Paternalism - article by Dworkin Gerald Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paternalism - by Dworkin Gerald - Article Example Regardless of the society’s best interests at heart any form of legislation has no right to exert its authority over an individual because it is a threat to the person’s independence. By making a set of rules and putting restrictions the system tries to confine and form a community which it deems correct rather than letting the individuals’ form a society they think is an ideal one. Although paternalism claims to have best of intensions for a person yet it is not necessary that the individual also sees it as means for a better life. For Mill such interference is not only offensive but also an abuse of his autonomy. Paternalistic interference can be categorized into pure and impure types of interventions. Pure paternalism deals with restrictions which ensure the benefit of an individual. While impure paternalism tries to protect an individual by putting restrictions on one’s independence. Mill asserts that majority of the individuals are rational adults who are aware of the fact that most of the paternalistic laws are made in order to remedy their safety. Yet it should be left for an individual to decide whether he wants to follow them or not i.e. freedom of choice should be granted because one learns best through ones mistakes. He is not ignorant of the fact that not all individuals have same level of intelligence and for children specifically paternalistic restrictions are necessary though he says that some modicum of restraint should be observed. He also realizes in certain cases practice of restraint is necessary so an outside force is required for the implementation of such restrictions. Hence although in order to form law and order paternalistic restrictions are necessary yet some leniency should be granted in their practice so that it would not threaten an individual’s liberty and at the same time precautionary measures are also

What are the features and issues of a B-Corporation Essay

What are the features and issues of a B-Corporation - Essay Example The corporation can chose from the particular public benefit; to promote arts, protecting or revamping environment, science or knowledge advancement, improving human health, enhancing economic opportunity for persons and society besides the ordinary business course of jobs creation. The B corporation must establish an additionally purpose to create a general public benefits. Public benefit can be a material positive effects on society as well as the environment with regard to the third party standard assessment as well as the operations of the B-corporation. With respect to Warby Parker Corporation, it has ensured public benefit via the donations. In conjunction with VisionSpring, the Corporation sells the glasses and sunglasses. The public benefit is ensured by its program of donation where for every pair of Warby Parker glasses bought, Warby Parker Company pays for the production of a pair of eyeglasses donated to the VisionSpring, an NGO. The VisionSpring thus sell to consumers or firms directly or indirectly. This donation program has ensured that the public interest is served by benefiting the visually impaired persons that buys these glasses at cheaper prices (Korhan 78). Warby Parker has been successful and has saved on cots of operation based on online business approach and delivery cab done in a day as well making it possible to test your eyegl ass online by downloading a photo. The donation has been impactful as by the July 2013, it had distributed over 500,000 to marginalize and the less fortunate groups. This is beneficial as people freely benefit from such arrangements and hence meets the purpose standards set for them. This program has really contributed to the social and economic development. In terms of social development, donations that are channeled through VisionSpring NGO has ensured the Special needs students and other visually impaired individual can execute their activities without challenges

Peace-Building Challenges in East Timor Essay Example for Free

Peace-Building Challenges in East Timor Essay For a country that was under the tyranny of a more powerful country for so long, independence, more often than not, is a word that entails and carries a better and promising future. Most countries enjoyed the benefits of having independence like gaining total control over their lands and most of all the whole population. Timor-Leste (East Timor’s official name), on the other hand, is a country that has a different scenario. Although the actual date of independence was around November of 1975, East Timor was touted to be the first independent country of the 21st century. But this fact didn’t give them enough time to prepare for an independent way of life. The reason behind this was the three hundred and more years of influence and oppression of the Portuguese empire. No wonder that even the culture and the way of thinking of most of the Timorese were a lot different compared to the time when the Portuguese did not rule them. Then after exactly nine days of independence from the Portuguese, East Timor was taken off guard by the invasion of their neighboring country, Indonesia1. Obviously, this was one of the immediate problems that confronted the newly independent country. In fact the invasion became their greatest problem that East Timor sought the help of their former invader. Portugal then turned to the UN and the Security Council to do something about the situation. In response to Portugal’s appeal, the UN gave the Indonesian army a resolution condemning their actions but they were hesitant to do anything else. It was only after twenty-four years did the Timorese people gained back their complete independence. The 24-year military occupation of the Indonesian troop was a brutal experience for the East Timor people. In September 1999, the world witnessed the war between the Indonesian Army and the East Timorese militant after voting for the Independency of the country2. Even though more than a decade had passed since their independence and more than five years since they were self-governing, it will take more than just mere decades to remove the trauma, patterns of criminality and violence, injustice and isolation in the people’s system3. This is one of the immediate problems that East Timor is facing. The nature of the East Timor’s long-term problem falls under the category of standing on it’s own foot. Governing the whole country while enduring the effects of the precedent events is taking its toll on the administration. Scheiner notes that, ‘National visions, shared struggles and promises of prosperity no longer suffice to unify the one million citizens of one of the world’s least developed countries. ’ East Timor endured its past problems with the help of other countries. It is due time to stand up on its own. The problem now lies in the midst of the country and between its people.

Managing Change in Small Organisations

Managing Change in Small Organisations 1.0 Introduction The phenomenon of resistance to change is the bane of all Algerian bakeries that convey ideas for change. For the same one who proposed the change, the resistances are usually synonymous with hostility, intrigue deadlines, polarization, conflict, and impatience, many problems which are likely to frustrate and undermine the success of his bakery. Basically, resistance to change is built up from many sources; internal and external. Overcoming resistance to change requires first the identification of those sources. Therefore, the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† is looking for an expert or professional advice in the field to help managing change effectively. Hence, as this topic is part of the international business and management studies, the owner asked me to do some research on this matter. Ultimately, this research is divided into two major chapters, first; the literature part that discusses the main topic theoretically, it starts off by mentioning the general sources that fuels the resistance to change, then it goes on with hofdstedes point of view on resistance of change based on cultural differences and it concludes by describing the steps of managing change effectively and it concludes with. The second major chapter is the analysis of the findings from the primary data that have been collected through interviews with owners and employees from the bakery El-Bahdja and owners from other bakeries. Finally this paper is closed by recommendations for the owner of the bakery El-Bahdja on how to overcome resistance to change and how to manage change. 1.1 Research objective Many companies in North Africa particularly in Algeria are making loss and could not improve the quality of their business due to the habit of following common procedures and the high consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo and fear of new ideas. Lack of adequate information fuels rumors and gossip and adds to anxiety generally associated with change. This fear creates resistance to change in the Algerian bakery industry Therefore, this research focuses on finding the elements that fuel the resistance to change in the Algerian bakeries and specifically the bakery â€Å"El Bahdja† that produces and delivers all kind of bread and pastries. The owner of the Algerian Bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† is an old man and has been in the business since 1967. The owner is facing the closing down due to lack of managing change skills in the bakery and the high resistance from the employees to change. The main objective of this research is to provide the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† with guidance to effectively managing change when it is in the process of the implementation. 1.2 Research questions To provide guidance on how to manage changes for the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† it is essential first to find answers to the following research questions. â€Å"Does Algerian culture welcome changes† â€Å"Why most Algerian employers and employees resist changing?† â€Å"What are the external factors that prevent Algerian employers and employees from changing?† â€Å"How do Algerian employers and employees manage change when applying the new ideas?