Why do directors need to have their duties spelled out in statute Essay

Why do directors need to have their duties spelled out in statute - Essay Example directors must promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members rather than benefiting other group’s interests, but in the same way, have to observe the interests of other groups that contribute to the success of the company such as suppliers. Enshrining the regulations as law in spelling the director’s duties, is meant to formulate a favourable corporate legal environment that offer ease of access to the corporate form, minimum interference with the company management and appropriate investor protection for the overall success of the company (Companies Act 2006, Section 170-177). Advantages The codification of directors’ duties provides a clear working ground that promotes a patent definition of their roles in ensuring that the company achieves greater heights of prosperity and growth. Right from management roles and integrating issues within the market under which the company competes the law provides that directors as trustees should act in the interest of the company’s success. They should have regard to all relevant considerations and highlighting areas of particular importance that will steer the company in heights of growth. Integrating and widening the enterprise culture is an increasing major policy that is upcoming in the United Kingdom. This however is enshrined in coming up with suitable legislation that will govern the directors of business companies in their exercise for the duties. This will help in providing a successful platform for initiatives in businesses to elevate the UK business environment into global standards and making it the best place to do business. The modernization of the company law is a significant drive to facilitate and enhance the UK business enterprises to be competitive in the entire Europe and around the world appropriate investor protection and managerial freedom Directors as Managers of the companies in the UK are expected to ensure that the proposed intervention legislation are modelled to

Article Rebuttal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Article Rebuttal - Essay Example as Anthony Watts have found flaws in the Muller study because his theory does not add any value to the controversy since he does not focus on finding out whether humans are critical variable causing global warming. Global warming is a hot business topic because the governmental environmental regulators are getting stricter as time passes and are imposing new regulations that increase the costs of the company in order to implement the EPA mandates. During the 1990s when the topic of global warming became mainstreamed it was discussed as a threat to society and the government propaganda focused on blaming pollution from cars and industrial activity as the main cause of this phenomenon. Since then society has also realized that deforestation is a major contributor to global warming. The world is using too much paper and they a cutting down trees at an alarming rate. There are technological solutions on the way to lower the dependence of wood to create paper. An innovative company called Papyrus Australia invented a patented technology to produce paper out of the trucks of banana trees. Banana plants are a renewable source. The article lacked substance and critical solutions to the problem of global warming. The author’s arguments were irrational and they failed to bring any relevant new information to the table. The effect of the problem on humanity was not clearly identified. In my opinion the author should have focus more on finding solutions to the problem and stating the types of behavioral changes that have to occur from humanity to lower the effect of global warming and possibly eradicate the problem in the near future. Despite my criticism of the article there was some information that added some value to the discussion of the global warming topic. The author used some historical perspective on the topic which is always a good writing technique. I learned about the existence of a little Ice Age that occurred between 1300 A.D. and 1900 A.D. There were also

Privacy And Security Concerns Regarding Health Information Essay Example for Free

Privacy And Security Concerns Regarding Health Information Essay Case 4.8 – E-mail Goes Astray Primarily, the technician is the one responsible for the breach in confidentiality because he was the one who sent out the e-mails. Moreover, he did not seek instructions from Kaiser Permanente regarding the backlogged e-mails. Kaiser Permanente hired the technician to upgrade their system. Therefore, tasks other than doing upgrades should be consulted to the company. The technician should have asked whether the accumulated e-mails in the system should be sent out, and he should have asked what to do with them. However, Kaiser Permanente is partly responsible for the breach, because first and foremost, since they hold millions of private information, they should have made sure that that information would not be compromised. They should have made their system secure and only accessible to Kaiser Permanente personnel. Yes, situations like this discourage subscribers in using the system of Kaiser Permanente. However, the services that Kaiser Permanente offer is of great value and subscribers will not easily discontinue their subscription. But Kaiser Permanente has to ensure their subscribers that this will not happen in the future by informing them what caused the breach and reassuring them that upgrades are being done to improve the security of the system and the privacy of their information. The most important thing to do here is to be honest and at the same time make great efforts to secure the system of the company. Case 4.17 – Patient’s Files Used for Obscene Calls Definitely, background checks should be conducted before hiring new employees because this would ensure the safety of the clients, especially in the health care industry. Employers should be granted access to criminal records for them to be able to identify the extent of the crime that ex-convicts have committed. Cases such as child rape and indecent assault is a serious crime that should not be disregarded when hiring employees, especially when the job requires dealing with other people, children, etc. such as in the health care institution. Former employees who are given access to system information that are confidential, such as passwords, etc. should be screened out from the system. In other words, once an employee is not connected with the institution anymore, his access to the system should be deleted or reset. In this case, the system of the health care institution is at fault because it failed to keep the information confidential and secure. In this case, the hospital is accountable for the actions of the technician. Primarily because they hired an employee without doing background checks, they do not monitor the system, wherein they could have detected that calls were being made and the information of the clients were being accessed, and the system is not 100 % secure. Case 4.44 – University Tightens Computer Security Because of the wide range of subscribers in university medical centers information systems, it becomes vulnerable to hackers. In this case, they hacked into the system and used it to send hundreds of advertisements in their e-mails. The hackers wanted to target the significant number of subscribers in the system. However, the information within the system is not precisely the target of the breach. It is not entirely the medical center’s fault. This is because hackers do what they do. They find ways to get into the system even if security measures were set-up to avoid breaching the security of an information system. Therefore, even if the system is secure, hackers will really find a way to get into the system. The medical center’s fault was that they were not able to detect that the system was being hacked. They should have upgrades in the system, which will be used in monitoring the system and alarming when hackers breach the system.

