Larsen and Toubro Case Study free essay sample

Organizational Development (OD) is a planned long term effort led and supported through the top management to improve an organization’s ability and to solve its own problems by continuously working together and on managing the culture using behavioural skills. Thus, there are some certain aspects worth discussing about which are- OD is a planned effort. It requires a lot of effort, patience, and faith and is time consuming. Secondly, OD usually uses outsiders. These ‘facilitators’ as they are called are process specialists and are involved in depth in this process. The pioneers of OD in India were Larsen and Toubro India (LT). OD at LT started by calling in 2 eminent professors- Dr Udai Pareek and Dr TV Rao to study the appraisal process at the company. The existing appraisal system had many faults and needed to be corrected. The difficult task started by the professors interviewing some bosses and subordinates from different departments (using Diagnosis or Action Research) and they got a very interesting feedback. We will write a custom essay sample on Larsen and Toubro Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of the aspects of the feedback were – juniors wanted to know how well they were doing on the job, but weren’t told; people wanted to know what the growth opportunities in the company were; the appraisal form was too lengthy; some bosses had too many subordinates to appraise, etc. After getting the feedback from the employees the professors gave a report to the top management about the actual problem. The appraisal system had to serve not just one but many purposes namely it should help people understand their strengths and weaknesses, their own progress on the job, how they can perform better, and how they could grow in the company. So the appraisal process had to address the issues of appraisal, potential, counselling, career development and training all in one! The top management after reviewing the report gave the go ahead and they did two main things which were the most important which were bifurcating the Personnel department into personnel department and HRD department. This bifurcation was the first sign of ‘structural’ change. Secondly, a team of 6 senior managers was formed which would be responsible for implementing the changes required. The story continues when the 6 task force and the professors decided that the appraisal process had to involve the line managers personally, the performance goals must be set jointly by boss and junior and the appraisals must also involve feedback and counselling to people. Thus, they prepared a Performance Appraisal Manual by involving the departmental heads and other senior managers to analyze what kind of objectives could be set and then added such guidelines in the manual. To address the issue of feedback and counselling, the team identified around 29 senior line managers and some senior staff with a flair for public speaking. These selected people were put through a workshop on how to be good ‘Givers’ and ‘Receivers’ of feedback and then later conducted the same workshop for other employees at HQ and regional offices. Thus, the first workshop was a ‘Train the trainer’ workshop which was cascaded to the other employees. After putting in so much of effort now the management at LT wanted to know whether the process was working for them or not. So again the professors interviewed some seniors and juniors about how the appraisals were going on. This time different views came into the picture – the goal setting was seen as time consuming, appraisal was becoming a numbers game, and was tending to become ritualistic. The HRD department was asked to conduct a survey (Participant Action Research). The survey also threw new light about the new appraisal process. The bosses now did involve their juniors in the goal setting and there was ‘healthy resolution’ of difficulties and there was a ‘high degree of trust’ between the seniors and juniors which led to ‘increased joint understanding about the job’. After receiving such a feedback, they again tried to simplify the appraisal form by adding the definitions of the attributes listed in the appraisal form. In addition, they held refresher courses in feedback skills for both ‘givers’ and ‘receivers’ of feedback. The facilitators felt that the appraisal system has stabilised when 80 to 85% of the appraisal forms were returned within six weeks of the target date. Also the HRD department started analyzing all the appraisal forms. The data from the analysis was used for listing high and low performers for a certain period; for finalising departmental developmental plans and for preparing the list of department wise employees and the training courses they needed. The above mentioned process took LT 8 years to complete and stabilise themselves. Thus, I can conclude that OD is a long term process which requires a lot of patience, support from the top management and a vision to a bright future.

