Matsushita and Japan’s Changing Culture Essay

1. What were triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan? Cultural change in Japan during the 1990s has a few factors. One of them was the richer society. The society being richer than the previous times made the new generation feel that they had greater opportunities rather than being tied to a company for life and being a â€Å"salary-man†. The western culture was also a big influence in this respect. The laying off of older workers also made them believe that loyalty to a company might not be reciprocated. Cultural change is starting to affect the traditional values in Japan. Values like strong group identification, reciprocal obligations and loyalty to their company are being taken over by individualism and lack of loyalty. People don’t want to be tied to a company for life anymore. 2. How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy? Japan’s changing culture will influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future. Companies might change their benefits and pay structure from traditional retirement plan structure. They might allow employees to choose from different type of employment contracts where they can choose greater salary to forego company housing, lifetime employment guarantee, seniority benefits and retirement bonuses. The potential implications of such changes in the Japanese economy might be the rise of a dynamic workforce with ambitious individuals who would be rational and logical in their thinking. This workforce can be the agent of the economic growth of Japan in the future. 3. How did traditional Japanese culture benefit Matsushita during the 1950s-1980s? Did traditional values become more of a liability during the 1990s and early 2000s? How so? The traditional Japanese culture helped Matsushita achieve its goals during the 1950s – 1980s because in response to all the benefits Matsushita gave to its employees, the employees worked hard for the greater good of the company. The employees were given guaranteed lifetime employment and so the employees never left the company. Matsushita took care of them from â€Å"cradle to the grave† by bestowing â€Å"blessings† on employees. The traditional values did become liability during the 1990s and early 2000s because the company faced financial crisis and its growth slowed down, but it couldn’t lay its  employees off because of the lifetime employment guarantee. 4. What is Matsushita trying to achieve with human resource changes it has announced? What are the impediments to successfully implementing these changes? What are the implications for Matsushita if (a) the changes are made quickly or (b) it takes years or even decades to fully implement the changes? With the human resource changes it has announced, Matsushita is trying to achieve a younger workforce that is encouraged with individuality, initiative taking and risk seeking. It wants its young managers to become rational and logical, ambitious and aggressive, and at the same time to create an organization that can carry out their ambitious plans. One of the impediments to successfully implementing these changes is the lifetime employment commitment, which held Matsushita back from cutting off unnecessary management staffs. Also, the existing managers are performing poorly because of their old way of doing things. Again, since it cannot lay workers off, it has to cut back on its hiring and this is triggered by the slow growth rate. Implications for Matsushita: (a) If changes are made quickly, the company would have a dynamic workforce that would increase the growth rate. But that would lack the loyalty of its employees, which is still a very strong force to keep the company going. (b) If Matsushita takes too much time, it might fall back and become unable to revolutionize its workforce. If old employees do not make way for new employees, the company will have a slower growth rate with an aging workforce. 5. What does the Matsushita case teach you about the relationship between societal culture and business success? The Matsushita case teaches us that societal culture and business success are very closely related. This is because the culture in the organization is a very important driver of its success and this culture is shaped and determined by the existing culture of the society.

Classroom Activity on Cultural Diversity Essay

Cultural diversity is the diverse culture having people of different races, cultures, religions, nationalities, ethnic groups and backgrounds making up a community. Cultural diversity is a term used to mean that a group or area contains people from many different cultures and backgrounds. These areas are considered diverse because everyone is unique and different.. The phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each other’s differences. The phrase cultural diversity is also sometimes used to mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. India is a land of diversity in race, region, caste, language, mate, landform, flora and fauna and so on. From ancient time till day India has repainted this diversity from very ancient time. Mature has shaped the country so. Rightly this land has been termed as â€Å"the epitome of the world. † In our country we will find people from different races. People in each race have their own culture. By culture we mean the characteristics of an individual society or of some subgroups within this society. It includes values, beliefs, notions, acceptable and non acceptable behaviour and other socially constructed ideas that members of the culture are taught as true. We will agree that culture has an impact on socialization process of students. Religion, food habits, festivals,clothing, arts,music etc. play an important role in shaping children during school years. The diversity or individual differences manifest in the works, views, discipline etc. Each element shapes the children through socialization within the families, school and in child’s environment. As a teacher we should know when the racial awareness begin in child. The foundation of self awareness is started around the age of 2-3 years. They learn about themselves, their physical differences, skin colour and begin to apply the skin colour. Around age 4, children learn to identify clearly the differences among people. At the age 5 or 6 years, they started asking questions about their physical differences and also begin to understand these differences. At the age of 7 or 8 years, the children understand that a person’s skin colour will not wash off, rather it will remain same as the person grows up. They learn to understand that how a person can become a member of several different groups like family, classroom, a culture etc. This is the time when the parents and teachers provide them accurate information about cultural diversity. A teacher can take the following activity in the classroom for making his children aware about our cultural diversity. Teacher may asked the students to write their names, nicknames and the names of their Grandmother with which they addressed her at home.

