The Dialogues of Plato Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Dialogues of Plato - Essay Example Plato has made immense contributions in the field of philosophy where he wrote about the ideas regarding knowledge, metaphysics, forms and other similar ideas. More importantly, Plato wrote about the state where he gave ideal forms of governance. Though a few of his ideas were derived from Socrates, yet he was often found being deviated from that of Socrates. Out of all the works, the most intriguing one is in the state, where he identified three classes or castes in society (Plato & Benjamin 88-89); Furthermore, he gives the idea of the philosopher king who should be the central figure governing the state, and proper training of those eligible for this office must go through a rigorous education system. Thus, his work on the state and republic is one of the most applauded efforts and is appreciated till time. The positive side of the idea is the classification which clearly identifies and divides individuals based on their inherent capabilities. This ideal is pragmatic to date since it is now an accepted notion that individuals must be assigned careers according to their capabilities. This concept is clear and distinct and is thus one of the most celebrated works associated to Plato. On the negative side, his inclination towards an aristocratic state is deemed to be the most negative side to this theory. According to Plato, aristocracy is the kind of governance where a philosopher king is the central figure of the state, and thus, he is the one who must rule the republic based on reason and wisdom. Also, he further stated that the aristocracy would decline to a timocracy over time, which would further deteriorate first into an oligarchy and then to a democracy and finally to tyranny (Plato & Benjamin 66-68).  

Labor issue paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Labor issue paper - Essay Example In this case, the competency of the new management was a decisive factor in the resolution of the dispute. However, to minimize losses associated with labor disputes, it is far from enough to wait for the advent of competent management. Business administration must get in front of studies on measures to prevent and handle any disputes associated with employment adjustment by sorting out the problems of managerial ability issues. 1. Aim The aim of this study is to make a preliminary discussion on critical turning points of one prolonged large-scale labor dispute about economic dismissal, which lasted for over 14 years including the trial period. The author has studied actual litigation cases associated with employment adjustment. ... For example, some employers did not make appropriate efforts in labor bargaining before trial, and many of them dismissed workers who chose to bring actions to the court with little change of winning the lawsuit (or without such standpoint), despite their financial difficulties due to the economic dismissals1. Even when important and well-known legal judgments such as the high court decision for the Toyo Suiso case were received, quite a few parties pressed ahead with a full appeal and after all trials, many of them still continued bargaining. In other words, they make significant sacrifices for trials that might seem to be unnecessary from the viewpoint of innocent bystanders and moreover, they spend enormous amounts of time to find resolution to the dispute aside from ongoing trials. Things they lose and social costs they pay through such disputes are too much. Employment adjustments do not necessarily cause labor disputes and not all disputes are brought to the court. Where are th e turning points that make disputes about employment adjustment to be prolonged and large-scale? A number of studies are necessary to provide an appropriate conclusion of such a critical issue. Therefore, the goal of this study is narrowed down to make working hypotheses about managerial turning points in a prolonged large-scale dispute about employment adjustment. In concrete terms, as there are only few past studies on cases where a dispute about employment adjustment was brought to the court, the past studies of the author et al. are reviewed to clarify managerial turning points that made the disputes to be prolonged and large-scale as well as make a basis for future studies. 2.

