How far did the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme justify the costs Essay Example

How far did the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme justify the costs Essay Stalin once said the USSR was fifty to a hundred years behind the west: either the USSR caught up or they would be crushed. As a consequence an extremely rapid economic modernisation programme was introduced. Stalin succeeded brilliantly turning the USSR from a backward country to the leading world power. However this came at a severe cost of millions and millions of lives, at the outset it may seem clear that the achievements of modernisation do not justify the costs for the Soviet people. However without it the Allies might have lost the Second World War.The main attribute of the economic modernisation programme was Stalins five year plans. The first one began in December 1927 after the end of Lenins New Economic Policy (N.E.P.). This point is known as the start of the great turn where the direction of the Soviet economy changed towards a central planning Command economy. Many historians maintain that this is the point where communism went wrong and that they now only left themselv es to rule by tyranny and totalitarianism and where they would have been better off to continue with the N.E.P. Stephen Cohen suggests the USSR would have done better with the limited market economy of the 1920s, they accept the pace would have been slower but far fewer waste would have been produced.1 However this view is contradicted by R. W. Davies who suggests that N.E.P had limitations such as serious unemployment and an unfavourable effect on other sectors of the economy, such as education and the railways2 Davies believed that decision to begin a rapid industrialisation programme was made because of the political judgement of how essential it was for the USSR to increase their defences and establish a heavy industrial sector.Targets for the plans were set for industrial enterprises and were backed by law so failure to meet them was treated as a criminal offence acting as a very effective motivator. The first plans main emphasis was on heavy industry with electricity productio n trebled, coal and iron output doubled, steel increased by a third, huge new industrial complexes and tractor works were built. Stalins overall aim was to increase heavy industry by 300%! However, many historians have questioned the reliability of Soviet statistics.There was such fierce pressure on plants that managers were known to hi-jack lorries of materials destined for other plants so they would have the resources to meet targets.3 Also mistakes were covered up under the mass of paperwork because the only thing managers cared about was showing they met targets even if this was untrue; this led to the system showing that it was working where in fact this was not the case. The scapegoat for these shortcomings was the bourgeois specialists. They were accused of deliberately holding up supply and causing breakdowns. After many had been imprisoned and put on show trials it was apparent that the loss of so many valuable workers caused so many problems that Stalin ordered the offensi ve to be dropped.4 Overall though not all targets were met mainly because they were far too unrealistic, massive growth was achieved in certain sectors which led the way for further growth in Soviet Union. To add to this the western capitalist countries were suffering the effects of huge unemployment and economic recession.5The second five year plan was planned a lot better to ensure that the problems of shortages and miscalculations didnt happen again. There were still many problems with it involving shortages and wastage but not anything like on the scale as the first plan. The second five year plan concentrated mainly on new industries such as communications and transport which grew rapidly however did still include some heavy industries. By the end of the second plan in 1937 the USSR was almost self sufficient in machine making and metal work. In the years 1934-36 known as the three good years there was less pressure of industrialisation, and families had more disposable income. The third five year plan started in 1938 when the Soviet Union was experiencing a slowdown in the economy where heavy industries almost stopped growing. It ended after only three and half years because of the German attack on the USSR. The main area focused on was armaments and defence with the increasing out look of the USSR being invaded. The other problems with the third five year plan were the shortage of qualified and experienced workers for the Gosplan because many had been killed due to the Purges. Overall the economic situation after the interruption of the third plan was even more chaotic with shortages and wastes. The whole three five year plans were known as the planned economy this phrase is a entirely misleading as there was very basic planning if any. However Stalin had succeeded in industrialising the USSR in order to have a basis for a powerful arms industry.6In terms of contemporary Soviet historians the five year plans were a huge success but as David Evans says th ey were far less creditable due to the plans being affected by Confusion, waste and inefficiency7. Also due to the population increasing from 147 million to 170 million is a large factor to the rapid modernisation resulting from the extra labour available. The best explanation of the success of the five year plans I feel comes from Evans If the success of the five year plans is to be measured against any immediate increase in the prosperity of the Russian people then they were a resounding failure. On the other hand it might be argued that millions had died and the people forced to endure hard labour, shortages m reduced living standards and the loss of personal liberties in order to create a better life for the future generations of Russians.8The other main section of Stalins economic modernisation programme was collectivisation; however this was not an achievement because of the huge human and economic costs. It was started in mid-1929 for two reasons, firstly because it was part of Marxist theory that all land had to be owned by the state, with no private land being used to make profits on goods farmed there. The second reason was that Stalin wanted a platform to kick start the largest sector of the economy which was agriculture and he wanted this to assist the five year plans by providing enough food to feed the workers and providing surplus to sell to buy modern equipment to industrialise. Many historians see collectivisation as the most extreme and rapid part of Stalins modernisation programme. The idea of it was to make the agricultural sector more efficient by combining many small peasant farms to large state run collective farms (kolkhoz). This links in with theory of economies of scale and the use of modern machinery to increase production. In November 1929, Stalin wrote, By the spring of 1930 we shall have 60,000 tractors in the field.9 This vision of such rapid growth was completely unrealistic with this number of tractors not existing and nor even the factories to produce them.In order for collectivisation to be successful living standards throughout the Soviet Union would have to remain low to make sure that food prices did not rise. If the USSR could buy and then sell food (at a profit), money could be made to help finance industrialisation. Very few peasants actually joined the collective farms voluntarily because they would lose their equipment and land to the state, so on the 7th November 1929 Stalin ordered mass-collectivisation which forced peasants to join the farms using military forces this continued through the winter of 1929-30. Stalin wanted the liquidation of the kulaks as a class!10 The kulaks were used as scapegoats for the grain shortages with many deported to GULAGS, shot on sight or forced to starve to death. There was resistance to de-kulakisation however with kulaks burning their crops and slaughtering their animals as they would only lose them to the state anyway (there was 50% less livestock in 1932 th an there was in 1928). Jerzy Karcz claims that Stalin actually helped the crisis by lowering payments for grain allowing meat prices to raise therefore encouraging peasants to switch from grain farming to livestock.11 The forced collectivisation was a political success in spring 1930 with 60% of peasants now on collective farms, this figure rose to 77% in June 1930 and 90% in 1936.12Soviet propaganda was used to cover up the failure with focusing on the intense hate-campaign against the Kulaks. There was an extreme human cost to collectivisation especially in Ukraine and Kazakhstan where there was mass famine, this was kept a secret to the world therefore tragically no foreign aid was received. To add to this, Kazakhstan was where greatest depletion of livestock occurred more than anywhere else in the USSR with high 80s% of all livestock destroyed.13 It was made an offence punishable by five years in prison simply to refer to it (the denied famine)14. Families died lying outside war ehouses full of grain but under armed guard15 Estimates of the deaths vary wildly and are impossible to verify as with all communist figures; a figure of five-million overall is a reasonable average.16 However Chris Ward has investigated the human cost and believes the figures could be as high as 20.1 million deaths including famine caused by collectivisation, de-kulakisation, gulags, collective drive, and terror.17Overall collectivisation was a disaster. Stalin confessed to Churchill that it had caused more damage to the Soviet Union than the German invasion. Urban workers could not manage collective farms. In 1932, the private plot allowance was given: half a hectare on which produce could be grown. It is no surprise that the peasants devoted all of their energy to their private plots and the barest minimum to the collectives. Therefore the majority of agricultural goods came from the peasants plots rather than the collective farms; furthermore it took until 1940 for grain to reac h the 1914 level and took until 1953 for livestock to reach the pre-collectivisation levels. Additionally the peasants fared atrociously, even worse than the workers of the five year plans because of the mass numbers killed or sent to labour camps. Finally Stalin purposely caused a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there seeking independence from his rule; the result was that an estimated 7 million people starved to death in the area known as the breadbasket of Europe, Stalin deprived these people of food that they had grown themselves!18 Simply no-one gained from collectivisation proving it was a complete failure.19Workers also suffered in the economic modernisation programme. At first many supported the plans with thousands of young workers volunteering to work on remote projects, they simply wanted a better society for them but mostly for their children.20 The conditions and pay of the collective farms were so bad in some places that peasants kept moving on to different factories and lodgings until they found the best of a bad bunch or whatever was left. In the coal industry in 1930, the average worker moved jobs three times in a year.21 This is supported by Oxley who states that average real pay in 1932 was only half of what it had been at the end of N.E.P because of rising inflation.22 However workers with skills or even semi-skilled were being sought by many factories and managers and therefore commanded higher wages and perks such as extra food rations, this is because less than 7% of the work force were skilled.As the USSR had little money in modern machinery most of the work had to be done by hand therefore needing millions of workers a figure that could not be met by volunteers. Thats why Stalin ordered forced labour to be introduced. Millions of kulaks were used as a great part of the forced labour completely against their will, showing