Organizational Design, Culture, and Adaptation Essay - 1

Organizational Design, Culture, and Adaptation - Essay Example This program, Diabetic Rewards Issued via Everyone (DRIVE) Day, has specific goals aimed at helping patients control their disease through various activities planned on this particular day on a monthly basis. Moreover, Drive Day especially helps in providing care to diabetic patients that do not have insurance coverage, or have low insurance coverage, those from low income groups and all other patients. The idea and design of this initiative resulted from a thorough study of historical data. The Drive Day is conducted on the first Thursday of every month post noon for about 4 hours. On this day, patients that walk in are made to undergo a series of procedures and examinations, post which their condition is assessed for further treatment. This program is conducted by a team of doctors, nurses and attendants from the AHC that take turns every month to conduct the Drive Day based on a pre-planned procedure in a systematic fashion. A total of seven stations with few sub stations cater to the Drive Day activities with each station managed by a team of physician, nurse and attendant. Patients are registered and sent for further study by physicians for their vitals, blood glucose levels and other related tests. These observations made by the physician at every station are accurately recorded on a progress note, which is retained by the patient and used by the physicians to prescribe treatment and to observe improvements. Besides these, the Drive Days are made more attractive and encouraging to the attendees through voluntary activities such as cookery classes, exercise, yoga and group activities to resolve queries from patients and their family members. The Drive Day program certainly has the potential to improve awareness related to diabetes management and its associated problems besides providing accessible and affordable care to existing diabetic patients that are otherwise deprived of the required attention. Secondly, this program will also help doctors devote mor e time to greater number of patients and save waiting time for patients as well as minimize wastage of time waiting that would otherwise occur due to missed appointments or lesser number of patients walking into the clinics for regular visits; in short, this program would improve doctors’ efficiency. The most interesting aspect of the Drive Day initiative is that this program provides an excellent platform to improve awareness related to healthy nutrition, lifestyle, and other health precautions that are required in present-day life, which will also help in managing and preventing early diabetes. The Drive Day initiative would improve doctors’ efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency would improve because the way the event is managed invites more number of patients as well as incites them for repeating their visits. Effectiveness would be high because patients tend to take ownership to attend the Drive Days; secondly, voluntary activities such as cookery and exercise w ould improve their participation. As per

The Reasons for Participating in the MMPA Program Essay

The Reasons for Participating in the MMPA Program - Essay Example The University of Toronto seeks a diverse and unique entering class of current and future managers. How will your distinctiveness enrich the learning environment and enhance your prospects for future success? In the midst of the overwhelming competition in the business world, it is becoming increasingly important to have a strong sense of maturity in the learning process. Having realized this, I have taken time to develop myself as an accounting student. My past learning experience during the undergraduate program in U of T’s Mississauga campus has enabled me to develop and nurture a mature student status. My maturity as a student and profound learning skills coupled with strong determination to succeed will be a strong boost to the learning environment in The University of Toronto. I will, therefore, use my learning experience, positive influence, and power to motivate others to nurture a learning environment amongst fellow students. If we are all united together as students towards a common objective of getting the best out of the program, then my chances of succeeding in the master’s program will be secured. More importantly, the favourable learning environment that will have been nurtured will be a good platform for me to maximally gain all the required skills for my future practice. What sets me apart from the rest is my resilience. Life experiences have taught me to be resilient even in distressing conditions. Actually, my resilience enabled me to go through the undergraduate program despite having accidents and fee problems.

Managing Organisational Change And Affect An Organisation Business Essay

Managing Organisational Change And Affect An Organisation Business Essay Introduction: Todays business environment produces change in the workplace more suddenly and frequently than ever before. Mergers, acquisitions, new technology, restructuring and downsizing are all factors that contribute to a growing climate of uncertainty. Jobs, health, even marriages can be placed at risk, jeopardizing productivity and profitability. Specially in last five years many businesses has seen unpredictable changes, which have lead them to many possible worst or good outcome, like sell-out, closing down the business or cutting down the staff, low productivity etc. For some businesses changes have been positive and growth and success has been achieved. In this task one we will look at three organizations namely Santander, Pound land and Car phone warehouse. Objectives: Main objective of the task 1 is to study the changes those have been taken place in above named three companies. Secondary study the current position of these organizations in the current market and thirdly outline the positive and negative outcomes of changes. From: Marketing Consultant To: Board of Directors Date:- Subject: Changes in Last years and Outcome of those Changes 1. Santander Nature of Business Current position: The Santander Group is the fourth largest bank in the world by profits and eighth by stock market capitalization. Santander is one of the worlds biggest retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with operations in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,168 billion in managed funds at the end of 2008. Santander is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, with leading positions in the UK and Portugal and broad presence in Europe through its Santander Consumer Finance arm. In year 2008 Santander registered EUR 8,876 million in net attributable profit, an increase of 9% from previous year excluding capital gain. Its vision is to consolidate itself as a large international financial group, which provides an increasingly high return to its shareholders and meets the financial needs of its customers. In order to achieve this, it combines strong presence in local markets with corporate policies and global capacities . To achieve its vision Santander has gone through many changes mainly mergers and acquisition. http://www.santander.com/csgs/Satellite?pagename=SANCorporativo/GSDistribuidora/SC_Index Changes in five years: Over the five years Santander has done many mergers and acquisitions in UK. In UK