Marketing Analysis of Heathrow Airport

Marketing Analysis of Heathrow Airport Name: Jheanel Davidson AC 1.1 Discuss concepts of marketing for a relevant services industry Marketing, as a concept, implies the approach that is applied in order to transfer the products or services of an organization from just a concept to the customers. It is a process through which an organization communicates the features of its products and services and the brand message to the customers in order to create the demand for such product or service (Kotler, 2000). Marketing management, on the other hand, is considered as an approach that helps an organization in applying the resources of marketing in a disciplined way. The industry size influences the process of marketing management to a greater extent as a big industry will ensure more resources to be deployed for the process of marketing and the same will also help in regulating the process of marketing in the most favorable way. The present paper emphasizes upon understanding the way, the different elements of marketing will help in enhancing the marketing performance of Heathrow Airport (Winer, 2000). Research findings: 1. The marketing process involves a basic step, known as the market analysis. In this step, the market for a particular product or service is analyzed on the basis of the requirements of the customers and the demand for the particular product and service. 2. Customer satisfaction is one of the important elements of marketing. Marketing tactics are formulated in order to satisfy customer needs, in this regards, it is important to discuss providing value to the customer (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2000). 3. One of the important goals of marketing strategy is to create value for the product and communicate its benefits to the customers; this will lead to customer retention. Satisfied customers generally make further purchases. 4. Cost/benefit analysis and conducting an analysis of the efficiency of a marketing strategy is considered as an important step while framing a marketing plan for an organization. This is also considered as one of the essential elements of marketing (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2000). 5. The process of marketing is considered as a business philosophy. It is a business philosophy that focuses on understanding the needs of the customers and on the basis of the identification of the requirements. 6. Relationship marketing is another arm of marketing that emphasizes upon customer retention. This can also be considered as a part of the customer relationship management process (Egan and Harker, 2005). 7. Strategic marketing is considered to be a process that helps a business in disposing of its products or services in such a manner so that the objectives are achieved. Tactical marketing is a process that helps an organization to identify the most viable way to implement the marketing strategy in order to achieve the goals (Kerin, 2006). Discussion Marketing strategy is considered as essential for the survival and future development of every business. Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest airports in London, UK. Conducting market analysis would be regarded as a vital exercise for Heathrow Airport to frame appropriate marketing strategy. The concept of market analysis implies the initiatives taken to understand the requirements of the customers and their demand. In this new age of cut throat competition, conducting a market analysis would be highly beneficial for an organization to ensure its survival. The process of conducting the market analysis will help Heathrow Airport in understanding the growing needs of the customers, that the number of customers is increasing day by day and they have a tight schedule, hence, quality of service will play an essential role to fetch their needs (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005). Providing satisfactory and timely service to the growing traffic and passengers would be the duty of the Airport in order to hold its position. Heathrow Airport has analyzed the demands of the customers and as a result of that, it has formulated new strategies towards the runway and terminal expansion, constructing Heathrow railway hub, air track etc. Marketing strategy provides a huge benefit to different organizations to dispose of its products or services in such a way so that the customer requirements are satisfied. Heathrow Airport has formulated these strategies and communicated the same to the customers in order to provide them maximum satisfaction and strengthen the brand image of the Airport. Creation of value for the customers will be highly important for Heathrow Airport as the same would help the organization in retaining its image and increase the loyalty of the customers. Formulation of an effective marketing strategy would help Heathrow Airport to properly dispose the quality services to the customers that will create a value which is higher than the expectations of the customers, in this process the retention of the customer can be made possible. Tactical marketing would be equally essential for the airport, as the same will help the management in understanding the ways through which the marketing strategy will be implemented to get optimum results. Hence, it will also be paramount for Heathrow Airport to properly analyze the process of implementation and the financial viability of such marketing process. The management at Heathrow Airport is also required to focus on customer relationship management; this approach will help in retaining the customers and increasing their loyalty towards the airport. This can be done my constantly communicating with the customers and providing them quality services in a timely manner (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005). Conclusion An effective marketing strategy can bring incredible results towards the performance and profitability of Heathrow Airport. Through this process, the management will be able to understand the changing needs and demands of the customers and they will be able to track the right path to formulating effective policies and strategies to fulfill the needs of the passengers. Newer initiatives can be taken through the formulation of strategic marketing goals. The profitability of the Airport will enhance drastically through the process of implementing tactical marketing because the same will help the management in providing the ways through which the strategies can be implemented in the most profitable way. The process of marketing will pave news ways towards achieving the organizational objectives; on the other hand, this approach will help in bringing new customers and retaining the existing ones. An effective marketing policy will provide the required support to the management to take the necessary steps that will help in enhancing the competitive power of the airport and its market image. The Heathrow airport is one of the busiest airports in the UK and through formulating new policies to strengthen their services towards fulfilling customer requirements and creating value for them it will be able to increase customer loyalty. The policy of customer relationship management will also help the management in retaining the customers and enhancing the market image of the airport. In this way, the overall value of the organization will also improve. AC1. 2 Assess the impact of the marketing environment on the industry The industry is considered as a combination of different organizations, who jointly conducts certain operations for the purpose of producing goods to be sold and the production process is generally carried on in a factory or similar undertaking. The market is considered as a place, where a number of people gather regularly for the purchase and sale of commodities and services (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). The hospitality industry in the UK is one of the big industries that contribute towards the GDP of UK substantially. There are different segments of the hospitality industry and each of them focuses on the provision of efficient customer services, as the same is considered as the backbone of the hospitality industry. The travel and tourism segment includes tour operators, airlines, travel and tourism organizations, airports etc. The market environment comprises of two different parts, namely micro and macro environment (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). Findings The findings of the research conducted for the purpose of assessing the impact of the marketing environment on the industry have been provided below: 1. The micro-environment of an organization comprises of the stakeholders. Stakeholders are regarded as the persons or organizations that have an interest in the performance of an organization and its development. The stakeholders have the ability to influence the operations of an organization. There different types of stakeholders, such as the customers, the requirements of the customers influence the operations and strategies of a business, the owners are internal stakeholders, who seek higher return for their investments. Financiers are lenders who are interested in the profitability and stability of an organization for the security of the funds lent. Competitors formulate various strategies that an organization follows in order to maintain its competitive strength. The society is also an evaluator of an organization, effective measures are taken by an organization towards social development and environmental protection will enhance its market image (Mooradian et al., 2012). 