any lack of freedom and independence. Also enemies of the state were used as forced labour comprising of various religious groups and former members of the bourgeoisie. They were transported all over the new industrial areas and had fewer rights and were treated worse than the volunteer workers. Workers were worked so hard that in order to receive another days food rations to survive they would have to work to their physical limits. Deaths were very frequent.Targets were set not just for factories and managers but even for individuals, Alexei Stakhanov became a model worker in 1935 when he miraculously cut 102 tonnes of coal in one shift, 14 times the average. He became known as a Hero of Socialist Labour and propaganda encouraged all Soviet workers to be like Stakhanov. All over the USSR workers tried to emulate Alexei Stakhanov in every sector of the economy, and managers using it as an excuse to accuse workers of laziness. This shows the degree of propaganda that was used to trick peasants into working to death which can definitely be considered a human cost, J. P. Nettl talks abou t posters being issued in work places on which the names of the slackers, doubters and ill-disposed persons could be publicised and therefore criticised by their work colleagues. The achievement of plans and work norms has always dominated official propaganda23Punishment was also used to motivate workers; it was common for workers to hear threats of labour camps if they didnt work harder. Absenteeism was also almost completely removed with it being punishable by fine or removing the workers ration book. In 1940 it carried a prison sentence24. To add to this appalling treatment of the workers they were forced to carry labour books which outlined whether they had worked hard or not, anything but good comments could lead to prison, and with a prison sentence being 3 years or over the prisoners were sent to labour camps to provide cheap labour. Stalin adopted the view that it did not matter if prisoners and workers died working whether from excursion, starvation or the lack of health an d safety with many workers dying in accidents, the only important factor Stalin was interested in was that the project was finished and finished on time.Further use of fear to maintain and increase progress was used upon managers and technicians with the failure to meet targets punishable by industrial trials. The only evidence in these trials (which were heavily published to act as a warning to the rest of the workers) was confessions but these were only given because of threats or ill treatment in prison. Another method of implementing fear was the use of the secret police. Firstly they restricted workers freedom by stopping those workers moving jobs because workers required internal passports and in order to receive one needed to register with the police. However, the police often refused out of fear for not meeting their production targets. This is again a human cost as it restricted the workers freedom and job opportunities.Overall the workers fared extremely poorly under the p lans. Managers treated their workers extremely badly with dangerous conditions consequently accidents resulting in deaths were very common. The GULAG inmates were worked to death either by starvation or exhaustion. Workers had to work severely long hours at very low wages. Millions of enemies of the state and kulaks were used in order to fuel this industrialisation with them being treated as slaves. Ridiculous targets were set and punishments were often death for failure to meet them. Absenteeism and low productivity was made a criminal offence during these plans showing evidence of the absurdity of the nature of them. The five year plans had large focus on heavy industries, infrastructure and defence, consumer goods were simply overlooked as was the value of a human life as long as the project was finished that was the most important thing. Stalin saw this as a sacrifice that Russians had to make in order for the Soviets to catch up with the west and be prepared for a Second World War.In conclusion Stalins most admirable skill was his ability to predict the altering nature of the world, and his ability to understand that the USSR had to be fully prepared for war on a massive scale. Therefore I can understand historians who justify the human cost of Stalins economic modernisation programme; because without this rapid programme being in full swing by 1941, it seems very likely that the USSR would have been quickly overpowered by Nazi forces. In the 1930s Stalin realised the ever increasingly likelihood of war and rapid modernisation was the only way for the USSR to survive it, therefore had to be achieved no matter what the human cost! Stalin was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people; but then the war killed even more, and even more would have died had the USSR been defeated.Stalins view of Machiavellianism (where the ends justify the means) clearly justifies the human cost of modernisation for the final result of the USSR claming victory in the Secon d World War. Furthermore turning the USSR from a backward country to a leading world power. This idea of Machiavellianism also explains Stalins view of individuals being unimportant compared to the state. This is supported by him saying In order to make a good omelette you have to smash a few eggs.From my western view I cannot justify the human sacrifices for the rapid economic modernisation programme. However Russian society is of such a different nature that individual rights do not matter to the same degree as in western society because there is more focus on the state. Evidence of this, is the support for Stalin on the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, held in Red Square in Moscow with many people holding Stalin portraits. So overall I feel that the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme did not justify the costs; but I do understand Russian historians who would disagree with me. How far did the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme justify the costs Essay Example How far did the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme justify the costs Essay Stalin once said the USSR was fifty to a hundred years behind the west: either the USSR caught up or they would be crushed. As a consequence an extremely rapid economic modernisation programme was introduced. Stalin succeeded brilliantly turning the USSR from a backward country to the leading world power. However this came at a severe cost of millions and millions of lives, at the outset it may seem clear that the achievements of modernisation do not justify the costs for the Soviet people. However without it the Allies might have lost the Second World War.The main attribute of the economic modernisation programme was Stalins five year plans. The first one began in December 1927 after the end of Lenins New Economic Policy (N.E.P.). This point is known as the start of the great turn where the direction of the Soviet economy changed towards a central planning Command economy. Many historians maintain that this is the point where communism went wrong and that they now only left themselv es to rule by tyranny and totalitarianism and where they would have been better off to continue with the N.E.P. Stephen Cohen suggests the USSR would have done better with the limited market economy of the 1920s, they accept the pace would have been slower but far fewer waste would have been produced.1 However this view is contradicted by R. W. Davies who suggests that N.E.P had limitations such as serious unemployment and an unfavourable effect on other sectors of the economy, such as education and the railways2 Davies believed that decision to begin a rapid industrialisation programme was made because of the political judgement of how essential it was for the USSR to increase their defences and establish a heavy industrial sector.Targets for the plans were set for industrial enterprises and were backed by law so failure to meet them was treated as a criminal offence acting as a very effective motivator. The first plans main emphasis was on heavy industry with electricity productio n trebled, coal and iron output doubled, steel increased by a third, huge new industrial complexes and tractor works were built. Stalins overall aim was to increase heavy industry by 300%! However, many historians have questioned the reliability of Soviet statistics.There was such fierce pressure on plants that managers were known to hi-jack lorries of materials destined for other plants so they would have the resources to meet targets.3 Also mistakes were covered up under the mass of paperwork because the only thing managers cared about was showing they met targets even if this was untrue; this led to the system showing that it was working where in fact this was not the case. The scapegoat for these shortcomings was the bourgeois specialists. They were accused of deliberately holding up supply and causing breakdowns. After many had been imprisoned and put on show trials it was apparent that the loss of so many valuable workers caused so many problems that Stalin ordered the offensi ve to be dropped.4 Overall though not all targets were met mainly because they were far too unrealistic, massive growth was achieved in certain sectors which led the way for further growth in Soviet Union. To add to this the western capitalist countries were suffering the effects of huge unemployment and economic recession.5The second five year plan was planned a lot better to ensure that the problems of shortages and miscalculations didnt happen again. There were still many problems with it involving shortages and wastage but not anything like on the scale as the first plan. The second five year plan concentrated mainly on new industries such as communications and transport which grew rapidly however did still include some heavy industries. By the end of the second plan in 1937 the USSR was almost self sufficient in machine making and metal work. In the years 1934-36 known as the three good years there was less pressure of industrialisation, and families had more disposable income. The third five year plan started in 1938 when the Soviet Union was experiencing a slowdown in the economy where heavy industries almost stopped growing. It ended after only three and half years because of the German attack on the USSR. The main area focused on was armaments and defence with the increasing out look of the USSR being invaded. The other problems with the third five year plan were the shortage of qualified and experienced workers for the Gosplan because many had been killed due to the Purges. Overall the economic situation after the interruption of the third plan was even more chaotic with shortages and wastes. The whole three five year plans were known as the planned economy this phrase is a entirely misleading as there was very basic planning if any. However Stalin had succeeded in industrialising the USSR in order to have a basis for a powerful arms industry.6In terms of contemporary Soviet historians the five year plans were a huge success but as David Evans says th ey were far less creditable due to the plans being affected by Confusion, waste and inefficiency7. Also due to the population increasing from 147 million to 170 million is a large factor to the rapid modernisation resulting from the extra labour available. The best explanation of the success of the five year plans I feel comes from Evans If the success of the five year plans is to be measured against any immediate increase in the prosperity of the Russian people then they were a resounding failure. On the other hand it might be argued that millions had died and the people forced to endure hard labour, shortages m reduced living standards and the loss of personal liberties in order to create a better life for the future generations of Russians.8The other main section of Stalins economic modernisation programme was collectivisation; however