Monday, September 30, 2019
Michelin
The key stakeholders with n interest In the partnership are listed below. We observe that the stakeholders, as a group, pursue both Individual and social/collective Interests: 1) Michelin: interested In securing a sustainable supply of skilled workers to fill as many as 1000 newly-opened jobs in the years to come. 2) The First Nations members in Nova Scotia, as represented by bodies such as the Confederacy and the Union: interested in employment opportunities, greater access to ââ¬â and acceptance in ââ¬â the mainstream workforce, and elimination of social stigmas and racism. ) Governments of Canada (API) and of Nova Scotia (Office of Aboriginal Affairs): mineral and Indirect Interest In the wellbeing of Its citizens, their obtainment of relevant education, and their positive participation in the social, work and economic life of the province. As Jim Morrison, we would carry out, or strongly push for, the following actions: Internal resistance ââ¬â Morrison needs to prepa re the internal workforce for the arrival of Aboriginal team members. Michelin staff ââ¬â at all levels ââ¬â need to be sensitizes about Aboriginals' key role in the plants' continued success.Michelin also has to enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding workplace circumstantial New recruits could be enrolled Into a cross-cultural ââ¬Å"buddy systemâ⬠with another open-minded, experienced worker. Recruitment & training ââ¬â Michelin has to change its recruitment philosophy and its WAS test. We look to Southwest Airlines: Hire for attitude, train for skill. Michelin should hire for potential and motivation in applicants, not for particular pre-acquired skills. This would likely imply a greater training budget for newly-hired workers. Michelin also needs to streamline the application process and to use recruitment ââ¬Å"ambassadorsâ⬠.Key ambassadors are, for example, the employment officers in Aboriginal reserves: Michelin needs to maintain close ties with thes e individuals, and make sure that they have all the tools (information, paperwork, etc. ) to perform their role. In addition, Michelin should offer generous incentives for employees who recruit others in the Aboriginal population (akin to a push marketing strategy). Finally, Michelin should partner with a local college to offer a fast-track course designed to provide the very basic requirements for Michelin applications. (We refer, for example, to Microsoft's initiatives. Passing this course successfully would guarantee a job offer from Michelin. Image ââ¬â Michelin needs to change its image with First Nations. It has to get its employment success stories out the local media and make the company seem more approachable. It could promote a few local plant ââ¬Å"heroesâ⬠that underemployed Aboriginals would identify with. Transparency ââ¬â Michelin needs to assess the trade- offs of corporate secrecy vs.. labor needs. We believe that the possible labor scrolls lustiest le aning towards openness. Everyone Knows Tanat Mellon Is milling: now sensitive are its projections ââ¬â really? Who else is competing for this labor?What is the truly critical corporate information? Goals ââ¬â Michelin has to fix tangible hiring targets. Proponents of affirmative action often say that you need a critical mass of designated minorities (e. G. In a university) to stimulate a natural influx of successful applications. This may be true with Michelin Aboriginal partnership. Michelin should therefore set specific hiring targets and commit to meeting them, even if this requires some reasonable rule bending. As we understand the dynamics of Michelin labor market, no qualified worker is being turned away: no one would be able to suggest that Aboriginals are ââ¬Å"stealing Jobsâ⬠.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Transport Network
Transportation and Logistics Goals Amanda Contreras November 16, 2012 640 The central goal of my company is to keep retail prices low. Working with suppliers to ensure their prices are constantly low, but also means price changes are kept to a minimum. Aiming to become lowest cost producer, the firm can compete on the price with every other industries and earn higher unit profits. Cost reduction provides the focus of the organization strategy. It targets a broad market.Competitive advantage is achieved by driving down costs. Price Leadership ââ¬â The Company is well known for its ââ¬Å"Every Day Low Pricingâ⬠, but is aiming to give the consumer greater value for each product category. Through leverage selling general and administrative expenses, the Company can ask suppliers to introduce efficiencies in the transportation of items. This can be the supplier to the distribution center, distribution center to the store and also within the store.Since transportation can be as m uch as one-half to two-thirds of the total cost of distributing product it only makes sense to drive is in as many efficiencies into your transportation network as you possibly can. The 1st strategy is to limit the