Author: chris

Aristotle, one of the renowned thinkers who made significantly huge contribution to the science field, believed in the cultivation of virtue as the ultimate determinant of happiness in human existence. He further illustrated that one of the core virtues to achieve happiness is friendship. While he appreciated the fact that friendships are of different kinds, he emphasized that only friendship between good men is perfect or complete.

In the friendship between virtuous men, Aristotle says that the driving force lies in wanting to achieve that which is beneficial to both partners, as opposed to benefiting oneself or gaining materially. This is the friendship he says is based on virtue. To achieve this kind of friendship, he says, requires the friends involved to have similarities the virtues they stand for. Aristotle however notes that this friendship between good men is not as easy to come by owing to the slim possibilities of having virtuous men who wish for mutually honest benefits for each other, as well as the heavy amount of effort required to maintain these complete friendships. The complexity of achieving this virtuous form of friendship is particularly complicated by the fact that these men must stand for similar virtues, the friendship takes a lot of time to achieve, trust is most important in forming these relationships, a lot of time is taken in building trust, and the unwavering refusal of the friends to be faltered by misleading information about the other person. These factors therefore limit one from having many good friends since there is not enough time to allow for the same.

Friendship between good men stands out as perfect as compared to other friendships based on ‘utility’ and ‘pleasure’. The difference in these two defective friendships from the ‘perfect/virtuous’ friendship is seen in the force drives one being attracted to the other. Aristotle clearly defines the differences by noting that while friendship of the good is based on both partners wishing to have each one benefit equally, that based on utility is based the material gain that the other person offers, and that based on pleasure is driven desires of the body. The other two friendships therefore can broadly be said to represent the concept that a person will go for what seems to be beneficial for himself. Friendships of utility and pleasure are formed very fast and are short lived. Friendship of pleasure is best illustrated by the friendship seen in young people. Young people follow what is pleasant to them at the moment. In the process of growing up however, they come across other people who they find more pleasurable and therefore are quick to shift camps. Friendship of utility, which is based on how useful the other person is, can best be seen in older people who seek people who are of advantage to them. However once the source of this usefulness is gone, the friendship quickly fades.

Aristotle in addition noted that as much as the other two forms of defective friendship based on ‘utility’ and ‘pleasure’ seem in genuine, it should be noted that they are also based on goodwill just like the friendship between good men. The difference is the fact that this goodwill exists towards that which attracts them to the other person and therefore is short lived as opposed to the form of goodwill in the friendship between good men which lasts a long time.

 

 

Elementary Topic: Multiculturalism

Instructional Objective:  Students will identify their respective cultures, become conversant with different classmates’ cultures and be tested on their understanding of the impact of multiculturalism in the society as a whole.

Grade Level:  8^th Grade

Script

Teacher: the world we live in comprises of different cultures marked by gender, social classes and race. Appreciating, promoting, respecting and accepting this diverse culture is known as multiculturalism. (The teacher explains the meaning of multiculturalism to students with the help of a picture presenting three kids from different cultures. This task is aimed at creating a consensus, reinforcing cultural respect and foster cultural pluralism in the class room environment. Additionally, it fosters constructive racial idiosyncrasies in the classroom environment for students to embrace diversity) (Martin, nd).

Student 1: From the picture, there is an African American girl, a Hispanic boy and another boy from European origin. (The teacher must create a learning atmosphere which upholds positive interracial interaction. The teacher should give positive clarifications.

Teacher: after the lesson, I expect diminished prejudice, stereotypes, bigotry and racism among the students. This is because diminished racial tension, enhanced retention of the racial minority results to overall increase in students’ performance. The following steps help you to become critical thinkers regarding matters of prejudice and discrimination. (Students are then allowed to ask questions as the teacher respond to them with regard to their age, curiosity and personality as he models their attitudes and behaviors using multimedia learning materials that incorporate sound, graphics, video, text among others).

Student 2:  I am Paul, and according to my parents, my name means Small. I am African American and my nickname is Cameron, the African country where my mom comes from. I represent the fourth generation of my ethnic group in this nation. (The teacher can start by asking every student to introduce themselves and identify each other by names or cultural group. This activity is meant to enhance mutual respect and appreciate diversity and things that they have in common. Consequently, the student will try to figure out the origin of their name and its meaning. They should also give their nicknames, ethnic origin and the places that their parents are born and the generation they are in. the teacher requires each student to point out two people in the class room they know and the answers to be expected from them. This activity is sensitive and students should be advised to disclose only what they are at ease with. This activity will help the students to cultivate intercultural respect as well as understanding. They will become aware that even those with similar identity groups could vary backgrounds and those from different groups could have similar backgrounds).

Teacher: Every student should say ‘Hello’ in as many different languages as one can.

Students: Hello! (English), Ahlala (Cameroon), Habari/Jambo (Swahili), Born Dia (Portuguese), salaam aleikum (Arabic), Bonjour (French). (The teacher will identify each student in the classroom and require them to say he word in as many languages as he or she can).

Teacher:  identify two experiences where you have with different cultures. Write short stories about this, be creative, comic. This activity will help to bring out the aspects of cultural uniqueness and diversity. It also enhances active introspection and self-reflection.

