Strategic Management And Leadership Skills

Strategic Management And Leadership Skills Initial part of this report emphasizes on relationship between leadership and strategic management and how can organization get benefited using this dual combination. Organizations are using these concepts in improving organization performance and communication. Leadership styles such as Autocratic, laissez-fare and Participative also supporting leaders achieving organizational objective efficiently which ultimately result into successful accomplishment of organizational goal. Later part of this report stresses on various leadership theories (Transformational, Transactional, Charismatic, Situational etc) which companies are now implementing in order to refine their organizational process using innovation, flexibility, involvement, effective communication, authorization, contingent rewards and management by exception concepts. Apple is successfully using different leadership theories in order to systemize their processes. Lastly this report inculcates the future of leadership concept in business context and how companies can implement these concepts in order sustain and survive in the marketplace. Introduction Effective leadership helps business in times of peril. It makes the organization successful. Without leadership, organizations lose their way and face stagnancy. Organization give more stress on correctness, completeness and timeliness of work but leadership actually work upon it by different means of effective implementations. Leader stimulates the behavior of employees through proper motivation and gets the work done. A good leader is one who is capable of making a weak business plan success on the other hand a poor leader can devastate even the best plan. In short, leader can make or break the business. (Mills.D.Q., 2005) For example, Winston Churchill has a deep insight as well as foresight. He was futuristic and visionary. It is evident from the fact that he warned his fellow Englishman about the upcoming threat from the Hitlers army. However, most Englishman ignored his warning and felt that instead of involving in war Hitlers army would be pacified so that war could be avoided. Further, they resented Chuchill for his proactive warning. They did not show faith in his leadership. The resultant of this was that the Englishman had to fight a war with the German army. Had the Englishman been listened to Churchills warning they would have been in advantageous position which did not happen. After that incident Churchill was praised for his vision, pro-activeness, and foresight. During the Second World War he became the Prime Minster of England and people of England accepted his leadership (Mills.D.Q., 2005). Another wonderful example of Leadership is Harley-Davidsons Rich Teerlink. During the period of 1980s the USA based motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson had to face stiff competition from its Japanese counterpart such as Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki. The company was almost outmaneuvered by the competition on every aspect. In order to be in the competition it needed to change and change significantly. Rich Teerlink somehow managed to keep the company financially sound but a lot of other things were simply not in place. The company faced a daunting challenge to improve its systems and procedure along with product innovation to stay in the market. Rich accepted this challenge and completely changed the internal dynamics of the company. He formed a bottom up (from employees to manager) organization rather than top down (from managers to employees). This move helped the organization in understanding the problems faced by organization quickly and hence it helped the company in solving them quickly as well. During the course of the time this leadership approach of Rich built stronger organization than it was earlier. The employees were motivated and more confident to contribute towardss organizations success (Mills.D.Q.2005). In the ideal organization, the top level the leadership should stay close to the ground. (Barth, R. 1993-94) 1. Understand the relationship between strategic management and leadership. 1.1 Explain the link between strategic management and leadership Strategic Management- Strategic Management includes evaluating strategic objectives and aims, enhancing organizational performance, communicating and implementing change, developing the performance of the teams, strategic decision making. Leadership- It is a process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others. Leaders set a direction for the rest of us; they help us see what lies ahead; they help us visualize what we might achieve; they encourage us and inspire us. (Mill, D.Q. 2005) Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure. ( Burke, A. 2005) Relationship The word management reflects terms such as efficiency, planning, paperwork, procedures, regulations, control and consistency on the other hand Leadership is associated with the terms like risk taking, dynamic, creative, change and vision. As per some researchers, Leadership is value-laden activity and management is not, Leadership stress in doing the right things whereas management believe in doing things right (Bennis, 1985; Zaleznik, 1983). Leadership and management complement each other, and both are vital to organizational success. The issue of Leadership versus management takes the middle-of-the-road position. They are considered closely related but possess distinguishable functions. This can be easily understood with help of figure 1-1. This figure shows that Leadership and management are two over-lapping functions. Management and leadership complement each other and a person who is a manager should be a leader committed to the customers, employees, suppliers and the community at large. (Testa, 2001) Apple Incs Steve Jobs is a perfect example of Leadership and Management. Although, Steve Jobs was a co-founder of Apple Computer but got fired as CEO once at the age of 30. In 1997, he returned back in the company as CEO, and started leading the company. When he realized that Apply was losing market share and finding it difficult to fight with Microsoft, he decided to reinvent every product of Apple offered, and gave a boost to their employees with a most powerful tool of leadership momentum and managed the whole situation successfully. He understood the essentials of leadership and management and accordingly built such environment wherein each and every employee developed hence, drove the entire groups efforts towards the accomplishment of goals. He got his employees so accustomed to change that they expect it now. Renovating again and again has become a line of attack for Apple Inc. such as Apple iPod, Nano, iPod Mini, Shuffle, iPod Video etc. Steve Jobs accustomed his employees to change and innovation in such a way that if one day he could walk into Apple proclaim that they are planning to make washing machines then nobody would think hed have lost his mind rather his employees would jointly say, Guide us the way, boss and tell us how to fabricate best washing machines anybody so far made. Leadership and globalization In order to stay ahead in this competitive environment it is very important for any organization to take necessary steps to face both domestic and foreign competition effectively. Organizations should start focusing on global framework for strategic marketing, planning, and operations. Recent development in various aspects such as transportation technologies for electronic data interchange, global communications, international marketing, finance and management, resources planning etc have improved the potential of organizations to operate globally in this aggressive environment. To sustain in this global environment each and every organization needs to have focused global vision and knowledge of various cultures, customs and methods wherein they to function. They also have to understand different regulatory and legal arrangements and aspects of countries in which they intend to operate. 