Monday, September 30, 2019
Starbucks Financial Analysis
Starbucks is a strong competitor in the service sector and a leader in the gourmet coffee industry. With a continued growth rate in store openings and maintaining successful profitability of its operations, Starbucks has demonstrated its ability to sustain a reliable and steady growth. Starbucks’ ability to contend with the vulnerability to current financial threats such as economic recession, higher interest rates, and global competition, is constantly proven by its incomparable brand image, its continual product innovations, and its exceptional customer service. This also proves to be its strongest investment strategy.One strategic way to evaluate the vulnerability of Starbucks to current financial threats is to execute a SWOT Analysis. A SWOT analysis is a situation analysis in which the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, and external opportunities and threats it faces are examined to chart a strategy (Business Dictionary, 2012).SWOT is the acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The purpose of the SWOT analysis is to assess what an organization can and cannot do in addition to evaluating the potential opportunities and any financial and economical threats it may face.Over the years, Starbucks have developed much successful strengths. Here are a few of the most recognizable strengths: The quality of their coffee is considered the highest in the world. They engage with customers and the communities to provide better business.Starbucks has over 17,000 stores globally in convenient locations to attract more customers. Starbucks have expanded their product line to sandwiches, pastries, and natural tea-blend drinks. Starbucks have loyal employees who are valued, motivated, and hard-working and are provided a pleasant working environment.They have exceptional relationships with all suppliers which helps them exceed as industry market leaders. Over the past several years, Starbucks has received several award and recognitions such as â€Å"No. 1 Best Coffee†and â€Å"No. 1 Most Popular Quick Refreshment Chain†by Zagat’s Survey of National Chain Restaurants, one of â€Å"The Best 100 Companies to Work For†by Fortune Magazine, one of the â€Å"World’s Most Ethical Compamies†by Ethisphere, and one of the â€Å"World’s 50 most Innovative Companies†by Fast Company. With all companies, where there are strengths there are weaknesses.Starbucks have noted and viable strengths, but they have weaknesses that could overshadow the success of these strengths placing them a step or two behind their competitors. Here are some of their weaknesses: The size of the company is larger than most of their competitors, lack of internal focus because much focus is on expansion and not on the diversification of other sectors, product pricing is overstated because of their premium brand coffee, which demands premium pricing, and excessive dependency on coffee-alone produ cts.Starbucks have willed many opportunities to become the most valuable gourmet coffee leader in the world. They have already succeeded in expanding their product line by introducing the world to cold coffee beverages, flavored herbal drinks, and hot sandwiches and salads for lunch.So, now they have the opportunity to continue to expand in their development overseas, continue their innovation and commitment to product development, and possibly co-brand with other manufacturers of food and drinks to help expand their product line.The competition in gourmet coffee in general has proved to be more advanced than one would imagine. So, it’s no surprise that the competition would be one the most highly doable threats. With coffee sellers ranging from coffee houses to restaurants and fast-food carry-outs such as McDonald’s, Starbucks has to contend with ensuring that they maintain their perfection in coffee and customer service to avoid such threats. Another major threat is the economy. The state of the economy today, particularly in the future depends especially on consumer spending.This would play a key role in Starbucks’ sales growth and profits. Factors such as increased debt service levels resulting from interest rate changes, downturn in the housing market, and the increase in oil and gas prices would affect optional spending.Now that the assessment of the SWOT analysis has been completed, it’s time to determine the financial performance of Starbucks over the past three years and predict how it will perform in the future by using financial ratio analysis. This will be determined by examining the Income Statement and Balance Sheet as of FY 2011.Consolidated Statements Of Earnings (USD $)12 Months EndedIn Millions, except Per Share data Oct. 02, 2011 Oct. 03, 2010 Sep. 27, 2009 Net revenues: Company-operated stores $ 9,632.4 $ 8,963.5 $ 8,180.1 Licensed stores 1,007.50875.2795 CPG, foodservice and other 1,060.50868.7799.5 Total net re venues 11,700.4010,707.409,774.60 Cost of sales including occupancy costs 4,949.304,458.604,324.90 Store operating expenses 3,665.103,551.403,425.10 Other operating expenses 402293.2264.4 Depreciation and amortization expenses 523.3510.4534.7 General and administrative expenses 636.1569.5453 Restructuring charges 053332.4 Total operating expenses 10,175.809,436.109,334.50 Gain on sale of properties 30.200 Income from equity investees 173.7148.1121.9 Operating income 1,728.501,419.40562 Interest income and other, net 115.950.337 Interest expense 33.3-32.7-39.1 Earnings before income taxes 1,811.101,437559.9 Income taxes 563.1488.7168.4 Net earnings including noncontrolling interests 1,248948.3391.5 Net earnings (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests 2.32.70.7 Net earnings attributable to Starbucks $ 1,245.7 $ 945.6 $ 390.8 Earnings per share – basic $ 1.66 $ 1.27 $ 0.53 Earnings per share – diluted $ 1.62 $ 1.24 $ 0.52 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 748.3744.4738.7 Diluted 769.7764.2745.9 Cash dividends declared per share $ 0.56 $ 0.36 $ 0In reviewing the Income Statement for Starbucks from 2009 to 2011, it is evident that the company has successfully increased its profitability through performance each year by almost 10%. Its income from operation has almost tripled from 2009. Based on Starbucks’ continued plan of expansion, this financial progression depicts a continuous trend.As noted in the financial statement above and pictured in the chart below, Starbucks obtains the majority of its revenue from its company-operated stores. This proves that if Starbucks continues its expansion of retail stores, the revenue from these sales will continue to rise as it has in the past 10 years. The company’s share earnings have also spiked in the last three years by almost doubling between 2009 and 2010 and up 31% in 2011.The financial ratio analysis will provide an assessment of the stability and profitability of Starbucks and allow investors and shareholders to determine the probability of a profitable future. Below is a chart of different financial ratios used to describe the different criteria for Starbucks and to evaluate the past three years. Profitability – Revenue201120102009Gross Profit 57.7% 58.4% 55.8% EBIT Ratio 15.5% 13.4% 5.7%The first set of ratios measures the profitability of Starbucks. These ratios measure the effectiveness of Starbucks capital. A high profitability could be attributed to effective competency. This chart shows that Starbucks have maintained an elevated profit margin, which indicates its ability to manage its largest assets costs.The other ratio, EBIT measures the overall operating efficiency. The next chart shows the liquidity ratios of the firm which indicates how efficient Starbucks handles its short-term obligations. Short-term liquidity includes items that are to be received or paid in cash within a year.A ratio of 2 is the ideal rate for a good standing company using the current ratio. This indicates that the company can pay its creditors and that it has more current assets than current liabilities. A current ratio below 1 signifies trouble for the company and that they may have problems meeting their creditor obligations. The difference between the current ratio and quick ratio is the use of inventory.Financial Condition 2011-2010Debt/Equity Ratio 20% 25% Current Ratio 1.831.55 Quick Ratio 0.190.17The below chart illustrates what kind of return Starbucks receives on its investments. These ratios give investors a clear mind of how well the investments are performing. The ROE ratio illustrates the returns that stockholders are earning on their investments in Starbucks. In prior years, Starbucks have consistently increased this ratio percentage and continues to rise. The ROA ratio tells investors how much profit Starbucks generated for every dollar in assets.Investment Returns % 2011-2010Return on Equity 28.4% 25.7% Return on Assets 18.1% 13.8%Based on the ratios above, it appears that Starbucks is continuing to progress successfully in profits and its ability to increase leverage and maintain a reasonably stable trend in the future. Starbucks can increase leverage by repurchasing outstanding stock and increasing debt financing. Based on the recent benchmarks over a 12 month period, Starbucks is still in line with the industry. â€Å">
Sunday, September 29, 2019
How to solve high employee turnover rate in a retail company or retail business? Essay
Introduction The problem of high turnover employee rate is quite a spread problem that most businesses have been facing for years. Employee turnover has a negative influence on the efficiency of business, profits, customer service and satisfaction from customers in different businesses and industries. The recent study made by Roper Starch Worldwide, Inc. and Unify Network in a wide range of industries and businesses showed a strong link between employee retention and the satisfaction from the service quality got by the customers. As the research was based on the analysis of 3005 interviews it has quite strong facts and conclusions. â€Å"The negative effects of the increase in employee turnover are no longer being felt exclusively by the human resource managers,†said Tom Casey of Unify Network’s talent management practice. â€Å"It is apparent that consumers are directly impacted by turnover as well,†Casey added. â€Å"As a result, turnover is now a principal concern because it directly affects the bottom line.†               Casey also added that new attitudes towards the workforce, as well as drop in the birth rate, and the emergence of innovative technologies have resulted employee turnover to skyrocket across retail business.   The most vivid outcome of the employee turnover is a direct effect on customer retention or the loses of customers. In the whole, more than 60 percent of the respondents of the survey, who were the customers of retail companies with high employee turnover, said that they were less than satisfied with the service they received. Companies, themselves, confess that high employee turnover issues cause more problems than product or price issues.  In the average one in three consumers marked that employee turnover negatively and directly affected the quality of the service. And just 20 percent of the survey participants agreed that they would like working for their service provider. Another problem of low level of satisfaction from customers was named to be low quality and absence of needed qualification and skills. To be more specific fifty seven percent of respondents agreed that the problem was in poor training, and only 20 percent remained satisfied with the quality of the service. The Consequences of Turnover The outcomes of turnover cause extra expenses, loss of valuable time and stagnation in business. All these are quite obvious results of turnover, because it’s not that easy to find a qualified worker nowadays, especially one that will fully suit the position he is hired on. The impact on business of the turnover will be reflected in â€Å"hard†and â€Å"soft†costs that are associated with looking for a new employee as well as the following factors: Customers get lower quality services that changes the reputation of the company Managers spend time looking for employees, which prevents them from their primary functions in the company which results in lower organization of business Disorder in the company influences on the work of other employees  It’s estimated that replacement of workers will cost  from 33% – 250% of the annual wages, depending on the workers position. Hard Costs $$$ Pre-Departure Exit interview                                            29 Separation processing                               12 Vacancy Costs Temporary fill-ins                                     902 Coworker overtime                                   483 Advertising job availability                      110 Recruiting administration                          97 Selection and Sign-on Interviewing                                               110 Testing                                                       100 Reference checking                                    28 Informational literature                               50 On-the-job training                                    874 Total                                                         $2,795 Soft costs Besides â€Å"hard†costs there exist soft costs that come out with losing of the employee, and that make more understandable and clear the outcomes and consequences of losing an employee. It even often happens that it cost 10 times more to look for a new customer than to gain repeat sales. In addition the company is more likely to get what is called â€Å" turnover causes turnover†and the company is likely to lose other employees. Soft Costs $$$ Pre-Departure Lost productivity of incumbent                            80 Lost productivity of coworkers                            97 Lost productivity of supervisor                            207 Vacancy Costs Lost productivity of vacant position                      0 Lost productivity of supervisor                            138 Selection and Sign-on Lost productivity during learning curve               482 Lost productivity of coworkers                             0 Lost productivity of supervisor                             483 Combined Impact Current business lost                                             350 New business not acquired                                   350 Turnover resulting from turnover                        350 Total                                                                     $2,537 Add up the costs This statistics is more likely to be called a demo illustration of what can be the impact of the $7 per hour job loss. The loss of a big employee number can deadly reflect on the financial health of the company and can even cause bankruptcy. The exist lots of strategies that allow to reduce turnover rate in business, but nevertheless none of them can be suitable for the majority of retail businesses, because of their specifics, particularities in the working atmosphere, relationships in working time, etc. But still there are strategies that will make business more effective and will stabilize the working atmosphere in the company. By the observation of many specialists who worked on the issues of high employee turnover in retail business for years, it became obvious that its reason is in low effectiveness of human resources departments of the companies. In the most companies with high turnover rate human resource managers did not more than simple recruiting and interviewing people, who would more likely to leave the company in months by their expectations but had not a big choice. â€Å"Evaluate your company A good first step in improving your retention rate is to ask yourself these questions. If you answer â€Å"no†to more than two questions, you are likely to be experiencing high employee turnover. Are most employees clear about your company’s mission? Do any of these words appear in your mission or core values? Respect, teamwork, trust, fairness, openness, and development. Do most or all employees have written job objectives? Are employees actively involved in shaping their own job assignments or projects to include their own personal interests and abilities? Does a manager speak with associates each quarter about their changing performance priorities and matters affecting their work? Does your company regularly invest in developing employee knowledge and skills? Does your company routinely applaud individual initiative and provide recognition for large and small performance successes? Would most employees say their manager is supportive of their ideas and concerned about their needs?