Organisational Behavior Notes Essay

Definition * The study of human behaviour, attitudes and performance within organisational setting to improve performance and differences. * Frameworks of theories, methods and principles from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, political * The organisational Iceberg The study of organisational behaviour embraces, therefore an understanding of * The nature and purpose of the organisation * The human element and behaviour of people * Business strategy, organisational processes and the execution of work * The process of management as an integrating and co-ordinating activity * Social responsibilities and business ethics * The external environment of which the organisation is part of and * The need for organisation success and survival. The Pyschological Contract * The PC is not a formal written document that is referred to but a people organisation relationship where mutual expectations and satisfaction of needs are implied. * Important to enhance the level of trust and teamwork. * Human capital to be seen as a responsibility and a resources to be added to * Two observations in human behaviour at work * Peter Principle * Parkinson’s law ../2 The pyschological contract: possible examples of individual and organisational expectations Individual’s expectations of the organisation * Provide safe and hygienic working conditions. * Make every reasonable effort to provide job security. * Attempt to provide challenging and satisfying jobs, and reduce alienating aspects of work. * Adopy equitable human resource management policicies and procedures. * Respect the role of trade union officials and staff representatives. * Consult fully with staff and allow genuine participation in decisions which affect them. * Implement best practice in equal opportunity policies and precedures. * Reward all staff fairly according to their contribution and performance. * Provide reasonable opportunities for personal development and career progression. * Treat members of staff wit respect. * Demonstrate an understanding and considerate attitude towards personal problems of staff. Organisation’s Expectations of the Individual * Uphold the ideology of the organisation and the corporate image. * Work diligently in pursuit of organisational objectives. * Adhere to the rules, policicies and procedures of the organisation. * Respect the reasonable authority of senior members of staff. * Not to take advantage of goodwill shown by the management. * Be responsive to the leadership influence. * Demonstrate loyalty, respect confidentiality and not betray positions of trust. * Maintain harmonious relationships with work colleagues. * Not to abuse organisational facilities such as email or internet access. * Observe reasonable and acceptable standards of dress and appearance. * Show respect and consolidation to customers and suppliers. A pyshcological contract is not only measured in monetary value or in exchange of goods or services, it is in essence the exchange or sharing beliefs and values, expectations and satisfactions. Mutuality is the base principle of the pyshcological contract and consensus or mutual understanding is the basis of mutuality. Ideally therefore self-interest should be balanced with common interest in a win-win arrangement. In the past this unspoken contract might have implied that employees could expect job security and adequate rewards from their employer in exchange for hard work and loyalty. Today’s pyshological contract may be different, in line with a changed working environment that includes factors such as increased rationalism, technological changes, and management aproaches such as outsourcing. The new pyschological contract may revolve more around an employer’s willingness to assist you in developing your skills to order to maintain your marketability. The Peter Principle This is concerned with the study of occupational incompetence and the study of hierarchies. In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence. Employees competence in their postion are promoted and competence is each new position qualifies for promotion to the next highest posotion until a position of incompetence is reached. The principle is based on perceived incompetence in all levels of every hierarchy political, legal, educational and industrial and ways in whcih employees move upwards through a hierarchy and what happens to them after promotion. Peter suggests tow main means by which a person can effect their promotion rate. â€Å"Pull and push†. * Pull is an employee’s relationship – by blood, marriage and acqaintance – with a person above the employee in the hierarchy. * Push is sometimes manifested by an abnormal interest in study, vocational training and self-improvement. In small hierarchies push may have a marginal effect in accelerating promotion; in larger hierarchies the effect is minimal. Pull is therefore, likely to be more effective than Push. Parkinson’s Law A major feature of PL is that of the rising pyramid, that is â€Å"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. There is little, if any, relationship between the quantity of work to be done and the number of staff doing it. Underlying this tendency are two statements; * An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals * Officials make work for each other What is driving leaders & organisations behaviour? * The continuous importance that consumers base on value of product and service. * The diverse workforce is also an important factor that drives organisational behaviour. * Consumers expect that organisation understands their needs and produces top quality products at best price possible. These demands place leaders in a challenged situation by domestic and global markets and competition. What are organisational factors? * Organisational factors may be identified as the organisational environment, structure & design * Individual characteristics, group behaviour * Overall decision making * The change processes adopted by the organisation The fast momentum in any industry highlights the importance of the leader to align the human resources with the organisational factors. Framing the Organisational behaviour Organisational behaviour may be studied under the following main contributors * The environment * The individual in the organisation * Group behaviour and interpersonal influence * Organisational process Organisational environment is the external and internal environment, the legal and political constraints, economic, technological changes and development all have an impact on the decisions that are taken by the management. The individual is the foundation of the organisation performance. This should therefore highlight the importance of managing individual behaviour at any level of the organisation. There are 3 important influences that mould the individual behaviour. 1. Individual characteristics 2. Individual motivation 3. Rewards Group behaviour Groups may form either intentionally by managerial decisions or form out of individual efforts. * Formal groups are groups that were intentionally created by managerial decisions * Informal groups are groups that form out of common interests and friendships that may have a negative or positive effect and therefore affect the organisation or individual performance. * Organisational processes are the communication, the decision making and the leadership elements that the organisation fosters as part of its culture and which in turn have an impact on the general performance of the individual and collective behaviour. Factors of organisation process Communication process is the ability of management to receive, transmit and act on information. The information integrates the internal activities with the external demand and information also integrates internally the activities of the organisation. Decision making process Decisions by managers have a direct impact on the employees well being, the organisation’s resources and the design and implementation of rules in a organisation. This should illustrate the importance of managers to communicate, assess and analyse the feedback of decisions and practises in the organisation. Leadership process Leaders in an organisation may be managers and non- managers. The manager may not always be the leader, yet leadership skills contribute in attaining the set goals. Some people believe that leadership styles should vary according to the situation, other believe that one style of leadership is effective in most situations. Importance of effectiveness * Surviving in the environment * Organisation ages- it forms, develops, matures and declines Importance of the Dimension of Time Quality, productivity, efficiency, satisfaction, adaptiveness and development are 6 general categories of effectiveness criteria. Each of the categories have a time base, short run criteria – 1 year, intermediate 5 years, long run are those for which the indefinite future is applicable. Personality Individual difference and work behaviour * Individual differences have a direct effect on behaviour because peole who perceive things differently behave differently. * Individual differences shape organisaitional behaviour and consequently, individual and organisaitional success. What is the ASA framework? This is the attraction- selection-attrition to careers and organisations. * Prospective employees are attracted to careers and organisations. * Organisations elect employees on the basis of the needs of the organisation. * Attrition occurs when individuals discover that they do not belong to the organisation. Studying individual differences at the work place is important since not addressing differences among employees may hinder from achieving organisation and personal goals. Understanding work behaviour Inorder to fully understand where individual differences arise the personal environment also needs to be given attention, weight and considered. Heredity factors are also important. An effective management must; * Observe and recognise the dufferences and * Study relationship between variables that influences individual behaviour. For discussion * What are the variables at work? * Give examples of work behaviour. Can you think of how these may be fostered on connected? The following variables impact employee productivity, creativity and performance extensively; * Heredity factors and diversity * Abilities and skills * Attitudes Heredity factors Gender, race and ethnic background are all heredity factors, mental and moral differences are also influenced by genetic inheritance and such factors mould each individual which in turn have a direct effect at work behaviour. 