Managing Change in Organisations †Improved HR onboarding process Essay

The main goal of this change initiative is to improve the financial results of the company by improving the engagement and performance of the new HR employees at Mars, Inc. It’s aimed to be achieved by introducing a new, globally aligned, best-in-class 1-year-long induction process with supporting tools and learning events. The target group of new HR associates1 includes those who joined HR at Mars less than 12 month ago, either from externally (from other company) or internally (from other department). As Mars,Inc. is a large family-owned business with over 100 years of history and globally well known brands. It has unique and mature company culture which is driven by its 5 principles: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Effectiveness and Freedom. These principles drive the behaviour of the employees at all level of the hierarchy and have been shaping the characteristics of the organisation. Mars, Inc. fits well to ‘elaboration of structure phase’ (Granier 1972) of the organisational life-cycle: the company is led by a team of professional managers and is very much decentralised with a small headquarter. The business units of the countries therefore enjoy a lot of freedom and responsibility to drive the local business effectively. This approach reflects also in the way they shape the processes within the company: the global process standards are mainly just broadly defined with limited (if any) written documentation about them, which lets the local teams shape it and use it as best fits to their needs. As it has the advantage to allow tailor-made solutions to best assist local business objectives, it also has disadvantages. It is not uncommon that extra local resources are needed to shape the process, and when the process has changed too much, it becomes difficult to compare the practices and results of different units. It also often happens that local units come up with very similar best practices after investing significant resources locally in process development, which resources could have been reduced if globally – or at least regionally – someone would have co-ordinated these development initiatives. As part of the company culture, Mars, Inc. refers to employees as associates, therefore in my paper I will use both terms to reflect the same concept. Realising the potential of this kind of centralisation led the business leaders to setting up global functional centres of expertise, like the Mars University (Mars U) is for learning and development within Mars, Inc. The Mars U is responsible for designing and deploying world-class learning programs, which enable the competency building of employees, so they can achieve their full potential in contributing to the business to achieve its goals. It has matrix structure and its smaller teams are set up by functions (named â€Å"Colleges† of HR, finance, supply, etc.), regions (they coordinate the deployment of functional development programs in a region) and special learning and development related areas (like learning technology). Mars U therefore faces the challenge of balancing between centralisation and decentralisation by providing centrally defined and globally aligned learning solutions in a matrix organisation with decentralised leadership. That is the same challenge in case of the new induction process initiative. In the near past an introductory training program existed for new HR employees, which was similar in all the regions, but inconsistent in content, so it gave a lot of space for local solutions to flower. Moving from this decentralised approach to a more centralised one may cause push backs from the associates in these local units, thus careful change management is essential. Nature of change By assessing the nature of change based on the description above, this change can be categorised with the terms of Ackerman (1997) as ‘transitional’ as the intention is to â€Å"achieve (†¦) a desired state† by setting up a globally aligned world-class induction process for new HR associates, which is a significant difference from the current decentralised approach. One can argue whether it is not defined as ‘transformational change’ as it can result a difference in an organisational process and change in the culture, but as it won’t change fundamentally neither areas, the definition of ‘transitional change’ fits better in this case. To give a full picture about the nature of change, it need to be emphasised that after finishing this particular change project, the change itself will not stop, it will continue as ‘developmental change’ by continuously improving the set up induction process. From another perspective, using the categories of Mintzberg and Waters (1985) this change initiative can be identified as ‘determined’ or planned change as the goal, that need to be achieved, is clearly set, as well as the process how to get there. It does not mean though, that ‘emergent’ changes will not come up during the project, as it may happen that a locally designed induction process which works well will have an improving effect on the globally designed process and tools to ensure the implementation of the best possible practices. Drivers of the change This change initiative has mainly internal triggers. First and foremost, improve the productivity of every new HR associates by providing them all the essential knowledge, competencies and network they need in their new role. Improving their engagement level is also an important trigger, as engaged associates have usually better performance and they less likely to leave the business (Buckingham and Coffman, 2005). In case of HR department, better performance of associates, among other things, could lead to better internal and external customer satisfaction or decrease of costs by effective ways of working, while improved retention cut the costs and time invested in recruitment and training of a new employee. Although the internal triggers are more relevant in this case, the external drivers also need to be mentioned. Mars, Inc. had several acquisitions in the last few years which led to an incoherent culture in the different business segments. To enable exchangeability of human resources and best practices, setting up centrally aligned processes is a key. Also, considering