Ganga River Pollution In India Environmental Sciences Essay

All of us have seen a river – big or little, either fluxing through our town, or someplace else. Rivers are nil more than surface H2O fluxing down from a higher height to a lower height due to the pull of gravitation. One river might hold its beginning in a glacier, another in a spring or a lake. Rivers carry dissolved minerals, organic compounds, little grains of sand, crushed rock, and other stuff as they flow downstream. Rivers begin as little watercourses, which grow wider as smaller watercourse and rivers join them along their class across the land. Finally they flow into seas or oceans. Unfortunately most of the universe ‘s major rivers are to a great extent polluted.AThe pollution of environment is the ‘gift ‘ of the industrial revolution. Prior to this the agricultural civilizations created important environmental impairment in the signifier of dirt erosion- through deforestation and overgrazing. The environmental debasement is a by merchandise of mod ern civilisation.AThere has been a steady impairment in the quality of H2O of Indian rivers over several decennaries. India ‘s 14 major, 55 child and several hundred little rivers receive 1000000s of liters of sewerage, industrial and agricultural wastes. Most of these rivers have been rendered to the degree of sewerage fluxing drains. There are serious H2O quality jobs in the metropoliss, towns and small towns utilizing these Waterss. Water borne diseases are rampant, piscaries are on diminution, and even cowss are non spared from the onslaught of pollution. Harmonizing to World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF ) five rivers in Asia functioning over 870 million people are among the most threatened in the universe, as dikes, H2O extraction and clime alteration all take their toll. The Ganges, Indus, Yangtze, Salween-Nu and Mekong-Lancang rivers make up half of the WWF ‘s â€Å" top 10 † most threatened river basins. India has a big figure of rivers that are line of lifes for the 1000000s populating along their Bankss. These rivers can be categorized into four groups: 1.Rivers that flow down from the Himalayas and are supplied by runing snow and glaciers. This is why these are perennial, that is, they ne'er dry up during the twelvemonth. 2. The Deccan Plateau Rivers, which depend on rainfall for their H2O. 3. The coastal rivers, particularly those on the West seashore, which are short and do non retain H2O throughout the twelvemonth. 4. The rivers in the inland drainage basin of west Rajasthan, which depend on the rains. These rivers usually drain towards silt lakes or flux into the sand. River Ganga ( Ganges ) of India has been held in high regard since clip immemorial and Hindus from all over the universe cherish the thought of a holy dip in the river under the religion that by making so they will acquire rid of their wickednesss of life. More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River. An estimated 2,000,000 individuals ceremonially bathe daily in the river. Historically besides, Ganga is the most of import river of the state and beyond uncertainty is closely connected with the history of civilisation as can be noticed from the location of the ancient metropoliss of Hardwar, Prayag, Kashi and Patliputra at its bank. To 1000000s of people it is upholder of life through battalion of canal system and irrigation of the blowing burden. Hundreds of the small towns and even the large metropoliss depend for their imbibing H2O on this river. It is believed, a fact which has besides been observed, that the H2O of Ganga ne'er decays even for months and old ages when H2O of other rivers and bureaus begins to develop bacteriums and Fungis within a twosome of yearss. This self purification feature of Ganga is the key to the sanctity and holiness of its H2O. The combination of bacteriophages and big populations of people bathing in the river have seemingly produced a self-purification consequence, in which water-borne bacteriums such as dysentery and cholera are killed off, forestalling large-scale epidemics. The river besides has an unusual ability to retain dissolved O. With turning civilisation and population all over how long Ganga will retain its ego purification features merely clip can judge.A A A A A A Beginnings:AThe Gangotri A Glacier, a huge sweep of ice five stat mis by 15, at the foothills of the Himalayas ( 14000 foot ) in North Uttar Pradesh is the beginning of Bhagirathi, which joins with Alaknanda ( origins nearby ) to organize Ganga at the cragged canyon-carved town of Devprayag. Interestingly, the beginnings of Indus and the Brahmaputra are besides geographically reasonably near ; the former goes through Himachal Pradesh and fans out through Punjab and Sind ( Pakistan ) into the Arabian Sea. The latter classs for most of its enormous length under assorted names through Tibet/China, ne'er far from the Nepal or Indian boundary lines, and so takes a crisp bend near the northeasterly tip of India, gathers momentum through Assam before fall ining the major watercourse of the Ganga near Dacca in Bangladesh to go the mighty Padma, river of joy and grieve for much of Bangladesh. From Devprayag to the Bay of Bengal and the vastA Sunderbans delta, the Ganga flows some 1550 stat mi s, passing ( and giving life to ) some of the most thickly settled metropoliss of India, including Kanpur ( 2 million ) , Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, and Calcutta ( 14 million ) .AThe largest feeder to the Ganga is the Ghaghara, which meets it before Patna, in Bihar, bearing much of the Himalayan glacier thaw from Northern Nepal. The Gandak, which comes from near Katmandu, is another large Himalayan feeder. Other of import rivers that merge with the Ganga are the Son, which originates in the hills of Madhya Pradesh, the Gomti which flows yesteryear Lucknow.Previous Work:A figure of probes have been carried out on the physiochemical and biological characters of the Ganga. Lakshminarayana ( 1965 ) published a series of documents describing the consequences of surveies carried out at Varanasi during the period between March, 1957 and March, 1958. it was observed by him that the values of the most of the parametric quantities decreased during showery season while no pronounced fluctuati on was observed during winters and summers. In the same twelvemonth Chakraborty et.al. ( 1965 ) from Kanpur reported the H2O quality of Ganga at J.K. Rayon ‘s H2O consumption point and at Golaghat and Bhairoghat pumping Stationss situated at the upstream of the river. It was concluded that the H2O quality bit by bit deteriorated as it passes from Bhairoghat pumping station to the J.K. Rayon H2O consumption point in summers because in this stretch the river received waste Waterss from figure of sewerage drains. A A twelvemonth subsequently Saxena et.al. ( 1966 ) made a systematic study of the chemical measure of Ganga at Kanpur. Harmonizing to the survey, the biological O demand, i.e. B.O.D. varied from 5.3ppm ( lower limit ) in winter to 16.0ppm ( upper limit ) in summer. The chloride ranged between 9.2 and 12.7 ppm and the river was found to be alkalic in nature except in rainy season. He concluded that the tanneries significantly increased the pollution burden of river as they discharge immense sums of wastewaters incorporating organic wastes and heavy metals. It was further reported that 40 five tanneries, ten fabric Millss and several other industrial units discharged 37.15 million gallon per twenty-four hours of waste H2O bring forthing BOD burden of about 61630 Kg/day. Subsequently Agarwal et.al. ( 1976 ) studied the bacteriological population of the river H2O and concluded that add-on of untreated waste and sewerage was responsible for the presence of infective beings presenting menace to the occupants of the Varanasi metropolis. Hydrobiological characteristics of the river Ganga was studied by A Pahwa and Mehrotra ( 1966 ) . The writers studied a stretch of 1090 kilometer. of river Ganga widening from Kanpur in West to Rajmahal, in Jharkhand province, in the E. They reported that the turbidness was maximal ( 1100-2170 ppm ) in monsoon and lower limit ( less than100 ppm ) during January to June. The pH of the river H2O ranged between 7.45 ( lower limit ) during June to August and 8.30 ( upper limit ) during January to May. The dissolved O, i.e. D.O. count ranged from 5.0 to 10.5 ppm with maximal values during January and February. While the minimal values were recorded in monsoon. Bhargava ( 1982 ) in a study of entire length of the river Ganga found that quality index was far above the prescribed bound at Kanpur. He farther found that the Ganga H2O was holding remarkably fast renewing capacity by conveying down B.O.D. owing to the presence of big sum of good adopted microorganism. Harmonizing to the research Ganga is rich in polymers excreted by assorted species of bacteriums. These polymers being first-class coagulators take turbidness by curdling, puting the suspended atoms at the sewerage discharge point. At the 1981 session of Indian Science Congress at Varanasi, scientists expressed concern at the turning pollution in the river Ganga in presence of the so Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi who inaugurated the session. At her case, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the so member, Planning Commission asked the Central Board for Preventation and Control of Water Pollution, New Delhi to carry on surveies on the province of the river Ganga. In coaction with the State Pollution Control Boards of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal and the Centre for survey of Man and Environment Kolkata ( Calcutta ) , surveies were conducted on the ‘Sources ‘ of pollution including all human activities, land usage form and H2O quality of the river at selected sites during 1981-82 and study entitled â€Å" Basin, sub-basin stock list of H2O pollution in the Ganga basin part-II † was published in 1984. harmonizing to this study sewerage of 27 category I metropoliss and towns and wastewaters from 137 major industries were the chief beginning of pollution of the river. In add-on cremation of dead human organic structures and dumping of carcases aggrevated the pollution of the river. It was Chandra ( 1981 ) who conducted surveies on the pollution position of river Ganga at Allahabad, pointed out that industries fabricating nitrogen-bearing fertilisers have important function in fouling the river water.A Study carried out in 1986-87 on physico-chemical belongingss of river Ganga H2O at Buxar ( Unnao ) clearly revealed that extent of pollution varied in different seasons. Normally all the 23 parametric quantities studied showed high values in summer and lower during monsoons except turbidness which was high in rainy season. Valuess of BOD, COD, DO and H2S were recorded high than the tolerance bounds. Survey on H2O quality of river Ganga at Kalakankar ( Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh ) revealed that even at such a distant and undisturbed topographic point like Kalakankar the river H2O was non safe for imbibing and bathing. It was besides noted that the river showed an alkaline tendency throughout the class of survey. Harmonizing to the research done by Mehrotra ( 1990 ) , the assorted beginnings responsible for pollution of the river in Varanasi metropolis are domestic sewerage wastewaters of the industries, combustion of dead organic structures at the ghats, usage of detergents, insect powders and pesticides used in agribusiness. Study revealed the presence of toxic metals likeA quicksilver ( 65 to 520ppb ) , Lead ( less than 10 to 800 ppm ) , Cr ( less than 10 to 200 ppm ) and nickel ( less than 10 to 130 ppm ) in the deposits of Ganga river at Varanasi city.A A A Upstream from Varanasi, one of the major pilgrim's journey sites along the river, the H2O is relatively pure, holding a lowA Biochemical O demandA and faecal coliform count. Surveies conducted in 1983 on H2O samples taken from the right bank of the Ganga at Patna confirm thatA escheria coliA ( E.Coli. ) , faecal streptococcus and vibrio cholerae beings die two to three times faster in the Ganga than in H2O taken from the rivers Son and Gandak and from dug Wellss and tubing Wellss in the same country. The chemical pollution of the river Ganga in Patna metropolis in Bihar province has been found slightly dismaying beside the storm drain, particularly in the parts like Rajapur, Mandiri and Krishnaghat. Harmonizing to the study published in a book by Mr. U.K. Sinha ( 1986 ) , the concentration of Fe is higher in deposits collected from 10 meters along the bank at Mandiri part. The concentration of all the toxic metals i.e Cu, Zn, Ni and Co are higher in all the deposits collected from near the storm drain and diminishes towards mid-region of the river. The concentration of Zn is highest in the deposits collected from near the Mandiri storm drain, Antaghat storm drain and Krishnaghat storm drain. The concentration of Cu is highest in the deposits collected from near the Krishnaghat storm drain proposing the presence Cu due to utensil work being done in Thatheri Bazar and infirmary wastes besides, said study.Present state of affairs:For some clip now, this romantic position of the Ganges has collided with India ‘s inexorable worlds. During the past three decennaries, the state ‘s explosive growing ( at about 1.2 billion people, India ‘s population is 2nd merely to China ‘s ) , industrialisation and rapid urbanisation have put dogged force per unit area on the sacred watercourse.AGanga, the most sacred of rivers for Hindus, has become polluted for some old ages now. But a recent survey by Uttarakhand Environment Conservation and Pollution Control Board says that the degree of pollution in the sanctum river has reached dismaying proportions.AThingss have come to such a base on balls that the Ganga H2O is at present non fit merely for imbibing and bathing but has become unserviceable even for agricultural intents. As per the UECPCB survey, while the degree of coliform nowadays in H2O should be below 50 for imbibing intents, less than 500 for bathing and below 5000 for agricultural use-the present degree of coliform in Ganga at Haridwar has reached 5500.ABased on the degree of coliform, dissolved O and biochemical O, the survey put the H2O in A, B, C and D classs. While A class is considered tantrum for imbibing, B for bathing, C for agribusiness and D is for inordinate pollution degree.ASince the Ganga Waterss at Haridwar have more than 5000 coliform and even the degree of dissolved O and biochemical O does n't conform the prescribed criterions, it has been put in the D class.AHarmonizing to the survey, the chief cause of high degree of coliform in Ganga is due to disposal of human fecal matters, urine and sewage straight into the river from its get downing point in Gaumukh till it reaches Haridwar via Rishikesh.AAbout 89 million liters of sewerage is daily disposed into Ganga from the 12 muni cipal towns that fall along its path boulder clay Haridwar. The sum of sewerage disposed into the river increases during the Char Dham Yatra season when about 15 lakh pilgrims visit the province between May and October each twelvemonth.AApart from sewerage disposal of half-burnt human organic structures at Haridwar and risky medical waste from the base infirmary at Srinagar due to absence of an incinerator are besides adding to pollution degrees in the Ganga.AThe consequence has been the gradual violent death of one of India ‘s most cherished resources. One stretch of the Yamuna River, the Ganges ‘ chief feeder, has been devoid of all aquatic animals for at least a decennary.AIn Varanasi, India ‘s most sacred metropolis, the coliform bacterial count is at least 3,000 times higher than the standard established as safe by the United Nations universe Health A Organization.A A ColiformA are bacillar bacteriums that are usually found in the colons of worlds and animate beings and go a serious contamination when found in the nutrient or H2O supply.AA survey by Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department pf Zoology, Patna University, showed the presence of quicksilver in the Ganga river in Varanasi metropolis. Harmonizing to the survey, one-year average concentration of quicksilver in the river H2O was 0.00023 ppm. The concentration ranged from NT ( non traceable ) to 0.00191 ppm. Study done by Indian Toxicological Research Centre ( ITRC ) , Lucknow during 1986-1992 showed maximal one-year concentration of quicksilver in the Ganga river H2O at Rishikesh, Allahabad territory and Dakshineswar as 0.081, 0.043 and 0.012 ppb severally.AGanga river at Varanasi was found good within the maximal allowable criterion of 0.001 ppm prescribed for imbibing H2O by the World Health Organization. The quicksilver studied in the Ganga river could be traced in biotic every bit good as abiotic constituents of the river at the survey site. The Hindu fans take bath in the river where quicksilver was detected in 28 % , 44 % ,75 % , 96 % , 42 % and 89 % of the river H2O, deposit, benthal zoology, fish, dirt and flora samples severally.AThough mercury taint of the river H2O has non reached an alarming extent, its presence in the river system is unreassuring. In the survey one-year average concentration of the metal in the deposits was 0.067 ppm. Sediments constitute a major pool of quicksilver in fresh H2O.AAs Ganga enters the Varanasi metropolis, Hinduism ‘s sacred river contains 60,000 fecal coliform bacteriums per 100 milliliters, 120 times more than is considered safe for bathing. Four stat mis downriver, with inputs from 24 spurting cloacas and 60,000 pilgrim-bathers, the concentration is 3,000 times over the safety bound. In topographic points, the Ganges becomes black and infected. Cadavers, of semi-cremated grownups or enshrouded babes, impetus easy by.AThe tannery industry mushrooming in North India has converted the Ganga River into a dumping land. The tanning industry discharges different types of waste into the environment, chiefly in the signifier of liquid wastewaters incorporating organic affairs, Cr, sulphide ammonium and other salts. As per an estimation, approximately 80-90 % of the tanneries use Cr as a tanning agent. Of this, the fells take up merely 50-70 % , while the remainder is discharged as wastewater. Pollution becomes acute when tanneries are concentrated in bunchs in little country like Kanpur. Consequently, the Leather-tanning sector is included in the Red class of industries due to the possible inauspicious environmental impact caused by tannery wastes.AHighly contaminated deposits are adversely impacting the ecological operation of rivers due to heavy metal mobilisation from urban countries into biosphere. Distribution of he avy metals in deposits of the river Ganga and its feeders have been carried out by several workers. Monitoring of Ganga River from Rishikesh to Varanasi indicated that Kannauj to Kanpur and Varanasi are the most contaminated stretches of the river Ganga. Analysis of upstream and down stream H2O and deposit revealed a 10-fold addition in chromium degree.A

