Acer Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Acer Group - Essay Example When Stan Shih founded the Acer group of companies in 1976 it was more than obvious that the firm was bound to take some huge strides with this celebrated founder who made news worldwide by commercialising Taiwan's initial desktop calculatorToday Acer boasts of commendable rankings in the industry by being No. 4 in the Personal Computer market, No. 3 in the market for notebooks and No. 3 as a computer manufacturer in the face of huge competitors like Sony and others. Stan is about to retire in three years and Acer has suffered a loss of $29 million in the PC industry so Stan has diverted his expertise and attention towards making the company even more competitive in order to give it a strong foundation of support after he retires. Aspire is a large brand for Acer under which they have produced a number of technological products in the world. Aspire has had problems during the development stage whereas if these problems were dealt with proficiently then this brand would have had a tru ly aspiring brand image. Acer and Stan need to focus on the leverage points namely; efficiency (economies of scale and comparative advantage globally), knowledge leverage (strategic use of human resources and ideas on a global platform) and responsiveness (to embrace local consumer demands) (Bartlett & Ghoshal; 1989).Stan must disapprove Aspire's continued development because it is important to a put a halt to further developments in order to study the current problems it's facing. The existing discrepancies must be removed in order to develop further otherwise the problems might become deep rooted and also fatal. It is important to climb the first few steps of a ladder efficiently without being in danger of falling down and getting hurt before reaching the top. Acer faced problems during the development of Aspire and these problems still exist. Acer is a large multinational operating in Asia, Europe, and America etc. Obviously, the company has regional departments in these countrie s and in order to maintain a strong brand image in the market a common goal, strategy and communication strategy are required. Acer lacks these and due this they faced problems in positioning themselves as a strong brand when it comes to Aspire. It is important for all regional offices around the world to share a similar spirit of growth, values, standards, communication strategies etc in order to take mutual decisions as a company on the whole and not just as a regional office. Aspire has a number of brand extensions and product types being sold under one brand name and the company has not been able to position each extension with a common goal or insight in mind. Aspire is known to be a very adaptable brand since it has been changed to suit the consumer demands for every different region in a different way. This has caused major brand identity problems for Acer and Aspire. The same brand under Aspire has been positioned to be a luxurious and elite brand in Singapore and the opposi te in Europe. But it also shows that Aspire is doing a good job when it comes to responsiveness in the leverage points. This has weakened the brand equity for Aspire and has resulted in brand dilution. This shows that a strong corporate culture is absent in Acer and this results in a weak brand image and positioning for any company or brand because then customers do not know how to relate with the brand. All the regional departments and offices are working on their own values and standards to fit the culture, demand or society of the region. Due to the lack of a strong organisational culture it is evident that synergism is absent and the company is leaving loopholes for failures. All these problems must be looked into and it is important for Stan and Acer to come up with a solution before approving any further developments for Aspire.

Managing Internationally across Business Systems Assignment

Managing Internationally across Business Systems - Assignment Example In this context, ACR engages a sort of a specific as well as a discrete financial transaction. It is regarded as a contract that is related to expected capabilities of mankind that enhances the trading activities between the involved parties at every possible occasion. The contract possesses certain vital rules that are quite normative in nature as well as settlements amid the involved parties that assist them to make a particular economic transaction successful. On the other hand, OCR signifies the engagement of contracts economically on the basis of trading of services and goods. In OCR, the transactions of activities between two parties take place without any initial settlements of conditions in order to perform trade. It has been apparently observed that transactional dependence is quite lower in the case of ACR owing to the reason that both buyer and sellers are competing with one another in trading activities by taking into concern certain major aspects that include economies o f scale and cost of transaction among others. The terms as well as the conditions of the contracts within the circumstance of ACR are written and substantive in nature and takes place with varieties of procedures such as bidding and negotiation (Sako, 1992). In case of OCR, the buyers are observed to provide securities to limited suppliers. Moreover, the bidding process might not take place in OCR due to higher transactional dependence between the buyers and the sellers. The suppliers within the background of OCR tend to begin necessary activities based on oral communication with the parties prior to the attainment of the written orders (Sako, 1992). 1. Advantages and Disadvantages With regard to determine the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the particular sub-contracting system relating to the case of Tombow, it can be stated that the pencil company typically follows the sub-contracting system of ACR (Harvard Business School, 1993). Advantages The advantages of the parti cular sub-contracting system i.e. ACR relating to the case of Tombow can be identified in the form of outsourcing of products that can be considered as a chief determinant for the company. One of the significant advantages of ACR that can be recognized in the case is that it facilitated the company towards reducing manufacturing costs and made the company to pay much more emphasize upon minimizing the expenditures related to marketing as well as sales promotion and product development among others. These facets ultimately made Tombow to sell quality products in the business markets at a cheaper rate. Moreover, development in various products of the company and avoiding delays in delivery periods can also be considered the other decisive advantages of the sub-contracting system i.e. ACR in the case of Tombow. In relation to outsourcing of products, the risk of competition also gets reduced as the suppliers depend largely upon the business as well as the export markets of a company su ch as Tombow due to the effect of the

