The Cyclops: An Unusual People :: essays research papers fc

The Cyclops: An Unusual People   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cyclopes were unique and unusual mythical people. They had very interesting lives. They had an unusual beginning and they had an unusual lifestyle. Also, the Cyclopes appeared to be completely different when described by opposing viewpoints. Overalll, the Cyclopes were an unconventional race in mythical legends.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cyclopes had an intriguing origin. They were the eldest sons of Mother Earth, Gaia, and Father Heaven, Uranus (Evslin 1). While the Cyclopes were still in the womb of Gaia, Uranus got jealous of the babies. He sent a bat to eat one eye out of each baby to make them hideous and thus make everybody hate them (Evslin). Because of what Uranus executed, the baby Cyclopes were born with one eye. They grew to be of gigantic size (Hamilton 65). This beginning of the era of the Cyclopes proved to be a unique situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although the Cyclopes were born disfigured they led attracting lives. The Cyclopes had a brother named Cronos who killed his father Uranus (Evslin 13). Since everyone was afraid of the Cyclopes (2), Cronos punished them by tricking them into imprisonment. Zeus, the son of Cronos and the new god king, freed them after Cronos had imprisoned them (31). The Cyclopes were very good smiths (12). They forged thunderbolts for Zeus because he freed them (Schmidt 74). A war was in the midst so the Cyclopes made armor and weapons for the gods of Olympus (Evslin 39). Even though the Cyclopes performed all of these good deeds the people still disliked them so much that they were forced to return to their smithy in the middle of a volcano for eternity (71). The Cyclopes lives were filled with helpfulness to others, but they were still shunned and hated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cyclopes were basically good people, but there were other Cyclopes. Homer wrote of Cyclopes that were extremely bad. They were downright savage shepherds (Schmidt 74). They were so savage that they did not give a thought before they devoured humans. They almost ate Odysseus, the main character of

Leadership Models in Action

IntroductionLeaders are born while others are made probably sounds clichà © but one undisputable fact is that leadership is critical to steering a business or organization to success. As Jack Welch quotes ‘Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own and relentlessly drive it to completion. (www.thinkexist.com.) Notably, there are many leaders who have existed in past century but arguably very few great leaders exist. Additionally, the different great leaders apply different leadership approaches as well as possess different leadership traits. Nonetheless, there are various aspects that cut across the many leadership models and traits, for instance, commitment, drive, passion, empowerment, decisiveness and resilience. (Bennis, 2002).   In order to clearly demonstrate leadership in business this paper will focus on AT & T Network manager Thomas Reeds who is arguable a role model in the leadership circles. His leadership approach is both influ enced and inspiring and later in the paper a few examples will be used to demonstrate why is make this claim.Jack Welch commands attention in corporate leadership circles as his visionary leadership revived the corporations in the US during 1980 and to date; his philosophies continue to transform during ordinary companies to legendary companies Thomas Reeds.   Follows in the footsteps of this great CEO and his leadership approach is always transformational. His ability to inspire and energize followers to a certain direction in achieving the company’s goals is brilliant.Some, how he aligns corporate strategies to daily operations of employees and clarifies issues to the employees that they get a greater picture of what is expected. In this way, he excites and ingrains commitment of employees to future goals. More to that, his emphasis on transactional aspects of leaders i.e. more of the bread and butter is also manifests in his leadership approach. This is seen in the way h e encourages a give and take ‘win win’ situation in leadership. Employees are regarded for meeting targets and compliance to aligned expectations. His two years in that post has generated AT&T a neat amount of profits which is deemed to continue. Thomas may sound like a larger than life person and possible act as such. However, his ability to combine humility and deep passionate will fro success is almost paradoxical. He’s is truly a level 5 leader.By level 5 leaders it means a leader who has reached the highest hierarchal level of his leadership capabilities and has been able to lead a company from a good to a great company with substantial sustained excellence (Morris, 2006). Admittedly, the improved status of AT&T company has not been a function of Thomas Reed’s leadership approach alone, but rather he has used his influence it ensure that other factors necessary to transform AT &T are present in the company, the right organization culture and strategic resources among others. He has been at the helm of it all. Leadership is not about showing off what one can but actually doing if so that others can see what ought to be done and how it is done.This is what Thomas Reeds always says. His dressing and happy demeanor can almost make one mistake him for an intern. He mingle with the employees at AT&T to know what their views are and get input on what needs to   be improved or changed. This is not to say that Thomas Reeds is one to joke around with. His unpretentious and vicious determination in life also makes him a person to stand up to be counted. Most times, it is possible to find Thomas sharing his early life experiences with other aspiring leaders under his stewardship of how he grew up in the firm, struggled through college and university to where he is now. His experiences are always refreshing and empowering and it is not hard to notice the iron will and passion to nurture talent in his followers. He inspires