Saudi Aramco Oil Company Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Saudi Aramco Oil Company - Dissertation Example The scope of Business Social Responsibility (BSR) includes production and company operation. Moon’s (2002) concept of BSR expands to financial contributions to community and governmental causes. BSR focuses on the social responsibility of business while CSR is a general term that encompasses many aspects of CSR. CSR’s general concept is about the community, the employees, the environment, human rights, and so on. BSR is appropriate in the study of social responsibility of Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry since it focuses on governmental and public causes that include environmental protection and cause-oriented projects. This chapter scrutinizes the past and current issues on CSR and how they could be related in the context of the aim and objectives of this dissertation. 2.2 Definition of corporate social responsibility The term corporate social responsibility refers to a corporate framework consisting of economic, environmental and social issues (Tokoro 2007, p. 148) that are incorporated into the responsible performance of the firm. CSR is sometimes referred to as a corporate duty and responsibility to the community and the environment. CSR practices of firms emphasise environmental protection without financial consideration in return (Huang 2010, p. 642). The World Business Council defines CSR as an obligation to provide economic development and improvement of employees’ quality of life and the community they belong. CSR includes an interaction with the community and the different stakeholders. Some aspects of CSR aim for sustainable development. Sustainable development involves ‘systematic and long term use of natural resources’ (Huang 2010, p. 643) with the primary objective of having it available for the present and the future generation; meaning, CSR is meeting the needs of the present generation without disregarding the future generation. It may also refer to the necessities of development and progress for coun tries without damaging environmental resources. Sustainable development refers to development wherein the environmental indicators have the same significance with economic indicators. Sustainability involves long-term goals that concern ecological, political, economic and societal ramifications. (Huang 2010, p. 643) Many authors conclude that there is no universal definition for CSR. A common definition failed because CSR is a socially constructed concept. There are components in the different definitions that are common, for example voluntary, the stakeholder, legal obligation, economic, social, human right, etc., which when understood will lead to greater insight of what CSR is in the nation that is being practiced and the world at large. 2.2.1 Theories of CSR Social Responsibilities of the Businessman was an article written by Bowen in 1953 which shifted the social responsibility of business to CSR. Since then the study of CSR has grown bringing into the fore terminologies, theor ies and practices in the different fields. Topics on CSR have also evolved that included society and business, social issues management, stakeholder management, corporate accountability, and much more. Recently, authors added the topics on corporate citizenship and corporate sustainability. (Garriga & Mele 2004, p. 51) Popular concepts relate CSR theories with the environment (which relate to resources and economics), goal attainment (linked to politics), and social

Analyse the ideology of motherhood represented in distributed imaging Dissertation

Analyse the ideology of motherhood represented in distributed imaging spaces such as Instagram - Dissertation Example This is because more and more people share their life events on the social networks regardless of the events being sad or happy, says (Kivran-Swaine et al, 2013:1-5). Through one’s social media account most people are able to follow one’s transition through the years from one’s teenaged life to adulthood. Motherhood is only the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother. It is also one of the most life altering events that can be experienced and is often represented in the social networks. Most social media users usually cover their social pages with pictures of their experiences of pregnancy, and motherhood accompanied by status updated of about their daily events as mothers. Kivran-Swaine goes on to say that the ways in which motherhood is represented and enacted on the social networks is usually very broad, and does not effectively account for the complex content in which motherhood is understood and performed using new communications technologies. M ost information presented on the social networks about motherhood usually give the idea that motherhood is full of happy moments; where the mothers are always smiling holding their bundles of joy and updating how happy and blessed they feel to be mothers. The ideology of motherhood in the social media is often one-sided. Section II: The theoretical concept of â€Å"workface† Kivran-Swaine comes up with a theoretical concept of ‘facework’ that she uses to analyze the ideology of motherhood in the social media. Facework functions as a critical mode of self presentation and self expression on the social media where mothers create their own â€Å"mommy face†, a social space where they can showcase their motherhood achievements and their various standards of motherhood with the rest of the world. There are a number of mothers who have shown a good use of their facework, whose social media activities have incorporated their experiences as mothers that are if the y have not completely changed to motherhood experiences only. A good example of new mothers who have incorporated their motherhood experi

Market Leader In The Sports Clothing Industry Marketing Essay