Project Manager As Uninspired Taskmaster Information Technology Essay

Project Manager As Uninspired Taskmaster Information Technology Essay PROJECTS change. This simple fact is not fundamentally due to a lack of planning or incompetence on the part of project managers and project developers. Rather, change is an inherent characteristic of any growing entity. Embedded projects grow as much as they are built. Living things adapt to their environment. The environment surrounding any embedded project is ever in flux. Budgets change. Resources change. Schedules change. Competition changes. Customer needs change. Even if this changing environment could be eliminated, another form of change would continue to affect embedded projects. A project learns as it grows and must change in response to this learning. That is, as features come to fruition, the developers, users, customers, and managers become more fully aware of the projects reality. First, by traditional project management we refer mainly to any methodology where project development is viewed as a specialized version of manufacturing or as a construction project. This ty pe of project management is identified by its sequential phases of design, implementation, and testing (the waterfall approach) planned out through critical path analysis (usually represented via Gantt charts). Second, we address here only those projects that include any sort of variability or unknowns in their requirements Agile methodologies such as eXtreme Programming (XP), SCRUM and Feature-Driven Development strive to reduce the cost of change throughout the project development process. For example, XP uses rapid iterative planning and development cycles in order to force trade-offs and deliver the highest value features as early as possible. In addition, the constant, systemic testing that is part of XP ensures high quality via early defect detection and resolution. In spite of some early success with agile methodologies, a number of factors are preventing their widespread adoption. Agile methodology advocates often find it difficult to obtain management support for implementing what seem like dramatic changes in application development. These methodologies require developers, managers and users alike to change the way they work and think. For example, the XP practices of pair programming, test-first design, continuous integration, and an on-site customer can seem like daunting changes to implemen t. Furthermore, these methodologies tend to be developer-centric and seem to dismiss the role of management in ensuring success. Traditional management theory assumes that: Rigid procedures are needed to regulate change Hierarchical organizational structures are means of establishing order Increased control results in increased order Organizations must be rigid, static hierarchies Employees are interchangeable parts in the organizational machine Problems are solved primarily through reductionist task breakdown and allocation Projects and risks are adequately predictable to be managed through complex up-front planning Within this context, it is small wonder that the new methodologies appear informal to the point of being chaotic, egalitarian to the point of actively fostering insubordination, and directionless in their approach to problem solving. We believe that the slow adoption of agile methodologies stems mainly from this misalignment between the fundamental assumptions of traditional management and those of the new agile development methodologies. As such, there is a significant need for a change in assumptions and a new management framework when working with agile methodologies. Specifically, we have begun to build the notion of complex adaptive systems (CAS) into our management assumptions and practices. Complexity scientists have studied the collective behaviour of living systems in nature such as the flocking of birds, schooling of fish, marching of ants and the swarming of bees. They have discovered that, while the individual agents in these complex adaptive systems possess only local strategic rules and capacity, their collective behaviour is characterized by an overlaying order, self-organization, and a collective intelligence that is greater than the sum of the parts. The theory of CAS has been applied successfully in several areas economics, life sciences and more recently, to management. These concepts of CAS led to the inspiration that like the XP team, project managers also need a set of simple guiding practices that provide a framework within which to manage, rather than a set of rigid instructions. Following these practices, the manager becomes an adaptive leader setting the direction, establishing the simple, generative rules of the system, and encouraging constant feedback, adaptation, and collaboration. This management framework, covered in detail in Section 4, provides teams implementing agile methodologies with: An intrinsic ability to deal with change A view of organizations as fluid, adaptive systems composed of intelligent living beings A recognition of the limits of external control in establishing order, and of the role of intelligent control that employs self-organization as a means of establishing order An overall problem solving approach that is humanistic in that: It regards employees as skilled and valuable stakeholders in the management of a team. It relies on the collective ability of autonomous teams as the basic problem solving mechanism. It limits up-front planning to a minimum based on an assumption of unpredictability, and instead, lays stress on adaptability to changing conditions. The Problem: Project Management as Uninspired Taskmaster Traditional project lifecycle development methodologies grew out of a need to control ever-larger development projects, and the difficulties of estimating and managing these efforts to reliably deliver results. These methodologies drew heavily on the principles from engineering such as construction management. As a result, they stressed predictability (one has to plan every last detail of a bridge or building before it is built), and linear development cycles requirements led to analysis which led to design which in turn led to development. Along with predictability, they inherited a deterministic, reductionist approach that relied on task breakdown, and was predicated on stability stable requirements, analysis and stable design. While these methodologies may have worked for some organizations in the past and may still work in some circumstances, for many companies these methodologies only added cost and complexity while providing a false sense of security that management was doing something by exhaustively planning, measuring, and controlling. Huge costs were sunk in premature planning, without the rapid iterative development and continuous feedback from customers that we have come to realize are prerequisites for success today. The results are stark repeated, public failures such as the London Ambulance System and the Denver Airport Baggage system earned the project industry a reputation for being troublesome with huge cost overruns and schedule slippages. Consider the results of the Standish Groups CHAOS surveys. In the first survey, it was estimated that only 18 percent of all project projects were considered successful, 31 percent were failures and 53 percent were challenged. Comparatively, the 1998 figures showed a marked improvement in which 26 percent were successful, 46 percent were challenged and 28 percent were failures. The study attributed the increase in success to scaling the size of projects back to manageable levels using smaller teams. This result is clearly in line with the principles of agile methodologies. Furthermore, many established project management practices still apply to agile development projects with some adaptation and a strong dose of leadership. While managers designed traditional methodologies in an effort to control projects, the technical community gave birth to agile methodologies in response to their frustrations with traditional management (or lack thereof) and the resulting impact on their produc ts and morale. For example, the principles of XP are focused almost entirely on the development process. While the technical community has championed these principles, very little has been written about the management side of agile development projects. The traditional project manager is often seen as a taskmaster who develops and controls the master plan that documents (often in excruciating detail) the tasks, dependencies, and resources required to deliver the end product. The project manager then monitors the status of tasks and adjusts the plan as necessary. So for many managers comfortable with traditional methodologies, the prospect of implementing agile methodologies on their development projects can be daunting. But it doesnt need to be. In fact, independent of agile methodologies, other trends in project management indicate a point to a convergence between the management community and the technical community. The Solution: Project Manager as Visionary Leader The best project managers arent just organizers they combine business vision, communication skills, soft management skills and technical savvy with the ability to plan, coordinate, and execute. In essence, they are not just managers they are leaders. While this has always been the case, agile project management places a higher importance on the leadership skills than ever before. For example, XP teams create and monitor their own iteration plans in collaboration with the customers. The customer creates stories (features) and prioritizes them based on business value. Agile methodologies free the project manager from the drudgery of being a taskmaster thereby enabling the project manager to focus on being a leader someone who keeps the spotlight on the vision, who inspires the team, who promotes teamwork and collaboration, who champions the project and removes obstacles to progress. Rather than being an operational controller, the project manager can become an adaptive leader if sh e can relinquish her reliance on old style management. The basic phases of an agile development project are really no different from those of any other project. He still must define and initiate the project, plan for the project, execute the plan, and monitor and control the results. But, the manner in which these steps are accomplished is different and require the project manager to retrofit what they know about traditional management to a new way of thinking the thinking of complex adaptive systems. The practices outlined below provide a framework for project managers working in this new world. The Means: An Agile Project Management Framework The authors have applied XP successfully on several projects over the past years, and evolved the use of XP practices as an integral part of a CAS inspired framework for agile project management, as described in Section 4.2. Section 4.1 provides a guiding philosophy of the team as a complex adaptive system. 4.2 A CAS-Based Project Management Framework: Six Practices for Managing Agile Development Project We have established a CAS-based project management framework with six Agile Project Management (PM) practices for managing agile development projects Guiding Vision, Teamwork and Collaboration, Simple Rules, Open Information, Light Touch and Agile Vigilance. Together these practices help us to manage our teams as complex adaptive systems while allowing us the freedom to overlay our own personal leadership styles. The six practices build on the fundamentals of CAS, as shown in Table 1. These practices are explained in further detail in Sections 4.2.1 through 4.2.6. Practice #1: Guiding Vision Establish a guiding vision for the project and continuously reinforce it through words and actions. As articulated by Margaret Wheatley [1], when a project vision is translated into a statement of the greater purpose and dreams of the organization, and communicated to all members of the team, it serves as a field that has a powerful effect on their behaviour. It can permeate the project environment and influence team behaviour in extremely positive ways, much more so than a simple task can. A real example of this principle is the use of the commanders intent in the U.S. Army. The Army knows that its leaders cannot be everywhere in the field of combat controlling all the decisions. Therefore, Army leaders clearly establish the commanders intent to serve as a guide on which soldiers can base their own initiatives, actions and decisions. Thus, even if the mission falls on the shoulders of the lowest ranking person, she must be able to understand and carry out the mission. Likewise, the agile manager, can guide the team and continuously influence team behaviour by defining, disseminati ng and sustaining a guiding vision. At the outset of the project, work closely with the customer to understand the vision for the project, how it is expected to support business goals, and how it will be used. A strong grasp of the vision will help the team through difficult decisions about business value and priority and keep them focused on and inspired by the ultimate goal. 4.2.2 Practice #2: Teamwork Collaboration Facilitate collaboration and teamwork through relationships and community. The project managers role is to actively facilitate collaboration and establish the conditions for good relationships. Good relationships among team members start with the project managers relationship with the team members. Know what makes each of them tick outside of work and what motivates each of them at work. He should help team members get to know each other by creating opportunities and the right conditions. Opportunities can be created from planning games, everyday interaction, and special events. To set the right conditions, he must establish an environment in which team members treat each other with respect. He may even need to intervene to stop disrespectful behaviour. Some people may not be comfortable bringing their technical problems to the group. The project manager must monitor the team dynamics and decide when to intervene. As the project progresses, continue to look for special opportunities to get to know people better and to help the team know each other. For example: Establish a regular day for group order-in or potluck lunches Giving team members fun (positive!) nicknames Celebrating successes and milestones with nominal gifts that reflect knowledge of staff interests (e.g., music, gift certificates, special foods).The team that laughs and plays together works together better. Practice #3: Simple Rules Establish and support the teams set of guiding practices. In a CAS, agents follow simple rules, but their interactions result in complex behavior emerging from the bottom-up over time. For example, birds in a flock follow simple rules such as avoiding objects, keeping pace and staying close to other birds. By following these simple rules, flocks of birds exhibit complex, collective behavior by flying in formation for long distances and adapting to changing conditions along the way. Similarly,These XP practices provide the team with a flexible structure within which to work Take a leading role in encouraging the team to try certain practices about which team members may be doubtful. In applying the XP practices, he must set up simple generative rules that are just enough to provide clear boundaries, but not so much as to restrict the autonomy and creativity of the team. Throughout the project, appropriately point out when practices are not being followed and seek to understand why, looking for opportunities to adjust and improve on the pract ices or their practical use. 4.2.4 Practice #4: Open Information Provide open access to information. For an agile team to be able to adapt, information must be open and free flowing. Traditional managers have long prevented this openness and freedom because of a fear that it will result in chaos. Because of this fear, traditional managers have controlled information and meted it out on a need to know basis. On traditionally managed projects, teams often feel like they dont know what is going on only the project manager has the master plan and only the project manager interacts with project sponsor. In the agile world, information is freed to leverage its power. To promote open information, he can try a variety of techniques: Place team members within close proximity of each other whenever possible. Make use of information radiators such as whiteboards, charts, etc to disseminate information. Establish daily status meetings to promote the flow and exchange of information. 4.2.5 Practice #5: Light Touch Apply just enough control to foster emergent order. We believe that control and order are related in a way as illustrated in Figure 1. Without any control at all, there exists a certain level of order due to self-organization, depending on the team skills and dynamics. Initially, as control increases, order increases somewhat linearly, and reaches a narrow plateau quickly, decreasing very rapidly afterwards. Of course, the conventional view holds that the initial condition of no control starts off without any order atall, with an increasing linear relationship. Visionary control is a delicate mix of emergent and imposed order. To impose order, he must impose some control, but do it with a light touch. With a progressive light-touch mindset, lay out project plans at a high-enough level to give the team room for innovation, creativity and rapid response to dynamic environments. Ensure that the project plans are synchronized with her guiding vision, and that they are based on functionality to be delivered and not tasks 4.2.6 Practice #6: Agile Vigilance Constantly monitor and adjust. In leading a team by establishing a guiding vision, fostering teamwork and cooperation, setting simple rules, championing open information, and managing with a light touch, the job of the agile manager has been likened to herding cats each person has his or her own ideas, and is likely to behave in accordance with those ideas. The agile manager, therefore must be continually vigilant to merit the mantle of leadership: monitoring progress, and keeping a finger on the pulse of the development team. Reinforce the guiding vision at every opportunity examine project decisions to see whether they line up with the vision. Continually encourage teamwork and collaboration. Establish simple rules, but take every opportunity to conduct process reflections: regularly examine what works and what needs improvement Operate with a light touch. Intervene quickly, but wisely to solve personnel issues. Motivate and reward initiative, but manage expectations. Recognize and encourage self-organization, but disallow cliques. Conclusion The lack of guidance for project managers of agile development projects has been a gaping hole in the project development community over the past several years. The contrast between the world of agile project development and traditional project management has left many managers wondering what their role should be. By viewing the agile development team as a complex adaptive system and the manager as an integral part of that system, we have begun to develop a framework for managers. This framework of practices is meant to overlay the practices of existing agile methodologies such as XP, and provide clear guidelines for the visionary leadership of projects that use them. These six practices of agile project management do not provide a sure-fire recipe for success.

Existentialism :: essays research papers

Existentialism Like "rationalism" and "empiricism," "existentialism" is a term that belongs to intellectual history. Its definition is thus to some extent one of historical convenience. The term was explicitly adopted as a self-description by Jean-Paul Sartre, and through the wide dissemination of the postwar literary and philosophical output of Sartre and his associates — notably Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus — existentialism became identified with a cultural movement that flourished in Europe in the 1940s and 1950s. Among the major philosophers identified as existentialists (many of whom — for instance Camus and Heidegger — repudiated the label) were Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Martin Buber in Germany, Jean Wahl and Gabriel Marcel in France, the Spaniards Josà © Ortega y Gasset and Miguel de Unamuno, and the Russians Nicholai Berdyaev and Lev Shestov. The nineteenth century philosophers, Soren Kierkeg aard and Friedrich Nietzsche, came to be seen as precursors of the movement. Existentialism was as much a literary phenomenon as a philosophical one. Sartre's own ideas were and are better known through his fictional works (such as Nausea and No Exit) than through his more purely philosophical ones (such as Being and Nothingness and Critique of Dialectical Reason), and the postwar years found a very diverse coterie of writers and artists linked under the term: retrospectively, Dostoevsky, Ibsen, and Kafka were conscripted; in Paris there were Jean Genet, Andrà © Gide, Andrà © Malraux, and the expatriate Samuel Beckett; the Norwegian Knut Hamsen and the Romanian Eugene Ionesco belong to the club; artists such as Alberto Giacommeti and even Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, and Willem de Kooning, and filmmakers such as Jean-Luc Godard and Ingmar Bergman were understood in existential terms. By the mid 1970s the cultural image of existentialism had becom e a clichà ©, parodized in countless books and films by Woody Allen. It is sometimes suggested, therefore, that existentialism just is this bygone cultural movement rather than an identifiable philosophical position; or, alternatively, that the term should be restricted to Sartre's philosophy alone. But while a philosophical definition of existentialism may not entirely ignore the cultural fate of the term, and while Sartre's thought must loom large in any account of existentialism, the concept does pick out a distinctive cluster of philosophical problems and helpfully identifies a relatively distinct current of twentieth- and now twenty-first century philosophical inquiry, one that has had significant impact on fields such as theology (through Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, and others) and psychology (from Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss to Otto Rank, R.

