Benjamin Harrison Biography - 23rd President of the U.S. Biography

Benjamin Harrison Biography - 23rd President of the U.S. Biography Benjamin Harrison was born on August 20, 1833 in North Bend, Ohio. He grew up on a 600-acre farm given to his father by his grandfather, William Henry Harrison who would become the ninth president. Harrison had tutors at home and then attended a small local school. He attended Farmers College and then Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He graduated in 1852, studied law, and then was admitted to the bar in 1854. Family Ties Harrisons father,  John Scott Harrison, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was the son of one president and the father of another. Harrisons mother was  Elizabeth Irwin Harrison. She died when her son was almost 17. He also had two  half sisters, three full brothers, and two full sisters. Harrison was married twice. He married his first wife Caroline Lavinia Scott  on  October 20, 1853. Together they had one son and one daughter along with a stillborn daughter. Sadly, she passed away in  1892. He then married Mary Scott Lord Dimmick on  April 6, 1896  when he was 62 and she was 37. Together they had one daughter named Elizabeth.   Benjamin Harrisons Career Before the Presidency Benjamin Harrison entered into law practice and became active in the Republican party. He joined the military in 1862 to fight in the Civil War. During his service he marched on Atlanta with General Sherman and was promoted to Brigadier General. He left military service at the end of the war and resumed his law practice. In 1881, Harrison was elected to the U.S. Senate and served until 1887. Becoming the President In 1888, Benjamin Harrison received the Republican nomination for president. His running mate was Levi Morton. His opponent was incumbent President Grover Cleveland. It was a close campaign in which Cleveland won the popular vote but failed to carry his home state of New York and lost in the Electoral College. Events and Accomplishments of Benjamin Harrisons Presidency Benjamin Harrison  had the distinction of serving in between the two presidential terms of Grover Cleveland. In 1890, he signed into law the Dependent and Disability Pensions Act which provided money for veterans and their dependents if they were disabled from nonmilitary causes. An important bill passed during 1890 was the  Sherman Anti-Trust Act. This was the first antitrust law to try and stop the abuse of monopolies and trusts. While the law itself was vague, it was important as a first step towards making sure that trade was not limited by the existence of monopolies. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed in 1890. This required the federal government to purchase silver for silver certificates. These could then be turned back in for silver or gold. This would be repealed by Grover Cleveland because it was causing the nations gold reserves to be depleted as people turned in their silver certificates for gold. In 1890, Benjamin Harrison sponsored a tariff that required those wishing to import products to pay a 48% tax. This resulted in a rise of consumer prices. This was not a popular tariff. Post-Presidential Period Benjamin Harrison retired to Indianapolis after his term as president. He returned to practicing law and inn 1896, he remarried Mary Scott Lord Dimmick. She had been the assistant to his wife while she was the First Lady. Benjamin Harrison died on March 13, 1901 of pneumonia. Historical Significance of Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison was president when the reforms were beginning to become popular. During his time in office, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed. Even though it was of itself not that enforceable, it was an important first step towards reigning in monopolies who were taking advantage of the public.

Eating Disorders Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating

Eating Disorders Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating Introduction An eating disorder is a condition in which an individual develops abnormal eating habits. An affected person experiences extreme reduction or increase in food intake. Another major experience is the great anxiety about one’s body mass and/or shape. Eating disorders may develop when a person simply starts eating smaller or larger amounts of food than the normal intake. With time, the person develops a strong urge to eat more or less food which eventually becomes uncontrollable.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Eating Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Eating disorders occur more during teenage years or early maturity though it can as well develop during childhood or late maturity. The most affected are women and girls since they are much more concerned about their body appearance than men and boys. This concern makes them change their eat ing behavior from time to time to those that will suit their desired body appearances. Though treatable medically, eating disorders are complex with biological and psychological causes. In most cases they co-exist with other disorders such as anxiety, despair or drug abuse (Nagle 84). People suffering from eating disorders are more likely to suffer from complicated diseases such as heart or kidney failure which could be fatal. Anorexia Anorexia is a both eating and psychological disorder that is initiated as a person begins to diet in order to lose weight. The desire to become thinner drives the individual to continue with the restrictive eating which is most often accompanied by other behaviors that would enhance weight loss. Too much exercising and overuse of drugs are the most used ways of losing weight. Individuals may even go to the point of starving themselves just to feel the power of control over their bodies. Anorexia is characterized by low levels of body fats which lead t o alteration of body shape. Both girls and women may experience loss of their menstrual periods due to the drastic change in diet and/or amount of food taken. Affected individuals also have a strong fear to put on weight and this makes them have an