Discuss the pros and cons of unions in professional sports. Be certain to provide your own thoughts along with supporting information.

PLEASE REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS or MORE) 

CLASSMATE’S POST

As stated by Carrell and Heavrin (2013), unions in professional sports, as they relate to labor relations, are broken down to management, which consists of leagues and team owners, labor, which includes players and unions, and the government. The government remains essential in assessing cases and providing trials, the sports leagues discuss collective bargaining for the players meanwhile, the union bargain collectively, protect their rights, and implement tactics to pursue the players’ overall goals. With this said, a union representative face more than just management during the collective bargaining process. The pros of unions in professional sports are that of any other union in a sense that a set salary can be established, there will more flexibility in the players’ schedule, the prevention of adverse treatment, and of course the modification of benefits such as, pensions and health care. However, the cons which mainly affect the team owners in my opinion, include less flexibility and time spent when discussing possible changes, long or drawn out discussions in for example, disciplinary actions, and potential lawsuits when no agreement can be made or in the event of unfair labor practices. With these negative situations, fans and players may experience a reduction in morale which can then cause further disruptions such as, strikes and/or boycotting. I feel that professional sport unions face a large amount of stress due to the various complexities that come with the role of a professional sports player; I suspect that the collective bargaining experience would not easily concludes, and cooperation would be scarce. 

Reference:

Carrell, M. R., & Heavrin, C. (2013). Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining: Private and Public Sectors (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Review Microsoft’s compensation strategy using the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet. Review the organization’s corporate strategy in its annual report. A link to Microsoft’s most current annual report is in the Microsoft Annual Report.  Read the following articles: •The Dangers of Misclassifying “Employees”: Microsoft Litigation Emphasizes Distinctions Between Employees and Nontraditional Workers •Liquidity and employee options: An empirical examination of the Microsoft experience  Based on the information in the articles, the annual report and other research, write a 3–4 page paper in Word format following APA standards which includes the following: •Prepare a table to present Microsoft’s compensation strategy on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management. Create your table in Word format. •Compare Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy as indicated in their annual report. What are the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies?  Assess the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy.  Write a 3–4-page paper in Word format and include your table. Apply APA standards for writing style to your work.  By the due date assigned, deliver your assignment to the Submissions Area.     Assignment 3 Grading Criteria   Maximum Points   Prepared a table in MS Word which presented Microsoft’s compensation strategy based on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management.  30   Compared Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy in their annual report. Explained the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies.  30   Assessed the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy based on the information in the article and the annual report.  30   Writing Craftsmanship, APA and Ethical Scholarship  10   Total:  100

Review Microsoft’s compensation strategy using the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet. Review the organization’s corporate strategy in its annual report. A link to Microsoft’s most current annual report is in the Microsoft Annual Report.  Read the following articles: •The Dangers of Misclassifying “Employees”: Microsoft Litigation Emphasizes Distinctions Between Employees and Nontraditional Workers •Liquidity and employee options: An empirical examination of the Microsoft experience  Based on the information in the articles, the annual report and other research, write a 3–4 page paper in Word format following APA standards which includes the following: •Prepare a table to present Microsoft’s compensation strategy on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management. Create your table in Word format. •Compare Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy as indicated in their annual report. What are the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies?  Assess the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy.  Write a 3–4-page paper in Word format and include your table. Apply APA standards for writing style to your work.  By the due date assigned, deliver your assignment to the Submissions Area.     Assignment 3 Grading Criteria   Maximum Points   Prepared a table in MS Word which presented Microsoft’s compensation strategy based on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management.  30   Compared Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy in their annual report. Explained the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies.  30   Assessed the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy based on the information in the article and the annual report.  30   Writing Craftsmanship, APA and Ethical Scholarship  10   Total:  100

Review Microsoft’s compensation strategy using the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet. Review the organization’s corporate strategy in its annual report. A link to Microsoft’s most current annual report is in the Microsoft Annual Report.  Read the following articles: •The Dangers of Misclassifying “Employees”: Microsoft Litigation Emphasizes Distinctions Between Employees and Nontraditional Workers •Liquidity and employee options: An empirical examination of the Microsoft experience  Based on the information in the articles, the annual report and other research, write a 3–4 page paper in Word format following APA standards which includes the following: •Prepare a table to present Microsoft’s compensation strategy on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management. Create your table in Word format. •Compare Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy as indicated in their annual report. What are the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies?  Assess the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy.  Write a 3–4-page paper in Word format and include your table. Apply APA standards for writing style to your work.  By the due date assigned, deliver your assignment to the Submissions Area.     Assignment 3 Grading Criteria   Maximum Points   Prepared a table in MS Word which presented Microsoft’s compensation strategy based on the following five factors: objectives, alignment, competitiveness, employee considerations, and management.  30   Compared Microsoft’s compensation strategy as detailed in the article with their corporate strategy in their annual report. Explained the points of convergence and divergence in the corporate and compensation strategies.  30   Assessed the alignment between Microsoft’s corporate objectives and its compensation strategy based on the information in the article and the annual report.  30   Writing Craftsmanship, APA and Ethical Scholarship  10   Total:  100

https://www-sciencedirect- com.libproxy.edmc.edu/science/article/pii/S092911990900008X