Larsen and Toubro Case Study free essay sample

Organizational Development (OD) is a planned long term effort led and supported through the top management to improve an organization’s ability and to solve its own problems by continuously working together and on managing the culture using behavioural skills. Thus, there are some certain aspects worth discussing about which are- OD is a planned effort. It requires a lot of effort, patience, and faith and is time consuming. Secondly, OD usually uses outsiders. These ‘facilitators’ as they are called are process specialists and are involved in depth in this process. The pioneers of OD in India were Larsen and Toubro India (LT). OD at LT started by calling in 2 eminent professors- Dr Udai Pareek and Dr TV Rao to study the appraisal process at the company. The existing appraisal system had many faults and needed to be corrected. The difficult task started by the professors interviewing some bosses and subordinates from different departments (using Diagnosis or Action Research) and they got a very interesting feedback. We will write a custom essay sample on Larsen and Toubro Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of the aspects of the feedback were – juniors wanted to know how well they were doing on the job, but weren’t told; people wanted to know what the growth opportunities in the company were; the appraisal form was too lengthy; some bosses had too many subordinates to appraise, etc. After getting the feedback from the employees the professors gave a report to the top management about the actual problem. The appraisal system had to serve not just one but many purposes namely it should help people understand their strengths and weaknesses, their own progress on the job, how they can perform better, and how they could grow in the company. So the appraisal process had to address the issues of appraisal, potential, counselling, career development and training all in one! The top management after reviewing the report gave the go ahead and they did two main things which were the most important which were bifurcating the Personnel department into personnel department and HRD department. This bifurcation was the first sign of ‘structural’ change. Secondly, a team of 6 senior managers was formed which would be responsible for implementing the changes required. The story continues when the 6 task force and the professors decided that the appraisal process had to involve the line managers personally, the performance goals must be set jointly by boss and junior and the appraisals must also involve feedback and counselling to people. Thus, they prepared a Performance Appraisal Manual by involving the departmental heads and other senior managers to analyze what kind of objectives could be set and then added such guidelines in the manual. To address the issue of feedback and counselling, the team identified around 29 senior line managers and some senior staff with a flair for public speaking. These selected people were put through a workshop on how to be good ‘Givers’ and ‘Receivers’ of feedback and then later conducted the same workshop for other employees at HQ and regional offices. Thus, the first workshop was a ‘Train the trainer’ workshop which was cascaded to the other employees. After putting in so much of effort now the management at LT wanted to know whether the process was working for them or not. So again the professors interviewed some seniors and juniors about how the appraisals were going on. This time different views came into the picture – the goal setting was seen as time consuming, appraisal was becoming a numbers game, and was tending to become ritualistic. The HRD department was asked to conduct a survey (Participant Action Research). The survey also threw new light about the new appraisal process. The bosses now did involve their juniors in the goal setting and there was ‘healthy resolution’ of difficulties and there was a ‘high degree of trust’ between the seniors and juniors which led to ‘increased joint understanding about the job’. After receiving such a feedback, they again tried to simplify the appraisal form by adding the definitions of the attributes listed in the appraisal form. In addition, they held refresher courses in feedback skills for both ‘givers’ and ‘receivers’ of feedback. The facilitators felt that the appraisal system has stabilised when 80 to 85% of the appraisal forms were returned within six weeks of the target date. Also the HRD department started analyzing all the appraisal forms. The data from the analysis was used for listing high and low performers for a certain period; for finalising departmental developmental plans and for preparing the list of department wise employees and the training courses they needed. The above mentioned process took LT 8 years to complete and stabilise themselves. Thus, I can conclude that OD is a long term process which requires a lot of patience, support from the top management and a vision to a bright future.

