Leadership And Management Needed By An Executive Director

Leadership And Management Needed By An Executive Director

Introduction

This paper focuses on leadership and management. Great Start Nutrition has launched a new product design for designing, developing and delivering infant formula globally and therefore needs an executive director for this new division. The paper starts by distinguishing between leadership and management. It also describes the various management and leadership skills that the new executive director should possess. The paper also outlines the best leadership style recommended for the new executive director. Finally, the paper analyses the things Helen and the consultant group are looking for in the new executive director, assesses the three candidates, and recommends the best candidate for selection.

Management and leadership

Leadership is the act of leading and motivating people in a team towards the achievement of the group’s common goal. In an organizational setting, leadership is directing and inspiring workers using a strategy aimed at meeting the organizational goals. Management, on the other hand, involves working through and with other people and other resources to achieve organizational goals (Kotterman, 2006).

The major difference in management and leadership roles is that leadership is about inspiring others while management involves more of planning. Leaders cheer success and drives followers but managers find problems and offer solutions. Leaders have a vision of the organization and inspire their followers to turn it into reality. They think beyond the skills possessed by their followers but activate them to become better. They appreciate the fact that well-functioning teams can perform better that people working individually. On the other hand, managers focus on setting, assessing and achieving goals by finding faults and solutions to them.

Leadership functions are different from those of management. A leader should have a vision by knowing exactly where they want to go and how. A leader must also be inspirational by helping their followers to understand their roles better. They also should have integrity and honesty as people look up to them. Leaders also should be challengers to move beyond the status quo and find ideas and solutions outside the box.

On the other hand, managers find the organization already having a vision but they have a role of executing it. They must be able to direct in terms of day to day operations and reviewing all resources that may be needed (Kotterman, 2006). Managers must also keep people focused by meeting their needs, listening to them, and considering their requests.

Leadership skills needed by an executive director

The executive director will need to have some leadership skills to be successful. First, he/she must possess exceptional communication skills. As mentioned earlier a leader formulates the vision for the organization. Consequently they must communicate this to the employee in a great way for them to understand and work towards it (Yammarino, 2000). Secondly, he/she needs great decision making skills. Leaders are mandated to make decisions for the achievement of the vision they have set.

To be successful in as an executive director he/she must possess great management skills. He/she must have inspirational skills. As a leader he must motivate and inspire employees to become better every day than they found them. Through this achieving their mission becomes easier. He/she must also be able to delegate. As a leader they may not do everything right and therefore he/she will need to empower followers and give them tasks and focuses on more important things (Kotterman, 2006). Finally, he/she must have critical thinking and creativity. This is what will make them different from a mere employee. This will make the division stand out among other competitors.

Management skills needed by the new Executive Director

The executive director will also need some managerial skills to be successful. First, he/she needs technical skills. This is having the manual skills for this case, some nutrition skills. Moreover, he/she will need skills in product design, marketing, and skills to boost sales. Secondly, he/she will also require having conceptual skills. He/she must have the ability and knowledge to think in an abstract manner and to formulate ideas (Goetsch, & Davis, 2014). He/she must see the entire concept, identify problems, and offer solutions for him to predict outcome for the business. Finally, He or she needs great interpersonal skills to enable him/her interact and effectively interact with employees. This will help create potential in employees as well as motivating them for better results.

The leadership style that best fits the new Executive Director position

The best leadership style for this position is transformational leadership. The executive director must be able to intrinsically motivate employs by treating them as individuals, inspiring them, and creating a vision (Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000). The executive director must view the world positively and encourage employees by boosting their values and talents.

The rationale for this style is that it will help executive moving the new division to greater heights through growth. By treating the employees right, they will be productive and thereby enabling the new to grow (Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000). Employees who are motivated have lesser turn over as they are satisfied and therefore no need to look for better pastures. Such employees would also put extra effort in marketing the business even when they are not at work.

Candidate assessment and selection

In choosing the right candidate for this there are various things that Helen and the consultant group are specifically looking for. One is that they are looking for someone with creativity and innovative skills so as to develop green and sustainable products which will be unique in the market. Secondly, they are looking for someone who will help in marketing the products of the new division. Thirdly, the candidate must include cultures, values, and traditions of the host nation employees. Forth, he/she must be able to motivate employees as well as customer base in the industry.

The three candidates are competent and meets some of the quality being looked for. Erin has experience as she has worked as a deputy executive director in this company. In her earlier position she has been motivating her employees, which is one of the things being looked for. She participated inorganic ingredients research which shows some concern in environmental conservation. She also has technical skills since she has done chemical engineering. She however lacks marketing experience which is one of the things Helen and her group are looking for.

Betty also meets some of the qualifications. She has worked in a company in the same industry. She has marketing skills and experience since when she was the vice president of operations and marketing there was an increase of 12% in market share. She also has demonstrated great management skills in being at the ground work and being involved in decision making. She also has interests in making the company’s product environmentally friendly products even though not as entrants. She has cultural competence as she has worked in Asia before

Arthur also has experience as he owned a company in the same industry. His company’s sales were doing well that he is selling the company to the hiring company. He has the experience as he was the one running his own company. He however does not have marketing skills as he says it is his wife who was handling marketing in his company. He will meet the traditional and cultural needs of host nation employees as he has initially worked there.

The best choice for this position is the second candidate Betty Jackson. She fulfills all the qualities demanded by Helen and the consultant group. She has a record of leading and managing well in a way that she motivates her employees. She also has worked in Asia and therefore she is capable of handling employees while valuing their cultures and traditions. She has a record of visiting plants to know what is happening aiding her decision making which is also a great trait. She also has great marketing skills that helped her to boost her previous company market share.

References

  1. Ashkanasy, N. M., & Tse, B. (2000). Transformational leadership as management of emotion: A conceptual review.
  2. Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
  3. Kotterman, J. (2006). Leadership versus management: what’s the difference?. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 29(2), 13.
  4. Yammarino, F. J. (2000). Leadership skills: Introduction and overview.

FDR and the New Deal: The Vision of a Transformational Leader

FDR and the New Deal: The Vision of a Transformational Leader

Introduction

“A Leader is summoned to the fore by the needs of the time”. – (Smith, 2008) We stand today at a time of change and challenge. At a time when humanity faces its greatest and most complex challenges, we are unfortunate to have a dearth of leadership. Competence has become a rare commodity among some of the world’s most prominent leaders, with value being placed on its appearance rather than its existence. Now more than ever Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) leadership practice is important because he represents leadership that had the rare combination of inspiration, selflessness and grit, a naturally charismatic individual who was transformed through personal struggle into a fearless, intellectual heavyweight. “Indeed, if ever an argument can be made for the conclusive importance of the character and intelligence of the leader in fraught times, at home and abroad, it will come to rest on the broad shoulders of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” (Goodwin, 2018). In his inaugural address as President of the Unites States of America on January 20th, 1937, FDR stated: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” (Speeches That Made History, 2018). FDR managed to achieve the true alchemy of public service, by creating the environment for sustained economic growth coupled with enshrined social equality. In this essay/evaluation, I am going to:

  • Provide an overview of FDR’s leadership, particularly as it pertains to his management of the Great Depression and his implementation of the New Deal.
  • Critically evaluate FDR’s leadership practice by drawing upon three distinct leadership theories/models (listed below)
  • Show how FDR’s leadership demonstrates the effectiveness or otherwise of each theory
  • Draw my own conclusions and learnings about how this applies to my own political leadership ambitions as a member of the Fine Gael party

Context

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition to tackle the crisis of the Great Depression, an alignment of interest groups and voting blocs in the United States to support the New Deal. This alignment voted for Democratic candidates from 1932 until the late 1960s & moulded American politics into the Fifth Party System, defining American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. An evaluation of his leadership practice bears fruit in identifying how FDR applied his natural abilities to become a catalyse change in himself, in the alignment of politics in the US and in his country.

Theoretical approach

Throughout the course of my evaluation of FDR’s leadership practice, I will show: A) That FDR possessed inherent leadership traits (Trait Theory, Leadership, Northouse, 2016) that were brought to the fore when confronted with the appropriate challenge, i.e. The Great Depression B) That in response to this challenge FDR laid out a vision for a new politic in America (The New Deal) (Visionary Leadership, Leadership That Gets Results, Goleman, D., April-May, 2000) and C) Once FDR had laid out his vision he set about bringing this transformation to fruition through implementation of The New Deal (Transactional Vs. Transformational Leadership, Burns, 1978, Leadership, Burns, 2010)

Theory 1: Trait Theory

Historical views on leadership maintained that it “was a set of qualities or personal characteristics (i.e. traits) that someone was born with” ((Martin and Fellenz, 2017). This take on leadership originated from the “great man view of leadership which suggested that in every situation, particularly in times of crisis, “great men” would emerge to lead though the difficulties.” (Martin and Fellenz, 2017). Hardy in 1993 suggested that by 1950 there had been over 100 studies that had attempted identify appropriate traits. However, there was very little agreement about actual traits, with only about 5 per cent being common & little evidence to support the key contentions about these traits. (Martin and Fellenz, 2017). Northouse in his 2016 book: Leadership: Theory and Practice, identified the 6 most common traits found in most studies, namely: intelligence, self-confidence, determination in pursuit of goals, drive, integrity & willingness to take responsibility and sociability. (Northouse, 2016) Contemporary leadership trait research focuses less on direct effects of individual traits and more on constellations of traits, interactions between traits and situational characteristics, and the implication of traits on skills and behaviours that affect leadership (Dinh and Lord, 2012; Judge and Long, 2012; Ng et al., 2008). Those traits found to have some direct (proximal) and or remove (distal) association with successful leadership in large organisations include (e.g. Yukl, 2010; Zaccaro, 2007). (Zaccaro et. Al, 2004)

Fig.1: Extended model of leader traits and leadership performance

In engaging with the above extended model (Fig. 1) in further detail it is clear to see that in FDR’s case he possessed the following distal traits: integrity, willingness to take responsibility, sociability & the following proximal traits: determination in pursuit of goals, drive, intelligence, self-confidence. This constellation of traits when merged together and applied to the situation conditions of 1993 America, i.e. the “havoc” (Goodwin, 2018) of The Great Depression, lead to FDR’s success and impact as a leader, i.e. The New Deal and subsequent establishment of social security in the US, as well as the longest period of economic growth in US History. His deep well of self confidence stemmed from his wealthy upbringing in Hyde Park, New York and a doting mother (The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, 2014). It was there that FDR first embodied the belief that he was at the centre of the world and was born to lead. While this self-confidence did aid FDR in his ascendancy to the president it turned to over-confidence as he faced criticism for his consolidation of power into the Executive via the Reorganization Act of 1939, which subsequently created the Executive Office of the President, making it ‘the nerve center of the federal administrative system.’ (Leuchtenberg, 2015) This concentration of power into the Executive played into the President’s leadership style: “The president stayed in charge of his administration…by drawing fully on his formal and informal powers as Chief Executive; by raising goals, creating momentum, inspiring a personal loyalty, getting the best out of people…by deliberately fostering among his aides a sense of competition and a clash of wills that led to disarray, heartbreak, and anger but also set off pulses of executive energy and sparks of creativity…and always by persuading, flattering, juggling, improvising, reshuffling, harmonizing, conciliating, manipulating.” (Burns, 1970) This may have suited FDR’s style as the “great man” (Carlyle, 1840) at the centre of many spokes in a wheel but this style of leadership was dependent on the health and well-being of the President. If this begins to wain, as FDR’s did during WWII, this can have an impact on effective policymaking. Power must always be balanced and distributed, with fundamental structures never disturbed.

Evidence of FDR’s persistence, resilience and deep intellect was clear early on. He is attended at Harvard University and subsequently won election to the New York State Senate in 1910. He then served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Roosevelt was James M. Cox’s running mate on the Democratic Party’s 1920 national ticket, however Cox was unsuccessful, (Dallek, 2018). However, in 1922, FDR’s political career was derailed by illness. In August 1921, he diagnosed with poliomyelitis at the time. This however did not dampen his drive and ambition to reach the uppermost echelon of political life & become President of the United States. With the help of his mother (Sara) and wife (Eleanor), he relearned to walk & successfully returned to politics in 1929, becoming Governor of New York and President of the United States by 1933.

“Only fourteen-pound braces on each of his lower limbs and the use of crutches enabled him to walk unassisted, and mastering these would require substantial practice”, (Dallek, 2018) FDR had innate distal and proximal traits suited to leadership, however his interactions with a supportive mother (Sara) and wife (Eleanor) & the situational conditions of battle with polio helped bring those talents to fruition in response to the immense challenge of The Great Depression. “Yet, the picture of Roosevelt as a prodigy, a natural, a purely instinctive leader belies the long periods of hard thought and preparation that went into everything he said or did” (Smith, 2008). FDR had the ambition and intellect to be a leader, but recovering from polio and returning to politics gave him the grit & humility required to forge substance in his leadership. In today’s landscape of leadership, real substance in one’s leadership would certainly be a rare commodity and an edge. Furthermore, Fine Gael requires a re-establishment of its grit to forge a new substance to its governance. Akin to W.T. Cosgrave at the helm of the state at its establishment or Leo Varadkar at the helm during COVID-19, Fine Gael responds marvellously to acute crises but they must carry this over to day to day crises such as Health and Housing.

