Thursday, October 31, 2019

Lewis and Clark Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lewis and Clark - Essay Example ("Lewis and Clark Bicentennial," 2001) The expedition marked a key event in the course of the nation’s history. This is acknowledged during the bicentennial celebrations of the event that transpired in 2005. On the occasion of the event, a government commissioned Bicentennial Council was set up to educate the public as well as to promote research on the event. The Federal Interagency Lewis and Clark working group is another testimony to its importance. This essay will argue that Lewis & Clark Expedition played a key role in shaping the subsequent history, culture and geopolitics of the nation. In the early days of the American republic, literature pertaining to natural history was an esteemed medium of information. It combined scientific and spiritualist approaches to the study of American geography. The copious descriptions and classifications contained therein served as essential tools to â€Å"contain the immensity and incomprehensibility of American nature, a subject Amer icans knew little about.† (Lewis, 2004) The early accounts of the discoveries in western expanses were crucial for forging in people a sense of rootedness to their land. It encouraged early republic Americans †to celebrate the complexity of the natural world, and by extension God, through an intimate understanding of its products. This scientific-spiritualist approach crossed boundaries of class and education, jumped denominational lines, and assuaged guilty consciences over the racial genocide that accompanied expansion across the continent.† (Lewis, 2004) Hence, it is clear that Lewis & Clark has a profound socio-cultural relevance. One of the other achievements of the expedition was its completion of an overland journey through and across river systems in Missouri. By virtue of this feat, vast unchartered tracts of the West were opened up. The pioneers extended their interest well and beyond cartography. For example, they collected samples and specimens of plant s and animals – some of which they’ve never encountered before. They actively studied the culture and social structure of native Indian tribes that they happened to pass by. The comprehensiveness of the expedition is highlighted by the fact that basic civil administration tasks were also performed. These include conducting diplomatic councils, forming trading relationships with tribes and recorded weather data. It is not unfair to claim that the team led by Lewis and Clark went beyond the obligations of their contract. This is attested by the fact that the team created Camp River Dubois on the Wood River at the confluence of the two great rivers, Mississippi and Missouri, north of St. Louis. The captains then â€Å"recruited young woodsmen and enlisted soldiers who volunteered from nearby army outposts. Over the winter, they prepared the men, whom they called the Corps of Discovery, for the frontier.† (Conry, 2004) The team led by Lewis and Clark spent twenty ei ght months exploring, studying and recording the magnificent American landscape beyond erstwhile frontiers. It is a landmark event in American history because it captures the essence of challenges to westward expansion. For example, one area of challenge is on account of international diplomacy, where American

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Technologies are important and helpful in everyone’s life Essay Example for Free

Technologies are important and helpful in everyone’s life Essay Computers help people to do such things or tasks easily and faster. Technology has a systematic and organized way of keeping data records, computing numbers, accomplishing a lot of transactions and reports. A system of a library is made to have a fast process of transactions for searching book titles, borrowing books, returning books, computing penalties and generating an accurate report. Aguilar Catholic School, High school department is located at Poblacion Aguilar, Pangasinan. It is a religious school and the religion of all the students and staffs is Roman Catholic and their library is open for them. It has a collection of books, magazines, journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reading materials. The library is still using a card catalogues in searching books and the librarian is still using manual transaction for borrowing, returning and generating reports. Using a manual process is a hard work and because of it the librarian is having a problem to serve each students and faculties who wish to use the library. Aguilar Catholic School is using a record book to track borrowed books from the library. The librarian will write down the book being borrowed, borrower, book information, date borrowed and the date returned. A penalty is given to the borrower if he/she loses the book; the due date of returning of the book has ended. The penalty for losing a book depends on the amount of the book and if the borrower returned the book after its due date the penalty is 10 pesos. The proponent observed a lot of errors occurring in their manual system. The librarian is having difficulty working in the library and the borrowers are having difficulty in searching the book. General Objective The general objective of this project is to develop and implement a LAN base library system with barcode for Aguilar Catholic School to improve their processes and operations that will make transactions and the generation of reports accurate, fast and easy. Specific Objectives The specific objectives of the project are the following: * To design a prototype that will be easy to navigate interface * To develop a library system that will encourage students to use the library as the main source of information. * To develop a system that will be secured by applying user ID and password so that authorized persons can only access the important tasks. * To develop a system that will make use of barcode scanner, thus remove the filling up of different forms, for more rapidly borrowing and returning transactions. * To develop a system that will make cataloguing simpler. * To develop a system that will make searching of the available books and other reference materials in the library easy for the students. * To make a system that will make inventory of books and other reference materials reduce time consuming. * To develop a system that will produce accurate annual and quarterly statistical reports fast. * To test and evaluate the acceptability of the system in terms of functionality, reliability, usability and so on by gathering feedback from prospective users and technical experts. * Scope of the Project Since Aguilar Catholic School doesn’t have any computerized system, the scope of the project will include the system will make use of the barcode technology so the students and employees will only have to use their IDs when making a transaction, which is more convenient. The project include; the following features: Easy to navigate Interface; capability to search for the available title, author and subject of the book; compute the fine of the book when it is overdue; Inventory of books and other reference materials; and the