Cushy Armchair New Objectives and Rules Essay Example for Free

Cushy Armchair New Objectives and Rules Essay As you know, my name is Alison Sampson. I am the new director of Cushy Armchair. I come from Cabletronica U.S. with the purpose of guiding Cushy Armchair to a new era in this changing industry. We will begin with some small steps, all involving â€Å"greater consolidation† in order to achieve economies of scale and scope. In order to adapt and to be more competitive, we must focus our efforts to reduce cost, speed product design and improve technology transfer. Specifically, we most work in production, design (fabric Style), sales and distribution (advertising), and procurement. Requested Activities †¢To Purchasing Manager: oWorld Furniture’s procurement division In New York, will be responsible to contract all chair glide-mechanisms, as well as fabric orders in excess of HK$35,000. This will help us to reduce our raw material cost. †¢To Marketing Manager: New York advertising specialist will work together with us in launching new advertising campaigns. In this way, we can all share knowledge and come up with the best decision. †¢To Design Manager: New York staff will be included in any substantial design and feature changes. In order to accomplish our ultimate goal of having everything in one place. Conclusion Even though I haven’t yet had the opportunity to meet with almost anyone, I will contact you over the next days to discuss the impact of these policy changes and the changes coming ahead. Do not hesitate to contact me if I have not called you yet. You will receive this MEMO in your native language over the next couple of days. I hope you share my observations and concerns for the future of Cushy Armchair, and I trust you will welcome these changes.

Re-thinking History: Improving History Textbooks in America Essay

Since introducing his book with the notion that high school students hate history, Loewen (1996) devotes a considerable amount of his work debunking facts and theories taught in history classes in American schools. He appeals to the trust of the readers with his comparisons on what textbooks include and what they omit. He accomplishes this by recounting some sparse facts taught in most textbooks, appealing to the emotions of all former, current and future history students with his empathy on how boring most history textbook. Finally, he reaches the logic of his readers with heavily pocked paragraphs footnoted with his sources that presume his great understanding of the history itself. The scope and size of history textbooks is an issue Loewen tackles, pointing out how â€Å"textbook authors tend to include most of the trees and all too many twigs, they neglect to give the readers even a glimpse of what they might find memorable: the forests† (para 14). As he intertwines much of his ideas about history with Sociology and Social Studies, he notes that students rarely possess the ability to â€Å"think coherently about social life† (para 14) and returns to the concept that learning history reinforces sociology when he concludes his theory about textbook size preventing students from learning history. He describes how textbook covers use patriotic symbolism to represent the contents of the textbook material, complete with descriptive titles such as Rise of the American Nation (para 12). From this, he deducts that no other textbook cover takes as many liberties with the textbook title as do History textbooks. Loewen selects an iconic point, the First Thanksgiving, taught in some manner among nearly all grade levels and provides illuminating d... ...g buried items, he lists a footnote to accompany the passage. After observing 40 other footnotes in the previous 46 paragraphs, it’s likely that most readers would simply assume that the footnote leads to another reputable source. Discovering that this particular footnote relates to the fairytale of Goldilocks and not the journal’s author may lead one to believe that the footnote source is questionable. Loewen provides a convincing account of what he finds wrong with history textbooks used in schools around America. His appeal to readers influences their opinions on what textbook publishers should do to change this phenomenon. While history textbooks are boring, oversized and sometimes less detail oriented than Loewen would expect, high school courses simply do not teach and address the sort of sociological impacts that students in higher education expect to learn.

