The Changing of Communication Essay -- Functions of Communication

The emphasis from traditional mixed visual and verbal communication to solely verbal communication is encouraged by the expanding global community by conducting distant communication through telecommunications. Instead of boardroom meetings, telephone meeting connect businesses worldwide synthesizing bigger markets and new buyers. This change is both good and bad; good for the expansion of businesses, but bad for the loss of personal connection. With telephone meetings eliminating travel, it is paralanguage that conveys personalities, not appearances, over the phone through variations in pitch, volume and pace, or how a person speaks. Just as a person would dress to give the right impression for a job, now with effective paralanguage, a person can use speech to give the right impression for a job. Before the surge of globalization, Albert Mehrabian, a researcher in the field of communication, established a classic statistic that only 7% of meaning in effective spoken communication is from the actual words spoken, while 38% comes from paralinguistic (the way words are said), and 55% comes from facial expressions (Chapman www.businessballs.com). Now that globalization has transformed communication, the 55% of communication’s meaning in facial expression translates into paralanguage and the words that are spoken. The already high percentage, and now the increasing percentage of communication relaying on paralanguage demonstrates the importance of understanding it for modern business communication. First impressions, and last impressions, expecially over the telephone, effects the perception of a person’s personality through their voice by 3 aspects of paralanguage: pitch, volume and pace. In a study comparing readers, observ... ...spects of paralanguage effectively so at the end of the day, a profit is being made and success is being achieved all because of clear communication. Works Cited: Chapman, Alan. â€Å"Mehrabian Communication Research.† Business Balls. 2004. May 1, 2005. http://www.businessballs.com/mehrabiancommunications.htm Fatt, James P.T. â€Å"It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It - Nonverbal Communication.† Communication World June-July 1999. May 5, 2005 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4422/is_6_16/ai_55580031 Tannen, Deborah. That’s Not What I Meant!: How Conversation Styles Makes or Breaks Relationships. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986. Waltman, John L. and Steven P. Golen. â€Å"Detecting Deception During Interviews – Great Communicators.† Internal Auditor August 1993. May 5, 2005 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4153/is_n4_v50/ai_14506773

How hedge funds are structured Essay

Hedge funds are investment partnerships with the scope of investing in any kind of market securities including real estates, derivatives, currencies, commodities among many others. The funds play essential roles in decreasing the mispricing activities in the financial markets. They are considered significant in the provision of liquidity both during the calm and stressful periods. The funds add depth and scope in the capital markets and provide an important source of transferring and diversifying risks by taking risks that would have instead lingered in the balance sheets of numerous financial organizations. Various brokerages have offered hedge fund among other instruments. Firstly, the regional brokerage offers such instruments because of its potential higher return. Being a limited partnership, the hedge fund only has a little regulation, which means that different investment strategies such as financial leveraged or short positions can be used throughout their investment. They will seek to provide the exploited investment opportunities through different investment vehicles. Involved strategies include ultimate analysis of the publicly traded companies with an emphasis on the small and medium enterprises that are also involved in the conduct of business activities. The modern hedge fund structure includes an incentive-based fee based on a certain percentage of profits and a fee of assets under management. With an excellent performance of a hedge fund manager, the firm can maximize the returns and minimize market risk and thus earn high commissions in both up and down market by picking a good stock. From the history record, the energy prices usually have a high correlation with inflation. In the periods of rising inflation, the energy funds are doing better in the market. Its past performance was unusual in such a volatile and cyclical industry. Thus, it provides investors with a good diversification tool. This is also why such brokerages would like to offer energy fund. For the investors, the hedge funds bring a higher return for them. For the firm, their competitiveness is increased. The hedge funds are vital in maintaining competitive edges in capital markets. Brokerages provide essential research details that attract investors as well as financial capital that fasten economic growth. The dynamic hedge fund reports are provided to show the numbers, size, and locations of the funds. They show experiences of growth over periods of time which is measured either by the number of issued funds or rather the assets that are under the management. In addition to the above, they show the accountability and transparency by offering information associated with the financial health of the types of companies in the target for investment. Regional brokerages offer such instruments to enable investor protection from risks that are associated with hedge funds. It offers a guidelines to investors. The reports show the overvalued and undervalued equity securities. They reveal the funds with highly expected returns which one can invest in. The activist hedge fund intends to increase the benefit of the shareholder through the company ownership and the demands that are made in favor of improving the management and the business strategies.

