Research Topics: Final Exam Paper

Answers to Exam

1.    Explain by using 2 companies in HK as how they have used Core Competencies to differentiate & position themselves in the market? (Progressive companies differentiate themselves and position their products to maximise their potential through core competencies)     Core competencies are the organization’s strengths and abilities developed competitors to replicate. These core competencies are the most important activities over a long period of time. They provide value to customers and are difficult for to the firm.  Core competencies are what your firm knows, encompassing both skills and unique capabilities. For example, the Esquel Group of Companies, a Hong Kong based garment company, is now the largest manufacturer of men’s shirts. For over the two decades, the company experienced an exponential growth. Today, family owned Esquel’s sales to p US0 million made on orders for 48 million shirts a year and 5 million pairs of pants and other garments. According to Marjorie Yang, the chairman of Esquel Group of Companies, the company’s growth is attributed to Andy Grove’s theory of ‘only the paranoid survive”. She said that the company strongly subscribe the theory and constantly strive to improve and that has lead to continuous efforts to stay ahead of competition. In their efforts to stay ahead of the competition, the company then focus on the quality of their products and started trading up its customer base early in 1980’s. The company then provides more services to customer and has developed merchandising capabilities. In the 1990’s, it move from being just an order taker and started provide more merchandising especially fabrics. With the company’s drive to get more quality products, the company backward integrated to make fabrics. It started making knit fabrics and made a very big investment in a dye yarn mill in China. This had made the company take over the Japanese who used to be the main supplier of high quality fabrics. The company now farms long staple cotton in Xinjiang, Western China, which is among the best breeds of cotton in the world. Its strategy has paid off and its customer base today includes the cream of the industry — labels like Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss, Nordstrom, Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie & Fitch and Lands’ End. With Miss Yang’s math degree in MIT, she understands the power of technology, and as such leveraged its used in the opration of the company. This helps the company get it products to market faster, reduced wastage in the production process and move foods faster through supply chain. In addition, her knowledge on technology was also used to develop technology that could reduce energy consumption and better protect the environment. Moreover, the company is unique with their philosophy of knowledge sharing with the competing companies. According to her, there nothing we can do with to reduce the price of oil however there are clever things that can be done to reduce the consumption of water and energy and that can be done through the use of technology engineering. Currently, the company has 200 engineers running around doing studies which include environmental including energy studies because according to Yang, a large chunk of the problems of the environment comes with inefficient use of energy resources. In addition, the company allows sharing of knowledge and management skills with other competing companies. This, according to Yang, would put pressure to her company to run faster than the others. While some other companies consider sharing trade secrets a corporate suicide, Esquel considers this an approach that actually benefits the company. Sharing knowledge is one philosophy that Esquel instills in the whole company. According to Yang, although competitors buy their software package, it does not simply improve productivity. There no such thing as magic. Technology is like a diet pill that you take and then still has to go and exercise. Creating an environment which stimulates a culture where people are willing and eager to share information is vital for a company to excel. Esquel have created a workplace in which ideas are flying fast and thick which resulted to an exponential growth of the company. Esquel core competencies are focus on the knowledge sharing of the people within the organization. Communicating their individual ideas made the company a market leader. Esquel is a people organization. It cares more on the people within the organization and with the community with their concern on the environment in which they operate on. Another company in which has used its core competencies to differentiate and position them in the market is Automatic Manufacturing Limited (AML). AML is a 30 year company specialized in design and manufacturing services for a wide range of electronic products. Consecutively, AML Group is a winner of the Hong Kong Industry Award in 2004 and 2005. Being recognized as the leader of productivity and wuality in the industry, AML Group employs advanced technology and modern management to generate continuous innovation, while practicing the TQM and Fit-sigma to achieve most competitive costs and lead time. AML is recognized of deploying a design assurance to verify weak points in initial product designs and to make improvement before a prototype is made. In addition, AML developed customized equipment to enhance quality towards zero-defect and deploying a critical chain project management to shorten dependable time to market.             AML concentrates on top quality product and service. Moreover, the company enhances the standard in organization governance and value chain partnering. Separate Board of Directors from the Top Management Team is a culture in AML to outweigh competitors. Generally, AML’s core competence is directed on their organizational structure and on the innovativeness of quality of products and services of the company. With these initiatives, the company outweighs its competitors.     2.    Explain how capabilities and competencies are affected by Mckinsey 7S principle. Give example! (McKinsey’s 7S Matrix – it’s application in regards to developing capabilities and competencies)   McKinsey 7S framework was originally developed as a tool to enable  broader thinking when  organizing a company effectively, strategy must be thought about in terms of how it works in conjunction with a variety of other elements. Developing capabilities and competencies requires attending the 7 variables of the model an using them as a framework to diagnose how an organization currently operates and how development might be designed. Moreover, when all 7 variables are aligned and facing the vision mission and strategy, there is momentum to successfully operate.             In developing competencies and capabilities, it is important that the organization should take into account the 7 variables. These include shares values, staff and skills, systems, strategy, structure, and style. When developing core competencies and capabilities, organization must take a closer look to these variables. It should be properly examined in which area does the organization have an edge. From these it should be taken into account to develop these variables for the advantage of the organization.             Shared Values are an organization’s values, beliefs, mission and objective. Values and beliefs can be found by examining the way an organization tries to meet its stakeholder’s needs. It is important to consider the importance of sharing the values and beliefs in the organization. Strengthening capabilities and competences is critical in common shared values and beliefs.             Another is the staff and skills. In order to achieve its strategic goals, an organization should regularly examine its skills and staffing requirement to identify whether or not it needs new capabilities/competencies and new ways of working. Most importantly to consider in developing competencies and capabilities are the staff because they are the ones working in the organization and trying to examine their needs of working conditions is basically important. Staff and skills is critical in the success of the organization.             