The purpose of the management team

The purpose of the management team The management are the people who guide the team in a right path wherein all together working for the same goal of success. They have to work together with Sincerity, Unity, Courage, Communication, Enthusiasm, Strengths, and Secrets of the company to form the ultimate chain of SUCCESS. The manager who runs the team should have proper interaction with each and every team member with proper updates and feedbacks. Also have to take active participation whatever happens within the team and team members. Since the manager knows about each and every member of his team, has to check with the daily metrics where that particular team member is lacking behind and has to make sure that the person has been well trained, again have to check for the daily metrics to give the feedback. Also have to sympathise and empathise with the person having any personal issues as well. Every individual team player also has to develop knowledge, confidence, time management and sincerity to be a part in the grow th of the company. According to the Mintzbergs managerial roles manager should have quality of leader by motivation and activation of subordinates for staffing and for associated duties. Manager have to monitor various activity and to receive wide range of special information to develop the organization. (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004, p495). Management also have to face the risk factor in all aspects, regarding their own team members issues and also from the competitor perspective. The management has to take a right decision when taking any risk which should not affect the growth of the company and also have to see the financial criteria as well. If any risk factor is taken it has to be handled in a way that the company overcomes that crisis as earlier as possible with success in taking that risk. The whole team has to work together with proper interaction and dedication to make the risk as a success. Each team player has to be committed with their own work, so all team members work together of common commitment. By virtue of his interpersonal contacts, both with his subordinates and with his network of contacts, the manager emerges as the nerve centre of his organizational unit. He may not know everything, but he typically knows more than any member of his staff Mintzberg (1975). There are a wide range of theories which can be implemented to improve the growth of a particular concern. And these are the two theories which I experienced in the concern which I worked for. 1. Maslow`s theory. 2. Goal Theory. 3. McClellands Theory of motivation. Maslow`s Hierarchy of needs theory: One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development. Indeed, Maslows ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs concerning the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more relevant than ever. Self-actualization- personal growth and fulfilment personal growth and fulfilment Esteem needs- achievement, status, responsibility, reputation achievement, status, responsibility, reputation Biological and Physiological needs- basic life needs (air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc). basic life needs air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc. Safety needs- protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc. protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc. Belongingness and Love needs- family, affection, relationships, work group, etc. family, affection, relationships, work group, etc. Maslows (second edition 1970) I worked for an MNC in India named CSS (Cybernet Slash Suppport) is a call centre in which we give technical support for the customers calling from US and UK regarding the installation of networking devices like modems, router, cameras, adapters etc. In my company the basic need was a graduate with little bit of computer background who knows to speak English with neutral accent. Since I had their requirement I got selected and was put under a team. For the first time I worked with a team with people having little bit of experience and knowledge whereas I was a fresher. So as per Maslow`s diagram I had the basic requirements need by the company. Working with the team gave me lot of experience and knowledge about time management, and relationship with leaders. At first it was very difficult to get along with the team since my other team members had bit experience in handling calls. The other members in the team will finish the work effortlessly within the given time limit, but I struggled a lot by putting my complete effort to finish the task within the given time limit, but finally I completed my task after the given time limit. So I was clearly monitored by my team leader since I was the bottom performer in my team. Then I was given special training by my leader which was my last chance to perform in this company, else I have to leave the company. And my leader gave me training technically and personally as well, which motivated me to do my best with liking towards the job. Finally I did my best and finished the task within the time limit. Since my team leader motivated me, created a good relationship with the leader as per Maslow`s theory. Goal Theory: Goal theory is about how leader motivate subordinate to accomplish designated goal (Peter g, 2010, p125). The leader, the challenge is to use a leadership style that best meets subordinates motivational needs. (Peter g, 2010, p125). In the concern which I worked the leader motivated me well which helped me a lot not only in technical work but also personally to do all works. Since I was the bottom performer in my team my leader always use to motivate me positively to do my work, but my manager use to discourage me that I am not fit for the job. Since my leader always use to motivate which automatically created a character of motivation in me. From then I use to motivate myself personally and officially whatever I do. The managers job is to get the work done from the technicians, so he sets a time limit for each team member in our team in order to get the output. So eventually everyone use to work in order to finish the task within the given time limit. So I motivate myself to complete the work before the time limit given by the manager. I use to set my own time to finish the task which helped me to finish my work earlier, than the time given by the manager. This motivation helped me to get lot of knowledge and experience which also gained me increase in my payroll. According to the House and Mitchell (1974), leadership generators motivation when it increase the number and kind of payroll that subordinate receive from their work. (Peter g, 2010, p125) Goal setting and performance People lacking positive motivation at work may also help gain improved result and a better sense of achievement by setting themselves specific goal and identifying task directly to their work and measurable target of the time and performance. (Laurie and Mullins, 2006, p274) When I was working in the company I was lacking positive motivation which led me to be the bottom performer in the team. Since my team leader motivated me, it helped me a lot in how