Transgender People Face Harmful Discrimination - 1644 Words

His mother holds up another dress, remarking on how cute it is and handing it to him to try on. She ignores the uncomfortable look on his face and tells him to hurry up. He sits in the dressing room in silence, looking at himself in the mirror, the dress hanging on a hook beside him. He furrows his brows, covers his chest with his arms, and stares at the face looking back at him. It doesn’t look right, he thinks, trying not to cry. All his life he had been called â€Å"she† and â€Å"girl† and it never felt right. No one told him it was okay to feel this way when he brought it up, instead yelling at him, telling him he was just confused. It made him sick, pretending to be a girl, but no one listened or cared. Due to the many misconceptions about them, transgender people face harmful discrimination, whether being told their feelings are invalid, that there is no such thing, or being killed for who they are. Identifying as a gender other than the one you are assign ed at birth is seen as unnatural in a world ruled by a rigid gender binary, so understanding transgender people’s experiences is necessary for a safe life for them. Some protections are already available to transgender people, though paltry: Only â€Å"15 [states] and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity/expression† (â€Å"Knowledge Center†). Additionally, seven state governors have put orders into effect that ban the discrimination of state workers on the basis of them beingShow MoreRelatedGender, Sexual Orientation And Education1746 Words   |  7 Pagessociety that judge people and groups based on the prejudices and stereotypes that treat them differently. In the aspect of identity discrimination, American society plays a big role in keeping those that are different isolated from the rest of the world. Today’s society suffers huge from a spectrum that focuses power on discrimination. In this spectrum, transgender individuals are perceived as people that are most damaging than lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people. Transgendered people are routinelyRead MoreLgbt Rights : Transgender Rights1480 Words   |  6 PagesTransgender Rights Cassidy Howell No one wants to feel like they do not belong or like they are not cared for. Transgender people are just like everyone else and deserve to be treated equally to cisgendered people, or people who identify as the gender they were given at birth. According to Sam Killerman, being transgendered means living as a member of a gender other than that expected based on sex assigned at birth. This definition is extremely important because a transgender person is still aRead MoreGender Roles : The Harmful Effects1656 Words   |  7 PagesGender Roles: The Harmful Effects The idea of gender roles has been prominent throughout not only American History, but world history as well. Everyone understands that men are the ones who provide for their family while women are responsible for household work such as taking care of the children, cleaning, and cooking. The United States has come a long way in demolishing these gender constructs from presenting women the right to vote to recent strives in pop culture such as Benny’s gender crushingRead MoreNeoliberalism : An Dominant Ideology Of The Modern Era1680 Words   |  7 Pagesperpetrates the ideas of deregulation, privatization, austerity, and blame in modern society, which all affect the transgender community disproportionately in a negative manner. For example, neoliberal ideologies, tactics, and effects create an upward distribution of wealth, both nationally and globally, that results in a precarization of labor. Subsequently, members of the transgender community are not only unable to find jo b opportunities, but are prevented from attaining, and even applying for,Read MoreBathroom Rights For Transgender Individuals1289 Words   |  6 Pages Bathroom Rights for Transgender Individuals Josephine Do HDE 110 February 2, 2017 Bathroom Rights for Transgender Individuals Transgender rights and policies have always been an ongoing debate. In the article, â€Å"Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics,† Schilt and Westbrook (2015) argued that in order to push gender equality forward, we must consider the rights of transgender people by allowing them to have access to bathrooms that support their gender identity rather than theirRead MoreEssay on Relationship Transgender Identity1609 Words   |  7 PagesTransgender is a term that is used to describe men and women who were born a certain sex, but feel their true gender is the opposite. Some live completely - or part time - as the opposite sex. There are also some transgender people that get sex reassignment surgery, completely changing their gender. While the definition of transgender is not yet fully agreed upon and is indeed still changing on a regular basis, there are some elements that seem to remain consistent: 1. Not identifying with theRead MoreThe Rights Of Transgender Teenagers1667 Words   |  7 PagesFor many people living in the United States of America, they have heard of transgenderism and the ongoing battle to gain rights for this group. Numerous laws and regulations have been presented that help or hinder member of this community. As of the recent suicide of transgender teenagers Leelah Alcorn and Zander Mahaffey, rights of transgender teenagers have become a more prominent subject as many seek for the banning of gender-conversion therapy, a therapy that aims to change a person’s sexualRead MoreGender Politics : Are We Concerned About The Wrong Safety?1299 Words   |  6 Pagesin the life of a transgender man trying to use a public restroom. An everyday situation like this can be both stressful and filled with anxiety. Transgender is defined as â€Å"An umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from expectations associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.† With this in mind, they often face a continuous struggle to fit in with society surrounding America’s gender segregated restrooms. The options they face are either goingRead MoreThe Causes Of Discrimination Against Homosexuals1677 Words   |  7 PagesThere are many causes of discrimination against homosexuals in the world today. A homosexual is one who has sexual relationships with members of the same sex. Worthen states â€Å"that the majority of homosexuals believe they were born gay (Worthen, F 2014). â€Å"This belief often supplies them with comfort, relieving them of any responsibility to change. However, there is no solid scientific evidence that people are born homosexual† (Worthen, F 2014). â€Å"Along with outside factors in a person s life, hisRead MoreThe International Declaration Of Human Rights Essay1835 Words   |  8 Pages Our country, New Zealand, is known worldwide as a beacon of human rights, from when it became the first country to grant women suffrage in 1893, but discrimination and prejudice runs rampant through its streets even today. Before you so vehemently deny this, damning accusation that it is, you must consider the discrimination against transgender citizens in this country. We can no longer simply tolerate trans citizens in New Zealand, but support them as you would your cisgender, or those who identify

Reflection Paper On Personality - 1427 Words

For this paper, I wanted to get an analytical point of view on what my personality is. To do this, I took two personality tests from the Similar Minds website. The first one I took was the Big 45 Test. That personality test consisted of 225 questions that gave me the answer range from ‘very inaccurate’ to ‘very accurate’. My results were nearly similar in percentage; for Extroversion I got 59%, Accommodation is 67%, Orderliness is 59%, Emotional Stability is 51%, and Open-mindedness is 73%. What I liked about this test is that it broke down each section down even further. For example, when I looked at the category Extroversion, I was given specific percentages for the labels that fall into the Extroversion group like ‘Leadership’. So, for†¦show more content†¦For the Big 45 Test, my percentage for Open-mindedness is nearly spot on with how I would describe myself. But, when I break down a category even further, like the Accommodation ca tegory, I don’t believe that my ‘Nurturance’ is as high as it claims I am, which is a 66% on the exam. The reason I say this is because since I scored high for this subcategory, it means that I am ‘people pleasing’ and that I come last instead of putting my needs first. I will admit, that when I was younger I was someone who was like that. In fact, had I taken this exam a few years ago I probably would have scored higher than a 66% on this specific subcategory. But, because of personal growth, I feel like I have learned how to put myself first. I learned that I need to put myself first before I put others first because if I want to give people the best care I need to feel like I am at my best. For the R-Drive Personality, I think my Independence score is spot on with how I act around and towards others. I have always been someone who likes to do things on their own, but I am also learning how to ask for help when I need it. That is why I scored a 66% on Independence. As for what I oppose on my results is my Hedonism score, which is a 72%. Having a high Hedonism score means that I am someone who is highly proven to be a drinker, smoker, and drug addict. People who have a high score of Hedonism like to act against the rules, even when their safety is on the line. They also are more likely toShow MoreRelatedPersonality Reflection Paper939 Words   |  4 PagesPersonality Reflection Paper Debbie Cooper PSY/250 July 30, 2012 AnneySnyder Personality Reflection Paper The following will reflect this researchers understanding and reflection on personality, how it defines one, what it means, and if one’s personality changes to fit certain situations. At the end this researcher may have a better insight into herself as well as the personalities of others. This insight can help her in her future endeavors. Personality I would define personality asRead MoreReflection Paper Personality892 Words   |  4 PagesDuring this week I learned about the many personality types people have and I found out what my personality type is. There are 16 personality types total and I took two personality tests to see what my personality type is. The first test told me I had an ISFP personality type and the second test informed me that I had an INFP personality. The ISFP personality is readier for a new experience or adventure and is very imaginative. The INFP personality is always ready to help a good cause and are veryRead MoreReflection Paper On Personality2330 Words   |  10 PagesPersonality is a big part of who we are. Each personality is different. They all very in their strengths and shortcomings. Whatever type of personality a person may have, it is going to affect every aspect of their life. This is very true when it comes to their chosen career path. Your place of employment is one of the only places as an adult, that you can’t control who you interact with. It is great to understand how your personality can shape your career path, your leadership style, and how youRead MorePersonality Profile Reflection Paper1743 Words   |  7 Pagesperformance in the workplace. To provide a personal perspective of personality characteristics, the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) assessment was used to measure aspects of my personality and how these traits relate to working with others and life within an organization. Key observations provide specific insight into how these are applied to workplace behavior and interactions with others. Personal self-reflection related to workplace behavior is offered, including lessons learnedRead MorePersonality Profile Reflection Paper1336 Words   |  6 Pagestests are designed to inform us of our personality, and advantages and disadvantages that may come with it. The goal is to characterize patterns of behavior, emotions, and thoughts that a person has carried throughout their lifetime. Understanding these patterns of yourself and of those around you is beneficial for group dynamics. The more you know and understand your personality the better you will be able to see how others view and react to you. Personality assessments can help us locate and changeRead MoreReflection Paper On My Personality3105 Words   |  13 PagesThis paper discusses my personality type and assesses how it applies to the workplace. It will explain my behavioral tendencies and how I can apply them to any organization. This paper will also explain how God’s plan for me changed the way that I know deal with organizational dynamics and the individuals that are coworkers, team members, and friends. This paper will highlight the results from the McGraw-Hill Connect assessment as they apply to my personality, core values, decision making, problemRead MoreThe Role Of Personality Traits Of A Leader1023 Words   |  5 PagesSynthesis Paper The three empirical articles primarily studies is about leadership and how personality traits of a leader can reflect and affect his or her role. The first article was conducted by Liliendfel, Waldman, Landfield, Watts, Rubenzer, and Faschingbauer in 2012 titled, â€Å"Fearless Dominance and the U.S. Presidency: Implications of Psychopathic Personality Traits for Successful and Unsuccessful Political Leadership† whose purpose is to evaluate and measure the personality of the 42 U.S. presidentsRead MorePersonality Reflection976 Words   |  4 PagesDelawrence Reed Psy/250 Version 6 Professor Wilkerson Personality Reflection Personality cares for the important, strong measures of a human being’s psychological vitality. Traits relates to an individual being merry or depressed, active or care less, brilliant or ignorant. There are many different definitions about personality. Most definitions are on mental system which is a cluster of mental pieces implicating purposes, feelings, and thinking patterns. The meanings alternate a littleRead MoreThe Reflection Of Charles Dickens Great Expectations1590 Words   |  7 Pages The Reflection of Charles Dickens in Great Expectations Introduction: The general definition of reflection is† to bring or cast as result â€Å". Dr. Harvey from Macquarie University define reflection as â€Å"an intended action, it depends on the past actions, present actions, and future actions.† In this paper we will see the reflection in â€Å"Art†. Art is the reflection of the identity and personality, for example in painting, drawing, writing, and many more. Art can symbolize the personality of theRead MoreThe Souls Journey: Death And Rebirth1156 Words   |  5 Pages The idea of surviving death has been floating around for years and has been debated by many. It is undeniable that the physical body cannot survive death, but the soul is a whole other matter. The soul itself, the containment of our thoughts, personality and experiences, survives the biological death of the body. The belief in the soul requires the belief in reincarnation based simply on science because of the laws of thermodynamics. Energy cannot be crea ted or destroyed- it can only change its

