Purchasing and Supply Management

Purchasing and Supply Management is a critical component to running of any corporation today. According to The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) , supply chain management is "The design and management of seamless, value-added processes organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the end customer. The development and integration of people and technological resources are critical to successful supply  chain integration. (Leenders, 2010) term of value chains is used to trace a product or services through its various moves and transformation. 

The money spent on suppliers for a corporation is approximately over $18 trillion according to (Leenders, 2010). The impact of corporate spending in supply management can be illustrated by various methods, profit-leverage effect which is measured the the increase in profit to multiply gains and losses. Leveraging can be accomplished by borrowing money, buying fixed assets and using derivative. (Effect) There are also return-on-assets effect, reduction in inventory investment, which adds to the supply contribution in a corporation.

The creation of a project supply, services, and material budget from detailed requirements is due to a number of things working in harmony between departments: supply, purchasing, vendors, and management to coordinate the efforts. There is decisions that have to be made in a management strategy and social policy to decide on what suppliers to use to buy the supplies you need to produce a specific product. The success is based upon buying materials at the lowest quantities possible to increase the profit margin on the final product.

Wal-Mart is an example of a corporation that buys volumes in the millions of such items as toilet paper and canned goods to insure they get a very low per item cost. Their computerized warehouse system, which is one of the most sophisticated, and largest in the world. (Anonymous., Philadelphia: Feb 2010. Vol. 5, Iss. 2; p. 18 (1 page) ) The are the world's largest retailer with over $400 billion in sales. They spend over $100 billion on buying private label products like the Faded Glory apparel lines and its Great Value food and home product. Less than a fifth of the goods are bought directly from suppliers." Their goal in the long-term is to shift to sourcing about 80 percent of purchasing directly. They have operations with 8,500 stores in 15 countries, including China, Mexico, South America.

Companies such as Wal-Mart are tremendously successful at expansion around the world. They have many products such as clothing outsourced to Asian countries and the Middle East for clothing and shoe manufacturing. Their strategies in Japan and Germany were not successful due to cultural differences where small grocery chains and competition are favored over large conglomerates. During the course of operation, the purchasing of materials management is important to every company that is in operation. A store like Wal-Mart not only has to have sources for buying the cheapest clothing and food goods for people, but must consider lowering costs for operations. In a move in 2005, Wal-Mart is leading the way to several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency. If they reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in every years, and reduce energy use at 30%, and cuts solid waste by 25% in three years, that translates to increase profit to lower overhead costs to run the stores, and costs of transportation of goods to each chain store. Any supply organization including Wal-Mart has objectives.

Supply Organization is of the key reasons for Wal-Mart's tremendous success. They team with giant retailers such as PepsiCo to buy directly to reduce the middle man distributor costs. But, sometimes the commodity management decision on consolidating its purchasing of raw materials with these powerful partners. (Wolf, 2010)  A retailing giant such as Wal-Mart utilizes its power of being a high end consumer of supplier goods that corporation such as Pepsi respect the profitability of being a distributor. Due to the strength and power of Pepsi, they will not yield to the demands of Wal-Mart due to their powerful clout in the marketplace. (Wolf, 2010)

The objectives of supply management at Wal-Mart have been to improve their competitive position, provide and interrupted flow of materials, supplies , and services to run the company, and keep inventory investment  and loss to a minimum. They have found and try to maintain and improve their quality of goods from their suppliers. They try to have standardization of products and items when possible.

Wal-Mart maintains warehouses of millions of square feet because of the incredible flow of goods that has to flow to its chains of stores around the world. They have to maintain supply and design engineering, supply and operations, supply and marketing/sales, supply and accounting/finance, and strive to find new ways to lower operating costs. The model that Wal-Mart has laid out is a guide to many grocery retailers of how to operate. Their (SCM) supply chain management is amongst the largest in the world. Their fundamental principle behind Wal-Mart's strategy is to sell high volumes of discounted products. (Cherie Blanchard, Bradford: 2008.) Due to the supply distribution center they utilize Universal Product Codes and computers to manage much of their inventory control system. By focusing on using (RFID) radio frequency identification tags, there is a n increase efficiency to reduce further inefficiencies and costs. The practices are categorized into four segments: strategic concepts, logistics, distribution, information technology, and supplier collaboration. The demand-based supply chain flow, production quantities are determined by accurate short-term  forecasting due to the computerized inventory supply system. Wal-Mart has to be aware of the individual cultural needs at each of its stores due to their ethnic makeup and dietary needs. Wal-Mart with their private truck fleet maintains significant control over deliveries. Electronic data interchange (EDI) gives "real time" information to suppliers for better ordering accuracy. (Cherie Blanchard, Bradford: 2008.)

