Business report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Business report - Essay Example Likewise, Reebok-CCM Hockey is one of the planet's biggest originators, makers and advertisers of ice hockey gear and identified clothing with two of the planet's most prevalent hockey mark names: Reebok Hockey and CCM. This report provides valuable information about the company’s current Status and future opportunities for improvement (MarketLine, 2013, p.ND). Current Status Leveraging solid mark portfolio to create a vigorous retail foot shaped impression The association is leveraging its marks to create an in number retail presence and increment benefit edges by expanding retail bargains as a rate of aggregate bargains. The association's divide of own-retail has developed significantly and at present Adidas works 2,401 stores for the Adidas and Reebok marks worldwide. So as to guarantee fitting combination and presentation at the purpose of deal, the association either operates its stores itself (own-retail and e-business forms) or works together with its wholesale friends for example mono-marked establishment stores, shop-in-shops, joint steps and co-marked stores. To further improve its retail operations, Adidas has a midway crew which works nearly with the association's business sector conglomerations to drive the exhibition of the Adidas and Reebok retail operations worldwide. With a specific end goal to further develop its retail foot shaped impression, the association plans to open around 100 to 150 Adidas and Rebook stores and rebuild around 180 stores throughout FY2012. Adidas' solid mark portfolio and improved retail presence empower less demanding client review and encourage it to drive topline development and further bolstering accomplish aggressive good fortune over its companions. Keep tabs on exploration and infrastructure has helped ceaseless advancement of new features Adidas gives critical resources and thoughtfulness regarding item growth, process innovation and buyer understanding research to improve items with imaginative and notab le characteristics for its two marks: Adidas and Reebok. Indeed, in demanding the earth, the association kept up its speculation on R&D. Adidas used E115 million ($160.1 million) on R&D in FY2011, an increment of 13% over FY2010 (Borowski, 2011). The Adidas Innovation Team is answerable for the growth of new advances and thoughts in all key item classifications for the Adidas mark. The crew is partitioned into aggregations that concentrate on attire, footwear and fittings, inside which there are single feature centre classifications like ball, football (soccer), American football or cross-class venture regions for example clever items or vigour administration frameworks (padding innovations). Notwithstanding its inward R&D undertakings, Adidas likewise acquires a constrained measure of R&D dexterity from generally made exploration friends, incorporating University of Loughborough (England), the University of Calgary (Canada), the University of Michigan (the US), the University of Er langen-Nuremberg and the University of Freiburg (Germany), and also Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan). This methodology permits a more stupendous adaptability and quicker access to know-how as contrasted with significant time and assets needed if advanced inside the association. Throughout 2011, Adidas likewise banded together with

Motivation in Educational Institutes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Motivation in Educational Institutes - Essay Example And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither. For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man. And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth. The profesion of teaching has had far more impact on development of a society than most people realise. After parents, the teacher is the most important person in the toddler's life. This interaction forms the foundation for the future life of the child, as to how he or she will contribute to the betterment of the society when he grows up to be an adult. With such an important role to play in lives of the future citizens of a nation, neither parents nor a country can afford to take chances. If a teacher is motivated, he or she can turn around the very lives of the children who come into their contact. This author has personal experiences with some such teachers, who actually turned life upside down in a short period of few years spent with them in a school. However, in today's context, thin budgets, materialistic lifestyles and big fat payscales available for other jobs have made teaching a last resort for most professions. In these circumstances, the teacher cannot be expected to stay motivated enough towards his students, and a good teacher is always an exception than rule. Under these circumstances, the administration has no choice but to evolve ways and means to increase motivation levels of teachers so that they can perform their jobs upto required levels of competencies without compromising the future of the the very students they are entrusted with. AIM This paper aims at bringing out some novel ways of improving motivation levels of teachers in modern educational institutions. BACKGROUND THEORIES Those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well. - Aristotle During past few decades, most governments and local schools have enacted some plans to recruit, reward, and retain the best teachers. Merit pay and career ladders were intended to provide financial incentives, varied work, and advancement opportunities for seasoned teachers. These, along with across-the-board pay raises, work environment premiums for difficult assignments, and grants or sabbaticals for research and study, were expected to improve teacher performance and motivation. Things did not move as expected and motivation levels of teachers continue to concern authorities even now. Additional aspects given due consideration were the historical contexts, factors affecting them internally and externally, and how new opportunities are devised for better motivation of teachers. - www.osba.org/lrelatns/teacherq/motivate.htm According to Johnson (1986), motivation aspects of teachers can be improved by three theories: Expectancy theory. Individuals are more likely to strive in their work if there is an anticipated reward that they value, such as a bonus or a promotion, than if there is none. It is true that monetary compensation is still the most important motivator in the present times. Teachers also belong to the same society as any other professional; have same dreams about lifestyles and the life they want to

Think Global, Act Local Agenda

Think Global, Act Local Agenda In this assignment, I will present my views on Think global, act local by giving different examples from different companies. Globalization means developing standardized products marketed world wide with a standardized marketing mix, Essence of mass marketing. Global localization means mixing standardization and adaptation/ customization in a way that minimizes costs while maximizing customer. Product adaptation means customer tests differ, inadequate customer purchasing power, Poor maintenance standards, Local labour costs, General level of technical skills and Product standardization these are the main factors of Think global, act local agenda. 2. Executive Summary :- As example if we see Honda company worlds largest motorcycle Company since 1948 by Soichiro Honda. It produces a broad variety of products ranging from scooters to sports car, and remains on the important edge by providing products of the highest quality that generate new values, at a reasonable price, for international customer satisfaction. In addition, the company also produces cleaner. In its aim to protect the environment, Honda has long-lasting their line up of mixture models, by hire of Japan and the United States of the FCX, which is fuel cell vehicle developed in -house, incorporating the companys inventive next-generation fuel cell stack. Honda increased its sales by introducing new models in the light truck sector in the China, United Status and Europe. Honda responding to the high requires of diesel-powered vehicles, and continues to make bigger and achieve remarkable development with the high profile of the Honda brand. As mentioned, Honda has a huge number of suppliers. Honda continually builds and maintains their relationship for the profit of the company and the consumers. This relationship also leads to supplier development, in terms of perceiving their work and in doing business with Honda. 3. Body Paragraphs :- 3.1 ) Resources Required for Globalisation : Excess capacity : Financial Physical Knowledge Resources 3.2 ) Concept of Think global, act local : There are lots of new things that company have to do to be stable in competitive global environment. People who works in company must be give confidence to become more practical and more globally oriented. Global purchaser must be met at their home local, to find out specific local needs. And the company must respond by adapting products to meet those local requirements. In present situation, markets are global, and the resources to serve those markets have to be global. The companies those are able to design globally for contracted local requirements will produce their growth and success. Presently, customer in different parts of the world doesnt want unfocused products, but rather, products that meet their basic needs. The vision of Honda includes Value Creation and sets them apart from other companies by following their beliefs. It aims to focus on the customer, being artistic, respecting fresh ideas and considerate that change is good. Hondas philosophy is different from other companies. It is based on the concept of the challenging spirit in the company chief. It intends to maintain an international viewpoint, in dedication to supplying products of the highest capability at a reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction. This goal of Honda is achieved by setting high expectations for its suppliers. This viewpoint is being perpetuated by evaluating the total cost of their product, improving its excellence by extensive research and cooperation and focusing on the needs of their customers. 3.2 ) Examples of Think global, act local : In March 2000 Douglas Daft, CEO of coca-cola, announced that the next big evolutionary step for the company would be going limited. Coca-Cola popular all over the world and became global company at a time when the market was challenging greater flexibility, responsiveness and local sensitivity. Coke is instituting a strategy of Think local, act global by putting bigger decision making in the hands of confined of local managers. MC Donalds corporation is the major chain of fast-food restaurant in the world. MC Donalds specializes in hamburgers, French fries, and soft drinks. MC Donalds is famed in 119 countries of the world. The method which used by MC Donalds in entering overseas market was Think global, act local describes the aim which MC Donalds follow in overseas countries. For example, in Germany, some MC Donalds outlets offer beer to adult customer. A Maggi noodle is a brand instant noodle pretend by nestle. The brand is popular in India, South Africa, Brazil, Nepal, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and the Philippines etc. It is also known as magi mee. Maggi noodles are part of the Maggie family. A Nestle brand produces immediate soups, stocks, and noodles with more than 15 flavours in stock. It is widely tasted well-liked is Original Maggie flavour. It is still one of the most extensively eaten flavours of Maggi. There are some other flavours like Chicken, Cheese, Ata, Rice, Masala and Tomato which are very accepted. In fact in India Maggi Noodles is recognized as a sort of products known as Instant noodles. Starbucks is a global company of coffee chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Starbucks is the biggest coffeehouse company in the world. There are 17,133 stores in 49 countries. Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, coffee beans, salads, hot and cold sandwiches, pastry, snacks, and items such as mugs and tumblers. From Starbucks beginning in later forms in Seattle as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer. The company grow rapidly. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store all over workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. Starbucks has been a target of protests on issues such as fair-trade policies, labour, relation, ecological collision, political views, and anti-competitive practices. These are the different companies examples which followed Think global, act local strategy and by the time they become popular globally. These companies researched local cultures needs, test and they modify their product according them so these companies become popular world wide. There are so many companies in the market which follows this agenda and growing by the time. 3.3 ) Global Strategy : The company chooses to treat the different markets in the whole world as a single market, with the postulation that consumers in different countries are similar regardless of the geographical locator and the culture. Global strategy is a translation of the concept of standardization of marketing strategy across different markets around the world. But the culture differences between countries and the existence of country specific factors must not be ignored by the company. Hence, adaptation is still necessary for effective global. Therefore Think global, act local is suitable. A global strategy makes no distinction (that is, standardization) between domestic and foreign markets. The global marketing company treats all the target markets of the world on an equi-distance basis. This is a geocentric orientation. 3.4 ) Benefits Of Global Strategy : Use of the global strategy levers can achieve one or more of four major categories of potential globalisation benefits: Cost reductions Improved quality of products and programs Enhanced customer preference Increased competitive leverage 3.5 ) Localization : Localization is the procedure of adapting a product to a particular language, culture, and desired local look-and-feel. Ideally, a creation is developed so that localization is easy to achieve- for example, MC Donalds serves only non-vegetarian is available all over the world but still in India MC Donalds serves vegetarian. This is called localization. Internationalized manufactured goods are easier to localize. In localizing a product, in addition to natural language translation, such detail as time zones, money, national holidays, local colour sensitivities, product, gender roles, and geographic examples must all be considered. A productively localized service or product is one that appears to have been developed within the local culture. 3.6) Standardization : A marketing strategy that is standardized for use throughout the world by customers feedback and response. The strategy assumes that the behaviour of many consumers in the world has become very similar, so general positive things which is most likely attract the all customers they have to critical analyse and take care so that the demand of product will increase and thats the reason these days the every organization have its own research and development (RD) department so that after the customer feedback they will try to maintain the product standards and modify as per their suggestions and feedbacks. 3.7) Adaptation : The adaptation strategy is actually different components of their marketing strategies in foreign markets compared with their domestic markets and how such adaptation decisions influence the firms competitive positions and performance in global markets. It also helps to conceptualize that adaptation of a marketing-mix component is a determined process that is influenced by a firms pervious history of adaptation strategy, and they investigate the significance of that marketing-mix component to the firms success. The adaptation process helps also define a firms competitive advantage, which in turn affects its performance in the foreign market and globalization markets. This also increases the productivity and demand of the product. 3.8) The Four Drivers Of Global Marketing : Fall in tariffs (import taxes) and removal of non-tariff trade barrier (quota/maximum import quantity) encourage more exporters around the world to market their goods overseas. E.g. WTO ( World Trade Organization) encourages import and export trade among countries. Competition expands beyond national boundaries (within one country) to global competition as each exporting competition seeks a bigger market. Consumers needs across the globe have increasingly become more similar. For example, more consumers in Asia need Korean products like movies, TV shows, music videos, cars, food, etc Investment by a company in I.T. (Information Technology) to produce products is more economically viable for products that are marketed globally. It is simple too costly for a company to use expensive I.T. in production just to market the product in one country (domestic market) E.g. Producing the Hollywood movie Avatar that was a hot worldwide. 3.9) The Factors Which Competitive Strength : The application of latest technology. The contribution to total profit margin. The ability to effectively conduct market. The service quality of distribution channels. The quality of the product and related services. The extent to which the product fit the needs of customer. The positioning and image building of the products. 3.10) Factors Which Make a Potential Foreign Market : Favourable economic conditions. Promising market growth potential. Stable political situation. Total market size is sufficiently large. There is limited or no competition at present. Rules and regulations set by the local government are acceptable to the company. There is no strong barrier to entry in to the foreign market. 4. Conclusion :- In conclusion, I would like to conclude that the globalisation, based upon a multicultural mixture of diverse groups and social movements. It is reshaping the world. Public relation professionals need to prepare to work globally. Support globally and understand the big global picture. Globalisation renders extraneous traditional borders, boundaries and marketplace definitions for most businesses and non-profit. If the local markets getting better and better in operations that ultimately effect globally, so the general perspective from all the mentioned above examples like MC Donalds, Coca-cola, Maggie, Starbucks etc they work on Think global act local strategy which makes them a top rent in their respective categories like food, cold-drinks etc.

