1) Business Compensation Management DISCUSSION 1

Compensating Executives" Please respond to the following:

· Analyze the components of executive compensation packages to determine which three components are the most essential to attracting exceptional talent. Provide your rationale.

· From the first e-Activity, determine if current practices surrounding executive compensation should be changed. Provide either specific examples of what changes you believe are necessary, or a rationale for maintaining the status quo.

Other replies EXAMPLE FROM DISCUSSION

The three most essential components of executive compensation packages consist of core compensation, short-term incentives, and benefits. To attract exceptional talent businesses promote base pay and bonuses. Base pay is also known as salary a fixed rate of compensation and bonuses is pay based on performance. Short term incentives include profit sharing and gain sharing plans. Profit sharing plans are when the company shares a part of their profits with their employees and gain sharing is when the company. Benefits that includes Enhanced Protection Programs such as Life Insurance and Retirement Plans. Prerequisites benefits such as recreational facilities, travel perks, company car. All of these packages will attract more than exceptional employees because they show the employee that they are not only appreciated but that they have a say in where the company's profits are going.

From the first e-Activity, I believe that the pay is a little too high for executives unless they're also going to include the other forms of compensation such as bonuses, profit sharing, company car. Some executives make more money before lunch than others that put in much more time and hard work such as assistants to the executives. Good employees deserve good pay but compensation should also be based on performance, productivity, and work load. Just because an executive is higher up on the corporate ladder does not entitle a person to just receive a big pay check as some of the CEO's of some the big banks that went out of business due to the fore cluster.

Other replies EXAMPLE FROM DISCUSSION

Analyze the components of executive compensation packages to determine which three components are the most essential to attracting exceptional talent. Provide your rationale.

To attract exceptional talent the three components that are most essential are: base pay, stock options, and bonuses. Base pay which is the base rate an employee gets pay for their employment. Base is important as an executive because they know what they are worth and expect to get pay at a competitive rate. Stock options is the option a company gives the employee in this case an executive to buy stock in the company. This is a great benefit for executives because sometimes stock option awards can be larger than their salaries and bonuses combined. Lastly, bonuses. Executive bonuses is use to motivate executives to reach a certain level of achievement within the organization and whatever way to reward that than with a bonus. Some people will be against bonus but at the end of the day it they were the ones receiving it, I think the mentality would change.

From the first e-Activity, determine if current practices surrounding executive compensation should be changed. Provide either specific examples of what changes you believe are necessary, or a rationale for maintaining the status quo.

I don't think the executive compensation package should be change. Most of the executives earn this type of rewards, it's only fair that they get rewarded it. Again everyone always thinks that the executives get too much of everything but most of the blue collar employees don't know the actual roles of the executives or something as simple as how many hours they put in in a week. Personally, I know a particular executive that works double then what a regular employee works and he says the higher you get in the organization the more responsibility you will have.

2) Business Compensation Management DISCUSSION 2

"Compensating the Flexible Workforce" Please respond to the following:

· Create an argument either for or against the practice of using contingent or flexible workers.

· From the second e-Activity, determine how the company you researched could best leverage a contingent and / or flexible workforce. Provide specific examples to support your response.

Other replies EXAMPLE FROM DISCUSSION

I like flexible workers. If you take a step back and think about it, flex workers are happier people because they either get to choose their hours via flex time, or just get to learn more skills. They aren't stuck in the rut of working the same hours every day with the same days off. Their life is a bit more unexpected and that in itself is refreshing for alot of people. Flex workers from my experience have more skills too. This is due to them being needed in all sorts of departments. Here are some of the boons of flexible workers:

· Better teamwork.

· More productive workforce.

· Happier employees.

· Wider talent pool.

· Reduced turnover (big one).

As I work for allstate and work very long hours (12) every other day, having a more diverse number of people to have each of us work less would benefit our sales. I find myself exhausted close to the 10 hour mark and this affects my performance greatly. Having each employee work 6 hours and just work 6 days a week would give us close to the same amount of hours and make everyone happier. We all make salary anyway, so the number of hours won't matter. As we work in 4 different dealerships, management could rotate us every week to keep things fresh. So one week, two of us work at one dealership whilst the next week we work at another. This gets us to meet more staff members and learn how each dealership works.

