Le Tour Eiffel essays

Le Tour Eiffel essays The Sheer excitement hit me like a speeding bullet. The anticipation was shattered, and the moment had finally come. I waited for the long, rapid, white object to come peeking out of the dark, dreary, damp cave. It came. All of a sudden, it shot out of the hole so quick, my eyes could barely focus on it. It came to a screeching halt. We boarded the Parisian Metro. The ride was filled with a sense of anticipation. Thump! Thump! Thump! The rails went on the lines. We stopped. Thump! Thump! Thump as the subway started up again. Another stop. This cycle remained in effect for at least four more stops. Each time the train would stop to pick up and drop off bustling passengers. More and more people piled into the narrow doorway. By the time our stop came, it was jammed packed like a cattle car. Our stop is next, yelled the tour guide. Just then, a sense of enthusiasm, a sense of deep exhilaration came over me. The train again came to a jerking halt. All thirty-eight of us stepped off the train onto the platform. We walked down a flight of concrete stairs onto a busy sidewalk. People walking by, cars honking and zipping by. I made a quick glance to my right, and saw it gleaming in front of me. My first glance was mind-boggling. My eyes kept leading me farther up and up and up until, at last, my eyes wandered to the top. It was amazing. Its steel, golden structure reflected off the platform lights like a star gleaming in the night sky. Each of the four bases running proportionally to the ones beside and across from it until the apex at the top came to a single point. The Eiffel tower was gargantuan, bigger than any picture seen in a book or on television. At last, our tickets were purchased and we were ready to ascend to the third platform where Paris can be seen for miles on end. First we boarded the overcrowded elevator and were dropped off at the second level. From there, we board...

How to Be a Successful Marketing Project Manager Without Experience

How to Be a Successful Marketing Project Manager Without Experience Even if you’re not a project manager by trade, sooner or later as a marketer, you’ll likely need to develop project management skills. For example, you may get promoted from a creative role  into a leadership position where you switch from executing projects to managing them. Or, you might need to take the lead on an initiative you’re spearheading, coordinating tasks across teams to get your vision implemented. Fortunately, you don’t need a ton of experience to pick up the basic knowledge and skills needed to plan your team’s projects and keep them on track. While project management is a deep and complex professional field, as a marketer, you can get by with simply knowing how to implement basic concepts. And if you are an experienced project manager, marketing teams have specific needs and requirements (which you might not be aware of, especially if your previous experience was in a different industry). This post will cover what marketers need to know to keep projects on track (even without prior experience), and provide some insight into what marketing teams  need from project managers (even if you have experience outside this specific industry). How to Be a Successful Marketing Project Manager (Even Without Experience) via @You’re Gonna Need Some Templates †¦ This post is packed with information you’ll need to get your project up and running. But, it’s not about to tell you a bunch of stuff to do and then leave you to your own devices to figure out how to actually get it done. Instead, to help you implement each step, it includes several templates (many of which are the exact same as the ones used internally at ). Download them below and then put them to use where they’re mentioned throughout the post: Struggling with #marketing #project #management? Get started on the right track here:What Does a Marketing Project Manager Do, Exactly? In simplest terms, anyone tasked with this role needs to fulfill a few basic things: Guiding projects from start to finish. Determining scope, assigning tasks, setting deadlines; everything involved in setting up projects for execution. Ensuring everyone has what they need to get their work done. And if they don’t, figuring out what’s need to get them what they need and remove roadblocks. Facilitate communication between stakeholders. Project managers make sure everyone has all the information they need too, and ensures team members are communicating clearly with one another. Whether you're looking to break into a project management role, or you're already responsible for project management tasks (and just need some direction), this video from PM Perspective explains quite a bit about what work the job entails (starting around the 5:27 mark): Of course, there’s a lot more to getting the job done, but this bullet-point version gives you a high-level understanding of the role. Later in this post, you’ll learn in more detail how to actually achieve these aims (and more). 10 Vital Project Management Skills You’ll Need If you’ve never managed a project before, it’s easy to quickly feel like you’re in over your head. So, the easiest place to start might be to understand what skills you need, so you can identify gaps in your skillset and know where you need to grow your capabilities. What Soft Skills Will You Need to Succeed? Before digging into the technical skills required to manage projects effectively, it’s worth understanding the general and interpersonal skills you’ll need first. Each of these are worth a blog post unto themselves, and so this post includes links for further reading per skill. Interpersonal Communication: If you’re leading a project, you’ll need to be able to communicate with everyone involved (both verbally and in writing). It’s a good thing those should be things that come naturally as a marketer, but if not, this concise list from Lifehacker  is a great place to start. Negotiation and Conflict Management: Not everyone on the team is likely to agree on everything all the time. When conflicts arise, it’ll be your job to resolve them to keep the project moving forward. Here’s how to do just that. Time Management Skills: Everyone on the project will need to know how to management their time effectively (including you). If you need help in this area, here are 101 time management tips (specifically for marketers). Basic Leadership: If you didn’t consider yourself a leader before, it’s time to change that. Even if you’re not a team lead, there will be times where you need to spearhead a project. This piece from Fast Company  offers some useful tips and starting points for developing leadership traits. Subject Matter Expertise: If you’re a marketer looking to build project management skills, odds are you already have deep subject matter expertise both in A) marketing and B) your