Mobile phone: a blessing or a curse

Men check your pocket, Ladies check your purse, something is ringing and vibrating. Yes, the mobile phone, it is a portable gadget, which is made by the people and for the people. A tiny thing which was a status symbol but today, it is the necessity of everyone. Our unique ten-digit numbers allows us to receive or dial calls. It is the identity of the person nowadays and without this people stare at you as if you are not from the 21st centaury. Because for being social you do not have to meet your friend or relatives every weekend, you can call, SMS, email, write on the Facebook wall or merely tweet them. All this is possible with this protean mobile. People are really blessed as this mobile technology has changed our life completely because we have the whole universe in our pocket. A friend in need is a friend indeed, but without a mobile phone you cannot contact your friend and he will not be able to help in emergency. Mobile phone is a true friend and also a live saver, for example, your car broke down in a lonely road where there is no one to help, you can call for help with the help of a mobile phone. On the other hand you can also send SMS or email to contact someone. With the help of the thumb exercise you can send text in the wink of an eye. The other two giant social networking websites, Facebook and Twitter, are also accessible with the phone. So being in contact with friends and relatives is really easy. Other than this there are some basic handy features like Alarm, Stopwatch, Calculator, World Clock, Calendar and Tasks. Don’t you need this features everyday? But if you do not have a mobile phone you will need an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a world clock, a calendar and notebook to write the tasks. Mobile phone is an artist and can do everything you need in your daily life. Along with this if you like to be a spy these features will be very much in need like the camera, video camera and voice recording are some ingredients which will spice up your life. Not only this, a mobile also has a huge capacity to store data. So you can feed the memory with music, videos, photos, games and many more things that you like. So when you are in the airport waiting for hours, surely this will be an entertaining friend and you will never be bored. You can also watch live television so that you never miss your show or match on the go. Nevertheless you can access the whole Internet. That means you can do your work without sitting on the computer because almost everything can be done on the mobile phone. It is like a hand-computer and will never disappoint you because it works for days. To add to the total we have the GPS (Global Positioning System), NFC (Near Field Communication), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, inbuilt compass and last but not the least the mobile application store like the android market place and the iOS app store where you will find millions of reasonable application which suits your need and style. On top of it, mobile phone makers are making slimmer mobiles with good battery backup also with a faster and better processing gadget so that it makes are life much more faster and simpler. In some countries like Australia, if you have done online booking for your flight you just have to scan a unique code, which is in the form of a barcode. While boarding the barcode displayed on the phone is scanned. This eliminates the need of a paper-boarding pass. In the future with the help of Near Field Communication we can do transactions and pay money with our mobile phone. This way we can see that the mobile phone is the greatest invention of modern time

