Achieving A Congruence In Organisation Strategy Business Essay

Achieving A Congruence In Organisation Strategy Business Essay This essay first discusses about the importance of achieving congruence between an organisations strategy, structure and human resource management (HRM) practices. The author begins with defining strategy, structure and practices. The example of a software support organisation is used to illustrate the points in this essay; ensues by the outlining of its business objectives and strategies. It strives to be the leading integration software support service provider offering cutting edge service quality and achieving high customer satisfaction. Being in the service industry, the strategies revolve very much around human resource administration. The author subsequently delves into each strategy explaining why there must be congruence in order to accomplish the objectives. The second segment of discussion directs the attention to the relevance and effectiveness of HRM in achieving a competitive edge for the organisation. In the instance of the support organisation, information technology (IT) knowledge and customer service skills are a crucial part of work. Technology is ever-evolving and customers demands intensify in time. With proper management of skill and practices the organisation will be able to adapt well to external and internal changes giving it an advantage over other support organisations. As the conclusion, performance is obtained by systematic interactions and integration among the various HRM practices (Boxall, 2003). HRM has to be aligned to the corporate strategy and structure and this gives the organisation a competitive edge. First and foremost it is good to introduce and define the key elements of the essay. Organisational strategy defines the direction in which an organisation intends to move and establishes the framework for action through which it intends to get there (as quoted in Stone, 2008, p. 13). Organisational structure refers to the organisations framework or design (as quoted in Stone, 2008, p. 34). HRM practices relate to the human resource routines that are undertaken to manage specific skills, values and knowledge of employees (Ennen Richter, 2010). It is important to achieve congruence between these three elements to increase operational performance by meeting the organisational objectives and at the same time promoting achievement of employee goals (Stone, 2008). Advantage occurs when an organisation substantially builds the quality of its human capital and links it to the business and strategy (Boxall, 2003). Hence it can become a leader or winner in the industry. Work situation of a software support organisation will be discussed here. Its strategic business objectives are to be the market leader in integration software support excellence providing services around the globe 247, increase revenue opportunities and endorse effective cost control through: Understanding and growing the employee skills and interests. Retaining the right people by showing appreciation of their contribution. Empowering employees to provide value for achieving customers goal. Achieving high customers satisfaction and keeping them happy. Expanding the organisation in cost effective locations. The business strategy depends profoundly on the work force which is the organisation structure and the management of workers. The corporate business strategy of being the leader in customer service is to be achieved by first of all understanding and growing the employee skills and interests. This is in fact one of HRM practices and activities. Understanding the employee can be done by performing individual appraisal and growing them is a part of HR development and career planning (Stone, 2008). These days, less attention is paid to the persons position or tenure, rather the market value of skills is focused on (Cascio, 2010). Besides skills, their interests need to be taken care of, depending what they are. For example an employee that gets promoted is more committed to the companys goals attainment (Joseph Dai, 2009). A design that focuses on wellness of workers is more likely to be successful in achieving the operational goals. Without proper management of people who are going to run the organisation, its strategic business objectives execution would go the wrong direction. Secondly, the retaining and hiring of desirable skills directly affect the corporate performance (Wei, 2006). HRM strategies have to be aligned fittingly to this in order that the company does not dissipate unnecessary costs hiring new support engineers to replace those who leave the job due to feeling of disapproval. To keep capable workers, it is important for them to feel appreciated for their contribution. Engaging a reward system, incentives-motivated performance measurement is a good way to retain employees. Good organisation coordination can promote a trust environment that enables two way feedbacks