A comparison between Roald Dahls Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyles The Speckled Band :: English Literature

A comparison between Roald Dahl's Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band Murder Mystery Coursework - A comparison between Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the slaughter" and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Speckled Band For my Murder Mystery Coursework I am going to be comparing two Murder Mystery stories, "The Speckled Band," and "Lamb to the Slaughter" "Lamb to the Slaughter" was written by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl is best known for writing children's books, such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "The Twits," and "James and the Giant Peach." Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales in 1916 and lived until 1990. Dahl was also an author of series short stories for adults, which were later made into a TV series. His stories were so popular because they were unusual. They were called "Tales From The Unexpected." One of Dahl's more popular short fiction stories for adults is "Lamb to the Slaughter." I am going to be using this story in my comparison against another Murder Mystery called "Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories. Although he did many more, these proved to be the most popular to this very day. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859 and lived until 1930. The time in which Sir Conan Doyle lived, had a great influence on his work. Doyle served in the South African Wars as a doctor. This influenced him because when he returned to England he wrote "The Boer War," and "The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct" which justified England's participation. For these works he was knighted in 1902. During World War I he wrote the "History of British Campaign in France," and "Flanders" as a tribute to British bravery. One of Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes story is "The Speckled Band." This is the murder Mystery I am using to compare to Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" Murder Mysteries are stories that are written to intrigue you, make you wonder who has done it. They certainly live up to the title "Murder Mystery" because there is a murder and you have to find out who has done it. Typically a murderer is male, looks shifty, and has a motive that you don't find out until the end. You usually are told the story through the eyes of an inspector. They survey the evidence, but you do not always see what they do.

Perspective in The Outsiders, and A Squatters Tale Essay -- Outsiders

Webster's online dictionary of the English Language defines outsider as follows: Outsider n. 1. A person or thing not within an enclosure, boundary etc.   2. A person not belonging to a particular group, set, party, etc. 3. A person unconnected or unacquainted with the matter in question.   4. A racehorse, not classified among the best or among those expected to win. Considering these definitions of the word, "outsider," one is struck by the eclectic array of meanings.   Sometimes words have multiple meanings that are ironically linked. Are people as multifaceted as words?   The fundamental laws of social relations call upon humans to attempt to fit in and belong.   So, striving to fit in to one's family, peer group, community, and the world at large is an ongoing battle that most humans face to one degree or another.   On a larger scale, bloody battles are fought between countries, governments, and races in an effort to co-exist on the planet.   The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and A Squatter's Tale by Ike Oguine are stories that tell of this battle to fit in, and both have characters that personify these four definitions of the word, "outsider."   These tales have dramatic themes and stylistics that in some ways are similar and in other ways unique, but they all have significant effects on the readers.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is a common theme of violence in both stories. Obi, the protagonist in A Squatter's Tale, depicts how Nigeria has had its own history of violence.   There are sharp divisions between the rich and the poor, those in power and those being manipulated. Corruption in the government was at an epidemic level in the mid nineties.   Bribery, extortion and strong-arm tactics have become the norm.   The... ...ey are not expected to win in life.   However, one is left at the end of these stories with an undeniable feeling of optimism and assurance that Obi and Ponyboy will persevere in their struggle to overcome the obstacles in their lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited Coming to America. Dir. John Landis.   Perf. Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   James Earl   Jones, Madge Sinclair.   Paramount Pictures Video,1988   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Class Film. NJIT. LIT 350-102. Spring Semester, 2002. Hinton, S.E. The Outsiders. New York: Penguin, 1967. Oguine, Ike. A Squatter's Tale.   Oxford: Heinemann, 2000. Vitullo-Martin, Julia and J. Robert Moskin. The Executive's Book of Quotations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New York: Random House. 1989.      

Management Chapter Quiz

Questions for Chapter 6 True/False 1. A talented entrepreneur should be able to substitute for an experienced management team. (False) 2. The size of your organization is inversely correlated to the amount of revenue your business can derive (False) 3. Hiring a salesperson is more attractive than increasing support staff in regards to revenue generated. (True) 4. Your team members can help you to evaluate feedback from outside sources. (True) 5. Over 95% of entrepreneurs in the US report that their team members are the main source of seed financing. (False) 6.A business superstar is unlikely to possess all the business skills needed for long term success. (True) 7. Analysis of your resume will help you decide what other team members your firm needs. (True) 8. Entrepreneurs who are overly conscious of their own weaknesses are more likely to fail (True) 9. The Myers-Briggs personality type indicator can accurately predict an individual’s likelihood for success in an entrepreneur ial endeavor. (False) 10. Certain personalities are better suited for entrepreneurship than others. (False) 11. Fast, dramatic growth can be a mistake for a business. (True) 12.Early stage companies tend to be hierarchal. (False) 13. Co-founders of a start-up should work on every task and decision together. (False) 14. It is more common for teams to self-destruct because of personal conflicts than for lack of funding. (True) 15. If you decide to start a venture, you should notify your current employer as soon as possible. (True) 16. After you have started a business, it is a bad idea to combine your new job with working fulltime elsewhere. (False) 17. If employees own equity in the company, they usually work harder. (True) 18. In general, founder shares should be granted to at least 10 people. False) 19. Founder shares should be distributed equally between all founders. (False) 20. It is a mistake to distribute the entire supply of options to existing employees. (True) 21. Startups should negotiate employee salaries below market levels. (True) 22. You may find an angel investor who will guide you at the early stages of your venture. (True) 23. Free resources are poor substitutes for a qualified lawyer. (False) 24. Board members should be encouraged to act in the best interest of the principal owner exclusively. (False) 25. Company culture is incredibly difficult to change after it has been established. True) Multiple Choice 1. According to study by Babson College and London Business School, businesses with growth aspirations plan on employing more than 20 people within the next: A) 2 Years B) 3 Years C) 4 Years D) 5 Years E) None of the above (Answer – D) 2. How much, according to Robert Morris and Associates, do restaurants generate in net income before taxes on average, approximately? A) 2% B) 5% C) 10% D) 13% E) 17% (Answer – B) 3. Which of the following is true about teams? A) Teams provide constructive feedback for your ideas. B) Teams incre ase your contact network exponentially.C) Teams increase your revenue. D) Teams provide you with moral support. E) All of the above (Answer – E) 4. Which of the following should the founder of the venture do first when deciding whether or not to be the CEO of his company? A) Ask for his/her friends opinion B) Take at least three personality tests C) Review his/her resume D) Work as a hired manager for at least 4 years E) Consult with his/her team members (Answer – C) 5. Individuals that possess which of the following traits are most likely to launch their own businesses? A) Overly conscious of their own weaknessesB) An aptitude for benchmarking their competitors’ strengths C) Can objectively evaluate his strengths and weaknesses D) Emphasizes his or her strengths E) Oblivious to his or her own weaknesses (Answer – E) 6. Which of the following personality traits best predicts entrepreneurial success? A) Analytical B) Driver C) Expressive D) Amiable E) None of the above (Answer – E) 7. According to Inc. 500, what percent of entrepreneurs start businesses with their friends or family members? A) Less than 5% B) About 10% C) About 20% D) Approximately 40% E) More than 65% (Answer – D) 8. What does the movie, Startup. om, demonstrate? A) How outside financing contributes to equity B) How expensive lawyers can be C) How working together can affect the relationship of two lifelong friends D) How much the government is willing to help young entrepreneurs E) None of the above (Answer – C) 9. What opportunities can a young company offer its potential team members? A) Growth into higher management positions B) Above average market salaries C) More attractive social benefits packages D) Secure and stable jobs E) All of the above (Answer – A) 10. Which of the following should an entrepreneur do when creating a venture?A) Expropriate her current employer’s intellectual property B) Use her employer’s resou rces for the new venture C) Notify her current employer about the intention to create a new venture D) Spend all her time working for the new venture E) Live off her savings (Answer – C) 12. According to the chapter, which of the following is not an acceptable means of maintaining an entrepreneurs’ personal cash flow? A) Working full-time and devoting time to the new venture B) Working part-time and devoting time to the new venture C) Living off personal savings D) Living for his/her spouses’ income E) All of the