Conestoga-Rovers and Associates Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Conestoga-Rovers and Associates - Case Study Example For that reason, organizations implement strategies that aim at empowering employees to perform their duties with an innate drive and freedom to interact with each other. A company can enhance the productivity of its workers through creating a good environment over which they can interact with their colleagues productively as well as ensure a friendly atmosphere. Conestoga-Rovers and Associates as well as other companies have a purpose in their attempt to facilitate several social events that influence the working environment for their employees. Influencing the working environment has indirect effect on the productivity of an organization as well as a direct one on the morale of employees and therefore, many of them perform with a positivistic attitude. Companies have various reasons why they influence the working environment for employees and that cause them put a lot of investment to achieve it and therefore, improve productivity. Conestoga-Rovers and Associates Company creates a positive working environment so that it can improve the morale of its employees as they deliver their services to the company. The company invests in improving the working environment with the understanding that it is likely to perform well when employees are happy. A moralized employee has high commitment to the activities of the company and takes his or her responsibilities so that he or she can ensure success of the company. In many circumstances, motivated employees are committed to the improvement of the working environments because they develop a sense of ownership to the activities of the company (Nyp, 2007). On the other hand, creating satisfaction mood in employees ensures that all the employees can protect the properties of the company for which they are working and reducing the chances of the company making losses. Creating a positive working environment enhances retention of highly performing employees and builds their loyalty to the management and the administrators of the company. In a company that allows employees freedom, growth and interactive platforms for doing their day to day activities, highly performing workers are likely stay for long. Employees are likely to stay because they feel that the company for which they work values their services by creating an environment for improvement of skills and refreshing their bodies after a period of continuous work. In Conestoga-Rovers and Associates, employees have enough time to spend in social activities on regular bases, which makes employees to break their monotony of regular working (Nyp, 2007). Companies manage its working environment so that it can attract highly qualified employees who are likely to improve its productivity in case of a vacancy. Conestoga-Rovers and Associates Company or any other company improves working environment as way of creating a competitive advantage in the market in the process of acquiring new employees for the company. Employees that work in a company that has a positive working environment act as ambassadors with good information to the labor market for which the company fetches new employees (Nyp, 2007). When there is a vacancy and the company advertises and attracts a large number of candidates, it gives the management an easy time to select the best for a job from a large pool of applicants. Question 2 In order for a company to provide services that are unique from the ones that other companies offer, it has to evaluate the various factors that characterize it workforce. On the other hand, a company may consider its monetary potential to offer motivations to its employee according to their number and the size of the perks they want to provide to them. To achieve the goal of giving perks that its employees value, Conestoga-Rovers

How does a firms marketing strategy impact its decisions regarding the Case Study

How does a firms marketing strategy impact its decisions regarding the appropriate manufacturing strategy - Case Study Example Without a marketing strategy, an organizations effort to attract and retain customers becomes inefficient. However, with a marketing strategy, other strategies in the firm also become operational. According to Paul Fifield (2012) is an organization’s central concept or its produce by which the approach it chooses to take to has an impact on the market. The correlation that exists between the marketing strategy and manufacturing strategy in an organization has direct relations with its success and competitive capabilities. In chapter 5 of Bowersox, Closs, Cooper and Bowersox’s article, page 107, the authors evidently indicate that the existing marketing practices serve as a foundation for the manufacturing strategy in relation to client acceptability. The relationship between the two is crucial to an organization’s competitive position. When such a relationship does not exist, the manufacturing strategy is not used as a formidable weapon of competition since it is does not form the correct alignment with the marketing strategies (Bowersox, Closs, Cooper & Bowersox, 2011). An excellent example comes from Bowersox, Closs, Cooper and Bowersox’s article where they indicate that the marketing department may only care about the features and aesthetics of a product or service, whereas the manufacturing department conc entrates on the firm’s conformity. The key aim of a manufacturing strategy in an organization is to ensure that it has a competitive advantage over its competitors using the available manufacturing capabilities or assets. However, it is fundamental to note that the competitive advantage is only defined from a firm’s standpoint on marketing. Given that there are often many conflicts that exist between the two, the strategies are always divergent. Hence, for this reason, a firm’s marketing strategy has to have a positive impact on decisions

