Analysis of Greens Foods Limited 2002 †Business Essay

Analysis of Greens Foods Limited 2002 – Business Essay Free Online Research Papers Analysis of Green’s Foods Limited 2002 Business Essay In order to satisfy and fulfill the needs of the stakeholder, companies must ensure that a comprehensive and detailed financial report is provided with the aim to meet any information needs relating to the business, operations and financing of the company. The analysis of Green’s Foods Limited 2002 Annual Report identifies the needs of stakeholders; such as that of the company’s position, market, future direction and goals, competition, developments, products and sales are identified and satisfied. These needs are analysed through the management analysis and discussion segment (including profit, product and sales revenue information), the analysis of the detailed financial statements provided by the company, and the analysis of social and environmental factors that are addressed though the Annual report. In order to satisfy and fulfil the needs of the stakeholders such as shareholders, managers, employees, community, suppliers and buyers whom hold a vested interest or reliance on the business (Flemming. L, 2001, Excel HSC Business Studies, Pascal Press, Australia); each company must ensure that comprehensive and detailed financial and annual reports are provided with the aim to meet any information needs relating to the business and its operations. A financial report is commonly known as â€Å"a written report which quantitatively described the financial heath of a company† through â€Å"income statements, balance sheets and often also a cash flow statement† (1997, Investors words, Financial Report, investorswords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?1957, 09/09/03). Financial reports are often found in annual reports which are â€Å"documents dealing with a company’s activity over the previous year† (2003, money chimp, glossary, moneychimp.com/glossary/annual_report.htm, 09/09/03). Thus, through different components of financial and annual reports, stakeholders gain insight and a better understanding on the overall position and performance of the business; such that the analysis depicts the positive stance on the corporate governance (2003, Corporate Governance in Russia, corp-gov.org, 05/09/03). Likewise, both social and environmental aspects of the business are closely reviewed and linked in the financial repo rt further enhancing the relationship between the shareholders, the Board of Directors and Management of a company. In achieving success for Greens, Corporate Governance becomes an essential element in its business formula. It determines how a particular company is managed. This means that from the board of directors to the management team their duties, jobs or tasks must be conducted efficiently and effectively such as to adequately â€Å"report on the state of the resources under their control in the financial statements, so that the stakeholders can assess whether their interest would be better served by transferring their resources to the control of these managers†(Gaffikin M, 2003, ACCY102 Accounting 1B Principles Of Accounting, Ed 3, Pearson Custom Publishing, Sydney, p10). According to Green’s Foods Limited 2002 Annual Report, Green’s is experiencing considerable turmoil. Within the chairman’s report found on page 2 of the 2002 Annual Report, the hard time Green undergone and the major causes of some of their poor performance in 2002 is outlined and discussed. The main problems experienced Green’s Foods during 2002 include changes to the management team in the Pasta business resulting in a 19% profit loss of $17.6 million (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p2); and the departure of the Green family representatives in the boardroom, â€Å"the final son of Green’s Foods founder still working at the company tendered his resignation of chief executive† (2002, Ferret.com, Family era over, Green’s Foods CEO Douglas Green resigns, ferret.com.au/articles/b4/0c00c7b4.asp, 09/09/03). Despite the severe consequences of the changes experienced by Green’s in 2002, the company has still managed to reduce some of its debt through other core business units. Notably on a positive side, the cash flow remains strong for the business and customer relationship is seen as a strong indication for future growth this is emphasized through the statement that is found in the consumer relations section of Green’s Foods Limited website, â€Å"Our success depends upon the satisfaction, trust, and goodwill we create with the millions of consumers who buy and use our products each year† (2002, Greens Foods Limited, Consumer Relations, Greens.com.au/dir016/greenspublishing.nsf/content/consumerrelations, 05/09/03). Through the analysis of these key indications within Green’s operations, it reflects that the stakeholders are provided with a brief description of the company’s position in respect to the market and future movement. It outlines to the stakeholders the weaknesses of the company and how these weaknesses are going to be dealt with during the next financial year; as stated in the 2002 Annual Report â€Å"Our immediate priority is to improve the profitability of the company† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p1). These situations demonstrate Greens attempt to clarify with its stakeholders where the company went wrong throughout the year and its focus on new strategies to improve the business performance over the coming year. Likewise, there are certain positive points within Green’s business performance despite the poor showing in certain aspects of its operations. Namely these positives include it’s product divisions; blended foods, pet foods, cereals and the snacks divisions. Under the Management Discussion Analysis section of the Annual report pages 3 to 6 aspects of Green’s business performance is discussed through the use of topic headings that address matters of importance for the stakeholders; these include such needed information as that on market position, products, sales revenue and profit. These topics are to be discussed individually as to expose the importance of them to stakeholders and how Green’s supplies this information to those that require it. Green’s Foods limited hold a very diverse market position, as each product category obtains a different position within the consumer market and consumers mindset. With Green’s primary focus on market position for each product, they use words such as â€Å"benchmark†, â€Å"ensure†, â€Å"commit† in the 2002 Annual Report and their company website to inform the external stakeholders that Green’s is committed and ready to move into holding a larger or more complex market position and share; this is further supported by the quote â€Å"more than ever the company is focused on the margins we earn from each product† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p3). The fundamental aspect of Green’s operating success in recent years has been built around its well-established and developed marketable products, with each of it’s business divisions making considerable market gains in each respective product market; such an example includes Green’s Baking Mixes as they have now reached â€Å"a market share of 30%, 3 percentage points ahead of last year† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p3). As a result of this success Managers and Senior Directors will be encouraged to further improve Green’s product offering and extend its current market share. This success in regards to products had also enabled consumers to become more aware of the products offered by Green’s; thus enhancing its popularity and future stakeholders. Sales Revenue figures from the previous 2 years of Green’s operations has indicated a positive position for the company; however there has been significant changes in the sales generated from each product division such includes the $17.6 million loss in revenue sales in Green’s Pasta Division (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual report 2002, p2). In the Green’s Foods Limited 2002 Annual report on pages 15 to 46 these figures were well documented, in financial statements and notes, thus proving beneficial to stakeholders and acknowledging that Green’s provides adequate information to those dependent on them. Poor performance from the Pasta division and additional costs in advertisements over the last 12 months (as documented through out Green’s 2002 Annual Report) has reduced the company’s profitability. Although the business has attracted high volumes of sales in key brands such as Poppin Popcorn and Super Coat pet food; it wasn’t enough to cover the high costs on raw materials. As for the business in the coming year, the Green’s Directors and Management Teams have singled out profitability as being one of its key focus for improvement making it their â€Å"immediate priority† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p1); this is addressed to stakeholders in the Annual Report so they are able to acknowledge not only Green’s current performance but the improvements to their operations and profitability that they strive to achieve in the future. Along with the factors of market position, products, sale revenue, profits and losses; the contributing factors of environmental and social aspects must be addressed for stakeholders as they also impact on Green’s Foods business performance and operations. The provision of information in regards to these two factors are essential for stakeholders as it is often these two factors that make the initial impact on certain elements of the company leading to impacts on economic factors that later influence company’s overall performance. Environmental aspects are mentioned in the Green’s 2002 Annual Report on page 5 due to a drought that had significant impact on the cost of raw materials required for product production. As a result of the drought increases in commodity prices forced significant impact on the raw materials. As the success of the food industry may also vary seasonally; product offering, raw materials availability, consumer tastes and food preferences will change throughout the year. Thus stakeholders must be kept informed as to these changes. Greens have provided this information effectively to their stakeholders throughout their 2002 Annual Report using brief to the point detail leading to in-depth fact and figures in latter of the report. Similarly, Exports were also mentioned on the company website discussing the importance of Green’s ongoing success in the overseas market; operating successfully in countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei, Fiji, and PNG; and Green’s own demanding export standards to â€Å"ensure superior quality and the sound nutritional value of out products which continue to enjoy increase demand in markets around the world† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited, Exports greens.com.au/dir016/greenspublishing.nsf/content/Export, 05/09/03). Such information on green’s export success and quality demands informs the community of the size of Green’s operations and its competitive nature and involvement within both domestic and international markets. In order to articulate a better understanding of the social structure of Green’s, the Green’s the Director’s Report should be viewed on pages 7 to 12 of the 2002 Annual Report. This report clearly specifies each individuals name, job position and roll, and the date of appointment with Green’s Foods Limited. It addresses, â€Å"The Green Family disposed of the majority of their shareholdings. Czarvan Pty Ltd, Guiness Peat Group and Continent Venture Capital Ltd are now significant shareholders† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p8). This statement directly reflects the social structure of the company; as the fact that the Green family disposed of their shares to large corporate business such as Guinness Peat implies that Green’s no longer see it as a family centered business but a socially strong company with a highly competitive nature. Respectively, customer relations play a social role to Greens business operations and performance in respect to gaining customer feedback and satisfaction after using their products. â€Å"The mission of our Consumer Relations Team is to listen and learn about consumers in a professional, consistent and caring manner that exceeds their expectations† (2002, Greens Foods Limited, Consumer Relations, Greens.com.au/dir016/greenspublishing.nsf/content/consumerrelations, 05/09/03) In contrast, Green’s always sets its focus on its Corporate Governance; â€Å"recognizing the need for the highest standards of corporate behavior† (2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual Report 2002, p9). At a certain time, or for certain period of time, financial statements show what the company owns and what it owes, its profitability, and the company’s flows of cash. The three primary financial statements relevant to stakeholders are that of the statement of cash flows, statement of financial performance and statement of financial position; these are found in Green’s Annual Report 2002. The statement of cash flow pages 16 to 17 provides stakeholders with information on cash flows, displaying to stakeholders where cash enters and leaves the company’s accounts. The statement of financial performance page 14 reveals to stakeholders the revenue, cost, and profits for the company in a specific period of operation. The statement of financial position page 15 commonly known as the Balance Sheet, is important to the stakeholders as it outlines the company’s assets, liabilities and overall liquidity of the business. It can be seen in the Greens Annual Report on Financial Position that Total Assets is well in excess of Total Liability, (102,655,000 in assets – 58,856,000 in liabilities); Figures from these statements can be used in conjunction with the accounting ratios to depict the liquidity of the business indicating how many current asset dollars exist to pay the current liability; such liabilities include stakeholders share dividends (if the stakehol der is also a shareholder of Green’s). Overall, the financial statements found in Green’s Foods limited Annual Report 2002 are successful in the way they present information on Green’s financial success in the form of financial reports to their stakeholders. The success of these reports also relies on Green’s ability to anticipate, interpret and read appropriately the needs of the stakeholders. Like the way the master presents his idea to his apprentice â€Å"we create a picture of an organization, or the economy, whatever you lay on the basis of that picture, people think and act and by responding to that picture of reality, they make it so it becomes real in its consequences.† (P257 Hines Report) emphasis an idea of the Picture can be seen as Green’s Financial Report and the People who respond to the picture as the Stakeholders of Green’s. Hence, the needs of the stakeholders of Green’s Foods Limited have been met thoroughly through the many comprehensive financial statements and other relevant information available in the Annual Reports and the company website that Greens have made available. References 2003, Corporate Governance in Russia, corp-gov.org, 05/09/03 2002, Ferret.com, Family era over, Green’s Foods CEO Douglas Greens resigns, ferret.com.au/articles/b4/0c00c794.asp, 09/09/03 Flemming. L, 2001, Excel HSC Business Studies, Pascal Press, Australia Gaffikin. M, 2003, ACCY102 Accounting 1B Principles of Accounting, 3ed, Pearson Custom Publishing, Sydney, p10 2002, Green’s Foods Limited Annual report 2002, pp1 – 56 2002, Green’s Foods Limited, greens.com.au, 05/09/09 2002, Green’s Foods Limited, Consumer relations, Greens.com.au/dir016/greenspublishing.nsf/content/consumerrelations, 05/09/03 2002 Green’s Foods Limited, Exports, greens.com.au/dir016/greenspublishing.nsf/content/Export, 05/09/03 Hines reading p257 1997, Investors words, Financial Report, investorswords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?1957, 09/09/03 Research Papers on Analysis of Green’s Foods Limited 2002 - Business EssayThe Project Managment Office SystemAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWResearch Process Part OneDefinition of Export QuotasNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married Males

