...Leading policy ideas being put forth by conservatives and liberals vary between two different approaches: a top-down approach versus a bottom-up approach. The liberal view of income inequality holds that the public sector needs to be expanded through several measures of a more active government; these include raising taxes, raising government spending on contracts, and higher regulation of business. Liberals, or the left wing, have used the inequality issue to call for bigger government and strengthening of the lower and middle class. A solution put into effect by the Democrats was raising the minimum wage; according to Forbes “At least half of the minimum wage earners are not in the lowest household-income bracket, and even fewer are their household’s primary earner. So raising the minimum wage is not a great way for lifting up the incomes of the poorest households in America.”...
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...CASE 9-1: NEW YORK TIMES 1. Describe NYTD’s evolution to date. What is strategy of NYTD? Are the organization and control consistent with the strategy? Evolution: New York Times first ventured into the Internet in 1995. Back then, the company was called the New York Times Electronic Media Company. In 1999, a new operating division, Times Company Digital, was created, which reported directly to corporate management. The new division included NYTimes.com, Boston.com, NYToday.com, GolfDigest.com, WineToday.com, and Abuzz. The new division had a decentralized structure and different organizational structures but still with similar roles as a common newspaper. The different websites were combined in the new organization to be able to learn from each other. A lot of effort was then put into creating a culture of team-work and openness, and the NYTD moved into a new building. This separated unit, first organizationally and then physically, led to tensions between the original Company and the new division. The new culture and employees hired from outside the Company created a very competitive internal environment. In 2001 the company owned several broadcast media properties, and the New York Times brand was believed to be the company’s most valuable asset, built through years of topnotch reporting and analysis, plus marketing and promotion. By September of 2001, NYTD had developed and was operating two websites: NYTimes.com and Boston.com. The websites included Internet access to the...
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...VW America Case: 1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? Beginning with Pischetsrieder’s arrival in 2001, VWAG initiated an unprecedented product-diversification rebirth, globally as well as in the US. A consequence of this strategy required a comprehensive business realignment within VWoA called the “Next Round of Growth” (NRG). NRG clarified two high-level strategic business goals, “Build Brand Customer Loyalty” (number one) and “Improve Vehicle Value” (number two). Somewhere, during this course, I read “the primary function of IT is to support the business’s strategic goals and objectives.” With the newly defined goals within NRG, we see that Dr. Matulovic is doing just that. He is instituting a long overdue process of prioritizing IT projects which are aligned to the goals and objectives of the company. Today we say that this is a basic business fundamental but we need to keep in mind of the timeframe that this is occurring; the 1990s through the early 2000s. In this study we are seeing a company not only undertaking a major product line transition but a company in transition during the emergence of IT technologies. Through all of this and its history I see that VWoA is finally getting it right; aligning their IT priorities with their business goals. As with any new process, criticism and resistance will always be within an organization...
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...In the aviation industry, forecasts of air travel demand are important specially for the two biggest aircraft manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) for a wide variety of economic decisions, including research and development, airplane design such as size and specification, and production planning. “Boeing’s air travel demand forecast is developed by constructing and matching top-down and bottom-up analyses. Bottom-up analysis involves forecasts of traffic between and within individual countries, based on economic predictions, growth momentum, historical trends, travel attractiveness, and projections of the relative openness of air services and domestic airline regulation. Additionally, government statistics on inbound and outbound visitors and tourism receipts are included to identify and cross- check trends. Countries are grouped into geographical regions that generate air traffic flows between and within the regions. In the top-down approach, global and regional markets are similarly projected on aggregated variables. The bottom-up and top-down projections are then reconciled, allowing for the effects of industry and airline business model developments. Further, positive or negative region-specific developments, including population dynamics, shifts toward or away from other modes of transport, and emergence of new air services, are factored in. The resulting regional traffic forecasts are used in developing the airplane demand forecast” (Boeing, 2012). “Airbus Global Market Forecast...
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...works as an executive and is also a member of the directorate at the government owned firm, Apotekens Service. Apotekens Service was established in 2009, when the pharmacy market in Sweden was de-monopolized. Today it has more than 100 employees, and its function is to work as an allying point of all the necessary information that needs to be shared between the health care and the pharmacies. Its main focus is on electronic prescriptions, since over 80% of all prescriptions are electronic. X is 62 years old, has a degree in pharmacy and started out as a product specialist at the former government owned pharmacy, Apoteket AB. There she gained experience as a project manager and she later became an executive. When Apotekens Service opened up in March 2009, she was an obvious choice for being one of the new executives there, since she had previous leadership experiences and since she was well respected and appreciated. Today, she is responsible for 24 employees and her main work tasks are to council and coach them. Key learning about leadership For X, leadership is about coaching people, rather than controlling them. She only wants to make it easy for her employees to complete their tasks, not give them a solution on all the problems they will encounter. She finds it important that all employees feel engaged, since they are the ones who will lead the work forward, and she wants them to have their own personal goals and continuously give suggestions on organizational improvements...