clients or company’s industry. But, if you’re a project manager by trade working with marketing teams, this is something you’ll need to develop. Even if you’re on the introverted side, developing these skills (and learning to be at least somewhat of a â€Å"people person†) will go a long way toward your success here. Which Technical Skills Will You Need, Too? Now, it’s time to dig into the hands-on skills you’ll need to actually manage projects. This isn’t necessarily a complete list, but it covers the major competencies you’d do well to develop. Consider this a short list of what you need to get by (which is really what we’re going for here). Resource Allocation: Any project will be subject to constraints on available resources (whether that means time, budget, or people to carry out the work). You’ll need to understand how to make the most of what you have. Task Management: Helping the team develop workflows and understanding what needs to be done at each step in the project is another important responsibility. Timeline Planning: On any given project, you’ll likely have multiple people working on different pieces of the greater whole. Before anyone starts anything though, you’ll need to make sure clear timelines are set for who is doing what, and when. Ability to Set Deadlines: Add two or three days to whatever deadline someone says they can give you, and up to two weeks on a project as a whole. Building buffer time into project deadlines this way helps you ship on time, even when the unexpected happens (and this is speaking directly from experience). Familiarity With Project Management Tools: There are a lot of different tools you can use to manage projects (including ), but whatever you choose to use, make yourself an expert in all its features and capabilities. This isn’t an exhaustive list of skills, but for your purposes as a marketer-turned-accidental-project-manager, these will cover most of what you need. A Simple â€Å"Accidental† Project Management Framework for Marketers What does this post mean by â€Å"accidental† project management? Think about one of the following possible scenarios: You pitch an idea for a new tactic or project and it turns out that not only does your boss love it, but they want you to run the show (which you probably weren’t expecting). You’ve been promoted into a managerial role (but have never led projects from start to finish before). Managing projects is just part of a broader set of responsibilities on your plate (regardless of your formal title or actual role). In any of these cases, pivoting toward a new life as a project manager probably isn’t necessary. You just need to develop enough skills to effectively see projects through to completion. Above all, you just don’t want to be caught flat-footed when the time arrives for you to take the lead on a project. With this simple framework, you can ensure that doesn’t happen. Step 1: Identify the Project or Campaign This is where everything starts. You’ve likely conducted some sort of brainstorming process or otherwise determined loosely what the given project will be. Whatever it is you’re working on, you need to make sure you’re crystal-clear on its purpose and intended outcomes. Recommended Reading: 100 Awesome Marketing Ideas You Can Use Right Now Step 2: Write a Project Brief Next, buckle down and write a project brief (otherwise known as a creative brief- they’re essentially the same thing). This is a simple outline of everything the project will entail, including: A project summary. One or two sentences describing the project at a high level. Some basic details. Who is the project for (ex: who is your audience)? What problems will it solve? How will it be measured and how soon do you expect to see results? The goal. What is the desired aim for the project? It’s helpful if you can nail down some hard numbers, but that can be determined later if necessary. An outline for the process that’ll be implemented to execute the project. A high-level summary of steps and handoffs between team members is sufficient for now. Who will be involved. Which team members need to be on the project? Be careful only to include necessary staff in order to make the best use of everyone’s time. Required resources. Which tools and other assets will be needed to complete it? Deliverables. What tangible assets will be created as a result of this project? A rough timeline. When would you like the project to actually ship? The form this document takes doesn’t need to be overly complex. Generally, a Word doc or PowerPoint slidedeck is all you need. Here’s an example of what a creative brief might look like (based on the actual template uses internally): Recommended Reading: The Best Way to Write a Creative Brief (With Templates) Step 3: Develop Goals A project should always have a goal. Otherwise, you run the risk of falling into the trap of doing stuff just to do stuff, mistaking activity for results. It helps to have a repeatable process in place for setting goals too. Try following the SMART Goals framework: Specific: The goal is tied to a specific number or well-defined objective. Measureable: Progress toward the goal can be quantified with data. Aspirational: It stretches your capabilities and will make a major impact. Realistic: But it’s also within your reach and could reasonably be achieved. Time-Bound: It’ll be attained within a set period of time. Every goal you set should meet this criteria. If you determine it doesn’t make sense to set goals for the project at this point, instead determine who will set goals for the project in the next step. Step 4: Host a Team Huddle Meeting to Gather Team Input Implementing these meetings have been transformational for project management at . No joke. There’s not much to them, either. You simply gather everyone together who’s going to be working on a project, discuss availability and requirements, and then start mapping out how much time everyone needs and putting together loose timelines. How can you run such a meeting yourself? Start with a simple PowerPoint presentation (like the one in the template kit included in this post). The first thing you’ll need to do is summarize your project: Here are some hypothetical examples for a website redesign project: This project will: Establish content requirements for our new website. Ensure all steps for SEO best practices are followed. Manage communication between marketing and development. This can be as simple and high-level as this. Next, list all the deliverables the team will need to produce for this project. This means all the tangible assets that will be created (ex: blog posts, landing pages, videos, social content, emails, etc.): Then, list which teams will need to be involved in the project. This means which specific marketing teams in your company, plus other departments (like development or accounting) that need to be involved: Finally, describe the goal of the project. Keep it as concise as possible, but do include specific statistics and numbers you’d like to achieve (if possible): A note on setting goals: Establishing goals will require some additional legwork before you can present the project to the team. You can start learning how to set goals here, or you can set a line item for another team member (one who might be responsible for analytics or goal-tracking) to set goals as a phase for the project later. Then, schedule a date for the meeting, and send a calendar invite letting everyone know about the meeting. Once you kick off the meeting, run through the following: A basic explanation of the project. Share your creative brief with everyone too. Ask what steps each team member will need to take. Especially if you aren’t sure. And how much time they’ll need for each phase of the project. To repeat a point made earlier in this post, always add a couple days. This helps provide flexibility in case something comes up. You can safely assume something will come up, too. Then, you can complete a rough timeline as the meeting progresses, and leave with a good idea of what everyone will need to make what you’re working on a success. You can use the last slide in the template to document the timeline: There are a few things to know about this slide to use it effectively: Team member names  on the left are self-explanatory, but it’s helpful to list everyone in the order they’ll need to step into the project. If you’re unsure about this, you can use some time during your team huddle to work this out within the team. The Phase column  refers to which pieces or steps in the project each team member will be responsible for. Size  refers to the level of effort required for each phase. You can denote this in several different ways. One method is called â€Å"t-shirt sizing,† where level of effort is denoted as S, M, L, or XL. Each â€Å"size† correlates with a set length of time (for example, S might mean one day, M might be three days, and so forth, based on what you decide). The timelines column should be used to list how many days or weeks each phase will take. This is useful in addition to the Size column because when people are working on multiple things at once, saying a phase will take three days (in total work time) doesn’t mean it’s going to get done three days from right now. So, use this column to list the total number of days the team member will need (then add two days for buffer). By the time you’re done, you’ll have the raw information you need from the team to actually start mapping out the project in your project management software. Step 5: Map Out Timelines and Tasks With that in hand, it’s time to get granular in planning out the individual tasks that will need to be completed throughout the project. Ideally, your team members will be able to tell you which tasks they’ll need to tackle, and all you need to worry about are the deadlines for each team member’s phase in the project. Jump into your project management platform (whichever you’re using is fine, but for demonstration purposes, this post is going to use ) and start creating entries for each phase and mark off deadlines. To do this in , start by creating a Marketing Campaign: Next, start adding relevant content types for each piece of the project onto the calendar by clicking each day a phase is due: Then, select the relevant content types you need to add to the project: Once have everything placed, you’ll be able to switch between viewing your projects and campaigns on the marketing calendar: Or using the Kanban Project Dashboard view if you prefer a more traditional kanban approach: Now, ideally the tool you’re using will allow you to set up tasks, with deadlines for each one. At this point, each team member should be able to add their tasks (Task Templates can make this extremely easy, by allowing you to create and save task lists). Here’s what tasks look like when you click into an item on the calendar in : Otherwise, you can sit down with each team member to help them walk through all the tasks they’ll need to add. If tasks need to be approved by another team member or manager (such as yourself, possibly), you can use Task Approvals  (this way, a team member will not be able to check off something complete until you’ve confirmed it’s done: If certain tasks require other tasks to be completed before being assigned, you can use Task Rules  too (this allows you to set up triggers where when one task is complete, another is added to the list). Team members can use the Team Management Dashboard to view all their tasks in one place too (this also allows team members to see what each other are working on as well): By the time you’re done, you’ll have all your deadlines for each phase, and all of the tasks everyone needs to complete all planned out in one place. Alternately, you can use the marketing project management calendar template (included in this post- you can find the download shortly after the introduction of this post). It looks like this: To use this template, do the following under the Sprint Backlog tab: Label all your projects in the Sprint column. List the level of effort (number of hours) each team member will need to complete their tasks or phases (ex: Bill, Designer, 10 Hours). Then, in each Week column, name the step or task that’s due, along with some notes or additional context. Then, to manage workflows for each project, create a checklist using another app (such as Evernote or another note-taking app). This is the quick and dirty, lower-cost approach. Use Daily Standup Meetings to Check In on Project Progress If your marketing team is using agile project management, you’re probably already familiar with the concept of a standup meeting (sometimes called a scrum meeting). Essentially, they’re morning meetings held each morning where everyone on the team shares: What they did yesterday. What they’ll do today. What’s preventing them from getting their work done. That’s about it. If you run these meetings in the purist sense, everyone stands up during the meeting to discourage it from running too long. You get to the point, and if anyone needs to have a discussion about anything, you find who you need to talk to afterwards. You can also run these meetings simply by sharing status updates over Slack or your other internal chat app. The marketing team at has experimented with both approaches. You can feel free to do the same and find what works best in your situation. Recommended Reading: How to Run Effective Daily Standup Meetings With Busy Marketers Measure Productivity and Hitting Deadlines As a manager (even just as an ad hoc project manager), your success is determined by your team’s success. Of course, the actual success of any project is somewhat independent of how well it was run. You could be extremely effective