generation of reports that they are making which are annual and quarterly statistical reports. The project will include student, employee’s alumni ledger, which will list all the reference materials that they borrowed. The report for the list of unreturned books will also be included in the project. For the students to search about the availability of books and other reference materials inside the library the researchers will include a LAN-based Public Access Catalog. All information covered within the system is in accordance with the existing book references within the library of the school. The system will only be implemented in the secondary library of Aguilar Catholic School. The system is LAN-based; it can only be accessed inside the campus. * List of Deliverables * User Manual It contains guide and associated images in how program should look like document intended to give assistance to people using a particular system, the proponents will provide a booklet that can guide them in how the system works. * Training Plan Training Plan is to define the strategies, tasks, and methods that will be used to meet the training requirements, the proponents will train the users and explain to them how the system works. The proponents will also observe and gather data while the users are using the new system. * Deployment Plan. Deployment Plan defines how software will be implemented into the organization that will access deployed applications, the proponents will make sure that the system will work properly and it will satisfy the company before letting them to use it, In the deployment plan the proponents will have to use SQL server for the database, cables for connection, barcode scanner, printer and computers for the LAN-based Public Access Catalog and for the workstations of the librarian. * Maintenance Plan It is plan that defines rate and scope of corrective and preventative maintenance for applications or software. Corrective maintenance is a reactive modification of a software product performed after delivery to correct discovered problems, Maintenance Plans are also sometimes known as Standard Operating Procedures. The procedures the proponents will be doing are Recovery Plan and Backup, Recovery plans contain detailed instructions for returning services to a working state. Backup plan or the process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to bring back the original after a data loss event that may be due to failure or unintentionally deleted or corrupted file. CHAPTER II. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING SYSTEM Review of Existing System 0 Manual Library System Of Aguilar Catholic School Borrower Borrower Borrowers Info Book Borrowed Library card Library card Book Info Returned Book Fine info Librarian Newly acquired Books Librarian Penalty Info Reports Figure 1 Context Diagram of Existing System Figure 1 shows the general flow of the existing system within the Library of Roosevelt College. It includes different entities namely: Borrower and Librarian. An also It includes different inputs and outputs. Input are Borrowers info, library card, book info returned book, newly acquired books. Outputs are borrowed book, library card fine info, penalty info, reports. Figure 2. Diagram 0 of Existing System Figure 2 show the detail data process of existing system. First transaction begins with the borrower. Strengths * Manual system can still function without electricity. * A lesser amount of electrical equipment * Users are more familiar with the manual system Weaknesses * time-consuming transactions * Inaccurate information of students and books * Space occupied by the card catalog cabinet and steel drawers. Opportunities * Increase number of enrollees * Increase number that utilized library. * Make faster and accurate transaction using computerized system Threats * Users are not familiar with the computerized system * Computerized system cannot function without electricity * Increase in expenditures, especially in electricity * Files can be corrupted by malware and viruses REVIEW OF RELATED SYSTEMS The UE Library System is a network of eleven libraries, with the Main Library in the Manila Campus as the biggest. There are separate libraries for the Graduate School, CPA Review School, the Colleges of Law, Dentistry and Engineering, the Laboratory Schools and the Archives, as well as special rooms for audiovisual services. There are two libraries in the Caloocan campus, the main library which is the Benjamin G. Chua Jr. Library and one for the College of Engineering. The Main Library in Manila is the hub of the entire system of libraries in the campus. It is the largest among the libraries in the system. It has sections for Circulation, Reserve, CCSS Library, Acquisitions, Cataloging, Reference, Filipiniana, and Periodicals, which are housed on the second, third and fourth floors of the POD-CIT Building. Bibliographic access to the library collections is through the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) terminals available in all the libraries. An Online Public Access Catalog or OPAC is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Users search a library catalog principally to locate books and other material physically located at a library. Users can search by inputting keywords and filter by subject, title, author and sometimes publisher and ISBN number. Additional filter may be according to the type of material, for example if it is a book, journal, magazine, thesis, newspaper, etc. Another filter is by location, if the library system is composed of several libraries like in University of the East. In the proposed system, the proponents will adopt the features similar to OPAC, but it will just be LAN-based. The student’s employees and alumni may search for the information and availability of the book according to the subject, title author, etc. and may choose to filter it by selecting the type of resource material. They may see if the book is on-shelf or not. Students and other borrowers may also use it for easy reference in making bibliography for their researches. University of San Carlos has a computerized library system. The main function of their library system is to correct information. Fast transaction and process in borrowing library materials, the services responsive to the needs of all university sectors relative curriculum and research. They are using barcode technology and swiping I. D in such an easy way to borrow and return book. Their library system has an easy to navigate feature and provide accurate reports such as user statistical report, inventory of book, list of book borrowed, penalty for the month, year, list of book per section etc. In the proposed system, the proponents will adopt the features similar to barcode technology and easy to navigate interface and can give accurate reports and eliminating human errors. Operational Definition of Terms Access Code * A sequence of letters or numbers that has to be read in to the allowed somebody to access to something such a building or telephone notebook. Accession Number * Usually auto number, it is a number assigned by the chief librarian to individual books they have in the library. Barcode Reader * It is an input