margin that would have to be paid to a third-party providing that service. The 2nd strategy is controlling the fleet my company can control the quality and timing of the service to move the freight from the distribution centers to the stores.That 2nd strategy is an important goal in reducing labor costs and maximizing the utilization of assets and resources. Currently, the vendor manages nearly all vendor shipments to my company. My company arranges backhaul pick-ups at vendors after one of its trucks makes a delivery to its stores. More stock will be needed prior to the seasonal upturn in sales volume. As sales decline, less merchandise is needed. My company balances the ââ¬Å"need for speedâ⬠with the costs inherent in the mode of transport.This includes the rate charged for the service, minimum weight requirements, loading and unloading facilities, packaging, possible damage in transit, and any special services that may be required. The basic modes of transportation are water, rail, motor carrier, air and pipeline. Water being the slowest mode with rail, motor carrier, and air following in order of speed of delivery. Generally, the order is reversed when looking at costs. Selection of the appropriate carrier has several steps. First the firm selects a transportation mode.The shipper must compare the service desired with the rate or cost of service. Service usually means transit time or the time that elapses from the time the consignor makes the goods available for dispatch until the carrier delivers to the consignee. Once the mode and type of carrier is determined a final decision can be made based on other factors. Accessibility is one such factor. Some firms have geographic limits to their routing network. Others may not possess physical access to needed facilities or have the ability to provide the equipment and facilities that movement of a particular commodity may require.Reliability, the consistency of the transit time a carrier provides, is also a key factor. Finally, convenience and communication are other important considerations when selecting a carrier. Measures that a transportation firm would use to judge its performance include: orders shipped on time, orders shipped complete, order preparation time, product availability, and transit time. From the customer perspective performance can be gauged from orders received on time, orders received complete, orders received damage free, orders filled accurately, and orders billed accurately.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Relevant furniture piece or other interior design element in the Assignment
Relevant furniture piece or other interior design element in the Victorian period (1850-1890) - Assignment Example He acquired the idea of decorating the Armoire from his mother. The above piece of furniture had an approximated cost of thirty four thousand dollars (Online Garallies, p.1). The Fine Armoire above has a lot of significance to the Victorian period. Among its importance, include; it provide an inspiration of the fine arts that were being produced during the Victorian period. It also provides other designers a fundamental basis for their design given that the idea was invented earlier. The furniture above help to encourage innovation and creativity among the designers of the current era. The Fine Armoire is significant because it indicates the type of materials that were used by the designers during that period. It also provide an important reference of what the previous artist used to do during the Victorian period (Online Garallies,
Friday, September 27, 2019
Finance and Investment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Finance and Investment - Research Paper Example 9 331,434.00 12% 10 371,207.00 12% 11 415,752.00 12% 12 465,642.00 12% 13 652,519.00 12% 14 584,101.00 12% 15 654,193.00 12% 16 732,696.00 12% 17 820,620.00 12% 18 919,094.00 12% ii) The present value amount of option B 125,000.00 x 7.22497 = 906,212.50 iii) The equivalent rate of return 906,212.50 - 900,000.00 = 6,212.50 f. i) Cash flow diagram if Mr. Gordon accepts Option C. (principal + interest) No. of periods payments %rate 1 122,100.00 11% 2 135,531.00 11% 3 150,439.00 11% 4 166,987.00 11% 5 185,355.00 11% 6 207,598.00 12% 7 232,510.00 12% 8 260,411.00 12% 9 291,660.00 12% 10 326,659.00 12% 11 365,858.00 12% 12 409,761.00 12% 13 458,932.00 12% 14 514,004.00 12% 15 575,684.00 12% 16 644,766.00 12% 17 722,138.00 12% 18 808,795.00 12% ii) The present value of option C 110,000.00 X 7.2497 = 797,467.00 iii) The equivalent rate of Gordon from option C 900,000.00 - 797,467.00 = 102,533.00 g. I have to choose option B because for Mr. Gordon because as the graph or diagram clearly states that Mr. Gordon would be receiving more that option A or C. h. i) Cash Flow Diagram if Gordon accepts option C no. of payments payments %rate 1 122,100.00 11% 2 135,531.00 11% 3 150,439.00 11% 4 168,492.00 11% 5 687,026.00 ii) Present value of option C 110,000.00 X 3.1024 = 341,264.00 j. i) If I were asked by Mr. Gordon my opinion