Organization Theory For General Motors

Organization Theory For General Motors Organization theory is a sociology branch that focuses on the structure, systems and processes within an organization. Organization theory is thus applied by firms and states the activities and goals of that firm. General Motors Company was established in 1908 in Michigan by William Durant. By then it was a parent company for Buick. Later that year, it acquired two motor track companies i.e. the Reliance motor company which was based in Owosso, Michigan and Pontiacs Rapid motor company. However, General Motors Company came to be the market leader in Motor industry in the early 1980s.It started with employing 349,000 employees and had 150 assembly plants. Currently, General Motors produce tracks and cars in over 34 countries worldwide. It sells the vehicles through such brands as Cadillac, Buick, GMS, Chevrolet, Holden, GM Daewoo, Wuling and Vauxhall. The United States is the largest national market for General Motors. Other markets include the China, England, Germany.Russia, Canada and Brazil. Daewoo Auto and Technology Company of South Korea is the main shareholder of General Motors. It has power training and purchasing collaborations with Isuzu motors Ltd and Suzuki Motor corp of Japan. The genuine General Motors accessories and parts are normally sold under GM Goodwrench, GM performance, ACDelco brands and GM brands with the assistance of parts operations and GM service. The GM transmissions and engines are sold via GM power train (Frederick, 1995). General Motors Organizational Structure With regards to its organizational structure, General Motors have transformed form a traditional model to a modern one. The change in the organizational model has had an impact as far as the customers and the local communities of General Motors are concerned. The traditional General Motors Organizational model consisted of a hierarchy with executive or the president on top, then senior managers or vice presidents. Followed by managers and finally the employees. The jobs were usually grouped into departments. The General motors were composed of various independent automakers and each automaker operated differently and competed with each other. The transformation of the organization model saw General motors unified and centralized whereby several individuals work towards achieving a common goal. The corporation is now run in a streamlined manner and the several departments have been abolished (The University of Virginia, 1993). Multinational Company With operations in 34 countries all over the globe, General Motors is a multinational company. Multinational companies refer to those organizations which have operations in many countries. The ability of the General motors to operate in many countries is enhanced by globalization. This entails an ongoing process through which societies, regional economies and culture become integrated as a result of execution and globe network communications. This is usually driven through the combination of technological, political, economic and biological factors. Organization design Managers at General Motors have encompassed the application of the organization design. They have created processes, roles and reporting relationships in order to match the organizations form very closely. It is through the organization design that the company is able to improve probability that members collective efforts will be successful. The General Motors Company have been designed in a beauracratic manner whereby responsibility and authority have been arranged hierachically.This has enabled specialization and grouping of people who performs similar or related tasks in clusters. The bureaucracy in the General Motors have enhanced logic, rationally and most important, the efficiency. It has also had some demerits as far as rigidity and inflexibility are concerned e.g. slow decision making process e.t.c. (Salmon, 1989). Divisional Structure The General Motors Company uses divisional structure. Each organizational function is grouped into divisions. A division which is within the divisional structure usually has all the necessary information and resources within it. The General Motors can thus make a distinction based on geographical aspects e.g. the Russian division and the United Kingdom division and also on its products such as SUVs and another one for subcompact cars with each division having its own engineering, sales and marketing departments. This organizational structure have its own demerits which includes difficulty in product integration i.e. each GM divisional manager concentrates on delivering his or her products and fails to focus on integration and also the employees usually feel a bit affiliated towards their department only and they lacks sense of being a part of the organization. Divisional structure also inhibits the career growth of specialists as technical people may feel alienated from their colleag ues in other divisions and also may lack some exposure to major developments taking place in the organization (Cook, Woollacott, 1995). Organizational Culture The strategic leaders in the General Motors should are