Marketing and Customers Essay

Right now, HubSpot is serving different customers with different requirements. This causes their engineering and sales staff to be stretched thin. They are falling behind on product releases and their sales staff is converting only 4% (exhibit 10) of the potential market into customers. To increase efficiency, HubSpot should narrow their target market. If they target the most profitable segment of customers, then they can acquire more of those profitable customers and increase overall profit. The attached exhibit breaks down the LTV value for different customer segments based on their churn and revenue generation. Across all the segments, small B2B businesses have lowest churn rate of 1. 4% and hence highest LTV of $17357. As shown in exhibit, total number of potential customers in small B2B business 12126. This would allow Hubspot to grow 12 times their current size. Hence, HubSpot should target this segment as their priority. They could even convert more than 12126 customers out of total market if their sales team is totally targeted at this segment. The next most profitable target segment, as evident for attached exhibit, is Marketer Marys. Within Marketer Marys, Hubspot should target B2B customers. This is because, B2B have lower churn rates compared to B2C customers. Also, Hubspot is already geared towards serving B2B customers. Company (HubSpot) The core competency for company is their philosophy of inbound marketing. They build and market their software using this philosophy. So they should not tinker with this philosophy and should stick to inbound marketing. Another point to note from the exhibit 10 is that the biggest customer churn happens between 12th and 18th month. To address this phenomenon, they could offer discounts to customers after 12th month. Also, the customers who have switched to CMS have lower churn rate compared to customers who have not switched. So in order to increase customer retention, they could consider offering free CMS to all customers and possibly discounts to customers who adopt CMS. They would still be profitable after discounts as they seem to ave very low marginal costs. Competitor HubSpot also have relative advantages over their nearest customer Eloqua. HubSpot offers software-as-a-service compared to the large upfront fee of Eloqua. This leads to low switching cost for customer and hence easier penetration for HubSpot. They also have ease of use over Eloqua. But they do need to upgrade their software for more sophisticated users. This would be more required when they start going after Marketer Marys B2B business.

Support Individuals To Live At Home

Outcome11. Outline the anatomy and physiology of the human body in relation to the importance of correct moving and positioning individuals:Our bodies have many muscles and bones, these working together help the human body move. Certain muscles with certain bones will work together to move the part of the body. When a muscle contracts it will pull the bones at the joint in the correct direction that it is designed to move. When mobility is reduced and muscles do not get exercise these muscles will be floppy and will make movement slower and more difficult. When moving people it is important not to over stretch the joint as this can cause pain and may also cause damage the joint. There are nerve fibres throughout the body and these send impulses to the muscles and this make the muscle contract or relax. Poor moving and handling techniques can damage these nerve fibres.2. Describe the impact of specific conditions on the correct movement and positioning of an individual: There are many conditions that can impact on movement and positioning of people. People with arthritis normally have stiff painful joints and are limited movement in certain areas. When moving or positioning a person it is important to take care doing this so there is reduced pain and discomfort. Some people may suffer from cerebral palsy, as a result of this, some of their muscles may be contracted or joints will be causing a fixed rigid limb. Anyone who is looking after someone who has cerebral palsy will need to ensure they use effective communication and be careful whilst moving and handling them.Outcome 21. Describe how legislation and agreed ways of working afeect working practicies related to moving and positioning individuals:Every time a care worker moves or supports the weight of a service user they are manually handling that person.Unsafe moving and handling techniques can result in injury to either the care worker or the person they are assisting  to move.To reduce the risk of injur y to the care workers and the people being supported legislations are put in place to protect people.The health and safety at work act 1974 makes it a legal requirement for employers to ensure that the health and safety and welfare of their employees is maintained and the employees have a duty to take reasonable care of the health,safety and welfare of themselves and others.Also we need to respect the individual and include them in their own care we must also follow our work settings policies and procedures and each individual will have there own care plan (agreed ways of working) which we must adhere to.We also need to make sure that our moving and handling training is up to date as this is also a required legislation and should be renewed on a yearly basis this helps us to make sure that we move and position residents correctly also it allows us to be informed of any new regulations that may be coming into affect and also refreshes us on how to use the equipment correctly ie hoist ,manga,rotunda etc.2. Describe what health and safety factors need to be taken into account when moving and positioning individuals and any equipment used to do this:Before we carry out any activity at work that involves moving and handling we must be trained, to carry out the moves and also to ensure we have sufficient knowledge of our own body to work. Safely moving and handling incidents occur as a result of lack of awareness, slippery floors, lack of preparation, faulty equipment, lack of co-operation from the individual, poorly trained and ill prepared staff Health and safety measures When I have to move the person then I should be careful and I must explain the person before assist them, what is going to happen and try as much as possible to keep away from lifting altogether, trying rather to roll, to slide or to turn the person.The use of simple and fairly inexpensive aids will eliminate the need lifting or heavy handling. Moving and handling has special rules: I need to make sure that I have enough space to move smoothly and freely. Move any obstructions for space to move, place my feet comfortably apart so that I have a firm base. Always stand as close as possible to the person to be moved, bend at the knees so that I can use the strong leg muscles, do not bend or twist at the waist. Try to maintain the  Ã¢â‚¬ËœS’ shape of My spine to help to reduce the strain on my backOutcome 31. Access up-to-date copies of risk assessment documentation: 2. Carry out preparatory checks using: 3.The individuals care plan 4.The moving and handling risk assessment 5. Describe what action should be taken if the individuals wishes conflict with their plan of care in relation to health and safety and their risk assessment:Outcome 51. Follow the care plan to ensure that individual is positioned: Using the agreed techniques In a way that will avoid causing undue pain or discomfort 6. Monitor the individual througout the activity so that the procedure can be stopped if there is any adverse reaction:Outcome 61. Describe when advice and/or assistance should be sought to move or handle an individual safely:2. Describe what sources of information are available about moving and positioning individuals:

