Reflective Questions for Managerial System - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Write about the Reflective Questions for Structural and Managerial System. Answer: An organizational system comprises of four sub systems namely technical system, cultural system, structural system and managerial system. The technical system includes basic equipments and techniques that are necessary for the production process. The structural system includes the policies and procedures of an organization that are to be followed by the organizational employees (Cabri and Blake 2016). The cultural system comprises of the relationships between the employees and their behavioral patterns. The managerial system comprises of the activities related to directing, controlling and organizing the organizational activities towards the achievement of the objectives of the organization (Davis et al. 2014). I view organization as a combination of several sub systems. The processes within an organization cannot work alone instead, the processes are dependent on each other. For instance only technical system is not enough to generate desired outcome. Human resources are necessary to control the technical system and to manage the operations of an organization in order to obtain desired results. A single system when alone is incomplete and incapable of producing desired outcomes. All the elements within an organization are inter- related and inter- dependent upon each other (Dalpiaz, Giorgini and Mylopoulos 2013). Socio- technical system is a combination of social and technical processes. A socio- technical system is a combination of computer, software, business processes, organizational rules and human resources. Any changes in the social element can have a drastic impact on the technical activities. For instance, in case less efficient human resources replace the more efficient human resources involved in the technical processes, then the technical activities tend to slow down or create more errors (Bowker 2014). Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a balance between social and technical aspects of an organization. The socio- technical system involves several approaches such as organizing the processes, flattening the hierarchy, utilizing teams for managing activities, allowing the customers to decide the performance and rewarding the performance of the team. I believe that organizations are an open system that interacts with the environment. An organization does not exist in vacuum due to which the success of an organization is dependent upon the way it interacts with the environment. The success of an organization is largely dependent upon the interaction between its internal employees as well as the interaction with the outside customers (Jones, Artikis and Pitt 2013). I believe that efficient socio- technical systems are necessary for the success of an organization. No organization can achieve its objectives without establishing a sound socio- technical system. For instance, socio- technical system has been efficiently used by Toyota. Toyota has efficiently utilized the socio- technical system approaches along with lean production principles. The company has used the work design model that has helped the company to understand the organizations work practices and its impact upon the performance of the employees. The company has conducted several surveys through which it has come to know that the middle management in the company is necessary for the implementation of the lean system that helps in the utilization of social and technical systems (CORPORATION., 2017) Toyota Motor corporation was founded in the year 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a multinational automotive company. The company has its headquarters in Aichi, Japan. Toyota is the largest automobile manufacturing company in the world. The company has a wide product line that comprises of cars, buses, motorsports, electric vehicles and is also involved in several non- automotive activities such as aerospace, robotics and philanthropy. The company has been manufacturing superior quality vehicles since 75 years and has a world- wide presence. The company has efficiently utilized its socio- technical system and the lean production system in order to achieve the desired outcomes (CORPORATION., 2017). The companys organizational structure is based upon its varied business activities all over the world. The company efficiently utilizes its structure to achieve its aims and objectives. The company has its structure linked with the Japanese traditional business structures (CORPORATION., 2017). The company has efficiently used its organizational structure in order to improve its operations and capacity utilization. Toyota follows global hierarchy, geographical divisions and product- based divisions as its organizational structure. The company has vested the decision- making power in the hands of the regional and business unit heads. The business unit heads are responsible to report to the headquarters of the company in Japan. The company also has eight regional divisions and each of the units heads report to the companys headquarters (CORPORATION., 2017). The company also has four divisions according to its products that supports the brand development and improvement in the product li ne. The managerial sub- system in my organization that is Toyota is highly effective in improving the efficiency of the organization. For example, the TPS (Toyota Production System) of the organization utilizes several conversion processes in order to motivate changes at group levels. The immediate supervisors are responsible for managing conflicts and sustaining the change within the organization. The TPS ensures that all the sub- systems of the company work together towards the achievement of the organizational objectives (Koukoulaki 2014). TPS motivates the suppliers of the company to involve kaizen without affecting the stable procedure. The company does not expect its suppliers to follow their values and principles but they are required to abide by certain basic principles of the company. The TPS system of Toyota ensures that there is proper