Grocery chains stores such as Aldi with $58 billion in U.S. Sales, is competing with the large retail grocery stores such as Safeway, Stop and Shop, and Food Basket, which supply the largest selection of goods. Aldi is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany. They have suppliers and purchasing agents who have a private label put on their goods at prices lower than Wal-Mart. They have a strategic focus and the ability to pay for private suppliers to provide lower cost merchandise and produce. They don't have as a selection as Wal-Mart superstore or Stop and Shop, but the basics are lower than Wal-Mart. The ability to centralize has these benefits and those of critical mass, cost of purchasing is low and the ability to coordinate and control of policies and procedures for the suppliers and managing organization to provide a lost cost of supply to maintain lower costs to the corporate structure.

The leading and managing teams at large grocery chains include their supportive organizational culture, structure, and systems. All functional areas involved in up-front planning, shared leadership roles, and role flexibility. (Leenders, 2010)pg 46. The author indicate the dedication to performance and implementation with decision delegate to the appropriate level, integration of all relevant functional areas and various teams throughout the project life cycle.   Senior management's success or failure at the implementation of managing teams is that the sourcing teams , development teams, and commodity management teams must have effective communications, and coordination for better control over standardization of marketing and supply programs. These people must work together as an effective unit to maintain the communications to the supplier of what the various purchasing agents need for the coming week, or month. Team playing between groups is crucial to anticipate the orders of goods to be sold to the public.

There are various teams to consider, teams with supplier participation, teams with customer participation, co-location of supply with internal customer, co-location of supplier in the buying organization, supplier, and supply councils which comprise of a senior supply staff to coordinate the supply and purchasing process. The needs in the supply process include paperwork to be filed for the flow of requisitions  by the various stores.

Steps in the supply process is a complicated communications process, (Leenders, 2010)pg 61.,

1. The recognition of need

2. The description of the need,

3. Identification, analysis of possible sources of supply,

4. Supplier selection and determination of terms,

5. Preparation and placement of the purchase order.

6. Follow-up and/or expediting the order.

7. Receipt and inspection of goods

8. Invoice clearing and payment.

9. Maintenance of records and relationships.

The types of requisition include a standard requisition with basic supplier information, traveling requisition for less sophisticated systems, and bill of materials. In an engineering company or environment, a product is composed of various parts to product the product. We create an engineering bill of materials that is generated in the final design that is sent to documentation control, purchasing, and supply management. When the final product is ready for production, purchasing tries to find to the lowest cost suppliers of the parts needed to make the product, including approved vendors, and machine shops necessary to fabricate parts that are not bought but designed for the product.

Potential sources are usually established by determining an approved vendors list that meets the company criteria. There is an initial request for quotation, request for proposal, or request for bid. Then it is up to the engineer or purchasing to determine which bid to accept. By analysis of the quotes, bids, or proposals to select the proper supplier, the company has an established set of guidelines to determine if the supplier meets the criteria. Formatting and routing of the purchase order forms is important to insure that all of the criteria of the parts needed is communicated to the potential vendor. Computers have made the coordination of suppliers and purchasing managers an easy process, compared to fifty years ago.

Information systems and technology have created a boom in the ability to expand a business without a substantial increase in the number of people needed to employees. Web-based application have contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of the acquisition process. (Leenders, 2010). Strategic-level systems include ESS with sales planning to corporate budget, financial forecasts, operations planning, and H.R. planning. Management-level systems , knowledge-level systems, and operational-level systems which includes everything from order tracking, machine scheduling, cash management, accounts payable and receivable to payroll.

All large corporations today use a wide variety of applications software to manage all aspect of their business. Tools including fax transmission for orders from companies, email, voice mail, bar coding, and (MFPs) multifunction products to enhance the needs of the supplier, vendors, and purchasing departments, and online ordering.