eBay

1) EBay pursue international growth through acquisitions and partnership in related and unrelated business. eBay goal was to expand its international presence in an effort to create an on line global marketplace. In many of this international website, eBay had to adapt and provide local language and currency options to gain popularity. The best approach that eBay had was by forming partnership with local companies. This strategy helps them to understand local cultures and ensure that the company was meeting local need. eBay has had tremendous success in Latin America and Europe. But in Asia has been a failure, in Japan they had to pull out of the market due to the poor market share that they were able to get. In china they still struggling to gain market share so they decided to due joint venture to learn a little bit more about the local needs. 2) eBay biggest competitive advantage was said by the founder of the company â€Å" we have specialize in e-commerce, payments and voice communication. Google stands for search, Yahoo largely stands for content† this clearly defines the completive advantage of specializing at what they do the best. In order to support this eBay has done a lot of acquisition, this offered distinct services and target specific market niches, which allowed eBay to broaden its customer base. When it comes eBay in Asia , the company run into a lot of trouble due to an inability to build a community effect in the country that focuses in customer service. But this was difficult for Ebay because changes at global level had to be approving in United States. This made it more difficult for rapid changes in the local market. eBay 1) EBay pursue international growth through acquisitions and partnership in related and unrelated business. eBay goal was to expand its international presence in an effort to create an on line global marketplace. In many of this international website, eBay had to adapt and provide local language and currency options to gain popularity. The best approach that eBay had was by forming partnership with local companies. This strategy helps them to understand local cultures and ensure that the company was meeting local need. eBay has had tremendous success in Latin America and Europe. But in Asia has been a failure, in Japan they had to pull out of the market due to the poor market share that they were able to get. In china they still struggling to gain market share so they decided to due joint venture to learn a little bit more about the local needs. 2) eBay biggest competitive advantage was said by the founder of the company â€Å" we have specialize in e-commerce, payments and voice communication. Google stands for search, Yahoo largely stands for content† this clearly defines the completive advantage of specializing at what they do the best. In order to support this eBay has done a lot of acquisition, this offered distinct services and target specific market niches, which allowed eBay to broaden its customer base. When it comes eBay in Asia , the company run into a lot of trouble due to an inability to build a community effect in the country that focuses in customer service. But this was difficult for Ebay because changes at global level had to be approving in United States. This made it more difficult for rapid changes in the local market.

