1984 War Is Peace - 1004 Words

The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, Winston undergoes a metamorphosis of character, which changes his life forever. At first Winston is just like everyone else, a dull drone of the party. Then he changes his ideals and becomes true to himself with obvious rebellion towards party principles and standards. Finally, Winston is brainwashed and is turned against himself and his feelings and is made to love the party. This is a story of perception, and how different it can be from one person to the next. Winston is a miserable member of a society he hates, and is controlled and watched in every area of his life. He has no desire to go on living that way, but he†¦show more content†¦And yet, in the sense in which he intended the word, he had not betrayed her. He had not stopped loving her; his feelings towards her had remained the same. (225). He truly gives up all fight that he has left when he says: Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me! (236). Winston s utter defeat resonates deep in his soul, and the unthinkable has happened, he stopped loving Julia, true betrayal (137). Totally broken, brainwashed and reprogrammed, Winston is returned to society as another harmless devotee of Big Brother. In the chilling final pages of the book, Winston, tears of fear and joy streaming down his face, proclaims his love of Big Brother, all thoughts, hopes or dreams of escape and fre edom permanently eradicated from his consciousness. Initially Winston has little to live for, but after he starts his rebellion from the oppressiveness of the state he feels that he should still go on, although already considering himself dead. By the end of Orwell s novel, Winston is living in a state of near total apathy, and trudging on only because he has no desire to either live or die. WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE ISShow MoreRelated1984 War Is Peace995 Words   |  4 Pages1984 essay. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. This is the slogan of the Ministry of Truth, a branch of the totalitarian government in post-war London. The figurehead of this government is Big Brother, who employs a vast army of informers called the Thought Police who watch and listen to every citizen at all times through a device called a telescreen for the least signs of criminal deviation or unorthodox thoughts. This novel, like Orwell’s earlier work Animal Farm andRead More 1984: War is Peace Essay978 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.† In the novel â€Å"1984† by George Orwell, Winston undergoes a metamorphosis of character, which changes his life forever. At first Winston is just like everyone else, a dull drone of the party. Then he changes his ideals and becomes true to himself with obvious rebellion towards party principles and standards. Finally, Winston is brainwashed and is turned against himself and his feelings and is made to love the party. This is aRead MoreHunger Games And 1984 By George Orwell852 Words   |  4 PagesHunger Games vs 1984 The novel 1984 by George Orwell is based in a totalitarian society where the inner party controls the rest of Oceania. This storyline is very similar to the modern day story of The Hunger Games. Themes in 1984 such as Big Brother, the Inner Party, Telescreens, Thought Police, and Rebels are all also portrayed in The Hunger Games. Both stories follow the journey of the main character that is also the rebel in the story. There are many modern day stories that model the dystopianRead MoreAnalysis Of George Orwell s 1984 Essay1127 Words   |  5 Pagesmankind, yet it is difficult find one that is perfect even till today. 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Secondly this can be looked through a postmodernist lens as theRead More1984 and Now1451 Words   |  6 Pages1984 AND NOW 1984  : Newspeak Now  : Politically Correct speech 1984  : The red sash of the Junior Anti-Sex League Now  : The red ribbon of the Anti-Aids celibacy league 1984  : Telescreens in every room. The programming runs 24 hours a day, and the proles have no way of turning their screens off. Now  : Televisions in every room. The programming runs 24 hours a day, and the proles rarely turn their screens off. 1984  : Telescreens in all public and private places, so the populace could beRead MoreComparing Orwells 1984 to Todays Government Essay1599 Words   |  7 Pages 1984 has come and gone. The cold war is over. The collapse of oppressive totalitarian regimes leads to the conclusion that these governments by their nature generate resistance and are doomed to failure. The fictional world of George Orwells novel, 1984, is best described as hopeless; a nightmarish dystopia where the omnipresent State enforces perfect conformity among members of a totalitarian Party through indoctrination, propaganda, fear, and ruthless punishment. In the aftermath of the fallRead MoreA Literary Analysis Of 1984 By George Orwell721 Words   |  3 Pagesbook â€Å"1984 by George Orwell† it was written in 1948 as a thriller. Winston Smith is the main character of this story followed by two characters â€Å"Julia and O’Brien.† The book starts off with main character Winston being very frustrated with what is called the â€Å"Party† lead by a man named â€Å"Big Brother† hints the saying â€Å"big brother is watching you† from â€Å"George Orwells worst fear† stated by express.co.uk. the book takes you for a ride through what the author believes will happen by the year 1984 he statsRead MoreGeorge Orwell s 1984 Power1426 Words   |  6 PagesIn George Orwell’s 1984 Power is gained most effectively through control, fear and violence. Compared to a government like that of America’s, 1984 creates a more threatening structure of government where the public is limited from freedom and happiness. 1984 shows a world of a society where only the upper class has power and freedom from the harsh treatment that the general population receives. The idea of Big Bother makes the population of Oceania believe they are being watched over by a powerfulRead MoreAnalysis Of 1984 , Untruths, Myths And False Data Controls The Reasoning Of The Natives886 Words   |  4 PagesPeriod 4 1984 In 1984, untruths, myths and false data controls the reasoning of the natives. The Party utilizes purposeful publicity as the deadliest weapon of control. Promulgation builds the residents resolve and makes them surmise that what the gathering instructs them to do is constantly right. There are principally two sorts of purposeful publicity, one changes truth, purported doublethink, and another makes dread. Doublespeak can be seen much of the time in the realm of 1984. The gathering

