...to people management and itself as issues in changing world of business and workplaces. Next segment of the essay attempts to focus on the challenges that are contributing to people management issues in organizations. Afterward, a number of theories have been presented in the discussion that can help dealing with issues related to people management. The essay has illustrated the critical review of people management theories discussing their integration to assist the managers in dealing such issues. In contrast, the way of using these theories by managers to overcome the people management issues also have been delineated in this essay. Before highlighting the issues in relation to people or human resource management, it is necessary to know what people management is and how is it perceived within the organization. It is understood that people are the soul of the organization and success and the failure of then business totally depends on their attitude and performance. Therefore, the very difficult task for a manager or an employer in the organization is managing the people. A manager is supposed to lead, train, inspire and encourage the people working in the company. The management of people working is also responsible for hiring, rejecting, firing, retaining, training, developing and evaluating. People management is similar to human resource management. It comprises of recruitment, selection & retention, management and providing full support to the employees of an enterprise...
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...Scientism and Technocracy in Brave New World Introduction Brave New World is well recognized as a dystopian novel, in which Aldous Huxley satirically criticized scientism and technocracy. In this new world, science and technology was paramount. It dominated all aspects of human life. Humans were mass produced in laboratory and factories; human moral value were moulded by sleeping teaching; human emotions were controlled by soma. The overuse of science and technology reduced humans to one-dimensional man without individuality and the ability of critical thinking. Human beings were used as tools for political and economic purposes. The thesis is to study scientism and technocracy, the "improper application of science to human life", from two aspects: the interference with human physical life and the elimination of human spiritual life. Scientism and Technocracy Scientism, according to Zhu Wang, is "an excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge and technology to solve all human problems including spiritual crisis" (194). It is "the authority of natural sciences, dominating all aspects of human life and rejecting religion, philosophy, art, and literature" (194). In Brave New World, Huxley depicted a dystopian society to condemn the excessive use of science and technology which eliminated human individuality and civilization. He pointed out in his Complete Essays Vol.6 that science was "the reduction of multiplicity to unity….the theoretical reduction...
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...the product category is being replaced by something better. For example, typewriters experienced declining sales as more consumers switched to computers or other word processing equipment. The product life cycle is tied to the phenomenon of diffusion of innovation. When a new product comes out, it is likely to first be adopted by consumers who are more innovative than others—they are willing to pay a premium price for the new product and take a risk on unproven technology. It is important to be on the good side of innovators since many other later adopters will tend to rely for advice on the innovators who are thought to be more knowledgeable about new products for advice. At later phases of the PLC, the firm may need to modify its market strategy. For example, facing a saturated market for baking soda in its traditional use, Arm ü Hammer launched a major campaign to get consumers to use the product to deodorize refrigerators. Deodorizing powders to be used before vacuuming were also created. It is sometimes useful to think of products as being either new or existing. Many firms today rely increasingly on new products for a large part of their sales. New products can be new in several ways. They can be new to the market—noone else ever made a...
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...EDUCATION Critical thinking and analysis: a model for written assignments Sharon L Edwards W hat is critical analysis? In the author’s personal experience this question has been answered by the following statement: ‘It is being critical of the literature.’ However, this does not answer the question. A literature search also failed to provide any information on critical analysis. The justification for developing a model for critical analysis, however, was not solely the lack of available literature. Other reasons included: to provide a definition of the terms; and to help both educationalists and students interpret the concepts involved. Nurse educationalists and nursing students lack a clear understanding of the critical processes and this could severely diminish the profession’s ability to articulate issues that are imperative to the advancement of nursing practice in the future. This article recommends a model of critical analysis that can be used by students and educationalists. It suggests that critical thinking and analysis are interrelated and complementary, but not synonymous. It gives examples of the model’s components in order to clarify their meaning. The model will hopefully give students a premise on which to base their assignments, and nurse educationalists will be able to incorporate it into their teaching practice. It will also provide an element of reality to critical analysis which will prevent it from becoming so abstract and idealistic as to render...
