Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nigeria Essay

Basically, Nigeria is a plural society and heterogeneous in virtually all the facet of life. The custom and tradition of Nigerians is so diverse to the extent that Nigeria as a country is now confronted with the problem of religion and ethnicity towards their political stability. The origin and history of ethnic conflict (societal wars and violence) can be traced from eternal (internal) state rivalry to external (physical). And its root cause is not very far from power competition and decision making over economic resources and other important human factor, like position. The implementation process has always involved more than one or two persons. In general concept, the author of this work traces conflict back to the first and early Patriarchal of human history and ever since then, there has been an increase (in various dimensions) of Conflict in the face of human world. Some are personal (internal) conflict, family, community, and group, intellectual, state, national and international in nature, to mention but few. In conforming to this idea, Badawi (2006) in his statement titled â€Å"World Apart† stated thus, â€Å"indeed the greatest discord today is among the descendants of Abraham. These are the people of the book, the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who had in fact shared a common beginning in the religion of Abraham†. In shedding more light in the above statement, Badawi statement goes far beyond religion, rather, he was tracing one of the earliest source of conflict which Badawi mentioned the off-springs of the said Abraham. Even before Abraham, there had been conflict, so it is as old as human history down to the Abrahamic period, to ancient kingdoms, Dukes, and Kings. In about 88 B. C. , King Mithriadates VI of Pontus invaded Roman territory in Asian Minor. He advised Asian debtors to kill their Roman creditors. Happy to reduce their credit card bills, the Asians massacred 80,000 Romans. Ethno-political conflicts have greatly shaped our present world and of course have its structural phenomenon, (William Easterly, 2001). For instances, the conflict we now call Israeli and Palestinian war, has been an ever-lengthening sort. The Assyrian, Babylonian war, by King Nebuchadnezzar of the hanging Garden in history, the Persia war, Alexander the Great (the Macedonian mad man in history), the German war of Adolf’s. Hitler, the Roman wars, narrowing all these down, we came to the horn of African continent which seem to be an epidemic field of conflicts of diverse kinds till date. The giant-lion of African continent, just like the origin of conflict is said to have stated very old in human history, even so in the case of Nigeria, which can be traced to the colonial period of history. Conflict takes different sizes and shapes with diverse reasons and purposes. Majority of the conflicts takes time before their escalation and at such, could have been transformed right at their respective early stages. The history of ethnicity and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria is also traced back to the colonial transgressions that forced the ethnic groups of the northern and southern provinces to become an entity called Nigeria in 1914. In the case of Nigeria situation, disturbing history of colonialism, this generated hatred and conflict among different ethnic groups. The task of addressing this seed of conflict planted by the British has been a complex one. After weakening the former diverse kingdoms, Emperors, etc now called Nigeria and reordering the groups’ politics, the colonial powers failed in nation building and providing for the people’s basic needs. Hence, unemployment, poverty increase, and due to these, conflict over scarce resources ensue. The Southern and Northern protectorates were also being amalgamated into a nation. Thereafter, the merging of different colonies into one country called Nigeria was forcefully done without the people’s consent. This was a major seed of conflict that is still troubling Nigeria today. This article is focused on the historical incidents of ethnic conflicts in within Nigeria societies, the cause of the conflicts and perhaps, the government actions towards ethnic conflict in the country. In conclusion, this paper will explore into decision-making (by the elites and those in authority) process has contributed immensely in generating the syndromes of conflict in the said state. The Nigerian political situation has witnessed more breaking of heads, than counting them. In fact, even when it has been convenient for heads to be counted, the outcome has always been the breaking of heads instead. Conflict in Nigeria is so intense because of lack of democratic behaviour. The head of the individual in the democratic context signifies citizenship. So when heads are broken in the Nigerian political community, the issue in respect of broken heads is citizenship. If conflict in Nigeria means the absence of democratic behaviour, it follows, therefore, that conflict in Nigeria is interwoven with the absence of democratic governance. Gurr (2000): has also shown that the incidence of conflicts at the global level declined in recent years with the deepening of democratisation. Nation-states where conflicts persist are those where what obtains is the democratisation of disempowerment (Ake 1996). Beyond the veneer of elections, the state remains ambushed, privatised, repressive and unpopular. The people who were tantalised by the prospect of a democratic revolution that would terminate decades of alienation and pauperisation have been short changed and given a ‘choice less democracy’ (Mkandawire 1999). The ‘credibility gap’ which fostered the De-linkage of the people from the state, and ignited social forces to struggle for democracy, is not being bridged (Rothchild 1995: 58). African peoples out of clear rational calculations sans atavistic attachments have turned their backs on the state ‘and given their loyalty to sub-national social formations such as the community, the sub nationality or ethnic groups’ (Ake 2000: 114). It is against this backdrop that the proliferation and exacerbation of violent ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria in the post-transition period can be appreciated. This article adopts an analytical framework that holds that The interface between ethnicity and democratisation is found in absence of effective citizenship and good governance in post-transition societies. In the circumstance that democracy does not go beyond the conduct of multiparty elections to include improvement in the quality of life of the people, there is frustration, and people who already feel alienated from the state are vulnerable and likely to be mobilised around counter-elites who exploit extant popular alienation from the state by whipping up sectarian sentiments. This has been the case in Nigeria and several multi-ethnic states of Africa (Osaghae 1994). Although the foregoing theoretical discussion has focused on ethnicity, the term ethno-religious is adopted because some of the recent violent conflicts to be examined were triggered by religious issues. The relevance of religion is also underlined by the fact that in Nigeria ethnic boundaries tend to coincide with religion, with the exception of the Yoruba ethnic group (Ibrahim 1999). The Nigeria state was amalgamated in the year 1914 by lord lugard. The various geographical areas or territory which was amalgamated to form Nigeria by the colonialist comprises of various cleavages, clans, towns even there were kingdoms and chiefdoms with diverse culture, language, religion, norms values, customs and political structures etc. The focus of the research monogram is to examine the role of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria nascent democracy. In Nigeria especially, religion plays a very vital and influential role in the society that has manifested itself as a potent force in the political development of the Nigerian state from pre-independence to post-independence. Hardly can the Nigerian state be talked about without reference to religion (Kukah, 1994; Falola, 1990; Kenny, 2006; International IDEA, 2000; Suberu, 2009). However, religion in Nigeria, at different levels, is mostly mentioned in negative terms. Or rather, historical events linked to religion tilts more towards its negative than its positive contribution to the Nigerian state. The Jihad, the civil war propaganda, the Sharia law controversy, the tensions provoked by the Nigerian accession to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the incessant religious crises that have engulfed the Northern part mainly indicate that religion cannot be ignored or wished away in the Nigerian political development. Several religious crises have occurred in Nigeria. They have been documented as academic dissertations for some of them. This piece of work does not intend to start the discourse on religious violence anew but only recognizes the fact that as a recurrent phenomenon it is worth being explored further. Thus â€Å"Boko Haram† menace which gained global recognition and even press support ranging from July 2009 till date is a the central focus of this study together with other riots which has engulfed the Nigeria state from 1999 till date which most Nigeria educated elite believed that religion and ethnicity were the basic causes. The educated elite have conducted series of research on what the causes of this violent riots maybe. Most have concluded that it can be traced and linked to the failure of governance in Nigeria. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS The mistake of 1914 has polarised the Nigeria society together with its citizens in which loyalty to the State is a mirage instead people pay loyalty to their various families and ethnic groups the effect of this can be traced to 1967 civil-war which disintegrate the country or in the political system which almost lead to secession of the country with the easterner believed to be the aggrieved ethnic in the war. Similarly Nigeria has a long history of religious crisis which has affected the political instability of Nigeria. The maintasine riot of 1980 can be said to be the first major religious riot in Nigerian history, claiming about 800 lives. The Boko Haram insurgence in the northern part of the country which has been directed mainly against the Christians, they have suffered a lot both physically, psychologically, economically, spiritually and even politically in the far North which has led political writers and pundits to affirm that Boko Haram conflict has its roots in Religion. The thrust of this work will be to examine the underlying reasons behind political instability in Nigeria using religion and ethnicity as a paradigm. 1. 3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY. The study will cover the impacts of religion and ethnicity towards the stabilization or in- stabilization of the Nigeria political system it will cover how religion and ethnicity have impacted on the political stability of Nigeria. Furthermore the study will emphasize more on the role the government is playing in stabilizing the un-stabilized country. 1. 4OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The following can be regarded as the aims and objective of the study 1. To know the meaning of religion, ethnicity, political stability, and political instability 2. To know how religion and ethnicity have negatively impacted on Nigerian political development 3. To develop possible solutions and panaceas to the problems of religions and ethnicity to Nigerian political in-stability 1. 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1 What meaning does religion, ethnicity and political instability carries 2 How has religion and ethnicity impacted on the political stability of Nigeria 3 what are the possible solutions to the problem of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria political system 1. 6 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY Many a developing countries of the world are currently experiencing the problems which ethnicity and religion have caused. The ethnic problem which led to the apartheid era in South Africa is also the same ethnicity and religion problem which has almost disintegrated the Nigerian State. Recalling back to what happen during the civil war in the late sixties and early seventies which led to the introduction of the national youth service corp. by the then military president General Yakubu Gowon which aim at integrating back the almost disintegrated country. Books, Journals, Magazines, Pamphlets, and lot of researches have been written and carried out respectively on the issue of ethnicity and religion, and its impact on the Nigeria political stability. This research work will serve as an additional material to the issue on ethnicity and religion to political instability in Nigeria, this work will focus more on ethnicity and religion and its impact on Nigerian politics 1. 7RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology will be based on secondary data collections ranging from books, Journals Newspapers, News Magazines, Pamphlets and even the Internet. In conducting any research basically there are two methodologies employed by researchers which are the primary and the secondary methods. This research work will be basically conducted using the secondary methodology as earlier mentioned. 1. 8DEFINITION OF TERMS Ethnicity: According to the oxford advance learners dictionary ethnicity can simply mean â€Å"the fact of belonging to a particular race† from the dictionary meaning we can deduced the fact that Humans believed in race and they have passion for race which leads to humans ethnocentrism i. e. highly ethnocentric in nature. Ethnicity has a strategic interaction of persons and other actors, who have different beliefs, attitude’s, values and goals as they decide particular conflict the distribution of resource’s and general issues of political rules within a context of norms, expectations and institutions. Any of the rule, expectation and institutions may be reversed, maintained or inverted by the individual who win the right to control them, in the course of those political negotiations that are sometimes called cooperation, and sometimes called war, and are usually somewhere between the two. In another sense, ethnic identity are political resources just like money or vote. Instrumentalist like Micheal Banton and Micheal Hecthtar, argue that ethnic identity are not inherent in group or socio-formation of people. They see ethnic identity as socio-capital brought to bear on the political negotiation table by different groups and at different times. Hutchinson and Smith also argue that ethnic identity are an important resource that political Elite employ in securing the support of the masses as a strategy for gaining a desired good. These goods and or goals are â€Å"measured in terms of wealth, power, and status and†¦ joining or national communities helps to secure these ends either by influencing the state, or in certain situations, through secession. Religion: religion on its own part can be regarded as the belief in the existence of God or gods and the activity that are connected in the worship of them. Religion can also be stress further by meaning one of the system of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular God or gods. For example the Jewish religion, Christianity Islam and other world religion. Furthermore in the classical and ancient ages religion has achieved a lot in their politics for example the doctrine of Islam was used in many Arab nations has their constitution even up till the present age. The Ancient Romans, also, during the time of Constantine accepted Christianity as a religion and a mode of life which also affected their political terrain. Religion in the 21 century is now used narrowly towards Christianity and Islam even though other religion still exist but the former two religion have elevated to prominence that other religion are now beneath them. For instance about Political stability: can depict the mean of a system of politics in which the government of that State is experiencing a stable government and peaceful existence in the State or in otherworld’s a legitimately accepted government by the people. Democratically governed States are believed to be stable. In the global sense every political entity must be ruled democratically without internal oppression or external aggression. Any country of the world that is free from the aforementioned point are regarded as stable political system in other words internal oppression has cause a lot of havoc to many democracies of the world which has infringed on their stability as noted by Ojo 2002. Descent Rule: These covers a larger set of cases that we commonly understand to be ethnic than the rules that ethnic groups must have a myth of common ancestry or common origin. But it excludes several cases in which individuals routinely consider themselves, and are considered as members, of a group that we classify as ethnic even when their parents were not coded as members of this group. Take for example the category â€Å"Yoruba† when it was invented in Nigeria in the nineteenth century. At this time period, the parents of those who were classified as Yoruba were not themselves classified as Yoruba for the reason that this category did not exist during their lifetimes. According to Descent Rule, then, the category Yoruba in the nineteenth century would not be coded as ethnic. But the category Yoruba is universally coded as an ethnic category by all comparative political scientists, without making a distinction between time periods. As another example, consider the category â€Å"Backward Caste† in India, which included as members individuals who possessed a given set of last names and/or ancestral occupations. The category was introduced by the Indian Central Government in 1990. Within a few years, 52% of the Indian population classified itself and was classified as backward. Yet the parents of those who termed themselves â€Å"Backward Caste† were not coded by themselves or by others as â€Å"Backward Caste† because, as in the case of the first generation of Yoruba’s, this category did not exist during their lifetimes Democracy: According to Abraham Lincoln he defines democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. In this wise democracy connotes a system of government in which all the people in a country will have the outright say on the government of their country although in a representative manner meaning that they will elect representatives that will represent their interest in the government. Advanced countries if the world where democracy is practiced completely they have national identity as opposed to the developing world where they have ethnic identity. Advanced democracies always believe in secularism in which every religion is accepted and embraced not a system in which part will have cognisance to a religion and the other will believe in other religion causing serious tension in such states like Nigeria. Federalism : Elasar (cited in Akande, 1996:1)† the formation of European union (EU) which simply begun as a trading partnership for coal and steel is now moving towards a more integrated political union founded upon federal principle of governance†. The African union (AU) which is the federation of African counties where a central government intended to be created with sharing or division of power among the federating unit, even the world highest organization body united Nation have in some little degree, evolved the principle of federalism. Federalism is a system of government which embraces unity in diversity. Federalism as a system of government is one in which there will be central and regional governments each one autonomous of each other.

