The Culturalist And Institutionalist Approaches Commerce Essay

The Culturalist And Institutionalist Approaches Commerce Essay With the rapid development of the world economy integration, MNCs will become a very important economic organizations, this set to the HRM new request. MNCs need selection, training, and compensation employees so they can in overseas offices for the organization work, at the same time MNCs also need recruit foreign staff. So MNCs will need to solve cross-cultural and institution problems in HRM activities. IHRM were more complex than domestic HRM. This is because of MNCs employees are from different countries, that would involve staff culture difference, as the development of economic globalization and the progress of science and technology, the western culture and eastern culture with unprecedented speed in the greater scope and deeper levels are fusion and communication, peoples thought is in constant change. In the eastern and western enterprise culture conflict and fusion process, learn from each other and reference to each others strengths, they constantly improve their manageme nt concept of human resources and strategy. In this essay, the main question is how culture and institution effect HRM in MNCs, there are four parts of the essay, first two is to introduce culture and institution, and the following two parts is about how they influence HRM in MNCs, some scholars ideas and literatures will help to support the essay. Culturalist and institutionalist HRM is a strategic function concerned with recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, communication and labor relations (ICMR, 2010). International human resource management is about the world-wide management of human resources (Adler Ghadar, 1990 etc.). Human resource management of MNCs is one of an important part of International human resource management. Due to the internationalizations, quick development of global competition and rapid development of MNCs, at the same time, so that it leading to increase of human resources liquidity, thus to have efficient human resource management is becoming a key issue to influence the success of enterprises. 1.1 The definition and characteristics of culturalist How much does culture difference influence human resource management in MNCs? There is no standard answer for this question. Because culture itself is intangible, it is difficult to measure. Geert Hofstede (2001) describe that culture just like the software of the mind, in the meantime, Hodgetts and Luthans (2003) has given some specific attributes for culture after analysis, they think It is learned. Culture is not only inherited, it is also experience in the study. It is shared. Culture can be shared, it is not the product of a single individual or fortune, it is a group, organization, social jointly enjoy. It is transgenerational. Culture is the cumulative throughout your generations, is not appeared without foundation. It is symbolic. Culture is the human ability to represent or used to show to the others. It is patterned. Culture has its structure, is a comprehensive, a part of the change will lead to the other part of the change. Dahl (2004), drawing on the work of Hofstede (2001), Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) and Spencer-Oatey (2000), asserted culture has its level and grade, perhaps it is easy to change culture outside, just like tradition, custom, habits and actual behaviors, but the deep inside is very hard to change. The reason is culture is the specific consciousness of accumulation down. Besides, it is not difficult to find that culture has big influence for MNCs, for example, with the developing of global economy, many MNCs has appeared, but culture difference, culture conflict and prejudice will be serious problems and they will hinder MNCs grows. Therefore, effectively adjust the cultural conflict is one of the important factors to successful operation and develop multinational enterprises. Moreover, because of cultural subjects are mainly is the human, so human resources management is an important bearing the burden. 1.2 The definition and characteristics of institutionalist According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2012), an institution may be defined as an official organization with an important role in a country or an organization founded for a religious, educational, or social purpose. Now in the age of globalization, people have serious debate on the institutional arrangements and the feasibility of the status, include nation State. Many people believe that now some institutions are shell, not the actual effect, and just forced arrangement execution. Even so, most of the social have a common a series of institution, including private and public enterprises, public facilities, the financial system established, education system, trade and government agencies jointly. The related strengths institution can be change, like habit can influence each other. Dore, R. (2000:45-47) showed clearly that institutional interlock as typifying national economies and the relationship between the economy and the broader society. So it can be proven in some social, because of the social partys convention, institution operation is concatenated; it is support each other change. Of course, the institution all over the world have very big gap, some more focus on institutional autonomy and self-sufficient. As a result, there are many different types of economic institution states in the world, such as the United States is the market economic system, North Korea is planned economy system, China is under the states macro-regulation of market economy system. The system is in order to adapt to the present stage of national economic development, so international enterprise in different countries to establish the company also should to comply with the institution of the countries, and institution in different region will directly affect the multinational comp anies operating methods. 1.3 National and regional differences According to the United States and Japan multinational enterprise human resources management activities of the comparative study, usually from recruiting and selection, advancement and evaluation, compensation system and incentive measures and the employer and employee career etc type to compare. Ouchi(1978), Jaeger Baliga(1985) has compared the US and Japan human resource management in MNCs, their conclusion were haply the same. The US employees are loyal to individual work, personal decision and responsibility; they are particular about the short-term job evaluation and motivation in the management, so the promotion is quickly and prefers short-term employment. Japanese enterprise employees can more loyal to the organization, the teams decision and responsibility, they are particular about the long-term job evaluation and motivation in the management, therefore, the promotion is slow and prefers long-term employment. Comprehensive different scholars point of view, here is the main difference collect from America, Japan multinational corporations and local enterprise in human resources management activities as shown in table 1. Table 1. HRM activities comparison with Japan, U.S.A and local enterprise C:UsersEvaDocumentsTencent [emailprotected]@6XOR}_N)C4PG.jpg Resource from: Wen-Chin Liao, Wei-Tao Tai. (2002). 