Improving Staff Morale Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Improving Staff Morale - Coursework Example On the other hand, low staff morale leads to increased costs, decreased efficiency, low motivation and interest (1, p.339).This is because of reduced motivation, wastage of time and low productivity. Consequently, keeping and improving employee morale is one of the most important things that the management of organizations must always do in order to achieve and maintain productive workplaces. The leading cause of low staff morale is poor leadership (2).It is associated with poor interpersonal relations between administrators and employees and inflexible working conditions (3). However, improving the staff morale remains of the greatest challenges to many contemporary organizational management and business leaders. Achieving it well requires a critical analysis of the analysis of the reasons behind low employee morale and addressing the root cause as opposed to the symptoms Currently, many organizations are facing stiff competition in the market and are increasingly being required to reduce their operation costs. Staff sizes are constantly being reduced and this creates more responsibilities for the remaining staff. Increased stress levels results leading to reduced organizational morale. The achievement of improved staff morale particularly lies in the management approach adopted by the company as well as the relationship between the management and the workers. This paper critically reviews literature on staff morale and attempts to give recommendations on how supermarket R’Us can increase and maintain staff morale and job satisfaction within its employees. Analysis of the ways of improving staff morale Numerous researchers concur that the level of confidence and satisfaction among employees is critically important to the productivity of any business organization. Morale indicates the happiness exhibited by the employees in the organizational surroundings. It is the key to job satisfaction by the employers towards their employees. In most cases, the succ ess of business organizations such as Supermarket R’Us closely depends on the cheerfulness, confidence, discipline, satisfaction and willingness of the staff workers to perform their assigned tasks. Although there is no single known factor that can satisfactorily be used to explain the occurrence of high or low morale, it is widely believed that morale of the staff workers in any organizations is often a top down issue than a bottom up issue (4, p.46). The existence of low morale among the staff workers in a business organization has a number of negative implications for the productivity of its workplace environment. This is particularly because morale is one of the key drivers of performance and lack of it often comes with a high price tag. For example, disengaged and unmotivated staff workers may contribute to reduced productivity through increased cases of employee dissident, illnesses, unscheduled absenteeism and general poor performance. On the other hand, Organizations that maintain high staff morale have, employees that arrive to work on time, have low employee turnover, communicate better and are more committed to the organizational goals. As a result, failure to address low morale issues in the workplaces may not only lead to lower productivity but also to increased loss of revenues, workplace conflicts, dissatisfied consumers or customer

Online sourcing

Online sourcing As we reach the end of the decade to what extent has online sourcing become a reality? The Internet has become a daily commonplace or even inevitability for businesses as well as it is for our individual needs. It enables us with numbers of possibilities and the new opportunities of its use are still coming up. This essay examines the role of the Internet in international and global sourcing and gives brief description of how the role is being changed or developed over the last decade. It also describes the benefits which come from using the Internet in sourcing activities. Yip and Dempster (2004) call the Internet as a driver of globalization. Its technological characteristics accelerate the globalization process. The Internet is decentralized network without any control so companies can use it to suit their own needs. It enables worldwide communication with no limitation by geographical distance. It is easy and low cost way to send and get information in real time from all over the world. Same authors summarise: â€Å"The Internet is highly complementary to the already trends that are forcing companies to become global, and at most a key driving force of the continued globalization of existing companies.† While international purchasing is simple buying process between buyer and seller from different countries, global sourcing has a wider meaning which includes worldwide integration and coordination of material, processes, technologies and suppliers. (Monczka, Trent, Handfield 2005). The majority of the companies, which decided to source globally, did it because of the motivation of getting the goods and materials as cheap as possible. However, Monczka, Trent, Handfield (2005) give us several other reasons for worldwide sourcing. Companies can get access to the latest product and process technology or they can obtain goods of higher quality. Some companies just follow the practices of competitor in order to remain cost competitive. The aims of global sourcing could be achieved easier with integration of right technology and one of it is the Internet. Lysons, Farrington (2006) use the word e-sourcing which refers to the use of the Internet in decision making process about the ways and locations from where products and services are obtained. Rapid development of information technology affects the all business activities and also in supply chain management the