A Disappointing Golf Game :: Reflection Memoir Essays

A Disappointing Golf Game A smooth swing backed by power propelled my Titleist 230 yards down the fairway. An explosion of emotions ran through me as I started off the most important round of golf to date. The first hole of regionals proved to be as challenging as the rest of the course would be that day. With temperatures in the lower forties, I teed off at approximately 10:40 a.m. I had a thirty-foot putt to save par. I drained it, right in the center of the cup. I thought to myself, "Now let's build off of that." The next tee shot was down the right side of the fairway and in perfect position to the pin. I was striking the ball very well, even though my swing felt like an unfolding lawn chair. I would have to keep this up for seventeen more holes. In the back of my mind, I knew that a 77 would get me to state for sure. At this same course, just two weeks prior, I shot 77 with a bogey and then a double bogey to finish my last two holes. I knew that if I could just replicate that round, I would be going to state. That 77 wasn't even a very good round for me. I made a lot of errors, mental and physical, that would have saved me a lot of strokes. A 73 won that tournament, so without those errors, I would have been right there. All I had to do was to play well. After carding a 39 on the front nine with five three-putts, I was on track to a 75. Things were looking up. Standing on the number ten tee was a very different experience than it was on the front nine. The cold, dark clouds moved overhead with a light wind blowing right to left. The wind soon raised goose bumps on all of our skin. It had become quite cold, and everyone knew that this was going to turn ugly. A decent tee shot started off the second half of my round. As I was walking to my ball in the fairway, the wind picked up dramatically and sleet was stinging the back of my neck. My hands were soaked, along with the rest of my body. My clothes were drenched, making the temperature seem much lower than it already was. I knew I would have to play through these elements well enough to post a good round.

Negotiation strategies & procedures

It is agreed that negotiation is a process and that the first stage of any negotiation, the pre-negotiation stage, is very essential in the planning process for negotiations. But the stage of pre-negotiations, as scholars have come to agree, is in itself also a process. Since the pre-negotiation stage is so crucial there are therefore certain essential steps to proceed on in order to ensure success. While scholars are not agreed on the exact labeling of the different phases of pre-negotiation, nor on how many specific steps there are to be followed, they generally agree on the essential elements that must come into play during pre-negotiations. Peterson & Lucas (2001) identify four stages of pre-negotiations. Other writers have classified the processes involved in pre-negotiation into five categories and even some have limited their categories to only three components. Scholars agree that the first step to take in pre-negotiations is for the parties to identify and define the exact nature of the problem and conduct necessary intelligence gathering procedures. This first phase is basically the framing phase. Furthermore, in this first step, parties are able to demonstrate whether or not they are willing to negotiate address the issues. The next step is the formulation aspects where the parties begin to search for available options or alternatives to the issue(s) from the perspective of both parties. Each party will have to anticipate the possible options that the other could propose. In the third step there is first some amount of commitment to negotiate among the parties, whether formally or informally based on the information gathered and the alternatives identified. There is following this commitment a concrete agreement or decision to negotiate by both parties. Here the negotiating parties decide on the parameters under which such negotiations would take place. The final step in the pre-negotiation process is the structuring phase where negotiation strategies are developed and plans are made by each side as how best to tackle the actual negotiation. Formal negotiations begin as soon as the parties agree to negotiate and appoint a committee over the negotiations. What are the Individual Characteristics of Negotiators? One important factor that impacts greatly on the process and outcome of negotiations is the individual characteristics of the negotiators. While no scholar has proposed a particular model of the best characteristic traits for a successful negotiator, they have identified several factors that could swing negotiation outcomes either in favor of or against the party for with the individual is negotiating. Among the individual characteristics of negotiators the most commonly identified are negotiation experience, age, sex, education and training as well as culture and beliefs. Other variable characteristics could also have an impact on how well a negotiator performs. Irritability, tension, historical relationship between negotiators, physical health among others factors have been noted to affect the negotiation process. These characteristics are, however, quite variable, and depend heavily on the specific negotiation time and situation and not completely on the