https://www.echeat.com/ 1. CMI ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY TITLE: RAMPTON HOSPITAL 2.TABLE OF CONTENTS (THIS INFORMATION IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE WORD COUNT) Slide number Slide title 6 Introduction to Rampton Hospital and Its Challenges 8 Environment Analysis 10 Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion –Why It Matters 12 EDI as an Enabler of Performance 14 Leadership Styles in Rampton Hospital 16 Impact of Leadership on EDI 18 Proposed Strategies for EDI 20 Metrics to Measure EDI Impact 22 Conclusion 24 Task 2 Briefing Notes 34 Reflection on Professional Area from CMI Code of Conduct and Practice 3. SLIDE 1:INTRODUCTION TO RAMPTON HOSPITAL AND ITS CHALLENGES • Rampton Hospital: A high-security psychiatric facility in the UK. • Provides care for individuals with severe mental health conditions, including those with learning disabilities and personality disorders. • High levels of patient and staff diversity due to the complex and varied needs of its population. • Current challenges: Limited recognition of staff efforts, poor change management, high stress levels, and low trust in senior leadership 4. NOTE FOR SLIDE 1 Rampton Hospital is one of three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England. It provides specialized treatment and care for individuals who have mental health conditions that pose a significant risk to themselves or others. These patients often require highly individualized and intensive care. However, like many healthcare organizations, Rampton faces significant challenges in fostering a truly inclusive and supportive environment for both staff and patients. Recent findings, such as staff surveys, indicate critical issues related to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). For instance, only 20% of staff feel recognized by senior management, and just 15% believe that change is well-managed within the hospital. Additionally, a staggering 90% of employees report experiencing stress at work. The importance of addressing these challenges goes beyond mere compliance with legal requirements. A strong EDI strategy is key to improving organizational culture, enhancing staff engagement, and ultimately driving better patient outcomes. Research shows that diverse and inclusive organizations perform better, as employees who feel valued and supported are more likely to be engaged, innovative, and productive (McKinsey & Company, 2020). In the context of Rampton Hospital, this can lead to more effective care delivery and improved mental health outcomes for its diverse patient population. By tackling EDI issues head-on, Rampton Hospital can transform its internal culture, boost staff morale, and enhance patient care quality. In the following slides, we will explore how the hospital can strategically approach EDI, leverage leadership to promote inclusivity, and address key barriers to fostering a truly supportive and equitable workplace 5. SLIDE 2: ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS (SWOT):Strengths: • Highly specialized psychiatric services for complex cases. • Diverse staff with specialized training in mental health 2024-10-22T01:56:53.063-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Rampton-Hospital-A-case-study-45588.aspx A critical analysis of the UK Pharmaceutical Industry and my preparedness to work as a manager in this sector The referendum result in 2016 kickstarted Brexit, where the United Kingdom (UK) exited the European Union (Blitz, 2016). Of all the industries, biopharma was expected to remain stable pro-Brexit. UK’s biopharma industry supplies 3% of the medicines in the global market and top five in research and design of life sciences (EHealth, 2016). The UK government also put in place various initiatives, such as the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021, that would spearhead innovation in healthcare post-Brexit (GlobalData Healthcare, 2021). As expected, the UK’s pharmaceutical industry has remained stable post-Brexit, compared to industries such as banking and insurance (Blitz, 2016). Regardless of how robust the pharmaceutical industry is, Brexit has consequences on the supply chain in the United Kingdom. Specifically, there are uncertainties on how to import regulations, and delays will affect UK residents’ access to medicines (Milne-Ives et al., 2020). This study examines how the UK pharmaceutical industry manages supply chain uncertainties arising from the political decision popularly known as Brexit. Brexit was a significant geopolitical event that affected all aspects of the supply chain ranging from sourcing inputs, managing assets, human resource migration, and storage of materials (PWC, 2018; Hendry et al., 2019). Our interest in the pharmaceutical industry arises because the UK government outlined science and innovation as one of the 12 ‘negotiating priorities’ of Brexit (Gov UK, 2017). Considering the impacts of Brexit on the pharmaceutical industry, it is necessary to discuss the impact of Brexit on the pharmaceutical industry and its future development. The essay will investigate the effects of Brexit on the UK pharmaceutical industry, its stakeholders, and the way the UK pharmaceutical industry makes decisions. The main challenges and solutions facing the UK Pharmaceutical Industry The pharmaceutical supply chain is likely to face many challenges following Brexit. First, the UK has relied on the EU as the leading supplier of its medicine (EMA, 2018). Leaving the union then disrupts the supply, affecting drug production, authorization, regulation, trade, health and safety monitoring, and research (Lorgelly, 2018). Specifically, the joint research and design centers between the UK and Germany have to be separated, affecting the testing and release of medicines. Instead of EMA’s usual authorization of drugs, they will undergo an additional authorization process before reaching UK markets (EMA, 2018). This additional step will increase the cost 2022-01-23T10:56:10.183-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/A-critical-analysis-of-the-UK-Pharmaceutical-Industry-and-my-preparedness-to-work-as-a-manager-in-this-sector-45540.aspx This paper is a proposal and justification of an appropriate inferential statistical technique in an attempt to solve a business problem faced by a moving company. The project analyzes two states based in the US. The moving company has been established in the US and is trying to find the best business potential state in which to move its headquarters. The analysis covers the current company’s state of residence Mississippi and the California State where it intends to shift its headquarters. The paper identifies the migration, years and population estimates from the economic research service to facilitate the research. Additionally, prediction and test inferential statistical techniques are preferred to address the business problem. Thus, simple linear regression is proposed for the prediction. Linear regression is distinguished from the t-test hypothesis testing due to its outstanding match for the business problem. Moreover, the tool has been supported by experiences and examples that prove its reliability. Keywords: inferential statistical techniques, moving company, headquarters, states, linear regression, t-test hypothesis, and proposal. Analytic Methods Proposal: Case of Moving Company An inferential statistical technique is one of the two branches of statistics. The technique uses a random sample of the population to make predictions of its properties. According to Lowry (2014), the use of inferential statistics is valuable when examination of the properties of every member of an entire population is impractical. This paper aims to select the appropriate inferential technique by proposition and support to recommend the U.S founded company to move its headquarters to the best state with significant business opportunities. The most appropriate inferential technique to address the problem of moving the company’s headquarters is a simple linear regression. Business Problem The executive leadership of a newly opened moving company in the US is faced with the challenge of deciding the best state that has significant potential business in which to move their headquarters. Therefore, the manager has asked the analyst to conduct a research process by comparing the current state of residence, Mississippi, to another state of choice, California, and make recommendations based on the findings. Data Used The data used for the research will include the population estimates for Mississippi and California states for the years between 2010 and 2017 (Economic Research Service, 2017). The data related to the Mississippi State is identified by labeling all the state’s records as ‘MR’ while those relating to California are identified by labeling the state as ‘CR.’ It 2019-02-28T05:37:08.81-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Analytic-Methods-Proposal-Case-of-Moving-Company-45480.aspx Reporting on Results of Analysis Name Institutional Affiliation Reporting on Results of Analysis Statistics are divided into inferential and descriptive statistical techniques. The two branches attain different objectives, and each serves a specific purpose. However, the two analytical techniques are used concurrently for proper data understanding and interpretation. Descriptive statistical method deals with how data is presented and collected while the inferential statistical technique involves making appropriate conclusions based on statistical analysis of descriptive statistics. Therefore, one statistical technique cannot exist without the other. The concept of inferential and descriptive statistical techniques is highly applied in businesses for problem-solving and decision making. For instance, companies apply statistical techniques when they face situations that require the selection of the best solution among alternatives. Additionally, statistical methods are used to identify and compare relationships among variables that influence decision making. This paper intends to report the results of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The paper examines migration data of Mississippi and California states to find where the headquarters of a moving company will be located. The descriptive technique has analyzed the two states using mean, percent, variance, percentile ranks, and standard deviation while the inferential technique has done it using simple linear regression. Also, the paper has identified the cautions, limitations, and generalizations experienced during the analysis. Additionally, the paper has come up with a conclusion based on the results of analyzing the two states. The results reveal that the moving company should locate its headquarters in California. An Analysis of the Business Question The executive leaders of a U.S founded company are trying to determine a state that has significant business potential in which to locate its headquarters. The major income for a moving company is transportation fees charged from customers. Thus, a change in migration rate impacts the bottom line. However, high migration rate can affect the revenue either favorably or adversely. The current state of residence for the moving company, Mississippi, has been adversely affecting incomes due to limited movement of residents. If the company was operating in a state with a large population where people constantly move in and out of surrounding towns, it would thrive. As a result, the company would generate more income and mitigate the vulnerability to the going concern. The company’s executives are concerned about the performance of the company and have addressed the issue of establishing the headquarters of the company to another state. Thus, inferential and descriptive 2019-02-28T05:22:34.43-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Reporting-on-Results-of-Analysis-45479.aspx Personal Qualities that Ensure Success in the Current Job Market Student’s Name Institutional Affiliations A Description of Today’s Job Market The modern job market is correctly described by competition. This is because the world has become a global village of qualified experts and to survive the cutthroat competition, a job seeker needs to stand out and make a lasting impression to increasingly choosy employers. An individual should possess personal qualities as well as intrapersonal competencies and thus making them an attractive employee (Jobs & Pylayev, 2014). The focus of this paper is to describe the qualities that make an individual successful in today’s competitive job market. The Qualities To be successful in today’s job market requires hard skills which are in essence the academic qualifications for the career or profession of choice. The educational system offers the right training and knowledge in a particular discipline. The attainment of a certain level of education such as Diploma qualifies an individual for a specific position. The accumulation of hard skills opens an individual to more chances in the job market and also improves their competitiveness (Jobs & Pylayev, 2014). Today’s job market is savage for the inexperienced but for the well trained, savvy individuals it is a smooth ride. Besides the academic qualifications, the job market demands a specific set of behavioral and attitudinal competencies. These qualities are necessary for an individual to remain relevant in the job market. These include a basic understanding and know-how of technology. The incorporation of technology and the internet in the modern corporate and public space has led to an increase in productivity for employees as well as companies (Half, 2018). For example, computer literacy is an added advantage for modern job seekers since most communication in the workplace is technology enabled. Technology tools such as cloud storage services are used in information storage and sharing within an organization. Another set of interpersonal skills crucial for the workplace include problem-solving skills which are a means to prepare the individual for the unexpected issues within the organization. The world is rapidly globalized and so is the workplace and for the firm to succeed the competition in the market place, the employees should be prepared to solve any unexpected contingencies (Jobs & Pylayev, 2014). Thus, to be successful, an individual should offer practical solutions to problems which are likely to be encountered in the workplace. Also, the modern workplace 2019-02-05T02:27:39.423-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/-Personal-Qualities-that-Ensure-Success-in-the-Current-Job-Market-45474.aspx Leadership Challenges Facing the Army Name Institutional Affiliation Leadership Challenges Facing the Army Over the past decades, the United States Army, the most instrumental and vital branch of our military has seen a robust growth in terms of capacity and strength. The army has been actively engaged in missions all over the world especially in volatile regions in Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia where the United States has strategic interests. Training is a core pillar in the United Army an aspect that has enabled it to operate in almost every region in the world without being limited by cultural challenges. The United States has been allocating sizable investments to offer the best training to its personnel in uniforms to maintain units that can operate in dynamic theatres involving local politics, urban warfare among others (US Department of Defense, 2014). However, over the recent past, the United States army has faced a significant challenge in leadership development. This is a current challenge facing the US army. This paper sets to discuss the challenge of leadership development currently affecting the United States Army. Leadership Development as a Challenge The United States Army Press released a statement of the current challenges facing the army and which have the potential to affect its operations in missions worldwide. Among the several challenges listed was that of developing army leadership (Bradshaw, 2018). The military and the army differ from all other institutions in the United States in many ways but most importantly its highly dynamic form of personnel management. As expected with all the branches of the military, service men and women are categorized depending on their experience in the army, accomplishments, and level of training. These ranks in the army establish what is referred to as the chain of command that allows operational efficiency through a code of discipline. The ranks allow communication to flow from senior commanders to low-level officers such as platoon members in the infantry. Although decisions are open to negotiation in most cases, orders from a senior commander are not questioned. Military ranks keep on changing at a significant rate for the army personnel. For both commissioned and noncommissioned officers, experience, for instance, results to rise in the rank of an army personnel. As an officer crosses the threshold of one rank to the next, their scope in terms of expertise, skills and responsibility increase too. Additional training and mentorship, in this case, 2018-11-12T10:12:06.79-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leadership-45457.aspx Challenges in the Business Environment Name Institutional Affiliation Challenges in the Business Environment Most businesses are conducted within the bounds of law but most important ethical considerations. The sustainability of any business or corporate depends on its approach to ethical issues. Ethical considerations related to the impact of business operations on the environment, society practices, compliance with regulatory agencies, taxation requirements, and employee welfare. However, over the past years, the ethical responsibility has expanded beyond the operations of any corporation to the mandate of its suppliers. Companies have the values and beliefs that they hold dear. These values are the basic frameworks upon which a company’s rules are founded on. Integrity and transparency among others are some of the most important values to any corporate. The supplier code of conduct is a policy document that outlines requirements to be met by all companies wishing to engage in business practices with a particular firm. Companies have incorporated changes into their supplier code of document in a bid to promote the values that are most important to them such as the employee’s welfare. As a company, I believe that one of the key factors to our enlisting in the fortune 500 is our commitment to our supplier code of conduct. Our current supplier code of conduct is the result periodic changes to accommodate emerging issues in business operations. This paper will discuss changes in the Supplier Code of conduct of Apple International Corporation and how it has changed over time drawing appropriate examples. The purpose of Apple’s supplier code of conduct is to guide our partners in their activities. As a company, we hold our suppliers and ourselves to the highest standards in regard to human rights, responsible business practices, and the safeguarding of the environment. This means going far beyond the common industry practices all in a bid to improve the lives of our suppliers’ employees. Our supplier code stipulates the protection standards for the employees which are fair working hours, nice living conditions, and safety at the workplace. Changes in Apple Supplier Code of Conduct The supplier code of conduct of Apple has and often undergoes a lot of changes and revision to cater for the most recent emerging issues in business operations. The supplier code has five essential sections which include human rights and labor, employee safety and health, the environment, and ethics (Apple Inc., 2018). The Code of Conduct is taken seriously 2018-08-05T02:38:15.61-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Challenges-in-the-Business-Environment-45445.aspx Evergreen Enhancement Case Analysis Name Institution Affiliation Date Evergreen Enhancement Case Analysis Problem Statement Richard Alpert must show great leadership as well as make a bold decision and choose Faraday for the promotion as head of the managing VP despite his slightly low 2017-10-10T03:05:13.78-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Evergreen-Enhancement-Case-Analysis-Paper-45382.aspx Evergreen Enhancement Case Analysis Name Institution Affiliation Date Evergreen Enhancement Case Analysis Problem Statement Richard Alpert must show great leadership as well as make a bold decision and choose Faraday for the promotion as head of the managing VP despite his slightly low 2017-10-10T01:45:16.197-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Evergreen-Enhancement-Case-Analysis-45381.aspx STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN ACTION Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Case study 1 – Hewlett Packard – Strategy development process 3 2.1 Strategy development process – Intended Strategy – Strengths and Weaknesses 4 2.2 Strategy development process – Emergent Strategy – Strengths and Weakness 4 2.3 Proposed strategy development process – HP 5 3.0 Case study 2 – One Sony? 6 3.1 Organisation's configuration – Structure, Systems and Strategy 6 3.2 7S McKinsey's model – One Sony? 7 3.4 Configuration dilemma – One Sony? 8 4.0 Case Study 3 Leadership and Change Management – Fiat and Chrysler 9 4.1 Change Management and its Challenges – Force Field Analysis 10 4.2 Types of Change by Sergio Machionne 10 4.3 Levers of Change 11 5.0 Conclusion 12 References List 14 1.0 Introduction The management of every company is responsible for its performance and this makes it important to strategize the management systems and to ensure that they all aim at improving the performance of the organisation. Organisations create strategy maps to help them analyse their plan for success. According to Johnston and Marshall (2016), there are many factors that are involved in the policy map whose main goal is to achieve the ultimate business goal. For instance, leadership strategies, marketing strategy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are factors that helps the business in achieving is ultimate goals. The paper views several strategic management processes and their effects on the respective businesses in the case studies. This includes strategy development process, a configuration of management processes and the leadership management strategies. The paper observes implication of the processes in strategic management and offers the best strategy developed to each case. 2.0 Case study 1 – Hewlett Packard – Strategy development process In 2012, Hewlett Packard's (HP's) profits were declining and it was losing its market share despite having a high turnover of $120 billion. The main reason that attributed the decline could be traced back to the aggravated disagreement within the board. They failed to agree on a coherent strategy that would be used to ensure that the business was run smoothly. Since 2002, the board was having disagreements with the CEOs, and they mostly leaked their discussions to the public, thus creating a perfect opportunity for competitors to outdo them. They used their political position to fire the CEOs if they failed to agree with their opinions. The board had used the company as a way to create an avenue for their recognition by reaching out to the press and this adversely affected the performance of the organisations. 2.1 Strategy development process – Intended Strategy – Strengths 2017-06-26T02:45:11.417-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Strategic-Management-in-Action-2-45356.aspx Strategic Management in Action Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Case Study 1 – Hewlett Packard – Strategy development process 3 2.1 Development of strategies in organizations 4 2.2 Strategy development process – Intended Strategy – Pros and Cons 5 2.3 Strategy development process – Emergent Strategy – Pros and Cons 6 2.4 Proposed policy development process - HP 7 3.0 Case Study 2 – One Sony 8 3.1 Organisation’s configuration – Structure, Systems, and Strategy 8 3.2 7S McKinsey’s model – One Sony? 10 3.3 Configuration dilemma – One Sony 11 4.0 Leadership and change management – Fiat and Chrysler 12 4.1 Change management and its challenges – forcefield analysis 13 4.2 Types of change by Sergio Marchionne 14 4.3 Levers of change that were implemented by Sergio 16 5.0 Conclusion 18 1.0 Introduction The management theories have been changing since the nineteenth century. New management methods are released whenever they have been proven to work. It is important that an organization develops the best management strategy and uses it. The paper discusses three case studies on different scenarios of management to determine effectiveness of management techniques on the business success. The case studies are the Organising for Success- One Sony?, Boardroom Battles at Hewlett Packard and Leadership and Strategic Change: Leading Change in Fiat and Chrysler. 2.0 Case Study 1 – Hewlett Packard – Strategy development process According to the Case Study, the profits made by HP kept reducing despite their high sales. Besides, there were false accusations in that the members of the board were leaking information on each other to the media so that the other members could be viewed as the source of the problem. The board members did not trust themselves and campaigned against the other.. The problems of the company started in 2002 during Carly Fiona’s tenure as the CEO. According to the case study, she publicly condemned one of the board members for opposing the acquisition of Compaq. Issues then started when the members of the board started propagating lies on one another. The case study indicates that the next CEO, Mark Hurd changed the strategy to cutting of costs. However, he failed and again, there was public criticism from the board members. The Case study states that Apokether was the next CEO and he too developed strategies that did not work. The board turned against him and did not want to associate themselves with the strategies which he had implemented that failed. According to the Case Study, Meg Whitman was appointed CEO and initially her strategy to tackle the problems of the organization seemed to be working. However, they 2017-05-23T01:59:00.127-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Strategic-Management-in-Action-45332.aspx Law Enforcement Management Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction The police service has been subjected to a series of continual change over the last few decades. These changes have been stimulated by the introduction of new policies such as new public management initiative (NPM). The main tenet of the NPM is the promotion of new managerial and professional subjectivities while utilizing a wide range of managerial tools and techniques that are aimed at reconfiguring the professional attitude, priorities, values, and self-understanding. The central elements in the police service have been the re-branding from ‘force’ to ‘service’ and the promotion of feminized professional norm, increased tolerance and creation of equal and unbiased opportunity for all (Deljkic, Lucic-CatiC, 2011). The success of such models requires a reorientation of the policing performance from a system that legitimizes a competitive masculine subjectivity while emphasizing crime fighting and reduction to a more ethical and professional model that is based on the community and its occupants while adopting a problem-solving orientation and equality principles. In the light of poor public image and discrimination, the police service has been compelled to abandon the traditional culture where harassment and macho masculinity are prominent. At the start of the new millennium, police officers around the world are witnessing a gradual change in the ways their leadership is structured and in their professional roles and identities. Implementation of Community Policing To ensure that community policing is successful, there should exist a permanent change in the organizational culture and the orientation of the individual police officers and their senior leadership. However, many scholars have highlighted policing culture as the main hindrance to this new philosophy. The traditional policing is comprised of a formalized bureaucratic and standardized set of working conditions and systems with a profoundly entrenched and pervasive professional culture. The identity of the traditional policing is constructed as a mechanism of fighting crime. The traditional policing emphasize on reactive and incident driven policing which squarely fits into the masculine domain with the societal stereotypes of manliness mapping on the requirements to be a good cop. The cop culture that has mainly developed due to traditional policing has three main qualities; informality, solidarity, and masculinity (Bain, Robinson, Conser, 2014). This form of policing is endemic and enduring in the police services and towards the values of machismo, action, sexism, political and social conservatism and in extreme cases racism. Research has revealed a substantial amount 2016-10-19T22:58:16.66-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Law-Enforcement-Management-35235.aspx I intend to concentrate on the issues of stress inside organizational behavior. How it is 2016-01-18T11:37:13.737-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Stress-In-the-Workplace-35163.aspx Star Automobiles Ltd. Pimpary is in the field of manufacturing of two wheelers. They manufacture and market mopeds. These are available in the brand names ‘arrow’ and ‘double arrow’ where ‘arrow’ is their traditional product and ‘double arrow’ is the improved version. The company was started about 20 yrs ago. Their product ‘arrow’ enjoys a reasonably good reputation and they were comfortable in the market. However, with the entry of the new generation of fuel-efficient mopeds the company started loosing its market. They immediately started developing the improved ‘double arrow’ but by the time they came out with this new model the competitors had already strengthened their position in the market. The arrow model was still acceptable by a segment of the market as it was cheapest vehicle. ‘Double arrow’ is new generation vehicle. It was costlier than Jet but its performance was much superior. It is compared favorably with the competitors’ products; however it was yet to gain a foot hold in the market. The company had to refurbish the marketing activities in order to get back their market share. They employed young sales engineer to launch a strong sales drive. Mr. Ramesh Tiwari, Btech and a diploma holder in marketing got selected and was put on the job. Mr. Ramesh Tiwari started well in his new job. He was given a territory to contact the prospective customers’ and to book the orders. The company had introduced a new financial assistance scheme. Under this scheme, buyers were given easy loans. It was particularly advantageous for group booking by employees working in an organization. Mr. Ramesh Tiwari was able to contact people in different organization, arrange for group bookings and facilitate the loans. His performance was good in the first year and in the second year of his service. The company had its own system of rewarding those whose performance happened to be good. They usually arranged a paid holiday trip for the good performer along with his wife. Mr. Ramesh Tiwari was accordingly informed by the marketing manager to go to Chennai with his wife on company expenses. Mr. Ramesh Tiwari asked him as to how much it would cost to the company. The marketing manager calculated and told him that it would cost about 8000/-. He quickly asked him whether he could get that 8000/- in cash instead of the trip as he had better plans. The marketing manager countered this saying that it might not be possible to doso. It was not the trading of the company, however he would check with the 2015-05-09T22:57:59.343-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/wage-policy-in-india-35111.aspx ABC1-Set1 Marks: 86 Number of Questions: 86 ABC1 ABC1-Set1 1. Item code: 964.1.1-01.1 One employee in a company always seems willing to help other employees with aspects of their own jobs. This employee is a positive force and a "team player" within the organization. Which dimension of organizational citizenship behavior does this employee demonstrate? Choose 1 answer a) Altruism b) Courtesy c) Civic virtue d) Sportsmanship e) Conscientiousness Answer: Altruism, ________________________________________ 2. Item