America as a Land of Prosperity in the 1920’s

America as a Land of Prosperity in the 1920's is the story of Americans who searched for equality. Yes, for some individuals America was a land of prosperity in the 1920's. The First World War sparked Americas rise in prosperity. As no fighting took place on American soil there were virtually no reparations to be paid, also America had entered the war late and therefore, had not spent nearly as much money as the big European countries such as France, Britain, and Germany. This left America in a very prosperous position. Another key reason to Americas rise in prosperity was a man named Henry Ford. Henry Ford was a car producer who thought of the â€Å"mass production† method. This method used assembly line techniques, whereby each stage of the car production was carried out by a different team of workers who specialized souly in their specific area. This had a huge impact! The method was introduced in 1913 and by 1929; 26 million cars were registered in the U. S. A compared to only 9 million in 1920. That is an increase of nearly 300% in just 9 years! However, the benefits of the ford company stretched beyond just the automobile industry during the 1920's, people also started moving into the cities from the rural areas. In 1920 more than 50% of people lived in the cities which were an increase of more than 50%. Another reason for the rise in prosperity was the introduction of hire-purchase, whereby you put a deposit down on an item that you wanted, and paid installments on that item with interest, so you would pay back more than the price for the item. High purchases were easy to get and people got into debt without any real planning for the future. In the 1920's it just seemed to be the case, that if you wanted something, then you got it, this had a major economic impact; somebody had to make what was bought. This was the era before robot technology and work done by laborers. The person who made that product would get paid and he would not save all of the money. He, too, would spend some of it, and someone else; would have to make more items, so he would get paid and so the cycle continued. By the mid-1920's America was booming. Sales of items, which were once, were considered a luxury such as radios, cars, and other new-on-the market items had rocketed, as had both the average and the minimum wage. The average annual wage for that decade was $1236. 00, a huge increase. Perhaps the fact that highlights most America's rise in prosperity is between 1919 and 1929 Americas GNP rose from 72. 4 billion (1919) to 104 billion (1929) which is around a 75% increase. The boom also led to record low unemployment levels. This was due to the growth of many other businesses and the demand for more workers. The 1920's also saw the construction of towering skyscraper such as the Chrysler building for the first time. However, not all businesses and cultures shared in this â€Å"prosperity†. The farming industry was hit hard, particularly in the south, as some northern farmers found prosperity due to the increase in the demand for fresh fruit as more people could afford, no thanks to the rise in wages. The farmers earned very little money as a result, lived a very poor lifestyle with poor housing; no fresh water and some even faced eviction from their homes. The farmers did not share in the prosperity mainly because of the loss of the foreign markets. (The Fordney-Mcumber tariff act, put tariffs on imported goods at an all time high causing foreign countries to apply the same tariffs to America) Many blacks did not share in the prosperity either. They were discriminated by the White Americans who claimed they were â€Å"polluting their country†. As a result of this, many black people living in slums or â€Å"ghettos† as they were named. In 1926 a survey found that there were over 200,000 unemployed black people in the south alone. America even had its own low-grade facilities for black people and white people to use. For example, white and colored drinking taps with the white drinking tap being of the higher standard. These laws were referred to as Jim Crow laws. But through all the intolerance some black people did do well and did prosper. Black musicians, poets, and politicians emerged. One of the most famous politicians of his time was Marcus Garvey. Garvey was the founder member of the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), which encouraged black people. Garvey eventually got deported back to Jamaica for Tax fraud. Other Immigrants such as Mexicans and Italians also suffered similarly hard times. Millions of immigrants were allowed into America in the 1900's, where free land and job opportunity became available, but towards the end of the 1920's this was not so much the case. America was letting more and more immigrants in and it had to stop. They devised a literacy test to bring the numbers down. But problems existed with the immigrants that were already in the country. The number of job opportunities had fallen and the majority of migrants were competing for the lowest paid jobs. This often led to racial tension within the ethnic groups. So to sum things up, in general America was a land of prosperity, but weather you shared in this prosperity or not depended largely on your ethnic background and location in the country you lived. We’re still faced with a matter of equality today; People with diverse ethnic backgrounds still are not privilege to being treating equal. They continue to find a way to prevail in America regardless of the laws that government themselves make available only for those who seek a higher power or level of authority. Therefore, the question still remain, is America as a Land of Prosperity?

Venture Capital Funding Essay

The determinants of Venture Capital Funding: Performance of US Venture Capital Firms against European VCsProblem Statement:Over the last decade, many researchers have praised the influence of Venture Capital (VC) as a key driver of entrepreneurism, start-ups, innovation and economic growth (Da Rin et al., 2006; Cumming, 2014). VC has long been studied and observed in the United States, it is for these positive reasons that the EU have outlined the development of VC as a major policy priority (EVCA, 2001). It is only within the last 20 years that the European Market has moved from being perceived as an â€Å"emerging market† in terms of VC, and that even by the start of the 21st Century, the aggregated investment volume was ˆ12 billion which was less than 25% of the American investment volume at that time (Hege et al., 2003; EVCA, 2001). Due to the relatively recent development of VC in Europe, there is a large gap in the existing research as to the effectiveness and influe nces of VC in Europe. Certainly Popov & Roosenboom, (2013) bemoan the fact that the majority of existing research into venture capital typically focuses its attention on the United States. Thus, there is a real shortage of effective empirical studies into the behaviours and qualities of European VC. Jeng and Wells (2000) support this view, explaining that factors such as the contracting, organisation of VC firms, exit decisions, and â€Å"the peculiarities of Europe† are not fully understood, nor has the features that European markets share with American ones have not been made in strong detail. Thus, this dissertation will provide a comparative study into the American VCs and European VCs. This micro-level study will to address the gap in existing research of the rate of return for VC in the US and the EU, possible the most influential emerging markets for venture financing.Purpose Statement:This research will look to examine the performance of US venture capital firms again st European venture capital firms to identify whether a gap exists between the two groups and to determine whether European VCs ca improve the rates of return from total investment based on funding frequency and other variables. The main objectives of this dissertation are: To determine if there is a gap in the levels of performance amongst American VC and European VC paying particular attention to the type of exit and rate of return. To explore whether any gap could be the result of major differences in the contractual relationship between VCs and startups in these regions or from the use of key tools that assert an active role of VCs in the process of value creation. To identify any relevant policy determinants including regional tax, investment protection/treaty, Intellectual property rights, and financial regulation. To determine whether US VCs have better screening skills than European VCs and whether this produces a higher degree of turning initial investments and funding frequency into successful ventures. Importance of the Study This research looks to address the gap in the existing research into the emergence of VC in European markets, and looks to benchmark this against VCs in the United States. Researchers, data providers, and trade associations have all observed the notable gap in existing research into VC in Europe (Da Rin et al., 2006; Cumming, 2014). Trade associations have even pointed to this gap in understanding as a primary factor that causes them to hesitate with early-stage financing. This dissertation study will also be significant as it will look to provide a critical, microeconomic analysis of the main drivers and influence of successful VCs in America and observe these against VCs in Europe, exploring contractual features and firm characteristics to define and quantify the determinants of VC returns. This will look to address the gap in existing research in the European VC sector and provide a greater understanding of VCs in Europe. Proposed Research Method A combination of quantitate and qualitative research tools will be used to complete this study. Research data will be found using a range of sources, including the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmen (OECD) and other key institutions with data on several policy factors. These data sources will provide information on an expansive range of portfolio organizations, key investments and valuations. Quantitative data analysis will be completed using the statistical package software SPSS. The statistical package software benefits the cleaning and transformation of the data. Following the completion of the data collection stage, the researcher will analyse the raw data and assemble the results into a data matrix. This data matrix with contain the details of the study with key information sorted into columns, variable and values. The data matrix will then be used for statistical calculations and used for the analysis of the results. This dataset will allows the researcher to study organisation’s performance in terms of Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the investment amongst the initial investment to the final value of the firm. This study will also aim to quantify the influence of VCs on project profitability in Europe and compare this to the United states. A valuation-based measure of the rate of return will be used to examine the characteristics of European VCs against US VCs. independent variables to be studied will include age (the time elapsed since the VC raised the first fund), Regional (does the VC only invest in their own country), Companies (the number of companies in the VCs portfolio), Duration (the average investment duration in years), and, finally, the taxation policies of the US and Europe. The following equation will be used to calculate estimated values (V1) for the first stage valuation for all European organizations: Qi = V1i=I1i. Here Qi represents the initial value for company, whereas i is the multiple of the initial investment. The average Qj ratio will be determined of all selected studies. Research Hypotheses The research will also use the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: European VCs performance is positively correlated with the rate of return of the investment between the initial investment and the final valuation of the project/firm. Hypothesis 2: increased continuity of VCs engenders a stronger relationship which reduces barriers to financing and will increase returns. Hypothesis 3: European Venture-backed companies could benefit from the presence of alternative investments besides independent VCs. ReferencesBlack, B. S., Gilson, R. J. (1998) ‘Venture capital and the structure of capital markets: banks versus stock markets, Journal of Financial Economics, 47, pp. 243-277. Cumming, D. (2014) Public economics gone wild: Lessons from venture capital, International Review of Financial Analysis, 36, pp. 251-260. Da Rin, M., Nicodano, G., Sembenelli, A. (2006) ‘Public Policy and the reaction of active venture capital markets’, in Journal of Public Economics, 90, pp. 1699-1723. EVCA (2001) A Survey of Private Equity and Venture Capital in Europe, Yearbook 2001 Green, J. (2004) â€Å"Venture capital at a new crossroads†, Journal of Management Development, 23(10), pp. 972 – 976. Hege, U., Palomino, F., Schwienbacher, A. (2003) Determinants of Venture Capital Performance: Europe and the United States, LSE Working Paper, 1, pp. 1-40. Jeng, L. A., Wells, P. C. (2000) ‘The determinants of venture capital funding: evidence across countries’, Journal of Corporate Finance, 6, pp. 241-289. Popov, A., Roosenboom, P. (2013) ‘Venture Capital and New Business Creation’, Journal of Banking & Finance, 37, pp. 4695-4710.

