Netflix Strategies Startz Limited

Question: Discuss about theNetflix Strategiesfor Startz Limited. Answer: Introduction The report considers a case study on Netflix Inc. the company provides video streaming services to its customers. It has been discussed that how the company has achieved growth. It has also been discussed about the future of Netflix in competitive market. The report discusses about the strategies as being adopted by the company in realizing its long term objectives (The New York Times magazine, 2016). Institutional Background In 2008, Netflix has come up with a partnership with Startz limited to increase its media. This has enabled The Netflix Inc in increasing its sales. The company has approximately 93 million users worldwide as calculated in January 2017. It has above 125 million hours of movies, TV shows, which includes original series, documentary films, and featured films. The company has a competition with Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, Amazon, Red box (McKay, 2017). Brief History of Netflix Netflix Inc is a company headquartered in United States. It was introduced by Marc Randolph and Reed Hasting in 29th August, 1997. The company deals in providing services of film production, film distribution, and television production. The company also deals in streaming media, providing video on demanded by mails, and it also provides media services. During the initial period of the company, it had only 30 employees (Ophelia, 2015). This Rise of Netflix After one year of incorporation of the company that is in 1998, the company started by introducing DVD by mails. In 2007, the company diversified its business into streaming media. The DVD and Blu-ray rental service were continued by the company. The company in 1999 introduced the concept of monthly subscription. The concept of introducing flat free rentals without due fees, shipping and handling fees, late fees, per title rental fees, has made the company reputed in the minds of the consumer at large. This innovation has leaded the company to grow internationally. This has opened channel for the company for operating globally. In 2002, Netflix Inc introduced its Initial public offering (IPO). In the first year of its IPO the firm sold its 5.5 million shares at US$15 per share, and on 26th January2017, the company has a share price of 139.52 US$. In 2010, the company expanded its business in Canada. While operating the business from there, by 2016, the company has made a global prese nce in above 190 countries. The company also deals in production services. This service has been introduced by Netflix in 2013 through a debut of first series of House of cards. After the successful operation of its production services, the company expanded its production in television series and films both. As calculated in 2016, the company has release approximately 126 original series in its production (Steel, 2015). Changing Technology Netflix Inc continuously demands their customers feedback to change in their technology. The reviews are considered of its customer and discussed with the managers to help them in making better decisions in what series to watch. The company has incorporated various technologies in their system like React Gibbon. In 2014, the company was working with its partners to work on its devices to make them compatible for high visual quality. In 2014, after the launching of smart TVs, many shows can be played with high visual quality of 4K content, which includes Set top boxes, Smart TVs, and game consoles. In January 2017, the company has introduced Ultra HD 4K to windows 10 for supporting Netflix. It would help the company in making a big list of movies, TV shows. This would make easier for the customers to watch the shows around the world in the best quality of picture. The company is also working in adding 7th Gen Intel Core CPUs and windows 10 to their list (Wilson Crawford). Operating Online The company started its business in 1997 by streaming retail business of DVD. Afterwards it was realized by the company the needs of online streaming. Hence the company introduced its online business in 2007. The company has after coming into online retailing, better able to compete with its competitors like Amazon, Hulu and other competitors too. Netflix provide customized service of providing a huge content, with full navigation control for their viewing shows. Besides this the company also provides a facility of customized service for each customer by creating his view page profile and recommending them the content on the home page on the basis of their previously based watched shows (Mcalone, 2016). Besides this to remain ahead from the competitor, the company provides facilities of user interaction facility. Company continuously invests in its media infrastructure and user interface. To improved user interactions, the back end managers are continuously involved in the process. The company provides a facility of providing personalized suggestion to users, and tags each and every shows and movies on the users platform. For this company engineers are continuously working on making the company supported to tens of millions devices across the world at any time, any place. For the better working of the online content of Netflix, proprietary open content delivery network is used by the company, which exchanges the traffic with ISPs that is internet service provider directly; which is stored on ISP networks for delivering content. Netflix Inc optimizes its multiple terabytes per second and accounts up to one third of the North American internet traffic at its prime or peak times. And in during off prime times, the company fills the content with videos, which the companys algorithm predicts what the people most likely to watch. This heavily reduces the network utilization during the prime hours (Devine, 2017). Pricing Strategies Pricing of the products and services is considered as one of the most crucial decisions of the management. If the price is set too high it is considered as skimming the market, and it may be possible that the company got out of the market. While if the prices are set too low then the products are considered less quality added in the minds of consumers (Pelts, 2016). According to Netflix managers, the pricing strategy successfulness have been achieved by executing at micro level first (Papple, 2017). At micro level, the company adds more value and content through their mechanisms. The strategy of pricing of company is that it offers variety of prices level to its customers. The price is usually followed at same levels. The price levels are basic, standard and premium. In basic price it is $7.99 per month, standard price is $9.99 per month and at premium price it is $11.99 per month (Chaudhary, 2017). In these levels the company provides more value added services to high level and medi um level pricings. Netflix plans to price its products and services at approximately $10 per month, which is much lower than its competitors (Cohan, 2013). The strategy followed by Netflix in case of change in the prices, the company firstly communicates all the required information to its department and customers. The required changes in the prices should compliment with the additional services offered (Hickie, 2014). Thirdly the compliments to the requirement of changes in price should be such that it seems benefitting to its customers. A proper question answer round has to be prepared by the Netflix Inc in case of question asked by the customers regarding changes in prices (Murphy, 2011). Netflixs Innovations Apart from these innovations, Netflix also introduced the concept of mine for user data. This analysis is done for serving the customers, and helping them in finding the content appealing to them. The use of original data has lead to success for the company. It has forced the TV industries to make changes in their strategies regarding enabling flexibility on the basis of their customers needs. This can be understood by the compatibility of TV shows and movies can be operated on the computer, mobile phones, TV, and other gaming devices. Traditionally TV shows were only seen on televisions. The change in their compatibility is due to Netflix (Ingram, 2016). Netflix as a Dominant Provider of Online Video Streaming Video streaming is the facility provided to the consumer to watch or download any shows or movies from anywhere. Online video streaming is provided by the companies like Netflix, HBO, Amazon and many more. The success of online video streaming has attracted many retailers. Netflix has market share of 4.27%, while the competitor of the company, Amazon has 12.99% market share (Kerr, 2013). In the period of 1999, the customer used to watch shows by DVDs, they used to keep it without late fees. However in the era of 2000 to now, digital media comes in trend. Netflix has quickly adopted this change and started providing digital streaming media and downloadable music. In the period of 2009, Netflix Inc launched recent television shows and movies on its video streaming website. In 2010, the company has rebranded its mail DVD service as its subsidiary called as Qwikster. By this change the company has made a change in the consumption model of the entertainment shows, and quit the concept of rental video stores in America (Volpe, 2013). As estimated in 2013, the company had more than 3million streaming members. Hence the company has able itself in focusing on digital shows providers. Netflix can be said to remain as the dominant provider of online video streaming. It can be said because the company quickly adopts its business model that helps the company to remain as the domi nate player of video streaming. Netflix has increased its market share to 31.6% in 2013, while the You Tube had just 13.19%. Hence it can be said that Netflix had made itself able t enjoy the monopoly in streaming the videos on demand (Chapman, 2017). Netflix Strategy According to Dayna sargen, who is a brand marketing manager at news cred. According to him Netflix Inc has changed the business strategies of videos streaming as from providing DVDs on rent to providing online shows. As a content provider, the company has announced its strategies that it will create quality content that will affect the marking and business goals. According to Sadq (2013) the company seeing this as an opportunity of purchasing or produce numerous programs. The strategy besides this as adopted by the company is to start focusing on adult programming. The continuously keeps an eye on watched shows and movies by the users, to