Transition Services for Special Education Students Essay Example for Free

Transition Services for Special Education Students Essay Abstract This study examined the issues on life-span transition services for special education students. By exploring the existing approaches to transition services and analyzing outcomes they provide for the disabled persons the study tried to find out the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches as well as to define the future trends able to enhance transition programs designed to increase the likelihood that the disabled person will be able to secure and maintain employment, function independently in the community, and ultimately become a satisfied and productive member of society. The results of the study demonstrated that to be successful transition services have to be transdisciplinary in nature. Besides, the use of collaborative teaming among professionals, agencies, the student, and family members, the use of the curriculum that focuses on the interactions between the student and his/her environments as well as the establishment and use of interagency linkages to facilitate the smooth transfer of support and training from the school to adult and community agencies when the student exits public schools are the most important components of successful life-span transition programs. A few decades ago the society faced disturbing outcome data of the students with disabilities (Repetto, 1995, p. 128) and fully realized that due to little concern given to vocational and transition programs for these students the latter experienced increased school dropout and unemployment rates as statistics showed. Those students have often graduated from the school lacking the skills essential to live or function autonomously in the community, and often failing to find and keep job (Levinson, 1998, p. 29). It is evident such state of things has been costly for both financial and personal considerations. On the one hand, the society was to provide social security for these persons, and on the other hand, the person himself was not satisfied with job career and own dependence. The necessity to change this state of affairs has led to growing concentration upon enhancing transition services for the persons with disabilities within the past one and a half decade. Three factors contributed to this process: adoption of federal legislation supporting and promoting transition services; availability of state, federal, and local funds invested in their development (Shapiro Rich, 1999, p.51); and a number of scientific and empirical studies on effective transition practices (Kohler Field, 2003, p. 174). The purpose of this study is to explore how life-span transition services can ensure smooth integration of the special needs students into the community and provide them with the skills sufficient for successful career development. Toward this end we will scrutinize prevailing approaches to transition services, discuss their advantages and shortcomings; analyze the components making transition programs implementation successful; and make the conclusions as to the ways of these programs improvement. Definition of Transition Services Transition services were defined in by the law as: A coordinated set of activities for a student, designed with an outcome-oriented process, which promotes movement from school to post-school activities, including post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation. The coordinated set of activities shall be based on the individual students needs, taking into account the students preferences and interests, and shall include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment, and other post-school adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation (P.L. 101-476, pp. 1103-1104). Thus, transition services, mandated by legislation, reflect the major performance areas that are typically addressed by transition services: work or education, independent living including activities of daily living, and community participation, which may include community mobility and transportation, access to community services and activities, recreation and leisure, and socialization and relationships. This definition distinctly implies that transition services should involve a diversity of school and community staff. It also assumes that they have to contain the parents of the children and the children themselves (Shapiro Rich, 1999, p. 132). Besides, the definition entails that a transition program is an outcome-oriented, well-planned and methodical process to be launched long before the student is graduating from school (Levinson, 1998, p. 2) to achieve its goals. Legislative Background of Transition Services As it was mentioned above one of the main factors promoting transition services prevalence was adoption of supporting federal legislation and availability of state, federal, and local funds invested in their development. Since the 1970s the United States Congress has passed several legislative acts that have directly affected the availability and use of transition services for the individuals with disabilities. Since the passage of Public Law 94-142, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (EHA), special education and related services have been made available through the public education system to the nations children and youth who have disabilities (Levinson, 1998, p. 27). The Rehabilitation Act, which was first introduced in 1973 and then rewritten in 1986 (Public Law 99-506), stipulates for provision of transition services to individuals with disabilities to (1) have greater control over their lives; (2) participate in home, school, and work environments; (3) interact with peers who do not have disabilities; and (4) otherwise do acts taken for granted by individuals without any known disability (Repetto, 1995, p. 127). The EHA and its subsequent amendments (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 1990, 1997) guaranteed the provision of transition services as required to provide free and appropriate education for all children with disabilities (Benz, Lindstrom Yovanoff, 2000, p. 509). An appropriate education is one in which children with disabilities acquire, to the maximum extent possible, the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that will ultimately help them function successfully as adults. After initial passage of the EHA, several major benefits were realized: Formal mechanisms were established to identify and bring children with disabilities into the public education process. Parents and guardians were identified as essential members of the educational team and were provided with legal rights related to their childs education. All identified children were provided with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) developed by an educational team that included the students parents or guardians (Shapiro Rich, 1999, p. 131). The 1997 amendments to IDEA continued to emphasize the use of transition services to enable the success of students with disabilities in their educational and school-to-career programs. These legislative acts have improved the access to transition services by children with disabilities (Levinson, 1998, p. 29). Moreover, through the Tech Act (Public Law 100-407), states have established resource centers and information systems for consumers of transition services. The goals of this legislation are to foster interagency cooperation, develop flexible and effective funding strategies, and promote access to transition services for individuals with disabilities throughout their life spans (Johnson et al., 2002, p. 520). The Goal of Transition Services – Life-Span Assistance for the Student’s Empowerment Such well-founded legislation on transition services paved the way for their wide spread implementation all over the nation, successful realization and continuous enhancement of the delivered services. From the definition of transition services it is clear they require â€Å"an outcome-oriented approach that looks at future vocational placements, residential options, funding sources, and community resources† (Nuehring Sitlington, 2003, p. 23). A number of studies examined the practical ways of applying this approach. In particular, Wehman Revell (1997) found the following: Transition for any student with a disability involves several key components, including: (1) an appropriate school program; (2) formalized plans involving parents and the entire array of community agencies that are responsible for providing services; and (3) multiple, quality options for gainful employment and meaningful post-school education and community living. (p. 67). All these components in combination are assigned to promote the smooth movement of young children with disabilities from a preschool program to a kindergarten class and into a school setting, and further the movement of young adults from one grade of the secondary school to the next and to post-school activities.   Thus, the special needs children may spend from 12 to 18 years getting the certain form of transition services (Spencer 2001, p. 893) which Donald Super in his theory of career development called â€Å"life-span and life-space transition† (Szymanski, 1994, p. 402). Many scholars agree that early childhood influences are the crucial determinants of later professional behavior (Turner Szymanski, 1990, p. 20). Reflecting this concept, IDEA 1997 while not requiring the local education agency to consider transition activities and sites for students with disabilities before the students 14th birthday, does require that services be provided earlier if the IEP team feels such is appropriate (Daugherty, 2001, p. 45). Therefore, families and educators should consider the child’s abilities, interests, and opportunities for community-based activities and kindergarten- or home-based special education while the child is in pre-school years and in elementary school. Doing so should help the child to develop skills and interests for maintaining that activity later in life (Levinson, 1998, p. 10). Research indicates that such early involvement of the child with special needs into transition programs improves and enhances self-concept, competence, and social skills of him/her (Szymanski, 1994, p. 403). The very important thing here is that professionals and families should recognize that families play an integral role especially in early year’s transition planning (Scott Baldwin, 2005, p. 173). The scholars suggested a number of guidelines for such planning: transition should be viewed within a larger context of community inclusion and participation; transition should be family- and individual-directed; families should be educated and empowered to acquire and assist in the creation of appropriate inclusive services and supports; transition should be embedded in elementary and secondary curriculum reform; the process required to create the Individualized Transition Plan (ITP) should not distract families; to achieve the most satisfactory result for their children, families should provide basic support to one another (Levinson, 1998, p. 3). As to the instruction the basic academic skills in reading, writing, and computation is usually emphasized at the elementary school level, but some elements of them are being taught as early as during pre-school years (Repetto, 1995, p. 125). When structuring instruction, educators sequence skills properly. Each skill is taught in sequence, and only when mastery of one skill is attained the next skill should be introduced. This is particularly important with skills that are dependent upon each other (Levinson, 1998, p. 91). Indeed, it may be difficult for some families to focus on post-school transition needs when their child is just in the kindergarten. If this is the case, professionals should take care not to overwhelm families with transition planning. Professionals should appropriately explain the importance of developing skills and