Culture, Ethics, and Diversity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Culture, Ethics, and Diversity - Research Paper Example From this paper it is clear that  Crane and Matten humorously stated that an organization without ethics is like a ship in the middle of the sea without sailor. It has been argued by the researchers that ethical leadership is needed for organization in order to achieve sustainable growth. Crane and Matten also argued that global organizations face plenty of conflicts and trust deficit while operating business in competitive global environment and in such cases, these organizations need to follow some rigid ethical guidelines in order to address these challenges successfully.  This discussion highlights that  Cameron and Quinn raised a pertinent question that can organizations achieve leadership position by deploying culture of ethics and moral principles? Well the answer of the question is not very simple due to the fact ethics is an intangible element which has the capability to impact the tangible outcomes. Another problem is that there is still no standardized definition of organizational culture. In such context, TrevinËÅ"o and Weaver defined ethical organizational culture as the organizational setting which allows members to follow legal principles and do not involve in those activities which can hurt the interest of not only organization but also hurt the interest of social members. Consideration of the research work of Kaptein reveals the fact that corporate ethics virtues (CEV) model can be used to understand ethical culture in organization.... Zhang, Lowry, Zhou & Fu (2007) criticized the assumptions of previous research scholars that organizations only use the concept of diversity for achieving innovation because sometimes, organizations create culture of diversity due to strategic reasons. However, it is evident from the above discussion that there is significant amount of doubt; confusion and argument exist regarding integration of culture of ethics and culture of diversity within organizational context. Another important thing is that, very few research scholars have tried to understand the intra level relationship between ethical culture and diversity driven culture and how the conjoint relationship between these two variables can impact organizational leadership. In the next section, the researcher will address these issues in the light of existing literature. Literature Review Organizational Leadership & Ethical Culture Cameron and Quinn (2006) raised a pertinent question that can organizations achieve leadership po sition by deploying culture of ethics and moral principles? Well the answer of the question is not very simple due to the fact ethics is an intangible element which has the capability to impact the tangible outcomes. Another problem is that there is still no standardized definition of organizational culture. In such context, Trevin?o and Weaver (2003) defined ethical organizational culture as the organizational setting which allows members to follow legal principles and do not involve in those activities which can hurt the interest of not only organization but also hurt the interest of social members. Consideration of the research work of Kaptein (2008) reveals the fact that corporate ethics virtues (CEV)

Physical Education Lesson Plan Essay Example for Free

Physical Education Lesson Plan Essay 1. Grade level: Second Grade 2. Estimated level of developmental stage: predictable, self-paced (Hastie, 2012). 3. Number of students: Twenty 4. Fundamental skill (to be taught): Dribbling a soccer ball with their feet 5. State standard for Washington State (NASPE, 2008) a. Demonstrates locomoter skills in a variety of activities and lead-up games i. Example: Uses walking/jogging/running skills in soccer ii. Demonstrates manipulative skills with stationary targets 1. Example: Kicks a ball toward a goal iii. Demonstrates mature form in manipulative skills in a variety of activities 2. Example: Traps a ball in soccer Section 2: 1. Student objective: a. As a result of this lesson students will be able to demonstrate dribbling skills while both walking and then jogging. Students will also be able to demonstrate trapping a ball and kicking a ball towards a stationary object. 2. Lesson description b. During this activity students will practice dribbling a ball with their feet; first walking and then jogging. Students will maintain control of the ball using the inside of their foot while dribbling the ball between cones towards the pop-up goal at the end of the field. Once the student reaches the last cone they will then trap the ball with their foot and take aim at the goal. 3. Classroom management system and student grouping c. Students will be divided into five groups with four students in each  group; each student will receive a shape card and will then be grouped according to the shape displayed on the card. Students will be reminded at the start of class regarding the class rules and consequences. Students will be reminded to use kind words, respect others around you, listen carefully, use equipment properly, and if in doubt ask. Consequences and rewards will be handled on a case by case basis meaning praise will be given to individual students and actions will be corrected as necessary. Ultimately the goal is to keep all students involved and engaged while ensuring the safety of everyone. As an educator it is important to be consistent and fair to all students using positive reinforcement and encouraging students to stay on task. 4. Equipment needed d. Twenty soccer balls, twenty-five orange cones for setting up the obstacle course, five pop-up goals at the end of the course, and a large outside grassy field. Section 3: 1. Content: Write a script of what the teacher would say and include the following for each task/skill. a. Task #1: Dribbling while walking first in a straight line, then through the cones i. Introducing the task/skill 1. Our first objective is to practice dribbling our soccer ball while walking. Remember to use the inside and outside of your foot when moving the ball down the field. I want you to first walk down the field dribbling your ball next to the row of cones and then return dribbling the ball while walking through the cones. When the first student begins the return trip through the cones the second student in the group may begin dribbling their ball next to the cones. ii. Safety concerns, rules and protocols to follow during the task 2. Watch out for other students 3. Be careful not to overtake the student in front of you 4. If the ball gets away from you quickly retrieve it iii. Teaching the task/skill 5. Educator will demonstrate the task once at the beginning and then again if students have questions or need extra clarification. iv. Questions to ask during the