Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Difference between an Entrepreneur and an Intrapreneur Assignment

Difference between an Entrepreneur and an Intrapreneur - Assignment Example Entrepreneurs are bold risk-takers. The new business may be profitable or may turn out to be loss-making. Their level of risk is extremely high as there is no-one else to share the burden, which can literally ‘make’ or ‘break’ them. Intrapreneurs are low-level risk-takers. In their role as employees of a business, their amount of risk-taking is limited by boundaries laid out in advance; they are not permitted to exceed those limits when conducting negotiations that could pose risks to the business. Entrepreneurs have clear visions for their new businesses; they are dogged, determined and rigid about their visions, and respond negatively to any alteration proposals. Intrapreneurs have their own visions about ways to develop the business, but such visions are flexible and adaptable in response to organizational shifts. Entrepreneurs are persons who possess a wide range of skills in different fields. They are termed as ‘generalists.’ Intrapreneurs are ‘specialists’ who possess highly trained managerial skills that enable them to concentrate on ways to improve and develop the business (Lifecollege.org). The three forms of management are autocratic, consultative and democratic. Autocratic managers are persons within the organization with total decision-making powers. They give dictatorial instructions to staff members without bothering to ask their opinion on the matter in hand. Consultative managers take final business decisions, but only after soliciting opinions of other employees and analyzing the matter in hand from the perspective of those views. Democratic managers hand over authority to staff members to finish a task allotted to them. The staff members then proceed to complete the given task on time by employing their own set of work techniques. The staff members are part of the decision-making process.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Stress and Coping Mechanisms of First Year Principals Dissertation

Stress and Coping Mechanisms of First Year Principals - Dissertation Example Explaining the fundamental basis of stress as a reaction towards demands on the body, the Mountain State Centers for Independent Living (2010) expresses the view that stress involves the release of body chemicals that â€Å"give people more energy and strength, which can be a good thing if their stress is caused by physical danger.† However, it is alarming that in a particular group of people, the levels of stress recorded among them should be rated as high. This is because high levels of rising stress impacts the victims in several ways including the work they do and their health (Foxall et al, 1990: 580). This argument says a lot about why principals are stressed most of the time. Having noted that a person’s duties could determine the level of stress to be experienced by the person, it is just right to state that principals are often stressed because their work comes with a lot of mental demands that requires them to use their brains very often. Knowing that principa ls undertake a lot of academic responsibilities that strain their brain, stress is thus inevitable for them. In a typical educational institution, principals are expected to among other things supervise the activities of other teachers, initiate academic itinerary, organize school examinations and in some cases serve as examiners. They also go an extra mile to execute other duties including being in charge of every sector of the school development; ranging from meeting the educational needs of students to providing the necessary materials and supplies for the teachers to implement the curriculum. They do this under strict monitoring by the stakeholders, board members, the superintendent, and the state and national educational leaders. New mandates are frequently imposed on already high expectations. A mountain of meeting, queries and complaints from parents, playground and lunchtime duties are also the order of the day for most the principals. All these are roles that are expected t o be executed with perfection and accuracy. In a bid to do all these, principals; especially first year (inexperienced) principals who are mostly new on the job end up stressing themselves badly. The work of the principal is one that is associated with a lot of physical and mental pressure. This is even worse because most principals (both inexperienced and experienced) are involved in academic based professions and occupations that involve the strenuous use of the brain rather than physical strength. Examples of these professions include medicine, nursing, law, teaching, pharmacy, writing and the like. Among this group also, teachers, including lecturers have been found to be one of the worse hit (Lee, 2003). It is worth noting that the work of lecturers and educators, especially those on higher ranks like principals involves a lot of demanding tasks that include multi-complexities. For instance there is mental application of knowledge, physical application of strength and regular i nter-personal interactions. In a typical school environment or school situation, principals (inexperienced and experienced) take the role of academic overseers over student, as well as the administrative activities. The year principal are, therefore, almost all the time involved in one kind of engagement or the other. In most situations, the situation of principals is worsened when they have other responsibilities other than academic roles to play. Some of these