code: 964.1.1-02.3 A manager rates one of his/her employees very highly on all dimensions of job performance, including some dimensions (such as creativity) for which there was no observed behavior. These ratings most likely reflect what type of rating error? Choose 1 answer a) Halo b) Logical c) Central tendency d) Positive leniency e) Negative leniency Answer: Halo, ________________________________________ 3. Item code: 964.1.1-03.3 A company requires job applicants to lift 50 pounds over their head as part of the selection process. While most jobs do not require any lifting, the company wants all its employees to be "physically fit." This selection procedure results in a greater percentage of females than males failing the selection test. Which type of employment discrimination is this? Choose 1 answer a) Quid pro quo b) Adverse impact c) Adverse treatment d) Disparate treatment e) Hostile work environment Answer: Adverse impact, ________________________________________ 4. Item code: 964.1.1-04.3 An employee reports losing motivation on the job because other employees with lesser qualifications are getting promoted ahead of him. What is this loss in motivation is an example of? Choose 1 answer a) Force b) Valence c) Inequity d) Expectancy e) Instrumentality Answer: Inequity, ________________________________________ 5. Item code: 964.1.1-06.1 Groupthink is a phenomenon observed in some teams that are characterized by very high levels of _____. Choose 1 answer a) Trust b) Cohesion c) Conflict d) Diversity e) Communication Answer: Cohesion, ________________________________________ 6. Item code: 964.1.1-07.2 A company's workday ends at 5:00 p.m. However, the employees in the marketing department do not leave for home until their work is completed for the day, which is often around 5:30. What concept differentiates the employees in the marketing department from the other employees of this company? Choose 1 answer a) Roles b) Norms c) Cultures d) Formal rules Answer: Norms, ________________________________________ 7. Item code: 964.1.1-08.1 Consultation, reasoning, friendliness, and inspirational appeals among people at work are examples of _____. Choose 1 answer a) Influence tactics b) Transactional costs c) Transformational factors d) Leadership characteristics Answer: Influence tactics, ________________________________________ 8. Item code: 964.1.1-09.1 What is the personality of an individual analogous to in an organization? Choose 1 answer a) Role b) Norm c) Culture d) Demeanor e) Function Answer: Culture, ________________________________________ 9. Item code: 964.1.1-10.3 What is the production department in a manufacturing organization known as? Choose 1 answer a) The line function b) The staff function c) Centralized structure d) The span of control e) Decentralized structure Answer: The line function, ________________________________________ 10. Item code: 964.1.1-11.3 What 2015-05-07T18:42:22.633-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/WGU-ABC1-Exam-35110.aspx Personality Impact Tricia Pawlowski MGT/312 01/26/2015 Mohammad Yunus Personality Impact Within every growing organization lies people, people’s individual cognitive abilities, and their many different personality types. When one realizes that there is a cornucopia of diversity and culture that makes up most of our world’s workforce, and also understands the many different personality types and cognitive abilities of said people, it gives us the competency to maintain and grow an efficient place to work; not only for us managers, but for all employees. It was because of this simple premise that caused me to take a closer look into my own personality traits and cognitive abilities. I did this by using the Big 5 Personality Traits profile to analyze my own personality traits (of the five there are: agreeableness, extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experiences). Along with my personality profile, I also was able to ascertain the many cognitive abilities that I possess and that of which would be best fit for my organization. My Big 5 Personality Traits Profile EXAMPLE 1.1 The chart above (EXAMPLE 1.1) represents my Big 5 Personality Traits Profile and its findings there in. From the information I have gathered, I was able to conclude that I tend to affect many situations in the workplace in a positive way (extraversion). However, it also indicated that opposite of extraversion, introversion and neuroticism, I have a tendency to affect the workplace in a negative way, but I’d like to think that I do that within myself and not upon other people (J Gerontol (1981) pg. 78-81). The trait that I score average on is that I am very organized and like to do each task well (conscientious). Even though this one it middle ground, I would like to think that this is my most prominent attribute personality wise (JDR (1984) 63 (10): 1182-1185). I scored quite low on openness to experiences and even lower on agreeableness, which suggests that I have a lot of work to do on my part as far as being a great manager. Cognitive Abilities Profile You cannot complete a profile for workplace personality traits and not begin to identify what cognitive abilities you possess that would benefit your organization to the fullest, so I did just that. My Cognitive Abilities Profile suggests that my top three cognitive abilities are listed as follows: I am able to understand and use written and spoken language strongly (verbal ability); a great trait 2015-01-29T07:22:00.28-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Personality-Impact-35081.aspx T h e r e a r e c o u n t l e s s t y p e s o f o r g a n i z a t i o n s , w i t h d o z e n s o f d e p a r t m e n t s w i t h i n , i n t h e w o r l d a n d t h e y n e e d t o b e r u n e f f i c i e n t l y s o t h e y c a n u l t i m a t e l y f u l f i l l t h e i r m i s s i o n w i t h t h e i r i n t e n d e d s t r a t e g y a n d b e c o m e p r o f i t a b l e . M a n y o f t h e s e h a v e b e e n s a v e d b y a s w i t c h i n m a n a g e m e n t s t y l e b o r n o u t o f n e c e s s i t y . M a n a g e r s a r e t h e k e y b e h i n 2014-05-04T23:25:23.11-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/How-Big-Tasks-Are-Managed-and-Accomplished-35029.aspx 2014-04-23T11:53:14.79-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Rules-and-Regulations-35018.aspx Court Management Pilot Project Executive summary The greatest problem of district courts is that of huge backlog of cases leading to undue delay in deciding cases. Shifting the blame on judicial system only will not cure such problem. Now recently the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India has launched a National Court Management Program. New Methods and New Roles are necessary in the Justice Delivery System which was pleased to addressed by Hon'ble Shri. Justice Mohit S.Shah, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court at the inauguration of the conference of the Judicial officer on “Enhancing Quality of Adjudication” at Judicial Academy Uttan, Thane. At District & Sessions Court, Thane , formulated a mission to develop “ Best Practices Guide” for improving Judicial Quality, Enhancing court management and reduce pendency. The Hon'ble Shri. K.K. Sonawane, Principal District Judge, Thane who is also the Patron-In-Chief of this mission pleased to establish to develop Best Practices Guide at Thane Court with a series of administrative stages to facilitate continuous monitoring , mentoring and , if necessary to to guide to ensure cases are disposed at the earliest opportunity at Civil Judge Junior Division and J.M.F.C. Courts. This pilot project is for the one of the object from the mission to develop Best Practices Guide , to decrease old pendency and Increase rate of disposal in Civil Judge Junior Division and J.M.F.C. Courts Bhiwandi District Thane. The period of Pilot project was from December 2012 to February 2013. It is an Executive Mentoring program. There are Eight Courts of Civil Judge Jr. Dn. & J.M.F.C at Bhiwandi Thane. Physical verification of cases by qualitative and quantitative manner is like a health check of the the court. Unless physically fit , the surgery can not be carried out. So, unless cases are physically verified by qualitative and quantitative way , the result for new method can not be Calculated /evaluated. At four courts , physical verification by quantitative method was carried out , therefore those courts are selected and taken as Pilot courts. Other Four courts where balance sheet and physical verification was not carried out , those are considered as Nonpiloting courts. Some Pilot courts are concentrating over criminal cases though civil cases are vested to them. Mentoring sessions were held for all courts. This pilot project shows effect over piloting and non piloting area. In this pilot project, the disposal from previous three months from September 2012 to November 2012 was compared with the disposal during the pilot project period . The aspects are researched , for pilot courts , increasing percentage rate of disposal per 2013-09-29T03:30:34.27-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/court-management-mentor-judge-District-Court-Thane-Maharashtra-India-34970.aspx Court Management Pilot Project Executive summary The greatest problem of district courts is that of huge backlog of cases leading to undue delay in deciding cases. Shifting the blame on judicial system only will not cure such problem. Now recently the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India has launched a National Court Management Program. New Methods and New Roles are necessary in the Justice Delivery System which was pleased to addressed by Hon'ble Shri. Justice Mohit S.Shah, Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court at the inauguration of the conference of the Judicial officer on “Enhancing Quality of Adjudication” at Judicial Academy Uttan, Thane. At District & Sessions Court, Thane , formulated a mission to develop “ Best Practices Guide” for improving Judicial Quality, Enhancing court management and reduce pendency. The Hon'ble Shri. K.K. Sonawane, Principal District Judge, Thane who is also the Patron-In-Chief of this mission pleased to establish to develop Best Practices Guide at Thane Court with a series of administrative stages to facilitate continuous monitoring , mentoring and , if necessary to to guide to ensure cases are disposed at the earliest opportunity at Civil Judge Junior Division and J.M.F.C. Courts. This pilot project is for the one of the object from the mission to develop Best Practices Guide , to decrease old pendency and Increase rate of disposal in Civil Judge Junior Division and J.M.F.C. Courts Bhiwandi District Thane. The period of Pilot project was from December 2012 to February 2013. It is an Executive Mentoring program. There are Eight Courts of Civil Judge Jr. Dn. & J.M.F.C at Bhiwandi Thane. Physical verification of cases by qualitative and quantitative manner is like a health check of the the court. Unless physically fit , the surgery can not be carried out. So, unless cases are physically verified by qualitative and quantitative way , the result for new method can not be Calculated /evaluated. At four courts , physical verification by quantitative method was carried out , therefore those courts are selected and taken as Pilot courts. Other Four courts where balance sheet and physical verification was not carried out , those are considered as Nonpiloting courts. Some Pilot courts are concentrating over criminal cases though civil cases are vested to them. Mentoring sessions were held for all courts. This pilot project shows effect over piloting and non piloting area. In this pilot project, the disposal from previous three months from September 2012 to November 2012 was compared with the disposal during the pilot project period . The aspects are researched , for pilot courts , increasing percentage rate of disposal per 2013-09-29T02:48:25.63-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/court-management-mentor-judge-34969.aspx Introduction Globalization of business in general and manufacturing in particular has increased greatly during the last decades as companies have internationalized their value-chains in a search of competitive advantage through scale and/or scope throughout the world. Combined with other developments, such as increased deregulation, technological change, privatization and corporate restructuring, globalization has spurred not only increased international orientation, but also an unprecedented surge in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (Aswathappa and Dash 2011). A merger is the result of an agreement between two companies to join their operations together. Partners are often equals. An acquisition, on the other hand, occurs when one company buys another company with the interest of controlling the activities of the combined operations. Within the context of this international volume, the focus of this essay will be on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Many of HRM challenges faced in mergers and in acquisitions are similar, and for this reason in the further discussion we will not differentiate between these two entities, but summarize them and use the abbreviation M&A. Cross border M&As involve partial or full takeover or the merging of capital, assets and liabilities of existing enterprises in a country by transnational corporations form other countries (Aguilera and Dencker 2005). M&A generally involve the purchase of existing assets and companies. One major reason to engage in mergers or acquisitions is often to facilitate the rapid entry into new markets. Thus mergers and acquisitions are a predominant feature of the international business system as companies attempt to strengthen their market positions and exploit new market opportunities. The issues, challenges and opportunities related with human resource in case of mergers and acquisitions have been discussed in the following sections of this essay. Role of Human Resource Management Human resource management (HRM) refers to all of the activities that are dedicated towards affecting the behaviors of people working for it. As the employee behaviour have a profound impact on profitability, satisfaction of customers and a variety of other important measures of effectiveness of the organization, it is a key strategic challenge for all companies to manage human resources and particularly those that are engaged in cross border alliances (Faulkner and Joseph 2012). All organizations are engaged with activities associated with human resource management. Such activities involve formal policies and everyday practices to manage people in the organization. HRM practices then play a significant role by providing specific statements on the 2012-10-05T22:51:17.87-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Human-Resource-management-in-Cross-Border-Mergers-34662.aspx Measurement of citizens' attitude toward the government and administrative system is regarded as the main element relative to the new public management (Shlomo Mizrahi , et al, 2010). The operationalization of democracy is based on the public accountability. Public accountability presents a picture of loyalty, dutifulness, justice, clearness, try for improvement, and moral competence of governmental managers, and its promotion makes the managers secure against the criticisms. It also displays some democratic manifestations. Governmental managers should be accountable in the fields of strategy, program (effectiveness), performance (competence and economy), planning process, allocation and legitimacy (rules obedience). Increase of level of need to accountability and information in the society improve the expectations for available services and hence Public department could be developed (Del pino, 2007). Public trust refers to when individuals expect the governmental officials provide their needs by interacting with them during which there is a kind of distrust. In other words, public trust means the expectations of all people toward the positive response from behalf of their governmental officials. In added, by public trust we mean the degree of individuals' belief toward the public organizations which act based on their expectations. They are also truthful, have various capabilities and do suitable works (Sosuke Iwae , 2009). From the viewpoint of managers, staffs and employers, public trust is very important because it plays a main role in the enforcement of public policies and cooperation’s. Citizens affect on the enforcement of government's programs by public trust and public trust is achieved in lieu of suitable response of governmental institutions (Gordon, 2000). 2. Review of literature A) Accountability The word "accountability" has been differently used in public management: Firstly, it refers to the political accountability idea in the democratic liberal system and secondly, it refers to the managerial accountability in governmental systems (Romzek and Ingraham, 2000). With regard to the development of new public management by which the balance between political accountability and managerial accountability has been changed, the governance has became more complex (Anders Hanberger, 2009). Farazmand believes that "the managers of public services are the guards of people's trust. Therefore, accountability toward the people's needs is a main issue in public organizations, because there are many aspects of activities by which many corruptions are created" (Farazmand, 2000). The basic criterion of "public" is related to the public trust to the leader and the being responsiveness of public services toward the people. The 2012-05-26T18:08:39.78-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Relationship-between-accountability-and-public-trust-from-the-view-point-of-staffs-and-clients-34575.aspx Google's HR Dilemma Google started by 2 Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin Beginning in 1996, where they built a search engine called “BackRub” that used links to determine the importance of individual web pages. By 1998 they had formalized their work, creating the company you know today as Google. Since then, the company based on a simple approach to search has become a leader in IT and one of the big companies in the world having ranks in top 100 best places to work in and highly profitable IT web based and development companies. Google started with 20 employees in 1988 and since then, the company has grown to more than 20,000 employees worldwide, with a management team that represents some of the most experienced technology professionals in the industry 2000. Google attraction was not just its innovative technology in web browsing or it is lucrative return on employment that engineers and other people sow, it was a culture that the founders has created, embraced and emphasized as a unique way or working and producing efficiently, they have created a new working environment that is now a culture called the Google Culture. What is this culture that is praised by many and citizen by other? Culture refers to an organization's values, beliefs, and behaviours. In general, it is concerned with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and behave, individually and in groups. Usually in most cases, a company is a reflection of its owner and later on its shareholders but in our case it is a pure reflection of Larry Page and Sergey Brin and how they wanted their company to be and their working environment to look like. So, they have both adapted and created a series of steps that eventually create this Google culture that is based on The company is based on core foundation of emotional intelligence & organizational culture where work is not a duty as much as a free space to express your intelligence and a culture that it belongs to you as you belong to it. They created an accommodating culture for engineers “geeks”, an society of creative brains where their behaviours is common among others since they are usually regarded as outcasts and allowed their creativity to run freely with a greet self-esteem. Also, Google concept and vision motivated innovation and this it has to 2011-11-11T07:34:22.143-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Google-s-HR-Dilemma-34337.aspx 2011-11-09T06:21:21.813-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/wqewqe-34328.aspx This essay discusses the Thistle Hotel chain of the U.K. I Introduction The Thistle Hotel chain is one of the leading hotel concerns in the U.K. It has over 55 properties, almost half of which are in London. It is (according to its website) the largest hotel group in the capital. This paper will explore the Thistle Hotel chain, with emphasis on its business strategies; the competitive advantages of these hotels; how Thistle differentiates itself from its competitors; what their strategy is now and how that differs (if it does) from past approaches; and their growth and diversification strategies. II History Thistle Hotels began as Mount Charlotte Investments, which entered the hospitality and hotel industry in the 1960’s. At that time, Mount Charlotte bought several hotels, pubs and restaurants; in 1976, Robert Peel became an executive director. In 1977 he became Managing Director and rose to Chief Executive in 1978. Under his guidance, Mount Charlotte sold the restaurants and pubs and concentrated on the hotels. During the decade 1978-1988, Mount Charlotte greatly expanded its holdings by acquiring nearly 50 hotels throughout the U.K., mostly in small groups. In the late 1980’s, Mount Charlotte began to look at acquiring large London properties, and in fact, moved its strategic focus to the capital, where it purchased 15 hotels in city center. These acquisitions included the Mount Royal, which overlooks Oxford Street, and the Barbican Hotel. In 1989, Mount Charlotte made what is probably its most important acquisition: it bought 34 Thistle hotels from Scottish & Newcastle Breweries PLC. This purchase made Mount Charlotte the largest hotel operator in both London and Scotland. Mount Charlotte also bought the “Thistle” brand at this time, and adopted the name as that of the parent company. It also used the newly acquired name as a means to upgrade many of the Mount Charlotte hotels. Mount Charlotte itself was acquired by Brierley Investments, Ltd., in 1990, and in 1991 Brierley sold 20 percent of its investments to Singapore, and another 10 percent to Tamasek Holdings. In 1998, Robert Peel left the company and Ian Burke was appointed Chief Executive. (He comes from Bass PLC, which makes one wonder about the connection between the brewing industry and the hotel business.) He divested Thistle of some of its properties in line with a new strategy: that of making the Thistle 2011-10-31T22:06:15.533-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Thistle-Hotels-34259.aspx This paper discusses two leadership theories and how they can help managers relate to subordinates. I Introduction Organizational leadership is important for many reasons. A company must have someone who takes the ultimate responsibility for the organization’s actions. A company may seem monolithic and unapproachable unless it wears a human “face,” and a leader can supply that. (Think of Ben and Jerry and their ice cream company, or Lee Iococca and Chrysler.) A leader sets the “tone” of the organization as well. For all these reasons and many others, organizational leadership is vital. This paper will examine two types of leadership: trait leadership and contingency leadership. It discusses what they are, who devised the theories, and how a knowledge of them can contribute to effective organizational leadership. II Theory of Trait Leadership As one might expect from the name, trait theory posits that leaders have certain “traits” that make them effective, and that these traits can be recognized. One formal definition is this: “Trait Theory: A type of leadership theory based on the idea that personal characteristics determine leader emergence and leader performance.” (Aamodt, PG). The word “emergence” is interesting, since it indicates that a leader will “emerge” naturally if he or she has the traits of a leader; it implies that a true leader is born, not made. The idea behind the trait theory of leadership was developed by an individual named Bird in 1940; there may have been others. It was his idea that it should be possible to look at leaders and identify the traits that they had in common; he listed approximately 79 characteristics of leaders. (“Theories of Leadership,” PG). Like most leadership theories, this one is susceptible to criticism, and in fact Stogill objected to the theory as early as 1948. (“Management Style,” PG). In this case, the theory doesn’t take into account those people who become effective leaders by experience, study, or other means that have nothing to do with innate qualities. This is the “charismatic” leader, the one people follow because of his “magnetic” personality. III Theory of Contingency Leadership The “contingency theory” was developed by Fred Fiedler, and explains that “group performance is a result of interaction of two factors. These factors are known as leadership style and situational favorableness.” (Antoine, PG). “Leadership style,” according to Fiedler, 2011-10-31T22:05:19.94-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leadership-Theories-Trait-and-Contingency-Leadership-34258.aspx This paper considers the question of women executives and the problems they face, and how they can succeed in business. I Introduction It should come as no surprise that women have proven themselves as capable as men in all fields of endeavor. Women serve in the House and Senate; command the Space Shuttle; practice law and medicine; drive trucks and race Indy cars. Their abilities should not be in doubt, and in fact they are not; what women still lack is opportunity. This seems to be a societal problem, and until both men and women can learn to view women as individuals, not merely as stereotypes defined by their gender, the prospects of women actually achieving the things they are capable of doing is not promising. There has been progress of course, but not as much as we might think. This paper discusses women executives and the problems they face, and how they can become leaders in the future. II The Problems As I said above, women have the talent to lead, but they are rarely given the opportunity to do so. In a very revealing article, Margaret Heffernan recounts the disconnect between what women are being told and what’s actually happening. They are told that things are much better, that women hold senior executive positions and sit on various corporate boards. Investment firms develop portfolios for a target market of women who are substantial investors. One out of every four women out-earns her husband; women “control about 80% of household spending … buy 81% of all products … buy 75% of over-the-counter medications, make 81% of retail purchases, and buy 82% of groceries. … They also head 40% of all U.S. households with incomes over $600,000, and own roughly 66% of all home-based businesses.” (Heffernan, PG). But this is only part of the picture. The foregoing list discusses purchases for the home, such as groceries and medicines, but the downside is that this places women squarely in the traditional role of homemaker and caregiver. Of course they do all the shopping—they’re supposed to! The other side of the coin is bleak: “The wage gap between male and female managers actually widened in the prosperous years between 1995 and 2000. In the communications industry … a woman earns 73 cents for every $1 a man takes home. Five years earlier, 2011-10-31T22:04:17.413-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Are-Women-the-Leaders-of-the-Future-34257.aspx This paper discusses market research and the way in which it might be applied by the management of a country club to find out why their membership is falling and no one new is joining. I Introduction Market research is a vital tool for anyone who is considering developing a new product, repositioning an existing product, starting a business, analyzing business performance (or lack of performance); it applies to many situations. By going directly to the consumer, developers, managers, owners and others can get a more accurate idea of the realities of their situation than can be found by reviewing past performance or previous records. Both are useful, but the past is not always a reliable guide to the future. Something more is needed, and market research provides that dimension. This paper discusses market research for the Horton Country Club, a new golf club that is not attracting the memberships it needs to survive and grow. The paper targets three specific areas that the HCC management should consider with regard to their problems: where they compare unfavorably to similar clubs; how they are perceived; and ways to increase membership applications. This paper further considers the various methods for conducting market research and suggests which is the most appropriate in these situations, and why. Problems inherent in the chosen method are also discussed. Finally, the paper incorporates a literature review. II The Steps in Market Research Two of the sources I found differ on the number of steps in the market research process: one suggests six; the other five. However, the processes are virtually identical. Peter Chisnall lists five steps: research brief; research proposal; data collection; data analysis and evaluation; and preparation and presentation of research report. Churchill’s list is similar: problem formulation (research brief); research design (research proposal); design of data collection (this has no counterpart); sample design and data collection (data collection); analysis and interpretation of data (data analysis and evaluation) and research report (preparation and presentation of research report). It’s apparent that Churchill has broken down the data collection into more detail than Chisnall, but the processes are, to all intents and purposes, identical. I believe it’s fair to take this five-step process as being the structure of any market research project. The first step, then, and one of the most important, is to precisely define the problem to be 2011-10-31T21:59:14.397-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Market-Research-for-Country-Club-34255.aspx This essay discusses market research and the way in which it might be applied by the management of a country club to find out why their membership is falling and no one new is joining. I Introduction Market research is a vital tool for anyone who is considering developing a new product, repositioning an existing product, starting a business, analyzing business performance (or lack of performance); it applies to many situations. In this paper, we will consider the hypothetical case of Horton Country Club, though it will serve merely as a starting point for an illustration of the considerations that go into developing a market research project. Designing and implementing a market research project is extremely complex, but this paper considers only two facets of the process: data collection, and sampling. It describes the difference between qualitative and quantitative research methods and gives examples of each; it evaluates the methods available to the company requesting the research; it determines a particular method to be used, and explains why that type of research was chosen. It also discusses some of the problems of the method selected. II Data Collection - Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods One way to think of these methods might be as “subjective” (qualitative) and “objective” (quantitative); or as unstructured and structured. As Chisnall puts it: “The essence of qualitative research is that it is diagnostic; it seeks to discover what may account for certain kinds of behavior; for example, brand loyalty. It seeks deeper understand of factors, sometimes covert, which influence buying decisions. It is impressionistic rather than conclusive; it probes rather than counts. … Intrinsically, it is subjective.” (P. 147). It seems then, without giving too much weight to the observation, that the reasons for someone to drop a country club membership might well fall into the category of subjective reasons, and a qualitative method might be the best way to discover those reasons. Depth interviews and focus groups are examples of qualitative research methods. Quantitative methods are much more precise, and as the name implies, seek results that can be