Hawthorne effect Essay

In today’s competitive climate lots of business owners are trying to get more from their workforce at the same time however their employees are trying to get more from their jobs. Reward and recognition programmes are one way that employers can motivate their staff into changing their key behaviors and work habits, thus benefitting the business. At the same time these schemes can also give the employee that little bit extra they are looking for from job. Motivation and reward are closely linked and there have been many credible theories written on the subject. It is widely recognised that human beings have a need to feel valued, both in their home lives and in the work place. To keep people motivated they need to be encouraged, rewarded (where appropriate) or recognised in their endeavors. One of the most valued of the motivation theories was written by Abraham Maslow from the USA back in the 1950’s. As part of his study into motivation Maslow developed a five tiered hierarchy of needs. He argued that the way to motivate individuals in the workplace and indeed in life is to satisfy the need sets one by one and in order. The first of the need sets and the most basic are the biological and physiological needs. These are survival requirements ingrained into us and evolved with mankind for tens of thousands of years, things such as food, shelter, warmth etc. In Maslow’s model it’s these needs that need to be satisfied before anything else, for example there is little point offering status as a motivator, when the individual has not yet satisfied basic requirements such as achieving a livable wage in order to eat, secure shelter etc. Reward Systems Peformance at Mark-it-Down Co Ltd is not what it should be and it has been decided between senior mangement and the Human Resources department that the introduction of a reward scheme is whats required to motivate the workforce and improve performance overall. The team in charge of deciding on the reward system to implement have come up up with the following suggestions: Variable Pay/Bonus Scheme A scheme of variable pay is one possible solution for the supermarket. In this scheme a portion of the employee’s pay would be considered at risk. This portion of the wage will be rewarded according to the performance of the company as a whole, on the basis of personal acheivement or based on the results of a department or team (this would probably be the most effective for this type of commercial business) Targets will be set at the beginning of a specified period (per annum is the common period) at the end of this period depending on the how well the targets have been met, a percentage or full quantity of the â€Å"at risk† part of their pay will be paid to the individual. This payment could take a few different forms, possibly a cash bonus, a quantity of stock or shares in the business. Whilst monetary reward has been proven to be effective and can encourage hard work amongst a team or individually, it has the disadvantage of impacting on profit made by the supermarket, for example if the grocery team meet their target for keeping the produce displays replenished to a defined level, then the whole grocery team will have earnt the bonus which must be paid from the profits. You also may have a situation where part of the workforce become demotivated, if their team or they personally have missed out on a bonus. Bonus and pay based rewards are considered differently depending on which motivation theory you study. For example in Maslows hierachy of needs, financial remuneration is only mentioned within the first tier of the hierachy which covers the most basic and obvious survival needs (physiological needs) Money was not considered by Maslow be a long term motivator. Frederick Herzberg considered financial reward to be amongst his â€Å"hygiene factors† that is that money in itself is not a motivator but actually will only act as a â€Å"dissatisfier† if the individual feels that their financial expectations and requirements of the role are not being met. In contrast to Maslow and Herzberg, John Stacey Adams might have argued that bonus schemes and pay related rewards can indeed be effective motivators. If the individual percieves that they are gettting a fair input to output balance in comparison to their peers eg, works hard (input) for a pay bonus (output) However that motivation through financial reward might not last. If the individual learns that a colleague or peer is benefiting from a better input to output ratio (eg doesn’t work as hard, but gets paid more) then the individual can quickly become dissatisfied. Promotion The introduction of a promotion programme could be a viable option. If the employee’s are aware that there is a realistic opportunity for them to progress within Mark It Down Co then they will likely feel motivated towards improving their standard of work in the hope that they will be one of the employee’s chosen for promotion. Maslow’s heierachy of needs supports promotion as a motivator, however depending on the person promotion/status as a form of motivation might be quite high up on the tiers and as such it would only work if the tiers below have already been satisfied. There could be several downsides to this however; often with promotion comes a rise in salary for the individual, which will of course impact on any profit made by the supermarket. There might also be a risk of a culture developing within the company whereby individuals take the attitude that they are â€Å"out for themselves† Employee of the Month One of the suggested recognition programmes is an employee of the month scheme. The idea is that all employee’s and managers are provided with a brief form to be used to nominate an employee that they believe deserves recognition (they should also explain the reasons behind there nomination) Due to the nominations for employee of the month being business wide not only is the playing field for recognition level, but there is the scope for recognising excellance in all of the different area’s of the organisation. This reward system could be as low or high cost as Mark it Down Co directors see fit. There is support for this type of recognition reward in Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Effect theory. Following his studies of workplace behaviour at the Hawthorne Plant Chicago in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Mayo deduced that emotional factors acted as far better motivators than economical ones, as such a reward scheme of this nature could be very effective indeed, not to mention low cost. On the downside employee of the mon th schemes can have a tendancy to be considered a little cheesy and may require a little effort on the part of the programme managers in order to keep all of the staff motivated to particiate by completing the nomination slips. Pass on Praise Something as simple as passing on positive comments you have heard about an employee direct to the individual can have an extremely motivational effect. Again the hawthorne effect supports this belief. The praise could passed on by way of email, copying in managers or even with a visit to a senior managers office in order to receive thanks directly. The main advantage of this idea is that it costs nothing and is extremely easy to implement, however it may not be enough on its own, I would suggest that this tactic be used in conjunction with one of the other employee recognition schemes. All of the afore mentioned reward options have the potential to be effective, however the success of the chosen scheme could have a lot to do with the indviduals in nbeed of motivation. For instance in McGregors theory, the two employee types, X and Y differ greatly. What might motivate a Y employee (someone that is naturally happy to take on repsponsibilty and excepts work as part of life) might have the opposite effect on an employee of the X variety (someone that’s avoids repsonsibility and needs to be heavily supervised. The type of employee’s to be motivated should be considered before a motivation and reward scheme is decided upon. Monitoring Performance There are various ways to monitor the performance of your workforce. In the supermarket setting of Mark it Down Co, these could be; Physical: the number of sales made, the number of employee’s served, punctuality or attendance. There can be no disputing these types of performance indicators they are unambiguous and offer a realistic insight into the performance of a team or individual. Qualiative: these indicators are based on opinions and judgements (the view of a supervisor or the such like). These indicators are just as important as physical ones but managers should be careful to ensure that any measures of performance are considered fair by both the employees and employers. Goals and Targets Performance measurement can also be linked to the companies appraisal system, that is performance can be measured by assessing progress made on targets and goals agreed at the previous review. Appraisals are valuable in this respect. In order to effectively monitor performance in this way it is important to ensure that your employees are aware of the difference between target and goal. Goals: These are long term ambitions that should relate to the individual aims for progressing within the company. Targets: These are the steps taken in order to achieve the goal. There is an acronym that can act as a guide for the criteria that any targets should adhere to. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. There is little point setting targets outside of these parameters. Monitoring progress towards identified goals and objectives as a way of determining who deserves reward does have its pros and cons though. On the one hand it can be considered an easily measurable method of monitoring performance, but on the other (particularly when the goals and targets have been set for a team or group) it could be argued that the fact that a company/team or individual is achieving its set goals and targets is not a true indication of who has made the most effort towards making that happen and as such is not an effective method for identifying who should qualify for reward. This is an important thing to consider when applying motivation and reward schemes, as an incorrect or ill managed monitoring technique could be costly to a business. For example a company will not want to be handing out cash bonuses to a whole team for reaching a set goal if it transpires that 3 out of 5 team members have made no improvement to their work output and had nothing to do with the team’s progress or achievement! When considering target setting as a way of monitoring progress and establishing where reward, praise or recognition should be given, serious thought should be given to how the company plans on pinpointing exactly who has been responsible for progress, both positive and negative. Benchmarking Another way to monitor company performance is to measure its successes and failures against those of other businesses in the same market. For example Mark it Down Co could measure its sales figures against one of its competitors, Lidl for instance. This method is known as bench marking and it’s all about taking the best practices of the highest achieving businesses in the same market and applying them back in the business in question. Job Evaluation Its has been brought to management attention that one of the employee’s at Mark it Down Co believes that he is receiving less salary for the same work as one of his peers. The following two methods can be used to evaluate the jobs of the individuals in question in order to assess whether theses concerns are justified or not. Job Ranking Job ranking is one of the simplest methods of job evaluation. Its considers the job as a whole and ranks it against another whole job within the organisation. This is usually carried out by the raters comparing the jobs using their general knowledge of the roles themselves. The jobs are ranked in order of the difficulty of the job itself or the importance of the role to the company. The procedure is followed for each department and then a comparison of jobs at all levels is made and jobs are given grade levels which define salary groups. The job ranking method is easily understood by all employees and simple to administer, however it does have its disadvantages, this technique is not really suitable for large organisations with complex structures where its is much harder to gain familiarity with all of the job roles. With this in mind it is probably not the solution that should be used at Mark it Down Co Ltd. Point Factor Method The point factor method establishes job values by assigning points to each area within a group of defined factors, below are some examples but there any many different factors that could be defined further and given points in order to be used for job evaluation; Skill: Within this group there might be points available for, experience or training. Effort: The points available for effort might be divided between mental and physical effort. In this method each job is rated using the defined points system. The points are totaled to form the final score for that particular role. From there jobs are grouped into salary grades (jobs with similar points ratings would be placed together in the same salary grade) This method can be tailored to meet the needs of specific companies and is suitable for use within larger organisations where there are a large number of jobs to evaluate. It’s an easy model to work with once it’s in place but can be very expensive and time consuming to develop in the first instance. In my opinion the point factor method would be a the better job evaluation model to use for Mark it Down Co. Job ranking is just too simplistic to cope with the amount of individuals roles at this organisation. The factors I think should be used to develop the point system are as follows; Skill – Experience, Training, Ability, Education Responsibilities – Monetary, Supervisory, Reporting Effort – Mental, Physical Environment – Job Location, Hazard’s In order to establish if the employee in question has a case for querying the wage he is on in comparison to his colleague. His overall score for the above factors should be calculated in order to establish his pay bracket. If the pay grade is the same as that of his colleague then his concerns are justified and his wage should be brought into line. If it is not and he is in a lower wage group then there is no case for a wage increase. Equally if the individuals wage bracket is determined to be higher than that of his colleagues then his wage should be adjusted to reflect as much.