Another variable is the system. The organization systems and processes is important to contribute to meeting a strategic goal. Examples can include communication and performance management system. Efficient system can be a core competency of an organization when it working best for their operations.             Strategy usually is the organization’s overall plan aimed at achieving its objectives taking into account any external factors outside of the immediate team. Developing a strategy could become a competence of the organization since mostly strategies are giving way of the success of any organization.             Structure defines who does what and who is accountable for. It also provides coordination between section, teams, and individuals through identifying the line of the organization’s structure.             For example with the case of AML, they have separated the responsibilities of the board of Directors and the Top Management Team which has contributed to their fast growth.             Finally, style is defined as the deeper level of basic assumption and beliefs and shared by members that operate unconsciously and define an organization’s view itself. An organization with a unique style would most likely have a core competence over the others.     3.    Why do you think that strategic thinking must be part of long-term plans of organizations? (Why should strategic thinking be part of the strategy of a company?)   Strategic thinking is a process which involves top management and its senior officers to create a picture of what the organization wants to become. It is this powerful future profile that will drive the direction, nature and composition of the business. Specifically, strategic thinking involves deep reflection on a company’s strategy, direction and an envisioned future. It defines the nature of its products, customers, market segments and its geographical markets in the future. Firstly, the decisions which are made through strategic thinking has long term implications on a company. For example, the decision by a property developer to go into the education business through setting up private colleges and institutions of higher learning has a long term impact on the group in terms of long term commitment in cash flow and to stakeholders such as students, lecturers, government authorities and suppliers. Secondly, strategic thinking influences decisions that have wide impact on a company. Thus, Intel Corp, the world’s largest computer chip maker is thinking strategically, with its plans to acquire telecommunications company Voice Technologies Group Inc. as it will have a wide impact on its business and the industry. The acquisition will provide Intel with the capabilities and features to enable most leading PBX systems sold worldwide to work with its computer telephony server systems and IP gateways. Thirdly, strategic thinking influences decision that are of great significance to the company to the extend that it changes something significantly. Thus, IBM is thinking strategically when it is planning to sell more of its products directly to customers. It will be of great significance to the company as it will become dependent on its “build to order” manufacturing capabilities, which is critical in selling PCs and servers directly. This new strategic thinking is of great significance to IBM as its success in the PCs business now hinges on its ability to lead strategic changes in the way it organizes its electronic commerce, website and simplify its product line. The following are the benefits of strategic thinking:   Responsive to change Strategic thinking explores the big picture, delves into long term, broad and significant implications of a company and the industry or industries it operates in. Through this process it enables a company to respond to change swiftly, which is most critical factor for survival in this digital age. Microsoft for example was thinking strategically four years ago when it discarded its definition of its company as a PC company at a time when the Internet is beginning to make “personal computing” a losing bet. The day will come when people would not use PCs but just a Net connection, A Web application and Web-based application. It was not the financial resources that saved Microsoft. It was the ability to respond to changes in the industry. In fact, Microsoft’s success today is attributed to its ability to respond to changes faster than its competitors. In a matter of few years, Microsoft has transformed itself from a proprietary content service, Microsoft Network (MSN) to development of separate Internet services which include its CarPoint car-buying service and Expedia services. It has further reinvented itself by creating a multimedia website or portal called MSN.com that also acts as a homepage for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. In anticipation of more free offerings by competitors, Microsoft has purchased Hotmail to add free services to its e-commerce offerings. Capitalize on opportunities In facing an environment of increasing competition and abundance of opportunities, organizations have to think strategically of how best to tap into resources to capitalize on these opportunities. Strategic thinking enables organizations to determine the viable and more attractive opportunities to pursue. It enables organization to scan the environment for opportunities which they can capitalize on based on their strengths. Richard Li Tzar-kai was thinking strategically when he bidded for telecom giant, HKT (Hongkong Telecom). He capitalized on the opportunity brought about the great appreciation in the shares of his new founded company, Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) share price has soared more than 19,000 per cent since he took over, thanks to the internet frenzy. He capitalized on his good network of bankers, convinced four banks which include HSBC Holdings and Bank Of China to loan him US billion. Through leveraging on strengths, he had recently successfully won the mega deal of US.1 billion, outbidding Sing Tel to take over Hong Kong’s oldest telecommunications company. I consider PCCW’s taking of Cable & Wireless HKT as strategic as it has transformed a 10 month old internet company with no profit and with only 440 employees to one with a profit of US1.47 million profit, over 14,000 employees, 925,000 mobile subscribers and 3.6 million fixed-line subscribers. Strategic thinking is about analyzing and capitalizing opportunities before they fleetingly disappeared.   Counter threats Strategic thinking explores not only opportunities in the market place but also threats and potential threats in the industry. For example, for a long time, piracy in terms of cassettes, videos and CDs have plagued the music industry. And music companies have been undertaking their own strategies to combat this. Today, the music industry is facing yet another threat from the internet. Any Internet user can get into the Web and download music as digital signals into a computer. The battle field has now changed, there is no recorded CDs, cassettes or tapes. Recording companies have been busy suing for the breach of copyright for music found in the Internet. Some have successfully lobbied to made MP recording devices illegal. To counter this threat, Warner Brothers, EMI, BMG and Sony in 1998 announced their cooperation to develop an alternative to MP3, called the Secure Digital Music Initiative which is easy to use and more secure. Consumers would have to pay recording companies for the music they downloaded. Sustain competitive advantage In this digital age companies need to find new ways to sustain competitive edge in their business. Prior to the advent of the internet, portals and homepages, established companies in various industries from automobile manufacturers to banking, insurance, telecommunications, travel agencies and supermarkets can rely on entry barriers such as high cost of entry, brand recognition, scarcity of distribution channels and limited resources as ways to sustain their competitive edge in the businesses that they have developed over the years. Today with unprecedented information exchange, we have digital sellers and buyers who can transact with one another over the Net through a click of the mouse. New Internet start-ups such as PCCW as mentioned earlier has taken over brick and mortar company like HKT. Strategic thinking is needed to find new ways to create competitive advantages in business. In fact, strategic thinking is needed to ensure the long-term survival of an organization. The real intellectual capital of organizations of this digital age, is the strategic thinking capability of its management.   