Management for the service sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management for the service sector - Essay Example One of the best decisions recently made for the company, was its approach to do without franchisees and keep its stores company owned. The depth of management resources is what makes Starbucks different from small businesses. There are other similar companies that will spend up to approximately $300 million dollars per year, just in marketing, where as Starbucks will only spend 1 percent of its revenues (approximately $30 million) in both advertising and marketing. Starbucks utilizes their marketing and advertising dollars towards new products that are ready to come out or new coffee flavors and ideas. Starbucks has no doubt that their employees are one of their most important assets to the company. Their workforce is able to manage and maintain a competitive advantage. Pride in their workforce was produced through an empowering corporate culture; outstanding employee benefits and employee stock ownership programs. Being able to make decisions on their own without first having to report to management is empowering and motivating for the employees. They are encouraged to think for themselves as an entity of the business. Your mind unconsciously filters our most of what is going on around you. At some level of perception, your mind is aware of certain things. Perception is a persons mental image of the world. One of Starbucks biggest concerns is with customers perception. The customers perception of the way employees behave, greet them and even the way that handle their money has a lot to do with getting them to buy a $3.00 cup of coffee (Schultz & Dori 1997 p 14). One of the great challenges Starbucks faces is to create a perception of quality in order to get customers to pay the price they want charge. For many people, a brand is perception. People perceive Starbucks to be a great place to sit down in a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. The perception, leading to the experience, provides customers with an unforgettable

Organizational Behaviour Case Study Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behaviour Case Study Essay Cases: Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Service Part 1) The field of Organizational Behavior is one that is very important when it comes to managing people and to make them work effectively. This begins with training. In order to understand these cases it is important to look at both the structure and environment of the company. In the case of the Automation in the Book Store, the company is a medium sized bookstore. Because this company is a bookstore with very few employees there is not a high level of formalization, less specialization and less authority. Therefore, it has an organic structure. Employees dont have a lot procedures and rules that they must abide by while doing their jobs. In fact the initial company policy required employees to stay with the customer they were serving from the time they walked into the store until the sale was made. Also, there was not a great deal of standardization in that there was not a set procedure on how employees did their work, rather it was a freer organization because there were very few employees and this resulted in greater flexibility. Look more:Â  starbuck problem essay These facts all changed once the new computer system was implemented. This system presented employees with some degree of formalization and standardization in their jobs because now there were precise rules and procedures on how to deal with customers. This includes entering an ID number every time a sale was made and closing the store with the system. Also, because this bookstore was not use to high levels of formalization in the past, the implementation of the training program was affected. There were no instructions on how to close at the end of the day in training. The manager had to come in and prepare a hand-written set of instructions about this routine. This is a sign of bad design and implementation. Also, because the company is more centralized than decentralized, the management must follow head offices requests. This is the exact same thing with employees who must listen to the manager even though the employees were apprehensive, particularly the older staff, about new sys tem. Again, the design of the training program, which was quoted as pretty skimpy and patronizing, was another sign of poor design. However, because the structure of the company was somewhat centralized they had to the training according to the way head office and management wanted. The structure of The Night Owl Answering Services was that it was between mechanistic and organic. This call center was more mechanistic because it was more centralized and more specialization where each individual had a specific role. Bob was responsible for technology, sales and marketing. Mary was responsible for training. This type of structure affected the training because of specialization. Nobody else was responsible for training, so when Mary passed away, everyone else specialized in a different area which left training to be an open mess. Only Mary knew the system the best because she specialized in this. This left the company scrambling to recover and in turn designed a training program that proved to be ineffective and poorly implemented. There was only one lady responsible for training. In the case of Automation in the Boo k Store and The Night Owl Answering Service it is important to look at the organizations environment. In these two cases, the organizations both faced environmental uncertainty. Every organization has the potential for environmental uncertainty. This uncertainty created a poor design for training. This was one of the major similarities in both of these cases. This is when management or people of the organization cant really predict what is going to happen. The cases with Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Services had faced environmental uncertainty that prove to be frustrating and challenging. However, because