ACQUISITION OF JAGUAR AND LAND ROVER

ACQUISITION OF JAGUAR AND LAND ROVER In a changing world the only constant is change. The world hates change but, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. Charles Kettering (Brainquotes.com) Change is a pervasive influence. We are all subject to continual change of one form or another. Change is an inescapable part of both social and organizational life. (Mullins, 2007:909) Organisational change means significant alteration in any one or more of the tasks, techniques, structures and people of the organization. (Saiyadain, 2003:174) Change is introduced either to improve effectiveness or to adapt to external changes. Managers face complex and challenging pressures and opportunities while introducing change in an organization. They must ensure the efficient use of resources and, at the same time, find ways of guaranteeing the long-term effectiveness of the organizations for which they work. Planning, implementing and coping with change has been, and seems likely to remain, one of the main challenges facing managers, in both the private and public sectors, today. In manufacturing, banking, education and health care change is the norm. (Carnall, 2007) Managing change at the best of times is a challenge since it goes beyond the realms of logic and delves into the realms of perception. People are naturally inclined over centuries of conditioned behaviour to be comfortable in the present and any announcement of change makes them perceive new situations, new people, new places, and newer security issues. Once again, when man is asked to think outside his comfort zone, his first perceptions are mostly defensive and negative, hence managing change is a challenge. Managing change in a personal or family environment is difficult enough in light of changed equations, changed economic status, and changed relationships. However, there is rarely any competitiveness or a threat of economical or emotional security from ones near and dear ones. None the less, the two points mentioned in the earlier paragraph about man perceiving change negatively remain a challenge. The process of organizational change can be initiated deliberately by managers, it can evolve slowly within a department, it can be imposed by specific changes in policy or procedures, or it can arise through external pressures. Change can affect all aspects of the operation and functioning of the organization. Most planned organizational change is triggered by the need to respond to new challenges or opportunities presented by the external environment. Planned change represents an intentional attempt to improve, in some important way, the operational effectiveness of the organization. Thus, the basic objectives of managing organizational change are: Modifying the behavioural patterns of the members of the organizations Improving the ability of the organization to cope with changes in its environment. It is also important for management to understand the reasons for, and nature of, resistance and to adopt a clearly defined strategy for the initiation of change. The successful management of change is an increasingly important managerial responsibility. (Mullins, 2007) The merger and acquisition boom has brought change on its trail throughout industry and commerce. A major aspect of organizational change can be viewed in an acquisition. In order to understand this facet, I studied the case of an Indian company acquiring a UK one; the Tatas acquiring Jaguar Land Rover. Tata is seen to value its employees as much as its profits, and prides itself on equality and fair management. After a great deal of bidding and negotiations, the Tatas bought the earlier Ford owned Jaguar Land Rover, for a whopping USD 2.3 billion. Both the corporations entered into mutual agreements regarding various aspects such as support facilities like IT, design and development of the automobiles to keep the uniqueness intact. By studying this organizational change, I analysed and focused on, how smooth communication and understanding can lead to copying with resistance of any sorts. LITERATURE REVIEW The concept of organizational change is a wide change as opposed to small changes. Examples of wide change may include a change in a mission, restructuring operations, new technologies, mergers and acquisitions, re-engineering etc. change should not be done for the sake of change its a strategy to accomplish some overall goal. (www.managementhelp.org) Typically there are strong resistances to change. People are afraid of the unknown. Often there are conflicting goals in the organization. Organizations wide changes often go against the very values held dear by members of the organization. Thats why organizational change discusses needed changes in the cultural aspect of values and beliefs. Planned Organization Change Process:- (Behaviour Modification) Organizational change calls for a change in the individual behaviour of the employees. Any organizational change whether introduced through a new structural design or new technology attempts to make employees modify their behaviour because unless the behaviour patterns change, there will be very little impact on the effectiveness of the organization. Kurt Lewin came up with a three-phase process of behaviour modification to implement planned change. Change in Organization Requires Change in the behaviour of individuals Calls for Unfreezing Movement Refreezing (Ahmad, Gilkar and Darzi, 2008) Unfreezing The process of unfreezing is the toughest phase where one has to overcome the inertia of comfortable practices and complacency to convince others that the change is not just necessary but desirable too. Lewin believes that change should not come as a surprise to members of the organization, unannounced change would be socially destructive and opposed by the members. (Cole, 2005) The management must pave the way by unfreezing the situation, so that members would be willing and ready to accept the change. This way any resistance to change can also be neutralised. Movement Once the unfreezing process is complete and the members of the organization accept and recognize the requirement of change and have been fully prepared to accept the same, their behaviour patterns have to be redesigned. (Kumar and Mittal, 2002) This can be done by establishing new reporting relationships and creating reward/incentive systems.