Cerjugo SA

Per capita beer consumption in the country had been stable for many years. In order to find new opportunities for growth, Courage management decided to expand their product lines into juices. They recognized early on that the juice business was very different from that of beer. In beer, there was little competition and profit margins were high, close to 40 percent. The profit margins for juice would be much lower and there were a number of competitors but they felt they could create a competitive advantage by (1) sousing on â€Å"freshness,† I. E. All natural ingredients; (2) by leveraging their deep knowledge of their consumers; and (3) by capitalizing on an already strong retail customer base, which would triple as a result of adding juice products. The Organizational Structure The president of Courage is Manuel Preparer. He currently has three key executives reporting to him: Jose Gunman, Felid Razor, and Maria Santiago. Jose is the director of Production; Felid is the vice president of Sales, Marketing and Distribution; and Maria is the director of Finance and Administration. Each executive worked closely with Manuel and are involved in all major company decisions. The country is not named to protect the anonymity of the company on which this case is based. At the time of the expansion into juice, a new $50 million production facility was built across the street from the current juice plant. Organizationally, management assumed that the manufacturing, sales, and distribution of the new product lines could be fitted into the existing structure by adding new positions and employees. They added a production manager of juice manufacturing, juice production providers and employees, additional sales supervisors, and over 900 salespeople.Existing salespeople were trained to sell the new juice products in addition to the beer products that they were used to, and the sales compensation plan was modified so that a higher percentage of the pay would be variable based on total beer and juice revenues. We focus on Grouse's two main divisions: the production division and the sales, marketing, and distribution division. Until a few years ago, the executive team had worked very well together with few major difficulties. The Production Division: Jose GunmanJose Gunman, the director of production, has four senior managers reporting to him: Carols Mange, manager, beer manufacturing Dolores Abide, quality control manager; Antonio Ben, the production planning manager; and George Nevada, manager, juice manufacturing. Carols, Dolores, and Antonio have all been with Courage for the past 15 years. George was hired two years ago when Courage moved into the juice business. George is Harvard educated and had extensive experience in the juice business in North America before accepting Manual's offer to join Courage.The production division has a strict research with many layers of management. Front-line employees such as assemblers and maintenance staff rep ort to team leaders, who report to plant supervisors. Plant supervisors report to either Carols or George. The jobs in the production division are highly specialized. Formal procedures have been documented and all new employees go through extensive training so that quality standards, safety standards, and efficiencies are maintained. The Sales, Marketing and Distribution Division: Felid Razor Felid Razor, the vice president of Sales, Marketing and Distribution, has beenManual's second-in-command for many years. He is in charge of four departments, each headed up by a senior manager. These departments are distribution, trade marketing, market research, and sales. The sales department, which has 1400 employees, is further divided into urban sales and rural sales, and there are 13 rural sales managers reporting to the head of rural sales. Each sales representative serves a territory that usually consists of both licensed and non-licensed establishments. They supply retailers with produ ct information and storefront displays.They also offer discounts and promotions, where appropriate, in an attempt to win limited retailer shelf space. A partial organization chart is shown in Exhibit A. The Current Situation Manuel is very concerned since the forecasted sales and profit targets for the juice business have not been met for the second year in a row. Perceptions in the market are that Courage juice is not of a high quality, and consumers do not appear to be aware of the degree of â€Å"freshness† in the products. In addition, the sales force does not seem to fully understand the juice product attributes and tends to focus on selling beer rather than juice products.Turnover in the sales force has increased dramatically and there has been a great deal of in-fighting between Jose, Felid, and Maria. They always seem to be at opposing ends of an issue and Manuel has to make decisions that inevitably angers one or other of them. The last straw came yesterday when Manu el heard rumors that George Nevada, his Harvard-educated manager Of juice manufacturing, had received another job offer and was planning to resign. Last week, Manuel individually asked Felid and Jose to give him their suggestions for how to improve the juice business.Joke's response was as follows: â€Å"We need to continue to improve efficiencies, keep production and inventory costs to a minimum, and maintain a consistent and high-quality product. Have been doing this successfully for a very long time and I know that the most important success factors are to reduce changeover times on the bottling lines, keep my line capacities to a maximum, my inventory and storage costs down, and the shelf-life of my ingredients up. On the people side, the key to my success has been to have clear rules and work procedures o that we can keep errors and waste to a minimum.What need to do now is the following: (1) Replace the natural vitamin C extract with artificial ascorbic acid. This will increa se the shelf-life of the juices, which will increase its profitability. (2) Eliminate the mill packaging size. This will reduce the changeover times on the line and reduce our costs of production. † Felid's response was as follows: ‘We need to create more customer demand and strengthen our competitive advantage. I have been doing this for a very long time and I haven't let you down yet. We do not have enough variety in either our flavors or our bottle sizes.Juice retailers and consumers are different from Our beer customers. Our competitive advantage in this market is ‘freshness. ‘ That is our niche. What we need to do now is the following: (1 ) We currently have only two bottle sizes (mill and mill). We need to introduce mill and 1. ALL bottle sizes in order to be able to compete with the other players in the market. While these are unique sizes and packaging formats, they are essential to building the unique image of our brand. (2) We currently have only 12 juice flavors.

Staying Focus Essay

   Staying focus To know the real man behind the name Cleveland, starts with my dynamic support team, my family. I was fortunate to have a strong foundation in the beginning, that is still on going today. That being said, it has kept me grounded and able to give me the unique abilities that I have in me today. The ability to turn my negatives into positives. Dwelling on issues and difficult situations that occur in my life, is not something I waste my time doing. Searching for solutions, while always finding the positives is what I’m about. Being interested in tasks in my life keeps me constantly planning and preparing for the next phase. Which is teaching Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps in one of Texas’s finest High School. I have given over twenty years of my life to the United States Army, with no regrets. I never lost that passion for our United States Armed Forces. So my interest now, that it is time for another chapter in my life, which is to teach our next generation the tools in life in setting goals and knowing how to achieve them to become successful in this world. I look forward to sharing (teaching) with them what that experience has taught me. I will conquer that by informing them how it has empowered me to never give up on dreams. Also letting them know how it has taught discipline, integrity, values, respect, honor and leadership. Among other things such as great sacrifices, for example ; one of my greatness sacrifices that I have made ( with no regrets) for it has and still is my family. It was not easy being absent from my love ones for long periods at a time. Praying and hoping that it would not be the last time that I saw them again, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make to ensure a better life for my family and the world. I am very passionate about my family. They are the back bone, as I stated before my strong foundation that represents me. My family keeps me motivated and focus. My wife is constantly reminding and assuring me that nothing is impossible for me to achieve. My gifts, as my lovely wife would explain is that I have â€Å"the gift of Gab†. I have always been fortunate in being introduce to individuals of high statue, which was caused by someone I made a good impression on. I have been able to touch others lives in a special way that was positive just by conversation. I am a true believer that a great personality goes a long way in this world. My talents goes a long way, from the basketball courts, football fields and now the golf course. The one talent that I am happiest about is I love helping people achieve things in life that they could never imagine doing. Over the years while being a recruiter for the United States Army I met lots of people with no dreams or aspiration to succeed, but after spending a couple of hours with me they changed their views. When ever I approached people my goal was to always put a

The Grand Chessboard Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Grand Chessboard - Assignment Example In the Introduction of â€Å"The Grand Chessboard† by Zbignew Brzezinski, he shows how Eurasia, a combination of Europe and Asia, basically held the world power through politics, based on geographical and economic values. This was true even as the Americas began colonization and ultimately, the industrial revolution that brought the United States in line with other world powers. In the twentieth century, and through several world wars, the development of technology, economy and trade, has rapidly pushed the United States forward as a world political arbitrator in the complex relationships between the countries that make up the Eurasian conglomerate. In World War II, when essentially the United States was invaded on its own shores for the first time by a foreign power, the United States stepped away from its previously held stance of isolationism and idealism, and joined the global conflict to protect its own interests. In doing so, the United States became a global power to be contended with on a serious level. It can be safely said that without the introduction of the United States to the Allied powers group in the war, the outcome would have been very different. Europe and Britain would be under the dominance of Hitler’s Germany, and Asia, under the influence of Japan, albeit a rather limited one (Brzezinski,5). From the end of World War II, war was fought on an ideological level between Communist Russia, China and the Western powers of Europe and the United States as part of the â€Å"Cold War.† ... For 300 years, the Roman Empire ruled the region on its highest level, maintaining internal vitality and unity as part of its successful dominance. What finally broke the Roman Empire was the division of governing different areas in the Empire rather than keeping control centralized in one spot, the disintegration of morals and ideology, and a sustained inflation which required sacrifices the people no longer wanted to make. At the time of writing this book, Brzezinski viewed America as ‘standing supreme in the four decisive domains of global power,’ those being economic, militarily, technologically, and finally, culturally. Today, there is less supremacy, mainly because of the economic situation, even though the effects are worldwide, not just in the United States. The economic situation today almost forces America to show military might in areas of the world where changes in a foreign country could severely affect the American economics. Many wars in our present time a re more about economics rather than a political ideology, although they are somewhat tied hand in hand. What is unique about America is its influence in creating dialogue with other nations in an effort to promote a universe of international communication and peaceful interaction to avoid unnecessary potential conflicts (Brzezinski, 28). That’s not to say that other countries are not doing this too, but it seems the United States is in the middle of everything major concerning world events and their potential resulting effects. As Brzezinski notes, to support this claim, America’s supremacy has helped institute NATO, a collective international security group with an integrated command that represents the world at large;