negotiator’s usual character traits. As it pertains to the classifiable characteristics, as it pertains to matters of age, research has not proven any significant relation between this variable and the outcome of negotiations. Younger or older negotiators have not been shown to produce better consecutive results than their counterparts. Age is only relevant only as it relates to experience because it is only as the negotiator ages and matures that significant experience would be gathered. Thus, in reference to experience, it must be admitted that the more experienced a negotiator is with particular negotiating situations, the easier and smoother the negotiation process flows. The know-how gathered with experience gives a sort of comfort level but it does not, however, suppose a greater propensity to succeed. Peterson & Lucas (2001) note of younger, more inexperienced negotiators, that they are more rigid and uncompromising to the proposals of the other side. Overall the amount of experience a negotiator has could in fact impact negotiations. A negotiators training and education could impact negotiators. While university qualification does not automatically signify a more successful negotiator, researchers have seen some amount of correlation between education and training and the performance of negotiators. However such correlation has not been shown to be significant enough to make a difference. The sex of the negotiator has also been highlighted as a characteristic of negotiators. The position of researchers on the approaches taken in negotiations by both sexes is mixed. Some studies suggest that women are more compromising than men and make a greater effort to obtain mutual agreeable solutions. Differences in negotiators’ cultures and beliefs do of course mean that particular tactics and approaches would be more characteristic of particular negotiators more than others. Such differences are, however, too varied to classify. Suffice it to say that a negotiator’s cultural convictions may be against certain negotiating styles. Of the characteristics of negotiators outlined above, experience appears to be the more crucial to the success of negotiation sessions. More experienced negotiators understand the intricacies of negotiation and are more familiar with the process and steps to take given any negotiation situation. Because of this knowledge gained overtime, negotiators would tend to move more smoothly through the process where a less experienced negotiation would demonstrate hesitancy. Unfortunately some experienced negotiations overtime tend to begin to overstep certain critical phases of negotiation (Peterson & Lucas, 2001) as they are quite competent and thus do not need to plan as much or as well as before. REFERENCES Peterson, R.M. & Lucas, G.H. (Fall 2001). Expanding the Antecedent Component of the Traditional Business Negotiation Model: Pre-negotiation Literature Review and Planning-Preparation Propositions. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, vol #(issue #), pages.

Internet Lingo Essay

Internet lingo or Internet slang (also known as ‘netspeak’) refers to a set of words, phrases, and acronyms used primarily in casual communication over the Internet. Its elements were created and made popular by Internet users themselves. Characteristic of netspeak are acronyms for phrases, like â€Å"LOL† (laughing out loud), â€Å"ROFL† (rolling on the floor laughing), and â€Å"OMG† (oh my god. Netspeak has expanded to include full words as well—words like â€Å"blog†, â€Å"flame†, â€Å"online†,   and â€Å"haxor† are only a few of the many words that the Internet has given birth to. A special set of Internet lingo, called â€Å"emoticons†, or â€Å"emotion icons†, also exists. These are the familiar â€Å"smileys† like â€Å":)† or â€Å"=)†, wherein the colon or the equals sign stand for the eyes, and the parenthesis symbol the mouth. The exact date of the first usage of Internet slang is somewhat difficult to determine, but its beginnings can be traced back to the 1980s, during the days of Usenet (Anderson 1996). They were perhaps meant to ease the load on users to type so much so they could say more in a smaller amount of time and effort, and was also perhaps a means to signify their statuses as Internet users. From there, it spread all across to what the Internet is today—from message boards, to chatrooms, to instant messaging—it has become a ubiquitous language in the World Wide Web, understood by any Internet user. One of the original purposes of Internet lingo (which it still serves well even today) it to save the user a few keystrokes. The reason why a large part of Netspeak consists of cryptic acronyms is exactly this. For instance, an Internet user in the middle of a chat, needs to leave abruptly, but is not disrespectful as to leave his friends without so much as saying a word. He would like to say that he will talk to them some other time, but â€Å"talk to you later† is such a long phrase that may take even longer to type if said user is not very good at typing. Instead, he will type â€Å"ttyl†, which stands for the original message in his mind, and saves himself a few more seconds. His friends, able to decipher his message, acknowledge, perhaps with a â€Å"k† (â€Å"okay†) or â€Å"cu† (â€Å"see you†). Most of Netspeak functions this way, and there are a great many acronyms which stand for equally numerous messages, all serving to save the user some time and effort.   