Travel Writing Coursework Free Essays

The Volvo estate came slowly to a halt outside a boarded up old farm house. A middle aged man and three adolescents clambered out the car to be met by the fresh rural air. The sun shone brightly onto them as they examined the landscape. We will write a custom essay sample on Travel Writing Coursework or any similar topic only for you Order Now They were surrounded by fields with a long gravel path lying behind them. They all took a corner and hoisted the khaki Canadian canoe from the top of the estate then carefully lay it on the grass beside them. One of the boys asked the man which way they were going and he replied by pointing down the gravely path which slowly merged into woodland in the distance. The man locked up the car checking it again by pulling the handle and gestured to his son to help lift the canoe. They lifted it up with a heave and began to carry down the path and into the woodland followed by the boys two friends. The cows grazing in the field opposite the farmhouse mooed as they continued down the path. The four of them took turns in helping carry the canoe. The woodland became more thick and the stinging netals brushed at there bare ankles. The bushes and trees were littered with beer cans and plastic bags left by youths. The mans son considered what this was doing to the animals habitat and felt a slight sense of guilt as he new he had done exactly the same in the past. The sound of the river became clearer and the forest came to a ‘T’ junction . The man led the way with the canoe and took the right turning. After about a hundred yards they came to a stop carefully placing the boat on the ground again. Before them lay the river. Three or four anglers stood at the side of the bank, one of them acknowledging them by saying what a lovely summer’s day it was. The man was a keen fisherman himself and asked if the other man had caught anything. He replied by shaking his head he said ‘The fish don’t like warm weather’. The rivers are far too over fished he thought to himself, it’s such a shame that some of the rarer fish were dying out. He then shook his head and told the boys to sit in the boat. They did so and he pushed the boat with his might into the murky green water. The boat wobbled about and then stabilized itself, the boys pulling it to the side. The boys laughed nervously. The man then wobbled the boat vigorously to show that it would take a lot to tip it over, the boys shouting at him to stop. He laughed and stopped. Then he handed the boys their paddles and gave them a few last words of advice. The boys waved him goodbye and he shouted at them to ring him when they wanted picking up. They were on their own now, at one with nature. They directed the boat round the first corner past a few branches in the water. Reeds grew either side of the river and made their path very narrow. The boys struggled to direct the boat around the winding corners trying not to crash into the reeds around them. Bracken and stinging netals were visibly close up ahead and the man’s son told them to go straight through the middle as they lay either side sprouting through the reeds. The larger of his two of his friends began to paddle without informing the other one and the boat headed straight into the bracken and netals. They all panicked shouting not to tip the boat over. The boat went straight into the side and they were all stung and pricked by the thorns but the boat stayed stable and they sighed with relief. The river opened up and the banks became wider and had no reeds or bracken at the side. They relaxed and let the river drift the boat down stream by itself. The boys basked in the sun and chatted about football and women. Floating on the waters surface lay more cans of beer bobbing up and down. The larger boy contemplated the reason why these people just through their litter into the river. He came to the conclusion that it was a mixture of laziness and thoughtlessness. He pondered what the effect the beer had on the water and what an animal would do if it became trapped in one of the cans. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a hissing swan and the shouts of his friend as he politely told it to go away. His friend slapped his paddle at it as the other two rowed the canoe away from the animal. They all relaxed again as the swan disappeared back into the distance. Everything was calm again and the boy that had swung his paddle at the swan was now happy. A big white boat was now coming at them head on and the boys swerved the boat around it like an adder through water. They boy thought what the fumes coming of the back of the white boat would be doing to the water. He thought of how the fish were being poisoned and the air around the river was being turned into the kind of warm hazy air you’d expect in a city centre. The boat drew closer to its destination and one of the boys asked a walker on the bank if they new how far it would be to the pub. ‘Just around the corner’ they answered and the boys thanked them and were happy they were nearly. They paddled the boat around the corner and the pub came into sight. They approached it slowly scanning the bank for a place to park the boat. They spotted a gap in between a large patch of reeds and paddled into it. The boy at the front climbed out first followed by the man’s son and the tall boy. They all grabbed a section of the boat and yanked it as hard as possible out the water and onto the bank. They lifted the boat of the ground and made the short walk with it to the pub. They sat down in a heap off exhaustion on one of the wooden tables outside the pub. They ordered a plate off chips and reviewed their hard days work. The plate was empty and the boy’s dad had arrived to take them home. They placed the canoe on top of the car again and strapped it in place. They all got inside the car and the boy’s dad had asked if had went well. They all agree it had been a good laugh and it was a lot of fun. In front of them a man opened his window and dropped out a hand full of rubbish. The boys all thought to themselves what were we doing to the environment and how we were ruining it for our next generations and animals. The car drove off and the boys sat there in silence just thinking. How to cite Travel Writing Coursework, Papers

