Management and Organizational Structure

Management and Organizational Structure Given the business situation for Spectrum Brand p. 251, explain how the firm might organize using a Matrix structure for the organization. Spectrum Brands Corporation, after several years of producing and marketing only batteries has diversified by adding pet products, personal grooming items, and lawn and garden care products. To organize the Spectrum Brand, formerly known as Rayovac Corporation, using a matrix structure would involve setting up teams in different departments where lines of authority may intersect. This form of organizational structure is also called a project management structure. Ferrell, Hirt, and Ferrell, 2009). If Spectrum where to develop a pet product that may be battery operated, this may require employees from the pet products division and battery division to work with a project manager and their respective division managers to be successful in the development of this product. This organizational structure would be be neficial in this instance. Explain how the firm could operate using Multidivisional structure. The multidivisional structure or M-form of organizational structure organizes departments into larger groups called divisions. These divisions could be focused on either a product, region, or customer. There is delegation of decision making authority in a multidivisional structure (Ferrell, Hirt, and Ferrell, 2009). With Spectrum’s diversified marketing, the firm could operate using a multidivisional structure by establishing divisions for each of its products. Discuss which structure would be more effective. Explain. I believe a multidivisional structure would be more effective and beneficial to the Spectrum Brand Corporation as it â€Å"helps firms successfully manage the many demands of diversification† (Organizational Structure and Controls p. 47). Since diversification is where Spectrum appears to be headed, the multidivisional structure will allow the company to â€Å"(1) enable corporate officers to more accurately monitor performance of each division, simplifying control problems; (2) facilitate comparisons between divisions, improving the resource allocation process; (3) stimulate poo rly performing divisions to look for ways of improvement† (Organizational Structure and Controls p. 347). For each of your two organizational structures, give three examples of potential communication problems the structure might cause. Recommend corrective actions the company can take to address these issues. Matrix Structure -Potential Communication Problem When reporting to two managers employees may not know who to report to on certain tasks. Managers may have different goals or different expectations or routes to meeting a certain goal or deadline. A potential communication problem can arise from different departments collaborating with little to no knowledge of the other. Corrective Action To correct these potential communication deficiencies in a matrix organization structure, I recommend management outline all job responsibilities to include reporting assignments according to tasks. Division managers and project managers should also be very detailed and specific on all job tasks collaboratively. Expectations and exact means to meeting goals and deadlines should be clearly defined with employees should problems in communication arise. If a communication problem occurs due an issue with the lack of knowledge of a product or task management should immediately assess the deficiency and provide any training or even cross train departments to eliminate such occurrences. Multidivisional Structure-Potential Communication Problem Employees may feel less likely to air grievances. Employees may have different views or innovative ideas but feel reluctant to communicate these to management. Some product knowledge may not be shared across divisions although under the same company. Corrective Action The corrective action I would recommend for potential communication problems n a multidivisional organizational structure would include always including select lower level employees in decision making. I would also recommend cross training employees to learn other products the company markets. For each of your two organizational structures, recommend the degree of centralization that would be most effective. Explain. For a matrix st ructure the degree of centralization that would be most effective would be a decentralized organization. With this degree of centralization, â€Å"decision making is delegated as far down the chain of command as possible† (Ferrell, Hirt, and Ferrell, 2009 p. 44) . In a multidivisional structure a centralized organization would be most effective because of the many divisions its comprised of. In a centralized organization â€Å"authority is concentrated at the top and very little decision making authority is delegated to lower levels† (Ferrell, Hirt, and Ferrell, 2009 p. 243). References O. C. Ferrell, (2009 Custom Edition). Business: A Changing World, Seventh Edition. McGraw-Hill. Organizational Structure and Controls. Retrieved May 2010 from http://asso. nordnet. fr/adreg/hitt%20et%20al%20chapitre%2011%20structure%20et%20controle. pdf

