Golden Circle Study Case Essay - 2184 Words

Prepared by: Manish Khurana – 3299295 Lucie Le borgne - 3360875 Priyanka Puppala - 3359701 Pernille Hoeyem Haug – 3387021 Mehdy Chioub - 3390000 Prepared by: Manish Khurana – 3299295 Lucie Le borgne - 3360875 Priyanka Puppala - 3359701 Pernille Hoeyem Haug – 3387021 Mehdy Chioub - 3390000 | Mark 5810 | | Lucie | [The launch of golden circle baby food in Australia] | | Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Market Analysis 2 Golden Circle before the launch 2 The baby food industry 3 Strategic analysis 3 SWOT analysis 3 Golden Circle strategy: 4 Advertising campaign analysis 5 Target market 5 Strategic positioning 6 Advertising campaign message and tone 6 Differentiation and media†¦show more content†¦Advertising campaign analysis Target market During the launch of their new product, the brand had to communicate the right message to the target markets. After qualitative analysis, the firms decided to focus on 3 main targets: * First time mother with baby aged between 4 to 12 months: Why? The first time mothers were sensitive and more protective and hence their focus will be on making the right choice for their babies in the selection of products and also since they represent a large market in Australia. Objective: Create brand awareness and emotional attachment to the brand; build strong relationship with the mum to enhance loyalty. * Second time mother with at least one child under 12 month: Why? They represent a large target market in Australia, since there is a lack of choice in the baby food category there was an opportunity to offer the market a good reason to switch their brand Objective: Make them switch brand and create loyalty to Golden Circle through creation of emotional connection with mothers.Show MoreRelatedFabulous Fibonacci Essay1234 Words   |  5 Pagesthe most common places to see Fibonacci numbers is in the growth patterns of plants. Growth spirals are characterized by both a circular motion, and elongation. 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Article How Can We Train Leaders If We Dont Know What Leadership Is Literature Review - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2598 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Article: How can we train leaders if we dont know what leadership is? Literature Review Critical paper analysis Article: HOW CAN WE TRAIN LEADERS IF WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT LEADERSHIP IS ? By RICHARD A: BARKER 2 CONTENT: 1. summary of the article difference between leader and leadership definitions of leadership different leadership concepts / paradigms difference between leadership and management leadership and leadership training – different ideas 2. Critical discussion Problem of leadership definitions Lack of illustrations Concepts of bureaucracy and adhocracy Problem of ‘leader’ and ‘follower’ Leadership training A manager is not always a leader 3 1. HOW CAN WE TRAIN LEADERS OF WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT LEADERSHIP IS ? BY RICHARD A. BARKER (summary of the article) The article defines leadership and gives examples of many different definitions, past and recent ones, and shows that there is no single generalized leadership concept. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Article: How Can We Train Leaders If We Dont Know What Leadership Is? Literature Review" essay for you Create order BARKER clearly separates the three terms, leader, leadership and management by explaining and criticizing the old feudal paradigm 1 and the new one which are the basis of conceptualisation of leadership. BARKER points out that there is a difference between being a leader (which is defined by BURNS as leader traits and behaviours ) and the term â€Å"leadership†. According to BURNS, leadership consists of goals that must be related towards an end value and represents a reciprocal process within a context of competition and conflict. Since Burns, the study of leadership has taken many differe nt forms which had a narrower focus on the term, however today there is very little known about leadership. There are very few recent definitions of leadership, although those that exist focus on the leader’s knowledge, traits, skills and abilities and the process of influencing. Contrary to many other authors, BARKER does not make the assumption that people know what leadership is. The responses from various studies which were done with leadership students have shown that there is very little consistency when it comes to the definition of leadership. Often these definitions are contradictory, discrepant and the content and nature of leadership are confused. However, even though there is little tendency in the definition of leadership, scholars have tried to produce a generally accepted perspective of leadership, a paradigm as the base for leadership. 