Performance, Planning and Decision-Making Essay - 1

Performance, Planning and Decision-Making - Essay Example The context will enumerate the advantages that can be experienced by an organization by selecting an appropriate leadership style. At the same time, the context of the essay will explain some inherent problems associated with one single type of leadership. At the end the researcher will state that authentic leadership approach is the best method to govern a concern in the current dynamic world. The entire context of the essay will include several empirical examples for making the analysis more robust. The essay will focus on the importance of choosing appropriate leadership style for successful organizational performance. It will critically analyze for and against the statement concerned. The analysis will be done with the help of theoretical and empirical analysis tools. The state of business complexity has significantly increased in the current era. At this juncture, business firms actively seek productive ways by which they would be able to achieve competitive edges in business (Casson and Wadeson, 2012). Efficiency of factor resources is crucially required for long-term growth of a company. However, growth and productivity of all resources can be stimulated by a leader or an entrepreneur. Many researchers observe leadership as an important causal factor affecting performance of an organization. However, there exist very few studies that show the exact ways that allow leadership to affect performance, culture and climate of a business organization. There are various researches conducted on leadership relating to human services in organizations, but little investigation has been conducted on appropriate practice of leadership in the similar context. It is believed by some researchers that an organization is able to effectively prepare growth plans in business only after determining an appropriate leadership style. This is because through leadership, management system of

Transparency In Government Essay Example for Free

Transparency In Government Essay Introduction. Government organs and state owned enterprises are major buyers and sellers having a great impact on international trade. According to an OECD estimates, the total government procurement worldwide was estimated to be roughly equivalent to 82.3% of world merchandise and commercial services exports in 1998 alone[1]. Such public spending is essential in running government welfare programs such as, health, education, and pension and managing the infrastructure for future development. In order to obtain cost effective prices for contracting the services to run these projects, an efficient public procurement policy that incorporates elements of transparency and competition needs to be established to ensure that the tendering process is open to all interested parties. Besides, knowledge about a country’s contestable shares is important not only for investors, but also governments and trade negotiators. The Chairman of the WTO Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement Practices, established after the 1996 WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore, identified Transparency in Government Procurement as one of the twelve issues around which discussions on procurement matters at the WTO have been organized. This paper analyses in depth this issue with a view to improving market access and national welfare. For this purpose, we present the following structure. (SECTION II) The relationship between public procurement, market access and national welfare: Traditionally, public procurement is viewed as a sovereign domain of governments except when it is relinquished in favour of international trade agreements such as the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Though it’s easy to agree on a policy for ensuring transparency in Public Procurements, the implementation of such a policy depends on, among other factors, whether such an agreement will improve market access for suppliers at the same time cater for the county’s national welfare. Hence the main objective of this paper is to answer the question on whether transparency in Public Procurement can achieve both objectives. Here, we confirm that lack of transparency in PP reduces market access and national welfare only in the short run where the government’s demand is initially more than the total domestic supply but does not affect prices in the long run under perfect market conditions. {Baldwin and Richardson (1972)} at the same time, we examine the trade impact of transparent procurement policy and support the view that non-preferential procurement policy results in huge gains in national welfare. {Lowinger (1976) and Deardorff and Stern (1979)} (Section III) Actual data on the size of government procurement practices: Though the Data on government procurement markets are both scarce and non-standardized, we intend to measure the quantity of government procurements markets in the international trade. We shall also analyze the methodology used in collection and calculation of data from various countries with emphasis on SNA, WTO notifications, EC study based on EU official journal and the â€Å"bottom up approach[2]† The role of the OECD Trade Committee in respect of its analysis of government procurement practices shall also be examined.[3]. Section IV Rationale for discriminative practices: Cost effectiveness, geographical proximity especially for non-tradable goods[4] nationalism, corruption,[5] and protectionalism are some of the rationales that we shall discuss. We shall review the Keynesian theory associating procurement discrimination to macroeconomic development. Some projects that are prone to preferential treatment such as the aviation industry and defence contracts are also discussed. forms of discrimination such as the â€Å"outright exclusion† in which foreign bidders are excluded from tendering process, â€Å"preferential price margin† in which local bidders are preferred as long s the price difference doesn’t exceed specific margin and the concept of   â€Å"domestic content requirement† in which foreign suppliers are automatically disqualified from bidding unless they commit to purchase some components from domestic firms[6] have been reviewed. Section V Summary of the effect of preferential treatment: We present that procurement policies favouring domestic firms and products can impede international commerce especially when there is an outright ban for foreign suppliers. But at the same time local firms will greatly benefit thereby boosting national income. A liberalized policy on the other hand may achieve the WTO aim of market access, which in turn will positively affect national welfare, but transparency reform need not improve market access and welfare simultaneously[7]. We shall also highlight the importance of transparency in PP to global trade initiatives. Section VI Measures to improve transparency in procurement policies: We shall review reform initiatives and the factors aiding or hindering such reforms. International commitment in improving market access and national welfare shall also be discussed. We shall provide an overview of the achievements and failures of the following agreements in this regard. GATT 1947 The Tokyo round 1979 The Uruguay round 1994 The Singapore ministerial conference (1996) The Doha ministerial declaration (2001) Beyond the Cancun collapse The concluding remarks are given in section VII.   