Law Revision

She care for her own self interest and has not bring a new product opportunity to FAA Case: Re Come 191 1 Fact: A father had been assisted in his business by his second son. After the father's death, the mother transferred the business assets to that second son. After her death, the elder son sought the transfer Of those assets back into her estate, saying that in the absence of her having taken independent advice, the younger son's position brought an implication of undue influence.Director's fiduciary duties are owed only to the company, not to the individual share holders. Case: Percival v Wright 1902 Facts: Percival wished to sell his shares in the company and wrote to the company secretary asking if he knew f anyone willing to buy. After negotiations, the chairman of the board of directors arranged the purchase of 253 shares, 85 for himself and 84 for each of his fellow directors at a price based on Percival valuation of the shares. The transfers were approved by the board and t he transactions completed.Soon afterwards, Percival discovered that prior to and during the negotiations for the sale of his shares, another person was negotiating with the board for the purchase of the whole company and was offering various prices for shares, all of which exceeded the price paid to Percival. Percival then brought n action against the directors asking for the sale of his shares to be set aside for non-disclosure. Held: The directors are not trustee for the individual shareholders and may purchase their shares without disclosing that they are negotiating for the sale of the entire company.Fruity has not informed to the board of FAA when she set up a company called Cure Life Ltd (CLC) and become majority shareholder. Case: The board of trustees of the Saba Foundation & Or's v Dates Seed chick bin Seed Mohamed & nor [1 999] ‘A fiduciary is someone who has undertake to act for or on behalf of another in a particular tater in circumstances which give rise to a rela tionship of trust and confidence. The distinguishing obligation of a fiduciary is the obligation of loyalty. The principal is entitled to the single minded loyalty of his fiduciary†¦ This core liability has several facts.A fiduciary must act in good faith; he must not make for his own benefit or the benefit of a third person without the informed consent Of his principal. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but it is sufficient to indicate the nature of fiduciary obligations.. They are the defining characteristics of the fiduciary†¦ E is not subject to fiduciary obligations because he is fiduciary; it is because he is subject to them that he is a fiduciary. ‘ The key fide carry obligations of the directors are To act Boniface in the interest of the company Directors are required to act Boniface for the benefit of the company as a whole.The Act also imposes similar duty on directors: SSL 32 (1) Case: Re Lee Barrens Ltd [1932] Facts: A dispute arose over the purchase by the company of pension policies for the benefit of employees and their spouses. It was claimed that the particular policy issued was a misuse of the directors' power. Held: The judge set out a three part test for determining whether the directors were using their powers properly: (1) Was the transaction entered into in good faith? (2) Was the transaction reasonably incidental to the carrying on of the company's business? (3) Was the transaction done for the benefit of the company and to promote its prosperity? 1) No (2) NO (3) Yes TO exercise their power under the company's constitution for proper purpose Because directors are fiduciaries they can only exercise powers given to them for the purpose for which those powers were given and for no other purpose or which those powers were given and for no other purpose, and the exercise of a power for an improper purpose can be challenged even if the directors' good faith is not in question To avoid conflict of interest and not to profit from their position In the situation, Fruity has proposed FAA enters into a contract with CLC to buy supplies of the organic fruit drink product for resale.The board agrees and as part of the contract Fruity negotiates with the board that she will be paid RUMOR,000 commission because she drew the board's attention to this new product opportunity. The board of FAA did not know that Fruity is the majority shareholder of CLC. There is a conflict of interest between the two position Managing Director of Freshness Always Sad Bad and as the majority shareholder of CLC. Fruity also has set up the price for commission of RUMOR,OOH to draw attention towards the new product opportunity.Case: Aberdeen Railway co v Blaine Brose [1843-60] Facts: The railway company agreed to buy chairs from a partnership, Blaine Brose. Blaine, a member of the partnership was also a director of the company. When the partners tried to enforce the contract the company successfully claimed that the contra ct was avoidable owing to the director's conflict of interest. Held: Lord Charwoman said: â€Å"His duty to the company imposed on him the obligation of obtaining these iron chairs at the lowest possible price.His personal interest would let him in an entirely opposite direction – would induce him to fix the price as high as possible. This is the very evil against which the rule is directed. † A director has a duty not to make a personal profit out of his connection with the company. This rule applies even if no loss is suffered by the company. However, if he does he must count for the profit to the company. Fruity has make a personal profit in connection with FAA and CLC. The FAA may suffer no loss due to FAA makes large profits selling the organic green product.Case: Industrial Development Consultants Ltd v Cooley [1 972] Facts: The managing director of IDS attempted to secure a contract on Id's behalf with the Eastern Gas Board. KGB indicated to him that they were n ot prepared to deal with IDS but might be prepared to contract with the director (Cooley) personally. Cooley then represented to IDS that he was ill and was allowed to terminate his contract t short notice. He then negotiated with KGB and obtained the consultancy for himself. Held: He must account to IDS for the profit he obtained for the contracts.He was in breach of duty and it was immaterial that IDS could not have obtained the contract itself. Case: Cook v Deeds [1 91 6] Facts: Three directors of the Toronto Construction Co Ltd were supposed to be negotiating a construction contract on behalf of the company. Instead they formed another company and took the Contract for themselves. They were holders of 75% of the share capital of Toronto Construction, and used this charity to pass a resolution at general meeting that the company had no interest in the contract.Held: A director can normally keep a personal profit the company consents, but this consent is invalid if the director co ncerned controls the voting at general meeting. This was fraud on the minority. Section 131 (1) requires a director who is directly or indirectly interested in a contract with his company to declare promptly the nature of that interest at meeting of directors. Section 132(1) imposes a broad duty on directors at all the times to act honestly and exercise reasonable diligence in the exercise of heir power and the discharge of the duties of their office.This is based on a question of fact: case Yen Hinge enterprise Sad Bad v Dates Dry Eng pooh Aka [1 988] Regarding the extend of the meaning of â€Å"honesty', the case of Multi Pack Singapore pet Ltd ( In Receivership ) v Interact Ltd & Or's [1994] explains that this does not mean that the directors had acted fraudulently, it means that he must act bona fide in the interests of the company and that in exercising his creation, the director should act only to promote and advance the interest of the company'. Misuse of confidential inform ation