Market Leader In The Sports Clothing Industry Marketing Essay Nike is widely recognized as the market leader in the sports clothing industry with good quality of its market share, profitability and universal reach .It was created by Phil Knight and his coach at Oregon University Bill Bowerman. Nikes goal then was to distribute low- cost, high-quality Japanese athletic shoes to American consumers .Nike maintains established and non-established distribution channels in more than 100 countries. Nikes targeting its main market regions: United States, Europe, Asia Pacific. Nikes utilize over 20,000 retailers As a result, for the fiscal year end 2011, Nikes 20,700 employees generated almost $18.8 billion in revenue. Products Nikes prime product focus is the athletic footwear designed for particular-sport and leisure uses . Nikes also sell athletic clothing carrying the similar trademarks and brand names as many of Nikes footwear lines. Nikes most accepted product categories include the following: Running , Basketball , Cross-Training , Outdoor Activities , Tennis , Golf , Soccer , Baseball , Football , Bicycling , Volleyball , Wrestling , Cheerleading , Aquatic Activities , Auto Racing , Other athletic and leisure uses. Mission Statement Nikes mission is to be improved than all others in the athletic industry. In order to retain position by providing excellence footwear, attire and equipment to traditions and individual consumers of all ages and lifestyles . To manufacture Nikes products straightforward available worldwide through the develop of retail outlets, mail order and Nikes company website. Values Statement Nike always focuses its promise to all stakeholders by continuing to make steps towards being a company that sets the patterns in social responsibility. Nike is constantly making efforts to make sure that all employees and members of its surrounding communities are satisfied in a behavior that is in line with Nikes mission. Nike has through many alliances with human rights associations in an effort to guarantee lab Nikes rights for employees of the manufacturing overseas. They are devoted to treating Nikes employees with the greatest respect, which is revealed in Nikes recompense and human Resources Nikes the policies. Nicks also loyal to making sound decisions in regards to Nikes environment, and the scrap against pollution. Long-term Corporate Objectives The following are Nike Inc.s 5-Year long-term corporate objectives: Continue Nikes progress in stockholders return on equity to achieve a 20.0% return in 2010. This would be an raise of almost 6.5% from 2011. Increase earnings per share to $2.70 per diluted share of 2008 in an overall effort to encourage the long-term resilience of Nikes stocks value. This would surpass Nikes 2007 record high. Market Characteristics :- The athletic footwear industry is a demanding and immersed market. Severe competition, fashion trends, and price conscious consumers have considered growth in this industry. Manufacturers are struggling listless sales with primary new styles, along with offering more styles at lower price aims. Organizations are looking for new ways to increase sales by capitalizing on direct Internet sales to customers. Therefore, companies with strong brands will progressively turn to international markets for development. Customer and Customer Knowledge In 1972, Nike proposed at positioning its product to the niche market of serious competitive athletes. As a result targeting and segmenting their markets for people aged in their 20s, which led Nike to focus on developing high recitation running shoes. They cooperative the customers request and understanding with the existing technology and transform that into a knowledge based core competency. All together the Nike swoosh logo expanded attractiveness amongst athletes and Tele-adverts and so was fashion, which resulted in people impersonated their heroes and bought Nike more as a fashion statement. This helps Nike learn a lot about the perform Nikes s of the younger generation and realized that. As a result connecting them Nike today is the world leader in athletic footwear. COMPETITOR : Reebok, in the conditions of their products, is not completely different from Nike. Reebok is concerned with the design and marketing of both athletic and non-athletic footwear and clothing, as well as other various fitness projects. Reeboks market share is an isolated third in the footwear industry at 11.2% (compared to 30.4% and 15.5% for Nike and Adidas respectively). Reeboks financial position has been steadily slipping for a number of years. This is obvious in their declining stock price, which has reduced by over 80 percent in the last Nikes years. THE STRATEGIC PLAN Grand Strategy : Nike Inc. Can develop the complete structured approach to select a grand strategy in carrying out beyond the corporate objectives. Nike has such a strong history of effective marketing in explanation global regions. Market development strategy for consideration due to Nikes capability to geographically raise Nikes product offerings. The strategies are very directly linked. To decide which would succeed in Nikes prevailing strategic position, Nikes evaluation criteria were biased according to the companys strategy: distinctive competency, culture, timing, and demographics. With a total weighted score of 4.40 product development exceed second placing, concentration, and third place, market development. Marketing and Advertising Nike marketing and advertising campaigns are a big and its Nikes one of the competitive advantage. Nike is well-known best of its strategy of using celebrity athletes supports. They simply want the best of the athletes in the world to be related to them. The procedure used by the associates at Nike would be dominant on potential signers. Not only do they intimidate the star but also create an overpowering response. This helps them to strengthen