1.a Diversity * Diversity refers to those attributes that make people different from another. Primary dimensions of diversity include age, ethicity, gender, pyshical attributes, race and sexual orientation. When an employee is harassed as a resukt of diversity, due to isolation they become less enthusiastic in their job. * Managing diversity therefore ensures that employees become top level contributors especially in today’s †¦ Abilities and Skills * Ability is a pesson’s talent to perform a mental or pyshical task. * Skill is a learned talent that a person has acquired to perform a task. * Ability tends to be stable over time while skill tends to change according to training and experience. One needs ability to be a sales executive (appearance and manners are important) yet one may attain skills with years of experience in sales. * Mental ability therefore refers to the level of intelligence including comprehension, indicative or deictive reasoning, body language, associative memory etc. * Tacit knowledge is the work related to practical know how of the employees acquired eitehr through observation or direct experience on the job. Emotional intelligence – When you probe people to get to know them more * It is important that managers assess and attest abilities and skills snice no amount of leadership and motivation can make up for such deficiencies- job analysis therefore becomes important. * Job analysis is the process of defining and studying a job interms of tasks and behaviour and specifying responsibilities, education and training needes to perform a job – therefore removes guess work when recruiting. Attitudes Attitudes are deteriments of behaviour because they are linked with perception, personaility, fdeelings, etc therfore has a certain amount of importance to the managers. Attitudes are * Learned * Define one’s predeposition towards a given aspect or situation * Provide the emotional basis of one’s interpersonal relations and identifications with other * Attitudes are close to the core of personaility * Some attitudes are persistent and enduring while others are liable to change over time. Changing attitudes at the workplace How can a manager change attitudes of his employees? The process depends on three main factors / contributors 1. The Communicator 2. The Message 3. The Situation The Communicator * If the communicator is trusted and the employees perceive the manager as having prestige, they are more likely to change their attitudes. Employees change because they try to identify with a liked communicator and tend to adopt attitudes and behaviour of the liked individual. * A manager with a low prestige is not show respect / trust by peers and superiors – therefore more difficult to change attitudes of his team. The Message * Intentional and unintentional messages are delivered through verbal and no nverbal communication by managers. * The message delivered to employees has to be clear, understandable and convincing. * Developing persuasive verbal and non verbal communication skills is essential to managers. The Situation * The managers success in delivering a change in attitude also depends on the situation when the message is being delivered. * Distraction and pleasant surroundings are two factors that facilitate change in attitude (perks, performance allowance, training opportunities†¦) Is job satisfaction an attitude? Job satisfaction results from the perception of the job itself and the degree which there is a good fit between the individual and the organisation Factors to consider * Pay – not just the pay but the perceived fairness. * The work itself – are job tasks considered interesting? Do they provide opportunities for learning and accepting further / higher responsibilities? * Supervision – technical competence and interpersonal skills of the immediate boss. * Co workers – extent to which co workers are friendly, competent and supportive. Advancement opportunities – availability of opportunities Work conditions – the physical work environment is comfortable and supportive of productivity. Job security – it is reasonable expectation that one’s position is secure and contured employment within the organisation. Job relation in relation to Job performance on Effectiveness Are these 2 factors related or dependant on each other? * Attempts by management to satisfy employees may not mean higher performance while high performance may not mean that the employers are satisfied at work. * Discuss the ripple effects of rewards, warnings, absenteeism, fair promotion etc. That these have on job performance in general. Effect on OC Personality Personality refers to a relatively stable set of feelings and behaviour that have been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors. * The manager attempting to understand his employees must give attention to the major forces that shape personality. * Cultural forces, heredity, family, relationship and social class are all factors that mould personality. How? * Culture – society, institutes various pattern behaviour with the result that members of a culture have common personality characteristics. * Heredity – varies from personality to another but are not constant since it is associated with values or ideals (temperament) * Family relationships – the experience one has with his parents, grandmothers, other family members / life experiences. * Social class – influences one’s self perception, perception of others, of work, of authority of money factor. * Personality is therefore a product (a number of forces that together have attributed to shape the unique individual). Personality is interrelated with perception, attitudes, learning and motivation – therefore analysis behaviour is incomplete unless personality is considered. Personality and Behaviour in Organisations The big five Personality Dimensions is key in understanding organisational behaviour. 1. Extroversion (Open minded, sociable, etc) 2. Emotional (Stability) 3. Agreeableness (More open to people, challenges and change) 4. Conscientousness (to understand your people’s attraction) Other three major factors are: Locus of control This relates to the extent to which employees believe that their behaviour will influence what happens to them. (Differing personalities of Internals & Externals). Self efficacy Personal beliefs of competencies and abilities. This has an impact on Org behaviour and decisions like selection, training programmes and goal setting and performance. Creativity This is a personality trait that requires deviation from the normal thinking to produce new and useful ideas. (Think in an unconventional way). While a personality factor of the individual organisations play an important role to develop creativity at work by giving opportunities and freedom to think and come forward with new ideas. Reward winning ideas and discuss failures positively to nourish creativity all round. The Importance of Culture National Culture is the sum total of the beliefs, rituals, rules, customs, artefacts and institution that characterise the population. How organisational transactions are conducted is affected by nation’s culture and its subcultures. Values, customs and rituals of cultures do not simply appear. They are revolutionary and are influenced by politics, religion, language and cultural aspects. Managing in the 21st century For effective management understanding different cultures and various organisational cultures is important in the 21st century. ../9 ../9 Adaptation to new environment is becoming a common occurrence and although adaptation from one origin to another is always difficult, it can be better understood by learning about organisational culture. Organisational Culture Organisational culture is the shared values, norms, beliefs and norms which influence the way employees think, feel and act towards others inside and outside the organisation. OC gives unique identity to an organisation Although culture cannot be seen, it can be sensed and felt through a person’s attitudes, emotions and perceptions. â€Å"The way we do things around here† Deal and Kennedy 1982 â€Å"The collective programming of the mind†, Geert Hofstede 2001. Hostede identified four dimensions of culture: power distance, uncenrtainty, avoidance, individualism and masculinity. Power distance is essentially used to categorise levels of inequity in organisations which Hofstede claims will depend upon managment style, willingness of subordinates to diasgree with superiors, and the educational level and status accruing to particular roles. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which members of a society feel threatened by unusual situations. High uncertainty avoidance is said to be characteristic in France, Spain, Germany and many Latin American societies. Individualism describes the relatively individualistic or collectivisit ethic evident in that particular society. The USA, France and Spain display high individualism. Masculinity refers to a continuum between masculine charactertistics such as assertiveness and competitiveness, and feminine traits such as caring, a stress upon the quality of life and concern with the environment. Can organisational culture be created by management? * Ann Cunliffe (2008) states that OC is important for 4 reasons *Slaps the image that the public has as an organisation * Influences organisational performance * Provide direction to the company * Help to attract and retain motivated staff Creating the desired OC may be difficult since imposing a particular culture may not be met with resistance. Why? Is disparity between what the management states as values and the reality with the employee an issue? What organisational factors may be attributed to the development of a desired OC? Communication is an organisational factor that is an important factor is developing and fostering an OC Why? Discuss with example? Communicating top down only leaves management out of touch from the real situation and may lead to a gap in culture that management wants to create another culture that actually develops. Uncover the levels of cultures Artefacts – Visible organisational structures and processes (had to decipher). Annual report, newsletter, furnishings are examples of artefacts. Espoused Values – Strategies, goals, philosophies (espoused justifications). Assumptions that tell individuals how to perceive, think and feel about work, human relationships and performance of colleagues. Basic underlying assumptions – Unconscious taken for granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts and feelings (ultimate sources of values and actions). Summary with examples of Schein’s three levels of culture * Surface manifestation of culture – most accessible forms which are visible and audible behaviour patterns and objects (observable culture, send a message) * Organisational values – the accumulated beliefs held about how work hold be done and situations dealt with that guide employee behaviour ( be honest, be creative, work hard) * Basic assumption – invisible perceptions, taken for granted understandings, held by individual with an organisation concerning behaviour, the nature of reality and its relationship to its environment (stability, excellence, quality and responsibility). Where does OC come from? Values are the basic element that distinguishes one organisation from the other. Changing organisation structure and its process will mean a change in values and therefore a change in culture. Why? Discuss the difference on a change from tall hierarchy to a change in flat hierarchy.

