Team Work & Job Design: Teams Automatically Perform at High Levels.

Team work & Job design: Teams automatically perform at high levels. Introduction Job design is the process of deciding which tasks and responsibilities will be undertaken by a particular employee. It also covers the methods, systems and procedures for the work. In today’s business environment, proper job design can help a company to become more successful and competitive in the market. â€Å"The theory of job design, as we know it today, rests largely on the premise that effective performance and genuine satisfaction in work follow mainly from the intrinsic content of the job†(Cooper, 1974,p. 2) The team approach has the ability to fulfill these criteria. â€Å"Teamwork is described as a co-operative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results† (Scarnati, 2001, p. 5). â€Å"By sharing a common goal or vision, the team can accomplish what individuals cannot do alone† (Scarnati, 2001, p. 6). As teams attempt to accomplish a number of tasks and functions, some of the tasks may not fall into any of the individual’s present job scopes. In an ideal situation, teamwork can combine the intelligence, experience, knowledge, skills and commitments of the team members into a more powerful drive. Depending on the task, technology involved, the organization’s structure and how the team is formed in regard to authority, communication, attitudes, behaviors and expectations of people involved, a team can be ineffective for both the individual employees and the organization. This essay will investigate the causes and effects of teams that do not perform at high level automatically, and discuss the possibility of developing a more effective team. Factor: To be a high performance team Although teams are not suitable for every business situation, this essay will outline the key factors required to form a team that performs at high level automatically, which will strengthen an organization in its competitive business environment. Enhance productivity One reason why teams may perform automatically at a high level is that if members are well-matched. Their strengths enhance their motivation, accuracy and productivity. â€Å"The structure of work group or team provides many of the factors that are central to the motivation of individuals† (Sinclair,1992, p. 620). When each member is allowed to contribute his or her own blend of conviction, beliefs, experience and strengths, the total outcomes are positive and beneficial to all involved. Just imagine if one person in the team is very creative. This would lead the process of coming up with ideas; another one is detailed-oriented who can do the initial research. The third person, who is good at graphic software, can pull all those skills together to end up with a much better result than an individual’s performance. As people work in a team, they allow the combining their skills and talents with others to create new approaches to solving problems. As a result, the work performance through teams will lead to higher productivity level than an individual’s hard work. One example of this is how Kodak uses team work to make work more productive. In 1990’s, a cross-functional team became a part of Chrysler’s new auto design team. This team consisted of marketing, design, engineering and manufacturing personnel. With the creation of this new team, Chrysler was able to cut more than a year from design-to-manufacture time, yet produced what outside experts rate as the highest quality vehicle Chrysler has produced (Sashkin, 1994, p. 0). The example shows that a diverse team is more efficient if team members can contribute their strengthens and work well together. Upgrade Job Skill In addition to making a team more productive, improved individual knowledge and skill may generate high team performance levels automatically. â€Å"Utilising a team approach can enlarge and enrich the information, knowledge and power an individual possesses. Many groups are brought together with the assumption that each individual has some information that the others and the group will need. (Zaleznik & Moment, 1964) For a common objective or task, individual team members can learn from other’s experience to extend their knowledge and make up their shortcomings. Based on the broader knowledge, their performance in the team could be developed which may give them more opportunities to expand their job scope horizontally or vertically. The job scope may expand horizontally by teaching some skills to someone. Job scope could be expanded vertically by becoming a leader in a team. To help a team reach a target successfully, a supervisor or leader is required in a team. A team leader may be appointed to guide the team activities, or the team members may have the opportunity to appoint a leader from the team. The appointed leader will have the chance to develop and utilize leadership skills, though, the appointed leader must try to see that â€Å"the group process is effective and that the work is, in fact getting done† (Lawler, 1986, p. 105). Therefore, high performance levels may be automatically achieved in a team if individuals advance their skills and knowledge. Without the team, individuals might be limited by the scope of their skill, knowledge and experience. High quality decision-making Better quality decision-making could be considered as a way to lead a team to perform at higher levels. â€Å"As more ideas are produced and alternatives are considered, the team gets closer to making decisions that are stronger† (De Janasz, et al. , p. 311). There are many people to contribute to the discussion, meaning more ideas. Consequently a decision could be made more accurate, and such a decision would generally be of better quality. The more decisions a team can make for the method/procedure while completing the task, the more the team will feel responsible for achieving success in something they â€Å"own†. Because it is then the property of team, the quality of the output may increase, as it is a direct reflection of the team and its members â€Å"(Lawler, 1992). This situation is very often to seen, once the team’s decision is accepted by supervisors, the team members will automatically show their better performance and try to achieve higher levels o f success. In short, outcomes will have better quality (generated through teamwork), if each member is willing to participate in the decision-making. Workforce diversity Another factor that might help teams to perform at high level is workforce diversity. There is evidence that a diverse workforce has better-quality solutions on brainstorming tasks, display more cooperative behaviour, relative to homogenous groups, and can raise organizational efficiency, effectiveness and profitability† (McLeod, Lobel and Cox, 1996; Wilson and Iles 1999). When you have a diversity of team members, a different dynamic occurs. There is a greater chance of creativity, perspective, talents and innovation coming out. The author assumes that the potential advantage of forming a group of individuals with varied backgrounds has a diverse bent is likely to be highly successful than individuals work alone. If you keep on doing what you always did then you will keep on getting what you always got. No organization wants to be caught up in this trap. More importantly, innovation is the key for an organisation to stand in the market. In this case, the author assumes that the potential advantage of forming a diverse team is that it is more likely to be highly successful than individuals working alone. Reason: teamwork does not happen automatically In most cases, teamwork is beneficial to business operation and problem solving. However, it cannot be said that teamwork happens perfectly and automatically. There are several factors that can cause a team to have lower performance levels. Loss of self-motivation Lack of self-motivation could be a major factor that prevents a team from performing at high levels automatically. The author believes that individual self-motivation is an essential requirement for high productivity, efficiency and quality organizational output. On the contrary, when a team member’s suggestion is rejected, he or she might think â€Å"they do not need my contribution, so I will not come up with new ideas any more. † Consequently, the individual’s motivation will be reduced and conflicts may arise. Since individual self-motivation and responsibility are reduced, he or she will not be able to share more information or even put more effort into the common task. For example, I used to work in a company that just started running a new system, as a team leader I had lots of experience in this system. I discovered the potential problems in running the new system, but when I put forward my suggestions to the manager, the ideas were rejected. After that, I did not give them any suggestions any more. As my self-motivation was destroyed, I left that job after 6 months. In this case, it is easier to discover that when individual needs and responsibilities are reduced, people will not be able to put in the same effort for the common task; the team can be affected by showing worse and worse performance. Lack of time control Another reason that a team can not perform automatically at high level is that people have different levels of time management skill. This means individual time management skill will not match automatically when they come together as a team. There is an old saying in business world, time is money. When there is a fire, it takes a longer time to find the cause of the fire when a whole team of firemen are assigned this task. It will be faster and more efficient to use one expert fire investigator. For instance, there is an urgent task which has to be done in a specific time. The team leader has to explain to the team members first, then announces the goal and deadline, and next, asks for solutions, followed by discussion of the solutions. In the end, an agreement is reached and action is taken. If any procedure takes a longer time, then the total task will not be completed on time. Or, people may waste a lot of time on disputes and lose sight of the deadline. If the task is only required to be fulfilled by an individual, then the time for announcement, discussion will be skipped. Plus, individuals can make decisions quicker than teams, especially if output from someone is not necessary to reach the objective. Therefore, lack of time management skill could be considered one of the major causes of a team cannot perform effectively automatically. Inappropriate use of the team approach Some jobs are not designed for teamwork. This is especially true for some individuals that have the expert knowledge necessary to be used in certain tasks. These jobs require independent work, without the existence of team dynamics. â€Å"One may be pressurized to adhere to lower production norms than they would like to avoid being ostracized† (Hick & Gullett, 1985). They may not have the desire to put effort and time into achieving team goals, or they might have different perceptions of the work-pace and how the goal should be accomplished. Sometimes people may feel pressured to agree with team processes and decisions, that they do not agree with. In addition, not all individuals in the work force value intrinsic rewards and a sense of achievement. Neither do some value the prospect a team provides of learning and broadening skills† (Lawler, 1992). This normally happens in unskilled workers that do not expect self-fulfillment and growth. â€Å"Contrary to the view that routinzed and repetitive jobs lead to bo redom and job dissatisfaction, some workers find them suitable or even desirable† (Chung & Ross, 1977,p. 119) To force these unskilled workers to participate in a team can put pressure on individual work together with other team members in planning or problem solving. It will easily create stress for them and cause conflicts within the team. Conflicts lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings which will have a negative effect on performance. Therefore, teams will not be performing at high level if the job does not need teamwork. Social Loafing Lack of responsibility could be one of the biggest destroyers for a high performance team. The definition of social loafing from BusinessDictionary. com shows: Tendency of certain members of a group to get by with less effort than what they would have put when working alone. Since the focus of productivity shifts from the individual to the group, it is difficult to detect individual’s output for the group project or task. Some employees sometimes feel dragged down by poor or lazy team members and may find themselves doing a tremendous amount of work to compensate for weaker colleagues. In this â€Å"no winner no loser† situation, if no one takes responsibility for their own job or even doesn’t know what should be done, then the project will be delayed and teamwork performance will be affected by those â€Å"social loafer†. For instance, there was a product which our company needed to be delivered by the next working day in another city for a trade show, but the goods were not allocated to a specific person. As a result, everyone thought someone else would do it, but actually nobody delivered the item. The result is obvious that we complained about the delivery service and stopped using their delivery service after that. The example shows the common problems in teamwork and hence lack of responsibility is an issue in team work, which will affect team performance, and customer satisfaction. Discussion In most cases, high levels of team performance will not be achieved automatically. It depends largely on the motives and intentions of the individuals within the team. The author has identified that the major factors that lead to team ineffectiveness are: communication breakdowns leading to loss of confidence and decreased productivity, wasted resources and effort, ill-will/bad feelings/decreased in morale, failing to fix problems and improve processes, loss of focus on customers and profits, increased workplace conflict, increased job-related stress/workplace tension and setting s a poor example for the work force. However, â€Å"it's important to realize that the development of effective working relationships among staff is a gradual process which requires considerable time and skill, this is not meant to discourage team members, but to help them realize that teams aren't created overnight† (Francis, 1979 p. 261). A certain amount of frustration and conflict is normal. From study and researching, the author thinks orgiansations can improve team performance from these aspects. First of all, set a clear goal for the team assignment, which will be accepted and understood by all members. Clear goal will keep team focused, thus avoiding the divisive potential of political issues and individual agendas†(Larson & etc. 1989). When individuals fully understand their responsibility in achieving the same end, a tremendous synergy will be created. Secondly, take advantage of effective communication that also will contribute to a high-performance team. â€Å"Many times, decisions take a long time to be reached due to communication bottlenecks, but in a team where communication is rapid and prompt, any delay that may arise is minimized† (Rees, 2001, p. 15). When team members communicate with one another by using words or actions, team members come closer together and resolve any misunderstanding in the group. Next, rewarding or punishing team members based on team performance can be a strategy to motivate teams to perform at a high level. â€Å"Rewards and punishments send a powerful message to organisational members. † (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006, p. 417) In this way, the individual will pay more attention to their performance and value in the team. Last but not least, team size also affects team performance, on Daglow's law of team Dynamics â€Å"Small teams are informed. Big teams infer† smaller teams demonstrated to have better team-work (Ziller, 1957 p. 165-173; Steiner, 1966 p. 273-283). Team size is an important determinant of the social loafing phenomenon, whereby individuals decrease their effort as the number of people in the group increases. Team size must be determined with respect to both staffing requirements, derived from the size of the project task and teamwork requirements, derived from task complexity and uncertainty (Hoegl et al. , 2003 p. 281-302). In conclusion, better team performance is reachable. The way we put people and jobs together and define their roles and relationships is an important determinant in whether an organization is successful. † (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006, p. 73) â€Å"The acceptance and success of a team approach is high dependent on abilities, attitudes, motivations, and social and physical environments required or designed by the individual’s concerned†(Dawson, 1996). Future studies should focus on the ways teams change over time. Job design will become more and more important in the workplace for enhancing the motivation of the employees, which gives rise to high productivity and efficiency. Perhaps, different measures of effectiveness could be studied. Also various group design characteristics are more applicable in teams that have been functioning longer than in younger teams or groups that have been recently established. More also needs to be known about how to design jobs to promote higher performance levels when teams are being set up or are newly established. Reference Social loafing. (2009, Aug 22) In BusinessDictionary ,The BusinessDictonary Retrieve on Aug 22, 2009 from: http://www. businessdictionary. om/definition/social-loafing. html Chung, K. H. , & Ross, M. F. (1977). Differences in Motivational Properties between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment. Academy of Management Review, 2, 1, 113-122. Cooper, R. (1974). Job Motivation & Job Design. London:Institute of Personnel Management. Dawson, S. (1996). Analysing Organisatons (3rd ed. ). London: Macmillan Press Ltd. De Janasz, S. C. , Dowd K. O. , & Schneider B. Z. (2002). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations . New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 309-329. FRANCIS, D. & Young, D. 1979. Improving Work Groups: A Practical Manual for Team Building, La Jolla, California: University Associates. pp. 261. Hicks, H. G. , & Gullett, C. R. (1985). Management (4th ed. ) Singapore: McGraw-Hill, Inc. HOEGL, M. PARBOTEEAH, K. P. , & GEMUENDEN, H. G. When teamwork really matters: Task innovativeness as a moderator of the teamwork–performance relationship in software development projects. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2003, pp. 281-302. Larson, C. , LaFasto, F. (1989), Teamwork, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA,. Lawler, E. E. (1986). High-involvement Management. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass Publishers, Inc. Lawler, E. E. (1992). The Ultimate Advantage: creating the high-involvement organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, Inc. McLeod, P. L. ; Lobel, S. A. and Cox, T. H. , Ethnic diversity and creativity in small group, Small Group Research, Vol. 27(2), 1996, 248-64. Rees, F. (2001). How to lead work teams: Facilitation skills. 2nd Edition. San Diego: Pfeiffer & Company. Robbins, S. P. , & Barnwell, N. S. (2006). Organisation theory: Concepts and cases (5th ed. ). French Frost, NSW. Pearson Education Australia Pty Ltd. Sashkin, M. , (1994). , The New Teamwork, Amercian Management Association, New York, NY. , Scarnati James T. On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management. Vol. 7 (1/2), 2001, p5-10 Sinclair, A. The tyranny of a team ideology. Organisation Studies, 13, 4, 1992, p611-626. Zaleznik, A. & Moment, D. (1964). The Dynamics of Interpersonal Behavior. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Ziller, Robert. C. 1957. Group size: A determinant of the quality and stability of group decisions. Amercian Sociological Association, p. 165-173.