task as a form of assessment 6. What part of our foot do we use to dribble a ball? 7. Do we want to keep the ball close or far away? b. Task #2: Dribbling while jogging; first in a straight line then through the cones v. Introducing the task/skill 8. Our second objective is to practice dribbling our soccer ball while jogging. Remember to use the inside and outside of your foot when moving the ball down the field. I want you to first jog down the field dribbling your ball next to the row of cones and then return dribbling the ball while jogging through the cones. When the first student begins the return trip through the cones the second student in the group may begin dribbling their ball next to the cones. vi. Safety concerns, rules and protocols to follow during the task 9. Watch out for other students 10. Be careful not to overtake the student in front of you 11. If the ball gets away from you quickly retrieve it vii. Teaching the task/skill 12. Educator will demonstrate the task once at the beginning and then again if students have questions or need extra clarification. viii. Questions to ask during the task as a form of assessment 13. Was it easier or harder to dribble while you were jogging versus when you were walking? 14. Does the change in speed from walking to jogging affect your ability to maintain control of the ball? 2. Culminating activity: c. Class, now we are going to combine our soccer skills together. We are going to have a relay race with each group being a team. The object of the game is for all students in each group to successfully kick their ball into the goal. The first student in each group will dribble their ball through the cones, trap the ball with their foot, and then kick the ball into the goal. Once their ball has successfully made it into the goal they will run back and tag the next teammate in line. The key to success in this game is maintaining control of your ball at all times. 3. Assessment: d. In order to assess the students in my class I would use observational skills to determine if they are meeting the lesson objectives. I would use a scale rating system; based on a scale of one to five, with five being perfect and one being unsatisfactory. I would rate the students based upon whether they could maintain control of a ball while dribbling, trap the ball with their foot, and accurately kick the ball towards a stationary object. Section 4: 1. Home/school connection: a. I would send out an email to all parents suggesting ways students can practice dribbling skills at home. In the email I would include ideas such as parents setting up an obstacle course for kids to dribble through. I would suggest that parents can use household objects such as soup cans for the â€Å"cones† and any round ball would work for dribbling. I would encourage parents to practice with their kids by first demonstrating the skill and then just participating. When parents are involved with their kids in a physical activity the child is more likely to stick with it longer and of course it is an excellent way for parents to bond with their child. 2. Modifications and adaptations b. Inclusion of a child with a physical impairment (e.g. a child confined to a wheelchair, or a child that requires the use of assistive technology). i. One way to include a child confined to a wheelchair would be to have them hold the soccer ball in their lap and maneuver their wheelchair through the cones; upon reaching the end they can throw the ball into the goal. A second way to include them would be to have them use a paddle to â€Å"dribble† the ball through the cones and ultimately hitting the ball into the goal. c. Inclement weather or an altered schedule forces you to change your location. Choose a different location to discuss (e.g. a smaller classroom as opposed to a gym). ii. Due to inclement weather the lesson would need to be moved indoors to the gym. Since the gym floor surface is much smoother than a grassy field I would have the student’s only practice dribbling while walking in order to maintain better control of their ball. d. Several children from a  different grade are temporarily joining this class for this particular lesson. iii. In order to include all students fairly I would disperse the children in groups using the shape cards, but if one group was disproportionately older students or younger students I would need to rearrange a bit. In order for the relay race to be fair each group would need an even mixture of older students versus younger students. References Hastie, P. (2012). Foundations of moving learning. San Diego, CA. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. NASPE (2008). Washington State K-12 state standards. Retrieved from http://www.k12.wa.us/HealthFitness/Standards-GLEs/HealthFitnessStateStandards.PDF.

Airline Lufthansa Companies

Airline Lufthansa Companies Strategic Change and Strategic Challenge for Lufthansa Introduction The biggest airline in Germany- Lufthansa is one of the leading airline companies in the world, but it suffered from the danger of bankruptcy in 1991. However, the flexible strategic change programs made it survive. Thus, the implementation and effects of those programs are obviously attractive and deserve further study. Moreover, current business environment is full of opportunities and challenges, which poses Lufthansa to identify relative challenges and adopt some reaction to respond. Therefore, this report will discuss two parts: one is strategic change programs and the other is current strategic challenges for Lufthansa. In the first part, it will evaluate the strategic change programs which Lufthansa applied and also cover the effects of leadership and politics. The second part of this report will analyse the strategic challenges for Lufthansa based on current and future business environment. I. Strategic changes for Lufthansa Strategy is argued to be a useful tool for an organization to achieve its target in the long term, and its contribution to development of the organization is evident. However, it is impossible to use one strategy to respond the changeable demand due to the dynamic external environment, so the organization should change their strategies to adapt the market. 