Existentialism: Philosophy of Life and Existence Essay

â€Å"Existentialism is an attitude that recognizes the unresolvable confusion of the human world, yet resists the all-too-human temptation to resolve the confusion by grasping toward whatever appears or can be made to appear firm or familiar†¦The existential attitude begins a disoriented individual facing a confused world that he cannot accept. † (Robert Solomon) Existentialist all share a common concern with what they have coined as the â€Å"Human Condition. † They tend to ask: †¢Why am I here? †¢What does it mean to be human? †¢How should I go about living my life? Existentialism is more of individual rather than social. They, Existentialist need to justify their existence. For them, they’re having their journey in life to know their purpose based on their own philosophy, according to EDU310 Foundations of Learning. There is no predetermined definition or purpose. We are free to make our own definitions through choices that lead toward self-definition. Students are free agents, responsible for creating their own selves and purpose. Everything learned is a tool toward the realization of one’s own subjectivity. Standardized testing restricts the interpersonal relationship between teacher and student. Value-laden students are vital, as is authentic assessment. Therefore, Existentialism is a philosophy concerned with human existence, self-discovery, and the search for life’s meaning based on free will, experiences, beliefs, laws, and traditions. How does existentialism connect to Axiology and Metaphysics? (Branches of philosophy) In Education, Existentialism is very important, because as an Educator we should know each child’s life, existence and story behind their attitudes and characters, for us to become an effective educator, according to Bethel Jadem. For example, a child has a problem and suddenly changed his/her attitude; we have to know the reason behind it for us to understand him/her. We should know also their philosophy and belief in life so that we could better adjust, know and appreciate their existence as well. To show the connective thread between Axiology and existentialism and metaphysics and existentialism the terms need to first be defined. †¢Axiology is the study of value. It is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and types of value such as in ethics and religion. (â€Å"What and why do you value? †) †¢Metaphysics is (â€Å"What is real? †) In connection to axiology, an example of existentialism is: According to EDU 301 Foundations of Learning, studying the ethics of the Christian and Jewish religions is an example of a study in axiology. Therefore, if a child growing up in a Christian home has strong beliefs about God he/she values her beliefs and therefore concludes that here existence is solely because of God. â€Å" There is a purpose for my existence, God will show me the way. † In connection to metaphysics, an example of existentialism is: Since â€Å"this† exists, that cannot exist. â€Å"John was walking (this) on water (that). † There is only knowledge of how, beyond what is given, so inferred to make the situation valid with natural cause. As a metaphysical example, if he could walk on water, maybe he had water in his shoes. There is also questions that go beyond what we know. Such as â€Å"is there a â€Å"first† cause? † Or is time â€Å"infinite†? Since we ourselves can have no observation of such truth, only inference based on given present events, it becomes Metaphysical.

Cbt (Skinner) vs. Psychotherapy (Freud)