The Mountain Expedition

The Mountain Expedition The Mountain Expedition This is going to be awesome! I thought grabbing my jacket and heading to the door. Come on guys, we are going to be late! my dad shouted. Will be down in a minute dad, my younger brother Ali said. It was finally Saturday 28th June last year. My dad and my younger brother had planned for this day for months. It was the day we were going to hike up Mt.Kenya for the first time. I had been bragging to my friends online about it since we arrived in Kenya for our annual vacation. We had everything needed for the hike up the tough mountain. We were on a 3 weeks holiday in Kenya and this was part of our itinerary. It was said to be the God Mountain by the locals because its the only Mountain on the equator to have snow on its peaks. Okay guys, this is going to be a tough one but we will take it slow. Our guide, James said as we entered the forest. I always wondered what it would be like to experience a real jungle and here with us was on. Trees, as high as 20 meters, stood on each side of the track. Birds flew happily around this magnificent forest. There was elephant dung all over the track. At some point, I wished they would appear from the bamboo thickets for us to see. But I was also afraid of meeting untamed elephants, unlike the tamed ones in the zoo back home. Hey Abdy, look down at that scene my dad said. Wow! I exclaimed. The plains below looked very beautiful. The track behind us meandered its way downhill and we could see the base town far behind it. I thought the people down there didnt know what they were missing. Grab your rain jackets everyone. The storm is approaching. James advised. He did not seem to be afraid of the downpour that fall on us. I cursed and almost wished I hadnt taken the hike. The rain was so cold, almost ice cold. Maybe the locals are doing great down there than we are I thought. After about an hour of ice-cold rain and mud, we reached the first camp, Met Station. It is short for Meteorological Station for the mountain and the surrounding areas. We were so cold I could only think of lighting a fire. Too bad Hajji, Fires are not allowed in the park. James pointed out. Youve got to be kidding!! I said. We had no option other than light our stoves, prepare dinner and slip into our sleeping bags in our tents. We were all so tired from the trek we slept almost immediately. About 6 hours said James, answering my dad about how long it was going to take us to the next camp. It was the second day and the sun was up and shining. I thought this was going to be better than the previous day, at least it seemed. The vegetation was changing as we continued to hike uphill. We had cleared off the forest and bamboo zone and now there was elephant tussock and lobelia everywhere. Well its not by my knowledge I knew that, I asked James of course. We could now see the ice-capped peaks from about 3750 meters above sea level, according to the altimeter we had. They looked awesome and tough at the same time. So how come its the God mountain? I asked James. He explained that the locals believed that the white snow on the peaks looked like the white feathers of an ostrich. You are probably thinking what an ostrich has to do with God. The locals call God Mwenenyaga. That translates to the Owner of The Ostrich. Now you know. We ate our cold sandwiches at a point called Picnic Rock. It was a transition between the not-so short hard climb we had done and long but easy trek ahead. From this point, I was able to have a clear view of the base towns on the south-west, west and north-west of the mountain. Thats the Mackinders Camp over there. Our good guide told us. We made it!! my younger brother could not hide his joy. He was only 9 years old and I have got to say he was really doing great on this hike. The guide said the youngest kid to ever hike the mountain was 6 years old but he only reached Old Moses camp, 3010m above sea level, just like Met Station. In fact, Ali was the first kid at his age to reach an altitude of 4300m on the mountain. Thats quite an achievement, I thought. It was a long 13 miles worth of acute altitude climb and although James advised for an early bedtime, we stayed awake for a little longer to chat with other tourists that had arrived earlier. There was this 78-year old American who really inspired me with his courage and determination to overcome his age and hike up Mt.Kenya. I wish I make it to 70, leave alone climb a mountain at the age I though. Only a few minutes guys and you will be at the top of Point Lenana James told us. It was 6 am on the third day, the summit day. We had covered over 700 meters worth of altitude change for the last 3 hours. It is always good to climb slowly so that you get acclimatized with the altitude as James had put it. The sky was turning orange with the sunrise. I was sweating because of the tones of warm clothes I had on, but also knew I would freeze if I didnt have as much. A few minutes later, we were taking photos on the third highest point on Mt.Kenya. Yeah! We made it! I shouted, with the echo following shortly. The sun raised on the eastern horizon a couple of minutes later. That was the most beautiful scene I had scene on that trip. As a matter of fact I dont think there is any other scene more beautiful than that I had ever laid my eyes on. The forest cover could be seen all round the mountain. There was a faint view of cars far down in the roads below. All the towns around the mountain could be seen laying lazily in the horizon. The Aberdares in the west seemed like a hill from up this gigantic mountain. More tourists followed and after a couple of minutes, the place was flooded with people, all taking photographs. On the western side of the peak lay the highest points, Batian and Nelion. These needed technical rock and ice climbing skills to be tackled. Between them lay the Darwins Glacier with smoothly stretched downhill to the base of the giant peaks. Thats for another day I said to myself. The journey downhill was by far much easier than the uphill climb. It took us about 6 hours to reach Met Station and after a lunch bite we proceeded downhill for another two and half hours to the parks entrance. We were so tired but happy at the same time. The car ride to the hotel was all we needed. Our clothes were covered with mud and for the first time I thought dirt is good, for the experience up there was one to last for a lifetime, unless I hit my head and suffer from amnesia that is. We thanked James for his guidance and support all through the 3 days of hiking. He was full of knowledge and information about the mountain and life in general. He could be a cool teacher, just like mine back home I thought. Teacher or not, it would have been hell if he wasnt around especially the third summit day. Well as we relaxed in the hotel swimming pool the next day, I had time to view the whole trip up the mountain. Achievement comes with a price, pain and determination. It was through those two that I made it up there. It was trough the same that my younger brother carries a record of the youngest Mt. Kenya hiker to make it to 4970 meters above sea level. Thats quite something.

