How Electricity And Telephone Changed The Way Of...

In this essay Marvin, discusses how electricity and telephone changed the way of communication in America. The author begins by criticizing the electrical officials stating â€Å" with the more general application of electricity throughout the society, electricians believed the world could change only to their advantage.† (Marvin, 1988, p.63) Both of these creation impacted the economy dramatically as well as the culture as a whole. Marvin, elaborates furthermore on the electrical officials behavior by stating â€Å"When speaking of electricity in official capacities and delivering opinions in public forms, electricians were loyal soldiers, laudatory, progressive, and faithful to the cause.† (Marvin, 1988, p. 65) The author has lots of†¦show more content†¦There was an huge increase in information technology sectors in the 1990 s. In general, there is going to be many positive and negative impacts on people s lives as a result of these wonderful inventions . The advantageous of having a computer you can learn so much, watch videos, movies, and store pictures on files. The internet we can use to stay in touch with other people, video chat, email, and use social media. Another good point in the essay is, â€Å"In the face of technological complexity, did the old proprieties apply, or did circumstances call for new ones to keep the social order intact?† (Marvin, 1988, p.87) What the author implies here is that we as a society are so structured around having new inventions to improve our lives. The author seem to indicate that society always has to have a new technological product to keep with the society. We do not ever question the intention of the corporations, entrepreneurs, and developers. Is is a need or a necessity? Marvin, also expresses her concern on how people communicated over the phone the profanities they used while speaking on the phone. This is what we experience today with cyberbullying on the computer tod ay. By using the computer and the internet there has been an increase in cyberbullying among teens, and adults alike. Many people have the tendency of taking a wonderful invention and misusing it for the wrong purpose. Cyberbullying, is a huge problem today not just with children, andShow MoreRelatedCommunication Is An Important Staple Of Human History868 Words   |  4 PagesCommunication is an important staple of human history. From the use of Egyptian hieroglyphs to the first appearance of emojis in Japan during the late nineteen-nineties. Methods of communication are ever-evolving and it is only a matter of time before the next sweeping form of interaction changes how we communicate. Before exploring the revolution which took place in the late nineteenth century, it is important to look at the pre-telephone era, the factors that went into the invention of the telephoneRead MoreImpact Of Technology On Society s Society Essay1549 Words   |  7 Pagesability to travel whenev er and to wherever they please, whether be it for pleasure or work. Communication with friends and family across the globe happens instantaneously with a simple click of a button. The movement of resources and products occurs around the world daily and items that were at one time based in a location across the globe can be delivered and on hand the next day. Global transportation, communication and trade create an immense network, which ultimately shrinks the world while at the sameRead MoreTelephone Essay1430 Words   |  6 PagesCan you imagine how different life would be if the telephone was never invented? One of the most powerful, and controversial, inventions has been that of the telephone. 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The use of non human labor such as coal and steam powered energy, compared to mass production with unskilled labor workers in the Second Industrial Revolution. Owners managing and owning their firms this is changed in the Second Revolution when managerial capitalism is introduced. The First Industrial Revolution is often referred to as the agrarian revolution, when farmers and country people moved into the city to work in factories. The development of theRead MoreHow Is the Internet Reshaping What We Mean by Culture?1436 Words   |  6 PagesHow is the Internet reshaping what we mean by culture? During the 20th century, electricity, the telephone, the automobile, and the airplane made the world more accessible to people and transforming our society in the process. Most people had to call their local bank to check their statements. Or wait for the paper invoice in the mail. The latest score for last nights hockey game were found in the local newspaper. 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Internal and External Factors Free Essays

Internal and External Factors Paper XXXXXXXXXXXX MGT/230 xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx Internal and External Factors Paper The purpose of this paper is to explain how internal and external factors affect the four functions of management in the Wal-Mart Corporation. For any organization to survive, irrespective of its size, it must develop and implement its own management concept. Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals (Bateman Snell, 2011). We will write a custom essay sample on Internal and External Factors or any similar topic only for you Order Now The four traditional functions of management include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The Wal-Mart Corporation has managed to use the internal and external factors of these functions to their advantage. With their strategic goal of seriously and rapidly expanding, the company currently employs over 2. 