estimate about the future demands of the shows. The strategy as adopted by the company is having an appropriate staff. The team with Netflix is very focuses to their work. So that it has made easy for the company to focus on its audience department, operational efficiency, and many more factors (Sargen, 2016). Netflix Inc has made a numerous deals with small cable operators. The company has made a deal with TiVo so that Netflix able to available on TiVo set top boxes. Hence by this the users get an advantage to enjoy both content offered by Netflix and conventional TV. Therefore the strategy of the company is to change the customer preference and their habits regarding consumer consumption choices (Kerns, 2016). Current Performance of Netflix The members to Netflix are increasing day by day as by attracted towards thousands of micro services as provided by the company. However the services offered by the company are operated by different teams having expertise in it. The company set benchmarks for their teams, as to get a framework that can assist the company under a condition of work load (Netflix, 2016). Netflix Inc to increase its customer base has introduced the original series of House of cards and Orange is the new black. In case of financial performance of the company, it has been observed a 30% increase in the revenue earned and 24% increase in the gross profit. It has also been observed that there has been an increase in the companys earnings by 0.15$ that is 50.11% increase in 2016 as compared to 2015 financial data. The Future of Netflix Netflix is a subscription based company which provides TV shows and movies by delivering DVDs through local post as ordered by mails. The company is aiming to increase its customer base to 180 million by 2020, which is just double of 2016. According to Mathew Ball, who is a strategist of Otter media, quoted that the cable service providers offers various channels. The customers of this, used to switch over the shows they want to watch. Hence by this the cable service providers make customers to pay for those channels too, which they dont watch. But in modern scenario this is not demanded by the customers. By offering high production values to its customers, the company is at a better position to compete with its competitors. Here Netflix provide customized services to all its customers. In order to remain in the future, the company continuously reviews its user interface and media infrastructure. The company is also working on the compatibility of its shows and movies on millions of devices at any time. One of major cons to the company is of having a huge data with it for delivering the shows to end customers with high quality (Mavinkurve, Becker Christensen, 2014). Accessibility to Long Term Objectives The strategies of Netflix involve a complex, massive and highly distributed infrastructure system in such a way that no one can trace the status of companys system. For this, the company has shifted its in- house data to a third party. Besides this the complete IT infrastructure is located at Amazons cloud data centre. In case of the production team, the company has divided its team into engineering teams. Each and every team is responsible for coding, resolving and testing of issues on their work. Apart from this, the company has also developed tools to check and provide related visualizations and insight to diagnose and resolve the problems. Hence by this compliance, it can be said that the company long term objectives can be achieved (Newman, 2014). Furthermore, with the introduction of content creation, to keep cost low, the company has fixed the prices for revenue model. Due to low in variable cost the company is able to focus on growing its customer base. Hence it can be said that the company would be able to stay in a changing and growing industry as it is providing the compelling value proposition to its customers. Besides from this, the company is continuously developing and innovating new tools and methods to remain stable and expand and improve its customers experiences (CSI market.com, 2017). Conclusion Video streaming is considered as mandatory for the business providing online television shows and movies. The company has started its business in 1997 by providing DVDs on rent. Due to change in customer demands as in case of new consumers the company also changed its strategies. As the company has started its online business in 2007. This concept has replaced linear TV concept. The company is also involved in dealings with cable operators like TiVo. Now Netflix is available everywhere across the world except china. The first debuted series by Netflix was made in 2013, and in 2016 the company has became global. In case of pricing the company sets three level that are basic level, standard level and premium level, which contains the differences in facilities and quality provided. The company continuously reviews the customer feedbacks and changes in its strategies accordingly. Due to proper division of work among teams has increased the companys efficiency. References Chapman,B. 2017. Independent. How Netflix took over the world: Video streaming membership grows to 93.8 million. Retrieved at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/netflix-video-streaming-93-million-membership-global-6-billion-spending-original-content-series-a7535386.html (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Chaudhary,V. 2017. Live mint. Netflix open to modifying its pricing strategy in India. Retrieved at https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/45N4s0qcdcLQemAeNGgnxN/Netflix-open-to-modifying-its-pricing-strategy-in-India.html (Accessed: 29th January, 2017). Cohan, P. 2013. Forbes, How Netflix reinvented itself. Retrieved at https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/04/23/how-netflix-reinvented-itself/#225f037074ea (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). CSI market.com 2017. NFLXs competition by segment and its market share. Retrieved at https://csimarket.com/stocks/competitionSEG2.php?code=NFLX (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Devine,T. 2017. Inc. Retrieved at https://www.inc.com/ted-devine/what-netflix-can-teach-your-small-business-about-price-restructuring.html (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Hickie,B. 2014 Openview.Netflix pricing strategy: learning from qwikster mistakes. Retrieved at https://labs.openviewpartners.com/netflix-pricing-strategy-learning-qwikster-mistakes/#.WImepvIVTIU (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Ingram,M. 2016. Fortune. Heres why Netflix share price is getting clobbered. Retrieved at https://fortune.com/2016/07/18/netflix-stock-earnings/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Kerns,C. 2016. Marketing land. Streaming social: what marketers can learn from Netflixs social strategy. Retrieved at https://marketingland.com/streaming-social-marketers-can-learn-netflixs-social-strategy-171659 (Accessed: 29 th January, 2017). Kerr, D. 2013. CNET. Video streaming is on the rise with Netflix dominating. Retrieved at https://www.cnet.com/news/video-streaming-is-on-the-rise-with-netflix-dominating/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Mavinkurve,R. Becker,J Christensen,B. 2014. The Netflix tech blog. Improving netflixs operational visibility with real-time insight tools. Retrieved at https://techblog.netflix.com/2014/01/improving-netflixs-operational.html (Accessed: 29th January, 2017). Mcalone,N. 2016. Business insider. 80% of people have no idea about the Netflix price hike thats coming next month. Retrieved at https://www.businessinsider.in/80-of-people-have-no-idea-about-the-Netflix-price-hike-thats-coming-next-month/articleshow/51733182.cms (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). McKay,I. 2017. Netfix. Creating a high-performance TV user interface using react. Retreived at https://techblog.netflix.com/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Murphy,E. 2011. Netflix pricing strategy. Retrieved at https://blogs.harvard.edu/cqtwo/2011/07/14/netflix-pricing-strategy/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Netflix. 2016. Annual report. Retrieved at https://ir.netflix.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1065280-16-47CIK=1065280 (Accessed: 29th January, 2017) Newman,J. 2014. Times tech. Netflix crowned king of streaming with more than a third of peak traffic. Retrieved at https://time.com/98987/netflix-streaming-traffic/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Ophelia, 2015. Technology and operations management: A course at Harvard business school. Netflix Behind the scenes. Retrieved at https://rctom.hbs.org/submission/netflix-behind-the-scenes/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Papple,N. 2017. Early to rise: health, wealth and life well lived. Who has a better pricing strategy: Netflix or Amazon prime? Retrieved at https://www.earlytorise.com/better-pricing-strategy-netflix-amazon-prime/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Pelts,S. 2016. Market realist. What is the Netflix pricing strategy? Retrieved at https://marketrealist.com/2016/10/netflix-pricing-strategy/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Sadq,Z,M. 2013. Analyzing Netflixs strategy. International journal of science and research (IJSR), Vol 4th, Issue 3rd Sargen,D.2016. American marketing association. Marketing takeaways from Netflixs content strategy. Retrieved at https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/netflix-content-strategy.aspx (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Steel,E. 2015. The New York Times magazine. Netflix refines its DVD business, even as streaming unit booms. Retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/business/while-its-streaming-service-booms-netflix-streamlines-old-business.html (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). The New York Times magazine. 2016. Can Netflix survive in the new world it created. Retrieved at https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/can-netflix-survive-in-the-new-world-it-created.html?_r=0 (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Volpe, J. 2013. Engadget. Netfix still the dominant streaming provider, according to latest NPD report. Retrieved at https://www.engadget.com/2013/06/04/netflix-still-dominant-streaming-provider-npd-svod-report/ (Accessed: 28th January, 2017). Wilson,T,V Crawford, S. How stuffworks tech. How Netflix works. Retrieved by https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/netflix.htm (Accessed: 29th January, 2017).

