A Study on leadership and performance of khalifa company

Introduction

All businesses need leadership as an important function needed for raising the company's performance to achieve business success and organizational goals. Leadership provides the business with a vision for directing employees towards achieving competitive advantage needed for the business promotion. The current paper is discussing leadership and performance in Khalife company.

Research Objective

To reach a conclusion about the relation of leadership and performance of Khalifa company.

Literature Review

Karamat, (2013)discussed leadership as tool helps the company improve its organizational performance through skilled leaders who are able to use the company's resources, develop them and employ them to satisfy certain organizational needs involved within main goals. Sustainable competitive advantage can be reached through many leadership practices and then performance can be evaluated by leaders through performance indicators such as the company's net profit, clients' satisfaction, market reputation and costs.

According to Carter and Greer, (2013)Strategic leadership is a type of leadership followed by leaders in order to set a strategy for raising the level of performance within the organization. Strategies include certain symbolic activities  assigned to each employee by leaders to recognize best individual performance. Strategic leadership requires high efficient leaders who are characterized with having good behaviors that can influence others' performance as good behaviors reflect leaders values.

Timothy et al, (2011) discussed the styles of leadership and how choosing the appropriate style for the organization can affect the individual and organizational performance. There are many leadership styles such as the transformational and transactional leadership styles. Customer satisfaction is highly affected with the style of leadership followed by an organization as it controls the business relationships through the functions of leaders and the way they are performed with. 

According to Yun and Mulhern, (2009)a good leadership usually puts human elements at top of its priorities as employees should be understood by leaders, their wishes, desires and ambitions should be considered as this raises their morale and encourages them to work better and feel that they belong to the work which improves their performance. Customers also should be cared for within leadership plans regarding their needs, interests and inspirations.

As to Popa, (2012) change is very important for leaders as change management is a basic practice of leadership. Change is a step towards improving a company performance as it replaces old practices with new ones suitable to the new technologies and the new needs of the environment inside and outside the organization. Innovation and creativity are major requirements of change and leadership has to apply them on all its practices.

Research Philosophy

Acheampong and Mkansi, (2012) reported that research philosophy is the development of information, knowledge, background and ideas relevant to the research. Interpretivism is a research philosophy that requires the researcher to make interpretations for the study elements in order to put personal views of the researchers and implement them on the study according to the interpretation process. The researcher who uses interpretivism uses diverse approaches of criticism in order to reach reality.

Research Approach

Thomas and Bergold, (2012) referred to research approach as a group of certain steps and procedures that form a plan for a research as being based upon data gathered through research methods and analysis for this data. The plan set by the researcher identifies the approach of research. Inductive approach was chosen because it depends on observation and explanations developed by the researcher through discussing theories related to the research according to certain hypothesis to be applied at the end of the research.

Research Strategy

Jebreen, (2012) referred to a research strategy as some procedures the researcher has planned for in order to be followed to conduct the research. The inductive approach includes a research strategy that depends on surveys, questionnaires or ethnographies in order to conduct the research according to a specific methodology.

Ethical implications in this research

The current research is following research ethics such as confidentiality, reliability and privacy on high dependence on keeping all data relevant to the participants secured and not to be revealed within the research or to anyone else, participants were gently asked to do the questionnaire according to their consent and after consent. The research methodology depends on respecting the participants and their desires of hiding names and personal information from being revealed within the research. The questionnaire doesn't include any inconvenient content to the participants or any information that bears harm to the environment, laws or general morals.

Research Methodology

Research Design

Degu and Yigzaw,  (2006) asserted that the research design discusses the type of the research which could be descriptive, experimental, meta analytic or review and the research sub type such as the descriptive or the case study. The research design function is to focus on evidence from data gathered to be evaluated. Descriptive analysis is going to be used in this research. Descriptive analysis depends on statistics gathered using research methodology as data is analyzed according to the used variables. Number of cases which are valid should be known in order to provide a correct measuring.

Sampling

Samples were gathered from Alkhalifa company in Oman as the questionnaire was delivered to 23 employees in the company from different departments and in different job ranks. The questionnaire depends on questions  for four questions answered with strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree and the fourth question was an open one expressing personal opinions of the participants.

Analysis and Findings

Chart 1-4

 Answers for the first question were 15 answers strongly agree, 6 agree, 1 disagree and 1 strongly disagree with percentages 65%, 26%, 4,4% and 4,4% respectively which asserts what Karamat, (2013) confirmed about the effect of leaders on employees performance as it is clear that leaders in Khalifa company have great effect on the employees there and this is confirmed by the percentage of answers with strongly agree and agree as they both represent 91,2% from the whole answers and this doesn't mean that all employees think so as there are two answers as one strongly disagreed and another one who disagreed that leaders in Khalifa company affect employees performance.

Chart (2-4)

 The second question dealt with the degree of employees' satisfaction with the changes leaders are implementing within the company as Chart 2 shows that most participants agreed strongly that they are satisfied with leaders change as 19 person agreed strongly representing 82,6% and 6 persons agreed representing 17,4% and no one either disagreed or strongly disagreed representing zero percentages each. This confirms what Carter and Greer, (2013) stated about the strategic leadership that considers change one of its responsibilities as it is clear that leaders in Khalifa company are considering change an important part of their strategy because all employees see this.

Chart(3-4)

Chart(3-4) represents answers of participants on the third question that deals with the relationships between employees and leaders in Khalifa company as it shows that most participants agreed strongly that there are good relationships between leaders and employees in Khalifa company as 20 persons strongly agreed on that and 3 persons agreed representing 86,9% and 13,1% each respectively. This refers to what Popa, (2012) discussed regarding the relationship between leaders and employees and that it depends on deep understanding and cooperation just as leaders of Khalifa company.

Chart(4-4)

Chart(4-4) present percentages of question 4 answers which showed how leaders in Khalifa company encourage employees to do better as answers showed that they really encourage employees to do better as 18 persons strongly agreed and 5 agreed with percentages of 78,2% and 21,8% respectively. According to Yun, (2009) the employees need high encouragement from their leaders as this raises their performance and make them more enthusiastic to do better. 

Question 5

All answers affirmed that the company is following a transformational leadership style that depends on deep understanding for employees' needs and tends to achieve organizational changes which are tended to enhance employees performance as according to Sahgal and Pathak, (2007) transformational leadership affects the employees performance towards changes that are developed on the long run.

