Pacific Brands Case Study Analysis

Pacific Brands is an Australian company that manufacturers home appliances and uniforms for fire fighters. The company has experienced problems if managing its employees and staying afloat in the hard economic times. In addition, the company has decided to retire off its workers to cut on costs and reduce its spending in order to survive.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Pacific Brands Case Study Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Other companies, including some rivals, have shifted their operations to china and are doing well against the problems in the economy at the time. The other problem with the company is that it is not able to balance the salaries among its employees. While the government has tried to bail out the company from crisis, the company management decided to lay off workers and at the same time increase the earnings of its management team. It appears wrong for the company managers to do this, taking in to consideration that the company is on the verge of collapse. The other problem with the company is that it is not able to adapt to the difficult times like other companies in the region. Several other Australian companies are said to have shifted their operations to China after it became impossible for them to operate in Australia. The public image of the company is tainted since even the government was not in support of the actions of the company management of retiring off the workers while there was a better action that could have been taken. Although the relocation of operations is not a new practice in Australia, it is not ethical to follow the actions of other companies considering the fact that a pacific brand has employed many people in Australia. Management Problems The case of pacific brands is a difficult one. The company management insists on moving its operations to china in an emergency move to protect itself against the deteriorating marketing situ ation in Australia. The shift of operations is because China has cheaper labour and has a better overall access to raw materials.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, the company has not considered its priorities while it chose to move its operations to china. Although Pacific Brands claims to be flexible, it is proved otherwise by a keen examination of its decisions to move its operations to china. The company has not explored less radical idea of shifting its production to other types of goods, which are selling at a good price for the sake of its workers and its market in Australia. In addition, the management has hurt the public image when some personalities and the government come out in criticism of the company’s actions (Oshri, 2011, p.75). An overall assessment of the company’s actions shows that its management is incapable of making good decis ions on the behalf of its workers and the company as a whole. The decisions that have been taken by the company at the moment seem to be against the interest of many people who are important in the light of the company’s popularity in Australia (Oshri 2011, p.81). The actions that the company has opted to institute as a solution to the problems it faces are not in the interest of the community and the company employees (Schermerhorn 2011, p.85). The said actions are an emulation of the actions that companies took in the eighteenth century. It is not logical to compare situations and circumstances of companies from the eighteenth century with the situation of the company in Australia in the twenty first century. It can be understood that the company is facing a situation of total collapse if it fails to take action on the current problems in its marketing (Gospel Pendleton 2005, p.120). The management has contradicted itself in its commitment to survival of the company. The f acts are that the company is making profit, and that it has better options. In addition, the manufacturer has received support from the government to help the company to stay afloat in the economic situation of the time The other problem that the company has is the inability to speculate the future trend of the market and the labour. Currently, the problems that the company faces are due to global economic crisis. An earlier detection of the impending problems in the company’s operations could have helped the company salvage the situation in a better way.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Pacific Brands Case Study Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This is supported by the fact that the company has decided to move its operations to china when it is already too late. The time that it would take for the company to shift from Australia to China, and the cost of the actions does not seem logical dep ending on the nature of the problem at hand (Oshri et al 2009, p.52). Another problem in the company’s operations is the lack of an alternative product to market during low economic times. The company’s production lines seem fixated on selling the same goods it had been producing when it was performing better. Possible Solutions If Pacific Brands wished to control the rise of prices of its products in the market, it should have considered other means. One of the tactics that would have been useful in solving