The Importance, Benefits and Issues of Budgeting

The Importance, Benefits and Issues of Budgeting Introduction This report is aimed to evaluate the importance of budgeting, analysis the benefits and problems that brought by budgeting and also discusses the behavioral aspects of budgeting. A budget is a comprehensive, formal, coordinated, detailed, quantitative plan that estimates the probable expenditures for acquiring and using financial and other resource for an organization over a specific time period (Margaret, George, 2011). Budgeting describes the overall process from preparing budget, using budgets during the business operation, and later performance evaluation. It provides us the valuable tools for planning and control of finances and affects nearly every type of organization-from governments and large corporations to small businesses-as well as families and individuals. A small business generally engages in budgeting to determine the most efficient and effective strategies for making money and expanding its asset base. Budgeting can help a company use its limited financial and human resources in a manner which best exploit existing business opportunities such production expansion and acquisition that might otherwise miss. A good and through understanding of how budgeting works is a must for ambitious business executive if he or she wants to run the business with flying colors. What is more, budgeting give access to business owners who intend to assess the managers performance during a specific time assigned. It is of great importance because the managers compensation is quite often tied with his or her performance during the time in charge. There are different kinds of budgets fall into various categories. The financial budget (Genrad, et al., 2002) includes the capital expenditure budget, which presents a companys plans for financing its operating and capital investment activities. The capital expenditure budget relates to purchases of plant, property, or equipment with a useful life of more than one year. On the other hand, the cash budget, the budgeted balance sheet, and the budgeted statement of cash flows deal with activities expected to end within the 12-month budget period. Last but not the least, companies sales departments are often responsible of making sales budget based mainly on their products selling experience last year and future economic conditions. The budget is developed within the framework of a sales forecast that shows potential sales for the industry and the companys expected sales. Benefits of Budgets With careful planning and good execution, a company can reap the benefits of having budgets in many ways, including: Communication of corporate goals Modern corporations consist of departments of different important functions. It is quite hard for the chief executive officer to convey the corporate goals to each employee very well. But on the other hand, in order for corporation to reach its best performance, it is indispensable for employees in different positions within a corporation to understand the corporate goals. The process of preparing budgets actually constructively bridges this communication gap because it engages everyone from managers to front-line staff. Quite often in practice, an CEO will hold a budgets discussion meeting that managers of various departments will come and discuss the companys whole budgets and make adjustments according to next years goal. In this way, budgeting comes a communication tool because the different departments get the chance to take part in future planning and discuss the priorities for where the money and resources should be most suitably spent and allocated. More importantly, the act of making estimates about future economic conditions and about the companys ability to respond to them, forces managers to synthesize the external economic environment with their internal goals and objectives. This whole communication process is extremely crucial given the consideration of the complexity of business in recent years. Warning of potential problems Keeping budgets and constantly comparing it with the running of the real operating acts as an early warning system of potential problems which the management people in charge can make changes before things get out of control which make the company suffer greatly in terms of money and resources. In this way, when a flag is raised, managers in charge can revise their immediate plans such as to change a product mix, revamp an advertising campaign, or borrow money to cover cash shortfalls. Coordination of different segments Having the different departments within the corporation to create budgeting together is the key to resolving the differences and conflicts between various departments when involves in money and resources handling. Often in practice, the chief executive officer asks departments of various functions to make their own department budgets first according to each departments needs and its specific goal next year. Throughout this process, each department correlates each segments goals with corporate objectives. Preparation of a budget assumes the inclusion and coordination of the activities of the various segments within a business. The budgeting process demonstrates to managers the inter-connectedness of their activities and offers them directions to follow. Evaluation of actual performance The budget provides definite objectives for evaluating performance at each level of responsibility assigned (Jan, et al., 2008). Managers in charge are able to have access to do quick and easy performance evaluations with previous established criteria. With the economic conditions rapidly changing, managers may increase activities in one area where results are well beyond their exceptions. In situation like this, budgeting maximizes the objectivity to a great extent and offers a helpful hand for managers in making sound judgments with some indicators to compare. In other situations, managers may need to refer some measurement to reorganize activities whose outcomes demonstrate a consistent pattern of inefficiency, so that they can make timely adjustments to minimize the loss that otherwise might incur. Problems of Budgets As one of the most important steps in running a successful business, there is also some problems that involves with the budgets, including: Overstating projections Companies with strong ambitious of achieving success usually tend to think that their business will do a huge amount of