Evan Hall ECPY 421 CBT (Skinner) vs. Psychotherapy (Freud) Introduction. Freud, being the â€Å"father† of psychology, has had an impact on the development of almost every other theory to fallow his own Psychotherapy. This is primarily because most recognizable psychological theorists began their training under some form of Psychotherapy. B. F. Skinner was one of the many theorists affected by Freud and his theories. However, even though Skinner originally studied Psychotherapy he eventually decided to stray from Freudian theory and develop his of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.Being derived from Psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy shares some ideas but has many differences. Both theories deal with altering the thoughts and behaviors of clients but on different levels and in different ways. Differences. Freud’s theory of Psychotherapy focuses solely on the unconscious mind and works to help the client to acquire some insight on their unconscious beliefs and behavi ors. Measurement of the unconscious mind can be difficult considering its questionable existence.However, Freud was convinced that the unconscious mind was an imperative part of people’s lives and greatly effects their behavior and mental health. Freud’s therapeutic technique was for the therapist to be a blank slate and have absolutely no effect on the client. The client was then allowed to free associate, verbally expressing anything and everything that came to mind. It was Freud’s belief that everything expressed was an important clue to attaining the insight needed to relieve the problems which were troubling the client.Freud also believed that nothing said or done by the client was unintentional or a mistake. Freud believed that these â€Å"Freudian slips† were actually the unconscious mind, or the Id, breaking through the barriers created by the Ego and Superego. Freud believed that these barriers were created to control the impulses of the unconsci ous thereby protecting the individual from the morals of the surrounding society and vice versa. Freud’s technique was non-confrontational in that the therapist provided no guidance to the client. The therapist would only ask the client to consider the ossible hidden meanings to their trail of thought they had verbally expressed during their free association. (Dilman, 1988) Skinner on the other hand, considered the mind to be a â€Å"black box† and believed it was impossible to be measured or even considered when analyzing human behavior. Even though Skinner started off under Psychotherapy, he developed his theory of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy without any consideration of the unconscious mind. Skinner believed that all human behavior was learned and that the thought process involved in enacting the behavior could be conditioned.Skinner’s theory involved the use of the Skinner box. In the Skinner box either a rat or a pigeon was trained to perform a specific be havior in order to receive a food reward. Skinner used the food as reinforcement to promote the repetition of a specific behavior. Skinner created this form of operant conditioning after fallowing Pavlov’s studies in operant conditioning. Skinner believed that the unconscious mind was irrelevant when attempting to understand human behavior because all behaviors are learned using conscious cognition, which has no place in the unconscious mind.Skinner believed that all people are born as blank slates and that they are shaped and molded by the environment they live in. (Gelso & Fretz, 2001) Similarities. There are very few similarities in the specifics of Freud and Skinner’s theories. The goal of Freud’s theory is for the client to gain insight on their unconscious impulses and behaviors so that the client may bring their unconscious behaviors into their conscious mind, allowing them to control or edit those behaviors to their liking.Skinner also attempts to alter human behavior, although in a more direct manner. Both of the theories focus on the past experiences of the clients. Freud believed that all unconscious behaviors and impulses are primal and imprinted in our brains at birth, but they are only malleable during the first five years of life. Skinner also focused on the clients past and how they may have been taught to behave through operant conditioning. Both theories end goal consist of altering or repressing undesired behaviors.Psychotherapy uses the acquiring of insight to allow the client to observe their unconscious behaviors bringing them into their conscious thoughts so that they may edit or suppress those behaviors. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy used the techniques of reinforcement and extinction to either promote or discourage specific behaviors. (Gelso & Fretz, 2001) Skinner’s Theory in Depth. Skinner’s main theory of reinforcement is based in the behavioral approach where the theorists focus mainly on the overt behaviors of people and how they can be measured to some stimulus in our environment.An individual’s personality develops mostly in response to how they are reinforced or punished for responding to their environments. Due to ethical restrictions Skinner was not able to fully test operant conditioning with his Skinner box on humans, but he claimed that rats and pigeons would suffice because they share the same elemental processes as humans. This could be considered a weakness of Skinner’s theory because one may argue that humans may have similar elemental processes they also have much more developed cognitive processes that vastly exceed the limitations of rats and pigeons.One of the strengths of Skinner’s reinforcement theory is its