Balancing cooperation and competition. Strategic planning in the Assignment

Balancing cooperation and competition. Strategic planning in the public sector - Assignment Example Balancing cooperation and competition. Strategic planning in the public sector Today, organizations are focusing on how to survive amidst emerging challenges in their external environment. This has led to such organizations developing adaptability measures that facilitate their survival and success in the long run. In spite of this, organizations are forced to strike a fit between cooperation and competition, in the industry in which they operate in, as well as their own survival is to be sustained in the long run. This study explores how Microsoft has stricken a fit between cooperation and competition in its operations while at the same time collecting feedback to identify and support emergent behavior. In the past two decades, Microsoft has been faced by increasing level of competition in its software and web based solutions market. The organization understands that in the technology industry, cooperation is inevitable. For instance, the organization faced a lot of competition from SAP and Siemens. These two organizations went ahead and launched patent battles with Microsoft. While down playing their views and purely taking a legal and competitive approach could have granted Microsoft short term success, the organization opted to cooperate and collaborate with the rivals, resulting to a cross licensing arrangement. This significantly enhanced the ability of the organization to continue using such rights through cooperation while at the same time enhancing its competitiveness in the market. The experience boosted Microsoft’s ability to enhance cooperation in other areas of operation including marketing for mutual benefits. (Vidal, & Nossol, 2011). Microsoft has remained stead fast in promotion of cooperation with its customers. In 2006, the organization adopted a more collaborative approach in the industry, something that enhanced its access to unique technology from rivals while at the same time empowering them to establish more product lines that the organization was not focused on. One of the outstanding occurrences towards this end by Microsoft with competitor is the collaboration with Linux, a product developed by a competitor to the organizations Microsoft word among others. This increased interoperability of Linux with Microsoft word (Microsoft News Centre, 2008). This implies that Microsoft customers of windows could open Linux using such windows while Linux customers could enjoy Microsoft windows in opening of Linux documents. This resulted to mutual benefit between the two organizations and minimization of patent disagreements and legal battles between the firms. In the past two decades, Microsoft has relied on employee, customer and competitor feed back to enhance its success in the industry. By collecting feedback from its competitors such as Samsung and the Linux software developer company, the organization was able to identify emerging needs and opportunities that could be served through collaboration (Microsoft News Centre, 2008). The organization thus fostered a two way form of communication between such firms and the organization. In an effort to ensure that such viable environment positioning is sustained, the organization always focus at hiring the best employees in the industry in terms of skill and engages them in periodic appraisal (Tyler, & Blader, 2003). In situations where performance is found to be low, such employees are engaged in skills development. In fact, the organization has adopted a culture of continuous learning. All these moves have enhanced sustainability and success of the organization in its dynamic operating environment (Tjosvold, & Johnson, 2003). References Microsoft News Centre (2008). Mi crosoft’s collaboration imperative. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/ofnote/04-01-08GutierezIAMArticle.mspx Tjosvold, D., & Johnson, D. (2003). Can interpersonal competition be Constructive within organizations? The Journal of Psychology 137(1), 63-84.

International Trade Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Trade - Term Paper Example Therefore increasing economic activity and reducing unemployment and deflation are the ultimate production. The Keynesian theory indicates the critical actions at some micro-level of public sector and at individual level that restrict the cumulative macroeconomic upshots. Ultimately, the expansion and potential of the existing economy becomes lower and lower. IS-LM model of John Hicks, and the Phillips curve are the two basic theories of Keynesian macroeconomics which policy makers could use to grasp the business cycle in the country, however, both models are rejected by Post-Keynesians. IS-LM is an abbreviation of Investment Saving / Liquidity preference Money supply. This model has the same dominance as the Keynes actual analysis in formatting the actual policies both public and government sectors. The model correlates cumulative employment and demand to three vital capacities, i.e., government budget, money circulation, and the business prospects. During the great recession period of early 1930s, when numerous Neo-classical economists like Lionel Robbins, Edwin Cannan, Gustav Cassel and Arthur C. Pigou were using the further wage cuts policy to trim down the unemployment, Keynesian Theory was a revolutionary idea. IS-LM model and Phillips curve were widely used. For the prediction purpose, the economist used the IS-LM model. For instance, increment in the money would result higher productivity and employment and consequently Phillips curve was applied to predict an increase in inflation. The most appealing factor in the recognition of Keynesian Theory was that it provided theoretical guidance to policy-makers during the Great Depression era of 1930s. A lot of people considered that Keynesian Revolution was the outcome of rationale approach of government macroeconomic policy. The logical approach of Neo-classical economists looked like counterintuitive because