before 2004 Santander group has very less presence. So in 2004 they acquired deal with Abbey. In September 2008, Santander acquired Bradford and Bingleys saving and branch network and in October 2008 they acquired Alliance and Leicester. Both acquisitions were part of their growth strategy in UK and their goal to become the best commercial bank in the UK. By doing so now Santander has more than 1000 branches all over the country for its customers and more and effective banking products to get advantage over its customers. http://www.aboutsantander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?pagename=AboutAbbey/GSDistribuidora/PAAI_home Positive Outcome: When an organization undergo any changes there are quite possibility of positive and negative outcome. There are so many positive out-comes for Santander in UK, which are mentioned below:  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Strong banking presence in UK  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  More than 1000 branches and 4500 cash machines  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  25 million customer base  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Benefits for customer improved products and it has created customer friendly environment in UK banking environment  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  It has become third largest deposit taker and second largest mortgage lender in the UK. Negative Outcome: Still now there are not many negative out-come for Santander in UK market but we can say economic condition is still improving and Santander has to go long way in UK market cause they are facing stiff competition from the banks like Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HSBC etc. As a group Santander has become very complex in size. Pound land: Nature of Business and Current position: Pound land was established in April 1990, with funds provided by the multi-million pound sale of an international wholesaling business. Pound lands retailing concepts is extremely simple: a range of more than 3000 items, each offered for sale at only  £1 each representing amazing value for money. They opened first store in Octagon Centre, Burton-upon-Trent in December 1990, followed by new stores in High street, Meadow hall and other quality trading locations. Since then Pound land has 233 stores in UK with 3500 employees. Pound land operates in a Retail Sector, where it provides tough competition to its competitors. Pound land provides all the home related products from chocolate, biscuits, major drinks like coke, Pepsi. They also provide Stationery, toys and other kitchen and bathroom related equipments. Pound lands biggest sale advantage is their price consistency across all products. While other retailers must decide upon the price of e ach individual product and have this clearly displayed to their customers, pound land may simply move stock onto its shelves from their warehouses, so customers know how much a product cost. Change took place and Outcome: In last five years major change has taken place in pound land, internally and externally. When VAT was introduced, in November 2008 to 15%, Pound lands prices remained fixed at  £1m, it is because they kept the price point of  £1 for 18 years and during that time they have cut down on duty and suppliers cost. They said they will pass the saving on customers. Other external change was its competitors. There are not much competition for Pound land apart from small shops and 99p store ltd. http://www.poundland.co.uk/corporate-information/ Car-phone Warehouse: Nature of the Business and current position: The Car Phone warehouse Group was founded in 1989 by Charles Dun stone as a UK mobile phone retailer, in the following eight years, the business grew organically and opened its first branches elsewhere in Western Europe in 1996, the business supplemented this organic growth with a series of acquisition both in the UK and Western Europe and now has a portfolio of 2453 stores across nine European countries of which 2231 are owned and 222 are franchised. Car phone Warehouse provides large number of mobile pay as you go and pay monthly phones, it also provides laptop and broadband and other accessories. Over the years it has developed many contracts with mobile phone providers such as Virgin Mobile, T Mobile, 3 Mobile, O2, Vodafone, Orange etc. Car phone Warehouse believes in Wireless world and By March 2010 40 to 50 wireless stores are planned, including mix of new stores. Car phone Warehouse has enjoyed its success in last 10 years because o f their sales strategy and customer service. Changes and Outcome: In last 5 years CPW has gone through many changes one of them is Virgin Mobile France, In April 2006, Virgin Mobile France was launched as a joint venture between the Car phone Warehouse Group and Virgin Group. On 14 December 2009, Virgin Mobile France completed the acquisition of Tele 2, consolidating its position as Frances largest MVNO and fourth largest mobile operator in France, with 1.7 million customers. Other changes were because of economic condition, where in last three years market growth is slow, customers has become very choosy about the product and money minded. Still the outcome is positive for the CPW, it is one of the highest mobile sellers in Europe, It has wide range of customers all across Europe, the profit margins has been gone up since 2007. The Brand itself has become very popular. http://www.cpwplc.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=123964p=irol-home Conclusion: In last five years above companies have gone through many management or organizational changes. Organizations like Santander and Car phone Warehouse has seen many positives and negative outcomes, and small organization like Pound land has also seen market changes in current economic climate but overall its beneficial for the all the companies. Task 2:- Bureaucratic Organizations Introduction: Crozier (1964, p 187) suggests that A bureaucratic organization is an organization that can not correct its behaviors by learning from its errors. Normally Bureaucratic organizations are those government agencies, where work needs be done from department to departments. But today bureaucratic organizations are really big organizations where they are very complex in size, their hierarchy is really complicated, have unhappy employees etc. In this Task 2, two bureaucratic organizations IKEA and Virgin Group will be studied; over last many years what changes have been taken place and how these big companies have handled those changes? Objectives: In task 2, Current positioning and How bureaucratic organizations like IKEA and Virgin Group performs, their strengths and weaknesses, changes which has been taken place, how the changes has been taken place and whether they were beneficial or not will be studied. From: Marketing Consultant To: Board of Directors Date:- Subject: Bureaucratic Organizations IKEA and Virgin Group 1) IKEA (Efficiency through which IKEA run) Over the last sixty years IKEA offers wide range of furniture to its customers. IKEA is a bureaucratic organization with offices and store in more than 25 countries. The IKEA story began in 1943 in the small village of Agunnaryd in Sweden, when founder Ingvar Kamprad was Just 17. Since then, the IKEA group has grown into a major retail experience with 123,000 co-workers in 25 countries generating annual sales of