Studying a Professional Organizational Coursework

Studying a Professional Organizational - Coursework Example of nearly 10,000 surgical nurses that are interest in developing professionally and personally, linking up with other individuals and organizations in the health sector that share a common vision, fighting for the recognition of the surgical nursing field (Roberts, 2008). The aims and objectives of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses focus on research development, evidence based practice, advocacy in the workplace, organizational health and the impact of national leadership on health matters. The organization’s mission is to facilitate excellence in the field of surgical nursing. The organization also focuses towards using its strategic position to improve health care for the patients (Roberts, 2008). The organization provides a system through which surgical nurses can express their feelings and opinions about health care policies. The organization also promoted personal and professional goals for surgical nurses. The entity has come up with a system that promotes awareness to the members of society on issues that relate to the practice (Mason and Nursing, a. t., 2011). Above all, the organizations aims at improving the general health care for all patients in the society. Finally, the entity maintains effective communication to governmental organizations, professional groups and acts as resources to the public. The organization achieves the above-mentioned functions by meeting the ideas in professional nursing. This is through the promotion of health care to individuals by promoting the art and science of nursing care. The organization facilitates implementation of the policies for practice of surgical nursing. The Academy of Medical Surgical Nursing establishes a framework in which nurses in the field to communicate their health care policies (Mason and Nursing, a. t., 2011). AMSN works towards impacting on policies in health care based on evidence based on various issues. The entity facilitates advancement of research and development in the field and this

Death Penalty Pro's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Death Penalty Pro's - Essay Example A number of organizations have gone against death penalty, with convincing arguments surrounding its ineffectiveness in preventing future crimes, its cruelty and various other reasons. Listening to their arguments would make one think that the supporters of death penalty are nothing but cruel and inhumane individuals devoid of compassion and willing to kill, which is the very crime that they abhorred in the first place. One of the most vocal of all the activists is Amnesty International, which made a public declaration that "death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment." The group also believes that this type of punishment is a form of human rights violation, irrevocable, may be inflicted on the innocent, and does not certainly stop future crimes to be committed. Abolitionists back their claim with statistics and studies, although most of these studies have been misrepresentation of the truth. They have succeeded in their quest in a number of nations around the world. Amnesty International states that from the time that it started the movement against death penalty, the number of nations that have abolished death penalty from the judicial system has risen from 16 to 86 nations. Notwithstanding the strong opposition to death penalty, however, the American public continues to quietly support this form of punishment for heinous crimes. This support was even reinforced after the September 11 attack on the United States. It is reported that one-fifth of those who usually go against the death penalty feel that the terrorists who execute such crime against humanity deserve death sentence (Cable News Network). This goes to show that people feel that it is necessary to punish those who are willing to kill numerous others and still justify their murde rous actions. First among the arguments of opponents of the death penalty surrounds its ability to deter crime. They state that there is not enough statistical basis to say that the imposition of death penalty prevents further crimes from happening. Opponents even think that crime rates are higher for those states with death penalty statutes than those which do not adopt capital crime punishment. While it is difficult to convince people who have already made up their minds against death penalty, it should be emphasized that deterring crime is not solely the reason for exacting death penalty on those who committed heinous crimes. John McAdams aptly states that execution of murderers even without deterrent effect, would still be better as this will diminish the number of criminals in society than if they were left to live and with that inaction, people expect future crimes to be prevented (American Bar Association). Even as opponents of death penalty believe that the punishment does not ensure the d ecline in crime rates, they also do not provide enough evidence that inaction against doers of heinous crimes warrant the decrease the occurrence of crimes. George E. Pataki believes that death penalty is effective in preventing future crimes from happening, and that the government should use every action possible in order to protect

Outliers the Story of Success Essay Example for Free

Outliers the Story of Success Essay Outliers: The story of success by Malcolm Gladwell is a very interesting book with realistic contents that I will be applying in my personal and professional life in years to come. I use the term interesting in a sense that not only it is a quick read but it actually provides a method behind the madness of success. The biggest point that the book makes and I don’t agree fully but to a certain degree that there is no such thing as a self made man. Right place, right time, right talent in my eyes are the powerful variables that influence as well as motivate the success of a human being. In order for the chemistry of these variables to work right one has to have a desire to capitalize on these variables in order to be successful. What I mean by desire is hard work and dedication, a relentless want to be perfect, to be successful, and to be an outlier. Like I mentioned above one has to be at the right place at the right time and a will to be successful. I have been in the financial industry for a little over fifteen years with the last seven years in a leadership position. The last few years have allowed me opportunities over time to acquire and develop talent. Over the years I have seen good talent go to waste because the individual would not capitalize on the time, place, and resources available to be successful. Majority of