Theory 2: Visionary Leadership

The significance of the Great Depression as a turning point not only in FDR’s Leadership practice but also in US History cannot be understated. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins said of the deepening Depression of 1933: “It is hard today to reconstruct the atmosphere of 1933 and to evoke the terror caused by unrelieved poverty and prolonged unemployment.” The economy had reached “rock bottom.” (Goodwin, 2018). Modern interpretation of the Great Depression would undoubtedly class this as a VUCA environment (Volatile, Uncertain, Compelx, Ambiguous), (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014), one in which “American industry was paralyzed; a quarter of the labor force was unemployed…Thousands of banks had collapsed, taking with them the deposits and savings of millions of people.” (Goodwin, 2018). It was in response to this catastrophe that FDR’s innate leadership traits crystallised in the form of a vision for a New Deal and the will to achieve this transformation. Daniel Goleman in his book: Leadership That Get Results (Goleman’s 6 Leadership Styles: Leadership That Gets Results, April-May, 2000), put forward the idea of 6 distinct Leadership Styles with accompanying behaviours, emotional intelligence capabilities, optimal environments and suggested impacts on the working climate. Goleman defines a visionary leadership as: the ability to take charge and inspire with a compelling vision.”.

Fig. 2 (Goleman, 2000)

Engaging with the model above it is clear that FDR’s modus operandi was as a visionary leader. Goleman writes further on the visionary style of leadership that ‘Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going” (Goleman, 2000) and in doing so it sets “people free to innovate, experiment, and take calculated risks” (Goleman, 2000). FDR drew a line in the sand and unfurled a new canvas in his Inaugural Address in 1933: “This is a day of national consecration” (Speeches That Made History, 2018) With this one sentence he made a distinction between what had gone before and charted a course for what was to begin. He then set about exercising his self-confidence & his empathy to mobilise his people towards a new vision, to become a catalyst for positive change. Roosevelt began by directly facing the facts of the dire situation.

Characteristic of the Visionary Leader, they are most effective: “when changes require a new vision or when a clear direction is needed” (Speeches That Made History, 2018). “FDR in attempting to create a “most strongly positive climate” asserted(Speeches That Made History, 2018), “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This sense of ambition mixed with empathy, was characteristic of Roosevelt’s sociability that would later characterise his Fireside chats. (Roosevelt, F., 2006) He told his people to accompany him (“come with me”) (Goleman, 2000) and infused a sense of shared purpose and direction. He made it clear what they could expect from him: “He told the country he was prepared to recommend to Congress a series of measures that “a stricken Nation” required (Speeches That Made History, 2018). He put forward a new image for a better America, a more ethical country that serves the many and not the few. “Restoration calls” (Speeches That Made History, 2018), however, not for changes in ethics alone. “This Nation asks for action, and action now” (Speeches That Made History, 2018). This action, this new vision, took the form of the New Deal. These were a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by FDR during the period 1933-1936 in response to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression. Major federal programs and agencies included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Two of the key hallmarks of FDR’s New Deal were the United States Banking Act (1933) & the Social Security Act (1935) which ushered in, simultaneously, the longest era of sustained economic growth in US history and a fundamental paradigm shift in the realm of social equality. (Dallek, 2018) Ultimately, FDR had the vast emotional intelligence a visionary leader needs to understand that the people were exhausted and broken by the speculators and “money changers” (Speeches That Made History, 2018) and new that he had to present and act early on a new positive, compelling vision to become the catalyst for change, “something new and hopeful was beginning. “ (Goodwin, 2018). Clear objectives, well communicated are the key to effective visionary leadership, it is clear that FDR’s Inaugural Address in 1933 contained this. However, visionary leadership is a double-edged sword. Ates et. Al, 2019 research on “Why Visionary Leadership Fails” found “that the positive impact of visionary leadership breaks down when middle managers aren’t aligned with top management’s strategic vision. This can cause strategic change efforts to slow down or even fail.” FDR tackled this weakness of visionary leadership through the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, adding judges to the Supreme Court in order to bolster support for his New Deal, leading many ponder how far FDR would’ve gone to consolidate his position and his vision, had he not died in 1944, while in his unprecedented fourth term in office.

Theory 3: Transformational Leadership

Having put forward his vision of the New Deal, FDR capitalised on his transformational leadership capacities in order to achieve it. Transformational leaders tend to focus on providing a clear mission and instilling pride in the workforce while having high expectations so gaining respect and trust; they function by adopting a rational and careful problem-solving approach to the tasks to be achieved while being focused on a coaching management style. They tend to be optimistic and hopeful, with a development focus. They can produce improved performance in situations of uncertainty and change, creating positive changes on followers and helps them to take more initiative. This is in contrast to transactional leaders who tend to focus on transactions or relationship between leaders and followers. They are often a hindrance to change and fosters a climate of mediocrity, (Burns, 1978, Bass, 1990; Martin and Fellenz, 2017). FDR’s response to the aforementioned VUCA environment & implementation of the New Deal set of reforms, in particular in the United States Banking Act (1933) & The Social Security Act (1935), epitomised his transformational leadership capabilities. “When he (FDR) promised that he and the Democrats would become prophets of a new order, no one could imagine the extent to which they would transform the federal government over the next twelve years by creating a welfare state and making the United Sates into the world’s greatest power”, (Dallek, 2018). Key characteristics of transformational leadership include (Goodwin, 2018): • Demarcation between what has gone before and what will happen ahead, i.e. set a new vision. • Mobilisation people towards that vision & leadership by example. • Addressing systemic problems & launching lasting reforms. • Being open to experiment & designing flexible agencies to deal with new problems. The US Banking Act of 1933 joined together two long-standing Congressional projects: (1) a federal system of bank deposit insurance (2) the prohibition of the combination of commercial and investment banking and other restrictions on ‘speculative’ bank activities. It addressed the systemic problem of banking corruption and speculation with commercial deposits that directly contributed to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and ensuing Great Depression. It is commonly cited as a central cause for the largest period of sustained economic growth in US history from 1933 to the 1980s, a 60 year expansion of the middle class, the largest increase in productivity & the largest increase in median income, (Burns, 2014). The Social Security Act established Social Security and promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. For the first time the federal government took responsibility for the economic security of the aged, the temporarily unemployed, dependent children, and the handicapped.

The Social Security Act contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty among the elderly. Furthermore, Roosevelt insisted that it should be funded by payroll taxes rather than from the general fund, saying, ‘We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.’ (Dallek, 2018) FDR’s transformational leadership on these two key bills, indicated a leadership practice which focussed on creating long-lasting solutions to systemic problems of banking reform and social security that were flexible enough to withstand the test of time. He adopted a rational and careful problem-solving approach to the tasks to be achieved.

Performance Management Practice in British Airways: Literature Review

Performance Management Practice in British Airways: Literature Review

Introduction

This main purpose of this literature review will be based on four crucial parts regarding performance management practice in British Airways. The first part will discuss the methods of performance management, which will contain both the advantages and limitations whereas the second part will include a brief description of the British Airways and how the company used the methods of performance management (Noe et al., 2017). In addition, the third part will involve a critical discussion based on what is more or less efficient in performance management. In the fourth part, this literature will provide recommendations based on what is less effective for British Airways so they can avoid it and adopt better strategies for making performance management systems in the future.

Literature Review

Performance Management and Measurement of British Airways

The main purpose of organizational performance management is to control all the resources as well as activities with the purpose to contribute to the performance and to confirm that the organization has no planned drift (Haring and Wiemer, 2016).

Performance management translates organizational goals into achievable objectives making communication between the employer and employee paramount. It promotes self-motivation, recognition and feeds back to create a good working environment (Baron & Armstrong, 2005). Performance appraisal systems have had their ups and downs and unlike the traditional systems, Tamra (2016) argues that performance appraisal does not necessarily lead to improved performance because employers hardly focus on the positives but on what is not going well and this sometimes demotivates a very good worker. This is why new technologies are being developed by major organizations to address this issue.

British airways happens to be the largest airline carrier in mainland UK, which uses the Bravo recognition system (2008) to recognize staff and shareholders for their performance and achievement. This system engages both the staff and manager but there is not enough time for a structured review and managers are not given a clear guideline on how to feedback on what is not going on well. It is argued that negative feedback generates demotivation and possible bad results. Conversely, this shortcoming may give rise to peer- to -peer recognition in the workplace.

Besides the foregoing, new figures about performance appraisal involving cohort HR Managers, Directors, People Managers and Employees (Wilson, 2019, cited in Adams et .al, 2019) still reveal disturbing statistics. More than 70% of employers carry out performance reviews yearly and less than 20% carry it out monthly. Given that, Managers and Directors posit that time is an issue and that the review process is one-sided and subjective to a manager’s opinion. However, in British Airways, like in any other company, this problem is a cause for concern But, with new online and electronic appraisal platforms in a place like Talent Management and Cascade most companies, are beginning to put this in practice as it helps save time. This explains why following Wilson’s survey (2019) 93% of Managers, Directors and People Managers agreed that PM is a critical issue and needs addressing between the next 12 – 18 months.

Strategic Plan and High-Level Aspirations

The idea of British Airways is to be a most admired airline and mission are to ‘To Fly. To Serve’. The most significant strategic plan is discussed below.

Liable Flying for Everyone

British Airways has the main goal, which is to concentrate on three types of pillars like improve the livelihoods and communities, decrease the environmental influence and responsible business and employer. British Airways has been working with the idea to build the world primary facility whereas creating the business with Solena Fuels to convert waste obtained from landfills into the stream fuel (Haring and Wiemer, 2016). This mitigates its waste and atmosphere, air quality effects and commutation.

Tool and Techniques for Performance Measurement

The performance measurement system of British Airways contains the objectives, targets, framework, plans, and measures for the improvement of the corporation. The internal control framework is employed by British Airways with the idea to confirm that the organization preserves it (Haring and Wiemer, 2016).

The Implication of Performance

The term performance is described as the behavior that achieves the results. According to the Brumbach, performance can be measured in both results as well as behavior, whereas behaviors originate from the performer and convert performance from concept to achievement (Metcalf, 2017). Regardless of instruments for results, behaviors are also consequences in their way, can be arbitrated separately from consequences and the product of physical and mental effort used to tasks. Brumbach also realized that due to the importance of behavior, there are more chances of failure or success than outcomes achieved or not and success is not every time optimistic nor failure every time harmful (Metcalf, 2017). This perception of performance takes to the conclusion that during rewarding and assessing the individual’s performance, several factors have to be considered involving both inputs (behaviors) and outputs (results).

The determination of performance management defines the aims and identified outcomes in order to achieve the aims in which managers and staff are dedicated to obtaining the identified outcomes. According to past studies, those corporations that used performance management in terms of monetary and non-fiscal features earns more than those organizations that do not use performance management in their company (Kearney, 2018). However, the acknowledgment of performance management along with its styles for existing organizations is necessary for terms of guaranteeing and deciding its aggressive advantage in a continuous modifying atmosphere of industry

Principles of Performance Management

In 2004, Armstrong and Baron in their research recognized the few principles of performance management, which are stated as achievement based on what the organization is and wants to be in its performance values, it is essential to emphasize on growth, not wage, concentrate on fluctuating behavior instead of paperwork (Arakal and Mampilly, 2016). Moreover, obtain such solutions that work for the business and involved in only those things, which will get an observable development. As demonstrated by Michael Armstrong and Stephen Taylor (2016), the performance management system usually has fourfold determinations such as strategic communication, building relationships, employee development Airways, and evaluation of the employee. It is necessary to be based on the known principle but operates flexibly as well and driven by organization values and principles. In addition, it is not a system, it is all about people are managed and performance management is what managers do in order to retain the performance, which is a natural process of management (Arakal and Mampilly, 2016).

Advantages of Performance Management

The advantages of performance management are described in many ways such as performance-based conversations, targeted different staff, encouragement to staff, rewards staff for a job well done, under-performers eliminated and identified, allows for employee growth and documented history of employee performance (Jia and Wang, 2019). A process of performance management services managers to discuss issues regarding the performance with workers whereas it is the dependable coaching that marks employee development and changed behaviors. All the workers are on a journey of growth and it is the corporation’s accountability for organizing them for improved responsiveness. If this process works, an effective performance management system could assist to identify opportunities related to employee development. In addition, when bonuses are tied to the process of performance appraisal, staff can easily see a straight relationship between financial rewards and performance (Jia and Wang, 2019). This process encourages and motivates workers to perform better at higher levels.

Disadvantages of Performance Management

There are four main disadvantages of performance management like biases, inconsistent messages, discouragement and time-consuming. It is suggested that manager should spend almost 1 hour on each employee in writing his performance appraisal and based on the volume of people being appraised, it may take hours to write the performance management of the department as well as with employees to review their performance appraisal (Noe, et al., 2017). The current changes to performance management systems made by Microsoft are the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is having a huge impression in learning and recruitment as well as it is one a significant invention in technology.

Microsoft is using this technology to draw out themes by huge numbers of qualitative information being collected through conversations, goals, and feedback. British Airways is lacking from this technology like AI in employee’s performance management can improve decisions making the process of workers. This can also provide unbiased information which will help to make decisions like which employee should be promoted and who needs awareness to make better performance whilst opposing work bias. In terms of performance management, Tesco is another company that is highly concerned regarding the better performance of the employees. Tesco has recently initiated the changes to improve its system by regular coaching conservations because they know the importance of genuine performance gains (Cappelli and Tavis, 2016).

Moreover, Tesco is also familiar repeated feedbacks which must be accompanied through regular coaching conversations during which employee and manager reflect on the feedback which has been provided by using it to highlight areas and discover strengths for development (Cappelli and Tavis, 2016). British Airways can also use the initiative taken by Tesco as such conversations let their employees develop and address in terms of professional and personal development. In addition, performance management trend in the direction of coaching conversations whereas continuous learning has been the trend through raising recognition of the growing power.

Overview of British Airways

According to Irwin, the style of performance management within the British Airline is integrated into organizations at many places to attain the organization’s issues of the organization whereas at the same time achieving the related objectives (Mone and London, 2018). British Airways and its dissimilar principles of integration focus on performance management to achieve several elements. These elements are like the combination of separate necessities with British Airways to create exceptional performance, growth of Human Resources and compensation in order to acquire a comprehensive way of directing staff. However, the systems of performance management focus to create a mutual thought regarding the things that need to be acquired in British Airways. British Airways has started an equilibrium arrangement of fiscal and non-fiscal symbols of performance to enhance the performance management of its position. British Airways has some key performance indicators such as economic, operation margin and operations.

