THINKING SKILLS AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

THINKING SKILLS AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Finally, a conclusion shall synthesize the main points of the paper and demonstrate the continued use and viability of systematic management in post-modern management practices. Taylorism is a method of management which was formulated by Fredrick Winslow Taylor in 1911, as in the title of his monograph The Principles of Scientific Management, which aimed to enhance labor productivity and manufacturing efficiency (Zahir, Themistocleous, & Love, 2003). Taylor's background as an industrial engineer in the USA later earned him the title of the "Father of Scientific Management" (Schroeder, 2003). He analyzed worker's behaviors across industries he was involved in and determined that "One Best Way" could achieve a higher rate of production that was standardized and so cut costs to the company. He also develop a time and motion study wherein he broke down each job in a manufacturing process into its component elements and measured the duration of each component to a hundredth of a minute. This reduced the number of movements or actions that a worker needed to make in order to perform each component of the overall job. Each component could then be standardized acro ss all workers performing that job, reducing "wasted" action and increasing productivity and subsequently company profits.It was also found that the reduction in the number of actions needed to perform a total job would dramatically reduce worker fatigue (Schroeder, 2003). Taylor is noted for his study into the use of shovels, he observed that workers used the same type of shovel for a range of materials. Through systematic evaluation Taylor determined that 211/2 lb was an ideal load for a shovel, and then located or designed a variety of shovels for each type of material that could scoop that amount. Ultimately, Taylor sought to portray industrial management as an academic discipline, so that evidence-based research could be used to make informed decisions about the most effective and efficient way of maintaining a cooperative and innovate workforce that could achieve maximum productivity at minimal costs.In summary, Taylor's theory of scientific management consisted of four distin ct principles: 1. Instead of the "rule-of-thumb" of traditional work methods, tasks should be grounded in the scientific study of each task and its component parts. 2. Use systematic and standard methods to recruit, select, train, evaluate and develop each employee instead of workers continuing to train them in a passive and non-standardized manner. 3. Collaborate with workers so that systematic and standardized methods of completing a task are followed. 4. Delegate work amongst managers and workers in an equal manner to ensure that managers implement scientific management principles when planning work, and to ensure that workers actually follow-through on task procedures. In this way, Taylor approached management of work tasks as a scientific problem. After Taylor, the rapid progress of technological development paved the way for advances in statistical analyses of scientific problems. This progress led to the improvement of Taylor's systematic principles to provide more stringent quality control during the 1920s and 1930s (Miner, 2002). Quality

Advertising and Promotion- the Pills Case Study

Advertising and Promotion- the Pills - Case Study Example Beats by Dre has used this mass communication to reach out to large target customers (Ansell, Harrison and Archibald, 2007, pp. 394-400). Beats by Dre has used Television to deliver its message through its advertisement. The communication process used by Beats by Dre to communicate the Pills campaign will be explained below. Sender Through the pills campaign Beats by Dre wants to send the message that users should destroy the use of cheap generic headphone and instead use their portable wireless speakers. Encoding Through this process Beats by Dre wants to give a sense that their wireless speakers are much more improved as compared to old generic headphones. Though they are small in size it is much louder (Bitner, M. J., Brown, S. W. and Meuter, M. L. 2000, pp. 138-141). Feedback The last process in the communication process is the receiver’s response to the message sent by the source. The Pills campaign resulted in positive feedback from the customers. Answer 1.2 The UK commu nicating industry has a lot of channels through which the messages flow. The traditional form of marketing channel consists of medium, agencies, media and production units. The media is the essential component which serves as the medium through which the campaign runs. There are many forms of media like print media, television media, social media etc. Majority of the companies now uses social media and television media as their medium of communication since it involves considerably lower cost and can be done at a cheaper rate (Botschen, Thelen and Pieters, 1997, pp. 38-42). They are using the social media to drive their advertising. There are many agencies which help in the production process like the pills campaign have been done by R/GA’s London and LA offices. Their job is creating and planning the advertising for their clients. It is an independent company which helps in the efforts of the clients in selling their products or services. They can also handle the whole marke ting and branding strategies of the clients. There are many types of ad agencies in UK consisting of specialized agencies, full service agencies, Interactive agencies etc. There are separate media and production units which creates the advertisement on the basis of concept given by the company. After the production process, they hand over the media content to the ad agencies that can get with the marketing and branding aspects of it (Boulding, Staelin, Ehret and Johnston, 2005, pp. 155-159). Answer 1.3 There are many self-regulatory systems in UK like Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). They adjudicate the complaints which they receive and its awards are published widely in the media. It is recognised as established means of protecting the consumers in non-broadcast marketing. There is legal regulation which opposes the unfair competition in the sales promotion activities in UK (Brangule-Vlagsma, Pieters and Wedel, 2002, pp. 267-270). T here are a variety of legal provisions on this. These are Consumer protection legislation, Contract law, Copyright and passing off, Lotteries an Amusement Act. Copyright infringement is not uncommon in the marketing activity. There are number cases like Liverpool daily post and Express Newspaper plc where it was a case of copyright infringement. In case of absence unfair competition, the law of passing off assist the companies in protecting their sales promotion activities against ambush marketing by its competitors (Carson and Coviello, 1996, pp. 51-54). Answer 1.4 Media fragmentation is