Marketing Mix Finagle a Bagel Essay Example

Marketing Mix Finagle a Bagel Essay Example Marketing Mix Finagle a Bagel Paper Marketing Mix Finagle a Bagel Paper Products Variable: Finagle a Bagel does not only sell plain Bagels but they also have 14 varieties of eagle sandwiches, and salads that are all linked to their core concept. The ingredients used to make these menus are natural chemical free ingredients. Finagle a Bagel strives for uniqueness; they study their target market and determine through informal survey and competition research what their customer want. Unlike other competitor the firm does not believe in copying or Implementing what Is trendy, the firm believes In Innovative yet appealing Ideas. A mix of Good, Service. ND Ideas are the elements utilized to assure that the firm introduces new products that are not only unique but successful. Products are prepared fresh and based upon each customers preference. Pricing Variable: Finagle a Bagel has a policy that states that regardless of the cost they would not compromise the quality of their products. They maintain the same cost for their product regardless of the store locati ons because they understand that customers want to be treated fairly In spite of where they live. The firm studies the best possible ingredients, the cost of the same before they use them for their recipes. Competition price analysis Is also a determining factor for the Finagle a Bagel. Customer surveys aka place before launching a new product with the purpose of determining the expected price that customers are willing to pay for the same. A frequent Finagler Card Is another element that the firm has Implemented with success. Cardholders receive one point for every dollar spent at the store. The points can be redeemed for coffee, juice, sandwiches, or a dozen of bagels. Distribution Variable: Finagle a Bagel has 17 retail stores in the metro and suburban areas of Boston. City stores are all about speed while maintaining high end customer relations. Suburban stores are more about service and are more customers oriented. Currently the organization has 1 wholesales distribution store. The firm has a special relationship with Shaw Supermarkets which Is linked to 200 other stores. This factor makes Handle secular tout 350 honorable customers per year. Handle Adages are In grocery store freezers and in the deli area. They also have daily fresh bagel distributors and retailing partners. The most impressive method of distribution that the firm has is Bagels by Mail. Customers can place orders on the firms website. The abovementioned demonstrates that more than retail stores the company has strong commitment to making their products available at convenient location for their customers. Having the product availability in the desired quantity to as many target market customers is the most important factor of the distribution variable. Promotion Variable: Finagle a Bagel has promotion and advertisement methods with the intent to drive in new customers and increase the awareness of the firm in the market. These campaigns are aggressive but yet they are spontaneous. The intention of the marketing department is that the first time consumers have a memorable experience. 2. Identify which forces from the marketing environment impact Finagle a Bagel. The forces that impact any business are competitors, new entrants, substitutes, suppliers, and customers. The economic forces may threat the strategies that the firm has implemented. The recession has affected the disposable income and the discretionary income that individuals have after the expenditures. The willingness to spend is affected by the economic conditions of the consumer. Nevertheless, Finagle a Bagel is the leading bagel provider in the area because of what they stand for. Consumers stand behind the brand regardless of the economical forces that are affected. 3. Describe how the six forces in the marketing environment impact the way Finagle A Bagel operates. As all companies Finagle a Bagel marketing unit has to rely in environmental scanning to be able to cope with the environmental forces. Environmental scanning is the process that includes searching out information that is unavailable to most people and sorting out what is important and what is not. Mainly the following are factors that affect the environment forces and help managers develop competitive intelligence. What are the competitors? What are the barriers in the industry? What are the substitutes that exist for their products? What is their level of dependence on the suppliers? How dependent is the firm on powerful customers? Competitive Forces: Competitive forces refer to the number of competitors that a firm has in the market. Finagle a Bagel not only competes with those firms that make bagels, but also with the ones that make salads and sandwiches. The firm has a practice that helps them determine how customers react to trendy and hot practices that other business adopt by conducting informal surveys. They like the fact that they are considered trend setters instead of followers. To maintain their competitive advantage Finagle uses fresh products, clean and inviting restaurants, as well as competitive and customer oriented staff. They make sure that their products are a healthy option for the consumer. In order to assure that they are bowing to the uniqueness that they strive for many times they wait to gather the correct ingredients to be able to complete one of their innovations. Economic Forces: Economic forces influence both the company and the customers decision to buy. Penn. Currently we are facing recession times where the Discretionary income is lower and the buying power is affected negatively. Finagle a Bagel has a policy that no matter where their restaurants are located customers must be able to pay the same. They are committed to not letting the cost of products affect the quality that they stand for. Political Forces: Political, legal and regulatory forces are interrelated. Foundations of Marketing) Elected appointed government officials are the ones responsible many times for enacting legislations and legal decision making. Mainly their views are a reflection of their political point of view. Marketing decisions and strategies are affected by the political forces. Many times companies have the need to seek for legal advice which tends to be very costly. This is the main reason that marketers find valuable engaging in direct negotiations with gove rnmental personnel or through firms that are hired to serve as a direct representative of the company, for example consultant or lobbyist. This action helps to reduce bureaucracy and favor the company with particular positions that these may have. It is unclear to me if Finagle a Bagel is a reactive a proactive firm Legal and Regulatory Forces: These are the political, legal, and regulatory forces of the marketing environment and they are intrinsically inter-related. Regulatory forces like for example The Public Health and Safety Department which helps restaurant owners follow standards that will guarantee clean and safe food and environs for its consumers. The Public Health Commission ensures that regulations are met and those in violations are sanctioned.

Father Coughlin, the Depressions Radio Priest

Father Coughlin, the Depression's Radio Priest Father Coughlin was a Catholic priest based in the parish of Royal Oak, Michigan, who became a highly controversial political commentator through his extraordinarily popular radio broadcasts in the 1930s. Originally a devoted supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, his radio sermons took a dark turn when he became a bitter critic of Roosevelt and unleashed fierce attacks tinged with anti-Semitism and flirtations with fascism. In the misery of the Great Depression, Coughlin attracted a vast audience of disaffected Americans. He teamed up with Louisiana’s Huey Long to build an organization dedicated to social justice, and Coughlin actively sought to ensure that Roosevelt would not be elected to a second term. His messages eventually became so controversial that he was ordered by the Catholic hierarchy to cease his broadcasting. Silenced, he lived out the last four decades of his life as a parish priest largely forgotten by the public. Fast Facts: Father Coughlin Full Name: Charles Edward CoughlinAlso Known As: The Radio PriestKnown For: Catholic priest whose radio sermons made him one of the most influential people in America before endless controversy led to his downfall and silencing.Born: October 25, 1891 in Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaDied: October 27, 1979 in Bloomfield Hills, MichiganParents: Thomas Coughlin and Amelia MahoneyEducation: St. Michael’s College, University of TorontoFamous Quote: Roosevelt or Ruin! Early Life and Career Charles Coughlin was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on October 25, 1891. His family had mostly lived in the United States, but had crossed the border before his birth when his father found work in Canada. Coughlin grew up as the only surviving child in his family and became a very good student, attending Catholic schools in Hamilton followed by St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. He graduated in 1911 with a Ph.D., having studied philosophy and English. After a year touring Europe, he returned to Canada and decided to enter the seminary and become a priest. Coughlin was ordained in 1916, at the age of 25. He taught at a Catholic school in Windsor until 1923, when he moved across the river to the United States and became a parish priest in a Detroit suburb. (Original Caption) Detroit: Owners And Founder Of Social Justice. Father Charles E. Coughlin, left, says ownership of the weekly Social Justice has for two years been in hands of his mother and father, Mrs. Amelia Couhglin and Thomas J. Coughlin, right. Despite Coughlins protests, Social Justice was denied second class mail privilege. A gifted public speaker, Coughlin boosted church attendance when he would deliver sermons. In 1926, the popular priest was assigned to a new parish, The Shrine of the Little Flower. The new parish was struggling. In an effort to increase attendance at mass, Coughlin asked a fellow Catholic who ran a local radio station if he could broadcast a weekly sermon. Coughlin’s new radio program, called The Golden Hour of the Little Flower, began airing in October 1926. His broadcasts immediately became popular in the Detroit area, and within three years, Coughlin’s sermons were also being broadcast on stations in Chicago and Cincinnati. In 1930 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) began putting Coughlin’s program on the air every Sunday night. He soon had an enthusiastic audience of 30 million listeners. Turn to Controversy In his early broadcasting career, Coughlin’s sermons were not controversial. His appeal was that he seemed to be a stereotypical Irish-American priest, delivering an uplifting message with a dramatic voice perfectly suited for the radio. As the Great Depression intensified and auto workers in Coughlin’s home area began to lose their jobs, his message changed. He began to denounce the administration of Herbert Hoover, which eventually caused CBS to stop carrying his program. Undaunted, Coughlin found other stations to carry his sermons. And when Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign gained momentum in 1932, Coughlin joined as an ardent supporter. Roosevelt or Ruin In his weekly sermons Coughlin promoted Roosevelt, and to encourage voters he coined the slogan Roosevelt or Ruin. In 1932, Coughlin’s program was a sensation, and he was said to be receiving many thousands of letters a week. Donations to his parish poured in, and he built a lavish new church from which he could broadcast to the nation. Father Charles Coughlin delivers a radio speech, 1930s. Fotosearch / Getty Images After Roosevelt won the election of 1932, Coughlin vigorously supported the New Deal, telling his listeners the New Deal was Christ’s deal. The radio priest, who had met Roosevelt during the 1932 campaign, began to consider himself a policy adviser to the new administration. Roosevelt, however, had become very wary of Coughlin, as the priest’s economic ideas were venturing far outside the mainstream. In 1934, feeling spurned by Roosevelt, Coughlin began to denounce him on the radio. He also found an unlikely ally, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, who had also gained a large following through radio appearances. Coughlin formed an organization, the National Union for Social Justice, which was dedicated to fighting communism and advocated for government control of banks and corporations. As Coughlin devoted himself to defeating Roosevelt in the election of 1936, he transformed his National Union into a political party. The plan had been to nominate Huey Long to run against Roosevelt, but the assassination of Long in September 1935 scuttled that. A virtually unknown candidate, a congressman from North Dakota, ran in Long’s place. The Union Party had virtually no impact on the election, and Roosevelt won a second term. After 1936, Coughlin’s power and popularity declined. His ideas became more eccentric, and his sermons had evolved into rants. He was even quoted as saying he preferred fascism. In the late 1930s, followers of the German-American Bund cheered his name at their rallies. Coughlins tirades against international bankers played upon familiar anti-Semitic taunts, and he openly attacked Jews in his broadcasts. Over 26,000 people tuned in to hear the speech given by Reverend Charles E. Coughlin in Cleveland. He spoke of President Roosevelt as the Financial Dictator of the United States and pledged his own organization to establish a central, government bank. Bettmann  /  Contributor As Coughlins tirades became more extreme, radio networks wouldn’t let their stations broadcast his sermons. For periods of time he found himself unable to reach the vast audiences he once attracted. By 1940, Coughlin’s radio career was largely finished. He would still appear on some radio stations, but his bigotry made him toxic. He believed the United States should stay out of World War II, and following the attack on Pearl Harbor the Catholic hierarchy in America formally silenced him. He was forbidden to broadcast on the radio, and told to keep a low profile. A magazine he had been publishing, Social Justice, was banned by the U.S. government from the mails, which essentially put it out of business. Though once one of the most popular figures in America, Coughlin seemed to be quickly forgotten as America turned its attention to World War II. He continued to serve as the parish priest at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. In 1966, after 25 years of imposed silence, he held a press conference at which he said he had mellowed and no longer held his controversial ideas from the late 1930s. Coughlin died at his home in suburban Detroit on October 27, 1979, two days after his 88th birthday. Sources: Coker, Jeffrey W. Coughlin, Father Charles E. (1891–1979). St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 1, St. James Press, 2013, pp. 724-726. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Roosevelt and/or Ruin. American Decades Primary Sources, edited by Cynthia Rose, vol. 4: 1930-1939, Gale, 2004, pp. 596-599. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Charles Edward Coughlin. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2004, pp. 265-266. Gale Virtual Reference Library.