Explaining the change management at British Airways

Explaining the change management at British Airways This report focuses on explaining the change management at corporations. It includes the example of British Airways that has once successfully applied change management in their corporation. Change Management is the concept organizations apply in order to deal systematically with change. When British Airways was formed after its merger, it wasnt doing well. This was mainly because of the cultural and status differences of the employees of the corporations that were merged. There was no leadership and the company lacked the required competence to deal with the emerging problems. In order to deal with that dilemma it was decided to appoint a new Chairperson and Lord King was appointed. He later on, appointed King Marshall as the Chief Executive. Both the leaders knew that change was needed within the company. They saw that valuable resources were being wasted, company was working inefficiently, cultures differences existed, needs of the customers were not identified correctly and attitudes within the company were to be changed. They took major change management steps and came up with different programs and strategies to deal with the situation. It was made sure that the employees are fully supported during the process of change and needs of everyone are catered. Hence, a successful change management was implemented that helped the company to come out of crisis and emerge as a strong competitor in the airline industry. Introduction: Change Management is a word heard often now in most of the corporations. It has been around for a while now, but is famous in corporations that are interested in initiating a change to their processes which includes both culture and work tasks. Change management is defined commonly as employed set of the processes to ensure that considerable changes are implemented in a systematic, controlled and orderly fashion to result in organizational change. (Hiatt Creasey 2003) Five principles of Change: While implementing change management there are five basic principles that the managers need to keep in mind: Different people tend to react in a different way to the change. Everyones fundamentals needs are to be met. Change also involves loss at times and people need to go through the loss curve. The expectations of all are to be met in a realistic way. Fears of all are to be dealt with. Organizational Change Management: According to organizational change management both the tools used by managers and the processes are to be taken into consideration. Mostly organizations want the change to be implemented with least resistance. For this to happen change must be implemented with a structured approach so that the transition of one behavior to another is as smooth as possible. Managements Role in the Organizational change: It is the responsibility of the management to spot out the behaviors and processes that are not proficient and come up with new ones that are more effective for the organization. Once these changes have been identified, managers should estimate the impact it will have on the organization and its employees. Management should also assess the reaction of employees to the implemented change and try to understand the reaction as well. It is the job of the management to completely support their workers through the process of change. Finally the management should help employees to accept these changes and help them to adjust well and effectively once the changes are implemented. (Hiatt Creasey 2003) British Airways: British Airways is the flag carrier airline for the United Kingdom with its head quarters in Waterside. The main hub of British Airline is at the Heathrow Airport of London; its second hub is at Gatwick Airport and the third one is at London City Airport which is served through BA CityFlyer a fully owned subsidiary of British Airways. British Airlines happens to be the largest airline of UK on the basis of its international flights and destinations and their fleet size. In the year 1971 British Airways board was formed to manage the two airline corporations, BEA and BOAC, and relatively two smaller regional airlines Northeast Airlines from Newcastle and Cambrian Airways from Cardiff. But in the year 1974 all these airlines were dissolved to form one major airline British Airways (BA). The airline was created aiming at being the worldwide network and achieving economies of scale. The merger of these airlines resulted in 50,000 staff members and 215 aircraft, which are considered to be grossly overstaffed along with many levels incompatible management structure. Problems were being created because of the cultural differences between the airlines along with a class distinction amongst the staff members. When the middle oil crisis arrived in the world and resulted in reduction of market, it left the already overstaffed BA airline with massive losses, a very poor service reputation and 20,000 potential redundancies. The union was so strong in the company that it made difficult for the company to take any remedial measures. By the year 1980 the fleet was downsized to 174 aircrafts but still the company was loosing money at the rate of  £200 pounds per minute. With the government supporting the company, there was no internal urgency for the change to take place and outside competition to be adapted. (Lundy Cowling 1996) By the year 1981 British Airways appeared to be a failing company making multimillion pound losses. It gained the reputation of being a major international airline giving the worst service. The only solution than was seen to make a change in the culture of the staff. For 13 years it remained a nationalized company and in February 1987 it became privatized as a plan of the conservative government of that time. Major Problems being faced after the merger: When British Airways was formed after the merger it faced a number of problems and issues. Main problem was encountered in terms of the culture differences of the companies. When the members of organizations belonging to different and diverse cultures interact with each other and one of the cultures is required to adapt the practices and methods of another culture it results in disruptive tensions. Same situation took place between he employees of BEA and BOAC the two emerging industries of that time. This problem can be explained as a culture clash or acculturative stress. Another issue arrived in terms of the management system being imposed in the company. BA implemented a very inflexible, preoccupied and hierarchical management system creating status differences which was also evident from their uniforms. The company also had problems being rule oriented. The new management had problems in identifying and addressing the needs of their customers. The company emphasized more on their inward looking management approach and on maintaining their various routes and all this resulted in customers being unsatisfied. Change in direction: In the year 1979 Mrs. Thatchers new conservative government took the decision to privatize the airline. At that time the European airline market was developed majorly and most of the airlines were state owned. A whole process was put in place for the privatization of airline. Eight years of time was taken to make it happen, stand on its own feet and emerge to succeed as a commercial body. This included a whole process of culture change and cost cutting. Hence the different models of change process were being applied in the form of Theory O (through focusing on changing the behavior and culture) and Theory E (through cost cutting). Because of the restructuring of the airline there was a reduction in the number of routes served, the college of air training was closed, catering operations were transferred to outside contractors and property interests were divested. (Horner Swarbrooke 2004) The airline was shown to be a peasant class of travel and showing general subservience to the pressures of trade unions. However, the internal studies showed that jobs of the managers of highly specialized, communications in between the departments were highly poor and technically the airline was bankrupt. Major management