interests in mental and physical activity while the child is young in order to maximize current and future involvement in various activities offered through the school and community. Such explanations, among other advantages, allow to prevent secondary disabilities, to help the child to socialize and get the necessary social skills as early as in childhood (Scott Baldwin, 2005, p. 174). Research proved that it is never too early to begin planning for transition to family- and community-based transition programs. Good planning always includes identification of the childs abilities and the childs and familys interests and goals for education considering their cultural beliefs and values. Such transition plan for the pre-school or elementary student remains flexible, because the childs abilities may change and/or the childs or familys interests and resources may change (Benz, Lindstrom Yovanoff, 2000, p. 512). General education and special education teachers are in the best position to encourage parents of pre-school and elementary school children to facilitate the transition planning. Studies show that children who are participants of transition programs from the early years have a better chance of becoming socially active, intelligent, competent and healthy adults (Carter Wehby 2003, p. 450). Moving from the kindergarten and elementary school to the secondary school implies the new challenges for the students of special education. Scholars defined what secondary transition practices are contributing to the future children retention and success when they enter high school and further get job. These are: direct, individualized tutoring and support to complete homework assignments, attend class, and stay focused on school; 2. participation in vocational education classes during the last 2 years of high school, especially classes that offer occupationally specific instruction; 3. participation in paid work experience in the community during the last 2 years of high school; 4. competence in functional academic [†¦] and transition [†¦] skills; 5. participation in a transition planning process that promotes self-determination; 6. direct assistance to understand and connect with resources related to post-school goals [†¦]; 7. graduation from high school. (Benz et al., 2004, p. 39). Such comprehensive list of factors evidently testifies that due to recent standards-based secondary school reform the requirements to academic performance raised substantially. Accepting this challenge special education teachers have worked hard to make sure that the special needs students are involved in these general reform efforts (Benz, Lindstrom Yovanoff, 2000, p. 511). They developed adoptive methods helping to ease the process of learning. For instance, when the student has difficulty in learning needed skills combined with incapacity to readily transfer or generalize learning to new environments or situations, they provide education in the actual environments that the student will be using, which allows for explicit teaching to the real-life demands of a particular environment and eliminates the need for the student to transfer skills (Spencer 2001, p. 884). At this all it is significant that emphasizing of an environmental curriculum on preparing the students of secondary school to functionate in main life domains (domestic, school, community, leisure, and vocational), efficient transition practices demand continuous assessment of the extent and quality of performance in each domain (Turner Szymanski, 1990, p. 22). Modern science in the sphere of special education developed several methodologies which allow achieving high academic performance by the secondary school students with disabilities. They include direct instruction, meta-cognitive reading comprehension strategies, peer-mediated instruction and interventions, and social skills training (Conderman Katsiyannis, 2002, p. 169). One of the important issues in secondary school transition services is inclusion of the students with disabilities in the general curriculum. Federal legislation gives the clear mandate for educating all children with disabilities in the regular classroom to the maximum extent appropriate or possible (Daugherty, 2001, p. 48). The inclusion of students who have disabilities in typical educational activities and environments is believed to promote student performance, offer rich opportunities for learning, provide age-appropriate role modeling, increase awareness among all students of diverse learning styles and abilities, and provide opportunities for relationship building that is so important especially during adolescent development (Scott Baldwin, 2005, p. 175). Age-appropriate placement does not mean that students with disabilities are simply placed in a typical class or at a community job site. Appropriate support services and resources that facilitate the students full inclusion and maximum participation in the environment must accompany these placements. Thus, IDEA recognizes that a students successful transition from school to adult life requires opportunities to learn and to practice skills in a variety of relevant school and non-school learning environments. These environments may include the classroom, school lunchroom, home, public transit bus, work site, community recreation facility, and a variety of other relevant settings (Daugherty, 2001, p. 49). But here a danger exists that content instruction could impede the goals of inclusion education. As more special needs students are included in general education curriculum, they often need supplementary assistance from the special education teacher to do class and home assignments, to review the learned material, and to prepare for the exams which sometimes is given by these teachers when their students pass the tests, for example. The pressure on special educators to provide academic progress of their wards could make more harm than good for them. Passing grades in school progress record sometimes do not mean quality of the student’s knowledge and skills (Conderman Katsiyannis, 2002, p. 170). Although the general education curriculum contains both academic (e.g., math, science) and nonacademic (e.g., career education, arts, citizenship) domains, student performance is assessed primarily in academics. As a result, it is not uncommon for portions of the general curriculum as well as transition goals to receive limited or no attention. There also may result a narrowing of curriculum and instruction to focus on content assessed in state or local tests. This may limit the range of program options for students due to intensified efforts to concentrate on areas of weakness identified by testing. Efforts must be undertaken to ensure that students with disabilities remain on a full curriculum track, with learning expectations that guide the instruction of general education students. IEP teams must work to ensure that high expectations are maintained and students are afforded opportunities to develop skills through a wide range of curriculum options, including vocational education, service learning, community work experience, and adult living skills (Repetto Correa, 1996, p. 553). The present challenge is to integrate the IDEA requirements concerning access to the general education curriculum with the transition service provisions. There is an urgent need to view these requirements as unified and complementary in helping students to achieve the broadest possible range of school and post-school goals and results. Strategies for accomplishing this include promoting high expectations for student achievement and learning, making appropriate use of assessment and instructional accommodations, and ensuring that students have access to the full range of secondary education curricula and programs (Benz et al., 2004, p. 41). Another important issue, especially concerning the students with mild disabilities, is availability of continuous instruction of basic skills within the curriculum at the middle school and high school levels. Those skills need to be taught within the context of real-life applications (Spencer 2001, p. 881). That is, in elementary school, students are taught to add, subtract etc. using worksheets and other materials but are rarely given the opportunity to apply those skills to balancing a checkbook or determining whether they have received the correct change during a purchase. Additionally, in elementary school little opportunity is provided to apply those skills to vocationally or occupationally relevant activities. Although to make a successful transition from high school to work, college, or community living, students need to possess basic academic skills in reading, writing, and computation, at both the middle school and high school level students need to be provided with continuing opportunities to practice those basic skills in real-life situations (Conderman Katsiyannis, 2002, p. 172). At the same time after the students with disabilities graduated from the school they are still eligible for the transition services. At this stage namely the student is a person who defines which areas are given emphasis. For instance, the student with learning disabilities planning to enter the college may not need to be provided with extensive vocational and occupational training in high school but may need to focus on the development of academic skills specific to admission to and success in college, and life skills specific to making a successful adjustment from high school to college. In contrast, the student with severe cognitive and physical disabilities may need to focus on vocational and occupational functioning and basic life skills necessary for independent living (Repetto, 1996, p. 553). Besides, several other factors have an effect on the design of the vocational syllabus. Local conditions often define the studens’ plans for the future such as urban or rural district, the peculiarities of local economy and labor market, the rate of employment, the personal traits of the student himself and the type of his/her disability, and indeed availability of transition services. The vocational syllabus has to be designed in such a way to prepare the students with disabilities for jobs in demand on local labor market, because as a rule such students do not leave their communities trying to find job (Levinson, 1998, p. 88). When we consider post-secondary transition services for the college-bound students it is important to pay attention to the differences between high school and college requirements, such as time spent in class, class size, time for study, testing approaches, grading methods, teaching strategies, and freedom and independence. They all pose additional challenges for students with disabilities who are making the transition from high school to college. Discussing those differences and assessing student practices are important for students survival and adaptation. When evaluating post-secondary options, the students need to assess the amount and type of learning disabilities support services they require to be successful (Shapiro Rich, 1999, p. 171). Assisting the students with special needs to cope with the new challenges most post-secondary educational settings have programs for such individuals that provide the necessary support for them. These institutions often have an Office for Students with Disabilities that employs counselors and tutors and that provides a wide array of services for all students with disabilities. For instance, structural accommodations such as ramps and elevators exist to accommodate students with physical disabilities. Large-print and Braille textbooks exist for students with visual impairments. Students with hearing impairments can be provided with prepared lecture notes (Levinson, 1998, p. 152). In addition, modifications in test-taking procedures, tutoring, and academic and personal counseling are available for the special needs students. Given the array of services