Managing Activities to Achieve Results Assignment - 1

Managing Activities to Achieve Results - Assignment Example To get such skills the company has to employ people with various skills across different cultural backgrounds and thus it has contributed to the current structure of the company. It has committed itself towards empowering the staff it has employed and thus utilized the innovative style of organizational structure. The structure specifically used by Syngenta is the matrix structure also referred to as the project team structure. If Syngenta has to use process management in the mapping out their processes in order to get its goals and objectives, there are several things it must consider if it has to succeed. Use of a process management occurs when the management situation is dynamic rather than static. Dynamic can be caused by: (a) external factors – the activity begins as a project but eventually deviates and becomes a process because the external parties have introduced their own definitions of problems and solutions and thus interfere with the process (Bruijn, Heuvelhof and Veld 2010, p15). (b) Internal factors – the activity begins as a project and eventually becomes a process because the project owner has realized that during the course of the project, the problem has become different from what he had anticipated. The decision making process in this case has to be based on the hierarchy system and all the decision making processes are linear and structured and they proceed towards a solution thorough different phases. An actor who is superior in hierarchy initiates the decision making process. The other involved in the decision making have to behave cooperatively and this is partly due to the subordination to the one in control of the decision making process (Bruijn, Heuvelhof and Veld 2010, p16).The company has to take into consideration the two factors when mapping out their processes in order to get their goals and objectives. The processes can be evaluated by the results it achieves such as a number of actions, a number

Acounting and finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Acounting and finance - Essay Example To efficiently administer the various functional areas for which the manager is responsible and also to co ordinate these functions and activities within the overall framework of an organization is the two major purpose of an accounting system Especially the management accounting systems contemplate to analytically measure and report all financial and non-financial information so that the managers can make fruitful and effective decisions to fulfill the goals of an organisation. Thus the focus of the management accounting is mainly internal reporting of the various activities. Modern day management accounting plays a very significant role in both planning and control decisions. Hence in the process of decision making the management accountant has to make a number of realistic and logical assumptions in arriving at an optimal solution for the problem on hand. For enabling the management accountant to take a stand on the various assumptions in the process of decision making, the cost o f the product or service is a key element. Traditionally there are various methods of ascertaining the cost of a particular product or service. One of such methods is collecting the various cost elements and allocating them to the particular product or service which is known as unit costing.As outlined above one of the traditional ways of ascertaining the cost is to apportion a standard cost for each unit based on historical cost data. This system of ascertaining costs and base the managerial decisions has lost significance due to the fact that modern companies tend to have lower truly variable costs as against a very high degree of fixed costs. Also the equipments that are being used have become more complex and specialized and they form a very significant proportion of total costs. In addition organization with a wide range of products has processes which are common to several finished items making cost allocation irrelevant or meaningless. 3.0 ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL COSTING SYSTEMS-ACTIVITY BASED COSTING SYSTEM (ABC SYSTEM) An alternative to the traditional costing systems, modern day multi process business corporations adopt the activity based costing system which has proved a real tool in the hands of the managers for making proper business decisions. The activity based costing system is a refinement of the costing system in which focus is centered on the individual activities as the fundamental cost objectives. An activity in an organization may take the form of an event, task or unit of work with a specified purpose. To illustrate; the design activity, set up activity, manufacturing operations, shipping activity, distribution activity and administrative activity can form the basic key costing elements for the refinement of the costing system and thereby to arrive at the proper cost of a particular unit or service. ABC system aims at calculating the costs of the individual activities and assign costs to cost objects such as products or services on the basis of the activities undertaken to produce each product or service. 3.1 FEATURES OF ABC SYSTEM OF COSTING Fundamentally there are three distinct features of the activity based costing system: They are: 1. ABC system works by creating smaller cost pools linked to different activities. Traditionally organizations used to have single overhead cost pool related to several cost pools. 2. For each activity-cost pool ABC system aims to measure the activity performed and have this as the base. 3. In some cases costs in a cost pool can be identified and traced back to a particular Product or department or service and such kind of direct tracing of costs improve the cost accuracy as no assumptions are made to allocate the common costs. The logic behind the working of the ABC system of costing is that the more we create finely structured activity-cost pools, greater is the

Organisational Strategic analysis on British airways

Organisational Strategic analysis on British airways The issue of organisational changes is a corner stone of organisational functioning, development, competitiveness and, yet, effectiveness. Over the past decades, the way in which people are managed, promoted and stimulated at workplaces has become a primary key to assess and improve organisational efficiency and marketability and became a part of a general organisational strategy. The purpose of this report is to conduct a Organisational Strategic analysis one of the largest airline company British Airways. The objective of the report is to evaluate the competitive and changing market condition of the airlines companies how these companies specially BAs organisational changes occurred in last five years In terms of globalisation and rapidly changing business environment, as well as growing competitiveness on the market, modern companies increasingly need to rely rather more on their skilled and motivated personnel than on pure technologies and products the report will show us how BA addressed following issues: Main