Diversity in Workforce Essay Example for Free

Diversity in Workforce Essay The Experiment I decided not to get too ambitious for the ping-pong experiment, so my list of errands for the day included dropping off a sweater at the dry cleaner’s and buying some groceries. I don’t have a ping-pong, so I ingenuously decapitate a bottle of the mouthwash. With a cheerful blue and white polka dot sock over my right hand I am ready for action. Or so I think. First hurdle is dressing. Obviously I haven’t thought it through well enough. All my jackets have zippers, and after trying one after another I give up. My husband’s pea coat will do just fine. Now boots†¦ forget the boots, nursing clogs (bright yellow) will have to do. I wish I could take a picture of the sight I make, but operating the phone is out of the question. Off I go! A few words should be said about the area where we live. It is quite a chi-chi area in downtown Ottawa – a ten minutes walk from the Parliament Hill. But as with almost any major city the streets are lined not only with trees but with homeless people. If this were San Francisco I would be leery to take my regular walks, but this being Canada the general mood is of relaxed friendliness, even if its roots are often 80 proof. As I walk down the street I realize that instead of looking and feeling different I blend right in with my out of season clogs, a manly pea coat and especially the sock over an apparently crippled appendage. All I need is a paper cup and I’d be open for business. Nobody asks anything or looks askance as I buy my Granny Smiths. Another crazy lady doing her shopping, no big deal. I step outside and immediately recoil, momentarily disoriented: all around me the throngs of the living dead in different stages of decomposition shuffle along the street. Then I remember: Halloween! There was something in the paper about a Zombie Invasion on Bank Street, but engrossed in my school work I completely forgot what day it was. I turn towards home and chug along like a sturdy tugboat, adroitly navigating the churning masses of howling zombies. All  around me there are bloodied bandages, decaying limbs, oozing body fluids. I suddenly realize that now I finally stand out in my getup. I look†¦ normal. Reflection The experiment yielded somewhat unexpected results but I as I return the cap to the mouthwash bottle the idea strikes me that I didn’t really need it to feel different. With my strong Russian accent I am pretty much guaranteed to always stand out. From the lily-white central Russia I immigrated to the USA where â€Å"We are, at almost every point of our day, immersed in cultural diversity: faces, clothes, smells, attitudes, values, traditions, behaviours, beliefs, rituals.† (Abdel-Fattah, R. n.d.). America has always been a beacon for the â€Å"huddled masses yearning to breathe free† (Lazarus, E. n.d.) and continues to have a special responsibility in the eyes of the rest of the world in upholding the ideals of democracy. Freedom of any persecution for its extremely diverse population is guaranteed by the American Constitution. As a result of this assurance the richness of the workforce arriving at the American shores – and at the disposal of American emp loyers is amazing: brains, experience, ingenuity, material resources, and business connections are just some of the treasures that can be accessed if this well is tapped and sustained (Bell, 2012, p. 13). Inside the USA the labor landscape is shifting profoundly even without considering the constant influx of immigrants. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012) stubborn recession, retiring baby-boomers and overall increasingly aging population are the reasons that more people are leaving the workforce than entering it. Desperate for workers, many companies will become more accepting of diverse employees, particularly older workers and women. The leading US advocacy group for retired people, the AARP, believes that 80% of baby boomers will keep working full- or part-time past their current retirement age. It even earned the name of Generation U (Unretired) (www.ey.com). Women, an increasingly well-educated source of talent and skilled labor, have been entering the workforce in greater numbers in recent decades. However, their talents often remain underutilized. The same applies to people with dishabilles and nontraditional sexual orientation. Their contribution to the workforce yet remains to be fully realized. Today the world is rapidly diminishing as economy is becoming global. For our  class we could have been experimenting with a miniature globe instead of a ping-pong†¦ Everything seems within reach these days. If we don’t harness the immense creative potential offered by the diverse labor force â€Å"the United States may be left behind in an increasingly competitive and global world.† (Bell, 2012, p. 522) A Personal Observation I have been working in the USA since 1998 and I have been privileged to experience tutelage of some excellent managers. California is a microcosm of racial, ethnic and gender diversity and I can testify that when it works – it works! I see a good manager of a diverse organization as a conductor of a philharmonic orchestra. So many different instruments! Chaos! Cacophony! But with patience, perseverance, hard work and trust on both ends a beautiful melody is born. And a very solid team. Sources Abdel-Fattah, R. (n.d.) Randa Abdel-Fattah quotes. Retrieved November 01, 2013 from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/randa_abdelfattah.html Bell, M. P. (2012). Diversity in organizations (2nd ed). Arlington, TX: South-Western. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012). Labor Force Projections to 2020: a More Slowly Growing Workforce. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art3full.pdf Lazarus, E. (n.d.) The New Colossus, Retrieved November. 02, 2013 from http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Issues/Business-environment/Six-global-trends-shaping-the-business-worldDemographic-shifts-transform-the-global-workforce

Free College Essays - Symbolism in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Scarlet Letter  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Symbolism      Ã‚  The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism.   People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts.   Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and Romantic philosophies.   Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery.   For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.   However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs.   She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven.   Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong.   Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.   Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed.   The reader more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at all, places Pearl above the rest.   She wears colorful clothes, is extremely smart, pretty, and nice.   More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics.   One of Pearl's favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees.   (The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans.   To Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.)   "And she was gentler here [the forest] than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage.   The flowers appeared to know it" (194) Pearl fit in with natural things.   Also, Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans.   Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and the Romantic ways.   To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most important members of a community is the religious leader; Arthur Dimmesdale is no exception.