changes were being considered in order to change this reputation of poor services. This was known to be the change management which is incorporating change in to the working systems so that the company becomes more efficient is satisfying the needs of customers or clients. This served as a basis for the appointment of Lord King as chairman and as Chief Executive King Marshall was appointed in the year 1980. Hence, first change took place in the form of leadership change where these leaders with their authority, later on made organizational changes. When this Chairperson started working, noticed that a lot of valuable resources were being wasted and the company was working inefficiently. In order to make the company more profitable, it was decided to restructure the whole organization and change methodology change management plan was seen as the best way to do that. Measures of Change Management: The second most important change took place at the group level in the form of operational change when it was identified by the leaders that there was inefficiency existing in the system. Measures like reducing staff level and cut in production costs were taking place and this change can be classified as fine-tuning. (i.e. Scale Type 1 of Dunphy and Stace (1993)). The company started decreasing their workforce very systematically. But before doing so, through the change management leadership of the chairperson, Lord King gave reasons for the privatization and restructuring so that the employees get prepared for the up coming changes. (Horner Swarbrooke 2004) In order to investigate the ways of improving customer service in the year 1983 a steering group was established in the British Airways. It was identified that for British Airways offering customer service is the key cornerstone in the market place. Two courses of actions were then recommended by the steering group which changed the way the company decisions were made. A marketing policy group was created for the re-organization of the company. Also, by the name of Putting People First a program of courses was employed throughout the whole organization. This program was aimed at improving self image, to achieve the greatest possible standards of customer care and to change attitude towards the external and internal customers. Another program with the name of Managing People First covering the perception of the contact staff and their managers was started. (Lundy Cowling 1996) After identifying the inward looking rigid culture existing at the top of management hierarchy, the Chief Executive appointed a new top management team whose job was to strength customer oriented culture within the company. Transformation in the management, culture, strategy and operations took place on a large scale. These changes were both organizational and strategic. An external audit company conducted a two way audit that covered the perception of customers of the services being offered by BA. The frontline employees were awarded with the required authority and also the information to deal with the customers. The process was started by eliminating layers of the management structure and emphasize from divisional was changed to a functional structure. The personnel function was restructured by Marshall and for the mammoth task ahead a human resource department was created. To give a break from the old BA image Chief Executives two main image fronts which were the uniforms of customer contact staff and the company livery, were improvised. (Lundy Cowling 1996) But changing external face is never enough so attitudes within the company were to be changed. Time Management International designed a training program for BA in order to respond to the needs identified in the audit. The final step and the logical step which was taken was linking performance with pay. Strong leaders were recruited as a part of the change management. The segmentation policies were clearly defined and these were targeted in well developed branding programs. (Horner Swarbrooke 2004) All the actions can be seen as an amalgamation of both planning (revolutionary) and incremental (evolutionary) change. The evolutionary change is seen valuable in the short to medium term and revolutionary in the long term. These changes emerged to work for the company in the form of delivering excellent service and quality to the customers and developing relationships with them and in the long run the company appeared to be the largest airline for UK. (Clarke 2001) Stakeholders Analysis: In order to facilitate the stakeholders during the process of change the leaders gave their full support and time. The Chief executive and the Chairperson acted as the change agents for the company. The heavy support from the top management (Marshall attended a number of staff and management programs and spent 20% of his time in this activity) and the continued training softened the harsh impact of cultural and organizational change. Although this change was bumpy incremental as there were staff cuts this type of change is called Adaptation by Balogun and Hope-Hailey (2004). As a part of the cultural change program two days were given to the employees and five to the managers. Around 40,000 of the workforce were put through this program and this was fully supported through evaluation and compensation in the form of bonus payments. (Clarke 2001) The leadership style here was democratic and the leader Other supported measures included, action groups, updated performance management, implementing total quality management (TQM), educational seminars and the staff newspaper British Airways News. (Lundy Cowling 1996) Success of the Change Management: The main objectives of imposing the changes were to become competitive in the airline industry and survive in the market place. The changes which were implemented by British Airways helped it to become more customer oriented by delivering excellent services and quality to the customers. Also, these changes helped the company to improve their relationship with the employees as well as the relationship of the employees with the customers. The expensive and time consuming investments which were a part of the change taking place also paid off when the company won in the year 1989 the award of Worlds Best Airline which is a prestigious business traveler award. The company after changes became more competitive in the UK market. The implemented human resource management and the strategies served as a basis to help the company emerge as a strong competitor in the airline industry. (Lundy Cowling 1996) The company achieved reduction in their costs through savage labor cuts, concentrating on key strategic business areas and slimming down of the business. All the moves taken by the company and the programs being conducted resulted in revue of the management structure. The overall age profile of the team was decreased and only those were chosen having entrepreneurial abilities. The major aspect of success for the airline was their marketing strategies. Some of these were campaign of the Advertiser of the year, Fly the Flag and We take more care of you promotion, Red eye advertisement etc. All this and much more helped the company to come out of the difficult times. (Horner Swarbrooke 2004) Conclusion: The leadership of the company directed it through difficult times by applying a change management in the company. British Airways still happen to be the major global airline but now its reputation is declining. This can be because of the inappropriate decisions taken by the management, but mostly it reflects the hard times and the difficult business environment that exits for all the airline companies. The management again aims at implementing new strategies and programs within the company through a marketing communication in order to create a better image. Also, the current management realizes the need of leadership and entrepreneurial competence which could wipeout all the problems from the company. For the company to fully run again on the track of success the management should identify the problems existing within the company. They should try to resolve the issues and come up with effective change management programs that can again benefit the company.

