Organisational Culture- analysis of Oticon Essay

INTRODUCTION Oticon, a Danish company founded in 1904 was the first company in the world to invent an instrument to help the hearing impaired. In the 1970’s, Oticon was the world’s number one manufacturer of the â€Å"behind the ear† hearing aids. During the 1970’s and 1980’s as the market for â€Å"in the ear† hearing aid grew, Oticon’s fortune suddenly declined and they lost money and market share. The main problem for all of this was that Oticon was a very traditional, departmentalized and slow-moving company. Even though Oticon had 15 sites and 95 distributorships around the world, Oticon was operating in a market dominated by Siemens, Phillips, Sony, 3M and Panasonic and most importantly, Oticon manufactured the â€Å"behind the ear† hearing aid but its customers preferred the â€Å"in the ear† product. Oticon also specialized in analogue technology whilst its customers were moving towards digital technology. In 1988, a new President of Oticon was appointed, Lars Kolind. With his appointment, he worked hard to turn the situation of Oticon around. Kolind implemented cost-cutting measures; he pared the company down, cut staff and increased efficiency, and reduced the price of a hearing aid by 20%. Nevertheless, this still did not achieve the results he wanted. He never gave up. He had been searching for a sustainable competitive advantage for Oticon. He wanted to create a new way of running a business. One that could be more creative, faster and cost effective and also compensate for technological excellence, capital and general resources which Oticon lacked. Kolind believed that Oticon could no longer compete with its technologically advanced competitors. By reinventing itself, Oticon showed that it could. Oticon drastically changed its organizational structure, ways of working and culture to let loose the human potential of the company. Kolind created a vision of a service-based organization and pursued it to gain a competitive edge. Employee involvement is crucial to successful change; especially in situations as Oticon’s that require attitudinal and cultural change. Planned and emergent perspectives stress that this is a slow, learning process. Rapid organizational transformations can only be successful if focus is on structural as well as cultural change. Kanter _et al_ emphasized that an organization’s structure can be changed relatively quickly through a ‘Bold Stroke’ but that cultural change can only be achieved by a ‘Long March’ requiring extensive participation over time. Oticon’s transformation was that of a rapid organizational change, which was based on the vision imposed on the company in a directive fashion by the CEO. This lead to the widespread change of attitudes and behaviours. Kolind’s vision was the reason for this rapid change in attitudes across Oticon. A more planned approach, facilitated by this change in attitudes was used to achieve this rapid structural change. This was then followed by a period of emergent change where staff had to develop and adjust to new ways of working with and behaving towards each other. Schmuck and Miles (1971) argue that the level of involvement required in a project is dependant on the impact of the change on people concerned. Building on earlier work by Harrison (1970), Huse (1980) developed this difference further. He categorized change interventions along with continuum based on the ‘depth of intervention, ranging from the ‘shallow level’ to the ‘deepest level’. The greater the depth of intervention, Huse argues, the more it becomes concerned with the psychological make-up and personality of the individual, and the greater the need for full involvement of individuals if they are to accept the changes. Therefore, linking levels of involvement to the types of change proposed is necessary. The key is that, the greater the effect on the individual, especially in terms of psychological constructs and values, the deeper the level of involvement required if successful behaviour change is to be achieved. The theory of cognitive dissonance of Burnes and James (1995) helps in seeking to understand and explain why major rapid attitudinal changes at Oticon were successful without a great deal of initial involvement. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that people want to behave in  accordance with their attitudes and usually will take corrective action to alleviate the dissonance and achieve balance. At Oticon, fundamental attitudinal change was achieved relatively quickly because management and employee recognized the need for change and saw why new vision is the only hope for the company’s survival. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, or CORPORATE CULTURE, comprises the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. It has been defined as â€Å"the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. An ORGANISATION’S CULTURE is affected by a number of factors including: The ENVIRONMENT in which the organisation operates. Internally, this is often conveyed by its physical layout which can, foe example, reflect warm friendliness or cold efficiency. The BELIEFS, VALUES AND NORMS of the employees within the organisation, particularly those communicated by top management. The formal and informal LEADERS who personify the organisation’s culture. The PROCEDURES that have to be followed and the behaviour expected of people within the organisation. The network of COMMUNICATIONS which disseminates the corporate image and culture. OTHER FACTORS could include the oeganisation’s size , history, ownership and technology. MODEL OF CHANGE- SEQUENCE OF EVENTS (SOURCE:MANAGEMENT. RICHARD L DAFT- 6TH ED.) Corporate culture is something that is very hard to change and employees need time to get used to the new way of organizing. Many people are not willing to change unless they perceive a problem or a crisis. For companies with a very strong and specific culture it will be even harder to change. Cummings & Worley (2005, p. 491 – 492) give the following six guidelines for cultural change, these changes are in line with the eight distinct stages mentioned by Kotter (1995, p. 2)3: Formulate a clear strategic vision In order to make a cultural change effective a clear vision of the firm’s new strategy, shared values and behaviours is needed. This vision provides the intention and direction for the culture change Display Top-management commitment It is very important to keep in mind that culture change must be managed from the top of the organization, as willingness to change of the senior management is an important indicator. The top of the organization should be very much in favour of the change in order to actually implement the change in the rest of the organization. De Caluwà © & Vermaak provide a framework with five different ways of thinking about change. Model culture change at the highest level In order to show that the management team is in favour of the change, the change has to be notable at first at this level. The behaviour of the management needs to symbolize the kinds of values and behaviours that should be realized in the rest of the company. It is important that the management shows the strengths of the current culture as well, it must be made clear that the current organizational does not need radical changes, but just a few adjustments. Modify the organization to support organizational change. The fourth step is to modify the organization to support organizational change. Select and socialize newcomers and terminate deviants A way to implement a culture is to connect it to organizational membership, people can be selected and terminate in terms of their fit with the new culture Develop ethical and legal sensitivity. Changes in culture can lead to tensions between organizational and individual interests, which can result in ethical and legal problems for practitioners. This is particularly relevant for changes in employee integrity, control, equitable treatment and job security. FORCES CAUSING AND RESISTING CHANGE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION (SOURCE: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO BUSINESS STUDIES- 3RD ED- BRUCE R JEWELL) NEED/ REASONS FOR CHANGE. In order to survive and prosper in a competitive and rapidly changing environment, organisations also need to change. This may be brought about by many influencing factors which may be internally within the organisation or in external environment of the organisation. EXTERNAL FORCES originate in all environmental sectors, including customers, competitors, technology, economic forces and the international arena. EXTERNAL INFLUENCES: POLITICAL factors including legislation or other government measures. Organisations are forced to change in order to meet, for example, health and safety, environmental or consumer protection requirements. ECONOMIC factors such as changes in levels of unemployment and interest rates which can have a major impact on demand. SOCIAL factors including changes in life styles and environmental issues which organisations must respond to if they are not to lose out to competitors. TECHNOLOGICAL progress such as word processing in the office or robots in the factory can change working materials, methods and practices and create the need for new skills. TRADE UNIONS can influence wage rates, working conditions and other aspects of industrial relations. COMPETITION and changes in consumer tastes and demand all impact on business organisations, making change necessary in order to respond. MEDIA reports which can influence consumers’ and employees’ perceptions of an organisation and its goods and services. INTERNAL FORCES for change arise from internal activities and decisions. If top managers select a goal of rapid company growth, internal actions will have to be made to meet that growth. New departments or technologies will be created. Demands by employees, labour unions and production inefficiencies all can generate a force to which management must respond with change. INTERNAL INFLUENCES: NEW PRODUCTS OR SERVICES which require change in order to introduce them. MANAGEMENT CHANGES, due perhaps to a merger, take over or the appointment of  new staff. This may affect the management style and culture of the organisation. QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS which are becoming increasingly important in organisations in order to meet changing customer expectations. PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY IMPROVEMENTS which often require change in systems or procedures in order to control or reduce costs and/or increase output. CUSTOMER SERVICE is now more crucial than ever for organisations in competitive markets because they can only survive and prosper if they satisfy customers. After the need for change has been perceived and communicated, change must be initiated. This is a crucial stage of change management- the stage where ideas that solve perceived needs are developed. Responses that an organisation can make are to search for or create a change to adopt. IMPLEMENTING CHANGE One frustration for managers is that employees often seem to resist change for no apparent reason. To effectively manage the implementation process, managers should be aware of the reasons for employee resistance and e prepared to use techniques for obtaining employee cooperation. Employees appear to resist change for several reasons and understanding them helps managers implement change more effectively. SELF-INTEREST. Employees typically resist a change they believe will take away something of value. A proposed change in job design, structure, or technology may lead to a real or perceived loss of power, prestige, pay or company benefits. The fear of personal loss is perhaps the biggest obstacle to organisational change. LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AND TRUST. Employees do not understand the intended purpose of a change or distrust the intentions behind it. UNCERTAINTY. Uncertainty is the lack of information about future events. It represents a fear of the unknown. Uncertainty is especially threatening for employees who have a low tolerance for change and fear the novel and unusual. They do not know how a change will affect them and worry about whether they will be able to meet the demands of a new procedure or technology. DIFFERENT ASSESSMENT AND GOALS. Another reason for resistance to change is that people who will be affected by innovation may assess the situation differently. Often critics voice legitimate disagreements over the proposed benefits of a change. Managers in each department pursue different goals, and an innovation may detract from performance and goal achievement for some departments. These reasons for resistance are legitimate in the eyes of the employees affected by the change. The best procedure for managers is not to ignore resistance but diagnose the reasons and design strategies to gain acceptance by users. Strategies for overcoming resistance to change typically involve two approaches: the analysis of resistance through force-field technique and the use of selective implementation tactics to overcome resistance.