quantified (“How many cigarettes do you smoke in a day?” is a question that might be found on a quantitative survey, because the answer is very precise.) Other quantitative tools include personal interviews, telephone surveys, Internet surveys and mail questionnaires, among many others. The ideal project will make use of both quantitative and qualitative 2011-10-31T01:19:27.99-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Market-Research-34252.aspx “What is the glass ceiling?” “Is it a ceiling made out of glass?” In business, it is defined as “an upper limit to professional advancement, especially as imposed upon women that is not readily perceived or openly acknowledged.” In 1986, journal reporters used the term “glass ceiling” in the newspapers, and they described it as the barriers that limit the advancement of women and minorities. In other words, it is a ceiling based on attitudes, an organization’s stereotypes, or bias that prevents the advancement of women and minorities (a racial, religious or a political group) to high-level positions. Since the past decade, women and minorities were allowed limited roles in the workplace. Twenty years ago, women made up for 1% of the top management. Twenty-five years ago, women made up for 15% of the management in a company. Now women make up for 45% of the management. Recently, minorities make up for 20% of the senior executives in a company. Only 5% of minorities who are women are senior level managers. Research reveals that women and minorities in various ethnic groups become employed in service industries such as finance, real estate, wholesale, and retail trade. In addition, research also reveals that women and minorities seem to have a greater opportunity for advancement in industries such as telecommunications and businesses. There are more chances of advancement because there is more restructuring and competition in telecommunications and businesses. The management’s perception of men and women (in regular activities) can influence the glass ceiling and create obstacles for women. When a family picture is on a man’s desk, management might believe that he is a responsible family man. If it was on a woman’s desk, management may believe that her family is more important to her than her career. If a man is going to get married or have a baby, management will arrange for a raise. When a woman announces that she is going to have a baby, management might think that the company is going to have more expenses in maternity and benefits. Even when a man talks to his co-workers, management may think that he is talking about how to improve the business. In management’s perspective, if a woman is talks to her co-workers, they assume that she must be gossiping. There are many types of glass ceiling barriers. An example is when management does not create systems, policies, and 2008-05-31T17:35:50-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Glass-Ceiling-a-Fact-or-Fiction-33604.aspx Executive Summary The existing information system are physical record which are mostly on paper and storing that record itself is a difficult task for the hospitals as well as patient. Most of the patients has to carry their medical history by themselves, sometime certain reports were missing which is waste of time as well as cost. If the patients are in critical condition then the situation is still worse for the doctors to make the decision due to lack of their previous history. An effective Health care decision support system where the patient records are stored in centralised database system, which will help in providing customised information needed by different users of the hospitals to make the effective decision and thus making the hospital perform in efficient way. Introduction Hospital Information System is a system which maintains and retrieves detailed clinical data for a patient. This system stores detailed medical record of a particular patient like height, weight, blood pressure conditions, previous treatments and other medical history of the patient. This system also gives details about their previous laboratory records, their prescribed drug usage based on the patient’s medical condition, billing and takes care of the health insurance claims. All the departments of the hospital are linked to the system like, the blood bank, pharmacy, laboratories, etc so that professionals working in these particular departments may perform a query, extract the data, and upload/download details about the condition of a patient depending on the access privilege of each individual. Existing Hospital Information System When a patient visits the hospital, he goes through diagnosis of a specialist doctor. If further investigation is required, the doctor sends the patient for a laboratory test. The patient, after being tested at the laboratory, has to wait for a couple of hours/days till the reports to be released. Once the reports are released, the patient has to collect the report and hand it over to the specialist doctor, who examines the reports and determines the criticality of the patient’s health condition and treats with necessary therapy. The patient maintains a case file/folder which contains the details of the patient’s medical condition like the laboratory reports, drugs prescribed from time to time, and other remarks by the concerned doctors about his/her day to day health. Currently, Information System is not employed in the hospital as all the records are maintained on paper. The patient’s case file, which is merely a folder 2008-05-23T03:56:22-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Hospital-Information-System-33601.aspx 1. Compare and contrast any two definitions of leadership discussed by the text. (20 points) Two main types of leadership are transactional and transformational. Transactional leadership is concerned with the end result and involves a leader providing direction to others. Transformational leadership is concerned with the process and requires participation from all involved. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of leadership. The circumstances of a given situation may require leaders to use one type of leadership over another. Another way of looking at it, actual - giving guidance or direction, like a teacher being a leader to a student, as in the phrase "the President has provided satisfactory leadership". Potential - the capacity or ability to lead, as in the phrase "she could have exercised effective leadership"; or in the concept "born to lead". Leadership can have a formal aspect (as in most political or business leadership) or an informal one (as in most friendships). Speaking of "leadership" (the abstract term) rather than of "leading" (the action) usually implies that the entities doing the leading have some "leadership skills" or competencies. There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent. George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It, 281 Using examples from the movie Crimson Tide or a current event situation illustrate the interactional framework; its component parts (leader, follower, situation) and give examples of interactions between these three elements. (40 points) Most leadership work customarily has assumed leadership to have a unswerving impact on a principle variable or in its more urbane guise, assumes that the type variable has direct impact on leadership or conceivably that there is reciprocal impact. without a doubt, direct impact is all part of the Lone Ranger white hat syndrome infused much traditional leadership research. And, indeed, there are many instances where leadership can precisely be defined, or described as having a direct impact for good or bad Usually, in addition to face-to-face, such leadership could be by telephone and E-mail. Such effects often accompany more direct leader-follower effects higher in the organization. These indirect effects operate through other variables. 2. Describe aspects of the people you work with that make learning from leadership 2008-03-16T04:09:07-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leadership-and-Socialized-Power-33541.aspx ________________________________________ The class demonstrates four easy to use management techniques: One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising, One Minute Reprimands and the One Minute Apology. One Minute Goal Setting involves setting clear performance standards and expectations. Most managers use NIHYSOB or "Now I have you - you SOB" These managers don't tell people what they expect of them; they just leave them alone and then "zap" them when they don't perform at the desired level. In One Minute Goal Setting the manager and employee agree on goals or key areas of responsibilities so that the employee knows what they will be accountable for and what performance is expected. The manager and employee agree that the manager will let the employee know when they are performing well and when they are not. After One Minute Goal setting the manager stays in close contact with the employee and gives them a One Minute Praising when they do something right. The most important thing in training someone is to catch them doing something right-in the beginning it may be approximately right and gradually move them towards the desired behaviors. Praise employees for what they do right and encourage them to repeat the behavior. That's why it's important to observe new people in the beginning or when starting a new project. The praise should come immediately after you see them do something right and not just at performance review times. If the employee is not performing as agreed on in the One Minute Goal Setting then the manger may use One Minute Reprimands. The authors state that most managers are "gunnysack discipliners." That is, they store up observations of poor performance and then at performance review time or when they are angry they "open the sack." They tell people all the things they've done wrong for the last weeks or months. The idea behind One Minute Reprimands is that the manager should intervene early and deal with the problem at the time that it happens and not wait till the performance review time. Reprimands should be fair and should focus on behavior and not on the worth of the person. The reprimand should always be followed by a praising -- telling the person what they are doing right and how much they are valued. Destined to join Ken Blanchard’s other groundbreaking classics, The One Minute Apology offers business people–and just about anyone–a cogent and 2007-12-03T03:49:12-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Management-Techniques-33454.aspx Decision making can be simply put as choosing the best option from two or more alternatives. It is, however, much more complicated than this, as Davidson et al. (2006, p. 116) states that making decisions consists of ‘Recognising and defining the nature of a decision situation, identifying alternatives, choosing the ‘best’ alternative and putting it into practice’. This essay will discuss two types of decision making theories, Rational decision making and behavioural decision making. Managers are posed with a question. They need to recognise and give a definition of the situation and what the outcome is that they wish. The rational decision making theory anticipates that all managers will make the best decision that will most benefit the organisation and the organisational goals. The behavioural model, however, proclaims that managers are affected by their own intuition and ethics that will ultimately alter their perspective of the ‘best’ alternative. They also perceive risk from their own viewpoint which is shaped from their own experiences and culture, therefore there should be an emphasis on objective and quantifiable information (Adler 1999). Managers must also evaluate the level of risk and determine how much they are willing to ‘gamble’, in addition to comparing the level of risk associated between each alternative (Kennedy 2005). Once a manager has determined what the desired outcome is, they then identify and evaluate the available alternatives and make a rational and logical decision. Again, the behavioural aspect of decision making poses the question of whether the information that the manager is working with is accurate or the level of relevance it has towards the whole picture, this is echoed by (Fox & Clemen 2005) ‘Human limitations of memory and information processing capacity often lead to subjective probabilities’. The ‘best’ alternative is then selected. Tradeoffs have been evaluated and the most profitable choice that concerns all stakeholders is taken. Rational decision making managers will have made a decision based on only the information provided to them, however a behaviourist will note that a managers intuition (sub-conscious gut feeling) and the escalation of commitment (sticking to a choice even when it isn’t the best) have had an impact on their decision. In conclusion, the major differences between the behavioural aspects and the rational perspective of decision making as Davidson et al. (2006, p. 125) puts adequately is that mangers should be using accurate information, but 2007-05-09T00:26:17-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Decision-Making-33192.aspx Strategy To Reduce Wastage In A Garment Export House “To minimise the loss incurred in a Garment export house due to the wastage and surplus production pieces. Executive Summary: Ready made garments, made of cotton and other natural fibers ,constitutes a major portion of the total Indian Exports. In fact , garments manufactured in India are in good demand in Europe and other developed nations of the world. This is an Organization based project where I have tried to identify the major problem areas in a readymade garments Export house and suggest the organization appropriate methods and means to find a suitable solution to these problems in order to minimize their loss and gain maximum Cost benefit. The aim of this project is to reduce the Fabric and Material wastages along with the loss incurred by the Company due to the surplus production made to complete the total number of pieces in the ‘Export – order’, in case there is some major defect in the final lot of the finished garment, which has to be replaced with the extra pieces produced to meet such contingencies. The Company , Ms. Front Page Exports is engaged in exporting readymade garments to Europe. It has an annual turnover of around Rs.30 million .The Company has its in-house facilities for fabric Cutting, Dyeing, Washing & Pressing and other finishing activities. Fabrication or stitching of the Garments is done outside the Company at various fabrication units , where the garments are stitched at Piece-meal basis. However, minor alterations are made at the export house either by the fabricator’s men or by the tailors hired by the company for Sampling and other in-house stitching jobs. Declaration : This project is wholly my own work except where other sources have been given specific credit. The Proposal for the Project : The main aim is : To minimize the loss in a garment export house by implementing the “optimal utilization of the Wastage and profitable disposal of the surplus production policy”, whereby - 1. Wastage in the form of small usable fabric cuttings can be identified and optimally utilized. 2. Formulating and suggesting alternate ways to utilize the material wastes and reduce the overheads. 3. Utilize the waste material and surplus production to generate additional revenue for the organization by using it in other profitable businesses. 4. Finding 2007-04-25T21:00:34-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Strategy-To-Reduce-Wastage-In-A-Garment-Export-House-33156.aspx Resort Management: Sunday River Ski Resort I. Executive Summary The following report summarizes the effect of current macroeconomic situation in the United States on the ski resort industry in general, the findings of market research of the Sunday River Ski Resort, strategic recommendations for implementation the expansion plan, possible risk factors and a feasibility assessment of the strategic plan conducted by the International Consulting Group. SWOT technique is used to analyze the company. Our team evaluates the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats to the Sunday River Resort. So, we caught the exact environment which faces Sunday-river in relative to other resorts and could established several ways to fit the Sunday-river’s goal, 1 million visitor to Sunday river. Conducting market analysis, we also recognize the segmentation of the client base and identify the most profitable client segments. The highest attention is given to the middle week skiers with low - intermediate skill level from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Because of higher income and larger population, these areas will give Sunday-river important opportunity to acquire one million skiing customers. Focusing on the middle week skiers will result in immediate increase in revenue and will allow to postpone any significant investment into additional capacity. The recommended action plan outlines the necessary steps and addresses “the four Ps” Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The recommendations are divided into short-term and long- term steps In short term step, we strongly recommend to use geographic location as competitive factor. Within 3 hours, Massachusetts and New Hampshire residents can reach Sunday-river and enjoy their skiing. In order to draw and boost the number of skiers, we suggest to provide them with Night program, Children service, and free ski-keeping service. These services would give benefit to Sunday-river, acquiring skiers with a little investment. Since these services are required a little investment, they will help Sunday-river increase its customers with no difficult. In long term step, we recommend Sunday-river to alliance with amusement companies and big hotel chains. Sunday-river provides these companies only with lending space and focus on expanding lodging construction and lifts for increased customers. These strategies would change Sunday-river to amusement resort company, and help get stable income for all season with least investment. After all, the transition from small ski company to amusement company will make Sunday-river strengthen its firm competitive position in eastern areas. II. Introduction Despite 2007-04-25T20:38:47-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Resort-Management-Sunday-River-Ski-Resort-33149.aspx Starbucks' Global Strategy De Wit and Meyer (1998) refer to market tendency towards homogeneous variety and tighter international linkages as globalization. The need for global strategy is outlined by the fact that companies are subject to global forces and consumer demands. As a consequence, firms are faced with a challenge of modifying their existent strategies to gain and sustain their competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment. A well-designed global strategy can help a firm to gain a competitive advantage, that as identified by Sumantra Ghoshal of INSEAD can arise from Efficiency, Strategy, Risk, Learning and Reputation (Appendix1). Therefore, to create a successful global strategy, managers first must understand the nature of global industries and the dynamics of global competition. I would like to proceed with my analyses of the global market place, with examination the young but already well recognized brand world wide – Starbucks. In my research I will explore on changes in the product, operations, and strategies at Starbucks influenced by the changes in the global marketplace. Due to word limitation on the essay, please refer to Appendixes for more detailed information. Starbucks Corporation "There is untapped potential to grow our company internationally," Schultz said. Headquarters: Seattle, Washington www.starbucks.com Ownership: Starbucks is publicly traded -- shares are widely held 150 million shares have been authorized, of which 59.6% are on the market. History: Howard Schultz, 42, is the founder of the Company and has been chairman of the board and chief executive officer since its start in 1987. The Company originated with eleven Seattle stores and less than one hundred employees. Since them the company has grown to a half billion-dollar company serving millions of cups of coffee per week in one thousand stores throughout the country, and in 17 countries internationally. Schultz believes his company will succeed well into the twenty-first century. He states, "One of the things that you can't measure on a balance sheet or on a financial statement is the soul of Starbucks." The Company holds approximately 39 federal trademark registrations in the United States. They have approximately 44 additional applications pending in the U.S. The Company currently owns one patent in the U.S. for its coffee on tap system and has several patent applications pending. Starbucks prides itself on being a "good citizen" locally and in the various coffee producing countries. They make significant contributions to local charities that focus 2007-04-25T19:20:09-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Starbucks-Global-Strategy-33119.aspx Experience with Bureaucratic Management Since the time I entered the workforce in 1987, I have encountered various forms of management and management styles in the career paths I followed. Now that I am venturing into management myself, I have had time to reflect on those various management techniques in order to develop a management style of my own. My experiences have ranged from Fast Food to Information Technology and small private corporations to global public companies. One particular experience with a lumber company has had a major impact on the way I would like to manage. Not because it was the right way to form management, but rather because it exemplified all the wrong ways of managing a business and people in the modern business world. This particular lumber company is the largest privately held lumber company in the United States. It started like many businesses, as a small “mom and pop” company of the Midwest. Economic growth and the rapid expansion of the 1960’s and 1970’s propelled this company into the realm of big business with multiple locations over a large geographical territory. Stores were opened quickly all across the Midwest and East Coast in order to capitalize on the rapid expansion. In order to keep control of growth, they formed a geographic structure to manage all the new facilities and personnel. Today, over 400 stores strong, the structure still remains a tall, geographic structure as illustrated below. In the case of this company, the tall management structure along with private ownership has put this company into Bureaucratic Management. The organizational chart indicates that there is a defined order of hierarchy and this hierarchy is expressed to you from the day you start to the day you leave or retire, which ever comes first. This hierarchy also defines your authority and decision making capabilities within the company. All decisions are made at the top of the organization. All rules and standard operating procedures are developed at the top of the hierarchy. Within this structure, it is each level of management’s responsibilities to convey the decisions and rules to the level beneath, causing a trickle down effect. The corporate management staff, underwritten by the CEO herself, determines all tasks and responsibilities of each level in the structure. This creates, what 2007-04-19T21:41:22-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Experience-with-Bureaucratic-Management-33066.aspx The Importance of Knowledge Management (KM) in Business Starting from the late 90's, enterprises started to talk about "Knowledge Management (KM)" as they have figured out that without proper KM strategies, it will cause problem and inefficiency in the organization. For example, loss of important information when there is someone leaving the company or it takes a long time to retrieve certain piece of data from a large pile of files. Therefore, internal KM budgets increased by folds in recent years. It is expected that spending for KM products will reach $10 billion by 2004. (Greg Dyer, International Data Corp.) Although many company aware of the importance of KM, they faced a big problem when they are implementing KM in their workplace: not all staffs are willing to share the knowledge or information they obtained. Therefore, motivation or incentive scheme becomes a hot topic in KM strategies. The following passage will talk about how to enhance the willingness for staff to share knowledge. First of all, when we talk about incentive scheme, it is certain that monetary reward for the staff sharing useful and important knowledge or information will definitely be one of the best and most welcomed practice, especially in times of the economic downturn. This is because people will prefer keeping money in their pocket rather than any other forms of rewards. This universal principle will always work. At the same time, the above reward can be transform into some other ways like granting extra holidays to the staff providing outstanding knowledge for the company. Or giving a free tour for the staff, if possible with his/her family members to some leisure places like Thailand, Hawaii, etc. These alternative forms of reward are having the same effect as money and they will be more welcomed by staff who do not want everything to be calculated in money. However, not every staff in a company is solely looking for money. Some of them are seeking some other forms of rewards. Some of them may hope themselves to be well known by others within the organization. In other words, they want to be "famous". To deal with this type of staff we should located them out (Expert Locating) after they have shared information and let the company know who they are. With such 2007-03-20T04:17:59-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Importance-of-Knowledge-Management-KM-in-Business-32856.aspx Carlos Ghosn's Management at Nissan Known as “Le Cost Killer,” Carlos Ghosn’s first step to the turnaround at Nissan was to cut 21,000 jobs worldwide. He then pledged that as CEO he would return Nissan to financial stability by cutting its debt by 50% and increasing its operating margin to 4.5% within three years (xix) or he would resign. He met his goals and greatly surpassed them. Carlos Ghosn has a clear gift for management and excellence, but the 2007-02-19T21:56:53-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Carlos-Ghosn-s-Management-at-Nissan-32656.aspx "I do not want to be the angel of any home; I want for myself what I want for other women, absolute equality. After that is secured, then men and women can take turns at being angels." - Agnes Macphail The 20th century has been a period of rapid and far-reaching change for many women, but life for women in some parts of the world still remains harsh. Even where females have experienced great advances like those in Canada, there are still some similarities between their economic role today and the role of women in the 1900s. During the 19th and 20th century, attempts were made to define and extend human rights, but most of these struggles ignored or denied the rights of more than half the human race – women. It was unsurprising that this is the case because at the time, Canada was a patriarchal society, a society in which men have more power than women, readier access than women to what is valued in the society, and, in consequence, are in control over many, if not most aspects of women’s lives. It wasn’t until the women’s movement that has touched the lives of most Canadian women and has transformed the structure of their daily existence; it was this movement that eliminated the fact that Canada was a patriarchal society and improved the economic role of Canadian women. Since the 1960s women have undertaken a strong assault on Canada’s system of power and the nation now claims to be an equal society and emphasizes significantly on equality amongst all but are we all actually equal? Has the glass-ceiling effect been broken at last? That question still remains unclear, but what will remain clear is that once women take up positions where men are unwilling to work, distinguish themselves independent from men in the labor force, and begin to set their desire of exploration for their interest in politics, equilibrium between the two sexes will finally be established. The changing economic roles of women have improved little with regards to the average earnings of women. The average earnings of employed women today are still considerably lower than those of men despite the nation’s declaration that it is an equal country with equal pay amongst all. In 1998, employed women had average earnings of just $23,900, a figure that was only 64% that of all men with jobs. Even 2007-02-17T16:57:49-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-Entrepreneurs-32638.aspx Business Communications 1. Describe the Barriers to Effective Communication that exists in the situation. Communication exists when two parties enact in any behavior, non-verbal or graphic, that is perceived by another argues Dwyer (1999). It does not necessarily mean the presence of dialogue, or even acknowledging body language. “Communication” can occur when as Dwyer (1999) referenced from Watzalawick, et al. (1967) thought that people cannot not communicate. Even when a person ignores another person, something is being communicated. This is one of the barriers to communication in the case study, where Mary Ong is not getting the response or help she requested from Tom Ballard. Mary Ong, Supervisor of in-flight services Kuala Lumpur Division was trying to obtain various statistics and figures from Tom Ballard, Passenger Services Kuala Lumpur Division was met with an “ignore response” from Ballard. This communicates to Ong a sense of disapproval from Ballard and a sense of what she has the initiative of improving is not worthy of Ballard’s time. Ong was met with a degree of unresponsiveness and in-cooperation that held her back from her task. Failure to meet expectations also leads to the disruption in communications in the case study. As Ong grew too frustrated at Ballards lack of response, she had to direct a memo at Harry Lee, the Vice-President of In flight Services for Kuala Lumpur about the behavior of Ballard. Van DerWall (2000) describes a possible loss of morale in cases of non-communication. Ong was trying to make the system more efficient and fluid for personnel and passenger alike. Ballards’ behavior was not fitting to the effective and productive communication aspect of group culture that firms support in their culture. Effective and productive communication occurs as defined by Dwyer (1999) when a party can transmit their ideas/values to another through verbal, non-verbal or graphic means. Communication on the receiver’s part is then defined as the process by which people select, organize and interpret data in order to give a message meaning. Select, Organize and Interpret. In this example, Ballard has received the request, assessed it and then interpreted it to be unimportant. This created intra-organizational conflict by the means of a break in communication between the different divisions of the airline. Intra-organizational conflict occurs whenever people or divisions inside that organization perceive different or even incompatible goals to a given situation. Cyert and March (1963) defined organizations as a series of interdependent units with 2007-02-02T18:06:16-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Business-Communications--32547.aspx Critical Analysis of Business Culture and Values on Management Business Management has known a significant evolution. In the past, the management without any staff consideration had imposed employee actions. Since the end of the sixties, it is changing. Members of the staff have a personal role to play in the firm. Nowadays, the understanding of the firm management involves more and more psychological and sociological analysis. This new world of comprehension answers to the managerial question how managers can mobilise all the human resources in order to obtain the higher profitability. Development of the company culture might be an answer. The company culture deals with the whole signs, symbols, social values shared by the company members and this insures the unity of the firm. The culture of the company: 1-Introduction: The company culture can be defined as “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problem of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” (Schein EH, (1997)”Organizational Culture”, Jossey-Bass Inc, P12) Since 1960, such a firm rehabilitation has been noticed indeed, inspired by the Japanese model. The firm is not a productive entity anymore; it is also a central institution of the society. Sociologists studied this phenomenon and have risen the conclusion that firms are influenced and shaped by their environments, the capitalism, and the democratic society. The objectives of this assignment are to show how Business culture and Values cannot follow an ethical view influencing Business Management. Employees are manipulated by the company culture that they even build themselves through the years of work within the company. The company culture is a well build capitalistic way to answer to the capitalism itself. Get a motivated staff management, which can be easily manipulated, through rewards and pressures in order to reach its objectives. 