The Principal Rules of Evidence in Criminal and Civil Trials and Their Essay

The Principal Rules of Evidence in Criminal and Civil Trials and Their Legal Basis - Essay Example The development of the rules can trace its development back to the 16th century when the earliest juries could not even be said to be neutral triers of fact based upon their immediate knowledge of the dispute before the court. The law of evidence recognises two principal burdens that are the legal and evidential burden. The legal burden will put the responsibility on the party to prove a fact in issue. Whether a party has discharged the legal burden is something the tribunal of fact will decide and is also known as the persuasive burden and the burden of proof. The evidential burden is the obligation on a party to adduce sufficient evidence to raise a fact in issue and this is something that the judge will decide. A party bearing legal burden can also sometimes be bearing the evidential burden. The standard of proof is the degree of persuasiveness which is required of the evidence as adduced by a party in order to discharge a burden borne by them. The presumption of innocence in crim inal law denotes that, the prosecution will have to prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt. The general rule is that the prosecution which brings proceedings against a defendant will bear the legal and evidential burden. However, where the defence bears the legal burden in relation to a fact in issue in a criminal trial the standard of proof is the balance of probabilities. (R v Carr-Briant 1943 KB 607).However, where the prosecution or the defence bears the legal burden on an issue the evidential burden may be described as the obligation to adduce such evidence as would be sufficient to justify a possibility in a finding by the jury in their favour. According to the case of Batty v AG for Northern Ireland 1963 AC 386 HL where the defendant bears the evidential burden alone he must adduce such evidence as would if believed and left uncontradicted induce reasonable doubt in the mind of the jury.  

Social Media Team with a strategic mandate for customer relationship Essay

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MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 SLP Essay

MHE503 Survey of Emergency and Disaster Mgt Module 4 SLP - Essay Example Over the past fifty years these storms have become more destructive and damaging to lives and property. Experts link these changes in storms strengths to global warming. With global warming, tropical or agricultural countries such as the Philippines are the ones that see the devastating effects of nature. With the onslaught of these typhoons, floods are sure to follow. Because of the volume of rain that falls, dams reach their critical levels and can cause flooding to agricultural areas. In these cases, even hydroelectric power plants need to enforce emergency crises plans to assist the communities that may be hit with the dam overflow (Ingles, n.d.). When storms hit the Philippines, the damage to lives and property are devastating. The storms also create a domino effect on low-lying coastal towns. When strong typhoons hit the country, even towns that will not be directly hit by the storm feel its effect through the torrential downpour of rain. This downpour results in landslides and flooding. Since the Philippines is a agricultural country, rains from typhoons not only damage crops but floods totally destroy farmlands. It will take years before the land becomes ideal for vegetation growth and these results in loss of income for farmers and their families who rely on the land. Inconsistent weather patterns have been attributed to global warming (Ng, 2009). Disaster that results from nature ... This monitoring means that they will forecast which provinces will be directly affected by typhoons. There are two seasons in the Philippines. One is the wet season; the other is the dry season. The wet season lasts from June to November, while the dry season is from December to May. Being an agricultural country, the land relies on rainfall to propagate farms. Typhoons can change the volume of rain that will fall, and this can destroy crops. Among its' regions and provinces Baguio city, eastern Samar, and eastern Surigao receive the most rainfall annually. Baguio City has the lowest temperatures, almost similar to those of countries with temperate climates (PAGASA, n.d.). In preparing for disaster response, one of the first steps that need to be implemented is the deployment of response by the local government. This initial response needs to be supplemented by volunteer response groups and neighboring communities. After this initial response, the state will then respond to the emergency that will then assess the extent of the damage to lives and property. This assessment will determine if the damages are extensive in order for government funds to be released in these emergency situations ("Hazard mitigation", 2009). One of the most damaging typhoons in terms of property that hit the Philippines over the past fifty years was Milenyo (international name Xangsane). The storm hit the Philippines on October 25, 2006 (PAGASA, n.d.) and the total damages to lives and property amounted to P6.610B with six of its thirteen regions affected. The capital of country, Metro Manila or National Capital Region felt the onslaught of this super