Mercedes Benz’s E-Biz Solution

Free Case Study | Mercedes Benz's E-Biz Solution: The Factory Delivery Reservation System | Free | Case Studies | Case Study in Business, Management Case Details Themes: e-Supply Chain Management Case Length: 06 Pages Period: 1990-2001 Organization : SciQuest. com Pub Date : 2002 Teaching Note : Available Countries : USA Industry : Information Technology (Electronic Commerce) Mercedes Benz's E-Biz Solution: The Factory Delivery Reservation System â€Å"One of our most fundamental goals in developing the system was to strengthen and market the Mercedes-Benz brand in the United States.The fact that we would be one of the first car manufacturers in the United States to have a factory delivery program would be seen as a very positive thing in this regard. † – William Engelke, Assistant Manager, IT Systems, Mercedes Benz US International, commenting on the FDRS. Linking Customers By 2000, Mercedes Benz United States International (MBUSI), builder of the high-quality MClass s ports utility vehicle (SUV), established itself as a company that also delivered superior customer services. One such service was the delivery option where by the customer could take delivery of the vehicle at the factory in Alabama, US.The program called the Factory Delivery Reservation System (FDRS), enabled MBUSI to create and validate 1800 orders per hour. FDRS also automatically generated material requirements and Bills of Material1 for 35,000 vehicles per hour. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that made FDRS possible was based on Lotus Domino2 and IBM Netfinity3 server4. Analysts felt that with its innovative use of the new program, MBUSI not only managed to improve its customer relations by providing the best service, but also demonstrated its commitment to customers by making them an integral part of the process.Customers were, in a way linked directly to the factory floor – which was a powerful sales tool. Background: Mbusi and its Business Challen ges MBUSI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser AG. 5 In 1993, Daimler Benz realized that the ‘Benz' brand could be extended to wider market segments. Traditionally, Mercedes Benz6 appealed to older and sophisticated customers only. Daimler Benz wanted to attract customers below 40 years of age, who wanted a rugged vehicle with all the safety and luxury features of a Mercedes. Daimler Benz decided to develop a SUV known as the M-Class.It expected strong demand for the new vehicle and therefore planned to build its first car-manufacturing facility – MBUSI – in the (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) US. The MBUSI facility had many advantages. First, labor costs in the US were almost half that of in Germany. Second, the US was the leading geographic market for SUVs. Third, as the vehicles were assembled in the US, they could be distributed to Canada and Mexico more efficiently. In January 1997, the factory started production at partial capacity and by the end of the y ear, it was producing at full capacity.By 2000, the factory was rolling out around 380 vehicles per day. The new M-Class „allactivity'vehicle represented a new concept for the company. Also, mass customization required that each vehicle be treated as a separate project, with its own Bill of Material. To deal with these challenges, Daimler Benz decided to implement an enterprise wide Information Technology (IT) system, with the help of IBM Global Services7. To further strengthen the image of Mercedes Benz in the US, MBUSI planned to deliver vehicles at the factory, becoming the first international automobile manufacturer in the US to do so.MBUSI also wanted to enrich the customers'experience. Commented William Engelke, â€Å"The factory delivery option gives Mercedes-Benz customers something that they do not get from other automobile manufacturers which is why we think the program will resonate with our customers. We think that having the factory delivery program available to Mercedes customers adds to the overall experience of the customer. † The Design of FDRS The FDRS program was proposed in the first quarter of 1998. In the third quarter of 1998, MBUSI entered into a contract with IBM.A development team was constituted with IBM Global Solutions specialists and IBM e-commerce developers, who worked closely with MBUSI. The program became operational by the first quarter of 1999. The IT team at MBUSI had a clear set of functional specifications for FDRS. However, they relied on IBM to transform the concept into an e-business solution. The FDRS was designed in such a way that customers buying the M-Class SUV could specify that will take delivery of their new vehicle at the factory. They could place the order at any of the 355 Mercedes Benz dealers in the US.An authorized employee at the dealership entered the factory delivery order the web interface. Timing was the most important aspect of the FDRS'functionality, as it was closely linked with MBUSI 's vehicle production schedule. Mercedes Benz United States of America (MBUSA)8, based in Montvale, NJ, was the first link in the FDRS program. It was the point where the dealer actually placed the order. MBUSA's role was to coordinate the distribution of vehicles to dealers across the country. Later, it had to add the order to the company's Baan Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)9system, which scheduled the order for production.About three months before the production date, the dealer could schedule in a window, the date and time of arrival of the customer at the factory for delivery. The window was then automatically computed by the FDRS to give the dealer, the possible delivery dates. Apart from the delivery date, the customer could also specify the accessories for the car and also request a factory tour. FDRS was based on Lotus Domino (Refer Exhibit I), Lotus Enterprise Integrator10 and IBM Netfinity servers. It also interfaced with IBM S/390 Parallel Enterprise Server, Model 96 72-R45 located in Montvale, NJ (Refer Figure I).There were two Domino servers – an IBM Netfinity 5500 and an IBM Netfinity 3000. FIGURE I SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF FDRS Source: MBUSI The former that acted as the „internal Domino server'was placed behind a firewall 11. It replicated databases through the firewall to the external server. The replication, which was encrypted, represented the primary means by which the FDRS system achieved security. Netfinity 3000 acted as an „external Domino server. ‘It had public information and was also the primary communication linkage for dealers. The ack-end of the FDRS was equipped with an Oracle database that updated the internal Domino server database with order information. The updation was done using Lotus Enterprise Integrator. The data which was replicated to the internal Domino server included lists of valid dealers and lists of order numbers. When an order was placed by the dealer on the FDRS system, the data was fir st stored on the external Domino server, after which it was replicated to the internal Domino server. Then it was replicated to the back-end database via the Lotus Enterprise Integrator.Data replication between the Lotus Notes servers happened every 15 minutes and data exchange with the back-end database three times per day. There was also a link between the back end database and an IBM