The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services Essay

The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services - Essay Example In order to monitor the performance of employees in dealing with the customers, the business organization has set up a unique and multifaceted measurement system. With these thrusts, the company is seen to surpass the industry standards. The creation of a process measurement system enables AT&T "to locate problem processes; to promptly address any problem discovered; to constantly asses how well customers are being served; and to reward exceptional performance" (Rosegrant 3). It should be noted that AT&T's motivation technique is primarily through the use of monetary benefits. Customer service representatives who are in forefront of the company's operations and are directly dealing with AT&T's customers are given financial incentives like bonuses if they achieve the goal set by the management. In order to monitor performance, managers, team leaders, and top executives are tasked to listen to the telephone associates' conversation with the customers in varying degrees. AT&T also conducts daily meetings in order to discuss the daily performance of the customer service representatives. This becomes the important venue for the discussion of how service quality can be continuously improved. The product offered by AT&T in the market together with the company's extension of exceptional customer service has gained it the largest market share in the credit card industry. AT&T has become the youngest business organization to be awarded the sought after Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Despite this success however, both external and internal pressures are forcing AT&T to institute changes in its business operation. II. Statement of the Problem Looking at the external environment, competitors have recognized the huge profit potential in the market served by AT&T. The product which was pioneered by AT&T has become common in the market. New players have tried to offer their own no-fee, low interests credit card making it difficult for AT&T's product to stand out. Thus, the business organization opts to emphasize its thrust of providing above industry standard customer service. With this, AT&T's executives are faced with the challenge of identifying the ways on how to boost and enhance customer service provided by their telephone associates. This is even worsened by the fact that the company growth has slowed down and will not be able to accommodate the ascent of telephone associates to the corporate ladder. Externally, there is a strong pressure for managers to take the quality measurements a step further. The current system fails to correctly indicate customer satisfaction. It has been found out that the telephone associates' performance is not directly correlated to the quality of the service extended as perceived by the customer. There has been a consensus that the current system is not adequate to meet the more intense rivalry in the market: "Moreover, the current measurements no longer seemed to be driving the quest for improvement, and Davis and others had become convinced that it was time to retool a system that no longer fits the needs of the company" (Rosegrant 12). However, there is no consensus on what ought to be done in order to improve the process. Changing the process will also post problems within the workforce. It has also become apparent that changing the system

Jennifer and the Wine Merchants Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jennifer and the Wine Merchants - Assignment Example With regard to Jennifer and the Wine Merchant case scenario, the Wine Merchant is the offerer, as the company makes an offer of consignment of French wine to Jennifer and Maggie. The two who are the recipients of the stated offer are the â€Å"offerees.† Jennifer accepts the offer and sends her consignment letter through the post office, while Maggie sends her acceptance communication through the fax. The decision to accept the offer creates a binding agreement between the both Maggie and Jennifer and the Wine Merchant (Ruff 2007). However, Jennifer’s acceptance letter delays for seven days due to strike, this complicates the issue as she had to send the acceptance within 5 days. Maggie however sends her acceptance through fax and its is received immediately, and consequently accepted (Riches and Vida 2011). Jennifer’s Case Jennifer’s case invites three fundamental questions. First, did Jeniffer, the offeree, miss the specified deadline as stipulated by th e Wine Merchant, the offerer. Second, is it possible for the offerer to cancel the acceptance letter between the time the offeree sends it sent and the time the offerer receives it? Lastly, did the offeror make the offer by mail? Thus in Jennifer and the Wine Merchant’s case scenario, there are at least four probable answers. First, when the offereer accepts the offer; When the offeree sends (posts) the acceptance letter; When the offerer received the letter of acceptance; When the offeror is aware of the acceptance. The most significant reactions are the first and the fourth one, which depict â€Å"offer† and â€Å"acceptance.† The English Law provides that a binding agreement exists if an offer and acceptance, in which case the offeree accepts an offer made by the offerer. Concerning Jenniffer and the Merchant’s case scenario, the English Law suggests the emission theory in the â€Å"postal rule†. However, its manifestation is also limited. In th is way, it only becomes applicable when it was reasonable enough that the offeree uses post as the means of accepting the offer, and whether the acceptance letter was posted properly and whether it didn’t create â€Å"manifest absurdity and inconvenience.