Beauty Product Advertisements: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Beauty Product Advertisements: A Critical Discourse Analysis Beauty Product Advertisements: A Critical Discourse Analysis ABSTRACT This study deals with the study of advertisements about different beauty products from critical discourse analysis perspectives this research mainly concern with the use of language in the beauty product advertisements and how these ads influence the costumers. This study is basically focused on Fairclough’s three dimensional frame works. A qualitative research was conducted on the beauty product advertisements of famous beauty products. The main reason to choose this topic was my interest in English language and advertising, for the most part from linguistic point of view. I find advertising language fascinating; therefore, I want to discover its principles, strategies and structure of creative writing and grammatical structures. Advertising has become the part and parcel of present-day life. From everywhere around us, advertisements of different types attack our privacy. In spite of it, there is an attractive power, which is able to control the consumer; an invisible voice o f advertisement advocates, encourages, asks, announces and deeply embeds into peoples’ minds. INTRODUCTION Advertising is an inevitable part of our modern capitalist consumer society whose outstanding feature is its competitive fight. â€Å"†¦advertising is not some external curiosity which we examine, from which we are separate and superior, but something of which we are part, and which is part of us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Cook 1996: 182). â€Å"Advertising, generally speaking, is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy.† (http://www.wikipedia.org/) The American Heritage Dictionary says that the advertising is: â€Å"The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media. The business of designing and writing advertisements. Advertisements considered as a group: This paper takes no advertising.† Advertisement is a concrete manifestation of advertising; â€Å"a paid public announcement appearing in the media.† (http://www.motto.com/glossary.html) Another definition of advertising is according to the Investor words glossary: â€Å"Description or presentation of a product, idea, or organization, in order to induce individuals to buy, support, or approve of it.† (http://www.investorwords.com/129/advertising.html) METHODOLOGY Advertisements are seen as media discourse as they involve language and social processes. Hence fair Clough’s framework is used to show the link between the nature of social practice and the properties of language â€Å"texts†. Beauty product advertisements in English Language were analyzed. The sample which I have taken for my research are the several international beauty brands named as L’Oreal, Olay, Garnier, Himalaya, Dove, Vaseline, Lancà ´me I have taken some ads of these two brands on different products. The data analysis is based on Fair Clough’s Critical Discourse Analysis framework (2001). Hence this framework is used to show the link between the nature of social practice and the properties of language â€Å"texts†. His three-dimensional framework includes a conception of discourse as text (micro level), discourse practice (meso level) and socio cultural practice (macro level). Its aim is to explore the relationships among language, ideology and power and to find out how advertisers persuade the women to buy their products. Th us, this study focused on analyzing the linguistic features of beauty product advertisements and highlights how the use of language tends to influence women beliefs based on the content of the advertisements. Literature review Cook (1992, p.5) states that advertising is a famous discourse type in practically all fashionable societies, and we live in a society where it is already well established_ or rapidly gaining ground. The important distinguishing feature of ad discourse is its function, because this is always to convince people to buy a particular product. But, this is not the only function. According to Durant Lambrou (2009, p.93), at the same time, advertising conveys information, so that consumers know what is available, who makes it, and where and how they can get it. FEATURES OF CONTEXT IN ADVERTISING DISCOURS E 1 .Substance (physical material of ad) 2. Music and pictures 3. Para language (voice, gestures, type and size of letters, etc.) 4. Situation (the properties and relations of objects and people in the vicinity of the text, an s Perceived by the participants) 5. Co-text (text which precedes or follows that under analysis†) 6. Inter text (text which the participants perceive as belonging to other discourse but which They associate with the text under consideration, and which affect their interpretation†) 7. Participants: senders, addressers, addressees and receivers. 8. Function :(what the text is intended to do by the senders and addressers, or perceived to Do by the receivers and addressees†) (Cook, 1992:1-2) ANALYSIS Textual analysis This portion of my research deals with the linguistics features of the advertisements to be analysed.At this level we analyze vocabulary, syntax and rhetorical devices use in the ads to be analyzed. In the study there was a great use of direct talk in the advertisements. The use of the second-person personal and possessive pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘yours’ seek to address the readers directly and personally. When people are addresses individually rather than as part of group viewers, it is considered highly valued. This handling of people on an individual basis is referred as ‘synthetic personalization’ (Fairclough, 1989:62).The ads which I have taken for my research mainly used direct address. Examples are given below Because you’re worth it (L’Oreal) Open up to your beautiful potential (Olay) Why do you want to try Vaseline spray? (Vaseline spray) Can your body wash nourish this deeply? (Dove) Keep your skin pure.(Himalaya) Love your lips.( Lancà ´me) Tired of whitening promises? We have proof (Vaseline) In the advertisements there are also questions forced to the readers to create a personal relationship to engage with the readers. Can your body wash nourish this deeply? ( dove body wash ad ) Is your volume true? Or â€Å"false†? (cover girl mascara ad) By using questions and imperatives the advertisers are trying to create a closer bond with the readers Another type of policy to simulate everyday way is the use of disjunctive syntax, that is, sentences without verbs or subjects. These sentences consist of one or two grammatical items only. Examples are: Take care (Garnier) 24 hours of care (Vaseline) The other important strategy which advertisers use in their ads is use of positive adjectives to manipulate the customers. There are the positive adjectives which were use in those ads which I have taken for analysis these are: Vibrant, True, Beautiful, Fairness, Pure, Soft, Clear, High Potency, Anti aging, Luxury, long wear, Beauty, Moisture, Touchable soft. Negative adjectives Some negatives adjectives are also used in the ads. These are: Mess, Oily skin, Dark spots, Crow’s feet ,forehead wrinkles, laugh lines, brightness, evenness, Dryness, Dullness, Neck slackening, aging, Dark spot, lines and wrinkles, open pores uneven skin tone. The use of pronouns in advertisements helps create a friendly atmosphere to persuade the audience. It creates a positive and friendly environment between customers and advertiser. Examples of pronouns in the beauty product advertisements in this study are: Keep your skin pure. Purifies to give you naturally skin. Love your lips. Aura is our science. The skin tone of your dreams. Advertisers also use technological and scientific words to attract readers. By using such words they hope to imitate an image of professionalism and advancement in technology. In order to impress the consumers, advertiser’s choice to scientific words and information to create an impression that they are new with technology. The followings are extracts from the commercials in this study. Protects skin from UV rays with SPF-18, preventing skin dullness and melasma. with 100% herbal activities of neem.For naturally soft and clean skin Advertisers use different techniques to make their advertisements more attractive .the main technique which advertisers use in beauty products advertisement is the use of metaphors. In the ads metaphors are used such as: new cats eyes [ mascara ad] life is a fairy tale [ face wash ad] The bribery is another skill to attract the customers to the product Such as: Buy one get one free Get a free sample shop it now. Get a chance to buy a free bottle. The use of numbers in an advertisement is a technique to catch the attraction of customers towards the product. For example in following advertisements. 24 hours of care (Vaseline) 200 % more volume zero clumps(mascara ad)  ¼ moisturizing cream hydrates skin (dove) Get up to 2 tones fairer in just 7 days.(garnier) 6 hours high potency lip color (Lancà ´me lipstick) 100% black 100% bold (L’Oreal mascara) Fight 15 signs of ageing (L’Oreal ) The uses of short slogans make it easy for people to remember the brand, the product and the message. For example Go fresh (dove) Take care (garnier) Feel it, wear it ,love it (L’Oreal) Love your lips ( Lancà ´me) References Cook, G. (1992). The Discourse of Advertising. 5. London: Routledge. Durant, A. Lambrou, M. (2009). Language and Media.93. London: Routledge. Cook. (1992):The Discourse of Advertising. Londons :Routledge and Kegan Paul

International Adoption Essay -- Social Issues, Adoption

The necessity of adoption in the world is astounding. Currently, there is an estimated 143 million orphans worldwide (Wingert, vol.151). As of 2007, there were 513,000 children living in foster care within the United States alone (Rousseau 21:14). International adoption in the United States was jumpstarted post World War II as a way of helping those children who were left homeless, after war had taken their parents. Although there are thousands of healthy children awaiting adoption in the United States, several American couples still turn to foreign adoption when seeking potential children. Americans often fail to realize the need for intervention within their own country and their duty to take care of domestic affairs before venturing to other countries to attempt to rescue foreigners in need. International adoption in the United States must be abolished, since it is detrimental to prospective parents and their potential children. Injustices surrounding international adoption often results in a harmful impact on the children involved. Hollingsworth examines the harmful implications that are associated with international adoption: The adoption of children from other countries by U.S. families presents the risk that these children will be deprived of an opportunity to know and have access to their birth families- an infringement on the basic rights of these children compared with more advantaged children in their country of origin or in the United States. (48:209) International adoption can result in a lost connection to a child’s culture. This loss of culture confuses the child who is now forced to grow up in an American society that is so different than what they are used to. Children, who can be domest... ...at is only seeking to profit, instead of to unite children with families who care. For young children â€Å"to be removed from one’s family of origin or be killed or forever ostracized is not a choice that should be imposed on the world’s children† (Hollingsworth 48:209). Just because the faces of the neglected youth of America are not flashed across the television screen or plastered on posters, does not mean they do not exist. The ignored youth of America need people to care for them as if they were born into their family. Hollingsworth expresses his realization that â€Å"children’s rights to be raised in a safe healthy environment by their biological families and in their cultures of origin are primary and should be equally available to all children†(48:209) especially those in the United States, where the protection of the youth is crucial.

