Heart of Darkness Plot Overview - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 741 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/06/14 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Heart of Darkness Essay Did you like this example? I selected this book for a number of reasons. The first reason is that you the teacher suggested it and you suggested the last book I read for your class. So, I thought that since you had suggested this book that this would be a hit. I also love controversy and the fact that this book has been deemed racist by some made me want to see if it actually were that. Id also like to see if the fact that people can get past it being a racist book because of its value to American Literature. The main story of the book is about a narrated journey that takes place on the Congo River leading into the Congo Free State in the heart of Africa. The narrator Charles Marlow tells the story about his friends on a boat on the River Thames. On this journey, other famous British explorers on remembered from their various voyages that took place on the same path as the characters in the story. The narrator reminisces these voyages and the explorers as sacred and important and theyre legendary people. These stories give the narrator a sense of King and Country so-to-speak as in these explorers promoted the growth and knowledge of Great Britain. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Heart of Darkness: Plot Overview" essay for you Create order Also, one of the main points is that Marlow believes that civilizing and enlightening the African people and their culture is a fruitless effort. Because, they already have their own culture and effective civilization that they dont need to interfere. However, Marlow sees the relationship between him and the Africans, but at the same time he says that the relationship is very distant. This is a point where you could argue that Marlow is either racist or not. Im inclined to believe that he isnt racist, but just that hers a realist. The fact of the matter is that most African culture is savage given that they have tribes and that theyre uncivilized living in villages rather than industrialized cities. It could be argued that this is the same thing that happened to the Native Americans in the U.S. and that we just drove them out and or made them change their very being. As a result, to this journey Marlow is forced to confront what is happening around him to these African people. He views the people as intellectual subordinates to the British, but this also reminds him of when Rome colonized Great Britain and how the Romans viewed the British before the colonization as savages. He starts to compare his crew to a lesser evolved European from that time and how the differences arent that great as he previously thought. At the Inner Station Marlow starts to realize the symbolism of everything he sees around himself. Kurtz is believed to be a magical being by the natives on account of the guns he has and the power they represent. The natives regard these weapons as lightning bolts rather than guns. Another instance in where symbolism and words are interpreted in more than one way, is that Kurtz has a mistress, but the manager and the Russian arent willing to name her that. This label represents that a sexual relationship between a black woman and a white man and this doesnt sit well with them. The story comes to a social struggle between the men. They deem Kurtz to be mad because he doesnt live the way a European should with typical European morals. Marlow sees himself as similar to Kurtz and is worried about his own demise in light of him following in Kurtzrs footsteps. So, he gathers that betraying Kurtz would effectively betray himself because of how similar they are at this time. Also, the book sheds some light on how Kurtz while straying away from typical European culture and social standards that he still practices some and cannot let go from them. A prime example of this is his mistress who has a lavish lifestyle and is a symbol of how European women are treated. The ending happens when the steamer breaks down on the boat and they have to stop for repairs. In this downtime Kurtz approaches Marlow and tells him death is approaching him and that hers ready. The next day Kurtz dies and this leaves Marlow sad because he realizes he will never get his message across like Kurtz did. Marlow returns to Brussels after having a brief brush with death from his illness.

The Energy Star Certification On Home Prices - 1742 Words

Despite the well documented benefits of above code certification programs like the ENERGY STAR ® Certified New Homes Program, the question remains for many home builders and buyers of how these benefits impact property value. This report provides statistical analysis to quantify the impact of ENERGY STAR Certification on home prices in the state of Maryland between 2010 and 2016. A regression model was used to isolate the impact of the ENERGY STAR Certification on the home value and control for home characteristics. ENERGY STAR Certified homes were found to have a statistically significant price premium ranging from 2.1% to 5.2% when compared to non-certified homes. These results are based on a sample of 2,723 ENERGY STAR homes taken from†¦show more content†¦It also represents an opportunity. As energy and environmental awareness continues to grow, consumers are recognizing residential energy efficiency as an easy, low cost way to optimize energy use, financial resources, and occupancy comfort while reducing their environmental impacts. The Shelton Group’s Energy Pulse 2013 Report found 81% of consumers surveyed stated that energy efficiency would impact their home purchasing decision . Echoing these findings, a recent 2014 report by McGraw Hill Construction surveyed builders and found 73% of single family home builders and 68% of multifamily builders agree that customers are willing to pay more for a green home. In addition to this willingness to pay, 47% of single family builders and 59% of multifamily builders found green homes to be more marketable. This number significantly increases to 65% for firms that construct more than 30% green projects (McGraw Hill Construction, 2014) . Building certification programs, like the ENERGY STAR ® Certified New Homes Progr am, have been created in response to the consumer demand for more comfortable and efficient buildings. Despite the growing popularity and the benefits of these programs, adoption of above code certification have been dampened by the lack of empirical evidence and the quantification of a price premium associated with these certifications. This paper will address this problem and quantify the price premium of ENERGY STAR ®

Ethical Management Processes in an International Company