2-Management and organizational behavior impacts: In order to obtain a better analyze of the company culture, this section propose a short understanding of the different culture bodies: Values, Myths, symbols, Heroes, and Network. Values: They are the beliefs and ideas shared by firm members guiding staff behaviours. They are really important for the firm success because they shape the strategy, the style of management and the relationship between services and people are shaped then through the values. Employee may follow them 2007-02-02T17:45:21-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Critical-Analysis-of-Business-Culture,-Values-on-Management-32537.aspx Case Study of Revised Knowledge Retention System Overview It is becoming more apparent that in the post industrial era, a firm’s success or failure lies in its intellectual assets rather than in its physical assets. The predominance of high skill labour requirements, new computing and telecommunications technologies and an accelerating pace of change have initiated a dramatic shift in the ways companies compete in today’s market place. Firms are now recognising the need to organise and co-ordinate their information and knowledge sources in a way that allows them “corporate agility” to be able to sense and respond to constantly changing trends and markets, to encourage creativity and innovation, and to help their employees continuously learn and improve the productivity of their work. A knowledge-based approach to business will be the key to success in this new environment. Your company's intellectual assets – the proprietary knowledge it has developed and accumulated over time – are of critical value. Protecting those knowledge assets is increasingly difficult as senior expertise retires or moves to competitors. Knowledge Management People often confuse Information Management with Knowledge Management (KM). Often it's an exercise in efficiency, where they try to trim a few people but provide no new economic value. However though, rather than simply use KM to manage information overload and eliminate positions, it should be used to boost revenues by methods such as providing better information for proposals/projects that ultimately result in increased business. Knowledge Management (KM) is not about technology, it is mostly about people, information, and sharing. Knowledge Management offers exciting opportunities for transforming companies, however though it is also much harder than it looks to implement; typically not because of the technology, but because of the people. Current Implementation Issues with Knowledge Management Despite the obvious advantages of embracing a Knowledge Management culture there are still several common issues which can hinder it’s success: 1. Everyone agrees knowledge is key to competitive advantage, but few organisations are effectively managing theirs. 2. Executives believe the greatest pay-off from knowledge management will be in innovation, but their efforts to date seem focused on efficiency. 3. An organisation’s knowledge advantage depends mostly on people, however organisations don’t have their priorities straight. Suggested solutions to this issue could encompass: • mapping sources of internal expertise • establishing new knowledge roles • create networks of knowledge workers. 4. A “Chief Knowledge Officer” might play a valuable role in leading knowledge management efforts, however though this might just contribute to bureaucracy. 5. The 2007-01-11T19:35:14-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Case-Study-of-Revised-Knowledge-Retention-System-32369.aspx Flight Centre Graham Turner structured the company as families, villages and tribes. The creation of this unique system has also worked to the company’s advantage. It provides incentives based on outcomes. The Flight centre’s system is based on the idea that people work best in their preferred environment within the larger organisation rather than trying to fit them into the company’s mould. The employees believe ‘what gets rewarded gets done.’ they are hard workers but also enjoy the many social aspects of the company including buzz nights, award ceremonies and team get-togethers. This essay would focus on how flight centre has structured with the four aspects of the organisation structure. Explains how flight centre has integrated the Mintzberg’s five elements to its structure. This essay would also highlights the roles of functional and social specialization. Finally, the metaphors used by flight centre would be discussed. Structure of Flight Centre The importance of organisational structuring and restructuring to organisational effectiveness cannot be over emphasized. Effective organisational design or organisational structuring pays immense dividends, no matter how large or small the organisation is (HRODC , 2006). The founder of the Flight Centre Ltd, Graham Turner claims that people are hard wired to work in small groups within larger groups. To understand this unique structure the four aspects of organisation structure, complexity, formalization, centralization and coordination, can be used. Complexity refers to the way in which the organization is divided into different divisions, departments, groups, or individual roles, each with its own tasks and responsibilities. Vertical differentiation refers to the number of hierarchical levels in an organization (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). At the Flight centre, the operation level involves retail shops. Each shop involves three to seven people working on one brand which is called a family. The area or a ‘village’ involves 7 or 10 families within one geographical region. The tribal country is a set of three or four villages. Each tribe is a different brand, brands include corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights (refer appendix 1). In horizontal differentiation, different parts of the organization become specialized in different activities to increase efficiency (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). All shops of flight centre sell similar services even though the names (corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights) are different which makes it easy to coordinate activities and to communicate among families. Moreover, due to the similarities of jobs within a family, there 2007-01-11T06:41:58-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Flight-Centre-Case-Study-32368.aspx Specifying Management Information Introduction Startle Distribution was originally part of the Telstar Record Label. In 1999, following a management buy out, Startle became independent of the Telstar Group. Startle is a music and video distributor of physical and digital products. Physical product is defined as CD, DVD and VHS, whilst digital distribution is Liquid Audio and MP3 file streaming. Startle Distribution services the middle of the supply chain from record label companies and film studio to independent retailers. Startle has very diverse clients with differing needs e.g. Independent Retail Chains requiring only good discounts and reliable service to small specialist record stores needing marketing and product management support. Startle employs 160 staff over 3 locations: Chelsea, Enfield and Telford. Some of the staff, notably sales, work from home and “on the road”. They will call in to one of the offices monthly. The Business Issue Information sharing is required amongst key departments: marketing, sales, finance and procurement (buying) to maximise sales and improve management of clients. The current situation Clients are not receiving marketing offers and sales information relevant to their business from Startle. Startle’s competitors are presenting lower quality sales offers but winning the business from the Client. Sales representatives, remote from the office, are visiting the clients regularly. When they arrive at the client’s office they have very little prior knowledge of communication between other Startle departments and the client. In some cases they have even visited clients only to discover, from the client, that the client is on credit stop, making it impossible to achieve a sale and set the correct environment for potential negotiations. Sales representatives are constantly being made aware, again by the clients, of the campaigns and support that Startle’s competitors are able to offer such as point of sale and returns allowances. The sales representatives are frustrated by not being able to support the clients desires to grow their market share e.g. into new formats such as DVD. The marketing department has excellent relationships with, and understanding of, the record labels and film studios. Marketing is trying to grow client business with offers based around the record labels and film studios needs that are not necessarily the same as the client’s. Startle has produced some of the most innovative trade and consumer campaigns and these have been recognised with industry awards e.g. the Sisqoo, Thong Song E-Flier. The marketing 2007-01-11T05:01:14-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Specifying-Management-Information-32354.aspx Distributed Project Management: A Proposal For Change Major changes within this organization over the past few years has lead to significant problems arising from the management of certain information systems development projects. It has been identified that these problems can be directly attributed the dispersion of team members across a number of locations throughout the country. Given that this situation is likely to be compounded with the introduction of vendors in other countries, it is timely that an investigation be conducted to expand on the problems of the past and to collect information on issues related to distributed project management. Amongst some of the findings, it became evident that most problems could be condensed down to three main issues: time, location and cultural differences. Each of these issues makes a significant impact on how a distributed project should be approached. The tactics required to deal with these issues will need to be well understood by all involved in any future projects. The most effective method of ensuring this, is to document how these issues will be addressed within the confines of the project plan. In addition to this, it is expected that a project management software application will assist in minimising the affects of time, location and cultural differences. 1. Introduction In recent times, it has become evident that the traditional approach to project management in the area of information systems has not been entirely successful. It is well documented that certain projects have consistently failed to meet their requirements, are not delivered on time or within budget. This situation has been compounded by the recent shift by this organization in outsourcing major elements of its IT functions to outside vendors. Clearly a change is required in the way this organization undertakes the management of its IT projects. The purpose of this proposal is to outline some of the options that the organization must adopt to better manage future IT projects and to achieve more positive results. However, it has been identified that at the heart of past problems has been a misunderstanding of the current nature of project management efforts in the organization. Recent changes have lead to project teams being more dispersed throughout the country. Future changes will see this dispersion extending to a global level. Therefore, the major issues arising from managing projects in such a dispersed or distributed manner is needed. The final step will be to provide detail on 2007-01-11T03:53:12-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Distributed-Project-Management-A-Proposal-For-Change-32339.aspx Creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of an organization. New ideas can lead to programs that are superior to those that are already going on or planned in the organization. By using brainstorming, a powerful decision making tool, it can effectively generating radical ideas, and help people break out their thinking patterns into new ways of looking at things. The purpose of a brainstorming session is to work as a group to define a problem, and find, through a team member’s intervention, the best group decision for a plan of action to solve it. (Bartle, 2003, p1) We need to understand that we are aiming the success for the team, not for an individual. While utilizing this approach to decision making it is helpful to create some ground rules in order to maximize efficiency. Some ground rules that we can use as following: · Criticism of ideas isn't allowed. · All ideas, no matter how wild, are encouraged. · The more ideas, the better. · Every participant should try to build on or combine the ideas of others. (Bradbury, 2004, p1) Brainstorming involves quickly recording a broad list of ideas, which can then be expanded and evaluated. During a brainstorming session, ideas should be generated as quickly as possible in order to develop the most creative and varied list of alternatives. Participants in the brainstorming process should come from as wide a range of disciplines as possible. This brings a broad range of experience to the session and helps to make it more creative. There are several different brainstorming processes, such as round robin, nominal technique, and Post-It Note brainstorming (DeJanasz, Dowd, and Schneider, 2001, p398). I am working in AR department in a large employment service Company. My manager often use round robin brainstorming process to collect team members’ ideas during meetings. In the last meeting, the topic we discussed was how to save time and space for the back-up copies. Since we are required to keep at lease two copies for every transaction, plus our company is expanding, it became harder and harder to keep up with the filing, storing and research with our current system. After the topic was announced, we think about the question for a few moments, and then one by one, we give some ideas or suggestions. Ideas such as, request additional storage room, buy a scanner, hire some people, and upload files into Internet, etc. After all the ideas have been 2007-01-08T08:35:51-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Tool-and-Techniques-Brainstorming-32271.aspx General Qualities of Leadership In life some people are cut out to be leaders and some are not. In the books Old Man in the Sea, A Raisin in the Son, and Lord of the Flies, have characters that show leadership qualities. My definition of a good leader is someone who does well for people and guides them in their ways. The characters from Lord of the Flies that I think have leadership qualities are Ralph, and Piggy. I think Ralph is a leader because he makes good decisions, and I feel Piggy would be a good leader because he is so intelligent. Santiago from Old Man in the Sea shows good leadership qualities by always staying positive. And Mama from A Raisin in the Sun is a leader because she is so fearless. The one quality that I think makes me a good leader is that I am outspoken and always listen to what other people have to say. I think that Ralph is a great leader in the novel The Lord of the Flies because he makes good decisions. Ralph is always positive through out the book by believing that someone would come rescue them. He believed in having assemblies and always having control and order over the others. He wanted to set fire to signal help and at the end of the book it did work, and they were rescued. He wanted to be the leader because he knew he would do a good job, and at first he was until jack took over. That was a bad move the island turned to mayhem and they became savages and killed one another. So overall Ralph would have been a great leader if Jack did not take over with the hunters. I think Santiago is a great leader in the novel Old Man in the Sea because he always stays positive throughout the whole book. The old man was still confident that he would catch a fish after 84 days of not catching a fish. And on the 85th day hooked a huge one and was confidant he could take it in. All through the fight for days of tearing up his hands he was still confident of reeling it in. Finally he pulled it up to the boat and speared it till it died. 2006-12-19T02:21:21-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/General-Qualities-of-Leadership-32044.aspx Maximizing Visitor/Customer Experience With Reference to a large range of scales and a variety of settings describe ands explain the ways in which the Visitor Experience might be enhanced by different techniques of Visitor Management In order to illustrate the concepts of enhancing visitor experience through different techniques a broad range of settings and scales need to be introduced. With the use of these settings visitor experience can be summarised on a broad scale, and with such scales techniques can be provided that help enhance this experience. In this essay I am going to use three specific examples to provide an outline of the key techniques, which attractions use to promote visitor experience. On a large scale I will outline Wellingtons Westpac Trust Stadium. On a smaller scale I will outline an indoor and outdoor attraction at a local level. The indoor attraction is Zebos Bar and outdoor Miramar Golf Club. To illustrate these techniques I will break down the ‘Application of Principles of Strategic Management to Visitor Attractions’ models and provide information concerning areas and techniques which these attractions use to enhance visitor experience. Indirect controls are the nucleus of visitor management. These controls can be broken down into three subtopics. Legislative, Planning and Tenure. Legislative, controls entry and restrictions of the visitor. With reference to techniques used by visitor management, legislature holds a key step to success. It is used to decrease negative elements and ensure visitors have an enjoyable and memorable experience. Smoke-free legislation has been a key technique used. This ultimately enhances the visitor experience for those who do not smoke. Westpac Trust Stadium uses this technique with all smoking banned inside the ground. Areas have been allotted outside, creating the best of both worlds for the visitor. A technique also employed by Miramar golf course, with smoke-free and smoking areas. Legislature is also used for alcohol. Visitors cannot bring alcohol into the Stadium, and can only be brought by visitors older than 18. Age restrictions concerning alcohol are also incorporated by Zebos and Miramar golf course, to ensure under age drinkers do not effect the visitor experience of others. Legislation also controls visitor flows, with restrictions on crowd capacity. Psychologically, these limits provide peace of mind for the visitor in situations that can be life threatening i.e fires. Once capacities are achieved more visitors cannot enter. Planning is the next 2006-12-05T15:52:46-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Maximizing-Visitor-Customer-Experience-31891.aspx Managing Stress in the Workplace Stress is everywhere—Home, school, and the work place. The sooner you learn how to manage it, the better. However, not everyone is very good at managing stress. To know the best way to manage stress, I have interviewed several businessmen and most of the following ideas of managing stress are based on their experiences. It was Christina Adzima’s senior year, and there was one final academic hurdle before her high school graduation—the 20-page term paper. The Stratford, Connecticut, student had been on schedule with the project all year, meeting each deadline. Then, two weeks before the full draft was due, her dog died. Christina just couldn’t seem to get the paper started, and suddenly it was the night before it was due. “It was the first all-nighter I had ever pulled, and I vowed I’d never do it again,” she says. As a student, stress can affect many areas of your life. Keeping up your grades, writing college essays, struggling with the decision of where to go to college, homework, tests, after-school sports, a part-time job, and your social life may all be making demands on your time. And after graduation, when you’ve left school to enter the work force, will the stress subside? Not likely. While it can be difficult to deal with stress, the sooner you learn how to manage it, the better. The ability to handle stress has almost become a requirement in most jobs today. According to the 1997 National Study of the Changing Work force by the Families and Work Institute in New York City, jobs are the biggest stressor for most Americans. In fact, job and workplace stress are three times more likely to affect a person’s emotional well being than children, again parents, spouses, commuting, housework or any other personal demands. Despite this, employers appear to be doing very little about it. Potter, an expert in workplace behavior and psychology, in her book Overcoming Job Burnout. “Across the board, no matter what profession, no matter what level, virtually everybody says they have too much to do and not enough time to do it.” When something inside tells you that things are not quite “right,” how do you know if it is stress? Look for these telltale signs that stress is building up: lack of concentration, forgetfulness, being disorganized, having trouble doing simple tasks, feeling anxious or depressed, having 2006-11-02T14:55:15-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Managing-Stress-in-the-Workplace-31659.aspx Creating Office Efficiency from Office Design An office which is designed well creates a more efficient working environment. In addition, a well-designed office produces for the company a variety of financial and psychological savings in the form of greater job performance, higher job satisfaction, and increased productivity. For the office 2006-08-31T19:43:48-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Creating-Office-Efficiency-from-Office-Design-31415.aspx Seven Habits of Effective People Emotional Bank Account We deal with others in a way such as we have our bank account in somebody else heart. If we do something great to the person we add our account to them and if we do something bad to them we withdraw our money from 'our bank account'. The good relationship can be built if you have a sufficient emotional bank account to your friends and relatives. And please, be ensure if you withdraw your account don't forget to add additional 'fund' to replace it. Product and Product Capacity A good product can be deliver continuously if we have a good product capacity. Don't drain your resources by forcing them to deliver a good product without maintaining their capacity. So the idea of maintaining capability by relaxation, learning, and other renewal effort is a 'must do' jobs in order to maintain our product quality. PRIVATE VICTORY Habit 1 : Be Proactive A human was created which such great intention, so that he/she actually can determine 'everything' by their own. Proactively is described as an ability to be independent to any circumstances around you. The independency will create a freedom to choose anything in your life but you have to live with the consequences of your choices. An effective person is that a person which focus on their circle of influence using all of his efforts, and by focusing on it he/she will improve it and make it bigger, Those who are not focusing on their circle of influences will end up having a very big circle of concerns but his/her circle of influence will be very small. Circle of Influence : Consist of things that have impacts to you and you can do something about those things Circle of Concerns : Consist of things that have impacts to you and you can not do anything about those things Focus on your circle of influence ! By doing it you will make it bigger Habit 2 : Begin with The End in Mind To be effective, a person should have a clear destiny to what he/she want to be at the end of his life. He/She must have a clear dreams. By using this dream, a person can drive any activities that he/she will do in his/her life. The book suggest that each person should have a written personal Vision and Mission statement. The Book 2006-08-31T17:21:53-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Seven-Habits-of-Effective-People-31392.aspx Techniques in Supply Chain Management “Warehousing is an integral part of the logistics supply chain and it is important that it is seen as such, and that the planning of warehouse design and operations should be within the overall context and objectives of the total supply chain. Unless this happens, there is the risk of sub-optimizing warehouse operations, at the overall supply chain.” Warehousing is generally defined as “the storage of goods before their use”1. That was just the warehouse’s role up to fifteen years ago when the logistics supply chain philosophies arrived. Since then the warehouse has obtained a strategic role, and has become an integral part of the logistics supply chain. As for the planning of warehouse design and operations they have become one with the overall context and objectives of the total supply chain and the logistic goals. These objectives are: Shorter cycle times Lower costs Better customer services The warehouse today is focused in speed, since a product may be only stored for a few days or even hours. What is also important is that by looking warehousing from a macroeconomic angle it creates time utility for raw materials, industrial goods and finished products. Time availability of goods is broadened and customers receive the goods when and where they need them most. Taking a closer look at the role of warehousing in the logistics system we observe that the warehouse serves certain value adding roles. One of them is the transportation consolidation. This is the moving of small amounts of goods2 to or from a warehouse in order to consolidate these small shipments into a large one, with significant transportation savings that save further cost and don’t add value to the goods. Another warehousing function is the product mixing of the customer. Customers may sometimes order for different amount of goods in type, size e.t.c. . This can be deled with the development of mixing warehouses nearby, so small vehicles can gather the goods and avoid further cost and delay3. A warehouse also provides customer services. Having the goods available when the order is made and shipped directly leads to customer satisfaction. Also warehousing can play the role of protection against contingencies4. This is very important because it is crucial to have a defense to the case of not being able to deliver the raw materials, otherwise there will be a delay in the production of finished goods. Finally warehousing 2006-08-31T17:15:11-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Techniques-in-Supply-Chain-Management-31389.aspx Characteristics of "Total Quality Management" “Total Quality Management (TQM) is the integration of all functions and processes within an organization in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and services. The goal is customer satisfaction.”(Omachonu, Ross, Swift; 3.) TQM has become the basic practice in businesses though-out the world. “Implementation of TQM in these organizations has been driven by the desire to in crease profits in the highly competitive business world. Total Quality Management techniques are designed to improve performance,”(Raibon, Payne; 963.) and inevitably resulting in increased profits. Introduction During the early 1980’s companies started to adopt the process of TQM. The customers were not satisfied with the quality of the products. Many believed that Total Quality Management was a solution for the company’s problems. Most companies adopted the rules but didn’t apply them; they had lost sight of the larger concerns, for customer value and satisfaction. “As a result many TQM programs begun in the 1980’s failed causing backlash against TQM.” (Kotler, Armstong; 681.) But the principles stayed the same, and the companies knew that these functions were needed for success. Implementation To fully utilize TQM the brainpower of each and every employee must be used. “It is the systematic elimination of waste and rework created by imperfect processes’... ‘It is an understanding that all an organizations efforts are part of a system, and that you cannot change one part of the system without affecting the other part.” (Schultz, Vollum; ix.) In implementing a Total Quality Management system there are many different beliefs, The Fourteen Point way formulated by Dr. Deming is just one of many but it is believed that these fundamental points should not be ignored. 1.) “Create constancy of purpose toward the improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs. 2.) Adopt the philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, learn its responsibilities, and take on leadership for change. 3.) Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for mass inspection by building quality into the product in the first place. 4.) End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag alone. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long term relationship of loyalty and trust. 