Internal Controls

Introduction Chorafas (2001) notes â€Å"Internal Control is a dynamic system covering all types of risk, addressing fraud, assuring transparency, and making possible reliable financial reporting. Beyond risks, internal control goals are the preservation of assets, account reconciliation, and compliance.†Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Internal Controls specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Limitations of ABC Co.’s Internal Control System The internal control system is designed to identify and avert fraud, material misstatements and errors and omissions. However it can only offer reasonable guarantee that there isn’t material misstatement in the financial statements. No internal control system, however elaborate, can be by itself guarantee efficient administration and completeness and accuracy of the records nor can it be proof against fraudulent collusion, especially on the part of those holding positions of authority and trust. This is mainly due to the following inherent limitations of an internal control system: (a) Management has to ensure that the benefits expected from an internal control system outweigh the costs. As a result certain important controls might not be put in place due to the costs involved. E.g. a small entity might not have the resources to employ sufficient staff to ensure proper segregation of duties. (Spencer Pickett, 2010). (b) Most internal controls tend to be directed towards routine transactions rather than non-routine transactions. This leaves gaps that can be exploited. (c) Human error due to carelessness, distraction, mistakes of judgment and misunderstanding instructions could undermine the internal control system. 2 examples of Internal Control Procedures and their implementation â€Å"Control procedures† means those policies and procedures (in addition to the control environment) which management has established to achieve the ent ity’s specific objectives. Specific internal control procedures include:Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Arithmetical and accounting control These are procedures within the accounting function, which check that transactions are authorized, correctly and accurately recorded. This is aimed at ensuring completeness and accuracy of the accounting records. These procedures can be implemented through the following ways: (Godwin 2010) Use of standardized documentation, raised at every stage of the transaction. Use of pre-numbered documents. Documents should be issued in sequence. Monitor movement of documents by use of a register. Production of exceptional reports for example when a local purchase order has been raised and the order has not been fulfilled by the supplier. Reconciliation between the different accounts and related control accounts. Segregation of duties This refers to the separation of the various duties and responsibilities such that one person cannot process and record complete transactions from beginning to the end without being checked by another person. For example, in the purchase of a company’s fixed assets, a single individual should not authorize the purchase, place the order, receive the asset and record the transaction in the accounting records. This is aimed at minimizing the risk of error and/or intentional manipulation of information. In this regard, for every transaction the following functions should be performed by different individuals and departments as much as possible and practicable. This is how this procedure is implemented: Initiation Authorization – different levels of management should be given authority limits as to what they can authorize or commit the company’s resources. The authority limit should depend on the position, integrity, qualifications and competence. Execution – tra nsactions should be carried out by persons independent from those who authorize the transactions. If one person authorizes expenditure a different person should execute. Custody of the asset – officials authorizing/executing a transaction should not have custody to the assets arising out of the transaction. Recording Segregation of duties also covers internal check which refers to the activities of one person must be complementary to the activities of another or subjected to independent checking. Symptoms of a lack of Internal Control Signs that an internal control system may be lacking include (but are not limited to) such factors as: management failing to exercise appropriate due care and correct supervision of staff. â€Å"These symptoms can be identified by missing documentation and identified errors in the account balances; and the lack of a company-wide ethics policy.† (Herrera 2010). Another sign that indicates a lack of internal control is that lack of segrega tion of duties is evident. This consequently implies that members of staff have access to tasks (and are performing them) and this is causing contradictions in the regular allotted duties. Impact of ABC Co.’s missing journal entry on their financial statements If the company has to pay insurance of $1500 in January, for example, but in real sense it is for the 3 months that follow, it becomes an expense because of the journal entry that is missing. These errors of omission usually result in erroneous ratio analyses which consequently cause management to make unsuitable decisions based on financial information that contains inaccuracies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Internal Controls specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Horngren et al (1999) notes that â€Å"†¦the balance sheet shows less than accurate current assets and the income statement shows that there are more expenses incurred than there actua lly are. Adjusting entry will be required, but the statements during the last three months were deficient† References Chorafas, D.N. (2001). Implementing and auditing the internal control system. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Godwin, N., et al. (2010). Financial ACCT. Stamford, CT: Cengage. Spencer, H., Pickett, J. M. (2010). The Internal Audit Handbook. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. This essay on Internal Controls was written and submitted by user Fletcher Simmons to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

HRM for the Service Industries

HRM for the Service Industries Interview The researcher succeeded to carry out an interview that involved two employees who work at Delta Air Lines, Inc. The two individuals gave different views regarding motivation and leadership approaches practiced by the management of Delta Air Line. The two respondents were referred to as person X and person Y in this research, for purposes of anonymity, which was necessary to gather unbiased information from the two individuals.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on HRM for the Service Industries specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In relation to motivation, person X pointed out that Delta Airline was a good company to work with since it recognizes the performance of employees. Specifically, he mentioned the Chairman Club, which was established with an aim of giving recognition to best performing employees. However, person Y was not happy about the role Delta Air Lines. She argued that Delta Airline benefitted much from recognition in relation to employees. Person Y emphasized that recognition benefited the company through low cost of operations while employees continued to suffer since they were given paltry salaries (Creswell 1998, p. 12). The two respondents showed similar reactions in relation to leadership approaches. Both person X and Y said that operating manuals provided by the management team enabled Delta Air Lines to attain excellent performance. They claimed that operating manuals issued to every department enabled the company to achieve its predetermined objectives. This is because operating manuals ensured that each department worked hard to achieve the set operating standards. Person Y accentuated that Passengers Service Manual, which is used by Customer Service department to track services delivered to clients, enabled Delta Air Lines to attain admirable performance. Introduction Hospitality industry is classified in the contemporary world as the highest earning industry. A num ber of scholars and businesspersons refer to it as a billionaire industry. Considering that manufacturing era is gone, it is no doubt that we are living in an era characterized by the service industry. The service industry is broad and mainly encompasses food, service delivery and accommodation related sectors of the economy. Lodging, transportation, tourism, entertainment and restaurants among other segments fall within hospitality industry.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hospitality industry chiefly depends on leisure time and disposable income. Although hospitality industry involves several groups that deal with maintenance of company facilities, operations as well as management, it is confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that managing employees remains a key aspect towards improving the level of performance for a range of companies in the hospitality industry. T his has compelled several managements in the service industry to come up with effective leadership approaches that aim at improving performance of employees, with diverse expertise and abilities. Different techniques of motivating employees are devised on daily basis hoping that the level of performance would significantly improve at workplace. Delta Airlines considers a number of management styles including giving handsome package to its employees, with an intention of improving its airline services as well as revenue. Furthermore, Delta Airlines endeavors to improve the level of returns for its major and minor investors. In addition, Delta Airlines Company ensures that customers choosing the services of the company experience the most appealing flights that would attract them the second time they would be traveling. Such aspects include best entertainment, executive seats and offering flights at affordable prices (Bratton Gold 2007, p. 67). Delta Air Lines, Inc. Delta Air Lines i s amongst the competitive airline companies in the U.S. With its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Delta operates at domestic and international markets. Due to its aggressive strategies, the company has grown rapidly and today, it claims 11% of the market share. Delta Air Lines is popularly known worldwide for its busiest hub. Delta Air Lines hub, which is based at the Hart-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, serves an average of 88 million passengers every year. Currently, this airline company has about 716 aircrafts, which operate at local markets as well as international markets. This makes Delta Air Lines the largest airline company based on the size of its fleet. In total, Delta Air Lines operates in about 247 destinations, which are located in both the U.S. and elsewhere in other foreign countries. Delta Air Lines closed the financial year 2010 with revenue of 31.8 billion. Its assets stood at 43.2 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2010.