Validity and Reliability

This research was conducted on a valid sample from Khalifa company in order to measure how far they are satisfied with their leaders and the changes they are implemented to perform changes and the nature of the relationship between them and their leaders. Participants showed great responsibility in dealing with the questionnaire and they were so cooperative.

The current research depends on real questions and real answers from an organization that follows transformational leadership style and is applying changes according to the company's needs.

Motivation in the Business Organization

Introduction

Motivation is a process that depends on urging individuals to work for achieving specific goals, targets and aims through guiding them to following goal oriented behaviors. It is the factor that orients people to do effective actions through activating their different behaviors by social, biological, emotional and cognitive forces. The employee who is well motivated works hard due to the feeling of belonging to the organization and due to the feelings of appreciation and respect resulting from proper motivating techniques. Motivation is very important in business as it is considered a catalyst needed for employees in addition to owners of business because it helps them reach the business goals and reach the sought competitive advantage. Motivation is also necessary for attaining goals and setting  main purposes of the business and reach them. The main role motivation plays in business is influencing the human resources’ reactions towards raising benefits ratio for the business as it works on the physical and emotional sides of people to make them efficient in performing the tasks required for the business effectively and this returns to the business with high revenues, profits and increased productivity. Low motivation can result in slowing the work, reduced productivity, more costs and reduced profits.

Body

Major Components of Motivation

Motivation has three major components which are activation, intensity and persistence. Activation is important as it is the tool that initiates behaviors needed for the work, intensity is a factor that pursues goals set by managers and owners of the business and persistence is the effort exerted continuously to achieve those goals in spite of facing any obstacles as its main purpose is fighting those obstacles and reducing costs that they may cause. 

Types of Motivation

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is a type of motivation which reflects the inner motivation stimuli that an individual has and that they come from inside and from his desires to achieve the better for the work, the employee whose motivation is intrinsic has beliefs in achieving the best for the business.  
Extrinsic motivation means that the stimuli of the person’s motivation comes from outside as the employee whose motivation is intrinsic has main targets from working hard such as having a reward, promotion or bonus but the enjoyment with the work itself is not included within this type of motivation.

Incentive

Incentive motivation is including monetary and non monetary rewards and recognition. When incentive motivation is applied in business organizations, employees find it more interesting to provide the business with all what it needs of goal achievement as bonuses and promotion systems work as goals to be reached by employees themselves.

Fear Motivation

Consequences and results are the main bases that fear motivation is based on as when the business organization fails in motivating its employees, fear motivation is used as when employees fear punishment and negative consequences when work is not properly done, they work harder to avoid such punishment and potential penalties. (Olsson, 2008)

Characteristics of Motivation

1. Motivation is a psychological concept

Motivating employees or any other individuals depend on the fact that anybody has main needs and there should be psychological; factors in meeting these needs such as motivation which should come from the inner of the individuals. Motivation includes two main desiring factors which are the fundamental needs which are represented in main needs of food, clothing, housing and so on in addition to the needs of self satisfaction such as respect, esteem, appreciation, recognition, development and promotion so motivation should be built on meeting all these needs and satisfying the individual physically and psychologically in order to reach the main goals.

2. Motivation affects the whole individual

Motivation deals with individuals as everyone represents a specific whole unit so motivating the person should target all the needs of the person and not just one need, for example, monetary recognition cannot be satisfying if applied alone without other types of non monetary recognition which proved being successful in making individuals perform better and provide their best for the place they are working in.

3. Motivation is not an ending process

Human beings are social creatures so they have continuous needs and every new day may bear new needs for the individual so motivation depends on this fact as if a specific need is well satisfied in the person, motivation should look for other needs to motivate the person towards achieving them.

4. Motivation doesn’t neglect basic needs

Motivating a person should begin with looking for the needs a person requires more than other needs because if an employee for example is in need for money, an honor certificate will not be motivating for him but on the contrary, it could frustrate him and delay his work so motivation is based on seeking the person’s basic needs and satisfying them.

5. Goals are motivators

Motivation cannot separate goals from motivators as any business has goals and employees also have their own goals that they work to achieve so motivation should be based on recognizing individuals’ own goals and the setting the work goals to achieve them as individuals’ stop being motivated after goal achievement so goals should be recognized, planned for and achieved in stages and phases.

6. Motivation is a complex phenomenon

Motivation has direct and indirect sides which could be hidden in the person’s inner soul and to motivate persons well, inner motivators should be monitored or at least sought in order to know ways to activate and motivate persons according to what is shown and hidden of motivators.

Importance of Motivation

1. Putting human resources into action

Motivation enables management of businesses to use its human resources effectively and get the best of what they can provide to the other business physical and financial resources so it turns human resources to be on action of bringing more benefits for other business resources.

2. Increasing efficiency and outputs

By making a relationship between outputs and general efficiency in work motivation  urges  individuals to be more enthusiastic to work  in order to provide better outputs  by raising the effectiveness of performance and by urging employees to be more efficient when asked to do specific tasks.

3. Achieving organizational goals

Goal directed behaviors is developed in employees through motivation as it declares the directions employees should work on and sheds the light on the basics that an individual should work for and achieve. Planning and organizing for a business should include goals of the business to achieve and should motivate employees according to these goals.

4. Developing friendly relationships

Because employees’ satisfaction is driven by motivation, an incentive plan for employees’ benefit can be made in order to initiate many things such as opportunities for promoting employees, incentives which can be either monetary or non monetary and penalties for employees who are ineffective. Managers are responsible for using motivation as a tool for building good business relationships among employees and managers and among work mates themselves as this is important in raising the business cooperation atmosphere, brings stability to work, increase levels of productivity and reducing employees’ dissatisfaction with the work.

5. Bringing stability in workforce

Motivation  can raise the sense of belonging in employees by making them feel satisfied with the work and aspiring for more rewards and honors so this reduces employees’ turnover and raises their retention and this in turn raises the stability of the work and of workforce.  (Managementstudyguide.com, 2015)

Theories of Motivation

Motivation theories depend on classifying needs so there are some theories classifying needs such as the following: (Beck, 2004)

1. Maslow

Maslow had classified needs according to his famous needs’ hierarchy that includes five basic needs which are self actualization, esteem, belongingness, safety and the physiological needs such as food, water and sex. Maslow suggests that the satisfaction of needs should begin from the end of the hierarchy as physiological needs must be first satisfied before thinking of satisfying superior needs and then motivation should target these needs at first and then upgrade to superior ones.

