Analysis and Critique of Francoise Roy's Diversity Management Plan For Essay

Analysis and Critique of Francoise Roy's Diversity Management Plan For PBQ - Essay Example Although Francoise has outlined and detailed various aspects of the plan, she is still unsure as to how to implement it within the organization as she foresees that it will be opposed by many managers and workgroups. The present organizational makeup is highly ethnocentric, with the Quebecois population proud of their heritage and achievements. Since the People’s Bank of Quebec has been lagging behind in its diversity plan for the last ten years or so, there has been no serious or determined effort to comply with the requirements and the results are that the diversity element is visible in only about 6 percent of the bank’s workforce of over 7000 employees compared to the national average of 18 percent. 12 percent is the legal requirement for meeting the diversity goals. It is clear that Francoise and others in senior management echelons will have to take drastic steps to hurriedly push forward the program so as to meet the legal requirements. Meanwhile there are also a number of elements missing in the plan developed by Francoise which will be explained below. Strengths and Weaknesses of Francoise's Plan According to Das (1998) creating and implementing a good, effective and efficient diversity plan consists of the following steps: (1) identify current and future ideal state; (2) analyze present systems and procedures; (3) change policies, procedures and practices as needed, and (4) follow up and evaluate results (Panacchio & Waxin, 55-56). Step 3 itself is also comprised of a number of sub-steps, such as getting senior management commitment, establishment of a diversity committee, education and training of key personnel and an institution-wide communication of changes. Let us now evaluate the steps in Francoise’s plan from this point of view. The CEO, Pierre Belanger, has assured her his support of the diversity initiative, and had even written senior management a letter to this effect, but much more needs to be done. Francois has not arr anged for the necessity of the implementation to be officially communicated through the Board of Directors or the Diversity Committee. It would have been good for the CEO to communicate the necessity of implementing such a plan and the need to do so quickly to meet legal requirements. Francoise has also not identified the current and future state of the enterprise regarding diversity goals and implementation. She has yet to redesign and convert HR policies to incorporate the diversity elements. While she has identified the training needs for key personnel, she has not included the employee training requirements and programs. She has also identified the need for a Diversity Committee but has not appointed a head. Normally this function resides with the Head of Human Resources so Francoise must be ready to undertake this responsibility. After implementing the diversity plans, there must be some method of feedback and correctional control for which open and transparent communication mu st be fostered at both ends but this element is also missing so Francoise will never know how well or badly the plan is working or what needs to be improved and what doesn’t. Although Francoise’s diversity plan includes most of the necessary attributes, there are certain missing elements or misplaced priorities and moreover she does not have the courage to

Leaning an operational delivery process Research Paper

Leaning an operational delivery process - Research Paper Example Inventory management practices are essential aspects of any organisation. Many organisations have changed from the traditional settings to production and inventory management. The role of inventory management is to ensure faster inventory turnover. Artisanal Burger Company (ABC) Restaurant is a joint that is famous for its burgers, homemade bread and delicious omelets. The restaurant is located at 1436 Pleasant Valley Road, Manchester, CT 06042 (www.yelp.com). According to the reviews by customers, the services have not been ideal for maximising profits and reduction of waste. The management needs to rethink and introduce new techniques of managing assets and inventories. An investigation of processes in this restaurant indicates that there is need to introduce Lean thinking in ABC Restaurant. Improvements can bring significant savings for the restaurant owners, which would, in turn, be passed on to the customers, both quantitatively and qualitatively. One customer says, â€Å"the burgers are hit and miss†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..ABC lacks consistency (www.yelp.com). One of the problems identified was that it takes too much time to deliver food to the table. Secondly, there is no accuracy of orders. Finally, the time it takes a customer to pay the bill is too long. Problems were identified in the dining area, kitchen area, and billing area. The issues that were identified are summarised in Table 1. ABC’s delivery process does not match with its performance objectives. Markovic, Raspor and Segaric (2010, p. 181) state that a restaurant business is a demanding business, and it, therefore, stresses on the provision of high-level customer service and continuous quality improvement. There is constant change of peoples’ lifestyles. Thus, customers desire new flavours, comfortable ambience and pleasant memories. Restaurants that provide high-quality service gain stronger competitive advantage in the current dynamic marketplace. The issues outlined in Table 1 indicate the

