Organizational Leadership Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Organizational Leadership Philosophy Essay The ingredients of my leadership philosophy which I believe will be most effective have been summarized into three pages. It is undisputable that vision, values, leadership development, managing change, care for soldiers and their families and a sense of humour are all important elements in a leadership philosophy. It is in this that I have a conviction of the ideology that, a military leader must have a personal philosophy since it will enhance accomplishment of a comprehensive and integrated view of life which is of critical essence. Personal philosophy is therefore of absolute necessity because it gives a foundation to other areas in life. To start with, vision is one of the most important elements to be put under consideration when creating a leadership philosophy. One of this is the fact that, vision ought to be idealistic in order to reflect the mental model of the organization for now and in the future. It must also have the characteristics of appropriateness, purpose, direction and standards of excellence (Wallace, 2008). It must be simple to understand, well articulated and ambitious. The organizational vision which corresponds to commander’s intent can be divided into three concepts. Operation is used to describe the intent of the commander. Purpose is what unifies the operations and involves what the organization is meant to do. Lastly, endstate is the final result that has been achieved. From the above perspective, the vision I have communicated should be understood and shared by everyone in the organization if we are to achieve our objective. We should also apply the concept of vision and revision where our vision acts as a way-point which is subject to adjustment along the way Value is the second element and it entails the morality and virtues which should form the central theme of the human nature. As an organization, the values of the U. S. army are the foundation to provide service to the country. The seven major values which guide this philosophy can be essential in any organization which includes loyalty, duty, respect, selfless-service, honour, integrity, and personal courage. The values are moral guidelines for each soldier to lead us through the intellectual, emotional and philosophical issues that surround our lives and organization. Every leader should therefore adhere to the seven values and ensure that they play the central role in their leadership philosophy. Organizational success depends on the values of the company, its stand and the belief of its people. People who think that we cannot change or train values are wrong and should therefore go for basic training in the US Marine Corps model. In addition, I believe that lack of enough discussion and understanding of values is the major reason for unethical behaviour which the media highlights. It is my duty therefore to establish a formal training program that will enhance values within the army. Caring for one another is the third element of my leadership philosophy just as it is emphasized by the soldiers. This kind of care extends to all other people such as ensuring that soldiers and their families are taken care of. This is in as ensuring that, any mission set forth is successfully accomplished. This may appear as competitive imperatives but both of them must be successfully accomplished by a talented leader. Taking good care of my soldiers will involve ensuring quality life, safety, family support, proper equipment and training, and timely recognition of excellence. This aspect is greatly concurred within the army as the attribute is emphasized in form of an aggressive program which provides for and serves the soldiers welfare as an essential catalyst that ensures unit bonding. The full potential of a soldier is reached when their leaders are caring because modern combat needs love and care of soldiers and soldiering. Leader development is another element made up of three important components which include formal schooling, leader training and empowerment. Among the professional training I intend my soldiers to undergo include the Basic as well as the Advanced Non-commissioned Officer Course, and many other courses that will promote professional development. Although the formal educational courses may collide with training and exercises, subordinates must receive these training to sharpen their specialities. Leader development is a continuous process and I will promote attendance to formal education to supplement our professional development programs (Wallace, 2008). I will also ensure that subordinates are empowered through delegation of duties to encourage the growth of leadership within the organization The next element which is inevitable will be to manage change. Frequent deployment, downsizing, modern technology, and increased personnel and operations tempo will require the army to deal with tremendous change. My mission and purpose for the organization will clearly elaborate the need to manage change because it will be necessary for general improvement. Leveraging diversity is another element of leadership philosophy which is often overlooked by many people. Soldiers from different ethnic, religion, racial experience backgrounds should be treasured since they add value to the organization. The mechanism that I intend to use to ensure that diversity is appreciated includes open-door policy, visibility and small-group sessions in the organization. Moreover, any personnel who do not value diversity will not be tolerated. Lastly, maintaining a sense of humour ought to be preserved since it is an important element for diffusing tension (Wallace, 2008). Humour is important in developing personal rapport and enhancing the cooperation spirit. References Wallace, A. (2008). Organizational leadership: Major Principles for Effective Leadership. A Journal of Human Resource Planning, Vol. 45, p. 23-32

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This essay explores the mutually beneficial commercial collaborations between the tobacco companies and major motion picture studios from the late 1920s through the 1940s. Smoking in movies is associated with adolescent and young adult smoking initiation. Public health efforts to eliminate smoking from films accessible to youth have been countered by defenders of the status quo, who associate tobacco imagery in â€Å"classic† movies with artistry and nostalgia. Both the entertainment and tobacco industries recognised the high value of promotion of tobacco through entertainment media. Each company hired aggressive product placement firms to represent its interests in Hollywood. These firms placed products and tobacco signage in positive situations that would encourage viewers to use tobacco and kept brands from being used in negative situations. Efforts were also made to place favourable articles relating to product use by actors in national print media and to encourage professional photographers to take pictures of actors smoking specific brands. The cigar industry started developing connections with the entertainment industry beginning in the 1980s and paid product placements were made in both movies and on television. This effort did not always require money payments from the tobacco industry to the entertainment industry, suggesting that simply looking for cash payoffs may miss other important ties between the tobacco and entertainment industries. So, therefore the tobacco industry understood the value of placing and encouraging tobacco use in films, and how to do it. While the industry claims to have ended this practice, smoking in motion pictures increased throughout the 1990s and remains a public health problem. The tobacco i... ...y has a long history of working to influence Hollywood. The power of film to promote the â€Å"social acceptability† and desirability of tobacco use, particularly among young people, is a continuing inducement for the tobacco industry to utilise this medium. The increase in tobacco use and the continuing appearance of specific brands in movies since 1990 may reflect continuing activities by the tobacco industry, despite the industry's voluntary restrictions on such practices. It may be that, as with provisions of the industry's voluntary advertising code that nominally restricts print marketing to children, the industry finds ways around its own rules. Until something is done to reduce and eliminate pro-tobacco images on film, motion pictures will remain one of the most powerful forces in the world promoting tobacco and serving the tobacco industry's financial interests.

