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 don’t 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 emplo yees 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 office’s 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 system. 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 can’t 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 bookstore 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. It’s 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 didn’t 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 weren’t 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 Maslow’s 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 ne eds were not being 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 doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be satisfied. It just means not being unsatisfied. Both companies didn’t even get past the hygene factor of just not being unsatisfied. The second factor of Hertzberg’s theory talks about is motivation. This is a sense of achievement and recognition, which would play different in each company. This doesn’t have a great effect on the bookstore because their situation w as short term in compared to the call center. If the company can’t 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.

The Boxer Rebellion

Write a powerful and memorable topic sentence for each side Of the Teacart en for why American involvement was necessary and one for why intervention was deter mental. Topic sentence about why U. S. Involvement was needed in the Boxer Rebellion: Rebellion was a problem: Help on gain their independence. The boxer rebellion was a problem because a war and the U. S did not what to into another war 3. For each topic sentence, write (in complete sentences) three supporting detail s from your chart. Three supporting details about why U. S. Involvement was necessary in the Boxer Rebellion: why U. S. Derivation in the Boxer Rebellion was a problem: Supporting detail #1: Supporting detail #1 : Hetman Movement was an it was a civil war and the U. S did not materialistic uprising which took have to be there place in China Towards the end of the King dynasty between 1898 and 1900. Supporting detail #2: the U. S send 3,125 army troops. 2,500 foreign soldiers die Supporting detail #3: The Boxer Re bellion weakened At first, the Boxers wanted to the Chining dynasty's power and destroy the Chining dynasty and hastened the Republican anted to rid China of all foreign Revolution of 191 1 that overthrew influence. ND the U. S did not got the boy emperor and made China out of the rebellion and got more a republic. That help U. S get more involved into china political power in china business influence. 4. Write a few sentences about whatnot think should have been done about the e Boxer Rebellion had the decision been yours. With which side do you agree, and why? This states .NET could BEA compromise, using elements of both sides, now thou have evaluated bothConclusion the Boxer Rebellion was a Chinese civil war and there have not be other count tries should not have to be involved in this civil war. The Boxer what to destroy the Chining dynasty that was run more than 250 years. It all beginning in 1898, grog ups of peasants in northern China began to band together into a secret soci ety ink as lo chuan Righteous and Harmonious Fists called the boxers by Western press. Write Your Paragraph Now that you've prepared, write a complete paragraph for your journal entry.

Socially Responsible Companies in Europe Research Paper - 1

Socially Responsible Companies in Europe - Research Paper Example The paper tells that many companies in various continents treat corporate social responsibility as a key aspect of their company survival technique. It has evolved from being a value-added concept of management to on being among the key concepts. This is because consumers evaluate theirs produces depending on how friendly they are to the environment and their conformance to most of the international laws that business ethics demand be met. Many European companies are among the leading socially responsible companies in the present society. This is true because Europe gets ranked as one of the greatest markets in the world. For this reason, the companies that operate in this zone must be willing to impress their consumers. The FTSE index provides the best tool in monitoring corporate socially responsible companies, in Europe, and the remaining parts of the world. The reshuffle of leading global responsible investment index series provides information on the companies that have adhered to environmental and social laws in the internal business arena. Companies get to fluctuate from one position to another because social laws change daily, and an organization will not be able to conform to each and every that is passed. In addition, not all corporate laws are universal. One of the most common companies that are socially responsible in Europe is Microsoft Europe. This is a company that was invented by Bill Gates and Paul Allen way back in 1975 and has since with co-operation with other companies revolutionized the software computing industry. As a software company, Microsoft does not face common responsibility in terms of social and environmental laws like other production companies. This is because it does not pollute the environment or utilize much of its resources. Despite this, social responsibility has been key to the company because it has since been expanding into different countries that harbor different social values. Microsoft has also been aware of the sec urity issue their customers get to face on the internet, hence introducing free protective softwares such as windows defender. They have also included a vast number of language packs for their software users, hence allowing their products to be used by almost everybody in the world.