The Glenn Chasse Hotel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Glenn Chasse Hotel - Essay Example It also defines the obligations and rights of an employer towards an employee hence safeguarding rights and preventing violation of duties from both parties. Apart from the written contract there is also a formation of a psychological contract between the employer and the employee that represents their mutual beliefs and perceptions. It describes the promises and expectations of each of the parties during the time of recruitment. Feldhiem (1999)3 reflects these two strands by dividing the psychological contract into: Kate: She is the head house keeper and is quoted as "unfaunfamiliar with her new duties such as budgeting, training and discipline ". The smooth functioning of her department seems to be suffering due to this. She is not successful in appropriately training and guiding her staff as a consequence of which they are not familiar with her way of work. Harriet -Elspeth's assistant : Elspeth states that "good standards of casual staff are hard to find". If her statement is not influenced by personal bias, this is an indication that the recruitment process of the hotel is sub- standard and proper giudlines are not set for the employees. Harriet is not notified that it is not within her authoritative scope to "borrow" staff without notice. This prevents the smooth flow of hotel functions because crew( who again are not specific and sure of their job profiles) are not available at places where they are needed resulting in low turn over and uneven distribution of labor. Principle statements: The principle statement should be handed over to the employee within two months for job commencement. It essentially contains all the terms and conditions upon which the employment relationship has been formed which means all terms and conditions are agreeable to both employer and the employee. It plays a pivotal role in the regulation of human resources as well as sorting out legal issues which might arise in the course of the contract. The principle statement should clearly cite the employees exact job profile and all the tasks that come under his or her responsibility. It should also mention any extra tasks, which the employee is expected to do at times which might be paid/unpaid for. The salaries, incentives, deductions and addition allowances (where ever they are applicable) should be mentioned. The working hours and compensation for overtime should be specified along with number of paid holidays and sick leaves. The employee should be provided with all the rules, regulations and principles of the concerned organization to ensure discipline and also the terms and conditions for termination, grievance procedures and legal action. Specifying health and insurance coverage conditions is also important. Apart from the