Religion and the Meaning of Life Essay

According to Frederich Nietzche, â€Å"A man who has a why to live can bear any how†. To me this statement provides massive insight into the human experience: all people need a purpose in life. As humans we need a constructive outlet through which we can invest our thoughts, emotions, efforts and energies. We need something to thrive for and strive toward. Religion, for many people provides this outlet in life in a most positive manner. It allows people to find themselves by losing themselves foremost. Religion encourages service to others, selflessness, forgiveness and ascetic values that allow people to displace personal prejudices and mental barriers that are roadblocks on the path toward self awareness and understanding. Religion teaches that human beings are direct creations of God. Due to this, the religious person places immense gravity into the definition of what it means to be human. To the religious person human life is sacred therefore all human beings are treated as if they are sacred entities. Dignity is vital to this experience and the religious person lives a decent life based largely on the fact that they find it a grave injustice to engage in dehumanizing acts. A dehumanizing act is any action that undermines the value of what it means to be human, and because human life to the religious person is sacred; treating other people and oneself with respect is part of the job description. Religious people also are heavily focused on remaining loyal to traditions and place heavy emphasis on the concept of togetherness through ceremonies, rituals and even celebrations. Religious people congregate and come together in a forum of mutual understanding of one another’s beliefs and values, and respect for the characteristics that make individuals unique. This is how religious institutions have survived throughout the ages. People of all sorts come together based on a mutual understanding of the same truths. The idea of coming together forms a family-like atmosphere that strengthens dynamics within individual households and strengthens interpersonal bonds among all people whom the religious person encounters. The religious person lives a life of kindness, simplicity and dignity highlighted by unity, loyalty and fairness. These concepts are vital to becoming a well integrated person which is the key component to finding one’s purpose and meaning in life. Once a person gains a sense of purpose, the other aspects of their lives fall into place based around what that person chooses to life for. When a person lives for their faith, their lives are based around morals that encourage reverence for all human beings and a genuine perceptive of righteousness. This is why religious people not only have a strong sense of self, but also have unshakable character based in a solid affection for mankind.

Rabbit Proof Fence †Help to Study Essay

While watching the movie, take notes and think about the following questions: 1. What is the history and context of the film? When is it set? In what genre is it? Is it based on a true story, a book? Is it fictional? True story. 2. How did the cameraman use specific angles, lighting and music in the film to indicate different moods? What did you notice about the camera angels as the girls became more threatened, for example? What happened to the music when the girls were trying to escape? The music is trying to sound like native music but with a modern feature. 3. What is the fence designed for? How does the fence function as a symbol? Why is the film titled rabbit-proof fence? 4. Very early on in the film, we see the eagle, Molly’s totem, her spirit bird. Her mother tells her the eagle will look after her. When does the bird appear again in the film and why? 5. Discuss Mr. Neville’s theory of eugenics. What were his policies and official duties? Is he a villain or is he a misguided idealist? Why are half-caste children seen as a problem? Think about Neville’s attitude toward the girls? Does it change over the course of the film? Give examples of words and actions that indicate this change. 6. The three children are not experienced actors. Do you find them convincing? Give your reasons. 7. What do you think are some of the film’s key themes and issues? Are these issues/themes effectively communicated through the film? 8. Finally, did you enjoy the movie? Either way, find examples and use descriptions to state your opinion.

Family Business essay on Estate planning Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Family Business on Estate planning - Essay Example For this purpose, the article Updating Systems Concepts in Family Businesses: A Focus on Values, Resource Flows, and Adaptability, which has been written by Brian Distelberg and Ritch L. Sorenson, has been selected in order to understand the issues surrounding family business and estate planning. Pollard Banknote Income Fund was founded in the year 1907. Located in Winnipeg, Canada, the organization started off as a commercial printing organization. During the seventies, it entered security printing and concentrated on the manufacturing of stocks, bonds, government bonds, etc. In the eighties, it again entered a new market and concentrated on producing lotteries for the government. For this purpose, Lawrence Pollard, the president of the organization, â€Å"mortaged everything he owned. He borrowed $5 million in 1985 to acquire the technology needed to turn his 77-year-old printing house into a lottery ticket printer† (Distelberg and Sorenson, 69). His organization further grew when his sons entered the family business, which is currently an international company. The business remained in the family. In the year 1947, Lawrence had joined the family business. He was invited by his father, who worked collaboratively with his two elder twin brothers (Distelberg and Sorenson, 69). Pollard worked hard in order to ensure that the organization flourished and grew in the advertisement industry as one of the leading printing companies. In the year 2005, â€Å"the organization went public and this strategy was based on strengthening the company’s commitment to the lottery industry and enhances its ability to continue to expand and compete† (Distelberg and Sorenson, 70). The control and power of the business still remains in the hands of the Pollard family. From research it is evident that a family business that remains in the family is the product of hard work, constant struggle,

