Managing Change in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Change in the Workplace - Essay Example It is however important to note that culture is fluid in nature considering the rapid changes organizations are subject to at the global level. Over the period of time, there have been constant changes in the external environment of the organizations making them more vulnerable to change. The debate on whether organizational culture is something organization is or has depends upon how organizations adapt the culture and mold themselves according to the overall given situation. Given the overall complexity of the management of the culture specially the sub-cultures, it is relatively difficult to actually determine as to how organizations should tackle the issue of organizational culture and overall change management.It is however important to note that culture is fluid in nature considering the rapid changes organizations are subject to at the global level. Over the period of time, there have been constant changes in the external environment of the organizations making them more vulne rable to change. The debate on whether organizational culture is something organization is or has depends upon how organizations adapt the culture and mold themselves according to the overall given situation. Given the overall complexity of the management of the culture specially the sub-cultures, it is relatively difficult to actually determine as to how organizations should tackle the issue of organizational culture and overall change management.  

Harrison Bergeron Essay Example for Free

Harrison Bergeron Essay In 2081, all of society is forced to be equal. In Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s short story, Harrison Bergeron, everyone is assigned â€Å"handicaps† that make them equal to everyone else. These handicaps included wearing weights around the neck, wearing a mask to cover beauty, and having a device in the ear so thinking could not be overdone. â€Å"Nobody was smarter than anyone else; nobody was better looking than anyone else; nobody was stronger or quicker than anyone else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments that were added to the Constitution. † (Vonnegut 369) Harrison Bergeron is a valid representation of the potential control of a government and the repercussions a society could face if every individual were forced to be identical. The short story is based off of three characters: Hazel, George and Harrison Bergeron. George was forced to wear a device in his ear that prevented him from thinking too much since his intelligence level was above normal. Hazel, on the other hand, â€Å"had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short burst.† (Vonnegut 370) Harrison was their son that was captured at the age of fourteen by the H-G government. Harrison was athletic and handsome. His handicaps included wearing headphones instead of an earpiece, spectacles that nearly made him blind, and about three hundred pounds of metal. â€Å"To offset his good looks he was forced to wear a red nose, shave off his eyebrows, and to cover his white teeth with black caps.† (Vonnegut 372) Hazel and George were watching television when news came on about Harrison Bergeron escaping from prison. The news cast told those watching that this man was extremely dangerous and flashed pictures of him upon the screen. George realized that it must be Harrison but the realization was quickly taken from his mind when the sound of a collision went off in his head. After George opened his eyes, the picture of Harrison was gone but he was actually shown on television yelling, â€Å"I am the Emperor!† Because of Harrison’s great strength and tall features everyone was cowering down to him, except one ballerina that stood up to be his empress. Harrison had ripped off all his handicaps and the handicaps from the empress and the  musicians. Harrison and his empress were dancing to the music that he forced the musicians to play, when â€Å"Diana Moon Glampers, the handicapper general, came into the studio with a double-barreled ten-gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.† (Vonnegut 374) Shortly after, the Bergeron’s television had gone off. George leaves to get a beer and upon his return he sees that Hazel has been crying. George asks her why she has been crying but because she can only think in short burst she can’t remember why the tears were coming. Because of George and Hazel’s handicaps, they could not remember that Harrison was their son that had just been killed on the television. Due to everyone being forced to be equal to one other, the government made the people become stupid, slow, and even obeying the law because of fear of punishment. Harrison knew he was good looking, athletic and smart. When Harrison escaped from prison and disobeyed the law, it would be easier for him to rule over others because everyone else was still chained to the law. With his great strength and rebellion he became an â€Å"Emperor† for a short time. Foreshadowing was shown when Hazel and George talked about taking some weight off of George’s neck. George explains to Hazel â€Å"that if he tried to get away with it, then other people’d get away with it-and pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everyone else.† George asks Hazel what she thinks would happen to the society, Hazel replies, â€Å"Reckon it’d fall all apart.