1 Paradigm = a generally accepted perspective of a particular discipline at a given time; he framed the problem within the psychoanalytic paradigm- dictionary 4 This paradigm is a feudal one, where there is a ruler (masculine), within a hierarchical system, who directs and controls the activities of their subjects towards the achievement of the leader’s goals. This is usually in the form of defence and acquisition of land, i. e. war. The feudal system has been adapted slightly to form the Industrial paradigm, with economic warfare. Both paradigms have been used time and time again so that almost all existing theories and concepts of leadership today, rely on this paradigm of ‘one man at the top’. BARKER says that now there has been however a tendency towards circular or horizontal social structures of society so that the old paradigm is no longer very relevant for all organizations. According to ROST and BURNS it focuses on the leader abilities rather than on the process of leadership. Considering the word leadership itself, it can be broken down into 2 different types; abilities and skills or relationships. BARKER detailed that if leadership is focused on behaviours, skills, traits and abilities, the term has two social functions: the hope for salvation and the blame of failure. There is a lot of training for leadership abilities using this old model however it is very difficult for those being trained to put the theory into practice since they are taught simplistic models that must be applied to complex social and organizational processes. Before analysing the leadership training, it is important to ask ROST’S question: ‘how do leaders abilities differ from those of an effective manager? ’ According to BARKER, management is conceptualized as â€Å"a skill or a set of behaviours: the ability to allocate and control resources to achieve specific, planned objectives† wherefore everyone can be or become a manager. Management is the rational process of bringing about and maintaining stability and routine and also to 5 anticipate and adapt to change but not to create it, whereas leadership is all about creating new patterns of behaviour and change. The Industrial paradigm puts the leadership into a dynamic supervisor/subordinate relationship frame which is not clearly defined. The relationship can be political (BURNS) or it can be an interaction with many different people (evolutionary: ROST), but it is not a rational process. ROST’s main idea is â€Å"that leadership is a dynamic social and political relationship that is based on a set of mutual development purposes. † Relations hips are contractual and are a narrower field than the concept of leadership process, which is broader and provides the vehicle for creating leadership relationships. The leadership process is defined as â€Å"a dynamic process of interaction that creates change. † This view of leadership makes a defined leader unimportant and diminishes the relevance of leaders and their characteristics, abilities and behaviours. Leadership can only be defined by the society or culture it is in as it is a democratic and social process, containing complex relationships, which constantly changes its form, speed, direction etc. Ethics also play a major role in the conceptualisation of leadership. The paper describes ethics as end values or outcomes and describes how they are incorporated into the definition of the leadership process. Two constructs of social psychology have been created, that help to explain ethics and their role in leadership. In these constructs the subconscious controls the conscious behaviour. In the two tier framework, ethics are considered as conscious as is leadership, whereas in the three tier model, according to HARRE ET AL. , leadership is seen as more subconscious but profoundly compelling. Leadership is said to be â€Å"a means for individuals to explore, understand, modify and articulate their own and other individuals’ ethics. † Within this paradigm, it is 6 leadership that creates the leader not the other way round. Leadership must necessarily be founded during a crisis2, which acts as a catalyst for the leadership process. This process, occurring in organisations which have serious trouble, is so uncontrollable that it may result in unpredictable outcomes and it can also be very disruptive to the management process. In leadership objectives are mutually created, whereas management has to use an authority relationship with power to manipulate the employees. The new paradigm removes many well-established social institutions: The group becomes responsible for the outcome, not the leader. High executive perks and salaries and the traditional approaches to leadership are not justified anymore. The new concept provides for an examination of the beliefs and assumptions behind the leadership theories. However it remains unaccepted due to being not scientifique enough, contrary to the old paradigm. The old paradigm has four assumptions the new one does not support: Firstly, leadership is often broken down into its basic components to be studied, however leadership has experiential qualities that defy deductive analysis. Secondly, leadership is also broken down into cause-effect relationships; however the new paradigm is about the whole, so it is completely inconsistent with deductive methods. Thirdly, that focus should lead to some sort of predictability and control. But the new paradigm is contrary to this, as there is a strong de -emphasis prediction as a central theme. It focuses on a group process, which is extremely difficult to sort out since it is so complex. This new theory may prove to be too complicated 2 Crisis = a perceived differential between what exists in the social order and what is desired by an individual that is strong enough to be motivating (BARKER), it orients people to think about change. 