Build team effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Build team effectiveness - Essay Example Ineffective teams have low unity of purpose; the group members show a great deal of indifference, disagreements are dealt with ineffectively. To build team in a new team that has never worked each team member must engage themselves in a number of team building activities that will assess the strengths and improvement opportunities of the new members of a team, and thereafter formulate and implement plans designed to increase the overall effectiveness of a team (Parker and Kropp, viii). According to Heinemann and Zeiss (79), conflict is considered to be part of group development. Without effective conflict management mechanisms, conflicts between the members of a group can result in hostility, anger and misunderstandings. The members of a team are encouraged to not suppress their discomfort as suppressed or unresolved conflict can serve to increase hostility in team in addition to greatly polarizing the team members. Team leaders on the other hand should ensure that they create an atmosphere where the team members can be able to express their discomfort or give their opinion. The leaders can also employ the use of some of the conflict management styles such as accommodating, compromising and competing method where suitable to resolve conflict in the team. For a team to be highly effective, it must first set goals that are designed to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bond. As much as possible, all the team members should be allowed to make their input during the designing and wording of these goals. Individual team members should consistently communicate with each other to ensure that all the members are able to receive and understand similar information pertaining to the group. The team leader should work to ensure that the team is well staffed, each members understands the purpose of the group as well as their respective roles within the group. In addition to this the group leader should be able to

Learning and Motivation by Edward Chace Tolman Essay Example for Free

Learning and Motivation by Edward Chace Tolman Essay Experts in psychology have multiple definitions, at times contentious, of both motivation and learning as well as indistinct explanation of how the two correlate to each other. In this field of educational psychology, there have been several introspections into how an individual is driven to learn about new things. The drive behind every quest to gain knowledge of a new phenomenon has been attributed to motivation. Motivation can simply be defined as an inner situation or circumstance, often portrayed like a necessity yearning or wish, which act as catalyst to set in motion some action and provide it with a course. Scholars in motivation believe that this stimulus plays a central role in learning given the fact that to gain knowledge of a thing or phenomenon cannot happen by itself but requires a kind of incentive (Benjamin, 2007). The point of divergence between psychologists revolves around the issue if motivation is principal or lesser player in determining and shaping how individuals conduct themselves. Edward Tolman is revered for his numerous and important inputs to the psychology discipline.   He is credited for conceptualizing a cognitive supposition of erudition, his area of expertise. Tolman postulates that learning is gradually built upon smidgens of acquaintance and the psychological result of perception and reasoning with reference to the surrounding and ways in which individuals make a logical or causal connection. It seems to oppose earlier theorists who consider erudition as an austere action-result association. He asserts that individuals engage in a concealed type of learning on a regular basis as they go about their duties and that real learning is attained in times of necessity. He further says that an intention compels an individual pending a modification of an inner condition and before that occur, an individual carry on to act similarly (Benjamin, 2007). This information can be applied to schools and vocational training to motivate learners to be more serious in their studies. A scheme of rewards and reprimand can be established in school curriculum such that an excellent performance by learners is recognized and honored while a dismal output is shunned. This can also be extended to other stakeholders of the school. The end effect would be that people are bound to do what is right and excellently because their efforts are rewarded. The opposite is also true. Reference Benjamin T. L. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology: Blackwell brief histories of Psychology. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Concepts and Definitions in Operational Management