business in a short amount of time which sometimes could be not very realistic in practice. So in this case, they often inflate the budgeted sales figure with possibly wrong sales forecasts. The overstating sales projections resulted from over optimistic future sales predictions most of the time will lead to other financial budgets such as cash flow budget, income statement budget, and balance sheet budget not reflecting the reality. Lack of fairness in funds allocation When asked to their own budget, different departments often have a tendency to ask more than they need to provide buffer in case unforeseen things that might happen in the future, so that they will not be under budget. This tendency prevent the funds to be allocated to the companys best interest and distorts the real needs and makes the next year funds allocation somehow lack of the fairness it should have, especially for corporations which is at the growing stage when the funds is extremely precious and limited. What is worse, when it comes to the using the budgets, the majority of departments will tend to squeeze the use of the budget at the beginning of the period to save for the later use, while try everything they can to use up the rest of the budget by the end of the period. This lack of consistency in usage actually further wastes the companys resources and money, which is likely lead to inconsistency of the goods and services that the company provides. Lack of operation flexibility While sticking to the budgets provides a roadmap for the running of operation, it can hinder creativity and flexibility of the companys development (Eugene, Michael, 2010). This situation arise often enough the managers cautiously and strictly enforce the operation in accordance with the budgets and give up some opportunity that might open doors to developing innovative products and exploring new markets. This is particularly true for those giant corporations where the managers are more willing to play it safe than taste a new flavor and usually lead them to only look at an annual plan therefore may fail to take a longer term view into account. Behavioral aspects of Budgeting Budgetary control relies greatly on the individuals of a corporation. The human aspect in the budgetary system can be very complicated since the budgetary process involves relationships between different people within the corporation which includes the chief executive officer, managers and staff. Some times budgets affect peoples behaviors and vice versa. Thus the behavioral aspects of budgeting are of vital significance and consist of many different areas that high attention must be paid. First and foremost, we need to know the Factors affecting behavior of budgeting, including: Budgets perceived by employees as being too difficult In situations that lack full participation of all levels in preparing for the budgets, the employees will perceive the budgets as being too difficult to follow. In addition, the punishment that comes along from failing to meet what this budgeted has a tendency to encourage staffs attempts to beat the system. This greatly affects the employees enthusiasm for the job and can knock down their creativity and initiative which might lead to financial and nonfinancial loss for the corporation. In order to deal with this kind of situation, the managers in charge should maintain supportive and cooperative relationships with staff of all levels since it can leads to increase productivity and satisfaction which in turn can raise the working morale of staff. What is more, managers should try their best to make communication open without obstruction, which is extremely critical because the good communication in budgeting can act as a good delivery of corporate goals. Targets that do not provide any challenge In sharp contrast to the previous situation discussed just now, non-scientific and not reasonable budgeting could also result in having targets that do not provide any challenge which leads to no breakthroughs and developments. This happens more often than not when managers only emphasize on the financial goals which is quite detrimental to the realization of important non-financial goals. In order to fix this problem, managers should use the historical data as an important reference and try their best to gain a better understanding of the directions that the future economic conditions. Moreover, it is also of crucial importance for managers to identify the employees ability objectively and truly engage the staff in participation genuinely. Due to a tendency for individuals to become ego involved in decisions which they have contributed, only in this way, can the budgeted goal be set in a way that reflect the real conditions and performs guidance. Insufficient flexibility There are times when strong-minded managers strictly hold on to budgets and overlook the real actual operation performance. Confronted with this kind of situation, what a company should do is to adopt variance analysis in practice. It is encouraged for businesses regularly conduct variance analysis because this allows them to notice if financial plans are inaccurate and therefore make timely adjustments. On the other hand, if businesses fail to analyse variances on a regular basis they will not be aware of their financial performance compared to what is budgeted. Favorable variance is when revenues are greater than budgeted or costs are less than budgeted. In contrary, adverse variance is when revenues are less than budgeted or costs are greater than budgeted. By calculating variances through looking at costs and revenues, managers can make wise remedies to cope with the situation and keep the company running on the right track. Conclusion Budgeting is a very crucial process that can bring numerous benefits to the companies if be used wisely and correctly. These benefits includes: Communication of corporate goals, Warning of potential problems, Coordination of different segments, and Evaluation of actual performance. All of them will increase the managements ability to more efficiently and effectively deploy resources, and to introduce modifications to the plan in a timely manner. However, there are also problems of that might incur when the budgeting is not proper done. These problems includes: Overstating projections, Lack of fairness in funds allocation, and Lack of operation flexibility. In order to truly embrace the benefits of budgeting, managers really should study the behavioral aspects of budgeting.