Reinvent the industry Strategic thinking allows an organization to go beyond reengineering its processes. Restructuring and reengineering is not enough to sustain the competitive edge of an organization. To become industry leaders, organizations often have to reinvent the industry. Apple for example created an entirely new industry – the personal computers industry. And Time Warner, Electronic Arts and other companies are reinventing the education and entertainment industries and redefining them into the field of “edutainment”. Restructuring and reengineering is about organization transformation. But organization transformation needs to be preceded by industry transformation. And to undertake industry transformation, leaders in organization need strategic thinking.   Position for the future Strategic thinking allows the management to create the desired future of an organization. Through a process of strategic analysis and assessment of the opportunities in the environment, the management team can develop a common and a shared vision and strategy for the future of the company. It can help position the company to enable the company to grow. In fact, strategic thinking is needed to ensure that organisations survive in the future.   4.    Organizations can re-discover themselves &/or create new products, markets through strategic change. (Strategic Change – this allows companies to rediscover themselves and then aggressively combat the markets)   Generally, organizations are always involved in a variety of change. The change being undertaken by organizations now is inherently complex and often impacts diverse stakeholder groups both internally and externally. As the change portfolio grows the level of complexity grows with it, with many organizations now finding it difficult to understand and track the plethora of change initiatives underway. An added complexity is a reduction in manpower: when rapid and complex change is needed the skilled resources required to deliver it are at their scarcest.   Incremental and transformational are the two types of strategy change. Any organization can implement either of the two approaches or a mixture of the two. Unless it’s clear which approach is to be used, the implementation will fall between two stools. Incremental change doesn’t challenge existing assumptions and culture. It doesn’t modify the existing organization. It uses existing structures and processes; it causes little disruption; it’s relatively low risk; it’s slow and it may not produce enough change. On the other hand, transformational change changes existing structures, the existing organization and the existing culture. It’s relatively high risk. It’s fast and focuses on major breakthroughs. Incremental change is aimed at making many small-scale improvements to current business processes. It focuses on small-scale improvements because experience shows the likelihood of succeeding with a small-scale improvement is much higher than of succeeding with a large-scale, ‘strategic’ improvement project. Incremental introduction is usually carried out at the task or department level under the overall control of the department manager. In incremental change, the participants do not need or want top management involvement, which they see as a hindrance that will slow them down and prevent them in making progress. It’s usually difficult to develop a true business case for any organization under the incremental approach. From the viewpoint of the overall business, the expected improvement is small-scale, almost invisible, and difficult to measure. Yet top management often requires attempts to be made to cost-justify the improvement. Reengineering is an example of transformational improvement. It involves radically rethinking and redesigning a major business process with the objective of achieving large-scale improvements in overall business performance quickly – and the product development process is a prime target. Product development runs across many of the traditional business functions, and has a high degree of customer and/or supplier involvement. Reengineering involves redesign of a company’s workflow and application of Information Technology to the new workflow with the aim of obtaining competitive advantage. To achieve this kind of breakthrough requires major change to processes, organizational structure and management methods. Re-engineering aims to optimize the major business processes of a company. Its objective is to make very large improvements in customer service metrics (e.g. reduction of 75% in product development time). The end result of improved business performance is very visible, so very easy to measure. As a result a well-defined business case can be developed for an organization under a reengineering approach. Re-engineering fundamentally changes the way a company works – which is why it is so difficult. It changes the way processes fit together, changes the way people work, and changes the way systems fit together. It’s hard work. Typical activities include rewriting job descriptions, inventing new recognition and reward systems, implementing new computer systems, retraining, changing financial reporting, and changing relationships with suppliers. Taken for example, The Commercial Press Ltd. which was founded in Shanghai in 1897 was a renowned publisher in the Greater China Region to produce award winning books. The company has diversified its business into distribution and retailing with a strong focus on culture and education. The Commercial Press landed in Hong Kong in 1914 and has since built the largest bookstore chain in Hong Kong with 16 retail shops, including two university bookstores, located throughout Hong Kong and selling a comprehensive list of books. By vertically integrating their services across the region, from publishing to distribution and retailing which forms a unique cross-regional organization including Singapore, Malaysia and the North America, the company was also able to present its accumulated wealth of knowledge to customers through various channels.             In 1999, the company quickly realized the significance of Internet as a valuable channel. Modernization for the resource-hungry Internet required The Commercial Press to re-think IT resource utilization. At that same time, IT was beginning to take central role in The Commercial Press. The company began business process re-engineering in 1999 to boost the efficiency of its key company processes.             In 2004, the holding company of The Commercial Press undertook a major Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) initiative to grease its supply chains further. Today, the electronic business service carries over one million titles online, making it one of the largest Internet listing of Chinese books in the Greater China region and Hong Kong. In this, it is therefore concluded that strategic changes can lead to re-discovery of the organization since process in necessary changes could change the organizational process and the usual way they operate in the organization thus giving them a chance to discover new products and new ways to combat the rapidly changing business environment.                          Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Answers to Exam

