Literature Review of the Impact of Human Resource Management on Organisational performance

Literature Review of the Impact of Human Resource Management on Organisational performance Organisations worldwide are under pressure today to continually improve their performance. The major trends behind these competitive pressures are globalisation, advances in information technology, and increasing deregulation of global markets (Becker Gerhart, 1996; Dany, Guedri, and Hatt, 2008). These changes have a strong impact on a countrys ability to maintain its competitiveness (Laprade, 2005). Without an efficient workforce organisations lose their ability to compete, both locally and internationally, eventually leading to poor organisational performance and thus ending up with little or no economic success (Tomaka, 2001). Unlike in the past when natural resources, technology, and capital used to be the key factors to determine the competitive advantage of the firms of one nation over the other nations, human resources today in modern times have become the most important resource for the firms to obtain strategic advantage over the other firms (Dany et al, 2008). This is beca use managers in both the public and private sector organisations regard the human resources of their organisation as its major source of sustaining competitive advantage by having the best of the best Human resource systems in place for recruiting, selecting, motivating, and efficiently managing their people (Mesch, 2010). As a result of these changes in the global economic environment business strategy, the field of human resource management is rapidly changing more than ever today (Becker Gerhart, 1996). Furthermore, among all the organisation factors which contribute to organisational performance, the human resources are now regarded as the most fundamental factor (Mesch, 2010). Recent researches on HRM show strong and positive relationship between HRM practices and organisational performance (Carlson, Upton, and Seaman, 2006; Collins Smith, 2006). Therefore, it is vital for managers to have a better understanding of the role of HRM in order to create successful organisational performance. Accordingly this chapter presents a review of the literature, relevant to this research study, on the relationship between HRM practices and organisational performance. HRM and Organisational Performance Human Resource Management Armstrong (2006, p3) defines Human Resource Management as, a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets the people working there whom individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives. Human Resource Management is, the policies, practices and systems that influence employees behaviour, attitudes and performance (De Cieri, Kramar, Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2008, p5). Delery and Doty (1996) assert that the HRM best practices, once identified and implemented would always produce improved organisational performance. Fox and McLeay (1992) found from their landmark empirical study of forty-nine companies, composed of companies mainly from the UK engineering and electronics sectors, strong supportive influence between six critical HRM practices in achieving successful above average sector performance relationship, over a 10 year period. These HRM practices are (ibid): Recruitment and Selection, Management Education, Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, Remuneration and Rewards, and Company-wide Career Planning. Organisational Performance A recent definition of Organisational Performance is given by Antony and Bhattacharyya (2010, p43). They define Organisational Performance as, a measure of how well organizations are managed and the value they deliver to customers and other stakeholders. According to Daft (2000) Organisational Performance is the organisations ability to achieve its objectives efficiently and effectively. Organisational Performance represents the value of the organisation in terms of the total contribution made by the efficient and effective management of its human resources (Neumann Segev, 1978). Chien (2004) strongly posits that organisational performance is composed of five major critical components. And these are (ibid, p290): Motivation Models, The Leadership, The Organizational Culture and Environment, The Work Design, and The Human Resource Management Policy. Relationship between HRM and Organisational Performance The traditional role of HRM in organisations was mainly to support the operations through managing people to win the employees organisational commitment to the goals of the organisation (McGunnigle Jameson, 2000). In consequence, HR managers had to strictly comply with the detailed procedures of personnel administration which drove the ways in which the organisations handled their human resource activities (Huselid, Jackson, and Schuler, 1997). The key HRM activities included in this regard are: recruitment, selection, performance measurement, training and development, and administration of