this was not an achievement because of the huge human and economic costs. It was started in mid-1929 for two reasons, firstly because it was part of Marxist theory that all land had to be owned by the state, with no private land being used to make profits on goods farmed there. The second reason was that Stalin wanted a platform to kick start the largest sector of the economy which was agriculture and he wanted this to assist the five year plans by providing enough food to feed the workers and providing surplus to sell to buy modern equipment to industrialise. Many historians see collectivisation as the most extreme and rapid part of Stalins modernisation programme. The idea of it was to make the agricultural sector more efficient by combining many small peasant farms to large state run collective farms (kolkhoz). This links in with theory of economies of scale and the use of modern machinery to increase production. In November 1929, Stalin wrote, By the spring of 1930 we shall have 60,000 tractors in the field.9 This vision of such rapid growth was completely unrealistic with this number of tractors not existing and nor even the factories to produce them.In order for collectivisation to be successful living standards throughout the Soviet Union would have to remain low to make sure that food prices did not rise. If the USSR could buy and then sell food (at a profit), money could be made to help finance industrialisation. Very few peasants actually joined the collective farms voluntarily because they would lose their equipment and land to the state, so on the 7th November 1929 Stalin ordered mass-collectivisation which forced peasants to join the farms using military forces this continued through the winter of 1929-30. Stalin wanted the liquidation of the kulaks as a class!10 The kulaks were used as scapegoats for the grain shortages with many deported to GULAGS, shot on sight or forced to starve to death. There was resistance to de-kulakisation however with kulaks burning their crops and slaughtering their animals as they would only lose them to the state anyway (there was 50% less livestock in 1932 th an there was in 1928). Jerzy Karcz claims that Stalin actually helped the crisis by lowering payments for grain allowing meat prices to raise therefore encouraging peasants to switch from grain farming to livestock.11 The forced collectivisation was a political success in spring 1930 with 60% of peasants now on collective farms, this figure rose to 77% in June 1930 and 90% in 1936.12Soviet propaganda was used to cover up the failure with focusing on the intense hate-campaign against the Kulaks. There was an extreme human cost to collectivisation especially in Ukraine and Kazakhstan where there was mass famine, this was kept a secret to the world therefore tragically no foreign aid was received. To add to this, Kazakhstan was where greatest depletion of livestock occurred more than anywhere else in the USSR with high 80s% of all livestock destroyed.13 It was made an offence punishable by five years in prison simply to refer to it (the denied famine)14. Families died lying outside war ehouses full of grain but under armed guard15 Estimates of the deaths vary wildly and are impossible to verify as with all communist figures; a figure of five-million overall is a reasonable average.16 However Chris Ward has investigated the human cost and believes the figures could be as high as 20.1 million deaths including famine caused by collectivisation, de-kulakisation, gulags, collective drive, and terror.17Overall collectivisation was a disaster. Stalin confessed to Churchill that it had caused more damage to the Soviet Union than the German invasion. Urban workers could not manage collective farms. In 1932, the private plot allowance was given: half a hectare on which produce could be grown. It is no surprise that the peasants devoted all of their energy to their private plots and the barest minimum to the collectives. Therefore the majority of agricultural goods came from the peasants plots rather than the collective farms; furthermore it took until 1940 for grain to reac h the 1914 level and took until 1953 for livestock to reach the pre-collectivisation levels. Additionally the peasants fared atrociously, even worse than the workers of the five year plans because of the mass numbers killed or sent to labour camps. Finally Stalin purposely caused a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there seeking independence from his rule; the result was that an estimated 7 million people starved to death in the area known as the breadbasket of Europe, Stalin deprived these people of food that they had grown themselves!18 Simply no-one gained from collectivisation proving it was a complete failure.19Workers also suffered in the economic modernisation programme. At first many supported the plans with thousands of young workers volunteering to work on remote projects, they simply wanted a better society for them but mostly for their children.20 The conditions and pay of the collective farms were so bad in some places that peasants kept moving on to different factories and lodgings until they found the best of a bad bunch or whatever was left. In the coal industry in 1930, the average worker moved jobs three times in a year.21 This is supported by Oxley who states that average real pay in 1932 was only half of what it had been at the end of N.E.P because of rising inflation.22 However workers with skills or even semi-skilled were being sought by many factories and managers and therefore commanded higher wages and perks such as extra food rations, this is because less than 7% of the work force were skilled.As the USSR had little money in modern machinery most of the work had to be done by hand therefore needing millions of workers a figure that could not be met by volunteers. Thats why Stalin ordered forced labour to be introduced. Millions of kulaks were used as a great part of the forced labour completely against their will, showing any lack of freedom and independence. Also enemies of the state were used as forced labour comprising of various religious groups and former members of the bourgeoisie. They were transported all over the new industrial areas and had fewer rights and were treated worse than the volunteer workers. Workers were worked so hard that in order to receive another days food rations to survive they would have to work to their physical limits. Deaths were very frequent.Targets were set not just for factories and managers but even for individuals, Alexei Stakhanov became a model worker in 1935 when he miraculously cut 102 tonnes of coal in one shift, 14 times the average. He became known as a Hero of Socialist Labour and propaganda encouraged all Soviet workers to be like Stakhanov. All over the USSR workers tried to emulate Alexei Stakhanov in every sector of the economy, and managers using it as an excuse to accuse workers of laziness. This shows the degree of propaganda that was used to trick peasants into working to death which can definitely be considered a human cost, J. P. Nettl talks abou t posters being issued in work places on which the names of the slackers, doubters and ill-disposed persons could be publicised and therefore criticised by their work colleagues. The achievement of plans and work norms has always dominated official propaganda23Punishment was also used to motivate workers; it was common for workers to hear threats of labour camps if they didnt work harder. Absenteeism was also almost completely removed with it being punishable by fine or removing the workers ration book. In 1940 it carried a prison sentence24. To add to this appalling treatment of the workers they were forced to carry labour books which outlined whether they had worked hard or not, anything but good comments could lead to prison, and with a prison sentence being 3 years or over the prisoners were sent to labour camps to provide cheap labour. Stalin adopted the view that it did not matter if prisoners and workers died working whether from excursion, starvation or the lack of health an d safety with many workers dying in accidents, the only important factor Stalin was interested in was that the project was finished and finished on time.Further use of fear to maintain and increase progress was used upon managers and technicians with the failure to meet targets punishable by industrial trials. The only evidence in these trials (which were heavily published to act as a warning to the rest of the workers) was confessions but these were only given because of threats or ill treatment in prison. Another method of implementing fear was the use of the secret police. Firstly they restricted workers freedom by stopping those workers moving jobs because workers required internal passports and in order to receive one needed to register with the police. However, the police often refused out of fear for not meeting their production targets. This is again a human cost as it restricted the workers freedom and job opportunities.Overall the workers fared extremely poorly under the p lans. Managers treated their workers extremely badly with dangerous conditions consequently accidents resulting in deaths were very common. The GULAG inmates were worked to death either by starvation or exhaustion. Workers had to work severely long hours at very low wages. Millions of enemies of the state and kulaks were used in order to fuel this industrialisation with them being treated as slaves. Ridiculous targets were set and punishments were often death for failure to meet them. Absenteeism and low productivity was made a criminal offence during these plans showing evidence of the absurdity of the nature of them. The five year plans had large focus on heavy industries, infrastructure and defence, consumer goods were simply overlooked as was the value of a human life as long as the project was finished that was the most important thing. Stalin saw this as a sacrifice that Russians had to make in order for the Soviets to catch up with the west and be prepared for a Second World War.In conclusion Stalins most admirable skill was his ability to predict the altering nature of the world, and his ability to understand that the USSR had to be fully prepared for war on a massive scale. Therefore I can understand historians who justify the human cost of Stalins economic modernisation programme; because without this rapid programme being in full swing by 1941, it seems very likely that the USSR would have been quickly overpowered by Nazi forces. In the 1930s Stalin realised the ever increasingly likelihood of war and rapid modernisation was the only way for the USSR to survive it, therefore had to be achieved no matter what the human cost! Stalin was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people; but then the war killed even more, and even more would have died had the USSR been defeated.Stalins view of Machiavellianism (where the ends justify the means) clearly justifies the human cost of modernisation for the final result of the USSR claming victory in the Secon d World War. Furthermore turning the USSR from a backward country to a leading world power. This idea of Machiavellianism also explains Stalins view of individuals being unimportant compared to the state. This is supported by him saying In order to make a good omelette you have to smash a few eggs.From my western view I cannot justify the human sacrifices for the rapid economic modernisation programme. However Russian society is of such a different nature that individual rights do not matter to the same degree as in western society because there is more focus on the state. Evidence of this, is the support for Stalin on the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, held in Red Square in Moscow with many people holding Stalin portraits. So overall I feel that the achievements of Stalins economic modernisation programme did not justify the costs; but I do understand Russian historians who would disagree with me.