Inter-textual Analysis, Romeo and Juliet - 2014 Words

Intertextual Analysis-Romeo and Juliet The visual arts interpretation by Russian artist Ilyas Phaizulline strikes many similarities with the most well-known version of Romeo and Juliet in the form of a book. The characters portrayed are similar, alike in form and attitude. The plot events and motifs put across in both versions of Romeo and Juliet correspond with each other in numerous ways, presenting highly similar though slightly differing interpretations of Romeo and Juliet. Firstly, it is evident that the characters of Romeo and Juliet are present in both interpretations, the visual text and book, which may have been the result of the artist’s reference to the book while depicting his thoughts. This theory can be supported by†¦show more content†¦Juliet is positioned on the bed while Romeo is a short distance away; both of them appear to caress with each with such an intense passion that suggests that they have consummated their marriage, which is further suggest ed by their short distance from Juliet’s bed. It is seen that Romeo is about to leave, as he is standing away from the bed and has a longing expression on his face that might suggest that he wants to stay with Juliet for a while longer. In the book, it is stated that â€Å"Romeo and Juliet consummate their marriage offstage† and shows Juliet’s passionate desires to have physical interaction with Romeo. Juliet says â€Å"And learn me how to lose a winning match, Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods. Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks†, which demonstrates her burning wish to consummate their marriage as soon as possible and depicts the probable possibility that Romeo and Juliet consummated their marriage. Hence, both book and painting agree with each other on the course of events regarding the consummation of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, the Nurse is seen entering Juliet’s room around a corner in the painting, which is similar to what was written in the book. After consummating their marriage, the book includes the line â€Å"Enter Nurse hastily†, when she then says â€Å"Your lady mother is coming to your chamber. The day is broke. Be wary. Look about.† Hence, the book suggests that the NurseShow MoreRelatedThe 1996 Baz Lurhman Interpretation of Rome and Juliet1035 Words   |  4 PagesI will be doing my micro analysis on the 1996 Baz Lurhman interpretation of Romeo + Juliet, the scene I have chosen to analyse takes place after the news report monologue in which after the two families are introduced. The Capulets and the Montagues engage in an altercation at the petrol station and I will discuss how mise-en-scene and cinematography are used in this sequence to construct meaning. Initially a fast paced high angled tracking shot of the streets, houses and buildings are used whichRead MoreLiterature and Language10588 Words   |  43 Pagesourselves is shaped by figurative uses of language. 9.2.3 The analysis of literary language We can approach literary texes in various ways. Depending on the kind of text we are dealing with and the aim of analysis, some of the following procedures may be of help in analysing the grammatical structure and meaning of the text. —Where there seems to be foregrounding on the level of lexis, you can use morphological analysis to look at new combinations of words. —Where there is foregrounding

Relationship Between Public Service Motivation and Job Performance

Question: Discuss about the Relationship Between Public Service Motivation and Job Performance. Answer: Introduction: The mining industry is facing major challenges globally, that are restricting and reforming the mining sector and as a result the industry demands a new and innovative approach to management. Many different small scale secondary industries depend on mining sector and also it also supports a substantial amount of employment and financially viable wealth of the society. MiningCo is a mining business organization which operates in a range of isolated locations with many fly-in, fly-out staff on a rotating two-week roster basis. Now the organization is facing serious issues regarding employee commitment and performance in the organization. In this report the author, HR of MiningCo, a senior HR-Executive tries to identify the underlying problem, high attrition rate in the organization and poor performance and analyse the essential factors that are facilitating the issues faced by the organization. Also, the author being the senior HR-Executive will form a crisis management team to manage the practices that any considerable talent gap emerges at any individual site. Mining industry analysis: The MiningCo is facing a human recourse shortage and management issue to meet with the production needs. The organization is experiencing a high attrition rate with more people leaving the jobs and opting for more safe and secure career options. The mining industry is extremely complex and with new developing settings and surroundings in the industry in which cut throat competition, business interests and scenario of the practical market are forcing organizations to optimize their human resource management policies in order to maintain sustainability and profit (Mudd, 2010). The organization is facing significant challenges when it comes to managing attrition rate because of the economic crisis in Greece and the increasing impact of the presence of ISIS in the Middle East on foreign nationals is resulting in many of the senior executive employees onsite wishing to leave. As the mining industry is difficulties in attracting global talents due to hectic and risky job situations, the human resource