Sunday, December 22, 2019

Strategic Restructuring and Organizational Developments

Strategic Restructuring and Organizational Developments Introduction This discussion is directed toward company restructuring and repositioning, specifically my personal experiences in a project dependant industry, and the evolution of a business structure and organizational culture of flexibility and adaptability. Many companies operating in a project specific and contract dependant industry are required to align employees with processes and strategies to ensure smooth transition in an often dynamic and changeable environment. Companies competing in dynamic market environments have evolved and adapted to stay competitive and profitable. It is important to recognize the alignment of company culture toward the employee and the†¦show more content†¦The real impact during transition was felt on a personal level with organizational structure change and project reassignment. Change can often be viewed as positive, as the case in a successful completion of a life cycle project. The project life cycle is finite and inevitable; there is excitement surrounding potential for new project opportunities. Also technology and business process improvement can be embraced as the new generation becomes more accepting and involved in technological advances. Alternatively, negative sentiment can occur in the case of an unexpected and unplanned scenario such as acquisition or contract non-renewal. Forced change can be extremely difficult, particularly when the changes are unexpected and devoid of a provisional contingency plan. Effective Strategy Implementation An effective restructuring implementation strategy must be considered from the perspective of the organization, the individual and management. In addition, it is important to distinguish the interrelation factors which drive the organization as a whole through the restructuring planning, transition and recovery. The factors affecting strategy implementation in discussion are: ï‚ § Organizational Objective – defining the objective and formulating a strategy. ï‚ § People Aspects – the impact on employees. ï‚ § Management of the Transition – actions for positiveShow MoreRelatedTraining and Development Activities1768 Words   |  7 PagesTraining Development investments Training and development activities are becoming more associated with the core business objectives and have accepted new methods and technologies increasing the overall value of the training programs. Training section of the organization is now seen as a key business partner but at the same time it faces many challenges, with increasing economic difficulties organizations tend to reduce unnecessary overheads resulting in layoffs and budget cuts on employee developmentRead MoreHuman Due Diligence1432 Words   |  6 Pagesrespect? Managerial Competence: How competent is the management team of the potential partner? 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Roger Kaufman’s Organizational Elements ModelRead MoreCompany Restructure Summary Essay example1714 Words   |  7 Pagesrecommendation. This report has considered the organizational features to be re-modified and challenges to encounter This report summarizes the process that will follow and the proposed restructures. The proposed restructure reflects the need for new ‘‘organic’’ organizational forms. Not only does a company’s organizational structure help determine how well its workers make decisions, but it also reflects how well they respond to environment conditions. The organizational structure can influence workers attitudesRead MoreCase Study Analysis : Human Resource Management1471 Words   |  6 PagesCase Study Analysis Human Resource (HR), represents the most critical element within any organization. This includes managerial changes, such as restructuring or the disposition of an organization from nonprofit towards profit making. Human resource plays a vital role in achieving the objectives of the organization. Additionally, employees are required to be treated with decorum and respect, which will maintain and improve their productivity. Treating an employee with respect is reciprocated throughRead MorePhilips and Matsushita1030 Words   |  5 PagesQuestions Gabriella van der Veen 375665 19-11-2012 1. Which factors account for differences in strategies and structures of Philips and Matsushita? What are their distinctive competencies and incompetencies? 2. What are the key organizational challenges that each company is facing at the end of the case? What recommendations would you give to the respective CEOs? 1. The two companies, each from different regions of the world, have an extensive history that have caused for differentRead MoreCase Study Analysis : Human Resource Management1400 Words   |  6 PagesCase Study Analysis Human Resource (HR), represents the most critical element within any organization. This includes managerial changes, such as restructuring or the disposition of an organization from nonprofit towards profit making. Human resource plays a vital role in achieving the objectives of the organization. Additionally, employees are required to be treated with decorum and respect, which will maintain and improve their productivity. Treating an employee with respect is reciprocated through

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The method that built science Free Essays

Science is no easy enterprise unless the decay in the inquisitive mind of man takes the form of a lingering revulsion against one of humanity’s most productive disciplines. The scientific method is by all means the cornerstone in the advancement of the major as well as the minor theories and derived knowledge in the scientific world. Dating back to decades in its progression, the utilization of the scientific method has led to a number of refinements in the established principles in the domains of science as well as the refinement in the scientific method itself. We will write a custom essay sample on The method that built science or any similar topic only for you Order Now In effect, the mutual benefit gained from the application of the scientific method with regards to the analysis of numerous scientific cases and to the broad investigations that underline the basic precepts and consequent principles has placed an edge over the credibility of the science. This is in contrast to the several other means that are apart from and exclusive to the scientific enterprise in obtaining vital as well as crude information with regards to the natural and physical realm. Hence, in order for one to be able to effectively utilize the scientific method, a look into its parts and details is essentially contributive inasmuch as it is beneficial not only to the individual employing the method but also to the community in general. The initial step in the scientific method is commonly identified as observation which refers to the use of the sensory perception or oftentimes with the aid of specific instruments in examining the phenomena contained within the physical or natural environment. After arriving at a description of an event or a set of events or objects, a tentative and educated explanation of the observed event then proceeds. This process is oftentimes referred to as the formulation of the hypothesis which provides a partial, unofficial and unverified elucidation on the observed phenomena. With the hypothesis already in hand, what transpires next is the actual testing of the tentative explanation. This is done through the process of experimentation with all of the necessary material and equipments utilized in order to arrive at the resulting data. The resulting data after the experiment is then gathered and recorded so as to have a list of available information that will serve as the background for the hypothesis. Before arriving at any set of final conclusion with regards to the phenomena, an interpretation of the resulting data is necessary. This step provides the crucial link that stands between the conclusion, oftentimes coming in the form of a generalization, and the data collected from the experiment. Further, the interpretation of the data can be done in several ways, largely depending upon the type of data gathered and the domain in science under which it falls. Generally, the interpretation of the data yields the necessary bases or sets of premises that will be generalized and placed in support of the conclusion. With all the essential data already acquired as well as the interpretations of these sets of data from the variables provided in the experiment, a generalization of all these then follows. The conclusion serves as the pinnacle of the scientific method that started from mere observation of phenomena. Not only does the conclusion fits as the highlight of the scientific method, it also serves as the fundamental verifying statement or statements for the hypothesis, thereby granting the formulated hypothesis either with a substantiated and authenticated merit or a falsifying remark. There, too, are instances wherein the hypothesis is left hanging by the conclusion as the latter oftentimes arrives at a differing point whereas the hypothesis remains inconclusive although experimentation has already been performed. In general, the scientific method along with its intricate steps has provided an extra muscle for the scientific community to be able to better shape its scopes and foundations. Being able to understand the underlying steps in the scientific method is an essential and useful means in arriving at a more concrete exploration of numerous phenomena and the domains in which they fall under. Reference Kramer, S. P. (1987). How to Think Like a Scientist: Answering Questions by the Scientific Method. New York: HarperCollins. Â   How to cite The method that built science, Essay examples

Friday, December 6, 2019

The Arts (Painting, Music, Literature, Etc.) Essay Example For Students

The Arts (Painting, Music, Literature, Etc.) Essay The artists normally belong to a certain social class or group, and the desires ND ideals to this class are oaten reflect in these artists works. What these artists could truly affect this society is not radio, newspaper or television, hut the art works enjoyed by most people. Especially, in a society of despotism, if the right of free speech is limited, art works would become the best tools for artists to uncover the dark side of society and express their resentment toward authority. The best example to illustrate this point is the painting DOVE created by Picasso This ivory are produced on the basis of Picasso personal experience during the second wars, It represents the longing for peace of common people like Picasso under the ruling of NAZI as well as their hate toward wars. Up to now, this painting has become the symbol Of peace accepted by the people worldwide. Therefore, the art works are normally the effective tools to record the desires and ideas Of some certain social group represented by artists. Most art works are created on the basis of social life, so it is sure that they would contain many aspects of social reality, including peoples lives and ideas. Value ideas. Religious belief and etc. Naturally, some arts works could also reflect the impulse of some people to transcend their present situation, and it is often this impulse that help propel society ford. The Famous novels uncle Toms Cabin could serve as a good example to illustrate this point. This novel described specificity the miserable life of slaves living the south at that time ,and expressed black slaves longing for freedom. Accordingly, this book not only evoked most peoples consideration to black slaves living the south, but to some extent, led to the breakout of the campaign of abolishing slavery. This book had such a profound effect on the development of American history that most critics think that it is this novel that makes the Civil War truly, In a word, many valuable works like uncle toms cabin not only simply reflect the hidden impulse of society, but direct properly peoples views on the important social issues, and thus result in the further development of society. However, we could not also lost sight of some art works embodying not social ideas or impulses, but the authors pursuit for the beauty of art. If so, what these art works leave for posterity is its artistic value rather than social value. The famous painting Mona Lisa smile belongs to this kind of art works. Obviously, This painting contains no any special social thoughts, and the reason for its great fame is that it reflects the authors sophisticated drawing and painting techniques. The lifelike and vivid image feature defeated many Other paintings Of this kind, so it is regarded as the most influential art works in the 11th century. For another thing, some art works also serve to express the beauty of nature or personal emotions and feeling. The Chinese music high mountains and flowing water is created by author to record the peace and serenity of nature , as well as the feeling of human being when facing great natural wonders. All in all, not all art works would reveal the otherwise ideas and impulses hidden in a society. To sum up, while most art works uncover successfully the thinness ideas and impulses hidden in a society, and thus help propel the development of society, some art works are also created to fulfill the artistic pursuits of authors. And the latter works normally embody the artistic value rather than social value.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Dalai Lama and International Relations