their bargaining power and attract its sign to aspire to being in such great company . Design Development/Innovation -According to Mark Parker (2010) In his CSR report confirmed that when they recognized their 2 core competencies design and innovation, it was through in order to bear about social and environmental change. According to Phil Knight ( 2010 ) believes that there are 7 brand succession in order to stay ahead, consequently enormous expenditure on continuous strategic knowledge development and innovation. Since Nike had already taken place gaining attractiveness amongst the young people along with being there for athletes, they attained 2 key strategic decisions, One was expanded their existing range of products for athletes and move into different sporting groups. Secondly they improved their overall apparel range for both competition and informal wear as well. Design and development turn into their core competencies. They recognized they had a considerable market in terms of fashion as well. Innovation is in the strength of Nike, Incs business strategy tod ay. Supply Chain Management According to Stonehouse Minocha (2008) Nike as a brand fast comprehend through its value chain process that its force put down in design and Development, marketing and structure customer relationships. They identified manufacturing is something they didnt attempt on, so once they developed a new product in Portland, they manufacturing to China, Taiwan and Brazil while imposing insensitive excellence standards, Nike over the years has guaranteed its partners over the years with its brand name and its services. Not only do they contribute to their customer knowledge with them but also share a munificent premium price. They concentrated their retail stores from 32 to 5 in Europe with its head office in the Netherlands and warehousing in Belgium in order to make the in general supply more successful based on demand. According to Lewin (1952) stated that change is an important part of any strategic evaluation and implementation. He developed a 3 stage model in order to describe the process which included à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Unfreezing of current attitudes: which recognizes the change à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Moving to a new level: effect the change à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Refreshing attitudes at the new level: change is supported by behavioral changes When investigating the process of strategic change, we usually come across the nature of the change and the amount of the change. According to the Scholes Whittington (2008) In the case of Nike, the development of strategic change is incrementally transformational and the type of strategic change is Evolutionary, Nike states that moreover they can move fast now in order to classify themselves for the future of a sustainable economy or soaking expression at risk of being forced to change. Since Nike has been on the objectionable realizing the impacts of environmental change, further rising cost of peaking oil prices, rising population. Early in 1990 the firm taking place to centered on environmental issues with a small group of employees in the Nike environmental develop them. They primarily started with recycling programs but placement 1998, recognized their own sustainability policy. Their development from a standard compliance move towards to an across the board corporate sustaina bility strategy including sustainable design concepts which led them to strong financial, brand and environmental benefits. According to IEHN (2010) Not only they direct to adjust the environmental challenges as a competitive advantage but also envisioned a sustainable business strategy. Their timing couldnt have been improved as they were criticized in the 1990s for being an environmentally careless and sloppy company for operating sweatshops in Asia using underage workers . Nikes also been charged of using chemicals in less industrialized countries in consequence polluting their waters. Nike rapidly responded to this by working with outside agencies like sustainability partners, focusing on product designs since innovation is their prime strength. They also guarantee their global suppliers adopted exacting environmental standards in manufacturing processes, by keeping costs low and improving product quality. They set up computer structure for their Asian suppliers in order to calculate investment costs for environmental projects. They optimistic away from adverse toxic substances to an encouraging list of substances. Their involvement with the Natural Step led to 65 new pilot projects which resulted on sustainable product design. They effectively produced a total savings of $4.5million by mid 2000, which ultimately benefited approximately 180,000 workers in more than 37 factories in Asia. They in fact resolute PVC from the footwear and looked major criticism from the Vinyl industry but then again they managed to reduce the PVC content to 2% in 2004 from 33% in 1999. This made them more dependent on unprocessed cotton and they ended up join forces with roughly 50 companies to form an organic exchange, with the goal of raising the global organic share of cotton from 0.05%-10%. Facilitating change The vision of Phil Knight the CEO himself, to make Nike a scalable and sustainable business model in order to succeed as leaders of the clothing industry . The observation of the BOD, executive leadership team to identify the potential implications of their business to come forward as a survivor with a competitive structure. Make sure that the sustainable business and innovation team underline on key business priority, which consist of, sustainable -products, manufacturing and marketplaces. A team of 130 committed employees working directly with sustainability specialists from other departments such as retail, logistics and IT. Nikes also diverse employee base of 30,000 people, irrespective of their cultural backgrounds, successful on creativity, innovation and development of strategic knowledge. Having a aptitude strategy focusing on coaching, mentoring and online learning.