1. Strategic change program According to Balogun and Hailey (1999), reconstruction is one of strategic changes for organizations, and it â€Å"may be rapid and could involve a good deal of upheaval in an organization† (Johnson and Kevan, 2002:537). Lufthansa utilized this way of reconstruction from functional structure to multidivisional structure to adapt the changing market condition (Bruch, 2000). Functional structure is based on the operational activities such as production, finance, marketing, human resources and information management. However, this structure is primarily suitable for smaller companies. It becomes inadaptable with the expansion of organization, because it neglects strategic issues which are very important for the development of an organization. It is also difficult for departments to co-ordinate and to cope with diversity. Lufthansa is persistent with the idea of multidivisional structure to break up integrated operations into smaller, self-contained units with autonomous governanc e and management. The multidivisional structure enhances strategy focus of each business unit and facilitates measurement of unit performance. Furthermore, it encourages general management development. Nevertheless, the structure has its disadvantages. First of all, it could be costlyï ¼â€º Additionally, the divisions grow too large to manage. What is more, too many divisions make cooperation complex and difficult (Johnson and Kevan, 2002:425). Apart from restructuring of organization in the case of Lufthansa, they also exploited the approach of combination of the human resources management and business strategy to implement â€Å"Strategic Cost Saving Programme†- programme 15, of which the goal was to â€Å"reduce cost ,and make staff at every level highly cost -conscious and cost effective† (Bruch, 2001:315). In the process of implementation, Lufthansa respected individual opinion, considered their willing of contribution to achieve the organizational goal. For instances, Dr. Jansen, the General manager of Programme15 considered that one of the characteristic feature of the ‘Lufthansa style was the specific combination of consensus orientation and persistence†, and also applied better channel to motivate line managers to dedicate through open and honest discussion (ibid, 2001:316). Because middle managers is seen to act as many kinds of roles in the process of carrying out strategic change progra m .e.g. role model, project manager role, mentor or coach and translator. Each role undertaken by middle managers has great influence on the behaviours and attitudes of people to adjust to change (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1994). In addition, continual control is also crucial to implement this programme 15. Lufthansa used a tight monitoring and weekly report to ensure its implementation. Control is important to identify the problems blocking the implementation of strategy through assessing the variances or deviations between actual results and budgeted outcomes. What is more, strategy alliance is a more and more popular method of the development of new strategy. It is defined that two or more organizations share resources and activities to pursue a strategy (Lorange and Roos, 1992).With the increasing complexity of external environment, individual organization may be unable to face those problems within its own internal resources and capabilities, thus they could obtain more resources, skills, information and innovation through cooperating and collaborating with other organizations. Strategic alliance has a variety of forms, like joint ventures, consortia, networks, and opportunistic alliances. Lufthansa adopted strategic network alliance-Star Alliance. It changed their strategy, from â€Å"growth through own strength† to â€Å"growth through partnership† (Johnson and Kevan, 2002:381). Network is thought to be arrangements whereby two or more organizations work in collaboration without formal relationships, but through a mechan ism mutual advantage and trust (ibid, 2002). In the case of Lufthansa, this kind of alliance demanded more coordination and communication within all partners, and required an integrated management structure for overall alliance as well as systematic process for co-coordinating the internal strategic activities of all the partners (Bruch, 2001). 2. Role of leadership Leadership has enormous influence on performance in organizations, and it is â€Å"the process of influencing others to work willingly and to the best of their capabilities towards the goals of the leader† (Kevin and Bob, 1997:527). Leader would expect or request subordinates to do certain things. According to followers behaviours, leader would reward or punish them in order to motivate them to do their best to achieve the goals. Therefore, whether to achieve the goal of the organization or not mainly depends on the decisions of the leader. Firstly, the leader, whose main job is to formulate mission, is on behalf of the organization, so leaders must have strategic vision to provide mission which will provide guidance and direction (Senior and Fleming, 2006:281). The leaders must be able to work under the pressures of a competitive environment. Therefore, leaders should use business strategic judgment by objectively and professionally to investigate each component of the organizations internal and working environment so that organizations can make the most of resources they own. The leadership of Lufthansa was very successful due to the following reasons: At first, the leader of Lufthansa recognized the need to change strategies, structures and styles. When the crisis arose, the leaders of Lufthansa faced it positively by changing the strategic program; they carried out several strategies to achieve the turnaround. Secondly, good new products and services were developed, for example, Lufthansa provided a series of servic es including technical services, catering and so on. Finally, new values were added to the organization through the change, Lufthansa had a â€Å"Changed Soul†. Furthermore, the leaders should know how to motivate the employees to do their best to achieve the goals, which is because motivation is one of the main factors determining the level of individual performance at work. If they are motivated, there is a willingness to exert high levels of effort to reach organizational goals (Robbins and Coulter, 1999:482). Lufthansa learnt to count on people when the crisis arose, it made this by spending some time in communicating with the subordinates, through this, leaders can share the information with people and leaders can get feedback on plans and strategies. The way they communicate with subordinates would influence employees performance. When employees involve in the communication, employers would understand more about the employees thinking, then gaps and misunderstanding in activities among individuals and organizations will be reduced. During the turnaround Lufthansa, leaders developed a certain style of involving people in strategic busin ess processes and networks, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO Lufthansa Technik AG and former member of the OPS Team said: â€Å"We learned to count on people and we got to know that the same people can behave very differently in different situations.