effectiveness on young children. Most parents today still use a system of rewards and punishment to condition their children’s behavior, reinforcing the good behavior and discouraging the bad. Today’s jobs also use a sy stem of rewards and punishment to condition employees to follow the rules the company seeks to enforce. If an employee follows the rules and displays the appropriate behavior, they could be rewarded with a pay raise, a promotion, or positive acknowledgement.If an employee doesn’t follow the rules they could be reprimanded with negative feedback, demotions, or cut hours for part time employees. Another weakness of Skinners reinforcement theory is its inability to be applied in most forms of therapy. It’s difficult for a therapist to manipulate a client’s behavior with a system of rewards and punishments simply because the therapist can’t be around the client at all times. Reinforcement theory is best used in a self-regulated system of rewards and punishment. However, without some sort of external monitoring there is no certainty to the reinforcement.A final strength of the reinforcement theory is its usefulness in behavioral modification when dealing with individuals with behavioral issues. Whether a therapist or parent is dealing with an unruly young child or a rebellious and troubled teen, Skinner’s reinforcement theory can be used to edit ones behaviors to promote the desired and discourage the undesired. (Toates, 2009) Conclusion. Even though Freud could be considered the â€Å"father† of psychology, his old theory of Psychotherapy has had at least some effect on almost all of the theories to follow his own.Skinner’s theory of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and reinforcement is no exception when considering Freud’s influence. However, it would seem that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychotherapy are on opposite ends of the therapy spectrum. Though the two theories do share some similarities, they have a vast amount of differences. Although Skinners theory of reinforcement is still used to help modify the behaviors of individuals with behavioral issues or the behaviors of younger children or young tee ns, it has many limits.Skinners reinforcement theory has little application in a therapist-client relationship because of time constraints and other physical limitations. Reinforcement theory also has limitations when considering experiments with human subjects. The theory could be seen as unethical and inhumane because it goal is to manipulate and shape the behaviors of people while ignoring their emotions and opinions. However, even with these limitations people still use Skinners reinforcement theory when molding the behaviors of their children to fit the values and rules of the environment they will be growing up in.

What is your experience with writing, both in English and in your Essay

What is your experience with writing, both in English and in your first language - Essay Example The amount of time spent formulating an effective message is much less compared to that spent used to write using the less used language. It happens that the main mode of communication and the internationally accepted language is English. Therefore, the education system has made it mandatory and more used language than the first languages. Further, it creates a common platform for the diverse people with diverse dialect and languages in total. With that, there is a laxity in the perfecting the first language and making it useful for official communication. English h has got studied and can be taught in a systematic manner unlike first languages in the world over. It is hard for me to use the use English than I do with the first language. With English, it is easier to articulate issues clearly, the time taken to formulate the sensible information is much less, and the language is less complex generally. Therefore makes English dominate over my first language because of the mastery of both languages compared is different. In conclusion, the ability to use language to communicate effectively in writing is determined by the knowledge of the language and the practice in using

Discussion Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Topic - Essay Example Another fallacy is hasty generalization. It refers to when a conclusion is reached with insufficient information and what follows is an immediate generalization (Davis, 2007). A person might visit a restaurant once and fail to like food that is being served. That does not necessarily mean the restaurant is inferior. Its mistake is that it leads to stereotyping. One takes an example and keeps using it to draw some pattern of undesirable results that might follow (Davis, 2007). An example is when one argues that a certain Television station should not ban some programme. If they ban one programme, they might as well ban all the others. Its mistake is that some roots for equal treatment of all elements whether favourable or lousy. Media is one of the biggest platforms that normally use fallacy in their routine. Two of the most commonly misused fallacy includes the appeal to pity and popularity. Appeal to popularity follows that a conclusion should be accepted because the majority of people think it is true (Davis, 2007). Appeal to pity requires a conclusion to be accepted because of the situation of the person making the conclusion (Davis, 2007). It is unlikely for someone who has studied logic to be fooled by these kinds of fallacies. The people presenting these arguments assume that viewers luck adequate, logical skills, to see through their fallacy. This is a terribly dangerous assumption because it can easily backfire on