Ozone Depletion Essays -- essays research papers

Ozone Depletion In this world of rapid change, it's extremely difficult for a company to stay ahead of the game even using all the resources available to them. So, it's difficult to imagine the problems they would run into when a group of environmentalists decide to boycott a substance which is the foundation of their company. These chemicals, although very useful, cause consequences that need to be dealt with now in order to prevent further damage. The chemicals in question are numerous, but the two gaining the most attention are chloroflurocarbons (CFC's) and carbon tetrachloride. CFC's have a wide range of uses, but are popularly used in aerosol propellants and air conditioning for homes and cars (Singer and Crandall npg). Carbon tetrachloride is one of the major components in making CFC so their damage is similar. When they inter the outer atmosphere, They react with ozone chemicals to release chlorine and bromine that in turn deteriorate the ozone and form "thinning" or "holes." This is catastrophic because they are bonded very strongly together and cannot be broken down by water. This means they travel into the atmosphere virtually unharmed by rain or decomposition (Goldfarb 282). The reason these are causing such a commotion is the damage they cause to living things on Earth. When the ozone depletes, it causes more ultraviolet (UV) rays to hit the Earth's su...

How can Freud’s Psychodynamic model help me to understand and change my life?

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the father of psychodynamic therapy. His work built upon what had been done by Brewer before him. One of his patients Anna O labelled his method as being ‘the talking cure'*. During this essay I shall briefly explain Freud's main theories on the human personality and then examine how these can help me to understand and change my life. * An Introduction To Counselling. P80 Freud believed the human psyche is divided into three areas the conscious, preconscious and unconscious*. In the unconscious exists the Id. This is the instinctual life force within us. Two forces are at work within the Id, Eros a drive for love and Thanatos a drive for destruction**. In our day-to-day lives we are unaware of the effects our Id has upon us, Freud argues that hidden forces from the Id govern most of the things we want to do. The Id has no time dimension and memories trapped within it remain emotionally charged***. * Teach Yourself Counselling. P121 ** Teach Yourself Counselling. P121 *** Mastering Psychology. P242 The Ego helps to mediate between the Id and the outside world, known as the ‘reality principle'*. It is the part of ourselves, which enables us to fit into society. It takes on board social norms and lets the Id have its way when it will be practically possible and allowable by society. * Mastering Psychology. P242 From society and our parents we develop the Superego. This provides us with a ‘moral principle'*. It is basically the internalisation of parental and societal rules. The Superego is largely unconscious though we do become aware of certain thing when they move into the preconscious. * Mastering Psychology. P243 Through psychodynamic therapy I discovered that I had repressed many memories. I believe these were being stored in my unconscious. These memories were having a profound effect upon my life although I did not realise this at the time. I went through almost seven years of bullying when I was at school. When I left school and continued with my life I was always aware of this fact but I had lost many of the details over time and could not recall much about it. When I reached twenty years of age I developed clinical depression and had panic attacks. I was forced leave university with only six months left to completion. My home became my sanctuary and for a period of three months I did not leave it. Through many years of differing therapy I have begun to understand more about what happened within my mind to bring me to that point. The memories I had storied in my unconscious, though I was largely unaware of them, were distorting my view of the world. It was â€Å"frightening outside†; I could â€Å"get hurt if I left home†. These were not a realistic feeling about my current circumstances but were a reflection of the fears I had held during the time of my bullying. I was extremely depressed because I felt â€Å"useless†, â€Å"ugly† and that my life was â€Å"pointless†. Again I now feel that these thoughts grew from trapped memories. I had been called many names whilst at school; I had been treated very badly facing physical harm on a daily basis. I was treated as an outcast by nearly everyone; I was spat at, ignored, teased and put down. During therapy I began to see in my mind a monster. It was black with red eyes. I had often had nightmares involving such a creature. Freud regarded dreams as â€Å"the royal road to the unconscious†*. He placed great emphasis upon analysing them, and along with free association dreams became the centre of his psychoanalysis methods. Freud believed that dreams where a sign of the unconscious mind at work and proof that his theories were correct. * Freud – A Beginners Guide p25 & p57 Over time I realised that this monster contained all of the negative emotions other people had placed onto me. Even seven years after the bullying stopped this monster was still telling me I was useless and ugly and deserved no more than to be beaten up. Through therapy memories slowly began to emerge from out of the unconscious. It was very painful at first as the strength of feeling contained in the memories was so strong. Overtime these feelings have weakened, I still believe there are some buried memories but many have now risen out of my Id and have been largely dealt with in my conscious. I don't believe the monster has gone but I seem to have taken much of its power away. I believe my Ego is caught up in this tangled web as well. I feel that while I was at school I may have internalised some of the negatives messages into my Ego. In some ways my Ego stopped looking after me. Through psychodynamic