1.3.1 The factors of influence differences between domestic and international human resource management Resource from: http://www.doc88.com/p-10985957892.html pp11 Institutional and cultural influences on HRM in MNCs 2.1 Institutional perspectives for HRM When some MNCs invest in China, they find they have to offer accommodation for employees, expatriates from abroad to China might find their incomes were facing tax collection from both home country and host country, therefore, HRM in MNCs should consider different states institution. Marginson (2004) suggest as in the United States or Britain offer free market economy should be more focus on short-term financial status, and to use pure financial standards to push to take investment strategy. For example, the management of large and medium-sized enterprises may be more willing to pay attention to individual employers of the effect achievement, like to use financial rewards and punishments to motivate staff training and development, and make the company internal individual competition is fierce. Management team and line management personnel authorized to control many human resources management and employees incentive, make it more flexibility. Organizational and HR principles associated with liberal market economies are as follows: Freedom to manage; Emphasis on short-term competition; Flexible deployment of staff; Pay linked to individual performance; Training regarded as an overhead. (Kerrypress Ltd,2009) One side ¼Ã…’Marginson ¼Ã‹â€ 2004 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °said like Germany control economic market will pay more attention to in effect achievement of long-term investment strategy. Employees are thought to be lasting assets, is to improve the competitive advantage of favorable resources. Organizational and HR principles associated with Control market economies are as follows: Constraints on managerial freedom through state regulations and other influences; Longer-term orientation; Investment in training; Relative job security; Employee involvement and participation. (Kerrypress Ltd,2009) The analysis of the institution can help to better understand the across national of the management of human resources policies and practices, using commercial system and the relevant methods to effect is the demand of the national diversity. Firstly, According to Pollert (1999), the business system provides an imperfect device to explain the human resource structure in national varieties. It proved the concept of national commercial system covering the different of non-national institution, like different enterprise culture in national country. For instance, via pan-European integration policies. Then, in actuality, there is no perfect relationship is to business system and practice of human resource management. Hardy (2002) claims, local isomorphism, is to adjust the local environment, more like for some countries institution leads to some regional different human resources management. Such as salary, working time and work contract are all influence by local institution. In addition, about the work equal employment opportunities and health security, the enterprise will be affected by the constraints of the state institution. 2.2 Culture perspectives for HRM In a sense, all countries on the way in the decision-making differences are fundamentally can be attributed to diversity and interaction of each culture scale. Many scholars has researched cultural in different levels, one Dutch researcher Geert Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions has been accept and it has huge impact for HRM, show as Figure 1. Figure 1, Geert Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions Resource from: Business Mate.Org. (2009). 1. Individualism VS. Collectivism Cultural individualism and collectivism level of different social reflects the attitudes of collectivism are different. In collectivism countries, people must take into account the interests of others, members of the organization have the spirit of obligation and loyalty. And in individualistic society, everyone only for its own interests, each person has freedom to choose a course of action. In this way a management decisions on the culture difference that presented forGenerally speaking, in the collective tendency company, managers in the decision-making often encourage employees to actively participate in decision making, and the decision will take a long time, but enforcement and carries out the decision quickly because almost everyone involved in the decision-making process, and understand the purpose of making a decision and content. And individualism strong company managers often make decision independent. The decision quickly but enforcement need a long time, because they need more time to sell their decision purpose, content to stuff. 2. Power Distance Power distance in the organization management is often link with centralized degree, leader and decision-making. In a high power distance organization, subordinates often rely on their leaders, in this case, the managers often taken centralised mode of decision-making, manager make decision, subordinates accept and execution. And in low power distance organization, manager and subordinate just keep a small gap, subordinates partake decision-making. 3. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance tends to influence an organizations activities, also will effect an organization risk attitude. In a high uncertainty avoidance organization, the organization incline to build more work regulations, processes or rules to deal with uncertainty, the management is also based on work and task, managers decisions making are programmed decisions. In a weak uncertainty avoidance organization, little emphasis on control, work rules and process standardization level is relatively low 4. Masculinity VS. Femininity In cultural values, masculinity and femininity, and long-term orientation two dimension will influence in different degree to the managers decision method. 5. Long VS. Short Term Orientation Michael Bond and some Chinese partner did not take Hofstedes questionnaire survey method, the prefer based on Asian researcher confucianist value and present a new survey method. Geert Hofstede added his theory on the new survey. The long-term vision culture play attention on future, save and reserve, they do anything all leave room. For example, Japan, with a long-term vision for investment, the annual profit is not important; the most important is to achieve a long-term goal year after year. In the short term orientation culture, values are toward the past and the present. People respect traditional, pay attention to the social responsibility, but at present is more important. In the management, the most important is profit in now, their estimate cycle is short, and require seeing efficacy quickly, no delay. For instance the US Company pay more attention to quarterly and yearly profit results, managers only care the profits in performance evaluation. Conclusion This essay has offered two complementary strands of analysis to understand diversity in HRM in MNCs institutional and cultural. Institutional structure and characteristics, which might be think as the hardware of national and regional Commercial system, impact fundamentally on the comparative status of the HR. Cultural may be thinking as the software conditioning international variations in values and mindsets. Solve the cultural conflict, establish unified and harmonious enterprise culture, cross-cultural management the most troubling is that cultural conflict. Different forms of culture collide each other; mutually exclusive process is the cultural conflict. According to the survey of different cultural background employees, if poor management staff, will lead to serious for the enterprise, and undeserved decision, low efficiency, have an impact to MNCs daily basic operations. On the surface, MNC is a union from different countries technology, capital and management, but from the connotation is concerned, is different culture collision and integration. So to the cross-cultural management, the only way is to find a balance point for different culture, the implementation of the balance mode of management, the cultural conflict can be solved.

Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Homers Iliad :: Iliad essays

Fate and Destiny in Homer’s Iliad The Iliad portrays fate and destiny as a supreme and ultimate force that is decided by each man’s actions and decisions. A man’s fate lies in the consequences of his actions and decisions. A man indirectly controls his destiny by his actions and decisions. One action or decision has a consequence that leads to another action or decision. A man is born with a web of many predetermined fates and one or more destinies. A man’s decisions control which course of fate he takes so that he indirectly controls his destiny.Since all mortals die, destiny is what you have done with the fates you have been dealt, and where you have taken your life. Eventually, a man’s whole life may be traced to his very first action or decision. By stating someone’s fate as determined by their actions or decisions, fate is unbreakable, what has been done will control the present, and ultimately the future. The present is controlled by the past so that no one may escape their p ast decisions or actions. The underlying concept of fate is that all man are not born equal, so that fate is the limitations or abilities placed upon him. In The Iliad the god’s fate is controlled much in the same way as a mortal’s, except for one major difference, the immortals cannot die and therefore do not have a destiny. An immortal’s life may not be judged because they haven’t and won’t die. The gods are able to manipulate mortals fate but not their own directly. A god may inspire a mortal to do or create something that might indirectly affect the god’s fate. This reinforces the concept that no one may escape his or her actions or decisions. In The Iliad, the concept that all mortals share the same destiny, that is that everyone dies, introduces the values of honor and courage, and other principles of what is right and what is wrong. Courage is demonstrated unselfishness and the desire to do what is right no matter what the cost. Since all men die a man who is willing to sacrifice himself for what he believes is right shows supreme faith and moral character as well as the admirable trait of putting something else above their own life. Bravery or courage isn’t necessarily aggressiveness or rage; for instance, all of Achilles actions are referred to in the beginning as "the rage of Achilles".

Should We Legalize Marijuana? :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Should We Legalize Marijuana? In the perspective of America's war on drugs, marijuana is one of the biggest enemies. And since alcohol and tobacco, two life threatening substances, are legal it is a relevant question to ask why marijuana is illegal. The taxpayers of America can partly answer this question when they fill out their tax forms and when they hear the hash rhetoric used against marijuana by the government. The fact that marijuana is illegal is sufficiently caused by the amount of money, jobs, and pride invested in the drug war. In other words, the government cannot turn back now. In order to demonstrate this cause, the difference between illegal and legal substances (specifically alcohol and marijuana) must be abolished. Alcohol, as we all know, was once illegal. The reason that it was illegal was because the ill effects of alcohol led many people to fight for the prohibition cause. Some of these ill effects are direct and some alter the behavior and motor skills of the drinker, helping them do things they would not usually do. More often than not, the direct effects result from heavy drinking, like "depression is frequently diagnosed in alcoholics" (Rittenhouse 140). But just getting drunk can do serious harm. "Accidental trauma forms the major cause of brain damage from alcohol" (140) would indicate alcohol as a threat to human health. Marijuana on the other hand seems a little out of place in its classification as illegal. The source previously cited notes that, "Although it is classified as a Schedule I drug for regulatory purposes, it is clearly different pharmacologically from the opiate analgesics" (Rittenhouse 151). Also, recently a heated debate has arisen on the medicinal value of marijuana. Whether there is a definite use for marijuana is unclear, but there is surely no such debate concerning alcohol. So once again I posture the question why is marijuana illegal if it is not more dangerous than substances that are legal? The American government's investment in the war on drugs spans the spectrum of governmental offices. But the main recipient of funds from the budget is the Drug Enforcement Agency, located in the Department of Justice. Before I start quoting budget allocations, I would like to ask the reader to make a small assumption. The budget does not make distinctions between fighting marijuana and fighting cocaine, heroine, etc. So I would ask that the reader assume marijuana accounts for five percent of the budget's drug prevention allocations.