† Maggie’s Case Unlike Jennifer, Maggie sent her acceptance letter through the fax. Maggie’s acceptance was accepted. Maggie’s case is different from Jennifer as they used different media to communicate their acceptance. According to the English Law, if an offer is accepted by fax, it will be deemed as accepted as the offerer’s fax machines prints it out, regardless of whether there is someone to receive it or not. Posting statute does not affect to acceptances by instant forms of communication such as fax or telephone. In the case â€Å"Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corporation [1955] 2 QB 327, the court decided that the posting rule doesn’t apply to acceptances by telex as it is an instant form of communication† (Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corporation [1955]). Thus the principle that acceptances occur once communicated apply can be applied to instant communication forms. Wine Merchant’s case Indeed, the Wine Merchant can be argued as having sent Maggie and Jennifer an offer and not an invitation. The law interprets invitation and offer differently. An invitation, unlike an offer, indicates an individual’s willingness to negotiate a contract. It can be defined as a communication of a pre-offer. In the case Gibson v Manchester City Council [1979] 1

Low-cost Leadership Program Essay Example for Free

Low-cost Leadership Program Essay The best way for an organization to implement a low cost leadership-training program is to use a variety of approaches; this will maximize organizations efforts to have well trained employees with a focus on long-term development. In the case of a non-profit organization, the best way to set up a low-cost-leadership-training program would be to set-up a training committee. The committee would be composed of entry-level managers, upper management, and executives. This would allow for entry-level managers to have an input regarding what the employees need training and developing on. Also, with t upper-management and executives being involved and spearheading the committee, it lets employees realize that the organization cares about its employees. Once the training committee has been set up, it can then look into the variety of options they have available to them. It can send committee members to seminars, conferences, and trainings, which in turn would allow them to gather information and then train the organizations employees on the matter at hand. For example, a non-profit that works in family and youth development can send 3 site managers and 1 area director to a BOOST conference, a three-day conference that assists non-profits with ways to fundraise, market, build relationships with school faculty, connecting with members, redirecting negative behavior, etc. The employees that were chosen would then bring back the information they learned and recreate the training for the employees in the organization. Financially, this would be a great way for the organization to save money, while still managing to train employees. The training committee would also set up site visits to other highly productive companies and organizations. By doing so, the committee can send non-committee members as well as committee officials to do site visits to observe the work culture and environment of such company. The committee would have to brief the employees on what the purpose of the visit will be; therefore, allowing the employees to prepare questions that can be tailored to extract information pertinent to their needs. For example, the Boys and Girls Club doing a site visit to the YMCA. Finally, managers can find themselves overwhelmed by the amount of people they oversee and allotting enough time to each employee. Employees have a myriad  of concerns and issues that they might want to address with their supervisors. However, many times these issues are minimal but time consuming. Therefore, in order to minimize distractions and optimize productivity from lone employees and managers, setting up a mentor program within the organization would be a highly effective addition to training and developing program. Long-standing company employees would be mentors to new employees. This would allow for new employees to have a person to resort to in case they have any doubts or questions. The pros of setting up a training committee are low financial costs. It also allows for employees from all categories to interact and join efforts in the overall improvement of the organization. Also, if the organizations overall production increases and the organization sees sufficient growth, this committee can become its own department in the long run. It is important to keep in mind that regardless of the benefits this may provide a company, it undoubtedly will also come its consequences. In order for the company to ensure that the committee is successful, it will have to ensure that the committee members are effective communicators, great planners, and have plenty of public speaking skills. Otherwise, this will be detrimental to the committee but more importantly to the employees who will be receiving training from them. Also, trainings must be composed of material that will be useful to employees, and has to incorporate active learning techniques, case analysis, and hands on interaction in order to involve and stimulate the employees. The mentor program might also face its problems, so when pairing up employees, upper management must ensure that personalities are compatible and that the mentor is qualified to be one.

