Mistakes Managers Often Make Free Essays

While working in a book bindery as a summer job, I came across a manager who broke one of the 101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make.   The rule broken was: showing favoritism not based on performance. This bindery, worked in a factory like setting, and hired most people for minimum wage. We will write a custom essay sample on Mistakes Managers Often Make or any similar topic only for you Order Now    The salary offered attracted a range of people from students, to housewives, and foreign speaking Americans.   I accepted the position for minimum wage, and was happy to be busy for the summer months.   What I was not happy with was the favoritism that ran rampant throughout the bindery. My manager began showing signs of favoritism in very small ways, but as the summer wore on, the signs of favoritism began growing and growing.   It seemed that this particular bindery hired relatives, friends and anyone who knew anyone.   Obviously, this can be an asset as well as a negative.   In my case, it was a definite negative.   My manager had several relatives and friends working there that were her obvious favorites.   Since I was not related and had known her previously, I began to notice a pattern of more difficult jobs going to me, and the easier jobs going to those that she knew or liked better than me. When I brought this to her attention I was told that there was no favoritism going on and was making something out of nothing.   As this pattern continued, other workers began to take notice and become irritated.   They were reluctant to confront her due to the fact that they knew I had, and not only received no satisfaction, it seemed that I was no even more unpopular. The jobs that came my way now were ugly.   The books were extremely heavy to pack, messy to inspect and often scattered throughout the bindery so I had to go find them.   I noticed my workload and noticed the workload of the favorite ones was much, much different.   Theirs consisted of paperback books, that needed little to no inspecting and were light to pack and always on the same cart in the same place. I finally was able to convince a few people to come forward so that the issue could be resolved.   Unfortunately they did not receive satisfaction either.   In fact, they were labeled troublemakers and their workload drastically changed for the worse very quickly. At this point, I felt personally responsible for their unhappiness and difficulty at work so I decided to take the next step.   As professionally as I could be, I spoke to Human Resources about the situation.   I was assured that it would be addressed with the person immediately and I would not find any further unfairness.   I was sure that this was the end.   Work would return to normal and the workload would be evenly distributed again soon. What I did not expect was further unfairness.   This manager now truly detested me and her actions were completely obvious.   Now my jobs were piling up and all nightmare jobs.   My coworkers that had come forward now seemed to be getting a break.   All their bad jobs were coming my way instead.   I knew that this had gone from a professional disagreement to a personal one.   I didn’t know what to do.   I wanted to stand up for myself but feared future retaliation. This was just supposed to be an easy summer job.   I wasn’t sure if it was worth all the headaches.   Still, I knew what I had to do.   I made an appointment with the Vice President to discuss the matter.   He boasted of an open door policy and this time I was positive that it would be handled once and for all. My coworkers were nervous for me and still upset about what had transpired between them and her.   They were not interested in coming forward with me, and I didn’t blame them.   This was supposed to fun. Nevertheless to support me, they began taking frequent breaks, working slower, coming in late and caring less and less about the condition of the books that were being sent out.   I have to admit, although not intentional, my attitude had gotten worse which directly resulted in less care with the books.   Work in this part of the bindery was grinding to a slow halt.   Our division was getting further and further behind but nothing was done.   We were just instructed to work harder and faster. My meeting with the Vice President went well and the days after that went along much smoother.   Unfortunately by the time this meeting took place, the summer was almost over and we were still weeks behind in production. I left that summer wondering how this had happened at all.   It was a simple issue I had thought.   I had expected maturity and professionalism.   I didn’t know that people like this, with this type of mentality existed in upper management.   I learned that this type of person exists on all levels and what was a simple issue that could have been resolved in five minutes, dragged on for almost three months and resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars being lost or wasted. During my meeting with the Vice President I explained how simple this issue really was and the only reason it had gotten to him was because it had not been handled in the first place.   I let him know that employees need a person they can go to when issues arise. I suggested a non-bias person that could listen and act appropriately.   Having to go through the chain of command is a good way to start but when the problem isn’t resolved there has to be someone available, without the busy schedule of the Vice President.   The whole situation was an eye opener and taught me not only how to stand up for myself professionally but how to make suggestions that may help a company avoid these mistakes in the future. How to cite Mistakes Managers Often Make, Essay examples

Business Managing Operations and Supply Chain

Question: Discuss about the Business Managing Operations and Supply Chain. Answer: Introduction Xu and Gursoy (2015) stated that an organizational process of controlling, ensuring, and improvingquality in context of both the business approach and its productivity is known as quality management. The organization that is considered in this business report is LUX* Resorts Hotels, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LUX* Hospitality Ltd. and also is a major hotel operator based in Mauritius and also involves in management services, operations, design, sales and marketing (Luxresorts.com 2017). The major facility that LUX* Resorts Hotels is providing is staying in hotel facility and a combination of hotel and flight facility (Luxresorts.com 2017). The booking of the room is available through their home page of the website. In order to attract more employee, the concerned organization also provide services like discount and combo offers, kids stay free offer and honeymoon offers. Thus, their major customers are especially the tourists and celebrities, who desires to spend a significant amount of money for exotic services of scenic beauty and premium hospitality (Xu and Gursoy 2015). In this business report, two operational process of the considered organization in support with the ITO framework will be describes. Moreover, a literature review of relationship between quality management and customer expectations will be illustrated along with the identification of potential quality problems in the operational delivery and challenges faced by the LUX* Resorts Hotels. Lastly, recommendation to overcome those difficulties and a conclusion of the overall discussion will be illustrated. Two operational processes that are needed to deliver those products and services to the customers The two operations that is taken into consideration for assessing the supply chain management and logistics of the LUX* Resorts Hotels are procurement management and service distribution management. Shi and Liao (2013) depicts that procurement management refers to the situation of planning and directing the activities of purchasing agents, who are liable to buy materials needed for the operations for an organization. On the other hand, a service distribution management is a process that delivers the services of the organization to their customers for better profitability. Procurement management focuses on how purchasing is done, how the product is received from suppliers, building relationships with vendors and managing internal operations (Christopher 2016). LUX resorts and hotel