Motivation and Teams Case Study

The goal-setting theory states that employees are motivated when they are given a specific goal. Mary Ellen Sheets set goals and had business plans made so she knew approximately how well the company would do. She wanted everyone to have a good experience with a business known to cause less stress and she worked hard to accomplish that. Ms. Sheets created Stick Men University to create consistently high-performing teams for her company. The franchise owners and the men who do the moving are taught everything she has learned from the initial contact with a customer to the end of the move. Franchisees and movers learn the basics—from answering a customer’s first phone call to a handshake after the move is done. The job enrichment theory states that if employees have control over how their jobs are preformed or managed they will be motivated to work better. Klaus Kleinfeld was able to negotiate with employee representatives to get work done quicker by working flexible shifts. Work that is finished quicker translates into more money and job security, two things that would motivate employees to perform their jobs better. Mr. Kleinfeld encouraged his employees to pull together to get their job done. He understood that many jobs are being outsourced to other countries and to keep their jobs it was important to work together. He works hard at knowing everything about Siemens so that he was an important part of the company and he has job security. He answered e-mails from employee reps almost immediately, even late at night. He was able to motivate people to pull together.

Questionnaire KAYE FINAL

Your answers will be tabulated with those of others to determine information needs, usage patterns, content requirements, format preferences, and overall quality. Thank you for your time and assistance. Directions: Please read this page before filling in your questionnaire. Take the time to fill in the questionnaire carefully and thoroughly. Allow sufficient time before your appointment for completion. Answer every question possible. Answer questions as honestly as possible. Encircle or mark all possible answers which apply to you. I.Target Situation Analysis Tasks, Skills and Activities of Nurses 1 . Which of the following best describes your practice role? (select all that apply) Case manager Clinical nurse specialist Nurse manager/ administrator Nurse navigator Nurse practitioner Nursing instructor/ educator Research nurse Staff nurse Other (Specify) Other (please specify) 2. What are the tasks that you usually do as a nurse? 3. What are the activities that you usually do which ne ed your skills? 4. What language skills and genres do you usually utilize? . Discourse AnalysisDescriptions of the language used by Nurses 1 . What are the demands of the Standardized Language in your field? 2. What are the goals Of utilizing Standardized Language for Nursing? 3. What are the genres and the terms used by nurses? Ill. Present Situation Analysis Capacities of Nurses 1 . According to you, what does it take to make a good nursing leader? Select all appropriate choices. A. Good interpersonal skills b. Good personality c. Better knowledge and skills d. Ability to handle all the members e. Good nature f. Ability to bring the best out of all members .

Exxon Mobil Stock Analysis

STOCK ANALYSIS REPORT – Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) –August 15th , 2011 [pic] Industry: Oil and Gas Operations Sector: Energy Recommendation: SELL Price: $74. 29 (as of  Ã‚  August 15th 2011, 4:00pm ET) Intrinsic Value: $52. 10 or 42. 6% overvalued Fundamentals Grade: A Investment Style: Large Cap Blend CORPORATE INFORMATION [pic] Location: 5959 Las Colinas Boulevard Irving, TX 75039 Phone: 972-4441000 Fax: 972-4441348 Web Site: http://www. exxonmobil. com/ Employees: 83,000 Exchange: NYSE BUSINESS SUMMARY Exxon Mobil Corporation (Exxon Mobil) through its divisions and affiliates is engaged in exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas, manufacture of petroleum products and transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products. †¢ ExxonMobil is the largest integrated oil company, with operations in over 200 countries. This globally diversified enterprise produces superior returns in its business segments when compared to other major oil and gas companies. †¢ Exxon has a strong balance sheet with a cash position of approximately $13B and 0. 7 Debt-to equity. Exxon has the liquidity and credit to invest in high return projects around the world. †¢ Prices for oil and gas are expected to rise in the foreseeable future. Emerging market growth and increasing need for energy will place upward pressure on prices. Exxon will benefit as the world’s largest oil and gas company (by reserves, excluding national oil companies). The average industry return is 27%, which is greater than that of S&P500 (21%). †¢ Exxon’s all-stock purchase of XTO Energy is dilutive to share holders and not expected to increase EPS in 2011 or 2012. Exxon’s size and breadth of operations make it difficult to find investments large enough to produce market beating growth. We expect Exxon’s growth to slightly lag the overall economy, especially smaller exploration and production companies that have better investment opportunities relative to their size. †¢ Exxon’s inability to organically replace reserves means that it must acquire oil and gas assets to supply its operations with replacements for the reserves it consumes. Acquired assets will likely come at a higher price and produce a lower return. Production from Exxon’s Upstream segment (exploration and production of oil and gas) has been declining (down 30% since 2006). While the acquisition of XTO will replace some of this lost production, it is expected that the company will continue to experience declining production from its existing fields. KEY STATISTICS |Market Cap (intraday)5: |360. 57B | |Enterprise Value (Aug 17, 2011)3: |363. 1B | |Trailing P/E (ttm, intraday): |9. 78 | |Forward P/E (fye Dec 31, 2012)1: |8. 21 | |PEG Ratio (5 yr expected)1: |1. 32 | |Price/Sales (ttm): |0. 91 | |Price/Book (mrq): |2. 0 | |Enterprise Value/Revenue (ttm)3: |0. 93 | |Institutional Ownership |49. 12% | |Earnings Yield |9. 28% | |Return on equity (RoE) |24. 69% | |36 month Beta |0. 9 | |Dividend Yield |2. 48% | |Profit Margin |8. 51% | |Current Ratio |0. 97 | |Debt to equity ratio |0. 07 | [1]Source: Yahoo finance; http://ycharts. om/companies/XOM/return_on_equity ANALYSIS Exxon Mobil (XOM) is the largest market capitalized oil company in the world which in 2008 obtained the highest quarterly and annual profit in United States history. The Company plans to invest $125 billion over the next five years to develop new technology, deliver new Upstream projects, increase refining capacity, and grow their Chemical business. Exxon Mobil’s revenue and profit have increased 60% and 79% respectively in the last 5 years. The Company exhibits a healthy profit margin and return on equity of 8. 51% and 20. 4% respectively and maintains an above average earnings yield of 10. 27%. Exxon Mobil has plenty of liquidity enabling the Company to pay all its long-term debt in less than three months on profit alone. Exxon Mobil is valued at $52. 1 as of August 15th 2011. The Company is 42. 61% overvalued for the current price of $74. 29. The PB ratio is slightly above the industry average of 2. 0. Risks to Exxon Mobil include depreciating reserves, decreasing number of new oil fields, adverse environmental impacts, government regulations, geopolitical risks, market volatility, macroeconomic difficulties, etc. Balance Sheet The balance sheet of XOM is pristine. Debt comprises only 9% of total capital, and in a business that is very capital intensive, that’s a great sign. The current ratio is low at 0. 94, slightly lower than the generally accepted â€Å"safe† level of 1. $30 billion in earnings in 2010 is more than enough to repay the roughly $15 billion in total debt the company has in only a few years. Return on Equity The return on equity closely followed the rise of oil prices up until 2008, the fall in 2008- 2009 and the subsequent increase ever since. Right now Exxon-Mobil has a high return on equity of 20%. Given the high oil prices, I expect ROE to reach its 2008 highs this year. Rather than focus on absolute values for this indicator, I generally want to see at least a stable return on equity over time. Dividends Exxon Mobil has paid an increasing dividend for the past 27 years, and according to their website, averaged 5. 7% over that time period. The most recent increase came on April 27 of this year, when they raised the quarterly payout 6. 8% from $0. 44 to $0. 47 a share. This is an annual raise from $1. 74 to $1. 88, or 8%. Projections: 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Dividends Per Share $1. 4 $2. 00 $2. 04 $2. 07 $2. 10 Dividend Growth 11. 7% 2. 7% 2. 4% 1. 3% 1. 3% DIRECT COMPETITOR COMPARISON | |COP |CVX |XOM |Industry | |Market Cap: |91. 75B |195. 65B |360. 57B |26. 52B | |Employees: |29,900 |62,000 |83,600 |11. 00K | |Qtrly Rev Growth (yoy): |45. 70% |30. 60% |36. 30% |8. 0% | |Revenue (ttm): |210. 76B |216. 90B |392. 72B |18. 63B | |Gross Margin (ttm): |23. 43% |32. 58% |31. 45% | 32. 51% | |EBITDA (ttm): |28. 78B |45. 90B |65. 78B |4. 19B | |Operating Margin (ttm): |9. 46% |15. 07% |12. 74% |11. 65% | |Net Income (ttm): |11. 3B |23. 01B |37. 93B |N/A | |EPS (ttm): |7. 93 |11. 45 |7. 59 |2. 46 | |P/E (ttm): |8. 43 |8. 53 |9. 78 |12. 94 | |PEG (5 yr expected): |6. 21 |1. 61 |1. 32 |1. 14 | |P/S (ttm): |0. 43 |0. 90 |0. 91 |1. 39 | P/E ratios are higher for firms with strong growth prospects, other things held constant, but they are lower for riskier firms. All the three companies have P/E lower than the Industry average. Profit margin is very useful when comparing  companies in similar industries. A higher profit margin indicates a more profitable company that  has better control over  its costs compared to  its competitors. Here again, XOM has a relatively good control of cost. As per the comparison of the ratios with industry average, Exxon Mobil is high performing company with higher ratios than industry standards. Current Market Price (as of 08/17/11) of the Stocks: |  Company name |Current Market Price | |Chevron Corp |$92. 02 | |ConocoPhillips |$62. 29 | |Exxon Mobil |$74. 29 | EXXON MOBIL’S INTRINSIC VALUE: †¢ Current US 90 days Treasury Bill – Rate of Return: 3. 5%   †¢ Historical return on long term Treasury Bond = 5. 8% †¢ Long term risk free rate = rRF = 5. 8% (historical return) Return for the market or an average stock(rM): For this project, it is assumed that the historical rate of return for the S&P500   is same as the market risk = 10. 4%. I am using CAPM method to estimate the market risk premium and calculating the historical risk premium by comparing historical to historical rates. The historical risk premium is 10. 4 -5. 8 = 4. 6% Required Return on Common Stock Required return on common stock (rS) for Exxon Mobil rS = rRF + (rM – rRF)*b = 5. 8% + (10. 4% – 5. 8%) * 0. 49   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 8. 05% Dividend Growth Model: Common stocks provide an expected future cash flow stream, and a stock’s value is found as the present value of the expected future cash flow stream. The expected final stock price includes the return of the original investment plus an expected capital gain. The expected cash flow consists of two elements: 1. the dividends expected in each year. 2. the price investors expect to receive when they sell the stock. Formula1:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   P hat 0 = D1/rS – g Where P hat 0 = intrinsic value of the stock today as seen by the investor D1 = D0 (1 + g) = expected dividend in the first year. D0 = recent dividend paid g = expected dividend growth rate. rS = required rate of return Formula2: r hat S = D1/P0 + g Where r hat S = expected rate of return D1/P0 = expected dividend yield P0 = actual market price of the stock today. g = expected growth rate or capital gains yield. One would buy the stock only if expected rate of return is equal to or greater than required rate of return. For Exxon Mobil: D0 = $1. 8; g = 5. 7 %; rS = 8. 05% P0 = 1. 38 (1+ 0. 057)/ (0. 085 – 0. 057) = 1. 457/ 0. 0280 = $52. 1 The current price is greater than intrinsic value, the Exxon Mobil stock is overvalued by $22. 20 r hat S = 1. 96% + 5. 7% = 7. 66% The expected rate of return is less than required rate of return, which means investor will not buy. Conclusion: SELL Comparing the averaged value of $52. 10 a nd the closing price on 08/15/11 of $74. 29, XOM is adversely overpriced price, with an approximate 42. 6% difference. At this point in time, I think Exxon Mobil’s risks outweigh the potential opportunity here. While I feel the dividend is safe (at a 25% payout ratio) and the current yield is adequate (2. 48%), the Company's ability to increase the payout and create outsized returns for investors is limited by the Company's cyclical market and weak consensus estimates. Sources: †¢ http://financialanalysisonline. com/ †¢ http://www. thedividendpig. com/? p=1395 †¢ http://investing. money. msn. com/investments/stock-price? symbol=xom †¢ http://www. stock-analysis-on. net/NYSE/Company/Exxon-Mobil-Corp/Valuation/Ratios#Current-Valuation-Ratios †¢ http://www. dailyfinance. com/2011/08/08/big-oil-outlook-major-oil-stocks-with-bullish-opti/? ource=TheMotleyFool †¢ http://www. exxonmobil. com/Corporate/Files/news_pubs_sar_2010. pdf †¢ http://www. exxonmobil. com/corporate/investor_dividend. aspx †¢ http://ycharts. com/companies/XOM/price_to_book_value †¢ http://financialanalysisonline. com ———————– [1] 1 Data provided by Thomson Reuters 2 Data provided by EDGAR Online 3 Data derived from multiple sources or calculated by Yahoo! Finance 4 Data provided by Morningstar, Inc. 5 Shares outstanding is taken from the most recently filed quarterly or annual report and Market Cap is calculated using shares outstanding.

