Long Term and Short Term Goals: A Comprehensive Essay Sample

Long Term and Short Term Goals: A Comprehensive Essay SampleIf you are going to write an essay, it is wise to include a discussion of both short and long term goals. The essay that does not give attention to both goals will probably be less than satisfactory.The essay should provide the student with the motivation to write the essay. It is also important to describe the topic as briefly as possible. After all, it is impossible to cover every topic in one essay. The students are more likely to enjoy your essay if they are able to look at it without thinking of a question about it.Most students are very interested in learning about long-term goals, especially if they are not confident about what they will do once their degrees are awarded. In addition, the prospect of having a good job with benefits is enough to motivate them to continue the education process.Students are interested in future employment, and the thoughts about this need to be included in the essay. As long as these goa ls are only short term goals, they can be accomplished quickly. The next thing they will think about is finding a job that allows them to pay off their debts or giving away some of their possessions.After long term and short term goals are covered, then students can move on to analyzing the goals. Analyzing these goals is crucial because they are much more important. They provide a road map to the student's success, and they help the students determine where they want to be in five years or ten years.A student's goals should include how many students are in his or her class, how many classes they take each semester, and how many classes they will need to complete before graduation. The goal should also include how many times each year the student wishes to meet with the professor, and how often the student wants to attend class. This includes if the student will be required to attend classes on weekends or holidays.If the student's parents are living in another state, he or she shou ld learn about the university or college. Then the student should write an essay about why he or she feels strongly about a certain policy or organization. The essay needs to be written as if the student was talking directly to the readers.The students who write a good essay about both long term and short term goals are going to give the students an enjoyable and enlightening experience. Moreover, the student will learn that there are many resources available that will help him or her get the desired degree. The essay that does not include both goals is not a complete essay.

Management and workbook process free essay sample

Discuss the management control system in the Patagonia Company. Explain and discuss the nature, context, evolution, elements, processes, strengths, weaknesses/problems of the management control system at Patagonia (including a critical evaluation of the Workbook Process). What makes Patagonia different from many corporate organisations? Everything! Patagonia is a very successful business that has grown at a sensational pace. What is interesting about Patagonia is that the founder’s motivation was never solely about making money, profits and relaying hefty bottom lines. Other things mattered too! The company is very much driven by a culture. This collaborative eco friendly and holistic culture has been created and nurtured by Yvon Chouinard, his wife Malinda and their team. â€Å"Make the best quality product and cause no excess harm† defined the essence of their motivation as relayed by Yvon at the 1996 Corporate Citizenship hosted by President Clinton. (Merchant, Kenneth A. /Van der Stede, Wim A. We will write a custom essay sample on Management and workbook process or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page / 2007, pg 380) This level of ‘quality’ would filter throughout the flat organisation. The notion of quality would not only define the nature of the goods sold but would however define all aspects of the companies endeavours including how they treated their staff, their stakeholders and our planet earth. How measurable is quality when you account for not only goods but people, their behaviour and their interaction with their external environment? Patagonia evolved in 1957 selling climbing gear made by Yvon in his blacksmith shop. The company began to sell quality outdoor clothes in the 1960’s and in the 70’s the business rapidly developed having become renowned for their innovation in outdoor materials. The business grew organically surprisingly without a focus on wealth accumulation for its founders. It was all about the product, design, process and how each interacted with the environment and all stakeholders involved. Yvon and his wife decided to donate huge amounts of the company’s earnings to environmental causes. Patagonia’s people were like minded. Yvon became increasingly concerned about the preservation of our natural environment and this would become ingrained in Patagonia’s culture. Life as an employee at Patagonia offered a relaxed, open, friendly and holistic community spirit. People were invited to dress ultra casually, enjoy healthy foods at low cost, work flexi hours, avail of onsite childcare facilities and in turn people would work in harmony, be goal congruent and deliver the companies objectives. Although in the beginning there was no formal management control process based on financial objectives the strategic objective was always clear – Quality in all that they do and how they do it! Demand always exceeded supply in the earlier decades so financial measurement control was