The Human Resource Function Essay Example for Free

The Human Resource Function Essay Heathfield (2007) defines Human Resource Management (HRM) as an organizational function; focusing on recruitment, management, and directing the people who work in the organization. HRM can hence be viewed as an organizational function that deals with the human resource â€Å"people who start and operate an organization, (Ramlall, 2003). Owing to the continuous political, economic, social and psychological changes within our societies, there is an increasing need for organizations to constantly evaluate their internal and external environment in response to the challenges and opportunities in the society; so as to remain competitive and to sustain organizational growth. This article examines the strategic role of Human Resource (HR) and its main practices, describes the outcomes of the respective category of (HR) practices and explains the critical reasons for measuring HRs efforts. The fundamental role of the HR to an organization is to â€Å"create value† (Ramlall, 2003) to the organization. It can hence be inferred that the critical HR’s role is to maximize profitability. Every organization, in pursuit of its strategic goals, must determine how particular HR practices correlate with improved business results and be more accountable for each major HR activity. This entails determination of the value of each HR activity in creating a competitive advantage for the organization. Without this, achievement of the organization’s goals and corporate missions may remain a dream that is never attained. There are many factors influencing change in organizational structure today. These factors include technological advancement, globalization, changes in workforce demographics, the elimination of bureaucracies in organizational structures, and the need to strike a balance between work and family issues. Understanding the potential of an organizations resources and optimizing the output of such resources, given the changes, provides an impetus for HR to become the key source of creating the competitive advantage for the organization. It is the role of the HR to build a competitive organization though strategic management of human resources, management of firm infrastructure, management of employee contributions and management of transformation and change. This can be summarized as â€Å"defining the deliverables of work† (Ulrich, 1997). This entails going beyond the strategic business partner role to becoming a player in the business. Ulrich, (1997) identifies six roles of a player in an organization. The player coach, designs, construct, creates followers, plays the rules and changes the organization. This ensures that the functioning of the organization is directed towards its goals. An effective HR personnel acts as a â€Å"facilitator and a collaborator† (Brewster, 2000). As a facilitator, the HR will function as an agent of change- providing rationale, support, and readiness for planned changes designed to support the business strategies. As a collaborator, the HR provides a link between the senior leaders and all employees to implement business strategies forming the strategic link throughout the organization. This is essential to the organization as it helps to maximize its profits. A research by Brewster, (2000) postulates that less than 10 percent of the 968 firms that participated in the study had a formal estimation procedure to measure HRM. This implies that most companies have little or no assessment of their HR department’s efforts and therefore they cannot give any quantitative measures of HRs value to the organization. Hailey, (1999) stated that the best way for HR to gain credibility in order to make meaningful changes is for practitioners to measure the cost and effectiveness of what they do. As such, the HR should be credible enough to lead the rest of the workers towards giving value to the organization. To achieve a competitive advantage, it is necessary to identify the skills that need to be developed internally for current employees and the fundamental areas of effectively managing an organization. The HR function has the most experience and knowledge in addressing these critical issues. It is therefore necessary for an organization to have an effective human resource that can efficiently achieve these vital objectives. The integration of human resources into the organizational strategy provides the basis for enabling the HR function to support and implement the strategic plan to achieve a competitive advantage, (Wofford, 2002). This strategy provides for the maximization of human capital, reduction of wasted and inefficient labor, and other financial investment, eventually to maximize profitability. An efficient HR increases the likelihood of more efficiently achieving the business outcomes and avoiding chaos, massive layoffs, crises resulting from not having skilled employees to carry out particular tasks and not having the right fit among employees, corporate strategies, and business environments, (Hailey, 1999). HR function plays a pivotal role in determining the business strategy through the assessment of the organizations capabilities to compete successfully through a particular strategy, determining the appropriate rewards system, determining appropriate organizational structures, and developing strategies to increase employee performance. All these work in achieving firm’s objectives and assessing the effectiveness of its strategic plan. Given the definition of strategic planning as how an organization will compete, the question arises as to how an organization would be able to assess the effectiveness of its strategic plan. Indicators of a successfully crafted strategic plan include creating advantages that are sustainable over a long period, (Ramlall, 2003). These include attainment of the organizations goals and objectives, the financial profitability of the organization, organizational positioning to create advantages for the short-term and long-term, and creation of a stronger sense of social responsibility. In essence, this process determines the decisions and actions an organization will undertake to create and sustain competitive advantage. It is evident that any organization that endevours to achieve a competitive advantage over its rivals and move towards its strategic goals is left with no choice but to have an effective human resource. The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organization will minimize employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change. Only an effective HR can champion these important changes.