to do the work faster. So from then I used to build up positive motivation and I use to motivate myself to do the work better than others by setting own time limit for myself which is earlier than the actual time given. So all my team members will finish the work within the time limit given by the manager, whereas I would have finished my work before my team members finishes. And finally I was the top performer in my team and got appreciation from the manager who discouraged me before, which again motivated me to be the top performer consistently. McClellands Theory of motivation: David c, McClellands has contributed to the understanding of motivation by identifying three types of basic motivation needs. He classifies them as the need of power, need of affiliation, and need for motivation. (Koontz and Weihrich, p297) All three drives- power, affiliation, and achievement are of particular relevance to management, since all must be recognised to make an organization enterprise work well. (Koontz and Weihrich, p297) Need For Achievement: Every person in their lifetime they would have achieved something or the other. In the company which I worked, was the place where I learnt about motivation which still helps me to do any kind of work with full dedication towards the work. Since I was the bottom performer in my team in the earlier stage, this motivation given by my leader, leads me finally to be the top performer in the team. So I was promoted to the next level in the team within a short period of time (4 months). Since I had a good relationship with my co-workers and manager, they use to give me high responsibilities and I was able to tackle any kind of situation easily since I worked sincerely with complete liking and dedication towards work, which led me to become a team leader of a team which I consider was a great achievement in my life. So, every single person who motivates themselves and works with complete dedication and liking towards work with reach the ultimate goal of success within a short period of time. People with high need for Achievement have an intense desire for the success and equally intense fear of failure. They want to be challenge and they set moderately difficult (but not impossible) goal for themselves. They take a very realistic approach to the risk; they are not likely to be gambler but rather, prefer to analyse and assess problems, assume personal responsibility for getting a job done and likely specific and prompt. (Koontz and Weihrich, p297) Need for Affiliation: The company which I worked for had the norms or rules for the company which every employer has to be followed. It was a must for every individual to follow the rules of the company which was also considered for the growth of the employer in the company. One of the managers in the company came to the shift drunk and was noticed by the management and was immediately dismissed from the company. In spite of being the manager of a team he was dismissed since he dint not follow the norms of the company. I would use to always follow the norms of the company. I will come in for my shift before my check in time and will work even extending my shift, also had a good rapport with the team members. Since I was promoted as a team leader and was already a team player before was able to know about each individual clearly which helped me to know which work to be given to whom and whom has to be well trained in where they are lacking behind. So I always had a proper relationship, interaction and active participation with my team members in updating all the informations and techniques to give the output soon. People with high need for affiliation usually derive pleasure from being loved and tend to avoid the pain of being rejected by a social group. As individual, they are likely to be concerned with maintaining pleasant social relationship to enjoy a sense of intimacy and understanding, to be ready to console and help other in trouble and enjoy friendly interaction with other. (Koontz and Weihrich, p297) Need for Power: A leader or a manager has the quality of power by taking or handling any kind of situation which does not affect the growth of the company. Since I was the team leader in the company which I worked, my main job was to get the work done by my team members by giving them proper training and consistently updating the technical information. My job was also to monitor my team in each interval and have to update myself about my team members of their performance. So after analysing the performance of team I have to give feedback to the team members with hurting anybodys feeling or by discouraging them and have to appreciate who have performed well and have to give proper training to those of them who are lacking behind. So in this kind of situation a leader or manager has to use their power to handle the situation for the growth of the company and also the growth of each individual by motivating them positively. According to the people with high need for power have a great concern with exercising influence and control such individual are generally seeking position of leadership; they are frequently good conversationalist, though argumentative; they are forcefully outspoken, hard headed, and demanding; and they enjoying Teaching and public speaking. (Koontz and Weihrich, p297) Organisation as Culture: Organisational cultures are of many types; power culture, where individual controls everything and group work cannot exits. Hence no feedback from staffs is entertained. There is role culture, where everyone is assigned a role to complete. Most organisations follow this. Staffs know what to do and everyone knows their boundaries (Mullins 2007: p.722-723). Power Culture: The power culture is, every individual have their own power to take their own decision since they are not working in a group. For Example: I participated in a group work in my tutor VINCE DISPENZA class which was an activity cave rescue. So the total class were divided into 5 groups having 6 members in each group. So the task given to us was to rescue the people who were trapped in the cave and the people who were trapped in the cave were given importance in different order which is equally important that we have to rescue all. So we worked as a group, but there were no proper co-ordination in my group. No one was ready to interact with each other, so I took the leadership and gave my own ideas and tried to interact with my group members. But they were not showing interest and also not ready to give their own points. So finally I had to give my own points when discussed with my tutor. So this power culture exists only in a very small group like this and cannot exist in an organization. Role Culture: The role culture is, every individual will be assigned a task where they have to work in groups. Here an individual cannot work separately or cannot take an own decision without discussing with the team members or leaders like the power culture. For Example: In the organization which I worked, I had to work only in groups. Since I was the team leader my job was to mainly get the works done from the team members of my team by giving them proper training in order to get the output. So