Organisational Business Practices Essay Example for Free

Organisational Business Practices Essay Organization is a principle of life. We seek the help of organizations to meet our day to day requirements such as to feeding, clothing, educating entertaining, protecting etc. However, organizations are not contemporary creations. Modern society has more organizations which are fulfilling a larger category of societal and personal needs. Organizations are so encompassing in the modern life that it is sometimes easy to overlook that each may be regarded as an entity with a specific contribution and specific goals. Organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities of two or more persons in order to achieve a common goal. It is a system of four major internal interacting components such as: task, people, technology and structure. Organizations are said to be open systems. A number of metaphors can be used to think and explain about the nature of organization. There are eight archetypical metaphors of organization: Machines, Organisms, Brains, Cultures, Political Systems, Psychic Prisons, Flux and Transformation, Instruments of Domination. General Discussion Document: Director of Marketing is proposing to introduce a new process of sales at Superior Sales Corporation for which there will be changes as per the present set up. Staff are likely to resist the change hence some suggestions are placed to reduce the resistance. Organization Structure: Functional superiority can only be achieved if there is enough reliability and focus within each business unit. Elites are those specialized organizational units with closeness to power and having superior capability. Their functions signify a particular organization’s typical capability. It is, important that more than one such elite function exist. They need to be complementary so as to make sure that they serve as a check on another. Pluralist are those essential forces that play a important role in decision making. The tension that is created amongst these forces stimulates thoughts and lead to self-improvement and competitiveness, Elite functions bring main strengths to an organization, but must assist with the whole to attain shared results. The stronger and more competent the elites are, the more difficult it is to achieve cross-functional teamwork. The organization’s challenge is therefore to ensure that these functions are on a par with that of competition, but at the same time they need to ensure that they respond to market demands by cutting across these functional compartments. Organization Cultures: Organizations are mini-societies that have their own distinctive patterns of culture. Culture is a modern concept used in a social sense to refer broadly to civilization and social system. Its increasing use within the social sciences has led to definitions of varying generality, which develop in a host of ways. Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. There is a growing literature of relevance how organization can be understood as a cultural phenomenon. It is valuable to understand the relationship between culture and industrialization. The greatest strength of this metaphor is that it shows how organizations rests in shared systems of meaning, values, ideologies, beliefs and other social practices that ultimately shape and guide organized action. Reactive and Proactive Changes: Forces for change arise out of an organization’s interaction with elements in its external or internal environment. The action of competitors, suppliers, government units or public groups may have substantial impacts on change. Social and cultural factors such as life styles, values or beliefs also lead to important changes. Forces of change may also arise from within an organization depending upon different phases of growth or demands made by different interest groups. Reactive changes occur when these forces make it necessary for a change to be implemented. Proactive change takes place when some forces to change lead an organization to conclude that a particular change is desirable and goes about in initiating the change in a planned manner. The difference between reactive and proactive changes corresponds to that between reflexive behavior and purposive behavior. Reactive change, like reflexive behavior, involves a limited part of the system whereas proactive change and purposive behavior coordinate the parts of the system as a whole. Organizational change has noted that many participants respond with dogged resistance to altering the status quo. In the industrial phenomenon workers have at times sought, in extremely violent fashion, to block the introduction of new technology. Supervisors and lower level managers have balked at large scale projects in job redesign and job enrichment; even low level employees, the presumed beneficiaries of such projects, have fought such changes. Senior managers have fought pitched battles against realignment of corporate structure. Even the proposal by a course coordinator to adopt a different style of presenting the report is capable of touching off a frenzy of defensive tactics to resist change. Such behavior may be either overt or covert. Overt resistance may take the form of employees deliberately failing to do the things necessary for successful change or simply being unenthusiastic about the change. The absence of overt resistance does not mean that resistance is not present, as resistance may be hidden from direct observation. Covert resistance can be more detrimental to change than open resistance because it is harder to identify and eliminate. There are at least two sets of factors which explain the process of resistance. One set relates to the personality and the other relates to the social system. Decreasing the Resistance: Managers who have been responsible for implementation have developed personal perspective consisting of assumption and strong feelings about how change should be introduced. These philosophies fall into two camps, either tops-down or bottoms-up. The Tops-down Strategy: The advocates of this strategy believe that, in general, people resist changes and require direction and structure for their well being as well as to work efficiently and effectively. The basic psychological contract between employees and management, it is assumed, is one in which the employee provides work, effort and commitment and expects in return pay, benefits, and a clear definition of what is expected to be done. It follows that it is the management’s responsibility to design the changes it deems appropriate and to implement these thoroughly but quickly by directives from the top. The Bottoms-up Strategy The advocates of this approach profess what to them is a more enlightened view of human nature. They argue that people welcome change and the opportunity to contribute to their own productivity, especially if the change gives them more variety in their work and more autonomy. These managers assume people have a psychological contract which includes an expectation that they be involved in designing change as well as in implementing it. Commitment to change, they say, follows from involvement in the total change process and is essential to successful implementation.