Introduction The Dalai Lama is the Tibetan Buddhist religious official leader. According to Richardson (1984), he is regarded as the reincarnation of the tulkus and has been coming in every generation as the bodhisattva manifestation. Also to be noted is that he is regardless as the embodiment of compassion, and is seen as an ocean of wisdom as the high priest or chief by his followers (Srilankadotcom 1978).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Dalai Lama and International Relations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Dalai Lama is a religious leader of the greatest height to his people and his leadership is highly esteemed. Like those who have been reincarnated before him, he continues their mission of enlightening people and bringing spiritual wisdom (Avedon 1997). One way that the Dalai Lama brings this about is through the Gelug school and monasteries (Richardson 1984). Although he is not the official le ader of the school, he appoints the leader and gives the school guidance so that it can achieve its purpose. Brief history The position of the Dalai Lama in the past has been used to govern the Tibetan government. This chiefly occurred since the reincarnation until mid twentieth century. According to Richardson (1984), during early 17th century, there were power clashes between various factions and Tibet. The dominant Manchu wanted the destruction of Yellow hat Sect in Tibet and the fight was long leading to the destruction of the Manchu’s family (Richardson 1984). Gushi Khna fought on the side of the Tibet Yellow hats and in the process, Tibet got a leader to protect it and to protect its religion (Richardson 1984). However, since mid century, the 14th Dalai Lama has been in administration of the Central Tibetan Administration (Richardson 1984). This administration has been in exile since 1959. There has been considerable conflict between the Tibetan Administration and Chine se government. Foreign relations The current Dalai Lama was installed amid pressure from China. China was hoping to squelch the demands for sovereignty of Tibet under the Dalai Lama (Sautman 2010). China attacked the Dalai Lama’s supporters and the Dalai Lama in 1959 escaped from Tibet, going into exile in India where he was offered protection by India’s government. From there, he has continued to head a government that lives in exile (Sautman 2010). Much of the world has not been conversant with the situation in Tibet or the Dalai Lama himself. This is largely owing Tibet’s isolation (Srilankadotcom 1978). Little of its political situation was known as it lived in China’s shadow.Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, much has come to be known about Tibet through the Dalai Lama visiting different countries and introducing his ideas on i ntyernational relations as well as sound governance (Dalai 1997). There has been great tension between China and Tibet as China sought out more ways to bring the powers of the Dalai Lama down, and to be more involved in the selection of the Dalai Lamas (Sautman 2010). The issue of Tibet and China has been put in the spotlight due to the conflict witnessed. Additionally, it has happened because of the international attention that Tibet’s efforts for independence has been getting. Of great international concern are two relations; Sino-US and Sino-Indian. Dalai Lama’s thoughts on international relations The Dalai Lama has been consistent in the pledge for world peace as the way forward. The Buddhism ideals are peace, use of resources equitably and justice (Dalai 1997). According to him, the people in the world are not more hateful than they always were but rather there are new ways in which threats have been created. The Dalai (1997) teaches that world peace can only be a ttained if people are focused on others and not themselves. There will never be a time when people’s personal needs will stop. But it is in reaching out to others that people can find meaning, happiness and peace (Dalai 1997). The problem of one people can be understood to be the problem of all people. In this way those who are in a position to help should so as it is their obligation to increase harmony in the world. The Dalai (2001), especially calls for disarmament so that people can work in more harmony. With the threat of weapons of destruction people grow suspect of one another instead of looking for genuine ways to help each other. Alliances are formed but in the end there is more disharmony. According to Dalai (1997), democracy is at the heart of growth and development. When a society can question and express its ideas then all humanity benefits. Democracy allows nations to grow in themselves and towards better international relations (Dalai 1997). According to the Da lai Lama although the problems of the world appear complex, they do not have to be dealt with all at once. Progress made in one area should be welcome in other so as to yield similar results. Dalai Lama has used his ideas in dealing with the case of Tibet. He advocates for dialogue which he believes is the way towards lasting solutions. When nations can agree on issues without pressure the results are lasting relationships because the agreements are mutual and can withstand time.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Dalai Lama and International Relations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More India, China and Tibet According to China Tibet Information Center (CTIC), China is unhappy with India’s use of the Tibet issue to get involved in the internal concerns of China (2010). This is especially frustrating for China which would have wanted to count on India’s support, after their agreement on ways of keeping peace between the two countries. The Dalai Lama, however, feels that it is only when nations reach a greater outlook than they can relate better. Nations is Asia should not look after each other’s interest even when they are wrong. The guiding principles should be doing what is just or right. US, China and Tibet With regards to the Sino-US relations, China cites the increasing anti-China stance that the United States has been taking. It is especially the relationship that the US has with the Dalai Lama and his cause, that will aid or hurt the relationship between China and the US. China feels that the US from the mid 90s has been using other nations neighboring China to guard its interests. According to the Dalai Lama justice should be defended by all as it is an international concern (Dalai 2001). No nation should feel isolated. While the world has been largely unaware of the Tibet situation they are becoming more involved. This is right as injustice should be fought in every corner of the world. Sometimes those who are oppressed may not be strong enough to advocate their case. Those who can lend aid should not shy away from the responsibility to reach out. According to CTIC (2010), the issue of Tibet keeps coming up in the communications between China and the US and in all indication; it will not go away until the issue is resolved, putting pressure on China. Other nations, China and Tibet Although much has been said about China and Tibet in relation to the US, other nations also come into the picture. One of the reasons why Tibet has gotten more support and its interest has become widely known, is because of the human rights violations that the Dalai Lama has indicated the Chinese government is propagating (Avedon 1997). The Dalai Lama believes in the dignity of persons which should not be undermined by violations of their human rights (Dalai 1991). According to Global Security (2000-10), these claims have become an issue of interest to the i nternational community. China has done its best to show that there are no violations of human rights, and to show that the Tibet issue is an internal issue without need of international intervention (Avedon 1997).Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to CTIC (2010), the thoughts of Chinese scholars are that those loyal to the Dalai Lama are using illegitimate claims in the hopes of attracting international support, especially from the Western countries. That they seek to bring the Western ideologies to Asia. These claims come in the form of religious freedom, environmental protection and human rights (CTIC 2010). However, the Dalai Lama outlook is not invested in ideologies or theories. Rather, his ideas are on what can be fundamentally acceptable to all persons (Dalai 1997). The Dalai Lama is accused of presenting himself as human activist, though China also places blame on the Westerners who are supporting him with money and the platforms from which to attack China. The Dalai Lama denies personal interest in his crusade (Avedon 1997) According to Human Rights Watch (2001), other countries have expressed sympathy for Tibet. The EU has constantly brought up the issue of the death penalty, for example, and asked that Ch ina abolish it (Human Right Watch 2001). China has largely ignore the request, meaning that many of those arrested from Tibet face the death penalty. Australia has also urged China to consider Tibet’s proposals to bring about a quick end to the situation. For sometime now, Japan’s relationship with China has been strained as Japan continues to allow the Dalai Lama to visit during his exile. This is contrary to what China expects from Japan. However, Japan has continued to relate well with China while accepting Tibet’s unique need for autonomy (Human Rights Watch 2001). International organizations like the World Bank and the UN continue to work with China especially to address the cases of refugees, treatment of prisoners, allowing foreigners access to Tibet and funding programs for the development of Tibet and other regions in need (Human Rights Watch 2001). Development of Tibet and international relations It is know that the Dalai Lama has challenged China in t he context of development of Tibet which is far behind the rest of China, especially the eastern part (Avedon 1997). According to the Dalai (1997), development is one of the causes of conflict in the world. If development can be pursued so that people have enough to eat and for their needs, all can live in peace. China has responded by stating its belief in the importance of development and stability in Tibet (Fairclough 2009). Development of Tibet will lead to more stability and some of the issues will finally be easily resolved. China claims that Tibet has not made much progress despite the high levels of assistance it has been receiving. It is in the hope of development that China is plans to increasingly open Tibet to the international world, in order to facilitate business. However, according to China’s government, while it has been investing in economic, social and political development of Tibet, the Dalai Lama has been interested in removing Tibet from China without co ncern for Tibet’s long-term welfare (CTIC 2010). The Dalai Lama has been accused by China of using India as the back yard, from which youngsters can train and return to Tibet under his leadership. His worship has also been cited as a tool China, as it allows him to use monasteries to assert his power over the regions where the monasteries are founded (CTIC 2010). However the Dalai has been involved in the teaching as a way of enlightenment which he believes leads to betterment of a person (Dalai 1991). It should be noted that the development of Tibet is certainly important to China’s security, especially with India, as it will secure the India-China border (Human Rights Watch, 2001). This could lead to better relations and fewer refugees. If Tibet advances in development, China suspects that the Dalai Lama could lose some of the support that he enjoys. But in order to move forward, Tibet needs to overhaul its economic system and be involved in global economic systems. The international community would largely like to see Tibet get recognition as an autonomous state (Dambaugh 2001). The US has been especially supportive of Tibet and has engaged China in talks aimed at Tibet gaining autonomy and conducting its international affairs (Dambaugh 2001). Dalai Lama and the future of Tibet as an autonomous state The US State Department annual report on Tibet negotiations in 2010 presented the remarks of the Dalai Lama’s special envoy Lodi Gyari. According to Lodi (2010), the future of Tibet is heavily invested in Dalai Lama and he has been actively involved in negotiations with China. His believe in the rights and cause of the Tibet people has illuminated the way other nations can approach conflict (Dalai 1997). The international community has been supporting Tibet, hoping for a resolution which will be mutually beneficial and acceptable to both China and Tibet (Lodi 2010). The issue of Tibet continues to be one of importance to international relat ions (Alling 1997). It will determine how the future will pan out for China and Tibet, and their standings on the international level (Thurman 2008). Conclusion Thurman (2008) states that the Dalai Lama is an important part of Tibet’s issue in that he is taken as the leaders of Tibet. Other countries in Asia would prefer a positive resolving on the Tibet issue to guarantee stability in Asia. Of particular importance is what will happen between India and China. Both countries are growing in power and conflict between the countries could have dire consequences on peace in Asia. It is therefore imperative for China and the Dalai Lama to reach an agreement on the Tibet issue. References Alling, G., (1997) Economic liberalization and separatist nationalism: the cases of  Sri- Lanka and Tibet. Journal of International Affairs, 51(1), 117-145. Avedon, J. (1997) In exile from the land of snows: the definitive account of the Dalai  Lama and Tibet since the Chinese conquest. New Yo rk: Harper perennial. China Tibet Information Center (CTIC). (2010) International relations vs. Tibetan issue. Web. Dalai, L., (1991) Freedom in exile: The autobiography of the Dalai Lama. New York, NY: Harper One. Dalai, L., (1997). My Land My people: the original autobiography of his holiness the  Dalai lama of Tibet. New York: Grand central Publishing. Dalai, L., (2001) Ethics for the new millennium. New York, NY: Riverhead books.  Dambaugh, K., (2001) Tibet, China and the 107 Congress: issues for US policy.  Congress Research Service Report for Congress. RL 30983. Fairclough, G., (2009) Dalai Lama is harshly critical of China’s rule on Tibet. (Online) Global Security. (2000-10) Tibet. Web. Human Rights Watch., (2001) China and Tibet: the role of the international community.  Web. Laird, T. (2006) The story of Tibet: conversations with the Dalai Lama. New York: Grove press. Lodi, G., (2010) The way forward on Tibet. Web. Richardson, H., (1984) Tibet and its histo ry. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Shambhala. Sautman, B., (2010) Tibet’s putative statehood and international law. Chinese Journal  of International Law. 9 (1), pp. 127-142. Smith, W., (2008) China’s Tibet?: autonomy or assimilation. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Srilankadotcom. (1978) Tibet. The Tibet Journal. 3 (4), pp. 13-16. Thurman, A. E., (2008) Why the Dalai Lama matters: his act of truth as the solution for  China, Tibet and the world. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. This research paper on Dalai Lama and International Relations was written and submitted by user PrinceofOrphans to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Trophic Cascade - Question Sheet - Ecology Example