An Overview of MHRA Referencing

An Overview of MHRA Referencing An Overview of MHRA Referencing If you’re studying in the humanities, you may be asked to use MHRA referencing at some point. But what exactly is the MHRA system? And how does it work? Let us explain. What Is MHRA Referencing? The Modern Humanities Research Association is a UK-based organization that promotes study of the humanities, particularly literature and languages. It is best known for producing the MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses. MHRA referencing, meanwhile, is the citation system set out within this guide. You can download [PDF] the third edition of the MHRA Style Guide for free if you want a full explanation. But since it is quite a big book, we’ll summarize the important points here. Citing Sources When people refer to MHRA referencing, they usually mean the footnote and bibliography version. This is where sources are cited in footnotes, indicated with superscript numbers in the text: These numbers usually appear at the end of a sentence, like this.1 The first time you cite a source, include full publication information. For a book, for instance, this means giving the following details: n. Author Name(s), Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number(s). Repeat citations of the same source can then be shortened to save space. The MHRA style guide recommends using the â€Å"shortest intelligible form† for this, usually just the author’s surname and a pinpoint citation. Make sure to check whether your university has other rules, though. There is also an author–date version of MHRA referencing, but this is much less common. The Bibliography In MHRA referencing, you should list all cited sources in a bibliography at the end of your document. However, for a bibliography entry you should: Invert the first listed author’s surname and forename. Leave out pinpoint citations and final punctuation. You would format a book like this, for example: Surname, First Name, Title (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year) More generally, you should set out the bibliography as follows: List sources alphabetically by author surname. List anonymous works by title (ignoring articles for alphabetical order). If citing more than one work by the same author, sort them by title. You would then use two em dashes in place of the author’s name(s) for each entry after the first. Use italics for titles of longer works (e.g., books). Use inverted commas for shorter works (e.g., journal articles). You can abbreviate the titles of frequently cited journals. However, you must also give the full titles in a list of abbreviations earlier in your work. If you follow these rules, making sure everything is consistent, you should end up with a perfectly formatted MHRA bibliography. But if you want to be extra sure everything is in order, don’t forget to have your work checked by one of Proofed’s expert proofreaders.

Essay on Intellectual Disability Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Essay on Intellectual Disability - Assignment Example Explaining on, Henley et al (2009; p.32-34) state that â€Å"this classification process assumes that assigning a student a categorical name implies knowledge about the characteristics of the student's learning problem.† This means that the essential reason for labeling students is to help educators in quickly or easily identifying the students by their disability level so that the needed support can be given to them outright. Because of this, there are traditional labels such as mild, moderate and severe intellectual disability. The question that has however revolved around most circles of educational literature is whether or not labeling has lived to its purpose and whether or not labeling is still relevant today. Foreman (2009) and Thompson et al (2009) approach the subject from their own perspectives. Without any doubt the two writers under review through a lot of point for the practice of labeling of students with disability. In the case of Thompson et al (2009) for insta nce, the writers revisit the fact that for the sake of successful classification or labeling to take place, educators have always been very particular with measurement exercises. Foreman (2009) also mentions that labeling or classification leads to support enhancement. Clearly if for the sake of labeling educators will be very serious with academic measurement exercises, it means that there will be a true reflection of what each and every student represents and what each and every student made up of so that eventual placement for educational and professional courses will be effective. Again, once students with mental disability are labeled, if helps in dishing out the most precise and prescribed support for their educational needs. Indeed there is a traditional saying that a drug used to treat boils cannot be used to treat stomach ache. This is to mean that treatment that is needed by a student with a certain level or degree of mental disability will not be appropriate for a student with a different degree of mental disability. From this perspective, both groups of writers admit that labeling is useful. The concerns of the writers however do not end with the fact that labeling has its own advantages. The writers delved very deep into the potential disadvantages of scrutinized the argument whether or not the essence of labeling is being carried out in modern schools successfully. Out of the scrutiny, the writers raise the awareness that labeling may have some advantages but the practice has actually out lived its usefulness. They also hold the view that labeling is wrongfully being applied and that the needed methodical approaches are not being followed in the use of labeling of mentally disabled students. In one breadth, Thompson et al (2009) seriously question if there are no more accommodating means of identifying students with mental disability and giving them the support they need other than labeling. The simple reason that the writers advocate this is tha t labeling is lately taking away the essence for which it was institutionalized. For instance by the mere fact that students are labeled, they become widely set apart from their colleagues and the natural world around them. It must not be forgotten that the fact that students have some degrees of mental disability does not mean they are total non-functional. This means that such students would definitely have questions for themselves as to why they are being set apart. This way, instead of helping