Discussion Question free essay sample

The Ron Jon Surf Shop is similar to the Hilo Hattie website is the sense that they both sale beach wear for men, women, and young children. They both are sunny beach wear type online stores to sale retail as well as other products. The web designs are similar in the sense that they use individuals who are happy and joyful to help sale product. They are different because Hilo Hattie is focused around Hawaiian products and clothing styles, whereas Ron Don Surf Shop not only sales clothes but surfing gear and attire. You can see organizational planning with in the Ron Job Surf Shop through out there website when you go to the â€Å"about us† section. It clearly shows that the goals of the company are (to sell clothes and surf products). It tells shoppers they not only do the company sale clothes but that they promote their products through community events, tour groups, and company partners. We will write a custom essay sample on Discussion Question or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The site is very well organized so the customers can find which products they are looking for easily and within categories that make the search process much faster. When it comes to staffing you can see the managers have made it so customers can contact their customer service reps if any problem occurs to try and help solve them. This all shows a good control within the contents of the web page but also the company. Within the Hilo Hattie web page we see they sale clothing and product specific to Hawaiian culture and living. The organization planning is clearly put into their web content. It is very easy to find clothing, and other products throughout the website which means whoever was in charge of setting up the page had a clear goal in mind- to make it as easy as possible for customers. The goal here is also to sale retail products to as many customers as possible. This site also shows the that customer care is important to them and gives customers the chance to contact management if any problem arises with the sales and/or merchandise. This shows a positive leadership with precise direction and good company control. Discussion Question 2 Netflix a. Give an example of how the values and mission statement help to shape planning. Also give some internal and external factors that may influence the business in the future and explain how they will influence the business. Respond substantively to two other learners b. Complete a SWOT Analysis for your selected organization; applying each of the categories in evaluating the company. For this week’s second discussion question I decided to go with the company Netflix. Since distinctive competence is something a company does better than their competitors, in my opinion, would be the wide selection of shows they offer to their customers. Have this huge selection makes them stand out again other companies similar to them. The core competence is the most proficient performed internal activity in the company. Netflix is very proficient in the internal activity of monitor the show choices people watch and movies to better what selection they have available to customers. The mission statement of Netflix is to bring the best movies and television shows to customers at a low price- to basically cut out cable. The values of this mission statement are shown in the commitment to make customers happy, constantly update the available movies and shows, as well as maintaining a low and affordable price. Some internal factors that may influence a company are the management team- how the managers and co-workers come together to work for the company. They influence a company’s reputation with customers thus affecting the future business. External factors that influence the company now and in the future can be seen in the company’s website for example. This needs constant updating, work, and consistency. Having a well-run web page can drastically affect a company’s revue The following is the completion of the SWOT analysis; Strength-Opportunity What are the company’s advantages? The company has an advantage over other company’s marketing TV shows and movies with their wide selection and low price. What does the company do well? The company does an excellent job of marketing their product throughout web content, radio ads, and television ads. What relevant resources does the company have access to? The company has access to television ads, billboard ads, internet, radio, so on and so forth. What do other people see as the company’s strength? I would image that other people see the company’s strength to be low price for all they get. Strength-Threat What could the company improve? The company could improve on the selection of movies and TV shows available. What does the company do badly? I have read that the company could use some work with their video quality. What should the company avoid? I think the company should avoid to many advertisements. Weakness- Opportunity What are the good opportunities in the front of the company? The company has good opportunities for even lower prices with available discounts. What are the interesting trends the company is aware of? An interesting trend the company is aware of is, is that specialty channels like HBO have hit television shows that you have to pay extra for with cable. But with Netflix it’s included in the price. Weakness-Threat Does the company face obstacles? The company faces obstacles with the completion of cable and hulu trying to be similar to Netflix. What is the company’s competition doing? The competition is adding new shows and services at similar prices to try and get more customers. Are the required specifications for the company’s job, products, or services changing? There have been changes to the company’s products and services but it seems to add more shows that viewers. Is changing technology threatening the company’s position? It does appear that new technology is threatening Netflix. Since they don’t have live cable just shows and movies the cable company’s now dvr- allowing customers to select shows to watch that might not be on Netflix. Does the company have bad debt or cash flow problems? It is not reported that the company is in bad debt or having cash flow problems at the moment. Could the company’s weaknesses seriously threaten the business? I do not see any weaknesses in the company so far that seriously threaten them enough to put them out of business. Discussion Question free essay sample Compare and contrast six types of incentive plans. Various types of incentive plans werepresented in the text, including piecework plans, straight and guaranteed plans, standardhour plans, plans for salespersons (commissions and combination plans), and groupincentive plans. With the piecework plans, earnings are tied directly to what the individualworker produces, and are more appropriate in a manufacturing organization. Commissionsare more appropriate for salespeople in situations where they are largely unsupervised. Ingroup incentive plans like the Scanlon Plan, all workers involved in developing andimplementing cost savings share in the benefits of the suggestions. (Pages 440-460) 2. Explain five reasons why incentive plans fail. When incentive plans fail, it can be for avariety of reasons like: employees do not believe that effort will obtain the reward, badmanagement overrides the plan, rewards tied to the wrong measures, plan is complicatedand difficult for employees to understand, or standards are too high or too low. See the liston page 462 for more reasons and details. We will write a custom essay sample on Discussion Question or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Pages 461-463) 3. Describe the nature of some important management incentives . Two widely usedmanagement incentive plans are merit pay and profit sharing plans. Merit pay is any salaryincrease that is awarded to an employee on his or her individual performance. Advocatesargue that only pay tied directly to performance can motivate improved performance. Profitsharing plans distribute a portion of the companys profits to employees in the form of abonus. Research shows that benefits are more subtle than increased productivity—possiblyin the form of better worker commitment. There are additional management incentive plansstudents might cover, including long-term incentives such as capital accumulation plans,various alternative stock plans, and performance plans. (Pages 443-449) 4. When and why would you pay a salesperson a salary and commission combined? Salary plans work well when your objective is prospecting work or where the salesperson isprimarily involved in account servicing. They are often found in industries that sell technicalproducts. A commission plan is appropriate when sales costs are roportional to sales. Thiscan reduce the selling investment for fixed costs. The straight commission also providessalespeople with the greatest possible incentive and there is a tendency to attract high-performing people. Combination plans are used when the firm wants to direct itssalespeoples activities by detailing what services the salary component is being paid for  while the commission component provides a built-in incentive. (pages 451-452) 5. What is merit pay? Do you think its a good idea to award employees merit raises? Why or why not? Merit pay is a salary increase that is awarded to an employee based onhis or her individual performance. It is a good idea to award merit raises when you have agood performance appraisal system and employees individual effort can be fairly andaccurately evaluated or measured. (pages 452-454) 6. In this chapter we listed a number of reasons experts give for not instituting a pay-for-performance plan (such as rewards punish). Do you think these points (or any of  them) are valid? Why or why not? All of these reasons are, or can be, valid. There will 99 Human Resource Management, 8/e also be organizational situations where one or more of them will not be valid. Studentsshould describe situations in which the reason is (or is not) valid. (page 462) 7. What is a Scanlon plan? Based on what youve read in this book so far, what featuresof a commitment-building program does the Scanlon plan include? This is an incentiveplan that was developed in 1937 by Joseph Scanlon. It includes features such as aphilosophy of cooperation, identity, competence, involvement, and sharing of benefits. Allthese are features of a commitment-building program. The Scanlon plan is actually an earlyversion of what today is known as a gain sharing plan. (Pages 457-458) 8. Suppose your instructor decided to award final grades to teams of students in thisclass, instead of to individuals. What would be the pros and cons of such anapproach? Would you like the idea? This is a good question for students to be able tostep out of the idealism they sometimes have about concepts and into the reality that theconcepts create. This approach would encourage students to work together (which is animportant skill they need to have as they go into the working world), and to learn from eachother. The negatives include the dependence on the quality of their teammates and the lackof individual accountability. Individual and Group Activities: 1. Working individually or in groups, develop an incentive plan for the followingpositions: chemical engineer, plant manager, used-car salesperson. What factors didyou have to consider in reaching your conclusions? I would give the chemical engineer  a merit raise system because he or she has little perceived control or impact over theproduction or profitability of the company. The plant manager should receive an annualbonus tied to the profitability of the plant, as well as a stock option plan to encourage long-term planning as well. The used-car salesperson would likely receive a straight commissionplan because sales are more directly dependent on his or her ability to sell those cars toprospective customers. 2. A state university system in the southeast recently instituted a Teacher IncentiveProgram (TIP) for its faculty. Basically, faculty committees within each universitycollege were told to award $5,000 raises (not bonuses) to about 40% of their facultymembers based on how good a job they did teaching undergraduates and how manythey taught per year. What are the potential advantages and pitfalls of such anincentive program? How well do you think it was accepted by the faculty? Do youthink it had the desired effect? This program would put a premium on undergraduateteaching as opposed to research or graduate teaching. If it were to work, the best teacherswould be motivated to teach at the undergraduate level in order to increase their earnings. The pitfalls are many. Some research or graduate faculty may actually make more throughconsulting or other outside means, thus they will not be motivated by this system. If researchis important to this organization, or the graduate programs are vital, this program coulddamage those programs. The awarding of the moneys is likely to be inconsistent becausespecific guidelines have not been spelled out. More likely, the rewarding of the raises may

