Globalization of a Domestic Company Research Paper

Globalization of a Domestic Company - Research Paper Example As the paper declares investing in a given country will is affected by a diversity of factors. In this regard, it is crucial for the management of Sterling Limited Company to have an in-depth analysis of these factors. By attention to the most significant factors, this section will focus on the distance of the designated country, the cultural background of the residents, the overall knowledge of the country in question, the language classification as well as the relatives of the chosen expatriates in the new country. As the research stresses the distance between the mother country, the United States, and the designated state for the expansion will be very crucial in the decision-making process. As a core factor of consideration, the aspect of distance will dictate the efficiency of the operations as well as the financial implications of the expansion process. Clearly, the greater the distance between the two countries, the harder the management and the more the operational costs. It is, however, imperative to note that this does not mean that the expansion of the operations of a given company will be limited to countries within the same geographical regions. Impediments facing the expansion of a given company across borders van be internalized through the adoption of a variety of dynamics. The organization will have to invest heavily in telecommunication and communication in a bid to ensure a smoother flow of resources from the headquarters to the satellite branches in other countries.

Poetry and Wright Essay Example for Free

Poetry and Wright Essay The poetry of Judith Wright conveys a strong sense of ? Australian Identity. This is evident though Wrights strong connection to the sea, using descriptions and personifications of the sea. Wrights ? Australian Identity is firmly established through poetry with her use of ideas that have become synonymous with the Australian stereotype: what people recognise as being uniquely ? Australian. This includes the description of the stereotypical Australian beach scene and the attitudes shown by the surfer and even the surf in the poem: characteristics recognised as ?  typically Australian. These features of her poetry have established Wright as a truly ? Australian poet. The surf, grey-wolf sea sitting on the whitened pebbles and shells are images that are recognised as Australian and part of the Australian identity. The surfer too is instantly recognisable as typical Aussie character. He is described as brown and he has muscle ? he is the stereotype of the bronzed, muscular surfer. The use of these ideas that have become typically Australian show Judith Wright as an Australian poet which in turn reflects the Australian identity. Judith Wright has a strong connection to the Australian beach, and the ideas she conveys through her poetry are very much steeped in nature. This link to the Australian sea immediately distinguishes Wright as an Australian poet. The Australian connection to the sea and surf is reflected in the repetition of muscle to describe both the surfer and the wave expresses the surfers connection to the wave and to nature. This connection is further emphasised by the personification of the wave through long muscle of water. The bond of both the surfer and Wright to the sea defines Wright as Australian and reflects Australians strong links to the sea. ?Australian traits are not shown only by Wright herself, but by characters in her poems. In The Surfer, Wright uses assonance (those and foam) to describe the wave. This has the effect of creating a long and lazy piece of sound imagery for the reader. The laconic nature of the wave is the same as the typical Australian ? laid back spirit giving Wrights poetry an Australian flavour and such contribute greatly to Wrights recognition as being an Australian poet.

Tesco Plc Management and Success

Tesco Plc Management and Success A large amount of literature is available on the management methods and policies of Tesco, the culture change it has adapted in its past, its workforce and its retailing success. This has been compared to the management theories and criteria of change management, and discussed to find out how closely do Tescos employee management mechanisms link with the actual theory. A brief overview of the history of Tesco with detailed step by step progress made by the company the strategies, values and policies, stakeholders and customers of Tesco are also precisely discussed. The future plans and a comparative analysis of Tesco with other top retailers is also presented. Tesco PLC: Based in United Kingdom ever since 1920, Tesco has to date expanded itself into several countries across the European Union as well as in Asia (EMMC, 2007). Such success of Tesco has been possible due to its focus on growth strategy, and its core competencies which are basically its brand reputation and the value-added services it provides through the brand experience. In addition, Tesco has shown a wide potential to capture foreign markets with variable environmental, cultural and political factors. It is highly sensitive to external environment, and adjusts on a need basis. It is also important to consider the factors of Tescos internal environment which add to its competencies (Clark, 2008). Tesco has gained its current position as one of the major retailers of the United Kingdom by adapting to the needs of its customers. One of the major shifts of the organization culture and strategy came in 1990 when the organization transformed itself by focusing on its human resource management. This was done by a process of strategic and cultural change (Clark, 2008). Retail industry and Tesco: Retail refers to sale in small quantities, the retail industry is an important sector of the economy; it comprises of individuals and companies which are engaged in the selling of finished products to end users. The retailer buys the products in large quantities from the manufacturers either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the end-user. Retail is usually classified according to the type of product; divided mainly in three categories that are; food products, soft goods ,which includes clothing accessories etc and hard goods, which includes electric appliances, electronic items, sports goods, furniture et cetra (Akehurst and Alexander, 1997). Tesco PLC is a United Kingdom based global departmental store, it is the third largest retailer in the world. Tesco started as a food retailer but after the success in food business the company expanded its business activities by retailing a variety of products, targeting different markets and creating intere st in customers of different sectors. At present with over 2,500 stores worldwide and more than 450,000 peoples employed, Tesco is ruling all around the world with its business which covers retailing, distribution, logistics, telecommunication and financial services (Tesco case study, 2011). Tesco PLC History Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen; he started off by selling surplus groceries on a stall at the East End of London. The companys name was penned from the initials of T.E. Stockwell, who was at that time a partner, and CO from Cohens name. Cohens motto was pile it high, sell it cheap, it referred to the fact that customers wanted inexpensive products at a convenient location and an optimum volume that would be profitable. After initial ten years of foundation finally the first store was opened by Cohen in 1929 at Burnt Oak, Edgware, North London. Jack Cohen introduced a new