Emoticons were invented to enable Net users to express emotions and feelings over the Internet. Since the users most likely do not see each other while communicating online, emoticons are important when words are no longer enough to express a feeling. The regular smiling face, â€Å":)†, is the most popular, and usually means that the other person is pleased or feels happy. It is difficult to list all of the existing emoticons as there are simply too many, at least one for almost every expression, and even for non-expressions. They, too, can also serve to save some time and a few keystrokes. For example, instead of saying â€Å"I am sad,† the user can simply use â€Å":(â€Å". Or, he can use them at the end of a sentence to more effectively convey what he feels: â€Å"I am mad at you! >:(â€Å" However, the latter purpose seems to have weakened nowadays—if someone sees the sentence in the previous example, he would not believe that the person is actually angry or displeased; rather, he would think that the person at the other end is using the smiley to achieve a comical effect. Like in any group or subculture, a means to indicate that one understands or one belongs is necessary in order for one to be truly part of that group. This is another purpose of Internet slang: it lets people identify themselves as part of the Internet culture. Like a secret handshake, knowledge of this language is more or less required for one to be a true â€Å"Netizen†Ã¢â‚¬â€an Internet denizen. In fact, one can observe that some groups in the Internet will even go as far as mocking those who has little knowledge about the words or phrases, or if he misuses them. In instances like these, the misinformed user will be referred to as a â€Å"n00b†, a derogatory term derived from the word â€Å"newbie†, which means a newcomer (Wikipedia 2007). With the rising availability, affordability, and popularity of computers and Internet access, Netspeak has found itself a wider user base than ever before. Indeed, this language has become so popular that it has begun to creep into people’s offline lives—popular acronyms like â€Å"LOL† and â€Å"WTF† (both of which can be typed in lowercase, as well as most other Internet acronyms), as well as many of the words can be found in mobile text messages, in television and movies, and even in the spoken language. However, teachers and other academic personnel and proponents are not too keen on this new language. Many people seem to regard this spread of Netspeak as nothing but harmful and degrading to intelligence, especially those of students. Jodi Schenck (Arditti  ¶;3), a high school teacher at the Rothberg Comprehensive High School in Israeli, recounts her students using Netspeak in academic writing: using the symbol â€Å"4† instead of â€Å"for†, using the letter â€Å"u† instead of spelling out â€Å"you†, and acronyms like â€Å"LOL†. It is also difficult, according to Schenck, to prevent the students from doing this (Arditti  ¶;3). To many teachers, like Schenck, Netspeak is corrupting the English language and is detrimental to a student’s intelligence. The problem is that it is so popular, and sometimes people might not be aware of the fact that they are already using them outside of the Internet, or that they are not acceptable in writing. Internet slang, much like regular slang, are only meant for use during casual conversations (or in the case of Netspeak, chatrooms and informal emails and messages). However, some people will disagree. As it resembles a new language on its own, linguists will give it due treatment, and defend it. Professor David Crystal, a linguist, in fact thinks that it is not a corruption but an enhancement to the English language (NPR 2007). He believes that it adds more variety and a wider choice for speakers and non-speakers alike of English by extending the range, expressiveness, and richness of the language. This is yet another purpose of Internet lingo. It may be necessary, however, to limit its use to casual conversations only. Students should still be required to differentiate between formal and informal speech, and when either should be used. Since Netspeak is considered a form of informal speech, it should stay away from formal and academic papers. The adoption of phrases and terms used in the Internet as a form of language is a fairly recent move. Due to its many purposes—as a time-saver, as a way to express feelings and emotions where it was otherwise impossible, as a symbol of belonging, and as an enrichment to the language—Internet slang, Netspeak, or Internet lingo deserves its place in the English language. It serves its purposes well, and are actually quite useful to know, especially now when almost everyone is using the Internet and this form of speech. It may still be confusing to some people, and may be misused at some places, but through proper education, the ubiquity of Internet slang should not pose a threat to corrupt the English language. Works Cited: Anderson, Andrew. â€Å"Usenet History.† The Network Administrator’s Guide.1996. 27 June 2007. . Arditti, Avi. â€Å"When Netspeak Enters Formal Writing, Teachers are Anything but LOL.†   NewsVOA.com. 2007. 25 June 2007.   . Ulaby, Neda. â€Å"OMG: IM Slang is Invading Everyday English.† National Public Radio. 2006. 25 June 2007. Wikipedia. â€Å"List of Internet Slang Phrases.† 2007. 27 June 2007. .

