Case study of Elextra-Quik

Case study of Elextra-Quik In Elextra-Quik, the manufacturing manager, Barbara was very happy about her job of problem-solving team leader and her team did a lot of efforts to contribute companys empowerment campaign. But when they were ready to implement the new ideas, they found not only the top manager Martin, but also the middle level managers resisted the ideas. Therefore, this case leads to questions-how a company change to be a learning organisation? What can Barbara do to continue her ideas in the company? In following part, this paper will answer these questions based on three questions. How might top management have done a better job changing Electra-Quik into a learning organisation? What might they do now to get the empowerment process back on the track? According to ECU study book (2011), learning organization is an organization in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems. The characteristics of learning organization are creating shared vision, team-based structure, employee empowerment, share information, participative strategy, adaptive culture and so on. In order to build a learning organization, the whole levels of company staff need to contribute. Firstly, the top management plays the most important role for transfer organization into a learning organization. They need to do a better job on introducing the plans about changes carefully and deliberately. According to Samson Daft (2009) management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manger through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources. So the top management is the maker of companys strategy. They guide the direction of where should company go. When there is a change within organization, some problems can not be avoided, such as resistances from lower level staff. So top management does a good job on introducing change is necessary. They need to introduce the plan in detail to make staff and middle managers to better understand the plan. They can show the evaluation about the advantages and benefits of the change to employees. With that, the plan can be accepted by everyone in the company. In Electra-Quik, Mart in needs to keep enthusiastic all the time and support Barbaras ideas in order to make Barbaras plan can be accepted in the meeting. Secondly, in the process of building a learning organization, the middle level managers and employees also play an important role. Middle level managers are the links between top management and employees; they monitor the changes, collect the feedback of changes and report the effects of changes to the top. Employees conduct the changes and provide the feedback to tops. Generally speaking, in learning organizations, participative strategy emerges bottom up as well as top down. Top management shape the vision and direction, and middle managers and employees support and believe in. They are committed to the vision and contribute to the development of strategy (Samson Daft, 2009, p.59). In Electra-Quik, middle manager should evaluate Barbaras ideas even Martin is absent for meeting and transfer the ideas to their staffs. In order to get the empowerment process back on track, Martin needs to step first. He needs to understand Barbaras ideas again and do a personal appraisal. Then on the companys meeting, he should support Barbaras ideas and support her ideas when Barbara explaining the changes. Also he needs to consult with managers and empower employees to resolve the problem, as well as providing the training. With Martins efforts, the middle managers may change their ideas to support Barbara and conduct the changes in whole organization. Also, Martin can implement self-directed teams as the solution. Self-directed team refer to a multi-skilled cross-functional group of employees who share responsibilities for producing service of product (Rockfordconsulting, N, D). In Electra-Quik, Martin may set up some self-directed teams to conduct the empowerment process, and then they can share the responsibility to get the process back on track. Question 2: Can you think of ways Barbara Russell could have avoided the problems her team faced in the meeting with department heads? Middle management jobs have undergone dramatic changes over the last two decades (Samson Daft, 2009, p.24). Many organizations were expected to downsize their middle managers and slash management levels to become more efficient and facilitate decision-making process and to better adapt to the changing environment as well. The department heads are not favor of this empowerment campaign since they are used to managing the flow of information up and down the hierarchy. But todays middle managers should be responsible for the horizontal network for now most work is organized around teams. In addition, the trend in recent years has been towards wider span of control as a way to facilitate delegation (Samson Daft, 2009, p.37). Compared with tall structure, the flat structure has a wider span of control and is horizontally dispersed, which means it has less hierarchical levels and therefore the organization is able to better respond and adapt to change. Thats why the company initiates the empowerment campaign to let employees more involved in the decision-making process and assume more responsibility and enhance the collaboration. In such a structure, it is easier to build the self-directed teams since more authority and responsibility can be delegated to lower managers and employees. However, the department heads are likely to feel anxious and even threatened by new empowerment campaign. According to Samson Daft (2009, p.373), the attempt by the top management of the empowerment usually gets the deadlock because middle managers are unable to delegate. The possible reasons can be listed as following: They are accustomed to make familiar decisions; they feel they may lose personal status by delegating tasks; they believe they can do better job themselves and they are resistant to change because the performance of each department ultimately rests with them. For Barbara Russell, she needs to consult with each department head before the meeting so as to avoid the problems. There are a number of ways that Barbara could use to resolve the problems. The leading point is that the team must identify the problems first and give their suggestions. Therefore communication plays a significant part. She should talk with department heads to be aware of what issues they want to address and how they address them. After they get