Plan to Improve Organizational Sturcture and Recapture Market Share Essay Example for Free

Plan to Improve Organizational Sturcture and Recapture Market Share Essay Over the past few years, WordPlay Greetings has experienced a sharp decline in market share as well has extremely high turnover of sales staff. The first major challenge discussed was the limited supply of items that are also sold to other national retailers and create competition against Word Plays smaller company owned and franchised stores. The second issue highlighted in our discussion was that operations have been inefficient which also leads to decline of profitability. WordPlay Management was fearful that high turnover of sales staff was a major cause of inefficient operations and stressed the importance of addressing this issue. Technological advances are certainly an issue that every industry must consider when trying to keep with or beat competitors. Online options for the greeting card industry have greatly advanced over the past few years offering ways to send expressions electronically and even customize them with photos and voices without having to leave home. It is critical revive WordPlays website and make stores more appealing to visit with new product lines and customization options that will attract customers and keep them coming back and telling others. Hiring and retaining talented and caring staff is goes hand in hand with keeping up with technology. Knowledgeable and caring sales people are just as important as the product. Developing an organizational culture that inspires and motivates will help spark new creative designs and product offerings for WordPlay Greetings. Bryce Dancetty has performed industry research, employee and market surveys, leading to job redesign, development of new marketing and product design teams, and improved organizational reward programs that aim at reducing turnover for WordPlay Greetings and getting them back on a path to profits. Introduction Bryce Dancetty Consulting has been working with WordPlay Greetings over the past several months to analyze their business, develop plans to reduce sales staff turnover, revive its product line, improve its organizational culture, and implement new programs that will motivate employees and enrich jobs and career paths. In this report we will review the methods used to collect data and form plans for change. Causes of Business Downturn WordPlay Greetings market share has seen sharp declines over the past few years. Company leaders concluded that causes for this problem stemmed from the limited supply of items that are also sold to other national retailers and create competition against Word Plays smaller company owned and franchised stores. An additional contributor to their decline was believed to be high turnover with in their sales division. WordPlay leaders agreed to work with Bryce Dancetty Consulting to look deeper in to these issues and how they could be resolved to help them regain market share and do better at hiring and retaining a highly skilled and motivated sales team. Bryce Dancetty Consulting employed the DECIDE Model which is based on statistical science to examine all aspects of the WordPlay business and its environment. The Decide Model allowed us to define the problem(s) and/or opportunities, along with objectives and constraints. Next, the possible decision factors that make up the alternative courses of action (controllable uncontrollable) are enumerated (given numeric values). Then, relevant information on the alternatives and possible outcomes is collected. The next step is to identify and select the best alternative based on chosen criteria or measures of success. Then a detailed plan to develop and implement the alternative selected is created and put in to effect. Last, the outcome of the decision process itself is evaluated. We addressed issues by performing a market research and analysis that focuses on the following questions: †¢How can Word Play develop products that are exclusive, unique and will help recapture a higher market share? †¢Can store hours be adjusted based on traffic flow and peak sales times in order to reduce labor costs and increase profitability? Are there colleges in the area that may have marketing and/or design students that would be willing to intern and help bring new/fresh product designs to Word Play Greetings? Research was done and information was gathered via surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups that Bryce Dancetty designed and assembled. Surveys and questionnaires provided a wealth of information quickly in a non-threatening manner. Most were completely anonymous and done at a very minimal cost. They were administered via mail as well as online. Feedback received via surveys concluded that Wordplay Greeting Cards current product line was being described as â€Å"stale† by former customers. This perception must be changed in order for the company to regain and increase its market share going forward. Focus Groups were utilized to explore topics related to operational efficiency, product design, marketing strategies, and common complaints regarding products to gain a more in-depth perspective on the best ways to increase market share and profitability. Focus groups yielded results that supported job redesign for the sales division, developing new product design and marketing teams, and creating