Organisations - Contrast the Assumptions of Mainstream and Critical Approaches to studying Organisations Essay Example for Free

Organisations Contrast the Assumptions of Mainstream and Critical Approaches to studying Organisations Essay An organisation is a group of people intentionally organised to accomplish an overall, common goal or set of goals. Business organisations can range in size from two people to tens of thousands. Organisations are complex phenomena and understanding them – either from the point of view of academic analysis or as a basis for practical attempts to change them – is also complex. It is obvious that organisations vary in a number of key ways, for example structures, cultures, personnel systems, and so on. There are several important aspects to consider about the goal of the business organisation. These features are explicit (deliberate and recognised) or implicit (operating unrecognised, behind the scenes). Ideally, these features are carefully considered and established, usually during the strategic planning process. Vision Members of an organisation often have some image in their minds about how the organisation should be working, how it should appear when things are going well. Mission An organisation operates according to an overall purpose, or mission. Values All organisations operate according to overall values, or priorities in the nature of how they carry out their activities. These values are the personality, or culture, of the organisation. Strategic Goals Organisations members often work to achieve several overall accomplishments, or goals, as they work toward their mission. Strategies Organisations usually follow several overall general approaches to reach their goals. Systems and Processes that (hopefully) are aligned with achieving the Goals Organisations have major subsystems, such as departments, programmes, divisions, teams, etc. Each of these subsystems has a way of doing things to, along with other subsystems; achieve the overall goals of the organisation. Often, these systems and processes are defined by plans, policies and procedures. How you interpret each of the above major parts of an organisation depends very much on your values and your nature. People can view organisations as machines, organisms, families, groups, etc. The study of organisations draws on a number of disciplines: Economics Classical economics viewed the firm as a single decision-unit engaged in maximising profits. It ignored the possibility of conflict between owners, managers and employees. The obsession with competition failed to take into account the other goals which may take precedence in organisations. Organisation theory partly owes its existence to a reaction against such simplistic ideas. It became necessary to understand behaviour which seemed in classical terms to be irrational. Psychology Psychology is a wide-ranging subject. Early psychologists provided an insight into individual behaviour within organisations particularly on aspects of motivation and leadership. The Hawthorne studies led to a realisation of the importance of social phenomena, such as the informal groups, group norms and conformity. Valuable as these micro-level studies were, they only compounded to the issue by making it difficult understand the link between the behaviour of individuals and the structure of the organisation in which they worked. Sociology Organisational sociologists took a wider perspective, setting the organisation within its environmental framework specifically in relation to society and its institutions. Some sociologists have examined formal organisational structures, particularly in relation to technology. Dating from Webers early work on bureaucracy, sociologists have taken a particular interest in non-profit making organisations. Organisations as Systems (Systems or Mainstream Theory) Mainstream Organisational theory thinks of organisations as systems. Simply put, a system is an organised collection of parts that are highly integrated in order to accomplish an overall goal. The system has various inputs which are processed to produce certain outputs, which together, accomplish the overall goal desired by the organisation. There is ongoing feedback among these various parts to ensure they remain aligned to accomplish the overall goal of the organisation. There are several classes of systems, ranging from very simple frameworks all the way to social systems, which are the most complex. Organisations are, of course, social systems. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. To explain, inputs to the system include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. These inputs go through a process where theyre aligned, moved along and carefully coordinated, ultimately to achieve the goals set for the system. Outputs are tangible results produced by processes in the system, such as products or services for consumers. Another kind of result is outcomes, or benefits for consumers, e. g. , jobs for workers, enhanced quality of life for customers, etc. Systems can be the entire organisation, or its departments, groups, processes, etc. Feedback comes from, e. g. , employees who carry out processes in the organisation, customers/clients using the products and services, etc. Feedback also comes from the larger environment of the organisation, e. g. , influences from government, society, economics, and technologies. Each organisation has numerous subsystems, as well. Each subsystem has its own boundaries of sorts, and includes various inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to accomplish an overall goal for the subsystem. Common examples of subsystems are departments, programs, projects, teams, processes to produce products or services, etc. Organisations are made up of people who are also systems of systems of systems and on it goes. Subsystems are organised in a hierarchy needed to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. The organisational system is defined by, e. g. , its legal documents (articles of incorporation, by laws, roles of officers, etc. , mission, goals and strategies, policies and procedures, operating manuals, etc. The organisation is depicted by its organisational charts, job descriptions, marketing materials, etc. The organisational system is also maintained or controlled by policies and procedures, budgets, information management systems, quality management systems, performance review systems, etc. One of the most common ways at present is to look at organisations is as organisational systems. This view is becoming more common among professionals who study, teach and write about organisations. Practitioners who work with organisational management to improve organisations also tend to view organisations as systems so it has been termed the mainstream approach. Note that machines, organisms, persons, groups, families, family dynasties are all systems, too. Probably everyone in the workplace has their own conception of what organisation means. As with most highly complex terms, everyone is right and everyone is wrong. The concept of organisational culture is much like an organisational personality. Organisations, like people, have life cycles. Many people view organisational learning much like we view organisms to be learning. Organisations can accumulate and manage knowledge as well. There are a variety of books that describe other traits of organisations much like traits of people, e. g. , depressed organisations, addictive organisations, etc. David Needle makes two important points about the dynamics and determinants of organisational structure and functioning: organisations are not simple unitary, consensual entities where everyone agrees on and focuses on shared organisational goals but where sectional, group interests and viewpoints exist and flourish. And although in many ways organisations are the most rational entities ever created where managers and employees strive to make sensible decisions about purposes and to design organisations and processes that efficiently achieve these purposes, in reality irrational forces also play a major role (Salaman, 2001). Setting organisational goals is a complex process whereby both external factors and internal politics need to be taken into consideration. As such, the system is highly dynamic and changes in the goals will occur with changes in the external environment, such as market demand, technology and government policy, as well as changes that take place between interest groups within the organisation e. g. , sales and production departments. A number of goals may operate at any one time. These may conflict, but in general the goals of a business follow closely those of the dominant coalition (Needle, D; Salaman 2001). A change in ownership or top management is likely to lead to a shift in emphasis of the firms operations too. The culture of an organisation refers to those factors which enable us to distinguish one organisation from another and are the product of its history, management, operating environment, technology, goals and so on. More recently the notion of organisational culture has been used in a more positive way and a set of principles have been developed which mark out the culture of a successful company from that of an unsuccessful one (Needle, D: Salaman, 2001). The goals, structure, patterns of ownership and size of an organisation both reflect and are reflected in its culture. The importance of the organisational culture is that it sets the scene for the determination of strategy and hence the operational aspects of organisational life. Mainstream organisation theory has attracted critical attention. Thompson and McHugh (Salaman, 2001), for example, have argued that there is a tendency for a narrow management plus psychology perspective which has little to do with real-life enterprises. In an attempt to produce a science of organisations, the main focus has been on identifying generalisations about behaviour in work situations and applying them to all organisations, regardless of their nature. In particular, theorists have paid scant attention to the differences between organisations which are subject to market forces and those which are not. Thompson and McHugh contend that it is not meaningful to treat organisations as diverse as scout troops and transnational companies within the same analytical framework and using the same domain assumptions (Salaman, 2001). This has been termed the critical approach. Let’s look into the critical approach a little more.