uneasy eating habit. People with anorexia seem to pay more attention to food and weight control and they usually weigh themselves more often than those who are not. Though anorexia has no definite causes, genetic composition may determine the vulnerability of a person to develop this disorder. Another possible contribution is a dysfunction of the hypothalamus in one’s brain. Other factors that are risky to anorexia development are poor feeding habits and general under eating as infants as well as maternal depression. Individual negativity and the desire to be perfect can result to the development of anorexia (Poppink 1). A person with anorexia disorder may be treated as an outpatient or may be hospitalized in case of organ dysfunct ion resulting from severe weight loss. In such cases the treatment should begin in correcting the malnutrition and this should include feeding the patient by tubes that go through the mouth. Increased eating schedules and social activities accompanied by a decrease in physical exercise can contribute largely to weight gain.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The treatment of anorexia may require more focus on psychological and medical attention than on weight gain. It is therefore necessary to get medical provision and diet advice. Psychological therapy is also very important either as an individual or as a group or family. Weight management by a nutritionist is recommended as a healthy alternative to weight loss. Any suitable treatment should deal with self control and most importantly, self esteem to help the individual to accept how he/she is in order to live a healthy life both emotionally and physically. Bulimia Bulimia is an eating disorder that is different from anorexia in that a person develops frequent â€Å"eating habits and at large amounts than usual† (Derenne 27). The person also feels that he/she lacks the power to control the over eating. Surprisingly, this over eating is accompanied by certain behaviors for compensation, such as exercising excessively, induced vomiting and fasting. Just like anorexia, people with bulimia have a constant fear to gain weight and are so desperate to lose it. Because of this, they are very much unhappy about their body form and size. Bulimia disorder is often accompanied by mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression or abuse of drugs. There are physical complications that result from the frequent vomits in people with bulimia, including gastrointestinal problems and oral-related problems. In some cases, bulimia development is related to gene composition hence can be inherited. Another very important factor determining the development of bulimia is culture (Jennifer 2). For example, in the modern society, there is the pressure to become thin and this can influence people greatly especially those that want to be accepted in a certain society. Bulimia has some long time complications occurring as a result of the habits that an individual develops in order to compensate eating. They include chronic inflammation of the throat and swelling of neck and jaw glands as a result of frequent vomiting. Wearing out of tooth enamel and teeth decay may also occur due to contact with stomach acids during vomiting. Another severe effect of vomiting in people with bulimia is dehydration due to clearing of fluids (Dryden 1). The treatment for bulimia depends on an individual and requires a combination of therapies which include nutritional advice, psychological counseling to establish healthy eating habits as well as medical treatment especially in patients who have developed serio us health complications.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Eating Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Antidepressants are recommended to help bulimia patients who have been depressed and/or anxious. Treatment of bulimia in many people is done in steps and should therefore be started early enough to increase the chances of the patient to recover. Compulsive overeating Compulsive overeating is an eating disorder where a person becomes literally addicted to food and uses food as a tool to control his/her emotions. Whenever they have problems or are stressed, people with compulsive overeating turn to food to console and control themselves. They use food to make them feel safe and in some kind of control. Unlike bulimia, people suffering from compulsive overeating do not try to get rid of the extra food they eat. They end up eating large amounts of food repeatedl y without purging and with time they gain a lot of weight and become obese. They feel shame for being overweight with general lack of self-esteem and this causes them to turn to food in order to deal with such emotions. They end up repeating this cycle over and over again. Unlike anorexia, compulsive overeating is common in both men and women. The psychological problems that may result to food addiction include misery and pressure, tiredness due to overworking, anxiety and sadness. These problems make people develop behaviors such as eating even when they are not hungry, hiding themselves when they are eating, eating faster than usual, inability to stop eating no matter how full they are, embarrassment over eating in the presence of other people. Some may even go to the extreme of eating uncooked food. Just like any other eating disorder, â€Å"compulsive overeating may cause other health problems† (McDonald 31). The complication of these problems is determined by the duratio n during which a person has had an eating disorder and how severe the disorder has been. Compulsive overeaters are at high risks of suffering from heart problems, kidney failure, high blood pressure and even stroke. The stomach may rupture and bones weaken in extreme cases of compulsive overeating. Compulsive overeating treatment should aim at psychological and emotional therapy since this disorder is a result of mental problems and depression. Counseling programs are also important to help compulsive eaters learn better and healthy ways of dealing with stress and other problems in life. Dealing with depression alone cannot completely end this disorder; clinical