Sometimes, we are at a point where we are low on cash but need a little help. Borrowing money however, is something that many people would hope never to do. However, emergencies often arise when one has no option but to borrow a loan. The loan is taken because an individual lacks enough cash to last them until the next payday. Applying for online fast cash loans is proving popular. This gives you the opportunity of applying for a loan at competitive rates from the safe confines of your home.Receiving money in your accountPayday loans are short-term loans often taken up to cater for an emergency. The decisions of acceptance are normally made quickly. All that you may need to do is to respond to basic information about your personal details. Once the online application has been accepted, you can expect to receive money into your bank account in an hour’s time. Getting these short-term loans approved delivered fast means the emergencies can be addressed quickly.To make an informed decision, it is important to know how the loans work. When you pay the website a visit, you will discover that it does not take long for you to get the loan that you desire. The loan is given to applicants who are interested in accessing the desired money on the same day. The loan is normally used to cater for emergencies such as to cover unexpected services, utility bills or celebration of special occasions that cannot wait.Recommending a payday loanPayday loans are growing in popularity because they help many applicants to deal with financial situations that are difficult. The main benefit attributed to a payday loan is the fact that you get the opportunity to get quick cash when it is needed the most. At some point everybody gets into an emergency that requires needs cash. When this arises, a payday loan becomes an important option. In many cases you can access the desired amount of money in a matter of minutes. This is very important particularly when you find yourself in a situation where a payday loan is the only way you can access quick cash.The payday loan is also easy to qualify for. What you need is prove of being in employment and having attained the age of 18 years. This is particularly useful if you cannot qualify for other loans. As a result, this short-term loan has become wide spread. The main reason why people fail to qualify for regular loans is because they have credit problems. Therefore, the payday loan is recommended highly because they are no credit checks.An easy application processThe application process for these short-term loans is easy. You are likely to obtain the lending decision within an hour. Many of the loan providers use their many years of experience in the industry to help customers receive the amount of cash they need quickly. In case you have made the decision to apply for this short-term loan the information that you will need to give includes your name, state of residence, date of birth, bank account number and employment information. The application will just take a few minutes.Submitting your application is an expression that you are willing to be assessed for these short-term loan. However, you have the option of withdrawing the submitted request when the company’s agents contact you. Therefore, submitting the application does not amount to an automatic obligation for accepting the loan. Once your application is approved, the cash is normally deposited in your bank account – after you have agreed to the terms and conditions.
Payday Loan Providers – One Of The Best Options For Your Needs
The Need for Quality Childcare Programs
Quality childcare programs are in high demand these days. And because the demand is so high, the childcare industry has become big business. So big that its annual revenue is close to $20 billion, and there are about 21,000 childcare centers nationally that are run by nonprofit organizations with combined annual revenue around $13 billion. Oftentimes, when there is a lot of money to be made, corners tend to get cut and quality products and service suffers because of it. Let’s look at what makes a quality childcare program and the importance of keeping our children safe when parents are working.The Need for Quality Childcare Programs: Quality StaffOne of the most important factors in the success and quality of care in any program is the relationship between the children left in the care of the program and the staff members who work with these children. Every program whether it is a home based program, independently owned or ran by a nonprofit organization should have a process in place that screens and selects staff and volunteers who are best suited for their program and safe for your children.Every organization/agency that serves children needs to have a staff and volunteer screening process as part of their hiring practice as this greatly reduces the chance of child abuse. A quality childcare program will make sure that their staff are not a threat to the children that they serve; this may appear to be an obvious practice for any program but sadly, it is not. Quality programs will ensure that all of their staff, including any on-site cooks as well as any maintenance workers or custodians have been thoroughly screened and had background checks completed. This includes conducting and updating driver safety records. Having doing so, lets the parents know that the safety and welfare of the children are their highest concern.The Need for Quality Childcare Programs: Safe EnvironmentsIt is very important to know that the physical structure of any childcare program aides or hinders in the proper protection of the children that they serve. It should be the goal of every program to keep children from situations and circumstances in which they are at increased risk. A quality program should give you a tour of their facility and:
Their landscaping should provide unhindered visibility to open areas where children play outside.
The play areas are in the open and provide unhindered visibility from multiple locations on the grounds.
The program has secured areas not used for program purposes like closets, administrative areas and any kitchen area. The program should have windows installed in doors and closets; this ensures that staff are able to see if a child has gotten into and area and the child is unharmed. It also eliminates an area where a child can be abused or bullied.