vested with the responsibility of creating the organizational characteristics that encourage and reward collective effort. The organizational culture is the most fundamental characteristic as it enables the organization to cope well with its environment. For General Motors to survive individuals must be integrated into a whole and also the organization must adapt effectively to the environment in which it is operating (Lung, 2003). GM External environment General Moors just like many other organizations does not operate in a vacuum. The organization has to be conscious about what happens outside its factory and office walls. These factors that occur outside the business boundaries are known as the external environment. They usually influence the organizations main functions, objectives and strategies. The main factors include the competition i.e. the extent to which other firms competes with the General Motors automobiles. The main competitors of the General Motors ifs the Ford Company. Ford was established in the 1920s by Henry Ford. It has been struggling to overtake General Motors Company using such strategies as lowering prices. Despite these, General Motors have been the market leader due to its variety and good management. To effectively deal with the competition threat from Ford and other automobile makers such as Toyota, the management should aim at improving the quality of the products so as to add the value to their customer s. The company also needs not to flounder in the accounting practices such as derivatives and pensions which have brought huge costs in the General Motors. To improve its management, the General Motors Company has been reshuffling its executives over the years (Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, 1994). The other factors that affect the General motors are; social i.e. how the consumer and communities at large behave with reference to the companys products. The other external factor is legal i.e. the manner in which the legislation affects the organization e.g. the change of the laws regarding employees working hours. Economic is the other external factor which affects an organization. This relates to such issues as taxation, interest rates, government spending, global economical factors and general demand. The other external factor that affects the business is the technology. For instance, the General Motors have to move with the current trends in the motor industry as far as its production processes and product innovation are concerned. Others are ethics i.e. the morality aspect of doing a business (Bordenave, 2003). The Stakeholders approach The General Motors should adopt the stakeholders approach in which case all its stakeholders will be able to know well how the business is being operated. Stakeholders are those people that have an interest in an organization and are affected by the companys omission or commission of its duties. The managers are required to decide on which views from the stakeholders are necessary to listen. The General Motors Company is currently undergoing through some significant transformations as it strives to become more competitive and so there could be several key things that the company could be involved with without the know-how of the companys management. In an aim of maintaining its competitive status, it is important to enquire from some of its more insightful people who may be experts in the industry about the things that should be done by the GM management so as to make the organization healthier, stronger and a more competitive one. To achieve this, the managers can adopt stakeholders approach which believes that the managers in any organization should consider the views from all the companys stakeholders and not relying only on the owners views. This inturn enables the stakeholders to have active interest as far as the business welfare is concerned. Some of the stakeholder approach and the potential benefits that can be achieved by business include offering the customers excellent after sale services and also good value products so as to create customer loyalty, social corporate responsibilities such as providing the locals with sports facilities so s to create good relations with them which may inturn help to increase sales.Also,a company should provide the workforce with good wages so that the employees can feel motivated and perform their duties enthusiastically and effectively( Rothstein,2005). To stay healthier and stronger, the General Motors needs to keep away from its historical tendencies of being in its comfort zone and regarding itself as the greatest. It should focus on achieving and sustained the momentum so as to bring change and improvements.It needs to borrow a leaf from Toyota which is away ahead of GM (Coetzee, 2001). The General Motors needs to innovate and be ahead of regulation i.e. it should take the opportunity and re-establish itself as a leader in Enviromental technology and avoid being regarded as resistant towards progress on emissions and fuel efficiency. This will enable the company to overtake Honda and Toyota which is deemed as leaders as far as this area is concerned (Greenberg Baron, 1995).