Leadership Styles Essay

MOTIVATION Giving the input on leadership styles and influence process, we should presume the aim is to understand and improve the style of functioning as a leader. To start with, there must have clear idea as to what is meant by leadership. Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. This process is a function of the leader, the followers and the situation. In any situation trying to influence the behaviour of another individual or group, leadership is operating. Thus one tries leadership at one time or the other, whether activities are centred around a business, educational institution, hospital, political organization, Government organization or a family. As part of this process, one who attempts to influence the behaviour of others becomes a potential leader and the persons he is attempting to influence are the potential followers. This may happen irrespective of the fact that the leader may be their boss or a colleague (associate) or a subordinate or a friend or a relative. In other words through a style of. functioning he influences attitudes and expectations, which in turn encourage or discourage the follower’s activity or achievement, enhance or diminish the follower’s commitment to the work, etc. In our day-to-day life, we come across instances of how people are influenced by the activities or word of a person who is trying to lead them. We always make judgments about the leaders of our own office. In our mind, we make a difference between a good leader and a bad one, by judging his style or way of functioning and his influence on others. Hence, in understanding the phenomenon of leadership, priority must first understand the various styles of the leaders. [4] LEADERSHIP STYLES The word style is the way in which the leader influences followers. Person and environment function in conjunction with the behaviour itself and reciprocally interact to determine behaviour. A person, through his actions, produces the environmental conditions that affect his behaviour in a reciprocal fashion. The experience generated by behaviour also partly determines what a person becomes and can do. This in turn affects his subsequent behaviour. The theory is called social learning theory because, individuals learn in an environment in the process of interacting with each other which is a social process. The application of this theory in understanding the behaviour of a leader and the continuous reciprocal interaction between the   person (leader’s cognitions) and environment (including subordinates and their needs, experiences, objectives in the organization. abilities, skills, energy performance, etc. known as contingencies that regulate their behaviour).The three aspects of this theory of leadership assume that the leader knows how his behaviour is controlled by various needs, situations and experiences that he undergoes. The leader works with the subordinates to discover what those needs situations and experience. The leader and the subordinates jointly attempt to discover ways in which they can manage their individual behaviour to produce mutually satisfying as well as organisationally productive outcomes. In this approach, the leader and the subordinates have a negotiable and interactive relationship. They are continuously aware of how they can modify or influence each other’s behaviour by giving the rewards or holding back the performance respectively. [4,5,6] TYPES OF LEADER AND POWER CONCEPT Formal Leader A formal leader is selected by the organization. For example, a manager is a formal leader by virtue of the authority coming from the organization. He influences others to help accomplish the goals of the organization or unit. Such a leadership lasts over a long period of time Informal Leader An informal leader is chosen by the group. Thus, all managers are leaders if their authority is accepted, but not all leaders are managers. Informal leadership is leadership without position and may shift from one person to another. It may last for a brief time. Most people are leaders at one time or the other and they can have influence on others as defined by the concept of leadership. The ideal leader is the one who can combine the formals and informal leadership simultaneously within himself. SUCCESSFUL VERSUS EFFECTIVE LEADER As we have seen in the preceding discussions, leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives; it is the ability to persuade others to get something done. So the leader attempts to have some effect on the behaviour of another, which we call attempted leadership. The response to this attempt may or may not be successful. A basic responsibility of managers in any work organization is to get the work done with and through people. The success of managers is measured by the output or productivity of the group they lead. [8,10] LEADER BEHAVIOUR IN GROUPS The main aim apparently is to understand why individuals form groups. The solution lies in tracking the solution ideas: How old were you when you first joined a group? How many different groups do you belong to? How would you identify a group leader? Does your behaviour change when you are with different groups? Have you ever led a group? In what sense were you the leader? What were the results? If our own the questions should be answered, which leads to the understanding of group. Behaviour and the properties of groups are essential to being both a good manager and an effective member of groups. A manager spends half of his time in some formal or informal meetings, where a group of people get together to solve problems or make plans. So the manager himself acts as a member of a group with other managers or colleagues. Groups have a powerful effect on human behaviour. Any increase in output of those workers was because of the importance and attention given to the group of workers by their colleagues as well as their own interactions with each other about the quality and quantity of output they were supposed to produce. People are motivated to act in a certain way in a given situation and one should change the situation in order to make the people act the way one wants them to. There are also many examples where the manager decides to take a decision on his own or to rely on groups by holding meetings or making committees. In Management, small groups with which he interacts are very important for a manager. It may consist of his peers or colleagues, other managers, specialists or others who really help the manager to take an effective decision. There are instances of well knit and cohesive groups, which really make a superior performance under a good leader. For all these purposes gaining understanding of how to manage a group and how to become a more effective group member. In order to develop the above two objectives, point noted is that a group is part of a larger organization with which it interacts. [1,4] LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE PROCESS Authority is the right to command and extract obedience from others. It comes from organization and it allows the leader to use power. Power is the ability to exercise influence or control over others. In the functioning of a leader the ability to guide the action of others is achieved through his authority. Carrying out of these decisions is accomplished because of the power of the leader. The relationship between the authority and power of a leader as we go further to understand various types of power GROUP DYNAMICS Group Dynamics is concerned with the interactions and forces among group members in a social situation. In the path on management functions, it is important to understand dynamics of members of formal or informal groups in the organization. Group Dynamics is the interaction of forces among group members in a social situation. Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez-faire, is having three different social situations for the three styles of leadership. In course of time various meanings were attached to the term ‘group dynamics’ One of the meanings suggest how a group should be organized and conducted. In democratic leadership, member participation and overall cooperation are emphasized. Another meaning of Group Dynamics is that it is set of techniques. In various group exercises it tries to make the leader as well as the member effective. An attempt made to make the above members play their roles in a management situation of group discussions, team building, finding out various solutions to problems by brainstorming and understanding ourselves in relation to others while we transact or interact with others. Such exercises are also provided in situations where only members are present and no leader exists to direct or control the group. All these exercises are techniques to develop both the individual as well as the organization in which he or she works. The meaning of the term Group Dynamic suggest internal nature of the groups as to how they are formed, what their structures and processes are and how they function. [7,8] COMPOSITION OF A GROUP In most organizations getting the work done requires group efforts. Thus, a manager must know how to manage individual by knowing the individual dynamics, such as his values. Personality, perceptions and attitudes. A manager must know how to manage a group by understanding Group Dynamics Each group has a common objective, but the members who belong to it may have other personal objectives. For example, a life insurance agent may like to become a member of a parent-teacher association of a school to help promote the development process of its students. But belonging to that association will also help him to increase his or her contact to ensure more and more people, so he gets more commission for as many members as he can sell the insurance to. What is most important in the content of the definition of a group is to be aware of each other in a group. This awareness is seldom there, when we look at an aggregation of people. They are mere collections, different from what we call a group, where members see themselves as belonging to a group in order to interact and achieve the common objectives of the group. Moreover, such kind of interaction may be over a long or a short period of time. [9,10] TYPES OF POWER Legitimate Power This power comes to the leader when the organisation’s authority is accepted. It comes from the rules of the organization. For example, parents, teachers, managers. police, etc. have legitimate power only when their authority is accepted in the positions they hold. Expert Power This is the power of knowledge and skill of special kind that are important in getting the job done. A person’s professional competence or knowledge gives him the expert power. His credibility increases. He can lead other persons to trust his judgments and decisions, as an expert like a physicist or a lawyer or a chemist or a computer programmer or a purchasing agent or a financial analyst. A leader himself may not be an expert in all fields, but he can certainly take the help of experts in particular fields. Charismatic Power This is the power of attraction or devotion, the desire of one person to admire another. A subordinate feels a positive attraction towards a leader by identifying himself with the leader, or gets influenced by the leader’s attractive power. This power helps the subordinate to understand and value the leader so much that he understands and acts according to the expectations of the boss or the leader. It helps him to act as his own boss, and behave in ways he thinks the boss will want. [15] Reward Power This power is the present or potential ability to reward for worthy behaviour. The superior or the leader has the power to give tangible rewards such as promotion, office space, time off from work, attractive work assignments and help to the subordinate. Also psychological rewards like praise, appreciation, approval and recognition can be given by the leader or the superior to the subordinate. The subordinate has to believe that he has access to higher authorities, therefore he can give rewards. This reward power of the leader can also increase the leader’s charismatic and legitimate power. Coercive Power This is the ability to threaten or punish. The leader can give tangible punishments like dismissal, demotion, low rating. less satisfying work assignments, etc. Psychological punishments include criticism, avoidance, disapproval, satirical remarks on the subordinate. The reward power helps to avoid something undesirable. Self-esteem of the subordinate increases because of reward power and decreases because of punishment or coercive power. Even a subordinate may withdraw or break the rules or become hostile. He may not feel attracted towards the charismatic power of the leader and at times may ignore the leader’s legitimate power. Having seen the reasons for differences between the authority and power of the leader, you should know the type of leaders as understood on the basis of their authority and power. [11,12] COLLECTIVE ACTION Interpersonal competence refers to the degree to which we are accurately aware of our impact on others and of the impact of others on us. It is the ability to engage in an mutually helpful relationships. It enables us to achieve your personal goals as well as task goals in the organizations where you we are a member. What are the effects of our interpersonal competence on our managerial behaviour? Interpersonally incompetent managers create an organizational environment in which members act very defensively to protect their own interests. Since everybody acts defensively in the organization. where roles and relationships are basically interdependent, neither the personal goals of the members, nor the task goals can be fully realized. Problems are not confronted and are kept hidden from each other for fear that exploring the problems will only aggravate the situation. In course of time, issues which were avoided and swept under the rug assume gigantic proportions and overwhelm the members. On the other hand, interpersonally competent managers allow their subordinates to challenge their views and to question the organisation’s norms, policies, rules and objectives. When these kinds of behaviour are tolerated, people are likely to discover problems and commit themselves to their solutions. Organizational effectiveness increases. Besides these three types of roles, that may have to interact with a lot of other people from different positions: consumers, suppliers, people from regulatory agencies, general public. etc. Interactions with different interest-groups demand different types of specific skills and competencies. Possession and understanding of these skills may not guarantee successful human relations, but it can increase your interpersonal sensitivity and help you take appropriate action to improve relationships. [13,14]             References Rao, T.V., â€Å"HRD in the New Economic Environment,† Tata McGraw-Hill Book Company, New Delhi,1994 Drucker, P.F. (1974). â€Å"Management Task Responsibilities and Practices†, Harper & Row, New York. Murtin, CC., 2004., Project Management — How to Make It Work, AmaCom, N.Y. Neale RH, 1984., Managing Projects , Geneva Nicholas, J.M., 1990., Managing Business and Engineering Projects Concepts & Implementation, Prentice Hall. N.J. Kharbanda. & Staliworking, EA, 1996.,Successful Projects With a Moral For Managemetn, Gower, England. Hitt, Michael A, (2001), Strategic Management: Competitiveness and globalization, 4th, Thomson Learning. Srivastava, R.M. (1999). Strategic Planning: Formulation Of Corporate Strategy (Texts and Cases) 1st ed., Macmillan Limited. Hamel,G, Collaborate with your Competitors and Win, Harvard Business review,67,1,1989,133-9. Laxmi Narian, Managerial Competition and Motivation in Public Enterprises, Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi,1997 Ulrich, D. â€Å"Human Resource Champions†, Harvard Business School Press,2001 Kaplan, R., â€Å"Balance Score Card†, Harvard Business review,2003 Pareek, V., Designing and Managing Human Resource Systems, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi. Pereira D.F., Recent Experiences in Human Resource Development, Oxford& IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi Goldstein, I.L, Training in Organizations: Needs Assessment Development and Evaluation, Wordsworth,2002   