Identifying and Managing Risk Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Identifying and Managing Risk - Research Paper Example The market risk is associated with the uncertainties in the areas of foreign exchange rate fluctuations, fluctuation of interest rates, fluctuation of stock prices and commodity prices. The market risk is managed by the use of interest rate swaps, options and future. The use of derivatives in financial market is important to hedge market risks. The risk management techniques are used to reduce the credit risk of the organization which occurs as a result of default of the counterparties. The credit ratings are used to assess the credit risk of organizations. The credit risk is reduced by limiting the exposure to the parties considered to be risky for repayment (Deventer,  Imai and  Mesler, 2013). The other credit risk management tools used are by the use of collaterals, periodic marking to the market, captive derivative subsidiaries and netting. Netting is a risk management technique through which the amount of cash owed by one party to another is reduced by the amount by the latt er to the former. There are various methods of netting which includes bilateral netting, multilateral netting, payment netting, cross product netting and close-out netting. Several types of derivatives like over the counter derivatives and credit derivatives are used to mitigate the exposure to credit risks. The types of credit derivatives include Total return swaps, Credit Swaps and Credit Options. Several authors have explained different financial risk management techniques that are widely used in the industries. Analysis: Comparison of financial risk management techniques A comparison of the financial risk management techniques explained by Kallman  to that of Cohen and Palmer is given below. Kallman explained that we should a clear idea of the nature of risks that need to be mitigated. According to Kallman, the risk exposures could be categorized into strategic risks, operational risks and economic risks. The strategic risks are the uncertainties that rise in the long term. Th ese may be quality risk, brand risk, etc. The operational risks are the uncertainties that occur within a single operating period as a result of the operations of the company. The economic risks are the areas of uncertainty created as a result of volatility in political and financial conditions (Kallman, 2007). These risk exposures are mainly due to the changes in macro and micro economic conditions. The economic risks take the form of interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, etc. The risk exposures may be pure which results in a loss of values or speculative which may either result in a gain or loss. The popular risk management tools proposed by the author are risk surveys and checklist. The survey and checklist are important tools to build a risk register in the organization. Flowcharts of organizational process are useful in identifying the risks involved. After identification of risk, the risks are managed by risk management techniques that include statistical analysis, financ ial statement analysis and also personal inspection. The risk management techniques explained by Kallman could be compared to the risk management techniques explained by Cohen and Palmer. According to Cohen and Palmer, the

Integrated Social Media Plan for Rockport Company Research Paper

Integrated Social Media Plan for Rockport Company - Research Paper Example Correspondingly, it can be observed that the business strategies applied by Rockport centrally focuses on promoting adequate innovation and engineered designing to provide ultimate comfort and style to its customers in accordance with the changing trends observable in the global market (Adidas Group, 2012). 2. Defining Social Media Goals for Rockport Setting of goals associated with marketing any product and/or service can be considered as a primary and most essential step for modern organizations in order to build a strong brand establishment in the respective business market. Therefore, the primary goals of the proposed social media for Rockport would focus on: Enhancing or strengthening its brand value Driving renovation strategy for its continuous brand development and Continuous monitoring of its brand presence in any respective business market 3. Crafting Message to the Target Audience The development of an effective social message will certainly play a major role for Rockport to maintain its brand equity within the market. In order to meet these stipulated social media goals, the following messages would enable Rockport to build its strong brand positioning in the leather footwear business industry. We care about your comfort and style Engineered footwear to deliver ultimate comfort and style Setting trends through delivering innovation and style 4. Selecting Social Channels/Tools for Brand Positioning Following are the few major social media tools that are selected to promote the global brand positioning of Rockport. Facebook: In its brand positioning, Rockport uses Facebook to promote its product with the aim to Enhance its one-to-one interaction between the brand marketers and consumers Facilitate better awareness and loyalty among the targeted market segment Emphasize to promote rewarding word of mouth promotional benefits to the brand Twitter: In order to maintain the sustainable position in the shoe designing and manufacturing industry, the promoti on of organizational product through Twitter have also enabled Rockport to Communicate brand and its range of innovative leather footwear Generating brand values Demonstrating brand personality Getting adequate feedback and providing customer service LinkedIn: The incorporation of LinkedIn in the promotional activities of Rockport has enabled to build a strong online business network across the world. It thus facilitates the organization in Building network of vital contacts gaining efficiency in managing global value chains Help recruiting appropriate candidates to venture globally Providing and sharing ideas among the people engaged within the network Google Plus+: Apart from the above mentioned social media already used by the brand, The major advantages can be obtained by Rockport through the integration of Google+ in its promotional activities. This can assist the organization in Communicating products/service to a large volume of users Marketing and promoting products/services Sharing of different ideas Providing business solutions Source: (Bonchi, Castillo, Gionis & Jaimes, 2011) Tumblr: As an effective blogging platform, Tumblr can also provide effective support for Rockport to promote its exceptionally designed footwear products. The primary benefits of Tumblr shall thus include Building interactive social communities across the existing and new business markets of Rockport Improving business network through incorporating range of potential users.