2. Alderfer's ERG theory

Alderfer makes a classification for needs to be of three main categories ordered according to a hierarchy as they are the growth needs, relatedness needs and the existence needs. His theory resembles that of Maslow with differences in changing the position of sex from the bottom. Satisfying higher needs are more important in this theory which means that motivation of individuals differs according to the different natures of individuals. 

3. Acquired Needs Theory (mcclellan)

This theory is stating that life experience can lead an individual to have needs acquired via experiences such as the need for having powers, the need to control, the needs for achievement and the need for promotion. Motivation should consider the changes occur in people’s needs and address them.

4. Cognitive Evaluation Theory

Cognitive evaluation theory is based on having two main motivation systems which are the intrinsic and extrinsic systems and that motivation should emerge from them. 

5. Two Factor theory (Herzberg)

This theory suggests that motivation is affected by two factors which are hygiene factors and motivators, hygiene factors refer to things which are found in the work place, for example, and of great importance to employees such as comfort seats, air conditioner and good desks and if they were removed, employees are not satisfied and motivators are things that when are present, they motivate individuals to do better as a result of their satisfaction.

6. Equity Theory

This theory suggests that the rewards should be suitable for the amount and type of work done in order to be satisfactory and there should be equity and fairness in methods used for motivating different people in one place.

7. Reinforcement Theory

This theory depends on using reinforcement in order to control certain behaviors such as positive reinforcement to reward individuals for doing good behaviors and negative reinforcement to take away a good thing as a result of doing bad behaviors. 

8. Expectancy Theory (Vroom).                                                                                                                                             

   This theory is a combination of all the previous theories as it combines equity with behavior control with other motivating elements. (Managementstudyguide.com, 2015)

Conclusion

Motivation is very important in all organizations today especially in business organizations as it is the main factor that urges individuals to work and provide the best for the business they are working in and because motivation can result in adding too much to the business of competitive advantage, profits, good reputation and having a strong human resource asset.  Human resources can be well motivated using many types of motivation such as the intrinsic and extrinsic types. Motivation has many characteristics that should be considered before motivating individuals so as to achieve the utmost benefits from motivation. Motivation is very important because of the good results it leaves on individuals and organizations where it is applied. Motivation is based on many theories such as Maslow theory and many other ones.

Recommendation and personal opinion

Regarding motivation, it is recommended that all organizations study the theories related to motivation well before applying any motivation plan and before setting goals to be achieved in the business so as to measure how far motivation can succeed and can achieve its expected results. Great organizations that use motivation according to scientific bases can achieve the best of their expected organizational goals as they measure everything before applying motivation plans which can result in having great profits and spending the least expenses on motivation plans. My personal opinion is that before beginning motivating individuals, studying their natures, discussing their needs and recognizing their dreams and desires will help too much in choosing the right proper way to motivate them. I think that companies or business entities that neglect motivation face many turnovers and cannot retain their employees who seek other places where they can find appreciation and satisfaction so the most important thing to urge employees to bring success to the organization is motivating them properly and choosing the best ways to motivate employees according to a pre set research about the real needs and desires of those individuals as motivation is a tool for investing in any organization human resource.

Improving the Work Environment to Reach Competitive Advantage

Introduction

Work environment is among the major factors that control the organizational growth and affect it as it can work for the welfare of the business organization and help it reach the required competitive advantage or on the contrary, it can reduce the level of success a business organization has and decrease its opportunities in reaching competitive advantage; this depends on the nature and the impact of the work environment.

Many authors discussed the relationship between the work environment of the business organization and its competitive advantage as many of them have found that improving the work environment can help the organization reach competitive advantage. Claretha, (2012) related employees performance to the nature of the work environment and she also referred to the culture and strategy of the organization as factors that affect the work environment and affect its ability to lead to competitive advantage. This can be well investigated according to the critical analysis in this research.  

The current research paper is critically analyzing a very important matter for any business organization which can be summarized in the question:"How can the work environment be improved to help business organizations reach competitive advantage?" This question can be answered through some objectives as analyzing the role of leadership in forming a positive work environment, discussing employees' engagement, identifying the organizational strategy, investigating the factors that form a better work environment and understanding the methodology of using the organization's human resources as tools for bringing in competitive advantage when they are in an improved work environment.

Literature Review

According to Wiskow, Albreht and Pietro, (2010), positive supportive work environment can be gained via positive leaders who are able to improve the work environment till it can be suitable for providing better results that can tell the organization has reached competitive advantage, this point of view can be regarded by  Bill and Flint, (2011) who asserted on the role of the leaders in ensuring an attractive work environment for employees by making strong relationships with them built on trust and understanding as well as communication as this raises their morale and job satisfaction and create a communicative work environment that leads employees to reach high work performance which is a main path for competitive advantage. This view is largely true but needs more explaining for the leaders' role. According to Madu, (2015), leaders can work as motivators within the organization and their motivation should be built upon the organization's culture which he defined as the values, behaviors and sociology of the organization and individuals. This is a good opinion because by following this, the leader can create the suitable climate for competitive advantage as when he understands the organizational culture; he can work hard for improving the work environment with what individuals need as well as what makes them achieve the goals of the organization to reach success and competitive advantage. Some authors reported that leadership role in improving the work environment is represented in the way they manage the business organization and push employees towards working hard and exerting their efforts to achieve competitive advantage such as Barney, (1991) as he sees that human resources are a basic capital for the business and managers should work hard to invest in this capital; he is true in considering the human resources are a capital that should be invested in to achieve competitive advantage but he has to be deeper in his regard to the management role in motivating the employees as they shouldn't be included with other resources of the company, they need to be regarded and dealt with specifically in order to be well allocated for bringing competitive advantage. It is better to invest in human resources via leaders or managers according to what Garmise, (2014) reported as he confirmed that leaders should build the workforce and then to invest in them and this can be achieved through providing them with the work environment that includes all they need of means of comfort, training opportunities, mutual understanding, communication and respect in addition to appraisal and motivation strategies.