signs of depression should be treated medically as well. An effective program on weight loss, therefore, should consist of a good diet, change in lifestyle, nutritional advice, medication if necessary and support. Primarily, compulsive overeaters are treated with antidepressants which are as effective as psychological treatm ent in behavioral therapy.Advertising Looking for research paper on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion Eating disorders are very serious mental situations. The affected individuals are obsessed with eating and are more concerned about their physical appearance to the extent of allowing themselves to suffer and risk their health in the long run due to poor diet. Eating disorders take decades to treat; treatment should therefore start as early as the disorder is diagnosed. Recovering from eating disorders involves long-term changes and professional assistance as well as support from family and friends is necessary. Derenne, Lillian. Body image, the media and eating disorders. California. Barnes Noble, 2001. Print. Dryden, Roxanne. â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa.† 2010. Web. Jennifer, Stevens. A Note to Self. New York Times, 17th November, 2006. Poppink, Joanna. â€Å"What happens to Anorexic girls when they become anorexic young women?† 2008. Web. McDonald, Jerry. Reducing the number of deaths with Anorexia Nervosa. New York Times. 3rd March, 2005. Nagle, Marianne. Eating disorders. New York. Wordsworth Publishers, 2004. Print.

How useful is the Letter of Jude for the Church Today Essay

How useful is the Letter of Jude for the Church Today - Essay Example The book comes in handy today as there are many false teachers who look down upon the word of God with disdain. Jude was driven by purpose to protect the status of the faith and church of God. In his letter, he intended to bring out the aims of false teachers whose infiltration in the church of god threatened to derail the faith of Christians. Through this exposure, he intended to pass a message to Christians that they should find courage and stand firm in relation to their faith. According to him, the Christians ought to get motivated and seek their way to the truth. He dwells on this during the first part of the epistle. In verse 4, Jude states that â€Å"for certain persons have crept unnoticed†. He meant that there were false teachers of the word of god and they were peddling their wares in the church and elsewhere among Christians without being noticed or questioned. He described ion the book how these false teachers perpetrated terrible acts under concealment. For the Christians to be aware, Jude recommended that they had to remember the teaching of the apostles of Christ, help each other to build their faith in the word of God, employ the use of Holy Spirit to guide them in prayer, wait upon the mercy of Jesus by living their lives in such a way that they are prepared for this second coming and stay within the unending love of God. Staying in the love of God demands that believers trust in God and do whatever he wants us to do as highlighted in the teachings of the epistles. Commitment and following the guidelines he put forward, Christians can be able to stand up against those false tea chers who were working against the teachings of Lord Jesus Christ. In modern times, there are many false teachers. Jude say that these teachers are a threat because they teach that being saved by the grace of god gives freedom to do what one wants which includes living immorally. This is an act of denying Christ according to Jude. This is

Motivation Profiles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Motivation Profiles - Essay Example Maslow (In Huit, 2004) refers to these needs as physiological. Ella's needs may also include safety or security or the need to be out of danger, but it is not necessarily so. She has not strived very much to the higher levels of education but just enough to get her a job. She is contented to be paid enough for her family's daily needs for food and shelter. As her family's needs grow, she finds that she has to move for promotion which she looks at in terms of bigger take home pay, but not necessarily bigger responsibility. The fight for promotion is tight at Ella's workplace. To be promoted, she resorts to giving gifts to her supervisor or persons having to do with promotion in her place of work. Like her, she thinks people primarily find satisfaction in material gain and she may find favor from her superiors. Ella is submissive to authority and represses her own impulses. In fact, her own idea of a boss is authoritarian. The hostile boss is not a problem to her if she receives a promotion (bigger pay). She is willing to forego much personal freedom in favor of a promotion that would assure her of food and shelter every month. She defers from Marcelo and Masoko in that her needs are very basic - just of the existence level described by Alderfer (1972). Marcelo Marcelo's needs may be said to occupy the two second higher level needs described in Maslow's hierarchy: belongingness and love, and esteem needs (See Huit, 2004). Marcelo is therefore expected to easily affiliate with others and be accepted. At the same time, he sees the drive to achieve at his level, be competent, gain approval and attain recognition. There is a strong need to be liked which may not be good in terms of decision-making (See McClelland, 1987). Status is a prime motivator to Marcelo. There is greater personal satisfaction in receiving praise or recognition with Marcelo and a promotion would realize these things for him. (See McClelland, 1987). Marcelo believes that promotions are given in exchange for something given, not necessarily hard work. It is a give and take situation. So he tries to praise his supervisors, do as he is ordered without any complain that he may be liked. In exchange for pleasing his boss, he believes he is working for promotion. For all his investments in gaining approval and at the same time being affiliative with his supervisor, he expects that promotion is in store. Marcelo has been toeing every rule given in his workplace, conscious that every broken rule requires a punishment and farther away from attaining a promotion. Therefore, he keeps quiet and never questions whatever policies he disagrees with. His needs, however, are higher than that of Ella's. He needs affirmation and affiliation over and above mere biological needs. Marcelo may be said to be other-oriented in that his work life involves relationships with significant others. He is satisfied by mutually sharing thoughts and feelings, and that acceptance, confirmation, understanding, and influence are elements important to him (Alderfer, 1972). Masoko Masoko sees more freedom in thinking than Ella and Marcelo. His actions are governed by the interplay of possible