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...Introducing Algorithms Dedric D. Owens PRG/211 – Algorithms and Logic for Computer Programming October 28, 2013 John Rogers Describe the Top-Down Approach to Algorithm Writing When developing a program, the top-down approach is more than not the preferred method. This is driven by what the program actually does; basically the function of the program. According to Penn State Lehigh Valley, “top-down design or stepwise refinement is an approach to designing an algorithm” and, there are four steps in this top-down design. These steps are as follows: You have to “understand the problem by thoroughly analyzing it.” Then, “formulate the algorithm by determining and writing the main tasks to be carried out as a sequence of general steps”. The third step is to “fill in more details by determining the sub-tasks, if any, for each main task. Lastly, “repeat step third step until you arrive at a precise algorithm expressed in terms of basic executable instructions.” How is pseudo-code used to assist in writing an algorithm? Pseudo-code is defined as an outline of a program written in a form that can easily be converted into real programming statements. It is sometimes confused with an algorithm when developing a program. In reviewing Prelude to Programming: Concepts and Design, Fifth Edition, (para. 2.1, pg 72 an algorithm is “a step by step method for solving a problem or doing a task.” Pseudo-code uses short and easy to understand phrases in plain...
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... Explain the relative merits of the top-down and bottom-up approaches to budget setting? Budgeting Budgeting is a formal process in which a company's expenses and revenues are planned for the future. Top down and bottom up are two most common budgeting techniques. In the top-down approach, upper management prepares budgets with no input from employees or lower-level managers. In the bottom-up budgeting approach, managers and employees at the department level prepare budgets for their individual departments. A final, organizational budget is prepared by consolidating all individual, department budgets. The relative merits of Top-Down Budgeting Financial Control * When upper management evaluates a company's overall financial needs and compares the needs to projected revenues for a year, it gets a clear picture of how much money it can reasonably allocate to different areas. Decisions are made about where finances will have the most positive impact and staffers are given directives on what they have to work with. This approach allows upper managers to maintain complete financial control over a budget. Accountability of Staff * When a staff is given a certain budget to work with, it must make prudent financial decisions about how the money will be used. This may result in greater financial accountability and more comparison-shopping for products, services and consulting help. Faster Process * Top-down budgeting is much more time-efficient than...
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...considerable autonomy in decision-making. Under a general manager were two line managers responsible for production and marketing functions. Over the years, the Aluminum Can Division had built plants scattered throughout the country. Each plant is responsible to serve a geographical area, both for large and small-scale customers. The industry is very competitive, as each manufacturer employs the same technology and everyone was viewed by customers to have the same product quality as anyone in the industry. Thus, customers can readily shift from one supplier to another in cases that delivery schedulesand product qualities were not met. Vershire employs a long-term budgetary control system. Corporate sales budgets are prepared both in a top-down and bottom-up approach. These sales budgets are then translated to sales target per production plants and became the basis of target profits for each plant. Upon the end of the period, managers are then evaluated based on these target profits, even when budgeted sales are not met. Also, other performance measures are at place that is inconsistent and do not derived meaningful results. Although Vershire has been successful especially in the Aluminum Can division, the changing environment and industry conditions may result to necessary changes to company policies and procedures. Problem Statement How can Vershire maintain its profitability and current position in the industry? How can the company delegate...
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...language is performed only after extensive effort in the problem-solving stage. The following sections provide an insight into some commonly adopted programming techniques. Bottom-up Design Early programming techniques developed in the 1950s centred on problem-solving by using bottom-up design of the solution in which the extreme details of the programming solution were investigated first, as opposed to beginning with a breakdown by broad objectives. Each program was written in isolation to solve a particular sub-problem. The difficulty arose when the various sub-programs had to work together to produce the desired programs. Program logic was guided by the limitations of primary memory, and programs were designed with the objective of executing them as fast as possible. However, as application programs grew in size, several programmers worked together to solve them. Project teams were set up, consisting of several programmers and a project leader. However, programmers often switch jobs and might leave a company before a project is fully developed, thus requiring another programmer to continue the unfinished work midstream. This required formulation of a definite summary of how a problem is to be solved. This was not provided by the bottom-up approach to programming. Another approach was required. Top-down Design In recent years, computer memory ceased to be the limitation factor for most of the application programs. This, along with increasing software complexity and maintenance...
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...Top - down and bottom- up planning -Virutha COLLAPSE ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Top-down planning Top-down planning is referred to as strategy in which business decisions are established at senior level or top management and employees are expected to fall into place and follow the commands and instructions.Top-down project planning is focused on laying out specific expectations for the employees seeking guidance or advice and instructions. As employees are not included in any of the decision making process. They are mostly motivated through either fear or incentives. Positive implications * Employees Know Their Roles - Employees know their roles and follow specific methodology. In a business which requires exacting steps, top-down planning can provide a good fit to management and those employees who enjoy being directed and want to know their everyday task. * Levels the performance Field - A very minimal sense of competition among the rank- and –file. As management possess the highest power of decision making ,each employees will understand that they are in the same boat and coming up with new ideas will not necessarily get anyone ahead. There's no need to worry about being upstaged by a particularly ingenious colleague. * Easy to evaluate - Top down planning begins board, becomes more specific and easy to evaluate as move down to hierarchy * Faster Process - The top-down approach is less time-intensive, save lots of...