both of these companies had static environments, that is a company that remain fairly stable over time and had the least amount of uncertainty, they were sensitive to change. In The Night Owl Answering Service the head of training, Mary, passed away. This was an unpredictable event. It was clearly evident that there was no back up to Mary. Because this company was so used to certainty, it caught them off guard, particularly Bob. In the medium size booksto re the company had followed the same procedures to ring up sales until it introduced its new system. It took one month for the company to adapt. Again, both companies trained employees in such a way that proved to be ineffective. This means these two organizations ability to adapt to environmental change was poor. Its also important to discuss external environmental factors or outside factors that have a direct effect on the company, which in turn affected training. The answering services company had a good reputation for customer service but when the senior operators started leaving they hired new people and trained very quickly to get people on the phone and take calls. Therefore, the external factor here would be the customer. In The Night Owl Answering Services the customer was always the number one priority because they had a prestige reputation on customer service they wanted to continue providing services in a timely manner. This directly affected the training design and implementation because trainers wanted the trainees on the phone as soon as possible to serve the clients of the company because they were short staffed. As a result of this, the trainers wanted to get trainees on the phone quickly which resulted in an implementation and design that proved to be ineffective. Trainees were expected to learn through trial and error style of training. Senior operators were forced to take calls and train at the same time. This resulted in slower operators and higher errors and more complaints to the call center, which lead to clients (external factor) leaving the call center and find business elsewhere. This company was so focused on getting trainees on the phone, they ignored the fact they lacked the basic phone etiquette and computer skills. Senior Management was continuously on the phone, with out breaks. In The Automation in the Book Store the external environment component that should be discussed is technology. Like every other company, it must keep up with technology and accept current business practices. They were entering an era where technology was becoming widespread and they needed a system to calculate the GST. This is a reason why the bookstore decided to take on the new computer system. The organizations employees were reluctant to have it but didnt have a choice and had to keep up with external technological factors. The company was highly sensitive to this environmental change, which was external, but when the system was implemented, it became an internal factor. There was systematic turbulence in this organization. There ability to adapt to systematic change, the new computer system would be considered systematic turbulence. Systematic turbulence looks at how a company deals with a change in the environment change. This is evident is the case with Automation in the Bookstore. . Part 2) Motivational effects are very important aspects of an organization. People have to be motivated to join and remain in organizations. They also have to carry out their basic work reliability in terms of productivity, quality, and services, requirements and should always interact to accomplish their goal. These are some examples that if were missing in an organization, employees and members of the company began to lose interest and be less motivated. This was the case with these two organizations. One of the major similarities was that both companies faced poor training design and implementation. In Automation in the Bookstore the training was boring and ineffective, which had motivational effects. Lisa was an employee who worked in a medium sized bookstore and was completely dissatisfied with the design of the training. Unfortunately, the training was a mandatory requirement to understand the new system. The first two days started off by having to watch two half an hour videos which Lisa found to be boring and insulting. On the third day of training it went downhill. The computer system was not on training mode the way it was suppose to be. Also, there were no instructions on how close at the end of the day. The manager had to come in and prepare handwritten set of instructions. This caused a lot of problems and created frustration for all members of the organization including management and head office, who wanted to assign blame to someone. The operation of the system was not going according to plan and this got the trainees upset and confused about the policies of the system. Some parts of the training were vague and the continuous frustration had negative motivational effects. Similarly, The Night Owl Answering Services faced great training problems when Mary died, that evidently created negative motivational problems. Bob was forced to take over training without much knowledge o f how to do so, which was also a big problem. Senior operators were forced to work extra hard with no breaks, while at the same time train a new person. New operators were poorly trained and did not know how to handle calls. All these factors started showing in the office environment. These factors inevitably caused negative motivational effects. For example, intrinsic motivations were clearly not met in this organization. Intrinsic is defined as the direct relationship between the worker and the task. In the call center the task was frustrating and created anxiety. If these factors werent here there would be more interested in the position. However, because the training was so poorly done, the intrinsic motivation factor was not being met and created less motivation. It is also important to discuss the Maslows Need Theory and how it applies to these two cases. The needs theory