Greed and Taxation Led to the Fall of Rome

Greed and Taxation Led to the Fall of Rome Whether you prefer to say Rome fell (in 410 when Rome was sacked, or in 476 when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus), or simply morphed into the Byzantine Empire and medieval feudalism, economic policies of the emperors had a heavy impact on the lives of the citizens of Rome. Primary Source Bias Although they say history is written by the victors, sometimes its just written by the elites. This is the case with Tacitus (ca. 56 to 120) and Suetonius (ca.71 to 135), our primary literary sources on the first dozen emperors. Historian Cassius Dio, a contemporary of Emperor Commodus (Emperor from 180 to 192), was also from a senatorial family (which, then as now, meant elite). Commodus was one of the emperors who, although despised by the senatorial classes, was loved by the military and lower classes. The reason is mainly financial. Commodus taxed the senators and was generous with the others. Likewise, Nero (Emperor from 54 to 68) was popular with the lower classes, who held him in the kind of reverence reserved in modern times for Elvis Presley- complete with Nero sightings after his suicide.   Inflation Nero and other emperors debased the currency in order to supply a demand for more coins. Debasing currency means that instead of a coin having its own intrinsic value, it was now the only representative of the silver or gold it had once contained. In 14 (the year of Emperor Augustus death), the supply of Roman gold and silver amounted to $1,700,000,000. By 800, this had dwindled to $165,000. Part of the problem was that the government would not permit the melting down of gold and silver for individuals. By the time of Claudius II Gothicus (Emperor from 268 to 270), the amount of silver in a supposedly solid silver denarius was only .02 percent. This was or led to severe inflation, depending on how you define inflation. Especially luxurious emperors like Commodus, who marked the end of the period of the five good emperors, depleted the imperial coffers. By the time of his assassination, the Empire had almost no money left. The 5 Good Emperors Leading to up Commodus 96 to 98: Nerva  98 to 117: Trajan  117 to 138: Hadrian  Ã‚  138 to 161: Antoninus Pius  161 to 180: Marcus Aurelius177/180 to 192: ​Commodus Land The Roman Empire acquired money by taxation or by finding new sources of wealth, like land. However, it had reached its furthest limits by the time of the second good emperor, Trajan, during the period of the high empire (96 to 180), so land acquisition was no longer an option. As Rome lost territory, it also lost its revenue base. Romes wealth was originally in the land, but this gave way to wealth through taxation. During the expansion of Rome around the Mediterranean, tax-farming went hand-in-hand with provincial government since the provinces were taxed even when Romans proper were not. Tax farmers would bid for the chance to tax the province and would pay in advance. If they failed, they lost, with no recourse to Rome, but they generally made a profit at the hand of the peasants. The diminishing importance of tax-farming at the end of the Principate was a sign of moral progress, but also meant the government couldnt tap private corporations in the event of an emergency. The means of acquiring crucial monetary funds included debasing the silver currency (seen as preferable to increasing the rate of taxation, and common), spending reserves (depleting the imperial coffers), increasing taxes (which was not done during the period of the high empire), and confiscating the estates of the wealthy elite. Taxation could be in kind, rather than coinage, which required local bureaucracies to make efficient use of perishables, and might be expected to produce reduced revenue for the seat of the Roman Empire. Emperors deliberately overtaxed the senatorial (or ruling) class in order to render it powerless. To do this, the emperors needed a powerful set of enforcers- the imperial guard. Once the wealthy and powerful were no longer either rich or powerful, the poor had to pay the bills of the state. These bills included the payment of the imperial guard and the military troops at the empires borders. Feudalism Since the military and the imperial guard were absolutely essential, taxpayers had to be compelled to produce their pay. Workers had to be tied to their land. To escape the burden of tax, some small landowners sold themselves into slavery, since slaves didnt have to pay tax and freedom from taxes was more desirable than personal liberty. In the early days of the Roman Republic, debt-bondage (nexum) was acceptable. Nexum, Cornell argues, was better than being sold into foreign slavery or death. It is possible that centuries later, during the Empire, the same sentiments prevailed. Since the Empire wasnt making money from the slaves, Emperor Valens (ca. 368) made it illegal to sell oneself into slavery. Small landowners becoming feudal serfs is one of the several economic conditions  responsible for the fall of Rome. Resources and Further Reading Barnish, S. J. B. â€Å"A Note on the ‘Collatio Glebalis.†Ã‚  Historia: Zeitschrift Fà ¼r Alte Geschichte, vol. 38, no. 2, 1989, pp. 254-256.  JSTOR.Bartlett, Bruce. â€Å"How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome.† Cato Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1994, pp. 287-303.Cornell, Tim J. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 B.C.). Routledge, 1995.Hammond, Mason. â€Å"Economic Stagnation in the Early Roman Empire.† The Journal of Economic History, vol. 6, no. S1, 1946, pp. 63-90.Heather, Peter. Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University, 2014.Hopkins, Keith. â€Å"Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 B.C.-A.D. 400).† Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 70, Nov. 1980, pp. 101-125.Mirković Miroslava. The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom. American Philosophical Society, 1997.West, Louis C. â€Å"The Economic Collapse of the Roman Empire.†Ã‚  The Classi cal Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, 1932, pp. 96-106.  JSTOR.Wickham, Chris. â€Å"The Other Transition: From the Ancient World to Feudalism.† Past Present, vol. 103, no. 1, 1 May 1984, pp. 3-36. Woolf, Greg. â€Å"Imperialism, Empire and the Integration of the Roman Economy.† World Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 3, 1992, pp. 283-293.

Family in Europe History Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Family in Europe History - Coursework Example Sex was therefore often considered to be simply a means of producing the future workers of the farm. In order to make sure heirs would be born, premarital sex was not entirely frowned upon. If the girl became pregnant before marriage, it was proof that she was fertile and the marriage could be made official. The land had also become more productive and new industries were born, creating a need for greater numbers of workers and forcing society to be both more lenient toward unwed mothers and more accepting of their children. Although laws had been written to prevent servants and unlanded peoples from marrying, this did not prevent them from engaging in sex with desired partners, thereby producing illegitimate children who were often welcomed into the household as future workers and guarantors that the farm or the industry would thrive. Individuals in poorer households generally married for economic reasons and worked hard all day while practicing a general hands-off approach to human relationships. People in the upper classes often took on lovers to excite them sexually because they were not limited by the same economic constraints and their time was not wholly devoted to sustenance and support. The bourgeois morality that began in the eighteenth century grew out of the marriage and sexual practices of the nobility class. Because marriage was seen as more of an economic arrangement, it was generally considered unwise to hamper it with excessive love at the same time that an aesthetic appreciation for sex, with extramarital partners, was being developed. However, as industries began to move outside of the home and families began to live in closer proximity to each other, emotional attachments became stronger and the idea of marrying for love rather than money began to take precedence. Because the family no longer worked within a larger community of servants and siblings to maintain the family farm or the tradesman’s shop, they were

Engineering Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Engineering - Research Paper Example It is essential that appliances which were introduced earlier (with usage of old technologies), prevail in energy consumption distribution; see Table above. For instance, energy consumption of the light bulbs, the kettle, and the electric oven takes over than 50% of total energy consumption. Simultaneously, usage of notebook, TV, and CD/DVD player takes less than 10% of total energy consumption in the household. Then, introducing of numerous appliances with high power inputs reflects in ecology due to necessity to make more electric power stations. It is essential that energy consumption can be reduced significantly without compromising human needs. There are several means to reduce adverse effects of usage of appliances with high energy consumption. First step is in limited usage of such appliances, e.g. switching-off non used light bulbs, unplugging seldom-used appliances and chargers for cell phone and other personal gadgets, setting computer to "sleep mode" or "hibernate mode", etc. Next step is more radical. This is replacement of appliances with high power inputs by equivalent appliances with less power inputs. For instance, replacement of old CRT monitor or TV by new TFT monitor or TV panel can significantly reduce energy consumption because these appliances are often used. ... However, these appliances need for enormous power supply and engineering support of appropriate infrastructure. It is essential that appliances which were introduced earlier (with usage of old technologies), prevail in energy consumption distribution; see Table above. For instance, energy consumption of the light bulbs, the kettle, and the electric oven takes over than 50% of total energy consumption. Simultaneously, usage of notebook, TV, and CD/DVD player takes less than 10% of total energy consumption in the household. Then, introducing of numerous appliances with high power inputs reflects in ecology due to necessity to make more electric power stations. 