more than 21.5 billion euros. To maintain the big brand name it has also got the big work force different areas of businesses. It has 13800 people working in purchasing, distribution and wholesale range while 15000 and 94200 workers working in Swedwood and retail area respectively. It has also got very systematic distribution chain. It has 28 distribution centers and 11 customer distribution centers in 16 countries. Impact on environment and reaction to change: Over the six decades IKEA has gone though many organizational changes like business expansion in many new markets like USA, China, and Whole Europe etc. It has also developed many different products to sustained market growth and customer satisfaction. It operates in wide range of products comprises from Living room furniture to textiles. It has also got various other sections like bedroom, kitchen and childrens IKEA, which actually gives them the edge over their competitors. It has also started to operate in franchise system. Firstly to understand the working efficiency of big organizations it is must to understand the mission statement of that organization. A mission statement may be a phrase, sentence, or document which attempts to sum up a companys corporate goals (long-term), in a way in which it may create a common purpose for all the stakeholders for the business. To date, IKEAs vision statement is: to create a better everyday life for the many people. Whilst its business idea, as stated by the IKEA group website is to offer a wide range of well-designed, functional, home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them. For the employees and managers of IKEA, the mission statement aims to motivate and inspire the staff as one, in order to achieve other financial goals and aims. Strength and Weaknesses IKEAs strength is given below:  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  A strong global brand  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  A clear vision  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Strong concept  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Democratic design (the equal balance of function, quality, design and price) IKEAs weaknesses are given below:  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The size and scale of its business  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The demand for low-cost products  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The need to keep the public and IKEA stakeholders well informed about its environmental activities.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Cultural change The first weakness for a bureaucratic organization is the size and scale of its business. IKEA is a large organization, so it is difficult to maintain and keep track of its global activities and it will make difficult to handle its operations. As IKEA is offering low cost, good quality furniture to its customers it is really difficult to maintain low cost against quality. http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/about_ikea_group/index.html 2) Virgin Group (Efficiency through which it operates): Virgin is a leading branded venture capital organization and is one of the worlds most recognized and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephone to transportation, travel, financial services, media, music and fitness. As a group Virgin has created more than 300 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 30 countries. It has its revenues in 2009 exceeded  £11.5 billion. Virgin believes in making a difference. Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. Impact on their environment: Virgin has always considered themselves to be a responsible business, and whilst taking environmental and social pressures of world. Virgins mission statement which can be seen in their growth is Looked for new, innovative ways to do business by offering consumers another way, a better way, and by being willing to fight their corner. In starting years whenever Virgin has started its new business, it had gone through really tough time but effective strategic management it has grown from one Office Company to group. One of the single most influence behind the company success is its founder Sir Richard Branson, his strategic decisions, long vision, forward thinking and risk taking ability had enable virgin to achieve the height of success they are enjoying now. How they react to changes: Virgin has very straight forward working pattern, their hierarchy is really simple, and they operate their businesses around their customer needs. When Virgin opened Virgin Atlantic they had very stiff competition from British Airways and other American airline companies. It had also seen very stiff competition in music industry. The strategy virgin has adopted over the year is known as strategy of unrelated diversification entering in to the new market. In Virgin Control was distributed in to the different divisions to gain effective organization. Virgin Strength and Weaknesses a. Price: Price is the main factor in Virgins success as a group, Virgin has always try to provide quality and good customer service at lower price or if they charge high for any product they keep their promises for their products b. Brand: As mentioned above Sir Richard Brandson is the big brand by himself and he had put lots of efforts to develop Virgin brand from jumping from the roof of American building to balloon flight across the Atlantic. c. Customer Service: As Virgin is operating in many industry and different products, customer service is the main strength of Virgin, as they tends to give all products under one roof service options to its customer. d. Democratic Design: As mentioned earlier Virgin has very simple operating structure, so it helps in quick decision making. And its avoid miscommunication. Weaknesses: Every big organization has one big weakness; it is their size so it is very difficult to maintain the balance between different departments. Secondly so many products, which virgin offers are bound to create misunderstanding among its customers. Thirdly the cultural change is the another weakness in the case of Virgin as its operates businesses in so many countries and it has 50000 employees over many countries, Virgin has to manage right culture mix approach, if they fail to do so, it will lead them to big problem in future. http://www.virgin.com/about-us/ Conclusion: Bureaucratic organizations are really complicated and there were many changes in IKEA and Virgin Group, but they have good hierarchy and management in place to handle those changes. They have enjoyed good current positioning in the market. Specially, because of current economic meltdown Virgin Airlines did go through tough time but as it got support from other virgin group companies, Virgin Airlines survive in the market. So these are the strengths and weaknesses of IKEA and Virgin Group companies. Task 3: Introduction: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent that survives, it is the most adaptable to change Charles Darwn (1809-1882). Major organizational change should be avoided at all cost; it sucks up time, energy and emotion, distracts your main purpose, disrupts operations, annoys your people, undermines morale and rarely delivers the promised benefits. And if organization can adopt the change very quickly and efficiently they can surely taste the growth in near future. In Task 