between employer-employee (Collins, 2010). Constructive and beneficial feedback has to be acted upon to show that management is receptive to the peoples voice. HR activities such as recruitment and selection should aim to support the organisations strategy of focusing on the customer-employee relationship. Competent candidates ought to be selected for the job to ensure customer obt ain the service they seek from the knowledge workers. Thirdly, the researcher discusses why the empowerment of employee has to be fitted with the right HRM practices and organisational structure. The support organisation has offices in different parts of the world, therefore it is structured in the way that there is a Regional Time Zone Manager who heads the Product Line Manager who manages the Support Managers. The Support Managers deal directly with the Support Engineers. Communication is most of the time vertical and bureaucratic. The author thinks this design complicates the HR practices; for example there will be multiple level approval processes, hence employees are not empowered appropriately. Non-hierarchical decision making is becoming a more popular managerial structure because it is creating added creativity in workplace through proper delegation of work (Joseph Dai, 2009). The author thinks the support organisation could adopt this flat organisational structure. In this way there will be cutback of redundant escalation and reporting processes. Strategic plans can to be communicated immediately to the employees, who carry them out (York, 2010). Managers and employees should share a common understanding of execution plan details without obvious rank barrier. Then the engineers would know the main areas of concern. Keeping customers happy is one of them which will to be discussed next. The fourth strategic plan is to achieve high customers satisfaction. Managing human resource by adopting development-orientated practices is essential to improve the organisations capability in satisfying the customers. IT workers have to be developed regularly to keep up with the latest technological knowledge (Joseph Dai, 2009). Customer interaction effectiveness can be enhanced by communication training and development, hence boosting customer fulfilment. An open and interactive organisational design structure is helpful in building a good customer-support relationship. Customers are free to reach out to the Customer Services Managers for any conflicts or queries that occur during the support process so they get all the assistance they need. Consequently more new customers are attracted to sign up while existing customer stayed satisfied. The company will be able to meet its business objective of generating more revenue from the customers maintenance contracts. Finally, to promote cost effectiveness via the strategic decision to grow the support team internationally, supporting a global set of customers around the clock. One of the initiatives is to have more shifts in lower cost hub, providing customer service remotely through phone and email communication. HRM supports this by recruiting the required support engineers before the shifts start. HR planning of estimating how many workers are needed has to be done carefully to ensure cost efficiency. The planning would have to take into account the existing workers and the time required for the new workers to start contributing to the company (Ahmad, 2000). As the setup activity spans across the globe, the structure has to be in place before execution. The alignment of HRM practices and policies to the organisational strategy, design and structure will significantly increase productivity (Joseph Dai, 2009) especially in the condition where remote supervision is required. The author agrees with the statement One of the aims of HRM is to give an organisation a competitive edge. In fact HRM has to be strategized to help integrate the organisational strategy and polish its structure in a unique way that enhances the overall value to provide a competitive advantage. Human resources management focuses on managing the employer and employee relations and productively use it to achieve the strategic corporate strategy (Stone, 2008). Again in the example of the Support Centre, information technology (IT) knowledge and customer services skills are a crucial part of work. As described above, HRM activity such as training and development could improve these skills which add value to the customer. Customer usually tends to compare the quality of service provided among all other support organisations offering the same services. Distinguished service that stands out is in the advantage to keep the customers. HRM practices and policies describe factors that determine with what skills, values and knowledge organisational routines are implemented (Ennen Richter, 2010). A good HRM system takes care of changes that happen externally as well as internally. External factor such as technological