Asda: Strategic Management And Leadership

Asda: Strategic Management And Leadership INTRODUCTION This case will critically examine links between strategic management and leadership, impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions and how leadership styles adapted to different situations. Here I am going to use a case study from the choosing an organisation (ASDA) to view the relation between strategic management and leadership, and analyse how a new Strategic decision effect on the management and leadership. 1.1 ASDA ASDA is the second biggest supermarket chain in the UK. Since 1999 ASDA has been wholly owned by Wal-Mart which is the largest company in the world. ASDA was formed in 1965 by a group of farmers from Yorkshire, and its activities are still mainly based in north of Britain. [Corporate watch: ASDA Wal-Mart: overview]. 1.2 ASDA Mission, purpose and values ASDAs mission is: to be Britains best-value retailer exceeding customer needs always. ASDAs purpose is To make goods and services more affordable for everyone. ASDA also has a series of values. ASDAs values are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Respect for the individual à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Strive for excellence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Service to our customers. 2. Strategic management and Leadership 2.1- Strategic management- strategic management is the process of organisational objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve their objectives, and allocating resources to implement the plans. It is usually performed by the companys top management level such as CEO, Stakeholders and executive team. It provides all direction to the whole organisation. It can be described as a way of achieving overall organisational objectives. It is the process that involves analysis of external and internal environment, resources and competencies of the company. Basically it is a set of managerial decision and action that determines the long-run performance of an organisation. Peter Ducker, 1954. 1.2- Leadership- For every problem there is a solution. It often happens that the person best fitted to solve the problem is someone not directly connected with or influenced by it. Michael J. Dreikorn, 2003. Leadership is the position in an organisation that leads and motivates people to achieve the organisational goal. Leadership inspires others to take the appropriate action. In an organisation there should be a leader to lead the people or group. They take responsible of their people and support them through training and development in order to encourage effective contribution toward meeting organisational objectives. 2- Link between strategic management and Leadership The management and Leadership are basically the words referred to as equivalent and in most cases are comparable from the same position. Management and leadership are the two vital discipline of the organisation. These are most important for the people who are involved in managing a team, business, and organisation. Leadership and management are the skills that an organisation should possess through its chosen leader with the support of its management. Leadership is driven by the person in an organisation who guides the group to achieve the company goal. There is good understanding between the leader and group people to determine the ability and articulate visions and goals. Management is the process of planning, organising, maintaining, controlling the efforts of the organisation member and using all the organisational resources to achieve the stated organisational goal. James A.F stoner and Chales Wankel, 1986. Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out the truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice. They have a preference for innovation. John Fenton, 1990. 2.1- Strategic Management and Leadership (ASDA) As one of the UKs fastest growing retailers, the aim of ASDA to committed to building and operating stores in a sustainable for the benefit of the environment and the communities they serve. Its strategy is centred on its mission, purpose values, which guide to make business even better. Wal-Mart has carried out a plan, to grow ASDA over the next five years to become number two in grocery and British biggest non-food leader. ASDA Corporate website. ASDA people are the companys most important asset and source of competitive advantage. Its success depends on the strength their management, which build from manage with a disciplined process led by the CEO and the senior leadership team. Employees are working seriously going above and beyond the call of duty to get the job done under leadership. Every department has a good team leader to lead the employee in a proper manner towards the organisational goal. Wal-Mart management which owns ASDA appointed Andy Clarke as the new CEO. Andy Clarke joined ASDA in 1992, during his tenure Andy Clarke has been groomed by the dynamics of ASDA by working in variety of leadership roles. He used to work as a business unit director such as frozen, bakery and grocery. He has good leadership skills in which he can lead his people in store in effective manner. In a statement of Doug McMillan, the president and chief executive of Wal-Mart international, said: At Wal-Mart and ASDA, we have a robust succession planning and talent development process and Andy Clarke has long been identified as a leader. He joined at a difficult time when the company has slowdown in sales because of the food price inflation effect the sales across the sector. But Clarke has done a fantastic job within a couple of week and that leads him to high designation. He has announced a great deal with the deep discounter in UK called Netto. ASDA bought 193 Netto stores worth  £778m. The new CEO will lead the retailers efforts to become an even better food retailer, a broader non-food retailer and a leader out its plans to open a new chapter in its story and that over the five years. It had to be market leader in general merchandise and food. (www.your.asda.com, posted by Asda press team on 11May 2010). 