What Is a GPA Scale The 4.0 Scale

What Is a GPA Scale The 4.0 Scale SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips GPA is a measurement of your academic success in high school that colleges will consider very strongly in the admissions process. But what is a GPA scale? Different high schools may use different GPA scales, and it’s important to know how these scales work so that you get a better idea of where you stand. In this article, I’ll tell you what a GPA scale is and the types of scales you might see used at your high school. // What’s a High School GPA Scale? GPA (Grade Point Average) is a way of measuring academic achievement in high school. It’s a numeric value that correlates with a student’s grades. Each letter grade that a student earns is worth a certain number of grade points depending on how high it is and, in some cases, the level of the class where it was earned. // The average of the grade points from all of a student’s converted letter grades in high school makes up his or her final GPA. Typically, one of two GPA scales will be used to measure the grades of students throughout their time in high school. The unweighted GPA scale goes up to a 4.0 and doesn’t take class difficulty into account.A weighted GPA scale typically goes up to a 5.0 and does consider the difficulty of a student’s classes.I’ll go over the basics of these two scales in the next couple of sections to give you a sense of how they work. // Unweighted 4.0 GPA Scale The unweighted GPA scale is the most commonly used GPA scale. It’s found in high schools and colleges alike and is very straightforward. // Essentially, the highest GPA you can earn is a 4.0, which indicates an A average in all of your classes. A 3.0 would indicate a B average, a 2.0 a C average, a 1.0 a D, and a 0.0 an F.This scale does not take the levels of your courses into account. For example, if you’re in all honors classes and earn a B average, you’ll have the same GPA as someone in all low-level classes who has earned a B average. // Here’s a table that shows how this scale corresponds to each letter grade: Letter Grade GPA A+ 4.0 A 4.0 A- 3.7 B+ 3.3 B 3.0 B- 2.7 C+ 2.3 C 2.0 C- 1.7 D+ 1.3 D 1.0 F 0.0 // Some high schools make more specific distinctions in GPA based on class averages out of 100 (i.e. a 90 average would mean a lower GPA than a 92 average even though they’re both technically A-s).Look at this GPA scale for more specific numbers. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. // Weighted 5.0 GPA Scale Instead of using the basic unweighted scale, many high schools will use a weighted GPA scale. On a weighted scale, which typically goes up to a 5.0 instead of the standard 4.0, a student who earns an A in a high level class will have a higher GPA than a student who earns an A in a low-level class. While this scale is used frequently in high schools, you’re unlikely to encounter it in college since it takes course difficulty into account. // For the highest-level classes like honors and AP, students get an extra 1.0 added to the unweighted GPA value of their grades due to the difficulty of the class. A B in an honors class would be equivalent to a 4.0 on a weighted GPA scale, and an A would be equivalent to a 5.0. Some schools also offer mid-level classes between honors and low-level. For these courses, 0.5 points are usually added to the unweighted GPA, meaning an A would be equivalent to a 4.5. Grades in low-level classes are measured using the unweighted scale, so an A in those classes would be equivalent to a 4.0. Weighted GPA scales give colleges a better initial sense of the academic potential of students based on the rigor of their coursework. They also lead to greater accuracy in class rankings. Students who take lower level classes won’t surpass high-level students in the rankings as frequently because GPAs are adjusted for class difficulty. This can help incentivize students to take more difficult classes and challenge themselves since it won’t harm their GPAs unless they end up earning signficantly poorer grades. Figure skaters are judged partially on the difficulty of their routines, so a skater who executes an easy routine flawlessly won't prevail over another skater who executes a difficult routine with a couple of mistakes. It's the same with weighted GPA. How far away are you from a 4.0? Use our easy GPA tool to pinpoint how well you have to do in future classes to get your GPA up to that magical number. Why Do GPA Scales Matter to You? It’s important to be aware of the GPA scale used by your high school so that you can make responsible choices in the college application process. If you’re aiming for selective colleges, you need to understand that your chances might be different depending on whether your GPA is weighted or unweighted. A student with a 3.8 unweighted GPA who is in all Honors classes will have better chances of admission at a selective college than a student with a 4.0 weighted GPA who is in all low-level classes. Much of the advice you’ll see about GPA is based on an unweighted scale because the unweighted scale is a more universally understood metric. This means that if your school uses weighted GPAs you’ll have to make judgments about how you might compare to other applicants based on your coursework and not just the numbers. For example, if the average unweighted GPA for admitted students at a college is a 3.5, you can’t always assume that you’ll get in easily with a 4.0 weighted GPA. The two numbers are on completely different scales. You’ll have to take stock of the overall rigor of your coursework and selectivity of the school to see whether you compare favorably to other applicants. It’s smart to be aware of the different GPA scales so that you have a better understanding of how much you might need to raise your GPA in order to get into a school that you really like. // Conclusion High school GPAs are measured on one of two scales: weighted or unweighted. The unweighted scale is most common, and the highest possible GPA on this scale is a 4.0. The unweighted scale doesn’t take the difficulty of your classes into account. Weighted scales are also used at many high schools. Typically, they go up to a 5.0. A weighted scale will factor in the difficulty of your classes, so an A in an honors class translates to a full grade point higher than an A in a low-level class. It’s valuable to have some knowledge of how GPA is measured by your school so that you end up with a more informed perspective going into the college application process. Your GPA will play a significant role in college admissions decisions, so keep working hard to maintain and improve it! What's Next? If you're curious about your GPA, read our article that gives you step by step instructions on how to calculate it based on your grades so far in high school. Is your GPA above average? Below average? Find out more about average high school GPAs here. If you have a low GPA, you might be worried about applying to college. Learn more about how to navigate the college application process with a low GPA. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Engagement Strategy Presentation and Outline Research Paper

Engagement Strategy Presentation and Outline - Research Paper Example Employees are highly affected by the changes that take place within an organization including all kinds of mergers, acquisitions or takeover, management changes etc. the negative effects of these make the employees less engaged as well as de motivated and as a result, the employees become less dedicated and less satisfied and this is reflected in their work and performance. Therefore, it is extremely important for organizations to keep their staff motivated because a de motivated staff will affect the employees` performance as well as the performance of the entire organization. In order to increase staff morale and make them for satisfied, the human resource department should adopt strategies to boost staff morale and as a result, improve their performance. Employee engagement is usually low when a firm merges with another firm and there is some kind of a change in the management positions or styles. Similarly, the merge of the consulting firm with a software development agency results in low morale, low performance as well as high unrest. Employees should be given clear instructions and should be informed about the company`s mission for the future. As senior human resource leaders, it is our responsibility to introduce measures through which staff morale and performance could be restored. It is also extremely important to introduce equal policies and practices for both the new as well as old employees to deter future conflicts. Therefore, we propose the following engagement plans and strategies to help build the morale of old as well as new employees. The incentive theory of motivation includes that incentives should be given to the employees including both monetary and non-monetary rewards. These compensation strategies are in compliance with the expectancy theory which states that for a specific task given to the employees, they will exercise a certain amount of effort with the perceived level of compensation they will receive. If employees expect a greater

Relationship between science and Bible Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Relationship between science and Bible - Essay Example This idea is neither a biblical nor logical inference (Yasri & Mancy 2). The Bible even states it clearly that the earth is by the heavens and not the other way round (Jaki 224). The paper discusses the relationship that exists between the Bible and science. Zigerell (314) explains that the early proponents such as Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Nicholas Copernicus were all Christians. The famous scientist Isaac Newton stated that the most beautiful system of the planets, comets and sun could proceed only from the dominion and counsel on a powerful and intelligent being (Zigerell 315). Therefore, the Bible and science are closely related. Scientists agree with the physical world described in the Bible. Zigerell (315) asserts that some of the scientific principles described in the Bible in the thousands years ago are (El-Hani & Claudia 103). The Bible and science relate in various ways as discussed below. The bible addresses statements consistent with the astronomy (Zigerell 315 ). The Bible refers frequently to the great number of stars that are in heaven. The book of Genesis talks of the stars (Schroeder 178). In chapter twenty-two, verse seventeen of Genesis book states how God was to bless Abraham. God will bless Abraham abundantly, and he will multiply the descendants of Abraham as the heavenly stars and as the sand that are on the seashore (Zigerell 315). The descendants of Abraham will be able to possess the gates of their enemies. The book of Jeremiah also addresses the issue of stars (Zigerell 316). Chapter thirty three of the book of Jeremiah explains how God was to bless the descendants of His servant David and the Levites who were ministering to him. â€Å"As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to me† (Jer. 33:1). The number of stars that are in heaven is not in the two books, but they are to be many (Yasri & Ma ncy 3). Scientists even today admit that they are not aware of the number of stars in the heaven (Yasri & Mancy 3). With the naked eyes, the scientists are only able to account for 3,000 stars. Scientists have estimated the number of stars and seashore sand grains of the earth to be great numbers, but they don’t give the exact values of each (Jaki 225). The Bible states that the stars are unique (Zigerell 316). The book of I Corinthians 15:41 express the uniqueness of each star. The book states that, â€Å"there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory† (Jaki 226). Scientists explain that all stars look the same when observed with the naked eyes (El-Hani & Claudia 104). The stars seem to be just light points when seen from a telescope. When the light spectra of stars are, it reveals that each star is unique and is different from the others (Yasri & Mancy 3). The movement precision in the universe has in the Bible (Zigerell 317). The book of Jeremiah 31:35-36 describes the movement precision in the universe. Scientists have also explained the movements that occur within the universe (Yasri & Mancy 4). The Bible also describes how the earth is in the space (Zigerell 317).