available, post-secondary educational settings are now an appropriate option for many students with disabilities whose occupational aspirations require advanced formal education (Benz, Lindstrom Yovanoff, 2000, p. 513). Numerous methods are available to provide individuals with the additional post-secondary training they need in order to acquire the skills and credentials necessary for entry into their chosen occupations (Benz, Lindstrom Yovanoff, 2000, p. 510). In addition to the vocational training and work experience programs offered by most school districts, individuals with disabilities may gain additional training after high school via apprenticeship programs, the military, trade and technical schools, community colleges and junior colleges, and four-year colleges and universities. All offer programs that may be suitable post-secondary options for the students with disabilities (Johnson et al., 2002, p. 522). In general, the legislation includes the following in its description of post-school activities: post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, and community participation. Clearly, then, transition is meant to address not just employment needs, but future needs within the broader focus of life within the community (Repetto, 1995, p. 130). In any case, to the maximum extent possible, the individuals with disabilities should be placed in the least restrictive environment and in settings that facilitate the normalization process. Delivering transition services from high school to work-force, transition personnel should attempt to ensure that a full range of placement options exist for the individuals with whom they work. This often necessitates that transition personnel market individuals with disabilities to employers, neighbors, or admission personnel and conduct public relations campaigns on behalf of their clients. Because many people have unrealistic and faulty expectations and perceptions of individuals with disabilities, transition personnel also have to educate the public about disability issues and have to work hard to overcome the public resistance that so often accompanies the placement of those individuals in occupational, residential, and educational settings (Johnson et al., 2002, p.   520). Both scholars and special educators recognize the importance of specific career development skills to a students success in the workforce. Learning how to search for job openings, write a CV, establish and prepare for an interview, understand the relationship between employer and employee, and be knowledgeable as to the rights of workers are all important areas to address. Additionally, successful transition programs address work ethics, work habits, and motivation issues as well. For instance, the students with disabilities would greatly benefit from preparation regarding employers expectations in terms of work habits. For instance, they should learn the importance of taking responsibility for calling in if they were unable to be at work. Very often these major work habits and ethics are missing from the students skills. Besides, students with disabilities are excessively sheltered and are often not compelled to take responsibility for their own actions while responsibility is crucial for getting and keeping employment (Nuehring Sitlington, 2003, p. 28). Conclusion In summary, the study showed that the transition process is in fact a part of the broader process of career development. Moreover, transition is about societal empowerment not only of the individuals with disabilities, but of all of us. Our communities and our society will be enriched and empowered when all citizens, including those with disabilities, are valued and seen as contributing members. The challenge of transition professionals is to facilitate that empowerment through appropriate transition services that empower individuals and their families and through the actions as community catalysts who work in a respectful partnership with people with disabilities. The conducted study clearly demonstrated the concept of transition-focused education represents a shift from disability-focused, deficit-driven programs to an education and service-delivery approach based on abilities, options, and self-determination. This approach incorporates quality-of-life issues, life span and life space considerations, and suggestions for seamless transition approaches together with the key elements – outcome-oriented, community-based, student-centered, and family-centered transition services. At the same time the study proved that there is no one fitting all transition planning strategy able to effectively prepare students with disabilities who all have unique needs for successful, fulfilling adult roles. Only through continued attention to establishing effective transition services flexible enough to meet individual student needs, the society can arm students with information and opportunities on which they can build their futures. Thus, the society has to bend every effort to ensure that students with disabilities fully access and benefit from the general education curriculum, and leave our school systems prepared to successfully participate in post-secondary education, enter meaningful employment, live independently in communities, and pursue lifelong learning opportunities.       References Benz, M. R., Lindstrom, L., Yovanoff, P. (2000). Improving Graduation and Employment Outcomes of Students with Disabilities: Predictive Factors and Student Perspectives. Exceptional Children, 66, 509-516. Benz , M. R., Lindstrom, L., Unruh, D., Waintrup, M. (2004). Sustaining Secondary Transition Programs in Local Schools. Remedial and Special Education, 25, 39-44. Carter, E. W., Wehby, J. H. (2003). Job Performance of Transition-Age Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Exceptional Children, 69, 449-458. Conderman, G., Katsiyannis, A. (2002). Instructional Issues and Practices in Secondary Special Education. Remedial and Special Education, 23, 169-176. Daugherty, R. F. (2001). Special Education: A Summary of Legal Requirements, Terms, and Trends. Westport, CT: Bergin Garvey. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101-476). 20 U.S.C., 1400. Johnson, D. R., Stodden, R. A., Emanuel, E. J., Luecking, R., Mack, M. (2002). Current Challenges Facing Secondary Education and Transition Services: What Research Tells US. Exceptional Children, 68, 519-527. Kohler, P. D., Field, S. (2003). Transition-Focused Education: Foundation for the Future. Journal of Special Education, 37, 174-186. Levinson, E. M. (1998). Transition: Facilitating the Post-School Adjustment of Students with Disabilities. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Place of Publication:. Publication Year:. Nuehring, M. L., Sitlington, P. L. (2003). Transition as a Vehicle: Moving from High School to an Adult Vocational Service Provider. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 14, 23-34. Repetto, J. B. (1995). Curriculum Beyond School Walls: Implications of Transition Education. Peabody Journal of Education, 70, 125-140. Repetto, J. B., Correa, V. I. (1996). Expanding Views on Transition. Exceptional Children, 62, 551-557. Scott, J., Baldwin, W. L. (2005). The Challenge of Early Intensive Intervention. In   D. Zager (Ed.), Autism Spectrum Disorders: Identification, Education, and Treatment (pp. 173-228). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Shapiro, J., Rich, R. (1999). Facing Learning Disabilities in the Adult Years. New York: Oxford University Press. Spencer, K. C. (2001). Transition Services: From School to Adult Life. In J. Case-Smith (Ed.),   Occupational Therapy for Children (pp. 878-894). St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Szymanski, E. M. (1994). Transition: Life-Span and Life-Space Considerations for Empowerment. Exceptional Children, 60, 402-407. Turner, K. D., Szymanski, E. M. (1990). Work Adjustment of People with Congenital Disabilities: A Longitudinal Perspective from Birth to Adulthood. The Journal of Rehabilitation,   56.3, 19-26. Wehman, P., Revell, W. G. (1997). Transition into Supported Employment for Young Adults with Severe Disabilities: Current Practices and Future Directions. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 8, 65-74.

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Nokia

SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Nokia Introduction: Nokia is the one of the big giant in the world. It is leading the market 1992. In very beginning Nokia century start with Fredrik Idestams paper mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta River. From 1865 to 1967, the company would become a major industrial power; but it merge with a cable company and a rubber firm to start the new Nokia Corporation to path of electronics. The newly establish Nokia Corporation was ideally placed for a leading role in the early development of mobile communications. As European telecommunications markets were easy to access and mobile networks became universal, Nokia lead the way with some legend products. In 1992, Nokia determined to go ahead with telecommunications business. This was possibly the most vital strategic decision in its history. As acceptance of the GSM pattern grew, new CEO Jorma Ollila makes Nokia the leader of the mobile telephone industry worldwide. Nokias keep continues involvement with 3G, mobile multiplayer gaming, multimedia devices an d also look ahead for the future. Nokia sells its billionth mobile phone as the third generation of mobile technology emerges. Even the though Nokia main business is producing and sell mobile phone. In addition, it got Navteq section, which produce sat nav .it also sell networking technology, call Nokia Simence network. Nokia sell their networking technology to countries. However, Nokia is not only player in the market, there are many companies, particularly the main competitors are Apple , Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola, HTC etc. in the these competitor Apple is the main rival . This report is on the base of UK mobile market. Here we are going to illustrate about Nokia and its closest competitor Apple. SWOT and PESTEL analysis SWOT stand for strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. (See appendices 2) Here strength and weakness is measured as internal factors. Opportunity and threat is external factors. The work of Kenneth Andrews (1971, p47)  [i]  has been especially influential in popularizing the idea that good strategy means ensuring a fit between the external situations a firm faces (Threats and opportunities) and its own internal qualities or characteristics (strengths and weaknesses).Manufacturing strategy can be seen as reflecting this idea of fit in functional terms. Those two factors can come from any environment elements which include PESTEL. PESTEL indicate macro environment or external factors. PESTEL means political, economical, societal, technological, ecological and legal. PESTEL analysis briefly describe about external factor. In this section the SWOT and PSTEL analysis will done to show Nokias competitive position against Apple. First of all Nokia has a strong brand name all over UK, which giving them the dominating power over other brand. Secondly it got wide range of product to target loots of segments in the market. However Apple got strong image in people mind and replacing the Nokia eventually. But it got a weakness of having only one model for serve all type of customer. Nokia phone is very user friendly then other phone. On the other hand App le phone is pretty much technical oriented, which find bit complicated. In terms of distribution channel Nokia got an extended distribution channel than any other brand, where Apple got less distribution channel compare to Nokia. After sell service is superior in Apple then Nokia. In terms of product Apple product are more robust then Nokia. Nokia got strong financial background which help to do innovation and change the model very frequent. There