5.) Improve constantly and 2006-08-28T00:00:16-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Total-Quality-Management-TQM-and-it-s-Characteristics-31354.aspx Piece-rate System Of Performance The piece-rate system represents the ultimate relationship between pay and performance as a method of 2006-08-12T11:10:02-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Piece-rate-System-Of-Performance-31231.aspx Consulting Evaluation for the Advising Office Project The current system that we have been working with is Undergraduate Business Advising. After doing some research we have found that there are a number of different problems with the current system. The main problem we have discovered is inconsistent information. One of the proposed solutions is an Undergraduate Business Advising website. The website will provide a way for advisors to communicate information to students more clearly and efficiently. It will also, in the same way, provide a way for students to access the information much quicker and easier. In addition, it will allow students to schedule appointments online. By offering this feature, we hope to increase the number of appointments and in turn decrease the number of walk-ins. Our goal is to decrease the amount of inconsistent information that students are receiving. Absolute Consulting was hired by the Undergraduate Business Advising Office to develop a web page to help enhance the advising process. We were approached by Monica Farrell to update the current process by integrating user-friendly tools on the web. Our role in the project was to gather information from students and faculty to determine what requirements are necessary for the web page. We have accomplished this through extensive interviewing, research, and questionnaires. Our team is comprised of six students from Dr. Sauter’s analysis class. Each member has strengths in different areas of the project, thus increasing our proficiency. The team has an excellent set of checks and balances to ensure that no one part is overshadowed by another. One of our main concerns was keeping within the scope of the project. We had to pay careful attention as to not get outside of our parameters. Through much discussion with Monica Farrell, we determined what would and would not be appropriate for the project. Monica, our contact, took our ideas to the other advisors to get feedback and we were able to adjust accordingly. Also, the process worked in the opposite direction. Some of the adivisors’ ideas were not within the scope of the project, so we had to compromise. The most important part of staying within the scope was the communication line that was established and maintained with Monica Farrell. Through our discussions with her, we were able to arrive at 2006-08-12T10:54:46-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Consulting-Evaluation-for-the-Advising-Office-Project-31226.aspx Present Day Importance of Strong Communication Skills The two-way process that we call communication, is a natural skill. In life we have grown accustomed to talking; which is why talking is a natural act for people. Even though we all have these natural skills, some people use their communication expertise in an effective way than other individuals. I have taken the liberty of stepping outside of my body and viewing my communication skills as others would have viewed it. I rarely use communication effectively as most people. I lack the amount of vocabulary needed to describe things pragmatically. If I used descriptive words as frequently as other people, I would not have this problem. I realize that I tend to talk about unimportant things. I get off topic when I am in a group discussion. Everyone has to know everything about me, my family and friends, or what I saw the other day. It just does not matter what anyone says to me because my story is better and has to be heard. On the other hand, I do speak of mostly positive subjects. Looking at myself through a stranger’s perspective, I realize that I frown a lot when I am listening. I smile only when I speak of something funny. I make strange faces when I talk of things that make me mad. I have a tendency to not look people directly in the eye when I talk. When people are talking to me I try not to stare at them. I nod my head up and down when I think that I have heard enough of some one talking to me about instructions. Mrs. Cotton has taught me that it is not all about me; listening is also a part of communication. I need to use complicated words instead of simple words. Feedback is a very important part of the communication process. Improving my communication skills will make me a better person. In order to excel in life I will need to improve on my communication skills. The people I talk to will have a better understanding of what I am talking about. I am anxiously awaiting more advice and teachings for the effective art of communication. I hope I will be able to have successful conversations with educated people without fearing my lack of vocabulary words. I plan on being able to give efficient details to anyone that 2006-08-10T13:06:14-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Present-Day-Importance-of-Strong-Communication-Skills-31208.aspx Report from the Supply Chain Management Conference The 2001 Supply Chain Management Conference, presented by The Conference Board and sponsored by A.T. Kearney, was held June 25-26 in Chicago, Illinois. Long considered one of the industry’s most important events for senior procurement and supply chain executives, the conference had for its theme this year "Extending the Enterprise — A Practical Approach to Supply Chain Management." Major session topics centered around the concepts of collaborative supply chain management, leveraging the e-Information conduit, managing global supply chains and streamlining material flow. About 30 executives attended representing companies such as Quaker Oats, Starbucks, Georgia-Pacific and EDS. eBreviate's Strategic Alliances Director, Michael Pollard and Account Executive, Eric Lynch provide us with their observations of the event's highlights. Michael reports that Jim Morehouse, a Vice President in A.T. Kearney's Strategic Sourcing practice, gave the opening keynote address in which he made a number of key points. To resolve key business issues in the future, an "intelligent agent" (IA) will be a required tool. IA's will go well beyond our current search engines and will not only describe items but will recommend changes to processes and tools to address specific business requirements. Global competition and advancements in information technology are key factors in business organizations' ability to continue to drive ROI upward. This will inevitably result in "dysfunctional processes" (like the current supply chain process) receiving greater corporate support resources. In the future the supply chain process will require its participants to share data or be given data visibility. Furthermore, the sharing and reuse of information will impact the consumer product development process. Suppliers are presently below capacity on a global basis and this will result in ongoing price reductions. The outlook, on the whole, is for fewer suppliers to thrive but expect those to be bigger and stronger. All supply chain data must be digitized. This will not only accelerate information flow and solutions development throughout the supply chain, but will also impact decision making of all participants resulting, for instance, in materials warehousing and flow being optimized. Morehouse was followed by a presentation by Dr. E. Hermann Krog, Executive Director, Group Logistics at Volkswagen AG. Dr. Krog spoke about VW's successful efforts in attracting and rationalizing its supplier base through the introduction of new processes, emphasizing that it has horizontally and vertically integrated the supply chain. This integrated process provides VW with tremendous insight into its delivery tracking capability, cost management process, 2006-08-09T12:14:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Report-from-the-Supply-Chain-Management-Conference-31183.aspx Fundamentals to Improving Shareholder Value In this assignment I will be discussing on the fundamental measures in which companies improve corporate strategy in order to improve shareholder value. And whether (advantages and disadvantages) of having a meta-fund manager (company manager) deal with the portfolio investment and divestments or leave this to fund manager (investors) as John Kay puts is. The strategies of enhancing performance of the asset of a company involves; mergers, demergers, organic growth and acquisition. A merger is defined ‘as a 2006-08-01T19:02:02-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Fundamentals-to-Improving-Shareholder-Value-30960.aspx Important Decisions in Physical Database Design In most situations, many physical database design decisions are implicit or eliminated when you choose the database management technologies to use with the information system you are designing. Since many organizations have standards for operating systems, database management systems, and data access languages, you must deal only with those choices not implicit in the given technologies. Thus, we will cover only those decisions you will make most frequently, as well as other selected decisions that may be critical for some types of applications, such an on-line data capture and retrieval. The primary goal of physical database design is data processing efficiency. Today, with ever-decreasing costs for computer technology per unit of measure (both speed and space measures), it is typically very important for you to design the physical database to minimize the time required by users to interact with the information system. Thus, we concentrate on how to make processing of physical files and databases efficient, with less attention on efficient use of space. Designing physical files and databases requires certain information that should have been collected and produced during prior system development phases. The information needed for physical file and database design includes these requirements: • Normalized relations, including volume estimates • Definitions of each attribute • Descriptions of where and when data are used: entered, retrieved, deleted, and updated (including frequencies) • Expectations or requirements for response time and data security, backup, recovery, retention, and integrity • Descriptions of the technologies (database management systems) used for implementing the database Physical database design requires several critical decisions that will affect the integrity and performance of the application system. These key decisions include the following: 1. Choosing the storage format (called data type) for each attribute from the logical data model. The format is chosen to minimize storage space and to maximize data integrity. 2. Grouping attributes from the logical data model into physical records. You will discover that although the columns of a relational table are a natural definition for the contents of a physical record, this is not always the most desirable grouping of attributes. 3. Arranging similarly structured records in 2006-08-01T18:34:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Important-Decisions-in-Physical-Database-Design-30943.aspx Challenges of the External Environment Imposed on Managers The manager’s job cannot be accomplished in a vacuum within the organization. Many interacting external factors can affect managerial performance. The external environment consists of factors that affect a firm from outside its organizational boundaries. The external factors include the labor force, legal, political, legal considerations, society, unions, the competition, customers/suppliers, and technology. One of the greatest challenges facing all organizations today is managing uncertainty. Managers must do what they can to reduce uncertainty by reading the signals, following the trends, and scanning the external environment. The way in which trends in each of these areas affect the workplace is discussed later in this paper. Labor force The capabilities of a firm’s employees determine to a large extent how well the organization can perform its mission. Since new employees are hired from outside the firm, the labor force is considered an external environment factor. The labor force is always changing. This inevitably causes changes in the workforce of an organization thus affecting the way management must deal with its workforce. (Mondy 1995, p.36) Changes in the country’s labor force create dynamic situations within organization. For example, changing values and laws have contributed to greater participation rates by women in the employment market thus parental leave and child-care facilities provided by employers are becoming more common demands. Legal Considerations Law is important in business transactions. It provided a basic framework within which a business enterprise must operate. It facilitates smooth functioning of business transactions and protects both the businessmen and customers. All business organizations must comply also with the legal constraints of that country. In turn when a firm’s operations extend into other countries, the laws and regulations of those countries must be taken into account. (Mondy 1995, p.36) Society Members of society may also exert pressure on management. The public no longer accepts the actions of business organizations without questions. People learned that voicing out their disagreements in newspapers and other forms of media can produce changes. The large number of laws and policies passed in recent years is the result of the publics¡¦ influence. An organization in order to remain acceptable to the general public must accomplish its mission within the range of societal norms and remain in societal good books. When a firm responds effectively to societal interests, it is said to be socially responsible. Social responsibility is the 2006-07-29T15:47:13-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Challenges-of-the-External-Environment-Imposed-on-Managers-30781.aspx Strategic Management Techniques of Caterpillar Inc. Introduction Headquartered in Peoria, Ill. Caterpillar Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. It is a fortune 100 company, ranked number 1 in its industry, with more than $26 billion in assets. It is a U.S. based competitor, recording half to its sales to overseas customers; Caterpillar has maintained its position as a leading U.S. exports in excess of $5.2 billion in 1999. The company directly employees approximately 70, 000 people in the U.S. and abroad. The company is a growth oriented, diversified high technology business. The company is strong, resilient and definitely focused on the future. Glen A. Barton, Chairman and CEO, stated “Caterpillar continues to demonstrate an ability to achieve success and generate reasonable profits even when many of the markets served are at their weakest level in year.” The company remains committed to profitable growth, fully leveraging the benefits of its newly designed e-business and is pursuing improvements in quality through 6 Sigma in an effort strengthen it leading global position. Global Leadership Caterpillar products and components are manufactured in 42 plants in the U.S. and 49 other plants located in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, China, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Sweden. Marketing operations are headquartered in most of the major cities in these countries. Caterpillar's dealer network is the company's most important competitive edge. They deliver superior customer service through an extensive worldwide network of 220 dealers, which as of June 30, 2001, was composed of 63 dealers inside and 157 outside the United States. Caterpillar dealers operate more than 1,840 branch locations around the world with 643 Cat Dealer Rental Stores. Creating Shareholder Value “Caterpillar is committed to generating attractive returns for its shareholders. Strategic growth initiatives involving its machine, engine, and service businesses are expected to drive these returns over the next several years.” According to a recent article. Since 1993, Caterpillar has increased cash dividends in eight consecutive years, boosting the quarterly dividend to $.35 per share. Since June 1995, they have repurchased approximately 63 million shares, or about 15 percent of all outstanding shares. Financial Data 2000 2006-07-25T20:17:12-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Strategic-Management-Techniques-of-Caterpillar-Inc_-30661.aspx Introduction to Employee Counseling Human resource management was not a very popular discipline in the earlier part of the last century. Managers at that time viewed labor force as a commodity to be bought or sold like any other commodity. This type of management was probably effective at its time. But it proved to be short lived, which is evident from the ever-increasing importance of what, is now called “Human Resource Management”. Human Resource Management is the part of the organization that is concerned with ‘the people’ dimension, consisting of staff support and function in the organization. Every organization is comprised of people (Hoque, 2000:17) and deals with acquiring their services, developing their skills, motivating them to high levels of performance. Getting and keeping good people is critical to the success of every organization. One important aspect of human resource management is to continuously monitor and maintain employee performance. Improving employee performance is important both to the employee themselves and to the organization. It makes sense to have a healthy high performing work force as not only does it create happier individuals who provide quality service but also their contribution to drive and achieve set organizational objectives. Workplace Counseling may focus on work performance but its emphasis is more on a problem solving approach, which is concerned with the discussion and analysis of problems and issues that affect an employees work performance in an attempt to find solutions. There seems to be an ever-increasing importance could it be because mangers have suddenly woken up to the fact that it helps to retain valuable employees, or because people are more prone to problems than ever before. The correct answer would be a combination of both. In the face of increasing employee turnover and escalating recruitment/training costs, many managers find counseling a better alternative to retain troubled employees by helping them resolve problems. Counseling is also used for other potential problem areas in an organization such as career planning and development or to help employees prepare for implementing changes such as retirement, changes caused by health, stress, conflict etc. Work and careers are important aspects of society and we live in a society where rate of change appears to be accelerating. Career counseling helps people of all ages to make appropriate and realistic career choices. 2006-07-24T19:22:04-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Introduction-to-Employee-Counseling-30604.aspx Analyzing Management Incentives and Motivation 1. Introduction Motivating employees is a key issue for most managers. In order to achieve a high level of performance and productivity, managers nowadays are inclined to pay more attention on this issue. Different employees need different motivation. This assignment will first look at the different characteristics of professional workers and lower level contingent workers. It will also address the different motivation approaches which are generally used by managers towards these two different groups. And then, by applying a set of motivation theories, we will explain why managers should use such different methods. 2. Characteristics of professional workers and lower level contingent workers According to Robbins(1998), professional workers are the employees who usually have specialist knowledge, own a permanent working status and tend to be well-paid in an organization, such as software engineers and accountants . On the other hand, lower level contingent workers are usually the people who lack of specialist skills, work part-time involuntarily due to redundancy and tend to be paid at a relatively low level. Professional workers are often placed to important positions and take more responsibility while contingent workers are always working on simple tasks and with less responsibility. 3. Different approaches of motivation applied to professionals and contingent workers in real business world In the real business world, organization managers are usually recommended to take different approaches of motivation towards their professional employees and lower level contingent workers.(www.accel-team.com) Managers tend to motivate professionals by offering challenging projects, giving them autonomy in following interests and structuring work and rewarding with educational opportunities. French computer services company CAP Gemini Sogeti , for example, used to motivate its engineers and technicians by giving them challenging tasks and relevant solution tools (Robbins 1998). To motivate contingent workers, managers use pay increase, opportunity for permanent status and membership of an occupational sickness benefit scheme. Reader’s Digest used to motivate its temporary staff in such a similar way (Syrett, 1983). A set of theories of motivation in the following part may help to explain this difference to a certain extent. 4. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and implications Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is one of the content theories of motivation which attempt to explain motivation in terms of what arouses and energizes behavior (McKenna, 2000). Maslow(1954) identified five human needs that 2006-07-10T13:32:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Analyzing-Management-Incentives-and-Motivation-30158.aspx Use of "Suggestive" Words in Today's Advertising Advertising agencies use “suggestive” words in advertising campaigns in order to make consumers remember the product. Yet, what do these ads tell consumers about American culture? To answer this question I will be analyzing one specific billboard ad. The ad contradicts social norms. I want to find out what this ad says about American values in order to identify if this tactic is why some ad campaigns are extremely successful while others are not. During my morning commutes on Interstate 25, I often turn to billboard ads to pass the time. I have been reading billboards since I was little and you may think that by now I would remember some really great ads, and to tell you the truth, I really don’t. There’s only one billboard ad that really sticks in my mind after all these years, and that is an ad for a beer named “Tequiza”. The Tequiza ad is quite simple. It consists of a white background, a picture of a yellow beer bottle, and the simple words “Of course we can’t just be friends, Tequiza beer w/o borders.” Even though the ad appears to be simplistic, it tells consumers a lot about American culture. The ad tells consumers through the phrase “Of course we can’t just be friends” that an American value is freedom of speech. The ad promotes free speech by suggesting that the drinker of Tequiza beer doesn’t want to be friends with their partner anymore and has the courage to say so. Providing the courage to be honest is one of the benefits Tequiza beer offers through its ad. Because of its suggestiveness, the ad allows consumers to relate to it and to dream of applying the benefit of Tequiza to future situations. This ability to speak freely contradicts the American social norm of respecting everyone and being polite to everyone. The phrase “Beer w/o borders” seems to imply the value of individualism in American culture as well. Construing that borders are rules, Tequiza encourages American society to break the rules by living without borders, or in other words, Tequiza encourages society to break social norms. Overall Tequiza is implying that in present day society it is important to go against social norms in order to be an individual. As you can tell from the above example, 2006-06-11T19:51:43-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Use-of-Suggestive-Words-in-Today-s-Advertising-29230.aspx A Synopsis of Time Management and Corporate Planning Through the survey on the previous page it is apparent that while I feel that my organization and management of my free time is efficient, I can make effective changes to maximize my output (and give me more time to do the things that I enjoy doing). While I often record long term goals and dates of important events and due dates, I often due not record short term goals for example the daily tasks etc. This prevents me from maximizing the amount of work I get done during my “most alert” (as they say) periods of the day. Planning, more than anything can relieve stress by avoiding procrastination and the ‘last minute’ scrambles to get things done and it can easily be done by setting goals and recording important dates. - My Study Area: This is one of my weaker sections related to ‘time management’. Often when I have a lot of work, the one thing that I tend to neglect is the tidiness of my room and my study area. However, along with planning, a clean work area can save you valuable time by knowing where everything is as well as prevents you from losing papers that you might need. For me, I tend not to care about how my books and sheets are organized which causes me to lose track of where certain things can be found. This results in several things; obviously my work area is untidy, it is hard to find specific items, it is often discouraging to approach my room, and an untidy work area causes me additional stress. In order to better arrange my room, it is not a matter of once in a while organizing it, but rather to keep it clean continuously. Obtained Results: I had mixed results in this section. In terms of setting goals, concentrating my attention on what I am doing and performing long projects in short parts I scored reasonable well and, therefore, I feel that no major improvements are needed in these categories. However, I feel that where one of my major weaknesses is that I often leave most of my work to be done at home, whereas I should take things to do with me when I know that I will be going somewhere that will involve me having free time. Time Savers Involving Myself and Others: Similarly to the previous section, 2006-06-10T19:28:58-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/A-Synopsis-of-Time-Management-and-Corporate-Planning-29135.aspx An Introduction to skills involving Knowledge Management What if I were to tell you that I could give you a process or methodology that would allow those that don’t know what they don’t know to determine what they really needed? If I had a tool that supported a process of gathering required information, providing information to those that need it, when they need it, and in a form they understood, would people really be interested in such a tool? Well if I had such a tool it would be “priceless!” What I’ve described is exactly the feeling I get when trying to understand the concept of knowledge and how to manage knowledge. There are superficial distinctions between knowledge, data, and information as one person’s data or information could be another person’s knowledge. Therefore, knowledge management sounds like something you can put your arms around (easily described), but in reality, it’s a concept whose definition changes depending on your personal frame of reference. Knowledge management is an important issue in the manufacturing industry. However, the concepts in this paper transcend manufacturing. Therefore, my comments will be presented as if they pertain to many industries, including manufacturing. Knowledge Management Is Very Personal What is done with knowledge is a key concept people at all levels in an organization need to get comfortable with. I could not find a universally accepted definition of knowledge management. For instance some would argue, “the primary focus of knowledge management actions and thoughts should be directed toward accomplishing common goals.” If this is true, then information is generated in a form that enables people to attain a level of understanding. With understanding, people are better able to make sound and timely decisions. A cynical belief is knowledge management is just a euphemistic term that makes it legal to systematically take advantage of employee ideas. Others believe, “knowledge management is luring people together [physically or virtually] to share thoughts and ideas in order to produce a level of understanding needed to make decisions.” Still others believe “knowledge management involves managing cerebral activities (learning) within oneself to get some type of action.” In these examples, knowledge and understanding could be used interchangeably. However, the real concern is not knowledge or understanding, rather, the focus is on what is 2006-06-10T19:21:56-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/An-Introduction-to-skills-involving-Knowledge-Management-29132.aspx TABLE OF CONTENTS SOUTH AFRICA – CULTURAL DIVERSITY 2 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE 4 2.1 Cultural Dimensions Model 4 2.2 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges – case: eye contact 5 2.3 Cultural Shock - Respecting Differences and Working Together 6 2.4 Building Trust across Cultural Boundaries 2006-06-06T13:42:50-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Cultural-Intelligence-29053.aspx 1. INTRODUCTION Teams are a part of everyone's life. You're a member of a family team, an extension staff team, and church, school, and community teams. As a result, there is a need for teamwork; organizations are confronted with increasingly complex problems with many dimensions. For example, the energy problem has implications for extension programming in agriculture, family living, community development and youth development programs for both rural and urban people. (Dyer, 1997 p. 139) So it's appropriate that people try to understand how to function effectively as team members. 2. WHAT CONSTITUTES TEAM WORK? 2.1 Teamwork … Merriam Webster dictionary (2005) describes teamwork as work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. Nevertheless greater interpersonal skills are necessary if teams work together effectively at more complex levels. (Belbin, 1981) 2.2 Characteristics needed for team work Douglas McGregor's (cited in Heil, 2000) list of the unique characteristics of an effective management team include 1)Understanding, mutual agreement, and identification with respect to the primary task 2)Open communications 3)Mutual trust 4)Mutual support 5)Management of human differences leading to group synergy 6)Selective use of the team 7)Appropriate member skills 8) Leadership: Managing and integrating the other 7 characteristics A team is only as strong as the individual members. Stronger, more productive teams are comprised of individuals who know how teams work, how to make them work better and how they can best contribute. If individuals don’t have the proper skills to be an effective team member then productivity of the team is compromised. (Katzenbach, 1998) 2.3 Team Building It's important to realize that the development of effective working relationships among staff is a gradual process which requires considerable time and skill, this is not meant to discourage team members, but to help them realize that teams aren't created overnight (Francis, 1979 p.261) a certain amount of frustration and conflict are normal. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers, 1962) is a self-report instrument that establishes individual preferences based on the theory of C.S. Jung, (Hyde, 1992) a well- known Swiss psychiatrist. The idea behind the MBTI is that human behavior is actually logical and orderly, and this assessment tool establishes a framework for individual differences between people. Because it 2006-06-06T13:37:46-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Teamwork-29052.aspx Managing your Most Important Resource; Human Resources In the business world today there is a constant pressure to achieve ever-higher standards of performance. There is little or no room for complacency in the global market. Companies are always in search of getting more for less. As a result of this the stress factor has gone up in many companies. “Downsizing” and “restructuring” is just a couple of expressions that employees and their representatives have come up with as the employees try to improve the company by reducing staff costs. (Mabey 1998) Yet we have seen the development of a management philosophy that can be summarized in the phrase “our people are our greatest advantage”. Human resource management is an example of that philosophy. And arguably, human resource management has become the leading theory to people management in English-speaking countries. But it is important to state that human resource management has not come out of nowhere, it has taken ideas from many areas. And a lot of literature has been written about the topic, showing how you best can manage your employees. But throughout the twentieth century, practitioners and academics have searched for theories that can help them manage people at work. A lot of things happen in a business that both influence the employees and the employer alike for instance: new equipment must be bought, old procedures are replaced with new, staff must be reorganised, retained or dismissed. And this shows that workers and managers must deal with events that need fresh thinking. (Price 1997) Many sociologists, psychologists and management practitioners have tried to work out theories that can help companies in developing their human resource management. They have given ideas in areas like people management such as recruitment and selection, team building and organizational design. These theories have been a part of the development of human resource management. The most significant theories are: • Scientific management: detailed task specifications and selection of the 'best man' for the job. It was the function of managers to think - workers were expected to do exactly as they were told. • Fordism: a philosophy of production based on the continuous assembly line. • Human relations: In the 1920s and 30s researchers in the USA demonstrated that work performance and motivation did not depend simply on pay and discipline. People worked for many other reasons. • Management by objectives: The workers could clarify and set their own targets. • Strategic management: This is 2006-06-02T02:07:18-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Human-Resources-Managing-your-Most-Important-Resource-29006.aspx Synopsis This report will provide information of an interview with a restaurant manager conducted by our group members. The report covers the planning and process of our group¡¦s interview, the role and responsibility of the interviewed manager, the key areas to be covered of the business such as its environment (Jonas), communication (Able), groups (Jack) and management (Loon) and our group¡¦s findings of the business. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND 2 1.2 PURPOSE 2 1.3 SCOPE 2 1.4 RESEARCH METHODS 2 2. ENVIRONMENT 2 2.1 TYPE OF BUSINESS 2 2.2 SIZE 2 2.3 STRUCTURE 2 3. COMMUNICATION 2 3.1 FORMAL VS. INFORMAL COMMUNICATION 2 3.2 ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION 2 3.3 DIFFERENCES IN CULTURAL BACKGROUND; DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTION 2 3.4 COMMUNICATION ENHANCEMENT 2 4. GROUPS 2 4.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUP 2 4.2 PARTICIPATION IN GROUPS 2 4.3 ANALYSIS OF GROUP EFFECTIVENESS 2 5. MANAGEMENT 2 5.1 MANAGEMENT STYLE 2 5.2 MANAGEMENT METHOD 2 5.3 MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS 2 5.4 DIFFICULTIES IN BOTH BEING A MANAGER AND WORKING WITH OTHER MANAGERS 2 5.5 ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT SKILLS 2 6. CONCLUSION 2 7. RECOMMENDATIONS 2 8. APPENDIX 2 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 2 1. Introduction 1.1 General Background The topic discussed in this report is ¡¥Being a Manager in an Organization¡¦. Our group consisting of four members, Loon Luong, Able (Sai Kit) Koo, Jonas (Lam) Ng and Jack (Wai Kei) Yip conducted an interview with a restaurant manager (Nancy Choi) in a small organization (Restaurant - Singapore Hut). The report will be based on our group¡¦s knowledge, findings, insights and understanding of what actually happens in an organization. 1.2 Purpose The purpose of this report is to investigate the manager¡¦s role within an organization, how he/she operated the organization, his/her responsibilities, his/her relationship and things he/she takes into account. Further, it will make recommendations to specific reader¡¦s who would like to be managers, with possible information on the manager¡¦s management techniques and how he/she solved problems. 1.3 Scope This report will be looking at the particular manager interviewed and his/her skills involved in the organization. However this report will not cover other positions irrelevant to the manager position. The report has the limitations such as researching participants that are managers, the short period of time to write this report, our group only consisting of four members have to summarize everything with the word limit of 3000 words in this report. 1.4 Research Methods Information to this report was obtained from a conducted interview with a Restaurant manager Nancy Choi. Our group faced difficulties finding a manager in the engineering area, we tried contacting three managers, but two of the three managers gave us negative response. Luckily the 3rd manager made time for our interview, our group then travelled to the 2006-05-06T08:06:15-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Engineering-Management-Report-on-Communication-28807.aspx Business is responsible by leader with a successful leadership. Responsible leadership is important as almost every aspect of work influenced by leadership in a business (Overton, 2002:2). According to Rodney Overton, the definition of leadership is ¡¥the ability to get work done with and through others while gaining their confidence and cooperation¡¦ (2002:2). It is intent, in this brief essay, to discuss further about the important in being a responsible leader in business, the involvement and the examples. Discussion of business students learning to be a leader and also the perspective of responsible leadership also provided. There are several of writers that discuss differently about the leadership in business. All companies are still acting like traditional approach in making profit but with a different way, according to Tim Ooi (Cheh, 2004). We cannot just making profit without taking care of the environment because if they do so, people will not consume from them (Cheh, 2004). In this case, that company will lose business or even newspaper or Current Affair will publish a scandal about their company (Cheh, 2004). In his point of view, we must socially responsibility to be a successful leader in a business (Cheh, 2004). Fujio Cho, president of Toyota Corporation state that ¡¥Toyota and the other automakers will not survive the 21st Century unless we pull together now and find ways to limit the car¡¦s impact on our earth¡¦ (Hermance, 2001). Phil Crosby states that leader ought to have a clear schema, in being consistent and needs to be patience (1996:ix). He also said that leadership is not a ¡¥system¡¦ because there is nothing that called ¡¥system¡¦ to be installed to conquest the job of management (Crosby, 1996:2). Leadership is the result of actions that taken by an individual and leader attract their followers for pragmatic reasons with offering something that the followers whish to have (Crosby, 1996:2). People will unable to do anything if they or others cannot understand the definition of leadership (Crosby, 1996:2). There are five components that written by Rodney Overton in term of the productivity of the leadership lineup in any company (2002). These include: individual job actions of a manager, individuality in work that associated situations of the manager, power base of the manager, outline of the company¡¦s raw material, tasks, capital investment and related factors, and the company¡¦s background (Rodney Overton, 2002). In Overton¡¦s view, ¡¥no one is a born leader¡¦ or 2006-05-06T08:04:50-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leadership-in-Literature-28806.aspx Management and change --Bill Gates (The richest man in the world) Bibliography William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft had revenues of US$32.19 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2002, and employs more than 50,000 people in 72 countries and regions. Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International. The birth of Microsoft A. The idea During December of 1974, his partner Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse a magazine. After he saw that, it changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed to Gates's room. They both recognized it was a great opportunity for business and their business brain started to work. They knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company was very interested in seeing their BASIC since they never seen such thing before. Gates and Allen began to work feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. When they both felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most 2006-05-06T08:03:22-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Management-and-Change,-Essay-on-Bill-Gates-Management-Style-28805.aspx Summary In this report an analysis was undertaken to investigate managing in an organisation. Using group contacts we were able to come into contact with Dr Smith, a manager at Telstra. After comparing textbook management techniques we discovered that the interviewee alternated between several of these with giving staff incentives to be independent in their work a major factor of his management. We also concluded that diversity makes management more flexible and allows creativity to flourish in the workplace. Table of Contents: SUMMARY II 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND AIM 1 1.2 SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY 1 2.0 BODY OF REPORT 2 2.1 DR. SMITH 2 2.2 COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE 3 2.3 STAFF MOTIVATION 4 2.4 DR SMITHS PERSONAL MOTIVATION 5 2.5 MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY 6 2.6 DR SMITHS¡¦ MANAGEMENT STYLES 7 2.7 COMPANY MANAGEMENT STYLE 9 3.0 CONCLUSION AND INSIGHTS 9 4.0 REFERENCE LIST 10 5.0 APPENDIXES 11 5.1 APPENDIX ONE: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 12 5.2 APPENDIX TWO: INTERVIEW PROMPT SHEET 18 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background information and Aim This is a report on the interview that was conducted with Dr. Bernard Smith of Telstra on Friday, 30th August. The interview was aimed to find out various details about being a manager. These included, management styles, models and philosophies used, what a manager does and problems that arise as a manager. Dr. Smith is the section head of the Access Networks section of Telstra, Australia¡¦s largest telecommunications provider. There are four or five levels of management above Dr. Smith who is at the lowest level of formal management [1]. His section contains about 25 people under him. Access Networks is part of the Telstra Research Laboratories in Clayton and conducts research on the access part of the telecommunications network. This mainly deals with the part of the network between the customer and the nearest exchange [1]. Including transmission line and interference research for cable and ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) [2]. He manages a range of people. Some have similar skills who he can work closely with such and electronics and protocols people. And some work in areas he knows very little about such as metallurgists and chemists who test corrosion of cables. He also manages workers who test the application of the research findings to see what the customer will experience. 1.2 Sources and Methodology The interview was organised through a contact at Telstra, Phil Potter, who was the father of one of the group members. Dr. Potter talked to Dr. Smith who we intended to interview and found if he was willing to be interviewed and what 2006-05-06T08:02:11-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Engineering-Management-28804.aspx "Xerox: The Copier Company" epitomizes one of the greatest strategic blunders in the history of high technology corporations. The legacy of C. Peter McColough's tenure as CEO at Xerox was that he gave away the future of the company while he was at the helm. When McColough took over the reins of Xerox in 1968, Xerox was fully enjoying the 40-45% growth in their 80% copier dominated market share. McColough had the vision to see that in the office of the future, information would be stored electronically and he wanted Xerox to dominate the storing and reproduction of digital information just as it had dominated that on paper. To this end, Xerox developed the first personal computer three years before the first Apple computer and more than eight years before the appearance of the IBM PC. Having the computer and networking businesses firmly hooked, McColough failed to reel them in. At the outset, McColough appeared to be the champion of his company and perhaps the entire business era. For example, to ensure Xerox's presence as a leader in the "architecture of information," McColough established the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) to develop digital office technologies. After all, he reasoned, the best way to predict the future was to invent it. In the early 1970's, many corporations were cutting their R&D budgets while Xerox, on the other hand, provided unlimited funding to PARC who gathered together a team of world-class researchers in information sciences and physical sciences. This team invented virtually every aspect of today's personal computer, including the graphical user interface, on which Windows and Apple are based, along with the mouse, the laser printer, computer networking, internet protocol, bitmapped graphics and e-mail. Despite these profound achievements in computer technology, Xerox is still known as the copier company because McColough failed to commercialize or protect this new technology. Nature and Cause of the Error At the root of McColough's strategic error was his failure to support his predictions for the future of Xerox with corporate action. McColough touted PARC as the future of the company, yet he neither protected the stunning technological developments from PARC nor evolved Xerox from the service company that it was, to the technology provider that it could have easily become. The error comprised two main shortfalls: failure to commercialize the technology; 2006-03-19T22:04:31-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Strategic-Mistakes-by-Xerox-CEO-28596.aspx Telephone Company Management Problems Industry Leaders Total Industry Earnings for 2004: 6.8 Billion Dollars MCI Chief Operating Officer: Michael D. Cappellas 2003 Sales (mil.) $27,315.0 1-Year Sales Growth (15.2%) 2003 Net Income (mil.) $22,211.0 2003 Employees 56,600 1-Year Employee Growth (9.7%) Total Market Share 18.6% AT&T Chief Operating Officer: David W. Dorman Vice President: Thomas W. Thorton 2004 Sales (mil.) $30,537.0 1-Year Sales Growth (11.6%) 2004 Net Income (mil.) ($6,469.0) 2004 Employees 47,600 1-Year Employee Growth (22.7%) Total Market Share 19.5% Sprint Chief Operating Officer: Gary D. Forsee 2004 Sales (mil.) $27,428.0 1-Year Sales Growth 4.7% 2004 Net Income (mil.) ($1,012.0) 2004 Employees 59,900 1-Year Employee Growth (10.5%) Total Market Share 13.5% * Information from CNN.money.com History Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876, and formed Bell Telephone which licensed local telephone exchanges in major US cities. AT&T was formed in 1885 to connect the local Bell companies. Their logo read "The Bell System: AT&T and Associated Companies." The network grew rapidly with the slogan "one system, one policy, and universal service." In 1913 AT&T agreed to become a regulated monopoly. Their monopoly would be allowed, but they had to connect competing local companies and let the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) approve their prices and policies Competition began creeping in 1956, when the courts overruled an FCC ban on Tom Carter's Hush-a- Phone, a device which snapped on to a telephone and made it possible for the user to speak in a whisper. That was perhaps the first step in the dissolution of telephone monopoly. The Hush-a-Phone decision paved the way for 110 and 300 bit per second acoustically-coupled computer terminals, like the one shown here. Mr. Carter returned to court with his Carterphone, a device for patching radio calls into the telephone network. The 1968 Carterphone decision allowed the direct connection of devices to the AT&T network, creating an opportunity for many competitors. Where do you think we would be today, if all telephones, modems, FAX machines and answering machines were sold by one company? The FCC also decided to 2006-03-16T02:53:12-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Analysis-of-Telephone-Company-Management-Problems-28559.aspx A Report into Organisational Culture and the Professional Kitchen Name: Marie Martin Course: FT408/1F Date: 09/01/06 Lecturer: Mark Gallagher Abstract It is common knowledge that the role a head chef plays in a professional kitchen is a vital one and that the culture of a kitchen is a unique one. The common person views a kitchen as a manic, hectic place where the head chef shouts and roars in order to assert authority and get the job done. The likes of Gordon Ramsey have gone a long way to fuel this image. But just how accurate is this? Surely no one would become a chef if this was so, why put oneself through such an ordeal to cook others their dinner? This paper sets out to establish the culture of the professional kitchen, identify the role the head chef plays within this culture and establish who wants to be a chef and why? Table of Contents 1. Introduction 4 2. Culture is: 5 3. Organizational culture 5 4. The Kitchen 7 4.1. The Head Chef. 8 5. Levels of Culture 9 5.1. Artifacts 9 5.2. Espoused Values 10 5.3. Underlying Basic Assumptions 10 6. Change in the Kitchen 12 7. Conclusion 13 8. Bibliography: 14 1. Introduction The role of the head chef has changed over the years being a leader in the kitchen is no longer enough. The Head Chef is among those professions that people dream about, leading a platoon of sous chefs in a glamorous, stainless steel kitchen and presenting fabulous meals to hundreds of people. Parts of this description are true, and those who become chefs have very high levels of satisfaction with their professions. One chef said his career “is only for the very crazy. It is hard work, it is gruelling work, it is important work, and still, I would do nothing else.” The long hours, the painstaking attention to detail, and being constantly surrounded by food are part of a job they love. The profession rewards the talented and the daring, which can see opportunity and grab it. The first few years are an education. Few chefs survive cooking school who don’t understand the physical and mental requirements of the profession: Lifting heavy pots, being on your feet for eight hours, stirring vats of sauces, rolling pounds of dough, having to deal with the stress of working in a confined space, and having to obey the head chef. The organisational culture of the kitchen is that of teamwork and balance, (Carberry, 2004). The head chef is the leader and it is his job to guide his cooks to daily success. And so 2006-03-09T17:30:25-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/A-Report-into-Organisational-Culture-and-the-Professional-Ki-28539.aspx Arguably the most important aspect of an organization is its emphasis on ethical behavior. The key premise was that by ‘doing the right thing’ internally and externally, businesses created a good working atmosphere, while also benefiting society and the environment. The problem is that many ethical issues are subjective and based on one’s values and beliefs. As a result, they are often difficult to enforce and easy to neglect. The result of this is that ‘when the costs are added up, the social balance sheet contains enormous debts to society’ (McEwan, 2001). It is the notion of an organization’s ‘debts to society’, which led to the branch of ethics known as ‘corporate social responsibility’. This refers to ‘the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic expectations placed on organizations by society at a given point in time’ (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2000). This theory of responsibility to society is based around two headings, stated by Wells (1998). Social Responsibility deals with ‘the purposes for which companies should act’ (Wells, 1998), and Corporate Responsibility is the ‘liability attached to a company for actions done in its name’ (Wells, 1998). Corporate Social Responsibility has increased in importance over the last 15 years, as globalization has led to increased pressure to meet society’s ethical demands and expectations. This pressure is a result of an increased number of stakeholders who ‘can affect or are affected by, the achievement of the organization’s objectives’ (Beauchamp, 2004), as well as the increasing influence and power of the mass media, which is able to pick up on even the smallest issues and re-present them globally. As a result, ‘in a technological age, where news spreads fast and everyone is expected to do his/her part to take care of the world, Corporate Responsibility is a business necessity’ (Allen, 2004). One example of this is McDonald’s, which published its first Corporate Responsibility Report in 2002 and this was followed up with an updated version in 2004. Yet despite this move, many critics of McDonald’s still believe that this, like many Corporate Responsibility Reports, is simply a medley of generalities and assumptions, that do not provide hard metrics of the company, its activities or its impacts on society and the environment’ (Hawken, 2002), and is ‘peripheral to the core interests of an organization’ (Strategic Direction, 2002). As a result, there is a need 2006-02-06T17:51:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Ethical-Criticism-of-McDonalds-28470.aspx Organizational Change And Resistance To Change Future generations, looking back on the last years of the twentieth century, will see a contradictory picture of great promise and equally at great uncertainty. The 1990's have all the symptoms of a "turning point" in world history, a moment when many of the structural "givens" of social development themselves become problematic and world society undergoes profound reorganization. These developments occur within a frame work of rapidly expanding social and economic interdependence on a global scale. Organizations evolve through periods of incremental or evolutionary change. The major work changes happening today are changes in organizational strategy, organizational structure and design, technology and human resources. A change in organizational strategy is an attempt to alter the organization's alignment with it's environment. Mercedes, for example, is going to introduce this year the new Classe A, which is more oriented to the new young generation who wants to own a Mercedes. Though Mercedes wants to keep its image of a high class car producer, it overtook this new strategy to reinforce its presence in the market. Organization change might also focus on any of the basic components of organization structure or on the organization whole design. Nobuhiko Kawamoto, president of Honda, recently reorganized the Japanese automaker's management hierarchy. He drew up a new organization chart, he created a planning board and he has taken steps to empower lower-level workers. All this in order to adapt better to the fierce market of car making. Because of the rapid rate of all technological innovation, technological changes are becoming increasingly important to many organizations. One major area of change involves equipment, thus a change in work processes or work activities maybe necessary. Timex, for example, 3-D design software from Toronto based software Alias Research Inc. to be able to turn out watches faster. Organization control systems may also be targets of such a change. Another area of organization change has to do with human resources. An organization might decide to change the skill-level of its work force and the level of performance of its workers. Perceptions and expectations, attitudes and values are also a common focus on organizational change. Organizational change is anticipated or triggered because of different changing circumstances, an organization might incur a change because of forces bending its environment. These forces might be either 2006-01-03T04:57:48-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Organizational-Change-And-Resistance-To-Change-28382.aspx Ethical Behavior in Managemment and Business Ethics is the term we give to our concern for good behavior. Its human nature to not only is concerned with our own personal well being, but also that of others and of human society as a whole. It is stated that ethics is a way of being human and if men and women had not identified their own welfare with that of others, then they probably would not have survived and developed (Ethics 5). Business ethics is very similar to normal every day ethics in that it involves being fully aware of what we’re doing including the complications and consequences of our actions. Being aware of ethics in business requires us to be aware of two things. First, we have to have a need with complying with rules, such as laws, customs and expectations of the community, the principles of morality and the policies of the organization and such general concerns as the needs of others and fairness. Second, we should know how the products and services of the business, the actions of its members, could affect its employees, the community and the society as a whole, either positively or negatively (Ethics 5). Good ethics means good business is the viewpoint of many businesses. Businesses and their managers take ethics seriously. They reason their way through ethical problems and acceptable solutions. Although there is always the reverse, where businesses give the appearance of success for long periods of time in spite of unethical practices. The news today is overloaded with stories of the fallen heroes and devastated businesses that ultimately result from deception and unethical solutions to the business’s problems (5). Many managers say that they run into ethical dilemmas because they are involved in relationships with people being employees, peers, and bosses with whom they have to work with and on whom they are dependent. The problem is complicated because these people have needs that are contrary to a business’s goals and competing needs. The manager is forced to either chose between the business or the person, being a peer or employee, and an unethical choice will affect the relationship of the other for years to come (Ethics 6). Businesses themselves have several responsibilities many of them being ethical. First, they have the priority of making jobs (106). Once they 2005-12-30T19:02:49-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Ethical-Behavior-in-Managemment-and-Business-28318.aspx LEADERSHIP Introduction Good leaders are made not born. If a person has the desire and willpower, he can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. To inspire workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things a leader must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve 2005-12-12T23:52:38-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leadership--28179.aspx The main question facing managers in an organization is motivation, how does it work, when to apply and to whom they should apply on. In today’s organization, motivation plays an important role in determining whether a company will succeed or not. What is motivation? Motivation is the set of attitudes and values that predispose a person to act in a specific goal directed manner. It is an invisible inner state that energizes the human goal-directed behavior, which can be divided into two components which is the direction of a behavior working to reach a goal and the strength of the behavior. Within an organization the desired goals are often clearly defined. In motivation a manager normally seeks to change or maintain certain environmental factors so as to influence the inner drives which may change or sustain the behaviors of his subordinates. Motivation is different things to different people. It does not need to be a 'thing' that you do. And if you see it as a culture rather than, 'We're doing Motivation today', it becomes a whole lot easier. In today’s business environment, managers must employ an organizational culture, where motivation is the key to their mission as leaders. When studying motivation, the classic motivational theories of McGregor, Herzberg, and Maslow must not be forgotten, since they gives us a model to follow, that can be used in any situation. Either in the workplace or in our personal lives. For example, McGregor characterized people into two groups, labeled X and Y. Herzberg identified a two-factor theory regarding the motivation of employees. The motivation factors, when present, tend to create satisfaction or motivation in the minds of employees. The hygiene factors, when absent or perceived as inadequate, can create dissatisfied employees; yet, when present, do not add to satisfaction or serve to motivate. Maslow suggested people are motivated by a set of internal needs. They range from the lowest-order needs of physiological to the highest-order need of Self-actualization. Individuals are motivated at their level of need, and once a lower-order need is satisfied, the next higher-order need becomes the individual’s motivational drive. In an organization, different employees have different needs, therefore managers must be able to establish their needs and be able to apply different motivational tools to satisfy different needs. At the core of motivation is human needs satisfaction. The inner drives within an individual are believed 2005-12-05T01:18:38-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Motivation-in-the-Workforce-28166.aspx Motivating Employees in the Workplace Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward organizational goals, conditioned by the effort's ability to satisfy some individual needs (Robbins, 168). For some business analysts, employee motivation is a good way to increase productivity in an organization. When people get motivated, they will have a reason to put more efforts on what they are doing. Motivation is a crucial management tool in lifting the organization's work force's ability. There are many different ways to motivate employees. Employers can motivate their workers as individuals, groups, teams, or the organization as a whole. Motivation takes forms like offering rewards, improving working conditions, or employee recognition. However, which approach should employers try? Team-based reward systems have been raised as an issue in work management areas. Many people prefer team-based reward systems to an individual approach. San Diego Business Journal, issued on Oct. 6, 1997, published an article titled "Team-Based Productivity Incentive System." This article summarized the ideas that supported the team-based approach. The author, Bob Harrington, opposed the individual reward system. As he stated, individual reward systems create unnecessary competition and reduce cooperation between employees. It also reduces creativity because employees will only do what is necessary to get rewarded. Moreover, Harrington said team-based incentives influence individuals to work well together and cooperate with one another. No longer are employees and management measured purely against financial information. Instead, outstanding performance is based on a combination of items that measure the strategic objectives of the corporation. This paper will see if the team-based incentive systems are the best approach for business environments as Harrington discussed. Medical insurance and educational opportunities, among others are all common benefits in compensation programs for many manufacturers. Many people argued that these benefits attract and retain employees, but have little to do with work performance. Some also believe that if these benefits are spread out among workers in general, these kinds of work incentives will not guarantee good performance. Well Pay vs. Sick Pay is an example of how an incentive program reinforces wrong behavior and reduces productivity. Manufacturers with incentive systems that reward employees for achievements and growth can increase their competitiveness and profitability in today's global market. Yes, it is true that organizations need to have incentive systems to satisfy their work force. Team-based incentive systems such as gain sharing, profit sharing, etc., become increasingly popular in work environments. 2005-08-15T00:12:31-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Essay-on-Motivating-Employees-in-the-Workplace-27630.aspx One of the aims of HRM is to give an organization a competitive edge. 1.0 INTRODUCTION As we enter the new millennium more and more companies are recognizing the importance of managing their human resources as effectively as possible. They are also recognizing that doing so, however, cannot be done without recognition and incorporation of the global context. It is virtually impossible to read a business periodical or newspaper anywhere in the world without seeing stories detailing the success of a company due to how effectively it manages its people. As the environment becomes more global, managing people also becomes more challenging, more unpredictable and uncertain and more subject to rapid change and surprise. The importance of managing people effectively, many companies are devoting a great deal more time, attention, skill and effort to have a competitive edge. Researchers indicate that the competency levels of HR managers in high performing firms are significantly higher than those of HR managers in low performing firms. (Stone 2005 pp 9-10). Within the context of the business, this report will discuss the three areas of study regarding managing human resource in a competitive environment: Strategic human resource management; Recruitment and selection and motivation. 