How Entrepreneurship in the Hospitality?

How Entrepreneurship in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry can be a Cause of Ethical Concerns? â€Å"At a more fundamental level, it can be argued that the very nature of what some might refer to as acting in an entrepreneurial way raises ethical questions†. (Morris et al. , 2002 p 31). In many academic studies, the hospitality and tourism sector has been associated with low degree of entrepreneurial behaviour.Mentions can be made of the likes of the internationally endorsed Conrad Hilton and Thomas Cook, with the more recent innovators such as Richard Branson and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, all of whom have deeply transformed their respective sectors. However, the international tourism industry seems to be lacking entrepreneurial impulse in contrast to other sectors (Page et al. , 1999; Andriotis, 2002; Morrison & Teixeira, 2003). This short paper aims to explain the ethical issues associated with entrepreneurship and how it could concern the tourism and hospitality industry.By c ross-referencing the theories of ethics and entrepreneurship, the ethical and value dilemmas that underlie this issue will also be discussed and analysed on the macro and micro environment. This assignment will rely on case studies which will support managers in different aspects such as the identification of the stakeholders involved and its implications, and the provision of potential measures focussing on the implementation of professional judgements as part of strategic planning with the goal of redressing this issue.Conceptual and Theoretical Foundations on Entrepreneurship Ethics Ethics focusses on the self-awareness between what one represents right and wrong. It emphasises with the grounds and nature of morality, incorporating rules of conduct, moral judgements and standards (Taylor, 1975). Hunt and Vitell’s model (1993) highlights three important ethical theories and explain how personal moral codes are being influenced by deontological, theological or environmental practices.Other major macro-environmental ethical theories include stockholder, stakeholder and social contract theories (extended to Integrative Social Contracts Theory (ISCT) by Donaldson and Dunfee in1994). The Entrepreneurial Context of Ethics According to Morrison (2000a), Greenbank (2001) and Pittaway (2005), entrepreneurship is assimilated with a multi-dimensional attitude that coordinates economic and non-economic behaviours such as ideology, legitimacy, social mobility and psychological factors (McKay, 2001). Vyakarnam et al. 1997) demonstrate that small business entrepreneurship ethics could be classified under three themes; the impact of the owner’s personality on business ethics, which is leading to the conflicts of personal values, and the entrepreneurial activity itself. On a macro-economic level, it has been demonstrated that entrepreneurship is linked to distinctive challenges; emerging from industry settings. New enterprises are often subject to limited finan cial resources, recurrent over-dependence on a restricted offer, their propensity to depend on a niche consumer base, and constant environmental changes.A moderately restricted market presence, inhering small enterprises to significant demand instability, enhanced by the lack of support from distributors and suppliers, an aggressive competitor’s penetration may also impact start-ups negatively (Boyd and Gumpert, 1983). Stages of Entrepreneurship development According to extensive literature review, entrepreneurial development stages (Figure 1) have a profound impact on ethics as the company develops and grows from venture ideas to a mature organisation (Dodge, 1992). While small business entrepreneurs differed significantly from their big business counterparts, Longenecker et al. (1989) could not demonstrate one as being â€Å"more† or â€Å"less† ethically strict. Therefore, it seems that the ethical evolution of companies is inherent to a number of countering forces which depends on many factors, starting from the development stage of the company. While, limited management controls, pragmatic operational demands, and lack of public visibility associated in the creation stages may adversely impact ethical consideration, the entrepreneur’s personal beliefs and pride may encourage a higher ethical focus. Figure 1: Evolution in the ethical reference point as ventures grow (Morris et al. 2002) How the Organisational Context affect Entrepreneurship Other ethics challenges may arise from the organisational structure, relating to the stakeholder theory discussed previously. Especially, the initial stages of venture formation the founding entrepreneur is intrinsically linked to the new structure, while important stakeholders involved have often personal and social relationships with the founder. Family, friends or even employees may also be investors which will raise unique and complex ethical problems (Dees and Starr, 1992).These social t ies may also engender collusion and misconduct which may lead to conflicts and increased unethical behaviour. The Social and Economical Role of Entrepreneurship Arguably, the social and moral role of entrepreneurship in economic terms varies. While entrepreneurship views empirically as a key economic development factor; there is a divergence about the intrinsic relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development. In