Organisational Culture Essays

Organisational Culture Essays Organisational Culture Essay Organisational Culture Essay The Intel Corporation produces microprocessors that are used in computers. It has a market share of over 75% and has been praised for its highly innovative culture. Do you think that an innovative culture can be relied on to guarantee the future success of a business? Justify your answer with reference to Intel and/or other organisations you know. (40 marks) An organisation’s culture refers to ‘the way we do things around here’ and is determined by the values, attitudes and beliefs of the people who work within it. As such, culture will undoubtedly influence the success of a business. In particular, it can be argued that an innovative culture can lead to business success because it enables companies to share ideas more freely and thus innovate and develop their business strategy. Furthermore, in light of Handy’s view of â€Å"discontinuous change† being ever more present in the business world, an innovative culture is likely to enable business to be flexible enough to cope with challenges that the future holds. However, it is important to bear in mind that when a business possesses over 75% market share that it benefits from economies of scale which can be an important determinant of success, regardless of culture. Perhaps more importantly, not every success international business possesses an innovative culture. A successful business strategy can be underpinned by other business cultures and thus the type of industry a business is in, and the different challenges it faces may determine what is the most suitable culture for them. Innovative cultures are essential in companies who are involved in technological markets, where developing new products and ideas can be key to success. The Intel corporation operate a very innovative culture which has lead to huge dominance of the market, capturing 75% market share after the production of microprocessors used in computers. Another example where innovation has lead to success is at Google, where CEO Eric Schmidt commits to innovation, making sure all employees are comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. The relaxed feel around the company allows employees to be creative, which has allowed Google to be one step ahead of competitors, which is especially important working in a technological industry. BMW use a similar culture where everyone is expected to help find solutions. They have a network of committed associates with few hierarchical barriers, allowing every employee to voice their opinion. This culture has allowed BMW to promote new products and get the product just right through thousands of brainstorming sessions. These examples show how innovation can lead to success in technological industries. Innovative culture can be relied on to guarantee the future success of a business, as the external environment is constantly changing. This can be linked to Charles Handy’s theory of ‘discontinuous change’ which means that in the future change is constant, and therefore an innovative culture would most likely guarantee a business success. Being highly innovative would mean that managers would have to be flexible and react to the constantly changing external environment, therefore adopting an innovative culture would mean businesses would have to come up with ideas and strategies for the future in order for the business to remain competitive and successful. Innovative culture should equip firms with the ability to cope better with change. For example Intel’s strategy of diversification where they use tactics such as job swapping and controlled employee role changes to increase the efficiency of their teams. This is useful as the workforce is flexible to the externally changing environment, and can guarantee future success of a business as they would be able to react to any change within the business. Hence I think that an innovative culture can determine the future success of the business, especially in a technological industry as the external environment is constantly changing meaning a firm has to be flexible and prepared to react and respond if it wishes to remain competitive and profitable. If a business did not react to changes and maintained there current strategies and plans then this could have negative effects on the business such as a declining market share due to competitors coming up with new innovative ideas and hence a lower profit. One way in which we can see that an innovative culture cannot be relied on to guarantee the success of a firm is that there are other organisations that have a different cultural approach that have been very successful. I believe that the culture within Tesco has significantly helped it to become one of the most successful retailers in Britain. Tesco use a person and role culture which I believe have helped to contribute to the success of the firm, there are ‘six levels between the till operator and the CEO’ in Tesco and I would think that this would have helped lead to the success of the firm as employees would feel like an important asset of the firm and are therefore motivated to work harder for the benefit of the business. Also it is evident in Cadburys, the biggest confectionary retailer in England who take a role and task approach to their culture that an innovative culture is not needed to guarantee the success of a firm. I believe that the putting an emphasis on results and giving staff specific roles within the business has led to the success of Cadburys as there is a specific focus on achieving targets and working as a team which I believe can highly motivate employees. So it is evident in a range of businesses that an innovative culture is not the key to success in business, various different cultural approaches such as task and role can have a significant contribution towards the success of an organisation. However, it can be argued that the size of Intel’s organisation provides it with its main competitive edge. Intel has a market share of 75% bringing with it certain benefits that are arguably more influential to its success than its innovative culture. A firm of this size is likely to benefit from economies of scale, propagating lower unit costs that can lead to higher profit margins. Higher profit margins enable greater re-investment into the firm, allowing Intel to continuously expand. Therefore, it seems apparent that even without its innovative culture, the sheer size of the firm would enable it to compete successfully. However, one cannot say that a large firm is guaranteed future success as demonstrated by the IBM monopoly that quickly lost majority market share to Microsoft and today only operate within a business-to-business niche market. Although business â€Å"success† is essentially easy to measure through examining market share, revenue, profit and other such measures, the factors that lead to such success are less easy to see. Factors such as a strong business strategy, good leadership, a favourable competitive environment and culture all contribute to a business’s success but being able to separate out which factor contributes more to success is near impossible. Furthermore, being ble to measure how effective an innovative culture versus a role or person culture is very difficult. Ultimately, the ‘best’ culture will vary according to industry and the nature of the business structure itself. Some industries such as the technology industry has developed its products at an exponential rate, inconceivable just 20 years ago. The nature of such a fast moving industry relies on quick and consistent innovation which is no doubt dependent on an innovative, networked culture like the type we see at Google and BMW. Other industries such as retailing and supermarkets, however do not face such radical and constant need to develop their product offering, and factors such as good quality service and product quality may be more important. As a result, a role and person based culture are more likely to lead to success. However, in light of Handy’s â€Å"discontinuous change†theory, all businesses, regardless of industry will face an ever changing external environment and so although an innovate culture may not be the most suitable per se, having an element of innovation and flexibility is key to any business intending to succeed in the future.

