Fall of western roman empire essays

Fall of western roman empire essays The Western Empire fell in the year 476 A.D. Perhaps the premier cause for this decline was a massive economic crisis. The second cause for the decline of the Western Roman Empire was the generals of the military were creating private armies. The third reason for the decline was that the military and government were losing the loyalty of the Roman citizens. The decline initiated as a result of the economic crisis. The empire was over stretched, meaning the empire boundaries were too broad to manage and this was becoming very costly. When the Empire had gotten so big, the government decided to divide it into the East and West Empire. This affected the economy because the empire was running pretty smoothly when it was one, but the division weakened the West and strengthened the East Empire. The West Empire was weakened because the East Empire had the metals and goods and didnt want to share with the West Empire. This crisis made the government raise taxes to pay for the increased cost. When the government had highered the taxes the citizens were starting to purchase fewer goods. When the citizens purchased fewer goods, the businesses had to lay people off. This became a problem when the population was becoming overwhelmed with the unemployed. Instead of spending valuable money on expanding their businesses, the wealthy would spend money on foreign goods from China and Indonesia. The patricians, who were the wealthy citizens, generally owned two houses. They generally spent around six months in each house. When the decline was hitting the cities, the wealthy moved to their rural houses. They brought with them family and plebeians who would act as workers. This caused the population of the cities to drastically decline. The army was being affected by the decline of the population, because the Army was getting fewer people to be recruited to the Army. Also, it was harder to recruit men to be in the Army because they werent...

Technological Change in Organizations Essays

Technological Change in Organizations Essays Technological Change in Organizations Essay Technological Change in Organizations Essay Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Technological Change in Organizations The term technological change in an organization refers to the process of integrating new and improved technology in organizational processes to increase the efficiency, performance and productivity of the organization (Jin 20). Recently, the organization I work with experienced this type of change. In this current competitive and global economy, technology plays a major role in determining the success of any organization. Organizational managers are starting to realize that technology is effective in the management of resources and they are starting to respond by incorporating it in their organizational structures. For instance, a majority of organizations now have departments like Information technology department, which is managed by a Chief Information Officer. In preparation for the technological change, the organizational management realized that it was their responsibility to facilitate and enable the technological change by first understanding the dynamics of the change from an objective vantage point (Lorenzi 97). The management further prepared for the technological change by educating the staff on the significance and implications of the change at hand. This was supplemented by frequent involvement and empowerment of the staff (Lewis 144). This step was important because the staff was able to understand the connection between the technological change and the objectives of the organization. The preparation process was concluded by the formulation of an implementation plan that was to be used in the implementation stage In the implementation of the technological change, the management applied a five-step change process, which was incorporated with a technological implementation plan (Paton 101). The first step by the management was acknowledging their responsibility to facilitate and motivate the change after understanding it from an objective standpoint. This step was crucial because it eliminated any resistance to change (Haddad 83). The second step involved creating a vision with core values that guide the future of the organization. The third step was managing the political dynamics of change by developing political support. The fourth step was managing the transition from the existing organizational state to the desired technological state. The final step involved sustaining the momentum needed to carry the change through to completion. The implementation of the technological change had a significant impact to the organization. Technological change enabled the organization to reduce its production costs through office automation and electronic documentation of information (Costa-i-Font 6). The technological change also enabled the organization to improve its communication channels by introducing new methods of communication like electronic mailing and web conferencing. Technology also enabled the organization to increase its productivity by introducing efficient and accurate methods of processing information. In addition, the technological changes played a major role in the expansion of the organization’s economic market, which was initially restricted to the local boundaries (Miner 450). In conclusion, the positive impacts that the technological change had in our organization is proof that change is important. Many organizations today realize that it is important to harness new technologies while at the same time change the organizations parameters in order to support more efficient and effective operations. The incorporation of new technology into any organization will always accompany change and it does not matter whether the structure of the organization is simple or complex (Lewis 21). That is why competitively dominant organizations in our global economy today are flexible to change. Costa-i-Font, Joan, Christophe Courbage, and Alistair McGuire. The Economics of New Health Technologies: Incentives, Organization, and Financing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Haddad, Carol J. Managing Technological Change: A Strategic Partnership Approach. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2002. Print. Jin, Zhouying. Global Technological Change: From Hard Technology to Soft Technology. , 2011. Print. Lewis, Laurie K. Organizational Change: Creating Change Through Strategic Communication. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print. Lorenzi, Nancy M, and Robert T. Riley. Managing Technological Change: Organizational Aspects of Health Informatics. Berlin: Springer verlag, 2003. Print. Miner, John B. Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print. Paton, Rob, and James McCalman. Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation. London: SAGE, 2007. Print.

Corporate strategy(powergen case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate strategy(powergen case study) - Essay Example Power generation is a crucial component of a countrys economy as it affects industry and businesses to a very large extent and greatly contributes to its economic progress. In past years, electricity demand showed little growth (only 0.6% a year) during the period 1990 to 1997 in the UK and there was excess generating capacity of 11,000 MW in 1990-1991 (based on projected demand of 50,000 MW vs. 61,000 MW capacity) in the country at the time. However, electricity demand grew by healthy percentages such as the USA (projected at 30% for next 2 decades), big developing countries like India (10%), China (9%) and poorer nations possibly more. On average, global electricity generation will grow at 2.6% annually until 2030 (Economy Watch, 2010:1). Changing conditions due to the technology innovations used in generating electricity brought about industry consolidation and vertical integration of most big players. PowerGen was not so well prepared for the industry shakeup despite its size and lost market share due to its failure to acquire a regional electricity company (REC) which is a crucial component for industry players because it deals with the retailing of electricity. The electricity industry is very important to a nations growth and progress. This has a profound impact on a country by providing its citizens with the conveniences of modern life. Many nations in the poorer regions of the world such as Africa and Latin America where a big majority (4/5 of the worlds entire population) live (Hofstede, 1993:11), the tendency of most governments is to somehow price their electricity artificially low. This social pricing structure does not reflect actual or true cost. The industry was recently liberalised to allow big players to make the necessary big investments to make electricity cheaper and also improve service to consumers through healthy competition. Many external factors affect industry players like environmental