Summative Coursework Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Summative Coursework Assignment - Essay Example Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is dealing with various accounting principles and guidelines for undertaking the implementation of accounting practices. But on the other hand, financial accounting is also important for evaluating the profitability of the business entity. Accounting is a system used by the business entity to measure its financial performance. There are several branches of accounting are available, but among them both management and financial accounting is relevant. The main emphasis in management accounting is to establish the relationship between cause and effect of a particular activity. More over, it is multi disciplinary in nature, because it is a combination of several disciplines like financial accounting, cost accounting, statistics, etc. In this case, the net profit of the company is goes on increasing, but at the same time, the cash in hand is decreasing to certain extend. Cash is a critical asset, which plays an important role in business. Cash flow statement is a statement showing the change in cash position from one period to another. Because it is possible to identify the causes of changes in cash balance between the two balance sheet dates. While preparing cash flow statement mainly it is essential to consider both actual cash flows and notional cash flows. Cash Flow Statement For the year ended 2002 Particulars Amount (in m) Cash used in operation. Issue of shares. Cash generated Add: Opening cash balance Cash balance at the end (1) 6 5 4 9 Calculation of Cash from operation Particulars Amount (in m) Net profit Add: provision for taxation. Funds from operation. Add: decrease in debtors. Less: decrease in creditors. Cash used in operation. 4 6 10 8 18 (19) (1) Adjusted Profit and Loss Account Particulars Amount (in m) Particulars Amount (in m) Provision for taxation. Depreciation of FA (balancing figure) Closing balance 6 14 (6) Opening balance Funds from operation. 4 10 14 14 Workings:- Here, there is no disposal of assets takes place in the year 2001 and 2002, therefore the difference between the value of assets in both years are considered as the amount of depreciation, such as- [166_152] = 14m. Propose Dividend Account Particulars Amount (in m) Particulars Amount (in m) Cash (dividend paid) Closing balance 7 9 Opening balance. Balance transferred to Profit and loss account. 7 9 16 16 While preparing the cash flow statement of a business organization, it is possible to understand about the causes of changes in the cash flow position of a business unit. Through which, it is possible to identify that the reduction of cash balance inspite of increase in income or for increase of cash balance in spite of decrease in income. This statement consists of opening cash balance and all sources of cash and all applications of cash and ends with the closing balance of cash. More over, here the changes in current assets and current liabilities are adjusted in the amount of cash from operation. It is necessary for a firm to keep adequate amount of cash in hand for making immediate payments. The major responsibility of the financial manager is to plan cash and maintain adequate cash balance. A cash flow statement is considered as a summarized cash account. In addition to this,

Perception and Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Perception and Decision Making - Essay Example Perception is defined on the Wikipedia as follows: "In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information." (Wikipedia, 2006b). It goes further explaining how perceptions are formed, how they change, and how there can be no perception at all. Let's see: "Many cognitive psychologists hold that, as we move about in the world, we create a model of how the world works. That is, we sense the objective world, but our sensations map to percepts, and these percepts are provisional, in the same sense that scientific hypotheses are provisional (cf. in the scientific method). As we acquire new information, our percepts shift. () Just as one object can give rise to multiple percepts, so an object may fail to give rise to any percept at all: if the percept has no grounding in a person's experience, the person may literally not perceive it." (Wikipedia, 2006b). "Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. Every decision-making produces a final choice. It can be an action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what. Therefore decision-making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions." (Wikipedia, 2006a). In the decision-making process many biases can get in the way. Among the reasons for this kind of drawback the Wikipedia enumerates the following reasons: "Selective search for evidence Premature termination of search for evidence Conservatism and inertia Experiential limitations Selective perception Wishful thinking or optimism Recency Repetition bias Anchoring and adjustment Group think - Peer pressure Source credibility bias Incremental decision making and escalating commitment Inconsistency Attribution asymmetry Role fulfillment Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control Faulty generalizations Ascription of causality". (Wikipedia, 2006a). On a closer analysis to all these causes that provoke error in the decision-making process it is easy to find "perception" at the core of all these evils. Most of the causes for faulty decisions in the business real of action happen due to misperceptions in one way or the other. The Wikipedia goes on explaining how the ethical principles