Concepts and Definitions in Operational Management Question 1: Answer: OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT Operational management refers to managing the operations of an organization. Managing the operations means to manage the resources and follow the policies and procedures of any organization. The basic and most important operation of management is to process the inputs into outputs to get desired results. The meaning of operational management contains words i.e. resources, systems, conversion or transformation and outputs. (Business) These words can be explained as :- RESOURCESResources are the man, material and money in the organization. Man or staff is the major or key requirement in an organization. Material is also very important because without availability of material production cannot be possible. And money or capital is required for hiring staff and for purchasing the raw material so that the raw material can be converted into finished products through production. SYSTEMS There is a system which every company has to follow. Every organization has some policies and procedures which helps the organization to achieve their goals and helps in profit maximization. If the work done in an organization is according to the plan then it helps in attaining the goal of the company. Planning is the first and important step of management. Without planning no other function can be performed in an organization. CONVERSION Conversion means converted the inputs (i.e. the raw material) into outputs (i.e. finished goods). In an organization raw material can be converted into work in progress and then into finished goods. When the material is transformated from inputs to outputs then this process is known as productivity. OUTPUTS Outputs are the final results which each organization gets after conversion of inputs into finished products. If the value of outputs is greater than the cost of inputs used then we can say that the value is added to product hence the output helps in increasing profits of company. (outputs) THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF OPERATIONS :- CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONThe basic objective of operating systems is to satisfy the customers by giving them better products at low cost and by giving them better services than other companies . Consumers can be satisfied if the products are not too costly and available on time. (Understanding operations management) RESOURCE UTILISATIONAnother major objective of operating systems is to utilize resources for the satisfaction of customer wants effectively. Customer service must be provided with the achievement of effective operations through efficient use of resources. Inefficient use of resources or inadequate customer service leads to commercial failure of an operating system. EFFICIENCY Another objective of operational management is efficiency. Efficiency is must in every organization .Higher efficiency helps in less wastage of resources. If the resources are not wasted then it will lead to less per unit cost of production. Efficiency helps in specialization of staff. QUALITY Quality is also another important objective of operational management. Every customer wants a product which is very good in quality and also with less cost. Quality helps in satisfying the customers and if the customer is satisfied then effective relation can be build between consumers and organization. ADAPTABILITY if the quantity and quality of the product is upto the mark and also the price of the product is affordable then that product is survived in long run that means the product helps for future survival of the company. Question 2: Answer:   Production means step-by-step conversion of raw material into work in progress and from work in progress into finished goods. Production is an important and essential function of any organization. Without doing production no organization can survive or remain existing. CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMProduction systems can be classified as Job-shop, Batch, Mass and Continuous production systems. Job-Shop Production: When only one product or a few quantity of products are manufactured and the product which are produced is as per the specification given by the customers then that type of production is known as Job shop production. (products-services) Advantages: It helps in availability of more variety of products. It helps in improving the skills of the employees. More creative ideas of employees can be used in this method of production system. Limitations More staff is required as the productiin is few. High time consumed in less production. Production planning is complicated. More wastage of resources resulting in higher per unit cost of production. Batch Production : When the production is done in lots or batches then this productionis known as batch production. In this type of production the lots are not producing continuously but in limited quantity. (production-system) Advantages Cost per unit is low. Batch production helps in job satisfaction.   It helps in better utilization of resources. It requires low investments for production as the production is not done in bulk quantity. Limitations Handling of material is very difficult. More material is required hence more wastage of resources. Mass Production : When the production is done in bulk quantity and continuous then that type of production is known as mass production. In this type of production the machines are arranged in a line. Advantages Per unit cost of every production is low. Less time is consumed in producing bulk quantity. With less material quantity higher production can be done. Mass production helps in less wastage of resources.   Limitations Mass production requires higher investments and resources. If the machine used in producing bulk quantity is damaged or breakdown then whole production line will be stopped. Continuous Production : When the production is done continuously   i.e. the production starts from using the raw material and ends with finished products. This type of production is done when the handling of material is fully automated. (continuous-production-system) Advantages Less time is consumed in producing more units. It helps in more utilization of available resources. It helps in less wastage of resources. Per unit cost is low in continuous production. Disadvantages It requires very high investment. If manufacturer want to do any change in any product then it is not posdible. Question 3: After critically evaluating the key operational levers, discuss which can be applied to management of service operations of Ryanair for the proactive management of customer experience. [ 15 Marks] Answer:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is a lever? levers are initiatives that a client can undertake in order to drive the desired impact.   There is usually a limitless number of things a company can consider trying in order to improve their business. (Industry week) Five key levers to productivity improvement every day There are Five key levers for every day improvement. These levers can be explained as : 1. Cost structure Cost structure is a method of determine how much it will cost a company to manufacture a product and how much profit will be recognized from manufacturing a product. It is very important to structure or manage the cost. So that the per unit cost of a product decreases and profit from that product increases. If the cost of the final output is more than the cost of the input then it can be said that the value is added to the product. 2. Organization of work In any organization if the working of the organization is according to the plans and policies then this also helps in better utilization of resources and helps in achieving of organizational goals. This helps in restructuring of an organization. (aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning) 3. Business processes Business process is a collection of related structured activities that produce a specific product for a particular customer. This lever contains work as a team and if the employees of the company are worked together without any chaos then it helps in improving the position of business because it is very important for every organization to work in cordinating with the employees. 4. Knowledge management Knowledge management means managing the knowledge and information of an organization. Knowledge management helps in improving the performance of the company. With this lever an organization can do more innovations results in providing better products to consumers than their competitives. It also helps in continuous improvement of the organization. 5. Information Technology (IT) It is the application of computers to store,study and manipulate the data or information of the business. Business need to take charge of this lever and starts IT in its process. IT helps in storing and saving the data or information of any enterprise and that information can be used whenever it is required. This will help in reducing paper work in the organization. CONCLUSION There are several levers which helps in improving everyday business works. These levers has to be integrated into business as soon as possible to drive the desired impact. These levers helps in achieving of organization objectives efficiently and effectively and improves the working of the organization. References aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://museum-madness.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning.html Business. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/operations-management-10/introduction-to-operations-management-69/a-study-of-process-328-7195/: https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/operations-management-10/introduction-to-operations-management-69/a-study-of-process-328-7195/ continuous-production-system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kalyan-city.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/types-of-continuous-production-system.html Industry week. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.industryweek.com/growth-strategies/levers-mastering-margins outputs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/understanding-operations-management/content-section-3.3 production-system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kalyan-city.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/what-is-production-system-definition.html products-services. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/preservation/products/definitions/products-services.html Understanding operations management. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/understanding-operations-management/content-section-3.4

