Statement of Purpose Essay Example for Free

Statement of Purpose Essay Knowledge comes by eyes always open and working hands, and there is no knowledge that is not power†. This statement characterizes my beliefs. Ever since I attended the first industrial visit during my sophomore year of engineering I have nurtured a dream of becoming a part of the top level management team of a firm. Now, after two years of relevant experience in the field of procurement in Supply chain Management, the power of knowledge seems to call me out persuading me to seek more. The dream I nurtured during my graduation has grown with me and I hope the day of realization is not far off. To make this a reality I intend to pursue an M.B.A in strategy and procurement management at your esteemed university. Soon after my graduation I set out to realize my dream by joining Olympic Cards Private Limited as a procurement engineer. After a year of experience I joined a top electronic manufacturing company (Foxconn International Holdings) in order to attain global experience. The company trained me in global procurement and appointed me as a team leader for the procurement team at Foxconn India Private Limited which I consider as one of the biggest achievement so far in my life. Early in my life, at the high school level, I learnt the value of hard work and perseverance. This led me to secure 90% in my higher secondary examination. Later this served as a foundation for my studies in electronics and communication at B.S.A Crescent Engineering College which ranks as one of the top accredited engineering college affiliated to Anna University in the state of Tamilnadu (South India). Besides this academic achievement I am an active musician and my passion for music has helped me to further understand the importance of hard work and perseverance required to excel. I was elected as the secretary of the college music association in the year 2004 and I performed at a number of prestigious venues around the city. As a part of my work experience I have gained knowledge in the following fields, †¢ Strategic development of suppliers †¢ Analyzing and negotiation of the quotation †¢ Management of contracts and agreements with suppliers †¢ Supplier performance evaluation †¢ Different kinds of P.O disposition †¢ Debit note and Credit note †¢ Inventory Control †¢ Documentation for the procurement department for TL9000 †¢ Part of internal quality and on-site supplier auditing team †¢ Key user for SAP R/3 Material Management Module This had provided me with a firm grasp of concepts and a launching pad to embark upon a voyage of knowledge in procurement. My study of these fields has also served to further fuel my ambition and deepen my interest in the field of strategy and procurement management. I got some very interesting information about my field of study by browsing your website and this has driven me to apply for the M.B.A (Strategy and procurement management) course offered at your prestigious university. The eight modules of the M.B.A program which include the Strategic Management, Organization Resource Management, Strategic Marketing, Financial Management, Operations Management, International Risk Management, Power Regimes Supply Chain Management, Business Strategy and Procurement competence will help me improve my cognizance in the field of procurement and I believe that studying at your university will give me the means to achieve my goals and realize my dreams. I therefore make an earnest request to consider my application for admission.

The Law Commissions review of the law of intention

The Law Commissions review of the law of intention 'The Law Commission's review of the law of intention confirms the viewthat the English law of intention for murder is based upon an understanding that lacks in two opposite ways. First, as regards direct intention, the law is morally under-inclusive in that it places too much moral weight on a psychological conception of the required mental state. It therefore fails to recognise properly the issue and significance of the concept of 'indiscriminate malice'. Secondly, as regards direct and indirect intention, the law is morally over-inclusive, failing to differentiate culpable and non-culpable acts.'(Norrie, 2006) Critically discuss the above statement with reference to the doctrine of intention in relation to the crime of murder and the Law Commission's Consultation Paper Homicide (No.177, 2005). Before we commence our discussion, let us first be quite clear on what is meant by ‘direct intention’, ‘indirect intention’ and ‘indiscriminate malice’ in the context of the above statement. Intention literally means ‘aim or purpose that guides an action[1]’. Therefore, ‘direct intention’, in the context of murder, means an act committed with the direct purpose of killing, or causing serious harm to, another. This has been one of the mens rea requirements for murder as far back as the 17th Century[2]. Clearly, this precludes an intention to achieve another criminal purpose altogether, where the actor ought reasonably to have foreseen, but did not directly intend, the death of another to be a virtually certain result of his actions, e.g. the intention of a ‘person who places a bomb on a plane for the purpose of making an insurance claim in respect of property but who foresees as a virtual certainty the death or serious injury of those who are on the plane when the bomb explodes.[3]’ This is what Norrie refers to as ‘indiscriminate malice’; ‘malice,’ in that the actor intended to perform an illegal act, and; ‘indiscriminate,’ in that the actor paid little or no regard to the virtually certain consequences of his actions, namely the death of another. It has long been recognised that the law should bring actions of indiscriminate malice within the scope of the crime of murder, but that a strict requirement of ‘direct intention’ would fail to do so; ‘direct intention is simply ‘too narrow for the purposes of criminal responsibility[4]’. Thus, the concept of cognitive ‘indirect intention’ was born, introduced into English law in the case of Nedrick[5]. Such intention does not have to be direct, but can merely involve a degree of foresight which, if possessed, should warrant a conviction of murder rather than manslaughter, a crime which denotes a too low a degree of criminal and moral culpability for actions where the death of another is virtually an incidental certainty. This doctrine, in its current form, was laid down by Lord Lane CJ Nedrick[6] in 1986, and modified by Lord Steyn in Woollin[7]: â€Å"Where the charge is murder and in the rare case where the simple direction is not enough, the jury should be directed that they are not entitled to find the necessary intention, unless they feel sure that death or serious bodily harm was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of the defendant’s actions and the defendant appreciated that such was the case.[8]† Some commentators have argued, as Norrie does at the top of this paper, that such an extension has gone too far; whilst indiscriminate malice now clearly comes within the scope of this extended intention requirement for murder, which is a good thing, other actions are now also included under the crime of murder, crime which, due to the lack of criminal and moral culpability involved, would be more fairly labeled as manslaughter. An example of such an action being so unfairly labeled was provided by Lord Goff in the Nathan Committee Report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Murder and Life Imprisonment [9]: â€Å"A house is on fire. A father is trapped in the attic floor with his two little girls. He comes to the conclusion that unless they jump they will all be burned alive. But he also realises that if they jump they are all [virtually certain] to suffer serious personal harm. The children are too frightened to jump and so in an attempt to save their lives he throws one out of the window to the crowd waiting below and he jumps with the other one in his arms. All are seriously injured, and the little girl he threw out of the window dies of her injuries.