Leadership Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leadership Plan - Assignment Example The case study describes two significant leadership roles in the form of Vince Brofft and Kelly Mueller. The daughter and father are both dedicated leaders of their own family business, American Tool & Die. The changing scenario of the market had put excessive pressure on some of the local communities as more number of foreign automakers was grabbing the market share. In such a scenario the major goal of Kelly Mueller had been to adapt to the changing situations and shifting the business of AT&D from Michigan to Mississippi. This would eventually cause adverse effects on 195 employees as they have to get detached from their families. The concept of moral compass can be effectively incorporated in the attitude of Kelly Mueller with respect to her vision implementation. It can stated that she was more concerned with the future of these employees who were like a family to her, and she was more focused than her father in respect to goal orientation. Kelly Mueller was not a social architect rather she was more focused towards sustainability of her business. As a leader she was finding opportunities for her company so that she can take out her business from the financially unstable situation. As a leader of AT&D she was able to analyze well the potential problems surrounding the organization and take appropriate measures so as to overcome those problems. Kelly Mueller adopted the leadership role of directing its workforce towards success of the organization. She was not very determined towards following the traditional approach of leadership that focused more on coaching and supporting the employee base for business operations (Cameron, 2008). In context of moral compass Kelly Mueller can effectively put forward the virtue that decision she was taking to shift the plant was for sustainability of the business and also for the benefit of all those families of her workforce who were totally dependent on the business operations of AT &D. Her decision can

Concept Map on Indigenous Peoples Essay Example for Free

Concept Map on Indigenous Peoples Essay Our group came up with concept map that illustrated our ideas when the perception of the indigenous peoples came into our minds. When we hear the said concept, the immediate idea that comes into our minds is the ceremonies that IPs do. We know that their ceremonies or rituals are part of their religion. They believe in spirits, in the notion of the after-life having spiritual leaders guiding them through the visions that the sacred aura gives them. Most of the IPs are very animistic and are called pagans by the Westerners due to the lack of formality in religion, meaning no temples are built for a proper religious ceremony. They practice both primary and secondary burial in the belief that their souls would have to journey to another dimension called the â€Å"after-life. The next thing that comes into mind is their customs and traditions. Every indigenous group has a distinct set of customs or habits. They preserve their songs, dances, literature, prayers and many others through oral tradition. In the Philippines, only the Muslims have the written tradition called tarsila. Art is a very evident characteristic that indigenous groups exhibit. The tattooing tradition which is very evident in many Austronesian societies is a status symbol. Elders and Datus who are considered the tribal leaders are seen with more tattoos than those who have low social status. The term tanda in the Philippines means wisdom which is an indicator of respect for the elders. Every indigenous group has its own language. Language is the factor, which makes an individual belong to an ethnic or ethno-linguistic group. Language is the collection of the vocabulary available in a culture. Language is termed as a dialect when there is a regional distinction of a language from the mother language. It may become evident in accent, grammar system and semantics. We have cited some examples such as the Ilocanos, Ifugaos and some foreign to us, the Aztecs. Last main branch on the concept map is the concept of heritage. All indigenous groups are struggling to preserve their heritage and culture which is why tribal laws prevail over any other constitutional or civil law in the country. They are very resistive to alien influence which makes them prone to social and racial discrimination promoted and propagated by some stupid multimedia. Their heritage is very reflective of their economic direction. They rely on a self-sufficient subsistence economy. They have no imperialist ideologies. They only tend to survive their tribe and cultivate their own environment. Agriculture and fishing are the main sources of living especially in tropical countries. They are the stewards of many ecosystems in the land, rivers and seas. Many IPs in the country have built nipa huts as their shelter. They have built houses such as the bahay kubo because most of the time, when a relative dies, they burn their houses due to their belief that spirits cause illnesses and should leave the homes of the inflicted. For the Ivatans of the Batanes Group of Islands, Spanish influence is already observed in their stone houses which are their defense to the perennial tropical storms that tend to devastate their crops and homes.