of decision making vary widely. It lists the following principles and methods as the most common in any decision-making process: "the most powerful person/group decides (method: dictatorship or oligarchy) everyone participates in a certain class of meta-decisions (method: parliamentary democracy) everyone participates in every decision (direct democracy, consensus decision making)" (Wikipedia, 2006a). As "Groundwork for Making Effective Decisions" the Josephson Institute of Ethics states the following concepts, emphasizing our responsibility and accountability in any decision-making process: "Whether or not we realize it at the time, all our words, actions and attitudes reflect choices. A foundation to good decision-making is acceptance of two core principles: we all have the power to decide what we do and what we say, and we are morally responsible for the consequences

Labor Economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Labor Economics - Assignment Example Becker’s concept of taste based discrimination states that firms that do not employ minorities do bear the cost of discrimination together with the minorities themselves. Discriminating firms usually have a higher cost of operation since they bear the cost of discrimination. Becker’s concept shows that minorities in such an environment usually work harder and are more productive hence would accept a lower wage. This means that the cost of production is lower hence the firms become more profitable. The discriminating firms however are at a higher cost as majority employees tend to demand relatively higher wages and their productivity is average. As a result more employees would be required to achieve acceptable productivity. Entry of a non discriminating firm under a constant return to scale means increase in number of employee is directly proportional to productivity. A non discriminating firm that has a high specialization of minorities would ideally have higher productivity per employees and therefore an increase in number of more productive employees would mean a subsequence increase in productivity and thus more profitability. This is because the wage bill is also lower than that of a discriminating firm. Entry of non discriminating firm under decreasing return of scale DRTS would lead to constant production and decreased overhead cost. Also since increase in work force does not adequately increase the production. The cost of having more employees is drastically reduced and since the minority workers produce maximally the cost of the wage bill remains relatively low and hence the firm becomes more profitable. In such a firm it would lead to more efficiency as the production process require less man power for efficiency and use of minority who are efficient and extremely productive would lead to the most desired state of profitability. 3. Suppose that men earn on average

Cartoons and its Effect on Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cartoons and its Effect on Children - Essay Example Since the seventies, there had been numerous studies to determine the effect of television on children. This brief essay discusses the effects of cartoons on children since the 1990s. Essentially, the cartoons that gained popularity in the 1990s deviated from the traditional. Together with the conventional kids’ cartoons such as Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and the still popular Spongebob Squarepants, the nineties ushered such satirical animated programmes as the Simpsons, King of the Hill, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast, and the highly irreverend Beavis and Butt-head and South Park. Clearly, the latter group contained more of adult content and are not meant for children, but lack of parental vigilance (and the misleading format of the shows) has enabled many children to watch them with regularity. More recently, the cartoons that had become popular were those that departed from humor. The term â€Å"cartoons† traditionally implies comedy and humor; however, cartoons portray vio lence in a comedic context, such as those elements in Samurai Jack, X-Men Evolution, and Batman: The Animated Series, which portray â€Å"dark† situations. At times, violence is portrayed without the comedy and make use of characters who look realistic (as against the fantastic), a form of cartoons R.B. Haynes (1978) calls â€Å"authentic† because of its closeness to reality. Effects of cartoons on children Because of its implications on children’s future behaviour, violence became a major interest in the study of the effects animated programs. In the 1990s, cartoons portrayed violence in the form of minor acts; for instance, rarely is death depicted, and never is rape portrayed. Cartoons also â€Å"sanitized† the outcomes of violence, by symbolically depicting or merely implying pain or suffering without tangibly showing it. (Potter & Warren, 1998 in Kirsh, 2006, p. 161). The principal concern of researchers is that comedy in cartoons may potentially tri vialize or camouflage the underlying violence in cartoons (Kirsh, 2006). However, it is possible for children’s reactions to the same cartoons, or any stimuli for that matter, to be different, depending upon their interests and personality (Smith, Cowie & Blades, 2003). It was suggested that cartoons may be harmful particularly for little children, because the have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy (Peters & Blumberg, 2002). The present computer generated, 3D animated shows are particularly convincing because, where the character design significantly departs from the fantastic and imitates reality, the audience (particularly very young children) are drawn to the center of the story, and for the duration of the presentation there is a suspension of disbelief. As mentioned, cartoon violence has been the topic of much research, with the notion that children tend to imitate the violence they witness in cartoons. Some investigations, however, tended to suggest that in the case of preschoolers, the effects are not as severe as had been speculated. Very young children have very limited comprehension of the content of television programs, but their moral reasoning is at a rather developed stage – described as â€Å"sophisticated† (Peters & Blumberg, 2002:143). Another adverse effect of animation is the extraordinarily close affinity of children with certain psychiatric disorders to televised cartoon shows. Particularly significant is the effect of animation on children clinically diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In a study of 24 boys eight-to-twelve years of age, it was determined that 59 percent of the group preferred cartoons, significantly one-third more than the

Print Advertisement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Print Advertisement - Assignment Example People who observe the advertisement should recognize a strong feeling of nostalgia of ‘simpler times’ and the ‘simple joy’ of barbequing through direct comparison. One example of this would be a the image of a family standing around a BBQ with a father at the grill looking sternly out towards the reader utilizing a bold text indicating that home cooked is better than an expensive gourmet food (In this instance it would be advisable to choose a food which is notably elitist such as Foie Gras, or caviar). Target audience: As it is the case that many family budgets are set by women and the advertisements will be hosted in Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and Redbook (Predominantly female directed publications) the target audience would be women, with families that are relatively budget conscious. Typically homeowners, or renters with access to a yard. The most important message: You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a good time with your family and friends. As any person who attends bbq’s can tell you, it is the case that events hosted in the home can be as much (If not more) fun than an evening out at an expensive restaurant. From this perspective, the message can be achieved through humor.

This Fleeting World A short History of Humanity Essay Example for Free

This Fleeting World A short History of Humanity Essay Humanity is consistently and always evolving to meet there needs and demands. Humanity will have to evolve to changes in the environment and society. It has survived many problems in the past and it has changed for the better from those experiences. Humans have lived extreme times in earth’s history such as the last ice age and the bubonic plague. And so they have adapted to these events and have gained experience and evolved for the better. One main ideas of this book is this book is that mankind is always changing to be more efficient and to adapt to different events. The author writes of many events in worlds history such as the world wars and epidemics that have killed millions of people. And because of these events humans have to find vaccines/cures to dieses and create new types of technologies. So we have found solutions and advanced for the better of mankind. This proves the idea that humans are consistently evolving and changing. This idea is connected to modern times for example we develop and release new techonologies such as phones and computers on a weekly basis. Another main idea of this book is that can not keep up with the demands of its all people consistently. And so will go through periods of collapse and great hardships. As stated in the text the historian says â€Å"Humanity will never be able to fulfill the demands of its entire people† This is true as we do have the resources to provide for all of the world’s people. And so we go through periods of collapse like the great depressions. During this time many people lost their jobs and many families went hungry. This was a horror but we were able to recover and prosper once again proving that mankind is always evolving to meet demands. And finally the last main idea of this book is that agriculture has allowed for people to focus on other things then food. The author writes about how once agriculture was discovered people were able to learn new things and have different jobs then to just all be farmers. This is because there will be enough food provided to people so they do not have to grow it themselves. This time period was called the agrarian era. So the time of the foragers was over and now was the time of the agrarians. And so mankind was able to advance and become much greater. This applies to us because we have learned more effective ways to farm so are able to produce more crop. In the book it is stated that humanity will never be able to keep up with the demands of its entire people. This is relevant in much of world like in Africa. Mostly of the people there live in extreme poverty with very little food and drinking water. The GPD per captia of Africa is 1,200 US dollars. This is very insignificant amount of money to be able to raise a family with. And there is little hope of a better future for many. Also in many other third world countries such as India is very crowded and the population of is plagued by lack of fresh drinking water. And so these modern day events are relevant to the idea that humanity will never be able to keep up with the demands of its people.