Ethical Management Processes in an International Company Introduction There are five things that can be done by the international business and its managers to ensure that ethical issues are calculated into the organizations business decisions. Those five are as follows: (1) hiring and promotion is accomplished within a framework of personal ethics; (2) the organizational culture is constructed with value placed on behavior that is ethical; (3) the organization ensure that leaders not only speak of ethical behavior but follow through in their actions as well; (4) decision-making processes in the organization make the requirement that the ethical aspect of business decisions are considered; and (5) moral courage is developed. (Ethics in International Business, nd) I. Ethical Behavior It is only possible to enable ethical behavior through construction of an organizational culture that places a high value on ethical behavior. The first step in ensuring ethical behavior in the organization is a written code of ethics or formal statement setting out what the organization considers to be ethical practices that should be followed. Secondly, the code of ethics must be more than just a statement of words on paper but must become the living creed of the organization in all that it does. Lastly, the organizational culture must be such that not only values ethical behavior but also that rewards its employees for ethical behavior and likewise deals out punitive rewards for thoseShow MoreRelatedThe Effect Of Professional Ethics788 Words   |  4 Pagespublic trust. Ethical requirements influence the management behavior and decision-making. The financial scandal of Enron and Arthur Anderson demonstrates the failure of fundamental ethical framework such as off-balance sheet tr ansactions, misrepresentation of financial statements, inaccurate disclosure, manipulations with earnings, etc. The confronted accounting profession and concern for ethics in businesses forced regulators to revise the conceptual framework of the accounting processes. The professionalRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility : Framing Csr Within A System Of Global Ethics1470 Words   |  6 Pagesindependent field of study that engages with many of humanities most pressing ethical questions. One of the most important subsets of this field of study is arguably how the role of international corporations will fit into the process of addressing many of the planet’s most pressing issues over the coming generations. The globalization trend has led to the ability for international corporations to influence the international relations of nations on a scale never before imagined. For example, if WalmartRead MoreEffective Management of Human Resources Essay1023 Words   |  5 Pagesrecognized effective management of human resources internationally as a major determinant of success or failure in international business (Tung, 1984; Dowling, 1999). A definite link exists between an organization’s strategic human resource management and its busi ness success or failure (Hays, 1971; Tayeb, 2005). Businesses have learned success often depends on forming strategic alliances but successful managing of these alliances is difficult due to differences in the company and country culturesRead MoreHyundai Corporate Culture : Hyundai1038 Words   |  5 Pagesvalue-based company; it reinforces a particular set of values rather than a particular set of rules because rules cannot be applied to every situation so say that (flexibility is the key). They promote a customer-driven corporate culture by providing the best qualities and services with all value centered on their customers. †¢ any organization is as ethical as its leader, and how he encourages his followers to be, so at Hyundai motor company we found that their leader is an â€Å"ethical† leader. HeRead MoreEnron and Worldcom Case Study1225 Words   |  5 PagesWorldCom. Both the firms are demised due to the ethical lapses. These ethical lapses come into existence when managements of the firm, uses unethical practices to accomplish the goals of the firm. Maintaining financial and accounting standards in the business practices are necessary. The profession of accounting has become a mockery due to the accounting scandals that took place all over the world in the last decade (Smith amp; Smith, 2003). The major companies involved in it are Enron, WorldCom, etc. Read MoreWhy Scrap Is Costly?1276 Words   |  6 PagesProblem Statement Companies have scrap. This is one of the areas that can be very difficult to manage and in many ways can be an area that is very hard to understand. Scrap can make the difference between a companies’ ability to meet its overall financial goal for each quarter or a shortcoming that prevents this achievement. Since scrap costs can be at the root of the problem for losses in revenues, it is important to determine how much profit is being placed in the hopper. Not only the ideaRead MoreOperations Management of Nokia1593 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction ‡ Pijush Kumer Ghosh (EX020016) Operations Management Decisions ‡ Ashfaq  ²Us Saleheen (EX020012) Quality Management Supply Chain Management ‡ Md. Mofizul Islam (Ex020015) Location Design, Layout Design, Scheduling Inventory Management ‡ Md. Firoz Uddin (EX020016) Term used to describe all the activities managers do to help their firms create goods and service € Converting resources into goods and services € Product creation, development, production, distributionRead MoreEthics During Change Essay1178 Words   |  5 PagesPhoenix Introduction Organizational change is when companies are undergoing or have undergone a transformation to some degree. While implementing change into a business environment, many issues arise that test ethics and morals alike. In today’s world, organizations must introduce change in their business in order to advance and compete with the fast moving business world around that surrounds us. Companies must carefully introduce changes while at the same time considering theRead MoreCode of Conduct for Xeon Technologies Essay1307 Words   |  6 PagesThe code of conduct proposed for Xeon Technologies is an important management tool that each organization requires to enable it to run its operations smoothly and in compliance with FSG and other relevant laws. Xeon, like many other organizations, requires a code of conduct to improve its relations with other organizations, keep its management in check, and prohibit inappropriate behavior that may come from its employees. The code proposed f or Xeon contains four main provisions: ethics, health andRead MoreTesla Motors, Inc.1487 Words   |  6 Pagescould change the automotive industry and the way how people travel every day, while providing luxury, eco-friendly and sustainable solution to decrease the impact of transportation on the environment. Tesla Roadster, the very first product of the company, released in 2008 was designed as electric, zero emission but luxury sports car that with great performance of 0-100 [km/h] in 3.7 seconds and range of 394km on a single electric charge (Tesla Motors Inc., 2014). Since then, Tesla Motors continues

Mother-Daughter Communication in Amy Tans The Joy Luck...