Big Sky Resort Project

Big RESORT PROPERTY Ownership Big sky resort is currently owned and operated by Boyne Resorts Company, but its background is a bit more interesting than that. In 1970, after his retirement and return to his home state on Montana, NBC newscaster Chet Huntley began building the resort. In December of 1973 the resort opened for the first time. Unfortunately Mr. Huntley was not able to enjoy his resort very long as he died a few short months later on March 20th, 1974 at the age of 62.In 1976, Boyne Resorts purchased the property and has managed it since then. Boyne Resort Company (BRC) owns and operates 11 resorts in the continental United States, with the highest number of resorts, 3, in the state of Michigan and one resort in British Columbia, Canada. They are self reportedly the third largest resort network in America and boast some of the â€Å"best  snow sports destinations, championship golf courses, luxurious spas and a full menu of active lifestyle amenities. The company has b een family owned and operated since it was started by Everett Kircher in 1947, employees of 7,000 people and has a goal to become the â€Å"best four-season resort company in the world by 2015,† a goal they believe they are well on the way towards. They are also partners with the Cool Earth program to help protect the world’s rainforests. Types of Lodging Big sky offers three different property types: hotels & condo hotels, cabins & homes, and condominiums with a stunning 11 out of 14 lodging buildings, equating to over 800 rooms, allowing access for ski in/ski out lodging right on the slope side.Big Sky’s White Water inn is a former Comfort Inn sitting a little further away from the slopes, about 10 miles off property, on highway 191 that Big Sky purchased and converted into their own. This hotel boasts it’s own Spa and indoor water slide. It is also located only 47 miles from the west entrance to Wyoming’s Yellow stone national park, the closest of Big Sky’s properties to Yellowstone. The Huntley Lodge is the original hotel on Big Sky’s property envisioned and named after, you guessed it, Chet Huntley.Although it’s a simple room with only two beds, a desk, bathroom and a wet bar, it is as Huntley imagined it, a slope side hotel. It also houses a spa, Chet’s bar and grill restaurant, shops, ski storage, and the Huntley dining room which is the dining room where any guests to Big Sky go for the complimentary breakfast buffet daily. Prices / packages As you may expect from a resort that offers 14 different lodging properties, there are many different prices for each hotel. Interestingly enough, however, only one package/special centers on one hotel property. /5 of the packages offered by big sky encompass all hotels, or a selection of multiple in one area. (See appendix). Normal prices on a nightly basis range from as little as $169. 00 for a one bedroom, two queen bed room in the Huntley Lodge to $ 2958. 00 for a four bedroom penthouse at the Summit at Big Sky. Most hotel rates are less than $300. 00 a night for the lower end, one bedroom or studio room. Services During the winter months big sky offers a breakfast buffet to all guests staying in any hotel on the property. Many of the lodging properties have slope-side access for to the mountain.All hotels either have a gym in them or a pool and properties that don’t allow access to adjoining properties that do. There are over 20 ski lifts bringing skiers and riders all the way to the top of lone peak. Big sky offers ski school for children as young as 4 and adults of all ages. Facilities Big sky resort is a mountain based resort and, during the winter, their primary activity is skiing and snowboarding. The mountain offers 15 ski lifts ranger from sitting doubles to a fully enclosed tram that takes you to the top of lone peak.These lifts give skiers and riders access to well over 50 individual trails and three terrain pa rks. In the summer, lifts still operate to bring you to extensive hiking trails. At the base of the mountain lies Mountain Village, the focal point of the resort. The hotel and lodging properties are located either in the village or around it. Mountain village contains Solace Spa & salon. The village center area contains the Yellowstone Conference Center. The conference center is comprised of the Missouri ballroom on the ground floor which can be divided into up to six individual rooms for meetings.On the upper floor there are four stand-alone rooms for meetings or small conferences. In the remainder of the village there are seven other meeting spaces. Snow crest lodge has a ski and snowboard rental shop in the ground floor. Big sky has 21 different dining options on property ranging from burgers and brats to a bar and grill that brew’s its own beer to upscale Italian restaurant priding itself on Tuscan cuisine. Business cycle Big Sky is a mountain based resort that caters gr eatly to the skier and snowboarder crowd as well as snow tubers in the winter, making it it’s ‘on’ season.However, Big Sky doesn’t have an ‘off’ season, just an abbreviated on season. Obviously during the summer months there isn’t much skiing to be had but there are plenty of other activities. An extensive network of hiking trails is the most obvious of the resorts summer activities on property. Among the multitude of other activities that big sky offers are some you might think of immediately, like Zip lining and a scenic lift ride. Others still might take you by surprise such a skeet shooting and a rock wall. They also offer several Paintball courses throughout the mountain.Nearby Lake Levinski and the Gallatin River offer canoeing, paddle boarding, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Furthermore, Big sky advertises itself as being the perfect basecamp from which to visit nearby Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, with the west e ntrance to the park being a mere 47 miles away. The combination of Yellowstone national park and the summertime mountain based activities have the potential to attract a plethora of summer guests to Big sky resort. Seasonality Big Sky experiences cold winters with temperatures getting as low as 8 degrees on average but rarely higher than freezing, with a high of 34 degrees on average.Visitors can expect between 3 and 7 inches of snow monthly starting as early as late October in some cases. Summer weather is quite drastically different. Temperatures can rise to the mid 80s on average with lows in the 50’s during the day and colder at night even as low as upper 40’s. The cold and snowy winters will be attractive to skiers and rider’s alike, seeking fresh snow or temperatures sufficient to make artificial snow. The warmer summers will be attractive for visitors looking to partake in outdoor activities or visit Yellowstone.The cool nights could be a welcome refreshe r or an unattractive nuisance depending on how low they get; However, I do not believe cooler nights will have a large impact on guest’s opinions of the resort. MARKETING Target Markets 1. Experienced skiers and riders is who big sky markets to the most. With slogans like â€Å"The BIGGEST skiing in America† and multiple double diamond runs, as well as back country access with no cleaned runs. In all likelihood, this segment does not produce the highest revenue, since they may travel alone or in small groups (2-3), but big sky markets themselves to appeal to those advanced level groups.This segment could be drawn to Big Sky from around the world because of their intricate and advanced slope structure. 2. Big sky’s second largest market segment is medium sized families (3-5 guests) or extended families for a reunion type vacation (7+guests) in the middle or higher class. Families with children aged 4 and older can sign their kids up for mini ski camp. This group will fill a majority of the rooms on property and many of the people in this market segment have taken up skiing or riding in recent years. This market segment might be drawn to Big Sky from around the country.Especially since the airport in the city of Bozeman has flights that come in directly from major metropolitan areas such as New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Seattle 25 times daily. During the off peak summer season, this group might make up an even larger majority of Big Sky’s Guests due to 3. Group Travel is another large market at Big Sky. They have rooms available to accommodate large groups. More specifically, groups will be comprised of older teenagers and college students(17-21) and young working professionals(22-30). Having everything you might want to do on a vacation to a mountain based resort, ncluding pools, shopping, of course skiing and riding on property Big sky is trying to get these groups and keep them on property. Not to mention Yellow stone National pa rk being less than an hour away, Big Sky really has everything any member of your group would want to do in the North West. This segment will most likely be drawn from a region. It is not very likely groups New England, for instance, will travel to big sky when there are closer skiing options and if they do their return business is even less likely due to expensive travel costs. 4. Empty nesters (45+) may come to Big Sky to enjoy skiing and summer recreation.This segment can potentially be drawn from an international market. The spa at Big Sky would be icing on the cake for this group. It may offer a relaxing, slower paced day of fun and relaxation. The resort can appeal particularly to those individuals interested in the nation’s first national park, Yellowstone. The offer a cross country ski or snowmobile tours into the park to and from Big Sky. 5. Young couples (24-30) or even couple trips who are two or more years into their working lives and have enough vacation time to come for an extended weekend in the begging or end of the ski season or potentially even during the summer.Even couples where one or both individuals are not experienced skiers or riders, Big Sky’s adult lesson programs can bring them up to speed. Furthermore, these couples who have skied or need refresher courses, or wish to take on more challenging runs can enlist in the advanced programs, like Master the Moguls; a course for skiers â€Å"level 7 and higher’ who want to learn to â€Å"negotiate the bumps with style†. How Big Sky Markets Big Sky markets itself as a year round resort although their primary season is the ski season.Their favorite slogan and possibly even motto is â€Å"The biggest skiing in America. † Much of their marketing uses the word ‘Big’, for example â€Å"BIG Happiness† is sprawled across an advertisement on their website’s home screen with the ‘big’ being shown in their own calligraphy (See appendix). During off season summer month’s Big Sky markets it’s ‘Basecamp’ as â€Å"The perfect headquarters for mountain adventures. † Their brochure for summer activities explains over 10 of the summer attractions they have.Big Sky offers an eighteen hole golf course designed by Arnold Palmer in the 1970’s and updated multiple times. Surprisingly, Big sky does not advertise their golf course almost at all. There is only one, small picture in their brochure of the course and a very limited page online. It’s safe to say golf isn’t a big attraction to Big Sky in the summer and it definitely is â€Å"nice to have’ not â€Å"need to have†. You can tell winter is bigger at Big Sky just from the brochure. The winter activity brochure is twice the size of the summer one and it focuses on the mountain.Although Lone Peak and Flat Iron and Andesite mountains around it host almost all of the summer activities, they are th e primary attraction in the winter. They advertise over 5500 acres of skiable runs, over 4000 vertical feet, 26 lifts, 230 plus trails, ad over 400 inches of snowfall. They market themselves as â€Å"Head and Shoulders above the rest† siting more skiable acres than Vail, Colorado and more Vertical feet than Vail and Squaw Valley, California. The only time Big Sky stops’ talking about their ski slopes is to mention the resorts close proximity to Yellowstone and the trips they run there.Yellowstone is definitely integral in bringing them business, even in the winter and should have more emphasis placed on it, as well as other programs such as the spa. The spa has its own stand-alone brochure but is seldom mentioned elsewhere. RECREATION / ACTIVITIES Activities Spring, Summer, and Fall 1. Zip line 2. High ropes course 3. Downhill mountain biking 4. Skeet shooting 5. Paintball 6. Laser Tag 7. Scenic lift 8. Hiking 9. Climbing wall 10. Giant Swing 11. Bungee trampoline 12. Disc golf 13. Mountain scooter or watercraft rentals 14. Golf 15. Yoga 16. Spa 17.Swimming pools 18. Fly Fishing 19. Whitewater Rafting 20. Horseback