device used to capture and read information contained in a bar code. Cataloguing * Is the process of preparing a catalog, or of preparing bibliographic records that will become entries in a catalog. Circulation * It engages transaction related to the circulation of periodical, books etc. and book check in and checks out. Computer Network * It is an interconnection of group of computers. Context Diagram * It illustrates the input and output between the systems. Database * Is an application that manages data and allows past storage and retrieval of data Data flow diagram * A process-modeling tool that depicts the flow of data through a system and the work or processing performed by the specific system. Keyword Searching * Allows you to retrieve information in a database by looking for the word or combination of words. Keywords can be used in general or specific, such as title or$ subject Library Card * It serves as a pass to the use of the library and its resources Librarian * Is a person who assists and helps the users in using the library services and manages all the library resources. Library * place where all books, newspaper and other reading materials were placed and a place where students can effectively study and gather information they need. Library card  * A paper card that contains student’s information together with his/ her picture that serves as their pass to borrow a book in the library. Library System * Is a library that comprises of the interrelated, computerized parts such as catalog and circulates that works together to effectively serve the users. Manual System * Processing used amount of transaction without the use of computers Shelf * It is a piece of furniture used to store books and other material which is using in a research Student Number * It is a unique identification of each student in school. SWOT  * Is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strength and weaknesses are internal factor. Opportunities and threats are external factor. CHAPTER III SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY Requirements specification Software Design coding Integration Testing Deployment Maintenance Figure Modified Waterfall Model The proponents chose to use the modified waterfall model for the development of the software because it is simple and easy to follow. Another reason is that modified waterfall model is suitable when the specification and requirements are clearly stated and static and the project is smaller in size. Since Library systems have the same requirement s as those of any other library systems, it is the ideal model to use. Modified waterfall model also has advantage to go back to previous stage if there are mistakes done in any phase. Requirements Specification One of the most important tasks in the development of is gathering and defining the requirements for the project. Software requirements specification means that researchers should have a basic understanding of what is going to be developed. The proponents conducted several interviews with the company to understand and identify the problems with their existing system and to specify what features they want the proposed system to have. The researchers also did studies about the related systems in order to know the real transactions and to have an idea on how to design the proposed system. Software design coding Determines the system’s framework to meet the specified requirements. The design defines the major components and the interaction of those components, but the design does not define the structure of each component. The proponents will do major coding in this phase. The proponents will divide the system into subsystems so that coding will be done by small parts and will later be integrated as a whole system. Integration Is the bringing together of the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system. It is also the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally. The proponents in this phase will now connect together the subsystems into one system. Testing Determines whether the software meets the specified requirements and finds any errors present in the code before deploying it. The proponents will test wither the system is working properly as one system and to detect errors before presenting it to Aguilar Catholic School. Deployment This is the phase of the project where the developed software will be installed, documentation will be delivered, and client training will occur. In this phase, the proponents will now deploy the equipment and the software in the library. They will have to connect the workstation of librarian and LAN base public access catalogue by the use of cables. Maintenance After the project is deployed, unexpected events can happen. This is why the proponents will continue maintenance and support as part of the software development process. This support will become an evolving process and is essential in making sure that the software continues to perform as expected. Figure 4. System Framework of Proposed System Figure 4 shows the details of the system, all its input and outputs which will be part of the system processes. Figure 5. Context Diagram of Proposed System Figure 6. Diagram 0 of Proposed System Testing and Evaluation Procedure After developing the system, the next step is to test and evaluate its acceptability. This section discusses how testing and evaluation is done. Evaluation Instrument The following were criteria of the evaluation instrument which will serve as the basis of the acceptable level of the system. Numerical Rating| Range| Descriptive Equivalent| 5| 4. 51 – 5. 00| Highly Acceptable| 4| 3. 51 – 4. 50| Acceptable| 3| 2. 51 – 3. 50| Moderately Acceptable| 2| 1. 51 – 2. 50| Slightly Acceptable| 1| 1. 00 – 1. 50| Not Acceptable| Content It will test the accuracy of the proposed prototype as well as its up to date contents. Functionality It includes comprehensively the ease from worries or problems in operation, provision for comfort and convenience and easy to understand by the end – users. Reliability In compliance to desire result, accuracy of performance, the system should be able to give the desired result to the possible end-user of the system. Availability The system will be able to perform operations according to the specifications, provision for security requirements and having all the required by the system. Maintainability It includes the testability of the system, ease of being maintained, provision for diagnostic tools and procedure, and provision enhancement. Statistical Treatment of Data In this section the results gathered from testing and evaluation was being interpreted using appropriate statistical tools. The proponents will set a criterion that specifically address to the end users and technical experts. 1 means Not Acceptable; 2 means Slightly Acceptable; 3 is for Moderately Acceptable; 4 is for Acceptable; and 5 Highly Acceptable. The accomplished testing and evaluation forms will be collected for interpreting its result. To compute the mean, Mean (M) = F (x1 + x2 + xn) / n Where F = Frequency of number of time that the given number(x) was chosen by the respondents as rating for a given criterion x1 , x2 , xn = represent any of the numerical rating 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. To compute the weighted mean, WM = ? F (x1 + x2 + xn) / n Where ? F (x1 + x2 + xn) / n = represents the sum of all means (M) of each criteria. n = is the total number of criteria of evaluation.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