Big Brother Little Sister

Euthanasia is a type of assisted suicide (where one person helps another person to take their own life). There are a number of reasons why people choose Euthanasia; if they have a very serious debilitating illness, which stops them having a reasonable quality of life, if they are terminally ill with something which will cause a very slow and painful death, they may wish to end their lives peacefully, and in the manner of their own choosing. Recently the parents of a young man helped him to end his own life because he had been paralyzed from the neck down and he felt he could not face life anymore.Euthanasia is NOT the same as suicide, for it to be euthanasia the person who dies must have had a very poor quality of life, or be unable to live with dignity. Euthanasia is about ending the suffering of an individual who WILL NEVER GET BETTER. (Someone who is depressed for example may have a very poor quality of life and want to commit suicide, but depression is generally only a temporary, treatable condition). EUTHANASIA IS ILLEGAL in most countries, AS IS ANY FORM OF ASSISTED SUICIDE.In the Netherlands, where their attitude towards life and death is far more enlightened; they have ‘euthanasia clinics' where you can end your life with peace and dignity. The legality of euthanasia in the Netherlands is causing many individuals to travel their in order to take their own lives, in a calm and peaceful manner. Since their own countries deny them any right to do so. Since many people may suffer accidents which leave them in a coma, or paralyzed, perhaps unable to communicate, many people are now choosing to make ‘living wills'.These are similar to the legal documents used to divide up your property after you die, but a ‘living will' states what you want to be done if you are ever terminally ill, permanently suffering, but unable to communicate your wishes (or if doctors are unable to act on what you say because they think you may not be in your right min d). Euthanasia can be in many forms, by painless lethal injection, tablets, or just ‘pulling the plug' on a life support machine. Only ‘voluntary euthanasia' is euthanasia. There is arguably no such thing as ‘involuntary' euthanasia. Involuntary' euthanasia would almost always be regarded as murder (or at least manslaughter), even in countries where euthanasia is legal. Always consult somebody who knows the laws of your country well whenever the law is concerned. Don't make any sort of decision based on what a stranger on the internet has said. Don't trust wikipedia, unless you have the time to check all the sources and citations yourself. User generated content should never be taken as a matter-of-fact, especially on such a serious topic as this one. P/S: The thing about ‘euthanasia' being the name of the drug they use to put animals to sleep is nonsense.Similarly, there is no drug called ‘euthanasia' which is used to euthanize people, this is further nonsense. Also; killing an animal which is terminally ill or in great suffering may be considered ‘euthanasia' but killing an animal just to make room at the pound is DEFINITELY NOT EUTHANASIA. This is just a very cruel system which many animal rescue centers have little choice but to implement. Thanks. Hope this info is useful to you. This website (BBC) has some very good legal information and moral discussions on the topic. Good reading if you still want to know more.

How does Charlotte Bronte build up tension?

Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847. Throughout this novel Bronte criticises and challenges some views and believes that she experienced herself within the injustice of the Victorian society. In this essay I am going to use chapter 23 to show how tension is built up in terms of language, feelings and symbols. Firstly, I'm going to include a brief summery of the plot and at the same time highlight the main characters I'll be working with. Secondly, I will include the history of the time the book was written in and comment on how it links with the story. Finally, I am going to point out and explain the many different techniques Bronte uses to build up tension. Jane Eyre opens with the narrator, the adult Jane Eyre recalling her childhood experiences growing up as an orphan at Gateshead, the home of her unfriendly aunt, and her children. Jane is always wrongly punished, she was even sent away to Lowwood charity school where pupils are treated appallingly. There she passes six years as a student, then two as a teacher. After that Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield, owned by Mr. Rochester. Jane falls in love with her master and Rochester asks Jane to marry him, she agreed. On the day of their marriage Jane discovers that Rochester is already married, she then refuses to be Rochester's mistress and leaves Thornfield. Later she becomes a teacher at a new local school; she also meets her three cousins. St John [her cousin] proposes marriage to Jane; however she refuses as she still loves Rochester. Finally, she returns to her master to find out that he has been maimed and blinded when his first wife burned down Thornfield and killed her self. The novel ends with Rochester's marriage to Jane and a description of the happy life ahead of them. The main characters I'll be mentioning in this essay are Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester. The heroine and narrator of the novel, Jane is an intelligent, honest, plain-featured young girl forced to compete with oppression, inequality, and hardship. She has also developed a sense of right and wrong from an early age. Despite being naive and innocent she is still able to look after her self and became very independent. On the other hand, Edward Rochester is a passionate man with a dark secret that provides much of the novel's suspense. He was a very unhappy man when we first met him, however his pure love for Jane eventually changes him back to the man he was. By the end of the book his blinded and crippled state was used to metaphors his loss of arrogance and pride. Charlotte Bronte is attacking the social injustices that were present in the nineteenth century. She successfully does this and clearly portrays what life was like at the time the book is set. Today, men and women are treated equally, which was certainly not the case in the nineteenth century. Women, in the nineteenth century were treated as if they were inferior to men, ‘Seating himself in an armchair, he intimated by a gesture that I was to approach and stand before himi. At that time also, very few occupations were open to those who had to support themselves. Marriage was too seen to be the only desirable goal for women, and was taken very seriously as a financial or a business deal. Poor girls such as Jane had very few options open to them apart from using their education as a source of strength. Social status was very important in the nineteenth century. Class divisions were far more fixed and pronounced than they are today. In the novel, Jane is very conscious that, socially, she is inferior to many of those with whom she associates in spite of being a ‘lady'. At that time, money only can determine where anyone can fit on the social ladder. Therefore, the theme of respect being earned and not deserved due to one's bank balance is important in this novel. In this novel Bronte uses many ways to build up tension particularly in chapter 23. The most recurring and effective method is her use of ‘Pathetic Fallacy', which is the use of natural description to convey inner feelings or the status of the character. For example, in chapter 23 she uses a lovely night for the proposal to echo and reinforce Jane's happiness â€Å"the nightingale's song was then the only voice of the hour†. In contrast, Bronte uses a â€Å"heavy shower† in chapter 37 to convey Jane's pain and sorrow at seeing her master and loved one in that state. Yet, charlotte Bronte used the sudden change in weather at the end of chapter 23 to signify that Jane and Rochester's union is not right. One of the numerous ways in which Bronte builds up tension is her use of hints and clues which relates to things happening later in the novel. In the quote â€Å"the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away† Bronte used the chestnut tree which symbolises Jane and Rochester's future union in marriage separated into two by a bolt of lightening- a symbol of either God's unhappiness about Rochester's deed or Bertha coming between them- to hint to us that something is going to stop the couple from getting married later on. I think that this is very effective way to build up apprehension as the reader will wonder what kind of thing is going to break the great love between them; hence it is a good way to keep people reading until they find out. Later on in chapter 37 Mr. Rochester is comparing himself with the â€Å"the old lightening-struck chestnut tree† which reminds the reader that what happened was exactly as foreshadowed in chapter 23. The way Bronte uses questions to convey the status of power in both chapter 23 and 37 builds up a great deal of apprehension for the reader. In chapter 23 Rochester is asking Jane many questions he very well know their answers, â€Å"you must have become in some degree attached to house? † and â€Å"we have been good friends, Jane; have we not? † These questions and many others show clearly that Mr. Rochester is using his powerful position as Jane's employer to tease her, and since she is dependent on him for her living she can't by any mean treat him in the same way he treats her. This would draw the readers into the story by setting up expectations of what will happen later on, as they know that Jane had always refused to be dominated and that resulted in angry outbursts against people trying to control her. In the early chapters she returned the same bad treatment back to her cruel cousin. And in chapter 6, we see that again when she says: â€Å"when we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard†, this shows Jane's strong believe in standing up to oppression and undeserved cruelty, which is what is happening again in chapter 23. During their conversation, Rochester tells Jane she'll soon need to leave Thornfield forever because he's finally decided to marry Blanche Ingram. Teasingly Rochester also tells her of a governess position, undertaking the education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall of Bitternutt Lodge in Ireland, â€Å"indeed I have already, through my future mother-in-law, hearted of a place that I think will suit you†¦.. you'll like Ireland , I think: they're such warm-hearted people there, they say† . Here you can notice that Rochester is torturing Jane with the idea of marrying another. However, I personally think that his behavior could be interpreted in a different way; since Rochester is a proud man he forced Jane into confessing her real feelings in order to be sure that his suspicions are correct, still I think there are many other ways to do so which are not as unkind. Mr. Rochester tells Jane that he feels as though they are connected by a â€Å"cord of communion. † Jane sobs-â€Å"for I could repress what I endured no longer,† she tells us, â€Å"I was obliged to yield. Jane confesses her love for Rochester, and to her surprise, he proposes marriage. Yet she believes that Rochester may be still playing with her feelings, that he may see her as an automaton, â€Å"a machine without feelings†; because she is â€Å"poor, obscure, plain, and little,† he may mistakenly think she is also â€Å"soulless and heartless. † At this point, she speaks to him beyond the â€Å"medium of custom, conventionalities,† even flesh, and her spirit addresses his spirit in a relationship of equality. Again, Jane creates equality by moving the relationship outside of the material world, and into the spiritual: At â€Å"God's feet,† they can stand side-by-side, rather than with Rochester leading, Jane following. This section of chapter 23 creates lots of tension for the reader as they will set up expectations as what reactions will Mr. Rochester make. Rochester convinces Jane that he only brought up marrying Blanche in order to arouse Jane's jealousy; when she reads the truth in his face she accepts his proposal. He then savagely declares that God has sanctioned their union, so he doesn't care what society thinks of the relationship. However, it is also important to note that nowhere in Jane Eyre are society's boundaries bent, Jane is Rochester's intellectual, but not his social, equal; Jane is also hesitant to marry Rochester because she senses that she would feel indebted to him for â€Å"condescending† to marry her. Ultimately, Jane is only able to marry Rochester as his equal because she has almost magically come into her own inheritance from her uncle. After achieving independence by finding a family in the Riverses and wealth in her inheritance, Jane is now free to return to Rochester to complete her triumph. Additionally, because Rochester has been blinded by the fire and has lost his manor house at the end of the novel, he became dependent upon Jane to be his â€Å"prop and guide. † it is clear now that Mr. Rochester has become weaker while Jane has grown in strength-Jane claims that they are equals, but it is obvious that she is more powerful than him. This can also be seen noticeably in the way she teases Rochester with her answers in chapter 37. â€Å"his appearance-I forgot the description you gave me of his appearance; – a sort of raw curate†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. To provoke him Jane answers:†St John dresses well. He is a handsome man: tall, fair, with blue eyes, and a Grecian profile. † This is very entertaining and apprehensive for the readers in the same time. The reader will feel happy that Jane is now powerful enough to return the same teasing Rochester did in chapter 23, but at the same time the reader will be wondering about the Rochester's reaction. However, Rochester welcomes Jane back with open arms, realising that he will never possess her the way he once wanted to, but that she, in fact, will end up possessing him. The opening of chapter 38 without a doubt will shock readers in the 19th century as well as readers nowadays. Jane says: â€Å"Reader, I married him†. This proves how powerful and controlling Jane has become; she did not say usual stereotypes like â€Å"we got married† or â€Å"he married me†, which illustrates that she did not only become more powerful financially but also on the gender bases. The fact that Jane is the narrator creates a huge amount of anxiety to the reader. This is because the reader will wonder where she is in the future and what happened to her. This as a result will make the reader more attached to the book to find out. To conclude, I think that Jane Eyre is an interesting book that will appeal to readers both now and in the 19th century as some of the injustices are still occurring today. Bronte used many techniques in this book to build up tension. For example she uses the method of ‘Pathetic Fallacy' as well as many symbols to create suspense. She also uses aspects from the history of her time like class boundaries, equality very effectively to make the reader more anxious. Another way in which Bronte creates tension is by using the shifts in power between Jane and Rochester.