Psycholinguistics and Second Language Acquisition Term Paper

Psycholinguistics and Second Language Acquisition - Term Paper Example We are asked to memorize the three forms of verb, and I think the technique really works. I studied in an EMI (English School) in Hong Kong when I was in the primary. Later, I immigrated to Canada when I was 14 years old. When I went there, I had to study in an â€Å"English as a Secondary Language† (ESL) class. Since English was not my first language, I found it quite tough. I was not taught English grammar in Canada. Therefore, I only know English grammar as much as I was taught till my primary. I think my grammar is quite weak because I passed a lot of time in Canada where I did not learn any grammar. I came back to Hong Kong at the age of 23 and started teaching English. I have expressed and shared my English learning experiences in this paper which explain the role of various psychological factors that have influenced my learning. â€Å"Psycholinguistics is, as its name implies, basically concerned with language as a psychological phenomenon, and most characteristically, with language in the individual†. (Garman, 1990). English is known as an International language in the present age. Internationally, all communication is majorly carried out in English. There are a lot of opportunities in the rapidly developing modern world but our access to them is limited merely because of a lack of knowledge of the International language. â€Å"Learning a new language and culture increases the size of your selection pool.† (Sauve cited in Ager, 2010). I always used to think that I would go abroad to gain higher education. But, it becomes very difficult to study in a foreign country without knowing how to speak, write, read and understand English. Realization of this fact inculcated an extrinsic / instrumental motivation in me and I thought I had better learn English in order to play good in my practical life. This was where my journey of learning English language actually commenced. Before I started to study English language, I always used

7 Habits Of Highly Effective People Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

7 Habits Of Highly Effective People - Assignment Example If you want to understand the other people better, you need to listen to them attentively and without a are other than just speaking all the time. Listening establishes and strengthens the relationship of understanding and makes a world a better place to live in. It is your method of communication that tells people that you are open to sharing, if you are not communicative and do not try to understand others approach, no matter how sincere you are, people will find it difficult to trust you. Empathetic Listening is a key to make people trust you, but it can be very risky sometimes. To listen to people and to relate to them, you have to open yourself up too which makes you vulnerable, but the key rule here is that you cannot influence someone if you are not yourself ready to be influenced. The more you open up, the more you are able to understand people and ultimately you are able to influence them but at the risk of your own security being exposed. Every principle can be applied to everyone, but not in its raw form, you need to customize the rules and principles according to the situation at hand. Only this way you are able to understand a person and his angle of seeing a certain thing, you need to understand the people to help them, advise them and take them out of their miseries. Find the principle that can help them, modify it and then apply it to the situation. Do not just help for the sake of helping or do not just listen and understand for the sake of understanding. If you invest effort, it will improve your personal relationships at basic level and community at large.One first has to develop his or her self to step into shoes of others, the personal strength and character can be built until one have the positive emotional bank account, empathetic listening and the pure desire to help the individuals. Listening is important because it helps you to speak effectively in a tone and with words that people want to listen to yo u. if you adopt the empathetic listening skills then you are able to repeat the words that people use in their conversation, rephrase them to look them more appealing so that your words become effective, finally in your tone you start reflecting the feeling in the same way the other person is perceiving it. This creates a psychological understanding and people are able to comprehend each other’s view exactly they meant it to be.

Strategic Planning Report of Health Care Organization in the United Term Paper

Strategic Planning Report of Health Care Organization in the United States - Term Paper Example Strategic planning, therefore, has to be effective in an institution in order to deliver positive changes. The first component of strategic management is Situational Analysis. This is the initial point of designing a mission statement of an organization and how the mission will be achieved. Situational Analysis is vital in that it creates a leeway in aligning an organization in relation to its environment. Situational Analysis consists of a number of activities. First, the management has to consider the organizational context. This is the internal environment of the organization and how effective it will be. Secondly, Situational Analysis is directed towards evaluation of the external environment. This considers the neighboring people, organizations and other factors that are not controlled by the organization. Situational Analysis is critical to an organization as it is the basis of establishing an organization that is likely to record desirable performance. The second component in strategic management is Strategy Formulation. This involves designing and structuring a number of ways of running the organization (Sanderson and Stirk, 2012). This involves developing the company’s strategies and how they will function. This is done by determining the strength of the company and how the strengths will help in ensuring growth. In most cases, Strategic Formulation is split into three parts. This includes operational strategies which will be based on the operation and execution of the various organizational tasks. The second part is the competitive level. In this level, the organization looks for better ways of developing a competitive advantage over its rivals. Thirdly, there is the corporate level where the organization deems to please its corporate associates. This is essential as it is directed towards creating an appealing approach towards customers, employees and the corporate associates. The third component in strategic management is Strategy

Delivering Service Excellence Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Delivering Service Excellence - Assignment Example The airlines company is failing to maintain excellence in the services provided in terms of quality and price. The two key aspects of service excellence  which the airlines company requires to give attention to are thus quality and price maintenance. Ryan Airline, the competitors of British Airways is maintaining price and quality leadership for attaining a journey of excellence in the airlines industry. Therefore, to increase the competitiveness, sustain and grow in the business, British airways require elevating the service excellence towards the customers. The paper highlights in details about the shortcomings in the service marketing, recommendations for the same with suitable models and theories to indicate how the airlines company can  improve, and develop a sustainable service strategy.   Service can be described as solutions that are provided to deliver a consistent set of outcomes, performance and deliverables for organization, systems as well as people. Services are intended to satisfy the expectations, motivations and unmet needs of the receivers. The quality of service depends on the effectiveness of the activities of the providers. The performance and experience of a service rest on the way it is produced. A service may be further described as a perishable and intangible component of a business offering or a form of promoting tangible products. The complete methodology to generate awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA) to ingest services that are offered by the provider is referred to as service marketing (Lin and Hsieh, 2014). Service marketing can be referred to as the subfield of marketing that covers the promotion of goods as well as services. Marketing of goods refers to the promotion of durables and the fast moving consumer good (FMCG). On the other hand, service marketing denotes to the business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) services (Lin and Hsieh,

Interpret the law of secured transactions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Interpret the law of secured transactions - Essay Example According to common jurisdictions, the lender in this case who is the First Savings Bank can accept intangibles as security for loans borrowed. This mostly applies where the accounts receivable are traded to the creditor just like in the case of Money Games Incorporation. According to the scenario, the accounts receivable acts as collateral whether the financial statement is filed or not (Miller, 2011). A security interest arises in exchange of the loan whereby the debtor agrees that the secured party may take collateral owned by the debtor if he or she defaults in the payment of the loan (Miller, 2011). Security agreements are contracts according to the law of business (Legal Information Institute, 2000). The collateral interest of the bank vests upon the signing of the guarantee contract. In this case, the bank security is attached. However, it has not perfected its collateral interest. In most situations, perfection can be easily achieved through filing of a financial statement. This document should include the signature of the debtor, a brief description of the collateral item and addresses of both the creditor and the debtor (Cheeseman, 2009). In normal circumstances, when the debtor delivers the note and executes the security agreement, the bank swiftly authorizes for liberation of the funds that are being borrowed. When the money is released to the debtor, then the bank’s security is attached since, it has executed a security agreement that describes the collateral and has also offered valuable security that applies to the loan. The bank is required to perfect its security interest and its claim against the accounts receivable which subordinates to the claims against the accounts receivable. This is because the bank’s security interest attaches from the agreement that secures the payment of the debt. For instance, the beneficiary of the security interest has certain rights in

Environmentally Sensitive Habitant Calls for Innovative Thinking Assignment

Environmentally Sensitive Habitant Calls for Innovative Thinking - Assignment Example In the past years, erosion has compromised the stability of the river meanders that resulted in â€Å"numerous slip failures in the river banks and of the flood defense embarkments.† The unstable river banks now possess hazards to the residents of the area as well as to those boats and crafts navigating through the river. Undertaking the riverbank stabilization project for Darford Creek is Team Van Oord4 under project Manager EC Harris. Team Van Oord shall work closely with ARUP5, the designer of the project. The task of the company is to â€Å"maintain the integrity of the flood defense embankments along two sections of the west bank†6 and at the same time provide for environmental measures and enhancements to product the sensitive habitat of the Creek area. As a form of habitat enhancement, Team Van Oord creates an engineered salt marsh habitat. The total budget for the project amounts to  £ 3.6 million. The construction project is good for 60 weeks. The construction is under the supervision of the Environment Agency. To stabilize the flood embankments, the contractors need to install a combination of steel sheet piling and timber brushwood faggots. According to the design of the project, the brushwood faggots shall be placed in front of the piling and supported by brushwood stakes. The general idea of this design is that the current of the river will bring about silt which could be captured and trapped in between the brushwood. The trapped silt will eventually accumulate to a certain degree and bury the brushwood faggots. Once the brushwood faggots are completely buried under the silt and sediments, it will become part of the flood embankment system and at the same time create a new salt marsh habitat. The project is deemed as a long term solution to the river bank erosion problem as well as aid in the restoration and protection of the endangered habitat.