on what option would I advice him, My recommendation would be...He can spend his money in a more relaxed manner because it would be more that what he'll be needing. It is just like saying that he had his money invested wisely through his contributions during the 35 years that he spent working. Outlay should be ignored. The initial capital or investment for the machine is, $150,000.00. I assumed that the company has enough resources ot cover for this. After tax annual cost of continuing to buy the self sealing container. b. i) Based on the information, presented, system B should kylie recommend for purchase by company. This system has a scrap value/ salvage value at the end of useful life. The system will still be valued in the end. Besides, this system has a lower cost of operation, and repair and maintenance, which means lower expenses for the company that will result to higher income revenue ii) Since the company is all equity financed, it very possible to accept both quality control systems. Acquiring both systems is costly, but the gains that will be incurred by the manufacturing company will definitely give back the costs of acquiring the two systems. It will also not be a problem to accept both because dividends paid to shareholders are at a lower rate per share.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Case 15.1 Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
15.1 - Case Study Example n their locality and apart from a place to work out it also lets them socialize with local community people, saves time and cost of traveling because if the gym is located far and customers need to drive long to reach the place, they lose motivation for fitness fast. Also that they can use their membership in any of the Snap Fitness centers makes it more convenient for them to work out wherever they are be it office or home or any other place and do not have to skip working out because of location. In todayââ¬â¢s stressful society convenience is given utmost priority by customers in choosing a service or product. However I do not think this is the only advantage Snap Fitness is offering its members, its affordable membership and no contracts only monthly membership fees and easy manage franchises also add to its appeal to both members as well as franchisees and give a competitive edge over its rivals. For Snap Fitness the most appropriate Franchise system would be the Business Format Franchise, because it is a service they are selling and Snap Fitness has a unique business model for both its franchisees and its members. In this format Snap Fitness needs to provide Franchisee with its unique business formula, training, advertising, equipment and other assistance. It can use an area franchise agreement that allows the franchisee in a geographical area to own and operate a given number of franchises that is Snap Fitness centers (Barringer and Ireland, 516). In its franchisees, the characteristics Snap Fitness is looking for are that Franchisees are able to deliver its members its unique business model, must be able to handle billing and collecting processes, Franchisees should be able to maintain the companyââ¬â¢s lean business model and have financial net worth of $250, 000 and $500,000 in Liquid assets and that Franchisees are able to deliver on the ââ¬Å"must havesâ⬠list prepared by Pete Taunton. As the business requires normal working hours and can be managed
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Cinematic Portrayal of Iranian Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Cinematic Portrayal of Iranian Women - Essay Example The role of women in the Iranian society has greatly evolved and this evolution is easily noticeable through the significant number of changes that precipitated in the cinematic portrayal. Women all over the world have experienced immense amount of social pressures and obligations, in short simple words the plight of women has been the subject of countless literature and cinematic pieces. Iran is a highly patriarchal society since its emergence as a powerful empire to its establishment as an Islamic republic, a womanââ¬â¢s sole responsibility was to serve her husband and look after his well-being. Before the cinema had gained immense popularity, many literatures focused on the characteristics of a good woman and a bad woman and how a manââ¬â¢s fate depends on the character of his wife. (Donmez-Colin, 2004, p.155-170) Therefore, authors and poets seemed to hold the woman responsible for any sort of mishap that would befall her husband. The patriarchy was pretty evident but durin g the 30ââ¬â¢s there were countless movies that showed a headstrong female lead but there role and discourse in the movie were especially when depicting sexuality. Women were not really treated as symbolic for sexuality; largely they played roles of young damsel in distress, however they shed significant amount of light on the strength of a womanââ¬â¢s to confront all her problems. The movies then followed a strict feministic theme and usually along