Analysis of Act 1 Scene 7 from Shakespeare’s Macbeth Essay

This extract is from act one scene seven. This is when Macbeth gives his soliloquy on stage, right after Duncan arrives and is invited into their house by Lady Macbeth. The setting is still in Macbeth’s castle at Inverness. He is confused as to whether to kill Duncan or not. This scene is mainly about Macbeth giving his soliloquy where he shows his dilemma on whether he should kill Duncan or not. His wife Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth of being a coward and that she herself would want to kill Duncan or at least pass on her evil ideas to Macbeth. Macbeth feels very emotional about killing Duncan as he feels that they are kinsmen and that Duncan has high regard for Macbeth. He is also doubtful that they might be caught in the process and that they will be in a worse off situation. Lady Macbeth brainwashes him and at last gets him to listen to her. There is a main theme in this scene that is that whether Macbeth should kill or not kill his king Duncan, who also happened to be his guest. Macbeth’s conscience comes over him and he feels that he should not commit this horrendous deed while his wife teases him about his weakness and cowardice. This is when Macbeth decides once in for all that he will kill Duncan as Macbeth has nothing to argue with Lady Macbeth so he listens to her. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship is very strong. Macbeth is a very weak and cowardice man when compared to his wife as she is outgoing and is very strong. Macbeth is a brave and strong warrior but his emotions and his conscience make him very weak and frail. This causes him to have doubts on whether he should kill his king or not. There is a lot of imagery in this scene of the play. First there is all the dark imagery which portrays the evil in the book. There is also Macbeth’s ambition which is portrayed as a horse in the statement â€Å"Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself†. There is also some child imagery in the line â€Å"And pity, like a naked newborn babe†. There is once again the reversal of values in the last line â€Å"False face must hide what the false heart doth know†. The dramatic effect in this scene is very high as in most of the other  scenes. There is a heightened suspense of whether Macbeth will choose to kill Duncan or not. The audience is made to believe that Macbeth will not kill Duncan, but Lady Macbeth brainwashes Macbeth towards the end and he decides to kill Duncan and take the throne. This scene should be enacted on a very dark and gloomy setting where there is a lot of echo. This gives the audience the effect of evil in the set. If this scene is performed well the audience will be struck by the seriousness and the suspense of the scene. This scene is very important in the whole play as this scene shows the faithfulness of Macbeth towards Duncan. This scene also shows the good side of Macbeth. The audience is shown that Lady Macbeth was one of the main motives behind pushing Macbeth towards murdering Duncan.

Drunk Driving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Drunk Driving - Essay Example Research has also shown that an alcohol related death occurs in every thirty minutes and driving while drunk accounts for approximately 25% of the deaths. Drinking has been found to impair vision and hearing among drinkers, it also leads to a decline in terms of coordination of the body muscles and ultimately reaction times. This is a combination that may not be desired for people expected to drive on our roads. At a BAC of above ten percent for instance one to have a very poor reaction time, deteriorated motor control, poor vision, mood changes and over expression. There is no doubt such is not the status expected drive a car. As a result of the sensory impacts of drinking alcohol, driving while is responsible for the many accidents and deaths associated with alcohol. it would therefore be advisable that all drivers avoid drinking if they have to drive or wait until the end of the journey if they must drink. Laws have been put in place to punish those found to drive while drunk and therefore driving while drunk means violating state laws. DUI is a crime and may be classified as either a felony or misdemeanor depending on the circumstances in which the crime is committed. A misdemeanor is preferred when the drunk driver causes no injury to other persons or peoples’ properties. A felony on the other hand results when DUI results in injuries. The maximum jail term in case of a misdemeanor is six months whereas for felony it can extend unto three years. Punishment may also include revocation of one’s driving license. Research has also shown that peer pressure is a major case DUI; the youth would want to drink and drive in a quest to show off to peers, pretend to be strong, impress their friends or even just because they don’t want others to drive their car. This has the effect of exposing the teenagers and youth at a much higher risk of engaging in DUI and by extension related accidents as compared to the adults

Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations - Essay Example Junginger ascertains that his company adopts majority of the best D&I practices in the industry, as identified by the U.S Department of Commerce benchmarking study. More than internal practices, however, the challenge to the firm’s D&I efforts are posed by external elements, principally the discriminatory attitudes of customers who stay at the company’s hotels. The firm’s hotels located in other countries are also constrained by the social prejudice (by Western standards) that may have been built into the culture of the place. The company must train its personnel not only to observe D&I practices within the company, but also how to deal with people and situations that are discriminatory against them. An Interview with Phillip Junginger*, D&I strategic officer, Human Resources Department Phillip Junginger* is the strategic officer for a four-star international hotel chain based in the U.S. ... This insight provides him with a greater motivation and sensitivity not only towards those of different cultures, but also of different races, ethnicities, religions, and other personal circumstances. Question 1: How does your firm integrate D&I in your corporate planning? PJ: In our hotel, we deal with people of different backgrounds, both as customers and as internal stakeholders. The hotel industry is all about people, and all about dealing with them in the most intimate way because we provide a home for the customers, so moreso for the employees. Therefore, our D&I is part of our core organizational values. It is not just one separate plan in itself, but it is integrated in all managerial planning, from strategizing at the executive level, to the tactical and the operational levels (especially in dining, housekeeping, and hotel amenities), where we try to meet customers’ preferences and employees circumstances. --------------- * Names have been modified upon the request of the interviewee. Question 2: In your personal role, how do you perceive your goals and responsibilities? PJ: When I look at my role as the main officer in charge of D&I strategy, I am overwhelmed by the tremendous responsibility of that position. Diversity and inclusion is a double-sided blade; the strategies we design should make people of all backgrounds feel accepted the way they are, and usually these pertain to the minority groups, but then it must be done in a way that does not alienate members of the majority group. Doing so would continue to drive a wedge among the groups, which is exactly what we try to eliminate. The difficulty here is that

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English A1 HL IB - Essay Example This contrast is a direct placement of Iago as the villain of the story since biblical tradition accepts the representation of Satan as something he is not. The audience of the time would have clearly understood the idea that by presenting himself as something different Iago has plans in place to act as the villain of the story and will bring harm to other characters. Another contrast which is made evident in the first scene is the contrast between Iago and Cassio. Iago compares himself with the present lieutenant and shows that he is more battle ready while Cassio is nothing more than a womanizing mathematician who can not be expected to hold his own in any battle. Additionally, Iago says that he has proven himself to the chiefs of the city several times over while Cassio has done nothing which is worthy of praise. A particularly strange comparison is made by Iago concerning the features of Desdemona and Othello when he calls them a white ewe and an old black ram respectively. This comparison works on several levels since Iago is accusing both the lovers of bestiality, he is comparing Othello’s old age with Desdemona’s young age and finally, he is comparing their colors to show the difference races these individuals belong to. All three are negative comparisons and serve to only heighten the indignation Brabantio feels at the disappearance of his daughter. In scene 2, there is an interesting comparison between Othello and Iago. When Brabantio and his men are approaching Iago and Othello, Iago asks Othello to go into the shadow yet he refuses. This shows the character of Othello that he believes he has done nothing wrong in marrying the person he loves. On the other hand, the character of Iago prefers to remain in the shadows and casts doubts as well as creates schemes while being in the shadows. When Brabantio confronts Othello, he makes several comparisons between Othello and Desdemona

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Incident command - Essay Example Terrorist and mass destruction events that requires medical and emergency personnel attendance, 5. Planned events that will involved a huge number of crowd or spectators like parades, concerts, elections and more (Radvanvsky, 2006). The primary importance of having an effective command system is the warning system and its organizational components. An effective command system would incorporate the community, several government and private organizations and media to effectively disseminate warning messages to the public and other nearby communities. Having relevant and important information about the incident, the public, government and private organizations, as well as, the experts or support team can now make countermeasures to respond accordingly to the situation of the incident (Amendola, et.al., 1995). It is important to have a very effective incident command system to primarily evaluate the risk of the situation and relay information as fast as possible. The processes and procedures must also be structured in a way that it may counter fit any possible situation of incidents and emergencies depending on the nature of the facility and its surroundings. A standard organizational structure in managing incidents, regardless the cause, location and reason, is essential for public safety and incident control measures. There are a lot of factors that needs to be considered in order to develop and to implement an incident command system. Mobilization capabilities, effectively utilizing external resources, involvement of emergency responders are just a few to mention. Coordination and communication between government and public agencies, as well as, private organizations and the surrounding communities and other NGOs is also essential for incident and risk management. Every organization involved has information that may be useful to control or resolve the incident (Radvanvsky, 2006). Wide-scale incidents may also result to great

Employee relations(Royal Mail) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Employee relations(Royal Mail) - Essay Example It is at this time that the people started forming groups and placing their demands together. That is when the concept of union took birth and the people started getting unionized. The union started placing demand in the form of collective bargaining. There were other methods of negotiations too that were developed. It is in the following pages that this method of negotiation of conflict is discussed. the process of discussion follows the critical analysis of the success and effectiveness of the collective bargaining method from the view point of different researchers and then going on to study the other methods of negotiation. According to Aidt and Tzannatos, who studied the effect of collective bargaining on the macroeconomic environment, found that ceteris paribus the countries that have high levels of coordinated collective bargaining are accompanied by low levels of unemployment. It is found that in the countries where there is more coordinated bargaining the quality and the quantity of the job increase (Aidt and Tzannatos, 2002). In another paper the researchers argue that countries where there is high levels of bargaining there is poor performance on the economic front. However the adverse effects of the bargaining coverage can be covered by more coordinated effort towards bargaining. The researchers argue that the process of bargaining efforts is most important in times of economic growth rather than in stable economic conditions (Aidt, and Tzannatos, 2008). According to the researcher individual representation is fast becoming a fact to place ones demands in the private sector for a wide variety o f reasons. Thus the author argues that in case of modern private organization the significance of collective bargaining is on the decline (Troy, 2000).according to card the effectiveness of the collective bargaining mechanism or the fact about whether the collective

Grill case Essay Example for Free

Grill case Essay In this case, we can appreciate the Sunset Grill at Blue has operational failures on management of capacity and demand which should be considered to solve to get success. Also it explains how the Sunset Grill at Blue was a restaurant which his aimed was to provide affordable meals that appealed to the entire family during their vacations. This restaurant offered breakfast items and lunch menu through the day. The franchisor of this restaurant always was focused on how he could save waiting time to the client when they come to eat in the restaurant instead of customer’s satisfaction. For this reasons, the owner evaluated important points about the service he has on the restaurant. First, he had a strict police of no-substitutions plates even when they brought the wrong plate and he knows that was bringing complains from the customers. In addition, the franchisor thought that maybe he could reduce items from the menu. Also, he realized they have more clients during the weekend and for that reason he decided to hire one runner staff who just delivers the food from the kitchen to the tables, allowing serves to serve customers more efficiently. No concern for the client No waiting area The Sunset Grill was not able to making a special area for the clients give them a place more comfortable at the restaurant if they need to wait. As the case mentioned, the client had to wait around 40 to 50 minutes to get the table and order their food. The lack of this waiting area, was affecting directly to the clients. They could be losing some of them because they can find another place without waiting that time. Also, nobody wants to wait 50 minutes for a table on an uncomfortable place. No customer feedback â€Å"The relationship with the customers is of paramount importance because it is a source of innovation and differentiation† (service management, operations strategy, Information Technology, Fitzsimmons. J, 7th edition ). The franchisor of Sunset Grill shows he didn’t have any relationship with the clients in order to get feedback to improve the restaurant. He focused his business on reduce the time to their clients, instead of worry about client’s satisfaction. The first point the owner of a company or business should do, is create a close relationship with the customer in order to give them what they need or what they want.