managers are becoming more responsible for developing and employing business strategies to ensure decrease in attrition rates and increase in productivity of workers while be aware of the changing market conditions and industrial trends. According to Oracles Vice President, Mr. John F Hansen (Human Capital Management in JAPAC) stated that in mining industry an effective leader always balance the need for human capital specialization and flexibility with the steady force toward growing efficiency and improvements. Performance management and employee motivation: The concept of Performance Management is regarded as one of the significant human resource strategies for achieving the strategic purpose of the organization. The Performance Management System is a process that encompasses the performance appraisal and workforce improvement are vulnerable aspects of strategic human resource management (Boselie, P., 2010). Generally, management of an organization fails to identify the need for performance management in organizations as a result the organizations complain about the ineffective and poor performance of the staff. According to a recent survey it has been observed that only 3 out of 10 employees feels that the performance management system utilization actually helps them to improve their achievements and less than forty percent employee actually feels that their organization has an effective performance management system which generates sincere feedback or utilizes technology to modernize the process. So, it can be clearly seen that there is a serious gap in measuring the optimized performance management. The main reasons for these can be due to old fashioned performance management systems or lack of outlook of the management. To improve the employee performance, organizations should consider including effectiveness and efficiency of organization performance management systems and employee morale (Gruman and Saks, 2011). It is a matter of fact that employee performance is always reflected through organizations performance and profitability (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Often managers feel hesitant in providing honest and practical feedback and conduct a sincere dialogue with employees because they think that it will retaliate and harm the relationship with their subordinates (Bell, 2013) However, it is one of the fundamental process by which managers can initiate better performing employees. According to scholars, employees feel motivated and valued when they get honest and positive feedback from their managers or management. Positive criticism encourages employees to look positively and effectively work on their week points for improving their performances (Stahl, et al. 2012). Thus, in the current scenario , developing an efficient workplace performance metric system and honest and positive feedback system in organization is regarded as one of the job responsibility of the human resource manager. There is no universal rule or strategy for implementing performance management in an organization. As a result, it can be formulated by analysing the organizations purpose and function, which should be planned and developed by identifying and recognizing business requirements, culture of the organization and other human resource factors. Generally, a well structured and useful performance management system has well-planned method for achievements, evolution methods, with well-structured method to evaluate achievements and accomplishments with clear and defined job roles and responsibilities for the employees (Walker, wt al 2012). A well-structured performance management system has plan, recruitment, performance meter, training and development, career opportunity, succession planning, awards and evolution and reporting (Markos and Sridevi, 2010). Effective and reliable performance management systems have performance standards by which the organization clearly states the expectation of performance from the employees. It shows how employees are performing and the gap between the expected performance and actual result. This will allow the human resource manager to monitor the work force efficiency and helps in identifying the low performers in the organization and focuses on the managing and motivating employees. The organizations performance management system generally aligns with the long term organizational objective (Syverson, 2011). It engages supervision of employee labours, which is based on measureable performance results. The performance management system also consists of employee motivation which improves employee performance as it clearly states performance and makes rewards achievable (Ayub and Rafif, 2011). According to scholars, recognition at workplace is regarded as one of the most strong forms of motivation for employees. Encouraging performance appraisal in workplace allows employees to get recognized, important, and stable acknowledgment from the management which makes employees more focused and work committed (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). So, in the present scenario, introducing performance management system will encourage in clear vision in organizations objectives and job responsibilities and effective communication system in the organization among employees and management at all levels. Managing Employee Attrition Rate: The MiningCo is facing challenges regarding managing attrition rate in the organization with more senior employees want to leave the organization. The MiningCo operates in a range of isolated locations with many fly-in, fly-out staff on a rotating two-week roster basis. The fly-in, fly-out can be explained as a process when an organization relocates staffs temporarily in remote and isolated locations for completing a project for a specific period of time, families are not relocated with employees as generally the places are very distant to support basic life requirements (Vojnovic, 2014). In this method, employees often feel pressured as they live without family and social life for an extended period of time. In a recent study it was observed that employees who engage in fly-in fly-out job are more prone to many psychological