Everyone and No One: Jorge Luis Borges and Shakespeare Essay -- Literar

â€Å"I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities that I have visited, all my ancestors . . . Perhaps I would have liked to be my father, who wrote and had the decency of not publishing. Nothing, nothing, my friend; what I have told you: I am not sure of anything, I know nothing . . . Can you imagine that I do not even know the date of my death?† (â€Å"Borges-Quotations†) The work of Jorge Luis Borges has been the subject of much literary criticism and research. Scholars have spent entire lifetimes attempting to pinpoint the meaning of his works. The fact that many of them use the above quote to do so sums up the enigma of Borges; the quote most likely to be used to explain him cannot be authenticated. In seventy-four short stories, over one hundred sonnets and thousands of essays, reviews, lectures, literature introductions and notes, the quote found in many quote collections and in an abundance of papers on the author may not be his words at all. Far from this paradox disproving any theories on the themes and intentions of Borges, the very fact that writers continue quote to quote this passage illustrates his thoughts on memory, identity and authorship perfectly. Memory is malleable and transferrable. Memory is identity. Authorship is identity. Therefore, authorship is memory and is malleable and transferrable. There is no defining work from Borges defining these themes. Even to apply them to his fictions, one must absorb them all. The fictions of Borges are brief, many as short as three pages. One of these (at eight pages) was the last story he wrote, Shakespeare’s Memory. Published after his death in 1986, he touc... ...inberger. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999. 463-472. Print. Paul M. Willenberg. â€Å"The Garden of Jorge Luis Borges.† Swarthmore University. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. â€Å"The Eccentric Borges: Two UCL Analyses.† University College London. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. Richard Burgin. Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969. 26-27. Print. .Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access. Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication. Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." Selected Poems. New York: Dover, 1991. 12-19. Print.

