Cross Cultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Cross Cultural Management - Essay Example Organizations all differ in their culture. There are no too organizations with the exact culture. Cultural forms function as the linking mechanism by which networks of understanding develop among employees. The cultural forms shown in the table on pages 293-94 act as a medium for communicating ideologies, values, and norms. Cultural forms enable leaders to transmit messages about desirable culture to influence thinking and ways of behaving. Cultural forms also address the emotional aspects of organizations that are commonly referred to as cohesion or camaraderie. Organizational scholars Janice Beyer and Harrison Trice elaborate on this point: Cultural forms not only aid sense making through the meanings they convey; they also aid the sense making process through the emotional reassurances they provide that help people persist in their coping efforts. Forms provide a concrete anchoring point, even if the meaning they carry are vague and only imperfectly transmitted....Also many cultural forms involve the expression of emotion and, by this venting of emotions, help people to cope with stress.( http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html) Organizational diversity is the mixture of different individuals. Differences such as race, age, gender, religion, and ethnics. Diversity is very important in the attractiveness of an organization. ... Technology is increasing at a rapid pace. The world's technology is set to double in the next seven years. An organization must be technology advanced to be able to keep a competitive advantage over its competition. Many times when upgrades are made in a company employee training is necessary. Communication in an organization is very important for its success. Managers must be able to communicate with their subordinates quickly and effectively. Communication channels need to be a too ways lane. Employee feedback allows management to measure their own success. Employees should feel free to constructively comment and offer creative ideas to managers. Communication can take place in person, over the phone, or electronically. An organization's culture is a very complex and sensitive issue. Companies must develop a culture that appeals both to its employees and customers. The culture of an organization is a resemblance of its personality. Employee and managers will be working together on a daily bases and must get along. Human resource management is somewhat different in the global environment that in the domestic environment. Several factors contribute to this. One factor is the differences in worldwide labor markets. Each country has a different min of workers, labor costs, and companies. Companies can choose the mix of human resources that is best for them. Another factor is differences in worker mobility. Various obstacles make it difficult or impossible to move workers form one country to another. These include physical, economic, legal, and cultural barriers. Still another factor is managerial practices. Different business subcultures choose to manage their resources, including people, in different ways. The more countries in which a company operates, the greater

System Design Methodology Essay Example for Free

System Design Methodology Essay Newbiz Telecommunication Services is a company that sells mobile phones, mobile accessories, prepaid cards and other items related to telecommunications and mobile computing industry. The company intends to develop a system to manage its inventory needs. This system will be used by the company’s staff and management to monitor the movement of its stocks. Among the many reasons why the system is required are: a. The system enables the company to reduce labor and paper costs since many of the daily functions will then be automated. b. It allows employees to concentrate on their jobs rather than spending time on searching records. c. Human errors can be reduced e.g. calculation error might lead to wrong billing to the customers. d. It allows the company to keep track of its stock levels as late replenishment of inventory can result in insufficient stocks to meet customer demands. e. The time it takes to process sales to customers can be made faster. Faster response time means that sale of items can be quickly closed. f. It presents a good image to the company’s clients leading to more confidence in the company. This allows it to gain a competitive advantage over its competitor. g. Inventory levels can be closely and easily watched with the new system as the management has better control over inventory levels. This is because inventory levels are updated every time a sale to customer is made and whenever new stocks arrive. Project Requirement Specification Aim: The aims of this assignment are to: * Develop skills in choosing an appropriate traditional methodology * Develop skills in applying structured techniques that are relevant to the chosen methodology * Develop skills in analysing and recording the requirements of a system * Develop skills in analysing and developing different views of a system * Develop skills in developing a prototype, with suitable interface, from conception through to implementation * Demonstrate a knowledge of the fundamental issues of HCI by applying interface design principles to a prototype