1. Explain by using 2 companies in HK as how they have used Core Competencies to differentiate & position themselves in the...

Exam

Part A. Objective Style Items <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> False</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A, C, D</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> True</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A and B</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A, B, C</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> B</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A and B</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A, B, and D</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> B</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A, C, D, E</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%">  A and C</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A</li>   Part B. Short Essay The case of Peter tends to offer no legal recourse given that the employment state provided is full employment-at-will. In this regard, the employer is entitled to discharge any employee based on any reason. In the case of Peter, the reason for dismissal is caused by an apparent redundancy in the organization. Mainly, the job description that he possesses is to help in the creation of the proposal to acquire a government contract. Thus the need of the services of Peter ended the moment the proposal was submitted and when the company failed to acquire the government contract. However, if Peter is adamant to take legal action against the apparent “wrongful termination” he encountered, then he could take claims against the company of violation of certain employment laws. Given the limited information in the case, it would be advisable to ask Peter if he felt in any way discriminated in his six months of employment. It was indicated that the owner of the company was a minority. If he cited certain instances that could tantamount to discrimination based on race, then he could make a claim against the company in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In the same regard, another vital information that should be maintained in the case of Peter is whether the company has a tangible proof of its employment-at-will policy. More specifically, it would be imperative to know if the company has a handbook indicating that the employees are indeed within an employment-at-will policy. Without such proof in writing, then Peter would have a strong case against the company by maintaining that he was terminated without just cause.   Part C. Case Analysis Legally, the company will not be facing any sexual harassment suit as the case intimated that the woman involved, Sally, have no knowledge of the matter. In the same regard, the information provided also indicated that there is no actual proof that the inflatable naked female doll points to a specific person. Nonetheless, this does not absolve the tenants of the Smith cabin of their behavior. This means that even without the complaint from a particular employee, the acts held by Smith and his cohorts though done in jest are still inappropriate. The company must deem themselves lucky that they are not facing any legal actions.  To this end, they have to take actions that would control the damage done by Smith. It would be advisable for the VP to initiate a review of the anti-harassment policies of the organization, assuming that one exists of course. This could be seen normally in handbooks. Basically, these policies cover discrimination base on race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability. The company should consult existing employment laws like the ADA, ADEA, EPA, and Title VII. It would also be advisable to reinforce the policy by indicating that the company will take action against those who violate these and protect those who complain of harassment.    Furthermore, the VP should make sure that the stunt that Smith and company should not recur. He must clarify with the rest of the organization that such actions are unwelcome.  Essentially, without intimating the infantile nature of the deed of Smith, it also serves as bait for future legal actions against the company. It is in this context that the VP should have a meeting with the managers and supervisors to remind them of their duties and responsibilities. More importantly, the VP should encourage employees to file complaints of discrimination to the company. This is to allow the VP to initiate objective investigations, exhaust all administrative instruments and essentially resolve it internally.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Exam

Part A. Objective Style Items False A, C, D True A and B A, B, C B A and B A A, B, and D B A, C, D, E ...