2. Macro environment is regarded as the external environment surrounding an organization, it consists of different external factors which are uncontrollable, such as political factors, which are considered as the policies framed by the government, ecological factors, which are considered as the environmental factors, such as environmental protection, preserving natural resources etc., technological resources, these are the improved technological devices and the up-gradation in technology that helps an organization in improving its overall performance, economical factors, these are the economic factors such as, inflation, change in interest rates, recession etc. that can influence the financial performance of an organization, social and legal factors, these can be considered as the change in the behaviour of the customers, change in the attitude of the customers, new laws introduced by the government that may affect the industry (Kerin and Peterson, 2001). 3. There are various tools that can be used for conducting an analysis of the marketing environment of an organization. The internal environment can be analyzed by using the SWOT model. It is considered as a tool that has four different heads, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and it helps in analysing the mentioned factors relating to an organization. On the other hand, the external environment can also be analyzed by the utilization of certain tools such as PEST analysis and Porters Five Forces model. PEST analysis helps in analysing four main external factors such as political, economic, social and technological factors and Porters model helps in understanding the competitive environment of an organization such as the threat of rivals, bargaining power of the buyer and suppliers and threat of substitutes (McKinney, 2003). Discussion Heathrow Airport pertains to the travel and tourism segment of the hospitality industry and it is regarded as one of the most important airports in the UK. It is regarded as highly essential for the management of Heathrow Airport to analyze the impact of the marketing environment upon the organization and the industry as well. It will be considered as highly beneficial for the management to conduct a stakeholder analysis in order to understand the requirements of the internal as well as the external stakeholders of the organization, such as the customers, suppliers, financiers, owners etc. and to understand their power to influence the operations of the Airport (Hiam and Rastelli, 2007). On the other hand the external marketing factors will also be essential for the management to analyse, as they are uncontrollable and the Airport is required to adopt the changes that are taking place in the external environment such as changes in aviation law, changes in interest rates and inflation that will affect the pricing, how to facilitate sustainable development, the modern technologies that can be used for improving the operations of the Airport and to provide better customer service etc. The PEST analysis will help the management at Heathrow Airport to understand the changes taking place in the political, economic, social and technological factors. The SWOT model will help the management in analysing the internal factors, the internal factors such as the strengths and weaknesses will help the management in utilizing the strengths to provide better customer service, while the weaknesses are required to be minimized to maintain the image of the airport. Similarly, the opportunities and threats should also be considered, as the opportunities will help the management to understand the areas where the business can make further developments, while the threats can hamper the business performance. The competitive factors will drive the competitive environment and the same sh ould be considered by the management in order to maintain the competitive strength of the Airport. These factors include the bargaining power of the customers, the bargaining power of the suppliers of services and technology, the threat of new competitors and the threat of substitutions (Cravens, 1982). Conclusion Analyzing the market environment will be highly beneficial for Heathrow Airport as the same would help it in understanding the changes that are taking place in the internal and external environmental factors. The management will be able to control the internal factors to improve the performance of the Airport, while the external factors are uncontrollable, hence, an analysis of the external factors will help in adopting such changes in order to maintain the competitive strength. For this purpose, it is highly recommended for the management of Heathrow Airport to utilize the tools such as PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, and Porters model. AC 1.3 Evaluate the relevance of consumer markets in the industry Consumer markets are considered as those markets, where the purchase and sale of goods and services are done, which are meant for the general consumers only (Hassan and Kaynak, 1994). The consumer markets include consumer culture that implies the sociological and psychological influences made upon the buying behavior of the customers. There are various factors that can potentially influence the buying behavior of the customers such as, marketing, quality of service, price etc. It has been found in various studies that the objectives of an organization can be achieved by creating a balance between customer and competitor orientation. Moreover, creating value to the customers will also influence their buying behavior to a greater extent and the same will also help in retaining loyal customers (Alessandra, 2007). Findings The findings of the research have been provided below: 1. It has been found that the hospitality industry is highly dependent on the behavior and attitude of the customers. The customers play an important role in the hospitality industry as they decide the development and sustainability of a hospitality organization in the long run. The customer behavior is considered as one of the important factors that the industry players considers while framing new policies. The requirements of the customers are considered as a major factor that is taken into account, while, formulating the marketing policy of an organization (Kessler, 1996). The quality of services provided to the customers and the value created for them is considered as a driving factor that can retain the customers and ensure the long-term stability of an organization in the hospitality industry. This will also affect the profitability and enhance the revenue-generating capacity of the organization. 2. Customer culture is considered as the behavior of the customers that includes social status values and activities of the customers that influences their buying behavior. The customer culture influences the patter of consumption of the customers. The social status of the customers influences their pattern of consumption, such as a high-end customer will go for having luxurious goods, which are offered at high-end prices (Basch, 2002). The theory of consumer culture entirely focuses upon the psychological and sociological factors that influence the buying behavior of the customers. It is regarded as a branch of marketing philosophy that projects the psychological effects created by the buying behavior of the customers and different organizations follow this theory in order to market a particular product or service to the potential customers. This is done by clearly projecting and communicating the features of a particular product or service and how the same is going to affect the li festyle of the potential customers. 3. The hospitality industry highly emphasizes the quality of services provided to the customers and their pricing. The sole objective behind this initiative is to create value to the customers and satisfy their needs. Customer satisfaction and loyalty is a key for success to the participants of the hospitality industry. The participants of the industry always engage in the formulation of new strategies by considering the changing demands of the customers in order to meet them. This will help in achieving huge marketing success. Moreover, customer loyalty will help in enhancing the sustainability of an organization and for that purpose, it will be essential for an organization to create value for the customers and the same can be done by providing services that will meet or exceed the expectations of the customers. This process will help in retaining customers (Lowenstein, 1997). 