† (Vonnegut 371) The government knew that if people listened to Harrison that everyone would start disobeying the law, so they got rid of him. They could have also shot him because they got scared of what they could not control. By showing the killing on television, it showed the society what will happen if they start rebelling. A sedated society, that of which is handicapped, is much easier to control. I believe Harrison Bergeron shows what exactly it would be like for everyone to be equal. It also effectively represents the kind of control that a government would have over a society. If the government gives everyone equality and makes them â€Å"weak† it gives the government way more power than what they already have. At some point in time everyone has the thought of an equal society but we do not think of what it would take for that to happen. Harrison Bergeron shows what the consequences would be. I believe the fact that everyone is unique should be more appreciated rather than wanting to bechanged. If people were forced to be equal life would be the same for everyone and not as adventurous and fun. The problem with an equal society is that no one would be able to be their selves. In order for everyone to be equal, there would have to be some consequences for those who rebel against the law. Also, the handicaps would be necessary in order for everyone to be equal. This would give the government complete control over a society which could also cause problems. Harrison Bergeron is a vivid representation of the potential a government could have on a society, and the dangers of an equal society. Bibliography Vonnegut, Kurt. â€Å"Harrison Bergeron.† Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.(1961) 1st release

Culture Of Marina Bay Sands Of Singapore Cultural Studies Essay

Culture Of Marina Bay Sands Of Singapore Cultural Studies Essay Marina Bay Sands is located at 10 Bayfront Avenue that is in the heart of Singapore Central business district area. The building is a landmark to Singapores attractions. It is the newest destination for tourists from all around the world. Marina Bay Sands consists of three hotel-towers. Each tower is 55-storey and has more than 2,500 luxurious rooms in total. It is a one-stop attraction with high-class hotel, shopping, and many fine restaurants in the three hotel-towers itself. This place will definitely leave beautiful memories to visitors. Different Cultural Background One of the hardest communication malfunctions is having different cultural background staffs. Staffs came from many different countries. Some of the staffs may not be as sensitive to the others while working or even while communicating. This is a serious problem as it may provoke or irritates ones culture without realizing. As a result, working together may be very difficult as unhappiness may be consistent. Because of this, some staffs might be afraid to communicate with each other to avoid insulting other staffs cultures and this will highly increase the rate of communication break down between the staffs. Working Experiences As mention, many staffs came from different countries and in different countries, staffs were trained in different methods and ways. Staffs with different level of working experience make working together a big difficulty. Again, unhappiness may arise and communication will break down eventually. Although the work is the same, every different staffs may want to do in a way that they were taught and that would definitely not have the fullest result of their work. New employees are also put into consideration, as they have not much knowledge in their work yet. Blocked Mind There are certain staffs that have blocked mind. Blocked mind means that the person is unable to accept new things and always rejecting new ideas. When other staffs or higher management wants to do something new, opinions, attitudes and own beliefs starts to set in ones mind. People who have blocked mind are certainly a point that really affects the companys growth. Language Imperfections A place like Marina Bay Sands requires many staffs. They came from all over the world and one thing that causes communication breakdown seriously is their differences in language. Every staffs has this different standard of English language. Between the staffs, many might not understand each other that well due to the slangs and standards of the other staffs. A simple communication breakdown can lead to many problems either big or small. Eventually, staffs will start to communicate minimally so that miscommunication is avoided which is a wrong mentality. When staffs starts to avoid communicating with each other, information are not being able to pass correctly. Task 2b: Solutions to minimize (318 words including titles) Different Cultural Background There are many ways to minimize different cultural background problem. The company can organize simple lessons for every staff that would teach the different cultures to others so that every staffs can understand each other more and that will make their work more efficient and productive. The company can also categorize the same country staffs to work together to have minimal communication breakdown and that will certainly reduce the mistakes and time wasted. Working Experiences The solution to minimize working experiences problem is to give time to new employees to learn about their job scope. Company can also appoint mentors to new staffs to assist for the first few weeks so that the new staffs get more confident in their work and know what to do in their work. Again, the