† 1.3 Methodology This study is based on both primary and secondary data that help in understanding the causes of resistance to change from both the Algerian owners and their employees: Secondary data collection: this method studies the previous cases that have already been written about and find the similarities between the cases. This method is very helpful in collection data from different cultures that share the same fact which is fear of new ideas that have direct effect on their traditional way of doing business. Therefore, the resources of the secondary data collection are mainly from books, journals, and internet. Primary data: a very crucial data and plays a big role in making final decision. The primary data which is better called direct communication or field research, on other word; facing people and have them interviewed. The objective of this method is to collect factual data that helps in answering the research questions of this study and this after interviewing people from the same field on the main topic. Reflection on the research methodology: the methods followed for collecting data are linked together. The secondary data helps understand the theoretical concepts that have been concluded from previous cases and compare them to the new facts. In this method; the 7s model of McKinsey, the theory versus the real world by Jeff Hiatt and Arab identity by Halim Barakat are used as starting point for facing organizational change in Algeria. The primary data is basically the tangible evidence for decision makers, observing and interviewing people are the major tools to be used in collecting data for this study. Reliability and validity of data are the essential axes of this method. Therefore, the interviews take place specifically with owners of bakeries and their employees in Algeria and in the Netherlands for comparison to see whether culture differences is a matter for resisting changing. 2.1 Why managing change? â€Å"Change is believed to happen Changes are fact and every person is subject to these changes. People faces changes regularly in their life or in their workplace, part of them deal with these changes successfully and the other part fail to adjust to change. In the life, for instance a family with children; parents believe that children are subject to changes and may change to better or to the opposite that parents plan for them, however these changes would not affect the family as a whole but the person himself. Nevertheless, in a business changes there are two ways and no third, successfully manage change or failure. In organization whether you are an executive, supervisor, coach, consultant, project team leader or manager of any type where your job is to manage people, you likely have experienced resistance to change from employees. However you may not recognize the role that you can play in preventing that resistance and leading change. Many managers do not make this connection until they have personally experience failure in an important change project (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey 2003) When asking people after this failure what would you do differently if you had the chance to do it again? The common response would be using an effective and planned change management program. The question to be risen here is whether this program is sufficient enough to prevent resistance to change from happening in the first place and deal with people emotions and pursue them to change. The real barrier to success is a lack of change management and not management program. Some people do not lack of vision or an understanding of the marketplace but they feel simply short when managing the people side of change. In other words, things did not go exactly as planned. The unexpected happened. Not managing the people side of change impacts the success and introduces risk into the business (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey 2003) Change management skills have shown that is not only mitigates these business risks, but also can avoid them entirely. Business leaders have change management skills to not only manage resistance once it appears, but to prevent it from occurring. 2.2 Change and the manager â€Å"Change needs to be portrayed in positive terms, a necessity to ensure long term survival (Robert A Poton, James McCalman, 2008)† Organizations and their managers must recognize change, in itself, is not necessarily a problem. The problem more often than not is a less than competent management o the change situation (Rob Paton, James McCalman, 2008). Managers must realize that one cannot separate strategic change management from organizational strategy; both must work in tandem. The importance of the human side of change cannot be underestimated, one must identify and manage the potential sources and causes of potential resistance and ensure that motivators are built into new processes and structures (Forlaron, 2005). i) Change competency: â€Å"Change is part of the businesss philosophy† â€Å"The successful organization is the organization that understand change will occur, expect it and support the change during implementation (Jeff Hiat, 2003) An organization that faces constant demands to change and uses effective management over and over with each new initiative may experience a fundamental shift in its operations and the behavior of its employees. Sponsors begin to repeat activities that made last change successful. Managers develop skills to support employees through the change. Employees see part of their job as navigating these new changes. Each level in the organization will have internalized its role in change and developed the skills and knowledge necessary to react to constant change. The organization has become ready and able to embrace change; it has developed change competency (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey, 2003). However, building change competency is not paved with flowers; it requires a belief that change is now an ever-present feature of organizational life (Burnes, 2004). Change competency is similar to change management, but there are several key distinction. First, change management is ultimately the use of specific activities like communication, coaching, sponsorship and training; to realize successful outcomes with business changes. Change competency is not a specific activity; it is an organizations ability to react to change over and over again Second, while change management can be taught and learned, change competency requires a fundamental shift in culture and values. It must be simply part of day-to-day operations and cannot be simply demonstrated in training or instructional material. Third, change competency must penetrate every facet and level of the organization. This distinction especially relates to the front-line employee. An organization may have expertise in change management in its sponsors, consultants and change management. However, the front-line employees are the ones whose day-to-day activities are changing. To build change competency into the organization, you can take the first step by ensuring that solid change management practices are applied consistently for each change initiative. The second step is to begin building the following competencies into your organization (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey, 2003) ii) Change and Human Resource Technology has played a major role in ensuring that a coherent business approach and managerial performance can be maintained from a reduce resource base. The key success in such moves has been the mobilization of the human resource (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1993). 2.3 Managing resistance once it appears â€Å"Believing in changes to be happening is a key principle to reducing resistance to change† People are often afraid of new ideas. They may feel threatened by new ideas and fear that they will not be able to cope with a change in working patterns that is demanded of them or that they will not understand how to use a new technology; example of that many older people are afraid of materials that they are not able to handle and may make them calling the technician every moment (Tony proctor 2005). The fear of new ideas is a natural feeling; people live with this fear and it not a bad manner. Fear of new ideas becomes negative when is surrounded with sources that increase the tension of fear that leads to high level of resistance and consequently aggravation of the failure of any project. Change more often than not produces suspicions and resistance. To many it implies a move from familiar ways-mastered over long periods of time- to an unknown and threatening environment. In order to deal effectively with resistance to change, people must understand its causes (Jack Rabin, Marcia B. Steinhauer, 1988). Lawrence and Greiner 1970, identify the main sources that feed the resistance of change. Fear of the unknown, lack of information, threats of status, fear of failure, and lack of perceived benefits. Regarding the first group of sources of resistance, change starts with the perception of its need, so a wrong initial perception is the first barrier to change. This first group is called ‘distorted perception, interpretation barriers and vague strategic priorities (Pardo del Val, Manuela Martà ­nez Fuentes). It includes: (a) Inability of the company to look into the future with clarity (Barr et al., 1992; Krà ¼ger, 1996; Rumelt, 1995); (b) Denial or refusal to accept any information that is not expected or desired (Barr et al., 1992; Rumelt, 1995; Starbuck et al., 1978); (c) Perpetuation of ideas, meaning the tendency to go on with the present thoughts although the situation has changed (Barr et al., 1992; Krà ¼ger, 1996; Rumelt, 1995; Zeffane, 1996); (d) Implicit assumptions, which are not discussed due to its implicit character and therefore distort reality (Starbuck, Greve and Hedberg, 1978); (e) Communication barriers, that leads to information distortion or misinterpretations (Hutt et al., 1995); (f) Organizational silence, which limits the information flow with individuals who do not express their thoughts, meaning that decisions are made without all the necessary information (Morrison and Milliken, 2000; Nemeth, 1997). The second main group of sources of resistance deals with a low motivation for change. Five fundamental sources: (a) Direct costs of change (Rumelt, 1995); (b) cannibalization costs, that is to say, change that brings success to a product but at the same time brings losses to others, so it requires some sort of sacrifice (Rumelt, 1995); (c) Cross subsidy comforts, because the need for a change is compensated through the high rents obtained without change with another different factor, so that there is no real motivation for change (Rumelt, 1995); (d) Past failures, which leave a pessimistic image for future changes (Lorenzo, 2000); and (e) Different interests among employees and management, or lack of motivation of employees who value change results less than managers value them (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). The lack of a creative response is the third set of sources of resistance. There are three main reasons that diminish the creativeness in the search for appropriate change strategies: (a) Fast and complex environmental changes, which do not allow a proper situation analysis (Ansoff, 1990; Rumelt, 1995); b) Reactive mind-set, resignation, or tendency to believe that obstacles are inevitable (Rumelt, 1995); and (c) Inadequate strategic vision or lack of clear commitment of top management to changes (Rumelt, 1995; Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Taking into consideration all those sources of resistance mentioned above can reverse the situation into preventing resistance in the first place. Cultural web: Cultures differ from each other in their resistance to change. The strongest resistance to change characterizes of high power distance, low individualism, and high uncertainty avoidance. Among these cultures are most Latin American countries, Portugal and Korea, followed by Japan, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Arab countries. Cultures with low levels of resistance to change are low on power distance, high on individualism, and low on uncertainty avoidance. This category includes the Anglo countries, Nordic countries, and the Netherlands, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Africa (Harzig and Hofdestede, 1996 2.4 Making sense of change management â€Å"7S model of McKinsey†: The Mckinsey 7S model defines the seven components that encompass an organization and that by changing any one of the S components there is impact on the other S components. This model is such a conceptual aid by acting as good checklist for those setting out to make organizational change, laying out which parts of the system need to adapt, and the effects of these changes in other parts of the system (Mike Green, 2007) The 7s categories are: Staff important categories of people within the organization, the mix, the diversity, retention, the development and the maximizing of their potential. This component helps to determine how committed resources to make it all work? Skills distinctive capabilities, knowledge and experience of key people. The role of this component is to identify how ready and competent are the staff based on where the organization is heading? Systems processes, IT systems, HR systems, knowledge management systems. In other words, what are the suitable systems to be used to support the transition? Style management style and culture. How we are getting from here to there? Shared values guiding principles that make the organization what it is. Strategy organizational goals and plan, use of resources. Briefly is where are we transitioning to? Structure the organization chart and how roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are distributed in furtherance of the strategy. â€Å"The Mckinsey 7S model provides an effective framework for analyzing an organization and its activities that determine whether an organization is strong enough to adjust to any changes. Furthermore, this model helps in avoiding some of the sources that feed resistance to change in the first place† 2.5 Five steps for effective change process (Thomas and Christopher, 2008) Step 1:Motivating change: â€Å"Moving from the known to the unknown† Organizational change involves moving from the known to the unknown. The future is uncertain and may adversely affect peoples competencies, worth, and coping abilities. Organization members generally do not support change unless compelling reasons convince them to do so. A key issue in planning for action is how to motivate commitment to organizational change. This requires attention to two related tasks: creating readiness for change and overcoming resistance to change. Creating Readiness for change: peoples readiness for change depends on creating a felt need for change. This involves making people so dissatisfied with the status quo that they are motivated to try new work processes, technologies, or ways of behaving. Generally people and organization need to experience deep levels of hurt before they will seriously undertake meaningful change. The following three methods can help generate sufficient dissatisfaction to produce change: Sensitize organizations to pressures for change. Modern organizations face unprecedented environmental pressures to change themselves, including heavy foreign competition, rapidly changing technology, and the draw of global markets. Internal pressures to change include new leadership, poor product quality, high production costs, and excessive employee absenteeism and turnover. Organizations can make themselves more sensitive to pressures for change by encouraging leadership to surround themselves with devils advocate; for instance by cultivating external networks that comprise people or organizations with different perspectives and views; by visiting other organizations to gain exposure to new ideas and methods. Reveal discrepancies between current and desired states. Significant discrepancies between actual and ideal states can motivate organization members to initiate corrective changes, particularly when members are committed to achieving those ideas. A major diagnosis is to provide members with feedback about current organizational functioning so that the information can be compared with goals or desired future states. Convey credible positive expectations for the change. When organization members expect success, they are likely to develop greater commitment to the change process and to direct more energy into the constructive behaviors needed to implement it. The key success to achieving these positive effects if to communicate realistic, positive expectations about the organizational changes*. Research suggests that information about why the change is occurring, how it will benefit the organization, and how people will be involved in the design and implementation of the change was most helpful.* Overcoming Resistance to change: At the organization level, resistance to change can come from three sources. Technical resistance comes from the habit of following common procedures and the consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo. Political resistance can arise when organizational changes threaten powerful stakeholders, such as top executive or staff personnel, or call into question the past decisions of leaders. Finally, culture resistance takes the form of systems and procedures that reinforce the status quo, promoting conformity to existing values, norms, and assumptions about how things should operate. Empathy and support. A first step in overcoming resistance is learning how people are experiencing change. This strategy identifies people who are having trouble accepting the changes, the nature of their resistance, and possible ways to overcome it. Communication. People resist change when they are uncertain about its consequences. Lack of adequate information fuels rumors and gossip and adds to anxiety generally associated with change. Effective communication about changes and their likely results can reduce this speculation and allay unfounded fears. Participation and innovation. Involvement in planning the change increases the likelihood that members interests and needs will be accounted for during the intervention. Consequently, participants will be committed to implementing the changes. They also can identify pitfalls and barriers to implementations. STEP 2: CREATING A VISION The second activity in leading and managing change involves creating a vision of what members want the organization to look like or become. Generally, a vision describes the core values and purpose that guide the organization as well as an envisioned future toward which change is directed. It provides a valued direction for designing, implementing, and assessing organizational changes. The vision also can energize commitment to change by providing members with a common goal and a compelling rationale for why change is necessary and worth the effort. Research suggests that compelling visions are composed of two parts: (1) a relatively stable core ideology that describes the organizations core values and purpose, and (2) an envisioned future with bold goals and a vivid description of the desired future state that reflects the specific change under consideration Step 3: DEVELOPING POLITICAL SUPPORT Managing the political dynamics of change includes the following activities: Assessing Change Agent Power. Greiner and Schein 1988, indentified three key sources of personal power in organizations (in addition to ones formal position); knowledge, personality, and others support. Knowledge bases of power include having expertise that is valued by others and controlling important information. For example, leaders in organizational units undergoing change can call on their informal networks for resources and support, and encourage subordinates to exercise power in support of the change. Identifying Key Stakeholders. This can start with simple question. †who stands to gain or to lose from the changes? Once stakeholders are identified, creating a map of their influence may be useful. Consequently, provides change agents with information about which people groups need to be influenced to accept and support the changes. Influencing Stakeholders. There are three major strategies for using power to influence others in organization development; First strategy is playing straight; this strategy involves determining of particular stakeholders and presenting information about how the changes can benefit them. The success of this strategy relies heavily on the change agents knowledge base. He or she must have the expertise and information to persuade stakeholders that the changes are a logical way to meet their needs. The second strategy is using social network; in this strategy change agents attempt to use their social relationships to gain support for changes. This social networking might include, for example, meeting with other powerful groups and forming alliances to support specific changes. This strategy also might include using informal contacts to discover key roadblocks to change and to gain access to major decision makers who need to sanction the changes. The third strategy is going around the formal system; the change agents charisma, reputations, or professional credibility lend legitimacy to going around the system and can reduce the likelihood of negative reprisals. For example, managers with reputations as winners often can bend the rules to implement organizational changes. However, this power strategy is relatively easy to abuse. Therefore; the