US Foreign and Defence Policies Essay -- Politics International Relati

US Foreign and Defence Policies Within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists - a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values†¦ I reject this choice. President Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize Remarks, 10 December 2009 Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. grand strategy has revolved around maintaining this country's overwhelming military, economic, and political preponderance. However America is changing, President Barack Obama is shifting American foreign policy from its historical norms based on exceptionalism, isolation, and bipartisanship. President Obama has asserted; that the United States will us its economic and military power as a stabilizing influence; that America will multilaterally engage other world partners to solve security, economic, financial, and environmental problems; and he will become a post partisan President bridging the party divide in foreign policy ideology. Thus, President Obama has reconceptualised US foreign policy resulting in a grand redefinition, an ideological shift, which will realign America role in the world. When we examine Obama’s foreign policy from a perspective of exceptionalism, we see a departure from the US historical understanding of its role. The United States of American has a long believed that is a unique nation, a nation that was created and developed differently, a nation unlike any other in the world, a nation that is blessed by God, a nation that is exceptional. The US has firmly held to exceptional view that they are the dominant defenders of democracy, liberty, freedom, equality, and capitalism. Traditionally because of its mi... ...07): 71-83. DeConde, Alexander. Isolation and security: ideas and interests in twentieth-century American foreign policy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1957. McCormick, John. "American Exceptionalism: The Implications for Europe." Journal of Transatlantic Studies Vol 3, no. 2 (Autumn 2005): 200-205, 213-214. Obama, Barack. "President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address." The Whitehouse. January 20, 2009. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-barack-obamas-inaugural-address (accessed Novemeber 16, 2010). —. "Remarks by the President at the Acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize." The Whitehouse. December 10, 2009. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-acceptance-nobel-peace-prize (accessed November 16, 2010). Schwarz, Benjamin, and Christopher Layne. "A New Grand Strategy." Atlantic Monthly 289, no. 1 (January 2002): 36-42.