Functional Areas

Functional Area Interrelationships: Kudler Fine Foods Charles Burt, Megan Engelking, Lou Gamache, Rebecca Lanham, and Julie Lee University of Phoenix BUS 475 July 24, 2011 Phyllis Koch Functional Area Interrelationships This paper is based on the Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) virtual organization scenario presented in University of Phoenix Business 475 course (Apollo Group, Inc. , 2009). The following topics will be covered about KFF; the main motivation for the KFF existence from analyzing the vision, mission, values, goals, and the basis for the type of managerial structure employed by KFF.We will identify the key positions that support that organizational structure; explaining all steps of the collaboration process among the serviceable sections that must be employed to accomplish organizational aspirations. An action arrangement is to execute the collaboration process, giving an example of the use of lateral and vertical collaboration within KFF will be given. Another topic will be ide ntifying the key stakeholders and their roles needed to achieve the executive goals, and recommend the collaborative interactions among the significant stakeholders to facilitate the organization's accomplishments.Reason for Existence Analyzing the strategic plan of KFF reveals the primary reasons for the organization’s existence, and that key components are established for the future success of the company. The mission statement is one of those key components. The mission statement states that the organization is committed to customer satisfaction by providing the finest of foods coupled with knowledgeable, experienced, and helpful staff (Kudler Fine Foods – Our Mission, 2003, Para. 3).The purpose for a mission plan is to provide guidance for the actions of an organization and to help direct decision-making. The mission plan will further identify organizational goals along with the responsibilities that exist to the customer and other stake-holders. KFF has establishe d a mission statement that identifies strong commitment to company goals and values. Another key component to strategic planning is the vision. A vision statement provides a final objective or goal for the organization.Furthermore, it identifies the future result when objectives found in the mission statement are met. Although little is mentioned in the virtual organization link for customers to see about a specific future vision for the company, one may gather the future expectations highlighted in the mission plan. Visionary thoughts include the expectation for KFF to be â€Å"the purveyor of choice for customers aspiring to purchase the finest epicurean delights† (Kudler Fine Foods – Mission Plan, 2003, Para. 3).However, strategic plan the vision Is stated for internal use that â€Å"Kudler Fine Foods will be the premiere gourmet grocery store for those savvy shoppers who are searching for the finest meats, produce, cheeses, and wine† (Kudler Fine Foods †“ Strategic Plan, 2003, p. 3). The values and goals of KFF contribute to the strategic plan of the organization and identify further reasons for the existence of the organization. The people at KFF understand the high standards that exist in providing quality food. Furthermore, they understand the responsibility to the community and their employees.By taking extra measures, KFF fulfills this responsibility with its Social Responsibility Statement. In an effort to contribute to the local economy, buyers will seek to purchase from local organic farmers when high standards are met. The bakery takes extra steps to ensure healthier baked goods through the use of unbleached flour and seeing that ingredients have no preservatives. Additionally, and certainly noteworthy, KFF rotates food from the shelves and donates food still in â€Å"good† condition to local homeless shelters and food kitchens (Kudler Fine Foods – Strategic Plan, 2003, p. ). These efforts demonstrate the c ommitment to values and the identified social responsibility. KFF reveals many reasons for the organization’s existence through its use of the company’s mission, vision, values, and goals. Organizational Structure A business’ organizational structure is critical to the business and the employees. An organizational structure is â€Å"the manner in which an organization arranges (or rearranges) itself† (Fontaine, 2007, p. 6). At Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) the organizational structure that they operate under is a functional structure.A functional organizational structure is a structure where the position and function of employees are clearly specified. The business is divided into separate departments with specific tasks (Pearce ; Robinson, 2009). KFF has a hierarchy of authority, which defines who is in charge of which fundamentals and who reports to whom. The decision making, ideas, and plans come from the top hierarchy, in this case Kathy Kudler, the preside nt of KFF. KFF has a vertical dimension with several levels of management. Kudler Fine