coordination and integration among the managerial sub- systems. The management and the production system of the company work closely in order t o obtain the desired results. The human resources within the organization are responsible for ensuring proper quality production and minimizing the defects. Therefore, I would like to conclude that the various divisions of the company and the human resources of the company work together in order to achieve the desired results. Human resource interventions are very important in improving both individual and team performance. Human resource interventions help in improving inter- personal skills. I have personally participated in HR interventions that aims at improving inter- personal skills especially team- building. Firstly, the hierarchical decision- making system is removed from an organization (Saurin and Werle 2017). The power of taking decisions are no longer vested in the hands of only higher authorities instead, the focus is on the groups are prepared that have the proper understanding of the organizations aims and objectives. The employees from various departments form a group and discuss regarding the important topics. The employees are engaged in the decision- making process in order to obtain better ideas. In order to build trust among the employees, open communication is encouraged within the organization. This creates an environment of mutual trust and co- operation (Edel et al. 2017). The mana gers are required to slowly build the trust among its employees and reduce the unwanted competition within the organization. Some amount of competition is good for an organization but beyond certain limit, the competition becomes harmful for the organizations. Collaborative conditions are very useful in improving the team spirit and communication and help the employees feel important for the organization. An employee invests his or her skills, abilities, knowledge and time for attaining the objectives of an organization therefore, the employers are also required to work for the overall development of the employees and help them achieve their career goals. This can be done by providing employee benefits and other facilities to the employees in order to help him or her work efficiently. The employees are provided the opportunity to take active part in the decision- making processes. This has helped in making the employees feel important to the organization and has also helped in incre asing the loyalty of the employees towards the organization. The two types of HR interventions are as follows: T- groups: I have chosen T- group because it is the type of group training wherein the participants learn about themselves by interacting with each other. This process uses the process of feedback, role playing and problem solving techniques. A T- group meeting does not have a specific agenda and goal instead, the participants are encouraged by a facilitator to express and share their feelings and emotions in exchange of actions and words of the other participants (Guest 2015). The major focus is on expressing the emotions rather than obtaining any conclusions. The members of T- group develop inter- personal skills and self- understanding. Since ages, the organizations have been using this method for the purpose of building teams and implementing corporate culture. This process involves openness and helps the members to adopt a positive attitude towards the achievement of the objectives. Team building: I have chosen team building because it involves a group of activities that help in enhancing the social relations and defining the roles within the associations that involves collaborative tasks. This concept is completely different from that of team training as it aims at exposing and addressing the the inter- personal issues within a team. It helps in improving the performance of the entire team as it is aligned towards the goals and involves building efficient working relationships among the members (Martin, Carron and Burke 2016). It also aims at reducing the ambiguity among the team members in term of role and responsibilities and helps in finding solutions to the issues faced by the team. References: Bowker, G., 2014.Social science, technical systems, and cooperative work: Beyond the great divide. Psychology Press. Cabri, G. and Blake, M.B., 2016, June. 14th Adaptive Computing (and Agents) for Enhanced Collaboration: Adaptive Approaches for Socio-technical Systems. InEnabling Technologies: Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises (WETICE), 2016 IEEE 25th International Conference on(pp. 1-2). IEEE. CORPORATION., T. (2017). Toyota Global Site | History of Toyota. [online] Toyota Motor Corporation Global Website. Available at: https://www.toyota-global.com/company/history_of_toyota/ [Accessed 14 Aug. 2017]. Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Dalpiaz, F., Giorgini, P. and Mylopoulos, J., 2013. Adaptive socio-technical systems: a requirements-based approach.Requirements engineering,18(1), pp.1-24. Davis, M.C., Challenger, R., Jayewardene, D.N. and Clegg, C.W., 2014. Advancing socio-technical systems thinking: A call for bravery.Applied ergonomics,45(2), pp.171-180.] Edel, M.A., Hlter, T., Wassink, K. and Juckel, G., 2017. A comparison of mindfulness-based group training and skills group training in adults with ADHD: an open study.Journal of attention disorders,21(6), pp.533-539. Guest, D., 2015. Team building, team challenges.Appita Journal: Journal of the Technical Association of the Australian and New Zealand Pulp and Paper Industry,68(2), p.87. Jones, A.J., Artikis, A. and Pitt, J., 2013. The design of intelligent socio-technical systems.Artificial Intelligence Review,39(1), pp.5-20. Koukoulaki, T., 2014. The impact of lean production on musculoskeletal and psychosocial risks: An examination of sociotechnical trends over 20 years.Applied Ergonomics,45(2), pp.198-212. Martin, L.J., Carron, A.V. and Burke, S.M., 2016. Team building interventions in sport: A meta-analysis. Saurin, T.A. and Werle, N.J.B., 2017. A framework for the analysis of slack in socio-technical systems.Reliability Engineering System Safety,167, pp.439-451.

