Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines Essay Example for Free

Collapse of Kingfisher Airlines Essay Kingfisher , Sony and Kodak have one thing in common . i.e. They are finding it difficult to reinvent themselves. They are trying hard to be a phoenix but will they truly rise from the ashes or simply fade away is the real question. Let us take the issue of Kingfisher here. One of Indias most high profile airlines few years back , now in shambles. It is really interesting to ponder that in same market scenario, one of the competitors of Kingfisher is flying high and high. Yes, Indigo Airlines is the most profitable airlines in India. The question is the difference between discipline or grandeur. What makes one company succeed, while another, in the same operating environment, falter? One of the reason is Mr. ( or Dr. in which degree?) Vijay Mallya flamboyant nature. Kingfisher was launched as an all-economy, single-class configuration aircraft with food and entertainment systems. After about a year of operations, the airline suddenly shifted its focus to luxury. When an airline keeps changing its model and takes to random expansion, there is no time for the airline to stabilize. After Kingfisher’s plunge into luxury came its next folly—a merger with Air Deccan, an airline formed by Captain G R Gopinath in 2003. I believe the fall of Kingfisher airlines started the very day when they bought Air Deccan. Capt. Gopinath , the owner of Air Deccan can be termed as shrewd but smart investor who knew when to part with his investment , just at the right time. The all-economy configuration of Air Deccan was rebranded and called Kingfisher Red, which continued to operate as its low-cost wing till recently. Kingfisher ended up spending Rs 550 crore on an airline that had losses of over Rs 550 crore. It is widely believed that Kingfisher merged itself with Air Deccan so that it could classify as an airline with five years of domestic flying in 2008, thus fulfilling requirements to fly international routes. The fact that Jet had meanwhile swallowed Air Sahara didn’t help, fuelling a competitive race to be the biggest airline around. Essentially, jet fuel prices began to sky-rocket and soon touched $150. Then came the 2008 recession that made fundamentals in the airline industry worse, which is when the airline launched its international operations. Some companies just fail to learn—either from the examples that its peers may have set for the industry, or from its own past mistakes. Now, Kingfisher has decided to change its model yet again—discontinuing its Kingfisher Red brand and completely converting its fleet to a dual class, full-service configuration. Kingfisher was gifted to Mr . Sidhartha Mallya by his father on his birthday i.e. a Near Zero experience in running a company and the later CEOs appointed by Mr . Mallya couldn’t bring any significant result too . His over indulgence in petty things like parties and Kingfisher Calendar also lead to inadequacies in his finances. .IPL is also one of the reason for Kingfisher downfall because it is known that many of the money was diverted to IPL from Kingfisher airlines, resulting which they defaulted in Loans and recently became a NPA (non performing asset) to its leading bankers like SBI . The lack of trust was shown recently when Mr Mallya asked the government of India to bail him out. The new minister Mr. Ajit Singh clearly told that the Government will not bail out private airline because Air India is itself in need to bail out. I personally feel that Mr Ajit singh made a good decision because When Kingfisher doesn’t give public anything in return of its profit , then why is it asking for Public hard earned money ( income tax money) to bail him out. The lack of management and top of it the soaring petrol prices, the airport charges added to Kingfishers humiliation. Frequent cancellation of flights , nonpayment to employees, rude staff laid the ground for Kingfishers grave. Kingfisher reputation took a beating when it was known that employees tax were not submitted to government on time since the last three years! Government of India also freezed 40 Kingfisher’s bank account. Latest news is that Kingfisher employees have been not paid three months salary. We all know how we feel when our salary is delayed by a day, imagine what happens to them when they are not getting salary for last three months. How do you expect the employees to keep a smiling face to its customers when they themselves are crying . A company which forgots its employees, is also soon forgotten. A classic example is Kingfisher airlines. Mr Mallya had to sell 49% of his ownership of Force India( F1 car) to Mr Subrato Roy to get kingfisher going ( owner of ailing airline Air Sahara , years back) , but it too failed to save the airlines from tatters. I still have hope from Mr Mallya that he will refrain from over indulgence and concentrate on his fragile business. It’s time he and his son become responsible and start this company from scratch instead of late night parties and IPL and took inspiration from Indigo airlines who proudly claimed themselves as Low cost airline and exceeding the customers delight in every way they can.

