Thursday, November 28, 2019

Rabindranath Tagore Essay Essay Example

Rabindranath Tagore Essay Paper Rabindranath Tagore ] ( 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941 ) . sobriquet Gurudev. was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region’s literature and music. Writer of Gitanjali and its â€Å"profoundly sensitive. fresh and beautiful verse† . he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In interlingual rendition his poesy was viewed as religious and erratic ; his apparently hypnotic personality. fluxing hair. and other-worldly frock earned him a prophet-like repute in the West. His â€Å"elegant prose and charming poetry† remain mostly unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and poetry signifiers and the usage of conversational linguistic communication into Bengali literature. thereby liberating it from traditional theoretical accounts based on classical Sanskrit. He was extremely influential in presenting the best of Indian civilization to the West and frailty versa. and he is by and large regarded as the outstanding origi native creative person of modern India. [ 5 ] We will write a custom essay sample on Rabindranath Tagore Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Rabindranath Tagore Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Rabindranath Tagore Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta. Tagore wrote poesy as an eight-year-old. [ 10 ] At age 16. he released his first significant verse forms under the anonym Bhanusi?ha ( â€Å"Sun Lion† ) . which were seized upon by literary governments as long-lost classics. He graduated to his first short narratives and dramas—and the auspices of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist. universalist internationalist. and blatant anti-nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated independency from Britain. As an advocate of the Bengal Renaissance. he advanced a huge canon that comprised pictures. studies and scribbles. 100s of texts. and some two thousand vocals ; his bequest endures besides in the establishment he founded. Visva-Bharati University. Tagore modernized Bengali art by rejecting stiff classical signifiers and defying lingual stenosiss. His novels. narratives. vocals. dance-dramas. and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali ( Song Offerings ) . Gora ( Fair-Faced ) . and Ghare-Baire ( The Home and the World ) are his best-known plants. and his poetry. short narratives. and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricality. colloquialism. naturalism. and unnatural contemplation. His composings were chosen by two states as national anthems: the Republic of India’s Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh’s Amar Shonar Bangla. The composer of Sri Lanka’s national anthem: Sri Lanka Matha was a pupil of Tagore. and the vocal is inspired by Tagore’s manner.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Age of Hyperspecialization

The Age of Hyperspecialization In their article, Thomas Malone, Robert Laubacher and Tammy Johns discuss such a concept as hyperspecialization. This term can be defined as breaking or decomposing the work that is usually performed by a single person into separate elements or pieces. Moreover, these pieces should be done by two or more people.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The Age of Hyperspecialization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The authors believe that this approach can greatly increase the performance of many businesses. In my opinion, this question is very important nowadays when business administrators try to find ways of raising the productivity of their firms, especially manufacturers. Moreover, this question can have significant implications for employees who want to find work that suits their interests or expertise. The discussion presented by the scholars is based on the model of comparative advantage that originates from the ide as of Adam Smith. This theoretical model implies that individuals and groups are more likely to succeed, if they are engaged in the activities in which they are most skilled. Furthermore, the authors rely on such a concept as the division of labor which means that by dividing the manufacturing process into several short tasks that should be completed by several workers. From their standpoint, the principles of labor division can be applied to many modern companies in which employees do not have an opportunity to display their expertise. These are the main arguments that the scholars put forward and they should not be neglected by managers and executives. One should take into consideration that the authors of this article do not claim that their idea of hyperspecialization is entirely innovative. As it has been said before, they recognize the influence of Adam Smith on their discussion. Nevertheless, they want to show that many firms can benefit from hyperspecialization. This issue i s particularly relevant at the time when information technologies have become extremely sophisticated. Business administrators can do it by enabling workers to do the jobs that they can do best. They justify their recommendation by investigating the use of this method by different firms. The authors rely mostly on the qualitative information collected from several companies. Their research technique can be described as a case study. The scholars paid close attention to the opinions of managers who applied the principles of hyperspecialization. Furthermore, they examined the views of clients who used the services of companies in which the principles of hyperspecialization were fully implemented. This approach enabled them to look at this issue from different perspectives.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One should keep in mind that the researchers did not carry out statistical tests which could confirm the relationship between the productivity of a firm and the manufacturing technique that this organization adopted. Moreover, their sample of companies was very limited. This is the main limitation of this research article. Certainly, this drawback does not completely undermine the arguments of the authors. However, it indicates that the findings of these scholars cannot be generalized. On the whole, the findings presented in the article suggest that hyperspecialization can improve the operational efficiency of businesses because it enables people to focus on those tasks in which they are most competent. Nevertheless, the scholars acknowledge the drawbacks of this strategy since it can result in the lack of coordination, disappearance of many jobs, and increased supervision of workers. Nevertheless, despite these risks, hyperspecialization can be viewed as one of the techniques that can increase the productivity of many companies.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Final Project Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final Project Plan - Assignment Example Thus project management plan contains necessary planning to meet the project objectives; however, as the project progresses and more information is made available the project management plan is progressively elaborated, a process called â€Å"rolling wave planning† (PMBOK 2008). A project management plan contains its subsidiary plans including cost, schedule, resource, risk, quality, communication, procurement and scope management plans. Besides this project management plan also contains the procedure for change control management and configuration management for monitoring and controlling changes and approving the changes to the project (Mulcahy 2011). This case study pertains to development of a project management plan for the Seismic Zone Residential Construction Improvement Program undertaken by Research and Development unit of Property Development Department of the Government (PDDG). Flexible Models (FM) is a company that specializes in developing to-the-scale industrial models for building manufacturing plants, refinery process plants, and public usage buildings, such as halls and shopping malls. PDDG is working to assess the effectiveness of the boxes of a particular dimension used in the foundation of buildings. The project management plan for this project is elaborated below. Project Management Plan Project Objectives Project objective is to design, cut, assemble and deliver the boxes on the client’s location and assess the effectiveness of the scaled dimensions used in the foundations of the building. Project Scope Statement Wysocki (2009) recommends project team to follow a linear project management life cycle for successful completion of the project objectives. The project manager and project team should collect in wiring the requirements of stakeholders and conduct interviews to assess their needs, wants and expectations to review the project scope. This would allow the project team to finalize project scope and product specifications and come up with estimates of time and cost for comprehensive project planning. Project Deliverables Deliverables include the outcomes of the project processes that comprise the intended product or service. It also includes the auxiliary results such as reports and documentations. According to PMBOK (2008), it is essential to have processes for defining, verifying and accepting the final deliverables of the project. Given the project scope statement, project deliverables are described either in detail on summary level depending upon the availability of the information in a particular project phase (Mulcahy 2011). In our particular case, project deliverable is boxes of following specifications The size must be 300 x 250 x 200 cm with a slot of 10 x 10 x 25 cm. The tolerance on outer dimensions must be +/-2 cm. The tolerance on dimensions of the slot must be 0 to -3 mm in width. In short, the slot cannot be more than 10 x 10 cm. It should be made of cardboard or metal sheet. It shoul d be mad