Trophic Cascade Trophic Cascade Food Chains: Trophic Cascade Questions Answered School Food Chains: Trophic Cascade Questions Answered Trophic cascade is a profound concept relating to ecology. It begins at the top of the food chain and goes all the way to the bottom. An example is when wolves were introduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995 because wolves often kill other species in order to eat them and those species have eaten other species that are smaller than them. It is all in regards to the food chain and the roles of predator and prey. However, they also give life to many others. The number of deer increasing before 1995 occurred in Yellowstone National Park because wolves had been out of that habitat for over 70 years. The deer had continued to reproduce and there were not enough other species above them on the food chain. Because of this, the population of the deer increased and they had eaten much of the vegetation. The wolves killed some of the deer but then also changed the behavior of the deer an d the places that had lost vegetation started to revive because the wolves had changed them out of that area. The bears also began to kill the baby deer. The wolves changed the course of the river because there was less erosion. More pools formed. The regenerated forest helped to stabilize the banks of the rivers so that there was less erosion and did not collapse. Because of this, the flow of the river was much more on its steady course. The following is a food web of Yellowstone National Park. It includes the roles of each species after the wolves were released back into the park after 70 years. In order to stabilize the ecosystem in the UAE, wild hyenas were reintroduced. The rare animal was endangered and one female was found on Sir Bani Yas Island. Seeing the female had a young litter, it was obvious that there was a male too though it was not found. The young were raised in captivity. They were then relocated back to the island in 2008 in order to control the population of an telopes and gazelles because the other top predator on the island was the cheetah. Hyenas feed on the carcasses too so if there happened to be an antelope or gazelle that had fallen sick, the hyenas would be able to prey on these animals and continue to keep the population healthy by eliminating the sick animals from the island.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Home work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Home work - Essay Example However, my dad would never miss all the big matches including the World Cup semi-finals and the finals. By then, I thought the other preliminary matchers were not generally worth much because I did not hear many people talk about them. One of my most treasured moments is when my dad bought us a ticket to go for a live match in our city. The tickets were quite rare as the date for the match neared as the fans had already taken a lot of room in the stadium. I focused on every movement in the field and liked the gusto the fans had on our national team. I had a keen interest in football from around the age of four. After about a year, I was struggling to get to bed or do my homework when a football match program was running. I actually tore players’ pictures once I saw them in the post. I would flip the newspaper looking at players’ photos, cut them off and put them all over the walls in my bedroom. I got huge piles of homework and my dad restricted me from watching football matches. To keep on my dream of watching football programs for most match played, I bought my own TV when I was 12 and started wanting to know players from different clubs. In my teenage, I started going to spur games at weekends together with my peers. Ever since then, I mark out all football season and all programs in my memory. At first, I had two clubs whose players interested me most; Tottenham and Inter Milan. I had quite a number of friends who were zealous fans for the clubs. The seasonal results lack of continuous appearance or report over the radio and the newspaper for these teams led most of my friends to opt to support other clubs that participate in the match to the end. Though I have lost most of my friends to Chelsea and Manchester United, I am determined that nothing would happen to me any sooner to change my support for Milan. Looking at the kinds of football fans and their experiences, it is convincing that football should retain a relatively small fan

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Impact of the Turkish Language on the Turkey Culture Essay

Impact of the Turkish Language on the Turkey Culture - Essay Example The emergence and use of English in Turkey has also been discussed. English use has facilitated globalization and placed Turkey in the international scene. Christianity has also begun to spread with the increased use of English. The importance and influence of both languages has been extensively discussed. Introduction This report seeks to establish information on the impacts of language, cultures, and communication on a community. The report will analyze if language choice is a real choice in multilingual contexts, and more so considering issues like linguistic imperialism and language policy. In this report, the focus will be on Turkish language, and if English has been effective in Turkey. In the following part of the report, two sociolinguistic or intercultural issues will be reviewed in the context of the choice of language in this community, and how significant they are in their choice of language. These are language planning and language attitudes. There are several issues tha t influence a community or social network, and they include multilingualism, language planning, language shift, politeness, dialect variation, language attitudes, language, and gender. In its definition, a language is any set of defined regulations that can be used to put into words ideas, thought, or instructions. This has brought about variance in different languages. For instance Turkish language has basic features, which make it different from the Indo-European are the vowel harmony, the absence of gender, agglutination, adjectives preceding nouns, and verbs appear at the end of the sentence ( Turkish Cultural Foundation, 2011). Since most of the world’s inhabitants can converse in only one language, a reasonable minority can exchange a few words in two or more languages. For instance, out of the world’s 750 million speakers who speak English, only a small percentage of them use it as their native or first language. The other significant part of the English speaker s uses it as a second or third language. Perfect examples of speakers who use English as their other language are people from Turkey who majorly speak the Turkish language as their first language. In situations where two or more speakers of languages gather at a place, a resolution has to be made about which language will be of use in expressing their ideas and thoughts. This is the choice of language (Turkish Cultural Foundation, 2011). Linguistic imperialism is the obligation of one language on speakers of other languages (Turkish Cultural Foundation, 2011). Currently, the worldwide expansion of English language has often been seen as the principal case of linguistic imperialism. Through the use of language policy the government attempts to put off or support the use of a language in its country or state. In this aspect, we consider both the written and spoken contexts of a language. This can be by the use of legislation, policies, or court decisions to decide on how the use of la nguages and encourages language skills necessary to establish the use of the language. Examples of language policies include policies of assimilation, policies of non-intervention, policies of differentiated legal status, policies of promotion of the official language and many other policies. Turkish is a Turkic language with about 70 million users in Turkey and other countries including Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Canada, Georgia, Denmark and others. In the past times, the writing of