Comparing Women in The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute

Exploitation of Women Exposed in The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute      Ã‚  Ã‚   In their manifesto, the Redstockings argued that the relationship between men and women was a class relationship, and that the men repressed and controlled the women. The women were objects, and the men owned them. They said that, as a class, women "are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor" by the male class(Bloom, Takin' it to the Streets, 486). Many of the women characters in The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute give us examples of this repression and exploitation.    In both The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, we often see women as being subordinate to men. For example, in "Debts", one of Grace Paley's characters is happy because she has found "a husband to serve"(Paley, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, 11). Her life has no meaning apart from her role as wife. She is defined by her husband. The idea that women are defined by their husband is so pervasive that we even find it in the language of the stories. In "The Burdened Man" there is a newspaper article describing the shooting of a wife and her lover by her husband. The husband and the lover are called by name, Sgt. Armand Kielly and Alfred Ciaro, respectively. The wife is only referred to as Mrs. Kielly. In The Bell Jar, when Buddy Willard proposes to Esther, he asks her "How would you like to be Mrs. Buddy Willard?"(Plath, The Bell Jar, 75). In both these instances, the language used defines the women in terms of their husband. This casual indication of dominance says a great deal about the culture.    The exploitation of women as sex objects is also easy to find. Both works contain extreme i... ...(Bloom, 486). As a class, men exploit them for personal use, both economically and sexually. They do everything they can to keep women in an inferior position. This repression is so pervasive that it is even found in the language of the women themselves. Correcting this problem is not a matter of changing individual relationships within the society. As the manifesto says, "the conflicts between individual men and women are political conflicts that can only be solved collectively"(486). In order for things to improve, there must be some change in society at a base level.    Works Cited Bloom, Alexander and Wini Breines, eds. Takin' it to the Streets. Oxford University Press, New York, 1995. Paley, Grace. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, New York, 1974. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper and Row, New York, 1971.   

C. Wright Mills and His Understanding of the Cold War/Wwiii

Yunlong Li November 11, 2012 C. Wright Mills and His Understanding of the Cold War/WWIII Authors and historians have attempted to understand what caused and perpetuated the Cold War for decades. Although it is not a simple answer with simple component reasons, this brief essay will seek to explain to the reader a few of the main reasons why the Cold War transpired as it did and what mechanisms kept it going. As a means of understanding the Cold War, the author of the essay has reviewed the writings of C.Wright Mill with relation to this topic as well as various other authors who have been cited and referenced in the below analysis. Before delving into the subject matter and trying to understand what caused and perpetuated the Cold War, it is worth first pointing out some of the factually incorrect information that surrounds many common approaches to the Cold War. The first, and perhaps most prominent of these faulty points of view, is that the Cold War was thrust upon the United Stat es by a dangerous and overly aggressive Soviet Union after the conclusion of World War II.This view is faulty due to the fact that both superpowers that emerged after the Second World War were inherently distrustful of the other. Furthermore, it can be seen that the power structure that emerged put both actors on a collision course with respect to the fact that the economic systems championed by both the United States and the Soviet Union were inherently against one another.As such, it can be understood as a self-fulfilling prophecy that both sides would come into conflict with each other (Goertzel 243). In this way, it can be understood that it was not either necessarily the fact that the United States or the Soviet Union was actively aggressive that ensured that the two powers would come at odds with one another; rather it was their inherent differences in political systems, ideology, economics, and the fact that they were both superpowers intent on dominating the world system.Per haps the most interesting idea that Mills put forward was the idea of what ultimately kept the peace between the United States and the Soviet Union during periods of extreme pressure and stress that occurred during the Cold War. Mills claimed that a hierarchy of power elite were the true actors behind the scenes that worked to ensure a full confrontation between the two superpowers would never translate into an actuality (Marino 29). These power elite†, as Mills called them, were the executive branch (president of the United States), top Pentagon military leaders, and the corporate rich. Although this view definitely bears some truth, the fact of the matter is that such an oversimplification does not factor in to