divergence which is ever-evolving requires the attainment of new technical know-how for continuous improvement. With the right resource management, existing hardware and software can be replaced before they get obsolete. New technology can be acquired and utilized to create a better environment for support engineers to trouble-shoot complicated technical cases. Customers are always impressed with fresh ideas and fast resolution time. Transformation that happens internally for example team restructuring will probably affect day to day practices. HR administrative mechanism plays an important role to ensure employees adapt well to the changes. If a formal notification about re-allocation of duties is deli vered, workers will not be caught off guard and can prepare for the change. Productivity would drop tremendously if the various factors are not managed well. HRM that aligns to business strategies controls work activities and direct employees back on track for the organisation to stay competitive. Ennen Richter, 2010, through empirical research concludes that congruence practices, policies, strategy and organisational structure would give firms a competitive advantage over the organisations lacking such fit. The support organisation which is in the service sector covers a huge range of human services and practices. Productivity is best served by systematic interactions and integration among the various practices (Boxall, 2003). The support organisation focuses on human capital but at the same time it wishes to control cost in the most efficient way. Business hubs have been set up in lower maintenance cost locations. To have Asians providing support service to Europeans for example opens to issues such as cultural and expectation differences. HR strategy to hire the best job applicant with strong competencies such as good etiquette, resilience to cultural differences, strong verbal and written communication becomes a significant factor in ensuring the success of the organisati on. The author concludes that the aim of HRM is to achieve congruence between an organisations strategy, structure and its practices for inducing a competitive edge. When the human capital is taken care of, all other aspects such as technology, customer, culture, social and others will be handled appropriately by precise HRM strategy guidelines. The managers design the strategies and model then delegate the tasks. The workers follow instructions to achieve goal. The managers then collect feedback from the workers to continuously improve the system and produce result. Productivity is best served by systematic interactions and integration among the various HRM practices (Boxall, 2003). HRM has to be aligned to the corporate strategy and structure and this relationship gives the organisation a competitive edge. All said about having a system associated with strategies in place and the extensive information available today, the traditional multi-layer organisation charts value is declining ( Collins, 2010). As we move more into the knowledge age, managers role can be made redundant or will be trimmed down. Perhaps as food for thought, one day organisation would prefer workers performing their functional activities without the managers, but through forming multi-domains networked together by technological intelligence. Word count: 1754 (Excluding Abstract and References)

Medieval Castles :: essays research papers

Medieval Castles Medieval Castles were huge protection camps made to protect the king. They had every kind of defense known to medieval man. From murder holes, to arrow-loops, a castle had it. Medieval castles were usually built on a high rocky cliff located by water. Castle locations were very hard to find and sometimes months were spent looking for one. A moat was built around the castle and was usually filled with sewage and bathroom â€Å"goodies.† All these things played an important part in keeping the castle strong and ready to fight. A couple other defenses the castle had were murder holes; soldiers would dump many things on the sieging warriors. Another tactic was the arrow-loops; a small slender cut in the castle wall that arrows could be shot out from but not in to. See Diagram. Castles also had huge 20-foot walls to be protected from. Only two-ways in or out from the wall were present. One in the front of the castle where two iron gates had to be broken. Another gate was located somewhere towards the back of the castle. It was a secret gate that was very hard to find, and only the king knew where the gate had been hidden. The gate was used during an attack to escape from the siege. In the middle of the castle there was a huge building called the keep. This is where the king and queen slept, the kitchen and armory was also located inside. The dinning quarters (the largest room inside) was used very frequent and many employees were assigned to it. The castle was the heart and soul of the country. The king and queen and all of their loyal servants were inside, running the