Bauhaus History of Design Essay

The Bauhaus was the first model of the modern art school. The Bauhaus curriculum combined theoretic education and practical training in the educational workshops. It drew inspiration from the ideals of the revolutionary art movements and design experiments of the early 20th century. A woodcut (shown right) depicted the idealized vision of Walter Gropius, a â€Å"cathedral† of design. Bauhaus 1919-33 The Bauhaus began with an utopian definition: â€Å"The building of the future† was to combine all the arts in ideal unity. In order to reach this goal, the founder, Walter Gropius, saw the necessity to develop new teaching methods and was convinced that the base for any art was to be found in handcraft: â€Å"the school will gradually turn into a workshop†. artists and craftsmen directed classes and production together at the Bauhaus in Weimar. This was intended to remove any distinction between fine arts and applied arts. Of course, the educational and social claim to a new configuration of life and its environment could not always be achieved. And the Bauhaus was not alone with this goal, but the name became a near synonym for this trend. The Bauhaus occupies a place of its own in the history of 20th century culture, architecture, design, art and new media. One of the first schools of design, it brought together a number of the most outstanding contemporary architects and artists and was not only an innovative training centre but also a place of production and a focus of international debate. At a time when industrial society was in the grip of a crisis, the Bauhaus stood almost alone in asking how the modernisation process could be mastered by means of design. Founded in Weimar in 1919, the Bauhaus rallied masters and students who sought to reverse the split between art and production by returning to the crafts as the foundation of all artistic activity and developing exemplary designs for objects and spaces that were to form part of a more human future society. Following intense internal debate, in 1923 the Bauhaus turned its ttention to industry under its founder and first director Walter Gropius (1883–1969). The major exhibition which opened in 1923, reflecting the revised principle of art and technology as a new unity, showcased the full spectrum of Bauhaus work and prototypes. The Haus Am Horn provided a glimpse of a residential building of the future. In 1924 funding for the Bauhaus was cut so drastically at the instigation of conservative forces that it had to seek a new home. The Bauhaus moved to Dessau at a time of rising economic fortunes, becoming the municipally funded School of Design. Almost all masters moved with it. Former students became junior masters in charge of the workshops. Famous works of art and architecture and influential designs were produced in Dessau in the years from 1926 to 1932. Walter Gropius resigned as director on 1st April 1928 under the pressure of constant struggles for the Bauhaus survival, He was succeeded by the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer (1889–1954) whose work sought to shape a harmonious society. Cost-cutting industrial mass production was to make products affordable for the masses. Despite his successes, Hannes Meyer’s Marxist convictions became a problem for the city council amidst the political turbulence of Germany in 1929, and the following year he was removed from his post. Under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) the Bauhaus developed from 1930 into a technical school of architecture with subsidiary art and workshop departments. After the Nazis became the biggest party in Dessau at the elections, the Bauhaus was forced to move in September 1932. It moved to Berlin but only lasted for a short time longer. The Bauhaus dissolved itself under pressure from the Nazis in 1933. Architecture â€Å"The building is the ultimate goal of all fine art,† the Bauhaus manifesto proclaimed back in 1919. Architecture training at the Bauhaus in Weimar was initially the prerogative of Walter Gropius private architectural practice and for a short time courses were run by his partner Adolf Meyer and in association with the â€Å"Baugewerkschule† (building trades school) in Weimar. The Bauhaus workshops were involved in these efforts through Gropius’s office. This collaboration produced the Haus Am Horn in 1923. Some new methods based on specific types and standardisation were employed not only to produce new architecture but to anticipate a new lifestyle through this architecture. In 1927 Walter Gropius offered Hannes Meyer a position in charge of architecture classes. That year Hannes Meyer began to put together a curriculum which included all relevant subjects such as planning, design, draftsmanship, construction, town planning. Architecture for Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer alike mainly denoted the â€Å"design of life’s processes†. Hannes Meyer went far beyond Gropius’s â€Å"study of essentials†, which focused too much on the object for his taste, turning his teaching programme into one where the concrete conditions in society and the factors determining architecture and its use formed the starting point for all planning and design. The habits of the future residents of an estate or a house were studied in scientific detail. From 1930 to 1933 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe carried on with much of what had been started under his predecessors. At the same time Mies van der Rohe streamlined the curriculum to produce something like a system of courses which left almost no room for utopian experiments. The majority of the new student intake at the Bauhaus had already completed a course of studies, and the Bauhaus became a â€Å"postgraduate school†. Mies van der Rohe’s teaching focused on the design of specific buildings whose appearance owed nothing to Gropius’s â€Å"study of essentials† or to the collective satisfaction of â€Å"the people’s needs†, but which were to be â€Å"the spatial implementation of intellectual decisions† (Mies van der Rohe) in an aesthetically consummate fashion.

How does Moslow's Hierachy of needs play a role in employee appraisel Essay

How does Moslow's Hierachy of needs play a role in employee appraisel - Essay Example When we talk about motivation, Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" comes forth as one of the more known theories that explain the roots of motivation. His provocative ideas about motivation, self-actualization and synergy have become the basis of some familiar concepts to many managers, management theorists and trainers. His humanistic approach to management has influenced fields as diverse as counseling, health care, education and marketing. Fact is that Maslow actuated a serious investigation as he delved deeper in the human psyche to study the roots of motivation. In his fervent and unrelenting investigations, he carefully studied human behavior and delineated five basic goals of that every human need. By level of importance, he identified the needs as physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. One could infer in this proposition that it is the task of each human being to achieve his or her own concept of self-actualization. Physiological - As humans are classified as living beings, physiological needs definitely are the most basic and of prime importance in the list of human needs Maslow enumerated. Physiological needs are necessary to maintain life, like hunger, thirst, sleep and many other human activities that involved the palpable human body itself. Safety - After physiological needs are met eventually, humans seek a sense of security from danger and deprivation, that's where safety needs come into picture. Love and Esteem - After physical needs are satisfied, humans as social beings desire companionship, camaraderie and the sense of belonging. Love and esteem are the emotional need that nourishes the human psyche in order for a person feel better about himself or herself. Self-Actualization - This describes the need for self-fulfillment, an urge of individuals to attain their dreams and goals in life for self-development, creativity and job satisfaction. Maslow steadily moved ahead from his peers upon formulating a new explanation of human nature. Its foundation was his radical theory of motivation, which has come to be known as the "Hierarchy of Needs". He passed up a great argument that people have needs for physiological, safety, belongingness, love, self-respect, self-esteem and what he called self-actualization-the desire to become all that a person can become in life. Maslow adds that if in the past lower level needs like physiological and safety needs are just the things the management rewards to its people to ensure protection and sustenance to his family, as society advances to contemporary times, in order for management to be effective they have to satisfy the higher needs too. In Maslow's articles published in 1942 and 1943, he summed up his theory as: It is quite true that man lives by bread alone-where there is no bread. But what happens to [our] desires when there [is] plenty of bread and when [our] belly is chronically filled At once, other and higher' needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate [us]. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new and still higher' needs emerge, and so on. This is what we mean by saying that basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy.... (Sheldrake, 1996 p. 353)

GAAP Rule effect on International Accounting Essay

GAAP Rule effect on International Accounting - Essay Example According to this model revenue will not be recognized unless the performance requirement is satisfied. The FASB and IASB proposed an approach for recognition of revenue which will form one single standard in all industry for accounting. These newly developed standards need better disclosure in balance sheet. This will help an accountant by making their job much easier because they don’t have to follow other standards. FASB has developed five steps that a company must follow for the new process of recognition of revenue. 1. A company must recognize the contract for revenue recognition. This will supply goods and services to its customer. Contracts can be in written format or may be oral. Company required segmenting the contract if the value of some goods or services is prepared independently. 2. The goods and services of contract should be accounted as different performance obligations because the goods or services are sold independently and they have different profit margin. If the good or service is similar then it must be combined with other good or service until a different performance obligation is created. 3. This is the third step in recognition process. In this process company has to determine the transaction price.

Responsive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Responsive - Essay Example From this point of view, the benefits of progress are measured in terms of higher standards of living, better health, greater security and increased incomes. As a result of all these measurable factors, many have ignored their traditional cultures in pursuit of these â€Å"goodies.† Some individuals in the society willingly pursue this material targets while others are forced into the system by government policies. This means that the disadvantages of progress will affect both sets of individuals in the society. One question spurred by the reading is whether progress always impacts positively on the quality of life. This question is hard to answer because assessing economic development and progress is difficult. This leads to an assumption that the benefits of progress outweigh the detriments. Therefore, the most widely used indicator of positive progress is the standard of living which in my view is misleading. This means that an array of factors is considered when evaluating progress, and they include literacy, health programs and employment rates. In my view, money is not the sole measure of progress but the well being of individuals in the society should be also considered. Disregarding tradition implies that the ability of culture to satisfy psychological and physical needs of the population is compromised. This directly lowers the quality of life from the cultural perspective. From the article I can conclude that progress significantly lowers the standard of living due to degradation of mental and physical health, increased incidences of delinquency and crime, family instability, demographic structures and the strained relationship between the society and natural resources. It is also true that before progress took centre stage, all these undesirables were non-existent or minimal. Therefore, progress has done more harm than good to the quality of human life. The fact that many diseases arise because of economic development shows

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 13

Strategic management - Essay Example British Airways is part of the International Airline Group (IAG) which is incorporated in Spain and has in its portfolio Iberian Airlines (Gray and Gray, 2011). British Airways however remains an entity that the British government has significant investments in and a strong influence within (Gray and Gray, 2011). The slogans of British Airways include â€Å"To Fly, To Serve† and â€Å"The World’s Favorite Airline; Upgrade to British Airways† (Gray and Gray, 2011). British Airways is positioned as a premium airline that targets the upper middle and the middle class members of societies (Barrett, 2010). They therefore offer premium services that targets young and old professionals, business executives and managers. These are operation are launched and conducted in richer and upmarket sections of societies around the world. The airline also seeks to target passengers who prefer comfort and reliable services (Barrett, 2010). They have corporate customers and seek to acquire premium service seekers who want a flying experience that includes a high degree of comfort and convenience. British Airways is therefore seen as a premium and executive airline brand. British Airways, being a premium entity has some strengths. This includes the fact that they have the backing of the British government. They have a strong brand and a major presence in different parts of the world. The link of the airline to Britain and the United Kingdom gives BA a strong history that is tied to the old British Empire (Vaughan, 2012). Due to this, the airline continues to flourish and gain roots around the world (Vaughan, 2012). With British Airways’ position in Heathrow Terminal 5 as an entrenched and inalienable possession, the airline has the capability of expanding and reaching different parts of the world. It also has the competency to go into the growing markets of the Asian Pacific

Career skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Career skills - Essay Example An excellent social skill will make a difference in attracting those kinds of people in my chosen organization. Social skills will make a difference in attracting people when all other things are being equal in terms of pay, career opportunity, prestige, interesting work and other work related consideration. These social skills will make a huge difference in terms of determining the competitiveness of my chosen organization because of the quality of people that I will recruit. There is also another soft skill that is rarely talked discussed but is equally important in a People Operation’s job which is emotional intelligence. This skill enable’s a Human Resource person to best deal with issues that people in organization present to him or her. This skill is critical because this could retain or drive away the good people in an organization depending on how Human Resource personnel will handle the issues presented to him or