How motivation theories help elicit effort from employees

How motivation theories help elicit effort from employees For a company to successfully run, company should come up with creative ideas and high efficiency of the work, and to do that, a firm should be able to motivate each worker of the firm to elicit each of their discretionary effort. It is because, it directly links with the total wage spending of the company which should be linked to outcome and cost of monitoring effort and considering all of those making employees willing to work will result in greater efficiency of the company. Employees are the core or the main body of all the production of product and service. So how can a company which does not even satisfy their own workers will possibly satisfy the customers with high quality product and service?() Therefore, there is an idea weighing on the management style of of the workers, by the workers, for the workers'(). Following to above management style, manager of big companies are developing or considering variety motivating techniques and motivation theories. So firms not only needs deal fast with each of their own fast-changing environment but also concentrate to create best working condition for the workers to maximize motivation. Like firms mentioned above with motivation, they are nimble to listen to the claims of the employees. They apply techniques like project team-work, performance-linked pay and incentives to reach perfect inner-service to the workers. So, like above, there is gaining importance of giving motivation to workers. In this essay, I will search and study theories of motivation and look in to detail of successful firm Nokia and analyze this firm by doing it so, I would like to find out the meaning of motivation and how well those managers of Nokia have elicited discretionary effort from workers for the company. Theory Maslows Hierarchy of Needs theory Most famous is Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs theory. He believed that there is 5 level of hierarchy of needs exist within human nature. (A.H. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50(4) (1943):370-96) Physiological Needs It is simply most basic needs for human to survive. Things like needs of oxygen for breathe, fulfillment of hunger, thirst, sex and sleep. They are the biological needs which are most essential, it comes front of all the desires that human would want. Safety Needs When physiological needs are fulfilled, the needs of security are followed. Human should fill sense of safety of their own health, employment, property and resources. Those factors make them feeling safe. Needs of Love/Belonging Human is social animal, when the front two needs are filled, third need can become dominant. Human nature always seeks for the sense of belonging and love/friendship. Maslow describes people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation (Maslow, Abraham (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper). Needs for Esteem When the first three needs reach to satisfactory level, the needs for esteem can become next. It is like self-esteem and respect from others. When these self-esteem and respect is gratified, the person feels confident and valuable as a part of person in a society. Deficiency of those needs would make a person feels weak, inferior and nothing. Needs for Self-Actualization When each level of foregoing needs is fully satisfied, then the last level of needs self-actualization is activated. According to Maslow, self-actualization is what a persons need to be what they are born to do. There is a famous quote by Maslow, Abraham H. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. These needs make people to feel progressing, reach-potential and self-fulfillment. (Psychology The Search for Understanding by Janet A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien West Publishing Company, New York, 1987) By observing hierarchy of needs, each level tends to be satisfied to progress on next level of hierarchy. However, from the point of giving motivation view, none of those desires or needs could not been perfectly satisfied. Maslow theory describes that somehow-satisfied need could not stimulate the people any longer. >> How hierarchy of needs Theory could be used in management According to Maslow, if someone wants to motivate somebody, there is a need of understanding what that specific person wants and find out where his or her need is located in hierarchy of needs and provide the upper level of hierarchy. Adamss Equity Theory Adams, J.S. 1965. Inequity in social exchange. Adv. Exp. Soc. Psychol. An individual always do compare himself to others. Lets say, an individual got offer of 2500 pound per month and he thinks it is very good deal and took the job, he will do his job with passion and he will be satisfied with his work. However, if someone else or his acquaintance gets the same job with 3000 pounds with same as his ability/work time/contribution, probably he will not be happy about his earning and job. Even if he was satisfied with his earnings in the beginning, as soon as he feels that its not fair or equal treatment, the matter that he gets good paid it will not consider him much, but rather obsessed with others payment. The problem is that individual starts to think comparatively and starts to believe it is not fair. An individual always compare within his mind and think about the effort he put in and the reward. By doing so, if an individual thinks that he is not fairly treated, the input effort will be directly affected (demotivated). Above examples idea is called Equity Theory and it was developed by Stacey Adams in 1965. It is simply, an individual comparing his input-reward and others input-reward proportion. For an employee to compare himself in equity theory, the referent is important variable. There are three types of referent system, self and other. For system, the referent is the system of individuals belonged organization. Individual will take wage structures, wage policy and decision-making process into the consideration. Also, organization will need to make important decision with organizations system to an individual as a comparison to others. Putting self as a comparison referent, result ration of input will be referenced to individual. This is reflected by ones experience or standard wage or family maintenance-need allowance. Equity theory is not only interested in absolute reward, it also has interest in others reward. An individual do compare others input-reward, founding on effort, experience, education, and ability over their wage level, promotion and recognition. If an individual feels unfair and inequitable over reward ration of input, this feeling will make him/her to experience tension. This tension will continually provide motivation until he/she is treated in equity to him. >> How Equity Theory could be used in management Monthly paid employees will enhance quality and quantity to feel the fairness with tension and increase input factor for fair wage proportion. When compensation is made with Production quantity, over-rewarded worker will have lower quality but higher quantity just to increase their income. However, an individual who receive payment founding on price ratio will increase in effort to accomplish fairness and this will lead to increase in quantity and quality. But, this might result in excess payment and unfairness. Therefore, managers should direct employees to enhancing in quality rather than quantity. Also motivation is influenced by not only absolute reward but also relative reward. Each time when employee feels that s/he is unfairly treated, it will follow an action to fix about that inequity, like improved or diminished productivity or quality, absence and turnover. Therefore, it is most important factor to make employees to feel in equity in equity theory. >> Vrooms expectancy theory Most comprehensive explanation about motivation is performed within Victer Vrooms Expectancy Theory. Expectancy theory is well described by Montana (Montana Patrick J; Charnov, Bruce H, Management 4th edition; (2008) Barrons Educational Series, Inc.), This theory emphasizes the needs for organizations to relate rewards directly to performance and to ensure that the rewards provided are those rewards deserved and wanted by the recipients. The expectancy theory suggest that action is followed the expectation from the result and the amount of effort is decided by how attractive the result is to an individual himself. Below, there are three linkages with this theory. Effort-performance linkage: Possibility of reward expected by putting certain amount of effort. Performance-reward linkage: Beliefs which expect right reward will be given by doing certain level of performance. Attractiveness: a persons target and desire of potential result or reward which could be obtained by doing his job successfully. All explanations seem similar, but simply there are three points. First, how much an individual should work for certain level of outcome and whether that outcome is possibly achieved. Second, what will be the reward for doing such work? Third, how attractive the reward is from the effort of doing such work and how does this job help with goal achievement? à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ « Applying Expectancy Theory How Expectancy Theory could be applied? For to link with motivation, I will example myself and try to find out how this theory used. Most of students have preference on professors or lecturer expecting for something that they would like to learn from the course unit. They would like to know when the exam will be, what kind of assignment they need to do and how much percentage will be taken to get maximum grade or how much amount of time will going to be needed, and think logically about whether this course is linked with what they need. Lets say that I feel in the way above. I liked this course unit and worked really hard to get good mark on this essay. I have prepared for long time for this and believed that this will be helpful when I graduate and get good job or get into master course. Then, result came out, my average score of all the course units were 72 percent, however, this specific course was 41 percent. And I got angry and frustrated. Like other assignments, I prepared exact amount of time and put effort, but how could only this specific unit gets such a low score? From here there will be some interesting facts will be coming out. Suddenly, he (I, from others perspective from now on) will be constantly missing this unit course lecture and do not revise. Even if he attends the lecture concentration for this course is hugely dropped. So, we could say that his motivation is lacking with the related subject. Why did he change? To explain this using motivation theory term; At the beginning, the merit of good grade (Effort-performance linkage) was high. However, the result was not good (Performance-reward linkage). In other words, if the assignment was fairly graded based on what he did and got good score, the Performance-reward linkage is satisfied and it would have motivated him more. However, if he is demotivated, it is from his belief that his knowledge was not incongruous with fair grading system. >> How Expectancy Theory could be used in management First, Expectancy Theory emphasizes on pay and reward. As a result, organization should believe that employees also want the same reward and compensate. This kind of perspective is from egoism that an employee pursuit expected-satisfaction to be maximized. So that manager needs to try to fulfill that expected-satisfaction wisely. Second, theory points up understanding of attractiveness by the workers. Employees will want to be treated reasonably with positive result/target/outcome they expected. Therefore, the firm should try to satisfy employees attractiveness. Third, theory highlights on expected performance. Does an individual understands what is expected on s/he and how could it be compensated. If workers do not grasp the point of this relation, the ultimate goal of organization will be never met. So, this is essential to make both manager and workers to understand clear of performance-reward relation. Last, theory relates with perception. No matter what actually happens, a persons perception decides level of effort according from not objective result but from performance, reward and goal achievement. Therefore, there is a need for continuous feedback to match the reality and perception of workers. Case Study  ¿Ã‚ ­ What is Nokia? Nokia is a Finnish multinational network corporation is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo (Nokia in brief (2007) (PDF). Nokia Corporation. March 2008.) Nokias main industry is in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries, with 128,445 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of EUR 50.7 billion and operating profit of 5.0 billion in 2008. It is the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile phones: its global device market share is approximately 38% in 2009, (Q3 2009: Quarterly and annual information. Nokia Corporation. 2009-10-15) The Nokia brand, valued at $34.9 billion, is listed as the fifth most valuable global brand in the BusinessWeek, Best Global Brands list of 2009 (first in non-US Company). It is the number one brand in Asia (as of 2007) and Europe. Also Nokia is the 42nd most admirable company worldwide in Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies list of 2009, and the worlds 85th largest company as measured by revenue in Fortune Global 500 list of 2009. (Fortune Global 500 2009. Fortune. 2009-07-14.) Nokias Case study for motivation Incentive Program  ¿Ã‚ ­ Monetary Incentives: work performance wage structure, Global bonus plan (when profit exceeded 20%, 5% cash payback), production and researchers incentives.  ¿Ã‚ ­ Non-monetary performance bonus system and Complete and Fair Assessment Nokia motivates employees by providing rewards according to their performance. However, its hard to see that they only motivated people with monetary returns, Non-monetary performance bonus system also help to motivate workers. Things like promotions and possibility to self-development will help and also a clear and fair system for this is needed. Nokia is not in seniority system, there was a case 34 years old man became vice president by his ability. Nokia tried to achieve highest level of work satisfaction. 2. Empowerment organization  ¿Ã‚ ­ Allowing autonomy, leads to motivation Bureaucratic chain of command provides high efficiency, but this has disadvantage of blocking creative ideas coming up from bottom line of workers. And this is one of the factors blocking motivation. Exampling Nokia, they allow significant amount of autonomous decision to workers. This provides sense of belonging to a company and people feel that they are taking part for companys profit. This leads to motivation of workers due to Maslows hierarchy of needs theory (sense of belonging). Case: Nokia immediately supported 6,000,000 dollars for the marketing for Pacific-Asia market as they received idea of competition going harsh in China. 3. Project manager system Technology, marketing, production and salesman unites as one team and work for 1-2 years for specific project and managers for the project are empowered like chairman in that specific project; this stimulates workers as it has venture business attributes. Nokia has number of small projects teams. Those groups decide everything like estimated budgets too. This gives power to agilely response to market changes. 4. Human resource development program Providing self-developing opportunities to employees / Maximizing self-development and self-actualization at work Human resource is crucial factor for economical production in industry f like Nokia with high knowledge and technology. Competitive power is human resources. Modern employees tend to think a company as not only place for earning-money but also as place for self-actualization. Therefore, a company with no self-development lacks power to attract more human resources (Attractiveness, Vrooms expectancy theory). So, firms should provide more opportunities and sense of duty of the company like Nokias human resource development program.(In Nokia, they value employees through 180 inspections list, helps to find out each workers adaptation-skill and decision-making skills in five levels. By doing so, it tells what that employee needs in specific details and gives job according to it and provide staff training service) and they also provided for experience improvement program by going around world branches. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ » Based on Nokias motivation system, 19% of market share in mobile technology in 1999, increased up to 35% in 2001. Also, total sales were increased 48% leaving total profit 56% higher. Matthew J. (1996), à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’Future management (à «Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ «Ã… ¾Ã‹Å"à ªÃ‚ ²Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¬Ã‹Å" ) 11à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , Dae-kyung publishing company. Nokia homepage http://www.nokia.com à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…’Analyzing Nokias successà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  From www.hunet.co.kr Conclusion Managers tend to think that talented-employees turnover is cause by higher financial reward from other company. However, many of employees turnover reasons are like vision-realization, challenging to new work, harmony of both life and work, higher opportunity of recognition and flexibility of culture and organization. These kinds of reasons suggest that motivation is not only from financial issues but also from Non-monetary issues like mentioned above. I believe what employees consider most is winning recognition from their bosses about work-performance. If this is not done, its evitable to demotivate workers. In this contrast, Nokia has well understood workers, with fair assessment; they have suggested sense of duty to their workers for the company and made them feel as important part of Nokia. As conclusion Nokia got grater profit and it can be said that Nokia has successfully motivated their employees. Those kinds of techniques of motivation are all founded from the theories of Ma slow, Adams and Vroom and Nokia successfully adopted in reality.