compensation and rewards (Dany et al, 2008). In addition to performing these HRM activities HR managers have to create value for the organisations in which they work (Huselid et al, 1997). However, todays HRM focuses heavily on the organisations successful outcomes through the integration of the various HR functions (Dany et al, 2008). Ulrich (1996, p2) strongly suggests that human resources determine an organisations success in overcoming major challenges facing executives today: globalisation, value chain for business competitiveness and HR services, change, attracting and retaining intellectual capital. Together these major challenges require that HR practices create and add value that can be measured reliably (ibid). Todays top performing companies pay extraordinary attention to managing effectively the HR dimensions which affect employee behaviours: morale, motivation, attitude, commitment, etc (Cadle Yeates, 2008, p28). Each of these HR dimensions plays powerful part in determining organisational success (ibid). Modern HRM global best practices include Lawlers (1986) High-Involvement Work Systems (HIWS), Appelbaum and Batts (1994) High Performance Work Systems (HPWS), and Wood and Albaneses (1995) High Commitment Management. Research shows that these modern HRM practices have a strong and positive influence on organisational performance (Ramsay, Scholarios, and Harley, 2000). More and more researches strongly indicate that that there are positive links between HRM practices and organisational performance (Carlson et al, 2006; Collins Smith, 2006). For instance, Delery (1998, p289) asserts that, the methods used by an organization to manage its human resources can have a substantial impact on many organizationally relevant outcomes. Gerhart and Milkovich (1992) conducted studies to measure the impacts of compensation and rewards systems on the successful accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives. Likewise research study conducted by Terpstra and Rozell (1993) shows that five key HRM selection practices are linked to business profit. In his review of the key empirical studies on the relationship between HRM and organisational performance Ulrich (1997) writes that these studies investigated the impact of specific HR practices on specific successful organisational outcomes; for example, effective HR practices in training and compensation were related to business turnover, labour productivity, and organisational performance. Ulrichs (1997) review summarised that the empirical studies were based on the assumption that efficient use of human resources through best HR practices would lead to successful organisational performance. Empirical studies conducted by Huselid (1995, p635) to assess the relationship between a set of HRM practices (referred by Huselid as HPWS High Performance Work Systems, which included: extensive recruitment, selection, training procedures, formal information sharing, attitude assessment, and job design) and organisational performance of 968 large companies have shown that there is a positive relationship between HRM and successful organisational performance. The key organisational performance measures used to evaluate the high performance HRM practices in the empirical studies included: labour productivity, financial performance, and turnover (ibid). Delaney and Huselid (1996) investigated the effects of recruitment and selection, compensation, training and development, decision making, complaints and grievance procedures, promotion practices, and the combined synergetic impact of these HRM practices in 590 for-profit and not-for-profit companies. Overall, their study concluded that these progressive of HRM practices were positively associated with firm performance. Harel and Tzafrir (1999, p186), based on their extensive theoretical and empirical research as well as from the prior studies conducted by other researchers in the HR field, have identified six core components of strategic and universalistic HRM best practices that are strongly related to organisational performance. These 6 core components of HR best practices are (ibid): Recruitment; Selection; Compensation; Employee Participation; Internal Labor Market; and Training. Likewise Becker and Huselid (1999) strongly agree with the seven high performance HRM best practices put forward by Pfeffer (1998) as having strong links to organisational performance. These 7 high performance HR best practices are (Pfeffer, 1998, cited in Huselid Becker, 1999, p297): Employment Security Selective Hiring Teams and Decentralized Decision-making High Pay Extensive Training Reduced Status Distinctions Extensive Information Sharing. Each of these seven high performance HRM best practices offer options for the HR professionals to choose the appropriate ones for enhancing the organisational performance and at the same time one should remember that each of these HRM best practices form an integrated high performance HRM system (Huselid Becker, 1999, p298). Approaches to Examine HRM and