S/39012 mainframe based system located at MBUSA via a T113 line. MBUSA managed the flow of vehicles to Mercedes dealers across the United States. This mainframe based system, received new vehicle orders (as opposed to factory delivery reservation requests) from individual dealers. The orders were then sent to MBUSI's Baan system and also to the back-end database.The vehicle ordering and factory reservation data were coordinated with each other when the back-end database uploaded the data to the internal Domino server. This coordinated the production and delivery information. FDRS Implementation One o f the most challenging aspects of the implementation seemed to be the complexity of the Lotus and Domino scripts. The development team had to group all the information from diverse systems. Commented William Engelke, â€Å"There was a substantial amount of very complex coding involved in the FDRS solution. This application involves a lot more than having our dealers fill out a form and submitting it.There are many things the servers have to do for the system to function properly, such as looking at calendars and production schedules. We built a solution with some very advanced communication linkages. † IBM faced many technical challenges during the implementation of the program. One of them was the different timing schemes of the Lotus Notes databases and backend databases (ERP). This led to discrepancies in the data. Domino server was a Near Real Time (NRT) Server14, and MBUSI's backend activities were both real time15and batch processing16. Also, to get the best results, th e Domino server was an optimised subset of the ERP table set17.However, the development team achieved a balance between the two „sides'of the solution by focusing on issues of timing, error detection schemes, and alerts. Customer Satisfaction: FDRS Primary Benefit MBUSI seemed to measure FDRS'success in terms of increased satisfaction of its customers. The company also believed that the marketing and customer satisfaction aspects outweighed the significance of more traditional cost-based benefits. Apart from the factory delivery experience, the program also offered the customer a factory tour and ride on the off-road course at a low cost.The company also seemed to gain strategic marketing benefits from the FDRS program, as it was able to establish Mercedes-Benz as a premium brand. (Refer Table I for advantages of FDRS in different areas). Customers could also visit the various tourist spots in Alabama after picking up their M-class vehicles. TABLE I ADVANTAGES OF THE FDRS PROG RAM AREA Strategic Marketing Benefits Cost Savings ADVANTAGES FDRS was expected to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, as it enriched Mercedes' customer's experience. The program also strengthened the brand image of Mercedes in the US.Development of a web-based solution enabled MBUSI to offer the factory delivery program at substantially lower costs, due to less reliance on administrative personnel. â€Å"Package Marketing† the FDRS program with a ride to tourist sites, enhanced the image of Alabama as a tourist destination. The creation of a similar – albeit smaller – factory delivery system to the European Customer Delivery Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, reflected favorably on the MBUSI business unit. Source: MBUSI Regional Economic Development DaimlerChrysler AG Future of FDRS In 2000, MBUSI planned to leverage FDRS'platform by adding a range of other services.MBUSI built an advanced platform to create communication links to its suppliers. Thro ugh the link, MBUSI provided them feedback on the quality of supplies it received. The dealers and suppliers had a user-ID and password, which the system recognized. It then routed them into the appropriate stage of the FDRS. The company also planned to extend the innovative system to include transactional applications such as ordering materials and checking order status on the Web. The company expected that the new system based on FDRS, would be more cost-effective than the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)18 system. ] Bill of Material keeps track of all raw materials, parts, and subassemblies used to create a finished product. 2] A product of IBM Corp. , Lotus Notes and Domino R5 are the industry's leading client/server combination for collaborative messaging and e-business solutions. 3] The IBM Netfinity server offers solutions for file-and-print and application computing needs. 4] A computer or device on a network that manages network resources. For example, a file server is a c omputer and storage device dedicated to storing files. Any user on the network can store files on the server.A print server is a computer that manages one or more printers, and a network server is a computer that manages network traffic. A database server is a computer system that processes database queries. 5] DaimlerChrysler AG was the result of a merger between two leading car manufacturers – Daimler Benz of Germany and Chrysler Corp. of the US in 1998. 6] A luxury brand of passenger cars, Sports Utility Vehicles from DaimlerChrysler. 7] IBM Global Services is the services and consultancy division of IBM Corp. that offers extensive ebusiness solutions. 8] MBUSA is the wholly owned US subsidiary of DaimlerChrylser. ] ERP attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those different departments' particular needs. 10] A server-based data distribution product that enables data exchange between Lotus Domino and a number of host and relational applications. 11] A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software. Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets.All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria. 12] The IBM S/390 servers offer direct high speed access to the e-business application and are used for Enterprise Computing. 13] A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1. 544 Mbits per second. A T1 Line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbits per second. Each 64 Kbit per second channel can be configured to voice or data traffic. 14] The NRT Server System supports real time distribution of near-real time data. 5] Real time refers to events simulated by a computer at the same speed that they would occur in real life. 16] Executing a series of noninteractive jobs all at one time. The term dates back to the days when users entered programs on punch cards. They gave a batch of these programmed cards to the system operator, who fed them into the computer. Usually, batch jobs are stored up during working hours and then executed whenever the computer is idle. Batch processing is particularly useful for operations that require the computer or a peripheral device for an extended period of time.Once a batch job begins, it continues until it is done or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies that there is no interaction with the user while the program is being executed. 17] The ERP tables are the database tables, (thousands of them), on which the package is built. The programmers and end users must set these tables to match their business processes. Each table has a decision „switch'that leads t he software down one decision path or another. 18] EDI connects all the suppliers in and out of the US. www. icmrindia. org/free resources/casestudies/Mercedes Benz-IT&Systems-Case Studies. htm