† (Bruch, 2001:321) 3. Role of politics The role of politics is as important as that of leadership, and it is very necessary to examine the effects of politics on the business performance. First of all, politics may be required to stimulate necessary change that is blocked by the more legitimate systems. Different from culture, politics promote necessary change, which is rooted in the past and hard to change (Mintzberg et al., 1998:244). Additionally, many decisions are typically affected by political environment, although the importance will vary in different firms, most organizations attempt to maintain good relations with government. Some senior managers may view political factors beyond their control and do little more than adjusting the companys strategies to accommodate changes in those factors, but Lufthansa took more proactive steps, at the outset of the turnaround, Lufthansa forwardly negotiated with the government to privatize the airline, and it became fully privatised in 1997. What is more, according to micro power, organizations have to deal with external environment (ibid,1998:248), the faster pace of environmental change and the greater degree of environmental uncertainty are two issues which link all types and sizes of organizationï ¼Ë†Robbins and Coulter, 1999:62ï ¼â€°. Therefore, an organization should always match its capabilities with the demands of the environment. Here, it will analyze how the leaders of Lufthansa took steps to adopt the environment from two aspects: First of all, in the majority of markets, competitors play very important roles in an organizations task environment. The decisions of the competitors usually influence the firms success and failure that is because products in one industry are usually closely related to those in other industries. Moreover, the relationship between an organization and its competitors tends to change from time to time (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005:241). In addition, buyers change enormously over time, b ut customers are a critical part of all organizations, without them no company can survive, so leaders should change the developing strategy and innovate to catch the customers values, tastes, and needs in order to gain an advantage over other companies (ibid: 174). The managers of Lufthansa formulated lots of strategies to improve customer service, such as Passenger Service. II Strategic challenges for Lufthansa These days, the worlds airline industry is full of opportunities and challenges that pose airline companies to face a number of strategic challenges. Admittedly, some unexpected factors and fierce challenges may affect policies and strategies of companies. At the same time, companies will also benefit themselves from handling those challenges effectively. The following discussion will focus on the main strategic challenges for Lufthansa from four aspects: strategic alliance, customer service, global environment protection, and economic impact and emergencies. 1. Challenges from Management of Strategic Alliances The airline industry has already come into the alliance times. Strategic alliances which always used to develop global markets play an important role in the current global airline business which can affect the airlines in different aspects (Blythe and Zimmerman, 2005:113). Strategic alliance can occur not only in the single industry just like airlines cooperating with each other, but also exist among different industries such as airline and IT, airline and logistics service and so on. Strategic alliances are the key factors of the market which will reduce the cost and risk for their members. a. Airline alliance Airline alliance growing rapidly in popularity belongs to the network alliance and thus it was the result of the development and severe competition of global airline industry (Johnson and Scholes, 2002:381). These days, the three largest airline alliances of the world are Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld which were established in the late of 1990s (Airline alliance survey, 2007). Nowadays, the airline alliances bring more convenience for travellers during the international fights because it can help them save money and time by using single ticket to fly on different frequent flight programs, and provide them with more departure times and destinations. Airline alliances can also reduce the cost and get more profit for the alliance members. However, that how to manage the airline alliance is still the strategic challenges for the members of the alliance. First of all, as the informal alliances, the members of airline alliance do not need to joint management and they just need to make technology, RD capability and so on together informally(Aaker and Mcloughlin, 2007:218). Moreover, any members still remain independent after establishing the alliance and therefore all the members are comparatively easy to separate from the airline alliance without any harm(Blythe and Zimmerman, 2005:113) (Johnson and Scholes, 2002:382). In 2007, the three largest airline alliances have already controlled 70% of world market. As the largest airline alliance, Star Alliance takes the 28% of the world market. (Xiong, 2007) How to keep the advantage is the main task in the future work. Under these circumstances, the members of Star Alliance should communicate well among members at all levels of organization, negotiate the agreement carefully a nd cooperate with other members to institute the suitable strategy for the Star alliance (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2004). All airline alliances hope to enlarge themselves and control more market share. In order to enhance capacity of competition, Star alliance should attract some new partners. But at the same time, the more important factor is that Star alliance needs to develop the good working environment for the original members to keep them having the expectation of continuous cooperation and keep them making sure that they work with reliance from others. Otherwise, some of them may quit from the Star alliance and join the other alliance which will bring potential risk for the Star Alliance (Blythe and Zimmerman, 2005:114). From Lufthansas side, it needs to show its â€Å"trust and respect† to other members of this service network alliance (Johnson and Scholes, 2002:455). Without trust, no alliances will be successful.As the key point of success, trust is consisted of two elements: one is â€Å"competence based†, and the other is â€Å"character based† (ibid, 2002:383).The Lufthansa Aviation Group has already been one of the excellent airlines in the world especially in the year of 2007. Though Lufthansa places the leading role in the whole airline industry, which has more advantages in technology and service, it still needs to trust other members who have the capability to fulfil their task in the alliance and respect their decision making and approaches to motivation (Lufthansa, 2007). Moreover, Lufthansa should