therapy I have begun to rebuild my Ego almost teaching it that the things that happened to me were not my fault and that I do deserve to be looked after by myself, through my Ego. Freud divided a child's life into a number of differing developmental stages. Stage one is the oral phase*. Normally occurring between being born and around two years of age. It involves a discovery of your world and surroundings through the use of your mouth. Sucking to feed provides both nutrients and closeness with mother. Any available object will be tested by being placed in the mouth and explored that way. Mastering Psychology. P247, Teach Yourself Counselling. P123, An Introduction To Counselling. P81 Personally I have no memories of this period in my own life. It is thought though that people sometimes fall back into child like behaviour to receive comfort from these things. I smoke and therefore enjoy the aspect of putting a cigarette in my mouth and sucking it tending to do this most when stressed. Some people argue this is regressive behaviour and links back into my oral stage. The second stage occurs between the ages of two to four. Called the Anal Stage* it is the period when a child discovers that he/she produces faeces. Apparently the child then experiments with control. Being able to both let go and hold on to the faeces. Freud argued that if parents handle this stage of development badly a child could become afraid of letting go of things as they grew older or overly controlling. Teach Yourself Counselling. P123, Mastering Psychology. P247 The phallic stage* develops between the ages of four to seven. Freud argued that the genitals become the main interest or focus to the child during this period. It is also during this time that the Superego develops. This is the time when Freud's infamous Oedipus* and Electra Complexes* are said to occur. Teach Yourself Counselling. P124. Mastering Psychology. P247 Little boys will fall in love with their mother and girls with their father. Girls will develop penis envy and hate their mother for not giving them one. Boys will hate their father believing that he wishes to castrate them and stop them being with their mother. After this latency will set in, this period is believed to be the best time for children to learn. Then puberty starts and Freud believed that the whole process repeats itself thus enabling any damage incurred during the first time round to be repaired. I can imagine that during puberty these processes had a difficult time repairing any damage to me, as it was during this time that I was being bullied. I can't directly link any of this to the three stages but from experience I know that damage done during this time is far more difficult to deal with than damage done later in life when the personality is fully formed. In this final stage of the essay I shall examine four of Freud's ideas on how the mind copes with experiences it does not want to deal with, these are called defences. Freud listed over twenty-five differing defences created by the mind to protect itself. The first one I shall look at is repression. Repression is when memories are hidden in the unconscious. The Ego may not have been able to cope with the events attached to the memory and so stored them away where the person could not access them. * Teach Yourself Counselling. P183/184. Mastering Psychology. P245. This is sometimes known as Ego Censorship*. Personally this is one defence I feel I have had a lot of experience with. Most of my time at school was somehow lost. My two best friends, who were at school with me, would talk about fellow students, teaches and events involving the three of us and I would have no recollection what so ever of what they were talking about. * Counselling course class notes Many of the things that happened to me I only began to remember after they spoke about them. It was very strange, almost as if they were talking about people and places I had never been. It was quite a disconcerting experience. The experience would come into my conscious at sometimes though. Through dreams certain memories would come alive. If I was extremely depressed suddenly a dam would break and a flood of bad memories would pour on top of me and yet the next day I would not be able to recall what they were. Another defence is regression*. This is the idea that people sometimes return to behaviour linked with the developmental stages. This can involve many things including crying, taking to ones bed or comfort eating. As I said earlier smoking is also connected with this as it is seen as an oral behaviour. It is noticeable that many people including myself smoke far more when stressed. * An Introduction To Counselling. P84. Teach Yourself Counselling. P183. I do recall, at the time of my worst depression that I took to my bed, often lying in the foetal position and crying. It was comforting in some way. As if I was safer lying in my bed than having to be in the world outside. It reminds me of the time when at night I suddenly feel scared in the dark on the way back from the bathroom but I know when I get into bed and covered up again I will be quite safe. It is also quite possible from personal experience to deny painful events. Denial* is a term, which has become very mainstream; he or she is in denial. Looking back on my life I can see a number of times when I was living in denial. One of my partners who I was with for about six months was patently not for me. I knew this deep down but did not want to be alone and so I denied it. * Teach Yourself Counselling. P179. I continued in the relationship feeling more and more unhappy though not allowing myself to see the real reason, which I did actually know. Eventually the other person ended it and I was forced to deal with life without that partner. It did not take long to realise that I was much happier without them than I was with them but I had not allowed myself to see any possibility of a happy life without them in it. I think everyone has been guilty of displacement at one time in his or her life. Displacement* is when a person replaces the true object of their emotions with another. If someone is angry they may kick a door instead of kicking the person they are angry with. In a sense this defence can be seen as a very positive thing. The Ego allowing aggression out where it will do less harm all round. * Teach Yourself Counselling. P179/180 So during this essay I have briefly examined some of Freud's theories on human development and growth and thought about how these theories can help me to see my life in a different way. In some cases they already have as I have done psychodynamic therapy for some time now. Other areas of his theories leave me slightly baffled and cold, as they strike no resonance with me, though it may be argued that that's because I don't want them to.