The Effect of Outsourcing on Public Sector Organizations

The Effect of Outsourcing on Public Sector Organizations JOHN H HANNAH III UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX The Effect of Outsourcing on Public Sector Organizations This paper will examine the particular issues associated with the impact of outsourcing on public sector organization’s performance and employee commitment. As the move to outsourcing is part of a wider phenonom for flexibility in the organizational, structure, development and change paradigms of public sector organizations.This paper begins by examining the problems associated with an outsourcing strategy in public sector organization. Many counties within the US, have chosen to outsource the investment and operation of non-competitive public services, such as water and waste management, public transports, mail services, information and communication technology services, facilities management and road infrastructures. Outsourcing today has become an essential revenue and growth strategy for almost every existing corporation. It creates flexibility in the company, ensuring the maximum utilization of available resources within the company. It also offers corporations cost advantages and help free up their management resources. Orange county government-anywhere USA, requested the services of a Home Land Security Specialist to assist in the collaborative, assessment, development and strategic enhancement of it municipality’s Information Technology (IT) and Critical Facilities’ (CF) upgrades and security.Upon the completion of plan, expectations and deliverables, a series of introductions with Directors, Managers and Supervisors, it was apparent the federal dollars associated with the project was indeed the motive for the invitation. In my initial general assessment and development of a strategy, the organization handbook was the first critical reading which uncovered a mission statement, values, ethical guidelines and the organizational cultural premise. â€Å"The Mayor’s outline the v ision, values and mission as simple – to serve. You have an important job to do as we work to meet the needs of our citizens.We ensure that roads are built and maintained; we protect environmental resources; we respond to crisis and emergency situations; we staff facilities that care for people; and we ensure that the quality of life of our citizens is protected our challenge is to build on the strengths of our diverse community so that everyone can enjoy the very best Orange County has to offer. We are committed to maintaining an organization where citizens are engaged in civic affairs, take ownership in their government and have input in the decision making process†.The following core values serve as our foundation: 1. FAIRNESS, 2. WORK ETHIC 3. INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER 4. EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION: 5. PROFESSIONALISM AND ACCOUNTABILITY (Orange County Government, 2012) . The role of the Security Specialist in this public sector organization is to examine the particular issues associated with the impact of outsourcing on public sector organization’s performance and employee commitment and develop a strategy to move this organization toward outsourcing initially in the areas of IT and CF.Provide an assessment and evaluation of the organizational readiness for change in the area of outsourcing. This paper begins by examining the problems associated with an outsourcing strategy in public sector organization in the form of an assessment. As public sector moves to outsourcing as part of a wider strategy to increase flexibility in the organizational, structure, development and change paradigms of public sector organization. Outsourcing helps organizations to be focused.Since the most valuable resource within management is time, once a process is successfully outsourced, the management gets more and effective time to explore new revenue streams, time to accelerate other projects and time to focus on customers. Traditionally executives spend 80 per cent of their time managing details, and only 20 percent on planning and customer relations, in other words, a successful outsourcing process can help reverse this ratio.Outsourcing can also help companies to have access to new technologies that might not be used in their company. This is mainly because the outsourcers use the latest state-of-the art technologies to serve their private sector clients. And this might also increase the change paradigm shift and rapid migration of these companies to new technology. Outsourcing also helps multi functional areas and department of a public sector providing the benefit of 24-hour operational cycles and providing necessary services to their customer.The ever- growing pressure for increased productivity and profitability of city, county and state governments thus, the pressures to reduce costs and improve productivity are the main factors that influenced the beginning of offshore outsourcing. For example, the main advantages to move producti on to private contracting of products and services to reduce in-house human resources management cost. Hence, today outsourcing has become an attractive and powerful strategy for companies to reduce cost and improve performance.These models provide theoretical guidelines upon which valid and reliable organizational assessments should be based. All of these models provide value to management and human resource organizational leaders performing organizational assessments based on a internal aspects or a system theory evaluation approach (Erwin & Garman, 2010). The McKinsey 7S Framework model is used as a tool to assess and monitor changes in the internal situation of an organization closed system assessment. The model is based on the theory that, for an organization to perform well, these seven elements need to be aligned and mutually reinforcing.So, the model can be used to help identify what needs to be realigned to improve performance, or to maintain alignment (and performance) dur ing other types of change. The basic premise of the model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned if it is to be successful evaluation and assessment tool. The Seven Interdependent Elements of the 7s model are Hard elements (strategy, structure and systems) and the Soft Elements (shared values, skills, style and staff) (Waterman, Peters, & Phillips, 1980)Burke & Litwin Model (The Casual Model of Organizational Performance & Change) – The Burke & Litwin Model, suggests linkages that hypothesize how performance is affected by internal and external factors. It provides a framework to assess organizational and environmental dimensions that are keys to successful change and it demonstrates how these dimensions should be linked causally to achieve a change in performance. According to Burke-Litwin’s model, an organization may conduct a change intervention in stages as they relate to a specific focus in two stages â€Å"First order and Second order† changes.If an OD intervention is directed toward structure, systems, and management practice result, it can be considered a first order change, if interventions are directed toward mission, strategy, leadership, and organizational culture then result in second order change (Burke & Litwin, 1992). The Marvin Weisbord-Six-Box Model (Weisbord’s Model) is designed to assess the functioning of organizations based mainly on the techniques and assumptions of the field of organizational development. The model represents a particular way of looking at organizational structure and design.It gives attention to issues such as planning, incentives and rewards, the role of support functions such as personnel, internal competitions among organizational units, standards for remuneration, partnerships, hierarchies and the delegation of authority, organizational control, accountability and performance assessment. The model also follows the basic ‘systems' approac h to organizational functioning including the well-known inputs and ‘outputs' categories. The six-box model is comprised of the following components (boxes): (1). Purposes, (2). Structure, (3) relationships; (4). Rewards, (5). Leadership, (6).Coordinating technologies. The only disadvantage to this model is it s design to only address internal environments (Weisbord, 1978). An open system organizational development theory and (Burke & Litwin) model will be utilized to conduct a diagnosis analysis planned change assessment to the organization. These changes are usually designed to address an organization problem or to help an organization prepare for future. It is the one method of quickly bringing change, which focus on human and social aspects of the organization as a way to improve organization’s ability to adapt and solve problems.The best theory is developed from practice; the best practice should be grounded in theory (Seeger, 2006; Brown, 2011). The Burke & Litwin Model hypothesizes’ how performance is affected by internal and external factors. Public sector management occurs within a complex, dynamic system involving stakeholders, coupled with informational and resource material flows and behaviour that is characterized by interactions related to internal and external environments. According to Burke-Litwin’s model, an organization may conduct a change intervention in stages as they relate to a specific focus in two stages â€Å"First order and Second order† changes.If an OD intervention is directed toward structure, systems, and management practice result, it can be considered a first order change, if interventions are directed toward mission, strategy, leadership, and organizational culture then result in second order change (Burke & Litwin, 1992). The theory of Organizational readiness for change is considered a multi-level, multi-faceted construct. From and organization-level construct, readiness for change refers t o organizational members' shared resolve to implement a change (change commitment) and shared belief in their collective capability to do so (change efficacy).Organizational readiness for change varies as a function of how much organizational member’s value the change and how favorably they appraise three key determinants of implementation capability: task demands, resource availability, and situational factors. When organizational readiness for change is high, organizational members are more likely to initiate change, exert greater effort, exhibit greater persistence, and display more cooperative behavior (Weiner, 2009). References Bateman, T. S. , & Snell, S. A. (2007). Management: Leading & collaboratiing in a competitive world (7th ed. . New York, NY: McGraw Hill – Irwin. Boland, T. , & Fowler, A. (2000). A systems perspective of performance management in public sector management. The International Journal of Public Sector organizations, 13(5), 417-446. doi:10. 110 8/09513550010350832 Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed. ). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall. Burke, W. W. , & Litwin, G. H. (1992). Causal model of organization performance and change’. Journal Management, 18(3), 523-545. doi:10. 1177/014920639201800306 Erwin, D. G. , & Garman, A. N. (2010).Resistance to organizational change: Linking research and practice,. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(1), 39-56. doi:10. 1108/01437731011010371 Harrison, M. I. , & Shirom, A. (1999). Organizational diagnosis and assessment: Bridging theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Kotter, J. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 59-67. Retrieved from http://89. 248. 0. 102/upload/Topplederprogrammet/Kotter. pdf Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science. London, England: Harper Row. Orange County Government. 2012, April). Employee Handbook. Fl. Retrieved from http://www. ocfl. net/Portal s/0/resourcelibrary/employment-employehandbook. pdf Waterman, R. , Peters, T. J. , & Phillips, J. R. (1980). Structure is not organization. Mckinsey Quarterly, 2-20. Retrieved from http://www. tompeters. com/docs/Structure_Is_Not_Organization. pdf Weisbord, M. (1978). Organizational Diagnosis: A Workbook of Theory and Practice. Addison-wesley. Wiener, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4, 67. doi:10. 1186/1748-5908-4-67