an environment that can be particularly challenging to entrepreneurs, institutions play an important role in fostering or discouraging entrepreneurship.Mair and Marti (2011) show that in situations where voids can be observed in functioning institutions, new ventures also play a building role by creating new networks of stakeholders, which ultimately will create emerging markets (Sarasvathy and Dew, 2005). Nevertheless, the absence of solid institutions in an environment dominated by well-established entrepreneurial networks can actually hinder the emulation o f new ventures by creating financial barriers to entry, and by diluting supplementary entrepreneurial activity (Aidis et al. , 2008).The concept of Empowerment and Social Entrepreneurship It is important to note that entrepreneurship’s role has traditionally been to empower alternative trails to achievement and/or an opt-out option to modern living (Scase, 2000). This concept introduces the concerns with pursuing lifestyle preferences where individuals align entrepreneurial activity (also called of lifestyle entrepreneurship) to fit personal goals and lifestyle (Kaplan 2003, Botlon and Thompson 2003). It is therefore reasonable to assume that this role could relate to social entrepreneurship (Bridge et al. , 2003).With a stronger focus on social development than the concept of entrepreneurship, Bystydzienski (1992) suggests that empowerment allows an individual to gain the ability to hold power to the extent of self-governing and shaping daily life. By doing so, the initiator becomes more involved in a process of social, economic, psychological and political change which represents the four underpinning theories of Scheyven’s (1999) model of empowerment. In the case of women-owned small businesses, Heyser (2006) observes that the role of women empowerment could be used as potential catalysts for more profound societal changes.Al-Dajani (2007, p. 20) defined women’s empowerment as â€Å"a continuous, on-going process entailing enhanced abilities to control choices, decisions and actions†. This definition reiterates that women empowerment could be seen as a central condition to positive change and progress within a wider community. In a more recent article, Al-Dajani & Carter (2010), advocate that the influence and respect of empowered women within the household, community and society at large is increased.In this sense, ones could assume that the need for social change could be initiated at local levels by the empowerment of women th rough entrepreneurial activities, especially in countries where the suppression of women’s involvement is largely accepted and observed. The Factors emerging from Entrepreneurship From the preceding discussion emerges the notion of an individual’s assessment of social acceptability, appeal and viability influenced by cultural attitudes and norms, socio economic factors and the relation between the entrepreneur and their host community (Jones, 2000).It is then debatable that entrepreneurs could be either seen as reactive or proactive individuals in this process. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily driven by tangible assets, such as maximisation of a return on investment, or the exploitation of marketing opportunities. The role of Industry Settings in Entrepreneurship Due to low legal and professional barriers to entry, the industry setting could be seen as the prospective ground for entrepreneurs to apply their innovative process (Morrison, 1998b; Szivas, 2001). Moreover, a local research by Nyaupane et al. 2006) found that tourism growth in the Annapurna region, an area dependant on climbing and trekking tourism, has enhanced the quality of life for the local population and has helped the revival of regional traditional culture. This was echoed by another more recent study from Walker et al. (2011), which highlights that the involvement in the production of hospitality services is particularly suitable for women in developing regions due to their limited literacy and low levels of education. Conclusion The overall findings from the case study (McMillian et al. 2011) highlight that women’s empowerment in the hospitality and tourism industry has improved their self-sufficiency and quality of life by reducing their workloads. At a more local level, the access to a wider occupational opportunities and schooling alternatives have initiated the chance for children and younger siblings to make their own life decisions. However, the gain of respect that women have secured is fundamentally linked with the increase of revenue generated though their businesses. This condition shows how crucial economic empowerment is in the overall process.Also, political empowerment of women is still problematic, especially in a larger cultural context. Although developmental efforts were initiated by national governments, gender equality progresses have yet to penetrate communities at a local level. Small family businesses facilitate the wealth creation process to rural and peripheral communities and local economies, by positively contributing to social and financial capital gain. In doing so, the sustenance of natural environments, crafts and traditions which might otherwise disappear are often regenerated. References: Al-Dajani, H. 2007), Women’s Empowerment: A Comparison Between Non-profit and For-profit Approaches in