Robespierre, The French Revolution And The Symbol Of Evil...

Those people of the past that are studied as â€Å"historical figures† – major and minor – make up a virtually insignificant portion of the people that have inhabited the earth since the beginning of civilization. And yet to die without a memorable legacy is much more desirable a fate than to be remembered with enduring hatred for what one accomplished and stood for during life. Certainly, there are many who deserve to be remembered with spite – people whose beliefs and actions were unacceptable whether evaluated in a modern context or that of their own period. And yet still some are hated for centuries, mainly due to having made powerful enemies while alive. Maximilien Robespierre, who is often regarded as the leading figure of the French Revolution and the symbol of violent excess during that period, was one such person. Although the view of Robespierre within the historical community has softened (to a certain degree), he remains a personification of ev il in the public mind. For example, the first result of a quick Google search for â€Å"most evil people† includes a list of 25 historical figures, with Robespierre at no. 17, ahead of others such as Adolf Eichmann, Heinrich Himmler, and Osama bin Laden. While this website is by no means a scholarly source, it serves to underline the way in which the average person views Robespierre in a grossly inaccurate fashion. The legacy that was created for Robespierre by political opponents who used him as a scapegoat is not at all one thatShow MoreRelatedHow Revolutionaries Consolidated their Political Power in France During The French Revolution1096 Words   |  5 PagesEvaluate the view that revolutionaries consolidated power: Introduction Following the French Revolution, the National Convention and Robespierre as the head of the Committee of Public Safety, employed drastic measures to achieve their goals, however managed to successfully consolidate power as demonstrated by the overall success of the revolution. Whilst the revolution itself was a momentous undertaking, nothing was quite as dramatic as the execution of King Louis XVI that was orchestrated by theRead MoreThe War Of The Revolution1951 Words   |  8 PagesKay Chop Concide Hacher 10/5/17 In a futile attempt to protect the French Revolution from utter destruction, the revolutionary radicals decreed the Terror the â€Å"order of the day† (Danton 45) in an effort to â€Å"force people to be free.† The Terror did not pervert Revolutionary ideals but was a result of a necessary amplification of these ideas in order to ensure the safety of the Revolution. Louis Antoine Saint-Just, a French revolutionary stated that â€Å"what produces the general good is always terrible†Read MoreThe Implementation of Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Philosophy by Maximilien Robespierre and His Purposed Reaction Had He Lived to Witness It6564 Words   |  27 PagesPerhaps one of the most influential figures during the French Revolution was a man by the name of Maximilien Robespierre. Instrumental especially at the onset of the Revolution, a period referred to as the Reign of Terror, Robespierre drew on the insights of many Enlightenment philosophers and was a strong advocate f or the left wing bourgeoisie. However, despite his efficacious leadership and sentiment, much of what he encouraged to the masses is based off the writings and teachings of one EnlightenmentRead MoreCommunism And The Communist Manifesto3222 Words   |  13 Pagesterrible mistreatment of the Bourgeoisie (elite). Many leaders did not take the Communist Manifesto seriously, and followed and practiced Marxism. Possibly one of the most prominent people who did so was Mao Zedong, Mao was quoted, â€Å"If there is to be revolution, there must be a revolutionary party. Without a revolutionary party, without a party built on the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory and in the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary†. Mao was all for Marxism and followed what Marx said to do.(RevolutionaryRead MoreEssay on The Gothic Genre and What it Entails6177 Words   |  25 Pagessecond generation Romantics like Shelleys Ode to the West Wind or The Mask of Anarchy to verify this. The same is true of Romantic Gothic which arose around that unique period in European history posthumously defined by the French Revolution but significant for its trans-European massive cultural and social upheaval indicated in part by repeated rioting in Britain (Lowe, vii) and a widespread clamour for various reforms. Victor Sage writes, English Gothick of the eighteenth