Internet has started to play significant role. Lancioni, Smith, Oliva (2000) argue that the Internet enables businesses to achieve the objectives of supply chain as decreasing the cost or improving communication, more quickly and effectively. According their research about the role of the Internet in supply chain management, companies use the Internet mostly for order processing, purchasing and communication with vendors. Next we closer explain the role of the Internet in sourcing activities. Lancioni (2003) says that the usage of the Internet in business could be multidimensional. He compares years 1999 and 2001 in his research and there is an overall increase of using the Internet in various business activities. According his research the biggest increase is in purchasing nearly by 50%. Firms realised benefits as lower labour expenses as purchasing department staff is reduced, due to computerising of purchasing process. Next area of growth is transportation from 56.2% to 84.3% of asked firms in 2001. Implementing technologies for tracking shipment, placing claims or fleet management improved productivity and lowered level of stock. The usage of the Internet for customer service rose by 15%. Firms improved respond time what accelerates problem solution. There is 12% increase in the use of the Internet for maintaining relationships with suppliers. Firms use application as online catalogues, e-mails, Internet exchanges. Both parties can be in closer touch and is easier to develop strategic partnership. Sourcing as â€Å"the process of identifying, selecting and developing supplier† (Lysons, Farrington, 2006) gives numerous opportunities to use the Internet in these activities even more if we consider sourcing in global context. In the term of identifying suppliers, the Internet represents an enormous source of information for buyer. Searching for the right suppliers has become easier and more cost effective. Barua, Ravindran and Whiston (1997) say that before the wide spread of Internet applications, supplier search using business directories, trade journal or yellow pages revealed only few results. Furthermore, much more focused group of suppliers can be made using the network databases as there is more information available on the Internet. Next, authors make statement about previous, present and future importance of the Internet. Electronic brochures of product and services with catalogues and price lists were the first applications of the Internet in business. Later, the re are search agents for finding the requested product and for comparison of prices. They predicted online processing of bids for products and services to take place in the future. Now, it is obvious that this became reality in the form of online reverse auction. Van Weele (2005) defines it as an auction where price is set by buyer and suppliers need to meet it. Roberts and Mackay (1998) mention that E-mails, searching tools and file transfer were the most used internet applications before. As the World Wide Web has started to play role, more and more companies set their own website to become visible in electronic world. These days, it is necessity for company to have its own webpage. It is a marketing tool and communication place. Customers, business partners and the third parities can easily get information about the company, look at lists of products or they can send their requirements via contact links. Besides going to website of individual supplier, there are numbers of suppliers portals (e.g. globalsources.com, purchasing.com, powersourcing.com) on the Internet where can buyer search for supplier according to required product, industry or country of supplier. Buyers are provided with product information and contact details of suppliers, some of portals offer a brief description of a company or there is a possibility to order or look to its catalogue as well as to contact supplier. Besides free accessible websites which offer lists of supplier from all over the world, there are also specialized marketplaces. Van Weele (2005) defines electronic marketplace as â€Å"a place on the Internet where actual transaction can take place between buyers and sellers†. UK national B2B centre presents on its website (unknown, 2009) various types of such markets and describes the range of services which they provide as lists of suppliers, electronic catalogues, online purchasing or online auction. General benefits of e-marketplaces include forming new trading partnerships or operating on a round-the-clock basis. An international e-market place gives opportunities which otherwise buyer would not be informed of. However, the first beliefs about e-market places and independent business exchanges were not meet as many e-market places failed. Sites were the Internet is used to target customer are the most successful (Tieman 2003, cited by Laseter). As we talk about the software equipment there are numbers of software programmes design for businesses to manage business activities electronically and over the Internet e.g. SAP, Oracle, Ariba. These programmes have also applications for e-procurement. Nowadays, investments to information technology are inevitable for each company which want to success internationally. Schalibly (2004) says: „Company that does not have electronic data cannot even begin to think about the global sourcing.