Wine Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Wine Industry - Essay Example Among the new player is the New Zealand Wine Industry, even though it has a low base in 1980s at just about 4.5 million dollars in export, now it has exceeded it initial targets by 50%. The New Zealand Wine Industry was dominated by four major players that account for almost 80% of all exports and 16% is accounted from the 17 medium sized wineries. Almost all these wineries export a third of their production volume. One of this medium sized winery is the Coopers Creek (Case Study, 2001). Coopers Creek was established by Andrew and Cynthia Hendry in 1980. Andrew being a former worker in a wine company and Cynthia on pate making venture proved to be a right combination. The winery is located between the Huapai and Kumeu region in northwest Auckland that includes a four hectare vineyard. The company was formed with the partnership of its first winemaker, Randy Weaver and vintage and soon after the first label was introduced to the market (www.cooperscreek.com.nz/history.html). The company was arranged in a way that the winemaker, Andrew and the shareholders, made up mostly of grape growers, share a third of the company. He intentionally wanted the winemaker to be a part owner to have a more hands on approach in wine making at the same time joins in major decisions awaiting the company. The growers on the other hand wanted to be paid the highest price for its grape but at the same time as shareholders, they wanted to bargain for lower prices. That is why, as profits were generated, Andrew bought the share of the growers because it became difficult for them to play on both sides. Just after two years, the first Coopers Creek vintage was produced and soon after that the first label was introduced in the local market (Case Study, 2001) . After acquisition of additional vineyards and a new winemaker after Randy returned to the US, Kim Crawford the company continued to explore additional markets. It is their primary objective to grow the grapes where they grow best for best grapes are reflected in their wines. Coopers Creek was then considered to be one of the successful medium-sized winery of the decade and at the same time an 'Award for Excellence in Exporting' was received by the company in 1997. Now, at almost 20 years, the winery is still developing ways to improve its products with its new winemaker Simon Nunns. A steady increase in its production volume was observed in order to meet the local and international demand of its products (www.cooperscreek.com.nz/history.html). Business Background One of the initial strategies utilised by Hendrey was establishing collaboration between local competitors in the west Auckland area. It was during one of his visit in Australia that he observed the collaboration of some Australian wineries locally and he wanted to try the idea in New Zealand. The group regularly meets to decide their next move. They initially formed a joint advertising and promotion relationship with each other that they arranged special tours, special wines and music at each vineyard as part of their marketing strategy. They also collaborate on wine tasting when introducing new wines and labels. As the success of their collaboration on the marketing initiatives was felt, they also decided to collaborate also

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 9

Business law - Essay Example This piece of research work is an attempt to analyze the changes brought by Human Rights Act in English law. This paper discusses the influences of Human Rights Act on business environment based on sources of English law and European Court of Human Right cases. Chandler and Waud (2003) stated that The Human Rights Act 1998 gives ‘further effect’ to the rights and freedom that are guaranteed to all citizens by European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom. More specifically, it doesn’t form or create any new statutory or law rights. It imposes duties on public authorities to act in any possible way that is compatible with Convention right (p. 419). The Human rights Act also imposes duty on tribunal to consider any relevant decision or advisory opinion of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) when determining issues in connection with convention right. According to the Act, it is unlawful for any public body to act in any way which is not compatible with Convention rights. The Act also requires UK judges to consider decisions of the Strasbourg court and also to consider legislation as long as it is compatible with Convention Rights. The Human Rights Act is applicable to all public bodies in the United Kingdom like central government and local authorities. It has greater influence on private law legislation as well. The Human Rights Act places duties on all courts and tribunals within the United Kingdom in order to interpret legislation in way that is compatible with ECHR. Whenever it is not possible to interpret an act in accordance with Convention, a declaration of the same must be issued by the court under section 4 and it must state how the legislation breaches human rights. It is illegal for a public authority to act in a way that contravene convention right and therefore public authority includes any other person who functions in functions of a public nature. Betten (1999) emphasizes that the passing of Human

Balance in the Administration of Justice Security Paper Essay