PA Mod 2 New Homeland Security Challenges Assignment

PA Mod 2 New Homeland Security Challenges - Assignment Example For example, following the rail system bombings in both London and Madrid, a number of suspected terrorists were arrested in Florida, Britain and Canada with the help of the cooperation between the locals and law enforcement agencies. Consequently, this is a likely indication that such campaigns are important in the achievement of the goals of community policing because they may provide key information that can be used to identify suspects and prevent terrorist attacks (McGarrell et al. 142). At a time when asymmetric terrorism is increasingly posing the greatest threat to our homeland security, such campaigns as used in the Dearborn case also help in the achievement of community policing goals because they encourage community members to voluntarily provide information that may lead to the prevention of crime and terrorist activities, and the improvement of public security. According to the current homeland security policies, emergency responses to terrorist attacks should be based on an interrogated approach between law enforcers, DoD, FEMA as well as other emergency response agencies based on intelligence gathering. Yes. Although both community policing and zero tolerance policing are all designed to help fight against crime and criminal activities, zero tolerance policing often works against the goals of community policing particularly with regard to the efforts of logical crime prevention. For example, most citizens and members of the communities generally view the street sweeps aimed at enhancing zero tolerance policing to be biased, brutal and militaristic. In this regard, zero tolerance policing may actually discourage community members from actively participating in community crime prevention initiatives that involve cooperating with the police. Zero tolerance was supposedly initiated to help crack down low level crimes such as scribbling graffiti, loitering and other related

Tourism is whorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Tourism is whorism - Essay Example Prostitution is one of the oldest professions; it is an offspring of poverty coupled with inhumanity. Some of the countries that receive tourists on regular basis have legitimized this inhumane profession. The statement â€Å"Tourism is whorism!† may not be applicable in general but there is definitely some link. Countries that are under privilege, and generate a great chunk of revenue from tourism are forced to ease out their policies against prostitution. People are poor, their mode of earning is scarce, therefore they are bound to look out for other sources and in this search of generating extra cash they indulge in heinous acts like prostitution. The natives of the tourists’ resorts are sometimes forced by the influential members of their societies to carry out illegal trade of flesh just to promote the region as tourist resort for sex maniacs. Thus, tourism is not entirely whorism, but there are certain issues that turn it to look like

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy - Essay Example However, since he wanted to maintain the good reputation of the country, he intended to have plausible deniability about the matter. As such, he decided to use Cuban citizens who disliked Castro to spearhead the fight while American operatives were not directly included. Kennedy was unsure of this decision but since it had been planned in the Eisenhower administration. He found it difficult to abandon probably because it would undermine Eisenhower’s reign (Kennedy & Sedgwick, 2006). However, after the invasion things went horribly wrong. The invaders were killed, and some of them captured for ransom to the U.S. This became a bureaucratic nightmare. Knowing that the country was in trouble, Kennedy publicly took responsibility for the attack on Cuba and apologized(Presidentprofiles.com, 2013). In addition to this, he consulted with other former presidents like Eisenhower and Nixon in order to find a suitable way alleviate their problem. Due to these actions, Kennedy was able to salvage the reputation of the United States from the drain. 2. Given that the invasion of Cuba was unsuccessful, Kennedy had to come up with contingency measures that wouldensure that his country was not blamed for the outcome of the failed invasion(Presidentprofiles.com, 2013). As such,he had to come up with a proper diplomatic doctrine to suit his situation. The first decision he made was to admit to his mistake publicly. This action was far from intended since the U.S. wanted to deny all claims of involvement. However, to the diplomatic community, admission was suitable,and it neutralized the effects that the invasion had on not only Cubans but also other countries worldwide(Gienow-Hecht, 2010). The United States obtained most of its allies back after this admission of guilt. Back in the country, another problem was emerging. If Kennedyexplained to the citizens that it was not his idea to invade Cuba, but that of his predecessor, he wouldhave created division in the country. Disu nity of such proportion would be catastrophic to the country (Presidentprofiles.com, 2013. Therefore, he decidedto consult with two former presidents in order to show they were in agreement. These consultations yielded alternative steps that the country would take in order to avoid such embarrassment in the future. This action by Kennedy further strengthened the American citizens’ belief in their leadership (Kennedy & Sedgwick, 2006). However, even after the Cubaninvasion failed miserably, Kennedy still wanted involvement with the local affairs of other countries. He explained thatsuch countries were not able to manage their own matters, and this was why he got involved (Kennedy & Sedgwick, 2006). For instance, he still wanted Fidel Castro of Cuba overthrown from power. This is because Castro was an ardent communist while Kennedydisapproved of this method (Sibley, 1998). Kennedy then took up secretive methods that would ensure the U.S. wasnot involved if they failed. He utili zed the CIA for this purpose. Much to his dismay, the CIA, did not follow the orders it was given, and it tried to assassinate Castro on numerous occasion, all of which failed. It is claimed that Castro got wind of these assassination attempts and was infuriated. Castro is rumored by many to be the person behind Kennedy’s assassination (Kennedy & Sedgwick, 2006). Nevertheless, Kennedy’s response to this crisis was outstanding. 3. This diplomatic doctrine had an effect not only on the United States but also on other countries(Gienow-Hecht,