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on HRM for the Service Industries specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This indicated a strong performance for Delta Air Lines as compared to its counterparts at local and foreign markets. Perhaps, its financial strength over and above quality services would be attributed to its effective management team. Delta Air Lines Management Team and Strategies Richard Anderson leads delta Air Lines as its Chief Executive Officer. Edward Bastian acts as its president while Michael Campbell is the Executive Vice President and chiefly deals with the Human Resources and Labor Relations. Other top personalities include Stephen Gorman who is the chief operating officer; Glen Hauestein the network planning and revenue management, Hank Halter the financial officer, Holden Shannon the corporate strategy and real estate leader, John Walker the corporate communications director, and Theresa Wise the chief information officer. Richard Anderso n ensures that Delta Air Lines maintains its competitive edge in the airline industry by embracing aggressive strategies such as those related to reducing fares, commonly referred to as cost leadership strategy. In addition, the management ensures that effectual measures are set, which merely ensures that investors get high returns for their investments. Employees are as well motivated with diverse incentives such as high salaries and long lasting employment contracts. Strategies are also put in place to ensure that its services are expanded to other emerging markets. Delta Air Line traditional approach of expansion focused on acquisition of other companies at the market. For instance, in 1972, Delta successfully acquired Northeast Airlines. Later on in 1986, Delta acquired Western Airlines. However, in 1994, Delta realized that airline industry had become increasingly competitive and needed contemporary approaches to maintain its competitive edge in the turbulent market environment . Consequently, Delta Air Lines sought to restructuring and streamlining its operations. The new package involved reducing the costs of operations as well as reducing the flight-fare price. Leadership Leadership is defined by a good number of scholars as ability to influence employees in an organization towards attaining predetermined goals and objectives. It is also defined as the ability of an organization to align individuals within the organization in order to achieve set targets.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It also aims at empowering employees with necessary skills and tools to undertake required actions that would meet the common goals set by the management. Although there are arguments concerning whether leaders are made or born, it has been discovered that managers and leaders depict different characteristics. Leaders are said to be innovate, original, people oriented, inspiring, developing and setting long-range perspectives. Leaders frequently challenge the status quo as well as doing right things always among other characteristics. This helps them to convene short term and long-term objectives of the organization. On the other hand, managers rely much on the regulations and rules of the organization to administer policies that encourage employees to focus on achieving the set targets (Storey 2007, p. 102). Managers are perceived as people who are fond of copying, maintaining, focusing on structures and systems, relying much on control and regulations, and more importantly meeting the objectives of an organization. Their characteristics also include, but not limited to short-range view, eyeing the bottom line, imitating previous approaches of management, accepting status quo and doing things right. What fascinates scholars and perhaps what exactly distinguish managers from leaders relates to ‘how’ and ‘when’ questions. Leaders frequently ask themselves ‘what’ and ‘whys’ sort of questions. These are common aspects that distinguish the originality displayed by leadership and imitation aspects characterized by managers. A number of theories have been put forward to explain characteristics of different leaders. Trait Theory Trait theory explains that individuals are born either with leadership characteristics or without. Trait theory focuses on several factors that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. The factors include individual personality, socialization process, physical characteristics and intelligence. Behavioral theory The behavioral theory relates to the ability to initiate a particular system and coming up with some considerations over an event. This would refer to the orientation of the leader regarding the aims and responsibilities of employees. Mangers may perhaps be workers oriented, which could mean that they are concerned more about employees. Task orientation could mean that a firm is more concerned about production levels. Fielder contingency model Fielder contingency model states that an effective team relies on an effectual match between the approach of a leader interacting with employees and the extent to which the environment gives a leader the authority to control and influence his or her subordinates. According to Fielder, the environment or situation refers to the relationship between leaders and staff members. Logically, it refers to the confidence and respect built between a leader and his or her followers. The situation refers to the task structure and the pow er position. Power position refers to the level of authority that is mostly derived from the position of the leader within the organizational system (Winstanley Woodall 2000, p. 112). Fielder affirms that good relations between staff members and their leaders characterize a favorable situation, affective structure of tasks and a powerful position of a manager in an organization. Path Goal Theory This theory relates environmental and subordinate contingency aspects to leadership traits. Path goal theory argues that performance or outcomes depend on traits associated with leadership behavior such as directives, supportive and perceptive features in relation to subordinate and environmental contingency aspects. Subordinate contingency features include locus of control, individual experiences and ones perceived ability and competence. On the other hand, situational contingency features include structures of job assignments, formality of systems and policies, as well as team members. Ch arismatic leaders Charismatic leaders portray features that have considerable influence on performance of subordinates. This type of leaders are said to portray different characteristics from those of other leaders. To begin with, charismatic leaders depict self-confidence. Self-confidence is displayed by their total confidence in their policies and competence. A vision is also another significant feature, which brings about confidence that would lead to a better future rather than relying on an organization’s status quo. A leader should ensure that there is a broad margin between the current status quo and the set goals or objectives. Charismatic leaders are also recognized for their outstanding abilities in articulating vision. They are able to explain and describe vision in a way that employees understand without difficulties. This assists in avoiding issues related to confusions and doubts. However, to articulate vision, a visionary leader should understand his or her emp loyees adequately. Charismatic leader should have high levels of commitment and high personal risk that help organizations in achieving pragmatic goals within a predetermined period. Charming leaders frequently depict behavior that is different from conventional or normal traits of ordinary managers and employees. Although these behaviors appear different from those of common leaders, followers are easily lured to follow such behaviors, especially in the event that a leader becomes successful with his or her unique style of management (Legge1998, p. 56). Other major characteristics displayed by appealing leaders include realistic evaluation of business environments in relation to constraints and resources and coming up with pragmatic strategies. Generally, charismatic leaders are perceived as aspects of radical change as opposed to maintaining organization’s status quo. Relationship between transactional and transformational leaders Several reputable scholars in the field of management have identified distinguishing factors between transactional and transformational leaders. It is believed that old management style was characterized by transactional kind of leadership. However, because of dynamic and competitive business environment, contemporary type of management associates itself with transformational leadership. Transactional leaders Transformational leaders recognize achievements that ensure employees are rewarded in accordance to their level of performance. The management should always identify the disparity existing between performance and predetermined policies. This would help in initiating corrective actions and responses. A more contradicting feature as regards to transactional leadership is its passive system. Passive approach refers to intervening situations when standards tend to fall below or deviate from the track. Transactional leader would assign already laid down tasks and responsibilities to different departments. However, they attem pt to avoid making major and minor decisions regarding the operations of the organization. Transformation leaders Scholars and managements term transformational leadership as contemporary approach (Beardwell Claydon 2007, p. 83). Transformational