Student 3:   I am Patel. I want to share my cultural dimension with you. I am Indian but i have been brought up in the U.S. I love going to our weddings since it is one occasion that reflects our culture in every aspect. There are various dances, decorations and different types of food and drinks such as chai that is well prepared. (After this activity, each student will be conversant with different cultures and what they entail). (The teacher demonstrates an Indian bridal Sari (Fashion World, 2010) and puts on some Indian traditional wedding music (DSouza, 2010)).

Teacher: Activity 1: I will conduct a cross-cultural IQ test in good funniness that will eventually help you to recognize that IQ is defined and bound by culture. Activity 2: requires the students to identify a game from another culture and explain it while teaching one another to play. This will emphasize on the importance of cultural contact and diversity.  Activity 3: students are required to watch the 17.33 minutes video dubbed’ Multiculturalism Documentary’ (Wayneren, 2008).  After watching the video, the students will appreciate the importance of diversity and its effects in the society.  Watching video is exciting and stimulates the student’s interests and at the same time elicits their emotional response, which is a strong motivational incentive. Activity 4: requires the students to read a story from the book “Voices of the other: children’s literature and the postcolonial context” by Roderick McGillis titled “A Giant Named Azalea and Why Me?” (McGillis, 2000 p.171). Following the activity, students will be in a position to convey their feelings and views regarding the topic. The teacher will there respond to their questions and views to help them to appreciate their individual roles to facilitate cultural diversity and positive cultural contact.

This script concludes by conducting a multicultural awareness quiz, to test the students on the meaning of the term multiculturalism, its relevance in the society and aspects of gender, socio-economic status and race. Consequently, the teacher recaps on the aspects of cultural dimensions discussed in class. He expounds further on importance of avoiding prejudice and bias since it’s neither beneficial neither to the perpetrator nor to the victim, but rather, it impedes societal development. Students are then advised to continue carrying out self-reflection and identify a clear dimension of their identity. From this, they will be conversant with concepts of inclusion and exclusion and how the experiences have shaped their learning process and academic performance. To sum it all, students will eventually be in a position to identify their respective cultures, become conversant with different cultures present in class and explain the impact of multiculturalism in the society as a whole after the learning activities conducted in class.

Risk Structure of Interest Rates

How does the risk structure affect interest rates?

 

Interest rate is the amount charged after one scrounges money from an association such as the bank. It is habitually in a percentage form. Risk structure of interest rate can simply be defined as the relationship between interest rate on bonds of different maturities, (Singleton, (2003).  In the market, there is a lot of diverse category of recognition market securities. These market instruments vary in interest rates. A valid example is where bonds of the same grace period have different risks.

There are three factors that affect risk structure. These are:

• Default Risk
• Liquidity
• Income Tax Consideration

Default Risk

This can be defined as the probability as to which the borrower might fail to pay the interested charges promptly. It also includes total payment of the bond when it matures. Therefore the implication this fact has on the interest rate is that, as the riskiness increases, the interest rate will consequently increase. What this implies is that, in cases where bonds have a higher risk of default, they will have to generate a higher interest rate. Probability is that, US government will never go bankrupt, and therefore its Treasury securities are default free. This means that their interest rate is low. This is not the case with corporations since they do default, making the interest rate to go higher. As a result, this is why it is evident that US government bonds are relatively lower in interest rates than the corporate bonds. Consequently, this fact can be used to explain the variation between the US government bonds with the corporate ones in time of recessions and depressions.

Liquidity     

Liquidity can be defined as the process of converting an asset into monetary value. It counts for the flexibility in which the process can take place. It is evident that the US government bonds are more liquidity than the corporate ones in the sense that they are easily convertible into monetary value.  The effect of liquidity in interest rate is that, the more liquid a bond is, the less the interest rate.

Income Tax Consideration

This is also known as municipal bonds. These are bonds which are issued out by the local government, or the state. These bonds are evaded from federal tax, hence making them generate less interest rate than both the US government bonds as well as the corporate one.

   Conclusion

In a nutshell, the interest rate is directly affected by the riskiness of the bond. The more risk the bond is, the higher the interest rate.

Abstract

This report scrutinizes the dominance of The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is a multinational infusion vendor, industrialized and marketer of non- intoxicating drinks. It is well known for its outstanding brand Coca-Cola, which was invented by John Stith Pemberton in 1886. Eventually this brand was bought by Asa Candler, and incorporated the Coca- Cola Company in 1892. It has accumulated much market share, with over 500 brands sold out to over 200 countries. 

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to examine and describe changes in the Coca- Cola Company as well as the activity that it has recently gone through.

FINDINGS

Acquisitions

Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company recently has tried to acquire the Chinese Juice maker, but unfortunately it was turned down when China rejected its $4.2billion bid for the Huiyuan Juice. The reason as to why the Chinese rejected this offer is to avoid virtual monopoly. Consequently, Nationalism contributed in foiling the deal. This as a result of an oil based company was rejected in America.

The Coca- Cola Company acquired Minute Maid in 1960. Minute maid is the world’s largest vendor of fruit juices and drinks. It was the first company which market juice made from oranges. It is located in Sugar Land, Texas, United states.