disorders, such as higher tendency to suicides (Taylor, and Simmonds, 2009). In MininCo, the main factors that are pushing employees, specifically high level executive employees to leave the organization are the economic crisis in Greece and the increasing impact of the presence of ISIS in the Middle East on foreign nationals. Due to sudden drop in oil prices internationally, many mining organizations are facing a financial turmoil situation and are unable to attract employees with lucrative salaries. The employees in the mining sector generally have a very dull, risky and hectic work life where constant work pressure has resulted into depression and stress in workplace environment that results poor performance and lack of commitment towards work. People want to quite when they do not trust or lack of involvements with the organization. It has been observed that employees who are motivated they feel more involved and committed towards job responsibility. But when employees become stressed due to working conditions with declining enthusiasm and their morals deteriorate, they becomes less interested and distant towards their job roles. The author feels that to face these issues the management should convey a clear purpose and direction for the employees that what is the organizations objective and what are the expected performances from the workforce. Otherwise without lack of clear vision, employees will not have a clear idea about job role and organizations objective as a result t hey will find it hard to employ their best performance in workplace. Lack of comprehensive communication in the organization also gives rise to lack of trust and stress among work force (Taylor and Simmonds, 2009). The human resource department should emphasise on building an effective communication system in the organization so that the employees as well as the management feel heard and convey their concerns and build a strong work place relationship among employer employee. The management should have a clear communication with the high ranked executives who want to leave the organization to make them feel listened, understood and valued. An effective communication process will direct towards a strong workforce and it also provides employees the knowledge, structure and positive work environment they need to feel comfortable dealing with conflict and resolving issues effectively. The human resource department should encourage interactive communication sessions and dialogue platform s with employees to develop individual communication and interpersonal associations in the organization at all level if management (Hendry, 2012). There is a socio-political turmoil in the Middle East due to over growing influence of ISIS and their hostile attitude towards employees of foreign origins. The management should focus on this issue and examine the underlying threat and take appropriate actions to ensure employee safety at workplace. The human resource department should address this issue to the employees who feels that there is a substantial risk of life at workplace due to terror threat and convince them that organization has taken legal steps to ensure employee safety as a priority of the organization. The HR department should ensure the organization should not encourage any kind of grave vine communication that may give rise to rumours and restrain any hysteria within the organization. In these scenario, one of the basic objective of the human resource department should be bringing back the confidence and trust in the workforce by building strong relationship with them. One of the challenges faced by the MiningCo is to retain key workforce. The HR department should constantly restructure and redesign organizational culture to introduce innovative and effective workplace planning strategies overcome the struggle of talent shortage in the industry. The HR department should team up with the management to formulate business transformation strategies for encouraging employee commitment and optimization of workforce. This can be achieved by planning clear job role and responsibilities, diversity of job responsibility, better decision making authority, and safe and healthy workplace environment. Also, in this confusing and chaotic disorder, the human resource management of MiningCo can play a very important role in retain human resource talents and sustain while focusing on the fast changing market conditions. The human resource department should focus on the current demand and future landscape of the industry. The world is experiencing technological advancements, so the HR department of MiningCo should employ mechanization and atomization where intelligent machineries will replace a good amount of human capital requirements for onsite jobs (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2012). It will offer the organization to setup a more technologically improved workplace which will shift the labour force from dull and risky situations to managing and administrating machinery processes from an office. This will change the basic concept of labour employment in mining industry. A crisis management team: Mining industry is regarded as one of the most hazardous job roles with oil spills, terrorism threats, corporate chaos, political pressures, accidents at workplace, etc that effects organizational performance and sustainability. Crisis is a condition where an event or action that leads to an unstable and disastrous situation that can have a direct impact on human life (Lerbinger, 2012). In context to business organizations, a crisis is a situation where a total or partial interruption in business operations can occur due to hazardous or emergency situations. It can also manipulate stakeholders perception towards the organization, mostly negatively (Booth, 2015). Mining organizations often leads to crisis situations due to its hazardous nature job with both natural as well as human made situational crisis and disaster leads to organizational instability. Thus, mining organizations needs a dedicated crisis management approach to handle crisis situations and maintain equilibrium in the workplace. In the present scenario, the human resource