1.2 Analyze the impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions. There are various styles of leadership and management which have an impact on strategic decision of any organization. Leaders uses all these styles, depending on combination of their beliefs, values and preferences, what forces are involved, the situation, organization culture, norms etc. The three major styles of leadership are (U.S. Army Handbook, 1973) which are as follows:- 1.2.1 Autocratic / Authoritarian style In this style decision-making authority is with the leader. In this style opinions and suggestions from subordinates are not entertained. 1.2.2 Delegative / Laissez-faire / Free reign style In democratic leadership style decision are taken with the help of suggestion and opinions of group of employees, such as any instruction is given after consulting with the employees. 1.2.3 Participative / Democratic style- In this style, liberty is given to employees while doing any task e.g. leaders give freedom to deciding their own methods and policies. 1.3 Evaluate how leadership styles can be adapted to different situations Autocratic style can be used with new employees as they are in a learning stage. The new employees will feel motivated while learning new skills. Participative style can be used where leader is aware of the problem but dont have all relevant information on the other hand employees are well-versed with their work and want to participate in organizational decisions. Delegative style can be used where employees know their work more than leader thus has to take ownership of work. This generally allow leader to easily perform other task. There is no set pattern to follow and use these leadership styles. A good leader adopts all three styles together as per the situation arises. These styles play a very significant role in strategic decision making of an organization. With the effective use of these styles group can achieve its objective efficiently which ultimately result into successful accomplishment of organizational goal. For organizational success, leadership is considered prerequisite therefore it is prominent for all types of organizational structure (Khaleelee Woolf, 1996). Organizational variables like, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and communication are the most significant factors of organizational effectiveness (Lashchinger, 2001) and performance (Riketta, 2002; Kramer, 1999; Angle, 1981). According to some researchers, there is a strong connection between turnover and organizational variables like job satisfaction, organizational commitment and communication (Benkhoff, 1997; Baugh Roberts, 1994). For instance, when employees are not satisfied with their work and look forward for other opportunities in order to quit and dont get opportunities then they generally quit the organization mentally therefore it depicts that job satisfaction, organizational commitment and communication are quite essential while assessing the overall contribution of employees towards the organization. Leadership and organizational variables are highly correlated (Williams Hazer, 1986; Lok Crawford, 1999; 2001). Therefore, with the effective and sensible utilization of Leadership styles, organization can motivate and inspire its employee to large extent in order to achieve organization objective. 2. Apply management and leadership theory to support organizational direction. 2.1 Review the impact that selected theories of management and leadership have on organizational strategy. 2.1.1 Transformational Leadership Transactional leadership occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things. Burns (1978) There are four components of transformational leadership, which are: Charisma or idealized influence Charismatic leaders exhibit assurance and conviction, they take stands and persuade their followers on an emotional level. Robust trust is maintained among followers and leaders which are usually built on the foundation of moral and ethical. These leaders are the Role models for their followers. Inspirational motivation These leaders demonstrate clear vision to motivate the followers using inspirational and appealing concepts and theories. Intellectual stimulation These leaders promote their followers for creative things and emphasize on building connection with the organization, employees and the objectives. They also encourage them to discover new opportunities and different ways of doing things. Individualized consideration or individualized attention These leaders understand followers needs and address them properly. They also acknowledge the contribution of followers in the team and always act as a mentor. They foster caring relationships; transformational leaders keep healthy environment so that followers feel free to impart their ideas and opinions so that their unique contributions can be recognized. 2.1.2 Transformational leadership Transformational leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Burns (1978) Contingent Reward Transformational leaders clearly assign the work which is to be accomplished and give reward when results are achieved. Management by Exception Passive: In case of intolerable performance or deviation in required standard, transformational leaders take corrective measures or give punishment. Active: In order to complete the assigned work as per required standards in stipulated time, transformational leaders actively monitors the whole process and uses different methods. Laissez-Faire Leadership Laissez-faire leaders leave so much responsibility over their subordinates; they engage themselves in paperwork and try to avoid argumentative situation. They dont help them in decision making activity and leave them isolated to handle situations independently since they want to keep good relation with everybody. 2.2 Leadership strategy that supports organizational direction. APPLE Inc. Case Study- Leadership Apple Inc. is a USA based multinational company which operates in the domain of IT and computers and was founded by Steve Jobs. The company is famous for its products such as Makintosh, iPod, and iPad. The company also has its own operating system. Apples products have revolutionized the market of computers with recent iPad 2 being the talk of the market. The company under the leadership of Steve Jobs has shown aggressive product innovation to lead in the market and kept competitors at bay. The leadership traits of Steve Jobs are widely acknowledged around the globe. Even at the time when he was on medical leave to fight his cancer he used to give strategic advice to the top level management of the company. This attitude of Jobs was a great source of inspiration for the employees of the organization. He created self belief in his employees and that is the reason that he has given the responsibility of the business development to Tim Cook (current COO). Steve Jobs is known for his transformational leadership style that he implemented in Apple Inc. Like a transformational leader he was a firm believer of the fact that transforming others to help each