Analysing strategic position for SMEs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analysing strategic position for SMEs - Essay Example From the Deputy Managing Director of the company Vic Handley, the ground-engineering specialist Van Elle is concentrating on infrastructure and rail as 2015 kicks. Having invested 14.5 million pounds in the past two years in the company’s rail division and 8.5 million pounds is an indication of company-improved performance (Green, Larsen, and Kao, 2008). The financial director of the business, Paul Pearson the rail sector is a recession-proof due to the budgets of the Network Rail. In addition, he adds that there is much to do in those markets that the company is trying to map their investment to their opportunities and growth. From that, it can clearly be that the company is focusing on planning their investment to their growth and opportunities that are good (March 2009). The company is also moving in a positive direction since regional expansion is on the minds of many SMEs, and Van Elle is the company is looking to expand into new areas. The company is also increasing their operations in the burgeoning area of Scotland due to the established services in Wales and England which is a right direction (Kao, Green, and Larsen, 2009). The PESTLE analysis is a detailed view of the environment a business is in. It can also be to a bird’s eye view where the company or a person tries to ascertain certain trends of the market from a macroeconomic perspective. The factors are a primary determinant of strategic development and define how conducive an environment is within which a business struggles to thrive. Therefore, it is important to construct an environmental analysis for Van Elle. The analysis may help to assess several factors in the macro environment and to identify how future issues might affect the company (Haberberg and Rieple, 2007).The primary questions to be for consideration in the Environmental Analysis include; Entails

Business ethics and law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Wilkins.A Zurn company about DEMAN FORECASTING Case Study

Wilkins.A Zurn company about DEMAN FORECASTING - Case Study Example the cyclical nature of US commercial and industrial construction market that affect the revenues generated, the company has experienced sales growth that exceeds the industry. Their positive growth is due to their favorable pricing strategies, product innovations and targeted marketing programs. The current demand forecasting process of the company includes a forecast master and a planning bill. The forecast master is a spreadsheet that lists the average weekly sales history for each product family by quarter and year since 1999. For each product family, the total quarter’s actual sales are divided by 13 weeks per quarter to determine the average weekly sales per quarter. The expected demand for the next five or six quarters is then estimated for the quarters. Each product family had its own planning bill. It contains the sales history for each product within the family. It calculates the average number of units sold within that product family each day within each quarter. It also contains projection on the average daily sales for that family that will sell in the next 12 months. Furthermore, the planning bill disaggregates the family forecast into each product based on the per cent of sales of the product family. Lastly, the planning bill calculates the annual sales forecast for each product within the family. The current forecasting performance utilized by the company is inaccurate. According to sales records, there are variances in the forecasted sales value with respect to the actual sales of the company. This paper will center on the utilization of statistical forecasting methods in order to improve the performance of the business. The current method of forecasting that is utilized by the company does not take into account the seasonality of the sales generated. The forecast is based on the forecast master and the planning bill of each product family. The method of using two forecasting tools to estimate future demand is applicable to the

Market for Digital Cameras in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Market for Digital Cameras in Europe - Essay Example Then competition is reduced and a return to tacit agreement is likely. Petrol provides occasional examples of price wars. Interdependent behavior is an important feature of oligopoly, because the small number of competing firms watch each other closely, devising strategies which take into account the likely reaction of the others. Digital camera market has been growing phenomenally since last 10 years. According to a news report published in ZDNet UK, the sales of digital camera had doubled in the year 2003 on a global scale. A Japanese industry group claimed that Europe was ahead of Japan and the United States of America (USA) in terms of revenues and sales both. (Munir Kotadia, 2003) The Camera and Imaging Products association (CIPA) had revealed that 13.4 million units were shipped globally in the year 2003, with a year-on-year 93% growth. Out of these 13.4 million units, Europe received the most, that is 4.57 million units. This was 20% more than the shipments received by the USA and amounted to 3.82 million units. Japan snapped 3.08 million units. (Munir Kotadia, 2003) Research also reveals that for the first time, sales of digital cameras had exceeded those of film cameras in the year 2002. 23.6 million film-based cameras were sold in 2002 while sales of digital cameras amounted to 24.5 million. ... Some oligopolies have a number of large competitors, as with Coca Cola and other major soft drink suppliers, together with a large number of comparatively small suppliers which are price takers. Global digital camera market Digital camera market has been growing phenomenally since last 10 years. According to a news report published in ZDNet UK, the sales of digital camera had doubled in the year 2003 on a global scale. A Japanese industry group claimed that Europe was ahead of Japan and the United States of America (USA) in terms of revenues and sales both. (Munir Kotadia, 2003) The Camera and Imaging Products association (CIPA) had revealed that 13.4 million units were shipped globally in the year 2003, with a year-on-year 93% growth. Out of these 13.4 million units, Europe received the most, that is 4.57 million units. This was 20% more than the shipments received by the USA and amounted to 3.82 million units. Japan snapped 3.08 million units. (Munir Kotadia, 2003) Research also reveals that for the first time, sales of digital cameras had exceeded those of film cameras in the year 2002. 23.6 million film-based cameras were sold in 2002 while sales of digital cameras amounted to 24.5 million. Initially this gap was only marginal, but with the passing years, the gap has only been widening. With 80% to 90% penetration, the digital camera market has now reached the saturation point in Europe, US, and Japan. This is to mean that 9 out of every 10 consumers own a digital camera. (Munir Kotadia, 2003 and Coco Masters, 2009) The boom in phone and digital camera markets has given Europe the lead over US in these two technological grounds. Miss Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner analyst, had commented back then that consumers in US were still in the process of getting familiar

The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan Case Study

The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan - Case Study Example The reasons for the failure of EBay to set its base in Japan Method: The information used while preparing the report was collected from the case study paper titled â€Å"EBay in Japan: strategic and cultural missteps† written by Indu Perepu and Sachin Govind in 2008. Findings: EBay, a powerful on line trading company for consumer merchandise, enters Japan in 2007 in a partnership with Yahoo to make easy the transnational bidding system. A Japanese website called Sekaiomon was also launched to facilitate shipping and clearance. Previously in 2000 EBay had entered the Japanese market in alliance with NEC Corporation to form EBay Japan. It failed to garner many takers (managed to get only 3% share of the total online market value in Japan) even after waiving off its online transaction fees, and was nowhere near the Yahoo auctions, the number one online bidding website in Japan at that time. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to better its position, eBay finally decided to close it portal in Japan on 31st 2002, and decided instead to concentrate on other Asian markets like, India, China, Philippines and Taiwan. In was only in 2006 after Yahoo shut down its auction websites in US and Canada, and went into an alliance with EBay in these 2 countries, did the latter come into an agreement with Yahoo to re-enter the Japanese market in 2007, though the analysts even then did not predict a bright future for EBay in Japan. Analysis/ Discussion: From the case study it is clear that there are two main reasons for the failure of EBay in Japan.