The represesentation of disability and illness in Victorian England Essay

The represesentation of disability and illness in Victorian England novels - Essay Example r themselves in all this plentitude and opportunity, those who were somehow stricken with illness or disability were determined to be of somehow lower or disdainful quality. This was largely because people tended to judge others based upon their material acquisitions in these quickly changing times. Wealth was taken to be an accurate measure of the person’s character while illness or disability was seen to be a reflection of a diseased soul. These attitudes in society were explored in books written in the time. As will be discovered in this paper, novels emerged during this time period as society’s most accurate means of reflecting on the social ills of the day and novels such as those written by Charles Dickens or George Elliot repeatedly demonstrated that the ill or disabled Victorian was somehow held to be of lower quality or worth than whole-bodied individuals. During the Victorian period, the process of psychoanalysis had not yet been published, much less widely discussed and applied to social structures. The principle means of reflecting issues common to the contemporary society was through the explorations provided in the fiction produced during the period. Borislav Knezevic says of Dickens and his contemporaries: â€Å"Professional novelists became not only providers of relatively lucrative cultural products, but also voices of great social authority, and representatives of that middle-class wisdom and success. [†¦] The novel became a locus of middle-class symbolic power† (Knezevic, 2003: 4). In the Victorian era, the novel was as much about information as about entertainment, as Salman Rushdie observes in his entry on The Nation: â€Å"The word ‘novel’ derives from the Latin word for new; in French, nouvelles are both stories and news reports. A hundred years ago, people read novels, among other things, for i nformation. From Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, British readers got shocking information about poor schools like Dotheboys Hall, and

Reflection journals Ch2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection journals Ch2 - Essay Example I will definitely use this valuable information when teaching. In the first place, I will use the approach to test my students’ knowledge and understanding. I will interview individuals and students in small groups. I would like to check whether group interviews can be as effective as interviewing individuals, as I have doubts that all children will be equally active. I believe I will also have to make sure that each child calls his/her name before answering the question (as this will be crucial during transcribing). Apart from that, I will be able to use some techniques described during my classes. The ability to put the right questions is a valuable skill for any educator. Thus, I will be able to monitor progress of some students during classes. I will choose the right words to encourage students to talk. I will be able to understand what students know and whether there are any gaps in their

Voices of Freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Voices of Freedom - Essay Example As the discussion highlights strong believed that the minor races did not have any option but to conform to the views of the superior race. Document 112 presents Emilio Aguinaldo on American imperialism in the Philippines. Aguinaldo was of the opinion that Americans needed to give the Philippines the right to self-governance and independence. In his view, it was ironical that America represented particular ideals of freedom, yet they denied the Philippines their right to independence.This essay discusses that the events in Memphis changed Ida Wells’ attitude towards lynching after her first hand witnessed the events that unfolded. Many of the lynchings had been based on lies and false accusations of black people. In the Memphis lynching, three black men were shot dead. Before the men were killed, it had been declared that their grocery store would be destroyed. To prevent the attack, the three partners hired men to protect their grocery store. Some white men who stole goods fr om the store were shot by the black men and wounded. Such events led to many colored men imprisoned. The following day, the three black men were killed. After witnessing such events and reading the newspapers published the following day, Wells realized that the lynchings were staged to eliminate black people. In her view, it was an evident demonstration of racial segregation. The Memphis lynching led to the destruction of her newspaper, an aspect that motivated her to begin an anti-lynching movement.

OKB Essay Example for Free

OKB Essay Learning Issues Chapter 1 (OKB) a) There was some mention about stakeholders in the problems, who are the stakeholders and what their stakes? 1. Capital market stakeholders In this case, the capital market shareholder of a firm is bank and shareholder. In this case the shareholder who gives OKB financial resources for OKB business. The stake of these shareholders is to ensure the OKB businesses continues their operation and can meet the expectation on the capital they had given. 2. Akar Enterprise (supplier) Is a major supplier for OKB Bhd. They supply herbs and roots from the forest of Perak. Their stakes is whether they able to meet the demand of OKB to continue supply raw material. 3. Customer We know that The Guardian approached OKB to supply its medicinal products to them. If that thing happen the sales would increase since consumer prefer use OKB products 4. Employee We notice that the OKBs production process is carried out manually by the kampung folks. If OKB accept the offer from The guardian, the process will change to the machine since they will change it to mix of pills, capsules and liquid-compound forms. If this happen, they no longer can work for OKB in a manufacturing the products. 5. Government Ministry of health is a body who observe and monitor the quality and the safety of products. It is already mention about the latest markey surveys conducted by them, OKB is still the first choice among consumers. It shown that the product is safe to be used. b) What do you think of the comment made by the management about OKB’s Vision OKB’s achievements? I think the old vision may not be suitable anymore to face the changes of economy nowadays. This is because, OKB more relies in traditional approach and they should come out with a new vision that promote abouts its products quality and attract customer. With a good vision, OKB can be more success and achieve their targets. They should change their vision not only based on customer need but also based on environment changes and also satisfied their employees. OKB Bhd can be more competitive to the real world and they can easily adapting the changes that have taken place on the industry. Learning Issue Chapter 2 Explain to Datin Timah about the importance of getting to know the external environment. Discuss the possible impact of the DPEST G factors and the Competitive Forces (The 5 Forces) on her business. The DPEST G analysis segmented the external environment into 6 segments which are demographic, political or legal, sociocultural, technological, global and environment segments. The first segment is political or legal segments. This segment focuses on organization to aware of any changes. Management must aware of consumer tastes and buying power. Any changes must be consider in the management’s strategies as changes on political or legal segments affect direct or indirectly on the demands of the market. Sociocultural segment need to be considered by management. These refer to the consumers concerns regarding the market, as there were negative views from the customer. Customer view the product should be revamping into modern pills and capsules rather than traditional packaging. They should be innovative in market their products and use the resources for best effectiveness and efficiently strategies. OKB Bhd can use technological advance thus creating competitive advantages of organization in the market. Advance in technologies can increasing the efficiency of productions and increase the value of product. Next is economic segment. This refers to the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes. This can help the management to create decision what suitable time to production. Last segment is global segment. Datin should know the global environment where existing markets are changing and thus taking the opportunity to make OKB Bhd well known by expanding the business and making improvement and innovative improvement on their products that are different from other competitors. The five forces of competition model are threat of new entrants, bargaining power of the supplier, bargaining power of the buyer, threat of the substitute products and intensity of rivalry among competitors. The threat of new entrants is important factors to identify since it can threaten the market share of the existing competitors. In this case, OKB must have their own strategy, vision and mission in order to compete with new entrant by improving their products image, packaging and make some innovation in order to create competitive advantage. Next is threat of substitute products. In this case, OKB have another competitor that provide and sell same products for consumer such as Guardian. Therefore, OKB must make a study and research how to faced this problems and attract their customer. Bargaining power of supplier is a situation when the supplier use to expert power over firms competing within industry. OKB major supplier is Akar Enterprise. In order to have enough resources and fulfill the demand, OKB should buy the resources from other supplier so that they are not facing problem such as insufficient material and high price of resources charges by supplier. Next is bargaining power of the buyer. Buyer mostly more attract with product that offer a lower price and give them a higher benefit and satisfied their interest. OKB should improve their product in taste and product image and give a reasonable price in order to attract customer. Last forces is intensity of rivalry among competitors. The competitors always alert and beware about their competitor. This is because any changes by another company made can affect their business. So they must take a action in order to ensure customer will loyalty to them.