A Study Of Lewins Model Management Essay

A Study Of Lewins Model Management Essay In the refreezing stage the company stabilized changes by establishing systems that can establish behavioural pattern in the organisation. A new performance appraisal system based on behaviour and results was introduced to encourage customer service. (Goodstein., D., L. Burke, W., W., 1991) 14 It is not easy for an organisation change its structure and business processes since any change may lead to some level of resistance by the employees. One of the main causes for resistance is the fear of the unknown and loss of what is familiar. There are four reasons of resistance from employee to organisational change including 1) Parochial self-interest, 2) Misunderstanding and lack of trust, 3) Contradictory assessments, and 4) Low tolerance for change. (Buchanan D. Huczynski A., 2004) BA tried to change behaviour by changing the management style from authoritative to participative. BA wished employees participate more in management decision but since this was unfamiliar employers would fall back to the old patterns. 15 A tactic that was used in BA to manage resistance to change was the HR policy which included training guidelines. Such an HR policy is important in making the employees understand and react positively to change. There is also an example where resistance to change hindered the organisations goals and objectives. In an attempt to cut down cost can compete with low cost airlines BA tried implementing a new payment system and also hiring workers for lower salaries. This created insecurity among the employees which ended in a strike that cost the company in millions in 2000. Therefore handling resistance and the HR aspects of the company is vital to a successful change process. 15 REFERENCES 16 Wilson, C.D., (1992), A Strategy of Change, Thomas Learning, London 16 British Airways, 2006, Leaders For Business: What are we looking for?, http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/baweb1/?newms=info196 (22 December 2006) British Airways, 2006, Our Recruitment Process: The Assessment Process, http://www.britishairwaysjobs.com/baweb1/?newms=info48 (22 December 2006) 16 Paton, R.A. McCalman, J. (2008) Change Management 2nd ed. Sage Publications, London 16 Cellars, T. (2007), Change Management Models: A Look at McKinseys 7-S Model, Lewins Change Management Model and Kotters Eight Step Change Model, Associated Content, [Online], http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237685/change_management_models_a_look_at_pg5_pg5.html?cat=3, accessed on 30 November 2009 16 Green, M. (2007), Change Management Masterclass, Kogan Page Limited, Philadelphia 16 Syque. (2007). Lewins freeze phases. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Changing Minds 16 12Manage. (2007, April 9). 7-S framework (mckinsey). Retrieved April 12, 2007, from 12Manage Web site: http://www.12manage.com/methods_7S.html 16 Chapman, A. (2006). Change management. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Business Balls Web site: http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm 16 Mind Tools. (2007). Lewins change management model: Understanding the three stages of change. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Mind Tools Web site: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm 16 Morgan, O. (n.d.). Organization management part 1. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Oliver Morgan Web site: http://www.omorgan.info/download/Part%20I/organisation_management_Part_I.pdf 16 Recklies, D. (2007). The 7-s-model. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from Recklies Management Web site: http://www.themanager.org/Models/7S%20Model.htm 16 Johnson G and Scholes k (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall, 6th ed. 17 INTRODUCTION British Airways Plc, renowned in the world as a leading airline, operates international and domestic scheduled and charter passenger services, freight, mail as well as ancillary services. Including 6 domestic flights, British Airways serves nearly 150 destinations. New code share arrangements agreed with Finnair, Iberia and Cathay Pacific are included in BAs global alliances. The airline operates in geographical areas such as the UK, Europe, America, Africa, Middle and Far East, Australasia and Indian sub-continent. For the year ended March 2009, the company generated revenues of  £ 8,992 million which is an increase of 3.1% on the  £ 8,753 million revenues generated in the year ended 2008. The net loss of the company was  £358 million during the 2009 financial year, showing a major decrease from the  £696 million profit in the previous year. British Airways Plc was formed from the airlines,  BOAC,  BEA, Cambrian Airways  and Northeast Airlines on 1 September 1974 through  nationalisation  by the Labour Government. In February 1987, thirteen years later, the company was privatised. Measured by passenger numbers, British Airways was the largest airline of the UK until 2008. British Airways is listed on the  LSE  and is a constituent of the  FTSE 100 Index. The airline celebrated its 35th anniversary on 31 March 2009. Change management According to cook et al (2004) change management is a set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashion to effect organizational change. One of the goals of change management is to reduce resistance to change in order for organizational members accept the change and thereby achieve the organizations goal of a smooth transformation. Change management can be seen to have five specific stages that must be realized for an organisation to be successfully implementing change. Firstly the organisation must know why a specific change or series should be brought about. Secondly the organisation must be motivated and desire to go through this particular