is lots discussion going on about green house effect. Nokia has responded to this situation positively. Nokia is now continuously developing their product, which is environment friendly. The devices shown here introduce eco innovations, and solutions for a greener lifestyle, this practice is will implement more widely in future. They using energy efficient technology in the device and production, they using 100% recyclable bag and device recycle option. Very remarkable change is elimination of user manual and providing that in the device. According to the corresponded of Nokia corporation Petteri Alinikula, Nokia has reduce its power consuming by 65%, which is about one third of the total use, by using recyclable materials and new efficient way of production. And Nokia has become eco friendly company. Nokia phone price is higher than other which is one of their weaknesses. Its got long time waiting in service, which make longer downtime. In contrast Apple got very low service time which gives them some differentiation over their competitor, to compete with other rival brand. Nokia got some highly technical model, which come out with slower performance and not user friendly. Nokia still got very wide market and it market all over the world, which gives them more scope to target more segments then their competitor. Because they got bigger market share they easily reduce price and get competitive advantage. At the same time Apple got little market in worldwide, but it has the opportunity to have big global market, which able to get more economy of scale and also more profitability. telecommunication market is growing rapidly global , which one the door of huge opportunity of future profitability, through excessive communication and aggressive advertising Nokia can still get the highest position in the market. For Apple it is a great threat as it does not doing aggressive marketing. The emerging threat for Nokia is fast goring mobile companies in all over the world ,it also a big threat for all other competitor like Apple ,Samsung ,Blackberry etc. there is a sharp trend of technological development ,which bring a big challenge for these two competitors ,one example is that Nokia and Apple is doing very good on 3G network, but the world going so first and now dealing with 4G technology like wimax. Instead of Apple and Nokia all other company like Motorola, Samsung and Dell are already start making 4G compatible phone. This could affect on current market share. At the moment Nokia do not face any political issue in UK. In addition their mother company is from Europe, they should have some advantage in terms of business and tax. But they might face political complication as they out sources their production .Government may force Nokia stop doing of shoring, which will increase the cost and reduce profitability. Nonetheless they also can face obligation form other c ountries, where they outsources from. Nokia need to react on situation change and have some contingency plan. In addition Mobile phone increases crime. Due to mobile phone they crime is easier to occur. The country like UK has facing crime like mobile scam and fraud. To face these problem Nokia making the devices more secure, by providing GPS. Nokia has also come along with fare trade production, as they introduce scheme to save wild life, called SOS (Save Our Species). They also providing in education by mobile devices .they also providing education in undeveloped countries in coordination with UNESCO. In the project call Education for all goals. Economy is changing so rapidly, it is because of high tech, globalization. Which influence people buying power. All the companies need to reduce their price and promotion and also need to re -segment to cope with the change. Especially in UK market has currency fluctuation rate is very high then other Europian market. There is big issue in pricing; moreover due to recent recession in UK people buyer has reduced. Which was hamper the total sells of mobile industry? However, as the world economy is moving towards virtual economy, like ecommerce, E-business, take marketing, distance learning, tele medicine and e-governess that open a wide path for the whole mobile industry in the world. These increase scope of new market and revenue. Legal is quite hard to face mobile company. But still phone companies are penalize due to legal issue. For instance Nokia has accused Apple for violating copy right low. Which influence the bad publicity and also need to compensate a huge amount of money. Marketing strategy Marketing strategy deal with the issue like what should happen, how to should happened and when and who will responsible for that.  [ii]  Marketing strategy is mainly combined 4ps, product price and places. It mainly start with the product .product is the core element of any product. Business organizations have increasingly recognized the value of placing a broad definition on their products, one that emphasizes the basic customer need (s) being served. PHILIP KOTLER (1969, p.13).  [iii]  So the product is what people aspect from any product. For mobile, the need is the communication. However, According to Kotler (1969) Diagram (see appendices 3) there are three level of product. The core of the product is the benefit which is the communication. Actual product is brand name with Nokia future is SMS, MMS, and WAP. Style is unique model and attractive packaging and the quality is the less downtime then others substitute product. Augmented product is warranty, customer service, distribution channel (Orange, Voda phone, O2 in UK). By this illustration we see that mobile phone is not only physical product its a product service bundle. Figure 1 Service We can see it more clearly in figure 1.as our product is a combination of product and service. The physical product is visible and the service, which is not visible. As service include the customer service, warranty, call quality. So To insure customer satisfaction Nokia not only need to confirm is product quality in durability. But also its before and after sell service. This will also add value to their customer. Then the product enforces the pricing strategy. The pricing strategy depend on two different factors external and internal .In the case of Nokia the external factor is the competitor cost, price and offer and internal factors are mainly on marketing objective like Nokia believe in mass customization. To satisfy all segment needs it got premium pricing product ( smart phone ,multimedia phone ) to low price phone (basic use phone ). Their price all so very in depend on model association and colour, they charge more for the best selling colour then other colour. For example Nokia charge high price for Nokia N95 black model then other colour. This indicate the do consider market demand and price elasticity. It is also clear the Nokia is concern about market penetration, which helps to have gained their corporate strategy. However Apple is a premium brands their attempted not to become cost leader, they like to take skimming pricing and premium price strategy. They are trend to start with high price and eventually they reduce the price. Apple use price elasticity to maintain the price to match the demand .They also reduces the price of slow moving product. Moreover Apple product shows prestige of the users, so people is buys not only product, but also prestige. So it is clear that Apple is the differentiator. As differentiator Apple should have unique selling proposition, which will influence customer to switch the brand. This reinforcing customer image towards the brand and give them fell that they are getting more for their money By having short time low price Apple stimulating short time volume, when the market demand is less. On the other hand having low price help Apple to compete with their competitor and replacing customer brand loyalty. However Nokia got the different price strategy and different product rage. Nokia products are divided in three section devices manufacturing and networking. In device section Nokia mainly do mobile phone but they also do notebook pc, tablet and mobile accessories. Navteq is another section of product, where they sell sat nav and Nokia Semence network, which they joint venture with Siemens and establish network for mobile operator. However, their main competitor Apple doses more products beside mobile phone. It has portable computer, server, accessories, Wi-Fi base station, mp3 player, online TV, peripheral products like video camera, printer. After the price the place need to select. Nokia has it market all over the world. Their main region is Europe, Asia pacific, Middle East, Africa, America, Hongkong, China, and Taiwan. Among those countries Nokia got strong base in European and Asia pacific market. In America they are dominated by Apple, as Apple is an American company. Apples headquarter located in California. Moreover Apple got retail store in three major counties, it got 200 stores in US, UK, and Canada. Apple recently moves to China. By moving to china they got two benefits, low cost out sourcing and huge local market. After the place nest thing come is the people involved in the business. If want to say about people, we need to say about the customer service, which they got all over the Europe and US. Nokia got service centres in every city to stay close to their customer. It has international warranty for its all types of phone no matter where it was bought form. Even thought they got long repair time, but they provide free device repair and certain level of free parts if necessary. Apple got highly trained professional to provide better service. And from front desk to highly technical professional Apple put the right people to right place. Apple is very popular for providing better after sell service. Apple customer service is accessible for all customers near and far, as they provide service in so many ways, phone, video conferencing and web support. In some area where the repair takes long time, Apple provides direct replacement .which give mare value to their service. After the service next thing come out is physical existence. Nokia got customise website for all different region. In their websites they provide device information, price and also the technological solution. In addition they got call centre support in local area wise. Nokia got showroom in every cities. However, Apple web site is www.apple.com. Which allow people to navigate to more customise websites, base on their location. Apple logo, the half eaten rainbow apple represent the Sir Isaac Newton memorable apple, which let people remember their brand easily. Apple got showroom in every big city, which verdict their existence. In addition Apple use different relationship event like Mac World Expo, advertising through different channel to communicate to different customer type. And they convert new customer to loyal customer by providing high quality customer service. Apple also increasing their distribution channel by adding Wall Mart in US and add mobile operator Orange, Tesco, Voda phone as new distribution channel in UK. On the other hand Nokia got distinctive quality then Apple product, Nokia phone are compatible for any network. It has user friendly operating system. It is famous for uses and its model is quite durable in the market. To see this we can analysis product life cycl e of Nokia. Product life cycle Product life cycle is the graph, shows product from introductory to decline stage of product and also explain the measure to control that situation. (See appendices 4) To analysis of product cycle, we use Nokia N95 model and US as a place. We chose US because in the introductory stage Nokia struggle to introduce their third generation phone in US .First N95 was introduce in March 2007,on the time it was on introductory level it got very low sell, so that they start selling it in discounted price in America in Sep 2007. Then it develops the hardware and