Motivation and Performance Factors for Bombay Palace Essay

Motivation and Performance Factors for Bombay Palace - Essay Example ey feel with appraisal at work.questionaires were used so as to get feedback of the employees and this made the study less cumbersome for the researcher. This is important to note that was conducted in a span of month month so as to ensure that each and every staff was interviewed. Motivation of employee is one key issue that is facing every organization. It is the responsibility of every leader in an organisation to ensure employees are motivated and also create a very conducive environment for them in the workplace (Koontz 1993). Though an employee may be capable to perform his/her job description without motivation every human being needs to feel a little bit of appreciation as this will spur inner urge to work well in an organisation. It is this role of a leader that he has to ensure that his workforce is motivated and if not he should identify a strategy on how to make them moretivated as this will enable him achieve his organisational goals(Marginson 1986). Motivation cannot be understated as it is always a key ingredient to help an organisation in achieving its goals. Issuinig of instructions that are well and clealy friendly (Marginson 1986). A manager first has to understand he has the right team and after it is when he should ensure that the team is motivated so as to keep the focus on objective goals.The role to motivate employees depends on very different dimesions and they cannot be for one department like the human resource but the whole organisation.Itis thus important to understand all humans have different needs and may be motivated in different ways but one of the most important task is to ensure it is done (Alous 2002). Strong needs in directing and satisfying latent needs in employees harness them in a manner that is functional for the organization. For motivation to be successfully implemented the factors that trigger motivation should be identified and analysed properly.The goal here is to identify the causes of motivation and not the