Sugar Cane Alley

Alexandra Mitchell Dr. Lamont King GAFST 200 November 30, 2010 Sugar Cane Alley Jose understands at a young age that in order to escape the indentured life of working in a sugar cane plantation like his ancestors before him, he must do something different. In the classroom, Jose is a very bright student as seen through his peers and especially his professor who eventually helped Jose get into a prestigious school because of his academic excellence. He assures his grandmother who is his sole provider and family that one day she’ll no longer have to work tirelessly in the sugar cane plantation.Jose dreams of taking work in a more profitable and higher field then the plantation his community is chained to all being done by attaining a high education. Through the life of a plantation worker and the ones seen in Van Onselen’s article as a migration worker, slavery may have been abolished, but their freedom is severely limited. At the end of the film, the plantation workers w ere singing a song and one line of its lyrics clearly summed up what is needed to end the forced monetary economy many of the African Americans are trapped in, â€Å"Money and justice are what’s needed to end our suffering. In his article titled, â€Å"Social Control in the Compounds,† Van Onselen does a good job portraying the hard lives of the Chibaro people working in a nearby mine plantation. These workers paralleled the lives of the ones working in the sugar cane plantation where they were both trapped and limited in their freedom. They were oppressed under the proletarian labor economy that made it difficult to move up in the labor field and many were financially indentured to their plantation living day-by-day and paycheck-to-paycheck.This system made it extremely hard for the African Americans to move around and find better work somewhere else. There was almost total control over the labor and the whole idea of this widespread control was to lengthen its cycle . There were laws passed, credits to pay off, and the inflation of food prices making it a widely controlled monopoly. One law called for labor contracts detailing what was needed of the workers and many were paid by tokens or coupons that proved useless outside the plantation which in turn lengthened the workers time spent at one location.Many Chibaro workers as cited in his article couldn’t even pay off simple life necessities such as groceries, which forced them to have credit further lengthening their stay at each plantation. Many times the communities only had one grocery store, so for more control, the labor industry would inflate the prices making it nearly impossible for the people to be out of debt and even able to leave their workplace in search of more prominent work availabilities.For example, in the movie, a woman and her family couldn’t afford her groceries so she asked the clerk to put it on their tab which would need to be paid off making their stay per manent until they were free from debt. But this proved impossible to clear debt, because a worker’s paycheck given by the tightly controlled economy never amounted to what a family needed to get by. Mr. Mdeouze acts as a mentor and he opens Jose’s eyes to the corrupt society and how it in some ways mirrors the past.Although they are free from slavery, their freedom is limited by the labor-controlled economy making any further progress beyond the abolishment of slavery nearly impossible, â€Å"†¦we were free but our bellies were empty. † Mr. Mdeouze does although make one factor clear to Jose and that is the distinct value of education the power it has. The wise old man cited the life of a free African American man working on the sugar cane plantation perfectly when mentoring young Jose, â€Å"learning is second key that opens to our freedom. He is traditional in that he doesn’t believe that he’s a free man and reiterates that he won’t return to Africa until he’s dead and buried. Jose learns through Mr. Mdeouze that Africa has yet to return to it’s roots and white power is still perceived to be the dominant race in it’s every attempt to control all aspects of the African American life and still hold their power to utilize them for hard labor. Leopold is a young mulatto living amongst the plantation and is the son of the white landowner of the Sugar Cane plantation.When his father falls ills and is on his deathbed, he refuses to pass down his position to Leopold with the explanation of it being a white man’s job and not one of a Mulatto. Leopold lived in his family’s nice home with his African mother then denying the African roots in him by his family’s societal stance. By not allowing Leopold to inherit the plantation as a legitimate landowner, this then denies also the white man roots in him.Therefore by being rejected by both sides of the race spectrum unsurprisingly lea d to the demise of Leopold. He found himself hopeless in terms of his identity and in mounds of trouble as seen at the end of the movie. I believe Leopold’s fate was inevitable because he was rejected and out casted in his own community and no longer had an adequate place in society. The tightly controlled labor economy in the early twentieth century made African American’s freedom severely limited.There were all but few ways to escape this corruptly controlled monetary system, but one way was through attaining a higher education as learned by young Jose. He quickly discovered that education can provide him with more work opportunities and a better life all together. In summary, as seen through the movie and read in the article by Van Onselen, there still seemed to remain obvious elements of slavery in the lives of plantation and mine African American workers even after slavery had been long abolished. Sugar Cane Alley Alexandra Mitchell Dr. Lamont King GAFST 200 November 30, 2010 Sugar Cane Alley Jose understands at a young age that in order to escape the indentured life of working in a sugar cane plantation like his ancestors before him, he must do something different. In the classroom, Jose is a very bright student as seen through his peers and especially his professor who eventually helped Jose get into a prestigious school because of his academic excellence. He assures his grandmother who is his sole provider and family that one day she’ll no longer have to work tirelessly in the sugar cane plantation.Jose dreams of taking work in a more profitable and higher field then the plantation his community is chained to all being done by attaining a high education. Through the life of a plantation worker and the ones seen in Van Onselen’s article as a migration worker, slavery may have been abolished, but their freedom is severely limited. At the end of the film, the plantation workers w ere singing a song and one line of its lyrics clearly summed up what is needed to end the forced monetary economy many of the African Americans are trapped in, â€Å"Money and justice are what’s needed to end our suffering. In his article titled, â€Å"Social Control in the Compounds,† Van Onselen does a good job portraying the hard lives of the Chibaro people working in a nearby mine plantation. These workers paralleled the lives of the ones working in the sugar cane plantation where they were both trapped and limited in their freedom. They were oppressed under the proletarian labor economy that made it difficult to move up in the labor field and many were financially indentured to their plantation living day-by-day and paycheck-to-paycheck.This system made it extremely hard for the African Americans to move around and find better work somewhere else. There was almost total control over the labor and the whole idea of this widespread control was to lengthen its cycle . There were laws passed, credits to pay off, and the inflation of food prices making it a widely controlled monopoly. One law called for labor contracts detailing what was needed of the workers and many were paid by tokens or coupons that proved useless outside the plantation which in turn lengthened the workers time spent at one location.Many Chibaro workers as cited in his article couldn’t even pay off simple life necessities such as groceries, which forced them to have credit further lengthening their stay at each plantation. Many times the communities only had one grocery store, so for more control, the labor industry would inflate the prices making it nearly impossible for the people to be out of debt and even able to leave their workplace in search of more prominent work availabilities.For example, in the movie, a woman and her family couldn’t afford her groceries so she asked the clerk to put it on their tab which would need to be paid off making their stay per manent until they were free from debt. But this proved impossible to clear debt, because a worker’s paycheck given by the tightly controlled economy never amounted to what a family needed to get by. Mr. Mdeouze acts as a mentor and he opens Jose’s eyes to the corrupt society and how it in some ways mirrors the past.Although they are free from slavery, their freedom is limited by the labor-controlled economy making any further progress beyond the abolishment of slavery nearly impossible, â€Å"†¦we were free but our bellies were empty. † Mr. Mdeouze does although make one factor clear to Jose and that is the distinct value of education the power it has. The wise old man cited the life of a free African American man working on the sugar cane plantation perfectly when mentoring young Jose, â€Å"learning is second key that opens to our freedom. He is traditional in that he doesn’t believe that he’s a free man and reiterates that he won’t return to Africa until he’s dead and buried. Jose learns through Mr. Mdeouze that Africa has yet to return to it’s roots and white power is still perceived to be the dominant race in it’s every attempt to control all aspects of the African American life and still hold their power to utilize them for hard labor. Leopold is a young mulatto living amongst the plantation and is the son of the white landowner of the Sugar Cane plantation.When his father falls ills and is on his deathbed, he refuses to pass down his position to Leopold with the explanation of it being a white man’s job and not one of a Mulatto. Leopold lived in his family’s nice home with his African mother then denying the African roots in him by his family’s societal stance. By not allowing Leopold to inherit the plantation as a legitimate landowner, this then denies also the white man roots in him.Therefore by being rejected by both sides of the race spectrum unsurprisingly lea d to the demise of Leopold. He found himself hopeless in terms of his identity and in mounds of trouble as seen at the end of the movie. I believe Leopold’s fate was inevitable because he was rejected and out casted in his own community and no longer had an adequate place in society. The tightly controlled labor economy in the early twentieth century made African American’s freedom severely limited.There were all but few ways to escape this corruptly controlled monetary system, but one way was through attaining a higher education as learned by young Jose. He quickly discovered that education can provide him with more work opportunities and a better life all together. In summary, as seen through the movie and read in the article by Van Onselen, there still seemed to remain obvious elements of slavery in the lives of plantation and mine African American workers even after slavery had been long abolished.

Adolescence Paper Essay

Adolescence is a period of socialization where children develop relationships outside of the family.   These relationships further fuel or enhance their perceptions of the world, their bonding with surrounding society members and their view of human interactions.   In an environment where there is a distant mother or absent father, where the child is found to have problems acting socially normal with other people, the person is defined as a deviant.   Not everyone who has been subjected to the above findings will go on to become a self-mutilator, but these types of adolescent girls are or have been defined by these terms. It becomes apparent then, that early childhood development is essential to creating an identity and furthermore to creating a sound human being who is not prone to acts of aggression.   In the theme of this paper, the concept of transgenderism will be discussed.   Although the theory of socialization is a very strong indicator of moral values and actions, it does not indicate sexual disposition.   The theories of biology are more aptly considered to be the reason for sexual persuasion, and in the argument for this paper, transgenderism will be proven to be biological, not psychological, or sociological. See more:  Capital budgeting essay The purpose in the role of a transgendered person is in the definition of identity.   It is any person’s right to discover their true self and to present that self to society.   The problem that society has with a transgendered person is that society is often times eluded by this identity.   Anything or anyone who defies definition, that cannot be exactly categorized, becomes a ‘problem’ in society.   However, where the discussion of this paper is concerned such a ‘problem’ is beyond its scope, thus, the issue of identity and the rejection of that identity by society will be discussed. First, a transgendered person is a person who defies a specific gender role.   Men are conditioned by society to not be a sissy, to be superior and tough.   As Tucker-Ladd states in his book Psychological Self-Help, â€Å"And, what makes a woman a â€Å"great catch?† What makes women sexy? A pretty face and a great body! Women compete on the basis of their looks. This may interfere with women’s motivation to achieve and be successful. Oprah recently asked young people which they would rather be: attractive or intelligent? An amazing percentage said attractive. What counts in this culture is how attractive you are, especially if you are a woman.† (2000). Thus, it would seem that a transgendered person would have the benefits of either gender, but this is not the case. Going back to the idea of identity, a transgendered person is both genders.   This does not however classify that person as a hermaphrodite which is being born with both sexes functional sexual organs.   A transgendered person has attributes of either sex, as their biological make-up pertaining to psychological contexts designs behavior.   Often times such an individual is a man who has, or who desires to be female, or vice versa. Although society has many sexual deviants in its subcultures, a transgendered person is not a transsexual, which is a specified gender dressing in the other gender’s clothes.   Instead, a transgendered identity pertains to defying or including to a smaller extent the gender assigned to them at birth.   Thus, the dualistic nature and the confusion of this, is the make-up of the transgender definition. Therefore, by the above stated definition of a transgendered person, they should be considered social deviants inasmuch as society fails to define this subculture.   The thesis of this paper rests upon the fact that a transgendered person does not choose that they are transgendered but instead, their psychological make-up adheres to one sex’s societal role definition more than the biological make-up.   Thus, although transgender is a defiance of biology, it is also a deviance of societal norms, as Sandy Stone states, Transgender is a term whose exact meaning is still in dispute, and I consider that a very healthy sign. The most widely accepted definition is that transgender includes everything not covered by our culture’s narrow terms â€Å"man† and â€Å"woman†. A partial list of persons who might include themselves in such a definition includes transsexuals (pre, post, and no-op); transvestites; cross dressers; persons with ambiguous genitalia; persons who have chosen to perform ambiguous social genders; and persons who have chosen to perform no gender at all (Stone, paragraph One). Against this idea that transgendered people are transgender due to psychology is the fact that often times the transgender definition includes (as stated by Stone) other social deviants whose identity is not guided by psychology but biology such as ambiguous genitals, or the people who choose a certain lifestyle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The argument of this paper is that choice is not a factor in determining transgendered people.   Instead, it is inherent in them, and is not under the guise of socialization, or biology.   The concept of choice is one which defies the rules of constructed psychology.   Along the same lines that a schizophrenic cannot choose their dementia or a serial killer their disposition to kill, so does the definition of a transgendered person escape choice. Thus, although Stone’s definition of a transgendered person is inclusive, it should not be so inclusive as to apply to these various subgroups of social deviants.   There is a difference between a transgendered person and a transsexual, transvestite, etc.   While some have to do with choice (transsexual), others have to do with complete changing of their sex (as in a transsexual).   A transgendered person is biologically one sex, and yet performs attitudes, functions, reactions and thoughts according to social definitions of the other gender’s role.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although culture has implications on the role of gender, the technicalities of which cannot be aptly portrayed in this essay.  Ã‚   It is however in this scope of this essay to mention that while biology caters to the transsexual, psychology is the format by which a transgendered person obtains their social role.   Although some contest to the fact of biology being a main component in transgender identity as Stone states, Social constructivists believe that both sex and gender arise in social interaction and have no existence independent of social interaction; i.e., they are not grounded in â€Å"nature†, the meaning of which is itself socially determined. The â€Å"constructedness† of sex and gender is made invisible by the normal workings of social life, so that they appear natural rather than artificial. Recent constructivist theory also points out that the idea of two absolute chromosomal sexes is also a social construction. Recall the film Alien 3, in which the inhabitants of the prison colony are all double-Y chromosomal; thus although they possess many of the secondary sexual characteristics of males, genetically they are not male, nor are they any other category for which we currently have a socially understood name (Stone, paragraph Six). The fact remains that a transgender person is born with appropriate body functions, and their chemical make-up is no different than other person’s with the same gender.   Therefore the reliance on psychology, not the function of sociology and the socialization of gender through cultural awareness, but the psychological components which determine if a person is a genius, serial killer, etc. are the same for finding the reason behind transgendered people. Work Cited Stone, S.   Transgender.   Online.   Accessed:   May 11, 2007.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   < http://sandystone.com/trans.html> Tucker-Ladd, Clayton, E.   Psychological Self-Help.   2000.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Free Essays on Homosexual

