Management: Setting Goals Essay

1. In your university, professors likely have objectives regarding teaching, research, and service to the university. From your perspective, what are the relative priorities of these three objectives? If you could, how would you change these priorities and why? I think that the top priority of the professors is research. Professors had to do research to generate leading-edge knowledge. Moreover, they can find the right and fun ways of teaching by doing research. For example, my marketing teacher makes learning an extremely fun activity by implementing outside sources such as videos and pictures into classroom lectures. He does not get those ideas straight from the textbooks instead he does researches to find those outside sources. On the other hand, professors that don’t do research will teach straight from the text and makes lectures boring and dull. Therefore, their second top priority would be teaching. Teaching always have to follow immediately after Research. Because they need research in order to provide quality teaching. Then the last priority would be service to universities. I think teaching is already considered as providing service to the university, therefore other extra service to the university by professors would be of choice, such as providing tutoring during office hours. I don’t think it’s a requirement of the professors but it will sure be a plus. 4. Thank about the last goal you set for yourself. How SMART was it? The last goal I set for myself was to lose ten pounds in two months, which I don’t think was a smart goal. Because I wasn’t specific enough in setting the goal, losing 10 pounds is too vague. I should’ve state the goal in specific terms such as eating healthy or exercise more in order to lose that weight. Moreover, the goal itself was too unrealistic. I was too naà ¯ve to think that I could lose 10 pounds in two months without rebounding. I should’ve assumed a more realistic time frame which might be five months instead of two. Also, I did not commit to achieving my goal. Losing weight involves eating right and exercise, but after the second week, I gave up on exercising and started eating junk food. Overall, my goal isn’t quite a smart one. Closing case essay: What adjustments would you make at this point? Would you cancel the program or run it at a loss? I would access another $15,000 from the general contingency budget. Since Pam originally considered that it would take about 18 participants for the program to break even financially, since there’s only 10 now, she needs eight more in order to break even. Since there’s only four weeks left before the start of the program, there will be a very small chance for the number of participants to reach 18. Since most of them had already inquired about the program and showed no interest during the first few weeks. Therefore the only way to keep the program going is to run it at a loss. I would run it at a loss because human capital is a firm’s most important internal resource. A group of senior executives trained by excellent leadership programs would definitely enhance a firm’s success. Therefore I evaluate the gain over the loss. 3. What do you think went wrong? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the planning process? LDC did a great job in setting objectives and developing action plans. The companies set the objective that training senior executives would more likely encourage mid-level managers to participate because they would recommend and approve training requests for mid-level managers. Moreover, they measure the objective in three ways. First, the number of participants taking the first program would be monitored, and calculated that it would take 18 participants for the program to break even financially. Second, she would survey all participants regarding their satisfaction with the program. Finally, LDC would track the number of mid-level managers from the companies of those attending the senior executive program to determine if there was an increased participation level overtime. These are great measurements of the objective determined by Pam. However, she did not quite do a great job in analyzing the firm’s external environment. Originally she made the measurement that 18 participant would be needed in order to break even financially, she did not generate actions to be taken if there were only 10 participants, therefore she failed at developing constingency plans.