department can play an important role in safe guarding the employee welfare and safety and support in business sustainability. Thus, referring to the current scenario, which the MiningCo is facing, the author is suggesting planning and developing an effective crisis management team for having a right approach to manage crisis. The human resource department can manipulate the culture and potential of the organization to build effective capability and groundwork for effective crisis management and leadership in the time of crisis (Elliott, et al. 2010). The author believes that this job can be best delivered by the human resource department of the organization because it is the human resource department which has an outlook and approach to understand the human side of the organization and understand the tactical approach of human capital management. Generally, in the contemporary business organizations, management often prioritize emphasize systems, operations, infrastructure to be managed in a crisis situation and neglects human capital. But the management should understand that a business cannot sustain and survive without well-organized, job responsible and motivated workforce. Organizations with improper or lack of crisis management team and plan faces catastrophic situations when faces emergency or crisis. People get more prone to accidents resulting in permanent disabilities and fatalities which eventually affect the workforce which psychologically traumatize the workforce and eventually change of personality principles ad this will ultimately lead to loss of crucial talents and staff system in the organization. Lack of proper crisis management measure in organization can affect not only employees but also can have impact on organizations processes with increase in absenteeism and high attrition rate (Ley, 2012). Also, im proper crisis management often leads to negative publicity and bad public image of the organization. In the contemporary business scenario, one of the most important assists in an organization is human capital and businesses are emphasizing on development and improvement of human resources while safe guarding their needs and requirements. The human resource management has a tactical function and responsibility to make certain that the management are aware of the internal significance of the human capital to the possible crisis possibilities so that they can ensure the crisis management plan and strategy encompass all possible risks and apprehensions. It is important for the human resource department to become involved in the crisis management of the organization so that they can understand the risk management and business stability administration which would encompass the human capital plan of the business. Thus, the author recommends to build a well-structured crisis management department in the organization, which will coordinate with the organizational department at all levels to formulate a effective protection and enhancement system the can be achieved through effective crisis communication network at organization at all levels, human capital and talent management, planning for succession, resource planning, training and development of talents and crisis action plan by formulating safety training. This process cannot be lead by a single brain so to build an effective crisis management team; the organization should emphasize on its structure and functional areas. A crisis management expert always handles emergency situations more effectively. So, the organization can hire crisis management experts for the organizations crisis management but the department should have other members comprised of heads of other departments in the organization to act as advisors. The crisis management department have to work in coordination with other departments of the organization for developing a communication and coordination system for emergency management by promoting an d encouraging the workforce to take appropriate decisions and actions at the time of emergency and crisis (Coombs and Holladay, 2011). The team must take charge and encourage the organization to work as a single unit during crisis as its basic job is to identify the crisis and understand the factors that created the crisis situation. The team must work to improve the condition for smooth functioning of the organization. Developing alternative and unconventional plans for survival of business also regarded as core area of the crisis management team (Roux-Dufort, 2012). The team must double check the plan and consider all possible results and consequences before implementing the plan. The plans of crisis management teams are often for short term solutions to survive in the crisis situations. Rarely do they plan for long term solutions. So, there should be a proper feedback system for evaluating the implemented plan. So, that once the organization overcomes the initial stage of crisis, it should evaluate the plan and restructure organizations culture and structure for long term sustainability. The basic job of a crisis management team is to facilitate the organization to act accordingly in emergency and overcome critical situations (Crandall, et al. 2013). Lastly, reward system for the crisis management team should be based on their performance to supervise the affairs that any considerable talent gap emerges at any individual site of the MinningCo. Conclusion: In the above report, the author tied to identify the underlying problem, high attrition rate in MiningCo and poor performance and analyse the essential factors that are facilitating the issues faced by MiningCo. The report discussed the importance of performance management system in contemporary organizations success and focusing on the current issues faced in the organization. Author explores the topic how human resource can play an important role during crisis management. Lastly, the author has also recommended for a formation of a crisis management team within the organization for various sites and their core job would be managing the incidents that any significant talent gap appears at workplace. Reference: Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014.Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Ayub, N. and Rafif, S., 2011. The relationship between work motivation and job satisfaction.Pakistan Business Review,13. Bell, N., 2013. Experimental evidence on the relationship between public service motivation and job performance.Public Administration Review,73(1), pp.143-153. Booth, S.A., 2015.Crisis management strategy: Competition and change in modern enterprises. Routledge. Boselie, P., 2010.Strategic human resource management: A balanced approach. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011.Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan. Brynjolfsson, E. and McAfee, A., 2012.Race against the machine: How the digital revolution is accelerating innovation, driving productivity, and irreversibly transforming employment and the economy. Brynjolfsson and McAfee. Coombs, W.T. and Holladay, S.J. eds., 2011.The handbook of crisis communication(Vol. 22). John Wiley Sons. Crandall, W.R., Parnell, J.A. and Spillan, J.E., 2013.Crisis management: Leading in the new strategy landscape. Sage Publications. DeCenzo, D.A., Robbins, S.P. and Verhulst, S.L., 2010.Fundamentals of human resource management. John Wiley. Elliott, D., Swartz, E. and Herbane, B., 2010.Business Continuity Management 2e: A Crisis Management Approach. Routledge. Gruman, J.A. and Saks, A.M., 2011. Performance management and employee engagement.Human Resource Management Review,21(2), pp.123-136. Hendry, C., 2012.Human resource management. Routledge. Lerbinger, O., 2012.The crisis manager. Taylor and Francis. Ley, B., Pipek, V., Reuter, C. and Wiedenhoefer, T., 2012, May. Supporting improvisation work in inter-organizational crisis management. InProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems(pp. 1529-1538). ACM. Markos, S. and Sridevi, M.S., 2010. Employee engagement: The key to improving performance.International Journal of Business and Management,5(12), pp.89-96. Mudd, G.M., 2010. The environmental sustainability of mining in Australia: key mega-trends and looming constraints.Resources Policy,35(2), pp.98-115. Rousseau, D.M. and Barends, E.G., 2011. Becoming an evidence?based HR practitioner.Human Resource Management Journal,21(3), pp.221-235. Roux-Dufort C.,Lalonde C.(2012).Exploring the theoretical foundations of crisis management (Call for Papers, Special issue). Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 37,72-84. Stahl, G., Bjrkman, I., Farndale, E., Morris, S.S., Paauwe, J., Stiles, P., Trevor, J. and Wright, P., 2012. Six principles of effective global talent management.Sloan Management Review,53(2), pp.25-42. Syverson, C., 2011. What determines productivity?.Journal of Economic literature,49(2), pp.326-365. Taylor, J. and Simmonds, J., 2009. Family stress and coping in the fly-in fly-out workforce.The Australian Community Psychologist,21(2), pp.23-36. Vojnovic, P., 2014, December. Managing Work-Related Suicide of Fly-In/Fly-out Employees in the Australian Mining Industry. ANZAM Conference, Sydney. Walker, R.M., Damanpour, F. and Devece, C.A., 2010. Management innovation and organizational performance: The mediating effect of performance management.Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, p.muq043.

Professor Notes about Lululemon Athletica Competitive Environment

Question: Discuss about the Lululemon Athletica Competitive Environment. Answer: Introduction: The current business environment is highly competitive especially for firms operating in the same industry. The management of companies strives to come up with strategies for creating a competitive edge against the competitors. Having a competitive advantage ensures a sustainable development for a company in the market. Understanding both the internal and external environmental factors helps managers in driving effective strategic management approaches that suit the current market demands. Lululemon Athletica, a Canadian technical athletic apparel retailer for yoga wear, running, training, and among other many sweaty pursuits. Lululemon offers high-quality clothes to the guests who act as a marketing channel in informing their friends about the excellent offers in by the enterprise (Lululemon Athletica, 2012, p. 283). Having an idea of the surrounding environmental factors affecting the retail industry assists the company efficiently in developing strategic management approaches for sustainable development in the highly competitive market. The following essay provides a critical evaluation of Lululemon's competitive environment in its attempt to gain a sustainable competitive environment in the market. Further, the article analyses both the internal and external environmental factors facing Lululemon's operations as well as their effects on the company's set goals. Lululemons Competitive Environment Lululemon Athletica offers high-quality athletic attire and apparel at affordable prices, yoga pants being the company's prime product. The competitors of Lululemon sell the yoga apparel at a price range of between $25 to $ 50. Surprisingly, the yoga pants available in Lululemon stores are priced almost two or three times more than the rivaling firm's prices, with the costs ranging from $78 to $ 128 per yoga pant (Lululemon Athletica, 2012, p. 285). The ability of the competing firms to sell the same product to the customers at a lower price than that of Lululemon creates pressure on the company's sustainability in the market. However, Lululemon's product sell fast in the market, and this high demand for the business's products creates pressure in its stores when it comes to keeping new lines in stock. Lululemon's has an excellent source of sustainable competitive advantage in the market. The evidence to this argument is that, despite the fact that the company sells its products at high prices, the customers and guest for Lululemon keep on referring other clients to the enterprise. The competitor's approach to reducing down prices does not seem to affect the company's sales. The chief product officer report that the "Paris Pink" product launched in 2011 to last for approximately 60 days sold completely in the first week of December. According to Admson, (2015, p. 50), Lululemon's ability to