At the time of McCarthyism, Arthur Miller had a close friend who had :: English Literature

At the time of McCarthyism, Arthur Miller had a close friend who had been accused and was willing to name THE CRUCIBLE In 1692, puritan Massachusetts was a difficult place to live. The Puritans were people who had left England to live a pure and holy life in America. They obeyed the laws of the bible and were a very superstitious group of people. They believed that any behaviour that opposed the bible, even the tiniest thing, was of the devil and his witches. In 1950’s America there was a Senator called Joseph McCarthy who led the Un-American Activities committee. This meant that he was in charge of ridding the continent of anything that was deemed Un-American. It had not been long since the Second World War and all Americans were very paranoid about the rise of communism in some of the eastern European countries. Joseph McCarthy was not at all interested in putting people in jail but ‘naming names’- he wanted to know the names of those who were involved in communism. This process was soon to be known as McCarthyism. At the time of McCarthyism, Arthur Miller had a close friend who had been accused and was willing to ‘name names’- Miller was angry and began to write the crucible. The crucible is known as what is called an Allegory. This means that it is written to subliminally show something about one thing when it is being described as another. The crucible describes the Salem which trials in 1692 but is meant to show the complete similarities between it and 1950’s McCarthyism. Two of the main characters in The Crucible are John and Elizabeth Proctor. We learn at the beginning of the play that John and Elizabeth have a very difficult marriage. There is growth in the mistrust between them as we grow to learn that John has had an affair with the reverend’s niece: Abigail. After numerous events John and Elizabeth are sent to prison on the charges of witchcraft. Near the end of the play they meet for one last time to discuss their course of action. Faced with a difficult decision, John must choose between life and truth. This decision is difficult because he wishes to live and see his children grow up but he dare not lie about committing a crime he is not guilty of. He will do only what his wife wishes. But what is her wish? When her and John first meet in the prison she says to him â€Å"The children are well. Rebecca Samuels keeps them† she says this with the intent that John will feel a loss on the behalf of his children.

Many devices are used in this poem to show the raw harsh night of November Essay

The first line is a simile ‘tinkles like ice’ the word ‘ice’ represents the harshness and how painful ice is. When we look at the form of the poem, we can see how the poet uses enjambment to continue in what’s being said. The line ‘tries the door, and sidles past’ gives of a feeling of terror as the poet has personified it and gives of an impression that a human is trying to enter the house. On the second stanza the word ‘gulp’ is used as onampatpia which is a sound technique. The line ‘Brown fuzz of cotton wool’ suggests its unclean and dirty because the ‘brown fuzz’ is pollution. The words ‘lamp fades’ suggests that the light cant be seen. On the third stanza ‘frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves’ implies the sharpness and how rough the lungs are. In addition, ‘harsh as leaves’ is a simile and the poet uses the simile to suggest how chilly the tonight was. It also is a strong simile that The line ‘scrape up on path’ suggests how cruel and harsh the night was. Many devices are used to show us how bitter the night was. On the last stanza the line ‘the worlds a bear shrugged in his den’ suggests he is experiencing the bear pit. Further more, the word ‘snug suggests the warmth inside; ‘snoring night’ is inside away from rest of the world while winter is outside. Inside all inviting but outside it’s harsh. The line ‘the fog unfolds its bitter scent’ suggests its comparing ice to fog and also its comparing the fog to the bad smell ‘chrysanthemums’

Marketing Plan Phase Essay

Marketing increases awareness of an organization’s products and services. In the current technology driven market, organizations must constantly develop and promote new products and services to meet customer needs. The following plan outlines a proposed Kids’ Area for Best Buy. Company Overview Best Buy is a growth company focused on better solving the unmet needs of our customers, and we rely on our employees to solve those puzzles† (Best Buy, 2009-2015). In 1966 Robert Schulze and his business partner James Wheeler opened Sound of Music Inc. in an effort to produce a share of the home and car stereo retail market. In 1970 Schulze decided to buy out his partner and continued to develop his retail chain. Schulze began to realize that he needed to alter the direction that his company was going in, so he attended a seminar that brought him to turn the possibilities into a reality. The first change was to expand the offerings of the organization that would include VCR’s, and appliances, which would ultimately bring in more revenue for the company, about 9.3 million for the year to be exact. In 1983 Sound of Music changed their name to Best Buy, and aimed toward a broader more comfortable customer base. As of today Best Buy has more than a dozen brand names, operates on four continents, in over 3000 stores (Best Buy, 2009-2012). Best Buy’s mission is to continue to profit and grow as a team by providing their customers with exceptional value and a great shopping experience (Best Buy, 2009-2012). Service Proposal Kids Corner will give parents a valuable service who have the desire to get in and out of Best Buy without acquiring the hassle of going from place to place to find items for their children. Kids Corner comes as a benefit to parents and their children who want to buy the hottest games and other little gadgets for their children. This particular area is a place where parents and children can find the electronics and accessories that kids want in one location instead of running all over the store to find what they need. Another added perk of Kids Corner is the online features and service that will give children the opportunity to play online games, parents can evaluate different products and modify their online profiles. Kids Corner will be separated according to age groups ranging from: 3-17 year olds. Grouping according to age is how Best Buy will decide what products go where. The three to five year old sections will consist of mostly educational and some electronic games, kid’s movies and dvd’s. This area will add an extra touch with decorated pictures of Disney, marvel, and educational characters. For the six to ten10 year old area it will feature educational games, software, video games, music and dvd’s. The 11-14 year olds (pre-teens) will have music, dvd’s, gaming accessories, educational games and software, cell phones, and cameras. The 15-17 year olds (teens) area will consist of music, music accessories, video games and accessories, dvd’s computers, cell phones, and other gadgets. Marketing Approach Approaching marketing research for the idea of a Kids Corner for Best Buy would need to include different fundamentals, such as consumer analysis for demographics, psychographics, behavioral patterns, including buying habits, and geographical scenarios. The goal of marketing a Kids Corner for Best Buy is to make Best Buy widely known and recognized for promoting a kid friendly environment. Another important aspect for research is the competition of competing with other electronics stores that offer the same service. Researchers perform psychographic research by engaging the consumers to say yes or no to activities, personal interests, and personal opinions about the marketing research conducted. When research has been completed the results are shared in regard to geographic and demographics, according to characteristics of the target area (Business Dictionary, 2013). Psychographics will generate an in-depth profile of the consumers who participate in the research. The research will p resent an opportunity to collect data on activities, interest, and opinions that will be advantageous to both the consumers and Best Buy’s sales power. The success of Kids Corner will depend on a solid marketing plan that must be focused on the consumers more rather than the power of the service offered. The plan will cover advertising, promotions, public relations, and sales. Strategically, although quality service is also crucial, the buying public still has their personal preferences Clancy, 2008). If Kids Corner targets more of the consumers needs, they will come back again and bring along potential customers. The research plan will include research on other competing electronics stores to allow Best Buy to identify if the needs for a Kids Corner would be beneficial to the organization’s needs. If the data collected shows the service is already offered by the competitors than Best Buy can shift is marketing strategies to accommodate consumers, by marketing a scenario that the other electronics stores does not offer. The marketing strategies will also need to focus on the contributions of consumers who in turn will contribute to the success of Best Buy Kids Corner and their needs. Pricing is another important aspect of the marketing strategy, and it will need to be affordable. The results of the surveys conducted as well as the needs of services will help determine Best Buy Kids Corner geographical areas depending on Best Buy stores locations. Understanding the markets needs, consumer contributions, developing, and building upon the strategy proposed, and implementation of the plan, to include monitoring the plan are the marketing steps used to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing approach (Clancy, 2008). SWOTT Analysis A SWOTT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends) analysis on the new Kids Corner service offered at all Best Buy store locations: Strengths: Best Buy’s internal strengths include their available resources and capabilities that can be used in the development of a competitive advantage. * The innovative development of a new service called Kids Corner * Best Buy is a $50 billion Fortune 100 company (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy has an average of 1.6 billion visitors per year via in-store, on-line, and mobile device (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy continues to experience growth via acquisitions and mergers, i.e. Magnolia Hi-Fi, Inc. and Geek Squad (Best Buy, 2009 – 2015). * Best Buy leads the way in Consumer Electronics compared to other discount stores such as Walmart and Target. Best Buys largest competitor is RadioShack Corporation. * Reorganization of the existing space in the already large Best Buy stores to make room for Kids Corner. * Use existing â€Å"sample/interactive† products, i.e. hand held video games, toys, etc. as tax write-offs. * Knowledgeable customer service and highly trained/tech savvy staff to serve the customers. * Competitive edge over other electronic department stores with the existing branded image and children’s focused department. * Best Buys Trade-in program compensates consumers in a variety of ways for used electronics products. Weaknesses: Best Buy’s internal weaknesses are items not as transparent to consumers and may be viewed as weaknesses. * Lack of knowledge specific to children’s electronics/toys. * Undifferentiated products or services in relation to Best Buy competitors. * Interactive displays may expire quickly with overuse in the Kids Corner. * If RadioShack Corporation were to offer a similar service this could lead to confusion of consumers and possibly damage the brands. * Training staff specifically to children’s electronics and toys ma y lead to additional funds for re-training the Kids Corner if the strategy is reconsidered. * Success of the Kids Corner is dependent upon consumers seeking child specific products. Opportunities: Best Buy has many external opportunities with the addition of the childcare center. * Best Buy could expand Kids Corner to online and mobile service with children’s electronics/toys customer service readily available via online chat or by telephone. * Increased sales by customers simply spending more time on their personal shopping by having the ability to have a highly visual Kids Corner in-store where knowledgeable staff is available to assist with products specific to the Kids Corner. * The implementation of the Kids Corner opens doors to other growth opportunities, such as mergers or acquisitions pertaining to children’s products. Threats: Best Buy’s potential threats from the external environment * Competitors could develop a similar service and cause consumer confusion of the brand and possibly damage the brand. * Increase in labor costs specific to hiring and training for children’s electronics/toys offered in Kids Corner * Online competitor’s ability to sell consumer electronics at lower prices. * Online gaming sites are reducing the consumers need to purchase games. Many websites offer free games for children, i.e. Disney.com and Nickelodeon.com. Trends: Best Buy’s management team has various avenues of marketing research available to determine the success of the Kids Corner service. * Demographically, Best Buy stores are generally located in city suburbs that encompass large amounts of families. The large amount of families in a close radius to Best Buy locations encourages the implementation of the new Kids Corner service. Changes in demographics could lead to Best Buy restructuring or reconsidering the Kids Corner service. * Economic environments of city suburbs include both large corporations and small business with low amounts of unemployment. Best Buy’s m anagement can review the markets economic status by assessing various publicly available reports both finance and employment rates. Management can make decisions to develop new strategies to encompass the changing economic environment. * Best Buy practices sustainability in their Trade-In program available to customers who want to trade used electronics to receive in-store credit or check on site to refurbish or recycle used electronics. *Children’s electronic products are included in the Trade-In program. * Best Buy’s primary focus is on technology and offering the most advanced consumer electronics to consumers. Best Buy learns about consumers needs and wants by performing extensive research by in-store customer interaction and consumer purchases, online research of publicly available survey results, reviewing the success of their primary competitor’s products, and by conducting online surveys available on the Best Buy website. This data allows Best Buy to determine what products and services to offer next such as the Kids Corner. Marketing Strategy â€Å"8- to 12-year-olds spend $30 billion of their own money each year and influence another $150 billion of their parents’ spending† (Lagorio, 2009). Best Buy is making their kids products easier to find and to purchase. With the marketing strategy, Best Buy notices a high conversion rate of children’s products, but doesn’t want to dilute their other client segments by turning the culture of Best Buy into a kid’s store. Best Buy has found a way to grow their child customer base, while making it easy and convenient for the parents, children and other customer segments. Location of the Kids Corner will be a major part of executing this strategy. By consolidating the children’s products into a specific part of the stores globally, called the Kids Corner, it offers a better overall culture to the client segments Best Buy has identified. The parents who are looking for their children can get all their children’s needs at one, convenient place, while Best Buy continues to cross sell and up sell. Pricing causes challenges and in many cases, Best Buy and other stores have hard times cutting prices in the latest and greatest electronics and toys. Offering a specifically targeted shopping convenience is proven to increase revenue with new and loyal customers. Promoting with both in store and online ads will drive awareness. Online marketing will make it easier to market toward those you know have kids. Emails and banner ads showcasing the Kids Corner will be sure to keep parents coming for more. Conclusion The Kid’s Area seeks to enhance the shopping experience for Best Buy’s customers. By conveniently gathering products for children, Best Buy targets products more accurately. This accuracy increases the likelihood of success for Best Buy’s overall market strategy. Reference About Best Buy. (2009 – 2015). Retrieved from http://pr.bby.com/about-best-buy/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500823_162-2798401.html Lagorio, C. (2009). Resources: Marketing To Kids. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500823_162-2798401.html