Leading Change Strategically Essay

Abstract Whereas change does not cause renovation, all improvements require modification. The ability to develop, test, and implement changes are important for any specific, group, or organization that wants to continually enhance. There are many kinds of changes that will result in renovation, but these particular changes develop from a limited number of change principles. A change idea is a basic notion or approach to alter that, which has been found to be useful in developing specific ideas for changes that result in renovation. John Kotter notes an eight-step process to change. This narrative provides an in-depth review of Charlotte Beers and how she gained trust of those at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide while CEO, and leveraged that trust to turn internal and external organizational challenges. Employing Kotter’s eight-steps when fostering change, this narrative closely reviews the concepts and how Beers applied the steps to develop change within the sixth largest advertising agency in the world. Charlotte Beers At Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide Sense of Urgency Beers was appointed CEO of Ogilvy and Mather (Ogilvy and Mather) Worldwide in April 1992 to turn around the embattled advertising agency (Levin, 1992, p. 2). Ogilvy and Mather was losing market share and the internal leadership was doing more in fighting than moving the organization in becoming the number one advertising agency. Hiring Beers was key in getting the organization on the right track, leveraging several of Kotter’s change steps in doing so. Coined as someone who is exterior to the organization, Beers was an anomaly as she chosen as a leader who was appointed from outside, that, which was not typical. Most senior leaders within Ogilvy and Mather were promoted from within. After losing major campaigns from Unilever and Shell Oil Company, certain change was imminent, but unaware in how to embrace (Levins, 1992, p. 7).  Additional campaign losses affected the New York office and directed this failure to the most senior person within the organization. A major shake-up took place in 1999, when CEO, Phillips stepped down as the senior leader, and for the first time in history and person outside the company was appointed. With a strong history preceding her, Beers’ prior successes while COO of Tatham-Lair & Kuder, provided expertise needed for Ogilvy and Mather. To be successful, Beers would have to inject a sense of urgency (Kotter, 2002) by outlying the vision of the organization. Beer knew that change would be easier if people at Ogilvy and Mather desired the change and motivated in making it happen. Beers needed to leverage effective communication and build a guiding coalition who could help move that vision to the forefront. Beers was responsible for infusing her vision, while still conducting her managerial and strategic tasks for moving the organization forward. Beers would have to build a new organization structure, which managing politics and keeping eyes on Ogilvy and Mather’s mission and vision. Strategic in her approach, Beers needed to bring into line the organization with Ogilvy and Mather’s vision. Kotter emphasis, possessing a sense of urgency is the first step when implementing change (Kotter, 1992). Getting her message to all internal Ogilvy and Mather stakeholders, Beers wanted one single, clear message that introduced expectations while soliciting help and in gaining buy-in from staff and other organizational leaders. Her first effort was using multimedia to creating a clear message that she needed there help, while still shaping Ogilvy and Mather’s future. Beer’s candor and openness was heart-felt by the masses. Beers needed to form a credible guiding coalition and delegate the authority to them to work across the organization (Kotter, 1992). Once Beers applied these first steps successfully, she could direct her focus on the third step of the model in developing a change vision and strategy. Organizations sometimes rush through this step too quickly. When done correctly, however, it requires time to get a change vision and strategy right (Kotter, 2002). Guiding Coalition Beers established herself as a leader, and made time to meet with each senior executive to hear concerns and how they thought about the impending  changes. She selected her â€Å"guiding coalition† based on those ready for the challenge (Ibarra, 2011). She selected her essential senior leadership team by meeting with them one-on-one to assess their allegiance to Ogilvy and Mather, and ultimately to her. Ensuring that her team reflected the entire organization, composed of artistic and management-focused talent. Convincing Ogilvy and Mather’s key people was crucial in creating Beer’s coalition, built upon the urgency and momentum (Phillips, 2012, p. 496). Ogilvy and Mather’s old ways of doing things was indicative of habitual behaviors. These habits were regular stable patterns of evens that became routine and would take time to change for the failing advert giant. Beer knew organizational change involved both anticipated and unanticipated changes in Ogilvy and Mather’s power and influence structure. While some of the leaders may find their influence or power increased, and others found theirs decreased as a result of Beer’s changes. Bee dealt with misunderstandings as a result of communication barriers, permeated lack of accountability during the prior leadership’s tenure. Getting the Vision Right Beers took the proper steps to hearing her stakeholders concerns while providing a listening ear. These discussion forums provided Beers with information that would help in getting the vision right. Beers did not follow the standard old way of doing things, but chartered new lines of communication. She provided the financial community with analysis that was very different from her predecessors. Beers indicated to investors where Ogilvy and Mather could become the advertising agency of choice; as they once were. She reinforced her mantra by painting a clear picture to investors of Ogilvy and Mather’s stellar work. Painting a clear vision to the masses was important to Beers, even though she was still working it out. She appealed to the emotional side of employees and leaders, which established linkage and accountability. Beers needed to get the team to establish a simple vision and strategy. She focused on the emotional and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency (Kotter International, 2013). This step meant removing Ogilvy and  Mather’s old things as they were. For Beers to get the vision right, she needed to deem what were Ogilvy and Mather’s values, and why they were essential to the change when executing the vision. Communicate for Buy-in Stakeholder meetings across the United States were difficult for Beers, especially the one in Vienna. There were personality clashes, and each meeting seemed to nearly end the vision before gaining traction. Beer’s tenacity and relentlessness forged the vision Ogilvy and Mather needed to repair the damaged caused by a stalemate of change. Establishing Beer’s vision was difficult as each meeting concluded. Ogilvy desired to be the advertisement agency of choice by all of the Fortuned 500 firms. Beers addressed her leaders by getting to know them and painting a picture that would appeal to their concerns. Daniel Goleman notes six varying leadership styles, when applied to organization structures include: visionary, coaching leader, affiliate, democratic, pace-setting ad commanding (Primal Leadership, 2004). Beers adopted only three of these styles; democratic, authoritative, and coercive. With the most direct approach, Beers often used coercive leadership, which amounts to whatever the boss asks; they receive. While her authoritative approach affords autonomy when propelling individuals toward collective goals. Beers knew she had to tread lightly with this style, as Ogilvy and Mather had not yet stabilized from chaos. Beers knew she had to get united with the nay-says that was giving the changes, the most push back. While in a meeting in Westchester, New York, Beers leverage the audience to gain consensus on Ogilvy and Mather’s mission and vision. Although she was hesitant in having this meeting, she agreed to have another meeting with a larger audience. Utilizing varying leadership styles, provided Beers with trust during a different time of change for Ogilvy and Mather. Her ability to navigate during such a challenging time provided Beers with the credibility needed to galvanize the organization. References Advertising Age. (n.d.). Advertising Age AdAge Encyclopedia RSS. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/tatham-laird/98897/ Can Charlotte Beers revive O&M?; Frustrated Sorrell seen as force behind agency shuffle. Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership, HBS Press, 2004 Advertising Age, Retrieved from Ogilvy and Mather.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic. Kotter, J., & Cohen, D., (2002). The heart of change: real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School. Kotter, J. & Rathgeber, Ogilvy and Mather. (2005). Our iceberg is melting. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Ibarra, Ogilvy and Mather., & Sackley, N. (2011, September 21). Books, Cases, Articles, Audio, and More †¦. Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (B). Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://hbr.org/product/charlotte-beers-at-ogilvy-mather-worldwide-b/an/495032-PDF-ENG Kotter, J. (n.d.). Step 1 Kotter International – The 8 Step Process – Step 1. Kotter International – Innovative Strategy Implementation Professionals. Retrieved October 19, 2013, from http:// Ogilvy and Mather.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps/step-1 Phillips, J., & Gully, S. M. (2012). Organizational behavior: tools for success. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Internal Auditing Stock Market and Fraud - 1244 Words