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Heavy investment made by HR depth in areas of sustainable talent exercises and infrastructure.. Increased overall efficiencies and reduced waste and costs. Managing adverse publicity for the brand, with a quick response from the senior management. Leaders including Nikes age employees to think creatively-both strong and informal work ethic. Blockages According to Scholes (2008)Now looking at the way Nike functions and the way it changed strategically one recognize the strength at Nike being its work force. The culture which subsists at Nike shows that the company succeeds in innovation of new products in a sustainable way Nike in order to continue being the leading athletic brand in the world. Nike its not all about doing business businesses with others, but its all about recognizing prospect sustainability through productivity. They expand their bench strength while their HR Dept focuses on resourcefully. Culture: According to Scholes (2008) Phil Knight is an ex athlete of long distance organization and this culture can have its manage on the strategy itself, since organizations can be disposed by their culture which is made up of the people leading it. Managers expressed by this change are most positively likely to understanding with it with what they recognize . Now this in the case of Nike was when Phil Knight apprehends this while being criticized for his ways in the late 1990s regarding young workers in Asia IEHN (2010). Nike immediately developed a strategy of becoming more environmentally sustainable and welcoming. Put in stricter process and implemented them severe environmental standards across its development processes. Going back to the cultural web at the company Their leaders regularly work daily in order to make sure that Nike as a company realizes its potential to Nikes more than 30,000 of its workers to achieve their potential .This is their way of doing things on a daily basis to issue their employ potential and has been effective for them since they reconsidered their strategy back in the 90s. They have an aptitude strategy were in their focus on task planning and manager accountabilities in order to train and advise and also offers classroom learning and online learning. Their ability reviews are straight linked to their business strategic precedence. The HR Dept of Nike has been seriously spent in talent programs and communications. They had a guided workshop which is to be commenced in FY 10 which will focus on how assortment drives creativity and innovation. In FY08 the DI team formed the culture as a transgression in order to discover how Nike could use their customs as their Competitive Advantage. They had a whole day of workshops where members of the strategy panel spoke to the new crew at Nike. This assisted them share their point of view with the high level assessment makers. The CAO model is being used efficiently as a model for intergenerational dialogue. Nike has a powerful construction wherein they utilize their middle management to correspond ideas in a bottom up move towards which thus offer the executives with the capability to put together strategic plans. They have the understanding of design, innovation and creativeness and their manufacturing is also a Competitive Advantage to them. Recommendations:- Nikes strategy would be to function in a congested loop model according to Nike (2010) which is to attain zero waste by entirely recycling all materials. They need to spend in sustainability as an input innovation/RD main concern, beside fast track innovation during concerted investments. They would need to begin the GreenXchange program in order to contribute to intellectual possessions in order to fast track the changes. A support body is needed to encourage large scale policies investing in sustainable innovation as a main enabler for financial competitiveness. I consider to the Macro environment they need to atrium the environmental policies, since they believe thats essential for their existences . Theyre functioning like a trading company in order to get around currency fluctuations to have time for a financial remodelling would be favorable to them. Keeping their core competencies of design and innovation in brain, they need to maintain investing closely in consumer knowledge by repeatedly segmenting the market to comprehend the demand customers needs. Their competitive advantage is their customers, their marketing, design and innovation beside with their supply chain, which adds importance at each level. Their potential business objectives bearing in mind in mind these factors of competitive advantage and their shift of an evolutionary transformational change make sense, since they rapidly foresighted their business model back in 1990s after their reflection was troubled in the sweatshops. Word Count : 2592