ACRONYMS OECD WTO World Trade Organisation SNA EC European Commission EU European Union PP Public Procurement GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. [1] OECD, The Size of Government Procurement Markets 11-Feb-2002, Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/14/1845927.pdf [2] This is a method of gathering national data on procurement expenditure directly from the national procurement agencies of various countries. [3] Please study OECD Draft instrument on Government Purchasing Policies, Procidures and Practices forwarded to GATT in 1976 for better understanding. [4] Breton and Salmon, (1995) [5] Corrupt officials expand expenditures (Hines, 1997). For a detailed political economy rationale for reform see Hoekman (1998) [6] OECD, The Size of Government Procurement Markets 11-Feb-2002, Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/14/1845927.pdf [7] Government procurement: market access, transparency, and multilateral trade rules Simon J. Evenett, Bernard M. Hoekman

A Lacanian Study of Motherhood in the Poems of William Wordsworth Essay

William Wordsworth was a prolific poet of the Romantic movement, perhaps best known for publishing Lyrical Ballads with friend and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798. These poems were written in what Wordsworth described as a ‘common tongue’ with a focus on themes often found in Romantic poetry, such as the pastoral, the mythical, fragmentation, heroism and satire. In Lyrical Ballads one recurring subject almost unique to Wordsworth in its passion and persistence is that of motherhood. The connection between womanhood and nature make it a frequently explored theme for many poets, such as Blake in his Songs of Innocence. However, I have chosen to focus on Wordsworth since motherhood is not only examined at great length in his poetry, but also because biographical details of his own life make analysis of his works concerning the topic all the more significant, since he had lost his own mother at the age of eight. For a topic such as motherhood, one school of critical thought likely to provide interesting observations is that of psychoanalysis. I have chosen to focus on Jacques Lacan for this essay since his theories have a greater emphasis on the use and formation of language in the individual than other key figures in his field, such as Jung or Freud. Lacan believed that when we examine literature, we do not merely analyse the characters of a text, but also the text itself as an effect of the linguistic wordplay of the unconscious. For this reason I feel that Lacan is particularly well suited to the discussion of poetry. In this essay I shall be making reference to Lacan’s analysis of The Three Orders and his account of The Mirror Stage in relation to the ego. For Lacan, the Mirror Stage is not ... ...ressing or painful situations, although we may have forgotten of origins of the compulsion. In the symbolic realm we also begin our unending search for Objet (petit) a, the lost object that must constantly be sought in order, we feel, to complete us: an unobtainable other. For Wordsworth, this Objet (petit) a appears to be the mother figure and his compulsion is to write about her from every perspective. Works Cited Bennett, Andrew, and Nicholas Royle. An introduction to literature, criticism and theory 4. ed. Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2009. Leitch, Vincent B. "Jacques Lacan." In The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. New York: Norton, 2001. Wilden, Anthony. System and structure: essays in communication and exchange. 2nd ed. London: Tavistock, 1980. Wu, Duncan. "Lyrical Ballads." In Romanticism: an anthology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1994.

Implications of a performance pay system

IntroductionHuman resource and industrial relations is viewed by many scholars as themes that see the sights of thoughts that relates to employment relationships in many organizations including teaching institutions in Australia. The issue of performance in these institutions is of interest to nearly every one in the country and much has been centred on improving the results of the students that are in these institutions. Over the past few years, teachers have been under pressure to produce best results in Australia and this development has led to introducing performance/merit pay system. (Williams and Adam, 2006)There is an argument that some or all a worker’s pay is ‘contingent’ that is it only gets paid if the worker meets certain benchmarks. This means that teachers in learning institutions are required to beat specific targets in order to be compensated. The teachers will be compensated for the extra work that they have done and more specifically if their stu dents have performed best in their studies. Research indicates that the Australian teachers with superior degrees and additional years of experience are remunerated extra than those employed recently or those with low educational levels and terms of service are just a manifestation of age and persistence. This system is founded on the supposition that compensating teachers for outstanding performance would offer encouragements for enhanced student accomplishment gains in their studies. (Williams and Adam, 2006)These performance pay strategies are founded on individual instructor performance which may result to rivalry in the middle of the teachers in the learning institutions. This practice has led to every teacher the bright students when they are teaching them in order to achieve the best results and hence get bonuses associated with such outstanding performance. This means that the teacher’s cooperation which is essential in each and ever institution is threatened and actu ally in some cases shattered.This practice of performance pay in Australia has led to unions of teachers being argumentative that the assessment is prejudiced and it is not based on intended statistics. These performance pay systems often provides for additional payments to that of the teachers salaries and has led to economic complexities because more funds are required to be used for the payments.   