† Different approaches to solve the turnover problem The experience of one of the researches, Louis Rovner, Ph.D., was more than bold or genius. He was employed by many retail companies that had problems with high turnover, and some of them had 50% turnover rate from the entire workforce employed a year.  As a skillful and qualified manager he spent hours conducting endless interviews and administrating numerous surveys and quizzes to determine the reasons of turnover and reasons of what the employees were unsatisfied with.  To his expectations if the company changed the way of employees treating, the workers will be more satisfied and there will be more chances that they’ll stay in the company. But the problem was more complicated that it seemed to be for the first sight.  Employees were managed cooperatively. People were encouraged and reinforced, the working schedule was optimized and was better control as the other modern management measures were taken to improve the labor and working atmosphere conditions. The employees got a higher range in the strategic decision making participation as well as new approach to please unsatisfied customers. The company was changing to one were the workers as well as their labor and participation was highly appreciated and valued.  Even though that much had been done and the expectations seemed to look very optimistic the true results were opposite to what was expected at the beginning. The 50% turnover rate didn’t really change, but it became worse because in the list of those who left their jobs were the oldest and the most qualified employees of the company. So the impact of such outcomes seemed to be more negative than usual practices for the company.  The analysis had shown that there were two main reasons for such outcomes, that primary related to job psychology. The first one was explained by the failure of managers to arrange things in proper order because they were unfamiliar with new strategies and considered them to be irrational and illogical. The lack of comfort in new working tendencies resulted the failure of the introduced strategies. New form of management resulted in lack of attention to the primary functions that began to fulfill improperly that resulted in profits fall. The second reason appeared to be more commonplace than the first one. One group of unhappy employees was replaced by other one, and the cycle was repeating again and again. But the was a significant change in this practice, that qualified employees appeared in this list. As in every company there always exists a group of employees that are satisfied with management, working conditions and their work as well, and they form the basement of the company’s team. With new changes that began to occur in the company their needs never no longer met and the conditions of labor no longer fully satisfied them. In this case the management that was introduced in practice was directed to satisfy primary the newcomers, but it didn’t meet the needs of checked and long working employees.  The solution of the problem became obvious and the reasons of the failed management were determined. The problems with employee turnover are based not in something wrong with the decisions taken by the company’s authorities, but they are related to the people employed who most likely don’t suit the business they are hired for.  The first steps that need to be taken to stabilize the staff policy and regulations, should identify best long-term working employees and look for the business qualities they possess in those that need to be hired. Those, unsatisfied who are more likely to leave should be replaced by those who have much in common with company’s loyal workers.  In order to be successful in hiring productive and loyal employees it’s necessary to spend some time with the core group of the company to study their likes and preferences of working in the company.  Strategies for improving labor conditions The workers a company hires are expecting more benefits from their work along with the salary they get. As it’s predicted by the experts in the nest five years, most of businesses will offer a wider range of benefits and programs for their employees, which will cause addition competition on the market labor as well as probable employee turnover in the companies that will not be able to accept new changes. These benefits and programs will most likely include: Paid time off plans Domestic partner benefits Flexible scheduling Flexible spending accounts Retirement and financial planning Employee assistance programs (EAPs) It’s naturally understood that employees want to get competitive encouragement from their work as well as competitive salaries. The loss of employees may be both because of salaries that are not competitive (financial issues) and because the job doesn’t meet the needs of the employee. As it’s quite know people leave their jobs for plenty of reasons that can be controlled by the managers or the companies authorities or not. Nevertheless, it’s suggested by the scientists that employers usually have abilities to control the reasons that motivate employees to leave, the most spread of them are the following: Feeling unappreciated or that his/her contribution is not valued. A lack of growth potential in the company. No help to turn a dead-end job into something more appealing. If these factors will be taken into consideration with the development of new businesses or it’s expansion in future most of turnover issues can be prevented. It will be much cheaper for the company to hire a human resource manager or skillful psychologist who will hire those who won’t demand job promotion in future and will be loyal if the company’s business looks like slowly developing, than to hire new and new people for some kind of position again and again in definite time intervals.  On the other hand there can be people who are attached to particular company because they consider it to offer them professional growth and promotion as well as development of their skills and job opportunities. In this case it will be reasonable to organize job trainings and provide them with the job that mostly suits them and answers their qualifications and to be objective in such decisions. It will often be cheaper to spend some money in employee’s qualification investment that will be of a need in future than to ignore his abilities and professional traits, that can result his discharge. The problem of retaining employees is one of the main concern of many retail companies nowadays. It should be clear that work ethic is changing from day to day, and the demands of nowadays workers differ from those of the 1950s, 70s, and even from those of 90s. The tendencies of the employees demands had changed are defined to be today and tomorrow as following: Balance and synergy Work that is seen as a noble cause Personal growth and development Partnerships Community at work Trust  There are several approaches to meet these needs that will prevent business from employee â€Å"drain†: Provide interesting work that will respond to employees’ talents. Don’t hide appreciation for work done successfully. Encourage employees to be in â€Å"shape†Provide opportunities for professional learning and career growth. Provide competitive wages for employees. Organize training for managers to be supportive coaches. Provide a clear mission with personal goals. Build a safer, pleasing and fun working environment. Support opportunities to reasonable experiments in working environment.  Real successful practices of retention T.I.M.S., Inc. Denis H. Arian and his wife Karen Arian started Technical Information Management Services, Inc., (T.I.M.S.) in their own house 13 years ago. Over the past decade, T.I.M.S., Inc. has developed into a successful consulting and information technology services company with nearly 40 members in staff and offices in Cleveland, OH and Chicago, IL. Both in the year of 1999 and 2000, T.I.M.S. was awarded Weatherhead 100 and Northcoast 99. It’s purpose is to develop and optimize the most effective business systems that will meet the needs of either companies and their employees or the needs of the customers by the usage of both technological innovations and management strategies and methods. The primary strategy of T.I.M.S. was process of â€Å"hiring right†people first. What they did was the following: they established the atmosphere of partnership with each employee beginning with interviewing and hiring processes. T.I.M.S. introduced and realized in their practices the concept, which is called PASS Program (Performance Appraisal Scorecard System) for performance evaluation using employee’s input as criteria for future success. The core of their strategies was training as an essential part of retention practices.  According to their methodic it’s very important to devote time for interaction with employee, for finding an individual approach to his concerns and needs as well as stimulate his success. Mazel Stores, Inc.  Mazel Stores, Inc. is one of the leading wholesalers of clothing in the USA. Its founder Bill Mazur has been working in this business for more than 30 years as a head of the company, that purchases sells and distributes through their retail outlets or through other store companies from direct manufacturers. Its partners are Newell (Rubbermaid), American Greetings, Ketter Plastics, and Sunbeam, as well as smaller companies such as Marc’s Deep Discount, Family Dollar Tree, and Medic Drug Stores. The retention need of the company was to find and save employees, most of whom had been facing troubles that would prevent them from being employed by the company in future. Company’s strategy was based in recruitment using assistance of the professionals in employment business such as Empowerment Zone and the Convictions Fair for its headquarters in Solon. The company’s employees faced troubles with transportation, so the company had to develop and introduce van pool service as well as other transportation solutions to ensure getting to and from work punctually. The company worked with government and municipal agencies to solve and improve employment issues as well as to increase and save employment stability rate.  The company also practiced hiring part-time psychologists and managers that worked on overcoming barriers and other job related issues faced by the employees. General strategies for reducing turnover The best way to reduce turnover and save employees is establishing human resource expertise for business. A human resource manager or organization development (also called OD) expert, who can be permanent employee or employed as an outsourced service provider is able to help company to save its employees through an analyzed and deeply examined approach that includes: Recruitment: sourcing for candidate, testing on job suitableness Compensation: market analysis Benefits: competitive, cost-containment Training and employee development Employee relations: pro-active programs, dispute resolution Performance management systems Organization assessments Legal compliance    Employee selection and training The selection and training of the employee should be organized in the way so that nearly hired person will meet all the requirements of the business and working environment. As it’s generally agreed a salesperson is a communicator: he interpreters the features of the product into those benefits that will satisfy the customer. And it’s very important to remember that a salesperson is the store representative to its customers. There is a very specific quality that differentiates a sales person from others involved in promotional activities and it’s an opportunity for feedback between customer and a seller. Only good marketing policy such as advertising and promotion will get customers to the store. The quality of products as well as good sales representatives will keep people coming back to the store again and again. As the specialists suggest, the importance of right employee choice and their trainings cannot be overvalued or exaggerated. It often happens that retailers are surprised when they find out that salary, which is important for employees, is not of the primary concern for them. Attitudes as fairness, security, honesty, and opportunity are also of the high importance for them.  Organization and supervision of business           Management functions of the retailer business basically include planning on the hand with other as organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.   Organizing business, the retailer introduces relationships among people, products, goods, and other materials or resources to get a job fulfilled.   â€Å"Staffing entails the recruitment and selection of employees. It is a vitally important function because the employees of a store represent that store to the public. People can really be the most important asset of a retail firm.   Every retailer is in a leadership position. Leadership means motivating employees to achieve their maximum potential, while at the same time accomplishing the goals of the organization. Because leadership means understanding people, it is one of the most creative and challenging aspects of a retailer’s job. The retailer’s professionalism and attitudes set the tone for employees’ attitudes and per formance. Controlling is the follow-up function of retail management. Actual performance is compared with planned performance to spot and evaluate deviations.†(from Charting the course of retail Business available on web http://www.etretailbiz.com/Jan2003/strategy.html) Financial analysis  The financial analysis of retail business is very important step in the optimization of the whole functioning of business. First it allows to determine the main priorities for the improvement of management of employee resources, probably reform the personnel policy, cut off or make new workplace and determine whether it’s necessary to spend more expanses on management or to save some money on particular part of business management and to redistribute the finances (to improve labor conditions or increase employees wages). On of the most innovative and spreading method of retail business management as other sales businesses management is distant organization of work. Top managers and top sales managers use Internet and other means of communication to regulate business, especially if it refers to international companies. The organization of a workplace for one person costs not more than 2-3 thousand dollars, and it’s arranged in employees house. It allows saving a lot of money on rent, property taxes, etc. Those saved finances are redistributed as a result the employees get higher salaries, plus they get more flexible and comfortable conditions of labor that plays a role of additional motivation in their work.  