Sport and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sport and the Media - Essay Example Furthermore, because of the evolution of the mass media, there is an emergence of sports stars (Raney, 2006). Examples include Tiger Woods, Christiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, etc. These people normally occupy the front pages of newspaper organizations, and other forms of mass media. They are popular because of the media, and as a result, they are able to earn a lot of money from sponsorship deals and agreements. Without such kind of reporting, these sports personalities cannot get the popularity that they have. Furthermore, sports organizations normally get a lot of money, by charging media rights. These are fees that the media pay to sports organizations, for airing their matches. Billings (2011) explains that this money is usually huge, when compared to the gate collections that these sports organizations are able to collect. Based on this fact, sports heavily rely on the media, as sources of revenues, and for advertisements. Without the media, it is impossible for sports to become a multi-billion dollar industry. In as much as sports rely heavily on the media, the media also relies on sports. This is because they are able to attract male viewers, who love sports. Furthermore, newspaper organizations have sports sections, and this helps them to increase circulation, hence revenues (Raney, 2006). Despite the importance of the media, in the industry, there are numerous issues that have arisen. Some of these issues include the quality of reporting by journalists, and their professionalism. Furthermore, controversy exists, on whether journalists are serious about their reporting, or they are motivated by the fun, of being sportsmen. In conclusion therefore, the media plays an influential role in sports management, and it is a source of revenue for sports team. On the other hand, the media also benefits from sports, and this is because it relies on it, for increased sales, and circulation. It is therefore prudent to

Information Security and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Information Security and Ethics - Essay Example Organizational strategies (policies, leadership, training, etc.) specification is one policy that would be required where each employee has his or her computer, to prevent spread of viruses when one is infected. Further, the organization should control the sites in the network and also external devices plugged into to the computer. This can be appropriately be described as type of software that support advertisements. It displays or downloads a banner that is not wanted by the user, within his or her software. The software is most of the time embedded with the software of interest by the manufacturer, with the intent of sinking the cost of development. With regard to protecting the organization system from adware, the organization should ensure that, only licensed and registered software is purchased. They should also install antivirus to attack the abrupt advertisements. Furthermore, it should within the planning of the organization, to trades with licensed software producing companies. It should also ensure that employees have clear instruction as to whom to consult in case of software installation in their computers. The impact of the threat is that it can either corrupt the data or steal the information stored by the user. Example is the computer virus which decodes or corrupts the system information of the computer, autorun   It is defined as a malicious set of instructions that executes actions within the machine without user’s legal authorization. The impacts of Trojan include data copying, modification, blocking, deleting or even disruption of network and computer performances.   Installation of firewall, security passwords, and data encryption should be done. The local connection within the organization should have identification, such that; only those people permitted to access, can gain entry in to the system. Another threat experienced by the organizations is hackers. These are unwarranted users of network or computer. Their impact to

Industrial Relations in Australia Research Paper

Industrial Relations in Australia - Research Paper Example The introduced reforms in the country has constitutionally permitted the court to settle the disputes and issues relevant to the 'wages and conditions of employment for the nation's employees' (Giudice, 2006), such reforms are expected to generate economic effect with reference to the 'decisions and its relationship with industry protection policies which would endure until the closing decades of the century' (Giudice, 2006). The significant feature of the Industrial Relation system practiced in Australia has been its collective system, the industrial relation system has 'provided legal recognition for trade unions which, once registered had the capacity to act in industrial disputes in their own right on behalf of their members present and future', the system has further authorized the industrial units and the trade unions to perform on 'strong egalitarian foundation' (Giudice, 2002).  As per the regulations of the government with reference to the industrial relations, the parties , unions, and employers have been encouraged to file their grievances in the Court for early and peaceful settlement, and avoid any malpractices which are expected to hamper the industrial activities and growth, the industrial units have been barred from different practices of strikes and lockouts, and have regarded such practices as unlawful. Such reforms and regulations have deeply influenced the industrial relations of Australia, and integrations of all these regulations and combination have been unusual. The Australian laws have further incorporated certain variations in the labor laws of its states, and the major concern of the regulations has been 'the bargaining process'. The understanding of the Australian legislative towards the Industrial relations have been extremely different, 'this was because the rationale for Australian unique system was that the strike was to be replaced with conciliation and arbitration carried out under the auspices of a tribunal with a responsibil ity to protect the public interest' (Giudice, 2006). After the strike calls were legitimized in Australia, it was observed that such practices were never adopted because the unions and the industrialists had the common understanding that such practices will never address the concerns of the unions towards the employers, and neither will it benefit any of the party. The country has introduced statutory rights, the purpose of which is to offer protection to the individual employees from expected or unexpected 'unfair or discriminatory termination' (Raymond, 1970) of their services by the employers. Australian laws with reference to the Industrial Relations are required to go through process of conciliation, the prevalent issues have to be initially resolved through conciliation efforts, and any harsh technique and forcible approach has to be avoided and discouraged, and any of the party found guilty of such an act will be regarded as guilty on the grounds of offensive approach.

American painting. Albert Bierstadt Research Paper

American painting. Albert Bierstadt - Research Paper Example As a result, in this description, the main focus will be color and composition and how the artist used specific colors such as blue, brown, green and white in the composition of the oil painting. The emotion with regard to the picture will also be described with regard to the colors that the artist chose to primarily focus on. Analysis Color is one of the most important aspects in any artistic work. It aims to create the mood and set the emotion that the artist wants the viewer to figure out about. With regard to the art of choice â€Å"The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak† by Albert Bierstadt color is one of the most important aspects that the artist decided to focus upon so as to portray emotion. Colors such as blue, brown, green and white are used to portray very important emotion and the artist did exactly that with the oil painting. In addition to that, colors have three important characteristics which include hue which is related to the name of the color such as white, blu e, green or white. The second property is color intensity that refers to the description if the color that the artist has used. For example, color intensity may be related to the nature of the color. The third property is related to value which means the lightness or darkness of the color that the artist had decided to focus on. More to the aspect of color, the oil painting by Albert Bierstadt, the composition is another important aspect. The art was based on Lander’s creek which is a mountain that is located in the Wyoming Range which is currently referred to as Wyoming. The peak of the mountain was names after Frederick W. Lander when the civil war in America happened. That is the reason why the oil painting has the aspect of a sharp pointed peak as it clearly describes what the Wyoming Range looked like exactly. In a description about the painting which was termed as, â€Å"Sharply pointed granite peaks and fantastically illuminated clouds float above a tranquil, wooded g enre scene†1. Thus color and composition are important aspects in the history of American art. Conclusion In conclusion to this paper, it can be termed that color is a very important aspect in art. Art without color can be compared to art that has no life and nothing to showcase. Image Works cited Hyde, Anne F. (August 1993). "Cultural Filters: The Significance of Perception in the History of the American West". The Western Historical Quarterly (Western Historical Quarterly, Utah State University on behalf of The Western History Association) 24 (3):

Relevant Areas to the Implementation of an Enterprise-Level Business Essay

Relevant Areas to the Implementation of an Enterprise-Level Business System - Essay Example These can be integrated into another method that focuses on milestones. Milestones and sub milestones should result in an enhanced or new function versus waiting until the entire project is implemented. These methods sway management not lose interest in the project because the level of excitement can be maintained, plus one can appreciate that the investment paying off earlier. Because this is focused on an enterprise environment, it is possible that each department will need to be changed one at a time or, departments working closely together may need to be changed simultaneously. This is usually more apparent when using an implementation tool. One popular tool for system implementation is Microsoft Project, an excellent program for an enterprise system or extended project. Milestones and sub milestones, mentioned in methods, are inherent in the application. Another way of using millstones is with metrics. Metrics are used to measure progress and estimate how long a project will take based on industry standard metrics for specific task. Metrics are beneficial because they measure the effectiveness of the phases that have been implemented by starting with a baseline before any of the new components are implemented. Using metrics to measure the impact of given application will communicate the worthiness of the overall project. If one is concerned that a project is not what she hoped or promised, it might be time to jump ship. Professionally this is called change of control. At any time during the implementation process, there may be a need to change the control with minimal interruption. Provided that each phase, especially the implementation phase, has been documented thoroughly, change of control should be a smooth transition. Thorough documentation and a well-defined plan are highly beneficial. It is important for people to know what to expect and begin training. A streamlined cutover will ensure that budget, end users, and time line goals are met. Over the last decade, Enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems have emerged as an essential tool so as to obtain the competitive advantage for most businesses. ERP systems are defined as management information systems (MIS) that integrate primary business applications, including all areas and levels of an organization. Typically, ERP systems consist of applications for accounting and controlling, quality management, production and materials management, sales and distribution, project management and human resources. (Loadstone, 2003). MAS is a system of measuring and providing operational and financial information. ERPS and MAS are interrelated and have a close relationship. As "ERP is at its essence a data management tool"( Schuster & Brock, 2004, p.2) therefore, it can be said that ERP is a tool of MAS in order to give businesses a competitive advantage. The implementation cycle of an ERP system is about organizational change. It is a multi-disciplinary effort and characterized as a complexity, uncertainty and a long time scale. (Harwood, 2003, p.1). The cost and time are very important issues for an organization to consider when implementing an ERP system. ( Granlund and Malmi, 2002, p.304). However, a proper implementation of the system may provide many benefits, depending on the organization integrating the system with its own business processes. An ERP system

