Monday, December 30, 2019

The Uk s Constitution And The United States - 1485 Words

Unlike many other Nations with a codified constitution, the UK has no single constitutional document- this means, she has no single constitutional document but whose main sources are, Acts of Parliament, Judicial decisions and Constitutional conventions. This essay looks at the features of the UK’s constitution, what a written constitution entails and whether or not it would be desirable for UK to embrace codification being the only European state with an unwritten constitution. There has never been a ‘constitutional moment’ at which the fundamental rules required clarification and laying down in a single document; instead, there has been an unusual continuity in the governing institutions; It has relatively been peaceful, hence, no need for a written constitution . However, this cannot be said of the codified constitutions, which tend to come about after there has been a severe rupture in the political system of the country concerned. For example, revolution, civ il war, the ending of dominance by another country . In recent years, the UK’s constitution has become partly written; shifting from a more political to a more legal form of constitutionalism (this can be seen in the power conferred on the courts to review government decisions on human rights ground. Moreover, the British constitution has shown itself over centuries to be extraordinarily dynamic and flexible, with the capacity to evolve in the light of changes in circumstances and in society. There are many whoShow MoreRelatedThe Main Features Of The Uk1444 Words   |  6 Pagesquestion is whether or not the UK is in need of a codified constitution. The absence of a written constitution is peculiar in Europe , the UK is said to have a complex and comprehensive system of government which regulates the country. The purpose of this essay is to examine the present features of the UK s unwritten constitution in contrast with other European codified constitutions , an argument as to whether the United Kingdom is in need of a codified constitution will be formulated. This willRead MoreThe Constitution Of The United States Essay1455 Words   |  6 PagesThe constitution serves six purposes, by which the people will attempt to: create a union, establish and maintain justice, mainta in tranquility between our neighbors, provide for a common defense, promote the general welfare of the people and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity (Vile. 2015). The written constitution clearly limits the power of the government. Prohibiting the government from becoming dictators. The constitution of the United States clearly outlines howRead MoreThe First Year Of The Magna783 Words   |  4 Pagesdebate of whether or not it is time for the UK to adopt a written constitution has resurfaced, paving way for contrasting arguments relating to the need for modernisation in the 21st century, against the need to retain tradition. It must be mentioned that for the purposes of this discussion the term ‘unwritten’ is in the context that the UK constitution is not recorded onto a single codified document. While not presented onto a single document the constitution is ’written’, and as appropriately statedRead MoreComparative Law Report : United Kingdom And The United States1220 Words   |  5 PagesCOMPARATIVE LAW REPORT THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE UNITED STATES CTEC 1412 COMPUTER ETHICS, LAW and PORTFOLIO RAJAT RAJPUT BSc Computer Science P15222274 CONTENT PAGE 1. Introduction 1.1 United Kingdom Jurisdiction 1.2 United States Jurisdiction 2. Main Body (comparison) 2.1 The Constitution 2.2 Creating Laws 2.3 The Lawyers 2.4 The Jury 3. Conclusion 4. References 1. INTRODUCTION: 1.1 The United Kingdom Jurisdiction: The United Kingdom of Great Britain andRead MoreComparison Of Us And Uk Criminal Law. Charles Vatter. Professor949 Words   |  4 Pages Comparison of US and UK Criminal Law Charles Vatter Professor Thomas Wilder Saint Leo University Survey of Criminal Justice CRM-220 14 May 2017 Comparison of US and UK Criminal Law Before I begin my comparison, I think it is important to first discuss Criminal Law in general. Criminal Law is defined as â€Å"a body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by the government because it threatens and harms public safety and welfare and that establishes punishment to be imposedRead MoreDefining Codification And Considering Its Relative Merits And Appropriate For Uk Legislation1034 Words   |  5 Pagesnature of the UK Constitution, from a wider European perspective, is a sufficiently powerful reason to pursue a codified Constitution for the United Kingdom. To codify or not to codify, that is the question, which this essay will address by defining codification and considering its relative merits and appropriate for UK legislation. Before exploring the tasks set, it is important to contextualize codification and a constitution through a definitionRead MoreThe Fundamental And Structural Principles Of The Constitution Essay1326 Words   |  6 PagesA constitution refers to a set of rules and guidelines intended to create both the fundamental and structural principles of the government in a state or nation. A constitution is either written or unwritten. On one hand, a written constitution is a formal document that defines the attributes or characteristics of the constitutional settlement, the rules governing the political system and the roles and responsibilities of the government and rights of citizens and inhabitants in a codified form (ShamgarRead MoreThe War On Gun Control1296 Words   |  6 Pagesthe most heated debates currently going on in the government, and in the general population of the United States. One side of the debate says that guns are a legal right protected by the Second Amendmen t, and help to keep citizens safe if they are ever attacked. The other side says that guns are an evil thing, that they are the cause of death and destruction, and they want to infringe on American s rights, and basically negate the entire second amendment. Gun Control is something that would reallyRead MoreA Brief Note On The United Kingdom ( Uk ) Essay1134 Words   |  5 PagesOverview of the Healthcare System in the United Kingdom (UK) With over 65 million inhabitants, the United Kingdom (UK) is the 21st most populated country in the world, behind China, India and the US as the top three ranked countries in terms of population (Worldometers, 2016). However, its healthcare system is ranked as 5th worldwide (GBD2015 SDG Collaborators, 2016). The UK health system is financed primarily via general taxation. The system is lauded for providing universal coverage of all peopleRead MorePolitical and Economic Developments in the Catch-Up Nations Essay1476 Words   |  6 Pagesthe concept of economic development are associated with the rise of capitalism. (OSullivan Sheffrin, 2003) Schumpeter (2003) argues that economic development is a static theory that documents the state of a nation’s economy at a point in time, and that the equilibrium state can only be change by external intervening factors or shocks. Certainly, the political will of the leaders of a country are a variable in changing or sustaining levels of economic development within their

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Abrahamic Religion Judaism - 1538 Words