also trust and respect others attitudes and behaviours and keep good long-standing social relationships with others in order to develop the alliance and give itself the bright future. b. The alliance between airline industry and other industries As what mentioned above shows, the competition and development bring â€Å"airline alliance† to airline industry. It still leads the airline companies to find other co-operators to help them benefit from the competition. Lufthansa needs to consider the current status to face the challenge to improve itself and increase the capability of competition and development due to the impossibility in existence of individual company with its own ability. Sometimes, they will agree to local help in some particular markets. Lufthansa may enhance itself from cooperating with some firms which have already established a dominant position in particular market (Blythe and Zimmerman, 2005:114). Making a strategic alliance with other industry firms may enable Lufthansa to involve in new technologies and gain more innovation (Johnson and Scholes, 2002:382). For Lufthansa, it has already cooperated with other industries such as logistic/technical/Catering/Ground Services industries. How to find th e new business area is the critical issue for Lufthansa. For example, Lufthansa can cooperate with the toy industry which uses the brand of Lufthansa. Providing the free toy for children, it can not only win lots of customers who like this kind of service especially the parents and but also let more people familiar with the brand of Lufthansa. 2. Challenges from Customer Service According to the World Trade Organization, commercial services place a more and more higher percentage in the world business and they are becoming a more important component of every business (Blythe and Zimmerman, 2005:155). Compared with US$1.46 billion in 2001, commercial services have increased to US$ 2.71billiion in 2006 (Diao, 2007). For airline industry, service is the main product of every firm. Service contributes the main profit for the airline industry, so how to provide the high quality service and how to innovate service are full of challenges for the Lufthansa. In 2007, many airline companies find â€Å"a good service is just a little bit more than customers expectation† (VLEBA: British airline, 2007) In order to provide the excellent service, we must understand our customers. Customers are served by the company and they can decide which company to be chosen. If a company wants to get profit from customers and provide the suitable service to the customers, they m ust satisfy customers requirement. (Aaker and Mcloughlin, 2007:39-45) For airline industry, providing the convenient, comfortable and personal individual services are becoming more and more important for developing the quality of service. In order to improve the service, Lufthansa tried their best in 2007. The acquisition of 19% of the equity of JetBlue Airways is the big event of Lufthansa in the year of 2007 which â€Å"links two airlines with international reputations for quality, innovation and a service culture.† (ATW Daily News, 2007) Jet Blue airways is the way for Lufthansa to enter the US market in order to provide more convenient and more powerful service for America in Logistics which will save more money and more time for the customers. According to Lufthansas customer research of 2007, more passengers complain that they are boring to take the long distance fighting because they feel quite tied in the economy class just using one fixed seating position( Wei, 2007) . Because of serious competition among airline companies, providing the comfortable service is a key to gain more customers. If Lufthansa can make good use of A380s space, we wish it can design the new service that it can provide the three layer bed in the economy class (see the picture below). Though the price may be high, the new service will still bring the new challenge in the future because it is suitable for the customer requirement and bring more benefit for the Lufthansa. The economy class with bed (Wei, 2007) 3. Challenges from Global Environment Protection Recently, airline companies have been confronted with enormous environmental challenges such as carbon emissions, greenhouse effects and pollution prevention. According to the latest statistic data, international aircraft are responsible for 3% global carbon dioxide emissions but the figure is still increasing fast (Scheelhaase and Grimme, 2007). At the same time, though the environmental challenge have changed during the last decades and may be different among countries and companies, necessity of environmental awareness has aroused by a number of environmental pressures from governments, stakeholders and costumers and thus those factors will possibly affect the corporate strategies (Schot and Fischer, 1993). For worlds airline industry, with regard to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the implementation of internationally coordinated instruments seems not to be ignored and carbon dioxide trading regulatory which airline firms should subject to has already recommended by the Eu ropean Commission (BBC, 2005).Thus, the environmental programmes and policies of airline firms should be established due to both external pressures and intrinsic responsibility and awareness for global environment. According to the different characteristics and various stages of development, Petulla (1987) classified environmental management into three categories: crisis-oriented, cost-oriented, and enlightened, and he also argued that strong environmental responsibility may contribute to companys sustainability and long-term profit. For Lufthansa, substantial management is one of their corporate objectives and they carry out their integrated global concept based on a four-pillar model for climate protection including technical progress, improvements in infrastructure, operational measures and complementary economic measures such as global emissions trading scheme (Lufthansa, 2006). However, though those policies can be implemented by introducing new technologies and optimising orga nisational structure and operation (e.g. Lufthansa start operation with new aircraft A380 to renew their first class concept), the performance of environmental management is still arguable due to the first three pillars technical progress, improvements in infrastructure, and operational measures have priority in any cases at Lufthansa. Therefore, the most important factors that result in â€Å"enlightened† environmental management are: the CEO of Lufthansa has strong commitment with environmental compliance, and the firm should realise the fact that expenditure for environmental responsibility can be minimized in some level (Gupta, 1995). 