Coca- Cola Company also acquired the Indian Cola brand, called Thumps Up in 1993. The idea behind purchasing this Company was to enable coca-cola to compete effectively with Pepsi 

ENVIRONMENTAL FORCES

There are a number of factors influencing the growth and expansion of this organization to its intend size. These are;

SOCIAL ASPECTS

The organization structures in hierarchy of authority may contribute to a success or a setback in production of the company’s products which is the sole backbone in its growth. From the top organs in running the affairs of the company to the lowest cadre who foresees the production of the intended products is essential. Bad managers, give very low returns since they will not be able to influence their juniors’ with the virtue of either hard work or time consciousness in their day to day work output, since they themselves are not able to show the required professional work etiquette need in production.

A manager, who is lazy and is ever late at work, will find it hard to instill the discipline of hard work and punctuality to his or her junior employees. Moreover, if the manager lacks good communication skills or has poor worker to worker relationship, may find it hard to enhance cooperation between the employees themselves since he or she lacks that aspect of organization in him or herself. As the saying goes, togetherness is unity; therefore division among themselves may be a time bomb to the decline of production thus not achieving the aims and objectives of the company.

A company that takes a bold step to take its employees to an in-service training and educational seminars and workshops, will have beat the on- coming shadow or cloud of incompetent workers due to the changing times of the current market trends. The human resource needs to empower themselves with the required modern skills and knowledge to cope up with the changing times. Know-how on operation of today machines enhances production and boosts growth of the company output hence a significant ascending graph in production.

Furthermore the plight and welfare of the employees should not be over looked since they are the ones to implement and execute the laid down norms of the organization to achieve the desire goals. Good salaries and perks, insurances cover, allowances promised to workers and promotions to hard working staff boosts morale within the work force in the company. It encourages more productivity hence mass production in terms of the intended output thus growth and success in that business.

ECONOMIC FORCES

Every organization will try as much as possible to cut down their expenses to accrue more profits, thus continuity in the business. A company should try as much as possible to outline unnecessary expenditure and try to avoid any foreseen oversight in their expenses. However, these should not over look the needs of the employees’ welfare, because it may jeopardize the events leading to execution of the objectives intended for desired results.

The organization should also familiarize with the current financial institution that offers or lends economic friendly loan advances which are business packaged of the time.

The products being released into the market for potential customers should also be pocket friendly with the current impending economic hardships. A company that produces products which cannot be afforded by a potential consumer may suffer from lack of sales volumes hence the desired objectives not being achieved on intended time bound. Thus, market knowledge on demand is essential for prosperity and growth of the company.

Lastly, the government’s incentives and taxes on the operational companies should be put into consideration. The taxes levied on the goods produced should concur with the price market offered so as not to exploit the consumers who may in turn opt for similar products from other companies which offer same goods.

People are vulnerable to disasters. It is through this fact that people should be ready to handle any emergency that might crop up. A tool for being prepared for emergency and be in a position to manage it is called vulnerability analysis. This can be incorporated with a contemporary complete advance known as disaster risk management. No one knows when an emergency will strike, therefore there is need for a professional team to be set aside, and well trained to handle emergency incase it transpires. This team of workforce should have comprehensive guidance, with the state of the art equipments to deal with any nature of emergency, may it be from fire, theft, or even sickness. Separate units should be put in place, and allow specialization in order to have effective consciousness of the emergency at hand. By this I mean, if it is for fire, there is need for a sector specifically to deal with that. In addition, regular training to the workforce is of great importance. Certain precautions should be considered when being prepared to handle any emergency. For instance, Securicor alarms should be installed, and the relevant people trained on how to use them to send an alert message to the response team in case an emergency is detected. Alternative exit ways should be considered when building a residential or either commercial house. These exit ways should be easily accessible. Emergency scares should be run at least once in a year to test how the response will be. Finally, as a precaution measure, it is advisable to have valid contacts of the relevant response team, so as to get to them on time in case of an emergency.

 

Background of the situation, including organizational factors and the external environment,

Case in point is that, there is a situation to be analyzed critically, and the right decision made with the ideal strategy executed. This is between Sam, and her Mother Linda. This pertain the increase in sales. Sam, who is the marketing

Manager wants to increase sales by adding sales reps rather than playing with the prices. On the other hand, his mother is not sure on the appropriate cause of action to be taken into consideration before coming up with the strategy to implement.

United plastic Mfg is located at Long Beach in California. Its main area of operation is industrialized plastic, and it’s the foremost manufacturer in the plastic forming technology. Started in the 1970’s, it has outgrown time factor and currently it has over $ 50 million sales annually (Oak Brook, 2006). The co-founder of this company, Roger, succumbed to dearth as a result of a heart attack. His wife Linda took over from him and has excelled the company for over 15 years, and she has proved to be determinant, productive, focused and a strong executive. As her tremendous effort, she outworked external environment which was comparatively thought her incompetence to excel. Manufacturers of the same product tried to bring unfair competition, but consequentially she excelled. She competed with 12 competitors’, who manufactured the same products, and sold at the same price.

The various concerns, issues, and problems evident in the situation

The main concern on United Plastic is that it solely depends on six company sales representatives. These reps cover the West Coast, and they cost the company $880, 000 per year. This is the whole remuneration package including their salary, bonuses as well as transportation and other running coast. In addition, there are assistant sales reps, and their cost to the United Plastic Company is $130, 000 annually. The other area of concern to this company is on advertisement, which costs around $100, 000.

Another area of concern is that, Linda is apprehensive that there is potential market outside the West Coast; she wants to find a way to compete effectively in other regions. Her top most strategy to achieve her goal is by increasing on the number of sales rep than altering the prices.