â€Å" Also some companies refuse to cooperate with firm which do not meet their information technology requirements. Companies have recognised that and the investments to IT became the regular line item in their expenditure. Even more it is increasing every year. As the Internet provides us with number of supplier after the initial search, they can be both efficient and inefficient suppliers on the list. Therefore it is necessary to implement strategy for selection and evaluation of supplier. One possibility is to reduce selection according buyer requirements as price of product, size of company or number of years a company operates. Once buyer has a shortlist he can starts to evaluate suppliers. Buyers transaction cost would increase if he wants to evaluate all suppliers (Barua, Ravindran, Whiston, 1997). Trucker and Jones (2000) emphasize other important issues with selecting a supplier. These are using the right searching engines, intelligent agents and training procurement staff to guide the Internet effectively in order to minimize the irrelevant results. As far as developing relationships with suppliers is consider, the Internet is an important communication media. It supports these relationships as it is not costly and easy to connect. Even more, buyers have same opportunity if they deal with local or supplier from greater distance. We talk more about benefits of online communication later. As we mentioned above the Internet is widely used application in online sourcing. The main benefits include improving communication, getting better access to information or possibility to complete the entire purchasing process over the Internet. All these benefits results in cost saving enhance efficiencies and increase profit (Lancioni, Smith, Schau, 2002). Bartezzaghi and Ronchi (2005) give these benefits of applying e-sourcing. Buyer gets product for lower purchasing price and he achieves higher level of efficiency. Number of supplier also decreases by using e-sourcing tools. Communication over the Internet involves e-mails, website contact links and Internet exchanges. From global point of view, the possibility to communicate across the whole world and in different time zones represents the one of the main advantages which the Internet offers in global sourcing (Walters, 2007). Companies are able to contact supplier via E-mail on 24 hour basis as time zones barriers are removed. That was not possible before with using e.g. telephone lines. Sending documents and other files through the Internet became possible as now we have electronic data and electronic signature. Companies save time as sending takes few minutes while post delivery several days. There has also been improvement in customer service as customers can access company website or send requests any time. Results are in reduction of service costs and respond time (Lancioni, Smith, Oliva, 2000). Besides the advantages, there are issues as security and reliability which eliminates the potential use of the Internet. Walters (2007) conducts that as buyer and seller can contact directly via the Internet in a flexible and convenient way there is no need to us services of intermediaries. Transaction costs are reduced. One of the problems is protection of business emails with sensitive information against hackers (Roberts and Mackay, 1998). Although tools of online communication give advantages to salespersons they cannot replace their work. Deeter-Schmelz and Norman Kennedy (2004) argue that organization should design their website in the way to support sales representatives not to replace them. In fact, by using the Internet salesperson can get easier access to required information and by using of online sourcing tools they are free of paper work and they can concentrate on developing customer relationships. There is an example of effective communication system launched by Kia Motors (unknown 2002). The company introduced the distributor communication system in 2002 to connect subsidiaries, distributors with head office around the world through the Internet. The system enables to share information, placing orders or export document in real time. Achieved information from distributors helps KIA to establish strategy according the current market situation for the specific place. Distributors reduced their stock as they have better access to production and shipping information. Not least, trust has been built on both sides. The Internet presents an enormous pool of information and it is simple to create own appearance on this worldwide network. This is important in global sourcing as buyers have access to broader number of suppliers. On the other hand, buyers need to pay more attention to evaluate these suppliers. It is necessary to check their real presence, look for recommendation if they are new on the market or there is not enough information about them. The Internet allows completing the purchasing transaction online. Companies can use it from initial searching and contacting supplier through placing order to final payment of invoice. By doing so, decline of cost of transaction process can be achieved. Paper work is reduced as well as errors appear less. Notably, the whole process of ordering is done quicker. As a result of online purchasing in General Electric there has been a reduction of purchasing staff by 50%. Time period between sending order to receiving product decreased by 40% in the company (Lancioni, Smith, Oliva, 2000). The other benefits include informing vendors of changes in orders, checking the status of order or paying invoices electronically. Companies can track and plan shipment, schedule pickups and deliveries (Lancioni, Smith, Oliva 2000). Same authors give various examples of companies about using the Internet in supply chain management. By using the Internet for shipment scheduling, General Electric can more precisely and cost effectively deliver product on time to the customer. The Internet notifies Air Products and Chemicals of most suitable terminal and plant for serving customer as the company uses the Internet in global sourcing process. Roberts and Mackay (1998) in their article on the role of electronic commerce describe the anticipations coming from the use of the Internet. They talk about the possibilities for buyers as browsing in electronic catalogues, placing order or advancing bids. Suppliers could better organise their production