7 and to unapproachable by the Cartesian theory of explanation. However the current empirical approach is not working so something must be done. Fourthly, the old leadership paradigm was based on the assumption of constancy, but there are problems of inconsistency over time and subjectivity. The main point here is that accepting the new paradigm does not necessarily mean that the old one must be discarded. In some situations, it can still be used to better explain leadership even though there is a trend towards situations where the new paradigm is much better siuted. BARKER points out that there are different ideas about leadership training. ROST and BURNS criticized that management and leadership must be defined in the same way for leadership training to be defended. They said that this ciew is inadequate and over rationalistic. According to KLENKE, training should rather focus on leadership as a process. He avoids a bipolar or dualistic thinking. WREN focuses on citizenship as a function of leadership. Therefore, training should be focused on leadership participants actively shaping their world. BARKER criticises that modern liberal disciplines have 3 problems which has to be solved to make consistency between education and the emerging paradigm in order to make a bette r training : understanding (interpretation) instead of empiricism (rationalism), tendency of relativism in the studies and incorrect bases of academic disciplines. In the final part of the article, BARKER gives some more practical advice on education of leadership, managerial training, executive / managerial 8 development and leadership education3 and he concludes that the experience which is the most important aspect of leadership would be lost if training is only rational and scientific. A new theory is needed to have a better understanding of what leadership is, so as to cope with it. 2. CRITICAL DISCUSSION: BARKER gives a huge variety of different definitions of leadership and analyses them in a very detailed way. He offers the reader different concepts of leadership which use different definitions as their basis. Thus the reader realizes how many points of views about leadership exist and how important it is to know which concept is used if we study leadership. However, BARKERS main weak point is that he gives the reader only an overview and critique of the different definitions and concepts but does not try to find his own definition. He criticizes others for the thing he himself cannot achieve. He makes the reader aware of the lack of a general definition of leadership and underlines this problem but he does not solve it. He puts the reader into a direction, motivates him to reflect and to enlarge his view but leaves the end, the latest version of the definition of leadership which has to be adapted to the actual situation, open. Another critical point of BARKER’S article is the lack of illustrations. He presents to the reader many definitions which have similar tendencies and which are not easily separable. But he does not give the reader any examples. His article remains very theoretical. 3 For further information you can consult the article. 9 When talking about the feudal paradigm and the new one we can use the theory of â€Å"bureaucraty† and â€Å"adhocraty† to further explain the phenomena of the changing leadership concepts. In the bureaucratical organisation there was a high hierarchy and control, many different rules and impersonality which corresponds to the model of the feudal ruler who was at the top of the hierarchy and had the control over his subordinates. In the past few years, the bureaucratical orga nisation has changed towards a more decentralised organisation, where the individualism and responsibility of each person plays an important role, which changes the previous â€Å"agents† into â€Å"actors†. Since leadership is present in organisations, the development of the organisational system should also influence the leadership concept. Here it is evident that BARKER speaks the truth when he says that old leadership ideas cannot be used to answer or explain new phenomena. Therefore leadership training which is based mainly on the old feudal paradigm cannot be used in a new context. The old paradigm makes a difference between the â€Å"leader† and the â€Å"follower†. But in many actual organisations there is no real â€Å"follower† anymore. The members of the organisations are not passive individuals. They have their own values, ideas and objectives which they try to achieve, they have a certain responsibility within the organisations and take decisions. They are â€Å"acteurs†. Thus, it is not only the leader who brings about leadership. The leader needs the collaboration of the others. A person can have the best leadership skills and it might still happen that no leadership occurs if the individuals in the organisation are not willing to achieve the end value or goal and do not want to participate in the leadership. Leadership that includes a certain relationship between the leader and the other individuals has always two sides: the leader’s side and the one of the others who let this person become a leader. 