4. Challenges from global economic environment and unpredicted incidents The further strategic challenge is associated with the global turbulent economic environment. Some strong impact and low probability event, which are characterised by ambiguity of cause, effect and means of resolution, may influence polices and strategies of companies (Pearson and Clair, 1998:60). For worlds airline industry, the gradually increase in oil prices have also forced the airline industry to face strategic challenges. It is forecast that high oil prices may slash global profit for 2008 by nearly $3bn (Milmo, 2007). According to the International Air Transport Association, the fuel price, which has hovered near $100 a barrel during 2007, is predicted to increase $14bn to the industry fuel cost (ibid, 2007). Obviously, high fuel expenditure may seriously impact on the profits of airline industry and slow down the growth rate of annual revenue. At the same time, some unpredictable disasters such as bird flu and terrorism attack (e.g. the event of 11th September 2001) will als o strongly impact the operation of firms. Thus, with regard to confront with this issue, global aviation will probably adopt relevant crisis consciousness and reaction plan which is associated with strategic management to avoid major disruption. Crisis management is considered as a multi-disciplinary process that not only be subjected to the place where the impact exists but also the actual management of a specific crisis for organisation (Sheaffer and Mano-Negrin, 2003). Hence, the participation of a group of managers is required by crisis management rather than being seen as the task of individual independent department (Pollard and Hotho, 2006). Moreover, that will not only highlight the commitment of senior management but also strong leadership to identify and handle the threat with the ideal of crisis management (Mitroff, 2001). For Lufthansa, they should make use of their â€Å"changed soul† and adopt flexible strategies based on teamwork to maintain competitive and cos t effective. For example, In September 2001, they performed the D-Check project which enabled the management to take quick and effective decisions to cope with the emergency incident (Haetty and Hollmeier, 2003). However, those crisis management based on teamwork is challenged. If the absence of individuals happened during the design process of crisis management, it may lead to the disruption to daily business and the costs linked with that disruption (Pollard and Hotho, 2006).Furthermore, the management of company still faces more challenges from external communication. Severe time pressures, inadequate or distorted information will also pose management of company to face problems such as stress at work (Shrivastava et al., 1988). Conclusion In a word, this report initially assesses the method of strategic change programme which Lufthansa applied in four aspects: reconstruction from functional structure to multidivisional structure, combination of human resources management and business strategy, control in the implementation of strategy, and new network alliance. Secondly, it analysed the importance and influence of leadership on organizational decision-making and employees motivation. The report also covers the effects of politics of Lufthansa on negotiation with the government and external environment. Following, we examine the current business environment and point out four crucial challenges for Lufthansa in the future: It firstly highlights the management of strategic alliance through the difficulties in cooperation with alliance members and exploration in the new market; the second point mainly contributes to how to improve excellent service to satisfy with customers requirement; thirdly, deterioration in global e nvironment may make Lufthansa carry out some environmental programmes; the further challenge for Lufthansa is that they should be conscious of economic environment change and some emergent events and draw out the reaction plan to respond. Bibliographies References Aaker, D.A. and Mcloughlin, D.(2007) Strategic Market Management, John Wiley Sons. 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Essay --

Hopelessness is an intense emotion every person feels at one point in their life, a feeling closely interlinked with depression and suicide. In the poems â€Å"It was not Death, for I stood up,† and â€Å"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,† by Emily Dickinson and â€Å"No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,† by Gerard Manley Hopkins, the theme of the poems is hopelessness, but the authors approach the theme differently in each poem. In the poem, â€Å"It was not Death, for I stood up,† Dickinson uses words to describe the sense of hopelessness she feels as she tries to pinpoint the source of her anguish. In the first two stanzas, she uses specific sensory details to convey her chaotic feelings to tell the reader what her condition cannot be. A repetition of â€Å"it was not† (1) is then followed by a reason of why she eliminated the possibility, using the senses of sound or touch. She merges together the conditions she had eradicated and through her chaotic state, her thoughts turn toward funerals. This causes her to think about her death and her current state of mind. She feels her â€Å"life were shaven† (13), so that the only emotions left were despair and terror with the feeling of hope lost. She also â€Å"could not breathe without a key† (15); terror does not directly affect a person’s breathing, but it sometimes causes a person to feel as if he were suffocating, unable t o breathe. Her â€Å"key† that she needs is to understand what she is feeling, but she cannot figure it out (15). The last stanza in the poem expresses an overwhelming feeling of bleakness, there is no opportunity for rescue, â€Å"like Chaos— Stopless— †¦ / Without a Chance†¦ / Or even a Report of Land—† (21-23). In the last line, there is a paradox, that since there was no possibility of hop... ...er already confused and chaotic mind, her thought process leads her to thinking about death and hopelessness of being healed. Hopkins’s poem starts out differently, with him thinking that there was nothing that could be worse than what he was going through, but in the process of searching for relief, he discovers there is no relief with death. His poem comes to the same conclusion as Dickinson’s, the hopelessness of having no cure to save them. The ending to Dickinson’s second poem is similar to this that after her descent into insanity, there is no hope for her of ever going back to reality. In these three poems, imagery plays a large part with helping the author describe their thoughts and situations, which increases the feeling the reader has because it seems more lifelike. The three poems begin at various places, but end with the revolving theme of hopelessness.