According to Young et al, (2011), improving the work environment includes employees' engagement which raises employees' value proposition and helps employees provide high quality work which raises the general effectiveness of the organization; this view is good but it was completed by the views of Lokwood, (2007) as she added that work environments should be improved to be boundaryless in order to achieve competitive advantage and this means that the work environment should be enhanced with a wide variety of abilities and possibilities that can attract, employ and retain talents who can be engaged easily in the organization and work as a part that belongs to it. Kaliannan and Adjovu, (2014) discussed how employees can be engaged to provide the organization with success as they asserted the need for a developed work environment that uses the latest training methods for making employees coping for the latest world technologies and updates of the industry the organization belongs to as when employees are engaged in such a competitive work environment, they can perform better and competitive advantage will be the result of their performance. Many views also added that there is a big role for the organization's strategy in improving the work environment to reach competitive advantage; Reeves and Deimler, (2011) discussed an important relevant point which is improving the work environment according to the latest business trends globally as neglecting these global changes in the work environment is what creates a gap between performance and competitive advantage which may turn to be impossible with a retarded work environment, they added that the organization's strategy should include reaching sustainable competitive advantage and plan for reaching it via the organization's environment and human resources. This view is very strong and provides a clear understanding for using the business's strategy in reaching competitive advantage.

According to Ram, Bhargavi and Prabhakar, (2011) , better work environment can be got by developing the current business environment and improving it to be satisfying and supporting for all employees in addition to its proper usage of the business different resources and the right distribution for workload on individuals which creates an atmosphere of satisfaction and co-operation, a good work environment provides its employees with the chance to improve themselves and their abilities with additional advanced skills such as language usage, information technology using and having strong capabilities related to the industry. This view was asserted by Patrick and Kumar, (2014)who referred to how to manage the diversity of the workplace and turn it to be a factor for bringing competitive advantage and not to cause problems; they explained how to create a positive work environment through managing diversity in the work place, this was a good step towards improving the work environment as according to Green et al, (2012), many work problems usually occur as a result of misunderstanding but diversity management can ensure respect, understanding among employees and high efficient work as diversity management can ensure effective team work, high levels of communication and accepting others' ideas which encourages innovation and creativity that are necessary to reach the competitive advantage.

According to Dobre, (2013) human resources can provide the best they can and more than expected when they work at an improved work environment, this improvement can be via many way such as making the work environment a more collaborative one. Heerwagen et al, (2004) referred to the collaborative work environment that contains knowledge workers who work in interactive group works rather than working individually as this raises the work effectiveness and leads to better results regarding reaching competitive advantage. Other authors such as Ajla, (2012) who added that human resources should have workspace satisfaction which he focused very different from job satisfaction as this means the human resources are satisfied with the work environment and he referred to many factors that should be regarded in the work environment such as giving interest to the physical, psychological and physiological health of the human resources, this view can also be seen in a study by Dieleman and Harnmeijer, (2006)who has a different view that relates high performance that leads to competitive advantage to the health of employees as he mentioned that raising the level of human resources' health care within the work environment can retain them and job satisfaction which are two conditions needed for maintain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is as Rumelt and Kunin, (2003) referred To, reaching the competitive value of the industry in the market and being unique among competitors in addition to getting high profitability and productivity, this level of excellence can be reached when employees are working for achieving it as a main goal and this can never be done when they are in a poor work environment. Jassim, (2015) stated that reward and recognition can be basics of any work environment that can lead employees to achieve competitive advantage as when the employees are well recognized and rewarded for their effective work, this view was also confirmed by Willingham, (2014) who asserted that to improve the work environment, it is important to keep it healthy by many things such as employees' recognition and reward which are basic motivators but he added that promotion is also a motivator that can ensure a healthy work environment that can lead employees to work for achieving competitive advantage. Forastieri, (1991) referred to another important element that should be focused on when the business organization tends to improve its work environment which is ensuring safety measurements as he focused on the importance of continuous checking for safety measurements in the work environment in order to ensure the physical comfort that can help employees work better and take the organization to better market competitive advantage. This is very important but the psychological safety is also important to be ensured within the work environment because physical safety isn't enough to ensure real high working performance, this can be seen in the views of Chevalier, (2007) who focused in his book on the sustained high working performance and how to attain it via the improved work environment that gives much interest to the individual and his psychological needs such as appraisal, recognition, respect, understanding and promotion, he also referred to the importance of selection for talents when the organization recruits new employees as any organization that seeks competitive advantage and tries to improve its work environment should care for selection because selection can bring the talents that can provide the organization with creative and innovative ideas and that can add efficiency to the work environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to refer to the importance of having a work environment that can help the organization to reach competitive advantage and that there are many features that should be found in such a work environment. To improve the work environment, it is necessary to focus on the role of positive leaders in ensuring a positive work environment where employees have raised morale and job satisfaction due to a communicative work environment where they can express their needs and suggest their creative ideas. Human resources are a basic capital that needs to be invested in by supporting them with a work environment that is safe and comfortable and that provides them with opportunities for promotion and recognition. Human resources are the basic tools for achieving the competitive advantage to the business organization so they need to be well selected and motivated in addition to retain them in order to have the potential enthusiasm that makes them wok for reaching competitive advantage. Any organization that seeks competitive advantage, is recommended to improve its work environment to urge employees to perform better and reach high working performance, this work environment should be physically and psychologically safe which means to provide them with the physical comfort and the elements of psychological safety such as recognition, promotion and mutual understanding in addition to assure group work and cooperation within the work environment. Improving the work environment should be sustained by the continuous check for the elements that ensure a safe collaborative supportive work environment.

