A history of the play and the playwright plus a list of works Essay

A history of the play and the playwright plus a list of works referenced - Essay Example He was, in the eyes of the world, an ordinary young man. But he was soon to prove them wrong. Shakespeare came into the picture in 1592, as an actor and dramatist. The exact date of his entrance in the theatrical world is as yet, not known, but it is believed to be the late 1500s. And still, the first published work of the infamous William Shakespeare was seven years after his demise, in the year 1616, a result of the efforts of his companions and colleagues. It was called, The Great Folio of 1623 (Honigmann 1-12). His works were considered classic during his lifetime, but the fame was nothing which came after his demise. Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets mostly followed the genre of tragedy, yet in the later part of his career, he wrote romantics, or tragic comedies. But it was the tragedies that really took place into the hearts and souls of men. He gave authenticity to his tragedies by relating them to real historical instances; however, the plays were not in the exact timeli ne of these instances (Bevington 50-68). His tragedies are renowned for a reason. â€Å"Shakespeare’s language, his insight into the characters, and his dramaturgical inventiveness set his tragedies apart from any else† (McAlindon 1-22). Any exceptional play or book is exalted in the words, â€Å"like a Shakespearean tragedy†. However, no tragedy can ever touch the bar set by Shakespeare. It is that reason that his tragic works became so distinguished. â€Å"A tragedy is an intense exploration of suffering and evil focused on the experience of an exceptional individual, distinguished by rank or character or both† and Shakespeare’s had it and more (McAlindon 1-22). One such Shakespearean Tragedy was the story of Caesar. Shakespeare’s main source for the play is Plutarch's famous biography  The Life of Julius Caesar, written in Greek in the 1st century and translated into English in 1579 by Sir Thomas North. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar was published in the First Folio in 1623; however, it was performed on stage before that. The earliest performance of the play that has been recorded was in Shakespeare’s time. It was held in the Globe Theatre (possibly), on the twenty first of September, 1599 (Ripley 13-14). It was Thomas Platter, a Swiss traveller, who saw and recorded this play which has been the earliest record of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. According to his memoirs, the play was performed by excellent actors in a â€Å"strewn roof-house† at around 2 o’clock after dinner (Ripley). Shakespeare’s writing on Caesar was not the first, nor was it the last. Many writers wrote before him about the great Caesar, and even more wrote after Shakespeare. Yet none was able to capture the beauty of the story; no one portrayed better the betrayals, the morbid qualities, the desperation and the love in the story. It therefore, became most known as Shakespeare’s tragedy, rather than being known a s one of his numerous works. In fact, among all of Shakespeare’s plays, Caesar stands ninth in theatrical popularity; Macbeth, Othello Hamlet and such preceding it (Raffel xvii-xix). Caesar himself appears very few times throughout the play, however. It is the chaos that reigns after his death that captivates the audience. A particularly famous one that I love is the twentieth century production by Orson Welles. George Orson Welles remains one of the most famous of all Hollywood’s directors. He was also a writer and his take on this play

History paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

History paper - Essay Example In the New York City and the Southern Colonies, the Dutch first introduced slavery which was later taken over by the English. The main difference was that the Southern Colonies stopped importing slaves. They laid strategies which increased the population of the slaves. They provided them with a health service, clothing, food and shelter conditions that were fair and encouraged them to reproduce. The number of American-born slaves increased in the southern colonies more than in the New York City. In the Dutch rule, slavery was introduced to the city of New York for the first time. Before this period, the Dutch agricultural laborers could work in Netherlands and get payment. It was not successful as the migrants desired to get more income in the well-paid fur trade and go back to their home nation in comfort. The company, therefore, preferred slavery and luckily, the Dutch colonies had established it in the Southern African, Southeast Asia, and Caribbean. Some Native Americans were first enslaved, followed by some Indians. However they could easily escape as they knew the terrains. The Americans also feared they could affect the lucrative fur trade if they continued enslaving the Indians. They opted for African slaves. The slaves’ principal works was to lay roads, clear forests and do other heavy work and services of the public colony. Over-reliance on African slaves by the company was due to lack of workers. The Dutch describe the African slaves as treacherous and pro ud, even though, the foundation of the coming of New York City was laid by the slaves. They started importing other seasoned African slaves from the Caribbean sugar colonies. The colony and the New Amsterdam were taken over by the English in 1644. There was a lot of work to be done, and they imported more slaves. The slaves from Africa performed both unskilled and skilled work in areas like