Economic

British Airways has to keep a powerful and stable monetary performance to return its shareholders and for the future of their business (Mone and London, 2018).

Operation Margin

British Airways has set a goal of receiving over 10% of operational margin progressively in the future financial years whereas, in 2007/08, British Airways has successfully achieved its goal of 8% operational cost (Airways, 2017). Regardless of change monetary situations and rising fuel costs in the latter 7 months, the business plan of the organization has reinforced to acquire the set purpose for 2007-08 (Airways, 2017).

Operations

It has been always necessary for British Airways to execute its performance with a passion to satisfy the expectation of customers and to function the corporation cost-effectively. The business strategy of British Airways has emphasized on five crucial aspects of operational performance. However, retaining the time in departure is a quite feeds measure of operational performance in terms of all the five aspects of operational performance (Haring and Wiemer, 2016). Keeping the time helps in smooth working as compared to the rest of the methods as well as it is an essential feature in affecting the decision of customers in recommending British Airways to others.

Critical Discussion

According to Kang and Shen (2017), there are several components that belong to effective performance management of British Airways such as goal setting, which means the goal should be understood as well as meaningful. This component also demands the employees too should have perspective in recognizing why these specific goals are important but if the set goals are not clear, it can take to poor performance management as compared to challenging and specific goals. In case if the goal looks not specific or too easy, then the employee will not be enough motivated to attain it. As stated by Mone and London (2018), the second behavior component for British Airways will be employee recognition, which demands an effective performance management system must arrange rewards and recognition for the employees.

This approach will help employees of the British Airways to be feel appreciated and valued for the work they perform but this will lead to some drawbacks like poor team culture, unsatisfying performance results, reduced employee enablement and increased turnover rates (Haring and Wiemer, 2016). Moreover, relying too much on paper is one of those things that makes performance management uninspiring and ineffective but these day’s businesses are an acknowledgment that the pen-and-paper system turns is facing out. Nowadays, technology is even further simpler, affordable and available ever before. However, another component making performance management effective is employee development due to which no motivated top performer desires to endure for the long-term in a company without developing and honing skills (Mone and London, 2018). Therefore, development and advancement are essential to workers and not to show organizations leads to an advantage when their employees are more capable and skilled.

Recommendations

The advantages of performance management can be understood quite evidently. The recommendations for British Airways to improve performance management are creating real-life conversations because as business owners and manager, it is familiar in every business that communication is crucial. In terms of performance, conversations are important to applying transformation and want to be the motivating strength at the time of creating a change. However, this will produce processes that are even more effective for British Airways to influence workers to deliver their best performance. Moreover, recognizing accountability is another suggestion for British Airways, which demands to take a step back and evaluate themselves because focusing on how employees are performing is not necessary all the time. This process will help to see the improvement all over the board not only with the employees. Therefore, looking particularly on how things are running and taking notes from them can provide a new vision on what a company can do to increase performance and manage better as well as to advance both the company and employees. They should be motivated, dedicated to the values and aims of British Airways as well as should be organized for changes and to facilitate the passengers.

Conclusion

From the above literature review, it can be concluded that effective performance management is relatively important to business and will be beneficial for British Airways because this will help them arrange their systems, resources, and employees to meet their strategic objectives through both informal and formal processes. Moreover, getting the right performance management will also help British Airways to become tough competitive machines. Performance management will also allow British Airways to identifying areas of improvement as well as to provide positive feedback. Therefore, they must adopt three stages of employee development such as coaching, corrective action, and termination in order to have better performance management.

An Evaluation of Leadership Practice of Franklin D. Roosevelt

An Evaluation of Leadership Practice of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Introduction to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Leadership

“A Leader is summoned to the fore by the needs of the time” – Doris Jean Kearns, FDR.

We stand today at a time of change and challenge, in an age of technological advancement and destructive ignorance. At a time when humanity faces its greatest and most complex challenges, we are unfortunate to have a dearth of leadership. Competence has become a rare commodity among the world’s most prominent leaders, with value being placed on the appearance of competence and success rather than on actual substance.

Now more than ever Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) leadership practice is important because he represents a leader who had the rare combination of inspiration, selflessness and grit, a naturally charismatic, ambitious individual who was transformed through personal struggle into a fearless, intellectual heavyweight. “Indeed, if ever an argument can be made for the conclusive importance of the character and intelligence of the leader in fraught times, at home and abroad, it will come to rest on the broad shoulders of Franklin Delano Roosevelt” (Kearns).

In his inaugural address as President of the Unites States of America on January 20th, 1937, FDR stated: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have little”. FDR managed to achieve the true alchemy of public service, by creating the environment for sustained economic growth coupled with enshrined social equality. An evaluation of his leadership practice bears fruit for me personally through an understanding of how he implemented the leadership theories/models listed below to achieve the above alchemy but also for the Fine Gael organization.

FDR’s Leadership Traits and Early Political Career

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) was an American politician who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which realigned American politics into the Fifth Party System and defined American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. At this critical juncture in Irish politics, following the three change elections of 2011, 2016 and 2020 (Pat Leahy), a transformational leader at the helm of Fine Gael has the opportunity to build a New Gaelic Coalition and realign Irish Centrist philosophy, the dominant force in Irish politics, forever. FDR was at the helm of the US federal government during the majority of the Great Depression, ‘Doctor’ Roosevelt put forward his New Deal reforms to tackle the worst economic crisis in the nation’s history. While his first and second terms, concentrated mostly on the domestic agenda, his third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly with Allied victory. Shortly after he died in office. He is rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Throughout the course of my evaluation of FDR’s leadership practice, I will show:

  1. That FDR possessed inherent leadership traits, that were brought to the fore when confronted with the appropriate challenge, i.e. the Great Depression;
  2. That in response to this challenge FDR laid out a vision for a new politic in America (The New Deal);
  3. Once FDR had laid out his vision, he set about bringing this transformation to fruition through implementation of the New Deal.

Historical views on leadership maintained that it “was a set of qualities or personal characteristics (i.e. traits) that someone was born with” (Ref, Fellenz et al., Book). This takes on leadership originated from the “great man view of leadership which suggested that in every situation, particularly in times of crisis, ‘great men’ would emerge to lead though the difficulties” (Fellenz et al.). Hardy in 1993 suggested that by 1950 there had been over 100 studies that had attempted identify appropriate traits. However, there was very little agreement about actual traits, with only about 5% being common and little evidence to support the key contentions about these traits (Fellenz et al.). Norton in his 2016 book: ‘Leadership: Theory and Practice’, identified the 6 most common traits found in most studies, namely: intelligence, self-confidence, determination in pursuit of goals, drive, integrity and willingness to take responsibility and sociability (Norton, 2016).

Contemporary leadership trait research focuses less on direct effects of individual traits and more on constellations of traits, interactions between traits and situational characteristics, and the implication of traits on skills and behaviors that affect leadership (Dinh and Lord, 2012; Judge and Long, 2012; Ng et al., 2008). Those traits found to have some direct (proximal) and or remove (distal) association with successful leadership in large organizations include (e.g. Yukl, 2010; Zaccaro, 2007).

It is clear from thorough analysis of FDR that he possessed many of the essential traits Norton identified and that he exemplified trait-based leadership when applied to appropriate situational conditions, i.e. the Great Depression. His deep well of self-confidence stemmed from his wealthy upbringing in Hyde Park, New York and a doting mother. It was there that FDR first embodied the belief that he was at the centre of the world and was born to lead. This would aid him in his ascendancy to the Presidency and his believe that he could solve the problems the nation faced in 1933, “(FDR) promised that he and the Democrats would become prophets of a new order” (Dallek). However, it would be this self-confidence that would turn to over-confidence when FDR faced criticism for his consolidation of power into the Executive via the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 (ref.), frequently called the court-packing bill and the Reorganization Act of 1939, which subsequently created the Executive Office of the President, making it ‘the nerve center of the federal administrative system’. Critics of these acts complain that the influence and expertise of the Cabinet subsequently began to wane and that policymaking was hidden behind executive privilege. Power must always be balanced with service and fundamental structures never disturbed.

Evidence of FDR’s deep intelligence was clear early on, his attendance at Harvard cultivated this sound intellect. He won election to the New York State Senate in 1910, and then served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Roosevelt was James M. Cox’s running mate on the Democratic Party’s 1920 national ticket, however Cox was unsuccessful (Dallek). However, in 1922, FDR’s political career was derailed by illness. In August 1921, he diagnosed with poliomyelitis at the time. This however did not dampen his drive and ambition to reach the uppermost echelon of political life & become President of the United States. He relearned to walk and successfully returned to politics in 1929, becoming Governor of New York. “Only fourteen-pound braces on each of his lower limbs and the use of crutches enabled him to walk unassisted, and mastering these would require substantial practice” (Dallek, Pg. 92).

It is my contention that FDR indeed had innate talent and traits suited to leadership, however I am the firm belief that his personal struggles and focused hard work helped bring those talents to fruition in response to the immense challenge of the Great Depression. This I take as a clear lesson for myself, given that I too have political aspirations for the highest office, that only through focused practice and application of my talents can I optimize their benefit in the political domain. “Yet, the picture of Roosevelt as a prodigy, a natural, a purely instinctive leader belies the long periods of hard thought and preparation that went into everything he said or did” (Kearns/Dallek). FDR had the ambition and intellect to be a leader, but recovering from polio and returning to politics gave him the grit and humility required to forge substance in his leadership. Fine Gael requires a re-establishment of its grit to forge a new substance to its governance. Akin to W.T. Cosgrave at the helm of the state at its establishment or Leo Varadkar at the helm during COVID-19, Fine Gael responds marvelously to acute crises but they must carry this over to day-to-day crises such as Health and Housing.

The Great Depression and FDR’s Visionary Response

The significance of the Great Depression as a turning point not only in FDR’s leadership practice but also in US History cannot be understated. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins said of the deepening Depression of 1933: “It is hard today to reconstruct the atmosphere of 1933 and to evoke the terror caused by unrelieved poverty and prolonged unemployment”. The economy had reached ‘rock bottom’. The future of capitalism, indeed of democracy itself, appeared grim” (Kearns). Modern interpretation of the Great Depression would undoubtedly class this as a VUCA environment (Volatile, Uncertain, Compelx, Ambiguous). “American industry was paralyzed; a quarter of the labor force was unemployed, and the hours of those who were working had been radically reduced. People had lost farms, homes, and small businesses that had been in their families for generations. Thousands of banks had collapsed, taking with them the deposits and savings of millions of people. The relief funds of cities and states were exhausted. Starving people wandered the streets. Food riots broke out” (Kearns). It was in response to this catastrophe that FDR’s innate leadership traits crystallized in the form of a vision for a New Deal and the will to achieve this transformation.

Daniel Goleman in his book: ‘Leadership That Get Results’, put forward the idea of 6 distinct Leadership Styles with accompanying behaviors, emotional intelligence capabilities, optimal environments and suggested impacts on the working climate. Goleman defines a visionary leadership as: the ability to take charge and inspire with a compelling vision.

In his inaugural address as President of the United States in 1933, he drew a line in the sand and unfurled a new canvas: “This is a day of national consecration”. With this one sentence he drew an immediate sharp line of demarcation between what had gone before and what was about to begin. He then set about exercising his self-confidence and his empathy to mobilize his people towards a new vision, to become a catalyst for positive change. He set about restoring public confidence, spirit and morale. Roosevelt began by directly facing the facts of the dire situation. “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth”, – he declared, to address ‘honestly’ the situation in our country. “Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment”. But he famously asserted, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This sense of ambition mixed with empathy, was characteristic of Roosevelt’s sociability that would later characterize his Fireside chats.

He told his people to accompany him and infused a sense of shared purpose and direction. He made it clear what they could expect from him: “He told the country he was prepared to recommend to Congress a series of measures that ‘a stricken Nation’ required. He put forward a new image for a better America, a more ethical country that serves the many and not the few. Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now”. This action, this new vision, took the form of the New Deal. These were a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by FDR during the period 1933-1936 in response to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression. Major federal programs and agencies included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). (Ref.) Two of the key hallmarks of FDR’s New Deal were the United States Banking Act (1933) and the Social Security Act (1935), which ushered in, simultaneously, the longest era of sustained economic growth in US history and a fundamental paradigm shift in the realm of social equality. Ultimately, FDR had the vast emotional intelligence a visionary leader needs to understand that the people were exhausted and broken by the speculators and ‘money changers’ and new that he had to present and act early on a new positive, compelling vision to become the catalyst for change. Kearns summed it up: “The Inauguration Day of Franklin Delano Roosevelt began in prayer and ended in action. His every word and deed communicated the clear vision that this day represented no mere changing of the guard from one party to another. Something vast and debilitating had come to an end; something new and hopeful was beginning”.

In one speech, that lasted a mere 18 minutes FDR had at once laid out a new vision for his country. This is among the greatest lessons I have learned from FDR, that if you are fortunate enough to be given the honor of a leadership position then you must take it by the proverbial scruff of the neck, you must lay down your mark and you must lay out your vision. Clear objectives, well communicated are the key to effective visionary leadership.

Implementing the New Deal: A Transformational Leadership Approach

Having put forward his vision of the New Deal, FDR capitalized on his transformational leadership capacities in order to achieve it. Transformational leaders tend to focus on providing a clear mission and instilling pride in the workforce while having high expectations so gaining respect and trust; they function by adopting a rational and careful problem-solving approach to the tasks to be achieved while being focused on a coaching management style. They tend to be optimistic and hopeful, with a development focus. They can produce improved performance in situations of uncertainty and change, creating positive changes on followers and helps them to take more initiative (Burns, 1978). This is in contrast to transactional leaders who tend to focus on transactions or relationship between leaders and followers. They are often a hindrance to change and fosters a climate of mediocrity. FDR’s response to this environment and implementation of the New Deal set of reforms, in particular in the United States Banking Act (1933) and The Social Security Act (1935), epitomized his transformational leadership capabilities and his ability to act on his vision of a new American policy. “When he (FDR) promised that he and the Democrats would become prophets of a new order, no one could imagine the extent to which they would transform the federal government over the next twelve years by creating a welfare state and making the United Sates into the world’s greatest power” (Robert Dallek ‘Franklin Roosevelt, A Political Life’).