Car pooling scheme is effective argue against this statement Essay

Car pooling scheme is effective argue against this statement - Essay Example While there seem to be many advantages to it, huge list of disadvantages also make it highly inconvenient for lot of people. The paper would primarily be discussing those shortfalls of carpooling. One of the most important disadvantages is that it considerably restricts the freedom of choice of the people who are part of carpooling arrangement. People can only move back and forth between two travel points which adversely impacts on their independence. Punctuality is of paramount importance because others are also involved who cannot afford to be late because of one person. Their temporary or sudden change of travel plans cannot be accommodated within the arrangement that leaves the person with the inconvenience of finding or using alternate mode of transport at short notice. Indeed, the emergency situations in such plans are not included, which can happen anytime and anywhere. In fact, it totally fails to address this aspect for individual cases. Another important issue is that of pr ivacy of individuals. The people have to sacrifice their personal space and accommodate with the eccentricities of others. They also cannot have confidential conversation on their mobile or include their relation or friend in the arrangement at short notice. Some people also have peculiar habit or habits that they do not like others to know.

The concepts “community” Essay Example for Free

The concepts â€Å"community† Essay Assessment evidence shows that you can: †¢ critically discuss the meaning of the concepts â€Å"community† and â€Å"community development† †¢ discuss some of the difficulties encountered when explaining these concepts †¢ provide a historical background of community development †¢ critically discuss how the meaning of these concepts has changed over time and how scholars influenced by different ideologies and disciplines have given diverse meanings to these concepts †¢ use evidence from the prescribed readings Critically discuss the meaning of the concepts â€Å"community† and â€Å"community development† Community Geographers emphasise spatial aspects, economists emphasise work and markets and sociologists emphasise social interactions and networks in their definitions of community. Community is also defined as people in a given geographical location, the word can really refer to any group sharing something in common. This may refer to smaller geographic areas a neighborhood, a housing project or development, a rural area or to a number of other possible communities within a larger, geographically-defined community. Examples of community: The Catholic community (or faith community, a term used to refer to one or more congregations of a specific faith). The arts community The African American community The education community The business community The homeless community The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community The medical community The Haitian community The elderly community Often when we think of community, we think in geographic terms. Our community is the city, town or village where we live. When community is defined through physical location, it has precise boundaries that are readily understood and accepted by others. Defining communities in terms of geography, however, is only one way of looking at them. Communities can also be defined by common cultural heritage, language, and beliefs or shared interests. These are sometimes called communities of interest. Even when community does refer to a geographic location, it doesn’t always include everyone within the area. For example, many Aboriginal communities are part of a larger non-Aboriginal geography. In larger urban centres, communities are often defined in terms of particular neighbourhoods. Most of us belong to more than one community, whether we’re aware of it or not. For example, an individual can be part of a neighbourhood community, a religious community and a community of shared interests all at the same time. Relationships, whether with people or the land, define a community for each individual. Community development The United Nations defines Community development as a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. Community development is a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. Community wellbeing (economic, social, environmental and cultural) often evolves from this type of collective action being taken at a grassroots level. Community development ranges from small initiatives within a small group to large initiatives that involve the broader community. It is a broad term given to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various  aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities. Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to cause in their communities. These skills are often created through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities positions within the context of larger social institutions. Community development as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries i.e. the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and other countries in the Commonwealth. It is also used in some countries in eastern Europe with active community development associations in Hungary and Romania. The Community Development Journal, published by Oxford University Press, since 1966 has aimed to be the major forum for research and dissemination of international community development theory and practice. Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU. Discuss some of the difficulties encountered when explaining these concepts Mayo (in Mae Shaw 2008:24) observes that it is not just that the term has been used ambiguously; it has been contested, fought over and appropriated for different uses and interests to justify different politics, policies and practices. Stacey (in Mae Shaw 2008:24) also states that the ambiguity of the term community also tells us something about its wider social significance and the way in which it continues to be appropriated to legitimise or justify a wide range of political positions, which might otherwise be regarded as incompatible. Kumar (2005:279) takes the debate further by looking at how the concept community has often been used in the implementation of community-based natural resource management (hereafter CBNRM) projects. The manner in which the term community is represented conceptually, socially, politically and geographically in CBNRM policies shapes the way in which relation- ships and administrative procedures are constituted and enacted. Mearns and Scoones (in Kumar 2005:279) argue that the concept of community has been taken for granted, especially, in policies, projects and also the literature dealing with the CBNRM. They argue that a community has been portrayed as a distinct social group in one geographical location, sharing common characteristics, in harmony and consensus: images that actually may be quite misguiding reflections of reality. Uphoff (in Kumar 2005:280) argues that CBNRM faces two particular problems in how the community is conceptualised, firstly, communities are not necessarily bounded social or geographical units, and nor are they likely to be homogeneous entities with single and agreed interests. It is this generalisation of community that has made the implementation of CBNRM difficult. Provide a historical background of community development One author traces its history back to the mid-19th- century USA, while another finds its origin in the early 20th-century history of the USA. One says it all started in India in 1921, and yet another would credit the 1931 Gandhian experiment in rural reconstruction as its beginnings. It is also claimed that the British colonial administrators of India were the creators of the elusive concept of community development. Critically discuss how the meaning of these concepts has changed over time and how scholars influenced by different ideologies and disciplines have given diverse meanings to these concepts Conclusion About the early history of community development there is as little agreement simply because there is no definition. Bibliography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Community Tool Box website PeerNetBC website