Domestic Transportation Infrastructure Research Paper

Domestic Transportation Infrastructure - Research Paper Example From the research it can be comprehended that transport is a means through which people shift from one place to another. There are many reasons for people to move from a place to another which may include studies, job or any other purpose. Whatever the reason for travelling from one place to the other place would be, means of transportation serve important purpose in making people fulfill their various needs. The modes of transport include: †¢ Cars †¢ Bus †¢ Trains and Trams †¢ Airplane †¢ Ferries and ships etc. The modes of transport used in urban areas are slightly different from the ones used in rural areas. In the areas known as metropolitans that are actually the heavily populated areas, the need of public transport rises. In these regions, people have to adopt various means to go for work or for children to go to school. The most common type of transportation is provided by transit systems in most regions. Transit systems are basically bus services which run around the city to provide transportation facilities to students, workers and all kinds of people. These buses provide their services to city dwellers at low fares which increase their usability in urban areas. Usually, bus service appears to be the preferred means of transportation by a majority of people because of inexpensive rates and convenience. There are different types of transit systems that are run in various countries. In New York, for instance, subway system is among the transportation system which is probably the biggest one in the world. People living in urban areas in New York prefer travelling by bus to car. It is one of the cities in which the use of public transport is frequent and constant. The reason for this frequent use of bus as a mode of transport might be because of the less amount of cars people own in New York. Similarly, London has a large network of trams, both underground and over ground rails, subway and buses which help people in shifting from a region to another. Usually, people have travel cards for travelling in buses and people are not allowed to drink alcohol in public transport in London. However, in some countries the use of cycle is preferable as a means of transportation in urban areas (Krizek, 2003). There are many factors that determine the use of a specific means of transportation by people. However, the main reasons of choosing bus services are the cheap costs and affordability; need to have more spacious roads that cannot be possible if everyone moves on his own car and social responsibility that everyone gets a chance to travel regardless of whether he owns a car or not (Naess, 2005). Some modes of transport are used in specific regions depending on the people’s needs. For instance, in such a place where people collect the products from various factories and intend to export them, they need some means through which they can transport the materials to different places. Usually this is done by means of ship if there is an ocean nearby or by bus, train or airplane. Change of Trend:

Concepts of Organisational Culture

Concepts of Organisational Culture What is organisational culture? Organisational culture is often referred to as something which tells us more about the organisation. This something may be the personality, philosophy, ideology or even the overall climate of the organisation. Organisational Culture is therefore an element which differentiates each organisation from the other and gives it a unique identity (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). The managerial writers vs. the academic social scientists The debate arises when theorists try to define culture. The management academics and consultants perceive this culture as a collection of values and beliefs, myths, symbols, heroes and symbols that possess a uniform meaning for all the employees. Whereas, the academic social scientists see it as a subjective reality of values and beliefs, artefacts, myths, symbols etc. They believe that organisational culture is formed through the social interactions of the organisations members and hence it is produced and reproduced continuously (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). This essay takes up both these contrasting perspectives separately in the light of various theoretical models and the examples of real life organisations. Organisational culture: following or adopting? The Managerial writers such as ouchi,1981; Deal and Kennedy,1982; Pascale and Athos,1982; Peters and Waterman,1982 and Schien,1985; believe that culture being an attribute of the organisation is given to its members who do not participate in its formation and accept or tolerate it as the organisation has it (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Thus it is a collection of some basic assumptions that all organisational employees share and hence if these assumptions are changed, the culture will automatically be changed (Schien, 1985 Cited in Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Schien (1983) in his three levels of culture points out one of the sources of organisational values as those values which were the idea of a single person (founder) and are later modified by the companys current senior management. In contrast, Buchanan and Huczynski (2004) argue that if such is the case then these values may not be adopted by