3, comparison between two organizations one from task 1 and one from task two will be given. Objectives: Objectives of task three: Understanding of Fordism concept Learn New and Better Methods of Managements Comparison between two organizations. From: Marketing Consultant To: Board of Directors Date:- Subject: Fordism concept and new management techniques with comparison Fordism Concept and Importance: Frodism, named after Henry Ford, refers to various social theories about production and related socio-economic phenomena. Berman (1982, p21) suggest that The essential meaning is that the worker must be paid higher wages in order to afford the products that the industrialist himself produces, causing an economy that runs full circle. Fordism was specifically modern modes of organizing labour which immediately suggest that this is all it was. Fordism concept, that is valuable for any organization because of its meaningful characteristics. Higher productivity is the main philosophy of manufacturing by doing standardizing the output, using conveyor assembly lines and breaking work into small de-skilled tasks. Taylorism seeks machine and worker efficiency, while fordism seeks to combine them as one unit. Now there is comparison between two organizations each one from task 1 and task 2. Organizational Development: According to Cummings and Worley Organizational development are both a professional field of social action and an area of scientific inquiry. The OD Covers wide spectrum of activities with seemingly endless variations upon them. Organization development refers to a long range effort to improve an organizations problem solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral scientist consultants, of change agents, as they are sometimes called. Globalization, cultural change, system change and employee play an important role in organizational development. Apart from internal stakeholders and systems, external stakeholders like customers, shareholders and suppliers also play an important role in OD. Below we will discuss the comparison between two organizations and its development. Comparison between IKEA and Santander: As we have seen in the case of IKEA, it is a big organization with many offices and stores across the world. They need to go through changes very frequently compare to Santander which is banking sector company. During the change process people, structure, size, leadership, strategies etc. are most important factors which need to be taken care of by organization. While doing change organizations must consult their employee and let them know in advance the future changes those are going to be happening in the organization. So they are ready to accept the changes. While any organizations main assets are its products and people. Stakeholders also play an important role in management change or organizational change. Now a days people have become more net savvy and they do most of the shopping on line or even they can book their holidays online. So internet has become fastest way of medium to serve the clients in fastest way. While every organization is investing millions of dollars or pounds in creating e shop for their customers they are also investing lots of money to train their employee and to help them to improve their skills and techniques to use improved system. There are so many factors which play important part in organizational development and change: direction, purposeful leadership, alignment of purpose and value and porters five forces. Operations are in the bank are very wide, from customer services to back office operations and to do the work efficiently, most of the banks used electronic equipment and system to cope with the future demands. For an example as we have seen Santander is a one of the big bank in Europe and to manage their operations they are spending lots of money in banking system and website development. When a customer wants to open bank account they physically need not to go in to the bank, they can just click few buttons on their computer and they will be able to open bank account, they can transfer funds between their accounts, even they can pay their bills online as well. So this way Santander is enjoying luxury of reaching the people indirectly through its website. While other banking system they use for their employees is internal system where they can store each and every data of every customer transaction. To use the system they need to train their employee how to use the system etc. Multi national companies needs to also look after cultural changes in their respective offices. As a bank it has merged with many other financial institutions in other countries. So merger is also one the better organizational management methods. While as a bureaucratic organization IKEA is more sensitive towards the changes, they need to face many changes all the time cause every time they need to develop new products, develop new markets etc. Cultural change is the major issue in the bureaucratic organization compare to domestic organization or small organization. Because they are producing furniture and when they do so they need look after its customers needs and believes while making so. Organizational changes are also depends on competition of the particular industry. As in the furniture industry, there tends to be major changes every year and competition is likely to be very high and to survive in the industry employee management, efficient leadership, System changes, Cultural changes etc. are really important. Conclusion: At the end of the day all organization runs its business to give excellent customer service to its customer and end motto is to earn profit and stabilization in current economic climate. As we have seen in above comparison, customer service is the main factor all organizations work for and they are ready to go through all the changes to achieve its goal. System change, culture change, people change are the main changes which are occur very often. Task 4: Introduction: In task 4 we will see various change models available for organization and comparison between conventional sales and internet sales. There are total six change management models available for its businesses. And businesses can use it to adopt the changes. Objectives: In task 4 main objectives will be: Study various change models, Comparison between conventional sales and internet sales, presentation. From: Marketing Consultant To: Board of Directors Date:- Subject: Change management Models Change management Models: MODEL 1: 4-D, Desire, Dream, Discovery, Deliver MODEL 2: Lewiss theory of change, now a day there is hardly any organization which has not affected with change yet, as he argued that there are 3 different stages of change which can change the whole structure of any organization. Unfreeze: Change: Refreeze: MODEL 3: John Katters Change Model, establish a sense Create Develop a of urgency coalition clear vision Empower Share the people to vision clear obstacles Anchor the Consolidate and 8. Secure short- change keep moving term wins MODEL 5: Better future for all Analyze Understand needs, processes structures and foresee resistance Cyclical Process Framework (CFAN) Change at Team Change at Individual Levels System Level Nurture Establish a framework that sustains Monitor the change Communicate Make the change Goals visible to all Exploring and creating meaning Coach and Mentor Help individuals to