10 In my opinion this is a very important point concerning leadership training. Special institutions offer firms or managers leadership trainings, but they focus on the leader’s skills, abilities and behaviour instead of taking in consideration the persons who have to be led. Often the leadership trainings are held in seminars and take place in courses with many people. Thus the training can not be specific enough. The persons taking part in these courses get general ideas of a good leader, they get to know the most effective skills a leader should have to influence people into his direction. But these courses neither adapt the training to the individual person who has to become a leader nor to the people who has to be led. The training is not put into the actual and specific context in which leadership should arise. Another point that is also very important is the fact that very often firms send managers to these leadership trainings. But I have to mention that managers are not automatically leaders. They say what has to be done , they give certain objectives for the firm and can make the people in the firm work for them in order to achieve the final goal. This is very often realized by the use of power which manifests itself in punishment, violence, seduction and strategy. BARKER is right when he explains, that even if the manager reaches the desired goal, he is not necessarily a leader as this goal is very often not mutual and the origin is not born within the group. In an organisation a leader can be a person which has a lower position than the manager, if he gets the others to work for one common objective . The leader can only become and be a leader if people are willing to legitimate this person as a leader (a manager is not always accepted by the members of an organisation). This person can be for example a powerless worker in a firm who is situated on the lowest hierarchical level. It can be a completely disorganised person who doe not have any managing skills but is accepted as a leader by his collaborators. In my opinion many leadership skills are implicit which means that they are inherited, they are part of the individual’s 11 genes, like for example being charismatic. Charisma cannot be taught or learned as it is a part of your inner self and also a part of your exterior appearance which cannot be changed. I co nclude that even a unique leadership concept and definition of leadership which is based on the new paradigm and adapted to the latest development of organisational and social structures existed, leadership would still not be completely successful. Leadership targets individuals that all differ and some of the most efficient and successful abilities of a leader are not learnable. Leadership training will always fail. 12

Feminism What Would You Do If You Weren t Afraid Essay

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Thin is Beautiful Essay - 827 Words

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Causes of Environment Free Essays

cause of environmental degradation The primary cause of environmental degradation is  human disturbance. The degree of the environmental impact varies with the cause, the habitat, and the plants and animals that inhabit it. ————————————————- Habitat Fragmentation Habitat fragmentation carries long term environmental impacts, some of which can destroy entire ecosystems. We will write a custom essay sample on Causes of Environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now An ecosystem is a distinct unit and includes all the living and non-living elements that reside within it. Plants and animals are obvious members, but it will also include other components on which they rely on such as streams, lakes, and soils. Habitats become fragmented when development breaks up solid stretches of land. Examples include roads which may cut through forests or even trails which wind through prairies. While it may not sound all bad on the surface, there are serious consequences. 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These aggressive plants can take over an environment, displacing the native flora. The result is habitat with a single dominant plant which doesn’t provide adequate food resources for all the wildlife. Entire ecosystems are threatened with extinction, according to the National Resources Defense Council. Effects of Environmental  Degradation One of the greatest challenges facing humanity is environmental degradation, including deforestation, desertification, pollution, and climate change – an issue of increasing concern for the international community. Environmental degradation increases the vulnerability of the societies it affects and contributes to the scarcity of resources. Climate change will lead to an increase in the intensity and frequency of weather extremes, such as heat waves, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones. The people hardest hit by climate change and environmental degradation are those living in the most vulnerable areas, including coastal communities, small island nations, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asian delta regions. It is the poorest of the poor, who lack the resources to prepare, adapt and rebuild, that are most affected. Environmental degradation can lead to a scarcity of resources, such as water and farmable. Extreme weather events, such as severe flooding, increase the spread of waterborne diseases, such as malaria and diarrhoea. The