(Hunt Simms) The movement process involves development of new attitudes or behaviour and the implementation of the change. (Mullins, 2007) Refreezing Change or movement phase continues until a new balance is made between the forces driving and restraining change. Thus the aim of refreezing is to establish this balance at a higher level of performance. This is done by supporting mechanisms for example policies, structure or norms (Mullins, 2007:910) which positively reinforces the new ways of working. (Hunt Simms) During this phase, individuals internalize the new behaviour developed in the movement phase. Resistance to Change:- Change in an organization can have different responses. The most obvious one is resistance. Any change whether beneficial or superficial, is likely to meet some resistance which is usually from the people of the organization, especially if the present system favours them. Respect for individuals and communication are the basics required to help people adapt to change. (Hunt Simms) In a sense, resistance to change is positive. It provides a degree of stability and predictability to behaviour. If there is not some resistance, organizational behaviour would take on characteristics of chaotic randomness. (Ahmad, Gilkar and Darzi, 2008) Resistance to change can take many forms and it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons for the resistance. The forces against change in work organizations include: ignoring the needs and expectations of members; when members have insufficient information about the nature of the change; or if they do not perceive the need to change. Fears may be expressed over matters such as employment levels and job security, de-skilling of work, loss of job satisfaction, wage rate differentials, changes to social structures and working conditions, loss of individual control over work, and greater management control. (Mullins, 2007 Resistance to change can be classified into two categories: Individual resistance Organizational resistance Reasons for individual resistance to change within organizations include the following: Selective perception: Peoples own interpretation of stimuli may lead to selective perception which further form a biased view of a particular situation, and thus cause resistance to change. For example, trade unions may have a stereotyped view of management as untrustworthy and therefore oppose any management change; however well founded might have been the intention. Habit: people tend react to situations in an accustomed manner. Proposed changes to habits, especially if the habits are well established and require little effort, may well be resisted. However, if there is a clearly perceived advantage, for example a reduction in working hours without loss of pay, there is likely to be less, if any, resistance to change. Inconvenience or loss of freedom: If the change is seen as likely to prove inconvenient, make life more difficult, reduce freedom of action or result in increased control, there will be resistance. Economic implications: People are likely to resist change which is perceived as reducing their pay or monetary rewards, requiring an increase in work for the same level of pay or acting as a threat to their job security. Security in the past: In times of difficulty or when faced with new or unfamiliar ideas and methods, people tend to reflect on their past to find a sense of security. For example, in bureaucratic organizations, officials often tend to place faith in well established procedures and methodologies and adhere to them as giving a feeling of security. Fear of the unknown: Many major changes in a work organization present a degree of uncertainty; for example, the introduction of new technology or methods of working. These changes which confront people with the unknown cause anxiety or fear. Reasons for organizational resistance to change within organizations include the following: Organisational culture: Culture is pervasive in nature, develops overtime and may not be easy to change. It has a significant effect on organizational processes and the behaviour of the staff. An ineffective culture may result in a lack of flexibility for, or acceptance, of change. Maintaining stability: Organizations pay much attention to maintaining stability and predictability. The need for formal organization structure and the division of work, narrow definitions of assigned duties and responsibilities, established rules, procedures and methods or work can result in resistance to change. Investment in resources: Change often requires large resources like buildings, technology, equipment and people, which may already be committed to investments in other areas or strategies. For example, a car manufacturer may not find it way to change to a socio-technical approach and the use of autonomous work groups because it cannot afford the cost of new purpose-built plant and specialised equipment. Past contracts or agreements: Organisations enter into contracts or agreements with other parties which many times limit changes in behaviour for example, organisations operating under a special licence or permit. Threats to power or influence: Change may be seen as a threat to the power or influence of certain groups within the organization, such as their control over decisions, resources or information. For example, managers may resist the introduction of quality circles or worker-directors because they see this as a threat to the power in their own positions. (Mullins, 2007) Managing organisational change: The successful management of change is clearly essential for continued economic performance and competitiveness. New ideas and innovations should not be perceived as threats by members of the organization. The efforts made by management to maintain the