Mother-Daughter Communication in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club Of the many stories involving the many characters of The Joy Luck Club, I believe the central theme connecting them all is the inability of the mothers and their daughters to communicate effectively. The mothers all have stories of past struggles and hard times yet do not believe their daughters truly appreciate this fact. The mothers of the story all want their daughters to never have to go through the struggles they themselves had to go through, yet they are disappointed when their daughters grow up and do not exhibit the respect or strength of their mothers. This is the ironic paradox of the story. The Chinese mothers came to the United†¦show more content†¦In short, they wanted their daughters to avoid the sorrow and tribulations they had themselves experienced in life. If this was the only thing they wished for their daughters, it would not be difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, the wishes of the mothers had a catch to it. That catch was that they wanted their daughters to exhibit the wisdom, strength, and respect that they themselves possessed. Unfortunately, this is the paradox or catch-22 of the story. The Chinese mothers wanted the daughters to never experience the pain they had experienced themselves. But to gain the enormous strength and wisdom of life they wanted the daughters to have, the daughters would have to go through the same trials and tribulations that their mothers had. For how could you expect a child to have the same strength and wisdom about life if that child did not experience the same amount of struggle and pain? The Chinese mothers in effect wanted it both ways. They wanted their daughters to become American in many ways but yet retain some important Chinese traits. Unfortunately, their children became more American than they had wished. This is also best exemplified by the short story before the main one begins. It reads, Now the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her the single swanShow MoreRelatedAmy Tans Short Story Analysis986 Words   |  4 Pagespages of the book so far. A great deal of information is available about Amy Tan’s personal and professional lives. Perhaps this is because her writing is clearly so overlaid with biography and autobiography. It might also be because her stories have so touched the hearts of her readers. And it might be because her enormous literary popularity coincides with the tremendous growth of the internet as a means of instant communication. Information about her seems to have popped up daily on many differentRead MoreAmy Tan Overcoming Faulty Relationships and Self Identity Essay1514 Words   |  7 PagesAmy Tan struggled with many issues caused by her dual cultures, which she expressed thoroughly in her works. Daisy and John Tan were post war immigrants and the parents of Amy Tan (Amy Tan). Tan was given the Chinese name An-Mei, which stands for blessings from America (McCarthy). To them she was the blessing that they had received after their own struggles. Tan’s father came to America after WWII to be come a minister (Amy Tan). Even though it seemed like Tan’s life was running smoothly tragedy struckRead More Comparing Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club and The Woman Warrior Essay1866 Words   |  8 PagesComparing The Joy Luck Club and The Woman Warrior  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tans immensely popular novel, The Joy Luck Club explores the issues faced by first and second generation Chinese immigrants, particularly mothers and daughters. Although Tans book is a work of fiction, many of the struggles it describes are echoed in Maxine Hong Kingstons autobiographical work, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. The pairs of mothers and daughters in both of these books find themselves separatedRead More Mother-daughter Relations and Clash of Cultures in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club2470 Words   |  10 Pages     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Amy Tan is an American Born Chinese, daughter of immigrants, and her family shares many features with the families depicted in her novels. Tans novels offer some glimpses of life in China while developing the themes of mother-daughter relations, cultural adaptation and women with a past.   Tan’s novels share many themes and elements, but this paper will focus mainly on two episodes of the novel The Joy Luck Club: The Joy Luck Club and Waiting Between the Trees; and will make referencesRead MoreAmy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1023 Words   |  5 Pagesand other scholars’ articles, a diasporic and often considered as postcolonial discourses- Amy Tan’s debut novel The Joy Luck Club comes to my mind. Amy Tan, as one of the renowned contemporary Chinese American writers, and also as one of the daughters of the immigrants herself, writes several novels revealing situations and reflecting problems faced by the Chinese diaspora in America. Although The Joy Luck Club has been published for more than two decades, the stories inside are still going on in ChineseRead MoreAnalysis Of Amy Tan s The Joy Luck Club1637 Words   |  7 Pagesrelationships, we have our struggles, our misunderstandings, and our miscommunications. We are very different people, but also very similar at the same time† (Goreski). Amy Tan, an author of numerous novels, understands the battle of relationships, especially between culturally diverse mothers and daughters. In one of Tan’s novels, The Joy Luck Club, she writes to get the point across of how difficult it is for contrasting cultures to communicate with one another, â€Å"...out of an intense concern with the individualRead MoreTheme Of Sexism In The Joy Luck Club779 Words   |  4 Pages In her 1989 novel, The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan hones into the narratives of four Chinese American immigrant families living in San Francisco. The novel is structured into four distinct, anecdotal sections: two dedicated to mothers and two dedicated to daughters. Tan’s approach to structure allows the interlocking stories between mother and daughter to place emphasis on the issue of sexism. The purpose of Tan’s novel is to highlight that, even though American and Chinese societies drastically differRead MoreThe Joy Luck Club2008 Words   |  9 PagesPetrignani The Joy Luck Club Amy Tans novel The Joy Luck Club is a story of a monthly mah-jong gathering whose members consists of four Chinese mothers with American-born daughters. The novel is narrated by the four