them to be the b est they can be. Adversities will always come your way he says but it is up to you make a firm resolve to stay ahead or hang in there rather than quite. Seemingly, tough times cut out leaders to be perfect and strong.Indisputably, Thomas Reeds leadership approach has been influenced by Welch’s rules of thumb for instance, the important of erasing bureaucracy in the business ranking the customers and shareholders highly and dominating market share. These teachings applied coupled with unique attributes such as streamlining the workforce set out Thomas leadership styles as the reason behind the company’s success.Nevertheless, Thomas feels that change and dynamism in leadership is an indispensable attribute to effective leadership in today’s business environment. He is quick to note that although Welch and Sloan’s philosophies were no less than brilliant; their applicability is now wearing off. He feels that the challenges that the leadership approaches deve loped by the two masterminds of leadership success were designed to surmount the barriers and problem of the then times and new leadership approached need to be developed to effectively face the new challenges in the modern era. Yet he does not discount the fact that Welch techniques are still usable and can contribute immensely in the success of a company.Leadership inspires people or rather captures the minds and souls of people. According to writers Goffee and Jones (2000) leadership is about results yet at the same time is not only about performance but also meaning. True to this expression, it is impossible to excite people to extraordinary levels without enabling them first see the meaning and worth behind the actions. In this case extemporary leadership doubles performance and perhaps this is what makes companies with great leaders excel differently from the ones that merely have ok leaders. This they do by making performance meaningful. (Goffee & Jones, 2000).Given this insi ght a critical look at AT&T Network manger, Thomas Reeds leadership approach, it is evident that he makes his employees or followers find meaning in their endeavors. This is done in such a way that corporate strategies are translated ot actionable plans and particularly daily task of the employees such that the change and improved performance starts from the bottom to the top.After board meetings with corporate committees, Thomas Reeds goes out his own way ot call for separate meetings with different groups of staff to discuss how the corporate strategies affect them and how the staff stand to benefit from implementing the objectives of the company. This has helped AT&T workforce to achieve meaning and ultimately commitment to outstanding performance. While others may think of Thomas’ strategy as labored and draining, Thomas feels that it is a necessary price to pay if a leader is ot see any result of his actions. It is also at this time that a leader’s qualities and p assion for distinction and excellence is tested.Notable, there are leaders and then there are authentic leaders. This leads to the quest of finding authentic leadership in AT&T manager Thomas. Authentic leaders are selfless yet are not afraid to express the self, morally guided rationality and nit merely instrumental reasoning whereby the end justifies the means among others. From my countable contacts with Thomas, it is evident that his selfless nature as well as stoic philosophy of detaching one self fro unethical practices and pitfalls. In disguise clarify his authenticity as a leader.Welch exemplifies the principles of leadership quite well, for instance, he was well versed in the employees tasks and his own duties. In addition, he harnessed the need to be on the look out for new opportunities that could lead GE to new heights and where things went awry; he was not shy to take responsibility for his actions other than seeking a scapegoat. According to Welch, the important thing is to analyze the situation, correct it if possible or find lesson/s from it and then proceeds to the next challenge with courage and better knowledge. In leadership position, decisions are made every time and a leader should be capable of making timely and accurate decisions fast if it is to have any impact. This Welch had mastered. Leadership is all about looking out for the well being of the workforce, keeping them informed as well as leading by example. It is evident that Welch exemplified these traits too.ConclusionIt is not uncommon to hear people say that they want to be more effective leaders. Great leaders are made better through practice and years of learning from previous successes and failures. The challenge therefore is for young aspiring leaders to build in the basics lend by the outstanding leaders such as Welch and Sloan and most of all have commitment and passion to charting extemporary leadership which, who knows might be   a legend for future generations.Referen cesBennis, W. (2002). Will the legacy live on? The Harvard Business Review, 80(2), 95-100Collingwood, H., & Couto, D.L. (2002). Jack on jack. The Harvard Business Review, 80(2), 88-94Collins, J. (2001). Level 5 leadership: the triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Harvard Business Review, 79(1), 67-76Goffee, R. & Jones, G. (2000). Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard Business review, 78(5), 62-70.Morris, B. (2006). Tearing up the Jack Welch playbook. Fortune. http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/10/magazines/fortue/rules.fortune/Think exist.com Famous Quotes. Retrieved on October 24, 2007 from World Wide Web   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.thinkexist.com/