objectives in making the change in last five years. Key factors Influence of BAs organisational changes How managed change toward resistance of changes In the Chapter D, the aim of the Chief Executive Willie Walsh for BA to be simpler and improving employees behaviour and performance has discussed the 7S framework are also used. The aim of the report is to outline the areas in which the current strategy could be improved and further related changes. Conclusion and recommendations are also drawn. Table of Contents Page No 1.0 Overview of the Company 1.1 British Airways Organisational Changes in last Five years 1.2 Objective in making change Part 2 2.0Factors influencing British Airways change strategy__ 2.1 Internal influences Part 3 3.0 Organizational Change 3.1 Organizational Resistance how its managed 3.2 Types of Organizational change process 5.0 Recommendations and Conclusions Part 4 4.1 Timetable for implementations Table of Figures Page No Figure 1: Model of Change- Sequence of Events Figure 2: Forces Causing and Resisting Change within an Organization Figure 3: Statistics of Favourite airline Figure 4: Europe Share Market Movement Figure 5: Timetable for full implementation Figure 6: 7S framework Figure 7 : Herzbergs Two Factor Theory Figure 8: Factor affecting employees attitude 5.1 Recommendations for achieving Mr Willie Walshs goal for BA, Part 1 1.0 Overview of the Company British Airways happens to be one of the biggest airline operators that is U.K. based and among the different operators of Europe it is holding the position of the 3rd position after the Air France, Lufthansa and KLM. The major canters of the airline are at London Gatwick, and London Heathrow in which their range of the services being provided by them from the long routes to the short routes of the domestic European flights. Manchester happens to be one of the Britain Airports from where it is operating for the long distance flights. There are about Five hundred and fifty destinations to which the airways is providing flights at convenient timings. Thus the British Airways is a group which comprises of the other subsidiary firms like the British Airways Plc and others like the BA Connect Ltd. and British Airways holidays Limited. As British Airways is considered to be a leader in the industry mainly because of the kind of the technology that is being utilized by the company in providing various services like the online booking system and the ticketing method of self services(www.britishairways.com) 1.1 British Airways Organisational Changes in last Five years British Airways Plc: the skys the limit. British Airways Plc, BA, is the leading airline in the United Kingdom, and naturally one of the biggest in the world. In May 2005, Willie Walsh, newly taken over from Rod Eddington as chief executive, continued this active management of company culture and said of his staff: I want them to feel inspired, I want them to feel optimistic, I want them to feel that this is a good place to be (Dangerous Company, BBC2 April 2006). Willie Walshs vision of change was so ambitious (doing better and better, never enough for him), Walsh justified himself in saying that he had a long-term vision and staff a day-to-day one. Although before Walshs tenure as chief executive, BA was a very well-run and profitable company and it was considered as the worlds favourite airline. But as visionary leader he was made number of changes, such as he reduces top heavy executive team from 25 to 14. Thus, he presented five objectives to achieve: To sustain BA as the worlds favourite airline. Improve customer service Diversify through merger and acquisitions Improve management and to be best managed company in the UK Cost cutting 1.2 Objective in making change The overall objective of Walshs approached to reduce the expenditures with in the organization as well as exterior. Walshs claimed BA needed a second revolution. At the beginning Willie Walshs vision of change and strategies were correct but its implementation to achieve his objectives were not well-liked by employees or people around him this resulted in employees de-motivation and de-moralization. As a result there was a planning to strike by the employees which was temporarily held by the court decision but there are planning to have a strike. This paper discovers the phenomena of radical organizational change in last five years, its implications and consequences over the companys on the whole performance and the controversy of leadership and its issues? In this paper author discuss how leadership effect on organizations performance in the context of organizational change? And how well Willie Walsh did his change management strategies. Was he successful or failure. This paper reviews these questions by analysing the case study of British Airways, and also discusses the role of effective communication and the motivation of staff in BA and how these aspects are interrelated with each other. Part 2 2.0Factors influencing British Airways change strategy__ Monitor global competition, customers, competitors and other factors Need for change Initiate Change Implement Change Evaluate problems opportunities, define needed changes in technology, products, structure culture Facilitate search, creativity, idea champions, venture teams, skunkworks idea incubators Use force-field analysis, tactics for overcoming resistance Environmental Forces Internal Forces Consider plans, goals, company problems needs Figure 1: Model of Change- Sequence of Events (Source: Richard, 2001) Corporate Innovation is something that is very hard to change and employees need time to get used to the new way of organizing. Many people are not willing to change unless they perceive a problem or a crisis. For companies with a very strong and specific culture it will be even harder to change. Mr. W. Walsh, Chief Executive of British Airways decision to implement change at BA was influenced by a number of various factors. These were mainly based on the effects of the external environment on British Airways. BAs technology was not in keeping with the technology of their competitors and so this was reflected in its products. To combat this threat, W.Walsh.,(2009) tried implementing new procedures and changing the culture of the organization. He decided to change the organization from a technology driven company to a more service oriented one, lacking the technological strength of its competitors, BA proposed to offer a superior level of service instead. The external environment threat of technology was the main reason behind BAs change. Change within the Organisation Forces Resisting Change Forces for Change Global Pressures Competition The Market External Environment Aspirations of the Workforce Technology Costs Inertia Lack of Trust Complacency Conservatism Fear of Failure Fear of the Unknown Power Blocks Figure 2: Forces Causing and Resisting Change within an Organization (Source: Jewell, 1990) In order to survive and prosper in a competitive and rapidly changing environment, organizations also need to change. This may be brought about by many influencing factors which may be internally within the organization or in external environment