...Raymond Williams argues that ‘Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’ (1983: 87). With reference to at least one of the key readings other than the extracts from Williams that you’ve studied in weeks 1-5, discuss (1) why Williams argues this and (2) some of the different ways in which culture has been defined. Culture is one of the most difficult words to define as there are so many modern and traditional meanings that come across as being the ‘true’ definition. Williams said that it is because ‘it is now used in important concepts in intellectual disciplines and systems of thought’, however a more modern way of putting this is that it is part of spiritual development and a way of life. Arnold describes culture as a ‘study of perfection’, which, if you look at the dictionary definition of culture, applies to it; ‘Noun: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively’, referring to high culture. High culture, as Leavis put it is ‘the use of such language’, meaning the appreciation of finer living. Finer living means people who visit the theatre, art galleries, drink fine wines; are socially higher than the majority of society who most of the time cannot afford to live like that, they would swap the theatre for a cinema, the art gallery for ‘Madame Tussards’ and the wine bar for a nightclub. Such definition of the word culture makes it seem like a class division; something that Shakespeare picked...
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...An evaluation of the relationship between Organisational Culture defined using The Competing Values Framework (1988) and Allen and Meyer’s (2000) Organisational Commitment types. Introduction to culture Organisational Culture is a topic that has been addressed by many theorists and defined in numerous different ways (Ostroff, Kinicki, & Tamkins 2003), with the most famous definition being “the way we do things around here” (M Bower 1966). However a more comprehensive, inclusive definition of culture would be: “the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments” (Schein 1996). With this in mind, it is widely accepted that organisational culture not only has an impact on performance (Brown 2008; Andersen et al 2009) but has been described as one of the most powerful and stable forces operating in organizations (Lamond 2003). The Competing Values Framework This paper will use the Competing Values Framework (CVF, Figure 1) to address the aforementioned topic of corporate culture’s effect on organisational commitment, as it is regarded as the most popular approach for assessing the performance of a company (Gregory et al, 2009). The model itself is comprised of two main axis, the first reflecting the dimensions of change and stability within an organizations’ culture. One end of this axis represents a prominence towards flexibility and spontaneity, whereas...
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...During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s the Western cultures had began to modernize with technology, communication and the military. The growth had given the Western culture political power and economic success in other cultures. As the Western culture reaped accomplishments, other cultures feared the change and the progression. Struggling with the influence of the western cultures the non-western cultures had their own ways and their own values; they were not ready to take on neither change nor modifications, creating a decentering of their own culture, as they began losing their own identities. Due to the globalization of the nineteenth to the twentieth century non western cultures were faced with the influences of the western cultures, causing a decentering of their own culture. During the twentieth century such things as fashion, music, traditions, media, communication, and technology began to change and modernize to the times. Technology and communication has had an overwhelming growth since the nineteenth century. Some cultures such as music and literature has been passed down from generation to generation. There are many cultures that suffered decentering, such as Africa. The impact that the European culture had on Africa was devastating, as families and villages began to fall as men were sold or traded as slaves The African culture had many of their own traditions and their region flourished prior to the Europeans. The African nation lived quietly in...
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...lacks interest - union members block suggestions through committee action 4. Which one of the following is not a benefit to the employer when offering an ESOP? Student Answer: - maintains a stable work force - owner can sell stock to a friend - results in a dilution of value of the stock - ESOT can borrow money under favorable conditions 5. In contrast to compensation systems in the private sector, those for government employees are less likely to include use of Student Answer: - wage surveys - job descriptions - job evaluation - financial incentives 6. Which one of the following statements is not true regarding a defined contribution plan? Student Answer: - most pension plans are defined contribution plans - crucial to a defined contribution plan are investment and management skills - employers assume the investment risk - most plans have less than 100 participants 7. Which of the following is not true about a well-designed incentive scheme? Student An...
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...Abstract The intent of the paper is to examine current trends in the most commonly defined contribution retirement plan, the 401(k) plan. It will outline the best course of action to achieve an effective plan and maximize employee participation. This paper will review current mandates regulated by government agencies and explain the importance of remaining in compliance. Finally, the paper discusses best practices for implementation, as well as the best ways to promote a 401(k) plan within your organization. Throughout the process the details of the 401(k) plan at Tampa Bay & Company, a small sized organization, will be compared to other non-governmental company 401(k) plans to highlight specific examples and draw comparisons. Overall 401(k) Trends In response to the economic downturn there has been an increasing surge of employers who are lowering benefits associated with 401(k) plans. The most common trends are employers reducing the amount of match, reducing the portion of the match, or eliminating the match altogether. Over the past couple of years several surveys have been completed by investment firms, revealing that the number of employers who have decreased company contributions is on the rise. Some surveys show as low as a 7% decrease, but the majority of surveys claim that the amount is closer to 25% of employers who decreased matches or ceased employee contributions all together. Nearly two-thirds of employers still continue to provide matching contributions...