Distance Learning Essay -- Essays Papers

Distance Learning In recent years, there has been a trend in the way that many major institutions of higher learning have been teaching their students. This change of pace in the education world is what is known as distance learning. Distance learning is the form of schooling that can be done over the Internet, and never actually being forced to be present in a classroom or even on the campus. According to Joel Snell, correspondence courses were the predecessors to what we now know as distance learning (258). Many people say that distance education is the future of our nations’ education, however there are many arguments against the wide spread establishment of distance learning programs. Although distance learning may seem like a bright future for education, nevertheless, it will never be as successful as campus learning, because every student must be self-driven and also highly motivated, the lack of access to libraries and other sources of information, and also face-to-face inter action is necessary for a good education. Many people think that distance learning is a perfect fit for men and women working on their master’s while still maintaining a job. When a person enters the real world and gets a job, they will not always have a lot of time on their hands that would allow them to go to classes. The ability to take their classes at anytime possible is one of the most appealing factors for distance learners (Flanagan). Another reason as to why distance learning is a perfect match for men and women taking classes while working is the motivation factor. Both Snell and Mariani agree that in order for a person to succeed in distance education, they must be highly motivated, which does not describe the ... ...he newest equipment today will just give you out-dated equipment a few months after the initial implementation (Porter 41-42). Based entirely upon the facts that are presented in so many academic sources, distance education programs are hard to implement as well as to maintain, so that it why that many fail, and they are not widely accepted in today’s day. Works Cited Flanagan, Robert. Personal Interview. 27 Oct. 2001. Mariani, Matthew. â€Å"Distance Learning in Post-Secondary Education: Learning Whenever, Wherever.† Occupational Outlook. 45. 2 (2001): 2-10. Minoli, Daniel. Distance Learning Technology and Applications. Boston: Artech House, 1996. Porter, Lynette. Creating the Virtual Classroom: Distance Learning with the Internet. New York: Wiley, 1997. Snell, Joel. â€Å"Distance Learning: Observations.† College Student Journal. 35. 2 (2001): 258- 259.

Education Unplugged Analysis Essay

In his essay, Education Unplugged, Floyd Allen, the author combined three methods of development, process, cause-effect, and argument method, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the message he was conveying. According to Allen, generally, the society today rely on â€Å"pseudo-intelligence,† which means that people, particularly the youth, depend too much on technology to perform their work for them including even the simplest tasks like counting small amounts of money or basic math. The author claims that the only way to solve this is for educators to give more emphasis on teaching more the fundamental or basic lessons in school than focusing on computer education. Among the three processes used by the author, the most dominant and most effective one is the argumentative method. In the essay, Allen argued that young people nowadays can no longer perform a lot of basic tasks without resorting to an electronic device first. In order to support his claims, the author used as an example his experience with a female fast food employee who had to call for help just to count his change of 99 cents. He also cited other examples of too much reliance on pseudo-intelligence such as the inability of the tellers to make transactions with clients when the system is down and the inability of children to tell the time if the clock has hands. Generally, the use of solid examples and instances is the one of the most effective ways to convey the message an author would like to impart to his or her readers when making an argument. In the essay, Allen’s use of real life scenarios greatly bolstered his claims on pseudo-intelligence because readers were able to relate to them. He also used solid examples when he provided the solution to society’s problem such as concentrating more on teaching students the basics of writing, reading, and arithmetic instead of focusing on making them computer literate.

The Debate of Interracial Marriages and the Unseen...

The Debate of Interracial Marriages and the Unseen Barriers of Relationships 1 For decades, interracial relationships have been a deep seated conflict among many people and families in our history. Not only in the United States, but many countries around the world have debated and banned such acts. Although it has now been found to be unconstitutional based on the violation of the fourteenth amendment, societal perceptions, norms, and hate groups have still managed to persist. We as a country have come a long way in the past fifty years by recognizing the injustice in banning and punishing certain marriages, but there is still a definite stigma and an abundance of prejudice, resentment, and negative reactions attached to those who are†¦show more content†¦These types of experiences and attitudes lead many Black/white couples to isolate from their communities to protect themselves (Bratter King, p.170). As one can see, when social support is lacking it can lead to couples isolation. Isolation in turn can lead to other psychological issues and problems between the couple making arguments and distress much easier to come by. One could almost say that at least outside of the direct home of the couple, negativity seems to be lurking on all sides of them. It would be easy to see how divorce may sometimes seem like the most logical or conceivable solution to these stresses. It is clear that negative reactions from family as well as from society and also outsider beliefs are aspects that can contribute to stress and negative marital dynamics, yet there are still other variables like background/values, age, and psychological distress that was just touched on briefly. In the past, interracial relationships were seen by many as a psychological flaw or disorder in the person involved; someone who had low self esteem, self-loathing, deep psychological sicknesses, and inferiority issues. These attitudes put even more of a 4 negative impression onShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesAutomatic and Controlled Processing 351 †¢ Interest Level 352 †¢ Prior Knowledge 352 †¢ Personality 352 †¢ Message Characteristics 352 Barriers to Effective Communication 353 Filtering 353 †¢ Selective Perception 353 †¢ Information Overload 353 †¢ Emotions 353 †¢ Language 354 †¢ Silence 354 †¢ Communication Apprehension 355 †¢ Lying 355 Global Implications 356 Cultural Barriers 356 †¢ Cultural Context 357 †¢ A Cultural Guide 358 Summary and Implications for Managers 360 S A L S A L Self-AssessmentRead MoreMarketing Management130471 Words   |  522 PagesRetailing and Wholesaling Integrated Marketing Communication Advertising management Sales promotion Personal selling Public relations Understanding individual consumer behaviour Understanding industrial consumer behaviour Customer satisfaction Customer relationship management Marketing of services Rural marketing Types of marketing research Process of marketing research Tools and Techniques of marketing research Applications of marketing research Preparation of marketing research report Online marketing E-commerceRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pages.................................................................................. 474 Inferring from Correlation to Causation......................................................................................... 479 Criteria for a Causal Relationship................................................................................................ 481 Criteria for Creating Good Explanations ........................................................................................ 483 Assessing