The Effect Of Games On Vocabulary Learning

The Effect Of Games On Vocabulary Learning Learning another language has always been problematic for learners. How and what skills should be learned has been a matter of inquiry. It is true that integrating language skills and component is against the nature of language and language should learn holistically, but some components of language, like vocabulary, are the building block of learning. Vocabulary learning and teaching has had a long history in second language learning field, sometimes it has been the focus of attention and sometimes its margin; but it has never been absent. About six hundred experimental reports published over the last twenty -five years, indicates the significant role of vocabulary in L2 learning (Brown, Rodgers, 2002). In addition, different scholars mentioned the central role of vocabulary; Vocabulary knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension(Mosher, 1999, p.9;cited in klepper,2003,p.4); Mastering English vocabulary is crucial for ESL student to become language competent (Avila Sadoski, 1996; cited in Gaudio, 2003, p.18); Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed( David Wilkins; cited in Thornbury, 2002, p.13) . If you spend most of your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much. You will see most improvement if you learn more words and expressions. You can say very little wi th grammar, but you can say almost anything with words (Dellar Hocking; cited in Thornbury, 2002, p.13). L2 learners are the ones who struggling with learning and the first weapon used in this struggle is dictionary (Krashen, 1997; citied in Brown, Rodgers, 2002) so it is evident that they are more aware of vocabulary role than scholars and researchers. Sometimes, I am a lack of useful vocabularies to express my opinions. And too often my speaking is hard caused by missing word; these are how learners mentioned their needs of vocabulary in Thornburys book (Thornbury, 2002, p.13). What has been done in this field, remains no doubt in the importance of vocabulary on both scholars and learners side. However, which approach to take in order to make vocabulary teaching more effective, is still a question. According to scholars, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms( Thanh Huyen, Thu Nga,2003 , Learning Vocabulary Through Games,para.1) Using games as an educational tool is not something new and had a long history in language teaching. Games were used for more repetition in Audio lingual; they were introduced in Desuggestopedia as role-play activities or other activities aiming to reduce language barriers; most activities in TPR were game like ones to insert fun in classroom environment; and they found to be handy in Cooperative language teaching, in order to maximize the learner- learner interaction. This long story may prove the effectiveness of games; however, what is the role of games in vocabulary learning? Moreover, do games truly have educational value? To answer this question systematically, as Klepper suggested (2003), to form a basis for researching the effectiveness of games used in vocabulary instruction (p.4), it would be useful to review researches done in related idea; like the effect of games on student retention and memory, and motivation. To start, it would be a good idea to review games and memory in vocabulary teaching and learning. One of the teachers desires is to see their students retain what have been taught. To realize this wish, learners should memorize and recall the information in this field (vocabulary) accurately. Frequently asked question by student is how to memorize and recall what they have learned. Even highly motivated learners facing the difficulty of memorizing vocabulary lose their motivation, because memorizing requires them to make efforts to keep increasing vocabulary accurately. Vocabulary needs great repetition drills to establish (Atake, 2003). It is true that drills are sometimes boring, but there is a simple solution for this problem, insert games to make drills fun. Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily( Thanh Huyen, Thu Nga,2003 , Learning Vocabulary Through Games,para.1). For learning vocabulary, learners need to be able to remember long term. Information, first is held in short-term memory and by lack of attention, it is quickly lost. In order for the information in the short term to be retained, enough rehearsal and elaboration is needed. The more that the knowledge is rehearsed in the memory the more likely it is to be retained in long term memory (Klepper, 2003). It is important to keep student attention, in order to increase their ability to retain words. One way to keep students attention as scholar suggested is emotion. When an educator creates emotion, such as in a game format, music, or drama, then the students attention is most likely to remain with the material and task at hand. In addition, using this strategy directly after a lesson increases the chances that the material will be recalled later.(Meyen, et. al.1999,cited in Klepper, 2003) The other related field is games and motivation. We know that motivation is the root problem in learning. Without due attention to motivational inputs, they [output or ends of learning] are rarely achieved (Clark, 2007, p.11). In order to achieve learning goal, teachers should pay attention to motivating strategies and One of these strategies used by teachers, as Hootstein (1994) mentioned, is using games. While you are teaching, sometimes you feel your students are just physically in the class, and what happen to attention? Not even a sign of it, what is the reason? As Ersoz (2002) mentioned, language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce, and manipulate the target language (p.1). It is hard for students to keep trying to overcome their frustration and unfortunately, it is possible for students to easily lose their motivation (Atake, 2003, p.9). When learners face so many essential words to comprehend and produ ce a language, they will find learning a burden. This burden is so heavy that makes even highly motivated learners, demotivate. Research shows that games can serve to motivate and interest student in learning (Hogle, 1996, p.8-10). Most scholars ( Wright, Betteridge , Buckby , 1984; Ersoz , 2000; Su Kim, 1995; Uberman, 1998; Lee,1979;Richard-Amato, 1988; Hansen, 1994; Wierus and Wierus, 1994; Zdybiewska, 1994; Thanh Huyen Thu Nga, 2003; Yong Mei Yu-jing, 2000; Lewis, 1999;Tyson, 2000; Lengeling Malarcher, 1997) believe in the significant role of games in EFL field specially vocabulary development in addition some complained about the negligence of its importance; as Lee stated, a game should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do (Language teaching games and contests, 1979; cited in Using Games in EFL Classes for Children,2000 ). He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching program. Thanh Huyen and Thu Nga,also aptly mentioned the advantages of using of games: Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways. First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Second, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the learning activities. Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. ( 2003 , Learning Vocabulary Through Games,para.1) However, considering games, as the central activity does not mean it is a safe way to stick to it and call it super technique. It can be said that games are an effective tool, but as Thanh Huyen and Thu Nga themselves observed, a matter of caution still remains: However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.( 2003 , Learning Vocabulary Through Games,para.1) So games are effective as long as their style, as Dunne (1984) reported, match with subject matter and types of student.

Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits

Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits The Impact of Corporate Culture on the Growth and Profitability of IT Companies: The Case of Google Abstract In todays global economy, companies from different industries are trying to create a unique competitive advantage to stay in business and maximize their shareholders equity. In doing so, companies should analyze their largest expenses and try to minimize these costs while utilizing their resources in order to make the most from these expenditures. The largest operating expense in U.S. companies is salary. To maximize this expenditure, businesses should devise ways in which to motivate their employees to be more productive. Controlling employees to come to work is easy, but how can companies motivate their employees to work to their full capacity? One way in which this can be accomplished is by creating a suitable, attractive, and tension-free working environment for employees. In doing so, companies can create a strong corporate culture which could offer a competitive advantage. As an example, Google has become one of the largest IT companies in the world in fewer than two decades from its establishment. Not only has Google grown to be one of the largest IT company in the world, it has also developed unique and innovative products, a high job growth, and a secure position as one of the top five companies for which to work. Google has managed to achieve this not only by developing appropriate business strategy, but also creatin g a strong corporate culture that concentrates mainly on employees and customers. In this research, I will try to analyze Googles achievements. I will conduct a small survey to examine the adaptability of Googles flexible corporate culture in IT companies located in Utah. Introduction Statement of the Problem The old saying, â€Å"You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink† may hold true for employees as well; you can make employees come to work, but it is not easy to make them work to their full capacity. Companies may use different methods to control their employees to make them work to their fullest working capacity, but this does not always succeed. To understand employees work satisfaction and engagement in their work, it is useful to analyze a survey conducted by the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ) (Houser, 2009). The GMJ surveyed U.S. employees to understand how engaged they are in their work and their attitudes toward their managers. According to the study, there are three types of employees: 1. Engaged employees: Those who work with passion, motivation, and have deep feelings toward their company. These people are the ones who move the organization. 2. Not-engaged employees: Those who are physically present in the company but mentally absent. These employees are not motivated, and they dont care about their company. They come to work simply to put in hours. The survey refers to them as â€Å"walking through their workday.† 3. Actively disengaged employees: Those who are not only unhappy, but they express their unhappiness in different ways. They may undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. The study results showed that 26% of respondents are engaged in their work, 56% of the respondents are not engaged in their work, and 18% of the respondents are actively disengaged in their work. The following chart illustrates the finding of this study. The respondents of the survey were asked if they would fire their manager, given the opportunity. Respondents indicated that 24% would fire their manager if they were given the chance. Of this number, 6% of those respondents were engaged in their work, 23% of the number were not engaged in their work, and 51% of the respondents were actively disengaged in their work. Therefore, less engaged employees tend to dislike their managers, and would fire them, given the opportunity. According to the study, this lack of productivity costs companies billions of dollars. Approximately 24.7 million employees age 18 and over are actively disengaged; this represents 18% of the total workforce. From 2000 to 2007, actively disengaged employees in the U.S. cost the countrys economy from $334 to $431 billion every year in low productivity. The Cost Of Disengagement In this study, I will analyze the different reasons why employees are disengaged from their work, and I will suggest recommendations to solve this problem by taking as an example a successful company in the U.S. Purpose of the study Today, different companies are trying to find a unique competitive advantage. One competitive advantage that was overlooked for many years is an attractive organizational culture. Not only will a superior organizational culture help in attracting and retaining the best employees, it can also be used to create a loyal customer base. In this paper, I will investigate the organizational culture of Google, Inc. in the information technology (IT) industrial sector. I will analyze how Google has capitalized on its organizational culture to become one of the largest search engines and IT companies in the world. I will conduct a small survey on organizational culture on IT companies located in Salt Lake City, Utah to determine useful recommendations by analyzing the results of the survey and comparing these to Googles organizational culture. Before analyzing organizational cultures, it would be beneficial to answer some questions as to why this topic was selected as well as other related issues. Why I Focused on Organizational Culture Many companies have tried to come up with a competitive advantage to maximize the shareholders profits. For years, an attractive corporate culture was not considered as vital to the success of an organization. Unlike external factors of business, which are not directly controlled by organizations, corporate culture is an internal environmental force which can be manipulated by organizations in their favor. Why I Emphasized the Employees Employees are the executers of the plans and strategies of the organization. Most companies consider employees as their asset, but, in my opinion, employees are much more than this. According to a study conducted by the United States Census Bureau, companies largest operating expense is salary. (U.S.CensusBureau, 2000) (See charts below). By taking care of their employees, organizations can get the best results from them. The following charts show the breakdown of operating expense for different industries in 1997 as it was studied by the U.S. Census Bureau under the Economic and Statistics Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Even though, this study was conducted more than a decade ago, I have included it, because I believe it shows the general trend of the breakdown of operating expenses within U.S. industries. Merchant wholesale companies have five major operating costs. Of these, payroll was by far the largest operating expense. If payroll expense and fringe benefits, which are operating expenses toward employees, are combined, more than half of the total operating expenses go toward employee salaries. The breakdown of operating expenses of retail trade has the same tendency as that of the merchant wholesaler. In fact, the only difference is that the expenses for rent by retail trade businesses are a little bit higher than that of the merchant wholesaler. The breakdown of operating expense for business services, which include IT industries, shows a larger expense toward employees. Payroll, consisting of 51% of total operating expense, contract labor, consisting of 5% of total operating expense and fringe benefits, consisting of 8% of total operating expense makes up a total of 64% of the total operating expense. The breakdown of the operating expenses for legal services follows the same trend as for business services. The following chart compares payroll expenses of different sectors of business According to the above chart, business services, health services and legal services pay the highest portion of operating expenses to payroll. Clearly, if companies are paying the majority of their operating expense toward the salaries of their employees, they should try to get the most from their workforce. Another study conducted in 2007 by the AmericanTimeUseSurvey through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (AmericanTimeUseSurvey, 2007) showed that of the total working people in U.S., those who were between the ages of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent most of their time either working or in work-related activities. The survey was provided from data taken on non-holiday weekdays. Out of the total 24 hours, those between the age of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent 8.7 hours working or on work-related activities, 7.6 hours sleeping, 2.6 hours on leisure and sports, 1.2 hours caring for others, 1.1 hours on household activities, 1.1 hours in eating and drinking and the remaining 1.7 hours on other activities. The following chart illustrates these hours in percentiles. Based on this survey, people with children between the ages of 25 to 54, who were part of the labor force, spent the majority of their time at the workplace or doing work-related activities. If companies created a suitable and stable environment, this labor force would be motivated to work harder to help companies maximize their profits. This study will research and analyze how companies could create a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the best employees through a superior corporate culture. Why I focused on IT IT, by any comparison, is the fastest growing industry in the world. Companies are spending billions of dollars every year, which has made the IT industry one of the most profitable industries in the world. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005 and published in 2007 (U.S.CensusBureau, Information and Communication Technology: 2005, April 2007), the information industry by itself contributes 52.4 billion dollars to the IT industry through purchases of hardware and software annually. The finance and insurance sectors spent $44.2 billion; the manufacturing, professional, scientific, and technical services sectors spent $32.5 billion; the health care sector spent $27 billion; and the social assistance business sector spent $19.9 billion on IT hardware and software components in 2005 alone. Based on this study, more than $200 billion was spent on IT hardware and software by different business sectors in 2005. According to this study, the noncapital and capital expenditures for computer software were higher compared to IT hardware. It is a general assumption that if companies are investing more on computer software, the software industry is generating a lot of money. In 2005 alone, the noncapital expenditure for computer software was $54.2 billion, whereas the capital expenditure for the same sector was $49.8 billion. Therefore, this research will focus on computer software companies. Why Focus on Google? Google is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. It has grown sevenfold over the last decade. According to Fortune, Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Even though Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 by Fortune, it has the highest job growth rate when compared to the other companies listed in the top ten. While Google has a 40% job growth rate, NetApp, which was listed in first place, only has a 12% job growth rate. Edward Jones and Boston Consulting Group, listed second and third, have only a 9% and 10% job growth rate respectively (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Google has shown tremendous growth over the past few years. As the following chart indicates, from 2004 to 2008, the net income of the company increased tenfold. Even when the world economy was in a recession at the end of 2007 and 2008, Google managed to secure a high net income (GoogleInc, 2008). Google has an interesting workforce distribution. As of December 31, 2008, 40% of Googles total workforce was in sales and marketing, 36% in research and development, 15% in general and administrative positions, and the remaining 9% in operations (Google Inc., 2008). According to this data, Google places nearly as large an emphasis on research and development as it does for sales and marketing. Having a large staff in research and development will ensure a strong future market when it is supported with an appropriate corporate strategy. Even if it is difficult to conclude that Google will have a bright future based on the distribution of its workforce, it is certain that this strong contingency of Googles research and development team has proven to be valuable by developing new and exciting technologies, making it difficult for competitors to catch up. Literature Review In todays globalized and integrated world, change within industries and organizations occurs rapidly. Understanding the impact of an organizations environment could assist organizations in coping with this change. The organizational environment includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization (Daft, Organization Theory and Design, 8th ed., 2004). The organizational environment consists of the external environment and the internal environment. The external environment is made up of those forces that exist outside of the organizations boundaries and have an effect on the organization. The external environment is further divided into the general environment and the task environment. The general environment is the outer layer that is widely dispersed and affects organizations indirectly (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The general environment includes technological, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and international factors. On the other hand, the task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The task environment includes customers, labor market, suppliers and competitors. The internal environment includes the elements within the organizations boundaries (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). It includes employees, management and culture of the organization. In this paper the focus is on the culture of the organization and its affect on the performance of the organization. A corporate culture is defined as the set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization (Martin, 2002) (Kilmann, Ralph H.; Saxton, Mary J.; Serpa, Roy, 1986) (Smircich, 1983). It could also be defined as an â€Å"interdependent set of beliefs, values, ways of behaving, and tools for living that are so common in a community that they tend to perpetuate themselves, sometimes over long periods of time. This continuity is the product of a variety of social forces that are frequently subtle, bordering on invisible, through which people learn a groups norms and values, are rewarded when they accept them, and are ostracized when they do not† (Bemowski, 1995) (Wilhelm, 1992). Corporate culture is derived from both the management and the organization itself. The management, through its philosophy, values, actions and the organization through its roles, structure, systems and technology comprise the corporate culture. Feedback is received from the corporate culture to the management and organization. The following illustrates this process. Classification Schemes There are different classifications of corporate culture defined by different authors. The different views of four authors will be considered in the following: 1. Henry Migliore After studying 24 organizations, Henry Migliore included 20 cultural factors, which he referred to as the â€Å"Corporate Culture Index† (Migliore, Henry; R.T. Martin; Tim Baer; and Jeffrey L. Horvath, 1989). These factors include the following characteristics. * Member Identity: the degree to which employees identify with the organization as a whole in their type of job or field of professional expertise * Team Emphasis: the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals * People Focus: the degree to which management empowers the employees within the organization * Autonomy: the degree to which departments within the organization are encouraged to operate in a coordinated or interdependent manner * Control: the degree to which rules, regulations, and direct supervision and used to control employee behavior * Risk Tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative, and risk-seeking 2. Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede believes the behavior of organizations is affected by a national and regional cultural grouping. To study this point, he looked for a national difference among over 100,000 of IBMs employees in different parts of the world. He came up with five dimensions of culture that influence national regional groupings (Hofstede, 1980). These are: * Power distance: the expectation of society on the levels of power an individual possess in the society. A high score of power distance reflects the expectation of the society that some individuals possess more power than others. A low score of power distance reflects the expectations of the society that all people have equal rights * Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which a society accepts uncertainty and risk * Individualism vs. Collectivism: the degree to which people stand up for themselves or act as part of a group * Masculinity vs. Femininity: the degree to which the society gives value to the male or female * Long vs. Short-term Orientation: the degree to which a society values long term or short term orientation 3. Deal and Kennedy According to Deal and Kennedy, organizational culture is the way things get done in an organization (Deal Kennedy, 1982). They measured an organizations culture using different elements. These elements include: * Feedback: response from the organization * Risk: the degree of uncertainty in the organization Using these two elements, Deal and Kennedy suggested four classifications of corporate cultures (Deal Kennedy, 1982). These are: * The Tough-Guy Macho Culture: The feedback, which is the response from the organization, is quick and the reward is high. * The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture: Few risks are taken, but the feedback, which is the response from the organization, is rapid. * The Bet Your Company Culture: This involves high risk, but it may take a long time to know the outcome of the decision or action. * The Process Culture: This is associated with bureaucracy in the organization. It is common in organizations where there is little or no feedback. 4. Charles Handy Charles Handy developed Roger Harrisons work of 1972 which linked organizational structure to organizational culture (Handy, 1985). According to this idea, there are four types of culture. These are: * Power Culture: A few will rule the organization from the middle. * Role Culture: Employees have clearly delegated authority and the structure of the organization is highly defined. * Task Culture: Teams are formed to solve particular problems; this is a common organizational culture for a matrix structure. * Person Culture: Employees focus on individualism rather than team work. These organizations will face a hard time staying above water. A corporate culture has two levels, visible and invisible. The visible level of culture can be seen at the surface level. It includes symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies. The invisible level is deeper values and shared understandings held by organization members who include expressed values, assumptions and deep beliefs. The following illustrates the levels of corporate culture. It is difficult to express the invisible level of corporate culture since it cannot be seen as compared to the visible level of corporate culture. The visible level of corporate culture has different entities. These include: * Symbols: an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others. Symbols can be considered a rich, non-verbal language that vibrantly conveys the organizations important values concerning how people relate to one another and interact with the environment (Pratt Rafaeli, 2001). * Stories: narratives based on true events that are repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Heroes: s who exemplify the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Slogans: a phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). Companies use slogans to convey their core values and missions. Examples of slogans are Googles â€Å"Dont be evil,† and Microsofts â€Å"Our passion, your potential.† * Ceremonies: a planned activity that makes up a special event, and is conducted for the benefit of an audience (Trice Beyer, 1984). According to research conducted at Harvard on 207 U.S. firms (Kotter Heskett, 1992), corporate cultures can be divided into adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures. The study found that a strong corporate culture by itself does not guarantee company success. However, when strong corporate culture adapts to the external environment, it will bring success to the companys business. In both adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures, there are visible behaviors and expressed values. In the adaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned with their customers (external environment) and employees (internal environment). On the other hand, in an unadaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned only with themselves. Therefore, they dont want change or risks. A strong corporate culture should always be adapted to the external environment (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Table 1: Adaptive and Unadaptive Corporate Culture Adaptive Corporate Cultures Unadaptive Corporate Cultures Visible Behavior Managers pay close attention to all their constituencies, especially customers, and initiate change when needed to serve their legitimate interests, even if it entails taking some risks. Managers tend to behave somewhat insularly, politically, and bureaucratically. As a result, they do not change their strategies quickly to adjust to or take advantage of changes in their business environments. Expressed Values Managers care deeply about customers, stockholders, and employees. They also strongly value people and processes that can create useful change (e.g. leadership initiatives up and down the management hierarchy). Managers care mainly about themselves, their immediate work group, or some product (or technology) associated with that work group. They value the orderly and risk-reducing management process much more highly than leadership initiatives. Types of Cultures There are four types of corporate culture, which can be further classified into two matrixes. These are the needs of the environment, which could be flexible or stable, and the strategic focus, which can be external or internal. The four categories associated with this are adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency (McDonald Gandz, 1992) (Denison Mishra, 1995). The four types of corporate cultures are: 1. Adaptability culture: A culture characterized by values that support the companys ability to interpret and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. It emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making. Managers encourage values that support the companys ability to rapidly detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. Employees have autonomy to make decisions and act freely to meet new needs, and responsiveness to customers is highly valued. Managers also actively create change by encouraging and rewarding creativity, experimentation, and risk taking (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 2. The achievement culture: A results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, personal initiative, and achievement. It is suited to organizations that are concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change. This is a results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative, and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results (Hooijberg Petrock, 1993). 3. The involvement culture: A culture that places high value on meeting that needs of employees and values cooperation and equality. It has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of employees to rapidly meet changing needs from the environment. This culture places a high value on meeting the needs of employees, and the organization may be characterized by a caring, family-like atmosphere. Managers emphasize values such as cooperation, consideration of both employees and customers, and the avoidance of status differences (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 4. Consistency culture: A culture that values and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things. It has an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Following the rules and being thrifty are valued, and the culture supports and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things, since there is no stable environment. It is rather difficult to have this kind of corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The Start of Search Engines Most people agree that the first pre-web search engine was Archie created by Alan Emtage in 1990, while he was a student at McGill University. At that time, the Internet was used by learning institutions to store different kinds of documents on shared machines. Since there were no search engines at that time, if one did not know the exact machine address and file name, it would not be possible to find the document. Emtage created an interface for the search engine, calling it Archie, and used an indexed filing system. In order to use Archie, a user would log in to an Archie server via a command line interface and type in keywords that matched the file title being searched. The result from Archie would display the possible machine locations in which the file could be found. The user then had to log in to each machine and look for the individual file. Archie provided the machine name where the file could be found, but the user had to know a keyword in the title of the file being search ed. This may seem useless today, but it was the best technology available at the time. In 1993, students at the University of Nevada created another search engine similar to Archie, which they called Veronica. The main difference between Archie and Veronica was that Veronicas search results showed the possible document names. As the Internet started to grow larger, from 130 sites in 1993 to 600,000 in 1996, the glory of Archie and Veronica also faded. Matthew Gray, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created a web based search engine known as WWW Wanderer. The Wanderer had a list of indexed sites at the back end and a search interface that allowed users to search the index at the front end. In 1994, Brian Pinkerton, a researcher from the University of Washington, developed a more powerful search engine by the name of WebCrawler. WebCrawler could index the full text of a web document it found and also use a linking of different web pages, just as Googles PageRanking algorithm does. Alta Vista was the next stronger search engine invention. Unlike other search engines, Alta Vista was created to test the performance of the superfast Alpha processor. After Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made a superfast Alpha processor, the company was looking for a way to test its performance. One of DECs researchers, Louis Monier, was working at Western Lab in Palo Alto, California, and came up with the idea of building a search engine that could load the entire Internet onto the Alpha computer to show the processors speed. Not only did Monier come up with the idea, he also built the search engine. However, the management of DEC did not realize the magnitude of this discovery. Some believe that the management could not understand the marketability of Alta Vista, because they considered DEC to be a hardware, not a software company. In January 1998, Compaq purchased DEC for $9.6 billion dollars. Compaq recognized the marketability of Alta Vista and started to invest more into it. Rod Schrock, a Compaq executive, was given the responsibility of Alta Vista, and developed the site to look like Yahoo. In June 1999, Compaq sold Alta Vista to CMGI, an Internet holding company, for $2.3 billion dollars, mostly in stock. CMGI could not hold on to Alta Vista for long since it lost 90 percent of its value. In 2003, CMGI was forced to sell Alta Vista to Overture Services, Inc. for $140 million. Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc., and Alta Vista became owed by Yahoo, its former fierce competitor. Yahoo had opened its doors two years prior in March 1995. Yahoo was started as a project to win a fantasy basketball league by two Stanford PhD candidate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo in the early 1990s. Both were studying electronic design automation, which was a popular field when they began studying but the subject got cold when these students reached their fourth year of their doctoral work. â€Å"The prospects of finishing and getting on with life were pretty grim. The real story is that we were bored with our PhDs and we did everything we could to avoid writing our thesis,† (Battelle, 2005) Yang recalls. To win a fantasy basketball league, Filo came up with an Internet crawler that collected data from basketball sites using protocol and compiled the data based on different categories like players performance, trade amount, history, etc. Yang and Filo won the fantasy basketball league using their project (Battelle, 2005). After the first browser was released in 1993, Yang started surfing the Web and maintaining a list of sites he was most interested in. Filo continued to develop software, and later wrote â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† which helped to automate the list of sites Yang was collecting. Yang created a home page for the software Filo developed and called it Akebono, named after a famous sumo wrestler (Battelle, 2005). â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web† became quickly famous, first among Stanford graduate students and then throughout the Web. In 1995, Yang and Filo realized the potential of â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† and decided to invest more time into it. First and foremost, they wanted to have a catchy name for the site. Both, Yang and Filo, were inspired by computer science acronyms that started with â€Å"YA† for â€Å"yet another.