General Electric Company And Its Leadership Short History Management Essay

General Electric Company And Its Leadership Short History Management Essay Thomas Alva Edison established Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. General Electric Company, known as and commonly abbreviated simply to GE, was formed in 1892, as a result of a merger of the competing companies Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. Having its headquarters in United States, GE is a major technology conglomerate and is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Index today that was also included in the original index of 1896. GE is a big multinational corporation and has a diversified infrastructure. Its business activities span a wide range of areas from aircraft engines, industrial products, water processing products, power generation to financial services, medical diagnostic imaging, security technology, consumer financing, and television programming. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. In smaller and less developed countries, it operates through distributorship or dealer ship channel by giving the rights to its distributors companies to sell and service its products. Administratively, the General Electric Company is organized into 5 divisions known as Technology Infrastructure, Consumer Industrial Electronics, Energy Infrastructure, NBC Universal and Capital Finance. A sizable portion of its products manufacturing is done in countries outside United States. Even some products research work for GE is done in Japan. In 2009, GE delivered excellent financial results despite the hard economic conditions with earnings of $11.2 billion. Industrial cash flow from operating activities for the year remained strong at over $16.6 billion. Today the company is one of the largest in the world, and owns numerous research and manufacturing firms around the world as well as two television networks and other businesses (Hanna,). John F Welch era: When John F. (Jack) Welch, Jr., became chairman and CEO in 1981, GE was in economical and financial crisis. Under his leadership, GE entered a period of radical change. Jack Welch restructured GE existing operations in an effort to make GE more competitive and profitable in all of its businesses. He sold lot of GE unprofitable businesses and fired brutally thousands of GE employees not performing well or doing redundant jobs. Welchs first order of business was to return much of the control of the company to the periphery. He decentralized GE management and reduced hierarchical management layers. However, he retained his predecessor Reginald Joness system of classifying divisions according to their performance. His goal was to make GE number one or two in every field of its operation and to make every GE business division profitable. He acquired lot of successful and profitable companies. Over the next several years, GE bought 338 businesses and product lines for $11.1 billion and sold 232 for $5.9 billion. Mr. Welch said that his aim was to make GE the nations largest company. In early 1990s, GEs operations were divided into three business groups of technology, service, and manufacturing. Its manufacturing division accounted for roughly one-third of the companys earnings then. However, the service sector was growing faster and represented more than three-quarters of the U.S. economy of mid-1990s. The company launched an aggressive campaign to become dominant in the growing services sector. Research and investment continued towards energy conservation such as more efficient light bulbs, jet engines and electrical power transmission methods. Despite a global economic downturn in the early 1990s, GE managed to keep aggregate sales from its technology, service, and manufacturing operations stable at about $60 billion annually. Acquisitions in the late 1990s centered on two of the companys growth initiatives: services and globalization. Under Welchs leadership, GE in the late 1990s also adopted Six Sigma, a quality control and improvement initiative pioneered b y Motorola, Inc. and Allied Signal Inc. The program aimed at to cut costs by reducing defects in manufacturing. GE claimed that by 1998 Six Sigma was yielding $1 billion in annual savings. The company also continued to restructure where ever necessary, including taking a $2.3 billion charge in late 1997 to close redundant facilities and shift production to cheaper labor markets. During 1999 General Electric adopted a fourth growth initiative i.e. e-business (globalization, services, and Six Sigma being the other three). In October 2000, Jack Welch planned a $40 billion merger of United Technologies Corporation and Honeywell International Inc. This was the largest acquisition in the companys history. However, the Honeywell deal ended up in a sour ending for the Welch era. Jeff Immelt, who joined GE in 1982, was named as president and CEO of General Electric in September 2001. Immelt era: 2001 and Beyond Immelt began to place his imprint in earnest on GE in 2002 through major restructurings and several significant acquisitions. He launched a reorganization of GE Capital. The financial services unit was divided into four separate units to streamline management, increase oversight, and improve transparency. GE began feeling the effects of the economic downturn that year as revenues fell nearly 3 percent, to $125.68 billion; profits nevertheless increased 7.5 percent, reaching $13.68 billion, though that was a far cry from the yearly 13 to 15 percent increases that Wall Street came to expect from GE during the Welch era. The stock ended the year trading at $24.35 per share, less than half of the high price for 2001. Next year, profits rose modestly, to $14.12 billion, or about 3 percent. Taking advantage of the economic downturn to acquire desirable assets from distressed sellers, GEs deal-making appetite grew only larger in 2003. As part of its effort to shift emphasis to higher growth fields, General Electric completed two significant acquisitions in healthcare. Continuing his transformative leadership, Immelt reorganized GEs 13 businesses units into 11 focused on specific markets and customers. Also during 2001, GE Lighting had the largest product launch in its history when it introduced the GE Reveal line of light bulbs to generate a cleaner and crisper light. The reorganization, effective at the beginning of 2004, brought similar businesses together in an effort to increase sales and cut costs. Overall, through the myriad moves engineered during just a few years in charge, Immelt was seeking to cut General Electrics reliance on financial services and mature industrial businesses in favor of such higher growth areas as healthcare and entertainment. He built operations in fast-growing economies such as Chinas. GE was aiming to outsource $5 billion by 2005 of parts and services from China and simultaneously grow sales