STAT 500 Exam :Statistics for Managers

Master of Business Administration in Management STAT 500 Statistics for Managers     1.          Applying Six Sigma total quality management technique learned in the course to your workplace, identify a product or service whose quality needs to be monitored and controlled. (20 %) a) Set up control chart(s) for the product or service studied. b) On the basis of your results, indicate whether the process is in control. c) What is your recommended policy if the process is in control or NOT in control?     7.     A large mail-order house believes that there is an association between the weight of the mail it receives and the number of orders to be filled. It would like to investigate the relationship in order to predict the number of orders based on the weight of the mail. From an operational perspective, knowledge of the number of orders will help in the planning of the order-fulfillment process. A sample of 25 mails shipments is selected within a range of 200 to 700 pounds. The results are as follows: (20 %)                   Weight of Orders Weight of Orders Weight of Orders   Mail (lbs) (in 0) Mail (lbs) (in 0) Mail (lbs) (in 0)   216 6.1 384 10.6 528 16.2   283 9.1 404 12.5 501 15.8   237 7.2 426 12.9 628 19   203 7.5 482 14.5 677 19.4   259 6.9 432 13.6 602 19.1   374 11.5 409 12.8 630 18   342 10.3 553 16.5 652 20.2   301 9.5 572 17.1 　 　   365 9.2 506 15 　 　               a)     Assuming a linear relationship, use the least-squares method to find the regression coefficients, the vertical intercept and the slope.             b)         Interpret the meaning of the vertical intercept and the slope.             c)         Predict the average number of orders when the weight of the mail is 500 pounds.             d)         Is your prediction in ( c ) reliable? Explain       - End - Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

STAT 500 Exam :Statistics for Managers

Master of Business Administration in Management STAT 500 Statistics for Managers 1. Applying Six Sigma total q...

Management – Leadership

Introduction             Leadership is the ability to influence and motivate others toward the achievement of a common goal. Leadership is different from management. Management is about the coordination of activities in order to get the job done whereas; leadership is concerned with the development of mutual purposes. The aim of leadership is to create a multidirectional relationship where every member of the team or organization contributes, influences and are valued. This report is about leadership, particularly the paper discusses two forms of leadership – transactional leadership and transformational leadership.   Transactional Leadership             Transactional leaders focus on the key purposes of the organization. A transactional leader assists people to recognize what needs to be done in order to reach the desired outcomes. When the parameters for success are well defined, transactional leaders can be very effective. A transactional leader tells the subordinate what to do, and the subordinate follows because of the rewards that he or she may get from following. Transactional leaders are authoritative, they create clear structures in which the expectations from the follower are clearly defined including the rewards and benefits that the followers will get from getting the job allocated by the leader done. A transactional leader allocates work to a subordinate who will be expected to take full responsibility of it. The work is expected to be accomplished whether or not the subordinate has the resources or capability to accomplish it. When things go wrong, the subordinate will be punished for his failure to carry out the task. Transactional leadership emphasizes the transaction or exchange that takes palace among leaders, colleagues, and followers. This exchange is based on the leader discussing with others what is required and specifying the conditions and rewards these others will receive if they fulfill the requirements. The transactional leader relies more on rational and logical thinking and free exchange of work in return for extrinsic rewards such as pay, vacations, hospitalization, and so on.             Transactional leaders have a tendency to hand over responsibility to the followers who are left to their own devices. Transactional leaders often rely on contingent rewards. Meaning, they reward followers for attaining performance levels that the leader have specified. Oftentimes, the followers perform because of the rewards. Transactional leaders take action only when there is evidence of something not going according to plan.   Example of a Transactional Leader             Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, is one of the celebrated transactional leaders of his generation. Welch was able to effectively lead General Electric to success during his time as CEO. During his early years as CEO of one of the world’s biggest company, Welch’s approach was contingency leadership, wherein he rewarded people in the organization for achieving the desired results. He was concerned with reaching the performance objectives that he set. He was a transactional leader, someone who believes that employees will do what he wants because it was to their best interest. Jack Welch was a successful transactional leader. GE achieved extraordinary growth during his term as CEO.   Transformational Leadership             The focus of transformational leadership are the people and their relationships. Transactional leadership aims to transform feelings, attitudes and beliefs. Transformational leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with other sin such a away that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Transactional leadership leads to the transformation of the leader, the followers and the social system in which they function. There are different characteristics of a transformational leader. A transformational leader is Charismatic. By being charismatic, transformational leaders encourage change, cooperation, commitment, development and loyalty among employees. The transformational leader serves as a role model to his or her followers. The transformational leader earns the admiration, respect and trust of the followers. A transformational leader is Inspirational and Motivational. Transformational leaders inspire and motivate. Transformational leaders provide challenging yet rewarding and meaningful work. He or she is Able to Stimulate Minds. Transformational leaders stimulate the minds of their followers. They encourage innovation and creativity. Followers are encouraged to try new approaches, and are allowed to share their ideas. He or she is also Considerate. Transformational leaders act as mentors and coaches. They pay attention to the followers; development and growth needs. Transformational leaders support their followers. They facilitate continuous learning and development and realize that everyone has their special needs.   Example of a Transformational Leader             Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard is a prime example of a transformational leader. When Fiorina was appointed as CEO in 1999, the company was in danger. The company according to the former CEO was sick and endangered, slow, complacent, and risk averse. As a transformational leader, Fiorina aimed to transform the organization. She accomplished this by introducing changes in short period of time. She established rules inside the organization. Among her rules were ‘no politics’, ‘no bureaucracy’, and ‘radical ideas are not bad ideas’. She changed the pay structure and made it more aligned with performance. She also reinforced key values and restructured the company. Fiorina is considered to be a transformational leader because she was able to reinvent HP and led the company to success.   Conclusion             In the discussion, the differences of the leadership types became evident. Transactional leadership is based on transactions or exchanges. Meaning, the follower acts to achieve the goals set by the leader because he or she expects to receive a reward. A follower also acts because he or she wants to avoid punishment for poor performance.  Transformational leadership is different. It is based on the belief that excellent performance can be achieved by transforming the followers and the organization. A transactional leader broadens and elevates the interests of followers, makes the followers aware of and makes them accept the purposes and missions of the group, and stirs the followers to look beyond their own self interest of the benefit of the organization.             The two examples presented two leaders with different leadership strategies. Welch, former CEO of General Electric was a transactional leader while HP’s former CEO, Fiorina was a transformational leader. Both leaders were successful and they managed to lead their respective companies to success. I believe that both leadership types can be effective provided that they are aligned with the values, goals and strategies of the company.               Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Management – Leadership