Burger King vs Mcdonalds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Burger King vs Mcdonalds - Essay Example On the basis of making risky business decisions McDonalds stands the winner in the competition. This is because recently McDonalds introduced the concept of McCafe (www.mcdonalds.com, 2014). This concept was quite different from their previous business model of only offering burgers. On the other hand, Burger King continues to operate the way they used to. On the basis of creativity, again McDonalds can be categorized as the winner. This is because they come up with new and improved ideas such as the idea of McGriddle which ended up being quite successful. While burger King lacks innovation and copies the creations of McDonalds. The differentiation between the two burger giants exhibit that both the burger giants have something different to offer. Burger King offers better quality burgers which is the main aim of both the burger giants, but McDonalds offers something new and takes the real risk by coming out with innovative

My Leadership Style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Leadership Style - Essay Example According to the textbook Generalist Practice with Organization and Communities, written by Karen Ashman and Grafton Hull, leading entails â€Å"working with other systems, whether individuals, families, groups, organizations, or communities†(K., & H., 2008). In terms of the workplace, leadership is a key component in ensuring an organization’s success. A part of ensuring this success is a leader’s ability to communicate effectively. Within the article, â€Å"Ingredients of a Good Leader, communication has several purposes. If a leader is a good communicator, they will be able to keep a positive environment for their team(Andolsen, 2008). This is due to the fact that effective communication will eliminate confusion. In my own experience, I have dealt with projects where nobody knew what their role was or what they were supposed to be doing. As a leader, I sat everyone down and clearly spelled out what their own individual task was and how it would interconnect t o the overall project. The ability to supervise can be a rather tedious and difficult task. It is not easy to know how hands on to be or how hands off to be. A careful balance must be struck and a good leader will be able to identify that balance. There are a few key areas that a leader must be adept at when supervising others. Andolsen reveals that being able to recognize a person’s abilities, delegating tasks, and the ability to set standards and discipline are important factors in being successful at supervising(Andolsen, 2008). Delegation is where the leader hands out tasks that must be accomplished. Delegation goes hand in hand with recognizing someone’s abilities. If a person is particularly strong in one area, the leader should try to delegate tasks to this person that will play on those same strengths. In my own experience, I have been in charge of a few projects, both academic and professional, where I needed to hand over the reigns to another person and super vise their progress. It is difficult to do because if they mess up, the fault remains with the supervisor. Finally, a good leader needs to be able to work as a team. This is similar to the idea of leading by example in that the team needs to be able to see the leader in a more equal position. Team work is another way to do this. The first step in this process is to create a â€Å"spirit of team work. Andolsen defines this as â€Å"the belief that there is value in the work being done and that it can only be accomplished by a cooperative synergy among team members†(Andolsen, 2008). In a spirit of team work, everyone on the team must feel that they are an important asset and are of value. Team work and the spirit of team work can also determine how well the leader and their team will work together. In the article entitled, â€Å"Generosity and the Moral Imagination in the Practice of Teamwork† the importance of team work is discussed. â€Å"We should think carefully ab out the discourses within which we work and how needs are assessed and represented because these effect†¦ trust, interpersonal relationships, and†¦ultimately meeting staff needs†(Arber, 2009). When a leader is able to successfully incorporate a spirit of team work, they are likely going to strengthen their team in terms of being able to meet goals and also to instill a collaborative feeling for their team. In order to motivate other people to complete their goals, it is important to lead by example. Within the article enti

Case Study of Adesemi Communications International

Of Adesemi Communications International - Case Study Example In this case study, findings suggest that the reason behind the downfall is generally caused by the lack of experience. In particular, reasons of such failure are the cultural misunderstandings among the diverse workforce, the inexperienced and incompetent local business partners, the impatience of the quasi-governments who wanted to have their investments back, and the complete underestimation of the local government owning the national telephone company. Meanwhile, this analysis proposes that the impacts made by the country and market conditions were the most significant factor of the demise of Adesemi. Likewise, the case of Adesemi only shows that the company did not have a good pool of social networks and capitals that could have possibly helped save the company in those periods of crisis. From this experience, Monique Maddy, the CEO and founder of Adesemi, has learned the following insights. Firstly, cultural diversity must be transformed from a weakness to a strength through ap pointing an HR guru. Secondly, partnerships must be made not out of convenience. Thirdly, start-ups in developing countries should restrain from the type of investors who are just after the gains of the company. Fourthly, a patient and visionary investor with deep pockets willing to shell out money in times of financial crisis to save the company is needed in a third world start. Introduction Monique Maddy, a Harvard University graduate from Africa, dreams of being an entrepreneur. As a matter of fact, she happened to achieve her goal once, when she had established and run her own company in Tanzania, the Adesemi Communications International. Such dream had started when she wanted to set up her own company on an untapped market in a developing country in Africa. It had begun with an aim of transforming and modernizing the information technology sector in Africa. She had achieved this dream through Adesemi via making it possible for the thousands of lower and middle-class Tanzanian f amilies to gain access to affordable wireless communication services. Apart from that, as the company incorporated pagers, voice mails, and wireless pay phones, Adesemi had happened to launch the first fully integrated â€Å"virtual† phone system of the world in Tanzania. It is undeniable how successful Maddy was in establishing Adesemi. In addition to that success, the company was even financially successful and had $ 2 million annual revenue. Nonetheless, despite the case that it was on the verge of explosive growth, such success had come to an end when company was forced to shut down. In this regard, the focus of this analysis is mainly on the case of Adesemi Communications International. Specifically, it aims to answer four specific points. Firstly, its objective is to discuss the reason behind the failure of Monique Maddy’s Adesemi Communications International. Secondly, it targets to evaluate the impacts of the country and market conditions on the failure of laun ching a new innovation. Thirdly, using Adesemi’s case, it intends to understand the significance of social capital and network in entrepreneurship. Lastly, it points to identify what Maddy has essentially learned by the failure of her business venture. On the one hand, to examine Adesemi’s case is of significance for the reason that the learnings that can be obtained from this particular experience can aid the entrepreneurs as well as those who plan to set up their own business in the future,