start selling it in Europe and Asia, which was version N95-2. Later on when they upgrade to version 3, they start selling it in US through ATT. Then they enjoy the steady selling in US market until the new competitor Apple come with new generation Iphon. On their decline stage Nokia increase their promotion and then decided to give free internet with their smart phone including their N95 to compete with Iphone. But still the sell was g oing down. After that they decide to completely change the model and introduce N96. This helps them to keep their market share. However, to find out how good market base they got, we can look in to market share analysis Market share analysis Market share is percentage of selling unit of total unit sell in whole industry by all companies. To analysis the market share we are looking at the smart phones market share worldwide in 2009. Recent research (GSM Dome, Feb2010) shows that Apples iPhone doubled its global smart phone market share to 14.4%, increase 6.2% from 2008, while Nokias Symbian phone keeps their first place in this section. Nokias market share reduce by 5.5 point, while RIM and its Blackberries come second, with a 3.3 point increase in market share, getting a 19.9% share. In the States, BlackBerry and Apple have dominated market share than Symbian and as far as mobile use for communication, Apple and Android got the segment, with 81% market share. In addition, Android phone sales enlarged by 3.4 points, up to 3.9%, but still Android following Windows Mobile and Linux. The first platform had its market share drop 3.1 points, while Linux saw a cut of 2.9%. Palms WebOS have market share of 0.7%. The same research shows that 172 million smart phones were sold in 2009, 24% more then 2008. The iPhone stood for 2% of all mobile phone sales last year.  [iv]  (See appendices 5). In addition, according to Timo Ihamuotila, chief financial officer of Nokia Oyj (2010), their market share in 2010 will decries on 3%,(see table 1). At the same time their profitability has increase. Now Nokia is mere concern for their product price, as their ASP (average selling price) is going up. They also develop the experience of better and unique operating system for all their devices. This will make them differentiator. So finally Nokia is moving from mass customising to differentiator.  [v]  After looking the worldwide market share, let see how Nokia positioning in UK market. Positioning Positioning is depending on customer view toward to the product and the price. In this comparison we choose smart phone of different companies. We compare them by price and quality (matured by ranking 1-5) to show how dose defffernt brand giving the best value for their customers. To drow the posotioneing map we collect the the data from three different web site Nokia, Apple and carephone wearhouse web site. (See appendices 6) Positioning map By compering these we can see that Apple got hihgst quality in the market and Motorola got the lowest. If we see Nokia it is just after Apple and before Blackberry. Which show a nagivite impact on Nokia but if we see the prise, Nokia is giving the best value of price compare to their competitors. So there is a high possibility for Nokia to oprovide high quality in smart price, which will give them another competitive edge. Boston consulting The acronym of BCG is Boston Consulting Group, which general management is consulting from, famous business strategy consulting. From late 1970s BCG Growth-Share Matrix widely accepted and start taught in educational institutions. (See appendices 7) The choice of the product life cycle and market share as the two contingent variables has an added attraction. When combined, they form the framework for the BCGs product portfolio matrix (Henderson, 1979, p513).  [vi]  This administration tool has four different segments, including Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs. According to BCG growth share matrix Nokia is in cash cow position. Nokia has the profitability. They are the market leader, with a low growth market share. As cash cow Nokia should fund for their own growths. They pay the corporate  dividends. They pay the corporate overhead. Nokia had exactly same position until the new player Apple Marge in the market. This new competitor could Nokia to lose their profitability and slower their market acquisition .which will eventually repeals Nokia from their position. As a consequence Nokia share price is going down. See However apple is in stars position. They are the market leader in high growth markets. They tend to generate higher amount of revinue, but have to utilize certain amount of cash due to growth of market conditions. For example, Apple is reducing their Iphone price in UK to quickly penetrate the market. Ansoff matrix The  Ansof matrix  presents the product and market choices available to an  organisation. Where it indicate to penetrate new market, product development, movie to new market and product diversification. (See appendices 8) According to Ansof Matrix (Ansoff, 1957) Market penetration starts, when any organization tries to penetrate existing market with current product. Companies use this strategy to increase the sell without changing product-market strategy. If we discuss about Nokia N95, It was first intro introduce in US in April 2007, Nokia N95 was sold in flagship store in discounted price. Then august 2007 Nokia N95 version 2 come out and start selling it in normal price in America. This is clearly defining that Nokia use the Ansof matrix to penetrate the US market. Another strategy is product development .which means new innovation or new product design. Normally it uses to utilize the spare capacity, make harder environment for competitor, reputation of RD and acquiring new technology. For example N8 is a new innovation of Nokia, which let them to have their market, keeping the brand image and also keep them competitive against their competitor. Financial analysis Gross margin,  gross profit margin  or  gross profit rate  is the amount of sells revenue after production cost. It is excluding  overhead,  payroll,  taxation, and  interest  payments. It expresses the relationship between  gross profit  and sales  revenue. It is a measure of how well each dollar of a companys revenue is utilized to cover the costs of goods sold.  [vii]  In the financial analysis part we are going to analyse the EUROPE base, as there is no individual financial data on UK. In appendices 9 one we can see the gross profit margin has been reduce 1.474% in year 2009 compare to year 2007, which should affect the profitibily. Profit margin,  net margin,  net profit margin  or  net profit ratio  all refer to a measure of  profitability. It is calculated by finding the  net profit  as a percentage of the  revenue.  [viii]   Profit margin is an indicator of a companys pricing strategies and how well it controls costs. Differences in competitive strategy and product mix cause the profit margin to vary among different companies.  [ix]   But if few see the net profit margin in appendices 10, it seems that the net profit margin has gone down more compare to gross profit. The amount reduces to 12.578%, which is a huge loose in Nokias profitability. This could be due to the fluctuation of currency and recession. The  current ratio  is a  financial ratio  that measures the company capacity to pay its liability over the next year. It compares a firms  current assets with its  current liabilities. The current ratio is an indicator of company capability to meet creditors demand. If companys current ratio is in their acceptable range, then it is generally considered to have positive short-term financial strength. Nokia got current ratio 1.55 (see appendices 11)which is not so much appricited, still it is not bad as it got long term future plan. Those will incrise the ratio. For example in Nokia Simence network need a high investment and it takes long time to get the profit. This could be the reason of having less assets then the liability. The acid-test ratio is far clearer than the operational capital ratio, mainly because the operational capital ratio allows for the inclusion of inventory assets. Companies having ratios  of less than 1 cannot afford their current liabilities and should be looked at with extreme concern. Furthermore, if the acid-test ratio is much lower than the operational capital ratio, it means current assets are highly dependent on stock. Retail stores are examples of this type of  business. In the case of Nokia, it has ration which has less than 1(see appendices 12); it means that Nokia do not have enough cash to meet is current short time liability.   Return on invested capital  (ROIC) is a financial measurement which indicate that efficiency a company maintaining cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. When the return on capital is greater than the  cost of capital  (usually measured as the  weighted average cost of capital), the company is creating value; when it is less than the cost of capital, and value is destroyed. According to appendices 13, in 2007 Nokia got return of investment of 42.87%, which was very good to for any company. However 2008 it was reduced to 25.828% in the next year which was still good but not favourable as before. Finally in 2009 it reduces to 5.825%, which create very complicated situation. This is affecting company share holder income, which led to reduce the share price. Recommendation As Nokia got very tight competition, Nokia need to be very careful for choosing any strategy. Nokia is responding with the environment, which is appreciable. But Nokia still need to quicker in responding technological change, as technology is changing more rapidly than anything else. Again Nokia has increase ASP (average selling price), which will increase the profitability unite wise but might not going to much effective. Because if the total selling amount get decline ,only having extra revenue gathered by ASP will not able to make up the total profit. We believe that Nokia might need to rethink about their marketing mix. Consumer is very careful what are they getting. So Nokia need to very much careful about the performance of their product. Especially, their operating system needs to speed up. Nokia also need to speed up their after sell service. Those all Nokia can do to reinforce their market .However, if look at the financial analysis. We can see a huge change in their profita bly. There is a sharp decline in Nokia profit margin, more than 12% in last three years. This indicates step reduction of the sell. This will affect the share price and de motivate stake holder to invest in Nokia. Then analysis the current ratio Acid test ratio, we see that Nokia do not have enough assets to pay its liability. As it is less than one. But still there is hope as Nokia is investing in Nokia Simence network, which need high investment in initial time and it takes time to get the profit. Finally comparing both the opportunity and current wealth of Nokia we suggest Nokia to diversify from to mobile business, as it in high risk of having less market share then before and high price device. This will reduce potential buyer for higher price. In the same time by looking the opportunity of new extension of Navteq and Nokia Siemens network, the reasone for referring these two sections is, they got high level of possibelity. If we see current market they are only few competitors in sat nav industry. There are is very high prospective market base in UK and Europe. Another plus point for Nokia is they know these markets very well and they already got existing distribution channel. So they is high possible of new market .moreover they can continue built network for different operator. As they are joint venture with Siemens, which give the both company more financial and technological strength. So we suggest continuing investment in these two sections and eliminating the mobile section to stop draining the capital.