1.1 STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Business strategy is concerned with achieving competitive advantage. The effective development and implementation of strategy depend on the strategic capability of the organization, which will include the ability not only to formulate strategic goals, but also to develop and implement strategic plans through the process of strategic management. (Sparrow 1994) 1.1.2 Strategic HRM models Strategy is about implementation, which includes the management of change, as well as planning. (Sizani 2000). Three models are used in this process. Firstly, high performance management (high performance working), this is achieved by 'enhancing the skills and engaging the enthusiasm of employees'. High commitment management aims at eliciting a commitment so that behaviour is primarily self-regulated rather than controlled by sanctions and pressures external to the individual, and relations within the organization are based on high levels of trust! In addition, high involvement management creates a climate in which there is a continuing dialogue between managers and the members of their teams in order to define expectations and share information on the organization's mission, values and objectives. Within the framework of the concept of strategic HRM, these describe various approaches to its development and implementation. (Storey 1989) 1.1.3 Implementing HR Strategies Strategies tend to be expressed 2005-08-03T15:04:55-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/One-of-the-aims-of-HRM-is-to-give-an-org_-a-competitive-edge-27534.aspx key to effective human resource management is human resource planning 1.0 Introduction Human Resources (HR) Management is a multifaceted function. This entity has an important place within companies in helping key personnel decide on the best staff for their needs, among other things. Sometimes, the employees chosen are full-time employees already working for the company or they could be contractors. Regardless, the goal of HR Management is to choose the most qualified person for the job. Again, HR Management is a group of professionals that wear many hats, some of which include employee benefits and compensation, hiring and terminating employees, and managing personnel policies and employee records. While smaller companies will often perform the tasks of HR Management on their own, most, larger corporations choose to hire professionals to oversee the entire HR department so we can say that the key to effective human resource management is human resource planning, as it is stated by Mark and Cynthia, it involves strategic plans, then devising ways to meet these objectives . In this essay I will try to focus on strategic planning which is a major factor of planning. 2.0 Aims of strategic plans The history of strategic planning begins in the military. According to Webster's New World Dictionary, strategy is "the science of planning and directing large-scale military operations, of maneuvering forces into the most advantageous position prior to actual engagement with the enemy" (Guralnic, 1986). In an address to the strategic planning workshop director-general of kwazulu-Netal RK Sizani said “employees must be able to advise, facilitate, support, consult, guide, monitor, resolve disputes and recommend strategic interventions to government and departments. They must be capable of producing rules, procedures, norms, frameworks, standards, draw common plans and goals which will enhance co-ordination. They require people who are experienced and somewhat capacitated and not junior entry level officers.” As organizations vary in size, aims, functions, complexity, construction, the physical nature of their product, and appeal as employers, so do the contributions of human resource management. But, in most the ultimate aim of the function is to: "ensure that at all times the business is correctly staffed by the right number of people with the skills relevant to the business needs", that is, neither overstaffed. The second area should be about identifying which of these plans and strategies are so fundamental that there must be clear plans to address them before 2005-08-01T16:26:02-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Key-to-Effective-HRM-is-Human-Resource-Planning-27516.aspx (TQM) Total Quality Management Implemented in LL Bean Co. Introduction: After much debate on a topic for this paper, it became quite clear that I would be taking from this course a newfound Love of (TQM) Total Quality Management. While we have covered many aspects of production management over this semester, I have become a huge advocate of this management philosophy. I find my self-using the principle of TQM in my daily life at work. I have even taken out my textbook in meetings several times. As for a case I had another dilemma and I was struggling a lot with my choice of a case, and than it happened, right before my eyes on CNBC was the President & CEO (Chris McCormick) of L.L Bean Co. After watching the interview with Mr. McCormick and seeing video footage from inside of their production facility it was a sign that this should be my case study. Mr. McCormick spoke of all three elements of TQM in the interview. After visiting their web site and reading about the company and their history I believe that this company is the textbook image of a company that lives and breaths TQM. This Company possesses all three major components that embody the essence of TQM, Continuous improvement, involvement of every one in the organization, and a goal and guarantee of total customer satisfaction. What is (TQM) Total Quality Management? TQM Can is classified as a management philosophy where the needs of the customer are not only met but also exceeded, where there is a culture or an environment created that encourages all employees to pursue never-ending improvement in the quality and productivity of products and services of the company. “TQM expands the traditional view of quality (which looks only at the quality of the final product or service) -to a level of quality that encompasses every aspect of the process that produces the product or service. TQM is a system that is intended to keep poor quality from happening in the first place.”(1) Implementing TQM results in greater customer satisfaction, reducing operating costs, and enhancing the company’s bottom line. The concept behind the philosophy is that in most companies the cost of doing business has large potential for waste. If we think about how much time is spent on customer problems, re-doing work, tracking down information, or waiting on other people or suppliers we can 2005-07-24T05:05:34-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/-TQM-Total-Quality-Management-Implemented-in-LL-Bean-Co_-27360.aspx The Effective Leadership of Self-managing Work Teams The main topic of my chosen article is regarding about 'The Effective Leadership of Self-managing Work Teams'. This topic is presented on the week 8 and 10 in our unit guide with the title 'Individuals and Groups' and "Leadership". In the textbook this topic is presented in the chapter 14 and chapter 16 which come from part 5 'Leading'. Referring to the article, the main arguments presented by the authors is that external leader behaviors do support to the self-managing work team success. Their objective is also to increase the understanding of the role of external leader who is the leader to whom a team reports to. Self-managing work team are natural work groups where they work together to perform a task. They take on management into their works where each of them performs as a supervisors and managers. According to the article, leading a team that manages itself will need a distinctive approach of leadership. They carry out more responsible with more complex and demanding roles than the traditional team leadership. For the traditional team leadership they are more expected to lead by monitoring and managing those teams while the external leaders are expected to lead by monitoring and managing back to their teams. Subsequently, boundary spanning activities where external leader need to interact with various organizations who supply the team with resources and support is very essential to determine their success in that role. (Druskat and Wheeler, 2003: 435; Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, 2003: 737) In order to be effective leader in the self-managing work teams which is also known as self-directed work teams, they must know how to influence a team and others in an organization. For instance, their ability to persuade their team members to listen, talk and accept advice will be much more advantage to them as a leader. Secondly, they ought to know how and with whom to build relationships which involve networking especially with their subordinates. There are times when self-management team need the leader to seek and scout for information too because when they do not receive the information there are the risk of becoming over bounded. Thus, ability of the leader to scout and share the information is very important as it will facilitate team self-management and the effectiveness. In self-management team they are expected to have their own decisions. Here is when external leaders 2005-06-26T20:31:15-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Effective-Leadership-of-Self-managing-Work-Teams-27156.aspx The Role of Cognitive Development, Logic, and Emotionality in Management Critical Thinking: The Role of Cognitive Development, Logic, and Emotionality Definitions of critical thinking range from simple statements reflecting one's ability to create logical conclusions based on reasoning to more complex definitions which take into consideration a person's emotions, personal feelings, and cultural biases. According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "critical thinking is a broader term describing reasoning in an open-ended manner, with an unlimited number of solutions" (Erwin, 2000, p. 11). Critical thinking requires that "the thinker improve the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of its very structures and by imposing intellectual standards upon them"(University of Phoenix, 2003). The structures of critical thinking include cognitive skills, emotion, personal feelings, judgments, argument, and logic. Cognitive development plays a significant role in a person's ability to think critically. Jean Piaget "proposed the idea that cognitive development consisted of the development of logical competence, and that the development of this competence consists of four major stages"(University of Alberta, 2003). It is not until early adolescence, around age 11 or 12, that a person enters the Formal Operations Stage and becomes capable of more sophisticated logical thought. This, according to Piaget is the final stage in human cognitive development. Other theorists contend that Piaget's initial theories are either flawed or incomplete. Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, believes that an individual's higher mental functions develop through social interaction. In others words, humans learn from their interactions with others. "Vygotsky asserted that development is complex and is effected by social and cultural contexts. Biological and cultural development are interrelated and do not develop in isolation" (Emory University, 2003). In contrast to Piaget's four finite stages of development, "Vygotsky believed that intellectual development was continually evolving without an end point (Emory University). Proposing a fifth stage to Piaget's four stages of cognitive development was Klaus Riegel. Riegel suggested that Dialectical Reasoning be considered whereby a person's "mental processes move freely back and forth among all the Piagetian stages"(Hoffman). Not unlike Vygotsky, Riegel did not believe that cognitive development could be defined in finite terms. Emotion and personal feelings are often referred to as barriers to critical thinking. Indeed, emotional influences have the ability to "bury, twist, and fragment the thinking process"(Kirby & Goodpaster, 2002, p. 30). However, these same emotions and feelings are a necessary part of the critical 2005-06-26T20:27:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Role-of-Cognitive-Development,-Logic,-and-Emotionality-27155.aspx Discusses how employees affect consumer behavior and what can be the best ways to improve their effectiveness (personal experience) Summary I am going to discuss how employees affect consumer behavior and what I believe are the best ways to improve their effectiveness. I will be drawing upon my experiences as a consumer and working in a retail environment. Comments No one fulfills your corporate philosophy or promotes your products and services more than your employees. They are like ambassadors representing the United States when the president can not be there in person. You need them to act on your behalf when dealing with customers. If the customers aren't treated well once in your store or business, what good does it do to use marketing to get them into your store or business. You also have the problem of each customer who was treated poorly, telling other people about their bad experience with your company. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is and it's even worse when people are telling others how great your competitor treated them. I've had a few experiences where I have felt that I haven't been treated properly or fairly by store employees. Most of the time I've been able to find another person to help solve my problem and I was able to walk away a satisfied customer. There are some instances when I have consciously gone to a competing business, because of the way I was treated. I know I am not the only person who does this, so I feel it is very important to have a work force that helps market your products, by being friendly and knowledgeable. This will prevent customers from turning away from your products and services. Ask your workers if they would recommend your product or service to their family and friends. If your people lack confidence in your company, you need to find out why and fix it. You want them to be proud to use your product or service so they can convey this feeling to the customers. Some of the things that turn off consumers are long lines and employees who don't pay attention or just go through the motions. Rudeness, impatience, and judgmental 2005-06-26T20:26:17-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Consumer-Behavior-and-How-Employees-Affect-it-27154.aspx Conflict Management and Resolution for Teams Conflict Management and Resolution for Teams "Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving." -- John Dewey. When a group of individuals with varying experiences, thought processes and expectations work together as a team, conflict is inevitable. While many people see conflict as a sign of failure, teams can potentially use conflict as an asset. Understanding conflict dynamics and cultural approaches to conflict management help teams to distill key points vital to a successful and productive resolution of team conflict. There are four basic types of conflict: emotional, cognitive, constructive and destructive. Emotional and destructive conflicts lead to an inability to resolve issues. Cognitive and constructive conflicts are a necessary part of finding successful solutions as a team. Emotional conflict is "personal, defensive, and resentful" (Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins, 2000) and of is based on anger, personality clashes, ego and tension. Emotional conflict occurs when individual interests trump the interests of the team as a whole. This type of conflict interferes with the effort of a team to resolve a problem. Cognitive conflict occurs when team members voice different ideas and is "largely depersonalized" (Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins, 2000). As opposed to emotional conflict, his type of conflict is based on arguments about the merits of ideas, plans and projects. Because cognitive conflict is not based on personal feelings, it forces team members to rethink problems and arrive at a collective decision. Constructive conflict, as the name suggests, helps teams resolve problems and uncover new solutions to old issues in a productive manner (Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins, 2000). It allows change and growth to occur within a team environment. Destructive conflict, like emotional conflict, causes dysfunction when a "lack of common agreement leads to negativism" (Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins, 2000). This disrupts the progress of all group members. Destructive conflict in teams diminishes the possibility of any problem resolution. Understanding and defining conflict terminology and conflict management is a first and important step in successful conflict management. Since conflict is inevitable in any team or group situation, groups must cooperate to reach a successful resolution of any issues. Western conflict management theory places an emphasis on understanding and cooperation for the successful and permanent resolution of conflict. Since more than one issue, and more than one type of conflict, 2005-06-26T20:24:41-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Conflict-Management-and-Resolution-for-Teams-27153.aspx Total Quality Management: What is Tqm and how can it be implemented in industry today? In society today quality plays an important role in customer satisfaction. A classic example of customer's being discouraged due to poor quality would be the case of Skoda cars. In the 80's and early 90's Skoda was known for it poor quality and this in turn affected both the brand image and also sales of the company. Once the Volkswagen Group overtook it in 1994, strategies have been implemented to put quality back into the product and to put the customer first. However before understanding the concept of "total quality management" (TQM) one must define quality. Quality is said to be "the ability to satisfy, or even exceed, the needs and expectations of the customer" (Mullins 1998). This quote is far more contemporary than some of the older definitions of quality below as there is the broader understanding that quality should exceed the expectations of the customer and also indicates quality is intangible and the level of quality often changes. Other define quality as: "Quality is fitness for use"(Juran 1974) (4) or "Quality is a conformance to requirements or specifications" (Crosby 1979) - (4); however these definition have no inherent aspect on the customer; currently all businesses should be market orientated and hence any notion of quality should be developed for the customers benefit. TQM is a management approach to long-term success, through achieving complete customer satisfaction. TQM is the complete approach to improve organizational performance and effectiveness. There are numerous definitions of TQM, but Mullins 5th edition (1999) says TQM is: "A way of life for an organization as a whole, committed to total customer satisfaction through continuous process of improvement, and the contribution and involvement of people" (3) Laurie J Mullins Management and Organization al Behaviour 5th Edition 1999 One should be aware that it is not a departmental project or quality saving campaign; but TQM is a philosophy that the organization adapts and implements throughout the company for a mutual benefit i.e. the companies and customers. The participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services, and the culture they work in is the basis of TQM. TQM can be viewed as a necessary means to achieve increased sales, reduce costs, and develop a competitive advantage through enhanced product quality (Fig 1 -Deming Chain Reaction) (9). Deming believed that profits are 2005-06-26T20:23:25-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/What-is-TQM-and-How-Can-it-be-Implemented-in-Industry-Today-27152.aspx The Importance of Organizational Behavior and its Affect on the Company. Discuss how the study and practice of organizational behavior can make a difference, if any, in the operation of a business. We have discussed the implementation of organizational behavior principles in the company for quite some time. Some feel that there is no need to add these principles to the agenda, "that employee benefits are unrelated to both worker performance and perceived organizational support" (Lambert, 2000, p.801). The Board requested that we investigate these principles before adding them. The results of that investigation follow. The core of any organization is its personnel and our success depends on our people. The goal of this company is to increase our profitability, increase growth and innovation, and introduce new values and culture into the organization. In order for us to remain competitive, we need to have "maximum quality, minimum cost, and [maintain peak performance]" (Ahls, 2001, p. 6). I have noticed that the staff operates by a "hard-skills" ethic; they deal with the technical and functional aspects of the job but not the social. "Soft skills" work synergistically with the hard skills. The soft skills like team work, communication, problem solving, and leadership together with the hard skills of computer knowledge, filing, and financial analysis make for a well-rounded employee (South Dakota's Governor's Office of Economic Development, Skills). The technical aspect of our company was top rate. Our employees came here with great talent, however they seem to have stalled and that along with the high absenteeism and increased turnover indicates that they are looking for something more in their jobs. As you are aware, we recently completed an employee survey to understand our employees' perceptions of the organization better since "employee behaviors are based on perceptions, not reality" (Robbins, 2001, p. 94). Though participation in the survey was voluntary, 84% of the employees took part. There has been much research that provides evidence showing that factors in the work environment relate to "outcomes such as employee motivation, job satisfaction, intentions to quit, job performance, and even organizational productivity" (Altmann, 2000, p. 16). That would explain why 77% of employees rated "I would proudly recommend this organization as a good place to work to a friend or relative" as disagree or strongly disagree (HR Solutions, Inc.). The supervisory section of the survey also rated low. The staff would like to see their supervisors and senior management more 2005-06-26T20:22:03-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Importance-of-Organizational-Behavior,-Affect-on-Company-27151.aspx Statistical Process Control "Properly applied, S.P.C. is virtually foolproof. It is simple to use, involves little or no complicated mathematics, and almost guarantees to pay for itself in saved effort." (Wilson) Definition Outputs from a manufacturing process will vary - perhaps minutely - from the exact specification, and deliveries from a service will differ in quality and substance. These inconsistencies in quality require constant monitoring to see if they are random, regular, haphazard, important, or evidence of a problem. The monitoring and controlling should be applied to the process not the product, and can be greatly facilitated by S.P.C. Process control means controlling production by checking its quality while the work is still in process. Implementing S.P.C. means applying statistical techniques and analysis to that control function. As S.P.C. is about measuring the quality of work in process, its implementation is usually allied to techniques related to quality systems management. Advantages of implementing S.P.C. Chaudhry and Higbie report the following benefits from applying S.P.C. in a chemical plant: •improved production efficiency •a more consistent product •greater reliability - shifting control efforts from product to process •greater ease in pinpointing problem occurrences •provision of a usable measure of performance •clearer communication of objectives •improved customer relations. Disadvantages of implementing S.P.C. S.P.C. can take time to apply rigorously but applications do show that there are few, if any, disadvantages to S.P.C. Its application must remain relevant and useful, rather than becoming a system 'for its own sake.' Action checklist 1. Plan the programme and communicate organization-wide Firstly, you need to get the overall project context right with those over-arching elements essential to all successful change programmes: •securing proactive and continuous top management commitment •appointing the right project leader and obtaining the right expertise •establishing flexible time-frames and broad resource requirements •communicating regularly with the implementation teams and with everyone else who has involvement •preparing an effective and continuous training programme. Secondly, you need to adopt a specific operational plan or process to follow, such as: •locate the process to be tackled •research the extent of the problem to be controlled •specify objectives, and resources, data and training needed •select the appropriate technique(s) to control the problem •plan the equipment, materials and expertise for the technique(s) chosen •ensure the steps of the techniques will be adhered to identify possible causes of the problem test possible solutions. 2. Identify which tools and techniques may be the most appropriate There is a tool 2005-06-26T20:20:22-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Statistical-Process-Control-27150.aspx Summary of Machiavelli's "The Prince" This paper summarizes the germinal leadership book, The Prince by Machiavelli. After a brief summary, the paper will discuss the importance of the book to leadership and the lessons that can be applied to educational leadership. Summary The Prince begins with an overview of the two types of Princedoms which are, according to Machiavelli (1513/1992), hereditary or new (p. 1). Hereditary Princedoms are those that are passed down through many generations. New Princedoms can be blended into hereditary Princedoms; these are usually geographically close to the hereditary Princedom and its people generally speak the same language. New Princedoms can also be wholly new and are often obtained via a hostile means; in many cases, the new Princedom's people are of a different language and culture. To be successful running and keeping control of a mixed or wholly new Princedom, the leader must consider several factors. The method by which the Prince came into leadership may be cruel or heroic. New laws and institutions may be introduced; for this the Prince must decide whether to live in the new Princedom or set up colonies to maintain rule. A third alternative is destruction, "for in truth, there is no sure way of holding other than by destroying, and whoever becomes master of a City accustomed to live in freedom and does not destroy it, may reckon on being destroyed by it" (Machiavelli, 1513, p. 11). The book presents all three alternatives in the form of examples of leaders both historic and his contemporaries. Next, the book turns to a discussion of potential threats to power. Machiavelli asserts that the Prince must remain powerful and always be wary of powerful outsiders who might try to unseat him. He says, "that some such person will be called in by those of the Province who are discontented either through ambition or fear" (Machiavelli, 1513, p. 5). For this reason, the Prince should act as protector of his weaker neighbors and seek to weaken those who are stronger. Going on, Machiavelli discusses the importance of modeling oneself after those who have been successful. He stresses that "the wise man should always to follow the roads that have been trodden by the great, and imitate those who most excelled, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at least acquire something of its savour" (Machiavelli, 1513, p. 12). In addition to modeling oneself after those 2005-06-26T20:19:31-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Summary-of-Machiavelli-s-quot-The-Prince-quot-27149.aspx Small Business Critical Appraisal: Sun WorldWide Express 1.0 BACKGROUND ON SMALL BUSINESSES Public perceptions of the small business have been influenced by politicians and theorists from the extremes of neglect and ignorance to hype and over-expectation. In the 1950's and 60's small business's were seen as out-of-date. By the 1970's and 80's they were seen as a great contribution towards the economy and by the 1990's, SME's were seen as the post to improving employment. Record numbers of people have launched companies over the past two decades, from 2.4m to 3.7m (Appendix 1(i)) in the UK. A variety of competitive, economic, demographic shifts have accounted for this, "society depends on entrepreneurs to provide the drive and risk-taking necessary for the business system to supply people with the goods and services they need". (Scarborough and Zimmer, 2000, p. 34) On a global comparison, the increase has a common feature across all borders. The UK and Europe have similar profiles. The USA concentrates its workforce in larger companies compared to Europe and Japan. (Appendix 1(ii)) It is worth noting the difficulty to compare as definitions vary. The failure rate for small businesses is high; primary cause is incompetent management. Successful entrepreneurs hold a positive attitude that these are just stepping stones to success. 2.0 BACKGROUND & HISTORY Sun Worldwide Express (SWE) is a courier company founded in 1999, pioneered by Mr. Desai and Mr. Thompson. The partnership emerged when one of the entrepreneurs risked facing job loss from the parent company; United Cargo Handling (UCH). Mr. Desai and Mr Thompson own an equal share of the company of 49% and UCH owns 51%, however, SWE operates independently. Initiation reasoning results from several factors, e.g. redundancy, experience development, customer support and determination. 