Performance of Stock Exchange of Thailand Essay

Performance of Stock Exchange of Thailand - Essay Example One of the most salient features of stock exchange is that it provides liquidity to investors who are often in need of trading their securities without loss of time and value. One of the most important functions of the stock market is that it can serve as a strong indicator of price discovery. Since securities held by shareholders represent claims against the real assets of a firm, their price indicates the return that their assets can fetch from the market, if they are realized. This important function of price discovery provides necessary impetus to the organizations to issue new stock and arrange relatively cheaper funds from external sources to fund the future expansion. The return from the shareholdings of an investor is the strong factor that keeps him/her to maintain investment with the same firm and inspire him to buy more of the same firm. However, the size of market return is not reliable as it is subject to variations over time owing to many factors, mostly beyond the control of an individual firm. The factors that determine and influence the return and/price of stocks are coined as the determinants of stock market return. ... However, these forces are decided by many factors, which include both internal and external variables that can influence the investment decision of investors. From another perspective, these factors may be categorized as systematic factors (economic, political or sociological changes) that are common to all securities and unsystematic factors (company specific factors), which are unique to certain industries or firms. This chapter is meant to document the studies and researches undertaken across different parts of the world on the subject matter of stock market return and its determinants. This literature review covers a wide spectrum of empirical as well as non-empirical studies conducted to study the economic as well as non-economic variables, which influence the market behavior and return individually and collectively. 2.0 Stock Market In today's investment arena stocks have been widely accepted as the most important investment avenue for individual as well as institutional investors. A stock is referred to as a financial claim against the real assets of a firm. It represents a valid legal claim in favor of its holder for the right to get periodical return and capital appreciation, if any. It not only represents the partial or pro-rata ownership of the investors in a firm but it also allows them to influence the decisions affecting the day to day affairs of the company. One of the most appealing features of the investment in stock is that it provides maximum protection and liquidity to the investors by allowing easy trading at stock exchange at agreeable prices. Even though stock represents ownership in a company, it does not mean that the shareholders are liable for the

A view from the bridge Essay Example for Free

A view from the bridge Essay There are many emotions in the play: Love, hatred, jealousy, and anger. Write about one and how it is presented in the play. I have chosen to look at the emotion love and the part it plays in affecting the storyline. In A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller most of the characters actions are fuelled by love. Love drives all the other main emotions in the play. However there are question marks over both the central loving relationships, that of Eddie and Catherines and Eddie and Beatrices. Catherines love for Eddie is that of a daughter for her father as she calls him the sweetest guy. She has a doting daughters attitude. Catherine cares for Eddie and goes out of her way to please him What do you want me to do? she asks him upset when he disapproves of her skirt. She wants very much to please him. But Eddie is very hard to please, as he is far too overprotective of her. Catherines falls in love with an immigrant who stays with the family I love you Rodolfo she tells him. Catherine has never been in a serious relationship before but is deeply in love with Rodolfo who in turn loves her. This relationship is normal for people of their age and marriage is quite a natural step for two people in love. Marco is an immigrant who has come to America as his family are starving and as he explains his wife feeds them from her own mouth meaning they are starving. Marcos love has forced him to leave his wife and three children to work in America to make money to feed them. This is a very strong gesture as he plans not to see his family again for four, five, six years maybe. This relationship highlights the extreme measures people are driven to because of love. Marco loves his family to the point where he would do anything for them. This shows that in this play love is a real passion that prompts other behaviour. Eddies love for Catherine seemed at the beginning of the play just to be the love of a concerned father figure, I think its too short aint it? he says worrying about the length of Catherines skirt. Eddie is very over protective of Catherine and treats her as if she is still his little girl, which could be damaging to her development in this stage of life as Beatrice points out Look, you gotta get used to it, shes no baby no more. It is time for Eddie to let go but he cant. Eddies obsessive attitude towards Catherine seems strange to everyone except Eddie She cant marry you, can she? Alfieri says trying to explain how others might see his behaviour. To everyone else Eddie seems to be perversely in love with Catherine and wants her for himself. I believe this is not the case, I believe Eddie has become used to Catherines love for him that he cannot bear to see her adorning her affection on anyone else. The stage direction with a sense of her childhood, her babyhood and the years describes the great sense of loss Eddie feels as he has cared and loved her all her life. Beatrice remains faithful to Eddie throughout although she is frustrated, When am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie? she tells him, desperate from him to forget about Catherine and go back to caring for her. Beatrices love for Eddie is one of the strongest in the play, she wants desperately for Eddie to pay her the attention she deserves as a loving wife. Eddies obsessive behaviour towards Catherine puts great strain on his marriage I want my respect he says when Beatrice tries to confront him, Eddie is angry and shouts at her for complaining about him being so strict with Catherine. Beatrice is struggling to keep her marriage intact, but she cannot understand the love Eddie feels towards Catherine. I believe Eddie loves his wife dearly but his love for Catherine takes priority when Rodolfo comes on the scene, which leads him to mistreat Beatrice. I cannot help feeling sorry for her as she is forced into a situation that was not her doing. It seems her love for Eddie is unrequited. Eddies hatred for Rodolfo is fuelled by his jealousy for the love and attention Catherine bestows upon him, Im telling ya the guy aint right he says trying to justify his hatred. Nobody believes Eddies comments about Rodolfo and everyone but Eddie can see through to his jealousy. It isnt right for a man of Eddies age to be obsessed with his young niece, but nobody understands the depth and passion of Eddies love, which drives him to keep Catherine at any cost. Eddies obsessive love compels him to see Mr Alfieri, family friend and lawyer He aint right Mr Alfieri Eddie pleads, but it is obvious he has no jurisdiction within he law. The fact Eddie has gone to see Alfieri shows the power of his love towards Catherine and his desperation to have her for himself. Love is the main driving force behind all the characters actions, the truth is not as bad as blood Eddie Beatrice tells him trying to quell his anger and hatred. Beatrice believes that love is not a worthy enough cause for the use of violence. It is Eddies deep love that drives him to use all force necessary to have what he believes to be his Catherine. This unfaltering love to the bitter end is misunderstood by Marco He degraded my brother. My blood. Marco says; he cannot see why Eddie turned him and Rodolfo into the police. But it is obvious to the reader that it was Eddies love that compelled his actions and not his hatred for Marco and his brother. Eddies love finally leads him to his death You lied about me Marco Eddie cries before lunging at him. This is Eddies last desperate attempt to win back his dignity. Eddies love has driven him to a point where he has no other option but to follow his feelings to the end. The fate of Eddie Carbone is a tragic one as his obsessive feelings towards Catherine took control of him and his actions that followed he could not help. I believe the story is a testament to the power of love and how once it has infected someone in a certain way; they are powerless to stop it. Emlyn Roberts Pluto10X Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