Things Fall Apart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Things Fall Apart - Essay Example It is through this maze that Achebe directs his readers, using the Igbo viewpoint, traditions, and lingo to emphasize a harmony of common human values even to those who criticize African cultures of their prejudiced and untold beliefs (Obaze & Momah). Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is perceptive and very opinionated. Achebe has to be credited for his mysterious capacity of writing a novel that not only deals with history, but with the present and future, foreseeing things to emerge.  The novel is educational and conventional as well as biased, sociological, and historical. While its argument is the poisonous collision of Umuofian religion with the introduced foreign government of the colonizers, it also validates that at the same time as African culture, and literature may have been manipulated by European culture, similarly, European culture has also gained from African cultures (Obaze & Momah). Captivating as it is, the novel’s title of Things Fall Apart is confusing, for the reason that Umuofia does not really fall apart. It does not stand with Okonkwo and oppose change with hostilities, but fittingly adjusts for survival. Umuofia people or Igbo tribe are constantly searching the common sense of what they do and why, measuring up to the neighboring communities, and history. In Things Fall Apart, the only thing that falls apart is Okonkwos life, because of his stubbornness to adapt. The Umuofia people adapts and changes with the world, unlike Okonkwo who prefers to stay behind and

Strategic risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Strategic risk management - Essay Example People respond to risks and hazards in a manner that is in line with their perception of that particular risk. It is in order to therefore assert that perception affects behavior and action. Difficulties are likely to come up as a result of inaccurate beliefs linked to the hazard and its consequences. People act and perceive risks and hazards in two major ways; one as feelings where individuals involve their intuition and instincts to danger and secondly, involving logic and reasoning and scientific deliberations. To understand these aspects as a human factor, it is indeed necessary to understand what people perceive as a hazard or risk and what they base their perception on (Environment and Behavior, 2000). Risk analysis in everyday life is received quickly and automatically by the feelings that arise from what has been experienced before. Strong emotions that human beings experience such as fear and anger play a role in risks as just a feeling. Fear makes the risks estimates scale up while anger attenuates them. Fear stems up from uncertainty and controlling a situation while anger stems up from certainty and control of an individual. Affect, which is the quality of being good or bad has been identified by scholars as a key to motivating human behavior (Environment and Behavior, 2000). Pleasant feelings will motivate people in to expecting positive actions while unpleasant feelings will drive people to avoid or expect negative actions. Intuitions gut feelings and instincts are what human beings rely upon from to determine what is dangerous or not. This is evident in that it is the feelings that people relied upon in the past for their survival for example to determine what animal was approachable or not. People judge a risk according to how they feel about it and how they how they think about it. According to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development & International Transport Forum, (2009), as much as the aspect of