3. How to save energy in the household It is essential that energy consumption can be reduced significantly without compromising human needs. There are several means to reduce adverse effects of usage of appliances with high energy consumption. First step is in limited usage of such appliances, e.g. switching-off non used light bulbs, unplugging seldom-used appliances and chargers for cell phone and other personal gadgets, setting computer to "sleep mode" or "hibernate mode", etc. Next step is more radical. This is replacement of appliances with high power inputs by equivalent appliances with less power inputs. For instance, replacement of old CRT monitor or TV by new TFT monitor or TV panel can significantly reduce energy consumption because these appliances are often used. Replacement of standard light bulbs (100W) by low-energy fluorescent bulbs (less than 20W) is another example of such strategy. Many of new appliances use half the energy of those from decade ago. It is necessary to note that usually new appliances ar e more ergonomic and safe. Finally, there are

The history of cremation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The history of cremation - Essay Example "With the advent of the Bronze Age -- 2500 to 1000 B.C. -- cremation history moved into the British Isles and into what is now Spain and Portugal. Cemeteries for cremation developed in Hungary and northern Italy, spreading to northern Europe and even Ireland. In the Mycenaean Age -- circa 1000 B.C. -- the history cremation became an integral part of the elaborate Grecian burial custom." (Cremation History). By the time of Homer in 800 B.C., cremation turned out to be one of the most dominant modes of disposition and it became popular for reasons of health and expedient burial of slain warriors. Cremation was widely practiced during the time of the Roman Empire, i.e. 27 B.C. to 395 A.D. and the elaborate cremation urns containing cremated remains were found from this period. During the middle ages, cremation was forbidden by law all through Europe and it was used as a means of punishment for heretics by authorities. However, there were cases of mass cremations which were performed out of necessity during the times of contagious diseases, war etc.

Organizational Behavior Study Guide Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behavior Study Guide Essay Organizational Behavior – is the understanding of how organizations work and how to have people perform efficiently. It is extracted from different areas of study, and is interested in how these fields are integrated into workplace behavior. Basic Leadership Model – knowledge of OB x behavioral skills = leadership effectiveness Organizational Behavior – 1) individual level is where members make sense of the world and derive motivation. 2) how teams function. How they deal, ethical decision making, and power politics. 3) Organizational level – how the firm is structured, selecting developing talent, creating sustaining a culture, manage change. Behavioral skills – facilitate team decision making, effective communication, effective negotiation, use power wisely, and managers organization change. Organization change over time – theories become more complex and and yet more accurate but they are harder to apply since they are all based on the situation and culture limits the applicability of these theories also. Pre 20 century – work was done from home/crafts, orgs were military and church, Adam Smith division of labor and theories of use of machinery to save labor costs. 1900 – industrialism and mass production using division of labor. 1920 – scientific management fred taylor: cult of efficiency task analysis, standardization, pay by performance, training, and systemic selection. Classical management: Henry Fayle: PODSC: planning, organizing, directing, staffing, and controlling. Unity of command: one leader, specialization: doing one activity and people got good at it so replacing was easy. Scalar chain: the yields of an output TxC input multiplied by constant. Span of control: how many subordinates under control. During this time was 5 to 7 now its over 20. 1930 Hawthorne studies by Elton mayo. Findings were that interaction in the test group had increased productivity; feelings and supervision had big effect in production. Informal groups also were formed due to interaction. 1940 –group dynamics: when teams made their own decisions they required more information to be shared with employees and yet this was complex but made them have a sense of commitment to the job. Bureaucracy with Max Weber: job descriptions, specific responsibility, written rules, right of appeal, fair and equal treatment and managing became a profession to learn. 1950- Task leaders were only concerned with accomplishing the task. Social leaders were concerned with employees. Limits to rationality suffice rather than maximize. There is a limit of how much info. You can absorb. Gordon Howell: it asked for professionalism and more scientific knowledge. 1960,1970-Systems thinking environment and organization explaining and predicting behavior. Contingency thinking variables on factors. Leadership is contingent on many factors. 