Risk and Return Analysis Inception and Retract Ltd

Question: Discuss about theRisk and Return Analysisfor Inception and Retract Ltd. Answer: An investor undertakes risk to maximize his returns. Risk is measured by the standard deviation of returns of the stock and returns are the average returns over a period of time. An investor normally invests in more than one stock to diversify his portfolio in order to minimize his risk and maximize his returns. However, the choice of stocks in the portfolio depends on the stocks returns, their individual risk and correlations between the stocks in the portfolio (McGraw-Hill, NA) In the present scenario, stocks of two companies Inception and Retract Ltd. have been considered and both the stocks have been analysed with respect to the market and to each other to see their combination in a portfolio. The table presenting the statistical measures of the stocks is given below: Market index Inception Retract Ltd Expected Returns 1.40% 5.24% 2.85% Standard deviation 5.44% 16.84% 18.91% Coefficient of variation 3.89 3.21 6.64 Correlation coefficient -0.02 Portfolio standard deviation 1.57% Beta 1.55 1.76 The expected returns for Inception are the highest; even Retract Ltd. has returns more than the market. This makes both the stocks worth the investment as they are giving on an average high returns. The stocks of Retract Ltd. are more risky as it has a higher standard deviation as compared to Inception. This has increased the coefficient of variation for the stocks of Retract as it has higher risk and comparatively lower return. This means Retract stocks have higher degree of volatility as compared to Inception. In fact, the degree of volatility of Inception is lower than that of the market making it an attractive investment. Correlation coefficient measures the movement of two stocks i.e. whether they move in the same directions or opposite directions. It ranges from -1 to 1 (Russell, 2014) The above stocks have a negative correlation at -0.02 which means that when the price of one stock rises, the price of other stock will fall but the correlation is very weak and hence it can be said that the stocks are not much related. The portfolio standard deviation is quite low at 1.57% as compared to individual deviations. This is because negatively correlated stocks diversify the portfolio. If returns from one stock decreases, the returns from another will increase, thus not affecting the returns much. Lower the portfolio standard deviation, lower is the risk. Beta is the risk of the stock in relation to the market. Beta more than 1 means the stock is more responsive to the market risk. Retract Ltd. is more volatile as it has a higher beta of 1.76 which means that stocks of Retract are 76% more volatile than the market. Beta is a systematic risk and cannot be eliminated; hence, an investor should try to minimize his risk by diversifying his portfolio. In the above scenario, both stocks have a beta of more than 1, even though they are negatively correlated but the degree of correlation is very weak, hence, this will not help in diversifying the portfolio because a fall in the market returns will result in both stock returns falling with a higher percentage. Reference Russell, R., (2014), ABCs of Investing: Alpha, Beta and Correlation, accessed online on 29th April, 2017, available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/robrussell/2014/07/15/abcs-of-investing-for-experienced-investors/#501a1e72393f Zkjadoon, (2016), Risk and Return Analysis in Financial Management, accessed online on 29th April, 2017, available at, https://www.businessstudynotes.com/finance/financial-management/risk-and-return-analysis-financial-management/ McGraw-Hill, (NA), Risk and Return, McGraw Hill Australia

The Victorian Age Essay Example

The Victorian Age Essay The Victorian Age is remembered for a lot of things. There was an extreme growth in many of the arts but the one that is the most memorable is its literature. The authors of that time questioned many of the issues going on and influenced our society, as we know it today. The authors such as Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy spoke out against certain issues during that age and are very memorable for that. There were also many philosophers that changed the way we look at the world today. Philosophers such as Charles Darwin and Thomas Malthus brought up many issues that were very controversial. Dickens and Hardy were very different in there writing styles but wrote about common Victorian themes such as; the subjection of women, Darwins theory of evolution and survival of the fittest, ant the oppression of the poor. These people put themselves in the public eye and boldly spoke out on many controversial issues that had not been questioned for thousands of years. Womens rights are sometim es taken for granted today. Many people, men especially, forget that women just recently gained the right to vote and are still slightly discriminated against because of their gender. In the 1700s womens right was unheard of. The authors during this time addressed this issue a lot. An excellent example of this is in Hardys novel Tess of the dUbervilles. The main character is a young woman named Tess. Tess has manyfirst hand experiences with the unjust treatment and discrimination of women during this time. Tess rebels against the discrimination and thereby stands up for womens rights. The main theme of this book is that women were commonly abused and treated as inferior beings. Hardy used Tess to show how bad it was. For example, Hardy states, I was a child when I left this house for months ago. Why didnt you tell me there was danger in men-folk?(Pg.80). Hardy is illustrating how women are t