Organisational Performance Relationship There are two major fundamental approaches to study the relationship between HRM and organisational performance. These are termed as: Best-Practice approach, and Best-Fit approach. Best-Practice Approach The best-practice approach claims that HRM practices are universalistic and thus any organisation can obtain enhanced organisational performance by adopting the HRM best practices for managing people in any organisational context (Boxall Purcell, 2000). Best-Fit Approach On the other hand the best-fit approach argues for a vertical fit whereby the HRM systems are integrated with the corporate strategy of the organisation for obtaining improved organisational performance within a specific organisational context (Boselie, Paauwe, and Richardson, 2003). Between these two approaches, the best-practice approach is considered to be superior by HRM professionals and researchers for examining the impact of HRM practices on organisational performance ((Hoque, 1999, p422). Cautions in Examining the HRM and Organisational Performance Relationship Although there is wide support to the idea that HRM practices lead to improved organisational performance yet there are some cautions that have to be observed. Huselid (1995), states that successful organisational performance has been obtained by high-performance firms since they were able to afford expensive HRM systems and practices and this may not be affordable to most other firms. Furthermore, leadership style could have a stronger impact over the deployment of HRM practices due to the different types of influences which the leaders can exert on their people (Becker Huselid, 2006). Organisational Performance in Public Sector Organisations The power and water sector in Oman is a not-for-profit sector. As stated earlier (in chapter 1) the power and water sector in Oman is striving for reducing its operating costs. Only those not-for-profit organisations which possess human capital resources that operate with increased professionalism and more advanced multi-tasking skills through enhanced productivity (and thus ensuring and effecting control over operating costs) can accomplish their mission successfully (Mesch, 2010). Furthermore, in the times to come, the not-for-profit sector has to inevitably pursue more efficiency and with more economies of scale in order to provide cost-effective services to their stakeholders and prove organisational effectiveness (ibid). Evaluating organisational performance in the public sector organisations is not easy and this is further compounded by the fact that measurement of organisational performance in the public sector has not been developed in the organisation theory literature (Waheed, Mansor, and Ismail, 2010). This primarily because of the following factors that are unique to public sector organisations (ibid, p330): Lack of well-defined objectives and large number of multiple objectives; Central administration; Absence of generally accepted performance indicators for measuring organisational performance; Diffused and largely fragmented responsibility because of the interdependency of the performance of the public sector organisations. As a result of which accountability is difficult to extract. Evidence from their review of the limited literature available on organisational performance in the public sector organisations show that the three most common major indicators (the other not common indicators are: relevance, and efficacy) of organisational performance used in the frameworks provided by the various researchers are (ibid, pp331-336): Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Innovation. Katou and Budhwar (2006) studied 178 manufacturing organisations in Greece to investigate the relationship between the HRM systems and policies and organisational performance. Their study used the following indicators of organisational performance from their literature review (ibid, p1226) which can also be applied to service organisations as well: Efficiency: usage of fewer resources to achieve organisational objectives; Effectiveness: achieving the organisational objectives successfully; Development: developing and building the capacity of the organisation for meeting the future challenges and opportunities; Satisfaction: satisfying all the key participants customers, stakeholders, and employees; Innovation: of products and the related processes; and Quality: enhanced higher quality of products (services). Summary This chapter reviewed the available literature relevant to this study on HRM practices that can improve organisational performance. The above review of HRM literature shows that HRM best practices is distinctly composed of recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and rewards system, information sharing, and employee participation. Organisational performance can be measured through the successful organisational outcomes in the form of efficiency and effectiveness, customer satisfaction, service quality, and labour productivity.