Empowering Home-based Women Producers, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 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Morrison, A. (1998b), â€Å"Small firm statistics: a hotel sector focus†, The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 132-42. Morrison, A. (2000a), â€Å"Entrepreneurship: what triggers it? †, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. No. 2, pp. 59-71. Morrison A. , (2006), â€Å"A contextualisation of Entrepreneurship†, International Journal of Entrepreneurial behaviour & Research, Vol. 12 Iss: 4 pp. 192-209 Morrison, A. and Teixeira, R. (2002), â€Å"Small hospitality firms: business performance obstacles†, paper presented at the International Small Hospitality and Tourism Firm Conference, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds. Morrison, A. and Teixeira, R. (2003), â€Å"Small firm performance in the context of agent and structure: a cross cultural comparison in the tourism accommodation sector†, in Thomas, R. Ed. ), Small Firms in Tourism: International Perspectives, Elsevier, Oxford. Nyaupane, G. , Morais, D. and Dowler, L. 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(2000), â€Å"Craft producers on the Celtic fringe: marginal lifestyles in marginal regions? †, paper presented at the 15th International Society for the Study of Marginal Regions Seminar, Newfoundland. Szivas, E. (2001), â€Å"Entrance into tourism entrepreneurship: a UK case study†, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 163-72 . Thomas, R. , Lashley, C. Rowson, B. , Xie, G. , Jameson, S. , Eaglen, A. , Lincoln, G. and Parsons, D. (2001), The National Survey of Small Tourism and Hospitality Firms: 2001, Centre for the Study of Small Tourism and Hospitality Firms, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds. Walker, S. , Valaoras, G. , Gurung, D. and Godde, P. (2001), â€Å"Women and mountain tourism: redefining the boundaries of policy and practice†, in Apostolopoulos, Y. , So? nmez, S. and Timothy, D. J. (Eds), Women as Producers and Consumers of Tourism in Developing Regions, Praeger Publishers, Westport, CT, pp. 211-34.

Tennessee Williams Research Paper

Each of these things shows a little of either Williams or someone that was important n his life. I will go in to detail on how these four aspects of â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† and how they relate to the emotions of Tennessee Williams life. The first aspect I will discuss is the Poker Game and the similarities between it and Williams. In Scott W. Griffins article â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire And Tennessee Williams' Object-Relational Conflicts† he quotes Williams â€Å"Williams once told an interviewer: ‘My work is emotionally autobiographical.It has no relationship to the actual events of my life, but it reflects the emotional currents of my life' (Contemporary Literary Criticism, 1984)† (1 12). So none of the things that actually happened in the story were based on actual events but its based on emotions he felt throughout his life. For example: The Poker game. The first few years of Williams life were nice because his father was gone for his job so he was surrounded by soft hearted woman (Edwina, his mom; Rose, his sister; Grand, his grandmother) ‘Williams remembers these days as shrouded in kindness, sensitivity, and gentleness† (Griffins 1 14).Then his father came home and it completely switched up everything, just like Stanley and the poker game. Griffins supports this in his article ‘When Cornelius came home, his explosive nature burst into the quiet, cultured serenity like Stanley poker game broke into Blanches quiet bath† (1 14). Tom L. Liverish also gives us some insight on this in his article â€Å"The Unknown Tennessee Williams† â€Å"Hard working and hard drinking, boisterous and coarse as ever, C [Cornelius] would still periodically storm the bastion of the Taking household and as quickly leave it in peace† (45).The poker night might not have been a huge similarity between his life and the play but it was an important aspect. Stanley is more important in the play as well as who he represents in Williams actual life. In the play Stanley is the antagonist and Williams does not hold back with him. He has anger problems, he is a drunk, and he is controlling of everyone around him. Stanley is just like what Williams describes his dad as in his biography all the way down to the poker nights. In his biography it say â€Å"Williams father, Cornelius Coffin Williams, was a boisterous, strong-willed man's man† (Alleviate 2).One similarity is that in the play Stanley gets mad cause Balance has moved in to the tiny apartment with him and Stella and is taking up all of Stall's attention. Griffins says â€Å"From the start of Tom's life, Cornelius was jealous of his wife's affection for their new son Cornelius had lost his own mother to tuberculosis at the age of five, and when his attention needs went unmet, he was prone to rage and physical violence' (1 15). Tennessee father isn't the only one that has similarities in traits with Stanley. Williams himself has some of the same personality traits Stanley has in the play.Especially in relationships Griffins supports this â€Å"Most of Williams legislations were fleeting and short lived. He could be the violent and sadistic Stanley, as in his relationship with Poncho y Rodriguez y Gonzales, a handsome young hotel clerk