M&S Case Study

BRUNEL UNIVERSITY? SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN LOGISTICS AND GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT M&S Case study Assignment Mark&Spencer As it is well known, the retailer M&S had been a giant in the UK market, offering several products and services that have had a big participation in the daily life of the population that in some way had been influenced by any branch of this company in any place where they stay selling its goods, whether in the UK or on overseas places.Marks & Spencer owns no factories and does not make the goods, which are sold in its stores, which represent a different approach to the retailer business and gives some advantages that M&S enjoy. The key element in furthering its competitive advantage has been the development of strong supplier relationships which although have had suffer several changes in the past few years because of strategies in the market and distinct factors, they maintain as an essential part of the business. Marks and Spencer’s mission statement is broken into 3 parts which include:Vision – To be the standard against which others are measured Mission – To make aspirational quality accessible to all and Values – Quality value, service, innovation and trust. Representation on M&S general operations * Given that M&S had an image problem in the past, what change did it make and is making to its clothing business to enhance its competitiveness? The serious problems of image that M&S had in the pass were consequence of several decisions and assessments made by its board and especially very often by the chairman and the chief executive.There is one factor that shaped for long time all the decisions made in the company; â€Å"the culture of Marks&Spencer†, this way of thinking was the method to use for manage the firm for many years from its beginning until the changes in the market and in the customers did not fit with that culture anymore. In lights of these events and in the increasing probl ems, severe changes has to be made, changes that were enough to return the plot to the company in their market that was falling as consequence of this.The quality of the clothes was not the same and the customers get realised of that as they begun to claim about it. Moreover, the bad winter season in 1999 coinciding with the retail sales downturn put a starting point in the definitive necessity of changes in M&S. 1999 was a year to forget in the UK clothing sector. Can be said that the beginning of the first change made was the incorporation as chief executive of Peter Salsbury to succeed eventually to Sir Richard Greenbury.The first approach to changes was a series of radical culling in the board of the company, which meant a change from the top-down in the structure of the organization and the incorporation of the technology in the communicational way among the board members which it have to be stress, they were not familiarised with new technologies, these initial changes made by Salsbury were aimed to vanish the old fashion way of manage the company and dismantling symbols of the old regime; many people were removed from the administration work to go to dealing with costumers’ needs.A general reorganization that split the company into UK retail, overseas and financial services was made as well. As another remarkable change, was the approach to the renewed focus on the client itself and the fulfilment of its necessities, part of the image problems was because of the treatment to the customer from the staff of M&S, as part of the change process, a new department of marketing was created in order to enhance the advertisement and to gain customers over from the dynamical market they deal with, new thinking and new minds were ired, and the marketing department would take over many decisions of the buying departments to support in the decision of what the customers wanted. Within this period the board of the firm had realised that some of the overseas bus iness and UK suppliers had become a millstone for M&S rather than a support, and were put up for sale and dismissed respectively.The period of changes that M&S was going trough with the severe culling and reorganization processes, brought a new image problems to the company, as consequence the entire personnel was demoralized and downright, the spirit of the company to its staff and the trust of its suppliers was totally destroyed. Being clear that these methods and managing was not working anymore as a part of a past of revolution in the company, new changes have to come. Although, Peter Salsbury had accomplished the evolution and change of the culture of M&S.After this Luc Vandevelde as a chairman contributed with several changes in the clothes line of M&S, as was the entry of George Davis to the firm to develop and deliver to the public a new brand called â€Å"Per Una†, in aims to revitalize the women’s clothing sales as a strategy from the board. New changes are b eing made in order to enhance the competitiveness in the clothing business, changing the look to the stores with lighter colours, new tills, better lighting.M&S has turn itself in a company that owns a staff full of youth and freshness, consequently, the company has give back the quality to its goods, quality that was a flag in the â€Å"golden years of M&S†, with several new clothing brands fitted to both gender and to every stage in the life of people, this wide range of goods cleverly design on age and occasions are the product of selected designers and their teems