in China to a like figure. Top Leadership Team and their Characteristics GEs culture of integrity starts with their board of directors and touches every member of the company. Their board members, more than two third of whom are independent, remain in dialogue with GEs leaders. Together they focus on the areas of strategy and risk management while monitoring strategic initiatives personally through site visits. GE leaders are at the forefront of GEs diversified portfolio of business, where they foster an environment that encourages employees integrity and professional development. GE believes that change is the essence of what it means to lead. It is known for having one of the best leadership development models in the world. The end result is that GE is able to build a management core that is very knowledgeable and experienced in the operations of the giant corporation. Worldwide, GE spends $1B every year on training and education program for the people of GE. GE Leadership Team: Jeff Immelt is GEs chairman and CEO. During his tenure since 2001, Jeff has worked to tie GE to the world development, such as emerging markets, environmental solutions, demographics and digital connections. He also laid the vision for GEs ambitious Ecomagination initiative and has been named as one of the Worlds Best CEO three times by Barrons. Leadership to GE means listen to the people and work with them. GE leadership (stated by Jeff Immelt) always believed that building strong leaders is strategic imperative. When market conditions are favourable and a company is on an upward growth then leadership is often taken for granted. However, the true test of leadership is quite evident in turbulent times. Jeff ensured that GE maintained its market position even in turbulent times. Key Actions By Jack Welch Leadership When John F. (Jack) Welch, Jr., took over as a chairman and CEO of GE in 1981, GE was in bad economical and financial situation. He found GE was overgrown, laden with too many layers of management and too many people duplicating work. (Heskett, 2000) Jack Welch restructured GE existing operation extensively. He ruthlessly fired thousands of GE executives and employees and took out GE of hundreds of business lines. Soon he won the nickname of Neutron Jack means getting rid of people while retaining buildings. He decentralized GE management and dismantled the 29 layers of hierarchy and made GE an informal company. Jack opened the GE culture to ideas from everyone, every where by introducing the motto of Imagination at Work, and made boundary less behavior a reflexive, natural part of their culture. He made acquisition of several profitable companies and businesses to make GE more profitable. Jack believed in Globalization and hence implemented strongly. He mentioned that Globalization is good. Globalization makes countries more interdependent on each other. And, the more interdependent we are, the better chances we have for peace. One of the theories of leadership that Welch perfected as CEO of GEl was his theory of the 4 Es. Offic ially known as E to the fourth power, Welch created a leadership dynamics that he employed both at GE and hopes others will employ at their own organizations as well. His program is, for people who have enormous personal energy, the ability to motivate and energize others, edgethe GE code word for being instinctively competitiveand the skill to execute on those attributes. He very strongly enforced the process of Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a vision of quality which equates with only 3.4 defects per million opportunities for each product or service transaction, hence strives for perfection. With its services spanning from the services to the manufacturing sectors, GE realized that the only way they could achieve business excellence in what they were doing was by standardizing processes to minimize variations and hence defects. Todays competitive environment leaves no room for errors. GE is spoken of in the same breath as Motorola for the initiatives that it took on reengineering busines s processes by Six Sigma approach. It is this Six Sigma approach that has led to retention of old customers and acquisition of new ones to the GEs ever-growing list of customers. GEs success with Six Sigma has exceeded most optimistic predictions. Having taken GE with a market capitalization of about $12 billion, Jack Welch turned it into one of the largest and most admired companies in the world, with a market value of about $500 billion, when he stepped down as its CEO 20 years later, in 2000. (Google) By Jeff Immelt Leadership In 2001, shortly after Jeff Immelt took over as CEO, a series of events such terrorist attacks on American soil and corporate scandals (Enron, World com) occurred. These events created significant uncertainty and led to a crisis of confidence among investors community which in turn caused a slow down of the global economy. GEs stock price went down by 16% slightly more than SP 500 (GE 2001 Annual Report). Immelt recognized that managing GEs exposure to business cycles would be critical to organizations long term stability. With most of the productivity gains already achieved by his predecessor through extensive internal reforms, Immelt realized that organic growth is essential for future profit growth. In 2002, Immelt set a goal for GE to achieve a sustained organic growth rate of two to three times the growth of global GDP. Hardly any company has achieved this kind of growth what GE was looking for, and none on a revenue base of $150 billion (Stewart, June 2006). Immelt identified t he emerging global trends, uneven economic growth, increasingly interdependent global economy, global competitiveness of emerging markets and a more volatile and uncertain world. He aimed at creating value for customers by leveraging GEs core competencies, particularly the ability to develop, test and deploy new products, highly customized products and services for high growth markets. In his letter to shareholders in 2003, Immelt articulated GEs three strategic imperatives as: 1) sustaining GEs strong business model 2) strengthening the portfolio and 3) driving growth initiatives (GE 2003 Annual Report). To implement this strategy, GEs business portfolio was restructured through a series of acquisitions and divestments around five key growth initiatives: Technical Leadership, Services, Customer Focus, Globalization and Growth Platforms. Technical Leadership i.e. Technology and Innovation was at the heart of Immelts GE growth initiatives. Identifying new growth platforms was established as a central strategic challenge for all GEs businesses and involved analyzing the market to identify high-growth segments that offered potential for attractive returns. An important step towards developing growth potential has been the launch of the Ecomagination business initiative to help meet customers demand for more energy efficient products. In formulating his approach, Immelt viewed technology as a key driver to GEs future growth and took measures to expand GEs research and development capabilities and supported them with adequate financial backing. Another essential part of Immelts growth strategy has been