the problems that the company faces now is cutting down on its spending. It is noted that the workers are not complaining on the current pay of the general labour population. However, the company has decided to increase the pay of its management while ignoring the plight of the bigger worker population. It is absurd decision to increase any of the company employee’s salaries when the company faces closure due to financial insolvency (Schermerhorn 2011, p.89) . The management team including the president of the company is a part of the labour force that the company pays to maintain operations. However, the management has decided to ignore this fact and go on to exempt them by increasing their salaries at this time. Instead of a complete shift of operations to other countries, the company should have considered selling some of its assets to a willing foreign company to increase its capital base (Hopkins 2010, p.46). In addition, the company should have considered shifting its production to other goods since the products it was offering at that time were already being offered in the country at a cheaper price. Justification Pacific Brands is in dire crises now. Its experienced labour and its factories are at the risk of being permanently lost in the temporary economic depression. The company ought not to have decided to move its operations since it still has other options.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Shifting line of production and reducing spending and overheads is one of the solutions that would have helped the company survive hard times. Moreover, the negative publicity associated with the company’s action is not worth risking, considering that its major market is in Australia. References Gospel, H. F., Pendleton, A 2005, Corporate governance and labour management: an international comparison, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Hopkins, T 2010, Selling in tough times: secrets to selling when no one is buying, Business Plus, New York. Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., Willcocks, L 2009, The handbook of global outsourcing and offshoring, New York Publishers, Basingstoke, Hampshire. Oshri, I 2011, Offshoring strategies: evolving captive center models, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. Schermerhorn, J. R 2011, Management foundations and applications, John Wiley, Milton, Qld. This case study on Pacific Brands Case Study Analysis was written and submitted by user Madeline Albert to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Hurrah for the Lowly BUG

Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG By Maeve Maddox When I lived in England, my colleagues quickly taught me that I must say insect (not bug) unless I specifically meant bed-bug. In the U.S., bug applies to every conceivable type of insect. Bug also does duty as both noun and verb in many contextsand not only in the U.S. NOTE: When I pick up quotations from the web, I dont edit them. Police bugged a safe house where Rosemary West stayed before she was charged with murder but she said nothing that incriminated herself, Winchester Crown Court was told yesterday. Will Bennett in The Independent (UK) I dont think surround sound headphones is a gimmick or only for the hardcore gaming i recenlty brought a pair so i can watch a full hd movvie with surround wuthout bugging the neighbours when a car blows up at 3 in the morning. Australian Forum user A bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a sort of issue tracking system. Wikipedia The most important part of reporting a bug is giving the programmer the ability to duplicate the bug on his machine. If we cannot find a bug, we cannot fix it. tech advice site Someone needs to put a bug in Coach Gs ear about this guy comment on sports blog They say the spell that he gets under From double-barrelled thunder makes his Eyes bug out like hes insane song lyrics The word bug as applied to scary insects probably derives from M.E. bugge something frightening, scarecrow, a meaning obsolete except in bugbear. The bogey-man [boogy-man in my family] is related. The words application to insects may have been influenced by an Old English word meaning beetle. Bug as a Noun bug defect in a machine may have been coined by Thomas Edison. jitterbug a swing dance of the 1930s. Also used as a verb. humbug - trick, joke, hoax. Dates from 18th century student slang and no one says it anymore. However, if youve read or seen A Christmas Carol by Dickens, you know the word. Bug as a Verb The verb to bug, equip with a concealed recording device entered the language as long ago as 1919. debug remove defects from a machine or software to bug meaning to annoy dates from 1949. to bug meaning to bulge dates from 1870s and may derive from a variant pronunciation of the word bulge. bug off go away! 1950s; derived from British slang bugger off, Bug as a Suffix The suffix -bug added to a word can create a noun meaning a person obsessed with Firebug, a fire-setter dates from 1841. Shutterbug, picture-taking enthusiast, 1940. litterbug irresponsible person who drops trash anywhere first recorded 1947, but the verb littering came later, in 1960. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesDisappointed + PrepositionWhat the heck are "learnings"?