above are acceptable Answer – E) 13. Which of the following is not a reason for distributing equity among employees? A) New companies often can’t pay market rates for salary and wages B) Including some equity in the compensation package aligns the employee with the company C) The sense of ownership boosts morale D) Distributing equity among employees reduces the risk of hostile takeover E) Having some equity, he team sticks together during the rough times in the early launch phase (Answer – D) 14. None of the following tools are usually considered a reward for â€Å"sweat equity,† except: A) Founder shares B) Option poolC) Restricted stock D) Stock appreciation rights E) Phantom stock (Answer – A) 15. What are the disadvantages of distributing founder shares equally among all co-founders? A) The lack of a primary shareholder slows down the decision making process B) CEO may be doing as much work as CEOs of comparable companies, but have less potential upside C) Such distribution makes unwanted acquisitions easy D) A and B E) A and C (Answer – D) 16. Options give the holder the right to: A) Increase the number of the company shares he is allowed to purchase B) Buy a share in the company at a below-market rateC) Secure a salary increase on a regular basis D) Sell his stocks on the open market for more than the prevailing market price E) Demand a refund on his contribution to company’s equity (Answer – B) 17. What attribute characterizes â€Å"restricted stock†? A) Does not grant voting rights B) Cost less per share C) Become vested over time D) Has a reduced interest rate E) Higher liquidation priority than unsecured debt (Answer – C) 18. Stock appreciation rights of employees accrue only if: A) The stock price decreases B) Combined with options C) The employees perform well D) The stock price increases E) None of the above Answer – D) 19. All of the following is true about phantom stocks except: A) They are expensed over the vesting period B) They give employees the right to own equity C) The company needs cash when phantom stocks are exercised D) They grant the holders additional voting power E) They lower the dilution effect (Answer – D) 20. Which of the following are not mentioned in the chapter as external team members? A) Board of Directors B) Lawyers C) Accountants D) Angel investors E) Foreign partners (Answer – E) 21. What is the minimum expected level of lawyers’ fees? A) $50/hour B) $100/hour C) $150/hour D) $200/hour E) $250/hour Answer – C) 22. Inappropriate sources of members for Board of Advisors include: A) Shareholders’ representatives B) Entrepreneurs C) Individual with insights about your target customer D) Your professors E) Venture capitalists (Answer – A) 23. Which of the following is true about a company’s culture? A) A company’s culture is relatively easy to change B) As a company grows, it is common for the culture to evolve C) More team members will fit your company’s culture over time D) Problems with the team do not arise in companies with strong culture E) All elements of a company’s culture constantly change (Answer – B) 4. By making your team members work long hours, you put them at risk of: A) Burnout B) Family pressure C) Stress D) Reduced efficiency E) All of the above (Answer –E) 25. You are lea st likely to resolve an interpersonal conflict in your team by: A) Firing one of the parties B) Hiring an outside expert who is perceived as a neutral party C) Explaining to the parties involved that their arguments reduce the team’s efficiency D) Mediating between the parties E) Transferring one of the parties to another team (Answer – C) Open ended 1. Explain why solo entrepreneurs are generally less successful than team players. a.A team is able to do more than the entrepreneur can on his or her own. b. Solo entrepreneurs suffer from a number of shortcomings, including a limited perspective, little moral support, and a small network c. Solo entrepreneurs often fail to get sufficient feedback on their ideas. d. If you build your team wisely you will gain access to a broader range of contacts. e. A team rounds out the skill set needed to launch a business 2. What are some of the methods used to identify an entrepreneur’s strengths and weaknesses? a. Self-assess ment b. Conducting feedback analysis c. Talk to people who know you well and whom you respect. . Take a psychological or a personality test. 3. What valuable contributions can your team members bring to your company? a. Professional knowledge b. Money required to start a business c. Resources/contacts d. Managerial skills 4. What are some indicators of the right co-founders and team members for your start-up? a. Everyone can contribute meaningful skills to the business. b. You can work together without personal issues standing in the way. c. Your team members are excited about the venture and its future. 5. Describe the pros and cons of a dual job strategy at the early stages of the venture. a.Pros: you have a source of cash for you to live on while you are developing your idea; you can keep the job if you see that your new start-up is not progressing well. b. Cons: dual jobs mean that you have to work over nights and weekends; you cannot use your current company’s resources or compete with it until you quit; and, simply, your current job limits the time that you can dedicate to the venture. 6. Give examples of compensations used to make your start-up attractive for valuable team members. a. Founder Shares b. Option pool c. Restricted stock d. Stock appreciation rights e. Phantom stock 7.Explain the benefits, to the firm, of a vesting schedule for employee options and shares. a. Vesting basically means that people earn their shares or options over time, usually over four or more years. b. Without a vesting schedule, employees can leave the company soon after being hired and retain 100% of their options or shares. c. A vesting schedule adds additional incentives for employees to remain with the company for the entire vesting period, usually four or more years. 8. Who should you invite to join the Board of Advisors of your firm and why? a. Professors – for their fundamental knowledge b.Current and former entrepreneurs – for their practical k nowledge and experience c. Professional investors such as venture capitalists and angels – for network extension and fund raising d. Suppliers for your firm – for insights about new customer and market trends 9. Why are lawyers and accountants considered to be external members of your team? a. Your lawyer will most likely work very closely with you and will know everything about your company. Therefore, it is essential that he offers a highly customized service to you and his contributions are usually as important as those of your team members. . An accountant is a trained business professional who can help you analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your company’s financial performance. He or she may be able to find ways to improve cash flow, strengthen margins, and identify tax benefits. c. Both lawyers and accountants represent another spoke in your network, as both groups frequently have a long list of business and professional contacts. This can include eve rything from potential partners, customers, angel investor networks, and venture capital firms. 10. Three major problems your team may face are burnout, interpersonal conflicts and family pressure.Describe how you can prevent and overcome them. a. Listen to each team member, not only about the progress of their assignments, but also about the stresses they may be feeling b. You can introduce stress-relieving activities, or bonding experiences such as the Friday happy hour, or the lunchtime basketball game c. Counsel your team members to set expectations for their families even before they join your team d. Resolve interpersonal conflicts as quickly as possible or they may escalate to the point where they are destructive – mediate, hire an outside expert, or fire one of the arguing parties

Memory Essay

Autobiographic memories are known to be frequently inaccurate. In fact, when a person recalls the past, the images of real events are intermingled with events that either never occurred or are distorted so severely that there is little opportunity to recognize the true happenings in them. This occurs because of the operation of certain principles of memory that render exact memories difficult and almost unrealistic. These principles include schemas and mechanisms of interference explaining why memories can often be inaccurate and misleading. Schemas Schemas directly affect human perception of the outer world, other people. They are even more significant in the conceptualization of what one is and what one believes oneself to be. A person operating on a schema has a distinct perception of one’s own self that fits into a framework pre-specified in the schema. This framework includes a variety of attributes directly related to the life of an individual. An elderly woman could see her life as one of a devoted Christian. In such a case, she can be willing to shove away the memories that do not demonstrate such a trend in her life. Thus, she may be willing to repress memories of youthful fun that do not fit into her current beliefs and attitudes so that she could feel more comfortable about her past. This can occur not because of intended self-deception, but because of the stated schema that operates at the subconscious level. A man whose schema is that of a courageous hero will live the life based on this schema. In this case, he will tend to repress memories of his childhood episodes in which he acted as a coward or a villain, in his own current perception. Such incidents will not fit into his schema and thus are repressed as conflicting. The schema in this way governs not only what occurs in the present, but also memories of the past. Interference Interference is another powerful influence on the mechanisms of memory that makes remembrance of the past often inaccurate. It occurs because a human mind cannot store infinite amounts of information. When new information comes in, it may interfere with the older layers. Interference falls into two types: proactive interference and retroactive interference. The first kind occurs when â€Å"an older memory interferes with remembering a newer memory† (Borree, 2002). This is especially relevant to the successive study of several foreign languages when the knowledge of the previously studied language can interfere with the knowledge of the current one. Retroactive interference, in contrast, occurs when â€Å"newer memories interfere with older ones† (Borree, 2002). The latter type is more relevant to the exploration of autobiographic