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Example for Free

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Good morning/afternoon Executives of the Board of Studies. In the topic of powerful to powerless, To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic novel that is relevant and appropriate. It possesses many admirable qualities that prove its worth to be on the new curriculum. The novel explores many ideas regarding the use and abuse of power, different forms of power, the consequences of power, and how the composer has used language to portray power. To Kill A Mockingbird explores a number of different types of power throughout. There are four types of power: personal, instrumental, projected and official power. One clear example of power is that of Atticus Finchs regarding his children. As their father, Atticus has official power over Scout and Jem. He also has instrumental power as he provides a home, as well as other basic necessities for his children. Another example of power, although it is negative, is the projected power that Bob Ewell possesses over Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson highlights his fear of Bob as he testifies Mr. Finch, if you was a nigger like me, youd be scared too. Bob Ewells power demonstrates that power can be taken and abused by others. Despite whether if you have an abundance of power of you are miserably lacking so, there will always be certain consequences that follow. Bob Ewell, as an example, believed that he was better than the African Americans despite the fact that he was considered the lowest class in white society. Bob Ewell abused his power, although it was still lacking. Ewell, was too prideful, that after being humiliated in court and stripped of dignity by Atticus, he decided to attack Atticus children. Furthermore, Arthur Boo Radley can depict a lack of power. Boo Radley had lived most of his life trapped inside his home by his oppressive family members. He was feared because of the negative connotations that surrounded him. The stories that were told of him portrayed his character as a monster, or something to fear. Furthermore, another figure in the novel that lacked power was Tom Robinson. In society, African Americans were looked down upon by the white society. Tom Robinson was racially discriminated against by Bob Ewell, who framed him for a crime he did not commit. As white people were the superior race, they had power over the African Americans. As Tom Robinson lacked power, he also lacked the ability to act against the threats of Bob Ewell because of his fear. Even though Tom Robinson was a man of great stature, and seemed adequate to engage in a physical brawl despite his injury, he was still afraid. Harper Lee employs a range of language techniques in order to convey ideas about power. Lee has described Arthur Boo Radley as having cheeks that were thin to hollowness, gray eyes that were colourless and hair that was dead and thin. It has been acknowledged that Boo is considered one of the novels most powerless figures. His name is an aptronym, it portrays his character and highlights his mysterious nature. It is also an example of onomatopoeia, hinting at negative connotations. Additionally, there are other aspects that can also assist the portrayal of his character. The author describes the Radley house as droopy and sick, this parallels to the descriptions made of Boo. Harper Lees many descriptions of Boo Radley creates a vivid picture in the readers mind, the reader is immediately drawn to the connotations that surround Boo. It is because of ideas explored previously that prove To Kill A Mockingbird to be a worthy contender on the new school curriculum. It explored the concept behind power and powerless and therefore is relevant.