that Mars, Inc. operates in a quickly changing market (FMCG), being innovative and best-in-class in its processes could ensure competitive advantage and retention of employees. Nonetheless, the change needs to be done in a global environment fitting to the expectations of different cultures in different regions. Key Stakeholders As in case of most major changes in an organisation, winning the support of top level management is essential. In this case the management means the Global HR Leadership Team of Mars, Inc. who also plays the role of sponsor of the project and expected to play a key role by being role model in using the new induction process. Their influence is very high as they could stop or change this initiative any time. Their attitude toward the change to be expected very positive, still, contracting with them is critical as many priority projects are currently going on in the business so need to ensure proper focus. Driving the change process requires change agents to ensure smooth implementation: the Mars U associates in the regions and other (local) learning or talent development specialists. As the project aligns well with their general purpose of their roles – to improve associates capabilities, – their attitude is expected to be positive. As they will play the role of connecting the project leaders with associates in their regions or units, their influence is also very high, but mainly only in their area of responsibility. The communication and deployment of the change will focus mainly on the HR managers as they will be the most affected by the change, as they need to change their ways of working the most. Thus, 5 their attitude can be either positive or negative depending how valuable the new process seems to them. Their influence can be high in the area of their responsibility – so the more senior the manager is the higher is the influence. Also important stakeholders, but less influential, are the new HR associates. The new process is all about them, but from change management perspective they play a smaller role, as their attitude to be expected very positive. In any case, careful communication toward them needs to be planned to ensure their full involvement in the process and gain feedback from them to identify potential areas for improvements. There are also some other key stakeholders, like the trainers of the courses, whose contribution to the success can be very important, but as they are interchangeable in the roles, their influence on the process can be categorised as moderate. Furthermore, there are some other subject matter experts (e.g. learning technology or global communication specialists), who will be involved during the design and communication phases, but their influence is rather small and their attitude is expected to be supportive. Management objectives To summarise the main objective, the goal is to implement in all business segments and units of Mars, Inc. a newly designed, globally aligned, efficient and engaging functional induction process with its supporting tools (guides and learning modules) for every new HR employees, which supports their development in the first 12 months after joining in their new role and covers the essential Mars specific knowledge and provides network needed for achieving high performance. The new process and tools should be used by mid of 2013 in all business units. Task 2 For a successful change project it’s not only important to see where we would like to go, but to be able to define how we will get there, we need a careful and detailed analysis on where we are at the moment. Besides a general process overview in the organisation (e.g. by the support of models like ‘McKinsey 7S’ (Waterman et al. 1980) or ‘Burke-Litwin Causal model’ (Burke & Litwin, 1992)), we also need to understand why do we have the problem in our organisation. For this we may use problem analysis models, like the ‘Fishbone diagram’ or the ‘5 Whys?’ (Taiichi 1988) model. Input-Transformation-Output model To better understand the functional induction process, by the ‘Input-Transformation-Output model’ (RDI, 2012a) the main elements can be summarised visually: This model can support the planning process in several ways. It is easier for the change leaders to identify the key stakeholders (see the detailed stakeholder analysis above), to keep objectives always in mind and focus on the processes which need to be changed in order to be able to achieve the desired output. Furthermore, it gives a great overview about who shall be involved in reviewing and developing the process by providing feedback before, during and after the change. Nonetheless, it is essential to be clear on both the transformed and transforming resources required for the whole process to avoid disturbance due to the lack of them. Cause-and-Effect Analysis After having a broader overview of the issue, before taking any actions, a thorough problem analysis is a must. Even though having an initial idea about what can improve the current situation, in a complex organisation with a huge overall impact of the topic, the change leader need to ensure addressing the right issues and providing the right solutions based on that. In defining all the relevant causes of a problem can help the Cause-and-Effect Analysis (Ishikawa, 1968) or Fishbone diagram. In case of our described example, the model looks like this: After defining the list of important causes, the major ones to be selected by the analysing team then the potential actions can be planned. When it’s presented to the management team, their duty is then to decide on which topics to focus on the actions. In this example case, a globally aligned process with supporting tools and metrics are very much missing. When it’s designed and ready to be deployed, then these should be available to all HR managers to be able to drive the induction processes locally and measure their own efficiency. Plan the change After the green light of the management team concerning the project initiative, can start the proper, detailed planning: the development of the change strategy, in which the desired outcome, key actions, milestones, action owners and resources needs are defined. Winning the commitment of the key stakeholders also need to be carefully planned with a supporting communication plan. As unexpected