Performance Appraisal Essay Example for Free

Performance Appraisal Essay Performance appraisal is a universal phenomenon with the organization is making judgement about one is working with and about oneself. It serves as a basic element of effective work performance. Performance appraisal is essential for the effective management and evaluation of staff. It aims to improve the organizational performance as well as individual development. Performance is an employee’s accomplishment of assigned work as specified in the critical and as measured against standards of the employee’s position. The term â€Å"Performance Appraisal† is concerned with the process of valuing person’s worth to an organisation with a view to increasing it. EXERCISE : STEP 1: Divide participant in group of 3. STEP 2 : Let them to select upon themselves a manager, an employee and an observer. STEP 3 : Assign each group with one scenario to begin with. STEP 4 : Each scenario will take approximately 5 min to play. STEP 5 : manager and employee has to take part in play and observer has to write down the Observations. STEP 6 : Observer has to focus on following questions – †¢ What worked? †¢ What didn’t? †¢ How did the â€Å"manager† shows caring during the play? †¢ How did the â€Å"employee† react to a caring approach? †¢ Was the manager candid with the employee? How? †¢ How did the employee react to the candid approach? †¢ Did a collaborative effort surface? Describe it? Different scenarios are : Scenario 1 : Was it that important? Manager : You’ve missed the three of those meetings during the last two quarter. Employee : But I thought they were optional. I’ve been missing meetings all week. I never realise it as a problem Manager : Well I am telling you now your attendance is mandatory. But that’s not the only reason you scored low in this category.. You also been consistently coming to work late. Employee : But I am always here by 8:15. The switchboard doesn’t even open until 8:30. Manager : ( Ad lib from here, and see where it takes you! ) Employee : ( Ad lib from here, and see where it takes you! ) Scenario 2 : Are you done yet? Manager : I know you are working hard on this report I assigned, but you keep getting them to me late. I can’t prepare next year’s budget unless I know exactly how much money each contract brought in this year. So you are going to have to get them into me by tomorrow afternoon, Okay? Employee : Sorry, sometime I have trouble prioritizing.. I didn’t realised they were that important. Manager : Well, they are important, and I need your report on time from now on. Okay? Employee : ( Ad lib from here, and see where it takes you! ) Manager : ( Ad lib from here, and see where it takes you! ) In that manner we can assign different scenario to different groups. STEP 7 : Now the manager and employee are going to provide with a paper and they were asked to write down the behaviour of one other in role play. ( In this way manager appraise their employees performance and employee appraise their managers performance. ) STEP 8 : Finally observer has to share his observation with others.

Effectiveness Of Employee Empowerment

Effectiveness Of Employee Empowerment Introduction: In such a competitive environment, the organizations have to continuously provide quality products, better services and need to bring innovation to stay in the business and generate profits. To conduct such activities, efficient and empowered employees are essential (Bowen and Lawer, 1992; Fulford and Enz, 1995; Bowen and Lawler, 1995). In the past, the authority was not delegated to the employees and it centered on the managers who were responsible for making all the decisions in the interest of the organizations. This had limited the creativity to show up since the employees were not able to express or share their ideas. Empowerment in the recent years has been considered as the most important factor that contributes to the success of the organization. The creative energy and potentials of employees benefits the shareholders, suppliers and customers as well (Gandz 1990; Appelbaum, HÃ ©bert, Leroux, 1999). Empowerment means delegation of decision making authority when there is a need to take action which is important for both the managers and employees. Following are the main reasons for practicing empowerment in the organization: It provides fast solutions to business problems It provides growth opportunities for employees It helps in lowering organizational cost Employees benefit from empowerment because they have more responsibility in their jobs. Employee empowerment increases the level of employee involvement and therefore creates a deeper sense of satisfaction and higher levels of motivation. The style of management is changing as the managers are now being considered as the coach, advisors or facilitators. The decision making has been shifted down to the lowest level of the organization. According to Rob and Margret brown, empowerment isnt just a matter of delegating job authority to the job-holders. It means that everyone can take action to enhance his or her work, either in personal or organizational terms. Instead of the traditional bureaucracy, with its emphasis on control, standardization and obedience, Brown-blessed empowerment can only thrive in the liberated surround of innovation, flexibility, commitment, zero defects and continuous improvement. Effectiveness of Employee Empowerment: Employee Empowerment can only be effective when management clearly defines the achievable goals and accountability standards. The management should provide employees with the resources such as time, money, training and relevant and factual information which is supported by the upper and lower management. The benefits of empowerment can be substantial for the organization but it doesnt come without costs. If this approach is not properly implemented, it can cause many problems such as bad decisions taken by the employees who are not well-trained, conflict arising between team members reducing the team innovativeness and performance of the employees (Henderson and Lee; Davenport ) and high training costs to successfully operate in the empowered environment. There are also numerous benefits that are associated with empowerment such as enhanced creativity resulting in increased performance, making cross functional teams of diverse work group for sharing and developing innovative ideas and increased