Another aspect that attracts the attention of specialists in food retail business is concern about investments into online retailing. Even though that some of the major e-commerce consultants and advisors make optimistic prognosis about the potential of online food retailing market, these conclusions are still not very reliable. For example Andersen consulting predicted a market portion of online food retailing to be 20% in the year of 2003. This statistics is used by both Peapod.com and Webvan.com as the foundation for a nationwide investment program with a capital of nearly one billion US$. But the real statistics is very different from that one predicted by Cap Gemini (30-40%) and is approximately about 3% for a total retail sector with only 2.3% for grocery sector.  In potential it won’t greatly increase in the next five years. Its predicted growth is not more than 3-4% either for the USA or for Europe. So the decisions of some retail businesses to make investments into online retails cannot be considered as the best choices in this situation. It will require to hire new employees, to develop new management strategies and will require a lot of expenses, that won’t bring any desired payment but may result in turnover because of the changed priorities of the company. Joost W. van der Laan highlights the following reasons for that in his article The future of online food retailing: â€Å"†¦On top of those disadvantages: traditional supermarkets are fighting for consumer loyalty by improving their marketing mix and increasing their efficiency. Reason 1. In my view online shopping for dry groceries and perishables is boring. It does not even come close to the fun of buying books at Amazon.com or the joy of assembling your own PC at Dell.com. There is absolutely no advantage here over the weekly trip to the supermarket. I dare you to try it yourself a couple of times, and then convince your partner who is not in the food business or consultancy business. Only when the online business focuses on special products and on rich information content, the consumer will become interested and stay interested. Reason 2. Online shopping is less time consuming than traditional shopping, but it adds complexity to your lifestyle. Let us assume in an optimistic mood that every â€Å"household manager†will master the skill of shopping online. After ordering online you first have to make sure that the goods are properly received at home. Second you often have to go to the store anyway for miscellaneous articles. Third you have to check proper billing and payment. Fourth you have to follow up on orderpicking mistakes and delivery errors. Reason 3. The distribution costs of homeshopping are twice as high as the costs of traditional food retailing, and most consumers are not willing to pay the extra 15 %. Internet startups will first try to gain market share with low prices and low service fees, but when the shareholders cash is consumed they will have to ask higher than â€Å"normal†prices to cover the costs and survive. Of course their is a small niche market for expensive homeshopping services: affluent PC-minded and service oriented consumers and consumers with no easy access to a nearby store. Reason 4. In recent years Efficient Consumer Response and Category Management had a significant and positive impact on the quality and efficiency of traditional supermarkets. Food retailing has always been a very competitive business, and in recent years super-marketing has become a professional science that is constantly improving the value to the consumer. Both in the USA and in Europe very competitive stores with Every Day Low Prices and high service levels are gaining market share and are making the food business a war zone for new entrants. Conclusion: the average consumer does not have a good reason to go food shopping online.†(available on web: http://www.retaileconomics.com/index.htm) According to the article ULW Effect on Business and Tax Payers:                                          â€Å"†¦Successful companies have been able to draw the line between low employee turnover and high profitability. The line connecting those two dots passes through high employee satisfaction, and high employee satisfaction impacts directly on the customer experience. We’ve already seen how consumers rate quality of service as the most important aspect of their experience with a hotel, and that’s true of many businesses in this sector. Satisfied customers become repeat customers, and when those repeat customers are in the desirable top 20 percent, profitability inevitably improves†¦Henry Ford, the father of the American automobile, was facing exorbitant retraining costs due to high employee turnover. He was being forced to replace every employee four times per year. He also found that absenteeism was at an equally unacceptable level. His response was to almost double the daily wage of his workers to $5.00/day. * The immediate result was: 1) significant reduction in employee turnover, 2) significant reduction in retraining costs, 3) significant reduction in unscheduled absenteeism, 4) and almost complete stoppage of internal theft (roughly 50% of the theft in today’s retail world is committed by its own employees).3 Furthermore, 5) he created a true economic stimulus resulting in a business boom for his own company when his workers put discretionary funds right back into his company as purchasing consumers.4 *All of these savings/benefits are possible today with the enactment of the Universal Living Wage.†(available on web: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/globalization/2.html) Building HR expertise It is of a high concern that in majority supervisors and managers are generally not evaluated on employee turnover levels. If to refer to a COSE survey of retail business (April 2003), only 20 percent of respondents applied the use of a specific target or measure in evaluations. Although 26 percent marked that they â€Å"informally†used turnover statistics as a part of evaluations that shows what a great number doesn’t consider it to be an important part of manager’s job.  In ideal all managers should also be able to work as â€Å"HR managers.†However, the participation of a real â€Å"expert†is important to be developed – the participation of someone with specific HR responsibilities, who would be part-time HR or OD specialist. Employee opinion survey One of the most important and essential issue for the discussion between the retail human resource executives is an employee opinion survey. An objective survey conducted by the HR manager will truthfully describe the working environment of the company and will direct the further work of the manager on solving of job related issues, that will help to improve motivation and working process as well. The importance of the survey is quite obvious. It’s cheaper and more comfortable and even more safer and reliable for business to make changes in management policy using the data provided by the employees themselves, than to try to solve coming issues relying on experiment and manager’s personal experience, even if it’s an experience of a skillful and highly qualified professional. As the effective employee survey process can be an essential, high-ROI tool for store morale improvement, improvement of customer service, reduction of turnover and introduction of new ways a nd means for communication and interaction.  The Retail Survey Group made long-term researches and studies in the field of job related relations in retail business and had developed the following methods of making an effective and objective successful survey. It introduced eight important keys to the success of the survey: In most cases, an employee survey should be perceived as an operations- driven initiative rather than an HR department program. Companies that differ by high organization of the survey processes put it on the high priority when it’s needed to gather opinion. Even so that making the survey is job of HR center or HR manager that works in the company, the survey made from the name of the head of the company always gets a higher feedback and is more objective, because it’s treated by the whole management chain from the tops to the bottom line of the company. The experience of The Retail Survey Group shows that the employee’s psychology is more likely to pay more attention to the job authorities than to the human resource center, which is made for these perporses. But the job to analyze the results of the survey is human resources center primary. Your goal for response rate should be 100%.  The problem with lower respond rate is not just that it can not give an accurate picture on the questions asked in the survey. The low respond rate for large businesses with more than a 1000 people employed won’t draw an objective picture, but can be valid for small selling departments or stores, but still the statistics can be not as accurate as it’s desired. Moreover the respond rate of the employees determines their ability to draw and determine the answers on the questions about working environment. Once being determined these issues will be also desired to be solved by the employees themselves as well as by the management department. In this case the results will be more fruitful because both sides who participate in this process will be determined with their choices. As the Retail Survey Groups states: â€Å"Surveys are deemed successful when one or both of the following occur: One or two large-scale organization-wide improvements are made as a result of having conducted the survey. A â€Å"critical mass†of smaller-scale improvements happens throughout the organization, based upon department- and store-level improvement efforts. While a single year’s survey effort may have been made worthwhile by virtue of the first reason, a survey becomes a valuable ongoing management tool usually by virtue of the second.†By their words : â€Å"The best way to get an acceptable response rate, i.e., one that is certain to yield accurate reports down to the department level, is to make survey participation an expected occurrence, and to set up an administration procedure that makes this a reality.†A survey for retail employees should take less than 10 minutes to complete. The research had determined that both the questionnaire size and the method of its administration influence on the results of the response rate and on the objectiveness of its quality. As the questionnaire’s purpose is to get an accurate data, it is believed that long questionnaires that take a lot of time to be completed provided not accurate data and have lower response rates. The benefits of short 5-10 minutes survey are basically in their easy administration and no time loses. They can be easily administered during the breaks or before the meetings. It’s very comfortable because no special arrangements are required. There are experiences with companies that spent more money on the administration of the survey that had to be taken after the working day and that took nearly 30-45 minutes. But the results were not that much different from those short-time surveys and even often were not responded properly. (Good) Norms are important. As soon as the results of the survey are analyzed it appears another task that faces the organization and is addresses to the issues and problems that found reflection in the survey. It’s the essential part of the survey process. And as a result the company has to determine correct improvement areas in order to get the most effective and fruitful return from the survey. The set of norms for survey’s data give an opportunity to compare the effectiveness of the company to the similar businesses that are held by other companies. The Retail Survey group gives the following example: â€Å"consider the case of a supermarket chain that has conducted its first-ever company-wide employee survey. Senior management is reviewing the results, trying to figure out how they will allocate their resources toward making improvements. Let’s assume that they get what appears to be a fairly high score on workplace safety and a fairly low score on developingemployees for future promotions. Without the benefit of normative data to tell them how other supermarkets faired on those items, they might decide not to do any work to improve the safety item, and instead focus on the development item. Had they had access to a good retail norm base, they would have seen that the safety item typically receives a very high score, and that their score was significantly lower than the norm, indicating a potentially serious problem. Conversely, the item regarding development for future promotions is typically among the lowest scoring items on the survey. In fact, their score on that item places them in the upper quartile of the norm base.  Of course, the money they put toward further work on development might well pay dividends, because it is such an important item. And improving the promotional process might cement their image as a great company for which to work. However, relative to the safety item, it might not be as critical to target for immediate improvement.†Each store should get a report detailing its overall results and the results of its major departments. Many companies make the fault of not disseminating the outcomes to the store level. By the view of The Retail Survey group, this greatly diminishes the chance that the survey will be successful. First, as has already been marked, surveys are most effective when they are the impulse behind change efforts undertaken at the store and department levels. Only by getting direct access to the results of the survey employees can begin to take part in the action planning process. Second, keeping the results within the restrictions of senior management can easily be understood as a breaking of the social contract common in most employee-based feedback systems. The representatives of The Retail Survey Group state that â€Å"for reasons beyond the scope of this paper, employee surveys are assumed to be closed-loop feedback systems. The loop begins with the employees filling out a survey form. Next, the survey forms are tabulated, and their collective opinions are shared with management. To close the loop, management must in turn share the collective results with the employees. If this loop is not closed, employees are left with a sense of unmet expectations. It is similar to the feeling one gets when applying for a position and then never hearing back about it one way or the other.† It often happens that employees know very little about the results of prior surveys and they think about them the following: â€Å"The results must have been so bad they were embarrassed to publicize them.†â€Å"They can’t tell us what they found because then they’d have to change things.†â€Å"They just did the survey to make us feel like our input was important†¦they could care less how it turned out.†With the exception of special circumstances, the Representatives of Retail Survey Group advocate that employer share with all employees an item-by-item comparison between the results for their store and the results for the overall company. For most employees, this constitutes a full and deserved disclosure of the results, and it is a great way for employees to begin to get a handle on what the results mean. Once employer has done this, he would have set the stage for store-level action planning. Anyone who completes a survey should be able to understand a survey report. If you employer is going to share the results of the survey with store employees, he needs to present them in a report format that is easy to be looked through. Some people understand statistics and numbers better others easily catch the graphs and charts. The Retail Survey Group recommends that results be presented in a combination of these ways, but most of all in a order that is simple and understandable. It should be understood that the goal of the survey is to enlist the help of the employees in analyzing the survey results. The author of the survey wants employees to be excited about the potential insight they have into the results of the survey, because they were the ones who gave the feedback. They also have ideas about how to arrange and change things for better. Give those responsible for creating action plans some basic ideas to use as starting points for their plans. â€Å"Imagine that came the most critical point in the survey process†¦the point at which store and department managers are sitting down with their employees, report in hand, with a good understanding of the results and having selected a few problem areas to target for improvement. The group is ready to create action plans. The store manager is at the flip chart†¦her marker is poised†¦and then it strikes the group that no one has the faintest idea about what a good action plan looks like, let alone how to go about creating one.