Starbucks Coffee Essay Example

Starbucks Coffee Essay Example Starbucks Coffee Essay Starbucks Coffee Essay This one phrase sums up Starbucks Coffee’s approach to attracting more customers. They want the customers to feel that they are not â€Å"primarily about coffee† (Holmes, 2004). Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz explains further, â€Å"You get more than the finest coffee when you visit a Starbucks – you get great people, first rate music and a comfortable and upbeat meeting place† (Starbucks Corporation, 2007). Indeed, from that single coffee shop in 1971 (Gallo, 2006), Starbucks has evolved into a global brand that is a hybrid of a place where you can get good coffee, good music, a good book and where you can meet up with friends or business partners. Initially just another coffee shop, Starbucks morphed into a cozy hang-out place in the mid 1980’s – an idea brought about by Schultz’s visit to Italy. Charmed by the pleasant environment enveloping Milan coffee places, Schultz got convinced that this set-up could work in America; hence, the Starbucks of today (Gallo, 2006). Central to the transformation into a comfortable meeting place is not just Starbucks’ irresistible coffee but also a more personal kind of customer service that was achieved through a two-fold approach. First leg of this approach was the inclusion of a wider variety of coffee flavors and other drinks such as chocolate, juice and iced drinks in the menu – as this move gave the customers a wider array of choices, it expanded Starbucks’ market, which initially just covered the coffee-drinking public. Also part of this strategy allowing customers to individualize products by giving them the option to dictate the size, temperature and extra ingredients (i.e. whipped cream, coffee strength, caramel, etc.) of their favorite Starbucks drink (Gallo, 2006). To strengthen this image of personalization, Starbucks made an effort to build a personal relationship with their customers. In fact, a coffee giant that expanded to 12,440 location sin 36 years, Starbucks like to operate like a small, local store where the customers feel like they know the people behind the counters and vice versa (Kiviat, 2006). â€Å"It’s part of the reason [people] go [to Starbucks],† attests CEO Jim Donald (Kiviat, 2006). And to make sure they keep their base of loyal customers (and make sure they continue to add to this base), Starbucks invests a lot on the people working for them – whom they fondly call as â€Å"partners† (and not employees). â€Å"We realize our people are the cornerstone of our success, and we know that their ideas, commitment and connection to our customers are truly the essential elements in the Starbucks Experience,† Schultz expounds (Starbucks Corporation, 2007). Maintaining a ‘knowledgeable workforce’ requires Starbucks to give its partners a rigorous 24 hours of training (divided into six classes discussing different aspects of the job) before being able to stand in the front lines. The logic behind this is that, as Sarah Lockyer writes, Starbucks believe that â€Å"employees should be fully versed in how to make [drinks] and how to market them as well. They should be able to describe the contents and, especially if it’s part of the job description, spell the item correctly on a chalkboard or a menu† (as cited in Ablanalp, Reiliey, Bigler, Laracuente, n.d., p.5). This seemingly hard process of getting incorporated into the Starbucks Company comes with benefits, though. Partners are given stock options and health care benefits and are encouraged to share their opinions on operations and to make their own decisions regarding customer relations. And because partners feel more like their own managers than mere â€Å"worker bees†, partners start feeling good about their work, which in turn equates to a positive relationship with customers (Ablanalp et al.). It is also this commitment to an intimate set-up of operations that prevents Starbucks from using machines in churning out coffees. Schultz explains that it is in their utmost concern that the company’s culture does not get diluted with growth – they pride themselves for their hand-crafted beverages and their beverages are going to stay hand-crafted. Despite criticisms and harsh suggestions that they should snap up and accept the fact that machineries are important to increase efficiency, Starbucks remains firm. Jim Alling, president of Starbucks Coffee US, argues, â€Å"As much as we want to meet people’s desire to produce beverages quickly, we also realize that people want a smile with their drink, that they don’t want to feel rushed† (Kiviat, 2006). Another ploy to making sure Starbucks keeps it edge over the competition is their constant attempt at venturing to other endeavors that will greatly compliment their coffee and enhance what they proudly call as the Starbucks Experience. Like most of their other undertakings, Starbucks crossing over to the music business started from something that they already had and just expanded to cater to customers’ demands. When Schultz noticed that while waiting for their orders customers would often get up and ask about the song playing in the background, it gave him the idea of selling CDs of their ‘house music’ at the cash register (Holmes, 2004). Today, Starbucks has extended to more than just selling CDs – it has now partnered with music labels, started its own 24-hour digital music channel on XM Satellite Radio (genre of which is more adult-oriented jazz, blues, and alternative rock), and built the alternative record retailer HearMusic Coffeehouses in Santa Mon ica, San Antonio, Miami and Bellevue, Washington (Starbucks Corporation, 2007). And Starbucks coverage just keeps getting wider. Kiosks and stalls that sell Starbucks coffee can now be spotted on Barnes Nobles bookstores and some campuses (Ablanalp et al.). With the help of Kraft, their products are now also being sold in supermarket shelves and are now featured as Dreyer’s ice cream flavors. The company may now even start to attempt competing with McDonald’s and Burger King in attracting midday crowd – something that will surely boost sales because as of the moment, 60% of Starbucks’ sales are made before 6 a.m. (Gallo, 2006; Kiviat, 2006). Despite the fact that Starbucks’ price list is not exactly the most affordable in the market, people still continue to support its products. This may be traced to the fact that customers, like Starbucks, believe that â€Å"with any product, there is an inherent link between quality and price† (Starbucks Corporation, 2006). Starbucks got it right when they said that quality is the best and most sustainable driver of higher prices paid. Since Starbucks pledge to deliver uncompromising quality on their coffee, people are almost always willing to pay premium prices to have the privilege of sipping from a Starbucks cup. But Starbucks is not all about making money. The company always insisted that â€Å"putting people before products just made good common sense† (Starbucks Corporation, 2007), they always made a point to not forget that aside from an entrepreneurial mind, they also have a social responsibility. They have maintained environmental stewardship and literacy campaigns on top of producing great-tasting coffee. This, Starbucks shares, endears them more to the people and makes them truly part of a community where a Starbucks is located (Starbucks Corporation, 2006). Some business onlookers may get critical of Starbucks seemingly spreading themselves thin. The company looks like they have tried to cover –and is still trying to cover – a lot of other business endeavors. John Glass, who covers Starbucks for CIBC, says that Starbucks has fallen into a trap. â€Å"You have to have new products. That’s the retailer’s dilemma,† he says (Kiviat, 2006). But who is to say that this game plan is not working for the company? Surely, with its recent efforts at global expansion, Starbucks strategy is – contrary to what the pessimists will say – making them a stronger coffee magnate. On top of their already uncountable stores in America, Starbucks continues to reach out to Europe and Asia. Currently, there are now more than 13,000 Starbucks Coffee Shops in 40 countries, including Japan, Philippines, China, Hongkong, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Egypt. In 36 years, Starbucks Corporation has indeed grown into something that nobody may have envisioned when it first came into operation in 1971. Nowadays, Starbucks is not only parallel to good coffee but also to good music, books, food, and community service. Its influence has blown up to include not only the business people and the old who are wont to grab their daily dose of caffeine but also to kids, who now have the option to order chocolate or juice when they tug along with their parents as they drop by for their cappuccino, and students, who has found the perfect study place in Starbucks’ comfortable couches and mellow music. Undeniably, Starbucks has managed to employ a marketing strategy that is not in need of the aid of countless TV and radio advertisements – the image they painstakingly built throughout the years becomes enough for them to survive in an industry where coffee shop companies mushroom so fast. Lucky for the company, they have found the perfect mix of good product, incomparable customer service, and global brand imaging that keeps customer tied to their name. And, as they continue to move forward with the same approach, Starbucks Coffee is sure to stay afloat for a very long time.