Affirmative Action Essay -- Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action Affirmative action is a deliberate effort to provide full and equal opportunities in employment, education, and other areas for women, minorities, and individuals belonging to other traditionally disadvantaged groups. As an issue of today's society, affirmative action requires corporations, universities and other organizations to establish programs designed to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly. It also places a burden of proof on the providers of opportunities; to some degree, the providers must be able to demonstrate that their granting of opportunities to white males is not discriminatory. The policy mentioned above was first brought before the Supreme Court in 1978 in the case of University of California v. Bakke. Alan Bakke, a white man, had been denied twice to admission to a University of California medical school. It was even shown that his admission test scores were higher than several minority group students who had been accepted. Bakke sued on the basis of discrimination against white males and claimed that the school had a quota. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Bakke, but stated that the it was not a violation of affirmative action per se. The Court said that only rigid racial quotas were an impermissible form of affirmative action in determining medical school admissions. The Bakke case was followed by two rulings in favor of affirmative action programs, one of which, Fullilove v. Klutnick, upheld a quota system that required ten percent of federal public works funds to be set aside for minority-owned firms. The view of the Supreme Court was narrowed in the 1980s when new, more conservative justices were appointed. The Court held that preferred tre... ...ica=s ideals on its side, and no resort to logic can persuade either side that the opposing viewpoint should prevail. Affirmative action relates directly to the individual verses society humanity-based theme. For example, the women and minority groups fighting for individual freedoms in the general society. Many individuals have worked and still work for their specific rights and freedoms to be granted. It takes the initiative of individuals to make a difference in the society. Works Cited 1. Hill, John. "Affirmative Action: Roots to Success." http://www.afronet.com/WB/031597-2.html (2 April 1998) 2. Legislative Analyst. "Analysis of Proposition 209." http://Vote96.ss.ca.gov./Vote96/html/BP/209analysis.htm (2 April 1998) 3. "Proposition 209: Text of Proposed Law." http://Vote96.ss.ca.gov/Vote96/html/BP/209text.htm

Organizational Culture Essay

It is extensively acknowledge that organizational culture plays an increasingly essential role in a successful company. However, in the meanwhile whether organizational culture should be changed constitutes a controversial issue. Many managers assert that organizational culture must be changed while few others argue that organizational culture needs not to be changed. As far as I am concerned, I am in favor of the former view. In this essay, firstly, I will talk about what is organizational culture and what do organizational cultures do. In the second place, I will discuss why organizational culture should be changed. Thirdly, I will analyze the risks of organizational culture change. Finally, I will expatiate how to prevent risks of organizational culture change. What is organizational culture? A number of years back, I watched an American reality television The Apprentice, and I remember a player was asked what he thought organizational culture mean by Doanld Trump. He said: â€Å"I can’t express it, however,I get it when I see it. † Most people cannot define organizational culture accurately by concise word. However there seems to be widely recognized that organizational culture indicates a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations. (Becker, 1982, pp. 513-27; and Schein 1985 p. 168) This shared system meaning is, on further investigation, a series of important features that the organization values. The investigation advises that there are seven main features that, gather up the threads, constitute the essence of an organizational culture. (Reilly III, Chatman, Jehn, 1991, pp. 487-516; and Chatman, Jehn, 1994, pp. 522-553; Ashkanasy, Wilderom, Peterson, 2000) 1. Innovation and adventure: the extent to which employees are encouraged to be make innovations and adventure. 2. Detail oriented: the extent to which employees are anticipated to exhibit meticulous, analysis and detail oriented. 3. Attention to outcome: the extent to which management attach importance to results or outcomes rather than on the skills and processes used to achieve those outcomes. Attention to people: the extent to which management decision take into regard the influence of results on people within the organization. 5. Attention to team: the extent to which job activities are organized around teams rather than individuals. . Aggressiveness: the extent to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing 7. Stability: the extent to which organizational activities stress keeping the status quo by comparison to growth and development. There is no denying that organizational culture is just a descriptive concept, because of organizational culture is paid attention to how employees perceive the features of their organization’s culture, not with whether or not they like it. Furthermore, it is obvious that a company cannot have only one organizational culture. As we know, there are many employees who have different background or at different levels in a company, so they must have different perspective with organizational culture. In the mean time, there are two different cultures in one company, dominant culture and subculture. Dominant culture describes the core values that are shared by a most of the employees, when we talk about an organizational culture, we are referring to its dominant culture; In general, subculture develop in a big company to reflex conjunct problems, situations or experiences that staff meet. What do cultures do? Culture has a variety of functions in an organization. First, it creates distinctions between one organization and others. Second, it expresses a sense of identity for employees. Third, it precipitates employees not only care one’s individual self-interest, but also care whole organizational interest. Fourth, it improves the stability of the organization. Finally, culture serves as a sense- making and control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees. (Reilly, Chatman, Staw, Cummings, 1996). Why organizational culture should be changed? Compelling