Introduction Leadership is the ability to influence and motivate others toward the achievement of a common goal. Leadership is ...

Intercultural Education: Principles and Strategies

Intercultural Education: Principles and Strategies Introduction             The society of those who are concerned in the world of the international schools can be considered as a diverse one. One of the most outstanding characteristics that most of us would associate with the mental picture of international schools or international education is the absences of homogeneity. The said deficiency of homogeneity or the existence of diversity can be seen from different viewpoints as well as point of view. It may be considered, for instance, from the different viewpoints of different schools that are claiming to be international schools (Hayden & Thompson, 2000, p. 3).             The definition of the term international school still remain a unresolved and controversial issue, this is due to the fact that up to now, no one has come up with a description and explanation of the term international school that does not leave out or eliminate some of the schools that are considering  themselves as international, and does not comprise others that may not as well stressing the absence of a communal opinion of the meaning of the term international education (Hayden & Thompson, 2000, p. 3).             Sequentially, to revert to the thought of the international education, on the other hand – and we would desire to disagree that it is the encouragement of the international education as well as its connection with the different sets of values rather than the counting or the definition of international schools, that considered as significant – such macro diversity does not come out to have an noticeable role to take part in the encouragement of such a set of values and international attitude. The progress of the said attitude is more likely to be endorsed in the context of another, recognizable appearance of diversity, that can be found at what can be explained as the local level, the micro diversity that distinguishes and differentiate so many individual international schools in terms of the great numbers of different nationalities, different cultural backgrounds, different languages that are used and spoken as well as different religious beliefs that can be found among the students as well as the teaching body. The level of the said diversities will vary with accordance to the essential raison d’être, whether catering for a mostly expatriate, temporary population or for a more constant population of students drawn principally from the local society or indeed, as in the case of the United World Colleges, catering for a student population intentionally chosen in order to take advantage of the cultural diversity as well as to make the said diversity a main attribute of the understanding and familiarity of the students (Hayden & Thompson , 2000, p. 3).             According to the research of Hayden & Thomson (1996), it shows that numerous of the students in the international schools give importance for the interaction with those of other cultures, and they consider it as one of the most fundamental characteristics of the international education. Furthermore, it ability to promote the development of an international attitude, a feature which describe by Walker (2000) as a good effect due to the fact that many of the said schools claim that they are doing more than just the  process of encouraging the activity of rubbing of shoulders. The intentional, designed interaction of students from the different cultural backgrounds is extensively observed as a foundation of international education (cited in Hayden & Thompson, 2000, p. 3). Social Difference and School Inequality Group educational differentials are, more often than not, attributed to the language differences, to the conflict in the matter of culture, to different discriminatory instruments like IQ tests, as well as to the cultural insensitivity of many educators or teachers (McCarthy, 1998, p. 53).             Social differences and inequality in school is considered as two of the most important implications of cultural diversity in the international education context. Contradiction and the non-synchrony in the course of educational processes of selection of culture, competition, exploitation as well as domination are considered as the primary sources and causes of the inequality in school (McCarthy 1998, p. 77). The theory of overdetermination in which the imbalanced processes and outcomes of teaching and learning as well as of the schooling as a whole are formed by the unvarying relations among the three different dynamics which are: race, gender as well as class, and in three spheres which are: economic, political and cultural. (McCarthy, 1998, pp.63 – 64). Furthermore, each sphere of social life is comprised of dynamics of class, race and gender has extensive hypothetical as well as realistic merit. It only shows that it is impracticable to recognize and comprehend fully the problem, regarding the amazingly high school-dropout rate amongst the black as well as Latino youth without considering the aspect regarding the issue of race, class as well as gender domination and repression in the US urban centers as well as the ways where in the said social dynamic works methodically interconnects. In addition to that, the issue about the unequal division of labor in schools as well as the society, and focus the attention to the ways in which capitalism uses patriarchal relations to the lower wage scale and the social importance of the labor of woman (McCarthy, 1998, pp. 63 – 64). Race Inequality             Race is considered as a profound and significant category of social aspect. In addition to that, race is linked to other different social dynamics like class and gender in the system that has a multiple determinations (McCarthy, 1998, p. 56). This is due to the fact that racial domination is intensely concerned in the essential organization of precise human societies and in the development of capitalism in the market system of the world (as cited from McCarthy, 1998, p. 55). Therefore, racial domination is conceptualized at the level of social collectivities and their discrepancy and conflictual relationships to the ways of production. This warns us to the influential connection between the racial domination as well as the inequality in terms of the economy, the differential material resources and competences as well as the rough access to the social as well as political institutions like school (McCarthy, 1998, p. 55).             