Balance in the Administration of Justice Security Paper - Essay Example This usually holds true too in other nations. They have their own ways of educating and updating their citizens of the current plans and implements. This is for the purpose of ensuring that the government is functioning for the service of the people, to uphold their rights and secure their territories. There are certain sectors that are very particular with the repercussions in the legal system of the goals aimed for. In the piece, Communications Privacy in the Digital Age (1997), a number of legal issues confronted by people in general are laid out. First of these issues is the fact of making 'Wiretapping' permissible to be used in dealing with certain crimes. Formerly, 'wiretapping' was allowed only for serious crimes that threaten the national security. Today, the list included crimes such as fraudulent statements in documents and applications as well the causing of destruction in any property owned by the State. Another point highlighted in the articles is the need to make more productive results in proposed actions. There are illegal practices that contravene the purpose of justice and security. The item also mentioned the authorizations provided by courts in proceeding with 'electronic surveillance' and the reaction to such through suggesting other methods to be used to acqu ire data. Most of the time also, the parties concerned contest the method of obtaining data quite too late and they barely survive to win in the proceedings ("Communications Privacy in the Digital Age", 1997). The court of "Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act" or FISA already demonstrated that in its seventeen years of existence, there was never an instance that it denied a request for a "government electronic surveillance." In 1996 alone, there were about 839 orders given out and the statistics increases by twenty percent every year since then ("Communications Privacy in the Digital Age", 1997). Basically, what this piece emphasizes are the various implications to the legal and governmental system of the rules and procedures implemented just to respond to the needs of justice and security. This has been the cause of alarm for many people because the developments and advancements in technology can be abused and taken advantage of by those who have access to such. Changes in Technology and Mass Communication due to Justice and Security Reasons At this point, it is worthy to note that the piece, Communications Privacy in the Digital Age (1997), do indicate some key points of the improvement. These areas of development include 'Communications Methods,' 'Expansion,' 'Location Information and Monitoring,' 'Modifications in Wireless Service,' 'Internet Advancements,' and 'Computer Analysis.' These shall be discussed in detail below. However, at this point, the one concept discussed in the article to keep in mind is the so-called 'double-edged sword.' At one side, there is the governmental mechanism that takes opportune of the endless possibilities offered by technology. On the other side, the public fears such possibilities because of the tendency for the power to corrupt and for authority to abuse. Thus, it is imperative to be aware and cautious of the various marks of development adopted and implemented ("Communications

Compare and Contrast Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Essay While penguins are technically birds, they have many distinct attributes that set them apart from the much of the animal class Aves. Penguins thrive in many different climates including tropical and temperate zones. These animals can survive temperatures below -100 degrees Fahrenheit. Antarctic penguins have a three-tiered insulation system. First, they have feathers that act like tiles on a roof, with longer feathers overlapping smaller, fluffier ones. In essence, water-proofing. Beneath that, penguins have a thick layer of fat that provides an extra buffer from the elements and retains body heat. A third special adaptation in the penguin that isnt found in most birds is its ability to recycle its own body heat. Blood flows pre-cooled to the extremities and warmed going to the heart. In the harshest wind-chilled conditions, penguins will huddle together in massive clusters. Most birds dont have a thick layer of fat or longer feathers on top of fluffier feathers. Many species have to find shelter at night, unlike penguins. Only 50 types of birds can live in the Antarctic and far fewer dare to breed there like the penguin. Most penguins spend upwards of 80 percent of their life in water, preferring colder, nutrient laden coasts. Because they only eat seafood, penguins have evolved sharp, hooked beaks to snare fish. They also have a sticky tongue that helps them capture slippery prey. Penguins are superb swimmers because they have webbed feet that serve as diving fins. Their wings have evolved into flippers. Their hydrodynamic bodies allows them to reach speeds of up to 15 mph. Penguins can hold their breath for long periods, allowing them to dive deep for prey. While 150 species of the bird family Antedate specialize in the water, penguins are the fastest and most adept underwater. Penguins live in colonies of up to 1 million but they dont necessarily need protection in numbers. Penguins have few natural land predators because of the places they inhabit, while many species of birds have to deal with a wide variety of natural land predators. Another distinguishing feature of penguins is their white underside, which keeps them virtually invisible to sharks looking up into the sun through the depths and the birds black tops allow them to swim underneath fish with little detection. Penguins cant fly, but they can toboggan over ice. While many flightless birds roam the Earth, penguins are heavier than most. Their wing bones are denser than those of flight-birds, whose bones are typically hollow. Even without flight penguins are versatile travelers.

