Situational Analysis of Starbucks Essay Example for Free

Situational Analysis of Starbucks Essay We start off with the organizational analysis’s corporate mission, products and services, leadership Organizational Culture, and Strategy. Next we analyze the firms resources by means of tangible intangible resources, capabilities and core competencies. Then we move into the financials analysis which divides into subcategories such as valuation, growth, profitability, financial strength and management efficiency. The final aspect of the internal analysis is the SWOT analysis which clarifies Starbuck’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The final closure of the Strategic Analysis is the recommendations for both internal and external analysis along with a conclusion. 2. 0. 0History The history of Starbucks starts in Seattle in 1971. (George, 2010) Three friends; Jerry Baldwin, Zev Sigel, and Gordon Bowker, who all had a passion for fresh coffee, opened a small shop and began selling fresh-roasted, gourmet, coffee beans and brewing and roasting accessories. (George, 2010) The company did well, but things began to change in the 80’s. (George, 2010) McDonald’s has no issue with the generating locations and hitting targeted demographics. Primarily because, McDonald’s is the oldest business in the food service industry. The most common demographic in the American trends are the tweens to teens segment. Here, the up and coming teenagers, or teenagers dive into a new hangout place in order to gain the â€Å"feel† and â€Å"experience† the coffee industry offers. Starbucks offers an influence in the youth of America into employment roles or simply influential leisure hangouts for teenagers. Adam Smith’s â€Å"The Wealth of Nations† best defined competition amongst the market as Lassiez Faire â€Å"A philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action. † However, no single firm, or group of firms, must ultimately have complete power over any industry because that firm would have the power to regulate prices of that particular commodity. (Dept. of Labor, 2011) This would be known as a monopoly. Should a firm be in recognition of monopolistic power, they would be violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in practicing in unfair business practices. (Dept. of Labor, 2011) One example that led to unfair business practices is known as price fixing. (Dept. of Labor, 2011) Price fixing is defined as an agreement between business competitors selling the same product or service regarding its pricing. (Dept. of Labor, 2011) Other pieces of Government regulation is OSHA (Occupational Safety Health Administration). (Dept. f Labor, 2011) Here these laws are backed by the federal governing body of the United States Department of Labor. (Dept. of Labor, 2011) Simple laws here give the employee factions laws to simply abide by in case of any unfair management practices such as quid-pro-quo. All firms must abide by both means of competition and OSHA’s regulator laws. The only real factor in the government/political segment that affects the industry is the EBIT (Earnings Before Interest i n Taxes), because it defines the net worth after gross income a firm can accumulate in the coffee industry.

Leadership and Culture as seen in Tech Mahindra Limited

Leadership and Culture as seen in Tech Mahindra Limited A human being right from birth is associated to various people including parents, relatives, and so on. As he/she grows old, the pool of associations become stronger and complex as his/her needs tend to grow such as: The need of friends, education, and other sociocultural aspects of human life. The child thus becomes part of many organisations catering to needs of each other in the organisation. Organisation, as defined by Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary is A group of people who form a business, club, etc. together in order to achieve a particular aim. All the organisations irrespective of their nature are headed by a Leader. Leader is often seen as a person who guides the organisation to achieve a common goal by setting up practices and creating a positive environment with the organisation. As said by Fullan (1992) in his notes, that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. The leadership of an organization has the primary responsibility for identifying the need for, and fostering, cultural change and for sustaining a sound safety culture once it is established. In the following essay, I have tried elaborating some leadership skills and organisational culture taking into consideration Mr Vineet Nayyar who heads (Vice Chairman, MD CEO) Tech Mahindra Limited, a joint venture between Mahindra Mahindra Group and British Telecommunications PLC. About Tech Mahindra Introduction: Tech Mahindra is a part of US $7.1 Billion Mahindra Group, in partnership with British Telecommunications plc (BT), which is one of the largest communication service providers in the world. The organisation was incorporated in 1986 under the name of Mahindra British Telecom, which was later changed to Tech Mahindra to reflect diversification and growth of client base. Tech Mahindra has majorly focussed the telecommunications industry and is a leading global systems integrator  and business transformation consulting organization. Tech Mahindra operates globally with more than 15 Greenfield Operations and has over 124 active customer engagements mostly in Telecom sector. Some of its largest clients are BT, ATT, O2 and Alcatel-Lucent. The company has footprints in more than 25 countries and has been assessed as SEI CMMI Level 5 Company. The company is supported by around 35,000 professionals who provide distinctive blend of domain expertise, in depth technology skill sets and culture. Tech Mahindra Vision: To be the most respected solution provider in the communications ecosystem Anticipating and enabling change Admired for technology, agility, innovation, business models and the quality of its talent Tech Mahindra Values: Tech Mahindra is focused on creating sustainable value growth through innovative solutions and unique partnerships. Our values are at the heart of our business reputation and are essential to our continued success. We foster an environment to instil these values in every facet of our organization. Customer first Good corporate citizenship Professionalism Commitment to quality Dignity of the individual Some of the Industry Recognitions: In the Leaders Category in The 2009 Global Outsourcing 100 (IAOPs Annual Listing of the Worlds Best Outsourcing Service Providers) Ranked 2nd in Telecom Software providers of India by Voice Data, 2008 (VD 100 Ranking) Business Week Award for Asias Best Performing Companies, 2008 Growth Excellence Award by Frost Sullivan, 2008 Ranked 6th largest software exporter from India (NASSCOM, 2008) Leadership Introduction to leadership: There are numerous organisations prevailing in the todays world. Each and every member of an organisation aspires to have an ideal leader who can create an environment of trust, ownership among employees and is able to steer the organisation in a balanced way both in good as well as hard times of the organisation. As said by Admiral Burke, US Navy-Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure. But there remains a big question- What are the characteristics of a good leader? or How to assess if a person is worthy of leading a group or an organisation? During the following analysis, findings and practical scenarios I would try and find answers to the questions mentioned above. Theoretical approach to leadership: There have been numerous theories discussing several aspects of leadership and different styles in which it is practiced. The earliest being the Trait theory of Leadership which was worked upon and analysed at length as early as around mid-1850. This theory was primarily interested in the measurement of traits of persons which can be defined as habitual patterns of emotion, behaviour and thoughts. This theory strongly believes that the traits of a person are in-born and remain constant over life lime and hence it concluded that Leaders were born, not developed. In contrast to this theory, some other theories which came up in  late 1940s and early 1950s stated persons who are Leaders in one situation may not necessarily be leaders in other situations. These theories took into account the macro environment and took into consideration various factors affecting the decisions and behaviour of the leaders. The criticism of Trait theory by many researchers taking into account its shortcom ings, led them in an alternate theory, the Theory of Behaviour and Style. This theory led to study of Managerial Grid Model which suggested five different leadership