implementation of the Customer Focus Initiative. This manifested in the renewal of GEs marketing function most notably through the creation of GEs Commercial Council and the deployment of a whole suite of customer-oriented programs. An important outcome of customer focus was the organizations ability to create new value for the customer in vertical selling by bundling products with support services and combining products and services across businesses to deliver highly customized solutions. This enhanced GEs capacity to meet customer spec ific needs (2003 Annual Report). Historically GE is known for developing professional managers who are broad problem solvers with experience in multiple businesses or functions (GE 2003 Annual Report). Immelt realized that he needs to transform GE into a growth oriented culture to achieve success in his growth initiatives, and initiated a management development program Leadership, Innovation, and Growth (LIG) for senior managers of the company to enable managers to effectively lead the change in culture from operational excellence to a growth culture at GE (Prokesch, Jan 2009). He aimed at raising a generation of growth leaders people with market depth, customer touch and technical understanding emphasizing the depth (GE 2003, Annual Report). GE has sold modified Western products to emerging markets for decades. But now, it has embraced the reverse innovation (develop in-expensive products for emerging economies and bring them to the developed nations) to pre-empt the emerging giants. For past 30 years of globalization of products, GEs major functional units like RD, manufacturing are centralized and are headquartered in the developed world which acts as a barrier for the success of reverse innovation strategy. However, changing a long established structure, practices and attitudes is an enormous task and to bring any major change requires companys top leaders to play a major role. Jeff Immelt and its leadership team created a new organizational form Local Growth Teams (LGTs) by giving them special status, funding and personally monitoring them on a monthly basis to facilitate faster implementation of the reverse innovation strategy (Immelt, Oct 2009) GE realized that Marketing is an essential function to achieve long-term growth and has strengthened Marketing by doubling its size from 2,500 in 2003 to 5,000 today. CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) positions were created for all GE businesses and at the corporate level. Marketing has established a Center of Excellence (COE) that would gather and disseminate key competitor information. The COEs biggest contribution is its delineation of potential scenarios (Comstock et al, Oct 2010). GE gradually reduced its representation in certain parts of financial services industry as it continues to reposition itself in the market place around the key themes that Immelt has identified as emerging global trends. By 2010, its operating frame work was centered on four main businesses: energy, technology infrastructure, finance, home business solutions and media. Effectiveness of Top Leadership Jack Welch Jack Welch led the company to massive revenues. In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of approximately $26.8 billion; in 2000, the year before he left, revenue blasted to nearly $130 billion; almost five fold. When Jack Welch left GE the company had gone from a market value of $14 billion to one of more than $410 billion at the end of 2004, making it the most valuable and largest company in the world, up from Americas tenth largest by market cap in 1981. Through the 1980s, Welch worked to restructure GE and make it a more competitive and profitable company. He also pushed the managers of the businesses to become ever more productive. Welch worked to eliminate inefficiency by dismantling the bureaucracy and made GE a more informal company. He shut down factories and sold unprofitable businesses and laid off low productive staff. Welchs strategy was later adopted by other CEOs across corporate America. In 1999, he was named Manager of the Century by Fortune ma gazine. Some people believe that Welch is given too much credit for GEs success. They argue that individual managers are responsible for the companys success. It is also held that Welch did not rescue GE from great losses as the company had 16% annual earnings growth during the tenure of his predecessor, Reginald H. Jones. Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers. Still GE hires and fires its employees very swiftly; the continuation of same strategy. As soon as GE sees any losses of revenue or contracts, it fires employees or send them on suspended employment. Critics also say that the pressure Welch imposes leads some employees to cut corners, possibly contributing to some of the defense-contracting scandals that have plagued GE or to the humiliating Kidder, Peabody Co. bond-trading scheme of the early 1990s that generated bogus profits. Welch has also received criticism over the years for his lack of compassion for the middle class and working class. Welch has publicly s tated that he is not concerned with the discrepancy between the salaries of top-paid CEOs and those of average workers. Jack Welch had a record salary of $94 million a year, followed by his record retirement-plan of $8 million a year. Jeff Immelt In 2001, Immelt demonstrated his ability to recognize the changing business environment in the face of a sliding share price in the aftermath of 9/11 and Enron and World com scandals, and assured shareholders by communicating his commitment to good corporate governance and transparency by the introduction of more detailed financial disclosure. He developed and implemented organic growth strategy for organizations long-term sustainable growth considering the emerging global trends in the business environment. Jeff Immelt also addressed the alignment of the structure, systems, skills and staff to effectively achieve the organizational change to transform GE into a company with growth initiative as a core competency. In the context of global financial crisis of 2008, GEs repositioning towards technology and industry has played an important role in protecting GEs revenue and earnings base. Despite the global financial crisis of 2008 which impacted severely on GEs share price, its financ ial performance continued to show remarkable resilience through 2009. However, the GEs stock price is still down at $16 and has under-performed despite earnings growth. One reason could be its financial units perceived exposure in financial markets. In these challenging economic times, the jury is still out on the long term success of Jeff Immelts growth strategy for GE. However, the time will be the ultimate judge. Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion. By imbibing all these qualities, Jeff Immelt has been successful as an effective leader in positioning GE for sustainable growth in the long term.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The View from the Bottom Rail Essay -- essays papers