The internet has allowed the cost management of advertising and ordering of products to a record low for any company. The cost of ownership with an online company has turned small "mom and pop" companies into international giants. Internet sales for all of 2003 rose over 26 percent to $54.9 billion. This increases efficiency and lower overhead costs. If you can make 50% of your sales online, you need smaller sales show room. Amazon.com, Bestbuy, and many other retailers who have spent money on buying online have reaped the benefits of this effort.

People don't want to go shopping in a bad winter, and prefer to buy online, instead of fighting with the mobs of people in the retail stores. Some grocery stores have pilot programs to deliver food and groceries to consumers who buy online. This has great benefit to people who are too busy for the grocery store, or those handicapped, elderly, and unable to get to the grocery store.  When a store likes Sears, and Toy R Us, make 30% sales online that reduces the number of stores necessary, employees to pay, electricity for the stores, and duplicate shipping to the store for the customer. These lower overhead costs due to online sales are passed on to the consumer.

The future of retailing, purchasing, and supply management shall all be internet driven. People will order almost everything online, groceries, electronics products, clothing, and even cars someday. Volume discounts will be possible to the consumer due to a lower overhead costs because of internet sales. Online Electronic Stores such as Newegg have the lowest prices on all electronics goods, competing with Best Buy, and Frys Electronics. They have excellent customer services and return policy, with sales, and often discounts on frequent buyer postage charges.

There are many wealthy people who have only online  business's on EBay. They still have to maintain their supplier chains and structure, With no need of a warehouse, employees, and a parking lot, the cost is passed on to the consumer. By linking sourcing of product goods with a sound strategy, good suppliers, communication, almost anyone can make a profit with an online business.  E-commerce is the future for companies with the desire to expand on a national or international level. Care must be taken when in sourcing goods from other countries, and outsourcing the materials for goods. We must evaluate the impact of "iceberg companies" that outsourcing 90% of their operations, and keep 10% in the United States as management core.

There has to be a balance in marketing, sales, supply, and demand of goods to world consumers. I would opt for buying goods locally at higher prices if there is a sacrifice to quality which has occurred for almost all instances of outsourcing consumer products, food, and electronics goods. We must consider the impact on (GNP) and balance of trade deficits to the United States when outsourcing. Consideration of in sourcing, and reversing of outsourcing with tax incentives with lower the deficit, and increase our GNP. People prefer to pay a bit more for a better quality of goods that are produced by American workers, in a world market.

 References:

Anonymous. (Philadelphia: Feb 2010. Vol. 5, Iss. 2; p. 18 (1 page) ). Walmart to Streamline Purchasing. Home Furnishings Business.

Avery, S. (2009, Feb 12). MRO sourcing goes global. Purchasing , p. 48.

Cherie Blanchard, C. L. (Bradford: 2008.). Adding value to service providers: benchmarking Wal-Mart. Benchmarking , pp. Vol. 15, Iss. 2; p. 166 .

Earls., A. R. (2009, Aug 13). PPG tests the outsourcing waters. Purchasing. , pp. Vol. 138, Iss. 8; p. 26 .

Effect, L. (n.d.). Levarage (finance). Retrieved from Wikepedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage_effect

Leenders, J. F. (2010). Purchasing and Supply Management. McGraw-Hill.

Torres, C. (Chicago, Ill.: Feb 24, 2004). Internet purchases rise four times faster than total retail sales growth. Chicago Sun - Time , p. 57 .

Wal-Mart Puts Customers in Charge of Economic Stimulus Spending ... at No Charge; Retailer Will Cash Checks for Free and Focus On Compelling Rollbacks. ( New York: Apr 29, 2008. ). PR Newswire.

Wikepedia. (2011). Wal-Mart. Wikepedia .

Wolf, M. B. (2010, Oct 7). Wal-Mart Wants More Buying Clout. Bloomberg BusinessWeek .

Education as an Investment

Education in our society is what has brought us out of the caves and into the light of a technological enhanced world. An educated society is a productive and creative society. The more educated the people of a civilization are, the more productive and valuable these people are to increasing the GNP (Gross National Product). (Case, 2009) The investment into education of employees and the general public is a delayed, long term investment. There are short-term and long-term gains in any investment, whether it is corn, wheat, property or people. Countries that encourage and support education of their people, output from those graduating college is over a $1 million of additional income in a lifetime to society.