The Islamic Association of Raleigh and First Presbyterian Church Essay

The Islamic Association of Raleigh and First Presbyterian Church - Essay Example I was eager to find out the similarities and the differences in the mode of worship, contents of their summons and how they address various critical issues facing the community such as security. Worship at First Presbyterian Church is based of several religious facets. They include actions that put the word of God as the principal reference. Some of these actions are; proclaiming the word of God, acting around the word, sealing the world and also spreading the word to non-believers. The First Presbyterian Church regards prayer as the most important avenue through which communication with God is done. Several prayer sessions are created during the session. The church believes that prayer brings the Holy Spirit closer to the congregation and there is high possibility that their needs and problems will be heard and determined. The service entails regular periods of song worship. The church believes that song unites the congregation in common prayer session where the Holy Spirit can descend to each one of them. Most songs are extracted from designated hymn books. The worship songs in the hymn books are categorized into several parts and applied depending on the part of the service. There are prayer songs, praise songs, thanksgiving songs and also inspirational songs. All the songs are added in order to supplement other element of the service such as prayers and preaching. Preaching at First Presbyterian Church is based on the bible. It involves interpretation of the bible verses based on the conviction through the Holy Spirit. The message is interpreted to the congregation by a preacher through a simplified interrelation that blends with a specific situation. For example, on the 30th March, 2014, the preacher at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, Dr Ed McLeod, prepared a sermon on ‘Why’. The sermon was aimed at incorporating the scriptures and real-life situation. The preacher gave real life scenarios that improve the quality of the

Demographics of Democrats vs. Republicans Research Paper

Demographics of Democrats vs. Republicans - Research Paper Example However, now that we are a month away from the presidential elections November 6th and the political arena seems to be on fire as Obama and Romney try to garner votes for their campaigns especially after their debate the last week, this made me curious and made me decide to conduct a research on the demographics of Democrats and Republicans. I know it’s not that important to many of us, but have you ever wondered which party has the highest number of highly educated members? Which is the dominant religion in the Senate? Or which party has the highest number of military men in the house? The tectonic plates of the American politics are shifting, and the demographic forces are reshaping the electorate and the major political parties. I have done some research on these parties and compiled the population characteristics of the 1) wealth (economic status), 2) education and intellect, 3) religion. A large number of Americans consider the Republican Party to be the party of the rich (Osterman, 28). Surprisingly the majority of the banks in America are in support of Romney based on their generous contributions to the Republicans. The investment bank is on the forefront having contributed $637,000, and JP Chase Bank, JP Morgan and Bank of America follow closely and as we all know banks are the hearts of our economic system. On the other hand, Democrats are supported by companies led by Microsoft, which has donated $419,000 for the elections campaign than Google and Harvard University. The wealthiest Americans are Republicans while the largest number of poor and middle-class Americans favors Democrats. Republicans are economically conservative, and their policies seem to favor the rich people and institutions such as the Wall Street (Levine, 27). The ideological centers of gravity towards the finance industry between the two parties are the causes of the wealth alignment.  

Rephrase Completely Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rephrase Completely - Essay Example tickets with much lower costs with their business model mirroring that of SWA with only a single type of airplane being used thus lowering their total maintenance costs. In addition, JetBlue has also been successful in its cost management strategy by plying their aircrafts to longer distances and also boarding more passengers in a single flight. This strategy has enabled them to gain more profits by covering the fixed costs in the higher number of tickets sold. The low fares offered by the airline per available seat-mile is the lowest fare provided in the whole of the US. Apart from the cost leadership, JetBlue further distinguishes itself from SWA in other facilities offered to the passengers. SWA has only been able to offer the low air fares by compromising on certain passenger amenities. However, JetBlue has been able to provide high-class services to its passengers even while offering low fares. Some of the facilities offered which distinguishes JetBlue from its competitors include comfortable leather seats; several facilities for entertainment such as individual screens and radio channels. Thus JetBlue has been able to successfully integrate the lower costs of structure and operations with high-class facilities and service provided to the passengers. In addition to these, better services and low fares are also available even during ticket procurement. JetBlue deploys live agents in the ticketing department as it has realized that several customers prefer to speak to agents directly while purchasing their tickets. They also offer home sourcing fo r aged customers who are unable to commute or buy tickets online. Such measures have increased their productivity and emerged as a cheaper alternative to outsourcing and has also contributed to better face value among its customers. Adopting the integration strategy has given a competitive advantage to JetBlue which offers low cost and a relatively better service value While such integrative measures can create a

Communication an organisations Essay Example for Free

Communication an organisations Essay This assessment is to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the topics taught in leading and motivating a team effectively module of the ILM Level 3 Course in Leadership and Management. The document will be split into two main sections, the first section will focus on how to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team as well as provide an analysis on its importance. The second section will look at the role motivation in the development of a team. Section 1: How to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team One of the definitions of the word team (in its verb form) is, come together to achieve a common goal (Oxford University Press, 2014). It is this common goal or purpose that turns a group of individuals into a team without a common purpose or goal to strive toward a team cannot function effectively. For example in a football team each player needs to know their place and role in the team, but also the strategy and vision for wider team, is the team an attacking team, a defensive team, do they attack via the wings etc. without knowing the common goal of the team the players will look to their own role and not know how to support the wider team and therefore are less likely to achieve their common goal. The same holds true within an organisation not just at an individual person level but at a departmental level, if teams do not know the wider vision or strategy of the organisation they can become siloed and retreat upon themselves and just focus on delivering the â€Å"day job† rather than support the organisation in a more holistic role. With the above in mind, it’s clear to see that for a team to perform it needs clarity in its purpose, and from a business point of view this should be given by the vision and strategy of the organisation. The vision tells us what the organisation wants to be, it doesn’t focus on the how that is the role of the strategy, the vision is a simple statement of what it wants to achieve. Below is an example vision statement from Amazon. Our vision is to be earths most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online†¦ at the lowest possible prices. It’s a fairly short statement but allows staff and managers to know that the focus of Amazon is on three things †¢Being Customer Focused †¢Providing Online Services †¢Cost effectiveness (for Amazon and the customer) With the vision clearly stated it helps teams understand the direction in which the organisation wants to go, the next step is to explain how team fits in this vision and will help deliver it. Once the vision of an organisation is understood, it’s important about going about explaining how it will achieve this and this is referred to as the strategy. The strategy should be a series of plans that detail how elements of the vision will be achieved; for example Amazon’s vision could be split into two strategies; being customer centric and providing online services with cost effectiveness being a theme that runs across both strategies. These plans would then be broken down into more tactical detail such as action plans and SMART objectives to be carried out an operational level. For example a call centre team will have several objectives/KPI such as Calls answered in less than 5 seconds in a given month or First Time Call Resolution 95% (Year to Date), which without much explanation simply look like tools to ensure staff are doing their jobs when in fact they are SMART objectives that relate to the customer focused strategy of Amazon’s vision and how effec tively that strategy is working. It is the performance of these objectives that dictate future strategy, poor performance may result in a change of strategy (i.e. outsourcing) where as good performance could result in the current strategy being maintained or even expanded (i.e. expansion to provide alternative services) and as such it is vital that staff are informed not only of their objectives and targets but how and why they exist, and what their overall effect on the business is. As we can see the role the vision and strategy plays in the performance of a team or individual is huge but it can be a two edged sword if the vision and strategy are either poorly communicated, misunderstood or simply unknown. As such communication is key, to ensure that the common sense and purpose that the vision and strategy provides is embedded and understood. There are many methods of communication available within an organisation in aid of establishing a common purpose, but the first method is that the vision statement should be one that staff and customers can relate too and  understand, if the vision doesn’t make sense the job to communicate it to staff will be twice as hard. A good basis for ensuring good communication is using the seven principles of communication; to ensure the message is clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and naturally courteous. Once the message has been developed, it’s a matter of choosing the medium in which it is delivered; there are various methods such as email, telephone, meetings, seminars, presentation, 1-2-1s, newsletters all of which to be effective must be used at the right time and place. As the vision is a supposed to provide a common purpose and understanding of what the company wants to be, it suggests that the best way to communicate this message is via more group/communal methods such as Team meetings, Away days or newsletters where the same message can be relayed to multiple staff at a time and avoids confusion or contamination of the key messages trying to be delivered, that can occur in mores personal communications such as 1-2-1 meetings. For example a team meeting where a contact centre manager for Amazon relays the vision of the company and how the team’s work fits in and helps deliver it to their 10 staff, is likely to be more effective than having 10 1-2-1 sessions in which they deliver they try to deliver the same message which is likely to alter between sessions due to personal relationships coming into play, more two way conversation disrupting the flow of the message, the recipient choosing to understand the message how they see it rather than how it was said and then finally the confusion that can occur when team members compare conversations. This is not to say that group communication is always the best method to use as it does also have its downsides such as; it’s less likely people will ask questions in team/group meetings and could result in misunderstandings/confusion, if the person delivering the message is not clear and does not understand the message being delivered it will have a negative impact on the recipients, they can become side tracked by issues that arise during the meeting and people forget the message being delivered. My own skills actually lend themselves to small groups or 1-2-1 sessions as I struggle to manage wider groups at times, especially when the meeting goes off topic or several conversations start within the meeting. However as I only manage two staff at the moment this hasn’t hampered my ability to communicate a common sense of purpose to my staff as I have my own concepts on what our role is in the  business, however as highlighted in our learner session in July we did struggle as a group to find the group’s vision and strategy, which in itself is a failing in that without knowing the true vision and strategy of the business how can I communicate that to my staff and could potentially be providing them with a purpose that is counter to the organisations own goals. In reflection this had led me to book in some time to read the new business plan, and in readiness I’ve booked a team meeting together with my staff to go over it and highlight were we as a team fit in it. I’ve also took some time recently to review our action plans and KPI’s on Covalent, which is a software we use to link action plans and KPI’s together to strategies to see how our objectiv es are linked to the wider organisation and through that hopefully provide better clarity and coherent information to my staff. Hopefully my management of meetings will improve through this course, as one of the modules in on managing meetings effectively. In conclusion I use to think my communication skills were quite good, however through this exercise I’ve noted that while my method of delivery and communication style may be good it doesn’t mean much if you don’t truly know the message you are trying to convey which until I’m up to speed on the business plan and our place in it I can’t say I know what that message should be without retreating into the â€Å"day job† which as mentioned at the beginning is a symptom of a team who doesn’t know the organisations vision or strategy. Section 2: Know how to motivate and develop the team Section 2.1: Describe the main motivational factors in a work context and how these may apply to different situations, teams and individuals. There are multiple models and theories for motivation such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfers ERG theory, Acquired Needs Theory by McClellan and Two Factor Theory by Hezberg to name a few and while most can be used to explain motivational factors in a work context some such as Maslow’s and Alderfer’s theory require more adaption or to make it fit as such I’ll be using Hezberg’s Two factor theory to describe the main motivational factors in the work context. According to Herzberg, two kinds of factors affect motivation,  and they do it in different ways: Hygiene factors: These are factors that are taken for granted and can be seen as having no positive satisfaction by themselves, however if they were taken away would cause a dramatic down turn in morale and motivation. An example is a policy of free tea and coffee for staff by itself unlikely to motivate staff but if it was removed would have a negative impact. Motivator factors: These are factors whose presence motivates. Their absence does not cause any particular dissatisfaction, it just fails to motivate. An example would be recognition at work for a job well done, achieving a promotion. Looking at the above it would seem that simply applying the motivator factors would cause an increase in motivation and simply ensuring the hygiene factors stayed in place is the sure fire way to succeed in motivating your staff, however the below example shows how by applying one rule to an individual can affect the team as a whole. Person A is doing a good job and as such you wish to increase motivation by recognising their work, which you do by offering a promotion/raise or bonus, this however can impact on the rest of the team as Pay and Benefits also come under Hygiene factors and as such by rewarding one and not everyone in the team this can cause a demotivation or job dissatisfaction. Section 2.2: Explain the importance of a leader being able to motivate teams and individuals and gain their commitment to objectives. Section 2.3: Explain the role that the leader plays in supporting and developing the team and its members and give practical examples of when this will be necessary

Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GCDPP)

Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GCDPP) 1.0 Introduction The construction industry is a large and complex industry comprising many types and sizes of organizations and a diverse range of professionals and other representative bodies. Consequently, the biggest problem is conflicts in the industry between both clients and contractors and the contractors and their sub contractors (Cooke and Williams, 2009). This most often is as a result of non-clarification of roles or breach of the contract procedures by one of the parties because of lack of communication and co-ordination. Poor productivity and quality within the industry have also been attributed to lack of advance management of the processes by both Latham (1994) and Egan (1998). Professional bodies have therefore introduced various plans of work as attempts to facilitates processes within the industry. In this report, the updated RIBA plan of work which was designed by British architects was employed to plan the execution of a project (CTG) from appraisal to completion. Alternative maps for the same project were produced using the Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GCDPP) which was developed in 1995 in other to identify the potential benefits and problems that might be encountered in the use of the process protocol. 2.0 Current plan of work 2.1 Context The Department of Business Innovation and Skills (DBIS) intends to construct a new project, Centre for Technology in Government (CTG), which is a 250,000 square feet facility built to house world class super computers and nuclear weapons design staff. The building site is located in Liverpool, UK and the allowed budget for the project is ÂÂ £50,000,000. The client had explicit goals and therefore appointed a cross-functional team from the start to translate the needs into a design brief. The cross-functional team, after the conceptual design stage, identified various functional and operational requirements (FORs) which were grouped by room type. These FORs became the basis for requests of proposals that resulted in design and build contract 2.2 Procurement method It is important to briefly explain the procurement method used to execute the CTG project because the procurement method and type of contract employed will have implications on the plan of work (Clamp et al, 2007 p 32). Single stage tender (assumption) design and build contract was used; the client, DBIS selected CTG to execute the project because of the business relationship they shared as well as the fact that, the constructor was needed at the design stage to give advice on the constructional method and buildability of the concepts. The client-led design ended at the conceptual stage (RIBA stage C) and the contractor was therefore provided with conceptual designs. 2.3 RIBA Plan of Work The Plan of Work (RIBA, 1997) was originally published in 1963 as a standard method of operation for the construction of buildings, and it has become widely accepted as the operational model throughout the building industry (Kagioglou et al, 1998). It was developed from the view point of the architect to provide a frame work for a standardised method of operation for the design, construction and management of buildings (Poon et al, 2003). This plan of work was developed to meet the needs of the traditional forms of contract and breaks down the entire construction into 5 key stages. There key stages are further broken down into 11 sub-processes as shown below 2.4 RIBA plan of work in GC Ltd There is, however, a slight variation to the work stages primarily because of the procurement method (Design and Build) used. This is because the cross functional team assembled by the client produces conceptual designs that were grouped into FORs which formed the basis of the request for proposals. Detailed designs (RIBA stage D) and technical designs stage (RIBA stage E) were produced by the contractor before tender action while production information stage (RIBA stage F) proceeded after mobilisation stage (RIBA stage J). Figure 2.1 shows the plan of work used in executing the project from the perspective of the constructors which is seen to differ slightly from the plan of work in appendix 1 Figure 2.1 Adoption of RIBA plan of work for Contractor Appendix 2 shows the detailed mapping of each of the above sub processes. 2.4.1 Preparation As a constructor, the first stage of involvement was to review the employers (Department for business innovation and skills) conceptual requirement that has already been identified with the cross-functional team. The constructor (GG ltd) receives the conceptual brief containing the FORs by room type and also confirming key requirements and constraints as well as the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. The in-house quality management procedures that will be applied on the project is determined. These culminate into the contractors brief. Since GC ltd already has an in- house design team, they assist in the preparation of the contractors brief. The construction company at this stage appoints one of its in-house staff to act as the CDM co-ordinator. During the review, some questions may arise, especially concerning site conditions and operational hazards. It is the responsibility of the contractor to provide all such information to the design team and the CDM co-ordinator. The design team advises on the need for additional consultants for the project. Documents that will accompany the tender submission are identified and the pre-tender programme drawn up. This process in mapped out in detail in appendix 2. 2.4.2 Design development Once the conceptual designs are fully reviewed and understood by the contractor and his team, he authorizes the final layouts. The design team then develops the project brief into developed designs including, the structural elements, the services systems and the general architectural layout. The initial cost plan is updated and the CDM co-ordinator ensures that all health and safety regulation have been considered at this stage. 2.4.3 Technical design This is the last stage of design development before production information is prepared. The detailed designs are produced and all approvals obtained including that of building regulations. The health and safety file is updated by the CDM co-ordinator and the cost plans and cash flows also updated by the quantity surveyor. The stage D report will form the basis of the tender documents. This process in mapped out in detail in appendix 2. 2.4.5 Tender action Once the detailed developments are obtained, the contractor with the CDM co-ordinator prepares the draft initial construction phase plan. The quantity surveyor advises on the preliminaries, the contingencies and the work sequences and proceeds to prepare the contract sum analysis. The CDM co-ordinator, the quantity surveyor and the other design team members contribute to the stage report prepared by the lead consultant. The report includes all the documents intended to be used for tendering. The contractor checks the report to ensure compliance and the tender documents are submitted. The submitted tender documents are evaluated by the employers agent and any queries responded to by the contractor and his team. Once the contract is awarded to the winning firm (GC Ltd), there is negotiation between the employers agent and the contractor before final adjustments are agreed. 2.4.6 Mobilization The employers agent confirms to the client that the contractor (GC ltd) has been duly selected. The contractor is then appointed and the tender documents become the contract documents with certified copies sent to the contractor. His insurances for the project are checked by the employers agent. The site is handed over the contractor and he proceeds to develop his initial construction phase plan with his team and the CDM co-ordinator. Statutory approvals and other detailed planning permission are also obtained. 2.4.7 Production Information The final proposals are translated into precise technical instruction for pricing and construction purposes, which is the preparation of detailed drawings, schedules and specifications. The health and safety file is finally updated by the CDM co-ordinator. The contractor, the design team the quantity surveyor and the CDM co-ordinator reviews all process to ensure compliance with brief and procedures. 2.4.8 Construction This is where actual construction of the CTG building takes place in accordance with contract agreements. Further information is supplied to the contractor as and when deemed necessary. At this stage the contractor, his team and sub contractors are typically involved. 2.4.9 Rectification period After construction to practical completion, final inspections are done and the project is handed over. The contract document allows the contractor to be paid half the amount in the final certificate with the other half released after a predetermined period (6 months), defects liability period. Within which all faults and problems are corrected by the contractor. 2.5 Appraisal of RIBA in CTG project The RIBA plan of work was one of the first expressions of building process by members of the building team (Poon et al, 2003) and has been tried, tested and accepted. It has been widely adopted as the basis of calculating consultants fees as well as gives a vivid description of work stages (Clamp et al, 2007). Adopting design and build as procurement route while employing the RIBA plan of work in the CTG project resulted in hybrid process which improves the plan of work especially in the area of flexibility and eliminates sequential flows which, Sheath et al (1996) argues that, have caused problems of fragmentation and poor co-ordination between project team members. CTG, as a project that will house the designing and testing of nuclear weapons, it requires the involvement of all major stakeholders, as such the client, DBIS assembled a cross-functional team including the contractor, in order to better identify his needs and requirements and identify any possible constraints on development and eventually produce a holistic brief. The adoption of the cross-functional team approach had the advantage of improving co-ordination and communication from the design stage throughout to the project (Kagioglou et al, 1998). It was also necessary to involve the constructors early in the design phase in order to eliminate any claims and counter claims for costs, quality and time between the various parties of the contract (Gunaskaran and Love, 1998). This will ensure buildability and reduce the incident of rework and waste in the design process and construction process. Having established the cross-functional team, weekly meetings were held to review all aspec ts of the design. Since it is a single stage tender, it became the responsibility of the contractor to produce the developed designs and technical designs prior to tender action. In order to facilitate the continuous review of the design by the cross-functional team, the contractor broke the technical design into mini phases as follows; all layouts and setting outs, pile caps and ground beams, structural steel work, substructure, super structure, detailed security services and services systems. There were series of reviews and the final review was during the tender action. Once the contract was signed and mobilisation got underway, the production information was produced concurrently. Construction commenced immediately mobilisation is complete. Daily visits by the cross functional team ensured co-ordination and team work all through the construction. RIBA plan of work guarantees flexibility in the basic outline, in that it can be modified to suit any form of procurement used by simply re-arranging the sub processes (Clamp et al, 2007). The RIBA plan of work, 2007 appears to be very elaborate an simple to understand and use because it maps out the main process at the higher level indicating the sub processes and the outputs at each stage. The details of the sub processes can also be mapped out indicating the activities involved and the parties responsible for those activities. Finally the adoption of the design and build and employing a cross-functional team ensures better understanding of requirements, better translation to drawings, more effective and efficient construction process devoid of any conflicts and unnecessary variations eventually leading to a satisfied client and a satisfied contractor. In every building contract there is some degree of risk (Clamp et al, 2007). Balance of speculative risk will lie almost wholly with the CTG contractor in this project with the client bearing the conceptual risk which involves matters that are key to operational efficiency such as scheme. All the major disadvantages that have been associated with RIBA; linear fashion (Jamieson, 1997; Cooper et al, 2004), lack co-ordination and communication (Sheath at al 