The Virgin Group An insight into the organizational structure and culture

The Virgin Group An insight into the organizational structure and culture Introduction The Virgin Group of companies is one of the largest business organizations in the world. Founded by Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has established itself into many diverse facets of the business industry. This paper analyzes the organizational structure and culture of the Virgin Group and how it has helped this organization attain such success in many diverse industries. Much of the culture of the Virgin Group is influenced by the personal beliefs and philosophies of its founder, Richard Branson, and is one of the reasons for the organizations success. Branson highly values all of his employees and takes personal responsibility to ensure that his beliefs are instilled among all of them. Branson has created a decentralized structure in the organization by giving his employees the authority to take decisions thereby reducing bureaucracy. Employees are encouraged to not always follow rational procedures and instead think on their own. This paper will first briefly give an overview of the Virgin Group of companies and its history and development. The organizational structure and culture of the Virgin Group will help the reader understand the organizations processes and business practices and how the values and belief system of its founder has shaped its structure and culture. In addition, the reader will learn how the Virgin Group has established itself as a successful organization based on its structure and culture. The paper will apply some of the theories and concepts from the course textbook to the Virgin Group which will help to understand the working of this organization better. In conclusion, this paper hopes to emphasize the Virgin Groups overall journey through the years and the role that its structure and culture has played in its success. About the Virgin Group The Virgin Group is one of the most successful business empires today. This organization has established itself in diverse industries including mobile telephony, retail, music, financial services, travel, and many more. Virgin has ruled the British market and has expanded worldwide into other regions like North America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Starting out as a simple mail-order record retailer in 1970, Virgin has grown into one of the most successful business empires in the world. The Virgin Group has established more than 300 companies, employing around 50000 people in 30 countries. Its global revenues in 2009 exceeded US$18 billion. (Virgin, n.d.) The majority of the Virgin Groups success has been credited to the founder and CEO of Virgin, Richard Branson. Bransons beliefs and philosophies are deeply rooted in the corporate culture of the Virgin Group. This has helped the Virgin Group to flourish in todays competitive business world. History and Development Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group of companies. When he was a student at Stowe, he published a magazine called Student. The magazine was a success and it encouraged Branson to leave school and try his hand at new business ventures. His first target was mail-order records. He found that by putting a single advertisement in an issue of Student magazine, he was able to establish a thriving business with almost no up-front investment and no working capital. The name Virgin was suggested by one of his associates who saw the name as proclaiming their commercial innocence, while possessing some novelty and modest shock-value. In 1971 Branson opened his first retail store on Londons Oxford Street. Virgin then expanded into the recording industry and the result was the Virgin record label. By 1983, the Virgin Group was earning profits of 2 million pounds on total revenues of just under 50 million pounds. (Grant, 2008) Gradually Branson expanded into other ventures. The Organizational Structure Many assume the Virgin Group to be a multinational, but such is not the case. Each of the 300 odd companies of the Virgin Group operates separately and Branson serves as shareholder, chairman, and public relations supremo. Most of them are operating companies that own assets, employ people, and offer goods and services. These operating companies are owned and controlled by about 20 holding companies. The Virgin Group has a very complex structure. It has been termed both as a brand franchising operation as well as a keiretsu. (Grant, 2008) However, based on its structure, the Virgin Group can be safely termed as an organization with a keiretsu structure. A keiretsu is a group of organizations, each of which owns shares in the other organizations in the group, and all of which work together to further the groups interests. (Jones, Mills, Weatherbee, Mills, 2006) Furthermore, such a large organization with a complex structure needs to be organic in order to be able to adapt to changes in its environment. An organic structure promotes flexibility, so people initiate change and can adapt quickly to changing conditions. ( Jones et al., 2006) Considering each of the individual companies as a department providing a unique product or service, it is evident that they exhibit product departmentalization. Product departmentalization is the division of the departments of an organization based on the type of product or service offered. (Jones et al., 2006) For example, Virgin Mobile offers cellular services while Virgin Records is a music label. However, the structure of the Virgin Group is so complex that it is necessary for it to not just have one type of departmentalization. For instance, Virgin Mobile has operations in many