The View from the Bottom Rail The Lewinsky Scandal†¦ A perfect example as to why we cannot accept everything at face value before carefully examining it first. Everyone thought President Clinton was behaving himself in the White House, but, as it turns out, he was most definitely not. This can be the same for history. We must carefully consider different aspects of articles so that we do no make the mistake of believing everything we read. In order to fully understand an article, we must understand the author that wrote it. It is necessary to examine prejudices, sources, information left out, and missing background information before accepting an article. This method of critical analysis allows us to better understand the article and therefore history because we are more aware of the authors and their possible mishaps. â€Å"The View from the Bottom Rail†, an article in After the Fact, provides an opportunity to examine different aspects of analysis. If we look at it carefully, then we will be able to determine if the thesis was proven effectively. In â€Å"The View from the Bottom Rail†, the authors, James Davidson and Mark Lytle, proposed, â€Å"For several reasons, that debased position has made it unusually difficult for historians to recover the freedman’s point of view.† Within the article, Davidson and Lytle cycled through different aspects as to why it is hard for historians to determine the â€Å"view from the bottom rail†. They questioned the validity of many sources that, if accurate, would have contained the perspective of an ex-slave. These sources included both white and black testimony. In order to examine these sources, the authors traced the topics using microcosm. Because they were covering a topic and not an event, microcosm was the most appropriate method of examining the subject. Davidson and Lytle first introduced a source. Then, they pondered over the different ways that the source could be biased. They took small segments from the source and used those to demonstrate why the source could not be taken at face value. For example, when examining the proposed source of a slave master’s account, Davidson and Lytle examined one aspect of this to make a conclusion. They determined that, â€Å"With slaves so dependent on the master’s authority, they were hardly likely to reveal their true feelings; the dangerous consequences of such indiscr... ...s old. The authors do question whether her mental status was viable or not. However, further background information was needed. It was imperative for the authors to examine the validity of this source before using it. It is not know if the ex-slave was capable of recalling accurate details of her life. Since the authors’ argument was that the same slave told two different stories depending on the circumstances of the interview, how do we know if the stories varied because of the circumstances or because of a poor or maybe even imaginative memory? This background information would make the authors’ arguments even more convincing. However, if we assume that the ex-slave was capable, then the argument is flawless. Overall, the article was well written. Only minor aspects were left uncovered. In addition, not much background information was needed. Also, the authors’ only had sparse and subtle prejudices. A variety of sources was used effectively. In the end, the thesis was proven convincingly. Almost all audiences would be assured that, â€Å"For several reasons, that debased position has made it unusually difficult for historians to recover the freedman’s point of view.†

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Independent and depentent variables of psychology Essay

* Independent variable – The variable that is manipulated to test its effects on the dependent variable. * Dependent variable – The variable that is measured to see how it is changed by manipulations in the independent variable. Scenarios 1 Coach Jones has noticed that her players tend to shoot a higher percentage from the free throw line when they play away, rather than at home. Surprised at this trend, she and her assistants decide to test this by comparing free-throw percentages over the course of a year. a Independent variable- Playing at away vs. home b Dependent variable- Free throws 2 Mr. Feldman has noticed the students in his high school Biology class tend to do better on tests taken on Friday, rather than tests taken on Monday. He decides to test the hypotheses. a Independent variable- Testing date b Dependent variable- Testing scores 3 John, Wendy, and Sean, all avid fishermen, have noticed that they always seem to catch more fish when it is raining outside. They decide to test the hypotheses. a Independent variable-The rainy weather b Dependent variable- The chance of catching more fish 4 Tony has designed a study to determine if alcohol really inhibits one’s ability to drive a car. a Independent variable- Alcohol b Dependent variable- Ability to drive 5 Does eating spinach really make you stronger? a Independent variable – Spinach b Dependent variable- Strength 6 Does staying physically fit increase your chances of living longer? a Independent variable- Fitness. b Dependent variable- Longer life. 7 Does taking classes in college really make you smarter? a Independent variable- College b Dependent variable- Intelligence 8 Is it true that animals that listen to classical music make happier pets? a Independent variable- Classical music b Dependent variable- Happy pets 9 Hypothesis: The taller a person is, the more likely they are to enjoy chocolate ice cream. a Independent variable- Being Tall b Dependent variable- Chocolate ice cream. 10 Hypothesis: The more a student attends class, the better they do on exam grades. a Independent variable- Attendance b Dependent variable- Higher exam score 11 Does peer pressure negatively affect teenagers attendance in school? a Independent variable- Peer pressure b Dependent variable- Poor attendance 12. A researcher wants to know whether eating chocolate makes people nervous. a.Independent variable- Consuming chocolate c Dependent variable- Nervousness 13. A researcher wants to know whether feeling nervous makes people eat chocolate. a. Independent variable- Nervousness b. Dependent variable- Consuming chocolate 14. Professor Marshall wants to know if eating sweets for a bedtime snack makes children active. a. Independent variable- Sweets b. Dependent variable- More active at bedtime 15. A researcher plans to investigate whether a cup of hot milk at night helps people relax so that they fall asleep quickly. a. Independent variable- Cup of hot milk b Dependent variable- relax and sleepiness 16. Gabrielle conducted a small experiment examining the effects of music on time perception. She had three groups of subjects. Group 1 was exposed to classical music, group 2 was exposed to contemporary rock and the third group received no music. a. Independent variable- Music i.e.; classical & contemporary rock & silence b. Dependent variable- Perception of time. 17 A study was done on the effects of punishment on self-esteem. a. Independent variable-Punishment b. Dependent variable- Self-esteem

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Stages of Behavioral Change