change. Thirdly the organisation must posses the knowledge of how to carry out the change. Fourthly the organisation must acquire new skills and behaviours that are necessary for the change to occur. Lastly the organisation must become sustainable by making these new behaviours their usual practice. Further according to Wilson (1992) change can occur mainly in two dimensions depending on the theories and models used. This view explains that change can be either planned or unplanned. Also change can be described in terms of the process or implementation strategy. The issues of understanding and managing change within an organisation depend on the change approach that is selected by the organisation. Organisational Structure British Airways operates as a group of companies whose main industry sectors are international and domestic scheduled and charter air services carrying passengers, freight and mail as well as providing supplementary services. The group consists of British Airways Plc and a number of subsidiary companies, including British Airways Holidays Ltd, British Airways Travel Shops Ltd etc. The two main operating bases of the company are Heathrow and Gatwick airports and has established in branches around the world. The company is listed in several stock exchanges including LSE, Munich, US etc. British airways together with its partnerships have managed to extend its network thus entering all significant markets. As for the structure of BA, it has suffered a shift from modern to post modern to post modern organisational structure i.e. it has moved from mechanistic to more organic style of operation. The operations of BA can be analysed departmentally into Planning, Distribution and mileage partnerships, Marketing communications, Global contact centres, eCommerce, Triton Programme, Revenue management, AirMiles Travel Company, Travel Shops, BA Holidays, BA travel Clinics, Corporate communications, BA world Cargo, Ground Operations, BA engineering, Information management, BA shares etc. Each division has its own functionalities to perform, goals and objectives to meet which contributes to corporate aims and objectives. Department Responsibility Planning Planning fleet, network, schedule, infrastructure, resources, property Distribution mileage partnerships Ensure that customers can book pay and ticket a booking through the website, contact centres, shops, travel agents around the world Marketing communications Marketing communications, advertising, promotions, gain insight into customer needs Global contact centres Delivers services to customers who prefer using the phone eCommerce Major projects to broaden the range of transactions customers can do on their own, improve quality of online channels Triton Programme The 10 year contract with Amadeus, leading provider of travel industry systems Revenue management Monitors, controls, forecasts sales working to improve profitability AirMiles Travel Company Carries out customer loyalty programmes Travel Shops Provides personal services and expert advise from well travelled consultants BA Holidays Sells holiday packages travel Clinics Offers travel health advice and comprehensive vaccination service Corporate communications Protects and manages the global reputation ensuring that a wide audience are aware of the airlines news and developments. world Cargo Provides freight, mail and courier services Ground Operations Management of Customer services and terminal operations with safety and security Engineering Responsible for aviation maintenance providing full support for the fleets Information Management Responsible for all IT across the BA group and plays a fundamental role in shaping the future of the airline BA shares Responsible for all investor relations Table 1: Departmental Analysis of British Airways Market Environment PEST Analysis The Airline industry has become extremely competitive due to the budget airline and the current unfavourable economic conditions. All player compete for the market share in an environment where the bargaining powers of customer have increased and there is no control over the powers of fuel suppliers and prices. In the current economic conditions there is limited growth in volume and demand for air travel has declined significantly. The PEST analysis shows the external factors that affect the organisation and its change processes. It also reveals the changes the organisation must make in order to remain competitive in adverse market conditions. Thus, this section looks into the external environment of British Airways since change strategies are affected by the factors and changes in the macro environment. Such changes could bring about favourable or adverse effects on the companys turnover and growth. The PESTEL framework has been applied to examine the external factors and its impact on the company. Political and Legal Factors Developments in the political and legal factors can have a high impact on the airline industry. Political developments include changes in governmental policies, international regulations and legislations, government taxes on air travel, political and economical relationships with counties, changes in airport and aviation rules etc. Some of the developments have a favourable impact on the company while some others will have an unfavourable impact. The EU policy has increased air travel and therefore has been a positive impact on the airline industry. On the other hand, increase of government taxes has adverse results on the industry since demand for air travel declines due to high airfare. Economical Factors Economic developments such as increase in fuel prices, unfavourable currency and interest rates, recession, inflation, increase in unemployment has a negative impact on British Airways. In such environments leisure travel declines