Public vs. Private Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public vs. Private - Essay Example P 1992) It covers a great range of ideas and policies varying from the eminently reasonable to the wildly impractical.’ The debate the paper delves on is what are the programs or sectors that are currently under the governmental supervision that can be privatized and what are the pros and cons of such privatization. Let us first look at some positive and negative facts and opinions from two sources in order to gauge the depth of the subject. Michael Williams in his article on Public Vs private pay, states the flaws in the current pay structure of an employee working for the US Postal service. Pointing out this difference in California where the average salary of a CalPers employee in 2004 for was about $46000 and the average of salary of all average per capita income of all Californians was $35000. Since then he says,’ the gap has only expanded. He has proved this by stating the case of Postmaster General E Potter. â€Å"Congress will hold a hearing next month into why Postmaster General John E. Potter has gotten a nearly 40 percent pay raise since 2006 and was awarded a six-figure incentive bonus last year, even as the U.S. Postal Service faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatens a day of mail delivery. ALLISON SHELLEY/THE WASHINGTON TIMES REWARDED: Postmaster General John E. Potter received a compensation package totalling more than $800,000 for fiscal 2008.†(Williams. M 2009) While the above information gives us a strong reason for privatization of the US postal service, the following facts will educate us on the public opinion of privatization. When privatization was at its full length and breadth under the Bush administration Congressman Jim Mc Dermott stated the following in one of the discussions â€Å"It has become increasingly clear that the Bush Administration cares more about big business than about the average citizen. If this trend toward privatization continues, I worry that the privacy and

Locker Room Talk Essay Example for Free

Locker Room Talk Essay Page 1 Locker Room Talk Ethical Case April 18, 2010 Page 2 The Locker Room Talk Ethical Case outlines a situation that is an ethical dilemma for CPA Albert Gable who has performed personal financial planning for Larry and Susan Wilson. The Wilson’s, in their discussions with Mr. Gable regarding their personal finances, mentioned that in the past they have had marriage problems but have worked through the problems and are not seeking a divorce. Gable and the Wilson’s became personal friends due to the relationship built during their personal financial planning. Mr. Gable also performs the annual audit for one of the largest banks in the town where they all live. The sample pulled for the audit at the bank included the Wilson’s loan information. While performing the audit, Mr. Gable discovers information on the Wilson’s loan that does not coincide with the information given to him during the personal financial planning. Mr. Gable is concerned and addresses the discrepancy with a loan officer but did not confide to the loan officer that he was also their personal financial planner. The loan officer confided in Mr. Gable that Mr. Wilson was setting up his business to divorce his wife without any compensation. This situation puts Albert Gable in a situation with a conflict of interests. His personal financial client is also a client of the bank where he performs the annual audit. The information the Wilson’s provided to him during their personal financial planning conflicts with the information provided on loan documentation at the bank. Albert Gable needs to determine the best course of action to take in this situation. The Stakeholders The stakeholders involved are: Page 3 1. Albert Gable As the CPA, his professional business ethics are at risk and his personal reputation is on the line. He also has a large bonus weighing on his decision. 2. Mrs. Wilson – She has the understanding that her marriage is not at risk and the financial planning is for the benefit of her and her husband for their future. 3. Mr. Wilson – If he is not being honest with his wife and is planning on divorcing her, the information that Albert has uncovered during the audit could create problems for him. . The loan officer – the loan officer that shared Mr. Wilson’s personal information with Mr. Gable. 5. The bank – the relationship Mr. Gable had with the Wilson’s as personal financial planner was not disclosed to the bank and is a conflict of interest. Course of Action The best course of action that Mr. Gable should take is to meet with the Wilson’s and explain that he cannot continue with thei r personal financial planning. He should have them seek out another financial planning firm to complete their personal financial plans. He should explain to them that he completes the annual audit for the bank and during the audit he discovered discrepancies with the loan information and the bank statements provided to him to prepare their personal finances and due to the discrepancies he feels it is necessary to remove himself as their personal planner. By removing himself as the Wilson’s personal financial planner, this eliminates the conflict of interest with the bank audit. By informing the Wilson’s they need to locate another Page 4 irm and cannot use the CPA firm he is partner with for financial planning removes all conflict business and personal and maintains business and personal ethics. Furthermore, he needs to notify the bank of the conflict with the Wilson account and that he will not be able to conduct an audit of their accounts due the relationship that was initially formed with the personal finance planning. By following the above steps he protects the clients, the bank and upholds his pro fessionalism and his business ethics. Impact to Stakeholder The deontology approach was used to determine the course of action. This approach to ethics emphasizes doing what one should do in accordance with rules, obligations and/or ethical principles of the profession. The impact of the decision could cost Mr. Gable the banks account but if he would have acknowledge upfront his knowledge of the Wilsons prior to beginning the audit on their loan documents the situation could have been diverted. He is also losing a client, the Wilson’s due to the bank audit and the review he completed of their loan documents. If he would have acknowledged to the bank and had the file removed from the audit all of this could have been avoided. Mr. Gable will need to take the time and explain to his client the Wilson’s but he needs to keep it at a professional level and not discuss what was discovered only that it is conflict of interest. Conclusion Mr. Gable used poor judgment in his decision making process and has violated the ethic rules of the accounting profession. During the audit of the bank documentation he should have immediately notified the bank of the conflict with the Wilson file. He needed to be upfront with the bank and explain the Wilson’s were also a client of his for personal financial planning Page 5 nd have the file removed from the sample audit or bring in a third party to complete the audit on the Wilson documents. The loan officer should not have shared the personal information with Mr. Gable and Mr. Gable should have ended the conversation before it began. Sharing with the Wilson’s that discrepancies were noted between bank statements and loan documentation will allow the Wilsonà ¢â‚¬â„¢s to clear up the discrepancies at the bank in regards to their accounts. Page 6 References Brooks, L. J. , 2007. Business professional ethics for directors, executives accountants (4th ed). Mason, OH: Thomas South-Western.