concept of food ware house when, in 1934, he built a new headquarters and a warehouse for central stock control. The success story of Tesco PLC continued and as a result by 1965, Tesco owned a chain of 212 stores in North of England and by 1965, the count was increased to 356 stores. By this time, Tesco was becoming a prominent retailer in all of Europe and this fact was highlighted when the name of Tesco wa s entered in Guinness Book of World Records as the largest store in Europe (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco initiatives over the years: Tesco started off as a retailer for foods but expanded its spectrum to other products; in 1975 Tesco broadened the concept by opening petrol stations at different major sites. The idea behind this launch was to provide customers everything that they need, in one location. They initially started selling branded petrol but in the late 80s their own brand fuel went on sale. To attract customers, a price cutting campaign under the banner of Checkout at Tesco was enunciated by the company in 1977. Tesco introduced yet another new concept and became the first major retailer to emphasize the nutritional value of its own-brand products by launching its Healthy Eating initiative, Healthy Eating was launched to show commitment of the company in providing customers not just healthy good quality food but also to promote a healthy life style. The year 1992, was a very happening year at Tesco, as many new products were launched this year, these launches included a whole organic range and computers for schools. Other than this, the campaign of Every Little Helps was also launched this year, this campaign basically developed the companys philosophy, Tesco refers to Every Little Helps as an expression of their values, and the values are that no one tries harder for customers than Tesco and the company treats its customers as they would like to be treated (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco PLC was prospering at an accelerated rate, and to ensure this, the Tesco team was making every possible effort to engage the customers and maintain the consumers loyalty with the company, for this purpose Tesco launched another initiative by the name Would I Buy It; the purpose of this campaign was to guarantee that the products offered to the customers were always of the highest quality. Tescos club-card was also launched this year. The club-card was UKs first customer loyalty program; the sole purpose was to give something back to the loyal customers. According to Lord MacLaurin, former chairman of Tesco, customer loyalty is not how customers demonstrate their loyalty to the company; it is about how the company demonstrates their loyalty to their customers. By this time Tesco was not only the largest retailers, but was also the market leader of food retailers and dominated the English market in food retailing, and thus, started expanding the business beyond the boundary acros s the world (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tescos international markets reach: Globally, Tesco PLC was first introduced in Hungary and later entered Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and also Ireland. The business was also launched in Asian countries Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. Parallel to all these across border business growth, 24 hours trading was also introduced In the year 1998, Tesco launched its Finest premium brand of foods; the Finest included fresh and prepared food ranging over 100 products which change with the season. In 1999, Tesco took another initiative and published supermarket prices comparison on the internet and also launched an on-line bookstore and on-line banking. By 2000 tesco.com was launched (Tesco PLC, 2011). The success of Tesco was mainly because of its customer satisfaction strategy and in order to continue this journey the emphasis was always on customer care, and so in 2001 Tesco launched Customer Champions in many stores which implemented a new labor schedule to further improve services to the customers, the company also followed a continuous replenishment of policy to ensure at least 99% of stock availability. The very same year Tesco also achieved the landmark of becoming the leading organic retailer in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Tesco steps into the business world of Malaysia, Japan and Turkey. In the same year, Tesco started a new offering Free-From product; these products were especially designed for customers having special dietary needs. Peoples who are susceptible to any kind of allergies or food intolerance were able to entertain themselves with this new developed food range and restricted diets was not any more an obstacle to enjoy food of respective interest. All the Te scos Free from products are made gluten free, wheat free and in some cases milk free; all the ingredients that usually are the most common causes of food allergies. The free from product range included over 150 products (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco entered United States of America business in 2007, by opening Fresh and Easy a chain of local grocery stores whose focus was on fresh foods. Tesco introduced own-label products rather than the usual vast range of US brands of heat and eat meals. This local food chain used a straightforward everyday low price strategy and offered cheaper rates to the American customers (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco PLC Strategies and Policies Tesco entered the world of retailing business and gradually ranked highest among the largest and best retailers in United Kingdom, now by twentieth century the concept of retailing has became increasingly popular and therefore, the competition among the retailers has immensely increased. Customer focused strategy of Tesco: Every company is working on developing new strategies and business policies in order to attract new customers and keep old customers loyal to the company. At the present situation when business is so customer oriented, the key to remain in business is customer satisfaction and this stabilizes the companys economy (Ma and Ding, 2010). Tesco has always paid considerate attention to its customer and this is the biggest reason of their success, the core purpose of the company is to create value for customers and earn their lifetime loyalty. Tesco has achieved its goal and the business of Tesco PLC has flourished throughout its journey because the company has religiously focused on its four strategies and strictly implemented upon them. The first key strategy is to grow the core United Kingdom business by establishing Extras, Superstore, Metro and Express. The second strategy is to expand the business internationally, while the third strategy emphasizes on become equally strong in its non -food retailing business as it is in its food retailing business (Tesco CSR, 2005). Retail services offered by Tesco: The final strategy is to provide new retailing services in response to changing customer demand, the retailing services includes online shopping, Tesco Personal Finance(TPF) and telecom industry. The team of Tesco has tirelessly worked upon its strategies and that is the reason they are on top not only in food retailing but also in other retail businesses. Tesco understands and anticipates the needs and requirements of the customer and this is why it has always been successfully responding to changing lifestyles and demand of the customer and this has become the key drive of the company ever since it was established (Tesco PLC, 2011). Products offered by Tesco: In order to make its mark in