because people have less disposable income and business travel declines because corporate spending is reduced. Also recession negatively impacts on growth of companies in terms of expansions and buying additional aircrafts. On the other hand, changes such as economic boom, deflation could favourably contribute towards a companys performance. Social and Environmental Factors Airline industry is constantly under pressure for various environmental pressure groups due to high CO emission, noise and the effects on the climate. Also outbreaks of diseases such as such as Swine Flu can decrease air travel. Another aspect that could reduce air travel is safety related issues such as acts of terrorists and crashes. Technological Factors Changes in technology have shown negative and positive impacts on the airline industry. The positive impacts have been safety, cost reduction and ease of booking and planning travel online. On the other hand due to new technological developments such as advanced meeting facilities business travel is not necessary to the same extent as before. BA and Ryanair British Airways aims to operate a high quality service to its customers at a affordable price. It operates long and short haul flights to many destinations around the world and ensures comfort while taking the passengers closer to their destination. British airways mainly operate in three areas, namely passenger transport, cargo and mail services. British airways aim to understand its customers needs and operate accordingly. The company has a strong brand image and the employees are expected to work up to its standards. The organisational structure can be regarded as a flat type because it has only one level of hierarchy that separates Managing Directors at the top from bottom-line employees. On the other hand Ryanair operates on a no- frill strategy which means that the passengers are not provided with any extra facilities and operates simply as a point to point transportation service. It has grown largely in Europe by attracting customers who prefer low ticket prices thereby reducing the market share of British Airways. It mainly operates short haul flights to destinations which are secondary airports. Factors Affecting Change Management According to Paton and McCalman (2008) Change management can be defined as a planned process for changing a core function or organization of an enterprise. Change Management is an organized, systematic application of the knowledge, tools, and resources of change that provides organizations with a key process to achieve their business strategy. (Lamarsh 2000). With the aid of technology the industries and products are congregating which means each firm has to take a very holistic approach to the marketing of goods and services. Paton McCalman (2000). Factors driving change Most organisations change when internal and external environments change. The factors that initiate the need for organisational change can be two fold. The first factor can be called an External Trigger which involves the activities and innovations of competitors, change in customer requirements, legislation and government policies, and so on. Economic change can create the need for change. Also, due to the EU policies many companies had to change their practices and procedures. Environmental pressure groups that impose pressure due to adverse environmental effects can force a company such as BA to change its processes to make it climate friendly. The second factor can be called the Internal Triggers including new product and service design, innovations, appointments of new directors, new ideas on how to achieve service quality etc (Buchanan D. Huczynski A., 2004). The British Airways privatization program that changed the companys ownership was launched due to the impact from such triggers. The aims and objectives of this programme was to improve the organisations performance and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. According to the change model described by Lewin, organisational change occurs in three stages. The first stage is called Unfreezing which reduces the forces which maintain behaviour as it is currently and recognition of the need for change occurs. The second stage is called Movement which is the development of new practices and the implementation of the change. The final stage is named as Refreezing which is stabilizing the changes that occurred and reinforcement through supporting mechanisms. (Mul lins, J., L., 1999) Involving People It is essential that the organisation manages its human resources in a manner that is favourable to the change process. It is important that the employees understand and support the change in order to have a smooth transformation. If the change managers can make the people involved to see the common objectives and mutual benefits that the change will bring about it helps in making the change more successful (Paton McCalum, 2000). However, each individual will react to change in a different manner. The factors that affect how individuals will react to change are manifold, namely the organisational culture, the reasons for change, factors of change, leadership aspects and organisational structure. The change management style and approach are important aspects with regards to involving the employees of the organisation. Change management requires a considerable amount of skill and previous experience on the management of the organisation. It is important to consider each individuals pe rception and attitude towards the process for it to be a success. For example during the second stage of change, BA developed tactics and programs to bring the vision of the top management-level to the bottom-line employees throughout the organisation. Thus the internal structure and systems were changed and also a permanent training