Letter

Douglas M. Stillwell Vice President, Human Resources Memorial Health Center Stockton Falls, Ohio 43210 Dear Mr. Stillwell: Please accept my application for the Assistant Administrator position that appeared in this month`s ACHE Job Bank. Recently I served as an Administrator in Training for Marion House Health Care Center (add where that is). As my attached resume describes, I worked with that organization from October 2005 to October 2006. I am prepared to assume the greater management challenges at a larger health care facility like yours.   My experience during my association with Marion House Health Care Center, included planning, implementing and evaluating many of the facility`s programs and activities. I reported my observations and activities to my direct supervisor, the facility administrator. Two of my academic courses proved especially useful while I served as administrator in training. The HSA 571 Medical Informatics Masters course gave me the knowledge and skills necessary to participate in planning, implementing, managing, and evaluating health care information systems for the facility. HSA 685 Special Topics: Quality & Cost & Consumer Issues in Health Care Masters course helped me develop a better awareness of the concepts and emerging issues in quality, cost containment and the growth of consumerism in health care. Thank you for all your time and consideration. Your listed position offers an ideal fit with my professional background and career goals. I would appreciate an opportunity to interview for the position. I will telephone at the end of the week to discuss this opportunity further. Sincerely, Tejesh Patel, MHSA Letter I have already uploaded our family pictures on our new Website. Practically took the time segregating and scanning the images by page and by year. I was also thinking about your move to run as Governor while browsing the site. There are good things and bad things associated with its duties and responsibilities but I firmly feel in my heart that you can overcome all the bad things that come with the position especially during the campaign. I have reared you to be a brave man of honor. Run as you see fit and serve your country, your countrymen and our God well. Always remember to practice accountability. Make it your personal policy to keep a detailed statement of your expenditures. When your separate accounting software is ready I can guarantee you my full support in tracking and monitoring expenditures, people and results. You need to personally check the flow of your transactions, money and the results to avoid sabotage. Keep your antennae out for information to safeguard your integrity in carrying out public duties. It is always a good thing to be transparent and honest. Treat your friends and your opponents with tact and respect. Always perform deliberate acts of kindness. Loyalty is never paid. Loyalty is being given out of deep respect for you as a person, of your vision and hard works. Never rely on loyalty that does not last long. You do not aspire to win for fame. Your goal is to win to help people. Ask respected higher ups for counsel periodically and spend time alone to think before you make any decision. A council is good but you are to pray for guidance from the most High One alone. God shall lead you as to how to perform your duties and how to help your people. Your basic strategy is to aim to do good, serve with compassion and do your works with passion. Make sure everyone knows you did the work by maintaining press releases, emails to higher ups and newsletters from your office. People have the right to be informed of how things are being run and you have every right to claim the good works that you have done. We are not to be silent with politics attacks on good works. But you are to be silent on politics attacks and smear campaigns on personal issues. We want to let you know that we can be silent with all the anticipated negative campaigns directed to us and to you. A man who damages the reputation of another man is a man that cannot be trusted. Remember my son to be careful not to do that in your political campaign no matter how tempting. Always be transparent and deal with the issues in an objective way. You are a man, be always a man. Friends come and go so choose well. Listen with your heart and not your ears. Choose the ones that will serve you with great dedication and loyalty. Real friendships are hard to find. Feel their honesty and seek for their commitment through good works. The most effective way to conquer the hearts of your people and conquer the respect of your opponents is by beating your opponents through good works. You are an open target to an open world. You are to protect yourself and your people as long as you can. You have your mission from God, you have work to do and we’ll always be here to wait for you to come home when you fail and feel like life seems to tumble down to keep you company. I will not ask any questions for any failure you may encounter. I am your mother who will always keep you in my heart and love you forever as my child. God speed my son. Do what you have to do for the love of God. Loving you always, Your mother

IBM’s Smarter Planet Essay

1.(a) Using Medtronic as an example, explain how a mission statement gives a strategic direction. (b) Create a mission statement for your own career. Answer: (a) A mission statement gives strategic direction by stating the â€Å"what† and â€Å"how† of a business in a clear, concise, meaningful, inspirational, statement that will continue to be relevant in the long-term. Medtronic’s mission statement identifies its customers, market, products and technology. They stated the business they are in and their specific goals. (b) It is my business to progressively coordinate strategic methods of empowerment and to do so with passion and commitment. 2.What competencies best describe (a) your college or university and (b) your favorite restaurant? Answer: (a) Wayne College to provides high quality, accessible credit and noncredit educational opportunities to the citizens of Wayne, Medina, and Holmes counties and surrounding areas, and partners with and resource for the communities and organizations it serves. (b) House of Hunan, Fairlawn, has quality Chinese, Thai, vegetarian, & sushi choices. Ambiance is reminiscent of old Chinatown and it is often full of patrons. Great chicken dishes, good dumplings, and very good quality beef. Service is good, food is fresh and satisfying, and the price is fair value. 3.Why does a product often start as a question mark and then move counterclockwise around the BCG’s growth-share matrix shown in Figure 2-4? Answer: When a product is introduced, it is usually a â€Å"question mark† because it is â€Å"new† and there is uncertainty about consumers’ acceptance of them. After a period of time, depending on the product category, the â€Å"not-so-new† product could be classified as a â€Å"star† if its growth rate is sizeable and had a significant share of the product category. If the growth rate in the product category falls substantially and there is great competition from competing brands, the product probably will fall in the â€Å"cash cow† category. If, however, the product isn’t supported with an effective marketing program, it could become a â€Å"dog.