master change Review Design new structures, processes Facilities etc. MODEL 6: Mckinleys 7-S Model: that includes Shared value, Strategy, Structure, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills Internet sale and Conventional Sale: In current market conventional sale has been taken over by internet sale. Most of the organizations have started their online sale activities through their websites. Internet has offered an exceptional platform for marketers to promote their products and services. The multiple benefits have made internet sale more productive tool as compare to traditional sale and sales methods. Because of the change in sale environment lots of organizations have gone through many changes, changes like system, employee behavior, hierarchy etc. Many well established organizations are spending millions of pounds for their internet activities. Compare to traditional sale and sales techniques, online or internet sale has many benefits. It has proven to be an effective platform from which almost every company is benefiting and it is supporting them to strengthen their relationship with their globally dispersed consumers. Benefits and Challenges: Internet sale has so many advantages: it is quick, easy, and cheaper and its even beneficial for smaller organizations. Though there are many benefits still there are some challenges with internet sale, Challenges like:  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Very fast advancement means people have to really spend a lot of time researching and keeping up to date with the latest trends and methods.  ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Sometimes the data can be misleading. While Conventional Sale costly technique compare to internet sale, Conventional marketing is not quick. There are many stages through which sales have been made. Its a customer facing role where employees are elected to do sales activities. Plus transportation is the main disadvantage in conventional sales. Because in conventional sale goods need to be transported from ware house to different stores while in online sales goods can be directly reached to its customers. Pound-land and IKEA: IKEA has gone through many changes in recent time, mainly in their sales activities. They have many different stores across the world, still they do online sales. They provide all the product information online which allows their customers to check the product online and if customers want to buy it they can buy it online as well. It allows IKEA to save the time, cost and transportation expenses. While Pound-land still doing conventional sales, their products are very cheap and wide range of products still they havent started any major online activities. They have developed their websites but they are not in to online marketing and sales process. When implementing changes now a days internet plays an important role, it also creates job opportunities. Conclusion: In a conclusion it is clear that in every organization there is need of a change and it is very beneficial for any organization to have a change in the company or organization as it is above mentioned that there are more models of change , but again its depends on the situation that how we can get this change being in mind the current position of the company, as there are lots of change going in IKEA and best change model for them is the Mckinleys 7-s Model cause it covers most of the stock holders and customer values. For Pound land as it has not started its online activities, 4 D model is suitable for them as they have to dream and desire about reaching more customers through various ways. Task 5 Change Management: Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. The only person who likes Change is a wet baby! A wet baby is aware of the imperfections of its current situation and will cry and scream until a Change is brought about. This analogy is a simple one, but it does contain a core of truth. If your Target audience is dissatisfied with their Status Quo, they will be willing to Change to something-else.  Resistance isnt an indication that something is wrong with what you are trying to change. It is an indication that something is happening. It is a good sign. Another aspect is culture. Culture changes will e a bigger project than the original change. There are three options: change the change, change the culture or prepare to fail. What is their Vision of the Future? Where would they like to be in 1 year, 5 years? Can they define what they would like their future Status Quo to look like? The better they can define it, the more detail they can describe, the more tangible it becomes. What can they do to achieve it? How can they become involved in their vision? What can they do to move towards it? Surprisingly enough, they have answers to these questions. And those answers can become a plan of action if we let them. What commitment will they invest? Change is never easy What will they contribute to get to the future theyve described? If the answer to the question Whats in it for me? is satisfactory to them theyll be willing to contribute more than we expect. What do they need from you? Staff needs management support. This is what is meant by the phrase Top down Support and it is crucial to successful Change. IF top management does NOT believe in the Change, then it becomes very difficult to achieve not impossible, just needlessly difficult. Before going to the troops with a Change, make sure the political battles in the upper ranks have been resolved. When will their Transition Plan be ready? Set a date for the completion of the Change. Nothing happens without a deadline. Deadlines, especially deadlines offered voluntarily, with eyes open, become a commitment.   What will NOT Change? Very important People need to know what parts of the old Status Quo will remain. Even if it is only small things which will remain constant, dont underestimate their value. At pound land system implementation is easy compare to bureaucratic organization like IKEA. Cause in bureaucratic organization, employees have less trust in the organization. Trust plays an important role in change management. Secondly strong top management involvement required while doing changes or going through changes. Motivation factor plays an important role in processes; every one needs to be motivated while implementing changes. Task 6: When going through different processes of change management it is must to involve all stakeholders because they are the back bone of organization. When implementing new system in to any organization it is really important to involve all stakeholders of the organizations. Stake holders include various people an

Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft Essay -- essays rese

Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press copyright 1974. The purpose of this book was to examine the history and social life of Salem Village to try to figure out what was the cause of the events that occurred there. I believe that the authors achieved their objective at least they did to me. Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic, political and personal issues which divided village long before 1692. At bottom, geography and history divided Salem Village and Salem Town. Situated in the interior from the bustling mercantile town of Salem, Salem Village remained primarily an agricultural community. Boyer and Nissenba...