Today people are going back to school to become reeducated due to the transition of our society from an industrial based economy to a technological based economy. People, who have lost their jobs in the automotive industry assembly lines, today have to learn about computers and the software used with it in a business or technological environment. Our country realized the great long term benefit of having higher educated people; financial aid is available to pay for the increasingly high cost of online education and university learning. Many aerospace programs require a percentage of PhD, master’s degrees, and associates degrees to validate their defense projects. New breakthroughs are occurring everyday in the medical field, engineering field, and physics field, all due to highly trained and educated people who have graduated from top notch universities. They are contributing breakthroughs such as cures for many of man’s diseases, new consumer electronics devices such as LED television, Nano-technology to better energy solutions in solar, geothermal, wind, fuel cell, and other forms of energy generation.

We have outsourced over 20 million jobs over the last twenty years, to reduce the labor cost by having goods manufactured in China, India, Vietnam, Philippines, and other countries around the world. We have become a compartmental economy, with specific goods made in every country from around the world. The United States is still the world’s innovator of more patents than any other country in the world due work and living environment. Human capital is based upon knowledge, skills and talents of people. (Case, 2009). The better educated people are the higher the human capital worth. People in high level jobs and less desirable jobs are those that include compensating differentials. Risky jobs should pay higher wages, such as firemen, policemen, and lumberjack workers, but don’t due to higher degrees pay higher salaried jobs. Economic income increases with high net assets in a family with a higher skill set. In countries with the highest poverty is directly proportional to lower educational levels of its people. When a higher percentage of people are educated you have lower poverty levels due to those people being marketable for employment. Risk aversion through rawlsian justice argues that by having a society of highly trained people reduces the social problems that comes with poverty, high unemployment and increased crime. (Case,2009) When our society starts to invest as much money into reeducating it people as the defense budget, we reduce unemployment compensation payout, public assistance, Medicare, and Medicaid payouts. We should take notice of countries with high output of engineers and doctors compared to the United States, more opportunities are available for the most educated.

Over 100,000 engineers and doctors are graduating from India and China every year, and they want to work in the United States due to the career and monetary opportunities.  These graduated understand that by being well educated and employed in high position jobs they have improved their quality of life, standard of living, and in positions to help solve many of the world’s economic, and social problems.

The best defense for this nation is not more money into the Department of Defense but into education. Education should be put in a defense category, because the best defense from any invasion or take over is for the masses to be educated and enlightening regarding all areas of understanding in college. A core curriculum in basic subject matters such as: psychology, philosophy, economics, politics, medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering, computers, hardware and software, are essential to expose the student to all areas of potential academic discipline the student may chose for a career.

Learning is a continual lifelong endeavor that is thorough out one’s life. After high school and college, the more you learn, the more valuable an asset you are as a resource at your job. The United States has to change its youth’s belief that we are a leisure based economy and opportunities should be given to everyone. We need to revamp our public school system which is behind the rest of the world. There are millions of American youth that graduate with no knowledge of financial management or with a skill set to get a job. In today’s society it is almost mandatory to get a good paying jobs you must have a bachelors or masters degree in a marketable field. Today, with the internet, today’s youth can see what jobs are available today in any field due to online sites as: www.careerbuilder.com, www.indeed.com, www.dice.com, www.theladder.com, and www.monster.com. These are just a few of hundreds of sites for the career graduate can find gainful employment.

In today’s world wide repression, even the best educated individuals need a diverse and often have expertise in multi-fields to be competitive in today’s workplace. Continuing your education, on campus, and off, will always have long term payoff for a better quality of life and better future. We are all potentially diamonds in the rough; education provides those tools to polish our surfaces and discover the brilliance that lies beneath the surface of our potential contributions to society.

References

Beyer, C. B. ( Summer 2010). Investor Education: What's Broken and How to Fix It. The Journal of Wealth Management. , London:. Vol. 13, Iss. 1; p. 11 (6 pages).

Case, F. ,. (2009). Principles of Economics. Upper Saddle Hill, NJ: Prentice Hill.

Cobb, J. (1994, Aug 1-7,). Foreign beer puts the heat on the Big Four. Japan Times (International). , pp. Vol. 34, Iss. 31; p. 13 (1 page).