leaders are charismatic and would occasionally provide followers with realistic vision and mission, which eventually earns them respect and trust. They are too inspiring since they communicate high expectations to their subordinates, use symbols to express directions and targets of organizations. Their level of intelligence is proved by their high level of rationality, as well as extra-ordinary logics mostly expressed in their analytical abilities, especially during problem solving. Transformational leaders differ from their transactional leaders for the reason that they are able to give personal attention to their employees apart from coaching and advising employees personally. What it takes to be an effectual and successful leader What i t takes to be an effective leader remains a contentious issue in the contemporary world of business. However, a number of observable studies have distinguished effective leaders from ineffective leaders. Effective leaders are seen communicating routinely. Their communication is associated with exchanging information and frequent handling of paperwork. Effective managers as well practice traditional management, which is merely known for its controlling, decision-making and planning facets. More importantly, effective management is characterized by networking where leaders are seen often interacting with outsiders in addition to sharing social, economical and political issues with several groups. Regarding the human resource management, successful leaders are seen motivating and rewarding their subordinates on a continuous basis. Furthermore, training and developing careers ensures that employees meet standards set by the firm. Nevertheless, transformational leaders manage conflicts a rising successfully. Motivation Motivation is a process that intends to elicit, control, manage or sustain an individual’s behavior. Motivation is categorized as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is associated with external factors. For instance, a student who is interested in acquiring certain knowledge in a given field for not only getting good grades but also gaining mastery is most likely motivated by intrinsic factors. On the other hand, it would be an extrinsic motivation if an employee were encouraged to perform well at work place by increasing salary or providing other incentives. It is therefore true that employee performance depends heavily on motivation. Nevertheless, to realize good performance through motivation, employees should be equipped with necessary skills, equipments, supplies, time and ability (Goleman1998, p. 72). A motivating agent is principally determined by the needs of an employee. Although money is generally regarded as the main motivator, it is not the only employee motivator. Money would act as a motivator if it were able to meet individual’s needs and desires. In addition, an employee should believe that he or she is in a position to achieve monetary rewards offered by the organization. Generally, financial incentives offered by a range of organizations include production bonus systems, commission, gain sharing, group incentive plans, profit sharing, piecework systems among others. Because financial incentives can be limiting to any business that intends to motivate its employees, other approaches satisfy employees such as good contact with consumers’ brand, job enlargement and rotations. In many cases, organizations motivate employees by giving rewards that have value, providing rewards based on individual performance, treating individual staff members personally, encouraging staff participation and providing immediate feedback regarding employees’ performance. Since motivation conc erns itself with giving incentives to employees with an aim of enforcing compliance, most supervisors frequently use incentives to ensure that employees meet the objectives and goals set by management. With this regard, it would be beneficial if supervisors would have necessary skills regarding employees’ motivation. Managers influence the behavior of employees using various methods. However, the commonly used incentives include flextime and job sharing. Flextime is a strategy used in organizations, which allow individuals to choose when to work for 8 hours assigned in a day or 40 hours in a week. Conversely, job sharing refers to an arrangement in which two individuals working part-time choose to share tasks of a full-time job. Theories of motivation Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs Maslow states that a number of unmet needs motivate individuals. In accordance to Maslow’s theory, needs which motivates people fall into five categories. They include physiological need s, security, social needs such as love, needs relating to esteem and self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are basic needs, which an individual requires for survival. Security needs refer to protection and safety. Social needs are those associated with the need for companionship, as well as love. Individuals in the society desire to be respected by their colleagues. This is popularly termed esteem needs. Self-actualization refers to a situation where an individual peruses the full measure of happiness. McClelland’s Achievement-Power-Affiliation Theory This theory states that people develop diverse needs via life experiences. The three needs classified by McClelland include the need for achievement, need for power and the need for affiliation. Need for achievement is one’s aspiration to do better. Need for power is associated to ambition to manage, control and influence people. Need for affiliation is concerned about aspiration to sustain sociable relations. Alt hough people have all the above needs to some degree, strength of various needs depicts what motivates an employee or a worker (Mintzberg, Simons Basu 2002, p. 88). Hertzberg’s Two-Factor Theory Hertzberg claims that both dissatisfaction and satisfaction are associated with dissimilar sources. In his argument, dissatisfaction is seen to result from lack of hygiene factors such as companionship and handsome salary package. Satisfaction, on the other hand, results from existence of motivating dynamics such as fortunate prospects. Vroom’s Expectancy-Valence Theory Vroom proved that individuals do whatever they do in life with an aim of satisfying their needs. His argument was based on explaining the degree of an individuals’ level of motivation. According to Vroom’s theory, motivation depends on both valence and expectancy. Valence refers to the importance that someone places on result of a specified behavior whereas expectancy is the perception that a cert ain behavior would lead to a given result. In many circumstances, people are predominantly motivated to seek out outcomes that they value. They also believe that such outcomes are achievable. Individual members have different perception as regards to rewards, as well as whether they are in a position to attain the set up rewards. As a result, every employee determines personally the value of rewards and the capability of attaining the results. Since individuals in an organization cannot be generalized, it would be prudent for supervisors to study the needs and abilities of employees within an organization. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory According to Skinner, people tend to do a particular thing hoping that it would lead to a desirable consequence. The same people would avoid things that may lead to undesirable consequences. For instance, people desire doing things that may give them praises from either fellow colleagues or the management team at work place. The management may influence the behavior of individuals by responding to traits technically. Skinner says that consequences can be classified as either reinforcement or punishment. Reinforcement is a positive behavioral consequence. In other words, reinforcement refers to favorable consequences or preferred behavior. Conversely, punishment is also referred to as negative consequence. Most supervisors tend to stop unfavorable behavior using various approaches, such as demotion and firing employees. Modifying Employees’ Behavior Various organizations use either punishment or reinforcement in modifying the behavior of employees. However, ineffectiveness of punishment, many organizations choose reinforcement. Reinforcement tends to result to positive and favorable behavior, which is desired by a firm whereas frequent use of punishment tends to instill a belief of inability among staff members (Nohria, Groysberg Eling 2008, p. 93). Since motivating factors are different among employees, the manag ement should learn individual motivating factors at personal level and design rewards as per their demands. In addition, the management should consider policies, regulations and labor contracts guiding the process of rewarding in an organization. Financial Incentives The Management assumes that money motivates employees to deliver a quality service. According to theories of motivation, finance is perceived as a motivator if it meets the demands and needs of employees. In particular, an individual earning paltry salary will highly be motivated by its increment. However, an employee who is comfortable with his or her salary may be motivated by other factors, such as achieving a sense of respect and personal esteem. As for finances, employees would be given financial incentives to make them meet or exceed certain set standards. Delta Air Lines: Leadership and Motivation Management’s Systems and Procedures Delta Air Lines has various departments with diverse systems. Delta Air Li nes management offers operating manuals that give standards to every department. The operating manual helps departments to monitor the performance of employees, as well as customers on a regular basis (Storey 2001, p. 57). The most important manual is the Passengers Service Manual, which is used by Customer Service department to track services delivered to clients. This has enabled employees to provide excellent services to their customers. Operating manual, on the other hand, enables the management to access updated performance, as well as easy references that would help in making major decisions concerning the performance of the company. The most important information provided by Passengers Service Manual includes passengers’ acceptance, refusal of passenger, ticketing and luggage acceptance. Delta Air Lines decided to