Actinium Facts - Element 89 or Ac

Actinium Facts - Element 89 or Ac Actinium is the radioactive element that has atomic number 89 and element symbol Ac. It was the first non-primordial radioactive element to be isolated, although other radioactive elements had been observed before actinium. This element possesses several unusual and interesting characteristics. Here are the properties, uses, and sources of Ac. Actinium Facts Actinium is a soft, silver-colored metal that glows pale blue in the dark because the radioactivity ionizes air. Actinium reacts with moisture and oxygen to form a white coating of actinium oxide that protects the underlying metal from further oxidation. The shear modulus of element 89 is estimated to be similar to that of lead.Andre Debierne claimed discovery of an element he named actinium, working from a sample of pitchblende supplied by Marie and Pierre Curie. Debierne was unable to isolate the new element (which modern analysis reveals might not have been element 89, but rather protactinium). Friedrich Oskar Giesel independently discovered actinium in 1902, calling it emamium. Giesel went on to become the first person to isolate a pure sample of the element. Debiernes name was retained because his discovery had seniority. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word aktinos, which means ray or beam.The actinide series of elements, a group of metals between actinium and lawrencium possessing similar properties, takes its name from actinium. Actinium is considered the first transition metal in period 7 (although sometimes lawrencium is assigned that position). Although the element gives its name to the actinide group, most of the chemical properties of actinium are similar to those of lanthanum and other lanthanides.The most common oxidation state of actinium is 3. Actinium compounds have similar properties to lanthanum compounds.Natural actinium is a mix of two isotopes: Ac-227 and Ac-228. Ac-227 is the most abundant isotope. It is primarily a beta emitter, but 1.3% of decays yield alpha particles. Thirty-six isotopes have been characterized. The most stable is Ac-227, which has a half-life of 21.772 years. Actinium also has two meta states.Actinium occurs naturally in trace amounts in uranium and thorium ores. Because its difficult to isolate the element from ore, the most common way to produce actinium is by neutron irradiation of Ra-226. Milligram samples may be prepared in this manner within nuclear reactors.To date, there has been minimum industrial use of actinium because it is rare and expensive. The isotope actinium-227 might have use in radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Ac-227 pressed with beryllium is a good neutron source and may be used as a neutron probe for well logging, radiochemistry, radiography, and tomography. Actinium-225 is used for radiation cancer treatment.  Ac-227 may also be used to model water mixing in the ocean. There is no known biological function for actinium. It is both radioactive and toxic. It is considered slightly less toxic than the radioactive element plutonium and americium. When rats were injected with actinium trichloride, about half of the actinium was deposited in the liver and one-third into the bones. Because of the health risk it presents, actinium and its compounds should only be handled with a glove box. Actinium Properties Element Name: Actinium Element Symbol: Ac Atomic Number: 89 Atomic Weight: (227) First Isolated By (Discoverer):  Friedrich Oskar Giesel (1902) Named By:  Andrà ©-Louis Debierne (1899) Element Group: group 3, d block, actinide, transition metal Element Period: period 7 Electron Configuration:  [Rn] 6d1  7s2 Electrons per Shell:  2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 9, 2 Phase: solid Melting Point:  1500  K   (1227  Ã‚ °C, 2240  Ã‚ °F)   Boiling Point:3500  K (3200  °C, 5800  °F)   extrapolated value Density:  10  g/cm3 near room temperature Heat of Fusion: 14 kJ/mol Heat of Vaporization: 400 kJ/mol Molar Heat Capacity:  27.2  J/(mol ·K) Oxidation States:  3, 2 Electronegativity: 1.1 (Pauling scale) Ionization Energy: 1st:  499  kJ/mol, 2nd:  1170  kJ/mol, 3rd:  1900  kJ/mol Covalent Radius: 215 picometers Crystal Structure: face-centered cubic (FCC)

My Work Experience Diary Essay Example

My Work Experience Diary Essay Example My Work Experience Diary Essay My Work Experience Diary Essay It was my first day of work experience, (I worked at the Morrisons head office at the Cutler Heights Division) I woke up at 8:00a. m, and I got ready and went downstairs and ate breakfast. I went to my work experience with my brother in his car, I got there on time, I was nervous and thought it was going to be boring but it was quite interesting really. I went inside and the receptionist told me to sit down while she called someone. A man named Mike came and took me into the administration department and into his office. (He was the company accountant). He told me all about the company and what it does and what I was going to do. I had my own desk with a computer. I started off with some filing and later on I did some production orders on the computer. There were 7 people in the same as room as me. They were friendly and kind to me. I finished at approximately 3:00, the senior clerk (whose name was Angela) told me I had done a good job and I could go home. I was working next to a motorway and had to go through tunnels to get to the bus stop. At first I couldnt find the bus stop but after ten minutes I found it and had to wait for about five minutes before the bus came. I got on and I found out that the bus was going the other way from which I came in the morning, but I thought he might be going another way so I