Temporary agencies in organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Temporary agencies in organisation - Essay Example Generally, client organizations divide its workforce between core and peripherals. Core workforces are derived within the organization, while peripherals are obtained outside the organization. Literature indicates those firms are responsible in making the decision on the jobs that should be retained for the permanent employees and tasks to outsource (Booth, Francesconi and Frank, 2002). Outsourced tasks require less organizations skills and knowledge such as routine. Based on this model, firms distinguish core labour in order to reduce turnover of skilled workers. In other words, the addition of the temporary agency staff in a firm helps to make quicker adjustments of the number of staffs when need arises. Therefore, during economic contraction, firms hire the temporary agency workers. The firm will no longer have the need to sack the permanent members of the workforce (Forde, 2000). In addition, the firm may opt to use temporary staffing agencies to reduce the increasing labour costs. Research indicates that most temporary agency workers receive less pay compared to the permanent members of the workforce (Booth, Francesconi and Frank, 2002). However, this may differ between the bottom and top end of the labour market. In addition, firms are able to reduce operation costs by reducing liabilities such as holiday pay sick pay and maternity cover, although this may differ in various countries. In some countries, the temporary agency workers are entitled for payments. Moreover, the use of the temporary agency workers reduces the fixed cost of hiring permanent staffs. Outsourcing some functions allows a firm to reduce their non-core proficiencies. Therefore, the firm has more time to focus on its main functions. The client organizations get opportunity for screening the temporary workers for potential permanent employees at low cost. Hiring core workforce from a pool of temporary staff can be

In instruction box Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

In instruction box - Essay Example The threats are the elements that could lead the business to trouble. It is important to conduct a SWOT analysis as it may later inform the business planning steps that are directed to the realization of business objectives (Armstrong, 1996). Every serious business should conduct and implement a SWOT analysis every so often to evaluate its position in the market. This paper will involve a SWOT analysis of Nike Company and will go further to analyse what businesses need to do to gain a stronger market position. About Nike Company Nike Incorporated is a multinational business that designs, develops and markets apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment. The American company has its headquarters in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon. Nike as the company is popularly referred to is among the fortune 500 companies and boasts of being a leading producer of apparel, sports equipment and athletic shoes in the world (Nike Inc., 2013). Established in 1964 under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports, the corporation has several brands to its name, the main ones being Nike, Nike Skateboarding, Nike Golf, and Nike Pro. The organization has a number of subsidiaries including Converse and Hurley International, operates a number of retail stores, and sponsors several high profile sports teams and athletes from different nations across the globe. Nike SWOT Analysis Strengths Nike Inc. enjoys several strengths to its advantage. The company has been in existence since 1964 which may translate to a lot of experience in its field. The Nike brand has become a global brand over the years and enjoys strong brand equity. Given that the brand is linked with many famous athletes and favorite sports teams, it enjoys a huge amount of endorsements from its beneficiaries and by extension, the support of the masses spread across the world (Marketing Teacher, 2013). It is a fact that the establishment of manufacturing plants, buildings and other immovable assets cost huge capital investments and ties an organization’s finances. While many organizations have their capital tied to such assets as buildings and factories, this is not the case with Nike Inc. The corporation also does not have its capital tied to workers engaged in the production of its products. This being the case, the business thrives on a lean workforce and therefore operates on a lean budget. Furthermore, relying on the facilities of other organizations to manufacture its products gives Nike the opportunity to produce its products at the lowest possible costs without compromising on quality (Marketing Teacher, 2013). This arrangement affords Nike huge profit margins especially considering that it thrives on a lean workforce and budget. The organization has a robust research and development team that work toward coming up with high quality innovative products. The organization is one that produces branded clothing - a field in which there is little to innovate about (Tech Analysis Blogger, 2013). W hile this is the case, the company has managed to come up with innovative products that meet the needs of various demographics. The company also has a high score with regard to its environmental record. The Clean Air-Cool Planet, the company among the top companies that are climate friendly. Weaknesses One of the weaknesses that

RTI^2 - Position Paper - Response to Intervention in Tennessee Schools Assignment

RTI^2 - Position Paper - Response to Intervention in Tennessee Schools - Assignment Example lem-solving model for addressing diverse student needs through high quality interventions and instructions tailored to student outcomes- learning rate and performance level (TN Core, 2013). It identifies students having particular learning disability thus requiring special education from students with normal abilities. It identifies such students using a three-tier approach. In this paper, I support the use of Response to Intervention in Tennessee schools. First, I am in favor of the comprehensive resolution of the student qualification for participation in the model. The tiered instructions of the model help to minimize probability of false positives, that is, it precisely identifies the true student victims of special needs excluding those students who appear disabled when actually they are not. In this way, it will minimize the resources directed at addressing the disability problem in academics with the saved resourced being used to address other challenges facing the education sector or any other sector of the economy. It also save the parents and families of the students who would have been wrongly identified with special learning needs from psychological suffering resulting from empathizing with their child. More so, it reduces the work load of practitioners administering the model’s assessment instructions. Second, I support Response to Intervention model because of its early intercession to the problem of special needs as this enables the school provide effective and comprehensive support to the students identified with such challenge. I believe the science research-based and high quality interventions used are more reliable as they are thoroughly tested and approved before their adoption thereby purging risks of undesired negative effects in their usage (Fucks and Fuchs, 2005). Basing on the individual performance levels and learning rates help to address the root cause of the problem as every student has unique causes for poor academic performance

Individual - Videoconference Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual - Videoconference - Assignment Example The manager should be able to define the project success standards by identifying the various stakeholders involved which include those that are directly affected by the project, persons who sponsor the project implementation and the society at large (Journal, 2013). This will aid the business to upsurge its market share, meet the customer targets by attaining specific standards, the firm will also be able to increase its revenues since they can achieve the target sales while maintaining the customer satisfaction and keeping up with the industry and state standards. However the problem exist since some goals will be given more priority than others as there will be a trade-off of the choices. But the business goal must be decided since it is only rational to determine direct issues that will affect sales and improve revenue. Second, project manager should allow degree of freedom, project animators and decide on the restraints. Constraints are the limited resource available while the motivators are those factors that initiates a faster result of the project and freedom allows for adjustments during the project cycle (Charrel & Galarreta, 2007). This factor is advantageous to the company’s projects to be stretchy so that it can be successful. None the less, allowing too much flexibility may lead to wide deviations from the project objectives and should only be allowed at minimum levels. This factor has the rationale that if one direction is bound to fail, the manager can find other alternatives to remedy the situations while maintaining the project desires. Third, the manager should set achievable goals and avoid impossibilities. This is done by negotiations by consumers, managers of the organizations and all the staff members involved on the realistic targets to work on while keeping a good demand and forecast predictions about the future (Kerzner & Learning, 2013). This will enable the company to solve problems

RTI^2 - Position Paper - Response to Intervention in Tennessee Schools Assignment

RTI^2 - Position Paper - Response to Intervention in Tennessee Schools - Assignment Example lem-solving model for addressing diverse student needs through high quality interventions and instructions tailored to student outcomes- learning rate and performance level (TN Core, 2013). It identifies students having particular learning disability thus requiring special education from students with normal abilities. It identifies such students using a three-tier approach. In this paper, I support the use of Response to Intervention in Tennessee schools. First, I am in favor of the comprehensive resolution of the student qualification for participation in the model. The tiered instructions of the model help to minimize probability of false positives, that is, it precisely identifies the true student victims of special needs excluding those students who appear disabled when actually they are not. In this way, it will minimize the resources directed at addressing the disability problem in academics with the saved resourced being used to address other challenges facing the education sector or any other sector of the economy. It also save the parents and families of the students who would have been wrongly identified with special learning needs from psychological suffering resulting from empathizing with their child. More so, it reduces the work load of practitioners administering the model’s assessment instructions. Second, I support Response to Intervention model because of its early intercession to the problem of special needs as this enables the school provide effective and comprehensive support to the students identified with such challenge. I believe the science research-based and high quality interventions used are more reliable as they are thoroughly tested and approved before their adoption thereby purging risks of undesired negative effects in their usage (Fucks and Fuchs, 2005). Basing on the individual performance levels and learning rates help to address the root cause of the problem as every student has unique causes for poor academic performance