Homosexuality has been brought to society’s attention on more than one occasion, and still remains unresolved. The homosexual community should receive the same rights as the heterosexual community, but the laws relate to all of the society. By thoroughly researching the laws in relation to the homosexual community, it has been noticeable that homosexuals do not receive the same recognition as heterosexuals. Though same-sex relationship recognition in Canada has developed as a result of legislation, when dealing with benefits and adoption, homosexuals are still not granted full equality in regards to marriage. There have been many court casing which challenge the definition of â€Å"spouse†, Bills that have been passed, obligation and rights have been granted, yet still, full equality for homosexuals has not been obtained. While the society and the law are still discriminatory against the homosexual community, gays and lesbians have come along way, considering that people had once gone to jail for being a homosexual. Just over thirty years ago homosexuals were not even really classified as human, but â€Å"inhuman† , and â€Å"unnatural† (Fight for Gay Rights: Canada Timeline, 2001). Homosexual were once literally fighting for their freedom, and now homosexuals are fighting for the right to be legally married, and obtain all the benefits and obligations that opposite-sex couples share. There is a history to how homosexuals have been treated by the law in the past forty years, and it shows that homosexuals have gained a lot of equality in the past four decades. In 1965, a young homosexual, by the name of Everett Klippert acknowledged to the police that he was gay, and had sex with men over a 24-year period. In 1967 Everett Klipper was sent to jail and labelled as a â€Å"dangerous sex offender† (Fight fo! r Gay Rights: Canada Timeline, 2001). The sentence was backed up by the Supreme Court of Canada that same year. That same y... Free Essays on Homosexual Free Essays on Homosexual Homosexuality has been brought to society’s attention on more than one occasion, and still remains unresolved. The homosexual community should receive the same rights as the heterosexual community, but the laws relate to all of the society. By thoroughly researching the laws in relation to the homosexual community, it has been noticeable that homosexuals do not receive the same recognition as heterosexuals. Though same-sex relationship recognition in Canada has developed as a result of legislation, when dealing with benefits and adoption, homosexuals are still not granted full equality in regards to marriage. There have been many court casing which challenge the definition of â€Å"spouse†, Bills that have been passed, obligation and rights have been granted, yet still, full equality for homosexuals has not been obtained. While the society and the law are still discriminatory against the homosexual community, gays and lesbians have come along way, considering that people had once gone to jail for being a homosexual. Just over thirty years ago homosexuals were not even really classified as human, but â€Å"inhuman† , and â€Å"unnatural† (Fight for Gay Rights: Canada Timeline, 2001). Homosexual were once literally fighting for their freedom, and now homosexuals are fighting for the right to be legally married, and obtain all the benefits and obligations that opposite-sex couples share. There is a history to how homosexuals have been treated by the law in the past forty years, and it shows that homosexuals have gained a lot of equality in the past four decades. In 1965, a young homosexual, by the name of Everett Klippert acknowledged to the police that he was gay, and had sex with men over a 24-year period. In 1967 Everett Klipper was sent to jail and labelled as a â€Å"dangerous sex offender† (Fight fo! r Gay Rights: Canada Timeline, 2001). The sentence was backed up by the Supreme Court of Canada that same year. That same y...

The effect of temperature essays

The effect of temperature essays Temperature changes affect most of the biochemical and physiological processes on our planet (Campbell denaturation, it sharply decreases the rate of movement and becomes inactive or dead. In the same way, when the temperature comes close to absolute zero (0 K = -273.15 C), all rate of motion comes down to zero (Campbell ll examine the rate of activity through osmosis, enzyme activity, and respiration. Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane (Campbell kinetic energy. Gases will disperse and diffuse in a rapid motion when placed together because of its high kinetic energy. Enzymes are proteins that are function as catalysts. Catalysts are chemical agents thata change the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction (Campbell The rate of respiration of fish should be able to tell us how temperatu...

Analyzing The Micro Business Environment For Tesco Marketing Essay

Analyzing The Micro Business Environment For Tesco Marketing Essay My organisation for this assignment is â€Å"Tesco†. It is leading food and grocery retailers on the planet. The aim of this essay is to analysing the micro business environment, Identify the core resources and competences of the organisation, Evaluate the organisation’s strategic choices and justification of the strategy of the company. I have used Strategic evaluation tools such as PESTEL, SWOT and others. Tesco is among the biggest food retailers in the world with returns in surplus of  £54 billion in 2009 and over 470,000 workers. It has 4,331 stores in 14 countries.   The company’s Head Office is based in Hertfordshire, UK and operates mainly in the USA, Europe and Asia(www.tescoplc.com ). PESTEL Analysis (J. L. Fowle, September ,1993), analyses the vibrant and erratic environment in which company operates by classifying the forces that have the most influence on its performance, Influences Company has, to achieve strategically success. Porter’s Five forces can also be used to analysis competitive environment. However these forces becomes interrelated at some times. And its Tesco’s vision to expand globally, encouraged me to use PESTEL forces analysis rather than any other model. Political decision has always been at watch by companies like Tesco. China is one of the world most profitable market, worth over 1.3 billon, Now it has open it door for world and encouraging Western companies. Tesco has managed to signed agreement in 2009 to set up thought-out series of joint ventures for development of shopping malls in i.e. Anshan, Fushun and Qinhuangdao(http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/ ).By end of 2010 18 more hypermarkets are expected to open in China(http://www.investis.com/ ).   Such rises of Tesco’s international business segment are predicted to account the company’s profit for one quarter. In 2004 immersion of 10 further countries into the EU took place, encouraging trade between Western and Eastern Europ ean countries(http://www.eu-27watch.org/ ).Helped Company to enter into new market, and increase its market share across Europe. Economic forces are of great concern to any company as they impact directly on the buying behaviour of its customers. The UK economy was officially declared under recession in 2008, the government’s was successful in minimising the rises in unemployment by considerable reduction in interest rates during 2009 (www.euromonitor.com ). This has given rise in spending power of English people,but both sales value and margins are effected as consumers are not or less likely to divert their spending on more of premium or high value goods. According Maslow hierarchy of need consumers would be at top of Basic need. (http://www.ict-learningnow.com). But retailers like Tesco would still be benefited, as their low price strategy would encourage its customers to shop from Stores and cook and dine home rather than spending more on restaurants(www.guardian.co.uk ).   As we all know that food is the last thing that customers will sacrifices .   The percentage of overall consumer spending on food has risen over the years. Social forces are quite obvious as Man is Social Animal. An analysis has proven that the UK has the Baby Boom generation and latest medical facility by NHS Trust has reduced the death rate too(www.statistics.gov.uk ).This means that more retired people eats less and less spending power. It’s not expected of them to travel to supermarket for shopping and at the age of 65 internet literacy level go down, But it is still assumed that online shopping is and would be the only convenient way of shopping for older age people.   The ageing population is discouraging for the food retailers older people tend to eat less. Company still have to bear in mind the ineffective and expensive small deliveries. However taste and preferences of consumers should always bear in mind when strategies are framed. As mentioned on Economica l forces, high value goods would be avoided but the standard of leaving would have great influence.