1980 and now – Mckribbin porter studies asked for more communication, and social skills and cultural diversity. Leader-awareness will make a better leader. Biographical traits, personality, attitudes and values, ability influences your perception and motives. And perception and motivation influence productivity, absence, turnover, and satisfaction. When hiring: skills, attitudes and values, and personality are looked at if you fit in the organization and see how well you work in teams. People who don’t fit in will have low performance high absenteeism/turnover. Age-older people are less likely to be absent for avoidable reasons and more likely to be absent for unavoidable reasons. (such as illness). Older people have les employment opportunities. Their job provides them with higher wages and pension benefits. Productivity there is no relation with age. Positive satisfaction 60+. Gender- no gender differences and no differences in productivity. Women are more likely to be absent because of children. Marital status- in general married people are more stable, brings job to be more valuable, fewer absence and turnover rates, more satisfied. Tenure – people who have been around for a long while are likely to stay and there is decreased turnover. Tenure on previous jobs help predict employees future turnover. Promotes conveys loyalty. Extra experience leads to increased productivity. Ability – skills that individual posses. Intellectual ability: mental activities, thinking, reasoning and problem solving. Those individuals who have a high intellectual ability and work at jobs that do not challenge them become bored and lack motivation. Physical ability: require physical traits for some jobs. Emotional intelligence: self awareness becoming aware of yourself and your areas of strength. Self management working without constant supervision. Self motivated ability to persist if there is setbacks or failures, social skills the ability to deal with others and their emotions, empathy ability to sense how others are feeling. Emotional intelligence affects job performance as employees can relate to each other. Cultural Values – experiences learned that shape our behavior. High low power distance: how equal or unequal you are between others in your society, u.s is low/democratic. Uncertainity avoidance: preferring structure than unstructured. Cognitive dissoance: when there is a conflicting emotion or tension after making a decision. Refers to any incompatibility than an individual might perceive between two or more if his or her attitudes, or between his or her behavior and attitudes. Personality – heredity, environment, situations determine personality. Locus of control: the degree to which people believe they are masters of their own fate. When we succeed we take credit for it, but when we fail, we blame others. Internals: in control of our destiny and are more satisfied and fewer absences. Externals: believe their lives are controlled by outside forces higher absences and less satisfaction. Extroversion: social, assertive. Introverted: reserved, timid. Machiavellianism: pragmatic, emotional distant, ends justify means, aggressive tactics. High mach’s: less persuaded, win more, manipulate more, flourish face to face and when there’s no rules. Self esteem: more confidence, higher risk takers. Self monitoring: ability to adjust to external behavior and situations. High Self monitors: aware of outside cues, and put on faces. Perceptions-input gives meaning to surrounding. Influenced by perceiver: attitudes, motives, interests, experiences, expectations. Target: motion, size, background, similarity. Situation: time, work, social. We judge people to find a behavior based on motives and interests. Attribution Theory- Attribution theory- Tries to explain the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behavior. We attempt to determine if a given behavior is internally or externally caused. Assessed by 3 factors: Distinctiveness- whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations. Consensus- is his response unique or expected from everyone in a similar situation? Consistency- does the person respond the same way over time? Fundamental attribution error- The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the internal factors when making judgments about others’ behaviors. Self-serving bias- The tendency for individuals to atribute their own successes to internal factors and blame failures on external factors. Frequently used shortcuts in judging others: Selective perception- The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one’s interest, background, experience, and attitudes. Halo effect- the tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on a basis of a single characteristic. â€Å"he is all good and nothing bad† or vice versa. Contrast effect- Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by comparison with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristic. Ie. Someone being assessed right after an expert or someone that does a bad job will affect how you view that person. Stereotyping- Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.Profiling/Stereotyping- A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals is singed out- typically on basis of race, ethnicity- for intensive inquiry, scrutiny, or investigation.Self- fulfilling prophecy- a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception. Motivation- how much effort an individual puts forth to achieve organizational goals. Performance = motivation, ability, opportunity. Learning Theory – environment determines an individuals behavior. Law of Effect(operant conditioning, or reinforcement theory) behavior is a function of its consequences. People got to learn to behave a way to get what the want. Shaping Behavior- individuals behavior is shaped by rewarding each successive step that moves them closer to a desired response. Positive reinforcement: following a desired response with something pleasant, negative: following a response by termination or withdrawal of something unpleasant. Punishment: causing an unpleasant condition to eliminate an undesirable behavior. Extinction: eliminating any reinforcement that maintains behavior. Applied: Well pay vs sick pay, lotteries, and recognition programs. Need Theory- the individual is in control of changing behavior and not the environment. Maslows Hierarchy: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. From Low to high. 1. Physiological- food, water, shelter, bodily needs 2. Safety- protection from emotional and physical harm 3. Social- affection, belongingness, friends 4. Esteem- self respect, autonomy, recognition, attention 5. Self actualization- achieving full potential, growth As each need becomes satisfied the next need becomes dominant. A substantial satisfied need no longer motivates. High order needs: internally satisfied such as social , esteem, and self actualization. Low order needs: externally and psycho and safety needs. Extrinsic rewards such as pay tends to decrease motivation for something that was intrinsically rewarding. Extrinsic rewards given to someone performing an interesting task causes interest in the task. Two factor theory: intrinsic factors such as advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement, are related to job satisfaction and extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay, company policies, and working conditions are associated with dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors – these factors are conditions surrounding the job â€Å"low order needs† and people complain about and in order to motivate people on the job hertzburg suggests to emphasize characteristics that people find intrinsically rewarding. Equity Theory- comparison of outcomes such as rewards and promotions, to inputs such as effort, skills, experience, and knowledge to others in the organization and then respond to eliminate any inequities. Inequity (under rewarded) low performance and over rewarded performance will increase. Job enrichment (vertical)- is the vertical expansion of jobs, increasing the degree to which the worker controls the planning, execution, and evaluation of his or her work. Expanding jobs vertically gives employees the opportunities, responsibilities, and controls that were previously reserved for management. Autonomy, feed back results, feedback channel, and recognizes individuals desire to grow. Job enlargement (horizontal)- is the idea to expand jobs, more tasks to work with, broaden the job. Skill variety, task identity: seeing the job getting fully done, task significance allows employees to form natural work units where asks they perform create meaningful whole. Employee Involvement Programs- allows orgs to focus on areas their workers know best. Gives sense of belonging, power, information, attitudes/values, and rewards move down the org, allows high needs to be satisfied, becoming motivated, committed, performance up, and satisfied. Line of sight: things way too far away that decreased motivation. Expectancy Theory- belief that an employee will be motivated to exert effort when it will lead to good performance then reward and hence satisfy its goals. Developed by Victor Vroom. Expectancy (effort – performance) belief That effort will lead to good performance. Skills experience and performance clarity is satisfied. Instrumentality (performance – reward) belief that good performance will lead to desired outcomes. Valence (reward – personal goal) the degree to which org. rewards will satisfy your needs and how attractive they are intrinsic and extrinsic. Effort to perform = expectancy, instrumental, valance. Gain Sharing- a formula based on group incentive plan. Focuses on productivity cost saving rather than profits. Relies less on extrinsic factors. Gain can happen without profit. Skill based pay- pay levels are based on how many skills employees have. Technical, managerial, and social. Provides flexibility to perform diff. tasks and skills are interchangeable. Facilitates communication between people to gain better understanding of the jobs. Downside, no promotions and there are limitations to how much you can learn before you top out. Timed training rotation: periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another. When employee becomes not challenged the employee is changed to maintain motivation levels high. Trait Theory- differs leaders from non-leaders. By looking at personal qualities to traits. Works well when in no structure or ambiguous teams. Leaders are born not made. Emergence of leadership rather than the leaders effect on performance. They have to be ambitious, energy, honesty, integrity, high self monitors. However, the theory may not work because fails to clarify the importance of different traits. Not a clear cause and effect relationship. Behavior Theories- assumes that leaders can be trained and the goal here is to develop potential leaders. The problem with these theories is that effective behaviors do not generalize across situations. Ohio studies: 2 dimensions: initiating structure: extent to which a leader is likely to define goals and expectations. Leaders focus is task. Consideration: the extent to which a leader has a relation with employees, trust, respect for ideas, and feelings. The leader is people oriented and focused on the employees.

