Monday, January 27, 2020

Features and Types of Organisational Structures

Features and Types of Organisational Structures Organisational Structure The organisational structure in any business is important. To survive, all organisations have to be able to accomplish tasks and this requires carrying out certain duties. Structure splits the tasks of the whole organisation into smaller and more practical chunks, and allocates them to sections of the organisation that are held responsible for its completion. It also ensures that all the different sections are coordinated and controlled in a way which it has to achieve something. For example, to distinguish the structure of Jaguar an organisation chart could be used; however this is a very crude representation of the organisation and does not show how the organisation communicates or the flow of work, which may be crucially necessary for it to succeed. I believe that Jaguar’s structure is a Product grouping; mainly because a Product grouping is most often established where an organisation has a number of specific product lines (in this case the different models/makes of vehicles). Usually in this sort of structure each individual section is operated separately giving it a number of advantages. For instance, everything in a certain product line is brought together in the one central area making it easier for communication and coordination. Due to Jaguar’s product development nature, such an advantage is especially relevant as it allows for a specific team to be able to convey information between each other much faster. It is, therefore, easier to understand the information as it is easier to understand the information as it is directly being talked about directly, rather than in a document where visualisation may be required. However a Product grouping also has disadvantages, for example, team members can become to foc used on their own product and lose sight of advances made in other product groups. Again this could pose a problem in an organisation like Jaguar as it could potentially cause disillusionment between product groups by group members choosing to use their own way to achieve objects instead of listening to information from group members out with their product group which could aid them. Centralisation is another key feature in the structure of an organisation. This underlines the locality of decision making in an organisation and through this develops an understanding of the authority and responsibility in the organisation. Everybody in an organisation has responsibility, but when it is used in terms of the structure it refers to those who have a larger effect on the overall managerial aspect. In Jaguar, for instance, it is assumed that the CEO (Commanding Executive Officer) is responsible for the performance of the company; at the next level down would be the marketing director, who would be held responsible for achieving marketing objectives and so on. In centralised structures decision making tends to be retained in the hands of a small number of people at the top of an organisation, while those that are decentralised, decision making authority is delegated. From my point of view I think that Jaguar is a decentralised, as decisions are made at a point closer to operational levels. By being able to make these important decisions closer to the operational aspect of the product groups it makes a decision on the problem at hand quicker to solve, and also develops leadership skills of those lower down in the organisation. It also frees up the top management to devote its attention to long term strategies, which a company like Jaguar has to take into account due to the constant changing market direction and the type of customer who is attracted to its products. Formalisation reflects the extent to which the formal rules and procedures govern activities in an organisation and, in particular whether the nature of the work is prescribed in rules that specify what shall be done and often how it will be done, rules and procedures can be implicit as well as explicit, and can be used to either prescribe what should be done or proscribe what is forbidden. To some extent increased formalisation is a function of organisational size. Once an organisation grows beyond a certain point it becomes almost impossible to rely on interactions used to control and coordinate a smaller company. For a larger company, such as Jaguar, there tends to be more specialists higher up in the hierarchy allowing it to focus more on the long term strategic issues. Thus procedures and rules become the main way of controlling activities and introducing a degree of predictability into the organisation (Mintzberg 1979). This is a large disadvantage for the smaller product group s within Jaguar as it means there is a larger degree of predictability into their activities as well as a large distance between the groups and the management level. Organisational culture is used to try and describe the experiences of people within the organisation. It usually describes their beliefs, habits, manners, self-image and they way tasks are undertaken. To current employees the culture within their organisation will go unnoticed. The culture within the organisation is important as it key to the company functioning at its best as well as developing leadership throughout the company. A key role for the culture of an organisation is to differentiate its own specialised culture from another organisation. From my point of view, I think that Jaguar has a Task culture. This is because the management could be seen as having a series of problems to be solved. For example, Jaguar may have to make new car models to keep up with new advances in car safety and new legal regulations, which would require a team to be formed and to deal with the problem. However this has a slight disadvantage in that the teams can become easily bored with predictability and repetitive tasks. To be successful a business must continually modify to its competitive background. There are certain central ideals which stay steady and provide a sense of direction in the decision making process. These unchanging ideals form the company vision and help in identifying the company’s mission. The mission conveys the belief s and objectives (vision for future), which is made up of three main elements: Values Purpose Objectives (Vision) The values and purpose together create the beliefs of the company and usually remain the same in the long term. The values central to a company are limited to a small number (usually no more than five). They reflect the principles of the organisation as a whole. One way to identify a value would be to see if it would stay the same if the organisations situation changed. It would be counted as a value if it did stay the same. Also, if the organisation changed into a different industry, the values that were carried over would be the central values. For instance, a central value that I believe Jaguar employs is innovation. Now, as unlikely as it may seem, if Jaguar was to change its market area and this key value was no longer an advantageous aspect of the company then it would be detrimental to the company. But if Jaguar were to change its market then I should change to one where its value of innovation would aid in Jaguar’s success. The purpose is the reason that the company exists. It is shown through the company’s mission. Similar to the company values, the purpose of the company is relatively unchanging and lasts for long periods of time. This purpose is what sets the organisation apart from similar organisations. Since the main priority of a company is to turn over a profit, however this should not be part of the company’s main mission as it does not offer a suitable path for employees to follow. For example, one of Jaguar’s purposes would be to provide excellent customer service when dealing with potential clients. This would be especially important to the management of the company as it would show how the whole company treats individuals and would also influence employees on how to treat others – not just with clients. Both the purpose and values are not directly selected but are exposed. The beliefs of the company should not be goal orientated but instead, it should reveal the company as it is The objectives (or vision) are what the higher management (such as the CEO of the company) decide to try and achieve. The vision dictates an objective that the company will set as a long term goal. This contradicts the central beliefs of the company as the vision is directly chosen. Due to the vision being long term goals, they are much more demanding than other goals. The organisation has to realise that there is a reduced chance of successfully achieving the vision, but to initially begin to compete these goals the company must believe the vision can be achieved. The goals should be challenging enough that it motivates staff into increasing efforts to reach them. The majority of visionary goals come under four main categories: Target – e.g. sales targets Common Enemy – e.g. overtaking rival companies in the market Role Model – e.g. to emulate companies of a similar type Internal Transformation – e.g. becoming number one company in the market Even though a company’s vision may take a large amount of effort to achieve, most companies that have employed a long term vision have become very successful. But once the goal has been achieved, a company which would like to continue its success usually employs a new vision to keep the organisation motivated. For instance, a long term vision that could be employed, especially for a car company such as Jaguar, would be to reduce the carbon footprint of the company. This would be seen as a long term goal as it would take a long amount of time to successfully convert from fossil fuels to renewable energy as well as to research new way in which to power cars cost effectively.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Essay --