The Color Purple By Alice Walker :: essays research papers

The Color Purple by Alice Walker   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is a very intense book to read. By intense, I mean it is a book touching very difficult and hard aspects of life of a poor, black oppressed woman in the early twentieth century. Walker does social criticism in her novel, mostly criticizing the way black women were treated in the early twentieth century. Walker uses the life experiences of Celie to illustrate her social criticism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Color Purple is not written in the style of most novels. The author does not tell us everything about the characters, the setting, and why the characters behave the way they do. The novel is written in a series of letters, not dated. There are large gaps between some letters, but this is not revealed by the author; we have to figure it out ourselves. The letters are written in what Walker calls black folk language, which also reduces the easiness of the reading.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the novel opens, Celie is a young black girl living in Georgia in the early years of the twentieth century. She in an uneducated girl, and writes her letters in common language. Celie is entering her adolescence believing she was raped by her father and that he killed both of their children. She writes to God, because she has no one else to write to. She feels that what happened to her is so terrible that she can only talk about it to someone she feels loves her. She knows her sister Nettie loves her, but she is too young to understand. Celie believe only to God may she talk honestly and openly about her suffering. Celie is not, however, at this point, complaining to God, she is simply confiding in him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Celie was born into a poor family; her mother was sick most of the time, mentally and physically; there were too many children in the family; and Celie was abused by the man she believed was her father. Celie feels used and abused, but does not understand why. So many bad things have happened to Celie that she lacks self esteem and confidence. Celie does not even feel she is worth enough to sign her name at the end of the letters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Slowly, Celie evolves into a mature woman with great confidence, but not before her sister Nettie is taken away from her, and she marries a cruel man who really wanted to marry Nettie. For a long time, Celie is almost a slave to her husband, until her husband's mistress comes to live with them to recuperate from The Color Purple By Alice Walker :: essays research papers The Color Purple by Alice Walker   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is a very intense book to read. By intense, I mean it is a book touching very difficult and hard aspects of life of a poor, black oppressed woman in the early twentieth century. Walker does social criticism in her novel, mostly criticizing the way black women were treated in the early twentieth century. Walker uses the life experiences of Celie to illustrate her social criticism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Color Purple is not written in the style of most novels. The author does not tell us everything about the characters, the setting, and why the characters behave the way they do. The novel is written in a series of letters, not dated. There are large gaps between some letters, but this is not revealed by the author; we have to figure it out ourselves. The letters are written in what Walker calls black folk language, which also reduces the easiness of the reading.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the novel opens, Celie is a young black girl living in Georgia in the early years of the twentieth century. She in an uneducated girl, and writes her letters in common language. Celie is entering her adolescence believing she was raped by her father and that he killed both of their children. She writes to God, because she has no one else to write to. She feels that what happened to her is so terrible that she can only talk about it to someone she feels loves her. She knows her sister Nettie loves her, but she is too young to understand. Celie believe only to God may she talk honestly and openly about her suffering. Celie is not, however, at this point, complaining to God, she is simply confiding in him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Celie was born into a poor family; her mother was sick most of the time, mentally and physically; there were too many children in the family; and Celie was abused by the man she believed was her father. Celie feels used and abused, but does not understand why. So many bad things have happened to Celie that she lacks self esteem and confidence. Celie does not even feel she is worth enough to sign her name at the end of the letters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Slowly, Celie evolves into a mature woman with great confidence, but not before her sister Nettie is taken away from her, and she marries a cruel man who really wanted to marry Nettie. For a long time, Celie is almost a slave to her husband, until her husband's mistress comes to live with them to recuperate from

Miranda Warnings

Police officers give the Miranda warnings right after arresting criminal suspects. The warnings contain certain privilege to protect individual from self incrimination. Officers usually tell suspects the following statements: â€Å"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you, if you wish†. The purpose of Miranda is to stabilize the suspect’s psychological condition and make him reasonable when dealing with police. Usually police are required to give Miranda warnings to a suspect who is the focus of an investigation where he will be taken into custody and interrogated. Custody is a formal arrest that places a suspect in an intimidating environment and his freedom is restricted. The location where the suspect is questioned is an important factor for Miranda warnings since not all places are hostile or coercive. Some events that justify custody include questioning suspects at the police station (brought in handcuffed), in a police vehicle (locked up in the back seat with a screen), at the crime scene (when an officer is about to make an arrest), or even at his home (awakened in the wee hours of the morning or handcuffed). Furthermore, a home can be deemed custodial if police aggressively barged in to get or question the suspect. When subjected to interrogation, a suspect is given the Miranda warning since the nature of questioning is persuasive to obtain a confession or admission. There are two types of interrogations covered by Miranda: questions that can elicit an incriminating response like â€Å"Why did you kill him?† and direct questioning such as asking a suspect to write down what happened. As a general rule, however, if the suspect invokes his Miranda rights, all questioning must stop. Overall, Miranda warnings are required every time there is custodial interrogation. Reference Nolo: Your Legal Companion. (2007). Police Questioning: When Miranda Warnings Are Required. Criminal Law: Search, Seizure, and Interrogations. Retrieved February 12, 2007 Stuart, G. L. (2004). Miranda: The Story Of America's Right To Remain Silent. University of Arizona Press, Tucs