Organizational Behavior, can managers be overcommitted Surprisingly Essay

Organizational Behavior, can managers be overcommitted Surprisingly - Essay Example Usually, their next action is to issue another set of orders reinforced by penalties in case of further disobedience. Meanwhile, the discussion of the problems initiated often helps better and saves the nerves of both managers and their subordinates. Dick Spencer, the plant manager at Modrow from the case study obviously has faced the same problem as stated above. When ordering a foreman to bent the scrap strips instead of cutting them, he did not listen to contradictions of a foreman. Moreover, the agreement of a foreman was forced. Dick Spencer uses an authoritative leadership style, demanding obedience and being deaf to alternative opinions. Of course, this type of managerial behaviour pays well when a manager has a clear vision of the problem, and knows how to deal with it. Nevertheless, authoritative managers think they have a clear vision way to often compared to cases when they really have it. In this case, his management style failed him, as once again he saw workers cutting the strips, and therefore disobeying his orders. And for once more, he refused listening to the opinion of a foreman. No wonder, that his order was disobeyed for the third time. Let us imagine, how would another manager with different leadership style reacted to solve the problem. Bill Gates seems to be a proper candidate, as his managerial style is renowned for encouraging suggestions from all ranks and debate all ideas. His participative behaviour would lead to the discussion of the problem with the foreman, which is that cutting strips of scrap is less efficient and costs more than bending them. The contradictions of a foreman would have been listened, and compromises would have been reached. As can be seen, listening to foreman complaints and criticism seems to be not a bad idea in the end. Of course, it would have taken more time than assigning an order, but in this case the assignment would have been completed without further reminders more likely. Of course, the discussion may have turned into the other way: it is impossible to bend scrap strips for some reason of technological matter; - therefore no cost reduction can be expected in this activity. Still it would have brought the useful knowledge. Bob Eckert, a successful manager at Mattel can serve as a useful comparison of managerial styles. Like Dick Spencer, Eckert never changed his management principles. However, when reviewing the annual incentive plan at Mattel, he found that targets were set unrealistically high: employee bonuses were clearly unattainable. The dilemma he faced was: should he stick to his management principle of never altering targets once they had been set, or instead adjust them, make them attainable and perhaps win employee commitment Eckert has chosen the second way and won in the end: employers realised that he was on their side and re-doubled their commitment to the company's turnaround. (Eckert, 2001) Another aspect of Spencer's leadership style is his habit to roam the factory and listen to his employees. True, this gives a senior manager additional information about their organisation and shortens the distance between executives and workers. However, this characteristic does not go in line with manager's authoritative style of issuing orders. Workers may be clam because they do not interact with the top manager directly, but middle managers are very

Decision on the New System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Decision on the New System - Essay Example Specifically, HRMS encompass payroll, work time, administration of benefits, HR management system which covers the course from the employees' application to retirement, recruiting, and training. In consideration of how this new system will be installed in the business organization, it is imperative that it consider the cost and benefits of developing in-house versus outsourcing. In order to do so, we will look at the processes that the company will need to undertake in each alternative. For a decision to outsource, the company will simply search for a reliable company in the market which can supply it with an already existing system. The demand for HRMS has already generated manufacturers which gained expertise in building this system. In recognition of the differing needs of companies, these manufacturers also offer customizable systems to suit the preferences of their clients. Thus, it is possible for the company to find a supplier which will make possible the design of an HRMS which is specifically tailored for its needs. Haag and Cummings outline the major processes of software development within a company which include: project planning; feasibility study, and initiation stage; recruitments gathering and systems analysis; systems design; building; testing; installation, implementation or deployment; and maintenance.