situations are likely to disturb the planned flow of actions, to minimise the potential disturbance, a risk analysis in advance of doing actions can help the project management team to prepare for these scenarios or totally avoid them. Also, a continuous review of the change project is highly recommended to ensure the project execution is on track to achieve the project goal (see the 8 potential feedback sources in the Input-Output model) – this also can be part of the change strategy plan. The next step is then to execute the plan. When unexpected situations happen, continuous adjustments of the plan may be required to ensure proper improvement and keep the progress to achieve the final goal. After all planned actions are executed, the project leader should control that the project goal has been achieved as defined. If no, the project still continues. If yes, the project shall be formally closed with the involvement of the project sponsors and the success should be feed back to the key stakeholders. Task 3 Business Process Transformation Although Mars, Inc. in this situation chose to go on with a change project concentrating on only one function (HR) to improve its induction process, using the Business Process Transformation (BPT), i.e. Business Process Re-engineering model could have led to better results. By talking generally about the BPT model, one can say that improving the customer engagement and cutting the operational costs by improving and simplifying processes (cross-functional) within the company, is in the heart of this approach (Hammer 1990). Let use the definition of re-engineering by Hammer and Champy (1993) to show the key characteristics of this model: â€Å"†¦ the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary modern measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.† This approach is one of the favourites currently in change management, as it promises â€Å"dramatic improvements† in business performance and customer satisfaction, even though it has its own challenges. The most important is that it requires a holistic view from the business leaders to face the issues within an organisation. It needs broad perspective to be able to come out of functional silos and to view the process as a whole, from the very beginning till the very end. If the change project happens only within a single function, there is high probability of missing some important opportunities of improvement. By using the example of Mars, a cross-functional approach could lead to a different, although very thorough solution – like implementing a standardised, world-class induction experience in every part of the company, during which the new employees can learn the most important functional and business knowledge to best support the customer focused processes. Based on its holistic view, the BPT approach requires more complexity from change management perspective as well as total alignment and drive from the top management team. The process improvement strategy should be aligned with the vision, mission and business strategy of the company, while the desired behaviours and key performance indicators should be also clearly defined and communicated to support the process and the measure of success (RDI 2012b). The process improvement initiative should start with a company-wide analysis of the current situation, keeping in mind not only how the processes can be simplified, but also what could be the benefits for the customers by the change initiative. The analysis then will be followed by the definition of the detailed plan: to where and how the company would like to get. To achieve great improvement in company results, increasing the amount of invested efforts and resources and high risk taking is unavoidable – although most probably in mid- and long-term the investment of these extra resources will pay. All these mentioned characteristics of the model lead to the fact that this model can’t be used without a heavy top down and centralised approach due to its holistic nature and complexity. Starting a process improvement initiative from any other level of the organisation without the full support and involvement of the company top leaders can lead to only a temporary and restricted (to a region or function) solution. Managing the implementation of the change at Mars, Inc. Although the change project defined by Mars also intends to improve the measures mentioned in the re-engineering definition, the main difference lies in the adjectives used by the authors: dramatic, fundamental and radical. So in this case we can’t really talk about BPT approach, as it would rather mean taking the whole on-boarding and induction process in all functions of the company and use that to work on, even though it could be very beneficial for the company. Also, without winning the top management support for a holistic change approach, the project leader of this initiative better use a general Change management (RDI 2012c), or preferably, the Total Quality Management (TQM) 2 methodology with using some holistic OD models – like the ‘Burke-Litwin model’ (Burke & Litwin 1992) or the ‘McKinsey 7S model’ (Waterman et al. 1980) – for analysing the potential areas of change interventions. Definition of TQM by Kanji (1990): â€Å"TQM is the way of life of an organization committed to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement. This way of life varies from organisation to organisation and from one country to another but has certain principles which can be implemented to secure market share, increase profits and reduce costs.