† They began to search the dictionary, and when they got to â€Å"Yahoo,† they knew they had a winner (Reid, 1997). The dictionary defined the term as â€Å"a rude, unsophisticated, uncouth person,† but the word also lent itself to reverse engineering by way of an acronym: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle (Battelle, 2005). Filo and Yang tried to sell their project, Yahoo, to different companies. However, they were unable to find Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits Impact of Corporate Culture on IT Company Growth and Profits The Impact of Corporate Culture on the Growth and Profitability of IT Companies: The Case of Google Abstract In todays global economy, companies from different industries are trying to create a unique competitive advantage to stay in business and maximize their shareholders equity. In doing so, companies should analyze their largest expenses and try to minimize these costs while utilizing their resources in order to make the most from these expenditures. The largest operating expense in U.S. companies is salary. To maximize this expenditure, businesses should devise ways in which to motivate their employees to be more productive. Controlling employees to come to work is easy, but how can companies motivate their employees to work to their full capacity? One way in which this can be accomplished is by creating a suitable, attractive, and tension-free working environment for employees. In doing so, companies can create a strong corporate culture which could offer a competitive advantage. As an example, Google has become one of the largest IT companies in the world in fewer than two decades from its establishment. Not only has Google grown to be one of the largest IT company in the world, it has also developed unique and innovative products, a high job growth, and a secure position as one of the top five companies for which to work. Google has managed to achieve this not only by developing appropriate business strategy, but also creatin g a strong corporate culture that concentrates mainly on employees and customers. In this research, I will try to analyze Googles achievements. I will conduct a small survey to examine the adaptability of Googles flexible corporate culture in IT companies located in Utah. Introduction Statement of the Problem The old saying, â€Å"You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink† may hold true for employees as well; you can make employees come to work, but it is not easy to make them work to their full capacity. Companies may use different methods to control their employees to make them work to their fullest working capacity, but this does not always succeed. To understand employees work satisfaction and engagement in their work, it is useful to analyze a survey conducted by the Gallup Management Journal (GMJ) (Houser, 2009). The GMJ surveyed U.S. employees to understand how engaged they are in their work and their attitudes toward their managers. According to the study, there are three types of employees: 1. Engaged employees: Those who work with passion, motivation, and have deep feelings toward their company. These people are the ones who move the organization. 2. Not-engaged employees: Those who are physically present in the company but mentally absent. These employees are not motivated, and they dont care about their company. They come to work simply to put in hours. The survey refers to them as â€Å"walking through their workday.† 3. Actively disengaged employees: Those who are not only unhappy, but they express their unhappiness in different ways. They may undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish. The study results showed that 26% of respondents are engaged in their work, 56% of the respondents are not engaged in their work, and 18% of the respondents are actively disengaged in their work. The following chart illustrates the finding of this study. The respondents of the survey were asked if they would fire their manager, given the opportunity. Respondents indicated that 24% would fire their manager if they were given the chance. Of this number, 6% of those respondents were engaged in their work, 23% of the number were not engaged in their work, and 51% of the respondents were actively disengaged in their work. Therefore, less engaged employees tend to dislike their managers, and would fire them, given the opportunity. According to the study, this lack of productivity costs companies billions of dollars. Approximately 24.7 million employees age 18 and over are actively disengaged; this represents 18% of the total workforce. From 2000 to 2007, actively disengaged employees in the U.S. cost the countrys economy from $334 to $431 billion every year in low productivity. The Cost Of Disengagement In this study, I will analyze the different reasons why employees are disengaged from their work, and I will suggest recommendations to solve this problem by taking as an example a successful company in the U.S. Purpose of the study Today, different companies are trying to find a unique competitive advantage. One competitive advantage that was overlooked for many years is an attractive organizational culture. Not only will a superior organizational culture help in attracting and retaining the best employees, it can also be used to create a loyal customer base. In this paper, I will investigate the organizational culture of Google, Inc. in the information technology (IT) industrial sector. I will analyze how Google has capitalized on its organizational culture to become one of the largest search engines and IT companies in the world. I will conduct a small survey on organizational culture on IT companies located in Salt Lake City, Utah to determine useful recommendations by analyzing the results of the survey and comparing these to Googles organizational culture. Before analyzing organizational cultures, it would be beneficial to answer some questions as to why this topic was selected as well as other related issues. Why I Focused on Organizational Culture Many companies have tried to come up with a competitive advantage to maximize the shareholders profits. For years, an attractive corporate culture was not considered as vital to the success of an organization. Unlike external factors of business, which are not directly controlled by organizations, corporate culture is an internal environmental force which can be manipulated by organizations in their favor. Why I Emphasized the Employees Employees are the executers of the plans and strategies of the organization. Most companies consider employees as their asset, but, in my opinion, employees are much more than this. According to a study conducted by the United States Census Bureau, companies largest operating expense is salary. (U.S.CensusBureau, 2000) (See charts below). By taking care of their employees, organizations can get the best results from them. The following charts show the breakdown of operating expense for different industries in 1997 as it was studied by the U.S. Census Bureau under the Economic and Statistics Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Even though, this study was conducted more than a decade ago, I have included it, because I believe it shows the general trend of the breakdown of operating expenses within U.S. industries. Merchant wholesale companies have five major operating costs. Of these, payroll was by far the largest operating expense. If payroll expense and fringe benefits, which are operating expenses toward employees, are combined, more than half of the total operating expenses go toward employee salaries. The breakdown of operating expenses of retail trade has the same tendency as that of the merchant wholesaler. In fact, the only difference is that the expenses for rent by retail trade businesses are a little bit higher than that of the merchant wholesaler. The breakdown of operating expense for business services, which include IT industries, shows a larger expense toward employees. Payroll, consisting of 51% of total operating expense, contract labor, consisting of 5% of total operating expense and fringe benefits, consisting of 8% of total operating expense makes up a total of 64% of the total operating expense. The breakdown of the operating expenses for legal services follows the same trend as for business services. The following chart compares payroll expenses of different sectors of business According to the above chart, business services, health services and legal services pay the highest portion of operating expenses to payroll. Clearly, if companies are paying the majority of their operating expense toward the salaries of their employees, they should try to get the most from their workforce. Another study conducted in 2007 by the AmericanTimeUseSurvey through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (AmericanTimeUseSurvey, 2007) showed that of the total working people in U.S., those who were between the ages of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent most of their time either working or in work-related activities. The survey was provided from data taken on non-holiday weekdays. Out of the total 24 hours, those between the age of 25 to 54 living in households with children under the age of 18 spent 8.7 hours working or on work-related activities, 7.6 hours sleeping, 2.6 hours on leisure and sports, 1.2 hours caring for others, 1.1 hours on household activities, 1.1 hours in eating and drinking and the remaining 1.7 hours on other activities. The following chart illustrates these hours in percentiles. Based on this survey, people with children between the ages of 25 to 54, who were part of the labor force, spent the majority of their time at the workplace or doing work-related activities. If companies created a suitable and stable environment, this labor force would be motivated to work harder to help companies maximize their profits. This study will research and analyze how companies could create a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the best employees through a superior corporate culture. Why I focused on IT IT, by any comparison, is the fastest growing industry in the world. Companies are spending billions of dollars every year, which has made the IT industry one of the most profitable industries in the world. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005 and published in 2007 (U.S.CensusBureau, Information and Communication Technology: 2005, April 2007), the information industry by itself contributes 52.4 billion dollars to the IT industry through purchases of hardware and software annually. The finance and insurance sectors spent $44.2 billion; the manufacturing, professional, scientific, and technical services sectors spent $32.5 billion; the health care sector spent $27 billion; and the social assistance business sector spent $19.9 billion on IT hardware and software components in 2005 alone. Based on this study, more than $200 billion was spent on IT hardware and software by different business sectors in 2005. According to this study, the noncapital and capital expenditures for computer software were higher compared to IT hardware. It is a general assumption that if companies are investing more on computer software, the software industry is generating a lot of money. In 2005 alone, the noncapital expenditure for computer software was $54.2 billion, whereas the capital expenditure for the same sector was $49.8 billion. Therefore, this research will focus on computer software companies. Why Focus on Google? Google is one of the fastest growing companies in the world. It has grown sevenfold over the last decade. According to Fortune, Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Even though Google was listed as the fourth best company to work for in 2009 by Fortune, it has the highest job growth rate when compared to the other companies listed in the top ten. While Google has a 40% job growth rate, NetApp, which was listed in first place, only has a 12% job growth rate. Edward Jones and Boston Consulting Group, listed second and third, have only a 9% and 10% job growth rate respectively (100 Best Companies to Work for 2009: Google GOOG from Fortune, 2009). Google has shown tremendous growth over the past few years. As the following chart indicates, from 2004 to 2008, the net income of the company increased tenfold. Even when the world economy was in a recession at the end of 2007 and 2008, Google managed to secure a high net income (GoogleInc, 2008). Google has an interesting workforce distribution. As of December 31, 2008, 40% of Googles total workforce was in sales and marketing, 36% in research and development, 15% in general and administrative positions, and the remaining 9% in operations (Google Inc., 2008). According to this data, Google places nearly as large an emphasis on research and development as it does for sales and marketing. Having a large staff in research and development will ensure a strong future market when it is supported with an appropriate corporate strategy. Even if it is difficult to conclude that Google will have a bright future based on the distribution of its workforce, it is certain that this strong contingency of Googles research and development team has proven to be valuable by developing new and exciting technologies, making it difficult for competitors to catch up. Literature Review In todays globalized and integrated world, change within industries and organizations occurs rapidly. Understanding the impact of an organizations environment could assist organizations in coping with this change. The organizational environment includes all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect the organization (Daft, Organization Theory and Design, 8th ed., 2004). The organizational environment consists of the external environment and the internal environment. The external environment is made up of those forces that exist outside of the organizations boundaries and have an effect on the organization. The external environment is further divided into the general environment and the task environment. The general environment is the outer layer that is widely dispersed and affects organizations indirectly (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The general environment includes technological, socio-cultural, economic, legal/political, and international factors. On the other hand, the task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The task environment includes customers, labor market, suppliers and competitors. The internal environment includes the elements within the organizations boundaries (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). It includes employees, management and culture of the organization. In this paper the focus is on the culture of the organization and its affect on the performance of the organization. A corporate culture is defined as the set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization (Martin, 2002) (Kilmann, Ralph H.; Saxton, Mary J.; Serpa, Roy, 1986) (Smircich, 1983). It could also be defined as an â€Å"interdependent set of beliefs, values, ways of behaving, and tools for living that are so common in a community that they tend to perpetuate themselves, sometimes over long periods of time. This continuity is the product of a variety of social forces that are frequently subtle, bordering on invisible, through which people learn a groups norms and values, are rewarded when they accept them, and are ostracized when they do not† (Bemowski, 1995) (Wilhelm, 1992). Corporate culture is derived from both the management and the organization itself. The management, through its philosophy, values, actions and the organization through its roles, structure, systems and technology comprise the corporate culture. Feedback is received from the corporate culture to the management and organization. The following illustrates this process. Classification Schemes There are different classifications of corporate culture defined by different authors. The different views of four authors will be considered in the following: 1. Henry Migliore After studying 24 organizations, Henry Migliore included 20 cultural factors, which he referred to as the â€Å"Corporate Culture Index† (Migliore, Henry; R.T. Martin; Tim Baer; and Jeffrey L. Horvath, 1989). These factors include the following characteristics. * Member Identity: the degree to which employees identify with the organization as a whole in their type of job or field of professional expertise * Team Emphasis: the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals * People Focus: the degree to which management empowers the employees within the organization * Autonomy: the degree to which departments within the organization are encouraged to operate in a coordinated or interdependent manner * Control: the degree to which rules, regulations, and direct supervision and used to control employee behavior * Risk Tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative, and risk-seeking 2. Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede believes the behavior of organizations is affected by a national and regional cultural grouping. To study this point, he looked for a national difference among over 100,000 of IBMs employees in different parts of the world. He came up with five dimensions of culture that influence national regional groupings (Hofstede, 1980). These are: * Power distance: the expectation of society on the levels of power an individual possess in the society. A high score of power distance reflects the expectation of the society that some individuals possess more power than others. A low score of power distance reflects the expectations of the society that all people have equal rights * Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which a society accepts uncertainty and risk * Individualism vs. Collectivism: the degree to which people stand up for themselves or act as part of a group * Masculinity vs. Femininity: the degree to which the society gives value to the male or female * Long vs. Short-term Orientation: the degree to which a society values long term or short term orientation 3. Deal and Kennedy According to Deal and Kennedy, organizational culture is the way things get done in an organization (Deal Kennedy, 1982). They measured an organizations culture using different elements. These elements include: * Feedback: response from the organization * Risk: the degree of uncertainty in the organization Using these two elements, Deal and Kennedy suggested four classifications of corporate cultures (Deal Kennedy, 1982). These are: * The Tough-Guy Macho Culture: The feedback, which is the response from the organization, is quick and the reward is high. * The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture: Few risks are taken, but the feedback, which is the response from the organization, is rapid. * The Bet Your Company Culture: This involves high risk, but it may take a long time to know the outcome of the decision or action. * The Process Culture: This is associated with bureaucracy in the organization. It is common in organizations where there is little or no feedback. 4. Charles Handy Charles Handy developed Roger Harrisons work of 1972 which linked organizational structure to organizational culture (Handy, 1985). According to this idea, there are four types of culture. These are: * Power Culture: A few will rule the organization from the middle. * Role Culture: Employees have clearly delegated authority and the structure of the organization is highly defined. * Task Culture: Teams are formed to solve particular problems; this is a common organizational culture for a matrix structure. * Person Culture: Employees focus on individualism rather than team work. These organizations will face a hard time staying above water. A corporate culture has two levels, visible and invisible. The visible level of culture can be seen at the surface level. It includes symbols, stories, heroes, slogans and ceremonies. The invisible level is deeper values and shared understandings held by organization members who include expressed values, assumptions and deep beliefs. The following illustrates the levels of corporate culture. It is difficult to express the invisible level of corporate culture since it cannot be seen as compared to the visible level of corporate culture. The visible level of corporate culture has different entities. These include: * Symbols: an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others. Symbols can be considered a rich, non-verbal language that vibrantly conveys the organizations important values concerning how people relate to one another and interact with the environment (Pratt Rafaeli, 2001). * Stories: narratives based on true events that are repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Heroes: s who exemplify the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). * Slogans: a phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). Companies use slogans to convey their core values and missions. Examples of slogans are Googles â€Å"Dont be evil,† and Microsofts â€Å"Our passion, your potential.† * Ceremonies: a planned activity that makes up a special event, and is conducted for the benefit of an audience (Trice Beyer, 1984). According to research conducted at Harvard on 207 U.S. firms (Kotter Heskett, 1992), corporate cultures can be divided into adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures. The study found that a strong corporate culture by itself does not guarantee company success. However, when strong corporate culture adapts to the external environment, it will bring success to the companys business. In both adaptive and unadaptive corporate cultures, there are visible behaviors and expressed values. In the adaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned with their customers (external environment) and employees (internal environment). On the other hand, in an unadaptive corporate culture, managers are concerned only with themselves. Therefore, they dont want change or risks. A strong corporate culture should always be adapted to the external environment (Kotter Heskett, 1992). Table 1: Adaptive and Unadaptive Corporate Culture Adaptive Corporate Cultures Unadaptive Corporate Cultures Visible Behavior Managers pay close attention to all their constituencies, especially customers, and initiate change when needed to serve their legitimate interests, even if it entails taking some risks. Managers tend to behave somewhat insularly, politically, and bureaucratically. As a result, they do not change their strategies quickly to adjust to or take advantage of changes in their business environments. Expressed Values Managers care deeply about customers, stockholders, and employees. They also strongly value people and processes that can create useful change (e.g. leadership initiatives up and down the management hierarchy). Managers care mainly about themselves, their immediate work group, or some product (or technology) associated with that work group. They value the orderly and risk-reducing management process much more highly than leadership initiatives. Types of Cultures There are four types of corporate culture, which can be further classified into two matrixes. These are the needs of the environment, which could be flexible or stable, and the strategic focus, which can be external or internal. The four categories associated with this are adaptability, achievement, involvement, and consistency (McDonald Gandz, 1992) (Denison Mishra, 1995). The four types of corporate cultures are: 1. Adaptability culture: A culture characterized by values that support the companys ability to interpret and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. It emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making. Managers encourage values that support the companys ability to rapidly detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses. Employees have autonomy to make decisions and act freely to meet new needs, and responsiveness to customers is highly valued. Managers also actively create change by encouraging and rewarding creativity, experimentation, and risk taking (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 2. The achievement culture: A results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, personal initiative, and achievement. It is suited to organizations that are concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change. This is a results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative, and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results (Hooijberg Petrock, 1993). 3. The involvement culture: A culture that places high value on meeting that needs of employees and values cooperation and equality. It has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of employees to rapidly meet changing needs from the environment. This culture places a high value on meeting the needs of employees, and the organization may be characterized by a caring, family-like atmosphere. Managers emphasize values such as cooperation, consideration of both employees and customers, and the avoidance of status differences (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). 4. Consistency culture: A culture that values and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things. It has an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Following the rules and being thrifty are valued, and the culture supports and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things, since there is no stable environment. It is rather difficult to have this kind of corporate culture (Daft, Management, 7th ed., 2005). The Start of Search Engines Most people agree that the first pre-web search engine was Archie created by Alan Emtage in 1990, while he was a student at McGill University. At that time, the Internet was used by learning institutions to store different kinds of documents on shared machines. Since there were no search engines at that time, if one did not know the exact machine address and file name, it would not be possible to find the document. Emtage created an interface for the search engine, calling it Archie, and used an indexed filing system. In order to use Archie, a user would log in to an Archie server via a command line interface and type in keywords that matched the file title being searched. The result from Archie would display the possible machine locations in which the file could be found. The user then had to log in to each machine and look for the individual file. Archie provided the machine name where the file could be found, but the user had to know a keyword in the title of the file being search ed. This may seem useless today, but it was the best technology available at the time. In 1993, students at the University of Nevada created another search engine similar to Archie, which they called Veronica. The main difference between Archie and Veronica was that Veronicas search results showed the possible document names. As the Internet started to grow larger, from 130 sites in 1993 to 600,000 in 1996, the glory of Archie and Veronica also faded. Matthew Gray, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created a web based search engine known as WWW Wanderer. The Wanderer had a list of indexed sites at the back end and a search interface that allowed users to search the index at the front end. In 1994, Brian Pinkerton, a researcher from the University of Washington, developed a more powerful search engine by the name of WebCrawler. WebCrawler could index the full text of a web document it found and also use a linking of different web pages, just as Googles PageRanking algorithm does. Alta Vista was the next stronger search engine invention. Unlike other search engines, Alta Vista was created to test the performance of the superfast Alpha processor. After Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) made a superfast Alpha processor, the company was looking for a way to test its performance. One of DECs researchers, Louis Monier, was working at Western Lab in Palo Alto, California, and came up with the idea of building a search engine that could load the entire Internet onto the Alpha computer to show the processors speed. Not only did Monier come up with the idea, he also built the search engine. However, the management of DEC did not realize the magnitude of this discovery. Some believe that the management could not understand the marketability of Alta Vista, because they considered DEC to be a hardware, not a software company. In January 1998, Compaq purchased DEC for $9.6 billion dollars. Compaq recognized the marketability of Alta Vista and started to invest more into it. Rod Schrock, a Compaq executive, was given the responsibility of Alta Vista, and developed the site to look like Yahoo. In June 1999, Compaq sold Alta Vista to CMGI, an Internet holding company, for $2.3 billion dollars, mostly in stock. CMGI could not hold on to Alta Vista for long since it lost 90 percent of its value. In 2003, CMGI was forced to sell Alta Vista to Overture Services, Inc. for $140 million. Yahoo acquired Overture Services, Inc., and Alta Vista became owed by Yahoo, its former fierce competitor. Yahoo had opened its doors two years prior in March 1995. Yahoo was started as a project to win a fantasy basketball league by two Stanford PhD candidate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo in the early 1990s. Both were studying electronic design automation, which was a popular field when they began studying but the subject got cold when these students reached their fourth year of their doctoral work. â€Å"The prospects of finishing and getting on with life were pretty grim. The real story is that we were bored with our PhDs and we did everything we could to avoid writing our thesis,† (Battelle, 2005) Yang recalls. To win a fantasy basketball league, Filo came up with an Internet crawler that collected data from basketball sites using protocol and compiled the data based on different categories like players performance, trade amount, history, etc. Yang and Filo won the fantasy basketball league using their project (Battelle, 2005). After the first browser was released in 1993, Yang started surfing the Web and maintaining a list of sites he was most interested in. Filo continued to develop software, and later wrote â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† which helped to automate the list of sites Yang was collecting. Yang created a home page for the software Filo developed and called it Akebono, named after a famous sumo wrestler (Battelle, 2005). â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web† became quickly famous, first among Stanford graduate students and then throughout the Web. In 1995, Yang and Filo realized the potential of â€Å"Jerry and Davids Guide to the World Wide Web,† and decided to invest more time into it. First and foremost, they wanted to have a catchy name for the site. Both, Yang and Filo, were inspired by computer science acronyms that started with â€Å"YA† for â€Å"yet another.† They began to search the dictionary, and when they got to â€Å"Yahoo,† they knew they had a winner (Reid, 1997). The dictionary defined the term as â€Å"a rude, unsophisticated, uncouth person,† but the word also lent itself to reverse engineering by way of an acronym: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle (Battelle, 2005). Filo and Yang tried to sell their project, Yahoo, to different companies. However, they were unable to find