employees but only followed by them. And if senior management are the source of creating organisational values then these value may cause chaos when mergers and acquisitions take place. Then it will be a question of which of the older companies value will be followed in the newly formed organisation. Organisational culture as a means of unification and control The managerial writers suggest that if the basic assumptions are integrated amongst members and the organisation has a unified culture, then employee control will be possible and this will lead to greater productivity and profitability (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). On the other hand, the academic social scientists argue that a unified culture is never possible as organisational culture is pluralistic in nature due to the different subcultures present in every organisation. (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Where managerial writer talk about extending the same unified culture to all the employees Brown (1995) argues and states the following facts that influence culture: Even if the employees are enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated as suggested by McGregors theory Y, most of them only give a fraction of their time to the organisation. They are members of other variety of clubs, societies and unions and hence they may not accept the culture whole heartedly and without any question since their demands and constraints are also influenced by these other bodies Part time or temporary workers are less likely to adopt the culture and some of them are actually working part time to avoid cultural control systems. Large numbers of people perform relatively unrewarding and undemanding jobs just for the sake of the financial reward. These workers may be only loosely attached to the organisation and may even go against a dominant culture in the organisation Contractual workers who are hired by organisations are actually members of separate organisations and it will be extremely difficult to make them feel part of the organisation. Therefore, the changing patterns of employment and organisational forms are actually impacting many of the very strict and cohesive cultures. The managerial writers believe in symbolic management of employees i.e. the use of organisational culture and selectively applying rites, ceremonials, myths, stories and legends to direct the behaviour of employees. The academic social scientists argue that since people enter organisations with different expectations, experiences, values, beliefs and motivations hence these factors also influence their behaviour in different directions In the practical world, we see companies using both these ideas, some try to reconsider their values and beliefs; and under the banner of changing culture try to come up and introduce new values and beliefs. It is argued that such attempts at changing culture may change behaviour of employees but not their deep rooted value and beliefs which do eventually have an impact on some of their behaviours (Thompson and Findlay, 1999). A simple example would be of the recent importance to corporate social responsibility. In such a case an employee may differ on his value and belief for a certain ethical issue, say the employee may not believe in child labour but what will he/she do when the company may have to outsource its manufacturing to a third world country (where majority of children are used as cheap labour) in order to cut down cost. Here, the employee may be convinced to change his behaviour and he/she may do so to save their job but at the end of the day their value and believe rema ins unchanged. On the other hand, some companies increase their employee interactions in a way that changes employee behaviour automatically. An example would be of an organisation that increases employee interactions with the customers and through this the employees are better aware of what behaviours please the customers. The changing nature of culture Another argument against the managerial writers would be that since they see organisational culture as something that has been pre determined and cannot be changed, how would they take into account the several changing factors that influence culture generally. An organisations culture may be influenced by its history, primary function and technology, its customers, its goals and objectives, size, location, top executives, strategy, structure and its environment (Mullins, 2007). The argument therefore is what happens to the culture when either of these factors changes. What will happen if there is new top executive in the company who may modify the founders ideas as per his values and beliefs? What happens if the organisation steps into a dynamic industry and requires a new structure and strategy, will its culture not automatically change or will the whole process of laying down new basic assumptions (values, beliefs, myths, stories and artefacts) will have to be put into action to ma ke the culture change? What happens if an organisation makes an international move and faces a new national culture? How will it now rely on its old stories, myths, legends and artefacts to induce a change in this new national culture? This argument is supported by the academic social scientists who consider culture to be produced and reproduced through different interactions. A fairly new concept is the learning organisation which was conceived by Peter Senge as a place where people at all levels are in a continuous state of learning and individual learning results in organisational learning (Mullins, 2007). Although it may seem as a utopian concept but it strengthens the academic social scientists view of the is culture which is in a state of continuous re-production. Therefore one can agree that the culture of the learning organisation would be one which would continuously change with every new organisational learning. At the learning organisation the has culture would be seen as one which would bound learning and may not appeal to the intrinsic sense of the employees to challenge, learn and achieve. On the contrary critiques like Harrison argue that the sum