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Monitoring of users Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Monitoring of users - Essay Example lantic have set up monitoring policy that ensures that their systems are protected and they can detect attributes of managed resources that are not operating within the specified parameters. Therefore, this paper shall seek to explain some of the rules of monitoring users of monitors executed by College of North Atlantic. First and foremost, College of North Atlantic’s monitoring policy asserts that it is mandatory for everyone using electronic system that belongs to the institution to comply with the agreements and guidelines stipulated in the policy. All the institution’s employees, contractors, subcontractors, students and volunteers must abide by the provisions of the procedures, policies and Acceptable Use Agreement that govern usage of the institutions electronic information systems (College of North Atlantic). The monitoring policy also stresses the importance of this by having administrative and academic managers responsible for ensuring that the policy is complied with. In doing this, College of North Atlantic will ensure that the monitoring policy is followed to the latter. The software policy enforced by College of North Atlantic plays an integral in ensuring that the institution’s computers and software are not destroyed. For example, the monitoring policy states that all software installed in the system in any department, the original set of software must be kept in an accessible and safe place in the corresponding department. Additionally, if software was installed and a license document was acquired, then the license document must also be stored in the respective department in an accessible and secure place. In order to ensure that this policy is followed to the latter, then the institution has ensured that the administrative and academic managers of the respective departments are responsible for the software licenses acquired in their departments (College of North Atlantic). Employees of College of North Atlantic are not allowed to install

Monday, November 18, 2019

Spoken Tactics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Spoken Tactics - Essay Example As part of the jubilee celebrations, bank would launch a variety of deposit schemes. Given below is the speech that the manager of the organization would deliver on the occasion. The audience consists of bank employees/staff, investors, customers, guests and general public. â€Å"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the very occasion we have been waiting for since the beginning of the last financial year. We thank you all for making this event highly valuable by your active presence. I would like to inform you the glad news that beyond our highest expectations, our bank has accumulated its greatest turnover even in this worst global economic environment. Dear friends; this achievement is yours who gave continual support and laid strong faith in the function and service of the organization. The bank is highly thankful to you for supporting us with your investments and deposits. Moreover, all your suggestions, complaints and feedbacks were of immense help to us for designing new strategies and forecasts. Of course, we had certain targets for this silver jubilee year. Lot of time and manpower has been spent to manage this accomplishment. I take this opportunity to thank all our customers who introduced new clients to us. Your cooperation and patience have to be appreciated in this context. I am here with a number of new offers to express our gratitude. All our beneficiaries will be privileged from this historic achievement in this jubilee year. Obviously, the relentless efforts and commitment of our whole staff and employees also have to be remembered here. In fact this success is the result of a two year project that commenced with a market survey. Our public relation faculty and other individuals who headed this task deserve a special appreciation. It was their sincere efforts that brought the real market situation to light. I remember the active involvement of all other employees in the accomplishment of the proposed target. They have paid extra time and