balance of the socio-technical system will influence peoples attitudes, the behaviour of individuals and groups, and thereby the level of organisational performance and effectiveness. (Mullins, 2008) Overcoming resistance to change A manger need not always be saddled with the task of change in organizations where resistance is strongly prevalent. There are some techniques which can assist him in overcoming resistance. But he should not underestimate the variety of ways people react to change and the ways they can positively influence specific individuals and groups during the change process. (Ahmad, Gilkar and Darzi, 2008) There are a number of ways in which resistance can be minimised. These have been developed from the ideas of Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) Education and Communication: Educating people and providing them with adequate information before the change takes place may not lessen resistance but should reduce the unnecessary stress. Managers should communicate their ideas via one-on-one discussions, presentations or reports, so that people understand the need of rand see the logic of the proposed change. Facilitation and support: If the proposed change is likely to mean changes in skills, time needs to be given for training and development. Managers need to provide all the support they can and lend an ear to their subordinates and their grievances. Negotiation and Agreement: It is possible to reduce resistance by offering incentives to active or potential resisters. Co-option: Another way to overcome resistance, obtain commitment and increase the quality of the change, in an individual or group is to give them a role with responsibility and status attached, in the implementation of the change. (Hunt Simms) Organizational Responses to Disruptive Change Christensen and Overdorf, identified three factors that affect organizational responses to different types of change and what an organization can and cannot do: resources access to abundant, high quality resources increases an organizations chances of coping with change processes the patterns of interaction, co-ordination, communication and decision-making employees use to transform resources into products and services. values the standards by which employees set priorities that enable them to judge whether an order is attractive, whether a customer is more or less important, whether an idea for a new product is attractive or marginal. There are three possible ways in which managers can develop new capabilities to cope with change: create new organizational structures within corporate boundaries in which new processes can be developed spin out an independent organization from the existing organization and develop new processes and values acquire a different organization whose processes and values match closely the new requirements. (Mullins, 2007) Actions to Secure Effective Change Kotter and Cohn list the following eight steps for successful large-scale change. Create a sense of urgency among relevant people, whatever the nature or size of the organization. Build a guiding team with the credibility, skills, connections, reputations and formal authority to provide change leadership. Create visions which are sensible, clear and uplifting, and sets of strategies. Communicate the vision and the strategy in order to induce understanding and commitment. Empower action and remove obstacles that stop people acting on the vision. Produce short-term wins that help to provide credibility, resources and momentum to the overall effort. Dont let up but maintain the momentum, consolidate early changes and create wave after wave of change Make change stick by nurturing a new culture, and developing group norms of behaviour and shared values. (Mullins, 2007) A Chosen Case : Tatas acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover Allow me to illustrate- In an economics class, some students felt that capitalism has negative connotations leading to disparities in society and hence socialism is a better option. The economics class teacher threw change in the direction of the students by offering an average gradation to all students ala socialism. At the end of the first test the students were all given B which was the cumulative average of the class. The students who usually did well did not find this change acceptable as their As became Bs and so in the next test the good students made lesser effort and the poorer students hoped that the performance of the good students will keep their grade at B. But in the second test, since the good students had made lesser effort the average of the class fell down to C and this made everybody unhappy with change and fulfilled the innate human belief that change is negative and bad. Arising from the above example, it becomes obvious that the change agent must not only have a powerfully beneficial idea but also have plans, programs, initiatives and good communication to help overcome the known and existing devil of negative perception to change in the human mind. Its in the above context that we assess how the new owners of the legendary Jaguar and Land Rover dealt with the organizational change in light of the ownership transferring to the Indian industrial giant-the house of Tatas. Tata Motors is Indias largest automobile company, with revenues of US$ 8.8 billion in 2007-08. With over 4 million Tata vehicles plying in India, it is the leader in commercial vehicles and among the top three in passenger vehicles. It is also the worlds fourth largest truck manufacturer and the second largest bus manufacturer. Tata cars, buses and trucks are being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia and South America. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in South Korea, Thailand and Spain. It also has a strategic alliance with Fiat. (www.tatamotors.com) In January 2008, Tata was named the prime bidder for the upscale Jaguar and Land Rover units besting two other finalists, Indian automaker Mahindra Mahindra Ltd. and US private equity firm One Equity Partners LLC. On March 26th, 2008, Tata Motors announced its acquisition of the Jaguar-Land Rover businesses from Ford Motor Company for a net consideration of US$ 2.3 billion on a cash free, debt-free basis. The final purchase consideration includes the ownership of Jaguar and Land Rover or perpetual royalty-free licences of all necessary Intellectual Property Rights, manufacturing plants, two advanced design centres in the UK, and worldwide network of National Sales Companies. Ford completed the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover businesses to the Indian multinational Tata on the 2nd of June, 2008. Tata Motors established that Mr. David Smith, the acting Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover, would be the new CEO of the business. (www.expressindia.com) Long term agreements and contracts have been entered into for supply of engines, stampings and other components to Jaguar Land Rover. Other areas of transition support from Ford include IT, accounting and access to test facilities. The two companies will continue to cooperate in areas such as design and development through sharing of platforms and joint development of hybrid technologies and power train engineering. The Ford Motor Credit Company will continue to provide financing for Jaguar Land Rover dealers and customers for a transition period. (www.tatamotors.com) Britains traditionally feisty and combative trade unions, cheered Tatas purchase of Jaguar-Land Rover. The top bosses of Unite, the UKs largest trades union called this acquisition real good news for the UK automotive industry because according to them Tatas are into making cars, not just money. Tata also promised that including retaining jobs and existing employee contracts for at least the next 5 years as well as putting money into J-LR to grow the business. Tata recognised the Britishness of the two brands and have no intention of closing any plants in the UK. In fact they are committed that after 2011, all the Jaguar Land Rover products will still be designed and manufactured in the UK. (www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The purchase agreement was seen by trade unions as safeguarding jobs in the UK for two reasons. First , Tata committed to follow an existing five-year plan to invest in and develop the car manufacturing businesses. Jaguar and Rover employ just under 16,000 people, most of them in the Midlands and at Halewood near Liverpool. Also, Tata is contracted to buy engines and other parts from Ford until at least 2012, which should protect employment at Fords plants in Dagenham and Bridgend. As of now, Tata has no plans to relocate manufacturing capacity to low-cost India. Instead it appears to see the purchase of Land Rover and Jaguar as a route into the middle to top end of the global motorcar market. Ford also reassured employees of Jaguar and Land Rover that they will face no financial risks from the takeover and that their pensions are safe because it will inject  £300 million into their pension scheme, to eliminate any deficit. (www.bbc.co.uk) DISCUSSION The Tata deal is known to be one of the most ambitious purchases of a British based manufacturer, by any company from the fast emerging economies of Asia. It is considered to be a momentous time for all at the Tata Corporation. The announcement of Tatas acquisition created many unusual challenges including cultural, financial, industrial and communication challenges. But, the Tatas managed this situation thoroughly and coped with any resistance they faced from the employees or the company really well. An advantage: Tatas had an edge as they had very recently acquired the steel producer Corus Steel. This gave them an upper hand over the rest of the bidders as they had enough knowledge concerning the laws, mind set, unions, heritage, business culture etc which helped them understand the British environment better than the rest. Pre Soaking the government: Tatas also did a very wise thing by approaching the government of the United Kingdom before the final bidding. They pre-soaked the government and most rightly convinced them about the acquisition which helped them out with understanding the scenario in the country. Education and Communication: Information is the life blood of any organisation and the way in which any idea is communicated can make a difference between a productive and committed workforce and one that is sceptical and unreceptive. Tatas took extreme care in their communication, initial interaction, minimal disturbance to operating practices to ensure that they had enough time to understand the national and corporate culture at Jaguar Land Rover. This also made the Jaguar Land Rovers management and staff secure about their job and financial security and thus provided them with the conviction to protect them both. Retaining many officials: A judicious decision which the Tata Corporation took was to retain the chief executive officer and many other top level management of Jaguar Land Rover. This made it easier and convenient for the Tatas to transmit important information and communicate effectively through the employees own credible leaders. Thus the workforce was more receptive to any decision or conclusion arrived at than that was expected to be. Negotiations and Agreements: Corporate values must be understood, respected and appreciated while entering into such propositions. This is essential to ensure that the merged organisation is run to the new organizational culture that they have jointly created. Tata entered into long term agreements for supply of engines, stamping and other components of Jaguar Land Rover. Both, Ford and Tata will continue to cooperate in different areas like design and development. This motivated and provided incentive to the company and its employees and thus Tatas avoided any resistance in this area. Facilitation and Support: Different perceptions of time was a particular challenge for both Jaguar Land Rover and Tatas. Indians usually take more time than the Brits to meet and interact with employees at all levels and develop relationships. This on the whole conflicted