arguments can be made that organizational culture should be changed, immediately. The first point with respect to this is that our society is advancing at an amazing speed in this day and age, more and more organizations face a dynamic and changing environment. As a consequence, all organizations must adapt to the changeable society. ‘Change or die! ’ is the rallying cry among today’s manager worldwide. In the second place, with the development of technology and science, the sense of distance between people getting closer, our world became a multicultural environment. Therefore, many companies have to do adjustment to adapt environment. More precisely, many companies must spend large amount of money and much energy on training to improve skills of employees. Last but not least, in this world, competition is a part of our lives, never disappear. Especially in the business society, the weaks are the prey of the strongs, increasing competition makes it inevitable for builded organizations to defend themselves against both traditional competitors who develop new products and services, and small entrepreneurial firms with innovative offerings. This makes sense in that a good organization will be the ones that can change according to the competition. They followed the steps of the times, able to develop new products quickly and put them on the market. They accelerate production operations, shortened product cycle and constantly produce new products that can adapt to radically-changing environment. The risks of organizational culture On the other hand, colorable arguments can be made that organizational culture should not to be changed. This argument has considerable merit in that every little change can bring huge risks, especially for a business organization. For example, a change is scheduled and employees as soon as possible respond by voicing complaints, demotivation, even threatening go on strike and so on. In general, risk can be divided two big parts, individual risks and organizational risks. Individual sources of risk belong to primary human characteristics such as consciousness, characteristics and requirements. There are five different risks in individual resources. Custom (Habit): Do you go to school or work always through same route every day? Most people’s answer: â€Å"Yes! † Our lives are so complicated, we have to make hundreds of decisions. Therefore, face to life’s complexities, we lean upon habits or programmed responses. However, when faced with change, this tendency to respond in our usual ways becomes a source of risk. For instance, when your department moves to another new building, it means you have to change your habits: get up earlier ten minutes; pass a new street go to work; look for a new parking; adapt to new office’s overall arrangement and so on. . Security: People with a high need for security are likely to resist change because it threatens their feelings of safety. For example, when Sony&Ericsson announced to lay off 17000 employees or Ford will introduce new robots, these employees feel their job unsafe. 3. Economic: Changes in work tasks or job specification can lead to economic fears if people are cared that they would not be able to adapt to new tasks or standards, especially when reward is closely related to productivity. 4. Fear of the unknown: Change replaces vagueness and indetermination for the unknown. When we graduated from high school ready enter university was a wonderful example. In high school, we understood that what things need to do, you maybe dislike high school life, but at least, you know this system. We faced a fresh and uncertainty system in university, you have to sacrifice your know to exchange unknown, it was associated with uncertainty fears. 5. Selective information processing: Individuals are sinful of selective processing information in the cause of maintain their whole consciousness. They hear what they want to hear and they ignore information that challenges the world they have created. Organization is conservative for its essentially, it resist change energetically. (Hall, 1987) This phenomenon can be seen everywhere, for example, governmental agencies want to continue devote oneself to their work, no matter what the market need to change; The organized religion has ineradicable history, changing religious doctrine need great perseverance and patience; Many business companies also think change can bring many risks. There are six organizational sources of risk. (Katz, Kahn, 1978) 1. Structural inertia: Organizations keep their stability by inner mechanism, like their selection processes that choose employees in or out very systematically; Training and other socialize technology strengthen requests and skills for every concrete role; Organizational normalization provides job specifications, rules and regulations to employees. After selection, the satisfactory employees can enter organization, then, organization will model and guide their behaviors by kind of way. When an organization is meted with change, this structural inertia act as risk (even counterbalance) to maintain stability. 2. Limited Change attention: Organizations are made up of a quantity of interdependent subsystems. One cannot be changed without influencing the others. More exactly, in the meantime, organizations just change technological process, and not change organizational structure for match it, so technological change cannot adapt to. It seems that limited change in subsystems tend to be nullified by the lager system. 3. Group inertness: Even though individuals want to change their behavior, group criterion may act as a force of constraint. For instance, an unionist maybe accept job change from capital, but if union regulation provide that resist any change by capital unilaterally change, therefore risk will appear. 