mothers and their daughters. At these meetings, the mothers share their concern of the growing rift between their daughters and Chinese customs. Each mother shares her story of her life in China and each daughter tells her story about her life in America. In The Joy Luck Club, the consistentRead More Chinese Culture vs. American Culture in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club692 Words   |  3 PagesChinese Culture vs. American Culture in Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club An authors cultural background can play a large part in the authors writing. Amy Tan, a Chinese-American woman, uses the cultural values of Chinese women in American culture in her novel, The Joy Luck Club. These cultural values shape the outcome of The Joy Luck Club. The two cultural value systems create conflict between the characters. In The Joy Luck Club, the chapter Waiting Between the Trees illustrates major concernsRead MoreAmy Tan Talks About The Clash Between Traditional And Contemporary Values1719 Words   |  7 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Two Kinds,† Amy Tan talks about the clash between traditional and contemporary values. The Chinese culture wants everything to be a certain way, but Tan grow up in around American culture and she was more likely to have her own thoughts rather than be an obedient daughter. This essay illustrates the procedure of character development of the second-generation Chinese immigrant daughters who experience differences between Chinese culture and American culture, such as language, culture

An Unforgettable Experience. Free Essays

The guy who I really adored was Dustin Wong. He was the most handsome guy in the school. I was attracted to him since the first time my eyes locked into his eyes. We will write a custom essay sample on An Unforgettable Experience. or any similar topic only for you Order Now His sparkling green eyes always gave an aura of intelligence. Every time he smiled it made my heart melt like a hot knife cutting through butter. The only one who knew about this feeling of mine was my best friend, Ida. She was a very encouraging friend of me. She even helped me hooked up with Dustin. I was the girl who only focused on my studies and my social life was not exciting. Dustin, on the other hand, was one of the top guys in the girls’ list who was a must-go-date with. His popularity started when he scored a lot of baskets for his basketball team. But most importantly, he was the Captain of the Tiger basketball team. One day, the Tiger Team had a big game with Leopard Team. He played brilliantly with great jump, shots, dunks and assists. His teammates also played their hearts out to win the game. Just two minutes before the game ended, they were trailing 90-96. They managed to force three turnovers, two steals and scored five baskets. Three shots were made by Dustin. Finally, our Tiger Team won by 101-99. Ida and I were very excited and we screamed our lungs out for the victory. Dustin then took the microphone from the announcer. He said in front of hundreds of people that before he left high school, he wanted to tell everyone a secret. He liked someone, a girl. Nobody knew and not even his own friend. Suddenly, the stadium became quiet as all the girls wished that they were the chosen one. Then he said, â€Å"Amanda Ann, I do really like you,† â€Å"What? Did he just mention my name? I asked Ida. I was shocked and felt like fainting at that moment. I could not believe it. It was just like a dream came true. I suddenly dreamed that I was wearing a Cinderella gown and hearing the ringing of bells. Then, everybody in the stadium was staring at me. He then ran towards me and told me that he liked me a lot since the first day I sat foot in this school. I became dumbfounded and my face turned red as all girls w ere very envious of me. Even though this incident had happened a week ago, it was still fresh in my mind. How to cite An Unforgettable Experience., Essay examples

Operations Management in Starbucks Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Operations Management in Starbucks. Answer: Introduction Starbucks Coffee is based in Seattle, Washington. The coffee chain has more than 20,00O stores across globe and target customers with high disposable income in major cities of the world. Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks. The products of the organization include whole bean coffees, freshly brewed coffees, premium teas, pastries and confectionaries, Starbucks mugs and CDS. The organization follows differentiation strategy and premium pricing strategy. Operations play a strategic role in Starbucks because transformed resources of the organization can be converted to products and services which will add value to the customers. The raw materials that are coffee beans from suppliers across the globe and human resources of the organization are input resources and the operation management converts these input resources to the output, that are products and services of Starbucks which include coffee, snacks, coffee-mugs etc and services to customers latte (starbucks.in 2017).The operatio n management process includes four steps- steering of operational processes, designing of processes, products and services, delivering, planning and controlling of existing operations and developing and improving operational capabilities. The operations management team of Starbucks can be linked with core and supporting functional units of the organization like technical function, marketing function, product and service development, accounting and finance function , human resource function and Information Systems function. In the United Kingdom, Starbucks leverage the opportunity of high purchasing power of customers who are willing to pay 3 for a cappuccino or mocha (starbucks.in 2017). Discussion: Customers of Starbucks, Operational objectives The customers of Starbucks coffee can be categorized into internal and external customers. The internal customers of the organization are the employees of the organization which include the Board of Directors and the supervisors, the team members, the store manager and the front-line executives of the organization. Since Starbucks is a retain organization, internal customers can be of two types- employees who work at the back office of the organization-the employees of functional units like the marketing team, operations team, sales team and finance team and employees at front end in the retail stores who are in direct contact with the customers. Communication and information flow will include flow of information from the