an organizational culture that motivates and inspires. Sales Division and Sales Clerk Turnover Interviews of corporate employees as well as store staff were performed to better understand their impressions of the current state of the company, their experiences, and their ideas for improvement. From the information gathered, Bryce Dancetty provided a revised job description which is attached in the appendix for review. In addition to revising the job description for sales clerks, Bryce Dancetty made several recommendations that do not involve compensation adjustments that can also increase retention of sales staff for Wordplay Greetings. There is a significant need for WordPlay to increase feelings of participation within the organization. While allowing sales associates greater freedom in creating store displays, it is recommended that contests be incorporated to help motivate employees to put forth their best efforts. Allowing sales associates to take responsibility for deciding on how to put together displays is an example of vertically loading the job. Their autonomy increases and they feel more personal accountability for the outcome of their efforts (Hodgetts Heger 2008, pg. 306). Involvement in new product selections through the creation of employee focus groups is also highly recommended. The focus groups will be allowed to participate on conference calls and in web training to assist with selection of new products that will be carried in the stores and also learn how these choices impact the company financially. This feeds an employee’s desire to learn and grow in their career, knowledge, and skill (Heathfield 2012). A recent McKinsey Quarterly survey underscores this type of opportunity. Respondents felt that the chance to lead projects or task forces were often more effective at motivating than financial increases (McKinsey Quarterly 2009). Another way to build a connection within an organization and increase the sense of belonging that employees feel is to create a company newsletter. Newsletters helps share what is happening on a higher level by sharing hot company news being discussed by executives, sharing status on company goals, and stock standings. When there are multiple locations, newsletters help to share what is happening elsewhere and are a great way to share creative ideas, contest winners, and announce new contests. Employee Profiles can be included to highlight accomplishments both inside and outside of the company. The newsletter is also a great way to share benefit information, deadlines, health tips, and volunteer opportunities. Lastly, increased communication between employees and local as well as corporate management will be a key to retention of sales staff. Well-designed jobs anticipate the need for communication. Most employees want to know what is expected of them in the job, how they are doing, how they can improve, what latitude they have in changing how they do their tasks, what should be discussed with a supervisor and when the discussion should occur. Employees rarely complain about too much communication with their supervisor. They often want more communication (Hodgetts Heger 2008, pg. 306). The implementation of a regular newsletter as mentioned above will help with communication, however we are also strongly urging WordPlay Greeting Cards to provide a stronger line of communication via email that will allow employees to contact corporate offices more efficiently for feedback if they have concerns that are not being addressed at a local level and/or ideas that they want to share for improvement. Bryce Dancetty Consulting is confident that the revision of the sales clerk job description which increases responsibility and sense of participation will not only attract more applicants but also encourage company loyalty and lead to retention of a high quality sales staff that can be promoted in to management positions as the business grows. Job Enrichment Job enrichment is a way to motivate employees by giving them increased responsibility and variety in their jobs. Our plans for job enrichment will focus on allowing employees to have more control in planning their work and deciding how the work should be accomplished. Job enrichment efforts will include adding and clarifying: Skill Variety – the number of different types of skills used to do a job. This is important because using only one skill to do the same task repeatedly can get very boring. When employees get bored productivity decreases over time. Task Identity – A matter of realizing a visible outcome from performing a task. Being able to see the end result of the work they do is an important motivator for employees. This can be accomplished through Job Enlargement. WordPlay will move towards this goal by adding more tasks and responsibilities to existing jobs. To illustrate this concept – a customer service representative will follow a client’s issue from start to finish (phone inquiry through problem resolution). Customer service reps will be given greater access and authority to make account/claim adjustments so that fewer inquiries need to be escalated. They will be able to take pride in knowing they solved a problem themselves and customer satisfaction is also sure to increase. Task Significance – How a job impacts others in the organization. If this is clearly defined, employees will make greater efforts to do their best.