4. Threat to professional knowledge: Changes in organizational model may threaten the expertise of specialized groups. In 1980s, the process of adopting distributed personal computer was a good example. This computer can let user direct got information from host computer of company, but it encountered many information departments’ counterview. Why, because the use distributed computers can bring risks for special technology of information departments. 5. Threat to established power relationships: Any reapportionment of decision-making power can threaten long-established power relationships within organization. Participative decision and self-management work team are belong to this change, it used to be threaten by low-level managers. 6. Threat to established resource distributions: Groups in the organization that control considerable resources see change as a risk. They tend to be gratify with the way things are. For instance, whether change means their budget or members decreasing? Those groups which can get much benefit from existing resource allocations used to be threaten by future allocations. How to prevent risks of organizational culture change? Although Organizational change brings many risks, in some ways, this is positive. It regulates a degree of stability and predictability to behavior. If there were not some risks, organizational behavior would take on the representatives of chaotic randomness. According to these risks, there were six tactics have been suggested for use by change planners in dealing with preventing risks. (Kotter, Schlesinger, 1979) 1. Education and Communication: Risk can be reduced through communicating with employees to help them understand the logic of a change. The fundamental assumption of this strategy is the reason of producing risks that fights the effects of misinformation and miscommunication; if employees see all facts and eliminate entire misread, risks should disappear. Our communication could through talk personally, group discussion, memorandum, report and so on. Indeed, research shows that the way the need for change is sold matters-change is more likely when the necessity of changing is packaged properly. (Dutton, Ashford, O’Neill, Lawrence, 2001) By the way, when the risk of change definitely from miscommunication and labor relations character by mutual trust, this tactic does work; if these conditions cannot be have, it does not work. 2. Participation: It is difficult for individuals to hit back a change decision in which they participated. Before changing, those opposed can be brought into the decision process. Presuming that the participants have the professional knowledge to make a meaningful contribution, their participation can reduce risk, obtain promise, and improve the quality of change decision. However, this tactic has two disadvantages. First, it maybe has potential poor decision; second, it would take much time. 3. Support and Promotion: Change planners can provide a range of supportive measures to reduce risk. When employees feel fear and worried, the company should offer recommendation and counseling psychology, new-technologies training or a short paid leave of holiday may promote adjustment. Research on middle managers has shown that when managers or employees have low emotional commitment to change, they favor the status quo and resist it. (Huy, 2002, pp. 31-69) 4. Negotiation: Another way for the change planner to cope with potential risk to change is to exchange something valuable for waken risk. For example, if the risk is concentrated in some powerful individuals, a detailed payment scheme can be negotiated that will satisfy their individual needs. Negotiation as a tactic may be necessary when risk comes from a powerful provenience. But, planner cannot ignore its potentially high costs. On the side, if change planner negotiates with one party to avoid risk, he or she is open to the possibility of being extorted by other individuals which have power. 5. Control and Cooptation: Manipulation deal with concealed influence attempts. Some illustration of this are twisting and misinterpretation facts to make them more attractive, blocking undesirable information, and creating rumors to get employees to accept change. If managers threatens to closed down a extraordinary manufacturing plant if that plant’s employees do not accept an across-the-board pay cut, and if the threat is actually untrue, managers is using manipulation. Cooptation, on the other side, is a mode of both manipulation and participation. It try to find ‘buy off’ the leaders of against group by giving them an important role in the change decision. The leader’s suggestion is explored, not to seek a good decision, but to get their authorization. Both manipulation and cooptation are comparatively low-cost and easy ways to enhance the support of opponents, but the tactics can backfire if the targets become conscious that they are being tricked or used. If by any chance detected, the change planner’s reputation may drop to zero. It used by change planners in dealing with opponents to change; that is, the application of direct thrusts or force on the opponents. The color is quite mandatory, if the company management indicated to in the previous discussion really is determined to shut down if employees do not agree with a pay cut. Other examples of coercion are threats of transfer, loss of promotions, negative performance appraisal and so on. The advantages and disadvantages coercion are similar to the benefits and drawbacks of manipulation and cooptation. For my part, after considering the arguments above, I would concede that organizational change can bring many risk, the members of conservative not support change. Nevertheless, despite that I think the organizations should be changed, every day is different, anything would be changed as time goes on. Overall, I am convinced that with development of society, managers will discover many effective change plans to adapt to market competition.