Baking and Inch Cake Pans Essay Example

Baking and Inch Cake Pans Essay Example Baking and Inch Cake Pans Essay Baking and Inch Cake Pans Essay People like to try many new desserts everyday, which enables them to explore new tastes. Cakes are one of the most intriguing desserts in the world, because they come in various flavors and tastes. Many people do not know how to bake a cake from scratch this will take them through a step-by-step process on how to bake a bubble gum cake. Before I start the baking process I must first pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Next focus on the materials needed, and put those out first.Start by gathering the basics such as milk, eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, vanilla, and a packet of gumballs. Then get the measuring utensils, measuring cup, mixing bowl, measuring spoons, and the baking pan. The size of the baking pan depends on the amount of cakes I want to make, two-88 inch cake pans or one-913 inch pan. The pans should be deep and round, so the cake can rise while baking. Now I start the process that will lead to baking our cake. Start by measuring the ingredients this way things will move along more quickly.Once I cake is baked both inside and out, remove it from the oven. Cool in pan for ten minutes and turn out onto a cake rack, or serve from the pan. The next step is optional, but I can put icing on the cake, or just leave it be. If I decide to ice I cake, the process to making white icing is very simple. act and precise, or the cake will not taste the same. I will need to measure out 2 ? cup white flour,1 ? cup sugar, 3 teasppons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ? cup shortening, ? cup milk, 1 ? teaspoons vanilla, and ? cup milk.Then I will need two eggs, and a packet of small size gum balls. I are now getting closer to the last step. Pour the mixture into the pan or pans. Then carefully move the mixture around in the pan to evenly cover the pan. Next get the gumballs and start dropping them one by one into the mixture. The gumballs should be approximately ? inch apart from one another. Make sure they are deep enough in the cake so they are baked into the cake and not smeared into one another. Finally,the bubble gum cake is very simple and very nice with wonderfull colour I desire.

Assignment Essays

Assignment Essays Assignment Essay Assignment Essay General Education (2014-2015, First semester) Assignment 4 You are required to write a brief summary from the Journal article written by Dry. Steven Chunk Fun Hung: Civic education policy of the Hong Kong Special administrative Region: A historical and comparative analysis with theories of the state. Type of package Products will be packed in two types: 1 egg, and egg pack Cover display The back ground will be green, it illustrates for the fresh fruit. The logo of company will be on the center upper of the package. Right below is the image illustrate the product as following: (Source: http://tempered. Com/WAP-content/uploads/201 3/05/Frustrated. Jpg) And other details of the product like weight, expire date Ingredients and Nutrition facts will be displayed in the back of the pack. Ingredients Potatoes, Salad powder, Vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and/or Canola oil), fruit seasoning (kiwi, strawberry, blackberry, grape, apple), Pricing strategy The new product will apply the price skimming strategy; it means that the many will set the price for this new product higher than the current products to get the maximum profit for the premium layer of customer and the exclusive features of the product then after a period the price will reduce to the average price of the same category product. The reason to apply this strategy is that base on the market research the aimed target customers are baby boomers. According several reports showed that baby boomers spending power is approximately $1 trillion. (Lamb, Joseph F. Hair, McDaniel, Captor, Appleby, Shearer, 2013). The research also pointed out snack is one of their favorite food and they will spend money for the special and healthier product. Thus, apply this strategy allow the company get the returns faster as well as satisfy the demand of target customers. The place to sell the products. Base on the research we can obviously see that baby boomers often shop at smaller upscale grocery, so these places such as Shoppers will be the most priority to put the new product in, the company also sell the new product at super market like Wall-Mart, Inferior, Fresco Moreover, the stores at gas taxation are suitable to sell the product because it is convenient for customer take a minute to buy on the way going home or go to work. Promotion There are top three promotion programs that the company should apply to boost the sales revenue of the products: Buy two get free one, lucky draw, and gift voucher for loyal customers. The first promotion program is that if anyone buys two large packages will get one small package for free. This program will encourage people buy more, so the sales revenue will be increased. In the second program, in every packages of product will include a icky draw ticket, the special prize is an Phone 6 plus. With the attractive prize will also make people have motivation to buy more. In the third program, every customer bring 1 00 empty packages of the product to the nearest grocery can exchange a free shopping voucher to buy goods at some super market such as Walter, inferior. This program could stimulate customer buy more, and the most important thing is that by keeping the empty package the customer will remember the brand name of the product and this can help the company promote it to a mass of customer. Bibliography Jeanie Fernando, L.

Sing a Spanish Version of Deck the Halls

Sing a Spanish Version of Deck the Halls Here is a Spanish version of the popular Christmas song Deck the Halls. Note that this song isnt a translation of the English but rather a Christmas-themed song that uses the same tune. Ya lleg la Navidad  ¡Ya llegà ³ la Navidad!  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. ¡Quà © alegre se siente el alma!  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.Vamos todos a cantar.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laVamos todos a reà ­r.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. Apà ³stoles y magos vienen  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.Adorar al tierno nià ±o.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laVamos todos a cantar.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laVamos todos a reà ­r.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Por doquiera llevaremos  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laMensaje de buenas nuevas  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laVamos todos a cantar.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laVamos todos a reà ­r.  Ã‚  Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Translation Here is a translation of this Spanish song omitting the fa-la-la refrain: Christmas is already here! How happy the soul feels!Lets all go to sing. Lets all go to laugh. Apostles and magi come to worship the tender boy.Lets all go to sing. Lets all go to laugh. Lets carry the message of good news everywhere.Lets all go to sing. Lets all go to laugh. Vocabulary and Grammar Notes Note how in Spanish only the first word and the proper noun Navidad are capitalized in the songs title. The same pattern is used for other composition titles such as the names of novels and movies. Ya is a common adverb that has many translations but generally is used as a way of adding emphasis. Llegà ³ is the singular third-person preterite form of llegar, which means to arrive. The Spanish verb is used in a figurative way, as here, more often than the English verb. Navidad is the Spanish word for Christmas. It is frequently used, as here, with the definite article la. In Spanish, it is not unusual to place the subject after the verb, as is done in the first line.  ¡Quà © adjective! is a common way of saying How adjective! Vamos is the first-person plural imperative of ir, the verb for to go. Vamos a infinitive is the usual way to say lets go verb. Vienen is a form of the irregular verb venir. Por doquiera is a shortened form of por dondequiera, meaning everywhere. This shortened form is found primarily in songs and poetic writing. Llevaremos is the first-person plural form of llevar, which usually means to carry.