Revamp Your Resume How to Choose Fonts

Revamp Your Resume How to Choose Fonts Within the bounds of taste and good judgment, a resume can be a place to express your best professional self. While â€Å"Best Resume† lists often focus on formatting and use of white space, don’t forget to think about your font choices- your first presentation of words to a potential employer. Patricia Antonelli over at TalentEgg has some more specific guidance for those of you who don’t know your Papyrus from your Antigua Bold. Generally you want a font size that is legible, even on mobile devices, but not so big that it looks like a sign posted on a billboard- shoot for size 11, except for your headers.1. Serif FontsOpen up a Word document and try out some of these, like Baskerville or Georgia. Serif fonts have little lines at end of each letter stroke. Fonts with serifs come across as â€Å"more traditional and reliable†- they tend to look better in print than on a screen, so select one of them if you’re going to be handing out your resume in ha rd copy.Avoid Times New Roman! It’s an obvious choice that signals employers you don’t know how to make your work stand out.2. Sans Serif FontsFonts like Helvetica and Calibri lack the little tails on serif fonts, and read more cleanly on-screen. These are safe choices for business jobs or any online application process. Coordinate your choice with your cover letter for a cohesive, polished look.Formal and traditional? Serif is the way to go. Contemporary and sleek? San serif probably sends the right message.3. Script FontsYou can get away with a script font for your name at the top, but fancy fonts like Zapfino or Bickham Script can look messy in print or fail to translate on another operating system. The last thing you want is an unintelligible resume, so don’t try to make yours look like someone wrote it with a quill pen.4. Display FontsAnything in the â€Å"other† category like Giddyup or Jazz is a big risk- some people may see them as fun and creativ e, but unless you’re applying for visual arts jobs (like a graphic designer or teaching artist) it’s probably better to err on the side of professionalism. Check out the company’s website to see what their visual style is, and try to find something complementary.You want your resume to show off your experience and achievements, and any font that distracts from that is the wrong choice. Have a friend glance over your resume before your submit it; if the font is the first thing they notice, before your name or objective, keep looking until their first response is, â€Å"What a great-looking resume!†

Pursuing Public Safety.A Loose Fish in the Sea of Criminal Justice Term Paper

Pursuing Public Safety.A Loose Fish in the Sea of Criminal Justice - Term Paper Example The states have enforced or applied the principles of incapacitation and rehabilitation as ways to ensure public safety. Recidivism is defined as â€Å"a tendency to slip back into a previous criminal behavior pattern† such as the return to prison or a new sentence for a new offense (Beck, n.d.) The principle behind incapacitation follows that a person who is imprisoned will not perpetrate a crime. Imprisonment and capital punishment are the major ways to compel incapacitation which will prevent a person to commit a crime. Rehabilitation, on the other hand, is non-punitive and believes that a person can be prohibited to commit a crime by helping him to solve his issues that led him to commit a crime. This principle considers that each person is defective and commission of a crime is not the person’s purpose but may be a result of other physical, emotional, sociological factors (Renter, 2008). The paper talks about how the government should focus on determining the strat egies that will actually lessen the recidivism. According to Gomez (2008), although there are lots of theories on how to reduce recidivism and ensure public safety, resorting to incapacitation has not been very helpful to achieve these goals. This is because the government and the criminal justice system has devoted its resources and focus on isolating the lawbreakers and not on how to treat the criminal behaviour of the offenders. The treating of behaviour of the criminal offenders is more important than just merely imprisoning them. Thus, according to the Gomez (2008), it is better to make sure those who are capable of earning an honest living be allowed and encourage doing so. During the time the study of Gomez (2008) was still ongoing, Minnesota is suffering the highest unemployment rate in seventeen years thus the government thought that it should be the time to address the reality and let this offender work without sacrificing the public safety of the people. Aside from being able to give a chance for the offenders to earn and support their family and earn an honest living, they can help Minnesota on solving issues on impaired bridges, highways, dams, plants and water systems (Gomez, 2008). This is something like â€Å"hitting two birds with one stone.† The offenders are more likely not going to commit crime again because of the employment opportunity given to them. If this is the case, recidivism issue is addressed and community problems are solved without sacrificing public safety. Another Look at That Loose Fish But certainly, this approach will not always be giving us the positive effects. If there should be a reason why we should not try to reduce recidivism among the state and federal prisoners by teaching them to build houses and highways that would not otherwise be built is because of the fact that there will be a number of prisoners that will just run-off and leave the responsibilities. Another reason is that it is going to be unfair for the public because as we know, there is a high unemployment rate, meaning there are still a lot of people in the community who are unemployed and are not given an opportunity to get a job because these jobs are given to the offenders or felons. Billions of dollars are spent by the government to incarcerate felons to train and at least some of them so they can re-enter the free world more capable of

Geoffery Jack vs Wessex City Council Coursework

Geoffery Jack vs Wessex City Council - Coursework Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the legal issues, in this case, were as follows: first, the council argued that under Section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980 it was only under a duty to maintain the highway and this duty did not extend to, as Mr. Jack alleged, keeping the road free of snow and frost at all times. Second, the issue was to construe the exact meaning of the word â€Å"maintenance† and whether it could contain the duty to keep the snow and ice off the road. Third, the issue was the scope of the duty that had to be attributed to the local authority to maintain the highway. Was it an absolute duty? Was it based on negligence on nuisance? Fourth, whether the council at that point in time when the accident occurred was under a duty to maintain (meaning according to the one decided upon earlier) and did it breach that duty. It is likely that Lord Hoffman stuck to the literal rule of interpretation. When construing the meaning of the w ord â€Å"maintenance† he laid down the possible meanings of this word, alluding to â€Å"repair† whether that included maintenance or not. But he also mentions in line 218 that regardless of what meaning is attributed to the word â€Å"maintain† the material issue in this question is that of whether the council had a duty to ensure that no ice has been present on the road that morning. The purposive rule is seen applied where Lord Hoffman tries to observe the intention of the parliament (or the draftsman) and looks at the entire historical context to hold that as far as maintenance was concerned, the council was already carrying that out. In rules of language, it could be said that Lord Hoffman made use of the ‘Ejusdem Generis’ as he quoted different meaning of maintenance in line 44. In determining whether a duty existed or not, the court clearly applies literal rule in holding that the council did not owe a duty to make sure that there was no sno w – and it held that a duty to maintain only includes maintaining the fabric of the road and not to make sure no snow was ever present on the surface. Lastly, from line 156 to line 190 the court seems to be operating on the presumption that the common law has not changed and no legislation (1959 or 1980) purposed to change the common law, instead of subsequent acts only codified it. There is evidence that Lord Hoffman referred to the long title of the Highway Act 1980 and that constitutes an intrinsic aid in statutory interpretation. Other intrinsic aids that he alluded to were the definitional section contained in the act itself.

‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck Essay ‘Of Mice and Men’ is written by John Steinbeck. The novel is set in the 1930s during the great depression in California. The two protagonist characters, George and Lennie are farm workers who have a dream of one-day owning their own ranch. They find work in a ranch near Soledad, after escaping from Weed because of George’s incident. They are met by different characters on the farm that all have a dream. To be lonely means to lack friends or companionship and to feel isolated. Most of the characters are lonely and the only thing that keeps them alive is their dreams. Some of the loneliest characters they meet are Candy, an old man with only one hand, Crooks, a black cripple and Curley’s Wife, a woman who has no identity, she is lonely even though she is married. Although they are all on the ranch together, they are lonely because of who they are and their history. ‘Of Mice and Men’ is an emotional story with many different themes and characters. Steinbeck presents Curley’s wife as the only women in the ranch and because she doesn’t have a name it shows that she is not important and she is someone’s belonging. The first time you hear about Curley’s wife is when candy describes her to George. Candy uses expression such as â€Å"she got the eye† and goes on to describe her as looking at other man because of this they call her a â€Å"tart†. Through Candy’s words, we could develop an initial perception of Curley’s wife as Flirty and even promiscuous. This manipulates us by leading us into having a negative view of her. Her first appearance in the Novel focuses on her appearance. The way she acts, the way she looks and the way she speaks with others. The first sentence about her was â€Å"the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway cut off† this shows how she stands there to get attention and get noticed by the ranchers. This make us think as a reader in other way she stood in that certain place because she knows that they will look at her. Her physical appearance of â€Å"full†, â€Å"rough lips† and â€Å"wide-spaced eyes†,† Heavily made up† and â€Å"her fingernails were red† this shows how see got the natural shape on an actor. The â€Å"heavily made up† this shows that she want to make herself look attractive so the ranchers will look at her and feel love in her. The colour â€Å"red† shows that it’s a symbol of danger and on the other side the thick bright colours stands out from other things so this can make herself get noticed by others that is all she wanted. George seems to believe Candy he says to Lennie â€Å"don’t you even take a look at that bitch† this shows the feelings that George got towards Curley’s wife. She is lonely â€Å"stands there looking in† which shows she nothing to do and because of her loneliness she wanted to be loved by others so she acts like she is flirting. They say she is a â€Å"flirty† but it is the only way she knows how to get attention.

Essay :: essays research papers

Unit 1: Narrative Essay Feeling complete with your own personal mental and physical standpoints is essential if you ever want a fulfilling relationship. Knowing your own ability to live vigilantly day to day, being gratified with the prospects of how you are living your life up untill this point. This is what determines wether your ready to take the step into entering a relationship. Every point in ones life is a learning experience. Treating past relationships as learning experiences help to better your understanding of what your really looking to gain out of future relationships. The following paragraphs discuss a story of my past. This story revolves around a relationship taking place at a negative point in my life. So my lesson to you is one I learned the hard way. Being happy with yourself is vital before attempting to by happy with someone else. To mentally set the scene for my story, I will give some background into my mental and physical standpoint. During the time of this story, I was under a lot of stress from various circumstances. I had just recently lost my job at Subway and had no source of income. Becouse I lost my job, I had no longer the money nor the resources to continue with athletic training. Taking the three months off from athletic training had a negative effect on my physical appearence. With a noticable loss of physical appearence, my self esteem began to drop slightily. So all together, threw one run of bad luck into another, i was spiraling down into a depression like state. It all started the first week of grade 10. I was walking to math class and i met up with a few of my lunch crew friends. I noticed my friend Ashlea talking to Erin Berring. Erin was an attractive, smart and fashonable girl. I always had a thing for smarties. In school she had straight A's, and was also the leader of the female wrestling team. I felt a little up on myself that day for some reason. I figured there was no better time then the present to chat it up a little. The conversation went quite well, which was different from what I expected. She even asked for my number so we could continue our talk later that night. "Why would she be interested in me?," I said to myself. After all, she seemed way out of my league.

A World Without Water Essay

Water is one of the essentialities of life on earth, without water life will not exist. Water is everywhere, we can find it from the foods we eat and beverages we drink. It has also many uses in our daily lives like cleaning ourselves, washing the clothes, watering the plants and others. Water can also refresh us during hot days of summer, like swimming. When we go to supermarkets we see different products which contain water. All living organisms need water, without it, they will die. Humans, being a living organism need water to survive; we do need water but it must be clean and sufficient in supply. But what if there is access to water but the water is too contaminated? Or there is really no sufficient supply? Or the place where there is water is too far from home? That will be a big problem for those who will or currently experiencing this kind of situations. Water is a need and not just wants; clean water is needed in every community not only to survive but also to function well . Each one of us whether rich or poor has the right for available clean water. The film â€Å"A World Without Water† is an eye-opener. It shows how rich survives and poor tends to die because of dirty water, lack of supply and accessibility. Too sad to see people of a certain community being deprived by their own land’s water supply, they become envious while looking at a clean fountain of water in a certain company as shown in the video. The worst, big companies that are abusing their powers seem to have no considerations to the people of the community being affected by their operations; their only concern is to gain money. Those people that have money to buy their products do not know how others suffer just for them to drink a bottle of coke, and watching this film might change their mind. This kind of privatization is just too greedy, they own what they must not own, safe water is becoming scarce and those companies just had a selfish idea that is worst than water pollution. Safe water is a right. Moreover, I can be an advocate in the future that will regulate or at least control privatization and support the right of each one of us to clean and safe water. But for now, as a student, what I can do is to conserve water, appreciate its importance to us, and minimize consumption of bottled drinks like canned softdrinks; I can also encourage my friends to do the same thing and spread it through social networking sites. I could say that I am more than lucky that I have easy access to clean and safe water from birth and up to now. How I wish that Bolivians and other people suffering from deprivation of their own right of safe water will also have easy access to clean, safe and sufficient water.