Stages of Behavioral Change Introduction In our day to day interactions, we encounter people and circumstances that require us to change our behavior. In other cases, we ourselves want to change our own behavior for personal reasons. There exist no standard procedures for behavioral change that can be used to govern the process through which individuals change their behavioral trends.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Stages of Behavioral Change specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, some people have argued that individuals change their behaviors when the cost of not changing a particular behavior exceeds the cost of changing that behavior (Fieger, 2009). Through our own understanding of individual functioning, we can choose to change our behaviors without waiting for the negative impacts associated with the behavior to motivate us. Psychologists have developed various models and theories in attempt to describe various stages along a behavior change continuum (FHI, 2004). The process of self behavioral change involves various stages as outlined by DiClemente and Norcross (FHI, 2004). The precontemplation stage involves individual’s recognition of an existing problem in order to make a decision to change the behavior (FHI, 2004). Contemplation stage is the stage where the individual acknowledges the problem and seriously considers changing it while preparation for action involves individual decision to change the specific behavior within a specified period of time (FHI, 2004). Finally, the action stage constitutes the ability of an individual to display consistency in the new behavior and maintenance which requires the individual to display the same consistency for more than six months (FHI, 2004). This is the general process through which individuals abandon undesirable habits and acquire new behavioral trends and it is also the model that forms the basis for therapeutic behavioral change. After having uncovered t hat I spend approximately 3000 minutes talk time on my phone every month, I realized that I needed to change my behavior regarding phone use since my monthly phone bill was very expensive and my mother kept insisting on the side effects associated with cell phone use. In addition, I spent considerable amounts of time on my phone consequently promoting time wastage which negatively impacted on my school work. The radio frequency energy from electromagnetic radiations emitted through the antenna of mobile phones is believed to affect the brain and other head tissues (NCI, n d).Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Numerous studies conducted to investigate the relationship between cell phone use and the risk of brain tumors reveal no increased risk with increase in call duration in some incidences while some studies suggested slightly increase risk for certain types of brain tumors as a result of increased cell phone use (NCI, n d). This perceived cancer threat was the major factor that motivated to change my behavior. Although I was reluctant at initial stages of the process claiming that the side effects of cell phones are non existent and if they were, my phone was adequately secure, extensive research on studies conducted on the side effects of cell phone as well as the need to reduce my monthly phone bill heavily influenced my decision and determination to cut off on my cell phone use. After acknowledging that excessive use of my cell phone was adversely implicating on my finances and may affect my long term health condition, I decided to undergo an eight week behavioral transformation process after which I would cut down my cell phone use by half. To ensure successful outcomes of the process, I sought information an advice from people who had a similar problem from where I acquired problem solving choices (FHI 2004). The people suggested the methods tha t they used to reduce the amount of time they spent on their cell phones which included the use of e mail and other social networks such as face book and myspace to interact with people rather than making phone calls. In addition, other people preferred sending text messages while others utilized face to face communication whenever it was possible. This information considerably promoted my behavioral changing process since I applied all these strategies through out the process and successfully managed to cut down my phone use significantly. Through out the process of behavioral transformation, I encountered various challenges that significantly hindered my ability to cut down on my phone use. Numerous interaction incidences required immediate feedback hence I preferred calling people rather than sending emails or messages to them as this may take them a longer time to respond. Further, my friends with whom we used to communicate for long durations of time using cell phones continued to call me for long hours and it was difficult to convince them to similarly cut down on their cell phone use. In addition, since I had been used to the habit for a long period of time, the urge to make unnecessary phone calls persisted during the process and proved very difficult to fight it.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Stages of Behavioral Change specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the end of the eight weeks period, I had managed to cut down my phone use by a considerable amount of time. Although I had not managed to achieve my target of reducing my phone use to 1500 minutes per month by the end of the period, I achieved an average 40% reduction in calling time upto 1800 minutes talk time in the eight week period which I intend to reduce further through continuous implementation of the strategies that I applied during the period of behavioral change. Since behavioral change is a continuous process, I am optim istic that through dedication and commitment to change my behavior, with time I will be able to achieve my target and reduce the amount of time I spend calling on my cell phone for the safety of my health as well as financial status. Conclusion Behavioral change is largely motivated by an individual’s core beliefs which constitute the ideas that one believes to be true about him as well as the world as he conceives it to be (Fieger, 2010). Further, an individual’s attitude, which is the focal point through which he views the world, is highly informed by his values and principles establish the foundations of the individual’s identity and his conceptions of ideal behavior (Fieger, 2010). This is clearly evident in the process of my behavioral change which was highly influenced by the desire to live a healthy life and to manage my time and financial resources efficiently. Since I value my health very much, various health risks issues associated with cell phone use motivated me to reduce my cell phone talk time in order to diminish chances of developing such ailments. In addition, the general prevalence of time and resource management in the contemporary society further prompted me to change my behavior in order to conform to the society’s desirable values. Reference List FHI (2004). Behavior change- a summary of four major theories. Web. Fieger, H. (2009). Behavior change: a view fro inside out. New York: Morgan James publishing.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More NCI (Not dated). Cell phone cancer risk. Web.