other, to look out for each other as a source of knowledge and motivation, to be encouraging and harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole are the factors important for the success of organization. The vision of Steve Jobs to provide computers as a tool to change the world attracted him many of the global talents. The basic traits of the leadership style of Steve Jobs are mentioned below: 1. Focus 2. Innovation 3. Passion 4. Involvement, and 5. Effective communication The focus and passion for innovation are one of the primary reasons for Apples success. Steve Jobs induced this feeling in employees through effective communication that innovation is the difference between the leader and the follower. The success of this philosophy could easily be understood by the fact that Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad all these products changed the dynamics of the computer world with competitors left out with no option but to follow. During the visit of PARC Research center Steve jobs got an idea that mouse-driven graphical user interface is a future of computing (Bennis Biederman, 1997), The failure of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) (due to lack of transactional leadership) was the reason of Apple success. Steve jobs did what Bob Taylor could not do i.e. creation of Transactional leadership style. Through Transactional leadership style, he created the systems and structures at all the levels of his organization. Through this Steve became successful in generating knowledge at every level within the organization so that employees can work unanimously with single frame of mind for organization success, keeping the vision of the company enacts. And the result of this was Apple Mackintosh. By looking at the Apples success under the brilliance and leadership of Steve Jobs it can be said that transformational leadership theory and transactional leadership theory provide a foundation for understanding how leaders impact the cultivation of knowledge (Bass, 1985; Conger Kanungo, 1998; House, 1977; House Aditya, 1997). Conger (1999) recently argued that researchers should continue developing transformational and charismatic leadership theory and doing exploratory research in this area. Exploring the role of leadership styles in converting knowledge into competitive advantages is important to our understanding of leaders and organization. 3. Access and Development of Leadership Requirement As businesses have entered into the new millennium therefore extensive concentration and observation would be needed to identifying the competencies, ability, skills and knowledge of manager/leader of twenty-first century (Greenberg, 1998; Shapiro, 1999; Kaydo, 2000; Dimitrijevic and Engel, 2002; Kacena, 2002). Future managers will need to posses both managerial and leadership attributes like tangible, measurable skills and intangible, soft-skills. Tangible skills includes knowledge of concepts, styles, theories, financial procedure etc on the hand intangible skills consist of assurance, adaptability, flexibility, commitment, vision etc. In order to sustain in the competitive environment every organizations should provide learning to their employees, which could be in terms of different management/leadership development programs and approaches therefore they should introduce productive sessions to widen their root, emotionally, conceptually, theoretically and environmentally with the intention to increase their analytical capabilities; to facilitate sellf-awareness (Byrt, 1989:14). These activities will educate the managers whilst process of management and will simultaneously improve the efficacy in a work place (Jones, Ball and Shellens, 1972:6). Organizations should develop in-house programs for employees that transmit knowledge which is significant for their success. Such formal management/leadership education programmes offer beneficial skills to future managers/leaders including introspection skills, interpersonal skills, resource allocation, leadership, information processing, conflict resolution, decision-making, entrepreneurial, (Watson, 1993:17). Future leaders will need to be acquainted with international and global environment so that they can do business effectively and efficiently. Leaders required to be well prepared for external complexities of business (e.g., managing the companys interface with regulations, trade, political, and media groups etc and several other wide ranges of issues)(Cacioppe, 1998). 4. Conclusion Leadership skills can be developed through basically two methods. First, self-help e.g. viewing events from multiple perspectives or learning from mistakes, second, formal learning through developmental activities e.g. training courses, developmental assessment, job rotation, seminars, self-directed learning, executive coaching, companies own universities, action learning, and partnership with key academics and mentoring. In-house programs will help developing because of their experiential (practical) learning base. They are generally based effective organizational, leadership and successful self-management leadership competencies e.g. thinking and acting strategically, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, ability to learn, systems thinking. Leadership development programs and sessions help participants to become emotionally intelligent leaders, who are passionate and competent builders of a productive, supportive and enjoyable work environment. It will assist both current leaders and potential leaders to develop their leadership attributes further. Leadership skills can be developed through basically two methods. First, self-help e.g. viewing events from multiple perspectives or learning from mistakes, second, formal learning through developmental activities e.g. training courses, developmental assessment, job rotation, seminars, self-directed learning, executive coaching, companies own universities, action learning, and partnership with key academics and mentoring. Future leaders will need to be acquainted with international and global environment so that they can do business effectively and efficiently. As explained above Apple is extremely successful by implementing leadership theories in the organization. In order to sustain in the competitive environment every organizations should provide learning to their employees, which could be in terms of different management/leadership development programs and approaches therefore they should introduce productive sessions to widen their root, emotionally, conceptually.

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When Diving Into Sacred Doctrina - 1243 Words

Before diving into sacred doctrina, Aquinas explains sacred doctrina as the science of God and how His creation related back to him. In order to study sacred doctrina, one can either look at the causes first and make sense of what follows or he can look to the effects in order to draw conclusions about the cause. The latter is the method of St. Thomas Aquinas in explaining sacred doctrine in his Summa Theologiae. Aquinas looks to creation in order to make conclusions about the Creator. In order to discus what God is, Aquinas looks to creation to examine what God is not. God’s infinity is one of the many arguments of Aquinas that show his method of argument. In his argument concerning the infinity of God, Aquinas explains how in order for something to have number, something must have given it quantity. This thing must be greater than any quantity it gives and thus must be infinite. He goes on to discus how all things which have number also have form. Until matter receives its f orm, it is in a way infinite, but once it receives its form it receives quantity and can be counted. On its own, matter has the potential to be countless objects but it is not made perfect without it form. This form grounds matter and allows it to be a countable object. Something outside of matter and form however must exist in order to produce them. This being because it is not composed of matter and form, it cannot be counted because it cannot be quantified. In this way God is separated from his