Essay --

Taylor and AJ, both now twenty years old, have known each other since they were in first grade. They spent the majority of their time during high school in a relationship with each other. In December of 2013, a year and a half out of high school, they were planning to get married until a surprise deployment was sending AJ to Afghanistan. Because time no longer allowed for a December wedding, they chose to take their vows just days before he was sent overseas. The couple made this life-long decision together, so upon AJ’s return from deployment, he would be able to arrive at an apartment that Taylor has already made a home for them. Taylor has gotten a fair amount of negative feedback about her marrying a military man at a young age from individuals who know her directly or indirectly. When asked how she feels about those comments and how, if at all, they affect her, she tells me that they have no effect on her at all. She explains that she understands that she is at a differen t level of her life than many people at her age and she just hopes that those people who are aiming negativity toward her get to one day experience the happiness that she has received from her relationship and marriage. Taylor is nothing but over joyed and happy with how her life has developed into one that she is able to share with her best friend until death do they part. Despite some of the negative comments that Taylor has experienced, the amount of support she receives from her family and other military wives and girlfriends is tremendous. She reveals to me that her mother has raised her alone and that she has been one of the most supportive people in this experience. The decisions she has made along the way to marry AJ was not revealed to have any negat... ... of our foreign affairs. It has been shown that families of service men or women begin to suffer more than in the past (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2012, p. 58). The fact that Taylor does not foresee any damages caused with her husband’s military career results in concern for her and her family’s future. The interview performed with Taylor has allowed another to see the success that young marriages and military relationships can have. Although not all relationships work out this way, it is very refreshing to see the happiness that has been brought to Taylor and AJ’s life. It was expressed that it is very difficult for Taylor to be away from AJ, but it’s all worth it because of love. One may believe that love is not always enough, but for this couple it is. They deserve all the support in the world for being so willing to be together at such a difficult time for our society.

Labor-Management Bargaining

The process of labor-management bargaining has evolved since its beginning in the early years of labor negotiations. Since the parties involved in collective bargaining are negotiating a formal contract that both are to be bound by, there are many stresses and tensions that permeate the process. Most early negotiations were filled with drama and emotionalism. The struggle has continued today to move toward a more rational process, whereby negotiations are conducted and settled on the facts and more concrete, quantitative arguments. In pursuit of this goal, there are strategies and tactics that can be utilized by both management and unionized labor in order to facilitate a more reasonable contract negotiation. The most beneficial tactics-setting reasonable goals, and researching facts-are employed before the negotiations even begin. First of all, in order to bargain better, it is important to understand just what collective bargaining is. James P. Begin and Edwin F. Beal define collective bargaining as part of an Industrial Relations System. The system of relations consists of: (1) the people who head the organizations that provide goods and services to society, (2) the people who do the work, and (3) the governmental organizations that maintain the society. â€Å"Under capitalism, workers are relatively free to sell their own labor and withhold it at will (Begin, James P., Beal, Edwin F., 3).† This forms a free-will contract in which the employer and employee must decide the terms of employment (Begin, Beal, 3). This provides the basis for the industrial relations system. Before judicial regulations were enacted as a framework for negotiations, the worker and the employer could enter into a verbal contract that would suffice. However, as workers organized themselves into formal labor organizations and elected members to represent them, more formal contracts were needed. The movement of collective bargaining toward a matter of national policy began in 1935 with the enactment of the Wagner Act. This act pronounced two basic principles: (1) employees were to be permitted to form and maintain labor unions of their own choosing without being subjected to coercion, intimidation, or discrimination by employers; and (2) employers were to be required by law to bargain collectively with labor unions designated by their employees on wages, rates of pay, hours, and other conditions of employment. The Wagner Act and others, like the Taft-Hartley Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, have provided a framework of law within which the collective bargaining process must operate. The legal regulations extend to both the procedural aspects (the manner in which collective bargaining is to be conducted) and to the substantive aspects (the types of subject concerning which collective bargaining is obligatory and which may or may not lawfully be incorporated into collective bargaining agreements). However, the substantive aspect remains relatively unrestricted by law (Torff, Selwyn H., 4-14). It is the substantive aspect that leaves collective bargaining negotiations subject to emotionalism, and illogical and irrational behavior. John Dunlop and James Healy have described four ways in which negotiations can be depicted. The first is a poker game, â€Å"with the larger pots going to those who combine deception, bluff, and luck, or the ability to come up with a strong hand.