1996, Kagioglou et al, 1998), buildability issues and biasness towards the architect (Poon et al, 2003) have been catered for by the adoption of the design and build procurement system as well as the introduction of the cross functional team (including the contractor) at the very beginning of the CTG project. However there are still a number of issues that remains unresolved and primary among them is the absence of a mechanism to transfer all the knowledge that will be shared by the entire CTG project team to similar projects in the future because both success and failure can offer important lessons for the future (Kagioglou et al, 2000). Finally, throughout the entire project, subcontractor and suppliers are only involved from the mobilisation stage (RIBA J) 3.0 The Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol 3.1 Background The Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GDCPP) was funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) under the Innovative Manufacturing Initiate (IMI) and undertook by the University of Salford with a leading number of industrial partners, including clients, architects, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, suppliers and IT specialists during 1995-98 (Lee et al, 2000). The main aim of this project was to develop a Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol for the construction industry by considering the lessons learnt through a number of decades in manufacturing New Product Development (NPD). This was achieved by comprehensive reviews of the construction and manufacturing industries, interactive workshops with the project industrial partners, case studies in the manufacturing and construction industry and other research and data collection tools and techniques (Aouad et al, 1999). There are eight key principles involved in process protocol for process as follows which are originated from manufacturing process. Whole Project view, a consistent Process, Progressive Design Fixity, Co ordination, Stakeholder Involvement team work, Feedback, Process Flexibility, Customisable Process. (www.processprotocol.com). The model identifies the various activities involved in the complete execution of the project as well as the responsible parties produced on a horizontal- X and vertical Y axis respectively resulting in a form of a responsibility matrix. The parties responsible for activity within each phase can be a single person, a firm or a complex network of people (depending on the size of the project) who have been grouped in to activity zones. Consequently, eight (8) activity zones have been identified by the model and are listed below Development Management Project Management Resource Management Design Management Production Management Facilities Management Health Safety, Statutory legal Management Process Management Change Management The design and construction process (X- axis) have been broken down into 10 distinct phases. These 10 phases are grouped into 4 broad stages: Pre-Project, Pre-Construction, Construction and Post-Construction. (www.processprotocol.com). These 4 stages are briefly explained below 3.2 Pre-Project Stage The Pre-Project Phases (0-3) relate to the strategic business considerations of any potential project which aims to address a clients need. Throughout the Pre-Project Phases the clients need is progressively defined and assessed with the aim of: Determining the need for a construction project solution, and Securing outline financial authority to proceed to the Pre-Construction Phases (Cooper et al, 2005 p 76) These phases have been mapped out in detail in appendix 4 Phase zero: Demonstrating the Need Phase one: Conception of Need Phase two: Outline Feasibility Phase three: Substantive Feasibility Study Outline Financial Authority 3.3 Pre-Construction Stage At this stage (4-6), the defined clients need is developed into an appropriate design solution through a logical sequence, with the aim of delivering approved production information (Cooper et al, 2005 p78) These phases are listed below have been mapped out in detail in appendix 4 Phase four: Outline Conceptual Design Phase five: Full Conceptual Design Phase six: Coordinated design, Procurement Full Financial Authority 3.4 Construction Stage The Construction Phases (7-8) is solely concerned with the production of the project solution. It is here that the full benefits of the co-ordination and communication earlier in the Process may be fully realised. Potentially, any changes in the clients requirements will be minimal, as the increased cost of change as the design progresses should be fully understood by the time on-site construction work begins (Cooper et al, 2005 p78). The phases involved are listed below. Refer to appendix 4 for detailed maps Phase seven: Production Information Phase eight: Construction 3.5 Post-Construction Stage Upon completion of the Construction Phase, the Process Protocol continues into the Post-Construction phases which aim to continually monitor and manage the maintenance needs of the constructed facility (Cooper et al, 2005 p 80). This is the last phase of the model Phase 9: Operation Maintenance 3.6 Gates There are gates (soft and hard) in between the phases mentioned above. Soft gates are review points during the process which require a decision to be made, but does not require the temporary overhaul of the whole project until a decision to proceed is made. They enable concurrency while hard gates are review points during the process which may require the temporary overhaul of the project until a decision to proceed is made. (www.processprotocol.com). 3.7 Applying the GDCPP to the CTG project The backgrounds of the construction parties are very variant and they therefore have varying skills, it is therefore critical that parties understand and appreciate the interdependence and responsibilities of one another (Poon et al, 2003). However contract-led restrictions of previous models have prevented the involvement of the various parties in the early stages of the project life (Cooper et al, 2005). The GDCPP aims to improve co-ordination of the entire design and construction process (Lee et al, 2000) and try to address the key areas of the process that have been identified for improvement. The first benefit of adopting the GDCPP in the CTG project in that, it extends the recognized construction industrys involvement beyond completion (cooper et al, 2005) and therefore covers the entire lifespan of the project as can be seen in appendices 3 and 4. This will increase the commitments of all parties to the contract especially the contactor and the sub contractors as they continue to bear some contractual risks within the project even after practical completion. Moreover, risk and value management starts right at the beginning of the project and runs through all the phases as can be seen in appendix 3 and in more detail in appendix 4. This has been absent from the RIBA plan of work. Since the client, the cross-functional team, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers are involved at an early stage, there will therefore be a complete identification of all possible risks and hence an early adoption of strategies to mitigate them. With a project of CTGs nature, variation of requirements at any stage will have serious cost implications on the project, as such the introduction of phase reviews (as can be seen on appendix 3) which aim at reviewing work in each phase and approving progress to the next stage while employing the hard or soft gates is an added advantage. This will assure high quality of work performance (Kagioglou et al, 1998). The backbone of the successful execution of the CTG project will be a good relationship between parties (Jamieson, 1997; Cooper et al, 2005). More often than not, problems have ranged from litigation, lack of trust, lack of communication and lack of knowledge sharing between parties as they have perhaps never worked together probably will never do again (Lee et al, 2000). Therefore the involvement of all stakeholders and using strategic partnering arrangements will allow involvement of all parties from the requirements capture phase as shown on appendix 3 and this fosters a te am environment and encourages appropriate and timely communication and decision making (Lee et al 2000) and because stakeholders are identified, their responsibilities will be explicitly identified. Feedback is an important concept which aims to regulate and improve performance (Poon et al, 2003). The inclusion of the legacy archive with the process protocol is an added advantage. It gives the players within the industry an opportunity to draw from the success or failures of past projects upon which the current or future projects. Furthermore, the adoption of standardised deliverables assist in smooth project delivery as every team knows what is to be produced and at what stage. This is the only way continuous improvement can be sustained. However, the first problem that will come to the mind of members of the construction industry is the extent of involvement of IT in the process. Poon et al (2003) argue that, apart from describing the activities in the map, it is also necessary to use multiple computing skills, which include electronic data interchange, artificial intelligence, integrated databases, inter/intranet application and document management systems in order to analyse activities. The whole set of activities might seem cumbersome and too complicated for non-computer literate users. The roles of the process management and change management activity zones seem to lean much toward the activities and roles of the project manager within the context of construction. Therefore, there could be conflict of responsibilities within these activity zones as they operate within the project. This is the case because of the fundamental difference between construction and manufacturing in relation to the product, the processes and the tracking of changes that occur. Though the process protocol is generic and has the advantage of flexibility, it is quite difficult to fit the protocol into an ongoing project because it has its own definitions and terminologies which could possibly result in confusion if blended with the terminology of the one going project. 4. 0 Production activities An activity is a well defined task in a project which usually requires a certain amount of time to complete and absorbs a portion of the projects financial budget (Waller, 2002). In the CTG project, there are many production activities, however, casting the foundation have been chosen for appraisal 4.1 Casting the foundation A cross functional process map shown in appendix 5 is used to depict how a typical foundation slab within the CTG project is cast indicating the processes cutting across several functions. According to the transformation theory, the emphasis is on the translation of the concrete into the foundation and slab (Koskela, 2000). However, in order to ensure the foundation is cast according to the drawings, checking/inspection is done intermittently as can be seen on the map, this brings us to the flow model: there are waiting, inspection and moving together with the transformations (Koskela, 2000). This is so because, once the formwork in place and the foundation is cast, it has to be inspected. As depicted on the map there are such inspections which involve, waiting and moving as the entire foundation is cast. The effect of these is the eventual extension to the time required to execute the particular operation. There are some non value-adding activities that are important, an example being the time allowed for the concrete to harden before the forms are struck and preparation of the excavated surfaces after excavation. There are other non-value adding activities that need to eliminate an example being the time spent in undertaking all these inspections. In order to improve the efficiency of this process, focus should be on the elimination to the non-value adding processes. 5.0 Conclusion The RIBA plan of work still has its advantage of simplicity and adaptability to various procurement methods. However the GDCPP proves to be more holistic in its approach towards customer satisfaction. The GDCPP is easily adopted in the CTG project primarily because of the size and complexity of the project. The cost that may be incurred through implementation of the protocol will be offset in the communication, co-ordination and team work which will eventually be created. This may however not be the case in relatively smaller projects. The introduction and sustenance of the protocol will fail due to poor process change within companies and will even fail more should managements try to adopt shortcuts by expecting individual workers to execute new working practices without training. Effective implementation and adoption of the protocol requires continuous training and education. This training needs to start from management level down to the last worker.