Manufacturing and Service Technologies Essay Example for Free

Manufacturing and Service Technologies Essay Manufacturing and Service Technologies technology refers to the work processes, techniques, machines, and actions used to transform organizational inputs into outputs. One important theme in this chapter is how core technology influences organization structure. Understanding core technology provides insight into how an organization can be structured for efficient performance. Core technology is the work process that is directly related to the organization’s mission. A non-core technology is a department work process that is important to the organization but is not directly related to its primary mission. Woodward developed a scale and organized the firms according to technical complexity of the manufacturing process. Technical complexity represents the extent of mechanization of the manufacturing process. High technical complexity means most of the work is performed by machines. Woodward’s scale consists of ten categories and these categories were further consolidated into three basic technology groups: The groups are consisted of small-batch and unit production, large-batch and mass production, and continuous-process production. Small-batch production relies heavily on the human operator; it is thus not highly mechanized. The large-batch is manufacturing process characterized by long production runs of standardized parts. In continuous-process production, the entire process is mechanized. Overall, the management systems in both unit-production and continuous -process technology are characterized as organic, as defined in Chapter 4. Mass production, however, is mechanistic, with standardized jobs and formalized procedures. When adopting a new technology, realign strategy, structure, and management process to achieve top performance. Lean manufacturing uses highly trained employees at every stage of the production process, who take a painstaking approach to details and problem solving to cut waste and improve quality. Lean manufacturing techniques have been implemented in hundreds of organizations all over the world and have led to dramatic improvements in quality, productivity, and efficiency. Service technologies are different from manufacturing technologies and, in turn, require a different organization design. The most obvious difference is that service technology produces an intangible output, rather than a tangible product. Hence, service organizations may have an organization structure with fewer boundary roles, greater geo-graphical dispersion, decentralization, highly skilled employees in the technical core, and generally less control than in manufacturing organizations. The feature of service technologies with a distinct influence on organizational structure and control systems is the need for technical core employees to be close to the customer. The impact of customer contact on organization structure is reflected in the use of boundary roles and structural disaggregation. The text also introduces Non-Core Departmental technology, as the section that shifts to the department level of analysis for departments not necessarily within the technical core. The framework that has had the greatest impact on the understanding of departmental technologies was developed by Charles Perrow. Perrow specified two dimensions of departmental activities: Variety and Analyzability. Variety is the frequency of unexpected and novel events that occur in the conversion process. Analyzability is when the work can be reduced to the mechanical steps and participants can follow an objective, computational procedure to solve problems. The dimensions of variety and analyzability form the basis for four major categories of technology: routine, craft, engineering, and nonroutine. (Daft) The text discusses both core and non-core work processes and their relationship to designing organization structure. The nature of the organization’s work processes must be considered in designing the organization for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The text illustrates that forces affecting organization design come from both outside and inside the organization. External strategic needs create top-down pressure for designing the organization in such a way as to fit the environment and accomplish goals. This illustrates that today’s companies is that strategy, structure, and technology need to be aligned, especially when competitive conditions change. For example, several years ago, Dell created a business model to uild personal computers faster and cheaper, other computer manufacturers had to realign strategy, structure, and technology to stay competitive. Dell made PCs to order for each customer and sold most of them directly to consumers without expense of distributers or retailers. IBM for example, tried to differentiate their products and charge a premium price switched to a low-cost strategy, adopted new technology to enable them to customize PCs, revamped supply chains, and began outsourcing manufacturing to other companies that could do the job more efficiently.