Week 7 lab on human bones Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 7 on human bones - Lab Report Example Locate the spine and palpate along the edges with the subject recumbent, bony prominences would be felt. Easier in children and lean males (Sinnatamby). C7: relatively harder to locate and palpate, easier in adult, lean males, feels as the most prominent cervical spinous process, differentiated from C6 by its movement upon extension of the head (Sinnatamby). Curves of the spine: easy to locate and palpate in children and lean males, with the subject standing erect. Just following the spine would reveal its curves in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal regions, the last two regions being harder to locate and palpate (Drake, Vogl, and Mitchell). Several ribs: the upper ribs are easier to locate in males than in females, and overall easier to locate in lean people. They feel as bony arches alternating with shallow depressions (Moore). The sternocostal junction: once the sternum is located, the sternocostal junction is easy to locate by palpating at the edge of the body of the sternum, easier in lean males (Sinnatamby). Posterior to anterior palpation of ribs: relatively difficult to palpate individual ribs posteriorly than anteriorly. Easier in lean males. Start from the sides of the thorax and palpate along the arches till the body of the sternum (Drake, Vogl, and Mitchell). The 12th rib: relatively hard to locate. First locate the xiphoid process which is hard to palpate itself, then move along the edge to the hanging ribs. Tender in children. Much easier to locate in lean males (Moore). Jugular notch on manubrium: easier to locate, felt as a dip or a notch medially at the junction of the two clavicles. Easier in

African films Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

African films - Assignment Example The use of silence was a tool that disempowered women in the palace by not allowing them to speak about what was happening to them in their life. If they were forced into a behavior they did not want, they were expected to remain silent about the situation. If they were sick, they bore their pain in silence. The women knew what was going on in the palace, but were not allowed to talk to anyone about what they knew. If the woman was not married, the name of the father of any children was never uttered (Tlatti, 1994). The women were considered household slaves and were not allowed to leave the house, were expected to cook, clean, and perform any other duties, as requested by the family, without saying a word. They talked among themselves, but even that conversation was limited. Each woman had to bare her own burden in silence. The only way this silence could have been used to empower the women is if they would have been able to communicate with the outside world and then the family wou ld have had to pay them to keep quiet about the affairs of the palace. Sexual violence was included in the lives of these women, but none of them were allowed to have a voice in the situation. The women were not allowed to refuse, they could fight back until they were over powered, but the act would still take place if the man wanted it to happen (Tlatti, 1994). None of the other women were allowed to come to the aid of anyone being forced and the harm that was caused was not discussed by the victim. If medical attention was needed, a nurse was summoned. Demanding that a woman have an abortion is just as violent and results in death as other violent acts that can and have been performed on people in society. Making sure the slave/servant women remained in the home at all cost required that all births happened without any medical intervention (Tlatti, 1994). This could also be considered a form

Mutual Funds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mutual Funds - Essay Example similarly we can outline the concept of bonds. Bonds gives people chance to lend our money to the government or a company. We receive interest and principle back over pre-determined amount of time. We can say that bonds are the most common lending investments traded on the market. Other than shares and bonds there are other types of investments like real estate and precious metals but it is generally perceived that mutual funds mostly invest in stocks and bonds. Many definitions have written by people but essentially all dwell upon the same idea regarding its concept. So a mutual fund can be defined as a financial intermediary that allows a certain group of investors to pool their money together with a pre-determined investment objective. Here in mutual fund there exists a fund manager who trades the fund's underlying securities. He then can realize capital gains or loss and then collects the dividend. Whenever we invest in a mutual fund, we are buying shares of the mutual fund and thus in the process becoming a shareholder of the fund. After the dividend income is found, the investment proceeds are then passed to the individual investors. We then calculate the value of the share of the mutual fund which is known as net asset value. ... ies we can say that it is one of three types of investment companies in the United States and outside United States & Canada mutual fund can termed as generic word for various types of collective investments. Types of Mutual Funds There exist few common types of mutual funds and they are outlined as follows: Money Market funds, fixed income funds, equity funds or growth funds, balanced funds, global funds, specialty funds and index funds. Lets describe each of them briefly so as the understand the whole concept clearly. Monet Market Funds: These are generally perceived as low risk funds offering low returns. These are a type of mutual funds that invest in a short term debt securities of agencies like banks U.S Treasury bills. They have advantages of being widely used, low risk and highly liquid in nature. Fixed income funds It is a type of mutual funds which invest in debt securities like bonds and mortgages. The main goal is to provide the investors with regular income with low risk. Here in this type fund values fluctuate in response to changes in interest rates Equity Funds Equity funds are also called as growth funds. It invests primarily in common shares. The goal is to have long term growth because the value of the assets held usually increase over time. Some funds focus on blue chip companies and others on smaller companies. Balanced Funds It invests in a balanced portfolio of equities, debt securities with the goal of providing reasonable returns with low to moderate risk Global and foreign funds It is a type of mutual fund which may be fixed income or growth or balanced funds and which invest in foreign securities. Specialty funds It is a type of mutual fund which invests primarily in a specific geographic location or a specific

Rainwater Harvesting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Rainwater Harvesting - Essay Example The first flush is the device that flushes off the water that is received in the first shower while filters remove silt, leaves, dust, and other organic matter to prevent them from entering the storage tank. The technique used to harvest rainwater largely depends on the affordability of the system to the users and the number of users. This is determined by the size of the institution. Large institutions prefer larger reservoirs and in most cases, water is stored in underground tanks. In Oregon, rainwater harvesting system collects water from the rooftop into a storage tank where it is used for domestic purposes. They use simple rain barrels set below a downspout to water the garden and provide a substantial amount of water for home use. Oregon Building Codes Division supports the effort to conserve water through approval of rainwater harvesting system as the alternative method to state plumbing code. The state has introduced new filtration and treatment technologies that are used to harvest rainwater in a relatively simple manner. The harvesting systems are installed in existing buildings and new construction. The system includes roofs, gutters, or roof drains, piping system or storage tank or cistern. The tanks are located either inside or outside the house, partially above or partially below the ground, on rooftops or underground. Basement locations are preferred mostly because the water is gravity-fed and is protected from freezing. Some tanks are enclosed to increase the roof surface catchment area.

MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Aspects such as globalization of markets and speedily advancing technology drive businesses to react in order to endure. Such changes may be comparatively inconsequential, including the installation of new software programs. In addition, changes may be major, including changing a general marketing approach. It is quite significant for organizations to change because their environment is constantly changing. Studies demonstrate that organizations are attacked by amazingly high rates of change from a disappointingly huge number of sources including top leaders and lower level workers who drive for change. Accordingly, external pressures come from changes in the legal, competitive, technological as well as financial environments. Changes in an organization may occur because of difficulties being experienced by the organization. For instance, in this case, it is noted that the manager of the organization was going through a significant number of challenges for the past one and half years because of financial crisis. Therefore, this leads to main reductions throughout the company and this comprises high turnover, usage of outdated software applications, and a lower level of morale of workers. Unfortunately, every time the remaining executives plan to do a re-organization of the jobs and responsibilities within the company, many workers resign. In order to overcome this disappointment and problem, the executive leader has a great role to play to ensure the remaining workers accept change within the company. The main problem that is being experienced in this organization is the failure of change as well as resistance of employees to accept change. In most cases, the reasons for this resistance to change is that change always appears frightening to a significant number of people, which makes it hard to gain their backing and dedication to enacting changes. An executive leader attempting to implement a change – no matter how small – should anticipate exper iencing some form of resistance from the organization. Research shows that resistance to change is an ordinary response from individuals who have become used to a particular way of carrying out their activities. However, some conditions or strategies can argument resistance. Therefore, to achieve or have a successful change within an organization, it is essential to motivate groups, people as well as the organization as a whole. Motivation is the influence or force that causes people to act in a certain way. Singer and Van Cott (2009) demonstrate motivation as comprising dynamism, direction, and sustainability. Therefore, the executive leader in this organization will have to develop the capability to influence the employees concerning the intended change for the organization. This is because the ability to influence is founded partly on the leader`s skill and partly on the motivation level of an individual worker. It has been noted that analysts of motivation comprise job satisfact ion, perceived equity as well as the dedication of the organization. According to research, motivating others needs experienced managers who are in a position to organize and offer a motivating surrounding (Singer & Van Cott, 2009). For instance, such a leader must be able to communicate efficiently, respond to workers` questions, produce innovative notions, prioritize ideas, direct workforces activities, consolidate workers actions, dedicate workers to action, and