pushing to deliver nothing but the very best to all the M&S’s customers, this fact is a sample of a great change that the company has made managing to recover the trust of the customers and the treatment of excellence to the clients that the current business and the market require.As part of the new times and challenges, the board of the company nowadays effectively had set clear points in the taking-deci sion process as is to debate and agree the best strategy for the Company and hold the executive team accountable for its execution, this permit a very dynamic way to involve anyone to the final decision in order to guarantee a wise decision that push to the continue enhancement and development of the current business plan and finally, to set the tone of ‘doing the right thing', supported by the right governance structures and their effective implementation. * Specifically and in detail, what changes were made to the M&S supply chain strategy in the light of these changes?Evidently as the culture of M&S was created and leaded by several men with the same way of thinking, the most remarkable characteristics of this culture was the relationship with the suppliers of M&S, that was based on an close and unique relationship that have been prevailed by several decades in some cases. This supply chain based on trust from the firm to its suppliers gave shape to the UK retail market for many years. The board planned the new strategy implemented to the supply chain by the end of the year 2000; this strategy consisted on the change of suppliers from the UK to other overseas instead. Amid the changes on reorganization of M&S in general, the board had realised that the hearty link with the traditional suppliers in the UK was no longer affordable enough and represent a millstone for the company.The first place to be pointed as an overseas supply branch was in Portugal owing to the mix positive factors of cheaper manufacturing costs and the short distance to the UK that would not affect the supplement of goods in the stores for time reasons as start happening with others overseas supplier that because they were so far from UK the time of delivery influenced in the schedules and logistics of M&S. Nevertheless, some UK suppliers that closed their factories repositioned themselves in North Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and China; Looking for cheap workhand and opening in thi s way an overseas market of suppliers for the company and at the same time a beneficial reduction of cost for M&S despite the exportation activities involve in this operations, demonstrating this way that the strategy implemented in lights of the changes has just paid off.Another important change was specially related to the clothing range â€Å"Per Una† leaded by the designer George Davis which consist in the direct delivery of the clothe and accessories from nothing more but his organisation to M&S, as part of a agreement maid at the beginning of his business relationship whit the company, this represent a self-sufficient branch in the supply chain of the firm. Some other changes were made on M&S regarding to its branches in Europe, specifically to the supply chain that maintain the European branch of the company in countries as Spain, Holland, France and Germany. They have to concentrate the efforts in the UK market so they decided to finish the overseas branches, represen ting a culling on the supply chain to those countries and leaving the supply chain operations directly to UK. * What are the different supply chain performance objectives for the different product groups? Classic| Autograph| Per Una| Indigo| Blue Harbour| Product Range| Short – Mature Customers| Long – Wide Range Customers| Short – Fashion Woman 25-35 years old| Short – women with busy lives| Long – Men’s casual clothes for weekends| Design Changes| No frequent| Trend| Frequent| Seasonal| Seasonal| Price| Expensive – ‘value-for-money' prices| Competitive ‘High Street Pricing'| Good Value| Average | Expensive – ‘value-for-money' prices| Quality| High| Aspirational Quality| High| Aspirational Quality| High| Sales Volume| High| Low – Limited| Low – Limited| High – seasonal| High – seasonal| Order Winners| Smart, Elegant & quality clothes| Fashion ability| Exclusivity| Fashionable for e veryday use| Casually smart clothes| Order Qualifiers| Quality and value on the clothes| Clothing wide range and high street prices| Affordable price| Everyday-workday casualwear| Smart casual menswear for weekends occasion| Operation Priorities| Reliability – aimed to mature costumers | Cost – Sharpen pricing – great value| Flexibility – Very fast response| Speed – high fluency on the selling of this clothes| Quality – unique menswear brand| References â€Å"The rise & fall of Marks & Spencer †¦ And how it rose again† by Judi Bevan, edition revised and updated in 2007. Bookmarque, Croydon, Surrey. ISBN-10: 1 86197 898 7. * â€Å"Logistics and supply chain management† by Martin Christopher, Fourth Edition, FT Prentice Hall – Financial times. * â€Å"Operation Management† by Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers and Robert Johnston, Sixth Edition, FT Prentice Hall – Financial times. * Marks & Spencer Annual Repo rt and Financial Statements 2000 * Marks & Spencer Annual Report and Financial Statements 2006 * â€Å"Issues of Marks & Spencer† by OxbridgeWriters. com * â€Å"Marks & Spencer† by Nardine Collier and Gerry Johnson, Case Teaching Notes, Pearson Education Limited 2005.

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