styles, based on the leaders concern for people and their concern for goal achievement. A graphical representation of the managerial grid model is shown below. However many researchers believed that different situations call for different characteristics and this led to development of Situational and Contingency Theory. This theory stated that the actions and behaviour of a leader were largely influenced by characteristics of the situation in which he functions. The most promising model for this theory was developed by Fred Fiedler and is known as Fiedler contingency model. He believed that The leaders effectiveness is based on situational contingency which is a result of interaction of two factors:  Leadership style  and  Situational favourableness. As the leader I have chosen to analyse best suits to this style of leadership, Contingency Theory would be the basis of my analysis about his leadership style. Fiedlers Contingency Theory and Mr Vineet Nayyar: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, noticeable industrial and business psychologists: Fiedler and Woodward started to study the leadership and behaviour styles of leaders and managers. Earlier to Fiedlers study, industrial psychologists mainly focussed on personal traits of influential leaders. They believed that there was only one best way to run an organisation which produced best results and most effective business practices. The reason of Fiedlers model influencing most researchers was that it denied one best way and perfectly fit in modern highly complex organisations where scenarios and environment of leaders kept changing more often. Fiedlers model assessed a potential leader with a scale of work style ranging from Task-Oriented on one end to Relationship-Oriented on the other. The other important factor which affected behaviour was the contextual circumstances in which the group operates. This is furthermore supported by three contextual variables affecting appropriateness of a particular style. These are: Leader-member relations, Task Structure and Leader Position Power. The diagram below depicts the model. Mr Vineet Nayyar, 70, is the Vice Chairman Managing Director of Tech Mahindra since 2005 and the Chairman of Mahindra Satyam since 2009 after its acquisition by Tech Mahindra. He is an accomplished leader and has led many organisations across his career span of 40 years. He has worked closely with Indian Government (an IAS Indian Administrative Services official),  international multilateral agencies and the corporate sector (both public and private). While in government, he has taken many senior positions as District Magistrate and Secretary of Government Administration. He has also been part of the World Bank for over 10 Years. In corporate sector, he was founding Chairman and Managing Director of state owned Gas Authority of India, MD and V Chairman of HCL Technologies. He holds a Masters degree in Development Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts. Vineet is undoubtedly an outstanding leader and a role model for employees at Tech Mahindra. During his 6 years tenure, he has taken several crucial decisions which have impacted the organisation positively and have created a sense of trust which I believe is the most important characteristic of being a leader of an organisation. Year after year he has won excellent feedback scores from employees of the organisation which are evident of his leadership qualities. Along with high employee satisfaction, his role as a leader of organisation was backed up with exponential growth of the organisation. The company has doubled its size both in man power as well as the total business sales. It has also acquired three organisations, Axes Technologies (India) Private Limited, iPolicy Networks Private Limited and Satyam Computer Services Ltd since 2005. As suggested by Fiedlers Contingency theory, Leaders behavioural style is majorly impacted by environment around him. Over the last 5 years, Asian and Global economy have seen many highs and lows. During the time when Vineet entered into Tech Mahindra, global economy was on a steady rise. He saw this as huge opportunity for Tech Mahindra, and the company under his leadership launched an extremely successful IPO (Initial Public Offer) in 2006, through which the organisation raised around $100 million to build a new development centre at Pune, India estimating an employee seating capacity of 9000. This proved a highly motivating factor for employees of the organisation, as the company was then listed in Indian Stock Exchange which added to the credibility and popularity of the organisation. As the IPO was a huge success, the employees of Tech Mahindra were given bonus shares on completing 20 years of Tech Mahindra in 2006. This move increased the sense of ownership and the level of com mitment of the employees towards the organisation. As the economy continued to flourish, the company gained new and potential clients along with existing customers which added to exponential rise in companys physical and liquid assets. Under Vineets leadership, Tech Mahindra increased footprints across India and the globe. It has added four new development centres in India along with several overseas site offices across Asia Pacific, Europe, Americas, Middle East and Africa. Companys headcount increased from 16,500 in 2005 to 35,200 in 2010. As the company grew stronger and bigger, it created more jobs for people and was being trusted as a safe company considering job stabilization. These positive factors, along with Vineets influential leadership skills, resulted in a favourable situation which directly proved to have a positive effect on group performance. Leader-member relations were Good along with High task structure. With new development centres coming into operation, there were revised processes and policies which clearly defi ned each employees roles and responsibilities. Every employee was being given a task to set-up his goals at the start of the year which were then finalized along with supervisors feedback. There were team/individual meetings/skip level meetings to highlight any concerns, feedback or comments related to employees work. All this resulted in High Task structure. All the groups/teams were headed by a team-lead and a supervisor who had full authority to assign and monitor tasks for individuals in the group. These people also had the authority to recommend outstanding performers for rewards and awards every quarter. Hence we can consider Leader Position power also to be High thus resulting in High Favourableness of the situation. The most appropriate Behavioural style hence can be conceived as Low LPC, Task Oriented. However along with Task Oriented leadership style, Vineet was also inclined towards Relationship-Oriented behaviour as the company was doing well. Organisation incorporated s everal awards which were to be given to high performers and distribute bonuses among employees. There was high employee satisfaction resulting in improved overall group performances. The economy continued to grow till early 2008 after which there was a steep downturn. The economic turmoil in United States and Europe had a direct impact on Tech Mahindra as all of its major clients belong to this geography. This was a drastic change of environment for Vineet and he had to adjust his leadership style with the changing scenario. Vineet along with his management team had to churn out cost affective task driven methods to cope up with the ever increasing pressure of dipping economy and demanding clients. There were many changes in company processes to make them streamlined and cost effective. As the economy further weakened, many employees were discontinued from their roles in order to maintain an even position on operating the projects. Employee Assessment and Appraisal Process was reviewed as company was now operating on less operating profits. All the overhead costs were minimized and bonuses were cut-off. This lead to decreased employee satisfaction and hampered te am performances. During the same time period (2009) Tech Mahindra emerged as the highest bidder to scam hit Satyam Computers Ltd (Later renamed as Mahindra Satyam after takeover). Vineet was appointed as the Chairman of Mahindra Satyam taking into account his excellent service to Tech Mahindra over the years. His past experiences and characteristics as a leader both proved to be the deciding factor for this decision. Economic downturn coupled with accounting scam was a nightmare for employees of Mahindra Satyam. With a strong headcount of around 45,000, Mahindra Satyam due to its tainted image and lost credibility lost many major clients. Its operating profits came down to negative and the company was very difficult