Customer service – the investigation assignment

I'm going to do an investigation into two different organisations taking into account the principles, products and services that are offered and the companies' customer care policies. My first organisation is Alton Towers; a fun packed theme park aimed at all types of age groups, maybe not for the over 50's though. It is the UK's best loved theme park, 2 hotels, a spa, an extraordinary golf course, and nineteenth century gothic castles. My second organisation is First choice tour operators; a leisure travel company operating in four different sectors. They have many high street stores and are a well-known respected tour operations company. My first impression of Alton towers was quite alright, it weren't bad customer service but we had a few problems. I and my friends had gone for a birthday party and we had pre-booked our tickets so that we could just go straight through and not have to queue up. When we got to the desk the lady couldn't find us on the computer and asked us for our reference number, we weren't given a ref number we just got told to show them a confirmation letter they had emailed us. There was a mix up on the computer and they eventually sorted it out. They never really apologised to us for making us wait and not explaining thoroughly what had happened. By the end of our visit we had forgot the kafuffle at the beginning as we'd had such a good day and the service throughout the day was brill! My first impression for First Choice tour operators was fantastic. I flew with first choice to Gran Canaria in Xmas 2005. When we first got on the plane they greeted us with smiles and asked if we were ok etc. When we sat down ready for take off they all came round to check if we required anything and to see that we were all ok. I think that is good service as there job is too look after their customers and that's exactly what they were doing. Some airlines do have good customer service but first choice just seemed to stand out to me. I've flown with Gold Trail before and they were horrendous, you would ask for assistance and they would come back to you in around 45 minutes; They were absolutely terrible. We were also delayed on that flight for 7 hours and didn't receive anything for it. The principals of customer care. First impressions are the first sign of good customer care, for example if you walked into a travel agents wanting to find out some information on a holiday you have seen, you would want the agent to approach you first with a cheery happy face and be polite! That is a good first impression, if you walked in and you had to speak first and they looked all morbid and mardy, you wouldn't think that was a good first impression. In any organisation the people of the company should always give a good first impression because that's what the customer remembers. Any company should have good company image, an appealing logo is a first, you wouldn't go in a travel agents if they had a shabby logo on their shop, you would want it too look appealing and stand out. Employees should have a the company's logo on their uniform as that gives a good impression, plus customers will know that they are part of that company if they need assistance. Speed and accuracy of service is vital in customer care, you want to be served as quickly and efficient as possible. You don't want to be waiting ages to be assisted and then they don't give you the advice you wanted or they sell you the wrong product. Every company should have a customer service policy; all companies should provide a helpful, friendly and reliant service. The methods my two organisations use to monitor and evaluate their customer service. Alton towers have a comment sheet and cards to ensure that all customers are enjoying their visit. The comments sheet/cards enable the company to understand what the customer likes and dislikes and too see if there are any problems. When you're in the park they come round and put the sheets under your windscreen wiper so that when you return to your car you can fill it in. If you have any complaints or claims you must write to their customer relations manager within 28days of your trip to Alton towers. All complaints or claims that do not involve in injury or death, Alton towers cannot accept liability. First choice holidays listen to their frontline employees, customer focus groups, customer feedback questionnaires and by conducting mystery shopping where a third party acts as a customer and feeds back to the company on the quality of the service they receive. These are all good ways for company's to monitor their customer service. There are many other ways a company good monitor their customer service; observations, feedback from team members, suggestions box or book, questionnaires and surveys, or simply just have a customer service desk if they feel they are not satisfied within the store and want to complain straight away. The benefits of good customer service The benefits of an employee would be that if they gave a good service within their job then they would enjoy their job as they would be praised.You would also be secure in your job as if your good at your job and can deliver a good service, your employer will want you to stay. If you are good at your job and the customers are all satisfied, your employer may give you a pay rise. Incentives can also be given to you by your employer.For example you could be set a target and if you reach it you can be awarded some money or even a holiday. The benefits to the employer would be that the sales and profits of the business would rise because of returned customers and more customers would come to you as the returning customers would tell other people. There would be less complaints if the business had a good service, which would mean more positive feedback. If the business was in competition with other businesses they would have a better advantage as customers would want to go to their business as they deliver a better service. Customers will be highly satisfied if you give them a good service, you will be meeting their needs and exceeding their expectations, they will return and give word of mouth. Returning customers is good for every business, it is also good for both the customer and the employee as you will build a good repour. Customers will also gain your loyalty and certainly give recommendations. Consequences of a poor service If you give a poor service the financial side of the business will fail and lose money. The reputation of the employer will be bad and people who were thinking of applying for a job in that company will reconsider there thoughts. My first impression of Alton towers was a poor service, we said we weren't going to pre-book our tickets there again we would just do it the normal way, but as the day went on the service was brilliant and we had forget all about the kafuffle at the start of the day. First Choice was a great first impression at the start; we went back to them as they had delivered a good service. If they had delivered us a poor service we would not have gone back and would have told other people how rude they were etc. In all customer service related jobs, every employee should abide by the data protection act because all customers details and personal information is confidential. If any disabled individual entered an establishment you would not treat them any different. You should not treat any individual different from anyone else, everyone should be treat the same despite race, sex, religion or any views they have on anything.