riding 21. Rock climbing 22. Wildlife viewing 23. Children’s program including: a. Dodge ball b. Face painting c. Making terracotta pots d. Adventure race e. Nature hikes and crafts f. Supervised disc gold g. Teepee camp out Winter 1. Skiing and Snowboarding 2. Zip line 3. High ropes course 4. Laser Tag 5. Bungee trampoline 6. Climbing Wall 7. Giant Swing 8. Tube Park 9. Snow cat Rides (To yellow stone) 10. Cross country Skiing (Yellowstone) 11. Sleigh Rides 12. Backcountry skiing 13. Yoga 14. Spa 15.Swimming pools 16. Wild life viewing 17. Children’s program including: a. Dodge ball b. Face painting c. Making terracotta pots Activity and Market Segments Experienced skiers will primarily be attracted to Big Sky for their advanced ski runs and slope side lodging. However, many other aspects of the resort will aim attract t his group to Big Sky over other resorts. The close proximity to Yellowstone national park is an out of the ordinary aspect that can entice those skiers and riders who want to visit the park but don’t want to make it the main focus of their trip.This group which obviously likes to ski may want to try a cross country ski trip to the park. The plethora of additional activities, such as zip lining, can encourage these guests to book longer trips and offer breaks in between days of skiing. The back country skiing can bring in travelers from greater distances who want to break away from the rigid ski slopes offered at mountains local to them. Even the options at the spa can bring in these guests that want to have the opportunity to be rejuvenated in a relaxing environment and then get right back on the slopes.During summer months, Experienced skiers wouldn’t be attracted to Big Sky for the ski runs, but they might want to return for other outdoor activities like hiking on th e runs they enjoy to ski. The other outdoor activities such as horseback riding and white water rafting will without a doubt attract this group, assuming that they are avid out door travelers wishing to spend more time in the beautiful wilderness around Big Sky. Middle Class Families might be attracted to the resort for skiing because of the multiple day lift ticket discounts or the wide range of attractive lodging styles, from economical to the lush ad luxurious.Not to mention, when booking through Big Sky’s central reservation system or enrolling a child under ten years old young children (under 10) get to ski for free The Tube Park is also another great aspect for children. The other attractions like zip lining, the giant swing, and bungee trampoline can entice families in both the winter and summer months, as well as the children programs. Furthermore during the summer families may want to go hiking or white water rafting together. A warm Montana day might be the perfect setting for a father and son golf trip, or skeet shooting.Big sky could attract group travelers because of the plethora of activities. It really does have something for everyone in your group. Trips to yellow stone, yoga, rock climbing, and the spa are all enticing to different members of these groups. No single event or attraction can be attributed to this group, however low rates for condo style living at Alpenglow can entice this crowd. Empty Nesters who have reached a later age in life, and accumulated more time off with their companies now have a little extra cash flow since they are no longer supporting children.The slower paced activities at Big Sky, like Golf or the spa can appeal to this group; Even going on a relaxing hike or fly fishing trip. The more adventurous in this group might want to try white water rafting, skiing or cross country skiing to Yellowstone. Of course†¦. there is always just the pool! Although Big Sky doesn’t really â€Å"do weddings†, and the closest thing to anything seeming romantic is a free bottle of champagne when you book two nights it’s apparent that young couples are coming for the romance.Virtually all the activities could appeal to this group, skiing, downhill biking, horseback riding, high ropes, zip line, white water rafting. Why not enjoy all this while your young? RELATION TO TEXT Similarities 1. Big Sky is a type one resort (PG 25). Type one resorts, by definition are international destinations with excellent mountains and wide variety of lodging and real-estate accommodations. With 14 hotels ranging from simple ‘double-double’ hotel rooms to more advanced condominiums, Big Sky lives up to the plethora of lodging options. Lone mountain and lone peak are offer upreme runs with much variety, all the way from a bunny hill with green circle runs to double diamonds near the peak, and even back country skiing. Big Sky definitely meets the criteria for a type one mountain based reso rt. 2. Located just 50 miles south of Bozeman, MT and Bozeman/Big Sky airport there is airline access direct from 13 major cities in the US, including New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Portland. The book states that the more attractive the site, the farther people will be willing to travel to ski there (PG 33). The size and scope of Big Sky resort can attract people, not just on a national basis, but also internationally.The resort seeks to target not just local or regional guests, willing to travel up to half a day, but also those seeking to travel farther, and stay longer. 3. Big Sky offers 4,350 vertical feet to ski on Lone Mountain. For an area this size the book recommends one to two thousand vertical feet of lift (PG 42). The Southern Comfort high speed quad alone can carry 4 skiers 1,250 vertical feet. Big Sky has 15 lifts, one gondola, and 5 surface lifts throughout the mountain and is consistently known for little to no lift lines. 4. The way the way the lodging at Big Sky is laid out is nearly verbatim to the book (PGS 46-47).The resort offers a good mix of Hotel style lodging and condominiums. Mountain Village, at the base of the mountain, squeezes in a high density of lodging accommodations, many of the slope side. These include Summit Hotel, Snowcrest Lodge, and Huntley Lodge. Farther away from the base, but still offering slope-side access are the Lone Moose and Saddle Ridge properties, offering Condo and Townhouse style lodging, respectively. They are more spacious and offer a higher quality of room / amenity, but also are more expensive. 5. Mountain Village is a key feature to Big Sky resort.The book suggests that a base village is integral to a new kind of four season resort, like big sky (PG 88). Not only does Big Sky’s Mountain Village offer restaurants, lodging, and retail outlets near chairlifts, but also other activities, like ice skating, and a place to sign up for them at the concierge and basecamp facility. In the lobby of the H untley / Shoshone lodge is the Spa and Yellowstone Conference center. This complex which offers both hotel and condo style lodging options is the focal point of the base village area. Big Sky has certainly created a miniature town just for their guests.Differences 1. The book discusses the use and necessity of permits when dealing with land owned by the United States Forest Service, or USFS (PG 27). Although Big Sky operates on about 100 square miles of USFS land it seems apparent that some principles outlined in the book are being overlooked. Although the resort is a cool earth partner and does a lot to help the environment other aspects USFS and the National Ski Area’s Association try to meet are suffering. The establishment of local economies f and sustainable communities is suffering. Big Sky uses all of the land it has for ski runs and Local lodging.The work force needs to either travel from far away or get temporary housing and be bussed in from two properties operated by Big Sky for employees. Only one is open during the summer. 2. General design guidelines outlined by the book highlight the necessity of linking what is special about the local area and creating a strong emotional link between the local populace and natural environment (PG 34). By not putting a good foot forward to build a more permanent and affordable living area for general population they are greatly constricting the possibility of forming this strong bond between locals and themselves.Local people may grow discontent with the resort if they cause the area to belong to the tourists. 3. Adding illumination to Big Sky could potentially increase capacity by up to 60% (PG 40). Big sky does not have any options for night skiing and, while the potential risk and possible insurance costs are understandable, they are limiting themselves to the short hours of daylight during the winter months. Half of US ski areas offer night skiing and by not the resort is missing out on potential gues ts that may want sleep in and ski later in the day and into the evening.These groups will simply spend money and ski elsewhere. 4. North northeast facing mountains retain snowfall better by having less sun exposure (PG 40). Big Sky has set their runs up to be facing directly east, right in the face of the rising morning sun. This could potentially create a hazard for skiers coming down the slopes early and cause snow blindness. This sun exposure also causes snow to melt faster and potentially harm the integrity of runs. Because of this, more tree’s may be needed on the runs for shade, which could in turn limit the use of the mountain for runs. 5.Parking, everyone’s worst nightmare (PG 45). Big Sky wasn’t really built around the idea that many skiers would drive in and out, and it shows in their parking. Big sky has 4 parking lots and only 1, and a small one at that, is remotely close to the lifts. Big sky clearly sacrificed close parking for slope side lodging. Since they have already built up the prime parking area’s with Mountain Village, an idea as suggested in the book would be to make underground parking. Putting even one level underneath the base camp could make for an extremely efficient parking system and use of space.COMPETITION Local Heading south from Bozeman, MT will take you right to Big Sky’s doorstep, but going east will bring you to a local competitor, Red Lodge Mountain Resort. Red Mountain Lodge, or RML, has a close proximity to Big Sky, but they are miles apart in many other similarities. The most obvious is the mountain. By comparison, RML has a much smaller mountain with less lifts. Also apparent, is the mountain base. Where Big Sky has a lively mountain town with shopping, activities, hotels, RML has, well, nothing.Their lodging properties are located sporadically around the area. There is the actual town of Red lodge off the base of the mountain, but not far. This active host community is something that Big Sky doesn’t have. Because of their limitations in a base village, RML offer far fewer (almost no) other venues of entertainment besides the town and the mountain. The only exception to this is their golf course. They offer an 18 hole golf course run by the resort and located near the town of Red Lodge. National Alyeska Resort, in Girdwood, Alaska is a national competitor to Big Sky.Also making the top 40 list of ski resorts in North America by Outsideonline. com, Alyeska is no small time resort. Alyeska only has a couple of hotels and limited runs on the mountain, 73. However their system of 8 total lifts compliments the mountain well. Alyeska Also offers night skiing, which Big Sky does not. The resort and mountain is also well known, having hosted the US Alpine champion ships 5 times, the latest in 2009. Alyeska chargers comparable prices for comparable rooms to Big Sky, so guests willing to travel won’t choose one over the other because of price.Alyeska also ha s a spa complete with yoga classes. The average snowfall is 512 inches, which is over a hundred inches more that Big Sky can boast adding the grandeur of the runs. International Located in Savoie, France Les Trois Vallee, or The three Valley’s ski resort is the largest ski resort in the world. It is actually comprised of three separate ski resorts linked together since 1963 so it’s possible to ski between all of them. The Resort is actually 8 different resorts all operating together between the 3 valley’s and 4 ridges that create the mountain.The mountain has 183 different lifts, 37 of which are gondolas, servicing 600km (375 miles) of skiable areas spread out between 335 runs. Trois Vallee offers an even more extended list of accommodations between their 8 resorts than Big Sky. The range from ‘self-catered apartments’ and chalets, small ski side houses, to hotels and holiday clubs. This collection of resorts is a competitor to Big sky because the o ffer a similar experience with the mountain base village. The intertwining of multiple resorts compounds this and gives guests multiple venues to enjoy time off the mountain.