How is Conflict Portrayed in the Poems in the Conflict Section? Essay

The nature of conflict is a clash or coming together. There are many different types of conflict; it can come in varying scales of size and intensity. For example something which starts off as a family feud may end up as a World War. We can look at the causes of conflict, what actually happens or the effects. Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ paints a picture of the glory and honour of soldiers in battle as it happens. It describes an incident during the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. Sheers’ ‘Mametz Wood’ focuses on the aftermath and futility of war. Hughes’ ‘Hawk Roosting’ looked at the causes of conflict, someone who has power but wants more and does not think about the effects of what they are about to do on others. Another poem by Hughes is ‘Bayonet Charge’ where there is a soldier in battle trying to escape from getting shot. Tennyson’s poem observes the battle from a distance as if he had a good viewpoint. He was not a participant like the poems of Wilfred Owen or Rupert Brook who wrote their poems and died in the trenches of the First World War. Tennyson sets the scene of battle and creates the atmosphere for ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by the form and structure of the poem. The six stanzas have a clear and powerful dactylic rhythm, representing the galloping hooves of the horses as they race into battle. The reader is carried along with the flow of the poem and the energy of the battle, which is emphasised by repetition, from the first two lines of the first stanza of the poem: â€Å"Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward.† A sense of involvement is created for the reader by repetition such as â€Å"cannon† suggesting the relentless assault from all sides â€Å"Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them, Cannon in front of them† which emphasises the dangers faced by the cavalry and their great bravery. The contrast could not be greater in ‘Mametz Wood’. Although both poems are written in the third person there is a sense of detachment and distance within this poem as Sheers reflects on a futile battle. There is no immediacy of involvement. Whereas the rhythm carries you along in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, the conflict in ‘Mametz Wood’ is between past and present. The poem switches between the death of the soldiers in battle and the grisly discovery of their skeletons in the present. â€Å"Twenty men buried in one long grave† is contrasted with the present gentleness and vision of rolling countryside. A sad and reflective feeling is created through the use of a three-line stanza, long sentences and enjambment â€Å"their skeletons paused mid dance-macabre/ in boots that outlasted them†. The breaks between stanzas give the reader opportunity to reflect on the line of soldiers who their arms linked in a shallow grave – perhaps as a joke by those that buried them. Unlike in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, you are given no indication of the actual conflict which occurred, just some of the results. Pathos is emphasised by boots outlasting the men. Both poems memorialise unnecessary carnage. Both events which they are based on were directly the result of poor leadership. â€Å"Someone had blunder’d† in the decision to attack in the Battle of Balaklava but Tennyson emphasised that taking orders is honourable. â€Å"Theirs was not to reason why, / Theirs was but to do and die†. In ‘Mametz Wood’, criminal stupidity of orders â€Å"to walk, not run† made them sitting targets. Both poet’s honour loyalty and obedience where young, amateur and untrained soldiers died in their hundreds without questioning the orders they had been given. With over two hundred men â€Å"storm’d at with shot and shell† with the alliteration suggesting flying bullets in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, the soldiers in ‘Mametz Wood’ were mown down by â€Å"nesting machine guns†, a powerful oxymoron which gives the machine guns naturalness they do not deserve. In ‘Hawk Roosting’ however conflict is created by the hawk thinking that he is the King of the world and can do anything he likes. The vivid imagery emphasises the barbarity and senselessness of war with death being inevitable. The language used in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ creates a strong sense of the violence. Without questioning orders, 600 soldiers are ‘plunged in the battery-smoke’ whilst all around them cannons ‘Volley’d and thunder’d’ as they obeyed commands and plunged into the â€Å"valley of death†, â€Å"jaws of Death† and â€Å"mouth of Hell† which suggests a predator waiting patiently to eat its prey. By using such powerful verbs, metaphors and personification the image of the battle and the hopelessness of the situation faced is portrayed vividly. However Tennyson glorifies soldiers and praises their strength and courage â€Å"Boldly they rode and well†. In ‘Mametz Wood’, Sheers emphasises human frailty, seeing a life as it passes fleetingly in the passage of time. The colours and textures highlight this. The metaphors â€Å"broken bird’s egg of a skull† and ‘the china plate of a shoulder blade’ represent frailty. In ‘Mametz Wood’ the earth is personified as someone who needs healing. The farmers â€Å"tended† the land creating an image of something which needs nursing back to health. A link is made in the fourth stanza with a simile where the emergence of the bones from the soil is â€Å"like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin†. Unlike â€Å"Death† and â€Å"Hell† the earth guards the dead soldiers’ memories and bodies, protecting them until they are found. Earth is pushing them to the surface so that we don’t forget. This is also a reference that the soldiers were foreigners who should not have been in France. Although ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is a famous Tennyson poem I think ‘Mametz Wood’ is more powerful. They both describe real events and the horrors of conflict and show the class divisions between generals giving their orders and the men who follow them. There is an underlying message in both poems about the waste of life in war. The vivid picture of a charge on horseback and the courage of the Light Brigade are to be admired and honoured- not forgotten. However ‘Mametz Wood’ is more powerful in the way it reflects on the futility of war. It is quiet and thoughtful. There is no battle, just men walking to their death due to poor leadership. The emergence from the ground of delicate skeletons trying to yell out something but with â€Å"absent tongues† in their â€Å"socketed heads† suggests that the dead are trying to communicate with the living. Now we hear them, their message and their tragedy. The poem is a form of excava tion as it brings back through words an experience long forgotten. As people say on Remembrance Day every year: ‘We will Remember Them’.