Facing The Challenges Of Privatization Today Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3785 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? In 1952 two different companies Shell Petroleum Company and Burmah Oil Company, UK signed an agreement with the Indian Government to prepare a new refinery in Mumbai and the name of the refinery was Burmah Oil Refineries Ltd. In 1957 it started and worked in a proper flow, In 1976 Indian Government changed their policy and nationalized the petroleum industry. Indian Government acquired the complete equity in Burmah Oil Refineries Ltd and changed from Burmah Oil Refineries Ltd to Bharat Refineries Ltd. In 1977 the Indian Government again changed its name to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL). Industry Environment Indian governments acquired BPCL in 1970 in the act of nationalisation arrangement of Indian governments. In 1991 It was monitored and under the supervision of government till economic reorganizations. Government monitored the all the expenses, raw materials and the end products purchase and selling price, manufacture capacity, uses of the raw materials, circulation, and what is the return on investment were monitored by the government. Three main combined marketing and purifying companies were there at that time and many small and independent companies were supplying their product to these companies. Government improved their strategy for work and enlarged the distribution network in all over the country, like setup new retail outlets to reduce the competition along with their competitor. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Facing The Challenges Of Privatization Today Business Essay" essay for you Create order Privatization As a part of the ongoing economic reforms the government was actively pursuing privatization of the public sector companies. A couple of senior managers state Privatization is a slight that will happen. One cant bother too much about the future without knowing what is going to happen. It is inevitable and we cant do about it. We dont know what will happen to BPCL and us. Tomorrow we may not exist as BPCL. We might become a part of Shell or Reliance or some other organization. The impeding competition as well as the uncertainty of existence in the present form created anxiety in the organization across all levels. Some considered it to be an opportunity where as others considered it as a let down by the government and the organization. The organization initiated numerous changes in order to transform itself to face the future competition. Initiation of the Restructuring Process The initiation for restructuring the organization was by the personal initiative of the CMD Mr. U Sundararajan. He had earlier been appointed by the government to study the petroleum industry in other countries as a preamble for deregulation. He had formed a cross well-designed team for studying the effectiveness of the models followed by different countries. Mr. Sundararajan and the team studied more than two hundred books and numerous articles on deregulation, oil industry and best practices. Mr. Sundararajan realized the inability of his organization to compete with MNCs with deregulation. He started the reorganization process through discussions with the top management, the board and the government The path which BPCL LTD choose to face the competition and initiatives taken in terms of organizational Behaviour has been assessed in this assignment. For the purpose of analyzing the focus was laid down on key aspects of organization behavior which are organizational structur e, change of team and organizational culture and climate in terms of Coaches of Organizational Learning which can be correlated to the case. Coaches of Organizational Learning Consultants from Innovation Associates (a subsidiary of ADL) initially trained a group of trainer in systems idea and organizational education. A team of around thirty full time coaches and more than sixty part time coaches were trained in turn by these. These coaches conducted two programs namely Visionary Leadership Planning (VLP) and Foundations of Organisational Learning (FOL). More than six hundred managers have undergone VLP and more than five thousand management and non-management staff have undergone FOL. VLP program is designed to help teams clarify and understand reasons for their unique existence, co-create team aspirations, realistically assess current reality and formulate a Strategy to cover up the gap. The teams identify High Leverage Results they are passionate about and assign responsibilities to a few members with the whole team agreeing to support the process. FOL program is designed to create a common language of learning in organizations. The coaches were instr umental in creating a non-threatening atmosphere for change and also in providing the inputs on systems thinking and learning organization, enabling effectiveness of the various task forces empowered for quick result changes. One of the trainer states We have applied for instructor education with skeptism. We later realized the importance of systems ideas and organizational education. The first program was a mind opening experience. The inputs on functional silos reflected our organization. Now we are hardcore followers of systems ideas. Communication Communication played a important role during out the change process. A bulletin was promoted that provided usual updates to the whole organization about the visioning exercise, the assessment of current reality, status of the quick fix opportunities and the new structure. In every stage the break through teams had a high level of interaction with the concerned divisions. The informal channel of communication was also taken care of by including community from all realistic constituencies in the change break through teams. A top down approach was used to communicate the change plan with help from the break through team members. One CUSECS member reiterates Communication played a fundamental role in CUSECS project. The common updates through the newsletter and informal communication through the members to their parent departments was useful in updating the whole organization quickly. We identified enablers in each department, people who are opinion shapers and we particularly e mbattled them. We convinced them first and then asked them to communicate to others about the change Top Management Involvement The CMD was occupied throughout the reorganization process. He communicated his hold to the change activities by personal involvement, and regular appreciation to the change management team and the particular task forces. He played the role of a mentor to the team members. He also interacted with a large number of employees during the visioning, assessment and finishing point stages. Young managers recount stories of his support to the change team, where he gave total