A Case Study on Amazon

A Case Study on Amazon The organization additionally plans to augment the estimation of its venture by likewise utilizing innovation to give more extensive and better vender stages, web administrations, computerized activities, and development of new and existing item classes. This demonstrates that engineering is at the center of the organizations business methodology, and will remain so for quite a while. The organization has received a long haul business method, which has seen it through troublesome times. Subsequently it must be said that the organization has been exceptionally viable at creating and executing business methods that rely on upon engineering The accomplishment of Amazon depends in the practical administration of its administrations and utilization of data innovation. The plan of action of Amazon is reflected by its brand and the chain of clients with a huge developing client database, its conveyance channels and easy to use web store front Amazon for this situation benchmarks the business-to-purchaser technique catching up the coordination idea and making a harmony in the middle of obtaining and offering. In straightforward words, the rent is to be sure the same as that in the physical world (retail locations, mail request, wholesalers). An alternate methodology made by Amazon is the client connection administration which is fundamentally a business technique to choose and deal with the association with clients in order to streamline the worth to an endeavor in long haul. This business system obliges a client situated business reasoning and society to help and encourage powerful advertising procedures over all immediate and circuitous client dispersion channels The business is recognized regarding business exercises, for example, business to business (B2b), business to clients (B2c) or customers to purchasers (C2c). Amazon catches up business to client show and puts stock in offering its clients the best administration Amazons B2b technique has two prongs – one to place contenders items close by its items through its affiliate stage, and two, to structure vital cooperations with different organizations to dispatch diverse brands client strengthening is a key gimmick of ecommerce. With a couple of clicks, clients can skip starting with one site then onto the next. The way to holding clients in this situation is to guarantee that the clients are furnished with all that they need in the site. Value examination destinations are the best of companion of todays sharp clients. Amazon has ripped in on this side of the business through its affiliate stage. By giving affiliates a space on its principle site, the organization is giving the little organizations a space on an exceptionally known site. This is an extremely alluring playing point to numerous organizations. Amazon likewise picks up by this game plan in two ways –it makes a benefit when the affiliate makes a deal, it additionally keeps hold of adroit clients by not giving them a chance to leave the site. Other huge contenders have really missed out on a significant open door for this situation Amazons second B2b procedure of making vital partnerships is however somewhat imperfect in that it is debilitating its fundamental brand name by making a lot of people more littler brand names. Generally as Wal-Mart has started to pine boxes, and Tesco broadband, Amazon ought to have the capacity to effortlessly extend its item go without losing its place in charge of Internet ecommerce. On the other hand, the organization has fail to do this. Its shoe store, Endless.com is a prime sample of a line of item that could have been incorporated under the Amazon.com pennant – if Amazon.com as of now offers clothing, why would it be able to not offer shoes? Endless.com has truth be told turned into a contender to Amazon.com, therefore debilitating the organization The business demonstrates fruitful with client based items like books, electronic utilities, basic need and so forth. Besides, the business permits spreading the business from national fringes to global limits. Thusly, the business examination demonstrates that the e-retailers deal worldwide was pretty nearly US $438 Billion in 2008 It was contended that there is a high rivalry in the business wherein the organizations that wish to enter the business sector needs monetary elements and the danger of high rivalry from existing entrenched firms. Notwithstanding, lower cost and item benefit conveyance has turned into a pattern of e-trade with a specific end goal to win piece of the pie The staggering accomplishment of Amazon is credited to Bezos who made keen utilization of innovation and comprehended the idea of online business. With far reaching statistical surveying, item examination, client needs and requests and so forth. Bezos discovered favorable element in offering books because of the way that it obliged low aggregate transaction and picking up colossal business section of generally safe purchasers who makes restless purchasing of items on the web. Through outsized piece of the overall industry in books, incorporated systems, client administrations, item conveyance and better business acquisitions Amazon harvested the soil grown foods of its diligent work in this way remaining as a brand symbol in industry The Blue Ocean made by Amazon is the consequence of its separated and advanced client administration conveyance for its book business. Firstly, it had made simple for clients to pursuit books online with a large number of titles of books furthermore gave a secured installment strategy. Esteem