An Online IGCSE English Essay Sample That Will Make You Fail

An Online IGCSE English Essay Sample That Will Make You FailAs far as the IGCSE English essay sample goes, it is easy to find very good ones available for you to try. While some of these may be quite old and outdated, they can still serve as a basis for you to build on, no matter how much information is lacking from it.The essay is the most important part of your tests. This is the only part where you will actually spend a lot of time on - so you have to make sure that your work is not compromised by poor grammar or syntax. Even with the best teacher in the world, poor grammar will make you fail the test, no matter how good he or she is.An essay sample may be obtained free of charge online. You should know that not all online essays are as good as others, though, and some of them may be completely amateurish. This is why it is important to take some time to do your research before you choose an essay writer.Also, you should take note of the kind of writing style that each potential e ssay writers use. Do they use only adjectives and adverbs?Or do they also use metaphors and similes? This will help you determine whether their essay is likely to be suitable for you or not.Once you get an idea of how he or she writes, you can decide whether your homework would be to practice what he or she writes or whether you should find a more formal writer instead. You can always ask for references, though, if you want someone else to proofread your work before you submit it.If your assignment has different choices in it, such as an essay on different topics, then the essay may come in the form of a chapter. This way, you can work on your essay whenever you feel like it and take it as far as you can without any pressure to finish it in time.The best thing about the IGCSE English essay sample is that it is perfectly free. There are very few costs associated with it and you can always make copies of it for yourself so that you can keep the one for yourself and the other for other s.

I.T. System to Track Share Prices Essay Example

I.T. System to Track Share Prices Essay Example I.T. System to Track Share Prices Essay I.T. System to Track Share Prices Essay My dad has asked me to create an Excel Spreadsheet, which will track his share prices, as currently the quotes are only being recorded on paper, making it extremely difficult to plot graphs etc and manage it efficiently. However hopefully I will overcome this problem and allow easy automatic calculations through MS Excel. Also my user is not certain when to sell and buy shares so I will make an automated process in which my spreadsheet will decide when to take action by informing the user.Hyperlinks will be used to take the user to news on shares etc, to help make decisions on whether to buy and sell. A yearly graph on the companys shares will be present with the visual basic program, which will be updated automatically. My user is new to MS Excel, so I will need to make it as automatic as possible.I am going to use Microsoft Excel for a number of reasons, as this package has many functions.As my user is new to Excel I will need to make use of Command buttons. Below I have illustrated some other important functions in MS Excel. Cells can easily be identified. Formulas can easily be entered. As shown above, calculations can be easily done in Excel, making it user friendly. Finally to make my spreadsheet more attractive I can use the below simple tools. MS Word Art Drawing Tools Shapes ClipArts Shadow and 3d style Free rotate Basic drawing shapes Fill ColourWhat other packages can also do the job? Software Name Advantages Disadvantages MS Excel Simple user interface with many facilities. If data in one cell is changed accidentally all results may be altered. MS Access This software is a relational database and is not a spreadsheet so cannot be compared. Lotus 123 Simple user interface with many facilities. In some ways better than Excel. Same as excel. Claris Works Spreadsheet Simple to use with common basic functions. Not a familiar interface and lacks the power of macros etc. MS Works SpreadsheetSimilar to MS Office software as MS Works suite provides a Word Processor and a database. Not enough advanced features. Star Office Spreadsheet Software suite is free. Also has a word processor. Extremely basic, lacks to many key features, which Excel contains. From the above table I can see that MS Excel and Lotus 123 are best suited to my task, as they have a simple layout with great advanced features, including macros, which other packages fail to provide. Both packages seem extremely versatile and powerful. MS Excel has a great help facility also. VBA code and forms can be created in Microsoft Excel, making it very unique.I will use MS Excel to create the spreadsheet, as I am most familiar with it and also currently the user has a tight budget and is not willing to invest any more money. With excel I will also be able to edit any macro visual basic code, as this will be required later on in the project. What am I personally hoping to achieve? I am aiming to expand my Excel knowledge and VBA knowledge and create a 90 % automated system, in which my user just has to click a button.Analysis My approach to the task: As currently the share prices and quotes are only being extracted from one site, which is www.netscape.com, I have decided that my user will be requiring other resources and sites for the latest news and decisions. Also the user is uncertain which data and text applies to which company so by adding comments to cells I will hopefully resolve the issue. My users data is also extremely unorganised, as weekly he receives his share prices and quotes through the mail and how much profit etc he is making. My worksheet however will hopefully make the mail prices obsolete, as the calculations will be done through Excel more regularly. So in this project I will be creating the following.Worksheets Different aspects of the shares will be put on multiple worksheets, which will all be linked to one another. Quotes Will be taken from visual basic program. News Will be taken from real player and CNBC channel through a TV Card and also other various sites. Graphs Quotes will be plotted automatically as data is entered. Hyperlinks Take my user to my VB program and relevant sites or cells. This information will consists of the following Data Structures Type Of Data Structure