The role of SMEs on economic development

The role of SMEs on economic development SMEs has an important role in the development of an economic of a country (both developing and developed countries). They bring lots of benefits like employment generation, exports, foreign currency, investment, income and wealth distribution. These benefits lead to an economics growth of a country and many countries has been encouraging the setting up of small and medium business. Organization like World Bank Group approved more than $ 1.5 billion to SME support program in 2002 as it is believed that SME play and contribute to future expansion of an economy. SMEs is one of the most important economic pillars in Mauritius. The main role of SMEs in Mauritius is to create jobs so as to reduce unemployment rate. Not to forget that in early 1980s, when there was economics recession in Mauritius result in big unemployment rate, it was specified that SMEs could create 10% of jobs. As this was proof of the importance of SMEs The Government of Mauritius have come and provide new facilities and help to these companies by making availability of finance at low interest rate and taxes lowered on export , machinery and parts also. A special organization has been found by the Government called SMEDA to assist the small and medium firm to grow and establish them self. Most of the SMEs generate fund internally or by taking loans. SMEs use a combination of long term sources of finance which is called capital structure. Financial instrument SMEs usually use; Micro Credit Government loans and grants Leasing Loans from financial firms Personal savings There are some internal and external factor that affect small, micro and medium firm , namely: Competition from bigger firm. Financial resource constraint. Access to research and development tool. Assistance for new ideas and creativity. Liability issues. Fluctuation in the economy. Difficult to obtain significant market share. Government law and policy. Narain, 2004: SMEs are born out of individual initiatives and skills, offer low cost product, production flexibility and can adopt new technology and innovate and export, have high employment orientation, utilize locally available human and material resources and reduce regional imbalances. SME distinction: Autonomous firm(either a proprietor, partnership or linked enterprise ) Partner firm( which does not cause problem in ownership and decision making) Linked firm ( has a small share in the firm and few authority) Micro firm Definition: Micro firms form part of small firm and are often unregistered. They usually single owner and have no employees and are generally young. Micro firm produce and distribute goods in unregulated but competitive markets. These firms are usually independent, largely family owned, employ low level of skills and use low and affordable technology and are highly labor intensive. Micro firm provide income and employment to a reasonable proportion of people in a country by producing goods and services for the population Small firm Definition: Small firm are usually a business that is privately owned (corporations, partnership or sole proprietor) and have a low volume of sales. One of the most used definition of small firms: one with a relatively small share of market, one that is managed by its owners in a personalized and independent way, i.e. free from outside control in decision making. [ Stanworth (1991)]. These small firms are not usually dominant in the market and are not a big threat to large and quoted firms Medium firm Definition: Medium firm are normally engaged in industrial and more complex activities that small and micro firms and are registered companies. They usually import and export goods. Small, Micro and Medium firm can begin or commerce activities on a low budget and can be managed easily on a full time or part time basis. Decisions are take freely and there is no interference in the work done. Demarcate between Micro, Small and Medium firm. According to OECD, Small and Medium firm are usually defines according to the number of employee, capital, asset, sales volume and production ability to produce adequate goods. The differentiation criterion varies from country to country like the employment criterion which is usually used to demarcate hem, for example a country may limit medium employee to 300 when others may limit it to 200 employees. As per SMEDA Act, it definition include all Enterprise in the economic sector and they use turnover criterion to demarcate them. Medium firm are define separately from small firm as they have different needs and objective. They usually are more sophisticate firms and well technology averse while small firm are usually in a developmental state. Normally there are three criteria to differentiate Micro, Small and Medium firms from each other: Staff headcount Annual turnover Annual Balance Sheet Comparing these 3 criteria allow you to determined the type of the firm, i.e. Micro, Small or Medium. Staff headcount. The number of employee is an important factor to determine in which category SME the firm falls. It include full time, part time and seasonal employee. The employees head count is expressed in annual work unit. Full time staff is count as 1unit whereas part time and seasonal worker are count as a fraction of 1 full time worker. Annual turnover and Balance sheet. The annual turnover is determined by calculating the income of the firm during its financial year after all debt has been paid. Turnover should not include VAT or any indirect taxes and the Balance sheet should refer to the value of the form main assets You are autonomous when no other people have participation in ur firm or you in other firm. Classification of SME: Mauritius Micro firm Small Firm Medium Turnover N.A Balance Sheet N.A Employees N.A 0-10 0-250 Europe Micro firm Small firm Medium Turnover Balance Sheet Employees 0-10 10-50 50-250 To qualify as an SME, both staff and ownership criteria must be satisfied, and either the turnover or the balance sheet criteria, i.e any of these two criteria must be meet in order to qualify.