to sustain. Vineet and his team carried out series of management and process changes in Mahindra Satyam to improve its position in the market. Rebranding Satyam Computers to Mahindra Satyam was one such move. The association to Mahindra Mahindra group instilled an increased sense of cred ibility. There were internal exchange placements within Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam to utilize excessive man power and Tech Mahindra slowed its external recruitment process. Many employees of Mahindra Satyam who did not have a good performance assessment were handed pink-slips. It was crucial for Mahindra Satyam to rebuild itself and regain its place in the IT Industry. A series of similar stern changes and developments took in Mahindra Satyam over the next few months. All these changes in Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam led to decreased employee satisfaction. Employees were not given enough salary hikes and promotions were delayed. As more and more employees were terminated due to low operating margins, the team sizes grew smaller resulting in increased work pressure. This did not have a good effect on Leader-member relations and could be termed as Bad. Task structure also dropped to Low as there was increased workload due to less team members. Existing team members were un clear about the added responsibilities they had to partake which were an overhead to their already existing responsibilities. Leader position power still remained Strong as there was constant supervision on performance of the individuals. All these factors resulted in Low Favourableness of situation and behavioural style can hence be concluded as Low LPC Highly Task-oriented. Conclusion: With all the above evidences and instances of effect of external forces on leadership style of Vineet Nayyar, I can strongly conclude that leadership behaviour of leaders change with circumstances. A good leader is judged as to how he transforms his behaviour under different situations and choosing the correct style of leadership. Citing all the above instances of leadership and analysing them with theory as mentioned by Fiedler concludes that Fiedlers Contingency theorem aptly fits Vineet Nayyars leadership style. As the scenarios and macro environment changes rapidly, leadership as a vast pool of possible operative styles was a ground-breaking idea by Fiedler. It is in my virtue a common idea in modern management theories which rejects a stiff assumption about ideal management. Culture Introduction to culture: Culture: A word having its origins from Latin word Cultura which means to cultivate. Culture is a word having numerous meanings and definitions and is often the integral part of any organisation present today. Gareth Morgan has described organizational culture as: The set of the set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events and personalities that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides the context for action in it and by it. Organisational culture is hard to explain and is similar to other intangible entities which can just be experienced by the virtue of it being into existence. With the size and complexity of organisations varying from a few to thousands, it is a vital and integral part of any organisation. It is in modern era, a characteristic of an organisation which mirrors the environment prevailing in the same and distinguishes it from others based on its Values, Rites, Rituals and cultural network. During the following text, I have tried examining organisational culture at Tech Mahindra based on theoretical and practical approaches. Theoretical approach to culture: Organisational culture has been analysed and defined by many anthropologists and sociologists including Deal and Kennedy, Charles Handy, Edgar Schein, Robert A. Cooke and many more. All the researchers have defined Culture in many different forms as it is very difficult to express it distinctly. Every person when becomes a part of organisation, becomes a part of its culture. He understands, learns, inherits and then practices culture at organisation through his distinct ways. Schein has broadly classified the nature of culture as layered phenomena having three levels of visibility. These are: Basic Assumptions, Values and Beliefs and Artefacts and Creations. He has further emphasized that these three layers of visible culture interact among themselves and do not stand out from each other. A graphical representation is shown below. Many different models exist which differentiate culture on the basis of its nature prevailing in different organisations. One of which is suggested by Peters and Waterman called the Characteristics of Excellent Companies. The authors studied cultures at some of the most successful organisations and came up with a list of common idealized practices within those organisations. This was by some viewed as One best culture and received strong criticisms by many researchers. Another model was suggested by Goffee and Jones which is also called as The Goffee and Jones Contingency Framework. This was a more modern approach to organisational culture and suggested the dependency of culture on business environments. They opposed the theory of one Right or Best culture for various organisations. Their framework could be depicted based on two dimensions: Sociability and Solidarity. These two dimensions were rated from Good to Bad and a four cubes structure was drawn. They suggested that an organisation could have one or a mix of these four cultures: The Communal culture, the Networked culture, the Mercury culture and the Fragmented culture. Taking the example of Tech Mahindra, I would be closely following this technique to examine its culture rated on Sociability and Solidarity. Culture at Tech Mahindra: Tech Mahindra is a large organisation with around 35,000 employees around the globe. Tech Mahindra recruits fresh college graduates every year in large numbers. Just after these college graduates join the company, on their appointment day, are exposed to a series of induction processes. These include registration processes, induction speech from the head of HR department and many similar interactive sessions of what is expected out of an employee at Tech Mahindra. All these sessions talk about the value offered by Tech Mahindra culture and how these values are important to adapt by all the employees. The new employees are then divided into batches and are allotted to various Initial Training Programs (ITP and the employees are then called ITPians) based on their background studies. This ITP course extends around 4 months in which ITPians undergo various Technical and Behavioural trainings which prepares an ITPian to accept the challenge which his job offers. During the Behavioural tr aining there are numerous sessions about Code of Conduct, Company dress code, Tech Mahindra rewards programs, emphasis on Quality work, Information Security and bonuses linked to performance. All the employees are asked to follow a strict dress code which is Business formals from Monday to Thursday. Employees are allowed to wear Business Casuals, i.e. Jeans and Collared T Shirts on Friday. This dress code is strictly followed and its Managers responsibility for counselling defaulting team members thereby facilitating adherence to the Companys policy. Any choice of casual wear which is revealing, excessively form fitted or worn out is strictly not allowed. There are instances where many employers do not have such kinds of regulations on dress code like Google. This however can be long debated over and over again with no firm outcome. In my opinion having a dress code is a good measure to create and maintain a healthy and professional environment across the organisation. The ITPians are briefed about Code of Conduct policies of Tech Mahindra about which they are asked to listen attentively. They are briefed of how they shall follow the applicable legal framework of the country in which they operate. Employees are expected to know and to understand the legal obligations applicable while performing their duties and discharging their responsibilities on the job. Ignorance cannot be an excuse for violation of law. They are also told to compete fairly with their competitors and maintain highest possible standards of integrity and ethics in every sphere of activity. ITPians are briefed that they shall not put their personal problems over organisational needs. Employees are always expected to protect and nurture the Companys interests all the time and remain independent in any decision that they may be required to take. They are told not to offer or accept gifts, hospitality or other inducements, which influence a decision, or engage in any form of bribery.