American Airlines Case Study Essay

Executive Summary With 1988 operating income of $801 million on a revenue of $8.55 billion, American Airlines, Inc. (American), principal subsidiary of Dallas/Fort Worth-based AMR Corporation, was the largest airline in the United States. At year-end 1988 American operated 468 aircraft on 2,200 flights daily to 151 destinations in the United States, Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, France, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela, and West Germany. The objective of American Airlines revenue management effort was to maximize passenger revenues by selling the right seats to the right customers at the right prices. As the decision maker of American Airlines, I recommend introducing Upgraded Computerized Reservation System to replace current SABRE system to keep the company leader of the industry while maximizing profit. Part 2: Issues Identification Immediate Issue Low load factors for Chicago – West Coast Nature: tactic Timing: short term In 1987, in the nonstop markets, American and United competed on the basis of fares, flight schedules, and factors such as quality of service. In the connecting markets, American, United, and Continental also competed on the basis of fares and flight schedules. Once again American and United matched each  other’s fares, while Continental, with its post-Chapter 11 reorganization and low-cost structure, was the low-price provider. So, United had a superior flight schedule, and Continental cheaper fares. As for American, our load factors were down to an unacceptable level. Deep discount for New York – San Juan Nature: tactic Timing: short term New York-San Juan was American’s largest market, measured in revenue passenger miles. The market was fairly evenly divided into three categories. The first category consisted of business passengers; business travel occurred year-round. Leisure passengers made up the second category; leisure travel peaked in the summer. Passengers of Caribbean origin either coming to the United States or returning to the Caribbean to visit friends and relatives constituted the third category. Eastern periodically offered deep discounts to stimulate demand during traditional slow seasons. In September 1988 Eastern introduced a restricted round-trip fare of $198 midweek and $238 weekend. The fare was applicable for travel until December 14, 1988. American had to decide if and how to respond. Systemic Issue Complicity of Yield Management Nature: Strategic Timing: long term American Airlines broadly described the function of yield management as â€Å"selling the right seats to the right customers at the right prices.† At American Airlines, almost everything is automated because the yield-management decision-making process is too large and therefore too complex to be processed manually. Part 3: Environmental & Root Cause Analysis In the past, under regulations, airlines were not allowed to set their ticket prices at will. Rather, all fares had to be approved by the government. Normally, fares were set on a cost plus basis in order to guarantee airlines a minimum return. On the one hand, airlines had no incentive to reduce costs by streaming operations and increasing productivity. Essentially, price discrimination under regulation was based on the assumption of two distinct  and easily separable types of customers: price-insensitive, yet very time-sensitive business travelers, normally flying on expenses, and price sensitive, yet-time-insensitive leisure travelers, typically paying for their own trips. The deregulation of the airline industry has opened up many opportunities to seize market share and revenues. American needs to identify and develop a detailed revenue management and yield management plan to capitalize on this opportunity. Airline deregulation in 1979 led to additional complexity in the practice of yield management. Two major changes took place. First, the number and variety of discount fares increased. Second, airline began offering connecting service, using centrally located airports as hubs, to serve more of the traveling public and provide national service. The resulting airline environment is very complex. The following factors complicated the yield management task: (1) the demand for full- and discount-fare seats on any given flight was uncertain; (2) the demand was variable over time; (3) in certain cases, for example leisure flights, the demand was also â€Å"lumpy†; (4) there was a bewildering multitude of fare types and restrictions; (5) the hub-and-spoke system made some customers in one fare type more attractive than other customers in the same fare type; (6) some customers booked seats but did not show up for their flights. Part 4: Alternatives and Options Below is a detailed breakdown of the alternatives and options for the issues identified above. Option 1: Marketing American Airlines could focus its priorities on marketing in order to realize its full potential from a demand, capacity and yield perspective. Offering last minute vacation packages or more aggressive pricing policies for flights that look increasingly like they will not reach capacity would be another way to help fill vacant spots. Pros: a. To sell deeply discounted seats at the last minute could make additional profit. b. American Airlines could be known to offer fantastic last minute vacations periodically. Cons: a. Focusing solely on marketing in an industry that is undergoing rapid  change could be extremely costly in the long run. b. Marketing would provide short term benefits but concrete improvements by other airlines may leave American behind. c. Another drawback to an aggressive marketing focus is would skew yield management regression models, most notably overbooking. Option 2: Upgrade Computerized Reservation System American Airlines’ â€Å"store front† is the computerized reservations system, SABRE (semi-automated business research environment). All sale and cancellation transactions, whether from American Airlines reservations agents or travel agents, pass through SABRE, updating reservations inventory for all affected flights. Because the yield management decision-making process is so large and complex at American Airlines, effective control of the inventory of seats can be accomplished only with more advanced automated models. Pros: a. Increase the productivity of yield-management specialists and the reduction in work load can allow them to spend more time reviewing only critical flights thus making better revenue decisions. b. Instead of being a price follower, the system could guide the company make better pricing strategies. c. Keep American Airlines leader position in the industry. Cons: a. It takes time and capital investment of new system. b. There is a learning curve for new system and takes time to get used to new system. Part 5: Recommendations Critical to an airline’s operation is the effective use of its reservations inventory. American Airlines currently has the most advanced computerized reservations system – SABRE. To increase the responsiveness and effectiveness of yield-management strategies and to coordinate reservations inventory decision with SABRE, it is recommended that option 2 is applied. Because the yield-management decision-making process is so large and complex at American Airlines, effective control of the inventory of seats can be accomplished only with more advanced automated models. The new model is aiming at handling overbooking control, discount allocation and traffic management. Part 6: Implementation Plan Step 1: Acquire buy-in from stake holders and management. Step 2: Set up target and create budget. Step 3: Establish a team to do the development of new system. Part 7: Monitor and Control Yield management performance is difficult to measure because of the dynamic nature of the marketplace. Decision Technologies developed a reliable and credible method of measuring performance that we believe is unique in the airline industry. In order to gauge the success of implementing this process certain KPIs need to be established to compare against previous system: Load factor Revenue yield per passenger mile Operating expense per available passenger seat mile

