Review of Continental Airlines organizational structure Essay Example for Free

Review of Continental Airlines organizational structure Essay 1.Does the organizational design of this corporation help or hinder it in achieving its organizational goals? Continental Airlines utilizes a divisional structure relative to the management of its various entities. This structural design is due to the complex nature of the aviation industry as well as the autonomy required in operating a twenty-four hour a day, seven day per week worldwide business. In my opinion, the structural design of this organization with the exception of Continental Express and Continental Micronesia can really not be structured in any other way, and therefore should be considered helpful. The airline business is an incredibly tough business as it is. The costs of operations in relation to profit per passenger mile are very low. This airline and its management team have emerged from bankruptcy and now fly the newest fleet of aircraft in the sky today. Chairman and CEO Gordon Bethune with his years of experience in the aviation industry have afforded the opportunity for Continental to receive more awards for customer satisfaction than any other airline. Obviously, this is a far cry from the pre-bankruptcy days of this airline which now proudly stands as an industry leader. (No, I do not work, nor have I ever worked in the airline industry). The organizational structures leadership includes various notables that have grown up within the industry filling various leadership positions for other airlines. It seems as though Mr. Bethune has installed an incredibly capable team to steer this company into the future. I carved out Continental Express and Micronesia since they are basically licensed businesses that fly under the Continental flag. Their existence within the Continental family does provide routes to smaller and far-eastern destinations but are independently managed and therefore not considered (by me) as anything more than a profit center on the organizational chart. 2.If you were to change this organization, what issues would you need to consider and why? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of organizational change? If I had the ability and experience to effect change for this organization, the first issue I would consider would be consolidation of the airlines in  general. I address this issue because I do not necessarily feel that consolidation is all that its cracked up to be. Bigger airlines mean bigger bureaucracy and smaller profit potential. Both of these translate to decreased customer satisfaction as well as the potential for employee dissatisfaction. Mr. Bethune prides himself in being one of the people, he is often seen walking in the terminal, shaking hands and recognizing employees for doing an outstanding job. As a rated company pilot, he is also seen on the flight deck of the occasional 757 or 777. It is hard to imagine how the current structure could be improved beyond what it already is. He is leading by example as a leader should. Should airline consolidation continue, the main advantage would be for the traveling public. The customer could potentially book a trip around the world simply by calling the Continental reservation line. Until that customer shows up for the trip to commence, he may not even realize that hes not even on a Continental flight. Thats the beauty of being big. The trip might be made up of legs flown by Northwest connecting to Varig connecting to Delta connecting to Qantas, etc. This seamless travel experience for the customer should be considered as an upside to consolidation. The main disadvantage might possibly be that the customer has no idea who to call when things go wrong. He might be stranded in a foreign land after his connection with China Airlines cancelled and hes not sure of whom to contact to get back on track. The second issue I might consider would be mandatory retirement of pilots once they reach their sixtieth birthday. Organizationally, this federally mandated policy weakens the organization. My best and most experienced pilots are being forced out of my company. If this policy is unchangeable, I must find a way to keep this incredible resource happy and employed in some form or fashion that augments my existing infrastructure. This disadvantage to my organization structure is a hurdle that is out of my control but directly affects the bottom line relative to people and organizational power. Reference: www.continental.com/company/investor.governance.asp