Key characteristics of transformational leadership include (Kearns): 1) demarcation between what has gone before and what will happen ahead, i.e. set a new vision; 2) mobilization people towards that vision and leadership by example; 3) addressing systemic problems and launching lasting reforms; 4) being open to experiment and designing flexible agencies to deal with new problems.

The Banking Act of 1933 and Social Security Act of 1935: Lasting Reforms

The Banking Act of 1933 (the 1933 Banking Act) joined together two long-standing Congressional projects: (1) a federal system of bank deposit insurance championed by Representative Steagall and (2) the regulation (or prohibition) of the combination of commercial and investment banking and other restrictions on ‘speculative’ bank activities championed by Senator Glass as part of a general desire to ‘restore’ commercial banking to the purposes envisioned by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The Act came to be commonly known as ‘The Glass-Steagall Act’. It is cited commonly as a central cause for the largest period sustained economic growth in US history over the ensuing five decades, a 60-years expansion of the middle class, the largest increase in productivity, the largest increase in median income and as a period which saw the US win World War II, put a man on the moon and a computer in every person’s home. The Social Security Act established social security and promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. For the first time the federal government took responsibility for the economic security of the aged, the temporarily unemployed, dependent children, and the handicapped. The Social Security Act contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty among the elderly. It put forward the notion that Americans would now live in a society. Furthermore, Roosevelt insisted that it should be funded by payroll taxes rather than from the general fund, saying, “We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program”. FDR transformational leadership practice created long-lasting solutions to systemic problems that were flexible enough to withstand the test of time. Policy that balances economic growth with social growth must be the cornerstone for any program for government. The US Banking Act and Social Security Act show that man can strive for more without leaving a man/woman behind. On the contrary however, while FDR had an excellent overall capacity to induce transformation in his organization and indeed the nation, there is evidence to suggest that his management style was somewhat lacking as per the transformational framework and was in many ways almost transactional, fostering a sense of competition and near conflict amongst his staff: “The president stayed in charge of his administration…by drawing fully on his formal and informal powers as Chief Executive; by raising goals, creating momentum, inspiring a personal loyalty, getting the best out of people…by deliberately fostering among his aides a sense of competition and a clash of wills that led to disarray, heartbreak, and anger but also set off pulses of executive energy and sparks of creativity…and always by persuading, flattering, juggling, improvising, reshuffling, harmonizing, conciliating, manipulating”.

Conclusion: FDR’s Legacy and Lessons in Leadership

Transformational leaders are built by infusing their inherent traits with those of challenge to create real substance. To become a transformational leader, you must go through a period transformation yourself. FDR’s ability to transform the fortunes of the United States lies in his ability to transform himself. FDR made that apprenticeship in his early political positions: Assistant Undersecretary to the Navy, Governor of New York. For me, I choose to do this in the private sector, specifically the investing/finance industry.

Chef’s Kitchen Marketing Plan

Chef’s Kitchen Marketing Plan

Chef Kitchen is named after the person who had an initial idea for the business. The vegan community is very close and welcoming, the author wanted our name to represent that. All interactions with customers, who are buying products, will be face to face, which means it develops emotional connections with their customers. This will also allow us to build a personal style relationship verse the typical business style relationship with their customers (Burns and Dewhurst, 2016). It also gives the illusion that they are not just purchasing their products, but in fact, they are eating and enjoying it with the mobile food truck.

Company Information

The initial idea for the business is to have a mobile food truck, serving hot and cold vegetarian suppers and beverages. The menu will turn among breakfast and lunch. At breakfast, it will serve three main courses and at lunch, it will serve three mains and also two deserts things (Mintzer, 2015).

The mission is to create a divine and satisfying veggie-lover a food on the go, for the comfort and joy of our consumers. While giving commendable assistance, appealing customers to be a piece of the progressive brand that plans an image of maintainability and conveys the energy for veganism.

Logo and Strapline

The business needs an attractive logo and strapline to signify the business and what the brand is about. The business person needs to plan a well-disposed, welcoming brand image, where consumers feel good by approaching their business and feel safe in believing their items and services that will deliver the best quality food. All while maintaining the standard of veganism, by being sans savagery and ecologically well disposed of. This is why the main feature of the logo is the brand name which attracts customers easily.

Key Target Market

The key targeted consumers are part of a growing niche of people currently representing over 1.16% (not factoring allergen possessors) of Conventional City Center citizens who are vegan or have a dietary requirement. The number of people making the choice to become vegan is rising due to a multitude of reasons such as health, concerns for animal welfare and environmental impact. The secondary research found that this growing demand has not been met with enough options. People with allergens especially are left with little to no options. The author eventually wishes to have targeted all main locations that supply food stalls/trucks throughout Conventional City Center and beyond as the brand grows. The mobile food truck is also looking into targeting locations around Conventional City Center such as at music and food and drink festivals.

  1. Customers Demographic. Customer demographics refers to the qualities of the individuals who will make buys from the mobile food truck. Such demographic qualities incorporate age that ranging from 18-35 years, people who have high-mid income, people who live in Conventional City Center mostly prefer to purchase food from a mobile food truck (Sarvari and Takci, 2016).
  2. Customers Psychographics. This data is imperative to building the mobile food truck which goes more than serving hot and cold vegetarian suppers and beverages (Shin and Severt, 2019). It assumes that people who have a vegetarian lifestyle or leading a vegan mostly prefer this food. They are environmentally conscious and aware of food intake or allergens to food.

Market Positioning

The fundamental concentration in promoting will be to build consumer mindfulness in the encompassing network. It will coordinate the majority of business strategies or as well as projects toward an aim or objective of clarifying its identity and what the new venture is about. The main focus of business is to value their products and services positively, keep their gauges high, or implement an idea so that informal conservation will be the fundamental advertising power (Demil and Zott, 2015).

Marketing Mix

This part includes the 7Pcs like Pricing, Promotion, Place, Product, Process, People and Physical Evidence which have to be occurred according to the mobile food truck business (Mallik and Farhan, 2018).

Price

The pricing factor of the mobile food truck will fluctuate as indicated by the selection of the menu. The mobile food truck is utilizing differentiation and cost-leadership approach. Along these lines, the pricing factor will be reasonable as compared to rivals. The price will not so costly or not as expensive as it adopts a cost-oriented strategy.

Promotion

The advancement and publicizing of Chef’s kitchen plan should be possible by advancing their mobile food truck through social media or digital marketing. To make Facebook, Instagram and other social media business accounts in which you can post about hot and cold vegan dinners and beverages highlights, food discounts offers, make alluring and creative content, post truck locations and give reviews on the quality of food and services. The advertising should also be done through food pornography and through different blogger which will post the reviews of food trucks on social media.

Product

The Chef’s Kitchen’s will offer a different menu depending on the time of the day which will alternate between breakfast and lunch/dinner. At each of those times, the food truck will be serving three different meals with two dessert items. The Vegan food truck will be also serving beverages which are organic juices, fresh lemonade, canned water, and drinks.

People

Customers are the most important factors in any business. According to a mobile food truck, the understudies’ students and individuals in the middle of the age scope of 18-35 years can be deliberate more. Additionally, it likewise relies upon circumstance since during the celebration and occasions there are individuals of any age purchasing the vegan meals from the food truck.

Process

The customers will need to line up in two lines; one for ordering and one for collection. Each service should not take longer than 15 minutes as this will defeat the purpose of a fast vegan truck.

Places

The monthly rotation of the food truck’s location allows for an increased scope and audience around Conventional City Center. Consumers will be updated to the current location of the food through the social media outlets and the flyers and leaflets handed out near the current location. Customers will be able to make transactions using cash and card system. The food truck doesn’t have any particular place as it is moving all around an area of Conventional City Center.

Physical Evidence

Every week the domestic cleaning will be done a night before the track opens for business. At the end of each shift, the employees must clean the truck once the shift is finished to keep it clean and ready for use. Trash must be removed at the end of each shift according to the council disposal process.

References

  1. Burns, P. and Dewhurst, J. eds., (2016). Small business and entrepreneurship. Macmillan International Higher Education.
  2. Demil, B., Lecocq, X., Ricart, J.E. and Zott, C., (2015). Introduction to the SEJ special issue on business models: business models within the domain of strategic entrepreneurship. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), pp.1-11.
  3. Mintzer, R., (2015). Start Your Own Food Truck Business: Cart Trailer Kiosk Standard and Gourmet Trucks Mobile Catering Bustaurant. Entrepreneur Press.
  4. Mallik, A. and Farhan, S.N., (2018). Customer-Centric Approach Using 7ps of Marketing Mix. International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 6(11), pp.136-149.
  5. Sarvari, P.A., Ustundag, A. and Takci, H., (2016). Performance evaluation of different customer segmentation approaches based on RFM and demographics analysis. Kybernetes, 45(7), pp.1129-1157.
  6. Shin, Y.H., Im, J. and Severt, K., (2019). Qualitative Assessment of Key Beliefs in Regards to Consumers’ Food Truck Visits. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, pp.1-17.

Eco-Labels for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Companies: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Eco-Labels for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Companies: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Nowadays, a rising number of international leisure tourists seem to be willing to choose a destination with high environmental health quality. Also, the diversity and integrity of the destination’s natural, cultural resources, and environmental considerations are now as the more significant features of tourists’ destination-choosing process (Hudson and Hudson, 2010). On the same time, the growing global population and unsustainable consumption presented thoughtful issues to human health and well-being and the natural environment (Royal Society, 2012). Thus, some private sectors voluntary plan that tourism operations keep to defined environmental process or performance guidelines to help solve this problem (Honey and Rome, 2001). Eco-labels (certificates) are first introduced in Europe in the 1980s, and they have been widely used in the past 25 years (Font, 2002). The eco-labels are broadly defined as “any non-statutory environmental initiative that encourages businesses to voluntarily reduce their environmental impacts beyond the requirements established by the environmental regulatory system” (Carmin, Darnall, and Mil-Homens, 2003). Consequently, this paper aims to explore the benefits and costs of obtaining of eco-labels by travel, tourism, and hospitality companies. Benefits and costs divided into two parts, which are financial factors and non-financial factors.

Benefits of Obtaining the Eco-labels for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Companies

Financial Benefits

By definition, the participation of eco-labels’ certification is voluntary. However, unless the eco-label certification would generate economic returns adequate to at least balance these costs, few companies will participate. Blue Flag Program (BFP) is a world well-known eco-label trusted by millions around the world, which is operated under the sponsorships of the Foundation for Environmental Education. In order to qualify for this admired award, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety-related, and access-related criteria must be met and maintained (Bule Flag, 2019). In Blackman, Naranjo, Robalino, Alpízar, and Rivera’s (2014) research found that BFP certification is optimistically and significantly correlated with new hotel investment, and BFP certification has encouraged the construction of 19 new hotels and 1628 new hotel rooms per year. Secondly, this research stated that BFP certification inclines to shoot investment in luxury hotels. It is difficult to do the research to find the relationship with room reservation and eco-labels. But this finding about the hotel investment increasing indirectly provided evidence that eco-labels can bring economic benefits for tourism operators.

Non-Financial Benefits

Besides the financial benefits, the certification of eco-labels may lead to a broad scope of other non-financial benefits for the tour operators and companies. First of all, Eco-labels might play a vital role in helping motivate pro-environmental actions in sustainable tourism, as they could help ‘encourage’, ‘enable’, ‘exemplify’ and ‘engage’ more liable environmental behavior for sustainability (Hm Government, 2005). Secondly, Eco-labels or certificate can help alleviate stakeholder opposition to the tourism industry. Because the eco-label program’s requirements mostly related to sustainable development, which match the respective of the stakeholders (Minoli, Goode & Smith, 2015). Secondly, eco-labels are able to foster positive brand reputation and develop customer loyalty (Prakash and Potoski, 2007), through the eco-labels, more tourists can identify the companies’ value and mission to help tourists make the decision when they are choosing the tourism products. So that the tourism companies could get support to build the sustainable brands (Schultz and Block, 2015), which could promote greater awareness and actions in the greening of the tourism industry to support the sustainable tourism. Additionally, Minoli, Goode, & Smith’s (2015) research stated that eco-labels are also expected to express a favorable implication on the quality of the environmental practices in the tourism industry, that inform and influence tourists’ behavior and actions, which can be explained by the concept of ‘windows and mirrors’. From the perspective of tourists, eco-labels can be seen as ‘windows’ or ‘mirrors’. As a ‘window’, eco-labels have to deliver comprehensibly and believed information, that offers tourists with a valuable basis on which to make decisions. Tourists may have to understand why the eco-label exists and what it means. On the other side, as a ‘mirror’, the eco-label is a marketing instrument, which is tenable by being connected with the tripartite values of ‘self-expression’, ‘feel-good factor’ and ‘positive social identity’ (Zadek, 2007).

Finally, from a management perspective, the eco-label program would assist in monitoring, since the environmental claims under the eco-label program can be more easily monitored (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2013). Competitors and customers are in a favorable position to judge the cogency of a claim, and will have an incentive to do, if a claim seems doubtful. The eco-labels are broadly defined as “any non-statutory environmental initiative that encourages businesses to voluntarily reduce their environmental impacts beyond the requirements established by the environmental regulatory system” (Carmin, Darnall, and Mil-Homens, 2003). The eco-label program is the non-government agency. However, the core works in the eco-label program can entirely meet the government needs in environmental protection, that as a medium to assist the government in monitoring the environmental impacts of companies.