The effects of globalization on business processes - SWOT - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2733 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? 1.0: Introduction Globalization has a drastic effect on the approach to business process within an organization that is competing in the domestic as well as global market stage as argued by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005)[1]. This is naturally because of the fact that the microeconomic factors influencing the overall business process in an organization has a macro impact due to the impact of globalization as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003)[2]. This makes it clear that the management decision-making at the strategic level as well as operational level play a critical role in the overall effectiveness of the organization’s performance in the global arena of the chosen business sector. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The effects of globalization on business processes SWOT" essay for you Create order This is further justified in the arguments of Richard Lynch (2003)[3] who argues that the efficiency of managers and the management decision-making is the key for an effective performance and sustainable competitive advantage achieved by an organization. In this essay a critical analysis on the need for proactive approach by managers to address global competition is presented to the reader. The essay commences with the SWOT analysis of the global business environment for a given organization capturing the key elements that are common industry wide. This is followed by the analysis on the role played by the managers in addressing the highlights of the SWOT analysis (proactive or reactive) with examples from different business sectors is presented by the author. 2: Globalization – SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis presents the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by an organization in the given industry as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003). Since this essay is focused upon the globalisation and its impact on an organization, the SWOT analysis presents the key factors that are common to global business market that are critical to decision-making for a manager in an organization. Strengths Supply chain integration Cost Savings through outsourcing Increasing profit margin through importing finished products for retail from Far East Weaknesses Communication gap and cultural differences between parties involved that are geographically separated Business Continuity Requirements Human resource related issues Opportunities New markets to compete Potential for combined deployment of development strategies in the global arena Efficient market segmentation and product innovation Threats New entrants from Far East Lower profit margin with price-based competition CRM and outsourcing The aforementioned key points are analysed in the light of managers’ proactive or reactive approach to decision-making and the net result on organizational benefits in the next section. 3: Managers’ decision-making: Proactive or Reactive? Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) argue that managers play a vital role in the strategic decision-making for the efficient business process within an organization both at the strategic level as well as at the operational level on a day-to-day basis. At the operational level, the manager plays the key role on deciding the resource allocation requirements against the demand whilst the strategic decision-making is more towards proactively driving the organization’s core business process to delivery excellence. This is further justified by Richard Lynch (2003). The key advantage of proactive management and decision-making by mangers in case of the supply chain integration is the ability to deploy the pull strategy th us enabling the demand-based production in the organization as argued by Jacqueline McLean (2006)[4]. The ability of the manager to decide the level of production and enable proactive operational decision-making will thus enable the organization to effectively manage its fixed costs overhead by reducing the expenditure on raw materials procurement and storage as argued by Malcolm J. Saunders (1997)[5]. Alongside, the effective supply chain integration will not only enable reduction in fixed cost overhead but also provide the management to ensure that the overall business process adheres to a lean management strategy where its can effectively respond to a sudden fluctuation in the market demand. Outsourcing is argued as a key advantage in the cost savings strategy of an organization as argued by Jacqueline McLean (2006). This is because of fact that the costs associated with the production and management at Far East as well as the operation costs are lower compared to those in the west. The increase in the outsourcing of the call centres to India since the dawn of the twenty-first century is a classical example for the aforementioned (Jane Griffiths (Ed), 2006[6]). Another example for outsourcing is the production of the fashion goods for retail in the West outsourced by leading brands including NEXT, Marks and Spencer, etc., to China which is predominantly focused upon the reduction of the production costs whilst ensuring quality and delivery assurance (Philippa Drewer (Ed), 2006[7]). In the aforementioned scenarios, the role of the manager and proactive decision-making is to identify the potential for outsourcing a specific business process or manufacturing segment within the organization to another country not only as an early starter but also ensuring the quality and service level agreements are met as argued by Jacqueline Mc Lean (2006). This approach is also treated as the best practise for the efficient management of the manufacturing outsourcin g to the Far East whilst the reactive approach to outsourcing where the manager’s decision to outsource will be in response to costs and pricing demands, the performance is deemed to be poor as the supplier bargaining power eventually increasing the costs as argued by Jacqueline McLean (2006). Another interesting element with the importing of the finished products from the Far East rather than outsourcing the production is the fact that the organization does not have the operating overhead at all thus making it clear it can increase its profit margin considerably as argued by Roger J. Calantone et al (2004)[8]. In this case also, the proactive decision-making to address the market demands ensuring that the overall business process is not affected with the re-engineering strategy is the key for a successful implementation within an organization to address the competition in the global arena. Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) further argue that the proactive decision-ma king is not only to envisage the future trends in a market but to ensure that the organization is resilient to changes thus ensuring the ability to address fluctuations demand and change in customer interests. Addressing the weakness, it is clear that the proactive decision-making and management by the managers play a vital role in the mitigation of communication gap between the organization’s production/operations centres located in different geographical locations as argued by Roger J. Calantone et al (2004). Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003)[9] further argue that the efficiency of the organization to perform effectively in a given target market depends upon the ability of the manager to bridge the communication gap between geographically separated entities of the same organization or collaborating outsourced organization in the manufacturing process. Besides the communication effectiveness is the key element for the efficient production management and supply chain integration in the global arena. Thus the role of the manger to proactively identify the key areas of communications gap will help ensure the performance effectiveness of the organization. The business continuity requirements especially in case of geographically dispersed organization form a critical element for business process with minimal outage as argued by James C. Barnes (2004)[10]. From a strategic perspective, the business continuity management strive of an organization must ensure that its resilience backup is installed and tested at regular intervals of time as argued by G.A. Zsidisin et al (2005)[11]. From the aforementioned it is clear that the role of the manager is to ensure that the business continuity infrastructure installed at the geographical locations are tested for resilience using pseudo business continuity tests individually and in a combined fashion. This approach will encourage the key staff members involved to get accustomed to the business continuity st rategies of the organization thus eliminating surprises and weak response in case of a real business continuity requirement. Besides, it is interesting to note that the flexibility of an organization in the global market is the key for an organization’s ability to enter new markets and deploy its development strategies. This is further justified by G.A. Zsidisin et al (2005) who argue that the supply chain integration and the efficient management of the production to meet the demands in the international market is a critical success factor for an organization. New markets for an organization competing in the global business market are infinite in nature as argued by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003)[12]. This makes it clear that the strategic decision-making on the market choice and the strategy to enter the market requires vital contribution from the managers both at the strategic and operational levels. This is evident from the fact that the efficiency of an organization in establishing itself as a strong entity in new market segments depends upon the time, competition and demand factors associated with the market as argued by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005). The failure of coca cola in promoting 3G in the UK drinks market as a Sprite-branded Energy drink (Mark Choueke, 2006) is a classical example where the proactive decision-making on the demands off the market and the brand image held by the customers to increase the sales in the target market. Alongside, the success of the Hilton Garden Hill Range of Hotels in the economy range of hotels in the global leisure market compared to that of Marriott group’s Courtyard Marriott (Caroline Kimber, 2001[13]) further justifies the proactive response required from the managers to gain sustainable competitive advantage. The development strategies in the global market is the main opportunity for an organization to increase its market share through combined deployment or in dividually deploying product and market development strategies as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003). This is because of the fact that through identifying whether the market segment lies within the existing target market group or the product promoted is an item on demand in the new market is the key for choosing a development strategy. Besides, in a global market, the ability of an organization utilize more than on strategy simultaneously requires the proactive approach from the managers to gain sustainable competitive advantage. This is further justified in the arguments of Roger J. Calantone et al (2004) where it is clear that the service relationship and the identification of the development strategy for an organization in a given target market requires the proactive approach to managerial decision-making. Product innovation is argued as a critical element in the business development within an organization as argued by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003 ). The fact that the product innovation is driven by market demand and the ability of an organization to give form to a specific demand in the identified target market makes it clear the effectiveness of managerial decision-making is critical. The key point of interest in this case is the ability of an organization to identify demands where the management involving marketing, product design and production managers act as a team to derive on a new product range as argued by Roger J. Calantone et al (2004). It is thus evident that the proactive approach by the managers is the key for successful implementation of the product innovation. This is because product innovation as a reaction in a given target market is actually the response to a product introduced by another competitor thus second-lining the product in the target market loosing the early starter advantage as argued by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003). The key threats identified in section 2 justify that manage ment effectiveness