2 million associates, owns 8,500 stores, and serves 200 million customers weekly(â€Å"www. corporate. walmart. com†, 2012). Their strategies have minimized competitors making this company the world’s largest retailer. The following paper will describe how the Wal-Mart Corporation has found a successful way to use the functions with internal and external factors influencing globalization, technology, innovation, ethics, and diversity in business. The globalization of Wal-Mart began in 1991 in Mexico. The economy was starting to affect Wal-Mart’s business and they had to figure out a way to bring the profit up before business was lost. They decided to branch out and open a store in Mexico and Wal-Mart currently has stores in eleven countries (Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta 2002). By 1999, Wal-Mart had more than 130,000 employees working in 729 facilities outside the United States (Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta 2002). There were many factors that played into Wal-Marts decision to globalize. The first being that it had already saturated most of the domestic markets, and the United States only accounts for just over four percent of the world’s population. Emerging markets with their lower levels of disposable income offered huge platforms for growth in discount retail (Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta 2002). Since the globalization of this corporation, Wal-Mart currently ranks among the top five global retailers (Matthew Boyle 2009). Although there were bad results in some countries, there are now 3,805 stores operating under 53 distinct banners in 15 markets (Matthew Boyle 2009). Wal-Marts strategic decision to globalize has allowed a continual rise in sales and profits, and has allowed the corporation to remain successful. Wal-Mart has used the four functions of management to grow and maintain a successful company through innovation, as well. For example, as the largest retailer, Wal-Mart decided to go green and make the entire operation recyclable and reusable. In 2005, CEO Lee Scott announced the company would create zero waste and use renewable energy and products that sustain the environment. Wal-Mart proposed that the stores and clubs would use greener light bulbs, alternative energy, and better store designs to reduce waste, and reusable bags to start what is called a supply chain. The company announced the sustainability initiative which was used to track the life cycle of every product it sells by measuring the water usage, greenhouse gas emissions and fair labor practices (â€Å"Www. todaro. posterous. com†, 2010). Wal-Mart is currently hosting industry by industry meetings to debate how this customer label appears. Wal-Mart can only continue to grow their company by coming up with a plan and using the management from the top to the frontline managers to make changes to their company and enforce new ideas and innovations. Similarly, technology is another factor that Wal-Mart seems to excel at and stay on top of concerning planning and implementing the four functions of management. The company continues to improve their electronic commerce site Walmart. com and has come up with a search engine to help customers find the products they are looking for more quickly and with more ease. The new tool uses machine learning and text mining techniques that assist the customer. If they are searching for something in particular it can bring up products that are similar even if those particular words were not searched (Leber, 2012). This has caused eBay and Google to scramble to improve their e-commerce search results. The weakness for Wal-Mart is getting customers to start at their website as opposed to others like Amazon. The planning portion of Wal-Mart is particularly strong and is always coming up with new ways of competing and staying on top of what consumers want and need. Next, ethics is defined as the action of identifying the rules that should govern people’s behaviors and the â€Å"goods† that are worth seeking. With Business Ethics, corporations strive to uphold moral principles and standards that guide behavior in the business world (Bateman, 164). Many organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to deal with the complexity of ethical issues hitting businesses today. As a large importer/exporter of foreign goods, Wal-Mart found itself dealing with an increasing issue of bad supplier ethics. From foreign owned to the United States outsourced companies, they needed to create a plan for setting up a standard for products that were received for sale in their stores. In 1992, Wal-Mart started their Ethical Standards Program (originally called Standards for Suppliers Program). The Ethical Standards Program was established and exists to verify suppliers’ compliance with global standards, to strengthen the implementation of positive labor and environmental practices in factories producing merchandise for sale by Wal-Mart, and to bring opportunities for a better life in the countries where merchandise for Wal-Mart is sourced. The program’s vision was redefined in 2002 to meet public image issues, becoming the statement â€Å"sourcing ethically through a socially responsible program† (â€Å"Ethical Standards Program†, 2006). The program works to train perspective suppliers in environmental, health, safety, and labor requirements to meet audit standards. Factories and companies on Wal-Mart’s supplier list are subject to unannounced audits to ensure they are meeting the standards set by the Ethic Committee. Through these organization and control measures, Wal-Mart has made great strides in correcting some of the worst conditions in many of the Asian countries they use as their suppliers. According to the â€Å"Ethical Standards Program† (2006) website the company also began the Factory Five Program in 2006. The program serves as a forum in which factory management (from five factories per region in China) regularly meet with suppliers and the Ethical Standards team. Time is spent identifying and resolving complex issues of noncompliance identified by audits. They hope to share knowledge and changes that come out of this forum with others in the industry. Wal-Mart is working hard to show leadership in the ethics market and to pass knowledge and training onto others to encourage ethical practices in all heir stakeholder’s corporations. The ultimate company goal is to fully integrate