This system of merit/performance pay has another bad implication to the teachers in that there are under enhanced strain and force to produce good results from their students in the learning institutions within Australia. This pressure in turn leads to low motivation of teachers which may affect the student’s performance in long-term when the teachers involved will feel that they have achieved enough in terms of gaining financial resources associated with student’s performance. (Hagglund and Provis 1996)The Industrial Relation perspectiveThe performance/merit pay system s in Australia has led to teachers expressing their dissatisfaction brought about by the increased pressure of trying to meet the set targets of students performance in order to be compensated. The teachers unions have had the responsibility to champion the rights of the teachers who are the members. (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004)Unitarism/pluralismFor effective collective bargaining teachers through their trade unions are expected to be united and speak in one voice. This implies that with such practice they will have a bigger advantage because their grievances can be solved with ease and with fewer complications. Channelling grievances through trade unions will give them an added advantage and they may be rewarded with payments that they will be comfortable with unlike when they just express their individual opinions to the relevant paying systems.Collectivism v individualismIndividualism is all about achieving individual goals while Collectivism can be defined as a system that asser ts the primacy of collective goals rather than individual goals. Through collectivism individuals’ requirements are viewed to be of less significance than that of the entire society. Individual privileges may be constrained if they are seen to go up against the objectives of the society. Today collectivism is practiced in Australia as socialism whereby socialism can be traced back to scholar known as Karl Marx (1818-1883).In his argument, Marx takes the view that the government or the state ought to own the way of production to guarantee a just reimbursement of workforce and to steer clear of mistreatment of the masses by a few individuals who take advantage of others for their own benefits. Socialism are of two forms; the first one being that of communism whereby its supporters supposes that socialism can only be attained through cruel revolutions and dictatorship. The second form is that of social democrats whereby its supporters seek to achieve socialism or collectivism th rough democratic means. (Hyman, 1975)Merit/performance pay system in Australia have been viewed by the teachers unions to be individual means of compensating performance and thus these unions have been seeking collectivism where all teachers are remunerated equally and depending on there competences. Collectivism in teachers performance may be achieved through the concept of collective bargaining by both the teachers unions and the employer in this case the Australian government. (Hunt and Provis, 1995)Fairness v competitivenessIn order to achieve goals in any learning institutions fairness should be practiced and unfair competition should be avoided because it may results to conflicts between the teachers in teaching fraternities in Australia. If merit pay system is encouraged in the teaching profession teachers will compete for brighter students. This implies that teachers will feel secure and be sure of more bonuses if their students are bright and can perform well in their studi es. With such system also teachers in Australia may result in competition whereby they try to outdo each other in terms of their remuneration that they get from there bonuses. This means that teachers can manipulate the results of their students in order to receive high bonuses than that of their fellow teachers.The HRM perspectiveHuman Resource Management strategy may be defined as a calculated means by which the enterprise deploy its human resources to accomplish its purpose and basic objectives under the most advantageous circumstances. This implies that the HRM strategy defines the direction in which the learning institutions in Australia intends to move and establish the framework of action through which it intends to get there due to the efficiency of the teachers. This is because the institution management and especially the Human Resource Departments believe that people are the most important assets in the institution as compared to other assets that aid in running learning institutions. (Maund, 2001)How can performance be assessed?The human resource perspectives take the view that performance can be assessed through the overall performance of the human resource and in this case the teachers in the various learning institutions. Performance can only be assessed through organizational effectiveness in learning institutions in Australia. Organization effectiveness can defined as achieving results in an organization through a well organized and coordinated series of managerial activities that comprises of planning, leading, organizing, directing, and controlling of all the resources in the organization including teachers in order to achieve desirable results.Organizational effectiveness involves number of activities including; recruiting competent, motivated and qualified teachers in order to achieve good results, good communication system in the learning institutions, unambiguous policies, decisions and regulations, a conducive environment for teaching, good management, ability to adapt to   any changes, and building a viable and strong culture and mission among others. (Sparrow and Hilltop, 1994)Therefore organization effectiveness can only be achieved through management functions; planning, which encompasses defining learning institution’s goals establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals and developing a comprehensive hierarchy of plans to integrate and coordinate activities, organizing, which is the determination of what tasks have to be done, who does them how the tasks are to be grouped? Who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made.Controlling, this involves monitoring the teacher’s performance, leading, which involves head teachers motivating teachers, directing the activities to be done, selecting the most appropriate channels of communication and resolving any conflicts among the teachers. There are numerous ways in measuring the effectiveness of learning institutions and include; p roductivity, profits, stability, turnover, growth among others.How can differences in performance be rewarded?Rewarding differences in performance is a difficult task in learning institutions and especially in regards to teachers in Australia. It will be wise if the employees in this case the teachers are paid according to the work that they are doing. A good remuneration system that will involve paying better wages to these teachers as required in their profession plus other benefits when they have achieved the set goals. It is prudent for job evaluation to be carried out in order to reward performance.Job evaluation is all about the relative ranking of an individual job in relation to other jobs that exist within the group. This also refers to technique used in ranking of jobs in an organization. This is normally carried out on the basis of various responsibilities and duties that are assigned to the specific job or task. (Sheridan and Provis, 1998)The results of the job evaluatio n process include the job being assigned a specific range of payment.   