Analysis of major characters in 1984 Essay -- essays research papers

Analysis of Major Characters John - Although Bernard Marx <javascript:CharacterWindow('http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bravenew/terms/char_2.html', '0b1405ef1f', 500);> is the primary character in Brave New World up until his visit with Lenina <javascript:CharacterWindow('http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/bravenew/terms/char_4.html', '55db940fc2', 500);> to the Reservation, after that point he fades into the background and John becomes the central protagonist. John first enters the story as he expresses an interest in participating in the Indian religious ritual from which Bernard and Lenina recoil. John's desire first marks him as an outsider among the Indians, since he is not allowed to participate in their ritual. It also demonstrates the huge cultural divide between him and World State society, since Bernard and Lenina see the tribal ritual as disgusting. John becomes the central character of the novel because, rejected both by the "savage" Indian culture and the "civilized" World S tate culture, he is the ultimate outsider. As an outsider, John takes his values from a more than 900-year-old author, William Shakespeare. John's extensive knowledge of Shakespeare's works serves him in several important ways: it enables him to verbalize his own complex emotions and reactions, it provides him with a framework from which to criticize World State values, and it provides him with language that allows him to hold his own against the formidable rhetorical skill of Mustapha Mond during their confrontation. On the other hand, John's insistence on viewing the world through Shakespearean eyes sometimes blinds him to the reality of other characters, notably Lenina, who, in his mind, is alternately a heroine and a "strumpet," neither of which label is quite appropriate to her.) Shakespeare embodies all of the human and humanitarian values that have been abandoned in the World State. John's rejection of the shallow happiness of the World State, his inability to reconcile his love and lust for Lenina, and even his eventual suicide all reflect themes from Shakespeare. He is himself a Shakespearean character in a world where any poetry that does not sell a product is prohibited. John's naà ¯ve optimism about the World State, expressed in the words from The Tempest that constitute the novel's title, is crushed when he comes into direct co... ...ention of mothers, fathers, and marriage-concepts that are vulgar and ridiculous in the World State. The conversations between Helmholtz illustrate that even the most reflective and intelligent World State member is defined by the culture in which he has been raised. Mustapha Mond - Mustapha Mond is the most powerful and intelligent proponent of the World State. Early in the novel, it is his voice that explains the history of the World State and the philosophy upon which it is based. Later in the novel it is his debate with John that lays out the fundamental difference in values between World State society and the kind of society represented in Shakespeare's plays. Mustapha Mond is a paradoxical figure. He reads Shakespeare and the Bible and he used to be an independent-minded scientist, but he also censors new ideas and controls a totalitarian state. For Mond, humankind's ultimate goals are stability and happiness, as opposed to emotions, human relations, and individual expression. By combining a firm commitment to the values of the World State with a nuanced understanding of its history and function, Mustapha Mond presents a formidable opponent for John, Bernard and Helmholtz.

Music Is Cool!!! :: essays research papers

I love music my TWO greatest type of genries are Rap and Alternative. I was really surprised how great that DR. Dre did! I think that Eminem and dre are great. Eminem is definetlt a new era of a rap star he is puttin out some mad skillz. Papa Roach has just came out with a super great song that is called last resort.I play basketball and i am a very emotional person i like songs that have a deep impact on me and a true meaning. Here is how the billboard charts are as of today:1 1 8 'N Sync: No Strings Attached 7 Jive | 41702 1 2 - 1 Soundtrack: Mission:Impossible 2 Hollywood | 162244 2 3 6 48 Santana: Supernatural 12 Arista | 19080 1 4 3 24 Sisqo: Unleash The Dragon 4 Dragon/Def Soul | 546816* 2 5 4 4 Joe: My Name Is Joe Jive | 41703 2 6 7 33 Creed: Human Clay 4 Wind-up | 13053* 1 7 5 3 Toni Braxton: The Heat LaFace | 26069 2 8 2 2 504 Boyz: Goodfellas No Limit | 50722* 2 9 14 37 Dixie Chicks: Fly 5 Monument | 69678 1 10 16 27 Faith Hill: Breathe 3 Warner Bros. (Nashville) | 47373 1 11 15 42 Macy Gray: On How Life Is 2 Epic | 69490* 4 12 9 42 Destiny's Child: The Writing's On The Wall 4 Columbia | 69870* 5 13 11 72 Kid Rock: Devil Without A Cause 8 Lava/Atlantic | 83119* 4 14 12 26 Dr. Dre: Dr. Dre -- 2001 4 Aftermath | 490486* 2 15 8 3 Cypress Hill: Skull & Bones Columbia | 69990* 5 16 10 20 Jay-Z: Vol. 3... Life And Times Of S. Carter 2 Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam | 546822* 1 17 20 14 3 Doors Down: The Better Life Republic | 153920 17 18 13 21 DMX: ...And Then There Was X 3 Ruff Ryders/Def Jam | 546933* 1 19 - 1 Hanson: This Time Around MOE/Island | 542383 19 20 18 38 Christina Aguilera: Christina Aguilera 6 RCA | 67690 1 21 - 1 Mandy Moore: I Wanna Be With You 550 Music | 62195 21 22 31 26 Celine Dion: All The Way... A Decade Of Song 6 550 Music | 63760 1 23 26 33 Marc Anthony: Marc Anthony 2 Columbia | 69726* 8 24 19 5 No Doubt: Return Of

Conditions according to John Casey impact on Police Practice and Community Policing Essay

â€Å"Critically examine the conditions, which according to author John Casey impact both positively and negatively on the police practice required to implement a community policing strategy† There are a variety of conditions according to John Casey that impact both positively and negatively on police practice and on community policing strategies. Some impacts on these strategies are the types of model police practices such as democratic Anglo-peelian, continental, developing, and authoritarian regimes. Other conditions that impact on police practice and community policing strategies such as; country stability, community cohesion, pay rates of police, trust within the community and police, political agenda, resources for the police and means for reform and many more. Some of the most easily identified negative impacts that Casey (2010) expresses is the ethnic minorities in communities and the negative impacts that he explains reflected within these situations. Reinforcing these conditions and helping to express Casey’s (2010) concepts of impacts on police practice and community policing is Skolnick and Bayley, (1988) in ‘Theme and Variation in Community Policing’ as well as the Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services, (2010) in ‘Community Policing Strategies’, Cordner (1995) in ‘Community policing: elements and effects’ and also Tyler (2005) with ‘Policing in black and white: Ethnic group differences in trust and confidence in the police’. A combination of Casey and these other authors can help to explain and identify the positive and negative conditions that impact on police practice and implementation of a community policing strategy. Before looking at individual conditions that positively and negatively impact directly on police practice and community policing, the main models of policing such as Anglo-peelian, continental, developing and authoritarian have shaped the current conditions. According to Casey (2010), Skolnick and