of the organization. External forces originate in all environmental sectors, including customers, competitors, technology, economic forces and the international arena. External influences: Political factors including legislation or other government measures. Organizations are forced to change in order to meet, for example, health and safety, environmental or consumer protection requirements. The EUs laws could prevent to diversify into the no-frills market.This will make less competitions for BA from no-frills airlines. Noise pollutions stricter laws from EU could affect all the airlines. United Kingdom have decided not to introduce the Euro would reduce number of tourists to come into the kingdom. Slots reductions at the airport could enable BA to take over other routes which are served by the other airlines. Reduction in the protection of slots, particularly those at the primary airports could enable British Airways to take routes served by other airlines. Government is always tried to protect BA as a national flag carriers. Costs have been increased due to increase fuel price. Economic factors such as changes in levels of unemployment and interest rates which can have a major impact on demand. Increase the airport taxes could increase costs of the BA. New members of EU could increase or introduced new flights to the UK which could prevent to hold up the profits. Current economic downturn and swine flu could prevent people to fly. BA and Spains Liberia airlines merged decision to increase  £400 millions of synergy (http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/ba-and-iberia-agree-merger-deal) Social factors including changes in life styles and environmental issues which organizations must respond to if they are not to lose out to competitors. Threats from terrorists attacks could reduce people to fly such as September 2001 and most recently failed suicide bomb attack at American Airlines . Technological progress such as word processing in the office or robots in the factory can change working materials, methods and practices and create the need for new skills. Trade unions can influence wage rates, working conditions and other aspects of industrial relations. Competition and changes in consumer tastes and demand all impact on business organizations, making change necessary in order to respond. Media reports which can influence consumers and employees perceptions of an organization and its goods and services. Internal forces for change arise from internal activities and decisions. If top managers select a goal of rapid company growth, internal actions will have to be made to meet that growth ( Smillie Hailey., 2001). New departments or technologies will be created. Demands by employees, labour unions and production inefficiencies all can generate a force to which management must respond with change. 2.1 Internal influences: New products or services which require change in order to introduce them. Management changes, due perhaps to a merger, take over or the appointment of new staff. This may affect the management style and culture of the organization. Quality assurance systems which are becoming increasingly important in organizations in order to meet changing customer expectations. Productivity and profitability improvements which often require change in systems or procedures in order to control or reduce costs and/or increase output. Customer service is now more crucial than ever for organizations in competitive markets because they can only survive and prosper if they satisfy customers. After analyzing the external environment, it can be summarized that no-frills zone may pose a big threats in the future. Another Problem that most recent painful terrorists attack had cancelled number of flights of BA. After the need for change has been perceived and communicated, change must be initiated. This is a crucial stage of change management- the stage where ideas that solve perceived needs are developed. Responses that an organization can make are to search for or create a change to adopt. The modern complex business world is being rapid changes. There are number of factors such as globalization amongst companies, changes in market trends as well as companies who are more globally demanding and mature, necessary to reduce costs and the introduction of new technology has lead to companies to face large amount of competition than they had in the past. It is therefore important for organizations to stay ahead of their competitors and recent research has indicted that the creativity and innovation of an organization can give them that competitive edge they require. By being creative and offering consumers a more innovative service or product, the company or organization will be able to differentiate themselves from others who offer similar services. Cook (1998) found that creative organizations harness the ability to think and act in different ways that make sense to their current and future customers. BAs CEO presented his views and identified on the key drivers and directions for the airlines industry and the strategies BA will follow in the transition into the next millennium. He also reiterated BAs commitment to achieve long term growth in earnings and shareholder value in the top quartile of the major airline by focusing on people, performance and growth. Part 3 3.0 Organizational Change Organization changes its overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/or wants to change the very nature by which it operates. Willie Walshs vision was the same. When together all employees or the group of people work to achieve the organizational goal, the organizations are become operational and successful. Therefore, organizational change is possible only when employees of the organization understand the need for change, buy-in the idea of change, are motivated towards the change, and express their interest (McGuire D. Hutchings K., 2006; Beer M. et al, 1990). Keeping in view the importance of employees, management thinking for change should consider the effect of the change on employees as well as their resistance and reaction on it. They should be taken into account and should be motivated and explained reasons of change by the management while taking any decision. Other researchers (e.g. Tichy, 1983) acknowledge the frustration that managers feel when their organizations do not respond to elaborately analyzed plans, where there is a lack of interaction between decision and action. In the case of BA, Willie Walsh did not plan to follow up change because he did not think fundamental changes as process but wanted to change entire organizational culture immediately. As Whittington and Mayer (2002) also vindicate this need, adaptive reorganization, the ability to redesign structures frequently, is now critical to organizational performance. However, an effective change can only be achieved if change managers encourage employees participation as much as possible, address their concerns and repercussions and ensure them that leaders involvement would be role models for a change (Heracleous, 2002). Enthusiastic Willie Walsh eager for bringing changes in BA forgot to get his employees involved in the change management process. Nevertheless, employees or group of people working together for organizational goal made the organizations as successful. 