sat down. I was worried I might be going somewhere else so I thought I should ask him, when I asked him he told me Huddersfield. I told him to let me off at the next bus stop and asked him where the bus stop to Bradford was. He told me and I got off and I had to walk quite a long way back, but I found the bus stop straight way and got on, this time I asked the bus driver where the bus was going and he told me Bradford. I was relieved, I sat down and got home fifteen twenty minutes later. The next day, I woke up earlier because I had to go on the bus. I didnt want to go because I was tired but I managed to get up and get ready. I got at my workplace on time. I went to my desk and sat down and waited for the Angela to come and tell me what work I should do. I started off doing some lot number accounting that was just sorting out some lot numbers. I did that for most of the day and did some typing on the computer later on; I was bored to death and shattered at the end of the day. I went straight home and went to sleep for a few hours. The next few days were the same, I felt like not coming but I thought I might as well. On the last day of the first week the manager Karen asked me, how I was settling in and if I liked the work or not. I said, Its alright. I was happy at the end of the day when I went home so I could go home and relax. The next week on Monday, I wasnt feeling too well, so I decided not to go, so I stayed at home and watched TV and played on my computer. II phoned and told my manager that I wasnt coming in and she said it was fine and told me that she hoped I would be better tomorrow. The next two days I went to work and did similar work on both days, which were typing, and some filing. On Thursday I went quite late because I overslept and Angela was talking to Karen, when I went in I was a bit nervous because I thought she might ask me why I came late but when I went in Angela looked at her watch and gave Karen a glance to tell her that I was late but Karen didnt notice her. She just came over and gave me some paper to sort out. Later on when everyone had gone to lunch, Angela came to me and asked me why I came late, I told her that I overslept and I apologized to her. She said if this was a real job, the manager wouldve given me a warning and some bosses may even throw me out. The rest of the day I did some production orders and went home before 3:00 because everyone was finishing early so I got home early. The next day I made sure I went in early and they were all working when I went in, I went to the desk and started doing the work that was already on the desk. At break everyone went to get a snack from the canteen but I was fasting so I had to stay. Karen asked me how Id liked the job and I said it was very good. I did some filing and accounting and finished at 3:00 and said goodbye to everyone and I left and took one last look at the Morrisons Company and left smiling.

Case study on cafe expresso

This is a detailed report on a research case study cafe expresso. This report throws light on how the company was facing problems because of their stagnant marketing strategy. And how did the company loose its market share and went to number three position after it faced down fall. They appointed a new chief executive Ben Thomson who brought up many changes in the company. This report also highlights about Ben Thomson’s leadership qualities. In this context few of important types of leadership theories and styles are explained. Ben Thomson also appointed Kam Patel as a new global HR who brought many important changes in the organization. This report critically analyses the situation of the cafe expresso and the role played by Ben Thomson and Kam patel, through underpinning theories of leadership, human recourse management and team work. The report also makes few recommendations to the company that will help the company to grow with its goodwill and will be able to get back to the number one position in the market with new name and fame. Table of Contents 1. 0. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction This case study elaborates us about a cafe house which was one amongst the most well reputed cafe houses in the world. Due to certain unfavorable situations, the cafe expresso had to face some problems. This report has discussed about Leadership, human resource management and team work in relation to this case study. I have also highlighted certain points on leadership styles and quality, human resource management characteristics and factors, team work and working effectively with the team. The report gives a clear picture on how the company worked together and how the new chief executive Ben Thomson worked in the situation of crisis. Then when the new HR director was appointed what kind of strategies she applied and what kind of new innovative idea she came up with, to encourage and motivate employees. It also discusses what kind of strategic planning she followed and so on. Strategic participation is very important for HR executives who desire to have increased influence in their company. A number of prior studies have suggested a great connection between Human resource management and strategic planning (Uen and Ahlstrom, 2012). Leadership is a special quality that not all individual possess. It is a kind of talent that has to be developed. According to Claydon. et. al, (2010, pg. 295), leadership in an organizational role involves establishing a clear vision and sharing that vision with others so that they follow willingly. In other words, the activity of leading people or a group of people or an organization or the capacity to follow the aim is called as leadership. The report also elaborates on team work and how