Judaism is one of the three Abrahamic religions that started 3,500 years ago in southern Mesopotamia. According to Tracey R. Rich, it all started when God asked Abraham to leave his home and, travel to a new place. Rich also said, although, many people say Moses was the founder of the religion but, traced back to Abraham. Jews are monotheistic, which means that they believe only in God and that they should worship him for all that he has done for them. Judaism was spread through trade and traveling. Judaism can be defined in many ways with its many different traditions and beliefs. There has to be a founder of everything and for Judaism, its Abram, and later named Abraham. As stated before, God told Abraham that he would be a leader of great people and he just had to do what God said. He had to travel through the Canaan, between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean, and the Nile Delta when he accepted God’s offer. (Graham 13). Abraham was the first to teach his followers abo ut believing in only one god. He is very important in two other religions; Christianity and Islam. Moses was also an important figure because he lead the Jews during a devastating time. Graham says that, God reaches out to Moses, telling him to go to Egypt where the Israelites were held as slaves. (14). Moses helped them escape into a â€Å"Promise Land†. Moses climbs up a mountain to receive the Ten Commandments as laws by God to have the Israelites follow and live by. People from all around the worldShow MoreRelatedJudaism And Islam : Abrahamic Religions Essay2387 Words   |  10 PagesPhilosophy of Religion Judaism Islam Abrahamic Religions/Religions of the Book It may be common to think of each religion as something completely separate from every other religion, however, this is far from true. In a similar way that Buddhism evolved from the previously established Hinduism, there are three â€Å"Abrahamic Religions† that are said to stem from the patriarch Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The three (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are also regarded as â€Å"religions of the book†Read MoreAbrahamic Religions : Judaism, Christianity, And Islam1407 Words   |  6 PagesAbrahamic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam ​The Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the three key Western Religions they all exercise monotheism, achieving peace though justice, God’s love and mercy, all three trace back to the prophet Abraham in some way, even though he was first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. These three religions are very closely unified because they share many common beliefs and thoughts, and they all rely on holy books or scriptures as a life-guidedRead MoreWhat Does The Term Soul Mean?1581 Words   |  7 Pagesbased on beliefs, and each religion has different beliefs. In the creation story God makes human beings out of the dust of the ground, into which God breathes the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). While Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have traditionally seen the soul as a substantive individual, enduring over time, Hindu and Buddhist literature have cast the individuality of the soul in more conditional terms (soul). When an individual dies, according to many world r eligions, the soul is judged or evaluatedRead MoreThe Western And Western Traditions924 Words   |  4 PagesReligions from around the world all have an ultimate goal that they want to achieve within their lifetime, whether it is reaching enlightenment or getting your will in line with God. The following statement claims that the Eastern and Western traditions only have two goals in life and lumps all religions in each region together, â€Å"You Abrahamic faiths are all the same, being religious is an act of will, getting your will in right alignment with God. For us in the East, it is not about will, it isRead MoreJudaism, Christianity, And Islam2215 Words   |  9 PagesJudaism and Islam History - Doctrine - Ethics There are three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but as a Catholic believer I’m just going two focus in two of them because I’m interested in knowing the background of my religion, and also what came out of it. Even though people say that Judaism and Islam are two totally separate beliefs, I think they have a lot in common including history, doctrine, and ethics. First of all, Judaism and Islam both consider Abraham as one of theirRead MoreReligion : The Basics By Mallory Nye1024 Words   |  5 PagesThe meaning of religion is something that scholars, along with society at large, have attempted to define for centuries. Although the term cannot truly have one solid meaning, it is clear that religion is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. In Religion: The Basics, author Mallory Nye discusses his approach to studying religion. In arguing that culture and religion strongly influence each other, he explains that those studying religion must make people and culture their focus, as variationsRead MoreTaking a Look at Islam and Judaims777 Words   |  3 PagesChristianity, Islam and Judaism are two of the most influential religions in the world, particularly in the Middle East. Although Judaism is not as large as Islam, it has impacted on the world in a profound manner. While it’s quite evident that both Islam and Judaism appear to be having conflicting differences in terms of their doctrines, they are both know as Abrahamic religions because they share a common origin in the Middle East through Abraham in the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, Judaism is often consideredRead MoreThe Media And Its Popularity933 Words   |  4 Pageseventually over long period of time. the species will have looked different than they once did This is said to be evolution. This meant that all existing species had a common ancestor. Religion is more than a belief to some people. It s a way of life. In fact, religion is the bases and purpose of life. Monotheistic religions believe that everything in this physical world Is created by the One and only God more recently known as an intelligent designer. This designer gave rise to all the planets and starsRead MoreThe Semitic People and their Religions1993 Words   |  8 Pagesdescribes ‘the people who came from the Middle East and their languages.’ Brown (2003, online). The religions of these people include – Judaism, Islam and Christianity. All three religions are sometimes referred to as ‘Abrahamic religions’ because they trace their history to Abraham in the Hebrew bible. In the beginning, there was the Zoroastrianism religion. Zoroastrianism is one of the worlds oldest religions. ‘It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) in ancient Iran approximately 3500 yearsRead MoreCompassion, Defined By Three Faiths Essay1835 Words   |  8 Pageshuman heart and spirit and its urge to help people. I also believe that this embodiment drives us to unite as one, setting aside our differences, be it in religion, politics, or other worldly conflicts, to master our divine purpose, the betterment of humanity and nature. The three Abrahamic faiths, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, among other religions, exemplify the qualities of compassion and love clearly reflecting these ideas in their scriptures and teachings. In fact, if one delves deep into any