Individual IMC Campaign Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Individual IMC Campaign Proposal - Essay Example Despite its essential services to the community, the organisation lacks popularity with the general public. The Integrated Marketing Communication campaign proposal seeks to address some of these problems and offer a tangible solution. The core objectives of this campaign are to advance the organization’s monetary donation, increase the number of its clients, advance public awareness and increase the number of volunteers. The organization also seeks to improve its online services. The integrated marketing proposal aims at the identification and execution of cooperative objectives, marketing communication objectives and the organisation marketing objectives. The selection of the most effective marcomm tools in integrated marketing proposal is necessary and demanding as it reduces the resources and time required in popularising an organisation. The integrated marketing communication proposal will also incorporate the contextual analysis, background information, marketing communi cation objectives, marketing communication strategy, communication methods, most effective marcomm tools, positioning, media, campaign message, scheduling, resources, evaluation and control. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Background Information 3 Communication Methods 7 Message 7 Positioning 7 Media 9 Scheduling 9 Budget 11 Budget Breakdown 11 Control and Evaluation 12 To assess the achievement of the integrated marketing communication plan, the organization is planning to evaluate each objective on its own merit. The organization is as a result proposing to use daily assessments on the clients served, volunteer hours, and cash intakes to evaluate the organization’s monetary and non-monetary revenues. The managers are expected to fill the daily assessment form for evaluation and analyses by the stakeholders. The data will be compiled at the end of each month. The organization will also use survey method to evaluate the development in public awarenes s. In this strategy, the organisation intends to use previous survey report as the main baseline for the evaluation. The plan will be rated as effective if the organisation’s popularity is rated to be at least 17 % higher than the previous number. The organizers will compare and contrast the current data with the previous data to examine the success of the plan. 12 Members of the public will be given a questionnaire to fill some questions regarding the organisation’s goals and objectives. To mitigate the possibilities of printing errors and the cost of distribution, the organization will rely on online services in the analysis of the public awareness progress. The organization will also employ online services to evaluate the effectiveness of the media coverage and social media services. Online clients will be served with online questionnaires to examine their satisfaction with the organisation service delivery. In addition, the organization is intending to use Google A nalytic Free Service to collect and evaluate its post website developments. The core aim of these evaluation measures is to evaluate the success of the plan and offer the most effective improvement recommendations. 12 References 14 Background Information The core aim of having a comprehensive integrated marketing communication International Women’