Declaration of Independence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Declaration of Independence - Essay Example The British ruler of the time was attempting to defend the interests of the British throne which was, at this time, slowly beginning to have significantly less global influence than in previous years. To compensate for lost global territories and shrinking revenues, the British king relied heavily on the commercial and agricultural taxations from America to secure longevity for the crown. Fed up with the constant British involvement in all business and social affairs, the Declaration of Independence was drafted as a formal recognition of insolence against the presence of British representatives in the country. The Declaration of Independence spelled out the entirety of their complaints against the British king who, at the time, often refused to hear the requests of American representatives about a multitude of issues that affected the social well-being or economic stability of various businessmen and the whole of regular society. At the same time, the crown was actively â€Å"quartering large bodies of armed troops among (them)† (Jefferson, 1776), which caused civil concerns about issues of safety and injustice. This was the king’s attempt to maintain a military presence in many territories because of rumors about potential civil and governmental unrest against the crown. This formal list of complaints was constructed on the back of numerous efforts to persuade the king to give the nation more liberty in controlling their own financial or social agendas, meeting with nothing but increased presence and increased taxation or tariff generation. Had the document been written in short, direct language, it would have failed to get the point across that the majority of citizens and politicians were beyond wearied with their unanswered pleas toward justice and that they simply would no longer abide by British law whatsoever. By this time, the nation had developed its own infrastructure that supported ongoing invention and abided

Ageing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ageing - Essay Example The impact of physiotherapy on healthy ageing is both short and long-term, and, as a result, requires both short and long-term solutions. Contrary to common perspectives, successful ageing is more than just about the absence of disease. There are many disease-free people who do not age successfully, and research shows that the absence of disease is just of a myriad of aspects that need the utmost attention to enable successful ageing. As a matter of fact, successful ageing involves personal, social and economic issues that have a significant impact on one’s lifespan and manner of ageing (Timonen, 2008:31). Physical health, financial security, independence, productivity and employment, good adjustment and a positive outlook, and maintaining participation in activities and with individuals who cultivate support and meaning are all important components of life that contribute towards successful ageing. Physiotherapy has a huge role to play in successful ageing because it involves most of these issues. Physiotherapy promotes physical and mental health and is influential in cultivating a positive outlook of life in individuals. Since health professionals and policymakers have a vital and active role to play in the formulation of health policies (that also affect physiotherapy), they impact successful ageing in many ways (Newman, 1995:46). Just like all aspects of health care, creation of good physiotherapy policies has a positive influence on individuals’ mental and physical health. Government agencies and private organisations have a clear and defined role to play in the promotion of successful ageing. Health professionals (e.g., physiotherapists) can collaborate with government agencies and private healthcare entities in numerous ways to enable the development and promotion of effective, successful ageing policies (Timonen, 2008:33). Collaboration can take many forms depending on the goals and objectives of a specific initiative. For

Describe and evaluate their overall training and development Assignment

Describe and evaluate their overall training and development initiatives of a locally or internationally renowned organization - Assignment Example Hong Kong Disneyland maintains development of tourism, and establishes new destinations to maintain future sustainability. Through advertising, it has gathered enough funds to add phase II (Chun-on, 2006). Hong Kong Disneyland offers training programs that are unique to its cast members. Instructors, professional teams, and operations coordinate them. Through Disney University, employees are able to access training for an average of 35 hours in one year. Disney University offers classes such as Disney traditions training, effective workplace communications, Disney style of giving and receiving feedback, good shows begins with me programs and influencing members as a role model. All managers are trained on coaching for win-win outcome, problem solving &decision-making skills, time management and attend seminars and conferences hosted by guest speakers. Disney University is equipped with books and Disney feature films based on career development. There are approximately 1000 collections of reading materials available at the pace of the reader (Chun-on, 2006). There are also emerging leaders program aimed at developing leadership roles in the future at the resort. This six months program helps cast members to be competitive in the future. In this program, all cast members work in groups with the help of a guest service manager. Hong Kong Disneyland is committed to training its employees and developing them. The training is concentrated on services for the guests (Chun-on, 2006). Quality staff training displays proper image of the company to the business. Good training of employees increases productivity, performance, and large profits. Traditional teaching methods include classroom teaching, courses offered in every subject. Hong Kong Disneyland has recently made use of HR program as it is contributing much success to the company. Human resource department hires employees,

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCIDs) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCIDs) - Essay Example The most common infections are respiratory infections. Since the disease is a recessive trait, a horse carrying one of the genes appears normal but when a foal is born with two defective genes the result is 100% fatal (Oglesby, horseadvice.com). Heterogenous carriers can transfer mutations to their offspring. The condition is characterized by lymphopenia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and absence of tissue lymphocytes. There is a definitive test for SCID gene in Arabian foals. The test is performed on secretions from the mucosal swab or blood. The specific test involves cutting up the DNA with PCR restriction enzymes and then examining the relevant section of the gene. Genetic cause of a SCID is a 5-base pair deletion within the catalytic subunit of DNA dependent pro-tein kinase (DNA-PKc) (Zavrtanik, Mesaric, & Majdic, 2005, p.37-41). This mutation causes a frame shift at codon 3155 of the transcript. This further results in 967 amino acid deletion from the C- terminus that includes entire phosphatidylinositol 3- linase domain, thus making DNA-PKC functionally inactive. The affected foals are clinically normal at birth. But they soon develop signs of infection during the first 2 months of life. The first clinical signs are usually noticed between two days and six weeks of age. These signs include fever, tachycardia and tachypnea. The small animals are unthrifty, lethargic and tire easily. But they continue to nurse and eat solid food. Respiratory infection occurs commonly and is manifests as bilateral nasal discharge, cough and dyspnea. Those who survive longer may develop chronic diarrhoea, alopecia and dermatitis (Zavrtanik, Mesaric, & Majdic, 2005, p.37-41). The most constant findings in SCID are lymphopenia (

Applied research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Applied research methods - Essay Example The academic sources to be used for the business research process shall come from secondary sources of information such as scholarly articles and peer-reviewed journals. In order to understand the tools and techniques used by managers of successful organizations to keep their employees motivated to perform at the highest levels. Through these sources, we can obtain information on factors such as the importance of a leader’s perception in the mid of the employee, the role played by an organization’s culture and how it affects performance and the importance of having a vision that is clearly defined and well-understood by the leader himself so as to be able to communicate it to the employees and generate maximum commitment out of them. Secondary sources of information will therefore be very important to us for this research as it shall be the guiding light on which all our research methodology is based on will be the basis of developing the survey tools and criteria. Whilst using secondary sources of information might prove useful, we do realize it might present us with some challenges and affect the credibility of our report if proper care is not taken while researching. The information provided prove to be biased and might have been controlled to some extent by the marketer of the research. There is also the possibility that the information available through these sources might not fully adhere to our needs or might be incomplete. Our aim shall be to minimize the biases that may occur due to these problems and we aim to use a number of different articles and publications in order to verify the integrity of the information available and make this research as consistent as possible. We have also chosen to go with secondary academic sources because these sources tend to be very comprehensive in nature and will provide us with all the information we need to fulfill the objectives of the research. Secondly, the sources also happen to be peer reviewe d and evaluated, have been written by academics and certified by the best institutions, which is what adds to their credibility and ensures that the integrity of our own research will not be affected if our work includes such sources. Review of academic sources Leadership and Motivation and having these qualities in one’

Physical Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Physical Security - Essay Example This essay stresses that there is a possibility that during the opening ceremony a certain country’s athlete may get attacked by a terrorist group. It may also happen that the opening ceremony may get sabotaged altogether by a terrorist or militia group so as to defame the pride of the host country. In any of these cases, it becomes very important to understand the fact that security breaches are possible and consequently, security needs to be tightened. This paper makes a conclusion that equally important is upholding the security during the medal distribution ceremony all for the same reasons which have been mentioned above. Again, it might happen that to hamper the national pride of the host nation or the participating nation one may try to attack the winning team/sportsperson during the medal-distribution ceremony. Also, it may happen that a winning participant or sportsperson maybe a terrorist supporter or a terrorist itself in guise. The security assessment of the nearby hospital or medical center is also very significant and critical to the overall security process. Hospitals are locations of maximum vulnerability if compared to other locations which are part of the entire event. There is a possibility that a minor disaster may lead to the hospitalization of some people (sportsters/spectators/organizers) and a major disaster can be planned to be executed in the hospital because it provides a good vantage point to the perpetrat ors of the security breach.