here it is not possible to work separately like the power culture. So this role culture is followed by all organization to make the work easier and simpler. Organisation as a processor of information: Information is a critical part of any business we take. Proper information will lead to the success of a firm. For e.g. information about customer needs, information on what products will satisfy those needs, and how those products can be prepared and delivered, and so on. The idea of information processor highlights that an organisation is successful if it uses its information efficiently and learns to go on using it (Wickham,P,2006:P.276). Organisation as Social system: Social system consists of hierarchical ordering; number of subsystems, interdependence, and one component depends on other and permeability. (Farace et al., 1977) said system is input-throughput-output. That is a system inputs material and works on this input which is throughput and gives the output. (Miller 1995: p.87-89) A simple organization can be a very good example of a system, explained by two authors above. Organisation has subsystems like staff, team leader, manager, CEO Etc. They all are interdependent and takes input in the form of information or projects and works among them and gives out the output as product. Hence, they can form social system. Effective reading of the situation being addressed encounters using the mangers creative ability that gives way to do things differently or new leverage in solving complex issues. Reading itself does not denote a mechanical process or the application of the metaphors discussed above. It is about building a relationship with a vastly complex phenomenon to understand it by analysing it in different angles. (Morgan, 2006: p.361). These different perspectives of organisation are not mutually exclusive; indeed to the some extent they are complementary. There is no proper perspective which an organisation follow but these are one of the perspectives which organisation do follow. Change Management: Apart from these perspectives discussed above this is also necessary that a manager should take care. Managers often think that change can be a problem but sometimes managers forget that change can also be the solution for their problems. All managers must realize that one cannot separate change management from organizational strategy. According to Burnes(2004),change is now a present future of organizational life(Paton,R McCalman,J ,2008:p.39). CHANGE MANAGEMENT NEW CHANGED ORGANIZATION OLD ORGANIZATION As the figure says, for developing an old organisation into new improved one requires change. The scope for change management are managing project, quality, corporate development, IT and in human resource (Recklies,O,2001). Another point to be noted is that once the change has been done there is no chance to undo mistakes. Once a manager fails in the change management process, there is hardly any chance for him to motivate the employees again. There may also be many barriers to change. There may be barriers of perception like stereotypes in analysis, misjudgement etc. Also, emotional barriers like fear to make mistakes, not spending enough time to think. There may be environmental barriers like lack of support from the staffs, lack of accepting criticism when others do. At last there may be cultural barriers like tradition. It is very challenging task to overcome traditions. Character of a taboo in an organisation can also cause a problem (Recklies,O,2001). Research: Conclusion:

Avon’s Dividend Policy Essay

A firm’s decisions about dividends are often mixed up with other financing and investment decisions. Some firms pay low dividends because management is optimistic about the firm’s future and wishes to retain earnings for expansion. Other firms might finance capital expenditures largely by borrowing. All the above are examples of dividend policies which can be defined more precisely as the trade-off between retaining earnings on the one hand and paying out cash and issuing new shares on the other. In order to understand the dividend policy we must understand that this phrase means different things to different people (R.A. Brealey & S.C. Myers, 2003). Avon Products, Inc. announced both a change in its business focus and a reduction of its dividend in June 1988. To offset the likely stock price effect of the dividend reduction, Avon announced at the same time an unusual exchange offer under which it would take up to 25% of its common stock. The case traces the history of Avon from 1979-88. We will evaluate Avon’s efforts at diversification in the early 1980s, and will relate that effort to the company’s dividend history. Moreover we will evaluate Avon’s operating and financial strategies from 1979 to 1988 and the company’s financial condition in mid-1988. PERFORMANCE OF AVON’S STOCK FROM 1978-1988Based on Exhibit 4, Avon’s stock price has declined from $50.75 in 1978 to $24.125 in 1988 (decline equal to 52.5%). At the same time, S&P 500 has increased from $96.11 in 1978 to $266.69 in 1988 (increase equal to 177.5%). This rather poor performance of Avon stock contradicts with the performance of the overall market. Moreover, based on Exhibit 1, ROE decreased from 31% in 1978 to 21% in 1988. This is due to the following factors: Avon in the early 1980 made the major strategic decision to diversify its business by entering the health care field. In order to support its diversification strategy it invested heavily in subsequent acquisitions of Health care companies. It acquired Mallinkdroft in 1982, Foster Medical in 1984, Retirement Inns in 1985 and  Mediplex in 1986. Even though its health care division showed increasing net sales from 1982 till 1984, the situation changed during 1985, with a sudden drop of more than 50% in net sales. The inability of the health care sector to grow at attractive rates worsened in the years to come (largely because of the change in Medicare in 1986) and proved that it was a strategic mistake to go for diversification. Not only did not the market appreciate this decision, but also the firm found itself highly leveraged with a long term dept of $816.4 million in 1987, because of subsequent acquisitions. The heavy borrowing of the Avon obliged it to announce a dividend cut from $3.00 to $2.50 in 1982, and to $2.00 from 1983 till 1987. This dividend cutting policy, which was already expected and negatively perceived by the market from the early 1981 severely influenced Avon stock price (a decline in the share price from $30 to $20.375 immediately after the announcement of the following dividend policy) and contributed largely to its poor performance. This poor performance was also partly due to the disappointing financial results of the Beauty care sector from 1982 till 1985 (Exhibit 2). It was only in 1986 that the Beauty care sector showed again positive signs of improving prospects. The wrong commitment of Avon to its Health care sector together with the demographic shifts of the 1980’s, that decreased both its sales force and customer base are the main reasons for the Beauty Care sector’s disappointing results. EVALUATION OF AVON’ S FINANCIAL CONDITION IN MID-1988Avon in mid-1988 