Required Changes for a Company with Organizational Problems Coursework

Required Changes for a Company with Organizational Problems - Coursework Example Pensions became an important issue for European workers, who were becoming some of the biggest losers in the three-year stock-market downturn. Falling share prices combined with longer retirements left many company pension plans far short of the amounts expected to be necessary, over the long term. The result was: wholesale shifts in the retirement plans companies were offering their employees, and in the way, workers must plan for old age. The poverty of many pensioners today was a real crisis, of an unprecedented nature.The issue was most pressing in the U.K., where company-funded pension plans, often tied to salaries, made up a bigger portion of retirement income than elsewhere in Europe and where companies had traditionally put about three-quarters of their pension funds in the stock market.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The schemes guaranteed members a pension income based on the number of years of service and the salary when the worker left the company. Companies said these plans had now become too expensive to maintain. Faced in many cases with huge deficits, they had a stark choice: either shore up the fund with hefty payments that could cut into profits - and hurt their share price - or cut back on pension benefits. Hence, these pension schemes were replaced with less-costly plans in which companies contributed money but did not guarantee a level of benefit. Actuaries said that many companies that closed their pension plans to newcomers, ended up closing them to existing members also, a few years later. From the companies’ perspective: many schemes have seen their funds shrink as a result of the stock market falls. In such cases, firms faced the possibility of having to make up any shortfall between the assets of the final salary scheme and the benefits promised to members. Companies were unwilling to contribute further funds into pension schemes.

Research methods and Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research methods and Skills - Essay Example been found to leach from plastic products, more so in high temperatures and basic or acidic conditions, such as during autoclaving.2 This becomes more alarming with the pressing problem of global warming.3 Food is also considered the most significant source of BPA exposure worldwide. In fact, BPA has already been detected in almost all of urine samples collected from USA.4 When BPA is imbibed, it is metabolized by the liver into BPA glucuronide, which is excreted through the urine.5 BPA is an estrogenic monomer that binds weakly to nuclear estrogen receptors. In fact, its binding to estrogen receptors is 1000 – 10, 000-fold lower than the natural hormone E2.6 Currently, it is now polymerized to make polycarbonate plastic, which is now extensively used in the manufacture of food and beverage cans and dental materials. The potency of BPA partly results from the low dose needed to produce a physiologic response. This is because the activation of the effector is longer than the actual hormone-receptor binding, or the number of receptors is greater than the number of molecules. Thus, despite the low affinity of BPA to the receptor, low concentrations still initiate a response. In fact, the linear concentration between receptor occupancy and hormone concentration is preserved only up to 10% receptor occupancy. Above this, saturation of response occurs first, and saturation of receptor follows.7 BPA mimics the activity of 17ÃŽ ²-estradiol, posing a strong estrogenic activity. With just 10 – 20 nM, it was seen to competitively bind to estrogen receptors, proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, induction of progesterone receptors, and reversal estrogen action by tamoxifen. It induces proliferative and stimulatory changes in estrogen targets.8 There is a major concern to public health due to its high potential for human exposure and to its demonstrated toxicity (endocrine disruptor effect). A growing number of health experts and consumers are becoming concerned