Applied research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Applied research methods - Essay Example The academic sources to be used for the business research process shall come from secondary sources of information such as scholarly articles and peer-reviewed journals. In order to understand the tools and techniques used by managers of successful organizations to keep their employees motivated to perform at the highest levels. Through these sources, we can obtain information on factors such as the importance of a leader’s perception in the mid of the employee, the role played by an organization’s culture and how it affects performance and the importance of having a vision that is clearly defined and well-understood by the leader himself so as to be able to communicate it to the employees and generate maximum commitment out of them. Secondary sources of information will therefore be very important to us for this research as it shall be the guiding light on which all our research methodology is based on will be the basis of developing the survey tools and criteria. Whilst using secondary sources of information might prove useful, we do realize it might present us with some challenges and affect the credibility of our report if proper care is not taken while researching. The information provided prove to be biased and might have been controlled to some extent by the marketer of the research. There is also the possibility that the information available through these sources might not fully adhere to our needs or might be incomplete. Our aim shall be to minimize the biases that may occur due to these problems and we aim to use a number of different articles and publications in order to verify the integrity of the information available and make this research as consistent as possible. We have also chosen to go with secondary academic sources because these sources tend to be very comprehensive in nature and will provide us with all the information we need to fulfill the objectives of the research. Secondly, the sources also happen to be peer reviewe d and evaluated, have been written by academics and certified by the best institutions, which is what adds to their credibility and ensures that the integrity of our own research will not be affected if our work includes such sources. Review of academic sources Leadership and Motivation and having these qualities in one’

Big Brothers, Big Sisters Essay Example for Free

Big Brothers, Big Sisters Essay Big Brothers, Big Sisters is a prevention program, which enhances the socialization of children through paying attention to their psychological and physical development and increasing their feeling of â€Å"being included† into community and school environment. Due to the fact that the project is mostly directed to planning interesting leisure and education-related activities for minors, it can be interpreted as prevention program, as it creates a friendly and harmonious environment which encourages and reinforces the child’s self-esteem through establishing a symmetric communication between the minor and adult and teaching important social skills. As for me, I believe that the program is effective, as it deals mostly with three important predictors of deviance and crime – absence of developing and diversified pastime, lack of engagement with community activities and academic failure (and the consequent loss of interest in education) in schoolchildren. In addition, the relevant study, provided by the website, demonstrates the following results: â€Å"Researchers found that after 18 months of spending time with their Bigs, the Little Brothers and Little Sisters were: 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs; 27% less likely to begin using alcohol; 52% less likely to skip school; 37% less likely to skip a class; more confident of their performance in schoolwork; one-third less likely to hit someone† (at http://www. bigbrooc. org/html/our_impact. html, 2007). There are three major curriculums, designed within the program. First of all, there is a set of community-based activities, which take place once a month. The community volunteers encourage the participants to do sports, play intellectual games, have meals together or simply take walks in the park. Group-based mentoring program includes monthly meeting of Big and Little Brothers and Sisters and learning new and unusual types of sports, associated with team playing. For instance, the participants do kayaking, play miniature golf or team bowling. All these sports are aimed at improving the children’s concentration, dexterity, ability to plan and make joint decision within the team; as one knows from developmental psychology, the progress of physical skills is particularly sensitive to influences at teen age, when the person is actively growing. The complex of school-based activities comprises weekly sessions, during which the minors are assisted in their home assignments. The major advantage of this program, which actually can cause in the jealousy of the similar agencies, is its image of partnership between adults and children, who receive not mentors, but friends, whose role models are more likely to be learned by minors. The typical agencies of this profile (working in the directions of prevention and diversion) more willingly involve competent specialists (in a limited number) than volunteers, so the underage target audience not always receives socialization experience and learn social skills during workshops and training. In addition, the Big Brothers Big Sisters project manages to maintain its focus on the underage audience in all points of its curriculum and stimulates the natural and healthy socialization in minors (through communication and team activities), instead of creating artificial conditions (like those in workshops and purposeful social skills training). The goals of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters project to great extent coincide with the orientation of the whole juvenile justice system. The major priority of the system is prevention of juvenile crimes and recidivism, but this goal is traditionally accomplished through enlightenment and education in the spheres of crime and punishment, drug addiction and alcohol use. The efforts of the program, on the other hand, are directed to improving the minors’ physical and psychological health and helping them establish friendly contact with the environment. This model is often neglected by the juvenile justice system, so it would be beneficial to introduce the program under the management of the network of government institutions, responsible for delinquency prevention, as the idea of healthy and natural socialization is likely to become a new direction in the functioning of the juvenile justice system and the unity of accountability will provide courts will more comprehensive information about the children. In addition, the program will also demonstrate success in the field of diversion. Finally, the program will correct the official and formalized image of the juvenile justice system and break the stereotype of the â€Å"punishing institution†. The major strength of the program is its positivist approach to prevention, which includes strengthening the minors’ social and psychological potential rather than intimidating schoolchildren about the adversities, associated with delinquency and illicit drug use. The project embraces community work, group work and school work, so that the major environments, in which the children operate, are influenced and to some extent altered. The ultimate goal in this sense is the development of the sense of inclusion into all these environments in the participants. On the other hand, the program lacks one important components, which is family-based work. As the website suggests, the underage participants originate from the households, where domestic violence and alcohol use are practiced. With respect to the fact that behavior models, learned in the family, are to certain degree determinative in teenagers’ behavior, it would also be useful to establish a contact between the families and the community and arrange activities, which imply the creation of a large team, consisting of children, their parents and the Bigs. Another weakness is the lack of basic psychological education for children, as at the certain stage of their development they need theoretical knowledge of building relationships and understanding others, so the Big Brothers, Big Sisters can introduce monthly discussions of the achievements and difficulties, experienced by the participants in their relationships with coevals and adults. Reference list Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Orange County. (2007). Official website, at http://www. bigbrooc. org.