Marcom Tactics for Gatorade G2 - 2287 Words

INTRODUCTION The US sports drinks market is highly competitive. It accounts for the highest worldwide sports drink consumption. A sports drink is a deviation of an energy drink which aims at rehydration, sports performance and muscle recovery. The major players in this US market are Gatorade by PepsiCo amp; PowerAde by Coca-Cola. Gatorade Gatorade is accepted as the market leader of US sports drink market with nearly 75% market share as at 2008 (Sports Business Daily, 23 July 2009). The study analyses the marketing mix of Gatorade in US market with special concentration on its Marketing Communications. It was introduced in 1965 as a thirst quencher by four medical researchers at University of Florida. The name for the drink came from†¦show more content†¦* Advertising The advertising activities of G2 are two fold, online and offline. The objective of their advertising strategy is to increase awareness of benefits of G2 and reinforce that idea with an aim of differentiating the products and persuading customers towards purchase. Offline advertising Gatorade used ‘Float’ commercials, which features sportsmen and women such as NBA’s Dwayne Wade and gymnast Chellsie Memmel. The advertising repeats Mohammed Ali’s Quote â€Å"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee† which supports the brand slogan in a way that floating portrays lightness in calories and sting like a bee portrays the ability to accurately hit performance targets. By employing high repetitions of advertisements during sports events such as Super bowl, the most watched event in US TV, they ensure high exposure to their brand thereby increasing awareness amp; recall of G2. Their print advertisements such as Gatorade Double Life mainly focus on sports magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Bounce and Dime as they carry a synergy with their target audience of Athletes, professional or non-professional. The TV advertising benefits for G2 in terms of Clout against cost as it reaches a large number of people which reduces cost per head. But it can also be argued that clout is low with both mediums as they cannot be personalized. However, there is

The Harm Principle of John Stuart Mill - 2017 Words

The Harm Principle of John Stuart Mill For John Stuart Mill, he was a strong believer in utilitarianism. As he says in his essay, â€Å"...Liberty consists in doing what one desires.† (393). He believed that whatever may make somebody happy is what they should be allowed to do, as long as it did not infringe on anybody elses rights in the process of practicing. This is the harm principle. Mill came up with a principle that states that a person should be lawfully allowed to do literally anything that they see fit, as long as it does not affect anybody else negatively. Therefore, Mill argues against law paternalism, trying to protect individual rights to make that individual happywithout the governments interference. The main topic of†¦show more content†¦On the flip side, those who are told what to do for their whole lives are never able to learn to make those decisions, and are in turn doomed to not be able to make moral, logical life decisions if faced with an unknown situation needing a moral soluti on. In the end, Mill is just saying that when people have the freedom to think for themselves, they will generally make better decisions than when ordered around by rules and regulations. Like any rule, there are exceptions to Mills Harm Principle. The first is children. They lack the mental ability to make rational decisions and are unable to weigh long-term vs short-term consequences of the decisions they do make. There are also severely mentally handicapped people who cannot make rational decisions on their own for the same reason of children. In these two situations, a rationally thinking person or entity is needed to step in on their behalf, for they do not have the mental capacity to comprehend the entire situation they could be entering. Another exception to this rule are those who do not understand the consequences of their actions due to sheer ignorance, not because they do not possess the mental capacity. An example that Mill gave was if a person is starting to walk onto a bridge that is very unsafe, and this that person is unaware of the danger, and it is certain that he does not want to be put in a dangerous situation, then it would be okay for the police orShow MoreRelatedJohn Stuart Mill Harm Principle999 Words   |  4 PagesMill’s Harm Principle English philosopher John Stuart Mill is the author of the essay titled â€Å"On Liberty.† It is known as one of the classic texts on modern liberalism as well as been hugely influential in politics, even more than we might realize. He asks the question, â€Å"When can the government restrict your freedoms and when can they not?† His simple yet very famous answer is known as the â€Å"Harm Principle† which basically states that if your actions harms somebody else then the government has aRead MoreJohn Stuart Mills Work881 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Stuart Mill’s work provides a valuable insight to the issue of medicine that harm people in the classical utilitarian. Many people consider that prescription for medical marijuana as a moral sin or something that should be given to help the patients to improve his/her bad condition. As a majority of people and federal consider prescription for medical marijuana is immoral and it is restricted in many states incl uding Texas. In the section on liberty, John StuartRead More`` On Liberty `` By John Stuart Mill1458 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Stuart Mill was an English philosopher and a progressive in British politics during the 17th century. 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We will discuss how his philosophical views on equality as fundamental to what it means to be human. We will interpret John Stuart Mill’s theorist view on equality as fundamental to the good or bad functioning of the state? The question and debate we would also raise will be, is equality be integral the arrangements of power? Lastly, we wouldRead MoreThe Fundamental Principles Of The Us Constitution1439 Words   |  6 PagesOne of the fundamental principles of the US Constitution is the freedom of speech. Something so ingrained in the country, that it is often an afterthought for many Americans. John Stuart Mill bel ieves that freedom of expression and speech is a necessity for the human race to advance and evolve. Mill’s justification of this absolute freedom come from the understanding that mistakes and choices made by the person leads to progress and the development of your individual self. He also argues that speech

Night World Spellbinder Chapter 15 Free Essays