Crisis and Risk Management for Business Continuity: The Case of Northern Rock

a) Research problem The global economic crisis has topped the many discussions in the business world today. The current credit crunch is not only being felt in the United States where the actual problem started but in the United Kingdom as well, with more companies feeling the pinch by the day. It is a pity that many businesses have been declared bankrupt following the shock experienced from the crisis. It is however notable that the blame is partly on their side. The reason for this is that many businesses today have not bothered to come up with crisis and risk management plans to shield their businesses from such shocks. They operate based on the current situations and pay little attention to disasters that are likely to affect the business and how these effects can be minimized. Even where attempts have been made, crisis and risk management plans do not fully address all the potential risks that are likely to face the company. Another issue is that whenever the said crises occur, these plans are not properly set out so that they often end up doing little to save the situation. These characteristics perfectly fit the circumstances surrounding the liquidity crisis at Northern Rock between 2007 and 2008. Northern Rock is a British bank that is now under public ownership following a government bailout in 2008. The bank which started off as a building society became a bank in 1997 when its shares were offered in the London Stock Exchange. As of September 2008, the bank which is ranked as one of the top mortgage lenders in the UK employed 4500 employees. Until 2007, Northern Rock was doing well and was considered one of the fastest growing banks in the UK; at least based on its asset base. The ongoing economic crisis however sent the bank giant reeling as banks tightened their lending rates. As if this was not enough, funding from covered bonds and the securitisation model which made up 75 percent of Northern Rock's funds started deteriorating and eventually these markets closed simultaneously following the economic crisis. What followed was crisis after crisis as the bank threatened to go down. On September 2007, the Northern Rock approached the Bank of England to request for a liquidity support facility to contain some of the problems it was facing following the credit crunch. This caused a bank run as customers rushed to withdraw their savings. The bank was overwhelmed and intervention by the state was necessary to save the bank giant. The UK financial Investment Limited now manages the bank at â€Å"arms length† for the government which was taken into government ownership in February 2008. Northern Rock's inability to deal with the crisis has been blamed on poor risk and crisis management. b) Justification of the study The near collapse of Northern Rock is a wake up call to every business that intends to survive past any kind of crisis.Business Management Study Guide The misfortunes encountered by Northern Rock and the consequences of these should be a good lesson for other companies to learn from through the implementation of risk and crisis management. The challenge however still remains and unless the issue is addressed by giving managers a guide, another company could still go the Northern Rock way. This study will address this challenge effectively by revealing all that a manager needs to know about crisis and risk management for business continuity. Three issues are at hand with each of them carrying substantial weight. Firstly, only a few companies undertake crisis and risk management. Secondly, the few of those who have taken the initiative have not given it adequate attention. Thirdly, when the actual crisis occurs, implementation of the set plan is not normally adhered to so that the essence of the plan is in fact dissolved. Other companies just like Northern Rock are constantly at risk of disasters and hence the knowledge about how to deal with them is quite invaluable. The research which mainly aims at uncovering the dangers of not having a crisis management plan and how having one could save the company's future and form a useful guide to business managers. c) Objectives of the study. In order to ensure that this research addressed the above problems while maintaining the scope of the study, the following objectives were used to guide the research. †¢ To establish whether Northern Rock had any crisis and risk management plans in place. †¢ To identify the importance of crisis and risk management plans. †¢ To show how Northern Rock could have survived the crisis using crisis and risk management planning. Literature Review a) The Case of Northern Rock In the second half of the 2007, Northern Rock became the first bank in the UK to experience a bank run since 1866 (Shin, 2008: 2). World lenders' balance sheets were already shrinking so that banks had reduced their lending and interest rates were going up following the credit crunch (Llewellyn, 2008: 35-36). The credit crunch originated from the U. S sub-prime mortgages that led to a shortage in money available to banks for lending. The bank's over-reliance on securitisation and covered bonds is considered the major cause of the of Northern Rock's downfall (Tevin, 2008: 13). Securitisation is used to refer to the kind of funding where mortgages are used as security to obtain loans from other banks (Shin, 2008: 6). Being a prominent mortgage lender, the bank had quite a substantial amount of security. The mortgages were also used to secure covered bonds which were a constant source of finance for the bank. These two types of markets made up 75 percent of the bank's source of finance and therefore when they collapsed at the same time, the bank's finances were threatened (Victoria, 2006: 2). On the other hand, banks were shrinking their lending rates and therefore the bank could not afford to pay up its dues and sustain its mortgage lending. An innovation unique to the bank is also associated with the downfall. Northern used model that they referred to as â€Å"originate to distribute† in which they could take loans and then sell them to other investors before they matured such that they obtained additional funds and the liability of the loans was transferred to the investors (Tevin, 2008: 15). As a result of the credit crisis, the bank could not sustain its financial needs and consequently could not meet market demand. North Rock's method of funding is described by Shin (2008: 8) as an unusual business model. While banks are expected to have customer deposits as their major liabilities, Northern Rock operated on securitised loans which they offered as mortgages to their customers. Long-term loans which they repaid using the payments paid by mortgage beneficiaries were used to pay -up the loans (Llewellyn, 2008: 37-38). The mortgages were also used as security for additional loans. Deposits only accounted for 23 percent of the finances held by the bank (Tevin, 2008: 14). Given that banks heavily rely on deposits as their major assets and source of financing, the amount available was limited when loans could not provide for the required amounts. Attempts to sell off the bank were unsuccessful because no investor wanted to risk taking up an endangered bank (Adams, 2008: 1). The bank obtained the government bailout from the Bank of England in form of emergency funding (Adams, 2008: 1; Laughton, 2008: 1). This was done in the knowledge that collapse of Northern Rock could cause a major shake-up in the banking industry (Laughton, 2007: 1). The news on Northern Rock's bailout caused a bank run and depositors rushed to withdraw their money. At the same time, the share prices fell by 31 percent (Lastra, 168). b) Crisis and Risk Management. Crisis and risk management is a commonly ignored function of the management but which can play a significant role in determining the destiny of a company. Reliable studies reveal that most organisations do not take crisis and risk management seriously such that they do not put aside plans meant to counter unexpected crises (Robert and Lajtha, 2002: 184). According to McConnell and Drennan (2006: 62), the reason for this is that the probability of occurrence of crises is low within most business environments such that managers find no reason to use the company's resources to invest in countering risks that may never happen anyway. This notion is however wrong because no organisation is immune to crises and risks in the course of its operations. Yemen (2001: 65) notes that crises and disasters carry no warning and consequently always catch businesses unaware. Before they can react to the crisis by getting effective solutions, the damage is already done and chances of survival are highly minimized (McConnel and Dreannan, 2006: 60). For this reason, it is inevitable for every company to consider crisis and risk management in their strategic plan. Salter (1997: 60) defines crisis and risk management as the act of coming up with policies and procedures to be used to identify, analyse, treat and monitor risk. It is a guide on how to deal with crises and risks should they occur and how to recover from their effects (Pingeone, 2006: 37). The procedure of risk management involves the identification of areas where the company predicts that things may go wrong (Lee et al, 2007: 335). This could fall in any department of the organization. While some may be general, some risks are more likely to occur in one company than in another depending on their operations (Robert and Lajtha, 2002: 184) Crises and risks are always occurring in the business management and it is hard to predict what will happen the following day. While risks are used to represent threats or possibilities of an occurrence of misfortunes, the term crisis is used when the actual misfortune actually occurs (Lagadec 1997: 28; Shrivatsava, 1988: 284). Physical disasters such as fires, terrorist attacks, phishing attacks, floods