recognizes rewards and celebrate excellence of the supplier of the community, who has flourished over the last 12 months (Luxresorts.com 2017). They also associates with the Mauritiuss travel agents in order to fulfill their services of Hotel + Flights for their customers (Luxresorts.com 2017). Moreover, they also emphasizes on making their procurement strategy transparent by communicating with the suppliers in order to better understand their price structure for getting objects like interiors of the hotel, food supply for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the guests and Product and Service distribution management In the products and service distribution, there are different sectors for maintaining the quality of the organizational process. Stadtler (2015) suggested that in hospitality industry there are food banquets services, travelling servicing, holiday and side tour facility and offers like discount and free stay on some packages. LUX* Resorts Hotels has separate areas for full pallets and showcases for food orders to the guests, flight services for the international tourist and guests and other travel facilities for the tourist to provide them a tour package so that they can face no difficulty in their stay. Moreover, online service distribution in one of the recent initiatives that is taken by every organization (Wisner et al. 2014). In context of the technological advances, LUX* Resorts Hotels also adopted like online booking of the hotel by mentioning criteria like number of rooms, number of days for staying, number of people coming to stay so that estimation can be illustrated in r eal-time (Mangan et al. 2016). LUX* Resorts Hotels utilizes their capital, raw material, equipment, suppliers labour and implementation of new technology to formulates the final products like extraordinary facilities and services. This transformation is occurred by improving the strategic sourcing processes, and aligning the category management, strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management. There suppliers are majorly the travel agents that associates with their organization that provides travel facility to the guests. The transformation process shoes the development in the Information technology so that luxurious experience can be provided to the guests (Crandall et al. 2014). In the year 2012, LUX* Resorts Hotels also got Luxury Travel Supplier of the Year, TTG Travel Awards (Luxresorts.com 2017). Product and Service distribution management The input in this context is the service and the details of the services that are provided to the tourist regarding their hotel expenses and other facilities. The transformation process is used by giving all the availability of the details through their website buy using digital technology. The output is that the information can be delivered to the tourist in real-time with accurate information. Moreover, LUX* Resorts Hotels also have vendors and suppliers in Mauritius, Maldives, Reunion, China, Turkey, U.A.E Vietnam that also provides in-house products like customized towels, shampoo and soaps for every room is shipped directly to in-house property warehouses (Luxresorts.com 2017). Improvisation in the technology also helps in help reducing touches in the warehouse, as well as its picking operations that results in fast services. In food banquets services also, customer can place orders from their room and they an avail the service fast by the staffs of the hotel (Luxresorts.com 2 017). LUX* Resorts and Hotel also organizes painting events, yoga events, fitness classes, aqua therapy and wild-out outings in order to maintain quality of their hospitality services by selecting premium suppliers who can organize these vents with premium quality equipment (Luxresorts.com 2017). Literature review- Quality Management as a reflection of customer expectations Mitra (2016) depicts that quality management can be assesses by evaluating four factors- quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Thus, an organization must have to work for the betterment of the company and adopt new technologies that can provide them a competitive advantage with respect to other companies. Trkman et al. (2015) on the other hand argues that an organization develops its organizational policies and procedures in order to fulfil the customer expectation. However, Raake and Egger (2014) portrays that managing authorities of an organization have to considers customer requirements for fulfilling their expectation and these requirements is comprised of- reliability of the products and services, responsiveness of the customers, quality assurance, empathy and tangibles. Stadtler (2015) defines that the values in management is based on two factors- stakeholder value and customer value. It is evident that in context of the stakeholder value, an organization has to emphasis on the demands and needs of their stakeholders that are- customers, employees, and society. Wisner et al. (2014) also depicts that the prime reason for considering their demands is that they are these stakeholders provide the opportunities to determine the future direction of a company by suggesting their concern. LUX* Resorts and Hotels also provide training to their staffs and suppliers so that they can satisfy the customer demands by serving them with quality services. Additionally, in terms of customers value, managing authorities of the company evaluates the eight types of customer values- efficiency, aesthetics, esteem, excellence, spirituality, status, play and ethics. Whereas Dhar (2015) argues that in contemporary organization, they have to focus majorly on four types of customer value- functional (instrumental) value, symbolic (expressive) value, experiential (hedonic) value and cost (sacrifice) value. Fawcett et al. (2014) also highlight the dimension of customer value for hospitality industry. He stated in his work that resorts managers focuses majorly on intrinsic dimension that is the enjoyment of an experience like providing exotic scenic beauty with resort. Beske and Seuring (2014) also depicts that the fulfillment of the intrinsic dimension ensures the attainment of the extrinsic dimension of the customer value. Extrinsic dimension of customer value is the accomplishment of the business objectives that is to provide facility that can meet up to the customer expectation. Additionally, dimension of self-oriented value should also consider by the managing authorities of the organization (Beske et al. 2014). In terms of the hospitality industry this self-oriented value can be created by providing customised facility to the guests like offering room of their choice or premium services within their budget. Travel agents also offer packages for the places a customer desire to visit from all the option a travelling agent shows to them. All these factors fulfill the customer expectation and enhance the quality of the service the organization is providing to their customers. Quality management Schonsleben (2016) explains that quality management is a people-focused management system that comprise of methods and tools along with the intention to adopt new technology aiming for continual increase in customer satisfaction. Krajewski et al. (2013) on the other hand, portrays that there are eight principles for quality management that an organization have to adhere. The first principle emphasizes on customer focus that is to cover both customer needs and customer service. Kuei and Lu (2013) furthermore stated another principle that plays a crucial role in the quality management is the people involvement. Every organization should focus on employee motivation, providing additional benefits and makes the employees responsible and accountable for their actions (Griffin 2016). Systematic approach to management is another important principle for quality management that ensures the alignment of complementary processes with the organizational procedure for better efficiency that result in other principle of continual improvement of the services and the organization (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Quality Management and Supply Chain Management Integration It is evident that customer always prefer to opt for the services that provides premium services in affordable cost. Surez-Barraza and Ablanedo-Rosas (2014) illustrates that customer prefers value for money. In addition to that, Gorny (2015) highlights that improving quality of the supply