customer service quality by letting them solving the customer problems on their own without waiting for the managerial approval (Shrednick et al., [26]). Hence we can assume that empowerment is a skill and can be learned. Effective management teams must have a firm grasp on the latest business techniques as well as an understanding of the importance of human potential and high self-esteem. Empowerment is a total commitment to doing business in a productive and positive manner. The famous researcher John R. Drew proposed Seven Steps to Empowerment. According to him empowerment can be achieved by creating champions, involving people in planning the change, creating team leaders, educating the workforce, changing the support system, practicing consensus decision making and involving people in strategic and tactical planning. A lot of research has been conducted on empowerment in the last decade to fully understand its impact on the performance of employees and how it effects the organization as a whole. An organization must understand its compatibility with the organization system since its effect varies from organization to organization. The approach is dependent on the organizational structure, its system, its culture, skilled workforce and the attitude of top management toward the change. Before the organizations move to the empowerment approach, they must critically analyze what empowerment basically is and how its different from the traditional approach. Empowerment encourages information sharing with front-line workers, rewards based on organizational performance, employee training, and employee involvement in management decision making (Bowen and Lawler). Most of the researches indicate that the empowerment must be nurtured and supported by the other factors which trigger its effect and produces positive results for the organization such as Autonomy, creativity, level of communication between managers and employees, competency and high self-esteem. Theories and practices of empowerment: There has been a lack of theoretical and empirical work being done on practices of empowerment. The term empowerment being used in the business organizations is not clearly defined since it is difficult to understand what the writer is referring to when he uses the term empowerment. Broadly there are two main approaches that are widely used to understand the concept. Following Conger and Kanungo(1988) and Thomas and Velthouse (1990), spreitzer (1992) refers to these as a psychological and relational perspectives. Psychological perspective on employee empowerment: The first approach to study empowerment focuses on the concept that empowerment depends on the perception of employees. If they believe that they are empowered, then they will tend to work with more autonomy ( Spreitzer 1992). Conger and Kanungo(1988), and Thomas and Velthouse(1990) and spreitzer (1992) imply that an employee is psychologically empowered when (a) he/she finds meaning in his/her role involvement (b) feels efficacious with his/her ability and capacity to perform (c ) has a sense of determination to achieve a desired outcome with his/her role and (d) believes that he/she has control over desired outcomes meaning they have an impact on the large environment. The relational perspective of empowerment: The second approach focuses on the concept that how sharing of power is affected by the organizational structures and its cultures. It deals with the organizational structure and culture that it should be designed in such a way that creates an environment to facilitate the empowerment of its members (Bowen and Lawler 1992, Byham and Cox 1998, Jaffe and Scott 1991). Apart from these approaches, different theories on empowerment were presented by different theorists having opposite view points. Some theorists argue that there should be a relatively uniform understanding of empowerment and they were in the favor of implementing standardized programs (Rumelt 1974; Denhardt 1984; Wallace 1992; Balk, 1996). On the contrary, other theorists were of the view that empowerment is individually, contextually and variably defined (Zimmerman 1995; Quinn and Spreitzer 1997; Foster-Fishman et al. 1998). These researchers think that there exists a wide range of empowerment varying from person to person even in the same work setting, although both the viewpoints were in favor of empowerment. Each viewpoint is based on the same assumption that employees value empowerment and by exercising empowerment, they can give better outcomes, increased efficiency and performance, increased job satisfaction, and consistent ethical behavior. Objectives and significance of study: A lot of conceptual research has been done on empowerment but there is a need of studying the effect of these 5 factors and get a more generalizable result. The main purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between these variables (i.e. Autonomy, creativity, level of communication between managers and employees, competency and high self-esteem) and empowerment of front-line employees of Mobilink Company in Islamabad. We will then further investigate the impact of empowerment on employee performance. Although these relationships have been explored in the Western environment, we will be investigating these relationships in the Asian environment to explore if the results differ in any way or the hypothesis we have created shows the positive results. Following are the main objectives of this research: To understand the core concepts of Empowerment and performance To identify the variables and investigate the relationship between these variables and employee empowerment To explore the overall impact of empowerment on the performance of Mobilink employees. Problem statement The problem statement of our research paper is to study the impact of empowerment being nurtured by the other factors such as Autonomy, creativity, level of communication between managers and employees, competency and high self-esteem on the performance of Mobilink employees. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Sanjay Menon and Clarkson (2001) have tried to explain the psychological approach to employee empowerment in this article. It was developed based on the principal that the psychological experience underlies feelings of empowerment. This article extends existing perspectives of empowerment by integrating the empowering effect of valued goals, such as those provided by transformational leadership. In addition to the two traditional facets of perceptions of control over the work environment and the perception of self efficacy or competence, internalization of goals was also identified as a major component of psychological experience of empowerment. They have also mentioned the implications of defining empowerment as a psychological state and the need of multiple measures of empowerment. They also recognize empowerment as one of the most important strategic tool to motivate employee if the organization are concerned with growth of their employees. (Employee Empowerment: An Integrative Ps ychological Approach) John Peter, Patricia Byrnes, Do-Lim Choi, Frank Fagan and Randy Miller (2002) have discussed that the empowerment of public employees is an important mediating step in improving public organizational outcomes, yet such a relationship depends on an assumption that employees value what is offered as empowerment. The empowerment is multidimensional. Survey was carried out to know the opinion of employees regarding empowerment. Employees or Street-Level Bureaucrats were in favor of empowerment because they believe that their skills will improve, they will be able to perform job effectively, they can save a lot of time and they will be able to improve their decision making skills. Empowerment programs consider what each individual employee values. (Dimensions and Patterns in Employee Empowerment: Assessing What Matters to Street-Level Bureaucrats by John Peter, Patricia Byrnes, Do-Lim Choi, Frank Fagan and Randy Miller published in 2002) Logan and Daniel C. Ganster (2007) report the result of randomized field experiment that tested the effects of an empowerment intervention among unit managers of large trucking company in this article. The intervention has designed to increase participants beliefs in their personal control and self-efficacy with regard to key aspects of their jobs. Individuals who managed geographically dispersed profit centers were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (N=38) or a no-treatment control group (N=30).the intervention significantly increased perceptions of maintenance control and impact at four months after the intervention, but only for managers who felt that their supervisors were supportive. The intervention also improved archival measures of unit performance and affected work attitudes (depending upon the level of perceived supervisory support). The data point out the key role that perceived supervisor social support plays when implementing such organizational change int erventions.(The Effects Of Empowerment On Attitudes And Performance: The Role of Social Support and Empowerment Beliefs) Butts, Mike (2004) argues in this article that most of the employees feel frustrated and completely ineffective because of lack of employee empowerment. According to the author, most of the time your manager asks you to do a certain project with full responsibility and when the time comes to implement your strategic plans and action plan, your manager doesnt support you and your higher-ups dont give you authority to bring some positive changes or to make some effective decisions. At the end, when the project fails, they ask you that why your performance has not improved. So in simple words, you cannot give someone the responsibility for a job without giving them the means and authority to bring about needed changes. (Command performance: empowerment is the catalyst for positive corporate changes By Butts, Mike Publication: Prosales Date: Wednesday, December 1 2004) Gaynor Borade (2008) discusses about the importance of employee empowerment and how it can be implemented in an organization. Employee empowerment can be attempted via dedicated virtual courses, special employee empowerment workshops by management gurus, dedicated books and articles and even software packages. It can only work if the management team believes in it. The implementation of employee empowerment involves managers willing to give up control in certain areas of work production. The writer argues that the traditional bureaucracy and the age old emphasis on control and standardization are now things of the past. The new vistas involve innovation, flexibility and commitment and consistent improvement. (Employee Empowerment by Gaynor Borade Published: 2/23/2008) Cheryl (2007) enlightens its readers with his view that the most important asset that any company will ever have is its employees. Employees are the backbone of the organizational hierarchy, allowing the employees to accomplish organizational goals by giving them some decision-making ability is the way to enhance the growth and performance of todays organizations. Empowerment is a process that is adapted through a course of time and gradually, almost effortlessly, comes together. So in this article, the writer explains that how managers assure the employees that empowerment is not only in their own best interest but also for the organization as a whole. (Employee Empowerment: Organizations Must Take Active Roles by Cheryl, published Sep 26, 2007) Susan M. Heathfield basically tries to pinpoint the fact that if employee empowerment is such a powerful tool into accomplishing word, better work more efficiency then why does it fail. It then takes a look at 5 reasons why employee empowerment fails such as managers pay lip service to empowerment but do not really believe in its power, they fail to provide easy access to the information and training to the staff to make decisions, they fail to establish boundaries for empowerment, have defined the decision making authority and boundaries with staff but then micromanage the work of employees and lastly the managers fail to appraise or appreciate the employees for their hard work.