The Background Of The Social Stratification Sociology Essay

The Background Of The Social Stratification Sociology Essay All societies place their members according to superiority, inferiority and equality. The vertical scale of evaluation, this categorization of people in layers is called stratification. Social stratification is a natural and controlled division according to race, religion, social and economic status. In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. Anthony Giddens has defined social stratification as the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society, in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. According to Peter Saunders, in modern Western societies, stratification depends on social and economic classes consisting of three main layers: Upper class, Middle class and Lower class. Every class is further divided into smaller classes according to occupation. 1.1 BACKGROUND: The notion of stratification came into existence in 1940s. Social stratification is the basic cause of inequalities. The basis for social stratification are earnings, privileges, ethnicity, disability,    education, access to benefits, sex, caste, wealth, religion, power, age, gender, occupation, race, region, language, party and politics. Stratification is a trait of society and not just individual differences. Indeed it is the outcome of the social arrangement and it has a great impact on everyone. Stratification is universal, but tremendously changeable in form. Stratification persists over generations. It is still prevailing in our society. Four fundamental forms of stratification are class, caste, estate and slavery. Stratification is common in the animal kingdom on the basis of power and gender and some form of stratification has most likely always existed among humans. With the progress of food and other surpluses resulting from hi-tech advances in agriculture and manufactur ing, some people began to mount up more wealth than others. There could be many other things influencing social stratification. For the larger part of history, the on hand stratification arrangement was regarded as an undeniable feature of society and the implicit purpose of commentators was to clarify or rationalize that arrangement in terms of religious doctrines. 1.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: Social stratification is social, universal, diverse in structure, very old and consequential. It is a trait of society, not merely a reflection of individual differences. Those at the top of the ladder the higher class has more advantages in life than those at the bottom of the ladder the lower class. The upper classes have more opportunities to thrive in life; chances include such things as conditions of work, healthiness and accommodation. People at the top of the ladder may choose the area that they live in which will tend to have less crime, better schools and better living than those in the lower class. Social stratification moves from generation to generation. Each human being born into the world is involuntarily allocated to social strata. Their place is usually their parents place at that time. We are born with nothing so consequently we inherit what our parents have. Children are influenced by their family members. Every family within the social order and within each social stratum has different ambitions, determinations and goals to be successful in life. A child will gain knowledge of these through the accomplishments of his own parents.    Even though social stratification is universal, it is also variable which means that all different countries have different forms of stratification but its characteristics vary in every country. In the United Kingdom it is very much a class system, whereas in some Asian countries the stratification is on the basis of the religion. Social stratification involves inequality and beliefs. Everybody within society has to believe that stratification is fair otherwise there is going to be unrest in the society. Social Stratification can be seen in all places around us from our schools to government agencies to even our homes. It is a definite part of our social system that represents the discrimination of opportunities that we experience and observe in our everyday lives. The idea of pecking order emerged in the 17th and 18th century by sociologist Hobbes and Locke and it was through these sociologists that people realized that inequality existed in the society. On one hand, inequalities based on individual qualities (charisma, economic or social skills, etc.) do not add up to stratification, since they arent defined by membership in a particular category. So, if in a hunting band the best hunter or the spiritualist/sage is held in high regard and has privileged access to some resources, this isnt social stratification. Symbolic Interactionists reveal that symbols help to describe the meaning of all social actions, and a persons self is developed socially through social interaction. Legitimating thoughts, expressed symbolically in the form of language give reasons for inequality, for strata, for the ways people are positioned in the strata and for changes in the stratification system. These sustaining ideas also strongly manipulate how people assess themselves within the system, influencing them to agree to their position in the structure as good and right. 1.3 MAJOR FORMS OF STRATIFICATION: Primal collectivism characterized by an elevated level of sharing and negligible social inequality, Slavery involving enormous social inequality and the ownership of some persons by others, Caste in which a person is permanently assigned to a status based on his or her parents status, Estate in which peasants are required by law to work on land owned by the noble class in exchange for food and protection from outside attacks. There are different forms of social stratification that are present in our societies i.e. Class society: In this society persons status is ascribed to them by the accomplishments they have achieved. In the United States, the social stratification that divides the most is the class system, whereas in areas of Africa not only are there class differences to divide people but women are in a class by themselves. The class system is defined by the possessions of wealth or material possessions (Henslin, 2010, p.189). Even though we like to think of ourselves as a very progressive nation, we still look down on people that are below us in class.    1.4 REASONS OF EXISTENCE OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: Natural predictability suggests that discrimination exists because of natural differences in peoples abilities and is a just system. Structural -functionalists states that stratification is helpful to society because it enhances strength and induces members of the society to endeavor. Conflict suggests that stratification occurs through conflict amid different classes, with the upper classes using greater power to take a bigger share of the social resources. Evolutionary states that people will share sufficient resources to guarantee the survival of the group until an excess exists at which point power determines how the surplus is distributed. Symbolic Interactionists calls attention to the significance of symbolic displays of wealth and power that influence ones definition of self and the importance of ideas in defining social situations. Inequality may originate from natural differences in peoples abilities. Structural-functionalists believe that societies have a tendency to be stable and are held as one through agreement. Stratification provides an important function to society by aiding this process because it lessens conflict and provides structure. Conflict theorists believe that society tends towards conflict and change and that stratification system compel the lower classes to benefit the upper classes. 1.5 ORIGINS OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: In early societies, people shared a common societal position. As societies evolved and became more intricate, they began to elevate  some members. To understand stratification, we must first understand its origins. Though there is a lot that we dont know about origins of stratification, it is apparent that it is a fairly recent development, as exposed through study of grave goods, and historical record of state expansion and conquest of more democratic societies. Once they come up, stratified systems lean to expand at expense of egalitarian systems, but this cannot explain origins of first stratified systems i.e. cases of pristine state formation. It is not simply survival mode, since some foragers are less democratic than many agricultural and most pastoralist societies Attempts to elucidate cultural advancement of social stratification in ecological terms by and large rely on one or another of  two basic approaches: 1. Stratification = solution to an ecological problem 2. Stratification = system by which one class extracts resources from another These two approaches often termed  functional  and  conflict  theories, respectively. Functional theories focus on benefits to all parties; in contrast, Conflict theories argue that elites benefit at expense of commoners. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION: The book by Macionis, J and Plummer, K., 2007, called Sociology: A Global Introduction defines   Social stratification as a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy and that one group has access to a disproportionate amount of money, power and prestige and stratification can be used as a lens to focus on social inequality. The books by Haralmbos, M., Holborn, M. and Heald, R., 2008, called Sociology themes and perspectives  defines, social stratification to the presence of distinct social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such as prestige and wealth. The five societal pyramids explain how societies work.   This pyramid arrangement focused on how people were ranked by their financial positions, their power and their prestige. The way society effort with social division depends upon wealth and power, not on hereditary position. The open system based on personal accomplishment, where people have control over position between upper and lower class in society can lead to discrimination amongst each other. The stratification systems focused on other social divisions such as: Gender stratification Ethnic stratification Age stratification Health and disability In the 19th and 20th century the structural functional paradigm argued that stratification systems are functional for society. The Davis-Moore Thesis argues that industrialized societies for the most part are prolific under a system of meritocracy. Under this kind of inequality, the stratification system rewards good performers with high salaries and punishes poor performers with fewer salaries. Davis-Moore argued that several jobs have to to pay more than others; they are important jobs, so their high salary will magnetize the most excellent performers. These top performers will be more inventive and this is functional for society. Functionalists also argue that stratification promotes in-group harmony. Marx and Weber, who were Conflict theorists, alleged that the finest way to study social stratification was by using Conflict theory. On the whole, the main aim was to scrutinize and elucidate social inequality in society. Marx thought that there were two classes in the social order, owners and the workers. He wanted the workforce to become aware of this theory to ultimately bring down the owners. Weber, in contrast, considered more about Marx theory and thought that there must be another class involved which is the middle class. Middle class inhabitants are ones with skills required for jobs but do not have ownership; this set them at a distance from blue-collars, because they had skills for certain jobs which gave them a sense of power. Mills and Domhoff thought that there are little structured groups of people who stay out of political affairs so they are not estranged. This gives them a key to power in society.   Ã‚   Social Stratification allows people who have proficient varying competence and riches to function in ways that are appropriate for them. This is a functionalist perspective supported by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore. They started by pointing out that no society is classless or unstratified. 4. CONCLUSION/SUGGESTIONS: From the above mentioned things we can conclude that the basic factor that causes social stratification is poverty. Steps should be taken for its eradication which will bring change in the society.   In order to eradicate social stratification, we should try to eradicate things that are causing it including unequal education, facilities, opportunities, wealth, poverty etc. if all the citizens of every country will get everything in equal quantity and quality, only then change will happen. This is the basic right of every citizen and it should be given to them. More fortunate people should help the less fortunate ones. They should try to be empathetic towards poor only then they can help them. They should be motivated and interested in keeping everybody equal and everyone should try, on individual level, to see the needy around them. Other than this the only best solution to solve this vicious circle is to apply a Sharia law on national scale, which stipulates that each person should set aside 2.5% of the income each person earns monthly to help eradicate poverty and the money gathered can be used to purchase things needed for those who are in need as capital, like sewing mach ines or seeds etc.   Theres no way for the government to be able to reduce or let alone eradicate poverty as long as it tightly clings on to capitalism and those 99% Americans are the living proofs, who say capitalism cant eradicate poverty.