Corporate Strategy Analysis Discussion Summary Essay

â€Å"Corporate strategy identifies the set of businesses, markets, or industries in which the organization competes and the distribution of resources among those businesses† (Bateman & Snell, 2011). There are four basic alternatives for corporate strategy. These strategies include concentration, vertical integration, concentric diversification and conglomerate diversification. Every company has their type of corporate strategy that they follow to include Coca-Cola, Xerox, Southwest Airlines, and VF. In 2004 Coca-Colas CEO Neville Isdell agrees to come out of retirement and becomes cokes new chief executive. Coca-Cola’s worse drop in sales at 24% resulted in the return of Neville Isdell (Foust, 2014). With the return of Neville, Coca-Cola agreed to use a corporate strategy of their own (vertical integration) when they bought Glaceau’s vitamin water. Coca-Cola also came out with their coffee cola (Coke Blak) and their green tea (Envigo). The decision to purchase vitamin water was vital to the increase of Coca-Cola’s sales and bring them back into competition with PepsiCo. Coca-Cola is using an aggressive strategy to expand globally with their carbonated and non-carbonated drinks. To this day Coca-Cola is still expanding with their products such as Fuze and Gold Peak tea. Anne Mulcahy began the transformation of Xerox by following a concentrated strategy by focusing on a single industry. She pursed concentrated strategy by first reducing Xerox nearly $18 billion in debt. She accomplished this by cutting billions of dollars through slashing of jobs and selling off divisions. Anne Mulcahy then evaluated alternatives by pouring resources into a consulting division; this made the company more accessible for potential clients and customers. She developed a new business strategic plan, although a risky choice helped the organization seize new opportunities or thwart challenges. She also closed the desk top printers division and moved away from expensive consumer  printers with functions nobody wanted. Xerox took new technology and moved into colored digital printing and started developing high end color commercial printers. Xerox made this decision because the profit margin of color pages was five times that of black and white copies. Xerox used the strategy of concentric diversification by moving into a new business that was related to the company’s core business. Xerox then purchased office Services Company and Image Services for 1.5 billion dollars to demonstrate its new marketable high end color digital printers and copier services. References Bateman,T.S., & Snell, S.A. (2011). Management:Leading & collaborating in a competitive world (9th ed.). New York,NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Foust, D. (2014). Gone Flat. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-12-19/gone-flat