times these individuals would not put in the time to be successful. On the other side of the argument the talented individuals who are successful were the first ones in and last ones out. They were always willing to try new things, were flexible to support the business by embracing change, they were willing to work long hours, and had this enthusiastic drive to â€Å"GET BETTER† at all times and under all circumstances. I have to agree with the ten thousand hour rule that the author talks about especially when he uses the Beatles as an example. In my humble opinion the Beatles are a great example but they are one of many as the ten thousand hour rule is true for all the talent that is out there whether you look at entertainment, sports, corporate world, or entrepreneurship. In others words one has to pay their dues, they have to do their time, they have to stick it out and while doing so they have grow and get better but above all they have to learn from their mistakes and make adjustments as needed, the word strategy comes to mind. As per the National Federation of State High School Association one million high school kids participate in football, one out of seventeen play college football. As per the National Collegiate Athletic Association nine in ten housand high school senior football players eventually end up in the National Football League. In the 2012 National Football League Draft, out of the one million students who participated in high school football only two hundred and fifty three players were selected. As a kid they had dreams to play football and they achieve their dreams by working hard, sometimes studying hard as well, putting in the hours by practicing longer than anybody else around them, learning, understanding, and practicing new plays. As a teenager their lives revolve around football once the love for the game has been developed and it is deep enough for them to work hard at representing their high school with new dreams of playing for a good college or university. So essentially out of millions of kids in America who have a dream to play professional football, thousands make it to colleges and universities with football on their mind. They still have to put in the time, the hours, they have to pay their dues to be successful because the dreams just got bigger as in the National Football League. Out of these few thousand kids and their dreams only a few hundred will be selected to be a part of the National Football League. I can go on and on about any of the professional sports and the success stories behind them or the stories about the shattered dreams based on poor choices but I am not going to; instead I will agree with all the points the author makes in his book. If you don’t put in the time you are not going to be successful no matter what kind of talent you have. If you are than it has to be a pure stroke of luck. The one point that I will not agree with the author is his theory of the self made man. A self made man has the discipline and the drive to capitalize and maximize his potential, his opportunity, the time, the place, and the luck effectively and efficiently. This discipline and drive is what makes him a self made man. Case in point Troy Aikman versus Quincy Carter of the Dallas Cowboys. They both played for the same team at its peak, both of them were early draft picks; both of them had promising baseball careers before they chose football over baseball. One is a hall of famer worth millions and is still going strong in his post football career the other one is an independent coach with a long history of arrest records. Did Aikman put in more time than Carter or was Carter less talented than Aikman? I would agree with the later because Aikman capitalized on his natural ability to throw football with his drive to succeed and is still going on. Carter on the other hand did not capitalize to be successful by making poor choices and not learning from his mistakes or in words he did not embrace change or remember the word strategy mentioned above? Quincy Carter simply did not change his strategy in life. Finally I would rate the book as an eight on a scale of ten with ten being the best. In closing I would like to point out that you don’t have to be Jewish or an immigrant to be successful you have to have the drive, the desire, the need to be successful. In order to do so you have to maximize your potential and opportunity effectively and efficiently keeping in mind that it was your potential that granted you the opportunity. Be willing to change by embracing it and learning from it.

Implementing and Adopting Innovation: Case Study of Skype

Implementing and Adopting Innovation: Case Study of Skype The present assignment focuses on a real business situation which involves the implementation and adoption of innovation. The case study is comprised of four primary parts which explore the process of innovation development, the promoters of innovation, the internal and external reaction within business resources and the likely strategic implications and business model for further development which can be proposed. In this respect, the assignment explores Skype as an example of business organisation which adopts innovation on a continuous basis and the various strategic implications to which this behaviour is associated. Skype is an information communication technology (ICT) which is one of the most popular products used by different consumer segments in the process of communicating over the Internet. This platform provides users with the opportunity to communicate and interact via a low cost channel. The companys growth is promoted by the continuous internationalisation and globalisation of markets. Moreover, not only continuous internationalisation influences the development of Skype, but Skype itself can be seen as a promoter of globalisation removal of market and country boundaries. In this context, Skype has grown through the continuous application of incremental innovation. The company has been adopting innovative applications and targeting different customer segments through the products and services provided. However, the present assignment would not only explore these strategy approaches to competitiveness but primarily focuses on the organisational and structural innovation of Skype. The report particularly focuses on the acquisition of Skype by E-bay and the organisation implication this has. Pay Pal as another integrative part of this acquisition is also presented and discussed. Innovation Characteristics Innovation management and development has grown as one of the most popular fields within social sciences. It has attracted the interest of scholars for many years. For example, Schumpeter (1950) who is the pioneer within the discipline