A Study of How Teamwork Can Help Eliminate Homelessness in Canada

A Study of How Teamwork Can Help Eliminate Homelessness in Canada Abstract Canada is an internationally known country with the long reputation for high quality of life with the growing number of citizens competing for limited resources, hence; making homelessness a reality. The main populations making up the homeless people in Canada are women, youths, and children. Most homeless youths engage in some criminal activities such as drug addiction, illicit drug trafficking, robbery and unprotected sex. Stakeholders should work as a team to cut across research and policy sectors to create a solution that coordinates response to homelessness in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of teamwork in finding the solution to homelessness in Canada. The teamwork composed of stakeholders namely: the homeless people, all government agencies, and the community groups. The paper utilizes Tuckmans Teamwork Theory that uses four stages of team development to analyze the effectiveness of identified stakeholders in addressing homelessness. The outcome re veals that designing affordable and quality housing in both rural and urban centers would be the best solution to homelessness in Canada. Introduction Canada is one of the nations in the world with the highest number of homeless people. The state of homelessness in Canada started in the 1980s after the governments reduced spending in social support, structural shifts in the economy, and investment in high-cost housing (Gaetz, Dej, Richter, Redman, 2016, p. 4). The main populations making up the homeless people in Canada are women, youths, and children. Homelessness has become a major crisis in Canada with thousands of women, youths and children across the country calling streets, parks, and emergency shelters their homes. The problem has since persisted calling for a joined action between stakeholders across the country to establish a solution to homelessness. The joint action requires teamwork and collaboration largely based on establishing strategies that would end the problem of homelessness in the coming five years. The following discussion utilizes Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory to find solutions to the problem of homeless ness in Canada. The solution identified will utilize principles of teamwork and benefit different stakeholders. These stakeholders are the homeless people, different levels of government, and community groups. Overview of homelessness in Canada Canada is an internationally known country with the long reputation for high quality of life with the growing number of citizens competing for limited resources, hence; making homelessness a reality. In the older days, only single men and older people suffered from the problem of homelessness in Canada, but the crisis has become more diverse today to include the women and young people. The 2016 government report on the state of homelessness in Canada revealed the exact number of homeless people, their demographics, and the exact experiences they face each day. The report shows that approximately 35,000 Canadians spend the night out in the cold each night and 235,000 Canadians are homeless every year. Also, 2016 report revealed that 27.3 percent and 18.7 percent of the homeless population in Canada are women and youth respectively. Older adults aged between 50 and 64 and those aged 65 and above are at greater risks of experiencing homelessness in the future (Gaetz, Dej, Richter, Red man, 2016, p. 5). The government suffers the most from the homelessness. Homelessness worsens the state’s economy, increases insecurity, and creates a bad reputation for the nation such that international partners develop a negative attitude leading to poor trade and business relations. The interest of all levels of the government is to ensure no more people are homeless in the country. The government could make this possible by formulating policies and strategies capable of addressing the issues. For instance, the Canadian government developed the homelessness policy in 1999 through effective collaboration with communities and individuals aimed at addressing homelessness issues (Doberstein, 2011). Most homeless youths engage in some criminal activities such as drug addiction, illicit drug trafficking, robbery and unprotected sex. Stakeholders should work as a team to cut across research and policy sectors to create a solution that coordinates response to homelessness in Canada. Stakeholders involved in homelessness in Canada Many parties are actively and passively involved in addressing the problem of homelessness in Canada. A strategic approach to the issue requires the engagement of all stakeholders to take part in decision-making processes in looking for solutions to homelessness to ensure representation of every concerned party. The following paper concentrates on three key stakeholders that have a lot of influence in developing strategies and policies alternatives to homelessness. The key stakeholders included in the strategic planning are the homeless people, all levels of government (policymakers, Departments of Health, Housing and Urban Planning), and community groups (non-profit organizations, private developers, and other foundations). Each of the three stakeholders has a big role to play in finding the solution to the prevailing problem. The homeless people are the key stakeholders and the victims of homelessness. The following group should have many interests including the need to know the plans other stakeholders, the government and community groups, have for them. Homeless people should select their representatives to take part in the decision-making process to ensure their interests are tabled and addressed. Also, the homeless play a significant role in the success of the plan because they bear the experience and stand a better chance of explaining to policy makers circumstances that led to them becoming homeless. Policy makers would use these details to create an intervention that would help prevent homelessness cases in the future. Finally, the community groups including non-governmental organizations, humanity foundations, and developers have a great role to play in developing strategies to end homelessness. Community groups advocate for equality and rights for the people. These groups will aid in creating awareness to the government to speed up the process of generating solutions to homelessness. Also, groups such as private developers may offer to build simple and affordable housing through government contracts to house the homeless. The success of any initiative agreed by the three stakeholders requires a teamwork approach. The discussion will utilize principles and theories of teamwork to ensure all stakeholders interests are considered in the final solution. The application of Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory to find solution to homelessness Effective management of a team requires skills, dedication, strategies and plans. Researchers in different fields have conducted numerous studies to investigate factors that influence quality team performance. Many theories explain the formation and management of teams with Tuckman’s teamwork theory acting as the most widely known to have produced excellent results. Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory was developed in 1965 and plays a critical role in ensuring teamwork and team building. Tuckman used to work with a team of social psychologists in the United Stated Navy where he studied small group behaviors using different perspectives. In his analysis of various articles and books on team development, Tuckman identified two main features that contribute to the performance of a group: the task activity and the group structure/interpersonal activity. Tuckman then introduced the Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory that describes four primary stages of development that make up a good team. The four stages are forming, storming, norming, and performing (Egolf Chester, 2013, pp. 142-143). The four stages of Tuckmans teamwork theory can be applied in the case to help bring together stakeholders and establish the solution to homelessness in Canada. The basic assumption of the theory is that a team that stays together over a time changes and develops (Nestor, 2013). Identifies stakeholders, the government, the community groups, and the homeless people have lived together to realize a common homelessness problem affecting the country. According to Nestor (2013), Tuckman’s Teamwork Theory describes three elements that determine the performance of a team, namely: content, process, and feelings. Application of four stages in the content issue The content relates to activities of the team, which in this case are finding the solution to homelessness. Some members of the team will utilize the content element to define the stakeholder-based type of solution they want and how they want it done to meet their interests. Additionally, the storming stage may face some rebellion as each stakeholder tries to make their interests included in the decision-making process. In the norming stage, the stakeholders will have cleared their differences and each member desires to become part of the team. Finally, the performing stage is characterized by all members having a similar concern of looking for the solution to homelessness. According to Nestor (2013), the effectiveness of the team is felt in the performing stage. Team members should always take precautions to avoid disintegrating during the first three stages of teamwork development. Application of the four stages in the process issue Process refers to the way the team works towards achieving its goals. The following case relates to the process of bringing together the stakeholders, the homeless people, the government, and community groups, into developing strategies and planning implementation plans for the problem of homelessness in Canada. In the forming stage, team members engage in searching for external forces that can give guidance and direction. For instance, the homeless people look for help from the government and community groups to help find better housing for them. Second, the storming stage involves members selecting tasks that fit their interests and ignoring those with less impact on their problems. The third stage on the process issue involves team members coming together to set procedures aimed at finding the solution to the problem. Finally, the team reaches the performing stage where they start implementing proposed solutions. Nestor (2013) claimed that teams that fail to accept the storming s tage as a way of preparing them for future tasks never perform. Application of four stages of the teamwork theory in the element of feelings The feeling element refers to how teams relate with one another. A good relationship between stakeholders must exist for the teamwork to succeed. The most significant stage in the feelings elements is the performance level where team members share a common focus, have good communication and become closer to each other to achieve the expected result. Recommended solutions that satisfy all stakeholders Following the five stages of Tuckman’s theory of Teamwork, it will be possible to have all stakeholders work together and find solutions that fulfill each stakeholder’s interests. The teamwork from selected stakeholders must have capabilities of solving problems faced by the homeless in Canada and implement strategies that will see the country do away with the problem of homelessness in the future. One of the proposed solutions to homelessness in Canada is building of affordable housing units. The three stakeholders, the homeless people, the government, and community groups would all agree that victims of homelessness lack proper and affordable housing units. In January 2015, four homeless people died in Toronto with the cause of death attributed to extreme cold and burning of a makeshift shack. Mayor John Tory responded to the incident by creating a plan to rent 90 motel rooms for all homeless people for the remaining part of winter to act as temporary shelters (Daro, 2015. The case above reveals that overcrowding homeless shelters and lack of affordable housing in Canada are the primary cause of homelessness. The collaboration between stakeholder, especially between the government and community groups, should act in speed to create a plan for providing long-term and stable housing for the homeless in the future. The government of Canada came up with an initiative termed â€Å"Housing our Future† that aimed at solving the issue of homelessness between 2014 and 2024. The Canada’s population increases each year with the probability of the country recording double population growth by the year 2030 (The County of Simcoe, 2014). Some stakeholders including the County members, members of the Municipalities, Community, and Cities came up with a team to propagate the initiative towards the performing stage. Working together with various stakeholders would help establish cheap and affordable housing units to shelter the homelessness in Canada. The private sector played a critical role in the plan by offering services and workforce to help design and implement the project. On the other hand, a similar plan for ending homelessness that focused on the housing strategy was started in the Calgary City of Canada. The plan established in 2008 aimed at making Canadians more self-reliance and independent. The government realized that it would have to deal with the problem of homelessness in the future, hence; came up with the plan. Individuals experiencing homelessness at that time was given a permanent housing and provided with government support. The key stakeholders that included the government, the community groups, and other interested parties worked as a team to coordinate all operations to support the plan (Calgary Homeless Foundation, 2015). The Calgary City homelessness plan is an example of a successful solution that ended up reducing the number of homeless people in Canada and making many independent of dating. Conclusion According to Gaetz, Dej, Richter, Redman (2014), the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Canada is expected to grow should the government fail to take quick actions to end the problem. Homeless people should never be viewed as victims of social structures and not social misfits. Homeless people in Canada have for the last two decades undergone a lot of challenges including marginalization. The issue brings more problems especially considering the vulnerability of these people. Homelessness causes major health and social problems that affect the individuals lifestyle. Guirguis-Younger, McNeil Hwang (2014, pp. 28-29) argued homelessness in Canada, especially among youths, has increased tremendously requiring a systematic response. The working together of stakeholders using teamwork principles and dynamics will help end the problem of homelessness in Canada. The analysis of the issue came up with the solution to homelessness as having affordable housing unit s, especially in Cities. Making housing affordable will get rid of many families spending their nights in makeshift shelters out of streets and start enjoying a safer lifestyle.

