Monday, December 30, 2019

Essay about English Academic Writing - 750 Words

Over the last few decade, the number of international student has risen not specially in the UK but all over the world. It is known that every nation has its own language, customs, cultures and traditions. This may effect the way of thinking or an academic style of reading, writing and another types of an academic style. This essay will evaluate linn,2009 claim that international student must learn a new way of thinking and writing when they come to study in the UK-type academic environment and outline the controversial point that should be considered. Firstly, according to( linn,2009,p.3) English writers use explicit discourse marker which helps the writers to organize ideas and also helps reader follow along from one sentence to†¦show more content†¦However, in an English academic writing, writers tend to restrict the amount of metaphor ,whereas Arabic writers do no seem to make this distinction for academic writing. This seems to be true because there are an disadvantages of metaphorical usage. Perhaps most importantly it can be said that metaphorical usage may lead to stereotyping, which not based on fact but it based on other opinion. For example, linn thinks that all Asian student are circular or all Americans are good at math. Of course it just an opinions not fact some Americans are not good at math. In addition, metaphors could use to obscure reality, confuse and influence the readers. For instance, metaphors are one of the ways that doctors might avoid telling the truth to the patients. In contrast, it is diffi cult to ignore the features of metaphorical usage to described psychological theories. It can be said that teachers and student should sensitized to the power of metaphors. According to (linn,2009,p.2,p.3) it is possible that academic writing in some countries are influenced by its cultures and traditions, which also effect students choice of evidence in supporting their main ideas and how they express their main ideas. It can be said that the structure of academic writing. This seems to be true because there are three point that should be considered. Firstly, traditional culture not only influences the views of the world, ways of thinking, people‘s behaviors but also theShow MoreRelatedLearning From A Foreign Language991 Words   |  4 Pagesstarted reading and writing when I was 4, it was in Arabic and writing in Arabic doesn’t have many rules. So by the age of eight, I was done with learning how to read and write, and started my science studies. 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Roslyn Heights, New York 1 #VAI-S1914 v1.0 This study guide should be used along with a program published by Video Aided Instruction, Inc. For more information, call 1-800 -238-1512 or visit us online at videoaidedinstruction.com. This study guide should be used along with the following program published by Video Aided Instruction. The instructor works through the exercisesRead MoreAcademic Achievement7009 Words   |  29 Pages1 Text 1-1 1.1 1.2 Academic Achievement This unit will help you: use your prior knowledge to help you understand what you are reading; practice reading for a specific purpose; make decisions about the relevance of a text in terms of reading purpose; read selectively in order to use appropriate information from the text. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ The topic of this unit concerns factors that may lead to improvement in academic performance among students. 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Sunday, December 22, 2019

Essay on Racism in America - Past and Present - 2889 Words

Racism is the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, place of origin, or ancestry. The term racism may also denote a blind and unreasoning hatred, envy, or prejudice (Dimensions of Racism). Racism has had a strong effect on society. Despite the many efforts made to alleviate racism, what is the future of African Americans Racisms long history, important leaders, current status, and future outlook will be the main factors in determining how to combat racism. Racism is still present in many societies, although many people are doing their best to put an end to racism and its somewhat tragic ordeals. Though racism is a controversial subject, many other subjects have received just as†¦show more content†¦Throughout his life, King felt the pain of racism, and being the kind of person he was, he knew he needed to do something. In 1957, he founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The conference was very influential and invaluable during the Civil Rights Movement. Through this group, King was able to build a strong reputation for having a strong will and desire for equality and justice for all people. This reputation made him a leader, if not THE leader, of the Civil Rights Movement (Martin Luther King). With the SCLC and the passive resistance philosophy, King was able to lead actions such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Selma, Mississippi. The most widely-known march is the March on Washington. In his speech, he talked about his dream for unity and equality among all people. However, because of his marches and protests, he was arrested over thirty times. Despite these arrests, King still made many other accomplishments. In 1963, he was named Man of the Year by Time Magazine. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Kings awards show the support that people had for his ideas and improvements of Civil Rights (Martin Luther King). Another influential Civil Rights leader is Jackie Robinson. Rarely do people find an individual who has the courage and perseverance to break down social barriers. Jackie Robinson is one of these ground breaking individuals. Robinson notShow MoreRelatedChristopher Columbus Persuasive Essay726 Words   |  3 Pages America. The â€Å"Land of the Free† and the â€Å"Home of the Brave.† Yet, is this country truly one where all can live freely? Free for the poor? Free for immigrants? Free for religious minorities? Free for people of color? The United States of America is a country that was created to allow for certain freedoms for all people, yet within its rich history and today’s world, our country has become a melting pot for prejudice, racism, and ignorance. As our world progresses further, it may seem as if thereRead MoreWill A Post-Racial America Ever Happen? Essay701 Words   |  3 Pagesvarious other parts of the media. Although we seem to be past segregation, race is still a polarizing issue. Many people today still assert the idea that certain races are of a lower class or are to be feared, when people are nothing more than products of their own environments. If all minorities were given the same opportunities, these misconceptions and stereotypes would disappear. A post-racial America is not possible because the past of racism will continue to linger throughout generations, peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of Martin Luther King Jr s Voice Echoed Across The National Mall 984 Words   |  4 Pagesdoes not end with that speech. Racism and privilege cannot be erased overnight through legislation, indeed, it often hides in legislation. That is to say nothing of the deep, psychological and social constructs which allowed for the dehumanization and subjugation of a race. And so it is in 2017 that the voice of Tim Wise and others like him is needed as much as ever. 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Friday, December 13, 2019

Financial Analysis of Nokia Free Essays

Introduction of Nokia Nokia, one of the leading brands in mobile phones, was started by a mining engineer, Fredrik Idestam, in 1865 by making paper from wood pulp mill; a second paper mill was built on Nokianvirta river that gave birth to the present name of this company-Nokia. The company then started different business and mergers and then finally started mobiles business in 1968. Its head office is in Espoo, Finland and currently has almost 132,000 employees worldwide. We will write a custom essay sample on Financial Analysis of Nokia or any similar topic only for you Order Now Its main products (mobile phones, smartphones, mobile computers, Networks) and services (Maps Navigation, media software solutions, music, messaging) are in the field of Telecommunication, Internet computer software. Nokia is selling its products to almost 150 countries globally with annual revenue of over 42 billion euro with 2 billion operating profits and global market share of nearly 35% in 2010. (nokia.com) Nokia did many innovations and has credit to be the world’s No 1. in many of its products and services e.g. world’s first portable NMT car telephone (Nordic Mobile Telephone-NMT) built by Nokia, GSM call, Nokia Tunes, satellite call, brings Internet on mobile. It introduces First 3g Phone, digital hand portable phones supporting data, fax and the Short Message Service, integrated wireless payphone, dual mode AMPS/TDMA phone, high-speed data terminal for wireless networks, WAP handset, introduced the industry first multimedia messaging solution, first 3GPP compliant WCDMA/GSM dual mode phone, first TDMA handsets with full-color displays, mobile handset with a 4GB hard disk which can store up to 3000 tracks, Nokia N95 was the world’s first device combining GPS and wireless broadband (HSDPA/WLAN). From January 2010, high-end car and pedestrian navigation is available for free on Nokia smartphones. (Zacks research, 2011) One can imagine its success and popularity from the fact that till 2005, 2 billion mobiles were sold worldwide and Nokia alone sold its billionth phone in that year. According to Nokia Corporation, ‘Nokia’s story continues with 3G, mobile multiplayer gaming, multimedia devices and a look to the future†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (nokia.com) and â€Å"Nokia’s mission is simple; Connecting People. Our strategic intent is to build great mobile products. Our job is to enable billions of people everywhere to get more of life’s opportunities through mobile.† (nokia.com) Currently, with the invention of many smart android phones, Nokia is facing stiff competition in mobiles market as its sales figures are moving downward. But they are now making changes in their structure and operations that is depicted by their statement, â€Å"Nokia has recently outlined its new strategic direction, including changes in leadership and operational structure to accelerate the company’s speed of execution in a dynamic competitive environment.† (nokia.com) Critical Discussion of Recent Past Performance – Financial Ratio Analysis Financial analysis helps in establishing a relation between various financial statements’ elements which can then be compared with other information about the business. This also determines the future prospects of the company and the area that needs improvement. The basic purpose is to analyze the current financial position performance of the company according to which a judgement can be made regarding future performance of the business. (Dyson. J.R, 2007) Financial analysis from the point of view of an investor is mostly concerned with the profitability of the company and also the returns what the company pay to their stock holders in the form of dividends and/or right shares and increase in the stock value. (CIMA, 2000) One has to look carefully to the annual accounts of the company and the yearly growth trend in terms of revenues, profit and its market share. For the analysis purpose, consolidated accounts of Nokia i.e. Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement for the last four years from 2007 to 2010 is taken into account and theses figures obtained from the company’s website are given below: Consolidated Income Statement of Nokia for the Year Ended (EURm) 2007 2008 2009 2010 Net Sales/ Revenues51,058 50,710 40,984 42,446 Cost of Sales33,781 33,337 27,720 29,629 Gross Profit 17,277 17,373 13,264 12,817 Res Dev5,6365,9685,909 5,288 Sell Ad Exp 5,5445,6645,0784,529 Other Inc2,312 420338 507 Other Exp424 1,195 51056 Op Profit7,9854,9661,1972,070 Profit Bef Tax 8,2684,970 962 1,786 Tax1,5221,081 702 443 Net Profit 6,7463,889 260 1,343 (nokia.com) From this income statement, it is observed that Sales are having a decreasing trend from 2007 to 2009 but shows a slightly increase in 2010 and cost of sales, operating profit, earnings per share and the net profit has also the same trends. It means that profitability of Nokia was much better in 2007 that is 6.7 billion euro as compared to 260 million euro in 2009, but it again shows signs of improvement in 2010 and net profit become 1.3 billion euro. Consolidated Balance Sheet of Nokia for the Year Ended (EURm) 2007 2008 2009 2010 Assets Cash Eqv 11,992 7,8549,20212,653 A/Rec 11,356 9,5457,9957,609 Inventory 2,8762,5331,8652,523 Other C/A 3,0704,4444,5514,360 Tot C/A 29,294 24,470 23,613 27,145 Plant PE 1,7581,9851,8221,856 Goodwill1,3846,2575,1715,723 Tot Assets 37,599 39,582 35,738 39,123 Liabilities A/Pay 7,0745,2254,9506,101 Tot C/L 18,976 20,355 15,188 17,540 Oth/L 1,2852,7175,8015,352 Tot/Liab 20,261 23,072 20,989 22,892 Equity 17,338 16,510 14,749 16,231 Tot Lib Eq 37,599 39,582 35,738 39,123 (nokia.com) The balance sheet gives an idea to investor that how much business is invested by the shareholder’s equity and how much debt is owed. (Dyson. J.R, 2007) It is depicted from these balance sheets of Nokia that approximately 45% business is financed by the equity in 2007 but for the next three years this figure is reduced to around 41%. This shows that company owes more in 2010 as compared to 2007 and its financial position was much better in 2007 compared with 2010. Consolidated Cash Flow Statements of Nokia for the Year Ended (EURm) 2007 2008 2009 2010 Net Income 6,7463,889 260 1,343 Depreciation 1,2061,6171,7841,771 Cash from Op Act7,8823,1973,2474,774 Cash from Invest -710-2,905 -2,148 -2,421 Cash from Finance-3,832 -1,545 -696 -911 Net Change in Cash 3,325-1,302378 1,666 (nokia.com) The analysis of Cash flow statement gives true information about profit of a company as it relies on real cash transactions. Income statement can sometime mislead because of insufficient cash flows figures showing on the statement. Investors are mostly interested in cash flow statements before making decision to have a clear picture of the company’s cash transactions. The company’s with plenty of cash availability mostly have fewer problems for expansions or investments for growth, paying off debts or to buy back their own stocks. This cash flow statement shows that Nokia has good position as regard to the cash flow during the year 2007, but it comes to negative figure in 2008 because of losses from investments and finances, but it recovers again in 2009 and makes good progress in 2010. It overall shows that although Nokia had a hard time in 2008 but it picked up again in the subsequent years. Financial Ratios Some financial ratios are calculated as regard to profitability, asset turnover, short term and long term liquidity ratios based on the figures outlined in the Income Statement and balance sheets given above for four years from 2007 to 2010. These ratios and their explanations are given as under: Profitability Ratios: Gross Profit Margin 33.84%34.26%32.36%30.20% Op Profit Margin 16.19%9.80% 2.34% 4.21% Net Profit Margin 13.24%7.63% 0.63% 3.21% Profitability ratios compare components of income with sales and provide an idea of what makes a business’s income and is expressed as a portion of each sales unit i.e. euro in case of Nokia. These profit margin ratios are different only in terms of numerators and reflect and evaluate performance of different aspects of the company. These all profitability ratios explain the Nokia’s ability to generate the earnings and coverage of its expenses and other costs for the same period (Dyson. J.R, 2007) For Nokia, we observe that Gross profit margin (Gross Profit/ Sales) remains almost equal (30.2% to 34.2%) for the four years in observation, but the operating profit and Net profit margin shows a great fluctuations ( 2.3% to 16.1% in case of op profit and 0.6% to 13.2% for net profit). This means that Nokia has more operating expenses i.e. selling, marketing, RD and administration expenses. Secondly, if we see vertically, in year 2007, the difference between Gross profit and net profit is less (33.84%-13.24%= 20.6%) as compared to subsequent years e.g. in year 2009, the difference is 32.63%-0.63%= 31.73; this shows that in this year there is more operating expenses. But this situation improves a little in 2010 and net profit becomes again 3.21%. Return Ratios: Return on Assets17.94%9.82% 1.00% 3.90% Return on Capital 54.8% 27.2% 6.7% 7.02% Return on Equity 53.9% 27.5% 6.5% 8.67% Return ratios are also important profitability ratios. These measures the efficiency with which a business employed its assets, capital and equity for profit generation i.e. amount of profit in relation to investment of total assets. For Nokia, these ratios show that assets are employed more efficiently in the year 2007 and then it has a decreasing trend till 2009 and shows a better position for 2010 as compared to 2009. Activity Ratios: Tot Asset TO 1.4x 1.3Ãâ€"1.1Ãâ€"1.1x Fix Asst TO 29.0Ãâ€"25.5x 22.5x 23.1x Inventory TO 17.8Ãâ€"20.0x 22.0x 16.8x Activity ratios measures how well the business assets are used i.e. the benefit produced by the company’s assets or how effectively the business investment is being used. The greater the turnover, more effectively the assets are being used (Dyson. J. R, 2007) Liquidity Ratios or Credit Ratios: Current Ratio 1.5:11.2:1 1.5:11.5:1 Acid Test Ratio 1.23:1 0.86:1 1.13:1 1.15:1 These two liquidity or credit ratios measure whether a business can pay off debts or bills from its resources over the next twelve months. Acid test ratio (current assets-inventories/current liabilities) gives a clearer picture than current ratio (current assets-current liabilities) because it shows that business is capable to pay off its current liabilities without selling the inventory because sometimes it becomes difficult to sell the inventory at the time of solvency. Nokia has a good result for these ratios, and shows that the business can easily pay its debts in case there arise any problem. Long Term Solvency Debt/Equity Ratio 1.17 1.39 1.42 1.41 This debt equity ratio is greater than one, means that Nokia’s most assets are mainly financed by debt than shareholder’s equity (Dyson. J. R, 2007) This ratio shows that how much Nokia is relying on debt. From these figures, it reveals that Nokia is depending more on debt as compared to the equity and this has an increasing trend from 2007 onwards. Share Holder’s Ratio: Earning /share 1.85 1.07 0.24 0.50 The investors have a keen interest in this ratio as this shows that how much business earns in terms of share of stock because if the business earns more, then it can give more to their shareholders. Nokia’s earning per share is 1.85 in 2007 which decreases to 0.24 in 2009 but again shows a good performance in 2010 therefore E/Share increased to 0.50. Other Issues to be Considered in Pursuit of a Potential Investor A potential investor has to do a full market research about the company and the trends of its growth, market reputation, its competition, development growth within the company and within the industry along with the complete examination of the financial statements because an investor not only needs a return on the investment but also wants safety of its funds invested. For financial analysis, one has to consider the revenue generation, operating income from operations, net income, return on equity, balance sheet strength and the competitive advantage over a period of years and also its trend along with the trend of the industry. As far as Nokia Corporation (NOK) is concerned, it is the largest manufacturer of the mobile phones in the world and is the market leader in most of its innovations since 1990’s. But due to the significant increase in the use of smartphones and android phones in the past recent years, Nokia is facing some difficulties for maintaining its same market share as it was before. Global mobile phone sales totalled 269.1 million units in 1st qtr of 2009, decreased 8.8% from 1st qtr of 2008. Smartphone sales were 36.4 million units, an increase of 12.7% from the same time last year. Nokia continued to lead the mobile phone market, but its market share dropped from 39.1% to 36.2% in the 1st qtr of 2008 to 1st qtr of 2009. Smartphones sales are 13.5% of all the mobile devices sold in 2009. (Gartner, May 2009) 5 Year Stock Charts for Nokia Corporation- US (NOK) ( As on 22-04-2011) Source: Businessweek.com Industry Analysis-Year to Date (As on 22-04-2011) Nokia (NOK) Source: Businessweek.com As the consumers are using more smartphones and android phones now a days, therefore its market share are increasing and also the future expectations to use these phones, as is shown in the figures below: Smart Phone Market Share with OS (March, 2011) Source: The Nielson Company (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com) Next Desired Operating System (Consumers planning on getting a new smartphone in the next year) Source: The Nielson Company (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com) Nokia has lost its market share in profitable smartphone segment because of Apple’s iphone and Google’s android phone. In the last few years consumers are moving towards most modern Android phones from Samsung, HTC and prefer less to use the old symbian platform used by Nokia. The Gartner, one research firm expects that android will replace Symbian, and will become the world’s most widely used smartphone this year. Its global market share is expected to be 38.5% as compared to symbian 19.2%. (The Wall Street Journal, Apr 2011) According to Gartner â€Å"By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49 percent of the smartphone market by 2012† ( Gartner, Apr 2011) Their prediction table is given below: Worldwide Mobile Communications Device Open OS (Operating System) Sales to End Users by OS ( Thounds of Units) Source: Gartner (April, 2011) In pursuit of fierce competition from other companies like Samsung, Motorola, Apple, Google, HTC and others, some recent developments made by Nokia: Nokia has entered in a fifty-fifty joint venture with Siemens AG after receiving Chinese regulatory clearance in acquiring the wireless network infrastructure assets of Motorolla Solutions Inc. Nokia started using Windows Mobile 7 software in all of its smartphones. (Zack research, 2011) Nokia made a definitive agreement with Microsoft Corp for the development of a smartphone ecosystem. (BBC, 2011) In the first quarter 2011, net revenue was $14,214 million that is increased by 9% year over year. This increase was due to the stronger demand, average selling prices and higher volume sales in most of the regions. (Zack research, 2011) Gartner says, that after Nokia replacing symbian with Microsoft Windows phone operating system, it will not only be able to cut operating cost but also proving better products services to its customers. In 1st qtr of 2011, Nokia’s smartphone share in the global market fell down to 26% from 41% one year ago. The company is also expecting that its 2nd year will also be challenging, but because of the deal with Microsoft ‘there is less uncertainty for investors about the company’s future prospects’ (The Wall Street Journal, Apr 2011). This deal will also help Nokia in clearing the hurdles in the way of commercializing the new Windows smartphones as quickly as possible. In the 1st quarter 2011, Nokia’s quarterly revenue was up 9% year over year. The increase was attributable to higher volumes in most regions driven by stronger demand and higher average selling price (ASP). However, gross margin was 29.1% compared with 32% in the last quarter. (Zack Research, Apr 2011) Also Hudson securities said (Apr 2011) that Nokia reported strong results for its 1st quarter 2011 with revenue earning per share more than expectations. According to International human press newswire, Nokia’s global presence is still significant as 1.3 billion people using the Nokia’s phone for connecting every day. The Nokia’s deal with Microsoft seemed to be another â€Å"Blockbuster†, its sales will increase and the prices could go back to 2007. (ITHP, Feb 2011) Conclusion Nokia (NOK), a Finland based multinational company, is the biggest name in the mobile communication technology. Earlier it was involved in many businesses but from 1992 it concentrated on its communication segment and soon became the market leader in many of its innovations. Nokia’s phones are loved by every sector of the consumers, not only because of their reliability but also because that it is providing the cheapest mobiles with most basic functions and also high quality phones with all the latest functions. Its market share remains above 40% globally till last few years. In 2005, 2 billion mobiles were sold worldwide and alone Nokia sold its billionth mobile in that year. There is a fierce competition in the mobile communication market. Main competitors are Nokia, Apple, Samsung, Google and HTC. All suppliers are making innovations and trying to provide new extra functions or services in the mobiles therefore expectations of the consumers are increasing day by day and in this race many companies are providing new innovative mobiles periodically. From the financial statements of Nokia and the ration analysis, it is examined that Revenues, operating income, profit margin, return on equity, earning per share from 2007 has a decreasing trend till 2009 but all these shows positive developments again from 2010. Current ratio, Quick ratio is also in favour of Nokia. Also, in first quarter 2011, Nokia did very well and more than expectations. Although its overall market share is somewhat decreasing due to the Apple’s iphone and Google’s android phone. But as Nokia did a deal with Microsoft recently for using its windows 7 and producing an ecosystem in mobiles, and also it is doing re-organization of the company, it is expected that it will be able to gain its market share again, still 1.3 billion people are using Nokia worldwide. Therefore, one can invest in Nokia but also need to keep an eye on the growth and development it is making with the passage of time. References BBC News, â€Å"Nokia and Microsoft form partnershipâ€Å". 11 Feb 2011, online, assessed on April 20,2011, available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12427680 Business week, April 22, 2011, ‘Information Technology Sector, Communications Equipment Industry’, online, assessed on April 22, 2011, available from http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/earnings/earnings.asp?ticker=NOK:US CIMA. (2000) Management Accounting Official Terminology. London: The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Dyson, J.R. (2007) Accounting for Non-Accounting Students. Seventh Edition, England: FT Prentice Hall Fortune, CNNmoney.com, ‘Nielsen: Android gains, iPhone slips’ April 26, 2011, online, assessed on Apr 26, 2011, available from http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/26/nielsen-android-gains-iphone-slips/ 6.Gartner Research, May 20, 2009, ‘Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Declined 8.6 Per Cent and Smartphones Grew 12.7 Per Cent in First Quarter of 2009’, online assessed on Apr 26, 2011, available from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=985912 Gartner Research, April 7, 2011 ‘Gartner Says Android to Command Nearly Half of Worldwide Smartphone Operating System Market by Year-End 2012’, online, assessed on Apr 26,2011, available from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1622614 8. ‘Hudson Securities Reports Strong 1Q11 Results For Nokia’ April 21, 2011, online assessed on Apr 27, 2011, available from http://origin.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/11/04/1023585/hudson-securities-reports-strong-1q11-results-for-nokia ITHP, International human press newswire, ‘Invest in Nokia?, Feb 2011, online, assessed on Apr 26, 2011, available from http://www.ithp.org/articles/nokia.html Nokia website, online, assessed on April 15, 2011, available from http://www.nokia.com Reisinger. D, Cnet news, April 26, 2011, ‘ Nielsen: Android gains, iPhone slips’, online, assessed on April 26, 2011, available from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20057445-17.html The Wall Street Journal, 21 Apr, 2011, ‘Nokia Lifts Itself Out of the Doldrums’, online, assessed on Apr 26, 2011 available from http://money.uk.msn.com/wall-street-journal.aspx?cp-documentid=157142938 Zacks Research, Business News, ‘Nokia Surprises in 1Q11’ 21-02-2011, online, assessed on April 17, 2011, available from http://www.favstocks.com/nokia-surprises-in-1q11/2148356/ How to cite Financial Analysis of Nokia, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Leadership and Business Management Communicating Stakeholders

Question: Describe about the Leadership and Business Management for Communicating Stakeholders. Answer: Describe how you maintained an open communication process between: Team: Describe what would you do with your team to make sure everyone is communicated to The most common and important elements for communicating stakeholders are determining the target audience. One should be deliberate and should identify known groups for determining unknown groups. It is going to be very tough for a company if they find that in a serious critical meeting, one of their main candidates was attending the meeting without any clue about the proceedings of the meeting, as he was not given any kind of information on that matter. Documents should be developed in a proper manner and stakeholders should be communicated in an effective manner about all this. Following the ways mentioned below, one can easily manage to keep the communication active and ongoing (USCG, 1998) Formal methods for Communication: Formal Meetings: Formal meetings are one of the old methods of communication. These meetings can have varied facets depending on organizational structure. It depends on a person to maximize every minute of their time spent for having an effective dialogue. It is one of the effective way of communication as it enhances credibility and avoids misinterpretation (USCG, 1998) Call on Conference: This mode of communication is becoming most common now days. This mode is beneficial as it saves time and expenses of travelling (USCG, 1998). Through conference call, one can talk anywhere, as one does not depend on voice intonation. Letters: Strategy of sharing newsletters is one-way communication and it is often utilized in the way of email utilization, brochures and newsletters. One major weakness is that messages are delivered and one seems to be unable to gauge them (USCG, 1998) Informal Methods Hallway communication: These are such kind of meetings which mainly involve one to one communication mode, but in the case, if an organization follows such communication mode then, it should be clear that they should not develop false expectation (USCG, 1998) Meetings during unofficial Time: Meetings can be arranged after working hours where staff members can interact informally with seniors during lunch or dinner. These causal environment helps in bonding and gaining feedback (USCG, 1998) Events of Sporting: Company can arrange for the badminton or golf games, where informally, staff members can interact with one another and can gain feedbacks (USCG, 1998) Mails on voice: Emails often hold superiorities in comparison to voice mails but still, people prefer listening rather than reading (USCG, 1998) Staff should be provided with the opportunity to discuss issues related to relationship with fellow colleagues. Talking about an issue through the channels above can help in diffusion of negative situation before it gets out of hand. So, one should devise strategies for encouraging open communication. There should be commitment from the senior level managers to encourage open communication and discussion. By showing that management is willing to listen and bring about the changes based on what staff has discussed, in that case the staff will become more open(USCG, 1998). Manager: How can you keep regular communication with your manger to make sure that they are informed of how your team is working? By establishing a good relationship with a manager, we can keep regular communication with him for achieving the desired goals and objectives. Business relationships are built upon openness, honesty, cooperativeness and productiveness(Regional Skills Training, 2010). One will find that a manager, with whom we have to establish relation with, is mainly aware of the tasks of team which a team has to perform. People are found having no ability to work in team, as they are found working with people who normally does not believe in choosing friends in many cases. By incorporating the below stated factors in communication, a team can effectively communicate its performance with a manager: Clear: Information will be read by a manager only when he will be able to understand it properly. If the team is writing about its performance and the same is not clear to the manager, the communication is useless. Clarity can come out by selecting easy understandable words, being concise and importantly, understanding that even though one may understand what the team has written, the other party may not be able to do so. Therefore, it is necessary to write in a proper manner to make the manager aware about the correct position and performance standard. Complete: Apart from being clear, information should be complete. One should be open and offer full information. One should not hold information or put any kind of opinions simply because the end user does not want to hear it. It is very essential that the information a team offers to a manager should be complete so that he/she does not take any kind of wrong decision. Taking into account the end user: While one can find that information that a team is offering is not really what the manager is looking for or wants to hear, it is important to ensure that one takes into account the way the end user will respond to the given information. If it is not good information, be sensitive and attempt to make the information or your opinion easier for them to read. Describe how you were able to initiate and maintain this communication process so that input from outside the team could contribute to team performance Who and how can you work with team/management/ customers to get ideas on communication and team performance The main elements of Project communication(University of Tennessee System, 2012) Communication with whom: It is very essential to understand that all stakeholders should be informed about a project and all the necessary detailing related with it for the proper execution of the project. However, this kind of approach would mainly guarantee the failure of a project as, every stakeholder carries his/her own view and, meeting everyones demand is going to be very difficult. Some important stakeholders that must be taken into account are been illustrated below: (University of Tennessee System, 2012). Sponsors of Project: These are the main customers of any project with whom the managers have to communicate and share the information on timely basis. It is to be ascertained that every stakeholder under this category is been communicated in the manner he/she likes to be done with. Members of the team: This is again one of the main popular groups of stakeholders. One might think of dividing the groups of teams in sub -groups on the basis of the role each of them possess. For instance, a manager can think of drafting separate communication mode for business analyst. Customers: These stakeholders can be internal or external. They are not bothered about project communication until and unless a product is been delivered to them. Partners in a company: These stakeholders are those people whose activity does affect the manner in which the project communication takes place. A partner may be someone who is working on a project or heading any team. What is to be communicated: What information is to be communicated to which stakeholder should be considered in a proper manner and should be communicated according to the prescribed modes. The choice of communication of information cannot be done without any tool of project for gathering information How to communicate: We can several different many mediums of commutation like face-to-face, intranet, internet or video conference. Ways to maintain communication process for contributing to team performance Clear Objectives: The overall objective needs to be determined which should assure that every member should understand the goal. A leader has an important role in communicating the clear picture of what organization expects from a team. Appropriate Leadership: Leadership is considered as a shared function, which is based on the need of a task instead of consideration of formal role based on power. Suitable Membership: For a team to work productively, members must display the skills and experience and the right mixture of these for the task being undertaken. Commitment towards team: Members of a team experiences real strength from membership and goal sharing. They will ready to invest energy in interest of the team Supportive team climate: The order of maintaining communication process is to build supportive climate. Members should be asked to contribute in a mature fashion Relationships with other teams: An effective team also invests its time and energy in developing ground rules for managing relationships with other team members in a positive and productive way. Describe how you evaluation of team performance and rationale behind corrective actions in order to provide evidence of you knowledge of Group behavior to build team cohesion How will you monitor and evaluate the team as a group is working well together and that your solutions are working? All of the assessment principle that applies to individual work applies to group work as well. Group of assessment has called for many challenges, however such objectives of assignment which assessor might wish to assess depends on team final design and report, their processes and both (Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis, 2012). Below are the ways for monitoring and evaluating whether group cohesion is working or not Assess individual and team: An individual can mainly feel de-motivated when they feel that their success is very much dependent on the success of the team members and team performance. One single way of interacting and counteracting the hazards of motivation of group activities is mainly to assess the learning and performance of an individual in response to the output of group. Team leaders can take test for testing the learning knowledge of the individuals. There is no such breakdown in assessment section but still grading should mainly reflect motives for learning and motivating the kind of work one want to see. Assessing process: In the case, when developing teamwork skills is one of the main objectives for the course, it is important for assessing students progress towards such goal. Processes can be accessed on the basis of number of dimensions like the ability of generating range of ideas, listening respectfully for disparate perspectives and communicating effectively(Niazi, 2011). Making criteria and scheme of grading: It is very essential to illustrate the criteria of performance so that one can easily make out the difference between the expectations and decisive expectations(Smith, 2000) How to support team members to achieve goals through coaching, mentoring and training What training/ mentoring or coaching can you do to help your team members reach their goals? Training programs should be strategy driven: Trainers should be made aware of the fact that all training programs are required to be in line with an organizations strategic goals(Harun Mahmood, 2012). Setting Criteria for defining success: Success of a training program should be measured against varied criterias(Vinesh, 2014). Training programs needs to support the key strategies: While designing a training program, trainers should be made aware about the fact that learning is very much aligned and is directly supported by the structures of an organization(Nischithaa Rao, 2014). Resolution techniques and Strategies What were the resolution strategies you put in place for your team Guideline establishment: Formal meetings were arranged in between the contracting parties for understanding the guidelines and defining the ways for meeting the same. Both the parties were asked to share their views calmly and unemotionally for effective outcomes(Rouge, 2014). Keeping Effective and open Communication: The main objective in resolution of conflict was to have open communication in between the members (Jung, 2003). Decisive Actions: After collecting the information, all parties should be involved in the decision making process (EDCC, 2011). References EDCC, 2011. ConflictResolution Skills. EDCC. Harun, M.Z.M.B. Mahmood, R.B., 2012. The Relationship between Group Cohesiveness and Performance: An Empirical Study of Cooperatives Movement in Malaysia. International Journal of Cooperative Studies, 1(1), pp.15-20. Jung, H., 2003. Conflict resolution strategies and no strategy and their Performance Models for Large Scale Multiagent Systems. University of Southern California. Niazi, A.S., 2011. Training and Development Strategy and Its Role in Organizational Performance. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 1(2), pp.42-57. Nischithaa, P. Rao, M.V.A.L.N., 2014. The importance of staff training in the hotel industry. International Journal of Business and Administration Research Review, 1(5), pp.50-56. Regional Skills Training, 2010. Workplace Communication. Regional Skills Training. Rouge, B., 2014. Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies. Louisiana State University. Smith, J.L., 2000. Group Cohesion. AUBURN University. Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis, 2012. Team Building Team Cohesion. Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis. University of Tennessee System, 2012. Communcitaion Process. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee System. USCG, 1998. Effective Communication. [Online] Available at: https://www.uscg.mil/auxiliary/training/tct/chap7.pdf. Vinesh, 2014. Role of Training Development in an Organizational Development. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, 4(2), pp.213-20.