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...2011 Technical Summary IAS 19 Employee Benefits as issued at 1 January 2011. Includes IFRSs with an effective date after 1 January 2011 but not the IFRSs they will replace. This extract has been prepared by IFRS Foundation staff and has not been approved by the IASB. For the requirements reference must be made to International Financial Reporting Standards. Employee benefits are all forms of consideration given by an entity in exchange for service rendered by employees. The objective of this Standard is to prescribe the accounting and disclosure for employee benefits. The Standard requires an entity to recognise: (a) a liability when an employee has provided service in exchange for employee benefits to be paid in the future; and (b) an expense when the entity consumes the economic benefit arising from service provided by an employee in exchange for employee benefits. This Standard shall be applied by an employer in accounting for all employee benefits, except those to which IFRS 2 Share-based Payment applies. Short-term employee benefits Short-term employee benefits are employee benefits (other than termination benefits) that are due to be settled within twelve months after the end of the period in which the employees render the related service. When an employee has rendered service to an entity during an accounting period, the entity shall recognise the undiscounted amount of short-term employee benefits expected to be paid in exchange for that service: (a) as a liability...
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... Its ability to learn, decide and adapt to the external environment made CR attractive to regulators, researchers, academia, politicians and the industry. CR promises to bring a paradigm shift in spectrum management policies from command-and-control regime to dynamic and opportunistic spectrum access. Despite more than a decade of research in the CR area, there are too little CR systems ready for the market. This lack of ready CR systems may reflect an overemphasis in the CR literature on theory and simulations with less work done in experimental-basedresearch and publications. In order to fast-track the real-life deployments of CR systems, the research community is now focusing on the development of CR platforms. With different software defined radio (SDR) packages and hardware available, it is confusing to decide which one to build or use. The objective of this paper is to study the design of CR platforms making use available SDR software packages and hardware. Our conclusion is that CR research should now focus on experimental-based results using real-life CR platforms in order to realize market-ready CR systems. Cognitive radio (CR) technology has become one of the hot research topics in wireless communications network over the past twelve years. CR is an intelligent wireless communication system capable of changing its transceiver parameters based...
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...is being used to detect and adjust to changing communications constraints in the field. This automatically changes to the frequencies and interfaces needed. "Cognitive radios react to environment for better public safety communications." (National institute of justice, Dec 11, 2012, para. 1) Radios were once built using analog electronic parts and circuits that handled signal processing. Technology has advanced exponentially over the past few decades with a new era of digital technology. Now a days radios have become more like computers. Another important factor in this digital development is the cost. Digital parts and circuits are much less expensive than analog. Analog can mostly do a few tasks, digital can do multiple tasks as defined as its software. This new cognitive radio will assist law enforcers in the field in many ways. It will be programmed to recognize a particular frequency that has been overloaded with traffic and it will automatically find and switch over to an alternative frequency without the operator doing it manually. The cognitive radio is aware of its own environment, it knows its own capabilities and limitations as well as its operator’s needs. These radios are running under an engine called cognitive engine. A software package that does as many things as a human would do. Allowing law officers to do their primary job. SDR is a type of software...
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...Leadership and Corporate Culture What is Leadership? What is Leadership? Ability to persuade others to do things for the good of the organization make difficult decisions make unpopular decisions deliver results create long-term commitments Why is the Leader Important to An Organization? Why is the Leader Important? Establishes vision Develops and implements strategies Allocates and controls resources Chooses key employees Shapes culture Affects organizational performance Projects image to the public Levels of Leadership (Jim Collins, HBR, Jan. 2001) Highly capable individual Contributing team member Competent manager Effective leader – catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear & compelling vision, stimulate high performance Executive – builds enduring greatness through humility and professional wills What are the Leadership Traits of Highly Productive Organizations? Leadership Traits of Highly Productive Organizations Attention to details Highly ethical and moral Embracing simplicity & disdain for waste Long-term focus Humility Coaching leadership style Trust and believe in others Management Practices That Work (Nohria, et al., HBR, 2003) Primary Strategy, Execution, Culture, Structure Secondary (Two of Four) Talent, Leadership, Innovation...
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...Africa, Nigeria was its first destination. ABC Ltd. ABC Ltd., is a leading automobile assembling company based in Lagos, Nigeria. The company was incorporated in June 14, 2010. The company usually imports vehicles body parts and assembles them. It sells its products to the local market. Steps in unifying the different cultures between the two companies Having completed the merging of the two companies, the legal and financial aspect, culture clash pose a big challenge to the success of the merger. As the HRM of the XYZ Inc., the following are suggested steps to ensure that the two cultures work together to obtain the desired results of the two companies: 1. Set cultural integration agenda Organization’s culture can be defined as all the shared values, beliefs and behaviors that dictate how people do things in the organization. To integrate the two cultures, we first need to define cultural objectives in broad terms. And as the HRM, I have the responsibility to ensure that the objectives are realized. Setting the cultural agenda necessarily requires tough decisions to be made. This decisions involve whether the merger should adopt one firm’s culture or to integrate the two. The choice will depend on the one that will have a greater value of the deal. 2. Diagnosing the cultural differences that matter The second step is to pin-point significant cultural differences between XYZ and ABC. Diagnostics will identify and measure the differences among people, units, geographical...