Cold Sassy Tree :: essays research papers

Cold Sassy Tree   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Cold Sassy Tree† reminds me of a soap opera, only this movie ends. â€Å"Cold Sassy Tree† and soap operas relate to our everyday lives in many ways. Soap operas are very dramatic and full of events, just like this movie. A plethora of gossip also goes around in this small community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"Cold Sassy Tree† the setting is your general soap opera or an everyday â€Å"Little House on the Prairie†, only with more gossip and drama. I believe that the setting affects the viewer in a way which brought the viewer in closer to the characters, almost feeling as if you were in the movie. When viewing this movie, I personally felt a sense of closeness. I felt that I knew all the gossip of the town and that the small families let me into their everyday routines only to view from an outside position. The setting also affects the character greatly. Living in a small town makes it very easy to know every ones business. When you know everybody in your town you also seem to hide things or not be around everybody all the time, which is not possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Briefly, â€Å"Cold Sassy Tree† is about a small community, mostly made of women who love to gossip. One young woman marries secretly and runs off to have fun with her new husband, Mr. Blackeslee. Through-out the movie little scenes happen that do not play a big role in the overall plot. Near the end, Mr. Blackeslee gets very sick and his young wife, Love, tries her hardest to get him well. Mr. Blackseslee dies and it is hard for Love to overcome his death. Before he dies Love informs her husband that she is pregnant, which shocks him, for he had always wanted a son.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Do not judge a woman by her mistakes. This is only one of the major themes portrayed in this movie. Just as everyone makes mistakes, Love also made a few mistakes, which made all the women think of her as bad. Later, after Love’s husband had died, all the women began to be friendly to her, for they figured out she was more than what they thought. Another theme portrayed is, â€Å"what’s best is not always what you expect.† I believe in this theme, for when Mr. Blackseslee died, the viewer knew it was for the best. However, Love did not think that was how everything was going to be, she thought he would recover and be ok, then later realized this probably was best.

Literature: China Essay

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest known literary works. This Babylonian epic poem arises from stories in the Sumerian language. Although the Sumerian stories are older (probably dating to at least 2100 B.C.), it was probably composed around 1900 BC. The epic deals with themes of heroism, friendship, loss, and the quest for eternal life. Different historical periods are reflected in literature. National and tribal sagas, accounts of the origin of the world and of customs, and myths which sometimes carry moral or spiritual messages predominate in the preurban eras. The epics of Homer, dating from the early to middle Iron age, and the great Indian epics of a slightly later period, have more evidence of deliberate literary authorship, surviving like the older myths through oral tradition for long periods before being written down. As a more urban culture developed, academies provided a means of transmission for speculative and philosophical literature in early civilizations, r esulting in the prevalence of literature in Ancient China, Ancient India, Persia and Ancient Greece and Rome. Many works of earlier periods, even in narrative form, had a covert moral or didactic purpose, such as the Sanskrit Panchatantra or the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Drama and satire also developed as urban culture provided a larger public audience, and later readership, for literary production. Lyric poetry (as opposed to epic poetry) was often the speciality of courts and aristocratic circles, particularly in East Asia where songs were collected by the Chinese aristocracy as poems, the most notable being the Shijing or Book of Songs. Over a long period, the poetry of popular pre-literate balladry and song interpenetrated and eventually influenced poetry in the literary medium. In ancient China, early literature was primarily focused on philosophy, historiography, military science, agriculture, and poetry. China, the origin of modern paper making and woodblock printing, produced one of the world’s first print cultures.[1] Much of Chinese literature originates with the Hundred Schools of Thought period that occurred during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (769-269 BCE). The most important of these include the Classics of Confucianism, of Daoism, o f Mohism, of Legalism, as well as works of military science (e.g. Sun Tzu’s The Art of War) and Chinese history (e.g. Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian). Ancient Chinese literature had a heavy emphasis on historiography, with often very detailed court records. An exemplary piece of narrative history of ancient China was  the Zuo Zhuan, which was compiled no later than 389 BCE, and attributed to the blind 5th century BCE historian Zuo Qiuming. In ancient India, literature originated from stories that were originally orally transmitted. Early genres included drama, fables, sutras and epic poetry. Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas, dating back to 1500–1000 BCE, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas (vedic collections) date to roughly 1500–1000 BCE, and the â€Å"circum-Vedic† texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BCE, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.