effects of the major environmental problems on both health and productivity are: a. Water pollution and water scarcity: As per the estimation of UN, more than two million deaths and billions of illnesses a year are attributable to water pollution. Water scarcity compounds these health problems. Productivity is affected by the costs of providing safe water, by constraints on economic activity caused by water shortages, and by the adverse effects of water pollution and shortages on other environmental resources such as, declining fisheries and acquifer depletion leading to irreversible compaction. b. Air pollution: As per the estimation of UN, urban air pollution is responsible for 300,000—700,000 deaths annually and creates chronic health problems for many more people. Restrictions on vehicles and industrial activity during critical periods affect productivity, as does the effect of acid rain on forests and water bodies. . Solid and hazardous wastes: Diseases are spread by uncollected garbage and blocked drains; the health risks from hazardous wastes are typically more localized, but often acute. Wastes affect productivity through the pollution of groundwater resources. d. Soil degradation: Depleted soils increase the risks of malnutrition for farmers. Productivity lo sses on tropical soils are estimated to be in the range of 0. 5-1. 5 per cent of GNP, while secondary productivity losses are due to siltation of reservoirs, transportation channels and other hydrologic investments. e. Deforestation: Death and disease can result from the localized flooding caused by deforestation. Loss of sustainable logging potential and of erosion prevention, watershed stability and carbon sequestration provided by forests are among the productivity impacts of deforestation. f. Loss of biodiversity: The extinction of plant and animal species will potentially affect the development of new drugs; it will reduce ecosystem adaptability and lead to the loss of genetic resources. g. Atmospheric changes: Ozone depletion is responsible for perhaps 300,000 additional cases of skin cancer a year and 1. million cases of cataracts. Global warming may lead to increase in the risk of climatic natural disasters. Productivity impacts may include sea-rise damage to coastal investments, regional changes in agricultural productivity and disruption of the marine food chain. Conclusion:  The impact of environmental disasters can be devastating on the social, economic, and environmental systems of a country or region as well as the global ecosystem. Environmental disasters do not recognise man-made borders, and threaten the legacy left to future generations of a clean and supportive environment. Because of the interdependency of earth ecosystems international co-operation is paramount to prevent, and when disaster strikes, respond to relieve quickly and effectively the effects of environmental disasters. Thus, Governments, International organizations and communities must work together – at all levels – to lessen the risks associated with environmental degradation and its contributing factors, such as climate change, and ensure that vulnerable people are prepared to survive and adapt. At the same time, companies, organizations and individuals must also ensure that their work is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Similar essay: Disadvantages of Plants Living on Land How to cite Causes of Environment, Essay examples

Compare Democratic and Autocratic Leadership free essay sample

Leadership, a crucial element in business, can be defined as â€Å"a process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement† (Yukl, 2013, p. 76). There are four main types of leadership styles: the autocratic, democratic, paternalistic and laissez-faire leadership styles. Daft (2008, p. 44) suggests that â€Å"the extent to which leaders should be boss-centered or subordinate-centered partly depends on organizational circumstances. † After taking into account the organizational circumstances, companies should be able to select suitable types of leadership styles. Therefore, it is worth arguing that the democratic style of leadership should be applied more frequently than the autocratic style of leadership, for example, in companies adopting flat organizational structure. Power division, followers’ motivation and decision quality in both styles are compared in the following essay. Before proceeding to the comparison and contrast, it is necessary to firstly explain the autocratic and the democratic leadership styles. In autocratic leadership style, leaders have full authority over others in making decisions. We will write a custom essay sample on Compare Democratic and Autocratic Leadership or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Salem, 2013) Not only do leaders monitor the efforts of the followers, but often they track followers’ schedules closely as well. (Leadership-toolbox, 2008) On the other hand, democratic leaders share authority with followers and pay attention to participation in order to complete the allocated tasks. (Salem, 2013) Participation can be persuasive and consultative, which implies â€Å"facilitating the conversation, encouraging followers to share ideas, and then synthesizing all the available information into the best possible decision. (Leadership-toolbox, 2008) Companies