Fairy Tales Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fairy Tales - Research Paper Example Indeed, in fairy tales, the stepmother is usually mean, deceitful and incapable of loving her stepchildren. In this day and age when divorce, separation and single parenthood make having a stepmother a fact of life, it is a wonder why fairy tale stepmothers are still stereotyped as such. Moreover, because of how common having a stepmother is nowadays, it is curious to know how these evil depictions may influence the relationship of today’s children with their stepmothers. One reason behind the evil stepmother character is history, supposedly. Author Maria Warner writes that fairy tales may be influenced by the happenings in society during the time the stories were written. Death at childbirth was common in earlier times so having a new mother was a usual occurrence. Warner believes that making the stepmother wicked in fairy tales served as a warning for readers during that time and points to real-life tragedies where an offspring is killed so the stepmother’s child can inherit the father’s riches. (Sellers) Another explanation for this depiction comes from Bruno Bettelheim and other critics who have psycho-analyzed fairy tales. According to this group, the portrait of an evil stepmother is actually a projection of the bad side a good mother has. (Tatar) Supposedly, an individual does not feel as guilty hating the bad qualities of one’s mom epitomized by the malevolent stepmother. With this image of a mother’s evilness, â€Å"mom† is able to remain the loving and good-natured parent, always wanting the best for her child. Writer Patricia Watson shares that in Europe during the writing of Hansel and Gretel, peasants abandoned their children because they did not have enough food to feed them (Watson) and thus it was easier to hate a â€Å"stepmom† for this. It is noteworthy, too, how the stepmother is made to be jealous of her stepdaughter’s beauty or good qualities. In Snow White, the Evil Queen who is vain becomes angry when her magic mirror says its famous line: â€Å"Snow White is the fairest of all.† (Grimm) Her anger led her to think of ways on how to get rid of Snow White in her world. Wanting to look pretty and young is not a problem and cannot e viewed as a mistake on the stepmother’s side. Everyone wants to look young and good. What made her evil though is her banishing of Snow White from the castle and trying to kill her. Although having a bad stepmother may be common in this age of divorce and separation, it has not been a regular occurrence for stepmothers to kill their stepdaughter or stepson. In Cinderella, the vain stepmother forces Cinderella to work in her own house, maybe in an attempt to make the pretty stepdaughter dirty-looking and unpleasant. She also makes it hard for Cinderella to attend the Prince’s ball by giving her so many chores and then locking the child up in her room. (Cinderella) In 2007, a self-study about the relationship of a ste pmother and stepdaughter was released to the public. The researchers were members of one family who exemplified one of the most common contemporary family structures – a stepfamily. The researchers discovered that the â€Å"wicked stepmother† title is most times brought about by anger that the biological child cannot express towards the biological mother and by negative stereotypes that the child hears. (Strawn and Knox) This research is important. It

Marketing Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Marketing Models - Essay Example These are responding to customer needs which will drive company success. Electronic marketing and technology will enable us to relate to the classics. Riley (2012) notes that cheaper and faster will allow businesses to execute strategies that would be impossible before. Consumer wants are constantly changing faster in the 21st century compared to past years. This is due to easy access to products through internet, electronic and print media. Industries are flooded with same products hence customers should to be aware of your business and what it offers. Consumer awareness can be fully achieved through marketing. So as a business person, one must always be focusing into the future. Most Small Micro Enterprises always sideline marketing citing expenses. Small businesses operate mostly on no-frills thus view marketing as expensive. Question that arises is how in absence of marketing one suggests to acquire the much wanted client base that affect sales. Many businesses are in operation and competition cut throat in the 21st century due to improved innovation. Without effective marketing of products, brand Image Company’s are deemed to fail in the start up stages, Riley (2012) Marketing campaign decisions must be drawn to sway sales and consumers. Generally a business could swap sales team size, price and advertisement budget. Marketing process invloves situational analysis, marketing strategy, market mix decision and implementation and control. Because the product already exists in the market and at its maturity stage, the market mix process would be applicable. Several tools are used by marketers to create the desired feedback from target consumers. These set of tools are called marketing mix. At the market mix level, planned decisions are drawn for controllable indicators. The most applicable indicator for the product is product promotional assessment. The main marketing

Inclusion and Fairness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Inclusion and Fairness - Essay Example der to understand the issues that arise in education, we must first look at what we mean by "Autism Spectrum." This definition is applied to a series of disorders classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as Communication Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 65). Children with this disabilities have challenges with social development and communication. Many may not be able to interact with peers and have a variety of nonverbal behaviours (p. 66). According to the checklist for ASD, children have: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the spectrum has different forms ranging from severe autism to Asperger Syndrome. The Autism Spectrum Disorders are usually detected between the ages of one and three, usually by parents. However, about 50% are not diagnosed until at least kindergarten. Most children with ASD have challenges in many areas. Socially they avoid eye contact and dont participate in the day to day human interaction with their parents or other siblings. They generally avoid physical contact. Many children with ASD dont talk in the first few years like other children. Some may start out making baby sounds but stop. Others may not develop language until much later in their development. Some can learn sign language or other ways of gesturing. Order and consistency of routine are very important. Some children may line up their toys in specific ways. If something is moved, the child becomes anxious (NIMH). Because of this, it is important with ASD children to have a strict routine--any deviation from this routine will be distressing for them. These are the many challenges that a child will have inside the classroom as well. According to Barnard, Prior and Potter (2000), inclusion means that all children must be able to have appropriate learning. They did several surveys to see whether this was happening for children in mainstream classrooms. In one of the

To what extent is Wordsworth a typical romantic Essay

To what extent is Wordsworth a typical romantic - Essay Example The Romantic Period’s exact origin could not be exactly identified by Lomard, but she averred that it ended in 1837, only 13 years before Wordsworth died. It can be clearly deduced that Wordsworth was a literary poet during the Romantic period: â€Å"a movement that championed imagination and emotions as more powerful than reason and systematic thinking† (Cummings, 2008).  The topics for his poetry were diverse, but the Poet Hunter site (n.d.) described the universal appeal of Wordsworth’s peoms through the poet’s own words of what the role of poetry was to him: â€Å"what he called "the most philosophical of all writing" whose object is "truth...carried alive into the heart by passion" (Poet Hunter, par. 5).  Through his own perception and the value by which he defined poetry, Wordsworth was a true romantic. Technically, a romantic is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as â€Å"marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealize† (par.   4). All the characteristics and traits depicted in the definition are manifested by Wordsworth.In the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, the poet expressed admiration for the beauty and radiant colors of daffodils, especially from afar. The simplicity and effective description of Wordsworth using imagination, metaphors and other figures of speech were eminent. There was also the element of alliteration when Wordsworth wrote: â€Å"Beside the lake, beneath the trees† (Literature Network: I Wandered, par. 1).... There was simile as the narrator compared his solitary stance to a cloud – far and distant but overseeing. There was personification as the narrator depicted the cloud’s similarity to a human being (through the title of the poem); and the daffodils were compared to a crowd: â€Å"When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils† (Literature Network: I Wandered, par. 1). There was also the element of alliteration when Wordsworth wrote: â€Å"Beside the lake, beneath the trees† (Literature Network: I Wandered, par. 1). There was a formed pattern and structure: four stanzas of six lines each; and rhyme: the first line rhymes with the third and the second with the fourth. As interpreted by Cummings (2008), â€Å"Wordsworth unifies the content of the poem by focusing the first three stanzas on the experience at the lake and the last stanza on the memory of that experience† (par. 13). The profound themes focused on the beauty of nature through flowers that grow in multitude, radiant by the sea side. Further, in one’s solitude, one gets the chance to reflect on the beauty that abounds in the natural environment. Sometimes, it takes being alone to truly appreciate the beauty around us. This poem truly manifests Wordsworth as a romantic in expressing his imagination and emotions through the beauty of nature. There is the sense of romantic appeal in expressing delight and adoration for natural beauty in simple things that people could normally forget to truly appreciate. The poem Anecdote for Fathers, Wordsworth clearly manifested his being a romantic through the bonding shared between father and son. The poem shows a defined structure with 15 stanzas and four lines each. Syllabication

Jesus Christ Teachings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jesus Christ Teachings - Essay Example But I have never hated anyone for a long period of time. I am a human being who like everyone has weaknesses. If I find someone being rude to me without any reason or showing hostility with no apparent cause, I experience an instantaneous rise of hatred in me. But after some time I am able to overcome it. There are many reasons for me believing in the teaching of forgiveness. I have come across so many researchers in the field of medicine which suggests that emotions such as hatred, depression, self-pity, and hostility are extremely destructive to one’s body. The root of many such abnormalities is being unforgiving. An anger which arises instantaneously isn’t harmful but holding grudges and seeking revenge is something which destroys one’s peace of mind. Peace of mind is inextricably linked to the well-being of the body. When the mind is happy and peaceful, the body undergoes a healing process. The nerves get their proper rest, breathing is harmonious and hormonal balance is perfect. On the contrary unforgiving nature leads to resentment, grudges and other destructive emotions which harm the body. There was an event in my life where I had a fight with one of my friends. It wasn’t a physical scuffle but a verbal spat. Our friendship hit rock bottom and we didn’t speak to each other for many months. But even after the fight and being of the opinion that the fault was his, I never held any animosity against him. He, on the other hand, did not forgive me. He began to devise schemes about bringing me down or humiliating me. But I could see that he had lost his peace of mind and all his tricks were causing harm to him. He started to lose other friends also because of his this attitude. After a few months, I persuaded him to come out of his hatred and become friends with me again.  