higher management can conduct lessons so that all employees will have a common working style and that will benefits the staff as well as the company. When all start to work together as one, company will achieves more. Blocked Mind The solution to minimize blocked mind is to listen to other ideas more. Allow everybody to give his or her own opinions and ideas. Personal improvements lessons can also be conducted to improve ones ability and potential so that they can release their full potential and abilities when they are working. Language Imperfections The solution to minimize the language imperfections problem is to ask secretary, colleagues, superiors or anyone in department to read the message before passing to a typist or fax operator. Alternatively, the sender can expand more information as much as possible. Be sure that the receiver fully understands. If you have received message from a person and found that it is difficult for you to understand, ask the sender immediately. As a result, communication breakdown can be minimized through all these methods. Task 3: Concept of Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism (723 words including titles) Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is a state of mind where the people in the society beliefs in their cultures with respect and superiority. They despise other cultures and thinks that their culture is the best. As a result, that leads them to become very narrow minded. Ethnocentrism not only has negative impacts but also have positive impacts. It helps to bring internal unity among the people and gives the people a sense of belonging to their society. Singaporean Chinese are firm belief in the practice of pragmatism and meritocracy. Singaporean weights results, consequences, utility, and practicality higher and people are often judged by their talents and abilities. Malaysian Malay are given higher status in Malaysia compared to other races and treated with more advantages and privileges. The main difference between them are Singaporean Chinese will go all out to work for the results and often trying to show their talents and abilities whereas Malaysian Malay tends to work things out slowly. The Malay employees will gather among the other Malays as they think that their culture is more superior than other cultures. An example to Singapore Chinese employee will try his/her best to outshine other employee but this Singapore Chinese employee will also respect other culture and other races among him/her. This Singapore Chinese employee will also be concern about consequences of his/her work and the results he/she produces. Understanding that Singaporean Chinese does not compare among races and treated equally in Singapore, communications with other colleagues regardless or races are often more effective. An example to Malaysian Malay employee will do his/her work averagely and will have a strong bonding among his/her Malays colleagues. This Malaysian Malay employee will also have more loyalty to the company compared to other races as feel the sense of belonging together with other Malay employees. Trust between this employee and other races employee may be lower compared to his/her fellow Malay colleagues. This Malaysian Malay employee tends to have more arguments or unhappiness with other races and cultures colleagues due to their thinking of superiority in their culture. Biasness and favoritism may appear to other employees even there is none. Thus, effectiveness of communication with the other races employees is lower. Cultural Relativism Cultural relativism is a state of mind where there is a common respect in other cultures. No culture is any special or superior to other culture. This includes religion, ethical, aesthetic, and political. They think that every culture is as worthy and equal as their culture and there is certainly no judgment between other races. It is more of personal opinion than an absolute correct or incorrect. Thailand is a collectivist country. They weight relationships and respect more than anything else. This has also led to unwanted human rights issues. Many take advantage of this as it is more towards accepting the inequality of the races as something natural and that promotes racism. American weights respect only to their fellow Americans most. They believe that they are the most superior due to their countrys achievements. The main difference between Thai and American employee is Thais are tend to be more close to their fellow Thai colleagues where American treats American equally but has no respect to other cultures. An example to Thai employee is friendlier towards his/her other Thai colleagues. He/She does not judge or criticize other colleagues and often bias to his/her fellow Thai colleagues. He/She makes exceptions to his/her fellow Thai colleagues too. This Thai employee also gives respect to all his/her colleagues. He/She also gives due respect to his/her superiors regardless of the culture differences due to the position level. It is easy for this employee to get along with other colleagues. As a result, the effectiveness of communication of Thai employees is better than the American employees. An example to American employee is often more commanding. He/She does not give enough respect to his/her superior if he/she is not an American. As mention, they have this mindset due to the countrys achievement. This American employee belief in his/her own skills and refuses to learn from any other employee