post passengers’ information online where each employee can access it in a 24 hours clock to increase its efficiency. Moreover, the management has mad e sure that employees stand a chance to access information at home provided one is connected to Delta’s intranet. Management performance measures A website that is solely designed by Delta for measuring and controlling performance would help in monitoring and improving services offered by Delta Air Lines. The website categorically provides a section, which indicates standards expected by the management. The website also provides essential applications for monitoring performance of various departments. In addition, the website provides a section through which the management is able to monitor procedures for giving rewards to subordinates. The key performance indicators used by Delta include measure of flights take off, lost baggage for every 1000 passengers, airplanes damages and injuries sustained by employees while at work place or during official working hours. This information is to be collected from various airports, combined and analyzed on a yearly basis to estimate the overall performance of the management team. Performance leaders Performance leaders are concerned about assigning tasks to different employees and ensuring that operations are covered in entirety. Generally, they normally guide employees on various work processes and allocate diverse resources as per the requirement of the job. Performance leaders frequently ensure that workers arrive on time at the work place, apart from ensuring that team members complete assigned responsibilities within predetermined time and as per the set standards. In many cases, performance leaders are seen to handle customers’ conflict either internally or externally. Training and employees performance improvement Delta Air Lines provides sufficient training to its employees with an aim of improving its services. The management emphasizes on continuous training with an objective of improving its service delivery. Delta Air Lines has some school training centers for pilots. A stringent policy relating to training pilots is aimed at improving the standards of its flights. In fact, customer department statement aims at empowering employees with adequate experience and skills in order to provide excellent service. Delta Air Lines offers a reimbursement of $2000 for tuition fee. In addition, the company provides an e-learning technology, which helps to improve employees’ performance for those present at workplace. Employees Rewarding The management concluded that individual recognition is the most effective way of motivating employees. Delta Air Lines recognize that the most important aspect in an individual is his or her attitude. According to Delta Air Lines’ management, for employees to be instilled with positive attitude, his or her morale should be improved. During difficult financial times, recognition of employees has helped to reduce operation costs associated with employees’ rewarding. The management developed Delta Gaining Altitude program, which enabl es employees to be recognized and rewarded for their services. Delta Gaining Attitude program helps to instill a positive approach to its employees. This is aimed at motivating employees by influencing their behavior positively. As a strategy, Delta Air Lines management has empowered employees to recognize and comment on the performance of their colleagues. Currently, Delta Air Lines provides cumulative points for purchasing products, which has been entirely welcomed by all staff members. Delta Air Lines recognizes employee anniversaries where it begins with the first year and then performed at an interval of 5 years. On completing ten years, an employee would receive a recognition letter from the CEO. Chairman Club was established with an aim of giving recognition to best performing employees. On average, the Chairman Club initiates 102 staff members who have contributed enormously to the success of Delta Air Lines. Such employees are to be chosen by their workmates and confirmed b y the management. However, an individual should be registered at a site provided by Chairman Club in order to receive recommendation for good performance. Stiff competition at the Airline Industry Delta Air Lines faces tough competition in the airline industry both at local and international markets. Stiff competition in the market is due to the presence of major airlines that offer excellent services. Recently, a number of airline companies have come up with cost-leadership strategies, which have forced Delta to respond equally by lowering its initial fare prices. The major foreign rivals of Delta Air Lines include Singapore Airline, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand. However, Delta is responding to the competition through increasingly improving its services. Recommendation Although policies and structures of an organization are important in determining the performance of an entity, it has been recognized by a number of scholars that human aspect is crucial in determining the effe ctiveness and efficiency of a firm (Woods West 2010, p. 75). Human beings control machines and other physical facilities including computers and therefore, a slight change in human behavior might highly affect results of a particular process or activity. Any organization should ensure that it has effectual management team, as well as competent employees in ensure that quality services are provided as per the set standards. Since Delta faces stiff competition in the airline industry, it would be prudent to come up with specific measures that would ensure excellent services are offered to its esteem clients. Such activities would require well laid strategies, which would particularly generate an effective leader. Services improvement, such as fitting aircrafts with executive seats, would help Delta attract a number of customers. Generally, customers require comfort, such as good entertainment and provision of quality and affordable meals and drinks both inside the aircraft and at the airport waiting lounge. Although cost-leadership strategy has been a major strategy used by airline companies, it would be advisable not to lower prices beyond certain levels. This would lead to losses. To ensure that excellence is maintained at Delta Air Lines, the management should provide more appealing rewards that would enhance productivity of employees. For instance, employees should be provided with salary increment, though it has to be realistic to avoid exorbitant operational expenses. Delta is embracing recognition as opposed to other rewards approaches. Although this has an effect of reducing costs associated with rewards, such rewards would have less impact on employee’s level of performance. Delta should in fact consider other non-financial rewarding techniques such as promotions, job rotation and employee empowerment. Such approaches are likely to facilitate high levels of performance amongst staff members. Conclusion This paper has covered a number of issues r egarding leadership and motivation. It has solely discussed issues pertaining to leadership and motivation practices at Delta Air Lines. To understand fully the implication of effective leadership and motivating approaches that would finally help in improving the level of performance at Delta Air Lines, this paper has discussed various types of leaderships, as well as theories that were put forward by different scholars. It has also given more details concerning motivation and related theories. From various reading materials and various managerial perspectives in different institutions including Delta Air Lines, it is confirmed that effective leadership is one that has routine and effectual communication processes. Leaders should communicate complex aspects in a more simple way. They should understand the proficiency and qualifications of individual employees in order to assign jobs accurately. Competent leaders ensure that they give pragmatic directions and vision, which assists in attaining the set objectives and standards. Although traditional modes of management are not popular in the contemporary world of business, it is evident that planning, controlling and monitoring remain key factors in improving employees’ level of performance. In addition, motivation factors, such as offering financial incentives, are mostly used by a range of entities to increase the level of productivity among its employees. However, it is concluded that non-financial incentives to a large extend help in reducing the cost of operations among various organizations such as Delta Air Line. Delta Air Lines has a number of rewarding approaches. However, it considerably embraces recognition technique as opposed to rewarding systems. Recognition is initiated by allowing employees to give comments online. Chairman Club helps to identify some individuals who are rewarded after recognizing their great contribution towards the overall performance of the company. Moreover, Delta Air L ine continues to show competent leadership through the websites that are chiefly designed for monitoring performance of various departments. For instance, customer service department is provided with operation manuals where it records all data concerning customers. This helps in keeping track and controlling operations at Delta Air Lines. List of References Beardwell, J Claydon, T 2007, Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach, Prentice Hall, Harlow. Bratton, J Gold, J 2007, Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Palgrave, Basingstoke. Creswell, J 1998, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, Sage, California. Goleman, D 1998, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bloomsbury, London. Legge, K 1998, Is HRM ethical? Can HRM be ethical? Sage, London. Mintzberg, H, Simons, R Basu, K 2002, â€Å"Beyond Selfishness†, Sloan Management Review, Issue 2, no. 1. Nohria, N, Groysberg, B Eling, L 2008, â€Å"Employee Motivation: A po werful new model†, Harvard Business Review, Issue 4, no. 6. Storey, J 2001, Human Resource Management; A Critical Text, Thomson Learning, Padstow. Storey, J 2007, Human Resource Management: A critical text, Thomson Learning, Padstow. Winstanley, D Woodall, J 2000, Ethical issues in contemporary human resource management, Palgrave, Mendham. Woods, S West, M 2010, Organizational Culture, Climate and Change, Cengage, New York.

