Corporate Communications of Marriott Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Corporate Communications of Marriott - Essay Example "Those ideas quickly find their way into the hands of members of the team at HQ who can either solve the problem or spread the word about a good concept that works." Managers need to understand the basics of the company's products and services to manage with depth. For many years their chief financial officer and other non-operations executives have been required to attend the company's "food school" to gain a bit of "hands on" experience with the products and services that form the basis of Marriott's world. Mr. Marriott recounts that his dad particularly enjoyed talking to his employees. Marriott's corporate legend is full of stories of his father perched on a hotel lobby sofa, listening to the family problems of one of their associates while senior managers "cooled their heels" waiting for him to return to the office. He confirms that the stories are true. His Dad felt very strongly that the concerns and problems of the people who worked for him were always worth listening to. In his eyes, a successful company puts its employees first. Mr. Marriott says: "I couldn't agree more. When employees know that their problems will be taken seriously, that their ideas and insights matter, they're more comfortable and confident. In turn, they're better equipped to deliver their best on the job and to the customer. Everyone wins: the company, the employee the customer." The philosophy of putting employees first is particularly important in the hospitality industry, because Marriott is in the people business, not just the service business. Customers are not just affected by the tangible parts of the business but the intangibles as well. If the people who are responsible for supplying that human touch are unhappy, tired, stressed, poorly trained, or otherwise distracted, they're probably not going to do a good job. On the flip side, if employees are content, confident, and generally happy with themselves and the job, their positive attitude will be felt in everything they do. The Marriott "Pathways to Independence" is employer-sponsored welfare reform done right. An employer needs to stay involved with new employees to help them overcome their failure points. Other areas of success: "over-managing" by design and work-life programs. He recounts many ways in which these tasks have become more daunting as the nation's hourly workforce has become more multicultural in makeup. Many of their hourly associates "must cope with complicated immigration procedures, interpersonal cultural clashes, and social discrimination, in addition to the pressures of child care, elder care, substance or domestic abuse, or housing problems." To that end, Marriott started a toll-free consultation service for their associates staffed by social workers who field questions and find solutions to just about any problem. And they can do it in more than 100 languages. They rolled out the 800 Associate Resource Line (ARL) on a national basis in 1996, after a two-year regional trial run. Although the program is based on intensive studies of their associates' needs, the thinking behind it is actually pretty simple. At heart, it's really just a higher-tech version of Mr. Marriott's Dad's

Self Awareness Essay Example for Free

Self Awareness Essay 1. Introduction How you access yourself in order to become more self-aware and how you reflect on your career on an ongoing basis is of utmost importance to ensure a successful personal development plan is followed continuously. In the current day and age most managers find it very difficult to set time aside for proper reflection and to spend some quality time putting development plans in place to ensure constant personal growth and development. Some of the key questions a typical manager will have to answer is how to find a balance between work, family life and personal development, or what would be the best models and tools currently available to assist him or herself to enable optimum personal growth. Another question would be how to apply these tools optimally based on your current circumstances. In this assessment I will attempt to address some of these questions, however, I do think that some of the proposals that I will put forward will have to be reviewed on an ongoing bases. This is to ensure it stays aligned with my ever evolving understanding of self-development. 2. Reflection and the way forward 2.1 Reflecting on personal development If I have to reflect back on my career it is clear that I have reached a key moment in my life about three years ago when I hit a ceiling as a subject matter expert. I also realised that I do not have sufficient management experience to make a smooth transition from a subject matter expert to a senior manager. I have reached this ceiling because I have exhausted all possible promotion options. The only way ‘forward’ for me was sidewards. The first question that came to mind was how do I change this conundrum and where do I go from here? I embarked on an MBA at Henley business school without a scientific approach in the hope that it will provide some answers. Fortunately we were exposed early on to tools and models to assist us. I used the Strategic Analysis diagram developed by Prof. Marc Day (2013) to determine which model will be the best suited for my current situation. I decided that the Force Field Analysis model developed by Lewin, K (1952) was the best fit. The reason is because I mainly need to improve my capability to become a better manager, or rather to refine my capabilities, to become a better manager. It also lies close to the Competition quadrant within a firm. This is also very applicable because of the severe competition when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder. Refer to figure 2.1 for details. The first question that now comes to mind is how do I eliminate the opposing forces in order to move from my current state to my desired state. Another question would be how can I best utilise my learning style to speed up the transition? I evaluated these opposing forces and have identified some of them that are more tangible and easier to manage. * Is an MBA the right vehicle or choice for me? I have the highest preference for the Monitor Evaluator team role according to the Belbin Team Role Report (Belbin, 2012) compiled by Henley Business School (2013). This, in short, means that I can often judge accurately, however, I sometimes lack drive. I currently have more confidence that the MBA is probably the right decision because I have the ability to judge accurately, according to Belbin, however, it will remain an open ended question that will only be answered in due time. The MBA is also a formal program. This will hopefully provide the drive I lack from time to time and the motivation I need to complete my studies. I am also Pragmatist (AE) according to Kolb (1985). Honey Mumford (2000) commented that Pragmatists like to see how learning is put into practice in the real world. This also supports my decision to join the formal Henley MBA program because all the case studies are real and theory will thus be applied into practice in real world scenarios. I therefore think that I have made the right decision to decide on an MBA as my education vehicle of choice. In doing so I have definitely weakened one of the opposing forces. * Impact on my personal life, my career and my family I realise that completing an MBA will require serious commitment and will definitely impact my family, my career and my personal life. My wife and children realise that I have reached a dead end in my career and that I will have to do something extra ordinary to change direction. They have also committed to support me from day one because they know that my despondency about my work will eventually rub off on our marriage and family life. We also realise that it is still early days and that the real challenges lie ahead. I am, therefore, convinced that this is an opposing force that I can manage down in order to weaken it. These two are also the most prominent opposing forces, so it will have a major effect on the outcome if they are managed properly. * Financial Constraints This constraint is one of the few that are not really manageable, however, I have arranged with Henley Business School to pay the tuition fees in payments. This will definitely assist me and it will also weaken the opposing force. * Networking ability My ability to network is still an ongoing constraint. I will address this developing need in the next sessions. 2.2 Reflect on recent career I used the Henley Team Working Questionnaire (2010) to reflect on my recent career in order to establish a fit (or lack thereof) between me as a manager / team leader and my role within my organization. I realize that this is not an assessment tool of my current job, but rather a tool to be used to asses my current need of learning in going forward. This has highlighted a few areas that require development. These areas might also be the reason for the misalignment/misfit between my current career expectation and my progression within my organization. I have always realized that I have areas in need of development, hence my decision to start my Henley MBA. The Henley Team Working Questionnaire has assisted me a great deal in identifying those areas. I have used the Henley Star (Henley Business School, 2011), as part of this assignment, to assist me in analysing my most important development areas. The area that has come out on top was my development need to demonstrate impact and to influence others. I currently have a lot of questions that are still unanswered. I hope to get a better understanding of exactly how to approach it and how to address them in order to ensure a successful outcome. I will spend more time on how I plan to address these questions in the next section. For now it is important that I have a starting point for my own personal development in order to improve my current fit. I have also completed chapter 5 of the textbook provided, A Manager’s Guide to Self Development (Pedler, M, Burgoyne, J Boydell, T, 2007: 27). This has also indicated that I need to develop my creativity as well as my command of the basic facts in my company. 2.3 Planning ahead The key question at this stage is how would I go about addressing these areas of development over the next twelve months? I will need to balance three main areas, my life and family, my working career as well as my time spend studying for my MBA. In addition, I will also have to constantly focus on my areas of development in order to try and approve them. Doing this should improve my management capabilities. It will also align me with the correct individuals in my current company to ensure improved opportunities in growing my career. Pedler, M, Burgoyne, J Boydell, T (2007:37) gave a list of activities to do for each area that requires development in their book A Manager’s Guide to Self Development. I have highlighted some of these activities and have drawn up a plan to do it over the next 12 months. Refer to appendix A. I will also have to make sure I spend more time in our office and with top management in order to gain access to valuable information, insights and data. This will assist in improving my impact and my influence with other people. I will also have to manage my time with my client more efficiently in order to attend all the ‘open days’ and information sessions at our company so that I can achieve my goal. I put a schedule together to ensure I manage all areas of development. I know this is premature, however, it is a start. Refer to Appendix B. I intend recording my progress as well as my learning journals in a tool called Evernote. This tool is available across all platforms and it syncs seamlessly between all my devices. This makes it an ideal tool for my requirements. Conclusion I have tried various approaches in the past to improve my managerial capabilities to move from a subject matter expert orientated environment to top management. I realise now that I will have to change my approach because I tend to favour the Monitor Evaluator team role and I am a pragmatist. The key question that still remains is exactly how? This assignment has assisted me in identifying three main areas where development is needed, namely the ability to demonstrate impact and to influence other, creativity and a command of the basic facts. I have put an activity plan together (Appendix A) to assist me improving my areas in need of development. The main issue to keep in mind is that I continuously will have to be self-aware. I will also have to reflect on each and every move I make from now on. My activity plan should also be revaluated on an ongoing basis to ensure it is still the best fit for my current needs. The finer detail is still missing. My hope is that I will be able to i mprove it by applying the models, tools and exercises available during the course of the MBA and to get more clarity in moving forward.