3- Impact of Management and Leadership in ASDA The acquisition with Netto could get strength like small Tesco stores that will help to achieve its goal and becoming Britains biggest retailer of general merchandise. It is a great idea that ASDA can be a part of the market with the small stores in high streets. It is also targeting Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Home base. During its past five year strategy ASDA has increased its sales from  £15bn a year to  £20bn. It has created more than 30000 jobs in the process with opening new 70 stores in UK. CEO Andy Clarke has believed to have again creating thousands of new jobs at every level of growing business. Andy Clarke, CEO and president of ASDA said Through a combination of opening new stores, extending existing ones, converting Netto stores, and continuing to expand our grocery home shopping service we will create 7500 new roles throughout the country. We also currently have nearly 3000 vacancies on our jobs website. www.asda.com/press-centre. Conclusion As one of the largest retailer in the UK, in order to be successful, An organisation should think about customer satisfaction. It helps to the business to achieve their mission, purpose and values. The study reviewed, argues that the companies that demonstrate perform to a highly invest a lot of time placing customer at the centre of their strategy. However it also recognises that the challenging of managing people is one of the most difficult jobs for a manager. Introduction A leading in an environment which is characterised by useful resources, an uncertain and unpredictable economic environment where the competition is constantly increasing and extremely challenging as no clear direction of an organisation. In an organisation change is tough and always has been. When change has become the order of the day, it is most important is having the right leadership team. This is why having a leadership strategy is the key. Change is tough and always has been. Many executives arent good at leading change because they dont understand the importance of making critical changes in how their companies are led, not just in how they operate. William Pasmore, 2008. When we planning to adopt a new strategy, we do have always some questions, which are- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What style of leadership will be required? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How would we need to lead differently? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Do we have the right leaders to lead? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ If not what are we going to do about it? Leadership Theory Many leadership theories have been suggested for a leader to support an organisation. An earlier most of the leadership theories are based on the behaviour and qualities of successful leaders but later on it focused on the role of associates and follower. The following review and discussion of leadership theories may argue that demanding new approaches that encourage a more collective and unpredictable rearrangement view of leadership and leadership development and sharing the role of leader more widely within organisation. Situational Leadership Theory The theory is more likely tied to using the style needed to be a successful leader in work environment. The leader is able to create much leadership style as changing situation. The Hersey-Blanchard Model of leadership also takes a situational perspective of leadership. In this theory the developmental situation of a leaders subordinates play the biggest role in determining. It is based on the amount of task behaviour and relationship behaviour. In task behaviour the leader engages in duties and responsibility to an individual or a group. The task behaviour is like, what to do, how to do, when to do, where to do and whos to do it. In this behaviour the leaders are used one-way communication. In other way the relationship behaviour is the extent to which leaders are communicating in two-way by creating socio-emotional support. When determining the appropriate leadership style, according to Blanchard the key situational variable is the developmental level of subordinates. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Directing: The leader produce specific directions and clear instructions. For the low follower this is the best matched. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Coaching: The leaders two- way communication helps to build confidence and motivation of the follower. The leader has responsibility and controls decision making. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supporting: In this style the share decisions making between the leader and followers expect the relationship to be directive. Participating style is the best preferred to a moderate follower readiness level. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Delegating: In this style the leader is still involved in decision making with the group. It helps to make solution of the problem but the control is with the followers. In this style the followers are decide when to take the leader involved. Transformational leadership Theory The transformational leadership theory is occurring when one or more people engage, in which the leader and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation. For an example Mahatma Gandhi is a transformational leader. He satisfied the required of the followers. But instead of riding those require he remained seek to high purpose. The transformational leadership theory is focused on the hypothesis that the leaders can satisfy a need of the follower. The needs are always high order needs and are closely aligned with the internal motivation of the follower. Bernard Bass developed the transforming leadership where the leaders transform the followers. It is very closer to the prototype leadership in which the follower have in mind they describe their leader and provide a role model in which subordinates want to identify. He purposed that there is a special power in transforming leadership with leaders may transform both leaders and followers. Transformational leadership- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Is preoccupied with purposes and values, morals and ethics. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds on a mans need for meaning à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Is orientated along long-term goal and focuses more on missions and strategies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identifying and developing new idea à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Designs and restructure jobs to make them meaningful and challenging Leadership Strategy of Shell Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. The parent company of the Shell group is Royal Dutch Shell plc. This is incorporated in England and Wales. The strategy of this group is seeks to reinforce the position as a leader in the oil and gas industry in order to provide a competitive shareholder. The leadership strategy used by Shell includes these elements as bellow; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds shared vision à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maximises business opportunities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Champions customer focus à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Demonstrates professional mastery à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Displays personal effectiveness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Motivates, coaches and develops à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Values differences à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Delivers results With a current market capitalisation of 292 billion dollars (2009), 278 billion dollars in annual review, operation in more than 150 countries, Shell is one of the largest businesses, but never as one of the fastest. With its 100 year history, its deep sense of tradition, and its carefully and longevity, but never as one of creativity or innovation. They use old traditional theory like authoritative style of leadership which based on upward directions. Leaders are creating strategy for the team and work with the subordinates on these policies. The rules and regulation made by the leaders are followed by the team members. Steve Miller, group managing director of the Shell group of companies, who guide the day to day activities, but two year after the company had lunched transformational leadership style. The upper level managers had shown their efforts, but employee morale continued to slip. Suggestion A successful organisation depends on leadership and a new approach to providing it. The leader has to find the proper vision to empower these frontline people, to challenge them, to provide them with their required resources and hold them accountable. As the followers are struggling with challenge, the leader becomes their coach, teacher and as well as facilitator. As employee move upwards in an organisation, they get caught up in board strategic issues, legal issues, stakeholder issues. They need a common understanding of the business which drives execution. Conclusion The review of leadership theory and example in use to the Shell group of company it would conclude that a limited version of transformational leadership is being promoted. The qualities and behaviour exhibited by the leader that encourages the followers participation, development and commitment. Leader is seen to act as a visionary equipped with a set of goal though communication, problem solving, people management, decision making, etc. that can be applied a diverse range of situations. TASK-3 Planning For Leadership Introduction Today the business environment is quite fast paces with the changing economy rapidly. There is a need for an organisation to implement competitive advantage, such as identify the sources of competitive advantage, implementing them and how to defend them. Organisations are using financial resources to get an edge over their competitors. They could also reliable their human resources or another is through implementation of technological changes. With all these, it can be tricky for an organisation to balance the three aspects. Porter, 1985. Virtual Organisation The word virtual organization is to be called as a network of independent organisation. The firms are temporarily join together to produce a service or product. It is consult with such term as virtual teams, virtual office, and virtual