The Development of Commercial Banking in India

Introduction

The modern economic world considers banking systems as very important factors in business, industries and trade. It is also considered as a commercial agency. There is a new region of modern banking that emerged as a result of the Industrial Revolution as a need for the new economic society and to help promote the economy of countries. Countries have been giving much interest to banking development by enhancing their banks with new technologies, services, online services and by having a diversity of banking such as commercial banking and specialized banking such as Islamic banking and housing banking. Modern trends have been used to develop banking industry all over the world. Societies changed a lot recently which resulted in new needs for individuals regarding banking transactions and services which made it urgent to develop the banking industry to cope with the information technologies in everything. Countries that sought competitive advantage in the banking industry tended to develop the services of banks and to make a diversity of banks that can satisfy the needs of all social scales. Banking systems have changed to cope with technologies and facilitate banking delivery processes. The current assignment is discussing banking development through a country which is considered a leading country in banks development. This country is India. India has changed a lot of its banking industry strategies by expanding the base of its commercial banks and having many specialized banks. The assignment provides a background of the Indian commercial banking, a critical discussion for the development of Indian commercial banking and the development of its specialized banking. (Rao, 2007)

The Development of Commercial Banking in India

A commercial bank is very essential in the banking industry of any country as it provides capital and other needs for businessmen so that trade, agriculture and other industries can be developed. A commercial bank helps in the development of foreign trade, money transfer and production support. The commercial banking sector in India witnessed reforms that occurred in two phases, the first phase followed the Report of the Committee on Financial System, 1992 and it was concentrating on strengthening measures as well as enabling them. This phase witnessed developments such as: adopting new agricultural technology known as the green revolution and nationalizing 14 commercial banks in 1969 and another 6 banks in 1980. Agricultural credit and rural credit were reformed by using a Multi Agency Approach (MMA) and then agricultural finance was well helped by commercial banks. This period witnessed establishing of two new institutions which were the farmers' service society and the regional rural banks. Reforms witnessed a second phase that was following the Committee on Banking Sector Reforms recommendations in 1998 as this phase stressed on aligning the Indian standards with the international best practices through improving transparency levels and improving disclosure standards as well. This followed the banks nationalization phase in 1969 during the last decades, specifically the last four decades. India has a commercial banking system that developed to be branched to two main parts; scheduled banks and non scheduled banks. Scheduled banks include scheduled cooperative banks and scheduled commercial banks which include four types of banks which are :Public sector banks such as SBI state bank of India, private sector banks which turned to be old ones and new ones which mean those banks established after 1991, foreign banks in India and the regional rural banks that refer to the banks that help farmers in rural areas by credits and other aids. The mentioned Indian banks are under the Companies Act except the foreign banks. The scheduled banks mean the banks registered under the Second Schedule of the Banking Regulation Act of 1965 under the conditions of : having a capital which is paid up and less than 500,000 Rs of reserves, satisfying the Reserve Bank of India. (Nandy, 2010) The development of commercial banks of India included developing human resource and its management so as to promote the banking industry to reach best levels of services. India has a changing economic scenario which forces banking systems to cope with it by being supported with strong bases of human resources especially in commercial banks as they need an environment of service oriented business which in turn need good bases of business human resources, well trained employees, good business environment and a good working environment with employees who really belong to the business. (Rohmetra, 1998)

The Development of Specialized Banking in India

Specialized banks of India are various are of all types of financial institutions. These institutions are providing various financial services according to the specialty of the bank. These banks provide their clients with services as well as participating in the India economic developments through many certain missions. There are some Indian financial institutions that their work is on both the central level and the state level such as : Industrial Development Bank of India, The Industrial Financial Corporation of India, ICICI and Export Import Bank of India. Specialized banks developed to meet the needs of the clients and there are some of them mainly establishes for serving clients such as institutions set for providing services for their clients in specific domains such as housing, agriculture, railway, scale business, roads, power, shipping, Islamic services and others. There are some specialized financial institutes in India that witnessed developments in guaranteeing products to export companies such as India Ltd, Export Import Bank of India and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India. There is a great growth in the Indian Banking Sector that helped the Indian society to progress and enhanced its economic growth. Rural banking in India has improved for providing poor rural societies with services and small loans and such development was under the umbrella of the Reserve Bank of India RBI.

The RBI has shared a lot in the development of India specialized banks as it prepared a panel led by Nachiket Mor as this panel had a goal of letting specialized banks be catered to low income households. Such specialized banks will provide all Indian citizens with the chance of having a bank account in 2016 in addition to facilitating payment, deposit and withdrawal operations. Among these specialized banks that the panel provides are the Payment Banks which enable small projects of low income households to be set up by the help of payment services the banks provide. (Jagranjosh, 2014)

Among the specialized banks in India is the National Housing Bank NHB which helps a lot in promoting the housing development in India. This bank witnessed great progresses and developments as since 1999, the bank has witnessed many reforms and progress as the bank is following a plan of adding new technologies and techniques for adapting commercialization as there are programs for promoting farming systems, getting experts from outside India and using advanced banking technologies to provide the best services for its clients. (agritech, 2014)

Islamic banking is a type of specialized banks that India is taking serious steps towards establishing such type there to provide the Islamic banking services for Indian citizens. This type of banks is not going to accept deposits but it will be only used for investments and this will increase the venture capital activity of banking industry in India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has already started an era of reviewing and studying setting up Islamic banks in India and its regulations as India is a country that contains many Muslims who will welcome these types of specialized banks that can provide services of Islamic banking as Murabaha and others. An internal committee has been set up by the central bank of India to discuss the matter and examine it according to everything required to achieve it. There are some countries that practice Islamic banking in the Middle East and other areas of the world and they are set following Laws of Shariah and this Indian model will be different from conventional banking in two major things which are not allowing receiving or paying interests and investment prohibition in any matter that Muslims consider sinful such as trading in alcoholic substances, making them, doing pornography or gambling activities. Islamic banks need discussing and relooking into their regulations which is very important before setting them up and this matter was revived with the new development of the Indian Central Bank which witnessed opening many differentiated banks with great diversity in specialties in India such as payment banks and smaller banks and Islamic banks as a start for a new era of banking development in India. Reforms in the Indian banking sector involved developing new types of specialized banks such as Islamic banks and others.    (firstpost, 2014)

Diversity in the Indian banking and the new developments also occurred in new private banks and also foreign banks which are also considered types of specialized banks and India is witnessing great developments in such banks as after 1993, there have been many of such banks serving many people which raised the competition among banks and in turn enhanced the Indian economic society a lot. Deregulation of interest rates for both deposits and also for advances raised the competition between the various types of specialized banks and other banks as well. Commercial banking also revived as a result of this and this also created a new space for emerging new specialized financial institutions such as mutual funds and housing financial companies and others as banks sponsor them and this began since 1996 and 1997 and developed to reach a good level today. Another type of specialized banks in India that the Indian government has stated its launching is the new Private Local Area Banks(LABs). Rural savings will be much helped by such banks as they could be easily mobilized and channeled within local areas into investments. There are set guidelines that the RBI has issued regarding establishing these banks and this was since 1996 and were approved then that seven of these LABs can be set up in the private sector. Then the RBI agreed that five LABs can be licenses in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat. The guidelines for establishing these banks that were issued by the RBI in the year 1996 provided a chance for new investments and developments of the Indian banking industry in general and in developing of specialized banks specifically and this lead to great development in Indian economy and trade.(Shodhganga, 2014)