Friday, November 15, 2019

Is Latin America An Homogeneous Continent Politics Essay

Is Latin America An Homogeneous Continent Politics Essay Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages, those derived from Latin particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French are primarily spoken  [1]   Historical background To understand the history of International Business in Latin America it is necessary to begin with a look in the eighteenth century were all of the countries in the region were colonies of the European powers and the commerce were tightly tied to the home country. But with the independence the IB had been taking a major role in Latin America because it is possible to consider that the first international business in the region was financing by the Latin American governments for the wars independence and since that moment these countries began to involved with IB, exchanging raw materials, such as gold and silver exported for products from Europe like clothing, iron and manufactured goods  [2]   By the middle of the nineteenth century foreign direct investment began with projects in mining and infrastructure, also LA become one of the most trading partners for United States, providing natural resources and low cost assembly of manufactures (Clothing). The most attractive countries in LA for investment are Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The government-Business relationship Latin American governments imposed increasingly restrictive policies on foreign MNES, toward the end of import-substituting industrialization and promoting domestically owned business  [3]   but this didnt last for so long because of the 1980s crisis, that forced the governments of the region to look for foreign financial resources and by 1990s most of the LA join the opening economy system. Privatizations Privatization of state-owned enterprises has been one important step of the economic opening process and for FDI, with these system LA governments attracted the world leaders to invest in airlines, telephone companies, electronic power companies and banks. Regional Economic Integration The first regional integration done in LA was by Simon Bolivar in 1820 with the goal to unite South America, but since the World War II there had been integration efforts beginning with the LAFTA or ALALC in 1960 (Latin America Free Trade Area), this agreement never achieved its free-trade goals. It is possible to said that the first true agreement done in the region was the Andean Community in 1976, these group promote FDI into the region and tariff elimination among the members country  [4]   Another Sub regional integration effort is Mercosur has served to open trade mostly between Argentina and Brazil. The most successful agreement is NAFTA that produce economic growth in Mexico because many multinational firms of US locate its production there. Barriers to trade and invest in Latin America The most relevant barrier is the geographical one rather than the legal one because this zone has high mountains so the transportation cost is very expensive and this problem cannot be eliminated by tariff reductions or other government policies. Latin America MNE ´S It can be considered that the Latin America NME ´S emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, as firms established operations in mostly neighboring countries to serve local markets. The leading firms are located in the largest countries, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. Five of the top 25 MNE ´S are steel companies from Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico. Many companies are leaders in their respective industries, such as the Brazilian Gerdau Group. Most of MNE ´S tend to expand regionally before going farther abroad. And thinking in the consumer, this can often be a benefit because of the cultural similarity of most Latin American countries that makes regional firms better to supply to regional taste. At the same time, a firm that lacks international experience might want to acquire the skills needed to manage across borders by first learning in a country that is similar and nearby. This could explain CEMEX, the third-largest producer of cement in the world, captures many of this idea. Multinationals are often closer to their host countries geographically, culturally, economically, and politically, and with their know-how and technologies may be well matched for the other markets where they invest.  [5]   Latin American firms are responding to global trends by restructuring, developing a variety of tangible and intangible assets- including advanced management capabilities  [6]  After decades of protection and transition, Latin American firms are able to think and compete globally. 7 LATIN AMERICAN WORKING AND MANAGEMENT CULTURE. Plenty of information has been written about the American, Japanese or German management styles. These have proved to be successful in the greatest multinationals around the world and as a consequence many organizations in developing countries try to implement them. Well known is, that most of the Latin American countries have economies in transition and this is true also for management models used in Latin American organizations. In 2005 Martha M. Elvira, then the academic director of the Lexington College, together with Anabella Dà ¡vila, then the teacher of The theory of the Organization and business history at the School of Graduate in management and direction of business, had published in the Magazine Universia Business Review and article called Cultura y administracià ³n de Recursos Humanos en Amà ©rica Latina in English Human Resources culture and management in Latin America. There the authors assumed that the Latin American management models have some cultural traits deriv ed from an specific historic process with a social, political and economical structure. This unique process differentiates Latin American management styles from others and makes it worthy to examine the cultural background in order to better understand how the organizations in Latin America behave and how human resources practices in this region can be improved. It is thus highly important to review what has been written about the work culture in Latin America in order to understand better the management practices in that region and perform well when interacting with Latin Americans. For a better understanding of the subject of which is Latin-American cultural behavior and in some way decode the way Latin-Americans work and develop within an organization or during a business, we will divide these behavior into some themes or dimensions in which this culture will be analyzed. Our first dimension will be sympathy, personal dignity or classism, defining sympathy as the warmth of personal relationships, always respecting human dignity (Silvio de Franco, 1999). People in Latin American countries always take time to greet one another with a show of genuine pleasure, this culture is very familiar and always has close relationships with its workmates, if it is their decision they prefer working and negotiating with friends and family, rather than with strangers. Latin Americans are known for developing interpersonal relations with co-workers; this is why they are very predictable and expected by all. Personal contact is very important to Latin American workers; face-to-face contact with superiors is common and valuable for both employee and superior. Personal relations are charged with a high emotional content and both superiors and employees expect to be treated politely and friendly. Loyalty and reliability are very important in the personal relations of Latin Americans in the workplace. Other face of sympathy is the tendency to avoid open conflicts and unpleasantness, that is the reason why, people tend to be very polite and nice with others, and not to demonstrate disagreements in public. Latin Americans prefer a peaceful coexistence, and may be unwilling to confront others about negative behaviors that could be harmful to an organization; over the working environment what people want is to keep positive relationships among co-workers, taking aside the fact that their putting in risk the companys welfare. From here we can say that criticism is the key tool for discharging all madness of employees, this tool goes underground and is expressed most of the time through rumors and gossip. When talking about classism we refer to Latin Americans emphasizing in very rigid social divisions, so, sympathy is more likely to see in members of a same social class or level, you can also find sympathy from a high level class with a lower one, but it is less common in these countries. Hierarchy and social status is important, academic titles and other signs are mechanisms of social differentiation and help to establish the distance between employees and their superiors. Anabella Dà ¡vila and Martha M. Elvira affirm nevertheless, that superiors try to get near to the employees enough to eliminate the barriers between them. There is one exception to the rule, in terms of sympathy; some of Latin people are characterized because of their rudeness when talking, always taking advantage of the position power, when dealing with people that is less powerful, but this subject will be better explained when we arrive to hierarchical relationships and power dimensions. The next dimension is very linked to the first one, personalism; a desire for personalized and individualized attention. For Latin Americans, it is a priority to do things for others as relatives and family. Being helpful is very important for Latinos. First thing to have in mind when working with this culture is trying to develop good relationships, create loyalty within the working group and connecting as much as possible with people. Us, as Latin Americans, prefer to give opportunities, do favors and accept things, from people we know, giving them an advantage over the others, who will become strangers for us. Foreign people need to develop relationships based on mutual help, improve their level of empathy in order to gain Latin Americans trust and personalize the way of dealing with co-workers; we choose approaching people directly in person, rather than delegating tasks, or just sending letters. Personal relationships are needed and mandatory for Latin Americans, as an example, if a person wants to have a good position in the workplace, it is easier to success if they have palanca, term used by Latinos for the extra help they can get inside an organization by contacts and friends to be chosen over others. Latinos want everything to be easy, and fast, this is why friendship and personal relationships as said before are key issues to survive in a Latin American organization or society. Particularism dimension refers to the fact that Latin Americans are always choosing whom to help to, making exceptions to the rule based on individual circumstances level and obligations of friendships. For friends, everything; for strangers, nothing, and for enemies, the law (Rosenn, 1988, p.143) In this culture, law exists, but is just an ideal, because Latin Americans, only pay attention to law, which they agree with, otherwise, it is just ignored. In the personalism dimension, we talked about how influential friendships can become when getting a job, in other words Particularism appears as an answer to the personalism weve been talking about. As explained, particularism is in easier words, to have a strong group of friends, who will obtain benefits from my owns, therefore, the person who is getting the benefit is the one analyzed through the personalism dimension. Now, more than a group of friends or relatives, dealing with government is also part of the particularism, sometimes managers, can influence government to work on their side, giving benefits just to their companies. Latin American culture generally have a fairly low level of trust in people who are not family or close friends, with this we arrived to our 4th dimension, trust, generally, Latin American managers do not trust all of their employees, so, they always have 1 o 2 persons who they trust 100% (friends or family), to leave in charge of important tasks. Sometimes this lack of trust can affect the training and development for employees; Latinos always panic about teaching others the way they work, because we think, they could steel ideas and develop projects based on the stolen knowledge. This distrust issue is also an answer to our listening difficulties, and acceptance of others ideas. Latinos presume we know everything, and that there couldnt be a person who knows more than what I know, so we become depth to others comments. In order to gain the trust desired by Latin Americans, persons from other cultures, should not expect to start negotiating without developing first a relationship with us. Collectivism and in-group/out group behavior dimension, Latin American countries are generally described as collectivist cultures, which is characterized by individuals who give their loyalty to a group, and in return the group takes responsibility for the individual.  [8]  The collectivist unit for Latinos is family. 