Sex and Desire Essay -- Literary Analysis

Sex and desire. Few words evoke such complexity of meaning. For some, it is a sexual act. Whereas one might describe it as the sensual pleasure of two bodies fused into one being, another may define it as the fulfillment of animalistic desire, an unleashing of the beast, if you will. But, beyond an act charged with various meaning, it can also serve as an identity–heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual. Whether act or identity, societal dictates define the norm and the deviant. Because of this, the artist who departs from the "acceptable" and embraces the "aberrant," arouses the consciousness of self and society. In doing so, sex and desire become a vehicle, a means of communication between artist and audience, and an object that demands our attention. Whether it is the subtle and sensual language of Anaà ¯s Nin in The Diary of Anaà ¯s Nin (1966), the coarse and explicit vocabulary of Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer (1934), or the poetic and surrealistic prose o f Djuna Barnes in Nightwood (1934), sex and desire, as a vehicle in the literature of these authors, exposes the chaos and confusion within their world and suggests the establishment of a new order for self and society. Written between 1931 and 1934, The Diary of Anaà ¯s Nin chronicles one artist’s psychological journey. Deserted by her father as a young girl, Anaà ¯s experiences an â€Å"initial shock† that leaves her â€Å"like a shattered mirror† (103). The shards of glass, each developing a life of their own, come to be the â€Å"several selves† of Anaà ¯s (103). Through the pages of The Diary, reflecting upon and dissecting these various selves, she concludes, â€Å"one does not need to remain in bondage to the first wax imprint made on childhood sensibilities. One need not be brande... ...thly father, a man she worshipped from her youth. This is further supported by a reference to the child as a â€Å"fragment of the past† (341). Finally, while giving birth she remarks, â€Å"These legs I opened to joy, this honey that flowed out in the joy–now these legs are twisted in pain and the honey flows with the blood† (344, emphasis added). All things considered, it seems reasonable to conclude the child was a result of incestuous union. Nevertheless, from the chaos and confusion, emerges the â€Å"birth† of the â€Å"real† Anaà ¯s and while she â€Å"may not become a saint† she is â€Å"very full and very rich† (360). Works Cited Barnes, Djuna. Nightwood. New York: New Directions Books, 2006. Print. Miller, Henry. Tropic of Cancer. New York: Grove Press, 1961. Print. Nin, Anaà ¯s. The Diary of Anaà ¯s Nin: Volume One 1931-1934. San Diego: Swallow Press and Harcourt, 1966. Print.

Newspaper as a Reliable Source of News and Information

NEWSPAPER AS A RELIABLE SOURCE OF NEWS AND INFORMATION: The newspapers most notable contribution as a mass communication medium has been as a purveyor of information. Many people doubted if newspapers could fight off the challenge posed by radio and television – both being immediate and more entertaining, but they have fought this challenge and have survived and are going strong due to the following reasons: 1. Newspapers offer detailed accounts which is not possible with radio and television. 2. The printed word carries a lot of credibility than the spoken words of radio and tv. . Also while one has to wait for news bulletins on radio and tv, one can read it anytime he wants. Here time is not a constraint. A newspaper's coverage of meetings and events, investigative journalism that uncovers important issues and strong opinion pieces that offer points of view and courses of action are often the starting point of discussion within a community. As recorders of activities large a nd small within the community, as the community's watchdog and often spokesperson, a newspaper plays a crucial role in day-to-day life in every city, town and community in the country.As a keeper of the stories of a community, the newspaper is there at the start, and the finish, and remains the only effective instrument for such record-keeping. As they begin their search for an important household item, consumers usually turn to the pages of the newspaper to study advertisements and promotions placed by local merchants. When planning trips, readers turn to the newspaper for information about possible destinations, accommodations and other travel information. When looking for a new home or attempting to sell their present house, people find the pages of the newspaper the best place to start.The classified section of any newspaper is the first source for people looking for employment. For some people, their first field trip in school is a visit to the newspaper, and for information fo r a school project on current events, their first stop is the newspaper or, now, the newspaper's site on the World Wide Web. Many people develop a lifelong love of reading by picking up a newspaper each day to find out about the important news, follow the progress of their favorite teams, check out the views of a top columnist or to read their favorite comics.The habit of reading the newspaper is an important step in building literacy skills, as well a keeping a person well-informed on the issues of the day. A good newspaper offers something for everyone, whether it is coverage of an election race, reports from council and school board meetings, display or classified advertising, and opinion writing that educates and excites the reader. Thus newspapers are your source of reliable information in a world overloaded with the unreliable.

