Relying on information learned and read in this course and at least two (4) outside references, write a three to five (3-5) page report that reflects on how to incorporate self-regulated learning as a motivational approach and answers the following:
1. Describe one (1) topic that you are currently attempting to learn. Explore your motivation for learning about the chosen topic.
2. Describe each phase of the self-regulated learning (SRL) approach to learning.
3. Describe two (2) benefits and two (2) challenges that may be associated with self-regulated learning.
4. Apply self-regulated learning to the topic you want to learn. Outline a strategy to apply self-regulated learning to improve this learning situation. Include the main activities that you would use in each phase (i.e., forethought, performance, and self-reflection). Note: Refer to Table 9.3 on page 330 of the textbook for further clarification.
The format of the report is to be as follows:
Typed, double spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one inch margins on all sides, APA format.
Use headers for each of the subjects being covered, followed by your response.
In addition to the three to five (3-5) pages required, a title page is to be included. The title page is to contain the title of the assignment, your name, the instructor’s name, the course title, and the date.
Assessment Outcome:
• Analyze the basic principles of learning theories.
• Analyze the biological bases of learning and memory
• Explain the roles of motivation and self-regulation in the learning process
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in learning theory.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Applying Self-Regulated Learning
One (1) topic that you are currently attempting to learn and my motivation for learning
I have been trying to learn developmentally appropriate practice. The motivation for learning this topic is to enhance my knowledge on proper teaching techniques for my future career so that I may ensure that children can achieve optimal learning and development. Particularly, I am interested in determining the points of personal connections that I can make in order to enhance the learning of children. I believe that proper learning and development of children is greatly influenced by the teaching techniques employed by teachers, and therefore I am collecting as much information as possible in order to test my hypothesis. At the end of the study, I would like to have understood in totality the aspects of developmentally appropriate practice and their impact on my teaching practice. I would like to understand the practices that will help me have an optimal impact on every child in regards to his or her learning and development at an individual as well as group level.
Phases of the self-regulated learning (SRL) approach to learning
There are three basic phases of self-regulated learning. The first phase is forethought and planning, whereby a student makes an analysis of the learning task presented before him or her and sets specific goals in regards to the completion of the task. When a student learns an unfamiliar topic, he may be confronted with the inability to understand the best manner in which to approach the task or the goals that might appropriately apply in the given instance. In such a case, a teacher and/or a more experienced peer is in a better position of instructing the student on effective approaches (Schunk & Ertmer, 2000).
The second phase is the performance monitoring phase, whereby the student employs strategies to help him/her in progressing on the learning task and monitoring the effectiveness of these strategies. The student also evaluates the motivational factors that may enhance his progress towards the achievement of the set goals. Through intrinsic motivation and volition, the student becomes more determined and persistent to complete the learning task and to use other self-regulation strategies. Nevertheless, in most cases where new strategies are employed, students prefer to use more familiar and probably ineffective strategies. For instance, flash cards may be taken by students as a better strategy for achieving their learning task than new, effective strategies presented by their teacher. Although meaningful learning could be achieved if students took time in practicing and learning the new strategies, their use of fall-back strategy could only present them with significantly less effective ways of learning. Thus, students can effectively use new strategies to achieve their learning goals through close monitoring by their teachers and specific feedback (Zimmerman, 2000).
The third and final phase is the reflection on performance phase, whereby the student evaluates performance on the task in line with the effectiveness of the chosen strategies. In this phase, students are required to ensure that their emotions on the outcomes of the learning experience are monitored. Accordingly, these self-reflections become influential on the manner in which the student plans and sets goals, and initiates the cycle to start again. The attributes that students place on the specific learning task in regards to success or failure significantly impact them in their reflection on performance phase. This is because these attributes will influence the decisions of students in regards to their potential to engage in a learning activity and employ self-regulated strategies for similar future activities. Generally, self-regulation and motivation are interrelated in the sense that they explain the outcomes of learning in the classroom. Motivated students tend to dedicate most of their time and energy in learning and applying appropriate self-regulation learning skills.
Two (2) benefits and two (2) challenges that may be associated with self-regulated learning
Self-regulated learning presents both benefits and challenges. With regards to benefits, self-regulated learning has the potential of improving learning habits and strengthening the study skills of students. According to a meta-analysis study conducted by Hattie, Biggs and Purdie (1996) on the effects of strategy instruction on the learning of students, it was found that strategy instruction was significantly effective in promoting the academic performance of students. Furthermore, it was found that better learning outcomes are found in more complex interventions than simple strategy instructions. This implies that for students to get the best outcomes from learning, they need to have the will and motivation to allow teachers and peers to instruct them on better ways of achieving their learning objectives.
Another benefit of self-regulated learning is that it helps students in applying learning strategies for purposes of enhancing their academic outcomes. Through self-regulated learning, students can try implementing several learning strategies in their learning tasks and adjusting these strategies in an appropriate manner purposes of facilitating their progress towards the desired academic outcomes. With the help of teachers, students can apply new strategies in order to effectively achieve their goals.
There are also challenges presented by self-regulated learning. First, it is a challenge to develop lessons for purposes of preparing students to engage in self-regulated learning practices and preparing effective support as well as implementation objectives. It is difficult to find the rime for teaching students on the way in which they should use specific strategies.
The second challenge arises from the aspect of understanding the fact that external factors away from control by teachers can significantly affect the development students’ ability to self-regulate. For instance, social identity remarkably affects the manner in which a student approaches and monitors his or her learning, and this is beyond the teacher’s instruction. Thus, the social identity of a student has the potential of influencing his academic behaviors and educational goals (Zimmerman, 2000).
Applying self-regulated learning to the topic I want to learn
With regards to my topic of study, developmentally appropriate practice, it is important that I define the goals for my study and set out the strategies for using to achieve these goals. Accordingly, the most appropriate strategy that I can employ is a combination of guided and independent practice. Through guided practice from my teachers, I will be able to improve my self-regulated learning and motivation. For instance, I will practice implementing my own research techniques on the topic while the teacher carefully monitors my work and provides necessary assistance and guidance. Through guided practice, I will be able to increase task engagement, improve my motivation to read, and increase reading skill test scores. Accordingly, independent practice will naturally follow guided practice. The teacher should give me an opportunity to practice this strategy on my own because this will eventually reinforce my autonomy (Zumbrum, 2011).
With regards to activities involved in the first phase of self-regulation, I will define goals to achieve in the specific learning task. Some of the goals include attainment of a good grade and understanding how to apply my study in my career as an educator. The activity in the second phase involves planning. This will help me outline the strategies for achieving my goals. In the third phase, I will employ self-motivation as an activity to help me independently use one or more strategies for purposes of keeping myself on track towards the achievement of my learning goal.
References
Harris, K. R., Friedlander, B. D., Saddler, B., Frizzelle, R. & Graham, S. (2005). Self-monitoring of attention versus self-monitoring of academic performance: Effects among students with ADHD in the general education classroom. Journal of Special Education, 39 (3), 145-156.
Hattie, J, Biggs, J., & Purdie, N. (1996), Effects of learning skills interventions on student learning: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 66, 99-136.
Schunk, D. H., & Ertmer, P. A. (2000). Self-regulation and academic learning: Self-efficacy enhancing interventions. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 631–649). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 13–39). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Assessing leadership activity and development in personal practice
Assessing leadership activity and development in personal practice
Order Instructions:
Write a project report, reflecting on and assessing your leadership activity and the development of your personal practices/capacities.
Your report should be coherent and free-standing, so that it can be understood by an audience unfamiliar with your work for TMA 02 and your professional context. The report will be assessed by two or more markers, one of whom may be your tutor. You should therefore make clear what your professional context is and your own role, as well as the purpose, objectives and success criteria for your activity. Evidence in the appendix should be clearly referred to in the main text of the report – do not expect markers to search for supporting evidence that you have not mentioned in your report.
Your project report should be titled ‘A reflective report on the leadership of …’ and should be structured as follows.
Part 1 The activity – 700 words
Provide a brief explanation of the purpose, objectives and success criteria for your activity. Explain and justify the methods you used for collecting evidence. Any adjustments made to your plans (TMA 02) and the reasons for these should also be explained.
Part 2 Evaluation of the activity – 1400 words
Evaluate the extent to which you have been able to achieve the purpose and objectives of the activity in terms of:
a.contributing to organisational/sub-unit improvement or effectiveness
b.developing your own leadership practices and/or capacities.
Both (a) and (b) should be assessed in the light of your success criteria, providing evidence from the activity to support the conclusions you reach.
Part 3 Reflective analysis – 3500 words
Critically analyse the processes and outcomes of the activity, providing a reasoned explanation of what took place, and supporting your arguments with evidence from the activity. You should draw widely on relevant theoretical frameworks and concepts from the module. You should reflect on both organisational and personal processes and outcomes, including: your own leadership strategy and style; teamwork issues, organisational effectiveness and improvement; and the influence of organisational and external contextual factors on the activity and your leadership of it.
Part 4 Impact on thinking and practice – 1400 words
Critically assess the impact of (a) to (c) below on your leadership and management thinking and practice, and with respect to (d), the impact on your colleagues, and provide examples for each:
a.undertaking and reflecting on the leadership activity
b.taking part in the forum activities
c.engaging with other aspects of your work on E856
d.identifying how changes in your own thinking and practice have influenced other colleagues in your organisation.
Part 5
You must include your ‘Ethics checklist’ (revised if necessary) as well as a copy of your marked TMA 02 and its associated feedback form.
Guidance notes
You may choose to present Parts 1 to 2 of this assignment in note form. Parts 3 and 4, however, should be presented in continuous prose.
By the time you come to write this report, you should have completed your study of the module material.
Educational leadership is seldom a purely rational activity in which plans are adhered to and fulfilled. For the examinable component, you are not assessed on the leadership activity itself or on the achievement of the success criteria you set yourself, but on the quality of your reflective analysis and evaluation. This depends on your ability to conceptualize and apply theoretical perspectives in order to explain the congruence (or lack of it) between actual outcomes and intended outcomes, and to explore educational leadership and organisational improvement.
It will make no difference at all to your grade if your leadership activity was an abysmal failure or a stunning success in terms of achieving its personal and organisational objectives, provided that you have undertaken a thorough critical reflection and have demonstrated what you have learned from the experience (which should lead to future improvements in practice). It may well be the case that a leadership activity that is reported in glowing terms as a great success may not be as highly graded as one that takes a more critical stance. The whole point of reflective leadership practice is to improve by learning from experience. A detached and critical account is therefore expected.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Part I: The Activity
Schools have the responsibility of nurturing students and promoting their holistic development. The Ministry of Education Culture and schools as well as school heads, have in the recent past ignored the social function of schools. Schools have the obligation to familiarize their students about their culture and tradition. Promotion of humanist education is halted by insufficient school resources for students to engage in extra curriculum activities like arts exhibitions, football, among others and the fact that curriculums are exam oriented focusing on academic success. Students have limited time to engage in activities that allow them to share and learn about their cultures and traditions and this threatens erosion of these values. It is therefore, on this backdrop that I was selected to lead this project that will help the school fulfill its social role through reintroduction of Cypriot Folklore tradition to the students.
The purpose of my leadership activity is to help increase student knowledge and awareness concerning the Cypriot folklore tradition. I have the responsibility of leading a team of six teachers from different academic backgrounds to ensure successful implementation of the project.
Both organizational and personal objectives provided will guide achievement of the mentioned goals
Objective 1 (Organizational): To develop a ten page handbook covering the subject of folklore tradition. The handbook will have various sections including, gastronomy, fine arts, theatre, dance, and oral history. This preparation will take four week after which I will teach first years materials until the seventh week.
Success Criterion 1.1:
Ministry of Education and Culture will have to approve the handbook for use in classes
Evidence of Success 1.1:
Expert panel of the Ministry of Education and Culture letter of approval of use of the handbook
Success Criterion 1.2:
First year student will increase their knowledge on Cypriot Folklore tradition by 20%
Evidence of Success 1.2:
Use of two questionnaires before and after teaching and then comparison of these two
Objective 2 (Organizational): To organize a lecture about traditional pottery. A guest from the community will provide the lecture running to week eight.
Success criterion 2.1
Expects that more than 10 parents, 20 students and 10 members of staff will attend the guest lecture
Evidence of success 2.1
Oral feedback from attendees, and certificates that the guest lecturer will give to attendees after the lecture
Objective 3 (Organizational): To arrange for a photography contest on special tradition topic. This will run until week ten.
Success criterion 3.1
Expects more than 20 students to take part in the competition projects
Success criterion 3.2
Wining picture to have more than 200 likes on Facebook
Evidence of success 3.1 & 3.2
Student projects number and the magnitude of dissemination of the contest aim among students through social media
Objective 4 (Organizational): To recruit volunteers (Student) and prepare a festive that will bring together parents and students to enable them learn and experience folklore dancing, traditional food and pottery. This activity will run until week sixteen.