Thea.† Dani was shaking her arm. ‘They’re talking to you. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 15 or any similar topic only for you Order Now † The visions were gone. Thea was standing in Gran’s workshop, seeing everything as if through a distorting lens. People’s faces seemed to stretch; their voices seemed to drag. â€Å"I asked, how did you learn the invocation for summoning spirits?† Gran said slowly. Eric. He won’t wait; he’ll start without me. Or will he? I told him not to. But he’ll be worrying about the party†¦. The party. All those kids†¦ even little kids. Humans, but people. like baby chicks with a hawk up above. How many of them will end up like Kevin? â€Å"The invocation for summoning spirits!† Gran was shouting, as if Thea were hard of hearing. â€Å"I†¦ we†¦ I heard you at Samhain two years ago. In Vermont. I saw the summoning the Inner Circle did.† Even her own voice sounded weird and distorted. â€Å"We saw you. Both of us. We were hiding behind the trees and you never even noticed,† Blaise said clearly, and the bells rang again. Dimly, Thea felt appreciation. But most of her mind was reeling from horrible thought to thought. Eric†¦ but if I try to get to him, if the Inner Circle finds out he’s involved†¦ that will get him killed. A human who knows about the Night World. Immediate death sentence. But Suzanne. If he burns those dummies, Suzanne will kill him the way she killed Kevin. No matter what happened, Eric was going to end up dead. Unless†¦ â€Å"Which†¦ of the spirits†¦ did you call?† Gran was shouting, as if Thea was now not only hard of hearing but slow of understanding. Unless†¦ â€Å"That’s what I want to tell you,† Thea said. She could see the way. It would mean the end for her, but she might possibly save Eric. If there was enough time, if they would let her alone, if Eric wasn’t right now trying to be a hero†¦. â€Å"I want to tell you about it,† Thea said again. And then the words were tumbling out in a rush, faster and faster, as if some dam had broken inside her. â€Å"And I’ll tell you everything-but please, Grandma, please, you have to let me go out now. Just for a little while. There’s something I have to do. You have to let me go, and then I’ll come back here and you can do whatever you want to me.† â€Å"Hold on a minute,† Mother Cybele said, but Thea couldn’t stop. â€Å"Please-please. Grandma. I’ve done a terrible thing-and I’m the only one who can take care of it. I’ll come back-â€Å" â€Å"Wait, wait, wait. Calm down,† Gran said. She looked agitated herself. â€Å"What’s this rush all of sudden? Try it slowly. What do you think you have to do?† â€Å"I have to put her back.† Thea saw that she was going to have to give some explanation. She tried to speak dearly and slowly, to make them understand. â€Å"The spirit I let out, Grandma. Her name is Suzanne Blanchet and she was burned in the sixteen hundreds. And she’s out, out there, and she’s already killed a human.† Everyone was listening now, some leaning forward, some frowning. Thea looked around at the circle of faces, talking to all of them. She was still terrified, but what did that matter? Eric mattered. â€Å"Last week she killed a boy at my high school. And tonight she’s going to kill more people, at the high school Halloween party. I can’t explain how I know-there isn’t time. But I do know. And I’m the only one who can stop her. I called her; I’m the only one who can put her back.† â€Å"Yes, but unfortunately it’s not that easy,† a low voice said. Thea turned and identified Rhys, a wiry man in a white lab coat. â€Å"If the spirit’s at large-† â€Å"I know about that, but I have a way to trap her. It’s all set up, and I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Thea hesitated. â€Å"I’ve tricked somebody into helping me,† she said slowly. â€Å"And he’s in danger right now. Which is why you have to let me go, let me take care of this. Please.† â€Å"You want to go to the high school, where the party is,† Aunt Ursula said. Although her lips were as thin as ever, she didn’t sound angry. More-astute. Thea opened her mouth to say no, and then stopped, confused again. The party-or the desert? If Suzanne was really killing people at the party, she should go there. But only if Eric wasn’t doing something to attract Suzanne to the desert. He was still more important to her than anyone else. But if he wasn’t doing something-and if Suzanne was at the party-she might kill before Thea and Eric could lure her†¦. I’m going crazy. She felt, literally, as if she might faint. Her head was swimming. There were too many possibilities. It all depended on where Suzanne was right now, and there was no way to know that. Thea began to shake violently, black dots dancing in front of her eyes. I don’t know what to do. â€Å"I’m sorry†¦ could everybody listen for a moment? I’m seeing something.† It was Aradia’s voice, quiet and gently self-possessed. Mature, even though she was only a little older than Thea. Thea tried to see her through the black dots. â€Å"I think it’s something important, something about what we’re talking about,† Aradia said. Her beautiful face, with its smooth skin the color of coffee with cream, was turned toward Thea. Her wide brown eyes looked straight ahead without focus, the way they always did. Aradia couldn’t see with those eyes-but then she didn’t need to. She saw with her mind-and saw things that were hidden to most people. â€Å"I’m seeing a boy-he’s dressed in some old-fashioned costume. He’s beside a fire, inside a circle of stones.† Eric†¦. â€Å"He’s got a stick-an ember. He’s looking around. Now he’s going to†¦ it looks like a scarecrow. I can’t see it well. There’s a pile of sticks underneath it. He’s bending. He’s lighting the sticks.† No. â€Å"I have to go,† Thea said. She wasn’t asking permission anymore. Aradia was still speaking. â€Å"Okay, the sticks are catching fire. Now I can see better†¦ and it’s not a scarecrow; it looks sort of like a witch. A doll.† She stopped, her lovely blind eyes widening. â€Å"It’s-and it’s moving-no, there’s something moving it. I can see it now-a spirit. A spirit is moving the doll. It’s coming out now-toward the boy-â€Å" â€Å"I have to go,† Thea said. And then she was moving, pushing her way between Rhys and Old Bob, breaking out of the circle. The beads of the curtain struck her face, clattering as they fell back behind her. â€Å"Thea, wait a minute!† â€Å"Thea, come back here!† â€Å"Ursula, you go get her-â€Å" The jeep. My backpack’s in the jeep. I have to get it first. The keys to the Lincoln were hanging on a nail by the back door. Thea grabbed them. She pushed the back door open just as three or four people came hurrying through the bead curtain. She slammed the door in their faces. Get to the car. Fast. Now drive. She backed out of the alley, tires squealing. She could see light spill as the door to the shop opened, but by then she was turning onto Barren Street. She found herself driving at some new level, squeezing through the tail end of yellow lights, recognizing shortcuts in the dark. In just a few minutes she was at the Night World club with the jack-o’-lanterns on the porch. There was no place to park the Lincoln. She left it in the middle of the street, with the keys still in the ignition. She pulled the key to the jeep out of her belt and jumped in. Hurry. Hurry. She burned rubber again getting the jeep moving. Hurry. The freeway. Just let me get to him. And let it not be too late. That’s all I ask, after that I don’t care. Would you give up everything? The voice didn’t seem like a stranger this time, didn’t seem menacing. Just curious. And Thea had an answer. Yes. If I can just get there, in time, I can send him away. I can tell him some story, make him go somehow. Make him hide. I’ll tell the Circle I tricked him or enchanted him into helping; I won’t even tell them his name. They