Code-switching: The Effects for Students and Teachers

Introduction In the current global economic climate, the ability to speak English has become an important business tool. English has essentially become the â€Å"universal second language† of the international labour market, and the socio-economic significance of this cannot be overstated (Light, 2007: 9). It is now commonplace for many universities across the world to teach courses in English as well the native language of their country. One of the most apparent consequences of this has been the widespread use of code-switching, where multiple languages are spoken in everyday communication. As such, code-switching is often seen as a social as well as a linguistic medium. This paper will attempt to demonstrate the causes and effects of code-switching in bilingual classes. The Definition of Code-switching Code-switching involves the use of multiple languages, where speakers of additional languages incorporate alternate linguistic elements into their source language. As such, two or more languages may be spoken alternately during a conversation. Chan et al (2009) usefully describe code-switching as â€Å"the intra-sentential switching of two different languages in a spoken utterance† (Chan et al, 2009: 281). The Causes and Effects of Using of Code-switching in an Academic Context The academic use of code-switching involves a more complex and random effect than can be fully explained by a students ability to speak in a certain language. Recent (debatable) research has identified reasons behind the occurrence of code-switching and the extent to which the process of learning has been affected. A large number of situations are considered to be causes of code-switching, one of which is linked to gaps in students’ linguistic ability. As a result, students may engage in code-switching in order to overcome linguistic shortcomings; however this cause may be considered a weak justification. In other cases, a lack of one or more words in either language may lead to code-switching. That is to say, bilinguals make clear that they code-switch when they cannot find the correct expression or term. Often the target language simply does not have the exact word needed in order to maintain a discussion smoothly, and code-switching is necessary. In addition, code-switching can have a positive impact in an academic context. An important teaching skill is the ability to transfer knowledge to students in a clear and efficient manner, and so code-switching can be a useful tool in the classroom for both teachers and students (Bista, 2010: 1). Code-switching may also be used to emphasize a point, or to add more force to a phrase. On a psychological level, learners often code-switch when they feel tired or angry. For example when the speaker is in a good mood, the appropriate word or expression in their second language is easily identified. However if the speaker is distracted in any way, they may find it difficult to grasp the correct word. In a purely linguistic capacity, code-switching may be used to compliment a statement, where it can particularly reinforce an intention or meaning of the speaker. Although sometimes viewed as linguistic incompetence this is not always the case. Code-switching will often occur when the speaker wishes to compensate for a lack of a verbal equivalent in the second language. Baker (2007) describes this well: â€Å"Words or phrases in two languages may not correspond exactly, and the bilingual may switch to one language to express a concept that has no equivalent in the culture of the other language† (Baker, 2007:108). There are also personal and social reasons for code-switching in that one’s choice of words can represent an expression of their personality. Allatson (2007) suggests factors that can lead to code-switching as location, class, gender and age. In addition the relationship between the speakers; the formal or informal nature of the conversation and the social status of the speakers can also be factors (Allatson, 2007: 73). Another social explanation is that speakers tend to code switch to attract attention. In Saudi Arabia, for example, code-switching is often used among teenagers to draw the attention of their colleagues. Furthermore they switch from Arabic to English to show that they are confident about themselves. In general, code-switching effects are widely perceived as negative. Namely, there is a tendency to view code-switching as barrier to learning and as being disruptive to the learning environment. Accordingly, the practice has been considered as a sign of linguistic deficiency. Li (2008) notes that despite code-switching being commonplace in both the speech and writing of multilingual societies (often with English as the second language), it is usually frowned upon by multilingual speakers within these societies. (Li, 2008: 76). In an academic context, studies by Arrifin and Husin (2011) have observed that learners with a greater linguistic ability often see code-switching as and obstacle to becoming fluent in a second language. Their findings indicated that students with a degree of competence in English found it difficult to make progress in an environment of code-switching (Arrifin et al, 2011: 221). Other studies have reached similar conclusions. Bista (2010) conducted a study in the US which found that code-switching not only had a negative impact on the linguistic learning ability of students, but also highlighted lack of ability in the second language as a primary cause of code-switching (Bista, 2010: 1). Others have a different view however, in particular that code-switching may be perceived as ‘linguistic resourcefulness’. Baker (2007) argues that users of code-switching show impressive cognitive, linguistic, and social skills. In his view code-switchers may be preserving the meaning of their original statement by overcoming the lack of a suitable word in the second language (Baker, 2007: 56-57). Surveys of a number of English language students have reported that they view code-switching as having a considerable influence on the learning process. From their perspective, code-switching assists in understanding the more complex linguistic elements of the second language. It may also help in the translation from their first language to the target one. Conclusion It may apparently be concluded that the impression of code-switching as a barrier to learning seems to be the prevalent view amongst both learners and teachers, and that any positive effects of code-switching are not yet widely recognised. As a consequence of this, it would be reasonable to assume that the attitude of both teachers and students towards code-switching may have been somewhat influenced by this common viewpoint. In the near future however, signs are that code-switching may possibly be seen as a tool for learning. In that event, some restrictions on the use of code-switching must be established by teachers in the classroom, and learners should code-switch only when there is an in urgent case. Eventually, it might yet become a beneficial tool for both learners and teachers. References Allatson, P., 2007. Key terms in Latino/a cultural and literary studies, Oxford: Blackwell. Baker, C., 2007. A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism, Clevedon: MPG Books. Light, I., 2007. ‘Global Entrepreneurship and Transnationalism’. In Ed. L. Paul Dana. Handbook of Research on Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship: a Co-evolutionary View on Resource Management, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp.3-15. Arrifin, K. and M. Susanti Husin, 2011. ‘Code-switching and Code-mixing of English and Bahasa Malaysia in Content-Based Classrooms: Frequency and Attitudes’. The Linguistics Journal, June, pp.220-47. Bista, K., 2010. ‘Factors of Code Switching among Bilingual English Students In the University Classroom: A Survey’. English for Specific Purposes World, Volume 9, pp.1-19. Chan, J. Y. C., H. Cao, P. C. Ching, T. Lee, 2009. ‘Automatic Recognition of Cantonese-English Code-Mixing Speech’. Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processes, September, pp.281-304. Li, D. C. S., 2008. ‘Understanding Mixed Code and Classroom Code-Switching: Myths and Realities’. New Horizons in Education, December, pp.75-87.

Effective Sales Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Effective Sales Management - Essay Example The delegation of daily activities can be adjusted according to the human traffic or the manning hours in the region under consideration. A sales person in the field can estimate the right time and the right season to market a product. He can give a valuable feedback of the fast moving products and the slow moving. A regular analysis of the sales feedback, the existing competitors, the products volume in the market, reveals some interesting facts about the customers' tastes, customers requirements and customer expectations leading to a more refined innovations and valuable predictions to regulate the sales operations in the future. The volume of business achieved in different periods can create an idea on how we need to place our products in near future to sustain the market fluctuations. The customers are always hard to retain and new customers do creep into the list of clients as the value of the products spreads in the market. A sales person has to on look the existing customers' network and he needs to explore on the new possible clients acquisition by the able management of existing clients. The new clients' acquisition can not be achieved overnight but it requires a dedicated effort from the existing sales professionals and parallel promotional efforts to introduce the products to new customers at large. For example the booming aviation business in India due to the increase in the number of low cost airlines, for niche products like the airline products the turn around will be more than year. The pharmaceutical products and medical equipments products tests your ability to maintain a sustainable relationship with client. A customer lost is a loss of a life time in such industries. The best methods to attract new customers The best viable methods wood be the word of mouth promotion indirectly by the existing customers. A client has to be carefully monitored regarding his requirements and expectation now and then to make him fell comfortable with the existing products line. The second best customer enticing program would be organizing and participating in the conferences and activities of the client in order to make them feel more secure with your association. How do you add value to a product or service besides raising the price A quality product will never be denied by a customer. An organization has to consistently highlight the features of the product to make the clients differentiate between the competitors product. The promotional

Economic Issues that Arise in the Decision to Get a Haircut Essay

Economic Issues that Arise in the Decision to Get a Haircut - Essay Example According to Ballestero and Romero (72), decision making is both a formal and a non-formal activity, since everyone does it with or without their knowledge. However, people make decisions with the objective of accomplishing a particular goal in mind. In life, making decision is not a choice but an obligation. The goal of the process for businesses is enhancing efficiency in operations. Furthermore, the process aids in analyzing issues from a financial perspective. This is because decisions made by managers have financial implications on the position of a business in the corporate world. People consider several factors before coming up with decisions in all circumstances. In a business settings, managers consult widely prior to coming up with a decision on a particular issue. Consequently, the person making the decision analyzes the short-term consequences of the decision prior to choosing a particular alternative. It is important to generate alternatives to chose when planning to mak e decisions. In order for one to choose to get a haircut, he should consider the factors involved such as the opportunity cost, gains of the trade and elasticity of the demand. Additionally, the person has to decide the place from where to get his haircut. For instance, the person will consider price as a critical factor in making the decision on the issues. ... In making the decision, the person should note that the decision has both positive and unconstructive consequences depending on the process. Decision-making is the most critical process in business management because it determines profitability. The process also influences directions of operations for businesses. According to business managers, it is the central objectives in management. For the case above, the choice of the machine and the person to conduct the job are critical elements to consider when analyzing impacts of choosing to cut the hair from a business perspective. Consequently, competence of the barber, the barber’s attitude and time are critical in decision-making. Since the alternatives have several financial implications, the individual has to choose alternative that best suit his interest. According to economists, the need to satisfy the basic wants is the basis of decision-making. Interestingly, the satisfaction of one’ needs is not the end goal in it self since a decision leads to other needs. For instance, cutting hair in a particular way, will lead to the urge of dressing a manner that is appropriate to the haircut. Moreover, choosing a particular hairstyle signifies the position of an individual in the society. In modern society, several styles of haircuts have different connotations. The most dominant style resembles popular opinion in the society. Unique hairstyle on the contrary represents nouvelle ideas. The knowledge that different hairstyle espouse different meaning dictates choices in society. Given that many hairstyles are available, selecting one is a daunting task. To the young, shaggy haircuts is trendy and cool, whereas the old dislike the style. Teenagers