OD practitioners should consider carefully the ethical issues and possible unintended consequences of circumventing formal policies and practices. Step 4: MANAGING THE TRANSITION Implementing organizational change involves moving from the existing organization state to the desired future state. There are three major activities and structure to facilitate organizational transition: activity planning, commitment planning, and change-management structures. Activity Planning This involves making a road map for change, citing specific activities and events that must occur if the transition is to be successful. Activity planning should clearly identify, temporally orient, and integrate discrete change tasks and should link these tasks to the organizations change goals and priorities. Commitment planning this activity involves identifying key people and groups whose commitment is needed for change to occur and formulating a strategy for gaining their support. Change-Management Structures Because organizational transitions tend to be ambiguous and to need direction, special structures for managing the change process need to be created. These management structures should include people who have the power to mobilize resources to promote change, the respect of the existing leadership and change advocates, and the interpersonal and political skills to guide the change process. Step 5: SUSTAINING MOMENTUM Once organization changes are under way, explicit attention must be directed to sustaining energy and commitment for implementing them. A strong tendency exists always among organization members to return to old behaviors and well-known processes unless they receive sustained support and reinforcement for carrying the changes through to completion. The following five activities can help to sustain momentum for carrying change through to completion: Providing resources for change. Additional financial and human resources are required for implementing organization change, particularly if the organization continues day-to-day operations while trying to change itself. Extra sources are always helpful to provide a buffer as performance drops during the transition period. Building a support system for change agents. Organization change can be difficult and filled with tension, not only for participants but for change agents as well. A support system typically consists of a network of people with whom the change agent has close personal relationships people who can give emotional support, serve as sounding board for ideas and problems, and challenge untested assumptions. Developing new competencies and skills, reinforcing new behaviors, and staying the course. In organizations people generally do things that bring them rewards. Consequently, one of the most effective ways to sustain momentum for change is to reinforce the kinds of behaviors needed to implement the changes through for instance informal recognition, encouragement, and praise. Staying the course. If the organization changes again too quickly or abandons the changes before it is fully implemented, the desired results may never materialize. There are two primary reasons that managers do not keep a steady focus on change implementation. First, many managers fail to anticipate the decline in performance, productivity, or satisfaction as change is implemented. Organization members need time to practice, develop, and learn new behaviors; they do not abandon old ways of doing things and adopt a new set of behaviors overnight. Second, many managers do not keep focused on a change because they want to implement the next big idea that comes along. Successful organizational change requires persistent leadership that does not waver unnecessarily. References Books and articles Ansoff, I.H. (1990), â€Å"Implanting Strategic Management† Prentice Hall International, Ltd. London Cynthia D. Scott, Dennis T. Jaffe. (2003), â€Å"Managing change at work: leading people through organizational transitions†, edit 3 Greiner, L.E. (1972), â€Å"Evolution and revolution as organizations grow† Harvard Business Review, pp. 37-46. Greiner, L E and Schein, V E. (1988), â€Å"Power and Organization Development: Mobilizing power to change†, Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Halim Barakat. (1993), â€Å"The Arab world: society, culture, and state† Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, Hutt, M.D., Walker, B.A. and Frankwick, G.L. (1995) â€Å"Hurdle the Cross-Functional Barriers to Strategic Change† Sloan Management Review, 36 (3), pp. 22-30. Jack Rabin, Marcia B. Steinhauer. (1988), â€Å"Handbook on human services administration† Public Administration and Public Policy/34, pp. 305 Krà ¼ger, W. (1996), â€Å"Implementation: The Core Task of Change Management† CEMS Business Review, 1, pp. 77-96. Lawrence, P.R. (1954), â€Å"How to Deal with Resistance to Change† Harvard Business Review, (May/June), pp. 49-57. Mike Green. (2007), â€Å"Change management masterclass: a step by step guide to successful change†. Tony Proctor. (2005), â€Å"Creative problem solving for managers: developing skills for decision making†. Edition 2, pp. 241 Pardo Del Val, Manuela Martà ­nez Fuentes â€Å"RESISTANCE TO CHANGE: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL†, p. 5-7 Rob Paton, James McCalman. (2008), â€Å"Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation†, edition 3, pp. 39-54 Rumelt, R.P. (1995), â€Å"Inertia and transformation†, in Montgomery, C.A., Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Massachusetts, pp. 101-132. Rusell Tobin. (1999), â€Å"Overcoming resistance to change†, Second Edition, pp. 142 Starbuck, W., Greve, A. and Hedberg, B.L.T. (1978) â€Å"Responding to crisis†, Journal of Business Administration, 9 (2), pp. 111-137. Thomas G. Cummings, Christopher G. Worley. (2008), â€Å"Organization development change†, Edition 9, pp. 165-182 Waddell, D. and Sohal, A.S. (1998), â€Å"Resistance: a constructive tool for change management†, Management Decision, 36 (8), pp. 543-548. Zeffane, R. (1996), â€Å"Dynamics of strategic change: critical issues in fostering positive organizational change†, Leadership Organization Development Journal, 17, pp. 36-43. Websites: http://www.explorehr.org/articles/Orga Managing Change in Small Organisations Managing Change in Small Organisations 1.0 Introduction The phenomenon of resistance to change is the bane of all Algerian bakeries that convey ideas for change. For the same one who proposed the change, the resistances are usually synonymous with hostility, intrigue deadlines, polarization, conflict, and impatience, many problems which are likely to frustrate and undermine the success of his bakery. Basically, resistance to change is built up from many sources; internal and external. Overcoming resistance to change requires first the identification of those sources. Therefore, the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† is looking for an expert or professional advice in the field to help managing change effectively. Hence, as this topic is part of the international business and management studies, the owner asked me to do some research on this matter. Ultimately, this research is divided into two major chapters, first; the literature part that discusses the main topic theoretically, it starts off by mentioning the general sources that fuels the resistance to change, then it goes on with hofdstedes point of view on resistance of change based on cultural differences and it concludes by describing the steps of managing change effectively and it concludes with. The second major chapter is the analysis of the findings from the primary data that have been collected through interviews with owners and employees from the bakery El-Bahdja and owners from other bakeries. Finally this paper is closed by recommendations for the owner of the bakery El-Bahdja on how to overcome resistance to change and how to manage change. 1.1 Research objective Many companies in North Africa particularly in Algeria are making loss and could not improve the quality of their business due to the habit of following common procedures and the high consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo and fear of new ideas. Lack of adequate information fuels rumors and gossip and adds to anxiety generally associated with change. This fear creates resistance to change in the Algerian bakery industry Therefore, this research focuses on finding the elements that fuel the resistance to change in the Algerian bakeries and specifically the bakery â€Å"El Bahdja† that produces and delivers all kind of bread and pastries. The owner of the Algerian Bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† is an old man and has been in the business since 1967. The owner is facing the closing down due to lack of managing change skills in the bakery and the high resistance from the employees to change. The main objective of this research is to provide the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† with guidance to effectively managing change when it is in the process of the implementation. 1.2 Research questions To provide guidance on how to manage changes for the owner of the bakery â€Å"El-Bahdja† it is essential first to find answers to the following research questions. â€Å"Does Algerian culture welcome changes† â€Å"Why most Algerian employers and employees resist changing?† â€Å"What are the external factors that prevent Algerian employers and employees from changing?† â€Å"How do Algerian employers and employees manage change when applying the new ideas?† 1.3 Methodology This study is based on both primary and secondary data that help in understanding the causes of resistance to change from both the Algerian owners and their employees: Secondary data collection: this method studies the previous cases that have already been written about and find the similarities between the cases. This method is very helpful in collection data from different cultures that share the same fact which is fear of new ideas that have direct effect on their traditional way of doing business. Therefore, the resources of the secondary data collection are mainly from books, journals, and internet. Primary data: a very crucial data and plays a big role in making final decision. The primary data which is better called direct communication or field research, on other word; facing people and have them interviewed. The objective of this method is to collect factual data that helps in answering the research questions of this study and this after interviewing people from the same field on the main topic. Reflection on the research methodology: the methods followed for collecting data are linked together. The secondary data helps understand the theoretical concepts that have been concluded from previous cases and compare them to the new facts. In this method; the 7s model of McKinsey, the theory versus the real world by Jeff Hiatt and Arab identity by Halim Barakat are used as starting point for facing organizational change in Algeria. The primary data is basically the tangible evidence for decision makers, observing and interviewing people are the major tools to be used in collecting data for this study. Reliability and validity of data are the essential axes of this method. Therefore, the interviews take place specifically with owners of bakeries and their employees in Algeria and in the Netherlands for comparison to see whether culture differences is a matter for resisting changing. 