the non-food retailing business Tesco has developed and introduced a wide range of products in different varieties making its business as versatile as possible. From food stuff to all soft goods such as clothes, footwear, accessories, jewelries, beauty products, household item, kitchen items etc, and also hard goods such as sports goods furniture, appliances and electronic items, are made accessible to the customer under the roof of Tesco PLC, this has provided the customer not just with ease but also with a good shopping experience to take home with. Providing with a variety of goods is not the only objective it is essential to maintain the quality to ensure brand loyalty with the customers. Constant innovations of ideas and development of products and services is required to keep competitors on their toes, that is the reason that Tesco keeps launching new campaigns, product and services ideas (Tesco CSR, 2005). The marketing department has made the understanding of customers better than anyone. The management of Tesco reports that the reason as to why it is necessary to understand customers is because championing the customer voice in the business helps in guiding and measuring the business, that is why any new product, service, campaign or business idea is launched after extensive site research which determines and obliges to meet customer needs by matching the store format to the location. Market research is done to monitor and track the healthy business, identify changing customer needs, understand current customer issues, and ensure initiatives that the company has taken are right for customers, moreover strategic insight is developed which guides business strategy through customer perceptions and concerned people views. Analysis on the insight is done to get feedback from customers and keep a check and balance of the companys performance. Further research is done on customer lifestyles and the shopping experience that is being offered by the company in order to guarantee that the business is reflecting the needs of customers. According to the management team going through these five steps enables them to fully understand the scenario and this makes them achieve a competitive advantage (Tesco PLC, 2011). Tesco and its Stakeholders Suppliers Tesco has managed to flourish a stabilized relationship with its suppliers. Tesco supports the British Farm Assurance Mark; this is because of the Tesco Farming Initiative taken by Tesco with the suppliers and farmer organizations. In 2001, during the crisis of foot and mouth, Tesco donated a large amount for the British farmers that were affected by the disease. Also through Tesco Codes of Practice, the company takes interest in the welfare of the animals; these codes specify the kind of husbandry expected by the farmers and suppliers from the company. The company also takes part in researches regarding the problems and issues of husbandry (Tesco PLC, 2011). Employees The prospect of expanding business has enabled Tesco to entertain people with proper job offers all around the world. Tesco has around 200,000 employees in United Kingdom and about 65,000 in Ireland, South-East Asia and Europe. Employees enjoy benefits such as pensions, profit share schemes, shopping discounts and other save money schemes. Tesco launched a career site which helped a great number of graduates and other workers in finding suitable jobs within the organization. A large number of employees are share holders in the company (Tesco PLC, 2011). Customers Tesco PLC has a huge range of customers that belong to entirely different sectors and cultures. The wide spectrum of the goods whether food or non-food items offered by the company makes customers from every age of life. The good quality of the products and the continuous innovations of the products, have made the brand loyalty of customers possible (Tesco PLC, 2011). Strategic and cultural change in retail sector: Strategic change refers to using strategy in order to successfully implement change, to achieve the long-term goals and objectives of the organization. Culture change is a link between organization culture and key company performance variables such as return-on-investment (ROI), sales growth, innovation, employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Thus, the strategic change may be viewed as a mechanism of bringing about change in the company, be it a culture change, empowerment or total quality (Balugan, 2001). In order to bring about the change at Tesco, it is crucial to see that this change is properly managed and administered throughout the organization. According to Kennen (2007), organizations can induce culture change by uncovering the core values and beliefs of the employees, by discussing and communicating the process of change, and by establishing new behavioral norms. There are two views to any type of organization change: the managers top-down view (that is how the change impacts the managers) and the employee bottom-up view (that is how the change impacts employees). The latter can be termed as individual change management, using techniques to help employees transition through the change. This is important because employees are the people that ultimately implement the change at its very basic level (Hiatt and Creasy, 2003). Also, when change is initially introduced employees tend to feel doubtful about their ability to change which results in decreased confidence and performance, inducing resistance (Balugan, 2001). Change management can thus become a significant crucial issue, which if not implemented properly can result in loss of employee trust in management. Successful organizations inspire a strong organization culture into their employees. Change management also depends on the incorporation of several factors in the change model, including timing of change, scope of change, diversity capacity of employees, and readiness of employees to change (Balogun, 2001). Bedingham (2000) has described how strategic change was implemented by Tesco in 1987. According to the article, Tesco came across the performance lapse of the organization in a research done by Verax for Coca Cola to study retail buying (Cummings, 2011). The research findings revealed that the performance of the retail store managers at Tesco was very low compared to the competitors. In response, Tesco decided to review its management practices to improve customer satisfaction. In this process, it took retail lessons of training and transforming its front-line staff that come in direct contact with the customers every day. The need for training Tesco employees had also emerged due to the diverse ethnic, racial, social and economic backgrounds of its employees. All these employees have different skills and shortcomings, and hence require training specifically customized to their different personalities. Another need for employing these training programs is due to the fact that recruit ing new employees is much more costly to any organization than retaining the same employees (The Times 100) The growth and transformation of the retail industry itself and the concept of retailing are also responsible for the growing need of bringing about a change in employees at Tesco. Factors affecting this include changing needs of the customers and the society, as well as from the changes in supply of labor. Another factor leading to this management change is the transformation of the retail structures over the years. The layouts are now professionally developed, with vast amount of support systems and skilled staff required to handle them. Previously, employees in a retail store were meant simply