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...WHAT DO KUME KUNITAKE’S OBSERVATIONS OF THE WEST DURING HIS TRAVELS WITH THE IWAKURA EMBASSY REVEAL ABOUT JAPAN IN THE 1870S? In December 1871 the prominent Japanese minister Iwakura Tomomi led almost half of the new Meiji government (“the government”) on an embassy around the Western world. Travelling with the ‘Iwakura Embassy’ was Kume Kunitake, a Neo-Confucian scholar and historian. Employed as both Iwakura’s personal secretary and the Embassy’s recorder, Kume along with his assistant Sugiura Kozo (later Hatakeyama Yoshinari) were instructed to record what the Embassy witnessed in the West. The record they produced was to form the basis for Kume’s ‘True Account’ (‘Jikki’) of the Embassy’s ‘Journey of Observations’ (‘Kairan’). Clearly set aside from the Jikki’s narrative in indented sections are Kume’s ‘personal views and observations’ (“Kume’s observations”). Yet these are much more than mere observations. Indeed, before Kume could publish his work he required the approval of Iwakura. While this presumably encouraged Kume to toe the government line, it also gave Iwakura considerable influence over Kume. Considering that the Jikki was revised over ten times before it was approved, it seems that Iwakura fully exercised this influence. Indeed, as Kume’s observations often appear to digress from the main narrative it suggests that they were imposed into Jikki at a late stage of compilation, presumably during these revisions. This suggests that these observations were written...
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...the farms helps the Amish community foster unity, family and self-reliance (Knight, 1980). Although the Amish are very skeptical about technology, they have adapted to technology that helps them conduct their daily farming activities. Farming includes raising livestock, cultivating soil, and producing many crops throughout the year. Some Amish order’s carry on a diversified agricultural program. They follow a four-year crop rotation system, typically planting corn for two years, oats for one year, and a hay crop for the fourth year (Schwieder & Schwieder, 2009). In keeping with the philosophy of stewardship, few Amish farmers use commercial fertilizer; instead they use large amounts of manure because they feel this is a superior method and a more natural one. Many Amish orders have this belief about using commercial products on their farm because they believe it to be possibly harmful to the body upon consumption (Weaver- Zercher, 2005). Amish life is rooted in the soil, which creates somewhat of a burden to some Amish families that completely refuse to adapt. Farmland has increased over the years and cultivating soil by hand or animal drawn equipment makes it almost impossible to cultivate soil in a timely manner. Many Amish families had faced these problems before but they have emerged and allowed the use of tractors and other technology that helps to cultivate soil and produce crops. The Amish have a way of working things...
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...MZUMBE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PROGRAM: SUBJECT: SUBJECT CODE: NATURE OF WORK: DATE: SCHOLAR: MBA/CM – MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION/CORPORATE MANAGEMENT OPERATION MANAGEMENT POM 5011 TERM PAPER 05TH DECEMBER, 2012 LOISILIGAKI GABRIEL LOIBANGUTI REGISTRATION NUMBER: MBA/CM/MZC/043/T.12 QUESTION: “An Examination on the Strategic use of Information Technology in Tanzania Service Industries in Achieving and Sustaining Competitive Advantage and Suggestions for improving their effectiveness” You are required to search the relevant research materials on the topic in hand and compose a report. Your report should critically discuss the issues of technological adoption on the use of IT practices by the consumers and business enterprises; In addition, your report should explore areas of strategic applications of IT by business enterprises, the challenges involved and suggestions for their improvements. Support your report with reference to case studies and /or examples of companies. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... iii 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................1 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................................2 3.0 IT adoption concept on entreprise...