2.1 Why managing change? â€Å"Change is believed to happen Changes are fact and every person is subject to these changes. People faces changes regularly in their life or in their workplace, part of them deal with these changes successfully and the other part fail to adjust to change. In the life, for instance a family with children; parents believe that children are subject to changes and may change to better or to the opposite that parents plan for them, however these changes would not affect the family as a whole but the person himself. Nevertheless, in a business changes there are two ways and no third, successfully manage change or failure. In organization whether you are an executive, supervisor, coach, consultant, project team leader or manager of any type where your job is to manage people, you likely have experienced resistance to change from employees. However you may not recognize the role that you can play in preventing that resistance and leading change. Many managers do not make this connection until they have personally experience failure in an important change project (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey 2003) When asking people after this failure what would you do differently if you had the chance to do it again? The common response would be using an effective and planned change management program. The question to be risen here is whether this program is sufficient enough to prevent resistance to change from happening in the first place and deal with people emotions and pursue them to change. The real barrier to success is a lack of change management and not management program. Some people do not lack of vision or an understanding of the marketplace but they feel simply short when managing the people side of change. In other words, things did not go exactly as planned. The unexpected happened. Not managing the people side of change impacts the success and introduces risk into the business (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey 2003) Change management skills have shown that is not only mitigates these business risks, but also can avoid them entirely. Business leaders have change management skills to not only manage resistance once it appears, but to prevent it from occurring. 2.2 Change and the manager â€Å"Change needs to be portrayed in positive terms, a necessity to ensure long term survival (Robert A Poton, James McCalman, 2008)† Organizations and their managers must recognize change, in itself, is not necessarily a problem. The problem more often than not is a less than competent management o the change situation (Rob Paton, James McCalman, 2008). Managers must realize that one cannot separate strategic change management from organizational strategy; both must work in tandem. The importance of the human side of change cannot be underestimated, one must identify and manage the potential sources and causes of potential resistance and ensure that motivators are built into new processes and structures (Forlaron, 2005). i) Change competency: â€Å"Change is part of the businesss philosophy† â€Å"The successful organization is the organization that understand change will occur, expect it and support the change during implementation (Jeff Hiat, 2003) An organization that faces constant demands to change and uses effective management over and over with each new initiative may experience a fundamental shift in its operations and the behavior of its employees. Sponsors begin to repeat activities that made last change successful. Managers develop skills to support employees through the change. Employees see part of their job as navigating these new changes. Each level in the organization will have internalized its role in change and developed the skills and knowledge necessary to react to constant change. The organization has become ready and able to embrace change; it has developed change competency (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey, 2003). However, building change competency is not paved with flowers; it requires a belief that change is now an ever-present feature of organizational life (Burnes, 2004). Change competency is similar to change management, but there are several key distinction. First, change management is ultimately the use of specific activities like communication, coaching, sponsorship and training; to realize successful outcomes with business changes. Change competency is not a specific activity; it is an organizations ability to react to change over and over again Second, while change management can be taught and learned, change competency requires a fundamental shift in culture and values. It must be simply part of day-to-day operations and cannot be simply demonstrated in training or instructional material. Third, change competency must penetrate every facet and level of the organization. This distinction especially relates to the front-line employee. An organization may have expertise in change management in its sponsors, consultants and change management. However, the front-line employees are the ones whose day-to-day activities are changing. To build change competency into the organization, you can take the first step by ensuring that solid change management practices are applied consistently for each change initiative. The second step is to begin building the following competencies into your organization (Jeff Hiat, Timothy J. Creasey, 2003) ii) Change and Human Resource Technology has played a major role in ensuring that a coherent business approach and managerial performance can be maintained from a reduce resource base. The key success in such moves has been the mobilization of the human resource (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1993). 2.3 Managing resistance once it appears â€Å"Believing in changes to be happening is a key principle to reducing resistance to change† People are often afraid of new ideas. They may feel threatened by new ideas and fear that they will not be able to cope with a change in working patterns that is demanded of them or that they will not understand how to use a new technology; example of that many older people are afraid of materials that they are not able to handle and may make them calling the technician every moment (Tony proctor 2005). The fear of new ideas is a natural feeling; people live with this fear and it not a bad manner. Fear of new ideas becomes negative when is surrounded with sources that increase the tension of fear that leads to high level of resistance and consequently aggravation of the failure of any project. Change more often than not produces suspicions and resistance. To many it implies a move from familiar ways-mastered over long periods of time- to an unknown and threatening environment. In order to deal effectively with resistance to change, people must understand its causes (Jack Rabin, Marcia B. Steinhauer, 1988). Lawrence and Greiner 1970, identify the main sources that feed the resistance of change. Fear of the unknown, lack of information, threats of status, fear of failure, and lack of perceived benefits. Regarding the first group of sources of resistance, change starts with the perception of its need, so a wrong initial perception is the first barrier to change. This first group is called ‘distorted perception, interpretation barriers and vague strategic priorities (Pardo del Val, Manuela Martà ­nez Fuentes). It includes: (a) Inability of the company to look into the future with clarity (Barr et al., 1992; Krà ¼ger, 1996; Rumelt, 1995); (b) Denial or refusal to accept any information that is not expected or desired (Barr et al., 1992; Rumelt, 1995; Starbuck et al., 1978); (c) Perpetuation of ideas, meaning the tendency to go on with the present thoughts although the situation has changed (Barr et al., 1992; Krà ¼ger, 1996; Rumelt, 1995; Zeffane, 1996); (d) Implicit assumptions, which are not discussed due to its implicit character and therefore distort reality (Starbuck, Greve and Hedberg, 1978); (e) Communication barriers, that leads to information distortion or misinterpretations (Hutt et al., 1995); (f) Organizational silence, which limits the information flow with individuals who do not express their thoughts, meaning that decisions are made without all the necessary information (Morrison and Milliken, 2000; Nemeth, 1997). The second main group of sources of resistance deals with a low motivation for change. Five fundamental sources: (a) Direct costs of change (Rumelt, 1995); (b) cannibalization costs, that is to say, change that brings success to a product but at the same time brings losses to others, so it requires some sort of sacrifice (Rumelt, 1995); (c) Cross subsidy comforts, because the need for a change is compensated through the high rents obtained without change with another different factor, so that there is no real motivation for change (Rumelt, 1995); (d) Past failures, which leave a pessimistic image for future changes (Lorenzo, 2000); and (e) Different interests among employees and management, or lack of motivation of employees who value change results less than managers value them (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). The lack of a creative response is the third set of sources of resistance. There are three main reasons that diminish the creativeness in the search for appropriate change strategies: (a) Fast and complex environmental changes, which do not allow a proper situation analysis (Ansoff, 1990; Rumelt, 1995); b) Reactive mind-set, resignation, or tendency to believe that obstacles are inevitable (Rumelt, 1995); and (c) Inadequate strategic vision or lack of clear commitment of top management to changes (Rumelt, 1995; Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Taking into consideration all those sources of resistance mentioned above can reverse the situation into preventing resistance in the first place. Cultural web: Cultures differ from each other in their resistance to