Tesco Plc Management and Success

Tesco Plc Management and Success A large amount of literature is available on the management methods and policies of Tesco, the culture change it has adapted in its past, its workforce and its retailing success. This has been compared to the management theories and criteria of change management, and discussed to find out how closely do Tescos employee management mechanisms link with the actual theory. A brief overview of the history of Tesco with detailed step by step progress made by the company the strategies, values and policies, stakeholders and customers of Tesco are also precisely discussed. The future plans and a comparative analysis of Tesco with other top retailers is also presented. Tesco PLC: Based in United Kingdom ever since 1920, Tesco has to date expanded itself into several countries across the European Union as well as in Asia (EMMC, 2007). Such success of Tesco has been possible due to its focus on growth strategy, and its core competencies which are basically its brand reputation and the value-added services it provides through the brand experience. In addition, Tesco has shown a wide potential to capture foreign markets with variable environmental, cultural and political factors. It is highly sensitive to external environment, and adjusts on a need basis. It is also important to consider the factors of Tescos internal environment which add to its competencies (Clark, 2008). Tesco has gained its current position as one of the major retailers of the United Kingdom by adapting to the needs of its customers. One of the major shifts of the organization culture and strategy came in 1990 when the organization transformed itself by focusing on its human resource management. This was done by a process of strategic and cultural change (Clark, 2008). Retail industry and Tesco: Retail refers to sale in small quantities, the retail industry is an important sector of the economy; it comprises of individuals and companies which are engaged in the selling of finished products to end users. The retailer buys the products in large quantities from the manufacturers either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the end-user. Retail is usually classified according to the type of product; divided mainly in three categories that are; food products, soft goods ,which includes clothing accessories etc and hard goods, which includes electric appliances, electronic items, sports goods, furniture et cetra (Akehurst and Alexander, 1997). Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom based global departmental store, it is the third largest retailer in the world. Tesco started as a food retailer but after the success in food business the company expanded its business activities by retailing a variety of products, targeting different markets and creating intere st in customers of different sectors. At present with over 2,500 stores worldwide and more than 450,000 peoples employed, Tesco is ruling all around the world with its business which covers retailing, distribution, logistics, telecommunication and financial services (Tesco case study, 2011). Tesco PLC History Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen; he started off by selling surplus groceries on a stall at the East End of London. The companys name was penned from the initials of T.E. Stockwell, who was at that time a partner, and CO from Cohens name. Cohens motto was pile it high, sell it cheap, it referred to the fact that customers wanted inexpensive products at a convenient location and an optimum volume that would be profitable. After initial ten years of foundation finally the first store was opened by Cohen in 1929 at Burnt Oak, Edgware, North London. Jack Cohen introduced a new concept of food ware house when, in 1934, he built a new headquarters and a warehouse for central stock control. The success story of Tesco PLC continued and as a result by 1965, Tesco owned a chain of 212 stores in North of England and by 1965, the count was increased to 356 stores. By this time, Tesco was becoming a prominent retailer in all of Europe and this fact was highlighted when the name of Tesco wa s entered in Guinness Book of World Records as the largest store in Europe (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco initiatives over the years: Tesco started off as a retailer for foods but expanded its spectrum to other products; in 1975 Tesco broadened the concept by opening petrol stations at different major sites. The idea behind this launch was to provide customers everything that they need, in one location. They initially started selling branded petrol but in the late 80s their own brand fuel went on sale. To attract customers, a price cutting campaign under the banner of Checkout at Tesco was enunciated by the company in 1977. Tesco introduced yet another new concept and became the first major retailer to emphasize the nutritional value of its own-brand products by launching its Healthy Eating initiative, Healthy Eating was launched to show commitment of the company in providing customers not just healthy good quality food but also to promote a healthy life style. The year 1992, was a very happening year at Tesco, as many new products were launched this year, these launches included a whole organic range and computers for schools. Other than this, the campaign of Every Little Helps was also launched this year, this campaign basically developed the companys philosophy, Tesco refers to Every Little Helps as an expression of their values, and the values are that no one tries harder for customers than Tesco and the company treats its customers as they would like to be treated (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco PLC was prospering at an accelerated rate, and to ensure this, the Tesco team was making every possible effort to engage the customers and maintain the consumers loyalty with the company, for this purpose Tesco launched another initiative by the name Would I Buy It; the purpose of this campaign was to guarantee that the products offered to the customers were always of the highest quality. Tescos club-card was also launched this year. The club-card was UKs first customer loyalty program; the sole purpose was to give something back to the loyal customers. According to Lord MacLaurin, former chairman of Tesco, customer loyalty is not how customers demonstrate their loyalty to the company; it is about how the company demonstrates their loyalty to their customers. By this time Tesco was not only the largest retailers, but was also the market leader of food retailers and dominated the English market in food retailing, and thus, started expanding the business beyond the boundary acros s the world (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tescos international markets reach: Globally, Tesco PLC was first introduced in Hungary and later entered Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and also Ireland. The business was also launched in Asian countries Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. Parallel to all these across border business growth, 24 hours trading was also introduced In the year 1998, Tesco launched its Finest premium brand of foods; the Finest included fresh and prepared food ranging over 100 products which change with the season. In 1999, Tesco took another initiative and published supermarket prices comparison on the internet and also launched an on-line bookstore and on-line banking. By 2000 tesco.com was launched (Tesco PLC, 2011). The success of Tesco was mainly because of its customer satisfaction strategy and in order to continue this journey the emphasis was always on customer care, and so in 2001 Tesco launched Customer Champions in many stores which implemented a new labor schedule to further improve services to the customers, the company also followed a continuous replenishment of policy to ensure at least 99% of stock availability. The very same year Tesco also achieved the landmark of becoming the leading organic retailer in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Tesco steps into the business world of Malaysia, Japan and Turkey. In the same year, Tesco started a new offering Free-From product; these products were especially designed for customers having special dietary needs. Peoples who are susceptible to any kind of allergies or food intolerance were able to entertain themselves with this new developed food range and restricted diets was not any more an obstacle to enjoy food of respective interest. All the Te scos Free from products are made gluten free, wheat free and in some cases milk free; all the ingredients that usually are the most common causes of food allergies. The free from product range included over 150 products (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco entered United States of America business in 2007, by opening Fresh and Easy a chain of local grocery stores whose focus was on fresh foods. Tesco introduced own-label products rather than the usual vast range of US brands of heat and eat meals. This local food chain used a straightforward everyday low price strategy and offered cheaper rates to the American customers (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco PLC Strategies and Policies Tesco entered the world of retailing business and gradually ranked highest among the largest and best retailers in United Kingdom, now by twentieth century the concept of retailing has became increasingly popular and therefore, the competition among the retailers has immensely increased. Customer focused strategy of Tesco: Every company is working on developing new strategies and business policies in order to attract new customers and keep old customers loyal to the company. At the present situation when business is so customer oriented, the key to remain in business is customer satisfaction and this stabilizes the companys economy (Ma and Ding, 2010). Tesco has always paid considerate attention to its customer and this is the biggest reason of their success, the core purpose of the company is to create value for customers and earn their lifetime loyalty. Tesco has achieved its goal and the business of Tesco PLC has flourished throughout its journey because the company has religiously focused on its four strategies and strictly implemented upon them. The first key strategy is to grow the core United Kingdom business by establishing Extras, Superstore, Metro and Express. The second strategy is to expand the business internationally, while the third strategy emphasizes on become equally strong in its non -food retailing business as it is in its food retailing business (Tesco CSR, 2005). Retail services offered by Tesco: The final strategy is to provide new retailing services in response to changing customer demand, the retailing services includes online shopping, Tesco Personal Finance(TPF) and telecom industry. The team of Tesco has tirelessly worked upon its strategies and that is the reason they are on top not only in food retailing but also in other retail businesses. Tesco understands and anticipates the needs and requirements of the customer and this is why it has always been successfully responding to changing lifestyles and demand of the customer and this has become the key