Assessment The total assessment marks of this group case study is 100% (50% of overall module marks) Outline of Task: You have been given the task to analyse, design and develop a prototype for the given Case Study. Your class will be divided into groups. Each group will comprise of 2 or 3 team members. Part-A is a ‘Group Component’, to be completed in a collaborative manner (60%). Part-B is an ‘Individual Component’, to be completed by each member of the group respectively (40%). Suggested Presentation Format This project is a group effort and should be treated as though you are proposing a system for an organisation. The following is a suggested minimum report format. It is recommended that your report contain at least the following: PART-A – GROUP COMPONENT Cover Page Your cover page should contain the standard information such as UCTI Logo, Subject Title, System Name, etc Table of Contents The table of contents should have the topic title and reference page number attached to each topic. Introduction This should include your task, the scope of the proposed system, and the objectives for the proposed system. Schedule Planning Gantt Chart PERT CHART This should include your group’s schedule on this assignment and the dates and tasks and the responsible group member(s) has to be included in your schedule. All this information should be shown in a Gantt chart, PERT Chart and Workload Matrix (sample workload matrix attached). Problem Analysis Current Systems Brief analysis of the current system including description of the constraints and opportunities for the proposed system. Overview Proposed Systems An explanation of how the proposed system solves the existing problems and addresses opportunities. Process Model for Proposed Systems Logical process model 0 Context diagram 1 Level 0 DFD 2 Level 1 DFDs for the Level 0 processes 3 Level 2 DFDs for the Level 1 processes (if any) 4 Process Specification (e.g. Structured English, Decision Table and Decision Tree) Data Models Proposed Systems Logical Data Models: 5 Entity Relationship Diagram, showing named relationships, cardinality (mandatory/optional), and cardinality (one-to-many, one-to-one, etc) Data Dictionary for Proposed Systems Present at least THREE data Dictionary for any of the Attribute / Process / Entity within your project. Clearly show Data flows, Data Stores, Processes, Source and Sink, where applicable. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) * Discuss the principals that you have considered / applied into creating the GUI of your system. Include the principals of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) where applicable. Prototyping * The assignment requires you to use a contemporary prototyping tool that permits the development of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to develop a prototype. * Visual Basic is the recommended programming environment. Other tools such as Delphi, PowerBuilder, Visual Cafà ©, PHP and etc are allowed. * NOTE: You are not required to produce a fully functional program (such as inclusion of database and online components) which may be beyond the scope of this module. PART-B – INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT Selection of Methodology This part involves individual (member) contribution to this assignment. Each member is required to choose and explain a suitable (distinctive) methodology for the project. The whole discussion should not exceed 800 words. * Compare and select a suitable IS development methodology for this your case. State the reasons for your choice. * Explain the purpose, structure and scope of the methodology. Include any frameworks and/or diagrams as aid. * Explain in detail how your project will be developed according to the methodology. Include the tools and techniques that are recommended within the methodology and their use in your project. * The application of the methodology should be elaborated at your the final presentation. Project Presentation * Present your solution and suggestion including explanation of each section of your topics. * A demo of your actual prototype. * A detailed presentation of your individual component. - Assignment Deliverables and Conditions: * Your group needs to hand in the group case study on the due date mentioned on the cover sheet of the assignment, with all the necessary components as suggested above. Clearly sapparate and indicate the Group component and Individual component in your documentation. * Final Documentation has to be word processed, printed in A4 size paper (double sided preffered) and professionally bound. The maximum of 5000 words is recommended. * Please consider the environment and dont print unnecessarily. Include all your work (copy) into an optical disk, to be attached to the documentation. This could be used to scan for plagiarism. Any additional / redundant materials could also be included into the optical disk.. * Include the list of references / bibliography and appendices where necessary. * Include a ‘Workload Matrix’, indicating the contribution of each individual for each required component (shown in percentage) and should be signed off by each team member, attached to the APPENDIX part of the final document. * The presentation will be conducted according to the date time allocated to each group. Late submissions will not be assessed unless extenuating circumstances are upheld.