proposes that innovation is the development of a novel solution which alters past perceptions. Schumpeter (1950) characterised the process of innovation development with the concept of creative destruction explaining that innovation restructures the way past patterns are perceived through the implementation of novelty (Hospers, 2005). However, it is essential to be outlined that innovation is not only characterised by its novel characteristics but by the commercial importance which it has (Tidd et al., 2005). In other words, an innovative solution is both new and applicable to the respective market. Apart from the above mentioned characteristics, it is also important to be outlined that innovation can be recognised in different forms and degrees. For example, innovation can be seen primarily as incremental and radical (Afuah, 2003). Incremental innovation occurs when little novel changes are applied within an organisation (Tidd et al., 2005). It is often that incremental innovation is practiced on a continuous basis and thus is known as a process of continuous improvement which has applications in companies as Toyota and their total quality management (TQM) core strategic values (Afuah, 2003; Bessan and Francis, 1999). Contrary to the incremental innovation, the radical one is characterised with profound changes within an enterprise (Francis and Bessant, 2005). Apart from the degree of innovativeness, it is also important to be outlined that business organisations can exploit different types of innovation. The academic literature mainly outlines two main types such as product and process innovation (Boer and During, 2001; Damapur and Evans, 1984). As it can be logically proposed based on the names, the product innovation mainly concerns the products and the process innovation is implemented within the business processes to promote efficiency and effectiveness (DiLiello and Houghton, 2008). However, apart from product and process innovation, organsiational innovation is also seen as another essential type. In this context, the present analysis is specifically focuses on organisational innovation in the case of E-Bays acquisition of Skype and how this affected to the mutual organisational innovativeness. The organsiational innovativeness is mutual as this acquisition has affected both parties in a unique way (Hof, 2005). However, it should be also underlined that as E-bay has adopted and largely promoted the payment platform Pay Pal therefore the implications which Pay Pal has on Skype should be also considered (Vitzthum and Konsynski, 2009). The organisational impact which this acquisition has on Skype is substantial. On the one hand, Skype has been having significant popularity in Europe and Asia but lacked high exposure in the large American market. In this respect, as E-bay is one of the leading e-commerce platforms n the US therefore Skype would be able to benefit for such co-operation. However, the innovative characteristics of this venture do not come from the increased market exposure but from the integration of three different business models: Skype, E-bay and Pay Pal. This can be identified as a clear example of Schumpeters creative destruction, when old and orthodox patterns are substituted by novel behaviour (Hospers, 2005; Schumpeter, 1950). Furthermore, the characteristics of this organisational innovation not only should be identified within the structural implications only but also in relation to internal business resources. For example, organisational innovation promotes the interaction between different groups of employees which as a return increases the creative capability of the enterprise due to continuous knowledge-sharing and idea generation (Tushman and OReilly, 1997). This is the reason why, through this acquisition, Skype not only does gain the opportunity to get popularised within different markets but also benefit from the exchange of insight. Human resource management and in particular the collaborative performance of employees is essential to the promotion of innovation (Dodgson and Rothw, 1994). In other words, organisational innovation can promote the development of other types of innovation, such as process and product innovation as part of the internal collaborative processes. Triggers and Promoters of the Innovation The triggers and promoters of innovation can be divided into internal and external ones. The internal triggers in the present case are the desire of E-bay and Skype to grow in greater capabilities and competitiveness within diverse markets. As it was already outlined Skype had good exposure in Europe and Asia but lacked the same success in United States (Vitzthum and Konsynski, 2009). On the contrary, Skype as a prominent e-commerce platform in the US lacked significant exposure to European and Asian consumers as opposite to the intensive revenue generation in North America (Amber, 2000). Furthermore, the third element in this partnership, Pay Pal at the time of the merger was still in the beginning of its growth and therefore this collaboration looked highly positive to Pay Pals increased business capabilities and market reach. Apart from the internal drive which is always a highly influential promoter of innovation and business competitiveness, the external environment can be suggested to be another substantial stimulus to this acquisition. For example, globalisation and the continuously intensified communication between international customers influence technological development and therefore information and communication technologies as Skype have substantial opportunity to grow. Furthermore, another important trigger to the organisation is the increased market competitiveness. The adoption of innovation is generally associated to both positive and negative external sources. As it is in the present case, these are the market opportunities which the acquisition provides and the industrial competitiveness and threats which may have negative impact on the performance of the organisations. The internal and external sources of innovation, however, should not be perceived as ultimately separate entities. For example, the internal strengths of a business contribute to the business ability to exploit external opportunities and overcome external threats. In this respect, the resource based view (RBV) theory can be used as an analogue, suggesting that a firms strength derives from its internal dynamics and this promotes business continuous competitiveness (Barney, 2001). In the present context, it can be proposed that the current case of organisational restructuring and innovation affects the increased resource capabilities of the business and thus promotes the ventures greater competitiveness. Reactions to the Adopted Innovation As Joseph