chain processes is equivalent to improved resource utilization and cost reductions and improved process efficiency. Bassi (2015) on the other hand argue that lower in cost investment in quality of the results in less customer satisfaction as the quality is depreciated. However, in recent times, from many researches it has been found that people prefers to get premium quality products and services irrespective of their prices. Oakland (2014) on the other hand depict that supply chin quality management refers to the study of integration between quality management and supply chain management. Thus, if great services can be available in greater price, customer will opt for the quality products. Thus, co nsidering principle of quality management that are management and strategic planning, personnel involvement, information accuracy, good supplier relations, leadership and continuous innovation, the procedure of supply chain can be enhanced that results in high satisfied customers (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Identification of potential quality problems One of the major problems is the risks management in the supply chain. Griffin (2016) depicted that an organization spend an average 50-80% of the total product cost on developing products for their organization. LUX* Resorts and Hotels also spend a portion of their annual revenue on their travel agents and local suppliers for interior decorative items. Risk like country of origin (for the organization to be operated in many nations) and shipment accuracy along with the internal process can be a challenge for an organization. Risk for visibility and mutual communication gap between the suppliers and the organization is another that should be taken into consideration. Schonsleben (2016) highlighted that only 30% of the companies have limitedvisibility to tier-1 partners while there are no company in the market havinglimited visibilitytotier-2andtier-3 partners. This leads to the risk of low quality management processes. Another problem that is faced by the organization is the assessment of the effective suppliers among the many that can align their working procedure with the culture and business approach of the organization (Dhar 2015). Thus, managing supplier related corrective actions and non-conformances is a key challenge for manufacturer. Recommendation for implementation of suggested improvements Selecting efficient supply chain partner- It is crucial for an organization to not only select the right supply chain partner but more importantly monitor and proactively manage quality in the supply chain in order to minimize the risk. Utilization of modern communication tools- Communication tools like e-mail, messages, document exchange and digital interface can ensure the mutual communication between the supplier and the organization. The mismatch in alignment issue can be resolved by using leveraging technology to connect and integrate suppliers into quality management processes. Broaden supplier assessments- Organization should assess the suppliers that have largest portion of the resources spend by the organization, their competencies and the strategic relationship with regard to a key product and client companies. This assessment allows the organization to find the most effective supplier for their organization. Establishing Clear Measurement Programs- An organization is liable for measuring supply chain partner performance in specific areas of their service quality, pricing for services, their contractor compliances and responsiveness. Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that effective quality management ensures the reduction of waste and inventory along with the enhancement in the business activities for achieving the business objectives for every organization. The organization that is considered for this assignment is LUX* Resorts Hotels, whose major business is provide hospitality services, travel services along with facility like wild-out option, aqua therapy, fitness classes for guests. However, there hotels are placed at Mauritius, Maldives, Reunion, China, Turkey, U.A.E Vietnam and in order to maintain a same organizational culture, supply chain process have to be managed with quality. However, some of the problem that is identified in this assessment is the risks management in the supply chain; maintain cultures in all country of origin, shipment accuracy along with visibility and mutual communication gap. Though these risks can be overcome by implementing assessment of the effective suppliers, selecting efficient supply chain partner, utilizing modern communication tools, broaden supplier assessments and establishment of clear measurement programs. These outputs can be achieved by using ITO framework that is illustrated in this assessment for maintaining quality in the supply chain that results in fulfilling of customer expectation. Implementation of the modern technology and taking regular surveys from stakeholders for knowing competencies of the organization is accomplished through the transformation process for better output. Reference List Bassi, A., 2015. General Management Principles in the Project Management Context. In Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Society: Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation; Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM Joint International Conference 2015. ToKnowPress. Beske, P. and Seuring, S., 2014. Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), pp.322-331. Beske, P., Land, A. and Seuring, S., 2014. Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, pp.131-143. Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Crandall, R.E., Crandall, W.R. and Chen, C.C., 2014. Principles of supply chain management. CRC Press. Dhar, R.L., 2015. Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of organizational commitment. Tourism Management, 46, pp.419-430. Fawcett, S.E., Ellram, L.M. and Ogden, J.A., 2014. Supply chain management: from vision to implementation. London: Pearson. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Grny, A., 2015, August. Use of Quality Management Principles in the Shaping of Work Environment. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 136-142). Springer International Publishing. Griffin, R.D., 2016. Principles of air quality management. CRC Press. Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L.P. and Malhotra, M.K., 2013. Operations management: Processes and supply chains (Vol. 1). New York: Pearson. Kuei, C.H. and Lu, M.H., 2013. Integrating quality management principles into sustainability management. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 24(1-2), pp.62-78. Luxresorts.com., (2017). Resorts and Hotels. [online] Available at: https://www.luxresorts.com) [Accessed 11 Feb. 2017]. Mangan, J., Lalwani, C. and Lalwani, C.L., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley Sons. Mitra, A., 2016. Fundamentals of quality control and improvement. John Wiley Sons. Oakland, J.S., 2014. Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge. Raake, A. and Egger, S., 2014. Quality and quality of experience. In Quality of experience (pp. 11-33). Springer International Publishing. Schonsleben, P., 2016. Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management within and across companies. CRC Press. Shi, X. and Liao, Z., 2013. Managing supply chain relationships in the hospitality services: An empirical study of hotels and restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, pp.112-121. Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Surez-Barraza, M.F. and Ablanedo-Rosas, J.H., 2014. Total quality management principles: implementation experience from Mexican organisations. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 25(5-6), pp.546-560. Trkman, P., Mertens, W., Viaene, S. and Gemmel, P., 2015. From business process management to customer process management. Business process management journal, 21(2), pp.250-266. Wisner, J.D., Tan, K.C. and Leong, G.K., 2014. Principles of supply chain management: A balanced approach. Cengage Learning. Xu, X. and Gursoy, D., 2015. A conceptual framework of sustainable hospitality supply chain management. Journal of Hospitality Marketing Management, 24(3), pp.229-259. Xu, X. and Gursoy, D., 2015. Influence of sustainable hospitality supply chain management on customers attitudes and behaviors. International journal of hospitality management, 49, pp.105-116.

Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility

Question: Discuss about the Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility. Answer: Introduction: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is more of a movement, which promotes companies to be more aware of the impacts that it creates around the locality. It also encourages the companies to have an interest in the stakeholders and around in the environment. It contributes to the development that is kept for the future without harming the present situation economically, socially and even the environmental conditions around. According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, CSR is a continuous process in which the company commits to be ethical in its behavior and have an improvement in the quality of life and the society at large (2012books.lardbucket.org, 2016). Greenwashing on the other hand, states that the companies try to be friendlier to the environment than they actually appear to be. Greenwashing is more of a critic to the concept of CSR. Many companies use it against their rivals to show that they can use the power more efficiently and in a very cost-effective way both at the same time (Vries et al. 2015) Corporate Social Responsibility globally has many objectives such as strategy, which deals with how to implement the business strategies without harming the economy and the environment, while the brand stays reputable as well as there is a healthy competition in the market. The relation between the customer and the product is also one of the objectives where loyalty plays a key part between the customer and the company. The company in turn uses new technologies to innovate their products by utilizing the natural resources in a cost-effective manner. Humans also are a key part of the objective as the workforce should be handled in an organized manner and various management and benefit programs should be conducted in order to satisfy the workforce and bring out the best through them by imparting knowledge, while giving them the assured remuneration (Idowu, Capaldi and Zu 2013) Greenwashing on the other hand has many sins. Most common in practice is the sin of Hidden Trade-off which states that the product is green because it may contain recycled paper or plastic. The original product may be harming the society but due to the single feature that it contains the product maybe available in the market. The second most common sin is that when the products are sent for review then the organization reviewing it consists of a limited workforce. The products on the other hand comes in at a bulk, sometimes it happens that the product might just have a single feature about the CSR but it gets passed due to negligence. Another form of sin is the vagueness of the product because the exact amount of the recycled waste is never mentioned in some of the products. The level of toxicity maybe high while recycling that product but only a certain percentage of it is mentioned on the label or on the backside of the product. The other two types of sins include lesser of two evi ls where the product maybe green while the production process takes place but when used in practical the product harms the society and the environment at large, cigarettes being the perfect example of this. The other sin is known as fibbing where the product includes posters in it that are false and that it is marketed. Customers unaware of the products keep on using it without knowing that the company has duped them with a product that is harmful to the society after a certain point of time of its usage. The companies very frequently commit these sins and the products are being used in the markets openly and freely (Alves 2009). Sustainability can never be limited to only the environment. It also affects the behavior of the humans, doing the right thing, which is enjoyable and engaging enough without harming the society, or the environment at large can be called as sustainability. The companys claim that they are trying hard enough is not suitable (Pope and Wraas 2015). The underlying claims of sustainability are often hidden and the practices that the corporate houses indulge into cause a continuous damage to the environment. The companies should be honest enough about how their doings are harming the environment. The plain truth is that as the companies claim to be green they do not look all that greener because any corporate houses or organizations do have an impact on the environment maybe on a small or large scale depending on the strength or the condition of the organization (Dzafic and Petersson 2016) In the present scenario, Greenwashing is applied by most of the companies which helped the market to gain some more rivals in that particular type of business because most companies do not want to reveal the harmful impacts it is causing because of such fierce competition. They might even be labeled as a greenwashed company, that is what the companies fear about (Carroll 2015). The companies particularly keep their green initiatives to themselves and within their area and reaping the harvest in form of cost and risk deduction, improvement in the quality of the product and a major boost in the employee satisfaction sector. To make things in a briefed version, many companies are taking the leap of faith by going into the green biz business and the numbers are on a rise. Whenever the report of the company is published annually or quarterly, they keep a separate section for the CSR activities that they have undertaken and try to publish a story. The starting of the story shows a little transparency about the company, which is a positive point as of now (Becker-Olsen and Potucek 2013). Anyone who needs to debate on the topic that is Corporate Social Responsibility a little more than Greenwashing, then it is wrong to say that as CSR activities deal with the environment to be maintained in a very healthy manner. Companies nowadays do not want to discuss their activities, as they fear that other companies may point out some mistakes in their undertaking thus hampering their brand image and reputation. However, in a way that is good, rather than being pin pointed and bought down in the eyes of their prospective customers. Knowingly or unknowingly, they make mistakes but on a small front which should not be considered as Greenwashing. Therefore, if a company particularly deals in Greenwashing then the society should start to take action on its behalf. Other than that an initial good impact gives rise for a better environment and mankind in the future. Reference List 2012books.lardbucket.org. (2016). Integrating Goals and Objectives with Corporate Social Responsibility. [online] Available at: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/management-principles-v1.0/s10-05-integrating-goals-and-objectiv.html [Accessed 17 Dec. 2016]. Alves, I., 2009. Green spin everywhere: How greenwashing reveals the limits of the CSR paradigm.Journal of Global Change and Governance,2(1), pp.1-26. Becker-Olsen, K. and Potucek, S., 2013. Greenwashing. InEncyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility(pp. 1318-1323). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Carroll, A.B., 2015. Corporate social responsibility.Organizational Dynamics,44, pp.87-96. Dzafic, J. and Petersson, A., 2016. Greenwashing in CSR reports-A case study of two entities. Idowu, S.O., Capaldi, N. and Zu, L., 2013.Encyclopedia of corporate social responsibility. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Pope, S. and Wraas, A., 2015. CSR-Washing is Rare: A Conceptual Framework, Literature Review, and Critique.Journal of Business Ethics, pp.1-21. Vries, G., Terwel, B.W., Ellemers, N. and Daamen, D.D., 2015. Sustainability or profitability? How communicated motives for environmental policy affect public perceptions of corporate greenwashing.Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management,22(3), pp.142-154.

Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business

Introduction Close attention to women in entrepreneurship has emerged from the recognition of the fact that women have become increasingly interested in starting up their own business. Global trends of women in private spheres of business witness the overwhelming percentage of women coming into business; the statistical data shows the female dominance in initiating business over the male entrepreneurship activity.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As noted by Dyson (2003), the 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that 38% of New Zealand entrepreneurs are women. This data supports the prior findings of McGregor and Tweed (2000) that twenty women started up enterprises a day in 2000, representing 40% of all entrepreneurs of the country, as compared to 35% of Canada’s entrepreneurship. Though the UK tendencies show a steady decline in women’s participation in the private business sector, the late 1990s’ data showed that they used to comprise nearly a half of all private businesses (Fielden, Davidson, Dawe, Makin, 2003). These facts the literature methodology employed in the present work: identifying the recurrent topics in national and international research on female entrepreneurship, referring the conclusions and generalizations to New Zealand situation. This statistical information serves as obvious evidence of the growing motivation women have to start up their own business. However, there have emerged a number of discrepancies in entrepreneurship area because of the specificity of female entrepreneurship. The claims that private business research is male-biased have also undermined the viability of traditional approaches to research. Thus, a new methodological perspective is required for studying the dominant tendencies in female entrepreneurship; the most important f ields demanding specific, female-focused attention, include the variety of barriers existing for female entrepreneurs at all stages of business management, the specificity of female motivation in business as compared to males; personal features of male and female entrepreneurs etc. There is also a strong need to identify areas of research in which the gender factor should be taken into account as an essential variable affecting the judgment and conclusions, and where factors other than gender are enacted and allow generalizations on the issue of entrepreneurship devoid of any gender implications.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A set of research articles and publications have been taken as a source base for the present literature review: the theoretical implications of the role of gender are discussed in the article of Moult and Anderson (2005), de Bruin, Brush, and Welt er (2007) research the theoretical framework of considering entrepreneurship in female aspects, and Shelton (2006) examines the family-work conflict as the major constraint in initiating an entrepreneurship. National surveys are also considered in the course of the literature review: Kutanis and Bayraktaroglu (n.d.) provide data on female entrepreneurship trends in Turkey, Zinger et al. (2005) research the Canadian women’s entrepreneurship efforts, and Fielden et al. (2003) turn to the distinction between American and British female entrepreneurship practices. The focus on New Zealand is provided by Dyson (2003) considering the progress in female entrepreneurship opportunities in New Zealand, Massey and Lewis (2003) turning to women and access to micro-finance in the country, and McGregor and Tweed (2000) examining previously utilized research practices in New Zealand. Views are generally shared on the majority of issues, but geographical differences are still evident in the specific situations faced by female entrepreneurs. Female Motivation for Starting up a Business There are many personal motives for starting up a business named by women interviewed on the issue of their private business and those who are only planning to start up a firm. These motives are diverse and include both the wishes and ambitions of women (e.g. the attraction of a new challenge and desire for a better life and work equilibrium) and necessities they experience in the current socio-economic environment (response to redundancy at the previous workplace or the need for flexibility in working time due to the responsibilities in child-rearing and keeping the household) (Dyson, 2003). These were the motive drives for New Zealand women questioned; he opinions of Turkish women, reviewed for comparison, do not differ greatly: among the strongest drives to create a private business dissatisfaction by the previous workplace, the need to utilize personal skills and resources, the lack o f personal autonomy and pursuit of independence and flexibility, difficult working conditions of the firms were named (Kutanis Bayraktaroglu, n.d.).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Global Trends of Women in Private Spheres of Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, there surely are some nation-specific differences in the female entrepreneurship trends and opportunities evident; the fact may be supported by the study initiated by Fielden et al. (2003) to find a solution to the sliding tendencies of female entrepreneurship percentage in the North West of the UK. The method they used was to look for more successful practices in motivating women to enter the private business sector in the USA and this way to detect the barriers most problematic to overcome in the domestic economy. Research of the female motivation to launch their own enterprise was the gender discrimination of many kinds at the corporate workplaces: the inability to overcome the ‘glass ceiling’ phenomenon at work, recurrent lack of recognition of their achievement at work, lack of serious attitude, isolation within an organization, and witnessing male promotions ahead of women (Fielden et al., 2003; Moult Anderson, 2005). These facts may imply that the UK corporate business was designed in a much more beneficial way for women, minimizing their desire to leave the public enterprise field and to start their private business. However, this was not so – the barriers to entry to the private entrepreneurship sector turned out more influential than the attraction of staying at the previous workplace. Hence, a set of gender-neutral factors motivating women to start a private enterprise have also been found. Women have turned out to possess many of the features needed for a successful private business career. They were (and are) well-educated, energetic, resourceful, motivated by potential achi evement, and self-confident (sometimes even at a higher level than their male counterparts) (Fielden et al., 2003). Women in the USA initiating their own private business turned out more dynamic, coming from managerial backgrounds, and having a business start-up experience, which made them correspond to the image of ‘modern’ entrepreneurs. The tendency showed the contrast between the current state of affairs and the 1980s’ tendencies of low-income, uneducated and inexperienced women mainly coming to the private sector of economy.Advertising Looking for research paper on gender studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The conclusions made for the UK business settings included the business support by governmental and private institutions, introduction of mentoring schemes to provide support on the psychological level, and financial support to initiate start-up businesses in Great Britain (Fielden et al., 2003). This research shows the genuine interest of the state in the promotion of both male and female entrepreneurship, hence the state’s role in building healthy motivation and opportunity for women is significant. The fact that entrepreneurship becomes more and more attractive for women is obvious; speaking about New Zealand in particular, one should not that not only the desire to start up a business serves as a decisive factor for initiating an entrepreneur career, but the private business career as a socially acceptable option for women plays its significant role. The country is ranked as one of the highest in encouraging women to become self-employed or start a business of their own ( Dyson, 2003). Hence, the governmental help is a very influential factor in forming motivation for entrepreneurship. Barriers to Business Entry for Women Women and men generally have the same range of opportunities in starting up a private enterprise, mainly because of their ability to access funds and conduct managerial and financial activities. However, as noted by Moult and Anderson (2005), women still suffer from the specific gender-based disadvantages in starting a business. They are diverse and refer to both the access to financial instruments such as micro-finance, more family and social responsibilities (e.g. child-rearing and domestic issues), higher need for flexibility at work etc. Women’s private enterprise is always the issue of a compromise between a family and a job, hence family-business prioritizing often serves as an additional constraint restricting both time and effort allocated for developing a business (Moult Anderson, 2005). The problem is universal in its significance, and, as noted by Dyson (2003), New Zealand women also face the challenge of balancing work, family, whanau and community roles, preserving their own mental and physical health, safety and well-being at the same time. The barriers to business entry for women result in more time spent on the business efforts, resulting in a work-family conflict in the lives of female entrepreneurs. This family-work conflict causes an inevitable tension in the women’s lives and urges them to apply management strategies such as elimination, reduction or sharing ones (Shelton, 2006). As Shelton (2006) argues, the mitigation of the family-work conflict is female-specific, as males are rarely so actively involved in child-rearing and household chores. The family-work conflict serves as an additional barrier in entrepreneurship; there are various roles preferred by women, so in case they prioritize their family roles, they implement participative management, competitive compensation etc., that is technologies that minimize the entrepreneur’s presence at the workplace. Prioritization of work roles may involve hiring staff for childcare and household, seeking help of the family etc. (Shelton, 2006). Some other barriers for female entrepreneurship include the overall negative attitude to women-entrepreneurs, lack of affordable business premises, high costs and overheads of running a small business, lack of support groups etc. (Fielden et al., 2003). Although these barriers constitute serious threats for women starting up a business, the lack of access to financing business starts-up is a more serious barrier. Massey and Lewis (2003) have conducted a survey in New Zealand and have produced a set of highly relevant conclusions on the issue of financing and gender biases in the discussed context. The lack of women’s access to loans and equity finance is considered to have the following set of reasons: low debt capacity of women, less demands for loans for women not apt to take risks, lower income of industry sectors preferred by women, less property of women resulting in their lack of ability to conclude collateral agreements (Massey Lewis, 2003). In addition, the researchers state that women have less experience in finance management, lack skills and knowledge to conform to the banking criteria, being literally unable â€Å"to speak the banker’s language† (Massey Lewis, 2003, p. 16). The problem also has the institutional roots, with lack of attention to the women-specific needs in micro-finance: â€Å"while there are a number of agencies that provide micro-finance to women, there is an almost total lack of interest in evaluating whether this is necessary, and whether the particular measures that are being undertaken are effective and/or efficient† (Massey Lewis, 2003, p. 6). Looking at the current situation in New Zealand, one can say that there are a large number of financing tools for women, including the Federation of Business and Professional Women, the Women’s Loan Fund, the Maori Women’s Development Inc., and many more funds such as the Nelson Enterprise Loan Trust, the Poutama Trust etc. (Massey Lewis, 2003). However, the situation is still considered not ideally equal for men and women, with some action needed to be taken to ensure easier access to financing for women. Some of the proposed decisions called to solve the problem of barriers in financing a private enterprise for women are: to gain a deeper understanding of the women’s wants regarding the entrepreneurship; research the views of stakeholders in the field of financing, and link these data to the current initiatives and delivery methods of government agencies in the field of business finance (Massey Lewis, 2003). Personal Features of Male/Female Entrepreneurs Though the gender bias is actively debated in the field of entrepreneurship, there is still a great body of evidence regarding the fac t that women and men base their entrepreneurship efforts on a differing set of values, attitudes and skills. McGregor and Tweed (2000) have marked the following set of differences in male and female entrepreneurs’ features: women are more concentrated in the micro business field; they are less growth-oriented than men because of their caution regarding business risks. Women reported to prefer small and stable businesses, and wished to preserve the quality of life it gave them but not to develop further. Expansion was even often seen by women as a threat to their welfare. This tendency makes women â€Å"satisficers†, while men are more of â€Å"expansionists† by entrepreneurial nature (McGregor tweed, 2000). McGregor and Tweed’s (2000) findings are supported by the research of Zinger et al. (2005) in the Canadian settings: both teams agreed that women worked predominantly part-time, with their enterprises showing much lower levels of income than malesâ₠¬â„¢ ones. In addition, women were found to be more conservative in their attitude to business, and tending to affiliation but not autonomy (while men expressed the wish for autonomy as one of the dominant incentives for a business start-up). Women preferred mentorship at the initial stages of entrepreneurship and sought reassurance from women in similar circumstances (McGregor Tweed, 2000). However, the categories of women entrepreneurs are also heterogeneous, with the various extent of confidence and prioritization, which can be seen on the example of Turkish women categorized into ‘conventionals’ (women who balance their work and family in a conventional way, not prioritizing any of the fields), ‘innovators’ (women more focused on business than on family roles), ‘domestics’ (women prioritizing family and sacrificing business in case a family-work conflict arises), and ‘radicals’ (women unable to balance their careers with famil y roles and prioritizing business) (Kutanis Bayraktaroglu, n.d.). Some other features