Herbert Dawid, M. K. (Amsterdam: Aug 2010.). Innovation threats and strategic responses in oligopoly markets. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization , Vol. 75, Iss. 2; p. 203.

 

Future Communications

Communications today has evolved as the links between all the cultures of the world have been brought together with global communications. Has global communications bridged the cultural differences between the nations and peoples of the world?

In today’s society having a good self-image is important to being accepted by our peers. Self-concept is another method of self-identity. Society is very judgmental as to who we are in the scheme of things in society. Our peers give us reflected appraisals and judge us on our character, our appearance, and how we interact with others in a group. In a social group such as in a school or work place, everyone has an opinion about the people they work with in a social comparison context. If someone is too far to the left of the social norm, then they are ostracized because they do not fit into that social setting. People in large metropolitan areas have to be very aware of self-perception because of the population density and numbers of people we interact with in such a densely populated environment. Unique, brilliant people who have a different method of interacting with others become social outcasts due to the prejudice and social bigotry of society.  One’s social perception comprises of basic personal wants, religious, moral, and political feelings as well as political affiliations.

In any society, intercultural communications in society shape our perception though those people who work in the mass media. The media, such as television and radio, have a tendency to convey our cultural perception of world events through the perception of American values and judgment. Correspondents in the media report who do international news stories, they do not fully understand the power they have in influencing the perceptions and opinions of millions of Americans. The news reporters create a psychological safety net for themselves by inputting their personal bias and opinions on all news stories today. Rarely do they take a psychological risk in taking a radically different perspective on a world event; otherwise, it would affect their self-image and job. If a news reporter were to endorse a terrorist act, for example, they would be replaced almost immediately and condemned by the community. Many radio “shock jocks” have been condemned by the public because of their method of getting ratings by shocking the public with making sexual advances and often times racist opinions about a subject matter that is popular in the media. Howard Stern has raised many eyebrows with his honest opinions about things in the world today. Prejudice and stereotyping is common throughout the world. Different countries have different levels of maturity when it comes to sexual and religious freedoms. Today in the United States our level of freedom of speech is the lowest in our countries history. We seem to be obsessed with wanting to be politically correct and to have a balance self-concept and self-disclosures about everything. The impact of gender and culture in regards to interpersonal communications is vastly different in Saudi Arabia or in Iran compared to England or to the United States.

The social perceptions in the Middle East are that of those in the 1700’s in comparison to the United States. Feminist versus masculinity portrayed by the media in the Middle-East is tightly restricted as to what is shown to the public. This changes self-perception of the citizens in Saudi Arabia compared to U.S. Citizens. The clash of religion and the media has always been a driving force for change within a society of the perceptual process of the people who live within that social group. Our media and society condemn the social misfits, those that commit crimes. These people have poor self-images and self-perceptions. They have a distorted subjective view of society and perceive society as being wrong with everything and feel their philosophy as being the correct one to live by. The criminals commit murder, theft, and rape due to psychological imbalances that occur as a result of traumatic events in their lives or mental illness. These people are put in prisons throughout the United States instead of given mental assistance due to the social perception by the whole of today’s society. The cultural similarities of how to deal with crime is to punish by removing these people from society.

Today we constantly are adjusting our perceptual influences from the input by internet, blogs and social groups that shape our perception of the world today. Verbal communications through media are different in countries throughout the world. The messages conveyed in the media from the Middle-East are very religiously based compared to the United States or to England. We convey non-verbal messages of social morality in television, in movies, in commercials, and in the news to shape how we should perceive world events. Due to the diversity of the cultural influences of American society, there are a wide range of perceptions as to how to view various events in the media.

We gain insight into ourselves with social groups. The internet has become a tool for various forms of communications through: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, and to convey various forms of talk: aggressive talk, regrettable talk, criticism, complaints, avoidance, defensive communication, and major conflicts. This media has brought people together with common interests and desires more than anything else in history. People who felt isolated and alone can now communicate with others using the internet as a medium for exchange of ideas, feeling, philosophy, in an attempt to improve their self-perception.

Groups of people from different cultural identities congregate in these social forums to reinforce their culture heritage and beliefs. Some of the beliefs may be negative and destructive by societal standards, but it maintains the freedom of speech and religion.