divested its healthcare business and acquired fragrance companies. In that way, Avon has demonstrated renewed commitment to beauty business and continued investment in that business. While its long term debt was only $4.1million in 1979 and its net earnings amounted to $250.7 million, Avon found itself heavily burdened with total long term debt of $816.4 million in 1988 decreasing net earnings of $159 million and just before divesting two of its health care businesses probably at considerable book losses. The decision of the company to finance its acquisitions with debt, starting from 1982, resulted to high interest expense payments every year (Exhibit 1). These high interest expense payments, combined with the decreasing net earnings made it very difficult for Avon to meet successfully its generous dividend payment policy. So the company had to reduce its yearly dividend  payments starting from 1982 and onwards. Under its financial condition in 1988 Avon has no other choice but to go for further reductions in dividends. That way the company will be able to meet its heavy debt obligations and at the same time finance the â€Å"come back† to its core beauty products business. PURPOSE OF THE EXCHANGE OFFERThe purpose of the exchange offer was to avoid having a dividend reduction drive down the stock price and find the â€Å"golden mean† between its own interests and the interests of its 25 large Institutional shareholders. Those shareholders owned 46.5 % of total Avon’s outstanding shares (Exhibit 5) and expected high dividends from them. Some investors, as it is mentioned in the case, have stated that they held Avon stock because it paid high dividends. Hence, a reduction of dividends would most likely have caused investors to sell their stocks and evoke share price delay. Therefore, Morgan Stanley, the financial adviser of Avon offered to exchange one share of a new $2.00 PERCS for each of up to $18 million of Avon’s 7.17 million outstanding common shares. PERCS are mandatory convertibles that work as equity-linked hybrid securities and automatically convert to common stock on a pre-specified date (Yan, A. et al, 2003). The PERCS assured the same dividends ($2.00 a year) until September 1991. The company would also have an option of redeeming the preferred shares for either cash or common shares after that date. In addition, the exchange offer was made in order to support the following four key elements that Avon should have taken into consideration (Ross, S.A., et al 2008):†¢Select Additional capital budgeting projects. Through the capital savings Avon will be able to finance additional projects with positive NPV. †¢Available funds for further acquisitions. To avoid the payment of dividends Avon might use excess cash to acquire another company. With this method the company will be able to support more efficiently its turnaround strategy towards the beauty business. †¢Repurchase shares. Avon will be able to support its market price which has reached the lowest level of approximately $24 by repurchasing shares. At the same time shareholders benefit from the fact that when selling shares they pay lower taxes than when they receive dividends. †¢Personal taxes. Money earned from dividends is considered as personal income so it is taxed. EVALUATION OF THE TRADE-OFFEach decision to go for either the new preferred stock or to keep the common stock has pros and cons. The new PERCS should be appealing to the majority of its institutional investors, since they guarantee to them a stable and relatively high enough quarterly dividend of 50 cents, which is always paid before any other common dividend payment. In this way its large institutional investors can feel certain that they will have a secured return on their investment, without incurring any transaction costs when selling off shares for current consumption. The holders of the new PERCS can also share the benefits of a stock price increase up to $31.5 but also the losses in case of a stock price drop. The great opportunity that the holders of the new PERCS are loosing is in case Avon stock price goes beyond $31.5. Its stock is currently undervalued to approximately $24 and there is a high probability that within the predetermined 3 years its stock price will increase beyond the price of $31.5, as Avon is undergoing a restructuring towards its core beauty care business and the market is expected to react positively to that news. If that will be the case, then they will loose any excess gains incurred beyond the $31.5 stock price. Being a common shareholder, an institutional investor experiences losses in revenues because of the dividend reduction. What is extremely important though is that this implies a policy of retaining earnings to help finance the business, which is currently being restructured. So having a long term perspective an institutional investor can select common stocks and bet on a stock price increase far beyond $31.5. If that will be the case then he will certainly outperform any losses he has experienced so far because of the dividend reduction. In addition, based on Exhibit 5 we can distinguish four types of institutional investors depending on their preferences:†¢Yield. In this case the institutional investors have as a primary objective, the amount of dividends they will receive divided by the purchase price. This is not an accurate measure of total return, since it does not factor in capital gains. (http://www.investorwords.com/5362/yield.html)†¢Turnaround. A speculator may profit from a turnaround if he or she accurately anticipates the improvement of a poorly performing company. (http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/turnaround)†¢Mixed. An investor with a combination of yield and turnaround incentives. †¢Index. Investors trading index options are essentially betting on the overall movement of the stock market as represented by a basket of stocks. These investors are considered to care a lot about acquiring stocks that help them diversify the risk of their overall portfolio (http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Index+Option). Concluding we assume that according to investors’ preferences we would have a different selection. The yield investor will probably prefer the PERCS, the turnaround investor would keep its common stocks, the mixed would consider both options and finally the index investor will first look at its entire portfolio and decide to keep the stock or not irrespective of the benefits that PERCS or common stock offer as he mainly cares for risk diversification. REFERENCES †¢Ross, S.A., Westerfield, R.W., Jaffe, J., Jordan, B.D. â€Å"Modern Financial Management†. McGraw-Hill, Eighth Edition, (2008)†¢R.A. Brealey and S.C. Myers, â€Å"Principles of Corporate Finance†, McGraw-Hill, Seventh Edition, (2003). †¢Yan, A., Nandy, D., and Chemmanur, T. â€Å"Why issue mandatory convertibles? Theory and empirical evidence, February (2003) Retrieved on 18.3.2008 (http://ideas.repec.org/p/ecm/nawm04/456.html)†¢http://www.investorwords.com/5362/yield.html. 18/3/2008. †¢http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/turnaround 18/3/2008. †¢http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Index+Option 18/3/2008.