in running a project or campaign that simply doesn’t deliver results (and as much as it stings to admit sometimes, not every project can be successful every time). But, from a project management perspective, you can gauge the success of your efforts based on whether team members are hitting their deadlines, and you’re able to ship on time. To measure this, simply track task completion using your project management tool. If you’re a user, this is easy to do using the marketing calendar (which shows completion status for every project at a glance): Now, what makes tasks even more powerful is the Team Performance Report. It calculates all task completion and shows you who is getting their work done on time, and who is lagging behind:Together, this makes it extremely easy for you to see how projects are progressing, know when deadlines are getting met, and actually quantify your team’s productivity. That means you can follow up with your team only when you need to, because you can see very quickly when deadlines are coming up, and know when it’s time to have a discussion about a task’s status. You can achieve similar goals with other tools too, or even do this work manually by planning and tracking tasks and projects using spreadsheets. Now, working with endless spreadsheets contributes to a problem dubs â€Å"makeshift marketing,† but they’re also free, and using what you have available is better than doing nothing at all. With that in mind, you can use the downloadable project time tracking template (included in this post- scroll up near the introduction to find the downloadable template bundle if you haven’t gotten it yet) to manage projects and see how things are going. Under the first tab labelled Project Type 1, you’ll see this: Have each team member create a copy of the sheet and add what they’re working on and log their time spent on the project. Then, on the tab labelled Time Tracking, they can add all their projects and hours logged for the month: This helps visualize what work is actually getting done (provided everyone completes their time sheets accurately). Again, some sort of software (whether that’s or something else) is vastly preferable for tracking work completion, but this approach can work too in the absence of more advanced options. What to Do When Deadlines Can’t Be Met Or something just might not go as planned. When conflicts arise, it’s important to remember it’s not the end of the world. You just need to get to the root of the issue, remove the source of contention, and keep the project moving along. Are Deadlines Actually the Issue? The most common concern you’re likely to face is something comes up and someone can’t get something done when they initially promised. If you built in some buffer time into your project, you should be able to move their deadline a bit without delaying the project as a whole. This has proven to be a lifesaver a time or two internally at . However, if someone is constantly blowing deadlines, you may need to help them better estimate how much time they’ll actually need to get work done. Estimating is tough to get right and takes some time and practice to really understand how much time you should actually set aside for a given task. If that fails, the next step is to discuss the issue with a manager. Or, if you are the manager, take corrective action, which is a topic for another time and post. Recommended Reading: How to Meet Deadlines When You're Sick and Tired of Missing Them Additional Training Resources to Consider Say you want to take your project management capabilities to the next level. Where can you go for further training or what should you read to learn more? Here are some suggestions. Blog Posts and Guides: How to Get Started With Agile Marketing and Do Your Best Work The Complete 16-Step Marketing Project Management Process That Will Get You Organized 19 of the Best Project Management Training Opportunities for Marketers Free Resources: Free Training Videos from Project Manager Introduction to Project Management from EDX Paid Resources: Project Management courses from LearningTree Training and development resources from Project Management Institute That should be plenty to get you started, though a quick Google search can yield many more options. Manage Any Marketing Project With You’ve seen mentioned throughout this post, and even saw some high-level examples of how it works. If you’re interested in learning more about how it can help you get project management under control, then get all the information you need to get started below: Believe It or Not, You Can Successfully Manage Projects This isn’t a complete guide to managing projects, and there’s plenty more you can learn about its ins and outs. But, for most marketers, this post may well include as much as you’ll practically need to know to manage projects and campaigns day to day. It might seem overwhelming at first, but with a little bit of practice, it’ll start to feel like second nature. Best of luck.

The Doctrine of Acte Clair in the Context of National Courts Research Paper

The Doctrine of Acte Clair in the Context of National Courts - Research Paper Example A national court can ask the CJ questions pertaining to the interpretation of the EU charter. It can also ask the CJ to give rulings on the interpretation of the Treaty and Acts of the EU institutions. The CJ can be asked questions on the validity of Acts of the EU institutions - not on the validity of the Treaty through, or be asked to give rulings on such Acts. In practice, as only the CJ can rule on the invalidity of EU law, any such question must be referred to it by the concerned national court. This function of the CJ is enshrined in the EU charter. Art 256(3) TFEU (Art 225(3)EC: Art 168(a) EEC) specifies the General court’s authority that it shall have the ‘†¦jurisdiction to hear and determine questions referred for a preliminary ruling under Art 267 TFEU, in specific areas†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Moreover, CJ can only interpret EU law. It cannot interpret national law nor pass comment on the compatibility of national law with EU law. A good example can be found in th e case of 6/64 Costa v ENEL [1964] ECR 585. If CJ is asked a question raising the compatibility of national law with EU law, it has the duty to reformulate the question into one just of EU law – see eg26/62 Van Gend en Loos [1963] ECR 1. In C221/89 ex p Factortame [1992] QB 680. Nevertheless, even though expressed in abstract terms, the CJ gives a clear ruling that UK law is incompatible with EU law. Additionally, the CJ can only rule on the interpretation of EU law, not on the application of it by the national court in the particular case. However, often the guidance given by the CJ is so specific that it equates to the application, for example as seen in C392/93 R v HM Treasury ex p BT[1996] ECR I 1631.