How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate Essay Example

How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate Essay SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION Spotlight ARTWORK Josef Schulz, Form #1, 2001 C-print, 120 x 160 cm How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate Inside the company’s new-growth factory by Bruce Brown and Scott D. Anthony 64 Harvard Business Review June 2011 HBR. ORG Bruce Brown is the chief technology o? cer of Procter Gamble. Scott D. Anthony is the managing director of Innosight. June 2011 Harvard Business Review 65 B SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION 66 Harvard Business Review June 2011 BACK IN 2000 the prospects for Procter Gamble’s Tide, the biggest brand in the company’s fabric and household care division, seemed limited. The laundry detergent had been around for more than 50 years and still dominated its core markets, but it was no longer growing fast enough to support PG’s needs. A decade later Tide’s revenues have nearly doubled, helping push annual division revenues from $12 billion to almost $24 billion. The brand is surging in emerging markets, and its iconic bull’seye logo is turning up on an array of new products and even new businesses, from instant clothes fresheners to neighborhood dry cleaners. This isn’t accidental. It’s the result of a strategic effort by PG over the past decade to systematize innovation and growth. We will write a custom essay sample on How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How PG Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer To understand PG’s strategy, we need to go back more than a century to the sources of its inspiration— Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. In the 1870s Edison created the world’s first industrial research lab, Menlo Park, which gave rise to the technologies behind the modern electric-power and motion-picture industries. Under his inspired direction, the lab churned out ideas; Edison himself ultimately held more than 1,000 patents. Edison of course understood the importance of mass production, but it was his friend Henry Ford who, decades later, perfected it. In 1910 the Ford Motor Company shifted the production of its famous Model T from the Piquette Avenue Plant, in Detroit, to its new Highland Park complex nearby. Although the assembly line wasn’t a novel concept, Highland Park showed what it was capable of: In four years Ford slashed the time required to build a car from more than 12 hours to just 93 minutes. How could PG marry the creativity of Edison’s lab with the speed and reliability of Ford’s factory? The answer its leaders devised, a â€Å"new-growth factory,† is still ramping up. But already it has helped the company strengthen both its core businesses and its ability to capture innovative new-growth opportunities. PG’s efforts to systematize the serendipity that so often sparks new-business creation carry important lessons for leaders faced with shrinking product life cycles and increasing global competition. Laying the Foundation Innovation has long been the backbone of PG’s growth. As chairman, president, and CEO Bob McDonald notes, â€Å"We know from our history that while promotions may win quarters, innovation wins decades. The company spends nearly $2 billion annually on RD—roughly 50% more than its closest competitor, and more than most other competitors combined. Each year it invests at least another $400 million in foundational consumer research to discover opportunities for innovation, conducting some 20,000 studies involving more than 5 million consumers in nearly 100 countries. Odds are that as you’re reading this, PG researchers are in a store somewhere observing shoppers, or even in a consumer’s home. These investments are necessary but not sufficient to achieve PG’s innovation goals. â€Å"People will innovate for financial gain or for competitive advantage, but this can be self-limiting,† McDonald says. â€Å"There needs to be an emotional component as well—a source of inspiration that motivates people. † At PG that inspiration lies in a sense of purpose driven from the top down—the message that each innovation improves people’s lives. At the start of the 2000s only about 15% of PG’s innovations were meeting revenue and profit targets. So the company launched its now well-known Connect + Develop program to bring in outside innovations and built a robust stage-gate process to help manage ideas from inception to launch. (For more on C+D, see Larry Huston and Nabil Sakkab, â€Å"Connect and Develop: Inside Procter Gamble’s New Model for Innovation,† HBR March 2006. ) These actions showed early signs of raising innovation success rates, but it was clear that PG needed more breakthrough innovations. And it had to come up with them as reliably as Ford’s factory had rolled out Model Ts. HOW PG TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG Idea in Brief Procter Gamble is a famous innovator. Nonetheless, in the early 2000s only 15% of its innovations were meeting their revenue and pro? t targets. To address this, the company set about building organizational structures to systematize innovation. The resulting new-growth factory includes large newbusiness creation groups, focused project teams, and entrepreneurial guides who help teams rapidly prototype and test new products and business models in the market. The teams follow a step-by-step business development manual and use specialized project and portfolio management tools. Innovation and strategy assessments, once separate, are now combined in revamped executive reviews. PG’s experience suggests six lessons for leaders looking to build new-growth factories: Coordinate the factory with the company’s core businesses, be a vigilant portfolio manager, start small and grow carefully, create tools for gauging new businesses, make sure the right people are doing the right work, and nurture cross-pollination. ithout a further boost to its organic growth capabilities, the company would still have trouble hitting its targets. PG’s leaders recognized that the kind of growth the company was after couldn’t come from simply doing more of the same. It needed to come up with more breakthrough innovations—ones that could create completely new markets. And it needed to do this as reliably as Henry Ford’s Highla nd Park factory had rolled out Model Ts. In 2004 Gil Cloyd, then the chief technology officer, and A. G. Lafley, then the CEO, tasked two 30-year PG veterans, John Leikhim and David Goulait, with designing a new-growth factory whose intellectual underpinnings would derive from the Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen’s disruptive-innovation theory. The basic concept of disruption—driving growth through new offerings that are simpler, more convenient, easier to access, or more affordable—was hardly foreign to PG. Many of the company’s powerhouse brands, including Tide, Crest, Pampers, and Swiffer, had followed disruptive paths. Leikhim and Goulait, with support from other managers, began by holding a two-day workshop for seven new-product-development teams, guided by facilitators from Innosight (a firm Christensen cofounded). The attendees explored how to shake up embedded ways of thinking that can inhibit disruptive approaches. They formulated creative ways to address critical commercial questions—for example, whether demand would be sufficient to warrant a new-product launch. Learning from the workshop helped spur the development of new products, such as the probiotic supplement Align, and also bolstered existing ones, such as Pampers. In the years that followed, Leikhim and Goulait shored up the factory’s foundation, working with Cloyd and other PG leaders to: Teach senior management and project team members the mind-sets and behaviors that foster disruptive growth. The training, which has changed over time, initially ranged from short modules on topics such as assessing the demand for an early-stage idea to multiday courses in entrepreneurial thinking. Form a group of new-growth-business guides to help teams working on disruptive projects. These experts might, for instance, advise teams to remain small until their project’s key commercial questions, such as whether consumers would habitually use the new product, have been answered. The guides include several entrepreneurs who have succeeded—and, even more important, failed—in starting businesses. Develop organizational structures to drive new growth. For example, in a handful of business About the units the company created small groups focused Spotlight Artist Each month we illustrate primarily on new-growth initiatives. The groups our Spotlight package with (which, like the training, have evolved significantly) a series of works from an acaugmented an existing entity, FutureWorks, whose complished artist. We hope charter is to create new brands and business mod- that the lively and cerebral creations of these photograels. Dedicated teams within the groups conducted phers, painters, and instalmarket research, developed technology, created lation artists will infuse our pages with additional energy business plans, and tested assumptions for specific and intelligence and amplify projects. hat are often complex and Produce a process manual—a step-by-step abstract concepts. This month’s artist is guide to creating new-growth businesses. The Josef Schulz, a German manual includes overarching principles as well as photographer who often detailed procedures and templates to help teams turns his lens on modern industrial constructs and describe opportunities, identify requirements for digitally strips away de? ning success, monitor progress, make go/no-go decisions, details to render moreand more. abstract, universally relRun demonstration projects to showcase the evant images. In the ? rst step I’m a photographer emerging factory’s work. One of these was a line of with his limitations,† he pocket-size products called Swash, which quickly once told an interviewer, refresh clothes: For example, someone who’s in a â€Å"and then an artist with his freedom of decisions. † hurry can give a not-quite-clean shirt a spray rather View more of the artist’s than putting it through the wash. work at josefschulz. de. June 2011 Harvard Business Review 67 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION Sustaining Commercial Commercial innovations use creative marketing, packaging, and promotional approaches to grow existing o? erings. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, PG ran a series of ads celebrating mothers. The campaign covered 18 brands, was viewed repeatedly by hundreds of millions of consumers, and drove $100 million in revenues. PG’s Four Types of Innovation Sustaining innovations bring incremental improvements to existing products: a little more cleaning power to a laundry detergent, a better ? avor to a toothpaste. These provide what PG calls â€Å"er† bene? s—better, easier, cheaper—that are important to sustaining share among current customers and getting new people to try a product. Sharpening the Focus By 2008 PG had a working prototype of the factory, but the company’s innovation portfolio was weighed down by a proliferation of small projects. A. G. Lafley charged Bob McDonald (then the COO) and CTO Bruce Brown (a coauthor of this article) to dramatically increase innovation output by focusing the factory on fewer but bigger initiatives. McDonald and Brown’s team drove three critical improvements. First, rather than strictly separating innovations designed to bolster existing product lines from efforts to create new product lines or business models, PG increased its emphasis on an intermediate category: transformational-sustaining innovations, which deliver major new benefits in existing product categories. Consider the Crest brand, the market leader until the late 1990s, when it was usurped by Colgate. Looking for a comeback, in 2000 PG launched a disruptive innovation, Crest Whitestrips, that made teeth whitening at home affordable and easy. In 2006 it introduced Crest Pro-Health, which squeezes half a dozen benefits into one tube—the toothpaste fights cavities, plaque, tartar, stains, gingivitis, and bad breath. In 2010 it rolled out Crest 3D White, a line of advanced oral care products, including one that whitens teeth in two hours. Such efforts helped Crest retake the lead in many markets. Pro-Health and 3D White were both transformational-sustaining innovations, meant to appeal to current consumers while attracting new ones. These sorts of innovations share an mportant trait with market-creating disruptive innovations: They have a high degree of uncertainty—something the factory is specifically designed to manage. Second, PG strengthened organizational supports for the formation of transformationalsustaining and disruptive businesses. It established several new-business-creation groups, larger in size 68 Harvard Business Review June 2011 and scope than any previous growth-factory team, whose resources a nd management are kept carefully separate from the core business. These groups— dedicated teams led by a general manager—develop ideas that cut across multiple businesses, and also pursue entirely new business opportunities. One group covers all of PG’s beauty and personal care businesses; another covers its household care business (the parent unit of the fabric-and-household and the family-and-baby-care divisions); a third, FutureWorks, focuses largely on enabling different business models (it helped guide PG’s recent partnership with the Indian business Healthpoint Services). The new groups supplement (rather than replace) existing supports such as the Corporate Innovation Fund, which provides seed capital to ideas that might otherwise slip through the cracks. PG also created a specialized team called LearningWorks, which helps plan and execute in-market experiments to learn about purchase decisions and postpurchase use. Third, PG revamped its strategy development and review process. Innovation and strategy assessments had historically been handled separately. Now the CEO, CTO, and CFO explicitly link company, business, and innovation strategies. This integration, coupled with new analyses of such issues as competitive factors that could threaten a given business, has surfaced more opportunities for innovation. The process has also prompted examinations of each unit’s â€Å"production schedule,† or pipeline of growth opportunities, to ensure that it’s robust enough to deliver against growth goals for the next seven to 10 years. Evaluations are made of individual business units (feminine care, for example) as well as broad sectors (household care). This revised approach calls for each business unit to determine the mix of innovation types it needs to deliver the required growth. HOW PG TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG Transformational-Sustaining Transformational-sustaining innovations reframe existing categories. They typically bring order-of-magnitude improvements and fundamental changes to a business and often lead to breakthroughs in market share, pro? t levels, and consumer acceptance. In 2009 PG introduced the wrinkle-reducing cream Olay Pro-X. Launching a $40-a-bottle product in the depths of a recession might seem a questionable strategy. But PG went ahead because it considered the product a transformational-sustaining innovation—clinically proven to be as e? ective as its much more expensive prescription counterparts, and superior to the company’s other antiaging o? erings. The cream and related products generated ? rst-year sales of $50 million in U. S. food retailers and drugstores alone. Disruptive Disruptive innovations represent