3.1 Organizational Resistance how its managed There are number of factors are playing for resistance to changes such as fear of the unknown, the possibility of economic insecurity, habit, threats to social relationships and failure to recognise the need for change (Nadler, 1988). Another issue of importance in change which is difference between how organisation looks at present and look after the change. According to Cameron et al (1993), readiness for organisational change depend on how the degree to which a change (TQM) and existing culture differs from that culture, an organisation may be more or less ready for such a change. Tichy and Devanna (1986) discuss creating a need for change; in effect, opening up the organizational culture to be receptive to the change. They note that this is especially difficult when there is no apparent crisis, but rather the long-range vision of a leader who anticipates the time it takes to implement organizational change. Resistance to change is especially relevant if the vision of a leader differs from the values and beliefs of the existing organizational culture. If that is the case, then cultural issues must be addressed (Schein, 1991; Trice and Beyer, 1991). In the case of BA, Walshs vision was very good because organizations continuously need improvements and changes to maintain its competitive advantages. Willie Walsh started the change process and neither involved management nor his staff and stressed too much on cost cutting activities then these radical changes turned employees repercussion and resistance to change into aggression and they went on strike. Because e mployees thought that these changes were not needed and they were not convinced, also, they were worried about their future. In this part of the paper author will now discuss the controversy of leadership and its effect on organizations performance in the context of organizational change. 3.2 Types of Organizational change process Change management is a process to bring modification and transformation into an organization to sustain and improve its efficiency (John Hayes, 2002).There are different overall types of organizational change process, including planned versus unplanned, organization-wide versus change primarily to one part of the organization, incremental (slow, gradual change) versus transformational (radical, fundamental), etc. Organizational change is a step by step and a learning process which involve everyone in the organization. There are number of researches has conducted and researcher stated that the change in the organisation should have organisational culture capacity (Garratt, 1987, 1990; Bahlmann, 1990; Senge, 1990; Senge et al. 1994, 1999; Pedler et al., 1991; Burgoyne et al., 1994; Swieringa and Wiersma, 1992; Watkins and Marsick, 1993; Redding and Catalanello, 1994). This approach differs clearly from the literature trend which puts an emphasis on knowledge management and which associates organizational learning capacity with the ability to create, acquire, transmit, retain, or use organizational knowledge. This trend is led by authors such as Amponsem (1991); Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995); Nonaka and Nishiguchi (2000); Nonaka and Teece (2001); Nonaka et al. (2003); Baets (1998); Von Krogh and Roos (1996); Von Krogh et al. (1998); Despres and Chauvel (2000); Chauvel et al. (2003). It is clear from the above literature that Willie Walsh should have involved all the members of management and staff while making change in British Airways. They should have been convinced about the need of change for the improvements and encouraged to support this process. Despite of considering all that, he brought radical changes in organization without making his management and employees involved, like cost cutting activities, outsourcing of different departments and sale of operations etc. Buono and Bowditch (1993) notified that uncertainty during change processes is typically about the aim, process and expected outcomes of the change and implications for the individual employees (Buono and Bowditch, 1993). Part 4 The change in the BA has partly successful, as Walsh five objectives are partly achieved. Below has explained which changes are successfully meeting its objectives or not: 1) Sustain BA as the worlds favourite airline: According to Consumer Travel Alliance survey shows that Southwest Airlines was no 1 favourite in the world because of price and customer service. Below graph shows its result: Figure 3 : Statistics of Favourite airline (Source: http://consumertraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/FavoriteAirline1.gif) 2) Improve customer service A survey conducted by the BA shows that satisfaction rating across the network rose by 72 percent. The survey conducted among 21millions customers(.http://www.britishairways.com/cms/global/microsites/ba_rep) 3) Diversify through merger and acquisitions Most recent M A with Iberia agreement of  £3.9bn brought share price up and according to Willie Walsh both brand would be retained(http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk). Below graph shows of share market movements, it has shows that BA has gaining Europe share market in significant wa, Figure 4 : Europe Share Market Movement (Source: http://www.centreforaviation.com/news/share-market/2009/11/13/british-airways-and-iberia-establish-mou-for-merger) Improve management and to be best managed company in the UK British Airways has failed to reach an agreement with union for stop strike but at the end strike called off because of court order. He have not succeeded with his instant reform but he is able to overcome competition from low costs budget airlines(http://www.businessandfinance.ie/index.jsp?p=222n=22) Cost cutting British Airways have struggling to cost cut because of resistance of employees, as they have made controversy by asking staff to take unpaid leave, reduce hours or work for nothing (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/06/british-airways-jobs-pay-unions). Thus they have facing strong resistance from the Union which discussed earlier in the part of this study. 