The Sociological and Political Subtleties of Woodstock Essay -- Explor

The Sociological and Political Subtleties of Woodstock The Woodstock festival descended on Bethel, New York promising three days of peace and music. Event organizers anticipated 15,000 people would attend but were overwhelmed by the 300,000 people that flooded this rural area of New York state from August 15 -17, 1969. While these facts are well known and indisputable, the festival itself has proven to be a controversial endeavor. What began as a small business venture was soon brimming with the controversy of an entire decade. It becomes clear when examining the strikingly different accounts of the festival that reactions varied depending on the fundamental values and personal circumstances specific to each observer and to the underlying motives of the historian describing the event. Joel Makower's Woodstock: The Oral History was particularly effective in examining Woodstock as it was experienced by the producers of the festival. The book's approach is atypical in the sense that it spends considerable time addressing exactly why and how the festival came into existence instead of droning on about drug use and mud slides. The ordeal began when John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, wealthy young entrepreneurs, placed an ad in The Wall Street Journal declaring, "Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting and legitimate business ideas."[1] Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld, representing only one of the thousands of replies that Roberts and Rosenman received, proposed building a recording studio for musicians in Woodstock, New York.[2] This original idea was obviously modified and resulted in the Woodstock festival as it is known today. The book effectively details everything from the initial catalyst to the re... ...8 August 1969, p. 25. "The Message of History's Biggest Happening," Time, 29 August 1969, 32. Notes [1] Joel Makower, Woodstock: The Oral History (NY: Tilden Press Inc., 1989), 24. [2] Makower, 28-29. [3] Makower, 1. [4] "Amazon.com," search for "Joel Makower". (17 February 2002). [5] Alfonso A. Narvaez, â€Å"Bethel Farmer Call Fair a Plot ‘to Avoid the Law’,† The New York Times, 20 August 1969, p. 37. [6] "Episcopal Archives," (17 February 2002). [7] Michael T. Kaufman, "Generation Gap Bridged as Monticello Residents Aid Courteous Festival Patrons," The New York Times, 18 August 1969, p. 25. [8] Narvaez, 37. [9] "The Message of History's Biggest Happening," Time, 29 August 1969, 32. [10] Time, 32. [11] Time, 33.