Managing changes in the British Airways organization

Managing changes in the British Airways organization This report is the part of assessment of the managing changes in organisation and on-going research and opportunities available for the different changes in the strategies. For this assessment I have chosen the British Airways as my organisation for the foreseen of the management of the organisational changes and how they can be effectively implemented in an organisation. This report covers all the key aspects for the implementation of the changes within as organisation and also suggests some implications for their successful running. Good organisation structure does not by itself produce good performance. But a poor organisation structure makes good performance impossible, no matter how good the individual managers may be. (Drucker in Mullins (2005) p597) Task 1: Explore the background to change affecting the current organisation Discuss the background to change that exists in todays economy that motivated your organisation to consider Change. INTRODUCTION In todays era we are lining in the organisational world and this world is tending to be change continuously. Organisations in the society are the most important part as they serve many vital and necessary needs and demands of the society and even individuals. NEED FOR ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE Changes are mostly taken as the fears and uneasiness of the unknown. The changes of organisation within a firm or company are subjected to activate by the need and necessity to respond over the fresh opportunities, innovative type of challenges and the responses to the government laws and regulations. There are the external forces that bring the changes are effected by the various factors like innovative technologies, policies, structure of taxes, legislation policies and coming opportunities with different market forces. Organisational changes for the sectors of private area are vital as there is pressure from the different environments over them. There are some kinds of pressures that are due to the changes in the patterns of the work and referred to the place of work or workforce, customers needs and their conflicts regarding the services and products provided to them. So, here in this competitive environment only those organisations can be successful that are adapted to the changes and accept the changes. They must be able to change themselves according to the environment otherwise they would be unsuccessful in future. They then have the risk to takeover and become stagnant. In order to change or adapt they must be clear to define the following in accordance to the changing environment. The nature of any kind of change proposed The origin for the need of changes. According to the Decent Home Standards set by the Government in July 2000 ensure that all social housing meets set standards of decency by 2010, by reducing the number of households in social housing that does not meet these standards by a third between 2001 and 2004, with most of the improvement taking place in the most deprived local authority areas http://www.bankofgoodpractice.org/contentmanagement/documents/pdfhtmlfiles/FD7DF6AA-20ED-3428-8A3B720FC2698940.htm Introduction to the company British airways and reason for the implementation of changes British airways BA is well known and UKs biggest airline at international level. This airway used to carry a huge number of passengers from the various countries and at the international level. This company is not only recognised in UK as well as in the world as the biggest airline. The destinations covered by this airline to the worldwide routes are 550 around across the world globe. British Airways is the worlds biggest international airline, carrying a vast number of passengers from various countries to another. Also the company is one of most recognised airlines in the world. British Airways worldwide route network covers around 550 destinations across the globe. This company has mainly two bases in the London one it Heathrow airport terminals and the other one is Gatwick airport terminal. No doubt that BA is recognised as the largest international services in airlines though it has to face the high competition with its rival US as they tend to pick and drop the more passengers at the domestic level flights. Some time it has to be struggling to keep ahead in the competition. Following entitled some of the problems which have to be faced by the BA. Problems faced by BA: British Airways have faced threats and due to the long standing arguments with its unions, as well as a possible expensive strike ahead, as the organisation has cut thousands of jobs as a part of its restructuring programme. British Airways are currently struggling with staff shortages as the level of absenteeism for the companys employees are high above the average and unacceptable figures for the industry. Employees are said to be unmotivated and morale is low, as increase in pay is low and the restructuring of the company have led to 13000 job losses, the reason being the decline of the economy i.e. some ticket prices lowered to attract consumers, thus decreasing staff bonuses, salaries, redundancies etc., or some prices increased due to maintenance, travelling cost. Failures with BAs  £4.3 billion Terminal 5 (Heathrow) at launching stage, BA blamed the glitches on problems with staff familiarisation, which had a knock-on effect on bags and flights. Technical difficulties also meant major delays in reclaiming luggage, flight cancellations, and suspension of check in service. Anti-airport expansion groups holding protests. This is because these groups are concerned with the level of pollution and harm already caused to the environment. Factors responsible for change in BA: The problems that are outline above are basically due to the internal influences. However, here it is very necessary to remember that there are different environmental factors that have their influence over the strategies of the British airways and even their image, structure and means of operating. As the high-quality process for delineation of the political, social, cultural economical and technical factors usually affect the changes in the organisations in the form of pest analysis for the British airways and illustrate these factors and how they intend to change in the environment. Political factors Upsurges in the prices of the fuel that will drive up expenditures of flying an airplane. Firmer EU rules and regulations related to the noise pollution have affect over the airlines. As there is involvement of Britain in the difficulties in the areas of Eastern nations and Iraq results in the unwilling to go with the organisation. Preferences of Britain regarding not to introduce the Euro has resulted in the decline in the percentage of the travellers to UK. Economic factors Due to increase in the rates of interest there is great impact over the customers and they intend to save their money. They dont want to spend their money and this brings the reduction in the demand of holiday flights. Also there is increase in the taxes of and the flights become expensive. Socio-cultural factors At the instant it is very popular to travel out of the country, nevertheless attitude and taste of the customers changes very quickly. Threats of terrorist attack may reduce peoples desire to fly i.e. 9/11 New York, USA Due to the insecurity and increase in the number of airline crashes there is decrease in the percentage of the passengers travel through the airlines. Most of the British airways flights are non-smoking and stop the smoking passengers to choose these airlines. Technological factors Technology is proceeding in culture so quickly that in the coming future travelling by aeroplane may not necessary or flat outdate. British Airways clienteles are gradually discontinuing the usage of phones to reserve their travel documents or tickets. Having looked at the PEST analysis, it is clear that there is a large threat of the luxury airlines to the British Airways. For this there must be go with the opting the strategic management changes and marketing sources available and to follow up the promotional activities for the BA. Theoretically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of bureaucratic organizations SWOT ANALYSIS OF BRITISH AIRWAYS SWOT analysis is very useful tool for analysing the changes and the position of the company. It makes the company to be aware of the powers and weakness of the company with the opportunities and threats for the market. It is an assessment procedure for the company to find its strengths, and weaknesses and compared these with the opportunities and threats that can be faced in the competitive market (Fry et al, 2004). The strength of the organisation as well the weakness is related to the past and present, and is taken as the internally controlled factors within an organisation. On the contrary the threats and opportunities are related to point out the present and future of the organisation and for the taking of more outward looking for the developments (Brassington and Pettitt, 2003). STRENGTHS The skills, resources and other kind of advantages of a company are defined as the strength of an organisation relative to its competitors in the market (Griffin, 2002). Accordingly the strengths of organisation British Airways (www.britishairways.co.uk) can be as follow: it continues to dominate Londons major airports it contains the latest check-in technology its communication between managers and staff is very good It is still being perceived as the national airline. WEAKNESSES Weakness as the name implies are the deficiencies or drawbacks or we can say that shortcoming of the resources, skills and other kind of factors that create hindrance to get the competitive advantage form the market (Griffin, 2002). Accordingly the drawbacks and weaknesses of the British Airways (www.britishairways.co.uk) are as follow:- It contains of great labour numbers, particularly in the United Kingdom; It has a dragging back aptitude. 4.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES The opportunities obtain data about economic, financial, political, legal, social and competitive changes in various markets the firm serves or might want to serve (Griffin, 2002). The opportunities of British Airways (www.britishairways.co.uk) could be that:- Expedition in the economic segment of the organization. Perception of the airlines as the national airlines. THREATS The threats of an organisation are defined as the shrinking markets, increased competition, and the potential for new government regulations, political instability in key markets and the development of new technologies that could make the firm product lines obsolete (Griffin, 2002). Accordingly the threats for the organisation British Airways are as follow (www.britishairways.co.uk) It has ferocious opposition from low fare airlines e.g. Easy Jet Its economy is on downturn; Its companies are investing largely in order to improve their services; Its technology offers a short-term advantage Task 2: Develop systems for understanding and involving others in the process of change Identify the key Stakeholders in your organisation and Develop systems to involve those stakeholders in the introduction of change. Stakeholders Every organisation needs the change so that they can satisfy their customers, because the view of altogether of the stakeholders is the important to define the success of the organisation. British Airways wants to comprehend its stakeholders (customers, opinion leaders and employees) for the better to inform the various decisions to be taken. Consequently, detailed and systematic dimension of measurement and research are basically placed to give the important information. Following are the main stakeholders in the organisation to bring the changes and influence the process of the organisation. Customers Shareholders Government Employees Community The brief explanation of these stakeholders is as follow for the better understanding of their role: Customers: The customers are the key factor for the organisation and there must be changes according to the needs and desires of the customers. Customer satisfaction is very important as the satisfied customers become loyal and retained for the long time with the organisation by keep in mind the need and expectations of the customers there must be implementation of the changes within an organisation. This is mandatory for the organisation to be ahead in the completion. Here it is also found that it is easy to keep the existing customer while trying to attract the new customers even these loyal customers attend to bring more customer as they go through the word to mouth procedure and if they are happy and satisfied they will promote the culture of organisation and that will be result in the more customers, so there must be strategies and change by having the customers in mind first. The monitoring of the feedback on the key stages of flights is usually followed each month. They monitor customers feedback on key stages of their flights each month, using a sample of passengers seated in particular positions throughout the aircraft. Shareholders: The shareholders are also very crucial for the organisation as they are the investors and sources of finance for the organisation. The change must happen in the organisation have greater influences over them as they have their investment in the company.so the changes are usually subjected to the shareholders. Employees: Employees are very important for an organisation. As they provide the interface between the services and the customers. The position of the organisation has affect over the employees if they would not happy how they can provide the good services to customers and Community: the community within an organisation includes the working environment with the managers from other countries, employees and to the relevant community and also refer to the organisation that are non-government that enable to manage the processes at the local level and fro bringing up the changes for the substantial advantages for the concerned communities, British Airways is devoted to actuality a good fellow, apprehensive for the community and surroundings. They repeatedly endeavour to develop the social and environmentally friendly presentation, by the objective of guaranteeing that the actions add to the supportable development of the communities in which company perform their function. The government: Her Majestys Prison Service (the Service) is part of the wider Home Office. Since 1993, the Service has been an Executive Agency of the Home Office and that remains the case. Since June 2004, the Service has also been part of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). NOMS is a huge enterprise spanning several organizations and around 70,000 staff. Analyse and evaluate these systems which you had used to involve the key stakeholder in change process. Change process There is a substantial arguments related to the most suitable process of change for the organisation being having a wide range of literature present in the writings regarding management of change and even there are many tools and instruments for the implication of the changes into the management. But subsequently change is a domineering for all the organisations in order to sustain in this competitive environment organisation to sustain in a competitive environment, the organisation follow up the planned approach for the changes management in the organisational environment. At first Kurt Lewin has coined this term for the distinguishing the changes that was consciously boarded upon and scheduled by an organisation. (Burnes 2000, p.264) The planned approach to change is most closely associated with the practice of Organisation Development (OD) and indeed lies at its core. There are some apparent values that emerged as given as follow (Hurley et al 1992) Empowering employees to act Creating openness in communications Facilitating ownership of the change process and its outcomes The promotion of a culture of collaboration The promotion of continuous learning(Burnes 2000, p.265) These are those values that are incorporated in the British Airways and needs to incorporate into the cultural change for the successful implementation of the foster of the new culture in the organisation. Task 3: Plan to implement models for ensuring on going change Identify number of appropriate models for change that suites your organisation. Models for the changes in British Airways At present the BA is following that enable changes for the long term advantages in the organisation. These models are followed in the three steps as follow: Lewins 3 Step-Model: 1. Unfreezing: This generally entails reducing those current practices and cultural norms that maintain the organisations behaviour. It is likely to taken as the shake-up stage for subdivisions related in the management of the organisational changes. The processes of BA consist of the following: Decrease in quantity of stages in the organisational order. Economizing of workforce of the British Airways. Start of improved programs for the training for the staff, so that they become able to avoid such type of situations in order to avoid such situations, so that the employees do not have to face the problems with the new technologies i.e. Terminal 5 incident. Modifications in the structures and systems of the British Airways. Amendment in the budgeting process. 2. Moving to a new level This contains the actions taken by the British Airways regarding the results of the above step. In this process first there is analyse of the situation and then possible measures are taken to solve that particular problem and to implement the changes by choosing the most appropriate way and path for the action to be taken. After that there is selection of necessary move taken regarding the changes to implement. This step helps to make sure that the new ways are not done for just a short period, and staffs are not reverting back to the old ways, subsequently the following tasks are carried out by BA: 3. Refreezing This is the last step of the model and this relates to stabilising the changes in the organisation. From this step it comes to make sure about the appropriateness of new methods that working safely and in an effective way. This phase does by completely supportive and strengthening the new ways of effort, like system of rewards induction and recruitment and even the strengthening of the culture for the British Airways. Furthermore other big changes that BA has implemented in its organisation are its high-level of Information Technology (I.T). This is becuase information systems and managemenet plays a key role in the airline industry. I.T supports almost every task in BA which most imporatntly underpins the delivery of quality service. Also BA have chosen to intergate better technolgy i.e. self check-in service, and more recently an underground lost baggage collection department, which is around a mile long and directly underneath the airport itself. This is is another path for success in uncertain times. By effectively applicating technology it will definately deliver BAs objectives and goals. Additionally Information Management objectives regarding I.T in BA includes: Supporting the development of the BAs workforce, I.T and associates relations, so that it can deliver genuinely faultless customer service across their own route network and their associates. Improve efficiency of operations and decrease costs as a result of standardised and simplified I.T. Utilize BAs capability and knowledge of the airlines industry processes, in order to deliver the strategic systems, customer service, thus gaining recognition that will help the airline in the future. There are other requirements that are needed for the changes in the British airways are to have outsourcing in the form of subcontracting, like production of the designs and work with another party. This has been used by the British Airways for their business at most for the core aspects of the business. The outsourcing is used to reduce the cost of the expenditures of the organisation. In addition to this there is use of strong strategic alliances by the BA. This alliance includes the joining of American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Lan Airlines, Malà ©v, Qantas and Royal Jordanian. By following this there is a range of opportunities for the cooperative solutions that are designed in order to provide a world that is seamless. Furthermore BA also involved in the implementing to spent the funds for the advertising of the organisation as it is going to support and sponsor the sports event that are going to be held in London i.e. London Olympic 2012 under cultural and charitable activities (BACC scheme) around the world i.e. 2012 Olympics is proudly sponsored by BA. There are some other aims and objectives that have been set by the organisation in order to meet in the coming future are as follow: Encourage 10% of customers to offset their carbon on ba.com by 2012 Audit 100% of our strategic suppliers for ethical practices by 2012 75% of corporate customers use corporate responsibility as a decision criteria by 2010 In adding there are some key issues of the environmental preservation to which the organisation is committed. These objectives are as follow: Zero waste to landfill in the UK by 2010 Reduce the average noise per flight by 15% by 2015 50% reduction in our net CO2 emissions by 2050 How would you go ahead in implementing one or more model(s) in your chosen organisation and what improvements do you expect to achieve by implementing your chosen model(s). Implementing Change Models Planned Change Change that involves actions based on a carefully thought-out process that anticipates future difficulties, threats and opportunities Reactive Change Change that occurs when one takes action in response to perceived problems, threats and opportunities (Management, Bartol Martin, 1994, Page 208) The management of the changes within an organisation in an effective way is taken as the core issue of the development of the organisation. In this there is involvement of the Lewins three phase model as discussed above. Unfreezing recognition of the need for change and reducing the forces that maintain the current form Movement development of new attitudes or behaviour and implementation of change (new policies etc.) Refreezing stabilising change (are training, structures, new policies and procedures working?). Check, review and re-examine how changes are being implemented. Additional model implementation Mobilising Change: Change is the drumbeat in any organisation. It is unavoidable and thats why it is very crucial for the achievement of the success for an organisation. Demystify lack of clarity can create a fog around your organisations purpose, position and philosophy. Think outside in check the alignment to external environment and scrutinise capability to meet the demands of all stakeholders. Map the system study the leadership team to highlight interdependencies between teams and reveal where development may be required. Communicate and engage explain any change that is taking place. Do this in a way that engages stakeholders and is emotionally compelling, to provoke thoughts and action from your audience (Inside Housing, Paul Oliver, Director, Conduco Consulting, Page 32, 9th December 2005). Conclusion Overall conclusion from the above report, we have looked into the various aspects of the British Airways management of changes, structure and performances and also discussed the processes in which these changes are transferred into the organisation. Whats additional through observing into the several conceivable methods to management change, I must remained able to summary change strategies that require and can be applied by the British Airways, for the effective implementations. However it has to consider here that if all plans for the implementation of changes running in a smooth way. In addition to all it is mandatory for the British Airways to effectively transfer their changes to the organisation so that there must be significant results. There are suggested some key areas in which there is need of investment for the BA are as follow: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Development in the incentives and appraisal schemes etc. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ For managers and employees there should be provision of training. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Different franchising actions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Outsourcing of the peripheral activities References