Data Collection and Funding for Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Collection and Funding for - Research Paper Example sampling will be stratified. The number of patients will be differentiated into different categories because this can enhance the focus on certain percentage of people who can show higher probability of lower medication errors. Medical cards and day-today reports can also be used as an effective tool to identify hypothesis readily. The reason behind using this tool is because it allows gaining valuable data within very short span of time. Considering the case of SSC and CMT in lowered medication error, this manner of data collection is likely to be proven as effective. There can be limitations underlying with the process because there are less instances of people making use of CMT (Green, 2010). It should also be noted that the above mentioned tools are basically provided by a medical institution as per consent granted by patient’s family or patient and organization. These medical records are highly sensitive and cannot be claimed without consent and copyrighted documentation for its utilization in the research work. As a matter of fact, the researcher shall approach the authorities and write application forms for the families as well as the administration of the medical organization. This will surely take some time for clearance but once the consent is received then it will be easier to carry on with the research work i.e. data analysis. There could be a number of health care institutions that can be approached considering the significance of the research. It is surely the need of research regarding SSC and CMT relationship in having increased number of awareness of communicable diseases. Other than medical institutions that are involved in the contribution of innovation and assessment of medical phenomenon, there are various committees that provide research funding. These funding institutions serve the goal of evaluating lack of literature (Dupin & Chupin, 2013). In particular, organizations that are basically involved

Federal Funding For Emergency Management Solutions Essay - 1

Federal Funding For Emergency Management Solutions - Essay Example During the fiscal year 2008, most of the federal funding for emergency management was focused on the research purposes(Moore, 2008). This was because of many of the hazard areas needed to be tackled with equal measure. For example, after the revision of the presidential budget from operating plan FY 2007, most of their funding changed positively towards the research activities as compared to the first-responder preparedness(Moore, 2008). The U.S government was under war with terrorism and most of the funding was spent on this activity(Bullock, Jane, George, and Damon, 2012). However, little research was being done on other areas that would affect the American citizens in equal measure. For instance, not much was done to combat the never-ending effects of natural disasters. The change in weather, Katrina, and drought really had a greater toll on people as compared to the government’s activities in Afghanistan and Iraq(Bullock, Jane, George, and Damon, 2012). Such disasters prov ed to be more dangerous by killing many citizens and destroying properties of great monetary value(Meade, Charles, and Megan, 2003). If not undertaken or solved in appropriate manner will have a huge negative impact to the economy of the country. Therefore, the American public would be served well by transferring funding from the first-responder preparedness to research and  development.

Gun Control and Its Effects on Crime Rates Research Paper

Gun Control and Its Effects on Crime Rates - Research Paper Example Keeping this in view, many countries across the world banned the acquisition of harmful weapons on civilians. Logically speaking, if B accompanies A most of the time and one does not want B then one should be more likely to avoid A, too. Similarly, if crimes involve armed weapon and if someone wants to lower down the criminal activity, then the logical course of action should be to ban the possession of armed weapon. However, ironically, opposite is true. The phenomenon of gun control, which is the ban on supply or usage of guns by civilians, correlates highly with the increase of crime rates. This theory faces great opposition by pro-gun control schools of thought, which maintain that less weapons means less crime. This paper addresses this debate in a more enlightened space substantiating each point with relevant evidence. However, the paper holds and attempts to prove that gun control does, directly or indirectly, leads to increase in crime rates. Before diving into the actual debate, a glance at the background of the issue and historical anecdotes will clear the space for the discussion to build up in a more neutral, bias-free fashion. Gun control has been a popular topic of discussion and argument since a century. Nazis and Fascist were strong proponents of enforcing gun control to disable the civilians to counterattack. Therefore, people belong to anti-Hitler clan usually oppose the enforcement of fun control, saying that this is remains of the brutality of fascism (Wilson, 2007). On the other hand, US have a strong history of gun control, especially with respect to its Civil Rights Act and racial discrimination against African Americans. After the slavery abolished and Reconstruction was underway, slavery codes were replaced with Black Codes, which contained laws only for African Americans. These codes include gun control. Later on, when Black Codes were deconstitutionalized and racial

Values of American political thought Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Values of American political thought - Essay Example The American government derives its power from the people in form of a constitution which ensures checks and balances. America was a British colony and therefore subjected to the English law and constitution and is a monarchy form of a government ruled by hereditary kings. In such form of government, the will of the king is the law of the land hence the people are subject to oppression (Paine). The pilgrims from Britain thus found a colony in America and settled in the northern parts of Virginia and signed the mayflower compact on 11 November, 1620 to â€Å"preserve order and further their aims† (Mount). They thus created laws and constitutions and all individuals were to be bound by these laws. The laws ensured equality and fairness and determined the authority of the governors and were the foundation of the U.S constitution. According to Paine, men are born free and equal and live together as a society but as the population increases, the resources become scarce thus the nee d for designing regulations to govern the sharing which eventually become laws. The societies also enlarge and it becomes difficult to address all of their concerns hence the need to elect representatives who have the same interests as the majority thus forming a government. The American government is based on this idea of equality and fairness; it is a republican government which derives its power from the people through their representatives in the House of Representatives.The declaration of independence in 1776 also indicates that the government derives its power or authority from the governed.... The congress is made up of House of Representatives and the senate whereby the members of the House of Representatives are elected by the people. Madison James asserts that people have diverse interests hence the society is divided into parties consisting people of common interests. The federal government is able to break and control the violence brought about by factions through the use of the constitution. According to him, state governments are not able to do this as they have majority people with same interests hence fewer parties and may not represent the interest of all people. However, federal government is vast and few people represent the interests of the majority thus it is difficult to have biased interests. The constitution thus checks and balances the authority and power of government by controlling the effects of factions (Federalist, 10). The democratic form of government is a major competitor of the republican form of government. This type of government derives power and authority from the people the only difference from the republican government being that in the former, the people exercise their power directly whereas in the latter people exercise their power through representation in the government. The people in the democratic government meet often since they are situated at short distances but the number of individuals is limited to a certain number. The states that form the federal government are sovereign and have been against control by the federal government. The federal government makes and administers laws which are limited and the state governments make laws that concern only the state (Federalist, 14). They are smaller in size