Constitutional law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Constitutional law - Essay Example The powers of the government should be controlled in order to ensure that its exercise of such powers does not cause destruction of the values it intended to uphold.4 According to the rule of law, an individual can only be punished in case of breach of the law.5 "Everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law."6 It is the responsibility of the court to provide a remedy for any breach of an individual right. â€Å"The wider concept of rule of law fits with the idea of a codified constitution articulating a form of ‘higher law;’ or a set of shared community values which the people adopting the constitution wish to promote and protect, and against which they wish all other legislation to be measured.†7 The uncodified UK law does not provide these differences, but it affirms to that the government is subject to the law and so it is under the control of the courts.8 Therefore, the court themselves must be free of government’s influence in order to control the government effectively. In order to avoid concentration of too much power to a single body there should be separation of powers between the three governme nt institutions for effective application of law as established in various constitutions recognizing various government institutions.9 The constitutional theorists have recognized the role of government in the society by expressing their determination to put the government under control and establish a limit on how the government exercises its constitutional powers.10 The doctrine of separation of powers remains the main guiding principle for the proper organization of government.11 However, as suggested by the Montesquieu model of separation of power the theory of separation of powers has not been fully implemented. His model suggests partial separation of persons and functions of various branches of the government.12 The UK constitution has

Jesus Christ Teachings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jesus Christ Teachings - Essay Example But I have never hated anyone for a long period of time. I am a human being who like everyone has weaknesses. If I find someone being rude to me without any reason or showing hostility with no apparent cause, I experience an instantaneous rise of hatred in me. But after some time I am able to overcome it. There are many reasons for me believing in the teaching of forgiveness. I have come across so many researchers in the field of medicine which suggests that emotions such as hatred, depression, self-pity, and hostility are extremely destructive to one’s body. The root of many such abnormalities is being unforgiving. An anger which arises instantaneously isn’t harmful but holding grudges and seeking revenge is something which destroys one’s peace of mind. Peace of mind is inextricably linked to the well-being of the body. When the mind is happy and peaceful, the body undergoes a healing process. The nerves get their proper rest, breathing is harmonious and hormonal balance is perfect. On the contrary unforgiving nature leads to resentment, grudges and other destructive emotions which harm the body. There was an event in my life where I had a fight with one of my friends. It wasn’t a physical scuffle but a verbal spat. Our friendship hit rock bottom and we didn’t speak to each other for many months. But even after the fight and being of the opinion that the fault was his, I never held any animosity against him. He, on the other hand, did not forgive me. He began to devise schemes about bringing me down or humiliating me. But I could see that he had lost his peace of mind and all his tricks were causing harm to him. He started to lose other friends also because of his this attitude. After a few months, I persuaded him to come out of his hatred and become friends with me again.  

Population Growth in Developing Countries Essay Example for Free

Population Growth in Developing Countries Essay Perceiving that a local reporter needs help in understanding the conditions of people in developing countries who live in places where the land can neither provide for the immediate needs of the people nor their secondary needs, different options are provided for them to enhance their lifestyle and living conditions. For the purpose of this study, there will be five available options for the people. The first option is to subdivide those existing farms and to redistribute the land for everyone to live on. This option is very advantageous to those people who do not have permanent residency as they are accorded with a new land to live on. This means that rural settlers will be able to establish their own agricultural endeavor and utilize their land as a source of livelihood and income to provide for the needs of their family (Khan, 2001). Moreover, doing this will provide the people equal opportunities to make the most of what they have and work for their own growth and development. On the contrary, redistributing farm lands will also pose some disadvantages especially considering the equal opportunities given to every land owners. This will raise competition between and among the farmers as those who are better skilled will be empowered and those who produce little will be disregarded. The second option available is to combine those small and inefficient farms into a larger cooperative farm wherein the people could jointly pursue agricultural industry. With such choice, having more people working under the same industry increases productivity rate as every individual work responsibly on their assigned task. Also, it allows greater opportunity to create more competitive goods. However, disparity may emerge when people with a larger farm would assert greater share as compared to smaller farm owners. This then creates internal conflict and disagreements between who gets a certain portion of the revenue and how it will be divided. The third option would be to open up new agricultural lands. Considering that many developing countries are higly labor-intensive or they have industries which requires a large labor force to flourish, opening new lands for agriculture will be beneficial for many rural workers who are directly participating in this endeavor (Economy Watch, 2008). They are given opportunities to enhance their skills and at the same time enable the economy to increase local production which could also be exported. On the other hand, expanding agricultural industry will somehow limit developing countries from achieving their goal to diversify production and enhance their skills and economic activities. Even their undertakings to pursue a capital-intensive industry will also be restricted because greater emphasis are accorded to the labor industry with the growing expansion of agricultural lands. Aside from that, a fourth option is also observed wherein rural farmers or people are given the choice to look for a job in the city. In doing so, individuals who will be moving to the city will be able to explore new opportunities and discover different kinds of work. Moreover, considering that they will be going to the city where the center of business relations are perceived, they will be able to provide for the immediate needs of their families. However, in a sudden influx of people from the rural to the urban areas, the city will be greatly concentrated and overpopulated (Khan, 2001). This may have tremendous consequences from a lack of housing for the people and massive unemployment. Lastly, the fifth option would be to emigrate to a developed and industrialized country wherein more opportunities are available. Read more:Â  Disadvantages of Overpopulation Considering that developed countries are more economically stable than developing countries, people who would be moving to these countries will not just be able to provide for the immediate needs of their families but will even have some budget to suffice their secondary needs like buy a simple means of transportation. Yet despite having a better paying job, they are still disadvantaged and in a vulnerable position since they are far from their families and may experience difficulty to adjust to the living standards in developed countries. Of all the five available options, the best one is probably the third option which allows the developing countries and their people to expand agricultural endeavors. This option somehow relates the second option of combining farm lands since it also connotes an increase in the production process. Although it is observed that doing so will limit the country from diversifying its resources and means of production, giving emphasis to labor-intensive industries will be more tangible and applicable to these developing countries especially taking into consideration their large population (Economy Watch, 2008). Moreover, opening new agricultural lands will help address the problem of overpopulation and a poor living condition. Lastly, opening more lands for agricultural endeavors does not necessarily follow that the manufacturing industries will be completely disregarded because the state actors could strike a balance in this dilemma by pursuing the expansion projects in the rural areas where more people are agriculturally inclined and enhance manufacturing industries in the city.