Barratt Development Account Information Analysis

Barratt Development Account Information Analysis Assessing the role of accounting information and accounting information system at Barratt Development Abstract Accounting information and accounting information systems (AIS) in todays information age play critical roles in facilitating decision-makers with accurate financial status of the organization and activities to pursue strategic objectives. Accountants, who are the disseminators of accounting information, need to ensure that the information provided to decision-makers such as managers, executives and board of directors is up-to-date to achieve organizational objectives, monitor performance and/or amend strategic objectives when needed. Sometimes accounting information is not as useful and even impacts negatively on the users. This is due to a host of issues that plague accounting information and its systems including authenticity, integrity and quality of the information generated. For these reasons, companies have to develop and maintain accounting information systems congruent with their business objectives to ensure usefulness, integrity and transparency to avoid ethical, legal and business conflicts. In the following evaluation, the researcher shall demonstrate the role of accounting information and accounting information system at Barratt Development Plc, with special emphasis on how the implementation of computerized accounting information systems affects issues of quality, integrity and reliability. Barratt Development Overview Barratt is one of the UKs largest homebuilders. Founded in 1958, the company today has an extended growing network of divisions spread throughout the UK. The breadth and scope of Barratt’s organizational structure can be measured by the number of resources and other pioneering projects development it serves to the communities. The company boasts market share with specialization in creating high quality, value for money homes for sale, rent and shared ownership, often in partnership with local authorities, housing associations and others (Official Website 2007). The majority, that is 80%, of the projects, are based on brown field recycled land. This commitment towards sustainable development has been congruent with the Governments future plan in sustainable development and innovation in homebuilding and construction (Official Website 2007). Even though the company has been founded since four decades, it is growing at an unprecedented speed. Since its listing in the London Stock Exchange in 1968, Barratt Development Plc has achieved high turnover. For the year 2006, the company has had a group turnover of  £2,431m. With 33 operating divisions throughout the country to serve all sectors of the market, Barratt is considered one of the most powerful groups of builders in planning and developing of the countrys housing sector (Official Website 2007). According to its executives, Barratts success lies in its geographical spread and extensive product range. The company has always ensured that sales of its homes and buildings are congruent with the average market place to appeal to a variety of buyers, yet maintains quality throughout the project. In addition, Barratt does not believe in remaining stagnant and following other players. Instead, part of its success lies in its ability to grow through innovation, and using green technologies effectively to develop projects that cost less, have more valuable benefits to the customer and environment, as well as customized to the end users preferences. Problems such as energy efficiency, health and safety, and regeneration are taken into consideration seriously (Annual Report 2006). With a strong team of specialists on its hand, Barratts management is confident in its performance and in creating value for its shareholders and stakeholders. Role of Accounting Information and AIS at Barratt Development The emergence of the digital economy and globalization has precipitated the concept of organizational systems for managing knowledge and information. In the financial context, digitized information reporting has become a link between the different units of the organization. It is through this network of information that organizations are able to utilize information in individualized management. Accounting information systems are enablers of information provision to synthesize financial information such as reports for non-standard managerial decisions. The AIS has come to be the managers knowledge through which the organization deploys knowledge for various purposes in decision frameworks (Bhimani 2003). Thus, AIS can be defined as a subsystem of the organizations information system in which quantitative data are processed to provide information for individuals or group of people with similar information needs, to use in understanding organizational activities and support decision-mak ing. Accounting information refers to processed data converted into information for the purpose of decision-making (OpenLearning ). This ideology can be exemplified by studying Barratt Development and its AIS. Accounting information at Barratt serves various groups of individuals and mainly those who are in direct relation with the business. From the top of the decision tree, the board of directors who need to direct and control the organization are the principal users of accounting information. Accounting information is used to study the trend in revenues, pre-tax profit, losses, group activities, cash flow, return on capital employed, forward order book, land, net assets, interest rates, selling price, volume of business, product sale and earnings per share to estimate the status of the business. They base their assessment on future plans, the types of project they will focus on, the kind of resources they plan to employ, and the kind of risks involved in the business (Annual Report 2006). Apart from the board of directors, accounting information provides valuable information for monitoring purposes for external groups of individuals such as the auditing committee. They study the integrity of the financial statements to objectively evaluate its relation with the organizational performance. They are also responsible for studying the financial management and reporting system to ensure that accounting procedures, system of control and processes are congruent with standards prescribed by the regulators (Annual Report 2006). The accounting information also provides useful status of the kind of credit transactions that have taken place with suppliers, the terms for repayment and how much debt the company is in without risking the companys integrity. After the Board of Directors, the auditors, and the creditors, the executives and managers are the ones who make use of the accounting information. They utilize make use of accounting information for assessing operational performance and how to improve it through strategic plans. Accounting information provides insight pertaining to the gaps or problems inherent in the skills, resources, and financial constrains that hinder the maximization of efficiency of resources to achieve organizational objectives and targets (Annual Report 2006). External users of accounting information also include the shareholders and speculators who are keen on studying the performance of the company from time to time to safeguard their interests. Information pertaining to earnings per share, share pricing, profitability, rates of returns and announcement of new shares being floated are all useful for shareholders to make investment decisions. Apart from the above-mentioned core decision-makers, accounting information is also used at the operational level for information like salaries, benefits, bonuses, pension benefits, as well as ensuring that divisional leaders are able to gauge the status of inventory, receivables, cash flow activities, assets, land, payables and taxes etc. which will impact on the overall status of the projects. The accounting information that these individuals utilize is processed by an accounting information system, which generates information from daily transactions such as sale receipts, invoices, payment slips, taxation forms, salary slips, suppliers transactional slips, and trade receivables etc. The AIS comprises of sub-sub systems set up based on accounting standards such as inventory system, supply chain system, sales proceeds systems, human resource system, and capital investment systems. The AIS is also formed based on various internal transactions recorded in these systems. Hence, the AIS at Barratt Development is based on both internal and external accounting information processing. Accounting Information Strategy at Barratt Development Although AIS has been in existence in organizations since the invention of accounting, today it is interpreted synonymously with the computerization of accounting function. The fundamental purpose of AIS is to collect, record and process data from activities related to the organizations (Stefanou 2006). The resultant information has implications in maintenance, decision and communication by internal and external stakeholders, depending on the extent of the impact of environmental factors, social factors, technological factors and organizational factors. According to Stefanou (2006), accounting information and AIS are critical for organizations to respond to highly competitive and dynamic business environments that often alter production processes and organizational structures. For this purpose, information systems such as AIS play an important role in facilitating change management and allow cross-functional requirements. At Barratt, the company has engaged Weber Shandwick Square Mile as the financial PR advisors to develop a communication framework especially designed for providing information to its shareholders and stakeholders at all times. However, this step towards transparency is limited by the companys policy not to divulge sensitive financial information to the public without the expressed approval of the Company Secretary. The company believes that this strategy helps it to ensure that key accounting information is only communicated to those genuinely concerned such as investors, private shareholders and analysts (Annual Report 2006). Barratts AIS is based on the International Financial Reporting Standards, complies with the Companies Act of 1985 and uses the generally accepted accounting principles. Under GAAP, the company also has to include estimates and assumptions that affect the companys overall financial performance, especially on assets