from other countries or cultures. It is difficult to mix this employee with different nationalities and cultures employee. He/She does not listen to instruction given by others and that leads to a very ineffective communication. Task 4: Five Cultural Dimensions (825 words including title) Power Distance The first of the five dimensions of national culture called Power Distance. Human inequality can occur in many areas such as physical and mental characteristics (basic fact of human existence), social status, prestige, wealth, power, laws, rights, and rules. In different societies, give weights differently in this area. In some countries, politicians enjoy status and power without wealth or businesspersons enjoy wealth and power without status. This inequality is usually happening to the relationships between subordinates and their bosses. Singapore Marina Bay Sands exercises a relatively equal weight between the physical and mental characteristics. Bosses and subordinates do have their own power, rights, and wealth. Bosses do have higher power and rights to control the company. Individualism Every individual person in society has their own ideas and patterns for living up to society, unequal society and some people does not consider the social or feelings of those around them. Individualism people rely on legal rights and do not concern cultural and social concerns. Collectivism people do respect to the feelings of others or their own group members whereas individualism concerns over only the laws. Collectivism focus more on families and workmates, Individualism focus more on their own good and business. As explained, in Singapore Marina Bay Sands, there are also different people with their own ideas and patterns for living. Singapore society is Collectivism and believes in equality between man and women. While some countries such as New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, and USA are individualism societies, which mean the staffs in Marina Bay Sands who came from these countries are most slightly does not consider the social or feelings of those around them. Masculinity Men and women is a big issue for any culture, society, or even companies. The opposite meaning of masculinity is feminine. In working terms, different countries have different cultures. Some have equal job opportunity for the men and women but some have very specific appointments. Some countries such as Japan and Islamic societies usually have this issue, as the women are regard as feminine, which will not be appointed as a leader. However, after time, many of these societies have changed and women have been given the equal opportunities to be leaders. Thailand is an example for now they have equality at work between genders. Previously the Thai culture was women have to be at home taking care of the house while the men will go work to support the family financially. Every different country has different speed of cultural change. Singapore Marina Bay Sands is a society, which has equal rights for man and women. Generally, women leaders can be found widely in Singapore and this has be en going for many years. Uncertainty Avoidance The opposite meaning of uncertainty avoidance is uncertainty-accepting cultures. This group of people is more towards tolerating different cultures from them. They minimize rules as much as possible to allow many cultures to be beside them. As a result, this will make the employees focus on the success of the work. Coming back to uncertainty avoidance, these people oppositely create many rules and are often very emotional in their work. These people are mostly motivated by themselves. Society like Japan, Belgium, and America are countries, which implements many rules and laws to avoid uncertainty avoidance where as country such as Thailand looks more on uncertainty accepting cultures between the employees to the supervisors to create a more focused relationship work. Singapore is also a country like Thailand, which also promotes uncertainty accepting cultures as this will certainly boost up the staffs morale while working as a team and eventually this will boost up the business great ly as well. Long-Term Orientation Students in 23 different countries found this dimension in a study. Humans have different dimension in terms of getting along with each other in working place. Some of them take longer time, which is known as long-term orientation, and some of them take little time, which is known as short-term orientation. People determine relations through factors while working together. Long-term orientation people have many difficulties to work with new people while short-term orientation people have no problem with that. However, after the long-term orientation people get to know the new people better, they will have a long and firm relationship and for short-term orientation people they will have no commitment in the relationship after awhile. For Thai Society, Sex discrimination does not cause a problem but it is favoritism that causing problem. Because of the hospitality culture in Thailand, it is quite difficult to do not help others. Singapore also could not avoid but to have people that ar e long-term orientated and short term-orientated. Certainly, Thailand, and Singapore do not have any sex discrimination and in addition, Singapore does not encourage favoritism. With a good balance of long-term and short-term orientated staffs in Singapore Marina Bay Sands, it has resulted to achieve great heights.