A Case Study On Banque Accord: A Closer Look

Banque Accord is a subsidiary of financial giant the Auchan Group1. Founded in 1983, Banque Accord was established in two stages: In 1983, with the issuance of â€Å"Accord† retail cards in Auchan’s hypermarkets; and, in 1987, with Auchan’s acquisition of Banque Delort, a subsidiary and affiliate of the banking group known as Credit Commercial de France2. Auchan subsequently called its newly acquired bank as â€Å"Banque Accord 3.  Ã¢â‚¬ The newly acquired bank’s mission was to customize the rules that have proven successful in the area of retail distribution and bring it to the financial services field, by allowing consumers to avail of simple yet innovative discounted products and services. 4 Essentially, Banque Accord operates as a bank aligned with the credit and retail industries in general5. Put simply, Banque Accord brings electronic banking functions to retailers, and payment and financing options like cards and consumer credit, closer to its c onsumers.As a rule, the purchase of financial resources is backed by sound ratings from globally respected institutions like Moodys and Standard & Poor. For the year 2006, Banque Accord received higher ratings compared to the previous year6. Moody’s gave the bank an A2 grade, while S&P gave it an A or â€Å"Stable† rating7. To note, the word â€Å"Accord† suggests being able to agree on â€Å"financial solutions† for the company’s clients8. The dynamism of Banque Accord, which eventually became well-respected in international financial circles, is due to the fact that it is wholly-owned by a bank and a retail group.Since its inception, Banque Accord has noteworthy achievements, four of which are9: (1) consolidating – in the same organization – electronic banking, issuing of retail cards and providing credit to consumers; (2) creating a network of banking instruments in shopping centers; (3) an ever-widening range of goods and products available to clients (such as payment card facilities and services, revolving credit, traditional credit, and the like. 10); and (4) its takeover of Egg France in 2004, permitting direct online access under the monicker Oney.fr/ These factors, combined with the marketing genius of its Chief Executive Officer Damien Guermonprez, Banque Accord has evolved in 2006, into an international presence with operations in nine countries, and a database of 4,800,000 customers11. 1 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 2) 2 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) 3 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 4) 4 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 4) 5 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 16) 6 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 16) 7 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 16) 8 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) 9 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) 10 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) 11 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) Banque Accord: A Case Study 1In Banque Accord’s financial disclosures for 2006, the company reflected a EUR353,167,000 increase in assets in just 12 months12. Banque Accord also reported a net income of EUR34,413,000 in 2005, as compared to EUR24,206,000 in 2 00413. Despite the potential for further international growth, Banque Accord has to contend with possible areas of difficulties, which include14: (a) the use of mobile phones as potential replacement for bank cards in transactions; (b) innovations in consumer credit; and (c) the development of e-business in the retailing industry.Regardless of these trends that Banque Accord has to contend with, the bank continue to be innovative and continues to explore newer concepts to maintain its prestige and originality in the banking and retail industries. 12 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 17) 13 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 17) 14 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 17) 15 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 3) Banque Accord: A Case Study 2 I. The Auchan Group Founded in 1961 by Gerard Mulliez, the Auchan Group started out in the North area of France with one hypermarket, which, simply defined, is a commercial complex which combines a department store with a supermarket16.Currently, in 2006, the Auchan Group runs 360 hypermarkets spread across 11 cou ntries. In France, Auchan operates 654 supermarkets 17. Since the inception of Auchan, the company’s vision has remained the same. That is, to improve the purchasing power of its customers 18. Banque Accord is an Auchan subsidiary which has developed an identity of its own within the Auchan Group. Nevertheless, Banque Accord’s mission is identical to Auchan’s, and in essence, the bank has a dual vision 19:†¢ customer oriented: providing its clients with a means to purchase; and †¢ corporate oriented: assisting Auchan in maximizing turnover and revenue, therefore aiding the Group to reduce costs. Accordingly, Banque Acord’s mission, â€Å"The bank for consumers† is aimed towards Auchan’s clients at the hypermarkets 20. Banque Accord achieves its mission by making available to Auchan’s clients, certain services like discounted financial options and payments which are directly accessible to these clients.Being a part of the Auc han Group is a contributing factor to Banque Accord’s human resources practices: By training a group of responsible professionals who consider their jobs fulfilling, the company is able to achieve growth and guarantee their clients quality service21. II. Banque Accord’s Internal Strengths In studying the case of Banque Accord, one is accosted with the company’s inherent strengths. Whatever weaknesses there might be for the company, these are easily addressed based on the operating standards adopted by the Bank. Nevertheless, inherent strengths of Banque Accord include: A. European Market ShareThe modes of payment offered by Banque Accord is characterized by diverseness, regulatory and technical issues and the intricacy of the value chain of the industry22. Cash payment is predominant in 16 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 4) 17 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 4) 18 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 5) 19 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 5) 20 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 5) 21 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 5) 22 