leadership. Advance information technology becomes an important element. That is why the success of a virtual organisation. Computerised information systems allow employees from geographically dispersed location to link up with one another. Virtual team members need to learn new skills like they are total lack or face to face contact. So they need the skill is the ability to interact with everyone in an effective manner. Another one is the ability to assimilate quickly and effectively into new teams. They may need computer based technologies as well as intercultural skills to work effectively in multinational organisations. Virtual leaders required new skills to lead in the different environment to virtual operations and sustain virtual relationship with internal as well as external constituents to support their team. For an example; like Apple computer and Sun Microsystems. When Apple computer linked its easy- to-use software with Sonys manufacturing skills in miniaturization, Apple was able to get product to market quickly and gain a market share in the notebook of the PC industry. Mergers and Take Overs Mergers and takeovers are an action of an organisation. They turn two companies in a single legal entity. Two organisation combine together to improve the organisational performance and shareholders value over the long time period. Historically mergers are occur in periodic burst, typically included by economic shocks such as, changing environment, cost of goods, deregulation, technology, political uncertainty and demand reduction. During the period of corporate change leadership has a profound effect on stakeholders. ASDA has announced in May 2010 that it is to take over Netto store. This is the great example of horizontal integration. This will increase their market share and to compete with Tesco. e- Leadership E-Leadership means a balancing many roles and carrying them out via communications technologies. Leadership is not only a job or a position; it is a way of being the world. As an e-leadership in the world today, it need to bring people together around the world, through national, geographic and cultural, using communications technologies tools to achieve the strategic goal. E-Leadership takes place in the context of e-environment in which the work is mediated by information technology particularly the internet (Hani, 2001). Development of leadership skills Everyone can develop their capacity to lead a party or a committee, or a group. When someone already committed, and practised using their capabilities in their life, they can develop their own skills as a leader. Mainly leadership skills are the skills that can use in various situations. This type of skills called as situational theory. It does not mean that assessing the leadership styles will identify the strength and weakness, but it can be develop the leadership skills. Golden Rule at Work- The skills which we used at work every day like the way treating others is wish to be treated. It is not always easy as it sounds. In an organisation leaders need to keep balance of short term results and long term job satisfaction. Coaching and Teaching- some leadership skills has to develop with the help of coaching and teaching as well. This is especially effective, where leaders may be lead as expert and should be interested in the development of the group or people. In this situation leader can develop coaching skills by face to face with others. Delegating Task- Delegating task is not only giving the work to someone and runaway. It is not only extra knowledge or experience for the co-worker, but it works in trust. This type of skill can be develop by giving less task, which could be complete by the certain time with a good result. As the task become easy to do and comfortable leader can start delegating more and more difficult tasks. Democracy at Work- This type of skill we said simply encouraging independent at work. It allows the co-workers to believe they have right direction the team is going. It can be say democratic leadership styles. Among them they discussing with others that often comes with freedom to take any decisions, while it takes a long time. Emotional Intelligence Leadership Skills- Emotional intelligence skills are in natural and leading other with successfully interacting through people. The skill helps the leader to understand the dynamic of those interactions. Self-Awareness is our ability to determined that the position of the leader by self. It is the ability to understand the emotions, moods, and motivations. Self-Regulation is the skills that more responsibility with control the emotions. It controls the emotions which will be counter productivity to desire the goal. Motivational Skills- Motivation skills come from external source, like managers recognition for a job well done, and internal sources like self-motivation or internal motivation. As a leader it is very important to identify the key which motivates more at work. Empathy Skills- It is the skills that involves in the relationship with the co-worker. It is ability to understand someones point view. The skill has the ability to understand the impact change on someone else. Social Skills- To develop these skills you need to be socialise others. It works in networking style in a work setting. The followers need to listen their leader and take interest on listening. Need to be able to develop and guide followers using social skills. Conclusion Without any leadership, most strategic plans of an organisation will end up as dead piece of paper.