We have cultural identities in various cultures, family, work, or community co-cultures enhance the quality of civilization. When we recognize and respect ethnic and cultural diversity, it improves the perception of our religious and culture differences from each other. There are many diverse cultures that have come to the United States from other countries that have integrated themselves into our society. We have a rich diversity of beliefs at home and in the work place. In the work place environment, professional conduct and respect for our cultural diversity is paramount to maintaining a productive work environment. Human resources departments are ever aware of the diversity in the work place in enforcing the need for respect of cultural differences that many people cannot understand or are willing to openly accept. Fear is the lack of understanding in any society. When people in any workplace or social settings are exposed to people of an alien culture, religion or belief structure, they react in fear due to their lack of understanding about the religion or cultural belief structure. Power distance is used as a way to work to contract a group of cultures. This power difference in family customs, relationships between students and teachers, young and old are prevalent in our society. In Los Angeles and New York you will see a vast power distance due to the numerous diverse cultures that all live within such a small area together. Hispanics, Vietnamese, Blacks, Koreans, Chinese may all live within a ten mile area of Los Angeles and yet have minimal interaction. There may be spoken 50 different languages in Los Angeles that the police department has to interact with in emergency phone call centers. When you have such a concentration of people, the barriers to intercultural communications can be a problem, especially when the police have to deal with all of the cultures in such a concentrated area. The Hispanics and Blacks in Los Angeles have a high degree of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination because of their cultural differences. These differences give rise to violence, murder, and isolation from each other.

There are strategies to overcome these differences in a community such as in Los Angeles with assertive and aggressive assimilation. The minority-group work hard at any cost to fit into the dominant group in the areas. The approach of accommodation strategies, whereby groups from different cultures make concessions to become more aware of the differences in their cultural differences, helps to build bridges between the various cultures and communities in a large metropolitan area. Nonassertive, assertive and aggressive accommodations are strategies used in groups to help improve the communications between non-dominant and dominant-group members of the community. There is often time mediation necessary between these diverse groups to create dialog between these different groups.  Education is the best method to improve culture differences. Once these groups are familiar with the cultural similarities then method of transposition and the process of empathizing can occur across these cultural divides. It can be very difficult for people that have known only one way of life to see their lives through someone else’s perception due to a different cultural belief structure. Engineers from India that come to the United States come to work at a company are received with mixed feelings by those employees that work there. The American employees often do not understand the differences in eating, in dressing, and in their speech accent that can be initially difficult to bridge. When we learn more about the Indian culture through gaining cultural and linguistic knowledge, then you have a greater appreciation of the diversity of our two cultures. People coming to the United States from India or China feel just as alien and strange in our land as we would if we were to visit their country. Americans are more mature in general than other countries with respecting other cultures because we have a great melting pot of people that have come here over the last two hundred years. Evan with that fact, there are a great many people that need to listen to people from other cultures to learn who they are and what makes their culture a unique contribution to the United States.

There are different listening styles that if people were to adhere to would then, they would greatly improve our philosophical understanding of each other. When people listen to each other, they are concerned with their own feelings. An action listening style is important to giving presentations. Content listening is when you give complex and challenging information to a group. Time-style listening is when people have hurried and brief interactions such as with the media of television and radio portrayal. Our schools and universities are attempting to help educate today’s young to understand the need for understanding and have tolerance of the diversity of culture. Today, we still are fifty years behind the times in creating a proper Introduction to Literature class that does not incorporate stories and poems from other countries in the world: such as in India, in China, in Russia and in the Middle-East. It is still only teaching American poets and English plays but mainly Shakespeare. Most young Americans would like to read stories about life in India, in Russia, in China or in the Middle-East.

The future of communications and interactions in society is changing as we speak. The change is coming with instantaneous news and information via the internet from every country in the world. When there is a political unrest in a country such as Iran, the people and not the media are able to be heard by everyone on the internet. The voices of individuals can now be heard and understood by everyone without censorship or bias in most countries. Those countries that censor their citizens now have to content with the opinions and feelings of the global community. There is a great deal of cognitive dissonance in the world today, such as: people feeling conflict, anxiety, and apprehension because they have two or more attitudes. They want to be accepted by everyone, but everyone has different opinions and perspectives on issues. In our country, there are hundreds of special interest groups all with their agenda being heard on political, environmental, health and society issues. It is difficult for the leaders of this society to maintain critical listening because of the incredible wave of people wanting to be heard by their government and society.  Empathic listening is important to people in society because they are not just listening to the people and what they are saying, but also in identifying the feeling and emotions behind those words. Whether you are an active critical or empathic listener, listening to your family, spouse, or co-worker is important in maintain a relationship with them. Enlightenment of other people’s feelings and needs can only come through listening, something the internet is providing to all of us.