P&O Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

P&O - Assignment Example ompany can advertise after sidelining all difficulties and after getting 100 percent surety that no new problems are about to occur and I am sure that the old customers would definitely get attracted toward this goodwill of the company as they are taking all the customers on no profit. 1b. 1b. The buyers are the people who are adventurous and who can really pay all they have in order to be on the voyage, you can see that there are numerous of people who have their life savings and also there life incentives on the line just to get the great feeling and pleasure of such a wonderful tour, each and everyone got attracted towards such a great luxurious service, they paid a big sum to be a part of it and still they did not get that all, though it is quite difficult to predict that they all are satisfied or dissatisfied but according to the research that was conducted by the researchers, most of the people ere found disappointed simply because it is not a product that you can use and get dissatisfied or satisfied, but it is exactly like playing with someone's emotions like you can see that most of the people who were young or not that old gave each and every thing they had just to be on the voyage but suddenly they heard about the incidence and they all got disappointed , it is not a kind of service that every cruising company would be providing but very few provide it and that even once in a blue moon and so you cannot ask the people to get on some other cruise providing such service and so you cannot really play with such people's emotions, the entire decision process was revolving around a wonderful dream, you cannot really find someone who is an ordinary person and willing to invest there entire savings at the same time, so all the company did was that they targeted people having adventurous thinking and they just simply did not make there dreams come true, so most of the dissatisfaction was caused in the segment they targeted, however there are few people who really think that the company handled the situation exceptionally well, but they should not be counted in the target as they are lot more experienced and cannot simply think that way a youngster can think, also the discount thing did not work for them as most of the people paid discounted amount earlier and got even more money than they paid this all did not worth as the primary objective of every buyer was go on voyage. 2a. The P&O and Ikea both have put just normal efforts in communicating about their services and products, it was certainly not

Time Value of Money Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Time Value of Money - Research Paper Example Calculation regarding future values of present values is extremely important when making important investment decisions (Andrew, 1997). A manager who would be uncertain of what would be the future value of his investment today, he would be uncertain whether to take on the investment or not. Suppose, a manager takes on an investment to invest in a bond that will pay him $ 1000 at maturity at 5% interest. How would he value the investment in terms of today? What is explicitly of importance to the manager is that how much the investor should pay today in order to get that $ 1000 principal at maturity (Brealey, 2005). The investor should use the application of time value of money in order to determine whether the amount that the borrower is asking is appropriate or not. Similarly, an investor might want to know that if he deposits a certain sum of money in the bank, then what would be the future value of the payment that he would receive at the relevant interest rate few years from now ( Andrew, 1997). The basic concept I have learnt from this assignment is how to apply the application of time value of money in different situations. Sometimes, we have been given the future value and all information and we had to find the present value, while sometimes we had been given present value and we had to calculate the future value. In summation, I have learnt the practical application and usefulness of time value of

Differences Between Good And Bad Leaders

Differences Between Good And Bad Leaders A leader is a person from a group of people who is prominent because of his/her skills and personality and these qualities of make others follow him. Great leaders are visionary as they can predict about the future changes in accordance to that particular goal or objective. A major sign of a leader is that he/she has ability and skills of motivating a group of people to achieve a common goal. In business the leaders have the same job to perform. They have to interlink companys goals by merging the peoples wishes because a group of people cannot achieve anything unless or until they have a common objective. In order to fulfill those objectives they would be requiring someone to motivate them and boost their energy level. A common direction has to be set by the leader for other to follow. He has to be organized and provide justice to his employees. Even organizations/companies are likely to fall apart in seek of its goals or objectives without a sufficient help of a leader. Infect role of a leader is one of the most important roles in the organization. He bears heavy responsibility to keep the company on track in terms of its objectives. Employees of certain level always want to follow someones footsteps in order to achieve their goals. A great leader can provide them this opportunity by setting an example by him. A good visionary leader can be very beneficial for the company as he/she can warn the company for upcoming hazards. He can also build a strategy against the upcoming challenges since he has sensed them ahead of time. It would allow company to have enough time to rethink on the strategy and prepare them for the hard times. If we refer to the previous history of the World, we will see the examples of a few of Good Leaders and a lot of Bad Leaders. A few Good Leaders because we are declining rapidly to over fall due to our overall Human Behavior in the Society and we do not have such qualities to deliver Good Leader to in abundant, to the World A lot of bad Leaders because greed of men and low tolerance with others in this rapidly falling Society in our overall Human Behavior is bound to produce Bad Leaders. But still we are manage to produce one or two or may be dozen good Leaders in the last century. Lets see why they were good leaders and why millions of us followed them in terms of their exceptional Leadership qualities Effective Leader A good leader is a person who has an exemplary character. It is of utmost importance that a leader is trustworthy to lead others. A leader needs to be trusted and be known to live their life with honestly and integrity. A good leader walks the talk and in doing so earns the right to have responsibility for others. True authority is born from respect for the good character and trustworthiness of the person who leads. Like the Prophets, they were a true symbol of exemplary character. Life before the claim was neat and spotless because they spend their lives according to the rules of purity, honesty and Truthfulness. Moreover Good leaders are tolerant of ambiguity and remain calm, composed and steadfast to the main purpose. Storms, emotions, and crises come and go and a good leader takes these as part of the journey and keeps a cool head and in the times when nations pass through difficult hours, these exceptional leadership qualities helps the nation pass that difficult time with great courage, steadfastness calmness. There are three main things that make a good leader. The first is that a leader must practice what he preaches. The second is that he has to look after and protect those around him. The third is that he must be able to develop other good leaders. I will go into more detail about how to implement all three of these characteristics, so that you too can become a good leader. A good leader is excellent at practicing what he preaches. I love the quote that states, Your actions speak so loud that I cant hear what you are saying. The greatest leader of all time was Jesus Christ and he was the best at practicing what he preached. This goes back to the old proverb that says, Live by the sword, die by the sword. This is the same with leadership and how much a leader abides by what he says. As a good leader, how can you expect people do what you say, when you dont even do what you say? Personal example My personal example for good leader is my Dad. He owns a hardware store in Toronto and I had learned a lot from him. He is always very organized, patience and a good example for me. He is open hearted in its action and always response in kind to difficult situation. He is very reasonable for his employees and this why I learned a lot from him Poor Leader This society has been very generous in producing bad leaders in abundant if we see the examples of our current political so called leader. Their negative approach to pass through the time of crises and their destructive thinking has brought this world at the brink of destruction. It is with their blessings that we as in a state of war for the last Hundred years. At this point, there rise a lot of questions that why they become bad leaders and why they have brought us at the state of War. Here are a few point which can solve all our questions that come into our vary minds. Very much the opposite of a good Leader, a bad leader is a person who does not possess the quality and guts to grab the hand of his nation in the time crises. And bad leaders do not have such vision and qualities to take the nation through difficult times because they lack in their innovative and analytical thinking to solve the problem their nation face at the time of crises. They spend their kingly life as they do not care about the needs and problem of their nation. At the times when a nation falls due to economic crises, they do not lower their standards of daily life and they do not care about the nation. A bad leader does not share the bad time with his nation and he continues to live comfortable life. Nothing makes him special, because he is not