Foods has a total of three stores that make up the framework of the organizational structure.For instance, the president is at top working with the three store managers. Each store has the same structure hierarchy beginning with the store manager. Under the store manager is the assistant store manager and continues to branch out to the four different department managers – produce and foodstuffs; spirits, cheeses, and wine; meats, and seafood; bakery, and pastries. The key positions that hold the structure together is the administration staff consisting of the president, director of administration and human resources, finance, and accounting, and store operations.Many levels of management exist in the structure. Every employee has a defined role, all of which with the common goal of meeting the needs of the consumer. Kudler Fine Foods operates in a centralized manner allowing KFF to have mor e upper management control. With a functional structure every employee’s role is important to the vision and goal of the business. Collaboration Process â€Å"Today's enterprises are striving to create more specialized features through globalization and  collaboration† (Park, 2003, p. 5). Several steps are in the collaboration process.The first step is for all the people in the process to come to an agreement on the collaboration process. The second step is for all the people involved in the process to understand the need of reaching the same goal. The third step in the process is for all people involved to work together and share the responsibilities in making the decisions. The fourth step is to make sure all people have resources, which they intend to share with the others involved. The fifth process is making sure everyone knows that with the shared responsibility, during the collaboration, each person is also responsible for the outcome.The final step in the col laboration process is establishing trust among everyone involved. Trust is a huge factor into how well a team performs. After working out all the details to the steps in the collaboration process, the members must make sure the schedule and guidelines are discussed and followed. Developing guidelines is a way to make sure all people involved are held accountable for the inactions or actions within the group. Kudler Fine Foods has started the collaboration process and the first KFF needs to do is have the purchasing and inventory manager’s start the process.The largest success of Kudler Fine Foods is the customers continuing to shop at the stores. To keep the customers coming back to Kudler Fine Foods, the collaboration team needs to consider the needs and wants of the customers. The inventory manager will assist by advising the team what products are selling and what products are not. The product manager may determine a better position in the store to make sure the non-sellin g items sell or the two individuals may cut back on that particular product to lessen the overhead.Kudler Fine Foods will need to implement an action plan to keep customers coming back, but also to introduce new products to the customers. Kudler Fine Foods has initiated a frequent shopper program, which enables customers to earn rewards with purchases. Rewards are coupons or a certain dollar amount off the entire shopping order once a certain level of purchases is met. KFF must also increase the marketing of the company and the rewards program to make sure the customers aware of the program.The marketing manager can collaborate with the inventory and purchasing managers to discuss how to best implement a successful marketing plan. Setting these processes in motion will give KFF an advantage above the competition Lateral and Vertical Collaboration Lateral collaboration occurs between the equivalent level of employees within the organization, and vertical collaboration would be betwee n employees with a superior and subordinate relationship. An example of vertical collaboration occurred when Kathy Kudler coordinates the selection of sale merchandise with the store managers during the weekly operations meetings.Kathy has oversight of the entire organization and directs the merchandise and sale processes with her subordinate store managers. Good lateral collaboration is illustrated by cooperation between store managers in facilitating resupply of advertised merchandise between stores, to the stores with a higher demand. Kudler Fine Foods has no consistent purchasing procedure. The three department managers at each store independently place orders with suppliers based on the department manager’s subjective assessment of store requirements.Further, the onus is on the department manager â€Å"to obtain the best pricing, quality, and delivery possible† (Apollo Group, 2009, Supply Chain Overview, para. 1). This purchasing structure lacks both vertical and lateral collaboration and relies on the individual department managers to take additional steps to coordinate purchasing with other department managers. No mechanism for department managers to compare or discuss