Hospital Human Resource Department Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hospital Human Resource Department - Assignment Example The paper will have an overall view of the human resource department in a community hospital. Hospital organization hierarchy and structure An organization hierarchy is a form of organizational structure in which every entity apart from one is subordinate to the other. This means that the subordinate departments and sections report to one another within the hierarchy. This ensures that there is a chain of command flowing from the top. The human resource department in community hospital has a hierarchy in which the chain of command flows from the human resource manager. The human resource manager is at the top of the hierarchy given that he/she is the senior most person in the department. He/she oversees the relationship between staff and the organization and establishes the human resources vision. Subordinate to the HR manager are the employee relations manager, compensation and benefits manager and training manager. The training and development manager handles all issues related to recruitment, placements, and selection. Within the same hierarchy exists the employee relations manager who handles matters related to employee grievances and safety issues. The compensation and benefits manager handles issues related to workers’ remuneration, allowances, and incentives. The hierarchy is as shown in the chart below. Fig 1: A chart of Human Resource department’s organizational hierarchy and structure Basic responsibilities of the Hospital HR department The hospital’s human resource department is charged with the responsibility formulating human resource policies, and recruiting and employing staff, training, establishing workers’ remuneration packages and solving any problems related to staffing. This ensures that the hospital meets its personnel requirements and its missions. When formulating new HR policies, the department considers several factors both internal and external to the organization The human resource department ensures that the hospital maintains adequate staff so that no shortage is experienced in the same respect. Staff shortage may affect the hospital grossly to an extent of putting the lives of patients at risk. In so far as staffing is concerned, the department is charged with the responsibilities of recruiting, selecting, and training the employees. The department also offers placement opportunities to trainees and promotion to those staff members that have contributed a lot to the hospital after evaluating the employees (Goyal, 2005). The human resource department of the community hospital ensures that favorable relations exist between employees and managers. It does this by organizing training programs, meetings, and workshops. This has proved beneficial in the hospital as it makes employees feel that they are valued in the hospital and that their contributions in the organization are recognized. The human resource department also ensures that employee’s morale is boosted. This it does b y developing and revising incentive schemes depending on the prevailing situation and considering various factors. The human resource department also ensures that proper procedures and policies are in place for handling employees’ grievances. This goes a long way in avoiding industrial actions including strikes, go slows and litigations as noted by Goyal (2005). Type of department The hospital has a centralized human resource department considering that most of the major decisions are made by the managers. All policies and major decisions a