What is the Keynesian explanation for why the economy is currently Essay

What is the Keynesian explanation for why the economy is currently growing slower than normal - Essay Example The interest rates being charged by the lending institutions increase superficially, consequently crowding out private investment, and reducing the economic growth in the future (Ireland, 38). This makes an economic recession to become inevitable within the system, and during this period the economic growth remains slow. While monetary policies to reduce the interest rate might be implemented, this only creates an income effect and does not guarantee increased consumption. As a result, the recession might last longer than anticipated. The economy has undergone through a period of recession, and there is need to implement a fiscal policy aimed at changing the condition. This, however, required immediate action and the government was slow in responding to the need for a fiscal policy to end the recession (Kaboub, 84). The fiscal policies required to ensure an effective stimulus for economic growth should be focused on infrastructure development and job creation within the economy. The government policies have however been focused too much towards tax cuts which have resulted in a stimulus package that can be described as too small to end the recession, hence the slow recovery. Kaboub, Fadhel. â€Å"Understanding and Preventing Financial Instability: Post-Keynesian Institutionalism and Government as Employer of Last Resort.† Financial Instability and Economic Security after the Great Recession. Ed. Charles J. Whalen. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011. 77–92.

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 53

Journal - Essay Example There has been an increase in cyber bullying and computer harassment, raising concerns among the public. As a result, measures to put to an end these unethical practices have been put in place in order to protect individuals’ rights and freedoms (Laudon & Traver, 2012). For instance, there has been institution of anti-harassment regulations by workplaces, schools, social working sites, and internet service providers among others in order to prevent cyber bullying and harassment. The use of websites has become popular in technical organizations, helping in communication within an organization. Websites have been designed by scientists and engineers in various fields in order to ease operations in an organization, and also to ensure global expansion of business operations. A website constitutes of correlated webpages that have been connected in to an entire document. These documents used by individuals in grasping information concerning a certain organization. People read through the website from one type information to the other visually, or by scanning. There are various features of a website that include home page, page, note page, site maps, search engines, linking, and navigation bar among others (Laudon & Traver, 2012). As a result, websites have played an imperative role in ensuring efficiency in

Impact of organization culture on employee performance Essay

Impact of organization culture on employee performance - Essay Example So organizations working in these two countries are entirely different as far as culture and working environment are concerned. Organizational culture is not a static phenomenon. It is a dynamic phenomenon which undergoes periodic changes because of the advancements in science and technologies and subsequent changes in organizational principles. For example, the introduction of computers, internet and globalization have brought tremendous changes in the functioning of organizations. Majority of the corporate companies are currently operating internationally because of globalization. Outsourcing and offshoring are some of the new business terms brought in to this world by globalization. Instant and enhanced communication were introduced in the organizational world with the help of computers and internet. All these developments caused huge changes in organizational culture. Employee performance is directly connected with organizational culture. All organizations like to derive maximum output from an employee; however, few organizations provide the necessary organizational culture for the employees to perform well. Management styles in different countries and different organizations are entirely different and hence employees in different organizations may perform differently. ... This paper analyses the impact of organizational culture upon employee performances. Right frame of mind is necessary for an employee to maximize his performance. Organizational culture is responsible for cultivating the right frame of mind among employees. An organization which care more on productivity of employees and cares less on dispersing necessary remuneration and benefits to the employees may not cultivate the right frame of mind among the employees. On the other hand, an organization which respects and recognize employee performance may cultivate positive frame of mind among employees. No employee would like to work under autocratic managers. On the other hand, all employees like to work under democratic managers. This is because of the fact that only democratic managers are capable of delivering the needs of the employees whereas autocratic managers will always be interested in safeguarding the interests of the organization. For the better functioning of an organization, t he organization’s needs as well as the employee’s needs should be considered. Only an autocratic manager would be able to do this. Musacco Ph.D (2009) has pointed out that â€Å"harassment, mobbing, bullying, and emotional abuses are common at the workplaces which resulted in increased fear and minimal trust between workers† (p.2). Organizational environment plays a vital role in controlling employee performances. It should be noted that current organizations are forced to keep a diverse workforce because of globalization and internationalization of business. Majority of the modern organization are operating cross culturally and their workforce is extremely diverse. For example, Coca Cola and Pepsi

Project management report of urban regeneration project south america Essay

Project management report of urban regeneration project south america - Essay Example It also sets out a timetable for the preparation and review of these documents and covers a rolling 3-year period. The LDF is made up of the following Local Development Documents (LDDs) Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) which delineates the standards the project management team intends to adapt in an attempt to involve the community in the preparation of the LDDs and the planning application process in Guayaquil In producing the LDS the project management team has taken into consideration the fact that the Imagen Objetivo has been completed and a draft scheme has been received from the key stakeholders (Planning Portal 2005). The Pertinent Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) which will be prepared over the course of four years. These plan documents coincide with the phases of development Some of the planning policy documents that the will be produced will be development plan documents and others, such as supplementary planning documents, will not. The project management team recognizes the fact that any recommendations in the Planning Inspectors report are binding. As a general rule, supplementary planning documents are not subject to a public examination but will still be the subject of public consultation before they are adopted by the Council. For the purposes of operating within a clear time constraint, the project live cycle was designed to be coincidental with the LDS. As such, the project phasing begins with a strong focus on the development of the Commercial Centre first and foremost and subsequently the development of the New Plaza Civica, the food court, the public walkway, the refurbishment of the old fish market, the cultural centre and finally the development of the New National Art Gallery and Museum. The rationale behind beginning with the development of the Commercial Center relates to the

Benchmarking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Benchmarking - Essay Example The concept and the basic idea of being able to use the process of Imaging is not a very new one. But yet it seems that the thought of using images for billing and other purposes has completely taken over all organizations that exist, including Canon. Being, a company that provides Hi-tech products to make processes easier for other organizations and their departments. Canon makes sure that they use the best technology and the smartest billing system both online, and in person for all its customers around the globe. It is basically aimed at efficient visual storage. Along , with the huge task of being able to recover orders, both purchase and sales. This genre also includes other vital documentations that the organizations need to do while processing bills of their customers at the billing department. These include both the consumers and the corporate clients. Further more the aim of the billing department is the use of the latest technological resources produced by the company itself like The BP-1000 billing machine, Canon Image RUNNER line, Universal Send providing flawless alteration of paper documents into digital files Canon Image WARE Document Manager Etc. Also the use of, Canon's high-powered, magneto-optical-disk technology. Known as the Cano file 250 is able to provide the department a storage and processing capacity of can 6,000 letter-size pages per disk side. It also enables scanning of documents i.e. 40 pages per minute and these too are letter sized ones Canon's aim is at making the process convenient for both the aspects i.e. Consumer billing and corporate Billing. The further aim is also being able to increase the processing speed of bills , the company also wants to aim at lesser paper waste or expense , and last but not the least it tends to facilitate the process of customer convenience both corporate and consumer in relation to the billing of their orders and purchases . The procedure for customer billing entails, their use of an image reading machine which captures the product id's image, runs it through

Are the Risks of Derivatives Manageable Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Are the Risks of Derivatives Manageable - Essay Example The ideas of Thomas A. Bass, who considers that the risks of derivatives are manageable are compared and evaluated with the ideas presented by Justin Welby who argues that the risks of derivatives are not manageable. As per the idea presented by Justin Welby, it can be said that if proper policies and procedures are implemented and maintained derivatives can be used as an effective way to cater and manage a lot of financial risks. However, strong controls are required so as to protect speculation and heavy losses to corporations because of the wrong or unethical use of these heavy duty financial instruments. Are the Risks of Derivatives Manageable? Derivatives and Risks of Derivatives Derivatives are financial instruments or contracts that are settled on occurrence or non occurrence of an event. As explained by Hu in his paper derivatives are the contracts that ‘allow or obligate’ the user / drawer of the agreement to buy or sell the underlying asset at any time in future at the specified cost / price. Hu also explained in his paper that changes in the value of the assets also changes the value of the said contract. This underlying asset can be interest rates, exchange rates, stocks, commodity, goods, etc. (Hu, 1993). Derivatives are either traded in derivative markets or can be directly made or created through any Financial Institution (including banks). Derivatives are widely used these days by corporate entities and other users in order to manage and control the risks associated with financial transactions and hedge the risks of changes in rates of commodities, interest rates, market conditions or foreign currency rates. Hu in his paper also points out the reasons to opt for the derivatives which are: 1. The costs of entering into derivatives contracts (also known as the transactional costs) are much less than buying the underlying assets; (Hu, 1993) 2. Further the risks of change in the price differential between the derivative and underlying assets can be arbitraged; and (Hu, 1993) 3. Derivatives help the users to ‘transfer the market risks’. (Hu, 1993) Derivatives can be in many forms and types ‘including futures, options, swaps, forwards, structured debt obligations and deposits, etc’ (Comptroller of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997). These financial instruments pose many risks on the users and both the parties involved (that is the drawer and the drawee of the derivative contracts) which include the following risks as presented in the Comptrollers Handbook: 1. Risk of change in the price of investment portfolios, commodities or underlying assets / commodities; (Comptrol ler of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997) 2. Risk of change in interest rates that may lead to increase or decrease in the prices of investment and earnings; (Comptroller of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997) 3. Risk of changes in foreign exchange rates specially in case of currency derivatives or where more than one currency is involved; (Comptroller of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997) 4. Risk of changes in equity or commodity prices in case of equity derivatives lead to risks on the prices and returns on derivatives; (Comptroller of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997) 5. Risk of Liquidity or credit risks, which means the inability to discharge derivative obligations; (Comptroller of the currency administrator of national banks website, 1997) 6. Transactional risks that means the inability of the parties involved to carry out the derivatives transactions in an effective and efficien t manner. (Comptroller of t

