The Subway Franchise Essay -- essays research papers

The Subway Franchise   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Subway story started in 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut during the summer of 1965. 17 year old Fred DeLuca was trying to earn enough money to pay for his college tuition by working in a hardware store. He wanted a way to add money to his minimum wage salary. He got the solution at a backyard barbecue in a conversation with a family friend, nuclear physicist Dr. Peter Buck. With a $1000 loan from Buck, DeLuca opened Pete's Super Submarine on August 28, 1965. One year later, he opened his second shop so customers would see him expanding and believe that he was successful. In an effort to increase visibility to customers, he shortened the name to Subway and introduced the bright yellow logo. The first Subway franchise opened in Walling...

Barriers to Communication Essay

Organisational communication relates to the way organisations adapt themselves to changing environments, externally and internally. The focus is on interaction with stakeholders and within the organisation and with co-workers. In these interactions different perceptions (in meanings and interests) must be dealt with to create common ground. Barriers to communication refers to any kind or form of communication impediment within an organization such as noise, bureaucracy and semantic differences. The organisation that I used to work for is SIRDC and it is primarily involved in scientific research and innovation. It is located around 15kilometres away from town in the Hatcliffe Extension area. The barriers to communication in the organisation include the following: Semantic barriers Did you hear what I meant for you to hear? This has been a frequent statement in the boardrooms! With today’s increasingly diverse workforce, it is easy to believe you have conveyed information to someone, but you are not aware that they interpreted you differently than you intended. Unfortunately, you won’t be aware of this problem until a major problem or issue arises out of the confusion. This usually arises due to the interpretation of different words. Due to the diverse educational and cultural backgrounds [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=backgrounds&%3Bv=56] in my organisation, semantics acts as a hindrance to effective communication as people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] would argue that we agreed to pursue another option in the last meeting when it was not the case. This is usually prevalent when the business [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=business&%3Bv=56] people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] in the organisation are discussing issues with the scientists on the viability of their innovations. The organisation has chemists, engineers, marketing [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=marketing&%3Bv=56] personnel, financial analysts, nutritionists, electricians, biotechnologists among many  others. Bureaucracy When organizations are just getting started, their leaders can often prize themselves on not being burdened with what seems as bureaucratic overhead, that is, as extensive written policies and procedures. Writing [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=Writing&%3Bv=56] something down can be seen as a sign of bureaucracy and to be avoided. As the organization grows, it needs more communications and feedback to remain healthy, but this communication is not valued. As a result, increasing confusion ensues — unless management [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=management&%3Bv=56] matures and realizes the need for increased, reliable communications. This was the case when the department that I was under was at its infancy level and this was done to have confidence of other institutes within the organisation, since our department was mainly support in nature. Organisational Structure However, at the organizational level, authority tends to be centralised at the top and this usually results in information taking too long to reach all the employees. The Director-General has the final say in the all the organizational decision making process. The Public relations department is responsible for all the organizational communication even on technical aspects unless the technical people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] are given the authority to talk to the media. Assumed Knowledge If I know it, then everyone must know it. Perhaps the most common communications problem is managements’ (leaders’ and managers’) assumption that because they are aware of some piece of information, than everyone else is, too. Usually staff are not aware unless management  [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=management&%3Bv=56] makes a deliberate attempt to carefully convey information. This has been the case especially on the technical fields where the managers think that every employee is aware of the â€Å"basics† in the related field. Sometimes, employees will be scared to ask because the boss has already assumed that everyone knows the principles. The result is that the job [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=job&%3Bv=56] is not done properly and incompetence is labeled to the subordinates. Information Ownership Some people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] within the organisation would not want to share information with others and this has been termed HITES – Holding Information To Enhance Status. This is usually the case in fields such as information technology (IT) where a person is solely employed because of the knowledge of a particular program. If he is to teach others the he loses his expert power and negotiating power within the organisation. Such group of people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] can make the organisation be at ransom if their demands are not met. Ethnocentricity This is mainly to do with judging people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] according to one’s culture and thinking. This is a result of diverse cultures and different levels of education [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=education&%3Bv=56] within the organisation. â€Å"Camps† within an organization Camps are usually created based on political persuasion, religious beliefs, as well as on tribal grounds. Since my organization is a parastatal and it is in the President’s Office  [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=Office&%3Bv=56], it is expected that within the organization we should be pro-government. However, some people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] are known to support other parties, so communication tends to be hindered as one is not so sure how to respond to certain issues raised. Tribal issues tend to hinder communication in my organization as some people [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=people&%3Bv=56] feel one tribe is getting the attention of the senior executive in the organization. This has been further worsened in the recruitment exercise for senior posts. Managers failure to recognize the efforts of subordinates If I need your opinion, I will tell it to you. Communications problems can arise when management [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=management&%3Bv=56] simply sees no value whatsoever in communicating with subordinates, believing subordinates should shut up and do their jobs [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=jobs&%3Bv=56] as assigned. This kind of attitude discourages the subordinates and might force them to just leave the mistakes that their superior has done which might be detrimental to the organizational objectives and goals. The attitude of â€Å"I know everything† has retarded the learning [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=learning&%3Bv=56] process in the organization. Inexperienced managers are usually the culprits in this regard as they find no need to communicate with subordinates. So what’s to talk about? Communications problems can arise when inexperienced management [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=management&%3Bv=56] interprets its job [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=job&%3Bv=56] to be solving problems and if they are no problems/crises, then there is nothing that needs to be communicated. Conclusion Effective internal communications start with effective skills in communications, including basic skills in listening, speaking, questioning  and sharing feedback These can developed with some concerted review and practice. Perhaps the most important outcome from these skills is conveying that you value hearing from others and their hearing from you. Sound meeting management [http://www.ntsearch.com/search.php?q=management&%3Bv=56] skills go a long way toward ensuring effective communications, too. A key ingredient to developing effective communications in any organization is each person taking responsibility to assert when they don’t understand a communication or to suggest when and how someone could communicate more effectively.