change. The strongest resistance to change characterizes of high power distance, low individualism, and high uncertainty avoidance. Among these cultures are most Latin American countries, Portugal and Korea, followed by Japan, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Arab countries. Cultures with low levels of resistance to change are low on power distance, high on individualism, and low on uncertainty avoidance. This category includes the Anglo countries, Nordic countries, and the Netherlands, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Africa (Harzig and Hofdestede, 1996 2.4 Making sense of change management â€Å"7S model of McKinsey†: The Mckinsey 7S model defines the seven components that encompass an organization and that by changing any one of the S components there is impact on the other S components. This model is such a conceptual aid by acting as good checklist for those setting out to make organizational change, laying out which parts of the system need to adapt, and the effects of these changes in other parts of the system (Mike Green, 2007) The 7s categories are: Staff important categories of people within the organization, the mix, the diversity, retention, the development and the maximizing of their potential. This component helps to determine how committed resources to make it all work? Skills distinctive capabilities, knowledge and experience of key people. The role of this component is to identify how ready and competent are the staff based on where the organization is heading? Systems processes, IT systems, HR systems, knowledge management systems. In other words, what are the suitable systems to be used to support the transition? Style management style and culture. How we are getting from here to there? Shared values guiding principles that make the organization what it is. Strategy organizational goals and plan, use of resources. Briefly is where are we transitioning to? Structure the organization chart and how roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are distributed in furtherance of the strategy. â€Å"The Mckinsey 7S model provides an effective framework for analyzing an organization and its activities that determine whether an organization is strong enough to adjust to any changes. Furthermore, this model helps in avoiding some of the sources that feed resistance to change in the first place† 2.5 Five steps for effective change process (Thomas and Christopher, 2008) Step 1:Motivating change: â€Å"Moving from the known to the unknown† Organizational change involves moving from the known to the unknown. The future is uncertain and may adversely affect peoples competencies, worth, and coping abilities. Organization members generally do not support change unless compelling reasons convince them to do so. A key issue in planning for action is how to motivate commitment to organizational change. This requires attention to two related tasks: creating readiness for change and overcoming resistance to change. Creating Readiness for change: peoples readiness for change depends on creating a felt need for change. This involves making people so dissatisfied with the status quo that they are motivated to try new work processes, technologies, or ways of behaving. Generally people and organization need to experience deep levels of hurt before they will seriously undertake meaningful change. The following three methods can help generate sufficient dissatisfaction to produce change: Sensitize organizations to pressures for change. Modern organizations face unprecedented environmental pressures to change themselves, including heavy foreign competition, rapidly changing technology, and the draw of global markets. Internal pressures to change include new leadership, poor product quality, high production costs, and excessive employee absenteeism and turnover. Organizations can make themselves more sensitive to pressures for change by encouraging leadership to surround themselves with devils advocate; for instance by cultivating external networks that comprise people or organizations with different perspectives and views; by visiting other organizations to gain exposure to new ideas and methods. Reveal discrepancies between current and desired states. Significant discrepancies between actual and ideal states can motivate organization members to initiate corrective changes, particularly when members are committed to achieving those ideas. A major diagnosis is to provide members with feedback about current organizational functioning so that the information can be compared with goals or desired future states. Convey credible positive expectations for the change. When organization members expect success, they are likely to develop greater commitment to the change process and to direct more energy into the constructive behaviors needed to implement it. The key success to achieving these positive effects if to communicate realistic, positive expectations about the organizational changes*. Research suggests that information about why the change is occurring, how it will benefit the organization, and how people will be involved in the design and implementation of the change was most helpful.* Overcoming Resistance to change: At the organization level, resistance to change can come from three sources. Technical resistance comes from the habit of following common procedures and the consideration of sunk costs invested in the status quo. Political resistance can arise when organizational changes threaten powerful stakeholders, such as top executive or staff personnel, or call into question the past decisions of leaders. Finally, culture resistance takes the form of systems and procedures that reinforce the status quo, promoting conformity to existing values, norms, and assumptions about how things should operate. Empathy and support. A first step in overcoming resistance is learning how people are experiencing change. This strategy identifies people who are having trouble accepting the changes, the nature of their resistance, and possible ways to overcome it. Communication. People resist change when they are uncertain about its consequences. Lack of adequate information fuels rumors and gossip and adds to anxiety generally associated with change. Effective communication about changes and their likely results can reduce this speculation and allay unfounded fears. Participation and innovation. Involvement in planning the change increases the likelihood that members interests and needs will be accounted for during the intervention. Consequently, participants will be committed to implementing the changes. They also can identify pitfalls and barriers to implementations. STEP 2: CREATING A VISION The second activity in leading and managing change involves creating a vision of what members want the organization to look like or become. Generally, a vision describes the core values and purpose that guide the organization as well as an envisioned future toward which change is directed. It provides a valued direction for designing, implementing, and assessing organizational changes. The vision also can energize commitment to change by providing members with a common goal and a compelling rationale for why change is necessary and worth the effort. Research suggests that compelling visions are composed of two parts: (1) a relatively stable core ideology that describes the organizations core values and purpose, and (2) an envisioned future with bold goals and a vivid description of the desired future state that reflects the specific change under consideration Step 3: DEVELOPING POLITICAL SUPPORT Managing the political dynamics of change includes the following activities: Assessing Change Agent Power. Greiner and Schein 1988, indentified three key sources of personal power in organizations (in addition to ones formal position); knowledge, personality, and others support. Knowledge bases of power include having expertise that is valued by others and controlling important information. For example, leaders in organizational units undergoing change can call on their informal networks for resources and support, and encourage subordinates to exercise power in support of the change. Identifying Key Stakeholders. This can start with simple question. †who stands to gain or to lose from the changes? Once stakeholders are identified, creating a map of their influence may be useful. Consequently, provides change agents with information about which people groups need to be influenced to accept and support the changes. Influencing Stakeholders. There are three major strategies for using power to influence others in organization development; First strategy is playing straight; this strategy involves determining of particular stakeholders and presenting information about how the changes can benefit them. The success of this strategy relies heavily on the change agents knowledge base. He or she must have the expertise and information to persuade stakeholders that the changes are a logical way to meet their needs. The second strategy is using social network; in this strategy change agents attempt to use their social relationships to gain support for changes. This social networking might include, for example, meeting with other powerful groups and forming alliances to support specific changes. This strategy also might include using informal contacts to discover key roadblocks to change and to gain access to major decision makers who need to sanction the changes. The third strategy is going around the formal system; the change agents charisma, reputations, or professional credibility lend legitimacy to going around the system and can reduce the likelihood of negative reprisals. For example, managers with reputations as winners often can bend the rules to implement organizational changes. However, this power strategy is relatively easy to abuse. Therefore; the OD practitioners should consider carefully the ethical issues and possible unintended consequences of circumventing formal policies and practices. Step 4: MANAGING THE TRANSITION Implementing organizational change involves moving from the existing organization state to the desired future state. There are three major activities and structure to facilitate organizational transition: activity planning, commitment planning, and change-management structures. Activity Planning This involves making a road map for change, citing specific activities and events that must occur if the transition is to be successful. Activity planning should clearly identify, temporally orient, and integrate discrete change tasks and should link these tasks to the organizations change goals and priorities. Commitment planning this activity