and liabilities, while reporting of revenues and expenses. Accounting information is based on the managements interpretation of amount, activities, actions and actual/estimates and their impact on the performance of the company. For this purpose, Barratt takes into account of results/estimates from holding companies, as well as its subsidiaries, to be included in it financial statements to record revenue, expenditures, assets, liabilities, and cash flows. For example, when considering cost estimation, the company includes materials, labour and overheads of work in progress. Similarly, when considering property, plant and equipment, the company includes deferred purchase cre dit terms and costs, less depreciation of the assets (Annual Report 2006). Developing and managing accounting information is critical for inter and intra organizational information dissemination. Accurate information is required for decision support throughout the organization, as well as to ensure that the quality of information supports efficiency of operational activities. By using the GAAP principles, the companys decision-makers are able to negotiate and manage costs for determining cost price, selling price and service price of its products in the market. It is also critical for the decision-makers at the divisional level to gauge the financial implications of the project undertaken and, hence, determine its value to the overall organizational strategy. In smaller companies, it is easier to emphasize on control mechanisms such as cash, monitoring performance and maintaining relationships with external entities (Collis and Jarvis 2002). However, in an organization such as Barra tt, where holding companies, subsidiaries, supply chain and such external value chain units are connected with the companys operations, accounting estimates, though give a rough picture of the financial status, do not really provide correct financial status (Ramos 2004). Furthermore, due to the changing business environment and trend, traditional notions of control systems no longer prove effective in understanding and controlling factors that affect organizations. Bhimani (2003) is of the view that management operational strategies nowadays require a balance of all units within the organizational framework linked by an effective communication network, which emphasize on information and knowledge transfer. Any information system must facilitate information for monitoring and evaluation of the knowledge. Boland (1999) too is of the view that information systems such as the AIS must be present in the organization to create reports, support report regeneration, support decision systems, smoothen workflow and provide enquiry function. Therefore, the AIS should represent the organizational control system (Stuerke 2005). To begin with, Barratt maintains an effective financial information system that provides relevant and up-to-date information pertaining t o the organization for the purpose of maintaining investment relations. One cannot deny the fact that information pertaining to earnings forecasts, capital returns, announcements, financial performance and the like are easily available at the click of a button at Barratts investor relations web site. The purpose of this web site is to smooth the workflow of the investors, traders and analysts so that they engage in trading Barratts shares and securities (Barratt Official Website 2007). Likewise, one observes that Barratt has used its financial information system to effectively direct and control its corporate governance through which it sets standards and values for maintaining its relationship with shareholders, customers, staff, suppliers, contractors and stakeholders. It is through its corporate governance strategy that the company is able to develop an operational plan, budget, financial statements, decide on projects, conduct acquisition and disposal of units, as well as monitor business performance, set internal control for risk management and ensure transparency is existent throughout the organization (Annual Report 2006). An effective information system is dependent on a regulatory body. It is this body that monitors and evaluates the efficacy of the implementation of policies and strategies. Maintaining an information system with sensitive information, such as financial data, is useless if there are no regular checks and balances. In a financial context, this is usually carried out by the auditors. Congruent to the breadth and size of the company, Barratt has two groups of auditors internal and external. The Audit Committee (internal) comprises of executive directors with financial experience who are responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the audit process, financial management and reporting systems, as well as ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of its accounting processes. The internal control systems are reviewed regularly to monitor potential risks or discrepancies in the audit function. An external auditing company, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC has been engaged to authenticate the v alidity of the internal audit committees reports (Annual Report 2006). This approach is not new in terms of companys evaluation and monitoring. Apart from the auditing committee, Barratts Directors are also responsible for safeguarding the companys assets by monitoring for fraud and irregularities in its financial system and operations. Their task is governed by an internal control and risk management system. Although, this system may seem effective in defining risk control operations and reportage, nevertheless it is usually limited by the authority of the same directors who report, evaluate and audit the financial information disseminated at interim and annual meetings. The directors are a select group who are made responsible for the transparency of the whole companys accounting system. For example, when considering issues of land viability for acquisition, work in progress, and sub-contractor payments etc., the executive directors are dependent on the input system, which is controlled at the divisional level. Accounting of purchases, sales, and acquisitions is authenticated by the divisional heads, while the executive di rectors are dependent on these divisional units for authentication of their own reportage. Consequently, the researcher is of the view that the system only provides reasonable assurance. The risk of fraudulent activities cannot be really assured at all levels as the checks and balances are limited to the top executives only. Conclusion From the above discussion, one understands that although the digital economy has substantially revolutionized accounting information systems, it is essentially based on the same framework. Traditional accounting values such as integrity, authenticity and quality of information for the purpose of decision-making critically have remained the same. All processes in recording and processing accounting data for generating information serve the purpose of accountability and authentication of the factors of production, work in progress and performance of the firm. What has changed is the significance of the AIS as the intra and inter communication framework for stakeholders and shareholders. This is evident from the above study of Barratt Development, one of UKs top house-builder companies. Barratt, based on its operational infrastructure, has developed a complex financial information system governed by policies, procedures and disciplines for governing it. Its management has appointed top decision-makers (its directors) as gatekeepers for monitoring, evaluating and safekeeping of financial information. It has adopted standardized accounting principles for reportage and accountability so as to facilitate its shareholders and stakeholders with easy-to-access accounting information for making decisions that affect the company. Nevertheless, if one analyzes this accounting system, it is filled with gaps, which may compromise the integrity and quality of information provided to its users. Consequently, the researcher is of the view that AIS cannot guarantee authenticity, quality and integrity of information, regardless of the kind of system adopted. What is needed is a check and balance system integrated, congruent with the AIS, at all levels of the organization to ensure independent authentication of information and knowledge management. Bibliography Barratt Official Website. Company Profile. Online accessed on 20 January 2007 from: http://www.barratt-investor-relations.co.uk/corporateoverview/companyprofile.aspx Barratt Report and Accounts 2006. Bhimani, A. (2003) Management Accounting in the Digital Economy. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Boland, R. J. (1999) Accounting as a Representational Craft Lessons for Research on Information Systems in Rethinking Management Information Systems: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Currie, W. and Galliers, B. (eds) Oxford University Press: Oxford. pp. 229 Collis, J. and Jarvis, R. (2002) Financial Information and the Management of Small Private Companies. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 9, No. 2 pp.100-110 Ramos, M. M. (2004) Interaction between management accounting and supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. Vol.9, No. 2, pp.134-138 Stuerke, P. S. (2005) Financial analysts as users of accounting information. International Journal of Managerial Finance Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 8-24 Barratt Report and Accounts 2006. Barratt Official Website. Company Profile. Online accessed on 20 January 2007 from: http://www.barratt-investor-relations.co.uk/corporateoverview/companyprofile.aspx Bhimani, A. (2003) Management Accounting in the Digital Economy. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Boland, R. J. (1999) Accounting as a Representational Craft Lessons for Research on Information Systems in Rethinking Management Information Systems: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Currie, W. and Galliers, B. (eds) Oxford University Press: Oxford. pp. 229 Ramos, M. M. (2004) Interaction between management accounting and supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. Vol.9, No. 2, pp.134-138 Collis, J. and Jarvis, R. (2002) Financial Information and the Management of Small Private Companies. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 9, No. 2 pp.100-110 Stuerke, P. S. (2005) Financial analysts as users of accounting information. International Journal of Managerial Finance Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 8-24