Success Criterion 4.1
At least 250 people including teachers , students and parents attending
Evidence of Success 4.1
Attendances will sign an attendance list at the entrance of the school
Success Criterion 4.2
At least 30 volunteers recruited
Evidence of Success 4.2
A list of student that took part in previous activities will be drafted and then requested to participate.
Success Criterion 4.3
Overall satisfaction rate as well as positive feedback on activities for promoting Cypriot Folklore tradition of parents and students more than 80 percentage
Evidence of Success 4.3
A questionnaire will be distributed to solicit views and opinions of the attendances and those that took part in the festival. This will help in providing insights and knowledge to support related activities in the future.
Objective 5 (personal): To develop my creativity, coordination and communication skills to accomplish goals and objectives of the project successfully.
Success Criterion 1.1:
Get positive appraisals by the school management regarding the overall activities
Evidence 1.1:
Headmaster written statement concerning post-evaluation of these activities
Success criteria:
Objective 6 (Personal): To assign tasks and responsibilities to various teams based on their talents and merit and maintain positive relationship with colleagues.
Success Criterion 1.1:
Five out of six team members believe that I have succeeded
Evidence 1.1:
Questionnaire results
Gathering of quantitative evidence was done through administration of questionnaires to students, teachers, and parents. I also kept learning journal all through this leadership activity. Measuring success criteria methods are based on based practices hence, valid and reliable in this activity. All activities are captured in the timelines in Annex 1
Adjustments made in TMA 02
Success criteria on objective three were combined since they were related
Word count: 771
Part 2: Evaluation of the activity
The purpose of my leadership activity has on a large scale been met. The level of knowledge and awareness of students concerning their Cypriot folklore tradition has increased. The six teams that took part in implementation of this project as well gained skills and knowledge that have impacted on the school. Therefore, the purpose and objectives of the activity in terms of contributing to organizational effectiveness and in developing my own leadership practice and capabilities is evident even though, some areas require more attention to ensure that schools embrace these cultures and traditions.
Organisational Objective 1: The objective that was to create a handbook including five themes of the Cyprus tradition was successfully met. Success criterion 1.1 was met within the time frame. The handbook meets the standards. It was approved by the Ministry of Education and culture and this was evidenced with the approval letter.
Similarly, a success criterion 1.2 was also met. This objective was intended to increase student knowledge concerning their cultures and tradition by more than 20 percent. This was evidenced through questionnaires used to solicit students views and opinions about the subject. Comparison of these results demonstrated that indeed there was a positive change in terms of knowledge scope on their culture and tradition.
Prior to the study, there were some challenges that eventually were solved. The head of the school was happy for the creation of the handbook and expressed his confidence in increasing the knowledge of students on tradition and cultural issues. I also managed to coordinate with other people such as staffs and students to ensure that this document was successfully created. This was a learning process as well. Through effective communication skills, I managed to unite the parties and promote interactions and cooperation towards a common goal leading to this success.
Organisation Objective 2: this objective, which was on organizing for guest lecture on traditional pottery as a way of creating awareness and improving student interest in the same, was as well met. Planning was done well and invitations made on time. Success criterion 2.1 was met. The turnout of all the invited parties including members of staffs students and parents was superb.
Most of the people that attended the lecture expressed contentment. They learned the skills they did know. One of the parents stated that the project was very important in preserving their cultures and traditions. The headmaster as well was very happy with the presentation of the guest lecturer and expressed his gratitude.
Certificate of participations was a way to acknowledge and to appreciate those that attended the session. This gestures as well indicated organization and dedication of the school in promoting and fostering learning of culture and tradition.
Organisation Objective 3: the third objective was about organizing a voluntary contest that showcased scenes that relates to traditions, and was met. The success criterion 3.1 was therefore met. The turnout was very high and it surpassed the expected number. This exhibited good mobilization skills that are essential in promoting good leadership. Getting people to come together for an event require good planning and this is one of the attributes of good leadership
The second success criterion was also met. Many students use social media such as facebook. The fact that the number of likes on the wining picture surpassed the expected number of 200 was a clear indication of success of this initiative.
Through this contest, the school was able to accrue various benefits. The contests allowed learners to sharpen their research skills. They heard to research a specific topic of tradition and make photos, and then upload them on the facebook. This opportunity as well enabled the school to foster cohesion and unity.
Leadership competencies as well manifested through this contest. Communication and information sharing is important to foster good leadership. Through this, I developed my leadership skills, as I had to communicate with teachers and students. I had also to use appropriate channels of communication to ensure that stakeholders get information and attend the contest. This was manifest through the higher turnout of contestants and the stakeholders. Even though, the business communities did not turn out as expected, the letters send to them were appropriate channels of communication to reach them.
Organisational Objective 4: this objective that involved recruitment of student volunteers and inviting parents to celebrate traditional festival was as well successful and therefore was met. The Success Criterion 4.1 was met as the number of people that attended the festival were more than the target of 200 as exhibited in the attendance list. This was an indication that publicity that was done was successful. The success criterion 4.2 as well was met. The number of student volunteers was more than 30. They were prowess in different areas of tradition. Some were prowess and knowledgeable in traditional dances, food, myths, and legends while others in fine art.
A success criterion 4.3 was also met since the level of parents and students’ satisfaction was more than 80 percent. Many of the attendees were satisfied with the various presentations on the Cypriot Folklore tradition.
The success of this festival had impacts on both the organization effectiveness as well as on my leadership capabilities and practice. Many of the people that attended the festival received this information through lobbying. These are important skills that the school has acquired and will help them in the future to mobilize members of the community as well as parents. This objective as well impacted on my leadership practices. Organizing the festival and ensuring that process run smoothly as planned requires someone with good leadership skills. Documentation of the event was also very important during the festival. The school will use these documentations in future to make improvement on their approach to teaching about Cypriot Folklore tradition.
Objective 5 (Personal): showing positive attitude toward the team, being resourceful and dealing with personal and organizational problems has largely been met, yet I have learned more on my leadership capabilities. Success criterion 1.1 was highly met. The management of the school was very much appeased with my leadership in spearhead this project. As a prove of this, I received a statement about the contribution I had made in the school. Part of the statement read, “I am really inspired by your commitment and hard work in ensuring that this project success; you really have good leadership skills that have contributed to this success”. The statement further went on to read, “You have been a resource to this organization, we wish you all the best and may you continue to have this energy and positive attitude towards your team; This will take you place”. Involving others in the process and working cordially with the teams contributed to my success. Achieving the goals in the time provided was also an indication of good leadership attributes. Planning, organization, and controlling as well manifested in me during this period. Apart from the written statements from the headmaster of the school, I also received numerous recommendations, appraisals, and words of encouragement and appreciation from students and parents. One of the students said, “You have helped us to learn more about our rich culture and tradition. May God bless you”. Another parent said, “You have indeed helped us to value our culture and tradition; you have challenged us to think different and always take responsibilities”. One of the team members said. “You have an impeccable leadership qualities, I have enjoyed working with you and would always be ready if another opportunity is granted.”
This was as well a learning opportunity for me. Despite these appraisals, sometimes I experience communication breakdown. This was an opportunity for me to adjust my communication so that next time such challenges do not occur.
Objective 6 (Personal): delegating tasks and responsibilities to team members on basis of their merit and talent and at the same time maintaining positive relationship was also met. Out of the six team members five of them believe that I had succeeded in the roles I was assigned, more so when it came to assigning duties. One of them said, “You have shown good leadership in assigning tasks”. Many of them as well were optimistic that the leadership I exemplified was very important transforming the organizational leadership and spearheading its development.
Cases of complaint among the team members concerning their roles and duties were minimal and this was an indication of the fact that my leadership practices were not bad. The results of anonymous questionnaires that aimed at evaluating my role indicated positive results. Most of the feedbacks from the respondents approved my leadership capabilities for this project.
Words: 1443
Part 3 Reflective Analysis
Since the commencement of the module, the author has gained deeper understanding of educational theories and concepts, and even applied them to practical situations. These theories and concepts have as well provided insights on leadership and its impact. The author has taken advantage of the process to learn and develop his leadership capabilities and expand sphere of influence in fostering change and improving the quality of education in schools. This module has therefore, made the author concur with the assertion of Fullan (2007) as cited in the OT study guide that indeed change in education may seem technically simple but, in reality is a social complex.
When I was requested to take leadership of this project, I was concerned about the appropriate strategies and techniques to enable me achieve the set aims and objectives because of the incompatibility with the internal culture of the school. To ensure adoption of better strategies it was imperative for the author to carryout out SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and threats analysis as well as PESTLE analysis, (political, economic, Sociological, Technological, legal and environmental analysis). This analysis enabled the author to understand both internal and external contextual factors likely to impact on planned leadership activity to guide my leadership strategy.
My leadership activity was impacted by technology as one of the external factor. In the OECD report, it is evident that technology continues to shape education as various form of information and communication technologies such as computers, mobile phones , internet continues to evolve (2013, p. 14). As a leader, I remained attentive to these changes in technology allowing students to vote through online platforms. I believe that social media such a facebook are highly utilized by the young people and using the same to in the cultural contest would give positive results. Indeed, the outcome of using facebook was astounding. I believe that it contributed to the outstanding turn out of participants at the event as well as in terms of votes.
Through this analysis, I find out various issues that pertained to my new role and therefore, had to adjust accordingly. One of the things I did is to overcome student indifference when asked to study new subject areas, especially in regards to tradition. Most of the students find learning about culture and tradition as something unnecessary and outdated. They believe that schools have a role in equipping them skills and knowledge to help them pass their exams. The focus in schools is on passing exams and therefore, embracing new areas such as culture and tradition becomes a problem and yet they are important in fostering humanistic development. Furthermore, comprehending the value of culture and traditions as part of their history has become difficult. This has been contributed by the society and the ministry of education that does not promote such study areas.
I also needed to address the aspect of negativity from my colleagues. Many of them do not see the benefit of teaching students’ about traditions and cultures as they strongly advice that the focus should be on curriculum. Therefore, such studies are not given the attention they deserve as most of the teachers concentrate on the various subjects in the curriculum such as literature, English, maths, science and physic among other. Participating in other extracurricular activities such as fine art is viewed as time wasting and extra burden hence, not undertaken. These internal contextual factors are major constraint towards achieving my objectives and aims. Furthermore, economic crisis has caused increased level of unemployment and has made it deficult for local society to experience budget deficits for promoting cultural activities.
Internal and contextual factors above posed a challenges but I had to find a way to overcome the same and ensure that the project succeeds. The first thing I did was to do away with colleagues teaching core lessons since they had no time with the co-curricular activities. I focused on those teachers that teach electives because they tend to be more flexible and have enough time at their discretion hence, would adjust their work plans to help in the implementation of the suggested activities. Furthermore, I resolved to narrow the target group as I implemented the planned activity amongst first year students only. The other students in other years however, would benefit from the activities indirectly through overall dissemination of the activity such as judging the photography contest and through participation and experiencing of the festival activities. The entire activities were to be open to all, as it uses contemporary tools/channels of conveying information such a social media. Furthermore, the activity promotes social interaction and creativity that will see all the students from other years get to participate.
Parents will get information and requests to participate and support these activities; this helped to increase the level of student participation in different activities. Because of their involvement, they acted as an encouragement and a motivation of the students to participate in these activities for them to understand and appreciate the values of social interaction as well as tradition and culture in the molding of civic character. I do as well believe that parents will seize this opportunity because they will get to meet their children and engage in fun together away from their everyday hassles and stress.
Leadership
Leadership is a broader concept that means different things across different people. My approach to leadership is aligned with the role of a leader as therapist defined in the therapeutic leadership discourse (Western 2008) and or as servant leadership (Greenleaf 1977).
Two criteria explain the reason why I decided to use therapeutic discourse to provide guidance in these activities. I do believe that ideas and values are closer to the discourse as opposed to what the literature is saying. Since I do not believe in the ontological approach , main values and hypothesis because of my inability to act upon, he controller role. I am a person who does not see my co-workers as cogs in machine and at the same time does not buy ideas of end justifying the means. I do not believe in unrealistic assumptions and dogmatic characters that messiah has the capabilities traits and character to run an entity alone in the long. I do believe that in an organization, ideas of all the parties are fundamental in transforming an organization. It is not possible to run a project solely and succeed. Therefore, it is on this backdrop that I involved team of six teachers to help me with the process of providing leadership to a chive the objectives and aims of the project.