Kahuna Cleaning Supply Essay

Collusion and cheating is considered to be a very serious issue and all assignments will be closely monitored to ensure that all students are submitting their own work. This ensures that all students are treated fairly and graded on their own knowledge and work. It is acceptable to discuss course content with others to improve your understanding and clarify requirements however you must not discuss the actual assignment solution and the solutions to assignment questions must be done on your own. You must not copy from anyone, including tutors and fellow students, nor provide copies of your work to others. Assignments that do not adhere to this requirement will be deemed as being the result of collusion or cheating. This may lead to severe academic penalties as outlined in the Student Academic Regulation Misconduct policy found at. It is your own responsibility to ensure the integrity of your work. It is recommended that you use passwords to protect your files and ensure that others a re unable to access your work. All assignments must be submitted in electronic form via the link on the Study Desk by the due date. Ensure that you read the extension guidelines for this course as posted onto the course Study Desk. Only requests that fall within the specified guidelines will be considered. Do not assume that all extension requests will be approved.

Lord of the Flies - A Brief Overview essays

Lord of the Flies - A Brief Overview essays In the novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys are left on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. When the boys first arrived, the island was such a beautiful place to be; a place of peace. Jack thinks he is the leader because he is the oldest and can do things the other kids cannot. Ralph is somewhat mature, but is still childish in the beginning of the novel. Throughout chapters one through three of the novel, there are conflicts between the island, Jack's society level, and Ralph becoming more In chapter one of this novel, the island seems to be so beautiful with its natural beauty, but that quickly begins to change when the boys arrive and turns into a place of destruction. For example, Chpt. 1 Pg. 9 states, "The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air." This description of the island gives you an idea of how peaceful and gorgeous this non-existing place is. Slowly but surely, the island becomes the opposite when the boys begin to search and discover things. As Ralph, Simon, and Jack begin to climb up the mountain, they discover a massive rock; the size a small motor car. The boys scream, "Heave!" and the great rock loitered, poised on one toe, decided not to return, moved through the air, fell, struck, turned over, leapt droning through the air, and smashed a deep hole in the canopy of the forest. Echoes and birds flew, white and pink dust floated, the forest further down shook as with the passage of an enraged monster: then the island was still, states in Chpt. 1 Pg. 28. This was the human impulse of the 3 boys. They saw a rock, reacted, and nearly destroyed half the island. Another incident in which makes the island more destruction than beauty is when Jack and Ralph start a fire on top of the mountain. It states in Chpt. 2 Pg. 41, "Jack knelt too and blew ...