Conclusion    

Banking industry is considered a great source of refreshing the business market in any country and this made all countries give great interest and care for developing their banking industry through developing the banking systems, banking services, updating the technologies used in these banking institutions and training their employees on using new and modern banking systems. This evolution helped both clients and banking systems and this raised the space for competition among banks which could be of any type. Commercial banks have great roles in upgrading the economic levels in any society as they can provide many services for business entities and businessmen whether for small or huge projects that help governments develop and progress. India is one of the most leading countries in developing its banking system and in creating new reforms in the old banking systems to refresh and promote its commercial life and economy. India is a country that has a good base of commercial banks in addition to the many types of specialized banks such as Housing banks and Import Export banks and others. India is thanked that it is also continuing in creating new specialized banks such as Islamic banks for example which is a matter that attracts more clients and lets more individuals share in developing the economy of India. The RBI has many good steps and participated a lot in developing Indian banking through creating many specialized banks and also developing and reforming the existed Indian banks.      

Determining of the time of Vee-Bee Consistency of a concrete mix.

AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT: Determining concrete consistency by the help of a Vee-Bee Consistometer as this identifies the needed time for the process of transforming.

THEORY

Green concrete or fresh one behavior that appears after mixing up to compaction is based on the concrete workability as this is a term that consists of four concrete partial properties which are Compactiability, Mouldability, Transportability and Mixability. This can also be explained in general way which is the workability is that factor expressing the work amount that is needed to be made for compacting the specific concrete in a certain given mould. When there is a particular mix and there should be a particular workability for it; the compaction type that is followed can identify this along with the reinforcement complicated nature related to the used reinforcement in the concrete that is reinforced. Regarding the workable mix, it mustn't segregate. Regarding the workability partial properties they can be explained as follows: Mixability: mixability is the mix's ability to produce specific concrete that is homogeneous and green made from the constituent materials. Transportability: Transportability is the concrete mix ability to keep the concrete mix that is homogenous from segregation process in the concrete transportation time that is limited  as this can occur as a result of the limited nature of handling.  Mouldability: is the fresh concrete mix's ability of complete filling of moulds and forms prepared for it keeping its homogeneity and continuity during the process of concrete placing using different techniques available for this process. Compactibility: it is the concrete mix ability for being compacted into specific dense with certain minimum void and under conditions of existence of the compaction means in the site.

It is suggested that the best mix based on the compactibility is that mix that close the voids. Regarding the workable concrete, it is that concrete which is of very low internal friction between its different particles and that is able to overcome the offered frictional resistance presented by the reinforcement or the formwork surface which are found in the concrete with a specific amount of forthcoming compacting works.

. A . KAIKADE, J. (2005).

APPARATUS: there should be the following: A pot made of metal, a vibrator table, a sheet metal cone that is open at its two ends with a high that is 30 cm and a diameter of bottom is 20 cm and a top diameter that is 10cm.  A standard iron rod that is 20 mm in the diameter and in length it is 500mm. there should be trowels and a Stop watch and at the base there should be a cylinder, there should be containers and balance as shown in figure 2.1

MATERIALS: Sample of concrete that is fresh.

EXPERIMENT METHOD: 1.Prepare the needed mix of concrete with specific proportions that are 1:2:4 for (Cement : Sand: Coarse Aggregate) for getting an amount of concrete mix of nearly 16.7 kg and 0.6 w/c ratio.

2. Place the slump cone in the consistometer cylindrical container. Fill the slump cone as being with four layers and each layer should nearly be one quarter of the cone height. Each layer should be tamp with about twenty-five strokes of the end of the tamping rod that is rounded. Distribution of the strokes is in uniformally over the cone's cross-section and for the second as well as the subsequent layers, the tamping bar has to go into the underlying layer. After tamping the top layer, use a trowel for strucking off level the concrete in order to make the cone properly filled. There should be a slump test to be performed in the consistometer sheet metal cylindrical pot.

3. The glass disc that is connected to the swivel arm has to be moved and put into the pot on the slump cone top and before the cone is gone up, the concrete cone position has to be monitored through adjusting the glass disc that is connected to the swivel arm.

4. The cone needs to be lifted up and the slump needs to be noted on the graduated rod through lowering the glass disc on the concrete cone top.

5. Then switch on the electrical vibrator and allow the concrete to go out into the pot.

6. The vibration then has to be continuous till the total concrete surface completely adheres to the glass disc, the stop watch has to be used for monitoring time needed for this process.

 7.Recording time shall be based on seconds.

DATA AND THE EXPERIMENT RESULTS: Time for remoulding completion equals 5.75 seconds

Description of workability	Vee-Bee Time (in Second)
Extremely dry	From 32 to 18
Very stiff	From 18 to 10
Stiff	From 10 to 5
Stiff plastic	From 5 to 3
Plastic	From 3 to zero
Flowing

Figure 2.3 the used data in the experiment

ρ = concrete density 2400 kg/m3

ρ =m/υ

m = ρ . υ

m = 2400× 0.00549= 13.188kilograms

The dimensions of the cone are:

 1. diameter of the bottom -20cm

2. diameter of the top-10cm

3. Height is-30cm

υ =π×30      x(R2 +Rr+r2)

         3

υ =π×30      x(102 +10x5+52)

         3

υ = 5495 cm³=5495 cm³   =0.00549 m³

  100³

25% wastage = 13.188+ 25%

=13.188+3.0825

=16.47 kilograms

* percentage :- 1:2:4 related to cement to fine agg to coarse agg 1 + 2 + 4 = 7 respectively 

*the cement = 1/7 × mass = 1/7 × 16.47 = 2.35kg

*the fine agg = 2/7 × mass = 2/7× 16.47 =4.71 kg

*the coarse agg = 4/7 × mass = 4/7 × 16.47 =9.41 kg

w/c =0.6 w = c ×0.6 = 2.35 × 0.6 = 1.4 liters.