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay Services are economic activities that create and deliver great value to the consumer. It is an act that helps consumers to get things done without having to go do it themselves, and the consumers have to pay for it. Services, which can surprise a customer on the first delivery, always win over with high reputation and excellence or pass with flying colours. This report is on the services offered by UPS, mainly focusing on their call centre. UPS was found in 1907 by two people Jim Casey Claude Ryan who were teenagers at the time, also known as the American Messenger Company, whose messengers delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage and trays of food from restaurants. Most of the delivery was made either on foot or, and bicycles for longer journeys. At the time, only a few automobiles were in existence and department stores of the day still used horses and wagons for merchandise delivery. The company was soon started delivering small parcels for local department stores and changed its name from American Messenger Company to Merchants Parcel Delivery. The company expanded outside Seattle (USA) in 1919 with the acquisition of Oakland (USA) based Motor Parcel Delivery and was renamed United Parcel Service in 1930. UPS began the process of expanding its services by acquiring common carrier rights for the entire country; this took place in the 1950s. Over the past century, UPS has transformed drastically, growing from a small messenger company to a leading provider of air, ocean, ground, and electronic services. In 2003, the company introduced a brand new mark and acronym UPS showing the world that its capabilities extend beyond small package delivery but rather has a broad line of services. However, the company maintains its reputation for integrity, reliability, employee ownership, and customer service. For UPS, the future holds even greater goals to be achieved and accomplished. The UPS Culture As a company, UPS focuses its attention on: Safety: The company spends $38 million a year on safety training, which covers everything from proper body mechanics at work to proper nutrition and exercise at home. As a result, UPS has lowered the number of workdays lost due to injury by more than 50 percent since 1995. Employee education: Many UPS employees at Worldport and other sorting locations are college students. UPS encourages mentors and recruiters from nearby colleges to visit and work with its employees, and it provides additional benefits and perks for college students. Diversity: Minorities make up 35 percent of UPS U.S. employees and 30 percent of its executives. Its also recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 best companies for minorities The Environment: Delivering packages all over the world and moving them between distribution centers requires an enormous amount of fuel. UPS uses several methods to reduce its fuel consumption and its environmental impact. For example, it has developed a hydraulic hybrid package car, and its drivers use route-planning software to minimize the amount of time they spend idling in traffic and making left turns. UPS pilots also fly at the most fuel-efficient speeds possible to meet their delivery deadlines and run only one engine when taxiing to conserve fuel. Current trends in the industry According to Miss Tanya Astley, Customer Representative Officer in the UPS there are no such trends in the company, only the way things are done keep changing, on busy days, like, on festivals and important occasions. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Global Brand, Strong Distribution Network Weaknesses Perception of Ground Delivery instead of Overnight Heavy Union presence Opportunities Expansion of online shopping Emergence of international middle class Threats Increasing Fuel Costs Competitive Landscape (DHL, USPS, FedEx), potentially slowing global economy. Now to use strengths to capitalize on opportunities, I would say leverage the brand online by partnering with major shopping sites. To addresses weaknesses to alleviate threats, I would say heavily market overnight capabilities to keep FedEx and DHL at bay. 3. Major competitors: Fedex DHL Speedex Aramex THE SERVICE OFFERING Determining customer requirements There is no particular way of measuring the customer requirements in the type of service done by UPS, but they tend to attract new customer through marketing and telesales. Customer loyalty is held high in UPS. Strategy There are a lot of different factors to build Competitive advantage in the Air Express Industry. The different strategies of the companies based on their core product which they are better in than other companies hence makes all the difference. When a business provides an excellent service to its customers, it gives them a positive service experience which leads to repeat purchases or usage of that specific service. As well as passing on the experience to family and friends this