Characteristics of Affective Communication Essay

Communication is the process exchange information of ideas, thoughts, opinions and feeling between two or more persons. It involves listening, questioning, explaining, clarifying and convincing. Effective communication entails a two way process it involves sending the right message and ensuring it is correctly received and understood by the other person. For effective communication to be complete one, has to get feedback as this ensures the status of conveying the message. For effective communication, it is essential to understand the people one is communicating. (Barnlund, 2008) Discussion Characteristics of effective communication include. I. Completeness For effective communication, one has to ensure that he/she does send incomplete message. Message sent should always be supported by facts and observation. The message should be well planned and organized to enhance understandability. The receiver should not make any assumptions about the message. (Roy, 2010) II. Clarity  Message to be delivered must be clear in the mind of the sender. The receiver and the sender should have the message clear in their minds. To enhance clarity of the message one should use easy words so that listeners can get it easily. In verbal communication, one should work a little bit in one’s accent and pronunciation. (Roy, 2010) III. Empathy Empathy among listeners is essential for effective verbal communication. When addressing, the speaker should understand his or her audience needs and emotions. This will enhance the speaker to understand from their perspective thus making communication more effective to him and the audience. (Roy, 2010) IV. Properly dressed Dressing properly gives makes one gain confidence from the audience and respect. One should be neat, clean, have decent hair style and avoid casual and unethical look. (Roy, 2010) Conclusion Communication acts as a bridge because excellent communication connects to lives through allowing exchange of information. Good communication brings people together by creating a link between people. On the other hand, poor communication leads to separating of people as it creates conflict among people.

What are the tradeoffs between relational and object-oriented Essay

What are the tradeoffs between relational and object-oriented databases and database management systems - Essay Example This section also outlines tradeoffs between relational, object-oriented databases and database management systems. RDBMSs (Relational Database Management Systems) have been offering excellent services and benefits to their users; however this achievement is incomplete as well as limited to only some kinds of applications. In view of the fact that the business clients adopt latest versions of systems, as well as develop to previous ones, their efforts to make use of RDBMS come across the "Relational Wall," where RDBMS technology is no longer capable to offer the functionality and services required by the users. Additionally, users face this barrier when they try to enlarge information models to sustain associations among data, novel data types, extensible data types, and straight support of data objects. In the same way, the barrier can take place when implementing database in distributed environments through complicated processes. On the other hand, attempts to resolve these issues with relational technology cause an explosion of tables, a lot of joins, deprived performance, unfortunate scalability as well as loss of integrity. Thus, ODBMSs present a path further than the wall (Objectivity, Inc., 2005). Additionally, the emergence of new generation of Relational Database Management Systems has offered a lot of advantages to clients. These advantages comprise unplanned query, self-governing data from logical application, and a variety of front-end GUI (graphical user interface) systems. In addition, it has also offered many business applications, as well as the business sector has expended to over $4B yearly, comprising tools. There is a question that why we should look beyond RDBMSs? We should perform so simply when essential to capability and support of new types of systems, new associations, distribution, media data types as well as scalability. In reality, the majority of systems and applications have never made use of RDBMSs, and a lot of applications that have utilized RDMBS are now searching for other options, like that ODBMSs (Objectivity, Inc., 2005). In addition, the relational databases have offered a high-quality service in a lot of customary database systems. Despite the fact that, in many scenarios for instance when it is complicated to deal with information, or when superior efficiency is needed (i.e. objects having anonymous identifiers, or objects going from one type to another, etc.), or when we need to manage non-conventional data (such as images, long texts, etc.), additional techniques need to be implemented. Normally, these techniques include object-oriented or semantic databases. Additionally, the semantic database models are object oriented database models. Moreover, they present, a variety of levels, a lot of characteristics of semantic models, in the form of conceptual information, as well as, purify a number of behavioral characteristics of the data (Rishe, 2010). However, if a RDBMS can resolve our problems without numerous efforts as well as offers the required results, efficiency and scalability then there is no need to utilize an ODBMS. If some of the below given situations are convened then we should think about using ODBMS. Belo w are some of the important reasons that require us to make use of RDBMS: (Objectivity, Inc., 2011) Complicated Relationships: If we are having numerous many-to-many relationships in our database, tree arrangements or network (graph) formations (Objectivity, Inc., 2011). Complicated Data Arrangement: If the data has numerous changeable length parts, such as arrays of structures, multi-dimensional arrays or binary streams (Objectivity, In