2.1 SWE OPERATIONS SWE is concerned with business-to-business transactions in the Courier and Despatch sector. Service involves deliveries from small packages at very short distances at very short notice and to despatch or parcel delivery tends to demand speed and reliability, with time constraints usually on a 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour basis. The internet revolution has aided SWE for proof of delivery which is invariable required. (Appendix 2(i)) 2.2 COURIER AND DESPATCH INDUSTRY The sector has seen an increase in 1999, from £4.21bn to £4.5bn in 2000. (Mintel International Group Limited, 2000) The reason for such an increase is number of external developments impacting on the market SWE have to adapt to a rapidly changing business 2005-06-26T20:18:25-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Small-Business-Critical-Appraisal-Sun-WorldWide-Express-27148.aspx Critically evaluation of Porter's five forces, Value Chain Analysis, Balanced Scored Card Given the demands of today's competitive and dynamic environment, it is quite challenging to understand strategic issues facing organizations and develop the capability for long term organizational success. This report aims to present a critically analysis of three frameworks across organizations: Porter's Five Forces, Value Chain and Balanced Scorecard. Such critical evaluation includes identifying the benefits and limitations of three frameworks and considering some implementation issues within organizations. As powerful strategic management tools, Porter's Five Forces, Value Chain and Balanced Scorecard frameworks are linked and interacted each other in a wide circle of business in context. Porter's Five Forces and Value Chain both help strategic managers to make decision on the basis of organizational external environment and internal analysis. The two frameworks are especially valuable for managers to develop and implement long-term strategy for organizations so as to build and maintain competitive advantages in the long run. And Balanced Scorecard can ensure and monitor the executions of strategy made by managers in a set of well-structured measures. However, beyond the linkage between them, these three respective frameworks do have its own particular emphasis which is applied in different directions among organizations. Porter's Five Forces mainly focuses on the industry structure analysis in the organizations external environment. It reveals the source of competition in an industry and external influence including the threats and opportunities of the industry that organization has to face to obtain competitive advantage. Value Chain highlights the explorations of internal analysis of a chain of business activities. It explores the role and contribution of organization's resources corresponding to primary and support activities in a cost-effective way to gain cost advantage. As for the Balanced Scorecard, it emphasizes the evaluation of organizational overall performance by integrating financial measures with other key performance indicators. And measuring overall performance in organization's balanced scorecard is directly linked to its strategy to make profits in the long run. All in all, it is important to be aware of their benefits and weakness as well as the potential problems of three approaches when applying them real business operations, and it largely relies on successful implementation by senior managers in organizations. Introduction In today's dynamic and competitive business environment, survival, growth and profitability are the essence goals of all industries. Nowadays, Porter's Five Forces, Value Chain and Balanced Scorecard frameworks are currently being adopted as the powerful management 2005-06-26T20:17:01-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Porter-s-Five-Forces,-Value-Chain,-Balanced-Score-Card-27147.aspx Decision Making in Action Decision Making Process in Action According to Webster's Dictionary the definition of "decision" is the "1. a: act or process of deciding b: a determination arrived at after consideration: CONCLUSION." (http://www.m-w.com/). Organizations and individuals make decisions every day. Decisions are made by flipping a coin, taking a guess, thinking about the thoughts and feelings of others, considering values and beliefs, complying with a mission statement, or picking a solution with more positive than negative consequences. In order to understand the decision making process, we have to look at exactly what goes in that process and apply it to a real world work situation. According to the Management Mentor there are 5 major steps in the decision-making process. By outlining the steps and applying them to a data capture problem in Safety we can see the process in action and how important critical thinking is to the process. Step One: Identify the problem and the criteria to be met (www.themanagementor.com). Misdiagnosing a problem can result in bad decisions. Evaluating the problem in a new perspective helps decision-makers think out of the box. Another issue in identifying problems is that sometimes symptoms are identified and not the actual cause of the problem. Decisions can end up biased against the wrong aspects of a process. In the Safety redesign, departments were divided by pre-market and post-market trials. Further division occurred by breaking up collection in therapeutic areas. A data capture process is the perfect choice to illustrate step one. In medical trials, if a patient has an "adverse event," which can be anything from a cold to cardiac arrest, it is reported to the company. The number of these events needs to be gathered monthly to report to the Medical Directors in the therapeutic areas. It was a time consuming manual process of hand counting the adverse events that Safety received. On-demand data was impossible to get and the information was inaccurate. The managers blamed the administrative coordinator's skills in the past. What I saw experienced was a process that needed to be developed to accurately capture the information in a timely manner. It was the process not the person that needed to be fixed. Step Two: Develop a list of alternative actions (www.themanagementor.com). Brainstorming a list of possible solutions is the next step. Asking for information on how other groups gather this information helps with coming up with the alternatives. In Safety 2005-06-26T20:14:05-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Decision-Making-in-Action-27146.aspx Is Strategic Planning and Information Systems Strategic Planning Relevant to all Organizations? Strategy Strategy is a broad based formula for how business is going to compete, what its goals should be, and what policies will be needed to carry out these goals. The essence of formulating competitive strategy is relating a company to its environment. Porter (1980), Competitive Strategy The definitions of strategy change from scholar to scholar. There is no agreed way to define strategy as the interpretations of each writer are based on methodological preference (Robson, 1997). The above definition is an example of Porters stance on what a strategy is. Strategic planning Strategic management is concerned with deciding on strategy and planning on how that strategy is to be put in to effect via: •Strategic Analysis •Strategic Choice •Strategic execution The above definition of strategic management is by Johnson and Scholes(1993) and essentially outlines that strategies are formulated and concern all organizations, large or small. Strategic planning is a continual process within an organization, the people responsible for the success of strategic planning outline the desired future, then devise a strategy for making it happen. Strategic planning by its very nature is adaptive and the devisor is always developing it to be relevant for the future. Key environmental factors are predicted and their influence on the organization looked at and then optimum measures are taken so the organization can benefit from these environmental factors. Business planning and strategic planning are two different things. Business plans are usually for an outside audience where the strategic plans are developed for internal purposes. Also strategic plans look at the 'bigger picture' where business planning looks at certain elements of an organization. The Composition of a Strategic Plan Strategic plans are generally made up of one or more interconnected elements; Vision, mission, Values, assessment, goals/objectives, strategy and outcomes. They also incorporate strategic management principles and models. A possible example of a strategic plan follows: The Vision shows the dreams of the organization and broadly capture future services, markets and structures but do not go in to great detail. The Mission outlines customers, competitors and markets. It shows "a desired position in a predicted future world" and a "bulls eye or target of the strategy"(Yavitz & Newman, 1982). "A mission should not commit a firm to what it must do in order to survive but what it chooses to do in order to thrive" (Ackoff, 1986). Values 2005-06-26T20:13:12-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Is-Strategic-Planning-Relevant-to-all-Organizations-27145.aspx Critical thinking and forces of influence. This paper describes the forces of influence surrounding a sexual harassment issue I dealt with. This paper will describe a sexual harassment incident that I dealt with as a store manager for Vans. The paper will be formatted as follows: setting, framing, thinking, other forces of influence, and differences. SETTING A few years ago when I was still working as a store manager, I was approached by one of my part-time salespeople. Michele was a pretty, intelligent, 18-year old senior who worked for me 2-3 nights a week. She visited the store on her day off asking to speak to me. She then relayed to me a series of incidents that occurred between her and my Assistant Manager, Jonathan. Jonathan was 24 years old. He had been working for me for approximately one year. He was a good-looking surfer and skater who lived in Huntington Beach. Jonathan (I later found out) was also a flirt who liked to compliment the girls who worked at Vans, along with making sexual innuendos or light jokes about sex. Michele started to tell me her story. Unbeknownst to me, Jonathan had been flirting with Michele while at work for some time. He had made comments that alluded to his wanting to visit her apartment (Michele did not live at home). In her words, she flirted back at him and gave him permission to come to her apartment, thinking he would never show up. One Saturday, Jonathan and Michele worked an opening shift together. He again made comments that he was going to visit her after work, and she agreed. Later that afternoon, he did show up, much to Michele's surprise. According to Michele, they spent some time giving each other backrubs, which led to kissing. At this point Jonathan started asking her to go further with him physically, stating that he wanted to have sex with her. She then told him that he had to leave and literally pushed him out of the door, as her roommate was supposed to show up. At work, the same thing started to happen. Michele and Jonathan regularly closed together one night per week. After the store would close, Jonathan would approach Michele to kiss her (which was consensual), and than try to pull her into the back room, asking for sexual favors. Michele would decline, but Jonathan would not stop asking or alluding to the physical relationship 2005-06-26T20:11:26-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Personal-Account-on-Sexual-Harassment-Issue-27144.aspx Experimental Training, a Fundamental Element of a Corporation’s Success Training employees is a fundamental element of a corporation’s success. A company succeeds only as well as the people running it can perform. This training process can cover many skills and go into many areas of expertise. One key element that has only recently come into action is an outdoor- based experiential training program. Commonly called 'ropes courses,' wilderness courses or adventure learning programs have been in use in the USA since the early 1980's, and by organizations in the UK since the early 1970's. Outdoor programs have been most beneficial when used to promote effective work teams and used to enhance leadership and management skills in the participants. Outdoor- based training programs seem to accomplish these objectives by allowing participants to develop a high level of trust in their peers, improve their problem-solving ability, and generally improve the level of interpersonal communications between group members. Companies are looking for leaders that can launch them into a new era. Constant improvement is necessary to meet the growth of challenging competition. So who defines leadership? What is a leader and how would you raise these skills that may be laying dormant in your subordinates? Organizations need great leaders to help them successfully survive the many difficulties of this decade. Yet, the very notion of leadership has rapidly degenerated into a cliché, a buzz word. In many people's minds, leadership has become identified with an overly simplistic conception of vision and empowerment. Although these concepts do play an important role in the leadership process, they only scratch the surface of what an exceptional leader actually does on a day-to-day basis. What do leaders really do to make an organization work well? In my research I found that great leaders exhibit nine different kinds of behaviors that enable them to bring out the best in the people around them. Some of the nine behaviors of leadership listed below involve building participatory teams, some involve using 'situational management strategies,' while others enhance personal resources. Listed separately, the nine behaviors include: Developing people. Being able to influence others. Encouraging teamwork. Empowering people. Using multiple options thinking. Taking intelligent risks. Being passionate about work. Having a strong, clear vision. Stretching one's personal creativity. While many people think leaders are unique, even born to that state of excellence, I have found just the opposite. With 2005-06-26T20:09:25-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Experimental-Training,-Fundamental-Element-of-a-Corporation-27143.aspx Human Resource Management: Selecting and Appraising Your Future Staff The process of staff recruitment and selection is becoming increasingly complex and its integration into organizational and Human Resource (HR) strategies means that the successful outcome of these processes is vital for job performance and organizational success. The intricacy of matching the right applicant to the right job is a perpetual activity for management and HR practitioners considering the organization's economic, social and political contexts. This paper aims to identify the effect the environmental context has towards organizational strategies and the HR system and the subsequent impact on recruitment procedures and selection. Further, an analysis of the importance of staff recruitment and selection within the organization's changing environment and tools used to facilitate the effectiveness of these functions. This will enable an assessment of any changes or strategies needed to avoid failures associated with poor selection and methods to improve recruitment and selection procedures. Organizations are increasingly becoming focused on being competitive on a national and global level. The importance of the recruitment and selection process is vital for organizational competitiveness and a failure to approach this function effectively will have consequences for future job performance. Numerous authors have emphasised the importance of integrating the recruitment and selection processes into organizational strategies and HR systems as well as the necessity to respond to changes in the organization's environment (e.g. Stone, 2002, p.174, Nankervis, Compton & McCarthy, 1999, p.190, Compton, Morrissey & Nankervis, 2002, pp.16-17). The organization is constantly changing to respond to changes in its environment, for instance, the structure of the organization may change and jobs redesigned to improve efficiency or reduce costs. However, one of the fundamental mistakes made by management is the failure to allocate "the right people to the right jobs" (Stone, 2002, p.124) once these changes occur. Such "economically" inspired" tactics have been criticised as having a detrimental impact towards the productivity of the workforce and this could be related to the failure in acknowledging the job requirements needed after such fundamental organizational changes have occurred (ACIRRT, 1999, pp.16-17). A further impact on organizational performance is the slow response to increased globalisation resulting in "work intensification" which has consequences for the organization (ACIRRT, 1999, pp.31-33). In conjunction with the impact of the global economy, the high demand for skilled labour has meant a world-wide shortage of skilled staff and this trend continues as organizations seek increased competitiveness resulting in 2005-06-19T08:29:06-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Human-Resource-Management-Staff-Selection-and-Appraisal-26965.aspx Proper motivation: the key to an organization's success. Outline of a sample motivation plan for any organization. Discussion of other motivational theories as well. Proper Motivation: the key to an organization's success Motivation of our employees is one of the most important issues facing companies today. The need to instill our employees with motivation is becoming ever more important especially with the shift towards a more socially and culturally responsive workforce. So how does a company find out what motivates its employees? How do they provide a motivational plan that includes incentives both traditional (money) and nontraditional elements? What will these elements be? How do we keep our managers focused on the plan and give them the tools they need to make the plan successful? What effect will our plan have on the working atmosphere of our organization? It is clear that organizations need motivation plans that motivate, provide desired incentives, keeps our managers involved in the process and results in increased value to the organization. The following plan is what I submit for discussion. History There has been a significant amount of time and energy put into the study of motivational theories. The basis for these studies have been to come up with some working theory that explains what motivates an individual, why, and how this motivation is reliant upon both external and internal factors of the environment in which the individual is immersed. Our text lists several theories on motivation. The ones mentioned are: •The Hierarchy of Needs- this theory is based on Abraham Maslow's needs system, which states that as certain needs are met a shift upwards in the hierarchy occurs. The lower the need on the chain the more important it is to the individual and thus needs to be satisfied before others. •Theory x and Theory y- these two theories are based on a negative (theory x) and a positive (theory y) belief in humans. Theory x states that people dislike work and will avoid it if possible. It also says that safety is the primary concern of the individual. Theory y says that people believe work to be a natural part of life like eating or sleeping. It goes on to say that most people will accept and even seek responsibility. •Two Factory Theory- this theory relies heavily on the belief that the feelings of the individual determine the outcome of the work they are performing. •McClelland's Theory of 2005-06-19T08:25:20-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Motivational-Theory-and-Plan-Outline-26963.aspx [i:d517125c6f]What does it take to be a successful manager in modern business?[/i:d517125c6f] Management in the 21st Century As the world moves through the 21st Century, business is becoming more dependent upon professional managers, who can bring success to an organization. Issues such as globalization and decentralization adds to the need for organization's to hire flexible managers capable of leading. A 21st century manager should possess three traits and utilize them to lead organizations: the ability to stimulate change, excellent planning capabilities, and ethics. What a manager does and how it is done can be categorized by Henri Fayol's four functions of management: Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling. Through these functions managers can be catalysts for change or by definition change agents - "People who act as catalysts and manage the change process." (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg and Coulter, 2000, p.438) Whether performing the role of the change agent or not, change is an integral part of a manager's job. Change is "An alteration in people, structure or technology." (Robbins et al., 2000, p.437) Change occurs within and around organizations today at an unprecedented speed and complexity. Change poses threats and creates opportunities. The fact that change creates opportunities is reason why managers need to encourage change. What a manager can change falls distinctively into the three categories stated in the definition of change: people, structure, and technology. The manager can make alterations in these areas in an attempt to adapt to or facilitate change. The change of people involves changing attitudes, expectations, perceptions and behavior. These changes are used to help people within organizations to work together more effectively. Changing structure relates to job design, job specialization, hierarchy, formalization and all other organizational structural variables. These changes are ones that need to be flexible and not static to be adaptable to change. Technological change entails modification of work processes and methods and the introduction of new equipment. Changes in this area have been enormous especially in the areas of computing and communications. An organization's environment has both specific and general components, or micro and macro environments. The organization also has its own personality or culture. This environment and culture can be the generator of forces for change. Needs from within the organization can stimulate change; these are internal forces for change. "Of course, the distinction between external and internal forces is blurred because an internally induced change may be prompted by the perception of an external 2005-06-19T08:23:06-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Successful-Management-in-the-21st-Century-26961.aspx What is Leadership? A Complex In-Depth Analysis Concept of Leadership Leadership - what is it? Many definitions have been offered, cultural stereotypes abound, numerous programs focus on leadership development, but the question remains. In fact, leadership is many different things to different people in different circumstances. When we think of leadership, we often think first of famous individuals. We may think of great political leaders: Washington, Churchill, Roosevelt. We may think of the leaders of social movements: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez. We may think of spiritual leaders: Jesus, Mohammed, Mother Theresa. Do we also include in our definition some of the infamous leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, or David Koresh? Obviously, leadership is not always or automatically good in and of itself. We are quickly reminded of the notion that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. An exploration of leadership also quickly takes us beyond the lists of the famous when we consider the examples of leadership in our own lives: family members, friends, teachers, ministers, and others who by their lives and examples have influenced and led us in various ways. When we look at leadership in communities we see many leaders who may never become famous but whose leadership is essential to the life of the community. We begin to see leaders all around us. Leadership Defined Leadership is the ability to influence individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals. Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define group or organizational culture. It is primarily a process of influence. Leadership is a dynamic or changing process in the sense that, while influence is always present, the persons exercising that influence may change. Possession of influence depends upon the situation and upon the relevancy of the individual's skills and abilities to the situation. For example, if a particular individual has the expertise that is required to solve a problem, then that individual may be assumed to have some degree of influence over others. Although some managers are able to influence followers to work toward the achievement of organizational goals, the conferring of formal authority on a manager does not necessarily make that individual a leader. Yes, that individual has authority, but whether or not they are able to influence their subordinates may depend on more that just that authority. Not all leaders are managers, and 2005-06-19T08:21:32-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/What-is-Leadership-A-Complex-In-Depth-Analysis-26960.aspx [i:9186974fb6]How do managers decide how and when to deal with poor employee performance?[/i:9186974fb6] It's Much Easier To Polish an Apple Being a manager is simple -- just like losing weight is simple! Of course, anyone who has ever tried either task and done their job well knows that both take hard work. Also (similar to losing weight), managing of people is a skill, one that must be learned. Managers daily face the task of dealing with difficult employees. They must deal with employees who are habitually tardy, absent, unable to perform assigned work, or who display behavioral problems. The Internet article, Problem Employees: How do managers decide how and when to deal with poor employee performance by John Farr, presents problems managers face in the workplace and introduces a six step coaching approach that can eliminate many of these problems. These steps are: 1.Gather and verify performance information, 2.Verify with the employee whether the information gathered is true, 3. Discuss with the employee whether it is a problem caused by the company or himself, 4.Ask the employee for possible solutions, 5.Evaluate these solutions and plan an implementation time schedule, 6.Monitor the employee's progress and give feedback to correct and/or to reinforce the employee's actions. Other things discussed in the article are human nature and its influence on employee behavior, and how behavioral modification can be used in the workplace. This article could be useful in handling some workplace situations; the author, however, failed to mention that the intervention model only works if three key principles are followed: 1) take corrective, not punitive, actions; 2) counsel and coach before using discipline; 3) be firm, be fair, and show that you care. In addition, before exploring how to handle difficult employees, the author should have addressed the key responsibility of a manager. A manager is someone who has to work with others to get the job done and achieve results. In other words, someone who is responsible for the behavior and work produced by each individual employee. Therefore, the first step, before handling any problem employee situation, is to recognize that managers share in the responsibility of each employees' performance. Until this fact recognized, one cannot begin to resolve employee performance problems. It's all about improving performance, working to be firm, to be fair, and to show that you care. Most employees want to know when they are doing something wrong, to see their performance improve. The 2005-06-19T08:18:57-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Dealing-with-Poor-Employee-Performance-26959.aspx Leaders Vs Managers: [i:116e69f5b3]What makes a good leader? What makes a good manager?[/i:116e69f5b3] The business sector in today's society is increasing rapidly, and with this increase comes the need for more people to manage and lead the growing companies, but this growing need also raises some potential questions: Can anyone become a leader or a manager? Is there a difference between the two? Can people be trained to become leaders or a managers? Just like many other questions that might be asked in business; these questions have no one, definite answer. Let's begin first by acknowledging the definitions of the two root words; the word manage means to handle, where as the word lead means to go. Similarly as the two words have different definitions, they also have different purposes. To help individuals increase their potentials in business, an internationally recognized motivational speaker by the name of Marc Sanborn has developed certain "theories" that, much like in science or art, prove some things to be more true than others by providing supporting facts to prove the validity of certain ways of thinking. Many of Marc's theories validate the fact that in general, good managers tend to be good leaders, but good leaders are not always good managers. It is said, "Any company that cannot imagine the future won't be around to enjoy it." Therefore before any manager or leader can affect changes in their business they have to do what Marc describes as visioning; they must mentally "look" into what they want to see as the potential outcome of any given situation. Managers are concerned with the problem at hand; they focus on what has to be done. Leaders on the other hand, notice what has to be done, but spend their time figuring out how to get it done. Marc states "managers vision the destination, leaders vision how to get there". To be an effective leader it is important to focus on the gritty details of a situation, look for opportunities and how to achieve them. Visioning cannot be taught but can be developed. Marc suggests people start from the end and work backwards, or think to themselves "what will this team accomplish because of me?" Leadership is all about taking an organization to a place it would not have otherwise gone without you, in a value-adding, measurable way. When you vision, you think your way into a situation and it 2005-05-16T05:20:48-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Leaders-versus-Managers--26629.aspx Thinking Outside of the Apple Box When Steve Jobs launched the iMac in 1998, he was quoted as saying, "these new product lines give people what they want most, a lightning fast laptop and a striking new consumer Macintosh." Is Jobs correct in this assessment? Is speed, look, and brand really the main drivers for consumers? Did Jobs' strategy to capture market share in the personal computer industry focus on the right aspects? This paper will venture to say no and suggest the following alternative strategy: Apple should build a new business in "Wintel" PCs, while continuing to sell Macs to the design and publishing segment of the market. In order to support this conclusion, Apple's competitive advantages and industry forces must be analyzed. Apple has been in business since 1976, and has built a number of competitive advantages along the way. Four such differentiations are brand loyalty, innovative hardware design, dedicated market shares, and ease of use. What Jobs recognized in 1998 is that consumers did want a Macintosh. Apple's brand commitment is strong, and has been since the 1970's when Apple user communities were founded to bond enthusiasts. A key component to this is Apple's ease of use. "Adding extra hardware and software to a Mac was almost as easy as plugging speakers into a stereo system." Because of this loyalty, Apple was able to form a tight knit relationship with its customers, particularly within the education and design & publishing industries, which accounted for 80% of Apple's market position in 1998 (Exhibit A). Furthermore, the 1998 "Think Different" campaign propagated Apple's image as inventive and trendy. It enabled Apple to become a substitute based on design alone, giving it a particular edge over its khaki-clad competitors. Albeit these advantages, Apple still managed to lose a large amount of profit, and its market share dwindled from 8% to 3.4% from 1995 - 1998 (Exhibit B). The company also slipped in the education sector during this time by as much as 14% per year. In order to understand why Apple was losing so much ground, we must look into the power of suppliers and buyers in the industry. Most notably on the suppliers' side are microprocessors and operating systems, where Intel and Microsoft are the dominant names. Because of their 2005-02-23T08:31:40-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Apple-s-Competitive-Strategy-26317.aspx Management Problem: Northwest Insurance Background Northwest Insurance is a major regional company which has four autonomous divisions that handle life insurance, automobile insurance, homeowner's and renter's insurance, and retirement planning. Although their information system department is large, it is overworked. Employees of Northwest Insurance found out advantages of using computers and now requested more computers and software development from IS. The budget of information system departure allowed to buy only 30% of requested computers each year for the last three years and only 50% the two years before that. However it takes about siw months for work to even start on a software request. Because of dissatisfaction of information system department, divisions started independently providing their own PC support. They buy it from their own budgets and have pulled employees with computer knowledge from their jobs to support their coworkers computing needs. Problems 1. As each division has bought their own computers the problems with hardware appeared. Because the computers purchased by divisions are not Northwest Insurance standard computers, information system department refused to fixed these problems. They did not use knowledge of specialist from information system departure therefore happened that the computers are not compatible. 2. In each division, now 80% of employees have their own computer on their desks. Individual users also develop some database applications and tracking programs. The applications available on the network are E-Mail and access to the central mainframe. However, they copied data from one computer to another and the data configurations are not compatible. Many of the created programs by employees by their own have minor irritating errors. 3. Because of individual purchase of computers by each divisions and lack of knowledge, Northwest Insurance is unable to benefit from sharing data because there is no connectivity. Employees installed their own programs and they are not connected to the information system department. The IS network has limited capability and two LANs installed by departments in the retirement planning divisions are not connected to the IS network or each other. 4. A large database was recently lost in the automobile insurance division. The employee involved was only person with access to the data and there was no backup. Solutions 1. Create cooperation between information system department and divisions - All information system departments has their specialist which could be helpful with purchasing new computers for each division of company. - Compatibility of the computers with information system department is 2005-01-06T07:43:56-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Solving-Problems-Disconnect-Between-Departments-26131.aspx