helps UPS build a stronger relationship with their customers. UPS believes that by achieving effective customer service they will hence achieve a competitive advantage in the market. UPS uses a differentiation strategy; it does this by creating something about its product or service that is perceived as unique in the industry. Customers must perceive the service as a unique one compared to the competition. UPS should be aware that its customers must be relatively price insensitive as adding this additional uniqueness to its services as additional costs Differentiation may be attained through many features that make the product or service appear unique. Possible strategies for achieving differentiation may include: warranties brand image technology features service quality/value dealer network Economies of scale, such as, lower costs and product differentiation were also prime sources of achieving a competitive advantage in this industry, which were used by UPS to its advantage. This helped UPS to gain a much larger domestic market share three times that of United States postal and twice of Fed Ex, UPS was very cost effective at the time and had a very good reputation in the market. It was only a matter of time when UPS realized that they were not doing as well as they did before and also realized that any competitor could do the same in terms of achieving economies of scale. UPS has been the market leader in this division for a long time. UPS as sited in our essay has always been the leader in market pricing trends. Always the first to charge premiums, and the first to give discounts to the customers. UPS strategy has always been quite different from that of Fed Ex, Aramax or even DHL. UPS is very profitable, well organized, successfully run, has low debt, and a massive ground operation that can financially support a downturn in air express operations. Because of their size and financial strength UPS is in the best position to survive a price war in the industry. The media strategy The usage of an appropriate advertising media, such as, television, press, radio, internet and key broadcast channels, leading titles and publications and strategic outdoor sites can be very influential in helping us to achieve our campaign objectives. The following media imperatives have been set for the region: Television is the key broadcast medium to drive awareness of the new UPS brand identity and offering. Radio will be used as a lead (where budgets dont allow for TV) or support medium, reinforcing primary messages and cultivating top-of-mind awareness. Outdoor will be used to communicate the primary message, ensure new logo exposure and in smaller countries, as a substitute for broadcast media. Press will be used to support the TV creative or stand alone, allowing more opportunity to explain the UPS strategy further High reach media will be used at the launch, covering all audiences, followed by one or two lower bursts ensuring longevity of the new brand message. To build customer relationship, the organization could: Keep in touch with the customer by sending emails with the offers and rates. Get regular feedback from customer who have used the service and improve with their suggestions, to make the customer feel like the king. DEMAND AND CAPACITY 1. Demand cannot be forecasted in this industry. The company can only take the initiative to maintain current sales and hope increase sales in the future by marketing. 2. An increase in demand will lead to more people being employed either part time or full time depending on the tasks that need to be performed. Another important thing needed is the service vehicles, with the increased demand. 3. Customers dont have to go through the hassle of waiting in lines for their doubts to be clarified. All the customer has to do is call, which gets routed to various agents in the call centre, to answer any queries or solve any issues. SPECULATION 1).Opportunities appear to be available in the industry currently the margin for opportunities seems to be very narrow. But strategies could be altered according to the consumer needs. For example, some consumers emphasize on price and the others on the service time taken no matter what the price. Recently, UPS is planning to set up a domestic postal service in China. They plan to introduce a next day delivery service and second and third day delivery products. China is a potential for UPS to grow and offer services and products internationally and this it seems China is an emerging market which could be worth billions. 