English Vowel Length Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

English Vowel Length - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that every individual has specific pronunciation peculiarities, for example, /s/ may be pronounced in a different manner. A phonologist may be interested in discussing peculiarities of different pronunciation types of /s/ in words where only one basic unit of this sound is met. Phonetician would be more interested in articulation peculiarities. Consequently, the phonological system of English consists of â€Å"number of phonemes which are used in this language and to how they are organized†. The English language has 12 pure vowel sounds which can differentiate word meanings. The following features differentiate vowels from consonants. Thus, from phonetic perspective vowels are produced via vocal configuration of the vocal tract: mouth is open and we can hear the sound created by air passing through the mouth (so-called audible friction). From a phonological perspective, vowels consist of sound system units which can take place in the m iddle of a syllable (e.g., rat, bad). A distinctive principle of vowels discussed in this paper is vowel length. Symbolically, length is symbolized by colon [:]. There are 5 relatively long and 7 relatively short vowels. It is possible to distinguish the length of vowels in accordance with the quantity and quality principles. Length variation is also presented in the following pair of sounds /ÉÅ":/ and /É™/. The former sound occurs only in stressed syllables in RP (bird, servant); the latter in unstressed ones (above, butter). This pair of sounds doesn’t produce a difference in meaning. Length of vowels can be explained not only by quantity features but also by quality (or place of articulation). There is a special name for long vowels, which is tense-lax. This group of vowels is formed by a tension of certain mouth muscles. They are: /i/, /e/, /u/, /o/, /É”/, /É‘/. In case when no tension is required, lax vowels appear:   /É ª/, /É›/, /à ¦/, /ÊŠ/, /ÊÅ'/. In order to illustrate what length of vowels actually means, it is possible to discuss tendencies on the following examples: same-Sam-psalm may be transcribed in the following way: [sem], [sà ¦m], [sÉ‘m]. In this example, it is possible to show that concepts of length and duration are different. A relative duration may be exemplified by showing length degree in the same vowel or consonant: allophone [i] in the words bee and beet has the different degree of lengths. With regard to the fact if this sound is voiced/voiceless, stopped/constituent degrees of length varies. From a phonetic perspective, degrees of length can be explained by speaker’s habits to speak slowly or quickly, emotional context of the situation of speaking and stress amount carried by syllable. Phoneticians realize difference of length degree and they depict it as follows: [bid], [bi ·d], [bi:d], or [bÉ ªid]. Still, in such a way, vowel length is depicted only approximately. If to depict the degree of length exactly, then phoneticians have to appeal to phonologists. Phonologic studies may prove many Americans, who underestimate the role of vowel length as the essential determinant factor of words distinction, that this phenomenon is very important in the scientific area. Unfortunately, very often vowel length is underestimated and is considered to have a stylistic value and not practical importance. For phonologists and phoneticians length of vowels is rather meaningful that’s why following consonants or unstressed syllables are all taken into account. For example, in a child [tÊÆ'aÉ ªld] the diphthong [aÉ ª] refers to norms of Old English [i:]; in the word children, the extra consonant [r] and the extra syllable caused the effect on a vowel to remain lax and short. Moreover, vowel length is usually defined in case an unstressed follows a stressed vowel and the latter is usually long (e.g. re-enact [ˈri: É™nà ¦kt]). On the other hand, if the unstressed vowel fol lows the stressed vowel, then it is short as a rule (e.g. react [riˈà ¦kt]).

Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) - Essay Example The paper will outline my PDP for the module strategic management in hospitality and tourism industry. The action plan is based on reflection, values, awareness, planning, and goal setting for personal development. In week one, we were given the overview of the module strategic management in hospitality and tourism industry. The module focuses on the strategic aspects of hospitality and tourism industry, as well as examining the current and emerging issues that I will face in the work environment. At the end of the module, I was informed by the instructor that each one of us will have to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of hospitality, tourism, finance, people, operations, and marketing, as well as entrepreneurism. The module will be taught through various ways including tutorials, lectures, self-directed learning, journals and case studies, textbooks, scenario-based learning, discussion forums and peer-to-peer learning, module webs, and seminars. The learning of this module needs to be assessed through coursework and phase tests, and not the traditional exams. In week two, I learnt about strategy. Chandler (1963, p.13) asserts that a strategy is described as a long-term goals of a firm and the allocation of resources to attain these goals. I was able to summarise the strategy of an organization in a ‘strategy statement.† A strategy statement needs to have a goal, scope and the particular advantages. For instance, the firm uses training and development an employee retention strategy. Besides, I will need to establish the core issues for an organisation’s strategy in relation to the exploring strategy model. The model outlines those situations that require strategic thinking as termed as ill-structured (Rumelt, 2009, p.198). The model enabled me to fully examine the concept of strategy and the role it plays in the guidance of organizations. I was also able to distinguish that corporate strategy is the overall strategy of company.