Cloning Cloning may have many dangerous processes, reproductive cloning, the creating of a new organism, and cloning, the creation of a new tissues or other biological products such as food animals plants people and other stuff, which affects the human society which is not good at all. Scientists says cloning may benefit all men and women, religious leaders stress the idea of cloning to be a bad process that should never happen and they should get rid of the idea. Human cloning may serve as an aid to the children and parents with problems, cloning is not good at all to human life to see as a product to make money off or to be lazy. Humans reproductively and mentally give the idea of people becoming a product rather than a living human being. Taylor emphasizes that â€Å"reproductive cloning could also represent an enormous step in direction of transforming human procreation into human life†. In other words, reproductive cloning will create a world full of dolls that will remove every trace of living beings which is not a good thing to have. Though it is hard to believe the world becoming a doll house for each family, it has come to a conclusion that the ability of cloning and creating children is questioning everybody about cloning and how it will effect the world. what does it mean to be a human think about it. If it was not bad enough for this world to describe some of the people to be looked upon as nothing but a thing or be made fun of, cloning pushes the idea to a whole new level. By opening the door to things such as manipulation with doubles it could get really bad. Caplan states, as she despe rately explains the fear in cloning, â€Å"of wanting to be someone else, it can treat them as objects instead of person,† To even add ... ...ly fit into my research paper. This source was very helpful for me to use in my research. It shapes my argument because it’s got info about both sides so I can use them. This hasn’t changed what I think about my topic. 6. "A Plasmid Toolkit for Cloning Chimeric Cdnas Encoding Customized Fusion Proteins into Any Gateway Destination Expression Vector." n.d.: n. pag. Print. This source is a very useful source. It compares with the other articles because it’s about cloning. The information in the article is reliable. This source is objective. The goal of this source is to tell people what we don’t know about cloning. The text in this source could easily fit into my research paper. This source was very helpful for me to use in my research. It shapes my argument because it’s got info about both sides so I can use them. This hasn’t changed what I think about my topic.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