The Dangers of Avalanches Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Dangers of Avalanches Imagine a day of skiing or snowmobiling, where all is good and that last mountain must be conquered. Once on the slope, it may seem perfect, until the snow begins to give away and start to slide. Tumbling down a slope moving at 150 miles per hour, smashing into trees, becoming buried under 100,000 tons of snow, only to guess which way is up, how does one survive? Will the rescuers be able to find the buried victim? For centuries, mountain dwellers and travelers have had to reckon with the deadly forces of snowy torrents descending with lightning speed down mountainsides. Researchers and experts are making progress in detection, prevention and safety measures, but avalanches still take their deadly toll throughout the world. Each year, avalanches claim more than 150 lives worldwide, a number that has been increasing over the past few decades (Cooper). Traditionally, the victims have included skiers and climbers. Today an increasing number are backcountry snowboarders and gasoline crazed snowmobilers (whyfiles.org). An Avalanche is defined as a "rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity." All that is necessary for an avalanche is a mass of snow and a slope for it to slide down. Avalanches occur regularly on mountains around the world, and are harmless, unless someone happens to be in the way. They tend to run down the same pathways every year, and danger zones are usually well-known (infoplease.com). Avalanches are born from a weakness in the snow. Snow is a shape-changer, depending on prevailing temperature and weather conditions. Snow begins life as a fluffy six-armed crystal flake, but while it... ...www.nature.com/nsu/990902/990902-3.html Fink, Micah. PBS: Savage Planet. "Extremes: Forecasting Avalanches." 10 March 2004. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageplanet/04extremes/02avalforecast/indexmid.html> Fredstor Jill A. and Fesler, Doug. Snow Sense. "A Guide to Evaluation Snow Avalanche Hazard." Alaska Mountain Safety Center, 1994. McClung, David and Schaerer, Peter. The Avalanche Handbook. Douglas and McIntyre, Ltd. 1993. National Snow and Ice Data Center. "Why Avalanche Awareness?" 12 March 2004. <http://nsidc.org/snow/avalanche/index.html> National Weather Service, "The Handy Weather Answer Book," Visible Ink. Detroit 1997. 9 March 2004. < http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw/avalanch1.htm> TechLink, "Army Technology to be used for Better Avalanche Protection," 8 March 2004 <http://techlink.msu.montana.edu/dt/armyavalancheprediction.html>

impresonment is more humane than capitol punishment :: essays research papers

Imprisonment is More Humane than Capital Punishment Murder, where to commit it. Canada vs. U.S.A. In this essay you will learn about Peter and Joe. Peter lives in Canada, he killed five people and was sentenced to the maximum sentence of twenty-five years. Joe lives in the United States and also killed five people, he received a death sentence. Please remember in this essay Peter and Joe are not real people they are just used to explain this essay. First we will learn about Peter’s sentence of twenty-five years, then we will learn about Joe’s death sentence. First lets talk about Peter. He has a life sentence, which in Canada is twenty-five years. I believe this is not a whole life, with all the privileges Peter can earn it’s just like sitting at home, and not going to work. After fifteen years Peter can apply for parole, he most likely won’t get it considering he killed five people. Peter has his own room with a toilet, still he has no privacy. Guards are watching him throughout most of the day. Peter has many privileges like television, gym access, library access, the telephone and also visitors. However these privileges are not â€Å"free† they are earned by being good. The question about going insane well I really don’t think he could. If he can sit around, watch television, read books, workout, and well be lazy, how could you go insane like that?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now, back to Joe, he lives in the United States. He was convicted of killing five people also, he received a death sentence. Joe is now waiting on death row. His death date is three years from now. Joe spends about twenty-three hours a day in his room on death row, he gets about one hour to walk around. Like Peter Joe does not have privileges like television, gym access, and visitors. He gets books and maybe the telephone at certain times. Now about two months before Joe’s death date he is told that it has been changed to another two years from now. This could happen up to ten times before the actual date of his death. I think that this could make a person go insane, sitting in a room almost all day, knowing when your date to die is and then changing it over and over again.

Marine Corps

I want to be a Marine Corps Officer to serve my country. It is in my blood That is my first priority and will always be my first priority. Yes, it is great that an NROTC scholarship would pay for my tuition and fees and so on. However, one cannot put a price on the pride and dignity of being an officer in the Marine Corps. No one in the world has greater talent, leadership, and determination to take the initiative, than a Marine Officer. Through Varsity sports, DECA, and over sixty community service hours, I’ve learned how to lead a team, work with others to accomplish a mission, and that being a leader is hard work. However, there is no doubt that I am ready and willing to take on the challenge of being a leader. A leader of men who are the proudest and most feared warriors in this world, a leader of Marines. I live for challenges like these and I am mentally, physically, and morally capable of achieving this dream of mine. This career I strive for is something I’ve wanted to do since the first day I spoke with a Marine Corps recruiter. Marines have something about them that seperate themselves from the other military branches. That â€Å"something† is what I am looking for and is what I need. I believe the Marine Corps can make me into something greater than myself, something that demands greatness. The only thing I am missing is the oppurtunity. Give me the oppurtunity to prove to you and our country that I am a leader and that I have what it takes to become one of the few who can lead Marines.