Desire Under the Elms Essay

This article discusses several different elements of the play. It talks about things such as the nature of the play, the setting, and even the concerns that were happen around the time that the play was written. The critic opens up by giving a brief synopsis of what’s happening in the outside world during the time that Eugene O’Neil wrote the play. The article opens up stating how O’Neil takes a difference response with this play as if he was demonstrating Greek theatre. Henry is trying to explain that even though the play does not follow any particular play, that it echoes Hippolytus and Medea which both involve incest and infanticide (Henry, 2006). This type of behavior was highly intolerable during this time; this is what made the Desire Under the Elm stick out to readers and reviewers. In the article, the main point that is brought up is the desire between Eben and Abby. From the moment that Abby is known at the house, there is some form of tension between her and Eben. While Eben tries to remain loyal to the memory of his mother he his overcome by Abby, with her beauty, charm, and grace (Henry, 2006). It is hard for Eben to confess his love or true feelings for Abby because it is hard for him to accept Abby’s place in his home and the fact that she will one day own the farm that was robbed from his mother. Eben truly believes that Abby is an intruder, that is trying to seek his inheritance. All the while Abby is the type of person that had learned to fight for what she wants, and she will get it by any means necessary (Henry, 2006). The article also speaks on Abby as a person. Henry feels that Abby would’ve made a great wife for Ephram for as long as he lived, if Eben had not been around (Henry, 2006). Abby was the type of woman that knew how to get what she wanted. In this case, in this story Abby had dreams on owning Ephram’s farm. She was only 25 years old and she wasn’t expecting for Ephram to live too much longer, that way she could have some inheritance. There are several things that I learned while reading this critical analysis. The first thing that caught my attention was the history of time during this period. I had no idea the O’Neil was living in a time where he had lost both his mother and his brother before he wrote the play (Henry, 2006). In my opinion, the play was a minor hit of his own life during this time. He could have very well been compared to Eben. Another important fact that catches my attention about the article is that the conflict between father and son are so strong. In my opinion this proved that Ephram was not a good man at all. Eben’s reason for not liking his father was based on the facts that his mother told him. The thing that confused me was why did Ephram’s other sons Peter and Simon hate him so much? By watching the movie I can see, that Ephram was rough or hard on his sons but hard as they worked they still seemed to be a disappointment to him as well. Ephram’s main goal was to have a son that was strong and that he could be proud of, this was his purpose of having a baby boy with Abby. Last but not least, the article discusses how people can lose focus. The most obvious case of this in the story is Eben because he loses focus of what’s important when he falls in love with Abby. My question is about Ephram. He loses focus when he returns home with Abby. The only thing that he thinks about is not being alone. He never thinks about how his sons will adapt to Abby nor does he even think about does Abby really love him or is she just using him. It is obvious that Ephram loses focus of the ownership of the farm, he just wants somebody to be with in life so that he will not end up alone.