Running head: TAKE-HOME ASSIGNMENT #1

Take-home Assignment #1
Submitted by: Maulin Amin (300903561)
Course: Business Communications 1 (SEC. 002)
Course code: BUSN732002_2016F
Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos
Date: October 06, 2016

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Maulin Amin (300903561)Take-home Assignment #1

October 06, 2016

Part One
Paraphrase
1. Olive (2016) has given an example of the Babylonian king, who, in
order to curb the rampant growth of fraudulent activities by businesses
in his empire, etched his decrees in stone. Such defaulters included
builders who used inferior quality materials while building houses,
businesses that duped one another, greedy merchants who connived in
manipulating the grain prices, and manufacturers who produced cheap
goods.
2. Walia (2014) points out that there has been a rise of competition
among businesses because of the expeditious changes taking place as
a result of the economy opening up to new possibilities. This has
enabled the private firms to be able to invest in the public sector as
well as other sectors such as banking, finance, airlines, etc.
3. Jetelina (2012) opines that credentials and technical skills have played
a huge role during the past ten years in getting skilled workers a
permanent residency status in Canada. Eventually, this has resulted in
some fields gaining more popularity over others because of the high
labour demands in those fields, and thus inadvertently resulting in
them being a favourable admission choice as those fields help workers
acquire unequivocal skills.
Complete the following sentences by using a direct quote and
providing an in-text citation.
1. David Olive (2016) argues that, even the heftiest fines are paid not by
the errant top managers, but by the stockholders, including teachers
pension plans; thus, suggesting that it negates the implications of
fines being imposed (para. 21).
2. The author highlights why little has changed in Bangladesh; the main
reason is, only about 10 per cent of the more than 4,500 garment
factories in Bangladesh have registered unions (Wells, 2016, para.
13).

Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos

2/5

Maulin Amin (300903561)Take-home Assignment #1

October 06, 2016

References
Jetelina, B. M. (2012, November 13). 9 Responses to Improve your cultural
fit, a.k.a. soft skills, for a competitive advantage. Retrieved October
03, 2016, from http://canadianimmigrant.ca/slider/improve-yourcultural-fit-a-k-a-soft-skills-for-a-competitive-advantage
Olive, D. (2016, May 20). The harm done by Big Business worldwide is epic:
Olive | Toronto Star. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/05/20/the-harm-done-by-bigbusiness-worldwide-is-epic-olive.html
Walia, P. (2014, September). Work life balance of bank employees: A
comparison (Master's thesis, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, 2014).
Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies, 5(3), 2240-0310,
80-82. Retrieved October 03, 2016 from
http://www.scholarshub.net/ijcms/vol5/issue3/Paper_12.pdf
Wells, J. (2016, April 22). Little changed on anniversary of Bangladesh factory
collapse: Wells | Toronto Star. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/04/22/little-changed-onanniversary-of-bangladesh-factory-collapse-wells.html

Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos

3/5

Maulin Amin (300903561)Take-home Assignment #1

October 06, 2016

Part Two
1. The basis of justifying the severity of work pressure could be attributed
to the following:
Extreme competition, which makes the organisations cut their
overall budget and expect an expanded amount of efficiency from
its employees.
Technological innovation, which results in erasing the line between
work and home; thus, being instrumental in businesses demanding
their employees to be available even outside the office hours.
2. The research was carried out with 176 participants, out of which, 77
were from the public sector (61% males and 39% females), whereas 69
were from the private sector (66.7% males and 33.3% females). 15
item scale developed by Hayman, based on Fishers work/personal
life balance scale was used to measure the three dimensions of worklife balance: work interference with personal life (WIPL), personal life
interference with work (PLIW) and work/personal life enhancement
(WPLE).
3. The difference of work-life balance scores between public and private
sector bank employees could be attested to the low influence of public
sector employees work-life on their private lives, the maintenance of a
proper balance between their work and personal lives, and the higher
work personal life enhancement. Shorter working hours and better
leave facilities apparently are the probable reasons behind this
disparity.
4. There is no variance in the work-life balance between males and
females because in order to earn their livelihood, both the genders lose
a significant portion of time, which they would have had invested in
doing their traditional duties; therefore, they identify with each other
and help in keeping the balance.
5. The private sector should concentrate on introducing work-life balance
programmes that bring flexible location, flexible work and leave
arrangements, and childcare arrangements to fruition. This would work
towards satiating the diverse needs of their employees and thus help
them with balancing their work equally with life. Moreover, the public
sector should also hire people for a permanent rather than a
contractual period; thus, inadvertently reducing the overall recruitment
costs associated with the process and also promoting job satisfaction
among employees.

Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos

4/5

Maulin Amin (300903561)Take-home Assignment #1

October 06, 2016

Part Three
1. A unionized worker refused to sign on a blank piece of paper when she
was being forced to do so because she had attempted to bring
together a workers union.
2. As a result of the Bangladesh factory fire, the Alliance for Bangladesh
Worker Safety and the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh were formed.
3. Bangladesh signed a Sustainability Compact with the European
Union, nevertheless, they are yet quite faraway from keeping their
promises.
4. Several factories in Bangladesh have not yet fixed their safety
problems, for example, from the factories that Accord inspected, more
than 1200 are still riddled with locked doors, absence of fire exits, etc.
5. Many large companies have produced dangerous products, in fact,
these infractions are neither small nor picaresque, but are of
perpetuating nature.
6. Even though several companies have corporate codes of conduct, they
just act as a faade to hide the companys benign attitude towards
reneging these codes.
7. South Korea official charged RBs former South Korean CEO and two
former RB senior researchers since the usage of RBs humidifier
disinfectant has resulted in 146 fatalities and numerous disabilities.
8. Having the appropriate soft skills is essential for employment success,
in fact, the significance of soft skills grows with higher job positions.
9. Many immigrants possess excellent technical skills; however, they lag
behind the Canadian population when possessing soft skills is taken
into account.
10.
Although the relative weight from technical to soft skills is about
90 to 10 in many immigrants' home countries, it not being a universal
norm is not followed in Canada, and instead a 50/50 ratio is the
common rule.

Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos

5/5