† The Law Commission, in citing and analyzing this example, came to the conclusion that the father in this case should not be labeled a murderer. Under the concept of ‘indirect intention’ however, the father should be guilty of this second-degree crime. As Norrie notes[10], the Law Commission were forced to conclude that ‘indirect intention’, by focusing on the knowledge of the father rather than the wishes behind his actions, was morally over-inclusive, failing to differentiate correctly between culpable and non-culpable acts, i.e. between actions of indiscriminate malice, such as the insurance fraudster who blows up the plane with no regard to the life of those on that plane, and actions involving no malice, but which are indiscriminate in their effects, such as the actio ns of the desperate father in Lord Goff’s example above. In this paper I shall address these concerns in detail, concluding that a cognitive approach to intention may simply be unsuitable for the crime of murder; it fails to adequately demark the boundaries of culpability between this crime and that of manslaughter. I shall then examine the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper Homicide (No.177, 2005), and shall critically discuss their approach to these problems, concluding with an assessment of how successful these reform proposals would be in their aim of differentiating correctly between culpable and non-culpable acts, if implemented. As we have already seen from the examples discussed above, Norrie is quite right in his assertions; the requirement of direct intention is too focussed on the specific mental state of the actor with the effect that the charge of murder would be precluded for anyone other than an offender who either directly intended to kill his victim, or at least intended to cause that victim serious harm from which death was a reasonably foreseeable result. Likewise, the extension of this requirement to include indirect intention, whilst at least serving to bring crimes of indiscriminate malice under the scope of ‘murder’, also serves to bring other such actions under this label, actions which should only be considered manslaughter, in light of the lower degree of criminal culpability possessed by their perpetrators. In other words, it is not always fair to equate foresight of a virtually certain result with intention. Let us now look at the reforms to the doctrine of direct intention, which have been proposed by the Law Commission in their Report on Homicide[11], and assess to what extent these reform might actually serve to correct the current inadequacies: In this Report, the Law Commission make two different reform proposals; the first of these is to create a statutory definition of intention which avoids the problems of indirect intention being construed too widely by a jury; the second is to codify the existing common law doctrine of indirect intention, but to modify it so that the current problems of indirect intention can be avoided. Both of these proposals are therefore designed to rectify the problem of indirect intention being construed too widely, whilst at the same time allowing this doctrine to continue its prosecution of indiscriminate malice as murder where appropriate. The rationale behind both of these alternative proposals is to rectify the distinction which can, in exceptional cases, exist between intention, in its natural form, and intention implied by reasonable foreseeability/ virtual certainty. They reform proposals recognise that it is possible for an offender to have not intended a particular outcome, even though he or she may have realised that such an outcome was a virtually certain consequence of their actions. This is commonly known as the ‘Woolin[12]’ problem. Under the first proposal, the Commission have state that ‘It is crucial that a statutory definition of intention should not cause injustice, or absurdity, by deeming certain conduct to be intended when the circumstances show it to be otherwise[13]’. Thus, under this first proposal, the Commission propose to insert a proviso into a statutory definition of intention, i.e. ‘A person is not to be deemed to have intended any result, which it was his or her specific purpose to avoid.[14]’ This should not be seen as reinserting a motive assessment into that of intention, but rather to provide a means by which a jury will not be forced to convict someone of murder, in an exceptional case where that offender specifically did not intend to cause death even though he knew it would almost certainly result from his actions. Under the second proposal, the Commission suggest a codification of the current doctrine of intention, modified to take account of those exceptional cases where it would be unfair to equate foresight of a virtually certain result with intention, might be as follows. Such a formulation might read as follows: â€Å"(1) A person is to be regarded as acting intentionally with respect to a result when he or she acts in order to bring it about. (2) In the rare case where the simple direction in clause (1) is not enough, the jury should be directed that: they are not entitled to find the necessary intention with regard to a result unless they are sure that the result was a virtual certainty (barring some unforeseen intervention) as a result of the defendant’s actions and that the defendant appreciated that such was the case. (3) In any case where the defendant’s chance of success in his or her purpose of causing some other result is relevant, the direction in clause (2) may be expanded by the addition of the following phrase at the end of the clause (2) direction: or that it would be if he or she were to succeed in his or her purpose of causing some other result, and that the defendant appreciated that such was the case.[15]† This would have the effect of maintaining the current law in relation to virtual certainty, which as Lord Steyn pointed out in Woolin, â€Å"has [over a period of 12 years since Nedrick] apparently caused no practical difficulties,[16]’ whilst at the same time, limiting the doctrine of indirect intention so as to exclude those situations where an offender might have seen death as being virtually certain, but where he specifically tried to avoid it. This proposal purports to do this by providing the jury with more specific guidelines as to when they are entitled to infer indirect intention. Both of these reform proposals are encouraging; it would seem that the Law Commission is heading in the right direction at last. The first proposal specifically precludes the Woolin problem with the insertion of a provision which, although purportedly reintroducing a motive element to the doctrine of intention, can actually be used to ensure that intention is not implied where it would be unfair to do so. The second is less specific, but purports to achieve the same ends by clarifying the necessary circumstances in which indirect intention should be implied. In conclusion, I would favour the first proposal for the following reason; the second proposal will only slightly modify the doctrine of indirect intention, and will only slightly limit its scope. The proviso contained in the first proposal however, is, as yet, unlimited in its scope, and as such, can be used by a jury to greater effect. This may have the result of reverse injustice, i.e. offenders who should morally be guilty of murder escaping this label for the lesser conviction of manslaughter, but I feel that it will so significantly decrease the chances of the reverse occurring, i.e. offenders who should only be found guilty of manslaughter being labeled as a murderers, that such a risk is justified; after all, it is more important to encourage this latter phenomenon than it is to prevent the former from occurring at all costs, especially in light of the huge sentences which are imposed on those offenders convicted for the crime of murder. Bibliography: Law Commission's Consultation Paper Homicide (No.177, 2005) Nathan Committee Report, Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Murder and Life Imprisonment (HL paper 78-1, 1989). A Ashworth, Principles of Criminal Law (4th ed 2003) A Norrie, â€Å"Subjectivism, Objectivism, and the Limits of Criminal Recklessness† (1992) 12 OJLS 45. A P Simester, â€Å"Why Distinguish Intention from Foresight?’