who came to New Orleans to live with him during the writing of the streetcar† (1 19). The last one and also the most complex and important one of the three is Balance. Balance is a very complex character in the play. She is secretive and doesn't want people to see her in the light or know anything about her past at Belle Reeve.She is made up of three people in Williams life: Himself, Rose and is mother. There is a lot of Williams in Balance, the main one being that she is a girl and he is a homo sexual. The next one was his promiscuity, because he lacked a real father figure he craved attention and the way he got that attention was the same way Balance got attention in the play; through short term sexual relationships. â€Å"Like Blanches, Williams promiscuity and hunger for short-term sexual partners was a prominent aspect of his life. † Williams himself said â€Å"Sexuality is an annalistic emanation, as much for the human being as the animal. He said. Animals have seasons for it. But for me, it was a round-the-calendar thing† (Williams 53). He didn't have any self-respect for himself so he tried to fill that void with sex just like Balance â€Å"he could be Balance, subjecting himself to aggressive rape and pursuing the repetitious consumption of young boys† (Griffins 1 19). His mother Edwina was also apart of Blanches character. His mom escaped the troubles of her life by creating an illusion world where nice men replaced them all. Griffins supports this â€Å"Like Balance, Edwina was a model escape artist.Her high strung, histrionic tauter had chased away many men, yet she kept herself narcissistically impervious to the injury by creating an illusion world where admiring gentlemen callers replaced any painful or unwanted realities† (1 18). The last person that helped build Blanches character is Rose. She had a mental illness when Williams was younger. Balance had her own mental fall out at the end of the play after she had been raped by Stanley and Stella wouldn't believe her. She had already started to drift from reality when she got to New Orleans in the first place.She lied so much about her life not because she didn't want people to know about it but I think more because that's how she wanted and wished it was. In the end she ended up breaking down and losing all sense Of reality somewhat like Rose did â€Å"Rose regressed into a delusional world of somatic illness and sexual immortality in her early twenties† (Liverish 247). These 3 people all have one thing in common that is so obvious in Blanches character and that is the want of a father figure. Rose, Williams, and his mother a ll just wanted attention and in the end it really messed them up.Griffins also supports this â€Å"The hunger for a father's security, strength, attention, and value that Williams made so apparent in Balance was painfully present in Rose, in Williams himself and in their mother† (1 19). In conclusion Tennessee Williams had a really hard early life and because of that hard early life the rest of his life wasn't easy either. From being homosexual, to having an abusive father and then abusing sex, drugs and alcohol. That doesn't make for a very pleasant life. And all of these things came out in the play â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire†. The first one being the poker night, then Stanley, and Balance.

Summary of The Waltz of Sociability Essay - 1139 Words

Ray Fitzsimmons Instructor: Haida Antolick ENGL 199W: Introduction to University Writing June 9, 2013 Assignment 2 – Summary of The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School Vered Amit – Talai indulges her readers with a commonly accepted phenomenon of Western civilization in which adolescents rarely transition into adulthood with their childhood friends through the experiences of a group of high school students in The Waltz of Sociability: Intimacy, Dislocation, and Friendship in a Quebec High School. It is assumed that peer relationships developed during adolescence are of considerable importance but only temporary. The social and cultural ramifications of this assumption are a recurring†¦show more content†¦In 1987/88, the year Amit-Talai conducted this research, the number of full-time students aged 15-19 in the Quebec workforce was nearing a point in which it would double the numbers recorded in 1975 (Amit-Talai 237). As the area around Royal Haven School was considered to be a â€Å"working-class district† (Amit-Talai 236) this statistic does not reflect the situation for any student body of any high school. In order to participate in social events, buy clothes, put gas in one’s car, and other activities, however; one must have some source of income. Many adolescents also used their wages in order to buy things such as books, school supplies, and other commodities â€Å"which their parents would otherwise have been hard-pressed to cover† (Amit-Talai 238). As Amit-Talai states, â€Å"the combination of full-time school and part-time work suggests that youth in an industrialized society such as Quebec, probably if anything, have less leisure time than do their counterparts in pre-industrial societies. They may even have less leisure time than their parents.† (Amit-Talai 237). Teenagers, therefore, have less free time to develop and maintain peer relationships than one would assume, granting the relationships made at the time of adolescence a much greater likelihood of