These are just a few things that any quality program should have in place. It is very important to make sure that your child or children are in a clean and safe program while you are at work.The Need for Quality Childcare Programs: Policy and ProceduresMany quality programs have policies and procedures that ensure that the children are safe while in their program. There are some policies that you should be aware of and are required to sign off on. The program should have clearly defined policies and procedures for admitting and releasing children. Does your childcare program have clearly defined policies and procedures for monitoring which people outside of their program are allowed into the program building or on the premises?The childcare program that wants to provide quality care for your child or children should have a clearly defined policy and procedure for child pick up at the end of the day or special events. It could look like you have to provide a valid ID and sign a sheet before the staff releases your child to you. A well ran program will have a photograph of you or the designated person responsible for picking up the child.Child abuse is never an issue that any parent wants to have happen to their child or children but, it is an unfortunate reality. It is very important that the program has clearly defined policies and processes regarding investigating allegations or suspected child abuse. They must have clearly defined behaviors and violations that are reported to the appropriate authorities and have a designated contact person for questions and concerns about possible child abuse. A quality childcare program should provide all of their staff and volunteers vital information and training to assist them in the prevention and response to child abuse. The program should make all parents aware of these policies and processes as well as having parents sign off that they are aware of those policies.These are just a few things that you should be looking for when you are searching for a quality childcare program. Many parents are so focused on what kind of curriculum a program uses that they tend to overlook some vital areas of importance when it comes to quality childcare and safe programs. So, the next time you tour a childcare program; remember some of these key things that indicate whether or not you are evaluating a quality program.
Will That Be Leadership Or Management Development? Integrating the Right Hand With the Left Hand
IntroductionDuring the 1990s, the topic of leadership took on new meaning and interest in organizations. As with many business fads (e.g. total quality management, business process reengineering, and knowledge management), the numbers of articles and books on leadership exploded to serve the insatiable appetites of business people, HR practitioners, and the public in general. Interest in the field of management diminished, while people explored such topics as spiritual leadership; the learning organization concept and its implications for shared leadership; women as leaders; lessons from such notable individuals as Gandhi, Thatcher and Churchill; and Native teachings.While the plethora of new books and articles on leadership has contributed in an important way to raising the level of awareness and understanding on the subject, it has also created confusion, and perhaps more importantly, relegated management as a discipline to the back burner. It is only in the past decade where some prominent thinkers and writers have begun to stress the importance of management practices in organizations and the need to integrate this discipline with that of leadership development. While the two are distinct, they are nevertheless interrelated.In a period of discontinuous change (that change is not smooth but rather comes in unpredictable bursts), the interlinking of management and leadership development is extremely important. No longer can organizations afford to address the two fields as separate silos. Instead, a systems approach is required to ensure that an organization’s managers develop good management practices and solid leadership abilities. Combined, the two fields will ensure that those in management positions are able to deal with discontinuous change, and that their staff possess the necessary competencies to learn continuously, explore opportunities, innovate, and serve clients to the highest degree possible.The QuestionBefore an organization jumps into developing a management and leadership development model, it is essential that the question be asked: who is a leader in the organization? Is leadership specific to management positions? If so, then leadership is positional in the organizational hierarchy. Or is leadership seen by senior management as being more inclusive, in which employees throughout the organization are encouraged to develop their leadership abilities?This is a key question to pose because it creates a common vocabulary and set of expectations in an organization. From this will emerge a culture that is defined on how leadership is perceived and practiced.The issue of leadership versus management development becomes a moot point if leadership in an organization is defined as being the domain of management. As we will see below, approaching the two fields as separate entities only further deepens the rift between them, contributing to misunderstandings throughout an organization, the ineffective use of training funds, and limited progress in creating effective managerial leaders.If an organization chooses the path of participative leadership, as it recreates its corporate culture, the challenge will be how to create a model that reflects both management and leadership development. For employees in management positions, there is a rapidly growing need to have an approach (or program) that embraces both management and leadership competencies. For aspiring managers, these employees need to be factored into the process. The urgency for this is rising as the existing management cadre begins to retire in large numbers over the next few years. Those seeking to move into management are the succession pool, and hence require sustained attention in terms of their developmental needs.For employees who do not aspire to be managers, or who will not progress to this level, the added challenge is how to encourage their leadership development, in the context of their participating more in decision-making and in taking more initiative. This assumes that senior management wishes to support the creation of a ‘leaderful’ organization because of the benefits this would bring.The next section looks at what a number of leading thinkers are saying on management and leadership.Management versus LeadershipThe relationship between leadership and management has been described by Kotter (2001) as “…two distinctive and complementary systems of action.” While each field has its own unique characteristics and functions, both are essential for managers if they are to operate successfully in complex organizations that are subject to continuous change. To focus on leadership development may produce strong leaders, but the consequence will be weak management. And the converse is true. How to combine strong leadership and strong management, so that there is balance, is the real challenge.Similarly, Drucker (1998) sees the interrelationship between the two. He does not believe that management and leadership can be separated. He states it is “…nonsense*as much nonsense as separating management from entrepreneurship. Those are part and parcel of the same job. They are different to be sure, but only as different as the right hand from the left or the nose from the mouth. They belong to the same body.”A third perspective is that of Henry Mintzberg, noted for his early empirical work on what managers do. In an interview with CBC’s Ideas in 1999, he explained that managers “…sit between their organizations and the outside world….they manage information in order to encourage people to take action.” Where does leadership fit in his perspectives on organizations? The long lists of attributes and characteristics of leaders leads Mintzberg to state: “…Superman’s abilities are modest in comparison. We list everything imaginable.” For Mintzberg, good leaders are candid, open, honest, and share information with people.From this brief review of what three leading management thinkers have expressed, one outcome facing organizations with respect to their leadership climate may be described as follows: When an individual enters an organization that is functioning well, one is able to sense it. Some call this the “smell of the place”. It becomes very apparent in this type of organizational climate that there is abundant energy present, and that this energy is focused. People enjoy going to work everyday because they understand where they fit into the organization’s vision and what their roles and responsibilities are. They are committed.This is the challenge, therefore, of weaving together the roles of management and leadership so that they form a coherent whole, with respect to how the works get done in organizations. But what can we say about the key distinctions and complementarities between management and leadership?Management & Leadership as FunctionsIncreasingly, managers must deal with complexity in their organizations and the surrounding environment. In the absence of good management practices, organizations fall into chaos, which in turn threatens their survival. Thus, one can say that management brings order to organizations and consistency to their products and services. Leadership, in contrast, involves coping with change. In a world experiencing economic and societal turbulence, this key feature of leadership is becoming increasingly valuable to organizations.These two features, coping with complexity and change, shape the functions of management and leadership. In the real world, therefore, managers have three essential tasks to perform. First, they must determine the work that needs to be done by their staff. Second, to accomplish this work people must work laterally, often forming networks. Managers are conduits to ensuring that this occurs. And third, they must ensure that the work gets done properly and on time.Management and leadership, while both addressing these tasks, approach them from different perspectives.PlanningPlanning, budgeting, and resource allocation are activities initiated through the management function in an effort to address the issue of complexity. As a management process, planning is about producing orderly results, not about change. Leadership, on the other hand, involves creating a vision to chart a course for the organization. As part of this process, strategies are developed to initiate and sustain the needed changes to stay focused on the vision. How this is done is critical to helping move an organization towards its vision.OrganizingTo reach its goals, management organizes and hires. This involves creating an organizational structure, including a set of job descriptions, that will enable the organization to achieve these goals. Through this process of organizing and staffing, management develops delegation authorities and monitoring systems. It also creates communication plans to ensure that employees understand what is taking place.But the management function needs the opposing hand of leadership to assist it, namely in aligning people. Communication becomes a critical activity here, especially in regard to ensuring that all employees understand the vision.ControllingManagement must also ensure that the plan is achieved, and it is does this through controlling and problem-solving. Monitoring plays an important role here. In contrast, leadership requires that people are motivated and inspired to work towards a vision, despite setbacks and unforeseen problems.What does this mean for Management/Leadership Development?This paper has shown that while management and leadership do indeed possess some distinct differences, there is also a complementarity that is emerging. The growth in knowledge work and the expectations of workers (e.g., Generation Y) are strongly influencing how both leadership and management are practices. Work still needs to be planned, organized, directed, coordinated, monitored, etc. But the context is changing rapidly, both from an externally driven, discontinuous change perspective, and from within – the values people possess and what motivates and inspires them.How organizations approach management and leadership development is critical to their eventual success, let alone their long-term survival. And as noted at the outset, one of the first questions that must be asked is “How do we define leadership in our organization?”ReferencesDrucker, Peter. (Sept. 1998). Feature Interview with Peter Drucker. Training & Development Magazine.
Kotter, John. (Reprint Dec. 2001) What Leaders Really Do. Harvard Business Review. pp. 85-87.
Mintzberg, Henry. In Conversation. CBC Ideas. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1999.