Wage systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wage systems - Essay Example Many factors can be identified as wage determinants. They can be selected in the following groups: economic, social, phycological and institutional. In this essay I will stick to the economic determinants: Measuring two-tier system and concession system using the first etalon, a company's ability to pay, I must say that these two systems have different assignation. The concession bargaining system was widely used in 1980s and trade unions often agreed with wage cuts because companies were not able to pay full wage and at the same time wanted to keep their employees, as it is written in the review of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (1997): "The concession bargaining which has occured in several years is an illustration of the recognition by both firms and unions of the link between costs, and thus prices, and output and employment" (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/60/2080431.pdf) . The concession system lost its popularity and influence in 90s when unions understood that company's were again able to pay then they did. The two-tier wage system appeared to reconcile management and employees in a struggle for higher salary, it sacrificed new employees in order to make happy experienced employees. That was done to keep anticipated productivity. "The two-tier structure permits hiring of new workers at significantly lower wages and benefits, compared to those of the regular work force. It will be worth countless millions of dollars to employers in coming years." (http://www.laboreducator.org/twotierpay.pdf) Thus companies' management benefited as wage increase was offset by rising level of productivity and at the same time newcomers didn't receive equal payments. So the concession system and the two-tier system are assigned for different situations. The concession system can help to rise general company's ability to pay", while the two-tier system is primarily designed to meet expectations of experienced employees.The willingness to pay is also an important factor for comparison of the two-tier and concession systems. "Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, there is no acceptable reason for a union to bargain concessions. In t he case of a business that is profitable, there is absolutely no reason for concession bargaining. The results of concession bargaining over the last two decades should stand as proof that concessions do not benefit workers." (http://www.ufcw.net/articles/Toolkit/concession_bargaining-01.html) The concession system doesn't enforce the willingness of a company management to pay as it put restrictions on level of wages.The two-tier system stimulates management to attract experienced employees on the company's side in the bargaining process with new employees, thus this system increases a company's the willingness to pay. Though the willingness is largely a measure of equal distribution and fair competing process in the marketplace. The concession system grants to a company a chance to determine a level of wage that will be considered fair, thus decreasing level of employees' participation in distribution of a company's income. The two-tier system controls fair distribution only for experienced workers while newcomers are treated unfairly.) Although employers have to track wage market in terms

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - Essay Example Of course, it is always possible that what is known can greatly influence the way something is perceived to such an extent that it becomes a misperception. Visual and auditory misperceptions have been studied widely in the literature, as they illustrate not only how something can be misperceived due to top-down factors but can shed some light on how perception relies on these factors also. A variety of empirical evidence will be used to evaluate the role that these top-down factors have in perception, focusing mainly on visual and auditory misperceptions. One of the most widely studied examples of the way that top-down factors have a role in misperceptions are illusions. Optical illusions are often used as fun examples of how the mind can trick us, but they also have a huge role in cognitive psychology. Illusions are good because they show how the mind follows certain rules and places certain constraints on perception, and how top-down factors cause the brain to have a bias towards p erceiving certain things (Eysenck & Keane, 2005). In everyday life, these are usually correct and can help us to identify objects that have never been perceived before accurately and simply. Without these rules, there would be no perception in the sense we understand today. However, when these rules are applied in a different sense to that which they would usually be employed misperception or illusion results. Misperceptions can be found within all sensory systems, although visual and auditory are the most researched and understood. Sometimes, a healthy individual can briefly mistake one object that is known for another. The research by Summerfield, Egner, Mangels & Hirsch (2006) investigates the reaction of the brain during these occasions using functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand the neuroscience behind this. The interesting part of this research is that Summerfield et al (2006) manipulated images of houses and faces to such an extent that they could be realistical ly mistaken for the other. This may seem ridiculous, as houses and faces are two very different structures that could not easily be mistaken for each other in reality. This is an example of a top-down factor; we think that it would be impossible to mistake a house for a face (or vice versa) because of the rules and regulations put in place in the way that objects are perceived. However, this research showed that at a certain level of degradation, this misperception can easily occur. This misperception occurs even in psychologically normal patients. Top-down factors associate some areas of the image with a house or a face and the medio-frontal and right parietal regions of the brain make assumptions based upon what is already known and help the individual perceive. Faces themselves are also victim to visual misperception. Research by Leopold, Rhodes, Muller and Jeffery (2005) has shown that top-down factors can lead to perceived identity and expression. In this case, what is known ab out individuals that are familiar is applied to individuals that are not, and thus misperceptions occur. The brain here is suggesting that someone with similar visual appearance to an individual must be that individual. Again, this is an example