9 According to the chart, Latin American culture is located in the lower right quadrant, low trust/vertical relationships, finding pseudo-collectivism in the protective hierarchical structures very common in this part of the world. Relationships in Latin American organizations are vertical, people think top-down, with the prevailing lack of trust of out-group members. For Latin companies, it still exist the image of feudo, the boss who gives orders to employees, but beyond that it takes care of anything that could happen to them and their family and personal situations or problems, that could affect them. The in-groups are the ones that always receives preferential treatment, with this we are looking back, to the trust, personalism and particularism dimensions; they are all linked, from bosses perspective, you find your partners, gives them preferences, trust in them and you create an in-group structure, which is the one that characterized collectivism. As explained before, we still have the feudo image, the father who takes care for his children, continuing with the patron system, we now arrive to explain the paternalism and hierarchical relationships. Academics have identified a paternalistic behavior in management positions in many organizations across Latin American countries. In this sense managers care about the protection of the employees and their families. They might be seen as moral support by the employees to the extended that many organizations see themselves as a family. Strong solidarity and mutual understanding characterized Latin American workers whose intention is to work always in a harmonic and warm environment. Latin American employees always feel that bosses should take an interest on their nonwork lives, moving forward and beyond the working barriers, employees think bosses as they are developing the fathers role within a company, should be aware of what if happening with the family, and also they should be part of special events as weddings, baptisms, etc. For employers, their role must of the time is linked to the pobrecito attitude, always to excuse the employees for not doing things, or just when they need to be fired. With this, we conclude that paternalism has to aspects, the power of the father, government, or boss to make decisions for others, as well as the responsibility for those who are dependent on them. Relating paternalism and the hierarchical relationships, within a company, the boss always has a trust man, who will do anything for him, and would burn on fire to cover him, most of the time is the assistant. The disadvantage of this model of hierarchical relationships is that information from the bottom of the organization seldom floats to the top, allowing bosses to make poor decision, because of the lack of input from below that might help them avoid errors. Upon this point all dimensions have been intrinsically related with power, our next dimension, which is the principal theme in the Latin American organizations (Hofstede, 1980). Power is generally and more expressed in the top of the hierarchies. Bosses think that thanks to their position they are allow to do whatever they want, that they control the company and beyond, that employees should exceed in their attentions. And can delegate, tasks that they should act. People with power are accorded special privileges and often use their position to personal gain. It is said also that Latin Americas like to be dependent on someone else; they accept the authority and avoid confrontation with superiors. Conflict avoidance characterizes them and when theres a discussion taking place in public both superior and employee feel uncomfortable and even insulted. One of the most important Latin American cultural characteristics is the sense of humor and joy, which is also a dimension to analyze our culture. Humor plays a major role in the work settings, the constant teasing and joking at work is a pleasure, besides it makes working hours to go faster, helps to create the perfect environment for working and develop more efficient all tasks. But it is not always for having fun, humor has two other functions in the organizational life of Latin America; it is sometimes used to keep people in line, pointed jokes are an acceptable manner of conveying feedback to people. This, because concern for social approval is very strong in Latin America. And it also works as a safety tool in the form of black humor, as an example, employees that are not happy with their boss always make jokes about him but always behind his back or they make them to face just acting ironic. The powerless the people, the more plentiful the jokes. Lastly, we find fatalism, as one very important dimension where Latin American people could be analyzed. As we are evolving with all global changes, it still some negative organizations within the Latin culture. For some of us there is never a positive answer to things or in terms of the organization to projects, comments, etc. It is easier for as to say maybe or it could be rather than be 100% sure. The most common negative (in some way) word Latinos use is si Dios quiere. Even though people are sure things will happen, prefer to leave destiny to the religious part.  [10]  , but there are also some negative movements as always doubting, what if? is it possible? Im not sure it would work. Latin America has been always characterized as fatalistic and resistant to change, but there are some, however, individuals, companies, etc that are rapidly undergoing a transformation in response to changing circumstances as free markets and global economy. Companies with negative patterns find very difficult to compete with foreign companies because they are victims of their own selfishness, always having over all the negative view first. It is important for people who will be working with Latin Americans to understand all cultural contingencies, to do not fall into mistakes or be part of an unexpected cultural shock. Anabella Dà ¡vila and Martha M. Elvira take some human resources ´ practices and explain cultural characteristics founded in them. When referring to the recruitment, selection and promotion process, the authors affirm that in Latin America the appearance and personality are very important in the hiring or promotion of an employee. Relatives, friends or contacts are highly important as well as stated above. Low budgets characterized the training and development process, and a lack of technical knowledge is faced by the firms when importing machinery from abroad. Nevertheless education level in Latin America is growing faster and expatriates in Latin America are being replaced by well-qualified Latin American youth. Family plays a primary role in the lives of Latin American workers. To provide the family with the best living standard is the meaning of work of the Latin American worker. This is why social benefits given by the firms are valuable for them. Rewards for managers take the form of luxury cars, school enrollment for the kids or memberships in clubs. This enhances the living standard of the family and their social status. Acknowledgment is important for the workers; seniority recognition and social benefits are valuable for them. Given the importance of family it is hard for Latin American workers to be transferred from one place to another (far). Working groups are commonly to find in Latin American organizations, authority or coordination within them is also common. Latin American workers dont like to face all the responsibility and thus prefer to share it. The communication in the organizations flows from top-down; the avoidance of conflict generates many times misunderstandings and obstacles in communication processes. When conflicts take place, identification with primary groups more than with the organization itself is common. But, is really Latin America homogeneous as many states? In the year 2003, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson wrote an article called A Cross-national assessment of the values of Latin America managers: contrasting hues or shades of gray? which was published in the Journal of international business studies. There the authors through a research concluded, Common perceptions of Latin America as a culturally homogeneous region are stereotypical and incorrectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Based on Rokeach ´s study of values, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson proved that divergence in the importance of values can explain differences in business phenomena across the region. Values form part of culture, and they influence well the behavior of the people. Managers and workers grew within a culture filled with values, and thus the studying of values in Latin America can contribute to the understanding of management styles in the region. Diversity characterizes Latin America; and this diversity is reflected in the behavior of the people across the continent. Despite the common historical background shared by Latin American countries, each one of them has different features, geographic conditions, ethnic groups, and historical development. To develop the research, T. Lenartowicz and James Patrick Johnson divided the region in 6 representative parts. Colombia and Venezuela; Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia; Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile; Brazil, Mà ©xico; and Puerto Rico. The study didnt cover any of the Central American countries. According to the results, Brazil showed to have the major number of differences in importance of values (as expected) and Puerto Rico the lower. According to the authors, The values that differ significantly across the 12 countries include: ambitious, clean, intellectual, logical, open-minded, pleasure, world at peace. Three of these intellectual, logical, open-minded relate directly to decision-making and negotiation processes, suggesting that there may be considerable variation in these processes from one country to another. Variation in values is also likely to affect workplace issues such as delegating authority and responsibility, motivating employees, and compensation and reward systems. The study shows that even if there are similarities among Latin American countries, it would be an error to treat the whole region and homogeneous. CONCLUSIONS The Latin American environment could diverge since the colonization moment, because not all of Latin American countries were colonized by the same European countries, so in this order, we can find a French business culture, as well as Spanish and Portuguese, this situation has influenced the management style of Latin American MNEs. Some reason why this environment diverge are the economic and political policies implemented by the government before 1980s, with the ideology of a close economy that ends with each country developing its own business culture. In terms of geography, most of Latin American countries have high mountains, which generates difficulties in transportation of merchandise, this makes that almost all of Latin American companies develop same strategies in order to reduce transportation costs. Each Latin American country has develop its own business culture, but at the same time, thanks to the colonization characteristic and its location it is possible to gather them into groups, to facilitate studies in this continent. Geographical and historical factors served to divide the region into five aggregates which showed to be consistent within them and different among them. These are: the northern South America (Colombia and Venezuela); Perà º, Ecuador and Bolivia, the Southern cone (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay); Brazil; and Mà ©xico. When doing business, Latin Americans are recognized for being a friendly and informal bargainer, who prefers negotiating with already known people as family and friends; we do not sacrifice thing at a short term to obtain benefits at a long term. It is impossible for Latin Americans to arrive on time to meetings or things related to it, but this is why we cannot ask for punctuality and we became very flexible with time, and it uses. Latinos are very manipulative with emotions, and we count with a strong convincement power. In conclusion, all Latin American enterprises have their own ways of doing business, but there are some similar characteristic among them, such as friendship, loyalty, humor, collectivism and power. Friendship and humor are Latinos key tools for interacting and performing within a working and managerial environment. Being surrounded of trust people; the best way of ascending inside an organizational hierarchy and gaining the best positions is trough a Latin term palanca, which is the extra help they can get by contacts and friends to be chosen over others. Communication in Latin American organizations is top-down, with a lack of feedback from information given from bottom positions. Latinos are very preferential; we have preferences for in-group members over out-group members. Although Latin America has been treated as an homogeneous region, he results of a research contradicts prior studies that have tended to group Latin American countries together, and this finding validates the view that Latin America should not be regarded as a culturally homogeneous region.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Dell’s Strategic Management Plan Essay -- Computers, Business