† in A P Simester and A T H Smith, Harm and Culpability (1996) 71. Williams, G. (1955) The definition of Crime Current Legal Problems 8, 107-30 Smith, A. H. (2004) 'Criminal Law: The Future' Criminal Law Review, Dec, 971-80 1 Footnotes [1] A definition provided by the Oxford English Dictionary. [2] See Lord Coke’s classic definition involving ‘malice aforethought’. [3] Law Commission Report: Homicide [No.177; 2005] para 4.6 [4] Ibid, para 4.6 [5] 1986 (83) Cr App R 267 [6] ibid [7] [1999] 1 AC 82. [8] [1999] 1 AC 82, at 96 [9] Lord Goff in the Nathan Committee Report, Report of the House of Lords Select Committee on Murder and Life Imprisonment (HL paper 78-1, 1989). [10] In the statement at the top of this paper, A. Norrie states: 'The Law Commission's review of the law of intention confirms the viewthat †¦ indirect intention†¦ is morally over-inclusive, failing to differentiate culpable and non-culpable acts.' (Norrie 2006) [11] Report No. 177; 2005 [12] In this case, D had a grudge against a woman and had threatened to ‘burn her out’. One night he poured paraffin through her letterbox and set it alight. One of the women dies in the fire. When asked why he did it, he replied ‘to wake her up and frighten her’. Here, he did not intend to kill the woman’s but the question is therefore whether or not he saw such a result as virtually certain. [13] Ibid, para 4.42 [14] Ibid, para 4.50 [15] Report No. 177 2005 para 4.69 [16][1999] 1 AC 82. at 94

Carlos Ghosn’s approach to turning Nissan around

Carlos Ghosn’s approach to turning Nissan around In order to give a thorough in-depth evaluation of Carlos Ghosns approach to turning Nissan around I have chosen to apply John Kotters 8-step model to strategic change implementation (Kotter J. P., 1996) displayed below. Kotter is regarded as an authority within the field of organization and change management and I find his model helps securing a comprehensive evaluation. The model is usually used as a forward-looking plan for how to handle a change process, but I will apply it as a retrospective analytical tool to review how the process was handled at Nissan. The first three steps are about creating the right climate for change and making sure the organization is ready to make a move ahead. The next three steps are about engaging and enabling the organization to pursue the strategy. Without support from a large part of the organization, change will not be successful, but equally important the organization needs to be equipped to handle such process change. The last two steps are all about implementing and sustaining change. Without focus on these aspects the organization is in risk of regress. The assignment puts emphasis on organizational and national culture. That is for good reason as I find them central aspects of the challenges Ghosn was facing, when he took over as the first non-Japanese COO of Nissan. Kotters 8-step model does not focus on culture, but it is implicitly handled in several of the steps most noticeable in step two and four. In the conclusion I will sum up the findings in the analysis and explicitly answer the four questions given in the text. 1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Establish a sense of urgency2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Form a powerful coalition3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Create a vision4 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Communicate the vision5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Empower others6 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Plan for and create short-term wins7 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Consolidate improvements8 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Institutionalize changes 3 | P a g e 2. EVALUATION ANALYSIS 2.1 ESTABLISH A SENSE OF URGENCY It is an ill wind that blows no good, this was also the case for the Yamaichi bankruptcy. The misfortune of the major financial house in Japan helped open the eyes of the employees in Nissan. Now the employees realized that lifetime employment was no longer a reality and that they had to do their own part to secure the companys future and thus their own jobs. Ghosn, to his credit, used the Yamaichi example whenever he could to continue to motivate his employees, repeating that their fate would be no different if they did not put all of their effort into figuring out, and then executing, the best way to turn Nissan around. (Millikin Dean, 2003) The bankruptcy was indeed a blessing in disguise for Ghosn as it created the burning platform that according to Kotter is crucial to do change. Change is always accompanied by anxiety for the unfamiliar, but this event made sure the whole organization was aware that status quo is more dangerous for Nissan and each employee than venturing into the unknown. Kotter believes that around half of the failed change efforts can be traced back to step one. If people do not see why change is necessary, then motivation for change will be nonexistent. Moving a huge organization simply by brute force is an impossible task, but Ghosns strike of luck created a powerful momentum that diminished potential resistance to change. 2.2 FORM A POWERFUL COALITION One man cannot change a huge company such as Nissan. Ghosn realized this as well. Even though he had been talking with plant employees and had gained a lot of knowledge about what should be done, he chose not to impose a revival plan on Nissan. He wanted the employees to come up with ideas themselves and to lay down a plan for what was to happen. His establishment of the nine Cross-Functional Teams (CFTs) and their sub-teams created powerful coalitions that were essential in turning the company around. These coalitions mainly consisted of middle managers, but they were empowered because they reported directly to two supervisors from the executive committee, had full access to all 4 | P a g e necessary information, and they had the full support from top management. The cross-functional aspect gave the freedom and insight to create radical changes without being weighted down by the need for conscientiousness and corporation, which is a general characteristic for most Japanese companies including Nissan. This powerful coalition is, according to Kotter, fundamental for a successful change as Ghosn needed protagonists to influence the whole organization and these protagonists needed to have enough impact to counteract the inherent resistance to change. A powerful coalition is especially important in Japanese culture as group harmony is a cornerstone in their work environment. A powerful coalition will have fewer problems, relative to a similar situation in a company in Western culture, converting the minds of opponents as many will act opportunistic and follow the majority or as Ghosn puts it: When you get a clear strategy and communicate your priorities, its a pleasure working in Japan. The Japanese are so organized and know how to make the best of things. They respect leadership. (Millikin Dean, 2003) 2.3 CREATE A VISION According to Ghosn, Nissan had been suffering from management lacking vision and he pointed this out as one of five main issues that he wanted to address. First creating the Nissan Revival Plan and then formulating Nissan 180 was an excellent two-step vision, which was guiding, laying a foundation for decision making, and created a bridge from the present to where he wanted to take the company in the