Schumpeter suggests, innovation is a phenomenon which causes disruption and change (Hospers, 2006; Schumpeter, 1950). This is the reason why, innovation and all processes related to its adoption creates certain internal and external reaction. In the present case, the reactions of E-bays acquisition of Skype and integration of Pay Pal cannot be assessed entirely from internal perspective as the author of the present report cannot access this internal information. However, there are certain outcomes which can be clearly recognised in the academic literature which can be conceptually and theoretically integrated in the current analysis. One of the primary reactions which can be identified in the internal environment of a company when innovation is adopted is the rejection by employees to accept the proposed change (Hiatt and Creasey, 2003). This is especially common in the cases of organisational restructuring which is resulted by mergers and acquisitions (Fedor and Harold, 2004). Employees perceive this as a risk to their career and job stability. However, the present acquisition cannot be recognised with any major physical and structural transformations and therefore it may not have had such a substantial impact over employees. Another reaction which can be identified with such a horizontal diversification and organisational innovation is seen within the external context and in particular in customers and competitors (Cook, 2004). For example, customers become interested in the collaborative propositions which the brands are likely to provide. For example, Skype has been continuously innovating and applying some incremental innovations and improvements due to the wider market share the company is exposed to. This is the reason why, Skype has developed various video and communication application within its platform to fit the needs of multiple customer segments. This is true innovation, not only it needs to be novel but it also need to have commercial and market value (Damanpour, 1991). Strategic Characteristics The present case reveals an innovative organisational situation the acquisition of E-bay of Skype. This is an approach of horizontal diversification by E-bay which not only does have substantial impacts on E-bay but on Skype as well. This is an example of the interconnectivity of innovation it cannot be conducted in isolation and it has effect on multiple business aspects. For example, the organisational innovation resulted in Skypes producing a continuous incremental innovation, developing and introducing new applications to fit the needs of various segments. The platform introduced multiple video streaming which is highly applicable to ordinary users, families and business conferencing. This multiple application of innovation is exactly the purpose and value of the phenomenon. It is important to be underlined that innovation is a powerful source of competitiveness but it needs significant internal commitment. This is the reason why, leadership can be recognised as essential promoter of innovative behaviour. Leadership is the process which motivates and inspires organisational commitment. In the context of incremental innovation, employees need to be continuously committed to promote the innovative performance of the business. Leadership, however, should not be confused with management as these are different approaches to people management, development and co-ordination. Management can be explained as the process of executing business processes and operations in an efficient manner whereas leadership is the approach of doing the right things identifying solutions where no structure guidance exists. This is the reason why leadership is needed to stimulate employees commitment to innovation (Alves et al., 2007). People management and team work are essential to innovation development as this process stimulate idea generation and knowledge sharing between different individuals which is synthesised in the creation of a novel and meaningful solution. References Afuah. A. (2003) Innovation Management. (2nd ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press. Alves, J., Marques, M., Saur, I. and Marques, P. (2007) Creativity and Innovation through Multidisciplinary and Multisectoral Cooperation, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 27 34. Anon (2008) Change management and employee motivation: the balancing act [online]. Available from: http://www.articlesbase.com/recruitment-articles/change-management-and-employee-motivation-the-balancing-act-672944.html [Accessed: 04/05/11] Barney, J. (2001) Is the Resource-Based Theory a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research?.Yes., Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 99 120. Barney, J., Wright, M. and Ketchen Jr., D. (2001) The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after 1991.,Journal of Management, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 625 641. Bennet, B (2009) Change management: Motivation [online]. Available from: http://billbennett.co.nz/2009/09/16/change-management-motivation/ [Accessed: 04/04/11] Bessant, J. (2003) High Involvement Innovation. Chichester: John Wiley Sons. Bessant, J. and Francis, D. (1999) Developing strategic continuous improvement capability, International Journal of Operations Production Management. Vol. 19, No. 11, pp. 1106 1119. Boer, H. and During, W.E. (2001) Innovation. What innovation? A comparison between product, process and organisational innovation, International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 22, No. 1/2/3, pp. 83 -107. Cook, S. (2004), Change management excellence: using the four intelligences for successful organizational, Kogan Page Publishers. Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Y9BcWvY-0SMCprintsec=frontcoverdq=change+managementlr=#v=onepageq=f=false [Accessed: 04/03/11]. Dahlgaard, J. J., Kristensen, K. and Kanji, K. G. (1998) Fundamental of Total Quality Management. London: Chapman Hall. Damanpour, F. (1991) Organizational Innovation: A Meta-Analysis of Effects of Determinants and Moderators, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 555 590. Damanpour, F. and Gopalakrishnan, S. (2001) The Dynamics of the Adoption of Product and Process Innovations in Organizations, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 45 65. Dewar, D. R. and Dutton, E. J. (1986) The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis, Management Science, Vol. 32, No. 11, pp. 1422 1433. Fedor and Harold (2004) Effects of Change and Change Management on Employee Responses: An Overview of results from multiple studies [online]. Available from: http://www.cpbis.gatech.edu/research/workin g_papers/CPBIS-WP-04-02%20Herold_Fedor_Change%20 Management%20Fall%202004.pdf [Accessed: 04/04/11] Francis, D. and Bessant, J. (2005) Targeting innovation and implications for development, Technovation, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 171 183. Hiatt, J and Creasey (2003) Change management: the people side of change, Prosci. Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id =zQTy8mk8kZYCprintsec=frontcoverdq=change+management#v=onepageq=f=false [Accessed: 04/04/11] Hof, R. (2005) Why ebay is buying Skype, Businessweek. Retrienved: 10/09, form: http://www.businessweek. com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2005/09/why_ebay_is_buy.html. [Accessed: 05/04/11]. Hospers, J. G. (2005) Joseph Schumpeter and His Legacy in Innovation Studies, Knowledge, Technology Policy, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 20-37. Robinson, A. (1991) Continuous Improvement In Operations. Cambridge: Productivity Press. Schumpeter, J. (1950) Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. (3rd ed.) New York: Harper Row. Leede, de J. and Looise, K. J. (2005) Innovation and HRM: Towards an Integrated Framework, Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 108 117. Tidd, J., Bessant. J. and Pavitt. K. (2005) Managing Innovation. (3rd ed.) Chichester: John Wiley Sons Ltd. Tushman, M. L. and OReilly, C. (1997) Winning through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Van de Ven, A. H., Polley. E. D., Graud. R. and Venkataraman. S. (1999) The innovation journey. New York: Oxford University Press. Vitzthum, S. and Konsynski, B. (2009) EBAYs Acquistion of Skype SA: Valuing the Voice of the Buyer, The Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 89 104. Table of Contents References 9 Introduction to the Case study The present cases study focuses on Apple which is one of the leading and most innovative producers of technologies and entertainment devices. The company is continuously growing in size and is attracting greater market share. In this respect, the analysis focuses on the particular product and service innovation which are provided by the organisation to sustain continuous competitiveness. It is essential to be underlined that product and process innovation should not be perceived as separate entities (Afuah, 2003). It is often that business organisation incorporate both product and process innovation as interconnected elements of a mutual strategy of industrial competitiveness (Francis and Bessant, 2005). It should be also underlined that often, process innovation is stimulated as a natural outcome of product innovativeness, it appears as a logical and complementary derivative. It is also important to be mentioned that the present case study focuses on another essential element of the development and introduction of innovation, such as business leadership. It specifically focuses on the companys most prominent decision-maker and leader Steve Jobs, and analyses his approaches to business management and innovation leadership. Innovation Types and Characteristics As already revealed in the previous case study, innovation is a popular phenomenon which pioneer Joseph Schumpeter describes as the process of creative destruction. In other words, innovation is a novel solution which has commercialised applicability and significant market value (Hospers, 2005; Freeman and Soete, 1997; Kleinknecht and Mohnen, 2002). This definition clearly describes the innovation which is produced by Apple, one of the leading technological innovators. The company utilises a number of innovative products in its iPhone, iPad and iPod series of entertainment products. The innovative performance of the organisation can be recognised as highly distinctive. The company utilises and merges different types and degrees of innovativeness. The academic literature describes primarily two types of innovation such as, product and process innovation (Storey, 2000). However, often companies can utilise a mix of the two as it is in the case of Apple. The company has popular products as iPad, iPod and iPhone which are complemented by the innovative platform iTunes where users can download music and create playlists to play on their iPods. Moreover, there are hundreds if not thousands of applications which are created by Apple software developers which are downloaded and used on any of the iPad and iPhone devices. This is an example of how the company engages customers through a full life cycle they are provided with innovative products and service from the save brand which ensures long-term loyalty and re-purchase (Iacobucci and Calder, 2003; Kotler and Keller, 2008). The innovative management of products and services at Apple has been led by a management and leadership approach which can be identified with high level of confidentiality, secrecy and partial isolation. Contrary to the conceptual understanding in the academic literature that innovation is stimulate through continuous knowledge sharing and idea generation, Steve Jobs promoted an environment of micro-management and high level of internal control. However, this has led to paradoxical results Apple is continuously generating market share, profitability and above all customers loyalty (Daft et al., 2010). One of the explanations for this outcome can be related to the resource based view theory. Similarly to the previous case study on Skype and E-bay, Apple seems to be also taking advantage of the strength of its internal resources. The resource based view theory suggests that a companys success is derived from the uniqueness and competitiveness of its internal resources (Johnson and Scholes, 2008).This approach is closely related and relevant to the leadership and management initiatives practiced by Apples main decision-maker Steve Jobs. Jobs approaches to people management can be identified and strict but with high level of fairness. However, this leadership and management approach sustains certain risks as too much of micro-management and strictness may decrease employees creativity and innovative capabilities (Daft et al., 2010; Goleman, 1998). Employees are essential source to innovation development and therefore people management should stimulate an environment which promotes the expression of employees creativity and innovativeness, such as: team work; knowledge sharing; initiativeness; risk taking; company and market wide exposure (Rogers, 1995; Tushman and OReilly, 1997; Van de Ven et al., 1999). Innovation Promoters and Obstacles One of the primary promoters of Apples innovative capabilities is the significant strength of internal resources and capabilities. In other words, in order for a companys resources to be considered as contributory to the overall business competitiveness and innovativeness they need to be rare, unique and valuable not only to the particular organisation but to the