the information, they can provide their support in helping them to resolve the problems. For example, the team can come up with a reward plan to encourage each department to solve their own issues and allocate some funds to assist them. The members in manufacturing team cooperate with each other very well, but the final report they presented failed to meet the expectations of the department heads. However, Barbara Russell could have avoided the problems if the top management considered building a cross-functional team at the very beginning rather than just rely on her own manufacturing team. According to Graff et al (N, D), the diverse teams can be more innovative and can develop more precise strategies and have advantages over functional homogenous teams in introducing organizational changes. According to Parker (2003), the competitive advantages of setting up a cross-functional team can be listed as following ¼Ã… ¡they may accelerate the process of problem solving; solve complex problems; more closely to connect with customers and meet their needs; they can produce more innovative ideas; members are more able to share information and facilitate the cooperation among departments. But on the other hand, we cannot neglect the barriers in building such a team since it will increase conflict and competition within the organization with diverse team members. Therefore, the trust and open communication seems significant in a cross-functional team. Question 3: If you were Barbara Russell, what would you do now? Why? If I am Barbara Russell, I will improve own leading skills and make some changes based on six elements mentioned in Figure 1. Figure 1: The web of interacting elements in a learning organization Leadership Participative Strategy Team-based Structure Open Information Strong, adaptive culture Empowered employees Learning Organization Leadership(p534) In a learning organization, as a leader of team, Barbara should focus on using personal power and empowerment to manage the team, and try to be a democratic leader to influences and motive the employees. She should learn to share and explain the company vision, facilitate teamwork, initiate change and expand the capacity of people to shape the future. As a middle level manager, she should pay more attention to try to make the team member to understand the company objectives and goals, and be a bridge of communication between employee and top management. In a learning organization, Barbara also should be a transformational leader, who can create significant change in both followers and the organization (Samson Craft, cited in bass, 1995; Devanna Tichy, 1986; EastmanPawar, 1997). Leaders in a learning organization have three distinct roles: 1) Create a shared vision 2) Design the structure 3) practice servant leadership (Samson Craft, 2009). Barbara should work to fulfill employees n eeds and goals as well as to achieve the organizations larger mission. Communication In this case, the department heads complained that changes would destroy the carefully crafted job categories, and $500 refunds would create unethical behaviors, and industrial spy because of bad communication between top management and departments. Here, the communication means two-way communication including horizontal and vertical, exchange information between departments or team. Barbara should practice more active listening skills to interpret and feedback the information and give some suggestions or recommendations to help other departments to figure out the problems. Team work Self-directed teams are the fundamental unit in a learning organization (Samson Craft, 2009). Barbara has to her roll from a traditional manager to a coordinator or consultant to control with team members in stead of control over them. Meanwhile, Barbara should understand that the jobs and objectives are based on team-based structure instead of individual input and effort. Barbara should work with other departments and subordinates as a team. Empowerment Traditionally, managers take all responsibility for the whole departments. Now in a learning organization, all employees are authorized to participate the decision making while the leadership is changing to be transformational. Barbara should change her roll to adapt the changing situation and give all team members the power, freedom to make decision and perform effectively. Also Barbara should use more personnel power and empowerment to motivate employees. Participative strategy Learning organizations have permeable boundaries and often are linked with other organizations, give each organization greater access to information about new strategic needs and directions (Samson Craft, cited in McCune, 1997). Basically, participative strategy means organization sets up the link of the whole supplier chain to share the information internally and externally. With the globalization of business, information becomes more and more important. To some extent, successful companies depend on the most updated information like lasted technology. Barbara should share the information timely and participate the whole link to get the most updated information to achieve the company goals. Culture In this case, one of important purposes of hiring new CEO is to rebuild the company culture. Top management realized the previous culture focused on hierarchy and centralization, which did not adapt the change of environment and became an obstacle to develop the company. As a leader of manufacturing, Barbara should learn and help to build the strong, adaptive culture within the manufactory, and influence other departments as well. In conclusion, Barbara should change the leadership style into democratic and transformational leader, and self-improvement of leading skills in order to adapt the learning organization culture. She has to change her roll in new culture as well, and try to be a consultant, servant and helper within the team, and improve the skills of communication to share the information in time internally and externally. Finally, the company can be successful to transfer from the traditional organization to the learning one. Conclusion Overall, learning organization is very important for todays companies. In learning organizations, all the people are committed to a vision, learn and share information. With that, the whole company will be more efficient and effective. In Electra-Quik, the paper also provide solutions for top management and Barbara to solve the problem when they conducting the changes and empowerment process.