Of Mice And Men - Curleys Wife Essay -- English Literature Essays

Of Mice And Men - Curley's Wife â€Å"I never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her† (George) what is the reader supposed to think about Curley’s wife? In the Steinbeck novel ‘Of Mice and Men’, he introduces us to the character of Curley’s wife. She could be interpreted as a mis-fitting character in the novel, as no one relaters to her. This essay will go on to examine the character of Curley’s wife and how characters perceive her and how this influences the readers interpretation of her. The social setting of the novel is also important, as it could later explain characters attitudes towards other people. It is set in the U.S. in the 1930s; this is the time of the Great Depression. This was a result of the First World War. It affected the rich and poor alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, it affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt, farmers were the worst off. John Steinbeck chose to write about farmers hoping that Americans would recognize their troubles and correct the situation. The great depression is known to be the worst economic disaster in the U.S history. For this reason the depression caused many people to change their ideas about the government and economy. Curley’s wife is probably the most loathed on the ranch. The way she looks and acts leads other characters in the novel to see her as a â€Å"tart†. George makes his opinions clear just after he first met her â€Å"Jesus, what a tramp†, and â€Å"So that’s what Curley picks for a wife†. She just wants some one to talk to. Males on the ranch don’t like her because they think she will get them into trouble. They make judgments without getting to know her first. They judge a book by its cover. Curley, her husband doesn’t trust her with the other ranch hands. She was just out of place on the ranch, and because of that, must have been a really lonely person with lonely feelings. Curley’s wife is given a reputation of causing trouble between other characters from different characters in the novel. There is no evidence of her living up to all of the reputation in the novel. Candy says â€Å"Well she got the eye† which could have many meanings and then he backs that up with â€Å"I seen her give Slim the eye† and finally he says â€Å"Well I think Curley’s married†¦a tart.† This explains his views on Curley’s wife. And when she dies he calls her a ... ...mass of emotions between the men, the conflict of killing Lennie. And Curley finally showed some caring emotion â€Å"I know who done it.† â€Å"That big son-of-a-bitch done it† Is when he begins to show the love for his wife. Curley talks about going to kill Lennie, which shows that his wife may have been a big part of his life a nothing is going to replace her. Curley’s wife is a difficult character to understand. Steinbeck hasn’t named her; this could be for a number of reasons. He may have wanted her to be seen as lonely therefore not naming her shows no one gets close enough to her to call her by her first name. He may have done it to show the other characters only see her as the wife of Curley rather than an individual. He may also have done it to show the male attitudes towards females. Curley’s wife also helps to provoke mixed emotions in the reader. We often feel sorry for her such as when she talks of her loneliness, but on other occasions the reader can find her cold hearted. This is seen when she is racist towards the other characters. Most of Steinbeck’s characters are stereotypical, or have some form of a stereotypical view towards them and Curley’s wife is no exception.

Sales force management

Transactional sales promotion involves the exchange of goods and service at a cost between the seller and buyer. The relational promotion of sales entails the creation of conducive sales environment between the sales promoter and the consumer that attracts the interest of the consumer to use the particular product. The creation of hospitality is very important in sales promotion. In history, the literature of marketing theories has been known to operate on transactional exchange orientation. This has been so in both business- business transactions as well as the consumer to marketer exchange. The theory of classical economics is credited for having led to the development of ‘law of exchange’ by Alderson in 1965. Transactional orientation can further be traced form the development of neoclassical economics which has had formulated assumptions towards maximization of utility and the nature of man in economics. According to research studies, both the relational and transactional marketing strategies have been found to coexist. This means that a consumer may choose on whether to engage a new business relationship with a supplier, try to nourish it and come up with a relationship that is valuable or choose to manage low value- business relationship (Honeycutt, Ford, 2003). However, it is valued to have strong business relationship in any transaction. The ultimate business performance can be achieved through an effective integration of business relationships managements balanced on the framework of transactional economics costs. The interaction of either level is optimized through testing models in the environment, business transaction exchanges, networking and relational governance with a track of its performance. Sales promotion in America is historically not only as old as mankind, but also as old as the art of giving. When a gift is offered to some one, it does not only create a good relationship but also generate a desire for a purchase of the same or similar commodity to offer it as gift to other friends. The art has grown over ages through drastic changes in the media level, personal contact, billboards, and currently the gift sales promotion. The promotional accessories, by the use of branded commodities as well as commercial gifts are the most preferred promotional method currently. This is