(Five More Reasons Employee Empowerment Fails by Susan M. Heathfield) Robert Bacal (2004) basically answers to a question of a manager who is finding it hard to implement empowerment as the employees themselves are hesitant to take an initiative and in the answer to the query tells the manager that empowerment just does not mean treating the employee like a guest as the employees tend to get used to the traditional hierarchy of the firm and thus resist the opportunity(empowerment) and in order to empower employees in the real sense steps such as clearly defining what empowerment criteria you have set what you actually mean by it and clarifying the goals of the firm , effective routing of information in the firm, clear process for input of decision making, management consistency i.e. not necessarily blindly following each decision but over-ruling it with tactics so that the spirit of empowerment is not hurt and skill development that is providing the necessary tools to extract ones ability to benefit from it, and a stable and respectful workplace histor y which will give confidence to employees to work with confidence and no hesitance otherwise a bad track record will just suppress the ability to participate freely. (Empowering Employees Can Yield Unexpected Conflict and Resistance! By Robert Bacal published in 2004) Peter Grazier (1998) discusses the benefits associated with the employee empowerment in his article that how it helps a company to reduce its expenses or costs occurring due to Absenteeism and turnover. The author further describes that due to employee empowerment, Absenteeism and turnover goes down, safety assurance and employee performance gets better and the company obtains other associated benefits as well. (Quantifying the Soft Costs of Empowering Employees by Peter Grazier Originally published in EI Network on April 1, 1998) Susan M. Heathfield has defined employee empowerment in her article as the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behaves, take action, and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. She has also discussed the main problem regarding employee empowerment that most organizations experience. They think that the manager bestows empowerment on the people who report to him rather than thinking that each employee should work in empowered ways. Lastly, the author argues that the organizations should create such environment that helps boost the ability of employees to act in empowered ways. (Employee empowerment by Susan M. Heathfield) Theoretical framewor And hypothesis The theme of this research is to shed the light on the empowerment as a core concept and a major factor in this study and to investigate the impact of some antecedent factors including (autonomy, creativity, level of communication between managers and employees, competency and self esteem) on the degree of employee empowerment and then to research the impact of empowerment on employee performance as illustrated in the following framework. Identification of variables: Dependant variable: Performance of employees Independent variables: Employee empowerment Autonomy Creativity Level of communication between managers and employees Self esteem Competency Network of Associations Positive relationship between autonomy and employee empowerment Positive relationship between employee empowerment and performance Positive relationship between creativity and employee empowerment. Positive relationship between self esteem and employee empowerment Positive relationship between understanding between managers and employees and employee empowerment Positive relationship between competency of employees and employee empowerment. Justification of relationships: Employees having more autonomy are more empowered to make decisions. This shows that relationship between autonomy and empowerment is positive. There is a positive relation between employee empowerment and performance. With the increase in empowerment, performance of employees will increase. Creativity and empowerment has also a positive relation. If employees are more creative, they will do their work with more freedom and bring innovation to the work. Positive relation exists between self esteem and empowerment of employees. If employees are having a high level of self confidence, they will definitely make right decisions. If there is a good understanding between managers and employees, employees will feel more comfortable in doing work with them and it will effect the performance of employees in a positive way. If employees are more competent or capable enough, they will exercise empowerment and will show high level of performance. After developing a theoretical framework of above mentioned variables, we will develop hypothesis of each variable. We will then test these hypotheses to check whether these factors are the primary ones that influence employee empowerment and ultimately this leads to increased performance of employees. Autonomy Autonomy is defined as the state of independence one has to take decisions without the consent of others. Autonomy can play a major role to increase the job satisfaction of employees and they show more involvement in their work, thus creating a competitive edge for the firm. In our study we will focus at the autonomy of each individual within an organization and how it will lead to empowerment being exercised by the employees and to what extent it is effective in increasing their performance. White (1986) found that certain strategies that require high levels of control produce better results with low rather than with high autonomy. So, along with affecting people at their jobs, autonomy is also related to many variables crucial to organizational effectiveness (Brock 2003). Empowerment and autonomy are not interchangeable but rather autonomy enhances the degree of empowerment among employees. It helps in lowering the turnover rate and level of absenteeism in an organization and promotes quality work. Hypothesis: H 1: The higher the level of autonomy given to service employees, the higher the level of empowerment they would exercise. Creativity As defined by the Webster dictionary Creativity is marked by the ability or power to create to bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new. It can also be defined as the ability to use different modes of thought to generate new and dynamic ideas and solutions (Carnevale, Gainer, and Meltzer). Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena (Roger von Oech). Creativity and employee empowerment have complementary relationship. Employees should be empowered to take decisions and this leads to the opportunity of being creative. Creativity facilitates the employees to show the expressions of commitment, courage, to take decisions, more involvement in their jobs, risk taking and using their imagination for the success of the organization. Innovative employees show more productivity as compare to those who are happy in doing their boring routine work because creative people are curious, self confident, optimistic, flexible, visionary and have a good sense of humor . Creativity and empowerment are believed to result from comparable organizational factors. For example, creativity is enhanced by freedom of information and relaxation of conditioned thinking. Empowerment results from open communication and network building, access to decision making and control of resources are empowering. Providing resources and support and encouraging the solution of unstructured problems enhance creativity. Low levels of supervision, participation in goal setting, and the establishment of challenging work goals foster creativity, while participation, expanded awareness, and being attuned to organizational goals empower individuals. Hypothesis: H 2: The higher the level of creativity shown by the employees, the higher the level of empowerment they will exercise. Level of Communication between managers and employees There is an often saying that The only thing constant in the World is Change. With the advancement in technology and rapidly changing environment, the methods of communication are also changing and the organizations are expecting more productivity from its employees due to increased efficiency and effectiveness of communication process within the firm. There is a definite relationship of communication between managers and employees with empowerment. More authority the manager gives to its employees, the higher the level of performance will be shown by them. Open communication between managers and employees is essential and must be practiced in the organizations since it reduces stress and removes ambiguity. Open communication flatten your organization, reduces the hierarchal levels and decentralizes the authority which creates more empowered environment. Hence Empowerment in business means knowing how to humanize the work environment so management and employees work together to enhance productivity and achieve greater personal and professional success. HYPOTHESIS: H 3: The higher the level of communication between managers and employees, the higher the level of empowerment they would exercise. Self esteem Self esteem is defined as the opinion you have about your self or how much confident you are about yourself. Some employees may have low self esteem and some may have high self esteem. Employees with high self esteem tend to show more positive response towards their work and environment and this confidence motivates them to takes decisions on their own. Since they believe in their self, this results in more productivity or output. This effects the organization as whole and leads to success. Negative thoughts about one self can be demotivating and one can easily give up or loose hope. They start depending on others and are not able to decide on their own. In a CNN interview, Robert Wagner on Larry King 2002 was asked the following question: What is the most important thing for a person starting out on the road to success? I would tell them the most important thing is to work on your self esteem, thats the best advice I can give An empowered company begins with self-empowerment. Owners and managers cannot empower others to perform their best until they are empowered themselves. Empowered management begins by hiring leaders who possess healthy self-esteem, superior people skills, and the willingness to share expertise to bring out the best in employees. Promoting and maintaining consistently high self-esteem in managers and employees is a vital ingredient to a highly empowered workforce. High self-esteem within the company is achieved by encouraging creativity, individuality, problem solving, and an open and honest exchange of ideas among all the employees in a non-threatening environment. The opposite of an empowered workforce is one composed of negativity, low morale, and a distrust of management. An unempowered workforce is an unproductive workforce. Managers and workers have the basic need to feel they are contributing and making a difference. Employees who consistently feel enthusiastic about what they are doing, do a good job. In our study, we will be looking at the relationship of self-esteem and empowerment and how it promotes an employee to work in a decentralized organization causing employees to be empowered in many ways. Hypothesis: H 4: The high level of self esteem in employees, the higher the level of empowerment they will practice. Competency Competency means an individuals conviction or confidence in his or her ability or effectiveness in accomplishing the performance requirements of a task. To delegate the employees, the managers must provide them with the necessary knowledge, enhance their skills and try to make them feel competent. A Competent person seeks opportunities to increase personal contribution and level of responsibility; Supports and respects the individuality of others and recognizes the benefits of diversity of ideas and approaches; Delegates and empowers others to increase contribution and level of responsibility; Facilitates team goal setting and problem solving; Recognizes differences between individuals, cultures and teams and provides developmental feedback in accordance with performance management principles; Identifies competencies required and suitable resources for specific tasks; Displays personal interest in the well-being of colleagues; Able to manage own time as well as time of colleagues and other stakeholders; and Manages conflict through a participatory approach. In the different researches and studies of employee empowerment, such as one carried out by Erickson et al, revealed that employee empowerment is said to occur when the management and employers pursue goals of both personal as well as professional growth for their employees. For example the senior managers and leaders within the organizations can assist their employees in enhancing their capabilities, in turn enhancing their potential to fully utilize their capabilities. Hypothesis: H 5: The level of Empowerment will be high for those employees who have the capability or the necessary skill or knowledge to take decisions. Now that we had clarified how each of the previous variables (Autonomy, Creativity , Level of Communication between managers and employees, self-esteem and competency) affects and contributes to the adaptation of an empowerment culture, the following section is dedicated to verifying the relation between employee empowerment and the job performance