future. The vision helped the employees understand why they had to undergo change by showing what was in store in the future. That they had to change their attention from regaining market shares to focus on customer demands. Not only was Ghosn aggressively launching the Nissan 180 program to transition out of the Nissan Revival Plan program, but he was also pushing a new, customer-focused initiative called Quality3-3-3. (Millikin Dean, 2003) 5 | P a g e Creating a vision that is tangible, concise, and easy to relate to for the employees is key when setting out to change an organization. Detailed plans for what needs to be done are at this point not advisable because they do not create the much needed excitement and enthusiasm, which is so vital. It is important to bear in mind that this step is part of the first three steps, which focus on creating the right climate for change. It is therefore all about talking to peoples feelings and not necessarily to their intellect. Furthermore Kotter stresses that leaders need to walk the walk. Actions often speak louder than words and if leaders want people to follow them, then they must take the lead. Ghosn was aware of this. One issue Ghosn noticed, shortly after arriving at Nissan, was the lack of communication between the layers of the organization, and as the quote below shows Ghosn was prepared to walks the walk himself. He was the first manager to actually walk around the entire company and meet every employee in person, shaking hands and introducing himself. (Millikin Dean, 2003) 2.4 COMMUNICATE THE VISION It is not enough to create a great vision. It also has to be communicated effectively to the organization. It says in the text that Ghosn communicated both NRP and Nissan 180 aggressively and that two of his three philosophies of management are: Transparency an organization can only be effective if followers believe that what the leaders think, say, and do are all the same thing. Communication of company direction and priorities this is the only way to get truly unified effort and buy-in. (Millikin Dean, 2003) Information concerning his methods of communication is unfortunately lacking, but there is no doubt, that he understood the importance of communicating the vision, and results show that he succeeded brilliantly. Ghosn and his coalition managed to reach out to all employees and motivate them to move towards the vision. If he had not been able to communicate 6 | P a g e effectively enough the NRP arguably would not have been the rapid success it turned out to be. The NRP was achieved in March 2002, one year ahead of schedule. (Millikin Dean, 2003) Kotter stresses the importance of having focus on communication of the vision because it will act as a guideline, and if people do not get that information they do not know which direction to go. Because mental images are easier to remember one of the effective ways to get the message across is using metaphors, analogies, and examples. His metaphor of 180 in the Nissan 180 vision is a paragon of virtue in that way. It clearly creates a picture of turning the company around, and incorporating the metrics in the 180 made it easier for employees to remember what they needed to do. 2.5 EMPOWER OTHERS The Japanese culture forced Ghosn to pay extra attention on the empowerment of employees. As mentioned, Japanese business culture is characterized by a search for conscientiousness, corporation, group harmony, and an avoidance of mistakes. This all leads to a delay of decision making and a lack of responsibility. The introduction of CFTs was an attempt to break with the inconveniences of Japanese culture without harassing the fundamentals. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦cultural conflict, if paced and channeled correctly, could provide opportunity for rapid innovation. (Millikin Dean, 2003) People in CFTs got a birds eye perspective of the company and it gave them a sense of ownership and responsibility, which was necessary to turn things around. Ghosn even went as far as to put his own fate in the hands of his employees as he had publicly stated his trust in the employees abilities. He encouraged employees to come forth with their ideas and take risks. This was contradictory to their instincts as it was embedded in the organizational culture not to seek risks and to reach consensus before making a decision. Furthermore, he made organizational changes such as permanent cross-functional departments and matrix organization for higher-level staff, which all emphasized the demand for 7 | P a g e responsibility and accountability. Finally he changed the traditional Japanese compensation system to a more Western approach with possibility for employee advancements based on performance instead of seniority. This greatly empowered the talented employees, which was much needed in this change. In many cases, these midlevel managers enjoyed learning about the business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and felt fully engaged in the change process, giving them a sense of responsibility and ownership about turning Nissan around. (Millikin Dean, 2003) 2.6 PLAN FOR AND CREATE SHORT-TERM WINS Ghosn excels when it comes to creating short-term wins. His NRP created tremendous results that boosted motivation throughout the organization. One success was a 20% reduction in purchasing costsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the supplier base shrunk by 40% and the service suppliers decreased by 60%. (Millikin Dean, 2003) It is incredibly important that short-term wins are communicated broadly to the organization, so people can see their hard work come to fruition. Often leaders of change hope that short-term success will arise, but according to Kotter it is necessary to actually plan for them. A commitment to create short-term goals has a positive side effect as it increases the sense of urgency throughout the first period. Ghosn did it brilliantly by announcing to the public that the company would show a profit within two years. This is something all employees can understand and it creates a commitment that helps in the realization of his promises. 2.7 CONSOLIDATE IMPROVEMENTS One of Ghosns three management principles is to execute. He states that 95% of the job is about execution. It is not enough to have a strategy if it is not carried out. This is completely in line with Kotters thinking. The consolidation of improvements is all about securing the short-term wins by rooting them in the company and using that as a foundation for further work. At the same time as he declared that the NRP was achieved he announced the Nissan 180. Nissan 180 represented a plan for growth based on the improvements that NRP yielded. 8 | P a g e Now that they had made the necessary improvements, it was time to consolidate and improve further. I think many leaders mistakenly would have left out the second step of Ghosns two-step vision. But if he had done so, the company presumably would have had difficulties rooting the tremendous results and huge changes that were created in such a short time. His timing of the announcement of Nissan 180 was perfect as it kept the momentum going. The Nissan Revival Plan is over. Two years after the start of its implementation, all the official commitments we took have been overachieved one full year ahead of scheduleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Nissan is now ready to grow. 2.8 INSTITUTIONALIZE CHANGES Another of Kotter areas of focus is that changes are often considered finished too early. The organization needs time to really settle in the new ways and if victory is declared too early, then there is a risk of returning to the old ways. Ghosn was aware of that as he was concerned with what will happen when he returned to Renault. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Ghosn contemplates the future, he knows that the transformation has really just begun The momentum and positive energy that have been created from all the success needs to be followed-up by a new vision and new goals. This can potentially be a difficult task because the great success could diminish the employees sense of urgency. Whether or not his successor is able to do so remains unknown, but the fact that Ghosn was aware that there is still a long way to go shows his great insight to problems with turning a company around and institutionalizing changes. 9 | P a g e 3. EVALUATION CONCLUSION Omitting the fact that Kotter introduced his 8-step model in 1995 one could almost suspect that Ghosn had read about Kotters model to strategic change as it looks like he follows them closely. Ghosns ability to establish the right climate for change, engaging and enabling the whole organization, and implementing and sustaining the change in such a large organization is admirable. 1) I think the resistance to change that Ghosn faced was inevitable. Turning a company around as drastically as was needed for Nissan is bound to create resistance. Such a big change makes the future uncertain for many employees and the uncertainty is something many naturally try to avoid. Combining that with strong Japanese traditions, an organizational culture that is hindering innovation and adaptability, and a Japanese government that historically always have bailed out troubled employees, and thereby created a pretext for inaction, only made it worse. Trying to move people, who do not find movement necessary, will unavoidably create tension and resistance. That being said, I think Ghosn handed the resistance to change ideally. 2) I am sure that many parts of the Nissan organization did not feel very good about having Ghosn changing things as drastically as he did. The reduction of 21,000 jobs will inevitably create opponents among the lower level employees as well as higher in the hierarchy. Furthermore, the demotion of Vice President of Sales and Marketing in Japan would presumably create antagonists with more leverage. Throughout the text examples of his no-nonsense approach to leadership shows that he is a tough leader that does not accept failure and he demands that people take responsibility for their actions. I think this kind of approach combined with his philosophies of management and his capacity for global leadership was the key to his success in Nissan and the reason why his opponents were not able to challenge him seriously. Another reason is the respect for leadership that is inherent in most Japanese. This made his approach to leadership even more effective. Finally, his involvement of the CF Ts made sure that he would not be the only one in the line of fire. The delegation of responsibilities to the CFTs helped getting the support of middle and lower levels, so he could focus his attention on top management. 10 | P a g e 3) The national culture has without a doubt played a large part in the outcome of Ghosns attempt to turn Nissan around. On the one hand it hindered change because of the sense of security the government created and its rigid approach to decision making and career advancement. On the other hand the respect for leadership made it easier for him and his CFTs to have an impact on the organization. The cultural differences between Ghosn and the Nissan organization was profound because he had never been exposed to Japanese culture before, but his approach to the culture ensured that he was fully aware of the issues that could arise. He stated that he wanted to discover Japan by being in Japan with Japanese people. That shows his humble and respectful approach to their culture, which I think benefitted him. 4) There is no doubt that Ghosn was lucky. His timing was impeccable as the bankruptcy of Yamaichi happened when he took office as COO in Nissan. This fortunate misfortune paved the way for a major organizational and cultural change that otherwise would have been hard to push through. Without this, Ghosn and his CFTs would probably have faced a much more daunting task. Whether or not they would have been able to power through in spite remains unknown, but having learned about Ghosn leadership abilities I think he would have found a way. All in all I think Carlos Ghosn did an incredible job turning Nissan around in a very short period of time. As a non-Japanese COO he managed to overcome Japanese cultural obstacles, as well as effectively transforming a bureaucratic organizational culture and turning a large continuing deficit into a profit within 18 month. One could question whether his successor will be able to continue what Ghosn started or if he/she needs to find his/her own way. Either way, Ghosn has a justifiable concern for the future of Nissan. They might be on the right path, but they are still far from reaching their goals. 11 | P a g e

Homelessness Essay -- essays research papers

Homelessness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homelessness as an issue in today's society is largely ignored. To many, the problem of homelessness is invisible or barely noticed. When these people do see the homeless it is found in the form of beggars who need to â€Å"pull themselves up by their bootstraps† or mentally ill people who â€Å"just can't help themselves†. In either case the central point remains; the homeless must be people who are incapable or unwilling to help themselves. After all, wouldn't they stop being homeless if they just tried? These sorts of rationalizations cover a more disturbing truth; that for many in today's society, the spectre of homelessness is more pressing of a problem than helping those who are already on the streets. The millions living below the poverty line live in constant fear that at any time an event may occur that will drive them below the cultural and economic radar. Therefore, one major effect of homelessness is the creation of a threshold that force s people to remain in poverty for fear of losing what meager possessions they have.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The economic structure of the US, while changing from a product-based to a service-based job pool, remains with a similar split of the rich and the poor that has existed throughout the world since the beginning of recorded history. The illusion of the middle class in the 1950s created an expectation in modern America that great material achievement is not just possible but almost a bir... Homelessness Essay -- essays research papers Homelessness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Homelessness as an issue in today's society is largely ignored. To many, the problem of homelessness is invisible or barely noticed. When these people do see the homeless it is found in the form of beggars who need to â€Å"pull themselves up by their bootstraps† or mentally ill people who â€Å"just can't help themselves†. In either case the central point remains; the homeless must be people who are incapable or unwilling to help themselves. After all, wouldn't they stop being homeless if they just tried? These sorts of rationalizations cover a more disturbing truth; that for many in today's society, the spectre of homelessness is more pressing of a problem than helping those who are already on the streets. The millions living below the poverty line live in constant fear that at any time an event may occur that will drive them below the cultural and economic radar. Therefore, one major effect of homelessness is the creation of a threshold that force s people to remain in poverty for fear of losing what meager possessions they have.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The economic structure of the US, while changing from a product-based to a service-based job pool, remains with a similar split of the rich and the poor that has existed throughout the world since the beginning of recorded history. The illusion of the middle class in the 1950s created an expectation in modern America that great material achievement is not just possible but almost a bir...