† This is considered to be the point where many surveys lose their value and significance, which is quite understood. Most retail store managers don’t have any training or knowledge about working with a group to present and discuss an improvement plan. â€Å"To make matters worse, consider the following Survey Research 101 axiom: Managers at stores with the lowest employee survey scores are the very managers least likely to be able to facilitate a productive action planning session. In other words, those stores most in need of good post-survey action plans are the ones least likely to succeed in creating them. Fortunately, it is not that difficult to provide managers with the tools they need to write effective action plans. The easiest way to do so is to provide them with a template for the format and content of their plans. For example, our firm provides clients with an Action Planning guide, which not only offers store managers a step-by-step guide to action planning, but also suggests several actions for each topic covered by the survey. It is easy to use these ideas as the starting point s for the group discussion, and to transform them into high quality action plans.† After all, if there is an essential role for the Human Resources department during the survey process, it is to determine store managers most in need of help with action planning, and to offer them the help they need to do the work properly. The organization should commit to a follow-up survey even before the first one is administered.  Companies that fully use the surveys they administer usually treat them as a part of a cycle. Each finished survey is considered to be a benchmark for the next one. The data reflected in the survey describes the condition of company’s finances, employee environment and indicates the â€Å"working†health of the company. It can be used to primary predict and take measures to prevent turnover issues and job related conflicts. Managers also rely on the surveys as on the sources and guidance for finding a common language with employees. Employees also consider the administering of the survey to be a good sight from the side of companies authorities to get the opinion about inner life of the company and its functioning.  But for such successful monitoring the company had to start with a successful survey that will definitely bring results. From the beginning of survey introduction into the practices of the company managers have to think about an employee survey program or survey process rather than about one-time employee survey that will stand alone. Conclusion As it was discussed the turnover employee rate causes a lot of troubles for retail businesses as well for other businesses. The expenses spent on hiring new employees are often as high as the monthly wages of the employees, but at the same time the absence of the worker causes work disorder and losses of clients.   Nowadays the problem of saving workplaces is very actual and attracts a lot of attention from the side of managers, who propose different strategies to stabilize personnel activities and improve working environment. These strategies include individual approach to the employees, encouragements, surveys, and special management techniques.  As it was stated above, very often the financial side of the job is not of the main concern for the employees. It’s understood that the salary means a lot, but appreciation, encouragements, benefits and other rewards the employee gets while working are of a high value as well. Still most of them also have any relationship to finances.   That’s why it’s quite important to make business efficiency monitoring and find new solutions for its optimization. Saving money on some ineffective investments and redistributing them to increase the salaries, social benefits and educational opportunities for the employees will increase their motivation. It may refer to their transportation issues (organization of the transportation services for employees who really need that), improving working conditions (introduction of the new equipment and organization of special training programs for workers). It’s understood too be quite expensive, but the results that these innovations will bring in future will definitely cover all the expenses. (It’s quite enough to estimate how much will be the transportation service organization for people who live in the same area and how much do they spend on parking and gas a day. Or it’s enough to figure out how much useless work does an accountant or a m anager using old computer software or even worse just pen and paper. It’s easy to understand how these trainings will optimize his work will save him time and of course will save employer’s money).     Appreciation of the employees is really important; especially it’s very necessary for the core of the company’s team, for people who are in company’s business for years and who are the most valuable. Before doing any changes it’s necessary to consult those employees and to take into consideration their opinion. At this point it’s quite important for human resource managers to administer employee opinion surveys that will draw the priorities for future management changes and better organization of the work.  Every case is very special and needs a search of individual approach. But the methods that were discussed above had recommended themselves as successful and can be used in management practices worldwide. List of references 1.†The future of Food Retailing: e-Commerce and other Predictionsâ€Å", Prof. Dr. Edward McLaughlin of Cornell University, presentation â€Å"State of the Art in Food†, January 2000. 2.†Internet Retailingâ€Å", Henk Gianotten of EIM, Food Personality, February 2000. 3.†Futurize your Enterpriseâ€Å", David Siegel, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, 1999. 4.â€Å"The future of online food retailing†Joost W. van der Laan ,†Journal of Marketing†, February 2000 and â€Å"Food Personality†,August 1997 â€Å"Erasmus Food Management Institute†rapport on E-marketplaces, January 2001 â€Å"Marketing Logistics†, Martin Christopher, Reed Elsevier, 1997 â€Å"From Supply Chain to Collaborative Network†, Gordon Anderson, Bruce Walton, Andersen Consulting, 2000 â€Å"Eight keys to a successful employee survey†The Retail Survey Group, 2001-2002 (available on web: www.rsg.com) â€Å"Charting the course of retail business†Article (available on web: http://www.etretailbiz.com/Jan2003/strategy.html) â€Å"To Cut Employee Turnover, Don’t Change Anything†,Louis Rovner, Ph.D. Article (available on web:http://www.drilleronline.com/CDA/ArticleArchiveSearch/1,5692,,00.html) â€Å"Globalization and Labor  Part 2†Article (available on web: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/globalization/3.html) â€Å"Taming turnover: A Strategic advantage for business†Article (available on web: www.cose.org/PDF/WLA/Taming_Turnover.pdf) â€Å"Store Wars: How Retail eCommerce Executives Can Win the Battle for the Last Aisle Four Tips for Success for In-Store Digital Merchandising & Customer Self-Service†, Richardson,Alex Article (available on web: http://www.kiomag.com/informermj04) â€Å"Leading the quick service and food retailing industries†Kay Division, 2004(available on web: http://www.ecolab.com/Publications/FactBook/Kay.pdf) â€Å"Work Environment More Important to Employees†Gregory P. Smith (available on web: http://www.businessknowhow.com/manage/workenv.htm) â€Å"High employee turnover raises safety concerns†Ledyard King, Article Gannett News Service (available on web: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2001-02-26-airportsafety.htm) â€Å"Reducing Turnover†Article (available on web http://www.accountemps.com/AT/ReducingTurnover)  18. â€Å"Calculating the High Cost of Employee Turnover† Yves Lermusiaux (available on web: http://www.ilogos.com/en/expertviews/articles/strategic/20031007_YL.html)
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Apple Incorporation. Overview of the Company and its Major Operations Research Paper
Apple Incorporation. Overview of the Company and its Major Operations - Research Paper Example The influence of Steve Jobs in the company and the development of â€Å"i†series products etc are explained in detail in this article. Kim R (2010) Apple Passes Microsoft As Top Tech Company, Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/26/BUDJ1DL0IU.DTL This article provides details about the achievements of Apple company in the recent past. It compares Apple’s performances against the performances of the competitors. Moreover it provides more details about Apple’s strengths and business strategies which helped it to become the number one technological company in the world. Krazit, T (2008). Apple's Mac Strength Could Keep Tech Industry on a Rol. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9926068-37.html This article mainly focusses on Apple’s financial performances in the recent past. It says that apple is one among the few American companies which escaped from the recent recession. It analyses the performances of appleà ¢â‚¬â„¢s different business units individually to get more comprehensive picture about apple’s performances as a whole. Apple and Environment (2011), Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/environment/ This article is taken from Apple’s own website. It says many things about the commitments of Apple in maintaining sustainable business practices. It says that apple has better knowledge about the environmental impacts caused by their activities and they are taking every possible step to reduce environmental problems as much as possible. Steve Jobs Issues Statement on Apple’s Environmental Commitments (2007), Retrieved from http://www.texasenvironment.org/pr_story.cfm?IID=342 This article analyses the reliability of Apple’s claims as an environmentally friendly company with the help of some statistical analysis. It compares Apple’s environmental protection activities against similar activities of other companies. Overview of the company and its major ope rations and challenges it faces â€Å"Apple was founded in Cupertino, California on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to sell the Apple I personal computer kit†(Apple Inc. History, 2008). It is currently the second largest company in the world in market capitalization and also the most valuable technological company in the world (Kim 2010). Apple faced many challenges in the past mainly because of the stiff competition from Microsoft. However, they were able to bounce back with the introduction of its â€Å"i†series produces such as iMac, iPhone, iPad, iPod iTune etc at the begging of the twenty first century. Apple is the number technological company in the world now and consumers all over the world rates apple products above its competitor’s products. Krazit (2008) has pointed out that the Wall Street is expecting Apple to report â€Å"earnings per share of $1.07 on revenue of $6.9 billion in 2008†. In his opinion â€Å"App le is a company which is under-promising and over-delivering†(Krazit, 2008). Its founder and charismatic leader Steve Jobs passed away recently and many people have the belief that the loss of Steve may affect Apple immensely in future. It should be noted that Apple was one the verge of closing down during the latter part of twentieth century when Steve stayed away from the company for a while. A suitable replacement for Steve is the major challenge facing by Apple at present. Analysis of Apple’s efforts to improve/promote environmental sustainability Apple follows sustainable business practices which helped them to become one of the topmost companies in the world. Apple has comprehensive knowledge about the environmental impacts caused by their activities. According to Apple’s claims Apple products are â€Å"
Friday, September 27, 2019
Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9
Terrorism - Essay Example FARC is a Marxist-Leninist self-proclaimed organization which aims to get hold of the country’s wealth by overthrowing the Colombian government (Zalman, n.d.). The Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) is one of the main ethno-nationalist terrorist groups based in Baluchistan, which is a province of Pakistan. The aim of BLA is to gain independence from the parent country in order to protect rights of the local people (Chossudovsky, 2007). BLA has been involved in a number of human rights violations and terrorist activities, such as, brutal torture, bomb attacks, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances. A number of cases have occurred in which the militants of the Baluchistan Liberation Army have attacked innocent civilians and have shot them to death after torturing them brutally. The attack on the founder of Pakistan’s residency in 2013, commonly known as Jinnah residency, was also carried out by the militants of the Baluchistan Liberation Army (Reuters,
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Housing Fabric Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words
Housing Fabric - Essay Example However, the sense of place suggested by CABE has also encouraged designs with strong references to local vernacular styles. Numerous issues therefore impact on design and construction today. It is imperative at this juncture that we understand what some certain things are all about Sustainable construction can or is defined as "the process of creating and responsibly managing a healthy built environment based on two factors which are resource efficient and ecological principles". The aim of Sustainable designed buildings is to reduce the effect of their impact on our environment through energy and resource efficiency. The following principles are included: Healthful Interior Environment. All possible measures are to be taken to ensure that materials and building systems do not emit toxic substances and gasses into the interior atmosphere. Additional measures are to be taken to clean and revitalize interior air with filtration and plantings. Three principles of an environmental architecture include: Energy Efficiency. All possible measures are to be taken to ensure that the building's use of energy is minimal. Cooling, heating and lighting systems are to use methods and products that conserve or eliminate energy use. Environmental Form. ... All possible measures are to be taken to relate the form and plan of the design to the site, the region and the climate. Measures are to be taken to "heal" and augment the ecology of the site. Accommodations are to be made for recycling and energy efficiency. Measures are to be taken to relate the form of building to a harmonious relationship between the inhabitants and nature. (Thomas A. Fisher, AIA, November, 1992). Energy EfficiencyEconomic (saving money), ecological (reducing resource exploitation and emissions) and social (reducing fuel poverty) Are the benefits derived from the energy-efficient sitting and design of buildings. An explicit energy strategy should be possessed by every new development ideal. Throughout the design process, energy assessment conservation measures can be done early through computer energy simulations.Many alternative concepts for building form, envelope and landscaping, focusing on minimizing peak energy loads, demand and consumption etc are collaborated by the expanded design team. In energy conservation, and their construction costs, computer energy simulation is used to assess their effectiveness. Simulations are made use of to refine designs and properly ensure that energy-conservation and capital cost goals are met; and to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements. Architecture and construction of new housing in the UK can be vitally dissimilar to t raditional housing, as demonstrated by the three case studies that have been shown above, including Abode Newhall in Harlow, Ashley Vale Self-build in Bristol, Great Bow Yard in Langport Somerset. These case studies have sustainable, low-energy and ecological features. They have also encouraged design with strong references to local