Design for United Natural Foods Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Design for United Natural Foods Inc - Essay Example The rampant global warming portrays as the biggest threat to the company’s objectives. This is due to increase in food shortage due to drought, increase in the federal government restriction on greenhouse wastes to the environment and fluctuations of oil fuel prices due to economic changes. LEED will reduce production costs by almost 50% due to the reduction power usage and the reduction of over reliance on electricity and diesel (United Natural Foods, Inc. 2014). The use of renewable energy reduces carbon dioxide emissions, thus reducing taxes on environmental pollution. The use of recycled materials to build its warehouses has increased the space by 185%, making enough room for production and storages at a cheaper cost. The reduction in lighting power by 18% helps reduce expenses (United Natural Foods, Inc. 2014). This reduction in production costs will hence increase the profit margin, making the company restore its competitive advantage. The ability to conserve the environment will improve the goodwill of the company that will be useful for successful

Industry Analysis, Target Market, and Competition Analysis of Plastic Essay

Industry Analysis, Target Market, and Competition Analysis of Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County, NJ - Essay Example Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County, NJ is one of the most well-known centers in this region. The present marketing activity of Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County profiles as well as overviews industry and situational analysis. A comprehensive overview of the SWOT and industry on the whole give insights on marketing strategy to follow in order to retain existing and attract new customers, who would become regulars. Thus, the analysis identifies marketing problem and offers marketing focus, objectives, program as well as tactics for the marketing plan implementation. The final part provides information on evaluation and control of the marketing implementation. The Plastic Surgery Center provides beauty services to men and women. The main types of services are Breast augmentation, Breast lift, Breast reconstruction, facelift, liposuction, total body lift, Botox, laser skin resurfacing, chemical peels, different types of message, etc. Plastic Surgery Center surgeons pride themselves on superb-quality services with innovative and stunning technology that provide excellent value to the customers. Plastic Surgery Center has positioned itself as a provider of superior service and products to all clients at an affordable price in convenient locations appealing to all family members. The centre has managed to position itself on the high-end of the service providing due to high standards for its customers, who are specially trained for high performance and consulting (Black 44). The strategic focus of all companies in this industry is providing hairdressing services with the superior quality and value for the customers. Efforts are aimed at providing friendly, efficient service from professional surgeons who are well-trained doctors to make the experience memorable and provide for loyal customers. The efforts are incorporated with the Centre's mission and vision as well as with the corporate culture instilled in the team, which according to the company's belief are the things that can bring a big difference (Doyle and Stern 98). The Plastic Surgery Center vision statementis to be a great business that is based on principles of: Profitability Friendliness Creativeness Consistency Great Value Cutting Edge Community mindedness ("Practice Philosophy". 2009). The Plastic Surgery Center puts emphasis on its clients receiving a service of a great value. The goal of marketing campaign, thus, is to retain existing customers and attract new customers, who would become long-term regular loyal customers, by the means of primary services as well as pleasant additional elements, which range from prices to the superior professional and products in terms of provided services. Situation analysis provides an insight on the Centre's position within the industry as well as overview of competitors, customers, industry trends. SWOT analysis outlines Plastic Surgery Center key strengths and weaknesses as well as describes opportunities and threats that its salons may face (Plastic Surgery Center in Morris County NJ 2009). Strengths Established brand equity and name in the industry Strong and business committed franchisees Well-trained medical professionals with high standard skills and creative customer-focused approaches Convenient locations and physical evidence elements in the centres, which are located