advancement of Blue Ocean was upheld by making quality to clients fulfillment by inventive thoughts, for example, knowing their clients practices and information mining as a data advantage. Moreover, it likewise upgrades correspondence with its clients as inputs when the clients shop web giving the criticism of their shopping background. As the accomplishment from the earliest starting point depends in client center, the system intimated by Bezos constantly considered putting all the more in foundation and making utilization of incorporated client frameworks and administration operations and obviously the safe technique for instalment By making utilization of Hamel Prahalads system of being recognized Amazon made the web administration and distributed computing where any representative can run its business. It has been dissected that the income created by the web administration is past the ecommerce business The presentation of Amazons Kindle digital book peruser in 2007 was a shrewd development. Amazon has a secured and built place in the online market because of its lower costs, client comfort, productive conveyance, solid advertising aptitudes, web administration and administration. A year ago, it was guaranteed by Amazon that they sold 500000 Kindle digital book perusers accepted that the related books downloads and periodical membership would yield countless dollars. At this spot, Amazon takes position as red sea technique by beating existing rivalry on the grounds that there were numerous digital book perusers accessible in the recent past So as to survive this rival, Amazon needs to make stride forward and receive a Blue Ocean method approach. This might be possible by separation in item and ease. Thus, item separation can be as far as client administration conveyance or utilizing admirably engineering to grow their base. Notwithstanding that, they need to consider client Buying Hierarchy, their propensities and conduct and capacity development. Before settling on choice to buy item clients experience different capacities, for example, unwavering quality, comfort, value and capacity Amazons client administration theory is based on three client experience columns low costs, unfathomable choice, and quick, advantageous conveyance (Amazon,2009a). The organization expects that these needs wont change in the long haul. The organizations business procedure is rotated around fortifying its capacity to convey these three things to clients. It expects that by creating a notoriety for offering everything at the least expensive cost and speediest conveyance it will have the capacity to collect rehash business. Thus it is ready to take a littler overall revenue with individual things with the expectation that the volume of offers will permit it to make sufficient benefit The organizations client administration methodology is a round, depending toward oneself one. An organization that needs to offer its products at low costs will need to depend on producing a substantial volume of offers. An organization that hopes to have an extensive volume of offers will bring to the table a boundless choice of things, as it cant anticipate that clients will purchase the same things again and again. Brynjolfsson et al (2006, pg. 68) clarifies that clients have a more prominent profundity of inclination that can be served by a physical storefront, and Amazon has exploited this The organization likewise plans to amplify the estimation of its speculation by additionally utilizing innovation to give more extensive and better vender stages, web administrations, advanced activities, and extension of new and existing item classes. This demonstrates that engineering is at the center of the organizations business technique, and will remain so for quite a while. The organization has embraced a long haul business methodology, which has seen it through troublesome times. Thus it must be said that the organization has been exceptionally successful at creating and actualizing business procedures that rely on upon innovation.

The Moviegoer By Walker Percy Essay -- essays research papers

In Walker Percy’s story The Moviegoer, Binx Bolling, a Stockbroker on the verge of turning thirty is on a quest. Set in 1960 New Orleans during Mardi Gras Binx, an upper class southern gentleman sets out to find out about himself. Answer questions that have tugged at his soul. Questions about despair, everydayness, religion and romance. Binx is stuck in a quagmire. He must break out from this cloak of ennui and find the essence of being. But how? How can people, a person with a soul and a world at their fingertips be so inept at finding what makes them alive. Can it be found in religion or on the arm of a southern beauty? Maybe it can be found in the surrealism of a movie, or the excitement of making money. What if an answer is found? Will it frighten a person back to their everydayness? Some of these question are sound, others may be just thoughts in the authors mind, but they are questions that Binx must find out about. The following will talk about the idea of despair & everydayness and if others think about searching the way Binx Bol ling does. Binx is deathly afraid of being pulled into everydayness. That is to say that he does not want to fall into the trap of a daily, weekly of life long rut. He does not want to settle for just living just an existence. He wants to be noticed, to have the ability of excitement on a daily routine. To work hard and start a family and fight for what he thinks is a grand life. Only to realize years later that such a routine was estab...