freedom to come up with creative ideas and safe guarded them from backlashes from well-known constituencies. Mr. Sundararajan recalls In the prime period I talked to lots of group of people regarding the need for reorganization. The leader has to act not just talk. Lip service will not work for long. If individual says one will take of care of the subordinates then one has to when something happens Change Opportunities for Quick Results During the assessment process, the break through teams identified many opportunities where small changes were likely to produce foremost results. Special task forces for working on the identified opportunities were created and started working in equivalent. The job forces were provided with adequate training and were in constant communication with the break through teams. At one point of time there were more than six hundred task forces working across the organization on thousands of opportunities identified in the change plan. Market study, brand building, packaging, operational efficiency of plants, correct quantity and quality of products, cash collections, and safety are some areas where task forces worked to produce quick results. Creating a Shared Vision The visioning exercise was conducted to develop clarity and common understanding about the potential of the association. The visioning work out started with the panel. The exercise was extended across the company in a escalation approach flowing from the top management to the junior management facilitated by internal experts trained particularly for the same. The core of the vision as articulated by the organizational members across the organization is given below. Be the BEST Establish first class brands and Make the workplace exciting corporate image Improve boundary management Excellent customer care and service Fulfill social responsibilities, to Go for excellent performance and ethical operational efficiency Apply the best technology. Make people a source of improvement Make systems strong and dynamic. Below figure elaborates the nine broad themes in the shared vision of BPCL. The visioning exercise provided an opportunity for articulation of the aspirations of the people. The process brought the whole organization out of lethargy, and increased the energy levels and expectations on persons, teams and the company. Since the vision was iterated throughout the organization, there was greater buy in for the change. One of the managers states We were all amazed that the vision was so much in unison across the organization. It clearly stated that people had great aspirations but never expressed them. This exercise made us realize the possibilities for the future of BPCL. Change Plan Based on the inputs from the shared vision and current reality, a workshop was conducted to develop a change plan. The change plan came to six volumes with over one thousand and six hundred pages. The change plan included the Organizational assessment Well defined corporate values Vision articulated in terms of critical business processes, and Areas of change to achieve the vision Organizational Assessment Current Reality Based on the initial diagnosis by the CUSECS team and the visioning workshop for top management, it was decided that an organization wide assessment exercise would be conducted simultaneously with the shared visioning exercise. Six break through teams were formed. The teams were responsible for assessing the organizational reality in terms of Marketing, Lubricants and Refining Support services and management Logistics processes LPG. The marketing team looked at the customer management processes, product management processes and execution management processes. The refining team compared the effectiveness of the refinery; lube oil processing and LPG plants with the best international players taking into account the machinery age and technology employed. Various performance parameters like crude acquisition, energy consumption, and capital expenditure were assessed. The logistics team also looked at the existing logistics infrastructure, economics of supply and distributio n, opportunities for cost reduction, supply points vs. consumption centers, impact of taxes and duty, and comparison with benchmarks and competitors. The LPG team compared the LPG marketing with that of the international and local competitors. The customer base, pricing policies, interface between the customer and marketing and future plans were critically reviewed. The lubricants team analyzed the organizational competitive position in comparison to the competition. It also looked at the packaging, pricing, branding, trade channels, the existing joint venture arrangements, and future plans. The team responsible for support services and management processes evaluated the human resource practices (for example work culture, HR processes, training and development, and appraisal and compensation), the information systems (for example use of different software packages, integration and use of IT), and accounting practices in terms of clarity, speed and cost. The break through te ams also assessed the organizational structure in terms of roles and responsibilities, levels and accountability, human resource development in terms of training, appraisal and compensation. Each team interacted with all the stakeholders concerned including the unions, suppliers, distributors, customers, financial institutes, local communities, government officials, and so on. Assessment was carried out in a non- threatening manner, with constant and rich communication of the activities carried out by the break through teams. The assessment exercise created an internal environment for change. The organizational assessment exercise found the following Collective dissatisfaction with the status quo Low customer focus and customer orientation Huge gap between the vision and capabilities to achieve it, and Many opportunities for quick improvement Change Team A change team was formed with twenty-two managers nominated from various functions across levels. The team size grew to thirty as the project progressed. The team members had