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...development in information and communication technologies (ICT) and globalization of the industry have drastically changed the market structure of banking industry in Sri Lanka. Financial reforms commenced in late 1970s were the main driving force of those changes. The reforms aimed to enhance both the productivity and efficiency and the degree of competition of banking market as a way of improving overall operational performance of the financial services sector in Sri Lanka. This paper reviewed how the banks’ efficiency and market structure affect the overall performance of the banking firms measured in terms of profitability and net interest margin using structure conduct performance literature. The study findings suggest that traditional structure conduct performance argument is not held in the banking industry in Sri Lanka and the banks performance does not depend on either market concentration or market power of individual firms but on the level of efficiency of the banking units. Keywords: efficiency, market structure, performance, banking. JEL Classification: G20, G21, N20. Introduction © During the last three decades, banking industry in Sri Lanka has experienced a transition period as a consequence of deregulation of financial services sector, development in ICT and globalization of the industry. Impacts of consequent changes were observable in areas such as the scope of banking operations, number of banks and bank branches, technologies used and quality of human resources...
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...Fiedler contingency model The Fiedler contingency model is a leadership theory of industrial and organizational psychology developed by Fred Fiedler (born 1922), one of the leading scientists who helped his field move from the research of traits and personal characteristics of leaders to leadership styles and behaviours. 1 Two factors 1.1 Least preferred co-worker (LPC) 1.2 Situational favourableness 2 Leader-situation match and mismatch 2.1 Examples 3 Opposing views 4 Summary Two factors The first management style, Taylorists, assumed there was one best style of leadership. Fiedler’s contingency model postulates that the leader’s effectiveness is based on ‘situational contingency’ which is a result of interaction of two factors: leadership style and situational favorableness (later called situational control). More than 400 studies have since investigated this relationship. Least preferred co-worker (LPC) The leadership style of the leader, thus, fixed and measured by what he calls the least preferred co-worker (LPC) scale, an instrument for measuring an individual’s leadership orientation. The LPC scale asks a leader to think of all the people with whom they have ever worked and then describe the person with whom they have worked least well, using a series of bipolar scales of 1 to 8, such as the following: Unfriendly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Friendly Uncooperative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cooperative Hostile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Supportive .... 1 2 3 4 5...
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...PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT lecture notes Document Transcript • 1. UNIT I OVERVIEW OF MANAGEMENT Definition - Management - Role of managers - Evolution of Management thought - Organization and the environmental factors – Trends and Challenges of Management in Global Scenario. 1 • 2. Management - as how the mind controls the human body and its function similar management (mind) controls the various activities ( human body) in the Organisation - Collection of physical equipments, 4 M’s in Organisation – Men, Machine, Materials, Money, and leads to nothing. For efficient and profitable functioning it is necessary that all these factors are put to work in a co- ordinated manner. Management Definition Management is the art of getting things done through others. Harold Koontz Def as “ Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups efficiently to accomplish selected aims” • Managers carry out their managerial function • Applies to any kind of Organisation •Applies to managers at all Organisational levels •Aim is to create a surplus •Concerned with productivity, implies effectiveness and efficiency •Mgt of 4 M’s in the Orgn – Men, Machine, Materials & money Characteristics of Management • Mgt is Universal • Mgt is dynamic • Mgt is a group of managers • Mgt is Purposeful • Mgt is goal oriented • Mgt is integrative Function • Mgt is a Social process • Mgt is a Multi-faceted discipline • Mgt is a continuous process...
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...Citation: Netland, T. H. & Aspelund, A. (2013) Company-specific production systems and competitive advantage: A resource-based view on the Volvo Production System. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 33, Iss. 11/12 Post-print. This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article accepted for publication in the International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 33, Iss. 12. Forthcoming. Company-specific Production Systems and Competitive Advantage: A resource-based view on the Volvo Production System Torbjørn H. Netland1, 2 and Arild Aspelund1 1 Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, NTNU 2 McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University Abstract Purpose: In order to improve competitiveness on a global scale, multinational enterprises increasingly develop a company-specific Production System (XPS) and deploy it in their worldwide operations. An XPS is synonymous with a tailored corporate-wide improvement programme. The purpose of this paper is to explore the circumstances under which an XPS can provide a competitive advantage. Methodology: We use an explorative case study methodology to investigate the link between the establishment of an XPS and competitive advantage. Specifically we investigate the part of the Volvo Group’s globally implemented Volvo Production System (VPS) that aim to improve the manufacturing processes worldwide. Due to its historical trajectories, Volvo ...