Definition of fraud: It is the conscious intention to steal or cause an individual to lose or give up something that is rightfully theirs. Stock Fraud: When brokers or people in the stock market influence or make investors buy stock based on false information which is a major violation of the laws put in place in order to protect us from these scandals and in usual cases, it results into a loss for investors. The main targets of stock market investment fraud are seniors. In the market it is estimated that there is a loss of about 40 billion dollars every year and 1 to 3 billion from that amount is from microcap fraud. What is a microcap stock fraud? It’s a form of security fraud involving stocks of microcap companies which are†¦show more content†¦Internet Fraud is a type of fraud done through the internet and which is done in the way of identity or information theft. It can be done using spams or fake emails in order for the price of certain stocks to increase and is more and more common through PayPal. Insider Trading is when members of a corporation trade the company’s stocks when the information of that stock is not yet public. Therefore it can result in giving you an advantage. Accountant Fraud is done in many ways but the most common way is falsifying statements to mislead people on the actual stability of a company. Ponzi scheme is an investment done fraudulently where the corporation or the individual who initiate the fraud pays old investors with new investor’s money and is similar to a pyramid scheme. It is a never ending Ferris wheel that is the result of a vicious cycle. Past Frauds Relating to Stock Fraud Popular cases - ENRON - WorldCom Unpopular cases - The ZZZZ Best Inc. (1986) Berry MinKow was a teenager and created a multimillion dollar corporation based on fraud. - Centennials Technologies Inc. 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