Bayley, (1988) as well as the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth services (2010) there is no one true meaning as to what community policing is as the meaning changes from culture and geographical location. In the past according to Cordner (1995), the idea of community policing was considered to be only an aspiration, but not an operational concept, which is still valid in some countries that are still developing. To this day though the concept of community based policing can basically be defined as working with a community, engage with it and co-operate together for the benefit of both the community (also known as the geographic residents of an area) and the police (Casey 2010). Casey (2010) argues how the idea and concept of community policing is now a global aspiration or goal for most countries in their policing practices, but it is important to recognize that the meaning is different for each country and may not be evenly used throughout. Development is still undergoing (Cordner 1995), but community policing is very much active now (Casey 2010). Anglo-Peelian (also known as democratic) mode is one of the main policing models in Western societies. The advantages that Casey (2010) explains are the effective response of police, better methods of preventing crime, more effective work and information by working with communities, making the citizen central is paramount in this model of policing. It is also effective as it can easily balance community welfare and the initial crime prevention roles and actions that the police undertake. In contrast to this approach, the continental policing model is similar to an extent. This can be seen from the basic principles for the reasoning of need for the introduction of community policing, (even though the continental community policing comes under a different name known as neighborhood policing (Casey 2010). The primary difference can be seen within the policing practice, for example, the continental policing practice such as in France, focuses on being more present in the community and operating in the community, as opposed to actually working with the community such as in the Anglo-peelian model. Another difference between these two policing models is that with the continental model according to Casey (2010), focuses more primarily on actual geographical locations, more central policing practice and state focused on militarized policing rather than emphasis on ethnic and racial minorities and communities such as the Anglo-peelian model. Developing countries are limited as they don’t have the growing and stable economy or community to generally maintain an effective community policing strategy. Majority of the police in developing countries are highly corrupt as a result of lack of morale, low pay, corruption and many other reasons. Countries still developing their communities within them are self-policing and governing rather than police governing. Skolnick and Bayley (1988) emphasis the limitations that models such as for developing countries may face as a result of lack of funds and resources to effectively improve the police standard and community policing. Finally the last policing model, the authoritarian practice according to Casey (2010) is said to be actually moving away from the general attempts to implement community policing in society such as within china (Skolnick and Bayley 1988). Community based policing encourages the cooperation of police and residents within communities. Without trust and co-operation such as found within the strict authoritarian model, there is a lack of information of crimes, possible minorities may form in retaliation of the policing strategies, and individuals may start to feel marginalised as well. There are positives and negatives found within all these different types of policing practices. There are a number of conditions that are concern and determine the effectiveness of policing practice and community policing. There are both positive and negative impacts of these conditions. Some general conditions according to Casey (2010) revolve around the stability of the community and the co-operation and cohesion of this community. For the concept of community policing to work, there must be a sense of stability within the community, trust with the police, belief of the community that the police are generally interested in the benefit of the community (Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services, 2010), the belief and will of the country and community political commitment to help reform and provide a better form of safety and cohesion of the community for its own benefit. Another concept that is argued again is the resources of the police and government in different countries that allow the functioning of these policing practices being undertaken. For example, in developing countries, there are not usually any resources to apply these policing practices. Therefore also due to these different conditions within this country such as South Africa for example, there won’t be a positive effect of community based policing strategy; because of culture and other impacts on the type of communities and the running of the country will not allow for the community policing as opposed to other western countries such as how well it would benefit Australia. Other conditions that Casey (2010) also expresses that impact on the implementation of community policing, such as the connection and networks of the community with itself, the police and also other international organizations which is fundamental in positive direction of community policing and the practice worldwide. These conditions are greatly influential and impact on the positive or negative effects of community policing and policing practice globally. To further examine these impacts and conditions an example where all these conditions interplay with the policing practice and community policing can be seen with ethnic groups, minorities such as in multicultural Australia. Due to discrimination, some groups of people may feel stigmatized or marginalized in society. Some people that come to Australia may already have a negative idea and concept of police from their previous country which will make it harder for Australian police to connect and build trust with these individuals. Although these conditions play a major role in the policing practice, it may be found that some problems that rise is over-policing on these ethnic groups and discriminating against them. A negative side-effect of this is possible ethnic based gangs who prey on their own community (Casey 2010) and develop distrust and rift between the community and the police, disrupting the progression for a desired community based policing strategy. As Tyler (2005) states, the trust in the police and the community is usually to have low morale and cooperation due to distrust, a sense of unfairness in policies and regulations surrounding these minorities and also the way in which the police conduct their policing. If the police and these groups worked together for community safety, other benefits such as allowing effective social preventative procedures, proactive partnerships, responsive and confidence in community and police co-operation, better trust between community, mutually beneficial ties, creating local-level accountability, working with other agencies and NGO’s to better help efficiency in operation would occur and build a stronger overall wellbeing and cohesion. In conclusion, Casey (2010), demonstrates that there are a variety of different negative and positive aspects of community policing and policing practices. It is also evident through Casey’s work (2010) and also a variety of other authors, the different conditions arise and impact on the implementation of these community based strategies such as policing type models and community stability, resources and many more. There are a variety of positive and negative impacts according to John Casey that impact on police practice and community policing. References Casey, J. 2010. Comparing Policing Strategies. In Policing the World: The practice of International and Transnational Policing. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, pp. 58 – 87 Cordner, G. 1995. Community policing: elements and effects. Police forum: Academy of criminal justice sciences police section, 5 (3), pp. 1 – 16. Ontario Ministry Of Children And Youth Services. 2010. Community Policing Stategies. Review of the roots of youth violence: a review of major theoretical perspectives, 5 [Accessed: 4 Sep 2013]. Skolnick, J. and Bayley, D. 1988. Theme and Variation in Community Policing. Crime and Justice, 10 pp. 1 – 37. Tyler, T. 2005. Policing in black and white: Ethnic group differences in trust and confidence in the police. Police Quarterly, 8 (3), pp. 322—342

Coca Cola Organization

The Coca Cola Company, founded in 1886 in Atlanta, the United States, is the world’s largest nonalcoholic beverage company. Coca Cola currently owns and markets more than 500 beverage brands (Anonymous, 2010), including waters, sports and energy drinks, juices, tea and coffee, which are distributed in over 200 countries throughout the world.Along with Coca Cola, the company also owns Sprite, Fanta and Diet Coke, which are four of the world’s top five nonalcoholic beverage brands (Anonymous, 2010). As a company with a history of over 120 years, the Coca Cola Company now has an operating structure with seven operating segments and approximately 139,600 worldwide employees (Anonymous, 2010). Today, Coca Cola has subsidiaries around the world and has developed its own management and distribution system.The relative data and evidences shown in the following analysis will illustrate the effectiveness of the current structure model of Coca Cola and how managers of Coca Cola ap plied the hybrid structure to manage the subsidiaries in different regions efficiently and the strategy of decentralization to reduce the management cost and improve autonomy of these different departments. Furthermore, Coca Cola values its unique organizational culture and has set different mission, vision and values to guide the organization, the segments, and its teams.These invisible forces have been serving as the â€Å"Roadmap† for the company to achieve the long-term goals. In the second part of the report of the company culture, facts and stories mentioned would give examples and interpret how the â€Å"liability of a strong culture† could impact Coca Cola’s competitiveness and why it is so important for Coca Cola to understand customers’ needs in order to introduce more customer-orientated organizational culture rather than outcome-oriented culture. Organizational StructureCoca Cola is a typical complex organization by having seven operative unit s in geographic areas around the world, six functional departments being responsible for different tasks and a diversified labor force from different nations. Additionally, a combined characteristic of Mechanism and Organism is also one of most representative features of complexity. Under this structure, employees can not only improve their performance to the maximum level, but they also help the company expand global market and adapt the changing environment.The Coca Cola Company currently employs approximately 139,600 employees (Anonymous, 2010). According to a general organizational chart stemmed from the company’s website, the division of labor is based on diverse job designs which exist specific rules and regulations to direct employees and managers. There are at least 5 hierarchical levels in the corporate. At each level, for instance, one regional director supervises about 10 subordinates on average; therefore, the span of control is fairly wide.And based on the inform ation of its website, the geographic regions are broken down into the diverse units that are located round the world, which are mainly North America, Middle East, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and finally Africa. And then, each subunit has its own organizational structure based on functional departmentalization. For example, in North America, its major departments are marketing, finance, and packaging, sales, and research and development administration.In addition to that, in terms of the division of the authority, originally, the company has a more centralized structure, which the decision is mainly made by a high-level management, and the communication is restricted due to the hierarchy of the authority. However, as Coca Cola encounters uncertain environments when it expands of its business, the organization realizes that it must meet the changing demands of its customers to win their business.Thus, Coca Cola began to push towards decentralization in the nineties and even m ore recently (Fox, 2007), which means that decisions are made on a more local level and communication can spread freely to quickly react to conspicuous market demands. Simultaneously, higher-level management can have the authority to take control of the overall strategies and concentrate on the company’s distal goal. The Coca Coca’s big success is not only due to its continuing effort on producing different beverage, but also its moderate organizational structure plays a salient role.Firstly, because the Coca Cola Company, based on the annual report, has over 400 products, the product structure seems to be too costly and unrealistic to implement. Therefore, the multidivisional structure is an appropriate structure and brings benefit for the company. A significant strength of this structure can allow the company to react to changing and uncertain environments while also maintaining a level of stability. Moreover, the specific decision and strategy can be made by regiona l managers to suit particular situation of one area without triggering some conflicts.For example, when one region wants to conduct a specific marketing promotional strategy which is not be appropriate for another region due to the diverse marketing environment, so decisions about specific marketing tactics are made closer to that region. And thirdly, within each region, the structure is mainly divided based on the functional departmentalization, and undoubtedly, communication among each functional unit’s members is free and efficient because of the same knowledge and expertise. Thus, the work and decision can be done more efficiently.Another big beauty of its structure is the mix of both centralization and decentralization to run the business. According to an article â€Å"Changes in the Organization of Work: An Empirical Assessment† stemmed from a journal of International Conference Proceedings, it concludes that a more decentralized hierarchy improves coordination a nd reduce monitoring costs. And eventually, since employees are guaranteed more flexibility from the workplaces, more job satisfaction can be acquired through more tasks autonomy and responsibilities.As a result, it will lead to complementarily effects, which productivity gains can arise. From this perspective, Coca Cola seems to get benefits from this structure change. On one hand, a centralized structure remained at top level is to help senior managers take control of power and provide a distal goal for the whole organization. On the other hand, pushing decentralization also works well in the local