Evaluation of Leadership Development Plan of Maersk Oil in Qatar

1.0 Introduction One of the biggest challenges of the modern business era is the retention of a talented and skilled workforce for business organizations, and the development of future leaders within a company. Business organizations are required to employ a dynamic strategy to respond to the needs and aspirations of their workforce. A smart, well-designed employee development program can benefit a business organization to great extent in this regard and shape the future of the company by individually shaping the leaders of the future. Prior research indicates that employee development program is linked to higher levels of performance and output. It can create a reservoir of knowledge that can enable business organizations to do better than their competitors. The most important development aspect of any employee is training them in leadership skills which can benefit the business as a whole. Transformational Leadership is a framework which, according to Barling, Christie and Hoption, promotes the qua lities of â€Å"idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration† (reference). By displaying motivational qualities and attitudes a leader can improve the efficiency, proficiency and well-being of employees. The aim of the proposed dissertation would be to investigate employees’ leadership development plan at ‘Maersk Oil’, particularly in reference to transformational leadership training. Maersk Oil has been operating in Qatar since the 1990s as a major oil company. It works on the Al-Shaheen Field which produces significant amount of petroleum. The company’s current production level stands at 300,000 barrels of oil per day. As a result of that, Al-Shaheen Field is predicted to be the biggest contributor to oil production in Qatar, making the company significant for the Oil industry and the overall economy of the country. Maersk Oil is a multinational company which is part of A.P. Moller â€⠀œ Maersk Group, operating in various parts of the world. Like any major multinational firm, Maersk Oil Qatar has a diverse workforce belonging to various nationalities (Maersk Oil, 2012). The diverse workforce present in the organization needs to be managed in an efficient and effective manner. The dissertation will try to identify the importance of a leadership development plan, investigate the current practices of the company, evaluate its effectiveness, and identify common obstacles for employee’s leadership development plan at the company. The dissertation will also propose some recommendations based on its findings for creating a viable improvement to the leadership development program. The dissertation will be divided into five chapters. The first chapter will be comprised of the introduction, overview of the research, background, and research objectives. The second chapter will detail the research methodology. The third chapter will present a literature review and the oretical background of the research. Fourth chapter will present the findings and analyze the data. Finally, chapter five will present the results and conclusions of the research. 1.1 Research Objectives Investigate to what extent does the company care for its employees through its leadership development plan Identify the significance of employees leadership development plan Investigate practices of employees leadership development plan Evaluate the effectiveness of employees leadership development Identify most common barriers for employees leadership development plan 1.2 Research Questions What is the employees’ attitude towards the company regarding its transformational leadership development program? Is transformational leadership more efficient than other forms of leadership? How does the transformational leadership benefit the objectives and goals of the company? What is the significance of the transformational leadership development plan for both the company and its employees? To what extent do the employees consider the development plan at the company efficient? What are the common barriers associated with the transformational leadership development plan at the company ? 1.3 Rationale for the Current Research Although there is a large array of literature on human resource development, practitioners often come under criticism for doing very little to evaluate the learning and development solutions that have been designed to deliver whereby significant and often scarce resources are allocated blindly in development plans that are considered to be effective (Harisson, 2005). When undergoing financial stress, organizations often downsize human resource development budgets. Human resource development personnel undergo tight scrutiny in justifying their expenditures and are required to prove the effectiveness of their employee development plans. Thus evaluation of employee leadership development plan is a viable solution. The importance of evaluation in further signified as the learning and development theory and practices in the modern day is undergoing a considerable change in order to keep up with new circumstantial requirements. In fact, one of the major changes occurring nowadays and in th e upcoming years is the organizational changes driven by ‘higher integration between coaching, organisational development (OD) and performance management’ (CIPD survey, 2010: pg.6). Similarly Sloman (2007) made several important propositions regarding the ongoing change in the employee development practices and approaches (see appendix 1). The shift in the learning and development approach and employee development practices signifies the importance of evaluating the current practices of an organization to see whether they are abreast with the prevailing best practices. Additionally, employee development approaches and practices of the oil and gas rich Middle Eastern countries and the Gulf Nations is an under-researched area in HRM literature. Moreover, the available literature regarding employee development practices generalizes the Middle East and the Arab World rather than addressing individual countries or companies (Harry, 2007). The existing gap in the literature p ays way for the current proposed study to evaluate the leadership development plan at Maesrk Oil in Qatar. 