specific for female entrepreneurs include the concentration in the retail trade and service sectors (Zinger et al., 2005; Moult Anderson, 2005). Low levels of self-efficacy reported by many women affected the recognition of poor opportunity available for them in private business (Zinger et al., 2005). These facts prove the point that male and female entrepreneurship models are substantially different based on the individual, social and cultural roles of women and men as well as their self-awareness and assessment of success opportunities. Conclusion Despite the fact that literature on female entrepreneurship is heterogeneous, covering may theoretical and practical aspects, some key concerns stand out and require specific attention. It is evident that entrepreneurship needs a much deeper and closer focus because of its specificity and variability of research. The present literature review shows th at there are many similarities in ways of doing business for men and women, but women still have a set of unique features, challenges and approaches to entrepreneurship requiring special attention. As de Bruin, Brush, and Weler (2007) note, there may be no necessity for a separate theory on women’s entrepreneurship, while a certain expansion of existing theoretical concepts may still be needed to incorporate the vision of female entrepreneurship’s distinctiveness. Therefore, research may be based on some well-established methodological principles applied to the whole concept of entrepreneurship. It is also clear that a set of practical solutions for the expansion, encouragement and promotion of female entrepreneurship worldwide. As women are known to have unique constraints such as the family-work conflict, lack of opportunity and access to finance, lack of experience and managerial training, the governmental and private initiatives in the field perform the number one necessity for female stimulation in the private sector. Since women value mentorship at the initial stages of self-employment, the government should offer such services on a more accessible and efficient basis. Women lack self-confidence and lack flexibility, even under the conditions of being prosperous entrepreneurs. Hence, new solutions to face those problems are needed. Finally, one can draw a conclusion that the generally known bias against women entrepreneurs is more a socio-cultural than an economic problem, so measures to overcome it have to be searched in the stereotypical, patriarchal views of the society and addressed accordingly. Only this way may women receive the adequate access to information and resources related to business. The support on the psychological level, adequate business education and recognition of potential may also serve as the indispensible driving forces of female entrepreneurship. References de Bruin, A., Brush, C., Welter, F. (2007). Advancing a f ramework for coherent research on women’s entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory Practice, 31(3), 323-339. Dyson, R. (2003). Address Her Business Conference. Email communication: announce@ministers.govt.nz. 4 March 2003. Fielden, S., Davidson, M., Dawe, A., Makin, P. (2003). Factors inhibiting the economic growth of female owned small businesses in North West England. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 10(2), 152-166. Kutanis, R.O., Bayraktaroglu, S. (n.d.). Female Entrepreneurs: Social Feminist Insights for Overcoming The Barriers. Sakarya University. The Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Turkey. Massey, C., Lewis, K. (2003). New Zealand women and micro-commerce. New Zealand Centre for Small Medium Enterprise Research, Massey University. The paper prepared for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. McGregor, J., Tweed, D. (2000). Towards a typology of female entrepreneurship: New directions f rom a nationwide study. Paper presented at the 30th European Small Business Seminar, Ghent, Belgium Conference publication, pp. 603-613. Moult, S., Anderson, R. (2005). Enterprising women: Gender and maturity in new venture creation and development. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 13(3), 255-271. Shelton, L. (2006). Female entrepreneurs, work-family conflict, and venture performance: New insights into the work-family interface. Journal of Small Business Management, 44(2), 285-297. Zinger, J.T., LeBrasseur, R., Riverin, N., Robichaud, Y. (2005). Stages of Small Enterprise Development: A Comparison of Female and Male Entrepreneurs. Paper presented on the 21st Annual C.C.S.B.E. Conference, Waterloo, ON R. Oct. 26-28, 2005. 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How to write facilities management tenders - Emphasis

How to write facilities management tenders How to write facilities management tenders Theres usually one guest at a party with a perennial case of its all me, me, me. This is the type of male or female who will wedge you in a corner, and wax lyrical about their latest business success, holiday or views on Americas political landscape. Its difficult to get a word in edgeways and you feel as though youre being assaulted with unwanted information. Most of us would flinch at the thought of being such a social bore. But in business we often make the same mistake of bombarding potential clients with too much information about how great we are. In fact, we should be focusing on their needs and interests. Theres no doubt that facilities managers are great at dealing with people and offering integrated workplace solutions. But translating these skills into a written proposal in order to sell your services is not an easy task. Unless your bid or tender proposal is carefully structured to be reader-focused rather than company-focused, it can have the same effect as the unwanted party guest. It doesnt matter whether youre responding to a warm or a cold lead, showing understanding is more important than trying to dazzle. Your company facts and testimonials should just confirm that you know what youre talking about. Here are seven tips that will help you write bids and tenders that shine the spotlight back onto your prospects and help to win you new business in the process. Grab a pencil and paper Its important to separate the thinking process from the writing process. So get away from your computer screen and ask yourself what core issues you want to address in your proposal. Better still, bounce ideas off a colleague. Decide which ideas are important, essential, desirable and unessential and aim to only include those that are in the first two categories. Put the reader first Always put the prospect first, by starting with their situation and the problems they need to solve. Use the Four Ps technique, which stands for: position (where they are now), problem (why they cant stay there), possibilities (where they could go) and proposal (where they should go). Resist the temptation to write down everything you think will win the contract. Instead, focus on the possible solutions before backing up your recommendations with information about your capabilities. Remember, it doesnt matter whether you are an in-house department; specialist contractor or a large multi-service company, the reader always comes first. And always highlight the benefits of the services in terms of cost reductions for the client, health and safety or other key measurements. Be inclusive Its likely that a variety of decision-makers will read your proposal. Consider the varying needs of the head of finance compared to a business development executive, for instance. And add in facts and figures