4. Maintenance of long term relationships with the customers has become highly important in almost every industry. The hospitality segment, particularly, has put increased emphasis towards formulating effective strategy towards customer relationship management (Anderson and Kerr, 2002). The industry participants have taken different steps towards maintaining customer relationships such as loyalty programs, maintenance of customer databases to send them promotional emails, collecting feedbacks from the customers etc. Discussion The sustainability and development of Heathrow Airport can be highly influenced by the consumer markets. Analyzing the consumer culture and preparing the marketing strategy to properly target the customers and communicating the features of the service provided will help the management in enhancing the profitability of the organization. Selecting separate marketing strategy for separate customers with different status and requirements will help the organization in attracting more customers and revenues. In this way, the airport will be able to generate demand for its services (Sheth et al., 1999). Analyzing the customer behavior and requirements will be highly beneficial for Heathrow Airport. For instance, the number of passengers is increasing gradually; this will affect the popularity of the airport due to limited facilities. Hence, the Airport should focus upon expansion of its runways and other facilities to properly accommodate the passengers, the customers have busy schedules an d they require timely services and hence, the management should emphasize upon the provision of timely services to influence the buying behavior of the customers. Customer satisfaction is an important part and the same will influence the management at Heathrow Airport to provide quality services at a reasonable price, as the same will satisfy the customers and create value for them. Customer retention and loyalty is highly paramount for the hospitality industry as the same will decide the long-term survival of the firms operating in it. The same is also applicable for Heathrow Airport. This will encourage the management to form new strategies towards customer relationship management (Sheth et al., 1999). Conclusion Customer market can be regarded as one of the important factors that, the management at Heathrow Airport must take into account. Understanding the behavior of the customers would help the same in formulating an effective marketing strategy that would help in creating demand for the services provided by the airport and to maintain its profitability and sustainability. It is recommended for Heathrow Airport to put more emphasis upon analysing the social and psychological factors that influence the buying behavior of the passengers and also to create a strong marketing strategy to attract the customers. Customer relationship management will also be beneficial for the airport, and formulate a strategy in this regards would help the management to retain the customers and create a strong market position. AC 1.4 Discuss the rationale for developing different market segments The concept of market segment has a higher relevance in regards to marketing. A market segment is considered as an association of customers, where the attitude and behavior of all the customers in such association are identical. Market segments are prepared to simplify the process of marketing strategy and strengthen the same (Kruger, 2011). Different market segments have different characteristics and separate marketing strategy is prepared for each of them. The market segments are utilized by different organizations in the hospitality industry to conduct the process of target marketing. The market segment can be done on the basis of four different characteristics, namely geographical segmentation, demographic segmentation, behavioral and psychographic segmentation. Market segments help in enhancing the performance of marketing efforts made by an organization because in this way they can target separate groups of customers and market the products or services as per their needs (McDon ald and Dunbar, 2004). Findings 1. Market segmentation is the process of segmenting the market into different parts in order to target different groups of customers for the purpose of product or service marketing. Market segmentation is beneficial for an organization because it helps in understanding the customer needs and formulating an appropriate marketing strategy for different types of customers (Kruger, 2011). The process of market segmentation helps in creating the demand for a particular product or service for different customers in a systematic way and in this way it helps in enhancing the profitability of a business. It helps in enhancing sales levels and hence supports business growth (Wedel and Kamakura, 2000). The research has highlighted another two strategies of marketing, which are targeting and positioning. 2.Targeting is considered as a process of targeting the potential customers for a particular product or service and formulate the marketing process in such a way that will help in satisfying their demands, this process also helps in enhancing the effect of marketing strategy and increases profitability with sales. 3. Positioning is another strategy of marketing, which is highly relevant to the hospitality industry (Pinson et al., 1996). Position refers to the position that a brand has acquired in the consumer market. The strategy of positioning helps in creating a distinct image for the products of a particular brand and helps in differentiating the products or services from the competitors. This process is essential as it helps in creating a unique brand image and helps the customers to identify the products of a particular brand easily (Hooley and Saunders, 1993). 4. There are four main ways of market segmentation. Geographical segmentation, this is the way of segmenting the market as per geographical regions. Demographic segmentation, it a type of segmentation that helps in segmenting a market as per the demographic features of the customers such as, age, income etc. Behavioral segmentation is considered as a type of segmentation that considers the behavior and attitude of the customers to create different segments. Lastly, the psychographic segmentation is considered as a type of market segmentation that helps in segmenting the market of a product or service as per the lifestyle of the customers. Discussion It will be favorable for the management at Heathrow Airport to formulate different market segments in order to get better outcomes of the marketing strategy formulated by the same. This approach will help in simplifying the marketing process of the organization and this process will also help the management at the Airport to divide the market into smaller groups and formulate an appropriate strategy for each of them. This process will ease the efforts of the marketing team and enhance the feasibility of the marketing process. Considering the psychographic segmentation, if the management formulates separate advertising message for the high-end as well as low-end passengers and properly demonstrate the facilities that are offered to them, then it will become easier to create a huge market demand for the services among the targeted segments (Sheehan, 2011). The strategy of segmentation and positioning will also help in creating a distinct image for the airport in the minds of the custom ers and the same will also help in enhancing the market strength and competitive edge of the airport. Targeting will be beneficial for the management as this process will help in selecting the potential customers, who the services should be marketed. This will increase sales and profitability substantially (Sheehan, 2011). Conclusion To conclude, it must be said that market segmentation is an important part of the marketing strategy for any business. Heathrow Airport must segment its market in different types in order frame a separate policy of marketing for each segment. A single marketing policy may not be effective for every kind of customers; hence, market segmentation is highly expected for the airport. In this regards, it is recommended for the airport to put additional emphasis on target market because this process will help the management in identifying different types of passengers and their needs, this process will help in creating market segments and along with it market positioning should also be taken into account, as the same will help in competitive edge to the airport as compared to the other renowned airports in Europe.

Relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs

Relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs Introduction The topic of leadership has continued to be a subject of interest in the modern world both from practitioners as well as academics and the extensive research for decades has not exhausted the topic (Bennis W. , 2007). Leadership has an influence on all the facets of business. Organizations are often successful because of the set of relationships existing between the leaders and the followers. Through this essay efforts are made to apply relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc, one of the most commended leaders of recent times. An attempt is made to evaluate Steve Jobs leadership style using the following theories Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory (Hersey Blanchard, 1988), Transactional Leadership (Bass, 1985; Adair 1990), Transformational leadership (Goodwin, Woffard Whittington, 2001; Tichy Devanna, 1986; Yammarino Dublinsky, 1994, Bass, 1990)theory will be used. After reviewing the literature on leadership theories relevant to this case study, based on the frameworks it will be argued whether Steve Jobs can be considered as an effective leader. Literature Review Today leadership is the one of the most known management topic at the same time attempts to understand still represents a challenge. A single definition cannot encompass many aspects of leadership (Bennis Nanus, 1985:4; Pfeffer, 1977; Kenny Zaccaro, 1983; Lord, DeVader, Alliger, 1986; Kirkpatrick Locke, 1991). The various theories of leadership help to solve somewhat the ambiguity of the definition . One of the reason for popularity to the leadership topic is that leaders action or inaction can effect people, not only in the success of an enterprise, but also in social field i.e.a group, an organization or a larger entity or a nation. (Hollander, 1992) The review of literature shows the concept of leaders trait and characteristics in the earlier studies of leadership {Bass (1990); Curphy, and Hogan (1994);S. A. Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) ; Kenny and Zaccaro (1983); Zaccaro, Foti,et al., (1991) ; Ferentinos (1996); Howard and Bray (1988)} and later theories considering various contextual environment of leadership along with the followers (Hollander, 1992). The research on leadership has evolved from the great man theory to the trait theory to behaviourist theory to Situational theory to contingency theory to transactional theory and to transformational leadership (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, Dennison, 2003) Hersey Blanchard situational theory (McKenna E. , 2000) This model adopt consideration to relationship and task behaviour . It extends these two dimensions of leadership to four styles i.e. tell, sell, participation, and delegation. Maturity consists of two parts-job maturity and psychological maturity. Job maturity relates to technical knowledge and task-relevant skills. Psychological maturity relates to feelings of self-confidence and ability, peoples willingness to take responsibility for directing their own behaviour. Emphasis is placed on matching a style of leadership to the maturity of subordinates, and this relationship is important in determination of leadership effectiveness (Hersey Blanchard 1982). Tell : A task oriented and directive style where highly immature subordinates would be told what to do. Sell: A relationship oriented style where Subordinates on the low side of maturity, would be persuaded that a particular course of action is the most appropriate. Subordinates on the high side of maturity will be treated with a certain amount of consideration and support would be allowed to Participate in decision making . Delegation: where subordinates, highly mature will be considered capable of exercising self-direction and self control, and a high degree of autonomy. Most important in Hersey and Blanchards theory is the focus on truly situational nature of leadership and their recognition of the need for behaviour flexibility on the part of the leader (Yukl, 1981). Barrrow (1977) and Yukl (1981) argue that though the model is prescriptive for measuring leader style, style range, and effectiveness it merits much less favourable evaluations. The concept of task-relevant maturity that has been conceptually ambiguous. According to a study by Graeff (1983), it has internal consistency problems, substantial conceptual contradiction, problems with the conceptual definition of relationship behaviour and inconsistent arguments regarding the appropriateness of participative decision making contribute. Transactional and Transformational Leadership Transactional leadership occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of something valued; that is, leaders approach followers with an eye toward exchanging (Burns, 1978) In transactional leadership, leaders gain control of their subordinates through praise, intimidation and coercion. The transactional leader specifies the standards for compliance, and may punish followers for being out of compliance with those standards (Bass Avolio, 1997). Transactional models of leadership emphasize the implicit social exchange, or transaction, that exists between leader and followers as a feature of effectiveness. This transactional approach emphasizes a more active role for followers, with the potential for two-way influence, rather than coerced compliance (Hollander, 1992) According to Bryant (2003) Consequence of transactional leadership workers are not motivated to give anything beyond what is clearly specified in their contract. Workers may also choose to utilize their excess brain capacity by consulting or starting their own business if they are not challenged and rewarded for extra effort in the firm. The transactional leadership theory is known for its in-ward looking and self-satisfying feel, known to be most appropriate for a culture with stable conditions. (McKenna E. , 2006). Burns (1978) idea of the leader as a transforming agent has been applied to organizational leadership by Bass (1985) and Bennis and Nanus (1985) especially as a source of exceptional performance. The essential point is that the leader strives to go beyond the bounds of the usual to bring about a change in followers thinking that will redirect their action(Fiedler House, 1988). The central concept in transformational leadership theory is change and the role of leadership in envisioning and implementing the transformation of organisational performance (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, Dennison, 2003) Transformational leaders create an atmosphere conducive to knowledge creation, sharing and exploitation. In particular, by using charisma, encouraging intellectual development and by paying individual attention to workers, transformational leaders motivate their workers to create and share knowledge. Transformational leaders inspire workers on to higher levels of innovation and effectiveness.(Bryant, 2003) Transformational leadership has been shown to have a positive relationship with performance.