Horniman Horticulture Essay

Horniman Horticulture is a whole-sale nursery business that has been owned by Maggie and Bob for three years. They have seen an increase in business and number of plants grown at the nursery and are expecting demand to continue to grow. In 2005, the business’s profit margin was expected to grow to 5. 8% up from 3. 1% in 2003. This projected growth seems accurate considering Maggie’s conservative approach with the companies cash balance. Handling the finances, Maggie dislikes debt financing because of her fear of holding too much inventory and thus not being able to make interest payments. Since the business relies on good weather conditions with some mature plants taking years to grow, severe weather can destroy this inventory. The family has high hopes for the future, since changing their business strategy; they now are acquiring more mature plants in response to the demand for â€Å"instant landscape† customers and are seeing positive signs of economic strength. Because of Maggie’s accounting policies, the business has started to see a decrease in cash balance which falls below their target of comfort. Projection for 2006 Looking at Exhibit A, we have given the projection for 2006. Due to the local economy growing, demand is also going to continue to grow in their business. Most of their inventory will be ready for customers, since it has been maturing over the last 2 to 5 years resulting in their revenue growth to be estimated 30% higher in 2006 to $1,360,000. In order to have opportunities for growth, Maggie and Bob want to buy the neighboring 12 acres of farmland. Because of this plan to buy the parcel of land, their capital expenditures are estimated to be $75,000 which they do not plan to finance. Case Issue Revenue growth over the past 3 years has surpassed the industries benchmark and could indicate that Horniman can take an aggressive competitive advantage early on. Some financial ratios prove the company is performing above industry norms solely due to the fact of their decision to not pay interest on debt, causing few additional expenses. An issue that this company may see due to their determination in paying suppliers under 10 days which can be seen in the Payable Days ratio (Exhibit C). They do benefit rom a small discount of making payments early, but comparing this to the benchmark; Horniman takes an average of 50 days to collect from outside customers and vendors. This indicates that they are making payments five times faster than they are receiving them, which poses the question of whether the small discount is truly beneficial to their company. This exhibit also points out the fact that inventory are not being turned over as often and has actually continued to increase since the start of the business. In addition in 2005, they didn’t reach their target balance of 8% cash balance of total revenue; they fell to a low of . %. In summary, they are very good at driving revenue up and exceeding profits higher than the industries average, but are experiencing a cash flow problem because of the way they are running their business. If it is not dealt with now, there is potential for bankruptcy in the future, especially with their future acquisition of land for $75,000 which they do not plan to finance. Financial Statement Analysis When analyzing the financial statements, in Exhibit A we can see that Horniman has done a decent job by increasing their revenues. They increased their revenues by 33% in 2002 being at $788,500 to 2005 at $1,048,800. They have stabilized their depreciation as it only rose 20% from 2002 to 2005 ($34,200 to $40,900). Also, their tax expense did not increase dramatically by staying around 34 to 39%. After looking at the free cash flows in Exhibit D you can see that increases in net working capital is a problem with the business. In the first year their net working capital was $44,800 which is 1. 4x the net income of $32,600. In 2004, there was an improvement in net working capital but on the other hand there was a big capital expenditure of $88,100 which reduced their cash. Past 2004, net working capital in 2005 was $97,200 which is 1. 6x the net income of $60,800. If they continue to increase their net working capital like they have in the past, the projected net working capital for 2006 would be -$235,900 which would cause them a negative cash balance of -193,000. When you look at the balance sheet in Exhibit B we can see that the current assets have increased 19% and total assets increased 14. 4%. This is due primarily to the increase in inventory and accounts receivable. In the four years from 2002 to 2005 inventory has increased 8. % and accounts receivable has increased 16. 4%. Due to this, the cash balance has decreased from $120,100 all the way down to $9,400. In addition in 2005, the cash balance went below their comfort level of $10,000 down to $9,400. This is not meeting their expectation of their 8% minimum of total revenue target. Financial Ratio Analysis Even though their business was growing significantly, and they were experiencing a steady increase in revenues, they were seeing a huge decrease in their cash. The reason for this is because of their recent change to an increase in business from small nurseries. By looking at the financial ratios, even though they are increasing in sales, you can tell that they are relaxed on their accounts receivable and credit terms. Each year it takes them longer to collect their money. This is due to the fact that the carrying cost of inventory is harder for the smaller customers to endure. To add to this, Bob has to put a bigger investment in his inventory because of the more mature plants that take 2 to 5 years to grow, because of the increased demand for instant landscape. Finally, they are paying out cash significantly faster at 9 days than the benchmark of 27 days in order to receive their 2% discount. To summarize it, they are holding their inventory longer, collecting on payments slower, and paying out cash faster which in essence is destroying their cash balance. By looking at the ratios in Exhibit C, you can see the evidence of this in Receivable Days increasing from 41. 2 to 50. 9, and the Inventory Days ratio increasing from 424. 2 to 476. 3. Due to the way their business is being run, the consequences are shown in the liquidity ratios in Exhibit E for 2002 to 2005 and the projected ratios for 2006, all of their liquidity is diminishing. You can see that every ratio is steadily declining throughout the years. Analyzing them all, their cash has significantly decreased the most, diminishing an astonishing 70% from years 2002 to 2005. Compensating for Growth With larger growth coming in 2006, Maggie and Bob need to look at their cash balance and figure out what they will need for financing to avoid a negative cash balance which could put them into bankruptcy. With Revenues increasing every year, and dramatically increasing from 2005 to 2006 by 30%, they need a compensating cash balance. Since they do not pay out any cash dividends, their rate of growth is the ROC ratio. In Exhibit A, the return of capital has been an average of 4. 