store needs among counterparts and no consistent pricing structure between store locations. A vertical disconnect is evident in that Kathy Kudler also places orders independent from the store managers.An action plan to improve both vertical and lateral collaboration within Kudler Fine Foods involves improvements to the purchasing process. Department managers would be required to have a department manager weekly review meeting where store merchandise needs, trends, and purchase requirements would be compared, discussed, and coordinated laterally into a purchase order plan. This purchase plan would be submitted vertically to a central purchasing agent at the administrative level who would facilitate the negotiation and purchase from suppliers to ensure the best pricing and qua lity.Key Stakeholders Kathy Kudler is the founder of KFF. She is the primary stakeholder, and because the company is a privately owned entity there are no shareholders in the company. The company does have investors who have a stake in the company. The investors or stakeholders are both internal and external and are monitored by the company. The stakeholders include the employees, consumers, suppliers, banks, and Kathy Kudler, and each can have an affect or be affected by the company. When Kathy first decided to create Kudler fine foods, she obtained financing.This is done generally through banks. Banking institutions will extend credit terms to consumers such as Kathy. Kathy can also go to these banks when she is obtaining funding for new stores or launching new products. Banking institutions can also help with extending the line of credit when peek seasons are low and profits might not be as large. The main point of financing comes from banking institutions. The staff of KFF is cr itical to the daily operations of the company. These employees have direct contact with consumers and serve as a primary point of contact for Kathy and consumers.Employees contribute to labor and the expertise to the company. In daily activities these employees are responsible for the growth of the stores, the appearance stores, maintenance in the stores, training new staff, and picking up the slack when other employees are not available. Because Kathy is not available daily to complete these activities it is important for the staff to complete these activities and ensure the success of the company. Consumers are a large part of the company, it is important for the consumers needs to be met, and this is done typically through purchasing goods.Customers rely on employees and Kathy to provide the goods that they are willing to purchase. Customers’ requests need to be met and Kudler has to decide whether the requests of the customer can be met or are feasible for the company to provide. If the products are not available to the consumer the company needs to look into alternate options to solve the problem and to keep the customer. Suppliers can also play an important role in the company. These suppliers are the backbone of the company and provide all the products necessary for the company to be successful.KFF have suppliers for wine, cheese, fresh produce, organic meats, and all bakery items. These come from both local and national suppliers. The local products ensure the highest quality of products and these suppliers need to remain on good financial terms to continue to build a business relationship. Conclusion Kathy Kudler has achieved success by hiring managers who take social responsibility seriously because he or she already has firm intuitions about what constitutes ethical and unethical conduct (Heath, 2006).The success of the company has many factors that contribute. The way that the stakeholders of the company relate and work together are importan t factors in any companies’ success. KFF has achieved the success the company has because of their ability to interact positively with all the stakeholders in the company. The existence of the company is to serve the customers of the community with the highest quality of gourmet foods. Kathy Kudler’s mission, vision, and values have made the company a success and a reality. References Apollo Group, Inc. 2009) Kudler Fine Foods; 2003 Strategic Plan. Retrieved July 24, 2011 from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/ad/strategicPlan. htm Apollo Group, Inc. (2009) Kudler Fine Foods; Supply Chain Overview. Retrieved July 24, 2011 from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/op/supplyChainOverview. htm Fontaine, C. W. (2007). Organizational Structure: A Critical Factor for Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction. Retrieved from professorfontaine. om/files/Organizational_Structure_Whit e_Paper_v7b. pdf Kudler Fine Foods, About Kudler Fine Foods – Our Mission, 2010, Retrieved from: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/about. htm Kudler Fine Foods, Strategic Plan, 2003, Retrieved from: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/ad/StrategicPlan2003. pdf Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Garden Report Essay