Other replies EXAMPLE FROM DISCUSSION

3) HIS 105

"The 80s and Deregulation" Please respond to the following: (Note: Please respond to one [1] of the following two [2] bulleted items in a primary posting of at least 125 words. In addition, please make a substantive comment to one [1] of your classmates.)

· Why was the Soviet Union considered a threat to the United States? Did the policies of the 1980s contribute to the end of the Cold War?

· How do taxes and regulations impact an economy? Why did Congress lower taxes and regulations in the 1980s?

4) SCI 110

"The Ocean-Atmospheric Interface" Please respond to the following:

· Watch the video titled "Ocean Temperatures - Changing Planet" (6 min 4 sec) under The Ocean terms section of the Science Corner. You can also view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WyD2aiqP_s. Next, describe one (1) way that scientists use the ocean to monitor climate change. Then, examine the overall impact of a warmer ocean on the climate.

· Watch the video titled "How Climate Change Makes Intense Hurricanes" (3 min 8 sec) under the Climate Change terms section of the Science Corner. You can also view the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4ZCQHvRg2k. Next, describe the overall manner in which climate change affects hurricanes, storms, and sea level. Then, explain the overall physical impact that this change will have on coastal communities.

· The weather condition known as El Niño is described on page 677 of your book. After reading this section, describe the major interactions between the atmosphere and the surface ocean water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean under "normal" conditions. Next, describe the changes that occur in both the atmosphere and the underlying ocean during an El Niño event. (Note: Be sure to include the changes of atmospheric convection, warm surface ocean water, and the cold deep ocean water in your description. List a specific region that is impacted negatively by an El Niño event.)

· Link to Weather: The El Niño Condition

· When weather is measured over time, an average weather pattern can be seen. Consistent behavior of weather over time is climate. During some periods, the average weather pattern departs from its norm. These variations from the average are expected and have recognizable short-term changes in the weather. A prime example of such a disruption is the El Niño condition.

· Under normal conditions, weather patterns in the Pacific are controlled by warm, high-pressure systems located in both hemispheres near the equator. These high-pressure systems cause the trade winds to blow westward along the equator, dragging the warm equatorial surface waters along with them. As warm surface waters move westward, deeper, colder waters to the east rise upward to occupy the space left vacant by the warm surface water. The upwelling cold waters, rich in nutrients, attract a variety of sea life. Upwelling of these cold waters has been especially important to the fishing industry along the coast of South America, where people earn their living catching anchovies that come to feed in the nutrient-rich waters.

· Fishing is not always good, however. Each year in October the trade winds slacken, reversing the normal westward flow of warm tropical surface waters. As the warm surface waters drift eastward, upwelling decreases and so does the fishing industry. People along the South American coast refer to this occurrence as El Niño because it begins each year around the traditional December celebration of Christ's birth (Christ is El Niño, "The Child," in Spanish). Under normal conditions, the trade winds pick up again in early spring, the surface waters are again blown westward across the ocean, and everything returns to normal.

· In some years, however, the trade winds fail to strengthen and the warm surface waters remain off the coast of South America for a year or longer. During these abnormal conditions, upwelling of cold water ceases, and South American fishing industries fail. Although a small El Niño occurs each year, this extended El Niño is referred to as the El Niño condition.

· The El Niño condition influences climate on both sides of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Under normal conditions, upwelling cold water on the eastern side of the Pacific coincides with dry cool air, high pressures, and clear skies. On the western side of the Pacific, surface waters-warmed and fueled by their long journey across the ocean-warm the surrounding air. As the warm moist air rises, low pressures and storms develop on the warm western side of the Pacific.

· During an extended El Niño condition, the pattern is reversed. Warm water, rising warm moist air, low pressures, and storms are found on the eastern side of the Pacific rather than the western side. This exchange of pressure systems and weather patterns between east and west during an El Niño condition is sometimes referred to as the southern oscillation.