Productivity within Allstate Insurance Corp Research Proposal

Productivity within Allstate Insurance Corp - Research Proposal Example That was one conclusion drawn from a study carried out recently by Benjamin Waber and Sandy Pentland of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.† (2) Although the methods for achieving the same or better outcomes with fewer resources may vary, improved productivity will not occur unless it is pursued actively. Ineffective searches and wasting time looking for information is a cost of a company. Many service economy jobs could enjoy substantial productivity growth through better application of information technology. For example, every time you check in at the airport, you wait several minutes as the agent frantically taps away at a hidden computer. Most of this time is wasted due to airline softwares horrendous usability. With a better user interface, agents could process passengers much faster, which would immediately increase their productivity and save time for customers. The answer, according to Nick Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen, researchers at the Center for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, is that American companies make much more effective use of information technology than European companies.† (4) The importance of incentives to employees on the productivity is well known fact. Even socialism has admitted it. As Gerard Roland says â€Å"Prior to the privatization, It was China that went the farthest in trying to give managers better profit incentives. Data on 769 Chinese enterprises between 1980 and 1989 in four provinces (Sichuan, Jiangsu, Jilin, and Shanxi) analyzed by Groves and colleagues (1994) showed that increased autonomy to managers led them to give more incentives to workers by increasing the shares of bonuses in total wages payments and the share of contract workers relative to permanent workers. Increased incentives also had a positive effect on productivity.† (5) Companies can increase productivity in a variety of ways. The most obvious methods involve automation and

Corporate Social Responsibility At British Petroleum Commerce Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility At British Petroleum Commerce Essay According to Mohr (1996), corporate responsibility is supported by the concepts of multidimensional definitions and social marketing. In the multidimensional definitions concept, the focus is on the major responsibilities expected from companies. These major responsibilities include economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic dimensions (Carroll, 1991). These responsibilities must be performed in order to benefit not only the company operators but also their employees, customers, the community and the general public. Kotler (1991) notes that the social marketing concept of corporate responsibility stresses that companies should operate in a way that maintains or enhances the well-being of its customers as well as its society. Petkus and Woodruff (1992) supported this concept further by stating that CSR is the avoidance of harm and the provision of good services. The definition given by the authors on corporate social responsibility may vary to a certain degree. However, the meanings of these definitions emphasize on one matter, and that is, a socially responsible organization must have priorities other that short-term profitability (Mohr, 1996). A study has been conducted with regards to the significance of corporate social responsibility to profitability (Mohr Webb, 2001). Although, further studies are still necessary in order to analyze the correlation of these factors, the findings of Mohr and Webb showed that social responsibility plays a significant role in consumer appeal. The perceptions of consumers however, tends to vary with regards to this aspect. Nonetheless, this stresses the importance of corporate responsibility not only on benefiting the stakeholders but also in achieving the goals of the companies towards growth and profitability. Primarily, the main goal of this report is to analyse the corporate social responsibility of British petroleum. Herein, the analysis will discuss how the company has been able to adhere to their responsibilities in the society which they operate. In addition, this paper will also discuss the comparison on the CSR approach of BP and The CO-OP. Overview of the Company British Petroleum known today as BP Amoco is a petroleum industry based in London. It is recognized as one of the top four oil and petroleum companies throughout the world. The company started in 1901when William Knox DArcy was given the permission by the Shah of Persia to explore the land for oil and founded one in May 1908. Because of this discovery, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was established so as to expose these findings. The company has grown gradually because of this as World War I is happening; the British Government shows intense interest to the company which became the source of fuel oil of Royal Navy during WWI. In 1917, the war gives permission to the British Government to have full control of the company and named it British Petroleum. The company has continued to become one of the largest oil companies in Europe and because the company wanted to expand its market, BP merged wit the American Oil Company (AMOCO). Today, the company operated in more than 100 states in 6 continents including China. The main goal of this company is to drill and find oil. The major activities of BP Amoco is exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil; refining or decontamination, marketing, supply and transportation and production and marketing or petrochemicals. In addition, the company also engaged itself in solar power. The strategic use technology and strategic management can be considered as a factor for this achievement. The company also acquires Burmah Castrol and Atlantic Richfield Corporation (Arco) and has been able to launch a combined global branding. The company offers products and services which are divided into three categories; on the roads which include fuels and stations, fuel cards, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), lubricants, roadside assistance and route planners, for the home which consists of products like LPG, online store and solar and renewable; and for business which include a ir BP, Bitumen, BP Marine, BP open books, BP shipping, petrochemicals, power, natural gas, lubricants liquified natural gas (LNG) and LPG, fuels, fuel cards and solar and renewable. In order to easily reach their customers, BP also uses the internet through its website. Corporate Social Responsibility of BP A facet of corporate social responsibility is the companys responsibility in the preservation and care of the environment. Oil companies, particularly the British Petroleum have battled issues coming out against them in relation to environmental issues. In fact, some environmental organisations have expressed dismay over the indiscriminate company performance of BP that resulted to harm in the environment. In August 1991, based on its analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) toxic release inventory data for 1990 (the most recent available), the Washington, D.C.