Secondly, I do believe that therapist discourse is conducive and fits the context of school, the purpose, and aims of the activity, and the culture of the team. The context of school is based on values of collaboration and dialogue. The teachers in school must engage in dialogue on continuous basis to foster achievement of their objectives and aims. If this environment is lacking then, it becomes difficult to achieve the learning objectives. Therefore, the ad hoc role given to me, and lack of formal authority defines my tactics and actions. Since my position in the hierarchy was to remain intact even after the end of the activity, I had the responsibility to provide good leadership. I had therefore, the responsibility to convince my subordinates as opposed to coercing them to do various tasks (Greenleaf, 1997) in the quest to maintain positive relationship with all my colleagues. For the activity to succeed, my character has to be straight to enable me provide incentives to my co workers for them to get motivated and wok for extra hours voluntarily and without payment in quest t of promoting social role of the school. As a leader, I had to create a conducive climate based on mutual respect and open communication for the colleagues to remain supportive and dedicated towards achievement of the activity. Furthermore, I convened regular meetings to communicate my expectations, visions, and results expected, and the cooperation I wanted between the team members, and myself. These meetings were helpful as they helped the team to move in accord. They also enabled us to generate new ideas on how we could improve our activities so that they have positive impact o the learners as well as other people and stakeholders. During the meetings, as a leader, I did not delve on a detailed plan, but rather I described roadmap based on the objectives, aim, and then invited all the members to provide their views with their knowledge, skills, and creativity.
In general, the approach was aimed at fostering teamwork and through this arrangement; I aimed at maximizing team members’ commitment and motivating them to act as if they own the activity as well as the results. Furthermore, I emphasized to members the social expectation of a teacher in shaping the society though promotion of traditions, and knowledge dissemination reminding them that it was rewarding to care and give back to the society. Teachers are viewed as mirrors of the society, they are influential, and using them in this activity was important to aid in its success.
As a leader, I trusted my team members and this manifested through delegating of responsibility and accountability. This as well enabled them to experience personal growth and have a sense of recognition. Trust was achieved by as well listening to their ideas and worries and communicating decisions concerning the project. Remaining in touch with the teams was very important to create a better working conditions build on trust. Responsibility allowed them to remain committed towards the projects aims, and objectives. It is also a way of motivating employees. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs classified needs in five categories. Providing sense of belonging and self-esteem through teamwork and responsibility as well as recognition were important to motivate employees, and make them remain committed to the project goals.
Reading on various approaches that leaders employ to spear head change, I have come across three approaches considered dominant. One of them is rational approach that appreciates the fact that human being are logic and therefore, people will not resist change incase goals are well defined, are clear, and are agreed beforehand. According to Davies (2010), strategic planning is approaches of leaders to spearhead changes and this approaches argues that it is possible for leaders to define the desired outcomes and plan the process or steps they want to achieve or get them where they want. On the other hand, strategy is defined as a design that an individual adopts to achieve certain ends (Johnson, 2011).
On the other hand, social process approach views changes as a social instigated process and not as a calculated procedure. Therefore, this process focuses on the human factor as the key determinant of change. In change process, human beings play a key role. According to Johnson’s (2011) strategy as experience and Davies emergent strategy (2010) they argues that leaders decisions about change is based on trial and error mentality as well as past experiences. Leader that embraces change may have experienced a positive situation in their lives.
However, some that may be adamant in embracing change may as well have experienced negative impacts of change. Others embrace change without understanding whether the change will be positive or not, but just to try out their fate. The final approach is the complexity approach that alludes that the future is unknowable and unpredictable until it happens (Stacey 2010). Organizations are therefore sometimes forced to embrace change to- salvage themselves or to counter threats and to restore their security.
My view on change is therefore, not clear-cut to fit in one of the three approaches. I do believe that I have to plan the activities to engage in hence, a rational plan or a roadmap is important to provide confidence among the team members. Indeed, as the leader of this project, I understood the constraints and challenges and anticipated resistance if there was no clear and defined roadmap. I therefore, came up with a clear plan, a timeline to execute different tasks, assigned different team members tasks and provided clarity on the goals and the vision to pursue. This, I believe helped to reduce resistant to changes. The fact the many teachers concentrate on core lesson and seemed to have no time on fine arts was a threat through rational plan, it as easy to convince the teachers to join the bandwagon in promoting social learning of tradition and culture. Furthermore, a plan made the team members to view me as a leader with capabilities of providing a sustainable plan and a sense of direction. Furthermore, I embraced the social approach concepts as a leader spearheading this project. I believe that human beings are the determinant of change. Change is a social process and it takes place in society involving people. This understanding, informed my approach in this activity. I showed respect to all the people I came across and did not underrate any of them. I believed that they had the power to resist change and therefore, I had the responsibility of making them part of the change. I also anticipated uncertainty and did not know whether the project will succeed to the level I anticipated because of the constraints. Therefore, to some extend my experience as well as trial and error dynamics played during this process of providing leadership
I also focused on improving the social interaction with the team. This was to ensure that I gain trust so that they could buy my vision and help me achieve the same. The internal school context as well makes Kottler’s model one of the leading and suitable models to spearhead change. I therefore do concur with Kottler (1995) that if more people are involved or take part in a change initiative the outcomes are likely to be better and vice versa. I therefore embraced the model and focused on the major aspects including, individual empowerment, communication, encouragement to engage and shape and development s of a sense of ownership of the change (Kotler, 1996). I ensured that communication was open. I engaged with my team members on frequent basis to get update on the progress of various activities. These meetings as well helped us to come up with new ideas and innovations to improve the activities. Sense of ownership as well helped to increase the level of confidence and trust among team members. They therefore, remained dedicated and committed to the project. The team leaders and the participants were also empowered through assignment of responsibilities. For instance, the learners had to research for information on the tradition and culture and showcase. They felt empowered and therefore, this contributed to achievement of the objective and aims of the project. This as well made them to feel that they owned the change and it was time they embraced and placed more emphasis and supported these traditions and values.
The leadership strategy adopted was also motivated by the change and desires to see changes in society. It is reflected in Hope Hailey 2008 and adapted from Balogun and is cited in the OU study for quite a number of years. The root of the style is to use transformational change that can bring tremendous shifts in the organization as well as the people involved. Even though, this leadership was small scale, it aimed at transforming the culture of the schools. The school has to embrace change and ensure that it teaches learners on traditional and culture because this contributes to their development. It also makes learners remain aware of their history and culture hence, can protect the same and pass the same to the future generations. Team members will remain a source of inspiration and motivation to the school in the coming years. The transformation will as well continue to be experienced in future; through this project, learners, and the school will continue to nurture their traditions and culture.
In my leadership activity, I also used Davies and Davies strategic leadership approaches that focuses on strategic intent. The assumptions held by Davies and Davies is that during an attempt by schools to build a major cultural and organizational change they develop capacity to achieve positive performance. This performance is build based on the series of strategic intents (Davies& Davies, 2010). As a leader of this project, I had to define the outcomes for the school through the team to discover appropriate ways that the school would achieve the same. As the leader, I can vehemently report that the team I worked with was committed and dedicated to support this change, something that contributed to the success.
According to Goleman, (1995), leaders can apply emotional intelligence in their leadership depending on the situations. I was conscious to apply different leadership styles depending on the situation throughout the leadership activity provided I accomplished the mission and the aims and objectives. Fullan as cited in the work of Held & McKimm holds the view that effective leaders need to use different styles of leadership at different periods and that the more styles that the leader is able to draw from, the higher the chances of achieving success (2009, p. 54). Therefore, I do concur with the Hickman’s perspective about leadership and that is the reason I used a range of leadership components to spearhead and accomplish organization change that the members of the school wants achieved (2010, p. 80). I do believe that, using a single style of leadership would not have achieved the success I recorded. For instance, from the questionnaires administered to parents and students and teachers, the level of satisfaction on the contests and festival was satisfactory. This satisfaction was attained because of applying various styles of leadership. I had to ensure that members of the team and the students take part in the process. I used teamwork effectively and ensured that I provide a sense of direction on the goals and aims and visions of the organization.
The concept of distributed leadership as defined by Spillane (2006), refers to leadership that is ‘stretched over’ hence, it touches any people. Therefore, though the change team, I was aiming to stretch leadership over to other players such as these team members, teachers, support staffs, and students (Spillane, 2009). Moos (2010) argues that distributed leadership requires consensus (p. 29) while Harris as cited in Moss (2010) argues that this leadership style is a key vehicle for schools to help them change their approach of doing things. It enables schools to move from top-down approach of leadership to a more participative approach and more from a formal structure to a community based approach (p. 34). As a leader, I involved all the stakeholders and gave them equal opportunity to take part in the leadership activity. For instance, invited parents, students in other years of studies apart from first years, members of staffs as well as members of business fraternity took part.
The three specific purpose of leadership that Mayrowetz (2008) proposes including distributed leadership for efficiency and effectiveness, for democracy and for human capacity building applied to my situation as the leader of this project. I ensured that there was democracy in selecting team members as well as in selecting students to participate in the contest. I also ensured effectiveness and efficiency in my leadership by subjecting our activities to scrutiny. Respondents and parents had to give their views and opinions concerning the activity. Furthermore, I had to adhere to the codes of ethics. I also received management review concerning my conduct and performance as leader of the activity the drawback or ratehr pitfall of Mayyrowetz’s (2008) study is failure to recognize the fact that distributed leadership only provides a description of normal human activity when people gather with a common purpose they have the discretion to determine the way they wish to act.
In my leadership approach, I also put into consideration the issue of power, especially in the school. I was given the role to head the project, and yet there were other people that felt that they were more qualified than me. Therefore, being the leader , I had to create a conducive environment by empowering team members, teachers and students to remain steadfast in their activity for the common good. Sarason as cited in the studies of Hinde (20040, as well elaborates on challenges of power when providing leadership. similarly, Thompson & Saunders (2010) points out that externally initiated change staffs requires support to be seen as active agents of change in the organization. Therefore, it was very important for me as a leader to involve everyone in this leadership activity to win his or her support and even get them participate in the various events as well as in the drafting of the handbook on the traditions and culture.
There is no doubt that to concepts, and theories about leadership studied links the previous units have contributed to in-depth gain and understanding of various insights in my leadership. I am confident in my leadership capabilities courtesy of this leadership activity.
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Part 4 Impact on thinking and practice
It is no doubt that indeed E865 has greatly impacted on my development to becoming a more reflective, thoughtful and effective leader. The management thinking, leadership and practice has been impacted through E865. I must admit that my drive to become the best professional has been reignited and I can say without contradiction that my potential has been unlocked that will have positive impact on my educational transformation.
Undertaking and reflecting on the leadership activity
Participating in this leadership activity has provided insights that have made me to discover a lot of things about leadership and, even helping me identify the kind of leader I am. It has as well deepened my understanding about leadership styles as well as own moral purpose.
Many people may not understand the kind of leaders they are made of. Through this leadership activity, I managed to keep a journal that has enabled me to reflect upon my leadership styles and abilities. I just knew that education major purpose is to impact knowledge and improve academic performance of learners. This was but a misconception that was unraveled through this leadership activity. Education is key in raising the personal and social potential of learners. Through education, learners get multifaceted skills, knowledge, and experience that help them to spearhead transformational changes in different areas. Furthermore, through this leadership activity, I have come to learn that students have a wealth of knowledge and are able to teach others. Students furthermore, are agents of change as they are able to execute their roles and responsibilities for their own destiny and learning as well as can play a critical role in improving education in the society. I have always come to know that my moral purpose is not just in me but is something that I have thought about it, and understand it. As Begley (2010) postulates, my moral purpose came in handy in aiding the way I made decisions and carried out my strategic planning. A good example to illustrate this was the way I selected my team members. The process was free and fair and this reduced any conflicts among the teachers.
I have as well come to understand that leadership styles might change depending on the situation. Situational leadership is therefore, very important style for any leader to ensure that operations and challenges that present in organization are solved amicably. I therefore, was able to improve in my leadership because I recognized the value of adjusting ones leadership during different occasions. Some time I was required to adopt participative leadership style while other democratic among many others to ensure that systems operated smoothly.
Leadership activity has all well impacted my leadership and management practice and thinking by deepening my understanding of leadership styles. Leaders may manifest various leadership styles in their leadership. Through this leadership activity, I have learned that I lean towards transformational leaderships, evidenced by my quest and motivation for the schools and students learn tradition and cultures to help in their human development. I believe that achieving highly requires involve others hence, why I adopted distributing leadership to empower all the people in the school to achieve the goals and objectives. I also think about the future and ways I can contribute in improving the lives of people.
The concept of emotional intelligence is very important for any leader. Leaders should be receptive to the needs and feelings of their followers when they provide leadership. Attributes such as sensibility, and empathy must be espoused in a leader. I do believe these to be some of the attributes that contributed to my success as a project leader. My colleagues praised and congratulated me for being receptive and behaving maturely. Many of them liked my leadership styles.