Blood In Macbeth Essay -- essays research papers

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is about a struggle for power in Scotland. Macbeth, the main character, gets prophecies from three witches about his future accomplishments that will come to him. One of his prophecies is that Macbeth will become king, Macbeth hearing this he becomes ambitious and later kills the current King Duncan, making himself the new king. A tragic ending comes to Macbeth when the people leave him and his world collapses around him. Blood is a recurring theme in this play; the theme of blood shows the setting of the play at that time and the different moods and emotions acquired by the characters. This idea of blood in the characters mind reverse from the beginning of the play to the end. Blood traverses the play Macbeth.King Duncan is the first to bring up blood in the play. Scotland at this time is fighting Norway; Macbeth and his best friend, Banquo, lead the Scottish forces to victory. The blood brought up by Duncan shows the honor and the heroic deeds done by Macbeth. "What bloody man is that?" Duncan asked to which Malcolm tells him it is the sergeant who had saved him and fought honorably. The sergeant shares his story of how Macbeth has fought so honorably even outnumbered "carv’d out his passage." This valiant story with the bloody sergeant being weak from his war injuries enhances Macbeth’s heroic appearance. Duncan’s response to the story shows his respect for Macbeth and realization of Macbeth’s honor, "O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!" Blood as it shows the good also shares the evil.Lady Macbeth portrays the evil side that blood offers to contrast with the good. Lady Macbeth hears from a messenger that the king shall arrive at the castle tonight. Lady Macbeth is the evil one of the pair while Macbeth seems full of good in this world Lady Macbeth sees opportunity. The only problem she finds wrong with herself is that she is a woman; she wishes that her weak female body change, "unsex me her, / and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ of direst cruelty!" With this change she wants her blood to become thick, thick blood would help Lady Macbeth become strong and let her kill without regret, "make thick my blood, / stop up th’ access and passage to remorse." Macbeth soon finds out what the word blood is to him.Macbeth after he has killed Duncan is in shock, h... ...ks, her maid and a doctor observe her. She rubs her hands together as if she was washing them. She continues to "wash" King Duncan’s blood away until she reminds herself of the bell she rang to summon her husband. "Out damned spot! out, I say!" When Lady Macbeth thought of Macbeth being king she thought that no one could oppose his power and killing Duncan wouldn’t cause any harm to her. "What need we fear who knows it, what none can call our power to account? —Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?" She although adds that Duncan has a lot of blood and this reminds her of her guilt. This guilt plagues her and she is devastated in her dream when she realizes that, "Here’s the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Lady Macbeth’s perspective changed at this point on blood and she will later commit suicide.Imagery is a useful tool used by many authors. Shakespeare used "blood" as an image throughout his play to show the emotions and actions of characters as well as the mood for that part of the play. This imagery is useful because it describes the characters

Change management Essay

Change management is an approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations to a desired future state. In this assignment I will be covering Rollin and Christine Glaser’s (1992) five elements to improve team effectiveness, IT management competencies, reasons for mergers and acquisitions in reference to South African businesses and roles leaders should play during the change process. In the aim to provide one with a better understanding of and insight of change management. Question 1 Rollin and Christine Glaser (1992) the five elements that contribute to the level of a team’s effectiveness over time. These are: †¢ Team mission, planning and goal setting; †¢ Team roles; †¢ Team operating processes; †¢ Team interpersonal relationships; and †¢ Inter team relations. Team mission planning and goal setting The most effective teams have a strong sense of their purpose, organize their work around that purpose, and plan and set goals in line with that purpose. Teams and individuals within teams must have a clear understanding of their objectives. Clarity of objectives together with a common understanding and agreement of these objectives are fundamental. Locke and Latham have identified that the very act of goal setting was a prime motivator for a team; the more your team sets clear goals the more likely it is to succeed. When implementing clear goal setting in a team it will increase the effectiveness ratio. Clear goals are even more substantial when teams are involved in change, partially because unless they know where they are going  they are unlikely to get there, and partly because a strong sense of purpose can mitigate some of the more harmful effects of change. Team roles The team should comprehend their own and other team members roles, and how these link to achieving the team objective. This becomes even more important with teams based remotely and some that are part-time working. The best way for a team to achieve its goals is for the team to be structured logically around those goals. Individual team members need to have clear roles and accountabilities. They need to have a clear understanding not only of what their individual role is, but also what the roles and