- based public interest group Citizen Action named BP among the top 10 polluters in the United States (BP: A Legacy of Apartheid, Pollution and Exploitation 2006). The findings brought out by environmental agencies and concerned environmentalist groups have caused the firm to take measures regarding the issue. Two years after Lord John Browne took over the BP administration, the firm rolled out a new marketing strategy that involved emphasis on environmental responsibility. In 1997, the British Petroleum supported the Kyoto Protocol, a worldwide agreement that seeks to prevent global warming by reducing greenhouse emissions. Subsequent efforts to minimise their business impact to the natural environment (providing cleaner burning fuels, reducing emissions, ending all facilitation payments (bribes) and political contributions) were also much publicised by the company, not only in observance of their corporate social responsibility, but also as a way of maintaining their stakeholders trust. These attempts on the part of the firm were questioned for their real intention, particularly the question will it lead the world in a sustainable energy revolution, truly moving beyond petroleum, or will it be content to profit from the exploitation of an increasingly taxed planet while draping itself in green? (Assadourian, 2004). Having been able to realize their corporate social responsibilities, the British petroleum has been able to solve the issue and attempt to have an enormous reinvention in 2000. The main goal of this reinvention is to alter the perception the people regarding BP in terms of its business operation and its role in the society. This reinvention is also a part of the adherence of the company to their social responsibilities and which costs $200 million. British petroleum was the first oil industry which started to address the issue of global climate change. It can be said that the corporate social responsibility challenge for the British petroleum has been threefold. The first one is to the challenge of translating the social responsibility commitment into an efficient and consistent approach in the global market. The next is to be able to meld the BP its subsidiaries like Arco and Amoco to social investments and the last is to satisfy and meet the external expectations from the society. These CSR commitment has been strengthened through the changes or reinvention mentioned above which include their advertisement of the Beyond Petroleum. In doing and meeting their organisational goal of being committed to social responsibilities, the company had been able to conduct rigorous planning with more than 130 fully functions Business Units. In this regard, each of the each of the Business Units has largely autonomous business operations with its own identity, history, imperatives and relationships. The Corporate social responsibility strategy of BP has also been able to give importance to three performance measures which include the social, environmental and financial which are known as the triple bottom line. The commitment of the BP with their social responsibility ensures that wherever they operation, their activities should be able to establish economic benefits and opportunities by enhancing the quality of life of individually, specifically those who are directly influenced by the company. The CSR commitment of the British Petroleum focuses on five aspects which include the employee relationships, ethical conducts, health safety and environmental performance, financial aspect and control (British Petroleum, 2008). In order to ensure that they are able to get affiliated with different international and global organisations for Human rights such as the United Nations, US-UK Voluntary Principles and others, for the labour relationships they follow the standards of the ILO Tri partite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy and for environmental accountabilities they are linked with the GHG emissions reduction, ISO14000 and Clean Fuels Programs. Just like British Petroleum, other organisations are also able to adhere to the concept of being socially responsible and THE CO-OP is never an exemption. The corporate social responsibility of this company works in various stakeholders such as individual members, employees, customers, corporate members, suppliers, the wider community, and the cooperative members. In doing so, the company has provide community investment of  £7.3m, which is equal to 3.2% pre-tax profit, up from 2.5% in year 2003.

Abdul Basit

Introduction McShane and Von Glinow state that â€Å"the best organizational structure depends on the organization’s external environment, size, technology, and strategy† (409). To identify the best organizational structure for Protege Engineering, I will first determine what ‘Organizational Structure’ means. In a second step I will analyze its elements and carve out the important components for the considered organization. Finally I will provide a conclusion and recommendation.Organizational Structures In general, organizational structure is related to the way that an organization organizes employees and jobs, so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. McShane and Von Glinow define ‘Organizational Structure’ in more detail; they state that organizational structure â€Å"refers to the division of labor as well as the patterns of coordination, communication, workflow, and formal power that direct organizational activities† (386).To understand what this means we will have a look at each component. The division of labor is related to the â€Å"subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to different people† (McShane and Von Glinow 386). The patterns of coordination refer to the coordinating of work activities between the employees where they divide work among themselves. This process requires coordinating mechanism to ensure the workflow, which means that everyone works in concert (McShane and Von Glinow 386).The primary means of coordination are informal communication which involves â€Å"sharing information on mutual tasks and forming common mental models to synchronize work activities†, Formal hierarchy which refers to the â€Å"assigning legitimate power to individuals, who then use this power to direct work processes and allocate resources†, and Standardization which involves the â€Å"creating routine patterns of behavior or output† (McShane and Von Glinow 387).We can admit that informal communication is necessary in no routine and ambiguous situations because employees can exchange large volume of information through face-to-face communication and other media-rich channels. Therefore informal communication is important for Protege Engineering because their work involve new and novel situations when developing specific solutions for each client. Even if informal communication is difficult in large firms it can be possible when keeping each production site small (McShane and Von Glinow 388).Now, that we identified what organizational structure means, and that informal communication is necessary for Protege Engineering, we need some more information of how structures differ from each other. McShane and Von Glinow state that â€Å"every company is configured in terms of four basic elements of organizational structure†; namely: span of control, centralization, formalization, and departmentalization (390). Further on, I will explain these four elements and carve out what this means for Protege Engineering.The span of control â€Å"refers to the number of people directly reporting to the next level hierarchy† (McShane and Von Glinow 390). Today’s research found out that a wider span of control (many employee directly reporting to the management) is more appropriate especially for companies with staff members that coordinate their work mainly through standardized skills and do not require close supervision – like the highly skilled employees of Protege Engineering (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391).However, McShane and Von Glinow also state that a wider span of control is possible when employees have routine jobs and a narrow span of control when people perform novel jobs. This statement is based on the need for frequent direction and supervision. Another influence on the span of control is the degree of interdependence among employees. Employees that perform highly