How employable individuals turn their focus to start-ups?

How employable individuals turn their focus to start-ups? How employable individuals turn their focus to start-ups? An Empirical Study on Factors Motivating Business Students to Move to the Entrepreneurial Sector Abstract. This exploratory study is attempts to examine how employable individuals turn their focus to start-ups. Today, majority of employees still practise a more or less self-protective strategy. In this paper the researcher has reported on the results of an empirical study of factors motivating degreed potential employees to move to self enterprising. The deciding factors to become an entrepreneur and of sustainable employment-oriented factors to be analyzed in order to discover how they differ. Participants consisted of 200 students from Malaysia entered final year of business undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data on factors and types of relationships influencing career choice and entrepreneurial intention. The results will serve as a basis for improvement of employment practices and promising entrepreneurial curriculum in universities to support start-ups in creating sustainable businesses. 1. Introduction Today, employees still act in accordance with employers official contracts and not making efforts to attract prioritize attention from local independent business owners. This papers main aim is to take a fresh look into graduates expectation on the factors motivating employees when considering switching jobs if employed and to identify the level of interest as they commence and develop entrepreneurial ventures. The study principally examined why students decide to become entrepreneurs, therefore, seven main issues associated with graduates motivation as they established, driving and developing their businesses, these being chosen following a process of pilot studying of graduating students. 2. Review of Literature 2.1. Overview A number of researchers have attempted to consider factors such as gender, grade point average, duration and field of study and entrepreneurial family background as important factors affecting students perception and attitudes towards the prospect of new own business formation, and some of these factors clearly enhance or inhabit such tendency (Oakey, Mukhtar and Kipling, 2002). 2.2.Motivation Generation of start up ideas have been explored by a number of researchers. Opportunity recognition is dependent on whether the entrepreneur was extrinsically stimulated. A leading entrepreneurship text has recognised the â€Å"important implications for entrepreneurs who need to be creative in their thinking† and of the concept that creativity can be learned or enhanced (Timmons Spinelli, 2008). The three types of opportunities identification to the field of entrepreneurship as established by Sarasvathy, Dew, Velamuri, and Venkataraman (2003) are recognized, discovered and created. There are various motives to start a new venture. According to Amit, McCrimmon, Zietsma and Oesch (2001), money is important but not necessarily most important. They argue that some of the key non-monetary motives for starting up a business include the wish to be independent and the combination of work and household responsibilities. These start-up motives may have important consequences for the d egree of (over)optimism that characterizes (promising) entrepreneurs. For example, if an entrepreneur is mainly driven by wealth creation, it may be expected that (s)he is more likely to be disappointed if the turnover in the first year is relatively low. If the entrepreneur is driven by the wish to be independent, (s)he may be unpleasantly surprised by the strong reliance upon a limited number of clients or the bank. If the primary start-up motive is exploiting a perceived opportunity, the entrepreneur may be faced with other people who came up with the same idea or possibly an overestimated market demand for the (new) product. Gilad and Levine (1986), agreed in their analysis on intrinsic and extrinsic that there are discrimination between start-up motives. Intrinsic motives include the desire for independence and combining work with care for family members. Entrepreneurs who are driven by such motives will probably be less inclined to set unrealistically high pecuniary goals. Extrinsic motives include two categories: pull and push factors. An opportunity of perceived profit is an important pull factor of entrepreneurship, while (the threat of) unemployment is a well-known push factor. Regarding the exploitation of opportunities, As Hayward, Shepherd and Griffin (2006) argued, initiators of new ventures with overconfident will execute too much capital to the opportunities. If entrepreneurs are ‘blinded by their own ideas and fail to adequately assess the competition and the (potential) problems to transform the opportunity into a profitable venture, over optimism is around the corner. Those who under employment or unemployment, belief that creating new businesses promising more expected utility (Douglas Shepherd, 2000; Van Praag Cramer, 2001). 3. Methodology Gartner (1989) proposed that a common limitation of studies into the predictors of entrepreneurial intentions is the failure of investigators to choose samples that are (1) comprised solely of people who are serious about entrepreneurship and (2) who are in the process of making the decision to become involved in creating a new business. Krueger, Reilly and Carsrud (2000) find that studies comprising samples of upper-division college students can uncover job-related preferences at a time when respondents are struggling with important career decisions. Therefore, it is acceptable and appropriate to investigate entrepreneurial intent utilizing a sample of upper-class college students. (Brice and Nelson, 2008), it is important to note that the population of interest in their study consists of individuals who perceive that they will become entrepreneurs and not necessarily only those who will actually become entrepreneurs. This difference is significant because while actions has been dem onstrated to be predicted by intentions. Therefore, the focus of this research remains at the entrepreneurial intentions level of analysis. The sample chosen consists of postgraduate and undergraduate business degree program students who were nearing graduation. When students contemplate graduation, they may also develop immediate career plans and long-range goals. The respondents are those from the business disciplines because, based on their discipline interest, they have already decided to pursue business-related careers. For that reason, a homogeneous sampling of university college students was included in this study. This study sample consisted of 200 students from University Colleges in Malaysia who participated utilizing a structured questionnaire data collection methodology. Subjects consisted of final (3rd) year business undergraduates and final year Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in the concentrations of management. They were appropriate primarily because their academic concentration implied that they had serious interest in pursuing a business career. Based on literatures to establish the major impressions and domains associated with start up intentions, the researcher has gathered his own survey instrument with a series of 29 employment -self employment related motivational items that could be feasibly responded by students. The 7 main themes covered by the survey questions include firm and owner characteristics; interest to start-up; motivation to switch job if employed; career preferred timing and industry; medium for seeking employment: desire and prospect of rewards and opportunity; criteria of choosing employers. Many of the items overlapped conceptually, but one of the aims of the pilot study was to trim the study items after determining which preeminent represented the constructs. The researcher contacted students directly via targeted groups of respondents list originating from the Faculty of their academic major program. Responses were gathered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = â€Å"extremely undesirable† to 5 = â€Å"extremely desirable.† and total scale score was obtained by averaging the nine questions. Any items with a negative valence were reverse coded so that higher scores were indicative of favorable entrepreneurial -related motivations. Table 1, shows the hypotheses to be tested in this study. 