† The principles of the TQM approach fits well to the culture of Mars, Inc. by focusing on continuous improvement opportunities, on customer needs and motivating employees at all level of the organisation to take part of this and drive innovations. It also reflects in all of the 5 principles of the company3. The management style also resonates well with the principles of TQM, as it engages the collaborative company culture with empowering and motivating the employees to drive continuous improvement for achieving better quality in everything within the business. Although a lot of things fit well to use this model for the change case at Mars, to fully benefit of the TQM methodology, the project leader and the participants shall be skilled to use all its principles to achieve the best possible result, which is currently not yet the case. Task 4 Measure of Success – Processes There are certain elements of the change process, which we can check and measure during and after the project to evaluate the success. Firstly, it is inevitable to set with involvement and communicate to the key stakeholders a clear vision, a well defined ‘S.M.A.R.T. objective’ (Doran, 1981) and some key performance indicators regarding the desired end result of the change initiative. Additionally, it is also important element of the second success factor, which is the level of commitment to the change of the key stakeholders. During the implementation phase, the success of the process can be measured at the key milestones: whether they were achieved on time by providing good quality results within the allocated resource limits. In this phase, the ability of flexible to any disturbance and opportunities through the process is also essential, to keep or even improve the result quality of the change, or to use less resources to achieve the original goal. It may be measured by reaction the quickness of the response or the amount of extra resources needed to keep the good progress. In connection to this, reviewing the key challenges and capturing the lessons learnt for the future also shows the efficiency of the process. Last, but not least, a clear project closure can also indicate how well the project went. Measure of Success – Outcomes If we have a closer look on the change initiative of Mars, Inc., the desired outcome which we wish to measure lies in the main objective4. The company’s main goal is to improve the efficiency and Quality, Mutuality, Responsibility, Effectiveness and Freedom For details see the Management Objective paragraph performance of the new HR employees. As HR is a support department with less direct impact on financial results and the quality of end products than other areas in the business, measuring these goals may be difficult, especially if we need to focus on only the new employee. So it’s advised to define other measures, like the individual performance or future career potential of the new employee, which can be measured by the company globally standardized performance evaluation system. Although the improved employee performance is difficult to be described with exact figures, we can also use historical data to compare the past and the present, and measure factors which can influence performance (e.g. the Line Manager’s evaluation of the performance or the engagement level of the new associate). Besides the employee performance, the efficiency of the new process shall be measured as well (e.g. could we involve everybody we intended to use the new process). Furthermore, as in case of all change projects, defining the return on investment can show the level of success. For example the cost of resource investment of the change project may be compared with the amount of money were saved by better retention of the new associates. By measuring the outcome of a new process we also need to investigate the resource needs of sustaining the process efficiently on long term. 1References: Ackerman, L., 1997, Development, transition or transformation: the question of change in organisations. In: Van Eynde, D., Hoy, J and Van Eynde, D (eds) Organisation Development Classics. San Francisco, Jossey Bass. Buckingham, M. and Coffman, C., 2005. First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Great Managers Do Differently. Simon & Schuster. Burke, W. W. and Litwin, G. H., 1992. A causal model of organizational performance and change. Journal of Management, 18 (3), 523-545. Doran, G. T., 1981. There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, Volume 70, Issue 11, pp. 35-36.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Twenty years after the book, John views on racism, religion, society, personal relationships, and sex will be different from twenty years before. John gains more experiences and knowledge, so he will have better understanding of these issues. Most organizations and movements are form in the 1950s. John will become a civil rights activist to fight for equal rights. He will also be fighting for gay rights. The religion awakening occurs in the 1950s. John might form his own religion or becomes agnostic.He will form organizations and charities to help African American communities. He will rebuild relationships with those that he hates in the past. Racism in 1950s still remained strong, but this issue was heating up. There were many civil unrest at that time. It was the beginning of civil rights movement. Blacks were frustrated the fact that they still haven’t got the equal rights the government promise. John’s past experiences will guide to him the forefront of the movement . In the past, He thought the blacks were inherently inferior than the whites.For example, he was happy when the white school principle told him that he was a very bright boy, but when his colored neighbor told him he would be a great leader, he was unmoved. If he was able to enroll into college after the book, he probably changed views on blacks. The knowledge that he gain and personal experiences should helped him to piece everything together. In his 34th birthday, he is no longer ignorant. He knows that his race is not inferior than the whites. Poverty, lack of education, limited rights and other obstacles are what stop blacks from moving on and be successful.This will motivate him to become a civil rights activist to fight for equality. In the book, he didn’t seem to have any negative feelings against his whites. As he grows older, he might develop hatred for whites, because he will suffer more prejudice and racism from whites when he starts to work in the outside world. Religion becomes popular again in the 1950s. Interest in religion was suddenly so high that, a new awakening was born. According to the book, John seems to have interest in religion. He falls asleep and does not concentrate on his religious studies.He doesn’t want to be a preacher like his dad, Gabriel. He questions the church, because it does things that contradict the ideal beliefs. For example Gabriel is Christian, but he beats his own wife and children. He even stole money from his wife. He’s a hypocrite just like the other ministers in church. During