units. Because employees can perform tasks from beginning to the end, they can figure out problems and have opinions through the working process.And, additionally, under the decentralized structure, the communication is freely flowing. Employees are more encouraged to express opinions and provide recommendations for company’s operation at the weekly me eting, and gradually, a par ticipative and communicative environment is formed which leads to employees’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment. An article appeared in Business Europe (Bogomolny, 2004) had the following information: â€Å"According to Jon Chandler, director of communications for Europe, the responsibility for getting it right – and for profit – is firmly at the local level (p. ). † Obviously, productivity increased and company gets the profit in return via this structure. To sum up, it appears that the Coca Cola Company is pursuing for a hybrid structure, which take advantages of both mechanistic and organic structures, while trying to minimize negative effects of each. According to the research above, it seems that the organization works well after all the changes implemented. However, after the in-depth analysis of the organizational structure, one subtle recommendation can be addressed.According to â€Å"Committee on Management and Productivity†, i t is beneficial for all levels of company to put various customers’ needs into consideration when designing organizational structure So although the Coca-Cola possesses a hybrid structure, its structure does not adequately focus on the customer side. In order to delivering the best value to customers, a part of structure needs to serve the customers in terms of dividing them into different generations. The reason for this suggestion is that customers are picky and are facing abundant choices of beverage currently, and they also more care about their health. Jones, 2007) Thus, a more cautious decision will be made by customers while purchasing the beverage. Reasonably, if the Coca-Cola Company should focus more on customers to analyze their preference based on different segments, and provides adequate relevant training which guided the employees to deliver satisfied good and service to customers. Consequently, the company can produce the ideal beverage to reach the expectation of different generation, and may acquire a profitable benefit in return. Organizational CultureOne of the most important building blocks for the high success of the Coca Cola Company is its organizational culture. The culture of the Coca Cola Company is mission-driven: focused on refreshing the mind, inspiring optimism, and making a difference (thecoca-colacompany. com). This durable mission facilitates Coca Cola in creating innovation, people orientation, diversity and an aggressive culture since John Pemberton founded it in 1886. The Coca Cola Company has reached its current strong culture through decades’ effort.Employees share the common values that the company provides leadership, collaboration, integrity, accountability, passion, diversity, and quality (thecoca-colacompany. com). In 2004, the Coca Cola Company came to a reinvigorating stage. E. Neville Isdell was nominated as the new chairman of the board and CEO of the Coca Cola Company. Due to the health and wellness trend, increasing competition in the beverage industry and a series of top leadership changes, Coca Cola had been experiencing hugely decreasing soft drink sales.By engaging in an open dialogue about the company’s values and future development among 150 managers from worldwide divisions, a â€Å"new vision for the sustainable growth† has emerged (Andrew Martin, 2007). This new vision achieved an aggressive marketing strategy by refreshing the coke brand and laid particular stress on advertisement and product development (Andrew Martin, 2007). From the perspective of the dimensions of the culture, Coca Cola wants to be innovative while they are risk-averse. The company becomes more open and flexible since it gives its employees more rights.It remains aggressive at sales. Lastly, after the 2004 change, the company has become stable and gotten rid of its previous dysfunctional status (Andrew Martin, 2007). Ultimately, the company is measured by its stock value, which saw great increases through the rest of 2005 (see graph 1 in Appendix). In general, the current culture of Coca Cola Company is very effective. Based on the theory of organizational culture and effectiveness, a practical organizational culture has four fundamental traits: involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission (Denision and Mishra, 1995).Two of these traits, involvement and consistency, are indicators of openness, flexibility and responsiveness, and are strong predictors of growth. After the changes in 2004, Coca Cola Company favors increasing face-to-face interaction, providing more constructive feedbacks and generating an ideas sharing atmosphere. All of those improvements and changes allow Coca Cola getting open and flexible. Additionally, due to organization focuses more on the opinions and thoughts from lower level of employees, and grants them power to make their own choices under certain level.The communication and awareness in Coca Cola increase from 65% to 76% (Di anne, 2008). Openness and flexibility contribute significantly to the vision of driving long-term sustainable growth by accelerating innovation and employee’s engagement and satisfaction. The other two traits, consistency and mission, are not only indicators of integration, direction and vision, but also are better predictors of profitability (Denision and Mishra, 1995). The culture of Coca Cola is guided by its enduring mission, which is to be the largest beverage company in the world since it was founded in 1886.This clear objective directs both employers and employees to create values and make differences for organization. Besides, the vision of Coca Cola, which is people, portfolio, profit, partners, planet, profit and productivity, declares that the employees need to achieve sustainable growth and great profits. Overall, the culture in Coca Cola Company properly reflects four traits, and fosters the effectiveness in the whole organization. What is more, both before and a fter the change, the company has been emphasized the aggressiveness on sales for a long time.It is easy to arouse some immoral competitions between the companies and the employees. But after the implementation of the â€Å"manifesto for change† policy (Gordon, 2008), which is aimed to improve environment responsibilities, self-discipline at corporate level and social responsibilities. Therefore, the ethic of the organization has been improved significantly, which makes the Coca Cola Company a better and more stable workplace. However, there are two shortcomings in the current culture. First, the Coca Cola Company has hesitated to reinvest and take risks.In 2005, the Coca Cola Company introduced 2 new products, the Coke Zero and the Diet Coke. Luckily, the Diet Coke took the Pepsi cola’s place and became the No. 2 soda in the US. Unfortunately, the company only improved its product based on its original products. Although Coca Cola has raised the new missions of carryin g out health and fitness, due to its resistance to change and one step slower than Pepsi, it has merely no effect. This is exactly the liability of strong culture—resistance to change. Considering the long run sustainable growth, the company should encourage innovation and all employees’ participation.At first, reduce barriers of information flows within the organization. Managers must make sure that people can