A Reflection of Faith Essay

A Reflection of Faith As I reflect upon my faith journey, I realize that like so many other â€Å"cradle Catholics,† I had become complacent. I was raised in a predominantly Catholic nation, by an Anglican mother and Catholic father. After being dutifully baptized into the church, I was set upon my path as any ‘good Catholic† should. Even though I attended Catholic girls’ school, my early days of catechesis consisted of Mass and Sunday school more as a ritual than an integral part of living my faith. I performed the rites of First Holy Communion and confession with no real understanding of my commitment and responsibilities. Confirmation was a spiritual fiasco, from which I almost did not recover. My parents did their best to provide a religious foundation for my siblings and me. In retrospect, they were probably ill-equipped to do so. My higher education and pursuit of my vocation have sometimes made it difficult for me to accept and conform to some simple dogmas of the church. I hold many strong personal views on many issues and have had considerable challenges applying the dogma to my personal life. I have always believed that God has a purpose for us all; my purpose was rather hazy until about seven or eight years ago. The illness and death of my mother at age 56, was a tremendous catalyst in my faith journey. I realized that in my vocational quest, I was not following Christ’s plan, moreover, I was trying to fit Christ into my plans. Consequently, my fervent observation of the Holy Days, abstinence form meat of Fridays in the early days, and unending serviced to my parish in the form of Eucharistic minister, Sacristan, and Catechist, were spiritually void. Once I truly succumbed to Christ and sought His path, my commitment to discipleship was fortified. When God provided me the privilege to serve at St. John, He facilitated a means for me to further enhance my own faith, and to impact that of students on a daily basis. This quote from 1 Timothy 4:12 â€Å"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe;† allowed me to embrace my vocation and truly see its gifts. I am called to live out my vocation in the classroom and positively communicate the doctrines of our faith. This, as well as additional Catechesis has taken my understanding of the â€Å"universal† church to new levels. I love each and every one of my students for his or her uniqueness and ability to motivate me to be the best example of Christ that I am able. I no longer focus on my personal flaws or on the â€Å"flaws† I once perceived in the dogma; but on each minor success I gain in the Christian values of my students. Now that my role in Catholic education has come full circle, I feel very blessed to be part of such a rich tradition of faith and discipleship. I passionately believe in my purpose as a Catechist and I know that God will continue to strengthen me as I continue to walk His path.

Friday, January 3, 2020

How to Combine Arrays in Ruby

What is the best way to combine arrays? This question is quite vague and can mean a few different things. Concatenation Concatenation is to append one thing to another. For example, concatenating the arrays [1,2,3] and [4,5,6] will give you [1,2,3,4,5,6]. This can be done in a few ways in Ruby. The first is the plus operator. This will append one array to the end of another, creating a third array with the elements of both. Alternatively, use the concat method (the operator and concat method are functionally equivalent). If youre doing a lot of these operations you may wish to avoid this. Object creation is not free, and every one of these operations creates a third array. If you want to modify an array in place, making it longer with new elements you can use the operator. However, if you try something like this, youll get an unexpected result. Instead of the expected [1,2,3,4,5,6] array we get [1,2,3,[4,5,6]]. This makes sense, the append operator takes the object you give it and appends it to the end of the array. It didnt know or care that you tried to append another array to the array. So we can loop over it ourselves. Set Operations The world combine can also be used to describe the set operations. The basic set operations of intersection, union, and difference are available in Ruby. Remember that sets describe a set of objects (or in mathematics, numbers) that are unique in that set. For example, if you were to do a set operation on the array [1,1,2,3] Ruby will filter out that second 1, even though 1 may be in the resulting set. So be aware that these set operations are different than list operations. Sets and lists are fundamentally different things. You can take the union of two sets using the | operator. This is the or operator, if an element is in one set or the other, its in the resulting set. So the result of [1,2,3] | [3,4,5] is [1,2,3,4,5] (remember that even though there are two threes, this is a set operation, not a list operation). The intersection of two sets is another way to combine two sets. Instead of an or operation, the intersection of two sets is an and operation. The elements of the resultant set are those in both sets. And, being an and operation, we use the operator. So the result of [1,2,3] [3,4,5] is simply [3]. Finally, another way to combine two sets is to take their difference. The difference of two sets is the set of all objects in the first set that is not in the second set. So [1,2,3] - [3,4,5] is [1,2]. Zipping Finally, there is zipping. Two arrays can be zipped together combining them in a rather unique way. Its best to just show it first, and explain after. The result of [1,2,3].zip([3,4,5]) is [ [1,3], [2,4], [3,5] ]. So what happened here? The two arrays were combined, the first element being a list of all elements in the first position of both arrays. Zipping is a bit of a strange operation and you may not find much use for it. Its purpose is to combine two arrays whose elements closely correlate.