Stock Options

Stock options increasingly dominate CEO pay packages. This column outlines when economic theory suggests that options-heavy compensation is in shareholders’ interests. The answer is that boards of directors are likely giving too many executive stock options. As boards of directors have sought to align the interests of managers and stockholders, executive stock options have become an ever-larger fraction of the typical CEO’s total compensation (Murphy 1999). Occasionally this practice has led to aggregate compensation payments that are so large as to mock the very connection they are supposed to encourage. What does economic theory have to say about executive compensation in a dynamic context? From a conceptual perspective, how effective is the granting of stock options in promoting the correct managerial decisions? How confident can we be that when a large fraction of a manager’s compensation assumes this form he or she will be led to undertake the same labor hiring and capital investment decisions that the shareholders would themselves want to undertake if they were similarly informed? Managerial incentives and the design of compensation contracts are the systemic implications of executive remuneration are taken into account, that is, in a general equilibrium context; one finds that for a contract to induce managers to take the correct business decisions in the above sense, it must naturally have the following three features. A significant portion of a manager’s remuneration must be based, in one way or another depending on the context, on her own firm’s performance. This concurs with the general message of a wealth of microeconomics studies. But this is not sufficient. The general contract characteristics must also be such that the manager is not, as a consequence of this first requirement, enjoying an income stream with time series properties that are too different from the time series properties of the income stream enjoyed by shareholders. This later restriction arises because, as is well known, the income and consumption position of a manager will determine his or her willingness to undertake risky projects. Optimal delegation requires that this risk attitude is not too different from shareholders’ own. The second feature may have to be modified if the manager’s risk tolerance is inherently different from that of the shareholders. The typical motivation for stock options (as opposed to pure equity positions) is precisely that the (recurrent) lack of income diversification of a manager may make her excessively prudent (in pursuit of a â€Å"quiet life†). This is the idea behind setting executive compensation according to a â€Å"highly convex† contract, i. e. ne where the upside is really good, but the downside is not so bad. This asymmetry is necessary induce risk averse managers to make the right investment decisions from the perspective of well-diversified stockholders. Are options-dominated contracts warranted? Shareholders receive both wage and dividend income, with the wage or salary component being, on average, the larger of the two. This is an implicati on of National Income Accounting. In the typical modern economy, about 2/3rds of GDP is composed of wages, with capital’s income account for only 1/3. Points 1 and 2 above therefore imply that an optimal contract will have both a salary (with properties close to those of the wage bill) and an incentive component (with properties naturally linked to the income accruing to capital owners) with the former being about twice as large as the latter. The incentive component may take the form of a non-tradable equity position (giving the right to regular dividend payments) or it may be more closely tied to the firm’s stock price itself. Furthermore, both of these components enter linearly into the manager’s compensation function. In today’s business world, the salary component appears to be too small relative to the incentive component. Hall and Murphy (2002) report that the grant date value of stock options represented 47% of average CEO pay in 1999. Equilar, Inc. , an executive compensation advisory firm, reports that stock options awards represented 81% of CEO compensation for the largest 150 Silicon Valley firms in 2006. What happens to incentives if the salary component is too small relative to the incentive component? Such an imbalance between the components of a manager’s compensation will lead to excessive smoothing of the firm’s output from the shareholders’ perspective. They typically prefer a highly pro-cyclical investment policy whereas, without further inducement, the manager will be much more reluctant to exploit the good opportunities and instead select a mildly pro-cyclical or, even, possibly an anti-cyclical investment strategy. This problem is well recognized, and it is the main justification for using highly convex managerial compensation contracts (i. e. options). Convex contracts overcome this possibility by reducing the personal (expected) cost to the manager of increasing the firm’s investment when times are good. If the manager’s preferences are well represented by a logarithmic utility function of consumption, however, then this latter argument does not apply; the manager’s actions will be insensitive to contract convexity. That is, even a compensation contract that is heavily laden with options will not induce managers to alter their behavior one whit. A straightforward application of this logic produces an even more striking result. If the manager happens to be more risk averse than would be dictated by log utility – an entirely plausible configuration – the only way to induce optimal managerial behavior is by using a highly unconventional remuneration package in which the manager’s compensation is inversely related to the firm’s operating results. This would mean a contract that pays high compensation when profits are low and vice versa. In this situation an options laden compensation package will induce the manager to behave in a manner directly opposite to what the shareholders would like. More generally, the degree of contract convexity must be related to the relative risk aversion of the manager as compared to the shareholders and if these quantities are not precisely estimated large welfare losses will ensue. From a theoretical macroeconomic perspective, the circumstances under which a highly convex compensation contract, for example, one that has a large component of options, will properly guide the manager in making the correct hiring and investment decisions are very narrowly defined. It would be surprising if these circumstances were fulfilled in the typical contract case.