Drug Courts and Recidivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 14250 words

Drug Courts and Recidivism - Essay Example The Drug Court had been born. Since the early 1990's when drug courts became the preferred methodology of treating the offender while reducing the incidence of drug related crimes, much of the research has stated the benefits of drug courts in reducing recidivism. Many individual courts have published results of reduced recidivism since its implementation. Determining the extent of the recidivism reduction because of participation in drug court is the focus of this research paper. Examining the recidivism rate nationally and comparing these figures to the recidivism rate nationally for drug court participants will show a significant reduction due to drug court participation. This research will discover any regional variation and offer direction for future research while benchmarking current success. During the 1970's and 1980's the Criminal Justice System had moved from a more rehabilitative model to a punitive philosophy. "Between 1980 and 1993, American prison and jail populations tripled, much of the increase due to the increased number of drug convictions and longer sentences for drug offenses" (Armstrong 2003, p. 138). In 1994 alone drug trafficking and conviction accounted for 31.4% of felony convictions nationwide (12.5% for possession and 19% for trafficking). Further, between 1980 and 1989 arrest for drug offenses rose 134% (Armstrong 2003,

Genocide in Bosnia Essay Example for Free

Genocide in Bosnia Essay The Bosnian genocide is often referred to as the hidden genocide, yet it had catastrophic effects on humanity. Over 100,000 people were killed and it displaced millions of people. The genocide occurred between 1992 and 1995. The Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was made up of six nations under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito. Once Tito passed away in 1990, there was a power vacuum, and politicians began a nationalistic campaign pitting Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks against each other. Hence, the beginning of an â€Å"ethnic cleansing† war (Campbell, 2003 p. 511). Once Milosevic was the President of Republic of Serbia, he encouraged formation of violent uprisings by Serb nationals. Milosevic was interested in creating an ethnically pure Serb nation. Milosevic’s ambition worried the nations in the federal government; hence Croatia and Slovenia declared themselves independent from the republic. However, Croatia was not allowed to leave because it had 12% of the Serbian population. Hence Croatia became a battlefield between 1991- 1996. Bosnia-Herzegovina watched the horrors in Croatia as they worried about themselves being the next victim. Bosnia-Herzegovina held a referendum in 1992 and declared itself free from the republic. The Serbs in Bosnia were not happy about it, and they began fighting with the support of the Yugoslavian National Army. Bosnia and Croatia lacked weapons to defend themselves because the UN had enacted an embargo, thus they were victims of an endless cycle of violence, displacement and death (Schott, 2011 p.19). Serbian plan of attack entailed the following steps; concentration, decapitation, separation, evacuation ad liquidation. During concentration stage, Serbian soldiers would warn Serbians to leave the town they were about to attack and surround the city with artillery fire. The second stage involved execution of the town’s leaders, military and intelligence. On the third stage, Serbian soldiers would separate women, children and old people from â€Å"fighting group†. Women, children and old people would be taken to concentration camps, while the young people were executed. This brings me to the subject of this essay. Women were targeted in specific ways when compa red to men. Unlike, the young male soldiers who were executed, women lived longer to and experience  untold suffering under the Serb soldiers. Women were interchangeably used by soldiers as sexual trophies (Lentin, 1997). This essay analyses the genocide on a gendered frame, so as to shine light on the awful atrocities women faced in the hands of Serbian militia. From a gender frame, sexual violence in war cannot be reduced to psychological attributes of the perpetrators. Genocidal rape has to be analyzed in terms of social structures. Rape in Bosnia was systematic, since it was planned. Bosnian genocide is the only genocide that women bodies were used as a battlefield. This genocide trampled upon all women rights. The Serbian militants lacked respect and sympathy for women. The Yugoslav army, Bosnian Serb forces and Chetniks came up with a sexual violence campaign against Croats and Muslim women. They killed, imprisoned, terrorized and raped women in the hope that they would leave and never come back. The attack on women was not an accident. It was premeditated as a lot of soldiers took part in sexual violence campaign. Th eir commanders were aware of what was going on, and they turned a blind eye. The attackers used the Ram Brana plan of attack (1991). The plan said that successful attacks should be the one carried out on the enemy’s weakest point. The weakest point during wars is usually women and children. By attacking the weakest point, they were able to spread panic and fear in the population hence Croats and Bosnians could only run away for safety (Abreu, 2005 p.5). Since this was an â€Å"ethnic cleansing war†, the Serbian armed forces believed that sexual violence against women was an act of tainting the bloods of the Croats and Bosnians (Allen, 1996 p. 23). Culture and religion played a big part in this war; hence the attackers believed that they were annihilating their culture through sexual violence. The Serbians waged a psychological warfare on their enemies, such that they believed that by raping women, impregnating them and forcefully aborting their fetuses they were cleansing them. The Serbian armed forces also carried out sexual assaults against m en. Serbia, Bosnia and almost all Balkan nations are lawfully heterosexual nations. Hence by raping men, they were degrading them or feminizing them and making them powerless. By raping their victims, the victims were gendered as feminine or attached with feminine qualities of vulnerability. Apart from the psychological effects of sexual violence on women, women faced a lot of physical suffering in the â€Å"rape camps†. The Serbian forces had created rape camps as a substitute for  concentration camps, so that they would use them to sexually violate women. In fact the Serbian forces had a modus operandi for sexually assaulting women (Abreu, 2005 p.11). The modus operandi was characterized by three patterns; public rape of children and women in their villages, sporadic rape of women and children in concentration camps and lastly rape in death/ rape camps. During the three stages women were subjected to all kinds of violence. Women went through gang rapes, sexual mutilations, forced impregnation and childbirth, sexual abuse with foreign objects and family me mbers were forced to rape their women. The extreme sexual violence was meant to defile, destroy the community and to make them leave. It is obvious that the war was motivated by nationalistic intentions, but the way the war was carried out, misogyny is another probable cause of the war. Most atrocities that took place in Bosnia genocide have been termed as â€Å"femicidal† (Turpin 1998 p. 67). Bosnians and Croats have traditional cultures. Women are supposed to be pure, and when they are not pure they are ostracized from the society. After the genocide, women who were victim of sexual violence were avoided. The tainted women were no longer acceptable by their friends and families, and this was the goal of the Serbian perpetrators. This justifies the fact that misogyny could have been another reason for the war. In a gendered frame analysis, it is clear that there was feminization of the genocide (MacKinnon, 2006 p.18). In genocide, women are usually seen as universal victims. Sexual violence against women is seen as a mortal sin against motherhood. The notion of ‘combat’ and battlefields are constructs of masculinity. The Serbian armed forces believed that through sexual violence campaign, they would turn their victims powerless (Femininity) analysis of war is often carried out from a masculine point of view. However, Bosnia genocide is gendered, as it represents women as victims, sexual objects, symbolic of their nation and repositories of their families. The Serbs militia believed that by defiling the women, they would be defiling the nations (Bosnia and Croatia) Collins (1996) attempts to explain genocidal rape from a feminist perspective, he says that women are the ones who hold families and the community. Their physical and emotional destruction through rape is a symbol of destruction of the social and cultural stability of a nation. The sexual violence involved heightened sadism, for instance forceful rape with family members. The sexual violence  aimed at destroying the victims emotionally, destroying the community and imposing restrictions on women so as to control births. The sexual genocide did not only target the individual victim, but it targeted the group too. Rape as a genocide strategy destroys women’s role as mothers and caregivers, hence the pivotal source of the life to the community is destroyed. According to Mc Kinnon (2006, 187), sexual campaign was used by the Serbian military as a tool for political campaign, soldiers were to rape under orders. The sexual violence campaign was characterized by forced rape and forced impregnation. After the Croatian and muslim women were sexually abuse, they were denied abortions so that they would give birth to â€Å"Serb† babies. Forced impregnation was seen as a way of destroying the maternal community as they gave birth to the child of the enemy ( Allen, 1996 p.76). The rapists violated the rights of women through forceful procreation, which is a deliberate and a sadist act. The children of the rapists often stigmatized or abandoned as they brought negative memories to their mothers. The forced pregnancies on rape victims were seen as a way of preventing births among the Croats and Muslims. The perpetrators of rape believed that they were producing â€Å"Little Chetniks†. From a feminist perspective, the act of forced imp regnation is like imposing a social death on the victims. The women were tortured, and they did not want those children. It turned Croatian and Muslim women as gestating beings for the enemy. Stories from the war show a lot of women who recounted how they were raped repeatedly until they were pregnant, and the women wanted nothing to do with the children. Another explanation of forced rape is the fact that rape was used as a tool of biological warfare. Forced rape and impregnation meets the requirement of biological warfare according to international law (Seifet, 1996 p.42). MacKinnon also analyzes Bosnian rape by comparing it with pornography. In the 1990s, pornography was very common in Yugoslavia. When porn is common in a society, the whole population learns to dehumanize women and inflict sexual assault. Pornographic materials provided the need motivation and materials for Serbian forces. In the rape camps, women were ordered to perform for men; in fact some rapes were filmed and sold as pornographic products since they could not be differentiated from actual pornography. The films were even released in the media so as to amass popularity for Bosnian war. The dialogue s in the pornography were used to  implicate Croatian soldiers. According to MacKinnon (2006), sexual violence was used so consciously and cynically in a way that destroyed people. Once pornography was released, more Serbian forces were encouraged to continually assault women. Genocidal rape in Bosnia was seen as an ethno marker. Ethnic markers are things such as dressing, lifestyle and language. The Serbians, Croats and Bosnians had almost similar ethnic markers. Since they were a part of Yugoslavia republic, the ethnic lines had been blurred. Rape was used by the Serbs to act as a moral ethno marker, as it separated them from the Croats and Muslims. They felt that it created cultural superiority of the Serbians. In fact Serbian law was amended to include ethnic rape, and they believed that the differences in ethnicity aggravated the crime. The mass rapes occurred in places where Serbs were a minority when compared to the size of Croats and Muslims (Allen, 1996 p.19). This was a way of asserting their superiority in the region. Sexual violence was also used to socialize new military recruits. Rape isolated the new recruits from the community and prepared them for battlefield. In Bosnia, sexual violence perpetrated by new recruits occurred in front of other soldiers and the victims even know their perpetrators. The Bosnian war was used by the Serbs to renegotiate their relationship with the other Balkan nations. Rape was seen as a way of establishing new boundaries, as they felt that they were the superior ethnic group. From a gender based analysis it is evident that the legal framework did not address the sexual violence against women in Bosnia well (MacKinnon, 2006 p.89). The law blamed the genocide on ethnicity, and disregarded the fact that it was sex based. The Serb military attack on women was premeditated and executed in three stages. The creation of rape camps shows that the intent was sexually based, in as much as it was ethnically motivated. Failure by the law to acknowledge this is a huge set back on women rights. The law perpetuates patriarchy in legal constructs in violation of women rights. Failure to acknowledge it also prevents the law from addressing the genocidal rape adequately. The law is ignoring the existence and horrifying effects of genocidal sexual terrorism to women (Abreu, 2005 p. 16). This is quite cowardly as the law uses ethnicity to cover the severe harm that women suffered in the hands of Serbian militants. The law enables the perpetrators to hide under ethnic crimes, yet they committed more inhumane atrocities. The law usually acknowledges sexual  crimes, but sexual crimes during genocides were only termed as other inhumane acts. This is blatant sex discrimination propagated by the law. In conclusion, analyzing genocide on a gender framed perspective gives various explanations and perspectives on the violence against women in Bosnia. The sexual violence against women in Bosnia genocide is distinct. Many women can recount the horror they went through in the hands of the Serbian perpetrators. The violence against women was planned as a war strategy. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should recognize genocidal sex terrorism, rather than hiding it under ethnic-based persecutions (Campbell, 2003 p.509). Serbian militants reduced women as a means of achieving their goals for the genocide. Addressing this problem will help the victim feel like they have achieved some semblance of justice, though nothing can compare to what they went through. Genocide sexual terrorism should be acknowledged by the law, and the legal elements regarding it should be outlined. Using a gender frame to analyze genocide helps us learn about the psychological and soc ial reasons for rape during genocides, rather than just saying that they were raped because they belonged to the enemy’s side. References Abreu, Veronica. (2005) Women’s Bodies as Battlefields In The Former Yugoslavia: An Argument For The Prosecution Of Sexual Terrorism As Genocide And For The Recognition of Genocidal Sexual Terrorism As A Violation Of Jusc Cogens Under International Law. The Georgetown Journal of Gender and Law, Vol. V1:1 Allen, B (1996) Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Campbell, K., 2003, â€Å"Rape as a ‘Crime Against Humanity’: Trauma, Law and Justice in the ICTY†, Journal of Human Rights, 2(4): 507–515. Caringella, S., (2008) Addressing Rape Reform in Law and Practice, New York: Columbia University Press. Jones, Adam (2006) Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York City: Routledge, 2006. MacKinnon, C., (2006) Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. Ringelheim, J.M. (1997) Genocide and gender: a split memory in R. Lentin (editor ) Gender and Catastrophe. London: Zed Books. Schott, R. (2011), â€Å"War Rape, Natality and Genocide†, Journal of Genocide Research, 13(1/2): 5-21. Seifert, R., (1996), â€Å"The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars†, Womens Studies International Forum, 19(1/2): 35–43. Turpin, J. (1998) Many faces: women confronting war in L.A. Lorentzen and J. Turpin (editors) The Women and War Reader. New York: New York University Press.