interdependent work with one anoth er need a narrow span of control because they tend to have more conflicts with one another.I assume that the employees working for Protege Engineering do not require close supervision because they are highly educated – have university degrees in these fields and a few have doctorates; therefore, a wider span of control allows the employees to work in self-directed teams that coordinate mainly through informal communication and formal hierarchy plays a minor role (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391). Centralization â€Å"occurs when formal decision authority is held by a small group of people† (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Companies often decentralize when they become larger and their environment more complex; however, â€Å"different degrees of decentralization can occur simultaneously in different party of the organization†. In my opinion, the power of decision-making should be decentralized in the considered company because the mentioned projects demand highly spec ialized knowledge, which cannot be provided by the head of the organization. Formalization â€Å"is the degree to which organizations standardize behavior through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanism† (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Usually larger organizations tend to have more formalization because â€Å"direct supervision and informal communication among employees do not operate easily when larger numbers of people are involved†. Notwithstanding that Protege Engineering employs about 600 individuals, I assume that a high degree of formalization is not appropriate because their jobs cannot be standardized, every project is customized to the client and has therefore novel and new components.Another evidence against formalization is, that formalization tends to â€Å"reduce organizational flexibility, organizational learning, creativity and job satisfaction†, which the employees of Protege Engineering definitely need (McShane and Von Glinow 409 ). Regarding the first three elements of organizational structure we can admit that Protege Engineering should have an organic structure because organizations with â€Å"organic structures operate with a wide span of control, decentralized decision making, and little formalization† (McShane and Von Glinow 395).This structure works well in dynamic environments because they are very flexible to change, more compatible with organizational learning, high performance workplaces, and â€Å"quality management because they emphasize information sharing and an empowered workforce rather than hierarchy and status† (McShane and Von Glinow 395). Departmentalization â€Å"specifies how employees and their activities are grouped together† like presented in an organizational chart of the organization (McShane and Von Glinow 395).A functional structure organizes organizational members around specific knowledge or other resources, which enhances specialization and direct supervi sion; however, functional structure weakens the focus on the client or product (McShane and Von Glinow 396-397). A functional structure would not support Protege Engineering because the success of this company highly depends on especially developed products for its clients; therefore, this organization should focus on the satisfaction of its clients rather than focusing on organizing employees around specific resources.A divisional structure organizes groups of employees around geographic areas, clients or products in very flat team-based structures with low formalization. This structure seems to be very appropriate for Protege Engineering because it focuses employee’s attention on products or clients and self-directed teams with low formalization. However, there are some disadvantages that need to be considered, like duplicating resources and creating silos of knowledge. Conclusion and Recommendation In the introduction I stated that the best organizational structure depends on the organization’s external environment, size, technology, and strategy.We found out that Protege Engineering should have an organic organizational structure because a wide span of control, decentralized decision-making, and little formalization will organizes employees and jobs so that Protege Engineering work can best be performed and its goals can best be met. Furthermore, McShane and Von Glinow give the advice that â€Å"corporate leader should formulate and implement strategies that shape both characteristics of the contingencies as well as the organization’s resulting structure† (409). This advice is very valuable because the structure of an organization should follow its strategy and not vice versa. . Many organizations think that they integrate organizational cultures when merging or acquiring other companies. Explain what does integrating organizational cultures means? Under what conditions is this strategy most likely to succeed? Case 6: Merging Or ganizational Cultures Introduction Every organization has its own culture. According to McShane and Von Glinow organizational culture stands for â€Å"the values and assumptions shared within an organization† (416). When companies are merging with, or acquiring, other companies the likelihood is very high that the organizational cultures differ from each other.To avoid that the new company ends up with two different cultures, there need to be any kind of integrating organizational cultures. First I will explain what integrating organizational cultures means and second I will present the conditions under which this strategy is most likely to succeed. Finally, I will provide a conclusion and recommendation. Merging Organizational Culture The necessity of merging organizational cultures becomes clear when regarding that failures to coordinate activity, based on cultural conflict, contribute to the widespread failure of corporate mergers (Weber and Camerer 412).Differences in cul ture in an organization lead to consistent decreased performance for both employees after the merger, and there is an evidence of conflict from the differences in culture, which could be a possible source for the high turnover rate following mergers (Weber and Camerer 412). McShane and Von Glinow also state that â€Å"most mergers and acquisitions fail in terms of subsequent performance of the merged organization† and that this happens because leaders fail â€Å"to conduct due-diligence of the corporate cultures† (426).At this point, we can admit that some forms of integration may allow companies with different cultures to merge successfully. One strategy in avoiding cultural collisions is to conduct a bicultural audit. A bicultural audit is â€Å"a process of diagnosing cultural relations between companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur† (McShane and Von Glinow 427). The bicultural audit identifies cultural differences an d determines those that possibly result in conflict. In addition, it also identifies values that provide a common ground on which cultural foundations can be built.Finally, it identifies strategies and prepares action plans to bring the two merging cultures together (McShane and Von Glinow 427). In some cases the bicultural audit may identify that the two cultures are too different to merge effectively; however, the companies can still form a workable union, if appropriate merger strategies are applied (McShane and Von Glinow 427). Like the following illustration shows, McShane and von Glinow provide four main strategies to merge different corporate cultures successfully. Figure 4: Strategies for MergingDifferent Organizational Cultures Source: McShane and Von Glinow 428. The first strategy is Assimilation, which â€Å"occurs when employees at the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization† (McShane and Von Glinow 