with a female lead there were greedy and lustful antagonist that turned out to be the prime source of conflict in the movie plot. The commercial success of movies such as Dokhtar-e-Lor or the Lor Girl in 1933 showed the hardships and plight of a gypsy woman. Though the movie entailed strong factual errors and numerous directorial flaws but the heroic tale of Golonar, the Lor Girl became an instant success on an international front. The main protagonist was played by an Iranian singer and the movie propagated a progressive image of the Iranian society that the Shah wanted to establish. The plot of the movies largely revolved around the domestic problems of women and since their roles in the society was rather limited. (Lahiji, 2011) However, once the Islamic revolution had taken place the Iranian society became largely misogynistic in their practices. There was hardly any freedom given to the female population and at this point womenââ¬â¢s participation in theater and films rapidly declined as it was compulsory for women to wear hijab and they were unable to step out of their houses without their ââ¬Å"mahramââ¬â¢, which is a collective term for a womanââ¬â¢s male relative such as husband, brother or father. One of the main drawbacks that occurred as a result of this practice was prostitution, a problem that was further exacerbated by the Iran-Iraq war. (Donmez-Colin, 2004, p.155-170 & Dabashi, 2001, p. 7) Since most of the male members of the family had gone to war, women had no choice but to suppor t their families by resorting to prostitution. In a country governed according to religious guidelines, though prostitution dealings are done from behind a veil but all these elements are pretty rampant in Iran. Iranian women are the prime victims of domestic and marital violence. Not only on a domestic front but women have to endure great atrocities especially the criminal justice and correctional system for women is often labeled as being ruthless. Women prisoners live in awful conditions and are treated like animals. They are often subjected to brutal physical and sexual abuse, during the Khomeini era any virgin prisoner on a death row
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
The world has become increasingly more militarized Essay
The world has become increasingly more militarized - Essay Example 32). The ever rising military expenditures on the war against terrorism groups such as Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah has led to many stakeholders such as scholars, economists, diplomats, human rights groups and international organisations to question the rationale, causes, implications and consequences of these expenditures on the world (Ricolfi, 2005, P. 129). Although increased military expenditures on rebel and terror groups has been evident since historical times, the emergence of the current trends of rising military expenditures in anti-terrorism crusades could be traced to the 9/11/2001 terror attacks on the United Stated of Americaââ¬â¢s Twin Towers. It is after these Al-Qaeda masterminded attacks on the United States that the idea of ââ¬ËGlobal War on Terror (GWOT) became prominent (Wright, 2006, P. 159). Since these and later attacks on U.S interests elsewhere in the world, military expenditures on the war against terrorism have been exponentially increasing (Lustick, 2006, P. 217). The GWOT initiative has been particularly influential in shaping military spending trends, with a reported annual increase of 5% between 2001 and 2006 (Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, 2008, P. 271). In fact, in the six years preceding the Al-Qaeda masterminded attacks in New York, an annual increase of 0.4% on military spending had been reported with the United States has being identified to account for nearly half the military expenditures against terrorism in the entire world (Sturr, 2006, P. 97). For instance, for the United States along, there was a reported 53% increase in terrorism-related military expenditures in the five years preceding the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda (Ranstorp, 2009, P. 119). In fact, according to the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) approximates that based on the size of troops deployed in operational areas, the total cost of GWOT is likely to reach between $1.2 trillion and $1.17 trilli on by 2017 (Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, 2008, P. 89).This paper thus explores the assertion that the increased military spending on the war against terro
Monday, September 23, 2019
Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1