4.1 Timetable for implementations Moreover, the parallel running and big bang strategies and pilot studies would be the best approach for the BAs changes for strategies. Such as However, it is very important to combination new technology and old technology until new systems is working properly in effective and reliable way, i.e. parallel running. The big bang strategy can be approached with the motivational courses and management training. The absenteeism could assist to loosing money by the company, as a result the change is evident in speed way. Big band theory could generate resistance to change, as well as a risk of failure, but in order to implement changes can be improve employees work environment, i.e. carefully planning will ensure successes and great resistance can be avoided. Below graph shows the timetable for full implementation, Figure 5: Timetable for full implementation 4.0 Recommendations and Conclusions A 7S framework model was developed as a model of not just structure, but model of organisational change by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman (1980). This frame work can also be used as an organisational analysis tool and it also depicts that organisational effectiveness from interaction of various factors. The 7S framework show below, Figure 6: 7S frmaework Skills Style Strategy Systems Shared Values Staff Structure (Source :http://www.themanager.org/models/7S%20Model.htm) the BP Group. Post acquisition, 240 BP employees will continue working for and in support of the ground fuels business to be transferred to Hellenic Petroleum. The remaining personnel will continue to support BPs other activities in Greece. The agreement also provides for a transitional period regarding the management of the network and branding. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, Greek competition authorities and other relevant approvals. The deal is expected to complete towards the end of 2009. N M Rothschild Sons Limited acted as financial advisor to Hellenic Petroleum SA. Pratap Amin, Sebastian Lawson , Jocelyn Mitchell, Avril Martindale, John Fordham, David Taylor, Daniel Lawrence, Eli Hilllman, Vanessa Jakovich, Ned Staple, Van der Staal, Olivia Wyld, Patrick Taylor, Susan Doris, Michael Mà ¼ntefering, Chun Wing Yeung, Dylan Cunard, Todd Kramers of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as legal advisors fo r BP plc. The above diagram has no starting point or hierarchy and it shows that by seven elements which are considering organization form these 7 viewpoints it would be possible to establish major strength and weakness. 7S framework shows the 7most important things that should be kept in mind by the management for achieving organisational goals. The BAs management framework clearly sets out principle on how to delegate authority and responsibility. As the responsibility of running the company is efficiently is given to CEO, therefore CEO should take of all 7S mentioned in the framework. BAs group Chief Executive Willie Walsh is aiming to make BA a simpler and more efficient by enhance of employees behaviour with embedding a high performance culture by 2012. He had suggested that simplification is the key to success. According to Walsh (2008), BA had incredible assets and a great workforce. The only need was to bring these assets and people together to form a more productive, efficient and powerful organisation. The core problem that was cited was the Bureaucratic management structure which was formed because of the number of mergers and acquisitions in the organization. According to Walsh (2008), the people who knew most about the company were the people who were running operations at the bottom level. He also noticed that the management had become too introspective at the level and was not listening to the employees about safety and reliability. Furthemore, According to De-Witt Meyer (2004), business strategy is concerned with how firms should go about creating a sustainable competitive advantage in each business they operate. Therefore, In order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, goals and make company the best in the industry, the owners (CEO, Top level management) of the company should take care of the people working in the company, as their efficiency in performance would help company to achieve its goals. So, therefore a good integrated communication and co-ordination network would be required to sustain its image in the industry. Figure 7 : Herzbergs Two Factor Theory (Source: http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp) Herzbergs Two Factor Theory was developed as a model of understand of employees motivation and attitudes. This theory was developed by Fredrick Herzberg in 1959. Herzberg suggested both the factors are very important to understanding employee motivation and satisfaction. Following some of the factors which are causing satisfaction and dissatisfactions of the employees: Factor affecting employees attitude Figure 8 Hygiene Factor Dissatisfactions Motivator Factor Satisfactions Company policy and Administrations Achievement Supervision Recognition Working condition Responsibility Salary and other financial factors Opportunity for advancement Job Security Personal Growth Relationship Challenging The above list of factors shows that management of BP not only avoid Hygiene factor also provides Motivator factor to the employees in order to Tonys aims to make a simpler and more efficient by enhance employees performance and behaviour. 5.1 Recommendations for achieving Mr Willie Walshs goal for BA, Considerable steps should be taken up so as to make employees sure that they are working in a safe and healthy environment. This would help Walsh to retain the employees and also to generate a sense of belongingness among them. Another major factor is that there should be a new operating management system which should be designed so that it would help to bring more consistency in the operations of the company. This can be done by implementing cross group programmes. It can be done minimum once a year to call all the employees at one place (city by city) People are one of the main assets of a company to perform efficiently and effectively. Walsh would require focusing on improving behaviours of employees by motivating them to work in a more efficient and coordinated way. This can be done by rewarding them, giving them more fringe benefits and providing them safety and security at the workplace. There is also need to build a high performance culture in organization. With coordinating among different operations and departments, a high performance culture and highly motivated employees, Tony can achieve him aim. For effective change management process, good communication between management and staff is imperative. In order to keep competitive advantages and to minimize fundamental effects of political and economical disturbance, the continuous change is required but this should be taken place with the involvement of each and every member of staff. In the process of decision making, if employees are taken into confidence and are convinced about the required change while taking them on board in decision making process, they would as a part of change management process adhere and admire the change. On the other hand, if they are left disconnected and arent motivated about this change process, subsequently their spirit and enthusiasm will go down. Certainly they will have apprehensions and impact about this change process. Senses of insecurity and uncertainty of job within the organization created due to lack of communication which spread out rumours. Thus little-convinced employee will give low output and will not remain loyal to the company. Having gone through the case study and examining it with different supportive theories, it is apparent that even though the British Airways was a well-run company, Walsh decided to bring changes to compete in competent industry but he did not use properly communication techniques and therefore his employees were not communicated his ideas fully.