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The movie Sherrybaby depicts a young woman struggling to pick up her life where it left off after being released from prison. She tries to rebuild her life but encounters many obstacles along the way. She tries to rekindle the relationship with her daughter Alexis, while battling to stay clean from her heroin addiction. She also seems to have a difficult time forming relationships with people in her halfway home and using her sexuality to get her way in the work field. She is in over her head as she tries to jump right into where she left off three years ago. Despite her positive attitude, we witness the challenges she faces with low self-esteem, substance abuse, and the guilt of leaving her daughter Alexis to be raised by her brother and sister in law. In the very beginning of the film when trying establish the fundamental things necessary to get her life back on back, we see how she uses her sexual appeal to get what she wants. When speaking with her parole officer, Sherry tries to use her good looks in persuading him to see her family in New Jersey. After he quickly picks up on this, dissatisfied Sherry sulks using the excuse that she hasn’t seen her daughter in years. â€Å"Indeed family contact was the key motivator stated by participants for maintaining their recovery† (Duffy & Baldwin, 2013). Perhaps her parole having dealt with similar cases to Sherry saw the effects family isolationism had on recovery. It is clear that he is not in on her game but still, he allows her to go see her brother and daughter. Arriving at her new home Sherry is introduced to the director of the halfway home where we find the two of them in the basement sexually involved. Once again, we see Sherry using her good looks when try ing to ge... ...ug use, recovery from use and personal identity† (Brener, Hippel, & Hippel, 2012). Sherry does acknowledge her addiction and does want to get clean. This theory could be useful in predicting future drug use among people who are attempting to quit and who is likely to complete treatment. She soon discovers things are not so easy or as expected. Sherry realizes during her first true parenting experience that she is not quite able to handle life on her own just yet. In order for Sherry to have a chance at rekindling her relationship with daughter Alexis, she must be willing to accept her weaknesses and accept the past. As the film unravels, it is evident she has issues from her past that are kept at bay reflecting on where she is in life. It is Sherry’s desire to change that will ultimately determine whether she gets second chance at life.

Hofstede analysis Essay

1. Power distance: the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. 2. Individualism- the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. 3. Masculinity / Femininity-The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (masculine) or liking what you do (feminine).†¨ 4. Uncertainty avoidance – The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these †¨ 5. Long term orientation- the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view. Power distance Thailand scores 64 on PDI index, slightly lower than the average Asian countries (71). It is a society in which inequalities are accepted; a strict chain of command and protocol are observed. Each rank has its privileges and employees show loyalty, respect and deference for their superiors in return for protection and guidance. This may lead to paternalistic management.†¨Thus, the attitude towards managers are more formal, the information flow is hierarchical and controlled. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Individualism With a score of 20 Thailand is a highly collectivist country. This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the member ‘group’ (a family, extended family, or extended relationships). Loyalty to the in-group in a collectivist culture is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group.†¨In order to preserve the in-group, Thai are not confrontational and in there communication a â€Å"Yes† may not mean an acceptance or agreement. An offence leads to loss of face and Thai are very sensitive not to feel shamed in front of their group. Personal relationship is key to conducting business and it takes time to build such relations thus patience is necessary as well as not openly discuss business on first occasions. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Masculinity / Femininity Thailand scores 34 on this dimension and is thus considered a feminine society. Thailand has the lowest Masculinity ranking among the average Asian countries of 53 and the World average of 50. This lower level is indicative of a society with less assertiveness and competitiveness, as compared to one where these values are considered more important and significant. This situation also reinforces more traditional male and female roles within the population.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ Uncertainty avoidance Thailand scores 64 on this dimension indicating a preference for avoiding uncertainty. †¨In order to minimize or reduce this level of uncertainty, strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations are adopted and implemented. The ultimate goal of this population is to control everything in order to eliminate or avoid the unexpected. As a result of this high Uncertainty Avoidance characteristic, the society does not readily accept change and is very risk adverse. Change has to be seen for the greater good of the in-group. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Long term orientation With a score of 56 Thailand is a Long Term Oriented culture though not as much as for most Asian countries. †¨LTO is manifest on their respect for tradition and inequality between people. †¨Amongst the values that are praised, working hard and having a sense of moderation are dominant. The investment in personal relationships and network is paramount. Protecting one’s face is key and a protocol in their non confrontational behavior.†¨Their concern is not to look for one truth which helps them be flexible and pragmatic in negotiations.†¨Thai favor long term oriented perspective and thus Thailand deadlines and timescales are fluid.