Monday, November 18, 2019

Adult learning and development perspectives from educational Essay

Adult learning and development perspectives from educational psychology - Essay Example Educational psychologists have discovered individual differences that start from the learning and development of children from schooling and end at their adolescence. Researchers have not only studied various behaviours of children but also analyzed and evaluated them by measuring their attitudes, testing their capabilities Educational psychologists believe that although adult learning and development are lifelong processes, but it is also unskeptical that the initial education and learning styles are those factors that depends entirely upon the values and morals which a child learn from its schooling environment.Adult educational psychology is concerned with the scientific methodology of learning styles of activities and developmental processes, which further results in the instructional practices and follow ups that promote learning and development not only restricted to educational aspects but also in other fields of adult growth throughout their development of adulthood. In this sense adult educational psychology has proved to be very beneficial and helpful, as it requires the use of latest technical methodologies, which helps the parents as well as teachers to understand about various complexities of adults' lives, which often the adults' tend to hide. Furthermore, adult educational psychology requires a more interdisciplinary approach that is not limited to the boundaries of traditional child-centered educational psychology as adults learn and develop from and within across multiple, interacting circumstances. Adults continue to learn throughout their lives irrespective of being in any environment, whatsoever be the circumstances and background. Theoretical Perspectives Technology has transformed everything in this new era towards perfection and betterment of life style. All these changes are reflected in the attitude of today's generation, but how Adult learning is subjected towards change as they adopt and they must adopt new changes easily and conveniently. So, adults are subjected to learning or development The main bone of contention here lies in the distinction between the issues of "learning" and "development". Learning and development can be molded in the form of "developing" and "non developing" processes. Theoretical vs. Methodological Perspective Developing learning can be referred to as the learning style followed by clear and achievable dimensions with such findings that support the formality of collaborative adult learning. Theoretical perspective awakes the need to follow traditional theories of learning and development without any modification to the conventional methods whereas methodological learning identifies the complexities of developmental learning leading to conventional methods which not only focus on individuals, whereas authentic learning

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Strategies HMR teams can adopt effective cross cultural training