427). This strategy is most likely to succeed when the employees of the acquired company are looking for improvement because they have a weak, dysfunctional culture and the acquiring company has a strong culture, which is aligned with the external environment (McShane and Von Glinow 427).The second strategy is Deculturation, which means that the acquiring company is â€Å"imposing their culture and business practices on the acquired organization† (McShane and von Glinow 428). However, this strategy rarely works because employees usually resist organizational change, especially regarding personal and cultural values. Sometimes deculturation may be necessary; for example, when the culture of the acquired company does not work effectively (McShane and von Glinow 428). The third strategy – and the strategy which the given case is asking for – is the Integration Strategy.This strategy is a combination of â€Å"the two or more cultures into a new composite culture that preserves the bes t features of the previous cultures† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). That sounds like a good compromise, but the integration strategy is â€Å"slow and potentially risky because there are many forces preserving the existing cultures† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). McShane and Von Glinow also state that â€Å"mergers typically suffer when organizations with significantly divergent corporate cultures merge into a single entity with a high degree of integration† (McShane and Von Glinow 427).This strategy works best when both sides can benefit from an integration strategy; for example, when the existing cultures of both companies are not optimal and could use some improvements. The negative aspects of the integration strategy – for example being very time-consuming – result from the employees being resistant to changes, or ambiguous rules which are also a source of conflict and often occur during mergers and acquisitions (McShane and Von Glinow 335).Howeve r, the integration strategy, which is the most effective combination of all existing cultures, is most likely to succeed when the â€Å"existing cultures can be improved† and members of the organization â€Å"are motivated to adopt a new set of dominant values† (McShane and Von Glinow 428). The fourth strategy is separation, which â€Å"occurs when the merging companies agree to remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices† (McShane and Von Glinow 428).This strategy is most suitable when the merging organizations operate in different industries or countries because cultures differ between industries and countries (McShane and Von Glinow 428). Conclusion and Recommendation The integration process of merging companies is a combination of the existing cultures into a new culture that maintains the best features of the previous cultures, and it is most likely to succeed when existing cultures already need improvement so that employees are motivated to accept change.This strategy is particularly challenging when the members of the organization are satisfied with their previous culture because they will be resistant to change. Another very important factor for the success of mergers is the level of commitments made by the employees. Therefore, employees should be brought into the process as early as possible (Badrtalei and Bates 314).

Find Out Whos Discussing Smarter Balance Essay Samples 8th Grade and Why You Need to Be Worried

Find Out Who's Discussing Smarter Balance Essay Samples 8th Grade and Why You Need to Be Worried There are several free examples of appropriate formatting. Qualities of a fantastic persuasive essay topic The topic ought to be specific. Begin with general subjects that you are conversant with then narrow down to a particular topic. Possessing excellent research abilities and selecting a great topic is important. Smarter Balance Essay Samples 8th Grade Features Which is the reason why we here offer you some persuasive essay samples that may assist you with your own. Don't forget that any argumentative essay sample you'll discover on the internet will require a full rewriting in order to prevent plagiarism. Sample persuasive essays can also offer inspiration on topics to write on in addition to serve as examples about how to compose your essay. The greatest persuasive short essays often concentrate on controversial problems. Weave in your perspective to produce your essay unique. Writing an essay is a critical role in academe life. A persuasive essay should be able to grab the interest of the folks reading it easily. Your persuasive essay will have a lot of paragraphs. The Basic Facts of Smarter Balance Essay Samples 8th Grade The introductory paragraph is perhaps the most crucial paragraph in the essay since it's the initial and possibly last opportunity to generate an effect on the reader. In the end, bear in mind that a huge portion of being effective in persuasion is the capacity to interest your audience's emotions. You need finesse. Persuasive writing can be hard, particularly when you're made to face with a close-minded audience. An excellent writer must know more about the significance of superior hook. In nearly all high schools, your capability of writing this kind of essay is going to be evaluated in class. The major aspect which creates a persuasive essay in English stand out from the remainder of assignments is the use of reasoning. Instead of high school subjects, college subjects are somewhat more challenging to discover. Trying to persuade your teacher may be quite exhausting. In such a circumstance, a student is needed to decide on a suitable topic to write about. High school, college, and sometimes even university students from all around the world are writing persuasive essays. Though people believe education is a correct and will make society, generally, a better place for everybody, others feel there's no authentic means to provide a free college education as colleges would still must be funded (likely through tax dollars). After a time, the individual gets bored and looks for different things. Folks who possess plenty of money have more things than others that have a moderate volume. There are some people who believe that the more income which you have, the happier you are. You will see people with more money indulging in dangerous activities attempting to fill the void they can't explain. SBAC practice is on your mind and if this is the case, you've come to the proper location. The main reason is you will not be healthy enough to do the things you like doing but will be limited. State your primary argument explicitly. Most academic essay topics usually ask you to choose a side in an argument or maybe to defend a specific side against criticism. It is essential for writers to preview their primary points in the specific order which they will be developed. Let's take a quick glance at them. Main point is the heart of the entire writing and something which you're going to convince your readers in. Another thing that you ought to think of before writing is your primary point. In the event the question is a rhetorical one, there isn't any need to extend the answer in your text. In your introduction paragraph, it is sufficient to introduce the topic and offer meaningful background details. Supporting details have to be presented accurately also. Having evidence isn't enough. Get the Scoop on Smarter Balance Essay Samples 8th Grade Before You're Too Late It's possible for you to develop hobbies which are fun for you and do them as a sort of relaxation. For girls, having balanced mental wellness is essential to getting a thriving academic career. Happiness comes in the sort of having good wellbeing. It is very important to remember that perfect' relationships aren't always present and cannot always be done between twins.