THE ELECTRIC TOWN CAR COMPANY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
THE ELECTRIC TOWN CAR COMPANY - Essay Example The variable costs of the product amount to 2000 pounds. Based on these two figures the contribution margin of a sale of a car towards the fixed costs of the company is 3000 pounds. The total fixed costs of the company which includes overhead related to administration costs, marketing, research and development and other costs is 150 million pounds. The end result of the breakeven analysis illustrated in appendix A is the company must sell 50,000 car units per year for the revenues of the company to equal its expenses. The pricing point chosen by the company of 5000 pounds is between 4% and 16% lower than the competition. The ETC project requires a capital investment of 500 million pounds to be invested in buildings, machinery, office equipment, information technology system and other fixed assets. The investors interested in the project stipulated a minimum 15% return of investment (ROI). Appendix B provides a price sensitivity analysis that shows the annual demand of the ETC product depending on the price point of the car. The Electric Town Car Company had a requirement of a 15% return on investment. At the original price of 5000 pounds the company produces a profit of 54 million pounds, but the return on the original investment is 10.8%, which is below the 15% requirement. In order to achieve the desired ROI the company must lower its price from 5000 pounds to 4600 pounds. At the 4600 pound price with a unit output level of 85,000 units the company obtains a 16.92% return on investment. It is r ecommended that the company operate at the 90,000 units full capacity output selling its product at 4600 pounds. At this price and output the return of investment increases to 19.68%. All the figures depicted in this paragraph are illustrated in Appendix B. An initial requirement for the potential investors in the ETC project is to obtain a return on investment of 15%. This ROI based on an initial investment of requires the company to
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Legalization of Marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Legalization of Marijuana - Essay Example This is applicable to marijuana too. It is often shunned as an intoxicating drug that people often abuse. However, there is an overshadowed side to this drug, which gives reason for its legalization as a medical substance. If people recognized marijuana for its numerous beneficial uses for patients of glaucoma, cancer, aids, and multiple sclerosis, they would realize that these provide substantial ground for the legalization of marijuana. One use of marijuana, which greatly justifies its use as a medical substance, is its use for glaucoma patients (Klein, pp. 19-27). Glaucoma is a disease in which the patient experiences elevated ‘intraocular’ pressure in the eye, which often causes nerve damage, which slowly blinds the patient. Marijuana contains an active ingredient, THC, which helps reduce this pressure. This does not mean that marijuana cures the disease, but it helps delay the onset of the worst of its symptoms, which include vision impairment and blindness (Jacob, pp. 75-120). Experts often criticize this use of marijuana, saying that it is not worth the risk of using such an intoxicating and psychoactive substance for glaucoma patients when it does not even cure their condition. ... 1-3). The University of California has published several findings about this use for marijuana, which effectively alleviates the extreme pain that these diseases cause a task, which other painkillers are often ineffective at doing (Doheny, pp. 22-30). This is especially relevant for patients suffering from the final stages of cancer, where cure is not possible, and their pain is at its worst. The only thing that anyone can do for the dying patient at this point is to ease his or her suffering. Given marijuana’s effectiveness in alleviating such pain, the authorities should consider legalizing such a medical use of the substance. The argument of the side effects of marijuana, such as addictiveness or intoxication is irrelevant in this case, since the patient would not be any worse off due to such side effects, given their condition. For other cases, such as patients in pain due to AIDS, spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, the patients are often helpless in pain and thu s if marijuana helps alleviate their pain, this greatly outweighs the negative side effects it might have on them (Jacob, pp. 75-120). These reasons provide further ground for the legalization of marijuana despite it negative characteristics. Another use that justifies the use of marijuana is a slightly less favored one. It springs from a side effect which marijuana has, which is that it increases the appetite of the person who smokes it (Farrow, Rees & Worrington-Roberts, pp. 79:218). This characteristic is, however, a useful find for people suffering from HIV. These patients suffer from extreme weight loss due to their condition, a symptom known as ‘wasting’. This includes a loss of appetite, which is followed by the deterioration of the
Monday, September 23, 2019
Carrer management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Carrer management - Essay Example With my psychometric result, I have further explored that ESFJs also have the quality to take good care of things that are in their custody (Butt 2009). They are excellent protectors and can gain remarkable achievements in education and medical field. Functional analysis of ESFJs shows that they have extraverted feelings and they are talented enough to adapt to new environments quickly, most specifically they have command over e-world gadgets and systems (Cazenovia 2012). In addition, they can easily express a variety of feelings in front of others and mostly they are motivated or de-motivated with others response towards their thoughts and actions. Further, it has been noticed that ESFJ are usually career oriented people and they do have passion to do something remarkable in the aspect of academic or professional ground. Additionally, they seek interesting as well as satisfying careers and to do this they work with deep concentration and intend to attempt all processes in a thoughtf ul manner. Competitive partner or environment works as a catalyst for them because they always possess passion to defeat all their enemies and competitors and in order to achieve this purpose they can do anything, which is possible and accessible. Personal swot analysis illustrates my strengths, followed by my weaknesses, then opportunities, which will assist me during my journey towards goals and the threats that might be a barrier in the path towards my objective. My biggest strength is that I am a business management undergraduate student at PSB institute and I am only a few steps away from my completing my degree. I know it is my greatest strength and it will help me in the near future to take initiative in the business world (Psni 2012). I am very passionate about my career and I am confident that my talent, skills, and willingness to achieve my
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Cystic Fibrosis Transplantaton Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
Cystic Fibrosis Transplantaton - Research Paper Example CF is inheritable and live threatening genetic disorder mostly experienced at the Northern European parts .To develop the disorder, one must inherit faulty gene from both of your parents this is by inheriting one set defective CFTR gene from the mother and the other from the father The disease is transmitted in a recessive way with chromosome 7. (Bush, 2006 ) It is caused due to anomaly in the cells producing mucus. A defect in CFTR gene causes the cystic fibrous, that alters the core function of the protein responsible of movement of salt and water in and out of body cells. (Komaroff, 2005)Through the scientific discovery transmembrane conductance regulator, called cystic fibrosis has greatly improved the understanding of the disorder and its diagnosis also showing the disease’s complexity. The study of the diseases started in 1946 but a fulgurating progress has been discovered in the recent years. (Hopkin, 2010). Cystic Fibrous is common inheritable genetic disease within the Caucasian people in the U.S.A. From the research done the disease affects mostly the Northern European ancestry, although it too experienced at the parts of Hispanics, Native Americans. and some African-American the genetically inheritable diseases is affecting about 1 person in 17,000 African American,1 in 31,000 Asian American and large population affected being 1 in 2,000 to 3,5000. Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease that causes severe damages to the lungs, liver, sex organs, sinuses, pancreases, intestines, and sinuses. The disease is characterized by the buildup of sticky, thick mucus. (Moss, 1991) Cystic Fibrosis is inherited diseases of the sweat glands and mucus. The mucus clogs the lungs as a result the breathing systems is affected and the mucus catalyze the growth of bacteria .Respiratory problem signs include breathlessness a stuffy nose, wheezing, a persistence in coughing and a decreased exercising ability
Saturday, September 21, 2019
When Buddhism was the dominant tradition in India Essay Example for Free
When Buddhism was the dominant tradition in India Essay Indian historical periods are related to the Buddhists Thought in terms of social ferment and intense intellectual social and cultural beliefs. The periods of how the religious groups evolved during the authority of the Vedas and their concept of the god they believed in. These periods range from the times at which there was consequential progress in the development of the religion in India. There were in certain hereditary statuses restrictions that had cast castle mobility of the implications of the rituals associated with the efficacy of Buddhism. The first periods of evolution of Buddhism started as early as 246 B. C in the northern parts of India. It then developed through very many empires and rulers to become a religion that is appreciated even today in all parts of the World. This paper will therefore analyze the periods of evolution of Buddhism and how it dominates the religious beliefs and minds of the ancient Indians and other people around the region. It will also look at how the religion was affected by the entry of other religious teachings including Islam and Christianity. It will find discuss the implications of the Thought of Buddhists with regard to the teachings of the founder of Buddhism by emphasizing the negative and positive aspects of the religion in the ancient and current Indians. Philosophical relevance of Buddhism to ancient India. Some sects associated with the religion are greatly contributing to the unified philosophical system of the cultural beliefs of the Indian population both in the past and in the early and mid twentieth centuries. Some critics both in India and other neighboring countries who had adopted the religion are pointing out several problems which prevent its acceptance by all people. They argue that Buddhists have in the past and still reject past action of deterministic behavior which keeps on changing as the technology changes . It is also considers that the soul and the body are inseparable and that it is not possible that the soul cannot survive death as claimed by some sects within Buddhism. Such kinds of teachings are considered to be mythical in nature and not the actual ones developed by Buddha himself at the time of conceiving the ‘knowledge’. While ethics and morals had to be emphasized during the time of Buddha, it should be done through judicial procedures which is currently overtaking the power and authority that religious leaders are having in their beliefs to punish offenders to some extent. Some scholars also believe that the views as expressed by the Buddhist religion are too advanced to be adopted by all societies considering the current diversity of societies, cultures, and religion. It evident that society has not reached a point where education needs to be universal and the society need to be developed further in the sense of prevalent superstitions and irrational beliefs. In this era where the society is limited when it comes to concepts and nature, religions are becoming increasingly controversial especially when it deals with patent issues of families, obedience, faith, God, life after death etc. the scholars also continue to analyze the impacts with which Buddhism has had on the current development of India when compared to the other cultures in other regions at the time of Buddhism in India. History of Buddhism Prince Siddhartha Guatama founded Buddhism in the kingdom of Shakwa in Nepal at the foothills of the Himalayas in the 500A. D which is approximately 2,500 years ago. It is believed that Siddhartha Guatama left his luxurious life in the palace to look for ‘better life elsewhere’. Buddhism was then conceived after the Prince moved around and met the poor who were suffering. After seeing this, Siddhartha Guatama recognized the fact that something was wrong with the societal order and it should be addressed very urgently. He therefore decided that he shares his wealth with the poor in the society with a view to making them equal with him. He spent most of his life doing this and God blessed him with immense knowledge that he got a revelation of life and the meaning of suffering. With this he was sure that he knew the real meaning of living. Thus the realization of Buddhism and the Buddhist Thought. The prince got the Buddhist Thought while sitting under the tree known as the papal tree and from that day, he was acknowledged by not only his admirers but also by other sympathizers of different religious beliefs. In the final barriers, Guatama achieved knowledge and he experienced a lot of truths that is all about suffering and life. The four noble truths as revealed by prince Guatama are; †¢ All of life is suffering †¢ The cause of suffering is desire †¢ Desire leads to suffering †¢ Desire can be ended by means of mediation and path discipline. Buddhists Thought With the achievement of this knowledge, Guatama was now the awakened one-Buddha meaning the birth of Buddhism. He thus spent most of his life traveling around India spreading the gospel of Buddha and the meaning of Buddhism in the ancient life of the Indians at the moment. More and more people continued to adopt the culture of the teachings of Buddhists while integrating the relevant principles of the religion to their daily needs. The principles of Buddhism encourage the teachings of Mahayana, Hinayana, Vayajarana teachings. These teachings encourages the upholding human life and assisting people to become equal in terms of food provision, culture, obedience, respect and punishment . Indian merchants and loyalty resulted and patronized