known for his virtues and good abilities. He is always known as a notorious person who does not care for the Needs of his nation. Unfortunately for us all, bad leaders occupy positions of power in business and government. There are seven major traits of bad leader. And leaders fully loaded with such traits can make the life of their nation a living Hell and these traits with little definitions are as follows:- Incompetent Leaders: Someone who is not competent to take effective action. Rigid Leaders: The leader and at least some followers are stiff and unyielding Intemperate Leaders: The leaders who cannot stand the theology of his neighbor and want to impose his own thoughts by force. Callous Leaders: A callous Leader is the one who is indifferent to the suffering of others. Corrupt Leaders: Leaders who misuse the power and position and utilize the resources and wealth in his possession in an ugly manner. Insular Leaders: The Insular Leaders do not have knowledge and awareness of his surroundings. He is unaware of the happenings around the world. Like he is living in the cave for centuries. Evil Leaders: Evil Leaders use their thinking in an Evil manner; they possess destructive thinking, and utilize the powers and resources in criminal activities. Personal example Bad leader was my boss Mr Anthoney. He was very lazy. He use to steal pizzas from work place and thats what created a bad example for rest of employees and this also cost company too much money even he wasnt a good example for a company because he never thinks about the whole team or a company he just think about himself. Who is the best leader from articles and why? I would like to choose Mr. Jim Goodnight as the best CEO through all the articles we studied because he was a great leader with great vision for the company. His strategies were extremely positive and influential for employees. He wanted to create an environment where employees would like to work and be more productive for the company. He was very motivated and supportive to his employees. According to him When I joined SAS, I wanted to be in and help grow a company that was as much fun for the employees as it was for the ownership (Pfeffer 1998) and this is the perfect example of great CEO. He wanted to make SAS instuite a perfect place to work. He uses to believe in intrinsic motivation of employees. He treats his employees with respect because he knew that they are the future of the company. Even for his employees he introduced so many benefits such as provided onsite medical facility for employees so they dont have to go and search for doctors. Even doctor fee was covered till fi rst dollar by the company or onsite child care centre for employee children so they can see them during their lunch breaks. Even junior high school onsite so they can drop of their children to work easily. Theses all facilities were very essential because beside them he also provided onsite gym and many other facilities. For employees it was more like fun place to work they use to bring their family during weekends to SAS ground for BBQ and stuff. Even he uses to motivate his employees. He wanted them to work at their best and this is why SAS employees turnover rate was lower than 4%. He wanted to create more convenient work environment for employees such he eliminated commission based culture for SAS because he wanted his employees to be more customer oriented then just making numbers. This is he inspired me so much. There were many other good leaders as well such as Jack Welch from General Electric who introduces strategies to eliminated bureaucratic strategies to make his employe es more productive or Wolfgang Schmitt from Rubber Maid article who created an positive structure so company and be more efficient but they all worked majorly to increased the revenue of the company and solely My Jim Goodnight was the one who worked for his employees. What changes was he able to affect at GE? Jack Welch was the CEO of General Electric for almost two decades. In 1981 when he came on board the company was struggling through many issues but with his calm and steady nature he was able to save General Electric and uphold it to the position where the company is at now. He was one of the great leaders like Charli Eitel at Simmons Corporation, a leader who supports his company and adopts strategies to save company from any difficult situation. He adopted many strategies to bring change as General Electric. Structural Changes His focus was to come up with strategies to save the company and the best strategies he can adopt was first changing the organizational structure. There were about 10 groups of sub companies with 46 divisions, and 190 departments with 43 strategic business units. This structure was creating massive work load for Welch therefore he decided to introduce more effective structure like Rubber Maid company did in 1980s. He removed barriers between CEO and business by eliminating Sector position from SBU Structure. According to him there should be more direct communication between corporate executives and business. He didnt want to create a huge distance between management and employees unlike Nut Island where employers had no connection with employees. Welch wanted to eliminate all the sectors so he can be more close to the business. Cultural Changes Cultural changes were the second most import changes what Welch bought in General Electric. He tried to introduce cultural change where there was more freedom for employees so they can express their opinion and be more productive for the company. Therefore the first thing he did was eliminated bureaucracy in the organization. He wanted to create flexible rules for employees like SAS Institute had for their employees. Their employees were working in an open environment where every employee is allowed to make a suggestions and management will value their opinion. Even according to Welch he wanted to create a culture of a small company a place where all felt engaged and everyone had voice (Levy, Wonzy, 2005). This was a positive approach to the benefit the company for long term. HOW did he make those changes? Welch made numerous changes once he came to a board to work for General Electric. First 1981 to next five years he worked on organizing the organizational structure and for that he lay off almost half of the companys employees because he wanted to cut the size of employees so he can give company a proper direction. Due to his extensive employee lay off magazine names him a Neutron Jack, (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) which means that wherever he goes his employees were vanished from there in a large quantity. After being done with creating a proper structure he started to work on development of the company. Establishing a sense of importance He developed sense of urgencys for employees. Make them realize that this is the requirement of business and without them they wont be able to survive in the business. Such their first priority is restructuring of General Electric. He wanted his each business to be the number 1 competitor in industry or if they cant make it then they will sell that business. Forming effective leadership team: In late 1980s during the second stage of the Rocket, Welch convinced his employees to become better leader so they can be productive for the company. He initiated `Software called Work-Out and Best Practices. Work out: It was introducing a forum so employees and employers can input their opinion in that website so they can avoid unusual bureaucratic issues. Welch invited managers and employees into New England town meetings for three days where employees from can come up with particular analyses and recommendations regarding their department and then their bosses have to make instant responses. This process was introduce to clean up General Electric and, to make workers more productive by avoiding unusual bureaucratic style. Regarding his this approach Bloomberg article mentioned that Jack put his time and energy into developing people (Levy, Wonzy, 2005). Best practice: This was his second method of learning from other companies so General Electric managers can learn how to achieving higher productivity growth. He wanted to create an environment of small collaborative teams so that employers can focus on developing effective strategies rather than controlling individual activity. Besides they can also focus on treating suppliers as partner so they both can perform well also emphasize on constant development to increase their productivity. These two were important steps to overcome the existing bureaucratic style and adopt new productive ways to be successful in a business. Create a vision of what the organization will become Welch changed a company structure and culture by going global. He introduced how global market can influence the culture. Going Global: Going global was a major decision that took place in era of Welch because once they had solid base at home they really moved forwarded into competing with world market. This was changing of culture and adapting of new market structure. They decided to use same strategies for international market as they used for local such as either #1 or #2 competitor or disengaged. Developing Leadership: Leadership also had a huge influence on cultural structure of a company. He is the one who had to lead the company along with 290,000 employees. It is his job to maintain the smooth transitions at work. Usually Leaders working in a huge corporation does really work hard because it comes with a job security of lifetime. This is why its their duty to create an environment where people can perform their best. According to Welch leadership can be characterized in 4 ways, first who perform their duties- fulfill financial obligations and share values of the company. Second who does not fulfill their duties and does not share our values. Third who forget about commitments but does share values of a company. Fourth who does fulfill their duties, give significant profit to the company but never share values and they are the most difficult one but since they do perform very well its hard to find them. They also work on 360Â ° feedback process from employees