market place (Barney, 2001). In this respect, the internal resources which are in possession of Apple perform in a highly competitive manner. In this context, one of the greatest promoters of the companys innovativeness is the leadership approach conducted by Jobs which focuses on growth of internal technological capacity and utilisation of internal employees skills. However, it should be underlined that this type of leadership and internal management can lead to certain problems in the company. On the one hand, the substantial commitment practiced by Jobs is a clear indicator of a strong leadership (Day, 2000; Gill, 2006). He is devoted to the wellbeing of the company and therefore he often practices micro-management. However, on the other hand, this micro-management approach can result in certain difficulties and obstacles to the production of innovation. This can reduce employees freedom to be creative and innovative, to take initiative and risks in their decision-making which are all important components in the process of innovation management and development (Daft et al., 2010; Slack et al., 2007; Tidd et al., 2005). Reactions and Restrictions to Innovation The reaction to Apples innovation can be divided into internal and external. The internal reaction is related to employees performance to the development and introduction of innovation. In the present case, Jobs is one of the primary stakeholders in this process of innovation development which can be suggested to restrict employees commitment to the process of innovation development. As it was already outline, innovation development is a process which requires a people management approach which stimulates employees creativity and innovativeness (Alves et al., 2007; Storey, 2000). Furthermore, especially in the case of a cumulative product and process innovation, employees need to be provided with company-wide exposure (Leede and Looise, 2005). In the present case, however, the manger of the company restricts employees involvement in multiple processes. This restricts the ability of employees to get inspired by different departments, responsibilities and ideas. This is fundamentally important to the process of idea generation and creative destruction, when old patterns and thinking habits are substituted by innovative solutions (Hospers, 2005). Another essential restriction which needs to be clearly outlined is the industrial isolation of Apple as compared to other brands. In other words, it can be suggested that Apple refrains from collaborating with other industrial players. On the one hand, this protection is needed in the cutting edge technological industry. On the other, hand, however, Apple misses out on opportunities for strategic partnerships, co-operative research and development, and industrial collaboration (Drucker, 1991). These are all essential components for the continuous and successful adoption of innovation. In other words, in order for a company to be able to produce product and process innovation it needs to have substantial exposure to the industry and market trends (Dodgson and Rothw, 1994). In this context, as it can be identified from Apples comparative industrial isolation which is product of Jobs autocracy management may result in certain long-term risks and unfavourable internal and external reactions. For example, employees motivation may decrease due to the lack of responsibility, ownership and team work to which they are exposed. This is the reason why, employees may become passively aggressive and thus cease being productive due to undermined professional morale. However, it is also important to be outlined that this operational isolation may also have impacts on the industrial competitiveness in the sector. Other technological companies may embrace a copy-cat approach and adopt Apples innovation, therefore Apple will face increasing competitiveness rather than fruitful industrial partnerships (Ettlie, 1999; Kleinknecht and Mohnen, 2002; Kotler and Keller, 2008). Strategy Development and Leadership Another important issue is the strategic development and continuous leadership approaches of the company. Apple is one of the leading providers of entertainment technological devices. The company utilises both product and process innovation which provides them with the opportunity to attract greater customers interest and stimulate customers loyalty which is essential to sustaining continuous revenue generation (Groucutt et al., 2004; Kotler and Keller, 2008). Apart from the combination of product and process innovation, it is interesting to be outlined that Apple also utilises different degrees of innovativeness. The academic literature outlines two primary degrees of innovative impact, such as radical and increment (Bessant, 2003). In this respect, the radical innovation produced by Apple can be recognised in the highly innovative devices which it produces. For example, the switch from walkman and CD player music devices to Apples iPod is radical. In the same sense it is the companys iPhone which is pioneer of the smart phones in the industry. However, this radical innovativeness is also accompanied by incremental novelty Apple produces different upgrades on the devices and new models are released each year. This type of industrial performance has highly influential marketing impact. In other words, customers are continuously engaged with Apples novel propositions and therefore their life time purchasing is extended (Hollensen, 2007). Another essential aspect of the management of the company is the leadership approach which is applied by Steve Jobs. As it was already identified, the decision-maker focuses on the management of an authoritarian approach of managing employees. This causes certain internal secrecy and business isolation. Although, secrecy may be justified as important and necessary condition to survive in the high-tech industry, business isolation cannot be recognised as a positive outcome especially in the context of innovation management (Francis and Bessant, 2005). Finally, the personal approach to management and micro-management deployed by Jobs is also another leadership choice which can be criticized. In other words, through his leadership approaches, Jobs does not promote and sustains intellectual capital within the organisation. For example, if he leaves the company all the ideas, rules, processes and perceptions will leave with him. The primary contributor to this unfavourable outcome will be the reduced engagement of employees on a company-wide level. Apple is currently one of the most innovative companies in the market but the business innovativeness needs to be continuously sustained and updated in order for the company to be able to adequately serve the needs of customers.