Analysis highlighting the relationship of marketing theory to Essay

Analysis highlighting the relationship of marketing theory to marketing practice - Essay Example ding, with universities offering courses on "Entrepreneurship" and "Small Business Management" in their curriculum, so as to inculcate the desire and the interest of the students to start their own ventures when they graduate, and associations supporting entrepreneurs springing up, to help in funding and other networking contacts needed to do business. (Mpofu, 2007) Entrepreneurship is the concept of initiative taking by a person, with the acceptance of all the risks and rewards, by capitalizing on an opportunity which was unseen by the rest. The idea is great, since it brings together the uniqueness of thoughts as well as the creativity of the common man to the front end, and helps in the start up of business, where the man is his own boss, and with no one to regulate the decision making process, or the ultimate decisions taken. (Gundry, 2007) Marketing is also one of the oldest and the most creative disciplines in the field of business. Marketing is about making such a lucrative offer to the customer that they cannot help but buy the product you are selling. The marketing done by an entrepreneur is slightly different from the marketing done by any large, established business. But that is what the theory says. Let us examine the relationship between the marketing theory and marketing practice of an entrepreneurs marketing. (Kerin, 2004) The entrepreneur chosen for this report is Mr. Boston Rift, who has opened an entrepreneurial venture by the name of "Book your Books". He has booked small stalls, or shops within the premises of four renowned business universities of the city. And his business is to supply the students with the books that they need for each semester, freeing them up of the hassle to go to this faraway wholesale book market and buy it. Every academic year in each university has two semesters, Spring and Fall. And every semester, on an average, a student has 6 courses that he has to study. Every teacher prescribes a book to be bought for the

Arthur Millers Play Death of a Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Arthur Millers Play Death of a Salesman - Essay Example Naturally, in order to understand how the play itself is autobiographical, one must perform a great deal of background analysis into the early life of Arthur Miller. Once this has been completed, it is readily seen that Arthur Miller’s protagonist Willy Loman is likely a direct representation of his own father – Isadore Miller. Yet, this autobiographical nature should not be considered merely as a means of Arthur Miller relating a story; rather, it has a correlation with respect to the way in which life is understood and represented within middle class America during the time period in question; specifically the perennial fear of abandonment that is felt not only by Willie Lowman, but by his family. The first evidence of this fear of abandonment is with regards to the unbelievably high esteem that Willie Lowman has for an individual who gains the trust and respect of his business partners and/or clientele. An overarching theme of the entire play is the unnatural and dog ged determination that this level of love and respect, on the part of his clients, is what defines him from the faceless mass of individuals throughout society. Ultimately, rather than merely representing a narrow-minded salesman that struggles to find a place in this world and define himself differently from others, the greatest level of understanding that can be provided from a psychological standpoint is the fact that Willy Lowman is in fact terrified of the reality of abandonment and censure (Hooti & Farzaneh 19). This fear keeps him feverishly working and preaching the gospel of self sufficiency and good relations with clients to any and all who will listen. Rather than viewing Willie Lowman as a completely and entirely deranged individual, it is far better to understand his particular case from the standpoint of an individual that has traumatized from some previous instance; forever fearful that a life of abandonment and solitude will be his to live. But perhaps the greatest i rony that is represented within Arthur Miller’s play is with regards to the fact that the greatest fear that Willy Lowman has is in fact realized. Unbeknownst to Willy Lowman, as he lies dying, the abandonment and ostracism from the very individuals that could have cared about him and would have otherwise helps to ameliorate the greatest fear that he had, were disassociated from him and ultimately standoffish. Although it is of course true that his two sons were by the side, as well as his loving wife, the level of disassociation it was represented within this particular scene helped to reinforce the irony of a man that was perennially fearful of the loss of relevance that he may have if he ever came to find himself in a position of being unloved and/or unneeded. Miller’s own early life was eerily similar to that of what the reader is made aware of Willy Loman’s life. For instance, Miller grew up in an upper-middle class neighborhood in New York City; the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. Miller’s own father was a successful businessman in a textile mill; which eventually employed 400 individuals. This successful lifestyle enabled the family to enjoy the luxuries of having a new car at a time when cars were still a novelty, attending private schools, and enjoying the occasional vacation. However, the good times would not last as the crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression shattered the family’s bliss. Miller’s father, out of work and out of options sold their home and moved to Gravesend, New York. It was during this time that young Arthur Miller was forced to take a bread route ever morning

Human body partsTrafficing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human body partsTrafficing - Research Paper Example number and the varieties of transplantation options available is the emergent market for human body parts (Harrison, pg21).Legally, body parts used in transplantation surgeries are normally procured form cadavers or brain dead people, however, the demand for organs has far exceeded the availability of organs which leaves thousands of patients in the waiting list. In the U.S alone, 95,000 people were in the waiting list in 2006, while 6,500 people died owing to non-availability of vital organs for transplantation ( Abouna, p34). 82,000 patients of the people in the waiting list were comprised of people waiting for kidneys alone (Rupert, p67). According to the WHO, in 2010 there were approximately 107,000 donated organs worldwide— both legal and illegal and a good percentage of these transplanted organs comprises of 20,000 kidneys which are trafficked (Heymann, 2012). These problems of demands, non-availability and inadequate management of transplantation organs have led to black marketing and trafficking of organs especially in the developing and the underdeveloped countries. The monetary value added to human body parts and vital organs led to their commoditization. People from developing and under developed countries engage in the trade of human body parts because of their financial conditions and the high pay that this kind of trafficking fetches for them.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The most common source of organs was impoverished people in India, Pakistan, Egypt, and the Philippines, deceased organ donors in Colombia, and executed prisoners in China† ( Danovitch, p1306).. One of the major countries from where organs are procured is India, an Asian country. Hundreds of impoverished people in India either sell or help traffic organs to make a living. Often doctors and nursing homes are involved in such scandals owing to the high price that organs such as kidneys and liver fetch especially from foreigners who are a part of â€Å"transplant tourism†. â€Å"The Voluntary Health

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Case Study - Essay Example Retrospectively, some self protection views are presented also that can aid Mr. Pecker in avoiding such problems in the future This report can be construed to be a recommendation with regard to Mr. Corky Pecker’s legal position with TMP Operations Pty Ltd as well as any value that the company may offer later on. A summary of the corporate structures during normal operations and immediately after voluntary administration (VA) shall be given first. This summary shall be given with a timeline of events that led to the VA decision. A review of the actions that are open to the administrator for recovering value to pay creditors is given afterwards. An outline of the liabilities and defences of Mr. Pecker shall be given in case the company is liquidated. However, in case the company is saved, advice is given to Mr. Pecker for structuring. Furthermore, many legal, practicable, remedies are given that can be used to assist a negotiating restructure in case negotiations along these lines fails. At the end, the possible role of Mr. Pecker in avoiding these risks he faces now shall be given, for his future use. However, this report shall be limited in scope; it shall only report as to the application of the Corporations Act 2001 (CA, 2001). TMP Operations Pty Ltd (TMPO) is a subsidiary wholly owned by TMP Holdings Pty Ltd (TMPH), with Don Corleone (DC), Rhonda Sadler (RS), Hubert Burdock (HB) and Corky Pecker (CP) as directors. Appendix A (a diagram) explains the corporate structure in more detail; Table A.1 therein gives the timeline of events that led to the VA. Peter Gibson (PG) is the financial advisor and accountant of the group, with legal advice dispensed by RS, while DC retained Martha Stewart (MS) as well. When the TMPO board decided to enter VA, Helen Gleeson (HG) was nominated the administrator. Investigating TMPO’s affairs will be

Issues in Global Businesses and Consultancies Essay

Issues in Global Businesses and Consultancies - Essay Example The underlying transactions assume various forms and as such, they relate to each other. Those businesses that undertake trade involving imports and exports as well as those that undertake foreign direct investment are referred to as primary global businesses (Hill 2008). Usually, foreign direct investments businesses exist in various forms, that is; subsidiaries, which are owned wholly; and joint ventures. Other forms of global businesses and consultancies include licensing, contract management and franchising global businesses. Just as the definition holds out, the key tenet associated with global businesses is satisfaction. A global business is just like any other local business since the basic principles of a business apply. The difference comes from the application of thaw global business, its complexity as well as the intensity. These aspects vary substantially (Hill 2008). For a global business to operate across several borders, an organization ought to ensure that it adheres to international standards and laws and as such, the organization must incorporate them into their planning process and decision making. However, global businesses and consultancies do experience challenges arising out of the environmental factors. Since these businesses operate across national borders, there are some constraints and some frequent conflicts that are brought about by the different laws, societies as well as cultures (Hill 2008). A good example of a global business and consultancy is GlaxoSmithKline, a British multinational business dealing with pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biologics as well as consumer healthcare. Thesis Statement With reference to GlaxoSmithKline Company, this paper will critically analyze the issues facing global businesses and consultancies and... Global businesses, particularly those operating within the pharmaceutical industry such as GlaxoSmithKline Company do experience both internal issues as well as issues within the industry. Global businesses and consultancies do experience challenges arising out of the environmental factors. Since these businesses operate across national borders, there are some constraints and some frequent conflicts that are brought about by the different laws, societies as well as cultures. Such issues include; new consumers in emerging markets, switching to more specialized products and services, salaries and wages of the employees of the global business, growth of the pertinent power, limited number of blockbusters and smaller budgets, changing relationships with health care practitioners, the digital World, nature of conversations as well as issues associate with inflation. A Global business, regardless of the industry it operates within, must establish ways to contain issues as if left to the su rface, a company may end fatally. They may seem insignificant but according to the recent research studies, it has been found that indeed they have adverse effects.