Labour Education And Extensive Employee Development Schemes Management Essay

Labour Education And Extensive Employee Development Schemes Management Essay I think its possible to examine both perspectives in this paper and then decide where you stand in the debate. In essence the assignment is asking you to consider how the various types of education that happen in unions (labour education tools courses, issues courses, etc.) and employment development schemes empower workers to participate in decision-making processes in the workplace (i.e. democratic systems). Do these types of education within unions facilitate a more equal relationship between employers and employees than the education or learning that happens in non-unionzied organizations? Is it possible for workplaces to be run democratically? How does education contribute to establishing equity, empowerment and democracy in workplaces (if it does at all)? Chapter 5 in Bratton et al. discusses many of types of education that unions offer, not only for stewards. While it might be difficult to go into detail about all these forms of education, the question is asking you to think about labour education broadly for workers and the labour movement. The topic of the strategic relevance of human resource management in organizational strategies and business ideals offers a deep foray into one of the main ingredient that successfully underpins the achievement of leadership and managerial objectives. This insight impels the ongoing scrutiny into one of the key leverage of our current human resource management identified as employee development schemes. This assignment begins with an examination of trade unions and strategic HRM issues, will continue with a snapshot description of labour education and workers empowerment as popular organizational initiative and its objective of combining education as a managements approach to workers empowerment. Trade unions and strategic HRM In the literature the new HRM model is depicted as unitary; it assumes that management and workers share common goals, and differences are treated and resolved rationally. According to the theory, if all workers are fully integrated into the business they will identify with their companys goals and managements problems, so that what is good for the company and management is perceived by workers as also being good for them. Critical to achieving this goal is the notion of worker commitment to the organization. This HRM goal has led writers from both ends of the political spectrum to argue that there is a contradiction between the normative HRM model and trade unions. In the prescriptive management literature, the argument is that the collectivist culture, with its them and us attitude, sits uncomfortably with the HRM goal of high employee commitment and the individualization of the employment relationship including individual contracts, communications, appraisal and rewards. Much of the critical literature also presents the new HRM model as inconsistent with traditional industrial relations and collective bargaining, albeit for very different reasons. Critics argue that HRM policies and practices are designed to provide workers with a false sense of job security and obscure underlying sources of conflict inherent in employment relations. According to Godard, historically a major reason for managers adopting progressive [HRM] practices has been to avoid or weaken unions. However, he does concede that it would also be a mistake to view progressive practices as motivated solely or even primarily by this objective (1994, p. 155). Yet other industrial relations scholars, taking a more traditional orthodox pluralist perspective, have argued that independent trade unions and variants of the HRM model cannot only coexist but are even necessary to its successful implementation and development. They argue that trade unions should become proactive or change champions actively promoting the more positive elements of the soft HRM model. Such a union strategy would create a partnership between management and organized labour which would result in a high-performance workplace with mutual gains for both the organization and workers (Betcherman et al., 1994; Guest, 1995; Verma, 1995). What is clearly apparent from a review of the literature is that this aspect of the HRM discourse has been strongly influenced by political-legal developments and the decline in trade union membership and power in the US and UK over the last two decades. Therefore when you read Chapter 12 and the literature, it is important to remember that the debate is set in the contextual developments in the USA and Britain. The idea of embedding worker commitment in HRM model has led to strong argument among writers, that, there is a contradiction between the HRM normative model and trade unions. In the prescriptive management literature, the argument is the collectivist culture, with them and us attitude, sabotages the HRM goal of high employee commitment and the individualization of the employment relationship. Moreover, critics argue that, high-performance-high-commitment HR strategies provide workers with false sense of job security, by hiding underlying