The apostle Paul was a great letter writer

The apostle Paul was a great letter writer. He supplied fourteen of the letters found in the Christian Greek Scriptures of the Holy Bible. Paul especially encouraged the circulation of his letters, he writing to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and Hebrews generally.In his letter to the Christians at Colossae, he said in his conclusion, â€Å"When this letter has been read among you, arrange that it also be read in the congregation of the Laodiceans and that you also read the one from Laodicea.† (Col. 4:16) Even the apostle Peter, when he was writing from Babylon in Mesopotamia, spoke of his familiarity with the letters of Paul. All the evidence is that those first-century Christians were sharing the â€Å"word of life† with others in this dying world.Paul, above all else, had a keen appreciation of the honor bestowed upon him to be the apostle to the nations: â€Å"I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who delegat ed power to me, because he considered me trustworthy by assigning me to a ministry, although formerly I was a blasphemer and a persecutor.† Moreover, far from being proud because of his office, he humbly asked his brothers to pray for him that he might have the needed freeness of speech to give a good witness.However, once a ruthless persecutor of Christians, now he was as gentle with those whom he taught as a nursing mother with her own children, exhorting was and consoling them as a father does his children. Nevertheless, he could also express righteous indignation, as when he rebuked Peter for his vacillation and those of his fellow citizens who opposed the truth.Though well educated, Paul did not call attention to himself nor did he need to resort to written letters of recommendations. Those to whom he brought the truth were living letters that could be read by all men. Within chapters six and seven, the book of Reverend Frank Matera entitled New Testament Theology address es the different issues pointed out by Paul in his letters to the Galatians, the Romans, The Philippians, the Colossians and the Ephesians.CHAPTER 6: A THEOLOGY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: Galatians and RomansThe letter to the Galatians showed how much passion Paul particularly have with regards the righteousness of the gospel and how much he detests those who intensely goes against the principles and rules set straight by the gospel.Paul’s exclamation, â€Å"O senseless Galatians,† is no evidence that he had in mind only a certain ethnic people who sprang exclusively from Gallic stock in the northern part of Galatia. Rather, Paul was rebuking certain ones in the congregations there for allowing themselves to be influenced by an element of Judaizers among them, Jews who were attempting to establish their own righteousness through the Mosaic arrangement in place of the ‘righteousness due to faith’ provided by the new covenant.Racially, â€Å"the congregations of Gal atia† to whom Paul wrote were a mixture of Jews and non-Jews, the latter being both circumcised proselytes and non-circumcised Gentiles, and no doubt some were of Celtic descent.All together, they were addressed as Galatian Christians because the area in which they lived was called Galatia. The whole tenor of the letter is that Paul was writing to those with whom he was well acquainted in the southern part of this Roman province, not to total strangers in the northern sector, which he apparently never visited. The letter reflects many traits of the people of Galatia in Paul’s time. Gallic Celts from the N had overrun the region in the third century  B.C.E., and therefore Celtic influence was strong in the land.The Celts, or Gauls, were considered a fierce, barbarous people, it having been said that they offered their prisoners of war as human sacrifices. They have also been described in Roman literature as a very emotional, superstitious people, given to much ritual, and this religious trait would likely influence them away from a form of worship so lacking in ritual as Christianity.Even so, the congregations in Galatia may have included many who formerly had been like this as pagans, as well as many converts from Judaism who had not entirely rid themselves of scrupulously keeping the ceremonies and other obligations of the Mosaic Law. The fickle, inconstant nature attributed to the Galatians of Celtic descent could explain how at one time some in the Galatian congregations were zealous for God’s truth. Later, they became an easy prey for opponents of the truth who were sticklers for observance of the Law and who insisted that circumcision and other requirements of the Law were necessary for salvation.The Judaizers, as such enemies of the truth might be called, apparently kept the circumcision issue alive even after the apostles and other elders in Jerusalem had dealt with the matter. Perhaps, too, some of the Galatian Christians were suc cumbing to the low moral standards of the populace, as may be inferred from the message of the letter from chapter  5, verse 13, to the end.At any rate, when word of their deflection reached the apostle, he was moved to write this letter of straightforward counsel and strong encouragement. It is evident that his immediate purpose in writing was to confirm his apostleship, counteract the false teachings of the Judaizers, and strengthen the brothers in the Galatian congregations.It is through this letter that Paul has awaken the people with regards the truth that fraud of beliefs has made their hearts and conscience harden from the possibility of being able to please the one true God whom they prefer to worship. Consequently, their choice of going against the supposed true and righteous path has led them to becoming detestable to the eyes of God, thus it is required that they immediately change their views about the said matter.By the time he wrote Romans, Paul had already completed two long preaching tours and was well along on the third. He had written five other inspired letters: First and Second Thessalonians, Galatians, and First and Second Corinthians.Yet it seems appropriate that in our modern Bibles, Romans precedes the others, since it discusses at length the new equality between Jews and non-Jews, the two classes to whom Paul preached. It explains a turning point in God’s dealings with his people and shows that the inspired Hebrew Scriptures had long foretold that the good news would be proclaimed also to the non-Jews.Paul, using Tertius as secretary, laces rapid argument and an astounding number of Hebrew Scripture quotations into one of the most forceful books of the Christian Greek Scriptures. With remarkable beauty of language, he discusses the problems that arose when first-century Christian congregations were composed of both Jews and Greeks. Did Jews have priority because of being Abraham’s descendants?Did mature Christians, exer cising their liberty from the Mosaic Law, have the right to stumble weaker Jewish brothers who still held to ancient customs? In this letter Paul firmly established that Jews and non-Jews are equal before God and that men are declared righteous, not through the Mosaic Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s undeserved kindness. At the same time, God requires Christians to show proper subjection to the various authorities under which they find themselves.

8 C’s of business letter Essay

Clarity The first element of all business letters is that they should be clear. This includes the purpose of the letter and words used within the text. Clearly state your point near the beginning to allow the reader a clear understanding of the letter’s purpose. Conciseness Avoid using extra words in a business letter. The element of conciseness refers to stating an idea in the fewest words possible. Don’t add superfluous information or extra words to fill space. Simply state the information that’s important and pertinent, and leave it at that. Consideration A business letter should also be considerate. This element is important because you must think about the reader and his feelings and point of view. Make the letter about him and not you. Courtesy   Business letters should show respect to the reader and should demonstrate the writer’s personal respect for the reader and the company he works for. Concreteness Concreteness refers to using vivid wording within the letter that appeals to the reader’s senses. If a business letter is dull, the reader may skim through, missing important points. Cheerfulness When writing a business letter, demonstrate a positive attitude that expresses joy and cheer. Correctness A business letter must always be accurate. This means ensuring every word within the document contains accurate facts and figures. This includes proofreading the letter to check for grammar and spelling mistakes. Character Every business letter should show a bit of uniqueness from the writer. This gives the letter character and may make it more interesting. The Importance of Good Business Letter Format The basic business letter format is the same across a range of industries, with few variations for content and style. The letter should be left-aligned, single-spaced with a one-inch margin and a standard 11- or 12-point type size. The top line below the letterhead should be the month, day and year, followed by one line of space and the address of the recipient. Place one line of space after the recipient’s address and use a simple, professional greeting, followed by a colon and another line of space. Each following paragraph should be separated by a line. Insert one line after the last paragraph, followed by a closing and a comma; leave four lines of space for your signature, and type your name and title. Professionalism A well-formatted letter conveys an immediate sense of professionalism to the reader, particularly if it is printed on quality paper and folded neatly. It lets the recipient know that you took the time to craft a letter carefully, even before he reads the content. When it comes time to follow up, the reader will know where to look for the pertinent information, such as the date and return address. Communication Knowledge When you use the accepted format for a business letter, it lets the reader know that you have a basic understanding of standard business communication practices. A poorly formatted letter, on the other hand, sends an immediate message to the recipient that you do not have the knowledge or you view the communication as informal; as a result, the content might not get the attention it deserves. Showcases Content When writing a business letter, your main objective is to get a message across; the design of the letter itself should fade into the background. By using an improper letter layout, you immediately draw attention to the format rather than the message. By following the standard guidelines for the paragraph content — introducing your point and providing immediate support — you build your case quickly and concisely, making it easy for the reader to focus on the letter itself. Business letters are the unique form of business communication with all the stake holders of the company. The stakeholders include all those who are interested in the running of an enterprise. The business letters are used to convince these stakeholders or persuading them to agree with the writer regarding the topic under discussion. These letters are written as a way of persuading the customers or clients to accept the contract or proposal or enter into an agreement. It is a modern way of communication between both the parties. This is a method winning a contract or bringing business to an organization. A well-written and formatted letter represents the business identity as well as conveys the professionalism of a company. Formats and variation of business letter Proper Business Letter Formats Business letters in the United States, use four common letter formats. Variations differ for other countries such as the date is composed in another style. All proper business letter formats are acceptable but the block is more common. Block Letter Format: The common block letter format is formatted with all of your text flush with the left margin. Paragraphs are doubled spaced and all line text single spaced. The margins are a standard word processor setting of one inch. (see the image of Block Letter Format). Semi-block Letter Format: For the semi-block, the only difference between the semi and alternative block is as opposed to have the body text justified left, the first line of each paragraph is indented. Alternative Block Letter Format: The alternative block letter format moves the return address, date, closing, name, title and signature to the left side of the page. Simplified Letter Format: This format takes the same properties of the block letter with one exception, the greeting or salutation is eliminated. This is a helpful format when you don’t know the recipient’s gender is male or female, or Mrs. or Miss.