Accountability in the UK Public Sector

Accountability in the UK Public Sector To what extent has the public sector become more or less accountable as a  result of the changes since 1980s in the way in which the public sector is  organised and managed? The following will discuss whether the public sector has become more or less accountable as a result of changes in its organisation and management since the 1980s. There have been at face value some profound changes to the public sector since the 1980s yet whether those changes have had a great impact on the public sectors accountability, or have been merely cosmetic changes will be examined below. As will be outlined below, the public sector was greatly affected by privatisation, de-regularisation, or greater central government scrutiny, as well as changes in the ways in which it was organised and managed. The differences and similarities in the methods in which both Conservative and Labour governments have wanted to change the way the public sector is organised and managed has been critical for the levels of accountability within the various parts of the public sector. The public sector accounts for a major share of the economy, the majority of government spending, alongside the bulk of the provision of public goods and services to the majority of the British population. The public sector had a tradition of not being readily accountable to the people it supposedly served, even though it could be held to account by government ministers and Parliament (Comfort, 1993 p. 491). The public sector was widely seen as being provider-centred rather than citizen-centred, an attitude, that still persists even if the emphasis of public sector organisation and management has changed (Watmore, 2005 p. 32). Since the 1980s, the aim of successive governments was to make the civil service as efficient as it is politically impartial. Central government would also focus its attention on local councils, which were responsible for a quarter of public sector spending and service provision. Councils were also accountable to the electorate, facing local elections every yea r besides being accountable to central government their performance and reliant on central funding. However, local councils have the ability to raise their own revenue from local taxation which is crucial for their organisation and management, whilst causing conflict or debates with central government. Ultimately, local councils would believe that their accountability to central government takes precedence to their accountability to the local electorate. After all, central government can abolish any council it wants, as Margaret Thatcher did (Savage and Atkinson, 2001 p.17). In 1979, the public sector was larger in size and scope than at present. The public sector did not just comprise of government departments, the civil service, or the services provided by central and local government. The public sector also included nationalised industries such as the railways, coal and steel, as well as ailing private sector firms such as British Leyland that were nationalised to keep people employed and factories open. Margaret Thatcher came to power with the intention of radically altering Britain’s economy and society, alterations that reshaped the public sector. Thus, changing the organisation and management of those parts of the public sector that unlike British Telecommunications that could not be quickly privatised, or those parts that unlike the coal industry were not left to go into extinction. The Thatcher government’s adoption of neo-liberal monetarist economic policies was intended to change the ethos and management of the public sector almo st as much it was intended to change the private sector (Fisher, Denver Benyon, 2003 pp 7 –8). Thatcherism could not dismantle the public sector, nor could it reverse the welfare state. However, the parts of the public that could not be privatised were opened to internal markets to make their organisation and management more efficient, if not more accountable (Jenkins, Independent, 2 April 1987). The enterprises that left the public sector became less accountable to the general public through Parliament, although their organisation and management became more accountable to their new shareholders. By the time the Conservatives left office in 1997, public owned enterprises produced only 2 % of gross domestic product. That compares to 12% in 1979 (Bannock, Baxter Davis, 2003 p. 309). The remnants of the public sector would become more accountable by spending budgets more effectively, reducing waste and error whilst cutting unnecessary expenditure. Government departments were set more stringent budgets, whilst both Conservative and New Labour governments have set performance stan dards for the public sector to achieve to improve efficiency if not directly increasing or decreasing accountability. The Conservatives wished to make high spending councils more submissive to central government and were rate capped if they refused to curtail their spending. Organisation and management had to be changed to avert the punishment from Westminster rather than being more accountable to the public (Coxall, Robbins Leach, 2003, p. 43). Local government was probably the segment of the public sector that has had its accountability increase the most since the 1980s. Higher unemployment and the perceived unpopularity of cutting spending on the NHS meant that welfare spending could not be cut as much as Thatcher had intended. On the other hand, the Conservatives were able to maintain tight control of local government. Funding was reduced or made conditional on working â€Å"with other public and private agencies† (Stoker, 1999 p. 1). Conversely, whilst elected local authorities were made more accountable to central government, more functions were being transferred to unelected bodies known as quangos. These quangos were spending  £ 40 billion of public money annually by 1996 with little or no accountability compared to local government or central government departments (Fisher, Denver Benyon, 2003 p. 263). Councils lost some of their greatest capital assets with the increased sales of councils during the 1980s . Thatcher had promoted these sales to increase the number of homeowners and reduce the size of the public sector without much concern about the dwindling supply of affordable housing for the poorest members of society. Conservative success in promoting home ownership through selling off council houses was shown by the 15 % increase between 1979 and 1997 (Coxall, Robbins Leach, 2003 p. 42). Councils were made more accountable for the way the remaining council houses were organised and managed, even though they had far less control of budgets, sales of council housing, and the proceeds of those sales than ever before. The Conservatives were also keen in promoting the transfer of council housing to social landlords and housing associations. Since 1997, New Labour has not tried to reverse any of those transfers of housing stock back into the public sector. In fact, New Labour has tried to expand joint public and private schemes in its efforts to increase service provision and efficiency rather than accountability (Fisher, Denver Benyon, 2003 p. 272). Accountability within the public sector for the way it is organised and managed has increased since the 1980s due to the increase in inspection and intervention from central government. The Conservatives