with the approach of the Brits who paid greater importance to things being done quickly and relationships can wait for later. The Tatas built excellent relationships with the management and the company. They took one step at a time. They have even agreed to keep intact the plants in the UK and committed further that the designing and manufacturing will be based there as well. Co-option: Including and involving the present employees of Jaguar Land Rover is an extremely important area which needed to be targeted. This is mainly so that the employees feel a part of the proposition and refrain from any sort of resistance to the acquisition. Thus from the above derived points and discussions, it is evident that the Tatas coped with resistance to change very well. There were no major problems that they faced regarding resistance and in fact were cheered by the employees for their entire proposal. The complete catch in the whole acquisition is time. All that the corporate world, specifically which of India and the United Kingdom needs to do is to wait and watch. It is with time that one will know how successful or unsuccessful this proposition of Mr. Ratan Tata (Chairman of the Tata group) will be. CONCLUSION A broad recommendation that I want to touch upon is that there is an enormous need for an organisational behaviour division in all corporations. Organisational change is not an easy task. It is serious business and may be one of the most risky decision making processes which no organisation can avoid either. The main aspect of change is faced and resisted by people ranging from the ones working in the organisation, running it or may be even the ones outside it. Thus the facet that organisational change impacts the most is organisational behaviour. It may be said that the human resource department can handle such deeds. But, in my opinion a human resource department looks into and understands matters of people of one particular country or culture. With the emerging multicultural, multi-geographical and multi-country mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, it is of crucial need to start an organizational behaviour division which handles these features of organisational change to secu re the financial health and reputation of a company. To conclude, I feel that steps should be taken to ensure that the human element is not ignored in the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover because at the end of the day it is the combined effort of each employee that will have the biggest impact on the booming outcome of this acquisition. This can be done by watchfully selecting potential leaders in the organisation to help carry out and communicate the necessary changes to all other employees as this will subsequently help ensure they feel cared for. It is exceptionally necessary that the Tatas take out time to understand and appreciate the impact of a changing organizational culture on its employees and at the same time, recognize the challenge of bringing together both the national cultures or else the company will risk a lot at stake. With estimates signifying that as many as 80% of international and cross cultural mergers and acquisitions fail, it is only two years down the line in 2012 when all the agreement and contracts entered into by both the companies end, that we would have known whether Mr. Tatas team in spite of the unforeseen global economic downturn were able to achieve a smooth organizational change and manage it with à ©lan or were they 8 of the 10 that fail. To summarize, I began my essay with a brief introduction on managing organizational change and my specific case to illustrate the theme of the paper. This was followed by deeply understanding the main theories and points supporting managing change in the literature review section, where I focused mainly on resistance to change and different ways to cope with it. I then brought forward the case of Tatas acquiring Jaguar Land Rover and discussed the basic facts and information of the acquisition which led me to the discussion section. I pointed out various ways by which Tatas coped with resistance of any kinds and on paper seemed like one of the most perfect acquisitions. In conclusion, I further gave in some of my recommendations to support the case and of what I felt was the need of the hour. REFERNECES Ahmad, Gilkar and Darzi (2008) Organisational Behaviour Atlantic Publishers Distributors Carnall, A.C. (2007) Managing Change in Organizations 5th ed. Essex: Prentice Hall Cole, G. A. (2005), Organisational Behaviour Cornwall : Thompson Learning Hunt, M. S. Simms, H. Organisational Behaviour and Change Management Kumar, N. and Mittal, R. (2002) Organisational Behaviour New Delhi : Anmol Publishers Mullins, L.J. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour 7th ed. Essex : Prentice Hall Mullins, L.J. (2008) Essentials of Organizational Behaviour 8th ed. Pearson Education Saiyadain, M.S. (2003) Organisational Behaviour New York : Tata McGraw-Hill www.bbc.co.uk Available at [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2008/03/tata_and_british_jobs.html] Accessed on 2/01/2010 www.brainyquotes.com www.expressindia.com Available at [http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Ford-Tata-closing-in-on-Jaguar-deal/267399/] Accessed on 1/01/2010 www.managementhelp.org Available at [http://managementhelp.org/mgmnt/orgchnge.htm] Accessed on 30/12/2009 www.tatamotors.com Available at [http://tatamotors.com/our_world/press_releases.php?ID=370action=Pull] Accessed on 1/01/2010 www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com Available at [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/Three-cheers-for-Tata-Britains-trade-unions/articleshow/2911159.cms] Accessed on 1/01/2010

The ship of dreams