The role of accounting system in the UK for motivation Dissertation

The role of accounting system in the UK for motivation - Dissertation Example Pertinently, accounting used to be a function that is merely focused on its ability to prepare financial statements to reflect the current state of the company to enable the manager of the latter to make sound decisions relative to their proper functioning. Nowadays, the accounting system has evolved to cater to one important function: to provide information necessary for business planning, decision-making and control. The importance of the accounting profession has been underscored by the dynamism and competitiveness of the business environment. In this regard, there is an utmost necessity for business strategies to focus on the development of various tools and models for the preparation of financial statements by which pertinent information are obtained. Accounting now is an essential part of strategic planning and control. In addition thereto, it is also through the development of accounting systems that the role of the accountants within a particular organisation is ensured. The importance of accounting systems is also underscored by the need to monitor the roles of accountants as they perform their functions (Broadbent and Laughlin 2005). Interestingly, literature has highlighted the presence of the so-called audit expectations gap wherein the accountants and auditors have not really been able to comply with the expectations of their financial users. Audit expectations gap is simply defined as that inconsistency between the manners by which the users of financial statements expect their accountants to perform their duties vis-a-vis the manner by which the latter actually complies with what expected from them. Succinctly, the presence of the audit expectations gap can be damaging to the entire profession. It has been stated that the audit expectations gap reduces the level of trust afforded by the users of financial statements to their accountants and auditors. The following are usually the expectations that the users of financial statements have with respe ct to their accountants: (1) the need for accountants to perform advisory roles, (2) the importance of undertaking designer roles, and (3) the need to fulfill executioner roles. On the other hand, in performing the audit function, the accountant is also expected to: (1) detect fraud, no matter how big or small it is; (2) to provide early detection signals that show the state of the company; most especially as regards to whether or not it is on the brink of bankruptcy; (3) to ensure independence in the auditing process; and lastly, (4) the need to prevent the material misstatements in the financial statements. It is therefore in this regard, that the need for accounting systems has been once again underscored as the former has the capacity to address the said deficiencies. The collapse of major corporations such as Enron due to financial scandals has likewise called for the betterment of the roles of the accountants. Evidently, the collapse of the said corporations has been brought a bout by the fact that it has failed to ensure the proper preparation of financial statements. In view of this, it has been suggested that the accounting process be incorporated within the Corporate Governance Initiatives to ensure accountability, transparency and better decision making. Hence, again, the development of accounting systems

Cold War Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cold War - Assignment Example hereas Nixon’s administration seemed to continue this legacy of Truman’s anticommunist, he had eased out the tension with the communist block after becoming president in the 1960s although this rendered him to appear to be timid and indecisive (Johnson & Parta,2010). For the eight years that Truman was in office he won the war and brought peace to the world and created and maintained a foreign policy that managed to prevent the spread of communalism to the world. On the other hand Nixon envisioned a phase in which more cordial and relaxed relations among major world powers which would allow for ventures profitable to all (Johnson & Parta, 2010). Cold war greatly influenced many aspects of American society cutting across social, cultural life and civil rights movements. It led to litany of movies that were meant to promote patriotism, brought about racial inequality, establishment of fair employment commissions. Indeed this war left a great mark majorly on movies, art, poetry and sports. Cultural exchanges both formal and informal were common to help iron out cold war