were as enthusiastic about inspecting schools, councils and hospitals as they about greater consumer or citizen choice, market approaches and selling off what public sector assets they could. Whilst individual schools and hospitals were given greater opportunities for self-management, they were also faced with meeting performance targets, and more frequent inspections. Not only did the government want greater accountability; Parliament increased its ability to scrutinise government departments and the public sector through the expansion of the select committee system. These committees have been able to uncover much that both Conservative and New Labour government ministers would have liked to have left unknown, whilst gaining greater information from the public sector. Ministers have wanted more information from public sector management when going before select committees, increasing the pressure for public sector organisation and management to be fully accountable to the minister (Coxall, Robbins Leach, 2003 p. 245). New Labour has extended the roles and remits of inspectorates such as Ofsted, the Audit Commission and the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate. All these inspectorates have increased the accountability of public sector organisation and management, often in its attempts to meet or exceed government targets (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 77). New Labour put most of its inspectorates together under the auspices of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of Work and Pensions to assess local councils under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment scheme, to make them accountable for their failings or to praise them for their successes. Poor performing councils can face greater levels of inspection whilst the best performing councils can have the ir inspections reduced. The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate has had considerable success in making Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit more effective and councils more accountable (DWP, 2003 pp. 38-9). The 1980s not only witnessed the growth of inspection and scrutiny, it also witnessed the emergence of New Public Management to make public sector administrators more efficient by forcing them to work along private sector lines rather than more traditional public sector ones. Operating along the principles of the market economy did not make public sector organisation and management more accountable, hence the increasing use of inspectorates and nation wide performance standards (Davis, 2005 p. 11). Advances in IT have provided the basis for the public sector to improve its organisation and management, and allow for the collection of greater levels of management information for its various scrutinisers. Of course, more advanced IT allows the public sector to become citizen focused and offers the possibility of decentralised decision-making and even online benefit claims or queries from the general public. Improved IT and technology can raise the public expectation of better services. The NHS for instance has to ration new treatments that everybody wants as it has a limited budget. Accountability has to be amended to adapt to changing circumstances and technologies. New Labour has attempted to make both private and public sector companies and organisations more accountable for the electronic data they hold through the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act (Watmore, 2005 p.33). The government has another motivation for developing better IT within the public sector, it can reduce the infrastructure, resources, and staff needed to provide public services. Better management of resources has allowed the Treasury to gain  £6 billion a year between 1999 and 2004 from the disposal of public sector assets. Gordon Brown also believes that greater efficiency means that 84,000 civil servants were no longer needed, a decision that provoked anger from public sector trade unions (Davies, 2005 p.11; Simpson, 2005 p. 14). Therefore, it can be successfully argued that public sector organisation and management has become increasingly accountable since the 1980s. The Thatcher and Major governments made the public sector more accountable, or at least the parts of it that could not be privatised. Thatcher’s changes were not primarily concerned with promoting accountability, that was just a consequence of her aim of reducing the public sector, curtailing trade union power and increasing control over local councils. The Major government did introduce the Citizens Charter to make public service providers more accountable to the public. New Labour has continued the trend of increasing the accountability of public sector organisation and management, although more for reasons of efficiency than any ideological attack on the public sector. The public sector has become increasingly accountable to central government, although its accountability to the general public is less obvious despite legislation such a s the Data Protection Act, which gives the public greater rights to information and making complaints. The culture within the public sector has also changed to some extent from being provider-centred to being citizen-centred. Bibliography Bannock G, Baxter R E Davis E, (2003) The Penguin Dictionary of Economics 7th edition, Penguin, London Comfort N (1993) Brewer’s Politics, a phrase and fable dictionary, Cassell, London Coxall B, Robbins L Leach R, (2003) Contemporary British Politics 4th edition, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Davies W, Is efficient government necessarily good government? Public Service Director, January 2005, A GovNet Communication, London Department for Work and Pensions (2003) – Departmental Report 2003, The Stationary Office, London Fisher J, Denver D Benyon J, (2003) Central Debates in British Politics, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow Jenkins P, â€Å"Waking Up From the Long Communist Nightmare†, Independent, 2 April 1987 Savage S P and Atkinson R, (2001) Public Policy under Blair, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Seldon A Kavanagh D, (2005) The Blair Effect 2001-5, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Simpson J, ‘Selling Britain by the pound’, Public Service Director, January 2005, A GovNet Communication, London Stoker G, (1999) The New Management of British Local Governance, Macmillan, Basingstoke Watmore I, ‘Using IT to transform Government’, Public Service Director, January 2005, A GovNet Communication, London

The Notebook Essay -- Film Movie Notebook Essays Movies

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Notebook is a phenomenal film with incredible performances and many heartfelt moments from beginning to end. It is a love story that many of us fantasize of living someday. The story unfolds in recent times at a Nursing home with the introduction of an elderly lady (Gena Rowlands) who is being visited by an old man, known as Duke (James Garner), who also resides in the nursing home, and he's there to read her a story. He begins to read about a young girl named Allie (Rachel McAdams) who was visiting a cousin one summer in the late 1940s. Allie was a beautiful teenage girl who eventually caught the eye of Noah (Ryan Gosling), her cousin's boyfriend's best friend. Initially, she showed no interest in Noah, considering the fact that she was a well rounded rich girl, and Noah, a poo...