† The second is an â€Å"exercise in power politics, with the relative strengths of the parties being decisive.† The third, â€Å"a debating society, marked by both rhetoric and name calling.† Fourth and finally they noted a better way-if followed-that a negotiation can be depicted. This is a â€Å"‘rational process,' with both sides remaining completely flexible and willing to be persuaded only when all the facts have been dispassionately presented (Sloane, Arthur A.; Witney, Fred; 203).† Sloane and Witney have stated, â€Å"all of these characteristics have marked most negotiations over a period of time. The increasing maturity of collective bargaining implies enlargement of the rational process†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This rational process involves the employee, employer, and union settling on the basis of facts rather than name-calling, table pounding, and emotionalism (Sloane, Witney, 203-204). Therefore, in order for collective bargaining to become more rational, certain techniques must be employed. Edward Peters has written a guide to better negotiating titled Strategy and Tactics in Labor Negotiations. In this book he provides good strategies for obtaining a more rational negotiation. The first important step toward better bargaining is to realize the essential nature and purpose of negotiations. In a bargaining conflict, there are three main activities in which each party is involved: (1) attempt to influence each other, the employees, and public opinion by advocating the merits of their respective positions; (2) indicate strength to each other; and (3) explore the possibilities, in terms of each other's maximum and minimum expectancies, of a settlement without an economic contest, or, at worst, a contest of minimum duration (Peters, Edward, 41). Peters states that sophisticated bargainers often underestimate the importance of good preparation and presentation of their position because they feel that these are just â€Å"window dressing for the harsh realities of economic strength (Peters, 42).† It is true that economic strength is important, but a position reinforced by logic and reason can often exert a crucial influence (Peters, 42). Another step toward better negotiations is preparation and the setting of realistic goals. Peters states that â€Å"the practicality or impracticality of a collective bargaining goal is a matter of foresight, not something to be determined by hindsight (Peters, 60).† An example of this that pertains to management is that sometimes there are items that a union cannot and will not concede. If management does not prepare enough and makes the assumption that the union can and will negotiate on any proposal submitted by management, they risk the possibility of strikes. There are issues over which â€Å"a union will prefer to lose a plant in an economic contest rather than jeopardize itself with a larger group (Peters, 60).† The setting of more realistic goals by management could avoid this detrimental result. In order to set realistic goals, a criteria for realistic goals must be established. Most negotiators, according to Peters, would agree that a realistic goal, to be attained without an economic contest, must be based on the following minimum considerations: (1) has the other party the ability to concede the issue? The employer must be able to concede the issue without serious damage to operations. The union must be able to concede the issue without serious internal injury, or any danger of disintegrating as an organization, or losing out to a rival union; also without seriously impairing its external relationships in the labor movement, or with other employers; (2) are you warranted, by your strength, in setting such a goal? (3) Is your goal within the bargaining expectancy of the other party? This last point may be disregarded only if you are ready to wage an economic contest for your minimum goal (Peters, 61-62). These criteria should be fully examined before setting any goal or pressing any issue in a labor negotiation. Priorities must be established and ranked in order of impact and importance (Richardson, Reed C., 128). Even though setting realistic goals help in negotiations, a course of action must be pursued in order to obtain those goals. Prestige plays an essential role in negotiations. Prestige is an intangible quality in the sense that it is a symbol-a symbol of the potential and actual strengths of the parties in all of their relationships. Prestige reflects itself in the relationship of the parties to each other and especially to the workers in the plant. A union's basic strength lies in the support of its own membership (Peters, 85-86). Other factors that affect during negotiations are sign language, fringe issues, and negotiable factors. However, the most important tactics take place before the actual negotiations. â€Å"Negotiators who approach the bargaining table without sufficient factual ammunition to handle the growing complexities of labor relations†¦operate at a distinct disadvantage (Sloane, Witney, 213).† Most larger unions and almost all major corporations today have their own research departments to gather data and conduct surveys. Only if both parties research and establish a framework for negotiations can they successfully obtain results within their range of acceptability. With this in mind, collective bargaining can mature to its desired rationality in the management-labor relationship.