for assisting the customer, however today with the presence of modern technology, databases and finger-tip market knowledge, employees are expected to serve the customers with all the tools for decision making. Social changes brought about the need of extending business hours, and hiring employees more on a flex-time basis to accommodate the employees varying lifestyles. Whilst decades ago, retail employees were hired on a permanent basis, having a specialty in retail service, today employees are drawn from a pool of part-time workers, such as students, who take up jobs to earn some extra money. This has decreased the element of specialty and skill, which is in contrast with the fact that more expertise is now demanded by customers from the retail staff (Akehurst and Alexander, 1996) With respect to Tesco and its strategic change, individual change management has even a greater role, as its employees are the front-line staff, playing a major role in the image and success of the retail organization. According to Akehurst and Alexander (1996), in retail companies it is not the managerial staff, or external marketing activity that determines the image of a retail company in a consumers mind. Instead, it is the way customers are treated and the behavior of the retail store staff that determines this element. Even in outlets which are made for self-service, retail staff can affect customer satisfaction by their role in assistance, giving advices and greeting customers. One example of an employee-oriented retail company is Umpqua Bank in California, which has been able to provide excellent customer service due to its employee focus. At Umpqua, employees are empowered to fully satisfy a customer rather than perform specific tasks. This means that every employee learns every task regarding customer service, and can satisfy customer to his or her full potential. Employees are free to do whatever they can to provide customer satisfaction even without the consent of the supervisor. Hence, many branches keep dog bowls for the clients dogs, arrange yoga lessons and movie nights to retain customers (Berman, 2007). Thus, this shows that employee empowerment can lead to innovation even at the retail staffing levels. This becomes important when considering the possible implications that such culture changes can bring in a retail environment such as Tesco. Spurlock is another organization which induced organizational change by altering work standards, procedures and culture. The organization brought about a change in the way resources and time is managed, reallocating everything from staff to plant timings. One important lesson from their change management was the inclusion of staff in the process. The change process coupled with the employee training to meet the needs of the new system, eventually led to an entire work culture change. In the end, there was more teamwork and collaboration increased through the organization due to the shifting and reallocation of employees (Vonderhaar et al, 2010). However, despite the fact that the employees have such crucial significance, employee management is a considerably under-searched area in retail management (Akehurst and Alexander, 1996). In the book Value-based human resource strategy: developing your consultancy role, Grundy and Brown (2003) assert that in 1990, Tesco decided to undergo a culture change to enhance its responsiveness throughout the organization. However, this change came on quite gradually rather than abruptly. This is because when the organization hired an HR consultant, it discovered that the term culture change had an inherent risk of failing. It was too overwhelming a concept, indicating a huge change in the organizations function which made it incomprehensible for its stakeholders. Hence Tesco underwent change in the name of customer service instead, because the term described exactly what kind of change was going to be targeted. Similarly, when BP introduced its cultural change, it put an economic value that came from the change to motivate the employees to adopt it. Thus, organization culture change can be adopted in several steps, namely value change which lead to behavioral change in employe es. Recruitment: According to the report of Datamonitor (2003) Tesco Plc is recruiting almost three million employees for the product manufacturing and services. It is the biggest private employer of UK. (EFILWC, 2007) Tesco is a heavily customer oriented organization, with a focus on its external environment. Since its cultural shift in 1990s Tesco has been able to empower its staff and provide them with benefits and motivational tools that have positively impacted overall employee satisfaction. It has even extended its gradual cultural shift on to managerial and corporate level (Bedingham, 2000). Training for employees: Tesco has established six or seven levels of store employees, and provides training to whoever desires it (Garry, 2010). The training program is not simply an adaptation for the internal organization; it also provides an external qualification and a degree to employees for working at Tesco. Since the program is so significant from the aspect of employees themselves, they are more closely involved with the organization and develop a bond with the company. The training program has become a huge aspect of the organizations culture and vision itself. It has left the employees feeling more connected, confident and customer-oriented. Moreover, the personal development results in homogenous values of employees throughout the organization (Garry, 2010). Training program at Tesco involves several different types of trainings such as Introduction training, First class serve, Hygiene Training, Multi skills training et cetra. Introduction training is given the very first day, and involves introduction, discussing the organizations history, values and functioning. The First Class serve teaches how to interact with the customer and properly greet him or her. Hygiene training as the name indicates refers to training about the employee hygiene practices as required in the store. Multi skill tasking prepares employees for job rotations (Gulyas, 2007). According to Gulyas (2007) there is a significant difference between training and management development, though the terms are often used in same context. Training is the process by which people are taught skills to perform specific tasks, whereas management development refers to giving people knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake greater responsibility. Also, culture change at an organization is not merely a question of skills development of employees (Gerber and Lankshear, 2000). Organizations have a tendency to view skills of employees as end in themselves whilst skills in fact induce only surface level change, which does not translate into the deeper level of culture change (Lokshin, Gils, and Bauer, 2009). However, at Tesco, there is training of employees and management development for the managers. Therefore, employee training at Tesco is not merely a question of skill development, but also has the entire 360-degree personality development of its employees as its foc us. Employees are constantly expected to improve their behavior, to bring about personality changes that get reflected in their overall performance, and to develop themselves into empowered, inquisitive individuals who can take greater responsibility. Tesco enhances three major aspects of the employee behavior which are customer focus, ability to work with others and personal behavior. For this purpose, Tesco also arranges leadership workshops for its employees (The