Friday, December 13, 2019

Managing in Hospitality Organizations Free Essays

Introduction The role of management in an organization, especially employee management, is crucial and determines the performance and success of the organization. It is thus essential to measure and address employee apprehension towards any change of scenario within the organization. This paper addresses employee management methods to bring about a change in their perception of a new scenarios as desirable and motivating. We will write a custom essay sample on Managing in Hospitality Organizations or any similar topic only for you Order Now This involves bringing a strong shift from an intuitive stance of opposing change that stems for inertial comfort in the current setup. This paper is centered on the decision of a hotel owner to change the target clientele of the hotel from international tourists to the high-end market. The five star hotel ‘Walkerhill’ is located in the suburbs, quite far from the International airport and has this disadvantage over its competitors in terms of location. However this change would possibly be met with resistance from employees and managers, many of whom have worked for about 10 years. This paper puts forth approaches and methods to amiably change the perception of employees and managers at two levels – the group level and at an individual level. The objective is to convince them to adopt the changes in full trust and enthusiasm and make the new setup a successful and high-performance driven one. The next two sections discuss methods that can be employed at a group level. The first section concentrates on interpersonal behavior in the organization. It suggests how manager and employee groups can be amiably convinced about the necessity for change by acquiring their trust and involving them in the decision making process, while keeping the change in place. The second section emphasizes on the importance of a good team and processes that help in bringing about the change productively. The third section addresses coping up with organizational change at the individual level. It describes how the owner and management can communicate with the employees to reduce apprehensions and stress about the impending change and make them comfortable. The fourth and last section describes the role motivation plays in bringing about a positive change and high performance within an organization. Organizational changes if implemented as a drive to seek higher goals that require increased challenges, positive change in atmosphere and a renewed recognition of individual performance and achievement, can transform the common apprehension into an openly received change. Group level Interpersonal Behavior in the Workplace To convince the management, the owner must be able to communicate his ideas, logic and perceptions clearly. The owner might face some difficulty in bringing this change, since the managers have been around for long, and probably know their trade well as much as hold a strong affinity for their experience in the setup. However, there is an amicable possibility for this change. One of the things that the owner can do is gain the trust of his managers. However, it cannot be a calculus-based approach to trust or an identification-based approach – it has to be brought through organizational citizenship behavior. Specifically, the owner has to make sure that each member of the management is treated fairly. For instance, with this issue he must give each and every one a chance to voice out his/her opinion regarding upgrading the hotel and explain why he or she is against it. This will let them know that even though the owner’s ideas may be in conflict with those of the management, the owner still values their knowledge and respects their position as managers. Once they all get their chance to share their thoughts, the owner should then explain his side, but without apparently competing with his managers about the better plan, as this will only create friction, in the form of substantive conflict and it will be even more difficult to convince the management to upgrade the hotel. Instead, the party should negotiate or bargain, and try to find a common ground. Since everyone has had his/her side heard under this approach, they can address the questions surrounding the issue of why upgrading to a 5-star hotel might be a bad idea, and what can be done to turn this around, to compensate for or resolve it. Lastly, the owner should try to control his emotions when explaining his side. No matter how harsh or how blunt the management may be, regarding his decisions as â€Å"unnecessary†, the owner must remain emotionally stable. The same goes for the management—if one of them suddenly starts raising his voice, he should be calmed down before proceeding with the meeting. They should also be reminded of their positions—they are managers, not owners—and should respect the owner’s authority over them. The owner himself should not push his weight around. Group Processes and Work Teams At Walkerhill, we value good teamwork, since good teams are more productive.   To accomplish this, most productive teams must be assembled to maximize the value of their productivity. A highly productive team must be assembled that offers maximum productivity. There are no absolute set of rules to follow in assembling a good team, since every situation is different and no two minds think alike.   However, through case studies we will show guidelines in building a good team. A way to build a good team here is to incorporate healthy acceptance of changes required for a new setup that caters to a different clientele, that is, the shift from serving tourists to a high-end market.   We must incorporate this attitude into the leaders of the hotel, which means this kind of training must start with the managers.   We believe change of attitude is infectious, so changing a negative minded manager into one with a positive mindset towards the hotel’s changes isn’t just adding a positive mind but eliminating one negative mind and adding a positive mind. An example we would like to use is to convince the managers that instead of changing our clientele from tourists to the high-end market, we are adding or broadening our market to increase/diversify our target market.   This approach may also assure the employees that we are not abandoning our tourist market.   A positive manager is far more impactful than a positive employee. However, the manager of the team can’t influence the team much if the managers and the employees are not close.   The levels of bonds between the team members are called group cohesiveness.   To strengthen the level of group cohesiveness, we like to use two determinants of cohesiveness: group size and history of success.   We like to minimize the size of each team so the teams can work to their full potential. We can’t put a specific number of individuals per team because the need of minimum number of individuals is different for each department.   Of course, we would not be hesitant to add more individuals to a team if needed.   By minimizing the number of members needed to perform at a high grade, we can cut the labor cost and limit the level of social loafing because smaller groups eliminate social loafing. We also believe that competitiveness is good to have within the organization.   To promote this, we would have a chart indicating which teams had the best performance compared to ones in similar departments.   In addition, the winners would be rewarded for their hard work.   The reward system would reward monthly/annually and individuals/teams.   A 360 degrees approach would be applied to the feedback collection system in order to incorporate feedback at all levels within the organization to help it run more efficiently. Coping with Organizational Life: Stress and Careers In the hotel’s situation, we can raise the issue about the stress in terms of individual level. Usually, people do not like change. Some people feel scared when they face some change in their life. In the hotel’s case, the managers and employees were being asked for a big change by the owner of the hotel. As is the common psychology, the managers and employees did not like the change. They wanted to keep the same conditions in the hotel’s operation. In this situation, we can suppose that the managers and employees would have got some psychological pressures such as fear, uncertainty, overload, and heavy responsibility from the sudden request. We can also suppose that they would have suffered from a lot of stress by the pressures. We recognize that the owner should deal with the issue about the managers and employees’ psychological pressures and stress. In short, the owner should consider how he can relieve the managers and employees from the psychological pressures and stress, so for them to accept the new change without any resistance. As a key solution of the situation, we can think of the owner’s effective communications skills. The effective communications skills should include the following key points: a reasonable basis for the change, a positive and successful prospect from the change, and vast benefits for managers and employees. As the reasonable basis for the change, the owner can suggest a few examples such as decrease of the foreign tourists, or increase of the demand of the domestic high –end market. In the respect of the positive and successful prospect from the change, the owner can also represent several examples such as upgraded brand image of the hotel, more effectiveness in hotel’s operation, and increase of the profits.   In the respect of the benefit for managers and employees, the owner can suggest a few promises such as more improved work environment, higher valued position for the managers and employees, and wage raise. Through those effective communications skills, the owner would indicate the positive aspects for the change, and, through those positive aspects, he would gradually relieve the psychological pressures and stress existing within the managers and employees. As the result, we can expect that the mangers and employees would accept the change without any resistance. Motivating People to Work Towards a Change One consequential factor in making the employees of an organization accept a change and increase performance in the new scenario is motivation. Once the managers are open to the change, the next step is to cascade the motivation, benefits and ownership of the change down to the employees. This can be done at various levels through a combination of different approaches. The first step towards motivating employees to perform at a maximum level of creativity and be a valuable asset to an organization is to ensure that their basic needs are being met. The change should be perceived as enhancing the facilities that meet their lower and rudimentary needs, like good salary for personal needs, an environment that is physically and psychologically safe to work in and is conductive to social affiliation and professional bonding. Once an employee finds that these things are in place, and a change will only enhance these factors, maximized performance, desire for success and recognition of accomplishments come naturally. Another step that motivates people is the urge to fill the gap between differences of outcomes and efforts in a job and turn relationships into equitable ones where ratios of outcome/input are similar between their colleagues and co-workers. This factor can be employed to increase motivation at two levels. One is by showing that the change put the employees at par in benefits with employees of other luxury hotels, who may be enjoying more remuneration for the similar responsibilities. The second approach is to introduce transparency in the organization so that employees are aware of roles that are fulfilled responsibly and achieve a good outcome/input ratio, thus stimulating them to model it. The hotel should have a very transparent scenario for rewarding and growth that makes the employees aware that a good performance is visible and appreciated at the top-most organizational level. The employees feel motivated to increase effort to enhance performance and are confident of being recognized and rewarded. This also recursively adds to the atmosphere of the organization and keeps people happy, which in turn also enhances motivation and appreciation of a conductive setup. One important approach to making employees work towards a new scenario is setting new goals and making them recognize the challenges of a higher goal level. Combined with a reassurance in the possibility of attaining the feasible yet possibly difficult end, goal setting enhances performance strongly by inducing a desire to reach a goal and feel competent while realizing self-efficacy. Difficult tasks and high goal commitment together maximize performance as opposed to low commitment. To achieve this specific, high performance goals need to be defined. Goals should be difficult yet feasible. This should be combined with feedback, which facilitates in gauging goal attainment. And lastly, this should be allowed time as it takes some time to reach and sustain performance at the new level. A new scenario brings about new job responsibilities. Jobs should be designed as to increase the motivation and performance of the employees. Each role should be designed as to appear inherently appealing. Jobs can include more number of tasks at the same level of responsibility and skills (horizontal loading) or with higher levels of skills and responsibilities (vertical loading). The new role should make people feel that they are doing meaningful and valuable work. Meaningfulness of a work is impacted by skills variety, degree to which a task requires responsibility from beginning to end (task identity) and task significance , as to the impact it has on others. Responsibility for outcome of work is determined by autonomy the employees have in determining their own task plan, schedule, etc. Knowledge of the actual result of activities is driven by feedback. This gives the employees a measure of their growth and development. All these together result in employee motivation, performance and satisfaction. Conclusion An organization operates successfully as a function of the employees’ motivation, committed performance, sense of ownership, growth and satisfaction. While any organization constantly changes and evolves during its life, a sharp change almost always accompanies with employee insecurity and apprehension. Thus it requires foresight, planned and calculated effort to assuage the employee mindset and make it welcome the changed scenario as positive. This requires employing various methods at group and individual levels to make the benefits of change apparent. It is important to involve the employee as a part owner of the change and be a proactive participant in the action plan for the change. This also helps the top decision-makers and owners see details that may have been overlooked in planning the strategy to meet change. The organizational modifications can be brought about successfully through adopting productive processes and forming productive teams. Good teams come with a good degree group cohesiveness and healthy competition. Changes come with employee stress and insecurity, which need to be specifically addressed by the top-level management. An organization needs to show the employee it cares, and the key to this is effective communication. Measures need to be taken to overcome individual stress. Lastly, a positive atmosphere is a predecessor of good performance. The rudimentary needs like comfort and security of employees should be enhanced so that they can concentrate on achieving success and maximizing their level of creativity. Awareness of the organizational roles and at par rival-organization roles gives employees impetus to fill the gap in the ratio of outcome versus input. A positive variation inspires positive traversal. An organization that is transparent and rewarding inspires employees to expect reward for personal effort and makes them go that extra mile. Well defined, challenging yet achievable goals ensure high employee commitment. In addition job roles defined to increase the skills levels used, ownership of a task life and marked by impactful tasks augment the meaningfulness of the work. Autonomy in choosing the action plan for task enhances sense of responsibility. Additionally, feedback enhances measure of goal attainment thus resulting in an employee’s professional growth. All of this together contribute to the performance, satisfaction and motivation of the employees and result in low absenteeism and turnover. How to cite Managing in Hospitality Organizations, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Manage an Information or Knowledge Management System