The range normally includes a maximum pay rate that the specific job can attract and also the minimum rate of payment that can be given to a person holding such a position. Job evaluation as a management tool has been used by employers and managers for approximately more than seventy five years.This management tool has been used both in the private and in the public sector including in learning institutions. Basing on some generic factors, the value of each teaching job is well defined in the job evaluation process. When the teachers responsibilities are evaluated in terms of their results achieved then they can be rewarded with exactness and without prejudice. (Turner, 1962):Will it actually improve performance?Rewarding difference in performance through job evaluation is very important to employers and managers especially in learning institutions in Australia and actually may improve performance. The reason as to why rewarding difference in performance as a management tool never goes out of fashion is because it plays a big role in reducing teacher’s turnover rate.One of the steps involved in job evaluation is bench marking the jobs. This is done in relation to the jobs that have been evaluated before.   In this case the bench mark jobs are those that are commonly included in salary surveys found in most learning institutions. In this process the bench mark jobs of internal pay structures are related to the external structure’s existing in the labour market that is in other institutions.This greatly helps in reducing employee turnover in the various learning institutions because teachers will be satisfied with their pay. This is because job evaluation carried out will enable the learning institution’s pay grades to be at per with competitor institutions. In this case teachers will not see the need of looking for greener pastures since their pay grades will be sim ilar to what their colleagues in the same positions are paid in other learning institutions. This is really important to employers and managers because they will not be worried about losing teachers to better paying learning institutions and will also motivate the teachers to produce results. This generally plays a big role to stability in the organization. (Anderson, Provis, and Chappel, 2002)Possible disadvantages of actuality performance?There are some disadvantages associated with actuality performance and one can be that of teachers being under pressure to produce the best results in their teaching practice. Because of such pressure sometimes they feel over strained and hence they are low motivated at some level. It may also result to unfair competition between the teachers and this may lead to producing bad performance through sub standard teaching practices thus students may not gain the required knowledge and may be termed as half-baked in the job markets. (Provis, 2004)Conc lusionPerformance/merit pay can be both effective and ineffective in learning institutions in Australia. For example with such system teachers can produce the best results because they will be motivated to get bonuses from their work. On the other hand if not utilized well teachers may create an environment full of unfair competition in an effort to produce good results from their students and they may engage themselves in bad activities like leaking exams to students before the exam dates so that they can perform better. This implies that students will not have an opportunity to gain a wider knowledge but instead they will be narrowed to subjects and topics that will be included in their exams. (Provis, 1986)References:Anderson, B. Provis, C. and Chappel, S. (2002): The Recognition and Management of Emotional Labour in the Tourism Industry. Report to CRC on Sustainable Tourism, Pp 124-134Blyton, P. and Turnbull, P. (2004): The Dynamics of Employee Relations, 3rd Edition Macmillan, London Pp 32-56Hagglund, G. and C. Provis (1996): Enterprise Bargaining and Productivity Issues in South Australia, Contemporary Issues in Business and Government 2 (4), Pp 49-54Harris, R.., Provis, C., Park, R., Mason, D., Delbridge, R. and Gough, R. (2002): High Performance Manufacturing and the Learning Factory, Report to Industry Pp 78-89Hunt, I, and Provis, C (1995): The New Industrial Relations in Australia. Federation Press, Sydney Pp 67-78Hyman, R. (1975): Industrial Relations- A Marxist Introduction, Macmillan, London. Pp 67-89Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice: Palgrave, Macmillan. Pp 67-79Provis, C. (2004): Ethics and Organisational Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham and Northampton. Pp 100-123Provis, C. (1997): Mediation and Conciliation in Industrial Relations- Reflections from Australia,' Labour Studies Journal 21 (4), Pp 83-99Provis, C. (1986): Comparative Wage Justice.   Journal of Industrial Relations 28 (1) Pp 26-34Salamon, M. (2000): Industrial Relations. Theory and Practice, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, London. Pp 45-67Sheridan, K. and C. Provis (1998): Enterprise Agreements in South Australia. Progress or pretence?   International Journal of Employment Studies 6 (1), Pp 129-1140.Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York Prentice Hall, Pp 43-78Turner, H. (1962): Trade Union Democracy in Trade Union growth, structure and policy. Allen and Unwin, London. Pp 292-294Williams, S. and Adam S (2006): Contemporary Employment Relations- A Critical Introduction, Oxford Pp 54-67

Dracula & gothic genre Essay

Novels of the Gothic genre, like ‘Dracula’, are often set in big old castles or ruins. In this novel there is the setting of Dracula’s castle. This is an old castle in the middle of ‘one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe’. It is on the edge of a precipice and seems to be very grand. Harker describes it in his journal, ‘The castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! ‘ This description of the castle makes it seem very quiet, rural and frightening. The sheer height of the castle would scare people. Stoker chooses his adjectives very carefully in ‘Dracula’, here he uses the adjective ‘terrible’ which sums up the gothic nature of the setting. There is also part of the novel set in a Whitby. Here there is a big ruined abbey and an open coastline. It is a dramatic seaside town. Stoker obviously chose it carefully to stress the full force of the weather and uneasy feelings of Mina. The weather in itself creates a scene of a gothic genre. There is a big storm approaching in chapter six and at the end of the chapter we get the very beginning of the storm. The weather was not easily explained at the time when ‘Dracula’ was written so this would give the reader unease and increase the fear. The Count participates greatly as an element of the gothic genre. His appearance is revolting and makes Harker ‘shudder’. ‘His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest his ears were pale and at the tops extremely pointed. ‘ Dracula’s pointed ears remind us of wolves which are often used in gothic novels. His mouth is ‘cruel-looking’ and his teeth are odd. Dracula also wears a cloak which has monotones of bats which are often linked to the gothic genre. He is also capable of controlling the wolves that he calls ‘the children of the night’. Wolves are often seen to be very scary as they come out at night and are generally vicious animals.