among other disasters are among the major kinds of crises. These should however not form the sole focus of the company because they the business is bound to face many external and economic forces that could influence its performance. For example, relying on one source for supply of materials could lead to a crisis if this supplier can no longer make the supplies to the company (Pingeone, 2006: 100). It is therefore essential that a company makes such a consideration when determining the future of the business. This is actually what happened to Northern Rock who had relied on securitisation and long-term loans as their source of finance so that when banks could not lend as much as they demanded, they were left desperate with no other major source and hence had to turn to the government for help. ) Crisis and Risk Management Plan Crisis and risk management plans help to lay down the steps to be taken in the event of a crisis and in keeping the various risks that a company is exposed to at bay. In coming up with a crisis and risk management plan, the company ought to identify any possible risks that it is likely to suffer in the course of its operations (Alderman, 2008: 149; McMillan, 2006: 89). These risks are then assessed so as to come up with plausible ways of addressing them whenever they arise. This is known as making plans for post crisis actions (Alexander, 169-171). Crisis and risk management plans ensure that every employee participates in the company's safety precautions while ensuring that risks and crises are handled in the right manner. Designing the Crisis and Risk Management Plan It is notable that most companies have not yet put a risk and crisis management plan in place (Carmeli and Schaubroeck 2008: 182). This mostly stems from the fact that managers try to be optimistic; hoping that no disaster will occur. In other circumstances, they simply wish to eliminate the â€Å"unnecessary† expense on something that might never happen. There are however those who are simply ignorant and do not know how to go about implementing a plan. Further still, once the crisis and risk management plan is put in place, its implementation is often a challenge when the actual risk occurs. This is brought about by the panic that often characterises a crisis. Pingeone (2006: 99) notes that the management plan should be followed to the letter unless the situation calls for modification. He adds that the plan should act as a guide and it is for this reason that it is prepared. If properly followed while trying to adjust certain elements to fit the situation, it should be easy to solve the crisis than when there is no plan at all. The challenge of coming up with an effective plan is also cited as a problem given that response and recovery is largely influenced by the kind of crisis and risk management plan that the company has in place. To curb this problem, Smith (2001: 64-65), Fink (1986: 36-39), Gottschalk (2002:96) and Mitroff (2001: 29-35) give the following key elements that are desired for a risk and crisis management plan to be effective. Provision for continuous identification, evaluation and management of risk should be put in place. This is because the company is bound to face new challenges everyday and in the wake of globalisation, new economic and social risks and challenges keep cropping up (Mitroff, 2001: 33). ? Constant review of the effectiveness of the plan is necessary to ensure that all the desired aspects are addressed. Analysing the system of internal control which is part of the risk and crisis control annually can help the company to identify whether the plan is working as desired. For all crisis and risk management plans, the systems developed should rhyme with the organisational culture so that collisions do not occur. ? The crisis and risk management plan must be flexible and one that can effectively respond to evolving risks. A good crisis and risk management plan offers flexibility such that change in policy and new company strategy may be implemented in order to deal with the crisis at hand (Smi th, 2001: 65). ? The plan should set proper reporting procedures to be followed in the event of occurrence of an incident. On top of that, a procedure for reporting failures in the plan should be well laid out. ? The crisis and risk management plan should provide for training to all members of staff so that they are aware of the roles to take in the event of a disaster, the reporting procedures and any other relevant information contained in the plan. Research Design and Method Introduction This portion of the study establishes the ability of the company to satisfy the set objectives. It shows the design of procedures used in the study and outlines the major limitations involved during the study. Research scope The previously set objectives aim at establishing whether there was a crisis and risk management plan at Northern Rock and what could have been done better to further contain the crisis. The study is therefore limited to Northern Rock and to crisis and risk management as a management strategy. The liquidity crisis at Northern Rock forms the basis of the study. Data and data collection The data collection process was applied in such a way that its efficiency could be gauged by the results obtained from the study. In doing so, primary and secondary data were employed in the entire study process. a) Primary data This formed an important part of the research as it helped in obtaining factual information from direct respondents. The use of written questionnaires and oral interviews to obtain information from the respondents was used. The data obtained was assimilated during the analysis of the study. Respondents were notified prior to their interviews so as to ensure that the information was more accurate. b) Secondary data The use of secondary data was invaluable in the study. This is in recognition that any research must incorporate other people's work as a precedent to the study. The use of journals, books, articles and other scholarly works were highly used to obtain the theory surrounding the study. The literature review practically involved the reviewing other people's work so that secondary data was of great importance. Sample selection, technique, and size The study sample incorporated a few present and former company officials as well as economic analysts who studied the Northern Rock liquidity crisis. Strategic sampling system was used to identify the officials and individuals to be interviewed during the period of study. A total of twenty five respondents were sent questionnaires and eight agreed to perform an oral interview. Eighteen questionnaires were returned and observations and responses were assimilated for the purpose of the study. Ethics of the research methodology At the beginning of the study, the research set an objective of reducing respondents' compromise as far as possible. In order to satisfy this, respondents were not required to mention specific names within the company. For privacy purposes, respondents' names were not required in the questionnaires. This served to raise the confidentiality levels as a factor in conducting scholarly research. Limitations of the study Even though this methodology played a vital role in satisfying the set objectives, various limitations faced the researcher. Without these limitations, more information would have been obtained to further improve the study. Among the major constraints was the high level of expenses. These included questionnaire printing and posting costs as well as travelling costs to meet the respondents. The problem of incomplete questionnaires was prevalent mostly due to the highly complex human nature so that some of the staff members could have been worried about giving information they considered confidential due to fears of victimization. This could have contributed to errors in the information obtained. The time element was also limiting which did not enable maximum amount of data as would have been desired. Analysis and Findings Most of the respondents in the study ascertained that Northern Rock was lucky and were it not for the government bailout; the bank would have landed into bankruptcy. Unavailability of credit which was actually the bank's major source of finance was an unfathomable blow to the bank whose reputation had made it the fastest growing mortgage lender in the UK. The situation was made worse by the bank run which was in essence caused by the media portrayal of the crisis (Victoria, 2008: 117-119). Nelkin (1998: 347-348) notes that the media could highly influence how a crisis affects the company due to messages and speculations made. As soon as the bank sought help from the Bank of England, word went round through the media and the public went into panic following the collapse of the bank. The result was huge amounts of withdrawals which highly overwhelmed the bank's finances (Shin, 2008: 6). Northern Rock therefore sunk into losses and could barely afford to sustain the payment of loans. Analysts involved in the study suggested that the bank run could have been avoided had the bank's management taken Northern Rock's crisis management plan In an effort to keep focus on the research scope, only the section of the crisis and risk management plan associated with the liquidity crisis was analysed. For each point noted, a note on how the situation could have been handled better is provided. Northern Rock management had given a thought to the possibility of reduction of market at home and shortage of funds from local banks. To help reduce this possibility, the bank had diversified its operations to other countries like Canada, United States, Europe, Australia and Far East (Tevin, 2008: 21-22). This was considered to be a substantial backup for any eventualities in the domestic market. The company had also secured its liquidity through insurance to cover for any shortages. In their plan however, they had not anticipated a