Effective Leadership: Implementing change

Effective Leadership: Implementing change In todays volatile economy landscape, changes are inevitable and necessary. Continuous organisational developments and restructuring are vital for survival and growth. Therefore, it is important to identify growth opportunities in order to ensure the organisations sustainability and at the same time overcoming their weaknesses (Cranfield University School of Management, 2010). However, organisational change generates resistance in employees, making it challenging for successful implementation. Moreover as organisation expand, the challenges of implementing change will be greater due to diverse environment. Leaders can lead/motivate employees towards the achievement of goals in time of change. They process the quality traits which create vision and direction to motivate employees to strive harder towards goals. Also, they can facilitate employees in overcoming challenges and resistance induced by change. Leaders also have power to communicate, influence and negotiate employees away from the harmful cashes of conflicts (Robbins Judge, 2008). The objective of this report is to determine how the modern day organisation in this research can make use of effective leadership to implement and achieve successful change. It will provide more insights on how leaders can identify factors that bring about change. Discussion will be carried out on how to diagnose change factors and identify threats/opportunities. Next, the report sets to determine the impact of communication styles of the leaders on organisational cultural values. Communication plays an important role in the change process as it helps employees to see the need for change. It also highlights the importance of the affected parties role in the whole change process. The report will also examine suitable leadership style which will help with transformational change. Effective leadership translates to effective communication and overcoming resistance. Furthermore, leadership is crucial to identify, lead and manage change. Lastly, this report will set to understand how leaders overcome employees resistance within the organisation. It is of paramount importance for leaders to implement appropriate solutions in order to minimize resistance and maintain sustainability of new change. BACKGROUND OF ORGANISATION The organisation in this research is an Indonesian IT firm specialising in the importing/exporting of self-manufactured laptops. The Singapore regional office was established four years ago and has staff strength of twenty five direct employees. It has a local regional manager in-charge of running Singapores daily routine operations. Since its establishment, the regional office has been experiencing deficits in their income statements. The organisation emphasizes on a tall organisational structure, where top-down hierarchical authority is being practised. Decision-making is made by the head office in Indonesia without any effective communication with the regional office. Quarterly review meetings are held with regional manager to only report on business performance that the regional office is currently experiencing. Owing to a lack of demand for IT peripherals due to the worldwide economic meltdown in 2009, the regional office had recently carried out a retrenchment exercise as a cost-cutting measurement. Prior to the recent downsizing exercise, each of the thirteen departments was led by a supervisor. Each employee is expected to keep to his/her individual job scope and is held accountable for all his/her actions. Strict protocols for individuals are laid out and upward interactions are usually not encouraged. The decision for the recent exercise came straight from the head office without any consultation with the regional manager. The retrenchment announcement was made through email and did not state any future plans for the remaining employees. After the downsizing exercise, the remaining employees have low morale, little sense of pride in their work and are alienated from the management team. Employee absenteeism and turnover rate has been increasing. This change has lead to further deterioration of productivity and quality of the products that are offered by the regional office. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Sampling Schedule In order to define situation concisely and to gather comprehensive information on objectives for the study, the research design methods of interview and personal observation is carried out for this case study. Before primary research is conducted, a group of respondents from regional office is selected for an interview to obtain their opinions. For this selection, non-probability sampling (Quota Sampling) is carried out. The sample audiences (quota) are to be made up of potential leaders of the regional office. They have direct and regular interaction with head office. They are someone of a seniority level, with leadership capabilities and have the power to influence subordinates. The sample audiences are identified to be the regional manager (whom is accountable for the operations of regional office) and the human resource officer (who is responsible for the linking of employees-related policies and organisational strategies). For personal observation, it will be done by researcher of this study in her course of work as a regional sales executive (In charge of generating sales revenue). 3.2 Methods of Gathering Data (*There is limitation of the research design as it all measures information entirely from the regional offices prespective. This might result in possible biasness/prejudices from common method variance. Primary and secondary research time-frame is in Appendix B) 3.2.1 Observation Observation is done by researcher to obtain informal visual assessment of the regional office. Events associated with the objectives are monitored, accessed and recorded. Structured observations are carried out in her course of work for the visual assessment of the organisation as a whole so that the behavior is carefully documented to ensure its validity/reliability. 3.2.2 Interview For this study, direct interview is more efficient and accurate due to small staff strength of only twenty-five. An interview study is held in order of the initial development of interview questions, the conducting of interviews, followed by data analysis. Two identified interviewees whom have interactions with the head office would be interviewed. The interviews (Appendix A) are carried out in the research direction to comprehend actual work practices, procedures, structure and embedded problem/issues faced by the organisation. 3.3 Secondary Data In order to provide in depth assessment, there is also the collection of secondary data. Besides using the online search engines for obtaining information on objectives and findings; books and journal databases (existing articles on literature review and case studies) are the main sources of references. Frameworks obtained are verified using different sources in order to validate the research findings without subjecting them to any form of prejudices. The results from the interviews and personal observation are analyzed with comparisons to secondary data. 4.0 LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE 4.1 External Macro Environment As head office is unfamiliar with Singapores working environment, leaders do not have proper business strategic plan and this would bring about disastrous consequences. Decision making are based on day-to-day responses by the head office. They have no sense of urgency to develop a long term strategic planning as they lack an external consultative opinion on how to operate the business. They also do not have good leadership skills to develop effective strategies as they had only focused on the situations at-present and eventually lost sight of main objectives. Perhaps this could be due to the differences in the cultures, where Singaporeans being highly efficiency is a stark contrast with the more laid-back mindset that most Indonesians possess. The need for change encompasses within all organisations in order to cope with the rapid environmental influences. The business environment is defined as a concept whereby external forces play a major role in the successes/failures of any organisation. By paying attention to the wider environment, leaders can identify threats/opportunities to ensure effective planning and implementation of change (Brooks Weatherston, 2000; Griffin Ebert, 2006). 4.2 PEST Analysis Hayes (2007) and Robbins Judge (2008) agree that PEST analysis will allow leaders to examine the external macro environment in which a business operates and search for evidences of change. Understanding the impact and situation of external forces would help identify factors that could possibly bring about change within the organisation. Political Griffin Ebert (2006) and Hayes (2007) concur that political change will pose threats or create opportunities for any organisation. It has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses and the possible spending power of consumers. It is important for organisations which are exposed to international risks as the political stability of different countries will affect operations and ultimately, revenues. It consists of elements like regulations set by the government on business practices, acceptable business conducts within an economy, environmental management legislations, labour law, international trade regulations, tariffs and political stability. Economic Economic factors refer to the condition of the trading state in which the business operates in. It includes exchange rates, money supply, changing consumption patterns and power and trade cycles. All these factors will impact the operation and decision making of an organisation. For example, in an economy in which the organisation is in is experiencing economic growth. The organisation would expand leading to change and leaders must establish control during the transition period. Leaders must develop a new vision, direction, new plan and to allocate resources properly to deal with the change (Hayes, 2007). Socio-Cultural Socio-cultural factor consists of having the elements of customs, moral values and demographics of the society where the organisation operates in. It affects business ethics and operations across countries so leaders must be mindful of the different customer preferences within national boundaries. For example, MacDonalds do not sell pork items in its menu in Singapore due to the differences in religious practices in the multi-racial environment; whereas in Thailand this acceptable. Change in employees attitude towards education, work and leisure which will impact on labour force and consumption demand. Leaders should produce a working environment that is conductive enough to motivate them and improve efficiency (Hayes, 2007; Griffin Ebert, 2006). Technological Technology is defines as innovations applied into society and organisations to carry out tasks. Some examples are level of investment in Research and Development (RD), availability of new materials and new production process. Technology is constantly changing and hence staying ahead of competitors has been increasingly difficult. Organisation must have the latest equipment, processes and resources to deal with technology change. Leaders must make sure that organisational structure, vision and resources align with technological aspect. Leaders must ensure that sufficient funds are allocated on RD for better technology to improve competitiveness and gain competitive advantage (Griffin Ebert, 2006; Hayes, 2007). 4.3 Findings: Implication of PEST and SWOT Analysis The interview findings (Appendix C) show that the organisation adopts a top down approach management style by the head office in Indonesia. PEST analysis is recommended so leaders in Indonesia will be able to improve on its decision-making process as it allows them to assess Singapores market potential, situation and business development. It encourages proactive thinking and allows them to plan ahead. With the analysis, leaders will know their present position, environment and how they can develop in the future. As they do not understand the impact and situation of external factors; they will need PEST to understand Singapores regulations, labor market, economy, customers, competition and technology. The analysis at external level helps to identify opportunities and threats of the external environment. With PEST, there will be detailed preparation and formulation of strategic plans, good leadership skills can be deployed to anticipate change and align businesss vision. The regional office will have better decision making process, productivity, competitive advantage and sense of belonging in employees. An example of the PEST analysis of the organisation is as follows: Singapores Regional Office -PEST Analysis * Data adapted from Morrisons website (2009) External Environment Factors Potential Impact: (+) / (-) Relative Importance Political Strict Government Legislation in Singapore High Opportunity Critical Labour Law (Singapore) Medium Opportunity Critical Political Instabilities in Indonesia High Threat Critical Economic Economic Downturn High Threat Critical Decrease in Consumers Demand and Investments High Threat Critical Stable Money supply Medium Opportunity Critical Social Demographic Trends Low Opportunity Unimportant Consumers Change in Preference and Attitudes High Threat Critical Attitudes towards Work and Employment High Threat Critical Technological Technology Revolution and Development High Opportunity Critical R D High Opportunity Critical New Production Processes/Ideas/Innovation High Opportunity Critical 5.0 LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION 5.1 Communication Barriers The lack of communication, especially in terms of feedback from employees whom are familiar with the local demands of customers, coupled with stringent cost cutting measures could said to have contributed to poor sales performance. Many consumers are unaware of products that the regional office is offering due to lack of budget in generating brand awareness. Comparing to the bigger players whom have higher levels of economies of scale, it would definitely lose out in terms of its revenues. The regional office does not hold any weekly meeting within departments and there are no consultative approaches. Head offices quarterly meetings are only held with regional manager to obtain report solely on its current business performances. There are no established channels to voice employees feedback to the head office and it often results in a lack of information for proper accomplishment of tasks. Without proper communication structure, there is no room for improvement and employees will commit the same mistakes repeatedly. This would also mean that the head office would be unfamiliar with Singapores working environment, which would result in ineffective communications amongst the employees. Robbins Judge (2008) stated that communication is the life support for any organisation and it plays a vital role in the change process. Communication links people who believe in a common cause and unites them with a common vision to achieve goal congruence for the organisation. 5.2 Styles of Communication 5.2.1 Downward and Upward Communication Leaders would engage in top-down communication to disseminate information/goals, inform job procedures and highlight problems (Robbins Judge, 2008). Gilley et al. (2009) argued that in times of change, leaders must provide employees with abundant and value-added information with regards to change. Leaders must give justifications for rationale for change and also address employees concerns. Well-developed rationalizations are more likely to be accepted as employees acceptance and participation depend on their perception of personal benefits associated with the change. Hence, proper explanation and feedback is important for leaders to work on in areas of change to increase employees acceptance. Upward communication is used by employees to provide feedback, inform progress and issues towards goals to leaders. It is important for leaders to know about how employees feel and to allow for opportunities for growth and improvement. Upward communication has its limitation whereby leaders are overwhelmed and distracted. Employees morale would be affected as it would be time-consuming and demoralizing if it is difficult to get their leaders attention (Robbins Judge, 2008). Hayes (2007) exclaims that without proper upward/downward communication, it will lead to organisational silence which is a major barrier to change. One illustration within the cited organisation Due to Indonesias culture, leaders like to be respected and will disregard negative feedback from subordinates as a form of attack on their credibility. A culture might be cultivated whereby employees might be afraid to voice out the truth to their leaders. It is a double-edged sword when employees do not highlight issues to leaders and leaders will find it tough to get employees to accept change. In times of change, leaders must acquire a diverse set of effective communication techniques to convince employees to embrace a new breakthrough (Robbins Judge, 2008). In contrast, leadership ambivalence reduces acceptance to change and increases resistance. Communications should be regular, motivating and yet achievable. Unfulfilled vision will weaken leadership credibility leading to employees feeling a sense of injustice. Gilley et al. (2009) explain that employees whom experienced unjust treatment would be resentful towards their superiors, thus destroying commitment. Being honest and fair when things go wrong enables employees to accept an undesirable outcome. Therefore, there is a need for realistic and truthful communication that includes communicating negative aspects of change implementations when necessary. 5.2.2 Communication Strategy In every change process, communication plays a big part for leaders to ensure a smooth transition. There are five basic communication strategies (Hayes, 2007): Spray and Pray Showing all the information and hope others can understand and share the vision. The effectiveness is low as it depends on employees perspective of what is important. One major drawback is that the employees would be overloaded, thus increasing resistance. Tell and Sell Leaders would only communicate the core issues that relate to the change and pushes the idea for acceptance. This strategy is a one-way-communication process without any channels for meaningful feedbacks to express concern. Employees will tend to feel uncommitted as little input is required from them. Underscore and explore Similar to the Tell and Sell, but the sender listens to the receivers feedback to prevent misunderstanding. This is a very effective communication method as leaders would listens to employees concern to clear embedded doubts/queries. Identify and reply This is a reactive approach as leaders will listen and respond to the employees concerns which would guide employees out of complexity. One short-coming is that employees might not be aware of the critical issues currently hence, it might be time-consuming. Withhold and uphold Most of the information are withheld and employees are unaware of the real situation. Leaders who adopt this strategy are power-oriented and think that employees are not capable enough to handle core issues. This strategy will lead to dissatisfaction and mistrust amongst employees. Communication can be an effective tool in shaping organisational cultural value in motivating employees, providing feedback and reinforcement during the change. This would foster an environment with better decision making process to deal with obstacles (Gilley et al., 2009). 