Characterizing the Religious Encounter between Moravians and Saramakas

Characterizing the Religious Encounter between Moravians and Saramakas When Moravians in Germany sent three missionaries to Suriname in 1765 to witness to the Saramakas, two groups with unique and fundamentally different cultural, social, and religious beliefs and structures met. During the course of their stay, the Moravians were hounded by disease and disappointed by the poor reception of the gospel; meanwhile, the Saramakas were plagued with inter-tribal rivalries and poor relations with the white government officials and plantation owners, with whom they maintained an unsteady peace. These circumstances, as well as the many ways in which Moravian and Saramaka expectations and social behavior differed, created a barrier between the two groups. Because the Moravians entered Saramaka society in small numbers and with no pretense of using political force or monetary bribery (the latter of which the Saramakas would likely have accepted) to force conversions, the extent of their influence on Saramaka religion and culture was limited. Though there was s ome cultural exchange, including the adoption of European manufactured goods into Saramaka life and the adoption of some Saramaka medical treatments by the Moravians, for the Moravians and for the majority of Saramakas, the religious encounter was a meeting of mutually closed worlds. For a handful of Saramakas, including Alabi, an apparently true conversion took place. In addition to the few converts, there were a small number (Brother Wietz reports twelve in 1779) of Saramakas who came to Christian services regularly, and thus were interested in and perhaps persuaded to some degree by the missionaries’ message, but made no commitment to or identification with Christianity and c... ...vian presence certainly changed the lives of a few Saramakas, but did not make a great impact on Saramaka society as a whole. The missionaries who died or returned to Germany did not manage to build relationships with the Saramaka community as a whole and could not count Suriname as one of their fruitful mission endeavors. Conversion was rare, and the syncretism formed after the Moravians introduced Christianity was admonished by the Moravians themselves and short-lived in any case. The current presence of Christianity, or some syncretic form, among a minority of Saramakas is probably not derived from the Moravians. Though Christian stories and the Moravian presence will never be forgotten because of their importance in the life of the gaama Alabi, the importance of the encounter with Moravians is restricted to a specific place and time in Saramaka history.

Capitalism and leisure

Capitalism depends on a continuous sense of dissatisfaction to exist.   The temporary relief experienced by dissatisfied workers engaging in leisure activities such as shopping is not caused by the acquisition of an object, but rather is produced through the action of conspicuous consumption of those objects.   In other words, the relief is felt during the pursuit of certain objects and the exchange of money for goods, but diminishes almost immediately once the desired object is obtained. IPods and MySpace are recent examples that seem to bear this out.   The acquisition of an IPod necessitates the pursuit of music and the desire to perpetually obtain more music, while MySpace consumes massive amounts of free time and functions by the constant acquisition of â€Å"friends†.   They cannot create satisfaction in their original state; they only create satisfaction through the promise of acquiring infinitely more. Leisure activities such as attending the movies, on the other hand, produce temporary satisfaction through the conspicuous consumption of personal time and diminishes shortly after the movie ends.   Marx and Singer are correct in their assertion that life in the modern era is essentially dissatisfying: the capitalist economy could not exist without a pervasive and perpetual sense of dissatisfaction. However, the assumption that workers who are not alienated from their labor are generally more satisfied seems to discount other concomitant factors, such as the spirituality and close personal and family relationships that both capitalism and communism discount as irrelevant or unnecessary to life in the modern era.   Both can be considered leisure activities, and both have been reported to produce levels of satisfaction among those who participate in these types of activities.

The ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess feelings Essays

The ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess feelings Essays The ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess feelings Paper The ways in which Thomas Hardy uses setting to help portray Tess feelings Paper Essay Topic: Literature In 1891 Thomas Hardy published the novel Tess of the DUrbervilles which is a story based on the life and times of a farm girl named Tess. Tess is a 17 year old girl of lower class whose family horse dies in an accident and her family are struggling for money so Tess goes to visit distant relatives to ask to borrow money to help support her family. While with her relatives she meets her cousin Alec. She leaves the DUrbervilles home pregnant with Alecs baby and goes back to live with her parents. She gives birth to a baby boy and names him Sorrow who later becomes ill and dies. Three years later Tess falls in love with a man called Angel, they get married however Tess confesses to what happened with Alec and Angel leaves her. Tess meets Alec who is a supposed changed man and he has become a preacher. Tess tells him about Sorrow and he convinces Tess that Angel is never coming back and she goes back to live with him. After a few months living with Alec, Angel returns to find Tess and tell her he still loves her. Tess murders Alec and runs after Angel and they run away together, however not long after they are caught and Tess is hanged for the murder of Alec. The story starts off by introducing Tess whos living in Marlott with her family and going to market with her horse. They have an accident on the way there and the horse is killed. So Tess leaves her home and goes to find her family to borrow some money to help her family. In Chapter 14 Tess goes back to live with her family and is pregnant with Alecs baby who soon becomes ill and is dying. Tess doesnt want her child to die without being christened so she christens him herself (as the vicar refuses to christen him because he was born out of wedlock. and names him Sorrow. Sorrow dies that night and Tess buries him at night in a graveyard in Marlott. Thomas Hardy uses the setting to portray the feelings Tess has and the situation she is in. For example in the opening sentence of chapter 14 the scenery is described as a hazy sunrise in August. August is the season when all the plants begin to die and all leaves fall off the trees, also it is the season just before winter which is described as the most miserable season portraying that things to come are going to get worse for Tess. At the end of chapter 14 when Tess buries Sorrow in the churchyard that night. The darkness is another way of showing Tess feelings that her life is dark and empty now without her baby and she is ashamed but she has no reason to be. Also her burying her child at night shows Hardys feelings about the situation as that he disagrees with what Tess had to go through. Chapter 16 starts with Tess leaving her home to get away from her past and start a new life. Seasons are used again to show the feelings of Tess as spring after her winter. Spring is the season of new life and re-growth relating to the plants and animals. Spring after her winter suggests Tess is starting over again and her life is looking up compared for her past months which are described as her winter. However within the bright scenery there is what is described as a dark patch in the scenery where her useless ancestors were buried. This signifies the dark patch on her life that will always be there to remind her of what Alec did to her but she is moving on with her life. Chapters 43 and 47 are after Angel leaves her and she goes to work in Flintcomb Ash. This is a really low point in Tess life as the labour is hard and she is revisited by Alec. Alec finds out about there son Sorrow and is angry at first but invites Tess to come and live with him. Alec is a supposed changed man and is now a Preacher. He convinces Tess Angel is never coming back for her and so she goes to live with him. Thomas Hardys descriptions of the scenery around Tess and the way he portrays Tess feelings plays a major part in the novel piecing the story together and helping the reader really understand the story and relate to Tess. Hardy can also do this by using techniques such as pathetic fallacy and similes the weather intentness of youth gives life attacked takes it away. . Hardys descriptions also shows you how he felt about the way Tess was treated and how he feels about how life was back like how he disagrees with the way that women we treated and how they had no rights. This has a big effect on todays audience and also the audience of back when the novel was written. It would make the audience realise how unfair the way women were treated was and maybe make them think more about the rights women should have. For todays audience it makes you see how much society has changed and the views on women have improved and how both sexes are treated equally now in comparison with in the 1890s when the novel was published. I feel that without Hardys descriptions of setting the novel would not be interesting and as gripping and you wouldnt feel so close and involved with the characters. His descriptions really make the story more intense and interesting.