Trustees of Indiana University Essay Example for Free

Trustees of Indiana University Essay Planning and building the landscape of education and the academic community is not an easy task or responsibility. There are various standards or guidelines that the academic institutions, its staff, teachers, communities, parents, and other stakeholders should adhere to in order to develop and provide educational programs and services that exceeds quality and excellence. At the heart of this imposing goal of education is the accomplishment of various research studies for the purpose of formulating, determining, and proving or debunking various theories, models, paradigms, frameworks, strategies, techniques, etc. that respond to various concerns for all the dimensions and aspects of education. For instance, several research studies conducted within the scope of the field of education were designed to address how Educational Philosophies are supposed to be drafted based on diverse viewpoints on learning and education, i. e. idealism, realism, existentialism, and so on. Moreover, theoretical perspectives that are being developed based on research studies and practical experiments lead to the development of various teaching strategies and techniques that address various problems from different angles of the learning situation. Under these pretexts, we realize why learning educational theories and models in different aspects of learning and education is important. The theories and models serve as a guide that helps government institutions, academic institutions, and teachers develop educational standards and guidelines, as well as specific programs, activities, learning content, and so on. In this way, the landscape of learning and education are well-planned and designed to accomplish, in the process, the genuine goals and objectives of education and the responsibilities of the academic institution, its staff, and the teachers, toward the nation, the government, the community, the parents, other stakeholders, and most importantly the learners. Developing an Understanding of Instructional Design One specific aspect or dimension of the teaching-learning process is Instructional Design. According to Jonassen, Tessmer, and Hannum (1999), Instructional Design may be considered initially as a process by which comprehensive information is obtained in order to determine how learning shall be best facilitated. The foundations of the Instructional Design shall be based on the nature of the learners, the features or characteristics of the learning environment, the availability of resources and information, the educational philosophy observed by the academic institution, the goals and objectives of education, rules and laws governing education, new trends or paradigms in education, and so on. These information shall be utilized to identify the processes, strategies, techniques, methods, materials, etc. that are to be used to facilitate learning and transmit knowledge to the learners. (Jonassen, Tessmer, Hannum, 1999) In order to develop sound, efficient, and appropriate practices in Instructional Design, various theories have been formulated to support the planning, implementation, and evaluation process. One of these theories includes the Instructional-Design Theory. The Instructional-Design Theory, according to Reigeluth (1983), is an outline that directs how learning shall be best facilitated. The Instructional-Design Theory constitutes three key concepts which help individuals, particularly teachers, as well as academic institutions, plan and design the content, the methods, strategies, techniques, etc. of instruction for the purpose of enhancing how learning takes place. In developing the landscape of education as the primary concern for the literature, several references, such as books, publications, and journals have been published over the years discussing the Instructional-Design Theory. However, not all information discussed in these references may be considered valid and reliable. Hence, reviewing references that shape the foundations of education, particularly in Instructional Design is important in order to obtain information that are relevant, appropriate, efficient, and advantageous for application to educational processes and operations. All about the Book Charles M. Reigeluth and Alison Carr-Chellman wrote the third volume of the â€Å"Instructional-Design Theories and Models† three-part series. The subtitle for this volume is â€Å"Building a Common Knowledge Base. † The main theme of the book still adheres to the concepts of the Instructional-Design Theory, however, in this third volume, there was much emphasis on solidifying the bases or foundations of Instructional Design founded on the vast scope of information on frameworks, models, paradigms, and so on, that build on how Instructional Design is viewed, planned, implemented and evaluated. Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman’s goals and objectives in coagulating the foundations of Instructional Design were realized through their discussion of the common knowledge or information shared by the variety of archetypes, standards, paradigms, etc. In addition, Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman may be highly regarded as reputable sources of information. Their experiences as members of the academe have made it possible for them to provide fitting contributions to the book. Reigeluth is a professor at Indiana University’s School of Education, Instructional Systems Technology Department. He has obtained a Ph. D. in Instructional Psychology at the Brigham Young University. (Indiana University, 2009) On the other hand, Carr-Chellman is also a professor at the Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Learning and Performance Systems. She has obtained a Ph. D. in Instructional Systems Technology (Indiana University) and a Master and Undergraduate Degree in Education (Syracuse University). (SAGE Publications, 2008) Central to the discussions and arguments in the book is the belief of the importance of establishing a common knowledge base that would fuse the bases and extract the essence of Instructional Design that will be the foundations of other models, theories, strategies, techniques, and planning or designing, implementation, and evaluation of Instructional Design as a process. This review primarily focuses on how Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman’s work is a great contribution to the field of education, particularly in shaping and developing the foundations of Instructional Design despite and even with the diverse changes to learning situations principally caused by concepts in constructivism. A SUMMARY OF THE BOOK The first unit of the book, â€Å"Frameworks for Understanding Instructional Theory,† provides generally common information, represented in specific contexts and structures, about the definition, dimensions, and mechanics of the Instructional Theory, the Instructional Design and Instruction, the philosophies that govern the process of instruction, and how instruction is being applied within various learning situations. This particular unit was developed in order to provide introductory information. It sets the stage for the succeeding discussions on the Instructional-Design Theories and Models by: (1) defining the features, conditions, conceptual framework, and delimitations of the Instructional-Design Theory, (2) discussing the importance of instruction and its role in facilitating learning and the transmission of knowledge, and (3) relating concepts and ideologies on the Instructional Theory and Instructional Design to practical situations that commonly occur within the setting of the teaching-learning process. The second unit of the book, â€Å"Theories of Different Approaches to Instruction,† constitutes five approaches to instruction with varied goals and expected outcomes. Each was written by different authors who contributed to complete the objectives of the book. The five approaches aforementioned are: (1) Direct Approach to Instruction which targets the fast and efficient transmission of knowledge through direct teacher-learner interaction, (2) Discussion Approach to Instruction which facilitates learning through discourse and interaction, (3) Experiential Approach to Instruction within learning environments that allow practical learning or the application of knowledge and skills, (4) Problem-Based Approach to Instruction wherein learning is facilitated by urging students to define problems and develop resolutions, and (5) Simulation Approach to Instruction which places the learners within an environment that represents reality. The third unit of the book, â€Å"Theories for Different Outcomes of Instruction,† addresses problems, challenges, and difficulties in the teaching-learning process as caused by diversity and the complexity of learning and the learners, which necessitates the realization of different outcomes from the learning process in order to promote holistic learning. These four theories, which seek to accomplish varied outcomes from the learners, include (1) Skill Development, (2) Understanding, (3) Affective Development, and (4) Integrated Learning. Apparently, these theories are responses to the need to diversify learning so as not to capitalize excessively on cognitive learning and instruction. These theories are based on the perspectives of holistic learning, which looks into other aspects of the person aside from his cognitive faculties. The fourth unit in the book, â€Å"Tools for Building a Common Knowledge Base,† tackles the practical aspect of developing a framework of Instructional Design, which is based on universal knowledge and information that withstands various changes and transformations in the landscape of education through time. There were various issues discussed in this particular chapter. The first issue has something to do with the conceptual framework of the Instructional Theory – that is the base knowledge or hypothesis for the theory, its goals and objectives, contributions to education, suggestions and recommendations, general points and ideas, and so on. Other issues constituted the design or process by which the academic institution is to undergo reformation. These designs or processes include the successful implementation of a Learner-Centered Education, the dimensions of learning and the Instructional Theory, how the Instructional Theory is to be applied to educational processes and operations appropriately considering the inception of the Information Age, and the necessity to apply common knowledge base to capture the genuine essence of Instructional Design as a process to facilitate the improvement of the educational landscape. ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF THE BOOK This book is the third installment in a three-volume set on Instructional-Design Theories and Models. The first volume of the book was set down by Reigeluth, the editor, with primary issues and concepts focused on narrating, defining, and describing the basic concepts that build on the theory of Instructional Design within the context of the existing landscape of education during that point in time. (Reigeluth, 1983) The second volume develops the major concepts and ideas in the first volume but with additions or contributions from paradigm shifts and newly discovered theories that seek to improve or enhance the framework of the Instructional Design Theory. (Reigeluth, 1999) Based on the concepts and ideas from the first and second volumes of the book, the fundamental features and contributions of the third volume are realized. The essence of this book lies in its undercurrent objectives of fusing the concepts and ideas from the first volume and the second volume in order to provide an improved source of information that builds on the core concepts of the Instructional Design Theory and the current trends integrated into the theory in order to develop or enhance its foundations as well as how it is applied with considerations on the modern issues and concepts. Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman have efficiently worked together in order to collate significant information that contributes to progressive knowledge of Instructional Design as a theory by focusing on how all the major and significant parts of the theory, whether traditional or modern, shall be put together to reconcile rational yet long-established theories with modern constructivist theories. We may consider the process of developing this book as gaining the best of both worlds – that is, the face of Instructional Design in the past and at present time – to provide a new paradigm of the Instructional Design theory that is deep-rooted on a secure and time-tested model but is also appropriate for current learning environments and situations. Under these pretexts, the contributions of this book to human knowledge was realized because it presented something new or innovative that is logical and sensible as well as practical. From the words of Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman (N. D. ), the maturity or development of knowledge in this particular context is only facilitated when theories are built on other theories. Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman’s vision in creating this book embodies innovation and development at the face of the necessity to continually improve one of the primary institutions in society that provides services in education. Delving into one of the many technical aspects of the book, Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman has also succeeded in providing a reputable or reliable and valid source of information based on the list of references used to complete this third volume. Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman were able to obtain information that was integrated into the book from the individuals who developed the various theories discussed in the second, third, and fourth chapters of the book. Gaining the original ideas and perspectives from the theorists themselves establishes its reliability and validity since information were obtained first hand. Moreover, Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman, as the editors of the book, have handpicked a variety of primary and secondary references to back-up their theses or main arguments in the book. This means that both editors made an effort to approach the matter impartially and evenhandedly. The book was consistently structured and organized from start to finish. It was topical in such a way that divisions were planned to categorize all similar ideas together, such that definitions were placed in the first unit, the theories for approaches in the second, and so on. In addition, the book was arranged chronologically in order to relay simple and singular information first before moving on to the complex ideas which have something to do with how the pioneers of education as a process are to synthesize information from the first units to develop a common knowledge base for the design and implementation of the Instructional Design Theory. Overall, the ideas were organized from general to specific and similar concepts or ideas were placed together in a single unit in order to prevent confusion on the part of the readers and to present a clear and concise conceptual structure. However, in the same way, the structure of the book solidified some of its flaws regarding how the main theme was covered and how the readers are expected to synthesize the information provided in order to come up with a common knowledge base to enhance the framework of current theories or models of Instructional Design. Mostly, Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman presented concepts and ideas on the approaches and expected outcomes of instruction. Although introducing new theories is relevant in the quest to develop or improve the structure of Instructional Design or theory, the arrangement of the ideas and the scope of the discussions do not sit well with the primary objectives of the book, let alone its subtitle that was supposed to define its content. I believe that Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman should have published two different books in order to secede the discussions in units two and three, and the fourth chapter, which genuinely captured the essence of the book. Furthermore, Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman should have given more thought on providing comprehensive and sufficient information on how individuals are to develop a common knowledge based on Instructional Design as a theory as it was the fundamental nature of the third volume of the three-part Instructional-Design book series. In terms of the content of the book, the number of sources, from books to journals, magazine articles, etc. that I have read over time has taught me that different types of information made available for readers are not meant to be technically and practically critiqued, but instead digested in order to determine whether they represent rational and exploitable ideas and concepts for the advancement of human knowledge and development of education. Reigeluth and Carr-Chellman decided to contribute something to the field of education by introducing this third volume of the Instructional-Design Theories and Model series and the time and effort placed to do so is entirely commendable. Moreover, the diversity of learning situations and the complexity of the various aspects of the teaching and learning process nowadays justifies the applicability or non-applicability of new theories, approaches, techniques, strategies, etc. being introduced to the academic institution. This means that some ideas presented would turn out to be effective in some learning situations and ineffective in some. The most important thing is to obtain the most important pieces of information that would be valid in all aspects and situations in order to establish a contingency plan that would prevent flaws and failures in education. This ideology represents what this book embodies as a bulk of knowledge. CONCLUSION By and large, the book is a significant piece of reference that contributes to the massive field of education, specifically in developing the foundations of Instructional Design as a response to the diverse changes in the learning situations and environments principally caused by concepts in constructivism. Although there were some flaws evident in the structure and organization of the book, it presents several pieces of information that meets the necessity for additional knowledge that expands Instructional Design. In addition, the book is an excellent reference for individuals who are exploring the variety of theories and models that build up Instructional Design. With the success of the book in fusing conventional ideas with contemporary ones in an attempt to solidify the generally accepted foundations of Instructional Design as a theory and reconcile it with innovative theories and models, the only inquiry that remains is what the future holds for Instructional Design in terms of how it is to be approached and how its current paradigm is to be modified. References Indiana University. (2009). Profile: Charles M. Reigeluth. Retrieved 14 Apr 2009, from The Trustees of Indiana University. Website: https://profile. educ. indiana. edu/Default. aspx? alias=profile. educ. indiana. edu/reigelut Jonassen, D. H. , Tessmer, M. , Hannum, W. H. (1999). Task Analysis Method for Instructional Design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Reigeluth, C. M. (1983). Instructional-Design Theories and Models: An Overview of their Current Status, Vol. I. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Reigeluth, C. M. (1999). Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory, Vol. II. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Reigeluth, C. M. Carr-Chellman, A. A. (N. D). A Common Language and Knowledge Base for ID?. Retrieved 15 Apr 2009, from the University of Georgia. Website: http://it. coe. uga. edu/itforum/paper91/Paper91. html Reigeluth, C. M. Carr-Chellman, A. A. (2009) Instructional-Design Theories and Models: Building a Common Knowledge Base, Vol. III. NY, USA: Routledge. SAGE Publications. (2008). Alison. A. Carr-Chellman. Retrieved 14 Apr 2009, from SAGE Publications. Website: http://www. sagepub. com/authorDetails. nav? contribId=530086 University of North Carolina. (N. D. ). Book Reviews. Retrieved 14 Apr 2009, from Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2. 5 License. Website: http://www. unc. edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/review. html