Question: Describe about the Manage an Information or Knowledge Management System. Answer: Aims and Objectives The NGC witnessed success in various regions of its operations in recent few years. NGC provides a wide range of education opportunities, which are flexible in nature for both local as well as international students. It provides an assortment of college curriculums to students and ensures superior academic along with social achievements with excellence of staff and students. This knowledge management plan aims to develop a framework that would help the NGC to enable staff to remain seamlessly connected with information when it requires and uses the same to enrich academic excellence. The objective behind this measure is to develop a holistic approach with respect to the approach of management of information created and/or used by staff and students of the NGC. Purpose and Outcomes The purpose behind developing knowledge management approach in the NGC is to leverage the knowledge assets, enrich the learning and teaching approach, and improvise administration. The following outcomes are expected to be attained through knowledge management: Able to enrich the recognition and attractiveness of the NGC in the periphery of its operations Enrich the organizational revenue with enrolment of new students Develop quality and superior decisions Create better opportunity of collaborating and coordinating knowledge along with information Source: (Dhamdhere, 2015) Knowledge management in the context of curriculum development based on industry interfacing as well as electives facilitates developing quality educational programs and thereby leveraging suitable practices. The approach allows to deliver better counseling to the students and to select course suitable as regards to their field of interest which would enrich service quality and satisfaction among the students (Amy, 2005). Knowledge Creation In the current developing society, to ensure sustained effective performance, updating of management of knowledge is inevitable in the educational sector. Implementation of knowledge management approach in the context of the NGC is likely to facilitate better access of affordable educational solution, along with raising knowledge, different curriculum integration, better administration, and HR utilization, sharing of knowledge, flexibility and collaboration among other benefits. In the knowledge management plan of NGC, following aspects of knowledge will be considered: Area of research process in the courses based on industry expectations Developing of curriculum Alumni services to enrich the knowledge of followers Student services related to placement Administration services as well as assistance to have access of information to staff and students Strategic planning for adopting changes Source: (Ramanigopal, 2012) Knowledge Harnessing and Sharing Including research development aspect in knowledge management, will likely to enhance staff and students responsiveness as well as competitiveness in the research field. The approach allows improving time management and better understanding of industry specific understanding. Following this approach of knowledge management, students can be able to demonstrate their key learning form the educational protocol and provide interdisciplinary opportunities to inline their abilities as per the industry standards (Tremblay, Lalancette Roseveare, 2012). NGC curriculum developed in accordance with industry interface allows to provide stakeholder with effective administration services in the field of teaching as well as learning with advancement of technology and business environment. The knowledge can be effectively shared only through designing and building up interdisciplinary approaches which are beyond the limited departmental boundaries (Ramanigopal, 2012). Alumni services approach of the knowledge management dimension could be another effective approach, as it allows gathering of past students in the colleges wherein they can reflect their success stories and link the development services provided by the NGC to follower students (Ramanigopal, 2012). Student services of placement allow facilitating knowledge sharing in the form of counseling to the stakeholders and support career placement in proper direction (Ramanigopal, 2012). Administration services can be an integral approach in the knowledge management perspective in NGC, which can be implemented through enriching library management that can give access of wider information to the stakeholders of educational domain. The access of library facilities allows stakeholders to review of academic and non-academic resources on their fields of interest and facilitate in enriching learning efforts. In addition, strategic planning for adopting change measures will facilitate sharing of knowl edge of related internal and/or external information with respect to lowering the redundant efforts (Mathew, 2010). Staff Learning and Develop Needs and Plans In educational domain, explicit knowledge is reflected to be tangible knowledge whereas tacit knowledge is termed to be intangible knowledge. Academic knowledge is elaborated in formal language, printed form and uses predetermined syllabus or formats to spread knowledge. On the other hand, intangible knowledge is reflected to base on personal experiences and sharing of knowledge through altruistic mode along with networking. Tangible knowledge propagates through motivating stakeholders to attain specific goals. Intangible knowledge is promoted through following leadership and visionary approach (Smith, 2001). To induce knowledge management into the real practice, assessment of abilities of staff will play an important role. Certain employees inculcate superior abilities to accept changes whereas others may resist changes mainly because of their inabilities. In this regard, Training Need Assessment (TNA) will be conducted to raise the competencies of staff in the area where they are lagging. The NGC employees training needs will be ascertained through adopting the following measures: Evaluate the current skills of staff Point out the skills required in staff in creating the planned knowledge management practice Identification of knowledge and/or skill gaps in the staff Recognize the skills that can assist the staff to initiate knowledge management practices Planning for training practices that can assist the staff to bridge identified knowledge gaps Source: (Barbazette, 2005) The staff with the less knowledge regarding procedures of adopting knowledge management practice will undergo training sessions including lectures, which will allow sharing of similar information amid staff. After acquiring a brief understanding of the concerned practices, workshops will be conducted to raise their level of understanding and confidence of staff. To conduct training, experts will be hired with superior understanding of measures that NGC are expected to implement. Along with formal approach of training, staff will also be provided autonomy of clarifying their confusions with the experts, supervisors and/or other staff in informal manner. The training program will also include computer-based technologies to raise the understanding of staff regarding knowledge management practices and their applications (Sampson et al., 2014). Correspondingly, with respect to the knowledge needs, staff must increase their level of competencies with the passage of time along with ascertai ning advancement in terms of technological know-how (Huddlestone Pike, 2016). Thus, evaluation of training needs will be conducted for the staff after 6 months to ensure that they are able to remain competitive enough to suffice stakeholders knowledge requirement. To oversee the entire process, Knowledge Management Advisory Group will be created who will remain responsible for assessing and arranging training needs of staff. Resources in Knowledge Management Various resources will be required for inducing the knowledge management practice in NGC including physical, HR and financial assets. HR resources will include the staff of NGC and will be the key resources in the knowledge management practice in which the organization will involve. They are guided to adopt the knowledge management practice and develop superior platform for stakeholders to gain knowledge from the organisations service. The physical resources include arrangement of all the resources including wide ranges of books, journals, theses and study materials to develop the library facility, wherein the staff members of the organisation and the students are able to acquire knowledge beyond the classroom environment. Apparently, other key resources in knowledge management involve the arrangement of financial resources that assist to enrich the organisational knowledge services. The cost will require for conducting Research and Development (RD) to evaluate the mechanisms and str ategic actions for increasing the prospect of knowledge sharing. The cost will involve developing alumni services and placement cell and reforming the administrative services, which will allow to provide better platform of interaction to the stakeholders to enrich knowledge sharing (Dhamdhere, 2015; Thitithananon Klaewthanong, 2007). The paper-based and electronic media will be the key resource media that will be required in promoting knowledge sharing among the staff members and students. Paper-based resource media will be used to provide relevant information to the staff during their training for developing knowledge management practice. The electronic media will be adopted mainly to develop the online educational curriculum of NGC and the alumni services to enrich knowledge sharing platform for all the involved stakeholders. By using electronic media platform, students will be able to locate the major sources to enrich their knowledge and develop knowledge sharing platform across the organisational boundaries (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2011). External Stakeholders in Knowledge Management The technical constituencies that are likely to face in adaptation of knowledge management practice include alteration in the educational curriculum, which require its rescheduling. The staff members and the students may also face difficulty in adaptation of electronic platform of knowledge sharing. Another possible issue that will arise is the security related concerns in the system. Moreover, there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of KMS regarding that improper bandwidth and IT literacy among staff, which create difficulty and once the system put into practice, it will be difficult to alter, as it involve high cost (Herrmann, 2011). The technical specialists include the experts called for developing knowledge management practice and the administrative staff of the organization. Perceived Constraints and Contingency Measures In the process of implementation of knowledge management practice into the organization, the concerns regarding organizational culture and managerial unease are expected to rise. The change management is likely to be the major concern in system implementation, as their will be high possibility that staff will resist volunteer knowledge. Lack of knowledge among the staff regarding the system is likely to obstruct its implementation. The managerial difficulty regarding delegation of responsibilities to appropriate and qualified staff will be another problem in system implementation. To deal with these difficult conditions, staff and other involve stakeholders will be motivated by suggesting them with the benefits in adaption of system into practice (Alavi Leidner, 1999). Dealing with Implementation Issues The possible issues that the organization might face in implementation of knowledge management practice would be the improper team, coordination issues among knowledge management team and staff and low familiarity. To evade such challenging issues, inducement of leadership environment will be put into action, which would allow employees to guide regarding benefits of the system. The cultural framework will also be reformulated with due emphasis on involvement, transparency and developing shared vision among the participants. Additionally, training measures will also be worked as necessary measure focus on enriching skills, which will contribute in effective implementation of knowledge management practice (Arntzen Ndlela, 2009). System Integration Monitoring In the process of implementing knowledge management practice in NGC, system integration is the mechanism to integrate all subsystems together. The data and information in the system will be aligned with developing databases and network systems in a secured manner. The expertise personal and the project team members will be liable for coordinating and monitoring the process of implementation of knowledge management. The project members monitor system integration with the use of coding process along with a detail classification of progress and errors (Dhamdhere, 2015). Knowledge Management System Evaluation Monitoring and evaluating the system will be duly accepted as a vital aspect of knowledge management and its implementation. It helps to ensure that the system implementation process steadily moves in accordance with the plan. The progress of the system in enriching knowledge will be the key attribute to be monitored during the system implementation. The success will be measured by evaluating whether the activities conducted is in accordance to the planned schedule. The expert using paper-based media will codify the progress of activities involved in system implementation. If the activities identified to be conducting in accordance to the scheduled way, it will be inferred that the system is implemented in accordance with the schedule (Akhavan, Atashgah Adalti, 2010). Pre-testing of the KMS will be conducted to evaluate whether system facilitates to integrate and spread knowledge to the stakeholders. Performance Measures The performance measures will tend to evaluate the effectiveness and measure the critical success factors that will involve in determining the progress. In performance measure of the system, information regarding the schedule and progress of different activities involved in the system implementation will be documented. The performance measure will be conducted in both qualitative and quantitative terms, the members involved in system implementation will be surveyed regarding the process and the assessment will be conducted about the impact of the activity (Faisst Resatsch, 2004). The KPIs in the system implementation will include coordination among the members of the project team, time, cost involvement, communication and significance in knowledge sharing. System Effectiveness: Analysis and Reporting System effectiveness can be determined by ascertaining whether the activities are functioning in a coordinated as well as integrated manner and the resources are in accordance with the planning process of the project. It will also be evaluated that whether experts and knowledge users can develop relationship in the system. The reporting will be done based on the following criteria: Source: (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010) System Outcomes The business level goal and objective behind implementation of KMS will provide opportunity for sharing knowledge and related information with different stakeholders. The strategic plan of NGC focuses on developing KMS within the organisation and operational goal will be to provide broad and extensive enterprise knowledge to the stakeholders. System contribution to meet these business, operational and strategic plans will be determined by reviewing the system effectiveness in facilitating knowledge sharing and evaluate whether staff and students can use the system appropriately (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010). Recommendations Recommendations are advisory measures that need to be considered in designing, implementing and developing successful KMS. Following recommendations are made concerning KMS implementation in NGC: Having proper administrative and senior management support Proper resource allocation required in KMS Training users to use KMS Develop security of the system Implementing and developing KMS satisfaction metrics for the stakeholders Source: (Akhavan, Hosnavi Adalati, 2010) The uncertain problems arise would be resolved by building the approach of working in a coordinated manner reporting the problem situation when it arises. Besides, the recommended measures would be submitted to higher authorities based on formal e-mail conversation. References Akhavan, P, Atashgah, R H Adalti, M S 2010, Essential issues in knowledge management system implementation: Lessons from Iranian IT based companies, Management International Conference, pp. 24-27. Alavi, M Leidner, D 1999, Knowledge management systems: Issues, challenges, and benefits, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 1, pp. 2-37. Amy, M 2005, Knowledge management and higher education: A critical analysis, Idea Group Inc (IGI), US. Arntzen, A A B Ndlela, M N 2009, Success factors in implementing knowledge based systems, Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 7, Iss. 2, pp. 211-218. Barbazette, J 2005, Training needs assessment: Methods, tools, and techniques, John Wiley Sons, US. Dhamdhere, S N 2015, Importance of knowledge management in the higher educational institutes,Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, vol.16, no. 1, pp. 162-183. Faisst, U Resatsch, F 2004, Measuring the performance of knowledge management initiatives, Berlin University of the Arts, pp. 1-27. Herrmann, N 2011, Barriers for an efficient management of knowledge, Article, viewed 21 July 2016, https://www.community-of-knowledge.de/beitrag/barriers-for-an-efficient-management-of-knowledge/ Huddlestone, J Pike, J 2016, Team and collective training needs analysis: Defining requirements and specifying training systems, Ashgate Publishing, New York. Mathew, V 2010, Service delivery through knowledge management in higher education, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice,vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 1-14. National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2011, Resources for a knowledge management strategy, Resource, viewed 20 July 2016, https://www.nccmt.ca/registry/resource/pdf/111.pdf Ramanigopal, C 2012, Knowledge management strategies in higher education, International Journal of Advanced Research in Management (IJARM),vol. 3, iss. 1, pp. 20-29. Sampson, D G, Ifenthaler, D, Spector, J M Isaias, P 2014, Digital systems for open access to formal and informal learning, Springer, US. Smith, E A 2001, The role of tacit and explicit knowledge in the workplace, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 311-321. Thitithananon, P Klaewthanong, T 2007, Knowledge management is a perfect education development tool: Is Thailands higher education really ready to embrace it?, Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 111-120. Tremblay, K, Lalancette, D Roseveare, D 2012, Assessment of higher education learning outcomes feasibility study report, OECD, pp. 1-269.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