the entire team in the organization helped the organization to get back its number one position. According to Claydon. et. al, (2010, pg. 650), â€Å"team work is difficult part of administration as it involves employees to work together trying their best to work under any situations and circumstances†. In other words, team work is the process of working together collaboratively with a team of people in order to achieve a goal . The main things that are highlighted in this report is, how did cafe expresso prelaunch their marketing strategy to get back their number one position back. According to Torrington and Hall (2011, pg. 57) â€Å"Human resource management includes conducting job, planning the needs, training orienting, communicating, recruiting the right people for right job†. It was an administrative discipline of engaging and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization. The report gives a clear picture of performance management and how did all employees work together to attain the goal. According to Kleynhams, Markham. et. al (2007), â€Å"A work of an employee is to progress towards predetermined goals†. LITERATURE REVIEW Cafe Expresso was one of the most leading cafe houses and it was also one among top three players in the cafe house. Cafe expresso had enjoyed 15 years of advantage of being on number one position. The main drawback which was committed by Cafe expresso was that, they being in a dynamic service sector, they did not change their marketing strategy and hence it caused them a problem, because other competitors from coffee world took over their business strategy and hence they had to face a major drawback in the market. Cafe expresso lost its market share. For a company to succeed in the turbulence of today’s business markets, it must never stand still or allow employees mindsets to congeal. This was one of the main mistakes committed by cafe espresso. Cafe expresso did not patent their company, so that any other companies couldn’t copy their business strategy. (Smith and Day, 2000). Strategic planning in many organizations has never given space for strategic thinking. However the planning is not sufficient. The requirement for strategic planning has never been in demand (Uehlinger,2004). Valuing employees in crucial time and communicating with them can help employee to motivate and reduce tension among employees. It helps building of essential trust and commitment to company. When the company hired a new chief executive Ben Thomson he transformed the entire organizational strategy. Ben Thomson took over the company’s marketing policy to a new level and helped it to come up with new marketing strategy. LEADERSHIP STYLES AND QUALITIES In a business there is a leadership style called â€Å"transformational leadership† which is essential and effective. Transformational leaders have ability, skills and integrity by which they encourage people to manage and communicate (Clegg, et. al, 2011, pg. 141). There are other few styles of leadership that are very famous like, 1. Transactional Leadership 2. Autocratic Leadership 3. Bureaucratic Leadership 4. Charismatic Leadership 1. Transactional Leadership According to Clegg,et. al, (2011, pg. ,138), â€Å"Transactional Leadership is a leadership style that starts with an idea that, the followers agrees to obey their leader â€Å". In this kind of leadership the leader has all the right towards their employees. This is such a kind of leadership which is based on management more than a dictator kind of leadership. In this kind of leadership the employees are encouraged by giving incentives, commission etc. 2. Autocratic Leadership According to Torrington,et. al, (1998, pg. 295), â€Å"Autocratic Leadership is a kind of leadership is an extreme kind of leadership where only the leaders have control over their employees†. This kind of leadership is used only in crisis when any kind of complex decisions have to be taken. That permits groups to relate their attention on performing there given tasks and vision, mission. 3. Bureaucratic Leadership According Torrington,et. al (1998,pg. 299), â€Å"Bureaucratic leadership is a Style where they work by books, follow procedures and ensure that their people work accordingly†. This can cause resentment when members don’t follow their advice or expertise. 4. Charismatic Leadership According to Clegg. et. al, (2011, pg. 139) â€Å"the difference between charismatic and transformational leadership lies between their main intention. The important side of charismatic leaders is that they believe more in self than in teamwork. In this kind of leadership if leaders take wrong decisions the whole company collapses. From the above mentioned 4 types of leadership, it can be concluded that, Ben Thomson was a transactional leader. He took up all the important managerial responsibility of the organization and also encouraged his employees simultaneously. We can also call him a charismatic leader, because he came up with certain ideas of employing a new global HR who took up the risk and applied it in an organization, where all the employees agreed to work accordingly and hence they succeeded to achieve their goal. According to the charismatic style of leadership the main intention was to reintroduce the entire marketing strategy in an organization. Kam Patel also can be regarded as transactional and charismatic leader. She took up risk of giving the opportunity to the store managers to take interview of new candidates and also gave opportunity to selected candidates to work on half-trial basis. According to Sparrow,et. al (1998, pg. 245), â€Å"a magnanimous leader is one who sees that a proper credit is given to all his/her employees†. Kam Patel is a magnanimous