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Definition of employee leadership development Employee development plans have been defined as a set of planned efforts by an organization which facilitates the learning and acquaintance of knowledge, specific skills and behaviors for its employees; all of which are essential for them to be successful in their current jobs (Goldstein, 1993). Dotta (2009) defines it as a â€Å"sequence of concurrent activities, initiatives and programs that an organization is involved with to maintain, improve and enhance the skills, capabilities and performance levels of its workforce and other staff members†. Employee development plan encapsulates various individual development plans. A leadership development plan goes one step further than this: as well as providing all of the support listed above the employee is also being trained for a management role through the subtle development of the most desirable qualities. According to Department of Defense of USA (2006), an individual employee development plan is â€Å"a tailored written plan developed by the supervisor and employee outlining the employee’s developmental objectives and the developmental activity for achieving these objectives. The purpose of an employee development plan is to increase the current proficiency, development, and progression of the employee through a systematic development plan†. The personal progression of an employee can only be realized if they have been instructed in the transformational leadership qualities which will optimize the business as a whole. Based on aforementioned definitions, several important points can be stated: Employees’ development plan is aimed at enhancing the capabilities and competencies of an organization’s workforce. Employees’ development plan is also crucial for the progression of a career path. Through leadership development it is common for organizations to train and develop their employees to occupy critical positions in future. A transformational leadership development pro gram helps employees to understand the key roles of leadership and develop qualities which will make them an inspirational motivator to their workforce. 2.2 Significance of transformational leadership development In today’s business environment, which is characterized as multi-faced, highly complex, extremely competitive, and dynamic, organizations are required to be very flexible and adaptable in order to survive and succeed. Employee development, a practice that seeks to assist organizations in meeting their business goals through continuous learning and development (Harisson, 2009) is a critical element for achieving that flexibility and adaptability. So much that often human resource development personnel are qualified as ‘agents of change’ (Harisson, 2009). It is only through continuous, effective learning and development of employees that modern day organizations can acquire the essential competencies to adapt to a new conjuncture. Transformational leadership is significant as it not only benefits the leader in question, but also the morale of the employees. Candidates for the development program will be taught the traditional methods of leadership, such as how to ta ke responsibility and effectively manage a team, while also being taught to be motivational, inspirational and influential among their colleagues (Barling, Christie and Hoption). 2.3 Best Practices in Employee Development Plan Numerous studies have recommended several successful approaches towards employee development programs. There is a general consensus among researchers regarding the foremost need for an organization to conduct an analysis of its existing needs and requirements (Jacobs and Jones, 1995; Clegg et al, 2005). According to Jacobs, (1995) an employee development can be rendered meaningless if it does not respond to the organizational needs. Existing needs and requirements can be identified through an effective market analysis, analysis of existing and future labor trends. (Clegg et al, 2005). Since every organization needs to secure its’ future in the business industry it stands to reason that leadership is a high priority in the organizations needs, and transformational leadership can arguably give the best opportunity for employees to grow and develop along with the requirements of the company. Apart from the needs’ assessment, several best practices have been identified by h uman resource practitioners and researchers. A survey of best practices of 71 companies practicing employee development activities identified three underlying factors important for an effective employee development plan. These are: (1) individual development plans should be developed for key and high potential employees with the ability to become future leaders (2) the individual development plans and practices should be strictly aligned with organizational strategies and goals, with the future of the company in mind and (3) the entire workforce should be facilitated for its progression through the developmental process (Reynolds, 2005). 3.0 Research Methods and Approach 3.1 Research Philosophy Identifying a research philosophy is imperative for designing a viable research method as it determines the manner in which information regarding a research problem/question is collected, evaluated and applied. Researcher have identified mainly three research philosophies namely positivist and interpretivist and realist (Galliers, 1991). A positivist research philosophy perceives reality as a constant phenomenon; something that can be perceived objectively (Levin, 1988). It is a stance of a natural scientist. According to Hirschheim (1985 p.33), â€Å"positivism has a long and rich historical tradition. It is so embedded in our society that knowledge claims not grounded in positivist thoughts are simply dismissed as ascientific and therefore invalid†. Interpretivism, on the other hand, seeks to understand reality from a subjective perception in order to make sense of motives, actions and intentions of those that they study. They emphasize the social construct of the reality (H usserl, 1965). Interpretivists contend that reality and its perceptions can be better understood by placing people in their social contexts (Hussey and Hussey, 1997). Realists believe that the existence of reality is independent of human thoughts, emotions and beliefs. The research philosophy underpinning the proposed research is interpretivism. The research aims to evaluate the employee leadership development plan of Maersk Oil through the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of its employees, managers, and executives; thus it aims to gain subjective insights for evaluation. 