different countries like the UK, India and Australia. As such, the type of service varies in each of these countries. This shows that Virgin Mobile also exhibits geographic departmentalization. Geographic departmentalization is the division of an organization based on the geographic location. (Jones et al., 2006) In addition, type of service and products also varies depending on the customer base hence ex hibiting customer departmentalization. Customer departmentalization is the division of an organization based on the kind of customers it serves. (Jones et al., 2006) Since the Virgin Group of companies exhibit so many types of departmentalisations, the organization as a whole is said to have a hybrid structure, which is a mixture of two or more kinds of departmentalisations. This multi-divisional approach helps the Virgin Group to easily adapt to the cultural, technological and other forces in the region it expands to. The division of labour and the hierarchy is also an important aspect of an organizations structure. The number of levels of authority, the control, and the amount of communication are key factors in the proper working of an organization. As mentioned, the Virgin Groups companies operate as separate organizations. The companies are part of a family rather than a hierarchy. They are empowered to run their own affairs, yet the companies help one another, and solutions to problems often come from within the Group somewhere. In a sense, Virgin is a commonwealth, with shared ideas, values, interests and goals. (Virgin, n.d.) In fact, Branson himself has provided all his employees with the authority to make unsupervised decisions based on their intuition rather than following a chain of command. This leads to the employees having more confidence in them and in the management. Since interaction among all the levels of the hierarchy is promoted, it increases effective communication. This is e vident from the fact that Branson personally interacts with employees on a regular basis discussing ideas and receiving feedback. The Virgin Group expresses self-sufficiency and effective communication. Virgin has a flat hierarchical structure and this enables quick and efficient decision making. The flat structure is one of the reasons that the Virgin Group has been able to expand into new ventures. In addition, a flat structure allows a wider span of control, and decentralization. Span of control is the number of subordinates a manager manages directly. (Jones et al., 2006) The decentralized structure of the Virgin Group gives more power in the hands of its employees when it comes to decision making. Decentralization is the delegation of authority to all levels of the hierarchy. (Jones et al.,2006) Branson believes that the employees are the backbone of the company and hence it is important that they have enough involvement and authority in decision making. Since the Virgin Group comprises of so many companies, along with a decentralized structure, it should show some signs of organizational bureaucracy. However, Branson has ensured since the beginning to minimize bureaucracy as much as possible since he strives to flatten the hierarchy. Bureaucracy is a structure in which people are held accountable for their actions because they are required to act in accordance with rules and standard operating procedures. (Jones et al., 2006) The efficiency of the employees is enhanced under Bransons leadership who emphasises a wide span of control and self management. Bransons scepticism of organizational hierarchy and a formal structure has contributed to organizational cohesiveness to a great extent. His adoption of this unorthodox strategy rather than traditional business practices and non-traditional structuring of the organization may be the reason for the Groups success. The Organizational Culture Much of the Virgin Groups culture is influenced by its founder Richard Bransons personal philosophies. Just as his employees are important to him, so are the customers the Virgin Group serves. The ability of the Virgin Group to operate effectively with almost a non-formal structure is because of its unique organizational culture. The culture of the Virgin Group reflects Bransons casual nature, his disrespect for hierarchy and formal authority, commitment to employees and consumers and his belief in hard work and responsibility. (Grant, 2008) This influences all of the companies in the Virgin Group and its organizational culture. This in turn, enables the Virgin Group to provide an environment in which talented, ambitious people are motivated to do their best and strive for a higher level of performance. However, even in an informal environment, a high level of commitment, acceptance of personal responsibility and long hours of work when needed is expected. Performance incentives at V irgin for most employees are diffident but Virgin provides benefits like social activities, company sponsored weekend getaways and impromptu parties. (Grant, 2008) Such an environment promotes better relations among the employer and the employees. Virgins unique culture has gradually progressed to where it is today. Virgin describes itself as a family emphasizing its informal but strong belief system and values. Possessing such a culture enables the Virgin Group to have effective coordination among its various departments. Working as a community rather than a corporation, instils the ability to communicate effectively among the many companies in the Group. The Group as a whole works together based on these shared set of values which are continuously strengthened. This is important considering the vast size and complexity of the organization. Following in the footsteps of its founder, Virgin