I also learned the need of leaders to provide motivation to the subordinates. People are not machines. They require a sense of belongingness, to be recognized and appreciated. I actually achieved this through my words of encouragement to the team members and appreciating their contribution. This made them to remain committed to the project. Some of the weakness that I will however, need to improve on is on communication; I will have to take time to understand the suitable communication channels to use in different circumstances. This will help to improve my leadership success level.
Taking part in the forum activities
I have also engaged in other forums such as adoption of online platforms that have to some extent impacted on my leadership activity. Creating a handbook required me as a leader to source information from multiple sources, and one of the sources was from online. This platform therefore, helped to expand my knowledge scope on the issues concerning tradition and culture as well as my leadership competencies. As a leader, it is important to use multiple sources of information to promote learning. I recommended students to use internet to research and as well to vote for the best photograph on facebook. This to me was appropriate and demonstration of good leadership- being receptive of the changing lifestyles and aligning the leadership strategy to the same. As a leader, I learned that teachers must understand that learning platforms continue to change and is imperative that they remain aware of such changes.
Engaging in other aspects of E856
Have identified two areas that have greatly impacted on my leadership and management thinking and practice. These are opportunity granted to share and discuss my progress with the tutor and the wide research on the reading materials provided.
I have been in constant communication with my tutor discussing about my progress. The lecturer has provided me with valuable information and advice that has impacted my level of understanding about the topic of leadership well. Through face-to-face and Skype, we have communicated and shared a lot. I do appreciate your time.
Through this sharing, I have come to learn of my good presentation skills. I am also creative and can become a good educators since I am not obstructed with external factors and can widen my sphere of influence as supported by Thomlinson (2010). This is in contrast to MacBeath’s (2008) view that leaders in education are not outgoing and therefore, they do not identify opportunities to maneuver and influence external environment.
Through expansive reading and research, I have as well gained more valuable information about leadership in education and the challenges that leaders go through. Various studies have addressed different aspects concerning educational leadership that have helped expand my scope of thinking and leadership (Hargreaves and Shirley, 2010, p. 286).
My influence on other colleagues in my organization
Change happens as we learn and experience different issues in our life. I must say that changes in my thinking and practice have influenced the perception of teachers about extra- curricular more so tradition and culture. Teachers in the school have began to change their negative perceptions about traditional and culture because of this project.
I have also seen the impact of my leadership styles on the students. They have adopted participative and collaborative leadership styles even as they lead other students. Students and even other people learn from observing what others do or behave. I am elevated that I was a source of inspiration and a role model to many students and colleagues. They have actually replicated the skills, knowledge, and experience they gained from this leadership activity in other areas of leadership.
I have also been able to impact people through adjusting and improving in my communication. I have impacted and touched many people and helped them develop self-esteem. Some of the colleagues had low self-esteem and self-confidence. They did not believe in themselves. Through this leadership activity, they get encouraged and learned about their potential and capability as well as how to improve on their self confidence.
Even as I conclude, I must attest to the fact that E856 has given me an opportunity that is rare to come by. The oasis of knowledge, skills, and experience courtesy of E856 is unimaginable. I have learned a lot, more so on value of reflection and self-awareness. Various concepts and theories of leadership have widened my scope of knowledge. They have given my insight to analyse my own styles of leadership making me become aware of whom I am. I have become aware of the strengths and weaknesses I have. I as well have become, reflective, thoughtful, and effective leader that is aware of himself, and about the future.
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Part 5: Ethics Checklist
Leadership Activity: Ethics Checklist
Your Name: Sylvana Stylianou Your PI: Ray Chatwin
Your Project Title:TMA02_B6884098
Yes
Does not apply
1. Does your proposed activity need initial clearance from a ‘gatekeeper’ (e.g. Local Authority, head teacher, college head, nursery/playgroup manager)?
✓
2. Have you checked whether the educational setting requires you to undertake a ‘police’ check before carrying out your activity?
✓
3. Have you indicated how informed consent will be obtained from your participants (including children less than 16 years old, school pupils and immediate family members)?Your consent letters/forms must inform participants that they have the right to withdraw from the activity at any time.
✓
4. Does your proposed design involve repetitive observation of participants, (i.e. more than twice over a period of more than 2-3 weeks)? Is this necessary? If it is, have you made appropriate provision for participants to renew consent or withdraw from the activity half-way through?
✓
5. Are you proposing to collect video and/or audio data? If so have you indicated how you will protect participants’ anonymity and confidentiality and how you will store the data?
✓
– Does your proposal indicate how you will give your participants the opportunity to access the outcomes of your activity (including audio/visual materials) after they have provided data?
✓
7. Have you built in time for a pilot study to make sure that any task materials you propose to use are age appropriate and that they are unlikely to cause offence to any of your participants?
✓
8. Is your activity likely to involve discussion of sensitive topics (e.g. adult/child relationships, peer relationships, discussions about personal teaching styles, ability levels of individual children and/or adults)? Have you put safeguards in place to protect participants’ confidentiality?
✓
1. Consider whether your proposed activity raise any issues of personal safety for yourself or other persons involved in the project. Do you need to carry out a ‘risk analysis’ and/or discuss this with teachers, parents and other adults involved in the activity?
✓
Annex 1: Timeline
References list
Begley, P. (2010) ‘Leading with moral purpose: the place of ethics’ in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Davies, B., Davies, B.J. (2010) ‘The Nature and Dimensions of Strategic Leadership’ in Preedy M. et al, (ed.) Educational Leadership: Context, Strategy and Collaboration, London, Sage, pp. 83-95
Denis, J-L. et al. (2010) ‘The practice of leadership in the messy world of organisations’, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Fullan, M, & Langworthy, M. (2013). Towards a New End: New Pedagogies for Deep Learning. Collaborative Impact.
Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, London, Bloomsbury.
Greenleaf, R.K. (1977), Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, Paulist Press, New York, NY.
Hargreaves, A. and Shirley, D. (2009) ‘The fourth way’ in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Held, S. and McKimm, J. (2009) ‘Emotional intelligence, emotional labour and affective leadership’ in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage..
Hickman, G. (2010) ‘Concepts of leadership in organizational change’, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Hoyle, E. and Wallace, M. (2005) Educational Leadership: Ambiguity, Professionals and Managerialism, London, Sage.
Johnson, G., Whittington, R. and Scholes, K. (2011) ‘The Strategic Lenses’ in Preedy M. et al, (ed.) Educational Leadership: Context, Strategy and Collaboration, London, Sage, pp. 96-114
Kotter, J. (1996) Leading Change, Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
MacBeath, J. (2008) ‘Stories of compliance and subversion in a prescriptive policy environment’, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Mayrowetz, D. (2008) Making Sense of Distributed Leadership: Exploring the Multiple Usages of the Concept in the Field. Educational Administration Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 3
Moos, L (2010) ‘From successful school leadership towards distributed leadership’, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
OECD (2013) ‘Trends Shaping Education’
Spillane, J. et al. (2009) ‘Reframing the role of organizations in policy implentation’, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Spillane, J. (2006) Distributed Leadership, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Stacey, R. (2010) “Complexity and Organizational Reality”, 2nd edn, London, Routledge.
Thompson, P. (2011) ‘Coming to Terms with Voice’ in Wise, C. Bradshaw, P. and Cartwright, M. (eds) ‘Leading Professional Practice in Education’. Open University & Sage.
Thomson, P. and Sanders, E. (2010) ‘Creativity and whole school change’, Journal of Educational Change. vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 63–83.
Wallace, M. and Thomlinson, M. (2010) ‘Contextualizing leader dynamics: how public service leaders endeavour to build influence, in Preedy, M. Bennett, N & Wise, C (eds) ‘Educational Leadership Context, Strategy & Collaboration’. Open University & Sage.
Western, S. (2008) ‘An overview of the leadership discourses’ in Preedy M. et al, (ed.) Educational Leadership: Context, Strategy and Collaboration, London, Sage, pp. 11-24
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The Approach and the Philosophy of the B2B- i want to mention the OTT players as one of the challenges the telecom companies are facing and how they are responding to this threat.
2-i want to discuss the approach and the philosophy of the B2B or the corporate sales department in some telecom companies in the middle east ex. UAE, Europe, and USA.
The Approach and the Philosophy of the B2B
3- i want to discuss that most of the telecom companies are moving now from the traditional telecom services to the digital services or ICT, and please mention here examples; like AT&T and BT and success stories as well.
4- i want to talk about the differences between regulated markets with examples like EGYPT “companies: Etisalat and Vodafone” and unregulated markets like Bahrain and UK with examples please “companies: BT and Vodafone”.
Please let me know if you need any clarifications in any of the points mentioned above.
i will send you also a general instruction document by email, sent to me by my supervisor.
The Approach and the Philosophy of the B2B Sample Answer
Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
The telecom industry has been cornered with modern telecommunication challenges. Therefore, the industry has seen that the only option left for it to vindicate itself from the wrath of these challenges is by engaging in business-to-business interactions. These relationships are predicted to enhance dissolution of complex bureaucracies in this industry for it to maintain its competitive advantages (Adejuwon 2013, p.51). Thus, the following review encompasses on discussing how OTT players are affecting the telecommunication industry. In addition, the study will look into some of the mechanisms used by the telecom industry to deal with the above players. More some, the paper discusses the philology of business-to-business integration, and how it assists telecom companies. Furthermore, the discussion will give insights into how telecom firms are moving from traditional services to digital services. In conclusion, the study will provide a comprehensive explanation of the differences between regulated markets and unregulated markets.
OTT Players
In this modernized world, consumers want to get information immediately. Therefore, the telecom industry has to respond to this request with immediate effect (Adejuwon 2013, p.52). This being a challenge has brought the emergence of OTT players. OTT (over-the-top) players have been defined by Almossawi (2012, p. 39) as those players that bypass Communication Service Providers’ function in value string of the digital media. This is a strong challenge as the telecom industry, a few years ago, used to receive no direct competition like the one it is getting now from these OTT players. These players range from Skype, Google, and Netflix. To deal with the encroachment from the OTT players, Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014, p.24) give that the telecom industry need first to control their distinctive assets and abilities. The statement of Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014) is echoed by Crawford (2013)who argues that the telecom industry need to control its assets because customers are developing the habit of valuing data more than voice. However, these statements of Almossawi (2012) and Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014) are criticised by Curwen, Haucap & Preissl (2009) who argued that leveraging assets could do no good to the telecom industry. The authors gave that the best alternative to deal with OTT players is to buy them (OTT players). Nevertheless Eric (2012, p.256) indicate buying the OTT players cannot permanently deal with the challenge. In fact, the author indicates the possibility of buying the players is almost zero. What needs to be done as the author argues is to adapt to the rapidly altering customer preferences for recent services.
Jho (2013) argues that customers are continuing demanding the real-time billing information. In addition, the author noted that more customers want online means, thereby discarding the conservative channels for service using. Therefore, when these concerns are not addressed, customers will continue to be dissatisfied, disillusioned, and chummed. Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014) criticise the methodology the telecom industry has been using to address challenges from the OTT players. The industry has been building strong systems and set of connections infrastructure to empower service delivery. The authors confirm that this technique is ineffective as the consumers are referring them to ‘bit-pipe providers’ (International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, Cordeiro & Krempels 2013). This gives OTT players such as Google and Apple credit, as they are now viewed as value architects. Keefe (2009 p.49) confirms the statement of Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014) by attesting that a sturdy system infrastructure without adding value to the services only faults CSPs for services interruption.
In a study to evaluate how telecom companies are responding to bitter challenges from the OTT players Kreutzer & Land (2014) terms OTT players’ intrusion as a disruptive challenge, languishing profits and increasing capital expenditures. The disruption is so enormous that the rate at which subscription to basis voices and data services is declining astonishingly. After accomplishing a research on telecom companies in London, Krishnaprem (2013) predicted that the telecom industry is more likely to incur a loss of approximately 400 billion dollars by 2018. Lambert & Enz (2012) argues that this trend will continue to exist as OTT players provide services that guarantee customer loyalty and adhesiveness. Jho (2013) has argued that bundling is the newest method used by the telecom industry to cut the competition from the OTT players. For instance, the industry is using new mobile tariffs that are very fast, has the limitless national voice, information, and SMS with no extra charges (Krishnaprem 2013). In addition, the industry has been emphasising its infrastructure more than it does in the models of communication. However, this approach has been criticised by Leah (2014, p.509) who argues that pricing based on speed will only augment the number of OTT players, as they will be welcomed by the new free data to make them intensify on their operations.