Motorola Essays - Motorola, Schaumburg, Illinois, Lenovo Smartphones

Motorola Essays - Motorola, Schaumburg, Illinois, Lenovo Smartphones Motorola Since it first entered the competitive electronic firm market, Motorola has continued to remain successfully as a world leader in mobile communication technology, ranking as the leading maker of cellular telephones, paging devices, automotive semi-conductors, and microchips that are used to operate devices other than computers. Although it has lost a few battles, Motorola has taken on the Japanese head to head, through these times of Japanese competition. In the 1980s Motorola controlled the emerging U.S, Market for cellular phones and pagers but they werent aggressively focused on competing with the Japanese, even though Japanese firms began to flood the U.S. market with low-priced, high-quality telephones and pagers, leaving Motorola pushed into the background. This is when Motorola heard the call to battle. Managers at first were not sure how they should respond, so they originally decided to abandon some business areas and even considered merging their own semiconductor operations with those of Toshiba. After a lot of searching they decided to fight back and regain the firms lost market position. This fight involved two main strategies: First learn from the Japanese, and then compete with them. To carry out these strategies, Motorola executives decided to to set a number of broad based goals that essentially committed the firm to lowering costs, improving quality, and regaining lost market share. Managers were then sent out on missions, mainly focused on Japan, to learn how to compete better. Some manager even observed Motorolas own Japanese operations to learn and understand how it fully functioned; while others focused more on how other successful Japanese firms operated. At the same time, the firm also drastically boosted its budget, R&D, and employee training worldwide. One important thing that executives learned from their trip to Japan after viewing a flag flying outside one of its plants was that they had altogether forgotten their old ways of doing business and this is the exact point where they decided to reinvent their firm from top to bottom. Old plants were closed as new ones were built. Workers received new training with a wide range of quality-enhancement techniques. They decided to place their new commitment to quality at the forefront of everything it did. They even decided to announced their goal of achieving a perfection rate of 99.9997% (Six Sigma), and when they actually achieved this level of quality they received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Motorola has been continuously successful especially abroad in Japan. The firm has 20 offices and has more than 3,000 employees there. It is currently number three in market share there both in pagers and cellular telephones but is steadily approaching number two. Worldwide, Motorola controls 45% of the total market for these products, have regained its number two position in semiconductor sales, and is furiously launching as many new productions that seem to baffle its competitors. Today Motorola generates more than 56% of its revenues abroad. Major new initiatives are underway in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe and the firm has currently made headway in Western Europe against rivals Philips and Thomsom. Motorola has set new and staggering goals for itself. It wishes to take quality to the point where defects will be measured related to billions rather millions. It wants to cut its cycle time tenfold every ten years. And by this year, Motorola wanted over 75% of its revenues to come from foreign markets. Even though Motorola has established and proven itself as a successful company, they have their strengths and weaknesses like every other company. Motorolas strengths are its net sales, its innovation, and marketing and software development. Their passion, openness of executives, Acquisitions, mergers, and business alliances are also part of Motorolas Strengths. Weaknesses of Motorola are the overall quality of its operations, products, and business practices. They seem to generate unhappy consumers and have poor consumer relations. Their products seem to have high numbers of defects while Motorola itself is viewed as being inefficient and has a reputation of lacking a strategy. There also have low employee education, training, motivation, and morale, which is an extremely important aspect. Opportunities that Motorola has are that they can learn from the Japanese, have untapped market opportunities around the world. They also have the