not considered important as there was a constant supply of money. Control was people orientated and behavioural in nature. There was little bureaucracy and an open system was encouraged. Senior management shared the same office space as everyone else and people were encouraged to participate, ask questions and provide feedback. There were frequent fortnightly open forums held by management where staff could participate. Everybody was valued and people were expected to contribute. The company delivered an incentive scheme and rewarded staff with pooled retained profits. On one incident the employees rejected and returned an $80,000 bonus scheme as they felt the distribution of it was unfair. The company did admit to having difficulty with measuring rewards in line with performance as so much of the company’s objectives were not financial in nature and therefore more difficult to measure. The temporary slump in sales in the early 1990’s prompted a new focus on the bottom line. The managers of Patagonia used personal controls to rectify the problem. Hiring professional managers with the expertise in financial control was required. The company was in the midst of a recession, with more competitors and employees who were frivolous with their expense accounts. In recruiting the professionals the control of the organisation would now move from cultural to a more personal centralised control. The decisions were being made at the top something which was very new at Patagonia. The staffs were left feeling disengaged with the process and after losing 20% of their co workers morale was very low. The open book management style grew from this. The Workbook Process was a control mechanism that involved intense collaboration laterally and vertically within the organisation. Financial information would now be made available to everyone in order to encourage fluidity and understanding of the business. People would be adequately trained so as to understand the information and in turn offer participation and suggestion. The process would have significant cost and time implications but Yvon and Melinda supported the ethos on which it was founded – an open model that would reinforce their culture and encourage synergetic performance. Managers hoped that employees would better understand their own position within the company, increase their awareness in relation to other sub systems and ultimately they would become part of the process hence determining their own destiny and success. Each group participated in an 11 step workbook process which involved for example identifying objectives and missions, interrelations with other sub systems (each with their own cost centre), quantifying and prioritising objectives, feedback systems, budget worksheets, other group priorities etc. The Workbook Process was very detailed in nature and it appeared to involve a huge amount of time. Most employees felt that the process was worthwhile in that it allowed people to bond; it optimised better solutions for the company. These were significant strengths and would suggest that the process was in fact progressive. Would additional control supports or tweaking help? The predominant weaknesses of the process were poor deliverance of financial information i. e. 1 to 2 months behind and a proportion of people refused to engage with the process. They found it tedious. It was not supported by a number of managers also. This caused concern for the other managers. How could The Workbook System be further supported in order to reinforce the benefits and gain further participation from all staff members? Perhaps an incentive scheme with rewards and sanctions would work? Maybe further training was needed? Perhaps stringent budgetary controls were needed? Would you recommend to Patagonia’s management that they continue with or discontinue the Workbook process? Explain your reasons and make recommendations for any changes needed. (Whether to enhance the existing process or to replace it)? If you recommend continuing the process, what would you replace it with? ) A management control system stems from organisations objectives. There is goal ambiguity and conflict in Patagonia. The goals of Patagonia did not include rapid growth similar to most corporations. Patagonia’s goal is the integrity and staying true to their cause. The exploitation of the marketplace was not an option. Yvon’s reasoning for staying in business was in order to make money to attribute to environmental causes. There were other elements high quality and the idea of the man in the wilderness versus the corporate. Therein lies the problem the application of a management control system depends on, is it desirable is it feasible, how you are going to do it and can the results be interpreted. The Work book process or otherwise known as an open book management assumes a relaxed pose. This control mechanism is suited to Patagonia’s culture. However the implementation of this management style is anything but relaxed. The workbook process involves extremely detailed planning, budget and reporting system. These are used to monitor the plans, activities and performance. This is only possible with the co-operation of the entire organisation. The use of pre action reviews and results control has proven beneficial in the financial areas. However in an organisation where there are multiple purposes this leads to difficulty. If Patagonia’s main objective was to maximise profit there would be a clear measure of success. However this is not the case. Environment impacts over time are very difficult to quantify. The workbook process has its advantages and is