involves identifying key people and groups whose commitment is needed for change to occur and formulating a strategy for gaining their support. Change-Management Structures Because organizational transitions tend to be ambiguous and to need direction, special structures for managing the change process need to be created. These management structures should include people who have the power to mobilize resources to promote change, the respect of the existing leadership and change advocates, and the interpersonal and political skills to guide the change process. Step 5: SUSTAINING MOMENTUM Once organization changes are under way, explicit attention must be directed to sustaining energy and commitment for implementing them. A strong tendency exists always among organization members to return to old behaviors and well-known processes unless they receive sustained support and reinforcement for carrying the changes through to completion. The following five activities can help to sustain momentum for carrying change through to completion: Providing resources for change. Additional financial and human resources are required for implementing organization change, particularly if the organization continues day-to-day operations while trying to change itself. Extra sources are always helpful to provide a buffer as performance drops during the transition period. Building a support system for change agents. Organization change can be difficult and filled with tension, not only for participants but for change agents as well. A support system typically consists of a network of people with whom the change agent has close personal relationships people who can give emotional support, serve as sounding board for ideas and problems, and challenge untested assumptions. Developing new competencies and skills, reinforcing new behaviors, and staying the course. In organizations people generally do things that bring them rewards. Consequently, one of the most effective ways to sustain momentum for change is to reinforce the kinds of behaviors needed to implement the changes through for instance informal recognition, encouragement, and praise. Staying the course. If the organization changes again too quickly or abandons the changes before it is fully implemented, the desired results may never materialize. There are two primary reasons that managers do not keep a steady focus on change implementation. First, many managers fail to anticipate the decline in performance, productivity, or satisfaction as change is implemented. Organization members need time to practice, develop, and learn new behaviors; they do not abandon old ways of doing things and adopt a new set of behaviors overnight. Second, many managers do not keep focused on a change because they want to implement the next big idea that comes along. Successful organizational change requires persistent leadership that does not waver unnecessarily. References Books and articles Ansoff, I.H. (1990), â€Å"Implanting Strategic Management† Prentice Hall International, Ltd. London Cynthia D. Scott, Dennis T. Jaffe. (2003), â€Å"Managing change at work: leading people through organizational transitions†, edit 3 Greiner, L.E. (1972), â€Å"Evolution and revolution as organizations grow† Harvard Business Review, pp. 37-46. Greiner, L E and Schein, V E. (1988), â€Å"Power and Organization Development: Mobilizing power to change†, Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Halim Barakat. (1993), â€Å"The Arab world: society, culture, and state† Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, Hutt, M.D., Walker, B.A. and Frankwick, G.L. (1995) â€Å"Hurdle the Cross-Functional Barriers to Strategic Change† Sloan Management Review, 36 (3), pp. 22-30. Jack Rabin, Marcia B. Steinhauer. (1988), â€Å"Handbook on human services administration† Public Administration and Public Policy/34, pp. 305 Krà ¼ger, W. (1996), â€Å"Implementation: The Core Task of Change Management† CEMS Business Review, 1, pp. 77-96. Lawrence, P.R. (1954), â€Å"How to Deal with Resistance to Change† Harvard Business Review, (May/June), pp. 49-57. Mike Green. (2007), â€Å"Change management masterclass: a step by step guide to successful change†. Tony Proctor. (2005), â€Å"Creative problem solving for managers: developing skills for decision making†. Edition 2, pp. 241 Pardo Del Val, Manuela Martà ­nez Fuentes â€Å"RESISTANCE TO CHANGE: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL†, p. 5-7 Rob Paton, James McCalman. (2008), â€Å"Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation†, edition 3, pp. 39-54 Rumelt, R.P. (1995), â€Å"Inertia and transformation†, in Montgomery, C.A., Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Massachusetts, pp. 101-132. Rusell Tobin. (1999), â€Å"Overcoming resistance to change†, Second Edition, pp. 142 Starbuck, W., Greve, A. and Hedberg, B.L.T. (1978) â€Å"Responding to crisis†, Journal of Business Administration, 9 (2), pp. 111-137. Thomas G. Cummings, Christopher G. Worley. (2008), â€Å"Organization development change†, Edition 9, pp. 165-182 Waddell, D. and Sohal, A.S. (1998), â€Å"Resistance: a constructive tool for change management†, Management Decision, 36 (8), pp. 543-548. Zeffane, R. (1996), â€Å"Dynamics of strategic change: critical issues in fostering positive organizational change†, Leadership Organization Development Journal, 17, pp. 36-43. Websites: http://www.explorehr.org/articles/Orga

Othello: Emilia the Grander one Essay -- English literature, Shakespear

â€Å"Othello,† the tragic play written by William Shakespeare in 1601 has given a new outlook to women’s right during the time period when they had no voice to call their own. A tragic play about a jealous and manipulative man named Iago who does everything in his power to pursue and destroy the life of the protagonist, Othello. In the belief that Othello had wrongfully promoted someone else to the position that he claims to be rightfully his. In this play, unsure if this was the intention of Shakespeare, but Shakespeare’s two main female characters each embodies a completely different bias about women and feminism during the Elizabethan time period. Shakespeare encircles â€Å"Othello’s† plot and themes around its male characters all the while concurrently but indirectly shed light to the hidden anti-parallel dynamic among the livelihood of women. Desdemona, Othello’s wife, the more traditional female character, believes in putting her hus band first and that love is all that matters. On the other hand, Emilia, Iago’s wife and one of Desdemona’s dearest friends, is portrayed as the stronger feminist in the play and believes in women’s right and that women are physically no different to men. To place this assumption into retrospect, in Shakespeare time, from the 1558 to the 1600s, England society was ruled by Queen Elizabeth. Although a women took ownership of the country, in Elizabethan’s society married women and minor girls were entirely in the power of their husband and guardianship of their father. None the less, even after Elizabeth I took the throne, she was expected to wed and â€Å"have her rights to rule limited or completely take up by her husband† (Wagner, 21). Women living in a society built upon Renaissance beliefs were only m... ... when his lies and deceits destroys innocent lives. In correlation to Shakespeare’s time and with his character Emilia, women should see that in order for a man to successfully thrive, it takes a strong-will and outspoken woman to back him up. On the other hand, afraid of societal and dynamical change, men can only silence change with death like Iago did to Emilia. Works Cited 1. Shakespear, William. â€Å"Othello, the Moor of Venice.† Literature: Craft and Voice. Eds. Nicholas Del Banco and Alan Cheue. 2en ed. New York: Mc Graw Hill, 2012. 1202-1271. Print. 2. â€Å"Feminist Criticism (1960s- present).† Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. Web.25 Apr 2014. 3. Chojnacki, Stanley. Women and Men in Renaissance Venice: Twelve Essays on Patrician Society. Baltimore:John Hopkins UP,2000. 115-169. Ebook.

Three Strike Laws Essay -- Law Laws Argumentative Persuasive papers

Three Strike Laws Mandatory minimums and three strike laws, are they really the answer to the crime problem America has faced for years? Many would say yes, including me, as long as it is for a violent crime such as murder, rape or arson; some feel that even theft, drug trafficking or possession, and burglary are all worthy of the 25-to-life sentence that can be carried under the mandatory minimums for three strike laws. A three-strike law is a law that states that you will be sentenced to 25years to life for three violations and convictions of a law. Where the three strike laws have mandatory sentences, mandatory sentences aren’t always tied in with three strike laws. A mandatory minimum is a law that requires someone serve a predetermined amount of time in prison for specific offenses and the only way to have it reduced is by assisting the authorities in further convictions of others. In California a man was sentenced under the three strike laws for theft because he had two prior convictions. This man had been convicted of robbery and attempted robbery; therefore the slice of pizza he stole got him 25 years to life in prison (Lungren Trumpets ‘Three Strikes’ Law). Yes now, in California, you can be sent to prison for life if you take a slice of pizza from someone. Let’s talk about how fair these laws are. Many say that these laws are used to profile African Americans and inner-city minorities primarily by the sentencing difference in rock and powder cocaine. There is a difference in the two forms and how they’re sold. Cocaine can be bought and sold as powder or rocks, also known as crack or crack cocaine. The effects of each are essentially the same. People will get the same effects with powder as w... ...ad, Peter. â€Å"Mandatory Sentences: Putting the Record Straight† Contemporary Review 270.1573 (1997): 57-61. Easton, Steve. â€Å"Incarceration Aids Drug Fight.† USA Today 30 Sept. 2002: News A11. Free, Jr. Marvin D. â€Å"The Impact of Federal Sentencing Reforms on African Americans.† Journal of Black Studies 28.2 (1997): 268-287. Goodwin, Catherine M. â€Å"Determining Mandatory Minimums In Drug Conspiracy Cases.† Federal Probation 59.1 (1995): 74-79. Heath, Erin. â€Å"One-Track Justice.† National Journal 33.34 (2001): 2614-2617. Locy, Toni and Joan Biskupic. â€Å"U.S. Panel to Urge Change in Crack Penalties.† USA Today 4 Aug. 2002: News A3. Stodghill, II, Ron. â€Å"Unequal Justice: Why Women Fare Worse.† Time 2 Jan. 1999: 50-52. Taylor Jr., Stewart. â€Å"Good Pardons, Bad Laws, and Bush’s Unique Opportunity.† National Journal 33.7 (2001): 466-468.