10 Ways To Create Immediate Character Empathy

10 Ways To Create Immediate Character Empathy 10 Ways To Create Immediate Character Empathy Need fast, practical help getting readers to care about your main character? Enjoy this blog by my friend and colleague, an award-winning, bestselling novelist. JJ Guest post by Brandilyn Collins Regardless of genre, novelists must create empathy for protagonists at their first appearance. Mere actionisn’t enough! The most interesting plot won’t matter to readers if they don’t care about your main character. Here’s how to make that happen. Most of these work best when combined with at least one other. Your character must be: Need help writing your novel?Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide. 1. Displaying a valued trait such as loyalty, love, or courage. Especially important if the protagonist soon makes a bad choice. It’s far easier to create empathy for a character right away than to erase negativity. So before he makes any negative choice, show your protagonist help a child, tend a sick person, stand up for a friend†¦ 2. Particularly good at something. People enjoy watching real talent. This approach involves details. Don’t merely tell us a hunter is efficient with a gun. Show him treating the weapon lovingly, oiling it, practicing with it. Besides a keen eye, maybe he smells prey before seeing it. 3. Treated unjustly. This approach can work on its own, although other techniques can enhance it. It’s human nature to feel bad for someone who meets injustice. 4. Wishing for something universally understood. This includes love, acceptance, purpose. Such desires help soften characters- even those who first come across as selfish or uncaring. So this is a great approach to characters harder to like. 5. Thrust into danger. Anything from facing a storm to a bad guy with a gun. But because we’ve read so many danger-filled scenes, use at least one other technique to make us care about the character. 6. Thrust into grief. The challenge here is that readers don’t yet know the character well enough to feel her pain. But resist the temptation to load in a bunch of backstory to enhance the grief. It’ll slow your story. Find ways to incorporate other empathy approaches within the action. 7. Caring for others, especially at a cost to oneself. Known as a pet-the-dog scene, the Bad Guy shows his tender side: kill the human, kiss the hound. Two points to remember when using this technique: (A) Overdone, the scene can become syrupy. (B) The caring needs to be unassuming. A true caregiver doesn’t stop to think how kind he’s being. 8. Unique, attention-getting. Your character may do off-the-wall things, may look different or think in unique ways, may have an unusual first-person voice. The possibilities are many. This approach needs to be mixed with at least one other. A character can act in all sorts of unusual ways to make you look twice. That doesn’t mean you’ll like him enough to keep reading. 9. Attempting to overcome a fear or make a change. Readers identify with this. We don’t like facing our fears or change. But two challenges: (A) Present the problem clearly enough that readers understand what’s must be overcome and why it’s so hard for the character- without loading in backstory. (B) Sometimes this is more of an internal battle. The character may be deciding whether to walk out on a relationship, or he may have conflicting desires. To make an inner struggle compelling in the opening scene, put it in the context of action. 10. Facing an inner struggle. Differs from #9 in that the character isn’t trying to make a change. She doesn’t know how to handle a burden- guilt, depression, bitterness, jealousy, hate Sometimes the character doesn’t even know she’s burdened. She may be in bondage due to intense bitterness but not realize it. In this case, give the reader just enough information to understand more about the character than the character understands about herself. Just remember that you want the reader to like your character, not think she’s an idiot. Again, it helps to mix in other approaches. Exercise Read the opening scenes to at least five novels you’ve enjoyed. Which techniques were used, and how were they combined? Then read your novel’s first scene. Will readers empathize with your protagonist by the end of it? See how others- who’ll be honest with you- react. Brandilyn Collins (www.brandilyncollins.com) is a best-selling author of 30 books. She isknown for her Seatbelt Suspense ®- fast-paced, character-driven novels with myriad twists and a thread of faith. Brandilyn teaches fiction-writing techniques in her book Getting Into Character. She has won numerous writing awards and is a frequent speaker at writers conferences. Brandilyn and her husband have three grown children and live in the Pacific Northwest. Which of her techniques above will help your work-in-progress? Tell me in the Comments below. Need help writing your novel?Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide.

