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

1/5

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
References

October 06, 2016

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-your-cultural-fit-a-k-a-soft-skills-fora-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-big-businessworldwide-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-on-anniversary-ofbangladesh-factory-collapse-wells.html

Submitted to: Sylvia Vrh-Zoldos

3/5

Maulin Amin (300903561)

Take-home Assignment #1

Part Two

October 06, 2016

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 work-life 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 worklife 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

Part Three

October 06, 2016

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