monasteries for centuries after the introduction of the Buddhist Thought. In this period, hemispherical stone structures were erected in remembrance of the founder of the religion after he died after eighty years. Various temples were also built to signify the importance of the teachings to the ancient Indians. This is the first development of the Buddhists Thought impacted very strongly on the lives of the ancient people not only in India but also in neighboring countries that had received the message from the missionaries of Buddhism. Buddhism is also considered an organized religion with high philosophical orders within the Indian society. During the early twentieth century for example, Buddhism dramatically came back to spur a combination of philosophical interests and European antiquarian activities as practiced by the devotees available by then in the northern parts of the Indian region. This meant that all issues that were perceived to be supernatural to the normal man were enough to be adequately addressed by the Buddhists Thought and the principles as stated by Buddha. Forms of Buddhism The Himalayan communities practiced a form of Buddhism that shared same fundamental principles as those practiced by the Tibetan communities. This form of Buddhism is considered as promoting spiritual advancement, enhancing intercession, and enlightening human beings on their role on earth. Most of the forms of Buddhism are Adopted by different countries depending on their own understanding of the teachings. The ‘Doctrine of the elders’ is the most followed form of Buddhism that traces its origin to the first principle of the Buddhists Thought. It is being adored by the Indians and it traces its origin to scriptural traditions of the Pali community of eastern India. This doctrine stresses a more advanced human-like Buddhism that is coated with a democratic path which enables its followers to embrace unity, marriage simplicities, and abolition of marriage expenses, increased sense of identity, self-esteem, self-worth, and reducing alcoholism. Spreading the Buddhism Thought The religion from its inception in northern India spread to other parts of the country and within a short period of time it had spilled over to countries such as China, Korea and Japan. It is also believed that within India itself, Buddhism flourished against backdrops of various rulers in India who viewed it as a threatening and extreme religion which would interfere with their ruling capacitates. It is particularly believed that it was taken to higher levels by the emperors of Ashoka, Milinda, kanishka and Bimbishara who had all found the teachings of the religious practice useful top the Indian community and the whole societies at large. Around the thirteenth century, Buddhism disappeared slowly but not after leaving a legend on the religious beliefs in India. In fact, it is known that the prince who founded Buddhism did not even contemplate appointing a successor to continue with the teachings and the spreading of the religion. He rather advocated for each and every individual follower to maintain a personal form of salvation in which individuals regard all human beings as equal and worth in the eyes of the almighty. This meant that all followers of Buddhism had the moral responsibility of maintaining their own integrity as advocated by Buddha in his teachings in the eyes of other people. The main reason why Buddhism thrived and flourished in ancient Indian country was the support it received from the local kings and emperors such as Kosala. Guatama was known to be an intense austerity practitioner in that he was able to deny himself lots of luxuries and even starve himself to death if need be. At one point, he decided that self torture had weakened his mind for as long time and things needed to change. By failing to advance his enlighten status; he was reduced to a certain style of renunciation through dedicational mediation. Since Buddhism existed in the oral traditions only, it was necessary to have some kind of mechanisms to ensure that practices and doctrines of Buddhism are maintained. It was seen necessary to have a Council of Buddhists to do the job. These councils had their individual responsibilities. The first council This council arose out of Maha’s concern for the future of all Indians and the fate of the Buddha’s dependents. In this first council, the monks were required to deal with the disciplines within the Thought of Buddha. This first council was also to make recommendations and agreements on the controversial issues as singled out by the ancient rulers and scholars in India. The role of this council; became so complicated that after a couple of years, a second council was formed. The second council The responsibilities of the second council were to iron out differences that had arisen from the disagreements between the elders of the order and the monks. The monks had wanted to get exclusive powers to apply rules and regulations with regard to the believers who did not conform to the teachings of Buddha. This council was given the authority to iron out differences at all levels of leadership. However, most of the monks did not agree that the most attainable position would be the Arhat and that there would be other positions that can be attained by any other individual. Arhat was not measurable to Buddha and that is why it not possible to claim that Arhat is the highest point of holiness. The misunderstandings between the two groups of leaders led to the development of two Buddhist traditions. These are; the Great way and the Way of the Elders. Despite the fact that the two groups of the traditions give ultimate respect to the teachings of Buddha, they differ on issues such as monastic disciplines, Buddha-hood and obedience to the teachings. They were designed to meet challenges of misunderstandings of leaders in the councils The third council This council was held during the empire of emperor Ashoka who led the Buddhism monarchy at the third century B. C. It was held at the palatipultra reigns where most non-Buddhists joined the religious group mainly because they felt that it offered them some kind of royal patronage. Although most of the new members were finding it difficult to meet the expectations of their new religion, they had in some way retained their old beliefs. This third council was being formed at the height of increased membership to enable people disregard their old practices that do not conform to the teachings of Buddhism. The fourth and the fifth councils were all formed to counter moves by other religious groups to ouster Buddhism and its spread in and outside of India.
Friday, September 20, 2019
What Is Social Policy?
What Is Social Policy? Essay Topic: What is social policy and why is it controversial? Write an essay in which you explore the topic of social policy giving consideration to differing theoretical debates, positions and arguments for and against the provision of social policy as well as the nature of wellbeing in society. Use New Zealand examples to support your discussion. Marks will be allocated based on: The breadth of your reading and the sources you use to develop your argument. Your ability to develop a strong and effective argument, with a good introduction and conclusion. Your use of references, taking into account accuracy, suitability and conformity to the Style Guide for this paper. The level of originality which you bring to the topic. The extent that you cover the topic fairly and comprehensively. Introduction Wellbeing is a relatively new concept it references draw from a satisfactory in good health and happiness through having material or attitude compare to others in society. Social policy has long been a material well being as to response to a basic needs create a safe environment, providing food and shelter. In the mid of rising populations and rapid social change and uncertainty, Social policy regards to well being becoming more important to response to more complex needs as by far is hard to measure of it quality wellbeing is increasingly important and to regulate under different political ideologies.Various environment socio economic, there is much to look for. Social policy accompanied welfare state is the remnant of an old policy from the post war era, today political parties in search policy that fit in others economic ideology spectrum, pay attention to social reform agenda, to achieve this requires great flexibility, compromise or consent of voters and opposition party. Social policy is an urgent agenda for New Zealand that have grown into multicultural society although still trapped in a disorder of a bi-culturally tough going effort to achieve in the last 200 years. This essay is an attempt to explore different theoretical debates and position for and against social policy that incorporated in New Zealand political context. Controversial policy Exiting gap between men and women, employed and unemployed, rich and poor there is large number of left out people in working life, minor, gender and others who get pay unequal to that of other workers. The disable, mentally ill and the elderly receive minimum live able income and being support by government funded organization employees to visit in their home in community, for this reason government is to look closing this gap of equality in society. The Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics defines social policy as an interdisciplinary and applied subject concerned with the analysis of societies responses to social need (Pawar, 2014, p. 131) the definition confined within the idea of responding to need, it recognize the inaccessible and inequality as necessitate by default. Social policy in a wider term is an action that affects the well-being of members of a society mainly regarding distribution and access to goods and resources(Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009). The initiative emphasis on the need that arises concerned the society where intervention and mechanism is put in place to response to it. This humanitarian response is mainly base on socialism that exit in most welfare states regarding how the government should help it citizen enhance the capability to achieve as oppose to capitalism scheme (Giddens, 2013) Influences by socialism from the left wings, Labour party for example a Social democratic old party in early 1900s initiate change to the fundamental social policy in New Zealand. After 1935 labour party won the election and form the government, result in Social reform in social security, national health services and low rent housing programs(Smelt Lin, 2008). Labour influence policy has not flourish without tension for example in 1970’s Crisis of the welfare state where theoretical debate was become critical on government legitimacy on state intervention was put to the ordeal (Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009) key inherently to this was about the ability of state unable to develop the framework response to the market economic and political ideological context. Liberal based political ideology the prominent right in New Zealand politic perceived social policies as counterproductive it interrupting the nature of market economic and political ideology. Liberal idea emphasis on equality of the individually takes priority over society and the right to make choices for themselves. Liberalism and Neo liberal opening stages of the free-market economy has influence scientific revolution that fundamentally altered New Zealand society today however a Classical Liberal opinion awkwardly associated with state intervention as â€Å"necessary evil†(Heywood, 2002, p. 45) Political axes can no longer be over amplified from the fact that there are flavor variations within political party show pluralistic of political idea. Recently there are strong conservative patriotic support to the â€Å"new right†movement of social conservative i.e United future combine strength of voters to support state intervention(Mulgan Aimer, 2004) both came from right and left of the political spectrum. Regardless of it controversial, from an observation social democracy in a small mono ethnic country in Europe seemed to be successful with a state welfare management but could be different in a multicultural environments (Giddens, 2013) Theoretical debates/ position for social policy Socialism believes based on the principles of collectivity, equal opportunity, distribution of wealth and public responsibility for those who are able to help themselves these emphasis on the applied policy involving a welfare state within the framework of a capitalist economy (Sejersted Adams). Originated in 19th century Germany from the influence of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Aspalter, 2001) grew out of necessity to combat the universal suffrage, the poor and middle class play a great role in supporting social democratic process. Liberal on the other hands with a vague idea of allocation of resources to the disadvantage base on justice and inequality in realizing that the individual freedom need some form of guarantee (Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009) and safeguard individual for social evil(Heywood, 2002).Liberal showed need for states to sustained and decided what matter for individual(Lister). This argument has been cultivated by Socialist resulting in assimilations and made an alliance. Social democratic party in a post war New Zealand it has morphed into hybrid, the mix between Socialism and Liberal ideology. Socialism has been favor in democratic process and it has made it way to the capitalism dominated political arena (Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009) pressing it influences in to capitalism market economic. Policy model largely based on the principle of eligibility, government granting access to benefits and services based on citizenship, socialist regime in practice include the welfare system(Giddens, 2013) in order to achieve equality a legitimate, ideally the elected government will engages in retribution of resources depending on the given policy and process. State management involved transferring of funds to the services providers. Labour party manifesto, for example in 1960’s emphasis on taxation must be use to achieve major wealth and income for disadvantages routing distributions to education, social security and healthcare(Lavalette Pratt, 2007). Labour adopted social liberal promotes woman right, honoring treaty of Waitangi, opposing nuclear weapons and a sport apartheid in South Africa (Mulgan Aimer, 2004). New Zealand has been a bi-cultural country follows the treaty of Waitangi.(SooHoo Nevin) treaty regulates the co-exit between westerners, newcomers and the Maori indigenous population this has causes more grieve than pleased chiefly to the indigenous populations. Subjected to a colonization process that strip Maori of their land for resources, the country then route immaturely into a global market capitalism (Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009) resulting from lost of land, cultural and identity, Maori community relied on political party’s policy draw heavily on the socialism collective practice regarding to the right of indigenous people as a citizen and as people of the land, issues highlight the problems of social exclusion (Humpage, 2006). There is yet to find solutions around the issues of Tino rangatiratanga, the right, ownership accountability, management of tribal resources recognition of duty and ability to participate the concern of tribal issues this become part of the Labour policy in 1957 and recently Maori custody right to the foreshore and seabed the space for mussel farming.