Mali Empire and New World Encyclopedia Essay Example for Free

Mali Empire and New World Encyclopedia Essay Timbuktu was established by the Taureg, a nomadic group, in the tenth- eleventh century along the caravan routes that were along the west coast of Africa (New World Encyclopedia 2007). Timbuktu was in a good spot for trade but not for defending against attacks, and Timbuktu was constantly attacked by Taureg raiders (New World Encyclopedia 2007). Timbuktu was never able to grow due to the raids, but Gao, Timbuktu’s neighboring city grew to be the political capital (New World Encyclopedia 2007). As Timbuktu developed and became a city that traded gold, ivory, slaves, and salt Timbuktu became immensely wealthy (New World Encyclopedia 2007). Since Timbuktu was so wealthy it was a target for many European empires seeking wealth (New World Encyclopedia 2007). It started to decline in the 16th century by the Portuguese traders choosing to send the goods upriver instead of down river (New World Encyclopedia 2007). As Timbuktu developed into a more intellectual center in the early 15th century it became known for its religious study of Islam (New World Encyclopedia 2007). While Islam was the main religion of Timbuktu, most of the rural population were non-Muslim traditionalists (New World Encyclopedia 2007). The University of Sankore, also known as the most prominent Islamic institution, was established in 1581 C. E. and taught mostly centered around the Qur’an (New World Encyclopedia 2007). In Timbuktu there were more than 120 library’s in which housed millions of books, and some of which have not been found yet (New World Encyclopedia 2007). As stories of Timbuktu’s wealth reached Europe many explorers journeyed downward into Africa to have their own taste of the wealth (Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa 2013). As countless European explorers journeyed to Timbuktu and never returned The Geographic Society of Paris offered a reward to whatever explorer that could make it there and 2 back and live to tell the tale (Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa 2013). The first explorer to reach Timbuktu was Gordon Laing in 1826, but he didn’t make it back alive (Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa 2013). The first explorer to reach Timbuktu was Rene-Auguste Caillie in 1828, by disguising himself as an Arab traveling in a caravan (Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa 2013). When Rene returned to Europe he wrote three volumes over how unimpressed he was about the city in that it being a mud-walled city, in the middle of the desert, and not having any gold (Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa 2013). Although in 1512 when Timbuktu was at its peak and Leo Africanus visited he stated: The rich king of Tombuto hath many plates and sceptres of gold, some whereof weigh 1300 pounds He hath always 3000 horsemen (and) a great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the kings expense. (New World Encyclopedia 2007) Although from Shabeni’s point of view of Timbuktu in 1787 he stated: On the east side of the city of Timbuctoo, there is a large forest, in which are a great many elephants. The timber here is very large. The trees on the outside of the forest are remarkable they are of such a size that the largest cannot be girded by two men. They bear a kind of berry about the size of a walnut, in clusters consisting of from ten to twenty berries. Shabeeny cannot say what is the extent of this forest, but it is very large. (New World Encyclopedia 2007) In 1591 Timbuktu started to slowly decline due to the Morisco mercenaries armed with guns (New World Encyclopedia 2007). One of the few reasons Timbuktu is still in existence is 3 because it is a major tourist attraction that attracts people from all over the world to see the mystical city (New World Encyclopedia 2007). 4 Alistair Boddy-Evans (2013). Timbuktu: The El Dorado of Africa. [ONLINE] Available at: http://africanhistory. about. com/od/mali/p/Timbuktu. htm. [Last Accessed September 10 2013]. unknown (2007). Timbuktu. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/Timbuktu. [Last Accessed September 10 2013]. unknown (2013). Sankore Madrasah. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sankore_Madrasah. [Last Accessed Sepember 10 2013].

Comparing Mid Term Break and Om my first Sonne Essay Example for Free

Comparing Mid Term Break and Om my first Sonne Essay 1) What do we learn about children who have died? For the first time in six weeks. paler now, Those they leave behind them mourn them. The poets parents found it more difficult then Seamus because he didnt know his brother that much, he had a distanced relationship. Snow drops and candles shows the compassion of the event, he does this by good use of symbolism. He used the snow drops to show that he died in peace as they are white and innocent like his brother. A four foot box, a foot for every year Only now does Seamus realize that he will only have the memory of his brother. Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple. Poppies are commonly used to portray the violent, tragic death of a young person, in this case his younger brother. We also know that he got hit by a car so hard that it killed him the bumper knocked him clear. We know that he died on his 7th birthday, seven years tho were lent to me. No matter how protective parents are over their children there are greater forces that can determine the faith of the children that are out of the parents hands. scapd worlds, and fleshes rage Jonson is telling the reader that his son has now left the real world and doesnt have to deal with any awful things that you might come across in your lifetime. 2) What do we learn about feelings of the writers? Seamus doesnt express any of his own feeling, Only feelings of others; Big Jim Evans to feel that the car incident to be a hard blow. On a literal level, it shows of the impact of car hitting the little brother whereas metaphorically, the incident could also show the emotional blow. He says For the first time in six weeks. Paler now, This indicates that Seamus didnt have such a close relationship with his brother. It also suggests that the poet only had the fleeting memory of his brother as a baby and hardly ever sees him, therefore contributing largely to the fact that the poet was not grieving over his death because of their distanced relationship or because he hast come to terms with his brothers death. Mid-Term Break the family cannot accept the death. They feel that it is unjust, as the child was so young and innocent. This poem starts talking about the death using farewell. This hints that he is saying good-bye to his son and this is his way of letting him go. Ben Jonson uses faith to help him through the bereavement. Biblical phrases like child of my right hand, my sinne was are scattered through the text. The poets feelings were uncertain with doubts and sorrow. O, could I loose all father now. By using conditionals suggests that he is questioning his faith as he doesnt understand why God would take away his loves one. My sin too much hope for thee, loved boy. Jonson doesnt want to have any more children as the pain of losing them is overwhelming. 3) How have the writers expressed their feelings? Seamus Heaney uses indirect ways to portray grief, by describing events that happen after the death. Heaney doesnt talk or write about how he feels, he writes about what he sees and remembers. He is keeping his emotions silent. His writing is detached because he expresses no emotion himself, and if he does it is understated and under layers of what he says. He is confused about his brothers death and reports the poem like an outsider. Alternatively, he may write like an outsider because its so tragic and he cant express his own feelings because he wont be able to come to terms with it. Ben Jonson writes On My First Sonne from a fathers point of view grieving over the death of his very young son. He uses the Iambic Pentameter which reflects the sound of a heart beat. He does this because its the first and last thing a human hears, this links to the birth and death of his short lived son. He also used a rhetorical question he should envie? He states that he is jealous of his son, because now he is closer to god in heaven. He indicates that he is a religious man. His sons death has made him question his faith which used to be so strong. The son, sitting on the right hand of his father, would remind a Christian reader of the Creed, in which the Son sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