Biotech Dawn :: Biotechnology Science Essays

Biotech Dawn Ebrahim Oomerjee English 1C Prof. Cross 14 May 2002 Biotech Dawn Long time ago, from the great plains of Africa rose a new form of life. They were apes, walking upright. There was something strange about them. They had something no other living being had ever had before. They possessed unlimited intelligence. In a short period of time the apes would change the world forever. Humans have come along way from the caves. At first mankind the only thing mankind knew about life was giving it and taking it away. But as the years passed and technology became more advanced, mankind could now experiment with the very basics of life itself. Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA) which is the programming code for the body, can now be altered or changed and substituted. This has opened the door to many different possibilities that would have been thought impossible a generation ago. But the path to genetic alteration has not gone unbarred. Many people fearing and distrusting science have tried to resist the march of scientists. From afar, Genetic engineering promises tantalizing results. Humans could now rid the world of certain genetic disorders, Disorders such as Down syndrome and Kliefelter Syndrome would be a thing of the past. Technology was coming to a point where individual DNA codes could be cut away. Restrictive enzymes are so specific that they could be used to cut away any defective code of the DNA with out harming the normal code. There is even the possibility that individual organ could be manufactured in the laboratory. This would be a great success. The fact that many people who die daily waiting for organ transplants would become obsolete. Stem-cell research might in fact make that vision a reality. Scientists have already been able to clone many different types of animals, ranging from cows to squirrels. Science already has accomplished much in the Biological Technology (Biotech) field. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) have made a vast impact in the agricultural industry. Scientists have been able to engineer many different types of crops. If a particular farmer lived in an arid region, he could opt for corn that had been engineered to become drought resistant. Or if another lived in an area where there were many weeds, he could obtain the RoundUp Ready Corn, manufactured by Mosanto. The particular corn can be used with Monsantos herbicide, RoundUp with out harming the corn.