and deliveries as they respond to bids. There are also the third parties which facilitate the marketplace. They offer services as supplier certification, referral, brokering and specialised directories. On the other hand, according to the research made by Deeter-Schmelz and Norman Kennedy (2004) about the usefulness of the Internet in supplier selection and relationship maintenance, statistic shows that buyers consider the Internet to be slightly important as an information source; the more useful sources are sales representatives or users of the product. In the area of selection supplier 42.6% of buyers say that the Internet does not play any important role. As far as communication and relationships with supplier are consider, the Internet is moderately or very important. Additionally, it has been more used in ongoing relationships than in initial stage of contacting supplier. The Internet has in global sourcing process its irreplaceable role. The main role is simple search and communication between buyer and supplier which lead to cost cutting and effectiveness. The Internet became like a â€Å"meeting place† for both supplier and buyer thus their active presence and involvement on this network is inevitable if they want to succeed. However, many expectations have become reality, some still remain in stage for future developing or were simply overrated. There are also activities and situation where human approach or face to face contact can not be replaced with technology. In term of sourcing it is the building trust and long term relationships with trade partners. Referencies 1. Bartezzaghi, E., Ronchi, S. (2005) E-sourcing in a buyer-operator-seller perspective: Benefits and criticalities, Production Planning and Control. Jun, 16 (4), pp.405-412 [online] Available from: 2. Barua, A., Ravindran, S., Whiston, A. (1997) Efficient selection of supplier over the Internet, Journal of management information system. 13 (4), pp.117-134 [online] Available from: 3. Deeter-Schmelt, D.R., Norman Kennedy, K. (2004) Buyer-seller relationships and information sources in an e-commerce world, Jornal of Business and Industrial Marketing. 19 (3), pp. 188-196 [online] Available from: 4. Lancioni, R., Smith, M., Jensen Schau, H. (2003) Strategic Internet application trends in supply chain management, Industrial Marketing Management. 32 (3), pp. 211 217 [online] Available from: 5. Lancioni, R., Smith, M., Oliva, T. (2000) The role of the Internet in supply chain management, Industrial Marketing Management. 29, pp. 45-56 [online] Available from: 6. Lysons, K., Farrington, B. (2006) Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. 7th ed. Essex: Perrson Education limited, p.367 7. Monczka, R., Trent, R., Handfield, R. (2005) Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. 3rd ed. Southwestern: Thomson, p.304, 306-308 8. Roberts, B., Mackay, M. (1998) IT supporting supplier relationships: The role of electronic commerce, European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. 4, pp.175-184 [online] Available from: 9. Schaibly, L. S. (2004) Making global sourcing asuccess, World Pumps. March, pp.34-36. [online] Available from: 10. Tieman, R. (2003) E-procurement and E-sourcing: Corporate buyers show stronger interest in cost saving online system, Financial Times. November 24, p.3 11. Trucker, D, Jones, L. (2000) Leveraging the power of the Internet for optimal supplier sourcing, Industrial Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistic Management. 30 (3-4), pp. 255-267 [online] Available from: [Accessed 21.11.2009] 12. Van Weele, A. (2005) Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. 4th ed. London: Thomson Learning, p.169-171 13. Walters, P., (2008) Adding value in global B2B supply chains: Strategic directions and the role of the Internet as e driver of competitive advantage, Industrial Marketing Management. 37, pp. 59-68 [online] Available from: Science direct [Accessed 21.11.2009] 14. Yip, G., Dempster, A. (2004) Using the Internet to enhance global strategy, European Management Journal. 23 (1), pp. 1-13 [online] Available from: Science direct [Accessed 21.11.2009] 15. unknown 2008 E-marketplaces, online auctions and exchanges [Accessed 21.11.2009] 16. unknown, (2002)Kia Motors to launch Kia Distributor Communication System [Accessed 21.11.2009]

McDonaldization: The Dehumanization of Workers Essay -- Argumentative

McDonaldization: The Dehumanization of Workers McDonaldization is becoming the new wave of job types where workers are being deskilled, dehumanized and exploited. Machines are taking over tasks which the employees used to do such as bank machines (interact). The McDonaldized jobs now instead of making the employee do all the work they have the customer working too, for example when the customer cleans up after eating. These jobs are becoming less interactive and personal because workers are becoming dehumanized and only allowed to follow a script, there is also the fact that fast food Company’s use drive through, where limited interaction occurs and are many restrictions. These types of jobs which the author George Ritzer labeled â€Å"McJobs† are run by organizational principals such as; efficiency, uniformity, predictability and control. The fast-food industry accounts for 40 percent of people employed in the restaurant business (of all types), of an approximate 6 million workers. The author gives evidence to show how fast-food highly depends on teenagers to work because the statistics are, about 70 percent of the workers are twenty years old and under, this was most likely their first type of job. This industry is mainly part time employee’s whose average work week consists of 29.5 hours. The rates of staff changes are quite regular, only about more than 50 percent stay for longer than a year. These jobs are mainly filled by lower classes and excessive amounts of mino...