Costs of Obtaining the Eco-labels for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Companies

Financial Costs

The tourism companies apply for the ecolabels were not free and required financial support from several parts. In this research, EU ecolabel Fees as an example to discuss. According to the EU ecolabel Fees (European Commission, 2018), cost categories as follow:

  1. Application/ Renewal cost: applying to have the eco-label certificate has to pay the application fee, and when renewing the eco-label certificate, the company also have to pay the renewal fee. For instance, in France, a standard company needed 1,215EUR to apply the EU eco-label and 1,200 to renew the eco-label.
  2. Extension/Modification Cost: when the company made some change or extended their products or service will charge the Extension/Modification fee.
  3. Annual cost: a yearly fee charged by the eco-labels organization each year to maintaining the eco-label certificate.
  4. Inspection cost: in Belgium, inspection fees were charged if an on-site inspection required. These charges include the costs of the investigation, travel costs, accommodation costs, audit and daily expenses of the inspector.

Besides the certified or recertified cost of the eco-labels, eco-certification might decrease hotel profits and therefore dissuade new hotel investment. For instance, the BFP certificate, visitors and inspectors attach importance to the whole environmental quality of the beach groups, comprising clean sea water, safe drinking water, and lack of litter (Frampton, 2010). Thus, obtaining and maintaining certification may require hotels to make investments in water treatment and other types of environmental protection (Brunnermeier and Levinson, 2004). Some of the financial costs involved could be significant, which will hinder the companies to get the eco-labels.

Non-Financial Costs

Non-financial costs contain all those obstacles that could not have direct financial influence, but, in any case, barrier the using of eco-labels. At the first place, this is the barrier from the customers’ awareness and understanding of eco-labels. Needham and Little’s (2013) research in alpine US ski resorts observed that few tourists were knowledgeable of eco-labels or motivated them to travel on their present trip because of the eco-labels. Another eco-labels related study in Audubon certified Golf Resorts (ACGRS) found that golf visitors lack of consciousness and perception on the eco-labels, because of the ‘outreach and education’ requirements of the program marketing were insufficient for golf visitors at ACGRs (Minoli, Goode, & Smith 2015). The eco-label’s marketing and advertising play an essential role in improving customers’ awareness and understand of eco-labels, so as to impact tourists’ decision making.

Secondly, customers are not willing to pay a premium on socially responsible products. In Minoli, Goode, and Smith’s (2015) study revealed that golfers pay about 10% to 18% more per round to play environmentally eco-label certified golf courses. Eco-label program may lead to extra expenses of companies so that the price of products will be higher than before, which means customer has to pay the premium as price is one of the main consider factors when customer choosing the travel products. Therefore, product premium will directly affect tourists’ destination choosing process and indirectly impact the profits of the tourism company.

The Right Balance: When Eco-labels Benefit Your Company

The previous two parts explained the benefits and costs correlated with the obtaining of the eco-label by travel, tourism, and hospitality companies. Not all of benefits and costs can direct financial expression should be taken into reflections. The cost-benefit ratio will be different for different companies and will depend on diverse aspects:

  1. Company characteristic: travel, tourism, and hospitality companies are unnecessary to get eco-label at any costs or just because it is trendy. For some of them, eco-label will not be appropriate. Some of the hotels are small and operate by family, which offer the necessary services to the customer. These hotels do not have adequate capital to get the eco-label and maintain it. On the other hand, a large and famous hotel may enjoy obtaining the eco-label to increase the expected significant economic gains and follow the eco-label standard to develop sustainable tourism.
  2. Relative costs and relative profits evaluate. As outlined above, membership in eco-certification programs is costly. Enterprises have to pay substantial pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs to match certification environmental performance standards and also application fees and other transactions charges (Salzhauer, (1991); Blackman, Naranjo, Robalino, Alpízar, & Rivera (2014)). However, few operators will participate unless the economic return from certification is sufficient to offset these costs at least. Eco-certification can enhance the expected profit of the company, thus attracting investment, or reduce the anticipated profit, inhibiting investment (Blackman, Naranjo, Robalino, Alpízar, & Rivera (2014)). It is critical to do the cost and benefit analysis before the operator apply for the eco certificate to generate the economic returns more than these costs.
  3. Company culture and corporation social responsibility. Besides the profits, the whole world has a responsibility to protect the natural environment, especially, tourism enterprises should take corporate social responsibility (CSR) as other enterprises in today’s business world. Eco-labels play an essential role in helping encourage pro-environmental behavior to achieve sustainable tourism development. Participation of the eco-label is voluntary, but eco-label may create a system to motivating, monitoring, and enforcement and effectively makes the sustainable development of the enterprises into reality. Response for the environmental conservation initiative to create a favorable image and reputation for the company.

Summary and Conclusion

This paper provided the body of knowledge of strengths and weaknesses of ecolabels by recognizing the potential benefits and costs associated with the participation of eco certificate by travel, tourism, and hospitality companies. It displays that the benefits and costs are very various, and companies have to consider all of them before deciding to participate or not the eco certificate. It would be a mistake for companies to blindly jump into the participation of getting the eco-label whirlwind without first defining clear goals. In this study, most of the discussion under the view of the tourism companies; however, eco-certification also paramount for customers. Future research will need to look into how the customer views the eco certificate in the tourism industry. How many tourists know about the eco-labels and tourists’ trustfulness of eco-labels. Eco-labels are emerging as a way for companies and institutions to build trust and communicate their contributions to 21st-century sustainability. Deep in the fine print of the eco-labels, it benefits for companies and customers to participate in sustainable tourism development.

References

  1. Blackman, A., Naranjo, M. A., Robalino, J., Alpízar, F., & Rivera, J. (2014). Does tourism eco-certification pay? Costa Rica’s blue flag program. World Development, 58, 41-52.
  2. Brunnermeier, S. B., & Levinson, A. (2004). Examining the evidence on environmental regulations and industry location. The Journal of Environment & Development, 13(1), 6-41.
  3. Bule Flag (2019), ‘Our Programme.’ Retrieved June 7th, 2019, from https://www.blueflag.global/our-programme
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  10. Hudson, S., & Hudson, L. (2010). Golf tourism. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishing.
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  12. Minoli, D. M., Goode, M. M., & Smith, M. T. (2015). Are eco labels profitably employed in sustainable tourism? A case study on Audubon Certified Golf Resorts. Tourism Management Perspectives, 16, 207-216.
  13. Needham, M. D., & Little, C. M. (2013). Voluntary environmental programs at an alpine ski area: Visitor perceptions, attachment, value orientations, and specialization. Tourism management, 35, 70-81.
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Role of Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness in Health Sector

Role of Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness in Health Sector

Economics is an age-old social science discipline, which basically deals with production, distribution and consumption of goods, services and service delivery and how society can optimally use its limited resources to achieve its goals. The application of economics to health- related issues started around 30 to 40 years ago. Various health problems like increased cigarette smoking habits in young, limited availability of Retro viral drugs, higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes coupled with very high costs for seeking health care and dearth of trained health care professionals, pose a challenge to policy makers at government and agency level especially with the limited amount of resources available to combat the health- related problems. To overcome these problems health economics plays a major role, hence policy makers conduct Economic Evaluations (EE) which are instrumental in facilitating evidence-based decision making, by helping public health professionals and decision makers identify, measure and compare, which activities have the required impact, which interventions can be scaled up, what activities would be sustainable and what are the interventions which can improve population health in the long run. EE is conducted through various techniques, in order to make informed decision, regarding allocation of limited resources, to bring about reforms in health sector (more so since the year 1980) and to improve ‘service delivery’ and ‘health status’ of the public.

EE can be defined as “Systematic appraisal of costs and benefits of projects, normally undertaken to determine the relative economic efficiency of the programs”. It is a method which informs policy makers regarding the ‘economic cost’ also known as ‘opportunity cost’ which is the value of the benefit of the next best alternative, or the benefit we would have obtained if we had used the resources for the next best alternative.

Given that resources are limited, policy makers have to prioritize how best to invest or allocate the resources, this is where the role of economic evaluation lies. Comparative analysis is the basis of economic evaluation/analysis where comparison of ‘costs’ and ‘consequences ’is done between 2 or more different options. Dr. Thomas Frieden Director of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “to establish an effective intervention package, it is critical to understand the full range of available evidence- based strategies, the size and characteristics of the population to be reached, the projected impact of each intervention, and the estimated cost”. Public health professionals aim to improve outcomes in the health sector but at the same time want to bring down the cost entailed.

There are various stages involved in EE. Firstly, we need to define the health problem which requires decision making – ‘framing the evaluation’. Then we need to identify the resources that would be required to fix the health problem, in what quantity and put an approximate monetary value for the resources needed, followed by determining what will be the consequences/benefits of the intervention, how many benefits per intervention and what is the worth of the benefits obtained and finally gather evidence on the costs and benefits, interpret the data and present to the policy makers so that decision can be taken. EE can be done at 2 levels – partial level method and full level method.

Partial Economic Evaluation

Partial economic evaluation (PEE) is a method to help public health professionals determine the total cost of the program and disease costs before allocating resources, but the limitation is that no comparison is made between 2 or more alternative options and the costs to outcomes cannot be related. PEE conducts program costs analysis and cost of illness analysis.

  • Program cost analysis: wherein the total cost of the program is systematically broken down into subsets mentioning all the entities involved along with the specific costs incurred e.g. the intervention cost of providing metformin tablets versus providing a placebo to a group of study subjects for a period of 3 years was $ 2412 per person.
  • Costs of illness analysis: it helps public health professionals determine the total cost of preventing or treating a particular disease in order to allocate the required funds e.g. for HPV disease-estimated cost of prevention and treating was $8.0 billion in 2010, and actual cost of routine screening for cervical cancer and treatment was $7.0 billion.

Full Economic Evaluation

Full economic evaluation is a method where 2 or more health interventions are compared in relation to the costs incurred for the resources put in and the costs of the outcomes at the end of the said intervention. There are various types of full economic evaluation techniques, for example, cost benefit analysis, cost effective analysis, cost utility analysis.

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)

This is an economic evaluation technique which is called the ‘Gold Standard’ of EE. CBA measures inputs and outputs in monetary terms. This technique compares the monetary value of the resources consumed by an intervention, with the monetary values of the benefits obtained from the outcome of the same intervention. CBA helps policy makers to decide, which interventions should receive priority funding, and which health policies should be implemented.

The advantages of CBA are that it can be used to compare interventions with a range of different outcomes. CBA can relate across different sectors in the Economy. It can measure both economic and allocative efficiency issues within health sector or across other sectors. The principle of the CBA is that it can calculate all the benefits and costs associated with any intervention, i.e. The Ministry of Finance may decide to allocate resources for outreach activities for immunization in the health sector or midday meals in public schools through the Ministry of Education, based on available funds and comparing the activities of two different government departments. In this method all costs and benefits like health outcomes and consequences of interventions are converted to a single monetary identity such as $ which makes it simpler for government policy makers to make a decision to invest in interventions. CBA can appropriately help a decision maker to decide if a single intervention policy should be implemented or it would require more than 1 policy for betterment of health status of the population and to determine if the benefits are greater than the costs. If information is needed as to which interventions will result in overall resource savings, a cost–benefit analysis has to be done.

Two common CBA indicators are:

  1. Net Present Value (NPV): which is expressed as a single monetary unit which is obtained by subtracting the cost of an intervention from the cost of the benefits obtained from same intervention. If benefits >cost, then net benefit is > than 0, which means that the monetary value of the outcome is more than the monetary value of the resources used for setting up the intervention, hence this analysis helps public health professionals and policy makers decide which intervention is worthwhile in terms of priority funds allocation. If NPV> Cost, intervention is worthwhile.
  2. Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR): we can also compare the cost and benefits of an intervention through the BCR, which is the ratio of benefits to costs. The result is obtained by dividing the benefits by the cost incurred. This method plays a role in resource allocation because if an intervention is worthwhile depends on BCR. The higher the BCR the more profitable is the intervention. If BCR>1 then intervention is worthwhile hence policy makers can make informed decision and allot funds to implement the intervention. E.g. A 1.50:1 BCR can be interpreted as, for every $1 of costs incurred, the society will gain $1.50 of benefits.

The limitation of CBA is that it cannot put a monetary value on intangible benefits like quality of health and human life.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is an EET wherein the consequences of various interventions can be determined by the use of a single outcome and expressed in ‘health units’ as in number of life years saved, number of deaths avoided, number of heart attacks avoided, number of cases detected. Different interventions are measured as cost per unit of effectiveness (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)). In CEA costs and health effects of an intervention are compared to ascertain the extent to which an intervention is worthy of fund allocation. This helps decision-makers determine how best to allocate limited healthcare resources. CEA is a method to assess health gains relative to cost entailed for different health interventions and directly relates their financial and scientific implications. CEA is calculated by dividing the cost of an intervention in monetary units by the expected health gain which is measured in ‘natural units’ such as number of lives saved. E.g., the cost of using volunteer paramedics and trained lay people as ‘first responders’ to accidents costs approx. US$ 128 per life saved in South Asia and US$ 283in North Africa and Middle east, compared to a community-based ambulance that costs US$1, US$100 and US$3500 per life saved in the same 2 regions respectively. The most commonly used EET in the health sector is CEA wherein the monetary value of the inputs/resources used for an intervention is analyzed against the amount of health status gained as a consequence of that intervention. The outcomes are expressed as health units – as in number of life years saved and the values can be easily interpreted by decision makers and public health professionals. CEA is expressed as – ratio of costs ÷ health outcomes, also known as Cost effectiveness ratio (CER) The advantage of CEA is that the outcomes are expressed as Natural health units only and not as monetary units.