[2] The period between approximately the 6th to 1st centuries BC saw the composition and redaction of the two most influential Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, with subsequent redaction progressing down to the 4th century AD. In ancient Greece, the epics of Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, and Hesiod, who wrote Works and Days and Theogony, are some of the earliest, and most influential, of Ancient Greek literature. Classical Greek genres included philosophy, poetry, historiography, comedies and dramas. Plato and Aristotle authored philosophical texts that are the foundation of Western philosophy, Sappho and Pindar were influential lyrical poets, and Herodotus and Thucydides were early Greek historians. Although drama was popular in Ancient Greece, of the hundreds of tragedies written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors still exist: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The plays of Aristophanes provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, the earliest form of Greek Comedy, and are in fact used to define the genre.[3] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and author of the Faust books Roman histories and biographies anticipated the extensive mediaeval literature of lives of saints and miraculous chronicles, but the most characteristic form of the Middle Ages was the romance, an adventurous and sometimes magical narrative with strong popular appeal. Controversial, religious, political and instructional literature proliferated during the Renaissance as a result of the invention of printing, while the mediaeval romance developed into a more character-based and psychological form of narrative, the novel, of  which early and important examples are the Chinese Monkey and the German Faust books. In the Age of Reason philosophical tracts and speculations on history and human nature integrated literature with social and political developments. The inevitable reaction was the explosion of Romanticism in the later 18th century which reclaimed the imaginative and fantastical bias of old romances and folk-literature and asserted the primacy of individual experience and emotion. But as the 19th-century went on, European fiction evolved towards realism and naturalism, the meticulous documentation of real life and social trends. Much of the output of naturalism was implicitly polemical, and influenced social and political change, but 20th century fiction and drama moved back towards the subjective, emphasising unconscious motivations and social and environmental pressures on the individual. Writers such as Proust, Eliot, Joyce, Kafka and Pirandello exemplify the trend of documenting internal rather than external realities. Genre fiction also showed it could question reality in its 20th century forms, in spite of its fixed formulas, through the enquiries of the skeptical detective and the alternative realities of science fiction. The separation of â€Å"mainstream† and â€Å"genre† forms (including journalism) continued to blur during the period up to our own times. William Burroughs, in his early works, and Hunter S. Thompson expanded documentary reporting into strong subjective statements after the second World War, and post-modern critics have disparaged the idea of objective realism in general.

Does Divine Intervention Still Happen - 1742 Words

Does Divine Intervention Still Happen? The idea of divine intervention often appears in casual conversation, but the topic continues to puzzle most people. Most likely because the term â€Å"divine intervention† seems hard to define. Wikipedia defines it as such â€Å"a term for a miracle caused by a deity s supposed active involvement in the human world.† After the definition of the term is discovered, the conversation adapts into a more in depth discussion. It becomes a conversation about examples of this divine intervention. Such examples are found in the Bible stories which document a deity’s involvement in the world thousands of years ago, but one question remains: why are there so many accounts of divine intervention in Biblical times, but†¦show more content†¦However, what most individuals seek to find is the miracles that science cannot explain, the type of miracles that are not based on chance, miracles that anyone would hear about and have to say, â€Å"That was a miracle from heaven.† On an annual check up to the eye doctor my cousin, Megan, expected no more than maybe a change in prescription. The optometrist finished his normal routine, and instructed Megan to join him in a talk with her and her parents. Not thinking anything of the situation, my cousin casually walked out to meet her parents. The optometrist went on to say words usually only found in nightmares, â€Å"You have macular degeneration, and based on the severity of the disease you will lose your sight within the year.† Because of the severity and lack of advanced medical procedures, there was no cure or treatment of the disease. Megan and her family left the office feeling hopeless as they knew there was little reason to have hope. They relayed the awful news to their family and close friends, while requesting a favor of them.â€Å"Would you all join us this Sunday in a family fast, prayer, and blessing?