Impact of Organizational Culture on Strategic Advantage

Impact of Organizational Culture on Strategic Advantage Impact of Organizational Culture on the achievement of Strategic Advantages of ERP in Pakistan ABSTRACT This study looks at the relationship that organizational culture has with the achievement of Strategic advantages from implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. A sample of 30 organizations that implemented ERP was used to test the hypotheses. A competing values approach to measuring organizational culture was used to quantitatively measure an organizations culture profile. The results show that the organizations culture is significantly related to the achievement of strategic advantages from implementing ERP 1. Introduction This paper studies the relationship between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and organizational Culture. ERP is buzz word now days with every company implementing from different models coined by different vendors in order to stay in the competition and to ensure that its operations are efficient and effective. Through ERP the organizations are able to achieve low costs of procurement, production, inventory distribution etc hence streamlines whole value chain that includes various primary secondary activities. These are pivotal in making any organization successful and taking it ahead of competition. Furthermore higher turnovers, reduced cycle times, inventory levels and financial operations can be given a face-lift to meet the challenges of the modern global recession the world is observing. ERP refer to the integrated way of carrying out all or major / core operations of the company. Organizations now regard ERP as a vital tool for the enhancement of their business operations by implementing most of its functions if not all of their processes under a single information system in an endeavor to benefit from the strategic advantages that ERP offers. Organizational culture is a vital notion in organizational analysis. In past few years, there has been a lot of focus on the development of organizational cultures that are conducive of achieving better results and higher performance motivational levels of the employees. Organizational culture can be described as an abstract composite of assumptions, values, and artifacts shared by its members [that] can be reliably represented by the valueswhich drive its members attitudes and activities (Howard, 1998, p. 234). The model proposed in this study advocates that there is an essential connection between an organizations culture and the achievement of strategic advantages from ERP. A Competing Values approach to measuring organizational culture is used to provide an empirical measure for an organizations culture (Quin and Spreitzer, 1991). The competing values approach provides a profile of four cultural archetypes occupied by a particular organization. These archetypes are group, hierar chical, developmental and rational cultures. The combination of the archetypes describes the organizations culture profile. The primary question this study attempts to answer is how does Organizational cultural profiles affects the achievement of strategic advantages of ERP. 2. Literature review: This segment will appraise the pertinent Literature touching ERP and Organizational Culture. 2.1 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is relatively a new concept however now a days almost every organization ranging from small to large enterprise, devotes a major portion of its developmental budgets on the implementation of ERP software. ERP is not merely software but an approach of carrying out business operations in the modern times where technology plays a decisive role in making an organization a success story or failure. However An ERP software system can be described as a set of integrated business applications, or modules, to carry out most business functions, including inventory control, general ledger accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, material requirements planning, order management and human resources, among others. (Martin et al., 1999). ERP is a technique to bring all of an organizations data and IS /IT resources under a single Information system (Oliver, 1999). The author affirms that ERP systems evolved to help organizations manage their information t hrough-out the Company, from the plant to the back office, and or the front office. (Oliver, 1999, pg. 12). ERP intends to integrate its core if not all of an organizations processes under a single ERP system. The processes can be seen in terms of a value chain (Porter, 1985), which connects the suppliers to the organization to the customers. For example, imagine a system where the customer orders a product over the Internet (ecommerce). As soon as the customer places the order, it is automatically sent to the manufacturing department, while at the same time sent to the accounting department for billing- The use of materials by the manufacturing department depletes the stock, therefore a parts order is sent automatically to the supplier when reorder points are reached for replenishment of the stock. In traditional systems, time would be required for the sending of the messages between departments, for the reordering of the parts, and the billing of the customer. ERP intends to automate these systems to achieve a number of strategic advantages- Implementation of ERP software can allow an organization certain strategic advantages (Radding, 1999, Stein 1998). The literature tells us that organizations can benefit from greater flexibility, increased efficiency (Radding, 1999), improved communication, Lower operating costs, increased revenue (Oliver, 1999). Reduced cycle times, better collaboration and higher profit margins (Stein, 1998). These strategic advantages affect not only the organization, but can affect all members of an organizations value chain. ERP is a system that seeks to unite all of a value chains disparate processes. An organizations value chain represents all of the different processes that involve organizational resources and that are needed to support the organizations operations. Porter(1985) developed a model of an organizations value chain. This model of the value chain contains 9 processes; 5 primary processes, and 4 support processes. The organizations primary processes involve the production and delivery of the organizations products to the consumer (Bergeron, 1991). The processes involved in the primary activity are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and customer service. The organizations secondary business processes represent the support processes for the primary activities and are, administrative coordination and support, human resource management, technology development, and procurement of resources. Implementation of ERP systems where carried a number of strategic nature of benefits, on the other hand it bears extreme risks. The growing numbers of Unsuccessful stories have compelled managers to take a deep look into the causes of it. ERP tries to push the logic that the system has which is conflicting with the Business. It may sometimes also lead to integration where decentralization fragmentation may best suite the organization. Furthermore, ERP may force the organization to go for generic processes than customization. Therefore ERP has to go along with technology and culture (Davenport, 1998). In contemporary organizations the data generation takes place at scattered places and the magnitude of the data is huge. Therefore a real time access to the data becomes imperative for the data in deal with such complex nature of information. ERP aligns all the information into various functions like finance, operations, sales, Customer relation etc subject to the nature of business an organization is into. Enterprise resource planning system (ERP), as a type III IS innovation, has strategic Significance for the organization due to their integration into the core business processes or strategies can directly impact the firms performance (Swanson 1994; Sambamurthy et al. 2003; Sample 1998). Consequently, many companies have started to develop strategy focusing on information technologies, with ERP adoption being a critical thrust (Bharadwaj 2000; Powell and Dent-Micallef 1997; Robey et al. 2002). on the other hand, whereas the firm is on the lookout for competitive advantages by adopting this sophisticated information system, the tangible experiences have reveal ambiguity – some organization are able to reap the true benefits of ERP whereas on the other hand majority of the firms face losses and failed to achieve the desired level of strategic and tactical benefits. (Scott and Vessey 2002). According to the survey conducted by Deloitte, the success rate of ERP implementation is le ss than 20%. Hence it is important for researcher to unlock the mystery of benefit realization in ERP adoption and theorize the important predictors effect on ERP implementation practice (Brown and Vessey 2003). Other than strategic benefit, ERP also contributes toward making an organizational structure more flatter flexible, enabling organization to streamline their management structures and more democratic organization. On the other hand it also involve the centralization of control over information and the standardization of processes, which are attributes more consistent with hierarchical command and control organization with uniform cultures (Davenport, 1998). 2.2 Organizational culture: Culture can be seen from a number of different levels. Of interest to business are the concepts of national culture and organizational culture. National culture is important due to a more global economy where communication technicalities have begun to evolve. It is also important to the study of information systems technology and management. For example, Watson et al. (1994) looked at national culture as king a dimension, in a study looking at Group Support Systems success. This experimental study involved looking at the differences between groups from the U.S. and Singapore. For the majority of the business Literature on culture the level of analysis has dropped to the organization. The importance of studying an organizations culture is, like ERP and BPR, a fairly new concept- An organizations culture can be defined by a number of constructs, such as the symbols, language, ideology, beliefs, rituals, and myths that affect an individuals behavior (Pettigrew, 1979). According to Pettigrew (1979), the culture constructs exist to provide some form of commitment to the established order. Hofstede et al. (1990) proposes a model of culture that is made up of values and practices. The practices reflect member beliefs about symbols, heroes and myths. In an exploratory analysis, Hofstede et aI. (1990) found three factors affecting the values, yet, the core of organizational culture was represented by six dimensions of organizational practices. The dimensions represent opposing ideologies as to what constitutes proper practices. Using the dimensions of organizational practices, Hofstede (1998) identified 3 distinct subcultures within 131 different work groups. The three subcultures represented include a professional subculture, an administrative subculture, and a cus tomer interface subculture. Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) developed a quantitative measure of organizational effectiveness, which was later successfully used to study organization culture (see Kalliath et al., 1999, Howard, 1998, Quinn and Spreitzer, 199 1, Zammuto and Krakower, 199 1, Yeung et al., 1991). Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) exploratory study revealed that organizational effectiveness cm be represented by three distinct dimensions, a focus dimension (internal vs. external point of view), a structure dimension (flexibility vs. control orientation) and a means vs. ends dimensions. The authors call the resulting approach the Competing Values Approach to measuring organizational culture. The model in figure 2 represents the competing values approach. In figure one, each quadrant represents an ideal type of culture. A particular organization need not be classified exclusively as having one type of culture, but can be considered as containing elements from the four culture types, yet one type may be dominant (Quinn and Spreitzer,1991, Cameron and Freeman, 1991, Yeung et al., 1991). Each culture type is measured using four items, which are aggregated to achieve a culture profile- The core values of the Group culture are belonging, trust and participation, which are motivated by factors of attachment, cohesiveness and membership (Denison and Spreitzer, 1991). Like the group culture, the developmental culture also emphasis flexibility but focuses its attention on the external environment. Productivity, performance, goal fulfillment and achievement are the important f actors for the rational culture. These cultures emphasize the pursuit and attainment of well-defined objectives. Finally, for the hierarchical culture, the focus is on the logic of the internal Organization and the emphasis is on stability- (Denison and Spreitzer, 1991, pg. 6) As the authors state, the motivating factors for this quadrant include security, order, rules, and regulations. A number of studies have been done, looking at and validating this framework. Quinn and Spreitzer (1991) performed a multitrait-multi-method analysis as well as multidimensional scaling on two competing values instruments (one using an ipsative scale measure, the other using a likert type scale measure), The authors found evidence for both convergent and discriminant validity. Zammuto and Krakower (1991) looked for relationships between culture and other organizational variables including, centralization, moral, administrator credibility, conflict, strategic orientation and culture strength- Authors state that evidence for construct validity exists due to the correlation of the competing values measure of cultur e and the other variables stated. Yeung et al. (1991) studied the competing values measure of culture in relation to organizational performance, culture strength and human resource practices- In a cluster analysis, the authors found that organizations from their study could be classified into 5 distinct culture types (or profiles). More recently, the competing values framework was again validated in two more studies (see Howard, 1998, Kalliath, 1999). The next section will look at some of the literature on assimilation and organizational culture change. Denison (1996) gave another perspective of culture by trying to research whether organizational culture and organizational climate were two different points of views or just a matter of perception. He further said that there are similarities differences at the time same time. Measurement of organizational culture is usually carried through qualitative analysis and deals with individuals set of beliefs, shared norms perception. Organizational climate on the other hand is measured through quantitative methods like questionnaire and print outs etc. Other factors also helped to differentiate these two topics in the literature. Culture researchers were more anxious with the progress of social systems over time (Mirvis Sales, 1990; Mohr, 1982; Pettigrew, 1979; Rohlen, 1974; Schein, 1985, 1990; Van Maanen, 1979), whereas climate researchers were generally less concerned with evolution but more concerned with the impact that organizational systems have on groups and individuals (Ekvall, 1987; Joyce Slocum, 1984; Koyes DeCotiis, 1991). The research also addressed to where does this organizational culture climate originates. Chatman (1989) says â€Å"In order for researchers to understand and predict behavior, they must consider both person and situation factors and how these factors interact. Even though organization researchers have developed interactional models, many have overemphasized either person or situation components and most have failed to consider the effects that persons have on situations. Using a Q-sort methodology, individual value profiles are compared to organizational value profiles to determine fit and to predict changes in values, norms, and behaviors†. By this we understand that both the organization individuals beliefs norms compliments each other and have an impact on over organizational environment which people and policies constitutes. Therefore the significance of any single factor can never be underestimated while evaluating the type of profile organization maintains in terms of its culture. Organizational effectiveness have long been a very vital area for the researchers to determine the causal relationship of organizational effectiveness higher level productivity with several variables. Among them organizational culture have well been under the consideration by the researchers. The increase in the research The intensification of research on organizational effectiveness has led to the formulation of theories about factors within an organization that can make a difference in performance. Organizational culture is one such variable that has received much attention in organizational behavior literature (Amsa 1986; Hofstede 1986; Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv and Sanders 1990; Jelinek, Smircich and Hirsch 1983; Kilman, Saxton and Serpa 1985; Ouchi 1981; Owens 1987; Schein 1990; Trice and Beyer 1984). This attention is mainly because researchers has postulated that cultural factors play a key role in determining levels of organizational outcomes. A common hypothesis about this r ole suggests that if an organization possesses strong culture by exhibiting a well-integrated and effective set of specific values, beliefs, and behavior patterns, then it will perform at a higher level of productivity (Dennison 1984). The development of theory to guide the definition of organizational culture, therefore, is of primary importance to improving organizational performance, espe- cially because the variables which comprise culture have been postulated to be under the control of organizational leaders (Deal and Kennedy 1982, Ouchi 1981, Owens 1987, Siepert and Likert 1973). Despite concern with achieving improved organizational productivity through fo- cusing on the development of cohesive organizational culture, determining the parameters of this construct has been problematic. The literature on organizational culture taps essential ideas, but the theory and technology to utilize the theory in improving organizations have remained fuzzy (Mackenzie 1986). As Trice and Be yer (1984) have argued, previous research on organizational culture has tended to focus on single, discrete elements of culture, while ignoring the multidimensional nature of culture, that is, a construct composed of several intimately interrelated variables (Schein 1990). Another problem has been that researchers are still not sure whether the association between culture and organizational performance reflects a cause-effect type of relationship (Saffold 1988). In fact, researchers have not really identified what specific variables comprise an effective organizational culture, nor have they provided convincing empirical evidence to suggest that if leaders in organizations increased the amount of time and quality of energy devoted to developing a particular type of organizational culture, then an organization would perform at a higher level of productivity (Barney 1986). There is presently little agreement, therefore, about what the concept of organizational culture means or how it should be observed and measured (Schein 1990). Because of the lack of agreement concerning theoretical formulations about organizational culture, its delineation, and its possible relationship to performance outcomes, no significant body of empirical research exists. Instead, researchers have primarily focused on defining and describing the variables of organizational culture and cautiously suggested a possible relationship between organizational culture and outcomes (Owens 1987). As Mackenzie (1986) argues, organizational culture as a concept may be a useful means of assessing the congruency of the organizations goals, strategies and task organization, and resulting outcomes. Without valid and reliable measures of the critical aspects of organizational culture, however, state- ments about its importance and effect on performance will continue to be based on speculation, personal observations, and case studies (Uttal 1983). As a consequence, management strategies and programs to cre ate organizational change through under- standing the organizations environment and strategically manipulating aspects of its culture will continue to be poorly focused and difficult to implement and evaluate.