Candid Communication Essay Example for Free

Candid Communication Essay Due to the costly failed attempt to expand to the European market, and recognition of the major underlying cultural problems which resulted in the unsuccessful expansion, our team has been tasked with proposing plans for revitalizing your corporate culture. Key personnel, who could have provided advice to avert the flawed expansion strategy, did not voice their concerns or advice because such actions were not culturally encouraged. As an executive management team, you have recognized that this failure to uphold a corporate culture which values candid communication at all levels was the ultimate cause of this setback. This proposal is designed to uncover potential obstacles to creating a culture which foster candid communication, and present a plan of action to alter the corporate culture from the ground up. Question 1: The obstacles of fostering candid communication can be categorized into three areas: personal, physical and cultural. When discussing personal obstacles, the outer layers peel back to find both interpersonal and intrapersonal barriers that your organization will find in their journey to value candid communication. For example, interpersonal barriers occur between team members, such as differences in personality styles or behavioral preferences. Ignoring or not addressing these differences can lead to rivalry, competition and fear of speaking up due to retaliation or further dislike from other co-workers. Though individuals in your company may not like or be willing to work with one-another, the major obstacle is to first get them talking to address their differences. Furthermore, even if your employees hold similar behavioral or personality styles, another obstacle may be that their relationships might not be strong enough to support constructive criticism from others, indicating a lack of trust. The absence of trust is the first dysfunction of a team, according to Patrick Lencioni. â€Å"Trust is the foundation of a team† and the lack of trust is the team’s inability â€Å"to understand and open up to one another† (Lencioni, pg. 43-44). Strong, trusting relationships support providing feedback to other employees and supervisors without fear of future scrutiny. Lack of trust within a group also holds a strong influence on intrapersonal barriers to speak freely. Intrapersonal barriers are those that occur within the individual self or mind but are strongly influenced by their surroundings. For example, without the feeling of trust, employees may revert back to their safety zone by keeping quiet and holding back opinions in order to protective themselves (Lencioni, pg. 195). Likewise, other intrapersonal barriers can be as simple as the individual’s self-confidence level or working with individuals who prefer not to provide criticism for fear of rejection from the group. In addition, another obstacle is the absence of individual’s sense of belongingness to the company, one of Maslow’s steps in his Hierarchy of Needs. Belongingness comes from the company support of employees through personal development and job enrichment which play a critical role for employees to recognize that they and their opinions are valued enough to be shared. Secondly, physical barriers of separation, such as the physical distance between locations, geographic barriers like oceans or even walls between offices, can also hinder the ability to communicate openly to employees,. For example, as your company expands internationally, it will face the creation of virtual teams. Virtual teams are at a disadvantage to build trusting, strong relationships because they do not have the luxury of sitting across the table from one-another to work out disagreements. And, even if they wanted to, it would be extremely expensive for the company to fund trips back and forth across the pond. On the other hand, co-located employees may still feel that physical barriers impede their ability to share from blocked areas and closed doors providing visual cues to employees that they are either not needed or wanted. Last, as your company grows it will face both society and company built cultural barriers. Societal barriers, such as international relations and generational differences can influence the effectiveness of conducting business and building relationships in the future. For example, do the companies that we are working with international hold the same emphasis on candid dialog? Do cultural barriers or age differences enable employees to provide productive feedback or criticism without violating a social norm or without fear of creating adversarial relationships? Both examples of societal based barriers greatly influence the ability of people to feel they can share openly. Likewise, company built cultural barriers continue to obstruct straight talk if the culture does not reward such behavior and the population contains individuals who do not fit the cultural mold. For example, Nordstrom employees who are not fanatic about how amazing you Nordstrom’s is will â€Å"be ejected like a virus† (). Employees who do not see rewards for behaviors or do not agree with the cultural behaviors will not be comfortable to share candidly. Question 2: In order to combat these negative obstacles the company must first create and communicate a solid value structure, mission statement and form committees to help implement and generate ideas. The assurance that people feel valued needs to be the primary focus of the company citing the well known fact that employees are the number one customers. A credo similar to the one mentioned in Built to Last (p. 9) for Johnson Johnson, listed open for all to see, must be presented to the employees specifically listing core values including but not limited to: welcome change, be honest/open, recognize success but not shun failure, treat everyone with respect and spend considerable amount of time nurturing culture. For maximum impact management needs to proactively practice (MBWA) by walking around displaying, encouraging and measuring the success of all these values. These values and structures need to be engrained early in the employees so that the culture will become second nature. The objective is for the employee to be culturally rooted early. This is why the processes of recruiting, hiring, socializing and training new employees is critical, similar to Nike within Built to Change â€Å"the company fostered a â€Å"just do it† identity that was reflected in its structure, the people it hired†(p. 46). Once hired, the cultural foundation has been set and injection into the company’s system will receive little resistance making it simple to promote candid communications. Disregarding early processes may allow people to slip into the company who don’t fit the cultural mold and/or they are not properly adjusted into the system. These outcasts have a possibility of being rejected from the system resulting in employee turnover or a multitude of other problems. Recruiters can ensure recruits fit into the open communication culture by various techniques of evaluation, starting at first contact, including socializing events and interview processes. Events that require potential employees to socialize with current employees at their peer level will help evaluate their compatibility within the system and the employees. Employees administering interviews are encouraged to ask more behavioral questions rather than job function related questions. This will also ensure that new candidates are on the right path to successful transplant into the company. Once hired, new employees are to be indoctrinated with the concept of free speech. In order to build relationships and foster vertical communication, all new employees regardless of position, are to attend a high level onboarding training that is done within one large room. Next they participate in a communication building scavenger hunt requiring them to find and speak to certain individuals within the organization. The new employees are then paired with existing employees in their own department for 3-6 months because it typically takes a while for employees to become situated and comfortable in their new environment. By training employees in this way you guarantee little deviation from expected culture and instill the free speech initiative, making it easier to have candid conversations. People tend to respond positively to change when they receive recognition from managers. Displaying exceptional behavior is often overlooked leading employees to believe that the attribute is not exceptional or essential to success. When establishing a system for rewarding positive behaviors, especially those that revolve around the core values and candid communication, the rewards need to be in high regard to the employee and not necessarily monetary, Microsoft shows this in Built to Change when it â€Å"employees have challenging work and, of course, one of the most highly rewarding stock plans around†¦. hereby attracted some of the country’s top software engineers and marketing geniuses†(p. 47). Equally important within the innovation process is having more time to develop new ideas shown in Built to Change 3M’s â€Å"policies and practices that give employees time to experiment, and its reward system recognizes innovative work† (p. 39). The rewards and time provided for ideas generated will bring about open communication but would be ultimately ineffective in the event that there isn’t a way to evaluate these ideas and innovations. Therefore a committee consisting of white and blue collar workers should be assembled to evaluate and investigate ideas that are submitted for validity or cost effectiveness. To instill a culture that embraces and utilizes open communication candidly the company must have a way to promote and judge the performance of the changes. A committee will be formed in order to set goals, establish who will be in charge, schedule mingling events, enrich communications and ultimately ensure that this initiative isn’t forgotten. The mingling events would serve as a tool to not only build relationships between employees, breaking down communication barriers, but to strengthen and reinforce ties to the company. Some examples of the events would include speed mentoring, company picnics, benefit fairs, blood drives and fundraising events. Next the committee would be responsible for enriching communications throughout the company by fostering goodwill, laying out company-wide changes and compiling and maintaining the medium for communication