memory inaccuracy. When the current information conflicts with older layers, it can take precedence over them. A person who has achieved high socioeconomic status in the present may inaccurately believe that his past was also more glorious than it really was. A common occurrence is to see the harsh treatment from parents as intolerable abuse when one is consistently told, for instance, in a therapy course, that he or she was the victim of abuse. Evidence shows that â€Å"some of the people who remembered terrible things like being abused as children were discovered to have created these memories under pressure from their therapists† (Borree, 2002). When people in society are continuously being told about abuse in families, they tend to see their past in the same light, inventing instances of abuse even where they were not present. This represents a case of interference where the past interferes with the present. Repression Repression is a term that was introduced by Sigmund Freud, the psychologist who invented the psychoanalysis theory. According to him, memories can be repressed if they are too painful or disagreeable to people. Humans tend to â€Å"push painful memories out of our awareness and into a deep, dark place called â€Å"the unconscious mind† (Borree, 2002). This mechanism, too, can explain how memories are stored in places from which they are never retrieved. This distorts the real picture of the past events. Manipulation Many people with susceptible psyche can fall prey to conscious manipulation that leads to the change in their memories post factum. A skilful person using hypnosis can put them in this state. Manipulation can be used in a less conspicuous manner – through the use of specific language, for instance. The lawyer in court who uses the word â€Å"tragedy† to describe the misfortunes of the victim will force the victim to believe that he or she has indeed been through a terrible tragedy. Conclusion Distortions of events in autobiographic memory can arise for a number of reasons. Schemas, interference, repression and manipulation are just a few mechanisms that can affect human memories. In each case, the result is the distorted perception of the past reality which is influenced by the current cognitive state of the individual. Reference Boeree, C.G. (2002). Memory. Retrieved August 2, 2006, from http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/memory.html                     

Communism and Democratic Capitalism

1. From a Christian perspective, why did Marxist Communism fail? The government has too much power of constrains people. Trying to force people and form them to change is not right and does not work in the long run. To give any one party too much power is a bad idea. We are all human and prone to sin. The government needs to help the people and work for the people not rule them. 2. Which is a more Christian form of government, democratic capitalism or democratic socialism? That is a tricky question, and I believe the answer lies somewhere in between the two.The struggle is to regulate but not over regulate the people. People are greedy and in capitalist economy will not give to the poor. That’s were socialism looks better, but then the government is to power full and human nature can affect the government just as it can a civilian. I believe my vote goes for democratic capitalism with less government and a competitive market. 3. What functions does government have to undertake because of fallen human nature? The government has to protect society from itself so to speak.The government becomes responsible for creating laws to protect rights and property. They also become responsible for enforcing these laws and protecting people from others who may steal their things. The government also has to be responsible to take care of the environment since people fail to do it on their own. Another thing I see the government doing is taking care of people who can’t devise the means to take care of themselves. 4. Should Christians concern themselves with the regulatory activities of government? If so, what areas of regulation are most significant?Yes I do believe Christians should concern themselves with regulatory activities. The major one would be discrimination. There needs to be very strict laws guarding against regulation. All of god’s children are created equal and all should be treated fairly and given the basic tenants of life. Also everyone abl e should be able to work and have to opportunity to support themselves and contribute to society. Another regulation that needs to be of concern to Christians is over regulation. Over regulation can lead to many deceitful and bad things when abused by greedy individuals and government.

Analysis of Memories of an Immigrant

Today, during our broadcasting, we will talk about immigration, particularly the huge immigration’s period, from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, to the USA: nearly 12 million immigrants, coming from all parts of the world, arrived in the United States between 1870 and 1900. To discuss of this subject with us, the famous author of â€Å"Memories of an immigrant†, Mary Wilde, will present her book. Good morning, as you know, immigration is an important subject in the world today. But, what did you decide to write a book about it, and what did you choose this time in particular. â€Å"Memories of an immigrant† is a biography of my grand-mother Annie McBride, an Irish immigrant. Social and cultural differences of immigrants have built north-American culture. In your book, why did your grand-parent decide to immigrate to the USA? Annie was born in 1880 in Ireland. She emigrated in 1901 because she wanted personal freedom or relief from political and religious persecution. Actually, there were political subordination by the British policy and religious prejudice of Protestant Masters to the Catholic Irish. In 1845, the great potato rot killed many of the crops people had planted and a famine resulted, but 50 years after the situation was the same. What were her expectations and dreams? Fleeing crop failure, land and job shortages, and famine, she came to the U. S. because it was perceived as the land of economic opportunityâ€Å"Golden Land â€Å". She decided to settle down in the US to start a new life, in order to have better prospects, so as to earn a better living. She hopped for a better future. Did she go with all her family in the â€Å"Golden land†? Hers parents died when she was young but she was raised by her uncle Bill and his wife: a couple of farmers. In 1895, Bill immigrated to the new country while his wife and Annie would staid in Ireland. After he had worked and earned money for the passage of them, they could have joined him. There is an extract of her journey to the US. Annie McBride said†¦ My journey to Ellis Island: Day 20 I'm in this boat since 20 days. It is so long. I thought the trip gonna be less hard. I am in steerage class; my bed is not comfortable at all. I sleep with six other persons, a French woman and an old German man. The four others, I don't know their name, I didn't understand their language. They are kind people; I ate with them yesterday evening, in the dormitory. My only diner was a lukewarm soup, a boiled potatoes and a stringy beef. The quality is poor, but it was good compared to the piece of bread we had in Ireland. I still have two months to end this trip. During the day, I talk with Julie and Gunter, my bedroom's mates. I learn very much about their country their lives and why did they decide to come to the USA. For me, eating potatoes was a miracle, in Ireland; the potato famine was a disaster and left lot of people destitute. I had the feeling that I was living the beginning of my new life. A life without fears and problems. I am very hopeful and impatient. Yesterday I didn't succeed to sleep, outside, a huge storm was rumbling. I was afraid because I hate storms and I always thought that in the ocean, it could be very dangerous. One hour ago, when I talked with her, Julie told me that the captain wasn't very nice, he committed sexual offences. I think this behavior is inappropriate to a female passenger, and I don't understand why he used this language. There is not drinking water on the boat. Yesterday, I drunk water with and horrible rancid smell and I had an unbearable stomach ache. I staid in my bed all the day, I was so bored. I heard that a typhus disease appeared on the boat. I'm afraid, it's gonna increase my constant pressure, this illness made lot of dead people in Ireland. I will propose to people to play cards with me, stay without do anything is just impossible, I think I will die of boredom. This day will end in four hours and let the place to another long and hard traveling day. I can't wait to arrive to USA. To see this new country, this new people, to live my new life. How was the arrival in the US and at Ellis Island? After four weeks in the boat, she made out the shore through the fog and was very excited. Annie's first view of the United States was at Ellis Island in New York. After leaving the ship all the immigrants had medical and legal inspections. If they were healthy and if they had 25$ they were allowed to leave Ellis Island and start their new lives. After inspections, where did she go? Bill told her the situation was very difficult when he arrived in the USA. In the ship, he met another Irish Sean who proposed to him to go to Philadelphia where there were working opportunities: the country was growing and it needed men to do the heavy work of building bridges, canals, and railroads. Thus, they were engaged to do work of building of railroads and canals, for miserable wages. They were forced to live in cellars because of poverty. Their brogue and dress provoked ridicule; their poverty and illiteracy provoked scorn. Then, Bill and Sean settled in the already existing Irish communities, where Catholic Churches had been built, and cultural traditions were carried out. Consequently, Molly, Bill’s wife, and Annie joined him at Philadelphia. They found work as chamber maid and caretaker of children. The Church played an integral part in their lives. It was a Church who fought not only for their souls but also for their human rights. Often stereotyped and discriminated against, many immigrants suffered verbal and physical abuse because they were â€Å"different. † Their transition into American life, however, was not smooth as the Irish minority came into direct and sometimes violent conflict with the Protestant majority. After 10, Annie had children with Sean, and in 1950, she founded a college, today renowned, in Virginia. Thank you for your presentation and participation, Mary Wilde.