The Garden Depot, a family-owned floral company, carries a larger variety of floral, gardening and lawn-care products with sales and profits growing. Janice bowman has 13 years of operational knowledge in the industry as office manager in the company. She is responsible for inventory management, computer system management and logistics. Derek Sinclair, the son-in-law of the Depot owner, is the landscaping manager with no experience in management. However, the operation is not smooth in the organization that faced several issues such as lobar force, communication and synchronization. They both have responsibility for the depot, and have to get rid of problems to benefit the company. The company did not have enough permanent skillful and reliable workforce, but only seasonal employees, therefore 50 landscaping jobs could be completed each year, which were fewer than what was demanded. Most of employees were part-time student workers lacking of experience. In addition, a family member who had poor and inappropriate leadership was appointed as landscaping manager. And his irresponsible attitude might have bad impact on moral of stuff. Furthermore, the job responsibilities were not defined, and there were no specialized department to solve the specific problems. The improper recruitment and lack of supervision cause the organization attained unstable and unreliable workforce. This demonstrates a lack of fit between organization process and people as police for recruiting and supervising employees. Moreover, Sinclair had low expertise knowledge on landscaping area, which resulted that he could not answer the customers’ specific question, and he had no qualification and business handling capabilities to solve complex issue. This follows EOPT theory because there is a lack of fit between people and tasks. Whereas having no job description and departmentalization in the organization resulted in the consequence that employees confused about their job. This applies to EOPT theory because there is a lack of fit between organization structure and people. The goal for the Garden Depot is to establish stable and reliable workforces to increase work proficiency. In long term, the organization should ensure job responsibilities defined in every level of the organization, and deploy individual departments to solve any problems to make customers happy. The first alternative is to reevaluate all the stuff and build a formal appraisal system to supervise employee’s performances, which can help the company to build a stable and reliable workforce. The second alternative will be training Sinclair be a competent manager. If the company wants to keep Sinclair as the landscaping manager, this action alternative is necessary. The last alternative course of action is to create a proper job description and deploy specific departments such as HR department, marketing department, customers departments and inventory departments in order to solve the related issues. The best alternative is to create a formal job description and divide specific departments. First, Sampson should divide the whole organization into four departments HR department, marketing department, inventory department and customer services department. Next, creating job description for every position should be done as soon as possible. Then department supervisors ought to reevaluate employees and put them in the right departments depending on their specialty. Finally, the department supervisor should hand in a process report to managers every month to show their work. If Departmentalization causes lack of communication among individual departments, general manager should have a meeting with all department supervisors once a week.

Discussion 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Discussion 6 - Assignment Example The opinion poll is generally conducted as an attempt to measure and depict some broader conclusions about its audience. The poll which I found online is a representation of 1000 US citizens. I dare to think that 1000 people can be representative of the overall US population which is around 813 million. After a careful research I understand that actually collecting a 1000 opinions is the standard for any poll which I found. I dont think a sample of 1000 people can be representative to form a general opinion on an important matter. And I do believe that very often polls are biased in terms of how the question is asked and what answers the interviewees have to choose from. The limited answer options in the poll may influence how people project their opinion and may produce biased results. 2. According to the textbook, a hypothesis is â€Å"a causal explanation offered for further investigation or testing.† The book provides several methods for testing the quality of a hypothesis. Choose one of the statements below and use one or more of the tests provided in the textbook to evaluate the quality of the hypothesis. Identify the hypothesis in the statement, and then say why it is or is not a good one. b) Crop circles are complicated, symmetrical designs formed in grain fields through depressing grain stalks. Because of their complexity and symmetry, they cannot be natural phenomena. These crop circles appear overnight. Since it would take far too long and too much complex planning for one or two people to make these designs, which can be seen only from above, aliens from outer space must be making them. c) The other day, I was walking in the mall and suddenly remembered an old school friend whom I had not spoken to in years. Not five minutes later, there I was face to face with my old friend. There must have been some deep karmic connection that drew us together that day. The hypothesis here is the statement that 2 people must have karmic