Vargas Teaching Theory Analysis

Vargas Teaching Theory Analysis Question one What are your ideas of teaching? How does that compare with or contrast to Vargas perspective? Answer My ideas of teaching is to have a positive impact on my students in terms of their cognitive domain, affective domain and psychomotor domain. As a professional teacher, I understand that students have different learning styles and that is why my ideas of teaching and method of delivering instructions focuses on student center basically the 4Cs (collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity). I want students to have freedom of expression which gives room to open discussion and creativity. This boost their level of confidence and ability to express themselves out there any time. And finally, my Ideas of teaching is to challenge my students, watch them grow to their full potential, develop together for the betterment of everyone. Comparing my ideas of teaching with Vargas perspective, Vargas (2013) believes teaching is not just presenting to an empty class and we both have similar ideas on how teaching should be basically by knowing the students better, work on their behavior in every area and finally she doesnt think knowing the subject matter is a major factor on how students feel or perceive change in their attitude (p. 5). Which I totally I agree with her on this. Question two Briefly summarize Skinners perspective as it relates to behavior Answer Skinner, B.F. believed that the environment is a major determinant of behavior. Skinners perspective people have consistent behavior pattern because they have kinds of response tendencies (Vargas, 2013). He made a discover that most behavior is not the reaction to a stimulus that it depends upon its effect on the immediate environment. Vargas also stated in her book that Skinner believed that it was the consequences of individual actions and not antecedent stimulus that determined what the animals did. He called the behavior operant (p. 8). Question three What is your interpretation of Behavior Analysis? Support your answer with detail from the text. Answer My interpretation of behavior analysis is that it is a natural science that seeks to understand the behavior of individuals. Vargas (2013) explained that behavior analysis is a discipline based on the science first discovered by B.F. Skinner and the practices of operant conditioning have spread to all areas of behavior including animal training, business, clinical work, health and teaching. It is the science of behavior of humans and non-humans (p. 9). Question four How can the discussion What is a Cause (page 21), help the classroom teacher? Answer The discussion what is a cause will help the classroom teacher to focus on conditions or events on which an event or behavior depend on (Vargas, 2013). It will help teachers to learn and adopt strategies to improve behavior. Also what is a cause discussion on p. 21 will help teachers to know more about dependent and independent variables. With this, teachers will know more about the number of problems, assignment completed by the students. It will help them to sense what could be responsible for a behavior to identify functional relations between the behavior. And finally, the way the next generation behave will determine a countrys future more than any other resources within its borders (Vargas, 2013, p. 3). She believes teachers are expected to teach more while they receive more difficult students (p. 4). It is important to understand behavior of these students, it is very important to find the variables responsible for these behaviors. Vargas stated that Finding the causes becomes a search for functional relations among all the contingencies that occur in a setting (p. 22). This is exactly what is a cause discussion explained in details on page 21 of the text which will help the teachers a lot. Question five What new information did you find in chapter 2? Please explain. Answer The new information found in chapter 2 of the text behavior analysis for effective teaching is the functional relation which is a systematic relationship between dependent and independent variables. Independent variable explained as circular explanation or explanatory fiction which is a statement that has the form of an explanation, but in which the cause essentially restates the behavior to be explained while a mentalistics explanation relies on activities of a hypothesized mind to explain behavior (Vargas, 2013, pp. 22-23). Chapter 2 tries to explain more about Independent variables which buttress more points on behavior which can be circular or mentalistics. Question six What did you already know about Pavlov and his theory? After reading about Pavlov in chapter 3, what did you learn about his theory? Answer What I knew about Pavlov and his theory was that he was the one who discovered respondent conditioning and he believed that respondent behavior is controlled by a stimulus. But after reading about him from the text, I learnt that Pavlovs discovery was titled conditional reflexes instead of respondent conditioning (Vargas, 2013). The principle involves respondent behavior