clearly successful in some business units. Two thirds of the managers are happy with the process. Initially the open book management technique addressed the problem which arrived with the professional managers. The people of Patagonia where similar to Yvon and held a â€Å"contempt for conventional business†. As Yvon and his wife were not happy with the new formal management, it was to be expected staff members would have their issues. The tone at the top has a huge influence. The workbook process facilitates planning in advance. Planning or decision making takes a look at the longer term rather than just the day to day. Through coordination of all different levels and other business units it encourages a combined effort towards the goal. The workbook process can detect problems before they happen. This is a proactive approach rather than waiting for something to go wrong before you react. There are however a number of criticisms of the process. The corporations outlined nine specific goals for the fiscal year 96. These included product design, distribution, operations, environment and personal/training. The workbook process had proven to be successful in establishing whether some objectives had been achieved. However it highlighted the difficulty in judging environment, quality and distribution objectives. These issues have been established a critical success factors for Patagonia, and yet the management control system is unable to evaluate their performance. An evaluation of the benefit versus the cost of the system needs to be addressed. The design is very complex and time consuming. The level of planning and number of meetings needed to discuss the plans leaves very little time for actually doing anything. The third of the organisation which is not content with the formality of the process have been identified as the creative ones. This is not surprising the process is stifling and this is not an atmosphere which promotes innovation. If anything it encourages people to just do what is in the plan and nothing else. There is another issue which has already has been identified as a positive aspect however has negative implications also. The tightness of the pre action reviews in relation to budget. The expense accounts were previously issues for concern. However the frequency and elements which have to be documented seem overbearing. The business units are only allowed spend if senior managers have preapproved the decision. The workbook process was established to give employees more empowerment. This however is certainly not the case in relation to spending money. There is also evidence of tightness in cultural control. The manager of logistics stated that in achieving all of their objectives, there was a feeling of pride. This is akin to someone working for a small business. There is no mention of personal gain. This is not a criticism of her attitude; it is of the work process. There were no incentives aligned to the objectives. The profit sharing plan that was introduced was not based on merit; it was just allocated in equal percentages of base salaries. On the basis of this evaluation we would recommend that Patagonia discontinues the Workbook Process. The process has served its purpose. It has educated the employees in the â€Å"how the company works and how their jobs interface with others†. A control system is applied to ensure that an organisation’s strategy is implemented. This is not the case. The workbook process is focused on the short term. In looking back all the time there is no attention to the objectives which are key to future success. A value driver is an objective which can indicate future success. Examples include product design, quality and customer service. These are all qualities valued by Patagonia. The time and effort to keep this in process in operation is too costly. The staffs are only partially commited which is causing complications. The level of training required is exhaustive. There are people who are not financially minded regardless of how much training they receive. When an organisation focuses all its efforts on financial results, the things that can’t be measured are neglected. Therefore a â€Å"combination of measures† is a much more viable option. To replace the workbook process we would recommend the balanced scorecard. This focuses on financial but also the non financial contributors to success of an organisation. The objectives would be set in relation to the different business units. Production and distribution would have quality and efficiency objectives. RD would be responsible for innovation. HR would look after the quality of life for the employees. Public responsibility would be positioned in the top four as it is inherent within the organisation. This process would be costly to implement. Therefore if it was applied on a group context it may be easier to be the costs down. This would also create co workers monitoring each other’s performance. There would also be the incentive to gain owner ship shares. In measuring shareholder value creation instead of accounting income this would be very beneficial in the long term. This would create an ethos for those who are not loyal to the culture of the organisation already to treat it as their own. This form of measurement would be flexible to change. As the employees have adapted to being involved in the planning of objectives their input would continue to be recognised. The use of pre action reviews would still be in place for large investments. A database warehouse would solve the environmental focus of the legal team and investment in software for tracking inventory.