(Lowe, Kroeck, Sivasubramaniam) Despite the support that transformation leadership theory received there are still weakness which is identified by Yulk (1999) that is the transformational behaviours are found to be missing in Bass (1996) which are identified as inspiring (infusing the work with meaning), developing (enhancing follower skills and self-confidence), and empowering (Providing significant voice and discretion to followers). Authors (Bass 1985, 1996 ; Pawar Eastman, 1997; Pettigrew, 1987) are of the view that the situational variables which are missed may increase the likelihood of transformational leadership or moderate its effect on followers. Transformational leadership theory can have several detrimental consequences for the organisations as identified by (Harrison 1987; Stephens, DIntino, and Victor (1995); Porter, L. W., Bigley, G. A. 1997) first is that followers transformed to high degree of emotional involvement which makes them burn out their long-standing stress secondly, was being biased toward the top management, customers at the cost of others of the employees thirdly, different leaders with competing visions can create role ambiguity and role conflict. Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) argue that transformational leadership is unethical, it may appeal to emotions rather than to reason and it lacks the checks and balances of democratic discourse and power distribution. Yulk (1999) argues that the theory deals primarily with the leader follower behaviour and has given less attention at the group and organisational level. Part three Background to Case Study Critical Analysis In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apples subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997. Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disneys board of directors. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. With Steve Job , Apple commands a dedicated consumer base and is know for its premium brands like iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes etc . Apples success is known under Steve Jobs Leadersip. Although it is not easy to characterize Steve Jobs leadership style to any one particular theory, to evaluate his leadership style two theories of leadership will be used the Transactional and Transformational theory and secondly the Hershey Blanchards situational theory. Steve Jobs leadership style seems to be both transactional and transformational theory. According to Bass (1985) and Burn (1978) both these theories more complementary than being competitive. Steve Jobs as a Transformational Leader As per the above literature review, transformational leaders are charismatic, vision oriented, encouraging intellectual development of their followers, inspiring and motivating to higher levels of effectiveness. The aspects that strongly claim that Steve Jobs leadership shows signs of transformational leadership is his charismatic personality. According to Rakesh Khurana (2002) Steve Jobs, the New Age wunderkind of Apple revered for his sucess in introducing people to the personal computer that could gaurantee our freedom (Khurana, 2002). As Steve Wozniak , the co-founder with Jobs of the Apple , tersely noted : he can always couch things in the right words . Steve Job is described as heart and soul of Apple. (Patterson, 1985) What was visionary about Jobs approach -where he surely added value- was his evangelical zeal to show people the future potential of the product. With this vision as foresight has caused Jobs to be dubbed the priceless proselytizer.(Uttal, 1985) Cocks (1983) argues that Apples co-founder, Steve Wozniak, blodly stated that Jobs did not understand computers, and the actual design of the machine has been widely credited to Wozniak. But as Wozniak also said, it never crossed my mind to sell computers. It was Steve who said Lets hold them up in the air and sell a few. It was Jobs who insisted that the computer be light and trim, well designed in muted colors. Jobs likewise pushed his engineers to make machines that will not frighten away a skittish clientele. (Cocks, 1983) Butcher (1988) argues that Jobs a perfectionist, adn as the organsiation gre, many in Apple experienced this as intolerance and self-absorption. Steve Hawkins an employee said Jobs such a perfectionist that people can never please him , hes extermly ambitious , almost to the point of megalomania.(Butcher, 1988) Transformational leadership is about encouraging innovation, bringing about a change in the thinking of its followers and being visionary in implementing transformation in the organisation performance. Steve Jobs as a transformational leader is seen in his efforts to bring innovative digital technology to mass consumer so that they can open their wallet(Deutschman, 2001). Evidence of Steve Jobs vision in making innovation accessible was Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings (Young, 2005) In terms of motivation and inspiring employees to give their best of performance is a characteristic of transformational leadership . Evidence of Steve Jobs motivating and inspiring his employees is when Job when first spoke of any new idea to his employees not everyone thought it to be a successful product also at times the employees were not keen on working on such new ideas. But Jobs along with his employees was able to convert the innovative ideas into a technology which changed the way digital technology is used today . Whether it is the Macintosh computer or the newly launched ipad or iphone. It was Jobs leadership which motivated and inspired and Apple created the systems and structures that were able to convert knowledge into a valuable product. Job challenge engages his employees to reach nearly impossible goals(Bryant, 2003) (MCB UP Ltd, 2002). Job used inspiring speeches to keep his employees motivated and convey his innovative ideas to them(Harvey, 2001) Butcher (1989) agrues with an evidence by Steve Hawkins, employee of Apple puts it that most of the people werent good enough for him and would really be in a state of shock after encounters with Steve. Also Steve was very ambitious along with perfectionist and that caused a lot of trouble with moral. Young (2005) adds that apple employees were pushed to the best of their capability and performance and interactions with Steves were the ones which most of the employees feared. According to Peter Elkind (2008) Steve job has conflicting behaviours and he often had his subordinates to tears and in his angry temper he fires the employees. And yet the top management has worked with him for years and they give credit Jobs for the best job they ever did was only with him.