Theory of Organizational Culture

It should have made clear and obvious that sustained profitability and high financial turns are not enough to survive and remain successful in today's highly competitive markets because there Is considerable evidence of conflicts and misunderstandings caused by cultural differences. Therefore It Is sensual that firms need to understand their own and other firms' organizational culture and need to adjust their ways and traditions while conducting business with other firms, organizations or individuals with different cultural values. 1. Generally, in lay man terms, culture in an organization can be answered as simple as the way we do things here'. This defines the consistent way in which the tasks were reformed, conflicts were resolved and how customers and employees were treated. In a more articulate manner, an organizational culture can be defined as a core values that defined that particular organization itself. It comprised of its member shared values, behaviors, beliefs and teamwo rk that guide and determine the organization decisions and actions and how it behaves in the local as well international market. 1. 3 Why Does it Matter?In the context of whether it matters or not, an organizational culture is something that cannot be easily capture or define but at the same time it is not something that NY of the organization should take for granted. Many anthropologists and coaches had noticed that ineffective leadership tends to be the major factors of an organization diminishing and weakening (Alveolus, 2002). Rolling back to the Ancient Rome era, the great empire had endured a series of terrible emperors. Due to the culture and structure of the empire was great enough; the tide was often overcome even after decades long.However, one cannot be in denial that without a strong top leadership eventually would be the cause of the fall of even the great empire. 1. 4 Understanding the Organization Culture There is proverb that goes â€Å"When in Rome, do as the Roman s do†. The essence of this is that blending oneself into the foreign environment. Every organization is unique in nature; which is to say the culture of an organization may vary from one another despite having the same nature of business or having the same geographical locality.Even in cases where top managers have strong awareness of the significant of culture, there is often the case that lack of understanding on how the people and organization function in terms of culture. It is normally difficult to attain high level of cultural awareness to decide actions. Understanding organizational culture is essential as a way of understanding the organizational life in all forms and variations (Rachel Parker). Section 2: The Types of Organizational Culture 2. Types Organizational Culture There are few quadrants to be relating to where most of the organizations will fall organization feels comfortable to operate in. However it should be noted that none of the quadrants is inherently b etter than one another Just as there is no culture is necessarily better than another (Tarp). 2. 1. 1 Control (Hierarchy) This culture focused on stability and control in the organization. It strongly emphasized on standardization, integration as well as the decision making mechanism.This means there is layers of management for the decision to go through before the final decision is made. One of the giant companies that practices this pattern of organization culture is Ford Motor Company; they have seventeen levels of management. Government agencies are also well to be associated with this type of culture. 2. 1. 2 Compete (Market) This type of culture focusing on external orientation rather than internal and they emphasized on differentiation greatly than anything else. This culture concentrates n competitiveness and productivity through emphasis on partnership. 2. 1. Collaborate (Clan) Collaborate approach emphasize more on flexibility and discretion over stability and control. The total opposite of individualism, this culture give due credits to team work. Take for example; the Japanese firms have strong Collaborate culture among themselves. They appreciate cohesion, loyalty, and group commitment, and therefore they operated more like families than a team. 2. 1. 4 Create (Autocracy) In this value matrix, they value flexibility and discretion however not to the extent of sharing the inward focus. Instead this culture focused on flexibility and adaptability.This is essential in thriving in the world that many would view as impossible. Google is a good example of a prototypical autocracy organization. Their ability to capture market share has made them leaders in the marketplace and eliminating competition among the industry players. Section 3: The Patterns of Organizational Culture 3. 1 The Cultural Patterns in Construction Industry Due to the rapid internationalization of the construction industry, there is a growing of interest in developing a deep understan ding in the organizational culture and how t can be implemented in this competitive market.It appears that one of the reasons for why the organizational culture gained importance is because more construction companies are conducting business in international markets. (Low, 2001) In addition to the emphasis put on the internationalization of the construction business, the adversarial relations between different stakeholders is considered to be the sensitivity of different project participants to cultural differences which have a culture is claimed to be an effective way to respond to the environment; thus achieving a superior performance.Considering the hyper-turbulent environment and fragmented nature of the construction industry; understanding and managing organizational culture is of particular importance in enhancing organizational performance (Ankara, 2005). 3. 2 The Organization Culture in Malaysian Construction In Malaysian construction industry, Malaysian contractors shared t he same views that the project culture plays enormous impact on the construction project control dimensions such as time, cost, quality and loyalty.In Malaysian construction industry, there are few types of culture that are being practiced by many of the construction rims. These cultures are presented in the below table: Types of Culture Tiger Culture Monkey Culture Rabbits Culture Elephant Culture Dragon Culture Definitions Competitive and Achievement Orientated Teamwork and loyalty Flexibility and creative Strong hierarchies and order Combines the disparate and beneficent attributes of lesser beings into one of extraordinary capability and power Table 1 : Types of Cultural Practices in Malaysia Based on the current research paper produced by C.Wang and H. Abdul Raman (Raman, 2010), the findings below has shown that the â€Å"Monkey Culture† is insider as the most applicable type for the organizational culture in Malaysia. Figure 1: Applicable cultural practices Through the questionnaire survey forms collected from this research, Malaysian contractors have ranked that teamwork and loyalty as highly important in an organization culture. Therefore this has puts â€Å"Monkey Culture† above the rest of the other cultures.In contrast with the US firms which very often considered as individualistic, the Malaysian contractors are very similar to the Japanese culture in the sense of the Japanese has always been a collectivist culture and communities hat put group's welfare over any own individual welfare. The Japanese companies have successfully created an environment and culture where the sense of family has greatly prevails among the employees. Take for example, Toyota, one of the Japanese cars manufacturers, has provided a day-care center for young mothers who wish to work.While the Malaysian contractors have not gone to the extent of creating the family culture in their practice, they have emphasize strongly on good teamwork and coordination between the management and the employees. Figure 2 below shows the analysis extracted from the Hypotheses dimension on Malaysia's organizational Figure 2: Hypotheses Dimension: Malaysia dimension namely Power Distance Index (PDP), Individualism (DVD), Masculinity (MASS) and Uncertainty Avoidance Index (AJAX).The fifth dimension which is not included in this analysis is found later after the implementation of the four dimensions. The fifth dimension is the Long-term Orientation (L TO). As shown in Figure 2, individualism (DVD) has ranked the lowest among the rest dimensions. This shows that Malaysian do not prefer to work alone. Malaysian in fact are very social community and they also practice collectivist culture like the Japanese do. This applies in the case of the construction industry. All members work in a team and like a team.The Project Manager needs his subordinates to cooperate with him in order to get the project running and this applies to the subordinates as well. Like the prov erb goes â€Å"No man is an island†. Therefore, Malaysian construction industry sees this as an important elemental culture that should not be ignored. During the tenure of Tuna Dry Mathis Mohammad as the Malaysia's fourth premier way back in the asses, Dry Mathis has ladled for the citizens of Malaysia to practice the â€Å"Look East Policy'.He considered that the secret of Japanese success and its remarkable development lies in its labor ethics, morale, and management capability. For this purpose, Malaysia decided to dispatch their students to Japan, to study not only academics and technical know- how but also to learn labor ethics and discipline of the Japanese people. One good example of the Japanese culture that should be implemented in the Malaysian construction industry would be the Japanese strong sense of family.