labor compliance and social responsibility into all purchasing decisions done by Wal-Mart buyers. Finally, diversity is an equally tricky concept that comes into play in businesses today. As corporations expand to cover more global territory it is becoming increasingly important to have a strong diverse workforce and management team to work in this environment. In 2002, Wal-Mart was struggling heavily under a bad public image as a corporation engaged in unsatisfactory and unfair work policies, resisting diversity practices, demonstrated social irresponsibility, and eroded economic opportunities for small local business. By 2004, management had hired a PR firm to manage the onslaught of bad press, and later restructured the company and made key management changes (Alleyne, 2012). Wal-Mart formed a number of internal affiliate groups for women, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community as part of its diversity practices. According to Alleyne (2012), in recent years, Wal-Mart has been named among the BLACK ENTERPRISE 40 Best Companies for Diversity. By integrating a plan that showed support for diverse groups within their workforce, The company is making great progress in gaining new customer support and increasing consumer confidence in its corporation, people, and products through managers like, Rosalind Brewer, â€Å"Black Enterprise† 2012 Corporate Executive of the Year and the first African American woman chief executive officer (CEO) at Wal-Mart. As Alleyene (2012) says, Brewer is holding one of the most powerful positions in corporate America and making big changes in the leadership of the Wal-Mart Corporation. In conclusion, this corporation has effectively used the four functions of management and the effects of globalization, technology, innovation, ethics, and diversity on these functions. Through adversity the top-level management has shown their ability to plan strategically and overcome obstacles. Wal-Mart’s key strategy is to dominate the retail market and with the proper implementation of these functions this organization continues to be one of the largest retailers in the world. References Alleyne, S. (2012, September). Second Act. Black Enterprise, 43(2), 82-88. Bateman, T. S. Snell, S. A. (2011). Management: Leading Collaborating in a Competitive World (9th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Irwin. Boyle,M. Bloomberg Business Week. 2009. www. businessweek. com/managing/content/ovt2009/ca20091 Ethical Standards Program. (2006). Retrieved from http://walmartfacts. om/reports/2006/ethical_standards/building. html Leber, J. (2012, October). Wal-Mart dives into search technology. Retrieved from www. technologyreviews. com Salter, C. (2012, July). #9 Wal-Mart. www. fastcompany. com, (). Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta. Strategy + Business. Global Perspective. 2002. Fourth Quarter 1999. Issue 17. www. strategy-business. com/article/13866? gko=e19cb www. corporate. w almart. com. (2012). Retrieved from http://corporate. walmart. com/our-story/our-stores www. todaro. posterous. com. (2010). Retrieved from http://http. //todaro. posterous. com How to cite Internal and External Factors, Essay examples

Starbucks Control Mechanisms free essay sample

Introduction Business control systems, although sometimes complex in practice, are quite straightforward in concept. Control systems are designed and implemented as a means to control resources and to ensure that employees act in a manner that is beneficial to their organization. Effective managers can use control systems as a tool to make sure activities are carrying on as planned. Starbucks is a nationwide coffee house specializing in variations of coffee. Starbucks implements control functions like budgetary, financial, market, and clan. Control Mechanisms Starbucks, like most major corporations have many control methods, one method sed which is typical with almost every company is hierarchy control. With many levels of management, the most secretive is the undercover manager, which Starbucks calls secret shopper or snapshot. Another type of control is a regulative control- which stems from standing policies and standard operating procedures. Starbucks third principle is applying the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee (Starbucks, 2006). The third type of control is Starbucks financial control, and Starbucks recognizes that profitability is essential to their future and success. The final form of control is the clan control, relationships are enhanced by introducing a cooperative and goal oriented organizational structure with effective operational processes and international expansion strategies. Employees are referred to as partners with both part and full time staff treated equally by offering both stock options and full medical coverage (Schultz, 1997). Compare and contrast these control mechanisms. These control mechanisms are intertwined to the success of Starbucks, together and individually the controls test policies and principles for effectiveness and quality. Hierarchy like clan control deal with employment and managerial structure at Starbucks, as with many corporations authority has many levels, but every employee is treated as partners. Regulative and financial controls are applied to the product development, quality control, and revenue. The success of Starbucks is dependant on the products it sells and has very high standards for the materials and ingredients used in their products. In result Starbucks sold nearly 10 billion dollars worth of coffee and products in 2009 (Marketwatch, 2009). Effectiveness When a company such as Starbucks becomes the chain phenomenon that it is oday, there has to be an obvious effectiveness to the way they have decided to run things. Starbucks has put into effect the hierarchy control which allows for managers to play the part of customers. The employees would have no idea that they are anything other than the normal customer, and this would give the company a clear idea of exactly the way the customer