Lasers :: essays research papers

When most people see a laser beam they are amazed by its unique physical properties. Laser light is so unique from other light because it is coherent; unlike ordinary light, which travels in all directions, laser light travels in a straight beam. The word laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The history of the laser is very interesting. Lasers have changed immensely since they were first invented. Before the laser was invented, Charles Townes developed the maser in 1954. The maser has basically the same principles as the laser, but it involves microwaves instead of light. The maser lead Theodore Maximan to assemble the first working laser in 1960; he did this by applying the masers qualities to light. This first solid-state laser was a ruby crystal laser. A year after the first solid-state laser was invented, the first gas laser was constructed by Ali Javan, W. R. Bennett, and D. R. Herriot. This was a helium-neon laser. The helium-neon laser is the most common laser found today. Many other types of lasers have been invented since then: the semiconductor laser (1962), the chemical laser (1964), the liquid laser (1966), and the free electron laser (1977). All lasers work basically on the same principles. First the atoms in the substance used are pumped. For example, the helium and neon would be pumped in a helium-neon laser. This is where the electrons of the atoms jump to higher orbitals, which have more energy. The substance can be pumped by using flashlamps, other lasers, atomic explosions, electric discharges, solar energy, and etc... When the atoms are pumped, they perform stimulated emission. This is where the electrons are stimulated by photons to release coherent photons of a single frequency and color. After the pumping process, the oscillation process takes place. In this process energy is amplified to make it stronger and more useful. This is done by bouncing the photons between two mirrors until they reach a certain intensity. The two mirrors are one of 100 percent efficiency and one of a lesser efficiency. When the photons reach the certain intensity, they leave the mirror of lesser efficiency in a coherent beam. There are basically four main types of lasers: solid-state, gas, liquid, and semi-conductor. Solid-state lasers are made from a crystalline material such as ruby. The crystals have impurities in them that can be stimulated to release radiation in a coherent fashion. These impurities are needed to make the laser last for long periods of time. If the crystals do not have impurities, then they can have some added; this is called "doping." The crystals in solid state lasers are usually pumped by using flashlamps. Gas laser beams are much more

Oppisition Arguments Essay

Animals deserve the same rights as people because they can feel pain; therefore, everyone in the world should become vegetarians. Animals do not deserve the same rights as humans. If so then we should give plants and vegetables rights as well. We kill a lot more plants then we do animals, so I believe that everyone should eat strictly meat only. America should not act as a â€Å"World Policeman† because it has enough domestic issues of its own to deal with. Even though America has a lot bases throughout the world, this does not mean that we are the world Policeman. We are just helping our allies so we could keep trading with these countries for natural Resources. Immigration should be allowed without any caps because it brings in skilled workers and increases the cultural variety of American Society. If we decided to take the cap off on immigration then we can see a lot more businesses hiring cheaper labor which means the unemployment percentage will go up and cause us to have another great depression. Parents should never be held responsible for the crimes of their juvenile children because children should be held responsible for their own actions, even if it means trying them as an adult. Parents should be held responsible for their kids because it is their job to raise them and look after them. If they were watching their kids then their kids probably wouldn’t be committing crimes. Beauty pageants are a fantastic way for young girls to increase their self-esteem, practice public speaking and cultivate their talents. Beauty pageants are one of the worst places for young girls to increase self-esteem. You’re in a competition were all the contestants are trying to be the most beautiful of them all and will try to put you down to win.