Pricing grounded on price is being implemented by Swisscom, which is collaborating with third parties, the Skype and WhatsApp, to cut its financial challenge. However, collaborating with third parties has been condemned by Remy (2014) who argues that the challenge posed by the OTT players can be remedied by replenishing the former correlation between the telecom industry and the customers. They must establish that they can still give their customers high-quality content, consumer-friendly services, and account help. Maříková, Rolínek, Kubecová & Vrchota (2015, p.110) confirms the statement of Remy (2014) by arguing that rejuvenating the relationship will be vital in controlling the loss because of OTT interruption. The authors add that the relationship can be revived by rebranding its services. The authors argue that this will make the company relevant to the market. This is to deal with the current action of the telecom industry focusing on reducing prices rather than focus on the product differentiation. Mehrotra & Kumar (2014) argue that branding will make the products of this industry accommodate added features, which customers are looking in the market. The overall implication of branding is that there will be improved performance for the telecom industry.
B2B
The telecom industry has finally agreed that the only effective alternative to succeed in the market is by engaging in the business-to-business relationships. Mehrotra & Kumar (2014) call this integration engagement as forming a stable ecosystem. The authors have argued that that B2B diversifies the scope of practice such that the industry will be able to address pertinent issues challenging it. It has been observed that the main drive behind B2B relationships is to pursue growth through multifaceted digital cooperative endeavours and acquisitions (Maříková, Rolínek, Kubecová & Vrchota 2015). This has even taken the dimension of undertaking corporate social responsibility. This has been the trend recently, as the Sweeden’s TeliaSonera, for instance, has been engaging in business relations with the Zound industries. Currently, the telecom industry is experiencing unbearable corporate costs due to strenuous competition from OTT providers. In addition, the industry needs B2B to deal with the challenge of reduced time-to-market because of inelastic business methodologies (Remy 2014). Furthermore, B2B will use an approach that sees that the challenges are addressed by looking into customer service that has suffered because of the absence of integrated reinforcement systems.
The call to use B2B is because telecom industry customers are demanding to have services designed to cater for their particular demands (Park, Jung & Noh 2014, p.171). one the consumers and the corporate customers are given services that matches their values, telecom industry will increase its corporate sales. (Park, Jung & Noh 2014) argues that corporate sales can be boosted and escalated by building loyalty between a company itself, the consumers of its products, and its corporate customers. Notably, the telecom industry has been using bundling to cut off competition in the market. However, this has not been effective because the market is continuing to become more federated as more regulatory policies are made (Paul 2011). To telecom industry, customer is the king, and the company will do anything to see that its customers are satisfied to the maximum (Chakravarty, Kumar & Grew 2014, p.114). One of the ways telecom industry is adhering to customers’ needs to increase its corporate sales is by researching on customers’ preferences and choices. Progressively, the industry has been deviating itself from relying on product strategy to relying customer strategy. In this setting, the industry is revolving around corporate sales, customer correlations, and product customization.
Therore, as Samanta & Danson (2014) argue, telecom industry is engaging in price wars to ensure that it is competitive to its rivals. This trend is motivated towards increasing consumers demand. Telecom industry has been engaging to what Paul (2011) named as mass customization. In mass customization, the industry gives the consumer the priority to make decision on what they want the industry to provide them. Therefore, the industry responds to the clams of the consumers by giving them what they want. Samanatha & Danson argue that the industry has been shifting from mass marketing to mass customization. Bearing in mind that it is facing fierce competition from OTT players, the industry has been engaging in product mix to maintain its corporate sales. It is given by Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013, p.33) that the industry is facing deregulation in many parts of the world such that it creates avenues for competitor to enter into the telecommunication market. Globalization of the consumer and increase in merger and acquisitions has been making the industry incur some corporate loses. Therefore, the industry has been restructuring itself to see that it outdo its rival firms.
Sheehan (2010) argue that the industry has been facing problems with measuring and predicting ROI (return on investment. This is as far as corporate sales are concerned. To reverse this trend, telecom industry has been engaging in optimization. Optimization in this case means that the industry has been devising appropriate ways to reach its corporate customers and consumers Tsai, Lee & Yu (2009). For instance, to reach its consumers more effectively, the industry has been using surveys to discounts such as free data to reach them. To reach its vase corporate customers, the industry has been formulating seminars and workshops, as well as conferences to address their needs. Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013) argue that maintaining corporate sake means addressing technological constraints. Tsai, Lee & Yu (2009, p. 170) argues that the industry is heavily influence by technological constraints. For instance, the industry has been using technology that emphasises product strategy. Therefore, it becomes difficult to provide services in the third-generation that include consolidate billing. The industry has been focussing on updating its OSS to increase efficiency in maintaining corporate sales (Theron & Terblanche 2010, p.384). Yang (2015, p.119) argue that the telecom industry has been trying to improve its data mining process so that they can have a customer-driven service innovation. However, the question that is now troubling experts is what should be done so that business management, business intelligence, and business operations can be reinforced to ensure that telecom industry improve on its corporate sales.
Moving to digital era
Zager (2010) argues that the more a telecom company is reluctant to move to digital services, the more it becomes competitive disadvantageous. Each day, new technologies are emerging. In addition, new customers are increased to the pool of the market of the telecom industry. Therefore, the demand for services will continue to be the experienced. Hence, there is need to move with time (Theron & Terblanche 2010). The telecom operators are systematically moving from traditional provision of services to providing sell managed services. . In addition, the telecom companies are using digital technologies to revolutionise their transactions/operations. (Zager 2010). The digital era is frequented with such aspects as cloud computing, IoT (Internet of Things, and Big Data. The use of these technologies symbolises a significant transformation from traditional ways of communication to newer forms (Tsai, Lee & Yu 2009). However, Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013) argues that the rapid shift to modern technologies has placed the telecom companies between a rock and a hard palace. Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal (2014) argues that the reason behind this is because the industry faces stiff competition and it struggles to shield their market share in the markets for network connection services. Another predicted challenge to the use of digital technologies was that it could bring dispersed investments. This is because it receives competition from OTT players, ISVs, and SVs. Curwen, Haucap & Preissl 2009). Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013) argues that one of the biggest telecom companies to have migrated to digital era is BT. BT benefits from Cloud. BT has been able to make considerable corporate sales after using the digital technologies. For instance, BT has a cloud known as CA Secure Cloud that is used for sell-managed services. In addition, BT has Cloud Management System that is intended to link consumers to their range of services. Furthermore, customers will be able to access apps from BT using the system. The CA Secure Cloud enables customers to have their data protected from theft and improper use. In another instance, BT (British Telecommunication) has patterned with AT &T to make its first inter-provider be exchanged by telepresence (telepresence exchanges). The success of this respective exchange is that customers will able to plan telepresence gatherings. The additional importance of telepresence is that it will allow the customers to connect their respective telepresence’s location more conveniently (Chakravarty, Kumar & Grewal, 2014). The aspect that makes the telepresence technology competitive is that it brings security advantages because data is encrypted. The future implication of the partnership is that customers will be able to establish what other scheduled companies are reachable using the inter-provider. BT has now been able to make its products valuable. The recent marriage between Twitter and Indosat to enable them get revenue from soccer fans is fritful (Almossawi 2012). Another alliance between FT (France Telecom) and DT (Deutsche Telecom) that has enabled them to access global customers using a platform known as ‘Atlas’.
Full Insight of the telecom industry in Egypt
Telecom market in Egypt is one of the fast-developing markets in Africa. This growth is generally reflected by the absolute number of subscribers. The telecom industry in Egypt is divided as shown in the table below:
Telecom Industry in Egypt Statistics
Segment
Subscribers (millions)
Penetration
Mobile
64.24
81.3%
ADSL
0.91
1.1%
Fixed
9.4
11.0%
Table 1- The Egyptian telecom industry statistics (Curwen, Haucap & Preissl 2009).
The three main telecom service providers are MobiNil with 33 million customers, Vodafone Egypt with 40million subscribers, and Etisalat Misr with 23milion customers. Their proportions in the market are represented as follows:
Chart 1- market proportions for the three major providers (Zager 2010).
In 2010, the number accelerated by 5% to approximately 70million subscribers. Furthermore, Zager (2010) argues that in 2015, the respective number of subscribers will rose to almost 95million subscribers. Current developments in the Egyptian telecom market, as Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013, p.35) argue, comprise regulatory developments that include the NTRA (National Telecom Regulatory Authority) approving more than 6milliom new lines that are to be shared equally among all the three major operators. The current developments show that the level of competition is going to rise further. For instance, in 2014, a new license scheme that was vigorously governing the telecom market was done away with. According to Suraj & Ajiferuke (2013, p.38), this scenario created opportunities for the penetration of fixed-line operators and mobile competitors to compete for each other’s business. The recent improvements as indicated by Adejuwon (2013, p.57) also indicate that the penetration rates have exceeded 100%, making the Egyptian telecom companies to lower subsequently their prices. In 2013, it can be remembered that the penetration rate stood at 118.2%. SWOT analysis of the industry shows that the telecom market in Egypt is weakened by escalating costs being brought by socio-economic dissatisfaction. The market, in addition, is threatened by heightened political unrest in the region (Adejuwon 2013, p.59). Notably, the respective market enjoys strength of having a diversified revenue base that is pertinent in diluting unforeseen weaknesses. Lastly, the market has an opportunity to possess the ability in advancing costs. In emphasis, the fixed-line sector in Egypt is predicted to experience a drop in growth, as more customers will result in using OTT players.
How OTT is affecting the telecom industry in Egypt
More OTT players are negatively affecting the telecom industry in Egypt. The major implication of the encroachment is that it is causing a decline in revenues. For instance, in 2015, the revenues of the OTT players stood at $11 billion (Adejuwon 2013, p.59). However, economist predicts that the respective revenues will accelerate unbelievably to $53.7 billion by 2017. Adejuwon (2013, p.58) argues that OTT players are making operators in the telecom industry in Egypt to experience a drop of 50% in their revenues, which makes them raise data. OTT communication revenue predictions are grounded on variable rate for OTT off-net communication, coming from $0.015, $0.125, and $0.035 and an universal rate of $0.06 for the OTT-to-mobile calls. The OTT communication has a flat rate of $0.01 for all ff-net communication SMS traffic. Park, Jung & Noh (2014) established this after carrying out a case study to investigate the effect of OTT players on mobile operators in Egypt. In 2013, 75% of the operators in the industry lamented of how quickly they were losing markets to the players. Economists such as Zager (2010) argue that in 2016, the net revenue to the players will be approximately 7% and 28% of the projected voice and SMS revenues respectively. It is being estimated that by 2016, the rate at which customer use will growth annually will be by 20% to come up to 1.7 trillion minutes. In 2014, it was found that SMS usage dropped tremendously because of the introduction of messaging applications. Voice messages have decreased drastically with the emergence of WhatsApp that sends approximately 44 messages per day of one-person user. About 74% of operators in Egypt contend that OTT players mostly challenge messaging. Most clients in the Egypt are enjoying the service of sending free-for messages. The impact caused by OTT players on voice is more visible making voice related revenues drop from$714 billion to $565billlion.
The decrease in revenues from the three operators is presented in the table below:
Company
2009 (revenue)
SMS Voice
2014 (revenue)
SMS Voice
MobiNil
$418m
$345m
$298m
$234m
Etisalat
$814m
$675m
$712m
$432
Vodafone
$760m
$543m
$458
$324m
Table 2- The effects of OTT players on the revenues of SMS and voice calls of MobiNil, Etisalat, and Vodafone ((Maříková, Rolínek, Kubecová & Vrchota 2015).
Porter forces for the telecom market in Egypt
Porter’s five forces model is used to give how telecom market in Egypt is experienced. From the year 1990, Egyptian telecom markets have been liberalised to enable the firms achieve a critical level of competition (Maříková, Rolínek, Kubecová & Vrchota 2015). Egyptian telecom market in Egypt experience threat of substitution from OTT players. The OTT players make it possible for customers to make voice calls over the internet. The threat of new entrants is minimal is low due to high government regulations. In addition, vast capital is required for the new telecom company to construct infrastructure. Furthermore, access to the optical fibre network is low (Adejuwon 2013, p.61). The Egyptian market is saturating and experience emerging classes of rural consumers with ARPU below $5. Therefore, a new entrant will be challenged by managing the bottom lines at such ARPU. The government through its regulation poses threat to new entrants (Zager 2010). For instance, a new private entrant is required to pay an amount of not less than $25 million together with FBG (financial bank guarantee) of not less than $200milion. According to Adejuwon (2013, p.63), the degree of competitive rivalry is high, as there survive price wars within the industry. Competitive rivalry is catalysed further by the fact that telecom operators differentiate themselves by giving out value-added services (Tsai, Lee & Yu 2009, p.187). The competitive rivalry is also high because there is high power of buyers’ bargaining. This is because when prices increase, the level of usage will go down tremendously. Therefore, the three major competitive companies competes based on prices. Lambert & Enz (2012, p.1598) adds that the bargaining power of suppliers is low. The revenues of MobiNil, for instance, are projected to shoot to 27.7% generally from higher network utilization. In addition, lower prices are experienced since there is the intense competition between suppliers (telecom companies) (Adejuwon 2013). Furthermore, customers are to get telecom products from varied telecom companies for their preferences and choice since quality between suppliers fluctuates.
