Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Communication - Essay Example The first organization that was observed was Wal-Mart. This research recognizes that most individuals are at least cursorily familiar with Wal-Mart, however insights can be gained from in-depth observational investigation. One of the most overarching considerations is Wal-Mart’s organizational model. In these regards, the organization is the country’s largest retailer, selling both household items as well as groceries. There are large numbers of employees working at Wal-Mart. There is a management level of employees, another group of employees who work the cash registers, other groups of employees who work in specific department – for instance electronics or the seafood departments -- finally other groups of employees work stocking the shelves. The specific observation of these employees revealed a number of elements. While the employees are easy to locate oftentimes they operate in a very business environment and as such their roles are less defined as customer service, than in the service of their specific tasks. I observed one interaction where a customer asked an employee where measuring tape was. Rather than bring the customer to the location the employee vaguely pointed at an area and said they believe it was in that direction. While one could attribute such a communication approach to the specific employee, this behavior was also witnessed in the electronics department. In this situation a customer asked about what the specific figures on one of the computer advertisements meant. The employee responded that they weren’t sure about the specific elements on that computer. It seems that to a great degree these employees’ verbal communication skills were a necessary byproduct of the organizational culture that had been established at Wal-Mart. Namely, the commitment to low-cost goods has necessitated that customer service be sacrificed. As I was checking out of the store I waited in line for five minutes. Suddenly the cashi er looked to the others in the line and informed them that this line was closed. While she could have informed the customers waiting earlier, he non-verbal communication carried on as normal. The situation demonstrated that the employee had a lack of pride in her job. Ultimately, it seems that such actions may also be a product of necessary sacrifice for low prices. The next retailer that was observed was Best Buy. Best Buy is a large-scale electronics retailer specializing in virtually all major electronics and games. Upon entering the store I immediately recognized a number of disparate elements between this organizational model and that of Wal-Mart. While both retailers are large-scale chains Best Buy’s focuses on electronics, as well as their subsequent approach to customer service. While Wal-Mart’s employee communication styles are very detached, Best Buy’s approach is almost overly helpful. Employees were both verbally and non-verbally approachable through body language. In walking around the store I was approached numerous times by employees asking if I needed help or had any questions. While it seems to a degree this was motivated out of the need to help customers with the complexity of the electronics it is seems a comprehensively different approach to the organizational model. The specific breakdown of employees was the same as Wal-Mart’s with individuals stocking shelves, cashiers, and managers; however,

Operational Decision Making Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operational Decision Making - Research Paper Example This is expected to be achieved through the company, mission, vision and values. The values at DP world involve its quest to create a sustainable value through global growth, excellence and service. It is accompanied by the company mission of a global approach towards the local business environment that is made up of excellence, profitability and innovation in the effort to drive their core industry philosophy of providing exceptional customer service. Description of Operations The operations at DP are influenced by the company’s vision and mission to develop a reputation of efficiency and expertise. As such, efficient service delivery and competency are the most significant input specifications of the company. Constantly, the company invests in terminal infrastructure, people and facilities to provide quality services in the present and future in order to meet the needs of their customers. Majorly, it deals in a wide range of cargo handling services with its main focus being on the container terminal operations. In addition to containers, most of the DP World terminals also handle general cargo, bulk cargo, passenger and Ro-Ro vessel terminals. Thus, the main operations of this company include imports and exports. The company additionally possesses a leadership in innovation and an unyielding commitment to all their customers across the world. It is because of this that DP world is currently considered a leader in the operations of marine terminals, as well as developments, logistics in addition to other related services. In this relation, t can be sad to be the force that is applied to make changes in the industry (DP World 1). Supply Chain Decisions DP World involves an integral responsibility to the supply chain of the customers. One of the key strategies towards achieving this is the development of solutions for both customers and partners. It involves the integration of responsible business activities within their daily strategies and activities. I t is in the effort to secure a sustainable future. Because of this, the DP World has secured a partnership with the London Gateway team. With the guidance from their corporate values, DP world works with the customers, suppliers and the entire community to recognize sustainable risks and challenges as well as develop a high number of partnership opportunities so as to bring about a sustainable future. As a partner, it has also been certified at the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C?TPAT) and is the only port operator with this recognition. In addition, the company is involved in a number of supply chain securities with most of its terminals being involved in anti terrorism Container Security initiatives. These decisions affect the strategic operations of the company in the sense that they enable the company to roll out its standards across all its terminals. The company is also focused n the provision of responsible business services. It is associated with the provision and availability of efficient infrastructure as well as the sharing of best practice and innovation. They also include full container Load through Dubai that involves a number of fully completed input processes that are shown in the figure below. Operational Decisions At DP World, the operations team focuses on how cargo can be moved into the international logistic way in an efficient and safe way. Decisions are made