The Presidential Election Of The United States - 1507 Words

The 1980 presidential election of the United States featured three primary candidates, Republican Ronald Reagan, Democrat Jimmy Carter and liberal Republican John Anderson. Ronald Reagan was the governor of California before he decided to run for the presidency. John Anderson was a representative in Illinois and Carter was the incumbent. The lengthy Iran hostage crisis sharpened public opinions by the beginning of the election season. In the 1970s, the United States were experiencing a straining episode of low economic growth, high price increases and interest rates and an irregular energy crisis. The sense of discomfort in both domestic and foreign affairs in the nation were heading downward, this added to the downward spiral that was already going on. Between Carter, Anderson and Reagan, the general election campaign of the 1980s seemed more concerned with shadowboxing around political issues rather than a serious discussion of the issues that concerned voters. 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Charles Dickens Great Expectations Essay - 1740 Words

Charles Dickens Great Expectations In chapter eight Dickens begins with a detailed description of Satis House, we are given a vivid idea of what is in store for Pip right from the beginning. The language and phrases used emphasise the darkness and forbidding nature of the house. When Pip first enters the house he describes it as having, old bricks, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. This adds to the atmosphere of darkness, because all the windows had been walled up. In addition, there is a feeling of old age and this is portrayed when Dickens talks about the windows being rustily barred and how the house†¦show more content†¦She is isolated and locked in her own house that is seen visually as a prison, but also it can be sensed emotionally. Satis House is also enclosed, which brings us back to the idea of a prison. We know this because it is secluded and isolated from the rest of the world, by being trapped by its high enclosing walls. The shadowy darkness of the house is constantly felt by Pip; the vision of this becomes more recognizable when Miss Havisham tells Pip she has never seen daylight. Dickens seems to create an image of a funeral and death by relating it to Miss Havisham and Satis House. One example of this is when Miss Havisham is described as corpse like. Pip sees Miss Havisham as the strangest lady he has ever seen which adds to the mysterious and scary environment of the house. Everything that is said by Miss Havisham and the presentation of herself and her house, adds to the effective description, which is related to death and darkness. 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In many ways the narrator/protagonist Pip is Charles Dickens in body and mind. While there are many differences between the story and Charles Dickens life there remains one constant. This constant is the way Pip as the narra tor feels, because these feelings are Dickens s own feelings about the life he lead. Since Great Expectations was written towards end of Charles Dickens life, he was wiser and able to make out the mistakesRead MoreGreat Expectations By Charles Dickens1375 Words   |  6 PagesGreat Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Talented Mr Ripley by Anthony Minghella present similar criticisms of society to a large extent. Both of these texts consider the criticisms of rich social contexts (wealth and status), societal morality (whether a society is good or not. Status [can lead to the wrong people being in a high position i.e. making bad decisions affecting the community/society] Appearance [society appears to be moral/good (if you’re from a higher status) {dickens criticisesRead MoreCharles Dickens Great Expectations1223 Words   |  5 PagesBeloved author Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. Growing up in a life of poverty, his childhood hardshi ps provided the inspiration to write a myriad of classic novels including his 1861 seminole masterpiece, Great Expectations (â€Å"BBC History - Charles Dickens†). Great Expectations follows the life of an orphan named Pip, who’s perspective of the world is altered when he is attacked by an escaped convict in his parents’ graveyard in the town of Kent. Throughout hisRead MoreGreat Expectations By Charles Dickens924 Words   |  4 Pagesa character driven novel, or a mix of the two. In order for a novel to be character driven, it must revolve more around the characters’ individual thoughts, feelings, and inner struggles, rather than around the quest of the story. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, is a character driven novel. While the story does have a plot, it is not contingent upon that plot, but rather is reliant upon its characters and their natures. This is evident from the beginning of the novel. From the opening ofRead MoreCharles Dickens Great Expectations1669 Words   |  7 PagesCharles Dickens He was one of England s greatest authors of the 1800 s, better known as the Victorian era. The various themes and ideas of that time are perfectly showcased in his many novels and short stories, such as Nicholas Nickelby, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. Much of the inspiration for these works came from the trials and conflicts that he dealt with in his own life. 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The Mexican American War, Spanish Guerra De 1847 - 770 Words

The Mexican-American War The Mexican War, Spanish Guerra de 1847, or Guerra do Estados Unidos a Mexico, are different names for the Mexican-American War. Many incidents happened even before the war officially began. Eisenhower simply and bluntly stated: â€Å"The fact is that Mexico stood in the way of the American dream of Manifest Destiny.† Manifest Destiny was just one of the causes that pushed us to war with Mexico. The first battle was at Palo Alto, a fort that was in the disputed zone. There were many battles in 2 years. The war finally grasped an end when Mexico signed a treaty in Mexico City. With the treaty, U.S and Mexico were able to reach terms. Each proceedings that happened, brought on the war that lasted from 1846-1848 and then ended with the U.S as victors. Prior to the Mexican-American War, there were many events that lead to the cause of the war. For many years, Americans and Mexicans had very little direct contact, because they were separated by huge tracts of undeveloped territory. However, in the 19th century, the U.S began to rapidly expand westward. By 1819, U.S had gained the Louisiana Territory and also the Arkansas and Missouri Territories, which bordered Mexican lands. American settlers began to pour into these territories. Then they began to illegally enter the sparsely inhabited Mexican territories of California, New Mexico and Texas. Mexico saw U.S expansion as a threat. A man by the name of Stephen Austin made a deal with Mexico