Racial categories vary contemporaneously between different societies. For instance, while the racial designation black in the US refers only to those people of the African descent, on the other hand, in England, black refers to those oppressed Asian as well as Afro-Caribbean minorities (McCarthy, 1998, p. 59).             When we are going to look at the historical perspective of education, we will see that education is considered as the main site for the reproduction and amplification of the racial significance as well as racial identities. An examination of the racial discourses within the general course of the program and the educational theories and practices swiftly disabuses the people with the idea that education is considered as unbiased or blameless institution that has a respect to the racial struggles (McCarthy, 1998, p. 60). The said examination can be considered as wrong, due to the fact that there have been many past laws of different countries that are prohibiting specific race or groups of people to have an education.             Racial inequality is a multipart, multifaceted phenomenon that holds both the structural as well as cultural characteristics. According to Apple and Weis (1983), the vibrancy of race, class as well as gender does interrelate with each other in the complex manner, however, each is considered as required for the mutual reproduction of the others (as cited from McCarthy, 1998, p. 62). Gender Inequality             Gender inequality issue in schools as well as in working place has been one of the oldest controversies in the history of the human race. There have been many countries and places in the world that have practiced different oppressive laws and regulations against women.             Sex-dominant circumstances exist within the American university education with accordance to struggles over women’s studies as well as the very position of women in the academic world itself. Gender has been the articulating standard that has sharpened the focus on the different issues about the essential operation of white male opportunity in the university system with respect to the distinguished organization of curricular knowledge, imbalanced patterns of selection as well as the appointment to tenure-track faculty positions, imbalanced relations between male professors as well as the female students and a lot more cases (McCarthy, 1998, p. 69).               The issue regarding the gender has had a numerous impact that lights up the flash points of differences across a variety of customary male-dominated orders. Sexual rivalry within academic world has focused their attention of the people regarding the modus operandi of the university as well as its relations of competition, exploitation, domination as well as the cultural selection (McCarthy, 1998, p. 69).             The most important sources of conflict, mobilization as well as the counter-mobilization in a given educational institutions may be focus on the different issues of gender affairs such as sexual harassment, women’s studies, new codes of conduct within the university prevailing relationship between the sexes and a lot more (McCarthy, 1998, p. 69).   Class Inequality             Students and even teacher have a tendency to be rewarded and authorized in different manners based on the resources as well as assets that they are able to gather together within the school as well as in the society. This capability to gather together resource, and make use of the unequal reward system and representational rituals of schooling, differs according to the race, gender as well as the class backgrounds of minority as well as majority of students (McCarthy, 1998, p. 66). In terms of class inequality, a white middle-class male student comes to schools with understandable social and economic edge and in turn often have these advantages set and improved by the unequal curriculum and educational practices of schooling (McCarthy, 1998, p. 66).             The procedure, by which dissimilarity and class stratification is reasonable, is fairly complex and involves some explanation. Each time reality is definite in a way that works in order to maintain the accessible power structures; the procedure of ideology is most likely involved. Principal ideology reifies inequality as the expected result of the power union’s superior talent and endeavor (Kincheloe 1997, p. 111).             Researchers have discovered that classroom management strategies differ significantly between classrooms that are composed of poor students compare to those that are composed of middle as well as upper-middle class students. The control over the poor students is not easy, that more often than not, lead to contestation and conflict. Primarily, they are struggling for control (Kincheloe 1997, p. 128). This is due to the fact that according to the study of educational sociologist, it shows that for decades, teachers are handling poor students with their cold as well as impersonal ways (as cited from Kincheloe 1997, p. 128). Maintaining Cultural Sensitivity in Workplace             The idea of workplace diversity has also become extremely accepted in the mass media and has more lately come into the world of the human resource as well as the organizational behavior (Prasad & Mills 1997, p. 4).             