the twenty-four elders meeting revival meeting, the ministers are well-dress, well-fed, and full of themselves more than the holy spirit. The ministers are supposed to be messengers of god that forsaken worldly pleasures to serve the god and people. They even mocked Deborah of her rape.John will most likely become agnostic, or form his own religion that base on ideal beliefs. Agnosticism is a view that humans currentl y do not have enough knowledge to justify if beliefs of deities exist or not. If John has kids, he will teach his kids the knowledge of religion, but he will give them the choice to believe it or not. He will not force his kids to believe it like Gabriel did to John. Many religious parents are like Gabriel that only give their kids one-sided views and brainwash them when they are young. They constantly say terms, such as â€Å"Christian child†, â€Å"Muslim child† or whatever child.Those child are just kids, of course they will just listen to their parents blindly. The parents already make the decisions for them. John will give his kids the best resources, spent time with each of them, and put all his heart to raise them. Even though he hates his dad, but he will respect some qualities of his dad. He will forgive him, because he realizes that the environment is what creates the monster inside his dad. Gabriel spent his lifetime full with hate, hostility, unfulfilled am bitions and dreams, unrealized hopes and expectations, heartbreak, humiliation, and being demeaned and devalued.All these factors created all those negative traits. Gabriel could have been successful, but his path was paved by the white authorities and systems. John will visit his dad, and build a better relationship with his dad. Many blacks are in similar situations like John. They are poor, live in ghetto, don’t have enough food, have to deal with whites and many other problems. John will form organizations and charities to donate resources to black communities or other colored communities. He will set up schools for colored people too. He encourages kids to go to school, be who they want to be.He knows blacks need education in order for them to break the system and pull themselves out of poverty. They can’t change the system if they don’t know how the system works. Schools strengthen the new generations on fighting for equal rights. John wants students to de cide who they want to be, instead of letting their parents make the choices for them. Programs will be set up to teach parents how to deal with their kids efficiently and prevent child abuse. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community) rights movements were the most notable in 1950s. It took place all over the world, not just America.John acknowledges himself as a homosexual, but may not openly admit it. He didn’t accept his homosexual feelings when he was young. The society caused him to be ashamed of his homosexual feelings. Homosexual was forbidden in communities all over America regardless of what community you live in except gay communities. Discrimination against homosexuals is heating up in 1950s similar to civil rights movement. John may not able to join the gay organizations, because homosexual whites may not accept him. He will form his own colored gay organizations. He loved Elisha; he masturbated in school lavatories thinking of Elisha and older boys.He m ight confess his love for him even though he knows Elisha is not gay. John’s life revolves around a society that is full with racism, sexism, and other types of discrimination. He has to go though one of the crucial times of US history. The fact that he is black and gay already has a huge impact on his life during 1950s. The 50s were the time of minorities, such as colored people, and LGBT communities dealing with issues that US government ignored before that time period. He will be at the center of the movement guiding those that are in the similar situations as him.

Automobile Has Improved Life Essays

Automobile Has Improved Life Essays Automobile Has Improved Life Paper Automobile Has Improved Life Paper Some people think that the automobile has improved modern life. Others think that the automobile has caused serious problems. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. The invention and proliferation of the automobile has improved the human lives considerably. In modern days, complete transportation of men and material is carried out with the help of automobiles. Automobiles in the modern era, for us are not luxury, but a necessity rather. We think nothing while jumping in the car and driving many a miles on a trip or for our jobs. But looking to the future, researchers are constantly trying to find better ways of transporting with more fuel efficient and environment friendly vehicles redesigning the engines and appearance. For going to school or college, attending office or business, shopping or socializing and numerous daily activities we are dependent on automobiles. Automobiles we use in the shape of a car, scooter or motorbike depending upon our need, nature of work and affordability. While the life has become very fast and time is extremely scarce we have to cope up with the work or the business and keep pace with time with the help of our automobile. Very large tankers transport oil and gas for the use of end users. All projects ranging from small or gigantic need cranes, trucks, lifters, elevators, excavators, dumpers, road rollers, tractors and what not. And all those are the development from automobiles. No doubt automobiles do cause some air pollution in environment by way of exhaust of carbon-mono-oxide and carbon-di-oxide. However to overcome pollution problem oil companies as well as automobile manufacturers do a great deal of research and develop products that are environment friendly. We can neither discard automobiles nor can we imagine our life without automobiles. In nutshell invention and proliferation of automobiles has improved the human lives. We can’t imagine of a life without automobiles today. (287 Words)

buy custom The Wingfields, A Case of a Dysfunctional Family essay