Imagery, Creativity, and Emergent Structure Lab Report

Imagery, Creativity, and Emergent Structure - Lab Report Example It therefore, discusses three main areas which directly impact creative cognition; creative imagery based on the methods of creative cognition, differentiate between creative imagery under conscious and deliberate controlled environment and imagery that reflects absence of control and the third being the two aspects of creative imagery; intentional and structured and spontaneous and unstructured. According to the author, mental imagery has developed into a distinct subject of research in psychology and cognitive science. The ‘studies have helped to establish that imagery is functionally distinct from other internal processes and that mental images can be distinguished from other forms of mental representation’(Finke, 1989; Kosslyn, 1994). It is a fact that the mind is capable of retrieving images from recess even if no conscious effort was made to commit them to memory. Hence, it can be safely stated that even during the process of intentional recall of an image in some specific format, the mind can generate and explore various other properties of the same image. It is equally true that given a set of perceptual items or forms as preinventive objects, the mind can conjure a host of imaginative inventions that can be interpreted in as many ways as possible. If the object category is not defined, the spontaneity of creative imagery is more inventive. The geneplore model proposed by Finke, Ward, and Smith (1992) describes many aspects of creative thinking and imagination, including the discovery of emergent structures and their possible functions. It is characterized by a unique creative imagery of preinventive forms which is a result of generative processes and explorative process that have been used in conceptualization of the final object. The structured imagery is unconsciously bound by the prior knowledge and thus the emergent structures may

Past market failure and present development of Marks and Spencer in Essay

Past market failure and present development of Marks and Spencer in internationalization - Essay Example The promotional strategies in UK were not successful as the company was implementing strategies which were old fashioned and outdated. Instead, the company decided on using celebrity endorsement strategies using big celebrities such as Elizabeth Jagger, Twiggy, Danii Minogue, Laura Bailey etc, to target UK customers (Hackley, 2009). Looking at the present promotional strategies, the company thought that celebrity endorsement will be the best strategy for creating positive brand equity. Since most of the products of the retail chain are perceived to be of high quality and sourced in an ethical manner, the pricing strategy for grocery products has been placed above average (Alon, 2006). The target management strategy which M&S has been following is to be in line with luxury brands such as John Lewis, Bhs, Debenhams and Next. However, apparel pricing is lower than rest of the brands as the retail chain wants its products to be affordable (Kotabe and Helsen, 2001). Distribution strategie s are planned so that products are able to reach target customers through the most efficient channel. Most of the distribution channels are backed by wholesalers, retailers, online sales, forwarding and customs clearing agent, sales executives from the company etc (Zhao, Niu and Castillo, 2010). The objective is to increase the overall customer reach. Therefore location has been the key priority for M&S while establishing its base in any foreign country. In most of the foreign countries, M&S have chosen those geographical locations which are near to the major trading areas as well as attract local customers from the surroundings (Fernie, 1992). Most of the company stores are located... Even though Marks and Spencer has been able to retain its position as a pioneer in retail products, it is no surprise that the company needs new strategies, media channels and distribution plans in order to establish itself as the most preferred one-stop retail store. New formats of the model retail will have to be developed in order to revive its positioning in the international market. Marks and Spencer has always been known for its knowledge of exact customer demands. They have always been a customer friendly organisation. Thus the first step for the retail chain will be to retain this place. In order to do this the company will have to arrange a comprehensive data base of customers in the country where the company has established its base. This can be achieved through a number of sources such as national geo-demographics, panels specialising in industry details such as fashion and national lifestyle lists. The company can also use details from its active accounts which are more t han 4 million in number as of now. Once the company gets sufficient information from the database, the next target will be to attract these customers. In order to do this customer can be divided into specific target segments according to age, demographics, gender and lifestyle etc. For example, to target women the company can hire local product designers who will be responsible for designing popular and largely accepted clothing range. The company can also cross-merchandise various ranges and spread offers across various relevant channels. Point of sale displays and advertisements can also be created in order to attract this specific segment. Customer feedback is another strategy which can be very helpful in making effective marketing and management strategies