Project risk management

Project risk management Introduction Risk management can be described as the proactive management against the possibility of loss. The concept involves the identification of key risk areas and the formulation of possible strategies that can be used to lower the probability of occurrence of the risk, or reduce the potential losses (Crockford 1986, 12; Dorfman 2007, 10).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Project risk management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sometimes risks may also be positive, for instance the risk of completing a project before its scheduled completion date. Management therefore has the task of coming up with an action plan that will guide on the procedures to follow in the event of positive or negative risks (Gorrod 2004, 23). A basic project risk management program involves risk management planning, identification and assessment of risks, risk response planning and monitoring and control of risks and strategies. The ris k management process involves the initial planning phase, whereby management decides on how the process will be carried out. Decisions made include the general approach in the project risk management process, and how management intends to execute key activities in the process (Conrow 2003, 21). Once a suitable plan has been selected, the management team has the task of identifying all potential risks that may have an impact on the project (Delvin 2006, 41). The planning process group has a role to play in the identification of these risks, as well as analyzing the effects of these risks on the project’s objectives. Risk assessment involves the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the identified risks, which are carried out by the process planning group. Qualitative risk analysis looks at the probability of occurrence of the risk event, and the potential impact on the project’s objectives. Quantification revolves the determination of the impact of each of the identi fied risks, and the prioritization of the risks according to their severity and probability of occurrence (Chapman, Ward and Ward 2003, 3; Capman 2005, 32). This can be done through a project risk map which categorizes risks according to their level of consequence and probability of occurrence (Fink 2002, 35; Chapman, Ward and Ward 2002, 74).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Risk response planning evaluates the options available to management in handling various types of risks (Kendrick 2003, 2009). Risk response planning is also carried out by the planning process team. There are four basic methods of dealing with risks; avoidance, transfer, mitigation and risk acceptance. Risk avoidance implies strategies used to completely steer clear of risky activities. Management may decide to change suppliers for a particular material so as to avoid the risks posed by contra cting one supplier. Risk transfer means transferring the burden of the risk to someone else, hence making them responsible for the resulting loss. A classic method of risk transfer is through insurance (Harvard Business School 2004, 23). Alternatively management may establish contracts that make vendors accountable for a specific risky portion of the overall project (Heerkens 2007, 100). By choosing to mitigate risks, the project managers will undertake processes that seek to lessen the possibility of the risk, or reducing the impact of such a risk (Wang 2000, 63). Where the payoff resulting from an activity outweighs the potential losses, the planning process team may conclude that such a risk could be accepted. The final step in the risk planning process is risk control (Weel, Lindenaar and Kinderen 2004, 47). This involves constant monitoring of the identified risks in order to ascertain the effectiveness of the chosen risk management strategies (Royer 2001, 39). Periodical risk reviews are important for this function since a change in the status of a risk may warrant a change in strategy (Lientz and Larsen 2006, 29). The risk status indicates the probability and severity of a risk, as indicated in the project risk map. Regular reviews will also point out risks that have passed and identify new risks that management should concentrate on. Key strategic considerations Top management support is crucial for every aspect of the project, more so in risk management (Regester and Larkin 2002, 67). This will ensure timely decision making processes and overall support for the planning process group.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Project risk management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Through effective cooperation and coordination, organizational constraints can be removed, thereby making the risk management process smooth (Apgar 2006, 41; Cooper 2005; 73; Blyth 2009, 103). Management support wil l ensure efficient allocation of resources and efficient policy decisions. With upper management support in place, other strategic considerations are enabled (Martin 2004, 63). Stakeholder support is also necessary for the success of any given project. Project stakeholders, including the project management team and the client, need to agree on viable risk management strategies that will reduce the negative risks for both parties. Agreements could focus on realistic deadlines for the entirety of the schedule (Curtin, Hayman and Hussein 2005; 88). Project managers face the task of meeting completion phases in time, and may compromise on quality checks in order to get approval from the client, resulting into higher risks on the performance of the completed project (Lock 1996, 45; 2003; 63; 2007; 94). Communication between the two parties proves to be beneficial if talks are objective. Availability of resources is a major challenge for all project managers, whereby managers compete for labor, money and time with other projects. With top management support, the project management team will be able to define priority areas across all processes and make sure that crucial projects are not affected by the competition for resources. Crucial projects are those that are aligned with the overall objectives and targets of the organization. Lack of stakeholder involvement during the planning process may lead to unclear goals for the project management team (Pickerton 2003; 74), hence the risk of unsatisfied stakeholders once the project is complete. This usually happens when the client has not explicitly described the visions and goals of the project (Haynes 2002, 55). Lack of consulting with the end users of the project, who may not necessarily be the sponsor, may also not yield the desired results. As a consequence, the project will fail to achieve it full intended value. Constant communication and consultations with the stakeholders are required in order to conquer this p roblem. Any changes to the project should be communicated well in advance so as to get approval from the sponsor and the stakeholders (Hillson and Simon 2007, 37). The project management team should provide options, with implications of each, so that the sponsor can make an informed decision.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Another important consideration that project managers should make is the applicability of local standards and codes. Different states have unique standards requirements, so the project management team should be familiar with those requirements and ensure that people hired meet the set professional qualifications. Extra training of personnel will be required, which may come at an extra cost for the contracting company. The training sessions are important in that they reduce the risk of mistakes being made when the project is underway, and as a way of conforming to state regulations. A major problem faced by most project managers is that of estimating costs in a project (Barkley 2004, 71). Most projects start out with misinformation, with both the sponsor and the contractor relying on cost estimates to base their decisions, which may be lower than the actual costs incurred. Because of this, either side may experience losses due to lack of sufficient information. Various controls and a ccounting measures need to be involved from the start of the project that will make it easier to track down any variances in the costs illustrated in the budget. Risk management theories The critical chain theory focuses attention on schedule development and management in project management (Goldratt, 1990, 1997 and 1998)). The main aim of risk management in projects is that of converting uncertainties and risks into certain outcomes or promises. The critical chain theory in project management focuses on the resources needed to carry out specified tasks so that the whole project can be on schedule (Goldratt and Cox 1984; 77). Critical chain project management identifies and inserts buffers into projects that monitor the schedule and financial performance of the project (Dettmer 1997, 7). The theory follows the same methodology as the critical path theory, with the latest completion dates for each task. Safety time is aggregated to tasks within the buffers, thereby avoiding the risk of time wasting due to bad multitasking (Dow and Taylor 2010, 99). Goldratt (1984, 61) introduced the theory of constraints by explaining that all organizations face several challenges, or constraints, that limit the achievement of the overall objectives. The theory therefore urges organizations to identify these constraints and restructure themselves in order to protect the organization’s interests. Five focusing steps have been recommended for this purpose, also known as the Process of Ongoing Improvement. As with the risk management process, the organization has to first identify the constraint and then decide on how it will exploit the constrained process. Thirdly, the organization has to reorganize itself with the decisions made. Once the decision has been supported throughout the organization, the organization can make other changes in its systems in order to break down the constraint. Lastly, the constraint will have to be monitored since it can move to other processes , where the organization will have to repeat the five focusing steps again (Gray 2010, 15; Klein 2000, 31). Management of project risk The risk management process begins with the identification of all potential risks that may affect the project. The project management team can use various strategies to identify such risks, though risk analysis is not carried out at this phase. The objective of the risk identification stage is to merely state all risks that the team may encounter, so a comprehensive list is required by the stakeholders of the project. In the planning process, the project risk manager may be asked to document the risks and their characteristics; therefore he must collect as much relevant information as possible. Some of the techniques that may be employed for this purpose include a brainstorming session, whereby scheduled meetings and interviews with the stakeholders are carried out in a bid to list all potential risks to the project. If the project management team ha s valid experience in its line of work, it may revisit some of the risks it identified in a similar project. The learning process will be facilitated if the company maintains a log of previous work, performance and customer satisfaction records (Klein 2000, 47). Traditional risks will be identified from historical information, past projects and industry findings (Cooper et al. 2005, 106) In research and development, the most common risk identified is that of the risk of failure. As such, companies engaging in RD overlook the importance of project risk management and concentrate on their research work (Frigenti and Comnimos 2002, 126; Frigenti 2007, 157). There are other factors that may lead to the cancellation of a research work other than failure, and management has to identify such risks before it is too late. Risks associated with RD can be categorized into project, technical, internal and external risks. The project management team cannot afford to concentrate on one form of ri sks since the others may be overlooked (Coudhury 1988, 65; Allen and Jarman 1999, 70). The company could use the project management plan as a guide for the overall research project, and communicate on a regular basis to the stakeholders. Communication is useful as most researches breakdown due to lack of clarity, resulting into budget cuts or unexplained delays (Lewis 2002, 176; 2007, 103). Change management and systems integration are also subject to risks, so only through the understanding of such risks can the risk management process be effective. The most common risk pertaining to these processes is resistance to change, especially from the end users. Employees of a company may fear change, and would be against additional training so that they can become familiar with new processes or software programs. The main reason for this is the fear that most people have of the unknown, so employees may be resistant to change since they do not fully grasp the benefits of a new system, or fear losing some of their responsibilities in the change management process. End user involvement and clear communication are strategies through which this form of risk can be averted. Change management also brings in the risk of scope, whereby a project’s scope widens in the duration of the program (Kerzner 1992, 67; 2006, 63; 2009, 76). This happens when a change management situation has already began, and the project team keeps on integrating more ideas in the development stage so that the results from the change management program are more than those that had initially been planned for, which may also exceed budget limits. The scope of the change management should be explicitly illustrated and communicated to avoid scope creep. With technology transfer, systems integration and change management comes the risk of data loss in the conversion process. Data conversion risks include missing important information, the comprehensive new system could require data that the old sys tem never had in place, or data from the old system may lose meaning in the new system. The change management team can employ several measures to counter these risks, for instance making sure that there is sufficient back up of available data. A plan should be drawn up to illustrate how data conversion is to be managed. In case of missing data, the organization could do without such data if its unavailability will not affect the new system. Where such data is of vital importance, the organization could add it back into the old system before converting it into the new system, or alternatively add the missing data directly into the new system (Goldratt, E. M., 1997, 77; Gray and Larson 2008, 129). Project planning and implementation strategies Planning is essential form the success of project management for a number of reasons. Project planning helps management organize and schedule tasks, as well as allocate the resources that will be used up by each task. Planning allows for communi cation and coordination of the various parties involved in the project, from the sponsors, to the contractors, to the employees (Goldratt 1990, 88). For it to be effective and comprehensive, planning should entail issues of project work and scheduling, distribution and use of resources, budgetary issues and planning of the information system. Planning involves several steps, starting off with the definition of the project objectives. Once the objectives have been identified, work activities are specified with the involvement of the stakeholders. The specification of the work activities allows for the setting of responsibilities, thereby the project organization is created (Forsberg, Mooz and Cotterman 2005, 132). Tasks are allocated and the schedule is set. A resource map is drawn together with the project budget. Forecasts made to do with time targets, costs and desired performance levels are communicated to the stakeholders in the final stage of the project planning process. For a project implantation process to be successful, the planning process has to be adequate. A sound plan enables for a clear and concise allocation of responsibilities and better contract management by the project management team. Funds have to be available in a timely manner for the implementation process to be smooth. Adequate control and monitoring measures will enable the quick identification and effective management of the risks that may arise in the implementation process (Coudhury 1988, 71). Summary and conclusion Project risk management is a vital element of project management. Where contractors may overlook the importance of planning for risks in the initial stages of the project, and only applying risk management once the project has already commenced, risk planning allows for project managers to be better prepared in the event of risk. Planning enables managers to identify all risks that may occur, and analyze their chances of occurrence and the potential impact that they po se to the project. In this way, the project management team is able to prioritize focus to strategize on how they will manage such risks. Management may also view the need of establishing a contingency plan that will come into effect once a risk has occurred (Cleland and Ireland 2006, 153). Without a contingency plan, management would have to bear serious disruptions in the project, which will have a negative impact on the project’s schedule. Resources have to be actually available for a contingency plan to be effective; otherwise the entire process will be of no value to the project management team. The project risk model identifies and ranks the risks that may occur, whereby assessment is carried out based on the budget risk of the component risks. High complexity risks are those that have the highest negative impact on the project budget, and therefore require special attention, and a contingency plan for such risks is recommended. References Allen, G. and Jarman, R., 1999 . Collaborative RD: manufacturings new tool, 5th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Apgar, D., 2006. Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Dont Know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Barkley, B., 2004. Project risk management. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Blyth, M., 2009. Business Continuity Management: Building an Effective Incident Management Plan. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Capman, C. S., 2005. Controlling strategy: management, accounting, and performance measurement. London: Oxford University Press. Chapman, C. B. and Ward, S. C., 2002. Managing project risk and uncertainty: a constructively simple approach to decision making. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Chapman, C. B., Ward, S. and Ward, S. C., 2003. Project risk management: processes, techniques, and insights, 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons. Cleland, D. I. and Ireland, L. R., 2006. Project management: strategic design and implementation. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Conrow, E. H., 2003 . Effective Risk Management: Some Keys to Success. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Cooper, D. F., et al. 2005. Project Risk Management Guidelines: Managing Risk in Large Projects and Complex Procurements. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Coudhury, S., 1988. Project management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Crockford, N., 1986. An introduction to risk management, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead-Faulkner. p. 18 Curtin, T., Hayman, D., and Hussein, N., 2005. Managing a crisis: a practical guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Delvin , E. S., 2006. Crisis management planning and execution. New York: Auerbach publications Dettmer, H. W., 1997. Goldratts theory of constraints: a systems approach to continuous improvement. Great Barrington, MA: ASQ Quality Press. Dorfman, M. S., 2007. Introduction to Risk Management and Insurance, 9th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall. Dow, W. and Taylor, B., 2010. Project Management Communications Bible. New Jersey: J ohn Wiley and Sons. Fink, S., 2002. Crisis management: planning for the inevitable. 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. Forsberg, K., Mooz, H. and Cotterman, H., 2005. Visualizing project management: models and frameworks for mastering complex systems, 3rd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Frigenti, E. and Comninos, D., 2002. The practice of project management: a guide to the business-focused approach. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Frigenti, E., 2007. The Practice Of Project Management. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Goldratt, E. M., 1990. What is this thing called theory of constraints and how should it be implemented? Great Barrington, MA: North River Press. Goldratt, E. M., 1997. Critical chain. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press. Goldratt, E. M., 1998. Essays on the theory of constraints. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press. Golratt, E. M., and Cox, J. 1984. The goal: excellence in manufacturing. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press. Gorrod, M., 2004. Risk Manage ment Systems : Technology Trends (Finance and Capital Markets). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Gray, C.F. and Larson, E.W., 2008. Project management: the managerial process, 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Gray, L., 2010. Project Management: The Managerial Process, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Harvard Business School, 2004. Harvard business essentials: crisis management: master the skills to prevent disasters. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Haynes, M. E., 2002. Project management: practical tools for success, 3rd ed. New York: Cangage Learning. Heerkens, G. R., 2007. Project Management: 24 Steps to Help You Master Any Project. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Hillson, D. and Simon, P., 2007. Practical Project Risk Management: The Atom Methodology. McLean, VA: Management Concepts Publishers. Kendrick, T., 2003. Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-proofing Your Project. New York, NY: AMACOM. Kendrick, T., 2009. Identifying and M anaging Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-proofing Your Project, 2nd ed. New York, NY: AMACOM. Kerzner, H., 1992. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 4th ed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Kerzner, H., 2006. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 9th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Kerzner, H., 2009. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 10th ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Klein, R., 2000. Scheduling of resource-constrained projects. London: Springer. Lewis, J. P., 2002. Fundamentals of project management: developing core competencies to help outperform the competition, 2nd ed. New York, NY: AMACOM. Lewis, J. P., 2007. Fundamentals of project management, 3rd ed. New York, NY: AMACOM. Lientz, B. P. and Larssen, L., 2006. Risk Management for IT Projects: How to Deal with Over 150 Issues and Risks. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Lock, D. , 1996. Project Management, 3rd ed. London: London: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Lock, D., 2003. Project Management, 8th ed. London: London: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Lock, D., 2007. Project Management, 9th ed. 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Write a descriptive account of your experience of caring for a patient Essay