Impact Of Organisational Culture In The Hairdressing Sector Commerce Essay

Impact Of Organisational Culture In The Hairdressing Sector Commerce Essay Culture is quite difficult to define, when we speak of culture we know what it is and what / how it is manifested in an organisation but a clear, unambiguous definition eludes us! This is because culture has different meanings, depending on life experiences, background, religion, belief and values. Nonetheless, there are several influential writers on culture including Hofstede, Trompenaars, Hampden Turner, Schein, Ouchi, Schneider and Barsoux, Deal and Kennedy and Handy, whose work is still recognised in contemporary organisations. However, Handy, described culture in organisations as the way we do things around here. These things are accepted norms and values of an organisation, developed over time into expected behaviour patterns. They generally emanate from top management level of the Organisation; but this is not always the case (Managing in Organisation, ABE Study Manual, 2008). Even though it is reasonable to infer that culture can influence behaviour, this relationship is over-simplified by strong culture models. According to Guy S. Saffold, III, (1988), if researchers are to precisely examine the link between culture and performances, they must assess other internal processes that affect performance. Although, the literature on organisational culture and its correlation with business performance is rich and diverse, there are only a few empirical studies that profoundly explored this relationship. Furthermore, these studies simply focused on the impact on culture on medium to large organisation but few or little has focused specifically on small businesses in the hairdressing sector. For this reason, this project will seek to Assess organisational culture using several theoretical frameworks Evaluate if there is a link between organisational culture and performance in small hairdressing businesses Identify the advantages and disadvantages of having a strong culture in hairdressing business Introduction It is not the physically powerful, hasty and most ferocious who survive. It is the most flexible Charles Darwin Organisations operate in a very unpredictable environment; hence survival depends on the organisations ability to exploit resources; collaborate and adjust. There are extensive demonstrations (Kotter and Heskitt, 1992) that strong cultures support performance by creating value to stakeholders through consistency and high quality goods and services. Deshpandà © and Webster (1989) by exploring several studies in organisational behavior, sociology, and anthropology, defined organisational culture as a pattern of shared values and beliefs that aid individuals understand organisational functioning and thus provide them with the norms for behavior in the organisation (p. 4). Following these and other authors (e.g., Chatman and Jehn, 1994), organisational culture is conceptualized and quantified in terms of widely shared and strongly held values. The elements of organisational culture range from basic assumptions through values and behavioral norms to actual patterns of behavior (Rousseau, 1990). Values typically act as the defining elements of a culture, and norms, symbols, rituals, and other cultural activities revolve around them (Enz 1988). When the members of a social unit share values, an organisational culture or value system can be said to exist (Weiner 1988). According to (Denison, 1984), if an organisation possesses a strong culture by exhibiting a well-integrated and effective set of specific values, beliefs, and behaviors, then it will perform at a higher level of productivity. On the other hand (Kotter Heskitt 1992) concluded that the statement that a strong culture is the basis for outstanding performance appears to be incorrect. Burt et al (1999) agreed with Kotter and Heskitt to an extent but carried their analysis further. They suggest that the relationship between culture and performance depends upon the degree of rivalry. Their research showed that culture is important depending on the competitiveness of the market. They believed that market and culture go hand in hand. If firms have low rivalry in the market then strong culture is not an advantage. Furthermore in some markets where there is competition there is still no correlation between culture and performance. Equally, (Sorenson, 2002) believed that strong cultures often hinders flexibility which is required for survival especially during sporadic transformations, such as we face currently, organisations with strong culture are most often crippled by their own organisational DNA. Whether or not culture is an economical advantage depends upon the market situation. In the retail sector, culture may be a competitive asset. In a multifaceted market, culture appears to have no effect on economic performance (Douglas N. Ross, 2002). It all depends. However, gaining a profound understanding of culture is essential in order to find out whether there is a link between organisational culture and performance. The next chapter begins with an overview of culture. An overview of organisational culture The term organisational culture was used for the first time in the academic literature by Pettigrew in 1979 in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly. Organisational culture was used to explain the economic successes of Japanese firms over American firms by motivating workers who were committed to a common set of core values, beliefs and assumptions (Denison, 1984). One of the most important reasons that explain the interest in organisational culture is the assumption that certain organisational cultures lead to an increase in organisational financial performance. According to Peters and Waterman (1982) successful organisations possess certain cultural traits of excellence. Ouchi (1981) showed a positive relationship between organisational culture and productivity. We have seen many definitions of culture, earlier in the analysis, however, Edgar Scheins defined organisational culture more specifically as the basic assumption and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operates unconsciously and define in a basic taken-for-granted approach, the routine that build ups over time. In other words, culture is about that which is taken for granted but nonetheless contributes to how group of people respond and behave in relations to the issues they face. It therefore has important influences on the development and change of organisational strategy (Johnson and Scholes, 2008). According to Johnson and scholes (2008) , the culture of an organisation is often concevied as consisting of four layers which would be disucussed in Fig.1.below. Fig.1 The four layers as described by Johnson and Scholes (2008) are Firstly, values are easily identifiable in an organisation, and are often documented statements about an organisation mission, objectives or strategies. However, they can be vague. Secondly, beleifs are more specific but again they can typically be discerned in how people talk about issues in the organisation. Thirdly, behaviors are the day to day way in which an organistion operates and can be seen by people both inside the organisation. This includes the work routines, how the organisation is structured and controlled and softer issues around symbolic behaviors. Finally, taken for granted assumption or paradigms are the core of an organsational culture. They are the facets of an organisations life which people find difficult to identify and explain. The paradigm can underpin successful strategies by providing a basis of common understanding in an organisation, but can also be a major problem (Johnson and Scholes, 2008). Similar conceptions of culture are offered by Dandridge et al. (1980), Pettigrew (1979), as well as Trice and Beyer (1984). Schein (1990) suggests that cultures are created through the way organisations have reacted to important incidents in the past and have thus evolved certain norms, as well as through the identification of organisational members with their leaders. As such, organisational cultures are perpetuated through the process of socialization of new members into the organisation. Hofstede (1980) identified four dimensions of organisational culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism /collectivism and masculinity / femininity. Later, Hofstede (1998:238) defined organisational culture as a concept that has the following features: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ holistic (describing the synergy); à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ historically determined (reflecting the past,); à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ related to the things such a customs and symbols, (these are studied by anthropologist). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ socially constructed (moulded and preserved by the collection of individuals who collectively form the organisation); à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ soft, and; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ difficult to change. This overview on culture provides useful insight in understanding culture from a theoretical standpoint which would be useful in this research analysis. Literature Review It is arguable that the academic acceptance of culture, without the usual bickering and scepticism associated with new concepts, is a major indication of the perceived importance of the concept (Alvesson, 1990). However, this is not to infer that there is consensus on the meaning and relevance of the concept. On the contrary, there is widespread disagreement on the definition and scope of the organisational culture concept (Ogbonna and Harris, 1998a). However, the link between organisational culture and high performance in an organisation has been very debateable; because there is little empirical evidence to suggest a direct link between culture and an organisational performance especially in small businesses. Of course failure to establish an empirical link does not mean that no such link exists. According to (Skà ¶ldberg, 1990), empirical study in the area is very difficult to carry out. Not only is culture difficult to capture but so is performance. While it has been suggested that culture accounts for the economic performance of various countries (Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede and Bond, 1988), the idea of corporate culture also serves to provide a basis for understanding the differences that may exist between successful companies operating in the same national culture (Schein, 1990). Peters and Waterman (1982), for example, believed that successful organisations possess certain cultural traits of excellence. Ouchi (1981) presented a similar relationship between corporate culture and increased productivity, while (Deal and Kennedy 1982) argued that the performance of an organisation is dependent on the degree to which the values of the culture are widely shared, that is, are strong Nevertheless, the claim that organisational culture is linked to performance is founded on the perceived role that culture can play in generating competitive advantage (Scholz, 1987). Reed and DeFillippi, (1990) added that sustainable competitive advantage arises from the creation of organisational competencies which are both superior and imperfectly imitable by competitors. Similarly, (Bryan Adkins, 2004) suggests that culture does matter, and a strong, effective culture will outperform a weak culture every time. In a study done by (Coogan Partners Apos, 2005) they concluded also that companies who out-perform their competitors have specific cultural differences. Early researchers who link culture to organisational performance are unequivocal in their claims. An illustration of this is derived from the works, (Deal and Kennedy, 1982; Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1981; Peters and Waterman, 1982) who argue that successful organisations are distinguished by their ability to promote cultural values which are consistent with their chosen strategies. Although this view met with initial popularity in the 1980s, the principal tenets of the argument have been subjected to extensive criticism from writers such as (Legge, 1994; Ogbonna, 1993; Willmott, 1993). By the 1990s, researchers assessing the links between culture and performance were more cautious. For example, Gordon and DiTomaso (1992) and Denison (1990) both propose that there is a link between certain organisational culture characteristics and performance but each add a number of conditions. In particular, they note that culture will remain linked with superior performance only if the culture is able to adapt to changes in environmental conditions. Besides, the culture must not only be strong as suggested by writers such as Deal and Kennedy 1982, Ouchi, 1981 and Peters and waterman, 1982) but it must also have unique qualities which cannot be imitated. However, more recently, it has been suggested that the relationship between culture and performance, is fragile (Ogbonna and Harris: Leadership style organisational culture and performance 769 (Hop et al., 1992; Lewis, 1994; Lim, 1995; Ray, 1986; Willmott, 1993). Sorenson, (2002) argued that continuous change; such as we encounter presently, strong cultured organisations are most often crippled by their own organisational DNA. According to (Dean Mcfarlin), when organisation with well-defined culture is operating in somewhat steady milieu, their core competences and strategies are in alignment with the business objectives. In such environments, well structured cultures enable an organisation to function like new machines, sailing down by outstanding performance. That said, if the environment becomes extremely unstable, companies must become innovative and efficiently exploit resources to stay on top. However, companies with well-built cultures may find it difficult to adapt to such extremely unpredictable situation. A well-defined culture makes it easy for employees to clutch onto the existing status quo and, simultaneously, less willing and enthusiastic about exploring new ways of performing the task. The underlying principle is that a strong organisational culture may be something of a two-fold sword. When you believe in the existing culture of the organisation, it becomes hard to replace them with new id eas even if it a source of competitive disadvantage. Some researchers believed that strong cultures may, however, impose a level of stability on organisations, and such stability has mixed implications for performance. Denison and Mishra (1995) found that stability traits such as a firms mission, consistency, and normative integration, were related to its profitability. Specifically, organisations with strong cultures had greater returns on investments, but only in the short run; after three years the relationship between cultural consistency and performance became negative (Denison, 1990). Sorensen found that strong culture organisations were more financially successful in stable environments and less successful in dynamic environments. Thus, while cultural strength and stability may enhance organisational performance in the short run and in stable environments, they may also inhibit an organisations ability to change, adapt, or innovate. Finally it is not possible to say that organisational culture in general or a specific type of culture has a clear and simple effect on performance but this does not mean that there is no connection between culture (however defined) and performance; on a general level there certainly is. Whipp et al. (1989: 582) believed that elements of culture may supply vital links between the rational aspects of policy and the subjective, less tangible features of employees behaviour exactly because of the way values pervade an enterprise. Propositions of how culture brings about distinct outcomes, however, often seem problematic. Either the causal link is speculative and uncertain or it is difficult to separate culture from outcome. Some of the authors treated in some depth above (Schein and Louis), run into problems when they claim correlations between organisational culture and what they treat as other elements. However it is difficult, even misleading, to say that the culture as a whole has been a significant cause of financial returns. Despite the claims for a link between organisational culture and performance is very rich and diverse, few studies appear to have actually examined the existence as well as the nature of this relationship. Strong cultures and its influence on performance are questionable in the current dynamic environment, besides some theorists query the universality of a culture-performance link. Research design and Methodology The subject of organisational culture and its influence on performance has attracted extensive interest from many scholars, students and researchers alike, but their interest has focused extensively on medium to large businesses but little has focused directly on the influence of organisational culture on the performance of small businesses, hence my interest in the subject matter. This research would be conducted using both primary and secondary research methods of data collection. The primary method proposed is semi-structured interview and the secondary methods would be text books and journal articles. After careful analysis of past literature on culture and performance, qualitative research design such as interview was clearly appropriate. Consequently, a sample of 30 businesses in the hairdressing industry would be selected via the utilisation of a systematic random selection procedure with appropriate units to be selected on a variety of criteria, including company turnover, date of registration, and number of employees. In order to limit potential measurement error, responses would be required from key Personnel, knowledgeable in a variety of tactical and strategic activities (Bowman and Ambrosini, 1997; Snow and Hrebiniak, 1980; Hambrick, 1981; Nayyar, 1992). Undeniably, a plethora of prescriptive articles and books such as Alan Bryan Emma Bell (2003) Business Research Methods, proposed useful suggestions on effective research design, formulation and execution which would be helpful in this research and as a result improve content validity and reliability and most importantly covers ethical issues associated with research. The efficient and effective administration and implementation of the research method (semi-structured interview) is key and the researcher is aware that this could influence the overall success of data generation and the achievement of satisfactory responses (Dillman, 1978; Churchill, 1991; Faria and Dickinson, 1992). A pilot study will be carried out to pre-test the research instrument (Baker 1994: 182-3). The study would be undertaken because it would establish whether the sampling frame and technique is correct. Semi-structured interview would be used; this would allow questioning to be guided as is required also many points that needed to be made clearer would be done much more easily than in something like a mailed questionnaire (Frey and Oishi 1995:03). However, according to (Breakwell, Hammond and Fife-Schaw 1995:238) this technique heavily relies on the respondent being willing to give accurate and complete answers. Additionally, it gives the freedom to explore general views or opinions in more detail. On the other hand this method would be very time consuming and expensive. Finally a tape recorder would also be used so that the data could be referred to at a later date and thus make the analysis more reliable. Conclusion Nowadays, organisations operate in a dynamic environment and they must learn to adapt in order to survive. According to the literature review some researchers such as (Ouchi, 1981) believed that a strong culture is linked to high performance in an organisation. Whereas, Writers such (Kotter Heskitt 1992) concluded that the statement that, well-built culture produce outstanding performance emerge to be completely incorrect. Most interestingly, the culture-performance relationship is seen as a two-fold sword (Dean Mcfarlin). On completion of this project there would be light on whether there is an organisational culture-performance link in small hairdressing businesses. References Bryan, Alan Bell Emma (2003) Business Research Methods: Oxford University Press New York. Johnson, Gerry, Scholes, Kevan Whittington, Richard (2008) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases 8th Edition: Pearson Education Limited Association of Business Executives study manual, Managing in Organisation, 2008: ABE RRC Adkins, Bryan, Sr., and Stewart, Cindy, 2004 Shift Organisational Culture to Improve Organisational Performance, viewed on 29th January, 2010 Mcfarlin, Dean 2002, Strong culture can be double-edged sword, Dayton Business Journal, viewed on the 3rd February, 2010 http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/management-corporate- Culture/5462715-1.html viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://www.denisonconsulting.com/Libraries/Resources/Adkins-2004-Shift-Culture.sflb.ashx, viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/aeo9702.html, viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://www.culturestrategyfit.com, viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://marketing.byu.edu/htmlpages/ccrs/proceedings99/webster.htm, viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://www.jstor.org/pss/258374, viewed on 29th January, 2010 The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 546-558 (article consists of 13 pages), viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-17520695/examining-organizational-culture-and.html, viewed on 29th January, 2010 http://steconomice.uoradea.ro/anale/volume/2008/v4-management-marketing/057.pdf, viewed on 2nd February, 2010