Brand Management at Uber

Brand Management at Uber Uber Case Analysis BACKGROUND Uber is a taxi service that connects users with independent car drivers by just a push of a button on an app (Exhibit 1) (Uber, 2017).Uber is known for its accessible anytime and low cost to luxury services (Uber, 2017). Ubers’ value to its drivers is that it promotes additional source of income, flexible working hours, and those who can earn money for doing their hobby. It focuses on customers who do not own a car, like to travel in style, and prefer a cost-efficient cab. Uber’s primary competitors in the United States are Lyft, traditional taxi drivers, public transportation and car owners. It earns revenue by taking 20% commission on each ride, while the rest goes to the driver. Uber has shown continuous growth, with net revenue of approximately $5.97 billion in 2016. However, they have also been incurring huge losses over the past couple of years, and had losses of $3 billion at the end of 2016 (Exhibit 2). Lyft, Ubers’ main competitor, has had a dramatic inc rease in growth in the past years, while Ubers’ growth has stagnated (Exhibit 3). Investors have been pressuring the CEO to go towards an IPO because it will be an easier way to raise cash trading in the financial market. The CEO has been delaying an IPO launch because Uber is trying to smooth out all bumps as a private company before going public. Currently, Uber raises its capital through venture capital firms and it is valued at $69 billion (Abboud, 2017).   Ã‚  Ã‚   One of Uber’s key marketing strategy for acquiring new customers is through word of mouth, which allows the company to spend virtually no money on advertisement. 95% of Uber drivers have heard about the company from another Uber riders and for every 7 Uber rides, word of mouth generates one new customer. The word of mouth strategy and the referral program allowed Uber to rise in popularity in many cities around North America and internationally. At the end of 2016, Uber was successful in expanding to approximately   81 countries and 581 cities worldwide. However, in the span of just two months, three major incidents are now resulting in the company to be viewed in a negative light. These events have been damaging people’s perception of Uber and its brand image through social media and word of mouth, the same platforms that helped Uber gain popularity in the first place. JFK Airport President Trump signed an executive order of banning refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations, which created outrage and chaos in airports. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance showed their support for detained refugees by avoiding John F. Kennedy International Airport between 6p.m. to 7 p.m. on 28th January. Instead of standing with the Taxi drivers, Uber decided to eliminate their surge prices around the JFK region caused considerable outrage on Twitter and caused an increase of search of this topic on Google (Exhibit 4). Uber’s surge pricing is a company practice of temporary raising prices of rides because of the high demand and insufficient supply of drivers. Customers and competitors perceived this decision either as profiting off the situation and/or supporting the President’s travel ban because lowered price allowed Uber to capture higher sales. Uber quickly responded by stating that they were not in support of the Presidents executive order nor were they trying to profit from the situation. Uber’s spokesperson has said that the decision to turn-off their surge prices was due to increased demand during the protest. The Uber CEO also spoke out against the executive order through Facebook to mitigate the storm of outraged consumers. However, this did not work, which eventually resulted to Uber CEO’s resignation from his position on the Presidents’ Economic Advisory Council. Social media activists created #DeleteUber that went viral, which was tweeted 222,000 times and caused 200,000 Uber riders to delete their accounts by having screenshots of themselves deleting the app and posting it through twitter (Exhibit 5). On the other hand, Lyft responded by donating $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is a civil rights group that is fighting the executive order in the US courts. This negative news reporting caused Lyft to increase its market share from 16.5% to 20.9% in the ride-hailing industry and the spending on Lyft by consumers spiked by 30% (Exhibit 6).The #DeleteUber caused 7% increase of users for Lyft, where more than half were previous Uber users before JFK incident(Exhibit 7). Furthermore, 81% of the users that joined Lyft deleted Uber permanently (Hinchlife, 2017). Following Lyfts announcement of donating $1 million to the American Civil Liberalities, it increased riders by 30%, whereas Uber had a 10% decrease in users at around the same time frame (Bhattarai, 2017). Additionally, this public relations nightmare encouraged and gave growth to new competitors in the New York City region, such as Juno. Juno has had a dramatic spike in growth at the end of January 2017, which could potentially make it a future competitor (Exhibit 8).   In addition, Uber’s rank in all app downloads   went down that day, which is valued at a $40 million loss. Lyft has surpassed Uber as the top downloaded app during the time of travel ban news report (Exhibit 9) (Williams, 2017).    Sexual Harassment Incident Following the decision for Uber to turn-off surge prices, a former engineer, Susan Fowler spoke out about her experience of sexual harassment and neglect by the HR department at Uber through her blog (Exhibit 10, 11). Susans blog was shared on Twitter 22,000 times, which encouraged more Uber users to delete the app. Marian Baldauf, former Uber user, said â€Å"When I read the woman’s blog it was just so deeply offensive and so wrong in so many ways that I just couldn’t do it anymore, so I switched to Lyft. I’ve taken two rides since and they’ve been wonderful†. CEO quickly responded that the company has hired US Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the claims of sexism, sexual harassment, and Ubers’ culture. CEO also made a statement through its website that â€Å"Ubers number one priority is creating a just workplace†. A report has shown that women accounted for 15.1% of Uber engineers, product management, and scientist teams, which is lower than Google, Twitter, and Facebook. The CEO asked for Amir Singhal, Senior Vice President of Engineering, to resign due to not disclosing his sexual harassment allegations at Google.The VP of Product and Growth Ed Baker also resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment at Uber. The timing of these new revelations gave consumers more added incentive to delete the app. According to the blog post by Susan, when she started working with Uber, women accounted for 25% of the workforce. When she resigned the number went down to as low as 6% (Thomas, 2017).   Fowlers blog boosted Lyft’s market share to increase to 21.3% and it was consistent in all the four top markets in the US (Exhibit 12) (Jones, 2017). The #DeleteUber campaign during this time again exploded and caused more Uber users to delete their app. In the meantime, Lyft launched their services to 50 more cities during this time (Moscaritolo, 2017). Video: CEO v.s. Uber Driver The CEO was caught on camera shouting and being insensitive to an Uber driver Fawzi Kamal. Kamal, who has been with the company since 2011, confronted the CEO at the end of the ride in San Francisco for lowering prices for Uber’s luxury high end chauffeur service (Exhibit 11, 13).   The CEO was caught on camera saying â€Å"Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own s†.   The CEO was forced to issue an apology to staff members and said that â€Å"it’s clear this video reflects me and the criticism we’ve received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up†. The CEO explained and responded by claiming to attend a leadership seminar and its reported that he will hire an executive to work alongside himself. This news report adds to the bad relationship Uber has with its own drivers leading to low driver loyalty towards Uber (Exhibit 14). Many drivers continue to be with Uber for the simple fact that Uber subsidizes their pay in many areas. However, Ubers goal is to lower its prices to beat the competitors, which leads to   a reduction in drivers’ salary. An Uber driver from California has said â€Å"I think a lot of drivers feel that Uber always looked out for themselves first and foremost and relegated drivers to a second tier†. 400,000 drivers have currently left Uber to go to its competitors. Competitors have marketed to drivers about their better compensation and tip app. However, drivers have explained that they do get more business with Uber due to its reach. Uber drivers’ compensation is around $15.97 per hour compared to the $13 but it does not account for gasoline, insurance, and the cost of the vehicle (Kuo, 2016) (Exhibit 15). Market research was conducted and it showed that most drivers will pick Lyft over Uber due to its tip app. The Rideshare Guy blog conducted survey that showed that 75.8% of Lyft drivers have said that they were satisfied with their experience with Lyft, while 49.4% Uber drivers are satisfied. Lyft drivers earn $1.82 more per hour than Uber drivers.The issue that caused this was due to the lowering of prices of Uber products, while the average trip lengths are 10.2 minutes per trip for Uber drivers (Exhibit 16 ). ANALYSIS Uber is a profit oriented business that, unfortunately, has made revenue generation its main goal rather than satisfaction of its customers. Uber has not realized that having a traditional approach to revenue gaining inevitably hurts a business nowadays rather than helps it. Uber is not taking into consideration other equally important factors, such as corporate social responsibility, that makes a business successful in a world that has become so small, that with just a click of a button, any negative review of a business revolves globally, defaming a business if it has profited unethically and unfairly. As of now, Uber has been highly criticized for three incidents in a period of just two months. Taking advantage of taxicab and taxi drivers that were striking for the â€Å"Muslim Travel Ban† is one of the most unethical financial decision that Uber took, which led to a global uproar. 200,000 Uber apps were deleted within five days when #deleteUber was created on social media. Analyzing this, the very first thing it is doing wrong, is over emphasising on revenue generation. Before the decision of not surging up the prices, Uber did not realize the backfire it would face from the millennials, its main target audience, who, around 61%, want to contribute for the betterment of the world. Hence, when Uber took advantage of the taxi drivers, who are predominantly from Muslim countries, its target audience was furious, as Uber’s view and its actions did not align with the perspective of the millennials. As shown in Exhibit 2, 2016 revenue increased by 14.58% from first quarter to second quarter, and there was a massive rise of 53.55% in the third quarter. By taking the average, the last quarter increase would be about (14.58 + 53.55)/2 = 34%, which is around $2278 million. Adding all the revenue, the sum net revenue for the year of 2016 would be approximately $6038 million. The number of active users in 2016 was 15.8 million as shown in (Exhibit 17),and hence the average revenue generation from one active user per year is 6038m/15.8m = $382.15. This can lead to the conclusion that because of the deletion of Uber App after this incident, there was a loss of 200000*382.15 = -$76.43 million. Even though they might have earned quite a lot of revenue by not surging up the prices for that one hour, they have, at the end, suffered a huge loss from their action.Because 81% of the 10% Uber users deleted the app permanently, this has caused high customer attrition rate who will ask their friends and family to delete the app as well. This will further harm the brand image and improve the chances of Uber’s competitors, like Lyft, to capture the customers. Moreover, its pricing strategy was extremely wrong during such a delicate situation. Uber’s decision of not surging up the prices was perceived as purely a decision of financial gain by most people. Others also thought of Uber supporting the Travel Ban mainly because of this pricing strategy. This will further increase the number of people perceiving Uber as only revenue generators, further defaming the company. Because of the vast reach of social media, good and bad