La Rotonda Essay -- Architecture Construction Essays

La Rotonda One of the great architects in time was Andrea Palladio, who was made famous for his magnificent Villas built in Italy in the fifteen hundreds. To do so he drew from the Greek and Roman’s architecture, studying many of their finest works, to create his masterful villas. This process would develop into a style of architecture, which became known as Palladianism. This style has inspired buildings which have dominated the landscape for the last four hundred years. These buildings include: English castles, American public buildings, Swiss railroad stations, Spanish libraries, Tuscan villas and Canadian hotels. Many of these buildings are considered to be the great buildings of the world. Andrea Palladio was born in 1508A.D. in Italy. At a very young age he became a stone mason, however his journey into architecture began when he met Gian Giorgio Trissino who immediately saw ability in him and decided to mentor Palladio. Trissino combined a study of classical architecture with architecture of the time, all the while allowing Palladio room to develop a style of his own. In time Palladio was constructing villas through out the country side of Italy, in all he constructed 30 villas, 18 of which are still standing today. Perhaps Palladio’s most famous work was the Villa Rotondra or La Rotondra which was started around 1565 and took approximately 4 years to build and was greatly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It is interesting to note that la Rotondra is different from Palladio’s other villas in a number of ways, and it is evident that these differences help distinguish it from the rest. The main differences between Palladio’s Rotondra and his othe r work are, The Rotonda is set on a hilltop, it is located near a... ...to see why many regard Andrea Palladio as one of the most influential architects of all time, he was able to create some of the most stunning, graceful, and awe-inspiring villas in the world. Unfortunately, Palladio died before his masterpiece, La Rotonda, was complete. The project was completed by his protà ©gà © Vincenzo Scamozzi. Work Cited 1.) http://boglewood.com/palladio/life.html, Wednesday September, 28 2.) Mathew McCann Feton, â€Å"Time: Great Buildings of the World†  © 2004, New York, NY. 3.) http://kuleuven.ac.be/bwk/materials/Research/KVB/EDAMM_intro.html, Wednesday September, 28 4.) http://studentwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~A_LIVESAY/palladio.html, Wednesday September, 30 5.) http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0837370.html, Wednesday September, 28 6.) http://architecture.about.com/b/a/2003_11.htm, Wednesday September, 28

Customer Perception Towards Mobile Banking

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS MOBILE BANKING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO INDIAPurpose: The objective of this paper is to study customer perception towards mobile banking and finding important factors in India. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research methodology is largely based on extensive literature review and is based on exploratory research followed by descriptive analysis. The data collected thorough questionnaire, which is based on both open ended and closed ended questions. The questionnaire is based on Likert scale. The data is analyzed through Factor analysis. Findings: The important factors that affect the perception of customers towards mobile banking are convenience, security, faith on traditional banking and awareness. Research limitation/implications: This study is based on the data collected form major metro cities of India. The study is based on customers availing the mobile banking services. The findings of the paper cannot be generalized, as the sampling technique is non-probability sampling. Practical implications: The results of this paper will encourage mobile banking service providers to strengthen the security policy and provide augmented services to attract new customers. Paper Type: Research Paper Key Words: Mobile Banking; Customer Perception; Factor Analysis; India INTRODUCTION In recent years, the technological developments in information technology have lead to the evolution of a new concept in Banking Industry i. e. Mobile banking. Mobile banking is defined as the â€Å"type of execution of financial services in the course of which – within an electronic procedure – the customer uses mobile communication techniques in conjunction with mobile devices† (Pousttchi and Schurig 2004). Moreover, it is defined as â€Å"a channel hereby the customer interacts with a bank via a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant† (Barnes and Corbitt 2003, Scornavacca and Barnes 2004). The evolution of Mobile banking has fundamentally transformed the way banks traditionally conduct their businesses and the ways consumers perform their banking However the success of Mobile banking is not going smoothly, its full of problems. Firstly the adoption of Mobile banking has not kept pace with that of mobile devices like mobile phones, PDA’S etc. This gap is attributed to the lack of trust among bank customers, particularly between Internet and mobile device users in the age group of 45 and greater than 55. Secondly, customers still have faith on face-to-face interaction while concerned with their money due to reasons such as fear of the online environment and lack of trust in the Internet and mobile devices systems. Recent literature on Mobile banking showed that the formation of trust can help reduce the impact of key inhibiting factors such as fears about using the online service among non Mobile banking customers. The customer perception towards Mobile banking is controlled by variety of factors, few within the firm’s control and few beyond the control of the firm. These days Mobile banking has facilitated the customers to avail any services just by the click of the buttons of mobile phones or PDA’S. But at the same time the customers are concerned about the security of their transactions and other personal information. As more and more customers are making increasing use of Mobile banking services it becomes imperative to examine the factors that affect customer expectation and satisfaction.LITERATURE