† 4.Select one strength, one weakness, one opportunity, and one threat from the SWOT analysis for Ben & Jerry’s shown in Figure 2-7. Suggest an action that a marketing manager there might take to address each factor. Answer: ~Strength: Recognized for its social mission, values and actions. This can be used to reinforce their â€Å"green† base consumers by constantly updating the â€Å"naturalness† of their ice cream according to current food trends. ~Weakness: B&J’s social responsibility actions could reduce focus. By focusing on the product, and constantly innovating flavors, more prospective customers (from all walks of life) could be gained. ~Opportunity: Increasing U.S. demand for 100-calorie novelties such as cones and bars. They could look into developing new products in the low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar spectrum of frozen desserts. ~Threat: Competes with General Mills and Nestle brands. Ben and Jerry’s can research which products and flavors are the most popular among the competing brands and use that as inspiration for new flavors in their own line. 5.What is the main result of each of the three phases of the strategic marketing process? (a) planning, (b) implementation, and (c) evaluation. Answer: (a) Planning phase. Results are formal marketing plans that identify specific objectives to be achieved by a particular time and the specific actions to achieve those objectives. (b) Implementation phase. Results are formal measurements of the results achieved, which can be compared with the plans established in the planning phase to determine if any deviations from plans occurred. (c) Evaluation phase. Results are new actions taken to exploit opportunities where deviations from plans are better than expected or corrective actions where deviations from plans are worse than expected. 6.The goal-setting step in the planning phase of the strategic marketing process sets quantified objectives for use in the evaluation phase. What does a manager do if measured results fail to meet objectives? Exceed objectives? Answer: If the marketing manager discovers a planning gap, which is a difference between the projection of the path to reach a new goal and the projection of the path of the results of a plan already in place for the marketing program, he or she can take the following actions: Failed Objectives: Correct a negative deviation by making minor or major changes to the existing marketing program of a product to better reflect future expectations in the marketing environment. Exceeded Objectives: Exploit a positive deviation by strengthening strategic partnerships and engage in a market development, or product development, strategy to maintain or enhance the firm’s position. 1.What is IBM’s â€Å"Smarter Planet† business strategy? How does this strategy relate to IBM’s mission and values? Answer: IBM’s â€Å"Smarter Planet† strategy is based on the company’s analysis that recognizes changes in the business environment and aims to create a global enterprise using connectivity. It includes the capability of telephones, computers, and other technology. This relates to IBM’s mission and values because they are a company that seeks out ways to keep their consumers happy and are looking for more ways to innovate by developing more advanced technologies. 2.Conduct a SWOT analysis for IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative. What are the relevant trends to consider for the next three to five years? Answer: ~Strengths: Well-known name, owns many new technologies and patents, market sector is well defined, high quality employees, satisfy customers’ wants and needs, and have a clear, concise mission statement. ~Weaknesses: With a big name like IBM, change may be difficult. Many of the products offered are not customizable. Lack of intercultural experience, narrow range of products offered, and most business products are geared towards large businesses. ~Opportunities: Offer new technologies and services locally and in developing countries. Smarter Planet involves new ways of thinking. ~Threats: potential securities risks. Demand for Smarter Planet solutions will depend on interest in change rather than just reaction to problems. In the next three to five years we are likely to see fewer trade barriers, the growth of developing economies, and increasing access to the internet. Growth markets such as China, India, Brazil, and Africa will be able to use IBM products. Customers will have a need for more custom-made technological solutions and cross-technology connectivity. Businesses will need analytics and optimization, cloud and smarter computing solutions and technology for the globally integrated enterprise. 3.How can IBM communicate its strategy to companies, cities, and governments? How is Watson a part of the communication strategy? Answer: The current CEO of IBM, Sam Palmisano, sent out a letter for their annual report, titled â€Å"Letter from the Chairman†. In this letter, he had a powerful statement about the Smarter Planet. According to him, Smarter Planet â€Å"is not a metaphor. It describes the infusion of intelligence into the way the world actually works, the way that almost anything-any person, any object, any process or any service, for any organization, large or small-can now become  digitally aware, networked, and intelligent.† Palmisano also met with some Wall Street financial advisors and held six-hour information sessions with investors to answer questions about their business strategy. IBM also used print and TV ads to campaign in more detail what Palmisano’s message was. These ads focused on the ability to improve the world now, with the help from IBM. The IBM website also supported the campaign with industry reports, video descriptions of the smarter planet concept, and stats a bout the improvements at smarter planet clients. Watson, which is an artificial intelligence program, was also part of the communication strategy. Watson was featured on the game show Jeopardy!, and competed against two different contestants, and won both times. By having Watson on TV, where millions of people could view it, this was one more way to provide a consistent and integrated message. 4.What are the benefits of the Smarter Planet initiative to (a) society and (b) IBM? Answer: (a) IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy benefits society by providing solutions for forward-thinking organizations that share a common outlook: they see change as an opportunity and they act on possibilities, not just react to problems. The retailers, who implemented smart systems to analyze buying behavior, merchandise assortment, and demand were able to cut supply chain costs by 30%, reduce inventory levels by 25%, and increase sales by 10%. The Memphis Police Department reduced crime by 28% by using IBM solutions to analyze its data. Banks are also using smart systems to track loans and manage risk, increasing efficiency and customer service. The solutions also help reduce costs, cut waste, improve efficiency, and increase productivity for companies, industries, and cities. (b) While there may be short-term costs involved in shifting IBM from commodity-based businesses to customizable businesses, IBM believes that the transformation will provide growth for the company and its employees, success for its customers, and improved value for its stockholders. 5.How should IBM measure the results of the Smarter Planet strategy? Answer: Since introducing the Smarter Planet strategy, IBM has collaborated with more than 600 organizations around the globe. In each case, there are different measures of the results of â€Å"smart† solutions. One of the important elements of Smarter Planet is you’re looking at the impact of investments on a whole system. You’re looking not just at internal operational improvements but at the effect on the company’s brand, at strategic advantages it brings and even at the impact on society.