1. Read Frontline: Gospel of John: The “Spiritual Gospel” (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/john.html
2. Read Frontline:  Gospel of John (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。 (Marilyn Mellows essay)  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/mmjohn.html
3. The Gospel of John (including Introduction) in Complete Gospels (pages 205 – 254)
4. Watch Jesus of Nazareth: Jesus brought before Pilate (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。 (John 18) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSz-DxGFmI

Writing prompt:

The Gospel of John has a very different feel than the three “synoptic” gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke).  It is often said that The Gospel of John has a “High Christology” – which means it focuses more on Jesus’ divinity than on his humanity.  As our textbook points out, “The words of the Johannine Jesus are often ambiguous, even deliberately confusing his listeners (e.g., 3:3), conveying two levels of meaning at once.” (206)  (Note:  “Johannine” is the word used to refer to things as they appear in the Gospel of John.)

We are going to focus on John 14 – 17, which is often referred to as the “Farewell Discourse” because these chapters contain Jesus’ farewell instructions to his followers.   He says a number of confusing – even contradictory – things in these chapters regarding his relationship with God.   Please read Chapter 14 very carefully, and then write on the following questions:

1.   What are some of the things Jesus tells his followers about their connection with him and, at the same time, their connection with God?

2.  What do you think that Jesus means when he says that “anyone who believes in me will perform the works I perform and will be able to perform even greater feats”? (14:12)  This is a fairly astounding thing to say, so don’t pass it over without giving it careful thought.  

As always, you must include chapter and verse references if you wish to get a higher grade on this Discussion Forum post.  🙂    And please let me know if you are have questions or concerns about this assignment!  

Have you ever experienced a self-managed team?  If so, describe it.  If not, why do you think your organization has not embraced self-managed teams?

REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 125 WORDS or MORE)

The concept of a self-managed team is an idea that industrial organizations have embraced to make employees feel a sense of ownership and to increase cohesiveness among them. However, this concept is not favorable, where there is a need for quick decision making. Also, for this concept to work, it requires trust between the management and the team. Due to these reasons some industrial organizations feel the need to use the team leadership approach effective goals accomplishment, for example my organization.
Firstly, team leadership is effective in resolving team conflicts. For example, in the self-managed team, where certain team members favor some ideas and ignore others, this may create conflict. According to Kouzes and Posner (2012, p23), recognition and giving of positive feedback by team leaders make the team members feel cared for and thus bringing togetherness. Also, the team members are free to share their concerns as they feel there is a person to listen to their ideas and appreciate them.
Secondly, team leadership gives direction towards a common goal, an opportunity for others to act, and gives confidence when taking risks. Allocation of responsibility in the self-managed team may be confusing and non-fulfilling, creating fear while making decision, hence inhibiting free-thinking. According to Kouzes and Posner (2012), leaders of a team assign responsibility to their members according to the identified talents. The leader also has a role in recognizing new good ideas, share them with the team members, encourage collaboration and give the team free way to act on the ideas. The result is enhanced free-thinking, increased effectiveness and good relation among team members and their leader and reduced progressive risks.
In conclusion, the self-managed team, on some occasions, may need the intervention of leaders to increase confidence, get guidance and assistance.
                                                                                 Reference
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

hen a person is being discriminated against based on their religion, it is when they are being treated differently because of their religious preferences. The Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically addresses actions against discrimination on religion. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had received over 2,500 complaints in 2002 that were based on discrimination for religion (Cheung, 2018). When an employer wants to avoid any discrimination for religion, they can’t treat any certain employees with any favoritism based on their religion, force their employees to participate in any practices that go against their religious beliefs, or allow their employees to be harassed because of their religious beliefs. The employer must accommodate any religious practices if the accommodation isn’t because of an undue hardship (Cheung, 2018). 

When an employer must accommodate their employee’s religious practices, they must do so because the Federal Law requires them to do so. Every employer must be flexible with their employees regarding their religious practices (Cheung, 2018). The employers should be allowing their employees to change their schedules if they need to observe a religious holiday. They also must allow the employees requests that accommodate their dress code and assume it to not be an outrageous request due to their religious preferences.  

Once an employee has felt that they have been discriminated against because of their religion preferences, they have several options available to them. Some of these options are that they can file a charge of discrimination against their employer with the EEOS, these charges must be filed within 180 days of the alleged discrimination, and the EEOC has a toll-free hotline that an employee can call to speak to somebody to request assistance if there isn’t a local EEOC office in their area (Cheung, 2018).

Since my company has a policy put into place to allow the employees to have two-fifteen-minute breaks and one-thirty-minute lunch break, this is allowing the employees to do any relations practices they need to do. Since the new employee has different accommodations, I would need to try to accommodate to their needs. With this, we would need to come to an agreement as to how we could accommodate their needs. By doing this, I think we would need to do a 30-day trial and error on breaking up their breaks to allow them to participate in their religious practices. If any problems were to arise with their performance because of the said accommodations, the trial would come to an end and we would have to adjust accordingly. At this point, if this were to happen, we would explain to them that we wouldn’t be able to accommodate their preferences based on their religion at this time because their work performance is being affected because of the extra time away and breaks. With this being said, I would need to come up with another way to accommodate their religious needs based on their practices to make it work so it doesn’t affect their work performance in the future and not favor them against the other employees as they all must be treated and respected equally the same based on their religious practices and preferences.