Free Essays on Catch 22

When Heller began his writing career in the late 1940s, he turned his back on traditional methods of story telling. He seemed to resent the "realism" of the conventional mode of fiction with its rational structure, its assumptions of continuity in plot, situation, and character, and its neat attempts to draw well-defined resolutions. His own experience as an airman in World War II caused him to distrust the cause-and effect relation of surface reality as something merely superficial which captured only outer reality. So in his fiction, Heller developed a structure and style that suited the absurdities in public and private life that he observed around him. The dislocation of episodic continuity serves a dual purpose. Some of the events are juxtaposed not on the basis of chronology but randomly so as to highlight their inter-relationship and to emphasize certain ironic contrasts. Besides, the episodes of the novel are so structured as to create a gradually increasing tension through the sinister events represented in them. Heller gives us several accounts, scattered over various chapters, of the catastrophic events in Yossarian’s plane leading up to a death. Each attempt at narrating the gory details serves to intensify the traumatic impact it has on the morale and psyche of Yossarian. The overall time structure of the novel does acquire some chronological continuity through the intermittent repetition of certain crucial incidents. Recurrent references include the monumental growth of Minderbinder’s black-market operations, the death of Snowden; Cathcart’s rising of the number of missions, and Orr’s repeated ditching of his planes at sea. Catch-22 depicts the absurdities and excesses of life in wartime conditions; on the other hand, it castigates the insanity and inhumanity of bureaucratic systems both in wartime and in peace. It is not surprising, then that the postwar generation of the 1950s and 1960s identi... Free Essays on Catch 22 Free Essays on Catch 22 When Heller began his writing career in the late 1940s, he turned his back on traditional methods of story telling. He seemed to resent the "realism" of the conventional mode of fiction with its rational structure, its assumptions of continuity in plot, situation, and character, and its neat attempts to draw well-defined resolutions. His own experience as an airman in World War II caused him to distrust the cause-and effect relation of surface reality as something merely superficial which captured only outer reality. So in his fiction, Heller developed a structure and style that suited the absurdities in public and private life that he observed around him. The dislocation of episodic continuity serves a dual purpose. Some of the events are juxtaposed not on the basis of chronology but randomly so as to highlight their inter-relationship and to emphasize certain ironic contrasts. Besides, the episodes of the novel are so structured as to create a gradually increasing tension through the sinister events represented in them. Heller gives us several accounts, scattered over various chapters, of the catastrophic events in Yossarian’s plane leading up to a death. Each attempt at narrating the gory details serves to intensify the traumatic impact it has on the morale and psyche of Yossarian. The overall time structure of the novel does acquire some chronological continuity through the intermittent repetition of certain crucial incidents. Recurrent references include the monumental growth of Minderbinder’s black-market operations, the death of Snowden; Cathcart’s rising of the number of missions, and Orr’s repeated ditching of his planes at sea. Catch-22 depicts the absurdities and excesses of life in wartime conditions; on the other hand, it castigates the insanity and inhumanity of bureaucratic systems both in wartime and in peace. It is not surprising, then that the postwar generation of the 1950s and 1960s identi...

Communication Problems in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication Problems in Business - Essay Example Let me start with the latter issue because of its great importance. Imagine 300 people from several dozens of countries talking in different languages, exchanging diverse cultures and dissimilar professional experience — now you can see the problem: how could be the same information delivered to all members of the conference with the acceptable level of comprehension? The problem must be solved using two means: proper language use and no jargon. Modern technology allows us to use multiple simultaneous interpreters translating a report do lots of different languages at a time. Use of jargon is a more dangerous issue because many specialists often underestimate its true harm. To ensure clarity of the information presented at the conference, it must be checked for omitting slangy terms, which vary greatly from place to place and therefore can be a disaster to understanding. The next issue to be considered is the urgency of the information. Needless to say, people invited to the c onference expect to hear something new and useful. It is as important as the urgent information told in time in the internal company environment. Therefore we must make sure that our conference won’t be a museum-like into the past of fibre optics. Finally, the comprehensiveness of the information relates to the level of trust our company deserves. It is often a sad fact when a business implements greater secrecy than it is needed. Oppositely, â€Å"many organizations are now considering a relatively new philosophy called Open Book Management for this very reason.

APPLEs Innovation Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

APPLEs Innovation Strategy - Essay Example The company has been able to bring together its employees, consumers, partners, providers and suppliers on such a platform where they form a winning culture guaranteeing organizational growth. Apple’s innovative strategy has been able to give the company skyrocketing revenue and net profit since year 2000. The strategy is to being about place-based innovation, which means bringing forth innovative ideas within the same environment again and again. â€Å"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It's best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations†, says Steve Jobs (as cited in Martins, 2011). Jobs believes that innovation can only be done with excellence if the leader is able to accept his labor doing mistakes and then correcting them through learning. The innovative strategy also focuses more on how the design works rather than how it looks to the buyer. This actually makes the customers like the new product more. Apple’s innova tive strategy also involves team work rather than relying on individual effort. This and many other features of Apple’s innovative strategy make Apple one of the most profound and creative organizations in the world.