The Fashion Channel

The Fashion Channel The Fashion Channel has dominated the fashion television market in recent years, but is now faced with an increasing amount of formidable competition. Both CNN and Lifetime have added fashion related programming after seeing an opportunity to gain viewers in that market. These two competitors have been relatively successful in securing a following of viewers.The fashion channel now must make the decision on how to move forward with their marketing plan. They must find the best scenario possible in order increase revenue and secure viewers in this increasingly competitive market. To successfully do execute this plan, The Fashion channel must review the customer segments, complete a profit potential analysis, and chose a marketing plan that best suits their needs and the needs of their viewers. Customer Segments OverviewSegment Name & Size| Fashionistas(15%)| Planners &Shoppers(35%)| Situationalists(30%)| Basics(20%)| Key Differentiating Demographics – what d o they look so that we could tell one segment from another? | Female (61%)High income $100,000+ Age 18 and 34 (50%)| Majority are femaleIncome 65,000+Age 21-45| Tend to have kids Age 24-50 (50%)Less disposable income| Majority are menAge 28-50| Key Differentiating Attitudes & Beliefs – how do they think and feel so that we could tell one segment from another? Treat fashion as a hobbyWant to be the trendsettersThey aren’t price sensitive Shop luxury brandsCare about how they are perceived (looks)| They look for deals, such as couponsHave brand loyalty towards certain brandsSomewhat are price sensitiveLike to plan and have an idea on where they want to go and what they want to buy, practical| Think about fashion only for special occasionsprice sensitive (besides rare occasions)Splurge for only certain occasions| Do not enjoy shoppingPrice sensitiveTend to shop at the same stores ( one stop shop)| Involvement in Fashion & Interest in Fashion on TV| Fashion TV 140 indexLoo k for insight on what’s hot and coming into styleThey treat fashion like an entertainment, They enjoy watching shows about it| Fashion TV 110 indexPopular show how to look good or under $100| Fashion TV 105 indexLike to watch some fashion TV, but normally when their looking to buy| Fashion TV 50 indexDon’t watch fashion on TVDon’t keep with fashion news| Qualitative Assessment of Targeting Priority | Pioneers/early adoptersTarget them heavily, they will spread the word. | Enjoy watching fashion and it’s the biggest segment. Focus on planning and saving when shoppingI would make this the secondary segment. | They don’t shop a whole lot, but they enjoy hearing about fashion. You could dip into this section if you had the resources. | This segment shows now interest in fashion. We believe they should avoid targeting this market. | Methodology Fashionistas: Demographics: Females tend to be more fashion oriented from head to toe than men. This segment h as a high income, which they need to be able to keep up with the trends and the expensive luxury brands.Women between the ages 18-35 are the majority of this market. This is the age range when women try to appeal to others by their looks. Key attitudes and beliefs: They want to have the new and latest clothes and accessories. This segment tends to wear expensive brands to show people they can afford nice clothes and care how they look. They don’t care how much it cost, with their high income they will buy whatever is fashion, even if its outrageously priced. Interest in fashion They enjoy watching fashion on TV (Heavy watchers), they treat it as an entertainment. This is how they keep up with the trends. They also keep up with the fashion through social media and magazines.Assessment: This is the smallest market although they are the ones that fit Fashion TV’s criteria. They are like the pioneers to early adopters in fashion. If they like it they will spread the word t o others, then they start watching the program. This makes it a key factor to target this market well; you want them to likes your programs, so they well send out good recommendations to others. Planners and Shoppers: Demographics: This segment also leans towards females (60%). The age range for this segment is 21-45. The young side of the segment is young and with lower incomes. The older side of the segment likes to be thrifty and get the best deal for their dollar, even though they make good money. They have an income of 65,000+.They have enough income to spend on nice clothes, but need to find the best deals to stay within their budget. Key attitudes and beliefs: This segment still likes to look good, but is on a budget, so they look for the best deals. If an item is on sale they are more prone to purchase it. They tend to be loyal to certain brands. They stick with certain brands, to receive loyalty coupons and other discounts. Interest in fashion: This segment