sources of conflict, inherent in employment relations. However, other scholars with pluralist perspective argue that not only do trade unions andhigh-commitment HRM model coexist but are indeed necessary if an HPWS is tosucceed (Bratton and Gold, 2003: 60). In addition, other researchers like Sparrow and Hiltrop (1994: 25) in Morley et al., (2006)identified a shift from the HRM function and its associated terrain to a strategic role in other areas of HRM activity. Thus, the greater emphasis on the integration of the human resource function into strategic decision-making, a decentralization of much activity to line managers, and pre-occupation with industrial relations and collective bargaining, has made way for a more SHRM activities such as communications, human resource development, workplace learning, career management and human capital accumulation EMPOWERMENT Empowerment is a concept that gained immense popularity in the 1990s and looks set to continue as a popular organisational initiative in the twenty-first century. It is a managerial ideology in its own right as well as being used with other initiatives and strategies such as BPR, TQM and the learning organisation. It is strongly associated with culture change initiatives, delayering and restructuring, and usually involves devolving power and responsibilities to teams at workplace or customer level (Arkin, 1995). Defining empowerment Various one-dimensional definitions, of empowerment have emanated from the practitioner literature. Typical of this view is Cook and Macaulays (1997) definition of empowerment as a change-management tool which helps organisations create an environment where every individual can use his or her abilities and energies to satisfy the customer (p. 54). Its all-embracing nature skirts over issues of how employees use their abilities, and whether there are boundaries to responsibilities, the degree and type of power employees enjoy, power relations between employee, managers, individuals, teams, customers and the context of empowerment. Both Wilkinson (1998) and Lashley (1997) have commented that empowerment is influenced by historical, economic, social and political factors, and in attempting a definition the context in which it is practised must be considered. Wilkinson (1998) defines empowerment as a managerially led initiative: Unlike industrial democracy there is no notion of workers having a right to a say: it is employers who decide whether and how to empower employees. While there is a wide range of programmes and initiatives which are titled empowerment and they vary as to the extent of power which employees actually exercise, most are purposefully designed not to give workers a very significant role in decision making but rather to secure an enhanced employee contribution to the organisation. Empowerment takes place within the context of a strict management agenda. (p. 40) Empowerment is thus a managerially controlled phenomenon operating at a workbased rather than a strategic level within the organisation. Honold (1997) implicitly acknowledges this by seeing empowerment as control of ones work, autonomy on the job, variations of teamwork, and pay systems that link pay with performance (p. 202). She further divides empowerment into five groupings: leadership, the individual empowered state, collaborative work, structural or procedural change, and the multidimensional perspective that encompasses the other four categories. Multidimensional perspectives on empowerment Honolds (1997: 206) final category shows that one approach is insufficient for empowerment to be effective. Others believe that combining education, leading, mentoring and supporting, providing and structuring is more likely to enable empowerment systems to be successful. Human resource systems should also be fully supportive of these components, providing a contextual framework within which empowerment systems are able to operate. This means linking the empowerment process to the vision, goals and aims of the organisation, through HRD, reward systems and employee relations systems combined with adequate feedback measures. . Bratton John and Gold Jeffrey (2003) Human Resource Management: Theory andPractice third edition London: Palgrave Macmillan Morley Michael J., Gunnigle Patrick and Sullivan Michelle O, Collings David G. Newdirections in the roles and responsibilities of the HRM function Personnel Review Vol.35 No. 6, 2006, 609-617 Sparrow, P. and Hiltrop J. M. (1994), European Human Resource Management inTransition, Prentice-Hall, Hemel Hempstead https://ulib.derby.ac.uk/ecdu/CourseRes/dbs/manpeopl/hold.pdf

Why advertising is an ethical problem Essay -- essays research papers