REVIEWElectronic banking is regarded as on of the most successful business to consumer applications in electronic commerce (Pousttchi and Schuring, 2004). The mobile phone is one of the most integral parts of customers’ lives and its use is growing in the world. The mobile banking offers various kind of services like to request the account balance, latest transactions of the account, transfer fund between accounts, to make buy and sell orders for the stock exchange and to receive portfolio and price information. Various studies indicate that perceived financial cost (Luarn and Lin, 2005) and perceived complexity (Lee et al. , 2003) inhibits he use and adoption of mobile banking services. Security aspects are argued as an important concerns in the adoption of mobile banking (Brown et al. , 2003, Luarn and Lin, 2005). Contrary to previous findings, some studies have argued that security issues are not perceived by customer to be major obstacles in mobile banking transactions (Sournata, 2003; Laukkanen and Lauronen, 2005). These studies state that, mobile baking was found a secure way to conduct banking transactions by the users. However, Suranta (2003) found that mobile services were nit used since they were perceived as impractical and not sufficiently diversified. Gonzalez (2008) stated that M-commerce has many advantages over conventional banking system as it has reduced geographical boundaries and has enabled the customers to avail the services 24*7 hours just by clicking the buttons of their mobile phones and other mobile devices. It enables the users to access their account, get their account information, do transactions and avail other facilities without much delay and efforts. As per prediction of Broadie (2007) the Mobile banking is leading to a paradigm shift in marketing practices resulting in high performance in the banking industry. Delivery of service in banking can be provided efficiently only when the background operations are efficient. An efficient background operation can be conducted only when it is integrated by an electronic system. The components like data, hardware, software, network and people are the essential elements of the system. Banking customers get satisfied with the system when it provides them maximum convenience and comfort while transacting with the bank. Internet enabled electronic system facilitate the operation to fetch these result. But it is very important to maintain the security aspect while customers avail services via mobile devices or wireless network because the customers are very sensitive with their personal information’s and other transaction details, hence the service provider must ensure effective security checks to ensure error free service and safe transactions.PURPOSE OF THE STUDYThe objective of this paper is to study the customer perception towards Mobile banking and finding important factors affecting customer perception in India.ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONDemographic analysis is done to know the perception of mobile banking various age group of people with different occupation (Refer Table. 1). This analysis shows that there is significance difference in the usage of mobile banking between male and female. Age group of 35-45 uses this service quite often. The KMO and Bartlett’s Test indicates the suita bility of the data for factor analysis. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy’s value (Refer Table. 2) is 0. 755 which is greater than 0. 5. This indicates that a factor analysis will be useful with our data. From the above table, we can interpret that there is no error in 75. 5% of the sample and in the remaining 24. 5%, there may occur some sort of error. The value of significance level is 0. 000 that is less than 0. 05. So there is a significant relationship among the variables. About 66. 185% of the total variance in the 16 variables is attributable to the first four components. (Refer Table. 3). It can be seen that Component 1 explains a variance of 6. 230, which is 38. 934% of total variance; Component 2 explains a variance of 1. 718, which is 10. 735% of total variance; Component 3 explains a variance of 1. 23, which is 8. 894% of total variance and Component 4 explains a variance of 1. 220, which is 7. 622% of total variance. From this table we can make the following factor matrix. The rotated component matrix helps to determine what the components represent (Refer Table. 4). The first factor i. e. CONVENIENCE is most highly correlated with V1, V6, V8, V10, V11, V12 and V15. The second factor i. e. SECURITY is most highly correlated with V3, V7, V14 and V15. The third factor i. e. TRADITIONAL BANKINGS is most highly correlated with V2and V16. The fourth factor i. e. AWARENESS is most highly correlated with V4, V5 and V9. Factor Matrix |Factor No. | |Eigen Value | | | | |Factor Name | |Items |Items Loading | | | |Total |% of Variance | | | |1 |CONVENIENCE |6. 230 |38. 934 |Easy to Use |0. 93 | | | | | |Location Free Access to services |0. 785 | | | | | |Real Time Excess to Information |0. 776 | | | | | |Save Time |0. 764 | | | | | |Save Transaction Cost |0. 79 | | | | | |Easy Third Party Transactions |0. 651 | | | | | |Online Bill Payments |0. 489 | |2 |SECURITY |1. 718 |10. 735 |Personal Information Safe |0. 803 | | | | | |Reliable Services |0. 95 | | | | | |Error Free Transactions |0. 644 | | | | | |Cashless Banking |0. 519 | |3 |TRADITIONAL BANKING |1. 220 |8. 894 |On sight Transaction |0. 555 | | | | | |Availability of Mobile banking Services |0. 19 | |4 |AWARENESS |1. 423 |7. 622 |Point Of Presence |0. 874 | | | | | |Advertisements By Banks |0. 772 | | | | | |SMS/Messages Related Mobile banking Services |0. 671 | The above four factors have been explained as under: FACTOR-1: CONVENIENCE | |V10- E asy to Use. | |V8- Location Free Access to services. | |V6- Real Time Excess to Information. | |V1- Save Time. | |V11- Save Transaction Cost. | |V12- Easy Third Party Transactions. | |V13- Online Bill Payments. | |FACTOR-2: SECURITY | |V3- Personal Information Safe. | |V7- Reliable Services. | |V14- Error Free Transaction. | |V15- Cashless Banking. |FACTOR-3: TRADITONAL BANKING | |V2- On sight Transaction. | |V16- Availability of Mobile banking Services. | |FACTOR-4: AWARENESS | |V4- Point Of Presence. | |V5- Advertisements By Banks. | |V9- SMS/Messages Related Mobile banking Services. | CONCLUSION This study was undertaken to know the perception of mobile banking in India. Mobile banking is in very nascent stage in India and very few banks are providing this kind of facility to the customer. The detailed research and field study was carried out with usage of SPSS 16 software. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed on this software. Convenience, security, traditional banking and awareness are factors that measure the perception of mobile banking. The demographic study indicates that the people of greater than 45 years age are not comfortable with the mobile banking this is because of either their faith on onsite transaction and not easily accept the newer technology because of lack of awareness and its advantages. The results of this study suggest that there would be greater challenges for banks and mobile manufacturers to gain the trust among the all age of the people. Proper integration between banks and mobile manufacturers would gain trust by ensuring excellent security through advance reliable technology. This would augment the usage of the mobile banking in India In order to get maximum advantage of the mobile banking following suggestions can utilize to attract bank customers to use mobile banking in the future:First banks should realize the advantage of the mobile banking and provide this services to the customer. The positive belief can be made in the mind of customers by providing sufficient information on the benefits of mobile banking. In order to achieve this objective, banks should provide user manual that contains details on mobile banking, including usefulness and ease of use. This can also be achieved by establishing counter for mobile banking that gives all the information re garding mobile banking. This will influence customers’ decision to use mobile banking.Banks should ensure greater safety by adopting advance newer technology and should give more importance of confidentiality of personal identification number. Banks can organize workshops on mobile commerce applications to increase customers’ familiarity and understanding of mobile banking.LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDYThis study cannot be generalized as the sample has been taken form the major metro cities of India. Mobile banking user’s perception is measured in this paper. So further research can be carried out considering mobile baking user and non-user to get better picture of perception towards mobile banking in India.REFERENCES1. Barnes, S. J. & Corbitt, B. (2003). Mobile banking: concept and potential. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 1 (3), 273-288. 2. Brodie, H Winklhofer. 2007). Is e-marketing Coming of Age? An Examination of the Penetration of e- marketing a nd Firm Performance. J. Innterac. Market, 21:2-21. 3. Brown, I. , Cajee, Z. , Davies, D. , Stroebel, S. (2003), â€Å"Cell phone banking: predictors of adoption in South Africa – an exploratory study†, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 381-94. 4. Gonzalez, M. E. (2008). An Alternative Approach in Service Quality: An E-Banking Case Study. Quality Manage, 15: 41-48. 5. Laukkanen, T. , Lauronen, J. (2005), â€Å"Consumer value creation in mobile banking services†, International Journal of Mobile Communications, Vol. No. 4, pp. 325-38. 6. Lee, M. S. Y. , McGoldrick, P. F. , Keeling, K. A. , Doherty, J. (2003), â€Å"Using ZMET to explore barriers to the adoption of 3G mobile banking services†, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 340-8. 7. Luarn, P. , Lin, H. H. (2005), â€Å"Toward an understanding of the behavioral intention to use mobile banking†, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 873-91. 8. Pousttchi, K. & Schurig, M. (2004). Assessment of today’s mobile banking applications from the view of customer requirements. Proceedings of the 37th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Big Island, Hawaii. 9. Scornavacca, E. & Barnes, S. J. (2004). Mobile banking services in Japan: a strategic perspective. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2 (1), 51-66. 10. Suoranta, M. (2003), â€Å"Adoption of mobile banking in Finland†, Jyvaskyla, Finland, doctoral thesis. ANNEXURE I Table:1 Percentage of Respondents on the basis of Age and Occupation |Age —-> |18-25 |25-35 |35-45 |45-55 |

Conflict of Parents and Teens

The most common issue in our world today is the conflict between parents and teenagers. However, it is more than just conflict. What was once a sort of a â€Å"B.F.F.† relationship is now sour and bitter; full of arguments and sometimes fights! The arguing becomes an everyday thing and the parent nor is the child able to prevent it. It becomes natural to both. With that in mind, yes it is conflict, but it’s not forever; just temporary. Ask yourself a question about the situation†¦ Why are the teenage years more difficult with parents? Well, simply because the teenage years are when teens seek identity and parents majority come in-between it. In the present time, 13 years old is when everything goes downhill for the relationship. We start becoming more rebellious, the â€Å"back-talking† starts, conflict problems with other teens, wanting to be independent and unfortunately its good-bye to the video games and hello to the parties! All of this at only age 13. Can you imagine what the next 5 years will be? When a person reaches his or her physical maturity, there is also a change in your mental state as well as physical. We mature much earlier now days. There is no longer a match between our demand for independence, and our ability to actually be independent! Our teenage bodies and minds are screaming â€Å"I am ready to be independent! I want to make my own decisions! I want to be my own boss!† Your parents and society are screaming back at you, â€Å"You are not ready to be independent yet! You have not learned what you need to know yet! You cannot support yourself! You do not yet fully understand the dangers in this world! You are not grown!† . . . . And in the end they are right. We struggle with this unnatural situation. Reference http://www.livestrong.com/article/7895-conflict-between-parents-teenagers-/