Dell, Inc. got its start in 1984 when Michael Dell, a University of Texas student, began building computers for fellow students under the company name PCs Limited (Edwards, 2007). Within the next decade, Dell experienced phenomenal success by pursuing growth through catalog and corporate sales (Hunger, 2006). Dell made technology affordable and in doing so became a fierce competitor in the computer technology industry. However, the company’s disorganized structure could barely support their impressive growth. There are three specific measures of performance that I would have incorporated into Dell’s strategic management plan if I were leading Dell. Furthermore, I would include behavior and output controls in the control system to regulate organizational activities to ensure that they are consistent with company standards of performance. Dell, Inc. pursued an aggressive growth strategy which was met with equally aggressive customer demand. Dell delivered a quality product for a reasonable price and this value that Dell created for their customers was initially unmatched by rival computer companies. In fact, Dell saw this as an opportunity to expand their product line to include items such as printers and software. The company’s sales increased from $389 million in 1989 to $2.9 billion in 1993 (McGraw, 1994). However, the management structure did not grow with the company (McGraw, 1994). Financial results were not analyzed properly and the company was not being strategically managed (Hunger, 2006). Dell’s management team decided to slow their growth initiatives in part by eliminating retails sales of their products (Hunger, 2006). This decision created three distinct problems for the company. First, customers were unhappy that t... ...nagement (6th ed.). Mason, OH: South- Western Cengage Learning. Edwards, O. (2007, August). Baby Dell. Smithsonian, 38(5), 34-36. doi: 131320451 Hunger, D. J. (2006). Dell, Inc. In T. L. Wheelen & J. D. Hunger (12th ed.), Strategic management and business policy (pp. 31-1 – 31-5). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Matthews, J. R. (2011). Assessing organizational effectiveness: The role of performance measures. Library Quarterly, 81(1), 83-110. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. McGraw, D. (1994). The kid bytes back. U.S. News & World Report, 117(23), 70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Rogers, B. (2006). High performance is more than a dream - it's a culture. T + D, 60(1), 12. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2012). Strategic management and business policy: Toward global sustainability (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Advance strategic management. Consumerism Essay