has pretty simil ar interest in fashion as the fashionistas. They would watch shows that deal more with value, like how to look good with under $100. Assessment: This segment has the largest size, which makes it an attractive market to target; the numbers agree this is a good segment.They watch fashion TV and enjoy planning shopping trips. You could market shows that deal with planning shopping trips and how to shop on a budget. Situationalists: Demographics: Found this segment to be made up of male and female. With about 50% of the populations having kids living at their home still, they have less of a disposable income. Parents with kids living at home tend to range between 24-50 years of age. Key attitudes and beliefs: Fashion only occurs to them in special occasions. They typically don’t spend a lot on clothes, but for certain occasions they splurge a little bit. They are somewhat price sensitive, because of their low disposable income.Interest in fashion: While the other segments watch T V for tips and trend, this segments tends to watch TV recreational. They don’t watch it daily. Assessment: We believe the previous two segments are more attractive than this one, although they could dip into this segment. Situantiolists show some interest in fashion. Having a wedding dress show is something that would intrigue this audience. Shows that deal with special occasions, weddings are the big one. This group wants information about fashion for the key moments of their lives. Basics: Demographics: The majority of this segment tends to be male. The age range of the segment is 28-50. Men younger than 28 years old care more about their appearance, while going through School and impressing girls.Once they get married and content with their life they tend to care less about what they wear and spend little time shopping. Key attitudes and beliefs: This segment is price sensitive, they don’t care as much about what brand they wear so they will look to for the cheapest one. They also don’t like to go out shopping, so they will go to one stop shop (clothing stores) where they can buy all they need in one store. Interest in fashion: This group does not watch much fashion TV nor do they try to interact with the fashion world. Assessment: This group does not watch hardly any fashion TV and show little interest in fashion. In the end it would be smart not to target this segment.Profit Potential Analysis Rate each segment on 1-10 scale per text| Fashionistas| Planners &Shoppers| Situationalists| Basics| Market Size| 2| 7| 6| 3| Market Growth| Not applicable| Not applicable| Not applicable| Not applicable| Competitive Strength| 8| 6| 4| 2| Price Sensitivity| 8| 5| 3| 2| Production Costs| 4| 6| 6| 2 | Marketing Costs| Not applicable| Not applicable| Not applicable| Not applicable| Market Value (Sum above/4)| 5. 5| 6| 4. 75| 2. 25| Market Size:These ratings were based on the percentage of households that fall into each category. Competitive Strengt h: Competitive strength was rated on the ability of TFC to reach the segment compared to the abilities of their competitors Lifetime and CNN. The primary advantage of TFC is that the programming is focused on fashion, while the competitors offer less fashion related shows. This gives TFC a large competitive advantage with Fashionistas but puts them at a disadvantage with the Basics. The Planners & Shoppers group would also appreciate the fashion advice, while Situationalists would likely only watch programming that focused on specific fashion topics.Price Sensitivity: The Fashionista group is the least price sensitive segment due to a larger household income and an interest in fashion trends. The other three groups all expressed interest in value. The Planners and Shoppers group received a higher rating due to the fact that they enjoy shopping and stay up to date on trends. Situationalists were the third ranking group. They also enjoy shopping, but only for specific needs. The lowes t rated group was the Basics, they are very price sensitive because they want value and do not enjoy shopping. Production Costs: Production costs in this case refer to the costs of TFC advertising to each target group.The Basics group would be the most expensive to target, as they represent the greatest departure from the station’s current demographics. This group is made up of 55% men, while only 39% of the channel’s viewers are men. It would require an extensive advertising campaign to reach this group. There would not be much difference in the costs of advertising to the Planners & Shoppers and Situationalists since they have similar demographics. Production costs for the Fashionistas would likely be higher than these two groups because advertisements would have to keep up with changing fashion trends. Exhibit 4: Ad Revenue Calculator| | | | | Ad Revenue Calculator|   |   |   |   | | Current| 2007 Base| Scenario 1| Scenario 2| Scenario 3| TV HH| 110,000,000| 110,000,000| 110,000,000| 110,000,000| 110,000,000| Average Rating| 1. 