(Orange, 2011) Debate argument against social policy Post cold war society Liberal have gain it popularity it satisfy the Demand for individual autonomy and accommodates the rise of global market (Giddens, 2013) Liberal admire democratic process gaining power through freedom to vote. Fredrick Hayek writing of Neo-Liberal ideas from the classic political economic believes in the power of unregulated market liberalism will deliver efficiency and prosperity (Heywood, 2002) Liberal ideas allow people to developing different ways of thinking takes action for changes to happen, practices contributes to the progression, ideology hold the individual responsibility to create their own destiny for a person fortune this oblige people to become self reliance (Pawar, 2014) for this reason Liberalism and capitalism are fit together favor free market and limited government control , they despise the welfare state as the source of all evil (Giddens, 2013) government redistribution of income or capital as an unacceptable intrusion upon individual freedom(Lavalette Pratt, 2007) The Liberal model remained market dominance and private provision, the state only recognized poverty and provide minimum support to the basic needs but still limited to it terms of agenda hence the poor need to keep up the speed or be the economic victim of the rich. There are numbers of New Zealand political party that base one Liberal ideology for example†¦. Conservative†¦ National maintain it conservative regarless of liberal favor among young people.(Mulgan Aimer, 2004) Argument; welfare state lost it quality representing the collective interest.(Sejersted Adams) nz example explain references 3 National party always oppose to socialism (Cheyne, Belgrave, OBrien, 2009) National the second oldest political party emerges from an old Liberal and Reform party to counter the balance(Miller, 2005) Labour and National currently exist as the two main rival parties. National party favored the the idea of liberal and conservatives. Having been form against Labour national have strong policy again collectivism unionist and welfare(Miller, 2005)†¦. In early 1990’s National actively promote the one country one law, new minister elected uphore the inherent Labour policy seeing favor Maori is socially devisive(Hill). Nature of well being in society The discourse of wellbeing is underpinned by an individual satisfaction and, as such, is inherently quality of life. in concept to be well is to be not â€Å"unwell†for this reasonâ€Å"well†comes to be defined by the absence of crisis episodes. In this sense identifying the sufferers, and natural human reactions can lead to a better picture of it. Enable people to experience freedom and realize their potential Material well being psychological well being development and long term†¦productivity in life cycle as social investment†¦. conclusion number of key events including the elections of†¦.help turn the tide national showed level of ideology flexibility and pracmatic†¦.. = National and Labour represent an opposing view for the same agenda to the ultimate goal of policy for the well being of all. social policy reported one sided account mark the growing self confident; well being can not be express in monetary unit†¦ , the promotion of health and treatment of the sick, the care and support of those unable to live a fully independent life; and the education and training of individuals to a level that enables them fully to participate in their society. Social policy out there†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦different theoretical social policy according to 2 rival ideas in the western world B.social democratic state duty to guarantee to establish well being. References Aspalter, C. (2001). Importance of Christian and Social Democratic Movements in Welfare Politics: With Special Reference to Germany, Austria, and Sweden: Nova Science Publishers. Cheyne, C., Belgrave, M., OBrien, M. (2009). Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: Oxford University Press. Giddens, A. (2013). The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy: Wiley. Heywood, A. (2002). Political Ideologies: politics (2 ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Hill, R. Maori and the State: Crownà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"Maori Relations in New Zealand/Aotearoa, 1950 2000: Victoria University Press. Humpage, L. (2006). An Inclusive Society: A leap forward for Maori in New Zealand: Auckland University Press. Lavalette, M., Pratt, A. (2007). Social Policy: Theories, Concepts and Issues: SAGE Publications. Lister, R. Understanding theories and concepts in social policy: Policy Press. Miller, R. (2005). Party Politics in New Zealand: Oxford University Press. Mulgan, R. G., Aimer, P. (2004). Politics in New Zealand: Auckland University Press. Orange, C. (2011). The Treaty of Waitangi: Bridget Williams Books. Pawar, M. (2014). Social and Community Development Practice: SAGE Publications. Sejersted, F., Adams, M. B. The Age of Social Democracy: Norway and Sweden in the Twentieth Century: Princeton University Press. Smelt, R., Lin, Y. J. (2008). New Zealand: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. SooHoo, S., Nevin, A. Culturally Responsive Methodologies: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Human Resource Management Strategies: Tesco Case Study Human Resource Management Strategies: Tesco Case Study As Tesco has grown, so has the importance of Every Little Helps. Over time, theyve gone from simply selling groceries to providing anything from loans to mobile phones. By setting out in all these new directions they ran the risk of losing our way. So, they have relied on Every Little Helps more and more over the years, to act as a common philosophy to bind us all together. Mission statement: Tescos mission statement is Creating value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. The Organisation Structure and culture: Structure: The structure of Tesco is simple one apart from the fact that it has huge labour force under its belt. The company have found more efficient ways of completing a task or business activity. Tesco has advancement in technology to minimize human error e.g. stock ordering, delivery schedules, etc. The company is giving general staff more responsibility when helping or serving a customer. The managers within each store have now been given a much broader span of control with their workforce. This means that each manager will have more employees to communicate with, but each employee has been trained to a set standard, which allows the manager to trust them to get on with the job with little guidance from him or her. All of the key decisions are made by the board of directors based in Chesnutt, which makes the company centralized in its diction making. Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviour shared by a group of people. Culture is the behaviour that results when a group arrives at a set of generally unspoken and unwritten rules for working together (humanresource.about.com). Organizational culture is the workplace environment formulated from the interaction of the employees in the workplace (portal.brint.com). It can be analysed through the observations of the companys behaves, including routines, rituals, stories, structures and systems. Tesco has a very friendly and supporting approach in the routine ways that staff at Tesco behaves towards each other, and towards those outside the company. The control systems and measurements are constantly under the management review to monitor the efficiency of the staff and managers decisions. The rituals of the companys life are the special events, corporate gatherings, which Tesco emphasizes are very important. Leadership styles: Previously, Tesco was following John Adairs Action Centred Leadership (ACL) model of leadership. The ACL model is represented by three interlocking circles encompassing the following: Achieving the task Building and maintaining the team Developing the individual (Thomas 2005). Action-Centred Leadership tends to focus on the hierarchical structure of the organization. It is applicable in organizations that are highly authoritarian. But later, with the appointment of Terry Leahy as the Chief Executive Officer, Tesco led into a series of organizational changes. Leahy is considered as a visionary leader who aimed for the company to become more customer-focused and to develop its workforce. According to him, there are four things that a leader must provide to his workers and followers to satisfy and motivate them. These are: A job that is interesting to do A chance to get on in life To be treated with respect A boss who is some help and not their biggest problem Leahy adapted a participative style of leadership wherein the employees are given voice in the decision-making process. The organizational structure became more flat where the roles and responsibilities of everyone are clearly stated. Leahy delegates leadership roles to individuals in the organization in order to ensure that the company, with more than 300,000 employees, operates effectively. The leadership style that is manifested by Terry Leahy and is imitated by the leaders in the company has changed the structure of the company. The company has adapted an organic, a simpler and flatter organizational structure. Corporate Social responsibility: CSR is defined as the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life. Approach to CSR in Tesco: Environment: Tesco promote environmental issues through training package in order to create enough awareness on the issue of environment and to allow the company to maximize its operational effectiveness initiatives e.g. recyclable bags Community: In several attempt to give back to the society Tesco create special support for children, community based projects and education programmes in order to create a peaceful environment to operate e.g. Tesco Charity Trust. Suppliers ethical trading: In order to maintain high ethical standard in business practices, Tesco is encouraging long term trade relationship with supplier with a centralized distribution system with transparency and accountability to promote good quality of rang products and services at competitive pricing. Customers choice and health: It promotes the health of the customers through the management of customers choices. This can be confirmed by the statement that Tesco will continue to appeal to a broad range of customers and that the company will offer something for everyone through an extensive product range, offering price and product choice, in food and non-food products. People/workers: Employees are given opportunities of carrier development through Training and development programme with effective communication to facilitate staff feedback. Rewards and benefits are used to motivate workers, based on performances on the job, pension scheme, save as you earn and family friendly working through flexible hours of work to accommodate mother education. Ethical Practices: All employees contribute to TESCOs reputation; therefore, it is important that all employees adhere to ethical guidelines. Always follow these principles: Compliance with Laws: TESCO business, whether domestic or international, must be conducted in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Honesty and Integrity: All employees must be honest and honourable in all dealings with other employees, the public, the business community, shareholders, customers, suppliers, competitors, and government authorities. Entertainment and Gifts: Any gift, entertainment, or benefit you provide to a business associate must be modest in scope and value. Never provide a gift, entertainment or benefit that contravenes any applicable law. Consultant Fees, Commissions and Other Payments: Never give or receive any payment that falls outside the normal conduct of business. If staff is found engaged in giving or accepting kickbacks, bribes, payoffs or other illegal or similar transactions, will be subject to immediate discipline, up to and including dismissal in accordance with TESCOs policy on employee discipline. Political Contributions: TESCO does not wish to discourage the participation of employees in political and related activities. Employees cannot do on behalf of Tescos either directly or indirectly, without the prior written approval of TESCOs Executive Management. Compliance with Accounting Controls and Procedures: Employees must always comply with the Companys accounting procedures and controls, and all applicable laws. They should properly record all financial data and transactions. Leadership styles: Tesco PLC is one of the leading retailers in the United Kingdom and one of the largest food retailers in the world. The management and leadership styles analysed below, are approaches which are likely to be implemented by Tesco. McGregors Theory X and Y: According to Douglas McGregor (1960) in developing theories X and Y, managers took two different views of their subordinates and conducted practices that would best suit their assumption of the workers. Theory X managers, think that people dislike work, which is a necessity for survival. They perceive workers to be lazy who avoid responsibility, who lack ambition and prefer to be directed, rather than use initiative to take roles of responsibility. These managers use directive approach to leadership and are very strict and controlling with their subordinates. Organisational goals already established and workers are pushed in a certain direction so that these goals can be fully achieved. Theory Y managers believe that if workers are in the right conditions, they will work hard their own will, helping the organization achieve the set out goals, and in return, being rewarded for this hard work and effort. In this scenario, managers will work together with subordinates, deciding work objectives and by developing strategies designed to achieve these goals. They will encourage team working and also delegate decision making when and where possible. In relation to Tesco, the management are likely to take a theory X approach in running their organisation. Due to the enormity of the number of subordinates a manager is likely to be in supervision of, it would be almost impossible to use the latter approach. Blake and Moutons Management Grid: The management grid identifies a range of management behaviours based on various ways that task-oriented and employee-orientated styles can interact with each other. In relation to Tesco, the management would identify themselves mostly to an Authoritarian management style (also known as produce or perish style), which has a high concern for production and efficiency and concentrates less on people. They take a task oriented approach which takes in hand the needs of the task rather than the wants of subordinates. This is again, similar again to the Theory X approach stated approach, and is effective to Tesco where there is a larger amount of lower-skilled employees. Herzberg Two Factor Theory: Fincham and Rhodes (2005) stated that Herzbergs two factor theory involved, firstly the motivators and secondly the hygiene factors. Hygiene factors involved supervision, salary, work environment, company policies and relationship with colleagues. The absences of these were seen as dissatisfying aspects of a job which can affect the morale of workers. Motivators stated by Herzberg include; responsibility, achievement, promotion and recognition. In relation to Tesco, subordinates of the managers such as shop floor employees are unlikely to achieve the motivators stated by Herzberg. This can be very negative for a firm like Tesco because a de-motivated workforce is obviously more unproductive then a motivated workforce. Taking this into thought, it is vital for managers to tackle motivational issues of the workforce and see that the hygiene factors of employees are met, making it an effective approach to adopt. Development of workforce: Workforce development links staff learning and development to other human resource and