The main area of concern (main problem)

The core area of concern in the United Plastic Mfg Inc is venturing on the way forward and capturing the untapped potential market. This are includes the Midwest and the Eastern regions. In addition increasing on sales volume without altering on the price is another area of concern as argued by Sam.

Alternative courses of action

The alternative measure Linda is thinking of implementing is expanding sales by absorbing extra $3,000 to $6,000 in freight cost. This is what occurs if Midwestern consumers buy from her West Coast location. She will reduce her net returns by implementing the above mentioned action. Also by implementing this, in her own reasoning, she puts it that her competitors will not resort in cutting down costs for they will see not this as price competition. 

Evaluation of alternatives based upon the criteria selected for this purpose

Linda’s son Sam evaluates this alternative, and disagrees. He articulates that if the mentioned action is implemented, it will stimulate price competition in the Midwest and East and as well as the West Coast. He therefore prefers adding sales reps. For example, he point out that by adding on entertainment to the marketing campaign it will be of great significance.

Selection of a course of action

Sam advocates for hiring some sales reps to work in the Midwest and Eastern regions. The reps should sell quality not to rely on manufacturers agents. He further debates that, by adding two more sales reps, sales might increase immensely with the costs not increasing at per. Sam points it out that, with this plan, there would be no need to absorb in flight, and risk disrupting the status quo. He goes further and explains that the competition in the Midwest and East is much higher than on the West Coast. This is as a result of the number of competitors who even to extend include foreign ones.

Plans for implementing the course of action

The relevant implementation protocol for this action is to first consider entertaining. Though seemingly expensive, it is required so as to be considered as a potential supplier

Identification of possible follow-up problems

Linda agrees with her son, and identifies to follow up on the appropriate cause of action to take with regard to expanding on her business territory so as to venture in the Midwest and eastern region.

Conclusion

Given sales objectives with the targeted figure, it is the mandate of the United Plastic Mfg to ensure that it works out the appropriate plan for achieves the goal.  it is a critical decision to make, and it is this decision that will determine whether the sales will increase or not without changing the status quo. Evidently, Sam has a vision for the company and with his capability as the marketing manager; the company will excel to greater heights.

Findings and Discussion

The Macdonald fast food outlets stores have been the current fast food stores taking the shapes of many lives in the society by influencing peoples feeding habits in their life styles. According to my research, I came up with several findings. These findings I carried most of them manually, and did some research over the internet. In regard to manually, I conceded out an interview with some of the staff members, who in depth judged the Macdonald fast food outlets stores negatively, and summed up as they dehumanized its staff. In some of the methods I used on how to sample my findings on my research were by using oral and written questionnaires. I conducted oral interviews by asking them what the dangers they have experience at work, their work environment, as well as requesting them to fill the questionnaires.

In the oral interview, some of the queries were;

1. What challenges do you face with your supervisors at work?

2. Do your supervisors expect a lot from your output?

3. How many hours do you work per day?

4. Are you paid well when it comes over time payment?

5. Does your organization allow you to join any trade unions?

6. Do you undergo any in service training to acquire new skills to suit you with the current market trends?

7. Have you ever experience any violations of human rights at work?

8. Is there any gender in balances within your respective working departments?

9. Does your work interfere with your family planning’s and agendas?

10. Does the organizations work policy affect your day to day life style?

11. What are your suggestions on how to improve the company’s work output to enhance the growth of the organizations today and in the near future?

12. What’s your ambition and future position with this company in the next coming four to five years?

13. Would you encourage the management to introduce machines to increase work output to enhance product volumes?

14. Should the management concern include sports as part and parcel of the company’s activities to establish good relationship between the employees?

15 Do you believe the workers welfare is well taken care of in terms of allowances and remunerations perks?

I used the same questions in making questionnaires, and distributed to the outlets which I could not reach to the staffs manually. The feedback was less or more the same. The staffs were morally against the way the Macdonald’s handled their staff. McDonaldization imprisons people into an iron cage. This was the argument for 90% of the total feedback I got from the staff. They were much against the way their welfare was neglected and how they had no free time for their own. Their grievances were overwhelming and of considerable impact to my research. They needed intervention urgently. The staffs claimed to be oppressed by the management who turned a deaf ear to their plea. They felt halfway relieved for having someone ready to listen to their cry. The staffs were more than willing to avail to me any relevant information I wanted, thus they made my research successful. All they wanted is for me to attend to their issues, and try to come up with a long term solution, that would act as a savior to their predicaments.

As outlined in my literature review, in regard to the four dimensions used by the Macdonald, I merged all of them and came up with a finding that it is through these dimensions that the Macdonald uses to pin down its employees. For instance, as stated by Ritzer (2011) the dimension of efficiency which is finding the best way of getting from one point to another, Macdonald uses this dimension to corner employees who tend not to be much flexible hence go on and dehumanize them. The dimension of calculability is intensely used to demise employees by enforcing extra outrageous calculations of production, making it hard for the staff to overdo their duties in order to give extra sales. This has a negative performance for it makes the staff to work under pressure, hence poor and ineffective service delivery. Nevertheless, it is through this dubious means that, due to the panic a staff is exposed to, he or she ends up not performing to his or her best of ability.