There are 2 types of CER:

  1. Average CER (ACER) which relate to single interventions. When making a decision regarding allocation of resources for Interventions, policy makers compare the ACER of between 2 interventions, and the intervention with lower ACER is given priority funding (provided that the costs and effects of 1 intervention is not changed in any way when the other intervention is introduced).
  2. Incremental CER (ICER) which compares relative costs and effects and expressed as ratio of the difference in cost between 2 alternatives to the difference in effectiveness between the same 2 alternatives. But when interventions are not mutually exclusive, decision makers use ICER to determine what extra benefit can be gained from a new diagnostic test and what are the additional costs to be incurred, e.g. comparing 2 diagnostic tests to detect TB through – sputum smear microscopy and GeneXpert MTB/RIF Nucleic Acid Amplification Test because we are testing a common unit of effect i.e. cost per case detected.

CEA helps policy makers in identifying opportunities which were otherwise neglected by pin pointing those interventions which are not very expensive but have the potential to substantially reduce the disease burden e.g. More than 1 million child deaths occur due to dehydration in diarrhea. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) can dramatically reduce dehydration thereby reducing mortality and cost is only US$ 2 to US$4. CEA has a major role to help identify ways and means to redirect resources and demonstrates the utility of reallocating resources from ongoing ineffective interventions to better cost- effective interventions. Policy makers can utilize CEA in 4 aspects of an intervention: 1) for an ongoing intervention with current coverage, 2) in order to make decisions regarding upscaling of the intervention, 3) in order to add another intervention to improve coverage e.g. outreach immunization sessions for improving immunization coverage, 4) to decide about shifting from an intervention to a more cost effective one.

The limitation of CEA is that it can determine only a single unit of effectiveness, hence important social costs and benefits are ignored. Also, with CEA policy makers are unable to compare the value of the intervention for different health problems.

Cost-Utility Analysis

Cost-utility analysis (CUA) – this is an EET which is similar to CEA and hence it is mostly stated with CEA. The outcomes are expressed as units measuring the quantity and quality of life years gained. CUA can assess not only the life years saved but also the quality of life years gained. The unit of measure of consequence in CUA are: 1) quality adjusted life years (QALY), which can be defined as a single measure of the quality of life and survival; 2) disability adjusted life years (DALY).

The advantage of CUA is that it analyses interventions that can specifically extend number of life years as well as the quality of the life gained, but at the cost of various side effects involved. There are issues regarding morbidity and mortality to be looked into, e.g. certain types of malignancies. Ministry of Health needs to decide on the best intervention to treat carcinoma breast early stage. The options are radical mastectomy without breast reconstruction and Breast conservation surgery followed by radiotherapy. There are issues of side effects associated with both interventions so CUA helps to make the final decision.

The limitation of CUA is that it cannot measure all other valued characteristics associated with health interventions e.g. QALYs cannot capture differences in the intangible aspects of intervention like, respect, autonomy, provision of information which are all issues of value to patients.

CUA helps policy makers at the agency level like CDC, WHO, UNICEF or Local Health agencies, when their director is faced with the challenge regarding public health interventions and different health outcomes. CUA helps the director to decide which is the best intervention and helps Policy makers to compare the value of different interventions for health problems.

When a decision has to be made regarding allocating resources the best EET currently in use is CUA as it compares the cost of different interventions with their consequences. This can easily be measured in ‘utility based’ units like QALY, which relates to the level of well- being of an individual. QALY is calculated by estimating the total number of life years gained from a certain procedure and then weighting each year to reflect the quality of life in that particular year.

Another measure is ‘Rosser Index’, which describes health status in 2 dimensions: disability and distress. Rosser Index is used to assign quality of life scores to patients. This is useful when decision makers have to compare the outcomes of different programs prior to resource allocation. Both these measures calculate the cost of procedures and quality of life years gained so decision makers can rank them and prioritize allocation of funds.

Conclusion

Evaluating the impact of interventions on health status is important, carrying out EE is critical for health interventions in order to ensure that decision makers are able to allocate resources in the most economical way to the most cost-effective intervention for the betterment of the health status of the population. The role of EE in the form of CBA, CEA and CUA are all EET which can facilitate informed decision by the decision maker regarding the best method to allocate resources.

There is a lot of debate regarding which EET is the best and most effective for resource allocation. CBA is considered the gold standard of EE. Still at present CUA is considered the most sophisticated EE technique available. CEA helps to assess the costs of the interventions and the outcomes of different interventions. Allocation of resources in the health sector entails spending money on health interventions, for this having the knowledge about which intervention is most cost effective and sustainable while providing the greatest health benefits is crucial for decision makers. This where the role of EE comes in, but as said by Mason and colleagues, decision makers should exercise ‘the appropriate caution, care and intelligence’ before finalizing decisions on resource allocation. Hence it has been recommended that Schools of Public Health should offer elective courses on economic evaluation at Master’s and Doctor of Public Health Level to facilitate evidence-based resource allocation decision making in health sector.

The Effects of the Environment on a Business: Analysis of Internal, External and Competitive Environment of Ryanair

The Effects of the Environment on a Business: Analysis of Internal, External and Competitive Environment of Ryanair

Ryanair was founded in 1984 and is a low-cost airline which headquarters are in Swords, Dublin, Ireland. Dublin and London Stansted airports are their primary operational bases. Carrying over 130 million customers each year, they’ve been voted Europe’s Number 1 airline. Ryanair connects 216 destinations in 37 countries, with more than 2,000 daily flights from 85 bases, on a fleet of 430 Boeing 737 aircrafts. As well as this, they have 240 more Boeing 737’s on order. This will allow Ryanair to lower fares and reach numbers as high as 200 million customers each year. Ryanair has a team of over 13,000 well-trained and highly skilled staff in the aviation profession which means Ryanair can deliver Europe’s most on-time flights, and a 33-yer safety record which is industry leading and key part of their success.

The Internal, External and Competitive Environment of Ryanair

PESTLE

The PESTLE analysis is an effective way to analyse key features of the external environment. It is a strategic framework used to see how external factors impact a business.

Political

  • Uncertainty surrounding Brexit will be challenging in the business environment

Due to the UKs geographical location being key in the airline network, the UK has the largest aviation industry in Europe. Around 80% of all North Atlantic traffic passes through the UK or Irish-controlled airspace. Having unfavorable outcomes from Brexit could cause negative impacts on not only Ryanair but also other low-cost airway operations in the UK. There is a high possibility that the UK won’t remain in Open Skies agreement with the EU, so until the final terms are decided, uncertainty will occur. Therefore, Ryanair will have to focus on growth away from the UK until Brexit is complete.

  • Terrorist attack risks will have negative effect on the demand for air travel which will impact Ryanair

There has been an increase in terrorist attacks in the recent two years, especially targeting countries such as the UK, France Germany. Due to this intelligence agencies and governments have increased their efforts to combat these. The increased risk of being caught in an attack has already affected tourism, although only in a small manner. If these attacks are to continue, the affect it has on the tourism industry will increase and this will cause the demand for air travel to decrease, impacting Ryanair.

Economical

  • The lower value of the GBP after Brexit will put pressure on fare prices

If a recession was to occur after the UK completes its leave from the EU, the earning potential for low-cost airlines earning potential would decrease. There is a close correlation between the demand for leisure travel and economic performance. However, fewer travelers can help shorten security queues and more flights will leave on time. During the last recession in 2009, there was a 13% decrease in the number of people using UK airports.

  • Oil prices being $50 a barrel is expected to remain

Due to rising fuel and labour costs, carriers are facing growing pressure. Jet fuel prices are expected to rise about 25% this year, as a result of strengthening crude oil prices. These have increased because of the booming global economy and increased geopolitical tensions such as Brexit and the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal by the US.

  • Airport charges and extra costs

Ryanair’s extra prices on travel fares are calculated by referring to the airport taxes/charges and government taxes payable by Ryanair on the specific itinerary. Examples of these fees, taxes and charges are:

  • UK Air Passenger Duty – This tax is charged on each passenger on all flights that depart from UK airports.

Passenger Service Charge/ Airport Tax – “This is a charge made by the airport authority to an airline for the use of the terminal, runway, emergency services, security facilities etc. In some cases, this charge also includes the cost of passenger and ramp handling at the airport. This non-refundable charge is made on a per passenger basis and varies from airport to airport.” (Ryanair.com, 2019)

If these charges were to increase, Ryanair would have to increase their prices to be able to cover the costs.

Social

  • Generation Y have higher disposable incomes

The middle classes growth in disposable income and lifestyle changes has been the main attribute to low-cost airlines’ expansion. Generation Y travellers can afford multiple short-trips each year. Compared to travellers from previous generations, millennials expect to not have to pay a premium for a high level of customer service and prefer services that supply online services and technological based solutions to manage itineraries.

  • On short-haul routes, consumers prefer high speed rail to airlines

Travelling by train is much simpler than travelling by plane as it is a largely uninterrupted experience. You don’t have to put your electronic devices on airplane mode or have your seatbelts fastened. Trains are also a lot safer and baggage isn’t often lost. Due to this, people are opting to get the train rather than small, short haul flights. The Eurostar to France is a lot busier than flights to France from airports. This is causing the railway market to expand and increase in profits. This could have implications on Ryanair who are mainly short-haul flights.

  • Consumers are willing to spend more on ancillaries if ticket cost is less

Extra ‘hidden’ prices are the main way Ryanair makes money. For example, customers print off their own boarding passes online but there is a fine if the boarding pass is: printed out in bad quality, the page is damaged, or part of the page is missing. This charge could be as high as £45 per person if they’ve forgotten to check-in online. Ryanair charges the most for food and drink out of all the British and Irish airlines. A bottle of water costs £2.99 which is a high price. Passengers are willing to pay these extremely high prices for ‘other’ services if they believe they got a really good deal on the fare price. In their mind, if they’re paying as little as £1 for a plane ticket, they’ve got themselves a good deal even if the extra prices add up to high amounts such as £50.

  • Controversial Advertising

Ryanair sparked a lot of controversy when their advertisement was said to “encourage binge drinking as normal behaviour”. The advertisement was captioned with ‘To all Leaving Cert and A-Level students: plan your dream summer holiday now so you have something to look forward to. Book on Ryanair.com in between ‘studying’ tonight. This could be you.’ This created a lot of negative publicity around Ryanair with charities that help those with drinking problems such as Dual Diagnoses Ireland and drinkware branding it as “irresponsible” and “triggering to those struggling with drinking issues”. Ryanair brushed off the comments and didn’t publicly apologise which caused further upset.

Technological

  • Improvements to digital platforms such as mobile and website will enhance customer experience

Airlines that can use digital channels in their distribution and marketing strategies will survive the social changes occurring in the airline industries as shown in growing evidence. Past generations weren’t as bothered about technology but for Generation Y, technology is highly important. They want to stay constantly connected to their social networking and airlines modernising to allow this is a key part to them reaching their target audience. Furthermore, increased use of social media has given airline companies an opportunity to gain a better and more detailed understanding of their customers’ behaviour by analysing customer data which is voluntarily shared on digital platforms such as Facebook.

Legal

  • Ryanair could be in lawsuit by European Commission over receiving state aid at certain European Airports

The European Commission is investigating if Ryanair received illegal state aid from regional and local authorities in France. As reported by Ms Vestager, Ryanair received a substantial amount of payments from the Association for the Promotion of Touristic and Economic Flows after promoting Montpellier as a tourist destination on their website. The EU law bans state aid to businesses where it changes normal commercial competition and gives them an unfair advantage.

  • Brexit may cause Ryanair to have to comply with dual, UK and EU regulations

The low-cost airlines will be affected by Brexit because their cheap flights are thanks to the EU since they created the single aviation area. There has been freedom for airlines to fly across Europe and opportunities for cross-border investments by European airlines. Brexit could mean renegotiation of these agreements and if competition is reduced, fares could increase. Having to increase fares means Ryanair could become no longer low-budget friendly.

Environmental

  • EU regulation on emissions for airlines may increase costs for Ryanair

The EU has passed legislation which means airlines have to operate under the E.U Emissions Trading Scheme. If Ryanair goes over the granted CO2 allowances, the extra amount needs to be procured from the market or auctions are to be held by government agencies. If the EU changes the allowance grant, Ryanair will need to improve their environmental efficiently further to reduce emissions.

  • Frequent heatwaves cause concern

Heatwaves are becoming a frequent occurrence which is causing concern for the industry as the temperatures are often reaching above aircraft maximum ground operations temperature. Due to this, airlines may have to seek an alternative operations strategy to adjust to climate change. There is a growing distress about the low-cost airlines such as Ryanair’s contribution to carbon emissions.

  • Maintains the lowest emissions among its competitors

Ryanair operates with a young fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft which has a fleet age under 6 years. Due to this, it maintains the lowest emissions among its competitors. Unlike other major airlines, Ryanair has only has one class of aircraft which helps them to reduce their maintenance cost. Ryanair has ordered the new aircraft and it’s due to be delivered in the next 3 years. It will be fitted with CFM LEAP 1B engines and Advanced Technology scimitar winglets as well as other lightweight materials. This will help them reduce fuel consumption further which will be a major strength for Ryanair as it will become one of the most environmentally friendly airlines.

  • Strong focus on environmental initiatives

Any global company needs to focus on their carbon footprint as well as environmental conservation. This is even more important in the aviation sector. Online ticketing is now widely used by many businesses including trainlines and Ryanair was the first to change to this option. They also focus on being environmentally friendly in their offices by using solar power, LED lighting and recycling programmes. They launched a new Environmental policy in March 208 which aims to make the airlines ‘plastic free’ within the next 5 years.