1. What is consumerism? DEFINITION Consumerism can be defined in two different ways; 1. Consumerism is a theory which states that buying and consuming goods and services in a large amount are more beneficial to the economy. Thus this theory appreciates gradually increased consumption of goods and services. 2. Consumerism means ‘consumer protection’. It is a movement or policy that protects the interests of consumers via truthful packaging, honest advertisement, improved safety standards and product guarantees. Consumerism involves policies that regulate methods, products and services, standards, selling and advertising in the interests of the consumers. These protect buyers from defective products, misleading advertising, unfair practices etc. Such policies can be mandatory, legislative, institutional or voluntarily accepted by the industry. e.g., consumers’ interests can be harmed by mispricing, adulteration, artificial demand etc. IMPORTANCE Consumerism encourages economic growth by providing good quality goods and services to the customers. Increased consumption by the customers shows the economic growth level. Increased demand would lead to increased production thus raising the gross domestic production. It helps to make informed decisions through truthful advertising, environmental and safety standard laws. Thus consumerism provides protection to buyers. Implementation of consumer protection laws shield consumers against exploitation, discourage anti-social activities and unfair trade practices, provide complete and latest information to the customer which aids in buying  decision making process. 2. What IS STRATEGY? Why it is important? Choose a company, study its strategy and then make its competitive analysis. DEFINITION 1. Strategy is business game plan used by management to stake out market position, conduct its operations, attract and please customers, compete successfully and achieve organizational objectives. 2. It is a process through which a company concentrated its resources on optimal opportunities to achieve short term and long term goals and other competitive advantages. IMPORTANCE Strategy answers three central questions about the company (i) where are we now? (ii) where do we want to go? (iii) how will we get there? Strategy tells about the current position of the company, its future plans and the approaches it will follow to achieve its objectives. Strategy encompasses actions to attract customers, actions to deliver value at optimal price and cost equilibrium, actions to respond to changing market environment, approaches to pursue available opportunities and plans to gain competitive edge. A powerful strategy makes a company distinctive and provides sustainable and durable competitive advantage in creating, producing, distributing and marketing the company’s products/services. An effective strategy results in best possible business performance in terms of financial profitability and market position. Strategies are desperately needed to direct the activities of the company in a way that its goals and objectives are achieved in a right way through right approaches and at the right time. An excellent strategy that is excellently implemented is a good measure to evaluate the management competencies and performance. A strategy-focused company has a strong performance, profitable earnings, revenue growth and favourable return on investment. COMPANY : COLGATE-PALMOLIVE Colgate Palmolive has $17.1 billion consumer products and serves people around the world with renowned brands by offering four types of products/services: oral care, personal care, home care and pet nutrition products. This company operates globally and approximately 75 percent of its sales are from outside the home country while majority of its products are manufactured in its own facilities. Colgate-Palmolive 2011 to 2015 Strategy The main focus of Colgate-Palmolive’s five year strategy is on people, performance and planet with measurable goals in accordance with the company’s business objectives. 1. Promoting Healthier Lives The objective was to promote health and wellness in order to minimize employee health risks by 15 percent, to achieve 5 percent reduced health costs by improving on time diagnosis and treatment of diseases and to focus on safety of employees. 2. Contributing to The Communities Where We Live and Work This parameter of the strategy aims to increase the impact of company on the community by $300 million. For this purpose five objectives were set which will provide greater focus to the company’s contribution towards the community. Partnership is done with dental professions to improve the oral care of the community. A program of â€Å"Bright Smiles, Bright Futures† is scheduled to contact 1 billion children by 2020. To provide hand-washing awareness to over 50 million households. To work with 250 thousand veterinarians to educate pet owners and provide over $100 million pet food. Continue to provide company’s products after natural disasters and to invite more  volunteers in this community program. 3. Delivering Products That Delight Consumers and Respect Our Planet The objective is to increase the sustainability of all the products by (i) ensuring that ingredients continue to meet the standards of safety, health and quality (ii) reducing the impact of environment on the products and packaging. This is achieved by increasing the use of recycled contents and more usage of sustainable materials. 4. Making Every Drop of Water Count The strategy aims to reduce the consumption of water during manufacturing by 24 percent. The objective also aims to take steps to promote access of clean water and water conversation awareness among over two billion consumers. 5. Reducing Our Impact on Climate and Environment The intention was to reduce energy consumption and carbon emission during the manufacturing process by 20 percent. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS The stated strategy of the company can be analysed on the bases of three broad terms. The following stated questions will determine the goodness of the strategy implemented by Colgate-Palmolive i.e. whether the strategy was able to improve the market position and financial performance of the company or not, how good was the company at handling the environmental dynamics and gaining competitive advantage. 1. How well does the strategy fits with the company’s situation? The main competitor of Colgate-Palmolive is Procter & Gamble with the same strategy of sustaining products and environmental safety but Colgate-Palmolive has got a competitive advantage in the year 2011 and 2012 by having strong presence in personal care products and emerging markets in different geographical areas. Due to broad operation bases globally the company has got the strength to lead the market. 2. Is the strategy helping the company achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? Yes the strategy implemented by the company has made it to be a global leader in oral care. Colgate-Palmolive’s market is the single largest market by value shares and is insulated from the downturns. The company’s strategy focuses to meet market challenges, committed to increase product sustainability and focuses on segmentation by function. Colgate-Palmolive has improved sustainability profile in 24 percent of products. 3. Is the strategy helping in better company performance? The strategy has helped the company in attaining better financial and ethical performance. Colgate-Palmolive has shown best environmental performance in past years and is able to sustain its past competitive advantage. The company had $17.1 billion worldwide sales in 2012. Its gross profit margin was 58.4 percent in fourth quarter of 2012. Colgate-Palmolive won 100% Code of Conduct Certification, stood No. 1 in beauty and personal care products and was announced No. 1 at ‘Most Admired Companies in 2013’ by Fortune World. Colgate-Palmolive had operating profit of $4.02 million in 2012. 35 percent of its packaging material is from the recycled material thus fulfilling its goals of safeguarding the environment and reducing costs. Three different products of Colgate-Palmolive have won title of ‘Product of the Year 2012’ and Ethisphere magazine has given the company title of ‘ 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies’ US E.P.A declared the company to be ‘Designed for the Environment’ for many of its home care products. The above analysis shows the strengths and the competitive advantage earned by the company due to its best performance and leading activities. Surely the above mentioned performance is only attainable because of an excellent strategy and its excellent execution. _________________________________________