The bargaining power of suppliers appears low because there is low product differentiation. Furthermore, there is fierce competition between suppliers themselves in the Egyptian telecom industry. Notably, the low supplier bargaining power is also brought by low buyer switching costs although the buyers’ information is usually high in this market. Lastly, the other reason that makes the supplier bargaining power to below is that the level of forward integration is low (Lambert & Enz (2012, p.1589). The bargaining power of buyers in the Egyptian telecom market is high. The reason behind this power is that there is no buyer concentration because the market experiences millions of subscribers. The buyer ability to backward integrate is minimal because there are many companies that gives buyers many alternatives to choose between operators. For instance, Lambert & Enz (2012, p.1595), 3G costs 100% of the TC (total cost) of the service, which makes clients responsive to pricing. Because of the elevated expansion rate in the telecom market, the penetration are has reached to approximately 80million subscribers (Tsai, Lee & Yu 2009, p.187). The threat of substitution on the Egyptian telecom market is minimal since there survive relative prices in this respective market. The reason behind this is that the performance of substitutes is relative. For instance, Lambert & Enz (2012, p.1621), telephony services are currently limited because of governmental regulations in Egypt. OTT players, in addition, are allowed to provide international callings as well as PC-to-PC domestic calls.
Conclusion
The discussion has deducted that telecom industry is a dynamic industry. This industry is faced with internal and external competition. With the increase in the advancement of technologies, the industry finds it easier to form alliances with other telecom providers. These alliances are designed to cut production costs and enhance innovation. However, this has not been accomplished since most telecom companies refuse to share their interfaces. This disallows integration (Curwen, Haucap & Preissl 2009). B2B relationship has been seen as the most advanced form of association to cut off competition from OTT players. Observably, the literature review gives a space to research further the opportunities that are prevailing in B2B correlations in the telecom industry. In addition, the review shows a gap to explain what specific challenges are faced by telecom industry apart from OTT players. Lastly, the literature gives grounds to research further on what could be the recent trends in B2B relationship in the telecom industry.
References list
ADEJUWON, O. (2013). Sources of Organizational Legitimacy in the Nigerian Telecommunication Industry. African Journal Of Business & Economic Research, 8(2), P51-83. 33p.
ALMOSSAWI, M.M., (2012). Customer Satisfaction In The Mobile Telecom Industry In Bahrain: Antecedents And Consequences. International Journal Of Marketing Studies, 4(6), Pp. 139-156.
CHAKRAVARTY, A., KUMAR, A., & GREWAL, R. (2014).Customer Orientation Structure For Internet-Based Business-To-Business Platform Firms. Journal Of Marketing. Vol. 78(5), P1-23. 23
CRAWFORD, S. P. (2013). Captive Audience The Telecom Industry And Monopoly Power In The New Gilded Age. New Haven [Conn.], Yale University Press. Http://Site.Ebrary.Com/Id/10633371.
CURWEN, P., HAUCAP, J., & PREISSL, B. (2008). Telecommunication Markets: Drivers And Impediments. Heidelberg, Neckar, Physica-Verlag.
ERIC, Y. (2012). What Determines Productivity Performance Of Telecommunications Service Industry? A Cross-Country Analysis. Applied Economics, 44(18), 257-297.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WEB INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES, CORDEIRO, J., & KREMPELS, K.-H. (2013). Web Information Systems And Technologies: 8th International Conference, WEBIST 2012, Porto, Portugal, April 18-21, 2012 : Revised Selected Papers. Heidelberg, Springer.
KEEFE, H. (2009). Is Digital Technology Reshaping Employment Systems In The U.S. Telecommunications Network Services? Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 63(1), P42-59.
KREUTZER, R., & LAND, K.-H. (2014). Digital Darwinism: Branding And Business Models In Jeopardy.
LAMBERT, M., & ENZ, G. (2012). Managing And Measuring Value Co-Creation In Business-To Business Relationships. Journal Of Marketing Management, 28 (13/14), P1588-1625
LEAH, M. (2014). The EU Approach To Net Neutrality: Network Operators And Over-The- Top Players, Friends Or Foes. Computer Law & Security Review, 30(5), 508-520.
REMY, J.-G. (2014). LTE Services. London, ISTE Ltd And John Wiley & Sons Inc.
MAŘÍKOVÁ, M., ROLÍNEK, L., KUBECOVÁ, J., & VRCHOTA, J. (2015). Relationship Between The Extent Of Implementation Of The Process Management Principles And The Legal Form Of The Business And Business Activity. Serbian Journal Of Management, 10(1), 109-116.
MEHROTRA, R. And KUMAR, S., (2014). A Comparative Study Of Customer Relationship Management In Telecom Industry In Rajasthan. Asia Pacific Journal Of Management & Entrepreneurship Research, 3(1), Pp. 169-178.
PARK, Y., JUNG, K., & NOH, K. (2014). Strategic Action And Customer Mobility: Antecedents And Consequences Of Strategic Actions In The Korean Mobile Telecommunication Service Industry. Asia Pacific Journal Of Management, 31(1), 171-193.
PAUL, S. (2011). Digital Video Distribution In Broadband, Television, Mobile, And Converged Networks Trends, Challenges, And Solutions. Chichester, U.K., Wiley. Http://Lib.Myilibrary.Com/Detail.Asp?ID=282289.
SAMANTA, I. And DANSON, M., (2014). DRIVERS OF RELATIONSHIPS AFFECTING B2B FIRMS IN AN E-COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT. Independent Journal Of Management & Production, 5(3), Pp. 777-805.
SURAJ, O., AJIFERUKE, I. (2013). Knowledge Management Practice In The Nigerian Telecommunications Industry. Knowledge & Process Management, 20(1), 30-45.
SHEEHAN, M. (2010). Why Is Ramsey Pricing: The Case Of Telecommunications Regulation. Journal Of Economic Issues (Association For Evolutionary Economics). Vol. 25(1), P21-32
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THERON, E., TERBLANCHE, S. (2010). Dimensions Of Relationship Marketing In Business-To-Business Financial Services. International Journal Of Market Research, Vol. 52 Issue 3, P383-402
YANG, S. (2015). Understanding B2B Customer Loyalty In The Mobile Telecommunications Industry: A Look At Dedication And Constraint. Journal Of Business & Industrial Marketing, 30 (2), P117-128
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Planning and executing HR strategy using talent development approaches
Planning and executing HR strategy using talent development approaches
Order Instructions:
Dear Admin,
As you read Chapter 2 of Bratton and Gold (2012) (file is attached or by email), you will begin to understand the various ways in which human resource strategy is made and used in organisations. You will notice that many of the models follow a traditional framework of strategy making whereby human resource or people issues become second- or third-order (Purcell, 1989) concerns. The two alternative views of strategy provide a perspective in which the workforce becomes central to the success of the firm and throughout this module; this is the approach that you will be encouraged to take.
Reference:
Purcell, J. (1989) ‘The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management’. In: Storey, J. (ed.). New perspectives on human resource management. London: Routledge, pp.67-91.
To prepare this essay:
1)Think about human resource and people elements of organisational strategy.
2)Discussing the ways different organisations plan and execute HR strategy using talent development approaches.
3)Extending the conversation into new but relevant areas regarding HR strategy and talent development.
Also,
1) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
2) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
3) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
4) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
5) Turnitin.com copy percentage must be 10% or less.
Note: To prepare for this essay please read the required articles that is attached or sent by email.
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SAMPLE ANSWER
Planning and executing HR strategy using talent development approaches
Talent development is of great importance in attracting and retaining very skilled individuals. The senior executives of an organization need to consider that an effective way of attracting and retaining talent entail creating an environment in which talented individuals can develop (William & Kazanas 2010). This paper provides an exhaustive discussion of the ways that different organizations plan and implement Human Resource strategy with the use of talent development approaches.
Strategy is understood as the scope and direction of a business organization over the long term, which attains advantage within a changing environment via its configuration of competencies and resources with the goal of fulfilling expectations of stakeholders (Purcell 1989). Organizations have to plan for the long-term, medium-term, and short-term for them to be successful and to stay competitive within the commercial marketplace or to provide value for public money.
In general, training and talent development is owned by the organization’s HR and is typically based upon the Management Development philosophy of the company, which usually focuses on preparing staff members for future – mainly managerial – jobs (William & Kazanas 2010). In talent development, each employee is trained individually. Talented individuals look for opportunities to grow and they often go to companies which provide enough opportunities for them to do so. Holbeche (2011) reported that if organizations are actually serious with regard to attracting, keeping and developing high-quality talent, they should view themselves as growth platforms in which employees are able to develop themselves quicker than they could somewhere else.
There are 2 key aspects to making sure that companies actually get the best from their staff members. The first one is basically about the decisions made by a company’s top management in how they resource the company and it involves activities like human resources (HR) planning, hiring and selecting staff members, training and developing them and making sure that the company has the right talent to succeed not only in the workforce altogether, but also in its management and leadership potential (Bratton & Gold 2012). The 2nd element is somewhat more subtle and not easy to manage and is about the organization’s working practices as well as culture, which is influenced by various factors for instance the organisational structure as well as the recognition and reward systems that have been put in place. Managing the human capital of a company entails taking a general viewpoint of the way in which all of these practices fit together and the impact that they have (Bratton & Gold 2012).
For a company to be a platform for talent development, it needs to think holistically with regard to the integration of virtual and physical environments and the management systems which help in motivating, measuring, and developing talent. Talent development is not only about employee training programs. Bhattacharyya (2014) stated that training programs are an effective way of helping individuals to develop a particular knowledge or skill set. As the rate of change increases however, it could become hard to predict the skills that employees would require. In spite of how good training programs are, there could be extra benefit from finding ways of helping individuals to learn faster each day in their work environments. It is worth mentioning that growth opportunities could happen on the job in which staff members may learn from associates and workmates. In essence, this on-the-job model of learning could allow employees to continuously attain the pertinent skills as well as tacit knowledge within their domain (William & Kazanas 2010).
References
Bhattacharyya, DK 2014, Talent Development Process of CPSEs: A Reflection on Practices and Requirements. Journal Of Institute Of Public Enterprise, 37(3/4), 91-99.
Bratton, J & Gold, J 2012, Human resource management: Theory and practice. London, England: Palgave Macmillan
Holbeche, L 2011, Aligning Human Resources and Business Strategy. Amsterdam: Routledge.
Purcell, J 1989, ‘The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management’. In: Storey, J. (ed.). New perspectives on human resource management. London: Routledge, pp.67-91.
William JR & HC. Kazanas 2010, The Strategic Development of Talent. Human Resource Development Press.
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Please read the following, then answer the questions at the end:
Call centres in the financial services sector – just putting you on hold . . .
UniBank
UniBank was founded in the West Midlands during the late nineteenth century and by 1990 had become a traditional national high-street bank with branches in most UK towns and cities. Its main business is in personal banking and financial services for individual customers and small businesses. It has subsidiary business units which handle personal insurance, mortgages and share-dealing, but these are managed separately from the high-street banking concern.
The development of UniCall
By the mid 1990s all traditional banks were feeling the pressure of fierce competition in financial services, intensified by the arrival of new entrants such as supermarkets and other well-known brands. With an eye to the growing commercial success of direct line banking organisations, UniBank decided to enter the telephone banking sector, and has recently been able to improve shareholder value by switching a significant proportion of its general account management and enquiry activity to a dedicated call centre, named UniCall. This resulted in the closure of many smaller, unprofitable branches and the consequent need for redundancies. UniBank attempted to redeploy existing employees where possible, but also needed to recruit new staff to work in the national call centre. True to its origins, and mindful of the relatively high unemployment rates in the West Midlands, UniBank decided to locate UniCall just outside Birmingham. However, none of this was achieved easily, since the press and public expressed concern and dismay at the closure of so many small local branches, and there was strong trade union resistance to the job losses. Thus is it true to say that currently staff morale is low, that there is considerable anxiety and discontent with the new arrangements, and that the staff at UniCall itself are beginning to feel somewhat exposed as the debate about branch closures rages in the media.
26 27
The work at UniCall
At present UniCall employs 150 staff and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on a 4-shift system. The majority of staff work on the daytime shifts. Staff work at sets of 4 desks, wear headsets with microphones to take the calls and operate terminals with access to all the required account and product information. Supervisors are responsible for each shift and there are two call centre managers and a deputy manager, one of whom is always either available at the centre or can be contacted by mobile phone. Pay scales are standardised; there is a starting rate of £15 000 which applies to newly recruited staff during their 6 months probationary period, after which they are placed at the bottom of a 4-point scale which rises by increments to £20 000. Employees proceed up the scale by annual increments until they reach the top point, after which further increases are dependent on promotion to supervisory or managerial work. Supervisory grades start at £22 000 and rise similarly to £27 500. There is no performance management system in place, and as yet the idea of an appraisal system has not been developed. UniCall is located in pleasant, airy open-plan offices which are nicely decorated and have good basic facilities including a snack and sandwich service, a rest room, a separate smoking room, and a kitchenette for the preparation of hot drinks and snacks; thus the ‘hygiene’ factors are fairly good.