Tolerance and Truth in America

Tolerance and Truth in America The heritage of the United States of America is founded predominantly upon a belief in God. This is evident in the ancient laws which clearly integrated a lot of religious beliefs especially in matters concerning morality. The country’s currency, the dollar, bears the religious inscription â€Å"In God we trust†.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Tolerance and Truth in America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During the founding of the United States of America, the Catholic faith seemed to be the predominant religion in the country. This Christian faith was not necessarily imposed on anyone but was recognized as the true religion hence used as a basis for most of American moral law. Over the centuries numerous faith denominations have emerged, each convinced that theirs is the true religion. The ongoing truth and tolerance debate in America arose as a result of the emerging religions and faiths that all b elieved and claimed to have the truth. Edward Kennedy, a believer in the Christian faith, strongly advocated for tolerance especially amongst Christians. He began his popular speech on truth and tolerance by confessing his faith in God and his belief in Jesus Christ. He went on to admit that he did not presume that his religion and faith were not necessarily perfect. He acknowledged that irrespective of how much he believed in truth, no religion could claim a monopoly of it. He acknowledged that pluralism does not mean that all the religions are right, but it does mean that there are areas in which government should not decide what is wrong or right for the people to think or believe. In cases of sensitive issues such as abortion, Kennedy considered it transgression for any religion to require the government to legislate on what the citizens ought to do with such personal parts of their lives. This, to him, was an act of intolerance for other religions and beliefs. He however had no thing against spreading one’s faith except that it is to be done through an appeal to individuals’ consciences and not through coercion of the power of State. Therefore, tolerance does not require that religions and faith do not express their views but that no religion should impose its will on the State or on any governing body. In this way, the church and the State will be kept peacefully separate. The reasons for drawing this line included respect for the integrity of religion and the independent judgment of conscience. According to Edward Kennedy, an example of intolerance had been the election period in 1976. Some people hinted that Jimmy Carter ought not to be elected president of the United States of America because he was a born again Christian. This, to him, was unacceptable because it is wrong to judge a person’s fitness to govern based on their religion or whom they worshiped.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help y ou! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was a persuasive argument and made a lot of sense because every person had their own beliefs and values. Tolerance, therefore, would have the people not basing their judgment and credibility upon their religious beliefs. In conclusion, it is essential to respect the motives of those who readily and openly disagree with the State and question the public’s integrity. Sometimes questioning each other’s integrity is a sign of looking out for each other and however much we are not obligated to agree with skeptics it is important to genuinely listen to them and consider their whatever point they are trying to put across. Scholars have argued that tolerance implies contentment with not knowing the truth. When truth is made relative then its meaning is lost. It is important to respect and tolerate people with differing points of view and beliefs. This, however, should not deter citizens from earnestly seekin g the truth even when it means being shaken out of their comfort zones which, in this case, may be the different religions.