crisis that would cause the collapse of their major sources of funds at the same time. It would have been unimaginable that the source of finance that seemed so reliable would collapse leaving the bank destitute. Even Dr Ridley; the bank's chairman had noted that the bank had not though at one time that its sources of finance could collapse at the same time (Llewellyn, 2008: 49). This just goes on to show that crises are not easily predictable and that routine can be deceiving. The fact that Northern Rock's long-term sources of finances were always available to them due to the high amount of mortgage securities almost ruled out the possibility of running out of finances. The Northern Rock crisis management can be said to have been inadequate. The reasoning behind this is that should it have been adequate, the liquidity crisis may have been avoided or subsidised. As noted by Regester et al (2005: 196-198), a good plan must entail the guidelines to be followed in the event of a crisis. Further, Northern Rock's management failed to predict; which is one of the objectives of the bank's risk management plan. Varma (2008: 1) notes that banks should be able to use cash flow projections to anticipate future fluctuations in demand for their customers. Using these projections, they can easily determine whether a liquidity problem is likely to arise due to increased demand or whether inventory will pile up as a result of reduced demand. It is also possible to gauge from the rise in interest rates offered by banks and other security traders. Such information could have proved vital to the management and this could have been used to limit mortgage lending and hence reduce the impact of the crisis. As noted by Tevin (2008: 17), the bank did not even have adequate liquidity insurance, a lesson which the England Governor noted could have been learnt from Countrywide, a US bank that suffered the same crisis that Northern Rock was facing. Insurance cover serves in ensuring that the company's assets are protected. This ensures that whenever assets that the company has insured against are lost in the event of a crisis, compensation can protect it from committing more resources in replacing the asset (Alderman, 2008: 204). With such knowledge the bank could have obtained enough liquidity insurance as security for the future. They could also have provided for plans to cope with a credit crisis should they get into the same position with Countrywide. This way, it could have been ready and encountered the crisis more boldly without having to seek government bailout. Northern Rock over-relied on one source of finance so that when it collapsed the effect was quite staggering. The theory of crisis management warns against relying on one source of supply because its failure could have detrimental effects on the company (Coombs, 1999: 114-115). Northern Rock had been relying heavily on loans gained from mortgage securities to finance their clients' mortgage needs and when they could not afford to meet the demand following the reduced liquidity levels, they had nowhere to turn to (Congdon, 2009: 11). Banks which were willing to lend proved too expensive for the bank to afford and still continue to operate comfortably. The whole problem arose because once these sources of finance collapsed; there was no other source of finance leading to the liquidity crisis. It is a major observation that companies rarely think about the possibility of a time when a certain source of supply will not be available to them because as long as they are concerned they have always relied on the source (Wiley, 2006: 85). Northern Rock should have diversified more as a way to maintain the flow of funds. For example, they could have used more deposits instead of relying on loans only. Tevin (2008: 14) notes that only 23 percent of their liquidity was in the form of deposits which Victoria (2008: 119) notes to be the major sources of bank liabilities. By focusing on loans, they lost their major source of money supply when the credit crunch set in. The management did not act swiftly to respond to rumours about liquidity shortages. According to Tevin (2008: 24) the bank had received warning signs about a possible shortage in credit as a result of the ongoing economic crisis. The Financial Stability Report that the Bank of England released in April 2008 suggested that wholesale funding which was on the rise in the market could pose unforeseeable danger to liquidity (Llewellyn, 2008: 51). Analysts had also predicted the same. Instead of analysing the possible risk and taking measures, Northern Rock continued with the expansionary lending policy (Tevin, 2008: 24). Mortgages continued to be issued yet there was a possibility of being unable to sustain the demand following the credit shortage. If the management had acted wisely, it could have limited the mortgage lending so as to save the finances available until a favourable time came. Its ability to detect the possibility of such an occurrence was limited hence the reason why the company was caught unawares. The crisis and risk management plan was not also well utilized when the bank realized its plight. Referring to the liquidity crisis, Northern Rock CEO maintained that the prediction made by the bank about its source of finances had been wrong in assuming that the mortgage assets would maintain the bank's liquidity. The company has made an attempt to recover from the crisis using the government assistance issued and change in strategy. This is part of a crisis management plan which requires that a company take the necessary measures to correct a crisis. As noted by Smith (2000, 65), Northern Rock had to change strategy so as to better manage the crisis. Their â€Å"Together† loans for example were withdrawn. These loans were an incentive to first time buyers and involved combining a secured and unsecured loan to obtain finance (Tevin, 2008: 26). The bank however could not manage to offer these loans given their financial constraints and had to withdraw them. The bank is still recovering and depositors have started gaining trust in the bank again more so because the government ownership provides a substantial level of financial security. Conclusions and Recommendations After an analysis of the case of Northern Rock and the importance of crisis and risk management, it would be true to say that the company's crisis and risk management plan was not properly implemented during the liquidity crisis. The plan was also inadequate to address the seriousness of the problem given that the company had never anticipated a risk of such magnitude. It is also true that every company needs to have a crisis and risk management plan to help in coping with disasters and incidents if they occur. It can therefore be concluded that having a crisis and risk management plan cannot be useful if it is not well implemented. This is as in the case of Northern Rock which did not react to the warning signs of the impending danger of a liquidity crisis through finding alternative sources of funds or through reducing its lending capacity. Northern Rock suffered a great deal from the liquidity crisis due to poor implementation of crisis and risk management. The plan was also inadequate and insurance cover taken could not compensate for the loss incurred. What matters however is not what has been lost in the past; but what can be saved in future. As Lagadec 1997: 28; Shrivatsava (1988: 284) suggest, a crisis should act as a learning opportunity for a company to make changes and improvements. The bank needs to focus on building more solid and workable plans to contain such crises as they could happen again in the future. The plan should be made by incorporating all the various aspects of a good crisis and risk plan indicated in this study. This means that the plan to be implemented should focus on constant examination of possible risks and designing of proper measures to counter them. There should also be plans set to address crises in the event that they arise as well as plans to recover after a crisis. This does not mean that the bank should exhaust all its resources on liquidity problems alone. There are other crises and risks which could also face the company and there is need to incorporate them in their crisis and risk management plan as well. The Northern Rock saga is a vital lesson that every growing company must learn from. While risks and crises could be few and far between, the need to account for them in the company strategy is invaluable. This is because there is no way of predicting the future. This should avoid a situation in which the company has to close down because they do not have any finances to cater for the losses incurred during the crisis. Every company should maintain a crisis and risk management plan that helps to shield it from any eventualities that may occur in the course of its operations. There are several lessons that have been learnt from the Northern Rock case study and which other companies can benefit from through the following recommendations. Firstly, disaster may strike at any time hence the need to come up with a plan to deal with risks and crises. It is also notable that some disasters can be predicted so that precautionary measures taken to reduce the shock on the company. To enhance this, constant review of the risks that the company is susceptible to should be done. Secondly, reliance on a single supply could pose danger to the company hence the need to diversify operations or plan for alternatives in case the current sources fail. Finally, having no plan could lead to desperate actions on the side of the company. If the company is not lucky, it could end up closing down. In the case of Northern Rock, there were attempts to sell it and then the government bailout. The bailout means that the company is now under government control and no longer in private hands which could highly impact on the company decision processes and operations.