information is always streaming into social networking sites.In case of Uber, this negative information has affected consumers’ perceptions and has deteriorated brand reputation built during Uber’s years of operation, until and unless Uber changes its perception and aligns its values with the values of its target customers. There are, however, other reasons that led Uber to take this poor decision in the first place, and that is lack of corporate social responsibility. Uber has been trying to expand to as many countries as possible. Though extremely hard, it has been very successful in expanding its business, thereby operating in 81 countries worldwide. However, seeing that it started as a business in 2009, it just took Uber less than ten years to expand this much, which can lead to the conclusion that Uber might have over expanded. Instead of creating brand equity and finding creative ways to satisfy its customers, employees and the community as a whole, Uber has focused mainly on expansion rather than making strategic decisions for itself. Also, because there are excessive legal, advertisement and operational fees every time a company operates in a new country, most of Uber’s revenue goes towards these costs, and hence it does not have any money for taking social initiatives that might resonate with its target audience. Its lack of money for corporate social responsibility after these expansion costs is a huge reason for taking such poor decisions that counteracts the brand image it intends to make for itself. Its lack of taking any social initiatives firstly contradicts millennials’ views of helping the world be a better place, and it also makes it harder for people to believe that what they did was unintentional and there was no greed for financial gain. Its image of being constantly perceived as a revenue generator does not help Uber in this crisis since this goes against Uber’s value proposition. Susan J. Fowler’s blog about sexism, gender disparity, and sexual harassment was another crisis that Uber had to face. The worst part, however, was that Uber had made no attempts to help her; instead they were threatening to fire her for her complaints to HR. After this incident, there was a third increase in searches on Google Trends (Exhibit 11), which resulted in more #deleteUber tweets. With 25% women working in Uber when she joined, only 6% were left after one year when she decided to quit. This doesn’t just show the unprofessional environment for its employees, but also the unfair treatment of women in 2017, a time when companies are trying strenuously to eradicate the discriminatory practices. The uproar against the blog was hard for Uber, though not at all surprising. Even though Uber has expanded enormously, it has not taken proper measures to keep a professional environment for its employees. In today’s competitive environment, a company this big should provide a proper HR facility to its employees; where their concerns can be heard and willing to take proper action be taken if any problem arises. Instead, it seems like no proper guidelines about how to behave in a workplace are given to its employees. Even if employees are told about them, no strict action is taken against those who break the rules. Hence, it motivates people like the manager to continue their unethical and illegal behaviour as the HR is doing nothing to show its employees the consequences of their actions. For a workplace of only 6% women, no new woman would want to even apply to such an organization, especially after reading this blog that is available for everyone to see worldwide. It wont just defame Uber in America, but all around the world for practicing such sexist acts against women. Even the existing small percentage of women working there would also end up leaving, even for lower pay if they are given a comfortable environment to work in and more opportunities. Having only 3% engineers who are women is also quite disturbing as there is a huge gender disparity, leading to a discouragement of both men and women to work there. As a result, they may lose the chance of working with some of the best talent, who may end up going to work for Uber’s competitors. Moreover, not giving a promotion to employees when they are fully worthy of it, and then lying about it for manager’s personal gain of looking good as he has more female engineers working for him, shows political instability within the Uber environment, which can be demoralizing for all its employees, resulting in loss of motivation, reduced efficiency, and effectiveness. This can also highly increase the chances of lawsuits filed against them, which will not be helpful for Uber’s already weak situation. Uber is also highly likely to lose the lawsuits as many of its employees have records of what they did, just like Susan had. This will also lead to huge costs, which Uber cannot afford, with what so much going on. Furthermore, management’s failure to provide clear and concise goals will also lead to confusion among employees and a loss of commitment, not just to the task but to Uber as well. This event, hence, can also lead to the conclusion that Uber, as a team, is not working together towards improving the brand image and its brand equity; due to this, they end up making independent decisions that are not suitable for the whole company. Although keeping customers and internal employees satisfied is a pinnacle for any business success, ensuring external employee happiness has also never been a priority for Uber. In fact, Uber failed to realize that happy drivers would mean efficient employees, better work cultures that translate to happier customers. Mistreatment of its drivers and the video going viral (Exhibit 11) are some of the factors that led to the deterioration of its brand over years as the loss of drivers led to slower growth rate compared to its competitors Lyft (Exhibit 3). Hence, these negative reviews and mistreatment of drivers can be a threat for Uber by affecting future driver’s ability to drive for Uber and instead drive for competitors, which can hurt the company’s brand equity (no one wants to be involved with immoral company) as the drivers are the main channel for bringing sales and connecting with users. Due to this, Uber lost $1.27 billion in first half of 2016.   Keeping employees satisfied is important but Uber losing 400,000 drivers mean more cost of hiring new replacement drivers, which can be time consuming and will inevitably increase Uber’s expenses. This loss was due to drivers being unsatisfied because compared to the competitors like Lyft   uber drivers did not have a tip app and as a result they were required to work long extensive hours each week to make up for it due to most Uber users not having cash on hand. For instance, in order for a driver now to make $50,000, the breakeven point for the drivers to drive to reach this point is 60.21 trips each week (exhibit 15). This can put a lot of stress on the drivers and provides drivers with fewer opportunities to grow within Uber, which results in frustration for drivers. As a result, Uber’s weakness of not compensating the drivers to keep them satisfied is another reason for leaving Uber as they can get much higher pay through working with Uber’s competitors which means higher turnover rate. For Uber the opportunity to get back on a steady growth lies in their ability to further prevent losing their drivers because without drivers Uber would cease to exist in future.If consumers and drivers were to continue to share their frustrating experience with Uber, these bad information streaming in social media networks can affect the perception that people feel about the brands which can deteriorate its brand for long period of time (Exhibit 5). Through CSR, firms can build their reputation, competitiveness; drive innovation and thus leading to sustainable profits, which Uber failed to do so. By not building employee (internal & external) and customer   loyalty lead to less attraction of new investors because Uber does not have a good visibility of their sustainability and do not show transparency in their decisions that will create sustainable development of society. In conclusion, Uber needs to communicate a better image to the customers. They need to modify their value proposition, and emphasize on making social change instead of just focusing on low cost and easy access (Exhibit 18). They need to understand that social media is a very important aspect in the lives of the millennials, and they should use it to their advantage by spreading a better image of themselves. Their actions are not going to be tolerated by their core customers if its value proposition does not resonate with them. Being professional in the workplace, having a strategic management that focuses on making strategic decisions that are going to help Uber generate money not only in the short run, but in the longer run as well, and focusing on satisfying their employees and customers is going to make Uber successful in this era. Uber hence needs to seriously rebrand itself if it wants to survive in this market. RECOMMENDATIONS Firstly, Uber needs to have a public apology for their actions in the last few months before Uber rebrands on social and live press conference. In each of the three incidents discussed in analysis, never once did Uber directly apologize to the public for its mistakes. Nowadays, the general public places an extremely high value upon clarity and transparency, and hence coming clean and admitting that they have spent numerously on less important aspects when they should have tried to launch social initiatives is one step closer to rebranding itself. Also, Uber needs to explain how it is initiating changes to make up for mistakes so that it will not happen again in the future. This should stop outrage and reduce harm done to the company as a result of widespread of negative publicity. Secondly, Uber needs to replace the current CEO, Travis Kalanick. Uber can make him a part of the board of directors with most voting shares instead of keeping him as the face of Uber. This is because the CEO is directly or indirectly responsible in all three incidents. The public will very likely hold the CEO responsible for all three incidents or associate him with negative publicity since he is the face of the company. Thus, rebranding changes would not be as effective if Kalanick remains the CEO. Hence, replacing him is vital if Uber wants to make changes and want the public re-evaluate Uber based on the changes made. The new CEO should be a woman that has experience running a business, is a women’s’ activist, has experience with CSR, and has helped with rebranding. Giving an important position to female would suggest gender equality which will offset the negative effects caused by Susan’s sexism blog. A CEO with these qualifications would be able make better decisions for Uber to get it through this difficult time. Thirdly, involving Uber drivers in the decision making process by hosting a Company Town Hall meeting for all Uber drivers in each city per quarter to discuss Uber agendas, driver concerns, and new opportunities. This can improve Ubers’ turnover because more Uber drivers will understand the business decisions of the company. This meeting will also address concerns of drivers because over the years they have felt that their concerns are not being met and taken into consideration. They can do this by sending surveys and questionnaires via email related to any decision that might directly affect the drivers. Also, emails can be sent after every meeting regarding the conversation so that even those drivers who were not able to attend will have a better idea of what is happening in Uber. Moreover, Uber should create a loyalty program that encourages more drivers to stay with Uber, thereby reducing turnover. This loyalty program will judge the drivers under two criterion; number of rides and drivers’ ratings. The driver will be considered more valuable when the number of rides are high and they get consistent high ratings. There will be three levels; bronze, silver, and gold. If the driver reaches 2000 rides in one year with consistent high ratings, s/he will earn a bronze medal, which provides incentive of a $50 gift card to their favorite retail store or 3 free meals at a restaurant of their choosing. If the driver reaches 2800 rides in one year with high ratings, they will earn a silver medal where Uber provides them with a $100 gift card and 6 free meals at any restaurant of their choosing. If an Uber driver reaches 3500 rides in one year and be in the top 50 rated drivers in their city, they will have