Strategies HMR teams can adopt effective cross cultural training A Critical Evaluation of the strategies human resource management teams can adopt for effective cross-cultural training? A case study on Infosys Technologies. Literature Review Human resource management is the most valuable asset of an organization (Kleynhans 2006). Employees are vital for the effective functioning of an organization. Due to this factor the human resource management which was given a second class status before is now the most important function of an organization (Griffin 2007). Before two to three decades HRM was mainly meant to conduct company picnics, retirement parties, scheduling vacations etc. This has changed to a very large extend and today this is the critical function that could contribute in enhancing employee productivity (Decenzo 2009). Human resource management has undergone an intense makeover moving from defensive to proactive approach (Deb, 2006). Globalization is triggering this change and organizations have to come up with strategies to manage this. New systems of management are being designed by Human Resource Management in order to ensure effective utilization of human talent. HRM must be seen under a global perspective and placed in a wider business context in order to meet the upcoming needs (Price 2007). Out of the four main functions of HRM, i.e., recruiting, selecting, training and managing the human capital of a company, management is the most important and challenging function for the department. However managing the employees in an organization is not simply governing the payroll processes, providing training as well as preventing legal cases. A totally different outlook for the human resource management is necessary to keep up the status as a major factor for organizational success. Productive and i nnovative people who are able to work in flexible environment are therefore vital for an organization (Mathis Jackson, 2008). For a management to function efficiently in a company, they are not only meant to perform the economic and technical operations but also should be able to deal with the different cultural environments the company is functioning. Thus the management of the company should be able to cope up with multicultural conditions. Culture is the most decisive factor in the successful conduct of international business and international HRM (Briscoe Schuler 2004). Every country is different to another in many perspectives. It could be history, values, beliefs, language or even laws that provide a unique identity to a country. But all this can be called under a single name- culture. According to Magala (2005), Culture can be viewed as practical, useful software which helps generate blueprints for individual and collective action and which patterns our interactions. As business environment is expanding so are the companies. Many organizations have extended their business operations to more than one country. Globalization has demanded the employees to work on international assignments (Early Gibson 2002). The human resource management faces some fundamental challenges in the international business context (Denisi Griffin, 2005). They can be both general and specific. A large amount of research has been conducted by eminent scientists in the field of cross cultural training (Primecz, Romani, Sackmann, 2009). There are various web based forums that aids in the interaction between various researchers and other groups. These groups of people are mainly involved in the purpose of spreading the different views on carrying out businesses in other countries or other parts of the world and help them operate well international markets. After the colonial era there was heavy opposition from different areas regarding consideration of Western norm as normality. (Kwek, 2003; Fougà ¨re Moulettes,2006), and also the imbalance in power among the west and the other countries due to management discourses (Westwood,2006; Jack et al., 2008; Westwood Jack, 2009). CROSS-CULTURAL ISSUES FACED BY MULTINATIONALS The HRM policies and practices of multi-nationals will be having a major impact on their employee morale and future career prospects. This is mainly because a large portion of their employees come from outside the home country. Due to this reason, the employees from the host country and the expatriates have varied job expectations (Tayeb 2005). Thus it is the duty of the management to devise the policies in such a way that both the parties are satisfied (Dowling et.al 2008). Hence its not exaggerating to say that the global success of almost every company depends upon the policies and procedures implemented by its HR department (Vance Paik 2006). Expatriate management is a major issue of most multi-nationals. Hence this topic gains considerable importance in International Human Resource Management (Sparrow et.al 2004). Expatriates are the most expensive employees of an organization and its very difficult to measure their performance. Due to this fact, there is direct impact of these issues on the view point of organization on expatriates and also can be considered as a challenge for international mobility. Thus expatriate management has its own pros and cons (Shenkar Luo 2008). The primary task ahead of most expatriate researches is to find a fit between environmental demands and the characteristics of expatriate employees during an overseas assignment (Sparrow 2007). Due to increased decentralization and downsizing over past few years, most MNCs have lost their proficiency over expatriate management. This may be also due to increasing number of expatriates (Scullion Starkey 2000). This situation demands new approaches that would: Connect expatriate management with the much wider international human resource strategy. View at the strategic position of mobility at the MNCs and the consequences for employees of this mobility. Corporate governance is highly affected by the challenges of cultural disparities (Shonhiwa 2008). Cross-cultural challenges are the most important issue organizations have to tackle while expanding their business across borders. Multi-national companies of this age are into cut-throat competition with their rivals on the competencies and talents of their human capital. The employees of these organizations thus have to work across their national borders on many cross-national job assignments. Such international assignments can be quite challenging for these individuals as they are outside their comfort zones. They may also be having language issues or would be finding it difficult to adapt to culture of host country (Stahl Bjorkman 2006). The two specific HR functions that promote cross-cultural effectiveness among expatriates are selection and training and development. Cross cultural management emerged after the second world-war when the multinational companies started to be interested in effective management of their workforce in other countries (Behrens 2009). Mead in 2005 defined Cross-cultural management as Development and application of knowledge about cultures in the practice of international management, when the people involved have different cultural identities. These may or may not belong to the same business unit. Therefore it explains the organizational behavior across and within nations and cultures (Adler Gundersen 2008). For working as an expatriate, an individual must possess some skills that would influence his work performance over there. A skill is defined as The ability to demonstrate a sequence of behavior that is functionally related to attaining a performance goal (Torrington, 1994). The cross-cultural management skills would equip an individual to cope up with cultural challenges that could be faced when working on an intern ational assignment. There are a number of cultural dimensions that affects a companys international operations (Armstrong 2006). The most popular model were proposed by Hofstede and Trompenaar (Luger 2009). Hofstedes dimensions include: Equality versus inequality Certainty versus uncertainty Controllability versus uncontrollability Individualism versus collectivism Materialistic versus personalization The following are Trompenaars dimensions (Binder 2007): Universalism versus Particluarism Individualism versus Communitarianism Achievement versus Ascription Neutral versus Affective Specific versus Diffuse The cultural differences are also reflected in each and every function of HR (Harris et.al 2003). The following instance is a good example for it: A performance management system based on openness between manager and subordinate each explaining plainly how they feel the other has done well or badly in a job, may work in some European countries, but is unlikely to fit with the greater hierarchical assumptions and loss of face fears of some Pacific countries. The above example shows how the performance management function is being affected by the cultural differences. The various theorists (Hall,1989 Hofstede, 1986) of culture feel that there exist ethnocentricity among people of all cultures in different degrees. Thus people have a meaning and understanding of their own culture as well as a judgment about other cultures. And majority of people consider their culture and beliefs superior to others (Daft Marcic 2008). Cross cultural training in cases help people to think in the right way about the different cultures. The culturally heterogeneous group performs almost the similar way to culturally homogenous group. But in case of a heterogeneous group there will certain communication issues and barriers that need to be solved in order to bring in more cooperation. Studies have revealed certain ways by which the heterogeneous teams can be made more efficient, they include coordinating mechanisms that bring people together, certain period of scheduling, making a rule that participation in team is compulsory and also developing an identity for the team (Gelfand, Erez and Aycan 2007). There are various situations where in the employees when relocated can result loss of valuable employees (Collins and Kirsch 1999). For the purpose of relocating employees the company should make sure that they are given enough cross cultural training. The training given may not only include cross cultural but also the training regarding change in technology. An ineffective training could result in employee turnover (Cassidy, Kreitner Kreitner 2009). Most of the time there is rate of attrition when there is transfer of employees to a different region. This kind of an employee turnover ratio will be harmful for the company as a whole (Allen and Alvarez 1998). In financial terms this kind of loss of employees is also very disturbing and heavy loss for the company (Mendenhall 1991). In order to retain employees in proper way there needs to be a god HR strategy which will help reduce attrition (Agarwal and Ferratt 2001). Thus to attain cross-cultural effectiveness more focus must be giv en to job training, employees must be properly educated as well as the organization must give emphasis to development (Moran et.al 2007). Problems The existence of power relations in management is reduced to certain extend by way of cross-cultural management. In case of a cross -cultural management, cross culture training is provided based on the employees cultural background. The training program and materials used in it must be devised according to the socio-cultural knowledge and background of employees (Chrisler McCreary 2009). In many companies there is a common situation where the employee gender is overshadowed and things are taken for granted. There is situation in companies where the women employees are not considered. An example that can be sighted in this respect is: when a women employee is sent to an Arab country the cultural environment that they face. Women are also alleged of not having any international career options and aspiration thus there is always a gender based challenge that exists in companies (Caligiuri Cascio, 1998). The organizations need to think comprehensively before going to explore international opportunities (Mcfarlin Sweeney, 2008). Management should perform an analytical study on these opportunities weighing the internal strengths and weaknesses. The human factor should also be considered during this. Ignoring the people-related complexities and complications could cause irreparable issues in the future. WAYS OF MANAGING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AT COMPANIES OPERATING IN MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Management has an important and inevitable function of solving various issues and problems related to cultures and also the individual company. One of the partner companies will take up the responsibility providing the right kind of skills and cultural training; they also influence the present organizational culture. While a company tries to bring a difference and make the environment favorable the companies can try to bring all their activities together (Novà ½ et al., 1996). Cultural dominance Taking the case of cultural dominance, the prime objective is to build a single common culture within the business functions that could be daughter companies or divisions. The term global organization culture becomes important at this juncture where stress is given to enforcement of universal values, norms etc. within the organization. Sister concerns are considered as an inevitable part of the mother companys culture. This is especially true when the organization has to integrate the activities of itself and the daughter company and gain advantages out of it. This approach would be easier if the daughter company is recently built. Otherwise this could be problematic. Plurality of cultures Polycentric culture means having a number of cultures. Plurality of cultures would result in cultural compromise. The basis for this is building a separate culture for every daughter concern. This can result from the traditions of local surroundings and must give due respect to universal goals and approaches to the minimum. The main reason behind adopting a polycentric culture is because the organization has to operate in more than one locations. Synergic model This is also referred to as geocentric culture. It means involving the particular features of individual cultures to create a common culture that represents the integration of all regional centers of an international firm. A company is incorporated from inside even when there is a difference in national culture. Hence it is very critical to select employees who could meet the demands of a work outside their comfort zone in a totally different environment. Such employees will be having the intercultural competence and would prove more productive in a foreign land. In case the employees have little interest in the merge of cultures of companies that are cooperating and followed a simple execution of values, behavior, misinterpretation, conflict and even decline in business. Even if the cooperating companies come together with the aim of gaining strategic advantage, there would be misunderstandings. The major reasons behind this are culture shock, resistance to change etc. (Larsson, Ris berg, 1998, Gancel, Rodgers, Raynaud,2002, Novà ½ et al., 2001). In case the differences in culture are not handled properly, then it would result in misunderstandings, disillusion, conflicts, reduction in employee morale and productivity etc. Hence the customer is given less regard in such a situation and this naturally will have an impact on business efficiency. Culture in which an individual is born and brought has a major impact on his values, beliefs, norms and behavioral patterns. National culture is common for every citizen and hence the organizational culture should be forming a judicious blend between the individuals personal and national culture. Then only would there be emotional wellness amongst the employees. Even then the organization must maintain a unique identity and culture for itself based upon its history and tradition. It is the duty of the employees to identify this culture and make efforts to protect. The results of mergers and acquisitions can be devastating if the cultural differences are not given due regard. Gancel, Rodgers and Raynaud (2002) described the following categories of causes on the basis of their experience in advisory practice: 1. Insufficient awareness of existence of differences this involve managers who are ignorant of the existence of the dimensions in culture with regard to management. 