0% in the four years. The un-proportional increase in revenue from 15% to 30% will most likely not be supported for much longer. The need for financing, to counterbalance this significant growth is needed to avoid bankruptcy. Accounts Payable Analysis In 2002, Horniman’s cash balance was a respectable $120,100, a number which represented 11. 64% of total assets for that year. As shown in Exhibit F, a common-size cash balance of 11. 64% hardly poses any threats of short-term liquidity risk. However, the following years tell a different story where Horniman’s cash balance steadily decreases. In 2005, just 0. 80% of Horniman’s total assets were held in cash—a drop of $110,700 in just three years! Keep in mind, Horniman has displayed positive revenue growth through each of these periods negating the idea that these declining cash balances are represented by lack of growth (Exhibit C). In the case write up it was mentioned that Maggie (who controlled the financials) avoided borrowing at all costs, and would take any trade discount her suppliers would offer. To an ordinary individual this would sound like a financially responsible plan, but taking a trade discount isn’t always the best decision to make. When taking a discount, certain factors should be looked at to determine whether or not it is worth it. In Horniman’s case, Maggie accepts the discount from her supplier every time it is offered. The footnotes state that most of Horniman’s suppliers provide 30-day payment terms, with a 2% discount for payments made within ten days (2/10 net 30). This is a fairly common discount offered by suppliers to entice the buyer to make timely payments. Horniman has always had the cash on hand to make these payments within the terms of the discount, but in the long run it is hurting them. The most important factor to look at when making this decision is the current interest rate. Interest rates will help to determine whether it is practical to take the discount or to delay payment till the final day it’s due. The rule is simple: if the borrowing rate offered by a bank is greater than the annualized rate earned by taking a discount, then pass on the discount and delay your payment until it’s due in full. The rule remains true if the scenario is reversed. Maggie’s overall issue is she isn’t timing her cash inflows with outflows. Her outflows are made within 10 days of receiving the invoice, but she isn’t collecting from customers every ten days which is creating a short-term liquidity issue. Our Recommendations As you can see the business as a whole is running pretty strongly and their main problem is just the diminishing cash flow. There are quite a few ways that Bob and Maggie could attempt to raise the amount of cash that they have on hand and even stop this problem all together. In the case it says that Maggie doesn’t want to use much if any debt financing for their business because if they were to have a dramatic loss (i. e. drought, frost, etc†¦ ) they could find themselves struggling to keep up with the interest payments on the debt loans that they would have taken out, but using just equity financing can put an unnecessary strain on your business. By simply using equity financing Bob and Maggie are reducing the amount of cash that they could possibly have on hand dramatically. If Maggie were to try and find a happy medium between equity and debt financing, an amount of loans that couldn’t bankrupt them if they had a catastrophic loss of inventory but an amount that would help them with their cash inflow problem then they could see a reduction of the large negative free cash flow that they are seeing now. In reference to their huge capital expenditure they are planning on acquiring the next year, they should think about taking out a mortgage loan on it for the 6. 5%. If they took out a 30 year mortgage loan to finance the $75,000 acquisition, the payment would be $474 monthly, which would save them a huge amount of savings in 2006 instead of paying it with cash that they don’t have. Another option is for them to not always pay their suppliers in the 10 days to obtain the 2% savings. As stated earlier in the paper the 2% savings looks and sounds good to the normal person but when a business is having cash problems like Horniman Horticulture is at this time it isn’t always the smartest thing to do. Their biggest problem is that their cash outflows are being paid 5 times faster than their cash inflows are coming into their company. If they were to figure out a system to find a way to occasionally get the 2% discount offered to them by their suppliers to save some money but also hold on to their money some of the time and pay at the 30 day due date they could see a massive change in their short term liquidity problems that they are seeing and that could really help reduce their cash on hand problem. They could also adopt some form of payment reward plan like their suppliers have for customers that buy rather large quantities of inventory and take a percentage off of the amount owed for payments that are before a certain date. Another option would be to have a preferred customer policy for customers that either have large orders consistently throughout the year or for customers that always pay early on the amount that they owe. For instance they could either chop off a percentage of the price for early payments as stated before or they could offer some of their more unique plants to the preferred customers before they let anyone else have the opportunity to buy them. The final option that we discussed that could help them with their cash problem is to stray away from their new business strategy, and simply calm down on their mature plant inventory since they take so long to be able to sell and actually bring in any profit on them. From the case it sounds like this could be a profitable business but with the way that they are getting payments in and the possibility of a complete loss if the worst happened to their inventory it seems like it is somewhat of a risky move for them. This could be a much better idea once they figured out their cash problems and fixed their accounts receivable turnover so that they are closer to the 8% that Maggie feels comfortable with having as an emergency fund.