The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay

The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay Mr. Schultz with few investors bought Starbucks in the year 1987. In 1992 Starbucks decided to go public to achieve rapid expansion. The results of making the company public were great; it helped raise $25 million and took the growth rate at 40% to 60. Stratbucks had launched around 5000 outlets by year 2000. Averages of three new stores were being opened each day. At this time 20 million customers were being served by Starbucks. As the company had gone public sales and profits climbed at a rate of 45 to 55%. As the company expanded position of Chairman of board was retained by MR. Schultz while MR. Orin Smith became the CEO. Department of research and development was introduced. Versimo espresso machines and drive troughs were introduced in order to increase operations efficiency. Post of CEO was taken over by Mr. Jim Donald in the year 2005. Immense increase in sales was experienced in his era as the range of products was increased by him. Oven warmed breakfast sandwich, movies and books were added. The characteristics of Starbucks are as follows: Characteristics of Starbucks 1: Setting functional goals to achieve strategic objectives Knowing the distinction between corporate strategy and business strategy is very significant in order to respond to the questions mentioned above. Corporate strategy Issues related to the market in which the market wants to compete or would compete in future are dealt with corporate strategy. The main concern of the strategy is mission, aim and on the whole degree of the organisation. Business Strategy Strategies associated to making a business prosper in a specific market are known as Business strategy. An alternate name for business strategy can be Competitive strategy. The main objective behind the strategy is to be in a situation where organisation has competitive advantage over its opposition in the market by cost leadership or differentiation. Integration, Acquisition and Mergers related benefits achieved by Starbucks Benefits attained by using vertical Integration (backward or forward integration) strategy were: As a result of direct contact with the targeted market, significant environmental knowledge of market is gathered. This enables to make early adjustments to avoid loss. Higher profits can achieve as they are being a buyer and supplier. Sp some section of this value can be delivered to customers. Need for much more capital to enter the market will increase the entry barriers for potential oppositions as a result of vertical integration. Impact of decentralization, separate profit units on Starbucks Diversified business units will have less cooperation between each others. Transaction cost might not be saved as divisional publishing units have to achieve minimum profit % set by corporate management to remain in the Starbucks. Responsibility of their divisional business is not being taken by higher management willingly. Tax in result of stock transfer by internet is being saved. Business and corporate goals would lack alignment. core competencies cannot increase for different businesses Available tools and techniques to set team performance objectives Motivation is most important thing. Motivation can be categorized as a process which develops a desire that people have to work well and achieve the goals. In order to have increased and constant high performance from a worker, it is important to keep the workforce motivated as it is the main aspect of performance. Motivation can be in financial or non financial forms, it is important to apply different theories and figure out which works out the best. In Abraham Maslows theory, he has divided human needs into five types. He then further developed it into a heirchy of needs pyramid, in which needs are aligned in order. According to him all the five human desires have to be fulfilled, to uphold or boost stimulus levels.. Following picture shows hierarchy of the needs: Till year 2000 which was Mr. Schultz era, he managed to attend all the needs lined up in hierarchy. Evidences are provided in the chart below: Source: (Suhomlinova, 2008) Maslows theory was truely adopted by Mr. Schultz in his era. He managed to maintain high levels of job satisfaction level with consistency among the partners. This is proved by 70% staff turnover, which was a result of very satisfied partners. Whereas at the same time other food industries were experiencing 300% staff turnover. After Mr. Schultz period deviations from Maslows theory was observed. Orion Smith denied paying for the overtime, he also neglected health and safety as injuries related to work were not paid for. Partners autonomy was reduced in the operations by the introduction of espresso machines. Job complexity got worse when later Mr. Donald introduction of oven warmed sandwiches resulted in little stimulus and job contentment levels. Latham and Lockes theories about setting goals indicates that if goals are set wisely, it can boost up the motivation levels leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. Set goals must be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based). Every member of the organisation should agree with the goals set up and should work toward achieving it. Before 2000 under Mr. Schultz leadership organisations aim was to originate a 3rd place if all the partners agreed on it and was acceptable to them. After 2000 with the change of leadership t he goals also changed. The goal was to open as many outlets as possible. The partners were not told of the new goals and strategies which were mainly made to boost up the rapid expansion. All the goals and policy making was done at the top and partners were unaware of it. Moving at a rapid growth rate it seemed unrealistic to maintain customer experience. According to expectancy theory of Vroom the work force will put forward extra effort and hard work when they are aware that their hard work will be praised and rewarded. Expectancy theory is most effective when an enormous organizational change is arising e.g. in this case when espresso machines were installed this theory can be applied to get desired results as some people will not feel comfortable to work with machines as they enjoy doing all the steps of coffee making in a relax pace while talking to customers at the same time. Equity theory tells us that the employees judge the fairness of the distribution of rewards by comparing it to the other co-workers rewards. If the employee making the caparison gets to the conclusion that he is under rewarded, it may result in low motivational and performance levels. Frustration can also arise if the employee is being under rewarded. Increasing number of organisations were understanding the importance of keeping the workforce happy for staff retention and better performance. The job complexity was increasing with the expanding number of stores, sales and products. Due to the increased burden the partners started to feel that the organization is not caring for them, in fact day by day the burden of work was increasing and they had to work very hard to get rewards. The Value of Team Performance Tools to Measure Future Team Performance In 1980 Hackman and Oldham defined 5 features of a good job design; they defined the 5 characteristics as skill variant, test identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Skill variety was reduced by the installation of espresso machines as the step which involved coffee making, now were different due to machines input. Machines have the massive on the way people perform their jobs, machines bring standardisation and people start depending upon them. The element of people skill was reduced which starbucks was originally hired on with the introduction of espresso machines and growing amount of work load. Socialisation and emotional aspect was missing with the new policies there is no time to speak to customers or colleagues. Usually partners took help from each other, when there was a work load, currently machines can put up with it. Machines do not have any emotions associated to them, people think that they are controlling the machines but in reality they are being controlled by machines as they have to work according to the machines and cope up with its speed. Previously their partners were solely acknowledged by the complimentary feedback from customers as they were involved in the steps of making coffee. Now the appreciation is divided as machine is involved and people think at times that major part of the job is performed by the machine. All the discussion above is almost contradicting Hackman and Oldmans theory thus, resulting is low job satisfaction To make the experience uplifting for the customers these are the main 3 gears of Starbucks branding strategy. Under the leadership of Mr.Dnonald and Mr.Smith clearly all the components mentioned above were losing strength. Reduced personalisation and very little time to communicate and socialise with the customers was the result of espresso machines. The atmosphere standards were being destroyed by the development of drive through as fewer soft chairs and carpeting, as a result of this service is also dropping because 80% of Starbucks coffee is consumed outside stores. In todays market its very significant to created competitive advantage, this can be achieved then product differliation composed to competitions. This is important as many subsidies are present in market this differentiation will make their product sell over others. At very early stages Starbucks adopted the relationship marketing approach. Under the leadership of Mr.Schultz. Today under the leadership of Mr.Donald and Mr.Smith Starbuck is practicing the philosophy of early 19th century. The brand is being ruined by this policy as strategy of horizontal diversification is being used for growth. Early 19th century related production concept is being followed when the imagination of organisations was that as they produce quality products at affordable rates the customers will favour them. in the mid 1920s the selling concept came in, according to which sales targets were to be achieved by aggressive promotion. In the early 1950s the marketing concept also came in. The concept stated to manufacture goods according to the demand and taste of customer. In 1990s the relationship marketing era started. This concept was that apart from producing products according to the. Customers likely and demand, it was also important to maintain long term relation with its satisfied customer. The factors discussed above mention that the starbucks was going backward in the world of marketing after 2000.This is shown by the diagram, illustrated above. Starbucks unique and rich culture is the reason behind its success. A lot of respect is given to its employees calling them partners and using ceo as a substitute of CEO. The achievements of the partner is appreciated by the organisation