of the learning of individuals does not necessarily equal organisational learning (Mullins, 2007) Pixar is one such organisation which believes in creativity and learning at not only the artistic level but the technical level as well. The underlying reason for such a belief is that a movie contains many ideas all of which do not necessarily come from the producer or the creative head, but these ideas come from people dealing with cameras, characters, lightening etc. Pixar follows a peer culture where they have open discussions and exchange of ideas over any piece of ongoing work. They also have peers who look at and analyse daily motion work, unlike Disney where only a small senior group has the responsibility to do so. Therefore, at Pixar learning occurs from all directions and all employees which is due to its belief that everyone should have the freedom to communicate with anyone and it must be safe for anyone and everyone to offer ideas. That is how they foster collective creativity and learning (HBR, 2008). Organisational culture and the psychological contract The psychological contract of employees is another component which may be viewed in the light of the two perspectives of organisational culture. If the has culture is considered the psychological contract may be seen as the same for all employees as all share the same basic assumptions and clear controls are in place and hence the employer and employees may be contracting with each other on the same set of expectations. On the other hand the is culture will produce many different psychological contracts of employees and it will become very hard for the organisation to manage them, as each individual on the basis of their different interactions and interpretations will have a different set of expectations. (Herriot and Pemberton, 1995). The dilemma in cultural practice A major problem for an organisation can be sticking to any one of these cultural ideologies. This is due to the fact that an organisation on one hand may have an espoused culture i.e. how its senior management describes it and on the other hand it may have its in-practice culture i.e. the culture as it is experienced and lived by its members. Therefore even if it claims to be following a certain ideology it will always have more than one culture running in the organisation. Organisations rarely possess just one unified culture. One culture that superimposes the organisation culture is the stitched together patch of sub cultures in an organisation which may be overlapping and conflicting as well. (Brown, 1995) We see this conflict in the organisational culture of Nokia where on one hand it claims to nourish new ideas and innovation amongst employees (http://www.nokia.com/careers/nokia-as-an-employer/nokia-way-and-values) where as on the other hand it seems to have lost a head start at touch screen technology. This was when its stifling bureaucratic culture killed the idea of a smart phone with internet and touch screen technology and the management reasoned it to be a development Nokia would not be interested in. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Nokias-bureaucratic-culture-troubles-new-CEO/articleshow/6637291.cms).However, recently we see that Nokia is struggling to compete in the same market. If the management would have actually maintained the culture they claim, and would have fostered idea growth, they would probably have been ahead of apple today. The concept of Organisation Socialization The managerial writers believe that a process of organisation socialization has to be followed with new employees of the organisation in order to make them learn the culture so that they can follow it and survive in the organisation. (Edgar schien, 1979 Cited in Buchanan page 650). It must be remembered that these writers believe that culture must be tolerated as it is something an organisation has. But when organisations like Disneyland are considered, it may be argued that the organisation socialization process consists of two parts. One is the formal socialization where the new recruits attend the University of Disneyland on an apprenticeship programme. This is where they learn the history, philosophy, language and values of the company. The other is the informal socialization mechanisms which are also very well developed at Disney land. New recruits at some point learn through their peers that the job they are assigned, the costume they wear and the area of the park they are allotted are actually determinants of their social status at work. At the same time they also learn about Getting back at misbehaving guests by tightening seat belts, slamming breaks suddenly and drenching people standing at river banks (Brown, 1995). Now, this informal socialisation is actually another sub culture within the organisation which is limited to the employees. Hence, this reinforces the ideo logy that culture may not necessarily be taught but may be born through social interactions. Organisational Culture and Motivation When discussing motivation and culture, one may argue how a culture of motivation may be left to be developed by the social interaction of organisational members. In such an area, the organisation may have to provide a cohesive culture which can offer employees both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards such as bonuses, promotions, and stories, rites and ceremonies which create feelings of belonging. An organisation may also have to employ threats of punishments such as unwanted transfers, demotions and salary decreases to deal with certain cases of lack of motivation (Brown, 1995). Here we see that the views of managerial writers are more practical of providing a certain has form of culture to keep motivation in place. Bringing about Cultural Change The managerialist writers believe that culture can only be changed by changing the basic assumptions by the senior management (Schein 1979) we see that these writers specifically Schein are also compelled to believe and have written that when an organisation is in the last stage of its development i.e. maturity where it may also see declining profitability and loss of key