has always maintained the belief that the employees are the biggest force of the organization and as such, should be treated with respect. (Virgin, n.d.) The management cares for the welfare of the employees and allows them to work in a free environment. Because of these primary beliefs and values, Virgin has been able to compete, thrive, a nd challenge new business opportunities. As mentioned before, Richard Branson has influenced the culture of the organization the most. He has managed to instil his belief system into all of his employees and this has motivated them to strive to perform better. One of the many strong points in Virgins favour is the fact that it is non-traditional; revolutionary even; in the manner it does business. Virgin believes in grasping opportunities. Contrary to what many people may think, Virgins constantly expanding and eclectic empire is neither random nor reckless. Each successive venture demonstrates their devotion to picking the right market and the right opportunity. This has proved beneficial to the organization and is one of the many reasons for its success. (Virgin, n.d.) Conclusion Based on the analysis of the corporate culture and structure of the Virgin Group, it is evident that it is a highly successful organization most of whichs credit goes to the founder and his values and beliefs. Even though the industry considers much of his methods to be unorthodox, these methods have proved highly beneficial to him and the Virgin Group and have been deemed to be effective. Not many today can dream of venturing into so many diverse industries starting from scratch. If Virgin continues to strengthen its culture and structure, it has the potential to become one of the most successful companies ever.

PD Ethics

Freedom of speech means that a person or a body have a right to express them without any fear of suppression or penalty. It also means that there will not be any imposition of person's speech. In today's context, â€Å"Speech† is not limited to public speaking and it does include other forms of expression including social media. Australia does not have any explicit constitutional rights related to freedom of speech. However, parliamentarians are protected from criminal action such as fomentation when they express themselves inside the parliament.Background Australia had mix history of freedom of speech. As Australia does not have any explicit law regarding to freedom of speech, there were attempts to move towards liberation's of censorship. The modern history of freedom of speech in Australia dates back to First World War. Hughes government increased censorship during the war. After the war as the government lost the wartime power, they introduced the Customs Act to keep out d estabilize dogmatic works. During 1933-34, this method cached at peak as more than 100 books were banned. Due to threat of communism, Lyons government denied entry to Czech communist writer Eggnog Chicks.During the Minimizes' time, government summoned the editor and publisher of the Bankbooks Observer before the Bar of the House to defend a charge that they had breached parliamentary privilege by publishing an article alleging that a member of parliament was involved in an immigration racket. Both men ended up spending three months in Globulin Jail. During the sass, in Gorton government, Customs & Excise Minister Don Chip removed ban on many novels and Playboy magazine. He also introduced R certificate for adult movies which were earlier banned. Debate on the same is still going on as there are many high profile cases going on.Utilitarianism The essential claim of utilitarianism is that the only reasonable measure of morality is the minimization of the collective happiness of societ y as a whole. From this it follows that all other goods, if any, have only contributory, as opposed to inherent value. From the utilitarian viewpoint, freedom of speech can therefore be a thing only n terms of its instrumental value. We should look at marketplace of ideas theory usually associated with John Stuart Mill from this perspective. As generally implicit, this theory says that freedom of speech should be secured because it increases the realization of truth.Freedom of speech in this view, is thus contributory for capitalize on the amount of truth available to society as a whole. Such a marketplace is particularly unlikely in today's world, in which varied educational disciplines have become so methodological that most people have only a rare idea of what is going on n them. Mill's argument that the marketplace of ideas pointed towards the truth should be understood to worry not truths or reason but metaphysical ideas to which the idea of â€Å"truth† does not apply. Demonology There are two basic types of moral theories: consequentiality theories and deontological theories.Consequentiality moral theories are those which hold that the correctness of a deed is determined exclusively by the grade to which it produces good consequences. Utilitarianism is a consequentiality theory which holds that the utmost deeds are those which create the highest amount of pleasure or happiness for the maximum number of people. It is the ethical theory underlying contemporary cost-benefit and risk-benefit analysis, according to which we are focused to pick the deed with the maximum favorable ratio of cost or risks to benefits.Deontological theories, the most important alternative to consequentiality, hold that the correctness of a deed rest on upon aspects other than the consequences of the deed. These include such things as whether the purposes with which the deed is done ere upright, whether the deed is Just, whether it esteems the rights of those affected by it , whether the deed is steady with the burdens of duty, and whether, whatever its consequences, something in the nature of the deed makes it inherently incorrect.Social contract Character based ACS Legal/ethical balance