The Introduction of the Concept of Humanism Free Essays

The introduction of the concept of humanism greatly affected the Renaissance. The Humanistic influence shaped Renaissance art, writing, education and thinkers, its ideas were spread among all aspects of life. Machiavelli†s writings during the Renaissance were also affected by the ideas of humanism. We will write a custom essay sample on The Introduction of the Concept of Humanism or any similar topic only for you Order Now His ideas reflect the thoughts of humanism in the way he thought governments and societies should be organized. Humanism†s influence on art was very obvious, it could be seen slowly infiltrating all art throughout the Renaissance. At the begging of the Renaissance, most art was very dark and dismal. The works portrayed people doing very menial labor, the people did not seem happy and their clothing was very plain. As the Renaissance progressed and humanism†s influence was more felt the paintings used lighter colors, the people in them were smiling and their clothing many times included gold trim or accents. The late Renaissance art also has a larger focus on religion, as humanism inspired people in many forms by the use of Humanism came about with the idea that a person should have a very rounded education covering many aspects of society especially history, geometry, and art. During the renaissance as the ideas of humanism spread, especially in its educational sense, more schools and universities were erected and a much higher percentage of people were formally educated. The universities helped many people become educated, and their education helped all of society because many of them went on to challenge their teacher†s rash observations of the world and make reat discoveries. This proliferation of education was also helped by many inventions such as the printing press which came about because people had more to live for. Many great thinkers during the renaissance were also affected by the ideas of humanism. More people were educated during the renaissance and therefore more intelligent people that simply thought about the world and ways to make it better. These thinkers included Da Vinci, Galileo, and Machiavelli. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most influential people of the Renaissance. His notebooks were recovered and they contained schematics of machines that have just recently been invented. His inventions that were ahead of their time just show the inginuity and determination of people during the Renaissance. Another great thinker of the time was Galileo, His works showed the spirit of humanism greatly. Galileo†s works went beyond terrestrial research and his research was many times focused on Machiavelli†s writings were some of the most influential throughout the renaissance. His writings helped to reform ociety and government after the Renaissance and are still studied today as part of a â€Å"modern humanistic† course of study. His writings show humanistic thoughts in many ways, he shows this in his â€Å"ideal† orginization of a government this very well. The way he describes the perfect government is with well rounded departments. He also believed that a ruler should not mistreat his citizens, but not pamper them either. Machiavelli†s views were not completely humanistic, though, he did not feel that everyone should have a liberal humanistic education. How to cite The Introduction of the Concept of Humanism, Papers

Leadership and Strategic Improvement at Twitter- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theLeadership and Strategic Improvement at Twitter. Answer: About the company Twitter came into existence in the year 2006. The founders are namely, Noah Glass, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. This organization mainly provides a social networking platform and news is also shared here. The users can interact with the help of tweets posted by them. This company is based in San Francisco, United States. The service gained a lot of popularity in the year 2012 and it had as many as 100 million users. Twitter has experienced a speedy growth initially. From the years 2011 to 2014 Twitter had a huge growth. The organization acquired some companies and also launched some new apps related to the Twitter. The company acquired a video clip company named Vine. It then launched the Twitter Music App. Twitter also acquired a company named Crashlytics in the year 2013. In the year 2013, Twitter announced its registration with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Twitter then filed its Initial Public Offering (Mark et al., 2013). The growth of the company slowed down from the year 2015. In this year also Twitter acquired many other companies. It acquired an ad network company for the stars of the social media named Niche. It also acquired an app named Periscope which streamed live videos. Defining mission statement of Twitter with the help of Ashridge Mission Model As the Ashridge Mission Model implies, the company must have an enduring purpose that enables it to distinguish itself from others competitors. The model also identifies the scopes of its operations in case of its products or services as well as the market terms. The mission of Twitter is to empower its users to create and share their own ideas and knowledge instantly without any barriers. What makes Twitter one of the largest revenue inducing Internet companies of the world is the strategies guided by the Ashridge Mission Model. Twitter reaches its largest daily global audience by building a connection among themselves and rest of the world via sharing its information (Mark et al., 2013). The company distributes its perform product in this way. Therefore, twitter has become the company to make its investors happy and its stock price grew by 7%. Twitter. Twitters primary objective have always been in maximizing the values of long term its stakeholders, employees, suppliers and users. Following the models values, the companys mission values have aligned the employees personal values with the values of the organization. The company adheres the laws and operates according to it and all the time observes highest standard of ethics. Twitters strong sense of mission has enabled it to think clearly about the mission and discuss its various aspects with colleagues. In order to keep itself updated in this changing internet world, Twitter keeps on developing the new and analyzing its existing mission. The company has followed the Ashridge Mission Model, which