Habitat Loss, Fragmentation, and Destruction

Habitat Loss, Fragmentation, and Destruction Habitat loss refers to the disappearance of natural environments that are home to particular plants and animals. There are three major types of habitat loss: habitat destruction, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation. Habitat Destruction Habitat destruction is the process by which natural habitat is damaged or destroyed to such an extent that it no longer is capable of supporting the species and ecological communities that naturally occur there. It often results in the extinction of species and, as a result, the loss of biodiversity. Habitat can be destroyed directly by many human activities, most of which involve the clearing of land for uses such as agriculture, mining, logging, hydroelectric dams, and urbanization. Although much habitat destruction can be attributed to human activity, it is not an exclusively man-made phenomenon. Habitat loss also occurs as a result of natural events such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and climate fluctuations. Although habitat destruction primarily causes species extinctions, it can also open up new habitat that might provide an environment in which new species can evolve, thus demonstrating the resiliency of life on Earth. Sadly, humans are destroying natural habitats at a rate and on spatial scales that exceed what most species and communities can cope with. Habitat Degradation Habitat degradation is another consequence of human development. It is caused  indirectly by human activities such as pollution, climate change, and the introduction of invasive species, all of which reduce the quality of the environment, making it difficult for native plants and animals to thrive. Habitat degradation is fueled by a fast-growing human population. As the population increases, humans use more land for agriculture and for the development of cities and towns spread out over ever-widening areas. The effects of habitat degradation not only affect native species and communities but human populations as well. Degraded lands are frequently lost to erosion, desertification, and nutrient depletion. Habitat Fragmentation Human development also leads to habitat fragmentation, as wild areas are carved up and split into smaller pieces. Fragmentation reduces animal ranges and restricts movement, placing animals in these areas at higher risk of extinction. Breaking up habitat can also separate animal populations, reducing genetic diversity. Conservationists often seek to protect habitat in order to save individual animal species. For example, the Biodiversity Hotspot program organized by Conservation International protects fragile habitats around the world. The groups aim is to protect biodiversity hotspots that contain high concentrations of threatened species, such as Madagascar and the Guinean Forests of West Africa. These areas are home to a unique array of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Conservation International believes that saving these hotspots is key to protecting the planets biodiversity. Habitat destruction is not the only threat facing wildlife, but it is quite likely the greatest. Today, it is taking place at such a rate that species are beginning to disappear in extraordinary numbers. Scientists warn  that the planet is experiencing a sixth mass extinction that will have serious ecological, economic, and social consequences. If the loss of natural habitat around the globe does not slow, more extinctions are sure to follow.

Gis mobile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Gis mobile - Essay Example â€Å"Outdoor enthusiasts, geocachers and anyone looking for adventure will love the eTrex. It combines intuitive, easy-to-use features and a rugged exterior into a lightweight package that is only 10 cm high and 5 cm wide. The result is a lightweight GPS navigator that will literally fit in the palm of your hand. You can operate your eTrex with just one hand using five buttons, which are located on either side of the eTrex within easy reach of your fingers. Thanks to its bright yellow case, the eTrex is easy to find in your boat or backpack. In addition, eTrex is IPX7 waterproof, so it can take an accidental splash or dunk in the water and continues to perform. One will notice that eTrex's 12-parallel channel GPS receiver locks onto satellite signals quickly and maintains accuracy, even in tough conditions. With eTrex, your adventure can last and last — up to 22 hours on just two AA batteries. While you roam, you can store up to 500 waypoints in memory for easy retrieval. Ju st enter the point you want to go to, and eTrex points you to your destination (no street or terrain maps). To get home, use Garmin's exclusive Trackback feature to reverse your track log and help you navigate back to your starting point† (, eTrex -). ... xamine the performance and accuracy in a specific area of Sliema in an effective way, these devices may come up with a question along with hypothesis. Collaboratively the group has decided on a question stating that the measurement of variability for satellite station amounts concluding that each individual GPS device implementation on various sample sites along with the features of whether the sample sites impede with the reception. AS GPS is defined as, â€Å"The Global positioning system is a satellite based radio navigation system provided by the United States department of defense. It provides unequalled accuracy and flexibility in positioning for navigation, surveying and GIS data collections. GPS is the shortened form of NAVSTAR GPS. This is an acronym for navigation systems with time and ranging global positioning system. One can easily locate oneself with respect to the objects that surround him and position oneself relative to them. But doing this in middle of a desert or in the middle of the ocean where there are no reference objects is a problem†. By considering these factors, we conclude that the hypothesis should highlight the expected expensive and high profile GPS receiver of Trimble Geo XH device. The device will facilitate to achieve increased amount of satellite stations at all the sites along with consistent rate of these satellites across the areas of sites. Although, analyzing the data we have collected until now in this initial stage, the hypothesis is turning out to be in correct in our case, therefore concluding that we have to analyze more. Day 2 In the second practical, we created a tourist map of Valletta with the illustration of places associated with war history in the town. The objective was to develop a multimedia illustration of