5.3 Findings: Implication towards Effective Communication Base on the interview findings (Appendix C), the organisation adopts the Withhold and uphold strategy to deal with the downsizing exercise. As leaders in head office are power-oriented due to Indonesias culture, they make decisions without consultation with regional office. Subordinates are expected to carry out requests of the retrenchment in exacting detail. As there are no justifications for the change and unable to express concern, employees are feeling resentful and thus causing the high turnover. There is also lack of proper downward/upward communication between the two offices. It leads to the improper sharing of information which results in inefficiency. One recent incident that happened that illustrates this effectively. The Head office had instructed the dealers to return an outstanding consignment of laptops and they had made arrangements to ship it back to Indonesia. However, this message was not communicated to the regional sales executive. She was unaware of this agreed communication, continued to send e-mails, reminding the dealers about the outstanding consignment. Such miscommunications inevitably tarnish the organisations reputation as the dealer was very unhappy and spread this among other dealers. She was made responsible for this miscommunication and feedbacks by her were rebuked. As remaining colleagues felt unjust for the sales executive, the miscommunication drove conflict between head office further and aggravated the misunderstandings and hostilities. In t he long run, with only top down communication and no feedback, it will lead to organisational silent with disastrous consequences. As the main problem lies with the internal communication of the organisation, leaders needs to resolve the problem by setting up basic structures to promote effective communications. For the head office to improve relationships with employees, internal communications must consist of the personal touch. Electronic communications cannot be a substitute for personal interactions. Going forward after the retrenchment, leaders should convey messages personally to their employees as this allow opportunities to clarify complex or sensitive issues. Leaders must foster an open environment, using underscore and explore strategy which allows feedback as communication is a two-way street in any change process. Leaders must have an open-mind to be more receptive to new ideas from employees. Regional manager should hold weekly meetings within departments to gather information and feedbacks. It would help employees to understand and follow up with the outstanding issues and for the managers to establish their authority. Constructive feedback from employees would help to identify problems which help the organisation to improve. By keeping employees informed and involved with the implementation of change programs; it would help increase the commitment levels and increase productivity. 6.0 STYLES OF LEADERSHIP 6.1 Leadership Role in Change Process The organisational structure emphasizes on top-down hierarchy authority and major decisions are made by the head office. The top-down leadership approach and strictly-defined job scopes reduces the employees into becoming merely cogs of the machines, where they would merely perform the bare minimum within their stated job scopes, with minimal dedication to what they do. As such, everyone will only specialize in what they are doing, without a clear picture of the main business objectives, which impedes innovation and quality improvements. Weak leadership is also shown by the surprise retrenchment exercise, which caught many employees in the regional office off-guard. Without proper leadership to establish/lead new direction after the retrenchment, it eventually might be a possible factor that would lead to the downfall to the organisation. Kotter (Senior Fleming, 2006) emphasise that in all change process, effective leadership is needed to establish direction (develop vision/strategy), align members (communication to gain cooperation/acceptance), motivate and inspire (leading members to overcome various barriers) and overcoming change. 6.2 Transactional Leadership Robbins Judge (2008) indicated that transactional leadership would ultimately influence employees into the direction of achieving pre-established organisational goals by being task-oriented. Transactional leaders aim to maintain the status quos by making use of contingent and monetary rewards for effort and good performances. They would state their expectations; establish rules and procedures, and emphasize a fair deal with their employees. When work is allocated to employees, the leaders would expect them to take full responsibility. If the tasks are not performed to expectations, employees would be held liable. Hence, it is important for leaders to engage in open forms of communication to bring about mutual trust between employees and themselves. Contributions should be acknowledged and rewarded by the leaders towards their employees according to the industry standards, so as to bring about job satisfaction. However, Hoogh et al. (2005) argued that stringent goals, rules and procedures due to transactional leadership would only promote stable work environment with high degrees of structures. It results in employees having little ambiguity in pursing the goals. The lack of ambiguity would help ensure fairness and set straightforward guidelines. Moreover, with stability, it would not promote inducements or opportunities for change. Employees would not be motivated to perform beyond expectations. They would not be flexible and innovative enough to response quickly and effectively to environmental change; it would be difficult for the transactional leaders to bring about change. 6.3 Transformational Leadership Kotter (Senior Fleming, 2006) Robbins Judge (2008) agree that transformation leaders goes beyond transactional leadership by inspiring members to achieve goals, paying attention to their needs and encouraging new breakthrough in goal attainments. They will make use of charisma (providing vision, direction and gaining trust), inspiration (using communication/symbols to get things done), intellectual stimulation (promoting participation and problem solving) and individualized consideration (treating individual members equally/individually) to handle change. Transformation leaders will encourage followers to be more innovative and creative to increase efficiency. Hence, Followers would push beyond boundaries to pursue ambitious goals/vision of organisation, be more committed and will pursue it with due importance. Transformation leadership is able to induce higher levels of motivation and satisfaction leading to higher performance. There will also be lower turnover, higher productivi ty and lower stress levels. Transformational leadership is critical in helping mangers to identify change, which would in turn aid them with leading and managing change by ensuring effective communications and encouraging acceptance. Transformational leadership will ensure vital planning and design assumptions to allow leaders to recognise change by paying attention to the external environment, financial resources, and company staffing. In addition, it ensures proper management of formal and informal relationships between members to increase change momentum and improve managerial change interventions. Finally, it helps to overcome employees resistances when the organisation is disturbed by initiatives to change (Karp Helgo, 2009). 6.4 Leaders Checklist for Leading Change Every leader can adopt a process perspective on change management on top of the above-mentioned leadership approaches by adopting a checklist to control the change process and ensure smooth transitions (Kotter, 1999). Establishing Sense of Urgency Leaders must alert employees to need for change by creating a sense of urgency. They should begin examining the organisations external environment and communicate these findings to induce aggressive cooperation of employees and motivate them to change. Forming Powerful Coalition Leaders should form a competent strong team with expertise and have sense of urgency to kick start the change process. Leaders must lead the team to assess the problems, identify opportunities and change the mind of oppositions. Creating Vision The coalition team would need to create a shared vision to clarify the possible attainable directions, thus providing a guideline about organisations future to the employees. It must be flexible to encourage involvement and develop strategies to deal with the change. Leaders must allocate ample time to develop the shared vision so that it would be ingrained as a strong set of shared values. Communicating the Vision Leaders should communicate the vision as it would establish the direction, commitment and learning within the organisation towards the structural changes. They must use every method to communicate the new vision and strategies to ensure that employees understand and make short-term personal sacrifices in order to help the organisation achieve its goals. Empowering Others to Act on Vision through Leadership Good leadership skills are needed to lead transformational change and raise demands that are consistent with overall change effort. Leaders must remove obstacles and encourage risk taking to generate more creative actions to support the vision. Leaders must make use of compensation to encourage employees acceptances of new vision. Planning and Creating Short Term Wins Leaders should plan, and create visible performance improvements and reward employees involved in the change improvements. As changes cannot take place overnight, it should be implemented in phrases, allowing time for maturity. The short-term goals in phases would act as a source of motivation in continual efforts for change. Consolidating Improvements and Producing More Changes Leaders should capitalize on early wins but should not declare victory too early should there be any possible amendments to the winning efforts; and use that as further motivation for continued and subsequent changes. Next, leaders should use increased creditability due to short term improvements to overcome the current structures that are not in alignment with the vision. Institutionalizing New Approaches Leaders need to ensure that change is consolidated by showing employees how change has produced optimal performance. Every opportunity should be taken to demonstrate the benefit Cervical Cancer: An Action Plan Cervical Cancer: An Action Plan INTRODUCTION Cervical Cancer also recognized by ‘cancer of the cervix’ occurs from the tissue of the cervix. The cervix is a component of the female reproductive system, which also encompasses the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, vagina and vulva (Australian Government-Cancer Australia, 2014). The cervix is the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina. It is sometimes called the neck of the uterus. Cervical Cancer affects the cells of the lower part of the uterus that joins the inner end of the vagina also known as the uterine cervix (Cancer Council Victoria, 2014). In Victoria 179 women were diagnosed in 2010 with cervical cancer (Department of Health 2014). This is considered to be the twelfth most common cancer in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra, 2013) and has a much greater impact on indigenous women than non-indigenous complements. An indication of evidence shows that 59% of the women population died from this disease. According to Vic toria Health, 85% of women developed cervical cancer and either never had conducted a Pap smear test or failed to follow the recommended two yearly screening programs therefore leaded to a lack of participation in cervical screening which is one of the main risk factors for cervical cancer and is common against Indigenous women. Due to the inadequate time frame and the availability of health services such as the Bunurong Health service, Dandenong and District Aborigines Co-operative Limited to contribute in the project, the Indigenous population in the City of Greater Dandenong is the focus of this assignment. The objective of this is to reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer rates among Indigenous women in the City of Greater Dandenong over a three year plan. The strategies conversed in the project involvement plan by engaging the broader participation of indigenous people and their culture imparting a holistic approach to addressing this specific issue. Intensifying cultural awa reness and cultural safety is also a significant component. This realization plan will focus mainly on two detailed strategies: to familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort by 2015-2017. Another significant strategy is to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women diagnosed with cervical cancer are met physically, culturally, spiritually and medically within the timeframe of three years 2015-2017. This curriculum will provide two-yearly Pap tests to women aged 18-69 for the early detection of cervical cancer. This implementation plan will initially present an action plan and next it will discuss about methods that have been used to encourage sustainability. Then methods of communication, which will be developed to connect stakeholders involved in the assignment, will be conversed along wit h the supply of resources. ACTION PLAN STRATEGY 1:To familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort by 2015-2017. STRATEGY 2: To ensure that the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women diagnosed with cervical cancer are met physically, culturally, spiritually and medically within the timeframe of three years 2015-2017. SUSTAINABLITY Attention to the sustainability in a community based cervical cancer; controlled program over a 3 year period must have extensive experience in planning implementing and evaluating a program which engage the indigenous aboriginal women, to educate women in City of Greater Dandenong. To sustain the program of prevention of cervical cancer, various steps must be put in place to maintain that the sustainability in the implementation scheme (Shediac-Rizkallah Bone, 1998, p.87-108). For instance, an entire program may be continued under its original or an alternative organizational structure, parts of the program be institutionalized as individual components, or there may be a transfer of the whole or parts to the community ownership (Shediac-Rizkallah Bone, 1998, p.87-108). In 2013 an study conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identified the main changed that would be needed to occur and which stakeholders would be likely to be impacted. Projects with training (p rofessional and paraprofessional components are more likely to be sustained than those without: those trained can continue to provide benefits, train others and form a constituency in support of the program. As strategy 1 states that it is aimed to familiarize and educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the City of Greater Dandenong by 50% informing about the new and easy technology use for cervical screening to reduce the pain and discomfort. Therefore; by having general community and professional monthly and or yearly meetings and follow ups will help the project be sustained for a longer period of time and this will be evident with the use of data towards the participation of Pap screening tests for the population of Indigenous women. The results of this data in future within the 3 year time frame will help to detect whether more education and support implants are needed to be put in place culturally, physically and mentally or whether the results show an increase towards the population of Pap screening tests for cervical cancer in Indigenous women specifically. Topromote ongoing skills, development in health promotion and training/education, by allocating half a day to train the leadership skills and furthermore; being qualified to maintain their relationship with the Indigenous women for better health. It is important to train the trainers to help health services and programs to be sustained, patient-centered care, self-management support and behaviour change within their organisations therefore will be structured to be continued for the management and progress (Practice change requires staff skills development and systems implementation planning, 2013). For that reason, where the team will identify a reliable person who will be appropriate for the subject of leadership in future and have a greater understanding of the vision and management skills about health project towards the Aboriginal culture. Managing the culturally supportive environment for the Indigenous women will encourage the team to promote and achieve the sustainability and health promotion goals. COMMUNICATION To build a therapeutic relationship among indigenous women is quintessential; Health workers must gain trust and build rapport and considering their cultural background. There are various stakeholders one needs to consider while promoting health. For instance; while developing and delivering Aboriginal specific cervical screening health promotion training to health professionals, health promotion workers, aboriginal health workers and others who are working within the project. However; to establish organizational supports, such as local advisory committees, and in order for the project to develop effective relationships, within the Indigenous women committee (Gruen et al., 2008, p, 1579-89). One of the key strategies to achieve in this project is to train local clinicians to provide education and awareness about Pap screenings and cervical cancer to Aboriginal women in a form of considering their cultural background. Public is the first and prime stakeholders as the implementation of health promotion plan deals within the public domain (Hetzel, Glover, Gruszin. 2012). Apart from public, local councils and local councilors, Australian Health department and party workers were in the middle stakeholders (Gruen et al., 2008, p, 1579-89). Medical expert’s dealing in the treatment and research institute where diseases are the first lane resources, therefore; is vital to be included in any plan in prevention for cervical cancer (Anne F.Rositch, Michelle I. Silver, Patti E. Gravitt, 2014). CONCLUSION In conclusion, cultural barriers prevent Aboriginal women from seeking for their sexual and reproductive health and creative strategies are needed to encourage Aboriginal women to attend for Pap screens. For example: Information needs to be presented to the community in a format and language that is understandable to the target population. Services need to be provided in a safe and confidential environment and services need to be available on a â€Å"walk up basis† to avoid the need for appointments which can lead to a fear of loss of privacy and confidentiality. Due to cultural impediments, past research has proven that the establishment of women’s advisory committee was/is a strong scheme as a strategy to facilitate the promotion of the project within the community by engaging respect within the community and the women who are involved in the project so they could promote to the targeted group. In order to continue the momentum started by the project, community awareness of the need for cervical screening, needs to be maintained and raised contained by the Aboriginal women. This will require ongoing consultation with the community and ongoing health promotion activity which has been mentioned above. Ongoing involvement and collaboration with other community stakeholders such as Bunurong Health Services, Local Government – Victoria, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Cancer Council- Victoria, Royal Women’s Hospital Aboriginal Advisory Unit, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and City of Greater Dandenong are also seen as dominant too long term success in increasing awareness and promotion of cervical screening in the City of Greater Dandenong among Aboriginal and Indigenous women.