In addition, Ritzer goes further and argues on the “irrationality of rationality”, which he terms to be the advantage and disadvantage of Weber and bureaucracies respectively. According to my findings, this is done through the process of rules and regulations that dictate what is done. Some of the advantages of formal rationality discussed by Ritzer are efficiency, increasing the quantification of things, predictability and control through the replacement of human judgment with rules and regulations. I found out this was a pull back to the staff, and was to the contrary dehumanizing them. Takaki lengthens the reasoning and describes this as, “placed in confinement, its emotions controlled, and its spirit subdued.” (Ritzer 2011: pg. 26). This aspect is evident with the employees of Walgreens; there are rules that dictate everything even how they respond to a customer. In my finding, I found evidently through the response I got from the employee that it was hard to express free utmost good faith to a customer without being called later for a warning and even threat.

Another issue at hand I found with the Macdonald is that they are more on quantity delivery. They are targeting on high numbers turnovers. When all you are worried about is putting up numbers, the quality of your work is going to fall (Ritzer 2011). Consequently, McDonaldization imprisons people into an iron cage. This is due to the fact that all they believed in was nothing less of improvement and growth in the society. They coiled that society was going to remain constant, without great impact of the technological advancement. In one of the live interview I held with one of the staffs, he told me that use of mobile phone was completely banned from their workstation, and communication of which ever kind with a non staff member was completely intolerable. It was in the same interview that I found out that staffs were not allowed to have any other source of income outside their jobs, and no investments whatsoever was allowed. Staffs were being handled in more or less manner like in the colonial error.

In my own understanding McDonaldization never allowed top level management interact freely with the junior staffs as depicted in one of the questionnaires were I gave room for criticism. It was clearly outlined that, for a junior to talk any issue to his or her superiors, he or she had to do a one or more weeks in advance booking of an appointment to be allowed to do so. In addition, staffs were only allowed to bring to table issues only affecting the organization directly. Any staff affairs or welfare consideration was put to a later date which never materialized.

Another mode that McDonaldization imprisons people in is that it maneuvers some incompetence ways to make people work in machine like manner. By this the staffs are overworked and made to work of overtime which at all times goes unnoticed. Additionally, it is also on this point that McDonaldization invests heavily in research trying to discover machines which can work more effectively and efficient than the human labor available. Its main target is to lay off some staff members, who according to them are non-performers. I discovered this from a live interview I conducted with a tensed staff who said that his line of duty was in utensil cleaning, and there had been bought a machine which this staff argued was going to defiantly show him the door.

With my intensive and thorough research, I devised up a mechanism on how to come into terms with the McDonaldization. I perceived a situation where the staff could have a working renewable written contract. In this, the staff would have their rights followed on a written constitution, signed and sworn in through an Anthony. By so doing, staff would work in conducive environment free from threats and pressure. This would also allow the staff to have benefits such as have medical, house and other crucial allowances. Also remunerations control would be put into consideration, and staff would have a motivation to work. Apart from the staff benefits, this would also ensure growth and prosperity of the organization. This is due to the fact that, the staffs, who are the key contributor to the development of the firm, are well capacitated and motivated, hence being reproductive.

In a nutshell, McDonaldization of Walgreens has dehumanized its employees, and there is need for an urgent action to be taken to rescue the oppressed staffs that are hardly aware of their abused rights. It came to my attention that the staffs were suffering innocently in the hands of McDonaldization. With the right constitution, the rights of the staffs would be well taken care of.

Human resource department is such a sensitive department in any organization. This is due to the fact that it is the main organ in any organization that is responsible for staff management. This includes hiring, promoting as well as firing the non performing staffs. Case in point, HR is such an effective way to make changes in the organizational culture in the sense that, it is the department responsible for human labor force. As defined by Ravasi and Schultz (2006), organizational culture is a set of collective psychological postulation that directs elucidation and action in organizations. Ravasi goes ahead and defines organizational culture as an appropriate conduct for diverse situations.

Therefore, HR is effective in implementing this change through human labor. It can hire people from different ethnical groups, who after bonding with the rest of the staff can bring different cultural values from their communities hence a change can be visualized. HR can bring change by organizing seminars. In these seminars, staff can be taught different cultural values.  In addition, since HR is responsible for staff monitoring, it can give staff members transfer to other branches in different physical location. Through this the staff will be introduced to different cultures hence change can be effected.

From a human resource perspective, change management is important owing to the rapid changing nature of today’s organizations. The process of change management poses a risk of interrupting human resource operations as it is likely to alter the organizational structure. This offers an opportunity for human resource managers to examine the strengths and loopholes within the organizational structure and the entire workforce that need to be re-evaluated. Change management can also affect the confidence of the employees with the organization making it more difficult for the human resource manager to handle the workforce within the organization. Additionally, change management process can also disrupt the employee’ productivity leading to increased costs in running the organization’s workforce.  However, effective change management can make it easier for the running of human resource activities. Organizational development can be beneficial to an organization by increasing its productivity, employee satisfaction and reducing operational costs as well as enhancing the organization’s innovativeness and team work spirit. It also serves to enhance better corporate relations between the organization and its external stakeholders. Additionally it also serves to improve the organization’s flexibility in responding to its competitors.

DQ 2.