drive of the company ever since it was established (Tesco PLC, 2011). Products offered by Tesco: In order to make its mark in the non-food retailing business Tesco has developed and introduced a wide range of products in different varieties making its business as versatile as possible. From food stuff to all soft goods such as clothes, footwear, accessories, jewelries, beauty products, household item, kitchen items etc, and also hard goods such as sports goods furniture, appliances and electronic items, are made accessible to the customer under the roof of Tesco PLC, this has provided the customer not just with ease but also with a good shopping experience to take home with. Providing with a variety of goods is not the only objective it is essential to maintain the quality to ensure brand loyalty with the customers. Constant innovations of ideas and development of products and services is required to keep competitors on their toes, that is the reason that Tesco keeps launching new campaigns, product and services ideas (Tesco CSR, 2005). The marketing department has made the understanding of customers better than anyone. The management of Tesco reports that the reason as to why it is necessary to understand customers is because championing the customer voice in the business helps in guiding and measuring the business, that is why any new product, service, campaign or business idea is launched after extensive site research which determines and obliges to meet customer needs by matching the store format to the location. Market research is done to monitor and track the healthy business, identify changing customer needs, understand current customer issues, and ensure initiatives that the company has taken are right for customers, moreover strategic insight is developed which guides business strategy through customer perceptions and concerned people views. Analysis on the insight is done to get feedback from customers and keep a check and balance of the companys performance. Further research is done on customer lifestyles and the shopping experience that is being offered by the company in order to guarantee that the business is reflecting the needs of customers. According to the management team going through these five steps enables them to fully understand the scenario and this makes them achieve a competitive advantage (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco and its Stakeholders Suppliers Tesco has managed to flourish a stabilized relationship with its suppliers. Tesco supports the British Farm Assurance Mark; this is because of the Tesco Farming Initiative taken by Tesco with the suppliers and farmer organizations. In 2001, during the crisis of foot and mouth, Tesco donated a large amount for the British farmers that were affected by the disease. Also through Tesco Codes of Practice, the company takes interest in the welfare of the animals; these codes specify the kind of husbandry expected by the farmers and suppliers from the company. The company also takes part in researches regarding the problems and issues of husbandry (Tesco PLC, 2011). Employees The prospect of expanding business has enabled Tesco to entertain people with proper job offers all around the world. Tesco has around 200,000 employees in United Kingdom and about 65,000 in Ireland, South-East Asia and Europe. Employees enjoy benefits such as pensions, profit share schemes, shopping discounts and other save money schemes. Tesco launched a career site which helped a great number of graduates and other workers in finding suitable jobs within the organization. A large number of employees are share holders in the company (Tesco PLC, 2011). Customers Tesco PLC has a huge range of customers that belong to entirely different sectors and cultures. The wide spectrum of the goods whether food or non-food items offered by the company makes customers from every age of life. The good quality of the products and the continuous innovations of the products, have made the brand loyalty of customers possible (Tesco PLC, 2011). Strategic and cultural change in retail sector: Strategic change refers to using strategy in order to successfully implement change, to achieve the long-term goals and objectives of the organization. Culture change is a link between organization culture and key company performance variables such as return-on-investment (ROI), sales growth, innovation, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Thus, the strategic change may be viewed as a mechanism of bringing about change in the company, be it a culture change, empowerment or total quality (Balugan, 2001). In order to bring about the change at Tesco, it is crucial to see that this change is properly managed and administered throughout the organization. According to Kennen (2007), organizations can induce culture change by uncovering the core values and beliefs of the employees, by discussing and communicating the process of change, and by establishing new behavioral norms. There are two views to any type of organization change: the managers top-down view (that is how the change impacts the managers) and the employee bottom-up view (that is how the change impacts employees). The latter can be termed as individual change management, using techniques to help employees transition through the change. This is important because employees are the people that ultimately implement the change at its very basic level (Hiatt and Creasy, 2003). Also, when change is initially introduced employees tend to feel doubtful about their ability to change which results in decreased confidence and performance, inducing resistance (Balugan, 2001). Change management can thus become a significant crucial issue, which if not implemented properly can result in loss of employee trust in management. Successful organizations inspire a strong organization culture into their employees. Change management also depends on the incorporation of several factors in the change model, including timing of change, scope of change, diversity capacity of employees, and readiness of employees to change (Balogun, 2001). Bedingham (2000) has described how strategic change was implemented by Tesco in 1987. According to the article, Tesco came across the performance lapse of the organization in a research done by Verax for Coca Cola to study retail buying (Cummings, 2011). The research findings revealed that the performance of the retail store managers at Tesco was very low compared to the competitors. In response, Tesco decided to review its management practices to improve customer satisfaction. In this process, it took retail lessons of training and transforming its front-line staff that come in direct contact with the customers every day. The need for training Tesco employees had also emerged due to the diverse ethnic, racial, social and economic backgrounds of its employees. All these employees have different skills and shortcomings, and hence require training specifically customized to their different personalities. Another need for employing these training programs is due to the fact that recruit ing new employees is much more costly to any organization than retaining the same employees (The Times 100) The growth and transformation of the retail industry itself and the concept of retailing are also responsible for the growing need of bringing about a change in employees at Tesco. Factors affecting this include changing needs of the customers and the society, as well as from the changes in supply of labor. Another factor leading to this management change is the transformation of the retail structures over the years. The layouts are now professionally developed, with vast amount of support systems and skilled staff required to handle them. Previously, employees in a retail store were meant simply for assisting the customer, however today with the presence of modern technology, databases and finger-tip market knowledge, employees are expected to serve the customers with all the tools for decision making. Social changes brought about the need of extending business hours, and hiring employees more on a flex-time basis to accommodate the employees varying lifestyles. Whilst decades ago, retail employees were hired on a permanent basis, having a specialty in retail service, today employees are drawn from a pool of part-time workers, such as students, who take up jobs to earn some extra money. This has decreased the element of specialty and skill, which is in contrast with the fact that more expertise is now demanded by customers from the retail staff (Akehurst and Alexander, 1996) With respect to Tesco and its strategic change, individual change management has even a greater role, as its employees are the front-line staff, playing a major role in the image and success of the retail organization. According to Akehurst and Alexander (1996), in retail companies it is not the managerial staff, or external marketing activity that determines the image of a retail company in a consumers mind. Instead, it is the way customers are treated and the behavior of the retail store staff that determines this element. Even in outlets which are made for self-service, retail staff can affect customer satisfaction by their role in assistance, giving advices and greeting customers. One example of an employee-oriented retail company is Umpqua Bank in California, which has been able to provide excellent customer service due to its employee focus. At Umpqua, employees are empowered to fully satisfy a customer rather than perform specific tasks. This means that every employee learns every task regarding customer service, and can satisfy customer to his or her full potential. Employees are free to do whatever they can to provide customer satisfaction even without the consent of the supervisor. Hence, many branches keep dog bowls for the clients dogs, arrange yoga lessons and movie nights to retain customers (Berman, 2007). Thus, this shows that employee empowerment can lead to innovation even at the retail staffing levels. This becomes important when considering the possible implications that such culture changes can bring in a retail environment such as Tesco. Spurlock is another organization which induced organizational change by altering work standards, procedures and culture. The organization brought about a change in the way resources and time is managed, reallocating everything from staff to plant timings. One important lesson from their change management was the inclusion of staff in the process. The change process coupled with the employee training to meet the needs of the new system, eventually led to an entire work culture change. In the end, there was more teamwork and collaboration increased through the organization due to the shifting and reallocation of employees (Vonderhaar et al, 2010). However, despite the fact that the employees have such crucial significance, employee management is a considerably under-searched area in retail management (Akehurst and Alexander, 1996). In the book Value-based human resource strategy: developing your consultancy role, Grundy and Brown (2003) assert that in 1990, Tesco decided to undergo a culture change to enhance its responsiveness throughout the organization. However, this change came on quite gradually