As the clock struck 7. 00 we could hear the faint sound of the ships horn, dinner had been announced. Anna, Gretchen and I got dressed in our eveningwear, touched up our make up and headed down to the dining room. I remember very clearly what I was wearing that night. A pale blue sleeveless dress made out of very heavy material with embroided roses around the hemline. I was also wearing a matching shawl and pale blue shoes. I loved this particular dress as William bought it for me the very same week he passed away. As we walked down the grand wooden staircase, the smell of dinner was divine. We were escorted to a table next to a window where already a couple were seated. I looked out on the horizon and saw nothing but the great Atlantic Ocean. The dining room was magnificent. The crisp cream tablecloth draped over the wooden tables matched the napkins folded into swans, which matched the curtain ties. The string quartet played lively music in the corner of the room. All the waiters looked extremely smart with gelled back hair and matching tuxedos. The chandeliers overhead caught the sunlight and reflected all the colors of the rainbow and everybody and everything looked so beautiful. The couple opposite were obviously on their honeymoon. Everybody on board, on course recognized the young brides, we had watched them laughing and promenading with their husbands. We offered our congratulations to the couple and they very happily accepted them. The bride asked why we were travelling on the Titanic so Gretchen explained how we had gone over to visit her husband, George in England as he was doing some business over there. It turned out that Mary's brother was working on the same film as George so that was a talking point. We chatted merrily all the way through dinner. Mary and James were a very lovely couple and Gretchen was certainly glad of some company of her own age to talk to. After a very enjoyable dinner Anna, Gretchen and I took a stroll around the decks watching the sunset. Little were we to know that was the last sunlight we would see whilst aboard the Titanic. Anna and Gretchen wanted to join in with the evening dance but I didn't feel up to it so said I would meet them back at the cabin. When walking back along the promenade deck, the air was icy cold. This change in temperature had only occurred with in the last hour. I had suddenly come down with a headache so when I returned to the cabin I changed into my nightwear. The doctor said it was best if I got an early night so I went to bed. I woke up at 11. 30pm and both Anna and Gretchen were in their bedrooms. My headache had disappeared and I wasn't tired anymore after my nap so I decided to read my book. Just as I was slowly drifting away, I was sharply awakened by this terrible shudder. My fists were tightly holding on to my bedpost and the shaking lasted approximately 1 minute. It gave me the impression that a blow on the side had moved the entire vessel laterally to a considerable angle. My instincts told me that we had hit an iceberg, there was no other explanation. Wearing only my nightwear and slippers, I went through the companionway, but to my surprise, found no one seriously considering the shock. Men in evening clothes stood about chatting and laughing, and when an officer hurried by I asked, â€Å"What is the trouble? † he replied nervously â€Å"um, something wrong, something is wrong with the propeller, nothing serious, don't worry madam†. He didn't sound very convincing so I asked two other officers but was reassured that everything was fine. A little while later, still feeling nervous, I went to the promenade deck and there saw a great mass of ice close to the starboard rail. When returning to my cabin again, I met with my day steward and it was he who finally informed me that the Titanic was in danger and I was to report to the boat deck with a lifebelt. I rushed back to my stateroom where Anna and Gretchen were getting dressed as both had been awakened by the impact of the jar. I told them we were in danger so we all got dressed, put on our fur coats and headed to the boat deck. Up on deck everything seemed quiet and orderly. The thing that scared me most was that there was no sense of fear or panic. I knew in the bottom of my heart that the Titanic had received its death wound yet no one else had the slightest realization. There was an order issued that all women and children should congregate on the port side of the vessel. I supposed all the women were congregated on the port side as it would naturally be the highest side, therefore the safest as it would be last to go down. At this point there were only upper class people on the decks so obviously the steerage had been told not to come up yet. They started to lower the lifeboats after a lapse of some minutes. It was a drop of fifty feet to the surface of the sea and apparently everybody considered that they were safer on the ‘unsinkable Titanic' than in a small boat whose only propelling power was four oars. It was for that reason alone why the first boats were only half filled. I believe there were 20 life boats lowered away altogether. It was after the fifth or sixth boat was lowered and there was a definite slope to the ship that people understood that they were no longer safe and began to panic. When the steerage passengers came up many of them had knifes and revolvers and were stabbing left and right in an endeavour to reach a boat. This brought a lot of fright and terror to the atmosphere. As we were waiting to get into a boat I saw across the other side a steerage passenger being shot as he tried to jump onto a boat. The crowd fell silent with shock and his body was tossed over board. That is an image I could never forget. Anna, Gretchen and I were helped aboard the seventh boat to be lowered, which turned out to be lifeboat 10. There was some problem lowering it so we sat there for a while. We then saw Mary and James, the couple we had eaten dinner with only hours ago when everything seemed fine. We summoned Mary to join us in the boat. She refused in a very determined manner to leave her husband, although she was twice entreated to get into the boat. James declined with great force to get in the boat while there were still women on the decks. Owing to the angle of the sinking ship, another boat was being lowered almost directly above us. If it had not been for our yells and