leader. This kind of leaders helps the employees to concentrate and grow better day-by-day. To become famous and take responsibility of failure needs courage that is a hallmark of leadership. HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY According to Torrington, et. al, (1998,pg. 69), the human resource management is about assurance and attitude, which is carried in business environment. (Eg: Kam Patel took into consideration about the wages and interest of employees). The following few factors are taken in to consideration while discussing about HRM. 1. Environmental factors 2. Share Holder 3. Human resource strategy 4. Long-term outcomes. According to Maund. et. al, (2001, pg. 71), human resource management has become very popular in western countries. It is very important how HRM is being handled for the success of the business. Like fashion and new trends in technology the human resource strategy also keeps changing day to day. Characteristics of Human resource management (Maund,. et. al. 2001,pg. 32. ) 1. A particular path of promises and hypothesis 2. A strategy informing and involving decision about employee 3. The central participation of all managers 4. Reliability to improve employment relationship. 5. Huaman resource management is about commitment, trust and employee-centered According to Wright, Gehart, et. al, (2010, pg. 350), companies that look for competitive advantage from employees must be ready to manage the outputs and attitudes of all the employees. Performance appraisal is a legal/official duty that is followed by managers and is accepted as the primary responsibility of human resource function. Managers now look at performance appraisal as annual belief. Kam Patel was very much aware of the situation and the environment in the organization hence she took a decision of making performance appraisal by making the employees of the organization as partners of cafe expresso. This was one of the new HR strategy which was introduced by her. She also stressed more on the following points like business strategy, resourcing and retention, learning and development, talent management, employee involvement and communication, compensation, incentives and benefits. Motivation: According to Maslow (1965), motivation refers to encouragement or supporting to work more effectively (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis,2011, pg. 148). In this context, it shows how Kam Patel, also focused on the compensation and benefits. She introduced new discount program, where the employees of the organization could have 30% of discount in all coffee stores globally. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Performance management is one of the key factors that are supposed to be included in the management sector (Loewenberger, 2012). It includes few essential factors like, 1. Leading and motivating 2. Learning and development 3. Reward and recognition 4. Involvement, participation, and empowerment 5. Managing teams 6. Assessing performance Performance management is one of the key factors in the organization because it involves the efforts that are taken by the management and the leader (Loewenberger, 2012). The cafe expresso had to concentrate more on performance management because they had lost their market share. And also, because of less wages, they had few employees. So they had to concentrate more on performance management criteria to get back their position, because some where Ben Thomson and Kam Patel knew, how to handle and deal with performance management. Hence they were successful. TEAM WORK According to Torrington and Hall, (1998, pg. 335), a team can be described as a certain number of individuals working together to achieve a common goal. While performing in an organization the team comes at the beginning and the individual comes later. All the task that individual member does is regarded as the fulfillment towards the teams goal rather then their individual credibility. In other words, a team can be termed as more psychologically committed to each other to achieve a common target in which all employees are involved and share some amount of responsibility and outcome (Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis, 2011, pg. 88). In the case of Cafe expresso, Kam Patel encouraged the employees of the organization to work in unity. She focused on appointing new partners through window advertising and verbal evidence. This approach worked very well for her because quite a lot of partners actually understood the marketing strategy and marketing approach of the organization. This kind of behavioral approach shows how Kam Patel worked indirectly on teamwork and took efforts to reach out to the employees. FUNCTIONS OF TEAM WORK (Loewenberger, 2012): 1. Task 2. Maintenance 3. Self-orientated 4. Collective performance 5. Positive energy 6. Complementary skills TASKS PERFORMED BY TEAM WORK Task is one of the main functions of team when they work together. A real team has a common approach goal and strategy to work together to achieve its goal. While working in team if people don’t challenge each other they will not be able to work effectively and independently. In a high-functioning team, people enjoy their work because any problem which comes across the team, becomes a challenge to them and hence they enjoy it. So any problem or difficult situation which ever comes across them they take it as a challenge (Loewenberger, 2012). In the case of cafe expresso the loss of market share and the loss of their number one position was one of the main challenges and it was a very difficult situation.. CONCLUSION It is believed employees and relationships are at the core of the business success. Hence from