South Africa World Cup 2010 Project Leadership

South Africa World Cup 2010 Project Leadership Executive Summary This paper analyses the project of the Soccer World Cup held in South Africa in 2010 on behalf of FIFA. An introduction to the project at hand is laid out to explain the situation in which the project took place. A critical evaluation of the project is made, determining the facets that the Government and organising committee had to effectively deal with, what type of leadership styles were implemented, how team building progressed, the project life cycle and the external factors influencing this project. Improvements are recommended for some aspects of this project that could have made the Soccer World Cup more successful than what it was deemed to have been. Some of these recommendations include; better team building, more effective planning, budgetary concerns and public relation issues. The World Cup Opening Ceremony was a major success, followed by the first goal of the World Cup in the first game between South Africa and Mexico. When Siphiwe Tshabalala, of South Africa, scored the first goal, South Africans deemed the project a success. Introduction to Case Study FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) has taken it upon themselves to be the guardian of the game all over the world, in every shape or form. According to FIFA World Cupà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (2010), their mission statement is, Develop the game, touch the world, build a better future. They do not merely focus on playing the game but rather they have to focus on every aspect that may affect the game and all that the game stands for. Rules, laws, players, developing the game and using this sport to bring hope to people all over the world, especially those less privileged than others. FIFA World Cupà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢(2010) states that the World Cup started in 1930 in Uruguay and this inaugural World Cup was won by the host team. There have only been two times since the inauguration that the World Cup was not hosted and that was during World War II. South Africa recently hosted the FIFA Soccer World Cup. This is the project that will be used as a case study as I am a South African citizen and am currently residing in the country. Information that has been referred to on this project has been experienced firsthand. This was the first time that the FIFA World Cup that was hosted by an African Country. The Soccer World Cup was hosted in South Africa from June 11th 2010 to July 11th 2010. 32 teams participated in the World Cup with the final game being played between Spain and Netherlands. Spain reigned victorious. It was a major project for South Africa, as although the country had previously hosted the cricket and rugby World Cups, it was the first time that this type of World Cup was hosted in the country and the event was made up of many projects. Many project defining aspects needed to be started from scratch. The project management was run by the Government who recruited a number of different resources, companies, personnel and task teams with the hope of making the project a success. Most importantly they assigned the role of project coordinator to Danny Jordaan. The areas that needed to be addressed included, amongst others, stadium construction and improvements, airport construction and refurbishment, infrastructure and logistics, transportation, accommodation, policing and justice, immigration, finance and health. Each of these projects needed to be successful in order for the event to be a success. This project consisted not only of these internal projects but was also influenced by external factors such as the countrys image to the world, opinions of South Africa by other countries and contractual agreements with FIFA. Therefore media and marketing were also part of the project. The success or failure of the project would impact on the economy and general well-being of the country for many years to come even after the event had taken place. The project management team needed to ensure that the projects that were undertaken would have a positive outcome on the countrys operations even after the event had taken place and concluded. Transportation and the creation of jobs could be highlighted as the most crucial aspects of the World Cup. These components are highlighted as crucial as their impact would be felt most notably once the event concluded on July 11th 2010. The construction of the stadiums was crucial as although many rugby and cricket stadiums already existed in South Africa a lack of soccer stadiums was obvious. Transportation also needed to be improved as although the government felt that roads were acceptable pre-World Cup with the influx of people from all over the world, roads and transportation systems needed to be improved. Highways were expanded and refurbished, additional buses were bought and coincidentally the construction of another transportation project, the Gau-train, would be fast-tracked to be used for the World Cup. The benefit that South Africa did have was that the country was also selected to host the Confederations Soccer Cup during June 2009. The country was able to use this event as a type of a trial run for the World Cup. The rapid bus transfer system was tested in Pretoria and errors or faults that occurred were able to be rectified before the World Cup the following year. The projects success will be analysed in order to determine the factors of project management that were used, the elements of team building that are available and how the leadership aspects, styles or type of management could be changed to make improvements to the project. Critical Evaluation According to Kerzner (2009) project management and in turn project success can be defined as completing a project within the allocated time frame, within budget, meeting a specified performance level, with as few changes to the scope as possible. Project management and team building go hand in hand when dealing with any type or any form of a project. This is because almost all projects, even when operating in a virtual environment, have people involved. When dealing with a project such as the Soccer World Cup, a third aspect fits into project management and team building just as critically. This aspect is public relations. According to the Independent institute of education (2010) although public relations can be seen as its own concept away from project management, the people involved in the project need to be aware of the standings with regards to public relations. With the World Cup being such a worldwide event, with sold out stadiums and an estimation of over a billion people wat ching, what the media says, or what the world thinks will be of critical importance to determine whether the project was gauged as a successful or failure. The main problems or areas of improvement that the South African World Cup organizers had to deal with were construction, ticket sales, transportation and crime. According to Cooke Tate (2005) project management can be defined as a culmination of knowledge, skills, expertise, systems and programs that ensure that the work that is being done, by a team of people, is in fact working towards accomplishing the strategic goals of the organization or fulfilling the aims of the project to which they have been assigned. Project management will need to bring together different areas of an organization, or that of a number of different organizations such as finance, administration, human resources, marketing or operations to work in unison to achieve the aims or goals. Project management has been developed so that a single department or person working on a project has control and visibility over all the other departments to ensure that the project runs smoothly, for the Soccer World Cup 2010 that person was Danny Jordaan. The project manager will oversee all departments and actions to try and produce a successful outcome. Project management is made up of many sections and sub headings that need to be considered. The following subjects need to be addressed when developing a project and have been summarized from Shtub Globerson , 2005. Communication guidelines and the hierarchy of leadership need to be established. Lifecycle planning needs to take place to ascertain which model would be best suited to your project. Implementation and monitoring is the next area that needs to be addressed. When and how the project will be implemented and how this will be monitored to establish control. Then cost estimates and budgeting need to be developed and contingencies need to be established as to where the cost can exceed budgeted amounts and where cut backs could be implemented if needed. Variance is an aspect that all projects need to be aware of as nothing in life is certain, external environments are constantly changing and a project needs to know where it can change and where there is no room to adjust. The project needs to have prepared for any expected changes that may affect their plans or any unexpected changes that could drastically impact the outcome of the project. An important and final aspect that many projects o ften forget to include is the closeout. In the case of the soccer World Cup in South Africa, the closeout will happen in varied stages but need to be included in the planning. The initial closeout occurs when FIFA approves the set out requirements, other close outs occur at the closing ceremony, and then when projects that were included in the World Cup preparations are complete, this may be months or even years after the final whistle had blown on the final game. All projects have a project life cycle and they can vary in length. A project lifecycle is typically made up of the following 5 stages, (Gray and Larson, 2006); Project Management can be divided into five parts: Project charter development Request for Proposal Development and Process Planning Design Project team creations, Project kick-off Planning (Work Breakdown Schedule), Budget Implementation/monitoring/control Project termination, hand-off to operations management. In the case of the soccer World Cup the project life cycle would have been spread out over a number of years, even before the World Cup was awarded to South Africa. The government had to tender a proposal to FIFA against other competing countries to be allowed to host the World Cup. Therefore the project life cycle would have started pre-2004. As different projects were started and came to an end, each would have had their own life cycle as well. Each project had to go through a tender process as well. An example of a tender used for Green Point stadium has been attached in Appendix A. Different projects will also take on different life-cycle formations or models. The most commonly accepted of these models are the waterfall project lifecycle model, the agile project lifecycle model, the iterative model and the spiral project life cycle model. Each model has different strengths and weaknesses and therefore some models are better suited to different working environments. Each sub-project, underneath the main World Cup South Africa project, would have made use of different life-cycles. The World Cup would have to have implemented the Spiral project lifecycle model as Mall (2009) explains; this model combines elements of design and prototyping-in-stages, in an effort to combine advantages of top down and bottom up concepts. This model can also be referred to as the spiral development model; it is a systems development method. This model of development combines the features of the prototyping model and the waterfall model .The spiral model is intended for large, expensive and complicated projects. The World Cup was expensive, intricate, and took place all over South Africa. The stages of the project also overlapped and did not have to wait for the completion of one project to start the next. For example the building of the airports and stadiums were not contingent on the completion of the roads or other transport projects. The project was awarded to South Africa on the 15th of May 2004 and the start of the project began soon after however some parts of the project are still busy being completed, even after the World Cup. Although the highways and roads were open to be used at full capacity during the World Cup, the construction of these roads and highways are still taking place today. In comparison to standard projects that organizations will take on, and the case study at hand, the soccer World Cup in South Africa, certain aspects of normal operations will differ quite substantially from this type of project. The teams that worked on the World Cup in South Africa were not working in a normal business environment. Their end product was not intending to gain a competitive advantage over other competitors in the same market. The products they were producing were not to be resold yet a profit needed to be made. The product could not become obsolete, however there was a deadline date, that of the opening ceremony. The deadline date however was not that of the opening ceremony because South Africa was dealing with FIFA, FIFA required that all stadiums or any structures or projects relating to the World Cup were completed a number of months in advance. As South Africa was in control of hosting the World Cup, they were also responsible of reporting to FIFA to ensure that the FIFA World Cup was a success. Stephen Blatter, the president of FIFA, was heavily involved in the operations taking place in South Africa and Danny Jordaan was the project coordinator for the Soccer World Cup. With regards to leadership styles, two main types of leadership styles generally exist, autocratic or exclusive and democratic or inclusive. A democratic leader takes other individuals opinions and ideas into consideration before making the final decision. Danny Jordaans style of management can be seen to be democratic. His involvement with the World Cup showed that he had South Africas best interests at heart. He took into consideration other leaders opinions and advice and worked in close unison with Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela when securing the tender bid to host the World Cup. Reports needed to be presented on weekly and monthly basis and he was the spokesman for interaction with the media in relation to World Cup activities. FIFA however are deemed to be autocratic. FIFA can be seen to be a franchise. Every four years a different country is elected to host the World Cup. FIFA has certain contractual requirements that each country needs to meet in order to be granted the privi lege of hosting such a prestigious event. Although South Africa could decide what the stadiums would like and how the upgrades would take place, FIFA required a certain number of stadiums to be erected or improved, for certain activities to take place and other similar requirements. The project management team needed to be compiled of a number of individuals with different areas of expertise. Although the project had a start and end date (11th June and 11th July), a budget and a scope as most projects do, the areas that this project needed to delve into were vast. The South African government had tendered to organise the World Cup. In order to successfully accomplish this, a number of facets needed to be improved, developed or started from scratch. These areas include, (Media Report, 2010), amongst others; Infrastructure stadiums needed to be built and renovated. Health Although no pandemics were forecast, they needed to be prepared. Transportation the highways needed to be improved, as well as public transport. Finance- a developing country would need to analyze budgets with high scrutiny. Technology- new