newto-the-world business opportunities. A company enters entirely new businesses with radically new o? erings, as PG did with Swi? er and Febreze. Running the Factory Let’s return now to Tide, whose dramatic growth highlights the potential of PG’s approach. Over the past decade the brand has launched numerous products and product-line extensions, carved new paths in emerging markets, and tested a promising new business model. If you had looked for Tide in a U. S. supermarket 10 years ago, you would have found, for the most part, ordinary bottles and boxes of detergent. Now you’ll see the Tide name on dozens of products, all with different scents and capabilities. For example, in 2009 PG introduced a line of laundry additives called Tide Stain Release. Within a year, building on 26 patents, it incorporated these additives into a sible to 70% of Indian consumers and has helped to significantly increase Tide’s share in India. More radically, Swash moved the Tide brand out of the laundry room. The line has clear disruptive characteristics: Swash products don’t clean as thoroughly as laundry detergents or remove wrinkles as effectively as professional pressing. But because they’re quick and easy to use, they offer â€Å"good enough† occasional alternatives between washes. Swash took an unconventional path to commercialization. When the products were first sold, in a store near PG’s headquarters in Ohio, they carried a different brand name and had no apparent connection to Tide. After that experiment, PG opened a â€Å"pop up† Swash store at The Ohio State University. Both Tide Dry Cleaners is a factory innovation that represents an entirely new business model. new detergent, Tide with Acti-Lift—the first major redesign of Tide’s liquid laundry detergent in a decade. The product’s launch drove immediate marketshare growth of the Tide brand in the United States. PG has also customized formulations for emerging markets. Ethnographic research showed that about 80% of consumers in India wash their clothes by hand. They had to choose between detergents that were relatively gentle on the skin but not very good at actually cleaning clothes, and more-potent but harsher agents. With the problem clearly identified, in 2009 a team came up with Tide Naturals, which cleaned well without causing irritation. Mindful of the need in emerging markets to provide greater benefit at lower cost—â€Å"more for less†Ã¢â‚¬â€PG priced Tide Naturals 30% below comparably effective but harsher products. This made the Tide brand accestests helped the company understand how consumers would buy and use the products, which PG then began selling exclusively through Amazon and other online channels. In early 2011 the company ramped down its promotion of Swash, although learning from the effort will inform its work on other disruptive ideas in the clothes-refreshing space. Whereas Swash was a new product line, Tide Dry Cleaners represents an entirely new business model. It started when a team began exploring ways to disrupt the dry-cleaning market, using proprietary technologies and a unique store design grounded in insights about consumers’ frustrations with existing options. Many cleaning establishments are dingy, unfriendly places. Customers have to park, walk, and wait. Often the cleaners’ hours are inconvenient. PG’s alternative: bright, boldly colored cleaners June 2011 Harvard Business Review 69 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION The Factory’s Consumer Research at Work In October 2010 PG launched the Gillette Guard razor in India, a transformational-sustaining innovation whose strategic intent was simple: to provide a cheaper and e? ective alternative for the hundreds of millions of Indians who use double-edged razors. The company’s researchers spent thousands of hours in the market to understand these consumers’ needs. They gained important insights by observing men in rural areas who, lacking indoor plumbing, typically shave outdoors using little or no water—and don’t shave every day. The single-blade Gillette Guard was thus designed to clean easily, with minimal water, and to manage longer stubble. The initial retail price was 15 rupees (33 cents), with re? ll cartridges for ? ve rupees (11 cents). Early tests showed that consumers preferred the new product to double-edged razors by a six-to-one margin. Its breakthrough performance and a? ordability position it for rapid growth. featuring specialized treatments, drive-through windows, and 24-hour storage lockers to facilitate after-hours drop-off and pickup. Using the new-growth factory’s process manual, the development team identified key assumptions about the proposed dry cleaners. For example, could the business model generate enough returns to attract store owners willing to pay up to $1 million for franchise rights? In 2009 PG’s guides helped the team open three pilots in Kansas City to try to find out. That year PG also formed Agile Pursuits Franchising, a subsidiary to oversee such efforts, and transferred ownership of the dry-cleaning venture to FutureWorks, whose main mission is to pursue new business models that lie outside PG’s established systems. It remains to be seen how Tide Dry Cleaners will fare, but one promising sign came in 2010, when Andrew Cherng, the founder of the Panda Restaurant Group, announced plans to open 150 franchises in four years. He told BusinessWeek, â€Å"I wasn’t around when McDonald’s was taking franchisees, [but] I’m not going to miss this one. † To ensure strategic cohesion and smart resource allocation, Tide’s innovation efforts have been closely coordinated through regular dialogues among several leaders—CEO McDonald, CTO Brown, the vice-chair of the household business unit, and the president of the fabric care division. They’ve also been the focus of discussions at Corporate Innovation Fund meetings and similar reviews. This isn’t just the methodical pursuit of a single innovation. It’s part of a steady stream of ideas in development—a factory humming with work. and learning, and personally engage. Our journey at PG suggests six lessons for leaders looking to create new-growth factories. 1. Closely coordinate the factory and the core business. Leaders sometimes see efforts to foster new growth as completely distinct from efforts to bolster the core; indeed, many in the innovation community have argued as much for years. Our experience indicates the opposite. First, new-growth efforts depend on a healthy core business. A healthy core produces a cash flow that can be invested in new growth. And we’ve all known times when an ailing core has demanded management’s full attention; a healthy core frees leaders to think about more-expansive growth initiatives. Second, a core business is rich with capabilities that can support new-growth efforts. Consider PG’s excellent relationships with major retailers. Those relationships are a powerful, hard-to-replicate asset that helps the factory expedite new-growth initiatives. Swiffer wouldn’t be Swiffer without them. Third, some of the tools for managing core efforts—particularly those that track a project’s progress—are also useful for managing new-growth efforts. And finally, the factory’s rapid-learning approach often yields insights that can strengthen existing product lines. One of the project teams at the 2004 workshop was seeking to spur conversion in emerging markets from cloth to disposable diapers. Subsequent in-market tests yielded a critical discovery: Babies who wore disposable diapers fell asleep 30% faster and slept 30 minutes longer than babies wearing cloth diapers—an obvious benefit for infants (and their parents). Advertising campaigns touting this advantage helped make Pampers the number one brand in several emerging markets. 2. Promote a portfolio mind-set. PG communicates to both internal and external stakeholders that it is building a varied portfolio of innovation Lessons for Leaders Efforts to build a new-growth factory in any company will fail unless senior managers create the right organizational structures, provide the proper resources, allow sufficient time for experimentation 70 Harvard Business Review June 2011 HOW PG TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG approaches, ranging from sustaining to disruptive ones. See the sidebar â€Å"PG’s Four Types of Innovation. †) It uses a set of master-planning tools to match the pace of innovation to the overall needs of the business. It also deploys portfolio-optimization tools that help managers identify and kill the least-promising programs and nurture the best bets. These tools create projections for every active idea, including estimates of the financial potential and the human and capital investments that will be required. Some ideas are evaluated with classic net-present-value calculations, others with a risk-adjusted real-option approach, and still others with more-qualitative criteria. Although the tools assemble a rank-ordered list of projects, PG’s portfolio management isn’t, at its core, a mechanical exercise; it’s a dialogue about resource allocation and business-growth building blocks. Numerical input informs but doesn’t dictate decisions. A portfolio approach has several benefits. First, it sets up the expectation that different projects will be managed, resourced, and measured in different ways, just as an investor would use different criteria to evaluate an equity investment and a real estate one. Second, because the portfolio consists largely of sustaining and transformational-sustaining efforts, seeing it as a whole highlights the critical importance of these activities, which protect and extend legitimate disagreement about the best way to organize for new growth. Whereas we believe in a factory with relatively strong ties to the core, some advocate a â€Å"skunkworks† organization. Others argue for â€Å"distinct but linked† organizations under an â€Å"ambidextrous† leader; still others recommend mirroring the structure of a venture capital firm. (PG’s factory uses several organizational approaches. Treating capability development itself as a new-growth innovation lets companies try different approaches and learn what works best for them. A staged approach serves another important purpose: It’s a built-in reminder that a new-growth factory is not a quick fix. The factory won’t provide a sudden boost to next quarter’s result s, nor can it instantly rein in an out-of-control core business that’s veering from crisis to crisis. GILLETTE GUARD After thousands of hours of research in the ? eld, PG learned that a single-blade razor was a cheaper and e? ective alternative to double-edged razors for many consumers in India. CREST 3D WHITE Usurped by Colgate in the late 1990s, Crest has regained the lead in many markets owing to its introduction of several innovative oral care products, including ones that make teeth whitening at home a? ordable and easy. 4. Create new tools for gauging new businesses. Anticipated and nascent markets are notoriously hard to analyze. Detailed follow-up with one of the project teams that attended the pilot workshop showed PG that it needed new tools for this purpose. PG now conducts â€Å"transaction learning experiments,† or TLEs, in which a team â€Å"makes a little and sells a little,† thus letting consumers vote with their wallets. Teams have sold small amounts of products online, at mall kiosks, in pop-up stores, and at amusement parks—even in the company store PG now conducts â€Å"transaction learning experiments,† which let consumers vote with their wallets. core businesses. Finally, a portfolio approach helps reinforce the message that any project, particularly a disruptive one, may carry substantial risk and might not deliver commercial results—and that’s fine, as long as the portfolio accounts for the risk. 3. Start small and grow carefully. Remember how the new-growth factory began: with a simple two-day workshop. It then expanded to small-scale pilots in several business units before becoming a companywide initiative. Staged investment allows for early, rapid revision—before lines scribbled on a hypothetical organizational chart are engraved in stone. It also provides for targeted experimentation. For example, there is and outside company cafeterias. PG devised a venture capital approach to testing the market for Align, its probiotic supplement, providing seed capital for a controlled pilot. The company has also tested entire business models—recall the Kansas City pilots of Tide Dry Cleaners. 5. Make sure you have the right people doing the right work. Building the factory forced PG to change the way it staffed certain teams. At any given time the company has hundreds of teams working on various innovation efforts. In the past, most teams consisted mainly of part-time members—employees who had other responsibilities pulling at them. But disruptive and transformational-sustaining efforts June 2011 Harvard Business Review 71 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION HBR. ORG CONNECT WITH THE AUTHORS Do you have questions or comments about this article? The authors will respond to reader feedback at hbr. org. TIDE DRY CLEANERS Still in an early stage, this innovation arose in part from insights about consumers’ frustrations with the dinginess and inconvenience of most existing drycleaning establishments. require undivided attention. (As the old saying goes, nine women can’t make a baby in a month. ) There need to be people who wake up each day and go to sleep each night obsessing about the new business. New-growth teams also need to be small and nimble, and they should include seasoned members. PG found that big teams often bog down because they pursue too many ideas at once, whereas small teams are better able to quickly focus on the mostpromising initiatives. Having several members with substantial innovation experience helps teams confidently make sound judgment calls when data are inconclusive or absent. Finally, building a factory requires a substantial investment in widespread, ongoing training. Changing mind-sets begins, literally, with teaching a new language. Key terms such as â€Å"disruptive innovation,† â€Å"job to be done,† â€Å"business model,† and â€Å"critical assumptions† must be clearly and consistently defined. PG reinforces key innovation concepts both at large meetings and at smaller, focused workshops, and in 2007 it established a â€Å"disruptive innovation college. People working on new-growth projects can choose from more than a dozen courses, ranging from basic innovation language to designing and executing a TLE, sketching out a business model, staffing a new-growth team, and identifying a job to be done. 6. Encourage intersections. Successful innovation requires rich cross-pollinat ion both inside and outside the organization. PG’s Connect + Develop program is part of a larger effort to intersect with other disciplines and gain new perspectives. Over the past few years PG has: †¢ Shared people with noncompeting companies. In 2008 PG and Google swapped two dozen employees for a few weeks. PG wanted greater exposure to online models; Google was interested in learning more about how to build brands. †¢ Engaged even more outside innovators. In 2010 PG refreshed its C+D goals. It aims to become the partner of choice for innovation collaboration, and to triple C+D’s contribution to PG’s innovation development (which would mean deriving $3 billion of the company’s annual sales growth from outside innovators). It has expanded the program to forge additional connections with government labs, universities, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, consortia, and venture capital firms. †¢ Brought in outside talent. PG has traditionally promoted from within. But i