service end of the business is run. This method treated by the Starbuck employees is being witnessed on a first hand basis. As for the product that one receives from any Starbucks restaurant, there is a standard in hich that product is delivered, prepared and served. This is all controlled and monitored with Starbucks regulative control system. This system allows Starbucks to precisely regulate the purchasing, roasting and selling of the coffee. In order for Starbucks to properly succeed and grow there must always be a form of profit being made at all of their locations worldwide. If a profit isnt being made, then there will never be the option for growth. If the company is not able to grow and profit, eventually it will no longer exist. These profits and such are monitored under the financial control system. This control system allows for all of the money that is being made to be properly monitored and distributed as needed. Starbucks being an equal opportunity employment venture offers many things to its employees such as stock options and medical insurance. Starbucks clan control ensures that all of it employees or partners are treated properly and given the option of internal growth. Having these types of career option and incentives will make way for more valuable dedicated employees. Positive and Negative reactions It would be extremely hard for one to find any negative reactions with how Starbucks conducts business based on the level of success had by the coffee chain. Pricing seems to be the biggest complaint according to Lee (2007). Many people feel that the extra cost versus what the competition offers is not worth it. One such example that is shared by Lees survey (2007), face it, Starbucks is expensive. With so many other options available to me, it is not always worth the added expense, and another reaction is if prices go up again, Im out. The negative reaction is from the financial control that deals with the pricing. Customers always look for a cheaper upplier and Starbucks may suffer as a result. Now that we have looked at the negative there are many positive reactions to the way Starbucks conducts business. Starbucks seemingly swept the nation overnight with their business strategy. With the control that allows managers to play the part of customers service is likely to have been of higher quality because the employees would always be on top of their game. Control over the quality of their product is seemingly very well handled as there are millions of customers who prefer Starbucks brand over other coffee brands. Lastly, the offering of stock options and the attitude of treating employees as partners is also a positive and makes the employees feel they are valued and will continue to give service of a high quality to go along with the quality coffee. Controls affects and the 4 Functions of Management Starbucks uses these types of controls to represent the four functions of management consist of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Financial control aides in the planning process by publicly reporting how the organization is achieving their goals on a yearly basis. This allows the investors and partners to know hat is happening in terms of financial situations, and how the company is moving performance, we aim to inform, inspire, and engage our partners, customers, and other stakeholders. In addition, this exercise gives us the opportunity to measure our progress and refine our strategy for the future (Starbucks, 2009, Para. 3). The hierarchy control that Starbucks uses aides in the leading principal of management. From the top of the company down, this control is shaped by the Starbucks mission statement to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup, and one eighborhood at a time(Starbucks, 2010, p. 1). There is also a Standards of Business Conduct that is issued to all partners within the Starbucks Corporation. These standards allow the top executives to check the state of the employees, and create an example of leadership for their managers. According to CEO Howard Schultz, the standards will help ensure that our values continue to be reflected in each Starbucks store, and business activity; a commitment to integrity, acting honestly and ethically, and complying with the letter and intent of the law are critical to our continued uccess (Starbucks, 2010, p. 2). The Regulative form of control is linked to the organizational aspect of management. This includes the operational controls and also the products that Starbucks sells. All Starbucks stores are owned by the parent company, or licensed from them, making organization a key component to Starbucks vision. Knowing that all Starbucks stores have the same vision keeps the standards in place and the company moving forward. Starbucks is committed to only selling the finest coffee beans and drinks. Organization of suppliers is crucial for Starbucks to aintain their integrity, and company policy. Regulating the products Starbucks receives from their suppliers enhances the Starbucks philosophy. The clan control that Starbucks employs deals with the controlling function of management. Starbucks uses this type of control to aide in the controlling aspect regarding their employees. A type of control commonly used to achieve this is feedback. All employees at Starbucks are asked to fill out a form called the Partner View Survey every 18-24 months. These surveys act as a guide for the company to know what is happening within the workforce. Another critical form of control is the training of Starbucks employees. Each new member of the Starbucks team must commit to and receive at least 24 hours of training before being released into the work environment. Starbucks is committed to having a helpful and knowledgeable workforce. Conclusion Starbucks is a chain that is known for the largest variations of coffee. Growing to be a successful business took a large amount of managerial wisdom. As the planning, organizing, leading and controlling aspects are taken into account, the last one can be the most tasking.