media research :: essays research papers

Running Head: Discovering the World of Journals in Media Research Abstract This assignment consists of 4 journals, two of which were scholarly and the rest were trade journals. The objective of this assignment was to familiarize us on how to obtain and record data from different journals. This assignment will teach the class how to be efficient researchers in different media fields. Media Research assignment 3 Running Head: Discovering the World of Journals in Media Research Discovering the World of Journals in Media Research Class Since my related field is television production, I decided to use Broadcasting and Cable as my first scholarly journal. This journal is published by Reed Business Information (formerly Cahners Business Information) and is a leading provider of critical information and marketing solutions to business professionals in targeted industry sectors. Broadcasting and Cable is a great scholarly journal for anyone who works for a cable company on or off the production set of the business. The journal informs readers on the latest technology such as Cameras, tape decks, lighting and televisions. The journal also informs us on current events in the broadcasting industry, for example the journal reviews how many satellite companies made money last year. I chose to summarize an article called â€Å"News Corp.’s Carey moves on.† News Corp.’s Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey resigned because of a deal that went bad with Direct TV. News Corp was trying to make a deal with Direct TV in order to build a worldwide satellite distribution company. If the deal went through for News Corp, it would have made them one of the most powerful entertainment industries in the world. Unfortunately someone else beat Chase Carey to the punch in buying Direct TV. Chase feels handing in his resignation will prevent News Corp from blaming him for the unsuccessful deal. Media Research assignment 4 Running Head: Discovering the World of Journals in Media Research The last scholarly journal I decided to use was Educational Technology. This journal is published by FNO (For Now On) Press, which makes a philosophical commitment to engaged learning, problem-based learning and Information Literacy. I chose this particular journal because my girlfriend is studying to be a teacher and I wanted to learn some statistics about her field. The term Educational Technology refers to science-based knowledge. Its concerned about hardware and software systems that can help students learn in many different ways. Readers of this journal include anyone who interested in teaching children by using mechanical devices such as computers and video recorders rather then by using strictly lecture.