The Legend of Pulau Ubin near Singapore :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

The Legend of Pulau Ubin The story I chose to consider was about one of the small islands that surround Singapore, Pulau Ubin. This is a small island whose main industries are mining and tourism, including trails for biking and hiking. The island has an interesting past, and as a result it now has many legends and myths revolving around it. During the occupation of the Singapore by the Japanese, it was said to be where they had brought soldiers to be tortured. That is a significant reason why people believe it’s haunted. The person from whom I heard the story is one of the students who lives across the hall from me on the 7th floor in La Plata. His family comes from India, but he lived in many places since birth, one of them being Singapore, and now his family lives in New Jersey. Also, he is nineteen years old. I collected the story on the afternoon of October 14th, it was right after we had all finished classes. When I asked the storyteller if he knew any ghost stories or urban legends and myths, he first attempted to respond with, â€Å"Casper†, but I told him no I need real things you have heard. After that he jumped right into the story from Singapore about Pulau Ubin: Ok, when I lived in Singapore, its an island and there were all these surrounding islands, and one was Pulau Ubin. Like it’s not ghetto, but not with fancy resorts. People would go there for hiking and biking, stuff like that. Before, there used to be animals, like tigers, but now there aren’t any. So you would hear about every year, no every two years like you hear of a family disappearing while they went there for hiking, the whole family. They would send search parties and stuff out, and later they would find pieces of meat, like human meat. They’ve searched the island many times for any signs of animals, but they never found any. Pulau Ubin is the site of many supernatural activities from what I gathered, ranging from ghost sightings, to hunts for spiritual burial grounds and graves. Singapore is a place with a great deal of concentrated wealth. Along with this is a massive wealth gap, which often leads to many interesting beliefs and ideas. The way the person I interviewed, told the story with such seriousness that I could tell he believed it.

Jamaica’s Troubled Past Essay -- A Level Essays

Jamaica’s Troubled Past ‘The Maroons’ Jamaica’s fighting spirit can be seen even in its early days with the Maroons. The fighting spirit is not uncommon with people who are oppressed or forced against their will. The Maroons came in two waves, the first are slaves that fled during the Spanish rule, the second wave was during British control. The Maroons used the highlands of Jamaica to seek refuge, establish colonies and attack plantations when needed. Even today the beliefs and herbal practices of the Maroons are still evident in Jamaican culture. Their trouble past has made their life difficult but even today they are a presence in Jamaica. The First Deserters The idea of runaways did not take long in the Caribbean islands. Jamaica was not the only island experiencing runaways, Haiti, Cuba, and many Latin American countries were all falling victim to these guerilla style warfare tribes. During the first years of Spanish control the island of Hispaniola (Spanish Jamaica) experienced many problems with slaves. Columbus suggested to King Ferdinand in the first letter from his voyage of discovery, "I can bring slaves that are captured people, as many as are wanted." Disease and overwork killed many of the peaceable, indigenous Arawaks. Others hanged themselves, drank poisonous cassava juice, murdered and aborted their children rather than be enslaved. A few, the first Maroons, escaped into the craggy hills. (Olson, pg.234) Recent excavations at Nanny Town, the most important early Maroon settlement, support Maroon oral traditions that the first African refugees found accommodation among the Arawak. (Olson, pg.234) Correspondence from the last decade of the sixteenth century also suggests that Spanish colonial officials w... ...keth. Obeah; Witchcraft in the West Indies. Negro Universities Press. Westport, Connecticut. 1970. Buckley, Roger. Slaves in Red Coats. Yale University Pess, New Haven, CT. 1979. Campbell, Marvis. The Maroons of Jamaica 1655-1796. African World Press, Inc. Trenton, NJ. 1990. Drescher, Seymour. Econocide British Slavery in the Era of Abolition. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA. 1977 Hall, Gwendolyn. Social Control in Slave Plantation Societies. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Maryland. 1971. Olson, Eric. (Feb 2000). Mountain Rebels: The Flight from Slavery of Jamaicas’s Maroons. World and I v15:2, p234. Available: Expanded Academic Research. Reidell, Heidi. (Jan-Feb 1990). The Maroon culture of endurance. (history of Jamaica's runaway slaves) Americas (English Edition) v42 n1, p46(4). Available: Expanded Academic Research.

Management Power and Change Essay

1 Abstract The dynamics of power relations and their effects on organizational change was often underestimated by researchers. Analyses of the role played by power in organizational change are increasing in intensity, scale and impact (Munduate and Bennebroeck-Gravenhorst 2003). The appropriate and effective use of power is fundamental for managers engaged in major change processes. This report deals with the topic of management power and change. It focuses on the exercise of power and its function in organizational change. At first power and change management will be defined and then the bases or sources of power and the responses which are provoked according to the type of power being applied .how power can be used to influence and facilitate organizational change. 2 Definition of Power There are many variations to the definition of power and there are disagreements on its definition and what the best way is to measure it. The definition also depends on the context in which power is used. In this case, since the report focuses on the explanation of the use of power in the setting of organizational change, power is â€Å"the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do† (Pfeffer, 1993: 204-5). 2.1 Power and Influence In trying to understand how change is achieved, social psychologists have used the concepts of social power and influence (Raven 1999) and therefore the terms power and influence are sometimes used synonymously, but there are discrepancies between them. Social power indicates the various tools a person has to influence the environment or the other party, while influence is referring to the actual use of a specific tool in a particular situation (Munduate and Medina 2009). According to French and Raven (1959) influence is a force one person (the leader or agent) exerts on someone else (follower or target) to induce a change in the latter, including changes in behaviors, attitudes, and values. Social power was subsequently defined as the potential ability of a person to influence someone else. â€Å"Basically, influence is the effect a person’s actions have on the attitudes, values, beliefs, or behavior of others. Whereas power is the capacity to cause a change in a person, influence may be thought of as the degree of actual change† (Daft, 2006: 679-680). Boddy defines influence as the process by which one party attempts to modify the behavior of others by mobilizing power resources. Hence, in order to apprehend the function of the change agent in the promotion of change in an organization, the reactions of the targets involving a proactive disposition toward change have to be considered first and then the available tools for the change agent to influence the targets (Munduate and Medina 2009). 2.3 Types of Influence Processes There are clear differences in the way followers comply to direct and indirect social pressure from a leader and actually being convinced by him. In one case the influence may just be sufficient to exercise control over the followers’ behavior, guaranteeing a public agreement no matter if the followers are privately convinced. In another case the influence could be so strong that it changes the followers’ opinion and merely makes him committed to the leader’s request. Consequently, different types of influences have been proposed by social psychologists, whereby the most important was Kelman’s distinction (1961) between compliance, internalization, and identification. 2.4 Bases of Power For a manager to be effective, he has to possess a source of power which he can use to influence employees to take actions or carry out orders which they would not have done in the absence of that power source.