Why is advertising an ethical problem? †¢ If it is, it is because it is often intrusive, deceptive, or manipulative -- or, at least, this is what people say about it. †¢ Another problem is the money and resources devoted to advertising; billions are spent each year (around $500 billion in fact) that, perhaps, could go to education, health care, research, reforestation, or other worthy causes. We'll come back to this, but first we look at the problem of deception. †¢ Could argue that it distorts our whole economy; it is not merely that we are bombarded by it all the time, but may even impede certain important functions such as free debate. What gets published in newspapers and journals often becomes a function of what advertisers are willing to support. Advertising also has an indirect but powerful impact on society through its influence on media. Many publications and broadcasting operations depend on advertising revenue for survival. This often is true of religious media as well as commercial media. For their part, advertisers naturally seek to reach audiences; and the media, striving to deliver audiences to advertisers, must shape their content so to attract audiences of the size and demographic composition sought. This economic dependency of media and the power it confers upon advertisers carries with it serious responsibilities for both. PROS†¦. a) Economic Benefits of Advertising 5. Advertising can play an important role in the process by which an economic system guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human development. Advertising does this, among other ways, by informing people about the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones, helping them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to efficiency and the lowering of prices, and stimulating economic progress through the expansion of business and trade. b) Benefits of Political Advertising Political advertising can make a contribution to democracy analogous to its contribution to economic well being in a market system guided by moral norms. So political advertising can make its contribution by informing people about the ideas and policy proposals of parties and candidates, including new candidates not previously kn... ...lve the use of subliminal messages Apply normative principles Business people could be introduced to different systems of ethical analysis., for example, refers to four normative first principles that he believes should be taught: i. The Utilitarian Principle: Act in a way that results in the greatest good for the greatest number. ii. Kant's Categorical Imperative: Act in such a way that the action taken under the circumstances could be a universal law or rule of behavior. iii. Personal Justice: Act so the least advantaged members of society will be benefited to some extent. iv. Personal Liberty: Act so the ability of other members of society to lead lives of self-fulfillment and self-development will be maximized Good ethics is Good business While this appears an admirable sentiment which would ensure ethical conduct, some writers take a far more cynical view, and argue that some corporations may be more concerned with public relations than action; "they want to appear good, not be good". On the other hand, this option does seem the most likely to lead to ethical behavior, even if the hypothesized links between profitability and ethical behavior are suspect.

Sport Trends in the Ymca

There are multiple ways that recent trends in the sport industry are affecting the YMCA. A majority of them would be revolving around the economy and how the YMCA is considered a luxury to the people. Others would be the increase of fitness in the world and sport curiosity and also the elderly still maintaining their healthy lifestyles. The increased popularity of celebrity athletes in the world are leading to an increased popularity in the sport world (Balmer, 2009). The battle against obesity is increasing the number of people who join a fitness club or health organization.Also, many people are beginning to try to find both healthier lifestyles and seeking a balance between work and leisure (Sports, 2007). Lastly, the way that kids are being taught is changing; practices are becoming known as best practices and the kids are learning more of the sport and becoming better (Stephens, 2009). All members of the YMCA consider it as a luxury to their life. They would not die without it an d do not need it to sustain their current life. When the economy is bad so is the amount of memberships that are still active. If a member encounters a financial situation the first thing that would go would be their YMCA membership.Employees at the YMCA know this, â€Å"At Countryside YMCA, we welcome everyone’s involvement by providing financial assistance to subsidize memberships or classes for eligible families or individuals† so they encourage and run a scholarship program (YMCA). This program encourages young people to stay active and fit while still in school. If your parent may not be able to afford you a full time membership as long as you maintain good grades and can prove that you are a full time student then you will be supplied with a membership at next to nothing if not for nothing at all.Another current trend affecting the YMCA would be the new attitudes toward maintaining health and the attitudes of the elderly toward staying active. The YMCA recently h eld their annual Halloween run. This event is a marathon through the mud. Many officials were very concerned with their recent numbers and were in fear that the marathon would be a disaster and they might actually have to cancel the event. They stuck through it and held the event and they had one of