A Cold Winter Essays - Startup Cult, David Meece,

A Cold Winter A Cold Winter It was in the middle of winter on a dark smoggy night, chills were running through the house in and out of my room like a quiet ghost silently coming and silently going. As I lie awake in my bed thinking of what the next day should bring, my eye's start to grow heavy as I doze off. In the distance I hear a faint booming sound, soon it starts getting louder and louder and still louder until I could hear nothing but the noise. I was unpleasantly startled and hurried over to my window. As I look out I could see nothing but smoke and fire, catching this by surprised I ran to my little brother's room, finding no one. Then in the distance I could hear faint voices of terror calling my name. It sounded as if it was coming from out side, so I ran as fast as my Nike slippers could carry me down the stairs and outside into my front yard. I find the rest of my family there, along with my neighbors and their son, my best friend. I just stood there in horror with the rest of my family and friends. We had no idea what had happened. The next morning I really don't remember very clearly, but what I do remember was reading the news paper and coming across an article about a house burning down not to far from mine. I really didn't know what exactly to think at that time until it all clicked upstairs. The noise the night before had been the house burning down and the natural gas line exploding. Later in the article it said that our block of houses wouldn't have any natural gas heating until the line was repaired. The first thing I did was run to the kitchen, finding my Mother and Father there fixing breakfast. I started talking so fast I really don't even know what came out. My Mom told me to calm down and sit at the table. Doing so she gave me a glass of milk, and seeing that I was distressed sat down next to me and asked me what was on my mind. Taking full advantage of her attention I told her as slowly and detailed as possible at the time being. As soon as I had finished my frantic attempt to get all that out, she didn't laugh at me but just got that look in her eyes where you know that she didn't believe a word of it. The fist thing she said in response was Where did you hear about this? I answered her as fast as possible In the news paper. Stunned at my at my quick answer she told me to bring her the article. So I ran back up the stairs and snatched the paper from my bed. When I got down stairs I laid the article out flat in front of my mom's face. A subtle but shocked look arose on my mother's face, as she sank deeper into her chair. Shutting off the radio, I sat down next to my dad asking him what we were going to do for heat, he just answered I don't know I just don't know. shaking his head in resistance. Later that day I was over at a friend's house who had heat. We were playing a video game and eating chips in his living room. The walls had many game heads on them, one of the nicer ones was a whole stuffed mountain lion that his dad once had a special tag to hunt. The whole time I was there I was brainstorming on how to get heat in our house. Soon I was in the back seat of our extended cab black GMC pickup. My little brother was on my mom's lap and my dad was just starting to drive onto the onramp. Which is not an easy task on a daily basis, when you live in Detroit. As soon as we started getting close to the freeway there was a huge traffic jam. I think we must have been there for about and hour and a half. I don't really remember because I was trying to go to sleep. When I woke

Monday, November 25, 2019

war of art essays

war of art essays Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy... No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion. The American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory. These are the words of the thirty-second president Franklin. D. Roosevelt. People on the earth must never forget the tragedies of war and must never repeat the mistake of going to war. People have to shoulder the burden of the sin, so people have a duty to hand down the tragedies and horror of war on posterity. One significant way to urge them is the memorial. There are many memorial parks all over the world to pray and call for peace, but if the designs of the memorial were lack happiness of expression, people might misunderstand the war itself. The lacks of expressing war itself on the memorial might result in leading to disregard of curse of war. The modern art have advanced as well as the technique have grown. Although each artists have different thoughts and expressions on their works, how to make a deep impression on every people and to get across to people about what they want to say are the main points for every artists. On public projects like designing the memorial, the designers also need to investigate and study the significant meanings of war, which is the most sinful act human did, to prevent misexpress them because it is a work for all people in this earth, not for the designers. And every peoples wishes are same piece. On the other hand, in the new National World War II Memorial on Washingtons National Mall, there is a hodgepodge of stone slabs, arches, stars and wartime homilies. Some of designs and placements of these monuments have misleading and doubtable expressions. Too much things are going on therestone slabs, bronze, walls, pool, wartime homilies etc... Each sculpture appeals the fault of war and wish piece, but there are ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Electronic fingerprint scanning for security at airports Research Paper

Electronic fingerprint scanning for security at airports - Research Paper Example Most of the loopholes that have been identified in the security processes are due to the use of fake identities borne by the criminals or terrorists. The exponential increase in the acts of terrorism has made it vital for organizations to be equipped with accurate and reliable modes of authentication. The identity cards cannot be afforded to be trusted anymore due to their vulnerability of being forged. Therefore, another alternate method is being widely accepted in organizations, government agencies and public premises- biometric authentication systems. Biometric authentication systems identify the individual on the basis of his unique biometric features. Biometric features include fingerprint scans, retinal image, palm prints, face gestures etc. Biometric authentication bears accurate identification of the individual since biometric features are unique in every individual and they cannot be as easily forged as other paper based authentication modes. Jain, Hong and Pankanti (2000) d iscussed a study of Jain, Bolle and Pankanti (1999); their research included a comparison of biometrics on the basis of different factors that play a part in the success of the authentication mechanism. The comparisons are given in the following table; Table 1: Comparison between different biometrics (Jain, Bolle and Pankanti (1999) in Jain, Hong and Pankanti (2000)) It can be seen from Table 1 that fingerprint scans do not give low performance in any factor, unlike all the other biometrics. The aspect of uniqueness is high in fingerprint scans therefore it provides accurate identification of individuals. Fingerprint scans can be easily extracted from fingerprint scanners and readers; it is due to this convenience and accessibility that they have been widely accepted around the world. The introduction of fingerprint scanning at public places can prove to identify the individuals who may be a threat to other people in the society. Airports are sensitive places where many incidents of terrorism have been witnessed in the past history; such incidents include hijacking of planes and making individuals hostages. The current authentication mechanism at airports relies on passports that can be easily forged; therefore the integration of fingerprint authentication mechanism in the boarding process of passengers will ensure that individuals with criminal records are not allowed to board on the plane. 2. Literature Review Much research has been done regarding the usage of biometric authentication systems for homeland security. Before the discussion of the approaches that have been adapted by different nations and organizations, it is vital to understand the attributes and processes of the respective systems. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (2006) stated that the basis of an authentication process of any system resides on the following factors; Something that is known by the user, for example, PIN, password etc. Something that is owned by the user, for example, smart card, token ID etc. Something is inherently possessed by the individual, for example, fingerprints, face gestures, palm prints etc. The last factor is known to provide the highest level of security among all the other three factors since inherence based factors are unique in all individuals and cannot be stolen as easily as the other factors. The biometric recognition systems are used to perform two basic operations; identification and verification. The process of identification refers to