Intercultural aspect of conflict resolution Essay

During the first day of the workshop, I did not completely understand the real meaning of culture. I did not even have a single definition for the term culture. Many questions came into my mind such as, â€Å"What is culture? What are the factors that create culture? What is the scope of culture? Does culture improve itself or not? Although, I started the inquiry on the concept of culture without certain answers for these questions, I had figured them out step by step during that day. I started to find answers for most of the questions that I faced. I finally understood what culture was and why different people with different cultures had different behaviors. By understanding the factors that influenced culture, I started to learn its importance to the parties who got involved in particular conflicts. Throughout that day, I comprehended why people with different cultures got involved in particular conflicts and what were their objectives. I started to give answers for these queries. They might need someone whom they can air their grievances or opinions with. Moreover, they might only wish that others would respect their culture as it was. In the role play, I learned that listening skill was very helpful in making the parties who were involved in the conflict feel better. Also, they should be given the chance to continue telling their stories without any interruption. I had also learned that I could be able to interact with them simply through body language such as moving my head up and down which tells, â€Å"I understand you. Keep going.† Furthermore, these skills would give me the chance to get as much information as possible and understand the parties’ cultures. Personally, I think that having much understanding of other cultures using the skills mentioned earlier would help me adapt with their behaviors and become more flexible when dealing with them.   Culture’s factors such as religion, climate and geography play very significant roles in parties’ behavior. These explain why different countries have different cultures. Finally, all ideas and skills that I had learned during the first day of the workshop let me pay a close attention on understanding other cultures, respecting their beliefs and values as I want other people do the same thing when they cross my culture. I would try to use these ideas and skills in my daily life – simply by listening to other people and respecting them.

Elements of a Poor Geography Personal Statement Examples Essays

Elements of a Poor Geography Personal Statement Examples Essays Elements of a Poor Geography Personal Statement Examples Essay Elements of a Poor Geography Personal Statement Examples Essay It is true that good geography personal statement examples can prove to be an effective guide for those applicants who don’t know how to begin and conclude it. Personal statements are basically an important part of your college admission process. When you seek admission in any college you have to create statement relevant to your field and submit it along with an admission application. No matter which college you choose to apply to, you have to tackle such essays even if you don’t like it. Personal statement examples can help a student big time by offering him a readymade framework, explaining how an efficient statement is written. However, there are some examples that are poorly made and not worth your time. Instead of offering the students how they can craft a compelling statement, these examples take the student on the opposite track, that is, how to make it mediocre. Every student should avoid mediocre examples by understanding the various elements of a poor statement example: Ineffective Outline Ineffective outline is one of the most distinct elements of a poorly created personal statement examples. Given that a sample will provide an effective guide to the applicant, it must include an outline which is simple, effective and to the point. The role of an outline is to offer a framework to the writer so that he can understand what sort of details should be included in a manuscript and what details should be excluded. Example personal statements that do not have an effective outline are definitely not an excellent guide for the applicant. So, choose an example statement that provides you an excellent outline. Typos and Incorrect Grammar Another common element of a poorly created example is incorrect grammar. Grammar mistakes and typos are the critical errors detrimental to your personal statement. If you submit your statement to the admission department with lots of lots of typos and grammatical errors, there is not a single percent of chance that the department would accept the application unless the appraiser is blind. Remember that it will certainly be impossible for you to showcase your motivation, determination and skills to the board through a terrible statement. Therefore, it is very important that an effective example should have a correct grammar and to the point writing style. Proofreading is also necessary to make sure that the document doesn’t cater any sorts of errors. Terrible Samples There are some websites that offer students free personal statement examples or samples. These free websites are not recommended since the samples provided by these websites are terribly written. The information given in the free geography personal statement samples are mostly incorrect. The information regarding the achievements, background, academic performance or motivation of the student is written horribly in these samples. It is better to look for samples on other sites than a free website. The above given tips are very crucial and must be given serious consideration. One must make sure that these elements are not presented in the sample as such samples are only detrimental for the statement.

Sex Drugs and Pimply Teenagers A Positive Perspective On Video Games essays

Sex Drugs and Pimply Teenagers A Positive Perspective On Video Games essays When you watch TV, you vegetate. TV is a passive medium, you sit, eyes open mouth open if you are of a lesser stock. You take in all that is thrown at you with only two options change the channel and take a chance that you will something important(like the people who were taking a whiz when JR was shot) or you can turn it off. No one turns it off, ever, some people dont even watch it but they leave it on. That is called background noise, just the fact that they do that, shows that TV is fluff with rarely important things on it. Video Games, some challenge the mind, some satisfy a Neolithic bloodlust that is innate in all humans(mostly active in men). In some of these First person shooters(I will refer to them as FPS from now on) strategy is involved, you are constantly planning, analyzing, every noise every movement every pixel on your screen COULD be something thats trying to kill you. It excites the mind AND the senses, however if you have all the planning and strategy in the world it doesnt make a lick of difference when someone points a desert eagle at your head. The key to satisfying the bloodlust is KNOWING HOW TO AIM. IF YOU CANT AIM THE GUN THEN NOTHING DIES, and thats pretty pointless isnt it? So not only does one require a sharp and strategizing mind, one also must have excellent hand-eye coordination. If you havent played a game like this before, you are probably one of those people who says : Thats easy, anyone can do that, or, Video games affect children in the wrong way. They do not, you have no clue about the subject youre speaking about, so shut up. If you want to see how easy it is then go and get a copy of Counter-Strike, and ill show you just how easy it is, ok? Which brings me to my next point : Competition. The world (except for some bas-ackward places) runs on a system that is based on capitalist democ ...

Free Essays on Hackers, Good And Evil

â€Å"Governments form the industrial world; I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome here. You have no sovereignty where we gather. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders, your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement and context do not obey to us. They are all base on matter and there is no matter here.† John Perry Barlow - Electronic Frontier Foundation Cyberspace Declaration of Independence Hackers, Good and Evil A war is being fought in the Internet twenty-four hours a day. A team of defenders spread throughout the world, are ready to stop and neutralize every attack. It is the Global Thread Operation Center where all attacks are being monitored; any of which could be the signal for a stronger hit that could generate absolute chaos. The room looks like a set from a futuristic movie. Four huge screens in the front of the room display the process data that is taking place. Several rows of desks and panels fill the room. More than twenty people are moving around, answering and making phone calls, talking to each other, and examining computer screens. They are ready, and waiting. Suddenly, everyone’s attention is focused on a specific screen, where a problem has been detected. One of the major highways of Internet traffic has slowed down considerably due to an assumed hacker assault. What is scary about this attack is that it seems to be moving through the time zones towards the Americas, most likely the United States. So far, it has in some way affected every major network attached to one of the pipelines. If the attack effectively reaches the U.S., it could negatively affect hundreds of companies, businesses, the stock market and millions of people; this would cause a devastating strike on the infrastructure of the Internet itself. The head leader of the team makes... Free Essays on Hackers, Good And Evil Free Essays on Hackers, Good And Evil â€Å"Governments form the industrial world; I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome here. You have no sovereignty where we gather. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders, your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement and context do not obey to us. They are all base on matter and there is no matter here.† John Perry Barlow - Electronic Frontier Foundation Cyberspace Declaration of Independence Hackers, Good and Evil A war is being fought in the Internet twenty-four hours a day. A team of defenders spread throughout the world, are ready to stop and neutralize every attack. It is the Global Thread Operation Center where all attacks are being monitored; any of which could be the signal for a stronger hit that could generate absolute chaos. The room looks like a set from a futuristic movie. Four huge screens in the front of the room display the process data that is taking place. Several rows of desks and panels fill the room. More than twenty people are moving around, answering and making phone calls, talking to each other, and examining computer screens. They are ready, and waiting. Suddenly, everyone’s attention is focused on a specific screen, where a problem has been detected. One of the major highways of Internet traffic has slowed down considerably due to an assumed hacker assault. What is scary about this attack is that it seems to be moving through the time zones towards the Americas, most likely the United States. So far, it has in some way affected every major network attached to one of the pipelines. If the attack effectively reaches the U.S., it could negatively affect hundreds of companies, businesses, the stock market and millions of people; this would cause a devastating strike on the infrastructure of the Internet itself. The head leader of the team makes...

Standard Chartered Bank Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Standard Chartered Bank - Research Paper Example In the year 1969 merger of 2 banks took place and institution of the Standard Chartered Group took place. The two banks which were merged were the Standard Bank of British which was founded in South Africa in the year 1863 and the Chartered bank which was in India, Australia and china established in 1853. Both the above mentioned companies were enthusiastic to take advantage of the vast development of trade. This gave an opportunity to earn good profits which could be derived from funding the motion of the European commodities to East and to Africa. James Wilson established this bank subsequent to the accord of a Royal Charter which was proclaimed in the year 1853 by Queen Victoria. The bank's first branches were opened at Bombay which is presently known as Mumbai. Branches at Calcutta and Shanghai were also instituted in the year 1858. This was later on followed by opening of branches in Hong Kong and Singapore in the year 1859. The different conventional business consisted of cotton from Mumbai, rice from Burma, Calcutta contributed tea and indigo, Java's contribution was sugar, Sumatra gave tobacco, Manila bestowed hemp and silk was taken from Yokohama. The bank had to play a key part in the growth of business deal with the East leading to the unfolding of the Suez Canal in the year 1869 and the prolongation of the telegraphy services to China in the year 1871. In the year 1957, Chartered Bank acquired the Eastern Bank and the Cyprus branches of the Ionian Bank's which led to a foundation of existence in the Gulf. 1.3 The Standard Bank: John Paterson instituted the Standard Bank in South Africa in the Province of the Cape during1862. The bank had a prominent business of funding the growth of the diamond fields at Kimberley since 1867. Later on the business was extended to the gold fields of Johannesburg. In the year1969, the Chartered and the Standard banks decided to go in for a gracious merger. But in the year 1986, an aggressive bid to acquire was attempted by 3 Lloyds Bank of UK. The proposal was thwarted and Standard Chartered moved into a period of transformation. The early period of the 1990s saw the Standard Chartered