Sensitivity to the different cultures is considered as one of the most important processes in managing the cultural diversity. Most of the US companies are using the cultural sensitivity training in order to get rid of, as well as to diminish the conflicts that will occur between the employees who speak only English, and those who communicate in other languages (Alkhafaji 1995, p. 121).             There are different activities and programs that can be planned and implemented in order to maintain cultural sensitivity in any workplace. Those programs and activities can help in order to maintain sound relationship inside the working environment.             Cultural sensitivity is required in order to maximize the beneficial impact of the competencies, at the same time minimize the harm that can be experienced due to the different characteristics of every employee (p. 322). Equalities Training             The main goal of the equalities training program is to target the shifting behavior of each and every employee. It gives the participants with understandable directions in order to deal as well as cooperate with their colleagues of other cultures that will compose to the set of correct norms as well as behaviors. This program will help the participants to become more efficient as well as adaptive when it comes to working with colleagues from different cultures (Cornelius, 2002, p. 105). Diversity Management Training             In 1995, diversity management training programs have become increasingly popular in the US. It includes earlier types of training programs such as information, cultural awareness, cultural-sensitivity as well as equalities training programs. The main objective of diversity management training is to focus on the attitudinal and behavior change (Early & Soon 2006, p. 105).               Aside from the said two examples of training, communication method is one of the most important tools that can be used in order to maintain sound relationship within a multi-cultural environment. It will be important to have seminars and socialization that will enable employees to explore the different aspects of different cultures inside their organization. Meeting can be done in order to lecture the different beliefs and traditions of the groups of employees inside the company.             Language barrier will be the primary problem that can be associated with multi-cultural environment. That is why it will help if the upper management will be able to create multi-lingual communication method, such as in terms of memo, management can disperse different version, such as for Chinese, for Japanese and so on.     Conclusion             Culture has a great impact on any aspects or industry in the world. In business, it is being used by huge companies in order to give the demands and needs of their customers. Furthermore, it is also considered as one of the most important aspects of factors that can affect the preferences of an individual. On the other hand, in terms of education and training, whether in the context of school or the workplace, culture is still one of the most important factors that can affect the performance of a given class or a given working environment that will eventually affect the overall performance of a company.             Education system evolves and develops based on the different factors. Furthermore, it can be shaped based on the actions and deeds of the society and serves as a reflection of a given society’s moral as well as intellectual values. The said situation affects the international education in terms of equality as well as nondiscrimination transcend for every individual as well as the state (McNeely 1995, p. 503).             That is why it is important for the institutionalization to take place with accordance to the recommendations where in the international organizations will play an significant job, as well as the national policy plans and be likely to be constant with the international organizational decisions as well as policies (McNeely 1995, p. 504).             Furthermore, there must have a national adaptation of the different policies that are consistent with their classifications and instructions. Completion is a main concern to the international organizations (McNeely 1995, p. 505).   References   Alkhafaji, A. (1995) Competitive Global Management: Principles ad Strategies, CRC Press   Cornelius, N. (2002) Building Workplace Equality: Ethics, Diversity and Inclusion, Cengage Learning EMEA   Early, C., Soon, A. & Joo-Seng, T. (2006) CQ Developing Cultural Intelligence at Work, Stanford University Press   Hayden, M. & Thompson, J. (Eds.) (2000) International Schools and International Education, Taylor & Francis   Kincheloe, J. L. & Steinberg, S. R. (1997) Changing Multiculturalism, Buckingham: Open University Press   McCarthy, C. (1998) The Uses of Culture, Education and the Limits of Ethnic Affiliation. New York: Routledge   McNeely, C. N. (1995) ‘Prescribing National Education Policies: The Role of International Organizations’, Comparative Education Review, 39 (4), 483-507   Prasad, P., Mills, A., Elmes, M. & Prasad, A. (1997) Managing the Organizational Melting Pot: Dilemmas of Workplace Diversity, SAGE   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Intercultural Education: Principles and Strategies

Intercultural Education: Principles and Strategies Introduction The society of those who are concerned in the world of the ...