Unit 3 -IP- Samples Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 3 -IP- Samples - Essay Example In order to test whether the two variables have the same means, a two – sample, two – sided t – test must be performed. The two - tailed test is used because the concern is not whether some variable has a larger or lower mean, but whether the two means are different. As a result, the null hypothesis was established in equation (1) below, stating that the difference in means of the two samples is random. Since the sample sizes are relatively small, the t – test is used as the preferred test (Baltagi, 2008, p.31). The confidence interval is constructed in order to test this hypothesis. The confidence set with confidence level must be determined such that the true difference of the sample means is included in this set. What this implies is that the confidence set will include the true difference of population means with probability â€Å"at least † (Paolella, 2011, p. 13), as shown in equation (3) below: The confidence level chosen is 0.95, which implies that the corresponding confidence set will contain the true population mean difference with 95% probability (Paolella, 2011, p.13). The probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true is as a result 5% (Baltagi, 2008, p.21). This error is denoted as type I error. The larger the confidence interval, the larger the probability that the null hypothesis will be accepted when it is in fact false (Baltagi, 2008, p.22). This error is denoted as type II error. A t – score must be calculated by subtracting the sample means and dividing by the square root of the adjusted population variances, which can be estimated through sample variances. There are in total degree of freedom (Neustadl, n.d.). The resulting t – value is  ± 2.009, which is also the critical region (Dawson, 2012;Ruud, 2000, p.224). The t – test can be seen in equation (4) below: The t – test is preferred because of the data dependence. Both variables have in common the type of

