1st article critique - Creating Vision and Strategic Direction / 2nd article critique - Leading Change

Article Critique Name Institution Instructor Date \\\"Creating a Strategically Aligned Workforce\\\" Critique As the author, van Riel states in the abstract; "This paper focuses on critical success factors in creating an aligned workforce around new strategic goals" and "Best practices of companies, headquartered in three different continents" were "used to illustrate an ideal roadmap." The writer reveals that "these companies measure and manage their alignment programs in a similar way." The author systematically analyses the factors that come to play when creating vision and implementing strategic direction and comes up with 3 key factors that help create aligned workforces around the globe. He lists: "(1) the managerial efforts aimed at creating alignment should be a joint effort of various specialists, initiated and orchestrated by top management; (2) consistency in behavior of management and internal messaging is crucial and (3) external claims in corporate advertising should support internal change programs." The above could amount to mere claims if some more factors such as fraud cannot effectively be dealt with in an organization. Fraud is probably one of the biggest challenges to the achievement of an effective strategy of an organization because the practice milks resources, both monetary and non-monetary from organizations an. Therefore, what do we do to help achieve streamlined visions while at the same time building strategies that shall are sustainable? The solution lies in fighting crime such as fraud. We shall look at the main reasons that lead to fraudulent activities in organizations. These reasons can be explained by way of theories. A number of theories have been put forward in an effort to understand why individuals or corporate end up committing fraudulent activities even with the full knowledge of the fact that the activity they are about to commit is illegal and punishable by the laws in many jurisdiction around the country and the world. In order to understand the frauds committed by corporate we shall delve into the following theories of fraud, one after the other (Dyck, Morse, & Zingales 2010). One is the Differential Association Theory. This theory explains that the more a person is exposed to certain activities especially activities that are illegal or unethical in nature the higher the possibility of the person taking part in the same activities. Another is the Labelling Theory. A label is something that is coined and assigned or attached to something else. In society similarly there are those people who are of more authority than others and may more often than not seek to label other individuals by certain terms that may be a direct reflection of their perceived behavior. Another important theory to learn about during strategizing is Social Control Theory. According to this theory, all societies have a particular set of rules and regulations that come together with norms that are guidelines to the behaviour that someone is expected to socially portray. In the event that these norms are violated then the impacts can range from mild to adverse from say for example social exclusion to more severe punishment such as incarceration (Dyck, Morse, & Zingales 2010). The Strain Theory suggests that in the society we live in today there are various activities that human beings undertake in order to achieve a goal or a number of set goals that they aim to reach at in their lives. However though, these aspirations can often be shuttered by various factors that can either be intrinsic or extrinsic with respect to an individual. Perhaps the most important theory to familiarize yourself with as a manager or board of management would be the Rational Choice Theory. It is probably one of the most contestable theories here. It suggests that all individuals often have rational motivations behind all their attitudes and the actions that they seek to pursue and that all they expect is benefits f...