2. Technological advances In todays day and age the air express industry has become so technologically advanced that goods can be delivered overnight. It is facing intense price competition between the competitors, which exist in this market. The ability to price, route, track and deliver parcels and mail in both domestic and international markets demands a comprehensive. A significant improvement in information technology has enabled package carriers to provide to customers the ability to track their packages movement from origin to destination. Other advances included combining logistics, freight and financial services with traditional package delivery in order to offer customers full supply chain management solutions. Only the organizations that were able to achieve these effectively and efficiently were able to survive in this industry. This is how the existing companies could then make their profit. In this industry the price of the service is the main source for competing. This is the only way in achieving Competitive Success. Competitive advantage can be achieved if, the price of the service provided by competitors is similar and the approach taken to provide the service. For instance, the amount of time taken for the product to reach from point A to point B. 3. Advice to other firms who plan to enter the industry Our advice to the new firms which plan to enter this industry would be to, research the market and the industry and think about strategies that provide the new firm a big competitive advantage including low cost of service and low price charged to the customers. The relationship between the firm and the customers should be healthy. The company should be knowledgeable about everything and should see to it that they have all the information necessary. Customer Relationship Management Customers account for 95% of UPSs shipping information directly. The CRM methodology is a very core part of the UPS success story. UPS grows through engineering and re-engineering of its systems. UPSs growth was achieved slowly and methodically from the inside out. An Excellent service is what distinguishes it from other companies. Companies can use and integrate UPS Worldship hence optimizing their business processes. They can process shipments easily, respond to your customers faster, and reduce costly errors. UPS  provides businesses with  multiple ways to integrate WorldShip with their business: Batch Import/Export: Import a file containing addresses, customer orders, or other shipment information, or export shipping history to your internal systems. Keyed Import:  Allow WorldShip to recognize a customers order simply by entering or scanning a unique identifier, such as a Purchase Order number. Hands-Off Shipping:  Schedule WorldShip to pull addresses from your order entry database and automatically print shipping labels at designated times. XML Auto-Import:  Automate shipment processing using XML code. LOGISTICS Logistics is about getting things where they need to be, at the correct time as effectively and efficiently as possible. But nowadays, logistics is also a strategic way to add value to your business, better served customers, and better long term growth. The logistics provided by UPS can help you manoeuvre the intricacies of global trade with minimal effort. Manage your shipments and minimize their environmental impact. And win repeat and loyal customers by making it easy to return products or parts. The new logistics is more than just getting things to the right place at the right time at the right cost. Its about using the movement of goods as a competitive advantage. Its a whole new way of thinking. And its a powerful force for growing your business. Access to Resources through UPS Businesses dont need a large warehouse, distribution center, or global network to access this new logistics. UPS has built a massive integrated network of physical, technological, and human assets that lets you  tap into the power and passion of logistics. The new logistics from UPS levels playing fields. It lets you act locally or globally. Its for the individual entrepreneur, the small business, or the large company. Its reliable, efficient, and environmentally responsible. Long term growth in the telecommunication UPS needs to learn from other industry best practices to gain a competitive edge in and expand beyond their core markets. An increasing number of companies have redefined themselves and significantly outperformed the markets by growth through services. UPS Moved from traditional parcel services to total supply chain solutions. UPS can better differentiate themselves via services by extending relationship with existing customer base leveraging. Superior customer knowledge as key asset. Customer proximity and delivery competence. In addition, developing the necessary skills and scale by new service-specific processes being developed and service innovations to ensure fast scalability of process and time to market. UPSs evolution to Total Supply Chain Solutions started as:- Standalone development of small service operations within the organization: Worldwide Logistics unit Service Parts Logistics Worldwide dedicated Services UPS Truck Leasing UPS consulting This moved on to:- Expansion of product portfolio and consolidation of existing services resources into UPS Supply Chain Solutions. And finally Reorganization and major MA effort with 16 key acquisitions to develop scale and growth.