people and outsiders have to be brought in to manage the organisation, such an influx of outsiders may induce cultural change. (Brown, 1995). Although, Schein states that such a change occurs due to change in the stage of organisational development (from birth and early growth to organisational midlife to organisational maturity) but it may be argued on the basis of the academic social scientists that such a change was induced by the change in key people and new social interaction induced a change in culture. Change is therefore viewed as intentional, predictable, pre-determined and brought about after careful planning, thus it follows a rational step-by-step procedure to effectively manage change(e.g. Kotter, 1996). An argument for cultural change is that changing only one factor as suggested by managerial writers such as a basic assumption may not be enough to bring about a cultural change. Ram Charan gives the example of cultural change at Home Depot involves multi-directional changes in the ways people worked to support the business model. A change was made to four main dimensions: Behaviour expectations were clarified and identification and measurement methods were put across. Metric such as data quantifying customer perceptions of the home depot experience clarified the expectation of accountability. Processes of how work was done were changed to fit the new culture e.g. instead of the old memos a video cast went out to all stores which focused on the upcoming promotions, new product lines and sales targets and bonuses for the week ahead.of new product lines, the revenue needed in the last week. Specific Programmes were put into place to support the cultural change e.g. competitive simulation and role-playing exercises where employees had to act out situations which clarified to them why the huge changes were made. Changes in the organisational structure made it easier to follow the new culture e.g. changes were made in purchasing processes to lower costs. Cultural change management takes place in an open system where the organisation has to simultaneously react to external needs and demand. In the recent years, factors such as globalisation, diversity, equality, increasing number of immigrants and avoiding discrimination have had a vast impact on how organisations manage cultural change. Is cultural change manageable? Cultures are a complex social phenomenon produced as a result of interactions. Therefore they are a product of humans, created by humans, sustained by humans and therefore can also be changed by human intervention. Therefore even if it is not planned to be changed, it will change as the social interactions change (bate, 1994) page 137 The main question is whether cultural change is manageable? i.e. whether persons can change culture deliberately, intervene by will and change the path of development of culture. This is where cultural change programmes fail to succeed since they do not take into account studying in detail the culture that has to be changed. An in-depth knowledge of the current culture is the basis for managing cultural change. (bate, 1994) page 137-138 Organisational Culture, Structure and Strategy What we notice and experience as cultural change depends directly on how we conceptualize culture (Meyerson and Martin, 1987 cited in Bate, 1994) page 9 The supporters of the has culture see culture as a component of an organisation which is no different to the other components such as structure, strategy, staff and so on. (Bate, 1994) page 11 One such model which details this is the Mckinseys 7-S framework which puts culture i.e. shared values at the centre of all the other components (Structure, Strategy, Systems, Style, Skills and Staff) (Peters and Waterman 1982 cited in bate,1994)page 11 Hence culture in this framework is treated as a variable which influences and is influenced by all the other organisational components. Hence Culture has an influence over organisational effectiveness in two regards, firstly its strength and secondly how well it is aligned with the other components (e.g. the structure-culture fit).Therefore from this perspective, changing culture is equivalent to a mere tasking of removing a faulty component and inserting a new one. (Bate, 1994 page 11-12) On the contrary, the supporters of the is culture conceive culture as synonymous with organisation i.e. an organisation is culture. They see culture as a paradigm which is defined by interpersonal organisational life. Therefore they see cultural change to be the same as organisational change. Since there is no bifurcation between organisation and culture therefore change in one will automatically lead to change in another and thus no separate strategies are required for each. (Bate, 1994)page 14 Another argument against strong cultures is that they have a development strategy for culture but no change strategy and so they are more likely to get trapped in their own culture. An example of such is the Hewlett Packard case where its ideology of doing things the HP way offered some form of comforts to the employees which backfired and employees were so busy being nice to each other that they avoided making commercial decisions which went against any other employee (such as laying off or relocating people). HPs intense humanistic ways lead to the employees viewing their privileges as rights e.g. refusal to relocate to other divisions made some divisions less competitive (bate, 1994) page 127 -128 On the other hand the has perspective which reinforces the importance of a strong culture is attractive from the view point that organisations can easily audit their cultures and be proactive in changing or strengthening the shared basic assumption and they can even bring about intentional change through the process of reculturing (Stoll, 1999). The has culture takes culture as, a separate component in an organisation and hence deals with issues such as strategy culture fit and so on. Weick (1985) and Hennestad (1991) argue against such a perspective stating that culture and strategy are substitutable for one another and culture is a strategic phenomenon and strategy is a cultural