Solomon03 Web Essay

Solomon03 Web Essay Solomon03 Web Essay Chapter 3 Learning and Memory By Michael R. Solomon Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Sixth Edition 3-1 The Learning Process Learning: – A relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience Incidental Learning: – Casual, unintentional acquisition of knowledge Learning is an Ongoing Process: – Constantly being revised – Can be either simple association (logo recognition) or complex cognitive activity (writing an essay) 3-2 Learning is a Process Our tastes are formed as a result of a learning process, sometimes with painful results. 3-3 Behavioral Learning Theories Assume that learning takes place as the result of responses to external events. View is represented by two major approaches to learning: – 1) Classical Conditioning – 2) Instrumental Conditioning People’s experiences shaped by feedback they receive as they go through life Actions result in rewards and punishments, which influences future responses to similar situations. 3-4 The Consumer as a â€Å"Black Box† A Behaviorist Perspective on Learning Figure 3.1 3-5 Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov’s Dogs – Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) – Naturally capable of causing a response. – Conditioned stimulus (CS) – Does not initially cause a response – Conditioned response (CR) – Response generated by repeated paired exposures to UCS and CS. Eventually, through learned association and repetition, the CS will cause the CR. 3-6 Discussion Question In the 1980’s, the Lacoste crocodile was an exclusive logo symbolizing casual elegance. When it was repeated on baby clothes and other items, it lost its cache and began to be replaced by contenders such as the Ralph Lauren Polo Player. Can you thing of other logos that have lost their prestige due to repetition? 3-7 Classical Conditioning in Advertising This American Airlines ad points to classical conditioning as an explanation for why their AAdvantage Marketing Programs will work. Can you identify the UCS, CS, and the CR in this example? 3-8 Classical Conditioning (cont.) Stimulus generalization: – Tendency of a stimulus similar to a CS to evoke similar, conditioned responses Masked branding: Deliberately hiding a product’s true origin Stimulus discrimination: – Occurs when a UCS does not follow a stimulus similar to a CS. 3-9 Marketing Applications of Behavior Learning Principles Brand Equity: – A brand has strong positive associations in a consumer’s memory and commands loyalty. Applications of Repetition Applications of Conditioned Product Associations: – Semantic associations – Phonemes 3 - 10 Loyalty to Brands Rewarding consumers with frequent flyer miles is an effective way to reinforce them and build brand loyalty. 3 - 11 Marketing Applications of Behavior Learning Principles (cont.) Applications of Stimulus Generalization: – – – – Family branding Product line extensions Licensing Look-alike packaging Applications of Stimulus Discrimination: – Consumers learn to differentiate a brand from its competitors – Unique attributes of the brand 3 - 12 Instrumental Conditioning Occurs as the individual learns to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and avoid behaviors that yield negative outcomes A.K.A. â€Å"Operant Conditioning† Occurs one of three ways: – Positive reinforcement – Negative reinforcement – Punishment 3 - 13 Positive Reinforcement The power of positive reinforcement. 3 - 14 Instrumental Conditioning (cont.) Extinction: When a positive outcome is no longer received, the learned stimulus-response connection will not be maintained. Reinforcement Schedules: – – – – Fixed-interval reinforcement Variable-interval reinforcement Fixed-ratio reinforcement Variable-ratio reinforcement 3 - 15 Four Types of Learning Outcomes Figure 3.2 3 - 16 Applications of Instrumental Conditioning Principles Reinforcement of Consumption: – Thank you – Rebates – Follow-up phone calls Frequency Marketing: – Reinforces