The Economy, Monetary Policy and Monopolies Essay

The Economy, Monetary Policy and Monopolies - Essay Example For instance, in 2007 the interest rate was recorded to be approximately 5% which decreased to below 1% by the end of 2009. Since then, till the current phase of the economic conditions prevailing within United States the interest rates has been recorded below 0.5% which shows further decline in the country’s financial market (US Department of the Treasury, 2012). Inflation Rates Fig.2: US Inflation Rates 2002-2012 (US Inflation Calculator, 2012) The inflation rates of the United States which was recorded as 4.1% during the year 2007 which further declined to 0.1% by the year 2008. However, it augmented to an average of 2% within the period of 2009 to 2012. This indicates that in terms of inflation rates the economy is regaining its stability performing almost similarly as during the period prior to 2007 (US Inflation Calculator, 2012). Unemployment Rates Fig.3: US Unemployment Rates 2007-2012 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012) In relation to the above represented statist ics, it can be observed that United States witnessed an unemployment rate between 4-5% during 2007-2008. This further augmented to above 8% by 2012. This indicates that the economy had been witnessing a continuous de-gradation of its employment situation in the labor market over the past five years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). 2. Propose two (2) strategies that the federal government could implement that would encourage people to spend more money in order to create employment opportunities. Financial Leverage Financial leverage can be considered as one of the effective sets of practices in which the Return on Equity (RoE) is increased through the escalating rate of debt amounts. With this concern, the federal government of the U.S. should be focused on magnifying the amount of RoE even in situations when debt amounts tend to be increasing. Therefore, the financial strategy of the federal government should consider the investable assets related to the amount of equity as it would promote financial growth (Financial Literacy and Education Commission, 2011). Financial Decision Making and Financial Literacy Strategies related to the augmentation of financial literacy and effective decision making process would further provide competent direction in relation to financial education, policy, research, practice as well as coordination among the stakeholders, investors and other financial institutions. Moreover, effective forms of financial education and decision making process would offer the benefits of evaluating the risk of interest rates and provide an effective way to trim down the debt amounts (Financial Literacy and Education Commission, 2011). 3. Identify a situation in the past 50 years in which the government used antitrust policies to stop a monopoly from occurring. Include the circumstances of the proposed monopoly and the reason the government stepped in. Predict what would have occurred had the monopoly succeeded. Various antitrust policies h ave been implemented by the US government over the past decades to prohibit unhealthy competition in terms of monopoly within its national business environment. One of such Act can be identified as the National Cooperative Research Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. Â § Â § 4301-05). The reason behind implementing this act can be

Multinational Corporations in Third World Countries Essay

Multinational Corporations in Third World Countries - Essay Example Globalization is a phenomenon where the world is increasingly becoming integrated socially, economically and politically. These is mainly due to advancements in information communication technology( ICT), improvement in transport infrastructure, expedite mass migration and movement of people as well as the trade in goods and services leading to an increased economic activity that has surpassed national markets necessitating the need to exploit markets outside the borders (Jan A S, 2000). Increased technological advancement, liberalized world markets and intense competition has resulted to increased globalization. Third world countries is a term that refers to the least developed countries of the south which includes countries found in Asia, Africa, Latin America Oceania and the Caribbean. The term came about after world war two where the bourgeoisie regimes of the west were referred to as the west while the antagonistic regimes of the orient were referred to as the East and were socialist. The newly independent countries of the south coined the term third world to signify their non aligned disposition. These countries are generally characterized by low levels of investments, rampant poverty and diseases, high illiteracy levels, poor infrastructure, political instability, poor governance where the ruling elites are wealthy (comprador bourgeoisie) coupled with high birth rate with low economic growth rate (Breda P, 1983). Other features include distorted and highly dependent economies(dependency) on aid, grants and technical assistance, a key feature that is furthered by the actions of the MNC 'S and global institutions like the world bank and the International Monetary Fund(IMF). These economies generally produce primary goods that are exported to the west for value addition while they act as markets for finished products from the west. As they are technologically inferior. Third world countries lag behind in development because of various factors but it should be noted that they why brought into the global capitalistic system through colonization-a stage in globalization, a phenomena whose effect was to be felt later more so with end of the cold war. This is one of the major reasons for the cause of under development in the least developed countries. These poor countries have always sought various ways by which they can solve these development problems mainly through foreign aid and technical assistance that is overly done under the auspice of international institutions e.g. the World Bank and the IMF. These efforts have failed over the years to stem the sinking of these countries further down the path of under development hence today there is a new approach to development in the south through the need to attract and retain the foreign direct investments (FDI's). One way of achieving these objectives has been through the privatization of state enterprises.Privatization is the sale, transfer or concession of government assets or services to a privately owned entity. This has been the cornerstone of the structural adjustment program advocated by the World Bank and the IMF in the 1980's to try and stimulate growth and development in the third world (Emmanuel S S, 1987). The aim has always been to increase efficiency brought by the need for profit maximization, and increase revenue to the state in