Correspond the model of the Catholic Church as servant with the Essay

Correspond the model of the Catholic Church as servant with the Pastoral Constitutions of the Catholic Church (namely Pastoral Constitution on the Church in t - Essay Example However, taken by itself As Dulles explained, not any one of the five models, by itself, can represent the totality of Church history and praxis5. What may seem to be the dominant model or models of the Church may even prove to be inadequate in a time of sudden and earth-shaking changes, and need further elaboration as images of the Church. New models may even arise as the Church perseveres in using insights from the Gospel and its own praxis in adjusting to such changes and challenges. More than 40 years have passed since the Gaudium et Spes (Church and the Modern World) laid the basis for the Church as Servant, a model that has shaped and still has a significant impact on both the Church itself and the total human community. Today we can glimpse at least part of the outcome of the Church's decision to update and renew Vatican II was an unparalleled event and development in the two-millenium history of the Church. From 1962-1965, the Vatican II Council embodied and encouraged the spirit of renewal and openness to change, within the framework of basic truths revealed by Christ in the gospel. For the first time the Church bishops, including the Bishop of Rome, Pope John XXIII and upon his death, Pope Paul VI, focused their considerable collective energy and experience to examining the state of humanity. The Vatican Council recognized and praised the many achievements of humanity in the field of economics, politics and culture. But it also pointed to the unfulfilled search of many individuals for their origin, life purpose and goal, encompassing not only the Church as Servant 5 temporal but also the realm of spiritual life. The Council also lamented the fact that while human society has achieved so much, still millions remained poor.6 Following the example of Christ, who devoted himself to ministering to both body and spirit, the Vatican Council laid the basis for the Servant Church that has continued to travel along this road up to the present. The force behind Vatican II, Pope John XXIII, wrote the great encyclical Pacem in Terris.7 It was groundbreaking in 1963 and still valid almost 45 years later. The people's pope provided a definition of the rights and duties of human beings as well as human institutions such as governments. It contained an affirmation of women's equality and role in society, a "strong insistence on racial equality," and the inclusion of freedom along with truth, justice and charity as the bases of peace in the world. 8 Has the Servant Church upheld Pope John XXIII's statement on human rights, striking for its "generosity, breadth and contemporaneity" then and still so at present Church as Servant

Diversity in employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Diversity in employment - Essay Example 13). Diversity in the work place has generally been thought of as purely an employment equity issue. However, diversity is coming to be recognized as an asset which can, like any other asset that is well managed, contribute to the bottom line. Diversity is growing almost as quickly as the number of software vendors at an accounting convention (Talbot-Allen, 2001, p. 3) One of the best definitions for diversity I have come across says, "Diversity is the mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values, and beliefs as assets to the groups and organisations with which they interact" (Rasmussen, 2000, p. 274). A mosaic enables people to retain their individuality while contributing collectively to the bigger picture. Second, this definition of diversity applies to and includes everyone; it does not rule out anyone. Finally, this definition describes diversity as an asset, as something desirable and beneficial! This change represents a move away from dominance by the white-Anglo male toward an increasingly diverse and segmented population. This workplace will include growing numbers of women, people of color, people of different ethnic backgrounds, aging workers, workers with a variety of physical handicaps, and people with alternative lifestyles. Only companies that have cultures that support diversity will be able to retain the best talent necessary to remain competitive. Diversity is not the same thing as employment equity. Diversity Pros and Cons Managing diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity for management. It is a challenge because it requires organisational change; it means fostering a cultural environment that values differences and maximizes the potential of all employees. It is an opportunity because organisations that proactively address diversity have a competitive advantage. They are able to attract, motivate and retain high potential employees. We must begin by recognizing the unique cultures of different racial, gender, ethnicities, abilities, differing lifestyles, etc., provide the basis for new perspectives on understanding organisational behavior. This perspective starts with the assumption that each cultural group organizes and defines experience within its own set of cultural systems. Research has suggested that men, women, and the various minorities do not share a common culture of organisational life. The implication is that each group identifies, defines, and organizes its experience in the organ isation in unique ways (Fine, Johnson, & Ryan, 2002, p.306, 317). A number of factors account for these differing experiences. For instance, women hold lower level positions at lower salaries than men; therefore, they tend to see the organisation from the bottom. Minority employees are fewer in number, so, they view the organisation in an isolation perspective. Second, each group appears most comfortable communicating within their own group. Third, the cultures of gender and race give unique perspectives on organizing experiences. Women and minorities identify interpersonal barriers as obstacles to their success, while white men see formal structures and policies as eliminating any obstacles. Women define moral order in terms of interpersonal relationships (as cited in Fine, Johnson, &am

What do you think will be the most critical issue facing the corporate Essay

What do you think will be the most critical issue facing the corporate world during the next few years - Essay Example For companies to adapt to the fast-paced business scenario, change in prevailing organizational culture is required. To address this, companies should find means to communicate desired changes to employees. They should be able to hone their workforce such that everybody becomes committed to make their respective companies more competitive. To maximize their productivity, companies should be able to instill to their employees that high-quality output and multi-tasking are rewarded and held at a premium. Moreover, companies should be able motivate their employees amidst the uncertainty of employment tenure. With globalization, labor turnover has dramatically escalated. As companies pursue streamlined operations, changes in skill requirements result. As such, thousands of people have been retrenched. Those retained by the companies usually feel demotivated with their productivity adversely affected. In view of the above, companies should be able to fortify their human resource management function. They should continuously undertake staff programs that will further enhance employee performance. Furthermore, they should be able to balance the process of economic globalization with employee welfare and satisfaction (Kinley & Joseph).

Tourism and Hospitality Marketing case study Essay

Tourism and Hospitality Marketing case study - Essay Example As a result, most of the entrepreneurs in this recent age desire to cope with the changing needs and requirements of the customers as well as marketing ideas. Nowadays, social media or online marketing is used for attaining the products and services of their choices. It is mainly due to the high craze for information technology within the target customers of the recent age. So, it is accepted as the most vital way of promoting any product or service of any organisation. Thus, from this it may be analysed that each and every generation or age group presents a unique style, experiences, values and demographics, thereby offering a high level of influence on the buying behaviours (Pires, 2006). In this regard, most of the companies of this age are targeting to approach multi-generational consumers so as to understand their behaviour and demands. Multi-generational or generational marketing acts as the practice of understanding the needs, style, values and behaviours of individuals within one or more than one particular group. This is done by the entrepreneurs or marketers to analyse the demands of the consumers, tailored according to their age groups. By doing so, a specific segment of customers is focused on by the organisation entirely based on the demographic and psychographic factors. As a result, the total sales of the organisation might be increased and result in amplification of its profitability and ROI in the long term. Concurrently, positioning of brands in the minds of the customers of an organisation might be effective. Consequently, the brand image and reputation might also be enhanced to a significant extent, which is extremely essential to sustain in the long run (Williams, 2006). Hence, due to these above mentioned advantages, the generational approach is adopted marketing in this recent age so as to remain competitive in the market among other rivals. At the same time, the level of reliability and trust within the minds of the customers also enhanc es, resulting in reduction of the switch-over rate. However, the generational approach to marketing comprises certain disadvantages as presented below. Always interested in the technologically advanced products or services The interest rate or demand for a particular product or service is extremely short term based Not at all loyal to the brands or the product lines of an organisation Switch-over rate is extremely high Highly influenced by word of mouth that is short-termed Highly influenced by friends’ or peers’ views and ideas Desires to experience innovative products and services of different organisations Therefore, due to all these disadvantages mentioned in the above paragraph, it may be inferred that the generational marketing approach is both advantageous and detrimental for an organisation in the long run (Cho & Woods, 2006). Answer 2 Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the most populous cities within Australia. It is located on the south eastern coast of the Tasman Sea. Sydney comprised a population of approximately 4.6 million in 2010. Besides, the city of Sydney also experiences a pleasant climate with a mild winter and warm summer along with frequent rainfall throughout the year. For this reason, the city remains cool in the entire year presenting a very good atmosphere to the

Bank of America Acquisition of Merrill Lynch Essay

Bank of America Acquisition of Merrill Lynch - Essay Example The investing and securities industry in the United States is quite successful with its level of growth before the recession being astronomic over the past couple of years. The country maintained a distinct difference between commercial and investment banks before 1999. This in effect means that the industry enjoyed massive benefits as the banks concentrated only on certain banking activities without competing much with the players in the investment banking industry. On the other hand, the industry includes approximately 3000 companies which have total revenue of close to 200 billion dollars (Hoovers par 1). The investment banking industry is much concentrated with the first 50 major players accounting for close to 90% of the industry’s earnings according to Hoovers (par 1). The investment banks commonly target those who have property which include land, buildings and other fixed assets the main customers being the middle class (Perkins 14). Some of the main competitors of Bank of America in its acquisition of Merrill Lynch include Wells Fargo and Company, The Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated and JP Morgan Chase and Corporation, and Citigroup. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is considered the world’s largest brokerage having at least 15000 brokers and a client asset base of about 2.2 billion dollars. In this regard, it fairs competitively compared to its main competitors both in the investment and brokerage ventures. Bank of America in itself has remained for long the second most capitalized bank in the United States. The bank serves more than 150 countries and has relationships with many Fortune 500 companies (Matthew, Carrick and Dan 14). In terms of total revenue, the Bank of America is 5th largest in the USA. There are several small brokerage firms that are far less capitalized in the US which little threaten the establishment of the Acquisition. The main competitors in the market including Wells Fargo