Write a descriptive account of your experience of caring for a patient with a variety of needs - Essay Example Every morning I would find him lying on his bed, crying, or talking to himself or to his dead brother. It was obvious that he was in emotional pain. I would greet him with a smile and try to engage him to a few minutes of discussion. I felt that I was comforting him from his thoughts. At the same time, I was actively trying to assess his mood, his flow of thoughts and detect any changes that I had to report to the attending physician. Afterwards I had to give him the medications and make sure that he would take them. Mr. D had a Foley catheter installed, so that he didn’t have to get out of bed often. It was dangerous for him to get up unassisted, because he could fall, due to orthostatic hypotension. I always checked the catheter to make sure it was in the proper position, avoiding urine retention. Then I would check his temperature, pulse and ask about symptoms such as pain or discomfort at the lower abdomen, to make sure that he did not have a urinary tract infection (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network 2006). I would also check the intravenous line, observing for signs of thrombophlebitis or skin inflammation at the catheter site. Afterwards, I would assist him to step on the scales, as I kept a constant watch over his weight, both for nutritional and fluid overload reasons. He would always ask me to help him move around the room, and sometimes it was obvious that he was in pain, mainly due to his severe hip osteoarthritis. He would ask me to hold him as he was standing at the window and stared at the view. At those moments, I couldn’t help thinking how lonely he was and how much pain he must have been experiencing, both emotional and somatic. I would then help him sit and eat the breakfast, as I was carefully and tactfully checking his room for dangerous items that he might use to hurt himself. I would come back one more time at noon, to check on him and help him eat lunch. I had to make sure that he would eat

Corporate Governance and Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Corporate Governance and Ethics - Case Study Example In addition to that it also explains the causes of failure of the leaders of GSK in preventing ethical issues related to integrity failures. Task 2 explains bribery as an ethical issue particularly for companies undertaking international business. It also investigates the ethical and moral issues of bribery and the difficulties that cultural relativism introduces to business ethics. And finally task 2 comments on the steps that GSK should take in order to prevent future ethical dilemmas and reputational damage from perceived failures of ethical and moral conduct. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 PART A 4 PART B 7 Conclusion 10 Works Cited 11 Name of the Student Name of the Professor Course Number Date Introduction â€Å"The primary and only responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game† - Milton Friedman (37) Ethics is a critical factor in the fie ld of corporate governance and henceforth to the performance of a corporation. It can be associated in two different ways via ethical values and assumptions that support a specified regime or code of corporate governance. ... The following section in this report will explain the theories of ethics and corporate governance from the perspective of a pharmaceutical company. PART A 1. It is evident from the case study that there have been quite a few ethical lapses as far as the corporate governance of GlaxoSmithKline is concerned. In the last decade, cases of ethical lapses have been witnessed in pharmaceutical companies. The company was accused of lapses in bribery, fraud and corruption, product safety, false marketing and advertising. Pharmaceutical companies were alleged to have breached the regulatory standards by selling and marketing products which did not meet the criteria specified by the board (Institute of Business Ethics, â€Å"Business Ethics Briefing†). As explained above, GlaxoSmithKline had similar ethical lapses. After studying the report carefully it can be suggested that the company fraudulently managed study designs in order to obtain favourable results. In addition to that, they ha ve concealed results which were unflattering and were against the company’s favour. The company also failed to update people with the negative results thereby producing drugs which were detrimental to the health of the patients. GlaxoSmithKline was accused of hiding information related to the side effects of certain drugs produced by them. Promoting the usage of ‘off – label’ drugs has also been witnessed which led to misuse of medicines. Another ethical lapse noticed in the strategies adopted by the company is the use of promotions such as medical education programs, advisory boards, speaker events and grants. They were accused of using grants to promote drug