earned a Gold medal. This gold medal will give the Uber driver free gym membership (to show that Uber cares for their drivers’ health), $100 gift card, and will give them 90% of the rides hare money than the 80% for the Silver and Bronze. The Gold drivers will also be recognized in the Company’s Town Hall meeting as a recognition of their hard work and loyalty to the company. Because this program is a goal oriented approach, it will give Uber drivers more motivation to stay, as they are recognized in the decision making process and are given benefits. This will hence inevitably change the perception of the company. Also, encourage Uber drivers to have a video camera in their cars because it will bring more safety for the drivers and allow Uber to adjust their ratings due to false claims by customers because there will be proof that the driver was not at fault. Uber management should also look over the data of the rating of drivers to make sure that discrepancies are found to show that drivers’ ratings are important for the company. Uber should also start a tip feature because most of the customers do not carry cash with them as it is done through the Uber app. Therefore, creating a feature where the drivers can earn tips can provide them a way of earning more money which will further motivate them to stay with Uber. Furthermore, it should change its HR team, and hire individuals who have proper knowledge and experience in maintaining a safe and motivational environment for its employees. A good HR team that is approachable, respectful, just, motivated, and innovative will slowly but inevitably win back the confidence of its employees, who can then be more motivated and efficient, and work towards rebuilding the perception of Uber as well. The new HR team should carefully select diverse talented employees who can fit in and be successful in the new work environment of Uber. Additionally, training should be provided to the new employees, with a separate conference about sexual harassment in the workplace; which talks about what sexual harassment is, what to do and whom to go to, what must be done and the consequences of harassment. Showing that in the beginning will ensure that new employees know how important safety of its employees is to Uber. A guidebook should be provided to every new employee so that everyone has a written copy about the rules of Uber’s culture. There should also be brochures on the boards, on which clear guidelines should be provided for anyone who faces harassment. A safe and just environment will hence not just motivate men to apply, but also gain back the trust of women. Uber will be able to then increase the number of women employees in its company. On top of that, it should build a whistleblowing department where anyone can report legal or ethical concerns while being anonymous. Simultaneously, whistleblowing should not just be legal, but should be encouraged within Uber, so that employees are motivated to speak against unjust actions and Uber can maintain a company where it internalizes fair and just policies for everyone. Moreover, there should be evaluations of employees as well as managers every six months. Managers should evaluate their subordinates but the employees should also get a chance to evaluate the managers so that managers’ skills and effectiveness can be measured, and proper feedback as well as training be provided if they lack certain skills as a manager, which will help them grow within the business. When it comes to the employees, feedback should be provided, and follow-ups should be mandatory for employees to help them acquire greater skills and help them grow for more growth opportunities within the workplace. Moreover, the value proposition and the colors of the brand logo need to be changed to mark major changes that are about to occur. As mentioned in the analysis, Uber needs to modify value proposition to emphasize social changes and show that Uber cares about society too. Uber’s current value proposition is too mechanical and lacks emotional component to it, which leads to the perception of Uber being a revenue generator. Uber’s logo should be changed to purple as it represents nobility, royalty, peace, pride and dignity; all of which should represent Uber. Value proposition that focuses on social initiatives should be written and posted clearly on their website for easy access to everyone. With the right colors and the right messages, consumers’ willingness to give Uber a second chance will rise and Uber can be successful in re-branding itself.    Lastly, what Uber must do is think up of a creative way to help better the society. Hence, in our opinion, Uber should set $200,000 apart and sponsor refugee families from different countries. Because it takes on average $30,000 to sponsor a family of four, targeting for five families this year is more than enough. Uber should then have a separate team that helps them settle in, and help them with the driving licenses so that they can work for Uber to generate income. This will slowly minimize people’s perception of Uber as a revenue generator and expander, and people will start thinking of them as a company that wants social change. Pictures of the refugees and their stories should be the first thing that people should see when they open their website. Because word of mouth was the main source of advertisement before, they can change that to making visual ads for YouTube advertisement that cannot be skipped, where stories of refugees and how Uber helped them is emphasized. The campaign name should be catchy, for e.g. â€Å"We Change, They Change, Life Changes,† which will force people to see how Uber is striving to change. In the longer run, however, they can also start a women empowerment initiative in third world countries which will further improve their image. These are some of the mandatory changes that Uber must do to survive within this competitive market. However, it needs to realize that being innovative is just not enough nowadays as that does not set you apart from the competitors; a company needs to take social initiatives, be ethical, and focus on CSR to have a competitive advantage. Hence, Uber needs to realize that while these are the answers to the current problems, it needs to internalize these solutions within its environment and take continuous social actions in the longer run, to help make a difference. Bibliography Abboud, Leila. (2017, March 16). Uber’s $69 Billion Dilemma. Retrieved from March 17,2017 from https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-03-16/uber-needs-to-get-real-about-that-69-billion-price-tag Fowler, S. J. (2017, February 19). Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber. Retrieved March 11, 2017, from https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber Google. (n.d). Google Trends. Retrieved March 17,2017, from https://trends.google.ca/trends/explore?date=2017-02-16%202017-03-16&q=uber%20ceo,uber%20sexism Google. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://www.google.ca/#q=companies that offer benefits cost& G. (n.d.). The Demographics of Ubers US Users. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/the-demographics-of-ubers-us-users Google pictures. (n.d.) What is uber. Retrieved March 18,2017, from https://what-is-uber.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/what-is-uber-uber-app-and-how-to-ride-uber.jpg Intelligence, S. (2016, December 07). These latest Uber statistics show how its dominating Lyft. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://medium.com/@sm_app_intel/these-latest-uber-statistics-show-how-its-dominating-lyft-53f6b255de5e#.ans63grjq Juggernaut. (2015, September 24). How Uber Works:Insights into Business & Revenue Model. Retrieved March 17,2017, from http://nextjuggernaut.com/blog/how-uber-works-business-model-revenue-uber-insights/ Kosoff, M. (2016, June 16). Why Is Uber Raising So Much Money? Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/why-is-uber-raising-so-much-money Kuo, John. (2016, October 19). Here’s How Much You need to Drive for Uber and Lyft to Cover Car Insurance, Other Costs, Retrieved March 18,2017, from https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/insurance/number-rides-pay-insurance-lyft-uber/ Marshall, A. (2017, February 28). Google’s Robocar Lawsuit Could Kill Uber’s Future and Send Execs to Prison. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.wired.com/2017/02/googles-robocar-lawsuit-kill-ubers-future-send-execs-prison Newcomer, E. (2016, December 19). Ubers Loss Exceeds $800 Million in Third Quarter on $1.7 Billion in Net Revenue. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/uber-s-loss-exceeds-800-million-in-third-quarter-on-1-7-billion-in-net-revenue Nunez, Michael. (2016, August 25). Retrieved Feburary 28,2017, from http://gizmodo.com/why-uber-is-losing-money-faster-than-any-tech-company-e-1785736918 Research Papers Center. (2004, June 25). The 5S principles of crisis response. Retrieved from March 17,2017 from http://eng.hi138.com/marketing/200406/192595_the-5s-principles-of-crisis-response.asp#.WMMquPWcGW9 Sonders, Soners (2016, December 7). These latest Uber statistics show how it’s dominating Lyft. Retrieved March 17,2017, from https://medium.com/@sm_app_intel/these-latest-uber-statistics-show-how-its-dominating-lyft-53f6b255de5e#.ans63grjq Staff, I. (2015, August 12). Initial Public Offering IPO. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/ipo.asp Stahl, A. (2016, May 06). A Millennial Manifesto: Why Gen Y Will Change The World. Retrieved March 09, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2016/04/28/a-millennial-manifesto/#58ca08192616 Uber and Lyfts Growth Is Slowing in Most Major U.S. Cities. (2016, October 12). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://skift.com/2016/10/12/uber-and-lyfts-growth-is-slowing-in-most-major-u-s-cities/ The 5S principles of crisis response. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://eng.hi138.com/marketing/200406/192595_the-5s-principles-of-crisis-response.asp#.WMMquPWcGW9 Toossi, M. (2002, May). A century of change: the U.S. labor force, 1950–2050. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf Uber Cities. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://uberestimator.com/cities Uber Fare Estimator & Surge Prices. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://uberestimate.com/ Uber – SWOT analysis. (2017, January 29). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://blog.cayenneapps.com/2015/02/09/the-swot-analysis-for-uber/ Uber. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://adsoftheworld.com/taxonomy/brand/uber Youtube. (2017, Feburary 28). Uber CEO Apologizes for Disrespectful Interaction With Driver. Retrieved March 17,2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHKfvnnXVDI Exhibit 1 Exhibit 2 Exhibit 3 Exhibit 4 Exhibit 5 Exhibit 6 Exhibit 7 Exhibit 8 Exhibit 9 Exhibit 10 Exhibit 11:Google Trend Sexual Harrasment &   Uber CEO Scandal Exhibit 12 Exhibit 13: Uber CEO Scandal Image and Conversation Exhibit 14 Exhibit 15 Exhibit 16 Exhibit 17 Exhibit 18 Exhibit B: SWOT Analysis

The Draft Essay -- essays research papers

The Draft There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 — just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately. $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan — fiscal year 2004. The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft. Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18-26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services. Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would... ...rs rather small at this point, and President Bush has stated that there will be no resumption of the draft during his presidency. Still, conditions and attitudes can change very quickly — another event of the magnitude of the September 11 attacks could prompt some rapid shifts in government policy and public opinion. Last updated: 6 October 2004 The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/draft.asp Urban Legends Reference Pages  © 1995-2005 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources: Gross, Karen. "Feel the Draft." Philadelphia City Paper. 20 September 2001. Hulse Carl. "Bill to Restore the Draft Is Defeated in the House." The New York Times. 6 October 2004. Kelly, Jack. "Rumor Aside, Draft's Return Most Unlikely." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 24 May 2004. Lindorff, Dave. "Oiling up the Draft Machine?" Salon.com. 3 November 2003. Associated Press. "Selective Service Notice Creates Flurry of Press Reports Suggesting Return of Draft." USA Today. 10 November 2003.