Compare Ode to a Nightingale and A Draught of Sunshine by John Keats Essay

Compare Ode to a Nightingale and A Draught of Sunshine by John Keats - Essay Example Much of his youth was stigmatized by poverty and poor health. He also got into an understanding with Frances â€Å"Fanny† Brawne but the relationship didn’t last long because of Keats’ failing health, although Fanny was loyal to Keats and tended him very near to his last days. It was during this period of his failing health when he wrote Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) which included the poem â€Å"Ode To A Nightingale†. Ode To A Nightingale is a poem that was very close to Keats’ personal life. The poem was evocative of all the sufferings that Keats faced in his short-life like the death of his parents; the suffering and pain which he witnessed in people as a surgeon apprentice, the death of his brother and ultimately his own vain life spent in convalescing from the deadly disease of tuberculosis and the pangs of a relationship that couldn’t shape up. The poem speaks of the life of a nightingale in which the poet compares it with that of the life of a human being. Keats says in the poem that the life of a nightingale is blessed because it hasn’t seen the stressed life of humans which is impregnated with worries and sickness. He further says that the life of humans is so sad where beauty is not perpetual and affection is not consistent but the nightingale is above all this and its music is fluid and it is immortal. The writer wishes very hard to flee from the human world to the world of the nightingale. Keats also further wishes to succumb to death painlessly by delightfully listening to the melodious music of the nightingale. The nightingale’s song has been taken to be the ticket to the other world which is free of materialism and physicality. Keats achieved to flee to the world of the nightingale by alcohol and opium but later agreed that the sweet musical chants of the nightingale will help him transport to Utopia. â€Å"A Draught of Sunshine† is another of Keats’ poem which

How Benna in Anagrams Creates Her Own Reality Essay Example for Free

How Benna in Anagrams Creates Her Own Reality Essay In the novel Anagrams by Lorrie Moore the main character Benna bounces back between reality and the reality she creates. At times is hard to tell what’s what. Benna is a widow that lives alone and has an on and off relation with Gerard. She has also created an imaginary friend Eleanor and a daughter Gorgianne. When she is talking to the people she created it is hard to tell that their not really there. Bouncing back between created reality and what’s actually going on is at times hard to follow. This false reality she created plays a big role in â€Å"The Nun of That†. Benna creates her own reality in a few different ways. She imagines a daughter and a friend that she has full conversations with. The daughter she creates name is Gorgianne. She was named after Benna’s husband George that committed suicide. â€Å"Georgie has dinner and a bath, and Mrs. Kimball comes over and I say good night and drive over to Gerard’s apartment. † (Moore 118). This quote shows that Benna treats Gorgianne as a real daughter. Benna gave her dinner, and a bath; she even hired a baby sitter. Now if these things actually happened there is no evidence. With Benna talking like it’s actually happens it makes it hard to tell that her daughter is imaginary. â€Å"She holds up a little soap chunk she has broken off the bar. She is crying. â€Å"I put it up my nose,† she sobs. â€Å"I wanted to be all clean for tomorrow for school but now it won’t come out. † (Moore 74). This is another example of how Benna creates her own reality. She goes in complete detail of how and why the soap is stuck in Georgianne’s nose. Now clearly this did not happen because she in not real but the next day in class Benna tells them that was the reason she did not momorize there names. Eleanor is Benna’s imaginary friend. She is another example of how Benna creates a false reality. â€Å"Eleanor puts her pen down, all histrionics, and gazes out the lounge window, at the parking lotand the one tree. â€Å" You know, I just hate it when I lose my composer,† she says. † (Moore 65). Here Benna and Eleanor are grading tests I the lounge at FVCC. His is clearly one of Benna’s fabricated realities. Benna talks with Eleanor quite often. Their conversations are just like any other friends would have. This makes it hard to tell that Eleanor is not really there and just imaginary. There are a few reasons that Benna has this false reality. One reason is that she could be lonely. She makes up her daughter and friend so she doesn’t have to be alone. After her husband she had no one to live with so she probably thought she could imagine someone. Another reason could be that Benna always wanted to have a kid. Benna at times mentions that she would like to have a family, so she imagined that she had a daughter to have one. Also Benna could have imagined Eleanor just as someone to talk to and as a part of a life that she would have wanted to live with a friend like that and a daughter as well. Benna, the main character in the novel Anagrams, by Lorrie Moore goes back and fourth between reality and a reality she creates. She imagined a friend and a daughter. They have full on conversations with each other like they are actually there. At times her reality seems so real that it is hard to tell apart from what is actually going on. This makes it hard to tell what is actually being said and at times if the Imagined people are actually imagined. The main reason Benna creates this false reality is because he is lonely and wants people to spend time with and talk to. Moore, Lorrie. Anagrams: A Novel. New York: Knopf, 1986. Print.