Social Marketing CS1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Marketing CS1 - Essay Example There are four main principles of social marketing. The first principle is product. In the social marketing plan products can be sub-divided into tangible and intangible products. Tangible products comprise of vaccines, condoms, and oral contraceptives among others. Contrarily, non-tangible products include addictions, behavior, and attitudes. The second principle is place. The products need a platform where they can be located or distributed to reach the consumers. Place is the environmental and societal context in which health behaviors and decisions are carried out. The place is supposed to be visible to the consumer, such as, public places, shopping malls, and media. Third, price refers to the consumers’ investment. The price may be in non-monetary form such as time. The product needs to be sold at lower cost. Lastly, promotion determines the quantity of the products that will be sold. Promotion entails creating visibility of the product. Promotion can be done through prin t media (newspapers, coupons) and electronic media (Internet, e-mail, TV, and radio) (Patane, 2011). Social marketing provides a model which systematizes organizational responses to address public health challenges. Social marketers are now using commercial techniques , for instance, tailoring messages, analyzing the target audiences, establishing the objectives of the targeted behavior, and using strategies like branding to promote the adoption as well as maintenance of health behaviors. To promote healthy behavior, the social marketer can use mass media with the target audience in minds such as a HIV prevention campaign for high risk, sexually active African-American adolescents. This helps to reduce HIV incidences in the target group (Daniel, Bernhardt, & Eroğlu, 2009). The segmentation strategy purposely addresses social norms in addition to the desires of the cultural

Control Mechanisms Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Control Mechanisms Paper - Essay Example Planning incorporates different control mechanisms and their impact on the system. During a planning stage, management develops several approaches in order to respond to possible changes and threats. Concurrent control influences decision-making process and further implementation. Budgetary controls determine allocation of resources and time spent on each activity. Planning and control procedures are computerized and take advantage of the explosive growth of inexpensive, commercially available budgeting, scheduling, and resource allocation software (Frame, 2002). Feedforward and feedback control influence implementation and organizing. In order to cope with this ever-changing character of needs, managers first recognize that it exists. Feedforward and feedback control influence selection of techniques and methods of organizing. Beyond this, they are aware that the changing nature of needs that may require changes in the plan once implementation takes place. Concurrent control does not have a great impact on organizing but requires that immediate changes and variations will be immediately accepted. Plans are rarely static statements of how things should be done; instead, they are dynamic instruments, allowing staff to manage change in an orderly fashion (Starbucks Home Page 2007). Concurrent control helps to foresee that variance from the plan will occur when the plan comes up against the real world. Budgetary control influences coordination and resource control. Control mechanisms influence the directing function and help to make necessary changes and amendments. In Starbucks, managers pay a special attention to feedforward and feedback controls which help to detect threats and errors. Directing depends upon concurrent control and possible variables. The environment in which planning is carried out is complex. Also, budgetary controls stipulate limitations and financial constraints. Starbucks managers first of all are aware of the limitations of the

Behavioral Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Behavioral Psychology - Essay Example John B. Watson founded the school of behavioral psychology in hopes that it would make psychology as academically respected as other sciences such as chemistry and physiology were. He moved away from the introspective methods of psychology which were popular at the time, and moved towards a more scientific, observable approach. He believed that the behavior of humans and animals were comparable, and therefore, most behavioral experiments used animals such as rats as subjects and then generalized the findings to humans. Watson believed that all behavior could be explained by what was called "classical conditioning" (Watson, 1999). The idea behind classical conditioning is that one could pair a stimulus that causes a response or reflex with an unrelated stimulus. Over time, the unrelated stimulus alone should cause the response or reflex. An example of this would the famous experiment conducted by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov noticed that when he set food out for his dogs, they would salivate. He then paired the setting out of food with ringing a bell. Over time, the dogs salivated to the ringing bell alone, without the setting out of food. ... While he agreed that the behaviors of animals and humans are comparable and that psychology should focus of observable behavior, Skinner did believe that there is such thing as the mind. The only reason he chose to study observations over the mind is because observations can be objectively measured in a scientific way whereas the mind cannot (Boeree, 2006). Skinner also differs from Watson in that he believes that changes in behavior can be attributed to reinforcers, whereas Watson attributes change in behavior to associations between events. Skinner referred to this theory of behavior as "operant conditioning" which maintains that "the behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organism's tendency to repeat the behavior in the future" (Boeree, 2006, p. 2). Depending on the type of reinforcer, the likelihood of the behavior can be increased or decreased. For example, if a child is given praise every time he says "please", he will likely cont inue to say "please". This is an example of positive reinforcement, which increases the likelihood of a behavior. At the same time, punishment decreases the likelihood of a behavior. For example, if a child is put in time out every time he pushes his sister, then he should begin to push his sister less and less. Skinner also believed that once a reinforcer is taken away, then the behavior should occur less and less. This belief led Skinner to believe that there was no such thing as free will. He explained that people behave badly because that behavior is rewarded in some way and that people behave well because that behavior is rewarded in some way. On the other hand, Edward C. Tolman had a different set of views than Watson and Skinner. While Tolman shied away