states: NEEDS BEHAVIOR INCENTIVE AND GOALS. Both of these organizations both fit the physiological needs, which include the basic human needs. In safety needs it includes freedom from anxiety, and a structured ordered environment. The safety needs were not bei ng met. Both organizations faced stress and anxiety, particularly the call center, which effected motivation. Results of poor motivation create poor quality of work. The training was poor and it would reflect on the quality of work being performed because they are no longer motivated to work with all the stress factors. Hertrzberg theory should be looked at as well. The first factor is the hygene factor. This includes relationship with fellow employees, security and other various factors. In order for employees to not feel less motivated or dissatisfied is if all these factors are in place. If all these factors are in place you will not feel unsatisfied but that doesnt necessarily mean that you will be satisfied. It just means not being unsatisfied. Both companies didnt even get past the hygene factor of just not being unsatisfied. The second factor of Hertzbergs theory talks about is motivation. This is a sense of achievement and recognition, which would play different in each company. This doesnt have a great effect on the bookstore because their situation was short term in compared to the call center. If the company cant even properly trained there is no chance of being recognized or feel a sense of achievement. The cases state that the trainees felt like they were being under attack by the senior staff. That would have a negative affect and create decrease motivation. There is no room for job enrichment that in turn means no enhancement in intrinsic motivation. Overall the similarities with respect to the training and the two companies were that of implementation and design. The training program was poor due to various reasons as stated in the report. One of the major differences to note was that the call center issue was a more complex problem and more of a long-term problem. The bookstore training was more of short-term problem. The problem only lasted about a month. Also another difference to note is that the bookstore had a smaller number of employees, so controlling the problem was a bit easier. In the call center there were various problems that were even more difficult to control because they had to meet client needs. In these two organizations there was lack of leadership. Particularly transformational leadership. This is when a leader makes his/her representative look beyond the task, or in this case the training, by observing the bigger picture or goal. Not doing this would negatively effect motivation because the individual will then began to purse his or her own self-interest. In the case of the The Night Owl Answering Service, when Mary passed away, nobody was able to step up and show leadership. Because this particularity affected training, the person responsible for training should have demonstrated leadership ethics to make them feel more positively motivated. Nobody had the leadership to motivate people to put forth their best efforts. There were no directive and supportive people in these organizations. The coaching was ineffective and the trainees had no proper direction. Automation in the bookstore did not face a great deal of leadership problems because again, it only employed about 6-8 people.

Symbolism In Macbeth Essay -- William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, symbolism plays a prominent role to emphasize the theme of corruption of power. Throughout the play there are several main symbols repeatedly used to emphasize this theme. The contrast of light and dark representing good and evil, blood representing guilt, murder, and pain, and the archetypal pattern of purification by using water represents removal of guilt, cleansing and peace. Symbolism is used repeatedly to emphasize the theme of corruption of power. The image of blood plays an important role throughout Macbeth. Blood represents the murders that Macbeth had committed, the guilt that went along with the murders and the pain that it brought on him during his downfall. The soldier describes the violence and bloodshed, in the war between Scotland and Norway, "Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds." (I. ii. 43) foreshadows the violent nature of the play filled with murder, guilt and pain. Blood in the murder of King Duncan also plays a major role because it represents Macbeth's guilt as well as his shame for slaying King Duncan. Macbeth observes his blood stained hands and remarks "As they had seen me with these hangman's hands." (II. ii. 28) This reveals his guilt and shame because he is comparing his hands to those of an executioner's. After the murder, Macbeth refuses to return back to the bed chamber of Kind Duncan to smear the blood on the sleeping guards, because he is afraid that the blood will incriminate him further. Lady Macbeth smearing the blood onto the guards represents them trying to rub their guilt off onto the guard. "I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt" (II. ii. 73) but this proves to be ineffective because Macbeth ends up murdering t... ... a dark setting used which involved supernatural events, while the light setting was used for last battle, when Macbeth was slain at the end to show the restoration of peace and honesty. Thus the symbolism of light and darkness representing good and evil in the play emphasizes the theme of corruption of power. In conclusion, symbolism is used to emphasize a theme through repetition and imagery. It is used to emphasize the theme of the corruption of power due to Macbeth's actions. Blood representing guilt, blood murder, and pain, the contrast of light and dark representing good and evil and the archetypal pattern of purification by using water representing removal of guilt, cleansing and peace are the main symbols used repeatedly to emphasize this theme. These symbols portray the theme effectively to allow the audience to grasp and involve themselves into the play.