fibre optic cables for televising the games worldwide. Electricity- Eskom had guaranteed power for all games, through the use of generators. Safety and Security Xenophobic attacks sent shocks throughout the world, this needed to be stepped up. Immigration- a new type of visa was created to allow access to more foreigners. Hooligans were banned. Accommodation availability and standards were a worry. Media and marketing- people needed to feel safe coming to South Africa. The South African Government identified the dramatic changes to transport logistics in South Africa as the legacy that would remain for years to come. The issues identified above are just a few examples of the projects that the overall project manager or project coordinator, Danny Jordaan, would need to have expertise on, and it would seem highly unlikely that one person would have this type of knowledge; however general management could appoint a number of sub-project managers to oversee each department and report back to one project manager. Danny Jordaan might not have had the expertise in each sub-section of the project however he was able to employ other team members to take control of those areas. Information taken from the Background Information on Government Preparations for the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUPà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (2010) shows a breakdown of each element that the government was dealing with. The government had weekly and monthly report sessions for each area of development. In order for a project to be successful the team that works on the project needs to be selected in a certain manner. Dr. Meredith Belbin defined a team role as: A tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. He spent a number of years working on the theory about teams. Dr. Meredith Belbin has written a number of books and one of his fundamental theories is based on team roles. The roles that individuals will fill when placed in a certain situation when trying to achieve a certain goal. Individuals have different personalities and different strengths and weaknesses. Belbin initially believed that the success or failure of a project would rely on the intellectual levels of the team members. According to Belbin associates, (2010), he ran a simulation test at a university for over ten years to determine the grounds of his theory. The theory is that a teams success or failure is not reliant on intellect but rather on the balance of roles that each individual will assume when in a certain environment. This team roles can be divided into three sub-sections and then into 9 individual team roles. The three main sections are Action-oriented, People oriented and Thought oriented. Action-Oriented roles include Shaper, Implementer and Complete-Finishers. People Oriented Roles include Coordinator, Team Worker and Resource Investigator. Thought oriented roles include Plant, Monitor Evaluator and Specialist. Advantages and disadvantages that make up each team role need to be discussed and understood in order to create the most effective team for the project at work. According to Belbin Associates (2010) and Belbin himself, (1993) the different roles have different pros and cons. The shapers advantages include the drive to challenge team members to improve, they are dynamic people, who are extroverted and who stimulate others. They also avoid complacency by introducing new attributes. Negative characteristics include that they are argumentative and are not sensitive to other peoples feelings. The implementer is characterized by people that get things done, those who take ideas and turn them into actions. They are conservative, disciplined and work systematically. The disadvantages however are that they show inflexibility and resist any kind of change. Complete finishers have the advantageous characteristics that ensure that a project is completed with all the small details completed. They are focused on deadlines and can be seen as perfectionists. These characteristics lend themselves to worry unnecessarily and these individuals find it difficult to delegate tasks to others for the fear of losing control of the task at hand. Belbin also identifies advantages and disadvantages for the other roles too. The coordinator leads the team to achieve the goals and objectives that they perceive as realistic. They are excellent listeners, calm, good natured and are able to delegate tasks, however sometimes the coordinator delegates away too much authority and may be seen to be manipulative. The team workers provide support to the team and ensure that all the team workers are able to work together effectively. They are able to be flexible, diplomatic and perceptive. Their disadvantages have been identified as having tendency to be indecisive and do not commit to any major decisions. The resource investigators are innovative and curious. They explore other options available to them and handle negotiations. These team members may however be overly optimistic and lose their enthusiasm for the team and their own roles rather quickly. The final three roles also each have advantages and disadvantages. The plant role is cr eative, flourishes on praise and invents new ideas or advances. The disadvantages however are that this team member finds criticism very hard to handle or accept, they are introverted and prefer to work alone. Their communication skills are poor and often ignore restrictions or restraints that they are given. The monitor evaluators strengths include that they are ideal at analysing and evaluating other team members ideas, they are successfully able to weigh up pros and cons of different possible investments, and are critical thinkers. Their drawbacks are that they can be detached and unemotional; they are poor motivators for their team members and wait to react to events rather than instigate them. Finally the ninth role, the specialist, that was added on later by Belbin include advantages of that they pride themselves on their skills and abilities, they are focused on their professional status and are an expert in a certain area of knowledge. Their disadvantages include that they m ay limit their contribution purely to what they consider themselves to be expert in and may lead the team to become pre-occupied with technicalities and small detail rather than the overall plan. In relation to the World Cup information on which techniques were used for team building are not readily available, however it has been assumed that Belbins theory was used when selecting the teams that were brought together for this project. Each team involved with the project would need a careful balance of the team members in order to be successful. A key element of team building is the stages of team development as developed by Tuckman (1977); Forming, Norming, Storming, Performing and finally Adjourning. Each individual team that is part of the World Cup development project needed time to adjust to each stage to team development. It is clear that the construction teams on site had not properly adjusted to team development as they coordinators of these projects had to deal with strikes and unrest at many of the stadiums. The projects where the majority of teams were based, transport and infrastructure is what the world watched most with regards to development projects, it is here where nation branding took place. The way in which South Africa wanted to portray itself was largely reliant on what was reported in the media and in the news. Strikes, delays and xenophobic attacks were in the news for a large majority of the time leading up to the world cup. Due to this the branding of the country was portrayed in negative lighting for a lot of the time that should in fact have been used for positive and encouraging reporting. The influx of foreign tourists to South Africa missed the original goal by a large number. Due to many of these factors the income to the country was much less than the expenditure and much less than what was expected. According to an article in the Telegraph, South Africa made a return of just  £323m on the  £3bn it spent. In conclusion to the critical reflection; the sustainability that FIFA brought to South Africa for the World Cup was not incorporated into the countries national strategy and therefore many of the strides that the country made during the World Cup were quickly eliminated when the final whistle was blown. Recommendations The specific details of the areas of which project management, project leadership or team building activities used during the World Cup were not readily accessible. Therefore the overall outcomes of the world cup and which practices should have been more heavily included can be deduced. Although information about the World Cup as a whole was available the smaller projects techniques and tools were not made available to the public. In critical review of the World Cup one of the most unsuccessful areas of the project was the budget or cost aspect of the iron triangle. To illustrate the point, (Pedroncelli, 2010), Soccer City Stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the World Cup was completed at R1 billion over budget. Strikes at other stadiums such as Green Point, forced organisers to bring in negotiators for increases in salaries, and the lost time then forced the Government to enforce additional shifts at higher costs to finish on time as the completion deadlines were non-negotiable. Imports of construction materials ran over budget as the rand lost strength to other currencies and prices escalated higher than what the budget had predicted. Therefore although the scope and time were met, the cost was extraordinarily higher than predicted. This could be due to two reasons, either the budget was not well planned out and the estimates and actual costs were not realistic and not well researched or revised, or the variance of aspects discovered in the project was vast. It seems that the variance was the reason to blame for some of the over spending on the project. Poor planning could be blamed for this. Elements such as strikes or increases in costs of materials could have been realised beforehand and more concisely included in the budgetary stage of planning. A recommendation for future projects is to research and predict more accurately about future fluctuations, or to buy materials in bulk at a known price so that variances do not occur at a later stage. A number of projects were not completed on time which can be viewed as contrasting as other projects managed to finish ahead of schedule. A recommendation for future projects of this nature is to learn from other projects which developed similar end products and were produced under similar circumstances. Green Point Stadium organizers could look at the development techniques used by the project co-ordinators of the Soccer City Stadium. Work breakdown schedules and organisational breakdown schedules should have been more precise and shared amongst projects with similar outlines. Managers in control of stadiums or projects that ran over budget or over time should take note of the way in which projects were executed which ended on time, on budget and had no scope creep. It is clear that as the sub-projects of the World Cup were each significant in their own right therefore each project was governed by different managers or by different planning committees. Some stadiums were handed over to FIFA ahead of schedule and other projects such as the construction and refurbishment of highways are still being completed after the event has ended. It is a recommendation that the tenders for the construction or refurbishments should have been sent out earlier. The tender, as attached in Appendix A, shows that although a very thorough and positive process was followed, it was only started in 2006, 2 years after the World Cup project was given to South Africa. If more time had been given to the constructors and those parties, the costs involved may have escalated less. The teams may have had more time to form The leadership style of FIFA cannot be changed. They are a corporate body that acts as a franchise in relation to the World Cup. They have a formula that works and they expect participating nations to follow this plan. This autocratic style is suitable to the environment in which FIFA operates. Danny Jordaans leadership style and approach to the World Cup was successful. Nelson Mandela said, when South Africa was awarded the privilege of hosting the World Cup that, South Africans should treat this decision with humility and without arrogance because we are, after all, equal. Danny Jordaan focused on bringing South Africans together. From the construction workers on the roads and in the stadiums to fans to corporate CEOs funding different projects, all parties felt part of the World Cup, because the country felt proud to host the World Cup as one nation not separate races. The final recommendations that would be made however include; Better planning for variance conditions. These conditions include: working environments and severance, stability of the Rand against currencies or then bulk buying. Earlier tender dates for highway construction. Improved communication with the media for a positive reflection of the host nation. Incorporating FIFA changes into the national strategy in order to retain the positives. Increased time for team development on different projects. If projects were tendered and started earlier, strikes and delays may have been less severe. Ensuring the project coordinator is democratic or inclusive when dealing with a force as strong as FIFA in its autocratic behaviour or tendencies. Conclusion In conclusion the Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa, on behalf of FIFA, in 2010 was a successful project. As indicated in the recommendations a number of improvements could be put forth that could have eliminated some of the problems that the Government and other parties experienced. A focus on public relations should have been highlighted. The xenophobic attacks prior to the World Cup should have been better handled by the Government to reduce the negative image that is portrayed of the country. Communications between the sub-projects could have been better established so that problems experienced on one site could be avoided on another. The leadership styles executed by the parties involved were well executed and appropriate. FIFA is a corporate organization that operates as a franchise when dealing with the World Cup. Their style therefore needs to be autocratic. They need the country which is hosting the World Cup to fulfill certain goals and expectations. Danny Jordaan, the project coordinator, executed a democratic or inclusive style of management which worked well in the environment in which he was operating. He was able to successfully execute the project, although over budget, by incorporating all South Africans into the buildup of the World Cup. Budgetary problems experienced by the organizing committee could have been overcome through better planning and better time management. Tenders and start dates of the projects could have been brought forward to an early date, relieving the tensions of deadlines and fluctuating prices. If the start dates had also been brought forward it may have allowed teams more time to go through the development stages of forming, norming, storming and performing. The construction of the highways may also have been completed to a better schedule. To summarise one moment of the World Cup that truly showed the success of such a tournament being hosted in Africa for the first time was when South Africas striker, Siphiwe Tshabalala, scored the first goal of the tournament. The country celebrated as one, and brought the African spirit alive.