(Elkind, 2008) Steve Job in an interview stated that he has really capable people and his job is to make the whole of his executive team good enough to be successors, so thats what hes trying to do, to push them he has aggressive visions (Morris, 2008). As an Evidence the discussion of Steve job with Morris (2008) sheds light to the criticism made by researchers Steidlmeier (1999); Yukl (1999) about the transformational leadership style in the literature review and steves transformational leadership style shows the unethical or unmoral dimensions of transformational leadership style. Also Steve jobs interactions are limited to the top management and he states that his job is to work with sort of the top 100 people, among the 20000 people at Apple. This shows his interactions are not closely related with the majority of his employees. (Morris, 2008) Steve Jobs as a Transactional Leader In addition to the above arguments about the leadership style of Steve Job. Bryant (2003) is of view that Job exhibited a combination of transformational and transactional leadership style and this helped him sucess in Apple. According to Bryant (2003) Job when visited the Xerox Parc and he took a vision of how future computers should operate. And he made his employees create the systems and structures in his company Apple where knowledge was converted into valuable products e.g. the Macintosh personal computer. The transformational leadership style was used in his vision to change the way personal computer will be operated in future and transactional leadership style was used when he incorporated his vision into reality by making his the products with the help of his employees. In an interview with Morris (2008) Steve talks about his role in the company is to recruit at the same time focus on its strategy and manage the whole business from different departments and people of the company and this is a characteristics of a transactional leadership style. Hersey Blanchard situational theory applied to Steve Jobs Steve Jobs leadership style is more reliant on his followers skills and capabilities. The Hersey Blanchard situational theory model emphasis on matching a style of leadership to the maturity of subordinates this relationship shows the determination of leadership effectiveness as mentioned in the literature review. The way job leads and his style relates to this theory . The delegating style M4-S4 is evident from Steve interview with Morris (2008) where he says that if he has hired good people and they have potential he would give them a business and left them run on their own and when a good idea comes, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it . The participating style M3-S3 of Hersey Blanchard situational theory is where Jobs talks about the way he takes a new idea to his employees is the environment of excellence and how his employes are self motivated , he does coach them at first and inspires them and then the employees surprise him time and again with the best of their performance (Gendron, 1989). In aanand2010-08-29T23:01:00 Did not get this para. Review it televsion interview (Cringely, 1996) Steve jobs telling style M1-S1 was evident Where he argues that he is committed to the vision and rather than for money and that he has been there always for the ultimate good of the company and there has been cases where they stopped their internal work and people did not like it and but he got a better deal for the company . this radical nature of dealing with things shows he used telling style of the Hershey Blanchard theory. Conclusion: personal reflection and recommendation In contrast to Steve Job, the managing director at my work place was a person who believed in group work at the same time allowed creative talent and ideas from each person. He involved employees in the decision making and took individual views on various projects of the company. The success of Apple following return of Steve Job is credited to the effective leadership Steve has used. The review of the literature and the theories applied to Steve Jobs and my personal experience has opened my mind to areas where Steve style of leadership can progress and can be further developed. According to Bass (1985) Leaders are central to the process of creating cultures, structures and systems that fosters knowledge creation, sharing and cultivation. Certain Industries have faster rates of technological, higher level of regulation and higher competition levels and these factors impact the leaders of the organisations (Bryant, 2003). Hence, a lesson learnt from leadership is that a leader can judge the situation and can adapt different style of leadership and this makes a leader more effective and efficient. In Steve jobs style of leadership a soft approach adopted with his employees will prove him to be more affective. Because his job involves handling people who are highly knowledgeable in the field of technology, being soft on his employees or benevolent leadership can help him get best of their performance and in return profit from his human resources and realise his vision.

Aristotle’s Politics - The Good Man Should Not Rule the City Essay

Aristotle’s Politics - The Good Man Should Not Rule the City Aristotle contends that the good man is dissimilar to the good citizen in ways he goes a great length to illustrate. He distinguishes the two for the purpose of facilitating his later arguments concerning the appropriate allocation of sovereignty to the rightful ruler, who he subsequently claims is the good man who excels all others in each and every aspect. Aristotle's distinction further prompts the notion that he advocates a monarchial form of constitution, for the rule of a single good man is equivalent to a constitution of kingship. This can be derived through the following reasoning. Aristotle is convinced that the good citizen can so be defined only in relation to the constitution he is an element of: 'The excellence of the citizen must be an excellence relative to the constitution (1276b16).' The good man on the other hand, 'is a man so called in virtue of a single absolute excellence (1276b16).' He further asserts that the good citizen 'must possess the knowledge and capacit y requisite for ruling as well as for being ruledÃâ€"a good man will also need both (1277b7~1277b16).' From these conclusions of Aristotle, it is evident that the good man and the good citizen differ in the manner of their excellence, but not in their capacity for ruling or being ruled. It should therefore follow that there should not exist impediments to the ruling by the good citizen in the city as opposed to the ruling by the good man due to the fact that they are identical in their competence to rule. However, Aristotle in his later arguments, crowns the good man as ruler: 'in the best constitutionÃâ€"there is someone of outstanding excellence. What is to be done in that case? Nobody wou... ...scussed). The justification of the good man in becoming the supreme educator can be made in the following way. Since all absolutely excellent men (good men) arrive at their excellence through the process of education, that is, they are not innately excellent, their efforts should be directed toward the emulation of their excellence in the children of the city, for they are the ones who know best the process of becoming excellent. In this manner of education, the children (being future citizens) will grow up to become good men and good citizens, and thus the future city will comprise of many potential rulers. The good man through education, will contribute towards the ruling of the city indirectly in such an instance, and not directly as Aristotle claims he should do. Works Cited Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1990.