Finding The Energy Given Off From Various Fuels Essay Example for Free

Finding The Energy Given Off From Various Fuels Essay Research Question: Which of these fuels (ethanol, methanol and butanol) releases the most kinetic energy per ringitt? Hypothesis: Ethanol will release the most kinetic energy per ringitt because it has an average amount of CH compounds ( Materials: Spirit burner with ethanol 3 aluminum cans Spirit burner with methanol Logger Pro Spirit burner with butanol Insulated container Matches Ring Stand Graduated Cylinder 150mL of water Procedure: 1. Pour 50mL of water into the first aluminum can 2. Place the can 7cm above the ground on the ring stand 3. Place the Logger Pro inside of the can 4. Light the spirit burner of the fuel under the can. 5. Close the container around the ring stand and the spirit burner 6. Stir the Water inside of the can constantly. 7. Record the temperature of the water for 3 minutes. 8. Repeat the steps for each type of fuel. 9. Find the number of kilojoules released by each of the fuels 10. Find the amount of kilojoules of each fuel when there is 1 liter of that fuel. 11. Divide the amount of kilojoules/litre by the cost/litre of each fuel. 12. Choose the fuel with the most kilojoules released per litre. Data Collection and Processing: Ethanol: Measuring the Mass of Ethanol Time Alcohol Container Was Burnt Mass of Alcohol Container (g) Before Burning 160.2 After Burning 158.9 Measuring Temp. of Ethanol Time Temp of Fuel (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Before Bunrning 24.6 After Burning 93.8 Methanol: Measuring the Mass of Methanol Time Alcohol Container Was Burnt Mass of Alcohol Container (g) Before Burning 191.4 After Burning 190.1 Measuring Temp. of Methanol Time Temp of Fuel (à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C) Before Bunrning 25 After Burning 60.8 Butanol: Mass of Alcohol Container (g): Methanol: Ethanol: Butanol: Before burning 191.4 160.2 190.8 After burning 190.1 158.9 190.5 Temp of fuel C Methanol: Ethanol: Butanol: Before burning 25 24.6 23.8 After burning 60.8 93.8 44.8 Finding the Energy Released by The Fuels (Q = m x C x ?T) Step 1: Finding the ?T (change in temperature) ?T= ending temperature starting temperature Step 2: Finding the Heat Capacity of Water (C ) Heat capacity of water = 4.18 J/g Step 3: Find the mass of water Each can had 50mL of water 1mL = 1 g Each can had 50 g of water Energy released by Ethanol: Q= 50 x 4.18 x 69.2 Q= 14.5 kilojoules Energy Released by Methanol Q= 50 x 4.18 J/g x 35.8 Q= 7.5 kilojoules Energy Released by Butanol: Q= 50 x 4.18 J/g x 21 Q= 4.4 kilojoules Energy Released by ethanol per ringitt: Kilojoules/litre = 11153.8 Energy Released by Methanol per ringitt: Kilojoules/litre = 5769.2 Energy Released by Butanol per ringitt: Kilojoules/litre = 14666.7