The History of Chemical Explosives

The History of Chemical Explosives An explosion can be defined as the rapid expansion of a material or device that exerts a sudden pressure on its surroundings. It can be caused by one of three things: a chemical reaction that occurs during conversion of elemental compounds, a mechanical or physical impact, or a nuclear reaction on the atomic/subatomic level. Gasoline exploding when ignited is a chemical explosion brought about by the sudden conversion of a hydrocarbon to carbon dioxide and water. The explosion that occurs when meteor strikes the earth is a mechanical explosion. And a nuclear warhead explosion is the result of the nucleus of a radioactive substance, like plutonium, suddenly splitting apart in an uncontrolled fashion. But it is chemical explosives that are the most common form of explosives in human history, used both for creative/commercial and destructive effect. The strength of a given explosive is measured that the rate of expansion it exhibits during detonation. Lets look briefly at some common chemical explosives. Black Powder It is unknown who invented the first explosive black powder. Black powder, also known as gunpowder, is a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoal (carbon). It originated in China around in the ninth century and was in wide use throughout Asia and Europe by the end of the 13th century. It was commonly used in fireworks and signals, as well as in mining and building operations. Black powder is the oldest form of ballistic propellant and it was used with early muzzle-type firearms and other artillery uses. In 1831, William Bickford an English leather merchant invented the first safety fuse. Using a safety fuse made black powder explosives more practical and safer. But because black powder is messy explosive, by the end of the 18th century it was replaced by high explosives and by cleaner smokeless powder explosives, such as what is currently used in firearm ammunition. Black powder is categorized as a low explosive because it expands and subsonic speeds when it detonates. High explosives, by contract, expand as supersonic speeds, thereby creating much more force. Nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin is a chemical explosive that was discovered by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero in 1846. It was the first explosive developed that was more powerful than black powder, Nitroglycerin is a mix of nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and glycerol, and it is highly volatile. Its inventor, Sobrero, warned against its potential dangers, but Alfred Nobel adopted it as a commercial explosive in 1864. Several serious accidents, however, caused pure liquid nitroglycerin to be widely banned, leading to Nobels eventual invention of dynamite. Nitrocellulose In 1846, Chemist Christian Schonbein discovered nitrocellulose, also called guncotton, when he accidentally spilled a mixture of potent nitric acid on a cotton apron and the apron exploded as it dried. Experiments by Schonbein and others quickly established a means of manufacturing guncotton safely, and because it had a clean, explosive power almost six times greater than black powder, it quickly was adopted for use as means for propelling projectiles in weapons.   TNT In 1863, TNT or Trinitrotoluene was invented by German chemist Joseph Wilbrand. Originally formulated as a yellow dye, its explosive properties were not immediately evident. Its stablity was such that it could be safely poured into shell casings, and in the early 20th century it came into standard usage for German and British military munitions. Considered a high explosive, TNT is still in common use by the U.S. military and by construction companies around the world.   Blasting Cap In 1865, Alfred Nobel invented the blasting cap. The blasting cap provided a safer and dependable means of detonating nitroglycerin. Dynamite In 1867, Alfred Nobel patented dynamite, a high explosive that consisted of a mixture of three parts nitroglycerine, one part diatomaceous earth (ground silica rock) as an absorbent, and a small amount of sodium carbonate antacid as a stabilizer. The resultant mixture was considerably safer than pure nitroglycerine, as well as being much more powerful than black powder. Other materials are now used as the absorbent and stabilizing agents, but dynamite remains the premier explosive for use in commercial mining and construction demolition. Smokeless Powders In 1888, Alfred Nobel invented a dense smokeless powder explosive called ballistite. In 1889, Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Abel invented another smokeless gunpowder called cordite. Cordite was made of  nitroglycerin, guncotton, and a petroleum substance gelatinized by addition of acetone. Later variations of these smokeless powders form the propellant for most modern firearms and artillery. Modern Explosives Since 1955, a variety of additional high explosives has been developed. Created mostly for military use, they also have commercial applications, such as in deep drilling operations.  Explosives such as nitrate-fuel oil mixtures or ANFO and ammonium nitrate-base water gels now account for seventy percent of the explosives market. These explosives come in various types including: HMXRDXHNIWONC

Ethical Dilemma Essays

Ethical Dilemma Essays Ethical Dilemma Essay Ethical Dilemma Essay Fowler, M. D. , Aroskar, M. A. (1997). Ethical Dilemmas Nursing Practice. (5th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Desjardins, J. (2009). An Introduction to Business Ethics. (3rd ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Ghillyer, A. (2010). Business Ethics: A Real World Approach. (2nd ed. ). Boston: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education. Klein, E. R. (2003). People First! Professional and Business Ethics without Ethics. Oxford, UK: University Press Of America. MacNiven, D. (1993). Creative Morality. London, UK: Routledge. Narveson, J. (1998). Egoism and Altruism. In R. Chadwick, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (pp. 15-21). London, UK: Academic Press Limited. Preston, N. (1996). Understanding Ethics. Sydney, NSW, Australia: The Federation Press. Shaw, W. H. , Barry, V. , Sansbury, G. (2009). Moral issues in Business. (1st Asia-Pacific ed. ). South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.