the best turnouts they have ever had. It was because of the youth and the elderly banning together to make this event so amazing.The number for the amount of people participating in the event ages 40 and on increased from a meager 15% to an astounding 35%. The number of people participating from the ages of 18 to 40 nearly doubled. With the increase of sport curiosity the YMCA is prospering because they offer a variety of sports. The increased popularity of celebrity athletes is affecting the YMCA extremely. One of the founders of the YMCA was Neil Armstrong and a lot of people sign up just for that reason. As bicycling expands and the popularity of Lance Armstrong grows the YMCA is begi nning to develop into the trend by now offering spinning classes.Also, as the world of mixed martial arts expands they YMCA went from offering just karate classes to offering more diverse classes that people like to watch and want to learn how to do them. It is clearly obvious that there is a major hike in the world obesity rate. Effects from this rises are people wanting to become more active in the fitness area. â€Å"Health Organization, since 1980, the number of obese people in the world has more than doubled and that in 2008, 1. 5 billion people aged 20 years old and older are overweight and 500 million are obese† (Danek, 2011).Since the YMCA maintains a friendly environment where there is a mass amount of different programs offered more people are beginning to go to the YMCA. Next, people have to work longer and harder schedules at work. This is leading them to have no time to go to a gym or enroll in a class that meets on a certain day and time. The YMCA offers an affo rdable place to work out whenever you want to. It is open nearly all day and all areas are open at any point in the day. If a person is having a tough time balancing their business world with their activity world there wouldn’t be a better place than the YMCA for them.Lastly, the way kids are being coached and how practices are ran are becoming more proficient and more focused on the kids overall ability. Coaches are learning they way to manipulate a kid and get their full potential out. This is certainly happening at the YMCA from their basketball games to their baseball games. Kids are being coached a lot better leading to more success in their games. References Balmer, K. (2009). Sport industry trend. Foresight, Retrieved from http://foresight-trendscan. blogspot. com/2009/09/sports-industry-trends. html Danek, K. (2011).Trends and opportunities for small business companies and entrepreneurs in the sports industry. Entreprenuers Week, Retrieved from http://entrepreneurweek . com/business/2011/10/03/trends-and-opportunities-for-small-business-companies-and-entrepreneurs-in-the-sports-industry/ Sports, A. (2007). Industry trends. Retrieved from http://www. amersports. com/about/corporate_structure/our_industry/ Stephens, R. (2009). Top 10 sports/social media trends of 2010. Sports Networker, Retrieved from http://www. sportsnetworker. com/2009/12/24/top-10-sports-social-media-trends-of-2010/ The ymca. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. countrysideymca. org/

buy custom History and World Civilization essay

buy custom History and World Civilization essay The American civil war began because of the pressure by states in the north to end slavery. The pressure resulted from the conflict between the American federal government and eleven southern states that opposed abolition of slavery in United States. In 1840s and 1850s, Northern mounted a joint effort to revolt against the slavery, which was inconsistent with the Southern states aims. The revolt threatened the economic sustainability of southern states, which depended on the control that they had over slavery for economic growth. In the north, anti-slavery gained roots and the states increased their joint efforts in abolishing slavery. This strengthened further when Abraham Lincoln, a candidate against slavery, won the presidential election in 1860. In 1860, the southern states revolted against the union to protect what they saw as their right to keep slaves. The Southern states, under the leadership of Jefferson Davis, formed the Confederate States of America. While in the north states, under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, formed The Union. However, The Union had more people compared to the southern states; because there were a total of 25 Northern states against slavery compared to only 11 states that were determined to fight for slavery. In addition to the number of people, The Union under Lincoln had an added advantage over the southern states in terms of production and transport. This gave them economic power over the southern states making them more likely to win the civil war (Perman and Taylor, 2009). In 1865, the southern states surrendered in their fight for slavery. As a result, slavery ended in the history of American under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Many people died during the war. About 620000 of the 2.4 million were soldiers. In the end, The Federal Union prevailed and the slavery ended (Walker, 2002). Buy custom History and World Civilization essay