Probability of a Small Straight in Yahtzee in One Roll

Yahtzee is a dice game that uses five standard six-sided dice. On each turn, players are given three rolls to obtain several different objectives. After each roll, a player may decide which of the dice (if any) are to be retained and which are to be rerolled. The objectives include a variety of different kinds of combinations, many of which are taken from poker. Every different kind of combination is worth a different amount of points. Two of the types of combinations that players must roll are called straights: a small straight and a large straight. Like poker straights, these combinations consist of sequential dice. Small straights employ four of the five dice and large straights use all five dice. Due to the randomness of the rolling of dice, the probability can be used to analyze how likely it is to roll a small straight in a single roll. Assumptions We assume that the dice used are fair and independent of one another. Thus there is a uniform sample space consisting of all possible rolls of the five dice. Although Yahtzee allows three rolls, for simplicity we will only consider the case that we obtain a small straight in a single roll. Sample Space Since we are working with a uniform sample space, the calculation of our probability becomes a calculation of a couple of counting problems. The probability of a small straight is the number of ways to roll a small straight, divided by the number of outcomes in the sample space. It is very easy to count the number of outcomes in the sample space. We are rolling five dice and each of these dice can have one of six different outcomes. A basic application of the multiplication principle tells us that the sample space has 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 65 7776 outcomes. This number will be the denominator of the fractions that we use for our probability. Number of Straights Next, we need to know how many ways there are to roll a small straight. This is more difficult than calculating the size of the sample space. We begin by counting how many straights are possible. A small straight is easier to roll than a large straight, however, it is harder to count the number of ways of rolling this type of straight. A small straight consists of exactly four sequential numbers. Since there are six different faces of the die, there are three possible small straights: {1, 2, 3, 4}, {2, 3, 4, 5} and {3, 4, 5, 6}. The difficulty arises in considering what happens with the fifth die. In each of these cases, the fifth die must be a number that does not create a large straight. For example, if the first four dice were 1, 2, 3, and 4, the fifth die could be anything other than 5. If the fifth die was a 5, then we would have a large straight rather than a small straight. This means that there are five possible rolls that give the small straight {1, 2, 3, 4}, five possible rolls that give the small straight {3, 4, 5, 6} and four possible rolls that give the small straight {2, 3, 4, 5}. This last case is different because rolling a 1 or a 6 for the fifth die will change {2, 3, 4, 5} into a large straight. This means that there are 14 different ways that five dice can give us a small straight. Now we determine the different number of ways to roll a particular set of dice that give us a straight. Since we only need to know how many ways there are to do this, we can use some basic counting techniques. Of the 14 distinct ways to obtain small straights, only two of these {1,2,3,4,6} and {1,3,4,5,6} are sets with distinct elements. There are 5! 120 ways to roll each for a total of 2 x 5! 240 small straights. The other 12 ways to have a small straight are technically multisets as they all contain a repeated element. For one particular multiset, such as [1,1,2,3,4], we will count the number od different ways to roll this. Think of the dice as five positions in a row: There are C(5,2) 10 ways to position the two repeated elements among the five dice.There are 3! 6 ways to arrange the three distinct elements. By the multiplication principle, there are 6 x 10 60 different ways to roll the dice 1,1,2,3,4 in a single roll. There are 60 ways to roll one such small straight with this particular fifth die. Since there are 12 multisets giving a different listing of five dice, there are 60 x 12 720 ways to roll a small straight in which two dice match. In total there are 2 x 5! 12 x 60 960 ways to roll a small straight. Probability Now the probability of rolling a small straight is a simple division calculation. Since there are 960 different ways to roll a small straight in a single roll and there are 7776 rolls of five dice possible, the probability of rolling a small straight is 960/7776, which is close to 1/8 and 12.3%. Of course, it is more likely than not that the first roll is not a straight. If this is the case, then we are allowed two more rolls making a small straight much more likely. The probability of this is much more complicated to determine because of all of the possible situations that would need to be considered.