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What do we mean by fair trade Can free trade be fair trade - Essay Example ironmental sustainability, the citification mechanism of producers in exporting countries and certification of products in importing countries and creating awareness of such products among consumers of the developed world (Singh, 2001). On the other hand free trade is a global effort to carry out international trade free of negative protectionist practices such as higher tariffs on imports, subsidies to domestic producers, foreign exchange restrictions, dumping cheaper goods abroad, imposing dubious standards on imports and import substitution by propping up unwieldy domestic industries. Theoretically free trade is based on neoliberal economic principles dating back to Ricardo’s argument on the principle of comparative advantage. Free trade and fair trade aren’t necessarily the same though some of the ultimate outcomes would converge. In fact divergences between the two are many and if free trade were practiced with full force indeed, fair trade would take a back seat. Globalization has been the catch word used by many who advocate free trade. Such people vehemently support all and everything in the name of free trade. On the other hand fair trade is a distant cousin of free trade. An inevitable aspect of this relationship between the two is that the former is marginalized while the latter is well placed at the center of the global market. Fair trade is essentially replete with intricate nuances ranging from market access facilitation processes to marginalized producers to sustainability efforts. Such noble principles need some theoretical and conceptual frameworks to support them though. Free trade theories are many while the principle of comparative advantage is the most predominant among them. The basis on which free trade is advocated by its supporters is determined by a series of arguments which in turn are associated with neoliberal perspectives. In the first place globalization is the logical premise used by supporters of international free trade to

International Perspectives in Childhood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Perspectives in Childhood - Essay Example There could be a number of factors that contribute to this development including political, social and economic factors. UNICIF report card 7(The United Nations Children’s Fund, 2007) ranks different dimensions of child care in 21 developed countries including United Kingdom and Sweden. Following is the ranking of both the countries in those dimensions. Dimensions of Child Well-being United Kingdom compared Sweden Dimensions of child well-being Average ranking position (for all 6 dimensions Material well-being Health and safety Educational well-being Family and peer relationships Behaviours and risks Subjective well-being Sweden 5.0 1 1 5 15 1 7 United Kingdom 18.2 18 12 17 21 21 20 Source:( Unicef, 2007) Above figures reflects that United Kingdom stands at 18th no. among all the 21 countries where as Sweden stands 5th. Clearly, Sweden has a developed material and educational system as compare to United Kingdom. In Sweden, all 3, 4 and 5 year olds has the right to pre-schoolin g for 525 hours a year. This is provided in pre-schools and is free of charge for the parents. Further, here parents of the children under one year age have privilege of one year leave.