DISCUSSION: The result gained from this experiment is 5 seconds which shows that the concrete type Stiff Plastic is that type that has the appropriate usages in proceses of construction. Cullen, D. (1998).

CONCLUSION: the current experiment shows that because results based on seconds range from zero to 35; this means that each type of concrete can be defined by time and that consistency time of concrete is very important to identify the Vee-Bee consistency time of the concrete mix.

Critical Ilness

It is very difficult for a patient to have a critical illness as this case affects the patient's family because their well being and their quality of life differ when having a critical illness patient. The sudden occurrence of the disease and its complicated requirements leave hard effects on the family members. This imposes them to be there with the patient in the critical care unit to provide help and support to the patient but the stressors they are liable to affect their stay negatively as they are not accustomed to stay in the critical care environment. (Schmidta and Azoulay 2012). According to what was confirmed by McAdamet al (2010), nurses' support is highly asked by the family members as they feel lost in the care environment and need nursing advice about the patient's condition, treatment, costs of stay and other information. Nurses have to be skillful and bearing the initiation ability to provide information and support for the family members according to the differences between each family of a specific patient in order to provide them with the holistic care through the nursing interventions in the critical care environment. Andersonet al (2008) analyzed the stressors that the patient's family members are encountered to in the critical care unit and stated that these stressors can vary from simple ones to very sever ones as, for example, decision making may bother the family members if they don’t have enough information about the patient's case so when the patient is admitted to hospital, the family should receive enough information about the patient. Stress, anxiety and panic are among the stressors that affect the family members and they can be a result of the environment of the care unit. The assignment is a presentation and a discussion for the impact left on the family members of a critical illness patient regarding their well being and quality of life and the role of the nursing staff in supporting the family members of a critical illness patient.

According to Davidson et al (2012), critical illness is a disease which is serious and it forces the patient to live a difficult life due to the conditions of the disease that requires the patient to be under control, monitoring and support from the family members and from health caregivers. Critical illness can affect the patient's health and cause cases such as coma or stroke and other cases that may lead to ending the patient's life. Such cases and disease conditions make the patient in a need for critical care that can help in improving the quality of life of the patient. Critical care was defined by Abuatiq et al (2012) to be a kind of healthcare that targets certain types of patients with critical illness or with an illness condition which is unstable and causes physiological difficulties to the patient that makes healthcare is critical too and includes continuous monitoring and observing for the patient by special care providers who understand the condition of the patient deeply and the way it is developing. The patient whose health is affected by a critical illness usually reflects the condition of the critical illness on the family members who suffer as long as the patient suffers. According to McLain and Dashiff(2008), a family is a group of related members forming a social unit with known parents who are considered the source of care. The stressors found where a critical illness patient stays can result in disturbing the patient and the family. Laveeet al (2013) defined well being as a case of illness absence and a feeling of satisfaction with life, work and health and it helps in having better social engagement and psychological stability.  

Today's life is full of stressors that affect everyone differently according to the individual's conditions and the surroundings around each person. Hickmanand Douglas (2010) referred to hospital experiences where there are lots of stressors and that these stressors increase when the patient stays long periods with the family members or some of them who are accepted to stay I the critical care unit as stressors then are reflected on the family members as well as the patient and sometimes reflected on the health caregivers themselves. Dodge et al (2012)discussed how the family members can be prone to many stressors which can take many various aspects such as the financial and economical stressors, social ones, emotional and psychological and or physical stressors; these stressors come from what may be confronted by the family members of severe experiences in the critical care unit. It is critical illness that confuses the life of the patient and the family as the patient needs the family members to stay for help and support in the hospital and this can last for long periods affecting each one's life, career and social activities in addition to the financial burdens the family affords as this may be more than their financial capabilities.  Novaes et al (2009) confirmed that the stressors the family suffers can include psychological stressors as they watch one of them in a critical health condition and in need for treatment, care and support. Another stressor is the physiological stressors that affect the body functions as a result of standing, providing help for the patient while eating or having a bath, not having good sleep and feeling pain. Leske(2008) said that the care environment itself can be a source for stressors affecting the family as it includes strong lights, strange devices' sounds, equipment for therapy uses and odors of medicines and other medical substances, there are also the emotional stressors that result from fears and decisions to be taken regarding the patient's therapy and this becomes more difficult when the family lacks proper information about the patient's condition and needs of therapy. Leske and Jiricka(2011) states that the family members endure many social stressors in their communities as they are asked to engage in the social activities and meetings while they are spending their time with the patient in hospital which makes them away from applying the social needs. Members of the family may also suffer having bad relations with the health care givers because they don't give them the needed information to help them decide about the patient's case which raises their stressful feelings and anxiety. Delva et al (2012) reported that the family of the patient usually suffers emotional stressors due to what they face of difficult family situations and less family conversations in addition to their fears towards the life of the patient and being uncertain if he or she is going to complete life or die which causes great disturbance and emotional or psychological problems to them.   

Curranet al (2006) discussed the stressors to find out that they are multi- faceted through the body, financial state, emotions and psychological state of the family members which reduces the efficiency of their daily functions and decreases the quality of life. Another study by Chien et al (2006) confirmed this because the stressors are having features that are severe and hard on anyone being in the critical care unit and are difficult to be coped with by the family members staying with the patient whose case is usually serious and may be facing the last days of life. This can affect the patient as well as the family members and cause great pain physically and psychologically. A big stressor is the family's sufferings with the financial needs of the patient as they may be unable to pay what they have to and this may cause troubles and fights among the family members especially when they are surprised with these unexpected costs. This can also make the family unable to provide the patient with the support they are staying for and this reflects on the well being of the patient also. Jee et al (2012) discussed the psychological consequences resulting from the critical care unit stressors and affecting the patient and the family members and that they can cause varied psychological problems such as depression, grief, despair, anxiety or worry feelings. When the family stays with the patient for long times that appear not to end, these psychological problems increase especially when there aren't enough and effective nursing interventions aimed at helping the family members not to be liable to have such problems and this may lead the patient to have negative health outcomes and decrease the effectiveness of therapy. Curley (2010) stated that when nurses tend to neglect their role towards the patient's family member, this will lead to all the problems the family members suffer and decrease the success chances in treating the patient or raising his quality of life and well being so the nursing interventions are very important for preventing any complications to occur to the family members due to their stay with the patient. Miles (2009) added that weak compatibility issues are usually causes by the shortage in information in addition to adding more stressors to the family members because they feel not welcomed and feel as aliens in the care environment then when they asked to provide therapeutic decisions, they don't know exactly what to do and their decisions may be wrong ones. Their weak knowledge about the patient makes them uncertain about what is good and what is bad for the patient so they can't be correct in their decisions as the case of the patient is mysterious and vague to them so their fears of death and difficulty of the patient's recovery make them hesitate regarding what steps to be taken for helping the patient. Coyne (2011) added also that the family members' dissatisfaction with the service and care provided for the patient can also affect the health care providers and let them suffering stressors which retards the case of the patient and decrease the treatment effectiveness. 