Friday, November 8, 2019

Something to Remember You By

Something to Remember You A lock of hair might be fitting (albeit obsolete, overly sentimental, and just plain weird.) A wallet photo maybe? Awkward. So what could you possibly give an editor or agent at a conference to help them remember you or your project once they shuffle back into their office the following Monday? I’ll tell you: The author one sheet. I recently attended a writer’s conference in which I was scheduled to pitch my new novel. To better my odds, I researched book pitches, and discovered the one sheet – a single-paged marketing document, aka author one sheet or pitch sheet, which describes a person, project, or concept. Brilliant! When one considers how many book pitches an editor or agent has endured, or how many queries and manuscripts they have likely slogged through in their career, the odds of an author or book standing out – being remembered – are not great. Anything you can get into an agent’s hands to take back with them from a conference will help, other than handing them your complete manuscript, of course. You’d never bring a manuscript to a conference, right? Everything you’ve ever read and heard has stated unequivocally not to. (Admit it – you brought it anyway.) Some one sheets are more elaborate, including word count, genre, endorsements, and agent name and contact info – designed more for promoting already-published works. Or you could opt for one more basic, including only information that one would find on a back cover of a novel. I chose the latter, since I was seeking publication. At the very least, your one sheet should include: Book title Logline/hook – One sentence that describes the concept of your book, and gets their attention. (My entire novel was easier to write.) Blurb – Short 3-4 sentence paragraph that describes your book and defines genre/audience. Who is the protagonist, what do they want, what’s in their way, and most of all, what makes your story unique? Think â€Å"back cover.† Author