Oprah’s Empire and Organizational Theory, Design and Change Essay

The Oprah Case was a brief view into the life of Oprah Winfrey and the empire she built. Born in Mississippi, Oprah had a gift for public speaking. She delved into journalism and landed her own day time TV show in Chicago. The broadcast television industry proved to be a wonderful source of revenue for Winfrey and here her empire began. Oprah then went into acting and found interest in producing. She founded Harpo, Inc. and began acquiring rights to film books. The Oprah Winfrey Show became a hit success propelling Oprah forward to be one of the world’s most influential people. She launched a website, oprah.com; a magazine, O, The Magazine; and began her own network, OWN. She organized several charitable organizations around the world and is recognized as the most generous celebrity as it relates to giving away her own money. There is a component in Emotional Intelligence by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves’ book that emphasizes the need for Self Awareness. With much o f Oprah Winfrey’s success being attributed to not compromising her beliefs for society, Oprah has to continuously guard against being mislead or possibly used by others. Although her intentions may be good, Oprah Winfrey’s tendency to be hard on herself if she neglects to reach success can cloud her talent to recognize her own efforts. There are three key indicators of Self-Awareness that Oprah Winfrey utilizes in order to maintain her public image and reputation. First, Oprah exudes self-confidence in order to effectively market anything that she endorses or supports. Because of this keen awareness of her self-worth, throughout any appearance, Oprah presents her viewers with a self-assurance which enables her to voice views that her followers can assess and take into consideration. Over the years, Oprah has become a beacon for making sound decisions despite the uncertainties and pressures of the media. Next, Oprah is aware of her strengths and limits, therefore, she is able to give an accurate self-assessment and accept candid feedback. Early on in her career she was able to learn that she was not able to operate as owner, president, and CEO. Knowing this, Oprah was able to profit more in the grand scheme of things because her limit was recognized and valued. As Tim Bennett acted as the President of Oprah’s Harpo Productions, he was able to give Oprah a new perspective and aid in her self-development with his expertise. Lastly, Oprah has a self-deprecating sense of humor that shows she doesn’t take herself too seriously. This is important in the candid feedback she receives from viewers, bloggers, and other forms of news. As a person in the media, Oprah is self-aware and realizes the need to trust yourself and not let negative energy hold you back from operating at your full potential. As a steward of her brand, it’s safe to say that Oprah Winfrey pays close attention to the quality of her message and products. Oprah Winfrey has a great gift of compassion, tenderness, and kindness. For balance, Oprah Winfrey promotes mature self-obedience, self-management, and personal responsibility. In doing this, Oprah utilized four core competencies to build her personal brand. First, she discovered what she wanted her brand to convey and laid out a development plan for herself, which included where she was presently and future goals. Oprah Winfrey is most successful because she was able to merge her passion of journalism with expertise. Next, Oprah created her brand by positioning herself as extraordinary in her niche of talk show hosting. The point of this is to tell her audience what she values and the benefits of watching her show. Besides tangible incentives, Oprah gives advice and offers community awareness through her many projects. Then, Oprah uses communication to allow her to gain the visibility to be looked to as a guru of opinions. Oprah attracted her viewers and followers by becoming accessible through forums, book clubs, mail, and social media. Lastly, Oprah has been able to maintain her brand through constant revisits and updates. Constantly Oprah goes back to everything she has created; her O magazine, OWN network, book club and everything that she has endorsed to refresh it with current information and maintain its reputation. The mission for The Oprah Winfrey Show was â€Å"to be a catalyst for the transformation in people’s lives.† In keeping with core competencies, the organization was able to continue to generate revenue by using the skills and abilities in value-creation activities that allowed all of the business subunits to achieve superior quality and consumer responsiveness. Because the mission was one of empowerment, Oprah’s team made sure that anything that was done supported that mission and by doing so it increased intrinsic value. Oprah’s following knew what to expect, they enjoyed it, and they kept coming back even bringing new consumers. Oprah was known to surround herself with high performing people. The business was demanding there were constant deadlines and long hours. Many were known to work from 15-17 hours in order to keep up. They had a code of excellence and anyone who could not meet that code did not last long. The type of environment that came from this fast-paced work style is in part related to the expansion strategy. Harpo was growing rapidly due to the corporate-level strategy. Oprah had harnessed a command in the daytime TV domain and used this base to expand into new media domains through related diversification. There are so many cultural differences such as diverse communication styles, different approaches to completing task and different attitudes toward conflict. As a leader within her brand and enterprise, Oprah has mastered the art of working around cultural differences and effectively coordinating outsourcing relationships. She has conquered working with different cultures by encouraging and rewarding creativity, creating a diverse workforce and educated staff and offering support while having fun. Oprah has also effectively coordinated outsourcing relationships with her many international projects, specifically her school in Africa. Benefits of outsourcing include higher performance, a better mitigation of risk and reduced confusion and wasted time. Oprah opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 with the goal in mind of giving children who are less fortunate the chance to better themselves with a proper and suitable education. In order to effectively accomplish this goal, it was a mission of Oprah’s to have access and acquire the best talent. Oprah has been able to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing because of her quality commitment and reputation. Throughout Oprah’s career, several conflicts within her organization have risen. Although conflict is perceived negatively, some conflict is good for an organization. Conflict can be beneficial because it can overcome organizational inertia and lead to organizational learning and change. This is extremely evident when Oprah’s Book Club introduced A Million Little Pieces by James Frey to the public. This is a great example where Pondey’s Model of Organizational Conflict is illustrated. Latent Conflict, the first stage of this model, surfaced in 2005 when Oprah introduced this book. In several ways, the work was an unconventional choice for the Book Club where potential for conflict was at a high risk. The book was a classified as a memoir, not the ordinary book for the Book Club. Frey’s memoir, an account of his descent into alcohol and drug addiction, offered a graphic, unsparing look at the consequences of his illness and at the long, difficult road to recovery. It was the first contemporary piece of writing that Winfrey had selected for the Book Club in more than two seasons. The second stage, Perceived Conflict, happen on January 8, 2006. The investigative web site The Smoking Gun delivered a devastating blow to Frey’s insistences of authenticity. The site revealed numerous instances of exaggeration in A Million Little Pieces. This brought many aware of this conflict and people began to analyze it. The conflict escalated when Oprah battled against what was being said. She stated, â€Å"that the underlying message of redemption in James Frey’s memoir still resonates with me. And I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and will continue to read this book.