and accordin g to Welch people are removed for having the wrong values, (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) he insisted. We dont even talk about the numbers. (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) He explains what he is looking for is productive managers not people who just value numbers. Creating a vision Boundary less Behavior: According to Welch he wanted to create a vision for the company a vision that state in the 1990s: The Third Wave of General Electric. Over here he initiated a boundary less behavior vision for his employees. He wanted to introduce open, anti-parochial environment. (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) This is basically having an open environment where every employee without regards to their salary or position can share their ideas. They want to be comfortable doing business all over the world such as they explained in the article. They want to be as comfortable doing business in Budapest as they do in Louisville USA. Stretch: This is basically striving to achieve impossible. Over here manager are liable to set higher and unrealistic goals for their department and then try to achieve them. If they fail to react they wont be accountable for it although if they meet that extra ordinary goal then they will be rewarded. Service Businesses: Welch really prioritizes this issue in 1980,s he showed interest in service related companies. Before that they were the last priority of the company. Once he showed some interest and invested money in it they came up with the software called In Site for CT scanners and MRI equipment. It was basically a sensor installed in those equipments so they can maintain the service standard of that product. This whole investment on GE turned the whole pyramid upside down. Empower other to take action This process is to communicate and improve the vision on the company so they can make it a better place to work and this procedure started in the last decade of Welch employment. Six Sigma Strategies: This strategy was used to empower employees so they can work up the standards of the company. This happened in 1994 when employees were facing problems due to poor quality of its products and processes so Welch introduced this strategy from Motorola Corporation. It was a performance scale which is used to eliminate the unnecessary actions from the working process. According to Grey Rainer, Vice president of Development process this happened to be (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) the biggest opportunity for growth, increased profitability, and individual employee satisfaction in the history of our company. (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) It was a well developed plan which helped General electric in eliminating operating at error of rates 10,000 times the 6 Sigma level. Inspire and celebrate small wins Once the company performing better and according to the requirement of Welch, he was pleased to see their performance and felt that he had assembled a first class of leaders. Keep interest and effort on further improvement This effort was for the continuous improvement of the company because he still wanted to progress more because he wanted to set standards for future employees and the employees who dont meet the standards so far. He introduced a scale for them a term called A player with 4 Es. According to him a player is someone who had a great vision of leadership, great energy to motivate employee and implement strategies and courage to change the culture. Four Es Four Es consist the following: Energy: Encourage new ideas and apply strategy to implement them Energize: Motivate others by his overwhelming enthusiasm to believe in new idea. Edge: it is basically making through all the difficulties Execution: it is a consistent ability to turn idea into results. Institutionalize changes; reduce leader dependencies As he was leaving the organization he made the final changes. Before leaving he introduced the e-business so that company can adopt this new business technology as well. This was his finally effort to change the culture because he believes in continuity and he knew it takes a decade to make any new strategy actually work. Was he successful or unsuccessful (or both) at making these changes-and why do you say that He was extremely successful in changing the organizational culture and structure of General Electric because he gave the company a whole new direction to work on. The company generated 23% annual profit and this shows he was a great leader. Changes he made for the company shows he was successful in making and implementing all his goals and strategies which he promised a decade ago with his employees. How did Welch change and leverage culture at GE to achieve his objectives while CEO? He introduced new cultures which eliminated the bureaucracy from the system so employees can work accordingly. He introduced Workout and Best Practice strategies so he can eliminate the distances between management and employers. This gave employees opportunity to argue on any fact especially if they can make any difference and this action saved millions of dollars of the company. He really supported his employees SAS Institute where he tried his best to come up with strategies to make the company more pleasant place to work. He even created a broader vision for a company by going global this way he gave his employees opportunity to compete with other nations and make work more challenging for them. Then he enforced his employees in developing appropriate leadership skills to be successful in business environment. It was his job to create a positive vision for the company and that is what he did. He worked all by his honesty and integrity to save the company by changing organizationa l culture and structure. He even introduce a Boundary less behaviors strategy and this was the key point of his success because it gave his employees opportunity to share ideas all across the company without the limitation or without distinct of origin. Everyone was free to participate in company decisions and that was a truly success of changing of environmental culture. Also he adopts Stretch Strategy to give his employees a new vision of success so they can think beyond the boundaries of facts and actual figures and try to achieve them. He adopted sig sigma and four Es strategies to show his employees how to improve themselves if they ever lose track and this all results in enormous success of the company. Citation: Nut Island: Levy, P.F. (2001). The nut island effect. When Good Teams Go Wrong, General Electric; (Levy, Wonzy, 2005) Levy, P.F, Wonzy, M. (2005). GEs two decade transformation: jack Welchs leadership. Hardware Business School, Hurley, R.F. (2006). Decision to trust. Harvard Business School, Eight ways to built collaborative teams Grattan, Erickson, 2007) Grattan, Erickson, 2007 Grattan, L, Erickson, T.J. (2007). Eight ways to build collaborative teams Harvard Business Review, SAS: ( Pfeiffer, 1998) Pfeiffer, J. (1998). SAS institute: GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,

Power and Politics in Organizations Essay -- Power and Politics in the

Power and Politics in Organizations Introduction Have you ever wondered what role politics and power play in organizations? When used effectively they can be compatible in reaching the organizations goals. Power is defined as the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen in the way you want them. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, Chap. 15). Power is important within organizations because it is the way in which management influences individuals to make things happen. When power and influence combine, most of the time 'politics' become involved in some manner which may pose some problems. Organizational politics is best described as management influenced by self-interest through the use of means not necessarily authorized by the organization. Organizational politics have been viewed as an organizations enhancement tool to survive and fulfill goals. Power and Politics, though closely related, share similarities and differences but ultimately work together for the success of an organizatio n. Types of Power There are two types of power that influence both individual and organizational behaviors. The first one, known as Position Power is widely used by the managers as a direct result of their position in the organization. There are six bases under position power in which the management uses to effectively motivate their employees. Reward power is probably the most successful in controlling employees. There are several typ... Power and Politics in Organizations Essay -- Power and Politics in the Power and Politics in Organizations Introduction Have you ever wondered what role politics and power play in organizations? When used effectively they can be compatible in reaching the organizations goals. Power is defined as the ability to get someone to do something you want done or the ability to make things happen in the way you want them. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, Chap. 15). Power is important within organizations because it is the way in which management influences individuals to make things happen. When power and influence combine, most of the time 'politics' become involved in some manner which may pose some problems. Organizational politics is best described as management influenced by self-interest through the use of means not necessarily authorized by the organization. Organizational politics have been viewed as an organizations enhancement tool to survive and fulfill goals. Power and Politics, though closely related, share similarities and differences but ultimately work together for the success of an organizatio n. Types of Power There are two types of power that influence both individual and organizational behaviors. The first one, known as Position Power is widely used by the managers as a direct result of their position in the organization. There are six bases under position power in which the management uses to effectively motivate their employees. Reward power is probably the most successful in controlling employees. There are several typ...