Aristotles Theory of Morality

Aristotles Theory of Morality Free Online Research Papers Aristotle (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, who studied with Plato and taught Alexander the Great. Aristotle believed the task of ethics was to find the highest and best good in human life. All human activities aim at some higher end that we consider good. For example, we study to get good grades, then to be posted to a university, and so on. Most activities are a means to a higher end. The highest human good, then, is that activity that is an end in itself, which Aristotle believes is happiness. Not simply pleasure or any kinds of subjective state, for these are all temporary. When we aim at happiness, we do so for its own sake, not because happiness helps us realize some other end. The happiness Aristotle envisions is a human being â€Å"living well† and â€Å"flourishing†, which carries connotations of success and fulfillment. Happiness depends on living in accordance with appropriate virtues. Virtue is a disposition rather than an activity. That is, a virtuous person is naturally disposed to behave in the right ways for the right reasons, and to feel pleasure in behaving rightly. Once someone has a virtuous moral character, he will naturally be disposed to do the right things, thus making virtuous and morally correct actions. To Aristotle, ethics is not a list of dos and don’ts, nor is it merely a matter of fulfilling your duty (Kantian), not is it merely achieving the best consequences possible with your actions (the utilitarians). Aristotle believed virtue was a mean state between the vices of excess and deficiency, in the case of any particular passion or emotion. For example, the virtuous mean of courage stands between the vices of rashness and cowardice, which represent excess and deficiency respectively. Aristotle lists the following as moral virtues: courage, temperance (moderation), liberality (moderation in giving and taking money), magnificence (correctly dealing with great wealth or power), pride (claiming what is due to you), gentleness (moderation with respect to anger), agreeableness, truthfulness, wittiness and justice.1 However not every action or passion has a mean, as some are wrong no matter what the situation, such as theft, murder, arson. It is not possible to be right with regard to these actions, one must always be wrong. The Aristotelian ethics is advantageous in the sense that they are generally easy to apply, and are more accurate in reality. For example, being virtuous is the most important goal of a human being’s life. Also, it is easy to follow the theory of ‘vices of excess and deficiency’ and apply it in real life. Aristotle assumes the ability of the virtuous person to recognize the best course of action, and a person’s pursuit of eudaimonia (happiness), rightly conceived, will result in virtuous conduct. However, there are some weaknesses in the theory. Aristotle states that living according to virtues is often not enough to guarantee a happy life. Another prerequisite (in addition to virtuous behaviour) is good fortune which brings one the goods necessary, but not sufficient, for a happy life. Another prerequisite for a happy life is health, which is also desired for its own sake. For Aristotle even the most virtuous of men can be denied happiness through the whims of fortune. As a consequence, one cannot be sure of achieving happiness until one’s life is fully played out. It can also be inferred that living a good life does not only require behaving virtuously, but also requires some strokes of good fortune or even luck. This can be perceived to be a weakness, or inconsistency in the theory, as Aristotle firmly advocates that virtue alone brings happiness. However he also acknowledges the weakness in the theory. I feel that his theory on ethics is one of the best ones we can follow as it is thorough in almost all aspects, and also strives for the best good for the human being (achieving eudaimonia). The ‘Golden Mean’ Theory is also highly accurate in real life, albeit the few exceptions which are always wrong (e.g. theft). It is a highly efficient guide to pursuing the best moral character possible. Sources: 1 â€Å"Aristotle lists the following as moral virtues: courage, temperance (moderation), liberality (moderation in giving and taking money), magnificence (correctly dealing with great wealth or power), pride (claiming what is due to you), gentleness (moderation with respect to anger), agreeableness, truthfulness, wittiness and justice.† Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachean_Ethics Research Papers on Aristotle’s Theory of MoralityComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoCapital PunishmentArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Effects of Television Violence on ChildrenHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andLifes What IfsAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Creative Designs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Creative Designs - Essay Example Book resources for meeting. The ability to communicate internally and externally, reply, forward, find and store electronic communications To organize meetings, check availability of key attendees and invite them. To accept invitations to meetings. The ability to communicate internally and externally, reply, forward, find and store electronic communications. To organize meetings, check availability of key attendees and invite them. To accept invitations to meetings. The ability to communicate internally and externally, reply, forward, find and store electronic communications. To organize meetings, check availability of key attendees and invite them. To accept invitations to meetings. The ability to communicate internally and externally, reply, forward, find and store electronic communications. To organize meetings, check availability of key attendees and invite them. To accept invitations to meetings. 