Sociological perspective

Sociological perspective A complete state of ones physical, mental and emotional well being can be defined as health. A healthy environment or society is a factor that determines the healthy of an individual. From a sociological point of view, a functioning society comprises of healthy people and individuals who are able to control diseases (Durkheim, 1982). In view of murder and suicide, this research paper looks into sociological theories and sociological perspective on murder and suicide. Introduction There are various sociological perspectives that define how society views different actions taken by an individual. The various sociological perspectives are as a result of either macro sociology or micro sociology. The macro sociology examines and individual behavior; in this note, an individual behavior can thus be as a result of the society he/she has lived in. on the other had, micro sociology defines the way one looks at things. Sociologists have defined suicide as an act done in private and lacking approval from the society. According to the study conducted by Durkheim the level at which individuals may involve themselves with suicide acts is not determined by their level of insanity. In his study, he found out that men were more likely to get into suicide acts than were female. The rates of suicide acts were also in the increase when compared to wealthy and unmarried people. This in other words is to mean that some people are more prone to committing suicide than others. The a bove noted level of differences in committing suicide corresponds to an individual level of social integration. In simpler terms, individuals with greater social commitment have are less inclined to committing suicide than individuals who had little or no any commitment in the society (Durkheim, 1982). The sociological perspective: Social factors Emile Durkheim postulated that suicide occurs as a result of the kind of fit that an individual experiences in his or her society (Stillion McDowell, 1996, p. 65). Durckheim (1982) uses integration theory to show how an individual suicide acts relates to his/her involvement in the society. In his elaboration of social integration theory, the author has used two variables, that is, social integration and social regulation. In view to social integration, individuals are susceptible to egoistic suicide. Social integration variable measures the level of an individual acceptance to the shared beliefs in the society. In this case, there are those individuals who have accepted and those who have not accepted the set social beliefs. The author has distinguished this in terms of altruistic suicide and egoistic suicide. In this case, individuals who have accepted the laid down social beliefs are susceptible to altruistic suicide. Such individuals have a strong bond with the society or are deeply integrated into the society. An individual who happens to be over-integrated into the societal norms may have an ingrained tendency to kill themselves in an effort to abide to the set social imperatives.[1] On the contrary, those individuals who lack a bond between them and the society become distanced from the social life and eventually become a victim of excess individualism leading to egoistic suicide (Stillion McDowell, 1996). In his explanation of these social factors, Durkheim argued that, The suicide rates of his time were higher among Protestants than among Catholics; his explanation was that Catholics received more support from their church while Protestants were left more to their individual devices. At the same time, more single people committed suicide than married people and fewer married women with children committed suicide than unmarried women. Durkheim believed that the incidence of egoistic suicide is inversely related to family density (Stillion McDowell, 1996, p. 65). Social regulation variable refers to the degree of social control imposed by society on the individuals motives and feelings (Cutter, 1998, para. 4). In his explanations, the author has argued that those individuals who have a strong belief in social regulation are prone to fatalistic suicide while those on the contrary are susceptible to anomic suicides. Fatalistic suicide usually comes about when an individual is over-regulated and is oppressed by the society. In most cases, such oppression may be directed to a certain group of people in the society.[2] Individuals who commit anomic suicides usually lack society regulation.[3] The author has also observed that individuals who are at the middle of these two variables or who are neither in the two categories are less prone to suicide. In other words, such individuals tend to die from other causes apart from suicidal mode. Cutter (1998) in support of social regulation have argued that when the external societal restraints are not accepted or are weak, individual aggression may be directed towards self and as a result, individuals may result into suicidal behaviors/acts. In his explanation, the author quotes the work of Gibbs and Martin (1964) arguing that the rate of suicide of a population varies with the stability and durability of social relations within that population (Cutter, 1998, para. 5). According to Stillion and McDowell (1996), a suicidal behavior cannot be viewed outside of the context in which it occurs (Stillion McDowell, 1996, p. 64). In his explain, the authors point out that individuals in their varying cultures have their unique psychological problems at varying times. An augmented increase in the understanding of how the body functions in relation to the prevailing literature on psychoanalytic literature have resulted to a decreased value in the number of individuals with this artificial physiological problem. Sociological perspective on murder Criminological theories may either be classified in the social structure or in social process theory. The social structure theory assumes that some individuals are more susceptible to delinquency and criminality as a result of their status in the society or on the community.[4] According to the social process theory, criminal behavior results from social learning and socialization process. The society in which an individual lives in or has been brought up affects greatly his social understandings or groupings. For instance exposing a child to violent acts in the society may serve as a valuable input to later violence behaviors. In support of this insight, Ronald Holmes and Stephen Holmes argues that the basic development of the person in society is predicted in no small part on the unique experiences that each person is exposed to in the course of living a normal life (Holmes Holmes, 2009, p. 65). Conclusion Its of great value if suicide is viewed from a sociological perspective. This will enable individuals to look at suicide deaths from different cultural environments at varying times in history. Such factors may help the suicidal students to understand their risks and thus offer the necessary advice. One may also observe that the society in which we live in clearly defines our behaviors or the expected behavioral acts in our life. References Cutter, F. (1998). Review of the 20th century theories. Retrieved on February 23, 2010 from: http://suicidepreventtriangle.org/Suichap3.htm Durkheim, E.(1982). The Rules of the Sociological Method, (Ed. by Steven Lukes; trans. by W.D. Halls). New York, NY: Free Press, pp. 50-59. Holmes, R. Holmes, S. (2009). Serial Murder: the sociological perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Stillion, M. McDowell, E. (1996). Suicide across the life span: premature exits. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis. [1] A good example can be drawn from an Indian ritual suicide acts named as Suttee. In this case, Indian widow would through themselves on their husbands funeral pyre, and thus committing suicide. Another example can also be drawn from the Japanese Kamikaze pilots of World War II. In this case, some young boys less than 15 years of age volunteered to fly planes on a mission to destroy U.S Ships. The planes provided for use unfortunately did not have enough fuel for their trip back home. The mechanisms on the plane were also tampered with such that they would not have a safe landing at any time. this indicates that the young boys had the love of their country such that they were ready to commit suicide in exchange. [2] Fatalistic suicide may be found among slaves or prisoners subjected to barbaric and punitive environments. For instance, in concentration camps. [3] Evidence to support anomic suicide can be drawn from the fact that the rates of suicide tends to be in the increase in economic depression and in times of greater prosperity. In this case, since the individual lacks social regulations, he/she therefore feels alienated from the society (irrespective of societal wellbeing) and subsequently commits suicide. [4] In this regard, poor people are assumed to be more criminally inclined since they have actually do not have access to the path leading to prosperity. However, although this is true to some extent, there is no evidence pointing out that murderers are poor or rich, black or white. In this regard therefore, one may argue that such killers may not have a material gain motive but rather, act on psychological gains.