0%| 1| 1. 2| 0. 8| 1. 2| Average Viewers (Thousand)| 1100| 1100| 1320| 880| 1320| Average CPM*| $2. 00| $2. 00 | $1. 80| $3. 50| $2. 50| Average Revenue/Ad Minute**| $2,200| $2,200| $2,376| $3,080| $3,300| Ad Minutes/Week| 2016| 2016| 2016| 2016| 2016| Weeks/Year| 52| 52| 52| 52| 52| Ad Revenue/Year| $230,630,400 | $230,630,400 | $249,080,832 | $322,882,560 | $345,945,600 | Incremental Programming Expense|   | $0 | $0 | $15,000,000 | $20,000,000 |   |   |   |   |   |   | | | | | | | * Revenue/Thousand Viewers| | | | | | ** Calculated by multiplying Average Viewers by Average CPM| | | | | 2006 Actual| 2007 Base| Scenario 1| Scenario 2| Scenario 3| Exhibit 5: Financials Revenue:|   |   |   |   |   | Ad Sales| $230,630,400 | $230,630,400 | $249,080,832 | $322,882,560 | $345,945,600 | Affiliate Fees| $80,000,000| $81,600,000| $81,600,000| $81,600,000| $81,600,000| Total Revenue| $310,630,400 | $312,230,400 | $330,680,832 | $404,482,560 | $427,545,600 |   |   |   |   |   |   | Expenses|   |   |   |   |   | Cost of Operations| $70,000,000| $72,100,000| $72,100,000| $72,100,000| $72,100,000| Cost of Programming| $55,000,000| $55,000,000 | $55,000,000 | $70,000,000 | $75,000,000 | Ad Sales Commissions| $6,918,912| $6,918,912. 00 | $7,472,424. 96 | $9,686,476. 80 | $10,378,368. 0 | Marketing & Advertising| $45,000,000| $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 | SGA| $40,000,000| $41,200,000| $41,200,000| $41,200,000| $41,200,000| Total Expense| $216,918,912| $190,218,912| $190,772,425| $207,986,477| $213,678,368|   |   |   |   |   |   | Net Income| $93,711,488 | $122,011,488 | $139,908,407 | $196,496,083 | $213,867,232 | Margin| 30%| 39%| 42%| 49%| 50%| Recommendation We recommend that Dana Wheeler and The Fashion Channel use the third segmentation scenario. There are positives and negatives to every plan; we feel that the third plan shows the highest revenue increase, and delivers the best competitive advantage.The first scenario describes a plan in which The Fashion Channel would, â€Å"maintain a broad appeal to a cross segment of Fashionistas, Planners & Shoppers, and Situationalists. † (Stahl) The broad marketing plan outlined in scenario one delivers a net income of $139,908,407, and a 3% increase the margin percentage. This would be an increase of almost $19,000,000 in ad revenue per year. This plan would slightly increase the average rating that The Fashion Channel would receive and boost the average viewer number slightly, and still would not come with an incremental programming expense. This plan would however, come with a drop in the average CPM, and â€Å"along with the 10% drop in forecasted Ad sales, a broad multi-cluster strategy may not deliver an audience different enough to avoid that drop. (Stahl) Dana Wheeler had mentioned that leaving the programming unchanged along with the mo re general advertising focus could leave them vulnerable to continued penetration by â€Å"competitors in the premium segments, thus further eroding The Fashion Channel’s pricing ability. † The second scenario was to focus on the Fashionistias. This scenario would increase ad revenue per year from $230,630,400 to $322,822,560 and would increase the margin by 10%. This scenario was described as valuable because of the strong demographic. This scenario would target the smallest segment but because of the value placed on these viewers, mainly women aged between 18 and 34, would lead to a CPM of $3. 50, which is the highest of the three scenarios.The targeted segment being smaller would mean that The Fashion Channel would incur an additional programming cost per year of fifteen million dollars, along with a decrease of 0. 2% in television ratings. This scenario doesn’t increase awareness, and carries the risk of not targeting enough viewers leading to further decrea ses in overall ratings. The final scenario outlined a plan to target two segments, the Fashionistas and the Shoppers/Planners. This scenario is the one that we would recommend The Fashion Channel to take. This scenario carries an additional cost of $20,000,000 for programming to â€Å"ensure that there were viewing selections aimed at both segments. † (Stahl) This plan shows the most promising numbers of the three scenarios.Both of the targeted segments are deemed valuable to ad buyers, which increases the average CPM to $2. 50. The Fashionistas and Shoppers/Planners scenario shows an increase in ad revenue per year from $230,630,400 to $345,945,600. That is an increase of $115,000,000 in ad revenue, resulting in a $91,000,000 net income increase. The increase to the margin is significant at 11%, and could increase in the future. The average CPM may be low considering the value of the viewer’s being targeted. The repositioning in programming may help when dealing with the increasing competitive threats. Works Cited Stahl, Wendy. â€Å"The Fashion Channel. â€Å"Harvard Business School  1 (2007): 1-12. Print.