shrieks, both boats would have fallen into the water, but our cries saved us from the catastrophe. When we got out on the water I was so annoyed with the amount of crewmen on the boat. We realized that they only claimed they could row for the purpose of saving themselves, in the end my niece had to take an oar. When we were only a few metres away I could see for myself the severity of the collision as the bottom half and the front of the ship was completely covered by the Atlantic Ocean. In a boat alongside of ours, a sailor lighted a cigarette and flung the match carelessly among the women in our boat. We screamed in protest to which he replied, ‘Ah, we're all going to die anyway, we might as well be cremated now as then'. We were all so shocked by this attitude. When we were rowing away the front of the ship was being dragged under the water leaving the back deck well over 400 feet above the surface of the sea. At this point the ship was nearly vertical. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for those passengers left hanging at the top, seeing the world at right angles and watching objects like tables and chairs flying down the deck. From the upper rails I could see husbands and fathers waving and throwing kisses to their loved ones. I started crying when I saw people jumping off from the top. It is terrible things to see when people choose to jump such a deadly drop, as they have no other option except drown to death. We were a mile away from the Titanic when there was great explosion. It had appeared to me as if the boilers had blown up and the Titanic had been lifted in amidships and broken in half. It was then that the ships lights cut out and we could no longer clearly see what happened. Only one of all the boats set adrift from our side had a lantern. We had to follow that boat as did many other boats and if it wasn't for that solitary lantern, possibly many of the other boats might have drifted away and gone down. The most terrible part of the whole experience was the awful crying after the ship went. Our boat was silent with shock, as it seemed to last for ages. The temperature that night could only have been a couple degrees over freezing so we all cuddled together for extra warmth. I felt so scared sat in that boat, sat in the middle of the ocean in the pitch black not knowing if I went to sleep if I would ever wake up again. We sat there for hours not moving saying the occasionally sentence between us. It is strange how I felt we had really bonded as a group and become quite close even though we didn't really talk. I think it is because even without telling each other we knew exactly how everybody else was feeling. As the sun was rising, the sight of the Carpathia in the distance brought such relieve to the group. As we drew closer I could hear moans of disappointed wives waiting for their husbands to arrive. When we were welcomed aboard too much cannot be said for the kindness shown by the Carpathia passengers. They gave up their staterooms for us and let us borrow their clothes. In fact I left the ship wearing garments owned by a very kind middle-aged women, Catherine who was married and had 3 children. I am sad to say though, that although we never gave up hope waiting for Mary and James they never arrived and we never saw them again. I later found out that both went down with the ship. Six months have passed since that terrible night and it has deeply affected me. So many innocent lives were lost that night and for what, so we could make a good time crossing the Ocean. Everybody put so much hope and belief in that wretched ship, as it was said to be unsinkable. What I don't understand though is why they only put enough lifeboats on the ship to save less than half the amount of people. I don't trust anything that is published in the media nowadays and I am certainly not going to be leaving my country again. The Titanic was renamed the Ship of Dreams by many of the papers, and many believed it was when first stepping on. It is that name that hurts the most as the truth is that the Titanic destroyed so many of those dreams.

External Environment Analysis

With the rapid improvement of people’s living standard and deeper demand for food variety and quality, these environmental changes both external and internal pose a more significant impact on organization’s decisions. This essay describes the two types of environments that organizations have to deal with. One is external environment and the other is internal environment. The first section in this essay describes the two types of business environments: external and internal environment. Next in the second section, it will explain the definition of environmental uncertainty and managing environmental uncertainty. After that it will discuss adaptive and non-adaptive culture. Running through this essay, an organization is used as an example to explain all the discussion and corresponding solutions are also contained in each section in this essay. There are mainly two types of business environments, internal and external. The external environment can be further categorized into task environment and mega environment. The mega environment is the general external environment in which the organization functions. The task environment comprises more specific elements that act directly on the organization. In the mega environment, organizations operate and exert pressure on the organizations ability to achieve its vision, mission and goals. The mega environment has five elements including technological element, economic element, political element, cultural element and the international element. Generally, these five elements have negative influence on the organization but they can also exert positive effect by providing chances for increased profitability and product improvement such as launching new flavour of desserts. The task environment which differentiates from the mega environment can directly affect the operations of the organization while managers often have ability to control it. It focuses on the products, services and the location of