Performance Management Purposes and Definitions

Performance Management Purposes and Definitions INTRODUCTION Managing people in organisations is becoming more and more important nowadays so as to produce the best result and achieve efficiency. Therefore employees should be managed efficiently so as to add value in organisations. Performance management is not new, despite the fact that nowadays more emphasis is being laid on it, especially in the public sector. Performance management system is considered as a tool to an organisation. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed. It ends when an employee leaves your organisation. The performance management system is a process which increases competence, decreases cost and promotes quality. Performance management is a term borrowed from the management literature. The term performance management was first used in the 1970s, but it did not become a recognised process until the later half of the 1980s (Armstrong Baron, 1998). It has been among the most important and positive developments in the sphere of management in recent years. The meaning of performance management has evolved and continues to evolve. While in the sixties and seventies performance management was often equated to some form of merit-rating, in the eighties and nineties it has been linked to new management paradigms such as Management by Objectives, Performance Appraisal, Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales and Performance-related Pay. The ultimate competitive asset of any organization is its people (Band et al., 1994), thus organizations should develop employee competencies in a manner aligned with the organizations business goals. This can be achieved through performance management systems (Moullin, 2003), which act as both behavioural change tool and enabler of improved organizational performance through being instrumental in driving change. ORGANIZATION INDIVIDUAL Defines mission, values, strategies and objectives Understands and agrees objectives Define tasks, standards and performance measures Understands and agrees tasks, standards and performance measures Monitors organisational, team and individual performance Monitors own performance Develops team and individual performance Develops own performance Figure 1: The contribution of the organisation and the individual in performance management Performance management therefore aims to emphasize and encourage desired and valued behaviours (Risher, 2003), thus is a key tool of communication and motivation within organizations seeking a competitive edge through strategic change and control. Performance management then becomes a system for translating organizational intention and ambition into action and results delivering a strategic goal, such as behavioural change (Band et al., 1994). References: Band, D.C., Scanlan, G. and Tustin, C.M. (1994), Beyond the bottom line: gainsharing and organizational development, Personnel Review, Vol. 23 No. 8, pp. 17-32. Moullin, M. (2003), Defining performance measurement, Perspectives on Performance, March, p. 3. Risher, H. (2003), Refocusing performance management for high performance, Compensation and Benefits Review, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 20-30. DEFINITION OF PMS Fowler (1990) defines performance management as: the organisation of work to achieve the best possible results. From this simple viewpoint, performance management is not a system or technique, it is the totality of the day-to-day activities of all managers. The (then) Institute of Personnel Management (1992) produced a similar definition: A strategy which relates to every activity of the organisation set in the context of its human resources policies, culture, style and communications systems. The nature of the strategy depends on the organisational context and can vary from organisation to organisation. Storey and Sisson (1993) define performance management as: an interlocking set of policies and practices which have as their focus the enhanced achievement of organisational objectives through a concentration on individual performance. Fletcher (1992) provides a more organisational definition of performance management: an approach to creating a shared vision of the purpose and aims of the organisation, helping each individual employee understand and recognise their part in contributing to them, and in so doing manage and enhance the performance of both individuals and the organisation. Performance management systems are defined as: the formal, information-based routines and procedures managers use to maintain or alter patterns in organizational activities (adapted from Simons, 2000). Reference: Simons, R. (2000), Performance Measurement and Control Systems for Implementing Strategy: Text and Cases, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Armstrong and Baron (1998): Performance management, in a human resource management (HRM) sense, is the process of delivering sustained success to organizations by improving capabilities of individuals and teams. Armstrong and Baron define performance management as a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved and an approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved. They go on to stress that it is a strategy which relates to every activity of the organisation set in the context of its human resource policies, culture, style and communications systems. The nature of the strategy depends on the organisational context and can vary from organisation to organisation. In other words performance management should be: Strategic it is about broader issues and longer-term goals Integrated it should link various aspects of the business, people management, and individuals and teams. It should incorporate: Performance improvement throughout the organisation, for individual, team and organisational effectiveness Development unless there is continuous development of individuals and teams, performance will not improve Managing behaviour ensuring that individuals are encouraged to behave in a way that allows and fosters better working relationships. Armstrong and Baron  stress that at its best performance management is a tool to ensure that managers manage effectively; that they ensure the people or teams they manage: know and understand what is expected of them have the skills and ability to deliver on these expectations are supported by the organisation to develop the capacity to meet these expectations are given feedback on their performance have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to individual and team aims and objectives. It is also about ensuring that managers themselves are aware of the impact of their own behaviour on the people they manage and are encouraged to identify and exhibit positive behaviours. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AS AN INTEGRATING PROCESS Performance management is concerned with the interrelated processes of work, management, development and reward. It can become a powerful integrating force, ensuring that these processes are linked together properly as a fundamental part of the human resource management approach which should be practised by every manager in the organisation. CHARACTERISTICS OF PMS Armstrong and Baron (1998) define performance management by eliciting the characteristics of a performance management system, which are as follows: It communicates a vision of its objectives to all its employees. It sets departmental, unit, team, and individual performance targets that are related to wider objectives. It conducts a formal review of progress towards these targets. It uses the review process to identify training, development and reward outcomes. It evaluates the whole process in order to improve effectiveness. It defines a managerial structure to look after all the characteristics above, so that individual staff and managers are assigned specific responsibilities to manage the Performance Management System. Furthermore, a performance management system should have SMART objectives namely; Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Relevant and Timed. PURPOSES OF PMS Armstrong and Baron (1998, pp. 51-6), Williams (2002, pp. 219-24), Poister (2003, pp. 9-15) and others have noted that organisations introduce performance management and/or measurement for a variety of purposes which might include one or more of the following 17 (the list below is not intended to be exhaustive): (1) to provide information on organisational effectiveness; (2) to provide information on employees effectiveness; (3) to improve organisational effectiveness; (4) to improve employees effectiveness; (5) to provide information on organisational efficiency; (6) to provide information on employees efficiency; (7) to improve organisational efficiency; (8) to improve employees efficiency; (9) to focus employees attention on areas deemed to be of greatest priority; (10) to improve employees levels of motivation; (11) to link employees pay with perceptions of their performance; (12) to improve the quality of employees training and development; (13) to raise levels of employee accountability; (14) to align employees objectives with those of the organisation as a whole; (15) to improve customer service; (16) to facilitate the implementation of an organisations mission and/or strategy; and (17) to act as a lever of change in developing a more performance oriented culture.

Women in the 1990s Essay -- Essays Papers

Women in the 1990's In today’s technological society it is hard to imagine that trivial things from the past like discrimination or prejudice are still present, but they are. Yes we still have racism, but for the most part this is only a problem of the less educated and vocal minority. There is a different prejudice that is deep rooted in this land of freedom and prosperity. This prejudice is sexism. The basic definition of sexism is when a person of either sex is discriminated against in any way based on their gender. But history has recorded that men, usual in every society in this world, have always been the dominant sex and women have taken a lower role. This has been especially true in the United States throughout its history. Women always seemed to be the one who took care of the children and home as the men went to work and earned a living. Women do not have the choice to give birth to children, but they should have a choice in whether they are the primary care givers to that child. Betty Friedan, a well-known feminist, writes, â€Å"We are still very mother-centered. It’s still ‘mother, mother, mother,’ when it really should be ‘mother, father, society.’†1 What she means by this is that society still has not overcome the discriminatory thought that the mother should not work and stay home with the kids. Although this is very deep rooted, women in today’s society are making advancements, in part because of the efforts of Betty Friedan. Friedan wrote the Feminist Mystique, a book about women's roles in society in the 1950's. This book is often reviered as the most influential piece of women's rights which sparked the movement for change. In 1966, Friedan cofounded a organization called NOW, and was named the presid... ...nt aspects were discussed and brought to the world’s attention. The attention that it received helped to bring about awareness of women’s rights all over the world. Not only did it bring about awareness of inequality; it helped to set the standards and goals which they wanted to achieve. They discussed issues ranging from abortion to lesbian right's .3 As you can see, there are many changes being brought about in the 1990’s to reform the way women are treated and looked upon in a sexist world society ruled by men. Although these groups and individuals have not yet reached their final goal of equality for all, they have got the message out that this is unacceptable. Nothing happens overnight, there are many steps to reform and these groups are on the right path. They are starting to get societies to see that women are human too and they should be treated as equal.