Raleigh’s Guiana Essay Example for Free

Raleigh’s Guiana Essay In 1594, Sir Walter Raleigh was sent to Guyana, present day Venezuela. While in Guiana, he captured a Spanish aristocrat named Sarmiento de Gamboa. In Guiana, Sarmiento de Gamboa told Raleigh of the legend of El Dorado, which is a golden kingdom, supposedly hidden in South America. Sir Walter Raleigh was interested in finding El Dorado, but he was more interested in a real English foothold on the American continent that would be an effective challenge to Spanish power in the area. He felt that El Dorado would be an ideal base for England. His fleet set sail in 1595. When they arrived to South America, Sir Walter Raleigh and his men traveled up the Orinoco and Caroni Rivers, as well as Cumana, Trinidad, and the Venezuelan Coast. The expedition was more of a misfortune and it achieved little, but in 1596 Sir Walter Raleigh returned to England to write The Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guyana. (Britannica) In† The Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guyana, Sir Walter Raleigh provides a convincing argument for colonizing the Guyana. His first argument was that Guiana might have wonders and riches for England to use. â€Å"In Guiana itself I never saw marcasite; but all the rocks, mountains, all stones in the plains, woods, and by the rivers sides, are in effect thorough-shining, and appear marvelous rich; which, being tried to be no marcasite, are the true signs of rich minerals, but are no other than El madre del oro, as the Spaniards term them, which is the mother of gold, or, as it is said by others, the scum of gold. Of divers sorts of these many of my company brought also into England, every one taking the fairest for the best, which is not general.† (pg. 1203) In other colonies gold was found, after exploring Guiana, Raleigh still felt may be gold in Guiana. That is one of the reasons; Raleigh felt England should conquer Guiana. The Spanish conquered the Incas and Aztecs and other lands in both North and South America. By conquering the Americas the Spanish found gold, silver, sugar, and other econo mically profitable items. These profitable items made Spain have a successful economy with a great deal of money, assets, valuable natural resources and expensive materials. Raleigh felt that if England had a colony in the Americas England would have a stronger economy than Spain. His second argument plays towards the English beliefs towards the Native Americans. He describes the Amazonians as blood thirsty and cruel, which is what some English people believed Native Americans were. â€Å"It was further told to me, that if in the wars they took me prisoners that they used to accompany with those also at what time soever, but in the end for certain they put them to death: for they said to be cruel and blood thirsty, especially to such as offer to invade their territories.† (pg. 1206) In order to promote the colonization of a land, Raleigh had to appease the English nobles who believed Native Americans were blood thirsty and cruel. Although, Sir Walter Raleigh believed that the Native Americans were important people who should be respected. His third argument is Guiana has a good defense against the enemies. Sir Walter Raleigh felt it would be a perfect military fortress for England, as well as an outpost. â€Å"Guiana hath but one entrance by the sea, if it hath that, for any vessels of burden. So as whosoever shall first possess it, it shall be found inaccessible for any enemy, except he come in wherries, barges, or canoes, or else in flat-bottomed boats†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pg. 1210) Raleigh wanted a secure position in the Americas in which the English can effectively challenge the Spanish. During this time, the English and the Spanish were colonizing in the Americas, Africa, and Asia to build their empires. Spain was colonizing rapidly and the English were also trying to economically benefit from the â€Å"New World.† Raleigh felt El Dorado’s formidable design would help the English defeat the Spanish and he felt El Dorado was in Guiana. His final argument is the Spanish are cruel to the Native Americans and that is something England doesn’t promote. â€Å"For he cannot but know how his predecessors, yea, how his own great uncles, Guascar and Atabalipa, sons to Guiana-Capac, emperor of Peru, were, while they contended for the empire, beaten out by the Spaniards, and that both of late years and ever since the said conquest, the Spaniards have sought the passages and entry of his country; and of their cruelties used to the borderers he cannot be ignorant.† (pg. 1211) Sir Walter Raleigh believed that the Spanish’s policies towards the Native Americans were outrageous and the Queen should assist the Native Americans. Earlier in his life, Sir Walter Raleigh commissioned a writer named Richard Hakluyt to describe the â€Å"the Americas as a promised land of honey, venison, palm trees, wine, sassafras (a cure for VD), gold and red copper. Hakluyt saw America as a panacea for unemployment. Prisons could be emptied of criminals who could then be transported to this New World. He insisted the Spanish genocidal policies were an outrage and that the Queen should give every assistance the Native Americans.† (Britannica) Sir Walter Raleigh never got Queen Elizabeth’s approval for a settlement in Guiana, but he provided a persuasive argument for colonizing Guyana. His arguments in The Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guyana† were Guiana has wonders and riches, the Native Americans are conquerable, Guiana has a good defense against the enemies, and the Spanish are cruel to the Native Americans and that is something England doesn’t promote. Although, Sir Walter Raleigh’s main reasons for conquering Guiana, modern day Venezuela, are gold and gaining a military fortress, he also was interested in helping the Native Americans.