John Keats Fear That He Might Cease to Be Essay -- John Keats, poetry

During his last years, Keats ponders about what it would mean to die. He translates this into fears of what he hasn’t yet accomplished and would like to have time to do. This aspect of time is emphasised with the use of the word â€Å"when† at the start of the first three quatrains which is also used in Shakespearean Sonnets. The heading, â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be† demonstrates Keats’ belief, or rather, lack of belief in the idea of an afterlife. In the first quatrain of the poem Keats describes his fertile imagination, yearning to have â€Å"glean’d my teeming brain† before it is too late, the image of abundance is instilled with the words â€Å"high- piled† and â€Å"rich.† The paradox of a field of grain is used to depict Keats’ brain being ‘harvested’ of the knowledge into poems of his own creation. In this stanza, Keats reveals his want for fame through his works and his fears of be ing unable to fulfil this in his time. In the second stanza Keats demonstrates his use of nature in poetry. He describes the â€Å"night’s starr’d face† which could refer to Keats contemplating the beauty...

Death in Do Not Go Gentle, City Cafeteria, Death Shall Have no Dominion

Death in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, City Cafeteria, And Death Shall Have no Dominion and Grandparents  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Death is a highly personal event. It affects each of us differently. It affected Peter Kocan's man in the City Cafeteria by making him look empty and disoriented. It affected Dylan Thomas by making him think about what there was afterward, and what you could do to avoid it. Death even affected Robert Lowell by making him realise how much it changed his life. I, fortunately, seem to have avoided death in many ways, but also have been touched by it, even recently. While preparing for this essay, ironically, one of my family pets died. It was a chicken named Ellephante, which belonged to my younger sister. I didn't know what to think. I don't think, even now, several days later, that I feel the chicken has gone. I suppose I'm denying it. I constantly revisit, in my mind, the times I went into my back yard to be greeted with a flutter of wings and a white body racing down the hill to greet me. I imagine this feeling to be similar to the one expressed in Grandparents, by Robert Lowell. He feels, as he walks around the farm, which now belongs to him, certain pangs of loneliness, of missing his grandparents. Small things set him off - the gramophone and the billiard table with the coffee stain. Small things still set my sister off - going up to the chook shed to feed the remaining chooks, or looking out the window and not seeing that other white shape we came to know and love as Ellephante. Taken before its time (the next-door dog is undoubtably the culprit), I do not feel that Ellephante 'went gentle into that good night'. Ellephante was a feisty chicken, always very vocal and very affectionate and tame... ... I look to death as Dylan Thomas does - as a natural progression from life. I don't know quite what I believe in - some days it's reincarnation, some days it's a very scientific returning to a state of atoms in different forms, some days (when I'm upset) it's just being buried and then it stops, some days it's being taken from this world to another. I don't know that I believe in a Heaven or Hell, as such, but it's nice to think about it some times. Unlike so many people I know, I don't fear death - I used to, but I have come to accept it as an inevitable part of life, which everyone will have to face. I just know that when it's my time to depart, I want people to remember the good times and not to dwell on the bad. "It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other." Francis Bacon - 'Essays "Of Death"' Death in Do Not Go Gentle, City Cafeteria, Death Shall Have no Dominion Death in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, City Cafeteria, And Death Shall Have no Dominion and Grandparents  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Death is a highly personal event. It affects each of us differently. It affected Peter Kocan's man in the City Cafeteria by making him look empty and disoriented. It affected Dylan Thomas by making him think about what there was afterward, and what you could do to avoid it. Death even affected Robert Lowell by making him realise how much it changed his life. I, fortunately, seem to have avoided death in many ways, but also have been touched by it, even recently. While preparing for this essay, ironically, one of my family pets died. It was a chicken named Ellephante, which belonged to my younger sister. I didn't know what to think. I don't think, even now, several days later, that I feel the chicken has gone. I suppose I'm denying it. I constantly revisit, in my mind, the times I went into my back yard to be greeted with a flutter of wings and a white body racing down the hill to greet me. I imagine this feeling to be similar to the one expressed in Grandparents, by Robert Lowell. He feels, as he walks around the farm, which now belongs to him, certain pangs of loneliness, of missing his grandparents. Small things set him off - the gramophone and the billiard table with the coffee stain. Small things still set my sister off - going up to the chook shed to feed the remaining chooks, or looking out the window and not seeing that other white shape we came to know and love as Ellephante. Taken before its time (the next-door dog is undoubtably the culprit), I do not feel that Ellephante 'went gentle into that good night'. Ellephante was a feisty chicken, always very vocal and very affectionate and tame... ... I look to death as Dylan Thomas does - as a natural progression from life. I don't know quite what I believe in - some days it's reincarnation, some days it's a very scientific returning to a state of atoms in different forms, some days (when I'm upset) it's just being buried and then it stops, some days it's being taken from this world to another. I don't know that I believe in a Heaven or Hell, as such, but it's nice to think about it some times. Unlike so many people I know, I don't fear death - I used to, but I have come to accept it as an inevitable part of life, which everyone will have to face. I just know that when it's my time to depart, I want people to remember the good times and not to dwell on the bad. "It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other." Francis Bacon - 'Essays "Of Death"'

Polk Jefferson Expansion Essay