The Matrix Trilogy by Wachowski Brothers Movie Review

The Matrix Trilogy by Wachowski Brothers - Movie Review Example Alexandra Lazar states that the idea of â€Å"formlessness of chaos† can be found in: â€Å"Chinese and the Babylonian creation stories† (Lazar, 2004). She illustrates that â€Å"the dragon represents the principle of order, which emerges from chaos. In Babylonian myth, the Goddess Tiamat together with other early gods embodied the various faces of chaos† (Lazar, 2004). In general, every universal religion has such binary oppositions: good-evil, chaos-order, hell-paradise, etc. Probably, the fact that Matrix is based on binary opposition helps to explain why it is so successful in our society. Everything around us is based on this concept: love-hate; truth-lie, etc. On the other hand, the Matrix retrieved great knowledge which most of people fail to see. We live in a structured world, which becomes a Matrix for us, and we unable to change it (or at least see â€Å"the reality†). The structure of state, government, bureaucratic system creates a Matrix like its movie prototype. â€Å"The Matrix trilogy† is so popular because our generation feels like robots or machines who â€Å"conquered† by bureaucratic system of the world order and â€Å"in order to break free from this ominous and quantifying 'real' we would need to ask further questions about defining links that 'divide and conquer† (Lazar, 2004). In the article, Lazar underlines that: â€Å"power in itself is deceptive as it is based on a paradox: it allows the taste of truth/knowledge but causes its own end (and arguably the end of truth/knowledge)† (Lazar, 2004). This philosophical idea can be found in stoicism, and corresponds with the notion of â€Å"aporia† and dialectical exercise. For instance, â€Å"in â€Å"Parmenides† the aporia means the form that the sensible and intelligible worlds are incorrigibly separated and also are not separated, in that each side has the other in it† (Doull, n.d.). This idea runs through the Matrix trying to uncover the truth of reality, but the heroes rewrite this knowledge showing that 'there is no spoon†, so what? Again, the views are faced with the binary opposition which creates â€Å"quasi-myth† of reality.  

Children with Asthma Who Take Budesonide and Who Take Nedocromil Research Paper

Children with Asthma Who Take Budesonide and Who Take Nedocromil - Research Paper Example The treatment of asthma in children by physicians should be so effective that its end result is a child growing with near-perfect life devoid of constant chest and breathing complications. This means that physicians have to employ top-notch medical practices and procedures to ensure that this objective is achieved. Due to the fact that there has never been comparative analysis between the efficacy of nedocromil sodium and inhaled corticosteroids in treating childhood asthma, it is not possible to discern their comparative usefulness.5 Thus, the need for broadened research in this area cannot be neglected. Importantly, it is necessary to discuss the relevant terms used in this study. Key words that have been used in this study include; sodium cromoglicate and budesonide. To begin with, sodium cromoglicate is a type of asthma inhalant that is used regularly by asthma patients to prevent potential attacks. However, it does not help in cases where an asthma attack that has already starte d.2,4 On the other hand, budesonide is an inhalant used to prevent asthmatic attacks. Studies have shown that if used regularly budesonide decreases the symptoms and severity of asthma attacks. It does not however, relieve asthma attacks that have already started.In line with the topic, the paper utilized various databases like Google Scholar, Bing, Yahoo and many more to find relevant articles. Similarly, websites containing medical journals were accessed and important articles used in this study retrieved.

Selflies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Selflies - Essay Example This practice lets some people to meet their need in community attention and acceptance especially if they are posted online. They gather approving likes and comments which nurture their self-confidence and confirmation of their physical beauty. If they are taken for personal use only, they can boost self-confidence as well; moreover, they can state the narcissist personality of the agent (Burns, 2014). For those who want to look even better, there are different apps which can improve one’s appearance by making the body slimmer, changing facial features or putting makeup on (Waterland, 2012). They only increase the value of physical beauty and create unrealistic beauty standards which are most painful for young people and women. Overall, this practice to post selfies everywhere is very annoying. People who regularly post their selfies online seldom think that this practice can be disliked by some people. In this way, they often react inadequately if someone asks them to stop doing that. Moreover, they tend to say that they do not care about what other people think; at the same time, it remains their primary purpose. I think that in some cases people just do not feel the limit of patience other people have concerning others self-representation. Some create Instagram profiles with a sole purpose to post photos of themselves there. The amount of photos they post is directly related to dependence on public opinion or narcissism. It can be easily defined either by hash tags people use or comments which follow their post. Some of them ask directly to comment on their makeup, clothing style, hairstyle etc. Others do not bother with such things and add hash tags me, beautiful or selfie to their posts. This practice will remain relevant even if people ban it in social media because it is the easiest way to boost self-confidence for some