Develop information security awareness

Nancy Johnson worked in U.S. Bancorp organization and was fired in April 2002 on the basis of viewing confidential files of the company and some personal files of supervisor Kathy Ashcraft that she was not allowed to view. Information security awareness and training program must have following content to make employees aware of the U.S. Bancorp policies and avoid such occurrence in the future. All employees must be well aware of all the policies of an organization governing computer systems, networking, information assessment, privacy and authorization to view any content. All policies must be available on the intranet and/or desktop of an employee. Policies are constantly updated according to the day-to-day needs hence must be read and understood carefully as soon as these are updated. In case an employee is unable to understand anything, he/she must immediately contact his/her supervisor or manager to know about their specific roles and policies elaboration. All computer users of the company must understand that ALL information on the company’s intranet is confidential and valuable asset of a company, which must be accessed on need-to-know basis after obtaining authorization from their manager. All computer users in an organization will have permission to access to the confidential information or other information not relevant to the user on the basis of valid reason and need-to-know basis to perform a particular job. The permission will be limited to time period required to perform that job and the amount of information required. Employees will not share this information with any other of their co-workers within an organization and/or any person outside the organization unless it is needed, specified and authorized to share such information with those who are also authorized to view this information for the time period and authority granted. All employees who work in the Bancorp organization will be abide by all security laws, rules and policies. They must follow these rules and regulations and support their implementation. Employee will report any misuse of such information by any user on the intranet of the company or any external threat, if he/she is informed about it. 2- Information security awareness and training program for probing networks connected to the clients Moulton, a network administrator, tried to port scan illegally for the computer networks of the Defendant’s client. Information security awareness and training program defines following content in order for network administrator to know of policies and rules. The job of a network administrator is to handle all technical issues on the network, manage software, hardware, and administer tools of the network. However, in no way a network administrator will use client’s network resources and private information without any need and authorization. A network administrator must understand this that all network resources on the client’s computer network, data, files are private and confidential and asset to be used by the client only. Network administrator will understand the core concepts, policies and strategies of the security training program. He/she will be abide by all the rules and laws while administrating networking tools. Access to the centrally administered network will be granted on permission with valid reason of a need to have such assessment to perform a particular task. Authentication to use network will be granted with specific user ID and password. User id and password must be changed frequently to maintain high level of security. Network of client’s computer possess valuable and confidential information. Access to this information is not allowed unless the person is authorized to view it. Network administrator will return all valuable material to company upon termination. He will be responsible to dispose of any sensitive information not of any further use. 3-Information security awareness and training program for Information security violation concerns Watkins’ security concerns were regarding use of that confidential information by another employee along with him. Hence he requested State of Tennessee cancellation of the secret code. However, another employee who had access to the information was authorized to do so. Watkins’ plea was rejected by the court. Information security awareness and training program must have following content of security violence. Information security is very important and none can access this information accept those who are authorized to do so. None will be allowed to get this information except solely for company’s business purpose and for processing different tasks. Hence, only â€Å"authorized† persons can access that information with a specific code. Authorized means they’re allowed legally to use this information in one or another form for the benefit of company/people/business/organization. Hence, there is nothing violation of privacy when such confidential information is accessed by the authorized people. However, an authorized person will use that information only for the period of time and to the extent he’s granted permission. Authorized person will not misuse that information for his/her own purpose or in any case will not sell, transfer or damage such information in any circumstances. Misuse of such information may result in revoke of authorization and administration. It can also result in termination from job. Authorized use of such information for the good of company is not a security violation. Security administrator will be in charge of all information and will report any violation by the users. He will keep in check proper protection all confidential data and will be in charge of granting permission to different users to access required information as needed. References Enisa Security awareness. Retrieved from http://www.enisa.europa.eu/doc/pdf/deliverables/enisa_a_users_guide_how_to_raise_IS_awareness.pdf NIST security awareness. Retrieved from http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-50/NIST-SP800-50.pdf