which occurs in response to a specific stimulus as part of a reflex. He believes reflexes consist of specific physiological reactions to a specific stimulus (pp. 8-9). What I learnt about his theory as a professional teacher is to be a good observer and a good researcher because it was due to his ability to research and observe that made him noticed something surprising about his dogs salivating before the food was put into their mouths. This is where his investigation began. As a teacher, we must research and observe what different behaviors of students must do with their learning. Question seven Define the Criticism Trap? Have you ever played a role in the criticism trap? Explain. Answer Vargas (2013) defined Criticism trap as a situation where criticizing a behavior you dislike or you wish to decrease seems to work because it temporarily decreases or stop the behavior, but criticizing it strengthens the behavior so that it occurs more frequently in the future. Yes, I had played a role. This happened to me and my wife with our little son at age 2. Anywhere we are going out, hes always excited to follow us but one thing he does is wearing his shoes or slippers the wrongly. After this, we will criticize him always for wearing his shoes wrongly, then he corrects himself and does it again and again. One day we realized criticizing him to correct him didnt work for him, so we adopted a method to correct him. Any time he wears his shoes wrongly, we will calmly correct him and once he does that, we tell him good boy or thats my boy and since then, he wears his shoes correctly and never wears them wrongly. What we learnt from the situation above is that we should praise imperfection and reward approximation the behavior we are looking for. And its working till now. Question eight How can teachers use the information found in chapter 3? Answer As a teacher, lets start from the criticism trap, we shouldnt criticize ourselves too much because in the long run, you will find yourself criticizing your students. We should learn to use praise frequently and use criticism relatively infrequently especially in the classroom. With these, we wont have problems with students. Another information here is punishment. Teachers must know the consequence of punishing a child because punishment has a bad effect on the punisher as well as on the recipients of the treatments (Vargas, 2013, p. 51). References Vargas, J.S. (2013). Behavior analysis for effective teaching (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka Essay -- Lion Jewel Soyinka Ess

The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka The three main characters in ‘The Lion and the Jewel’ are called Sidi, Lakunle and Baroka the Bale. Each character has different thoughts about one another and each views the society in a different way. This essay introduces and describes each character and analyses their role in the play. Sidi ==== Sidi is the first character that the audience meets. She is a very attractive woman, known as the village ‘belle’. Her attractiveness influences her personality, by making her quite vain. An example of her vanity is when she receives photos through of her that featured in a global magazine, taken by a western man. The photographs, also affect Sidi’s perception of Baroka, by making her believe that she is a better person, judging by the picture size difference in the magazine. Sidi is heavily influenced by tradition, which is outlined more than once throughout the play. The opening scene shows how Lakunle offers to carry Sidi’s load. Sidi refuses, because it is traditionally the woman that carries the load and if other people saw, then Sidi is afraid that people may start to shun or mock her. The relationship between Lakunle and Sidi is clarified when Sidi asks for a Bride Price. Lakunle is reluctant to give her money and insists that she take his token of love and loyalty instead. Due to Sidi’s heavy belief in tradition, she has to decline his offer and demand the bride money. If she accepts his offer, then her value and status in the village can potentially be diminished. Sidi tries to be quite intelligent by making remarks that counter act another persons. However, Baroka and Sadiku trick Sidi into marrying Baroka and becoming his youngest wife. Even Sidi’s... ...n any way (this is true in Sidi’s case). Baroka is an intelligent man and can use his words to fool people. Much like the railway track story and Sidi’s case. Baroka uses more words/ psychological flirting moves, rather than active moves. In the play Sidi comes to Baroka because of the news given to her by Sadiku, note that Baroka does not physically seduce her. He is able to analyse Sidi and her thoughts and then produce an effective seducing tactic. These 3 characters all have similarities and differences. Once we find out these differences, it is easier to see why the characters react in the way that they do. We are able to see why Lakunle is an outsider, why Sidi does not like one aspect of Lakunle, and how the Bale finally seduces Sidi. The Lion gets the Jewel and the outsider is left standing there watching for other women ready to go for the bait.