Discuss the significance of cycle time to quality Essay

Discuss the significance of cycle time to quality - Essay Example This involves move time, wait time, processing time, execution time, inspection time and only the first which creates value. The result of cycle time increase comes along attributed to poor quality in the component parts, poor layout plan, and inadequate availability of resources and finally poor sequencing of activities. It is notable that there exist relationship between cycle time and quality of a process or a product. This relationship is focused in the context of management on customer process and the key major area of concern is to reduce cycle time to achieve good quality. From this companies and organizations achieve competitive advantage by reducing cycle time which maintaining high quality (Evans, 2010). Scope and overview of cycle time and quality It is notable that in competitive corporate markets there is increasing demand for more rapid response to clients and customers, shorter product and service and its cycle time. The fast response attributed to shorter cycle time i s one of core quality attribute. Reducing the cycle times and rapid response to customers usually results when processes, tasks, functions and job whereby all are designed to achieve high quality as well as response goals. To achieve the desired quality all the designs, activities, processes measuring the cycle time and responsiveness (Roman Gumzej, 2010). Response and cycle time improvements have been highly associated to improvements in quality which is a core component of gaining competitive advantage as well as improved productivity. Therefore it can be argued that managers need to consider response time, productivity and quality in all their strategic plans. Cycle time and quality Cycle time one of the core competitiveness factors in the context of quality that is mainly focused for improvement. It is notable that fast and reduced cycle time improves customer satisfaction as well as the internal management operations of a company or organization. Cycle time improvement is a cor e aspect of total quality management and the core major relationship is that a fast cycle time and improves quality mutually reinforces one another. In regard to customer satisfaction these include cost ownership, quality product features and on-time delivery. For internal management operations of an organization includes quality improvement in regard to time-to-market on products, improving product costs, employee morale and development expense (Roman Gumzej, 2010). Other competitive factors taken into account cycle time improvement are among those who are highly emphasized. It is notable that improving cycle time increases product and service quality. This brings in the assertion that faster cycle time and improved product and service quality are mutually reinforcing each other. This is attributed to the fact that faster and reduced cycle time reinforced with improved feedback loop for quality. This mainly results into a fast rate of service and product quality improvement. On the other hand higher quality usually improves the cycle time because less effort is used in executing work. Cycle time and quality improvement The cycle-time improvement factors should be consistent with the total quality guidance and procedures. These guidelines and procedures consist of various cycle time reduction tools. In the context of production and manufacturing industry, just-in-time strategy and simultaneous execution of operations is adopted. These

Research paper on at&t Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research paper on at&t - Essay Example Hence, both mobility and wireline services will continue to be the focal point of this company along with ISP services. The leadership at ATT is very active force that is trying to get this company ready for the future. As the concept of virtualization and cloud computing becomes more evident; the CEO of ATT is Randall Stephenson, who made great strides to position the company with his vision of Web 2.0. With the help of his CFO, John Stephens constantly collaborate with the FCC for compliance and earnings propagation. It is clear what his vision as he states, â€Å"We’re restructuring our network to shift from hardware- to software-based systems. These can be updated more quickly and cheaply, so we can stay ahead of our customers’ changing expectations† (â€Å"AT&T Support Center†). The company is a public company that is traded in New York Stock exchange as well. ATT has reported a revenue of around $32 million for their 1Q earnings (â€Å"AT&T Support Center†). ATT has been steadfast in reducing expenses by moving to equipment and assets that are not vendor specific. This has allowed the company to not rely on vendors and harness in-house development and techniques which are crucial for the long run of the company. One of the biggest vision of the company is to invest more in the 4G LTE network and slowly shutting their GSM services(an older technology). From a financial standpoint, it is clear that the organization will reap the benefits because it will be able to use its IP services for voice communications as well(â€Å"Femtocell Operator News and Opinons†) . ATT is famous for offering wireless and wireline services. The first and foremost is an effortless customer service. In the realm of effortless customer service, it is clear that ATT wants to take an initiative to provide effortless customer service via seamless integrations of tools and portals. Moreover, ATT has a grand scheme of vision that is known as 2020.  By 2020, the