3.2 Research Approach and Strategy A research approach can be either deductive or inductive. The premise of a deductive approach is to test a hypothesis, explain casual relationships and enable generalization of a theory. On the other hand, inductive approach focuses upon building a theory by understanding a phenomenon seeking an answer for a question. The approach adopted for the proposed research is inductive, as this study will look to identify the weaknesses or strengths or the current employee development plan at Maersk Oil Qatar, and answer several proposed questions pertaining to its evaluation. The research strategy for this study will be exploratory as it will aim at providing insights and understanding of the nature of the phenomenon under study in new light. Within the exploratory approach, this study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative data. On one hand, statistical analysis will carried out for the survey responses which will be distributed among the employees of a company, whilst interviews wi ll be conducted with some senior officials and employees in order to gain insights regarding the evaluation of the employee development program. It will complement the understanding gained through the data analysis results. 3.3 Data Collection According to Yin (1994), there are five ways of collecting data; these are â€Å"experimental, surveys, archival analysis, history, and case studies†. This research will utilize a survey strategy. According to Kelley et. al, (2003) â€Å"the survey strategy refers to the selection of a relatively large sample of people from a pre-determined population, followed by the collection of data from those individuals. The researcher therefore uses information from a sample of individuals to make some inference about the wider population†. For the purpose of evaluating the employee leadership development plan, a questionnaire will be prepared, reviewed, and distributed to a random sample of Maersk Oil Qatar employees and people in leadership roles. Survey strategy will allow the researcher to collect a large amount of data within in short time with minimum costs and efforts (Naresh et.al, 2003). Interviews, the qualitative form of collecting data within survey method will be use d concurrently. Semi-structured interviews will be designed and conducted of several senior officials at the company. References CIPD (2010), ‘Annual Survey Report : Learning and Talent Development’, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, {online} http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/BC060DD1-EEA7-4929-9142-1AD7333F95E7/0/5215_Learning_talent_development_survey_report.pdf (cited on 13th September, 2012) Clegg ,S. et all, 2005: Managing Organizations: An introduction to Theory and Practice. Sage Cohen N., 2002?Pressure on AP Moller to Be Open,† Australasian Business Intelligence, April 23, Department of Defense of USA (2006) The individual development. {online} http://www.usuhs.mil/chr/idp.pdf (cited on 13th September, 2012) Dotta, P.(2009) ‘What Is an Employee Development Plan?’ {online}: http://www.ehow.com/about_5161579_employee-development-plan.html (cited on 13th September, 2012) Goldstein I. L., 1993 â€Å"Training in Organizations† (3rd Ed.) Pacific Grove, California: Books Cole Harrison, R. (2005) Learning and development. 4th ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Harrison, R. (2009) Learning and development. 5th ed. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development . Harry. W (2007) Employment Creation and Localization. The crucial human resource issue for GCC. Int Journal of Human Resource Management. Vol. 18, no.1, pp 132-146. Husserl, E. (1965), Phenomenology and the crisis of philosophy, New York: Harper Torchbooks. Hussey, J. & Hussey, R. (1997), Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and post-graduate students, London: MacMillan Press Ltd Jacob, R L and Jones, M J. (1995) Structures on Job Training- Unleashing Expertise in the Work Place. San Francisco. Berrett Koehler. Kelley, K., Clark, B., Brown, V., and Sitzia, J (2003) Good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. Int. Journal for Quality in Health Care. Volume 15, Issue 3 Pp. 261-266. Levin, D. M. (1988). The opening of vision: Nihilism and the postmodern situation. London: Routledge. LSA Global (2008) ‘Top 10 training best practices for effective learning and development programs’. {online} http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?do cid=375846 (cited on 13th September, 2012) Maersk Oil (2012) ‘About Us’ {online} http://www.maerskoil.com/ABOUTUS/Pages/AboutUs.aspx (cited on 13th September, 2012) Naresh,M. et.al.,(2003) Methodological issues in cross-cultural marketing research. International Marketing Review. 13 (5) 7-43 Reynolds, S.(2005) Training and development managers share best practices and courseware through LearnShare. Toledo Business Journal. 5(2) 155-163. Sloman, M. (2007) ‘The changing world of the trainer: emerging good practice’, Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Yin, R. K. (1994) Case Study Research. Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Internal Marketing And Organizational Behavior Essay

Customer service is the most important part of a hotel based organization, it also forms the most competitive advantage and a critical element in internal marketing. Moreover it also has influences in other industries as well. Internal marketing is based on the internal communication and treating powers of employees as well as customers. Implementing internal marketing includes educating, stimulating, guiding and leading workforce to improve quality and performance. The service employees represents the organization to the customers, do to which the role of employees is both complex and multi-dimensional. The internal marketing is the study to improve marketing and organizational behavior and literature study.it also focuses on importance of employees in service encounters with the understanding of internal marketing. Customer satisfaction is the most important gadget which makes the organization makeable, survive and face competition. The concept of internal marketing is the upcoming topic and it creates an attention amongst the researchers. The term internal marketing has been focused on two parts i.e. Employees (internal market) and customers (external market) to provide services and conduct the business. It has been recognized in a hotel industry, they are the customers who make the hotel industry grow or vanish. The research we have selected is internal marketing in hotel industry. The main reason to investigate on workers, who are satisfied with the attitude of theShow MoreRelatedDecision-Making Factors1136 Words   |  5 Pages as well as the future of the organizational staff members and its partners. In this setting, it is of the utmost importance for decisions to be made in a clear manner, in which they consider the totality of factors involved. 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