Operations Management in Insurance Sector

Operations Management in INSURANCE SECTOR Q. How to measure operational efficiency in service industry? Ans-Insurance companies use KPI indicators to measure operational efficiency and ensure optimum standards. The secret to success for an insurance company is providing the right product, having the right people selling and managing risks associated with it. Insurance organizations use and act on metrics to avoid unnecessary risks. Following are the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that insurance companies use to measure operational efficiency.Policy Sales Growth Ratio It measures policy sales growth over a set period of time. It is increase in the number of clients over a specified period. It is helpful to gain insights into policy sales trend. The higher this percentage, the better it is. Policy Sales Growth = (Current period sales revenue – previous period sales revenue)/previous period sales revenue Claims Ratio It is defined by claims in a period divided by earned premium in the period. It helps to know the risk of claims and effectiveness of the policy.The ratio needs to be analyzed carefully to understand the risk associated. A higher ratio indicates too many claims compared to premiums and it isn’t good for the company. A lower ratio may indicate difficulty claiming which would lead to customer dissatisfaction. Claims Ratio = Total claims per period/Total earned premiums per period Percentage of Total Lapses It measures the total number of missed payments in a period compared with the policies sold. It helps in understanding why lapses are occurring and stop them from occurring at a high frequency. Read also Exam Operations ManagementA high percentage might be because of inefficient operations such as problems in the payment process. A company constantly improves its operations to decrease the percentage of lapses in each period. Percentage of Total Lapses = Lapses/Policies Sold Average Time to Settle a Claim It measures the time it takes settle claims. A decreasing trend is favorable. Lower time to settle the claim defines higher operational efficiency of the company. Average Time to Settle a Claim = Total no. of days taken to settle all claims/ Total claims Quotas vs.Production It measures the effectiveness of sellers and agents at meeting their targets. It helps in identifying when target sales are below and taking corrective action. A ratio below 1 means targets is not being met. A higher than 1 ratio means brokers are exceeding the target and it is favorable for the organization. Quotas vs. Production = Total Rs. Quoted Business/Total Revenue Top Brokers in Sales Revenue I t ranks brokers based on sales revenue and no. of policies sold. It helps to identify top performers for each category of policies.It also helps to improve the performance of brokers who are lacking behind. Top Brokers in Sales Revenue = Rank top 3 or 10 brokers based on sales revenue Total Benefits as a percentage of premium It is an indicator of financial performance. This measure helps in pricing of insurance policies. It helps to know the risk factors associated with each policy and set fair premiums. Total paid benefits as a percentage of premium = Total paid benefits/Total premium earned Q. How to ensure quality in service business and how to enhance quality in service sector?Ans-There are several ways to ensure and enhance the quality of an insurance company. These are listed below. †¢Six Sigma concepts can be implemented to ensure quality and conform to consumer needs. Six Sigma concepts make use of statistical tools which makes measurement of results easier. †¢Div iding the company into departments based on different categories of insurance such as separate departments for car insurance and health insurance. This would provide better understanding of which categories of insurance should be improved by the company. Deciding on the maximum time to settle an insurance claim. This would allow to improve service and quality of claim processes as claims would be settled more quickly. †¢Online information should be used to provide policy holders with accounts that provide updated information regarding their claims and premium payments. †¢Insurance companies can get into an strategic partnership with mobile banking providers so that customers can pay their premiums through mobile banking †¢A chart showing the updated rankings of brokers should be available to all brokers.This would increase competition and let the brokers know how much they are lacking behind others. †¢Incentives for top performing brokers should also be announced in advance to keep the motivation level high throughout and improve services. †¢Regular training programs should be conducted for brokers in order to increase their marketing and selling skills †¢A complaint center should be established in the premises to deal with the complaints received from customers. The complaints should be discussed and a corrective action plan should be develop to deal with problem.The action plan should be implemented and results must be analyzed †¢A maximum time to act on a complaint should be decided within that time the department has to act on the complaint. The corrective action taken should be documented and implemented within the specified time †¢External benchmarking with other insurance companies might also be helpful in identifying short comings and improving services †¢Define to brokers the criteria of quality customer interaction and to led them act on it