† The family followed through with the favor. After the fast and prayer, my Uncle gave Megan a priesthood blessing, which is a special prayer in which the priesthood holder calls upon the power of God to ask for specific, important blessings. In this particular blessing, my uncle said with absoluteShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Epic Heroes 1270 Words   |  6 Pagesepic hero. Luck can be construed as the universe’s way of helping things along. Especially with the early polytheistic cultures, divine intervention was a large theme, and this can serve as the backbone of luck for the epic hero. Odysseus from the Odyssey is a prime example as Athena is a constant aid to him in his long journey home. Odysseus truly thrives from divine luck more than his own personal intelligence or bravery. To begin, Odysseus has extreme wit, but much of it is actually luck influencedRead MoreBeing a Hero1510 Words   |  7 PagesBeing a Hero Thesis: Despite his accomplishments and the glory associated with his life, Aeneas only achieves the status of hero through divine intervention, and this god-given position causes him just as much grief as it does splendor. What is a hero? We would like to think that a hero is someone who has achieved some fantastic goal or status, or maybe someone who has accomplished a great task. Heroes find themselves in situations of great pressure and act with nobility and grace. ThoughRead MoreThe s Argument For The Free Will1014 Words   |  5 Pagesa beginning and an end whereas God does not. Instead of residing in the present that is known by humans, God resides in an eternal present wherein God sees all things. Through this definition we see that God knows all things for the fact that he exists outside of time, his argument thus follows. Once we recognize that God is eternal and resides in this realm of an eternal present the idea that God has foreknowledge is no longer applicable. God therefore does have knowledge of the future, but notRead MoreDivine Intervention Between Aeneas And Aschises2082 Words   |  9 PagesIn the Aeneid, Virgil includes multiple aspects of divine intervention between Aeneas and many characters like Dido, Turnas, and Aschises. Many of these interactions seem like they determine the characters fate; but fate is predetermined. Aeneas has a prophecy, that he will found Rome and it will be a great Empire for hundreds of years. The goddesses Juno and Venus interfere with his journey multiple times, but in the end he does indeed found Rome, despite their interferences. This is strategicallyRead MoreThe Freedom Of The Will1425 Words   |  6 Pagesfreedom of the will. George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Pelagius were two philosophers that had an extensive debate over the freedom of the will. Hegel in his â€Å"Lectures on the Philosophy of History† presented that free will is completely based on a divine providence. In the other hand, Pelagius, founder of Pelagianism, explained an opposite view about what Hegel thinks in regards to free will. Hegel contributed in different fields including history, society, and the state. As the Internet EncyclopediaRead MoreThe Role of God in Miracles916 Words   |  4 Pagessupport life longer than expected -without God’s involvement. For a person of faith, the woman’s survival is seen as a miracle because it is an unlikely event that could have only occurred due to God’s purposeful intervention. I don’t believe in coincidences because every instance in life happens for a reason. I hold a belief that Jesus Christ has a will for me and that whatever stage in life I am at is where I am supposed to be. This is not to discredit the concept of free will; because humans are createdRead MorePredestination: Fact, Fiction, or Fate1726 Words   |  7 Pagesis a truth, they still have to follow the rules and laws. Examples of this are evident in the entire world with taxing, religious oppression laws, labor laws, and many other physical and intangible laws. The difference here is that some sort of faith or acceptance is vital if people want to understand what predestination really is. There are plenty of people that reject the idea because it tells people that the lives they live is not of their own decisions and that free will does not exist. AtheistsRead MoreComparsion of Voltaire and Gronniosaw ´s Philosophy Essay1492 Words   |  6 Pagesthe narrative techniques and the d istinctive features of the language used in both extracts. (Voltaire, Gronniosaw, A230, Assessment Guide, 2013) Compare and contrast the context of each text’s, philosophy and religion, and ask the question, ‘does divine providence and moral choice predetermine the pattern of our lives?’ Voltaire satirizes the philosophy of optimism using juxtaposition, and irony through the speeches of the philosopher Pangloss. The perspective of the novel Candide is third personRead MoreIncest, Murder, And Suicide1424 Words   |  6 PagesIncest, murder, and suicide; many readers regard Oedipus the King as a story of a tragic hero unable to alter his course of fate. Fate is defined as â€Å"a power that is believed to control what happens in the future† (Merriam-Webster). It is believed in Greek Mythology â€Å"that many aspects of a person’s life were determined by the three mythical women known as Fates. These were three sister goddesses that appeared in Greek and Roman mythology and were believed to have â€Å"spun out† a child’s destiny at birthRead MoreI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings1477 Words   |  6 Pagesherself throughout the book. In instances where the author is sharing her beliefs and philosophy, she is referred to as Maya Angelou. Chapters 18-21 What is the author s theory about peoples belief in divine intervention? The author’s theory about the peoples’ belief in divine intervention is that the poorest existence is attributed to God’s will, but as their materilistic life and styke get better, God descends the scale of responsibility at a consumerate speed. What revolutionary action