Corporate Culture

“Corporate culture is the shared values, beliefs and norms of a business that affect every aspect of work life.” (tutor2u, 2019)

The readers of the magazine ‘Which?’ has recently voted Ryanair the worst of the 100 biggest brands in the UK market for their consumer relations. There was a vote against the top 100 British brands and Ryanair was voted as having the worst customers services. Only half of their customers were satisfied with the service they received from the business. Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary was said to “laugh off” the feedback and didn’t take it seriously. He instead insisted that Ryanair passengers have never heard of Which? and wouldn’t have had the time to do the survey. He was therefore implying that the feedback wasn’t accurate and didn’t show what “actual” Ryanair passengers thought about the airline and the service they provide. This shows there’s not a good environment within the airline.

Ryanair employs many of their pilots through temporary agency contracts as a mid to keep costs down. Due to the poor employment terms, pilots came together and wrote to those at the head of Ryanair asking for an improvement to be made. The group of pilots then called them a ‘disgrace’ after the company missed a deadline to improve employment terms.

Ryanair made an announcement that for a period of six weeks, they were going to be cancelling about 40-50 flights per day to “improve punctuality”, but they didn’t tell customers which particular flights in advance. The following day they said that when they were changing the holiday year from financial to calendar they “messed up” the holiday schedules of pilots. After this, stories had started to emerge that there was a shortage of pilots which the company completely denied. However, it was then said by Norwegian Air that they’d recruited 140 pilots from Ryanair that year. There was also another airline that said they’d hired 40 pilots with 32 coming from Ryanair. Ryanair decided instead of properly fixing the whole situation, they’d offer their pilots a bonus of £12,00 which as one-off if they’d agree to work extra hours as well as extra days and have a low level of absence due to sickness. This didn’t go down well with the existing pilots who saw it as an attempt to skirt around the real issue. The company then responded by saying they were going to cancel part of their pilots’ holidays.

Employees have now come together and even have secret invite-only Facebook groups which has gathered over 3,400 members. The group’s founder told the Guardian they’re “preparing an open letter to the company demanding improved working conditions”.

Ryanair’s employees don’t enjoy working for them and this shows in their customer reviews. Michael O’Leary and other high members of the company seem to ignore the issues just for the sake of keeping prices low, so they’ll make more profit. They seem driven by money rather than making valuable relationships with their workers and ensuring happiness within the company.

Corporate Social Responsibility

“Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is when companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.” (tutor2u, 2019)

Having good corporate social responsibility can have a lot of positive impacts on a company such as: being a good member of society, help to recruit and maintain employees, lower production costs and improved access to capital.

Ryanair has a bad reputation when it comes to their Corporate Social Responsibility. They have had a load of issues with them posting misleading information of their website such as about their claim that they only contribute 2% carbon dioxide emissions. The claim breached rules on truthfulness due to it not explaining that it was based on global rather than UK emissions.

The airline lacks social responsibility, and this shows since they’re mainly concentrating on making profits rather than the welfare of their customers. As quoted by Michael O’Leary Ryanair “guarantee to give you the lowest fare. You get a safe flight. You get a normally on time flight. That’s the package. We don’t and won’t, give you anything more. Are we going to say sorry for our lack of customer service? Absolutely not. If the plane is cancelled, will we put you up in a hotel overnight? Absolutely not If a plan is delayed will we give you a voucher for a restaurant? Absolutely not”. This shows that to them so long as they’ve got their customers to their destinations, it doesn’t matter what service they receive before, during and after their flight. There are also allegations that the airline extorts customers by charging them for the use of toilet when on board, making payment for paying online and boarding luggage on board.

Ryanair has a history of reacting badly to criticism and these means Ryanair would react to any criticism on its CSR issues either by avoiding similar issues in the nearest feature or by trying to justify the company’s stances on such issues.

Competition

Ryanair’s main competitors are EasyJet, Monarch, Jet2 and British Airways.

EasyJet has an annual revenue of $7.7bn compared to Ryanair’s which was $8.7bn in 2018. They have 14,000 employees.

The Effects of the Business Environment

Fiscal policy

Situational Analysis of Ryanair

5 C’S

The Five C’s of Marketing are the five most important areas of marketing. When marketing executives make marketing decisions, they should consider the five C’s of marketing. The five C’s stand for Company, Customers, Collaborators, Competitors, and Climate. The five C’s act as a guideline when we are creating a marketing plan or devising a marketing strategy.

Porters 5 forces

Competitive Rivalry – Ryanair has high competitive rivalry with other low-cost airlines such as EasyJet and Jet2.

Supplier Power – Ryanair’s supplier power is shifting from low to high as they only have use of regional airports. These are now getting clogged up. The shift of suppliers from Boeing to airbus is high. There is no control over oil prices so if they increase Ryanair wouldn’t have a choice about increasing their prices to cover the costs.

Buyer Power – Although Ryanair is the cheapest in the market, customers are price sensitive and will switch to another airline if they believe they can get a better deal. Therefore, buyer power is high.

The threat of Substitution – The threat of substitution against Ryanair is low because customers prefer the low prices they offer.

The threat of New Entry – The treat of entry is moderate because creating an airline requires a lot of legislation and investment, there are limited routes and no space in the airports.

How the Business Environment affects Ryanair

Situational analysis

Situation analysis is defined as an analysis of the internal and external factors of a business. It clearly identifies a business’s capabilities, customers, potential customers and business environment, and their impact on the company. A situation analysis is an essential part of any business plan and should be reviewed periodically to ensure that it is current.

Strengths

Weaknesses

  • First to launch low cost flights in Europe
  • Innovative Leadership
  • Size
  • Management focus
  • Brand perception
  • Seasonality of earnings

Opportunities

Threats

  • Improved customer service
  • Business travellers
  • New aircraft
  • Accident
  • Loss of focus
  • Competitive response

How the Market Structure and Influences on Supply and Demand Affect the Pricing and Output Decisions of Ryanair

Perfect/imperfect competition

Due to the high amount of low-cost short haul airlines, Ryanair is perfect competition. With competitors such as Jet2 and EasyJet also focusing on having the cheapest prices, there are multiple airlines for customers wanting cheap flights to choose from.

Supply/demand

Ryanair’s prices are based off the demand for the flight. A new system allows airline seats to be priced according to supply and demand and achieve high occupancy.

Price elastic demand means that demand increases when costs fall.

Price elasticy

Ryanair has high price elastic as the price of fares increase/decrease based of the demand for the flight. The more people that would want to travel on the particular flight, the more Ryanair can charge.

References

  1. Ryanair.com. (2019). Official Ryanair website | Book direct for the lowest fares | Ryanair.com. [online] Available at: https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/about-ryanair/about-us [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
  2. Ryanair.com. (2019). Official Ryanair website | Book direct for the lowest fares | Ryanair.com. [online] Available at: https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/help-centre/faq-overview/Making-a-reservation/What-taxes-fees-and-charges-may-be-charged-by-Ryanair [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019].
  3. tutor2u. (2019). Corporate Culture | tutor2u Business. [online] Available at: https://www.tutor2u.net/business/topics/corporate-culture [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019].
  4. tutor2u. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility | tutor2u Economics. [online] Available at: https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/corporate-social-responsibility [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019].

What Made Theodore Roosevelt a Great Leader

What Made Theodore Roosevelt a Great Leader

Famous Leader Analysis

Leader history/background (i.e. where did they come from, how did they become a leader, etc.)

Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in New York, New York, in the United States. And died on January 6, 1919, in Oyster Bay, New York at age 60. He was a sickly child in his youth, suffering from a strong case of asthma. Theodore overcame his health issues via a strenuous lifestyle (boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, rugby), as well as growing out of his asthma naturally later on. He was home-schooled, and he began a lifelong pursuit of the outdoors before attending Harvard College in the 1870s.

After finishing Harvard in 1880, Roosevelt married Alice Hathaway Lee and entered Columbia University Law School, later dropping out after only one year to enter public service. He was elected to the New York State Assembly at the age of 23 and served two terms in that position (1882-1884). His wife and mother succumbed to Bright’s disease (typhoid) on the same day in 1884. A grieving Roosevelt spent the next two years on a ranch in the Badlands of the Dakota, where he hunted big game, drove cattle and worked as a frontier sheriff. Upon returning to New York, he married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. The couple raised six children, including Alice; Roosevelt’s daughter from his first marriage.

He then served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley, later resigning from that position to lead the Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War (1898). He was then elected Governor of New York in 1898 after the war. Vice President Garret Hobart died, and McKinley was convinced to accept Roosevelt as his running mate in the 1900 election by the New York state party leadership. Roosevelt campaigned, and the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket won a landslide victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity, and conservation.

Roosevelt took office as vice president in March 1901 and assumed the presidency at age 42 after McKinley was assassinated the following September. As the 26th president of the United States, he remains the youngest person to become President of the United States. As president, Roosevelt is known for;

  • Posthumously awarded the medal of honor
  • For actions in Cuba
  • Being the youngest President in U.S. History
  • Averted a National emergency by resolving the 1902 coal strike
  • Ending much of the railroad monopoly
  • Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC); is a federal regulatory agency to monitor railroads.
  • The Elkins Act of 1903
  • Authorized the ICC to impose heavy fines on railroads that offered rebates and upon the shippers that accepted these rebates
  • The Hepburn Act of 1906
  • Gave ICC the power to set maximum railroad rates
  • Ended a Monopoly on beef
  • Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, in 1906
  • Food sanitation that led to the FDA regulations today
  • Made conservation a National issue
  • Panama Canal
  • First American to be awarded the Nobel peace prize
  • Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, ending the Russo-Jap war

Leader personality/traits

Roosevelt exhibited a notably exuberant personality combined with a vast range of interests and world-famous achievements into a rough intellectual personality defined by robust masculinity and jovial academic traits. As a leader; Roosevelt is known for his Vision for the progressive future of the U.S., His adaptability in the face of different threats/conflicts, His strong and oft overt communication skills, his confidence, and the ability to get others to trust him, and his inherent decisiveness when push comes to shove.

Leadership style

‘The leader must understand that he leads us, that he guides us, by convincing us so that we will follow him or follow his direction. He must not get it into his head that it is his business to drive us or rule us. His business is to manage the government for us.’ – Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt is a character that has a decidedly transformational style in his leadership. He is a cutting figure that imposed his will upon his peers and subordinates alike; with him or against him, he will demand constant progress and improvement.

Strengths

Roosevelt’s vision is in terms of the U.S. as an ever-improving country. If Vision is defined as “the ability to imagine different and better conditions and the ways to achieve them”, then Roosevelt is a shining example of this concept on a national level. From improving canning regulations and busting monopolies to adapting and improving the state of the U.S. Navy he forced those in leadership to adapt and transform or resign or leave service. By focusing attention on a vision, the leader operates on the values, commitment, and aspirations of the organization. Great leaders often inspire their followers to high levels of achievement by showing them how their work contributes to worthwhile ends. In most all of Roosevelt’s contributions to America, he emphasizes the worthwhile ends.

Teddy is adaptive, not subtle, but adaptive nonetheless. In the 1902 coal strike; he threatened to use the US Army to mine the coals and seize the mines, and convinced both the miners and the owners to accept the findings of a commission. The miners needed better pay and benefits, and the trade owners were not willing to recognize the newly established union as an entity with clout.

Teddy Roosevelt had a presence. When he walked into a room, you knew he could make anything happen. made his presence felt from the moment he took command. Newly appointed to the sleepy U.S. Civil Service Commission, “he became a blur of high-speed activity.” He was not one for half measures or losing the advantage. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and Roosevelt was not an object to idle; According to one of his close associates, Roosevelt’s “motto” was “action, action and still more action.” And: “Life is action.” In part, this may have reflected his temperament, but it is also assuredly a strength of living “the strenuous life.”

Weaknesses

Theodore Roosevelt was not a subtle man… Nor was he often considered a weak individual. However, we can see weaknesses in the policies enacted by one so blatantly “machismo”, chiefly in foreign policy and aggressiveness. Roosevelt started the US down the bumpy road to imperialism. The war with Spain in Cuba was arguably unnecessary and, in some sources, seemed to be enacted by Roosevelt himself. This alongside the collateral of the capture of the Philippines drew us into East Asia. Leading the future of the United States toward future wars with Japan, Korea, and in Vietnam. If one of his strengths is considered vision, then his weakness may be either hindsight or future planning… or both.

How do they manage conflict?

Theodore Roosevelt is not a subtle man. How President Theodore Roosevelt handled The Coal Strike of 1902 provides a good model for crisis/conflict management. Roosevelt is a character that would rather be overt to solve issues of magnitude in order to set a standard for future issues. The 1902 Coal Strike was an example of how he operated under conflict; with authority and with an iron fist. There is a reason for the saying “walk softly and carry a big stick”; it’s a phrase indicative of the later expansion of the U.S. maritime fleet and the threat carried with it. By organizing conflict into three stages (Recognition, Containment, and Resolution), we can learn how to deal with conflict. First, the leader recognizes that conflict exists that is detrimental to the group or organization. Then the leader contains the issue to the important factions/parties. Lastly, the Leader makes a plan for the resolution of the conflict… even if that plan is simply de-escalation.

How do they address diversity?

Diversity is not something that I believe was a concern for Roosevelt. That being said, our definition of diversity is; “Diversity is understanding, valuing, and using the differences in every person.” But when the word passes most person’s minds, diversity is seen publicly as the inclusion of more than one ethnic group… in reality it is much more. For example; Roosevelt gathered a diverse group for the rough riders volunteer group assaulting Cuba during the war with Spain. This meant more along the lines of backgrounds and skills; cowboys, football players and another manner of rough folk owed allegiance to their ranks. This being the case, Roosevelt was a man for whom the ends were often better than the means; as exemplified in the building of the Panama Canal and the holding of the country until its independence. Diversity in the modern world is a buzzword or a quota, often not reflecting the true diversity it takes to accomplish tasks of some magnitude.

