/salt (after)| 105. 3g| Mass of recovered salt| 2. 2g| Total mass of filter paper/sand (after)| 4. 1g| Mass of recovered sand| 3. 4g| Important results: * The mass of recovered salt was 2. 2g * The mass of recovered sand was 3. 4g * The percent error for the mass of recovered salt was 83% error * The percent error for the mass of the recovered sand was 3% * The percent yield for the mass of the recovered salt was 183% * The percent yield for the mass of the recovered sand was 103% Calculations:Discussion Expected results v. Actual results: In the experiment, the mass of the salt recovered was larger than the mass of the amount of salt that was started out with. This may be due to the tap water that was used not being pure or that some sand was small enough to not be filtered out. Analyze experimental error: During the experiment, instead of measuring t he water out to exactly 47mL, around 60 mL of water was used. This could have caused there to be extra water during the final measurement.There was not enough time to boil off the extra water; this was done by another person later without either partner in the group supervising. Also, when looking for the sand sample the next day, it was missing; so another group’s sand data was massed instead Improvements: Having a longer time to conduct the experiment might have changed the data. Instead of leaving the sand sample in the open on a table to all classes, it may have been better for them to be separated more. Results in terms of the purpose: The goal was to get most of the salt and sand back through filtration and evaporation.Most of the sand was recovered; however there was a great deal of added mass to the salt (around 1g). The goal was met as far as data is concerned. Conclusion: The goal of the experiment was to see if using boing point and filtration could recover close t o the same amount of salt and sand put together in a mixture. The experiment revealed a percent yield of 183% for salt and 103% for sand, which does support the hypothesis that using those two techniques, about the same amount of salt and sand would be recovered.