What does Weber mean by charismatic authority How and why does he Essay

What does Weber mean by charismatic authority How and why does he contrast it to bureaucracy - Essay Example Much progress had been made, but he was not at all confident that that progress could raise human beings to the required moral status that was needed to ensure the world would be a livable place. One problem he had was the way current social scientists were analyzing history and social activity. They all seem to think that the world was on a route of progress, hence their evaluation of history was framed from valued, or normative points of views. Weber created the use of "ideal type" to analyze social data and activity such that values could be separated for observations and theorists could make empirically based views. An ideal type became a concept marking regularities of meaningful action. The ideal type model would enable precise definitions for comparison and measurement of social reality. In his analysis of leadership ideal types that have evolved through history, he created three models. These were the legal or bureaucratic leader, the authority leader, and the charismatic lea der. This report will concentrate on "charismatic authority" and will contrast it to "bureaucracy". It will view how charismatic authority may contribute to a sociological understanding of power in modern society. Discussion How has the concept of ‘leader’ risen in society and in what way has it became an authority figure? Weber attempted to not make value judgments as he outlined his leadership types. Hence he was able to accept as a fact that the bureaucratic leader existed, alone with the traditional and charismatic ones. Although the route that the leader took to authority may have involved injustice or arbitrary actions, Weber's task was to describe the various types and how they came to be accepted (Titunik 65). The bureaucratic or legal leader represented the impersonal type leader that worked efficiently in such organizations as businesses, schools, and even church hierarchies and hospitals. They were the officials of an organization who ruled not on personal lo yalties, but on clear hierarchic chains of command that were organized on systems of intentionally created abstract rules. There were rules of conduct and specified roles were marked out. There were distinct spheres of ownership and staff and staff was paid more or less for skills that were acquired and recognize to operate on the position. One of the problems dealing with bureaucratic leadership was that many times it could be seen as lording over an emotionless 'iron cage' (Weber 181). The traditional leader evolved from a historical patriarch whose position was that of a personal master who ruled over his subjects. He was more or less limited by traditional laws and his rule was held up by faithful followers who had received benefits. It is the charismatic leader whom Weber seems to spend much time on. This particular leader came to power through recognition of his exceptional powers as a hero, as a person who took the ultimate self-sacrifice. His followers are mesmerized before him and had accepted his otherworldly nature. He has exemplary character. He is able to bring meaning into the lives of his follower and he can give them goals and images to internalize and believe in to "transcend their own limited existence" (Conger et al 751). The charismatic leader releases his followers from "custom, law and tradition", even from family responsibilities and, most importantly, from their own conscience (Conger et al 751). Dow sees it as an ideal type and an emotional life-force that "remains forever beyond the reach of bureaucratic domination† (Dow 85). Charismatic leadership directly contrasts bureaucratic leadership. Dow suggests that Weber celebrated ‘charisma as an â€Å"emotional life-force† antagonistic to the dreary construction of the iron cage’† (Dow 85). Yet, today they both can be seen operating easily in tantrum. One

Chinese Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chinese - Essay Example ined the expertise to use gunpowder and heavy fighting engines which helped them to defeat the song and Jin emperors which were known to be the most powerful and experienced dynasties. Large armies; Yuan dynasty ensured that it had a large army when they were about to attack a territory this give them maximum chances of success in their attacked it also scared away other dynasty from attacking them Discriminations; This dynasty was made up foreigners who did not allowed the natives to hold any position in the government .With nobility not allowed to hold government office they ventured in education ,this made them to be better educated and thus they open private schools and refused to teach in government institution. Zhu Yuanzhang established Ming dynasty in 1368. The reason for this was the rebellion against the yuan dynast, which is said to have brought great famine, drought, flooding, bubonic plague among other natural disasters. This was as a result of what was believed as loosing mandate of heaven Trade; As a way of supporting this dynasty free trade was encouraged majorly with European with which the merchant class and the peasant farmers became very rich, got the education, and entered into government. They used hard currency and later due to inflation, adopted gold and silver as the most efficient means of exchange (Chris). Repression tactics: in order to remain in power after sensing rebellion, laws were enacted to make it official that it would capital offence for any one of within the clan or an official in an office to criticize the emperor. To enforce these laws, many officials were sacked, corruption cases increased, a secret police was established to torture and killed many citizens. Superstition: Natural calamities, such as famine, Drought, flooding Plague, climatic change and rebellion were termed as signs of losing the mandate of Heaven therefore the leader was supposed to be overthrown and his kingdom taken Suppression of some