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Business - Essay Example (Keegan & Moriarty, 1998) 3. GROWTH STAGE: It is a stage of Product Development in which the product starts selling and profits are higher as compared to the initial stage. Sales starts climbing quickly and the expenses are lower because the product has been catered in the minds of the target audience and everyone is familiar with the product. It is stage where company doesn’t do any type of marketing and promotion expenses and tries to cover all the expenses that has been done in the Introduction stage. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2001) 4. MATURITY STAGE: It is a PLC stage where the product sales slows and eventually becomes zero. It is a stage where the product is matured and the consumers want some new product to be catered to them. Companies apply certain strategies to their product to cater the changing needs of consumers and try to save their product from going in the decline stage. There are three strategies that managers apply in maturity stage: (Keegan & Moriarty, 1998) i. Modifying The Market: It is a strategy in which company tries to modify its target Market by catering to different types of consumers according to their needs. The company can also reposition their product to appeal to different segments of the market. (Keegan & Moriarty, 1998) ii. Modifying The Product: It is a strategy in which the company tries to modify its product by changing their characteristics such as features, quality, packaging or changing the style of a product. By doing this can attract consumers as they will see a different picture of that product. It can also improve product performance as well as reliability. (Keegan & Moriarty, 1998) iii. Modifying The Marketing Mix: It is a strategy in which company changes one or more elements of Marketing Mix such as price, the product packaging, the place of product and etc. It can also do new marketing techniques to appeal their target

Management for Organizations Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management for Organizations - Term Paper Example No matter which segment of the industry this contact center provided services to, the fundamental principles of management never changed. Effectiveness and efficiency are the two governing principles. While the other five changed from one to other depending upon the nature of client and the objectives it set. For instance, if a government organization like the national sui gas company would like to take services of the contact center, the primary concern would be to take care of the orders and try to convince the customers in whichever way possible. This allowed the call centers agents and operators to get aggressive or sometimes even hang-up on customers that were not really converting into sales. As the government departments don’t really need to sell to be able to generate cash. They have different set of rules. On the other hand, when it’s the private companies, they need to be able to retain their customers and be able to develop a real presence with them, as they need to give them better services than the competition. Here are five elements and their implementation at the ABC Inc; Planning Whenever a task needs to be started, it starts with proper planning. Each goal is derived from a specific service response (Nelson, 2008). Like every other successful company ABC Inc. also undertakes planning very seriously as the whole progress depends upon this blue print (planning). For instance when a new client approaches the company to start providing services the top managers and the client representative sit together to figure out the details. The top managers ask almost every possible detail they can extract from the client so that they put in all factors in the planning process. This would involve the budget they have, their short term and long term goals, their priorities, their desired customer portfolio and their weekly milestones. This list is matched with the company’s current services, and the bargaining is done to make sure that eve ry detail is settled right at this planning phase. When this agreement is made then comes the internal planning of the company. An in house meeting is held where all the people from concerned department are gathered. The top manager gives a presentation about the new client and the respective project. This presentation is customized and is kept brief as the pre planning is done at the agreement time. This phase is scheduled for working forward from the briefings given by the top manager with the approval of the chairman and the president. Then the senior HR manager comes to give his part of the presentation to describe the plan. This part is extremely crucial as each task is broken down and assigned to the relevant person/department. Participants to the meeting are encouraged to ask questions, raise their concerns or even argue if they think there is a better alternative. Leading Leading comes after the panning is done. Without leading there is no following, and eventually there is no productivity. At ABC Inc. leadership is given paramount importance, as there have been many times when a project is very difficult, pays very low or is extremely difficult to run. However, when the effective leader like the VP or the floor manager steps in