As the internet evolves, virtual reality and interaction are increasing. We feel more comfortable communicating to our peers on the internet because we do not have to have a physical presence and feel safer interacting on this level. The problem is that with so many people are interacting only on the internet they lose some of their interpersonal one-on-one skill sets. Future transference of emotions and empathy over the internet will help improve our communications to a different level. Technology, such as recording people’s experiences as in the movie “Brainstorm”, is becoming closer to a reality than we realize. We will be able to convey or feeling through a neural interface over the internet, then a true method of global understanding is possible. When we can feel the frustration by people in countries like Iran or China where many of them are oppressed by their government, then we can truly empathize with the cultural differences. I think that it is only a matter of time before people will be plugged into the internet and we will truly become a world community.

The Internet has the ability to increase interpersonal relationships, everything from videos, music and poetry being shared in the global web. We now have a strong support system for interpersonal relationships, for healthy communications, and for interactions. The cost of communicating is the lowest in history. The need to write letters or call someone on the phone has been replaced with texting, tweeting, and communicating to anyone on the Earth. Now you can have millions of friends on social networks. People share their entire lives on the internet with blogs and photo albums. The Internet has proven to be quite valuable for all the above reasons. Parents and schools need to better educate today’s society on the pros and cons of using the internet. Most people do not know how to do proper searches on the internet. Teachers need to teach students how to use the internet like using the library. Most children today know how to use the internet better than their parents. There are positive and potentially damaging influences on the internet. Schools are now starting to teach basic classes to all age children around the world as to how to properly use navigate the internet and have an enjoyable experience at enhancing their interpersonal, learning and social networking for the challenges and difficult times that lie ahead for all of us in the 21^st century. Once we revamp the entire public school system, the future of communications on all levels will greatly enhance our interconnectivity and productivity as a nation.

 

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Communications in the Workplace - NO P.I.E. Tomorrow and Today

If communications is so important why has this be conveyed to the minds of corporate managers and CEO's that have been in there jobs for so long that they have forgotten to effectively communicate with a group or organization. A well run group can get stagnate, because it is running so smoothly there are no meetings with anyone, there are no discussions with anyone. The engineers and team leaders feel like mushrooms who are keep in the dark a great deal, and only told what they need to hear or know. This is very true and disastrous with managers in defense contracting industries.
Many defense projects go over budget, and extremely over the allotted time such as many projects that companies such as Lockheed, BAE Systems, ITT Systems, Raytheon, General Dynamics, amongst the largest. These company have meetings and communications all week long, but many of the upper management doesn't "Listen" to lower management or the engineers who are told to be quiet, and don't complain about anything if they want to keep their jobs. I have been at too many defense contracting companies, and let go as a contractor because I saw flaws in their system due to 20 plus years working at dozens of different companies. I could tell within a week if the company was run well, and treating their employees with dignity and respect. Many employees in today's market are fearful to say anything about anything.
Tomorrow's new business rule as companies will be: NO P.I.E. -- No personal cell Phones, No personal Internet, No Personal Email at work. Already many corporations are implemented this plan, cellphones are being banned because of their abuse. A cellphone today is no longer a simple phone, it is a communications tool, gaming systems, mp3 player, and movie player.
Many bored employees have new areas to waste time at work. Most websites are banned because companies don't trust their employees, or they abuse the privilege of being able to access the internet at lunch. Many companies have url tracking that records what websites everyone in the company goes to and how long they are on every day. I have know many people who were fired due to the fact they didn't think anyone would notice them spending hours a day on the internet looking at sites that some would think improper for the work environment.
Today's Project management books have addressed these areas and why some companies have a gestapo, hardline attitude on these issues.
Many people get bored with their jobs and can't change because of the state of the economy. They are fearful of saying anything at work, so they all Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustrations about not being listened to anymore.

Hey, we have millions of homeless and starving in this country and not the president or anyone running for presidency, or congress has ever addressed a Solution to this growing problem.