What do you think will be the most critical issue facing the corporate Essay

What do you think will be the most critical issue facing the corporate world during the next few years - Essay Example For companies to adapt to the fast-paced business scenario, change in prevailing organizational culture is required. To address this, companies should find means to communicate desired changes to employees. They should be able to hone their workforce such that everybody becomes committed to make their respective companies more competitive. To maximize their productivity, companies should be able to instill to their employees that high-quality output and multi-tasking are rewarded and held at a premium. Moreover, companies should be able motivate their employees amidst the uncertainty of employment tenure. With globalization, labor turnover has dramatically escalated. As companies pursue streamlined operations, changes in skill requirements result. As such, thousands of people have been retrenched. Those retained by the companies usually feel demotivated with their productivity adversely affected. In view of the above, companies should be able to fortify their human resource management function. They should continuously undertake staff programs that will further enhance employee performance. Furthermore, they should be able to balance the process of economic globalization with employee welfare and satisfaction (Kinley & Joseph).

Bank of America Acquisition of Merrill Lynch Essay

Bank of America Acquisition of Merrill Lynch - Essay Example The investing and securities industry in the United States is quite successful with its level of growth before the recession being astronomic over the past couple of years. The country maintained a distinct difference between commercial and investment banks before 1999. This in effect means that the industry enjoyed massive benefits as the banks concentrated only on certain banking activities without competing much with the players in the investment banking industry. On the other hand, the industry includes approximately 3000 companies which have total revenue of close to 200 billion dollars (Hoovers par 1). The investment banking industry is much concentrated with the first 50 major players accounting for close to 90% of the industry’s earnings according to Hoovers (par 1). The investment banks commonly target those who have property which include land, buildings and other fixed assets the main customers being the middle class (Perkins 14). Some of the main competitors of Bank of America in its acquisition of Merrill Lynch include Wells Fargo and Company, The Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated and JP Morgan Chase and Corporation, and Citigroup. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is considered the world’s largest brokerage having at least 15000 brokers and a client asset base of about 2.2 billion dollars. In this regard, it fairs competitively compared to its main competitors both in the investment and brokerage ventures. Bank of America in itself has remained for long the second most capitalized bank in the United States. The bank serves more than 150 countries and has relationships with many Fortune 500 companies (Matthew, Carrick and Dan 14). In terms of total revenue, the Bank of America is 5th largest in the USA. There are several small brokerage firms that are far less capitalized in the US which little threaten the establishment of the Acquisition. The main competitors in the market including Wells Fargo

Avon Rubber Diving Aggressively Into Rebreather Market Essay Example for Free

Avon Rubber Diving Aggressively Into Rebreather Market Essay Rebreathers, the subject of this article, are an exciting new technology. The background and chemistry of rebreathers is quite interesting in that they were largely improved upon and regularly used by a famous American cave diver, Bill Stone, who wanted to more deeply explore underwater cave passages. He demonstrated his rebreather in 1987 to the diving community. They allow a human to breathe for long periods of time either underwater or in a different atmosphere. Through a carefully controlled exothermic reaction in one partition of the device, they essentially â€Å"scrub† exhaled carbon dioxide in order to allow it to be â€Å"rebreathed† in a closed system, hence the name of the equipment (Tabor, 2010). This article, which was just published on June 18th of this year, cites an acquisition and expansion by a company, Avon Rubber P. L. C. , in order to manufacture rebreathing devices. The fact that this article exists highlights the fact that they are fast becoming more widely used and sought-after. One main focal point of the article is the fact that the US Navy has commissioned Avon Rubber for a rebreather device worth an initial estimated $30 million to the company. The article mentions their future uses in diving and military applications, and it’s of note that the company is expanding into several countries to further develop â€Å"respiratory protection system technology† (McNulty, 2013). This article leads this reviewer to think about the exciting future possibilities in exploration that the advancement of rebreather technology will lead to. However, the questions raised, in this reviewer’s eyes, largely have to do with the safety aspects of rebreathers and the social issues surrounding their military use. The knowledge that our military is spending huge sums on rebreathers leads to the questioning of the need for such technology in a military fashion (instead of in an exploratory manner by NASA, for example). The risk factors involved are also rather high, especially as the technology becomes more widely available. An inherent problem with rebreathers is the swift death that can occur from breathing in carbon dioxide that has not been sufficiently â€Å"scrubbed†. As stated in the book Blind Descent, the user has no warning that the air they are breathing is tainted with insufficiently scrubbed CO2. Hopefully, this will be further perfected in advanced versions. Even though there will always be risks involved in their use, the very fact that we have been able to manipulate the chemistry of respiration in such a way is exciting in terms of human scientific advancement.