Gas Industry and the Impact on UK Economy Essay

Gas Industry and the Impact on UK Economy - Essay Example This is because numerous factors influence the supply and pricing of gas creating extraordinary inconveniences in the country’s economy. The changing prices of gas usually inflict a lot of pressure on the local economy through pushing up bills for electricity and straining the energy needs. For instance, the nuclear disaster of Japan in 2011 was a significant factor that drove the prices of gas severely affecting the UK economy. This was fueled by the increase of demand for gas by Japan that created sentiment of scarcity. This is just one of lots of aspects that play a function in the UK gas consumption and inherently impact the general economy. This report navigates around the global gas industry, its features and particularly its effects on the vast economy of the United Kingdom. In order to underscore the vast industry and its significance to the economy, the paper will determine the basic problems of the gas industry, market structure, inflation, supply with demand, along with economic enlargement and unemployment. The essence of the report is to expose the inherent implications of the activities and events in the gas industry on the UK economy. The gas industry has several problems most of which induce negative implications on the general economy. ... Supply and demand in the gas industry Supply and demand in the gas industry play an enormous role in affecting the process of gas in the United Kingdom, which directly increases the bills for electricity generated from gas power stations. Any slight change in demand or supply of gas, therefore, has a massive impact on the UK economy (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on Regulators, 2007, 56). A clear example is the Japan nuclear tragedy, which led to the plants being taken offline. Therefore, Japan required more gas to meet its energy demands as an alternative to nuclear power. Gas dealers developed anxiety that the gas shipment destined for Europe could be directed to Japan; where there was high demand for natural gas and was being offered high prices. This trader sentiment created apprehensions that augmented the prices that energy corporations had to pay to purchase gas in the United Kingdom. This is the main reason behind high costs in bills in the count ry in the winter season. Similarly, the conflict in Libya has led to low supply of gas in European markets that imported gas from the North African state thus increasing the price of international gas. As a result, the cost of electricity generation rose pushing up electricity bills. In the United Kingdom, gas and bills are directly related because any changes in gas prices affects electricity bills of energy consumers who use electricity derived from power generators. Therefore, the varying cost of gas is a single dynamic that profoundly affects bills in the UK. For instance, high general price increase the rate of domestic heating as well as the charge of electricity. This has been contributed by the reality that the charge of electricity derived from gas power-stations

Book review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Book review - Assignment Example Despite being an anarchist, he strongly opposed the use of violence to solve the problems facing society. Rather, he believed that the society could be reformed through active non-violence. The story in the novel The Adventures of Williams revolves around Caleb, who despite being a poor orphan, manages to get better education. He later earns a lot of respect from community members owing to his enlightenment. The novel basically, gives an account of the position taken by Caleb with respect to the wealthiest man in the neighborhood, Mr. Falkland (Godwin 2004, p.5). The fact that Mr. Falkland has a lot of wealth in the village makes his respectable to the extent that villagers, including Caleb, worship him. Nevertheless, Caleb appears to be very suspicious of Mr. Falkland. He believes that Mr. Falkland engages in unethical activities. As a result, Caleb decides to investigate Mr. Falkland’s past only to unearth some damning information. In the novel The Adventures of William, Godwin as the author tries what he can to expose the rot in the political and social spheres of England during the 18th century (Godwin 2004, p.6). Godwin exposes the rot by giving an overview of the injustices that were the orders of the day in the prison system. He also exposes the oppression of peasants by landlords, the oppression of the poor by the elite, as well the oppression of common citizens by government. The author reveals the injustice of the political and social system through various scenes. For example, he exposes an incident in which Mr. Squire Falkland knowingly and willingly witnesses the execution of two innocent men for a crime that he himself committed. This is brought out when Caleb exposes the secret murder of Tyrrel, one of the landlords by Falkland. Immediately after the murder, Caleb informs the public that Falkland used his power and wealth to blame two innocent men for the murder that leds to the execution of

Health Care In United States Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Health Care In United States - Research Paper Example (Holohan, 2010) Thanks to the PPACA 32 million more of the most economically vulnerable Americans will have access to health insurance. (Health Reform Act, 2011) The PPACA is landmark legislation many thought would never occur and was a hard fought success for President Obama and what was at the time a Democratic dominated congress. It addressed many significant health issues and will facilitate millions of citizens while saving the nation billions of dollars. However, the PPACA is not universal health care or even close to it. Going further than the PPACA by ratifying universal health care would radically reduce the burden lower and middle income family’s face due to healthcare costs while also reducing the division of health care services along family economic lines. Most Americans share the same opinion as the majority of the industrialized world. Society has a shared moral responsibility, to offer everyone health care without concern for the amount of money they have. When asked â€Å"do you think the federal government should guarantee health care for all Americans?† Americans support health care that is guaranteed by the federal government by a pretty wide margin of 62-38 percent.