War of 1812 :: essays research papers

List and discuss the events leading up to the War of 1812 and the impact it had on American and Great Britain relations, and the American economy. During Jefferson’s second term in office, fighting between Great Britain and France was posed as a threat to American shipping. Napoleon made the decision to exclude British goods from Europe. As a result, Great Britain decided to blockade Europe and prevent ships from entering or leaving the country. A year later, Britain confiscated American cargoes and seized more than a thousand American ships. France had seized about five hundred American ships as well. America’s anger began to focus mainly on the British, even though France was also involved. This was because of the British policy of impressments. The British decided to capture American sailors, or draft them into the British navy. Also, in 1807, the commander of a British warship insisted on boarding and searching the United States naval frigate Chesapeake. When a United States captain refused to allow him onboard, the British killed three Americans and wounded eighteen. As a result, Jefferson convinced Congress to declare an embargo and ban exporting products to other countries. The Embargo Act of 1807 was eventually lifted in 1809 because it stifled American business. A group of young congressmen, known as the war hawks, were angered by the presence of Native Americans in the Indiana territory. Trobule began when General William Henry Harrison persuaded several Native American chiefs to sign away three million acres of tribal land to the United States government. A confederacy of Native Americans began to organize a fight for their homeland against intruding white settlers. This was lead by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. Tecumseh’s brother lead the Shawnee in an attack on Harrison, but was defeated. When the war hawks found out that the confederacy was using arms from British Canada, they again called for war. James Madison, another Virginia Republican, declared war against Britain in 1812. He believed that Britain was trying to strangle American trade and weaken the American economy.

Discuss the Role Central Banks Have Played in Counteracting

Discuss the role central banks (e. g. Fed, Bank of England) have played in counteracting the effects of the financial crisis. Argue how the monetary policy mandate might change in the future to avoid such crises. As stated by Buiter (2008) the Central Bank has three main tasks. These are; ‘(1) the pursuit of macroeconomic stability; (2) maintaining financial stability and (3) ensuring the proper functioning of the ‘plumbing’ of a monetary economy'.The effectiveness of the Central Bank, during the financial crisis, will be discussed as well as how the Central Bank could change its monetary policies in order to avoid such a crisis in the future. The main focus will be on the Bank of England (BoE), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve System (Fed). Each of the Central Banks have different objectives when it comes to monetary policy. The BoE concentrates on the target inflation set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is 2 percent. The ECB has a similar objective although they can set target inflation themselves and it is usually just under 2 percent.The Fed on the other hand has two main aims; ‘maximum employment, stable prices' (Buiter 2008). When the crisis hit, the Central Banks made some attempts to counteract it. Firstly, they broadened their role as a lender of last resort. They started to include ‘liquidity support to non-deposit-taking institutions' (Blanchard, 2010). This allowed them to intervene either directly or indirectly with more companies. This occurred at the start of the crisis where overnight interest rates rose sharply in Europe leading to the ECB responding with a liquidity injection of ‘â‚ ¬94. 8 billion worth of overnight repos' (Cecchetti, 2008).The Central Banks went on to drop interest rates. The aim of this was to allow banks to receive short-term funding at lower interest rates as well as reducing the demand for inter-bank loans (Cecchetti 2008). The hope was that lower in terest rates would also encourage spending in the economy. However, This did not solve the problem. This is why the Fed decided to adopt a new policy where they introduced the Term Auction Facility (TAF). In America the Government debt was continuing to decline and there was a worry that the Federal Reserve would have to change their balance sheet management.The TAF allowed banks to bid for reserves at interest rates ‘below the primary lending rate available at the time' (Cecchetti 2008). The aim of this was to alleviate pressures in the long-term funding markets. This policy was also adopted by the ECB and BoE. A major problem which affected Central Banks in the North Atlantic region was that they made mistakes because they had not anticipated a financial crisis (Buiter 2008). The Fed cut its interest rates excessively due to political pressures and financial sector concerns.This over-reaction of the Fed was partly due to the fact that they are the least independent of the th ree central banks and, as a result, felt political and financial sector pressures leading to the over-reaction. If the Fed were to become more independent then such an over-reaction might not occur. One option for Central Banks is to take into account the exchange rate. During the financial crisis the exchange rate was extremely volatile, due to large shifts in cash flows, which lead to ‘large disruptions in activity' (Blanchard, 2010).These large fluctuations cause balance sheets of companies