Analysis of semco and pixar animated studio as an example of innovative organizations

Companies like Semco, Gore and Associate, 3M and Pixar have made a reputation for themselves due to their emphasis on creativity. Innovation is a product of collaborative learning, idea generation, sharing and idea realization practices of workers in an organization (Dovey, 2009, p.311). For innovation to occur an organisation must foster an environment and culture that give room for creativity which is what Semco and Pixar have achieved. To this end, this report will analyse Semco and Pixar as an exemplar of innovative companies and the relationship that exist between them using some key theories of innovation and the defining features and managerial actions that set them apart as innovative organisations. SEMCO Semco is a loose organisation that encourages innovation and self organisation leading to trust, collaboration and cooperation. Semco was a small family engineering company originally called Semler and Company established in 1952 in Sao Paulo, Brazil by Antonio Curt Semler and renamed Semco after Ricardo Semler, the 24 year old son of the owner resumed office as the new chief executive officer in 1984, firing more than half of the top managers on his first day of resuming office as chief executive officer and eliminated all secretarial positions (CNN, 2004). The company prior to Ricardo taking over was characterised with autocratic style of management with control and rules being the order of the day and operating at the edge of collapse. Ricardo Semler favours a participating style of management, profit sharing and free flow of information. The company product range includes dishwashers, pumps, mixers, cooling units for air condition, biscuits factories among others (Semler 1999, p. 1). It is one of the most innovative companies in the world and has become the subject of study for most business schools all around the world due to its peculiar management style. There is no organisation structure that feeds managers ego, subordinates choose their own bosses, employees set their salaries, production targets and achieve them at their own time, and are encouraged to participate, share ideas and also share in the profit (Semler 1999, pp.1-7, 130 131). PIXAR Pixar animated studio was established in 1986 after Steve Jobs purchased the computer graphics division of Lucas films for $10 million with Ed Catmull being named co-founder and Chief technical officer, Smith as vice president alongside Steve Jobs (Price, 2008, p.74 85-197). In 2001, Ed Catmull was named Pixar’s president. The company originally manufactures and sell hardware and software that enable computer graphics to develop animations. In 1987, the company began the making of short films with its first computer generated movie, Toy Story being released in 1995. The company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Walt Disney acquired 2006 at $7.4 billion and located in Emeryville, California (Paik, 2007). The acquisition will help Pixar gain economies of scale and access to new technologies. Pixar has a range of films under its belt that has surpassed box office expectations from Rango, Hop, Toy Story 3, finding Nemo, the incredible and many others (Emerald Group Review, 2 011). Its target audience cuts across all ages and nationalities and include families and children and its product range include short films in DVDs, soundtrack CDs, animated films among others (Price, 2008, pp.3-7). It fosters an environment that gives room for mistakes and encourages collaborations among teams and departments and devoid of micro management by executives to ensure creativity and innovation (YouTube-imperial college, 2009). THEORIES OF INNOVATION USING EVIDENCE FROM SEMCO AND PIXAR What makes Ricardo Semler and Ed Catmull exceptional in the way they run their companiesCould it be that they were born to innovation, an act of God, divine intervention, grace, or years of experience and acquisition of knowledge and educationAnalysts and business tycoons have called these men genius. Some critics of Semler and Pixar would have called the transformation at these companies as a gift from the gods. However, it is worthy of note that Semco was a company already in operation prior to Ricardo taking over and Pixar had several failed attempts before its major breakthrough in 1995 with Toy Story. Emerald group, 2011 quoted Ed Catmull in Harvard Business Review ‘I don’t think our success is largely luck. Rather, I believe our adherence to a set of principles and practices for managing creative talent and risk is responsible.’ Was grace far from the transformation in these companiesRicardo was one of the youngest graduates at Harvard Business School who wo uld have learnt some of the traditional management theories in school but choose to manage in a uniquely different way that suite his life and believes suite those of his employees. Moreover, having had an encounter with a doctor who told him to change his work style, he decided to change his way of management, a factor that has led to the key changes at Semco today. Thus innovation at Semco may be a combination of association having graduated from Harvard, accident-a chance meeting with the doctor, personality-considering that while at high school he raised some money for the school vacation program which he reinvested to yield a return before the vacation, feature of life and a bit of cognitive considering the fact that innovation at Semco had evolved over time. It is far from being grace or act of gods. Several forms of innovation can be said to have taken placed at these organisations. They are: Organisational innovation: An organisational innovation is one that entails the implementation of a new organisational method in the firm’s business practices, workplace or external relations (Stoneman, 2010, p.17; OECD, 2006). It is often intended to increase a company’s performance through improvement in workplace satisfaction and labour productivity and access to knowledge. It entails an adoption of an organisational method such as flatter organisation structures, employees’ participation among others that have not being used before in an organisation and often results from strategic decisions taken by management (Stoneman, 2010, p.18). Semco and Pixar posses a great deal of organisational innovation. Semco had implemented theories that have never being tried before such as the satellites programs that allow ex-employees to open their own companies with financial help and resources and become partners with Semco and employees cutting their wages by 30% to Semc o at difficult times to get a higher returns when trading conditions get better. What drive such innovation are the organisational culture, structure and learning. Social innovation: This is the innovation that supports and it is beneficial to the society. Pixar is an example of such innovation whose films though animated have a lot of influence on the society both young and small. Its latest film, hop for instance gives social lessons about the role of adult and children in society. Semco has also contributed to the Brazilian society through employment and a reduction in job cuts. Traditional innovation: This is technological innovation and is measured in different ways such as through patents, expenditure and development among others. Semco and Pixar have shown a lot of innovation and creativity in technology with Pixar having a lot of patents. All these types of innovation create social capital which will be discussed later in this report. FEATURES OF INNOVATIVE ORGANISATIONS OR MANAGEMENT ACTIONS SEMCO and Pixar’s success is built on a lattice or flatter organisational structure devoid of control culture that has gone through series of transformation through the years which has enhanced their innovative ability. An organisational culture devoid of control fosters innovation as individuals are giving the freedom to self organise and make their own decisions just like Semco where employees set their salaries and take decisions on production targets and the time they meet such targets (Semler, 1999, p.1). These companies have been able to manage innovation in the following ways: Structure and culture: Organisational design is crucial to the continuous innovation of an enterprise. As the business environment becomes complex and uncertain, so is the organisational design changing to meet up with customers’ demands for value maximising products. Traditional management scientists like Max Weber emphasised formal structure which is a top-down approach characterised with command, control, rules, position power and neglect social and psychological influences on behaviours of employees and teams (Burnes 2000, p.45). Employees are likely to respond to a good leader who they trust and respect than being managed in a bureaucratic way as argued by Adair 1986:54. Semco operates a lattice structure and considers all workers as equal and has reduced bureaucracy from twelve layers of management to three (Semler 1999, p.7). Reduced hierarchies and high involvement will lead to faster decision making and idea generation and information sharing, leading to innovation. F ormal organisational structure stifles individual creativity. In the words of Semler, authoritarianism diminishes productivity and as such no privileges or rules that discourages flexibility (Semler, 1999, p. 4). At Semco, People are made to enjoy their job and feel good about themselves, not just to survive. Business strategy in the company is determined without interference from the top. Similarly, Pixar is free from the thick layers of formal management and executives are not involved in the day to day running of the organisation. All employees are equally important and all work together for the success of a story. Both companies are devoid of micro-management which ensures creativity and innovation. To have these kind of organisations require a conducive organisational culture that is devoid of control. In the words of Ed Catmull, ‘Management really doesn’t tell people what to do.’ Thus both companies give employees freedom to take risk and there is reflecti on, learning and feedback. However , not everyone can work in an environment with such a structure as some people like being told what to do, also, people wants to know what their responsibilities are and who they are report to while others do not like responsibility. It means that such environment will attract liked minded individuals. Trust and Freedom: Due to the flexible organisational structure and lack of formal reporting structures, employees can be trusted to carry out their roles. However, there is a tendency for employees to abuse the system giving the few reporting structures. Semco has absolute trust in her employees and encourages them to be self managing and governing and have made partners with them. There is so much trust that Semco made entrepreneurs out of its workers through assistance with setting up their own company through its satellite programs, buy from them and encourage them to sell to its competitors. One will assume trust will not be a possibility giving the large number of employees of over 3000. Semco has defiled business school expectations and has gone as far as allowing workers to participate in managerial decision making from deciding how much they get paid, to unlimited access to financial information and freedom to work whenever and wherever they choose and meet targets at their own set time and set their salaries which has resulted in impressive growth, long term loyalty and increase and better productivity. To Semler, his interest is in the final result not where, how and hours worked (Easen, 2004). Freedom drives performance and encourages innovation. Staff can work better if given more independence (Handy, 2004). Semco adopts a participating or democratic management style that create an atmosphere where both bosses and subordinates ( partners and associate) interact regardless of jobs and position and all are involved in decision making (Semler, 1999.pp.6 81). In the words of Semler (1999, p. 6), ‘We don’t have as many bosses as we used to. As workers began to exercise more control over their jobs and assume more voices in our policies, the need for supervisors diminished.’ Having trust in individual will give them a sense of belonging and being wanted and encourage new ideas and sharing of ideas among one another. Semco and Pixar re alised that the most powerful resources at their disposal are the people who make things happen in their organisations and have learnt to trust, believe in them and give them the freedom to express their innovative capabilities and drive production forward. Trust is seen as an outcome of social capital and shared values (Cote and Healy, 2001). However, the problem with freedom is that not everyone like being free. Some people want to be controlled and directed to get their job done. Some see control as a motivator. Moreover, some top managers may resist the need for reduced hierarchies for fear of losing control and power. Social capital and Collaboration: At Semco and Pixar, there is collaboration and teamwork as people work together for common and shared values and not get in each others’ way but are committed to the achievement of the common goal of the company. At Semco, employees participate in managerial decision not just relating to their jobs but the business as a whole. They are included in decisions that pertain to choosing who their boss becomes (Easen, 2004). Before people are hired or promoted to leadership positions, they are interviewed and approved by all who will be working for them, and every six months managers are evaluated by their subordinates. Semco has autonomous business units established by ex- employees who open their own business with help from Semco and have become partners, associate and collaborators and has made Semco a leaner and agile organisation (Semler, 1999 P.7). Also different departments and business units and teams work collectively to drive innovation f orward at Semco and Pixar. Easen, 2004 reported Semler as saying that ‘Growth and profit are a product of how people work together.’ There is a balanced collaboration at Pixar as artist and technologists are paired together. Every offer or idea is accepted and then people get the chance to plus it (Nelsen, 2008). A term Nelsen called ‘plussing’- taking an idea or a piece of work and find a way to add or improve upon it without judging it. At Pixar, collaboration means amplification whereby employees who are listening and interested in each other are joined together to work and bring separate depth to the problems and breadth that gives them interest in the solution as well as allow teams to communicate at different levels. The brain trust at Pixar is a framework or forum that gives an opportunity for some of the best brains to use their expertise and experience to share their understanding and knowledge with others and to get feedback. The Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, OECD defines social capital as ‘networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups’ (ONS, 2001; Cote and Healy, 2001:41). It is the glue that holds organisations together and enables employees to join forces more effectively and pursue shared objectives. In a culture of continual change and uncertainty, sustainable communities are those who are collaborative and always growing with and towards each other in the formation, sharing and adaptation to new knowledge (Smith and Paquette, 2010). Some of the outcomes of social capital are social relations, trust, collaboration, mutually enforceable agreement, general reciprocity and innovation (ONS, 2001). In Semco there is mutually enforceable agreement resulting from profit sharing. In the past, Pixar had used stock to motivate employees and encourage them to stay. Also, the need to produce quality output at Pixar could be a form of mutually enforceable agreement (Price 2008, p. 114). Pay recognition: Motivation such as adequate pay, interpersonal relations and work and group dynamics are some factors that increase productivity and workers satisfaction (Mullins, 2007, p.53). Employees will be committed to work if they are being paid fairly and feel that their contribution is appreciated in the organisation. Semco’s employees set their salaries and share in the profits. As Semler (1999, P. 4) says, ‘Profit-sharing is democratic. We negotiate with our workers over the basic percentage to be distributed- about a quarter of our corporate profit.’ This has worked so well at Semco as there is very low labour turnover and when the need arises, those laid off are assisted to form their own company. Reward systems and benefits retain people and lead to workers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty (Chiu et al, 2002). There were times when workers salary proposal were rejected in instances of over- statement. Contrary to this is the argument that financial rewards are not enough to motivate people and that group pressure has more influence on employees than financial rewards (Mullins, 2007, p.301). In addition, people also have intrinsic motivation derives from within the individual which propels them towards the need for self actualisation and fulfilment. Learning and feedback/ Gives room for mistakes/Risk taking: Learning within projects teams depends heavily on the inflow and transfer of knowledgeable among them. Semco and Pixar are learning organisations. Such organisations give room for failure and learning from mistakes and encourage risk taking and have a wide tolerance for new ideas and do not punish mistakes. A learning organisation was defined by Johnson et al (2008) as, ‘One capable of continual regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills of individuals that encourage mutual questioning and challenge around a shared purpose or vision.’ Semler pointed out that mistake is welcome and a sign that the employee is taking enough risk. Without mistakes, there will not be learning and consequently, innovation will be stifled. Likewise at Pixar, continuous innovation requires that executives resist the natural tendencies to minimise risks and accept uncertainty to ensure originality and ability to r ecover from failures resulting from taking risks. It encourages creativity by allowing people to experiment with new ideas and mistakes genuinely made are treated as part of the learning process Emerald Group review, 2011). Mistake are not punished at Pixar but seen as building block for new ideas and innovation just like 3M. Pixar endorses and encourages a creative by rejecting hierarchical and controlled system, instead the taking of risks and recognizes the importance of serendipity in the creative process (Smith and Paquette, 2010) It has been argued that employees’ collective knowledge exceeds those of the organisation and its capabilities and managers should aim at encouraging processes that unlock employees’ knowledge and encourage information, knowledge and idea sharing which is the sort of environment both companies have created for their employees. As a narrator said, each movies produced by Pixar contains a combination of tens of thousands of ideas arising from risk taking, failure and learning. Ed Catmull said that ‘Innovative people are failure recovered not failure avoider.’ Both companies give room for reflection, learning and feedback. The benefits of learning cannot be over emphasis. Learning increases employees’ commitment, improve quality as mistakes are identified. Senge 1999 reiterated that organisational learning leads to organisational performance. Commitment: At Semco, everyone is committed to the achievement of the organisation’s objectives as they all feel a sense of belonging and part ownership of the company arising partly from the profit sharing. Employees are seen as being importance and valued. A worker in an interview said if an employee is idle, another worker will often ask why he or she is not working, reminding him or her that failure to work will reduce their profits and subsequently reduction in money for their pockets. So there is peer pressure. If employees feel that they are being trusted to take decision on their own and self manage, they will be committed. Semco operates an egalitarian company where there is no preferential treatment. Parking lots are for first come basis and all employees eat on the same canteen. Meetings are held based on the first two employees to be present. This makes employees feel as being a part of the team and big family and give them a sense of being wanted by the company. B y removing privileges of ranks, employees will see themselves as a wider community, thus feel comfortable voicing their opinion, leading to generation of new ideas. Dynamism: Semco is a highly flexible company with no boundaries to the type of business and products, making it difficult to say exactly what kind of business the company is in. There is no fixed business and it is open to any form of business that comes their way. It is also characterised with the absence of business plans and company strategy. In the words of Semler (2003, p.4), ‘ Once you say what business you are in, you create boundaries for you employees, you restrict their thinking and give them a reason to ignore new opportunities as they will say we are not in that business.’ Semco is so dynamic in its operations and processes that employees must not use one desk two days in a row. This is to make them difficult to track and are free to move and work anywhere that appeals to them be it home office. There is time flexibility as they are not concerned about when the employees arrive at work. However, contracts are negotiated on the basis of what to be achieved at a set period and what it stands to gain for paid value and what the employees get in return. It is a mutually enforceable agreement as both parties- employees and Semco benefit. Pixar, though in a core line of business of animated films, it is not to say it is not a dynamic company as different forms of films that benefits both adult and children have being produced over the years. There is effective communication at both companies due to the organisational culture and flatter structure devoid of control. There is information, idea and knowledge sharing. At Pixar, technologists communicate with the artists. SUMARY AND CONCLUSION Semco and Pixar are said to be innovative even though the companies are different in what they do and how they approach innovation. Nevertheless, some common factors in both companies is the delegation of a large amount of control to their employees and absolute freedom to take risk and give room for mistakes and failure, giving them freedom to generate new ideas and thus take a more active role and commitment. Both companies have decentralised the management structures to get employees more involved in decision making and give them a sense of belonging. They have created a culture that gives room for mistakes, failures, sharing of information, and ideas. There is also collaboration between employees, teams, departments, business units and partners, trust, social capital, communication, lack of micro-management and similar organisational culture and structure which encourages innovation. However, both companies differ in a number of ways such as absence of profit sharing at Pixar, la nguages, products, country of location and time scales. Having carried out a detailed analysis of Semco and Pixar, it is possible that what works at these companies can be applicable to other companies. However, some disadvantages will be accrued if these features are applied in another company characterised with hierarchical control culture and structure such as resistance from top management who are control freaks and unwilling to relinquish power. Moreover, not everyone will be able to self manage as some people like being controlled and told what to do. In addition, that trust and freedom work well in these organisations does not mean it can be implemented in other organisations as differences in culture and environment will play a role in determining its effectiveness in another company with different organisational culture and business environment. Having said this, nothing is worth not trying, so these managerial actions that have worked so well in these organisations can be applied to other organisations. The reward may not be see n immediately, but in the long run, it will pay off. REFERENCE ADAIR, J. 1986. Effective Team Building: How to make a Winning Team. London: Gower Publishing Co Ltd.BURNES, B. 2000. Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics. 3rd edn. England: Pearson Education Ltd. CHIU, R. K, LUK, W.V AND TANG, T.L (2002) Retaining and motivating employees: Compensation preferences in Hong Kong and China. Personnel Review [Online journal], 31 (4), pp.402-431. Available from Emerald at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/search.htm?st1=Retaining+and+motivating+employees%3A+Compensation+preferences+in+Hong+Kong+and+Chinact=allec=1bf=1 . (April 19 2011). COTE, S AND HEALY, T. (2001) The Well-being of Nations. The role of human and social capital. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. CNN. 2004. Ricardo Semler, Semco SA. [WWW] http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/06/29/semler.profile/index.html?iref=allsearch(27 April 2011). DOVEY, K. 2009. The role of trust in innovation. The Learning Organization [online journal] 16(4). Pp.311-325. Available from Emerald at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/search.htm?st1=role+of+trust+in+innovationct=allec=1bf=1 . (March23/3/2011). EASEN, N. 2004. Interview with Ricardo Semler. [WWW] http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/05/19/go.semlar.transcript/index.html (15 April 2011). EASEN, N. 2004. Democracy in the Workplace. [WWW] http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/05/19/go.democratic.workplace/index.html?iref=allsearch (15 April 2011). EMERALD GROUP, 2011. How Pixar animates its talent team: not knowing the answers can be the way ahead. Development and Learning in Organizations [Online journal], 25 (1), pp. 30-32. Available from Emerald at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/search.htm?st1=pixarct=allec=1bf=1. (April 8 2011). HANDY C, 2004. Giving your Staff More Freedom. [WWW] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/ business /4058519.stm (1 April 2011). JOHNSON, G, SCHOLES, K AND WHITTINGTON, R. 2008. Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. 8th edn. England: Pearson Education Limited. MULLINS, L. J, 2007. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th edn. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. NELSEN, R. 2008. Pixar’s Randy Nelsen on the Collaborative Age. [WWW] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhXJe8ANws8 (1 April 2011). OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS. 2001. Social Capital: A review of the literature. [WWW] http://www.statistics.gov.uk/socialcapital/downloads/soccaplitreview.pdf (26 April 2011). PAIK, K. 2007. To Infinity and Beyond: The story of Pixar Animation Studio. London: Virgin Books Ltd. PIXAR GROUP 24. 2009. Innovation Management: Imperial College. [WWW] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTB5S2mc3wA (20 March 2011). PRICE, D. A.2008. The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company. USA: Alfred A. Knopf. SEMLER, R. 2003. The Seven-Day Weekend. London: Century. SEMLER, R. Semco – Ricardo Semler – MIT SF 11 – Leading organizations. [WWW] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qJ2W9cVDM (14 April 2011). SEMLER, R. (1999) Maverick! The Success Story Behind the World’s most Unusual Workplace. London: Random House Business Books. SEMLER, R. 2007. Interview with Ricardo Semler. [WWW] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJkOPxJCN1wfeature=related (13 March 2011). SENGE, P.M. (1999). It’s the learning: the real lesson of quality movement. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 22 (6)Pp.34-40. STONEMAN, P. 2010. Soft Innovation: Economics, Product Aesthetics and Creative Industries. New York: Oxford University Press.SMITH, S. AND PAQUETTE, S. (2010). Creativity, chaos and knowledge management. Business Information Review, 27 (2), pp. 118-23. BIBLIOGRAPHY BESSANT, J. 2003. High Involvement innovation: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage Through Continuous Change. England: John Wiley Sons. CHRISTENSEN, C.M, AND ERIK, A.R. 2004. Seeing What is Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change. USA: Harvard Business school Press. BURDETH, O.J. 1994. The Magic of Alignment. Management Decision [online journal], 32 (2), pp. 59-63. Available from Emerald at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/search.htm?st1=alignmentct=allec=1bf=1go=Go. (March 3 2011). Analysis of semco and pixar animated studio as an example of innovative organizations Companies like Semco, Gore and Associate, 3M and Pixar have made a reputation for themselves due to their emphasis on creativity. Innovation is a product of collaborative learning, idea generation, sharing and idea realization practices of workers in an organization (Dovey, 2009, p.311). For innovation to occur an organisation must foster an environment and culture that give room for creativity which is what Semco and Pixar have achieved. To this end, this report will analyse Semco and Pixar as an exemplar of innovative companies and the relationship that exist between them using some key theories of innovation and the defining features and managerial actions that set them apart as innovative organisations. SEMCO Semco is a loose organisation that encourages innovation and self organisation leading to trust, collaboration and cooperation. Semco was a small family engineering company originally called Semler and Company established in 1952 in Sao Paulo, Brazil by Antonio Curt Semler and renamed Semco after Ricardo Semler, the 24 year old son of the owner resumed office as the new chief executive officer in 1984, firing more than half of the top managers on his first day of resuming office as chief executive officer and eliminated all secretarial positions (CNN, 2004). The company prior to Ricardo taking over was characterised with autocratic style of management with control and rules being the order of the day and operating at the edge of collapse. Ricardo Semler favours a participating style of management, profit sharing and free flow of information. The company product range includes dishwashers, pumps, mixers, cooling units for air condition, biscuits factories among others (Semler 1999, p. 1). It is one of the most innovative companies in the world and has become the subject of study for most business schools all around the world due to its peculiar management style. There is no organisation structure that feeds managers ego, subordinates choose their own bosses, employees set their salaries, production targets and achieve them at their own time, and are encouraged to participate, share ideas and also share in the profit (Semler 1999, pp.1-7, 130 131). PIXAR Pixar animated studio was established in 1986 after Steve Jobs purchased the computer graphics division of Lucas films for $10 million with Ed Catmull being named co-founder and Chief technical officer, Smith as vice president alongside Steve Jobs (Price, 2008, p.74 85-197). In 2001, Ed Catmull was named Pixar’s president. The company originally manufactures and sell hardware and software that enable computer graphics to develop animations. In 1987, the company began the making of short films with its first computer generated movie, Toy Story being released in 1995. The company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Walt Disney acquired 2006 at $7.4 billion and located in Emeryville, California (Paik, 2007). The acquisition will help Pixar gain economies of scale and access to new technologies. Pixar has a range of films under its belt that has surpassed box office expectations from Rango, Hop, Toy Story 3, finding Nemo, the incredible and many others (Emerald Group Review, 2 011). Its target audience cuts across all ages and nationalities and include families and children and its product range include short films in DVDs, soundtrack CDs, animated films among others (Price, 2008, pp.3-7). It fosters an environment that gives room for mistakes and encourages collaborations among teams and departments and devoid of micro management by executives to ensure creativity and innovation (YouTube-imperial college, 2009). THEORIES OF INNOVATION USING EVIDENCE FROM SEMCO AND PIXAR What makes Ricardo Semler and Ed Catmull exceptional in the way they run their companiesCould it be that they were born to innovation, an act of God, divine intervention, grace, or years of experience and acquisition of knowledge and educationAnalysts and business tycoons have called these men genius. Some critics of Semler and Pixar would have called the transformation at these companies as a gift from the gods. However, it is worthy of note that Semco was a company already in operation prior to Ricardo taking over and Pixar had several failed attempts before its major breakthrough in 1995 with Toy Story. Emerald group, 2011 quoted Ed Catmull in Harvard Business Review ‘I don’t think our success is largely luck. Rather, I believe our adherence to a set of principles and practices for managing creative talent and risk is responsible.’ Was grace far from the transformation in these companiesRicardo was one of the youngest graduates at Harvard Business School who wo uld have learnt some of the traditional management theories in school but choose to manage in a uniquely different way that suite his life and believes suite those of his employees. Moreover, having had an encounter with a doctor who told him to change his work style, he decided to change his way of management, a factor that has led to the key changes at Semco today. Thus innovation at Semco may be a combination of association having graduated from Harvard, accident-a chance meeting with the doctor, personality-considering that while at high school he raised some money for the school vacation program which he reinvested to yield a return before the vacation, feature of life and a bit of cognitive considering the fact that innovation at Semco had evolved over time. It is far from being grace or act of gods. Several forms of innovation can be said to have taken placed at these organisations. They are: Organisational innovation: An organisational innovation is one that entails the implementation of a new organisational method in the firm’s business practices, workplace or external relations (Stoneman, 2010, p.17; OECD, 2006). It is often intended to increase a company’s performance through improvement in workplace satisfaction and labour productivity and access to knowledge. It entails an adoption of an organisational method such as flatter organisation structures, employees’ participation among others that have not being used before in an organisation and often results from strategic decisions taken by management (Stoneman, 2010, p.18). Semco and Pixar posses a great deal of organisational innovation. Semco had implemented theories that have never being tried before such as the satellites programs that allow ex-employees to open their own companies with financial help and resources and become partners with Semco and employees cutting their wages by 30% to Semc o at difficult times to get a higher returns when trading conditions get better. What drive such innovation are the organisational culture, structure and learning. Social innovation: This is the innovation that supports and it is beneficial to the society. Pixar is an example of such innovation whose films though animated have a lot of influence on the society both young and small. Its latest film, hop for instance gives social lessons about the role of adult and children in society. Semco has also contributed to the Brazilian society through employment and a reduction in job cuts. Traditional innovation: This is technological innovation and is measured in different ways such as through patents, expenditure and development among others. Semco and Pixar have shown a lot of innovation and creativity in technology with Pixar having a lot of patents. All these types of innovation create social capital which will be discussed later in this report. FEATURES OF INNOVATIVE ORGANISATIONS OR MANAGEMENT ACTIONS SEMCO and Pixar’s success is built on a lattice or flatter organisational structure devoid of control culture that has gone through series of transformation through the years which has enhanced their innovative ability. An organisational culture devoid of control fosters innovation as individuals are giving the freedom to self organise and make their own decisions just like Semco where employees set their salaries and take decisions on production targets and the time they meet such targets (Semler, 1999, p.1). These companies have been able to manage innovation in the following ways: Structure and culture: Organisational design is crucial to the continuous innovation of an enterprise. As the business environment becomes complex and uncertain, so is the organisational design changing to meet up with customers’ demands for value maximising products. Traditional management scientists like Max Weber emphasised formal structure which is a top-down approach characterised with command, control, rules, position power and neglect social and psychological influences on behaviours of employees and teams (Burnes 2000, p.45). Employees are likely to respond to a good leader who they trust and respect than being managed in a bureaucratic way as argued by Adair 1986:54. Semco operates a lattice structure and considers all workers as equal and has reduced bureaucracy from twelve layers of management to three (Semler 1999, p.7). Reduced hierarchies and high involvement will lead to faster decision making and idea generation and information sharing, leading to innovation. F ormal organisational structure stifles individual creativity. In the words of Semler, authoritarianism diminishes productivity and as such no privileges or rules that discourages flexibility (Semler, 1999, p. 4). At Semco, People are made to enjoy their job and feel good about themselves, not just to survive. Business strategy in the company is determined without interference from the top. Similarly, Pixar is free from the thick layers of formal management and executives are not involved in the day to day running of the organisation. All employees are equally important and all work together for the success of a story. Both companies are devoid of micro-management which ensures creativity and innovation. To have these kind of organisations require a conducive organisational culture that is devoid of control. In the words of Ed Catmull, ‘Management really doesn’t tell people what to do.’ Thus both companies give employees freedom to take risk and there is reflecti on, learning and feedback. However , not everyone can work in an environment with such a structure as some people like being told what to do, also, people wants to know what their responsibilities are and who they are report to while others do not like responsibility. It means that such environment will attract liked minded individuals. Trust and Freedom: Due to the flexible organisational structure and lack of formal reporting structures, employees can be trusted to carry out their roles. However, there is a tendency for employees to abuse the system giving the few reporting structures. Semco has absolute trust in her employees and encourages them to be self managing and governing and have made partners with them. There is so much trust that Semco made entrepreneurs out of its workers through assistance with setting up their own company through its satellite programs, buy from them and encourage them to sell to its competitors. One will assume trust will not be a possibility giving the large number of employees of over 3000. Semco has defiled business school expectations and has gone as far as allowing workers to participate in managerial decision making from deciding how much they get paid, to unlimited access to financial information and freedom to work whenever and wherever they choose and meet targets at their own set time and set their salaries which has resulted in impressive growth, long term loyalty and increase and better productivity. To Semler, his interest is in the final result not where, how and hours worked (Easen, 2004). Freedom drives performance and encourages innovation. Staff can work better if given more independence (Handy, 2004). Semco adopts a participating or democratic management style that create an atmosphere where both bosses and subordinates ( partners and associate) interact regardless of jobs and position and all are involved in decision making (Semler, 1999.pp.6 81). In the words of Semler (1999, p. 6), ‘We don’t have as many bosses as we used to. As workers began to exercise more control over their jobs and assume more voices in our policies, the need for supervisors diminished.’ Having trust in individual will give them a sense of belonging and being wanted and encourage new ideas and sharing of ideas among one another. Semco and Pixar re alised that the most powerful resources at their disposal are the people who make things happen in their organisations and have learnt to trust, believe in them and give them the freedom to express their innovative capabilities and drive production forward. Trust is seen as an outcome of social capital and shared values (Cote and Healy, 2001). However, the problem with freedom is that not everyone like being free. Some people want to be controlled and directed to get their job done. Some see control as a motivator. Moreover, some top managers may resist the need for reduced hierarchies for fear of losing control and power. Social capital and Collaboration: At Semco and Pixar, there is collaboration and teamwork as people work together for common and shared values and not get in each others’ way but are committed to the achievement of the common goal of the company. At Semco, employees participate in managerial decision not just relating to their jobs but the business as a whole. They are included in decisions that pertain to choosing who their boss becomes (Easen, 2004). Before people are hired or promoted to leadership positions, they are interviewed and approved by all who will be working for them, and every six months managers are evaluated by their subordinates. Semco has autonomous business units established by ex- employees who open their own business with help from Semco and have become partners, associate and collaborators and has made Semco a leaner and agile organisation (Semler, 1999 P.7). Also different departments and business units and teams work collectively to drive innovation f orward at Semco and Pixar. Easen, 2004 reported Semler as saying that ‘Growth and profit are a product of how people work together.’ There is a balanced collaboration at Pixar as artist and technologists are paired together. Every offer or idea is accepted and then people get the chance to plus it (Nelsen, 2008). A term Nelsen called ‘plussing’- taking an idea or a piece of work and find a way to add or improve upon it without judging it. At Pixar, collaboration means amplification whereby employees who are listening and interested in each other are joined together to work and bring separate depth to the problems and breadth that gives them interest in the solution as well as allow teams to communicate at different levels. The brain trust at Pixar is a framework or forum that gives an opportunity for some of the best brains to use their expertise and experience to share their understanding and knowledge with others and to get feedback. The Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation, OECD defines social capital as ‘networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups’ (ONS, 2001; Cote and Healy, 2001:41). It is the glue that holds organisations together and enables employees to join forces more effectively and pursue shared objectives. In a culture of continual change and uncertainty, sustainable communities are those who are collaborative and always growing with and towards each other in the formation, sharing and adaptation to new knowledge (Smith and Paquette, 2010). Some of the outcomes of social capital are social relations, trust, collaboration, mutually enforceable agreement, general reciprocity and innovation (ONS, 2001). In Semco there is mutually enforceable agreement resulting from profit sharing. In the past, Pixar had used stock to motivate employees and encourage them to stay. Also, the need to produce quality output at Pixar could be a form of mutually enforceable agreement (Price 2008, p. 114). Pay recognition: Motivation such as adequate pay, interpersonal relations and work and group dynamics are some factors that increase productivity and workers satisfaction (Mullins, 2007, p.53). Employees will be committed to work if they are being paid fairly and feel that their contribution is appreciated in the organisation. Semco’s employees set their salaries and share in the profits. As Semler (1999, P. 4) says, ‘Profit-sharing is democratic. We negotiate with our workers over the basic percentage to be distributed- about a quarter of our corporate profit.’ This has worked so well at Semco as there is very low labour turnover and when the need arises, those laid off are assisted to form their own company. Reward systems and benefits retain people and lead to workers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty (Chiu et al, 2002). There were times when workers salary proposal were rejected in instances of over- statement. Contrary to this is the argument that financial rewards are not enough to motivate people and that group pressure has more influence on employees than financial rewards (Mullins, 2007, p.301). In addition, people also have intrinsic motivation derives from within the individual which propels them towards the need for self actualisation and fulfilment. Learning and feedback/ Gives room for mistakes/Risk taking: Learning within projects teams depends heavily on the inflow and transfer of knowledgeable among them. Semco and Pixar are learning organisations. Such organisations give room for failure and learning from mistakes and encourage risk taking and have a wide tolerance for new ideas and do not punish mistakes. A learning organisation was defined by Johnson et al (2008) as, ‘One capable of continual regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills of individuals that encourage mutual questioning and challenge around a shared purpose or vision.’ Semler pointed out that mistake is welcome and a sign that the employee is taking enough risk. Without mistakes, there will not be learning and consequently, innovation will be stifled. Likewise at Pixar, continuous innovation requires that executives resist the natural tendencies to minimise risks and accept uncertainty to ensure originality and ability to r ecover from failures resulting from taking risks. It encourages creativity by allowing people to experiment with new ideas and mistakes genuinely made are treated as part of the learning process Emerald Group review, 2011). Mistake are not punished at Pixar but seen as building block for new ideas and innovation just like 3M. Pixar endorses and encourages a creative by rejecting hierarchical and controlled system, instead the taking of risks and recognizes the importance of serendipity in the creative process (Smith and Paquette, 2010) It has been argued that employees’ collective knowledge exceeds those of the organisation and its capabilities and managers should aim at encouraging processes that unlock employees’ knowledge and encourage information, knowledge and idea sharing which is the sort of environment both companies have created for their employees. As a narrator said, each movies produced by Pixar contains a combination of tens of thousands of ideas arising from risk taking, failure and learning. Ed Catmull said that ‘Innovative people are failure recovered not failure avoider.’ Both companies give room for reflection, learning and feedback. The benefits of learning cannot be over emphasis. Learning increases employees’ commitment, improve quality as mistakes are identified. Senge 1999 reiterated that organisational learning leads to organisational performance. Commitment: At Semco, everyone is committed to the achievement of the organisation’s objectives as they all feel a sense of belonging and part ownership of the company arising partly from the profit sharing. Employees are seen as being importance and valued. A worker in an interview said if an employee is idle, another worker will often ask why he or she is not working, reminding him or her that failure to work will reduce their profits and subsequently reduction in money for their pockets. So there is peer pressure. If employees feel that they are being trusted to take decision on their own and self manage, they will be committed. Semco operates an egalitarian company where there is no preferential treatment. Parking lots are for first come basis and all employees eat on the same canteen. Meetings are held based on the first two employees to be present. This makes employees feel as being a part of the team and big family and give them a sense of being wanted by the company. B y removing privileges of ranks, employees will see themselves as a wider community, thus feel comfortable voicing their opinion, leading to generation of new ideas. Dynamism: Semco is a highly flexible company with no boundaries to the type of business and products, making it difficult to say exactly what kind of business the company is in. There is no fixed business and it is open to any form of business that comes their way. It is also characterised with the absence of business plans and company strategy. In the words of Semler (2003, p.4), ‘ Once you say what business you are in, you create boundaries for you employees, you restrict their thinking and give them a reason to ignore new opportunities as they will say we are not in that business.’ Semco is so dynamic in its operations and processes that employees must not use one desk two days in a row. This is to make them difficult to track and are free to move and work anywhere that appeals to them be it home office. There is time flexibility as they are not concerned about when the employees arrive at work. However, contracts are negotiated on the basis of what to be achieved at a set period and what it stands to gain for paid value and what the employees get in return. It is a mutually enforceable agreement as both parties- employees and Semco benefit. Pixar, though in a core line of business of animated films, it is not to say it is not a dynamic company as different forms of films that benefits both adult and children have being produced over the years. There is effective communication at both companies due to the organisational culture and flatter structure devoid of control. There is information, idea and knowledge sharing. At Pixar, technologists communicate with the artists. SUMARY AND CONCLUSION Semco and Pixar are said to be innovative even though the companies are different in what they do and how they approach innovation. Nevertheless, some common factors in both companies is the delegation of a large amount of control to their employees and absolute freedom to take risk and give room for mistakes and failure, giving them freedom to generate new ideas and thus take a more active role and commitment. Both companies have decentralised the management structures to get employees more involved in decision making and give them a sense of belonging. They have created a culture that gives room for mistakes, failures, sharing of information, and ideas. There is also collaboration between employees, teams, departments, business units and partners, trust, social capital, communication, lack of micro-management and similar organisational culture and structure which encourages innovation. However, both companies differ in a number of ways such as absence of profit sharing at Pixar, la nguages, products, country of location and time scales. Having carried out a detailed analysis of Semco and Pixar, it is possible that what works at these companies can be applicable to other companies. However, some disadvantages will be accrued if these features are applied in another company characterised with hierarchical control culture and structure such as resistance from top management who are control freaks and unwilling to relinquish power. Moreover, not everyone will be able to self manage as some people like being controlled and told what to do. In addition, that trust and freedom work well in these organisations does not mean it can be implemented in other organisations as differences in culture and environment will play a role in determining its effectiveness in another company with different organisational culture and business environment. 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