Loretta Lynn Essay

Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb April 14, 1935) is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. (b. 1926, d. 1996), nicknamed â€Å"Doo†. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he had affairs and she was headstrong. Their experiences together became inspiration for her music. On her 21st birthday, Lynn’s husband bought her a $17. 00 Harmony guitar. She taught herself to play and when she was 24, on her wedding anniversary, Doo encouraged her to become a singer. She learned the guitar better, started singing at the Delta Grange Hall in Washington State with the Pen Brothers’ band, The Westerners, then eventually cut her first record in February, 1960. She became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s, and in 1967 charted her first of 16 number-one hits (out of 70 charted songs as a solo artist and a duet partner[1]) that include â€Å"Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)†, â€Å"You Ain’t Woman Enough†, â€Å"Fist City†, and â€Å"Coal Miner’s Daughter†. She focused on blue collar women’s issues with themes of philandering husbands and persistent mistresses, and pushed boundaries in the conservative genre of country music by singing about birth control (â€Å"The Pill†), repeated childbirth (â€Å"One’s on the Way†), double standards for men and women (â€Å"Rated â€Å"X†Ã¢â‚¬ ), and being widowed by the draft during the Vietnam War (â€Å"Dear Uncle Sam†). Country music radio stations often refused to play her songs. Nonetheless, she became known as â€Å"The First Lady of Country Music† and continues to be one of the most successful vocalists of all time. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography was made into an Academy Award winning film, Coal Miner’s Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones in 1980. Her most recent album, Van Lear Rose, was released in 2004, produced by Jack White, and topped the country album charts. As of 2011, Lynn continues to tour and has received numerous awards in country and American music.

Cumberland Metal Industries

In January of 1980, Cumberland Metal Industries (CMI) had developed a new product for the pile driving industry. Its new pad, made of tightly curled metal, had the potential to break into an industry where little or no innovation was taking place. The CMI product testing showed great efficiency gains over the current standard asbestos product. The existing competition consisted of small firms, few of which had the knowledge or resources to design and develop new products. CMI seemed on the verge of breaking into a new market, where its product would be the technological front-runner. It now needed to show its customers the value its product would provide, and price its new product accordingly. Without any consideration to potential savings realized in the price of the product, the CMI pad provides additional value to the customer in two ways, time and safety. Using asbestos pads, a pile driver was able to drive approximately 150-160 feet per hour. Using the CMI pads, the same pile driver was able to drive 200 feet per hour. Additionally, the CMI pads never went above a temperature of 250oF, which allowed them to be handled almost immediately. This increase in speed and resiliency accounted for a productivity increase of 33% faster driving time. With regards to safety, the CMI pad alleviates any health hazard concerns, which many workers were starting to feel towards the asbestos pads. This in the long run could save the customer significant money in healthcare costs and legal fees, should asbestos be proven to cause health concerns. The primary target market for the CMI pad would be the Engineering/Construction contractors and Independent pile-driving contractors. These two categories would benefit the most from a lower cost alternative to asbestos, as well as from the time and safety efficiencies. The secondary target market would be the Pile Hammer Distributors and Renting companies. This category may be less welcoming to the CMI pads, as the efficiencies realized by the contractors could translate into lost revenues due to fewer pads being needed and equipment being returned early. Part of the promotional aspect of this product launch should focus on the industry subject matter experts, the Pile Hammer Manufacturers, and the Architectural/Consulting Engineers. While these groups would not directly purchase this product, their opinions