Coaching Analysis Flow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Coaching Analysis Flow - Essay Example Dominance and high ego, lack of strategic vision and inability to delegate authority lead performance deficiencies and poor performance of the team. I know this person for 6 years and can objectively describe advantages and disadvantages of his style and approach to coaching. The problem is that poor communication and lack of coordination prevents the team from effective performance and positive outcomes. The facilitator, I am working with, has no such important interpersonal skills as empathy, motivation, and communication. What has received considerably less attention than the skills is that appropriate application of these skills requires a thorough understanding of one's social setting, or social intelligence. Social intelligence has been defined in a variety of ways (Aldrich 2006). One of the ways in which executive leaders co-opt stakeholders is through their relationships with the members of their boards of directors. The main problems are caused by inability to forecast possi ble problems outside the team and lack of coordination between the facilitator and the team. ... An examination of the task bank for the software development team shows you must operate at the People negotiating level in dealings with the product owner and the other team members. You will have to be tactful, tolerate others, listen to their concerns, share ideas with team members in an acceptable manner, and deal constructively with conflict. The main problems need to be addressed are communication and cooperation between the facilitator and team members, delegation of authority and change in leadership style (Brocato 2003). Coaching Analysis Flow The problem is worth solving because it will help to improve communication and performance outcomes. Most of the likes and dislikes, preferences, and displeasures experienced in carrying out particular activities are registered on a subconscious level. People tend to become aware of them only when questioning certain choices and decisions. To some extent determinations about who we are and how we got that way may be a theory that we test from time to time by trying new things, undertaking new experiences, pushing ourselves to extremes, and in the process affirming or disconfirming theories about ourselves.In the course of growing up, people focus on particular interests and content areas. But perhaps more importantly, they develop behavioral styles, preferred ways of functioning, and preferred environments to be in (Brocato 2003). The performance deficiencies are that nobody knows obstacles outside the team members control. If problems occur, team members are not ready to solve or prevent them. In some cases, negative consequences follow good performance. It de-motivates employees and brings anxiety and depression. People learn to make numerous other adaptations to

Construction Economics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Construction Economics - Research Paper Example Strategy of Barratt is to acquire land for establishing houses such as standalone and more for greater sustainability in the market (Barratt Developments PLC, 2015). In this context, the paper intends to plan for the next two years where the company needs to analyse the situation best suited. The paper will analyse whether Barratt should construct smaller houses or rely on the land bank for the future two years. Success of business depends on various aspects such as the macro and micro scenario the company is operating in. With regard to the housing industry, it can be stated that the success and efficient decision making with regard to the performance of business depends on several aspects. Building of houses depends on the potential of the market and the capabilities of the company. It is witnessed that Barratt is a large house builder having high potential in the market, as it understands the market requirements. Micro factors that lead to the success of the housing builders are the location, plans, orientation as well as building layout and size. On the other hand, the macro factors affecting the industry include the government policies, financing, labour cost and market potential. The conditions of the UK market have been identified to be unstable to a certain extent due to the rise in prices and potential political uncertainty (KnightFrank, 2015; Bunn & Rostom, 2014). Housing prices d epend on factors such as economic growth, rate of interest, employment, consumer confidence and important aspect of supply and demand. Construction of large houses depends on various facets of the economy. With regard to Barratt, if the company decides to construct new large buildings, then the opportunity cost will be considerably high. The reason being for the construction of the large building, that company has to increase their land bank and need more financial aids. Furthermore, as per the market situation, it is

Asia History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Asia History - Essay Example Same holds true for Africans and Americans. In fact, there is little difference between Europeans and Americans. Many people in the two continents conventionally have similar way of living. Most of the tribes in African states have exactly same style of living, traditions and culture. Many even retain the same financial status. Such trends are least likely to be observed in Asia. In Asia, people generally tend to associate with one another on the basis of some similarity. Religion is largely considered as a means of association irrespective of the difference of race, ethnicity or origin. People tend to develop irremovable differences with people even in their own race on the basis of religion. Two Asians, one from India and the other from Pakistan might look exactly the same apparently, but the two are very different from each other in every day life. This is because the way of life of the two people is governed by the religions they belong to. Let’s assume that the Indian is a Hindu and the Pakistani is a Muslim. The vastness of distance between the beliefs the two of them hold can be estimated from the fact that the former worships a cow while the latter slaughters it, and both of them have religious reasons for doing so. Similar examples can be quoted while comparing Pakistanis to Chinese, Chinese to Srilankans and Iranis to Russians. Apart from religion, other fundamental causes of differences among Southeast Asian countries are political systems and differing sizes of population (Pope, n.d., p. 2). This can, hence, be stated that religion plays a fundamental role in deciding the relations between a vast majority of Asians. This is because many in-flowing religions have had influence on the already existing ones in Asia from time to time. Asia’s history is much influenced by religions. Buddhism has long been the religion of Asians. The teachings