            Meeting consumer expectations is critical to the performance of any organization as it can mean the difference between success and failure in terms of performance. This can be illustrated by comparing the scores of two companies in a similar industry. According to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) (2011), Sprint scored better than AT & T-mobile both of which are in the mobile service industry. In this industry, it is apparent that satisfying the existing customers is vital in the organization’s performance since it is hard to recruit new subscribers than to win new clients. Better customer satisfaction has seen Sprint increase its subscriber base.

DQ 3.

Effective communication is crucial in managing change within the organization. It helps in passing information in a manner that ensures appropriate behavioral change among employees while minimizing turmoil that is likely to result from the changes. Effective communication helps in minimizing adverse consequences resulting from the employee perceptions regarding the eminent threats emanating from the changes. It therefore serves to restore trust and confidence among the stakeholders hence ensuring a smooth transition during the process of implementing the changes. Effective communication accords some degree of control to the stakeholders making them feel as part of the decision making and the change process hence improving the credibility of the changes to be implemented.

DQ 4

In managing change behaviors, organizations can use various incentives can be used to motivate employees to be more receptive to the change. Incentives that can be used by organizations in influencing the employee behavior include financial incentives like salary increments, added benefits like medical and insurance covers, offering commissions and subsidies among others. Indirect financial motivators like scholarships within the organization, subsidizing meals and offering tax breaks as well as transport can also be used (United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2006). The organization can also use social incentives like creating a more conducive working environment and reassuring employees of the security of their jobs as well as giving them a sense of belonging. However, it is important to carefully analyze the type of motivators that can achieve better results since incentives may bring different outcomes for different organizations. As an employee, incentives that have proved more effective are those that have a direct influence on the employee’s life like salary increment, improvement of working conditions and job security.

DQ 5

Senior executives are key persons in managing organizational change since they are the top decision makers as well as communicators of the changes to be effected. As senior executives, the manner in which they communicate change can significantly affect the outcome of the proposed changes to the organization. As decision makers, managers are prone to making decisions that may not auger well with other employees and stakeholders within the organization. One of the major pitfalls encountered by managers during this process is inadequate time for communicating the decisions and obtaining feedback from the employees. They can also be faced with inadequate resources for implementing the required changes. Additionally they also face an uphill task of communicating changes that might have negative consequences to the employees. In order to make their task more manageable, managers should seek input from other employees and incorporate their ideas in the decision making whenever necessary. They should also involve other employees in the decision making process as this will make the decisions more accommodative. Additionally, they should communicate the decisions in time in order to give them time to get feedback from other employees.

Networks of Networks

            Most of the successful business organization today exists as networks of networks. Such networks of networks include transactional corporations. Transactional corporations are corporations that operate in multiple countries at the same time. Such corporations have become the most powerful political and economic entities across the globe. It is worthwhile to note that there are transnational corporations that are powerful than some national states. However, most of the transnational corporations have got limited geographical scope as far as sales are concerned. This paper reviews the networks of networks articles.

The two analytical studies am going to develop are human subjects and the integrity of the data collected.

Human Subjects

In most of the cases, human subjects can be analyzed in terms of quantitative. In search engines such as the Google and Yahoo, they are measured in terms of the number of traffic that flows into them.  The more the traffic flows on a site the more the achievements, and vice versa. Human traffic can be generated by ensuring that the data portrayed follows the right protocol, and is of high quality.

Integrity of the data collected

Data is the main controlling feature in networks. It’s the leeway to any communication. For any effective information between two parties, there has to be data transferred and interpreted well by both parties. The study of data integration can be classified as qualitative analysis. This is because data has to be of high quality for ease of understanding.

For the research paper, I used sample collection, extraction and saving as analytical methods in the studies.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of transnational corporations on regional level of networks to networks.

Transnational corporations operate on regional level.  Thus, regional elements have become vital in terms of product offering or strategic decision making and implementation. Regional approaches in establishment of transnational corporations have been described as global strategy. Before a prospective company in a particular country deciding on whether or not to expand its business operation across the region, the company requires to come up with a clear global strategy (Verbeke & Rugman, 2004). The global strategy should include outlining the main business objectives clearly, outlining the competitive objectives clearly and setting the scope to which the business will operate as well as the strategy of establishing the geographical units.

However, there are several challenges that face transnational corporations, such challenges include. Customer requirements, social, economical and political differences may affect the business units in various countries directly or indirectly (Whitaker, 2010). Customer requirements differ across different countries. This depends on several factors such as economic development as well as cultural preferences. The products that customers like in one country where the corporation has established its branch is not what customers in other countries prefer. Therefore, a comprehensive research should be carried out to establish the taste and preferences of different customers in different countries. The outcomes of such a research can be used in designing a sustainable product that will satisfy the needs and wants of various clients. In addition, the social, economic as well as political factors also affect the transnational corporation in one way or the other.  The social setup present in a particular country determines the products and services to be consumed. For example, if majority of the population in a particular country are the youths. The company should design most of the products targeting the youths. The gross domestic product of a particular country determines the performance of a particular business unit located in a particular country. If the gross domestic product of a particular country is high the economic performance of the business unit is also expected to be high.

Finally, the political factors also determine the success or failure of a transnational corporation (Verbeke & Rugman, 2004). Political leaders design political acts that govern business transactions. Some of these acts affect regional business transactions. Some of the acts may be designed to hider establishment of particular business. In this case higher import and export duty tax may be put in place as part of political act to limit transaction of particular business.