lord of the flies :: essays research papers

Lord of the Flies Imagine yourself lost on an island with three other people you barely even know. In are eyes this is a scary feeling when all think about ever seening yourself in a situation like this. While unfortunely this can happen not to us but to somebody else. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding are numbers of boys who are under twelve years old stuck on an island after a plans crash. In the story there are four main characters name Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon who are the oldest of the boys. On the island there are many conflicts. In the beginning Ralph was the leader and everyone had a job they were responsible and keep up until they were rescue. Many of the boys start to lack off especially Jack’s who was in charge of hunting. Ralph and Jack never saw eye to eye during the novel because Jack at the same wanted to be leader of his own tribe. Besides all the chaos within the group there are three major symbols that conch shell, Piggy’s glasses and the fire that ha d everyone’s attention and also savage each other on the island. Conch shell At the start of the novel Piggy and Ralph both discover this conch shell. The conch shell is the most powerful symbol on the island. The conch shell symbolized to bring the boys together to discuss their meetings on the island. At the meetings who ever has the conch shell in there hands they have the right to speak quote "We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school."(page 33) With the to help the group hunt for food, build shelters, and find any empty areas were they can have a restroom at and to survive on the island. All boys had a jobs and they had to keep to up by Ralph’s orders. From the start all boys respect the conch and fellow the rules of the island accept for Jack who believe at the beginning he should the new leader and that Ralph was a weak leader. Later Jack begin to ignore Ralph’s orders and at ever meeting Jack always going against Ralph’s word and he eventually leaves the group. After Jack leave s the group Ralph slowly loses respect from another boys. Around this time Jack begin to start his own tribe, which made many of the boys seek away from Ralph’s camp.

Suicides in Foxconn

FOXCONN Abstract: Principles of  Organizational Behavior  from the point of view, combined with Foxconn employees work attitude,  job satisfaction  and work pressure, etc. , on a world-renowned company Foxconn consecutive suicides occurred in a comparative analysis to explain the business In the era of the  development  process need to strengthen the management measures. Keywords: Foxconn, suicide, cognitive dissonance, job satisfaction,  work pressure From January 2010 to November 2010, just 11 months time, the industry's leading OEM companies Foxconn employees took place more than a dozen suicides.Shocked the whole community, Foxconn is also pushed to the cusp of public opinion, resulting in the suicide for many reasons, this paper will follow the principles of organizational behavior, from the attitude of staff,  job satisfaction  and  work pressure  angle analyze, and to make business in the context of the times need to be strengthened management measures. F irst, the background events Foxconn managementJanuary 23, 2010, 19-year-old horse to move in staff training at the southern quarters Foxconn death in 2010, the evening of March 11, 0930, Fuji Kang Longhua base, surnamed Li, a 20-year-old male C2 in the living quarters, 5th Floor, fall dead †¦ †¦ November 5, 2010, a 23-year-old park in Shenzhen Foxconn male workers committed suicide, which occurred since the beginning of the fourteenth consecutive suicides. Second, the Foxconn management event analysis Foxconn management event, the staff of suicide can be divided into two separate aspects of the occurrence and collective place. A separate suicide When a suicide occurs, Foxconn, Foxconn recruitment at the entrance is still full of people, when asked whether the candidates know that Foxconn suicide, the answer is known. When asked why to candidates, the answer is to open here on time wages, never in arrears. Foxconn released from the treatment of employees to see their three meals a day can guarantee accommodation hardware, transportation, laundry and other basic living conditions can be guaranteed, which is also a number of job seekers in the know Foxconn suicide after the incident still choose to work Foxconn reasons.Why these basic conditions are met, the staff, the staff or the successive suicides happen? The reasons are manifold. Data show the continuous Foxconn suicides have occurred in the younger generation of employees. Therefore, these new generation of employees to its own characteristics and has a lot of suicide, such as the current business environment caused by excessive pressure on the employees, and these pressure generation, from the perspective of  Organizational Behavior  is the cognitive dissonance caused by the employees.Cognitive dissonance refers to any form of attitudes and behavior are inconsistent will people feel uncomfortable, so the individual will try to reduce this mismatch, uncomfortable, if not improve cognitive diss onance, then the pressure will increase staff, accumulated to a certain extent when the pressure can not resolve, there may lead to suicide.Cognitive dissonance caused by Foxconn employees is mainly due to low  job satisfaction  a long time, Foxconn did not lower employee  job satisfaction  to improve this problem and take effective measures, low  job satisfaction  is the work of various factors caused, mainly due to the following four points:   1. Interest in  working  with low input pressure is huge. Foxconn, front-line staff here is equivalent to a large machine parts, every day repeating the same work, and is refined into a product of a step, spend months and years do the accumulated pressure is very great, because such work is not only monotonous, but also hard to put into it.Relative to the new generation of employees, their fathers on the job satisfaction can  make money  mainly depends on the simple duplication of work brought about by the pressure and can deliver the economic income compared to income is dominant, even if than the current pressures facing the new generation of larger,  make money  to achieve this goal will significantly reduce the cognitive dissonance caused by pressure, while the new generation of employees no onger earn money as migrant workers for the sole purpose, more more to lifestyle changes and seek better opportunities, when they face such a person is equivalent to the production machine as pArt  of boring work, it can not compensate for low wages brought about by the work of cognitive dissonance. 