account the key players in the Soviet Union that also sought to keep the conflict from coming to a head to head confrontation. Mills goes on to state that one of the largest reasons that would precipitate World War III would be the fact that both sides were in such a dire state of preparedness for such a conflict.This particular view is interesting due to the fact that many authors have listed this preparation as one of the reasons that the two sides did not actually come to blows (Warner 174). Although hindsight is of course perfect, Mills seemed to believe that the process of preparing for such a conflict would mean that the two sides would be left with a type of self-fulfilling prophecy as well as a broad range of advanced weaponry which would guarantee that the two would come to blows in the form of a Third World War.More specifically, Mills saw the advent of new weapons systems and the way in which the military industrial complex continued to push for an escalation in the conflict as proof positive that the momentum for all out war was definitely evident. Many authors claim that Mills particular view of the way in which the Soviet Union and the United States would come into conflict as a result of the tensions created by the factors that ha ve been listed was not the result of the fact that he truly believed this to be true but due to the fact that he was attempting to agitate political change within the United States.Mills, although a prolific writer and well known intellectual, was also a member of the movement known as the â€Å"New Left†. This particular movement subscribed to the view that the military and key elements of the power elite had entirely too much power over the way in which policy decisions were being made and the common man/electorate was less and less important in determining the future of the nation.Accordingly, authors have attempted to show that rather than showing his true position on the Cold War and what might occur as a result of the political actions that were taking place at the time, Mills instead sought to create a movement for change within the current political structure by engaging academics and intellectuals in realizing that the current course could only lead to conflict and d estruction of all systems equally.Yet another alternate view states that the true allure and appeal of the Cold War was a solidifying effect for American and Soviet leaders. As they were able to present to their people and electorates that an existential threat existed outside of their own system, they were able to elicit levels of patriotism, belief, and economic efficiency/utility that would not have otherwise been able to be realized (Saull 1124).As a result of the fact that the leadership of both systems recognized and valued the importance that such a bi-polar view of the world effected on their populations, both sides were no doubt at least partially interested in keeping up the appearance of sudden confrontation as a means to manage their people and direct the overall efficiency of their economies. All of the guess work and alternate theories deserve their place; however, just because the theories of MAD and the deterrence that other strategic decisions that were made by both sides encouraged more level heads to prevail during this chilled conflict.Merely due to the fact that a theory is old and has been tested and measured thousands of times does not require that a new theory should be put in its place (Roberts 1476). Accordingly, although many of Mills points bear analysis, it would be premature and reckless to put these theories in place of the time-tested and proven theories that have for so long helped to define the logic of why the United States and Soviet Union were able to keep the peace between themselves during the turbulent years surrounding the Cold War.What is important to understand from the preceding analysis is not whether C Wright Mills or any other theorists were correct; rather, understanding the different ways that these theorists and philosophers/political intellectuals saw the interplay between these superpowers and the subsequent conflict or lack of conflict it predicted helps the researcher to both understand and appreciate the d iffering levels of thought that helped to nuance and develop our current understanding of the conflict surrounding the Cold War.In this way, trying to prove or disprove C Wright Mill’s views with relation to whether or not he was ultimately correct in the way he categorized and defined unique developments between these two superpowers becomes of secondary importance to attempting to understanding the causal historical factors that helped to develop the world view he works to give to the reader. Works Cited Goertzel, Ted G. â€Å"The Causes Of World War III: Thirty Years Later. † Sociological Forum 4. 2 (1989): 241. Academic Search Complete.Web. 7 Nov. 2012. Marino, Noel. The arms trade. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Roberts, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Cold War As History. † International Affairs 87. 6 (2011): 1475-1484. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012. Saull, Richard. â€Å"Social Conflict And The Global Cold War. † International Affairs 87. 5 (201 1): 1123-1140. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012. Warner, Geoffrey. â€Å"The Cold War In Retrospect. † International Affairs 87. 1 (2011): 173-184. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.