2. Insufficient understanding here the managers will be having some knowledge about the culture but their lack in depth awareness of its impact and ways to tackle it. 3. Insufficient willingness in this case, the manager knows about culture and its impact but purposefully decided not to take any action on it. This may be due to the below given reasons: Management of the cultural dimensions is not of high priority for them in that situation. They may be aware of cultural impact but feel its not that urgent to handle it. due to this reason, they concentrate in dealing the economic and technical issues and also get less time in handling cultural differences. they have the fear of unknown. This means they feel that handling the financial issues is more safe and easy since they only have to deal with n numbers. And this is a lot better than dealing with people and their emotions which may result in anxiety, discomfort and uncertainty. they consider cultural integration as less attractive when compared to solving financial problems. The main reason behind this is that its difficult to measure cultural integration and hence they cannot show others how much they have succeeded. While solving the financial or technical issues helps them to display their talents in front of superiors and colleagues and helps them to gain rewards. 4. Insufficient level of abilities and skills the manager might be aware of the importance of culture and may be even trying to do something about it. But they fail in this initiative due to lack of sufficient skills and knowledge. CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR EXPATRIATES Expatriation involves the transfer of parent country nationals, host country nationals and third country nationals- and often their families- for work purpose between two country locations, and for a period of time that requires change of address and some degree of semi-permanent adjustment to local conditions.(Hartl 2003). There are some specific reasons why companies send employees abroad (Golz 2007).The four main motives behind it are: Compensation Motive, Development and Career Motive, Control and Leading Motive, Know-how transfer. Krippl et.al (1993) has given a elaborate description about these motives. Employers have lot of problem dealing with their employees, when they are sent abroad for work. Cross cultural training is said to be helpful in case of managers and other employees who are sent abroad for work (Stahl Caliguiri, 2005). Most of the time employees return from the place they went because they must have encountered problems due to the cultural differences. Culture shock is an important issue that happens in most employees sent to another country for any assignment. Most of the time the employee will be home sick, they show poor performance in their work etc. Most companies provide language training course for the employees who are sent abroad. Many organizations also provide other forms of cross cultural training to help the person interact well with the people in other countries. Such interactions are important for any business thus its expatriates must be able to deal with other people of different cultures (Bhawuk Brisline, (2000), Lievens, Harris, Van Keer Bisquer et, (2003). Cross cultural training is given to people so that they come to know more about the different styles of communication and also the value systems in the particular country. The training usually deals with making the employee learn the culture and value in writing as well as by way of speaking and interaction. Cross culture misunderstandings are reduced by way of this training were the right kind of interaction is provided. The training session includes training with the help of video, orientation program and also other training sessions. Computer aided cross cultural training is also done which trains the employees by giving them the scenarios and challenges; it is also called cross cultural critical incidents. A cross cultural training involves emphasizing of the communication, cultural awareness, cultural skills etc. Littrell, Salas, Hess, Paley and Riedel (2006) studied the effectiveness of cross cultural training. Their results revealed that the cross cultural training is highly effective in making the employees outside work efficiently even in a different culture. According to Hofstede (2001), the cross-cultural skills that are needed for being effective as an expatriate are: The capability to converse with respect The ability to be tolerant The capability to recognize relativity of ones awareness and insight The capacity to exhibit empathy and compassion The ability to be flexible Forbearance for uncertainty Cross-cultural training was defined in 2000 by Zakaria as Any intervention aimed at increasing an individuals capability to cope with and work in foreign environment. Due to this reason, cross cultural training can involve any method like lectures, simulation etc. that could help an individual to get familiarized with a new surroundings. The training methods employed in such training are also defined as Formal methods to prepare people for more effective interpersonal relations and job success when they interact extensively with individuals from cultures other than their own (Brislin and Yoshida, 1994). Before starting the training, the organization must try to prepare the employee for working in multi-cultural environments. The preparation and selection of workforce for overseas assignments depends upon the level of collaboration between the cooperating companies which the workers represent. When there is a looser cooperation, like in business contracts, the preparation would be made at the individual level. But in closer cooperation, just as in merger and acquisitions, the company controls the foreign activities directly and the workforce selection and preparation is done at an intensive manner. Processes of overcoming cultural differences Each and every worker who works in a foreign environment regardless of the time period should be aware of certain basic set of rules that would help their job in the new environment easier. In order to overcome cultural differences its necessary to know ones own culture completely including its complexities. A major drawback in this is the fact that within an individuals culture there exist an approach to interpret other cultures and hence doesnt cause huge problems. Also in spite of globalization, the profundity of culture, behavior and standards affects perception and assessment of obtained knowledge. The beginning of handling intercultural standards is recognizing the strength of own culture and identifying the cultural background of partner. According to Schroll-Machl, Novy et al. (2001), there exists an uncomplicated process for thriving cooperation in a multicultural environment which consists of three steps: 1. Good knowledge of foreign culture- the first step involves conceding and accepting that there exist cultural differences. This involves disparities related to perceptions, values, norms etc. that are created due to different social situations. These differences need to be identified, described and understood in detail. Recognizing the partners culture is the first condition for mutual consideration and proper coordination. 2. Respect of a foreign culture- this mainly means to acknowledge and accept the cultural differences without any prejudice. One cannot claim his culture to be perfect and better than other cultures. Every culture is different to one another in its own way and is the best possible manner for an individual member to manage his life in a situation where he had lived from his birth. 3. Helpful steps in the relationship to a foreign culture- the final step in this process is to find a single solution, mutual consideration and simplifying the sophisticated and challenging way of conducting oneself in a strange environment. These three steps dont intend to throw away ones own cultural background but recommends them to utilize their knowledge about own culture to obtain knowledge about partners culture. Also its always easy to give up something that isnt important to us but it may be very much crucial for the other culture. The most important part is being aware of the partners culture in detail. Also one must have good understanding and respect for partners culture in order to have successful collaboration globally. The employees who are selected for overseas assignments must be introduced to this process and its simple steps so that they could avoid the possible issues regarding culture in their work environment. These suggestions could be helpful for members working in foreign as well local cultural conditions. The process of assimilation with a foreign culture is not taught to every expatriate. This process is needed only for those employees who need to work in a foreign land on a long-term basis. Weber and co. (1998) explained that this process is very much alike for most workers operating in multicultural environments and it can be expressed by four phases: 1. Observation phase 2. Collision phase. 3. Consolidation phase 4. Departure phase METHODS OF CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING The methods of training must be individual specific i.e it must be according to the socio-cultural knowledge and requirements of employees. It may also vary according to the profession. For example, most researchers prefer dedicated training workshops and person-to-person training (Gobaldon 2005). The various cross-cultural method as explained by Bhawuk and Brislin (2000) are: Cultural assimilator: this technique incorporates a number of real life situations that needs cross-cultural interactions. These situations that could be regarded as critical incidents would help to solve many issues that could have possibly happened between the host and expatriate workers. This way both the parties would have a pre-determined idea about the consequences of a possible issue that could have come up during their work. Contrast American method: this method involves display of certain behaviors and mannerisms that are against the current context of culture. The method got its name from Stewart who used it for training Americans going abroad. Self reference criterion (SRC): there could be situations where an individual unconsciously refers about his culture while communicating with a person of another culture. Lee (1966), developed a method which consists of 4 procedures that would help to overcome this self-reference situation. The first step comprises of defining any issue in terms of expatriates culture followed by that of host culture. In the third stage, the preconception created by SRC is evaluated and withdrawn followed by finding out the solution to the now simplified problem. Area simulation: simulation means creating a replica of the natural surroundings and making the expatriate interact with the people from different cultures. This can be made possible with the help of actors who perform according to a pre-defined script. Cultural self awareness model: this model makes use of video tapes and role plays. This way the trainee is made aware of how his culture is different from other cultures and thus would be able to communicate better in real life situations. The trainee could also gain knowledge regarding the other cultures and would accept the differences. Caliguri et al in 2001 referred the study by Brislin et al. (1983) and outlined the most common cross-cultural training methods during early 90s: Fact-oriented training Attribution training, which is associated with culture assimilator so that trainees could adjust to the host culture in a better way. Cultural awareness training involves studying on trainees home culture and its impact of his behavior so that he could learn the nature of cultural differences. Cognitive-behavior modification that would help the trainees to obtain rewards and avoid punishments in the new cultural environment. Experiential training which involve active learning by the trainee about the host culture. Interaction learning that enables the trainees to be more comfortable with the host nationals and study in detail about life in that country. Language training tools helps to demonstrate an attitude that attempts to learn about the host culture which enables a person to be well-mannered in a different environment. It also permits understanding within the trainee. Littrell, Lisa N et al (2006) and Waxin et al. (2005) also described these methods. Littrell et al. also identified six approaches for conducting cross-cultural training programs. These approaches are as follows: Attribution Training: The objective of this training approach is to enable the expatriate to interpret the behavior of a host culture national from their own point of view. Culture Awareness Training: The usage of T-groups (cultural sensitivity training) is the major feature of this approach. T-groups are used to steer the investigation of expatriates culture. This requires exploring into the cultural biases and values and is on the basis of the fact that having a deep knowledge of expats culture would help in better understanding of intercultural interactions. Interaction Training: the trainee learns from an experienced expatriate who already is working in an overseas assignment. This on-the -job training is more beneficial since the expatriate could understand the mindset of the trainee better. Language Training: understanding the language is a very important factor while adjusting with a different cultural environment. It is always advantageous to be fluent in the local language but at least making some effort to speak even a few sentences would generate high opinion among the host nationals. Didactic Training- this method helps the expatriate to set up a lifestyle in the new environment by providing practical knowledge in living conditions, job and other requirements, as well as on the host culture and how much its different from the expat culture. Littrell et al. also says that it provides a framework for evaluating new situations that will be encountered [and]à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ enhances the cognitive skills that enable the expatriate to understand the host culture. This approach is performed using lectures, written works, cultural assimilators etc. Cultural assimilators would involve the usage of various incidents that require cross-cultural interactions. This way the trainee will be having less adjustment problems while working at the new environment. Experiential Training- This approach aims at improving the communication skills in an intercultural environment. The techniques used for this purpose are simulations, role plays etc that makes the trainee feel and go through the situations that can happen in the new environment. As the name suggests, it involves learning by doing. According to Wax