concepts. Performance Simple, some people say. Performance is getting the job done. Producing the result that you aimed at, nothing else matters. There are no prizes for coming second. [reference] Performance is basically the level of output shown by an employee. The level of performance (high or low) varies from person to person. Some employees may produce good results and some may show poor performance. Managers consistently check the performance of employees to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. There is a deep connection between employee performance and employee empowerment which is based on two things. The first main thing is the goal setting. If the employee understands his job or work well and know how it will effect the organization, he will take those decisions that will benefit the company for long-term. Second, empowerment implies accountability, along with the freedom to make decisions. It helps to create that accountability for results and the outcomes of decisions the employee makes through ongoing communication, and of course, the performance review process. Intellectual capital of a staff can be distinctive competence of a company. Firms that motivate their employees to make creative decisions and being open to experience (always ready to take risks) are more likely to achieve success. The most efficient and effective way to increase the performance of employees is to empower them as it gives authority to workers to make prospective decisions. This delegation of authority increases job satisfaction and sense of responsibility (Marshall, Talbott Bukovinsky 2006) Empowerment is the most important practice which has a greater effect on the performance of employees in an organization. Progressive Productive firms are profitable, effective, adaptive and proactive towards changing environment

frosts early poems :: essays research papers

To refer to a group of Frost's poems as "early" is perhaps problematic: One is tempted to think of the term as relative given that Frost's first book of poetry appeared when he was already 39. Moreover, Frost's pattern of withholding poems from publication for long periods of time makes dating his work difficult. Many of the poems of the first book, A Boy's Will, were, in fact, written long before--a few more than a decade earlier. Likewise, Frost's later books contain poems almost certainly written in the period discussed in this note. The "Early Poems" considered here are a selection of well known verses published in the eleven years (1913-1923) spanned by Frost's first four books: A Boy's Will, North of Boston, Mountain Interval, and New Hampshire. Frost famously likened the composition of free-verse poetry to playing tennis without a net: it might be fun, but it "ain't tennis." You will find only tennis in the poems that follow. And yet, even while Frost worked within form, he also worked the form itself, shaping it by his choice of language and his use of variation. He invented forms, too, when the poem required it. A theme in Frost's work is the need for some, but not total, freedom--for boundaries, too, can be liberating for the poet, and Frost perhaps knew this better than anyone: No American poet has wrought such memorable, personally identifiable, idiosyncratic poetry from such self-imposed, often traditional formulae. In these "early" years, Frost was concerned with perfecting what he termed "the sound of sense." This was "the abstract vitality of our speech...pure sound-- pure form": a rendering, in words, of raw sensory perception. The words, the form of the words, and the sounds they encode are as much the subject of the poem as the subject is. Frost once wrote in a letter that to be a poet, one must "learn to get cadences by skillfully breaking the sounds of sense with all their irregularity of accent across the regular beat of the metre." Thus, we read "Mowing" and simultaneously hear the swishing and whispering of the scythe; upon reading "Stopping by the Woods," one clearly hears the sweep of easy wind and downy flake; to read "Birches" is to vividly sense the breezy stir that cracks and crazes the trees' enamel. Most of the lyrics treated in this note are relatively short, but Frost also pioneered the long dramatic lyric (represented here by "Home Burial").

Character of Athena in Homers Odyssey :: Homer Odyssey womody

Character of Athena in Homer's Odyssey The "gray eyed" Athena is one of the most special characters in The Odyssey. First off, how many gray eyed people do you know? That makes her pretty special right there, adding to the fact that she is an Olympian goddess. As all goddesses are pictured, she has a thin figure (not skinny), great brown curling hair which flows from the head gently down to her slender waist, perfect toned peach (in Greek and Roman myths) skin, and, of course, the big blue shiny eyes which can mesmorize any mortal at first sight. That's one special person. And she doesn't fail to keep those aspects while helping out ol' Odysseus. In addition to her outstanding looks, she has a kind heart. Unlike her brother, Poseidon, she wants Odysseus to get back home to Ithaka. She also wants Telemahkos to meet his father for the first time in decades. She does this very cleverly. To help Telemakhos grow out of his cowardly childhood, she comes to him as a good friend, encouraging the young boy to do what he must and seek out news about his father. But when she leaves, she gives a little hint to him that she's actually a goddess by turning into a bird. I think this was a weakness of Athena. The fact that she constantly showed off to many people that she was indeed a goddess shows that she wants to be praised by all and showing a slight immature and soft side on her part. This can also be interpreted as a good action in some cases. When Telemakhos knows Athena, a goddess, is on his side, this gives him extra confidence. She also shows a caring side when she turns into many different figures to guide Odysseus through his journey. This shows determination on her part, saying that she really wants Odysseus, a brave soldier who fought for good in the Trojan War, to get home to his loving family. The way she changes form to try and trick Odysseus from thinking that he was indeed back home was a test. But he obviously saw through the charade and went to claim his rights back in his palace. This isn't the only way she helps Odysseus and Telemakhos.