Islamic Media and Orientalism Essay

In recent years, Islam and its adherents have been subject to growing scrutiny in the aftermath of recent events such as the World Trade Center attack in September 11, 2001 and the fierce resistance of Iraquis to American occupation. Unfortunately, most of the interest in Islam and in Muslim communities focus on probing for a connection between Islam as a religious faith and hostility towards Western power and influence that undoubtedly ignores the realities and multi-dimensional aspects of Muslim experience. As the non-Muslim mass media continues to air or post the images of violence in war-torn Iraq or of the foreign-national beheadings by Afghan rebels and mujahedins, persistent stereotypes against Muslim individuals and Islamic nations are reinforced and justified. Thus, an examination of how the identities of Islamic nations, individuals and communities are created and mediated in the Muslim media itself and how it reinforces the non-Muslim perception of Islam as a religious and political identity becomes critical and necessary. Despite the advances in information and communications technology (ICT), Muslims remain at the peripheries of media exchange which contribute to the notion of Islam and Islamic communities as a rigid, closed system. Fandy (1999) attributes this to the inherent political and social structures in Islamic societies and nations that prevent the majority of its people from participating in the local and national dialogue and effectively shuts them out of the global information network. He cites, for instance, the stern censorship policies of the Saudi Arabian government that carries out filtering and removal of content that it deems unacceptable to Islamic culture and beliefs. In the same manner, the Saudi government maintains control over the mass media and communications infrastructure to ensure that opposition to its rule is limited. Even the intellectual discourse of Islam and its interpretation is limited as the State—represented by the King and the royal family—relies on the sanctioning effect of Islam as a religion to validate its rule. Likewise, in Indonesia where Muslims constitute the majority of the population, authoritarian government control pose a grave challenge on the Muslim media’s ability to develop an â€Å"open and pluralistic â€Å"public† sphere† (Hefner 79) which reinforce the notions of orientalism in Islam as a religion or of Islamic countries and peoples’ â€Å"unchanging civilizational identities†. (Hefner 103) The orientalism of Islam and its adherents are further reinforced by the tendency of Muslim mass media to depict Muslim societies as being homogenous and the same. Hefner (1997) observes, for instance, the obvious lack of attempt by the writers and editors of Media Dakwah, a Muslim magazine in Indonesia, to â€Å"represent the broad range of opinion within the Muslim community as a whole. In effect, Muslim media appears to depict Islamic societies as static by its emphasis on Muslim â€Å"otherness† or the â€Å"difference† between Islamic and non-Islamic culture. Aside from the government, Muslim media is regulated by public opinion among Islamic adherents and is effectively pressured to focus on â€Å"the uncompromising truth of Islam, Islam’s superiority to all other religions, and the threats posed to Muslims in a world dominated by anti-Islamic powers. (Hefner 90) The dominant Muslim mass media in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia therefore reinforces the perceived orientalism of the Islamic culture by its seeming resistance to change and the unquestioning passivity by which its audience are conditioned to adhere to Islamic codes and norms, and by its focus on non-compromise and seeming intolerance for un-Islamic practices. However, most of these are motivated by political rather than religious interests. Thus, attempts by the authoritarian government to undermine Saudi oppositions’ attempt at creating an alternative media based on its own interpretation of Islam by exploiting new media techology to expose the corrupt practices, poor human rights record, and un-Islamic acts of the King and his family further reinforces the perception of Saudi Arabia and Muslim countries in general as hostile and unreceptive to the plurality of ideas on Islam. In Indonesia, on the other hand, the intolerance by which Islamic fundamentalists criticize the cosmopolitanism of some Muslim print media effectively keeps publications in check and prevents it from exploring varied themes. Thus, the orientalism of Muslim culture is maintained and reinforce despite the rise and globalization of varied media and communication forms that scholars have generally regarded with optimism in relation to their role in leveling the field for intellectual and political discourse and creating new spaces by which the marginalized can be heard. In the case of Muslim media, the presence of hindrances such as strict religious and moral codes that are oftentimes used by the authorities to justify repression and to censor individual and group expression, have led to the continued marginalization of the Muslim experience and culture. It is in the unfortunate marginalization of the majority of the Muslim population that their culture and the changes in it become subject to the scrutiny of outsiders and to the categorization of orientalism in their identities.