Ways for Students to Go Green on Campus

Ways for Students to Go Green on Campus There are so many things to take care of at college: studies, relationships with fellow students, making time for you job, homework and partying. The list is far from being complete. Nevertheless, one thing appears to be missing: paying attention to the world around you. In fact, you can apply environmentally-friendly mindset in different spheres of your college activities. Dont worry though: with the tips weve collected it wont take too long. Plus, you may even have fun with it! Study Hall Technology may be of great help in terms of being environmentally aware. Theres no need to turn to super-complicated gimmicks at the very beginning. You can do something as simple as take notes on your laptop or tablet during lectures. Lots of people type faster than they write anyway. So why not try to cut down on use of paper and make learning process more efficient? Plus, you can find plenty of awesome note-taking tools on the web. Moving Around Youre not a threat to the environment, in case your study facilities are within walking distance. In case youve got to face the challenge of commute on a daily basis, theres a field for improvement. You are free to choose something from a pretty wide range of options: get a bike, opt for public transport instead of driving on your own or carpool. These options will definitely add colors to your life: youll get an unprecedented chance to get fitter, make new friends and, most importantly, cut down on your carbon dioxide emissions. Furnishing the Room This one will come in handy to those, going to live in a dorm. Instead of spending tons of money to buy brand-new stuff for your new home, go for the used things. This initiative is beneficial for a number of reasons: less things will end up on a dump, youll save the money and gain an opportunity to unleash your creativity. Who says used stuff has to be old and ugly? Get some decorating materials and go wild! Another thing you could do here is to get energy efficient light bulbs. Not only they are a great way to save energy but also to minimize the number of errands to run, as youll have to buy them much less frequently. Dining Hall We are what we eat. We also are how we eat. You can follow the environmentally-friendly direction in a number of ways. First, you can join a clean plate campaign. The meaning is that you are to take the amount of food youre definitely able to finish. It helps reduce the level of food waste and gradually teach you to be a more reasonable consumer. Second, you can go further and talk to the nutritionist in your college to know exactly what goes into your meals and where it comes from. Buying seasonal and local products is a powerful tool of being healthier and contributing to the reduction of negative impact of industrial farming onto the climate change. Third, you should learn to avoid buying bottled water in a cafeteria. Get a refillable one and renew the supply in a water fountain. Less plastic garbage, cleaner land and air and a stylish accessory in your backpack – sounds like goals, doesnt it? Shopping Can you count all the plastic bags, youve brought home from the mall by now? Most probably, there will be a huge pile of these. Next time you go shopping, choose yourself a nice reusable bag. Youll obviously cut down on plastic waste and may even develop smarter consumer habits: why would you buy another not-that-necessary thing, if it doesnt fit into your bag? Once again, benefit both for the nature and the wallet. Shower Depending on the equipment, installed in your shower facilities, a single shower may use up to 50 gallons of water. Think of the volumes you can save, having reduced showering time to 5 minutes? Or else, having turned off the water, when shampooing or soaping? The change can be massive. Youre the one to do the switch. Everywhere Reuse and recycle. As much as possible. The stuff you throw away often turns into a toxic layer, wrapped around our planet. Looking for textbooks for a new academic year, try to find the used ones and pass them to the next generations. Use the print-outs you get as a place to take notes, draw or write your â€Å"to-do† lists for the day. Sort the trash, if your campus or neighborhood offers such an opportunity. Pick the good brands, using local and organic materials to produce their goods. The ways to go green are numerous. Pick the one to your liking and follow it. Doing something useful actually feels good. Dont rid yourself of that!

Law of Evidence Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Law of Evidence - Case Study Example The facts in issues are those facts which are used to determine the guilt of the defendant. In the case of Pollitt v, R Brennan J held that† The first condition of admissibility of evidence is relevance. In that apart from questions relating to the credibility of a witness, a fact which evidence is tendered to prove must be a fact in issue or a fact that is relevant to a fact in issue. Where a fact to be proved is a fact in issue, admissibility of evidence tendered to prove it depends solely on the manner in which that evidence tends to establish the fact to be proved. Where a fact to be proved is a fact relevant to a fact in issue, admissibility depends first on the manner in which that evidence tends to establish the fact to be proved, and, secondly, on the relevance of the fact to be proved to a fact in issue .† In the case of PC Story providing the phone call as evidence was intended to prove that the defendant was guilty of the offense of controlling another person w ith the intention of getting financial gain. The mere fact that the evidence was correct without any authority or warrant made the evidence irrelevant and could not be used to establish the facts in issue in the case. The laptop, the stash of condoms and the $5,000 would be admissible in court as they obtained while the police officers obtained a warrant of to search the premises. However, even though such evidence is admissible in court, the court must still determine the weight in which the evidence should be given in relation the amount of significance.