Functional Immunity

This type of immunity arises from  customary international law  and  treaty law  and confers immunities on those performing acts of state (usually a foreign official). Any person who in performing an act of state commits a criminal offence is immune from prosecution. This is so even after the person ceases to perform acts of state. Thus it is a type of immunity limited in the acts to which it attaches (acts of state) but will only end if the state itself ceases to exist.This type of immunity is based on respect for sovereign equality and state dignity. The offices usually recognised as attracting this immunity are Head of State or Head of Government, senior cabinet members, Foreign Minister, and Minister for Defence: see the  Arrest Warrant Case,Pinochet Case  (R v Bow Street Magistrates; ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 3)  [2000] 1 AC 147, House of Lords).Such officers are immune from prosecution for everything they do during their time in office. For example, an English court held that a warrant could not be issued for the arrest of  Robert Mugabe  on charges of international crimes on the basis that he was a presently serving Head of State at the time the proceedings were brought:  Mugabe, reported at (2004) 53 ICLQ 789. Other examples are the attempts to prosecute  Fidel Castro  in Spain and  Jiang Zemin  in the USA.However, the moment accused leaves office, they are liable to be prosecuted for crimes committed before or after their term in office, or for crimes committed whilst in office in a personal capacity (subject to jurisdictional requirements and local law). Pinochet  was only able to come to trial because Chile and the UK had both signed and ratified the UN Convention Against Torture through which such immunities were waived. It may be the case that personal immunity is itself being eroded.In 2004 the Appeals Chamber of the  Special Court for Sierra Leone  held that indicted Liberian president  Charles Taylor  cou ld not invoke his Head of State immunity to resist the charges against him, even though he was an incumbent Head of State at the time of his indictment. However, this reasoning was based on the construction of the court's constituent statute, that dealt with the matter of indicting state officials. In any case, Taylor had ceased to be an incumbent Head of State by the time of the court's decision so the arresting authorities would have een free to issue a fresh warrant had the initial warrant been overturned. Nevertheless, this decision may signal a changing direction in international law on this issue. Recent developments in international law suggest that this type of immunity, whilst it may be available as a defence to prosecution for local or domestic crimes or civil liability, is not a defence to an international crime. (International crimes include  crimes against humanity,  war crimes, and  genocide).This has developed in the jurisprudence of the International Criminal T ribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, particularly in the  Karadzic,  Milosevic, and  Furundzija  cases (though care should be taken when considering ICTY jurisprudence due to its  Ad-hoc  nature). This was also the agreed position as between the parties in their pleadings in the  International Court of Justice  Case Concerning the Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium).The reasons commonly given for why this immunity is not available as a defense to international crimes is straight forward: (1) that is genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are not acts of state. Criminal acts of the type in question are committed by human actors, not states; and (2) we cannot allow the  jus cogens  nature of international crimes, i. e. the fact that they are  non-derogable  norms, to be eroded by immunities. However, the final judgment of the ICJ regarding immunity may have thrown the existence of such a rule limiting functional immunities into doubt.See in this respect the criticism of the ICJ's approach by Wouters, Cassese and Wirth among others, though some such as Bassiouni claim that the ICJ affirmed the existence of the rule. Regarding claims based on the idea that a senior state official committing International crimes can never be said to be acting officially, as Wouters notes â€Å"This argument, however, is not waterproof since it ignores the sad reality that in most cases those crimes are precisely committed by or with the support of high-ranking officials as part of a state’s policy, and thus can fall within the scope of official acts. Academic opinion on the matter is divided and indeed only the future development of International Customary law, possibly accelerated by states exercising  universal jurisdiction  over retired senior state officials, will be able to confirm whether state sovereignty has now yielded partially to internationally held human rights values.In November 2007 , French prosecutors refused to press charges against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for torture and other alleged crimes committed during the course of the US invasion of Iraq, on the grounds that heads of state enjoyed official immunity under customary international law, and they further claimed that the immunity exists after the official has left office. [1]