Critical evaluation of leadership theories

Critical evaluation of leadership theories Leadership is process in which a leader givers the resolution to his followers and ask them to take actions beside him. Leaders have some capabilities to tackle with some issue and problems and he who take the initiative called a leader and when people follows him, then it come out as a leadership. Leader is person who has some born qualities and all of his followers like and appreciate him because of his leadership qualities. Leader is person who learns, who is enough energize and acts in such a way those people respects him and follows him, and he develop himself in such way that become empower with authorities and recognize achievements. Leaders have some born qualities and these qualities assured him to be a leader and lead a team. Some of his skills are born, but some of them he adopts from the day life and from past experiences. According to Mitchell (2008) Leadership has been seen as the focus of group processes, as the personality attribute, as art of inducing compliance, as an exercise of influence, as a particular kind of act, as a form of persuasion, as power relation, as an instrument in the attainment of the goals, as an effective of interaction, as a differentiated role and as the initiation of structure. According to Bernard M. Bass (2006) An interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectation of the members. Effective leadership always tries to achieve the goals of the organizations smartly, and completion of all jobs is guaranteed by effective leadership. Leadership has a classical history and now this is a modern way of directing the organizations and management of these organizations. Leader is person who motives these followers and become a famous person because of his leadership qualities, leader is figure of any organizations how meets with other people and directs them as a figure head. Leader is person who manages the managers; in fact leaders have some attributes of managers in his leadership so leaders are someone who directs the managers. In big organizations leaders move around international in multinational companies and on small level leaders are meant to be as figure head. Ingredients of leadership: Leaders must have the following ingredients within them (Kondalkar 2009). Ability to use power effectively A born leader inherit power and he knows how to use it, he also know the legitimate way of using this power, by this is become successful to achieve expert power, referent power, reward and coercive power . This ability makes him authoritative. Ability to comprehend People of civilization have different mood and behaviors and these mood and behaviors changes with time, to understand these natures is a tough task, but one successful leader must have this comprehended ingredient in him. This ability to comprehend his followers gives him more respect among his flowers and they start believing him more because leader is more into their personal lives to understand their expectations. Ability to inspire Followers always tries to perform according to their leader and they get inspire from him, he is does is always in the notice of his followers. People get inspire by the devotion, charismatic personality and his appeal in the favor of their willing. Leadership style In the leadership style firstly, leader must be devoted to his passion to lead his people and secondly he must create the sense of motivation among his followers. He must develop a way where he can influence his followers for the effective and efficient performance. He should indentify what leadership traits must be there in the personality of a leader and how to use these leadership abilities and skills. If we talk about the leadership style then it is most important to talk about the skills these leaders have. Mainly these skills are categories into three main parts that are useable in different levels and situations (Kondalkar 2009). Human skills One leader must be human to his followers, this skills is concerned with interpersonal relations with his subordinated and all the other persons who are in relation with leader. A leader influences, motivates and ask his followers to be obedient on all his rational sayings. Conceptual skills This skill revolves around the strategic and authoritative level; this kinds ability is useful in taking long term and in strategic planning. As all followers considers the leader an influential personal so they all thinks him reliable to believe on. Technical skills A leader must be sound good in technical skills, by this the subordinates have trust that their leaders knows all and can take out them from any technical fault happens in organization. Leadership styles and theories: Followings are different types of leadership styles which are actually implementation of classical and modern leadership theories. Great man To answer the question what is the difference between leadership and in an individual? Great man theory came up. This theory gives foundation to all theories. The foundation or the critical point of this theory was all leaders are great man and all of them come from a nobel and social background, all these great man are good planner, coordinators, achievers, organizers and controllers. After Great Man theory philosopher tried to joint some traits to leadership theories. So, as a result trait theory came up. Trait Theory Trait theory is basically come from the foundation of Great man theory. In great man theory it has been discussed that all the leaders have some born qualities and in trait theory philosophers tries to identify those qualities and skills (Stogdill, 1974). These skills are the main objective of this theory. It says that leader and some traits and skills with them. Every theory have some assumption with it, traits theory have following assumptions associated with it; it says that it is assumed that leaders are born with inherit traits, these traits are part of their own personalities and which distinguish them from others, the good leaders adopt some of traits and skills by the time they become leaders. Autocratic Leadership style: In these style leaders uses downwards communication style from leaders to subordinates. This style is applicable when there is quick decision is required and large number of un-skills employees are there. In this style suggestions from employees are not being entertained (Lewin 1939). Participative Leadership Style: This is democratize kind of style, here leaders involves their followers in to the decision making process and all the decision taken by the leaders are participative by their followers. A leader motivates his employees to take decisions and he entertains their suggestions. This style encourages employees to work with more efforts. Free rein style Leadership Style: In the style leader allows his teams to take decisions at their own and work freely. It gives the sense of responsibility and authority to the teams and they feel good to work at their own. Management Grid Management grid has two directions: Management have concern of people, and Management concern of production All together it contributes 81 different leadership styles. Following graph entails this model. picture_blake_mouton_managerial_grid.gif Five main leadership styles indentified by gird are: Improvised management Style: They put less effort but tries to get work done. This is sort of lazy approach. Country Club management Style: Here the management tries to help the employees to get their job done, management want that all the organizational objectives must meet so they care about the employees. Middle of the Road Style Organization-Man Management: There is balance in between the efforts and people at work. Here labors or the staffs dont put much effort to get the job done but still they can put more efforts. Produce or perish Style Authority-Obedience Management : In the style of management there is a strong focus on task, but not much concern about the people at work and firing (wherever possible) of people is also part of this style. Team Style Team Management: Here people are committed to work as teams (Blake Mouton, 1964) citied by Alan Bryman, A. (1986). Contingency approach to leadership: It says that no leadership style is appropriate in all kind of situations. They need to change their selves from time to time and situation tot situation. It depends upon the different variable to take the responsibilities and to change their behaviors. According to Martin, B. (2006) Any situation plays a large part in determining qualities and the leader in situation and the leadership qualities and the product of previous leadership situation that molded individual. Path-Goal theory: This theory accompanies contingency and situational leadership theory but in path-Goal theory has some different variables which are important in leadership. Path-Goal theory can be defined as this is all about leaders who motivate their followers to accomplish the goals and tasks asked them to complete (Rowe, W. Guerrero, L. 2010). Subordinates Obstacles In the path goal leadership, a leader makes it possible to motivate followers to accomplish the task and ask their followers to walk through these defined paths to achieve goals and objectives. Leader thinks to clarify the goals and task so that a followers easily get their defined goals. Path-Goal theory can be elaborated through flowering diagram. Goal / Productivity Path Path Path-Goal Leadership Defines Goals Clarify paths Removes obstacles Provide support Charismatic leadership: According to Walden, M. Thoms, P. (2007) Charismatic Leadership describes a style of leadership that is inspiring and stimulating. These leaders attract and influence their follower by their charm and personality. Some of assumptions are associated with charismatic leadership that is as follows: They have charm and grace in their personalities that influences followers. They are confidence and have belief on their selves. Charismatic leader makes their group of people and make them prominent and different from other group of people and they stick to these groups and become leaders of that group. Transactional Theory and Transformational Theory Bass (2006) says that transformational leaders always influence their followers and get respect and admiration. There are few assumptions of this theory: People must aware of the responsibilities and importance of the work. They must work in teams to enhance productivity. Ruth Chambers. R, (2007) Transactional leadership concerns maintenance and monitoring of a pre-existing service, having an operational rather than a strategic focus. There are few assumptions if transactional theories are: Teams must be motivated through rewards and punishments. One should have social relationships to have great command. Their sole purpose must be that they work what they have asked to do. Part Two: Determine leadership approaches relevant for the 21st century, drawing on theories and tools as practiced by leading international organizations. Leadership models and competency frameworks: In different organization different model of leadership are being operational and they have sat their own competency frame work. Some of renowned organizational and their competency frame works are as follows. To elaborate leadership models and competency frame work we can describe in through following examples. Minnesota Mining Manufacturing Co. (3M): MINNESOTA MINING AND MANUFACTURING CO (3M) has defined leadership and competency model in such a way. Fundamental Leadership Competencies Essential Leadership Competencies Visionary Leadership Competencies It shows that these competencies may be shown by the individual at the time of hiring and with time it developed by individuals progression. It must show commitment and integrity to the corporate values of the organization. It must be capable of handling technical situations and also communicate clearly and concisely. Must have sound knowledge to deal with the corporate challenges. It shows that now individual will develop essential skills as he becomes the part or department and the unit. It gives the value to customer and makes customer