3. The table below compares the three short-listed office automation applications and compares them against identified criteria. KEY TO FUNCTIONALITY: A - WORD PROCESSING B - SPREADSHEETS C - PRESENTATIONS D - DATABASE E - E-MAIL Mary Thomas - Office Secretary Job Function Lotus Notes v 7.0 MS Office WordPerfect FUNCTIONALITY A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E Document preparation x x x Record incoming calls x x x x x x Email x x x TOTAL: 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 2 Jim Parker - Sales Person Job Function Lotus Notes v 7.0 MS Office 2007 SBE WordPerfect FUNCTIONALITY A B C D E A B C D E A B C D E Presentations x x Maintain presentation diary x x x x x x Email x x x TOTAL: 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 2 Howard Rice - Bookkeeper/Database... Since the organization has not yet decided which applications it wishes to use for generic things such as client relationship management and diary management, I have indicated that they could use either a spreadsheet, database, electronic diary manager built into the email function, or in some cases a simple list in a Word Processed document. MS Office has all the functionality they require, but one must first establish what applications they had used before, and focus on similarity to graphical user interface, ease of use and the amount of intuitive automation available. The next step would be backward compatibility with the applications currently in use - data conversion or data entry simply adds to the scope of the project and the costs. I would then look at licensing costs for 5 users and support options available to assist them as they configure the software to suit their working practices. Ultimately I would be concerned with scalability and longevity of the workgroup application chosen. For example, whilst MS Office is not to everyone's taste it is compatible with most software and operating systems, with a strong user base and relatively small learning curve because the user interface is very similar between the various applications.

Global Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global Strategy - Essay Example These are ownership, location and internalization. Ownership is analogous to Porter's competitive advantages and is concerned with ownership of "such things as proprietary technology, superior marketing skills, economies of scale in production, superior management skills, and other firm-specific capabilities". Location is ability of a company to use location advantages in reducing manufacturing costs. Finally internalisation deals with whether activities are performed in the company or outside the company. This case study done by Liu, H. and Li, K. (2002) discusses Haier, a leading Chinese company specialising in home electronics. This company in its short time has grown from a small enterprise employing 600 people to its present status as a leading multinational enterprise (MNE) which is in the Fortune 500. Haier's path to internationalisation has been unique and highly effective. According to Liu, H. and Li, K. (2002) the analysis of its internationalisation strategy can be viewed in terms of the environment - strategy - performance framework. The environment being classified into two classes of positive factors collectively referred to as the impetus and the negative factors collectively referred to as constraints. The end of the cold war which came as a result of collapse of communism in Europe created an international environment with reduced polarisation. At the same time China was liberalising and opening its market in the 1990s. China has had the longest sustained economic growth since the 1980s. The annual average growth rate has been more than 8% for more than 20 years. Haier's history of growth started in 1984 with the appointment of current CEO Zhang Rulmin. At that time China's economy was drastically changing. Competition among the domestic producers of home appliances was hotting up. Liberalisation of the economy brought foreign players to compete in an already saturating market. The admittance of China into the World trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 opened the floodgates. Many companies from developed countries were rushing to enter the Chinese market. Not willing to compete using a price war Haier was forced to look outside China for further growth in its business. The external constraints on Haier in its internationalisation strategy were lack of financial resources. The company was under-equipped and under-financed. For the company to expand it had to develop innovative strategies for financing its overseas expansion. The Government was supportive of Haier and allowed them to form a bank and use it as a vehicle of financing its own expansion abroad. The Japanese firms which internationalised followed two generic paths as shown in the diagram below. Figure 1 Internationalization paths for Japanese Companies, Liu, H. and Li, K. (2002) The Type I path was popular as it allowed the company to use the ventures in developing countries to acquire skills for international operation. These skills are used to enter developed countries. This strategy also favors a low cost strategy where the lower costs of manufacturing in developing countries are used to service the market in developed countries. The Type II strategy which starts with entrance into developed markets and then expansion into