Psy250 Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality

Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality The stages of human development are influenced by biological and humanistic theories. Maslow's hierarchy of needs stresses the need for and individual to discover their own personality and gain self-control in their personal life. Abraham Maslow had a theory that an individual will desire more in life once they have accomplished the basic needs in life. Humanistic features of personality focus on freedom and self-fulfillment. Unlike Maslow, Hans Eysenck and other theorist proclaimed that personality comes from a biological approach that an individual’s behavior is influenced by genetics.The following will consist of a description of how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs influence personality formations, biological factors that influence the formation of personality, the examination of the relationship of biological factors by Maslow’s theory of personality, along with basic aspects of humanistic theories incompatible with biological descriptions of personality. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory of human motivation based on biological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self- actualization.Personality is influenced by ideas that create a foundation of an individual's life relations and peak experiences. An individual's experiences assist an individual to transform and discover the inner self. Peak experiences are familiar to individuals whom have matured and discovered their full potential. Maslow believed that individuals strive for self-actualization once they have satisfied their more basic needs. Maslow also characterized self-actualization as being the most superior out of all hierarchy needs.Each of Maslow's hierarchy of needs define the patterns of human motivations for an individual to survive. Each stage also defines the personality growth in humans as well as in animals. The simplest level of needs must mature before the individual will be motivated to achieve higher need s. Biological needs are the simplest and main requirements for human survival such as water, food, air, and shelter. Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is categorized in two groups D-motives and B-motives (Friedman & Schustack,  2012, pg304). Biological needs are the needs of the body that uphold homeostasis.Food, water, and air are requirements for individuals to survive and produce a steady foundation for growth. Safety needs are crucial in protecting self for growth. Individuals who are smart, tough, fast, consistent, and organized have recognized a defense of security for survival. Challenges associated with the external urges influence defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, displacement, reaction formation, regression, sublimation, projection, and rationalization. Each defense mechanism allows people to protect their ego.Therefore allowing them to avoid posttraumatic stress and continue to strive toward self-actualization. Love and belongingness reflects off safety. Hu mans need to feel a sense of belongingness and love. If love comes from a social group, religious group, classmates, coworkers, family members, and friends, individuals need to love and be loved by others. Without the features of love an individual may become an object to social anxiety and depression. The need for belonging can overcome the biological and security needs, depending on the power of peer pressure from other individuals.Humans have a self-esteem influenced by self-respect. Esteem shows importance and appreciation, which influences the accomplishments of receiving a great education, career, friends, and respect. Individuals with low esteem require respect and attention from others but on the other hand high esteem requires self-respect along with self-confidence. The maximum developed need detects to be at peace with oneself. Self-actualized individuals are independent, choose privacy, love, freedom, and avoid social stress (Friedman & Schustack,  2012 pg305).Biologic al factors such as chromosomes, hormones, and the brain all have a main influence on human behavior. Biological factors that influence personality can involve genetics, disease, drugs, and medical disorders. Personality can be affected by many factors. Psychologist considers personality traits as sensors inside the brain, controlling a limit of behaviors and attitudes (Nettle, 2008). Sensor settings characterize where an individual stands on a measurement for each personality trait.The Big Five traits characterize the strength of certain type of psychological reaction, which depends on certain neurobiological mechanism in the brain (Nettle, 2008). Genetics considers being an influence to personality. Genetics are the primary involvement of personality. Genes affect how an individual's body and brain matures and functions. Individuals who may suffer from loss of genes on a specific chromosome contribute to disorders that genetic factors strongly influence personality (Friedman, Schus tack 2012 pg147). Personality can be affected by disease in which traits may onnect with how individuals handle situations and the emotional results that situations at hand create. It is believed that genetics influence the simplest characteristics. Hormones and brain structure influence behavior but neither has an effect on personality traits. Genes do not have control over personality traits but on the other hand genes influences behavior. The nervous system contributes to notification of the surrounding and dangers of the environment but also emphasizes the notion of importance of appropriate behavior.Biological theories have a stronger impact on personality than humanistic theories may have. Health issues such as mental illness, cancer, high blood pressure, and depression also can have an effect on an individual's personality. The medications that are prescribed to an individual to treat health issues may also have an impact on the personality. Illegal drugs and the abuse of alc ohol can contribute to the changes of personalities that have been established but triggered by chemicals within the drugs and alcohol.The nervous system and the growth of the brain both contributes to biological factors that are influenced by the environment an individual places themselves in and not only by genes. Humanistic approach attempts to stress an individual’s inner personality and spirit. Humanistic approach also stresses the viewpoint of being human. In addition, the humanistic approach also proclaims that individuals focus on the ability of other human beings having an effect on their personality.According to (Friedman & Schustack,  2012 pg291) attending small groups such as human potential movements, which started in the over fifty years ago, with other individuals whom have established all their hierarchy needs in life may influence an individual to become more creative and establish a level of self-fulfillment. In the humanistic approach, the theory is an ef fort that stresses the values and an individual's self-worth. Life matures while individuals plan their lives and take actions for their responsibility.Each individual must learn to have self-control and perform discipline to obtain a healthy lifestyle. Obtaining a healthy lifestyle will contribute to an individual discovering their inner potential. Humanistic believes that spiritual growth and awareness grounds personality in the full appreciation of the everyday world (Friedman & Schustack,  2012 pg303). Humanistic theorists focus on each individual’s personality, appreciation of naturalness, and the value of life (Friedman & Schustack,  2012 pg304). Humanistic theories follow the belief that every individual has their life and is in control of their own free will.Humanistic approach also influences an individual's feelings rather than thought process. Biological theories follow the belief that genetics influence the control of personality. The basic concepts of humanis tic and biological theories are different similarities. Healthy people must take responsibility for themselves, regardless of the actions and therefore, negative actions do not contradict the value of the person. Biological theories focus on thought or reason rather than feelings for self-worth and value. Biological theorists believe that genetics have an influence on an individual's personality.This secondary affect controls how a person develops into adulthood. Biological standpoints also teach that intelligence and genes determine a person’s personality. For example, twins who have similar traits or personalities share the same genetic traits. Genetics can also have an effect on how an individual copes with their personality. A child's childhood environment plays an extremely high influence on the outcome of an individual's personality as well. Therefore, biologic theorists believe that personality traits are genetic therefore, unavoidable.Some theorists believe that a com bination of psychotherapy and drug therapy could correct poor personality traits, leading to a productive life. Humanistic therapists believe that a productive life is an accomplishment of completing each stage of Maslow's hierarchy of needs life. Poor personality traits are learned not inherited but can be changed if willing. References Friedman, H. S. & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed. ). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. Nettle, D. (2008). Embrace your personality New Scientist, 197(2642), 36-39.

Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl...

Linguistic and Narrative Cohesion in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge The readers bewilderment at the end of Ambrose Bierces An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is less a result of Peyton Farquhars death than the timely coordination of this mans violent execution with the readers sudden realization that instead of a detached objective reading he has been cajoled into a subjective experience (Ames 53). The reader is able to cross over into the consciousness of the protagonist at the moment when experience ends because of the storys cohesion and coherence. A focused examination of specific passages and themes in each of the storys sections demonstrates how Bierce satisfies the expectations of the reader and provides a†¦show more content†¦Because the readers linguistic and thematic expectations are being met, the desire to make the dream a reality is strong and the reader becomes so immersed in the story that he forgets that content is a function of technique. As a consequence, the account in the third segment seems reasonable, even though it is p resented by an unreliable narrator. The reader is conditioned from the start as the narrator offers concrete, matter-of-fact details that are logically constructed yet do not record connected actions. These sentences contain known-new contracts that build the readers perception of the setting and interest in the antecedent action: A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The mans hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees (Charters, Introduction 74). In the first sentence the reader is made acquainted to a man standing on a bridge looking down at the water below him. This subject is related to the subject of the second sentence, The mans hands, which is in a known-new contract with the predicate were behind his back. A parallel structure within the