the above report we can draw a conclusion that cafe expresso was one of the leading cafe expresso and due to their stagnant marketing strategy they did not bring in any essential changes in their organization. Hence their marketing strategy remained the same for 15 years. In the mean time, other coffee houses copied their marketing strategies and plans, which affected their market share and hence they lost their position in the market. Under the active leadership of Ben Thomson and Kam Patel, the company undertook many new steps and tried to improve their marketing strategy. Kam Patel being the new HR manager introduced few ideas because of which the company got its position back. Even the employees were encouraged and motivated. Because of above factors, they recaptured their market share to some extent and were able to move to number two positions as the best cafe house across the globe. The company made many changes and followed new practices in the area of HRM, teamwork, leadership, and performance management to resolve their problems. When Ben Thomson and Kam Patel worked together as a team they were very successful and hence they enjoyed their work and came up with new strategies, which actually helped the team to achieve their market share and also helped to regain their position in the market. When Kam Patel actually brought up the new policy of making the employees as the business partners this strategy helped directly to the organization because each and every individual would with more interest and enthusiasm because they would feel that somewhere they were also responsible towards the success of the company. The strategy of feedback from customers helped the organization to develop and improve . She also introduced a coffee program called â€Å"coffee master â€Å"which enabled the employees to become ambassador. The discount of 30%added up to motivate the employees in a positive attitude. RECOMMENDATION After the analysis of the case study as a management student I strongly recommend SWOT analysis that is explained below with help of a diagram. Internal Factors STRENGTHS WEAKNESS Marketing expertise Innovation Location Quality process Business that adds value to service Un- differentiated service Risk of stagnant marketing strategy Low employee morale Wage plan External Factors OPPORTUNITY THREAT Improve performance Innovation Patents Adding of new services Endorsements by celebrities Can be expensive Can be copied Can become hectic work for employees Can cause a problem for taxation 1. The company should introduce a scheme where a particular employee is been rewarded regardless of his incentives. 2. The company should develop their own USP to reach out to more customers. 3. The company should understand the competitor’s strategy well and try to be more innovate in their own strategy reach out to more customers in order to regain their number one position. 4. The company should carry out some training sessions that are going to be more creative and fun 5. The customers who visit regularly should be given some discount when the customer buys any mega deal 6. The company should maintain the standard salary of the industry to retain their employees. 7. The customers should be given a card on which they can add credit points on the basis of coffee they purchase so that when the customer buys the same coffee next time he gets a discount. 8. The customer should be encouraged to invest in the companies share by doing this the customer will indirectly help the company to advertise and hence the company will get publicity. 9. If the company adds some more kind of flavors and varieties this will attract the customers.

US Taxation Benchmark #3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

US Taxation Benchmark #3 - Assignment Example The fact that Mia does not paint for the purpose of profit qualifies her artwork venture as a hobby rather than a business. Since Mia’s expenses are hobby expenses, she may not claim a loss from her artwork, although she can deduct the expense from the income from her artworks. An expense is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed what a prudent person would incur in the context of competitive business. Reasonableness of specific expenses must be examined with precise care in connection with the motive of the business venture, whether for profit or non-profit. If an initial review of the facts results in a test of a specific expense by the business entity, the burden of proof shall be upon the entity to establish that such expense is reasonable. A reasonable expense depends on a variety of factors such as whether it is the type of expense generally recognized as necessary and ordinary for the conduct of the entity’s business. Furthermore, the trading activities should exhibit adherence to relevant laws and regulations, generally accepted sound business practices, and arm’s-length bargaining. The U.S congress enacted the Internal Revenue Code in order to tax net income. According to the legislation, taxable income, whether obtained illegally or legally is subject to federal income tax rules. A business bad debt is a loss due to the worthlessness of a debt was created in the course of the business or it closely related to the business entity when it became worthless. Debts closely relate to a business if the primary motive of incurring them is business related. The main cause of business bad debt is credit sales. Businesses deduct their bad debts from the gross income when figuring their taxable income. Businesses can deduct bad debts in part or in full. Businesses can claim a business bad debt using either the nonaccrual experience method or the specific charge-off method. Nonbusiness debts