happy. Here they selects and retain the developed staff and work force and respects their contribution and individuality. Motivation and encouragements may be provided to upgrade their moral and their performances. Here 3M leaders possess to assume that the level of responsibility is high. They are now working globally and taking care of visionary aspects. This global leaders works globally in multicultural environments. These leaders make long term strategic plan to pursue a common goals and objectives. They also try to support the innovations and new experiments. New business alliances also build by 3M. They try to take advantage of maximum use of resources. FedEx Leadership Competencies FedEx has a system for rating aspiring leaders according to 9 attributes: Charisma Individual consideration Intellectual stimulation Courage Dependability Flexibility Integrity Judgment Respect for others Shell Global Leadership Competencies The Leadership Framework used by Shell includes nine key elements as indicated below: Builds Shared Vision Champions Customer Focus Maximizes Business Opportunities Demonstrates Professional Mastery Displays Personal Effectiveness Demonstrates Courage Motivates, Coaches Develops Values Differences Delivers Results These above key attributes are parts of leadership competency framework. Leadership Qualities required: A good leader should possess certain qualities: Intelligence: A leader should be intelligent that he foresee problems and gives solutions to these problems in a intellectual way. Communicative Skills: A leader should have effective communication skills; he should communicate clearly and precisely. He must look into what ways of communications are suitable at what time. Objectivity: A leader should be impartial and not to be bias on any situation of decision making. Knowledge of work: A leader must possess sound knowledge of work, he must know what is he going to do and must consider his leadership skills. Human Relations: A leader should be good in making relation inside and outside the organization. He must keep good public relations. Self Confidence and Will-Power: A good leader is people who have confidence on himself and will power of combating with every situation. Empathy: Good leader must have empathy to his followers and he must respect the view points of others. Sense of Responsibility: A good leader must keep the sense of responsibility; he should not lose temper in any situation and present himself as a good leader in front of others with sound authority and responsibility. Awareness: A good leader is always proves good leader when he keep looking his strengths and weakness, he must overcome on his weakness as soon as possible to present himself well aware leader. Sound health and Stamina: A leader must have sound health, both mental sanity and physical fitness to combat with the situations that are coming ahead. Conclusion: Leaders are born not made, seems to be true as leader come up with their own notions and skills, it can be seen from the history too, as some great leader were meant to be great and they had all leadership qualities but with the time these leaders polishes their skills. They learn from the experiences and from the past examples.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - : Statements and Themes :: Free Essay Writer

Statements and Themes of To Kill a Mockingbird   Harper Lee makes some direct statements about the thoughts of the public during the mid-nineteen thirties. The simplest way to make a statement in the novel is through the thoughts of Scout. Scout shapes her character from her father's advice. One of the principle values Scout attains from Atticus appears at the end of the novel when she states, "Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them" (279). Lee demonstrates the difference between an adult's understanding of the world around him and a child's understanding of his environment by creating the character Dolphus Raymond. Dolphus states: "'Secretly, Miss Finch, I'm not much of a drinker, but you see they [adults] could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live'" (201). Scout does not understand why Dolphus trusts two children with his secret over an adult and he replies, "'Because you're children and you can understand it'" (201). Dolphus teaches that it is not until one loses his innocence that he looks on things with prejudice. Stating facts proves to be beneficial when one is trying to express a point; however, the best way to learn is through experience. Atticus gains respect from his children and is capable of teaching them good values because he allows them to experience some of life for themselves. For example, both Jem and Scout are allowed to walk into town on their own, play by themselves in the yard, and cavort around the neighborhood with Dill during the summer. Atticus allots this freedom and in turn, Jem and Scout gain a sense of independence and responsibility. Atticus' encouragement of Jem's visits to Mrs. Dubose, which proves to be an excellent learning environment for Jem. Not only does he learn how to behave in a gentleman-like manner, but he learns of a courage that exists without physical violence. Atticus also permits the children to watch the trial of Tom Robinson. Bob Ewell's testimony exhibits poor language and a low value system. His mannerisms are contrary to those of Tom Robinson, who portrays himself as a helpful and respectful man. The trial of Tom Robinson proves to be the most beneficial experience the chi ldren could have. Not only do they see their father in a different setting, but they are able to define what constitutes a decent human being and what amounts to human trash.

Legalization of Marijuana Essay -- Weed Drugs Illegal Essays Papers Ca

The Legalization of Marijuana   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana is a plant, known as cannabis sativa and cannabis indica, which contains a psychoactive chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The effects of THC include disruption of psychomotor behavior, short-term memory impairment, intoxication, stimulation of appetite, antinociceptive, and antiemetic activities. Marijuana, the Mexican name given to cannabis is a mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the plant. Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other preparations made from the same plant. Hemp is a form of cannabis, cannabis sativa L, which contains less than one percent THC; it is used to make clothing, paper, and building materials. Tobacco is smoked just like marijuana is smoked, rolled in paper or in a pipe. The only difference is that tobacco is legal and marijuana is illegal. The government spends billions each year on the war on drugs, yet it is still around. For people under the age of 21 it is much easier to get marijuana than it is to get alcohol. Although many primarily associate marijuana with its harmful side effects, in actuality there are many benefits from its use as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana was a large part of culture throughout the entire world, it has been around for thousands of years and still continues to grow. Hemp was a large help with early American settlers, the hollow stalk was used to make clothing, rope and paper. Hemp was used well before this though, the Chinese used it to make fishing nets and bow strings for their archers. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who are considered to be forefathers for America, both grew hemp. Benjamin Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Early drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on paper that was made of hemp. During World War II, the US supply of hemp was cut off by the Japanese, and the US Army and the Department of Agriculture promoted the â€Å"Hemp for Victory† campaign, which encouraged farmers to grow hemp for the cause of the war. Hemp was also used in making sails and ropes for ships. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act prohibited the use, sale, and cultivation of marijuana and hemp in the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is said that marijuana is a â€Å"gateway† drug, and it will lead to harder drugs such as cocaine or heroin, though this is not a proven theory. â€Å"Over time, there has been... ...ke if they are dried and rolled up. The fight for the legalization of marijuana will continue until marijuana is finally legalized. Bibliography 1. de Zwart, W.M. et al, Key Data: Smoking, Drinking, Drug Use and Gambling Among Pupils Aged 10 Years and Older, Utrecht: Netherlands Institute on Alcohol and Drugs (1994). 2. Drug War Facts 3. Jones, R.T. et al, "Clinical Studies of Cannabis Tolerance and Dependence," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 282:221-39 (1976). 4. National Survey Results on Drug Use, from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1993, Volume I, Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse (1994). 5. Preliminary Estimates From the 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1994). 6. Rubin, V., "Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis," pp 1-18 in S. Cohen and R.C. Stillman (eds), The Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana, New York: Plenum Medical Book Company (1976). 7. State Prison Expidentures 8. US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.

Competency Goal Essay

Functional Area #1 – Safe: In order to provide a safe environment and teach children safe practices to prevent and reduce injuries I do the following: †¢I always do my classroom counts every 30 minutes, or more often when necessary, to make sure that my head count matches the actual number of children in my classroom. †¢Our centers are set up to reduce open floor space and the opportunity to run freely indoors †¢I check all toys and equipment for broken or missing parts often to ensure they remain safe for use and play. †¢I ensure that all chemicals and cleaning supplies are put away out of the reach of children or stored in locked cabinets to prevent injury or poisoning. †¢I keep my emergency routes posted and easily visible and my emergency contacts are always with me in a binder and easily accessible. †¢I am trained in emergency evacuation procedures and plans to remove all children from the classroom and/or building in the event of a tornado or fire †¢I am certified in First Aid, CPR, and Pediatric First Aid which makes me knowledgeable of caring for accidents or injuries. Functional Area #2 – Healthy: In order to provide an environment that promotes health and prevents illness, and teaches children about good nutrition and practices that promote Wellness, I do the following: †¢Cleaning and sanitizing classroom items, including future & toys, a task done multiple times a day. I sanitize all toys immediately after being put into a child’s mouth, to prevent the spread of germs. †¢ I wash my hands & wear gloves before & after handling food, helping with toileting, cleaning noses to prevent germs from being spread. †¢ I follow the center’s policies for sick children to prevent other illnesses in the classroom. †¢We also serve Healthy Balanced meals breakfast, lunch & snack. Functional Area #3 – Learning Environment: In order to use relationships, the physical space, materials, daily schedule, and routines to create a secure, interesting, and enjoyable environment that promotes engagement, play exploration, and learning of all children including children with disabilities and special needs, I do the following: †¢I have made sure that all Centers are laid out to help Children better benefit in learning. By putting the quite, busy & messy centers together. †¢We also have an ABC carpet that’s just for group time. Limit 10 to 15mins †¢I have put out many different learning activities for each center. Reading has lots of books, writing has name cards & letter strips, Dramatic Play & table toys has theme related items. Blocks have cars, animals, dollhouse & furniture. Science has Theme related items & Art I put out different things weekly to keep the Creativity going. †¢Also during the day we have group time twice, free time, small groups twice, outdoor play twice when weather permits & nap.