is necessary to not only address the organizational elements but also the key external elements that affect organizational performance in the global market as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003). The case of new entrants from the Far East is treated as a threat mainly because of the increasing entry of sellers from Far East into the clothing market through online retailing and whole sale marketing to retail stockists in the western markets as argued by Jane Griffiths (2006). The key requirement for the manager in the aforementioned situation is to ensure that the organization does not loose its profit margin through efficient pricing and to ensure the company positions itself as competitive brand both in quality and price within a given target market. Alongside, the new entrant threat from the Far East poses the threat of loosing market share in the global market because of the increasing dependence on the import of goods from the Far East by weste rn conglomerates that are sold with an added profit to its target markets in the west. This profit margin is narrowed drastically because of the relatively lower pricing from the new entrant from Far East. Therefore, a proactive approach from the managers is essential to ensure that the competition posed by new entrants from the Far East is mitigated effectively. The price-based competition in the global market is one of the key areas where proactive decision-making from the manger is critical for achieving competitive advantage in the target market. This is justified by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) because pricing is an area where the quality and corporate identity along with the brand image is communicated to the customers in the target market. Hence through strategically positioning the company’s brand in the given target market, the price-based competition can be mitigated to a greater extent since the customer loyalty to a given brand can be utilised for sus taining the market share. The major threat with outsourcing the service related activities of the business to Far East is the poor service quality that has a direct impact on the customer relationship strategies of an organization in the global arena. The role of a manger is to constantly track the service performance and identify key areas of improvement which can be used for strengthening the customer relationship with the customers. It is evident that the management decision-making in proactively tracking the performance of an outsourced call centre and its impact on the customer loyalty can increase the service efficiency of the company. This will eventually forge strong customer relationship with the customers thus ensuring sustainable competitive advantage in the target market. Hence, to conclude the essay it is clear that the proactive approach to management and management decision-making by managers is the key for an organization’s success in the global market. This is applicable across all levels of management within an organization. References Caroline Kimber (2001), Strategic integration of customers and channels, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Jun2001, Vol. 5 Issue 4 Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003), Personnel Management – HRM in Action, FT Prentice Hall G.A. Zsidisin et al (2005), An institutional theory perspective of business continuity planning for purchasing and supply management, International Journal of Production Research, 8/15/2005, Vol. 43 Issue 16 Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003), Exploring Corporate Strategy – Texts and Cases, Prentice Hall Jacqueline McLean (2006), Big Opportunities Begin with Small Steps, British Journal of Administrative Management, Feb/Mar2006 Issue 51 James C. Barnes (2004), AA guide to Business Continuity Planning, John Wiley and Sons Jane Griffiths (Ed), (2006), Call Centres Market Assessment 2006, Key Note Ltd Malcolm J. Saunders (1997) , Strategic Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, FT – Prentice Hall Mark Choueke (2006), Coke plans 3G cuts to boost Relentless, Marketing Week, Vol. 29 Issue 47 Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005), Marketing Management – 12th Edition, Prentice Hall Philippa Drewer (Ed), (2006), Clothing Manufacturing- Market Report 2006, Keynote Ltd Richard Lynch (2003), Corporate Strategy, FT: Prentice Hall Roger J. Calantone et al (2004), Internationalization and the Dynamics of Product Adaptation—An Empirical Investigation, Journal of Product Innovation Management, May2004, Vol. 21 Issue 3 Footnotes [1] Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005), Marketing Management – 12th Edition, Prentice Hall [2] Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003), Exploring Corporate Strategy – Texts and Cases, Prentice Hall [3] Richard Lynch (2003), Corporate Strategy, FT: Prentice Hall [4] Jacqueline McLean (2006), Big Opportunities Begin with Small Steps, British Journal of Administrative Management, Feb/Mar2006 Issue 51 [5] Malcolm J. Saunders (1997), Strategic Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, FT – Prentice Hall [6] Jane Griffiths (Ed), (2006), Call Centres Market Assessment 2006, Key Note Ltd [7] Philippa Drewer (Ed), (2006), Clothing Manufacturing- Market Report 2006, Keynote Ltd [8] Roger J. Calantone et al (2004), Internationalization and the Dynamics of Product Adaptation—An Empirical Investigation, Journal of Product Innovation Management, May2004, Vol. 21 Issue 3 [9] Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003), Personnel Management â₠¬â€œ HRM in Action, FT Prentice Hall [10] James C. Barnes (2004), AA guide to Business Continuity Planning, John Wiley and Sons [11] G.A. Zsidisin et al (2005), An institutional theory perspective of business continuity planning for purchasing and supply management, International Journal of Production Research, 8/15/2005, Vol. 43 Issue 16 [12] Mark Choueke (2006), Coke plans 3G cuts to boost Relentless, Marketing Week, Vol. 29 Issue 47 [13] Caroline Kimber (2001), Strategic integration of customers and channels, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Jun2001, Vol. 5 Issue 4