disbursement. Mediums of communication can vary from newsletters, memos, banners or blogs. In Corporate Culture and Performance, Tandem Computers practices this by displaying achievements â€Å"are regularly recognized on bulletin boards as Our Latest Greatests†(p. 16). Communication transmitted must be professional to avoid wasting time across the organization. Some additional information, including information about the CEO’s family, may be added to show that she is human and the message is genuine. The committee would also explain new product information, organizational issues that might be confusing and benefit changes that might seem to only benefit the employer. By doing this managers can build rapport to increase employee understanding of the company, products, ethics, culture, and external environment, showing that the managers are not hiding information. This builds trust and fosters open communication. In order to facilitate information sharing, the company must utilize various ways of mentoring. Level mentoring should be skipped so that employees get an opportunity to meet with someone above the direct management. Reverse mentoring will be also instilled in the company as the younger person might have some fresh ideas and new tools. Sometimes, a new set of ideas might be the solution to a lingering issue in the company. Training sessions are organized by putting the management and employees on the same teams. Likewise, large group information sessions are implemented to talk about issues related to employees with management information similar to Merck’s communication meetings that are held three times a year. These meetings will have the full support of upper management and are used to open communication, improve the flow of information among all levels of management and to provide employees with information they need to do their jobs better. There could also be an improvement in information sharing by having no doors on offices or no physical barriers between management and lower level employees. Honda and Harley Davidson have an open door policy as described in Built to Change (p. 9). The company should clearly define fair policies and procedures. This will help the employees to know what is expected of them. If employees know what the company expects, it is easier for them to be accountable for their own behavior and contribute accordingly. Clear guidelines for professional conduct will be established by the company so that co-workers treat each other with respect regardless of their position in the company. Also, a process of performance review system will be implemented to ensure the employees are promoting the company’s value structure. A 360 degree review process will be utilized by the company which will help to provide on-going feedbacks to all the employees. This will enable all the subordinates, peers and supervisors to have their input towards the company. This will also help to assess all employees on a continual basis on how they are performing to business needs as well as adapting to the values of the company. The results from these reviews can be used to make administrative decisions as well as to plan for training and development in the future. The company should also not sway from their core values no matter what, as described in Built to Change (p. 4) in the Southwest Airlines example. This will enable the employees to stay loyal and feel comfortable knowing that their jobs are stable. Finally, the company will provide proper benefits to the employees including fair pay based on individual performance, team performance and seniority so that the employees feel valued. A proper organic organization structure will be designed to empower people and allowing them to make their own decisions. This will make the employees accountable with their decisions. A flatter organization structure will be designed in order to enable employees to speak freely to higher levels of management for advice. This will also enhance the mentoring process and help to build effective relationships. After assessing the culture and gathering input, the company should identify the system, policies and procedures that must be either changed or implemented to support the new culture. The new infrastructure should address role expectations, accountability, rewards and selection systems. The company will also have defined job descriptions and encourage people to switch departments so that employees won’t feel pigeon-holed. In other words, the company will also allow mobility within the organization in order to get the most out of their employees and employees will be more flexible. The employees should also understand other roles and jobs in the company to be able to relate to them and provide input for improvements. The company will focus more on team based design that will eventually help to elevate individual performance in the company. Individuals in the company will be cross trained or conditioned in order to improve the overall performance of the whole team. Although the word â€Å"team† is heavily used in the industry today, teams often play a major role in initiating organizational change. A cross functional team design will create mutual accountability for results and joint ownerships of work products. Above all, a properly designed organic organization structure will positively impact the ability to focus, directly affects the communication channels and empowers people by giving the employees a drive to make their own decisions. Question 3: While designing and implementing an effective, company-wide communication structure is vitally important, the activities performed by leaders at all levels are paramount to sustaining an effective communication culture. Managers are the face of your company’s culture and their interactions with their direct reports will be the frontlines of the company’s culture battles. Beginning with the hiring process, managers must be mindful that they are not only assessing the potential hire’s technical skills and abilities, but also their fit within the culture. They must abide by and practice recruiting and hiring techniques that will reasonably ensure that the company is hiring candidates that will express the desired behavior and align with the culture. These techniques could include maintaining relationships with contacts at local universities and recruiting firms. If these contacts are familiar with your company and culture they could aid in providing a stream of potential new hires and would be able to â€Å"pre-screen† for cultural fit. Mangers should openly discuss the company’s culture and ask explicit questions regarding how the potential hire feels he/she will fit within the culture. This will set cultural expectations of open and candid communication with all interviewees long before any are hired. Also, managers should use behavioral type interview questions to test the candidate’s attitudes, trust and ability to speak freely. Additionally, the interviews should be conducted by employees of varying levels of the company, both managers and non-mangers, with a single manager soliciting feedback from all other interviewers regarding their assessment of the recruit. Once potential employees are deemed to be a cultural fit and are hired it is important to continue the initiation process into the culture. Managers need to immediately begin teaching new employees about the open communication culture and submerging them in it. The Container Store, for example, submits all new hires to a weeklong orientation in which they are taught the inner workings and philosophy of the company (FoE, pg. 75). Socialization techniques can be utilized to build the relationships between the new and established employees, understanding that well socialized employees are more likely to share information freely. Managers can organize gatherings of new and current employees to introduce the new hires to their co-workers. Examples would be ice cream or pizza socials in which ice-breaker type games are used to introduce and socialize new hires to their peers. Mangers can also take new hires to lunch with a small group of their fellow employees in an effort to socialize the new employee in an environment outside the workplace. An emphasis should be made at these types of gatherings to learn about the employee’s life outside of the work environment. Other practices like a mentoring or buddy system could also be utilized to engage the new employee in an open communication culture. The focus of these activities should be to build trust and a sense of value within the new hire. Employees that perceive themselves as being valued and have strong trust relationships with their direct reports and co-workers are more likely to give of themselves, that is, to invest their â€Å"heads and hearts† with your company. While recruiting and initiating new hires into the culture is vital, most of a leader’s time will be spent maintaining the open communication culture. These tasks can be broken down into activities that build relationships, empower employees and provide reviews and feedback. Mangers should spend a considerable amount of time getting to know and nurture relationships with their direct reports. Leaders should adopt a Management by Wondering Around system where managers spend time with employees getting to know what they are doing, how they are doing it, what kind of problems they are facing, and what help is required to solve the problems (Dynamic Business Strategy, info from Vick). This type of communication should be seen as an integral part of managing people, not as an additional burden to a manager’s already busy schedule. An open-door policy should be utilized so that managers are available to their employees as much as possible. Leaders should also maintain a database of employee birthdays and employment anniversaries and recognize these occasions with cards and/or gifts. Management could also hold monthly get-togethers to celebrate the birthdays, anniversaries and milestones that occurred that month. Managers should be encouraged to spend time with their direct reports outside the work environment. Informal gatherings like lunches and happy hours could be utilized to get to know direct reports on a more personal level. Managers should hold occasional casual days in which employees are allowed to wear themed casual attire like university t-shirts to kick off football season or Hawaiian shirts at the start of summer. Additionally, leaders could send out daily or weekly e-mails informing employees of what is going on around the company.