times 100). Tesco regularly evaluates the characteristics and performance of its employees to keep identifying skill shortages and new job demands. Based on the results, it adds on to its Personal Development program so that it is catered to meet the upcoming needs of training (The Times 100) Tesco also gives employees a steering wheel which shows them how their performance is creating a difference in the organization, by providing specific measures for employees, managers, country and the entire organization (Garry, 2010). In the current era, core Human Resource practices tend to encourage an innovation-oriented team based environment where employees are empowered. This is based on theories of motivation in management such as Hierarchy of Needs theory by Maslow (1943) and Hygiene Theory by Herzberg (1959). According to Abraham Maslow, human beings have varying levels of needs that have to be satisfied in a given order from basic physiological need of food and clothing, to higher level needs, such as drive for self-esteem and self-actualization. Hence, good working conditions, general praise and appreciation and an empowered working environment are essential features when it comes to fulfilling the needs of employee. Also, according to Herzberg (1959), there are certain factors the absence of which leads to an overall dissatisfaction of employees with their work. These are different from the factors that increase satisfaction and include company policy, supervision, working conditions etc. These are kno wn as Hygiene factors. In order to keep employees motivated, maintaining good working standards and conditions are essential. The Times 100 research has shown that, keeping in view the Maslows Hierarchy Model of Needs, Tesco seeks to fulfill all the level of needs, from basic to the highest through its various employee motivation programs. It provides basic pay and locker room facilities and health security and pension. In addition it addresses the higher needs of the individuals by empowering them in a team based environment, providing them feedbacks and appraisals, and motivating them through encouragement and respect (Bent and Freathy, 1997). According to Parish (2007) Tesco PLC managers listen to their staff, spend time with them and build direct one-to-one relationships which boost the overall employee motivation. The management found through surveys that one of the basic needs of their employees were to be listened to with respect. Therefore, at the organization, employees are treated with trust and respect and included in the decision making of the store, their voice and opinions are given due considerations and the problems they face in dealing with the customers are reflected upon and solved. In fact, the technique has been so successful that it is being replicated by a nursing hospital for the management of nursing staff. One of the benefits of training at Tesco was the greater teamwork and improved customer service. The major reason behind this improvement was the visible change in the confidence level of Tesco employees that has come from the training activities. The challenges in training employees came from the initial unwillingness of employees to enroll, because they were reluctant or shy (Garry, 2010). According to European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2007), Tesco seeks employees from different cultures, background through different sources, including government programs and campaigns. Its recruitment system allows the employers to consider people from diverse cultural and local groups, and fit them into particular jobs depending on capabilities and tendencies. It also participates in the government regeneration programs which look for employees amongst those that have been chronically unemployed. It also makes sure that its managers work shoulder-to-shoulder with its workforce, and are aware of the technical aspects of the work. Tesco provides its employees salaries based on the nature of work, and additional benefits, both monetary and personal in the form of flexible work hours. As of 2003, Tesco has a 94% employee retention rate with its socially inclusive policies. Tescos management of employees plays both roles of a company facilitator and corporate social responsibility. Through employee training and personal development, Tesco has enabled people unemployed for several years to be successfully employed (Gateway, 2003). Ma and Ding (2010) have also described the customer-orientation of Tesco.com, by asserting that customer value and customer satisfaction are amongst the core values of the organization. They have a clearly defined purpose, and they fulfill it through their excellent customer and delivery service. According to the work, 67% of the people take Tesco as their favorite supermarket. Thus, we see that in the past, Tesco employed tools and techniques of strategic change management in order to successfully bring behavioral change in its employees. The change however was more focused on the behavioral aspects such as employee professionalism rather than employee values, however Tesco ensured that both training and development were used as mechanisms for this change to make it long-term and effective.

StephenKings Rage :: essays research papers

Stephen King is a well-known author of horror fiction. He maintains that he writes horror because: The horror writer always brings bad news: you’re going to die, he says; he’s telling you to never mind Oral Roberts and his â€Å"something good is going to happen to you,† because something bad is going to happen to you and it may be cancer and it may be a stroke, and it may be a car accident, but it’s going to happen. (qtd. in Magistrale 24) The bad news is that there have been â€Å"nine deadly school shootings in the U.S. during the past three years† (Lloyd 7). Society has been plagued with excessive violence. This behavior has caused many misguided children to fight in school, disrupt a teacher’s lesson, disrespect figures of authority in and out of school, commit suicide, and carry guns as a way of controlling situations. The violent events that have occurred in American schools are similar to the rage expressed in Stephen King’s novel, Rage, which was written over thirty years ago. Rage, which was published in 1977, â€Å"highlights the isolation, fear, and pressures implicit in high school society...† (Collings 14). King did not use his real name when he published Rage. As a matter of fact, â€Å"during the summer of 1966, after graduating from high school, King started writing â€Å"Getting It On,† which he later published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman as Rage (Russell 4). Rage is about Charlie Decker, a high school outcast who, â€Å"spreads sufficient destruction (physical and psychical) with only a pistol† (Collings 14). Charlie wasn’t always an outcast; he became an outcast after, â€Å"almost [killing] Mr. Carlson,† his chemistry teacher (King 114). Charlie tried to kill Mr. Carlson because; â€Å"when Carlson called [him] up to do a problem on the board...he started to make fun of [him] (King 115). He was tired of being ridiculed by Mr. Carlson so he began to hit the black board with a pipe wrench he had hidden in his back pocket. When Mr. Carlson tried to grab Charlie, â€Å"[he] turned around and hit him† (116). Mr. Carlson didn’t die, although he did suffer from â€Å"a hairline fracture just above the frontal lobe† and four splinters of bone were picked out of his brain (116). Charlie never saw the pipe that he used to hit Mr. Carlson again, but he didn’t care becauseâ€Å"[he] didn’t need that anymore, †¦that stick wasn’t big enough.