Martinez Construction Company in Germany

MARTINEZ CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN GERMANY 1. General presentation of the case study (Summary) Martinez Construction is a well-established construction company in Eastern Spain. Because of a recent decline in contracts in the Spain society, Martinez Construction Company needed to expand to international market in order to survive (expand and grow). After a survey in the international market, the newly formed Democratic Germany seemed the perfect place. Furthermore, the best solution was to acquire an existing firm with the help of Treuhandanstalt (privatization agency).This was a result of the lack of liquidity of the Martinez Company. Therefore, an alliance with another German company would not allow it to establish itself as a serious competitor on the international market. The intermediary for Martinez Construction was THA (Treuhandanstalt), a company created in the former German Democratic Republic, whose main purpose was to find private buyers for some 13 500 business and 15 000 p arcels of real estate that had been owned by the former German Democratic Republic.Their primary job was to sell the companies and match existing companies with buyers. That’s why Martinez Construction used THA’s services to find a new German company to acquire. From the time of his arrival in Germany, Juan felt that he was having a difficult time just getting acquainted with the Germans. . They didn’t seem to have time to get to know Juan personally: rush and urgency to complete the sale was the focus of their approach. Thus, THA found Konstruktion Dreizehn, based in Leipzig.Juan Sanchez was sent to handle the negotiations part of the acquisition in Germany. Juan was accompanied by Diego’s nephew and projected manager of the new German acquisition, Miguel Martinez. His background includes a business degree from a university in the United States, as well as years of employment in the family business, although lacking in practical managerial experience. Du ring the negotiations, there were noticed strong discrepancies between the business styles of the two representatives of the companies, the cultural barrier between the two being noticeable.However, they managed to arrive at a common point by modifying the initial contract, after Juan insisted. The final contract stated that the original price would be reviewed in two years, and the contracted parties would recalculate it based on new and presumably more reliable data concerning the true value of the firm. The company had employed approximately 350 workers inside the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The THA had reduced the workforce to 100. Miguel and his team estimated that 50 employees would be sufficient.Miguel was frustrated by the unwillingness of some employees to actively participate in the formulation of ideas and implementation of new procedures and policies. Six months after Miguel’s triumphant arrival, his optimism was fading fast. He had just received the latest report concerning the company’s financial position, and it was clear that the figures were far from what Martinez Construction had been led to believe. Cash flow problems were beginning to arise, and this threatened the very existence of the company. . Identification of the problem(s), causes and negative effects: 2. 1. Identification of the problem(s): The main problem of The Spanish Company consists of the fact that they were not prepared for the acquisition of a foreign company and further more for the negotiations with the German THA. Companies which operate only in one country are not familiar with all the economic, cultural and political differences between societies because they are not confronted with them on daily basis.In order to do successful business, it is of major importance to acknowledge this differences and to take it into consideration when doing business. A second problem will be that the manager of Martinez Construction Company choose the wrong people in order to complete the negotiations and after words to develop the new business in East Germany. 2. 2. Identification of the causes that led to the appearance of this/these problem(s): The problems arise mainly because the CEO of the Spanish company made his decisions of expansion in Germany on a blue-eyed approach.The idea occur to him when meeting German tourists in Spain that were relax and happy without taking into account that the East Germans were not allowed to travel so far and there are important differences between the mentality of Western and Eastern Germany. Another cause is represented by the Manager’s idea that he can develop a well-established business in the Eastern German because of cheap labor and raw materials. His choice to expand on German marketplace was not based on rational facts or clear developed objectives.Despite the fact that the management of Martinez Company conduct a series of research regarding the different market entry strategies into German markets which ended with the solution of acquiring a company from THA, a market selection can not rely only on information based on secondary sources. There are always certain information that can only be found when visiting the potential marketplace (distributors, suppliers, the existing management and employees). 2. 3. Identification of the potential negative effects that will appear if the problem(s) is/are not going to be solved:Negative effects on the short-run: * Lack of experience in managing a portfolio of business in another market than Spain as well as the lack of knowledge about the personality of German employees and the already existing procedures and policies * Different developed management information systems, governance structures, managerial skills and corporate processes * Lack of initiative coming from the employees because of fear and distrust of management due to the cultural differences between Spanish and German business practices. Exposure to unfamiliar busi ness practices such as strict environmental and employee protection regulations that forced unexpected large investments in plant modifications. * Other costly projects that have not been foreseen during the negotiations process that would have required attention. * Cash flow problems The negative effects in the long run: * Cash flow problems that finally may threaten the existence of the German company or even of the whole company’s * Closing the German enterprise would mean losing the whole investment (money invested in research, development, implementation, the price itself paid to THA and other costs hat incurred over the time). * Inability to achieve the forecasted figures 3. Identification of alternative solutions for identified problems Solution 1: Joint – Venture with a company from Western Germany Joint ventures are the most common method of entering the market, especially in Europe, because it allows companies to gain competitive advantage through access to a partner’s resources, including markets, technologies, capital and people.International Joint Ventures are viewed as a practical vehicle for direct investment along with knowledge transfer, such as technology transfer, from multinational expertise to local companies, and such knowledge transfer can contribute to the performance improvement of local companies. Advantages: * Access to local know-how which will help the company to evolve faster * Sharing development costs and risks, along with   technology and complementary IP assets for the production and delivery of innovative goods and services * Cheaper than acquisition   Reduce political friction and improve local/national acceptability of the company. Disadvantages: * A joint venture would not allow the company to establish itself as a serious competitor * Lack of control over technology * Many joint ventures fail because of a conflict in tax interests between the partners. Solution 2: Licensing Another solution to the above identified problem would be a method whereby Martinez Constructions would agree to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the company.This method may also be used to gain access to new markets that otherwise are inaccessible. Advantages: *   Good way to start in foreign operations and open the door to low risk manufacturing relationships * Provides additional profitability with little initial investment * Low costs to implement * It has an attractive return on investment * A license agreement allows the licensor to retain ownership of the IP and at the same time to receive royalty income from it, in addition to the income from its own exploitation of it in products and services that it sells. Enables a business to reach customers that it normally wouldn’t be able to do on its own. Disadvantages: * A licensee can become the licensor’s competitor. The licensee may â€Å"canni balize† sales of the licensor, causing the latter to gain less from royalties than it loses from sales that go to its new competitor. * The licensee may suddenly ask for contribution, such as technical assistance, training of personnel, additional technical data etc. All this may prove too expensive for the licensor. * Limited participation * Requires considerable fact finding, planning, investigation and interpretation. 4.Selection of the optimal solution: 4. 1. Identify and choose the optimal solution among those presented above We have decided that the optimal solution for Martinez Construction Company to enter the German market would be to form a joint venture with a company from West Germany. 4. 2 Demonstration that the chosen solution is the optimum one. A joint venture is considered to be one of the easiest and safest methods a company could adopt in order to enter on a foreign market. In our case, we consider that the optimal solution would be for Martinez Construction Company to form a joint venture with a company rom the Western part of Germany because this part of the country was not under the communist regime, it is more developed and receptive to changes. In what concerns solution no 2, it suggests that licensing would be the best way for Martinez Construction to expand its business in Germany. Sometimes there are cases where licensing and joint venture methods are similar. They both allow companies to reach customers that it couldn’t reach otherwise; they save market research spending and present an attractive return on investment.By following licensing model, Martinez company can easily and quickly penetrate the German market, using fewer financial resources. But if we take into account the other problems encountered in this case, namely cultural differences between German and Spanish, and lack of knowledge of international management, such a purchase would be a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the licensee can become the licensorâ€℠¢s competitor and the license agreement doesn’t always guarantee the necessary know-how for the licensee who might need technical assistance provided by the licensor. . Implementation of the solution When trying to expand globally through a joint venture strategy, Martinez Corporation must take into consideration three important elements: choice of partner, establishment of a strategic fit and the design of the joint venture organization. As prior mentioned, Martinez Company should choose a partner from the Western Germany as they are more accustomed to the Western style of doing business than the former German Democratic Republic. Thus, the negotiation could be more transparent and easier for the firm.Furthermore, the most important thing that has to be taken into consideration is the field in which the firm with which the joint venture is going to be performing activates. This is because a classic joint venture is the merger of two companies which usually have complementary products or services in order to cover a larger part of the market share. As a result, Martinez Corporation should apply the joint venture strategy by making a partnership with an architecture firm. By joining these two kinds of companies two business segments will be covered.This is a very good strategy because the future clients will have to sign only one contract and not waste time between two or more similar companies. Concerning the strategic fit and the joint venture organization, both the Spanish and the German companies will have to share the same vision in order to make the newly formed company to be profitable. The companies have the major advantage that they can complete each other in the sense of the business environment. This means that the German company will have the experience of working in the German business environment.Furthermore, it could find cheaper and more qualified personnel (as the labor force in Western Germany is more expensive than that in GDR). The jo int venture should be staffed by a full-time joint venture coordinator and other staff – designated by the 2 companies, as may be necessary to carry out the mission of the joint venture. On the other hand, Martinez Corporation comes with the know- how of production and the actual construction knowledge. This way, the structure of the new company shall follow that of the Martinez Company and similar technical prerequisites will be required for hiring of employees.The capital for the new joint venture shall be provided by the two companies in equal shares, as to ensure limited risk exposure and possibilities for further investments. This is also due to the fact that Martinez should vote for an equity joint venture in order to be equal partners and share the same amount of risk. Concerning the organizational structures, this should be a mix between the two companies because, being two companies in two separate business areas, new departments shall arise. In addition, for the com mon departments they should choose the best people after a careful analysis of their skills.