the organization. It also has five elements including customer, competitor, supplier, government and labour. Each element can have a significant impact on the organization’s strategy and put emphasis on different fields. For instance, the customer element centres more on customer expectations of product and service quality and value for money. Nowadays, many enterprises have set about optimizing how to satisfy customer needs and expectations. A fast food company– Kentucky Fried Chicken is a pretty good example. Since the company entered the Chinese market in 1987, it has made great progress in promoting competitiveness. Simultaneously, some famous foreign food businesses such as McDonald's,  Pizza  Hut have entered Chinese food market and this exerts severe press on KFC’s sale performance. Following the changing market environment, especially competitors, external market has become more complicated to cope with (MoccaTse1, 2012). Hence, business and organization management had shifted their focus merely on their product innovation for the purpose of promoting competitiveness. To rise to the challenge, the solution mentioned below may help. As for KFC, the rivalry pressure of its substitutes is relatively low. Since chicken is more popularized among most Asians than hamburgers, it enables KFC to push off an American eating style which differs from other food enterprises. This conversion implies that organizations have to make their business objectives more competitor-centred and applies the competitor element subject to one of the task environment’s component. Reference: Kitty 2009, ‘KFC location strategy in China’ MoccaTse1, External Environment Analysis, Nov 2012,

The Bear Came Over The Mountain By Alice Munro Essay

Love exists in the short story â€Å"The Bear Came Over the Mountain† by Alice Munro and in the short story â€Å"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love† by Raymond Carver. in Munro’s short story the plot is that of a mentally ill wife, Fiona, who falls in love with another patient while her husband still tries to hang on to their old love. Her husband eventually wants to have an affair with the wife of the man his wife is having an affair with. Their love changed because of their circumstances due to ill health. Carver’s story discusses the different definitions of love due to the type and quality of relationships; everyone has a different definition. Love also exists all over the world within different environments and cultures. The concept of love depends upon the environment in which it inhabits. Love is dependent on the life of the people in love and it also depends on their current environment. Nature and nurture are also huge factors into the d evelopment and process of love. What nature and nurture mean is whether it is due to how the person lives and acts along with their personality compared to whether it’s all in their genetics beforehand. Love is more on the nurture side instead of the nature side of human experience. In both short stories there is considerable discussion about love but in different ways. In Munro’s short story the love is discussed as it relates to the day to day actions and events. This is unlike Carver’s short story where the characters discussShow MoreRelatedEssay on Last Of The Mohicans1769 Words   |  8 PagesGeneral Webb has just gotten word from an Indian that Moncalm and the French are going to attack Fort William Henry and that Colonel Munro will not be ale to keep the fort because he only has one thousand men and that he (Webb) needs to send reinforcements immediately. Upon hearing this, he ordered fifteen hundred men to be ready to march at dawn and has Cora and Al ice Munro sent to their father at Fort William Henry accompanied by Major Duncan Heyward on horseback. They went along an Indian path whichRead MoreAway from Her- Evaluative Essay1123 Words   |  5 Pageshow the disease can greatly impact your life, and how quickly it can form. The film was based off of a short story â€Å"The Bear Came over the Mountain† by Alice Munro (Munro, 2013). In both works, the author and the director portray a significant struggle between a husband and wife dealing with Alzheimer’s. Summary of Story In the short story â€Å"The Bear Came over the Mountain† (Munro, 2013) and the film Away From Her (Egoyan, et al., 2006), both authors portray almost the same points. The main charactersRead MoreThe Past Is Our Definition1519 Words   |  7 Pagespast can shape one into an entirely different person. â€Å"Bear Came Over The Mountain† by Alice Munro is the tale of a couple’s distress as the wife, Fiona is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The story deals with Grant’s endeavours to cope with the predicament and bring elements of joy back into their 1 troubled lives. Even though the story seems to be preoccupied with the present situation of Grant and Fiona, â€Å"Bear Came Over the Mountain† is really concerned with the influence of the past. Read MoreAway From Her - A Film Review2047 Words   |  9 PagesThe film Away From Her, is a screenplay adaptation from the short story Bear came over the Mountain by Alice Munro. The story focuses around the relationship of Fiona and Grant, an Ontario couple married over 40 years. The couple is forced to face that fact that Fionas forgetfulness is actually Alzheimers disease. After Fiona wanders away and is found after being lost, she realizes that she can no longer live at home. Fiona has too much self-pride for herself, and too much pity for Grant, to subjectRead MoreStylistic Potential of the English Noun16714 Words   |  67 Pagessecond one by means of about 200 cases that have been taken from the works that belong to the belles-lettres style (tales, poetry, short stories) written by such famous English and American writers of 18-20 centuries as Blake W., ColeridgeS.T., Munro H., Poe A.A., Hemingway E., Salinger J.D, etc. The aim of this chapter is to put the considered theory into practice showing the way the phenomena have been dealt with work out. The examples are organized also according the four nounal categories