accountabilities of other team members are. Clear roles have two useful functions. It contributes to a clear sense of purpose and it provides a supportive framework for task accomplishment. Team operating processes A team needs to have certain enabling processes in place for people to carry out their work together. These processes can be seen as ground rules for a team to adhere to. Certain things need to be placed that will allow the task to be achieved in a way that is as efficient and as effective as possible. Processes deals with the issues and decisions and how the team will respond to them in an efficient and effective way without disrupting the work process within the team. During the change process when team change typically puts pressures and priorities it can isolate people away from the team, the team operating processes can act like a lubricant, enabling a smooth healthy team to continually function. Areas that a team need actively label by discussing and agreeing include: †¢ Frequency, timing and agenda of meetings; †¢ Problem-solving and decision-making methodologies; †¢ Ground rules; †¢ Procedures for dealing with conflict when it occurs; †¢ Reward mechanisms for individuals contributing to team goals; †¢ Type and style of review process. Team interpersonal relationships To encourage team members to communicate with one another, share information, communicate openly, respect differences, which will increase relationships and understandings within the team. This all helps to build trust and a better working atmosphere. To achieve clear understanding of goals and roles, the team needs to work together to agree and clarify them. Operating processes must also be discussed and agreed. To achieve this level of communication, the interpersonal relationships within the team need to be in a relatively healthy state. Allowing for open communication that is assertive and task focused, as well as creating opportunities for giving and receiving feedback aimed at creating development. High levels of trust within a team are the foundation for coping with conflict. Inter-team relations Regular communication flows between teams are essential as they help to keep up with changing situations and ensure the right thing is being delivered. Teams cannot work in isolation with expecting in achieving their organizational objectives. The nature of organizations today are complex, sophisticated and with increasing loose and permeable boundaries. Teams need to connect more. It is also because the environment is changing faster and is more complex, so keeping in touch with information outside of your own team is a basic survival strategy. Question 2 IT MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES †¢ Business deployment: A systematical procedure of implementing an activity, processes, programs, or systems to all concerning areas of an organization to achieve a particular outcome. Communicate the value offered by emerging IT organisations. This needs to be coupled with the use of IT teams, with good knowledge of IT, to improve IT solutions. Examination of the potential business value of new, emerging IT Utilization of multidisciplinary teams throughout the organization Effective working relationships among line managers and IT staff Technology transfer, where appropriate, of successful IT applications Platforms and services Adequacy of IT-related knowledge of line managers throughout the organization Visualizing the value of IT investments throughout the organization Appropriateness of IT policies Appropriateness of IT sourcing decisions Effectiveness of IT measurement systems †¢ External networks: The network outside a team’s internal network environment which can’t be controlled by the team or the organization. These needs are to create close partnerships with external companies to create more organisational awareness. Existence of electronic links with the organization’s customers Existence of electronic links with the organization’s suppliers Collaborative alliances with external partners (vendors, systems integrators, Competitors) to develop IT-based products and processes. †¢ Line technology leadership: Line technology leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task within the IT management environment. It is having the ability in organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal. Users such as line managers and senior managers need to participate actively in leading IT  initiatives. Line managers’ ownership of IT projects within their domains of business responsibility Ability of employees throughout the organization to serve as Project Leaders. †¢ Process adaptiveness: The ability to change and adapt suitably and accordingly to suit the IT climate and are able to conform to the new conditions by means of modification. It is also about the companies track record in restructuring its processes, and the existence of an environment where employees can find and explore the functionality of IT systems. Ability of employees throughout the organization to learn about and subsequently explore the functionality of installed IT tools and Applications restructuring of business processes, where appropriate, throughout the organization Visualizing organizational activities throughout the organization. †¢ IT planning IT planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal within an information technology environment. It involves the creation and maintenance of a Strategic plan. The thought process is essential to the creation and refinement of an IT plan in relation to strategic planning, or integration of it with other plans. It combines with developments with the preparation of scenarios of how to react to them. Integration of business strategic planning and IT strategic