A Work of Artifice and You Should Have Been a Boy Essay -- Marge Pierc

A Work of Artifice and You Should Have Been a Boy The word potential can be defined as the sum of abilities and capabilities that are possessed by, and specific to an individual being. In regards to humans we could say that it is all that a person can be and accomplish if encouraged and allowed the freedom to do so. Fulfillment of potential is curtailed in both the females in â€Å"A Work of Artifice,† by Marge Piercy and the female in â€Å"You Should Have Been a Boy,† by Elizabeth Cady Stanton; however, the manner and degree of such curtailing is quite different. In â€Å"A Work of Artifice† the growth and fulfillment of females is stunted physically, mentally, and sexually. The first evidence of this curtailment of potential we see is when the author says that the bonsai tree, which symbolically represents females, â€Å"could’ve grown to be eighty feet tall†¦but a gardener carefully pruned it.† Males, which are symbolically represented by the gardener, whittle away anything they find undesirable, thus curtailing the female’s growth and fulfillment. Example of the curtailing of the physical growth is â€Å"bound feet† by which females are unable to move around as they wish, limiting them to precisely where the males want them to be. In the words â€Å"croon[ed]† day after day by the gardener â€Å"it is your nature to be small and cozy, domestic and weak,† we see how males use these words to shape the mind of females, and they tell the females repeatedly also that they are so lucky to have men to tend to them as to inflict guilt as a safety net just in case the shaping was unsuccessful. All this careful attention works together to curtail females mentally. Lastly, the words â€Å"the hands you love to touch† imply that females... ...hese works signify the male dominance in society, and how male uses different venues and approaches to protect his dominant status, whether it is by conscious or unconscious acts. Also both works show how female acceptance of this hierarchy gives males the power and approval to continue to rule the roost, whether such acceptance comes through willing obedience or defeat. The females portrayed in â€Å"A Work of Artifice† and â€Å"You Should Have Been a Boy† developed deep and lonely voids inside their hearts because they had been conformed to the male’s wishes. They learned to ignore the pain created by the turning away from their own desires and aspirations and directed their lives on the path of living to please others. This empty existence denied what was rightfully theirs—a life full of happiness and satisfaction that occurs through the freedom of expression of self.