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Job Application Essays - I Am, Free Essays, Term Papers

Job Application Essays - I Am, Free Essays, Term Papers Job Application Dear Senior Chief Valerie McQueen-Vance and Commander Scott Wales, I am very excited to apply for the Marksmanship commander and the Academics commander positions. I feel that I am well qualified for either of these jobs and I feel that I would be an excellent choice for this position. I have an ability to grow with a job, handle responsibility and build positive relationships with other cadets at all levels. I present an excellent work rate, and I am confident that I can bring an excellent level of high-performance to the Landstown High School NJROTC Unit. I would like to inform you that I am someone who knows how to set goals and achieve them, and have a proven track record of being able to conceive, develop & execute strategies. I feel certain that my strong leadership and a organization skills coupled with my ability to work hard and listen to my fellow cadets will be of immediate value to the unit. I very much hope that you will look favorably upon my application by recognizing my enthusiasm, talents as a cadet and as a leader and my future potential to contributing to the Landstown High School NJROTC Unit. I believe that I am a good candidate for the position of the Marksmanship Commander because I am extremely cautious and follow and enforce all rules. Also I show great promise as a responsible leader that doesnt allow any horseplay and that I take safety extremely seriously. If there are any issues that should appear I would take care of them immediately and I would quickly alert my superiors of the issue. My goal is to continue to learn and grow my specialist skills and abilities, whilst utilizing my experience, knowledge and skills to benefit the unit. The foundation of my achievements to date lies in my ability to organize my time effectively, prioritize tasks, and use my initiative to come up with solutions to problems. I believe that I am a good candidate for the position of the Academics Commander because as someone who recognizes that success starts with people, I would also like to point out that I specialize in staff selection, training and performance monitoring, all of these are vital in ensuring that my team is always a skilled, capable and motivated workforce. One of my strengths is being a motivated self-starter who takes the initiative, and who can work with minimal supervision, when necessary. Also I consider myself to be a productive worker with a solid work ethic who exerts optimal effort to ensure all tasks given to me are completed on time and to the highest standards. In conclusion I believe that I would be a great candidate for wither positions. I appreciate you taking the time to review my credentials and I would like to thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application. Thank you for your time and consideration, Jose Luis Martinez Jr.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Logical Fallacies Scavenger Hunt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Logical Fallacies Scavenger Hunt - Assignment Example Further, the fallacy presents two different ideas in a disorganized manner hence making it difficult to understand. This is an example of fallacy that illustrates a phenomenon because it has two elements. The first element involves the observation part whereas the second part involves the analysis or conclusion. Therefore the conclusion is drawn from the basis of what is observed. This is an example of fallacy that illustrates a phenomenon because it has two elements. The first element involves the observation part whereas the second part involves the analysis or conclusion. Therefore the conclusion is drawn from the basis of what is observed. This is fallacy falls under argument from definition because as we all know, a preachers task is to pray and preach for all those who visits the church. Therefore, Kevin being a preacher, he is expected to perform his role to his congregation. This is an example of categorical syllogism fallacy because the conclusion that all plants are living objects is reached on based on the fact that just like animals, plants to do take into caborndioxide during the day and oxygen during the night and also do reproduce other plants through seeds or flowers. I will be awarded an A or B mark in my final year examination. The teacher said he will not award an A to any student in my course. Therefore, I will get a B in my final year examination (â€Å"Disjunctive Syllogism"). This is an example of disjunctive syllogism fallacy because the conclusion reached at the sentence which is getting a grade B in final year exams is based on the fact that either –or statements are applicable in a scenario. Proof: This is an example of a syllogism from logic fallacy because directional characteristics have been used to accurately determine the direction or continent in which France is based by using an assumption that since it

Friday, November 1, 2019

Journal write whats on your mind Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Journal write whats on your mind - Assignment Example I felt weak and I wanted to get better much faster. Each day I woke up, I was asking myself, when will be over? Soon enough, I recovered, though for two weeks after that, I lost weight because of the trauma of the stomach flu that affected my appetite. Stomach flu is such a terrible disease to get during summer. I felt I wasted so much time on such a horrible illness. I am happy to be graduating soon. I feel that I will have greater independence in college and I have more opportunities to develop different and new knowledge and skills. Still, I am also fearful. What should I take in college? Why should I take it? Do I really know who I want to be when I grow up? I do not know the answers yet. I am in the process of understanding what I want and what I need. I want a degree that will help me fight for my real dreams. What are my dreams anyway? I have to think about college further and consider many options. Sometimes, having too many options is not that good. It takes me to make decisions longer. It makes me feel unsure of decisions that I already made. On the contrary, having many options means freedom too. It gives me the freedom to consider other opportunities in life. Oh what to do in college? I am unsure. I know I must be a good time-management person because I have a social life despite being busy in school. Sometimes, I have to admit I neglect school activities because I choose to do my extra-curricular activities or family and friend activities. I want to enjoy my life, but I do not want to have poor school grades. I am aware of my grades and I want to make my parents happy through high grades. High grades tell them I appreciate their hard work and sacrifice and that I want to make them feel proud of me. What I do to balance different activities is I try to schedule my time among these activities. I set aside time for school assignments and then time for family, friends and other things I want to do. I would love to be active in sports too or