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Changing Perspectives in A Separate Peace :: essays research papers

A Separate Peace Essay Although we have our own point of view on everything, they sometimes can change. This was no different to Gene and Finny, the main characters in 'A Separate Peace'. Their view on the war changed as time progressed. They went from playful to oblivious, then finally to acknowledgment. In the beginning of the novel, Gene and Finny jump from the tree into the river. Before Finny jumps he shouts, â€Å"Here’s my contribution to the war effort.† By this statement he means that by jumping out of the tree, they are training for the war. When they head back to Devon, the private school they’re attending, after jumping from the tree, Gene tackles Finny and they start to wrestle. Though this made them intentionally late for class, they managed to get out of it. This is mostly because they reminded them of peace, something very rare at the time. To them, the beginning of the war was fun and simply playful. After Finny falls out of the tree and breaks his leg, he starts saying that there is no war. Gene begins to agree with him. Later Gene finds out that Finny says this because now he can’t enlist do to his leg. Finny then starts to train Gene for the 1944 Olympics since he can no longer go. Realizing there won’t be a 1944 Olympics, They create their own. This whole time they were oblivious to the war, believing that it was false and that big old guys were making all this stuff up. If something happened in the war they would say that it was them, they’re just playing tricks. They had an imaginative idea for every war related event they heard about. It is only after Leper ‘returns’ from the war that they finally acknowledge it. They then realize that only a true war can change someone like the way Leper changed. When he left he was just like a normal kid, a little strange, but still just a kid. When he returned, however, he was practically insane.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Five Forces Framework Essay