to become unpredictable and can damage the trade sector leading to the financial sector becoming more unstable. These fluctuations might be minimized if the Central Banks took exchange rates into consideration as well as the inflation rate when determining monetary policies. Exchange rates can, however, not become too stable as this can create ‘greater incentives for contract dollarization' (Blanchard, 2010). The financial crisis has shown that the zero bound nominal interest rates can cause huge problems.Hence, it can be argued that target inflation rate could be increased. If the inflation rate were to be increased to 4 percent for example, then this would allow them to lower nominal interest rates to zero and then the real interest rate could be lowered to as low as negative 4 percent . Conventional monetary policy could then ease monetary policy by more than it could with a lower inflation target (Mishkin 2011). However, raising the inflation rate could cause problems. It has been found that the economy remains stable if inflation rates are below 3 percent.Once the inflation rate is above this level people start to believe that the price level is not a credible goal for the Central Bank any more. This has occurred before in the United States leading the the great inflation in the 1970s (Mashkin 2011). Lastly Central Banks could use a price level target instead of the inflation target they use at the moment. Price level targeting has a major benefit which is that it is an automatic stabilizer. If demand where to drop this would cause a lower price level which would ead to the monetary policy raising the price level back to its target. This would cause a rise in inflation in the short run which would lower interest rates which would stimulate aggregate demand. There are, however, some problems when using price level targeting to determine monetary policy. Price level targeting can cause larger fluctuations in output as well as being harder to communicate to the public. The price level target would constantly be changing which is harder to explain the inflation target which remains constant.In conclusion it I have discussed how the Central Banks have tried to counteract the financial crisis. I have found that as well as coming up with innovative ideas such as the TAF to try to counteract the crisis, they have also made mistakes. There have also been some ideas as to how to change monetary policy, Such as price level targeting and raisi ng the inflation rate, in order to prevent such a crisis in the future. References: Blanchard, O. , Dell’Aricca, G. , Mauro, P. (2010), â€Å"Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy†, IMF Staff Position Note, http://www. mf. org/external/pubs/ft/spn/2010/spn1003. pdf Cecchetti, S. (2009), â€Å"Monetary Policy and the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008†, mimeo, http://fmwww. bc. edu/ec-j/Sems2008/Cecchetti. pdf Buiter, W. (2008), â€Å"Central banks and financial crises†, discussion paper series, http://eprints. lse. ac. uk/24438/1/dp619. pdf Mishkin, F. (2011), â€Å"Monetary Policy Strategy: Lessons from the Financial Crisis†, NBER Working Papers, https://mms. st-andrews. ac. uk/mms/module/2011_2/S2/EC2008/Content/Mishkin%20%282011%29%3A%20Monetary%20Policy%20Strategy/Mishkin2011. pdf

5 Things You Didnt Know About Using Et Al.

5 Things You Didnt Know About Using Et Al. 5 Things You Didnt Know About Using Et Al. The phrase et al. is an integral part of many referencing systems, but it is also commonly misused in academic documents. Read on to find out more! 1. What Does Et Al. Mean? The phrase et al. is Latin for et alia, which means and others. It is therefore used in some referencing systems when there are too many authors to name in a single citation. 2. When Should I Use Et Al.? This depends on the referencing system used by your college, so remember to check your style guide! In most systems, however, it should  only ever be used when you are citing a source with more than three authors. The exact number of authors required before you should use et al. varies between referencing systems. In addition, some systems only use this term for repeat citations of sources with several authors (with all authors named in the first citation). 3. Should I Use It in the Bibliography? Not usually. As above, this may depend on the referencing system youre using, but typically the only place to use et al. is in the main text of your document. This is because most referencing systems specify naming every author in the bibliography or reference list. Some systems make an exception to this rule if the work you are citing has more than six or seven authors. APA referencing, for instance, specifies listing the first six names for sources with more than seven authors, followed by an ellipsis and the final named author. For a journal article with ten named authors, then, APA would require naming the first sixth and the tenth in your reference list. You have to feel a little sorry for authors seven through nine. 4. Do I Need the Period After Al.? Yes! Al. is a shortening of alia and always  needs a period to show that the word has been shortened, in the same way that we use a full stop for etc. and other Latin phrases. 5. Do I Need to Capitalize the Et? No! It is not a proper noun and would not usually appear at the start of a sentence. As such, it would be odd to capitalize it. It can be tricky to get little details like this right all the way through your essay. As such, if you want some help checking it over, just get in touch! We can help with all aspects of your work, including  proofreading,  formatting and checking the consistency of your references.