A Built-On Trust is a Trust that Lasts a Lifetime Essay

When I was teenager, all guys who were the same as my age drove a car. They had their own cars where they can go from their homes to their schools. Naturally, I also had the same desire in wanting to drive a car. It was a natural thing to do, but my family denied me of the privilege to drive a car. I had no choice but to follow them, but still, the desire in that one simple action fueled in me. On the other hand, I did not want to be less than my friends because I have to respect my family’s opinion. One day, when my father came from work, I ran to him and greeted him.   He seemed tired from work, so I asked him for the car’s key so I can wash the car. I washed the surface of the car and then I started to also clean the inside. I sat on the driver seat while cleaning, but without meaning to and without ill intentions, I suddenly felt this chance would not come again. I just had this desire to do something, but I was scared at the same time. I put the key and I turned the engine on without moving the car approximately for just 10 minutes—listening for the engine sound and imitating how to drive. I was pretending to turn the signal or opening the window to talk to a friend, but all of that was just a daydream. After that, I felt it would be awesome if I could drive. I finished cleaning the car and I returned the key to my father. When I went to bed that night, I was thinking how I can get the key again. I should find a reason or an excuse to have the car keys again, so I thought of a plan. Sometimes, my father drops us off at school when he has time. So the next day, I left some stuff in my father’s car without him knowing it. When he came from work later that day, I went to him as usual and greeted him. I then said â€Å"Oh, father I think I left some of my stuff in the car, could you give me the key to check if they are there or not?† He gave it to me, and I was smiling from my heart until I felt the happiness show on my face. I opened the car. I turned the engine on, and there was no car in front or behind of my father’s car. A new idea formed in my mind saying â€Å"one step†; so I moved the car one step front and then one step back. I spent almost forty five minutes just like that. My young brother came and was looking for me because I spent such a long time for my stuff. I then turn off the car and my brother did not see me moving the car, but I thought he saw me. While we entered the home, I got sweaty and felt they were looking at me, but they did not say anything. My heart kept pumping until I went to my room. I looked at the mirror and I told myself: â€Å"I did it! I did it!† but my sister was there and she said â€Å"What was it that you did?† I then replied strongly: â€Å"Nothing! And do not ask anything when it is not your business.† I did that to give myself confidence and to make her confused. Human is human, and humans have always had attitude in wanting to change for the better or to want more things in life. When a child learns how to walk one step, he wants to learn how to walk in the second step. I too, am like that. I did not feel enough that it was enough in just moving the car with one step, because after one week, my father bought things for our home and he asked me to bring it to him. Instead of bringing them, I decided to ride the car two to five minutes around our home, but I was not sure if I could do it. One of my friends who is also my neighbor was looking at me and he said, â€Å"I know what you are going to do. You will just take one step front and one step back. If you are not ready to drive the car as a real man, do not waste the fuel.† I got angry because of this, and I told him to see that I can drive. I did not really mean it, but I was afraid that he would tease me in front my friends in the future. I drove the car in our suburb, and I drove slowly. When I went back to return my father’s car, our neighbor parked his car in my father’s place. I panicked and I told my friend to move their car or he if he can ask his father to do it. I was nervous and I didn’t want my father to go outside our home and see the car wasn’t in the right place. However, my friend moved their car, and I parked our car and I swore that I am not going to drive the car again because I don’t want to lose my father’s trust. Also, when I tell my father that I have already done school work or any important thing he wants me to do, I do it and I tell him that I have done it. For example, when he asks if I had done my home work and I tell him that I have done it, he would believe me, and I make it a point to do it so when he asks me again, I tell him that I have done it. I think it is important that we do no fail the expectations of our family because if we fail at it, we become irresponsible and they will note give the same trust that they have given us before. One day, I told my father that I was going to be late in school because we have a school project, but I really went somewhere else. When I went home and he asked me how was school, I told him that it was okay and that we were going to do a lot of things in the following days because there were many things we need to do for school. For the next following days, my family thinks that I am still in school or in the library when I am actually with my friends, playing basketball or some games. This continued on until one day, one of our neighbors saw me playing and he told my father why I was not home that time when they saw each other. My father was very angry because I was lying and I felt scared and sad that I lost his trust. So, I told him we were there because it was part of the school work and that basketball was needed to test some things for the information needed in the school work. My father did not believe me and said that he wants to see what it is that I was doing and asked that I show him the stuff needed for the school work. I was now more scared, but then, I remembered that I always took notes in my classes and showed it to him. My father was very happy when he saw that I was studying hard and was very serious with school. However, after that, I was thinking that I did not want to lie anymore because my family and father’s trust is so very much important to me. I would not want to lose it just because I was lying. I feel that the trust that my father and my whole family have given me is very important. When a person loses the trust of someone else, it is very hard to gain it again and restore that trust. That is why I find the value and importance of keeping my father’s trust. I think, like love, trust is very important because a person is able to prove himself to his family. In my case, if I break the trust of my father and it goes away, it would be very hard to earn it again, because I think, at the back of his mind, he would always be thinking that I might make a mistake again and break his trust. This is why it is very important for a person to make the trust of a family, something to be treasured. I want to say that I have difficulty speaking and writing in English, but because of hard work, I was able to improve step by step. However, it was never easy from the start. When I left for the United States, I was not sure if my family, especially my father, would agree if I can study abroad, but because I was able to keep his trust, I was allowed to go. It is very important that I keep on building his trust and never lose it because if I lose it and break his trust, how can he trust me to make heavier and more important decisions in my life? That is why the only thing that can make him happy and not lose his trust to me is if he sees that I am studying very hard and not doing anything else but trying very hard to make him and my family happy. It is very important to persevere and keep in mind that difficulties will arise and hinder me in fulfilling my dreams and making my family. For example, learning the language of English is very challenging and difficult. I used to just know a few words, and whenever I use it, I still have difficulties and people have a hard time understanding me, but because of my determination to study hard and not give up, I succeeded. I know that it can be very hard if a person would like to learn English and earn good grades, but I want to make my family happy and make them feel that I have not wasted anything by going to the United States and studying. If I can show them that I am working hard in making them happy and not doing anything that can make them feel that they should not trust me anymore, then I think they would not feel that they are wrong in trusting me, and they would continue to believe in me and my efforts and my abilities. It is very hard to keep the trust of a person, especially the trust of a family member, but if a person works hard, does not stray away from his goals, and keeps in mind that no matter what happens, he should make his father and his family happy and make them not lose their trust, I believe that things will turn okay and not get bad. Everything will work out because I have my father’s trust and I will not do anything to break that. I have promised my family that I will get good grades and I will do that. I will succeed and not fail them.