Scenario - Essay Example Their complaint is that the cops usually arrest them and leave the jerks who are usually with them. In this case, the jerks are their customers who are men. It does not make sense to them, and the observers that the police do not arrest the men given that some of the men are married and therefore leaves their wives foe the prostitutes. One of the criminology theory applicable to this scenario is the rational choice theory (Akers & Sellers, 2009). In this theory, the assumptions that relate it to the social cause of crime is that of individualism. The law breakers look at themselves as individuals, and they have to utilize their time to maximise their opportunities. The maximization of individual opportunity is usually driven by the self-interest that individuals have. The reason why this theory is applicable in this scenario is because of the selfish nature of the prostitutes who chooses to go to the street to for the personal benefits of acquiring money from men without considering the fact that some men are married (Akers & Sellers, 2009). In the public perspective, the social crime committed by the prostitute is a social device to the society. It is a society that advocate the proper social behaviour that only married men and women should participate in the sexual activity. The society also advocates for the proper use of sex that is for procreation. This is most-encouraged activity for the sexual tool. The prostitutes use the sexual tool as money making machine. They are also out there to tame some married men to be their customers. Since the society has put some guidelines about a family that states that the sexual satisfaction must be obtained from their legally married wives, prostitution tends to denounce this legality (Akers & Sellers, 2009). The punishment that accompanies this crime is usually short. This is because the law keepers do not see it as a big crime that need long term jail. This is because the police usually try to disrupt them from
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Born For Liberty by Sara M. Evans Essay Example for Free
Born For Liberty by Sara M. Evans Essay The Introduction part of the book Born for Liberty by Sara M. Evans is the written path of being informed of the History of Women in America. As it is mentioned in the first few pages of this book, there is a lack of information that we need to fill in ourselves. We have all heard from many historians specially, that our World cannot take the right direction if it finds its past obscured and hard to be seen! I believe a lot of things are connected to each other, and history is one of the most relevant part of our globe and the reason being is because we depend on what our ancestors had been through! The fact that I am using the word depend might confuse you by giving you the wrong idea! In the past, there have been a lot of wonderful, but without forgetting to mention the not so pretty moments that people have lived years ago! Historians are the ones who are willing to examine and study the roots of out life in order to offer us the opportunity to improve our chances of the event that might happen again as it usually does when there are pieces of the puzzle missing! We learn from what had happened to our ancestors, and this way we figure out something else that should improve our life, and diminishing the chances of something ugly to happen again! I guess, all of us know that there has been an abundance of distinct wars in many different countries, and as the years are going by we are reducing the numbers of wars around the world and that is because we learned from the others mistakes! Now going back to the main topic, the history of Women in America, there is a great deal to talk about! Everybody, even my little sister can notice that women are kind of excluded from our History and it has always been that way till now! There was always this vision we had in our minds, that there was always a HE rather than a SHE! We always viewed women as weak creatures designed only for housework, and offering pleasure to the man she stands by! If you have noticed, the fairy tails and the other old stories we have heard during the years we grew, there was always the prince, the hero, the superman, etc! Well, I think it is time for us to have a look at the female part of the world and try to accept their accomplishments during the years that have passed! Women were always excluded from most formal public roles, and as the years passed they learned how to be heard and Sara M. Evansà supports really well this idea by giving a good example of this that is mentioned in the introduction part of the book when it says: The most extreme example is the women of Salem, Massachusetts; as accused witches, accusers, and witnesses, these women held an entire colony in thrall for months (Evans 4). There have also been feminist historians who have dedicated their lives primarily to clear the bad opinion people saved relating to women. Now it is more than obvious and lucid that women have really shaped the broader history and they have given it the flavor it lacked back then! They were the ones who helped to solve the uncountable problems the government had with the immigrants, the ethnic problems and the other ones that would still be present if it wasnt for the intellectual women who set goals to themselves! This is what Sara M. Evans is trying to explain in her book Born For Liberty!