and specifications would be influential to the target markets. CMI had already submitted its pad for testing to Professor R. Stephen McCormack of Pennsylvania A&M University, who is well respected in the pile-driving field. While his results are not available, early indications are that his findings will be favorable. Should that be the case, CMI should promote these findings to the manufacturers and engineers, and work with them to have the CMI pads legitimized as a viable option within the industry. In deciding where to set the price on the new pads, CMI must first review its manufacturing costs, as well as determine the value its product would bring to its clients. The projected manufacturing costs are outlined in Table 1, with one option showing the costs using existing equipment, and the other showing the costs with a $50,000 investment in new permanent tooling equipment. Table 1 [pic] As is shown in Table 1, the permanent tooling reduces manufacturing costs by 53%. CMI would have to sell 633 units to break even on the initial $50,000 investment, however in my opinion I believe this is well worth it. By lowering its manufacturing costs, CMI can increase its margins, as well as increase its maneuverability with the product price. I will therefore base my pricing decision on the assumption that CMI invested in the permanent tooling equipment. CMI senior management has indicated that they are looking to receive a 50% margin on this product. Therefore, the minimum price option to be considered is $138. 36 per pad. Part of CMI’s product testing included providing the pads to two responsible contractors, Colerick Foundation Company and Fazio Construction, for them to test against the asbestos pads in working conditions. From the Colerick test, we learned that the contractor would have needed 480 asbestos pads, at a total cost of $1,000, to complete the job. In comparison, only 6 CMI pads would have been required. Therefore, in this situation, the exact comparable price per the job costs for a CMI pad to an asbestos pad would be ($1,000/6) $166. 66 per pad. The total number of feet for the job was 15,000, and from the test results we learned that the asbestos pads lasted for 31. 25 feet of pile driving, while the CMI pads lasted for 2,500. This translates into 80 asbestos pads needed for everyone one CMI pad. The average price of an asbestos pad is $3. 00; therefore the value to the contractor of a CMI pad would be (80 x $3) $240. In the Fazio test, the contractor would have used 600 asbestos pads, at a total job cost of $2,000. Again, in comparison, only 5 CMI pads would have been needed. In this instance, the comparable price of a CMI pad would be ($2,000/5) $400 per pad. The total number of feet for this job was 12,000, and from these test results we learned that the asbestos pads lasted for 20 feet of pile driving, while the CMI pads lasted for 2,400. In this example, 120 asbestos pads would be needed for every one CMI pad. The value of a CMI pad to this contractor would be (120 x $3) $360. While these results vary somewhat, they clearly show that the CMI pads last significantly longer than the current asbestos pads. For the purpose of determining price, I will extrapolate from the findings that a CMI pad lasts for 2,500 feet of pile driving, while an asbestos pad last for 25 feet of pile driving. Therefore, the value of one CMI pad to a contractor is comparable to 100 asbestos pads. Given the asbestos price of $3. 00 per pad, the dollar value of a CMI pad to a contractor is $300 per pad. Because CMI is the first to enter the market, with relatively weak competition, and protection from a patent, I recommend a skimming pricing strategy, with a focus on customer value. As a result, I would price the CMI pad at $162 per pad to our distributors, with an MSRP of $270. This would allow the distributors to market the product at a 10% price discount over asbestos, as well as the 33% increase in time productivity, and achieve a 40% margin. Due to the limited initial manufacturing volume of 250 pads per month, I believe the best course of action is to maximize possible revenue on each pad, rather than try for market penetration. The price of $162 would provide CMI a margin of 57. 5%, which exceeds the requirement of senior management, and would allow the company to invest in future research and development, or perhaps an advertising program should it wish to increase market share in the future.