Cultural Variables Influencing Behavior Essay Example

Cultural Variables Influencing Behavior Essay Example Cultural Variables Influencing Behavior Essay Cultural Variables Influencing Behavior Essay CULTURAL VARIABLES INFLUENCING BEHAVIOR Many variables influence the behavior of individuals within a culture (Sanchez-Boyce, 1993). The manner in which services are provided may be influenced by general cultural practices in combination with variables unique to the individual (Anderson, 1994; Payne, 1995), Thus, professionals must understand not only general characteristics of various cultural groups, but also the variables that interact to make each student and family unique within that cultural group. The following variables are important to consider: Educational level Languages spoken Length of residence in an area Country of birth (immigrant vs. native born) Urban vs. rural background Individual choice within the intrapersonal realm (e. g. , idiosyncratic behavior) Socioeconomic status/upward class mobility Age and gender Religious beliefs and their impact on daily life activities Neighborhood of residence and peer group Degree of acculturation into mainstream American life Generational membership (first, second, third generation) If the family immigrated to the United States, reasons for this immigration should be considered. It is also important to find out about generational patterns of immigration. To what extent are other relatives living in close proximity? To what extent are members of a cultural group marrying those from different ethnic backgrounds? Anderson and Fenichel (1989, p. 89) stated that cultural sensitivity implies â€Å"knowledge that cultural differences as well as similarities exist† and that this awareness helps the professional determine an appropriate course of action. CONCLUSION When members of a cultural group hold stereotypes about members of other cultural groups, the potential for misunderstanding is great. Professionals must be culturally sensitive and realize that great variation exists within the general cultural framework of each group. Source: Rosberry-McKibbin, Celeste, Multicultural Students With Special Language Needs, Practical Strategies for Assessment and Intervention, 1995

Learn VBA Macro Coding Word 2007

Learn VBA Macro Coding Word 2007 The goal of this course is to help people who have never written a program before learn to write one. Theres no reason why office workers, homemakers, professional engineers and pizza delivery persons shouldnt be able to take advantage of their own hand crafted custom computer programs to work faster and smarter. It shouldnt take a professional programmer (whatever that is) to do the job. You know what needs to be done better than anyone else. You can do it yourself! (And I say this as someone who has spent many years writing programs for other people ... professionally.) With that said, this is not a course in how to use a computer. This course assumes that you know how to use popular software and in particular, that you have Microsoft Word 2007 installed on your computer. You should know basic computer skills like how to create file folders (that is, directories) and how to move and copy files. But if youve always wondered what a computer program actually was, thats OK. Well show you. Microsoft Office isnt cheap. But you can get more value from that expensive software you already have installed. Thats a big reason we use Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA, along with Microsoft Office. There are millions who have it and a handful (maybe no one) who uses everything it can do. Before we go any further, however, I need to explain one more thing about VBA. In February 2002, Microsoft made a 300 billion dollar bet on a totally new technology base for their entire company. They called it .NET. Since then, Microsoft has been moving their entire technology base into VB.NET. VBA is the very last programming tool that still uses VB6, the tried and true technology that was used before VB.NET. (Youll see the phrase COM based to describe this VB6 level technology.) VSTO and VBA Microsoft has created a way to write VB.NET programs for Office 2007. Its called Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). The problem with VSTO is that you have to buy and learn to use Visual Studio Professional.  Excel itself is still COM based too and .NET programs have to work with Excel through an interface (called the PIA, Primary Interop Assembly). So ... until Microsoft gets their act together and gives you a way to write programs that will work with Word and doesnt make you join the IT department, VBA macros are still the way to go. Another reason we use VBA is that it really is a fully baked (not half baked) software development environment that has been used for years by programmers to create some of the most sophisticated systems in existence. It doesnt matter how high your programming sights are set. Visual Basic has the power to take you there. What is a macro? You may have used desktop applications that support what is called a macro language before. Macros are traditionally just scripts of keyboard actions grouped together with one name so you can execute them all at once. If you always start the day by opening your MyDiary document, entering todays date, and typing the words, Dear Diary, Why not let your computer do that for you? To be consistent with other software, Microsoft calls VBA a macro language too. But its not. Its much more. Many desktop applications include a software tool that will let you record a keystroke macro. In Microsoft applications, this tool is called the Macro Recorder, but the result is not a traditional keystroke macro. Its a VBA program and the difference is that it does not simply replay the keystrokes. A VBA program gives you the same end result if possible, but you can also write sophisticated systems in VBA that leave simple keyboard macros in the dust. For example, you can use Excel functions in Word using VBA. And you can integrate VBA with other systems like databases, the web, or other software applications. Although the VBA Macro Recorder is very useful for simply creating simple keyboard macros, programmers have discovered that its even more useful to give them a running start in more sophisticated programs. Thats what were going to do. Start Microsoft Word 2007 with a blank document and get ready to write a program. The Developer tab in Word One of the first things that you have to do to write Visual Basic program in Word 2007 is find Visual Basic! The default in Word 2007 is to not display the ribbon that is used. To add the Developer tab, first click the Office button (the logo in the upper left corner) and then click Word Options. Click Show Developer tab in the Ribbon and then click OK. When you click the Developer tab, you have a whole new set of tools used to write VBA programs. Were going to use the VBA Macro Recorder to create your first program. (If the ribbon with all your tools keeps disappearing, you might want to right-click the ribbon and make sure Minimize the Ribbon is not checked.) Click Record Macro. Name your macro: AboutVB1 by typing that name in the Macro Name textbox. Select your current document as the location to store your macro and click OK. See the example below. (Note: If you pick All Documents (Normal.dotm) from the drop down menu, this test VBA program will, in effect, become a part of Word itself because it will then become available for every document you create in Word. If you only want to use a VBA macro in a specific document, or if you want to be able to send it to someone else, its a better idea to save the macro as part of the document. Normal.dotm is the default so you must change it.) With the