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Cox container case Essay Example for Free
Cox container case Essay Problem Identification: There are quite a good number of problems in the case of CCC, among of which one can define, are the following: 1- Job security for the ethnic minorities who run the workshop for years, while being empowered in the age of Harold Cox, they felt threatened by the introduction of the new management system, that was reflected by the defensive attitude of Aziz and his lack of cooperation which also can be the reaction of being marginalized by Wilson while conducting the company review. 2- Lack of managerial training, which was reflected on how Aziz perceives his job as a shop floor manager whose first and utmost concern, is to deliver production no matter what the outside environment is. 3- Market introduction of new competitors, which dictates the need of full review of the operations, budgeting, supply chain and labor competency. Hence introducing more bureaucracy to the current system and might limit the power of Aziz and his team. 4- The centralization and individuality of Harold Cox in running the company helped the creation of a divisionalized structure and culture as well as developing a high degree of autonomy in the production department and a shallow hierarchy especially in the financial and management accounting area. Analysis: The main reason why Cox asked Wilson to conduct a company review is to get the company moving forward, such an act could have been shared with department managers, despite Wilsonââ¬â¢s conclusions, strategies must be compromises that allow the company to move forward (Johnson, 1992). Johnson also argued that Strategic drift takes many years to affect performance, which validates the happening of the falling results of CCC, such a performance made Cox ask Wilson to conduct the review. The resistance to change that Aziz showed can be explained via the framework of Herzberg (1987) at which he argued that job security, as part of the hygiene factors can be a source of job satisfaction and motivation. Despite belittling the effect of hygiene factors on the subject, he did not address such an issue ââ¬Å"job securityâ⬠on a minority member. Such a factor can be more important than others whether intrinsic or extrinsic since minority members would possess the feeling of fear of losing their jobs and being expelled by the society and not finding another job. Adding the job status of Aziz would add further complexities to the situation as well. The introduction of budgeting and operation optimization without consulting the shop floor manager while he represents the core business of the company could have affected his motivation. These new systems would influence the type of the work that can be done in the shop floor greatly and would change Aziz from a decision maker in his part with all the autonomy and credibility he has to just a regular employee that manages what the new system dictates. Such change would affect Azizââ¬â¢s motivation to contribute to the new system as discussed by Leavitt (2007). Leavitt argues that the increased bureaucracy and the rigid system turns employees into machines performing the work without thinking, and that would be against the human nature that tends to think and innovate. He also argues that the introduction of IT systems and technologies would be harmful to humans in the work place especially if companies abuse them. He however managed to argue the point from the employee point of view without mentioning the companies perspective at which standardization and new technologies raises the efficiency and performance of the companies and can allocate resources to new departments or new functions. If Aziz were opting the same perspective as à without having the picture cleared that this new system (budgeting and operations review) would benefit him as well as the company, he would tend to resist that change. In the framework of Herzberg (1987), job participation is one of the important myths to job or task enrichment. He emphasizes that giving the employees the big picture and giving them a feeling that they will determine in some measure what they will do in the job; would not be beneficial to the job. Wilson, Straw, Long and Pedder managed to do exactly this part. It would be against Azizââ¬â¢s benefit if he would resist correcting the situation of the company. He would seem wrong and would hurt himself and his career in CCC if he was explained the current situation and the competitive market condition and how is that affecting CCC and what are the measures needed in the next few weeks / years to correct the competitiveness of CCC. Aziz should have been offered the chance to contribute to the budgeting and even could have been appointed a task in suggesting the best production and budgeting scheme that would save the company time and money. Bassett-Jones Lloyed (2005) negated the approach of Herzberg and emphasized on the importance of employeeââ¬â¢s contribution to the job in order to grant satisfaction. By seeing their ideas being implemented without delays and with the approval of the manager that this idea will contribute to the best of the company, the employee will have a sense of ownership and commitment towards making the idea work. Ford, Ford, DAmelio (2008) stated that the