Snows of Kilimanjaro Immortality at the Summit Essay Example

Snows of Kilimanjaro Immortality at the Summit Essay Example Snows of Kilimanjaro Immortality at the Summit Paper Snows of Kilimanjaro Immortality at the Summit Paper Mr. Callaghan ENG 4U 2011-10-27 Immortality at the Summit The story The Snows of Kilimanjaro is set in Africa where the characters are on a hunting trip. When the bearing on their truck breaks it leaves them unfortunately stranded. While on the trip Harry, the protagonist, acquires gangrene after he failed to apply iodine following the infection of a thorn scratch. The gangrene is eating away his leg and Harry is dying. Harry and his wife, Helen, are waiting for a rescue plane to come and save them but it is late. Harry can sense his death coming. This is when the realization sets in that he has run out of time and all the writing he planned to do will never get accomplished. As Harry lies on his death bed he experiences flashbacks of his life. All his flashbacks consist of great opportune moments where he could have written amazing stories but did not. He realizes he has failed as a writer and wasted his talent through his procrastination. Knowing he will die before morning he goes to sleep and dreams that the rescue plane has come to the camp and flies him to the top of Mountain Kilimanjaro where the summit is referred to as The House of God because a leopards carcass was discovered, frozen, at the top where it will be forever frozen, preserved and exist forever. Helen awakes in the night and goes over to him but he has passed away. I enjoyed Ernest Hemingways short story, The Snows of Kilimanjaro. I found it to be a unique and enjoyable story. Hemingway is a very creative writer and in this story he covers all three writing styles as he plays the roles of a story teller, enchanter and a teacher. He is a storyteller because as Harry dies he recalls and highlights for the reader several memories that tell tales of his journey through life. Hemingway is also a teacher because he teaches lessons in the book. As Harry lay dying after reminiscing about his flash back he regrets the way he was unable to record the stories of his life on paper. The lesson Hemingway teaches in this story is to live your life without regrets. Hemingway plays the role of the enchanter because he turns a rather boring story line into an intriguing and great short story. Harry lies dying in his cot where he doesnt move the entire story. The way Hemingway adds the flashbacks, his powerful and realistic use of dialogue, symbolism, and the dream at the end help transform this story from a basic and boring idea of a man who lie dying into a brilliant story. During this reading I developed sympathy for Harrys wife, Helen. Harry treats her very badly. Helen is a caring and kind person and he is very rude to her as he says things like â€Å"You bitch, you ritch bitch† (Hemingway 254) to her. She is willing to do anything he wants because she enjoys doing things that he enjoys. Harry says hurtfully to Helen he does not love her and he implies she has been used in their marriage for her wealth when Harry says â€Å"Your damned money was my armour† (Hemingway 253). It bothers me that Harry could be so rude and disrespectful to his wife when she has been so caring and loving towards him. Helen deserved a much better husband than Harry. Another thing I liked from Hemingways story is his interesting use of symbolism through animals. In the story he uses the location of the vultures to correlate Harrys physical well being. Vultures started circling in the sky and as Harry weakens they moved to the ground. When death creeps even closer more vultures came. Hemingway uses a special writing style for Harrys flashbacks. He replaces several commas with â€Å"ands† with the aim of creating run on sentences. This style makes the reader feel as if they can visualize Harrys memories flashing quickly before their own eyes. â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro† is an appealing story. It is well written and draws the reader in. Hemingways writing style is sure to attract and please many readers. Exploring some of Hemingways other works would certainly be worthwhile.