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economics - Essay Example In 2010 the government debt was at 1105.8 billion pounds, which was 76.1% of the GDP. Of that public sector net borrowing was 10.3 billion pounds in 2010 and the public sector net debt was at 58% of the total GDP (Economic Indicators, 2011). The growth predictions by IMF have been 1.75% in 2011 and the interest rates in 2011 have been at a record low at 0.5% (UK interest rate held at record low of 0.5%., 2011). The British Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to reduce the government spending in public sector. Restrain will be enforced on government spending like benefits for the retired, higher education, flood defenses (Spending Review 2010: George Osborne wields the Axe., 2010). As part of the plan some surgery procedures will be restricted like cataract operation, some common orthopedic surgeries. Nursing homes for aged people will be closed and funds will be rationed for IVF procedure and obesity cures (Donnelly, L. ,2010). There will be other austerity measures like bu dget cuts for many facilities like libraries, trusts, theatres, counseling and advice centers on the country (Pubic Sector Cuts: Where will they Hit?, 2011). Prior to the budget the Chancellor had said that with this budget he wanted to take the country from a course of rescue to the course of reform. According to Cameroon the level of debt and the credit crunch are the main causes for the recession. So he preferred the strategy of monetary activities to control the recession. There was a tremendous opposition for the reduction in VAT by the Gordon Brown government, which led to a loss of revenue for the government facing a shortage of fund. On the contrary, the previous government relied on borrowing to increase government expenditure. According to them it would push the economy back on a path of growth. The Gordon Brown government strongly believed in adopting fiscal changes to tackle the recession. The key features announced by Gordon Brown were a 500 billion pound plan to save t he banks and 21 billion pound of tax cuts and increase in government expenditure (Sparrow, 2009). Gordon Brown reduced the VAT by 2.5% from 17.5% to boost the household consumption. This reduced 12.5 billion pounds of tax revenue from the treasury annually. The other cuts announced by the then Chancellor Alistair Darling included extending the 120 billion pound annual rebate for the people paying tax at basic rate. Increases in the excise duty for vehicles were delayed. To discourage the foreign companies from shifting their businesses abroad tax was exempted on foreign dividends. Billions of pounds were assigned to construct roads, schools and housing projects. All these policies were framed keeping in mind the Keynesian theory of Aggregate Demand. The Aggregate Demand is the total demand for goods and services in the economy. The right hand side of the following equation gives it. Y + T = C(Y-T) + G + I(r, (Y-T)) + (X – M) Where, Y = Real Income T= Tax C(Y – T) = Con sumption which is a function of real disposable income, i.e., difference between real Income and tax. G = Government Expenditure which Is Exogenous I = Investment which is a function of real disposable income and interest rate r = rate of interest which can be flexible (endogenous) or fixed (exogenous) X = Export Income M= Import Income Therefore, (X – M) = Balance of Payment. So if we consider the price level in the vertical axis and the national output in the horizontal axis and plot the aggregate demand curve, it will be downward