The annual world investment reports ranks the top 100 transnational corporations in terms of assets, sales as well as employment base (Laura et al, 2009). The top 20 transnational corporations operate in the countries which are members of the European Union. However, 9 of the top 20 transnational corporations operate in the triad region market. Such transnational corporations include Vodafone, Suez, Nokia, Philips electronics, Nortel networks, Volvo etc.

There are only 3 out of 20 transnational corporations that have a balanced distribution of their sales across the triad region (Laa & Zhou, 2005). These transnational corporations include Nokia with 25 % sales in America, 49% sales in Europe as well as 26% sales in Asia and pacific region. The second firm is Philips electronics with 28.7 % in United States of America, 21.5% sales in Asia pacific, 6.8% sales in other parts of the world and 43% sales in Canada. Thirdly, LVMH has got 26% sales in America, 36% sales in Europe, 32% sales in Asia as well as 6% sales in the rest of world.

Despite the above transnational corporation having achieved global corporate success they have got a along way to go in implementing competitive strategies. This is because there are a lot of competitors who are coming up with advanced competitive strategies (Whitaker, 2010). However, some of these competitors are from other region but they are using unethical competition. In this case the unethical competition includes developing of counterfeited products which are sold at relatively cheaper price than that of the original competitor. For example, there are a lot of counterfeited Nokia phones in the market today which are sold at relatively cheap prices as compared to that of the original phones.

Large retail corporations are more home region based in contrast to manufacturing transnational’s Verbeke & Rugman, 2004). For example Wal-Mart has got 4,414 stores worldwide of which 3,244 are in the United States, 196 are located in Canada and 551 are located in Mexico and the other 423 are found in international markets.

Balanced scorecard and information it contains

A balanced scorecard is a modern effective tool which is immensely of considerable impact in any business. It is basically used in fact finding, solution provision, as well as a platform for strategic implementation. In order to effectively measure how well a strategy is working in an organization, a method of analyzing a number of perspectives rather than the financial aspects is required.

The Balanced Scorecard approach presents a viable alternative to a firm as it enables prediction of future performance and implementation of a strategic plan. The Balanced Scorecard approach was developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 as a performance measurement and management system.

Therefore, the Balanced Scorecard entails a management system which takes the strategic objectives and visions of an organization and then groups them into four perspectives which are then measured and evaluated independently. The four perspectives are:

• Financial,
•  Customer,
• Business process
• Learning and Growth.

Departments that collect the data and how the data from a balanced scorecard is used by the various departments within a hotel

In a balanced scorecard, there are a numerous activities performed by different deportments. It is divided into two, ‘Scorecard’ used to signify performance measures that have been quantified, and ‘balanced’ used to show that the system is unbiased.

These departments include;

• Finance
• Customer care
• Procurement
• Development and design

Finance department

It is in finance department where all the business operations are concentrated .Moreover the financial objectives gains must be realized in respect to the goals set. The set strategies must be adhered to for successful execution and implementation of data found in a balance scorecard .The ideal strategies used to propel the progress of the organization in the previous financial year should not be neglected but be looked into hence better financial gains.

The staffs in this department are organized into various units on a fact finding mission on how to lower the cost, and avoid unnecessary expenses to enhance profit margins than the previous financial year. Hence it is the mandate of the out bound staff to submit relevant data to the finance manager, who in turn presents it to a board meeting for analysis, then making a critical decision on the implementation of the appropriate strategy for effective operation.

Nevertheless, customers needs and what entails to their services should not be compromised thus bringing a setback in what was supposed to be realized in the balance scorecard .While focusing the idea of limiting the incurred expenses, the department concerned should be careful not trend on the traditions of the running of that organization which may result in a negative impact to the personnel who are to execute the set goals.

The financial perspective of the Balanced Scorecard aims at addressing the drawbacks of financial metrics. It focuses on the shareholders’ view of the firm and the financial goals that they desire. The goals are dependent on the stage of the firm in the business life cycle. For instance, a company at the growth stage has the main goal as growth in revenue. Similarly, a company at the sustain stage has its goal as profitability which is measured by such ratios as return on capital. A firm that is at the harvest stage aims at reduction of cash flow and capital requirements.

Customer Care and Relations Department

The success of any firm or organization depends solely on the traffic of clients flow. Effective strategies are set to enhance sales volume and aim at attracting potential customers .The clientele in this business are the core vital organs to run it health wise hence profits .Quality service delivery should be the utmost good faith within the concerned units in this department .The virtues of business, like honesty, politeness and trustworthy should not be ignored .This leads to good reputation of the company and can help out do the competitors. With this in mind, the relevant field officers should bring forward the issues at hand that can be affecting clients. This is done by a proper analytical scorecard, which caters for the bureaucracy of the hotel.

The main aim of this perspective is to establish the potential customers of a firm. It also evaluates the value proposition of a firm in serving the customers. Most organizations find it challenging when choosing an appropriate value proposition. Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema in The Discipline of Market Leaders affirm that there are three disciplines that a firm can choose from. These are as follows:

1.         i.            Operational excellence: these firms base their focus majorly on low price and convenience.
2.       ii.            Product leadership: these firms strive to produce the best products in the market through innovation.
3.     iii.            Customer intimacy: these firms focus on the long term relationship by articulating the needs of their customers.