buy custom The Wingfields, A Case of a Dysfunctional Family essay Authors of fiction works are known for their creative in taking the reader to a world of their own where reality does not abode. However, this phenomenon is not common to all literary works as some allude so much to reality that the reader is tempted to take the work as non-fictional were it not for the eminent features of fictitiousness. Take for instance when a playwright writes a play that is almost a replica of his or her autobiography. In this case, many are left wondering where to classify this work; is it fictional or a nonfictional. Such is the case with a play written by Tennessee Williams in 1937. This play, The Glass Menagerie is a representation of the type of life Williams led. This essay however is not interested with the auto fictiveness of the play but what it addresses. From a careful study of this play, one theme is very dominant; the state of a dysfunctional family. This paper is based on my thesis that; The Glass Menagerie is a critic of a dysfunctional family. This is a memory play narrated by one of the characters, Tom who doubles as a narrator and an actor. Tom is an ambitious poet who works in a shoe warehouse. Other characters in the play include Amanda, Toms mother, Laura, sister to Tom, Mr. Winfield, husband to Amanda and father to Tom and Laura and finally Tim OConnor, a friend to Tom. Such a simple family and one wonder what goes wrong in the play to warrant it a prototype of a dysfunctional family. The conflict in the story is set from the beginning by the description of the setting. I am alluding to the postcard portraying Mr. Wingfields picture on the wall of the living room, which also serves as the bedroom for Laura. Mr. Wingfield as we learn from the play ran off years ago and his role in this play is made manifest by the postcard. This is the first evidence that the text provides for a dysfunctional family. Mrs. Wingfield and her children have grown knowing Mr. Wingfield as passive figure in the background of their every day endeavors. This is in contrast to what a typical family man should be regardless of whatever society one hails from. How can a father who is supposed to be the breadwinner of the family flee away leaving the family in desperation? Whatever reasons Mr. Wingfield may have had for his flight, they are altogether unjustified by whatever means. This single act of a man of a man apparently fleeing his duties has numerous repercussions to the characters left behind as the whole play revolves around all the anomalies a family without a father-figure to serve as a mentor possesses. This paper will single each of these repercussions. This will be achieved by examining the misery life led by each of the characters left behind. If there is any one who was primarily affected by the fleeing of Mr., Winfield, then it must be her wife, Amanda. Amanda has been forced to double roles as a caring mother, disciplinarian and role model to her two children. This as led to a life of conflict in opinions between her and the children. This apparently has overburdened her and she sometimes goes overboard to overdo her roles. The results of this have been more damaging than constructive. Take for instance Laura, her daughter who suffers from pleurosis and has a crippled leg. Amanda goes out of way her to enroll Laura in a college to expose her to social life and hence fight her shyness. Does this work? Unfortunately, no! Laura ends up dropping out of the college and goes for movies and adventure tours to avoid being discovered she is not in college. How is her father to blame for this? Laura testifies that her father was so caring to her and thus we can deduce on this ground that her self-esteem would have been boosted if her father being around. After all, girls are believed to be more close to their fathers than to their mothers. Maybe if Mr. Wingfield had devised this plan, it might have worked given the amount of confidence Laura had bestowed upon him. When this plan of enrolling Laura to a college failed, Amanda came up with a lasting solution to the shyness of her daughter. She determined to get her married. To this, she enquired from Tom if Laura had any suitors. The answer was obvious given the nature of her daughter. Amanda once again was not short of options. She portrays a character of willingness to sacrifice for her daughter, a phenomenon unparalleled elsewhere in the play. She subjects herself to humiliation by engaging in subscription sales in a magazine to see through Lauras marriage prospects. This she does with no word of complaint (Tennessee, p 1432). This may be regarded as an act of a caring mother concerned about the future of daughter. On the other hand, it is depiction of Amandas over-protective measures against her children. All this boils down to a missing link in the childrens upbringing especially given that Amanda is bringing them up single-handedly. Another flaw that taints this family and makes it a dysfunctional is the frequent mother-son quarrels that are characteristic of Amanda and Tom. Though the blame may fall on Amanda for her nagging attitude, Tom has his part to play too. The play states categorically that Tom has an indifferent attitude towards his mother and sister. He does not, at any particular scene of the play, portray kindness to her sister or mother, not even when he has broken the formers glass menagerie. Like father like son, the old adage goes. Tom, just like his father is an alcoholic who apparently withdraws to alcoholism to escape his worries. His father, as evident from the fact that he escaped his family, is a perfect example of an escapist. Therefore, Toms plans of leaving his family may have stemmed from his father. This is because of the burden Tom has of parenting. His mother bestows the task of taking care of his sister with him after which Tom may go his ways. This is a phenomenon common with alcoholic families in whiich the older child is charged with the duty of parenting (Parker p.143). In this context, Tom, although not the older of the two had to take the place of his fled-father. This was attributed to the fact that Laura wads handicapped and thus could not take that role. This causes an outburst between Tom and his mother. Another characteristic which was evident in this dysfunctional family and which has its root in the absentee father is the lack of emotion and love obviously evident here. Once again as with the case of child parenting, this is a phenomenon not peculiar in alcoholic families. This is