center was established to promote staff training. Stakeholders It is important that the company analyses its stakeholders since the change will have an effect on them. Communication is vital to involve all stakeholders in the process so that the change is successful. It is also important to categorise your stakeholders according to their power and interest involving the change. There are some aspects regarding stakeholders and the change process that should be taken into consideration. Differentiating and grouping employees and deciding how to deal with different types, planning communication in both directions and also looking after the interests off all individuals. There are mainly four types of stakeholders, blockers, sponsors, champions and sleepers Green (2007). Blocker have high power but low level of commitment, while the sponsors have high power and high commitment. Also Champions have high energy and high commitment while sleppers have both low power and low commitment to change. For a successful change it is important to identify the stakeholders with high power and commitment. British Airways has a number of stakeholders who have various interests in the business and from whom the company expects different things. There have been conflicts between these stakeholders due to their differing interests as well as formations of coalitions. It can be observed that most stakeholders have an interest in the organisation performing well. In the above context it is important that the stakeholders are analysed according to the power and commitment grid so that change can be successful. Planning the change The change process must be planned and it is advisable to use models of change and also consider the impacts of resistance to change. Two different change models are discussed in the following section, namely the Mckinsey 7-S model and Lewins Model. The basic principle of the model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned if it is to be successful. The 7S model can be used in a wide variety of situations such as improving the performance of the company. The McKinsey 7S model contains seven interdependent factors which are categorised as hard or soft elements. Hard elements are strategy, structure, systems and soft elements are shared values, skills, style and staff. The Hard elements are easier to identify and influence while the soft elements are more difficult to manage but equally important for a successful transformation. The model depicts the interdependencies of these elements in terms of how a change in one element affects the others. According to the model the seven elements must be aligned. In the case of BA, the model can be used to identify what needs to be realigned to improve performance during other changes in the company. What ever the change is this model can be used to understand the interrelationships. Further it can be used to analyse the current position, proposed position and identify the gaps between the two. It is also necessary to adjust these elements to make sure the company works effectively. Now lets examine Lewins change model. According to Lewin, there are three stages of change in an organisation which are unfreezing, movement, and refreezing. Unfreezing Stage accordingly, the first step for BA is to unfreeze present pattern of behaviour to manage resistance. In this stage change did make an impact on individual level due to the implementation of Downsizing of Workforce policy to restructure the organisation. This policy reduced hierarchy, and allowed worked to be carried out easily thus improving performance. (Shibata., K., 1993) The downsizing was achieved through compassion. BA also introduced training programs such as Putting People First to help line managers and workers understand the change and the requirements of the industry. Movement Stage The second stage of Lewins Model is movement. During this stage BA used tactics and programs to bring the vision of the top management and line employees. In support a number of new systems where implemented. (Goodstein., D., L. Burke, W., W., 1991) Refreezing Stage In the refreezing stage the company stabilized changes by establishing systems that can establish behavioural pattern in the organisation. A new performance appraisal system based on behaviour and results was introduced to encourage customer service. (Goodstein., D., L. Burke, W., W., 1991) Resistance to change It is not easy for an organisation change its structure and business processes since any change may lead to some level of resistance by the employees. One of the main causes for resistance is the fear of the unknown and loss of what is familiar. There are four reasons of resistance from employee to organisational change including 1) Parochial self-interest, 2) Misunderstanding and lack of trust, 3) Contradictory assessments, and 4) Low tolerance for change. (Buchanan D. Huczynski A., 2004) BA tried to change behaviour by changing the management style from authoritative to participative. BA wished employees participate more in management decision but since this was unfamiliar employers would fall back to the old patterns. A tactic that was used in BA to manage resistance to change was the HR policy which included training guidelines. Such an HR policy is important in making the employees understand and react positively to change. There is also an example where resistance to change hindered the organisations goals and objectives. In an attempt to cut down cost can compete with low cost airlines BA tried implementing a new payment system and also hiring workers for lower salaries. This created insecurity among the employees which ended in a strike that cost the company in millions in 2000. Therefore handling resistance and the HR aspects of the company is vital to a successful change process.