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Cultural influence in Architecture. A casestudy of HSBC HEadquarter Dissertation

Cultural influence in Architecture. A casestudy of HSBC HEadquarter building, Hong Kong Norman Foster) - Dissertation Example The study will be focusing on the headquarter building of HSBC Bank (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) which is located in Hong Kong. Designed by Sir Norman Foster, the building emerges from the obscurity of the night time beneath to a dynamic new lighting scheme. HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations with its branches all over the world. Its headquarter building is one of the most significant architecture building of the world. It recently illuminated the building in what is a colorful dress of dynamic lights. This was launched in January 2004 and called as the HSBC illumination which became the integral part of the Victoria Harbour Lighting Plan. As part of the plan the permanent lighting and the special effects makes the building to be one of the most prominent planned building of the country. The HSBC headquarter building is built to preserve the values of the past. The place at which it is constructed is preserved to mak e sure that the land is still treated as the HSBC property. The structure of the building has been modified to modern terms but the initial roots of the structure were maintained keeping in mind the cultural values of HSBC and Hong Kong at the same time. History The first HSBC building in Hong Kong was Wardley House which was used as the office from 1865 to 1882. It was then demolished in 1886 before it was rebuilt in the same year. The main feature of the constructed building was the division of the structure into two separate buildings. The building which was on the Queen’s Road Central was in the Victorian style with a verandah and an octagonal dome. The arcade which was harmonized with the adjacent buildings was then constructed on the Des Voeux Road. The early settlers in the Hong Kong that came from Britain had a lot of interest in Feng Shui. This is the reason that most of the buildings that were created in Hong Kong at that time were on the philosophies that were ther e in the concept of Feng Shui. This made the British and the Chinese believe that the ones who had a direct view of the water, whether it is a river, a sea or an ocean, are more likely to prosper compared to the ones that are not build with keeping Feng Shui in mind which is directly linked to the wealth associated with water and what it can add to the construction of the buildings. Keeping this in perspective, the HSBC building was constructed in the area which was wide open view in front of it. It was made sure that there is no other building which blocks the HSBC building’s view of the Victoria Harbour. This benefited the traditionally followed concept of Feng Shui which had the country’s cultural belief associated with it. Thus, the HSBC building is consider having a good Feng Shui. The HSBC building illuminated Hong Kong’s capacity to stun the people who visit the country. Even though it is not the largest skyscraper in the country, or to be more precise, t he city, but it is considered to be the most extraordinary building of the country. The location of the building has remained the same at present to where it was initially constructed in 1965, but it has expanded itself in area with the passage of time taking over the space that could be occupied by four more buildings in the surrounding area. Design The design of the building was given by English Architect Norman Foster. Along with stamping the visible symbol of stability and power on the fabric of the urban city, the new HSBC

Monday, November 18, 2019

Individual Sales Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual Sales Management Paper - Essay Example Decisions that influence the performance of the sales team eventually determine the level of profitability. The sales personnel dictates the way an organization launches new products into markets, how new customers are acquired, how a business expands though using existing customers and achieving the targets set in revenue acquisition. It is therefore necessary that the team leaders adopt favorable techniques in managing the performance of the sales personnel. It involves understanding the important elements of a sales force and knowing why this be the case. Sales personnel management entails a number of interrelated mechanisms of influencing the fruitfulness of the team. It comprises of many techniques drawn from varying fields in psychology sociology and many others. These techniques include hiring, training, promotion, career development and motivation. Motivation as a way of sales force management entails giving a listening g ear to them and answering by the sales force leaders. It also entails adopting positive feedback verbally. By enriching the salesperson through information motivates the workers. The management can have salary variations as a way to motivate and encourage the sales personnel. Profit sharing and extending bonuses to the sales force also boosts personnel spirit of delivering. It raises self gratification for the personnel by increasing the hourly rate and other benefits. Motivation is therefore one of the mechanisms that the human resource managers employ in coordinating the performance of the sales force (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12). . Promotion in human resource management entails appreciating the efforts of a person in one rank and rising by grading the level of his job prescription. It entails offering better remuneration to the person as he/she is ranked higher than previous position held. More too rising in ranks, promotion also involves getting involved at higher level of decision making, positions that were previously held by the mana gement team before. This is equally within the sales personnel field where the management ascends a person to higher posts within the same field of sales force, offering improved salary packages as well as involving the individual to decision making processes. Career development entails much more than just offering the sales personnel an opportunity to serve an organization but to grow in the career path. Good management practices for the sales force also involves understanding the need to continuously improve the career path for the sales force as part of the entire human resource. Among other practices that helps improve the career of a sales agent is clear job analysis, understanding and developing a clear career plan and engaging in proper tutorials for the job market. Mentoring entails walking the career path with other professionals in the career, through whom the sales agent, earns how to navigate through the job field. Tutorials and coaching are equally better methods throug h which the management assists develop the careers of their employees. This therefore adds to many other ways through which the sales force is managed. (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12) Training As part of the mechanisms that the management undertakes in influencing the performance of sales agents, it involves assisting the force access better training through which the performance of the employees gets boosted. We find that managements of firm encourage individual study as part of their strategies to