can’t make me. Whatever they do to me, he’ll be safe. That’s all I care about. That’s all I’m asking. But even that was a lot, and she knew it, so she kept her foot mashed down on the gas pedal. Freeway off ramp. Side road. She drove crazily fast. The pounding inside her head kept saying hurry, hurry, even as she was careening off curbs. Desert. Now the road was bad. It was hard to see; the moon was almost down. The jeep lunged over bumps and lurched into potholes. Eric, be doing something. Be talking to her, be running. You’re so smart, please, please, be smart now. Keep her distracted, keep her hair away from your neck. How strong was a spirit? Thea didn’t know. Please, I see everything so clearly now. I’ve been selfish, only thinking of me, what would make me happy. All that â€Å"encased in ice† garbage. I should have been dancing in the street. As long as Eric is all right, I don’t care if he lives on Mars, I don’t care if I never see him again. As long as he’s well I’m happier than anybody has a right to be. A jolt rattled her teeth. She was off the road now, driving by landmarks. Through forests of dead yuccas that looked like skinny gray Cousin Its. It’s taking so long, it’s too long. Hurry. Hurry. She could see red sandstone in front of her. Pillars in the headlights. That’s it! Go, go! The jeep rocketed over clumps of blackbrush. She could see fire in the depression between the pillars. She drove straight toward it. Fire-movement-the top of a silhouette†¦ â€Å"Eric!† She was yelling even as she slammed on the brakes. The jeep ground to a shuddering stop a few inches from a misshapen sandstone tower. â€Å"Eric!† She had the backpack in her hand. She tore the door open and jumped out, running. â€Å"Thea! Stay out of here!† She saw him. The light of the fire cast an eerie glow onto the already lurid sandstone. Everything seemed red, as if this place were bathed in blood. The roar of the jeep’s engine and the roar of the fire merged to sound like the flames of hell. But Brie was alive and fighting. Fighting it. Thea threw herself at it, even as her brain was registering impressions. A wraith shape that looked at one second like a woman, and the next second like tattered clouds. Part of it seemed to be coiled around Eric, and he had both hands at his throat. Bits of the pine-needle amulet Thea had made for him were scattered around his feet. Useless. â€Å"Get away from him! I’m the one who set this up!† Thea screamed. She reached Eric and grabbed wildly at the wraith, at the part of it around his throat. Her hands felt Eric’s hands, felt cold air. â€Å"No-Thea, watch out-â€Å" She saw the thing come free of Eric, who staggered. She saw it re-form, gather, then dive straight for her. â€Å"Thea!† Eric knocked her sideways. Cold air rushed by. She and Eric fell in a heap. She gasped â€Å"Eric, go,† even before she got up. She tried to shove at him, looking around for the wraith. â€Å"Go-get out of here! The jeep’s running-get in and just drive. I’ll call you later.† â€Å"Stay back to back,† Eric said breathlessly. â€Å"She’s incredibly fast.† He added through his teeth, â€Å"You know I’m not leaving.† â€Å"This is witch stuff, you jerk!† she snarled, standing back to back. â€Å"I don’t want you. You’ll just get in my way!† It was a valiant effort. She even managed to inject something like hatred into her voice. And Eric wasn’t perfect. He turned around, grabbed her by the shoulder, and yelled, â€Å"You know I’m not going, so don’t waste any more time!† Then he shoved her sideways again and freezing wind streaked by her cheek, leaving her ear numb. â€Å"Sorry,† he said in his normal voice. â€Å"You okay?† Thea spun and looked behind her. The wraith was bobbing there. It was shaped like a woman made of vapor, with arms and legs only suggested, but with a long tail of hair that whipped around. â€Å"I’ve got the stuff,† Thea muttered to Eric. Admit- ting she knew he’d never leave. â€Å"But it’ll take a few minutes to do the spell. We’ll have to keep out of-† She was watching the lashing tail, but she wasn’t fast enough. There was a sound-something between the snap of a whip and the crackle of electricity- and the tail flashed out. It was around her neck. At first it just felt cold. Insubstantial but icy, like a scarf of subzero wind. But then the wraith gave a jerk and it tightened and it did have substance. It felt like metal, like a pipe full of supercooled liquid, like the tentacle of some alien creature with ice for blood. It was choking her. She couldn’t breathe and she couldn’t get her fingers under it. It squeezed tighter, hurting her. She could feel her eyes start to bulge. â€Å"Look at me!† Eric yelled. He had a stick that was blazing at one end and he was dancing up and down like a crazy person on the other side of the fire. â€Å"Look! Suzanne! I’m going to get your little sister!† He poked the burning stick at the dummy Lucienne, not at the wood piled around her, but at the actual doll. â€Å"There! There! How do you like that?† He jabbed at the doll. A ring of fire blossomed in the black clothes. â€Å"Confess you’re a witch!† Thea felt something slide away and her neck was free. She tried to shout a warning to Eric, but all that came out was a croak. He was already diving to one side anyway. That must be what he’s been doing all this time. Dodging. â€Å"Eric, keep it up!† â€Å"Okay, but work fast!† He threw himself the other way. She forced herself to turn her attention from him. Her backpack was at the edge of the circle where she’d dropped it. She grabbed it and dumped the contents out on the ground. She had to do this right and she had to do it faster than she’d ever worked a spell before. Oak and ash. She threw them on the central fire, then scooted toward it, dragging the other materials close with a sweep of her arm. She ripped open a plastic bag and grabbed the quassia chips. They were light, and she had to thrust her hand into the flames to make sure they actually went in the fire. Blessed thistle was powder; she threw it. Mandrake root was solid, she threw it, too. She had just grabbed the ounce vial when Eric shouted, â€Å"Thea, duck.† She didn’t look up to see what she was ducking. She fell flat instantly. It saved her. Icy wind blew her hair almost into the fire. â€Å"Suzanne!† Eric was yelling. â€Å"I’ve got your brother! Look!† There were fires at all three stakes now, and Eric was dashing between them, poking at one figure after another. Thea pulled the plastic cap off the vial with her teeth. She shook it into the fire, her hand in the flames again. One, two, three. The fire roared up, louder than ever, and pure blue. Thea fell back from it. â€Å"Suzanne! Over here!† Eric’s voice was faint beyond the roar. Tears were running down Thea’s face, her nose and eyes stinging from the acrid smell. She fumbled for the last object necessary for the sending-back†¦ the bag of residue from the bronze bowl. She took a handful in her left hand and dropped it between two charcoaled logs at the edge of the fire. Then she stood up-and saw that Eric was in trouble. He’d lost his burning stick. The wraith had him by the throat and it was whirling him around, changing shape every second. His mouth was open, but Thea couldn’t hear any sound. â€Å"May I be given the Power of the Words of Hecate† She screamed it, into the roaring fire, toward the wheeling, changing spirit shape. And the words came, rolling off her tongue with a power of their own: â€Å"From the heart of the flame†¦ I send you back! Through the narrow path†¦ I send you back!