Problems with UniCall
The history of UniCall has been mixed. After a patchy first 6 months, it seems to be picking up business very rapidly as customers begin to see the advantages of this service. While this is encouraging, it has led to a new range of problems. The existing number of UniCall staff is now clearly inadequate for the growing demands for the telephone banking service. Recruitment is under way but this is likely to place existing induction and initial training programmes under strain. Complaints are beginning to be heard from customers who are being ‘put on hold’ for anything from 30 seconds to 5 minutes during busy periods (especially early in the evenings and at weekends).
There are also problems associated with the use of the computer system itself; these centre on the apparent inability of some staff to extract accurate information about relatively simple enquiries, or the length of time that such interrogations take. Monitoring systems which measure the number and duration of different types of call add weight to these complaints, with enquiries relating to standing orders and direct debit arrangements appearing to take up to 50 per cent longer than they should according to the authors of the software. There have been customer complaints about rudeness, staff’s apparent inflexibility when dealing with complex account problems and the fact that different operators seem to give different answers to the same questions. There are additional knock-on effects for customers who prefer to visit their local branch. Here the problem seems to be that branch staff themselves have to telephone the call centre in order to deal with certain very simple transactions such as opening new accounts, and that they too are often kept ‘on hold’ to the annoyance of clients and their own considerable frustration.
The call centre staff are also beginning to complain about aspects of the work. UniBank carried out a staff survey 6 months after the start of the operation and again after a further 3 months and the findings of the second survey reflect the increased pressures by revealing a higher degree of discontent than that noted in the first survey. Workers say that they often feel very isolated from their colleagues, which leads to a certain unhealthy rivalry both within and between shifts. Many feel that they are ‘like battery hens’, working in an intensive manner, with little control over the number and type of calls which they receive 2728and limited opportunity to recover from one call before receiving the next. They are also under constant surveillance, with calls being monitored both to determine the productivity of the operators, and to check the accuracy of the information given and general quality of their work. This causes some resentment, and it appears that the operators often find informal ways to control the number of calls they receive and the time between calls. Some groups have worked out a method by which calls can be redirected to one of their number, thus allowing them all to appear busy while only one is actively taking calls. This way they take it in turns to give themselves an informal break from calls while still giving the appearance of working. On occasion this technique has been used to ‘soak’ new or unpopular members of staff, who find themselves the victims of such redirection, not realising that they are the only person on their team who is actually busy and appears to have a backlog. Supervisors are aware that this is happening, but find it very difficult to detect.
Some of the redeployed staff remain unhappy with the type of service they are being asked to give and find it too impersonal. On the other hand, some of the new recruits, especially in the younger age groups, believe that they work better and more effectively than other staff, and are beginning to feel that the standardised pay structure does not recognise or reward their individual skills and efficiency. Some are concerned about their employability and want formal recognition for their skills which would be transferable to other similar employers, of which there is an increasing number in the region. Indeed, UniCall has already lost a number of its staff to other local call centres which have a more varied clientele and better career prospects.
UniCall and UniLine, the future strategy
UniBank remains aware of the way in which the banking and personal finance sector is likely to develop and management recently decided to expand the service at UniCall to include the provision of mortgages and insurance, thus providing more of an integrated ‘one-stop shop’ service. Furthermore, work has already started on the development of an online banking system, ‘UniLine’, in parallel with the telephone service. UniBank has been somewhat late in its realisation of the importance of online banking, and thus finds itself at something of a disadvantage here. The new operation, UniLine, is located in the same set of buildings as UniCall, and urgently needs both programming staff and others with knowledge of banking and financial services who can help both to develop and run the initial trials of UniLine. It is also clear that if the local labour market is unable to supply this type of expertise at a competitive rate, then UniBank will have to consider alternative approaches.
UniBank and unions
UniBank recognises the UNIFI trade union. Membership increased at the start of the branch closure programme, but has been affected by redundancies and is starting to decline. Membership was always low at UniCall, where the workforce is relatively transitory and predominantly female (10–12 members on average). In addition, workers at UniCall felt that the union was concentrating too hard on resisting the branch closure programme to take an interest in the call centre, particularly since the call centre was partly responsible for job losses at the branches. However, there have been rumours about the possibility of 2829further job losses, this time at UniCall. This is because competitors in the banking and financial services industry continue to outsource work abroad, and because UniLine is likely to take over more of UniCall’s business and this is causing UNIFI to start recruiting more steadily at UniCall.
1.Identify and assess the key HRM issues at UniCall.
2.Recommend and justify HRM interventions that would improve business performance.
Also,
1) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
2) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
3) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
4) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches.
5) Turnitin.com copy percentage must be 10% or less.
Appreciate each single moment you spend in writing my paper
Best regards
SAMPLE ANSWER
HRM issues at UniCall
The rapidly changing business landscape implies that there are presently a lot of many human resource management (HRM) issues that would continue evolving for several years to come. HR practitioners who face various challenges utilize their leadership skills as well as expertise in averting issues which may stem from those challenges (Stone & Deadrick 2015). In this paper, the main human resource management issues at UniCall are identified and assessed exhaustively. Moreover, a number of human resource management interventions that would improve business performance at this company are recommended and justified.
HRM issues at UniCall
Inadequate number of staffs: at the moment, the number of employees at UniCall is clearly insufficient for the increasing demands for the telephone banking service. Even though recruitment is underway, it may place existing induction as well as training programmes under strain. Thanks to insufficient staffs, complaints are starting to be heard from clients who are being put on hold for even up to 5 minutes in busy times particularly at weekends and early in the evenings.
Rude employees and employees giving inconsistent responses to customers: it is worth mentioning that there have been complaints coming from customers with regard to rudeness of UniCall staffs. In addition, another HRM issue is employees’ clear inflexibility whenever they deal with complicated account problems and the fact that dissimilar operators appear to give dissimilar responses to the same questions. Branch staffs not conversant with simple transactions: in local UniCall branches, the staffs there have to telephone the call centre so as to deal with some very simple transactions for instance opening new accounts. They are also kept on hold to the annoyance of customers as well as their own frustration.
Employees at UniCall discontented with work: a staff survey revealed that UniCall employees have increased pressures and there is an increased degree of displeasure. Workers at UniCall reported that they usually feel isolated from their co-workers, which results in a certain unhealthy rivalry both between and within shifts. A lot of them feel as though they are battery hens since they work intensively with little control over the number as well as type of calls that they receive. They also usually have limited opportunity of recovering from one call prior to receiving the next call. Furthermore, employees at UniCall are under continuous surveillance and this causes some resentment amongst UniCall staffs.
UniCall’s employees uncertain about their employment: there have rumours at UniCall with regard to the likelihood of further job losses. This is because UniCall’s rivals in the financial and banking services industry continue outsourcing work overseas and because UniLine may take over more of UniCall’s business. Lack of performance appraisal system: at the moment, UniCall has not implemented any performance management system. As yet the idea of an employee appraisal performance system has not been developed. Pay begins at £15,000 and rises by increments to £20,000. The pay for supervisors begins from £22,000 and rises by increments to £27,500.
HRM interventions that would improve business performance
Recruit more employees: a major HRM issue at UniCall is certainly inadequate number of workers since the company is understaffed. This problem could be effectively resolved through hiring more staffs to reduce pressures on the existing staffs. The goal of human resource management is basically to develop and maintain a sufficient supply of skilled personnel who are adequately motivated to work effectively and offer outstanding service (Armstrong 2010). By hiring more workers, the existing ones would be less strained.
Increase employee morale and motivation: many employees at UniCall are discontented with work and their morale is low. Managing employees is a challenging and crucial task for any manager. Workers are often motivated by a range of factors which could be affected by management. Perceiving they are fairly treated, receiving effective supervision, feeling appreciated and valued, getting feedback, having opportunities for professional development, and understanding their job priorities can all help employees at UniCall to perform better (Maugans 2015). In addition, developing and maintaining an effective, equitable and fair human resource management system can help in motivating employees and increase their level of job satisfaction as well as efficiency, which could lead to improved service quality. According to Marler (2012), a vital part of a long-term strategy is to create a management and organizational structure for human resource management that is executed by employees and managers at all levels. A HR partnership between individual employees, HR professionals, supervisors, and senior managers is what really makes a human resource management system work (Allen, Ericksen & Collins 2013).
Properly train new hires and re-train existing staffs who are incompetent: training is usually carried out in order to upgrade the skill of a person or to add a new skill, which could consequently bring the change desired by the company (Maugans 2015). At UniCall, some employees cannot even deal with some very easy transactions for instance opening new accounts. This problem could be resolved by re-training employees at local branches so that they are conversant with such simple transactions and would not need to call UniCall. Training staffs at UniCall will help in fostering growth and development, will build self-confidence and commitment of staffs, and would produce a measurable change in employee performance.
References
Allen, M, Ericksen, J, & Collins, C 2013, ‘Human Resource Management, Employee Exchange Relationships, and Performance in Small Businesses’, Human Resource Management, 52, 2, pp. 153-173, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 August 2015.
Armstrong, M 2010, Armstrong’s Handbook Of Human Resource Management Practice, London: Kogan Page, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, viewed 14 August 2015.
Marler, JH 2012, Strategic Human Resource Management in Context: A Historical and Global Perspective. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 26(2), 6-11.
Maugans, C 2015, ’21st Century Human Resources: Employee Advocate, Business Partner, or Both?’, Cornell HR Review, pp. 1-4, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 August 2015.
Stone, D, & Deadrick, D 2015, ‘Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management’, Human Resource Management Review, 25, 2, pp. 139-145, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 August 2015.
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Evaluate the devolution of HR activities to line managers in relation to its impact on the HR profession and for organizational effectiveness.
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Devolution of HR activities to line managers
In many organizational settings today, line managers are involved very much in human resource management (HRM) processes. Over the last several years, business organizations have had to make crucial cost-cutting decisions, including passing to line managers the tasks that are commonly carried out by HR personnel (Maxwell & Watson 2010). This devolution may enable an organization to sufficiently function at a minimal level of operation. The decision of giving line managers more responsibility for an extra number of complex tasks calls for serious evaluation and the organization should consider the disadvantages brought about by working without a human resources team.
Devolvement or devolution is of major importance for the development of strategic HRM. Generally, a number of scholars have identified devolution as being one of 2 crucial constituents for developing strategic Human Resource Management within business circles, the other constituent being the integration of Human Resource Management into the corporate framework (Perry & Kulik 2010). Through the devolution, HR practitioners are freed up from human resources activities. Devolution of human resources activities to line managers is done as a result of various reasons. These reasons are: as an alternative to outsourcing the organization’s human resource function; to accelerate decision making; to place responsibility for human resource management with the managers who are most responsible for it; to provide a more inclusive approach to human resource management; and to lower costs (Brewster & Larsen 2010).
Freedman (2010) studied the changing role of senior HR managers as well as the new business demands which they were facing over and above their old jobs of employee welfare and administration. She hypothesized that line managers may start assuming some facets of human resources functions as part of a complete management role – personnel management, which is the old functional speciality, is fading as HRM become a facet of general management (Freedman 2010). According to Brewster and Larsen (2010), devolution is driven by organizational as well as effectiveness criteria. It is believed widely that responsibilities within an organization have to be located at places that are appropriate and this implies more and more with line managers instead of specialist functions (Brewster & Larsen 2010).
Expectations about the role of line managers in human resource development are changing as organizations are seeking to make the HR development function more strategic and leaner (Reichel & Lazarova 2013). By devolving some HR activities to line managers, line managers are given more ownership and the HR personnel are allowed more time for strategic activities. In addition, this devolution enables the organization to cut costs. The devolution of Human Resources activities to line managers may improve the quality of people management or performance of the organization. In general, for personnel functions to be effective, there needs to be good cooperation, consultation as well as team working between the human resources managers and line managers. As a result of the devolution, an organization would have a closer relationship between workers and line managers with faster decision-making and more effective resolution of problems in the place of work (Maxwell & Watson 2010).
The devolution also provides the line managers of the company with an opportunity of engaging with everyday people management decision-making, whilst human resources specialists could work on attaining closer alignment of a company’s processes and systems with the corporate goals, whilst remaining aware of external environmental changes. Even so, the shortcomings associated with this devolution are: the devolution may bring about confusion as well as conflict with line managers and human resources specialists; and the line managers would need to be provided with more support by HR professionals to allow them to effectively assume new human resource responsibilities (Perry & Kulik 2010).