buy custom Issues Affecting Supply Chain of Cars and Assembly Company essay

buy custom Issues Affecting Supply Chain of Cars and Assembly Company essay Introduction Supply chain involves a series of activities conducted in order to make goods available to consumers. A typical supply chain consists of consumers who make use of goods they need and which are available in the market. It also consists of retailers and wholesalers who are collectively known as distributors. This is because they are charged with the responsibility of transporting goods from manufacturers warehouses to places where they are needed and available to consumers. A typical supply chain also consists of manufacturers who assemble goods from raw materials into finished products with the purpose of fulfilling consumer needs. Manufacturers take the responsibility of packaging products for the presentation purposes. This allows them to put their seal on the product for preservation of its integrity. A supply chain also consists of suppliers who undertake supply of raw materials to manufacturers. A manufacturer may have a number of suppliers depending on the type of product being manufactured. In the case of cars, suppliers provide steel, rubber, metal alloys, glass and other types of supplies. This means that the suppliers may also be manufacturers for the respective raw materials. In this regard, a supply chain ends with the consumer but may start with several manufacturers playing a double role of manufacturers and suppliers. This paper analyses the assembly and distribution of automobiles and factors affecting the chain of supply as a unit as well as individual companies that make up the chain. General Motors and supply chain of cars The company General Motors is a supply chain by itself. This is because it undertakes to design, build and sell cars and automobile parts. The company was started in 1908 and has expanded to include offering of finances for automotive production. General Motors is wide and large company consisting of General Motors North America, General Motors Europe, General Motors financial, General Motors international operations and General Motors South America (Thompson Reuters, 2012). All these arms of the company help it in production of cars such as Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Cadillac, Daewoo, Holden and Vauxhall. The General Motors supply chain includes manufacture of models such as Chevrolet, Vauxhall and the rest with each model having its own supply chain. Manufacture of the models is carried out in the respective factories which are essentially assembly points. This means that General Motors gets its raw materials for manufacture of cars from various suppliers. In addition to manufacturing, General Motors has contracted various dealers. The supply chain also involves a service department where servicing of cars and repairs are done (Thompson Reuters, 2012). The repair is facilitated using only General Motors parts. This forms another arm of manufacture which deals with manufacture of General Motors parts. The dealers who facilitate repairs are given authorization under its warranty program. General Motors has many subsidiary companies spread around the world for distribution and repair purposes. For instance, ONSTAR is a subsidiary of General Motors situated in the United States, Canada and China. It offers servicing on connected safety, security, mobility solutions and information technology solutions for General Motors. It offers services such as crash response, stolen vehicle assistance, remote door unlock, turn by turn navigation, vehicle diagnostics and hands free calling (Thompson Reuters, 2012). The primary distributors of General Motors cars are independent authorized dealers. In addition, General Motors financial gives credits to its customers thus earning a charge on the credit (Thompson Reuters, 2012). It also offers to lease products in contract of cars and facilitates large sales through offering credits to leasing companies and car hires. The automobile industry has a long supply chain ranging from supply of different parts to make up the components of the car. This part of supply chain is usually large because cars have up to one hundred of different components. If each component is supplied by a different contract, then one hundred suppliers are needed. The assembly point may also involve different companies or arms of a company because different models of cars are assembled differently. Some parts are also assembled differently than others which may necessitate at times having different assembly points. On manufacturing, many services, such as painting, may be outs ourced so as to save time and cost of production. The supply chain of vehicles becomes even larger with distributors because the product is shipped to different locations of the world to satisfy the customer needs. Lastly, the supply chain ends with the consumers who are either custom-made car buyers or general model car buyers. Issues affecting supply chain in automobile production One of the key issues affecting automobile supply chain is dynamism in the industry itself. Global competition has rocked the industry, and each company and supply chain compete to reduce its operating costs thus increasing profit (Fine, Claire, Lafrance, 1996). For instance, the supply chain in the United States has received great competition from Japanese automakers. This has led to demanding that workers who get automobile jobs are not unionized. The result has been cutting down of workers thus many have lost their jobs as a result of global competition. The industry, especially in the United States, has reduced its capacity due to emerging supply chains including the Indian supply chain in automobiles. In automobile supply chain most products and services are outsourced and this has made supply chains to reduce their capacity considerably. This has also occasioned downsizing in the labor department. The industry has also increased productivity thus requiring fewer workers to mee t the set targets. Loss of income has been a major source of outrage for those who sacked from their jobs. Due to experience, the workers left in the supply chain are old and weak thus making the flow of ideas dormant or redundant. This is a source of concern for the industry because creativity has to be outsourced, too. According to a previous research, the United States automobile industry does not enjoy cooperative labor relations (Fine, Claire, Lafrance, 1996). This is because the United States government does not recognize non-union relationships between employer and employee. For unionized employees, the law limits reforms in the workplace in collective bargain contracts. The management of industry companies is against the unionization of members because they get more power to be heard and better paid. This disagreement limits full participation of employees towards the well being of the industry. The management of industry companies is under pressure to downsize due to the economic structure of the world. The economic pressures also require cost controls to be put into effect and necessitate outsourcing of services. In addition to human resource issues in the industry, the industry is unable to unite wages for employees across the supply chain (Fine, Claire, Lafrance, 1996). This is because the manufacturing companies pay more to their workers, while in the same industry suppliers pay their workers much less. This disunity between wages affects the productivity of workers and discourages them from attaining the set goals of the industry. The supply chain sector in the automobile industry experiences relationship problems between the manufacturers and the distributors (Fine, Claire, Lafrance, 1996). This is because the approach method in cost reduction determines the amount of information