Board of Directors to front line employees as well as feedback from customers should flow from front-line executives in store to the managers(Heizer 2016). The external customers of the Starbucks organization are the public who visit the retail stores of Starbucks in different countries across the globe. Teens, young adults in the age group of 18-24, Adults in the age group of 25-40 are main customers of Starbucks. These customers have huge disposable income and visit the coffee stores for business meeting, hanging out with friends and for relaxation with a cup of coffee. The customers of Starbucks also include the suppliers of coffee across the globe (Walker et al. 2014). The operation objectives of Starbucks in the United Kingdom contribute substantially to the Triple Bottom Line of the business like People, Planet and Profit. Starbucks engage in CSR activities among community members and create value for Stakeholders by ensuring all raw-materials are sourced ethically, environmental sustainability is taken into account and Starbucks connect members of its community with CSR activities like promoting entrepreneurship among youth. The five operational performance objectives of Starbuck Coffee are providing goods and services of premium quality to customers, fast and efficient service delivery(speed advantage), deliver the service promise( dependability advantage), embrace changes and achieve flexibility, and to achieve cost advantage while sourcing and manufacturing. As stated by Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston (2013), the order-winning factors are the prime reasons because of which customers of Starbucks purchase the coffee and avail services of th e organization. These competitive factors are high quality, fast delivery, innovative products and services, wide range of differentiated and customized products and reliable services Qualifying factors in operations management are and operations management of Starbucks should always aim to raise the performance of the firm above the qualifying level. The operational processes in Starbucks Design of goods and services Starbucks has adopted differentiation and premium pricing as the generic strategy of the organization and thus design of goods and services are highly customized, focus is often on addressing individual needs of customers who visit stores of the caf, operational management ensures premium design of products for Starbucks, often manufacturers are involved in the design of products like coffee-mugs, the high-end brand image of the organization is reflected in the operational activities at store, for instance, name of customers are written on coffee mugs to incorporate tailor-made services(Hill and Hill 2012). Quality Management Quality Management is a process that involves quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. The sourcing of coffee beans from farmers across the globe is in compliance with the standards of Starbucks Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAF) and environmental sustainability and ethical sourcing is taken into account while sourcing the raw materials at Starbucks (Schultz 2012). Location Strategy Starbucks target upscale consumers in major cities and towns across the globe. The location strategy adopted by Starbucks ensures the availability of large section of middle and upper class populations with high disposable income. In some places, Starbucks adopts the strategic clustering of cafes with the aim to gain market share and to keep competitors at bay. Starbucks also adapts and embrace change in location strategy. For instance, in the United Kingdom the organization has planned to open drive-through stores because customers prefer roadside cafes (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnston 2013). Layout Design Strategy Layout design is important in Operations management to make the production process more effective and to meet the needs of employees. Starbucks caf clearly reflects the culture of the organization and ambiance of the cafs is relaxing and amiable. The innovative design of the cafes across the globe ensures that the efficiency of workflow is maximized. Space utilization is not maximized in store design and layout process. Enough leg space and proper gap between tables and chairs ensure that experience of customers visiting the store is of premium quality. This operational strategy is in alignment with the generic strategy of Starbucks that is differentiation strategy for premium customers (Preiss 2012). Job Design and Human Resources The culture and vision of the organization are aligned in all areas of business process. The human resource management ensures that strategies adopted by the organization are in alignment with the culture and vision of Starbucks. Functional teams are employed and it is ensured that there is proper performance management system for employees .Starbucks caf ensures that during recruitment and selection process, employees are hired whose internal values are in alignment with the culture and values of organization (Sodhi 2015). Performance appraisal, rewards, recognition, compensation, bonus, pay hikes etc are effectively designed to retain employees. An effective code of conduct is designed for front line executives of Starbucks who are in direct contact with customers and they are trained well so that they can deliver premium service to customers (Lewis and Brown 2012). Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management involves flow of information, materials and finances from the point of origin to the point of consumption. The supply chain management can increase speed and efficiency of an organization by substantially increasing revenue, decreasing cost and thus impacting the bottom-line of an organization. The coffee beans of Starbucks are usually sourced from farmers of developing countries. There is stable flow of supply and to optimize the process of supply, diversification of suppliers is the strategy followed by Starbucks. For selection and prioritizing suppliers across the globe, a special program is used in the operational management of Starbucks; this program is Coffee and Farmer Equity Program.The supply chain management takes into consideration the people and planet concept of the Triple Bottom Line and thus the Starbucks focuses on sustainability factors. Efficiency of Supply Chain Management is integrated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ethical sourcing (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and Schnberger 2016). Process and Capacity Design As stated by (Gupta and Starr 2014), Production