has four main elements defined by Yeung and Campbell. Purpose of the organization The organizations purpose is to be beneficial to the stakeholders and never plays with them for own interest. Twitters strategic decisions are governed by its prospective impact on the shareholders returns. Twitter always tries to satisfy its employees and stakeholders. According to Campbell, the organization having higher ideal can attract and retain its enthusiastic as well as committed employees. Strategy of Twitter Strategy of Twitter is chiefly the commercial logic of the company. It links thepurpose with behavior in logical ways. Twitter is theinternational leader in its domain, therefore, its strategy is to define its business that it is assigned to compete in, the position, which it plans to hold and finally the competitive advantages that the company enjoys. Values of Twitter The employees feel proud of the purposes of their company as it believes in open exchange of knowledge to have a positive impact. The company is committed to equality and internet safety so that the users enjoy their free expression. The company opens doors to empower the women and minorities across the globe. Twitter works with NGOs to increase accessibility and proper usage of internet. It affords programs and services to support the victims when a disaster takes place. Behavioral Standards of Twitter The companys strategy and purpose have managed to serve the employees and their satisfaction. The company is honest in delivering information to the employees as well as the users. Opportunity to revise the companys rules and add separate policy recurred in the workplace. They have freedom to communicate if they do not like the companys rules (Mark et al., 2013). Alignment of the values of Twitter with the values of its employees The fifth element of the Ashridge model states the importance of aligning the values of the company with the those of the organization. The employees in the company are aligned with the values of Twitter. The values of Twitter mainly stresses on the importance of the freedom of expression of each and every person and the power of this freedom to leave an impact on the world. The employees in the organization also have the freedom to express themselves and grow along with the organization. The organization works in an innovative manner and also in a fast pace. The employees can learn a lot while working in the organization. The passion of the employees about their work and their personalities matter a lot in Twitter. The employees in this organization are both curious and creative. In this way it can be said that the value of Twitter are aligned with the values of the employees working here. Analysis on the expansion of Twitter with respect to its mission statement From the analysis of the annual report of 2013 it is stated that the company has planned to expand its international operations to increase its user base (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf, 2017). The advertising services of the organization was given importance. The advertising service of Twitter helps the advertisers to interact directly with their prospective consumers. The increase in the international operations leads to the increase in the number of users of the app and also leads to the increase in the number of advertisers. This in turn increases the revenue of the company. The competition has also increased for the users and the advertisers of Twitter. In the year 2014 the user base and the advertiser base of Twitter has increased. The international users have also increased. The users in other countries which include Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Japan and India have shown a huge growth. However, the advertising revenue has not shown a lot of growth in this year (Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf, 2017). The company has planned to invest more in their international operations so that it can increase the revenue generated from international advertisements. The local competition faced by the company acts as a barrier in increasing the revenue of international advertising. In the year 2015 to 2017 the company has shown more growth in the number of users. The number of users in the United States is the highest. However, the number of users in other countries are expected to show a huge growth in the future years. The competition has also increased by other platforms, but Twitter has still held its strong position. The number of users in countries like, France, Canada and Germany has shown a lot of increase recently. The advertising revenue has also increased both in the United States as well as in the other countries. The organization has plans to develop new advertising services and products to attract the advertisers (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf, 2017). The management of the company or the leaders have played an important role in the growth and expansion of the organization. The wrong decisions taken by the management has also affected the growth of the company and its employees. From this discussion it can be concluded that Twitter has a strong sense of mission. The organization has stuck to its mission statement and is continuously working towards the fulfillment of this mission. Strategic Decision Making The strategy involved with the decision making process in an organization is important for the smooth running of the business operations. This process of strategic decision making mainly relates to the method of the creation of the objectives and the mission of the company and take the decision about the way to achieve the goals. This process of strategic decision making involves the process of planning of the strategies that created so that the goals of the organization can be achieved easily (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017). The strategies of the organization change as and when there is a change in the goals of the organization. The strategies are evaluated at a periodical basis and accordingly changes are made if necessary. SWOT Analysis can be used for the strategic decision making process. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed and accordingly the strategies are made keeping these in mind so that the opportunities can be used and threats can be addressed. Cost-benefit analysis is another process by which strategic decisions can be made. The cost-benefit analysis assists in the strategic decision making of the managers (Mark et al., 2013). The Strategic Decisions taken by Twitter Over the years Twitter has shown a lot of growth with Jack Dorsey as their leader. It has around 350 million users who are active and approximately one billion thought of the length of 140-characters. The management of the company has taken many wrong steps and made wrong strategies over the years. In the year 2006 Twitter was founded by Dick Costolo, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone. This year was did not show much growth. In 2007 Twitter was introduced to the users and it had received as many as 60,000 users that year. In the year 2008 the founder of the company Jack Dorsey made a big mistake by turning down the offer of 500 million dollars from Facebook to acquire the company. Jack Dorsey was then fired from Twitter. In 2009 Twitter was seen in a struggling mode because of the rapid growth of its users. In this year itself Twitter was attacked by a denial of service, due to which the service was down for many hours (Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. , 2017). In 2010 Twitter was further attacked by cross-site scripting attacks, but the problem was fixed quickly. This was a basic mistake and was a result of faulty decision making. In the year 2011 Twitter became contentious to other service platforms. The tie-up of Twitter with Google ended in this year and all the content related to Twitter was deleted from the search engine. Twitters another mistake was made in the year 2012 when it restricted developers from building apps by replicating the timeline of the company (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. , 2017). The company was in a state of immense turmoil at that time as the trust of the developers on the company was totally lost, the reason being that the developers suffered due to the sudden decision of the company. Twitter went through a major change in the year 2013 when blue conversation line feature was introduced which helped the users to link their conversations. Another decision of change taken by the management had an adverse effect on the organization. This was the change that was made in the block option of the app (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017). The users who were blocked were just muted from the profiles of the attacked users and they could still follow the users. This change brought by the company had received a lot of resentment from the users. The company had to further its strategy and devise a better way to deal with this problem. In the year 2014, the management took another decision to make Twitter more user friendly. This step was to introduce algorithmic timeline. This was done by the management under pressure to sell the shares. In the year 2015 the company was in an immense turmoil when the CEO of the company resigned. Jack Dorsey was again the CEO of the company (Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. , 2017). Many new strategies and changes were brought in the organization, which included the increase of character limits and many more. This year itself the company had a lot of lay-offs following the decision of the CEO. The users also felt a lot of trouble related to the problems of auto-playing of videos. The company was again at the point of debate by the end of 2015. This led to the decision of recruiting a head of diversity (Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. , 2017). Finally in 2016 the company made a new beginning. The new algorithmic timeline feature was introduced which was not compulsory for all users and it could be turned off. From the analysis of the strategic decisions made by the management of Twitter from the year 2006 to 2016 it can be concluded that the company has gone through a lot of turmoil in these years due to some faulty decisions and wrong strategies. Difference between deliberate and intended strategy making Deliberate strategy is the organizations vision towards the formation of the strategy of the organization. This is the process of strategy making which mainly emphasizes on the way the person acts. Planning and thinking is essential before acting. The strategists who follow this process also take into consideration the events or developments that are unexpected (Mark et al., 2013). On the other hand, intended strategy is type of strategy that the organization intends to execute or implement in the organization. These strategies are explained in detail in the strategic plan of the organization. This is also called a business plan which is made before the business is started. Competitive advantage of Twitter The competitive advantages of Twitter are, the nature of sharing the information is instant and quite fast. The users can choose the source of information from where they intend to follow. The range of the connectivity of Twitter is much higher as compared to other social networks. The users range from the homeless to the millionaires and celebrities (Mark et al., 2013). Sustaining the competitive advantage The competitive advantage of Twitter over all the other social networking apps has been sustained over the years. The company has gone through a huge turmoil in all the years since its inception, but on the other hand it has revived itself and maintained its position in the market. The various aspects of the organization, namely Twitter are analyzed. The values, strategies are analyzed. The mission statement of the company is examined. Further, the alignment of the values of the company with those of the employees is checked. The company has gone through a lot of turmoil and problems as a result of various wrong strategic decisions taken by the management of the organization (Mark et al., 2013). In spite of all this, the company has held a strong position in the market and also created its different identity. The financial reports of the company for the years 2013 to 2015 has shown a lot of growth in the user base of the organization. The revenue of the company has increased due to the increase of the number of users. The company has also generated huge revenue during these years from the advertisers (Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. , 2017). The organization has expanded globally and has increased its user base in all the other countries. References Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x742484/A418947A-E065-4822-8BD4-00FA8EB4E795/Twitter_2013_Annual_Report_-_FINAL.pdf Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x821792/AB7B5D27-2CEB-468B-9C9B-469676E3186A/876564_Twitter_Annual_Report_2014.pdf Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf. (2017). Retrieved 28 October 2017, from https://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/5406085483x0x886152/3FBBB0EC-FDF0-41D2-9C4E-A06AE8B1D1E5/2016_Twitter_Annual_Report_2015.pdf Mark, Ken Parker, Simon, (2013) "Case 26: Twitter" from Ireland, R. Duane et al, The management of strategy: concepts and cases pp.371-377, [United States]: South-Western/Cengage Learning