in the form of norms Warm regard, Mug, Bravo and sprit of starbucks. To achieve customer satisfaction Starbucks feel that it is important to satisfying their staff .Work force variety create environment for a lot of fresh ideas and culture of different sort together, which makes starbucks a desirable place to work. Apart from satisfying its staff and customers sratbucks also serve the community. This is done through their corporate social responsibility group which donated $36.1 Million cash and products sratbucks also volunteered 383,000 hours to help out the community .The unique culture of starbucks helped them to maintain the satisfaction of employees which resulted in low staff turnover and the contentment of a staff were transferred to the cust omers. By the early year 2000 the rules and strategies of starbucks started to change as it was believed the starbucks amazing culture is onerous instead of competitive advantage. as stated in the case study the company had stopped paying for the overtime, less care for the staff and injuries related to work were not being paid for .After Mr.Schultz leadership partners were not consulted about the new strategic decision like, drive through, offering sandwiches or the design changes made to accommodate more customers. Reduced empowerment and lack of entrepreneurial spirit was the result of these policies of the partners. Partners make labour union was fired by the Starbucks. This indicates that the starbucks partners cant get to the upper level management. They need union because of the unhappiness.Making more stores and achieving higher sales become the aim of the higher management .The partners had a feeling that it was not starbucks who was giving up the benefits, but the case was that they had to work very hard to get them .Starbucks faced problems like lower customer satisfaction, less staff satisfaction, reduction in sales and share value as a result of deviation from their culture. 2: Team performance targets towards objectives. To achieve objective a few targets are recommended of the evaluation of the organization: Business It analysed that after Mr.Schultz era which ended at the start of 2000 the focus of the organization deviated from people to other issues .Starbucks preferred products, increase in efficiency through machines and growth of the organization over the people. Leadership Transformational leadership is required to solve the issues mentioned above in the analysis. Importance of leadership should be recognised by Starbucks and the fact that management is not the replacement for leadership. From the above study we can conclude that Starbucks is totally unaware with the advantages of transformational leadership. A good example can be Mr.Schultz. starbuks needs to get in leadership training programmes. They could use their own leadership story for a better understanding. As their story mentions different impacts, under different leaderships. Culture The culture of Starbucks is very rich but after 2000 their dimensions, strategies, aims changed. According to market research report 53% to 61% believes that Starbucks is all about making money. While 48% to 55% people have thinking that Starbucks is all about opening new stores. Its partners also feel that the employees are not being cared for. All the negative thoughts about Starbucks need to be changed. Motivation Starbuks needs to motivate its workforce. As from the study above we have noticed that employees do not have any say. They should be made part of the decision making process., their work shall be appreciated by verbal means as well as financially at times. A new job design needs to be in place which involves less use of machines. Boost in entrepreneurship spirit and empowerment can be achieved if supported and participated leadership is introduced. Product and Competitive Advantage, Vision, Atmosphere and People Creating product differentiation on actual product is very difficult. Competitive avantages can be created through the way to concentrate on service and environment. Environment can be improved by making seating more comfortable by installation of music systems, roper lighting, carpets, heating systems and comfortable seats. Job satisfaction is very important to maintain, as a satisfied workforce will make customers satisfied. This can be achieved by thinking of new ways to reduce job stress. One way can be by reducing the use of espresso machines. 3: Monitoring of actions and activities to uplift team performance Dividing the task into groups or departments and developing coordination between these departments of the organization to achieve organizational goals is called Organizational structure. A good structure sets clearly defined authorities and duties. It also develops and increases coordination. As a result it eases monitoring of different activities of the organisation. Enhanced effectiveness and effectiveness in operations of the organization is a result of this. Organizational structure can be made in three ways; by grouping different activities of the organization: Functional Structure (grouping by task) Divisional Structure (grouping by output) Matrix Structure(grouping by task and output simultaneously ) Starbucks has some functional departments but apart from that it does not have any formal organizational structure as there is no data written in the case study nor on the website. These departments are finance, sales, corporate social responsibility, production, research and development and human resources. The organisation structure shows lack of connection, sequence and coordination between different departments which is observed in the case study. From this kind of functional grouping Starbucks achieved in-depth functional knowledge as it is stated in the case study We tend to be great on measuring things, at collecting market data (Suhomlinova, 2008) but overall organizational goal is suffering due to lack of coordination and accountability. Starbucks grouping also hindering the effective decision making process of the organization as it is stated that we are not very disciplined when it comes to using this data to drive decision making (Suhomlinova, 2008). Poor accountability no clear responsibly is also observed as market research noticed that Starbucks is losing product differentiation and customers satisfaction rates are declining through their decisions like creating convenience by increasing no of stores and drive-throughs but no one was looking at the big picture and previous executives were blaming soft economy for poor performance (Suhomlinova, 2008). During rapid expansion they followed Max Weber Classical approach which led to bureaucracy. They moved their focus from people to mechanistic organization as Mr. Schultz said that he want to shift Starbucks focus from bureaucracy to people by giving them more training and tools to launch new products and introduce new concepts in store designs (Suhomlinova, 2008). All of the above circumstances are creating problems like critical customers satisfaction results reduction in staff morale and cannibalization of existing stores. In respect to Starbuck bureaucracy means function department are performing their tasks without coordination, espresso machines increased standardisation which made partners job boring, formalization and centralized authority to make decision. In general bureaucracy result in higher performance for large size organizations but in Starbucks bureaucracy became a factor or low performance because bureaucracy is effective in standardised operational activities and Starbucks customers want personalized coffee with non-standardized emotional greeting. Value Chain and coordination with drawing activity map Activities related to production are divided into secondary and primary activities by Michael E. Porter value chain. Making and delivering the products is associated with primary activities. Supporting and service activities are related to support the primary actives to produce product or services effectively and efficiently (Johnson, 2008: p.110). Starbucks diversified product portfolio and geographical distances are creating hurdles to fully utilize the essence of vale chain. Mr. Middelhoff asked the whole group to increase and share communication and resources for synergy without drawing an activity map that where the coordination is required. Michael E. Porters value chain is shown in the following diagram. 4. Apply influencing and persuading skills to the active and politics of personal relations. Starbucks needs to develop a marketing department as it has expanded to such a large scale. To develop a marketing department integration of its 3 existing department market research group, category group and marketing group is needed which is show in the picture and adopt relationship marketing approach. Organizational Chart for Starbucks In order to overcome the difficulties mentioned in the analysis an organization chart is shown above. In designing Starbucks structure all types of grouping methods are considered to maximise synergies. To increase communication horizontal and vertical structures are used at different levels. Horizontal structure is used at bottom level management, which includes country manager, area manager, Store Manager and then sales. Vertical communication is used in functional departments. To comprehend customers, enhance efficiency and effectiveness marketing decisions, through internal integration of three existing groups marketing department is brought in to shape. As all the departments will be at head office, it will improve coordination and communication between functional departments. In result this will improve and foster strategic decision making process. Implementing the above recommended chat will result in decentralised and clear responsibilities at all management levels. This will help the organisation reduce bureaucracy. Conclusion The study has tried to explore Starbucks within four learning outcomes as specified above and has found that Starbucks has a unique spiritual culture created by a transformational leader Mr. Schultz. This case tells us that how leaders and organizations can change commodity into culture by having strong belief on people and by creating ethical culture. Power and devotion of people can change a simple product and small company to huge multinational company. Critical analysis of different theories in organization behaviour module not only helps in understanding the organization but also provide a basis to improve them in different environments. Most of the companies now days are trying to increase performance of the organizations by embracing technology but this case study give us a different point of view a more natural approach to solve different problems of the organizations. Different theories developed with the passage of time but to understand organization performance its best to understand and apply all to get multiple view of the organization behaviour.