There have only been a few presidents that have expanded on the size of America. None have done it like Jefferson and Polk. Though they had different views on the world they had many of the same policies of expansion. Both technically bought the land. At the times both of their practice's were considered shady. Jefferson and Polk both also were afraid of foreign powers swooping down and taking the land. When you are a president it is always good to appear fair and diplomatic. This is why the presidents wanted to buy the land. Thomas Jefferson bought his land from France in the famous Louisiana purchase. It was a bargain brought on the table by France for many differing reasons. Polk on the other hand fought Mexico in a war. Then once he owned the land gave them only a portion of what it was worth. He had leverage over the Mexicans because he had crushed their armies in the Mexican war. Its hard to escape the presidency without some scandal. Polk and Jefferson both could not accomplish this. Jefferson bought the Louisiana purchase from France. Even though he believes and, at the time it was widely believe he shouldn’t have that power. Polk’s on the other hand was more substantial. He sent troops into either America, Mexico or, the disputed territory and they were ambushed prompting the war. If the troops were in the disputed territory then they might declare war. If they were in Mexico what Polk did was illegal. IF the troops were in Texas then it is all out war. Polk never clarified where the troop were to we may never know. During Jefferson’s and Polk’s presidencies America wasn’t really a world power. So when America got the chance to take land they took it quickly. Jefferson when offered the Louisiana purchase acted quickly so the French might not change their minds or some other country would take the weakly guarded land. Polk also was afraid that the Russians or the British might swoop down and take California. Something Polk couldn’t afford. Both Jefferson and Polk are regarded as fantastic presidents in today’s light. Both had to make the expansion legal by buying the land. Both had their fair share of scandal and, both had to beat out other nations for the prize. This just goes to show according to history expansionism is usually a good thing.

George Bush Essay

Leadership is a quality that Americans always look for in a president. United States Presidents have an extreme amount of responsibility. Americans look for someone that can help our country grow. We look for someone who has charisma, strength and intelligence. George W. Bush had a very interesting presidency. It was filled with joy, turmoil and disaster, all which were times where a leader could either succeed or fail. George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States. He had all of the qualification of a great president. He came from a political family. He was the son of former President George H.W. Bush. He had a great educational and military background. He graduated from Yale University and then Harvard Business School. He was a pilot for the Air National Guard for six years. He worked in the oil industry after college where he was known for his smart business decisions. He served in Texas’ House of Representatives and then Governor of Texas. Most American’s would probably believe that all of these qualifications would make him a great candidate for President and in 2000 he was elected President, defeating Al Gore by only small margin. (Bush 3) Choosing George W. Bush I chose to research and analyze President Bush because he was president during the biggest attack on American’s during my lifetime. He had to step up and become the great leader that our nation needed during and after the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001. President Bush is still being blamed for some of the problems that America is having now. President Obama blames him for the economy and many American’s have blamed him for our continued presence in the Middle East. I wanted to research his leadership abilities and understand why he went from being a so-so President to a great president to a president that is being blamed for everything. I also see President Bush as a normal person with strengths and weaknesses. I see him as someone similar to myself. I want to better understand him and learn from his achievements and his mistakes. President Bush was not a born leader. Even though President Bush had the resume that American’s thought would make him a great leader, at the beginning of his presidency, he was lacking some of the key qualities of a  good leader. He did not show confidence in his decisions and he lacked the understanding of international affairs. (Domin 3) After the tragedy of September 11th, he really stepped up and took on his leadership role. He was able to show America that he was the leader that they thought that they would be getting in an American President. President Bush was able to bring his followers together in a time of tragedy, uniting them for a common goal. He was able to leave all of the criticism that he had gotten behind him and become a new leader that everyone respected. In addition, I wanted to research President Bush because many of the international problems that America faced during President Bush’s terms are still lingering today. American lives are still at risk because of terrorist groups. It was only a couple of months ago that the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by terrorist killing the US Ambassador and three others. I question the effectiveness of our current administration and their ability to keep America safe. (Kirkpatrick, and Myers) Abilities and Skills Even though President Bush was not a great leader from the beginning, I believe that he was able to step up and become the great leader that we needed him to be. He embraced the necessary abilities and skills that America needed in a leader after a crisis. The first and most important characteristic that he possessed after September 11th was emotional intelligence. He understood the severity of the situation and was able to address the public in a way that helped us come together as a country. Woodward made this comment about how President Bush addressed the public in front of Ground Zero. â€Å"Bush’s spontaneity allowed him to connect at a visceral level with his audience: acting simultaneously as their leader and expressing their feelings in the highly charged atmosphere of the time.† (Roper 5) I believe that President Bush also encompasses the four characteristics that describe a creative leader. President Bush faced one of the biggest obstacles of any President and he had the self-confidence to lead. (Nahavandi 115) Thousands of innocent Americans had been killed through a terrorist attack. He knew that America was entering a time of war. Even though many of his advisors were unsure of the decisions to attack Afghanistan, he was strong about his beliefs and he gave reassurance to his advisors. A reporter who was present during the National Security Council meeting before the initial attacks in Afghanistan noticed the tension in the room before President Bush was present but said that, â€Å"the tension suddenly drained from the room.† (Roper 5)