in flat organizational structure which has relatively few layers of management can obviously work better if applying the democratic leadership style. Turning to the section of power, the level of power division in the two leadership styles differs. Regarding to the autocratic leadership style, as the leaders retain authoritarian control over all decisions, followers may not have a single chance to impact the outcomes. â€Å"They learn that it is safer to suppress their innate capacity and wait instead for commands. (Cloke and Goldsmith, 2002) In democratic companies, however, humanity is usually adhered during the operation. (Semler, 1989) Democratic leaders normally uphold the right of followers to affect decisions by provid ing opportunities for them to voice their concerns. Companies in flat organizational structure with â€Å"a wide span of control and a chain of command,† (Nicholas, 2009, p. 325) can better guarantee the right of followers through face-to-face or indirect interaction. Ricardo Semler (1989), CEO of SEMCO, a manufacturing company in Brazil which advocates democratic leadership style and adopts flat organizational structure, agrees that workers should be treated as competent and trustworthy adults and should be offered freedom to question and express their opinions. Various ways of distributing power cause wide ranges of consequences, among which the motivation of followers tends to be the most notable part. Martin Evans (1970, p. 277-298) and Robert House (1971, p. 12-339) have developed an abstract theory of leadership called path-goal theory. It reveals that leadership behavior has considerable impact on followers’ motivation, gratification and efforts. In autocratic leadership, it is hard for leaders to balance the authority with the morale of followers. Autocracy can typically lead to dissatisfaction and misunderstanding about decisions as well as a high level of administration. Besides, â€Å"too much direct scrutiny and too heavy pressure can squelch the upward mobility of followers. † (Yukl, 2013, p. 9) On the contrary, democracy helps followers to build confidence and to reduce stress in jobs. If a company which implements flat organizational structure leads democratically, followers can be fully engaged and be treated with dignity in consultation. As a result, only minimal supervision may be required despite the number of followers (Nicholas, 2009) and a higher degree of decision acceptance may be gained. Followers may feel more proud and more motivated if their companies succeed. Thus, involving followers in making decisions is indispensable for strengthening the motivation. Having considered the motivation, the quality of decisions also varies in the light of the differentiated power control in two leadership styles. In autocratic style, because of less contribution from followers, companies may fail to reach creative decisions and eventually spoil the performance. In stark contrast, due to a healthy environment of communication, followers in democratic style, if have more knowledge and detailed information, can cooperate with leaders to create and select the best alternative and to achieve their compatible goals with joint efforts. In companies having flat organizational structure, for instance, Google, engineers have unprecedented right to choose which projects they work on. The feasibility is proved by pioneering products such as Gmail and Google Project Glass. (Kahney, 2008) The innovation of companies in flat organizational structure thrives when democracy is implemented. However, there is an exception. From the perspective of democratic leadership style, it is comparatively time-consuming to make collaborative efforts. After consistent consultation, democratic leaders may have to decide among overwhelming possibilities and slow down the process. In the opposite, autocratic leaders set objectives and allocate tasks by themselves, so they can decide far more speedily and efficiently than democratic leaders in an emergency. Referring to the statistics, â€Å"most descriptive case studies support the benefits of democratic leadership style. †(Bradford and Cohen, 1984) A rigorous analysis of over 500 such studies by Johnson and Johnson (1989) showed that supportive processes are far superior to conflict-inducing processes concerning group performance and members’ satisfaction. Accordingly, it is wise for leaders to conduct a substantial amount of counsel and empower their followers. Although distinguished in the modes of processing, the autocratic and the democratic leadership styles should both be achievement-oriented. Two styles of leadership are supposed to serve the same objective, which is enabling companies to successfully accomplish the targets with a decent standard of performance. It is clear from above that, in terms of power separation, enthusiasm of followers and decision quality, democratic leadership style modifies better than autocratic leadership style, especially in companies having flat organizational structure. In fact, diverse kinds of companies may need to adopt special styles of leadership according to their specific organization structures, culture or industries. Nevertheless, it is an increasingly accelerating trend to combine and adapt the autocratic and democratic leadership styles to the needs of particular companies.