rather than abruptly. This is because when the organization hired an HR consultant, it discovered that the term culture change had an inherent risk of failing. It was too overwhelming a concept, indicating a huge change in the organizations function which made it incomprehensible for its stakeholders. Hence Tesco underwent change in the name of customer service instead, because the term described exactly what kind of change was going to be targeted. Similarly, when BP introduced its cultural change, it put an economic value that came from the change to motivate the employees to adopt it. Thus, organization culture change can be adopted in several steps, namely value change which lead to behavioral change in employe es. Recruitment: According to the report of Datamonitor (2003) Tesco Plc is recruiting almost three million employees for the product manufacturing and services. It is the biggest private employer of UK. (EFILWC, 2007) Tesco is a heavily customer oriented organization, with a focus on its external environment. Since its cultural shift in 1990s Tesco has been able to empower its staff and provide them with benefits and motivational tools that have positively impacted overall employee satisfaction. It has even extended its gradual cultural shift on to managerial and corporate level (Bedingham, 2000). Training for employees: Tesco has established six or seven levels of store employees, and provides training to whoever desires it (Garry, 2010). The training program is not simply an adaptation for the internal organization; it also provides an external qualification and a degree to employees for working at Tesco. Since the program is so significant from the aspect of employees themselves, they are more closely involved with the organization and develop a bond with the company. The training program has become a huge aspect of the organizations culture and vision itself. It has left the employees feeling more connected, confident and customer-oriented. Moreover, the personal development results in homogenous values of employees throughout the organization (Garry, 2010). Training program at Tesco involves several different types of trainings such as Introduction training, First class serve, Hygiene Training, Multi skills training et cetra. Introduction training is given the very first day, and involves introduction, discussing the organizations history, values and functioning. The First Class serve teaches how to interact with the customer and properly greet him or her. Hygiene training as the name indicates refers to training about the employee hygiene practices as required in the store. Multi skill tasking prepares employees for job rotations (Gulyas, 2007). According to Gulyas (2007) there is a significant difference between training and management development, though the terms are often used in same context. Training is the process by which people are taught skills to perform specific tasks, whereas management development refers to giving people knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake greater responsibility. Also, culture change at an organization is not merely a question of skills development of employees (Gerber and Lankshear, 2000). Organizations have a tendency to view skills of employees as end in themselves whilst skills in fact induce only surface level change, which does not translate into the deeper level of culture change (Lokshin, Gils, and Bauer, 2009). However, at Tesco, there is training of employees and management development for the managers. Therefore, employee training at Tesco is not merely a question of skill development, but also has the entire 360-degree personality development of its employees as its foc us. Employees are constantly expected to improve their behavior, to bring about personality changes that get reflected in their overall performance, and to develop themselves into empowered, inquisitive individuals who can take greater responsibility. Tesco enhances three major aspects of the employee behavior which are customer focus, ability to work with others and personal behavior. For this purpose, Tesco also arranges leadership workshops for its employees (The times 100). Tesco regularly evaluates the characteristics and performance of its employees to keep identifying skill shortages and new job demands. Based on the results, it adds on to its Personal Development program so that it is catered to meet the upcoming needs of training (The Times 100) Tesco also gives employees a steering wheel which shows them how their performance is creating a difference in the organization, by providing specific measures for employees, managers, country and the entire organization (Garry, 2010). In the current era, core Human Resource practices tend to encourage an innovation-oriented team based environment where employees are empowered. This is based on theories of motivation in management such as Hierarchy of Needs theory by Maslow (1943) and Hygiene Theory by Herzberg (1959). According to Abraham Maslow, human beings have varying levels of needs that have to be satisfied in a given order from basic physiological need of food and clothing, to higher level needs, such as drive for self-esteem and self-actualization. Hence, good working conditions, general praise and appreciation and an empowered working environment are essential features when it comes to fulfilling the needs of employee. Also, according to Herzberg (1959), there are certain factors the absence of which leads to an overall dissatisfaction of employees with their work. These are different from the factors that increase satisfaction and include company policy, supervision, working conditions etc. These are kno wn as Hygiene factors. In order to keep employees motivated, maintaining good working standards and conditions are essential. The Times 100 research has shown that, keeping in view the Maslows Hierarchy Model of Needs, Tesco seeks to fulfill all the level of needs, from basic to the highest through its various employee motivation programs. It provides basic pay and locker room facilities and health security and pension. In addition it addresses the higher needs of the individuals by empowering them in a team based environment, providing them feedbacks and appraisals, and motivating them through encouragement and respect (Bent and Freathy, 1997). According to Parish (2007) Tesco PLC managers listen to their staff, spend time with them and build direct one-to-one relationships which boost the overall employee motivation. The management found through surveys that one of the basic needs of their employees were to be listened to with respect. Therefore, at the organization, employees are treated with trust and respect and included in the decision making of the store, their voice and opinions are given due considerations and the problems they face in dealing with the customers are reflected upon and solved. In fact, the technique has been so successful that it is being replicated by a nursing hospital for the management of nursing staff. One of the benefits of training at Tesco was the greater teamwork and improved customer service. The major reason behind this improvement was the visible change in the confidence level of Tesco employees that has come from the training activities. The challenges in training employees came from the initial unwillingness of employees to enroll, because they were reluctant or shy (Garry, 2010). According to European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2007), Tesco seeks employees from different cultures, background through different sources, including government programs and campaigns. Its recruitment system allows the employers to consider people from diverse cultural and local groups, and fit them into particular jobs depending on capabilities and tendencies. It also participates in the government regeneration programs which look for employees amongst those that have been chronically unemployed. It also makes sure that its managers work shoulder-to-shoulder with its workforce, and are aware of the technical aspects of the work. Tesco provides its employees salaries based on the nature of work, and additional benefits, both monetary and personal in the form of flexible work hours. As of 2003, Tesco has a 94% employee retention rate with its socially inclusive policies. Tescos management of employees plays both roles of a company facilitator and corporate social responsibility. Through employee training and personal development, Tesco has enabled people unemployed for several years to be successfully employed (Gateway, 2003). Ma and Ding (2010) have also described the customer-orientation of Tesco.com, by asserting that customer value and customer satisfaction are amongst the core values of the organization. They have a clearly defined purpose, and they fulfill it through their excellent customer and delivery service. According to the work, 67% of the people take Tesco as their favorite supermarket. Thus, we see that in the past, Tesco employed tools and techniques of strategic change management in order to successfully bring behavioral change in its employees. The change however was more focused on the behavioral aspects such as employee professionalism rather than employee values, however Tesco ensured that both training and development were used as mechanisms for this change to make it long-term and effective.

The Trade World :: essays research papers

"Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts,""Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror." These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat,""But they have failed. Our country is strong. President Bush said in his first prime-time address in what suddenly seemed a scared new world. But the heart of New York City was devastated after terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center. The twin towers, were a prominent symbol of American financial might, were the first buildings to collapse. But now there is a big conservercy about what to do with the site. I believe that They should not re-build on the world Trade Center Sight. : We'll never forget as we've never forgotten the help that american people provided to us years ago to recover freedom May the memory of those departed,and the resolve of those left behind,forge a new committment to hope, peace, and justice that may uphold the dignity of general humanity. Ever since September 11 I have become interested in articles, magazines, ect. that has something to do with sept 11. That was the day america stood still, and it changed america, it joined us, made us stronger : I will never forget Sept 11 2001. The visions of the Twin Towers collapsing will haunt me forever. The definition of diversity is differences. The classroom from what teachers see is very Diverse in itself. The way you can allow people to see you as a person that is open to diversity is with symbols of different cultures and languages. Like hanging posters showing how another country looks or even making culture apart of your curriculum. You know how you have the alphabet hanging up in your classroom, you could put up Chinese and Spanish alphabet. Also, you could have a day to teach about another culture. You could show tapes on how they live and