Porter’s Five Forces Model is a model that analyzes an industry to help develop a business strategy. The model uses five forces that have been identified to categorize an industry as intensely competitive or not competitive at all and this will then determine the attractiveness of the market.There are many features of an industry in which a company competes that determines the level of competition it will face and the profits it will get. The most famous classification was done by Michael Porter, known as Porters Five Forces framework which can help a company determine its potential profits by looking at five sources of competitive pressure. The five sources of competition are: 1. Threat of new entrant 2. Threat of substitutes 3. Rivalry among existing competitors 4. Bargaining power of suppliers 5. Bargaining power of buyers. Porter’s Five Forces In particular, we will focus on three different industries; We will start analyzing the five forces in the smartphone industry and then we will continue dealing with the personal computer industry and finally we will present digital music portable industry. SMARTPHONE Industry: In general the smartphone market is rapidly changing, with constant product introductions. It is characterized by quickly evolving technology and designs, short product life cycles, aggressive pricing, rapid imitation of product and technological advancements, and highly price sensitive consumers. Self-elasticity and cross-elasticity are high. No one firm in the market has sufficient market share to control prices, resulting is strong rivalry and competitive pricing. 1. Threat of new entrant: The barriers to entry are high due to the existence of patents, high fixed costs and economies of scale, regulation, and brand loyalty. The individual market participants engage in attempts at product differentiation, some being more  successful than others. The standout is Apple, which has successfully differentiated its iPhone, and stands a good chance of maintaining that differentiation due to its closed and all-inclusive model or development and use.Barriers to entry in the smartphone market are relatively high, but the rapid growth of the market is providing opportunities despite this. There are significant fixed costs associated with smartphone manufacturing. While most firms have the hardware of the phones manufactured overseas by foreign companies, the costs of developing the research and engineering personnel to design and test the smartphone and software can be prohibitively expensive for an entering firm. These fixed costs include not just the cost of the manpower, intellectual knowhow, intellectual property, computers, test equipment, prototyping devices and supplier and manufacturer contracts, but also the time necessary to develop all of these. Because the industry moves so quickly, an entering firm would either have to enter with existing resources targeting the smartphone market, or it would have to have another significant competitive. Moreover consumer will face an high switching costs if they decide to change their products, as a result of the fidelity every brand put on its product. Because all these reasons smartphone industry is extremely difficult to enter. As a result the threat of new competition is low. Smartphone production needs huge number of money and high technology. Even if established the company, it is impossible for new brand to compete with big company like Apple and Samsung. 2. Threat of substitutes : As a result of the high barrier to entry, to build and launch a substitute product is a hard work. Thus Threat of substitute is low. It’s extremely difficult to enter Smartphone production; because this industry base on high technology. As a result, it’s very hard to invent the substitute to replace smartphone with low price and more power function. 3. Rivalry among existing competitors:With rapid innovation necessary for a rapidly changing market, where customers are very price conscious, rivalry among firms in the smartphone market is fierce. Firms in the smartphone market actively work to adopt the successful ideas and technology of their competitors. This has been the trend with large touch screens, touch friendly operating systems, embedded cameras, and availability of an easy to  use app store, among other things. As consumers are more and more driven to purchase by the features that are available on the smartphone, there is a constant rivalry among firms to match each other on features. There is also an effort to stifle each other’s efforts to develop those technologies through obtaining of patents and filing lawsuits seeking injunctions and trade restrictions. No particular firm in the market has a significant amount of market power; every firm is vying for a greater piece of the pie. This has resulted in drivin g down of smartphone prices and relative price parity for flagship smartphones from each major firm. Firms are heavily involved in price discrimination, pricing their phones differently based on the sale outlet. Smartphones sold through retailers are frequently cheaper than those sold through network service providers. The one exception to this is Apple. Apple maintains price equivalency no matter the outlet, and the prices it charges for its smartphones is in many cases much higher than its competitors. Because Apple has been able to do this, its smartphone sales are reportedly highly profitable, while smartphone sales for Motorola have not been profitable at all. Rivalry also comes from outside the manufacturers’ market as other firms try to cash in on the smartphone profits. Google open sourced the Android OS so that it could find revenue from sales of apps and ads through the smartphones that run the OS. This cuts directly into Apple’s effort to become the dominant player in the smartphone manufacturer market, changing the nature of the market significantly. Such changes are likely to continue as other firms attempt to enter the market. Therefore, threat of substitute might have two factors (price and performance) which allows customer to switch the product as well as willingness of buyers to switch. Threat of substitute can be reduced as much as buyers become loyal to the products. To give an example, Apple has been able to create an â€Å"ecosystem†. People buy iPhone for standard, apps and other Apple’s product for upgradeability and stability which gives customer the ability to transfer knowledge and apps among devices 4. Bargaining power of suppliers: Bargaining is very high; Smartphones’ producers have to deal with two different categories of supplier: the hardware producers and the software. Because smartphone production market is not easy to enter , also supplier are limited. If the smartphone company  changes their supplier of components or CPU, the performance of smartphone will change a lot. So the company have to stay under their suppliers’ rule and they have to accept their price, that will be reflected in the price of the final product inevitably. The smartphone company are not willing and will be not willing to take the risk to change their suppliers, in order to maintain the quality of their products. 5. Bargaining power of buyers: customers are not concentrating on price; when they decide to buy a new smartphone they will take into consideration the design and the prestige the product will give them. Sometimes they choose basing on the advertising they receive. So they do not have a strong influence on this industry. Firms get the power to influence their customer and their ability is to make them trust in their own brand, providing for some value added. Take iPhone for example, the function of iPhone is just as good as some that other smartphone could have; However, the price of iPhone is one of the highest in the entire variety of smartphone present in the market, just because the prestige of iPhone is very high. This example shows that the bargaining power of customer is quite low. PC INDUSTRY The computer hardware industry consists of companies that manufacture and assemble personal computers, computer hardware, and computer peripherals. This industry is highly competitive, which means that companies must continuously be innovative in order to sustain a competitive advantage. The major companies of this industry include Oracle, IBM, HP, Dell, Apple, and Toshiba. This analysis will focus on computer manufacturing since it is the largest component of the industry, containing 43.7% of the market’s total value. The computer industry has been rapidly growing and shows no signs of slowing despite the recent economic downturn. 1. Threat of New Entrants :PC market is dominated by some major competitors as Hp, Dell, Acer, Apple, and others who currently have nearly the entire market share; this will likely discourage any potential new companies from entering the market. So we can state that the personal computer industry is characterized by a very weak threat of new entrants. A huge problem that  has to be faced in order to entry this market is that the market requires significant investments to be made in research and development to continually develop innovative products as well as large fixed start-up costs for manufacturing and employees and customer service.Existing firms can benefit from their capabilities of manufacturing at lower prices because of the advantage of economies of scale, where the will have fewer per unit costs as a result of their large scale production. Companies trying to enter the market will initially have smaller production and will consequently have higher prices. In the personal computer industry there is currently much emphasis put on price because consumers have become more price sensitive as personal computers have become more or less a commodity. New entrants will not only have higher prices but they will likely have a less innovative product as well because they do not have equal funding for research and development as other established brands and they will also have to deal with the brand loyal customers that have trusted the existing players in the industry for years. By attempting to join the market without any market share it will also be important for a new entrant to focus its investments more heavily on advertising and marketing then existing brands. A new entrant to the personal computer market will likely not fare well and is almost guaranteed to always be a second mover as the larger companies will develop more innovative products more rapidly because of their many competitive advantages. 2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: It is possible to identify three different groups of suppliers in the personal computer industry including hardware suppliers, software suppliers and service suppliers. The first group is not able to exert a significant power. The core of their products are generally standardized and they compete by focusing on creating better, more advanced products at a better price and not through their attempts to differentiate them. As a result, firms within the industry are able to switch between this kind of suppliers relatively easily. It is really in the hands of the firm and which strategy they are committed to that will determine whether or not they will utilize a high or low end supplier. On the other hand, suppliers of hardware and software within the industry play a critical role in the pricing of products. With the quality of a computer being largely  determined by their microprocessors and application system installed within them. If a firm is following a high quality strategy then it can be expected that their prices will generally be higher to reflect the higher prices they are paying their suppliers.In terms of service suppliers, the service that can be offered within the personal PC industry include internet, tech support and repair services. These suppliers focus highly on operational performance and relational performance in order to increase customer satisfaction. They also offer a variety of customer loyalty programs in attempts to lock in and expand their customer base while trying to gain the competitive edge over competitors within the service industry of personal computers. While the PC industry changes regularly, it can be observed that only the central processing unit (CPU) is a key input. All other items are commodity in nature and so don’t command a bargaining power. Intel has a significant market power as it is a single major supplier of microprocessor and has an 80% of market share.Thus, Dell as computer manufacturer holds a power over the suppliers as opposed to the suppliers holding a power over the manufacturers. It is the suppliers that are in direct competition with each other. The suppliers are often forced to slash prices or merge with larger companies in order to survive. Hence, the bargaining power of suppliers is moderate. 3. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The personal computer industry is somewhat vulnerable against the bargaining power of buyers. Personal computer buyers are price-sensitive. Buyers are interested in quality and specifications thus making consumer loyalty low. Should one company not offer a product a product to suit the customer’s needs, they will find one that will. Buyer power is reduced slightly as computers are increasingly seen as a necessity due to the importance of online communication and information processing. Moreover, in the last recent years, some new technologies came on the market providing customers with the possibility to have more and more alternative options to the personal computer as smartphones, tablet computers, and other handheld devices like Ipods have most of the same capabilities as a personal computer. Because of the availability, sleekness, and trendiness of these alternatives, personal computers are becoming more and more obsolete. Personal computer must differentiate itself  in order to regain market share and compete with these newer alternative options. Large businesses, governments and schools which buy computers in large volumes have the power to bargain on price, quality and service. PC manufacturers can reduce a threat of buyer power by differentiating their product.DELL has introduced a new way of selling (direct model concept); buyers can directly buy computers with DELL without a so called middle man. By using this concept, computers cost per unit can be reduced. Furthermore, buyers are able to customize the PC based on their needs. The basis of this model, the direct model concept is to improve efficiency by effectively eliminating the intermediaries thereby allowing the company to speak directly to the customer. Dealing directly with customers allows Dell to customize their orders according to the customers’ needs. But, despite several ways in which manufacturers have differentiated their products and found ways to increase switching costs, customers still see units as very similar and thus choose primarily on price.To conclude we can consider a strong bargaining power of buyers. 4. Rivalry among Existing Firms: There is fierce competition between the top manufacturers in the personal computer industry. As the PC has increasingly become a commodity in a household, the fight to keep costs low while bringing the best product to the market has become a never ending battle. Thus competitors are trying to produce a low cost, powerful machine with the most efficient operating system. Firms specialize in different areas in order to compete amongst their rivals. Some focus on innovation and attempt to bring the newest technology to their customers first. Nevertheless, others may focus on their distribution channel and services throughout their firm. For example, DELL is focusing on distribution channel and high quality service while others such IBM and Apple focus more on innovation. All these create differentiation to some extent. Low-cost production at DELL contributes its positive growth rate, while other major manufacturers are experiencing negative growth rates. However, one of the fiercest areas is the price competition throughout the industry. It is to underline that the determinants of a pc’s quality are the microprocessor and application systems installed. As a result, there is a direct correlation between the firm’s profitability and the profitability of the firm’s suppliers.The major  manufacturers as DELL, IBM, HP, Acer and Apple are in competition to produce the least expensive and most efficient machine. Japanese companies such as Fujitsu, Toshiba, Sony and NEC also have large market shares.This intense competition are beginning to be felt its effect.Some companies exit via selling to other companies or simply exiting the industry altogether. For example, Compact Computers was acquired by Hewlett-Packet in 2002 while Xerox exi ted the computer business and concentrate on printers. Today, regardless of the number of companies present, the computer industry will continue to expand and remain competitive for a number of years to come, although threat to industry rivalry will continue to be strong. 5. Threat of Substitutes and Complements: Although it is very hard and challenging for a new entrant to join the personal computer industry there are currently other growing industries such as the smartphone, tablet, TV set/top boxes industries which are predicted to affect the sales of personal computers. All those alternatives started to encroach on functionality that was once the sole purview of the PC. Also if those products have different major players, their offers similar benefits to consumers that a personal computer also has. Moreover the technology advances are improving those products day by day. Thus they continue to increase in popularity and in performance, leading the sales of personal computers to a decline. The internet can now be accessed through phones and tablets and they are more portable than a laptop. Currently laptops and personal computers offer many unique applications and are compatible with much more software than smartphones and tablets. If smartphones and tablets can attain greater memory space, processing speeds, and compatibility with similar software, smartphones and tablets may be an all-in-one alternative to personal computers. Not only smartphone and tablet, but also some advanced game device like Sony PS3 allowed consumers to watch DVDs, surf the web, and play the game directly online in addition to play traditional video games. As technology continues to increase these separate industries may merge into one, or at least drastically affect each other.Hence we can conclude that threat from substitutes is strong in the PC industry. Digital Music Portable Industry 1. Threat of new entrant: In this industry, threat of entry is medium because the production cost is quite low. For example, the cost of material, packaging, assembly of iRiver (H320) only costs  £69 and the company can sell it in retail shop at  £153 (Skee G., 2005) Therefore, it may attract new competitors to enter into the market due to the low cost of material and the high product margin. Furthermore, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports that the demand for music on the internet and mobile phones is booming and it may replace physical formats such as tape, CD, and DVD in the future; hence, it can be predicted that the market is still growing gradually (The Computer & Internet Lawyer, 2005). As a result, many companies come into the market and pose new threat to existing companies. For example, Microsoft has recently entered to this industry and launched â€Å"Zune† into the market. Many experts believe that Zune might be a competitive rival with iPod; however, it is not easy for new entrants to gain market share in this industry. It is obvious that Apple is still the market leader because Apple has economies of scale in its production that Apple produces and sells iPod more than 10 million with the high margin cost in each year. Next, Apple’s product is highly differentiated from other brands that customers still buy iPod due to its differentiation. For instance, iPod Nano, the latest model from Apple, has attractive features such as full color screen and the copyright-click wheel button, and iTune system which customers can use it easily to buy and download songs into iPod from internet. As a result, it is difficult for new entrants which have recently entered into the market to develop product to overcome existing companies in the industry. 2. Threat of substitutes : he threat of substitute product in the industry is medium because digital portable music products are quite unique which could not be easily replaced by other products. Products have many advantages for customers. For example, it is cheaper to download songs from internet into iPod than buy CD audio. Next, the quality of sound is equal to an original CD after encoding into audio file format. Customers can enjoy listening music as the same as they enjoy listening music from original CD but cheaper price. Therefore, these are reasons why a MP3 player is still popular today. However, in this last recent years we can see the birth of new product which perhaps can replace MP3 player. They are the new mobile phone and smartphone that are provided with an integrated music players ( previously Nokia N91 with a built-in 4GB hard drive or Motorola E398 with removable memory card and now iPhone, Galaxy and so on). Music phone can download songs via WAP or GPRS and store it in a built-in or removable memory. Importantly, many experts believe that the music phone will be the most serious threat to the industry in the near future because it is all-in-one functions that customers can use it for both communication and entertainment. According to some recent research, the benefit of music phone will make some consumers may hesitate to spend  £149 on MP3 Player when they could buy music phone with  £169 or  £189. 3. Rivalry among existing competitors: In this industry, the intensity of competition is high because there are many players in the industry and each company try to complete with each other by developing new products in the market all the time. For example, Microsoft has recently launched their new product which is MP3 player â€Å"Zune†. It has many features which is different from other products in the market such as an integrated FM tuner, bigger screen, and WiFi connection. Microsoft reports that Zune can penetrate into the market and gain the market share from dominant companies. Two weeks after launching, it took the second place of the market from SanDisk and grabbed 9% of the U.S.A. market but following Apple whose its product (iPod) still dominated the market (Martell, D., 2006) Moreover, â€Å"Cut Price† is popular business strategies in the industry. Most companies use it to overcome with other competitors and it can drive the industry to be more competitive. For example, Creative is a MP3 Player manufacturer that lost the market position to Apple two years ago. In 2005, Sim Wong Hoo, the founder of Creative, declared war on Apple’s iPod by launching new and modern product (Creative Zen Neeon) which Apple tried to counter by cutting price on its product that it forced Creative to do the same thing in its product; therefore, the intensity of rivalry was increasing gradually from this situation. (Sudhaman A., 2005) Besides, the market is growing very fast in the industry that it could also make the industry to be more competitive as well. For instance, iRiver anticipates that MP3 player market in Thailand  will continue to grow increasingly and consumer’s demand will double in the near future; therefore, iRiver has launched new product in the market which it hopes to gain more market share from 13.7% up to 20%. (Veerasak, 2005) When the market is growing very fast; it tends to stimulate many companies to enter and launch their product in the market to gain profit in the industry. 4. Bargaining power of suppliers: In this industry, the bargaining power of supplier is medium because, firstly, there are a lot of suppliers which provide materials for companies such as flash memory, hard disk, semiconductor, and so forth. These suppliers mostly come from Asia region especially in China which is a major source for many companies due to the low price of material. Secondly, according to a supplier in the industry, iSuppli anticipates that the shipment of MP3 players with Hard Disk Drive (HDD) – based product is growing up to 42.6% in 2009 from 26.6% in 2004. Consequently, it made many suppliers come to produce material for MP3 Player market. (Electronic News, 2005) Thirdly, most companies in the industry have power to negotiate with suppliers regarding the price of material. Nowadays, the demand of digital music player is growing dramatically; therefore, the growth of the market made many companies have to produce their product in high volume in order to serve market’s need and it made suppliers lost bargaining power because the large production gives company to be able to order material in high volume from suppliers. Furthermore, some companies that need lots of material in their production tend to have a long-term agreement with supplier to supply them material. For example, Apple need to have lots of material such as flash memory and hard disk memory for its product; therefore, Apple decided to make a long-term supply agreement with flash memory manufacturers such as Samsung, Toshiba in order to get good deal of price and ensure to have material for their product up until 2010. 5. Bargaining power of buyers. The bargaining power of buyer in the industry is low. Although, there are a lot of competitors in the market, products in some companies made a great success in sales volume because of their specific characteristics, such as iPod for example. It is not product’s price but it is product’s differentiation and the brand of the product.  Firms have the power to address customers to choose their specific product focusing on marketing tools. As a result, Apple can set price for its product and it can push high switching cost to customers if they want to change to other products in the market. Importantly, customers buy iPod because it also contains good features and attractive appearance. For instance, although, the price of iPod Nano is higher than other competitors in the market, the excellent features and functions of the product such as it can be played movies and it has higher storage capacity compared to previous model (iPod Mini) made Apple to get lots of profit from iPod Nano in 2005 which iPod Nano is not only just Apple’s best-selling iPod, but also the best – selling digital music player model worldwide.