† She put all her own power into the words, too, screaming them with an authority that she’d never felt in herself before. Because the wraith was fighting. It didn’t want to go anywhere. â€Å"To the airy void†¦ I send you back! Through the mist of years†¦ I send you back!† Eric staggered, was jerked sideways. He seemed to be lifted off his feet by the wraith. â€Å"To beyond the veil†¦ I send you back! Go speedily, conveniently, and without delay!† Eric’s feet were kicking in the air. This is how Kevin died, Thea realized suddenly and with absolute certainty. She found herself yelling words she’d never heard before. â€Å"By the power of Earth and Air and Water! By the power of Fire on this night of Hecate! By my own power as a daughter of Hellewise! Go speedily, conveniently and without delay, you bitch!† She had no idea where that came from. But the next instant Eric fell. The wraith had dropped him. It shot toward Thea-but then it stopped as if it had slammed into an invisible brick wall. It was directly over the fire. Caught. The blue flames were belching smoke-but sideways. Thea could see the wraith dearly above them. And for the first time, it didn’t look like a cloud shape. It looked like a woman. A girl. Older than Thea, but still in her teens. With long dark hair that floated around her and a pale face and huge sad eyes. Her lips were parted as if she were trying to speak. Thea stared. She heard herself whisper, â€Å"Suzanne†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The girl held out a pale hand toward her. But at the same moment the fire flared up again. It seemed to turn the girl’s hair to fire, too. Dark fire was burning all around her and there was an expression of infinite sadness on her face. Thea reached out a hand instinctively- The fire roared- And there was a flash like lightning. Suzanne had been drawn to the heart of the flame. And now the lightning formed a cone: the narrow path. Plastic bags and other debris whipped around the circle as if caught in a whirlwind. Suzanne and the cone of white lightning disappeared into each other. To the airy void. Through the mist of years. The fire flared up above Thea’s head, and then sank down. The blue seemed to fall to the bottom. The flames turned yellow, like ordinary fire. It was as if a curtain had been drawn. To beyond the veil. That was where Suzanne was now. At the edge of the bonfire, where the residue had been, there was a lump of soft clay. Thea knelt and picked it up. She looked into the center of the flames-and saw a coil of long hair, the color of mahogany. The ends were starting to blacken and shrink in the fire. Thea reached in to grab it. She folded the hair over and quickly pressed the clay around it. It was a clumsy job, Blaise would have done much better, but the hair was enclosed. She groped on the ground for the wooden seal, found it, punched it into the clay. Suzanne’s symbol, the cabalistic sign for her name, was printed. It was done. The amulet was restored, Suzanne was trapped again. She’d stay where she belonged unless somebody else was stupid enough to summon her. Thea dropped the amulet without looking at it, got up, and staggered around the fire to where Eric was lying. Her vision was strangely gray. After all this†¦ he has to be all right†¦ oh, please, let him be†¦ He moved when she reached him. â€Å"Eric, we did it. She’s gone. We did it.† He grinned faintly. Said in a scratchy voice, â€Å"You don’t have to cry.† She hadn’t realized she was. Eric sat up. He was terminally mussed, his hair wild, his face dirty. He looked wonderful to her. â€Å"We did it,† she whispered again. She reached out to smooth his hair, and her hand stayed there. He glanced at the fire, then back at her. â€Å"I kind of hated to say those things to her. I mean, no matter how bad she was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He touched Thea’s neck, stroking gently. â€Å"Are you okay? I think you’ve got a bruise.† â€Å"Me? You’re the one who really got it.† She put her free hand to his throat, fingers just barely touching. â€Å"But I know what you mean,† she whispered. â€Å"I felt-sorry-for her at the end.† â€Å"Don’t cry again. Please. I really hate that,† he whispered, and he put his free arm around her. And then they were just kissing madly. Deliriously. Laughing and kissing and holding each other. She could taste her own tears on his lips, warming with his warmth, and she was trembling like a bird in a thicket. A few moments later a noise broke in. Thea didn’t want to move, but Eric looked, and then he stiffened. â€Å"Uh, we’ve got company.† Thea looked up. There were cars just outside the sandstone pillars. Parked cars. They must have driven up sometime during the fight with Suzanne, while the roar of the fire blocked out the sound of their engines, while Thea’s attention was focused on the wraith trying to Ml her. Because the people were already out of the cars. Grandma Harman, supported by Aunt Ursula. Rhys in his lab coat. Dumpling-shaped Mother Cybele, with her hand on Aradia’s arm. Old Bob, Nans Buruku. Most of the Inner Circle was here. How to cite Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 15, Essay examples

Performance and Management free essay sample

Performance and Management A. Policy For Recognizing Employee Contributions The purpose of this report is to use the compensation system we previously developed in Phases I and II to pay people, develop plans that reward performance, add benefits into the mix, and evaluate these results. First we will look at performance-based-pay as a policy for recognizing employee contributions. Performance-based-pay is a pay plan that varies with some measure of individual or organizational performance, such as merit pay, lump-sum bonus plans, skill-based pay, incentive plans, variable pay plans, risk sharing, and success sharing. It is basically a pay plan that moves away from the traditional base pay and across-the-board increases, and focuses more on factors of performance that can increase overall productivity for a company. Performance-based-pay plans can be very effective in creating a positive impact in performance of both employees and a company as a whole, but only is the plan is designed well. In order to be successful, it is crucial that the performance-pay plan be designed to support FastCat’s business strategy and compensation objectives. To design this pay-for-performance plan, we will recommend a specific policy plan that is tailored to FastCat’s goals towards success. We will compare different performance-based plans, which include individual vs. group incentives and merit vs. incentive pay, to see which combinations will help FastCat compete more effectively. a. Emphasis on Individual vs. Group Incentives Two strategies to consider with performance-based-pay plans are providing individual incentives, group incentives, or both. Individual incentive plans involve incentive compensation that is tied directly to objective measures of individual production. On the other hand, group incentive plans are incentive plans that are based on some measure of group performance rather than individual performance. Taking data on a past year as a base, group incentive plans may focus on cost savings or on profit increases as the standard for distributing a portion of the accrued funds among relevant employees. We recommend a mixture of both individual incentive and group incentive pay plans. How the individual incentive plan will work is there will be a year-end bonus pool as function of company performance. The employee’s share in the pool will be based on three factors: (1) employee’s grade, (2) employees personal performance