Working With Different Service User Groups

Working With Different Service User Groups Explore the challenges faced by the differences in working with three Service User Groups adults, older people and children. Discuss how, by drawing on relevant life course theories, your communication skills would need to be modified in order to meet these challenges and remain effective, anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive. Interacting via communication with Service users is of one of the highest important aims for social / care workers providing care. Each individual case is unique and I will be explaining how communication skills differ from each person to the next. There are many different life course theories that can be used to explain how a person develops through the stages of life. In this assignment I will be looking at Eric Bernes Transactional analysis for the adult group and showing how adults have to change their tone and manner as they are seen as the teachers for the next generation. I will be explaining Cunning and Henrys Disengagement theory as this is a very important phase for older people and communication can be limited because of the perils of old age. Also I will be looking at Piagets cognitive development theory and Bolwbys attachment theory in relation to children and how these theories affect communication. Eriksons eight stages of psychosocial development contains elements for all three age groups so I will be looking briefly at the different stages involved, and I will also be looking at any challenges that occur within the groups and what skills are needed to overcome this via social work / care workers. Interacting via communication with Service users is of one of the highest important aims for social / care workers providing care. Each individual case is unique and I will be explaining how communication skills differ from each one person to the next. There are many different life course theories that can be used to explain how a person goes through the stages of life. For adults I will be taking you through Eric Bernes Transactional analysis and for the elderly group I will look at Cunning and Henry Disengagement Theory and how this affects communication for the older generation and then I will be looking at Piagets cognitive development theory and Bowlbys attachment theory and how these theories affect communication within the childrens group. Then I will be showing how Eriksons eight stages of psychosocial development are involved in all three service user groups and I will also be looking at any challenges that occur within the groups and what skills are needed to overcome this via social work / care workers. A life course is the advancement a person takes from birth to cessation (Crawford and Walker, 2003 p. 3) Also (Newman and Newman, 2007 p. 185) shows the life course as a perspective which helps to explain how altering societal predicaments affect development and combination of the phases of family and work life over a number of years. (Fiske, 1982 p. 2) explains communication as being an action that every person can identify with, by talking, listening to the television or distributing knowledge these are all forms of communication. He describes two main studies of communication as being either an expression of words or a creation and replacement of meanings. If we take a look at the Transactional analysis theory (Woods, 2010) shows that Eric Bernes theory was about ego states which are parent, adult and child. It covers a wide range of exclusive advancement including communication, behaviour and personality. Looking at adult communication he saw this as being the main voice used to influence the whole learning process. He believes that if someone is talking in a childish manner automatically the adult will respond with a voice of authority, either in a sarcastic tone or a caring parenting manner. (Chapman, 1995) also shows that transactional analysis is used for therapeutic, personal development and communication; it helps a person understand ones self. To communicate we use our own feelings which can shift at any one given time, and to reply we will use the exact way of thinking. So to have stable conversations an adult needs to act interested to what is being said and show the person speaking that they have their full attention and thi s will make for a stronger relationship between them both. Favourable communication according to (Weger and Polcar, 2002) is the basic domain of an interpersonal friendship. If you offer support and are willing to provide comfort through good and bad times then this will in turn be a healthy natural relationship. (Wolvin, 2010 p.144) believes the art of communication is to listen, with doing this you are better able to understand the concept of communicating, and then you can identify and evaluate the question helping you to make sense of it. Behavioural issues can be defined by a persons determined state, they show up as objectives and by using these objectives a person will come up with a way of achieving their potential via talking. So by communicating it is up to the individual to put as much information into the conversation so the recipient can define their answer to make it a purposeful state (Ackoff, 1958) (Nussbaum, 2000) states that elderly people have to regularly change their lifestyle to adapt to adjustments associated with getting older. Age can cause many challenges for communication, examples are: memory loss or loss of hearing. Because of these it could take considerable time for any acknowledgement whilst trying to communicate, they may tend to make inaccurate sentences and be less sensitive about issues that may otherwise hurt someone elses feelings. There are many theories linked to prosperous aging examples of these are: continuity theory, activity theory, socioemotional selectivity theory and disengagement theory. Looking at the disengagement theory (Maddox, 1964) states that the disengagement is the final stage of the life course process. Life goals are a very important phrase in everybodys life and this seems to extend through to the older generation also. The belief is that psychological departure leads to total exclusion from the older persons social life, and without this communication will be very limited as they may not have any family of friends visiting on a daily basis. Communication with older people can be a complicated process. At the time when it is needed the most communication seems to be a burden because of the life processes which come with the old age. To overcome some of the frustrations of speaking to an older person if you allow extra time for them to speak and sit face to face with them, then if there is any hearing loss at least the person can watch your lips to understand what you are saying to them. If you speak slowly and clearly or even write down some of the conversation to explain in a bit more detail this then will help the person immensely and by doing this you are showing respect and helpfulness towards to person you are talking to (Robinson et al. 2006) There are many challenges involved with working with older people, (Hepple, 2004) shows there are many approaches that can be used to try and boost communication issues. Group and behavioural approach or reality familiarisation is widely used to try and amend the forgotten memories. Whichever approach is used will depend mainly on the resources of the institution that is providing the care plan for the service users involved. Looking at Piagets cognitive development (Feldman, 2004) believes that his work was not the dominant competitor for a while but now it has accomplished extensive significance to researchers again. Some critics thought his work was to complex and to widespread but his stages still form the basis of the developing mind. (Boeree, 1999) shows the stages of development for a child as being the Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations and the formal operations stage. According to (Koprowska, 2005 p. 97) a baby within the first couple of months will try and make blubbering noises in response to you talking to them and will only start trying to develop simple words by the age of one. So the best means of communication with young children would be via play and interaction. Children do not enjoy sitting for long periods of time so by drawing or innovative games could be the easiest way for communication to take place for the younger age groups in Piagets stages. (Geddes, 2007) believes that using Bowlbys attachment theory will help in the understanding of sensitive experiences which in turn helps you to communicate with young children. The basis of communication is to show your inner self via your feelings, thoughts and creativity. So by looking at Bowlby, the attachment for a child will help with their future experiences if the start of their life is one of security within a family unit. The child then will be able to examine the world and if there are any pressures they can always return to their safe haven for security. With a negative attachment a child will struggle with communication and relationships. They tend to be insecure and prefer to keep themselves to themselves as they dont respond well to any attention and can start to be disruptive and aggressive because they feel vulnerable and out of their depth. The Children Act 1989 sets out the rights of the child, so the child needs to engage in any outcomes that will modify their lives and future. Social workers need impressive skills in communication as there are many barriers that can stop any interaction with the child so they need the ability to be able to cope under any form of pressure or obstacle placed before them. Social workers deal with many families and young children all with very different backgrounds examples of these are: children who are leaving care, children who have behavioural problems and children who may have health problems or disabilities, each case is different so the social worker needs to be able to produce a care plan and have the skills in place to communicate on every different level to provide the best possible care for the service users involved. (Koprowska, 2005 p. 94) Eriksons eight stages of psychosocial development involve all three age groups, when looking at children Eriksons stages progress through at least four of them. (Adoption media, 1995) states that if a child wants to proceed onto the next stage they need to complete the one before. A child will develop trust if well cared for and be insecure if not; this will show up in all the stages there is a negative to every positive. So a child will only learn from what they are taught and if they are shown the right way to develop through the various stages then as they become parents they will be secure and happy to show their children the right upbringing to carry on the process to the next generation. (Zastrow and Ashman, 2007 p. 444) states that the seventh stage of Eriksons life development is Generativity versus stagnation. Generativity is instructing family and friends to make improvements in their lives to make the future better for their offspring. This will involve safeguarding and improving the lives of future generations for a better quality of life. Stagnation on the other hand is the selfish side of the stage, adults who only think about their own needs and are not willing to take anyone elses feelings into consideration. (Greene and Kropf, 2009 p. 90) shows Eriksons final stage as being Integrity versus Despair. Absoluteness is achieved if the person involved has leaded a full and complete life, dealing with everyday disappointments as well as accomplishments successfully. Despair on the other hand is for the people who fear death and the ones who have not accomplished everything they wanted to do in their lives and wish for another chance to achieve this. If communication is not sort in the identity stage (Sanchez, 2002) states that this could affect self confidence in later life. New ideas start from communication, a person needs to be able to express their thoughts and feelings. Interpersonal communication through all of Eriksons stages will help an individual have a healthy developed identity. (SCIE 2010) shows how social workers have to work by their codes of ethics and values showing respect, empathy and a genuine helpfulness towards the service user they are working with. They will always provide a complete care package to help empower the individual to deliver the best possible outcome. If the social care worker uses an interpersonal approach this in turn will guide the service user to help them decide how their care is achieved and help make the decision process a group decision, so communication is a key element to this approach which will then help with the relationship between the user and the social care worker. To summarise there are many different ways to communicate with the three service user groups. People who work in the social work/care sector are trained to be able to customise their expertise to care and communicate at all levels. If the care worker shows empathy and helpfulness they will get more back from the service user then they would if you started the conversation with an aggressive attitude. Service users what to be listened to, they want you to understand what care they expect. You will have to change the way you speak in all different circumstances, speaking to children will be completely different to speaking to an adult or an elderly person. Body language and facial gestures also show as an important part of communicating with someone, even repeating what the other has said will show that you are taking them seriously. You need to be able to change your approach for all different situations and use different interventions to cater for each individual seeking care. Word count 2055

Delegate thru Management Essay -- essays research papers

Hours in a Day Sometimes I think my boss wished there were 48hrs in a day, he’d be able to get a lot more work done. He may not get those extra hours in a day but he can get the equivalent through delegation. He effectively plugs into expertise of his people to assist him in completing the task on hand, thus multiplying his efforts. There is more to delegation than just giving members of a staff tasking, delegation is a subpart of the four functions of management. Delegation thru Planning Begin in the military I know a quite a bit about delegation. It starts from the first day you begin basic training. Most of the times, delegation is done in a professional way. Because of shortages in the Coast Guard sometimes managers are forced to do the jobs of junior people, until they get a junior person. Although it’s a relief to receive the assistance lots of managers find them selves holding on to work that should be passed to a subordinate. For many managers, the path to more effective delegation begins with reexamining two basic assumptions about their roles. First, many managers continue to assume that it's faster and more efficient to take on employees' work vs. teaching them how to handle it on their own. This can become frustrating for both manager, and employee. In a case like this an effective manger will plan specific times in order to incorporate needed skills with present skills, so that employee will become an asset to the unit. Delegate thru Organization Letting go o...