connect with its guests on a deeper level than just establishing productive customers relationship creates an opportunity for a competitive advantage in the market for its products over the rivaling enterprises. The direct and close competitors for Lululemon are Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. These competitors, together with Lululemon use the same cotton feel, four-way stretch, and moisture wicking technology. As per Casteneda, (2014, p. 880), on top of producing high-tech yoga clothes, Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour sell at a cheaper cost for their clients and yet they have failed to position themselves in the market firmly as Lululemon has done. However, Lululemon's culture of understanding its target market has been difficult for the competitors to duplicate. Lululemon's ability to remain loyal to the clients and the close relationship it commands is inimitable for likes of Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. Internal Environmental Factors Impacting Lululemons Ability to Compete in the Future The internal environment of Lululemon refers to the factors that the management can control in their attempt to create a competitive advantage. Usually, the company aims at creating a committed brand suiting the shopper's demands. The following is ana analysis of the effects of internal environmental factors to Lululemon's capabilities and core competencies both in the present and in the future endeavors of the company. Financial Resources Lululemon Athletica is firmly financially positioned in the economic environment. Unlike the other competing firms, namely Adidas, Nike, and Under Armor having debts with the financiers, Lululemon has no debt with any firm. According to Ganin, (2014, p. 937), in the last few years, Lululemon has experienced a consistent growth rate in both the sales and returns. For example, the financial statements of Lululemon from the year ended 2009 to 2012, the company's revenues grew at an average rate pf 41.47 percent. Due to this high amount of capital, this increases Lululemon's ability to compete effectively in the future since its competitors cannot demand the premium yoga apparel lines that Lululemon employs on its products. Target Customers The management of Lululemon recognizes the target audience as the most valuable asset of the organization. Lululemon creates technical fabrics that work for the clients instead of against their demands. Lululemon recognizes the physical and economic aspects of the market in an attempt to achieve a balance between the client's needs and those of the company, and this enables the company to remain competitive (Lululemon Athletica, 2012, p. 290). Lululemon's offers high-quality products for the existing niche market through a combination of a high-performance material with attractive product design features for their customer brands. Employees The management considers all the staff in Lululemon's retail stores as a steward of the company's culture. For enhancing the creativity of new innovative measures for gaining a competitive advantage, the company hires qualified employees. Further after recruitment, all employees undergo a training and development process that induces them to the enterprise's mission and vision. Lavrence and Lozanski, (2014, p. 80) argues that the future success of Lululemon depends on the firms ability to employ experienced personnel in its retail stores. The company's employees share their knowledge of the clothing and culture of the enterprise with the clients who physically visit their store or who interact online with the customer service personnel. Trends in the External Environment Demographic Factors The external environment over which Lululemon operates is particularly interesting due to the niche of the products it offers. The primary target market for Lululemon is female customers aged between the age of 15 to 65 years. However, the company offers some products for the men and even for the children whose age do not exceed four years. With this broad target over the female population, Lululemon commands over 105 million customer base of the US ladies population alone. The evidence that men, children, and international customers offer a substantial profit to the firm, Lululemon should make a change in its strategy of targeting females only. The company should come up with marketing strategies that seek to offer products at an equal measure to all the gender irrespective of age. Economic Factors The economic downtowns limit the consumer discretionary spending in the world market. Over the last three years, the companys sales have continued to grow despite this fact. However, Lululemon does not lower its prices even under situations of economic depressions and downturns, and this may act as a tool for the competitors to compete Lululemon in the future(The context of Business: Understanding the canadian business environment, 2015, p. 220). The management of Lululemon assumes that the effects of changing global economies affects the firm's profitability and cannot be predictable. However, Lululemon should price its yoga clothes according to the economic changes in the marketing environment for this shows its value to the customer's needs and thereby ensuring a firm position in the market. Political and Legal Environment The future uncertainties in the political and juridical measures also affect Lululemon's performance. Both the domestic and international business regulations play a significant role in getting Lululemon's products to the market promptly. Lululemon manufactures its facilities in the US and is mostly based on global factories found in countries like Peru, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and others. The changes in international tax laws bring variability of the company's earnings. Therefore, to ensure a sustained development in the competitive environment, the management should make sure total compliance with the law. Technological Factors The changes in technology have made Lululemon develop strategies of coping with the changes, something that has contributed a lot towards its success. The product attributes of Lululemon are