2. Respect for the low social groups, lack the necessary communication. Foxconn, work to calculate the precision to use seconds, no time to stop  working  together, not to mention the exchange between each other. orking  time, work at Foxconn The staff are aware, no overtime is not making money, so their normal  working  time is 12 hours to two shifts, that in addition to work, the remaining tim e is extremely limited. to work together tired after work activities of employees is best returned to the bedroom to rest, and live in a bedroom with its employees do not work nearly the same time, it will appear in the management of the incident, Foxconn to be able to call all their own bedroom of names of staff reward thing. pace, Foxconn Although a large number of employees, but basically no staff their own organization, the villagers will be, students will be able to enhance employee communications and other organizations is essential not. this environment also makes the job satisfaction greatly reduced. Links to free download http://eng. hi138. com   3. Difficult to achieve self-worth, aspirations and reality together far.Foxconn, even if it is determined in accordance with the system 12 hours of overtime to work two shifts, the hand is 1000 yuan. And these new generation of employees  working  at Foxconn Although subjected to a certain degree of education, but its still somewhat lacking in life skills. and some small and medium enterprises are often overdue wages compared to wages is at work here on time, and the living conditions of the hardware is relatively good, so in Fuji  health  work is an inevitable choice. nowingly choose to pay the difficulties is difficult to achieve their ideals, it is difficult to change the status quo. and now a new generation of employees is far less than the income of the purchasing power of their parents, hard work hard to get self- realization, leading to low job satisfaction. 4. The pressure did not retreat. In addition to this little way, and staff ompared to the older generation, a new generation of people growing up is different this generation growing up with their fathers to be superior compared to many, their lives frame of reference is age of the city, their requirements of life is urbanization, the rural peace of mind so that they can go back to farming is unrealistic, while due to its own conditions, you want to really integrate into urban society, there is a certain distance, But a new generation of employees or to strive with, Foxconn is  working  towards his dream of an important step forward, but as conditions, skills and other limitations, further  developmentis difficult, even if left Foxconn, a company may be next Another â€Å"Foxconn†, or difficult to achieve genuine integration into the city this goal. Home go back, work hard in the city into which a new generation of employees to enhance dilemma pressure. (Two consecutive suicide 1. Continuous coverage of suicide affect employee attitudes, suicide is contagious in the study of suicide, suicide is a certain contagious. Many studies have described for television, radio and other media reported that a number of detailed suicide, and the community of suicide or attempted suicide on the increase in incidents. 2.Suicide after the incident, the measures taken by Foxconn is not effective in the Foxconn suicides occurred during a continuous, its management of the event there is no effective intervention and management of change. Spate of jumping incident, Foxconn's management brought in Wutai Mountain is one of the most famous monk, to pray for the dead zone. This will not only ease the suicide is not contagious, but also increased the mysterious suicide of employees psychological spirits causing mischief that is psychological implications, so that employees feel that they commit suicide are from God. This is not fundamentally solve the suicide contagious impact on staff. Third, the  enterprise management  measures to reduce employee suicide   1 play to the functions of trade unions.Foxconn great personal strength in the face of a small capital, and only effectively play the role of trade unions, employees and businesses in order to make equal dialogue becomes possible, in order to be binding on the company, the employees protection of the rights of the working pressure to get some re lief. (2) relying on the country to encourage policies that seek to achieve business transformation as a foundry, low labor costs in order to build and expand in the market. This has resulted in low staff salaries,  development  of small issues. Want to change this a situation, only to high value-added industries, so companies do not rely on cheap labor to profit, so that employees have the opportunity to realize their value to the enterprise, reduce work pressure. focus on enhancing employee job satisfaction and make the appropriate adjustment (1 to improve the work, increase employee interest can learn the advanced management concept, in the same or different production lines adjacent to implement regular exchange of staff for a long time do not let the same work, to reduce pressure on staff to reduce long repeated mechanical action of fatigue, increase employee interest (2 to enhance communication between employees can be set up work space communication among workers, who exc hanges the same bedroom ways to improve the communication environment (3 vocational training to increase staff can be set up some useful talent  developmenttraining programs, making the lack of employment skills and relatively low quality of the staff have the opportunity to learn, have the opportunity to move into management, but also to more good localdevelopment  of the capital. 4 when a crisis occurs, urgent and effective response when an enterprise such extreme issues early, companies should try to coordinate with the media and other relevant departments, to seek the opinion of the continuous occurrence to minimize the impact of suicide. Fourth, the prospectOEM companies such as Foxconn, China's economic prosperity and has a huge role in the development of its glorious past, but today the face of new situation, they face not only the extreme behavior of employees, but also There are a range of issues such as labor shortage. how in the rapid development of social background, to manage a new generation of employees, how to increase their job satisfaction, how to make them run better with the business, how to make them realize their ideals , healthy life, etc. These efforts not only businesses, but also the whole community should think about problems and believe in the company, society, joint efforts of a new generation of employees, the problem can be resolved and hope that Fuji extreme events such as  health  management problems do not happen again. Links to free download http://eng. hi138. com

Cast System in india