Organizational change management

Organizational change management ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT Assessment Part A: Section 1: Introduction to the report: The forthcoming budget of 2013 is expected to open a financial trouble of  £153 million. Such high deficit is indeed threatening the council from the viewpoint of its strategic handling. The current newsletter that has been published by the council’s CEO, Andrea Hill clearly points out the organization’s drawback to effectively implement its developed policy: ‘A New Strategic Direction’ to tide over the impending financial crunch. Even the staffs is not paying enough heed to potential threat thinking that Louisiana would be one’s to be affected and not them. However, as the latter case is not to happen, the council acknowledged the significance to opt for job redundancies. Although the latter provision might seem to prevent the council from suffering such considerable financial trouble, yet in real the council could only save  £55m out of the total  £153m. Now, as a solution to the current issue, the council have planned to opt for strategies t hat would facilitate in: addressing and meeting the root cause of the root cause of the social problems and build social capital to make the social communities independent enough. However, the latter potential strategy was vehemently turned down by the opposition leader on the note that is actually an irrational judgement to switch off the service demand. The latter leader even criticised the way the council operated and rather deemed the necessity to alter its working pattern. Andrea Hill however, considered the latter leader’s comments to be true and thus deemed that change of the working pattern from slow and risk diverse to innovative, creative and leaner. Although, the council considered the importance to practise lean management, there is an impending danger of facing high job cuts. However, the job cuts are not considered to be a strategic solution to the financial trouble. Nevertheless, the redundancy solution is considered to reduce the potential cash deficit by at least a bare minimum ( £55m). Besides this, the potential resolution that the council intends to practise even involves pitfall in the process that it is not possible to switch over the service demand. However, the latter lean management practise seems to be effective in face of preventing excess cash outflow in the face of such trouble. Also the potential thought of altering the current work pattern of the council would help in gaining substantial profit from such activity. The purpose of the proposal is to critically analyse the current actions of the case study council. Though the council have opted for policies to tide over the impending financial trouble, concerns could be raised as to its actual effectiveness in real situation. In order to meet the potential deficit of  £153 million, the council would require opting for huge turnover that in real seems to be quiet an irrational judgement. However, to overcome the cash shortage, the proposed policy of the council seems to be near to rational yet having certain drawbacks. The proposed action to alter the current operating policies however seems to be quiet an effective solution. The report would thus detail the practise of lean management, effective service chain management and determine the need for the council to practise smaller, cheaper and innovative approach at workplace. The current study would thus detail the possible recommended policies for the council that is deemed to be effective to fa ce the potential financial threat of 2013. The entire study has been fragmented into three sections: background, limitations and recommendations. Within the background section, the researcher intends to subdivide the steps in two parts: problem findings and solution focus. The potential budget deficit issue would be highlighted in the problem section and subsequent solutions would be offered in the latter segment. The limitations of the proposed solution would analyse in section three: conclusion. In other words, the adverse impact of change on the performance and mindset of the staff would be detailed in the current section. As a strategic response to the limitations, the author would offer recommendations that might consider the effective usage of leadership development programs at the council’s workplace. Section Two: Background Problems: Findings As have already been discussed in the above report that Suffolk County Council is experiencing serious financial dearth as high as  £153m. The proposed job cuts even does not seem to redeem the issue as this specific council could be able to save only  £55m. The latest newsletter that stated that the council wishes to identify and fix the root cause of the social problems and build social capital to strengthen communities to be independent themselves, even is not considered to be rationale enough. Thus, in the face of being slow, risk averse and complex structure, the need arises to develop a coalition and convince the people that change is truly necessary. Kotter’s 8step change step model is basically a sequential step that facilitates in undertaking successful change within the organization (author). In face of the current financial trouble and the complex issue threatening the job sustainability of its staff, a step to form a powerful guiding coalition is required to be practised at workplace. The leader of the opposition as well as Mrs. Hill have already criticised the laid back attitude of the council staffs and have even identified that the council is yet not working on effective business lines. (Author) stated that framing powerful guiding coalition allows development of strong leadership to further the change process. However, the change could only be successfully brought about if there is viable support by some noted people of the organization. Unlike following the key traditional hierarchy mechanism, the coalition mechanism assist in integrating the apt people to forward the change process and even manage the change ini tiative to successfully attain the objective (author). Thus, in absence of member’s involvement within the coalition process, organizations undertaking change might not be able to attain desired benefit from the process. The following steps are required to be a part of the framing a coalition team in SSC: Recruiting a Coalition members: (Author) determined that the initial and an essential step in framing a collation group are to extend formal invitation to the leaders who would be able to carry forward the change process. However, the potential change managers are required to be told the exact reason behind the proposed change process. Also the reason for change should boost the morale and encourage the leaders to undertake the process. (Author) even added the coalition group should have a good mix of both experienced and fresh personnel. As a recommended action, the group should involve members that having prior experience in the activity and are able to identify others who could be effective leaders as well. Thus the team of SSC members vested to undertake the change should thus constitute efficient leaders having sound knowledge on the current activity. Developing a charter: Unlike the process of following the traditional hierarchy process, the coalition team building approach necessitates following top down and bottom up approach (author). Thus, post forming a team of efficient change leaders, the current step involves deciding a chairperson who would guide other’s activities and even vest separates roles and responsibilities to the members. (Author) added that in absence of a formalised structured of efforts, staffs are often not able to maintain an integrative approach towards work resulting in non-fulfilment of the change goal. Thus the responsible authority of SSC is required to frame a charter that would include team length, individual roles and an efficient chair-person. The chair-person is even required to offer leadership to the group and ensure ownership of the work. Frame a coalition team: After having completed the activity of developing a steering team and their respective roles and responsibilities, the present need is to support the group to become productive in nature (website). The provision for external support to the group would encourage confidence and morale so that the same is able to successfully further the change process. The team of SSC staffs who are the change managers of the business are required to set strategies that would prevent any occasion of deviation from the core purpose and attain failure as a result of issues within the system. (author) pointed out that planning a kick-off celebration is an effective way to build creativity and group cohesion at workplace. Besides involving in latter type of celebration, the council members of SSC could even brainstorm to identify the purpose and structure of the group. Staff involvement within the group development process would help in building conflict resolution and effective decision making approaches. Ensure stakeholder involvement: (author) pointed out that it is necessary to ensure involvement of all stakeholders within the change initiative process. Besides encouraging suggestions from the members who are not directly involved within the group, the need arises to vest the responsibilities of fulfilling discrete projects to rest of the staffs. The task to carry forward with the change efforts could even be furthered by the inclusion of the external governing body or taking help of the agency skills. The internal stakeholders of SSC could frequent in asking suggestions and opinions from the stakeholders on aspects of bettering the change and handle the current issues on financial dearth and in-appropriate operational procedure. The effective solutions could be practised at work. The latter strategies would thus serve as an effective approach to guide coalition to align the top down and bottom up change approach at SSC. Solutions: Considering that the operational success for organizations is dependent on several internal and external factors, the need arises to frequent the change management process over time. (author) attributed that change management process furthers the scope to undertake organizational development that is required to suit its operations as per the changing market and current business scenario. In the face of the impending financial threat and change issues that SC is currently facing, the same could follow the following two activities at workplace: Future Search: (Author) pointed out that the concept of future search relates to the activity of involving all the stakeholders to identify the issue, offer roles, develop action plans and vest separate roles and responsibilities to attain the venture. On occasion of current financial and change management issues currently hindering the progress and threatening the job sustainability of the staff of SSC, future search option of organizational development would assist in involving all the stakeholders in developing future strategic course of action that would successfully alter the current operational policy of the concern. During the course of six months time interval, the change managers of SSC could: Meet for conference Clearly outline and present the financial, job cuts and change management issues currently threatening them Try to develop a positive attitude towards settlement of the issue through framing constructive policies and Vest and engage all its members to fulfil their respective job performances. (author) mentioned that the future search strategy of organizational development goes beyond the traditional problem-solving approach instead ensure wider stakeholder involvement to carry forward with the course of constructive action. Within the proposed time interval of six months, the authorities of SSC could facilitate participation of members across all departments or key constituent groups. The current solution strategy is quiet effective to eradicate hierarchical issues instead be able to involve almost the entire organization in acknowledging the change requirement from global perspectives (author). Thus, the stakeholders of SSC would be able to invest their minds over dealing with current global perspective of financial budget on the proposed financial dearth of the business. By encouraging the participants to have a wider or global view of the present issue, they often develop greater commitment towards even better performnace. Likewise, the future search strategy of SSC would facilitate the stakeholders to feel encouraged to arrive at a common ground on determining the tools that would help in preventing job cuts, undertake require operational change and face financial dearth. Open Space method: (Author) stated that the open space initiative or organizational change and development are an effective tool to involve the appropriate skill set towards fulfilment of the issues. Following the current process, the responsible officials would be able to effectively utilise the collective wisdom and energy of its staff towards developing effective action plans to overcome the current issues. In order to maximise the involvement of all the staff of SSC, open space method could be employed at workplace. As the current strategy cannot be practised simultaneously with future search strategy, it could be used only after the practising the latter policy. Even considering the fact that the current policy involves sequential steps for performnace, SSC would allot another four months time frame to complete the process. Within this allotted four months time frame, the authorities of SSC would require to break the entire sessions into: Pre-design sessions Segment the group based on the expected responsibility Follow up and action plans (author). Within the pre-design sessions, the change authorities of the concern are required to identify the theme of the sessions and develop norms for the meetings. The current financial deficit that the council is facing as well as the operational inefficiency would be clearly outlined for the purpose of the arriving at a strategic solution. Post identifying the current issues, the group now requires breaking down the task in segmented portions and allotting specific responsibilities as per the expectations of the group. (author) acknowledged that the work segmentation and allotting specific responsibilities based on the likings of the staff would motivate them to better and faster solve the issue. The solutions of each group would then be analysed by maintaining a follow up of the activity. By maintaining a follow up, the change members of SSC would be able to be aware of the progress made to overcome the issue. Ultimately the most liable and rationale solution to the current trouble would be decided upon through joint consensus. Thus, through the process of coordinating the activity through information posting, the change leaders and staffs would be able to resolve the current critical issues and nurture improved level of team and personal responsibility. Section Three: Conclusions: Section four: Recommendations: The open strategy method and the future search solution mentioned above require tactful implementation process. In absence of having a proper course of undertaking solution action, SSC would not be able to involve all its stakeholders within the change activity and be able to volunteer joint response on the subject. (Author) pointed out the following process to effectively practise and implement future search at work: Step 1: integrating the entire stakeholders in a certain place, especially the ones who do not meet often. Step 2: clearly outline the current issue impacting successful operation of the organization Step 3: Identify possible strategic solutions rather than focus on past conflicts Step 4: Vest separate responsibilities to individuals. Following the above change management process, the stakeholders of SSC would be able to brainstorm to arrive an effective and strategic solution to the change management, financial dearth and staff turnover issues threatening the business. Open Space management process of the undertaking change could be undertaken following the under mentioned process: Step 1: Determine the issue, develop the norms and plan ways to undertake the sessions. Step 2: Segment the group on critical issues and appoint responsibility to each individual based on their desired preferability Step 3: Develop an action plan to undertake the process, volunteer suggestions and accept opinions (website). By conglomerating the opinions of the change managers and staff, SSC would be able to decide upon an effective and strategic change solution mechanism to facilitate in undertaking the process at workplace. The following change management programs could even be practised at workplace: Employee Assistance Program: (Author) reflected that it is basically work based program offering short term counselling sessions and follow-up of services to organizational staffs suffering from certain work related issues. Considering that the staffs of SSC is threatened from potential job loss and operational changes, EAP procedure would assist in addressing their issues and offer effective solutions. The managers could even gain knowledge as to ways to further the change process by making the staff accept its necessity and facilitate in its smoother undertaking. External Consultants and Envoys: (author) acknowledged that envoys are specialised management service firms that provides advice and training on aspects issues affecting the organization. SSC could appoint a specialised envoy having knowledge to effectively handle similar situations. With its appointment, the authorities of SSC would be able to optimally utilise their specialised knowledge on aspects to prevent from such massive financial trouble, job cuts and effectively undertake change to face the situation. Team working/building: SCC could even decide upon developing groups (basically T group structure) to ensure that it staff acknowledge the flow of information down the hierarchy and involve in an integrative approach to change. (Author) noted that staff often feels comfortable in a group and are motivated to involve even better performnace. The group work structure in SCC would thus drive the staff to work for innovation, product development, resolving issues and smoothen the change process. Management accounting frameworks: (author) elaborated that management accounting framework such as balance scorecard facilitates in the keeping a check on the progress of the current activities. In order to make sure that the leadership and people management practices are performed as expected, the authorities of SCC could periodically use balance scorecard approach to judge change such as leadership and people management. 1