technology driven. For example, the IT personnel uses silver thread in selecting the right brand of products. Further, technology has played a great role in Lululemon's expansion to the international markets. For example, the e-commerce model adoption in 2009 has enabled the company to reach more customers in global locations. Advantages of Lululemons Business Strategy Lululemon's ability to deliver high-quality products that are carefully and successfully tailored to meet the client's tastes and preferences leads to the company's success. The management offers the products at the right time to the customers. The administration of the company uses a marketing strategy that focuses on all clients in all localities by utilizing its ambassadors such as local athletes and yoga instructors; this intensifies the company's customer base in the markets. Through effective communication and establishment of symbiotic relationships between the company's staff and their guests, this fosters a historical success support for the enterprise. The ability to identify markets sharing the common business language such as the United States, Australia, and New Zealand has made it easy for Lululemon to expand its operations and grow internationally. The unique capability of Lululemon in designing and creating technologically advanced products and the approaches for marketing these products to the target market enables the market to make high profits. Business Risks Facing Lululemon Every business remains surrounded by risks that create challenges to its success. The risks facing Lululemon Athletica company operations include: The threat of new entrants who may pose competition in the market. Government regulations, political factors, and economic crises. Technological changes in the business environment. Pressures from the market who may demand more than the companys ability to produce. Potential Challenges for Lululemon as it Expands Internationally A possible problem for Lululemon in its steps to grow internationally remains to be the regulatory frameworks employed by the multinational companies by the targeted state (Lululemon Athletica, 2012, p. 293). The law requires licensing of global players who are expensive for Lululemon to comply. Further, the corporate tax rate applied domestically use for Lululemon as it tries to operate in the international markets. The threat of new entrants in the market also creates pressure for Lululemon since the new entrants in the retail industry bring competition for the available markets in the global world. The continuous efforts of the company to succeed in future on the international market are threatened by the similar firms entering the market(Casteneda, 2014, p. 880). Notably, the leading competitors of Lululemon, Nike and Adidas have also made steps to invest globally where Lululemon still targets. The high cost of conducting market research in the international market is another challenge that Lululemon is likely to face. Before going internationally, companies need to understand the culture, language, and demands of the target market so that they may establish a suitable location for the firm; this may be costly for Lululemon (Roy Banerjee, 2014, p. 219). Since the company seeks to offer high standards products for its suppliers, this requires a significant investment. Therefore, the cost may act as a challenge for Lululemon to expand internationally. Recommendations for Reducing the Potential Risks The management should conduct a thorough environmental scanning so as to identify the most less costly strategies of conducting global market research. Lululemon should efficiently monitor its product lines and manufacturing capabilities in an anti-competitors oriented direction, and this will limit the threats from new entrants. The management of Lululemon should ensure total compliance with the legal requirements when seeking to venture into international markets. Compliance with the international business law will make the company succeed in the foreign market. Lastly, the company should venture its business operations internationally in only locations where its products get demanded and where the people's culture are in conformity with the firm.' Conclusion The business environment affects the performance of an organization. Understanding the environment surrounding a business enables practitioners to design applicable management strategies for gaining a competitive advantage against the rivals. Companies cannot venture their operations in the international market without having succeeded in the domestic market. For a firm to thrive in its performance, the business culture must suit the tastes and preferences of the customers. However, the business environment gets faced with numerous challenges that may hinder a firm from succeeding. These problems include; technological changes, market demand changes, stiff competition, and inadequate finances. Therefore, companies must ensure that they are capable of coping with the business environmental changes before deciding to venture their operations in a particular market, be it domestically or internationally. References Casteneda, C., 2014. America the yogi fun: Insights into American yoga culture today. pp. 880. Ganin, C., 2014. American Apparel, crumbs, cupcakes, and Lululemon: Oh my examples of why increased shareholder involvement will not fix corporate America. Ariz. L. Rev, 56(2), p. 937. Lavrence, C. Lozanski, K., 2014. This is not your practice: Lululemon and the neoliberal government of self. Canadian Review of Sociology, 51(1), pp. 76-94. Retrieved from:https://scholar.google.com/scholar?=Lavrence%2C+C.+%26+Lozanski%2C+K.%2C+2014.+This+is+not+your+practice%3A+Lululemon+and+the+neoliberal+government+of+self.+Canadian+Review+of+SociologybtnG=hl=enas_sdt=0%2C5 Lululemon Athletica (2012) Jenna, Beyer; Leon, Firfman; Eric, Ho; Miso, Kezunovic; Lance, Olian. pp. 283-294 The context of Business: Understanding the Canadian business environment (2015) Karakowsky, Len and Guriel, Natalie. pp. 220. Retrieved from: https://www.pearsoncanada.ca/media/highered-showcase/multi-product-showcase/showcase-websites-4q-2012/karakowsky-preface.pdf