Friday, November 15, 2019

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case

Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case Josefina Vasquez According to (PRSA, 2009), in 2009, the company Dominos pizza experienced a tremendous PR crisis because of a couple of their employees. In fact, in a restaurants kitchen, in a slow working day, the two of them, with the employee uniforms, contaminated some food ingredients and then placed them onto sandwiches and pizza; they recorded a video and later posted it on YouTube. This video reached more than one million views in just three days because it became viral. The company realized that social media has the power to turn small incidents into huge marketing crises. This is a real case very interesting to analyze from the point of view of public relations and ethics. Because something simple could be the cause of the failure or success of significant companies, and what would construct the difference are the decisions taken in crises. In this review, we will be looking at this case from the point of view of the public relations professional and the ethical bases and how this addresses companies direction. Dominos Pizza: A Crisis Management Case According to (PRSA, 2009), the vice president, the communication team and the rest of Dominos corporate members sooner became aware of this situation. The first reaction was anger, but they channeled into action. The company proceeded to intercept the store, the authors of the video, took away the videos, and the company pressed charges against them. One of the first actions was to find out if the contaminated food was finally delivered to a client, fortunately, it was not. Domino has had the plan to introduce the company to Facebook, Twitter and some other social media sites by 2009 just before the crisis, but they did it during the crisis in order to communicate with the active core audience. The CEO decided to the response by YouTube instead of distributing a press release because even at a million views, they thought there were 307 million people in America, so they focused on that audience. They received criticism from the media during the first twenty-four hours, because people thought that they were not doing anything about it. The company understood that the most important thing was to keep the companys credibility with customers. Dominos pizza learned that is so important to keep in touch with media web community all times. (Randallreilly.com, 2015) stated that the company listened to their audience and later they admitted that their product was awful, so that, they started a campaign called Pizza Turnaround, in order to acknowledge the problems they were facing and reinvent their pizza, this along with an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Problem Statement. The companys PR team faced an important challenge. The company had a disadvantageous place due to the lack of presence on social networks. Dominos faced the dilemma of obviating persons opinion by denying, and only focus on defending their brand or putting on the customers side and reinforcing their product. This crisis could have undermined this large multinational company, so they had to deal with some ethical principles such as fairness, honesty, expertise and loyalty. Personal Critique of the Case. In this context, is important to point out the conflict management life cycle concept from (Wilcox, Cameron and Reber, n.d.) which has a proactive, strategic, reactive and recovery phases, and the way the companys PR professional applied it during this situation. The proactive phase involves crisis-planning, issues tracking by creating strategy plans in ways that address the emerging issue. The strategic phase allows organizations to place itself favorably in anticipation of actions. The reactive phase occurs when the issue or conflict reaches a critical level of impact; it involves the implementation of crisis management plan, crisis communication and conflict resolution. The recovery phase involves reputation management and image restoration. PR professionals at Dominos pizza implemented both the reactive and recovery phases as well, once the issue became critical. They initiated a crisis management plan by establishing communication channels with the target audience through social media. They also implemented reputation management and image restoration when they decided to reinvent their pizza with a campaign called Pizza Turnaround by using an extensive media coverage, documentaries, promotions, advertising, etc. Once the crisis was overcome, they started implementing the proactive and strategic phases of establishing constant communication with customers through social media channels, with a strategy to pay special attention to customer feedback. References Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. and Reber, B. (n.d.). Public relations. PRSA. (2009). Dominos Delivers During Crisis: The Companys Step-by-Step Response After a Vulgar Video Goes Viral. [online] Available at: http://apps.prsa.org/Intelligence/TheStrategist/Articles/view/8226/102/Domino_s_Delivers_During_Crisis_The_Company_s_Step#.WNMO7PkrLIV [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Randallreilly.com. (2015). Dominos Pizza: A Case Study in Customer Feedback | Randall-Reilly. [online] Available at: http://www.randallreilly.com/dominos-pizza-a-case-study-in-customer-feedback/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2017]. Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies Tesco and Sainsburys: A Comparison of Strategies 1. Introduction Business strategies are largely unique to individual business organisations and depend upon the objectives of their primary stakeholders, namely the shareholders and the senior management. While these two entities are the main decision makers for the road maps followed by firms, which they exercise through formulation and articulation of objectives, mission statements, and strategies, many other issues like product or service features, strengths and weaknesses of business organisations, economic, legal and political environments, nature and intensity of competition, opportunities and threats, environmental and ecological needs, as well as technological advances, often play major roles in determining and implementing business strategy. Work in these areas, by management experts, have led to the development and construction of models and theories that attempt to elaborate, explain and demystify these issues. The tackling of these challenges previously depended upon the thought processe s and ingenuity of business owners, and played vital roles in the successes or failures of business organisations. The work of Igor Ansoff and Michael Porter led to the enunciation of well known strategic models for growth and the Five Forces theory for analysis of competitiveness. These tools, as well as decision making aids like SWOT and PESTLE analyses have become commonplace in today’s business scenario, and are widely used by managers all over the world. While most growth strategies deal with marketing, other areas like production, human resource, information technology and finance also need goal setting, and are important to overall strategy for optimisation of organisational wealth. Total Quality Management, for example has emerged in recent years as a necessary item in every strategic manager’s toolbox for achievement of organisational objectives. Apart from these tools, business strategies for growth and shareholder wealth appreciation are also influenced by t he ethics and value systems of individual corporations; while many firms chose to forsake both growth and profitability for ethics, the reverse, as evinced by scams like Enron and WorldCom is equally true. Every so often, companies in the same industry, and operating in the same national or global environment, adopt sharply different strategies with spectacularly divergent results. Search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista existed for years before Google arrived on the scene and swept everything before it. Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer, formed much after the end of the Second World War, entered the car market of the United States in the face of widespread scepticism, and over a few decades, orchestrated a business strategy that saw it overtake Ford, the iconic American car making giant. Among British companies, the last two decades saw the rise and rise of the retailing company, Tesco. The company changed its down market â€Å"pile them high, sell them cheap† public perception to emerge as the largest retailer in the country, first overtaking the much older market leader Sainsbury’s and then proceeding to widen the gap until its’ market share was twice that of its erstwhile condescending rival. This assignment aims to examine and analyse the different strategies adopted by these companies, which have similar products and services, and also operate in the same environment. 2. Commentary and Analysis Business organisations constantly face challenges in every sphere of activity, be they in marketing, sales, production, workforce, human resource management, information technology development, or in raising and controlling finances. Many of these challenges arise from the social, political and economical environments in which organisations operate. While businesses in the UK operate in democratic and market friendly environments with institutionalised legal and financial systems, they need to conform to the stipulations laid down by numerous regulatory bodies (of the UK and the EU) and governmental organisations, and that too in almost all operating areas. Furthermore, firms with global operations have to frequently function in conformity with different environmental requirements, necessitated by dissimilar political and legal systems, or by widely divergent local, infrastructural or market conditions. Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s both entered the UK retail market, as small convenience stores, not much different from the many such establishments that exist all over the UK. Both organisations outgrew and outperformed other businesses in their genre to become colossal retailing chains with countrywide presences. Sainsbury’s, a much older firm than Tesco’s was the market leader in the UK retailing sector, until 1995, when it was overtaken by Tesco’s. a. Sainsbury’s J Sainsbury, plc, is one of Britain’s most famous firms, represented across the country, through its chain of supermarket stores that operate under the Sainsbury’s brand. Apart from supermarkets, the company operates convenience stores, an internet-based home delivery shopping service, and Sainsbury’s Bank. The company, originally started as a partnership in 1869, and while incorporated as a private company as far back as 1922, listed on the London Stock Exchange only in 1973, in what was until then the LSE’s largest stock issue. Sainsbury’s grew to become the UK’s largest supermarket company and retained its privileged position for much of the twentieth century. Tesco’s overtook Sainsbury’s in 1995, and ASDA/ Wal-Mart relegated it to third position in 2003. (J Sainsbury, 2007) While the business, in the beginning, grew organically into a chain of convenience stores, its first major strategic decision came, in 1950, with the opening of the first self service store, in Croyden, London. This initiative was followed by increasing the number of self service stores, expanding the range of non food goods, opening of hyper markets, acquisition of smaller chains, and commencement of operations in Scotland and North Ireland. The company grew to become the country’s largest supermarket chain, fuelled by increasing economic affluence, changing buying habits, customer convenience, and the ability of Sainsbury’s to provide a large and diverse range of products under one roof. Large Sainsbury’s stores typically stock 50,000 products, of which 50% are home brands. While the company grew slowly in its initial years, real growth came only in the post war years, with the development of a strong market economy, economic prosperity, increased spending powe r, and customer desire for a large range of better quality goods. Sainsbury’s responded to this changed economic environment, by concentrating on the increasing and upwardly mobile middle class. The company refrained from taking too many risks or initiatives, possibly feeling that its reputation would enable it to grow steadily and retain market leadership. The strategy of least resistance was interspersed by a few initiatives like the introduction of Do it Yourself (DIY) products, and acquisition of chains like Bell’s Stores, Jackson’s Stores, and JB Beaumont, which served to add to and broaden its customer base. The company has more than 750 stores today, and with a turnover in the range of 16 billion GBP, is one of UK’s more successful corporates. A prima facie assessment regarding the company’s response to business and environmental challenges would tend to give credit to the company’s corporate strategies in an extremely competitive bus iness environment. This assessment would however be substantially incorrect. Even as the company continued to grow steadily, in both profits and sales, through the 1990s and into the 21st century (except for the difficult years of 2004 and 2005), it was overtaken, first by Tesco’s in 1995, and later by ASDA in 2003. Tesco’s , which had a turnover of less than 11 billion GBP in 1994 saw its sales touch 38 billion GBP in 2006 and now sells more than twice of what Sainsbury’s does. Very apparently, Sainsbury’s has committed serious errors in handling and responding to business and environmental challenges, and has yielded the high ground in supermarket retailing to younger and possibly more effective competition. b. Tesco’s Growth Path Tesco’s started off as a small one man grocery operation, in 1919, in London’s East End. It took Jack Cohen, the founder, 10 more years to start his first store, in 1929, a full 60 years after Sainsbury’s. The company grew organically in the initial years, spurred by Cohen’s hard work. In the beginning business strategy revolved around providing cheap and economical goods, (pile them high, sell them cheap) espousal of trading stamps to induce customers, and relentless opening of new stores. Strategies, broadly similar to those followed by Sainsbury’s in the post war years led Cohen to open Tesco’s first self service store in 1947, and the first supermarket in 1956. In retrospect, Cohen’s better understanding of the demands and changing moods of customers is possibly evinced by his decision to open his self service store, a full three years earlier than Sainsbury’s. When Cohen resigned, in 1977, the company had achieved significant growth and traction but was still much behind Sainsbury’s, both in size and reputation. The years that followed Cohen’s handing over of Tesco’s leadership were marked by strategic swings designed to take the company away from its image of a purveyor of cheap and low quality goods. This period saw the management launch an aggressive campaign for market share, a multi dimensional effort that involved (a) rapid expansion of stores, (b) acquisition of medium sized supermarket chains, (c) entry and consolidation in a number of foreign markets, (d) large scale expansion of non food products, (e) opening of a number of hypermarkets, (f) introduction of loyalty cards, and (g) exploitation of online markets. The company assessed the existing national and global environment and felt that it would be able to work towards significant increases in sales and profitability and make it into a global leader from i ts status of a lowly down market UK based retailer. These strategies, combined with effective systems and operational implementation, enabled Tesco’s to power past Sainsbury’s, the British market leader, and establish itself as the third largest retailer in Europe. With sales of 38 billion GBP and 2 billion GBP in profits, Tesco is today the undisputed market leader, way ahead of both Sainsbury’s and ASDA. It played for glory and won hands down. (Pringle and Cohen, 2007) c. Management of Environmental Conditions In the early 1960s, Cohen lobbied Parliament to have the Retail Price Maintenance (RPM) act abolished, efforts supported by Edward Heath. The RPM allowed manufacturers and suppliers to set the price of goods thus preventing large retailers, who could buy in bulk and had greater buying power, from benefiting from economies of scale and undercutting the prices of smaller shops. To get â€Å"around† this, Tesco offered another incentive to get customers through the doors Green Shield Stamps. These were collected by customers when they spent money in the store, and were then traded for goods in a catalogue. An effective discount (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) This extract serves to illustrate Tesco’s response to environmental challenges and the many innovative ways the company found to constantly improve customer value. The emergence of Thatcherism, in the 80s, coupled with the break up of the Soviet Union, the consolidation of a unipolar world, sharp improvements in internet technology, and the commencement of globalisation, created a number of opportunities that Tesco was quick to spot, grab, and exploit. The company closed down 500 stores, revamped and modernised hundreds of others. Store formats like Tesco, Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, and One Stop, catered to distinct sizes, products, and locations, and ranged from small street corner shops to huge all inclusive supermarkets. The company was quick to realise that its image as a purveyor of cheap products, with its perceived down market connotations, would not help growth in a society that was rapidly becoming richer, and did not hesitate to close down its coupon scheme. In a br illiant segmentation exercise, the company created three product categories, good, better, and best, across most of its product lines. While this enabled customers to access different price ranges, it also allowed the company to access an â€Å"inclusive† and huge market. Sainsbury’s, which had traditionally catered to the middle class clientele with zealously protected margins, tried to enlarge its product base, but was unable to make any headway, because of its lesser supplier base and inferior logistical capability. (Pringle and Gordon, 2007) Tesco’s introduced customer loyalty cards in 1995. While it took Sainsbury some time to catch up with the idea, the two companies used it for widely divergent aims. Even as Sainsbury’s used the cards primarily to drive repeat visits and purchases, Tesco’s processed the information feedback from the loyalty card customers, to assess customer demands and needs, and keep on adding to its product range. The company also foresaw the potential of the internet and globalisation, and established profitable online sales channels, as well as successful overseas forays. Tesco’s international business now accounts for nearly 25% of company sales, and the immediate priority is to drive it up to 50% of company revenue. Apart from maintaining strong market leadership, Tesco is now focussing on two major areas that are propelling the company’s growth and increasing the gap between the company and its competitors. Its aggressive growth in the non-foods market means that it is possibly selling more clothes than Next and more health and beauty products than all the others put together. (Hunter, 2006) The company has set up base in numerous countries in Europe and Asia and should soon have a significant presence in the USA. â€Å"Indeed, some 60% of Tesco’s floor space is now based outside of the UK.† (Hunter, 2006) Sainsbury’s, on the other hand has been too busy handling its inadequate stocking mechanism, half empty shelves, and falling market share, to be able to pay much attention to new thrust areas, and opportunities, made available by changes in environmental conditions and advances in technology. (Tesco, a corporate profile, 2004) 3. Conclusion While this analysis does not intend to eulogise Tesco’s management practices, or its planned and meticulous exploitation of available opportunities, the stark difference in the working of Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s tend to make any comparative analysis of strategy, and management practice, enormously one sided. Even as Tesco was using feedback from its loyalty card scheme to add enormously to its product range, Sainsbury’s was trying to adamantly protect its margins and cutting down on service quality, practices that inevitably led to further customer dissatisfaction and loss of market share. It was not until 2004, a full 9 years after Tesco overtook it, that the company realised that its major problem lay in under stocked shelves, inadequate logistics and poor supply chain management. While Sainsbury’s strategy appeared to be one of risk avoidance and slow growth, in reality it proved to be akin to that of an ostrich in the face of danger. The company however still remains a respected and successful retailer. Recent initiatives, taken after a change in top management, have seen a priority shift and led to revived sales, reduced costs and improved profitability. The company has its heart in the right place and contributes a much higher percentage of its post tax profit to charity than Tesco. The tremendous success of Tesco, in assessing customer needs and environmental opportunities, came about because of a new aggression that evinced itself after the departure of jack Cohen and is an indicator of the possibilities that exist for Sainsbury. The fact that Tesco lagged behind Sainsbury’s until 1995 is proof of the levels to which Sainsbury can aspire without being impractically optimistic. Sainsbury’s has a number of strengths, namely its goodwill in the UK market, access to enormous amount of shop space and property that have been built up over the years, very strong domain knowledge in the retailing business, and adequate capital resources. The company has also become active in the online segment, the fastest growing market segment in the retailing market. It however definitely needs to scan the environment constantly, look for new opportunities, upgrade technology, and be more fleet footed in responding to opportunities and challenges. Both the companies have seen rapid departures from existing strategies after changes in top level management. Strange as it may appear, changes in management appear to have been critical to Tesco seeing opportunities that were not explored earlier. Sainsbury’s too has commenced implementation of measures that should have logically been done much earlier, only after a change of guard at the top. The solution to the paradox possibly lies in realising that management theories, practices and strategies, in most cases, become relevant only if the CEO thinks them fit. The boss is the key. Bibliography Annual report and Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/fullfinancials/notestofinancialstatements5.shtml Annual Review and Summary Financial Statements, 2006, J Sainsbury plc, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/ar06/summaryfinancials Cavazza, M, 2007, Sainsburys bid is very close, thisismoney.co.uk., Retrieved April 3, 2007 from www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=418580in_page_id=3 Cole, R, 2007, Sainsbury’s progress offers reason to hold even if no bid comes, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing Hunter, H, 2006, Revolution in the British aisles: why Tesco will continue to rule the roost, msn.money, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from money.uk.msn.com/Investing/Insight/Special_Features/Markets_Comment/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1054991 J Sainsbury, 2007, Wikipedia, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Sainsbury Jordan, D, 2007, Tchenguiz adds to Sainsbury stake, Times Online, Retrieved April 3, 2007 from business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article1578864.ece 2 Apr 2007 Pringle, H, and Gordon, W, 2007, The Tesco Story, customerserviceworld.com., Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.ecustomerserviceworld.com/earticlesstore_articles.asp?type=articleid Tesco, 2007, Retrieved May 25, 2007 from www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=A8E0E60508F94A8DBA909E2ABB5F2CC7 Tesco,  A corporate profile, 2004, Corporate watch, Retrieved May 27, 2007 from www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?bid=28