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... staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms. Key words: cross cultural, communication, multinational firms, management style, staff behavior Prelude It is 9:00 a.m. on Monday in Sweden. The Technical product manager of company X sent an email about the new design of the product to its subsidiary company in China. He would like to have a production ready model of the new design by Friday when he flies to China. An email came on Thursday saying that there was a 1mm error of the product they made and asked the manager what they should do. The product manager finds himself confused: “Do they need to ask such a question? They could simply adjust the error and give me the model on Friday, why are they waiting for orders instead of taking initiatives?” (Swedish Technical and...
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...PERSONALITY EVALUATION CRITERIA AND TECHNIQUES Introduction 1. Personality is something that we informally evaluate and describe every day. When we talk about ourselves and others, we frequently refer to different characteristics of an individual's personality. Psychologists do the same thing when they evaluate personality, but on a much more systematic and scientific level. Personality testing refers to those techniques that are used accurately and consistently to measure personality. 2. Humans are precious asset for any organization. Recruitment and selection is costly effort in terms of money and time. Personality of employees effects their roles and responsibilities in the organization. The personality pattern has great influence on their work attitude. Evaluations of personality provide a measure of how an individual works with his colleagues, how he approaches towards tasks and change, how he communicates and how he deals with pressures. Differences between people in their behavior and mental approach make them more or less effective in different jobs. For instance, an outgoing person will tend to be more successful in a job that requires frequent interaction with other people. On the other hand, a less outgoing person tends to be more successful in a job that primarily involves independent work. Almost, all organization uses personality evaluations to match an individual’s skills to the job requirements or to find an organization fit person. Such evaluations identified...
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...change and stability * Functionalism: conservative force, inhibition of change, collective conscience, Durkheim and totemism, anomie; civil religions * Marxism: religion as ideology, legitimating social inequality, disguising exploitation etc * Weber: religion as a force for social change: theodicies, the Protestant ethic * Neo-Marxism: religion used by those opposing the ruling class, liberation theology * Feminism: religious beliefs supporting patriarchy * Fundamentalist beliefs: rejecting change by reverting to supposed traditional values and practices. Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements, and their relationship to religious and spiritual belief and practice * Typologies of religious organisations: churches, denominations, sects and cults, with examples of each New Religious Movements and typologies of NRMs eg world rejecting/accommodating/affirming; millenarian beliefs, with examples of each * New Age movements and spirituality, with examples * The relationship of these organisations to religious and spiritual belief and practice. The relationship between different social groups and religious/spiritual organisations and movements, beliefs and practices * Reasons why people join NRMs, NAMs and other organisations * Gender and religion: women: women’s greater participation, women in religious organisations including NRMs; men’s participation and organisational roles in religions; sexuality...
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...S A BRIEF HISTORY OF DECISION MAKING BY L E I G H B UC H A N A N A N D A N D R E W O ’ CO N N E L L RANDY LYHUS Humans have perpetually sought new tools and insights to help them make decisions. From entrails to artificial intelligence, what a long, strange trip it’s been. SOMETIME IN THE MIDST OF THE LAST CENTURY, Chester Barnard, a retired telephone executive and author of The Functions of the Executive, imported the term “decision making” from the lexicon of public administration into the business world. There it began to replace narrower descriptors such as “resource allocation” and “policy making.” 34 | Chances Are The dicey history of risk 36 | The Meeting of Minds The power and perils of group decision making 38 | Thinking Machines The real intelligence behind AI 40 | The Romance of the Gut The appeal of leaders who just do it The introduction of that phrase changed how managers thought about what they did and spurred a new crispness of action and desire for conclusiveness, argues William Starbuck, professor in residence at the University of Oregon’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business.“Policy making could go on and on endlessly, and there are always resources to be allocated,” he explains.“‘Decision’ implies the end of deliberation and the beginning of action.” So Barnard–and such later theorists as James March, Herbert Simon, and Henry Mintzberg– laid the foundation for the study of managerial decision making...
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