Exploring The Culture Of Denmark Sociology Essay

Exploring The Culture Of Denmark Sociology Essay My great, great grandfather, Paul Christian Lautrup, a single, caucasian man of 35, migrated from Denmark to the United States. He came from a wealthy family originating in the Danish culture and was educated to become an architect. He was expected to continue in the occupation that his nuclear family had persuaded him to train for in order to be kept in the family will. If he were to move away and not pursue the career that had been expected of him, he would be removed from the family will and lose all his inheritance. Against his familys wishes, he chose to leave Denmark to escape their career demands and to pursue his own interest. He moved to the United States in 1880 to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He made Washington DC his home, where he met his wife Delia whom he had 6 sons with. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in becoming an actor and settled for becoming an architect in the US. This is rather ironic, because he ended up moving away from Denmark and losing all his inheritance only to become an architect in another land. (Lautrup, Paul). Denmark is a small nation nestled within the Scandinavian countries located on the European continent. Denmark, also known as the Kingdom of Denmark, has a tiny population of roughly 5.3 million citizens with only a 69km land border that is shared with Germany; this is the only land connection that Denmark has with Europe through its only peninsula and largest region, called Jutland. Also, Denmarks main realm has 5 major islands, which support most of Denmarks population, accompanied by 406 minor islands. Only around 90 of the 406 minor islands of Denmark are known to be inhabited. Also, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) They are both located in the Atlantic Ocean and considered to be autonomous regions within the Kingdom of Denmark; both have very small populations under 100,000 citizens. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is the nations largest city. Copenhagen is also the biggest and most modern city in all of Scandinavia. Scandinavia includes the countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Over 70% of Denmarks population lives in an urban environment, while most of the population consists of people of Danish ethnicity, although there are a growing number of immigrants from Asian and African nations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The North Sea is to the west of Denmark and the Baltic Sea is to its east. Denmark is separated by its northern, neighboring, Scandinavian nations of Norway and Sweden by the Kattegat and Skagerrak straits. Sweden, the second closest neighbor to the Danes is cut off from Denmark by only 5km of water named the Oresund strait. Denmarks climate is humid and chilly during the winter, with an average temperature of 34 degrees F and during the drier, summer months, the temperature averages 72 degrees F. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Denmark has gently rolling hills with fertile soil that are at a close range to sea level with no true mountains throughout the nation. There are many lakes, rivers, streams and moors, which create an ideal environment for agricultural prospects. There are no extreme changes in climate due to the Gulf Stream that flows up from the south over Denmarks western borders. Since the land is accessible to the sea, it is a prominent supplier to the ship industry is Northern Europe. Denmark has no point on its land that is more than an hours drive from the sea. There are numerous bays and inlets, which creates gainful opportunity for their prosperous shipping industries. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Some especially important Danish landmarks include: The Tivoli Park, the most popular amusement park in Denmark, Fredericksborg Castle, and The Royal Theater. Hans Christian Andersen, known for his fairytales with relatable moral teachings and Karen Blixen, known for short tales and life memoir are among many famous writers of Danish literature. Soccer is Denmarks national sport, but sailing, cycling and rowing are also Danish favorites. The national language is Danish, although, many Danes can speak English and/or German at least on elementary levels. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The Krone is the source of Denmarks monetary exchange and the Euro has not yet been accepted, due to the nations suspicions that switching over to the Euro will have a detrimental effect on their beloved social welfare system, which the citizens of Denmark take great comfort in. Denmark maintains the oldest continual monarchy in Europe and the second oldest in the world. Queen Margrethe II is the current Queen and head of the constitutional monarchy in Denmark. She is only the second queen to rule the monarchy throughout the entire history of Denmark. The Danish community is very proud of their form of government, their royal family and their Dannebrog, which is their national flag. Danes are not a people who are easily insulted, but one way to offend them would be to criticize anything concerning their Dannebrog, royal family or form of government. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The subsistence strategy relied upon most in Denmark today is information. Higher education, the promotion of environmentally green solutions, literature and the fine arts are all very important to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary) Over 77.3% of the jobs held by Danes are part of the information subsistence strategy through service-related jobs. (CIA The World Factbook) Since education is paid for by the heavy taxes the Danish people submit to, it is financially obtainable for anyone with high enough scores to continue their education into any of Denmarks universities. There are 5 universities for the citizens to choose from which include: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Odense, Aaloborg and Arhus Universities. Queene Margrethe II and her son, Crowned Prince Frederik are graduates of the elite Arhus University. Danes also have the option of continuing their education by attending community colleges or vocational technical schools. Some of the occupations that Danes are going to school for include: maritime studies, nursing, physicists, architects, social services, literature, history, religion, photography, teaching or various other information service occupations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) These jobs all rely on technology and tools such as computers, cameras, high-tech printers, internet connections, satellites, sterilized medical equipment, body-image scanners, reference texts, cell phones, writing utensils, specialized uniforms and printers are just a few examples of the many advanced tools that are necessary for these various fields of information subsistence strategies. For example, a teacher would use tools such as a blackboard, a computer projector, chalk, erasers, videos, books and printers in order to relay information to teach her class a particular subject. Of course, these types of tools and technology are used all over the nation in rural and urban areas, but perhaps slightly more in the densely populated regions. Division of labor can be divided up in a number of ways in regards to the information subsistence strategy. For example, a dean of a college may oversee that the college professors are following the guidelines for teaching classes from the code of ethics in their employee handbooks. The professors oversee the progress of skills and information learned by his/her students. The students attempt to maintain good grades in their class by completing all their schoolwork to the best of their ability. Division of labor usually depends on the socioeconomic status and education acquired. However, in Danish society, social caste or social status does not create an obstacle in regards to whom can do what type of career. The citizens have a silent understanding amongst one another that every individual within the nation is important and should not be treated differently whether the citizen is a doctor or a trash man. The opportunity to pursue an information career is equally welcome to men and women; gender does not hinder occupational roles in Danish society. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The second most important subsistence strategy amongst Danish society is industrialism in which some 20.2% of the population is employed. (CIA The World Factbook) Some examples of the products manufactured are ships, boats, ceramics, silverware, furniture, chemicals, paper, fish products, dairy products, canned ham, electronics, textiles, concrete, marine engines, radio and communication equipment, toys, glass, pharmaceuticals, agriculture/forestry machinery, electrical products and diesel engines. Most of the industrial facilities that produce these Danish goods are located in more urbanized areas throughout the country. Many of these products require special skills used by laborers that have been trained at either a vocational school or through a type of apprenticeship training program paid for by the Danish government. Particular tools and equipment are necessary for creating these products that can include: pulleys, compressors, mixers, castes, hammers, nails, scissors, ovens, k ilns, saws, test tubes, Bunsen burners, beakers, glue, electrical wiring, assembling machines, counting machines, computers, charts, slicing equipment, turbines, converters, nets, sails, anchors, food processors, milking machines and generators. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) For instance, if a plant is producing paper products, large, metal rollers, would need to be used in order to press the paper into the desired thickness. Also, mixers would be used to stir and prepare the paper pulp in order to pour it into the appropriate screening containers. A specialized machine would be necessary to wrap the finished paper product for distribution and sale. Distribution of labor depends on experience, skill level and seniority of the workers involved in the particular industry. Owners of factories and heads of departments oversee the quality and efficiency of production, which is reported from the supervisors. Supervisors organize, direct and monitor manual labor workers in their duties. Manual labor workers attempt to create products at a company-desired rate and quality, while not bearing the responsibility of their overseeing their co-workers. The third of the most important subsistence strategies used in Denmark consists of agriculture. The main products grown in The Kingdom of Denmark include: sugar beets, barely and wheat, grains, rapeseed, fruits, vegetables and flowers. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Agriculture is most commonly practiced by only 2.5% of the population and is normally achieved in rural areas of the country. (CIA The World Factbook) Training apprenticeship programs and information passed down through family generations are used to teach agricultural methods. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Some technologies used for agriculture include items such as combines, separating machinery, generators, irrigation systems, planting machinery, tractors, plows, fertilizing distributors, storage units and computers for analyzing crop quantity and quality. Irrigation systems are used to water the large expanse of crops, plows are used to till the land for preparation of planting seeds and computers are used to keep record of seasonal harvest yields and perhaps even profit margins. There are over 60,000 family-owned farms in Denmark (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) and the division of labor is shared by the family and or corporation that own the farms along with the hired employees who are used for cleaning and fixing equipment, sorting crops, running machinery, irrigation and maintaining the health of the crops. The family or corporation of the agricultural operation oversees the employees or hires a supervisor(s) to ensure that the agricultural laborers are working efficiently. The supervisors or owners of a farm may calculate the quantity of crop and the value it yields per season. The agricultural land owners or supervisors also may keep track of the laborers improvement or lack of effort on the job. The farm laborers will tend to any manual labor that the agricultural operation needs completed while only having to be responsible for their individual production. The division of labor in agriculture is based mostly on skill, seniority and ownership. The fourth most important subsistence strategy in Denmark is pastoralism of which is included in the 2.5% of the nations population that maintains a career in agriculture. (CIA The World Factbook) The animal goods raised and produced in the Kingdom of Denmark include: canned ham, butter, cheese, fish oil, fish meal and milk through the use of fish hatcheries and typically family-owned farms. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy, pastoralism is either passed down through families or learned through an apprenticeship training program. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Some tools used for pastoralism include: fences, watering/feeding troughs, barns, herding rods, milking machines, slaughtering equipment, medical tools, labels, hoof clippers, lead ropes, halters, hoses, generators, heaters and computers. Fences are used to keep the livestock confined to a desired location, animals are put in barns to protect them from predators and the occasional harsh outdoor elements and heaters may be used in the barns to keep a sustained temperature that is more suitable for the livestocks health. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy in Denmark, the division of labor amongst workers in pastoralism is based on skill level, seniority and ownership. For example, the owner of a herd of swine may hire a supervisor or herd manager in order to keep track of the manual laborers and also the efficiency of herd quality, health and maintenance. The owner of the swine operation may calculate yearly profits, upkeep costs and decide what to pay employees based on their skill levels. The employees without management skills, the hired hands or basic herd tenders will be responsible only for the safety, feeding and order of their set group of livestock that they are to have authority over. Denmark has a centralized political organization and maintains a constitutional monarchy as a political model. A constitutional monarchy can only be led by offspring of the current king or queen after he or she is deceased. It is a requirement for the king or queen of Denmark to be a member of the national church. A single-chamber parliamentary runs hand-in-hand with the constitutional monarchy. The prime minister, currently known as Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leads Denmarks political organization with the indirect support of all 179 parliament members and direct assistance from the cabinet ministers who lead numerous political departments throughout the nation. Voting age in Denmark is 18 and all parliament members are elected for a term of 4 years, unless state minister forces a new election before the 4 years is completed. It is the duty of the members of parliament to come to consensus on decisions to enact or not enact new legislation and the duty of the prime minister to carry the d ecision to action, however new legislation cannot be enacted fully until Queen Margrethe II writes her finalizing signature on it. There are typically around 12 political parties that make up the single-chamber parliamentary system of the Danes. The top 2 of these major political parties consist of Social Democrats and Liberals-a right-of-centre part. Social Democrats seem to be the most popular considering the fact that they are tied heavily to the belief that all Danish citizens should be granted security by maintaining the comforts of social-welfare programs, but of course, these are safety features only made possible by very high taxes to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The royal constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Margrethe II has control of the executive powers, while legislative powers are for the most part, granted to the parliament and judicial powers are carried out by the courts of Denmark. Denmarks military branches include: a home guard, an air force, a navy and a national rescue corps. Military members are usually enlisted for 4 months to a year of service. During war times, the Danish military acquires 58,000 members, but during peace times, there are roughly fifteen thousand participating members. The Danish military ranks are usually based on mandatory enrollment in order to be ready when an emergency arises. Denmarks police force has about 10,000 law enforcement officers who are known for their more civilized, calmer approaches to domestic disputes by using advanced communication skills and maintaining close, positive relationships with the overall communities they work in. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) One form of internal political control in Denmark is the enforcement of laws through the judiciary court systems. Although, crime in Denmark is very low and it is not normal for a Dane to even consider breaking the basic laws of the land. An example of externalized political control would be the decision of the Danish Parliament to not accept the Euro as Denmarks new currency, even though Denmark is a member of the European Union. Internalized political responsibilities of Denmarks parliament involve the maintenance of social welfare programs that protect all Danish citizens regardless of socioeconomic status. The externalized responsibility of the parliament consists of maintaining peaceful political connections with the European Union and other nations in regards to preserving a secure way of life for its citizens and also keeping a cohesive relationship with national allies for added protection. After all, Denmark is a very small nation and it would be beneficial to preserve as mu ch peace with as many nations as possible. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary) The economic system of Denmark is based on negative reciprocity due to the use of capitalism throughout the nation. Capitalism is used by the Danes to generate profit through sales of products from private businesses and corporations to customers. Redistribution is also used throughout the Danish culture in the form of health care and educational needs. Danish pay high taxes that allow them to enjoy the freedoms of free health care and education of any type. This allows the Danish citizens to give and take as they need, for example, all citizens are taxed regardless of how much income they generate, but it is possible that not all of them will use the free education opportunities or the free health care services during their lifetimes. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Market exchange is also used through capitalism in Denmark in regards to having the freedom to set up a private business and gain profit from it without limit, which is a prime example of capitalistic market exchange. Denmark uses both socialism and capitalism, but the predominant economic system would have to be capitalism. This is true, because Danes are free to pursue their own interests through careers that will allow them to generate profit without limit to the individual. Although, socialism is prevalent in the way Denmark controls and maintains social welfare for the citizens in order to provide free and easily accessible, equal-quality health care and education to all Danish citizens regardless of social or economic status, gender, religion or ethnicity. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The primary economic sector, which involves extraction of resources form the land, also known as mainly agriculture in Denmark, makes up 2.5% Danish employment. (CIA The World Factbook) A few of Denmarks exports consist of canned ham, butter, cheeses, beer and processed fish products of which are brought forth through agriculture, pastoralism and industry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The nations secondary economic sector, which involves processing of goods, also known as industry makes up 20.2% of the Danish workforce. (CIA The World Factbook) Denmark manufactures machinery, chemicals, furniture, electronics of which are exported all over the world. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The tertiary economic sector, which involves services, makes up 77.3% of the working Danish population. (CIA The World Factbook) A few of Denmarks popular service industry jobs are found in the fields of architecture, nursing, teaching, physics, environmental science, literature and social sciences. Denmark enjoys the highest Gross Domestic Product in Europe and maintains one of the highest standards of living for its citizens compared to all nations in the world. Unemployment is very low and over half the country is employed with the reassurance that health care and education will not be a challenge to pay for. Denmark relies heavily on the income from its exports and puts a great deal of value on maintaining its social welfare programs. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Denmarks most common religious organization is Evangelical Lutheran, of which over 90% of Danish citizens belong to. Evangelical Lutheran is a denomination that is part of a national church, supported by the state called the Danish Peoples Church. Only about 5% of Danish people actually attend church weekly; most Danes only participate in church services during important religious holidays such as Christmas or Easter. Evangelical Lutheranism is a monotheistic religion, which means that they worship only one god. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Other religious organizations that exist in Denmark consist of Catholicism, Judaism and Islam, which also practice monotheism. Also, a small percentage practice forms of religious organizations such as Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism, which promote polytheism, the worship of many gods. It is ironic that the overall Danish society does not have a strong faith in the god or gods of their religious choice, yet at birth most of the country is automatically enrolled as a member of the national church, also known as the Danish Peoples Church. Their enrollment is expected unless they belong to a religion other than Evangelical Lutheran. It is a requirement that the current king or queen of Denmark be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran religious organization. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) Danish churches are typically located in close proximity to all Danish towns and are encompassed by graveyards. Evangelical Lutheran religious organizations have sermons and worship in churches on Sundays. Their ceremonies include a minister, a servant, an organist and a cantor. Evangelical Lutheran important ritualistic ceremonies include: weddings, confirmations, funerals and baptisms. It is expected that most Danish churches have fairly low attendance rates during Sunday services. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) Throughout the Danish social organization, monogamy, the practice of marriage to single spouse, is the most accepted and nationally predominant form of union. Marriage is important in regards to the most common form of religion in Denmark, Evangelical Lutheranism, yet because Danes are not known for being highly involved in the practices of their religious organizations, there is a loose view on marriage and when it should be chosen, if at all. It is common for a Dane to cohabitate for years, have offspring and not be married until many years after. Therefore, it is not uncommon for Danish households to have illegitimate children born outside of wedlock. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) If Danes do decide to marry, it is usually not until they are in their very late twenties or early thirties. Danes do not participate in arranged marriages, an event where parents choose a marriage partner for offspring, instead, single Danes choose their own marriage partners through the anthropological term love match. Endogamy, marriage created within ones own organized cultural group, is practiced in Denmark as well as exogamy, marriage outside ones own organized cultural group. Most often, Danes marry other Danes of their own ethnicity, yet those who choose to marry outside of Denmark or ones ethnicity is not condemned within the Danish societal organization. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Post-marital residence, pertaining to where a bride and groom reside after their marriage ceremony, only pertains to the Danish societal organization in the sense that marriage partners typically practice neolocal forms. A neolocal form of post-marital residence can be defined as the event of taking residence in a home that is set apart from the married couples families. Other forms of post-marital residence, such as patrilocal, the act of a married couple living close to or with the married males family of his father, or matrilocal, the practice of both marriage partners residing with or in close proximity to the married females family of her mother, are not commonly practiced. Marriage in modern Denmark societal organization, is not required, nor is it a high priority. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) Therefore, post-marital residence is not of great importance, It is only on a neolocal sense, considering that Danes learn to be very independent at a very early age, while maintaining a close-knit family on an emotional level. The most important family type for Danes is the nuclear families containing dependent children, a wife and a husband. Even though the idea of marriage in the Danish societal organization is very loose and laid-back, out of all couples living together in Denmark, most of them are in fact married. Extended family, consisting of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and other individuals with marriage or blood relating them, are also important, but not as high a priority as the nuclear family. Most Danish nuclear families are small, having two or less dependant offspring. Privacy is valued greatly by Danes, especially when it comes to the nuclear familys home. It is rare for a Danish family to invite a guest to their home whom they have not known for a great while . (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Each of the nuclear family members generally has their own private room in the home along with the rooms for meeting, such as the kitchen and larger family rooms. In Denmarks societal organization, descent is traced by using a lineage, which is used by connecting all ancestors back to a single, original ancestor. Descent in Denmark is traced in this way, because last names are important links to ancestry. Although last names are taken from the male within a married couple, patrilineal descent, tracing only by acknowledging male individuals as ancestors, is not used, because all genders are included when tracing Danish ancestry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) When referring to kin, relatives connected by marriage or blood, Danish citizens value ties with both the mothers and the fathers side of the family, which is called bilateral kinship. Bilateral kinship is important for Danes, because both nuclear and extended family, regardless of mother or fathers side, builds a cohesive unit of strength emotionally, sometimes financially and offers support that is not commonly expected outside of family ties. National polls and summaries do not generally include information in regards to socio-economic classes, instead Denmarks citizens are divided up into 5 social layers. These social layers consist of subcategories within each layer. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) The first social layer consists of corporate owners, employees of the educational system and anyone that has over 50 workers. The second social layer involves academically professional owners of businesses, agricultural owners with at least 4 employees and corporate owners that have over 6 workers. The third social layer includes small business owners, individuals with employment that calls for special skills and agricultural owners with a limit of 3 workers. The fourth social layer is made up of employees containing academic training, owners of small plots of land and experienced employees. The fifth social layer consists of employees with no special skills or experience. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN) Denmark, as a social organization, is very tolerant of other peoples ways of perceiving life and is considered to be outgoing and well-educated. Danes are very accepting of homosexual marriage and equality of the sexes. Denmark was the first European nation to allow for legal gay marriages within its borders offering homosexuals the majority of rights granted to straight married couples. Danes are very conscientious when it comes to preserving a clean, toxic-free environment. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) A recent news article summarizes a protest put on by Greenpeace activists at the Environment Ministry in Denmark. This article was used for this research paper, because Danes are very involved in environmental policies in regards to keeping the planet as clean and sustainable as possible. The article was personally interesting, because Denmark is one of the most environmentally conscious nations on the planet and I was curious to see how they react to the disposing of harmful waste products. The Greenpeace activists were protesting the transport of a poisonous pollutant called HCB from an Australian company named Orica. The Kommunekemi in Nyborg, Denmark is one of a small number of companies in the world that is able to incinerate the hazardous carcinogen, HCB. The Greenpeace activists argued that hazardous waste materials should be incinerated closer to the point to which they are processed. This is just one of many examples of the Danish cultures desire for a cleaner and greener pl anet. (Greenpeace Goes Aloft to Protest Transport from Down Under) Danes are also known to love their most famous amusement park, Tivoli. This amusement park is located in Copenhagen and is the most popular attraction in Denmark. The park was built in 1914 and maintains a dà ©cor and cuisine that is based on the historical, traditional Danish culture of the time the park first opened. Some Danes pay the parks entry cost just to eat at a few of the thirty-seven restaurants within the park. The park has roller coasters, games, gardens and various amusements and entertainment. (Copenhagen, Denmark) Danish people are in love with the concept of social gatherings combined with eating and the two almost always go hand-in-hand. It is customary for a Danish household to always have tea, chocolates, pastries and cheese just in case guests arrive unexpectedly. Their meals often consist of three or more courses and it is considered a crime to oneself to not savor and take time to enjoy ones meal. Danes love rich, whole foods of which often include broiled or marinated fish, thick and creamy cheeses, hearty breads, substantial gravies and delectable deserts. Hot tea is often served with milk and honey and it is customary to leave the last bit of food in a main communal dish when eating. This is a symbolic action of politeness to show that nobody is selfish or rushed during the meal. The Danish culture is known for being one of the happiest cultures on earth. They are generally friendly, warm and open to communication with strangers. Recently, Denmark has incorporated many American concepts, products, stores and fast-food conveniences into their societal organization. Unfortunately, they are also gaining a few of the health problems that are associated with the introduction of American culture into their nation. However, despite the Danes cultural borrowing, they still have a strong sense of uniqueness through a proud society that shows compassion for its citizens and welcomes visitors. (Waldron, Julie)