flow between the supplier and manufacturer and between the manufacturer and distributor. Some companies mploy partnership method of negotiation where they invite the supplier to reduce costs in other ways and split the profits with the manufacturers. This is mostly used when the manufacturer wants to reassure contract renewal for the supplier on expiry. Other companies use the arms length relationship with suppliers thus always trying to force suppliers to cut direct cost of supply to the manufacturers. This reduces the profit margin of the suppliers and creates a minimal flow of information between the parties. This type of relationship is mostly used for mass production of cars for companies that are established in the industry. L ack of understanding in the industry leads to wrong choice of relationship thus affecting productivity. These two kinds of relationships when handled irresponsibly can create a barrier between the manufacturers and suppliers which is not good for business. The United States suppliers to the auto industry have slow adoption of innovative human resource practices. According to the research done on employee participation in supply firms in the sector, thirty eight percent (38%) of managers said they did not know how many suggestions employees had made that year. This lack of recognition of innovative talent by suppliers suppresses growth of the industry and the individual companies. The supply chain management is also an issue for the supply chain sector in automobile production. This is because the policies guiding supply tendering requirement are not universal among the companies. Issues affecting General Motors company in automobile production General Motors relationship with suppliers is not smooth because the suppliers are not happy with its policies on tender of supplies. This is because General Motors requires suppliers to tender their quote documents together with technical information of the product and its manufacture without claim of confidentiality (Thompson Reuters, 2012). This discourages some suppliers from offering their technology to the company. This shows that management of the supply chain in General Motors does not foster good relationship between suppliers and the company. The distribution sector of the General Motors cars is very dynamic because the distributors are influenced by the trends of the consumers (Our Company, 2012). The distribution of cars for General Motors is done by contracted individual dealers who are not focused on the manufacturer but rather on the consumer feelings and needs. This means that dealers of General Motors can be swayed by demand from consumers to sell less of General Motors cars and more cars from a competitor who has introduced a new product to the market. For this reason manufacturers like General Motors are always listening to their dealers for new technology requirement by the customers. Production of cars by General Motors may be influenced greatly by distributors who seek only to satisfy customer needs without understanding the cost implications of new technology production. The company also grapples with inventory control which requires observation and foretelling the behavior of the market data companies, transportation companies and other outsourced service companies (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). The General Motors is required to study its service providers and tune them through incentives to act in the market in behavior favorable and profitable to General Motors. This is not an easy task because the list of service providers may be too long where some of the service providers are not contracted directly by General Motors but through another service company. This poses problems between the management and service providers. In the past General Motors focused on mass production of cars for profit making. With increased competition and variety of cars, the company has introduced a custom made section and integrated lean production with mass production strategies. This does not always work for the company because in the past some companies owned by General Motors had to be closed down for running losses. General Motors lacks the management and control staffs committed to cost reduction and production improve. General Motors Company faces the challenge of defect reduction in the manufacturing process (Our Company, 2012). This is costly for General Motors as it always requires the company to adopt the mass production and arms length relationship with suppliers to make their profit mark. Dealers for General Motors are partly or fully owned by the companies. The going price of vehicles at these outlets is usually lower than other dealers prices. This discourages other dealers from dealing with General Motors cars. As a listed company in the United States stocks exchange, General Motors experiences effect of economic crisis in the country (Thompson Reuters, 2012). This is because trading of General Motors shares depends on how well it performs in the distribution sector and ultimately the sale volume it makes. Finally, like all other auto companies in the United States, the General Motors faces challenges such as reduction of quantity of work in production of vehicles, reduction of resources needed to produce and sell a car and reduction of overhead running costs of the company. In some instances General Motors experiences lack of cooperation between manufacturing factories under its ownership. Some dealers for General Motors are single line dealers meaning they sell only General Motors cars. In such cases, the dealers though independent, adopt the name General Motors in their respective places in the world so as to gain ground for sales. Boardroom wrangles in the dealer companies reflect badly on the image of General Motors and plummets sales of General Motors cars. How supply chains in auto industry deal with such issues The supply chains in the industry adopt a hybrid system of production and control by combining lean production and mass production systems. Mass production increases the volume of cars available to consumers and increases chances of consumers buying such vehicles (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). On the other hand, lean production makes sure that economic pressures for downsizing and outsourcing are adhered to. It is important for companies of the auto making industry to improve their chances of making profit to ensure their survival. Supply chain in automobiles industry rehires workers who have been laid off during increased production years. They also encourage workers to be unionized because union comes with encouragement to work better. In the long run the companies have realized that unionized workers are more profitable than non-unionized members. This is because they know that their interests and grievances are heard by the companies. Unionized workers involve themselves with advancement of the companies and area creative a virtue necessary for automobile manufacturing. In some cases companies in the supply chain of automobiles have adopted a partnership kind of management to appease their workers. The partnership is between union representative and company management (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). This allows the workers to feel secure in their livelihood with the knowledge that they cant be laid off without a cause. According to researches, a company in a chain that allows unionization of members leaps more profit than companies which do not. Supply chains also discuss salaries across the board to ensure that all workers are paid according to their education and level of employment. They also take measures to ensure that all workers whether in manufacturing or in distribution at the same level of employment are paid approximately the same. This is by ensuring that basic