Workforce Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Workforce Diversity - Essay Example The challenge of getting women and minorities into senior-level management positions is difficult. While the proportion of women and minorities in the workforce has increased significantly during the past decade, few of them have made it to the top. Along with shifts in organization demographics come additional competition. Some white male employees must now compete against people they did not consider rivals before--mainly women, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Even though they still control most of the managerial positions, many white males sense an impending loss of job entitlements. The transition from a workplace dominated by white males to one in which managerial and supervisory jobs are shared with representatives of other groups usually precipitates tension and conflict. The issue is further complicated by organization downsizing and restructuring--activities that add to the fear of lost opportunities. Contrary to some critics, black workers are still the last hired and the first fired. There is no conclusive evidence to support the assumption that white males are more productive workers than minorities and women. Qualified minorities and women are routinely passed over for jobs and promotions in favor of less qualified white males.

To What Extent Do You Consider That Robin is an Enterpreneur Essay

To What Extent Do You Consider That Robin is an Enterpreneur - Essay Example Although many people come up with great business ideas, most of them never act on their ideas. Entrepreneurs do† (2008). To sum it up, an entrepreneur is an individual who identify opportunities and creates business based on those opportunities and is willing to take risk to realize those business ideas a reality. Based on this definition of an entrepreneur, Robin qualifies as an entrepreneur and embodies its characteristics. Robin also has the essential skill of an entrepreneur of how to manage risk. This uncanny ability of Robin to manage risk was demonstrated when he was able to identify and seize opportunities without exposing himself to undue risk. This was manifested in the case when he started as a part time IT auditor with IT Alchemy yet he still took casual work to supplement his income. This demonstrates that while he was willing to explore opportunities with IT Alchemy, he is also a pragmatist that in case things will not work out, he still has another source of inco me as a fall back. It was not explicitly stated in the case but reading between the lines, Robin knew deep in his gut that there is an opportunity with IT Alchemy being a start-up company. This was evident with his inclination to stay with IT Alchemy when he was faced with the dilemma of not having the time for the lucrative contract with Heriot-Watt. This has to be stressed because if Robin had the mindset of an employee, he would have readily pursued the contract with Heriot-Watt because of the lucrative pay. Instead, he would have chosen IT Alchemy if he had to make a choice between the Heriot-Watt contract and IT Alchemy because he knew the potential of the company. This ability of entrepreneurs to discern and seize opportunity is elaborated by Timmons that entrepreneurs are able to create and see opportunities at the right time while others see it late or too early (2011). Robins also manifested his entrepreneurial tendency when he found a solution with his dilemma where he can stay with IT Alchemy and keep the contract with Heriot-Watt without losing anything. He was able to create a favourable value for himself because Mike Parr of IT Alchemy agreed with his idea and made him a part-owner of the company when Mike shared ownership of the company with Robin. This may not have been explicitly expressed in the case but Robin may have just been waiting for the right time where he can become a shareholder of IT Alchemy. The Heriot-Watt contract provided him the bargaining chip to leverage himself to become a part-owner of the company. He was able to turn a dilemma into an advantage which is the innovative characteristic of an entrepreneur. When Robin became the Director of the start-up, IT Alchemy, his entrepreneurial acumen to identify opportunities manifested which also proved to be beneficial to the company. As an IT expert, he was able to identify the opportunities spawned by the increased regulation of software licensing and made business out of it. He k new that with the heavy penalties imposed against non-compliance of software licensing, companies would conscientiously pay for renewal regularly in fear of licensing and copyright legislation to the point that they overpay their licensing fees. In a study by the Gartner Group, it was estimated that firms are paying 30% to 50% more on software licence compliance than they need to be. It may be unacceptable from a fiscal point of view for many firms but Robin was able to ident

Benchmarking - Amgen Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Benchmarking - Amgen Corporation - Case Study Example APQC provides Amgen with a list of 40 potential benchmarking companies from which Amgen selects the best seven. Amgen gets a chance to visit four of the companies while the other three are interviewed over the phone. After scaling itself against these companies, Amgen restructures its sales training and development department. After realizing the positive results from the benchmarking, Amgen sought to use the same concept to evaluate its mode of movement of the products from the production stage to the end user. In the process, it has been able to learn many lessons. For instance, Amgen has learned that one of the hindrances to effective benchmarking is a failure to make effective implementation of the learned concepts. Finding suitable companies willing to participate in the benchmarking is a challenge though APQC comes in handy in such instances. Through benchmarking, Amgen has been able to make a milestone development in various aspects of its operations. The best decision Amgen could ever have done was to initiate the benchmarking concept in their business. It would have been disastrous for Amgen to continue with their business operations and ideas without measuring themselves against the top performers. Other competitors, who are performing better in human resource management, would have overtaken them. It is always important to keep a constant evaluation of strengths and weaknesses in all aspects of business and then execute benchmarking to address the weaknesses. Amgen integrated the benchmarking idea just in time when it would have lost total control over the increasing number of employees. Certainly, Amgen will continue reaping the benefits of benchmarking even in future. For any business to be successful, it has to embrace the change of events that are prevalent in modern business conditions. Competition is on the rise and only the most competitive and organized businesses will remain in business.  Ã‚