resistance to change can be the cause of the managementââ¬â¢s actions themselves as they fail to develop trust. They failed to argue that in some cases, the employee(s) have their own agenda and they (employees) are the ones to trigger the resistance. The centralization of the decision making in CCC allowed the formation of a divisional company organization where Azizââ¬â¢s team form the major part of it. Having this high autonomy formed a specific organization culture perhaps that Aziz is indispensible and hence he is in control. Such a culture would cause Aziz to be reluctant to accept changes specially after CCC lost some of its competitiveness in the market for few years and yet no complain fromà Cox and/or the management. Meyers Martin (1987) suggest that as the organization structure form the organizationââ¬â¢s culture and beliefs, so does the leaders of the company. It can be noticed that Cox influenced the idea that the minorities in his company are indispensible, since they support him politically and socially because of their existence in CCC. It can also be noticed that Cox did the interactions with Aziz and the production team on a personal level and hence when changes were mandatory, Aziz opposed it because it did not come from Cox himself and such resistance will not be punished by Cox. It also can be noticed the degree of autonomy in the company when the budgeting scheme is needed, each manager submitted an estimate of expenditure not the actual amount spent the year before or the required budget needed based on the previous year expenditure and the business forecast for next year. The shallow pyramid of hierarchy especially in the management accounting and financial can explain such autonomy. The creation of the subgroup and hence the subculture allowed the lobbying in the production department to happen and to resist any change as long as it is not in their direct favor. Such collectiveness behavior was developed by the centralization of decision making by Cox and the high degree of autonomy he allowed for such a group. In his study, Polzer (2004) has concluded that subgroups and subcultures in organizations tend to have harmful effect on collective welfare that extends beyond the boundaries of this individualistic subgroup. In CCC case, if the production departmentââ¬â¢s employees feel threatened; they can trigger actions to stop that threat, such as calling for a strike or threating to collectively resign and hence hurt the company by stopping the production. They are well aware that hiring such a large number of employees in a short time will be deemed impossible especially with all the experience they have. Even if the job has high degree of analyzability and does not require specialists to perform it. Moreover, collective resignation would hurt the image of the company and would cause business to be lost to competition even if it is on a temporarily basis. Perhaps what triggered that defensive mechanism with this subgroup is the introduction of the outsiders even if they were completely in a differentà department. As proposed by Johnson (1992), introducing outsiders can help in managing the change since the outsider shall have a fresh view of the organization or the department that is undergoing the change. However, he did not mention how that would affect the change recipients themselves and how far would they accept the outsider. He also did not identify if the outsider came from inside the organization (i.e. internal transfer) or from outside the organization and what difference would that make. Alternatives: So, what would CCC management do to resolve the current situation? 1. Do Nothing. The benefits of calming down the current situation and the production department are to ensure the company is kept in operation. Although margins are dropping, the company is sill profitable. However, the disadvantages of this situation are more than its advantages. The operation department will tend to increase its power and influence on the company since now they felt powerful and indispensible, also, they might try to find another alternative or group together and establish another competing company and resign collectively which would put the company out of business. 2. Use a sacrifition sheep: Firing Aziz and the seniors in the production department and replacing them with other seniors from inside the department can be a solution to send a clear message to the rest of the crew that the change is happening regardless of the opposition. This can benefit CCC by establishing a clear strategy that the company is moving forward with the change and personnel have to choose. However, if it backfires, the company can lose too much and we can revert back to the scenario in solution No.1. 