planning Clarity of vision regarding how IT contributes to business value Effectiveness of IT planning throughout the organization Effectiveness of project management practices. †¢ IT infrastructure IT infrastructure is a combined set of hardware, software, networks, facilities, etc. In order to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control or support IT services. It controls the restructuring, design and architecture of data and networks etc. It is also about the appropriateness and flexibility of the underlying infrastructure which allows innovative IT practices to be emerged. restructuring of IT work processes, where appropriate Appropriateness of data architecture Appropriateness of network architecture Knowledge of and adequacy of the organization’s IT skill base Consistency of object (data, process, rules) definitions Effectiveness of software development practices. Question 3 Growth A lot of commercial mergers and acquisitions are about growing and expansion. Growth normally involves acquiring new customers. Merging or acquiring another company enables a faster way of growth, which detours around the unnecessary, long, tedious and uncertainty process of internally generated growth. It brings with it the risks and challenges of understanding the intended benefits of this activity. The appeal of immediate revenue growth must be weighed up against the negatives of asking management to run an even larger company. Massmart a South African firm has merged with American giants Wal-Mart in hopes to create more and new customers. It can also be about getting access to facilities, brands, trademarks, technology or even employees. This strategy was used to implement growth and expansion in this particular industry. Synergy It’s the cooperation of two or more organizations to produce a combined effect greater than when they were separate . If two organizations are  thought to have synergy, this indicates the potential ability of the two to be more successful when merged than they were apart. This usually translates into: Operating synergies are those synergies that allow firms to increase their operating income from existing assets ,increase growth or both. †¢ Growth in revenues through a newly created or strengthened product or service (hard to achieve) †¢ Cost reductions in core operating processes through economies of scale (easier to achieve) †¢ Financial synergies such as lowering the cost of capital (cost of borrowing, flotation costs) †¢ More competent, clearer governance (as in the merger of two hospitals). However, there may be other gains. Some acquisitions can be motivated by the belief that the acquiring company has better management skills, and can therefore man age the acquired company’s assets and employees more successfully in the long term and more profitably. Mergers and acquisitions can also be about strengthening quite specific areas, such as boosting research capability, or strengthening the distribution network. Diversification Diversification is about growing business outside the company’s traditional industry. This type of merger or acquisition was very popular during the third wave in the 1960s (see box). Although General Electric (GE) has flourished by following a strategy that embraced both diversification and divestiture, many companies following this course have been far less successful. Diversification may result from a company’s need to develop a portfolio through nervousness about the earning potential of its current markets, or through a desire to enter a more profitable line of business. The latter is a tough target, and economic theory suggests that a diversification strategy to gain entry into more profitable areas of business will not be successful in the long run (see Gaughan, 2002 for more explanation of this). A classic recent example of this going wrong is Marconi, which tried to diversify by buying US telecoms businesses. Unfortunately, this was just before the whole teleco ms market crashed, and Marconi suffered badly from this strategy. Integration to achieve economic gains or better services Another increasingly common motive for merger and acquisition activity is to achieve horizontal integration. A company may decide to merge with or acquire a competitor to gain market share and increase its marketing strength. Public sector organizations may merge purely to achieve cost savings (often a guiltily held motivation) or to enhance partnership working in the service of customers. Vertical integration is also an attraction. A company may decide to merge with or acquire a customer or a supplier to achieve at least one of the following: †¢ A dependable source of supply; †¢ The ability to demand specialized supply; †¢ Lower costs of supply; †¢ Improved competitive position. An example of this in South Africa is when Glaxo-Smith Kline (GSK) one of the largest pharmaceutical company worldwide decided to merge with Aspen Pharmaceuticals (Largest Pharmaceutical Company in South Africa) in order to get a better hold of its market position in Africa and by obtaining tenders and contracts by the government to supply local communities within South Africa generic medication and also anti-retrovirals. Defensive measures Some mergers are defensive and are a response to other mergers that threaten the commercial position of a company. Pressure to do a deal, any deal  There is often tremendous pressure on the CEO to reinvest cash and grow reported earnings (Selden and Colvin, 2003). He or she may be being advised to make the deal quickly before a competitor does, so much so that the CEO’s definition of success becomes completion of the deal rather than the longer-term programme of achieving intended benefits. This is dangerous because those merging or acquiring when in this frame of mind can easily overestimate potential revenue increases or costs savings. In short, they can get carried away. Feldmann and Spratt (1999) warn of the seductive nature of merger and acquisition activity. ‘Executives everywhere, but most particularly those in the world’s largest corporations and institutions, have a knack for falling prey to their own hype and promotion.  