The Channel Tunnel Engineering Project

The Channel Tunnel Engineering Project The Channel Tunnel (French: le tunnel sous la Manche), widely recognized as one of the worlds greatest civil engineering projects, is a 50.5km underwater rail tunnel connecting Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais in France under the English Channel. Even though it began construction in 1988 and was opened in 1994, the idea to have a cross-channel tunnel was first mooted more than 200 years ago but did not materialize due to political, national security and cost considerations. However, with the tremendous increase in traffic growth, better and alternative means of communication, convenience and speed was necessary and hence the need for an alternative transport route was clearly evident. The need for such tunnel was further compounded with Britain joining the European Community and the cross-channel traffic doubling in the last 20 years (leading to the project), reflecting improved trading between the Britain and rest of Europe. The Channel Tunnel would also be a ble to provide an alternative competitive link between the transportation systems of the UK and France, providing both speed and reliability to freight deliveries. With the strong endorsement from the governments of both sovereigns, the decision to build the Channel Tunnel was thus made. In April 1985, the British and French governments issued a formal invitation to potential tenderers for the fixed Channel link and eventually the contract was awarded to the consortium Channel Tunnel Group Limited- France Manche S.A. (CTG/FM) (later renamed Eurotunnel). The Channel Tunnel, with the governments intention that it be privately funded and there would not be any government assistance or undertaking, was a build-own-operate-transfer (B-O-O-T) project with a concession. The project organization is shown in Figure 1. In this contract arrangement, Eurotunnel would be the owner cum operator, which was being funded by the banks and shareholders. The governments of UK and France were represented by the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC), to which the Safety Authority and the Maitre dOeuvre (an independent technical auditor) would report to. The IGC would then make final engineering and safety decisions. TML (essentially split from CTG/FM so as to separate the roles of owner/operator and contractor) consisted mainly of five British contractors (Translink Joint Venture) and five French contractors (G.I.E Transmanche Construction) and would carry out the construction works for the Channel Tunnel in a design and build contract. Upon completion of the project, the British and French governments would award Eurotunnel a 55 (which was later revised to 65) year operating concession to repay the banks and shareholders. The Contract was officially signed on 13 August 1986 and the fixed rail was to be fully commissioned in 1993. The services offered by the Channel Tunnel include the Eurotunnel Shuttle (a shuttle service for vehicles), Eurostar passenger trains and freight delivery trains. TMLs contract was to design, build, and test and commission the fixed rail tunnel. The Channel Tunnel (Figure 2) was designed to have three concrete-lined bores approximately 50km long, with 37.9km undersea and the rest under land at either ends of the English (Cheriton near Folkstone) and French (Pas-de-Calais village of Frethun) terminals (Figure 3). Two of the running tunnels were designed to have an internal diameter of 7.6m while the third was a 4.8m service tunnel running midway between the two and connected to them via 3.3m diameter cross passages at 375m intervals. 2m diameter piston relief ducts connecting the main tunnels at 250m spacing were built to prevent the accumulation of differential air pressures and aerodynamic resistance. To facilitate operations and maintenance, four crossover caverns were built between the two terminals to allow trains to cross between the running tunnels. Two crossovers were laid close to the terminals while the other two were under the seabed , effectively dividing the tunnel into three approximately equal lengths. Figure 4 below shows the main phases of the project. Two separate rail tunnels were chosen instead of a single large twin-track rail tunnel because this could minimize construction risk while at the same time enhance operations, maintenance and safety. The diameters were finalized after design analysis, development and optimization studies, taking into consideration the operation and support, speed and cost of construction. The service tunnel provided access between the running tunnels during normal and emergency situations and was equipped with a guided transport system. It was also where the water and pumping mains run and functioned as a fresh air supply duct to the tunnels in normal working condition. In addition, the service tunnel would function as a lead tunnel during construction which allowed the workers and engineers to assess and ascertain the uncharted ground conditions before advancing the main tunnels. Basing on the existing geotechnical investigations, past tunneling expeditions and two additional geotechnical and geophysical surveys carried out by TML on the English Channel along the proposed tunnel line, it was ascertained that there was a distinct sub-unit of the Lower Chalk layer known as the Chalk Marl running continuously between the two terminals. Chalk Marl, made up of alternating bands of marly chalk and limestone, was found to be the best tunneling medium as it was essentially impermeable (due to its high clay content) and provided good short term stability under excavation, thus minimizing the number of supports required (Figure 5). It was designed to be bored in the bottom 15m of the Chalk Marl layer to minimize the ingress of water from the fractures and joints, but above the Gault clay which is susceptible to swelling when wet, imposing high stresses on the tunnel lining. The chalk marl strata dipped gently at less than 5o with smaller displacements of less than 2m d ue to faulting towards the UK side; whereas the strata dipped severely towards the French side (up to 20o) with much larger displacements of up to 15m (Gueterbock, 1992). Chalk at the French side was also harder, more brittle and fractured. This thus led to the use of different tunneling methods on the English and French sides. The seaward and landward bores for all three tunnels on the UK side began at Shakespeare Cliff. Construction traffic would enter the tunnel via a new inclined access (Adit A2) at the Lower Shakespeare site, while worker access was built via a shaft driven to the tunnel level from the Upper Shakespeare site (Gueterbock, 1992). Due to the fast construction time required and the relatively dry chalk marl at the UK side, it was assessed that the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) was most suitable for the UK tunnels. One feature of the NATM was the interlinking of design, construction method, sequence and plant and the success of this method depended on the continuous integration of these elements by the tunneling engineers. Six TBMs were used to drive the UK tunnels spanning a total distance of 84km. The TBMs were operated on an open-face mode with a front excavating section and a rear gripper unit which acted as a temporary anchor point when the cutting head drove forward at 1.5m inc rements (Anderson Roskrow, 1994). Excavation of the tunnel and erection of the tunnel linings were carried out concurrently. Depending on ground conditions, the thickness of the linings ranged between 380mm and 500mm. Expanded concrete lining was used for the UK tunnels where the unbolted lining was expanded against the excavated ground. Pads on the back of the lining allowed the formation of an annulus to be filled with grout to prevent water ingress (Byrd, 1996). Each 1.5m lining ring was made up of eight precast concrete segments with a key segment. Cast iron lining segments were only used in poor ground conditions. Over at the other side, the tunnel drives started at the shaft in Sangatte in France. Due to the highly fissured ground resulting in very wet conditions on the French side, a different type of TBM known as the Earth Pressure Balance Machine was used. The TBMs were designed to operate both in open and closed modes. Close mode is characterized by the sealing off of the machine from the spoil around it and the cutting head, thus keeping pressure on the dirt in front as it excavated and allowing the machine to work in the dry as the pressure in the machine was higher than the outside. The arrangement of seals on the TBM allowed it to withstand up to 10 atmospheric pressures. When the TBMs reached dryer and more favourable grounds, they could then switch to open mode. While precast sections were also used on the French side, the materials used were different owing to the different soil conditions: neoprene and grout sealed bolted linings made of cast-iron and high strength concrete (Ander son Roskrow, 1994). The French tunnels were made of six 1.4 to 1.6m wide segments plus a key segment. A total of 5 TBMs were employed on the French side, and the bores from the UK and France were to finally meet in the middle of the English Channel in the tunnel breakthrough phase. The Channel Tunnel project was huge by any standard, with a number of key factors that could potentially impact the parties involved: bi-nationality, private funding (thereby effectively transferring most of the financial risks to the contractors), schedule and cost. To stay attractive to investors and banks alike, the project had to meet the following priorities: minimum risk of cost overrun, minimum operating cost and maximum traffic revenue. It was recognized, from the outset, that the main challenge of the project was to resolve the logistical support associated with large scale tunneling and the fast-track nature of this project. The management, finance and technical challenges related to this project would be explored in the subsequent paragraphs. The first management problem encountered was the sourcing of the large number of manpower required for the construction of the Channel Tunnel. This was conducted against the backdrop of the booming construction industry where there was stiff competition for labour. As a result, TML scoured beyond France and UK for skilled labour including experienced engineers and tunnel miners. TML also set up a training scheme with Kent County Council and the Manpower Services Commission to prepare workers for the myriad of jobs available as the project progressed. The main constraint for sourcing talent was the high remuneration that accompanied them The second management challenge was to find a solution to dispose the huge quantities of spoil that boring 150km of tunnels would produce. The problem at Sangatte was solved quite easily as there was a suitable land dump near the construction site and spoil disposal was done by converting the tunnel spoil into a 50% slurry and then pumping it to the Ford Pignon dam above the site 3km away. However, there was very little space at Shakespeare Cliff and there was no suitable land dump nearby. Despite the fact that backfill amounting to 3.6M cubic meters of British spoil would be required at the later stage of construction, there was still a remaining 1.8M cubic meters of spoil that had to be disposed. Eurotunnel eventually found a solution which was to use the spoil to provide a flat area of land at the foot of the Shakespeare Cliff which would be landscaped and used for recreational activities. When environmentalists raised strong objections, Eurotunnel argued that huge logistical and traffic problems would result if the spoil were to be transported elsewhere. In addition, the spoil would be contained behind an expensive seawall of sheet piles and concrete designed to prevent the chalk fines from leaching into the sea. The constructed seawall, spanning 1795m long and up to 11.36m thick, was designed as a short term breakwater and a long term retaining structure. This land (made of spoil) was subsequently transformed into the Samphire Hoe Country Park. Another aspect of concern was the delivery of materials to the site. Whenever practicable, delivery was done mostly by rail (for speed and convenience) and the materials delivered include the precast concrete linings, sheet piles and aggregates. Next, another management challenge was the method of obtaining the large volume of concrete required. 