access resources whenever they need. Secondly, reward employees for practical ideas. Management should not only provide premium to creativity ideas, but try to find out and stratify employees’ internal needs. Thirdly, participation can always help to overcome resistance to innovation. When employees actually involve into the organization, they would realize some flaws of existing products. And this will stimulate them to get fascinating thoughts and ideas.Lastly, it is necessary to get supports and encouragements from managers. Moreover, company can intro duce new members to speed up the change because new blood can always bring fresh visions into organization. Second, currently, the Coca Cola Company is outcome orientation and aggressive on sales. In order to match with its new culture, the company should better move towards the strong establishment of basic values and assumption. Therefore, the company can turn to other direction and explode a new dimension of culture for a better fit.First of all, pay more attention to the customers and employees by fulfilling the healthy ideas and assumptions penetrated to them level by level and gradually, they can harbor those views to establish a norm which is to chase a healthy lifestyle. Secondly, since the brand has already been highly recognizable, what the company needs to do next is to animate the brand. By taking actions of inventing some rituals and create more stories, it can also set up some employee orientations to share the work experiences and internalize the organization basic as sumptions.Moreover, the company needs to bring in more new members in order to better change the aggressive culture to a friendlier one. In conclusion, it is always difficult for companies to change their business culture, especially for Coca Cola, a large and stable organization with a hundred years of history. In order to keep growing and thriving, Coca Cola should try to look ahead and make internal changes to adapt to the outer environment. In fact, whether introducing new cultures or changing the current culture, managers should first let these values or beliefs infiltrate the organizational members’ minds.Only when these values and beliefs are commonly accepted by the organizational members, can they form a new culture. However, people’s values are hard to change. By increasing communication with employees, rewarding desirable behaviors, encouraging participation and offering necessary support, Coca Cola’s managers can avoid unnecessary losses. Moreover, p roper structure design can benefit large multinational corporations like Coca Cola by allocating resources and assigning personnel more efficiently and effectively.Decentralization of the organization’s structure offers more flexibility to Coca Cola’s local subsidiaries in different regions and can also reduce conflicts between departments. A hybrid structure requires Coca Cola to develop more understanding of customers’ needs, which is the most important force to push the organization forward. Overall, the analysis mentioned above illustrates that a strong business culture should always remain responsive to change, and a well-designed corporate structure is important for the organizational effectiveness. Reference Bogomolny, L. (2004). â€Å"Thirst for change. Canadian Business, Vol. 77 Culhane, D. (2008, February). Blog logs a culture change: Coca-Cola's short-term Blog Blast takes the pulse of employees on key company values. Communication world. Retrieved f rom http://www. entrepreneur. com/tradejournals/article/173021690. html Denison, R. D. , ; Mishra, K. A. (1995). Toward a Theory of Organizational Culture Effectiveness. DOI: 10. 1287/orsc. 6. 2. 204 Fox, A. (2007, November). Refreshing a beverage company’s culture. HR Magazine, Vol. 52, No. 11. Retrieved from http://www. shrm. org/Publications/hrmagazine/PastIssues/2007/Pages/200711. spx Foust, D. (2006, August 7). Queen of pop. BusinessWeek, Retrieved from http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/06_32/b3996401. htm Gordon, D. (2010). Manifesto For Change. Retrieved from http://www. scribd. com/doc/24111308/Manifesto-for-Change Macarthur, K. (2004, May 10). Hiring of Isdell is classic Coca-Cola. Advertising Age. 75, 3-68. Martin, A. (May 27, 2007). Coke Struggles to Keep Up With Nimble Rivals. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2007/05/27/business/yourmoney/27coke. html? pagewanted=1;sq;st=nyt;scp=87 Martin, B. Wilcox, S. ; Harris, R. 2000). Committee on Manageme nt and Productivity. Transportation Research Board, NW: Washington, DC. McKay, B. , ; Terhune, C. (2004). Bottled up — behind Coke's CEO travails: A long struggle over strategy; although profits are strong, rivals are gaining cachet; all-star board calls shots; search for a red bull fighter. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), A1. Radic. D. (2004). An Enterprise Odyssey. International Conference Proceedings. p. I. 27. Solar site index. (2007). Retrieved from http://www. solarnavigator. net/sponsorship/coca_cola_chairman_neville_isdell. tm The Coca Cola Company. (2011). Retrieved from http://www. 123HelpMe. com/view. asp? id=148943. The Coca Cola Company. (2010). Retrieved from: http://www. thecoca-colacompany. com/careers/unique_culture. html http://www. thecoca-colacompany. com/ourcompany/mission_vision_values. html The Coca Cola Company. (2010). Forward Looking Statements. Retrieved from http://www. thecoca-colacompany. com/investors/pdfs/10-K_2010/03_Coca-Cola_Item1. pd f Appendix Chart 1 Quarterly Stock Price Chart (2001-2010) Retrieved from http://www. thecoca-colacompany. com/

Age Discrimination Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Age Discrimination - Research Paper Example As our nation is multicultural in its democratic set up, the policy has both legal and ethical significance in HRM. From a social perspective, in order to maintain the socio-economic stability, we should allow people to work as long as they wish. It has been assumed that diverse workforce (ethnicity, culture, language, sex, and age) would avail potential individuals with a variety of talents who will also have experience and knowledge about wide rage of customers (Weightman, 2004, p.25). For example, we have hundreds of employees who are above the age of 65 still working zealously. Moreover, it helps us save time and money to test and train new recruits. In fact, the older workers are the proven asset which can help employers in the long run. Moreover, retaining older staff would be a reasonable solution to the growing labor shortage. Obviously there are certain situations when age discrimination policy would lead to organizational crisis. However, the issue depends on the effectiveness of the HR strategy. For instance, the company should have well defined vision on individual goals and role assignment. There are certain exceptional tasks in which youngsters can outsmart elders. Therefore, elders should not be assigned to services that require high physical and mental skills. In the UK, According to the Default Retirement Age Act of 2006, employers can force workers to retire exactly at their age of 65 without paying any redundancy (BBC News). Although 65 had been considered as the common age for retirement in the United States, mandatory retirement was completely abolished since 1986 (Kerley, 2001, p.208). As mentioned earlier, we therefore, neither discriminate nor force workers to retire at their old age; instead, workers are given the privilege to choose their retirement. It would be a fallacy if we assume that young labors would perform better than the older workers. On the other hand, new candidates may not be always