Bauhaus Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Bauhaus - Research Paper Example Bauhaus was a significant school of art started in the modern time. The school had a significant influence in Europe and the United States and even beyond. The designer wanted to rejuvenate the lost glory in the field of art. Furthermore, Walter wanted to show the relationship between society and technology that was advancing at a higher rate. It is the art and craft movement that that shaped the idea of Walter because he wanted to draw a divide between fine arts and applied arts so as to help in bridging the gap between innovation and manufacturing. Further to the above, the key driver towards the creation of Bauhaus was Walter’s fear that the work of art would die and lose its meaning in the society. In addition, in the construction of the Bauhaus, most of the old ways of creation of art was abandoned but it encouraged the curiosity in the pursuit of knowledge. That was the only way that they could maintain the glory of the work of art in the society. The excellent work of B auhaus targeted the upcoming artist I the 20th century. Bauhaus placed a lot of emphasis on the on the work of experimentation. For that case, therefore, testing and solving of the problem-solving bridging the gap between the fine art and the visual and being considered as a standard entity. Furthermore, the philosophical teaching of the teachers at Bauhaus-influenced the younger generation and even shaped their ideas. The book addresses the major reasons as to why the building existed and the events that followed the inception of the idea.

Abortion Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abortion Issue - Essay Example Regarding the abortion dilemma, here we should adhere to the point that killing a person is a bad action, probably the worst thing to do, according to Kantian Deontology. If a fetus is a person, killing it through abortion beyond dispute is an immoral action, because it has intrinsically immoral roots. Moreover, taking into consideration the fact that a fetus is a person that can’t protect itself and completely depends on another human being, abortion appears to be an extremely atrocious kind of murder. According to Kant, such act as murder shouldn’t be committed under any circumstances ever, because it violates any rules of morality and doing it is unfair towards another person; especially if this person is a weaker vessel which a fetus is. Mill’s position on the matter of abortion is less strict and flexible than the Kantian one. Mill’s Utilitarian doctrine is based on the Greatest Happiness Principle, which claims that people should correlate their acti ons and decisions with their own utility; they should also don’t make any harm to other people, trying to reduce the overall quantity of unhappiness in the world. The fact that a fetus is a person and has a right to live seems to make the resolution of the abortion issue similar to the Kantian one because killing a person can’t bring much happiness to normal people. If to pay closer attention to different circumstances that make women bent on abortion, it turns out that in some cases abortion can be a moral resolution of a case.

Public Sector Productivity

Public Sector Productivity CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Public sector productivity is important to the performance of a country. Thornhill (2006) identifies three main reasons why public sector productivity is crucial. First, the public sector is a major employer of labour. Second, the public sector is a major provider of services particularly business and social services. Third, the public sector is a consumer of tax resources. To him, changes in the public sector productivity may have significant implications on the economy. Public sector productivity involves efficiency and outputs as well as effectiveness and outcome (Pritchard 2003, Tolentino 2004). In Kalliola’s formulation (2003), at least two points illustrate the issues that make the whole question of public sector productivity a highly contentious one in many countries. One is whether or not citizens are being provided with what they need. The other question is on how the services concerned (public servants) make better use of the resources at their disposal. While factors such as aging population and increasing healthcare and pension costs add to budgeting pressure, citizens are demanding that governments should be made accountable for what they achieve with the taxpayers’ money (Curristine et.al: 2007). The issue of productivity and performance enhancement in the public sector is nothing new, scholars and practitioners have worked for decades to identify what makes governance productive and effective. Over the years while there have been a variety of studies concerning government worker motivation and productivity, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on state workers’ perceptions about what factors affects their productivity . With more than five (5) million workers employed by state governments, any improvement in state workplace productivity could have significant financial and service impact for society. Workforce productivity remains a primary element for success in most organizations, including those in government. Knowing what factors influence productivity is a prerequisite to improving performance and at the same time contain expenditure growth (Haenisch 2012). In fact, the use of the concept of productivity has been intermingled with the concept of performance (Jackson, 1999; Stainer and Stainer, 2000). Researchers have identified each concept in different ways. Productivity of the workers’ in the public sector is a function of many factors ranging from top management support, committed personnel at all levels, performance measurement system, employee training, reward structures, community involvement and feedback to correction of budget-management decisions. It is thus important to build up capacities for productivity improvement (Holzer and Seok-Hwan, 2004) Public sector workers have been viewed to be less productive because about 39% of them are not fully engaged in their jobs, about 54% of them are not satisfied with their jobs, while about 39% of them are somewhat or very likely to make a concerted effort to find a new job with another employer in the coming year. (Bond and Galinsky 2006). While some scholars have argued that the solutions to the challenges faced in the Nigerian public service is by decentralization of political power and the responsibilities of sub-national government, others argue that appropriate human resource management practices and increasing the scale of operations will improve efficiency among government workers. On the basis of this therefore, this study aims at investigating issues pertaining to maximum productivity in the public sector will be achieved. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM There is significant evidence that productivity advancement in government organizations has not kept pace with the increase found in the private sector (Haenisch: 2012), Nigeria today is regarded as one of the most corrupt nations in the world and to this effect, there have been several civil service reforms which each reform has adjusted or changed several things in the previous reform. The last civil service reform was the Obasanjo Civil Service Renewal Program, 1999-2001. One of the crucial challenges faced by the Obasanjo administration on assuming office on 29th May, 1999 was the issue of how to address the crisis in the public sector (Olaopa, 2008). Aspects of the crisis identified were inefficiency in the delivery of social services (Olaopa, 2008). Years after these reforms, there seem to be no improvement in the productiveness in the Nigerian public service. It is however crucial to note that these negative characteristics are still very much rampant in the present Nigerian public sector. These lapses have led to weakening of public institutions, distrust of government by citizens, collapse of infrastructures and a development of a sense of despair amongst the Nigerian peoples Moreover, there is significant evidence that productivity advancement in government organizations has not kept pace with the increase found in the private sector and a number of factors still limit the success of most attempts to measure or improve productivity (Killefer and Mendonca, 2006). It is imperative to find out those factors that still limit productivity of Nigeria’s public sector. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the relationship between workers’ productivity and public service effectiveness? How effective are the facilities put in place to enhance productivity in the public sector? How effective are the policies put in place to enhance productivity in the public sector? What are the factors responsible for low productivity in the Nigerian public service? How can productivity be enhanced in the Nigerian public service? 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY At the end of this research, the following will be achieved; To examine the relationship between productivity and public service effectiveness To examine the effectiveness of the facilities put in place to enhance workers’ productivity in the public sector. To examine the effectiveness of the policies put in place to enhance workers’ productivity in the public sector. To examine the factors responsible for low productivity in the Nigerian public sector To know how productivity can be enhanced in the Nigerian public service. 1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS H1: There is no relationship between workers’ productivity and public service effectiveness H2: The facilities put in place to enhance productivity in the public sector are not effective. H3: The policies put in place to enhance productivity in the public sector are not effective. H4: There are no factors responsible for low productivity in the Nigerian public service. H5: Productivity cannot be enhanced in the Nigerian public service. 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This research work is significant in that the reason why the Nigerian public service was established will be examined, if the public sector is achieving reasons why it was established, how effective has it been, to what extent it had achieved its purpose and to what extent it is relevant. Also, there have been relatively few researches effectiveness and productivity in the Nigerian Civil Service. What this research attempts to do is to focus on how productive the public sector is and bring it to the enlightenment of the general public The significance of this study is to add to general knowledge on the relationship between workers’ productivity and public service effectiveness in Nigeria. This research is also significant in that it can serve as a source of secondary research for other scholars who will be researching on aspects relating to public service effectiveness and workers’ productivity. 1.7 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY The scope of this study is to examine the level of productivity of workers in the public sector. This helps to identify the extent to which workers in the public sector carry out their duties and how well they value their positions. The research is limited to the Oyo State Ministry of Information in the fourth republic specifically between 1999 and 2013. And the limitation of this study is seen in that Public sector productivity cannot be quantified. 1.8 OUTLINE OF THE STUDY Chapter One: This chapter is the introduction to the Study of Worker’s Productivity and Public Service Effectiveness. It highlights the research questions and objectives. Chapter Two: This chapter is the Literature Review and Theoretical Framework. It carries the definition of terms; the meaning and definition of Productivity, the meaning and definition of Public Service and also the meaning and definition of effectiveness. It also includes reviewing works done by other scholars and theoretical framework. Chapter Three: This chapter emphasizes on the historical development of the Nigerian public sector and its various reforms. Chapter Four: This chapter is the Presentation and Analysis of data. It also tests the various hypothesis of the research and discusses the research findings. Chapter Five: This chapter is the summary, recommendations and conclusion of the work. It summarizes the entire findings of this research. 1.9 REFERENCES Curristine, Lonti, Joumard, (2007), Improving Public Sector Efficiency: Challenges and Opportunities: OECD Journal on Budgeting Volume 7, No. 1 (OECD 2007) Gberevbie, D. et.al (2009), â€Å"Staff Indiscipline and Productivity in the Public Sector in Nigeria†, An International Multi-Disciplinary Journal, Ethiopia Vol. 3 (4), Haenisch, J.P. (2012), Factors Affecting Productivity of Government Workers: Kaplan University Wyoming, USA Holzer, M. and Seok-Hwan, L. (2004), â€Å"Mastering Public Productivity and Performance Improvement from a Productive Management Perspective† in Holzer, M. and Seok-Hwan, L. (Eds.) Public Productivity Handbook, 2nd ed,. New York NY: Marcel Dekker, Jackson, P.M (1999), â€Å"Productivity and performance of Public Sector Organizations†, International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 19, No. 7/8 pp. 754-56 Mantu, S.N. (1998), Evolution of Nigerian Civil Service; The 1988 Reforms, Zaria; Gaskiya Corporation Ltd. Ogunrotifa, A.B. (2012), ‘Federal Civil Service Reforms in Nigeria: A Case of Democratic Centralism†, Radix International Journal of Research in Social Science Vol. 1, Issue 10 (October 2012) Okunade, A. (1987), Public Administration in Nigeria, Ibadan: Center for External Studies, University of Ibadan. Olaopa, T. (2008), Theory and Practice of Public Administration and Civil Service Reforms in Nigeria, Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited Olusanya, G.O. (1975), â€Å"The Evolution of the Nigerian Civil Service- 1861-1960: The Problems of Nigerianisation†, University of Lagos Humanities Monograph Series, No.2. Stainer, A and Stainer, L (2000), â€Å"Performance in Public Sector a Total Productivity Approach†, International Journal of Business Performance Management, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp: 263-75 Thornhill, D. (2006), â€Å"Productivity Attainment in a Diverse Public Sector† paper presented at the Public Seminar on Promoting Productivity in a Diverse Public Sector, Dublin, 21st April Wey, S.O. (1971), â€Å"The Structure and Organization of the Public Service†, Lagos: Cabinet Office February.

The Traditional Medicine of China :: China Chinese Culture Medicine Health Essays

The Traditional Medicine of China Traditional medicine of China has a long historical and cultural background dating back about 2500 years. The ancient Chinese people were able to reach a level of social stability that included the ability to treat disease of emotional, physical, and spiritual origins. Although a belief in spirits as the cause of disease has remained in China even to the present day, the view that the body obeyed a natural order struck a chord in the intellectual elite of ancient China. It was this elite class that refined and developed these ideas over many centuries.(1) The ideas that the ancient Chinese had about the organs of the body, and their functions, as well as the causes and development of disease, show large differences when compared with Western medicine.(2) The Chinese do not think of theory, as we do in the West, as needing to be proven to reach the highest degree of truth. A Chinese doctor can look at the kidney as a machine and think of it as a reflection of universe.(2) He can apply two different disease classification systems, cold damage or warm damage where he feels it is appropriate, without being deterred by contradictions between the two.(3) One (Western) method of gaining knowledge is analysis. It is the method of breaking things into component parts to understand the whole. This method has been applied in China, but not to the same level as in the West. Analysis is one of the important features of all western modern science and technology. In fact, the analytical approach is the basis of western medicine, and it is part of the Western mindset.(4) Analysis is not as important to Chinese medicine as in the West. The ancient Chinese did use analysis in their investigation of the human body, but to a lesser degree. Analysis provided some important insights into the workings of the human body. The ancient Chinese knew, for example, that the stomach and intestines were organs of digestion, and that the lung drew air from the environment.(5) The origins of China's medical knowledge is not certain. They observed phenomenon, and identified relationships and patterns. They compared whole phenomena in the body, and watched how they related to each other.(6) This is shown by "qi,'' an entity that Westerners find hard to conceptualize, since it does not fit any known scientific category.(7) Qi is thought to be the universal energy that runs everything, right down to the