Biological Psychology Final Notes

Chapter 2- Darwin was the first to suggest how evolutionoccurs. Humans belong to the primate family known as hominins. Characteristics that evolved to perform one function but were co-opted to perform another function are called exaptations. Each group of three consecutive nucleotide bases along the strand of messenger RNA is called a codon, which instructs the ribosome to add amino acids to the protein being constructed. Subsequent to the nature-nuture issue, a second line of thought surrounding the biology of behavior is the dualistic physiological-psychological debate.Courtship displays are thought to be important because they premote the evolution of new species. Amphibians evolved from bony fishes and later into reptiles, the first vertebrates to lay shell-covered eggs and to be covered with dry scales. In most species mating is indiscriminate or promiscuous; however, there are some species in which males and females create mating bonds with members of the opposite sex. Genes th at contain the information necessary for the synthesis of proteins are enhancer genes. Not all DNA is found in the nucleus of the cell; some is found in mitochondria.Monoallelic expression occurs when one of the two alleles of a gene is inactivated, due to an unidentified epigenetic mechanism, and the other allele is expressed. Descartes claimed the mind is made up of the soul, body, and spirit. RNA is like DNA except it contains the base uracil instead of thymine. Epigenetic mechanisms are thought to be the mearns by which a small number of genes are able to orchestrate the development of human complexity. The mate-bonding pattern in which bonds are formed between one male and one female is known as monogamy. Evolution is not always adaptive.Incidental non-adaptive byproducts are called spandrels. Mitochondria are energy generation structures that are located in the cytoplasm of every cell. Each chromosome has double stranded molecules known as DNA and each is a sequence of nucleot ide bases. Courtship displays are thought to be important because the premote the evolution of new species. Chapter 3- CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord. PNS is located outside the skull and spine and serves to bring info to the CNS and carry signals out of the CNS. PNS: Somatic Nervous System – Afferent nerves (sensory) Efferent nerves (motor).Autonomic Nervous System- Sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves and both nerves are efferent. Sympathetic – thoracic and lumbar, â€Å"fight or flight,† second stage neurons are far from the target organ. Parasympathetic – cranial and sacral, â€Å"rest and restore,† second stage neurons are near the target organ. All nerves are efferent. Sympathetic and parasympathetic generally have opposite effects. Two stage neural paths, neuron exiting the CNS synapses on a second stage neuron before the target organ. Protective mechanisms of the CNS – bone (brain & spinal cord), meninges (protective m embranes), cerebrospinal fluid, and blood brain barrier.CNS encased in bone and covered by three meninges: dura mater- tough outer membrane, arachnoid membrane – web like, pia mater – adheres to CNS surface. Ventricles & spinal cord – contain spinal fluid, cushion against mechanical shock, delivery of hormones, delivery of nutrients. Cerebral Vascular system – delivery of nutrients (glucose, thiamine), delivery of hormones (communication), thermoregulation (maintain temperature), blood brain barrier. Two Types of Cells in Nervous System: neurons – transmit electrical and chemical signals, different types of neurons.Glia – different types, different functions. Neurons – specialized cells for the reception, conduction and transmission of electrochemical signals AND many sizes and shapes. Neurons-messengers-release of chemical that forms communication with other neurons. Semi-permeable membranes – uncharged molecules; move freely across membrane, a few charged molecules (sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride) move through channels, lipids (fat molecules) are key components of the membrane, protein molecules are the key components of ion channels.Glial cells (forgotten cells): glial cells – support neurons, recent evidence for glial communication and modulatory effects of glia on neuronal communication. Types of glial cells: oligodendrocytes- extensions rich in myelin create myelin sheaths in CNS. Schwann cells- ssimilar to function of oligodendrocytes but in PNS, can guide axonal regeneration. Astrocytes- largest glia, star shaped, many functions. Microglia- involved in response to injury or disease. Radial glia- form temporary network to facilitate neural migration.Phagocytic microglia in the flat-mounted inner retina of the rat following transection of the optic nerve – the neurons were axotomized and retrogradely labelled with the fluorescent dye, Due to the membranophilic property of the dye, microglial cells became transcellularly stained after phagocytosis of 4Di-10ASP-labelled neuronal debris. Inside the phagocytes, incorporated membranes are accumulated in phagosomes, which are detectable even years after the neuronal injury. Golgi stain – allows for visualization of individual neurons and general shapes.Nissl stain – selectively stains cell bodies; permits quantification of cell bodies. Electron microscopy – details of neuronal structure. Neuroanatomical Tracing Techniques: Anterograde(forward)- tracing to where axons project away from an area. Retrograde (backward)- tracing from where axons are projecting into an area. Contralateral–opposite side. Ipsilateral – same side. Gray matter – inner component, primarily cell bodies. White matter – outer area, mainly myelinated. Forebrain: Cerebral hemispheres & Cortex, Hippocampus, Basal ganglia, Thalamus, Hypothalamus.Midbrain: Tectum, Tegmentum, Superior Colliculus, Inferior colliculus, Substantia nigra. Hindbrain: Pons, Cerebellum, Medulla axons. Chapter 4: Membrane potential: difference in electrical charge (charged particles or ions) between inside and outside of cell. Resting membrane potential: Resting membrane potential is about –70 mV, Potential inside of the neuron is 70 mV less than that outside of the neuron, When difference in potential exists, the membrane is said to be polarized (carries a charge). Ions move in/out through ion-specific channels. Potassium (K+) and Chloride (Cl-) pass readily.Sodium (Na+)-little free movement across membrane. Negatively charged proteins (A-)– Synthesized within the neuron, Found primarily within the neuron, A-don’t move at all, trapped inside. Binding of neurotransmitters to receptors causes changes in the electrical charge. Depolarizations (membrane potential less negative) result in excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). Hyperpolarizations (membrane potential more negativ e) result in inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs). Threshold of activation (-65 mV) must be reached near the axon hillock.Spatial summation : Adding or combining individual signals (PSPs) happening at different places into one overall signal. Temporal summation: Adding or combining individual signals (PSPs) happening at different times into one overall signal. Synthesis, Packaging, and Transport of Neurotransmitter Molecules- The chemical signal: Neurotransmitter molecules — Small; Synthesized in the terminal button and packaged in synaptic vesicles. Large; Assembled in the cell body, packaged in vesicles, and then transported to the axon terminal.Major Events in Neurotransmission– The arrival of an AP at the terminal opens voltage-activated Ca2+ channels, The entry of Ca2+ causes vesicles to fuse to the presynaptic membrane and be released into the synaptic cleft. Exocytosis – the process of NT release. Glutamate – Most prevalent excitatory neurotr ansmitter in the CNS. Astrocytes appear to communicate and to modulate neuronal aactivity. Chapter 15: â€Å"Addicts† are those who continue to use a drug despite its adverse effects on health and social life . Most addictive drugs target dopamine pathways and other NTs.Psychoactive drugs – drugs that influence subjective experience and behavior by acting on the nervous system: In order for a psychoactive drug to have an effect, it must get to the brain – it must pass through the blood-brain barrier, Action of most drugs terminated by enzymes in the liver – drug metabolism, Small amounts may also be excreted in urine, sweat, feces, breath, and mother’s milk. Alcohol: A depressant. Marijuana: Cannabis sativa – common hemp plant. Medicinal Uses of Marijuana: Treats nausea, Blocks seizures, Dilates bronchioles of asthmatics, Decreases severity of glaucoma.Reduces some forms of pain. †¢ Drugs influence availability of neurotransmitters. â⠂¬â€œ Agonist – if drug mimics or enhances NT– Antagonist – if drug inhibits NT aactivity. – Affinity – if drug binds to a receptor. – Efficacy – its tendency to activate the receptor. Relapse – priming doses (prefrontal cortex), drug associated cues (amygdala), and stress (hypothalamic stress circuits). Chapter 5: MRI ? High resolution images. ? Constructed from measurement of waves that hydrogen atoms emit when activated within a magnetic field. PET scan ?Provides images of brain aactivity ? Scan is an image of levels of radioaactivity in various parts of one horizontal level of the brain ? A radiolabeled substance is administered prior to the scan. Chapter 6: Light enters the eye through the pupil, whose size changes in response to changes in illumination. Sensitivity – the ability to see when light is dim. Acuity – the ability to see details. Lens – focuses light on the retina. Ciliary muscles alter the shape of the lens as needed. Accommodation – the process of adjusting the lens to bring images into focus.Myopia – nearsightedness – inability to bring distant objects into focus; eyeball too long or cornea too curved; focal point of light falls short of the retina. Hyperopia – farsightedness – inability to focus on near objects; eyeball too short or lens too flat; focal point of light falls beyond the retina. Presbyopia – oldsightedness – lens loses elasticity; unable to refract light; most people over 50. Convergence – eyes must turn slightly inward when objects are close. Binocular disparity – difference between the images on the two retinas.Light passes through ganglion and bipolar cell to visual receptors and then†¦? Photoreceptors (rods and cones)? Horizontal cells? Bipolar cells? Amacrine cells? Retinal ganglion cells? Axons of the ganglion cells leave the back of the eye as the optic nerve. Cones: Photopic (daytime) vision. High-acuity and color information in good lighting. Concentrated in the fovea. ? Rods: Scotopic (nighttime) vision. High-sensitivity, allowing for low-acuity vision in dim light, but lacks detail and color information. Found only in the periphery.Rods: High convergence increased sensitivity, decreased acuity. Cones: Low convergence ? less sensitivity, increased acuity. Fovea: high acuity area at center of retina. Optic nerve is made up of axons of ganglion cells. We continually scan the world with small and quick eye movements – saccades. Transduction – conversion of one form of energy to another. Receptive field: The area of the visual field within which it is possible for a visual stimulus to influence the firing of a given neuron. Most neurons in V1 are either ?Simple – receptive fields are rectangular with â€Å"on† and â€Å"off† regions, or all monocular ? Complex – also rectangular, larger receptive fields, respond b est to a particular stimulus anywhere in its receptive field and many are binocular. Chapter 7: Primary cortex–input mainly from thalamic relay nuclei †¢ Secondary Cortex – input mainly from primary and secondary cortex within the sensory system †¢ Association Cortex – input from more than one sensory system, usually from secondary sensory cortex. Sensation – detecting a stimulus †¢ Perception – understanding the stimulus.