Internship in an Investment Bank Essay

Internship is a system of on-the-job training for white-collar jobs. It is a work related learning experience for individuals who wish to develop hands on work experience in a certain occupational field. Most internship is temporary assignments. As such my intern too was temporary for a period of one month. My association with Goldman Sachs was during my semester vacation. To me internship is to combine theory with practical work experience. As such my intern period was of great help in that sense. Generally the objectives of internships are: * Develop skills in the application of theory to practical work situation. * Aptitude test for a particular career. * Develop and pursue business ethics. * Increase on the sense of responsibility. * Opportunity to understand informal organizational interrelationships. * Enhance employment opportunities * Develop skills and techniques directly applicable to their careers. * Provides inside exposure to the structure, operations and decision process within the organization without a commitment to a permanent employer. Some of the obvious advantages an internship offers include strengthening written and oral skills, helping to make contacts to gain future employment, to enhance and strengthen the intern’s resume. Gain an increased awareness of skills, attributes, personal qualities and values. Guides a student to find out what it is to like to work in a business environment. However duties which aren’t structured either not enough to do or random office work or nothing to do with the supposed internship may result in just a waste of time and valuable resources. Sometimes the intern may not have enough time to learn the nuances of the industry and no proper guide or a mentor to guide the individual through the process. It may also result as a burden financially and mentally. About Goldman Sachs History 1869–1930 Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by the German-born Marcus Goldman. The company made a name for itself pioneering the use of commercial paper for entrepreneurs and was invited to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1896. In the early 20th century, On December 4, 1928, it launched the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp. a closed-end fund. 1930–1980 In 1930, Sidney Weinberg assumed the role of senior partner and shifted Goldman’s focus away from trading and towards investment banking. It was Weinberg’s actions that helped to restore some of Goldman’s tarnished reputation. On the back of Weinberg, Goldman was lead advisor on the Ford Motor Company’s IPO in 1956, which at the time was a major coup on Wall Street. Under Weinberg’s reign the firm also started an investment research division and a municipal bond department. It also was at this time that the firm became an early innovator in risk arbitrage. 1980–1999 On November 16, 1981, the firm made a move by acquiring J. Aron & Company, a commodities trading firm which merged with the Fixed Income division to become known as Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities. J. Aron was a player in the coffee and gold markets, and the current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, joined the firm as a result of this merger. In 1986, the firm formed Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which manages the majority of its mutual funds and hedge funds today. Since 1999 One of the largest events in the firm’s history was its own IPO in 1999. The decision to go public was one that the partners debated for decades. In the end, Goldman decided to offer a small portion of the company to the public, with some 48% still held by the partnership pool 22% of the company was held by non-partner employees, and 18% was held by retired Goldman partners. Goldman Sachs Overview The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 and is headquartered at 200 West Street in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City, with additional offices in international financial centers. The firm provides mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting services, asset management, and prime brokerage to its clients, which include corporations, governments and individuals. The firm also engages in market making and private equity deals, and is a primary dealer in the United States Treasury security market. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious investment banks in the world. As of 2009, Goldman Sachs employed 31,701 people worldwide.Goldman Sachs is divided into three businesses units: * Investment Banking * Trading and Principal Investments * Asset Management and Securities Services Investment banking Investment banking is divided into two divisions and includes Financial Advisory (mergers and acquisitions, investitures, corporate defense activities, restructuring and spin-offs) and Underwriting (public offerings and private placements of equity, equity-related and debt instruments). Goldman Sachs is one of the leading M&A advisory firms, often topping the league tables in terms of transaction size. The firm gained a reputation as a white knight in the mergers and acquisitions sector by advising clients on how to avoid hostile takeovers, moves generally viewed as unfriendly to shareholders of targeted companies. Goldman Sachs, for a long time during the 1980s, was the only major investment bank with a strict policy against helping to initiate a hostile takeover, which increased the firm’s reputation immensely among sitting management teams at the time. The investment banking segment accounts for around 17 percent of Goldman Sachs’ revenues. The firm has been involved in brokering deals to privatize major highways by selling them to foreign investors, in addition to advising state and local governments – including Indiana, Texas, and Chicago – on privatization projects. Trading and principal investments Trading and Principal Investments is the largest of the three segments, and is the company’s profit center. The segment is divided into four divisions and includes: * Fixed Income – The trading of interest rate and credit products, mortgage-backed securities, insurance-linked securities and structured and derivative products * Currency and Commodities – The trading of currencies and commodities * Equities – The trading of equities, equity derivatives, structured products, options, and futures contracts * Principal Investments – merchant banking investments and funds This segment consists of the revenues and profit gained from the Bank’s trading activities, both on behalf of its clients known as flow trading and for its own account known as proprietary trading. Most trading done by Goldman is not speculative, but rather an attempt to profit from bid-ask spreads in the process of acting as a market maker. On average, around 68 percent of Goldma n’s revenues and profits are derived from trading. Asset Management and Securities Services As the name suggests, the firm’s Asset Management and Securities Services segment is divided into two components: Asset Management and Securities Services. The Asset Management division provides investment advisory and financial planning services and offers investment products (primarily through separately managed accounts and commingled vehicles) across all major asset classes to a diverse group of institutions and individuals worldwide. The unit primarily generates revenues in the form of management and incentive fees. The Securities Services division provides clearing, financing, custody, securities lending, and reporting services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. The division generates revenues primarily in the form of interest rate spreads or fees. About Operations Division Operations is at the core of Goldman Sachs. For every trade agreed, every new product launched or market entered, every transaction completed, it is Operations that enables business to flow. Operations is a dynamic, multi-faceted division that partners with all areas of the firm to deliver banking, sales and trading and asset management capabilities to clients around the world. In addition, Operations provides essential risk management and control, preserving and enhancing the firm’s assets and its reputation. The Operations division represents approximately 14% of the firm, with more than 4,500 employees across the globe. Operations spans across all product lines and markets where business is conducted. Each area of business offers diverse opportunities that leverage a common core skill set. While there may be a group that interests you, it is not necessary to identify the group you would like to join when applying. †¢Clearing Operations provides clearing, execution and custody services for all major trading products across 75 exchanges. Our goal is to deliver superior client service, broad product offering and scalable technology to our global client base and franchise trading businesses, while minimizing operational risk. Our clients include hedge funds, asset managers, governments, corporates, broker dealers, Goldman Sachs franchise traders, other professional investors and market markers. †¢Derivatives Operations is responsible for ensuring efficient and accurate transaction processing across a broad range of products. Generally, the products supported are complex instruments that require close alignment with the business. A key focus for the organization is establishing strong risk management procedures and controls to ensure the firm and our clients are properly protected. Derivatives Operations is at the forefront of shaping and driving change in the industry with the ultimate aim of delivering greater accuracy, control and efficiency for our clients and our business. †¢Investment Management Operations delivers asset management and wealth management capabilities to clients around the world. We are a multi-faceted group that partners with all areas of the Investment Management Division to support evolving markets and business requirements. Alongside that vital service delivery role, Investment Management Operations provides essential risk management and control. †¢Liquidity & Collateral Operations (LCO) manages the operational elements for daily funding and liquidity of the firm, oversees the firm’s payment strategy and overall cash flows and positions, and also performs key functions related to counterparty risk management, client transparency, and product and pricing data. In addition to the traditional line functions, LCO is home to Operations Technology Strategy and Reference Data Strategy, both of which focus on strategic process and technology solutions for the division and often the broader firm. †¢Regulatory & Tax Operations is responsible for over 500 non-financial reporting and monitoring functions to over 400 regulators and exchanges. The group enhances the firm’s regulatory and tax transaction and position data and operational controls and develops best practices and standards for processing, infrastructure, and change management. The group aims to leverage expertise consistently across regions and entities in order to demonstrate supervision to regulators and provide efficiency, data accuracy, and transparency around controls. †¢Risk & Control Operations supports the firm by ensuring the integrity of books and records, assessing regulatory requirements, and interfacing with regulators frequently. In addition, the group provides the firm with critical control indicators that assess economic, regulatory, and operational risks, while providing oversight of the Operations Division Risk Framework. †¢Securities Operations supports the Securities, Investment Management and Investment Banking Divisions of the firm. This group manages key relationships for the bank and infrastructure providers, on boarding of institutional and prime brokerage clients, and assists in the coordination of issuance of new financial product. Work Done and Experience I did my summer internship in the Operations Division of Goldman Sachs. My project was primarily based on corporate card reconciliation process. Being an intern to the office, there was a lot to be learnt and a lot more to be implemented, but the people at GS were really accommodating and willing to give the interns the required space and time. Goldman Sachs has, a completely flat organizational structure and everyone is very helpful and you can reach out to almost anyone and he/she will be more than willing to help. The Program is very efficiently carried out and there’s a lot to learn. The firm has its own In-House University where there are innumerable courses on Financial Markets, Corporate Finance, Investment Banking that we needed to learn from. Everything you do and suggest mostly goes into Production i.e. LIVE so obviously you will be having a hands-on experience on things which are actually going to be implemented. All things said, there is deadline within which the work needs to be done. Goldman Sachs was a good shot to achieve out of this internship – improved Problem Solving, Industrial Exposure, Understanding of Financial Markets. At Goldman Sachs, everyone is encouraged to take on more responsibility and stretch themselves. People are very professional and are always there to help when needed. This makes it a fun place to work even though the nature of work is very challenging.