Macro Recorder turned on, type the text, Hello World. into your Word document. (The mouse pointer will change into a miniature picture of a tape cartridge to show that keystrokes are being recorded.) (Note: Hello World is almost required for a First Program because the very first programming manual for the early computer language C used it. Its been a tradition ever since.) Click Stop Recording. Close Word and save the document using the name: AboutVB1.docm. You have to select a Word Macro-Enabled Document from the Save as Type dropdown. Thats it! You have now written a Word VBA program. Lets see what it looks like! Understanding what a VBA program is If you have closed Word, open it again and select the AboutVB1.docm file that you saved in the previous lesson. If everything was done correctly, you should see a banner at the top of your document window with a security warning. VBA and Security VBA is a real programming language. That means that VBA can do just about anything you need it to do. And that, in turn, means that if you receive a Word document with an embedded macro from some bad guy that macro can do just about anything too. So Microsofts warning is to be taken seriously. On the other hand, you wrote this macro and all it does is type Hello World so theres no risk here. Click the button to enable macros. To see what the Macro Recorder has created (as well as to do most other things that involve VBA), you need to start the Visual Basic Editor. Theres an icon to do that at the left side of the Developer ribbon. First, notice the left hand window. This is called the Project Explorer and it groups together the high level objects (well talk more about them) that are part of your Visual Basic project. When the Macro Recorder was started, you had a choice of the Normal template or the current document as a location for your macro. If you selected Normal, then the NewMacros module will be part of the Normal branch of the Project Explorer display. (You were supposed to select the current document. If you did select Normal,  delete the document and repeat the previous instructions.) Select NewMacros under Modules in your current project. If there still isnt any code window displayed, click Code under the View menu. The Word document as a VBA container Every Visual Basic program must be in some kind of file container. In the case of Word 2007 VBA macros, that container is a (.docm) Word document. Word VBA programs cant run without Word and you cant create standalone (.exe) Visual Basic programs like you can with Visual Basic 6 or Visual Basic .NET. But that still leaves a whole world of things you can do. Your first program is certainly short and sweet, but it will serve to introduce the major features of VBA and the Visual Basic Editor. The program source will normally consist of a series of subroutines. When you graduate to more advanced programming, youll discover that other things can be part of the program besides subroutines. This particular subroutine is named AboutVB1. The subroutine header must be paired with an End Sub at the bottom. The parenthesis can hold a parameter list consisting of values being passed to the subroutine. Nothing is being passed here, but they have to be there in the Sub statement anyway. Later, when we run the macro, we will look for the name  AboutVB1. There is only one actual program statement in the subroutine: Selection.TypeText Text:Hello World! Objects, methods and properties This statement contains the big three: an objecta methoda property The statement actually adds the text Hello World. to the contents of the current document. The next task is to run our program a few times. Just like buying a car, its a good idea to drive it around for a while until it feels a little bit comfortable. We do that next. Programs and documents We have our glorious and complicated system ... consisting of one program statement ... but now we want to run it. Heres what thats all about. Theres one concept to be learned here that is very important and it often really confuses first timers: the difference between the program and the document. This concept is foundational. VBA programs have to be contained in a host file. In Word, the host is the document. In our example, thats AboutVB1.docm. The program is actually saved inside the document. For example, if this was Excel, we would be talking about the program and the spreadsheet. In Access, the program and the database. Even in standalone Visual Basic Windows application, we would have a program and a form. (Note: There is a trend in programming to refer to all high level containers as a document. This is specifically the case when XML ... another up and coming technology ... is being used. Dont let it confuse you. Although its a slight inaccuracy, you can think of documents as being roughly the same as files.) There are ... ummmmm .... about three main ways to run your VBA macro. You can run it from the Word Document.(Note: Two subcategories are to select Macros from the Tools menu or just press Alt-F8. If you have assigned the macro to a Toolbar or Keyboard shortcut, thats one more way.))You can run it from the Editor using the Run icon or Run menu.You can single-step through the program in debug mode. You should try every one of these methods just to become comfortable with the Word/VBA interface. When you finish, you will have a whole document filled with repeats of Hello World! Running the program from Word is fairly easy to do. Just select the macro after clicking the Macro icon under the View tab. To run it from the Editor, first open the Visual Basic editor and then either click the Run icon or select Run from the menu. Heres where the difference between the Document and the Program might become confusing to some. If you have the document minimized or perhaps have your windows arranged so the editor is covering it, you can click the Run icon over and over and nothing seems to happen. But the program is running! Switch to the document again and see. Single stepping through the program is probably the most useful problem solving technique. This is also done from the Visual Basic editor. To try this out, press F8 or select Step Into from the Debug menu. The first statement in the program, the Sub statement, is highlighted. Pressing F8 executes the program statements one at a time until the program ends. You can see exactly when the text is added to the document this way. There are a lot of more refined debugging techniques such as Breakpoints, examining program objects in the Immediate Window, and the use of the Watch Window. But for now, simply be aware that this is a primary debugging technique you will use as a programmer. Object Oriented Programming The next class lesson is all about Object Oriented Programming. Whaaaattttt! (I hear you moaning) I just want to write programs. I didnt sign up to be a computer scientist! Fear Not! There are two reasons why this is a great move. First, in todays programming environment, you simply cant be an effective programmer without understanding object oriented programming concepts. Even our very simple one-line Hello World program consisted of an object, a method, and a property. In my opinion, not understanding objects is the biggest single problem beginning programmers have. So were going to confront the beast right up front! Second, were going to make this as painless as possible. Were not going to confuse you with a load of computer science jargon. But right after that, were going to jump right back into writing programming code with a lesson where we develop a VBA macro that you can probably use! We perfect that program a little more in the next lesson and finish up by showing you how to start using VBA with several applications at one time.