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 6) Banque Acc ord: A Case Study 3 Spain, Italy and Germany23. However, majority of Banque Accord’s clients in Great Britain and France use bank cards24. The bank card is considered a â€Å"pivotal† product for the company that issued it25.The card can be very much compared to a traditional bank’s checking or current account, which is most convenient for customers to use. Retailers or outlets that have tie-ups with bank cards are able to sell â€Å"progressively†, in coordination with various financial services like cross-selling or up-selling26. The European market where Banque Accord mainly operates was reportedly worth EUR930 billion in outstanding credit in 2005 (Source L’observateur Cetelem), and is manifesting fast growths in many countries27. Within Europe, where Banque Accord operates, there are distinct differences between countries.In Great Britain for example, the average outstanding credit per household is double that of France’s28. In simple w ords, buyers in Great Britain have greater use for bank cards than customers in France do. The differences between countries may be attributed to diverse cultural orientations, regulatory requirements and marketing procedures29. Another example is: frequently, young people are refused credit on the grounds that they do not have a stable means of paying it. On the other hand, it is quite common for a consumer to accumulate excessive credit30.A solution to this would be the use of regulatory systems and which monitor and prevent bad debts. B. Positioning and Diverse Services The business of Banque Accord is30: (a) issuing different types of payment cards like for example, retail cards, gift cards and bank cards; (b) proffering consumer credit and other related services; and (c) managing its retail partners electronic processing of monetary transactions. Electronic Banking is a technical service directly given by Banque Accord to its retailers, which is a source of pride to the bank31. Its electronic banking services is geared towards functioning as a bank –â€Å"receiving† transactions – providing the support in the retailers’ issuance of cards, managing authorization, 23 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 6) 24 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 6) 25 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 6) 27 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 6) 28 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 8) 29 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 8) 3-0 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 8) 31 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 9) Banque Accord: A Case Study 4 2005, to form a division called CardOps33. Being owned by a retailing group, Banque Accord’s aim is ATMS, payment terminals, etc 32. Banque Accord’s electronic banking services were grouped together in proximity to its customers, and minimizing costs of electronic banking.The core business of Banque Accord is the issuing of a range of cards, which have different functions. The bank’s cards may be a type of payment, a retailer’s marketing tool, a â€Å"support† product of the bank that is incorporated in its associate d services34. It is widely said that an Accord card may be likened to a Swiss Knife with flexibility in functions — credit card, payment card and loyalty card 35. Various examples of an Accord card’s use are36: (a) Sample 137: Card Type : Retail Card Function : A payment card issued or released by retailerBanque Accord: Auchan cradholders total 4,000,000 in Europe, and the card is accepted by other retailers (b) Sample 238: Card Type : Loyalty Card Function : Retailer's marketing instrument which could be used to attract and maintain a loyal base of clients Banque Accord: N/A (c) Sample 339: Card Type : Bank Card Function : A traditional card issued by banks, this card may be used overseas Banque Accord: MasterCard Accord and VisaCard Accord (d) Sample 440: Card Type : Gift Card 32 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 9) 33 (Dauchy, 2007, p.9) 34 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 9) 35 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 9) 36 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 37 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 38 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 39 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10 ) 40 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) Banque Accord: A Case Study 5 Function : This type of card may be utilized to personalize service, and enhances customer relationships. Banque Accord: Auchan Gift Card Hence a card is useful to: ? the retailer, because it can be used as a marketing instrument and promotes consumer loyalty; and ? the consumer, because it is convenient means of financing and payment41There is a distinct connection between owning a card, how the type of card benefits the customer and the retailer, and the amount of business the customer does with the retailer42. It is established that a customer who has access to credit through cards increases his or her purchasing power. A client who has no card hardly visits a retailer in a month, owning a loyalty card enables a customer to make three visits. Having a retail card allows the client to make four visits per month to the favorite retailer and having a bank card gives the client the opportunity to make at least five visits to th e retailer 42.Banque Accord boasts of an orientation which is discount-oriented and customer-oriented43. Banque Accord has two selling and pricing concepts44: — annual subscription; and — cash back, which is defined as the money paid to the customer related t his or her card use. For example in France, Banque Accord gives a 40% discount incentive to annual subscribers for a refular Visa Card, and 60% discount on a Visa Premiere Card45. Based on the spending habits of the customers, an annual subscription increases the potential for the cleints' purchasing statistics. Other Financial ProductsApart from cards, Banque Accord also offers its clients other services, lilke46: (1) in-store credit wherein the individual retailers define their own credit policies along with different formulas for achieving revenue; (2) personal loans, which are granted to customers as a come-on, at interest rates based on current market prices; (3) revolving credit, which is built up by a credi t reserve; 41 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 42 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 43 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 44 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) 45 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 12) 46 (Dauchy, 2007, p. 10) Banque Accord: A Case Study 6 (4) Auchan savings account;(5) life insurance, which is a tieup with Suravenir and offers life plans at simple and reduced costs; and (6) non-life insurance. As evidenced by the wide range of â€Å"other† services that Banque Accord offers, its value chain is distinguished by a huge number of product alliances47. Thus, Banque Accord has been known for its flexibility. As a result, the bank has largely-increased the potential spending capacity of its client-base. Sometimes, the bank's products are managed by other partners — at times their competitors — depending on which country the operation is in48.