Animal Imagery In Beloved Novel - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 786 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/08/07 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Beloved Essay Did you like this example? Beloved Those born into slavery were instantly separated from their mothers and families, denied the right to know their own age or birthdays, sold in auction like cattle, and above all else were seen as property rather than human beings. Through the use of animal imagery, Morrison reveals the emotional toll of slavery, the animalistic behavior slaves were reduced to, and the dehumanization of slaves. Morrison uses animal imagery to demonstrate the emotional toll of slavery. To illustrate, Sethe describes the Sweet Home men when she first arrives, And so they were: Paul D Garner, Paul F Garner, Paul A Garner, Halle Suggs and Sixo, the wild man. All in their twenties, minus women, fucking cows, dreaming of rape, (Morrison, 13). The diction of thrashing depicts violent and animal-like characteristics presented by the slave men. The motif of having sex with cows shocks the reader because it illustrates the dehumanization of the men, and how a basic human need was stripped from them. In addition, the dreams of rape, introduce the twisted mentality of the slave men, due to their frequent subjection to violence by their owners. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Animal Imagery In Beloved Novel" essay for you Create order Furthermore, when the family goes to the carnival for colored people, they took notice When Wild African Savage shook his bars and said wa wa, Paul D told everybody he knew him back in Roanoke (58-59). The Wild African Savage is not actually a savage, however the white people of the carnival forced him to act like one for money. The visual image of him shaking his bars, demonstrates the animal-like characteristics he was forced to reenact. This also reveals characterization of Paul D when he confirms that he knows this man, indicating that he felt compassion for him, because he can relate to his situation of having no control over his own life. Morrisons use of animal imagery exhibits the animalistic behavior of slaves. For example, after Stamp Paid informs Paul D of the murder of Sethes baby, Paul D says to Sethe, You got two feet, Sethe, not four, (194). The animal imagery of four feet, animalizes Sethe. Because of her desperate and impulsive actions, Sethe is reduced to something less than human. Paul D believes that it is inhuman of Sethe to take the life of her own child. The metaphor comparing Sethe to a four legged creature intensifies the connection between a human and an animal, because animals only rely on instinct, just as Sethe does in an attempt to save her children. Additionally, Sethe describes her experience with the schoolteacher, Schoolteacher had chastised that nephew, telling him to think just think what would his own horse do if you beat it beyond the point of education, (176). The metaphor comparing the slaves to a horse, another four legged animal, communicates again that slaves are not seen as huma n and should be treated, and beaten as animals until they learn to follow direction. This shocks the reader because the visual image of beating a horse, uncovers the harsh and violent treatment that slaves faced every day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Morrison uses animal imagery to explore the recurring motif of the dehumanization of slaves. For instance, in Beloveds stream of consciousness chapter, she states, I would bite the circle around her neck  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   bite it away  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I know she does not like it (249). The circle is a symbol for slavery itself. A circle has no start and end point, comparable to slavery for a slave, because most blacks are born as slaves, work their whole lives as slaves, and then die as slaves. The visual imagery of Beloved biting the circle around (Sethes) neck depicts an animalistic action brought on by desperation to protect her mother from slavery. Furthermore, Paul D recounts a painful memory to Sethe, ?Didnt you say anything to him? Something! I couldnt, Sethe. I just   couldnt. ?Why! ?I had a bit in my mouth (82). The use of dialogue shows the embarrassment and degradation Paul D feels as he is forced to wear a bit. The bit, similar to that used on a horse, supports the notion that slaves are animals. Moreover, since a main difference between animals and humans is language, the visual imagery of Paul D with a bit in (his) mouth, reduces him to an animal by removing his ability to speak or express himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By amplifying animal imagery throughout the novel, Morrison highlights the inescapable hardships experienced daily by slaves. The author includes this message to ensure that the reader recognizes the dehumanizing effects of slavery on man, and how having no form of expression and no freedom will destroy a person. Morrison subtly displays these images to make the reader think about how deeply affected people are by slavery.