varied performance records, educational qualifications and experience. The CMD did not believe in giving importance to those with higher degrees over others. His philosophy was to provide an opportunity to average people in an empowered and enabled environment to achieve great results. Mr. Sundararajan says Initially when we formed the change team I asked for nominations from various departments and they nominated all kinds of people. I did not nominate the best mangers in BPCL because I have observed many times in my career, if people are given the right environment and opportunities they would rise up to it. And my faith was not misplaced. These youngsters did a wonderful job. The change project was titled CUSECS for Customer Service Customer Satisfaction. The consultant ADL trained the CUSECS team. The training included topics like negotiations, interpersonal effectiveness, presentations, systems thinking, and best practices. The CUSECS team was provided with all the information and support required to develop skills in diagnosis, change strategy formulation, organization design, and implementation. Those who could not take up the huge workload and stress were requested to leave and join their parent departments. The team conducted a short diagnosis of the organizational issues with facilitation by consultants and made presentations to the top management. One of the CUSECS team members state: We were initially frustrated and unable to understand why ADL wanted us to think through everything ourselves, rather than telling us what is best. Later, we appreciated their approach in enabling us to think and decide for ourselves what is best for the organization. We were trained exhaustively starting from presentation skills, negotiation skills to systems thinking and so on. Designing the New Structure There was a clear consensus among the change management team, top management team and the consultants that the functional structure would not be able to sustain initiatives taken to create the customer centric organization. The obvious solution was to create customer centric strategic business units (SBUs). The change management team with assistance of the consultants considered various options. The redesign process took about a month. The CMD was personally involved in this. To prevent any interference from day to day activities he officially took leave and was present as a resource person. The change team discussed the various choices in structure with all the stakeholders. There were apprehensions among senior managers regarding the new structure and no consensus emerged on the new structure. Politicking and power plays were observed, with each function trying to retain the existing status in terms of power and control. Finally the CMD personally called for a meeting of the func tional heads and other senior managers. Asking the group to discuss, negotiate and come with a concrete solution acceptable to everyone, he locked the room and waited outside. Finally a design was approved that was acceptable to all. The final structure was not the optimum structure as envisioned by the change team but one acceptable to all the members of the top management team. Implementation The new structure was rolled out in phased manner to ensure effective implementation. The new structure was first implemented in the LPG SBU. Based on the experience, the new design was implemented across the organization with necessary modifications. Further, in each of the proposed SBUs specific regions were identified and the new structure was implemented to verify the smooth functioning before full implementation. Organizational Structure The older structure was functionally organized. There were mainly four functions (refineries, marketing, finance and personnel) each headed by an executive director reporting to the (CMD). Other support departments like corporate affairs, legal, audit, vigilance, coordination and company secretary were directly under the CMD. The Director refinery was in charge of refinery, corporate planning, JV refineries and special projects. Other than corporate finance and marketing finance EDP was also under the Director finance. In marketing, there were different departments for retail, industry, LPG, lubricants and aviation segments. Corporate communication was also under Director meeting. The whole of India was divided into four regions and further into 22 divisions. Each region was headed by a Regional Manager who was in charge of all activities within the region and reported to the Director marketing. Each region had a manager in charge of each of regional personnel, regional engin eering, regional industrial customers, regional retail, and regional finance. Regional LPG was under regional industrial customers. The division was the responsibility of the Divisional Manager reporting to the Regional Manager. He had a manager each for sales, operations and engineering. Each of these was responsible for sales, depots and engineering respectively for all the customer segments. Across the marketing function, except for the corporate departments (LPG, industrial customer, etc.) specifically looking after a customer segment, every individual and role is focused on multiple customer segments. For example any strategy addressing the industrial customers originates from the Corporate Department (Industrial Customer), goes via the Director Marketing, Regional Manager, Divisional Manager to the Sales Officer. All of them are responsible for multiple customer segments like retail, LPG, industrial, etc. and deal with different classes of customers. Hence there was very lo w customer awareness in terms of the unique needs of the different customer segments, with no single individual at the operational level having clarity on any single customer segment. Moreover, the marketing strategy was formulated by people who were far from the customer with very low understanding of the customer they were targeting. The implementers were responsible for diverse customers with a low understanding of the logic of these strategies meant for each customer segment. Thus the old structure