salary is unified across the chain. Other benefits are earned according to the state law provisions and company goals achievement policies. Companies in the supply of cars listen to their employees because through their employees they come up with the designs of new models. According to researches, innovations suggested by the employees are implemented at a level of fifty percent (50%) (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). This is a good sign of improvement of relationship between employers and employees. Supply chains in automobile production realize that man cannot be fully replaced with technology because human supervision in production is necessary. The logic behind this is because end product is made to be consumed by people thus it is necessary that a person in supervision is satisfied with production before it goes into the market. Due to change there is global economic structure, companies in the automotive industry realign their management protocols and reconfigure their relationship structures. Most companies in hybrid system of production use partnership agreement and relationships to promote their well being (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). They invite their suppliers to cut cost in other ways and enjoy the profits together with the manufacturing companies. The arms length kind of relationships between manufacturers and suppliers are discouraged because they cut the profit margins of the suppliers. This eliminates the threat of receiving substandard parts and/ or assembly of cars. Moreover, the governments around the world are making policies that allow employees to choose their mode of employment. This is because they have realized that setting employees free to choose their mode of employment is profitable to companies and the state at large. Restrictions in the law of labor are mostly lifted by the gover nment although some form of limitation is present to guarantee the wellbeing of employees and to ensure they are not over-exploited by profit minded companies. Handling issues in general motors General Motors tendering policies have changed a little bit but remain rather oppressive to suppliers. This is because it is one of the largest companies in the United States with complete holding so it has stocks in most General Motors subsidiaries scattered all over the world. However, it does not use technology or innovation credited to another company without obtaining full rights. The General Motors Company tries to avoid legal action against the use of unauthorized technology because such action can disillusion the consumers. They would like to buy and understand a technology before using it when making of their vehicles. He reassures consumers that safety and security of cars is guaranteed. According to researches, listening to distributors in the production of cars is more profitable than ignoring them. This is however tricky because some customer demands are impractical. General Motors listens to the needs of consumers through conducting primary researches and through its operations and relationships with distributors (Our Company, 2012). Through fully owned distributors General Motors ascertains demands of the customers and the practicality of such demands. If demands are too high for mass production, the company uses custom-made wings of its operations to satisfy the needs of such customers. Custom-made cars are expensive but built to the demands of the customer. This allows the company to capture interest of people of the society who can spend money on specific qualities of the car. The arrangement also makes sure that normal production of standardized models is not interrupted by custom orders. The arrangement also makes certain that time and cost savings in produ ction is optimized. The control unit in management of General Motors is still wanting in most cases. However, General Motors in recent years have taken the initiative to reduce wastage and improve on production (Fine, Claire Lafrance, 1996). This is done by training their staff members involved in control and measurement of products. This makes sure that managers know effective ways to stimulate workers towards reduction of damages and wastages during production. The company uses all modes of production systems in the different manufacturing factories across the world. In some cases General Motors uses mass production where profits depend on the volume of cars sold. In such areas quality control is mostly important because wastage should be reduced while saving cost on supply of materials cost. In other cases the company uses hybrid system where control and quality of cars is paramount. Cost reduction is a result of direct haggling and incentive to the suppliers. Lean production is adopted in the Gener al Motors factories where cost cutting depends on the relationship between General Motors and suppliers. This is seen mostly in areas where competition is too high for suppliers and assured contracts lead to discounts. General Motors sells its products through independent dealers who are authorized to deal in General Motors cars (Thompson Reuters, 2012). To appease and retain good relationships between the distributors and General Motors, wholly or partially owned dealers sell its products at the same price as independent dealers. The freedom on whether to allow haggling or not is left for each individual dealers whether owned by General Motors or not to decide. In cases where General Motors allows dealers to use the brand name of General Motors, policies dictate that such dealers sell only General Motors cars and that a representative of General Motors is to be present in the board meetings to assess the relationship of board members with each other. The representative makes certain that well-being of General Motors is paramount to such dealers. They also control damage effect by wrangles preventing it from hurting General Motors manufacturers. General Motors also increases its profit margin through diversification of production in production of a wide range of models and car parts. Some car models are made in one region while not sold in another to cut cost in production. Conclusion Supply chain management plays a very significant role towards success of a business and bringing about satisfaction to customers. Besides providing the link between manufacturers and consumers, supply chain management helps in checking costs, increasing sales volume which results to maximized profits. The paper addressed the assembly and distribution process within the General Motors automobile supply chain. It has shown how General Motors has established itself in distribution of its products in addition to provision of value added services to its customers upon buying their vehicles. However, the company outsources some of the services such as paintings so as to reduce the cost of production. The article has also found out that the main issue that affects the automobile industry is dynamism in the market. Global completion has greatly increased thereby forcing companies to apply various cost cutting measures so as to remain afloat and at the same time competitive in the market. As a result, supply chains have embarked on strategies to deal with those issues. More specifically, the paper has shown how General Motors has done to deal with the issues affecting it in its supply chain business. It has been established that distributors in General Motors play a vital role as far as success of the firm is concerned. The company has a wide network of distributors and dealers throughout the world, who help in distribution of its products to customers around the globe. They provide the link between customers and the firm. Consequently, the company is able to serve its customers better. Buy custom Issues Affecting Supply Chain of Cars and Assembly Company essay