phenomenon. This implies that from such a perspective formulating a strategy of any kind is actually a cultural activity which will bring about engagement in a cultural change (Bate, 1994). A real life example of such a scenario would be when a company changes its strategy from a production oriented strategy to a market led strategy, this actually brings about a cultural change where a culture encouraging market research and up-to-date market knowledge is born. Further, the perspective implies that cultural change is actually strategic change where moving from one culture to another actually moving from one strategy to another. (Bate, 1994). A real life example of this perspective would be when a company like Disneyland in its organisational socialization stage declares to its employees that customer is king , this is in itself a strategy of being customer oriented. Pg 17-23 Limitations of the two cultural perspectives The managerialist perspective of organisational culture has a number of limitations. However, arguably it limits a deeper understanding of organisational culture and analyses only surface cultural factors such as taken-for-granted values and basic assumptions held in unity by the organisational members as described by Schein (1985). Secondly, it does not take into account the impact of the external environment on organisations which may play a role in determining change processes. The social perspective on the other hand gives a detailed insight into organisational culture, it opens up to dynamic areas of culture. But it requires the collection of very rich qualitative date which may not necessarily provide a clear pathway for action and interpretation of the data becomes a tedious task (Prosser, 2007) The management of organisational change is therefore understood from an open systems perspective in the organisations reaction to external forces and its adaptation and responsiveness to external needs and demands. Conclusion There is a lack of a definite way to define, control and change organisational culture. This may be due to the fact that researchers who work on this topic themselves come from different cultures and consider different elements to be part of organisational culture. The early researchers took a more philosophical approach to the topic. A reason for this might have been the unproven influence of culture on management and organisational practices. Later the academic social scientist gave a more externally-oriented approach which may have been due to the evolution of organisational culture and its impact on organisations (Stefan and Liz, 2000). The essay, based on various theoretical arguments, suggest that there is a broad scope for debates relating to whether culture can be changed or influenced, depending on how culture is defined. Most of the authors unite on the notion that culture can be changed but they differ on how and to what extent this can be done. They also differ on the fact if culture is only followed on the surface or adopted whole-heartedly. Another area covered was the debate about unification of employees on the basis of a unified culture. Cross relations of organisational culture with other concepts such as strategy, structure, motivation, psychological contract and socialization have been discussed. The essay ends with mentioning the limitations of the two approaches to organisational culture which reveal that these concepts are also influenced by the open and closed systems that an organisation may operate in.

Sears Case Study Essay -- essays research papers

Sears Case Study Introduction The great advantage of publicly held companies is that they bring together capital and managerial expertise, to the benefit of both groups. An investor need not know anything about making or marketing chairs in order to invest in a chair factory. A gifted producer or seller of chairs need not have capital in order to start a business. When it runs well, both profit, and the capitalist system achieves its goals. Our system of capitalism has been less successful when the company does not run well. As some of America's most visible, powerful, and successful companies began to slide, they demonstrated an all-but fatal weakness in the ability of our system to react in time to prevent disaster. Managers and directors at companies like IBM, General Motors, and Sears took their success--and their customers--for granted. They took their investors for granted, too, until it was almost too late. The problem is that the strength of the system, the separation of ownership and control, is also its weakness. A shareholder's investment in a chair factory gives him certain rights, including the right to elect the directors and the right to inspect the books. These rights may have some meaning when the company is small enough that the investors number in the hundreds. But in large, complex companies, with investors in the millions, they are likely to exercise a third right, the right to sell. While some economists will argue sale of the stock sends a signficant message to management, I agree with Edward Jay Epstein, who said that "just the exchange of one powerless shareholder for another in a corporation, while it may lessen the market price of shares, will not dislodge management--or even threaten it. On th... ...illing the vacancies left by the directors "fired" in the 1991 shrinkage. Ironically, Sears was left with a board with a higher percentage of outside directors. I believe Brennan found that at least some of the extra accountability I was seeking was the result of the actions he took to stop me. Less than six months after the annual meeting, Sears announced a massive restructuring. Coldwell Banker would be sold off in its entirety, Dean Witter would be spun off to shareholders, as would 20 percent of Allstate. The market reacted to the news by sending Sears' stock up 8 percent in a single day. Changes at Sears I firmly believe that Sears' recent renaissance (STOCK PRICES) is a direct result of the increased accountability of management. I believe that Sears serves as a perfect study for the values to be generated by involved and informed shareholders.