caused primarily by the amount of pressure amounted to the parent who is non-alcoholic. The latter is so much stressed that he or she has no time for the children. This in return, results to feelings of anger, resentment, guilt and blame. There is no better example like the one depicted by Amanda in every conversation he had with her son Tom. The frequent outbursts can be attributed to this pressure. In an effort to cover this disposition, Amanda adopted an attitude of over-protecting her children, a strategy that worked against her. In order to survive this entire trauma, children of dysfunctional homes use escapism strategies to cope with the chaos and pain ever-present in the family. This is evident in the play in the case of Toms alcoholism. Laura is also not left behind. She spends hours with her menagerie, identifying with the unicorn and listening to her old records. Such an environment provides refuge for her while alcoholism on the other hand soothes Tom. Just like their father, the two do not face the reality and find escape in different ways. Williams succeeds in painting to us the true picture of a dysfunctional family. Traits common to this family and to extension all the other families of its kind are attitudes of rigidity, repressed, and twisted emotions. Another trait common with such families is reverence for past traditions that prove detrimental in the present contexts. For instance, the efforts of Amanda to raise money for the marriage arrangements of her daughter are futile. She thinks that just like her time, she should have attracted many suitors by now and therefore she goes out of her way to make efforts on her behalf to have some. All these coping attitudes are adopted with the sole aim of maintaining integrity, cohesion and a degree of sanity in the family. Nevertheless, this does not bind them. The thread of it is well; creating fantasies, making excuses and a general avoidance cement such families. In conclusion, this play apart from painting the picture of a dysfunctional family also gives as an intrigue in the life of William. In fact, it is considered by critics as the most autobiographical of his work. Having grown in an alcoholic family, he had first hand experience with what it meant to hail from such backgrounds, a phenomenon he has successfully represented in The Glass Menagerie. Buy custom The Wingfields, A Case of a Dysfunctional Family essay

Buyer Decision Process And Three Time Zones Marketing Essay

Buyer Decision Process And Three Time Zones Marketing Essay Communication is not only important in our day to day life. It is very important in business situations as well. Marketing communication is an essential method when building relationships with customers. With the globalisation and many factors competition has increased. Therefore in order to attract customers communication or marketing communication is becoming one of key method and it is becoming a more important factor when deciding the success in businesses in the modern world. When analysing the provided business situation it can be clearly seen that this organisation has been considering more on communication mix strategies and decreasing the customer satisfaction or providing less attention to the satisfaction of customers for some time. Communication mix is a method which is used by all the 3 dominant business philosophies that is production philosophy, selling philosophy and marketing philosophy in order to communicate with customers. There are many methods/tools in the comm unication mix including, advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, publicity, instructional materials, etc. There are many objectives of external communications (generated inside the organisation), building awareness, communicating product benefits and advantages, providing information to assist in the decision making process of the customers, differentiate products and influence the purchase decision. But now he has realized that only concentrating on communication mix strategies is not enough. If the customers are not happy or satisfied the negative word of mouth that can spread through them not only can erode effectiveness of the communication mix but also decrease the future sales. Therefore it can be clearly seen that he has identified the communications generated outside the organisation those can be either word of mouth or other communications which can be spread using various Medias including recent electronic variations can have an influence over marketing mix strate gies. Further it has mentioned that although majority of customers are satisfied, negative word of mouth generated by dissatisfied customers can damage the effectiveness of both communication mix and positive word of mouth. When customers are buying products once or twice in their life time then the word of mouth communication is more important because although the repeat purchase is negligible they tend to spread good or bad about your products and especially when they had received poor experience from specific products or service they tend to alert and warn their associates about those products. Another important factor here is the target market of this home building organisation is first home buyers. Therefore in this business situation when someone builds their house for the first time due to this is high involvement decision (high financial risk, social risk, etc.) customers tend to take advices from their peers. Further they may expect more from their first home because it is a big investment in their life time whereas building another house is a rare situation. Today with the development of technologies the power of the word of mouth communication has increased more. Various electronic media have immerged supporting the spread of word of mouth. For an example with through Skype anyone having an internet connection can get free video or voice calls freely. With social networks like Facebook, MySpace people are always sharing and connected to each other. Another emerging communication through internet is web blogs or forums. Through those kinds of methods people share their knowledge and experiences with all most all the people connected trough internet. Therefore if someone wants to get information about particular thing they can do it immediately and without time and space barriers.