3. Driving changes smoothly and in the welfare of the production department: There is no doubt that political consideration has a major play in such situations and it can resolve lots of issues. By calling Aziz and the seniors in the department and explaining the change to them and how would introducing new budgeting system and/or new operation schemes would benefit the company as a whole and the department specifically; they would tend to comply with that change. Asking for their assistance would be a better solution than resisting the resistance. The situation can be transformed to the benefit of CCC if the production department personnel understand the current challenge and start to challenge the status quo themselves, knowing that what will be done will be reflected on their welfare. By adopting the DICE methodology explained by Sirkin Jackson (2005) to drive the changes as follow: I. Set the Duration of the transformation process with clear and concise milestones. Milestones keep goals tracked and in prospective, encouraging everyone to participate by some sort of recognition would help the process. II. Identify the required personnel and allocate tasks according to their capabilities and traits. That would keep the project Integrity intact and minimizes the risk of duration slippage and/or wrong interpretation of tasks and their requirements. III. Management participation and Commitment to the project as well as employees affected by the change. Management as well should demonstrate how these changes are going to change the welfare of employees and how committed they are to doing so. IV. It should be clarified that each and everyone concerned with this change process should be expected to exert an extra Effort until the transformation is completed. The managem ent should lead by example in this regard and make it clear that any extra effort exerted in this period shall be rewarded on both the long and short term. Recommendations: It is recommended to follow resolution No.3 above, since CCC is considered an SME not a corporate and since they are bound to the acceptance of the strongest department to change. Moreover, this resolution addressed the concerns discussed in the study above which mainly are the job security, motivation, job enrichment of the employees while helping in changing the company culture on the long run by getting the employees to exert extra effort and see their ideas come to live, that would develop a sense of belonging to the company which will benefit the company on the long run. Also, that approach would strengthen the concept that the company is willing to accommodate their employees and work out the changes with them for the best interest of both parties. Plan of actions: Harold Cox, Erica Wilson along with all the company seniors should demonstrate participation and ownership of the change process. It was not aà good idea to leave the interaction being led by the new appointee(s) considering the company culture. The involvement of the top management whose faces are familiar with the production team would ease the effect of the change and indicate that the change are being driven from within not that the outsiders are taking over the company. Depending on the change required; the process duration should be set. Would the management desire only a cost control and lean operations concepts to be implemented or they would require production enhancements by increasing the throughput of the company? Would they procure new technology, which would require training, installation and production scheme change? Would they introduce differentiation either horizontally or vertically to the current products? The easiest change to start with is to introduce cost control and operation optimization associated with achieving the minimum efficient scale of the factory and then drives another change. Driving a major change at once would again be resisted. Mainly the production department would be affected, other departments too, such as financial and management accounting. The latters would be expected to drive the major portion of cost control through supply chain optimization. Introducing operations management department would also help enhancing the operations of the whole company and helping the company to slim the inefficient operations in all departments. It would be expected that some side effects such as additional expenses would follow as sort of rewards to the contributors in the change process to encourage the participation. Also, production lag would occur until the change process is finalized, that could be due to shop floor adjustments or personnel getting accustomed to the new change in the production process, hence, it would be a good idea if the company could produce some reserve capacity to cover this aspect. Bibliography Bassett-Jones, N., Lloyed, G. C. (2005). Does Herzbergs motivation theory have staying power? Journal of management development , 24 (10). Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., DAmelio, A. (2008). Resistance t change: The rest of the story. The academey of management review , 33 (2), 362-377. Herzberg, F. (1987, September). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review . Johnson, G. (1992). Managing strategic change strategy, culture and action. Long Range Planning , 25 (1), 28-36. Leavitt, H. J. (2007). Big organizations are unhealthy environment for human beings. Academy of management learning education , 6 (2), 253-263. Meyers, D., Martin, J. (1987). CULTURAL CHANGE: AN INTEGRATION OF THREE DIFFERENT VIEWS. journal of Management Studies , 24 (6), 623-647. Polzer, J. T. (2004). How Subgroup Interests and Reputations Moderate the Effect of Organizational Identification on Cooperation . Journal of Management , 30, 71-96. Sirkin, H. L., Jackson, A. (2005, October). The hard side of change management. Harvard Business Review , 33-47.
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