Case Write-Up

In the sense of the promotions, Population Services International distributed to both Raja and Maya $400,000 advertising dollars per year, which was the second largest of all advertisers In Bangladesh. Their approach was to skip the Intermediate level of Influences and go directly to consumers. In this case, It works to sell Raja condoms directly to the market since It's more like a one-time use consumer products. However, it'll be difficult for Maya to build up the brand image since customers perceived Maya as a drug, which will bring more concerns when people try to buy oral contraceptives.Hence, it still needs recommendations from doctors to convey the effectiveness and proper information about the drug. Third, the pricing of Raja and Maya can also be an influence to their performance when compared to their competitors' price. For example, Raja is priced more than competitor Tahiti, which is government sponsored condom manufacturer. The higher price of Raja made a premium image fo r customers to buy the condoms even If the price is higher. On the other hand, however, Maya is priced lower than its competitors, creating a hurting image that for oral medicines, cheaper may mean bad laity.And this situation got worse when it didn't get the recommendations from intermediate level influences. Finally, the distributions for both products were to focus directly to customers. So SSI planned to sell their products via pharmacies, general stores, and pan stores. Nevertheless, the difference in nature of these two products caused deferent performance. For Raja, it's easily to sell their products since men accounted for 80% of the purchasing behaviors of the birth control products.But it became difficult for Maya to have the same efficiency since people till prefer to see a doctors before decide which medicine is safe and reliable, which Is the critical cause for the sluggish sales of Maya. 2) How do you characterize the competitive environment in Bangladesh? That Is, whe n you look at SSI vs.. The other organizations In the space, how do they view each other? How does this differ from the other for-profit contexts we've studied? What might It mean for the strategy? ) Create a marketing plan for Improving sales of Maya Given the analysis that I described before, It Is the difference In nature that causes the difficulty to sell Maya successfully. In order to create a marketing plan for improvement, we need to modify the flaws in the previous one. To begin with I'll suggest to create a new brand. To explain, it's already been perceived by Bangladesh that Maya is a brand that is cheap and mistakenly regarded as an inferior product. Reputation, competing with their main competitors, which are the government sectors and Vast.So my recommendation for the price would be to price their oral contraceptives the same price around their competitors, getting rid of the inferior image of the product. Also, Its important to target their customers not only for males but males as well. The reason for this is because for the buying behaviors of the birth control products, 80% of the purchases were made by men. As a result. They can put more effort to their advertising to educate male customers the effectiveness of their products.Finally, to achieve SKI'S goal, which is to broaden their market share to help control Bangladesh population explosion, they'll need to increase their profit margin to retailers and RPM (Rural Medical Practitioners) in order for them to promote more diligently to the end customers to increase the overall market share. To explain, the profit for retailers now are low due to the low pricing of the Maya. So increasing the price of the product will enable SSI to provide higher profit margin to retailers, incentives them to put more selling effort to sell out new product.For Ramps, they can be critical since they are the one that can reach out to distant area and provide their recommendations to consumers. So including the in termediate level of influences will bring a better communication and education to customers, enabling a better brand perception and awareness of the new products. By providing more profit incentives to RPM, we'll be able to achieve this goal. 4) How will you evaluate your plan? How can you calculate the ROI? The â€Å"l† is relatively straightforward but how would you go about evaluating the â€Å"R? What challenges do you face in this regard as compared with most of the other cases we've discussed? How would you address it? In order for the plan to be feasible, we'll need to take into account multiple data and information from the current selling circumstance of Maya to make a thorough evaluation. To begin with, I'll conduct surveys to see how people perceive the Brand of Maya to make sure that the issue of he produce is the cheap quality and also to see the why customers are unwilling to try out Maya.Moreover, the COPY (Couple Years Protection) for industry and SMS (The So cial Marketing Project) products from Exhibit 8 is an indicator for us to observe the change of market share and growth rate from 1978 to 1983. And based on the change throughout the years, we can further conclude whether the approach for Maya had problem that need to be addressed. Finally, I'll try to get the distribution data from retailer, wholesaler, and smallholder to see how they sell their products in terms f the sales ranking of the products in the same category.Therefore, by using the data mentioned, we can reconstruct a new marketing plan for the new product and focus more on the culture of Bangladesh in terms of selling birth control products. Given our plan can be successfully implemented, we need to figure the challenge in the long run. And since the project is lunched by a not-for-profit agency, they mainly relied on funding to support their operation. According to the case, the barely earn profit by this product since the profit margin for the product is very low. Cha llenge, use project, longer no fund

Political Terms and Leopard Skin Chief Essays

Political Terms and Leopard Skin Chief Essays Political Terms and Leopard Skin Chief Essay Political Terms and Leopard Skin Chief Essay Discuss the institution of the feud among the Nuer as analyzed by E-P. Why did E-P argue that it played a necessary role in the segmentary political system of the tribe? The institution of the feud among the Nuer as analyzed by Evans Pritchard, is settled by a special person known as a â€Å"leopard skin chief†. A â€Å"leopard skin chief†, has ritual powers that deal with the Nuer social life and nature, including the power to bless and curse. Only certain lineages have â€Å"leopard skin chiefs† and not all lineages use their ritual powers. His function is political affairs between political groups which are regulated through him, but he is not a political authority controlling them. For example, when a man has committed murder, he must go to a chief, who cuts his arm so that blood may flow. Until the mark of Cain has been made, the slayer can’t eat or drink. If he fears infliction of punishment, which usually always happens, he stays at the chief’s home. Within some weeks the chief will bring forth from the slayers kin that they are prepared to pay compensation to avoid a feud and he persuades the dead man’s kin to accept the payment. During that time neither family (group) can eat nor drink from the same vessels as the other. The chief collects the cattle; forty to fifty cattle. The cattle is then taken to the dead mans home, where sacrifices of penitence and cleansing take place. This is the process of settling a feud. He does not judge the case because he does not have the authority to do so. The â€Å"leopard skin chief†, forces the kin of the dead to accept with the compensation if they are not willing to he will threatened to curse them. The moral settlement on both sides helps avoid further aggression from the incident. Evans Pritchard believes that we must recognize that feuds are settled more easily in smaller groups. Such as when a man kills a near kinsmen or a close neighbor, the issue is easily settled by compensation. When a homicide occurs within a village general opinion demands an early settlement. When a homicide occurs between primary or secondary sections of a tribe, there is a small chance of an early settlement and also because of distance retaliation is not taken as quickly, so the unsettled feuds build up. Such homicides are usually the result of intertribal fights in which several people are killed. This not only makes the settlement more difficult, but continues tension between the two groups to fight, in which their groups of people become involved. The kinsmen of a dead man are close enough to try to fight a kinsmen of the slayer and far enough from them to allow a temporary problems between the local communities to where they belong. However, their members are, as a rule, closely related by family ties must assist them if there is an open fight. The feud takes on a political feature and expresses the hostility between political segments. Evans Pritchard believed that the balanced hostility of political segments is maintained by the institution of the feud which permits a state of latent hostility between local communities, but allows them to form a larger group. He says that hostility is latent because even when a feud is being acted against there is no attempt to exact punishment, but the kinsmen of the dead may take any opportunity that presents itself to accomplish their purpose; and, also, because even when compensation has been accepted the feud may, in spite of settlement, start up again. The â€Å"leopard-skin chief† does not rule or judge, but acts as mediator through communities wanting to end a feud or make peace. The feud, including the role played in it by the chief, is a way by which the political structure maintains itself in the form known to America. â€Å"The leopard-skin chief† may also act as mediator in disputes concerning ownership of cattle, and he and the people on both sides may express their opinion on the case. But the chief does not have the authority to force obedience. All he can do is go with the plaintiff and some people of his community to the home of the defendant and to ask him and his kinsmen to discuss the matter. That’s only if both sides are willing to handle the situation in a civilized manner. Also, although the chief, after a meeting with the people, can give a decision, his decision is finalized by agreement of the people   Ã‚  Ã‚   The Nuer doesn’t have a law. There is no enforcement of governmental power. There are payments considered to someone who has suffered certain harm such as adultery, theft, murder, and fornication. There is no constituted or impartial authority who decides on the rights and wrongs of a dispute. In the Nuer community, if a person has been done wrong by another, they will receive support from there kinsmen and they are prepared to take matters in their own hands, especially, if they live near one another. The usual way of obtaining ones due is to go to the debtors and take his cattle. If the person who owes refuses to go along ith the repayment it could turn into a feud until the point someone could be harmed. How and whether a dispute is settled depends mostly on the people concerned in the kinship and age-set systems and the distance between their communities (tribes). Since the Nuer doesn’t have a government or law. The â€Å"leopard- skin chief† is not a political authority, the â€Å"Man of the Cattle†, totemic specialists, rain-makers , magicians, diviners and others. They have no political function or status, not saying to some people they may be important and feared. The heads of joint families, especially when they are rich in cattle, and have strong qualities seem to uphold importance but like all the other statues they have no power over another. With that being said, every Nuer basically regulates their affairs as they please. No Nuer who has natural gifts or not can be said to have political power or represent it. No local groups, apart from the prophets can be said to symbolize, or represent importance in the community. As Evans Pritchard argued institution of the feud among the Nuer played a necessary role in the segmentary political system of the tribe. As he described and analyzed in the section of the Nuer called â€Å"Political Systems†. He talked about the intertribal relations and the relations between tribal segments. Evans Pritchard summarizes how those relations define the Nuer political system. The political system has also been related to environment and their methods of living. We can only say, in conclusion to his observations through his anthropology studies of the Nuer that they were basically perceived as a political structure.