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...100 employees because it relies heavily on the knowledge of all employees (Writing, 2012). With that said, sometimes having a functional structure will keep departments from communicating with the other departments because each team has a specific function. Companies with a functional structure may find themselves spending time working with the employees to “drop the communicative walls”. Medtronic, a pharmaceutical company, for example, uses a functional structure combined with a top-down approach (Kimes, 2009). In a product structure, the company is divided based on the product that the division is producing. For example, a company that produces cars may have an engine division and a transmission division because it is product-based. While the product segmentation has similar drawbacks to the functional structure, there are significantly more restrictions. A company in a product type set up is not leveraging their employees in the fullest extent; think of this as a company with “walls” up, the employees do not leave their division or “walls”; therefore, they are not taking advantage of all the employees’ knowledge. 3M – another pharmaceutical company – is product based company (Kimes, 2009). This is an example of how companies that are in the same industry use very different organization approaches. A geographic structure is widely used in companies that are widespread such as Volkswagen or Merck Pharmaceuticals. A company like this would be divided based on the...
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...the change initiatives must be driven from the top or they should be organic from the bottom up. This is especially the case with organizations that are growing in size where the increase employee base or the skyrocketing sales and revenues mean that the top management’s scope of control is more and hence driving change from the top alone might not just work. And for those organizations that initiate change from the top, they might find themselves in a situation where the middle and bottom layers of the organizational hierarchy may not be responsive or energized in the way the top managements wants them to be. So, the existential questions as to whether there ought to a spontaneous involvement from all the levels, or whether the top management must induce the change, are very real and need to be answered for change initiatives to succeed. | The answer as to which option is preferable depends on a number of factors. First, any change initiative would succeed only if it is communicated appropriately and to all levels. Honest, transparency and feedback loops must be the elements of the change initiative. Next, the employees ought to have a voice in the way the change initiative is managed. For a change initiative to be successful the top management has to communicate and the employees have to respond. Like Bees gathering around honey and being driven by the Queen Bee, organizations have to ensure that while the CEO or the other top managers initiate the change, employees at all...
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...Assignment 9: Managing Labor Cost Cheryl Cunningham Professor Laura Sankovich Compensation and Benefits Management June 9, 2013 INTRODUCTION “There are two major approaches to coming up with budgets for any home, small business, or larger company: the traditional method of budgeting is known as bottom-up budgeting, though many businesses and corporations, along with the United States government, are moving towards more top-down budgeting, particularly during times of fiscal stress (Peterson, 2012).” BOTTOM UP The components of the Bottom Up approach are as follows: Instruct managers in compensation policies and techniques, distribute forecasting instructions and worksheets, provide consultations to managers, check data and compile reports. Analyze forecasts, review and revise forecasts and budgets with management, conduct feedback with management and monitor budgeted versus actual increases. TOP DOWN Top down approach the budget starts with an assessment from upper management of the pay increase budget for the whole organization. Once the total budget is determined, it is then distributed to each manager, who plans how to dispense it among assistants. Planned pay-level rise is another approach of top down which is the percentage increase in average pay for the unit that is planned to happen. There are several factors that come into play on how much increase the average pay level for the next period and they are as follows: how much the average level...
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...agreed that all the CEO’s in the video valued their employees and treat them as a team. They all found a way to take advantage of their employees in a way that would result in positive effects for their companies. The strategy each CEO chose to take resulted in a respect among the higher level employees and the lower level of employees. The two corporate strategies the four CEO's talked about were Top Down and Flat. The CEO's talked about how each strategy had its own uses and how each may provide different results. While watching the videos, it was noticed by our group, that the four CEOs discussed the top-down corporate strategy more than any other. Our group also agreed that the Top Down strategy was the preferred approach among the employees. One of the CEO’s talked about how it allowed for a quicker way to find the talent amongst the employees and how people feel they can reach out with problems or information to their managers. This created a way for the department or company to find a better way to get things done. Other CEO's talked about how the Top Down approach was a way for managers and subordinates to work on a team level and all would hear the ideas expressed. This would help decisions be made that would cause better results for the company. In this type of work environment, employees are given a certain amount of authority and they can be flexible, instead of having to run to the manager every time a small decision needs to be made. It was...
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...goal for all departments about the expected sales or production activity that need to be reached within the organization (McQuerrey n.d.). B. * Deeper focus as huge amount of employee involved in planning which result in improving employee motivate and morale and make them feel utilized when their area of expert involved in planning (Filev 2008) * Employee will feel that their concerns are heard and respected. This result in creating collaborate effort where all parties understand each other need and expectation which promote the productive when they are working together (Walther n.d.) * Top manager might feel loss of financial control and cannot achieve an effective budget project as unnecessary expense might incur due to lack of experienced from lower-level employee (Filev 2008). * Planning and control stage might take more time and cost overruns the bottom-up approach will be greater than expected (Baumeyer n.d.). C. Communication process under...
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