The value of a firm as determined by customers is mainly based on time, quality, performance and cost. Therefore, poor performance from the customer perspective is indicative of future decline.

Procurement Department

It is in this department were all the purchasing power is entailed. It is concerned with the overall procurement of all the materials needed for the smooth operation of any business. The relevant officer here is liable to proper decision making, and is assisted by his or her subordinate staff who give him data to feed in the scorecard for effective decision making. Case in point, the hotel uses a balanced scorecard to ensure that no irrelevant purchase is done.

Development and design

This is the department where the final outlook of a product is determined with the current trends and customers preferences as well as the taste. It is mainly utilized by firms seeking ambitious results for their business processes, customers and their financial stakeholders. This department is therefore the foundations upon which the Balanced Scorecard is established. This perspective is mostly product-centered. This includes: product research and staff training and corporate cultural attitudes that are related to both individual and corporate self improvement. In this department, a scorecard can be of help pin the sense that it will assist the relevant managers in coming up with the utmost perfect decision in the final product. Case in point, in the hotel, the balance scorecard will ensure that, for instance the food prepared is of the desired quality to the targeted customers.

How can a balanced scorecard determine a hotel’s room rates for a particular time of year or day of the week?

A balance scorecard can act as a very vital barometer to measure the traffic flow of the clients in respect to the supply and demand rule. When the set strategies incline with the desire effects in the organization goals, the concerned units involved should share the intelligences and work out with the relevant department. They should check other competitors room rates, their demands in respect to theirs and come up with pocket friendly room package rates that caters for all ages.

How can a hotel’s balanced scorecard be used by a food and beverage department?

The main aim of any business is to cut down and do away with unnecessary expenses hence more profits. In hotel industry, food stuffs and drinks which are consumed in large quantities should be focused more by the department concerned. The objectives of the balance scorecard must be adhered to, and the needs of the customers must be looked into. With an effective balance scorecard, ascertaining the rate of food and drink consumption can be achieved.

  How will management use the information to determine staffing needs?

Management controls all the operation of any given business. This is relayed all through from the top management level up to the subordinate. Effective communication skills are essential to successful detailed strategic decision making and implementation. A balanced scorecard can be used to evaluate the effectiveness a staff is. This can be of great help to the management in determining who to hire and fire. Depending on the performance of the organization, the management with the help of the scorecard can determine on the mode of staffing to use. It can either be on contract, meaning long term or short term or on a locum term, meaning on a day to day basis.

In addition, apart from increasing or lying off staff, balance scorecard can assist in catering for some basic needs of the staff, for instance uniform, shelter, or even transport.

 Other management choices that must be considered when reviewing a hotel’s balanced scorecard

 The welfare of the personnel should be considered as far as the set goal strategies are concerned so as to achieve the desired objectives in a balance scorecard. The vital organs in running the organization should be given enough funds and the workers prearranged for in service training through workshops and seminars to catch up with the modern trends in the hospitality industry

Implementation of a Balanced Scorecard

A Balanced Scorecard should enable a firm to improve its processes, motivate or educate its employees, enhance information systems, monitor the progress, achieve increased customer satisfaction and financial use.

Discussion

The hospitality industry has adopted online booking or e-booking services for the customers. However, use of internet based transactions has led to increased cases of fraudsters through cyber attacks. Internet based transactions are therefore faced with risks of financial loss through phishing and hacking (Bhasker, 2006). The hospitality sector therefore stresses on staff training and enhancement of information systems in order to minimize the possibility of losses. The use of information technology in the hotel and hospitality industry has helped in advancing their operations. Hotels searches and bookings are nowadays carried out in real time systems which have increased accessibility.

The co-alignment principle has been embraced in the hotel and hospitality industry. This principle enables hotels to gain maximum returns and operate at optimum levels. It also enables the companies to measure and compare their performance with similar firms in the industry. The co-alignment principle gives room for detailed and strategic planning as concerns operational refinement and service provision (Rawat, 2010).

Many organizations within the hotel and hospitality industry have adopted the concept of customer Relationship Management (CRM). This is an all inclusive process that is aimed at improving the quality of interactions between existing and prospective clients by applying relevant and efficient information. Customer Relationship Management is a program that rewards and recognizes trustworthy guests. The management of a hotel is able to articulate the needs specific to a client through observing the hotels’ databases. Databases are widely used due to their ability link and manage files together hence reducing redundancies and ineffectiveness. This includes information pertaining to check-in and food supplies purchasing among others. Database systems are widely used by sales and marketing departments of various organizations or firms as they assist in establishing current and future clients. This has personalized the way in which marketing is done.

Benefits of using a Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard enables the translation of strategy into measurable parameters. The strategy formulated is then communicated to all the employees of the firm hence achieving an alignment of individual goals with the firms’ strategic objectives.

Drawbacks of using the Balanced Scorecard

The limitation of the Balanced Scorecard mainly surfaces during the implementation process. The Scorecard is heavily dependent on a well defined strategy that exhibits a clear understanding of the links between strategic objectives and the metrics. When a well-defined strategy is lacking, the Balanced Scorecard is unsuccessful.

The use of lagging measures to describe past performance is often misleading. This can be countered by identifying leading which can be used to plan for future performance. Generic metrics that have been successfully utilized by other firms are not usually suitable for other firms. Each firm should therefore strive to identify it own metrics in order to establish its own strategy.