Implementation is simply a detail and shareholder value is just around the corner. This is quite simply delusional thinking.’ Question 4 There are various views about the role a leader should play in the change process †¢ The machine metaphor implies that the leader sits at the top of the organization, setting goals and driving them through to completion. †¢ The political system metaphor implies that the leader needs to become the figurehead of a powerful coalition which attracts followers by communicating a compelling and attractive vision, and through negotiation and bargaining. †¢ The organism metaphor says the leader’s primary role is that of coach, counsellor and consultant. †¢ The flux and transformation metaphor says the leader is a facilitator of emergent change. Different types of leaders have different types of role. Local line leaders These are the front-line managers who design the products and services and make the core processes work. Without the commitment of these people, no significant change will happen. These people are usually very focused on their own teams and customers. They rely on network leaders to link them with other parts of the organization, and on executive leaders to create the right infrastructure for good ideas to emerge and take root. Executive leaders These are management board members. Senge does not believe that all change starts here. Rather, he states that these leaders are responsible for three key things: designing the right innovation environment and the right infrastructure for assessment and reward, teaching and mentoring local line leaders, and serving as role models to demonstrate their commitment to values and purpose. Network leaders Senge makes the point that the really significant organizational challenges occur at the interfaces between project groups, functions and teams. Network leaders are people who work at these interfaces. They are guides, advisors, active helpers and accessors (helping groups of people to get resource from elsewhere), working in partnership with line leaders. They often have the insight to help local line leaders to move forward and make changes happen across the organization. The interconnections are hard to achieve in reality. We have observed the following obstacles to achieving smooth interconnection between the different roles: †¢ Executive leaders are busy, hard-to-get-hold-of people who can become quite disconnected from their local line leaders. †¢ Executive leaders and local line leaders rarely meet face to face and communicate by e-mail, if at all. †¢ Network leaders, such as internal consultants or process facilitators, are often diverted from their leadership roles by requests either to perform expert tasks or to implement HR-led initiatives. †¢ Network leaders may be busy and effective, but are usually undervalued as leaders of change. They often have to battle to get recognized as important players in the organization. Senge’s model recognizes the need for all three types of leader, and the need for connectivity between different parts of the organization if change is desired. Conclusion: It’s more appropriate in anticipating objections than to spend your time putting out fires,(prevention is better than cure) and understanding how to overcome resistance to change is a essential part of any change management plan. Expecting resistance to change and planning for it from the start of your change management course of action will allow you to effectively and effectively manage objections. Not dealing with change proactively is one of the larger downfalls. In the end all sources of resistance to change need to be acknowledged and employee’s emotions validated in order to move forward with the change. Index Page Glossary of terms Introduction Question 1- Rollin and Christine Glaser (1992) five elements to improve team effectiveness Question 2- Discussing five categories of IT management competences Question 3- Reasons for mergers and acquisitions in reference to South Africa Question 4- Roles leaders play in the change process Conclusion Bibliography and References Glossary of terms Restructuring: This type of corporate action is usually made when there are significant problems in a company, which are causing some form of financial harm and putting the overall business in jeopardy. The hope is that through restructuring, a company can eliminate financial harm and improve the business Acquisition: An act of purchase of one company by another. Merger: The combining of two or more companies, generally by offering the stockholders of one company securities in the acquiring company. Change: The act or instance of making or becoming different. Resistance: The refusal to accept or comply with something, the attempt to prevent something by action or argument. Cognitive: The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment. References and bibliographies Cameron ,E, Green ,M. â€Å"Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change†. Kogan Page Publishers, (2012) Kotter, J. (July 12, 2011). â€Å"Change Management vs. Change Leadership -What’s the Difference?† Filicetti, John (August 20, 2007). â€Å"Project Management Dictionary†. Conner, Daryl (August 15, 2012). â€Å"The Real Story of the Burning Platform†. Anderson, D. & Anderson, L.A. (2001). Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders.