Media Essays Music Industry Work

Media Essays Music Industry Work Music Industry Work Analyse changes in technology and global communication that have revitalised the music industry in the past ten years. Your account should concentrate on cultural and promotional aspects rather than an analysis of the music. How might you apply these innovations to your own field of work? The last decade has witnessed a period of rapid change in technology and global communication. In music, the Ipod has changed the way we buy and swap music. I tunes has just sold its billionth song. The rise of the Arctic Monkeys is almost directly attributable to the internet and sites like MySpace, where teens can spread trends in an instant. All this is happening while many traditional channels struggle to keep pace. When the Arctic Monkeys hit number one, the newspapers were left saying where did they come from? The four big companies that dominate the production and distribution of music, Universal, Sony, BMG, Warner and EMI, have been slow to embrace the internet, which has seemed to them not an opportunity but their nemesis. Rather than putting their product on file-sharing applications, they are prosecuting free-download users for theft, but now they are left with no opportunity but to welcome the digital age ahead. All it takes to get the music you most love is to find a website such as Rhapsody, Itunes Store, Urge, Rapster, or any one of what is probably a thousand such, download, and transfer to an MP3 player. Hours and hours of portable music, and unless you want to, you never have to listen to two songs by the same group. A wonderful innovation for the music loving public, The Kinks are still being worked out by the music industry. But one thing is clear. The Digital Music age is here to stay. Over the last ten years album sales have been in freefall all over the world. The 10% drop in the UK over the past year is dwarfed by a 15% slide in the US, 25% in France and 35% in Canada. The bankruptcy this summer of the CD retail chain Fopp, HMV’s announcement that its profits halved in the first six months of this year and Richard Branson’s recent decision to dump the Virgin Megastores, which have reportedly lost him more than  £50m in 2007, are all evidence of the revitalization of the music industry. The point isn’t just that people are buying fewer CDs; they are paying as much as two-thirds less in real terms today for the music they listen to on their iPods than they used to when the compact disc first took over the market. Twenty years ago a chart CD cost about  £14. Today you can buy the same in a super-market for  £9. The online market may have grown recently, but not enough to fix the hole. Here, too, margins have shrunk. A download of a single track now costs 79p against the  £4 a CD single cost in 1999. The impact on the bottom line of the record labels has been catastrophic. When EMI’s subsidiary Virgin put out the Spice Girls’ debut album in 1996 the company cleared roughly  £5 in profit on each copy sold. That margin has since shrivelled to around  £2, and only then for albums that are significant hits. Industry insiders estimate that only one of the new British acts that became popular in 2007, the pop star Mika, will actually make his record company any money. When the private equity firm Terra Firma bought EMI recently it paid about a third, in real terms, what the company nearly fetched 10 years ago when a sale to its competitor Universal was mooted. That decline mirrors what has happened over thesame period to the retail price of new CDs, and it also reflects the scale of the cull ofEMI’s workforce, which has shrunk in 10 years from more than 10,000 worldwide to about 4,000 today. There are no obvious solutions in sight. In America the recently appointed co-chairman of the Columbia label Rick Rubin, formerly a record producer by trade, has spoken of his ambition to turn the company around by refocusing it along the lines of a cable TV business, making Columbia’s entire catalogue downloadable to customers who pay a monthly subscription. The reprioritisation in recent years of live music over the recorded variety has been dramatic. Attendance at arena shows rose here by 11% last year. By the time 2007 bows out, 450 music festivals will have taken place in the UK. Ticket-master reported that 20,000 tickets for the Spice Girls’ first reunion concert at London’s O2 arena in December sold out in 38 seconds, with 1m fans registering to buy. more than a million clamoured for seats at the forthcoming Led Zeppelin reunion. Glastonbury disposed of its 135,000 weekend passes for this year’s event within two hours, taking more than  £21m in the process. Ticket prices, especially for A-list artists, have soared as the price of CDs has tumbled. You could have bought Madonna’s entire catalogue for less than half what it cost to see her perform at Wembley Arena last summer where the best seats in the house went for  £160.CD’s are almost a thing of the past.   With more more people downloading and sharing MP3’s, both legally and illegally i.e. Limewire, the music recording business is faced with a huge problem. Technology has advanced far quicker than the Music Industry’s ability to change and keep a viable business model. Downloading of MP3’s illegally has caused such a massive drop in sales that the music business in general is at a loss to provide a solution, and thus is failing. In my opinion, to suggest CD’s are almost redundant is not unreasonable.   The marketing power and speed of the Internet now means users are aware of the product long before the record label is promoting it locally and nationally.  With the connection speed of broadband Internet, users can have almost any desired song in seconds (and if prepared to break the law, for free). I can’t see the music business trying to fight this type of technology for much longer, as file sharing is not actually an illegal activity, as no cash is exchanging hands. Already deals are being announced to allow users to legitimately download songs and for a fraction of the cost of a CD single. Recording labels will have to start to offer subscription services, or small download fees per single in order to quell the hugeamount of customers currently downloading for free.The roots of the â€Å"Rip, burn and mix† (RBM) culture have been growing for a long time now. The â€Å"RBM† culture represents a powerful change to the business world as a whole and to the music industry in particular. The change in delivery method is at the heart of the â€Å"RBM† culture. To begin with it can be described from the music industry’s standpoint. Now consumers have much more control, and because of each individual’s ability to rip or copy, burn or produce, and mix or change music, the term consumer fails to capture the essence of the user’s involvement. As is apparent to everyone, this has thrown the traditional music industry on its head. In retaliation, there are battles being waged against people who have accepted the changes, the traditional consumers. Of course, as has been well documented, these battles are being fought with copyright laws that have failed to accept great change since the explosion in popularity of the internet. Questions about how this affects the individual artists and bands who rely on selling their music for an income must be addressed. First, within this culture there is still the possibility to sell records based on the traditional methods. The RBM culture has had a great deal of influence in this area of style as well. It can be viewed as a type of fusion. Everyone now has the opportunity to take what they want from a culture and fuse it with their own culture, which to many is what creativity is. Rap music is a definite example of â€Å"RBM† culture in music. An artist may take a track from another song, mix it with their own work and then produce it as a new style of music. Without conscious effort, millions of people have already accepted this culture and moved towards the empowerment of the individual artist. It is especially apparent in the popularity of collaborations between artists. Artists each bring their own work to the studio or stage and seek to mix, â€Å"burn† or create an entirely different piece of music. A closer look at the music industry from the perspective of a RBM culture reveals that the principles which are at the base of the culture are not revolutionary. However, technology has changed the scale on which these principles can be implemented, thus giving birth to the RBM culture and the vast consequences it has for the music industry. There are many unique ideas on how music should be shared and subsequently handled. An artist listed under the simple Sampling License allows the user to manipulate and change the music for their own or commercial use; however, entering it on a file-sharing network is prohibited. The Sampling-Plus License works in basically the same way except the music can be entered on a file-sharing network. The â€Å"rip, burn and mix† culture coincides with many other changes in the way people think about purchases and commercial entities. The ClueTrain Manifesto is a series of essays that deals with changes in consumer behaviour because of the Web. The Manifesto discusses ideas that need to change in the business world due to the changes in consumer behaviour. People now expect to try before they buy and buy only what they want to buy. Requiring the customer to buy fifteen songs when they only want one has become unacceptable; Furthermore, the limited variety of music that a company has to offer is unacceptable. With such easy access to seemingly endless variety, the old music industry lost one of its key competitive advantages. To be fair the industry is starting to recognize the need for digital music and has been quite successful operating with Apple’s iTunes technology. It may be too little too late but it has stemmed the tide of change for the large media companies to an extent. With all these changes taking place, it is interesting to speculate about the path of the next musical superstar or if there will even be such a concept. Everyone having access to a personal computer means that everyone is eligible to do their own recording, publishing, distributing and venue booking. Even with all this technology, a live show is still a unique experience that can only be captured by physical attendance. Excellent artists will still be sought out to play live music which will allow them to sell their products to support themselves. This process is very important even in the new music industry where everyone can be heard. The reason for its importance is the fact that a live band can carve out its own niche using the extremely effective word of mouth advertising. Unless the consumer knows an artist exists it can be extremely difficult for a consumer to find and hear that artist among all the other choices. Live touring would still be an effective medium for a band whose quest is to reach a certain degree of fame. However, there is also the possibility for a band or individual artist whose sole medium is the web. Video and audio technology could be combined to produce a â€Å"virtual stage† for the artist to perform over the internet; a distinctly new technology artist. This could take many different forms but, again, it takes advantage of the increased scope of the artist. The artist has the great opportunity to perform virtually over the web, satisfying both the fan and the musician. The Web will also act as a tool between the musician and the fan. An increase in interaction between the two might birth a new form of musical partnership. The fan might have an idea or a poem that they want made into music. Certain artist may be interested in catering to this desire to have one’s work made into music. Without a doubt, fans have been able to interact and learn more about their favourite bands because of the web. Websites would then act as virtual clearing houses by matching song writers with those who play music but are not interested in writing their own. One interesting idea that someone working in the industry could consider is that labels may only be willing to pay the artist to produce one or two songs for air play and sale.The â€Å"Rip, Burn and Mix† culture may be the end of the traditional album as it has been. If songs are available for free or are sold separately for a dollar, the experience of listening to a number of songs as a coherent work will be lost. But the artists may adapt to this new culture and change the way in which they release their music. Rather than one album with twelve songs on it released at one time, the artist could release one song each month for a year. This method could stimulate interest from fans as a continual stream of music over time. References: I tunes- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes, http://itunes.com EMI group 2006, statistics and figures: http://www.emigroup.com Waters, D., 2003. Music industry slow to change available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3019948.stm Gordon, G., 2007, Effects of technology on the music industry, 2007 WC Business Management Senior Capstone Experience, available: http://dspace.nitle.org/handle/10090/2694 Music industry forced to warm to Arctic Monkeys, 2007, Unlocking digital music, Oxford Journals ,Volume 49, Number 4, Pp. 14-16 http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/Home/Articlex/5897d0927dea4, Illegal mp3 downloads: http://www.limewire.com Digital Music Report 2006 Facts Figures 2006 available: http://www.ifpi.co.uk/content/section_news/DMR-2006-b.html Regan, K., 2007, EMI Revenue Falls but DRM-Free iTunes Sales Promising, E-Commerce Times, available: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/entertainment/58684.html Why do they think they have it figured out now?200, http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/ Honan, M., 2001, Rip. Mix. Burn. Steal? Does Using Your Mac to Burn Your Own Audio CDs Make You a Thief? http://www.macworld.com/2001/10/macbeat/rip/

Real-Life Problem Faced by the Body Shop

1. 0 INTRODUCTION This report is to address the real-life problem faced by The Body Shop and how the problem can be solved based on the functions of management. According to the information provided by The Body Shop website, The Body Shop has successfully created an image of being a caring company that is in helping to protect the third world workers and indigenous peoples. But behind the cuddly image lies the reality The Body Shop's operations, the Body Shop does not help the dilemma of the workers and indigenous peoples as well as put them on a pedestal in order to exploit people's idealism.Evidence from â€Å"What’s wrong with the Body Shop† (1988) stated that The Body Shop claims to be helping some third world workers and indigenous peoples through so-called ‘Trade Not Aid' or ‘Community Trade' projects. In fact, these are largely a marketing strategy as less than 1% of sales go to ‘Community Trade' producers, and it has been shown that some of the se products have been sourced from mainstream commercial markets. This is the existing problem faced by The Body Shop. Instead, if the problem of exploiting indigenous peoples cannot be solved, this leads to some impact on the specified environment especially customers and pressure group.Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, and Coulter (2006) have stated that organisations exist to assemble the needs of customers. Customer is the one who absorbs the organisation’s output. Consequently, customers will start to increase the awareness need to think seriously about the products they use and to consume less. Customers will boycott the Body Shop until the problem is settled. The evidence is seen that customers had started to declare their feeling through the internet. For an example, they posted bad command on â€Å"The Consumer Trap† (Dawson, 2007). For the pressure groups, they do a lot of activities or campaign to against The Body Shop.For example, The London Greenpeace Group has sta rted to create awareness to the customers to consume less The Body Shop’s products as well as to command the workers organise together to fight for their rights (â€Å"What’s wrong with,† 1988); The Body Shop has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay more than US$ 431,000 (? 218,000) to settle labor claims against it by three former employees of its â€Å"Fair Trade† project in the Amazon Rainforest (Tolup, 2006); The Body Shop was included in the list of the Daishowa Boycott List (Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, 1995).We can imagine that if by exploiting the indigenous problem still cannot be solved, this may cause a bad image to the Body Shop’s organisation. As a result, a goal to â€Å"reduce exploiting third world workers and indigenous peoples by 85% compared with last few year figures by the 2010† must be put in place. In order to accomplish the goal, the functions of management are proposed in the discussion of this report. 2. 0 DISCUS SION There are 4 functions identified with management (Fayol, as cited in Robbins et al. , 2006).This report will only discuss 2 function and they are planning and controlling. This is because planning is the primary management function (Jayasheree Pakhare, 2007) to distinguish from (Robbins et al. , 2006). Without planning the management of The Body Shop would not know how to be organised. Moreover, planning is the ongoing process of developing the business’ mission and objectives and determining how they will be accomplished (Higgins, 1994). Planning can provide direction to the management of The Body Shop in how they can do in reducing this problem.Meanwhile, control is the final link to management functions and function of monitoring work to check progress against goal and taking corrective action when required (Bennis, 2003). After the plans are established, The Body Shop’s management needs control to see whether their goal or plans were on target and what future actions to take. So, the Body Shop must start their steps by creating plans which are effective and powerful in reducing this event as well as in monitoring activities to make sure that the plans are accurate. 2. 1 PlanningIn reduce exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem it is proposed that The Body Shop use operational plans. This is because operational plans are short term (Robbins et al. , 2006). This is link because the goal is set to be achievable by 2010. Robbins et al. (2006) stated that there can be difficult for the manager to established plans for a long period. Evidence stated that this problem had overcome a lot of boycott from customers and pressure groups. Let imagine that if the problem cannot be reduce within the following 2 years how enormous are the unpleasant loss need to bear by The Body Shop.Moreover, operational plans are specific (Robbins et al. , 2006). This meant that specific plans are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation or there is no ambiguity with misunderstandings. The specific plans are suggested because the exploitation problem is sensitive and must have particular guidelines to go after. The management of Body Shop cannot use flexible or general guidelines to reduce the events. This may overcome more problems and increase more boycott from pressure groups and customers.Allen (1998) stated that operational plans are standing. Standing plans are ongoing plans that provide guidance for the problems performed repeatedly and include some policies, rules and procedures that must be follow include policies, procedures, method, and rules. The Body Shop must establish a lot of policies or rules to guide their factories managers or supervisor to reduce the exploitation. With the ongoing policies or rules, The Body Shop can prevent the increasable of exploitation as well as can reduce it by 2010.The management of Body Shop can identify of how the goal is to be achieved by below operational plans: (i) Cr eating a team This team is required to visit the Body Shop’s factories in different countries to make sure there they do not have problems related to exploitation as well as examine the managers’ behaviour in controlling the workers. When the exploiting problem occurs, the team has to do research to find out the reasons. (ii) Establishing a policy to set minimum and fair wages The Body Shop’s organisation must set a minimum wages policy to guide their factories’ managers.The wages can be set more than the wages set by the government and must be fair for the workers. This can ensure the workers will not de dissatisfied with their salary in order to increase their performance. (iii) Putting in place an agreement between the indigenous peoples and organisation An agreement must be signed between the indigenous peoples and the Body Shop organisation to safeguard both parties’ interests. For example, a rule can identify that the ongoing ‘Trade Not Aid' or ‘Community Trade' projects must indicate 10%-20% of sales go to ‘Community Trade' producers.This is because the Body Shop had already claimed to help them so the Body Shop has kept its promise. (iv) Setting a standard application procedure A procedure how the managers select the workers or indigenous peoples to work must be set by the Body Shop organisation. The decision making by the factories’ managers must follow this standard application procedure. If the workers fulfill all the application procedures, the managers cannot abuse the application. (v) Organising social responsibilities The Body Shop can organise scholarship programmes for the indigenous or workers’ children.In addition, some facilities can be established to provide convenience for workers. For example, providing transportation set up a health clinic or a comminuting hall. Therefore, this kind of social responsibilities can prevent the pressure group and customers continue to boyco tt the Body Shop. (vi) Introducing a code of ethics The code of ethics provides guidance on everything from the simplest of questions to the most difficult ones on complex ethical dilemma. So a code which can guide the manager on how to prevent the exploiting problems can be included.For example, guide the managers to built trust between the workers and indigenous peoples, to define the problem accurately and what is the intention in making decisions. 2. 2 Controlling In this exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem, the Body Shop is recommend to use the control process. This is because this process is useful and Robbins et al. (2006) stated that the control process including measuring actual performance, comparing actual performance against a standard and taking managerial action to correct the deviation.With this process, the Body Shop requires to measuring its actual performance. The Body Shop advise to measure the actual performance by collecting personal observ ation, statistical, oral, and written reports which is indicated by Allen (1988). After the measurement, the Body Shop can do comparing to determine the degree of variation between actual performance and performance standard with are the goal and the plans suggested above. If the variation is exceeding the acceptable variance, immediate and basic corrective action must be taken by the Body Shop to correct this variance.However, Allen (1988) stated that immediate corrective action is more efficient while basic corrective action is more effective. Thus, the Body Shop must take actions depend on how effective or efficient they target the actions to be. In order to reduce the exploitation, the Body Shop also proposes to use bureaucratic control. This is because bureaucratic controls emphasizes organisational authority and relies on administrative rules, policies and procedures (Robbins et al. , 2006). In the part of planning, there are a lot of plans are that identified with policy, agr eement and procedure.Consequently, The Body Shop must link them together to make sense. However, according to Robbins et al. (2006), managers need suitable tools for monitoring and measuring organisational performance. The tools for controlling organisational performance are called feedforward control, concurrent control and feedback control. 2. 2. 1 Feedforward Control Feedforward controls allow managers to prevent problems rather than having to correct the problems (Robbins et al. , 2006). The management of The Body Shop must sort out some actions which can prevent the problems occur. Feedforward control is the most desirable type of control.This is because this control can avoid led to waste or damages. The actions that the Body Shop can take in feedforward control are: (i) Establish some incentives to the workers or indigenous peoples whose performance is up to the task. For example, provide 15months wages per year, health care policies, and transportation. (ii) Provide some tra ining or guidance to the factories’ managers to ensure them has appropriate behavior in controlling the workers. 2. 2. 2 Concurrent Control Concurrent control is the control that takes place while a work activity is in progress (Allen, 2006).In this moment, the management of The Body Shop can monitoring their factories managers and corrects the problem before they become too costly. The actions that the Body Shop can take in concurrent control are: (i) Organising a direct supervision. For example, if there have some mistakes in abuse the workers’ wages or terrible managers’ behavior, the created team must directly correct them. (ii) Monitoring the managers. When the problem occurs, the Body Shop should organise a seminar to brief the managers in monitoring any problems that should be corrected.This can prevent more expenses need to bear before the misleading problems become more complex. 2. 2. 3 Feedback Control In feedback control, the control takes place after the activities are done (Robbins et al. , 2006). Feedback control is the most popular control. This is because feedback control can provide information on how effective their planning efforts were as well as enhance workers motivation. The actions that the Body Shop can take in feedback control are: (i) After the goal is achieved, the created team necessity does surprise visits to their outlet or factories in different countries.In this visits, the Body Shop will receive some useful or meaningful information to formulating new plans. (ii) Organise some survey for the workers. The survey maybe about the behavior of the managers. Through these kinds of visits and survey, the Body Shop organisation can understand whether the managers still follow the policy, agreement or procedure or not. 3. 0 CONCLUSION To reduce the exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem, the Body Shop must indicated planning and controlling. The evidence stated that planning and controlling are t he most important and useful ways to reduce the problem.In planning, the operational plans which are short term, specific and standing are suggested. However, in controlling, the process of control and bureaucratic control is more appropriate in achieve the goal. Moreover, the tools for controlling organisational performance called feedforward control, concurrent control and feedback control also are suggested for the Body Shop organisation. 4. 0 RECOMMENDATION Therefore, there are 5 recommendations for the Body Shop organisation: (i) Creating a team (ii) Establishing a policy to set minimum and fair wages iii) Putting in place an agreement between the indigenous peoples and organisation (iv) Provide incentives to workers and indigenous peoples (v) Organising direct supervision References Allen, G. (1998). Planning Process. Management modern. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from http://ollie. dcccd. edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/2planning/plng_process/plng_process. htm Bennis, W. (2003). On B ecoming a Leader. Trump Mediaeval: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc Carroll, S. J. & Gillen, D. J. (1987). Are the Classical Management Functions Useful in Describing Managerial Work? Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 38-51. Dawson, M. (2007).Behind the Green Veil: Notes from Stan Cox. The Consumer Trap. Retrieved April 23, 2008 from www. consumertrap. com Higgins, J. (1994). The Management Challenge, Macmillan: Author. Jayashree Pakhare, (2007). Management Concepts- The Four Functions of Management. Business & Finance. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/management-concepts-the-four-functions-of-management. html Lubicon Lake Indian Nation. (1995). Daishowa Boycott List Update. Retrieved April 15, 2008 from http://www. nisto. com/cree/lubicon/1995/19950909. html Robbins, S. , Bergman, R. , Stagg, I. , & Coulter, M. (2006).Foundation of Management. Australia: Pearson Education. The London Greenpeace Group. (1988). What's Wrong With The Body Shop? – A Criticis m Of ‘Green' Consumerism. McLibel Support Campaign. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from http://www. mcspotlight. org/beyond/companies/bs_ref. html Tolup, A. (2006). Brazilian and British courts order Body Shop to pay Brazilian Project's former workers. Retrieved April 15, 2008 from http://www. brazzilmag. com/content/view/7629/53/ Support Community Trade: What's happening in the US. (2007). Our Values. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from http: http://www. thebodyshop. com/bodyshop/values/support_community_trade. jsp Real-Life Problem Faced by the Body Shop 1. 0 INTRODUCTION This report is to address the real-life problem faced by The Body Shop and how the problem can be solved based on the functions of management. According to the information provided by The Body Shop website, The Body Shop has successfully created an image of being a caring company that is in helping to protect the third world workers and indigenous peoples. But behind the cuddly image lies the reality The Body Shop's operations, the Body Shop does not help the dilemma of the workers and indigenous peoples as well as put them on a pedestal in order to exploit people's idealism.Evidence from â€Å"What’s wrong with the Body Shop† (1988) stated that The Body Shop claims to be helping some third world workers and indigenous peoples through so-called ‘Trade Not Aid' or ‘Community Trade' projects. In fact, these are largely a marketing strategy as less than 1% of sales go to ‘Community Trade' producers, and it has been shown that some of the se products have been sourced from mainstream commercial markets. This is the existing problem faced by The Body Shop. Instead, if the problem of exploiting indigenous peoples cannot be solved, this leads to some impact on the specified environment especially customers and pressure group.Robbins, Bergman, Stagg, and Coulter (2006) have stated that organisations exist to assemble the needs of customers. Customer is the one who absorbs the organisation’s output. Consequently, customers will start to increase the awareness need to think seriously about the products they use and to consume less. Customers will boycott the Body Shop until the problem is settled. The evidence is seen that customers had started to declare their feeling through the internet. For an example, they posted bad command on â€Å"The Consumer Trap† (Dawson, 2007). For the pressure groups, they do a lot of activities or campaign to against The Body Shop.For example, The London Greenpeace Group has sta rted to create awareness to the customers to consume less The Body Shop’s products as well as to command the workers organise together to fight for their rights (â€Å"What’s wrong with,† 1988); The Body Shop has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay more than US$ 431,000 (? 218,000) to settle labor claims against it by three former employees of its â€Å"Fair Trade† project in the Amazon Rainforest (Tolup, 2006); The Body Shop was included in the list of the Daishowa Boycott List (Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, 1995).We can imagine that if by exploiting the indigenous problem still cannot be solved, this may cause a bad image to the Body Shop’s organisation. As a result, a goal to â€Å"reduce exploiting third world workers and indigenous peoples by 85% compared with last few year figures by the 2010† must be put in place. In order to accomplish the goal, the functions of management are proposed in the discussion of this report. 2. 0 DISCUS SION There are 4 functions identified with management (Fayol, as cited in Robbins et al. , 2006).This report will only discuss 2 function and they are planning and controlling. This is because planning is the primary management function (Jayasheree Pakhare, 2007) to distinguish from (Robbins et al. , 2006). Without planning the management of The Body Shop would not know how to be organised. Moreover, planning is the ongoing process of developing the business’ mission and objectives and determining how they will be accomplished (Higgins, 1994). Planning can provide direction to the management of The Body Shop in how they can do in reducing this problem.Meanwhile, control is the final link to management functions and function of monitoring work to check progress against goal and taking corrective action when required (Bennis, 2003). After the plans are established, The Body Shop’s management needs control to see whether their goal or plans were on target and what future actions to take. So, the Body Shop must start their steps by creating plans which are effective and powerful in reducing this event as well as in monitoring activities to make sure that the plans are accurate. 2. 1 PlanningIn reduce exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem it is proposed that The Body Shop use operational plans. This is because operational plans are short term (Robbins et al. , 2006). This is link because the goal is set to be achievable by 2010. Robbins et al. (2006) stated that there can be difficult for the manager to established plans for a long period. Evidence stated that this problem had overcome a lot of boycott from customers and pressure groups. Let imagine that if the problem cannot be reduce within the following 2 years how enormous are the unpleasant loss need to bear by The Body Shop.Moreover, operational plans are specific (Robbins et al. , 2006). This meant that specific plans are clearly defined and leave no room for interpretation or there is no ambiguity with misunderstandings. The specific plans are suggested because the exploitation problem is sensitive and must have particular guidelines to go after. The management of Body Shop cannot use flexible or general guidelines to reduce the events. This may overcome more problems and increase more boycott from pressure groups and customers.Allen (1998) stated that operational plans are standing. Standing plans are ongoing plans that provide guidance for the problems performed repeatedly and include some policies, rules and procedures that must be follow include policies, procedures, method, and rules. The Body Shop must establish a lot of policies or rules to guide their factories managers or supervisor to reduce the exploitation. With the ongoing policies or rules, The Body Shop can prevent the increasable of exploitation as well as can reduce it by 2010.The management of Body Shop can identify of how the goal is to be achieved by below operational plans: (i) Cr eating a team This team is required to visit the Body Shop’s factories in different countries to make sure there they do not have problems related to exploitation as well as examine the managers’ behaviour in controlling the workers. When the exploiting problem occurs, the team has to do research to find out the reasons. (ii) Establishing a policy to set minimum and fair wages The Body Shop’s organisation must set a minimum wages policy to guide their factories’ managers.The wages can be set more than the wages set by the government and must be fair for the workers. This can ensure the workers will not de dissatisfied with their salary in order to increase their performance. (iii) Putting in place an agreement between the indigenous peoples and organisation An agreement must be signed between the indigenous peoples and the Body Shop organisation to safeguard both parties’ interests. For example, a rule can identify that the ongoing ‘Trade Not Aid' or ‘Community Trade' projects must indicate 10%-20% of sales go to ‘Community Trade' producers.This is because the Body Shop had already claimed to help them so the Body Shop has kept its promise. (iv) Setting a standard application procedure A procedure how the managers select the workers or indigenous peoples to work must be set by the Body Shop organisation. The decision making by the factories’ managers must follow this standard application procedure. If the workers fulfill all the application procedures, the managers cannot abuse the application. (v) Organising social responsibilities The Body Shop can organise scholarship programmes for the indigenous or workers’ children.In addition, some facilities can be established to provide convenience for workers. For example, providing transportation set up a health clinic or a comminuting hall. Therefore, this kind of social responsibilities can prevent the pressure group and customers continue to boyco tt the Body Shop. (vi) Introducing a code of ethics The code of ethics provides guidance on everything from the simplest of questions to the most difficult ones on complex ethical dilemma. So a code which can guide the manager on how to prevent the exploiting problems can be included.For example, guide the managers to built trust between the workers and indigenous peoples, to define the problem accurately and what is the intention in making decisions. 2. 2 Controlling In this exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem, the Body Shop is recommend to use the control process. This is because this process is useful and Robbins et al. (2006) stated that the control process including measuring actual performance, comparing actual performance against a standard and taking managerial action to correct the deviation.With this process, the Body Shop requires to measuring its actual performance. The Body Shop advise to measure the actual performance by collecting personal observ ation, statistical, oral, and written reports which is indicated by Allen (1988). After the measurement, the Body Shop can do comparing to determine the degree of variation between actual performance and performance standard with are the goal and the plans suggested above. If the variation is exceeding the acceptable variance, immediate and basic corrective action must be taken by the Body Shop to correct this variance.However, Allen (1988) stated that immediate corrective action is more efficient while basic corrective action is more effective. Thus, the Body Shop must take actions depend on how effective or efficient they target the actions to be. In order to reduce the exploitation, the Body Shop also proposes to use bureaucratic control. This is because bureaucratic controls emphasizes organisational authority and relies on administrative rules, policies and procedures (Robbins et al. , 2006). In the part of planning, there are a lot of plans are that identified with policy, agr eement and procedure.Consequently, The Body Shop must link them together to make sense. However, according to Robbins et al. (2006), managers need suitable tools for monitoring and measuring organisational performance. The tools for controlling organisational performance are called feedforward control, concurrent control and feedback control. 2. 2. 1 Feedforward Control Feedforward controls allow managers to prevent problems rather than having to correct the problems (Robbins et al. , 2006). The management of The Body Shop must sort out some actions which can prevent the problems occur. Feedforward control is the most desirable type of control.This is because this control can avoid led to waste or damages. The actions that the Body Shop can take in feedforward control are: (i) Establish some incentives to the workers or indigenous peoples whose performance is up to the task. For example, provide 15months wages per year, health care policies, and transportation. (ii) Provide some tra ining or guidance to the factories’ managers to ensure them has appropriate behavior in controlling the workers. 2. 2. 2 Concurrent Control Concurrent control is the control that takes place while a work activity is in progress (Allen, 2006).In this moment, the management of The Body Shop can monitoring their factories managers and corrects the problem before they become too costly. The actions that the Body Shop can take in concurrent control are: (i) Organising a direct supervision. For example, if there have some mistakes in abuse the workers’ wages or terrible managers’ behavior, the created team must directly correct them. (ii) Monitoring the managers. When the problem occurs, the Body Shop should organise a seminar to brief the managers in monitoring any problems that should be corrected.This can prevent more expenses need to bear before the misleading problems become more complex. 2. 2. 3 Feedback Control In feedback control, the control takes place after the activities are done (Robbins et al. , 2006). Feedback control is the most popular control. This is because feedback control can provide information on how effective their planning efforts were as well as enhance workers motivation. The actions that the Body Shop can take in feedback control are: (i) After the goal is achieved, the created team necessity does surprise visits to their outlet or factories in different countries.In this visits, the Body Shop will receive some useful or meaningful information to formulating new plans. (ii) Organise some survey for the workers. The survey maybe about the behavior of the managers. Through these kinds of visits and survey, the Body Shop organisation can understand whether the managers still follow the policy, agreement or procedure or not. 3. 0 CONCLUSION To reduce the exploiting workers and indigenous peoples’ problem, the Body Shop must indicated planning and controlling. The evidence stated that planning and controlling are t he most important and useful ways to reduce the problem.In planning, the operational plans which are short term, specific and standing are suggested. However, in controlling, the process of control and bureaucratic control is more appropriate in achieve the goal. Moreover, the tools for controlling organisational performance called feedforward control, concurrent control and feedback control also are suggested for the Body Shop organisation. 4. 0 RECOMMENDATION Therefore, there are 5 recommendations for the Body Shop organisation: (i) Creating a team (ii) Establishing a policy to set minimum and fair wages iii) Putting in place an agreement between the indigenous peoples and organisation (iv) Provide incentives to workers and indigenous peoples (v) Organising direct supervision References Allen, G. (1998). Planning Process. Management modern. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from http://ollie. dcccd. edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/2planning/plng_process/plng_process. htm Bennis, W. (2003). On B ecoming a Leader. Trump Mediaeval: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc Carroll, S. J. & Gillen, D. J. (1987). Are the Classical Management Functions Useful in Describing Managerial Work? Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 38-51. Dawson, M. (2007).Behind the Green Veil: Notes from Stan Cox. The Consumer Trap. Retrieved April 23, 2008 from www. consumertrap. com Higgins, J. (1994). The Management Challenge, Macmillan: Author. Jayashree Pakhare, (2007). Management Concepts- The Four Functions of Management. Business & Finance. Retrieved April 26, 2008 from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/management-concepts-the-four-functions-of-management. html Lubicon Lake Indian Nation. (1995). Daishowa Boycott List Update. Retrieved April 15, 2008 from http://www. nisto. com/cree/lubicon/1995/19950909. html Robbins, S. , Bergman, R. , Stagg, I. , & Coulter, M. (2006).Foundation of Management. Australia: Pearson Education. The London Greenpeace Group. (1988). What's Wrong With The Body Shop? – A Criticis m Of ‘Green' Consumerism. McLibel Support Campaign. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from http://www. mcspotlight. org/beyond/companies/bs_ref. html Tolup, A. (2006). Brazilian and British courts order Body Shop to pay Brazilian Project's former workers. Retrieved April 15, 2008 from http://www. brazzilmag. com/content/view/7629/53/ Support Community Trade: What's happening in the US. (2007). Our Values. Retrieved April 20, 2008 from http: http://www. thebodyshop. com/bodyshop/values/support_community_trade. jsp

Distancia Amingo Essay

It was mid-afternoon. I could see faces along the road. I knew they were Iskolar ng Bayan; I assumed. They are for sure coming from different Bicol provinces. I was in a hurry to cross the lane. I was nearly bumped by a jeepney. Ano, magpapakamatay ka na? The driver shouted. Aw nano na costumbre, I murmured. I did not know whether he got the right person or I got a wrong way, either. After I crossed the pedestrian lane, I stopped and thought it over. Suddenly, a tricyle passed by. Distancia Amingo, as I have read the inscription on the board of its back. Keep distance, I told myself. I, most of the times, was waiting for and taking a ride in a jeepney every time I am going to office, church, mall, and even bar hopping. Jeepney becomes a public transportation of Legazpenos and other neighboring places. We are comfortable to call it as dyip or jeep. Indeed, my previous experience constructs a new concept that helps me out to observe, describe, and take note its technical and cultural background. What can you say? Jeepneys are originally made from US military jeeps, which military left them behind after ended the World War II instead of paying to ship the vehicles to America. A jeepney is a 12- to 16-passenger vehicle fashioned from second-hand military Jeeps used in the Philippines as public transportation. The term comes from a combination of the words Jeep and jitney, meaning small bus following a flexible schedule that carries passengers on a regular route. Over the years, the jeepney has grown to become one of the most prevalent means of transportation in the Philippines,† said Jacob Hendriks, eHow contributing writer. Today, it becomes the most common means of public transportation among provinces in the Philippines. Indeed, its name tags the Filipinos culture. If you could notice before you step up there are some slogans down the stair. Take note; you will perhaps frown or laugh at after reading it. Basta driver, sweet lover, this is an authentic example. It is not doubtful if passengers got smile when they have pleased to seat on the tukawan, I connote. On the other hand, this slogan simply speaks of machismo. In contrast, drivers could be described as polygamous by nature aside from being gentlemen to passengers. Perhaps, the status of their employment would attest that in some cases they coincidentally found women at night while they went to driving. I don’t think if some of them got concubines, which could be the cause of love quarrel between him and his wife. I think this is the reason why some of them had encountered accident that is suicidal. Forgive me if I got the wrong concept. At the back of the driver seat, you can read, Barya lang po sa umaga. We cannot deny that many times we forgot to pay our fare using coins early in the morning. Dai akon sensilyo; that’s it when driver asked. We cannot deny that we never allow ourselves to follow this simple rule; yet, when we demand good services from the authority basically our blood pressure seems to explode. High blood? so to speak. On the other hand, there are drivers who cheat. When you handed him more than the expected fare sometimes they forgot or meant not to return your change. I did not say that they are all cheaters because there also some of them who are honest. The moment you forgot, they screeched their wheels back. I also did not say that they are not angry when passengers count their change. Maski arog ako kaini, dai ko kaya manluko nin tawo, one time a driver murmured towards me. Feeling close, my flirt mind commented. Fasten your seat belt; you can read this line when you sit beside the driver’s seat. Sometimes, it is written as, fasten your sit belt. At first, I was annoyed; but, at the end, I realized that this line is the result of linguistic imperialism. We should forgive the perpetrator. We should not point our fingers to the driver because the nature of his work does not qualify to plead him guilty instead we will blame his teacher. It could be his parents as first teachers at home. It could be his teachers in the school, where learning takes place. Exactly, his learning experience constructs meaning as influence of constructivism. The good side is; he is not just a driver, but a skilled worker. This is the real substance of education shaping a person to be productive developing his potential to a defined skill. I was already inside the jeepney where I listened to the song entitled, Jeepney by Spongecola. What a coincidence, I said. Hush. Listen to the song. Bumaba ako sa jeepney/Kung saan tayo’y dating magkatabi/Magkahalik ang pisngi nating dalawa. The verses describe how the lovers explicitly unveil their relationship. Public display affection (pda); they said. Yes, it is expected that this is between man and woman. It could possibly be a man with a queer wo(man). That’s true; we do not impose racism here. You can laugh, but do not judge. Just say; this is the law of extreme reality. Pues, I can’t bear the moment without looking into the trend of courtship nowadays. I tell you; I am not against with them. I really feel sad when I see lovers in the jeepney showing inhuman behavior. We cannot blame older than us if they can’t tolerate themselves to put them into gossip because they destroy our good tradition. So, it is not surprising if women are being brutalized and raped because they become motif of original sin. Si’isay su relihiyoso an padi o an drayber? It becomes a joke; but, if we look at it as new perspective, tambay or bystanders would answer us, of course, the driver. If you can observe; the driver will not drive the jeepney without signing a cross. Yes, I agree, but he cannot do it without prior knowledge about his religious ways without the priests. When we destroy our conscience, our faith will be at stake. Faith in our people and faith in God, said Sen. Benigno â€Å"Ninoy† Aguino, Sr. In front of the jeepney’s mirror, you can see a small altar with an image of Virgin Mary. It becomes the icon of their salvation. Sometimes, they hang above it a bunch of fresh and fragrant flower, sampaguita, which they bought three for ten pesos from the young vendors. These vendors could be young boys or girls who seemed to be unfortunate. No child shall be left behind, as envisioned by the DepEd. Yet, the more the children are unfortunate, the more they are not able to go to school. I am sure there is something wrong in their home. I am sure there is something wrong in the system of the government. Along the front window you can notice the driver’s prayer embroidered as, God bless our trip. With this, I can say that the driver is a symbolic for hard work and these four words represent for prayer. This entails that when we work we should never forget to pray. Ora et labora; in English means, pray and work. This simply reminds us that we should balance our material needs and our spiritual need. When I got down the stair another jeepney passed by. I could read the inscription, In God We Trust. I can’t imagine how Bicolanos survive amid scarcity as a result of natural calamity. I presume; Bicolanos’ ways of living unfold the profound relationship with God. Ancient times indeed reflect how our ancestors passed on our good culture that defines our Bicolano identity. So, we have no reasons to smile. Starting today, we will keep distance when jeepney stops, but we will never lose hope when sudden misfortune comes because God never keeps us apart. He is just in our heart.

Does Proof Exists that Extraterrestrial life Visited Earth

Does life exist on other planets besides Earth? Has extraterrestrial life visited Earth recently or in our distant past? The notion of extraterrestrial life is a very intriguing subject possibly for as long as mankind has looked into the vast heavens gazing at the stars. Can one say that life on Earth was done by Mother Nature which some call evolution? Is life on Earth the result of creation or alteration by a higher power or being? Some people do believe that other forms of life except those on Earth do exist. Others consider it false because there is no absolute proof beyond doubts. There have been countless occurrences by individuals around the world of either being contacted or abducted by alien life forms. Many unofficial accounts describe the Earth as being visited by one or more alien species. These various alien species that possibly visited Earth may be interested in observing the development of the human species. 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