Friday, January 24, 2020

The Functionalist and Marxist Views on the Purpose of Socialisation Es

The Functionalist and Marxist Views on the Purpose of Socialisation Functionalists and Marxists have very similar theories as to the socialisation process. I intend to show this and compare these similarities. There are many well-known functionalists but I am mainly focusing on the views of Talcott Parsons and Emile Durkheim in particular. There are many aspects of the socialisation process to cover both concerning functionalist and Marxist views, these include cultures (made up of many different branches), values (peoples beliefs), and norms (patterns of behaviour). Also primary and secondary socialisation. Functionalists and Marxists both share similar views on the socialisation process. Both viewpoints are based on the substructure of society this is formed by many external influences as follows; the family, media, religion, education and, the state. Both functionalist and Marxists believe that we are the products of social stimuli and are socialised according to our external influences. They both believe in the "top-down" theory seeing society as a stage with all these influences shaping our individual identities. " If society were a stage then we individuals are simply puppets dancing to the tune of the social structures that shape our identities- indeed our lives" (1) Functionalist and Marxists may have similar views but they do not share the same views as to why this process is. I personally believe that in a way we are like puppets, and that we are socialised into what is "right and wrong". I believe the biggest influence to be in the family, because the family are concerned with everything that shapes you... ... a lower class. To me this is wrong, as lower class seems to be putting one in ones place, lower being the operative word. The media do expose people being the positive side but then when one looks at copycat crimes you can't help but blame the media. A lot of influence does come in way of the family but this stems back generations and some adapt quicker to change than others. These too have been socialised by their peers and unfortunately can result in these inequalities in society remaining. However if people did not conform to the norms/values that society thrusts upon them, and there were many deviants, this would surely result in anarchy. But so it is, people do conform, and surely enough society roles on as, as both functionalist and Marxists agree " society is more important than the individuals within it"(12)

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Henkel: building a winning culture Essay

Introduction: CEO in 2008: Kasper Rorsted, Studied Economics and has experience in technological companies. Management style was based on face-to-face conversations and pushing for more efficiency. Henkel until 2008 Founded in 1876 as a producer of detergent, by 1920 it was a leading German detergent en glue producer. After WWII: company restarted as a producer of detergent, glues and personal care products. In 2008: 14 billion euros sales over 125 countries: EMEA: 64% North America: 19% Asia-Pacific: 11% Latin America: 6% Executive team mainly Germans and members of the Henkel Family 3 major business units: Adhesive Technologies (48%) Laundry and Home care (30%) Cosmetics/Toiletries (22%) Competition: P&G, Unilever and L’Oreal (See exhibit 1,2,3) 2012 Goals; 14% EBIT Margin 2008: 14 billion in sales (+8%) EBIT-margin (10,3%) => no competitive spirit?! (â€Å"The happy underperformer†) 2nd part of 2008: Financial crisis: Price increase by Henkel => growth in all the business units fell. Reaction of Rorsted (CEO): transform the company into a leaner and more performance driven company by setting 4-year financial goals (2012) for Sales growth (3-5%) EBIT-margin (14%) EPS (Earnings per Share) (above 10%) Reaction of the market: they will not make it. Building a winning culture Rorsted knew that the targets were high, but he wanted to get there by installing â€Å"a winning culture† within the company. 3 main strategic priorities: Achieve the full business potential Focus more on the customers Strengthen the global team 2008-2009: investments in top-performing brands and high potential markets: e.g. – Biggest acquisition ever of 3,7 billion euros for the adhesives and electronic material businesses of the National Starch and Chemical Company. – Dial brand: high investments in North-America => top brand in body wash markets. Selling underperforming brands. Searching for cost-efficiencies. 2009-2012: from promise to reality Rorsted: first do the hard things (close plants, lay off people) then the softer things. For the â€Å"softer things† everybody in the company needed to be on board = emotional buy-in. redefining Henkel’s vision and values  implementing a new performance management system Vision and Values Focus on financial goals and priorities => becoming a winning competitor 10 values (see exhibit 5): but they had little meaning inside the company BUT: the CEO Thought they had..2010: Henkel: â€Å" a global leader in brands and technologies† putting customers central value, challenge and reward people drive excellent sustainable financial performance sustainabilitybuild the future on the family foundation They organised workshops all over the company to introduce the employers to these new values. New tagline: â€Å"Excellence is our passion† in early 2011 performance management A lot of employees have careers of over 20, 30 or even 40 years within the company. 2009: new performance management system for 4 layers of management. For each employee there was: 1) the current rating of his  performance and 2) potential performance for the future. These were put in a grid (exhibit 7) with scores going from L (low), M (moderate) to T (Top) For potential performance numbers were used from 1 to 4 with 4 the limit of performance of someone. These rankings were set up during a Development Roundtable (DRT), a collaborative forum with a group head and his direct reports. Afterwards, the results were discussed during a one-to-one with the employee. DRT-processes were done bottom-up. Targets were set about how many employees should be fitted in a certain category. E.g; 5% had to be L => caused a new way of evaluation within the company. Bonus compensation Bonusses were linked to the overall company financial performance, team performance and individual performance. Group performance: KPI (e.g. EBIT,..): 3 per year Team performance: idem Individual performance: Performance on 2 equally weighted individual KPIs Performance from the DRT process.Each manager could get a target bonus as well. A round table discussion with Henkel Executives about the â€Å"Winning culture†.See case.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Watergate A Study of Political Corruption Essay examples

Like many of the President’s that preceded and followed Richard Nixon, his presidency consisted of many highs and lows. Although Nixon’s first term in office played out against the contentious issue of the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the aftermath of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, his presidential legacy consists of the helm of what is widely regarded as the biggest scandal in American politics, Watergate. Despite the volatility of the times, Nixon was a president who was gifted in his vision when it came to foreign and domestic policy issues and was an individual who most people seemed to believe could lead the country. Nixon, however, seemed to not have the same faith in himself and†¦show more content†¦Bernstein and Woodward, nicknamed â€Å"Woodstein,† are the two reporters that will forever be credited with breaking the most infamous political scandal to ever hit the United States and are largel y credited with ushering in new era of accountability and transparency for elected officials. The story however did not come easily. Both Woodward and Bernstein were relatively young, unseasoned reporters with no major stories to their credit. In fact, when the initial break in at Watergate was discovered, most media outlets considered it not important and paid little or no attention to it. The editor of the Washington Post at the time, Benjamin C. Bradlee put Bernstein and Woodward in charge of the story only because he did not think much would come of it. However, Woodward and Bernstein began to see linkages between the individuals involved in the break-ins and began to delve deeper into all aspects of the break-in. The two having never worked together had to coordinate their efforts and essentially assemble a puzzle made up of fragments of information from various sources and pieces of evidence. What they found was stunning and eventually led them to breaking the case. T he Watergate scandal was complex and took over two years to unravel. As the two reporters continued their investigation moreShow MoreRelatedThe Watergate Scandal Essay588 Words   |  3 Pagestime, people have always had distrust in the government due to government scandals and corruption that they attempted to keep from the public. Many of those incidents didn’t stay secretly for long due to the change to modern day media. 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