Leske and Jiricka(2009) confirmed that nurses are well acquainted with what the family members really need and that they are considered a tool of the critical care tools and that they are under pressures of psychological sufferings which may be complicated and require special dealing with them especially when they spend long time with the patient in the hospital. Nurses have to get a clear identification of the family members' requirements and needs in order to arrange them according to their importance and include them within the care plan provided to the patient because these needs may differ from a family to another according to many measurements such as the conditions of the patient and the condition of the family members themselves. This was also asserted by Warren(2014) when he mentioned that the family's most important need is having a good knowledge background about their patient's case and to be aware that the healthcare provided for the patient is well planned and is suitable for the case. The family members have to learn all about the care costs, expenses and financial requirements in order to prepare themselves and not to be surprised by such costs and this can decrease the stressors the family suffers due to financial burdens. According to Kinradeet al (2009), nurses are responsible for helping the family members psychologically in order to prevent any negative emotions from affecting them where they stay in the care environment and it is better to make them familiar with the strange devices and the medical equipment in the room to avoid their being disturbed by them or fear them. Molter (2010)added that health education is very necessary to be provided for the patient's family members in order to help them support the patient and raise his psychological and emotional status to be at its best. Chartierand Coutu-Wakulcyzk(2011) commented on the five basic needs that the family members of the patient often have and mentioned that these five needs are the need to be informed about the patient's case and the care environment components, the need for receiving organized regular nursing interventions for the patient and for the family members, the need to have some relaxing and resting time to relieve pains and sufferings, the need for psychological aid by nurses in their interventions and the need for discussions with healthcare providers about the patient's progress and recovery plan and this increases the patient's ability to receive treatment and medical examinations. Koscoand Warren(2012)referred to the needs of the patient's family to be classified into main categories such as the psychological needs, physical needs, social needs and knowledge needs and that nurses have to meet their needs through their organized interventions that should include all needs' categories as this is considered a part of treating the patient.

Hannemanand Cardin(2010) reported that the patient and the family both need to relieve stressors in order to be able to endure life in the hospital and this can happen using some strategies to relieve stressors and reduce their impact and can have stability during their stay in the critical care unit. These strategies can be applied by the health caregivers and especially nurses who should be trained to perform them well in order to help the family cope with difficult situations and hard times they suffer in the hospital. Miracle(2011) discussed how nurses can use the strategies prepared for helping the family through using behavioral strategies and cognitive strategies for managing stress and provide solutions for difficult situations for enabling the family members to have stable emotional status. Kinradeet al (2009) added that the strategies used for helping the family during the time they spend with the patient in the hospital can be categorized to four major important ones such as using newsletters as a means of providing information to the family members and communicating with the family members based on having a strong therapeutic relationship with the patient and the family members depending on exchanging information, answering questions and applying needs of them through discussing their troubles and learning all about the health history of the family in order to enable them help the patient and provide all possible aids to the healthcare staff and to the patient without being upset or nervous and having improved relations with nurses specifically and solving the emotional and psychological problems of the family through having a clear idea about their emotional sufferings and discussing them to find solutions for them. This can help them overcome any stressors they may suffer and can be as obstacles to health caregivers. Baileyet al (2010) stated that there is a successful strategy to be used to help the family members which is inviting them to spend extra time with the patient to help the patient have mind peace and be stable during the hospital stay. Azoulayet al (2011), presented a discussion for nurses' role in using the techniques that help the family members have high levels of confidence in the nursing team and all healthcare providers and a confidence in what doctors and other care providers present for the patient through the set care plans that aim at improving the status of the patient and in making the family acknowledged with what is prepared for them of means to make them cope with the care environment such as the nursing interventions prepared to provide them with information and answers for any enquiries they may have about the patient or the care environment. Ahrens et al (2012) stated that there are many ways to provide information for the family by nurses such as using leaflets and magazines and inviting the family members to be in the meetings the doctors and nurses have about the patient's condition and the care plan set for helping the patient. This helps the nursing staff get the best benefits from the family members by using them as tools to help the patient and not to disturb him. 

Conclusion

Critical illness requires many care measurements and many procedures of keeping the patient healthy through the critical periods of his life. Critical illness is dangerous that the patient needs to be staying in the hospital with the family members in many cases. This makes it important for the health caregivers to understand the needs of the family members in order to be careful while dealing with them and to apply their needs in the critical care environment. The family members may be bothered by many stressors found in the critical care unit such as their feelings towards the patient, death fears, misunderstanding of the care providers' role and the existence of many unusual devices and equipment in the care unit. The care environment can also work against the rest of the family members with the lights, sounds and disturbance effects it has so it is important to care for the family members' needs and enquiries by a skillful trained cooperative staff of nurses who provide special interventions for the family members. There are strategies that were found by researchers to be effective with the family members such as newsletters, leaflets and meetings with the family members so as to recognize what they think of, what they are in need for and what questions they need answers for. Applying the strategy of building a nurse family therapeutic relationships found to be successful in helping families of the critical illness patient cope with all stressors they find while they are staying with the patient during treatment periods. A nurse has to understand the roles and responsibilities that should be done with the patient's family in order to reach to the main goal of care which is improving the patient's condition and well being and employ the family energies to serve the healthcare staff and not to disturb them while they are doing their jobs of providing care for the patient with critical illness.