capacity must be planned by an organization to meet the changing demand of its products. Starbucks ensures that the capacity of the process is designed in a way so that fluctuation in demand can be met. Demand during peak hours are met by adjustment of personnel, this adjustment is done by effective management of manpower in business process of Starbucks. Cost-effectiveness and cost advantage is obtained by efficiency of business process and optimum utilization of capacity. The process strategy of Starbucks ensures that staffs are adequately trained to serve customized needs of customers and specialized equipment like customized blenders and coffee machines are used in the store Inventory Management As stated by Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra (2013), Inventory Management is a component of Supply Chain Management that supervises the flow of goods from manufacturers to warehouses and then to the point-of-sale. In Starbucks, the office automation and manual management ensures effective management of inventory in Starbucks. Use of techniques like Just-In Time Management and Material Requirements Planning are used to manage optimum inventory of Starbucks. Just-In-Time technology reduces waste related to excess inventory and overproduction by receiving goods only when it is required in the production process. The management of inventory is linked with other facilities like the Supply Chain. The stock-out is minimized in the organization and in the hubs of supply chain, automation and software tools are used. Continuous supply of coffee beans is ensured in Starbucks and adequate supply is ensured through proper monitoring and use of modern tools and software Scheduling In a production or manufacturing process, scheduling is used to arrange, control and optimize workloads. Flexible scheduling is the facility in Starbucks that can be availed by management teams. Automation and manual scheduling are using for scheduling various activities of the business process. Streamlining of business process is focused but flexibility is provided to management personnel of the organization (Lee and Tang 2017). Maintenance management Maintenance Management is of paramount importance for an organization to reduce downtime from inefficient procedures of maintenance and broken equipment (Zurich 2017). Third parties are hired by Starbucks for maintenance of physical assets; also employees undergo training to carefully handle equipments and facilities at Starbucks offices and stores. Huge compensation is provided to employees to retain them so that skilled employees are available for maintenance of physical assets. The measures for productivity that are adopted by Starbucks are- 1) The productivity at Starbucks caf is measured by measures like duration of average order filling. 2) The productivity at roasting plant of Starbucks is measured by measures like weight of coffee beans which are processed per time. 3) The productivity of maintenance is measured by measures like duration of equipment repair (Lemus et al. 2015). How Operational Activities Helps or Hinders Achievement of Operational Objectives The operational activities of Starbucks are in alignment with the mission, vision and goals of the organization which is to build a Company with soul, sale of coffee beans without artificial flavors, customer satisfaction, to be an employee-centric organization and to oppose franchising model to control quality. The operational activities of Starbucks meet the operational objectives of delivering finest quality of coffee to customers, to deliver service in a fast and efficient manner to achieve speed advantage, to deliver the promise of service so that customers find the organization dependable and reliable, to embrace changes in the business processes, to adapt to changes in external environment which will demonstrate flexibility and to obtain cost advantage during sourcing from farmers across the globe. As stated by Bowen and Sisson (2013), the order-winning factors which enable Starbucks to achieve competitive advantage are innovative products and services, high quality, fast deli very and products and services which are of differentiated, customized and tailor-made to suit needs of customers Total Quality Management in Starbucks The coffee growers and suppliers are visited by the coffee buyers about 18 weeks every year and tools like Total Quality Management are adopted by the organization. Starbucks make use of innovation in reducing waste and to increase productivity. The organization improves its business processes to increase customer loyalty (Lansford and Mishra 2013).Digital technology is used and Digital Tipping, Starbucks Card, Mobile Order and Pay are some of the technology used by Starbucks (Schniederjans and Triche 2013). Starbucks constantly uses digital platforms to connect with customers across the globe and to build relationship with global customers who enhances the brand image and increased Customer Perceive Value (CPV) (Chua and Banerjee 2013). Recommendations Starbucks should spend more time in training the employees of the United Kingdom of the recently opened stores before they hit the floor. The organization uses only 20-25 hours of training the front-line executives which may not be enough because these executives are in direct contact with the customers and it is of paramount importance to ensure that they receive adequate training for delivering incredible experience for customers. Starbucks should dismiss employees in the United Kingdom who have a bad attitude irrespective of their seniority and the customers should be engaged more inside the stores of Starbucks. Coffee seminars should be conducted by Starbucks and customers should be involved to participate in the seminars, feedback from customers should be taken adequately by Starbucks. The suggestion is to have open-ended comment area which can be included in surveys so that customers can leave their feedback. It can be recommendation to increase awareness among customers in the about the initiatives of Starbucks regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).Customers should know about Community stores of the organization and website for community services which will increase the Customer Perceived (CPV) and will enable the organization to achieve the operational objectives of customer satisfaction. The operational activities at Starbucks are instrumental for the organization to achieve operational objectives. References Bowen, S.A. and Sisson, D.C., 2013, March. Starbucks, Reputation Management, and Authenticity: A Case Study of Starbucks United Kingdom Tax Crisis # SpreadTheCheer Campaign. In16TH INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH CONFERENCE(p. 110). Chua, A.Y. and Banerjee, S., 2013. Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks.Journal of Knowledge Management,17(2), pp.237-249. Gupta, S. and Starr, M., 2014.Production and Operations Management Systems. CRC Press. Heizer, J., 2016.Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India. Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2012.Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan. Ivanov, D., Tsipoulanidis, A. and Schnberger, J., 2016.Global Suppy Chain and Operations Management. Springer,. Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L.P. and Malhotra, M.K., 2013.Operations management: processes and supply chains(Vol. 1). New York, NY: Pearson. Lansford, W. and Mishra, P., Offerpop Corporation, 2013.Social Networking Advertising Campaign Management. U.S. Patent Application 13/950,876. Lee, H.L. and Tang, C.S., 2017. Socially and environmentally responsible value chain innovations: New operations management research opportunities.Management Science. Lemus, E., von Feigenblatt, O.F., Orta, M. and Rivero, O., 2015. Starbucks Corporation: Leading Innovation in the 21st Century. Lewis, M.A. and Brown, A.D., 2012. How different is professional service operations management?.Journal of Operations Management,30(1), pp.1-11. Preiss, K., 2012.Shop floor control-A systems perspective: From deterministic models towards agile operations management. Springer Science Business Media. Schniederjans, M.J., Cao, Q. and Triche, J.H., 2013.E-commerce operations management. World Scientific Publishing Co Inc. Schultz, H., 2012.Pour your heart into it: How Starbucks built a company one cup at a time. Hachette UK. Slack, N., 2015.Operations strategy. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A. and Johnston, R., 2013.Operations management. Pearson. Sodhi, M.S., 2015. Conceptualizing Social Responsibility in Operations Via Stakeholder Resource?Based View.Production and Operations Management,24(9), pp.1375-1389. Walker, P.H., Seuring, P.S., Sarkis, P.J. and Klassen, P.R., 2014. Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions.International Journal of Operations Production Management,34(5). www.starbucks.in/. 2017.Starbucks. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.in/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2017]. Zurich, L.B., 2017. Service Operations and Management.

Organizational Change Management Innovation Implementation

Question: Discuss about the Organizational Change Management for Innovation Implementation. Answer: Introduction The innovation implementation behaviour concerns with the commitment of the employees in using a particular innovation product or process. It deals with the usage of the innovation in the day to day functioning of the employees. The charismatic leadership concerns with the leadership qualities of the senior management. The affective commitment to change deals with the desire to implement the change process. This study demonstrates the factors driving the innovation implementation behaviour- trust in top management and charismatic leadership. These two factors are influenced by the affective commitment to change. Discussion The topic of the article deals with the innovation implementation behaviour. It is a psychological process by virtue of which employees are inclined to use innovative practices. They feel motivated to use the implemented technology in the organization. This motivation level is influenced by two factors, namely the role of charismatic leadership and employees trust in the top management. This article is concerned with analyzing these factors. It also discusses the role of affective commitment to change to understand the psychological mechanisms in the employees of an organization. The objective of the article is to investigate the background of charismatic leadership as well as the trust of the employees in the top management of an organization. The article explores the effect of these two factors on the changing patterns of the innovation implementation behaviour in the employees of organizations (Chaudoir, Dugan Barr, 2013). There were individual studies to evaluate the effect of each of these factors on the overall behaviour of the employees regarding the implementation of innovation. The study also aims to identify the emotional processes of the employees that lead them to display innovation implementation behaviour. The study also strives to expand the existing literature on the innovation implementation behaviour. The methodology used in the study is the quantitative approach. This type of research is used for the purpose of generation of the numerical data which can be transformed logically to gather useful statistics (Creswell, 2013). This type of method is used to gather information related to the attitudes, behaviours, mental abilities and other parameters of the sample population (Punch, 2013). In this study, the data was collected from employees who were working in an automobile firm in Germany. The firm had implemented a new computer software, which was based on the email program of the corporation. The employees had the alternative to use this software for various purposes such as address, calendar, audit, absence planning and others. This study aimed to find out the level of implementation of the new software by the employees. In other words, this survey measured the attitude of the employees towards an innovation or new technology implemented by the top management. The mode of data c ollection was through an online survey. The employees were sent a link containing an online questionnaire, which they were supposed to fill out within a time frame of four weeks. The participation of the employees was optional and kept confidential. The study considered the responses of 194 employees out of the total 270 employees. The data collected was analyzed by Brislins translation back translation procedure (Shuttleworth Cowie, 2014). The multifactor leadership questionnaire or the MLQ 5x short was used to analyze the types of charismatic leadership from the leaders of the organization (McCord, 2014). This technique was used to determine the admiration of the employees for the organizational leaders. A three item scale (proposed by Cook and Wall) was used to measure the degree of trust on the top management of the firm. The six item scale devised by Herscovitch and Meyer was used to measure the affective commitment to change (Kool, van Dierendonck, 2012). The study measured the adaptive attitude