† In the third stage of Pondey’s Model, conflict is felt. Investigative reports showed that he had exaggerated his criminal past to the point of fancy. But he had also distorted the stories of others, including two high-school classmates who died in a car crash in 1986. Marianne Sanders, the mother of one of the deceased, called Frey’s account â€Å"flat-out lies.† What began as a small problem had now escalated into a huge conflict. On January 26, 2006, these issues came to a head when the talk-show host brought Frey back onto her show. Winfrey confessed that the facts that had come out about Frey’s past since the scandal broke had caused her to revise her opinion of his work. â€Å"I feel duped,† Winfrey told Frey. â€Å"But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers.† Conflict had manifested. This is demonstrated in the fourth stage. In the fifth and final stage, the aftermath of the conflict is present. Conflict is resol ved in a way that leaves subunits feeling combative or cooperative. In this case, Winfrey also apologized to viewers for her own role in supporting Frey’s actions and attitude toward self-representation. The truth, it turned out, mattered to many people. In the aftermath of the controversy, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, the imprint that had published Frey’s book, also issued an apology. Winfrey’s response in particular, spurred a large-scale conversation among publishers, authors, and journalists about the state of nonfiction writing. Oprah used her power and ability to manipulate decision making. She uses two tactics that has led to her success. The first tactic she uses is her ability to control the agenda. Oprah si involved in the majority, if not all, departments and committees of her empire. She likes to be on and involved in these committees and departments so that she can control business decisions, especially if the issues affect how and when to change the organization’s strategy and structure. Bringing in an outside expert is the second tactic. The biggest mistake Oprah made in the beginning was that she did understand that she needed infrastructure and systems in order to run a business. And it wasn’t until 1994 that she actually brought in someone to be president and organize the systems. She described herself as a crazy person, trying to do it all. In 1994, Winfrey hired Tim Bennett to serve as Harpo’s president. 8. Infrastructure 9. Organizational Life Cycle Oprah has put up her $5.6 million Gold Coast Condo on the market, and moved to California to run her network OWN. Her condo that sits on top of a huge building in downtown Chicago can be rented for $15,000 a month. Rosie O’Donnell’s current OWN talk show was being taped at Harpo, but no longer. The Rosie O’Donnell show has been moved to New York. The move resulted in low ratings and the lack of obtaining special guest for the show. It was a constant challenge trying to get people to come to the show, so they decided to move to a location that was convenient for special guest. This was never a problem for Oprah. Therefore, Harpo Studios is dark and inactive. Possibilities of putting it up for sale to those buyers who want to have their own production facility, or to those who want to tear it down to build a high-rise building are beginning to surface. Despite struggles with OWN, Oprah.com is still successful. What’s next for Oprah? The future of the Oprah Empire is a topic that many people find may be threatened. Much of Oprah’s target market is the baby boomer middle class. With her target market aging and the culture of broadcast journalism changing, where does this leave Oprah? Oprah’s future relevance will heavily rely on the diversification of her current and future business developments. Currently worth $2.7 Billion, Oprah has plenty of cushion room to reinvest in new strategies or add to her current ventures. With the stability of her magazine and online presence, Oprah has made her name an international staple touching the homes of millions around the globe. Her integration of technology into her business model has transcended generations inviting the more tech savvy to join the ranks. The real question is about the future of OWN network. While it is experiencing difficulty now, expect it to make a transition into a network that is developing future leaders with the power of persuasion. In the future as Oprah ceases to have a world presence, her legacy will remain.

Interview with leaders or managers in any organization Essay

Interview with leaders or managers in any organization - Essay Example As a unit manager, she reports directly to the department manager of nursing. Her responsibilities include planning, organizing, directing and controlling all aspects of operations pertaining to the two units: cardiovascular and telemetry. Aside from the nurse managers who are directly involved in governing nurses for patient care and for the delivery of health care services, as unit manager, she performs all responsibilities involving administration and governance of the units. These responsibilities include performance appraisals and evaluation; scheduling of vacation leaves and monitoring of sick leaves; monitoring the upkeep and maintenance of supplies and equipment for the units, as well as the general functioning of the patients’ rooms and amenities and the emergency cart; completion of reportorial requirements of staff nurses; and monitoring the upkeep of cleanliness and maintenance of the units’ facilities to ensure maximized operations of the units with minimal costs. When asked what the meaning of management was in her personal opinion, Ms. Rodgers replied that the term management actually involved compliance with functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling all aspects or areas being governed. Managers create an environment for effective performance. They have the responsibilities of integrating tasks, structure, technology, resources and people into a productive and performing configuration. As revealed, Ms. Rodgers indicated that managers achieve goals through the efforts of people and they have to design strategies to influence the behavior of the people they govern. In this regard, managers have to be leaders, as well. Leadership was noted as the process of influencing people so that defined goals are effectively achieved. Leaders focus on influencing behavior towards the attainment of an identified objective. They could or could not necessarily be managers in organizations. On the other hand,