Fun French Number Practice for the Classroom

Do you find teaching numbers boring, figuring that once youve taught your students to count in French, theres not much else you can do? If so, I have good news for you (and your students). Here are some great ideas for practicing numbers, including several games. Simple French Number Practice Ideas Use flash cards with the digit written on one side and the French spelling of the number on the other. Ask students to count by twos, fives, tens, etc.Count different objects in the classroom: number of desks, chairs, windows, doors, students, etc.Practice numbers with math operations: adding, subtracting, etc.Print out some paper money or use pennies and practice numbers by counting money.Talk about the time and date.Depending on the age of your students and your concerns about privacy, you could ask students about various personal details in French: birthdayagenumber and ages of brothers, sisters, cousin(e)sphone numberaddress You or your students can bring in pictures of food, clothing, dishes, office supplies, etc. and then discuss how much each item might cost - Ça coà »te 152,25 euros, for example. Good for combining number practice with other vocabulary words.One teacher found that students forgot to use the word ans when describing someones age, so now at the beginning of class, she writes the names of one or two celebrities or notable French people on the chalkboard and students guess his/her age. You can find birthdays in Today in Francophone history. Fun French Numbers Practice, Games and Activities British Bulldog / Dog and Bone A game for outdoors or a gymnasium: Divide the class in half, and have each side stand in a long line facing the other half, with a large gap for running between the two teams. Give each member a number: each team should have the same set of numbers but in a different order so that the students with the same number are not facing each other. An article, such as a scarf, skittle, or baton, is placed in the space between the two teams. Then the teacher calls a number and the student from each team with that number races to retrieve the article. Whoever gets it earns a point for his/her team. Number Toss Have the students stand in a circle and throw a nerf ball to another student (not adjacent). Upon catching the ball the student must say the next number. If s/he doesnt know what number youre on, says the wrong number, or pronounces it incorrectly, s/he is out of the game. Phone Numbers Have students write their actual phone numbers on a small piece of paper with no names. You can play too, by writing a phone number that you know well (such as the schools if you dont want to use your own). Collect the slips of paper and pass them back out randomly, making sure that no one has his/her own number. Everyone stands up. Start the game by reading the number on the paper you have. The person whose number it is sits down and reads the number s/he has, and so on until everyone is seated. Works well for listening, but they have to be able to say the numbers accurately enough for their classmates to understand them. I do this once theyve learned 0 to 9. Le Prix est Juste / The Price Is Right Teacher thinks of a number and gives students a range to guess from. Students respond and if incorrect, the teacher responds with plus or moins. When a student finally guesses the correct answer, s/he can be rewarded with a sticker, piece of candy, or a point for the team. Then the teacher thinks of a new number and gives a range and students begin guessing again. TPR with Numbers Write numbers on large cards, then call out instructions to the students: Mettez trente sur la table, Mettez sept sous la chaise (if they know prepositions and classroom vocabulary for example). You can mix it up with other vocabulary to catch them off guard and keep their attention: Donnez vingt à   Paul, Mettez la prof sur huit, Tournez vingt, Marchez vite avec onze. Or you can put the cards on the chalk tray and practice with avant, aprà ¨s, and à   cà ´tà © de: Mettez trente avant seize, Mettez zà ©ro aprà ¨s dix, etc. You might want to start with just five or so numbers at first; when they get good at those, add a couple more and so on. Zut Go around the room and count. Each time there is a 7 - a number with 7 in it (like 17, 27) or a multiple of 7 (14, 21) - the student must say zut instead of the number. They are knocked out of the game if they mispronounce the number, say the wrong number, or say the number when they should say zut. So the game should sound like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, zut, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, zut, 15, 16, zut, 18, 19, 20.... You can change the zut number periodically to keep them on their toes.