Shakespeare :: essays research papers

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He was baptized on April 24, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He was the third of eight children born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. John was a well-known merchant and Mary was the daughter of a Roman Catholic member of the gentry. Shakespeare was educated at the local grammar school. According to history, Shakespeare was the eldest son, and he should have been the apprentice to his father's shop so that he could be taught everything his father knew and soon take over the business. But instead he was the apprentice to a butcher because of the trouble in his father's financial situation. Another story says that Shakespeare became a schoolmaster. Shakespeare was allowed a lot of free time when he was young. This was suggested by historians that his plays show more ideas of hunting and hawking than do those of other play writers. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer. He was thought to have left Stratford after he was caught poaching in the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy. He was a local justice of the peace. Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway had a daughter in 1583 and twins- a boy and a girl- in 1585. The boy however, eventually did not live. Shakespeare apparently arrived in London around 1588 and by 1592 had gained success as an actor and a playwright. Shortly after that, he secured the business of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton. The publication of Shakespeare's two poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) and some of his Sonnets (published 1609), established a reputation for him as a talented and popular Renaissance poet. The Sonnets describe the devotion of a character to a young man whose beauty and charm he praises and to a mysterious and untrue woman with whom the poet is afraid. The following triangular situation, resulting from the attraction of the poet's friend to the woman, is treated with passionate intensity and psychological insight. However, Shakespeare's modern reputation is based mainly on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, and collaborated on. When in his days, these plays frequently had little respect by his educated friends, who considered English plays of their own to be only tasteless entertainment. Shakespeare's professional life in London was marked by a number of financially beneficial arrangements that allowed him to share in the profits of his acting company, the Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men.

XML: Extensible Markup Language Essay -- Essays Papers

XML: Extensible Markup Language The World Wide Web is in the process of undergoing a radical change that allows new services and opportunities to businesses and individuals. HTML - the HyperText Markup Language - is a language that is predominately used to generate most of the web sites available today. Now, however, Extensible Markup Language is in the process of replacing HyperText Markup Language as the most favored format. Extensible Markup Language will allow the use and functionality of the web to continue to expand. Extensible Markup Language is based on Standard Generalized Markup Language. First, what is Standard Generalized Markup Language? Both HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) are based on SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language. Standard Generalized Markup Language has been an international standard since 1986 (ISO 8879). It is a meta-language, which simply means that it can be used to create other languages. Standard Generalized Markup Language is a descendent from earlier markup languages first developed at IBM as early as 1969. The oldest direct ancestor is GML, which both stands for General Markup Language and contains the initials of the IBM researchers who created it: Charles F. Goldfarb, Edward Mosher, and Raymond Lorie. Standard Generalized Markup Language is a far more extensive markup language than Extensible Markup Language or HyperText Markup Language, and to this day remains as the ultimate language in the field. The ultimate goal and success of Standard Generalized Markup Language is that it conquered the computer-age old problem of being able to communicate across different computer platforms. It allows computers to share and communicate data regardless of the computer’s hardware, operating system, or software applications being used. Applications such as AdobeïÆ'’ FramemakerïÆ'’ use it for desktop publishing. But, in general, Standard Generalized Markup Language is considered much too complex for widespread e-business and other similar applications. A need for a new language to handle the new demands of the e-business world became clear. The designers of Extensible Markup Language were looking to generate a markup language that would allow the functionality of Standard Generaliz ed Markup Language without the complexity. By strategically omitting large chunks of St... ...p Language. The difference in quality will be enormous. It is also estimated that beyond the web, Extensible Markup Language will be felt along the lines of standardization of data interchange formats. In other words, in the effort to standardize data names in like areas of business, the same standardization could be used worldwide for applications outside of Extensible Markup Language’s spectrum. Extensible Markup Language could improve efficiency in all respects of data exchange. With companies like Microsoft, IBM, Dow Chemical Co., DuPont, BASF, and a plethora of others working together to develop standards, the future of Extensible Markup Language and data interchange is bright! Bibliography Goldfarb, Charles F. â€Å"XML in an Instant: A Non-geeky Introduction.† Oasis. October 1999. Gonsalves, Antone. â€Å"XML Translation Wares Are On The Way.† eWEEK. January 2000. Halfhill, Tom. â€Å"XML: The Next Big Thing.† IBM Research Magazine. October 2000. Rohan, Rebecca. â€Å"New Wild Life In The XML Menagerie.† Sm@rt Partner. February 2000. Schindler, Esther. â€Å"Exposing XML Myths.† Sm@rt Partner. May 2000. Walsh, Jeff. â€Å"XML: Not Just for the Web Anymore.† InfoWorld. June 1998.