Finance and Accounting Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance and Accounting Problem - Essay Example Bank interest is deducted at source at the rate of 20%. Therefore, they cannot be included as taxable income. Depreciation reflects how fixed assets of business reduce in value through wear and tear. However, depreciation is just an accounting concept with nothing to do with taxation. Depreciation can be manipulated and taxmen do not recognize it as an allowable tax. Instead, annual capital allowance is computed. Vehicle of businesses have a standard rate of 25% on a reducing balance. In April 2008, Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) of ?50,000 per annum was introduced. This allowed business entities to spend ?50,000 annually and claim the full cost against tax. For Sam’s case, the tax written down value for the car in 2012 is ?6,750. According to the tax law in the UK the capital allowance on the car is the lower of 25% of the written down value of the car or ?3000 each year. ... 234.00 Add Car Tax (178 g/km) ? 210.00 Less those form charity ? 100.00    ? 31,542.08 Notes PAYE tax and NIC thresholds are ?7,475 and ?7,225 per year respectively. Table 3- Computation of PAYE Income   Rate   Amount Amount ?7,475.00 ?35,000.00 20% ?27,525.00 ? 5,505.00 ?35,001.00 ?80,771.25 40% ?45,770.25 ? 18,308.10   Total ?23,813.10 Table 4- Computation National Insurance Contribution (Sam is categorized as in class 4) Income   Rate   Amount Amount ?7,225.00 ?42,475.00 9% ?35,250.00 ? 3,172.50 ?42,476.00 ?80,771.25 11% ?38,295.25 ?4,212.48 Total ?7,384.98 The dividends paid as tax was 32.5% of ?720=?234 Car tax for a car producing 178 g/km CO2 is ? 210.00. Contribution to charity is computed taking into consideration that Sam declared that he is UK’s tax payer. Therefore, Sam has to be refunded some money, which is computed as follows. The amount to be refunded = ?400? ((40-20) ?80) = ?100 Question 3 Table 5- Sam’s Income Tax and National Insurance Comp utation for 2011/12 if he is classified as an employee of West London Ltd. Add PAYE ?22,303.12 Add NIC class 1D ? 11174.06 Add taxable dividends ?234.00 Add Car Tax (178 g/km) ?210.00 Income tax ? 3,477.18 Notes Table 6- Taxable income Item Amount Basic Salary ? 76,996.31 Benefits 0   Taxable income ? 76,996.31 Table 7- PAYE computation Income Amount Used Rate Amount ?7475.00 ?35000.00 ?27525.00 20% ?5505.00 ?35001.00 ?76996.31 ?41995.31 40% ?16798.12 Total PAYE    ?22303.12 Sam earns higher income and will be paid ?90,000 annually inclusive of National Insurance Contributions. No reimbursement for any travelling or accommodation when away from home on branch visits and no refund for trade subscription and reference materials. Mileage payments for business travel. The mileage expenses are qualifying amounts

Pest Essay Example for Free

Pest Essay Hong Kong is politically stable, there would rarely be any political factors that will interrupt and slow down the company’s growth. Hong Kong doesn’t have goods and services tax so this allows McDonalds to have lower expenses and they can maximize their profit. The international operations of Mcdonald’s are highly influenced by the individual state policies enforced by each government. Economic- The economic collapse has caused Hong Kong to enter the recession stage in the economic cycle. Therefore the demands for low price food increase tremendously and this benefited McDonald, since the foods are cheap and the quality is guaranteed. Inflation has caused McDonald to raise meal price, in long term, as inflation raised to a point that it will be too expensive and McDonald will lose its large customer base. But still Mcdonald’s is still a market leader and it got a very (high)large target market. low cost more incomes. The rate at which the economy of that particular state grows determines the purchasing power of the consumers in that country. Social- McDonald is a fast food restaurant company so they can perform their services in a short period of time and this fits with the fast paced lifestyle in Hong Kong. In the past few years Hong Kong people are more aware of healthy eating, so they stay away from high calories and high cholesterol food. McDonald tries to prevent the loss of customer by adding healthier food in the menu such as salads sweet corn. Working within many social groups. Increase employments. Technology- Hong Kong has a well developed transportation system, especially the airport that has airlines that connects to different part of the world. Their food supplies can be delivered from all around the world in a short period. Computers and smart cashiers are used by the employees so they would not get confused and they are provided with customized database management system. They also have Wifi provide in every McDonalds also, its very convenient for people that is using laptop. Quality packing and standards. Advanced technology development. Local manufacture using foreign supplies. | | Strength| Strong brand name, image and reputation- Clean environment and play areas for children (bday party provided)- 24 hours- Customer intimacy- Product innovation- Supplier integration| Weaknesses| High staff turnover (food going to waste)- Unhealthy food image- Low depth and width of product- Unbalanced meals (mostly meat, amount of fruit or vegetable not much)| Opportunities| Expand into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities- Growth of the fast-food industry- Worldwide deregulation- Low cost menu that will attract the customers- Freebies and discounts- Can open up online service for customers Growing health trend (fresh burger or healthy dessert)| Threats| Increase competition from local fast food outlets- Mcdonald’s competitors threatened market share of the company both internationally and domestically- Health issues – Health professionals and consumer activities accuse Mcdonald’s of contributing to the country’s health issue of high cholesterol, heart attacks, diabetes and obesity- Lack of choices (customers will change their taste anyday)- Global recession and fluctuating foreign currencies- Fast-foo d chain industry is expected to struggle to meet the expectations of the customers towards health and environmental issues|