business activities. It includes strategic planning, workforce planning, performance management and career development. Strategic planning: Tesco has a systematic planning process involving a number of steps that identify the current status of the association, including its mission, vision for the future, operating values, needs (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats), goals, prioritized actions and strategies, action plans, and monitoring plans. Workforce planning: Workforce planning is the process of analysing an organisation includes: Identifying current and future numbers of employees required to deliver new and improved services. Analysing the present workforce in relation to these needs. Comparing the present workforce and the desired future workforce to highlight shortages, surpluses and competency gaps. Analysing the diversity profile at all levels against that of the local population. Recruitment and selection process. Risk of deployment. Performance management: An important element in workforce development is to have clear job descriptions and person specifications. A job description sets out: the title of the job to whom the job holder is responsible for whom the job holder is responsible a simple description of roles and responsibilities If employees will know their job well, their performance will automatically be beneficial for organisation. Career development: Tesco seeks to fill many vacancies from within the company. It recognises the importance of motivating its staff to progress their careers with the company. Tesco practises what it calls talent planning. This encourages people to work their way through and up the organisation. Through an annual appraisal scheme, individuals can apply for bigger jobs. Employees identify roles in which they would like to develop their careers with Tesco. Their manager sets out the technical skills, competencies and behaviours necessary for these roles, what training this will require and how long it will take the person to be ready to do the job. Report: Organisational structure and its impact on people in Tesco: Tesco is a company that has also delayered the amount of employees used throughout the company. Reasons for Tesco delayering are: The company have found more efficient ways of completing a task or business activity. The advancement in technology has allowed the company to take some of the more demanding tasks away from employees to minimise human error E.G stock ordering, delivery schedules etc. The company giving general staff more responsibility within stores and allowing them to use their own initiative when helping or serving a customer. The managers within each store have now been given a much broader span of control with their workforce. This means that each manager will have more employees to communicate with, but each employee has been trained to a set standard, which allows the manager to trust them to get on with the job with little guidance from him or her. Looking at the Tesco Company the report can see that all of the key decisions for each region of the country are made by the board of directors based in Cheshunt, which makes the company centralised in its diction making. As the company is run centrally it allows Tesco to minimise the cost of having big finance, general office departments in each of its stores as well as minimise the amount of work each store has and allows them to concentrate on selling the businesses products to the customers. Organisational culture and its impact on workforce: In Tesco today the company is still recognised by the motto of pile it high and sell it cheap, but the company has introduced quality into its products by offering three different key areas of products. The first area consists of very high quality products such as organic and these products are usually the most expensive. The middle group of products are usually a collection of Tesco and company branded products and covers a wide price bracket. The third group of products are Tescos value range, which consists of the cheapest products such as toilet rolls, bin liners and ready meals. These types of products are all about value for money and are not priced by the level of quality. As well as offer their customers more choice, in the way of groceries, Tesco now offer their customers the opportunity to purchase clothes, electrical goods, DVDs CDs etc. By offering their customers these other products Tesco are changing their culture into becoming a one stop shop, which offers customers the chance to purchase almost anything they need at the same time. A danger for Tesco is the threat of ASDA overtaking them in affordability along with viability and becoming the new store that piles it high and sells it cheap. Leadership styles: A managers leadership style creates the climate within which employees work and influences the attitude and performance of his team. A manager will have a preferred style, but this will not be appropriate in every situation. To be effective, managers must learn to adapt their leadership style to the circumstances and in response to the employees they manage. This is known as situational or contingency leadership. In an article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2000, Daniel Goleman identified six leadership styles: coercive, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and coaching. Goleman linked these six leadership styles to managers able to choose the style best suited to the situation. Coercive and Authoritative: Managers with a coercive leadership style exert tight control over employees and rely on the threat of negative consequences to ensure compliance. This style of management can be successful in crisis situations. However, coercive leadership is not effective in the long term because it can create a negative atmosphere by demotivating capable employees and damaging morale. This style engages employees and results in the most positive work environment. Affiliative and Democratic: An affiliative style emphasizes harmonious interactions and can be useful if a manager needs to encourage a group to work together or heal rifts in a dysfunctional team. However, it is not effective if a manager needs to deal with inadequate performance or crisis situations that require clear direction and control. Democratic managers involve their employees in decision-making and encourage them to collaborate. This motivates capable employees because it encourages them to apply their skills and expertise. A democratic style is unlikely to be effective with employees who lack competence or require close supervision. Pacesetting and Coaching: Managers who lead by example have a pacesetting style, which can work well when an organization has to adapt and move quickly. Pacesetters set high standards and are apprehensive about delegating. A pacesetter can overwhelm his team with demands for unachievable excellence, resulting in a drop in morale. A manager adopting a coaching style of leadership helps employees identify their strengths and weaknesses. He encourages employees to set and attain goals, providing regular feedback to assist them to improve their performance. Benefits of flexible working practices to individuals: Ability to balance work and home commitments more readily. Increased quality of life. Reduced stress. Greater levels of job satisfaction. Ability to continue to work. Ability to maintain career development and personal growth during a period of temporary increased family commitments. Benefits of flexible working practices to organisation: Retention of trained and valuable staff. Increased productivity. Decreased absence. Individuals who have jobs tailored to meet their individual needs may be more motivated. The company is seen to support its diversity values. Access to a talent pool which might otherwise be unavailable thus improving recruitment. Ability to allow employees to continue to develop and grow in their career and to match the natural cycle of family commitments that everyone experiences. http://www.hirescores.com/flexible-working-corner.php Impact of ethical practices on motivation level of staff: The ethical climate of an organization can have both positive and negative impacts on employee job satisfaction. Unethical workplace behaviours create chaos and impact the organization in a variety of ways. Motivation level impacts the organization on many levels. Low levels of job satisfaction lead to low motivation, decreased productivity and increased turnover. Dishonest management practices lead workers to be suspicious of their leaders. The most successful organizations include high ethical standards at all levels of the organization. Cognitive Dissonance Theory Cognitive dissonance theory is often used to explain the loss of motivation and job satisfaction that generally results from unethical organizational practices. This psychological theory, first developed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1956, holds that, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviours (dissonance,) something must change to eliminate the dissonance. As this dissonance continues in the workplace, the worker feels increasingly dissatisfied with their positions when they there is no support or rewards for exhibiting ethical behaviours. http://www.ehow.com/info_7753033_job-satisfaction-organizational-ethics.html Use of CSR to motivate employees: Employees are motivated by corporate social responsibility (CSR). The integration of social, environmental, and economic improvement through CSR makes workplaces sounder. Below are the top 10 ways to motivate the workforce through CSR. Let employees participate in all the social activities done outside the company. Let employees lead volunteer and charity efforts in the local areas. Recognize attitude of the employees towards their job to raise the commitment and motivation level Encourage employee referrals to help retain and recruit talent. Bring CSR inside the company to develop employees inside the company through training and tuition Convert sick days to rewards by creating a rewards program for unused sick days. Make executive team visible by handshake and personal thanks. Encourage initiative taken by employees to increase employee engagement. Create a competitive advantage by true and defining differentiation from competitors which can be felt by employees, suppliers, partners, and customers. Be loud when you have done a great job with CSR, share it through social media, newsletters, media coverage, and face-to-face interactions to increase the energy, excitement, and enthusiasm of employees. Management styles to deal with difference in behaviour: Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes. Theory X: In this theory, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each and every level. Theory X managers rely heavily on threat and coercion to gain their employees compliance. Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. Theory Y: In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation. Motivation theories: The most commonly held views or theories are discussed below and have been developed over the last 100 years or so. Taylor: Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 1917) put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following: Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control. Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks. Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task. Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay. As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity. Mayo: Elton Mayo (1880 1949) believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work (something that Taylor ignored). He introduced the Human Relation School of thought, which focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together. Maslow: Abraham Maslow (1908 1970) along with Frederick Herzberg (1923-) introduced the Neo-Human Relations School in the 1950s, which focused on the psychological needs of employees. Maslow put forward a theory that there are five levels of human needs which employees need to have fulfilled at work. All of the needs are structured into a hierarchy (see below) and only once a lower level of need has been fully met, would a worker be motivated by the opportunity of having the next need up in the hierarchy satisfied. For example a person who is dying of hunger will be motivated to achieve a basic wage in order to buy food before worrying about having a secure job contract or the respect of others. Benefits of training and development to individuals and organisation: Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees. This has an added benefit of making your company more attractive to prospective employees. More motivated workers, which in turn tends to increase productivity and spur profits. More effective and efficient use of workers time as a result of higher skill levels, combined with a better understanding of the job function. Employees who know they are competent, and therefore feel more confident. Self-assured, well-trained employees are important in the debt collection function. An increase from employees in the number of ideas, recommendations and suggestions for improving performance, or processes and procedures. Lower overall employee turnover and less absenteeism. Investing in employee training enhances the company image as: a good place to work a company that offers its employees the opportunity to grow and meet their individual goals and aspirations a company that values employees a company that nurtures its employees Creating a pool of cross-trained employees can bridge gaps when someone unexpectedly leaves the company or if they accept a transfer or a promotion. Doing so tends to create more efficient employees that require less supervision and who need less detailed instructions. This frees managements time for higher value added activities. Employees that receive in houses training tend to be better equipped to adapt to changes and challenges facing the credit department in particular, and the company as a whole. http://www.coveringcredit.com/business_credit_articles/Credit_Management/art204.shtml People management strategies used in organisations: Here are some key strategic factors on the management of people to reinforce the importance of them to businesses. Understanding the competitive advantage they can gain from employing good people and including workforce planning in their business strategies. Developing people management strategies, structures and practices that align with the overall business strategy and customer-driven business processes. Attracting, training and retaining key people through effective recruitment processes, training and development, employee engagement and succession planning activities. Active leadership from business owners and managers through clear organizational communication, development of a team culture and effective management of organizational change. Effective recognition and reward systems, including performance reviews and feedback, rewards for good performance and support for individual development plans. Essential human resource systems to meet legislative requirements regarding employing people to ensure the business will avoid expensive litigation and employment problems. http://www.harris-management-solutions.com/managing-people.html Conclusion: In conclusion we can argue that the human resource aspect of any organisation can be seen as the greatest asset for an organisation. However neither the knowledge of this resource or knowledge about this resource should be seen as static, instead for organisational strategies to be effective they must be dynamic and adapt to be external changes in the environment as well as internal information concerning this human resource.
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