Their ethical perspective

Roosevelt was a known conservation activist and a progressive republican. In the words of Roosevelt, it is the president’s “duty to do anything that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws.” Under Roosevelt’s expansionist view, anything the president does is considered acceptable unless it is expressly forbidden by the Constitution or laws passed by Congress. Ethically, there is not much different from the other men of his day, aside from his application of a strenuous or rigorous lifestyle. Put simply, Roosevelt was a doer. He would not stand idle as he could oft not bear it. And his presidency reflected this. The only reason for much of his success is his overt willingness to roll up his sleeves and get to it. As he handled many things not typically overseen by the president himself.

Leadership effectiveness

Theodore Roosevelt though was an overall good man and a great politician. He was for honest government and he believed in a man’s character and morality. With all the individual has championed and accomplished, there is no doubt that Teddy Roosevelt was an exemplary transformational leader.

References

  1. Roosevelt, Theodore. The Rough Riders. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1899. LC Call Number: E725 .45 1st RI ; LCCN: 99-2686. https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/roosevelt.html
  2. Lussier, Robert N. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. South-Western College Pub. Kindle Edition.
  3. Theodore Roosevelt’s 20 Key Elements of Leadership. http://www.pnbhs.school.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Teddy-Roosevelt-20-Key-Elements-of-Leadership.pdf
  4. Kelley, Alison (2009). Theodore Roosevelt. Infobase Publishing https://books.google.com/books/about/Theodore_Roosevelt.html?id=b2d_n5SYFvYC
  5. “Theodore Roosevelt.” The White House, The United States Government, www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/theodore-roosevelt/.
  6. ‘U01: Teddy Roosevelt’s Legendary Leadership | PSY 532: Foundations of Leadership (Dobbs).’ Sites at Penn State – WordPress | Powered by WordPress, 11 Feb. 2017, sites.psu.edu/leaderfoundationsdobbs/2017/02/11/u01-teddy-roosevelts-legendary-leadership/.
  7. Editors, History.com. ‘Theodore Roosevelt.’ HISTORY, 13 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/theodore-roosevelt.
  8. ‘Presidents Roosevelt Awarded Posthumous J.D.s.’ Columbia Law School, www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2008/september2008/roosevelt_jds.
  9. ‘Theodore.’ S4U Languages – Brazilian Translation. Salvador and Sao Paulo. Ensino De Idiomas and Brazilian Portuguese Translations, www.s4ulanguages.com/theodore.html.

Essay on Ocean

Essay on Ocean

Abstract

This paper will discuss the effect of humans on the oceans and marine life that occupy 70 percent of the earth and maintain the balance in the environment. It will discuss ways that will mainly be about the change in the ocean which is negatively starting to affect marine life on a bigger scale. It also talks about the procedure our people have taken and should take to contribute to keeping the balance obtained.

Keywords: Ocean, water, pollution, marine animals, climate change.

Introduction

Marine life is the animals, plants, and other organisms that occupy the salt water of the ocean or sea. On a basic level, marine life is the main part of our environment that plays a huge role on planet earth. These organisms produce oxygen, shape our shores and protect them, and some even help in forming new land.

Marine life is much larger than we ought to think considering that our species occupy 10 percent of the earth. The oceans cover 70 percent of the earth and are the world’s largest ecosystem, oceans are among the most valuable natural resources. They protect and balance the weather, clean the air, help feed us, account for more than 97 percent of the water, and are home to 80 percent of the living organisms. Yet humans try wrecking this valuable source as foolishly as possible.

There are various ways to classify and investigate the inputs of pollution into the marine ecosystem. The inputs could be direct as directly throwing waste into the oceans, or indirectly, human’s way of living on earth is affecting the environment and creating a disturbance by polluting this will continue to affect the oceans. Earth is indeed created in a perfect way and life flows smoothly, any effect on the system may cause huge problems. We must not forget that if we lose the ocean we will lose our own lives. This is a battle of surviving or sinking.

Going Back to the Beginning

It is believed that comets and meteors containing water and gases that collided with Earth billions of years ago are the main contributors to creating the oceans and atmosphere. Our planet was bombarded by intense waves of meteorite bombardments which ended 3.9 billion years ago. 97 percent of earth’s water accumulated in ocean basins caused by the meteorite bombardments and the other about 3 percent formed thick ice sheets on what we now know as Greenland and Antarctica. A small fraction of what was left occurred in rivers, lakes, or mountain glaciers. [1]

As living organisms evolved and became more plentiful, they adjusted the composition of Earth’s atmosphere. For instance, photosynthesis by plants increased oxygen, making the evolution of animals possible.

Today, all living organisms are dependent on water. It is thought that life originated in the ocean, and today water makes up 60 to 70 percent of all living matter. We as humans are composed of two-thirds of water. Humans cannot live more than a week without consuming water. The birth of our ocean should be also known as the birth of an ocean and the start of life. When the earth was still a blob of lava about 4.5 billion years ago, steam came out from our earth, condensed, and started falling as rain. And with enough time, the ocean became what it is today. In Australia, stromatolites started developing in the ocean and they are the first living organisms known by scientists. [1] Anaerobic life was started through specific cells that, using what we know as the process of photosynthesis, produced oxygen. Oxygen became a crucial element in the development and survival of living organisms further on. More research shows that hydrothermal vents although providing incredibly impossible habitats proved to be collaborating with well-evolved living organisms such as bacteria, tube worms, and crabs. The role of oxygen is shown by explaining the main reasons for four of five mass extinctions when most living organisms became extinct due to insufficient and very low levels of oxygen in the oceans. Extinction is the fate of most living organisms, so how did few organisms survive the last major extinctions? The Nautilus is a creature that has survived some 500 million years. Is believed to have survived the last great extinction which was caused by a huge asteroid that struck the earth and evaporated the ocean’s waters and the living inhabitants of the ocean, however, the Nautilus went deep into the surface where it could survive that asteroid. [1]

State of Our Ocean

1. No Corner Left Clean:

In February 2008, an international team of scientists led by Dr. Benjamin Halpern of the NCEAS developed a system to explain the negative impact of humans on the oceans. Using a huge amount of statistics and data they combined 17 different human impacts on the oceans, including fishing, coastal development, pollution, and climate change.

They developed a map (below, courtesy of Ben Halpern/NCEAS) which shows that only 4 percent of our world’s oceans are untethered by human activity, global warming, and other pollutants that humans create. The other 96 percent is what we should refer to as sick it is possible that the oceans once were able to withhold our waste and neutralize it. But our impact is so huge that it is beyond being a possibility that the oceans can do right now. [2]

2. Survey of life:

The irony is that we haven’t discovered all the species in the oceans and every year we discover new ones. The study shows that the oceans are so huge that we still can’t imagine how many creatures we still didn’t discover.

It is also important to watch how we have been trading with the oceans for the past half-century, as humans we fish millions of marine animals as a source of nutrition and give the ocean millions of tons of waste and trash.

3. The most endangered places:

Our ocean can be divided into four sections each has its own role and helps humans and marine life to develop. However, it is important to note each is very sensitive to change and is valuable in its own way.

i. Reefs:

Coral Reefs are underwater structures created by the skeletons of corals which are very sensitive to change in general, any change in the water temperature, pH level, or disease will damage the reefs and cause bleaching. As we speak we are witnessing a huge bleaching event happening in the oceans and spanning from Hawaii to the Indian Ocean. The fear is due to the increase in water temperatures, will result in the death of more than 12,000 square kilometers of coral this year.[3]

ii. Coasts:

We live, swim, and build on the coasts of the oceans and seas, humans love to see the ocean and live near it. However, that means humans try to get rid of waste by throwing most of it near the coasts, fishing is also done near the coast which over time causes a mass extinction of a certain type of marine animals that used to inhabit these coasts. Also, the increase in water level due to the melting of the ice caps causes the coasts to literally vanish. [2]

iii. Continental shelves:

The continental shelves are open to all kinds of human activity. They are the source of 80 percent of marine animals fished by humans. They are also the core of water pollution, habitat degradation (such as the loss of seagrass beds, corals, and mangrove swamps), overfishing, biodiversity loss, and climate change effects.[2]

iv. Open ocean

The open ocean is so wide and so remote that it is weird to imagine human activities having much effect on this ocean that is far away from the coastlines. Yet fishing has taken a huge toll on populations of large hunted species such as tuna, sharks, and billfish. Global warming is also beginning to take its toll with the slow rise of nutrients that is so vital to the vast mass of plankton that fills the ocean’s upper layers and provides the basis for all other life in the open ocean. [2]

The Impact of Humans

We do not recognize what happens in the deep ocean due to the things we do on our lands. We live our lives ignoring the problems we create for the environment, but it is a known fact everything runs in harmony, changing one thing will affect the other. There are several kinds of pollution, air pollution is caused by factories, car emissions, mass farming, and other activities we do that emit carbon dioxide, this causes global warming which is melting our planet’s ice caps, melting causes ocean salty water to become less concentrated and this slight decrease in saltiness is causing marine organisms to die. Air pollution also causes a rise in ocean levels which according to scientists in Greenland has increased by 23 centimeters, the rise in water levels decreases the rate at which the ocean can soak up carbon dioxide, oceans are like ventilators and any change in them slows the process down. [7] Water pollution, a major contributor to damaging the oceans, is when we throw trash and plastic into the rivers, the rivers carry all that to the oceans. Some countries also throw the trash into the ocean directly using cargo ships. Marine animals are dying at an increasing rate, people find whales, turtles, and fish washed up on our shores dead and when dissected the dead animals scientists are shocked by finding plastic filled inside them, they die not because of consuming plastic only, but because of the toxic pollutants that poison them.[11] Our oceans are contaminated and the damage is already done, but this isn’t everything we most talk about, sound pollution wasn’t considered a damaging pollutant until 2004 found by Christopher Clark who is the director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University in New York. ‘As our world is vision, their world is sound,’ he says. [4] Marine animals communicate and warn each other with sound. However, manmade sounds invade the ocean and block communication, if a truck was passing by and two humans try to talk to each other while standing apart a distance of 20 meters they won’t hear each other, this is an example to understand the effect of sound pollution on whales who communicate at distances of over 100 kilometers. Ships create sounds categorized as lethal sounds. [9]

Getting on the right track

What can humans do to fix this problem? People should start by cleaning the ocean although it will take a lot of effort and time to do that, it is crucial to also stop throwing trash into the ocean. This won’t be enough since ice caps have already started melting and the climate has already changed, According to an ongoing temperature analysis conducted by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by about 0.8° Celsius (1.4° Fahrenheit) since 1880. Taking this step is a start to saving the planet, any minor step will be a major one in the future. marine life is and will always be an important resource that our lives depend on. Now people are creating organizations that are hoping to save the planet by saving the sea and ocean. The earth is a planet on the edge of no return humans need to stop for a moment and think of how to change their lifestyle. When talking about sound pollution humans have already started to solve the problem, many ships are now occupied with motors that don’t affect the marine life by spilling oil and creating loud noises, and communication methods previously used by humans under the sea have changed the frequency of transmission to a higher one that prevents blocking whales and other marine animals from communicating. Factories are banned to throw waste into rivers by governments but not all countries are following this initiative. The United Nations held an ocean conference in 2017 which sought to mobilize action for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas, and marine resources, participants included heads of State and Government, civil society representatives, business people, actors, academics, and scientists and ocean and marine life advocates from around 200 countries. Around 6,000 leaders gathered for the conference over the course of the week. Over 1,300 voluntary commitments have been made which UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Wu Hongbo called ‘truly impressive’ and stated that they now comprise ‘an ocean solution registry’ via the public online platform. 44 percent of the commitments came from governments, 19 percent from NGOs, 9 percent from UN entities, and 6 percent from the private sector. The conference ended with the adoption by consensus of a 14-point Call for Action by the 193 UN member states in which they affirmed their ‘strong commitment to conserve and sustainably use our oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. With this call, the Ocean Conference also sought to raise global awareness of ocean problems. [14],

In 2020 another Ocean Conference will be held by the UN to review these outcomes.

Reference list

  1. Lem, V. K. (2012, Jun 22). One ocean: Episode 1: Birth of an ocean. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 2: Footprints in the sand. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 3: Mysteries of the deep. (the nature of things series)/One ocean: Episode 4: The changing sea. (the nature of things series). CM: Canadian Review of Materials, 18, 1. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1023805845?accountid=158790
  2. State of Our Oceans | Ocean Leadership. (2016, June 29). Retrieved from https://oceanleadership.org/state-of-our-oceans/
  3. Mooney, C. (2015, Oct 09). Worldwide coral reef death underway; coral bleaching; dramatic loss blamed on global warming. Edmonton journals retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1720957384?accountid=158790
  4. Underwater Noise Pollution Harms Marine Life Publication info: Voice of America News /FIND; Washington, (Dec 15, 2008).
  5. Galloway, Gloria. Daily Townsman; Cranbrook, B.C. [Cranbrook, B.C]22 Feb 2001: 2.
  6. Osterlund, Peter. The Christian Science Monitor; Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]31 Aug 1983
  7. Science File; IN BRIEF; Warming Is Seen in Oceans’ Saltiness Publication info: Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]20 Dec 2003: A.31.
  8. Ecology, Environment & Conservation ; Atlanta [Atlanta]03 May 2019: 260.
  9. Underwater Noise Pollution Harms Marine Life Publication info: Voice of America News /FIND; Washington, (Dec 15, 2008).
  10. Lockwood, Deirdre. Chemical & Engineering News; Washington Vol. 91, Iss. 49, (Dec 9, 2013): 8.
  11. Mooney, Chris. Edmonton Journal; Edmonton, Alta. [Edmonton, Alta]09 Oct 2015: N.3.
  12. Ecology, Environment & Conservation ; Atlanta [Atlanta]26 Dec 2014: 607.
  13. Allsopp, Michelle, Adam Walters, David Santillo, and Paul Johnston (2014), ‘Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans – a UNEP Report.
  14. ‘The Ocean Conference | 5–9 June 2017’. United Nations. Retrieved 6 June 2017.