442,755 concrete segments of the highest quality mixed from strong, un-reactive materials in 35 different sizes were required. They were designed to last 120 years subjected to loadings in the worst case scenarios under two separate limit states and had to resist seismic activities, be watertight and to maintain its structural integrity regardless of the loading type (Byrd, 1996). As it was apparent that no precast company could supply such segments to fulfill TMLs requirements, TML had to create its own precast yard at the Isle of Grain in Kent, producing segments of the strongest concrete. In addition, the decision to drive all the UK tunnels from a single worksite gave rise to complex logistics problems because it had to support five TBMs at any one time. They required 1000 precast concrete segments daily, together with other materials such as track, cables, pipes and vent ducts. Also, at least 18000m3 of excavated spoil had to be removed daily. This challenge was solved by the process of separation: personnel would enter the tunnel via the 110m deep shaft; spoil removed through Adit A1 on a 2400T/hr capacity conveyor and other materials transported on the five-line railway in Adit A2. Moreover, the three 50km-long tunnels had to be made an operational railway through the installation of catenary systems, cooling pipes, drainage, tracks among many others. Given the myriad of systems that had to be installed (e.g. 550km of drainage, fire and cooling system pipes, 1330km of cable fitted on the cable trays), TML had to manage more than 40 subcontractors competing for space on the tunnel delivery trains. The right equipment had to be supplied to the exact location at the right time; especially when the delivery trains take more than an hour to negotiate the deep ends of the tunnels and a missing item would have caused delay to the works. TML resolved this issue by running the tunnel works akin to a production line a materials controller was employed from the motor industry to ensure smooth work processes and led the coordination and planning efforts (Anderson Roskrow, 1993). Also, TML constructed 4 diagonal cross tunnels connecting the three main tunnels to allow the delivery trains to switch between the three during the services installation phase, thereby alleviating the difficulty of moving the materials and spoil to and fro the tunnel. Sourcing finances for the mega project was also one of the management challenges faced. Given that the initial estimation of the project cost to be around 5 billion pounds, a large amount of money was required to see the project through to completion. As the project had to be privately funded, Eurotunnel had to source beyond the national boundaries to secure investments. They therefore devised a financing scheme to help them tide the crisis: the scheme would provide for the cost of the tunnel to be financed by  £5 billion worth of bank loans, with additional  £1 billion equity from the owner, institutional investors and public offering. Preliminary equity financing would be raised in two stages (known as Equity 1 and Equity 2). Equity 1 worth  £47 million was raised by cash placement by the founding shareholders. Equity 2, worth  £206 million, came from both British and French investment institutions. They later came up with Equity 3, worth  £770 million, and raised it by w ay of public share offering through the Paris and London stock exchanges concurrently. The Channel Tunnel project was thus able to proceed. Perhaps one of the greatest management challenges was how to enable the French and British work closely together. Separated by 34km of sea, their cultures are very different. Moreover, the building codes and training (and thus the limit states of design) were different. It was a challenge bringing two different engineering styles together. To overcome this challenge, it was decided that both countries use their own design codes for their part of the channel. Gordon Crighton, a Scot, was brought in to lead the engineering team so that both the British and French would not have disagreements since both countries had good relations with Scotland. This enabled the engineering team to work cohesively together. When it came to the design parameters, both the French and the British had to compromise. For instance, the English wanted the service bore to be 4.5m in diameter, but the French wanted 5m. In the end they agreed to a diameter of 4.8m. Besides the need to overcome the challenges faced in project management, a number of technical challenges also had to be overcome. Firstly, keeping the machines on course was one of the most complicated technical challenges faced. While most tunnel miners use a high-tech satellite mapping system to chart the tunnel route, this system was not effective for the Channel Tunnel as it was too far underwater. Excellent and exact mapping was essential for if the British and French tunnels were to be misaligned even by a small margin, they would not be able to meet up as planned in the middle of the English Channel. Therefore, the engineers developed a high-tech laser guidance system. A red laser on the cutting head of the TBM would send a beam forward; hitting a control point which would relay the information to the computers onboard the service trains located behind the cutting head to help them stay on course. This system enabled both teams of TBMs to successfully stay on the intended cou rse and meet each other in the tunnel breakthrough. Another technical challenge was that the locomotives that were used to pull the tunnel lining segments and spoil trains broke down frequently under wet conditions. Under such conditions, the wheels of the locomotives lost traction and span on the slopes; and their electric systems were laden with salt moisture and often leading to malfunction and power failure (Byrd, 1996). Even though the locomotives were designed to be powered by a 500V DC overhead supply and the batteries were supposed to be recharged while moving in the underground development, they did not charge up due to the presence of water. This challenge was overcome by redesigning the locos. The locos weight was increased for better traction and much larger capacity batteries were installed. Improvements to the pantographs design were made. The increase in efficiency and lesser loco breakdowns made up for the corresponding increase in costs. Another technical challenge arose when the tunnels emerged from the underground tunnels up to the surface approximately 900 meters short of the terminals at the UK side. This was resolved where engineers employed three different tunneling methods to complete the tunnels via the difficult gault clay at Castle Hill. First, the NATM took the tunnel through the geologically challenging strata at Castle Hill; while at either side of the hill, cut-and-cover construction and top-down construction were used. Cut-and-cover work involved excavating the area and building the tunnel using RC boxes. Top-down construction (usually used in tight spaces) involved building the roof of the tunnel first before excavating the ground below it. The use of 3 different methods of tunneling within a short 900m stretch reflected the excellent engineering concepts used in this project. Fourth, following the geophysical and geotechnical surveys, the British anticipated that the soil stratum was mostly dry. They thus configured the TBM in open mode. However, they tunneled into unexpected micro-fissured chalk which was very permeable and very quickly incapacitated the TBM. Dry chalk started to give way to moist chalk and chunks of rocks started to fall from the crown and sides of the newly excavated bore (Andrew Roskrow, 1994). The circle was not sufficiently accurate from which the concrete lining could expand. Work was then stopped to ensure worker safety. Eventually, the TBM was modified in situ. A series of trailing fingers were installed behind the cutting head and spanned across the lap between the head and the last section of the lining (Gueterbock, 1992). These fingers, when sliding forward during boring, restrained the chalk while at the same time allowed the segments to be erected and grouted quickly. TML also applied extensive waterproofing to the machiner y and hoses to prevent them from further saltwater attack. Hence, the TBM started to make better progress and the delay was minimized. Other technical challenges and innovations include the removal of the TBMs that have completed the service tunnel. Stuck in the middle of the tunnel and under the sea, these TBMs were not able to move back up. While they could have been taken apart and removed piece-wise from the tunnel, it was undesired as this would incur high costs. This challenge was overcome by driving one of the TBMs slightly off the course of the tunnel and burying it into the chalk rock. This way, the other opposing TBM could drive forward out of the tunnel. The British TBM was the one chosen to drive off-course and buried. After it drove into the rock, it was sealed off and the tunnel wall was covered with concrete slab. The French TBM was thus able to move forward to the other side of the coast and be removed. This construction innovation enabled the contractor to save costs. For a project of this gigantic scale there was bound to be budget overrun and delays. The project entailed designing; building and commissioning the entire project in just seven years and be ready for opening in May 1993. This was not to be, as at the end of the project, the estimated budget overrun was 80% (total project cost reaching  £9.2 billion) and the official opening of the Channel Tunnel was May 1994, one year later then the contractual completion date. One cause of the delay was due to the passing of the Parliamentary Bill which was required for the commencement of the works. This was due to the objecting voices towards the building of the Channel Tunnel and the Bill could not be passed quickly enough. The delay took up most of the float that TML initially had and any further delay could severely impede the construction schedule. To overcome this difficulty, TML started preliminary site works like constructing the precast yard at the Isle of Grain and placing orders for the materials even before the Parliamentary Bill was passed. It also started a global search for manpower and engineering talents. Another cause of delay during the early days of construction on the French part was due to the financial collapse of one of the firms involved in building the TBM. However, the delay was reduced with the quick mobilization of the TBM at the huge Sangatte shaft which allowed the 400T TBM body to be lowered in one piece into the tunnel. On the British side, it was the unexpected wet ground conditions that caused the slowdown in tunneling works and resulted in a delay of more than 3 months. However, the engineers modified the TBMS by installing the trailing fingers behind the cutting head. Very soon the TBMs started to drive at record speeds. Third, the major cause of schedule delay was the dispute between TML and Eurotunnel. The contractors claim that Eurotunnel owed it  £1.45 billion for the ME systems installed in the tunnel was the main cause of dispute. This figure was more than twice the figure stated in the Contract, which Eurotunnel insisted that the sum owed was less than  £900 million (Byrd, 1996). The protracted legal battle between the two entities delayed the project. TML decided to finance its own works while Eurotunnel sourced for funds, which potentially would push the project completion date further back. In the end, Eurotunnel struck a deal with TML where TML would need to hit a series of milestones over the months in 1993 to handover the project to Eurotunnel by Dec 1993. In return, Eurotunnel would give an advance payment of  £235million to TML so that the latter would not run out of funds. This incentive enabled TML to push for progress and minimize delay. There were few causes of budget overruns. Firstly, the original start to completion duration was a mere 7 years, meaning that the project had to move from design development to completion in that length of time. As a result, many design problems (e.g. open mode TBMs used by the British) were not identified and resolved at the start of the project and no provisions were made for these provisions in the initial cost estimates. Eurotunnel thus had to source for additional funds for the project. Secondly, due to the competitive nature of the project, CTG/FM had to cut their cost estimates to the bare minimum in order to make a successful bid. This was made with the knowledge that the competing consortia would be evaluated on financial standing thus the rationale for lowering the profit margins. The subsequent cost increase was blamed on delays from the parliamentary process and early financing problems. Thirdly, the budget overrun was caused by the increase in costs and number of materials required for the project. Even though TML had planned to line the tunnel with cast iron segments rather than concrete in wet ground as they were more watertight, they had not expected the UK TBMs to also hit poor ground (contrary to geotechnical analysis results). The required amount of cast iron had already exceeded the total amount of cast iron originally estimated when this happened and cost increase was inevitable. TML tried to reduce costs by hastening the tunneling process and modifying the TBMs. While the project was delayed many times due to boardroom disputes and unexpected site conditions, innovative ideas were put into practice that helped to increase productivity. For instance, due to the poor ground conditions and water ingress at the UK side, TML had wanted to use cast-iron linings which at that time were already over-budgeted. However, innovative ideas led to the modification of the tunnel linings, known as hybrid linings where areas of high stresses would be taken by the iron while the bulk of the lining ring was still made of concrete. Not only did these linings save TML close to  £20million, it also reduced three months on the critical path. In addition, improvements and modifications to the TBMs were made, their lining erectors and spoil removal systems extensively changed, their electronic systems simplified and waterproofed. The TBMs performance improved tremendously and soon they were breaking world records for tunneling rates. Miners and workers were also i ncentivized for good work progress so that their morale remained high. Their pay was reviewed to remain market- competitive. Eurotunnel also formed a policing arm known as the Project Implementation Division to keep check on the construction progress and on TML to do more to stay on the scheduled timetable. The total death toll for this project was increasing at an alarming rate towards 1990. Safety at the construction sites were put under intense scrutiny. This prompted TML to embrace DuPonts safety practices and principles, and made a few innovations to its safety plan. Firstly, a series of mainly one-to-one audits were carried out by the foremen and supervisors on the workers at work. These were no-risk audits, and the auditee was encouraged to tell the auditor of his observed actions that were less safe than desired and was also encouraged to make safety suggestions. Completed audits identifying the auditor (but not the auditee) were analyzed by a senior line manager and summarized for the local line manager to identify trends and plan follow up actions (Byrd, 1996). As a result, many previously unidentified safety issues were found and subsequently resolved or mitigated. Secondly, safety prizes were awarded, through lottery, to individuals or team of personnel who managed to achiev e 25000 of accident-free work activity. Thirdly, poster campaigns were carried out to address safety issues such as track safety and proper PPE. These campaigns were complemented by other form of media such as safety notes in payslips, on site video presentations and toolbox briefings to all employees. These safety practices resulted in zero deaths for the next two years of construction. To conclude, the Channel Tunnel was a mammoth privately-funded project in its own right. It was of no mean feat for the completion of a project involving 2 countries separated by a sea 34km long and both being traditionally rivals. Even though it was completed a year late and at least cost overrun of at least 80%, the Channel Tunnel can still be considered a success, this in view of the management, technical and financing challenges faced by the parties throughout the project. Apart from the famous senior management battles and arbitration between the owner and contractor, it must be noted that the management and technical innovations led to an increase in productivity and should be used as a reference for future projects.