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...beginning of its definition, the term “civilization” has been defined in numerous ways. It is nearly synonymous with the definition of culture (Wei, 2011, p. 1), perhaps leaving one in dismay to a conclusive definition and definite distinction between them. I personally believe civilizations are collectively defined through the study of humanities, as a progressive society of creative, intellectual, social and material development of a variety of different people. These studies are an essential way of understanding how we define civilization while bringing an understanding to the history and the marvels before our time. Having said that, the objective of this discussion is to distinctively define the controversial term “civilization” and elaborate its relation to the humanities. In order to accurately define civilization it is essential to compare many numerous similarities to the word culture and draw out distinct differences. For example, they both take into aspect the way of life of a certain group of people. These include customs, traditional beliefs, habits, languages etc. (Eagleton, 2000). One may conclude that they are one in the same. However, civilization is attributed to a group of people of a much larger scale. Beginning as a product of culture, through evolution these customs, traditions, beliefs, etc. all collaborated on a more populous scale, thus developing a more advanced civilization. In the same sense, a culture being notably more discreet is attributed with certain...
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...many parts of the world such as Italy, Africa, Germany and Switzerland. My experience as a pastor and manager has made competent in handling many issue in life. I have undergone a lot of transformations in the course of life to become highly diversified and a flexible person who is able to interact comfortably with diverse cultures. My journey in various part of the world has made appreciate many cultures. This paper focuses on assessing my cultural diversity and maturity by addressing how my life experience such as upbringing, work, education, social and religious interaction have contributed to making a culturally mature person. Culture can simply be defined as the way of life associated with particular people. There are very many cultures in the world that are totally different from each other. Character refers to individual characteristics and different personal traits. Culture comprises of behaviors, attitudes and symbols that are near and dear to a set group of individuals. Culture is usually passed down from generation to generation. A culture is not just about a group consisting of individuals who are simply different from another group. Culture is composed of many things such as genetically programmed traits, the subsidiary...
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...Work Culture Preferences Townes, Christopher Gen/200 July 10, 2013 Dr. Johnella Bradford Work Culture Preferences My Career Plan: Work Culture Preference states that I am an ethical well-resourced expert. Based on over one-hundred questions given that narrow down what I would like in an ideal job setting, I had only the choices of not at all or more likely. Knowing my ideal work culture not only would allow me to benefit my organization to achieve goals but will also allow me to achieve personal goals as well. I’m excited to find the work culture preference results returned that being ethical was the first of the three qualities it defined me as. Emphasis on fairness and equal rights has always been important to me, I believe that my timed served in the Navy is a reinforcing factor in that you should not segregate by gender, ethnicity or cultures. There should be no one person that is looked at as inferior or not qualified to complete any task assigned. I would look for the people who would not be afraid to express themselves freely and contribute their thoughts and ideas to better the organization. The next quality work culture preference defined in my results was that I was well resourced. Providing a safe and comfortable work environment with all the necessary resources to do high standard work is paramount, ensuring that encourages employees to want to work and perform at their highest level. A safe environment results towards limitless performance, innovation and...
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...Culture, like society, could be defined in many different ways. The word “culture” came from the Latin word “cultus” which means “to care”, and from the French word “colere” which means “to till” as in “ground-tilling”. Culture, in the early days, was used to describe lands that are cultivated, grown, and made under controlled conditions. Thus, culture meant the process of making something stable and ready for growth. People in the present time, however, define culture as a compilation of attributes and actions that make up society. It is somehow related to the early definition in a way that when somebody says that a community is cultured, it means that that person sees that particular community as an established society, independent to its...
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...values defined in ‘Beowulf’ and ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ ” The cultural values depicted in “Beowulf” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” are those of courage, honor, strength and humility among many others. Now, while exploring the ethos of the cultures in these pieces of literature the reader can deduce that each value means something different. What defines courage (and other values) in “Beowulf” differs from the definition of courage in “Sir Gawain” in many ways including the struggles Beowulf himself faced with Grendel, in “Sir Gawain” with the encounter with the lord’s wife, among other events in both poems. To begin with, in “Beowulf” these values are defined through the heroic code, which was held in the Anglo-Saxon culture in which this poem takes place. Beowulf himself is the definition of a “hero”, exemplifying values such as courage and strength. For example, one challenge that Beowulf held was the battle with Grendel. He shows exceptional strength when he is able to rip of Grendel’s arm which we see in the text itself, "The monster's whole body was in pain; a tremendous wound appeared on his shoulder. Sinews split and the bone-lapping’s burst. Beowulf was granted the glory of winning". The ability to cause so much physical pain to a giant monster shows just how powerful and strong Beowulf is. Strength here is sort of defined as physical power and ability rather than spiritual strength and what not. Courage, for example in Beowulf is also defined in this...
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