that will keep everyone happy. But use appendices for detail, rather than stuffing the body text with too many facts that only one person will be interested in. Youre in it to win it Dont forget that you still need to sell the solutions youre proposing. Use persuasive language that will connect with the reader. For example, its useful to use the terms you, we and us to help the prospect visualise you working together. And use the active voice where possible. Check your facts Simple mistakes can seriously undermine what youre offering. Always check the spelling of product and place names and get a colleague to proofread your work carefully. Its easier for a fresh pair of eyes to spot any mistakes. Typos and other errors can still go unnoticed though, so proof-read extra slowly by stopping a pencil at each word to check that its accurate. Jargon is not the bogeyman Ask yourself how much the prospect knows about facilities management. And remember, its very easy to over-estimate this. Dont be afraid to use jargon though, as long as youre certain that your reader will understand it. Keep it short and sweet Many people think that tenders need to be long in order to show the client that youve made an effort. In fact, the opposite is true. It takes more effort to keep a tender clear and concise. Go through and cut out meaningless phrases and unessential information. And keep your sentences short, with each one no more than 15-20 words. A tender process may be your first foot in the door, with what you write determining whether or not youre invited to a face-to-face meeting. But dont be tempted to use flowery language. Instead, write to express rather than impress and youll keep your prospects interested and wanting to find out more. Want to win more business with your tenders? See our tender writing-courses for individuals and our tender-writing course for groups. Robert Ashton is the Chief Executive of Emphasis.

International trade Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International trade - Assignment Example The relatively smaller enterprises are concentrated in Baden-Wurttemberg as well as in Bavaria. The production of mechanical machineries has achieved a pivotal importance in the economy of Germany. In the second half 1990s the sector of mechanical machineries experienced slow growth. However accelerated globalization has contributed much to the success of mechanical machineries production. The employment record is best for Germany among the EU member states. The economic performance also improved significantly. The wage modernization process provided competitive advantage to the industries. The advantage of wage modernization and still productivity of labor coupled to improve the economic performance. The mechanical machineries sector is a well diversified sector. The subsector of machine tools also gained importance. Over the past decade specialization is on the process. The subsectors are closely linked with the automobile industry and gained the attention of the European Union. Th e â€Å"engines and turbine† manufacturing is one such industry that has achieved much importance. The share of contribution of this sector is volatile and it is difficult to get any clear trend from the analysis of the sector. The country offers excellent research conditions for the development of technical machineries. But one challenge that the German companies have to deal with is that of high wages as well as some structural change (Vieweg, 2012). International Trade between Germany and Canada The exchange of capital goods as well as services across the international borders is regarded as International Trade. A significant portion of Gross Domestic Product is contributed by trade. In recent centuries the significance of international trade has gained much importance in economic, social as well as political terms (UN/DESA World Economic Vulnerability Monitor, 2012). The determinants or the evolution of the patterns of trade is not incorporated in the formal models of mac roeconomic dynamics. The models generally take into account the patterns of international trade and the structure of the markets along with the factors of production. Germany is a significant partner in trade for Canada. The bilateral merchandise trade of Canada with Germany accounted to more than 14 billion dollars in 2009. In the same year Germany was the second largest destination for export for Canada among the European Union. The decade of 1998 to 2008 the amount of imports from Germany doubled. The exports of Canada to Germany comprised mostly of manufactured goods. The manufactured goods amounted to 60% of the total exports for the year 2009. The exports of Aircraft witnessed the upward rising curve since 2004 at an average of 55%. The exports of cars and car accessories combined to make up 23% of Canadian imports from Germany in 2009. The trade of resource based goods between the countries is more or less evenly balanced. Germany offers services to Canada. In the year 2007, commercial services formed the major part of exports of services. The figure below shows the data on trade of merchandises. (Holden, 2010). The following figure shows data on major exports to Germany from Canada. (Holden, 2010). The following figure shows trade data category-wise. (Holden, 2010). Socio economic indicators of Germany The socio economic development of a country is measured using the rates of GDP, levels of employment as well as with rates of literacy. The invention f new technologies and

Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Nursing - Assignment Example ntage of SOAP is that there is documentation which ensures communication among different health professionals that may be involved in treatment of that patient. This will prevent any misdiagnosis which may be blamed on one health worker only and which may lead to that health worker being sued. In case of anything going wrong for the patient, all the health workers who were involved and integrated by the SOAP will be in trouble but that is rarely the case. The other legal advantage of a SOAP documentation system is that since the documentation is in note form, the progress notes and all other information appear on one page and hence no chances of ignoring part of the notes or not seeing all the notes as a result of missing pages as is common with other traditional documentation systems (Iyer, et al. 2006). This will ensure that non maleficence and beneficence are promoted as no information which may cause harm to the patient will be left without being addressed. This documentation system however has disadvantages too. One of the disadvantages is that every diagnosis is recorded in a different SOAP and this result to redundancy of the work. This may lead to some health workers failing to record all the information which legally amounts to neglect which may cause harm and also ignore the non maleficence code hence charges can be pressed for such a health worker. This is the commonly used documentation system where the patient’s care and treatment information is recorded chronologically over the duration the patient is in hospital or in a health facility (Iyer, et al. 2006). One of its main legal advantages is that it is useful in emergency situations to quickly collect information of patient’s health and treatment interventions necessary. In case anything fails to be recorded or is misreported at that time, the health worker has legal protection as it was an emergency which is allowed by law. Traditional narrative is the system that most health workers are