See detais below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

See detais below - Essay Example While doing so, he attempted to explore the relationship between the two aspects of the popular folk story: history and literature. In the story, Knughy deeply explores the characters of the story, all of which plays different roles in creating the story itself. Knughy tried to answer different questions. How could the swagman be so jolly More interestingly, how could the homeless, hungry and tired swagman be so jolly If he was so jolly, why would he want to drown himself While analyzing the questions popping in his head, he recalls a time by the Combo Waterhole when the folk story of the Waltzing Matilda was discussed by him and his friend. He remembered conferring to his friend that the story needed to be truly Australian. Hence, it should be originally written with Aboriginal words. Only when verified the authenticity of the story as purely Australian can they conclude whether the swagman was pulled down by the spirit of the water after being hunted by policemen or he was drowned because he jumped to the water with a full stomach. Wharton's version was debated by many as whether it portrays a social reading of the... A social reading is the act of evaluating a particular work of literature, in the context of its impact to the society. In the time when most people regard 'Waltzing Matilda' as a mere folk story, it is indeed considered a social reading to evaluate the relevance of the story of its factual roots and historical bases. According to the text, the character's mind was in turmoil as his mind was debating what to believe in 'Waltzing Matilda'. Which of the text is fact and which is fiction How can the story be merely mythological How can it be real What was the real reason why the jolly swagman died Did he commit suicide This questions arising in his mind already qualifies as significant bases for Knughy to conduct social reading. Essentially, Knughy was able to conduct a social reading by recalling images of the past, which could be strong determinants of facts and myths. Suddenly, he recalled his mother's words: 'My boy, never but never swim on a full stomach'. From this, he was able to explore another possible angle of the jolly swagman's death. Hence, since he drowned with a full stomach, his death may not be due to suicide or any mythical reasons at all. He may have drowned simply because he jumped on the water with a full stomach. It was not regarded by many as social reading because the story portrays Knughy at present analyzing the text, without anyone else to share his thoughts with. However, an evaluation of a text does not require multiple listeners for it to be considered 'social reading'. This is what I learned in Hergenhen's Australian Short Stories. Contrary to popular conception, I believe that social reading does not need to be literally social; it has to be societal. Remarkably, this was indirectly implied in

Violence Against Women especially on Dowry Murder and Honor Essay

Violence Against Women especially on Dowry Murder and Honor Killings.The Agents That Control Women's Reproductive Choice and health, especially on Government and the Global Economy - Essay Example In chapter 2, when discussing violence against women, Burn discusses two key points as the very underpinnings of dowry murder and honor killings. Particularly, Burn is categorical that dowry murder has its underpinning in male’s greater economic power. To Burn, men are more economically endowed than women, so most societies have socioeconomic systems that are patriarchal in nature. Thus, the tradition of paying dowry is one of the starkest manifestations of male economic domination. Upon entering marriage, a couple does not start from a point of equality, since dowry has been paid. Thus, Burn sees the dowry as a subtle signifying of ownership of the man over the woman. This becomes a breeding ground for domestic violence and murder. The other factor that underpins honor killings is men’s greater political power. This inordinate concentration of power in the hands of men makes men control institutions and use the same institutions to oppress women who go against the grain. In highly patriarchal and undemocratic societies, men control the instruments of coercion to subject women to honor killings. In chapter 3, Burn contends that the government holds a large sway on women’s reproductive choices through legislation. For instance, many states have legislations that proscribe abortion, while there are others which provide very meager funding for women’s reproductive health. Secondly, Burn states that the global economy undercuts women’s reproductive choices when policies touching on demography and reproduction are mooted and implemented without the consideration of women, who are the child bearers. There are several shreds of evidences that Burn uses to underscore her point. For instance, she uses statistical provisions to show how the government can derail the exertion of women’s free will in reproductive matters. For instance, Burn quotes the UN statistics which show that in 2003, there were 35