analysis, (3) employee’s tenure at the company. This plan will go hand-in-hand with the group incentive plan we recommend, which will be a profit-sharing plan. A profit-sharing plan is a plan that focuses on profitability as the standard for group incentive. This group incentive plan will encourage employees to work hard as a team to create better company performance overall. We used the balanced scorecard approach to measure the company’s performance. A balanced scorecard approach is a way to look at what contributes value in an organization. It is a corporate-wide overall performance measure typically incorporating financial results, process improvements, customer service, and innovation. We determined that there are eight main elements that must be measured to determine good company performance. These metrics, which are weighted differently based on importance to FastCat’s business strategy, are as follows: (1) revenue growth, (2) labor costs, (3) innovation, (4) customers see FastCat representatives as responsive and knowledgeable, (5) customers value FastCat solutions, (6) employees take pride in working for FastCat, (7) employees have the tools and support to do their jobs, (8) employees understand how to make teams successful. In essence, the individual incentive plan and the group incentive plan work together to increase both individual performance and company performance. The better the company performs based on the balanced scorecard approach, the more money there is for the bonus pool in the individual incentive plan. b. Emphasis on Merit vs. Variable Pay All the pieces of this compensation system fit together Add justification on why this matches FastCat’s business and compensation objectives from problems B. Implementation a. Matching FastCat Jobs With Benchmark Survey Jobs When matching FastCat jobs with benchmark survey jobs we first had to separate the jobs at FastCat into four different job families: engineering, technical, marketing, and administration. We started off with sixteen FastCat positions of the various job families and matched them with the benchmark jobs based on the responsibilities of the job as well as the experience and competencies required to hold the position. For example, take the engineering family. For the Engineer 1 of the benchmark survey job, it is described by the following statements: â€Å"Participates in development, testing and documentation of software programs. Performs design and analysis tasks as a project team member. Typical minimum requirements are a Bachelor’s degree in a scientific field or the equivalent and up to two years of experience. † We compared that to the Usability Engineer in our own organization. Some responsibilities of the Usability Engineer are as follows: â€Å"Contributes to the development and implementation of FastCat web applications,† â€Å"work with FastCat quality assurance to ensure integrity of FastCat software; test, debug, and fix data,† and â€Å"design appropriate software testing strategies. † The position requires a B. S. egree in Computer Science or related field plus at least two years of experience. A competency required of the position is to communicate with team members, support team decisions, and work effectively as part of a team. As the numbers within the families of the benchmark jobs increase (Engineer 2, Engineer 3) the responsibilities, experience, and competencies required of the position also increase. For example, Senior Fellow, the position we assigned the most JE points in the organization to, was matched with Engineer 5, the highest position in the benchmark engineer family. . Determining Relevant Market(s) When selecting market competitors to establish our suggested pay policy line for FastCat our team tried a few different markets before deciding on the one we felt most reflected the values of the company. The first market group we chose to try was all the surveyed industries provided to us by FastCat. This line fit well with our benchmark jobs being fairly close to the line on both the high and low end. The second fit we looked into was just using the data regarding Software companies, this line seemed to fit slightly better than the previous with jobs on both the high and low end of the JE scale being fairly evenly distributed above and below the line. The final fit we tried was software companies with the exception of company 15 because we found that their compensation data created a huge outlier from the average of the other companies. We decided to go with the final fit of only software companies excluding company 15 because we felt this line best reflected our views on which jobs were most important. c. Adjusting our Data for More Desirable Regression Results Our team was rather flexible when making decisions about possible adjustments to our data during and after making our regression results. At first when our team was benchmarking the FastCat jobs against other companies, we felt that a couple FastCat jobs were very similar. We matched two of them with the same survey job titles. The first match was Software Developer and Implementation Consultant, which were both matched with â€Å"Engineer 2†. The second match was with Administrative Assistant II and the Administrative Aide, which were both matched with â€Å"Office Support 2†. When we were entering the data into the software to create a regression analysis, we realized that we would only be able to create this analysis on fourteen jobs, instead of the sixteen that was expected. We initially decided that moving some of our matches around and entering full data for all sixteen jobs would be the proper route to take. Our R? number was not where we wanted it to be after doing this; coming in at less than . 70, and this was probably because it was a bit forced and unnatural for us to change the jobs around just to get the full amount of jobs. Going back to our original benchmarking brought our R? up considerably. When we looked at the new data we saw that there was one major outlier and it was the Senior Quality Assurance Technician. Our team had marked this position at a â€Å"Technician 4† originally, but we all took a look at the FastCat information again and reached an agreement that we had made a mistake in benchmarking the position. What threw us off at first was the statement that the Senior Quality Assurance Technician was, â€Å"at the direction of the Implementation Consultant, which had a rather low amount of Job Evaluation points. We decided to move the position from a â€Å"Technician 4† to a â€Å"Technician 5†. This is the last change we made, and it gave us our final R? of . 882. d. Different Grades and Ranges Regarding grades of pay and the range of pay within those grades we chose to go with 4 grades of 100 JE points each. We found this to be a satisfactory suggestion as the jobs falling within these ranges have a relatively similar importance to the company and should be compensated in a way that demonstrates this. We used 15% as our selected range for all grades, meaning that the amount paid in each grade would range from 15% below to 15% above the midpoint of our pay policy line within that grade. With the results from the selected grades and ranges we had one difficulty; the difference in pay from grade 1 to grade 2 was nearly $10,000. To fix this discrepancy and encourage our lower level employees to stay with the company we chose to use an above market policy of 15% for this grade to close the gap. After completing these steps we had a pay policy that we felt was right to suggest to the FastCat Company for their base wage policy.