outweighing the popular traditional means of media broadcast in many ways. People want tangible goods or services brought to their door step. They also want to have an experience on it before purchasing. Therefore, it is good for sales promoters to adjust with quality and give more gifts to consumers as a sales promotion exercise. Some commodities for promotion include biro pens, school bags, mugs, capes and flash drives (USB) which bear the company brand names or promotional tags. Other ways of sales promotion include face to face sales, publicity and media advertisement. Whatever kind of sales promotion if directed to the retailer or wholesaler, then it is referred to as ‘trade sales promotion,’ while when the sales promotion is directed to the consumer, then it is called ‘consumer sales promotion’. The use of reliable packaging method can be a means of attracting consumers in large numbers. This is called ‘price pack deal’ and it is bound to increase sales by more than 25%. Standardized coupons are used in sales promotion. They are either placed on the daily news papers, in phone texts, on the shelf or even as online. When consumers come across these, they tend to be attracted and may end up purchasing the items (Honeycutt, Ford, 2003). Finally, price adjustment strategy also does well in sales promotion. Lowering product price attracts higher demand from consumers.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Its Political Issues Essays

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Its Political Issues Essays The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Its Political Issues Essay The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Its Political Issues Essay Essay Topic: Deep For many oil companies, the Gulf represents some of their most profitable and promising properties. The White House is seemingly making an increased show of pressuring BP, but President Obama is facing political heat from within his own party for what some say has been a lackluster response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the spill began, there has been some intense political debate regarding BPs responsibility, the governments response, and the extent of the environmental damage. Matthew Dowd, political consultant and chief pollster to former President George W. Bush, said the incident is likely to pose a huge political problem, similar to what President Bush faced after Hurricane Katrina. Administration officials also said the government will make changes to the way it allows offshore drilling, including new measures for the permitting process, new safety requirements for offshore rigs, and what was described as strengthened inspections for drilling operations. Having taking at least partial ownership of the crisis, the Obama administration is redoubling efforts to crack down on BP, sending a letter to CEO Tony Hayward complaining that his promises to provide complete and timely information on the spill have fallen short in both their scope and effectiveness. BP has already agreed to set aside $20 billion over several years to pay for claims resulting from the oil spill. The company has paid the U. S. government $390 million for the cost of cleanup and received an additional bill for $128. million from the Obama administration. Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BPs chief executive officer Tony Hayward on legislation that would raise the cap on liability for damage claims from those affected by the oil disaster from $75 million to $10 billion. However, WMRs federal and Gulf state sources are reporting the disaster has the real potential cost of at least $1 trillion. Critics of the deal being worked out between Obama and Hayward point out that $10 billion is a mere drop in the bucket for a trillion dollar disaster but also note that BP, if its assets were nationalized, could fetch almost a trillion dollars for compensation purposes. There is talk in some government circles, including FEMA, of the need to nationalize BP in order to compensate those who will ultimately be affected by the worst oil disaster in the history of the world. The Obama administration also conspired with BP to fudge the extent of the oil leak, according to our federal and state sources. After the oil rig exploded and sank, the government stated that 42,000 gallons per day was gushing from the seabed chasm. Five days later, the federal government upped the leakage to 210,000 gallons a day. Obama aides stressed that BP would bear the cost of the spill, including the cost of plugging the well, cleaning shorelines and paying for government air and water tests. Separately, fishermen and others anticipating environmental damage filed class-action suits against the company. On a day when the stock market rose broadly and sharply, BPs stock price fell more than 8 percent to $52. 56 a share. In the minds of politicians and strategists, the oil has practically become a giant ink blot, a Rorschach test in which each of the opposing sides sees proof of â€Å"the larger narrative. † Florida Sen. Bill Nelson called on Obama to step back from his expanded offshore drilling plans. In a letter to the president, Nelson said he would file legislation to ban the Interior Department from following through on Obamas proposal for new seismic and drilling activity. He said the gulf spill may be an environmental and economic disaster that wreaks havoc for commercial fishing and tourism along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Reference : nytimes. com/2010/06/30/us/politics/30polmemo. html? pagewanted=1 http://political. com/content/bp-oil-spill http://abcnews. go. com/GMA/Politics/bp-oil-spill-political-headache-obama-democrats-slam/story? id=10746519 http://washingtonexaminer. com/politics/white-house/political-problems-oil-spill-may-stick-obama http://edition. cnn. com/2010/US/09/14/bp . justice. legal. action/index. html washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/29/AR2010042902290. html