had created a bottleneck between the strategy formulators and implementers in terms of the regional structure, and between the field staff and the corporate offices and refinery. Activities of a business process are spread out across different functions and levels of hierarchy, engaging many individuals. There was a long chain of non-value adding linkages between any two activities targeting a business / customer. For example, when an industrial customer gives a special order of lu bes to the sales officer, the corporate lubes purchases the base oil, plant blends it, SD packs it and the sales officer sells it. The Sales Officer would communicate the order to the Divisional Manager, who passes it on to the Regional Manager. Then the order would be routed to the Corporate Lubes for processing. Everyone involved in the activities of this process belong to different functions and hierarchy levels. This long chain of communication had led to a lack of customer orientation, low awareness of customer needs and expectations and slow response. The New SBU Structure The new structure was focused on the business processes and the customer. The new structure at the top management level is the same. Five SBUs Retail, Lubes, Industry/Commercial, LPG and Aviation are customer centered SBUs and come under the director (marketing). The sixth SBU, Refinery along with two new departments IT Supply Chain and RD are under the director (refineries). Each SBU would have its own HR, IS, finance, logistics, sales, engineering, etc. The number of layers in the organization was reduced to four from six or seven. The major change is the introduction of the territories covering a smaller geographical area and focusing on specific customer segments. In retail SBU the new structure had 669 territories reporting to the four regional offices, where as in the earlier structure there were only 22 divisions which catered to all segments. In other SBUs the regional office was removed and territories were designed to directly report to the SBU heads. Each territo ry team leader was responsible for sales in the territory only for a specific product. The territory structure was designed to enable the field staff to focus on specific customer segments. Authority was also delegated down the hierarchy and decision making pushed to the lowest possible levels. Decisions earlier taken at the regional level were taken now at the territory level. Further authority was delegated to the role and not the hierarchy level. Administrative offices have been moved to supply locations that consist of 125 terminals for main fuels and 35 LPG bottling ones. In LPG SBU head office there are only nine personnel and across the territories even managers at senior positions have been forced to get business. The new design incorporated recalibration of roles and responsibilities and redeployment of more than two thousand people (around one fifth of total employee strength) across the organization. It created new roles at the front effectively using redundant manpower t o increase customer interface and interaction. Since the corporate and support functions are now located within the SBUs the new design included lateral linkage mechanisms (see Appendix C). Governance Councils, Process Councils, and Task forces (to address specific organizational issues) were the mechanisms for integrating the different parts of the organization. Some Salient Features of New Structure were Highly empowered work force Decentralized decision making De-linking of authority from hierarchical levels Orientation towards internal and external customers Regular market research and customer surveys Conscious brand building efforts Organizational Structure before redesign Organizational Structure after redesign Conclusion Bharat Petroleum believes long term relationship with their customer to reorientation and change in approach with the customers. Today, Bharat Petroleum is restructured into a Corporate Centre, Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and Shared Services and Entities. From the last many years Bharat Petroleum continues face many challenges of the quickly changing environment. Bharat petroleum make advance and changes their products and services according to the changing environment. In day by day changing in bharat petroleum only one factor has remained unchanged this is Bharat Petroleums employees which are the source of strength and motivation of Bharat Petroleums in their future innovations. Bharat Petroleum wants their employees to understand the complexity of the market, customers requirements, and offer the innovative products to meets the customers requirements. For Bharat Petroleum, promise by its staffs is a critical resource. BPCL believe that only a cheerful worker will pla ce his best result and a good relationship with the customs, Bharat Petroleum deployed and also will plan to implement several steps to make the organisation a great place to work or worker get best organisation environment. Hewitt Associates conducted a survey for Business Today magazine in the January 2001 issue to identify the best employers, and in this survey Bharat Petroleum was one of top ten employers in India. The main motive of the survey was to discover out which companies had really charged the expressive and intellectual energy of their employees. The companies who were in the top list were Hughes, ICICI, P and G, Asian Paints, Hewlett-Packard, HLL, Infosys, LG and Compaq. Bharat Petroleum adopts significant value-based HR methods for growth of individuals and their organisational skills with a assessment to provide them with a competitive edge and also to realise their private vision in tandem with the commercial vision. Bharat Petroleum has been conferred the Na tional HRD Award 2000 by National HRD Network for making Outstanding Contribution to HRD. At the National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP) on Excellence in Creativity and Innovation (1999-2000), Bharat Petroleum employees bagged all the three awards in the individual category, along with four certificates of recognition in the team category.