References
Brewster, C., & Larsen, H 2010, Human resource management in Europe. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 3(3): 54-61
Freedman, A 2010, The changing human resource function. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 12(5): 54-59
Maxwell, G & Watson, S 2010, ‘Perspectives on line managers in human resource management: Hilton International’s UK hotels’, International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 17, 6, pp. 1152-1170, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 August 2015.
Perry, E & Kulik, C 2010, ‘The devolution of HR to the line: Implications for perceptions of people management effectiveness’, International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 19, 2, pp. 262-273, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 August 2015.
Reichel, A, & Lazarova, M 2013, ‘The Effects of Outsourcing and Devolvement on the Strategic Position of HR Departments’, Human Resource Management, 52, 6, pp. 923-946, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 August 2015.
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For over years, lecturing has been recommended as one of the best training tools. However, within the recent years, lecturing has been associated with certain limitations. Nevertheless, lecturing can be a useful tool if its shortcomings are addressed. Some of the instances where lectures work efficiently are in explaining theoretical concepts. In addition, lectures work effectively in motivating students towards realizing their objectives. For example, at the University, the lecturer used this tool to tell us life experiences of most prominent people in the country to relate. Cavas, Ertepinar & Teksoz (2014, p.487) gives that another instance whereby lecturing work effectively is when teaching how students can represent their ideas effectively. The main reason why the lecturers at my university engaged in lecturing was not only for us to develop knowledge, but to be able to realize how we can present concept at the school and in the real-world situations (Newton, Turcker, Dawson, & Currie, 2014, p.35). The other instance when lectures work effectively is when the objective of the lecturing is inspirations. Rather than holding the online discussion, lecturing can ensure that the lecturer feed the audience with the needed inspiration. The lecture can have most effectiveness if the speaker is eloquent and filled with enthusiasm. This spirit makes students vibrant in discussing the concepts being taught. Cavas, Ertepinar & Teksoz (2014, p.486) argues that lectures cannot be useful if there lacks complimentary ‘ingredients’. Ingredients, in this case, mean a high level of humor of the lecturer and allowing a participatory mode of learning. Whenever there is group discussion in lecturing, it is guaranteed that the results will be promising than when there is not.
However, there are some occasions when lectures are less effectively. One of these instances is when it replaces self-apprenticeship. There are some cases when a student needs to learn by himself or herself. Lecturing this student at this time will bring a sense of confusion to his or her studies (Newton, Turcker, Dawson, & Currie, 2014, p.33). The other instances when lectures are less effectively is when it is overextended such that it ends up making students exhausted and bored. In my university, some of the lectures could lecture for four hours that made us develop the negative attitude toward the subject, thereby making us fail terribly in the respective exams. The implication of this is that the students will forget the captured concepts easily. Lecturing without group activities is very ineffective (Cavas, Ertepinar & Teksoz, 2014, p.489). For instance, at my university, the lecturer teaching social theories was unable to incorporate group discussion. Therefore, more questions were left unattended, and students were unmotivated. When lectures are poorly executed, ineffectiveness usually results. For example, at my respective university, the lecturer unintentionally leaves some slide on PowerPoint unexplained. This leaves us with the confusion of what the unexplained parts were meant to educate us with. In addition, Cavas, Ertepinar & Teksoz (2014, p.481), argues that communication style used by the lecturer can determine whether the lecture will be effective or not. When the lecturer stammers frequently or speaks with less enthusiasm, students are more likely to fail in such training. Observably, when there is little involvement of group discussion, lectures will be less effective. This is because critical areas will not be appraised, as the platform to discuss them lacks.
References
Cavas, B., Ertepinar, H., & Teksoz, G. (2014). Sustainability in school of education in Turkey: in the words of lectures. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 13(4), 469-482.
City and County of San Francisco v Sheehan 575 U.S. (2015) 13-1412
City and County of San Francisco v Sheehan 575 U.S. (2015) 13-1412
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City and County of San Francisco v Sheehan 575 U.S. (2015) 13-1412
Summary of the importance, context, purpose and relevance of law in a business environment
This Supreme Court suit was brought by a plaintiff to seek damages for being shot by police officers. Every civil law suit always aims at getting financial gains to compensate for alleged injury.
Parties before the court: The plaintiff is Teresa Sheehan while the defendants are the City and County of San Francisco.
Facts: The plaintiff was suffering from schizophrenia and residing in a group home in San Francisco. Following Sheehan’s threat to her social worker, the worker became concerned that the plaintiff was becoming a danger to herself and those around her and, therefore, summoned police officers to take the plaintiff to a mental health facility. Upon the arrival of the police, they moved into the plaintiff’s room without a warrant for purposes of taking her into custody. The plaintiff picked a knife and threatened to stab the officers. The police withdrew outside Sheehan’s room, took out their guns and forcibly entered into her room. She made another threat to the officers with a knife and the officers shot her several times. The plaintiff sued the city and the police officers for violating her rights under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) as well as the 4th Amendment protection from warrantless seizures and searches.
Issues: The first issue before the court was whether the officers were in violation of the 4th Amendment protections due to the fact that they forced their entry into the plaintiff’s room. The second issue was whether the ADA requires police officers to make a provision for accommodation of violent, armed, and mentally ill suspects in their attempts to apprehend a suspect.
Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement officers were entitled to immunity from the allegations in the suit due to the fact that they had not in any way violated any established rights under the 4th Majority opinion was delivered by Justice Alito, and was joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Thomas, and Chief Justice Roberts. The judges believed that the officers had acted reasonably in the circumstance and thus could not be held liable for forcibly entering Sheehan’s premises.Justices Scalia and Kagan were torn between concurring and dissenting opinion, while Justice Breyer did not take part in the ruling. Justice Scalia dismissed both issues on the ground that they were improvidently granted.
Key judicial concepts that influenced the decisions related to business
Rationale:The key concept that influenced the decision of the court was the principle of duty of care(Krauss, 2012). Sheehan had filed a suit to claim compensation for the breach of duty of care by police due to the fact that they had unreasonably forced themselves into her room and shot her, but the court held that there were reasonable grounds for the police to claim immunity.
Opinion: I agree with the decision of the court because there was no duty owed by the police to Sheehan in line with the ADA and the 4th Amendment guarantees. The test required for the defendant to be held liable for the tort of negligence has not been met in this scenario and the plaintiff is not entitled to compensation. Otherwise, if it had been that Sheehan did not pose any danger to anybody and the police had shot her, they would have been held liable for breach of duty of care. This principle of duty of care is also applicable in business dealings.
The law in business is also an essential element that provides a critical understanding of the business environment in which an organization operates and generally impacts the commercial transactions of an entity. The law therefore ensures that considerations are given on an aspect that deals with an organizations contracts, partnerships, taxations, torts, intellectual properties, consumer protection including international trade. An instance of this can be depicted in an event that a corporation is entering into a joint venture. The law comes in place to institute the functions of the venture.
Court decisions in relation to law also have an impact on the policies and the legislative executive actions that may influence the operations of businesses within a given environment. The state decisions in which businesses are expected to abide by can influence the decisions of a business venture operating in different countries. For instance, the Virgin Atlantic in opening its operations in the Asian countries need to abide by the air regulatory laws that govern the region. These factors therefore may force the airline to limit some of its operations to meet the regulations of the market.
Unit 2: Basics of Contract Law: Formation, Breach, and Remedies
A contract is understood as a legal and voluntary agreement made by individuals who have the appropriate capacity. The different types of contracts are: implied contract – this includes obligations that arise from a mutual agreement as well as intention to promise, which have not been expressed in worlds. Express contract – both parties state the terms, either in writing or orally, at the moment when the contract is formed. Contracts under seal – conventionally, a contract became an enforceable legal document only if the contract was stamped using a seal. Executed contract – one where nothing is remaining to be carried out by either party. Executor contract – where some future obligation or act remains to be carried out in accordance with its terms.
The following are the elements of a contract: (i) an offer – one party in the contrast promises to perform something or to avoid doing a particular specified action in future.
(ii) Acceptance – the offer is accepted explicitly by the other party. (iii) Consideration, or an exchange of value – a valuable thing was promised in exchange for the particular non-action or action. (iv) Mutuality – the parties in the contract had a meeting of the minds with regard to the agreement. Both parties understood and were in agreement on the basic terms and substance of the contract.
Unit 3: Intellectual Property, Creditor-Debtor Relations, and Employment Law
The different protections for business intellectual property include copyright, registered design, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents. Patent: strength – patent owners might bring a patent violation suit on anybody who makes use of the invention without permission. Investors might file a Provisional Patent Application in order to protect patentable invention before it is complete. Weaknesses – patents only last for 20 years and as soon as they expire the inventor does not have legal protection over the invention given that it has fallen into public domain.
Copyright: strength – lasts the author’s lifetime plus 7 decades, and protects creative work from being utilized by others with no permission. Weakness – if an employee creates something, the employer will own the copyright for that idea or product.
Unit 4: The Business Entity and Agency Law
In limited partnerships, the limited partners have to agree not to take any active role in the everyday management of the partnership’s business. As such, the limited partners are protected from the individual liability for the actions of the partnership.
In limited liability corporations, the corporation is a distinct legal entity. Generally, a corporation, and not the corporation’s owners, is legally responsible for the debts that are incurred during the course of its business. The liability protection which is afforded to limited partners is the same as the protection that is afforded to a corporation’s shareholders.
Unit 5: Tort Law, Consumer Protection, and Product Liability
Intentional torts against property include trespass to land, and trespass to personal property. Unlike intentional torts, negligence does not require intention on the part of the tortfeasor, and neither does it require that the tortfeasor believe or know the effects that might be caused by her/his omission or action.
A tort is a private legal action that does not involve the state but the people who may seek protection in filing suits in an event that harm is caused. Through this, the state may therefore come in to prosecute the violation that would see the organization be sued for the damages that are accrued in the act. It is therefore essential that organizations operating in various environments are enlightened with these laws in order to function effectively.
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Tort Law
Part one: Quests ion 1
In our daily lives and encounters, various incidences of torts do occur to us. These torts also known as civil wrongs that the law recognizes, hence used as a basis for lawsuits. Wrongs can result to harm or even injury and this constitutes the basis upon which the injured person claims for compensation (Varuhas, 2014). Therefore, tort laws help to deter other people from committing the same mistakes as well as providing relief to those that experienced damages or injuries. I have personally experienced a real tort issue. I was driving, but failed to obey traffic lights. The police arrested me and charged me for negligence in the court of law. The court found that I did a mistake of putting the life of other road users at risk. My action was unreasonable, hence punishable to ensure that I do not repeat the mistake again, and served to deter other road users from breaching any traffic rules.
I think it was right for me to pursue litigation because even if I mistakenly failed to obey traffic lights, I was putting the life of other road users at risk. The reason for losing this litigation is clear. I was on the wrong and therefore, deserved the punishment. Putting other road users at risk due to negligence is wrong, hence punishable.
Question 2
Tort is a legal wrong meaning that any individual that is injured by another, has a right to pursue for compensation from the person responsible for the injury through civil lawsuit (Varuhas, 2014). The injured individual has to prove this in the court and the plaintiff attorney requires that the evidence contain four elements of a tort. One of the elements is for the injured person to demonstrate that the person that caused the injury had a duty to protect or observe the safety of the injured (Hmpfmlaw.com, 2015). The second element is to prove that the defendant failed to observe the duty, hence endangered the safety and health of the injured or the plaintiff. Third is for the plaintiff to have sustained injury of some nature, and lastly the plaintiff need to prove that the injury sustained was because of the defendant negligence (Hmpfmlaw.com, 2015). The case will not be clear incase the element was not met clearly, hence in such incidences no litigation cause of action may be instituted or taken against the defendant.
Topic 2
In commercial tort law, the owner of the car cannot be liable to a thief that incurs injuries in case the stolen car had no brakes. Such an incidence does not qualify to be a commercial tort, and therefore, no commercial tort claim can be demanded. Commercial tort law deals with businesses only where a businessperson or business as an entity makes a claim to someone for the suffered harm. Furthermore, a claim can only be made in case the claimant is an individual or an organization in case the claim came about in the course of the claimant profession or business and such is not inclusive of damages that arise to personal injuries or death of a person (US Practical Law, 2015). Therefore, in this incidence, the accident did not occur in the course of the thief’s’ business or profession. Furthermore, the damages the thief succumbed are personally injuries that are not compensated by the commercial tort claim. Therefore, there is no way that the owner can be liable for the injury the thief sustained.
Varuhas, J. N. (2014). The Concept of ‘Vindication’ in the Law of Torts: Rights, Interests, and Damages. Oxford Journal Of Legal Studies, 34(2), 253-293.
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