of the employees in the implementation of the new software with the help of a scale proposed by Choi and Price. The primary data analysis tool used was structural equations modelling or AMOS 16.0 (Byrne, 2013). There was an inclusion of four dummy coded control variables in the structural model. The study argued that affective commitment to change acts as an intermediary between the innovation implementation behaviour and the charismatic leaders (Bligh Kohles, 2013). The top leaders are in a position to motivate their employees or followers by providing them with a compelling vision. It has also measured the positive correlation between trust in the top management and the affective commitment to change. The attitude of the employees towards the top management of the organization is vital for the success of implementation of the new software (Rafferty, Jimmieson Armenakis, 2013). If the employees feel that the top management has a major role in the change process, then the employees would also like to apply it in their day to day functioning. This is because, the employees are certain about the good intentions of the management and assume that they will benefit from the new technology. The study presented some interesting findings regarding the topic. The effectiveness of the charismatic leaders is directly proportional to the behaviour of innovation implementation. The leadership qualities are directly linked to various factors such as the creativity of the subordinates, social change, improvement oriented attitude and the organizational innovation. The study confirmed that an increase in the employees trust in the management also increases the affinity to implement the innovative practices of the organization. The most vital contribution of the study included the physiological parameter that connects charismatic leadership and the employees trust in the top management with the subsequent behaviour concerning the implementation of change or innovation. There are situational factors such as sentiments that influence the behaviour of the employees towards a new process or technology. The findings focus on the need of enabling leadership for fostering innovation acce ptance with the means of formal managerial framework. The companies need to enhance the employees trust in the top management for better adoption of the organizational change process (Cameron Green, 2015). The trust factor can be imbibed in the employees by several ways, such as leadership guidelines, reward system, company policies and others. It is important for the companies to keep aside budget for delivering leadership training as well as ideal recruitment of the charismatic leaders (Cameron Green, 2015). The managers should take into account the psychological aspects of their employees, which would make them more adaptable to organizational changes (Cameron Green, 2015). The leaders should also be trained so that they can be role models to the employees. They should also articulate a captivating vision to the employees. The strength of the arguments include the relevancy of interrelation between the key parameters such as charismatic leadership, innovation implementation attitudes, trust in senior management and affective commitment to change. They are the vital factors that influence how a new process or technology is accepted by the employees of the organization. The charismatic leadership of the top management would induce trust among the employees, which in turn would make them committed to change in the process. The affective commitment to change would lead to the improved behaviour of the employees towards the new process and they would try their level best to make it successful (Cameron Green, 2015). The weakness of the arguments include that there are several factors that increase the trust factor of the employees apart from the charismatic leadership of the senior management. The senior management may display excellent leadership qualities, yet the employees may not be satisfied. There may be several reasons of employee dissatisfaction such as a poor compensation package, poor working environment, excessive burden and others. There can be other possibilities such as non-conformance to change since many employees prefer to follow the traditional procedures. They do not embrace change easily. In such cases, the employees may not accept the innovation even if the senior management performs an excellent job. This would eventually lead to resistance towards the new innovation policy. This study was conducted on a single department of one organization. There can be different views of the people working in other industries and job roles. Conclusion The organizational change, leadership and behaviour concerning the implementation of the innovation are crucial fields of study for the researchers. This study served the purpose of integrating the three vital factors in question. It showed that charismatic leadership as well as the trust in top management influences the innovation implementation behaviour and the affective commitment to change. The study also aimed to closely bind the key concepts and aid in future investigations regarding this topic. References Bligh, M. C., Kohles, J. C. (2013). Do I Trust You to Lead the Way? Exploring Trust and Mistrust in LeaderFollower Relations.The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Change, and Organizational Development, 89. Byrne, B. M. (2013).Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Routledge. Cameron, E., Green, M. (2015).Making sense of change management: a complete guide to the models,tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers. Chaudoir, S. R., Dugan, A. G., Barr, C. H. (2013). Measuring factors affecting implementation of health innovations: a systematic review of structural, organizational, provider, patient, and innovation level measures.Implementation Science,8(1), 1. Creswell, J. W. (2013).Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Kool, M., van Dierendonck, D. (2012). Servant leadership and commitment to change, the mediating role of justice and optimism.Journal of Organizational Change Management,25(3), 422-433. McCord, J. M. (2014).An examination of self-perceived transformational leadership of Texas superintendents and high school graduation rates. Lamar University-Beaumont. Punch, K. F. (2013).Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage. Rafferty, A. E., Jimmieson, N. L., Armenakis, A. A. (2013). Change readiness a multilevel review.Journal of Management,39(1), 110-135. Shuttleworth, M., Cowie, M. (2014).Dictionary of translation studies. Routledge.