Produce a report on a subject of resourcing talent in organizations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1100 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? Resourcing Talent in an Organization Diversity is the understanding, acknowledging, accepting and valuing the existing differences among people of different background regarding their ethnicity, gender, race, age, class, and disabilities. As the world keeps on globalizing it gives organizations a reason globalized to attract people of diverse backgrounds. Long ago people used to work in an insular environment but those times are gone, and now organizations are connected around the globe which makes them compete with others in the global arena. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Produce a report on a subject of resourcing talent in organizations" essay for you Create order In the process, organizations have come to realize that working with a diversified workforce is more beneficial than working in an insular environment. For this reason, both profit and non-profit organizations have opted to diversify to remain competitive. As the world keeps globalizing, people are busy moving from one country to another and organizations now have to offer opportunities to people of diverse backgrounds. Diversity itself is beneficial to any organization’s associates and employees. Even if associates in a way interdependent at work, accepting people of different diversity can increase the productivity of a company. According to Neault, workplace diversity can reduce the number of lawsuits filed against an organization, increase workplace skills/creativity, market opportunities and improve a company’s business image (Neault, et al. 73). As the world moves to an era of flexibility and creativity, diversity is crucial to staying competitive. Therefore, the need for organizations to diversify their workforce for its success. Acquiring and retaining specialist and high potential graduates is critical to any organization’s success. That is because the job market is increasingly becoming competitive and required skills are getting diverse which requires organizations to be more selective in their choices as poor recruitment can be costly and has long-term effects. An organization’s ability to attract specialists and high potential graduates can affect its competitiveness compared to its competitors. For this reason, the criteria for recruitment by the human resource department is critical to get qualified staff who can propel an organization forward and improve its competitive edge. Companies try any means possible to avoid making poor recruitment decisions that can hinder their performance. Many companies are now implementing new strategies that can attract the best specialist and high potential graduates. Most professionals and high potential graduates prefer large organizations over small ones. That is usually due to salary factor which attracts specialist and high potential graduates. A company’s clients will prefer to get great value for their money which will compel businesses to hire the specialist and high potential graduates to give quality. Moreover, demand for an organization’s products or services dictates its recruitment as to align with market needs.   Big organizations prefer job fairs as they offer a big pool of job seekers to choose. Companies are also obligated to adhere to some other legal and political requirement when recruiting so as not discriminate people with disability, from some institutions, or some minority cultural b ackgrounds (Florea, Valentina, and Doina 305). A company workforce is a key factor that determines its success and competitiveness in a market. An organization’s recruitment and selection processes are significant to its operation and its performance. Therefore, attracting and maintaining specialists and high potential graduates is crucial to the success of a company. Factors that affect an organization’s recruitment and selection process are both internal and external. Some of the internal factors of an organization include its objectives, policies or external like a government’s policies or the current demand and supply of the market. These factors are diverse, and an organization needs to strike a balance between internal and external factors to stay afloat and limit the risks associated. For and organizations to make successful recruitments it has to make consideration that analyzes its long-term planning on retirements, situational awareness and the best recruitment methods that are applicable according to its human resource management. Therefore, an organization’s recruitment is influenced by its objects and policies. That means that those hired should fit into the code of conduct of an organization and help it achieve its goals. An organization has to make market consideration of supply and demand concerning its products or services to make recruitment decisions. That will ensure that its development is sustainable according to the requirements and can enable the company deals with changing market environment. Another factor that organizations consider is the legal requirements of the government such as not discriminating against women or persons with disability. When recruiting new staff into an organization most cheap and efficient methods are preferred. One of the most preferred methods is posting of vacancies, where attributes required, knowledge, experience, and skills are outlined. The purpose of advertising jobs is to get the attention of high potential persons in qualifications for that job. An organization can also decide to use online recruiting through the internet. This method is easier, faster and cheaper than most traditional methods. Candidates view detailed information regarding the job online where a description is given, and they are required to respond electronically. An organization can also use college recruitment where representatives are sent to different campuses to fish out applicants from a wide pool of college graduates. College recruitment gives an organization high-quality graduates but online, and posting methods provide candidates with high experience. Moreover, online and posting methods are much cheaper compar ed to college recruitment (Richardson, Margaret, 15). The selection process of potential employees into an organization can be challenging, and wrong choices can be costly. Most organizations prefer the use of the general mental ability, structured interviews, and situational judgment tests. General mental ability helps an organization to predict the future performance of an employee especially in dealing with emergencies or deathliness. On the other hand, structured interviews are based on a series of questions where responses are rated. This approach is beneficial as it enables an employee to gauge employee’s behavior and his/her understanding of the job description, organizational objectives and culture. Lastly, situational judgments are multiple choice where applicants are asked to choose a response concerning a variety of hypothetical situations. The results of this offer insights on how an applicant will respond when faced with a particular situation. This method is beneficial as it enables an employee to predict how a cand idate is likely to answer to a complicated situation. Conclusion For optimal performance, an organization needs to diversify its search for talent. A company should also strike a balance in other factors like building its profile to attract specialist and high potential graduates. Moreover, it should rely on the best-recruiting methods to get most qualified employees who can make it competitive