Where to Buy Sodium Hydroxide

Where to Buy Sodium Hydroxide Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or lye is a common ingredient in many science projects, particularly chemistry experiments, and to make homemade soap and wine. Its also a caustic chemical, so its not as easy to find in stores as it used to be. Some shops carry it as Red Devil lye with laundry supplies. Its also found, usually in impure form, in solid drain cleaners. Craft stores carry lye for soapmaking. There is also food-grade sodium hydroxide, sold in some specialty cooking stores.You can find sodium hydroxide online. You can purchase it at Amazon as sodium hydroxide or lye. Pure lye drain opener, caustic soda, and pure or food grade sodium hydroxide. Depending on your project, you may be able to substitute potassium hydroxide (KOH), which has similar chemical properties and is easier to find. However, these two chemicals arent the same, so if make the substitution, expect slightly different results. How to Make Sodium Hydroxide If you cant purchase sodium hydroxide, you can use a chemical reaction to make it. You will need: Table salt (sodium chloride, non-iodized)2 Carbon electrodes (from zinc-carbon batteries or graphite pencil leads)Alligator clipsWaterPower supply (e.g., 9-volt battery) In a glass container, stir salt into water until it dissolves. Do not use an aluminum container or aluminum utensils because sodium hydroxide will react with them and damage them.Place the two carbon rods in the container (not touching).Use alligator clips to connect each rod to a terminal of the battery. Let the reaction proceed about 7 hours. Place the set-up in a well-ventilated space, as hydrogen and chlorine gas will be produced. The reaction produces a sodium hydroxide solution. You can use it as such or can evaporate off the water to concentrate the solution or obtain solid lye. This is an electrolysis reaction, which proceeds according to the chemical equation: 2 NaCl(aq) 2 H2O(l) → H2(g) Cl2(g) 2 NaOH(aq) Another way to make lye is from ashes. To do this, boil ashes from a hardwood fire in a small amount of distilled water for about half an hour. To get a large amount of lye requires a lot of ashes. Hardwood ash (e.g., oak) is preferable to softwood ash (e.g., pine) because softer woods contain a lot of resin.Let the ashes sink to the bottom of the container.Skim lye solution from the top. Evaporate the liquid to concentrate the solution. Note that lye from ashes is relatively impure but should be good enough for many science projects or to make soap. To make a crude soap from homemade lye, all you need to do is combine lye with fat. Sodium Hydroxide Projects Once you have lye, you can use it in a variety of science projects. You can make a sodium hydroxide solution to use as a base, make homemade soap, make water glass for homemade magic rocks, or try the gold and silver magic pennies experiments.