Environmental Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Environmental Science - Essay Example Denver has taken many initiatives in the past in an effort to become self-sufficient in terms of energy needs. For example, Greenprint Denver promoted the development of a joint group of businesses, and city departments. This group was called the Neighborhood Energy Action Partnership (NEAP). The objective of NEAP is to make use of the local non-profits so that community outreach can be organized. Providing the residents with energy audits is a potential way to increase their awareness and motivation to save energy. Denver should install subsidized smart meters to lower their cost for the residents and hence, enhance their adoption. The best way for Denver to reduce its carbon footprint as well as the demand for fuel is by introducing the public bike-sharing system, regulation of traffic jams and reduction of carbon emissions being two of the major requirements of sustainable development. The bike system saves on gasoline through its link with buses and trains so that a whole web of substitute transportation is spinned in Denver. This builds resilience into the transport system so that the reliance on one type of transportation is reduced. Presently, over 400 bikes have been located at 50 bike stations in the public areas to ensure maximal usability. Success of the Denver Bike Sharing program can be estimated from the fact that more than 96000 single rides have been recorded along with a procurement of over 1765 yearly memberships (Peterson, Matthews and Weingard 17). A significant population of the residents of Denver acquires the bikes on per-day basis and pays the fee accordingly. In order to increase the popularity of energy-conservation programs among the residents, there needs to be a concerted effort made by Denver. This can be achieved by creating awareness in the masses through demonstration of the usability of such programs on TV, schools and all

Revising the thesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Revising the thesis - Essay Example Selecting the Best Type of International Collaboration 18 2.3.2. Disadvantages of International Collaboration 19 2.4 International Joint Ventures 20 2.5 International Business in Saudi Arabia 22 2.5.1 Forces Influencing the Attractiveness of Saudi Arabia for International Business 22 2.5.2 Incentives for international organisations to do business in Saudi Arabia 25 2.5.3. International Joint Ventures in Saudi Arabia 27 2.5.4 Examples of International Joint Ventures operating in Saudi Arabia 30 2.6 Conclusion 31 3. ... Employee Work Commitment 57 4.1 Introduction 57 4.2 Organisational Commitment 58 4.2.1 Theoretical Background of Organisational Commitment 58 4.2.2 Definitions of Organisational Commitment 60 4.2.3 Meyer and Allen’s Model of Organisational Commitment 61 4.2.3.1. Affective Commitment 61 4.2.3.2 Continuance Commitment 62 4.2.3.3 Normative Commitment 63 4.2.4 Effects of Organisational Commitment 64 4.3 Professional Commitment 66 4.3.1 Theoretical Background of Professional Commitment 66 4.3.2 Definitions of Professional Commitment 68 4.3.3 Effects of Professional Commitment 69 4.4 Theoretical Integration of the Concepts of National Culture and Employee Work Commitment 69 4.5 Conclusion 72 5. Conceptual Framework and Research Methodology 73 5.1 Introduction 73 5.2 Theoretical Framework and Research Hypotheses 73 5.3 Study Variables 81 5.3.1 National Culture 81 5.3.2 Collectivism / Individualism 82 5.3.3 Organisational Commitment 82 5.3.4 Professional Commitment 82 5.4 Operationali zing the Study Variables 83 5.5 Study Methodology 84 5.5.1 Alternative Research Options 84 5.5.2 Research Methods 86 5.5.3 Population and Sample 87 5.5.3.1 Population 87 5.5.3.2 Sample 88 5.5.3.3 Types of sampling 89 5.5.3.4 Sampling Frame 90 5.5.3.5 Sample size 90 5.5.3.6 Study sample 91 5.5.3.7 Selection criteria 91 5.5.4 Data Collection 92 5.5.4.1 Accessing respondents 93 5.5.4.2 Ethical considerations 94 5.5.5. Research Measures 94 5.5.5.1 Organisational commitment measure 94 5.5.5.2 Professional commitment measure 96 5.5.5.3 Research instrument 97 5.5.6 Data Analysis 97 5.5.6.1 Two-sample two test (t-tests) 99 5.5.6.2 Correlation analyses 100 5.5.6.3 Skewness and Kurtosis Test 101 5.5.7 Pilot