The Effectiveness Of Facebook Marketing

The Effectiveness Of Facebook Marketing Abstract This research proposal focuses on the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. The success of Facebook has not escaped the specialists attention, but there is a clear absence of quantitative research because there has been huge debate within the marketing community that is influencing consumer behaviour and brand perception, so, this study will help to support the debate. Many brands and small businesses have already entered the Facebook platform and due to the economic remunerations of this platform, brands with a truncated marketing budget can be lured to join the race. The purpose of this research is to, with a quantitative approach; determine whether Facebook is an effective marketing standard. An experiment will be accompanied where a sample of participants will be exposed to a selection of fictive fan pages on Facebook during one weeks time. After experimentation process and surveying fans I will be able to demonstrate the fact of considering a Facebook an effective marketing tool for businesses. 2. Introduction Facebook is a very famous social networking website which was launched in the second month of the year 2004. Seemingly, it has been studied that almost one out of 14 people in this world is a Facebook user. Facebook has become an unbeatable phenomenon by its fastest growing number of users and user friendly platform. By the time it has started, Facebook has approximately more than 500 million users. Each user is connected to an average of 140 friends which shows if a company persuades a single person to post something about their business or brand they are having the potential of reaching 140 or more. There are more than 25 billion content shared like pictures, posts and links and over 170 million things to interact with, includes pages, events, applications, games and groups (Facebook web-page, press information, 2010). Facebooks early achievements attracted investors and marketing companies to nurture their businesses with the help of its growing number of users. Many national and international companies are using the help of Facebook to market and advertise their business in order to fascinate more clients (Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook). Facebook marketing is becoming talk of the business town. Facebooks enormous user power helped multinational and national companies to build number of clients and sales of their products and services in a very short period of time. The advertiser is no longer the person in a company that decides how, when, where and whom to communicate. Nowadays it is the customer that decides which company and what information to take part of (Meadows-Klue, 2007). Facebook is thus an attractive marketing channel to reach younger consumers, and particularly interesting for new companies that do not have extensive marketing budget. As a researcher, I would like to explore more on the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. So, this research mainly focuses on the effectiveness of Facebooks marketing. 3. Problem Facebook is a young contender in communication platform and there are not many studies or researches regarding its effectiveness as a means of marketing. Deceptively, there are very few guidelines concerning what role fan pages should play in a business marketing strategy and how the brand should communicate with consumers through such a medium. The absence of scientific studies does not however reflect a lack of interest amongst advertisers and the number of businesses starting their own fan page is constantly increasing. Lately, there has also been a debate concerning the effectiveness of a creative approach versus a selling approach to marketing. This debate has been supported by extensive research and according to several studies a creative approach is to be preferred (Colliander, Erlandson and Modig, 2010). However, these results have yet to be tested on Facebook platform. The problem question that will be used to perform the research is is Facebook marketing an effective? The main purpose for this research is to investigate whether start-up companies shall use a Facebook fan page in order to enhance perceptions of brand associations and improve traditional key advertisement indicators amongst consumers. The study will also determine whether an advertiser shall adopt a creative approach rather than a strictly selling approach on Facebook. We address this study to start-up companies targeting young students. 4. Proposed Literature Review 4.1. Facebook-ing for business According to author of this article Facebook is everywhere these days, and it isnt going away. A recent report stated that 10% of total time spent on the internet is on Facebook, and it would be stupid for local businesses not to take advantage of the opportunity accessible by Facebook. Jared Todd (author) also represented some primer for business looking to reach out to customers through Facebook Invite customers, but dont be pushy: Invite customers to join the page but never push them otherwise they will get irritated. Publish your Facebook Page on Website, Twitter, or any other social networking website Run Facebook Only Promotions: Run promotions which are only accessible through Facebook. Facebook for Business: This is the process where a company can promote its products with the use of Facebook. (Retrieved from: http://whizkidkonnect.com/) The main reason why I chose this article, because of authors straight forward approach in describing benefits of Facebook, he also shows the main possible ways to get the attention of the customers. This article represents all the possible ways which make Facebook an effective marketing tool. 4.2. Viral Marketing Groups are one of the simplest ways to perform viral marketing on Facebook. It is as easy as if somebody is relaxing on a couch. It starts when members starts joining a group after that they can invite any person or a friend on Facebook by using a very unique feature called the built in Invite feature. If your members are interested and would like to join about your group, it can grow really fast. Additionally, the group name will usually appear on your members personal profile pages until they leave the group. Many people view groups as Bumper Stickers. Because profile pages are exceedingly trafficked, these links can engender a lot of clicks to a group page. (Justin Smith, 2007) (Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2007/12/09/inside-facebook-marketing-bible-24-ways-to-market-your-brand-company-product-or-service-in-facebook/, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viral-marketing-tips/92274993058) Viral marketing is a part of internet marketing. The source here mainly states the meaning of viral marketing which is also known as word-of-mouth marketing. All these information is essential for a best conclusion on the research topic. There are certain parts of Facebook page that results to viral marketing such as its application that connects people with each other instantly, its fan page feature, invitation process i.e. inviting your Facebook fans or Friends for an event or gathering. This information is vital for knowing the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. (Bhavya George, Social Maximizer, 2010) (Retrieved from: http://sem-group.net/search-engine-optimization-blog/social-media/viral-marketing-on-facebook-7-points-you-just-cannot-neglect/) 4.3. Vancouver Business: Success story One success story which is about an entrepreneur who worked hard to develop a successful and profitable e-business is Sandy Stevens of Sandys Home-style Baking Company. Being healthy to channel her love of baking and sweets into a viable career, Stevens has experienced a great deal of success over the short time her e-business has been running. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Stevens was unaware of using marketing tactics that are provided online, but due to his friend encouragement she learnt all the possible to ways to market her company products through web. She done her own web designing and she also created a link with newspapers with the help of search engines like Yahoo! and Google. Now her business is blooming because of her effort and believing in online marketing and advertising (Retrieved from: http://www.biz2success.com/2010/06/anyone-can-do-it-small-e-business-success-stories/). This is a good example of how getting customers in an efficient and effective way. In terms of expenses, she spent a small portion of her money to create a platform where people can get information easily. This article will help to strengthen the topic as it demonstrates the success rate of promoting products and services through internet marketing. Facebook is a part of internet, thus, this article is essential to find out the speed of growth in business by using Facebook as a marketing tool. 4.4. Critique and Analyze The most vivacious part of this research is to provide a theory or a model that proves the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. Therefore, these are some literatures which are essential for researching on effectiveness level of Facebook marketing. In the first article, the author is primarily focused on the way to get attention of online customers and the rest of the articles are all about active Facebook users signals innovativeness of brand. It covers branding, Approach and style of a product or service that is being marketed by the company. Branding a product through web is an opportunity for those businesses who would like to increase to increase their brand value (Steven Holzner, 2009). Furthermore, it elucidates on viral marketing and its practices; it also shows how it is essential for local businesses. Lastly, it articulates on the success stories of some business that adapted internet marketing as their marketing tool (Chris Treadaway, Mari Smith, Facebook Company, 2010). Ov erall, all the research articles are deliberated to be resourceful for the research. 5. Proposed Methodology 5.1. Methodology There has been quite a buzz about social media currently, and of how it is giving the consumer increasingly more power while rapidly changing the real face of marketing. I found myself very captivated by this sensation, but was soon to realize that this open-ended belief in the influence of social media lacked some very fundamental quantitative research. I decided to fill this breach and found a great source of inspiration reading Kocken Skoghagen (2009). They had conducted quantitative research, analyzing whether Twitter was a valid marketing platform and how it should be used. With the conviction that there are many similarities between Twitter and Facebook I decided to perform an equivalent study on Facebook. Inspired by Kocken Skoghagen (2009) a deductive approach is to be applied in the research. The study is of underlying character, being that the objective is to find a connection between the acquaintance of a brand on Facebook and certain effects on consumer comportment and discernment of brand associations. A quantitative study will be held by simulating a realistic environment which I believe to obtain more general results. Respondents will be given four specific brands (i.e. fan pages) to follow on Facebook during one week and were thereafter will be asked to answer a survey. I chose to follow this experiment design despite the difficulties attached with involving a rather big test-group into a relatively time-consuming study. Our choice was greatly influenced by the fact that Kocken Skoghagen (2009) had used a similar design, which had already been proved to be successful. Moreover, I am hoping that by using a similar design as Kocken Skoghagen (2009), I will open up for an int eresting comparison between Facebook and Twitter as marketing channels. The experiment will be started by ideating four fictive brands, thus ensuring that none of the respondents would be familiar with them, and creating all the necessary fan pages. Status updtaes will be prepared and would be posted during the study. The participants will be divided into four groups. Each respondent will be given four fan pages (i.e. one for each brand) in order to follow and asked to create one friend list consisting of all fan pages he/she will be assigned. The friend list is a necessary deterrent in order to simulate a news feed (i.e. one of the sections of Faceobok) and make sure that all status updates I will like the respondents to perceive will be noticed. After the experiment, a survey will be distributed to all participants through the Facebook-mail. The participants will be given one week to answer the survey before they will get disregarded from the study. This will help to reduce the time period in order to pass between the experiment and the survey as that could have biased the study. The survey was created with the survey-tool provided by the website of Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com). An exact same survey will be given to all the respondents, covering all the four brands examined. Most of the questions will be standard where respondents will be asked to determine how well they agreed with some given assertions, similar to those asked by Kocken and Skoghagen (2009). 5.2. Participants Since the study would require some involvement from the participants I realized that it would be challenging to influence people to participate unless if I have any kind of personal relationship with them. That is the reason why I decided to recruit participants to my study amongst own social networks. Nevertheless, being part of the target group I will be to involving a sample that is relatively representative with regards to the aims of the study. The target of this study is to gather almost 300 people who are interested in participating to this study. The respondents of this study will be 20 to 30 years of age. Most of the participants will be asked to become fan of selected fan pages. After this process I will be giving out a survey to all the fans. Questions in the survey will be concerning the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. 5.3. Ethical Issues All the sources and references are open and accessible through the web except information gathered directly from the company itself is not accessible. According to them any information from the company is confidential and cannot be used in any research without their permission. So I decided to send them a letter that will authorize me to gather appropriate information directly from their website. Other issue is the sample that will be collected within the same network (i.e. students of Vancouver) and this may have inhibited reliability of the scores. (Retrieved from) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7375772.stm). 6. Project Work Plan and Deliverables Tasks to be performed Dates Time Required Final Research proposal and submit for clearance 3-11 November 2010 One week Typing 22-30 November 2010 One week Pre-test study 5-15 December 2010 Three weeks Collect Data 16th December 2010 1st march 2011 Ten weeks Process Data and make preliminary interpretation End of each month of data collection Five weeks Analyze and write report 2-30 March 2011 Two weeks Publish and discuss work findings 6-25 April 2011 Two weeks Final Thesis and submission 26th April 2011 15th May 2011 Three weeks 7. References Colliander, J. Erlandsson, S. Modig, E. (2010), Speed or Distance, Manuscript, Stockholm School of Economics; Cote, J. Chris Treadaway, Mari Smith, Facebook (Firm) (2010). Facebook marketing: an hour a day, Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing. Steven Holzner (2009). Facebook marketing : leverage social media to grow your business, Chicago: Que Publishing. Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Meadows-Klue (2007), Falling in Love 2.0: Relationship marketing for the Facebook generation, Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, Vol. 9, Issue 3, p. 245-250; Facebook web-page, press information, http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics, 15 May 2010 http://www.facebook.com http://www.clickrmedia.com/services/social-media-marketing/facebook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook. http://whizkidkonnect.com/ http://arc.hhs.se/download.aspx?MediumId=947 http://netbrands.net/ http://www.insidefacebook.com/2007/12/09/inside-facebook-marketing-bible-24-ways-to-market-your-brand-company-product-or-service-in-facebook/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Viral-marketing-tips/92274993058 http://www.biz2success.com/2010/06/anyone-can-do-it-small-e-business-success-stories/ http://sem-group.net/search-engine-optimization-blog/social-media/viral-marketing-on-facebook-7-points-you-just-cannot-neglect/ http://wilderdom.com/research/QualitativeVersusQuantitativeResearch.html http://hbr.org/2010/03/one-cafe-chains-facebook-experiment/ar/1 http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/10982_Chapter_4.pdf Social & Ethical Issues of Information Systems Facebook from Marielle C http://www.churchofcustomer.com/2009/10/facebook-fan-pages-are-the-future.html http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/paypal-to-become-a-way-to-pay-for-facebook-ads-20100219-oj88.html