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

tragoed Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) as Greek Tragedy :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

Oedipus The King as Greek Tragedy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The genre of drama is wide and contains works of varied forms and subjects. The first drama, on which all later works are based, developed in Greece and dealt with religious and social issues. According to AristotleÕs The Poetics, a Greek Tragedy must deal with a serious purpose, arousing a sense of pity or fear in the audience. The emphasis must be on plot over character development and the playwright must utilize suspense and unity of time, place and action. Aristotle writes that a tragic hero is a character who is renowned and prosperous, not necessarily perfect, but not an evil person either. The tragic hero must meet with a reversal of fortune brought about by either folly or fate. Based on these criteria, Oedipus the King by Sophocles is considered the prototypical Greek Tragedy. Oedipus, the playÕs main character, is also considered the model of a Greek tragic hero. Oedipus the King deals with several serious purposes, the greatest of which being the agnosticism Sophocles perceived in his community. Through Iokaste who ÒÉwould not waste a second thoughtÉÓ on oracles, Sophocles shows his audience the perils of disbelief in the gods, since each prophecy made by oracles in the play ended up coming true (l. 813). Sophocles uses his play to perform serious religious functions as well as to entertain theatre-goers. The fulfillment of the predictions made by the oracles led to the downfall of Oedipus, which created a catharsis in the audience, brought by arousing feelings of pity and fear for the fallen king. The Choragos gives the lesson, ÒÉlet none presume on his good fortune until he find life, at his death, a memory without painÓ (l. 1473-5). This scene allows the audience to leave the theater feeling purged of their pity and fear. The plot is the most important component of Oedipus the King, as it is of every Greek Tragedy. Development of characters is secondary, and the audience rarely Ôgets insideÕ any of the characters. Only characters crucial to the plot are introduced; there is no extraneous action on stage. This development of plot is a challenge. A tragedian must present a story with which the audience is already familiar and still make it interesting