4. Analysis and Results Students primary motivations to start-up were probed once all the related information from the respondents was entirely obtained. In order to establish instrument reliability, Cronbachs coefficient alpha was computed. The reliability coefficient was 0.71 which indicates that the instrument was reliable in its measurement of determinants for start ups. Information pertaining to each respondents age, gender, and expected salary was obtained to use as control variables in the analysis. Each of these control variables was recorded as non-continuous, categorical predictors. Then, data reduction technique is used to unfold the information embedded in the survey data. Hypothesis 1: Intention for independent business start-ups is higher than joining established firms After elimination of subjects with survey questionnaires were only partially completed, the final sample totalled 196 students. As shown in Table 2, this sample was equally represented between the genders, consisting of 107 (54.6%) males and 89 (45.4%) females. Subjects were primarily graduating undergraduate business students (65.8%) and graduating postgraduate students (34.2%). In fact, there were 129 bachelor degree students who aged below 25 years than MBA students who aged 26 and above. The majority of subjects were expecting salary between RM5001- RM15000 (56.2%) which is not in accordance or earnable with employment even in established firms. Students responses for exploring into entrepreneurial sector were gathered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = â€Å"Very Keen† to 5 = â€Å"Not interested at all.† Since the mean, median and mode values are very close to each other, it shows the data is symmetrical. The mean for the 196 students is 2.08 with a standard deviation of 1.088. The Trimmed mean value of 2.01 is similar to the mean above. Hence, shows there are no outliers in the data set. In this survey, since the sample size is 196, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is used. The p-value of the test is less than 0.001. Hence, the data is not distributed normal. Of the 196 students, 77 (39.3%) very enthusiastic towards start-ups, 52 (26.5%) eager to start-up, 46 (23.5%) open to any opportunity, and 16 (8.2%) to consider start-up option. Out of total, 5 (2.6%) prefer employment. Since the correlation value is within 0.5 to 0.8, start-up intention among degree students is said to correlate â€Å"adequately† with at least one other variables in the construct. In this survey, the KMO value is 0.819, which is considered good. Bartletts test of sphericity is used to analyse whether the correlation matrix is an identity matrix. Identity matrix can be ruled out if the p-value of the test is less than 0.05 (Karuthan and Krishna, 2009). In this model, since the p-value is less than 0.001, the researcher proceeds with factor analysis. Since the researcher wanted to study the underlying construct among the six variables: Curiosity, Interest, Consideration, Preparation, Setting Up and Start-up Timing. This is a single underlying concept; therefore, it is called the â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure†. Since the â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† varies from person to person, it is a variable too. However, it cannot be measured by physical means. Hence, it is called a latent variable or just factor. The model for â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† is given in Figure 4. In Figure 4, one can visualize six simultaneous regression functions: Curiosity, Interest, Consideration, Preparation, Setting Up and Start-up Timing as the dependents and â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† as the independent. Curiosity = L1 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e1 Interest = L2 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e2 Consideration = L3 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e3 Preparation = L4 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e4 Setting Up = L5 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e5, Start-up Timing = L6 Ãâ€" â€Å"Start-up Intent Structure† + e6 where Lis are called the factor loadings and eis are the error terms. Table 4.1, since there are 6 variables in this analysis, 6 components (or factors) are listed in the first column. The respective eigen values and percent of variance explained are provided in the next two columns. For Factor 1, the eigen value is 3.109 and the variance is 51.811% of the total variance. For factor 3, 4,5 and 6 the eigen value is less than the default value of 1. In the same table, under â€Å"Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings†, only two factors are listed, corresponding to the factors for which the eigen values is more than 1. Based on the cumulative % column, these factors explain 68.792% of the total variance in the 6 original variables. According to Karuthan and Krishna, (2009) established that, in social sciences, at least 50% of the total variance in the variables in analysis must be explained by the factor of factors. In this survey, a single factor extracted explains more than 50% of the total variance in the original variables. Hypothesis 2: Motivations to switch job if employed in established firms associated with independent business start-ups One way Analysis of Variance is used to test if there is a difference in means between motivation variables. Based on Kruskal Wallis Test (Table 5) for the mean ranks, obviously, the degreed students are looking for a more challenging career in terms of expanded scope of work, more responsibilities and change in career path rank much higher compared to the students who looking to join a more established and stable organisations. On the other hand, 82.20% students feel that they need to escape from unfavourable office working environment such as not happy with peers, bosses, office politics and etc. Table 3.1, supports students interest, whereby 97.4 cumulative percent and mean rank shown probability of considering the new business start-up. Table 6, the p-value for the Levenes test for equality of variance is 0.000, which is less than 0.05. Thus, equality of variances is not assumed. Table 7 depicts that the F-value is 3.933 and the degrees of freedoms are 7 and 188. A small F statistic implies that the difference between group means is small and, hence, it could be concluded that there is no difference between the group means. The p-value of the test is 0.000, which is less than 0.05 and the eta-squared value of 0.128, which is less than 0.15, hence, at least one pair of means differ significantly. Therefore there is a need to identify the pair that differs significantly. In this case nonparametric test is performed. Based on Kruskal Wallis Test, the p-value of this test is 0.000, which is less than 0.05. Thus, at least one reason differs in terms of motivation towards self-employment rather employment. From the mean of all motivation constructs, it could be argued that most students are keen to start their own business (mean rank 109.37) and the main motive for start-up rather than considering employment is looking for more challenging career (mean rank = 110.89), followed by working environment reasons (mean rank = 82.20) and the need for financial security (mean rank = 68.96). The researcher identified two types of potential entrepreneurs depending upon their purposes at the time of commencing the business: firstly self-regulating who placed high priority on not having to work for others, and secondly, â€Å"company-men who builds the organization. This research obtains interesting findings and makes important tri-party contributions for students as future entrepreneurs, for policy makers in large established companies and for the decision-makers or curriculum designers of universities. As the results have shown, the motivation that encourages students to start up a new business, their curiosity with the idea of the new business or the hard work they are willing to put in preparation stage of the new business, along with their start-up timing, are key in the start up of the new businesses. Observing this principle, the new businesses are formed not only by those graduates who can do it, however, by the graduates who to do it coupling with those who have the â€Å"acquired eagerness† to do that. However, policy makers in established companies need to ensure that their employees working in a conducive office working environment with focusing more on employee relationship management. That probably will prevent employees to switch job looking for favourable working environment which free of office politics. Within this framework, educators are playing a very important role. Recently, Malaysian universities and governmental bodies have made efforts which include courses on new venture creation, however, it is not sufficient since the subject is not practiced or implemented from the lowest levels of schooling. 4. Acknowledgements A special thanks is due to the Dean of Business and Accountancy Faculty without whose openness and candor this research would have been impossible.