Because of postmodernist changes in economic conditions

The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry and therefore businesses have to constantly reengineer their internal processes in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage. In this respect, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal: differentiation, cost-minimization and focus (cited in Dess, 2007).Because of postmodernist changes in economic conditions, businesses have been globalizing their operations in order to implement the strategy of cost minimization. This is because in some countries lower labor costs reduce the cost of operations. This enables businesses to build a competitive advantage.However given the high state of competitive rivalry in the current business environment, achieving sustainability is the critical success factor. Strategies of differentiation, cost minimization and focus cannot meet this objective of achieving sustainability. In order to meet this objective, the top management ha s to build the right organizational culture.Organizations structures must adapt constantly to the changes taking place in the external environment. As a result, the process of managing change becomes a critical success factor in the organizational context. When it comes to managing change involving an IT project, the strategic alignment process becomes relevant.This alignment takes place between IT strategy, business strategy, organizational issues and information systems issues. Managing change is a difficult process because alignment with strategic focus must be maintained. Otherwise the value of managing change will have been lost.In this regard, the critical consideration is to minimize the level of employee resistance. Most change management projects fail because of employee resistance. However the management can avoid this problem by involving the employees in the process from the beginning. In this respect, building an organizational culture based on ownership, responsibility and accountability is the critical success factor.This enables the management to enhance employee motivation.According to Hammer & Champy 1994, the process of reengineering internal business processes is best facilitated through implementing the balanced scorecard methodology. This methodology becomes particularly relevant in the context of David Harvey’s account of post-modernity. According to David Harvey’s account of post-modernity, the process of international business has facilitated the high speed of labor mobility.This means that working conditions cannot be monitored sufficiently. This is because businesses are reengineering their internal business processes in terms of globalizing their operations. The balanced scorecard methodology views the organization from four perspectives: financial, customer, learning and growth, and internal business processes.The advantage in managing change under the framework of the balanced scorecard is that this process emphasize s the interconnectedness between different process chains. This facilitates the development of the project management team.Because the different process chains are interconnected, managing change means that more than one department will be affected. This enhances the complexities of managing change. However the management must maintain the continuous improvement program as a result of post-modernity as described by David Harvey.This is because the rising level of competitive rivalry forces businesses to seek new segments of the market in order to maximize shareholder wealth. This leads to the process of globalization. Normally this would increase the cost of production since the supply chain must be managed on an international basis.However in the context of post-modernity as described by David Harvey, the management in an international business can conduct the process of global segmentation in order to standardize operations across political boundaries. This facilitates the impleme ntation of the strategy of cost minimization.This confirms the need for business process reengineering as described by Hammer & Champy, 1994. As a result of this framework for strategy formulation, the competitive advantage becomes sustainable.One of the critical considerations when it comes to globalization is the need for delegation of authority. This is because consumer tastes and preferences vary across political boundaries. As a result, businesses have to vary their strategies in order to target the local market effectively. However the international business environment is characterized by a fast pace of change and therefore, local business units must be given the autonomy to formulate their own strategies.However these strategies must be in alignment with the corporate strategic focus. For this reason, delegation of authority must be supported by an efficient and effective world-wide communications structure. However in the business environment characterized by post-modernity , businesses have to reengineer their internal operations in order to meet the demands of consumerism.This standardizes demand patterns to some extent and as a result reduces the cost of operations. This also leads to the development of a sustainable competitive advantage.