History of the Indian club ashes of rules of rules From Wikipedia, the tree encyclopedia take turns to navigation, search Indian society has consisted of thousands of endogamous clans and groups c anyed latis since ancient times. The Brahmlnlcal scriptures and texts tried to bring this transformation below a comprehensible final cause which hypothesised four Idealised meta groups called varna.The first arouse of the formal varna Indian association system Is in the famous Purusha Sukta of the Rigveda, although it is the only reference work in the entire body of the Vedas and has been decried as a much ulterior, non-Vedic insertion y numerous Indologists like Max M?ller and also by Ambedkar. citation needed Contents 1 Hindi scriptures 2 event of besotted clique structures 2. Mobility across the castes 3 illuminate instillments 4 Reterences 5 External relate Hindi scriptures In the Vedic period, on that point also seems to hit been no dlscrlmlnatlon against the Sh udras on the Issue of hearing the sacred address of the Vedas and fully participating in all religious rituals, something which became progressively restricted in the later citation needed Manusmriti, dated amongst 200 BCE and 100 CE, ontains some laws that systematise the caste system. The Manu Smriti belongs to a class of books that are geared towards ethics, morals. nd social stockpile non spirituality or religion. Emergence of rigid caste structures In its later stages, the caste system is said to bugger off become rigid, and caste began to be transmittable rather than acquired by merit. In the past, members of dfferent castes would not partake in various activities, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as dining and religious gatherings, together. In addition, the performance of religious rites and rituals were restricted to Brahmins, who were the designated priesthood. Mobility across the castes The view ot the caste system as static and unchanging has been disputed by ma ny scholars.For Instance, sociologists such as Bernard Buber and Marriott McKlm delimit how the perception of the caste system as a static and textual social stratification has given way to the perception of the caste system as a to a greater extent processual, empirical and contextual stratification. Other sociologists such as Y. B Damle have use theoretical models to explain mobility and flexibility in the caste system in India. 2 gibe to these scholars, groups of deject-caste individuals could seek to elevate the status of their caste by attempting to emulate the practices of higher(prenominal) castes.Some scholars conceptualize that the relative ranking of other castes was fluid or differed from one place to other prior to the arrival of the British. 3 According to some psychologists, mobility across broad caste lines whitethorn have been minimal, though sub-castes (Jatis) may change their social status everyplace the generations by fission, re- the question of rigidity in Caste. In an ethnographic study of the Coorgs of Karnataka, e observed considerable flexibility and mobility in their caste hierarchies. 56 He asserts that the caste system is far from a rigid system in which the position of each segment caste is fixed for all time.Movement has ever so been possible, and especially in the middle regions of the hierarchy. It was ceaselessly possible for groups born into a lower caste to rise to a higher position by latch oning vegetarianism and teetotalism i. e. adopt the customs of the higher castes. While theoretically forbidden, the process was not peculiar in practice. The concept of anskritization, or the acceptance of upper-caste norms by the lower castes, addressed the real complexity and fluidity of caste relations. historical vitrines of mobility in the Indian Caste clay among Hindus have been researched.There is also precedent of real Shudra families within the temples of the Shrivaishava sect in South India elevating their c aste. 2 Reform movements There have been cases of upper caste Hindus warming to the Dalits and Hindu priests, demoted to outcaste ranks, who continued practising the religion. An example of the last mentioned was Dnyaneshwar, who was excommunicated from society in he thirteenth century, exclusively continued to compose the Dnyaneshwari, a Dharmic commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Other excommunicated Brahmins, such as Eknath, fought for the rights of untouchables during the Bhakti period.Historical examples of Dalit priests include Chokhamela in the fourteenth century, who was Indias first recorded Dalit poet, Raidas, born into Dalit cobblers, and others. The 1 5th- century saint Ramananda also legitimate all castes, including untouchables, into his fold. Most of these saints subscribed to the Bhakti movements in Hinduism during he medieval period that spurned casteism. Nandanar, a low-caste Hindu cleric, also jilted casteism and accepted Dalits. 7 In the 19th century, the Brahm o SamaJ under Raja Ram Mohan Roy, actively campaigned against untouchability.The Arya SamaJ founded by Swami Dayanand also renounced discrimination against Dalits. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa founded the Ramakrishna Mission that participated in the emancipation of Dalits. Upper caste Hindus, such as Mannathu Padmanabhan also participated in movements to reverse Untouchability against Dalits, opening his amily temple for Dalits to worship. While at that place always have been places for Dalits to worship, the first upper-caste temple to openly welcome Dalits into their fold was the Laxminarayan synagogue in Wardha in the class 1928 (the move was spearheaded by reformer Jamnalal Baja).Also, the Satnami movement was founded by Guru Ghasidas, a Dalit himself. Other reformers, such as Mahatma Jyotirao Phule also worked for the emancipation of Dalits. Another example of Dalit emancipation was the Temple Entry resolution issued by the last Maharaja of Travancore in the Indian estate of Kerala in the year 1936. The Maharaja proclaimed that outcastes should not be denied the consolations and the solace of the Hindu faith. however today, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple that first welcomed Dalits in the state of Kerala is revered by the Dalit Hindu community.The thirties saw key struggles between Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar, most notably over whether Dalits would have speciate electorates or Joint electorates with reserved seats. The Indian National Congress was the only field organisation with a large Dalit following, but Gandhi nalysis of Untouchability, but lacked a workable policy-making strategy his conversion to Buddhism in 1956, on with millions of followers, highlighted the failure of his political endeavours. 8 Indias first primitive Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, based on his own kinship with Dalit reformer Ambedkar, also spread reading about the dire need to rid of untouchability for the benefit of the Dalit community. In addition, other Hindu groups have reached out to the Dalit community in an effort to reconcile with them, with productive results.