Clinical log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Clinical log - Essay Example Easily perishable stuff such as milk is refrigerated. Every foodstuff is stored in its category for ease of distribution. The shelves in the facility are chronologically arranged with food types stacked in their respective categories.AFAC serves over 1600 families per week categorized as 3500 adults and 1500 children. Food donated is stored here and later redistributed to the intended recipients. AFAC target vulnerable society members like elderly people that live alone and cannot afford food. Jobless people, college students from poor backgrounds, sick people with no working family members also form part of those who benefit from it. The AFAC Young professional is a group of young people between the ages of 21-40 years who raise awareness and food drives to in aid of the facility. AFAC has a management team and a small full time staff. They heavily rely on members of the community who sign up as volunteers. The whole community with schools, firms and churches pitching in to lend their help supports the project. What doing my clinical analysis I interacted with most members of these interested groups, who, form part of the larger community. The management team is drawn from members of these interest groups with gender been a factor. Foodstuff is mostly donated in bulk mostly in big, heavy packaging’s to be redistributed in smaller portions. These bulky packages are moved around the warehouse by the small team of staff aided volunteers. Lack of proper lifting machinery and technology forces the staff and volunteers to manually do this work. This is a constant health risk to the staff and volunteers with potential injuries always lurking. Muscular aches and back pains are the most common complaints from staff and volunteers. Malnutrition especially amongst children is also a potential program since some vital foods are not on provided on regular basis especially fruits and vegetables, which have important

The history, structure, classification of type Essay

The history, structure, classification of type - Essay Example ype designers have gone further to categorize the typographic variations in letterforms like x-height, length of ascenders and descenders and stroke weight that contribute to functionality, clarity and aesthetics of the design (Raizman 194). The humanist (Venetian) faces of 15th and 16th centuries emulated the classical calligraphy. The humanist typefaces were designed to imitate Italian Renaissance handwriting and the types use bracketed serifs while letters are wide. The old style (Garalde) was designed developed between 15th and 17th century. These types have moderate contrast and entail rounded serifs and rounded letters that enhance readability. The old style has small serifs and small x-heights and minimal variations of thick and thin strokes. The stress is diagonal and tops of lowercase ascenders often will exceed the height of the capital letters (Raizman 195). The transitional classification has sharper serifs and was introduced in mid 18th century by John Baskerville. The mechanical-like structure ensures these types are reverse and stippled thus looking excellent on smooth paper. The modern typefaces were designed by Didone in late 18th century and early 19th century and include straight serifs, and sharp contrast from thick to thin strokes (Felici 53). The advancement in typography was occasioned by improvements in technology such as printing and binding of papers thus making it possible to develop type styles with fine hairlines and strong vertical emphasis (Felici 78). The Egyptian or slab-serifs (19th century) has heavy serifs and is mainly used for decorations since it provides high legibility (Cullen 145). The slab serif is useful in posters and flyers due to bold printing types and strong, square finishing strokes that capture the viewers’ attention. The decorative typefaces (19th to 20th century) are mainly used in poster s and billboards since legibility wanes if used in small point sizes. They are designed for large point sizes in order to

Business Process Management Experience Business Essay

Business Process Management Experience Business Essay A study published by Gartner (Gartner: Michael James Melenovsky / Jim Sinur / Janelle B. Hill / David W. McCoy, Business Process Management: Preparing for the Process-Managed Organization, 2005) defines Business Process Management (BPM) as follows: BPM is a management practice that provides for governance of a businesss process environment toward the goal of improving agility and operational performance. BPM is a structured approach employing methods, policies, metrics, management practices and software tools to manage and continuously optimize an organizations activities and processes. My learning experience on business process management started in the early years of my career when I worked as programmer and subsequently a project manager with a local software house (See CV Aug 1981 Aug 1994). I spent many years working in the development, implementation and management of an insurance package for a number of insurance agencies in Malta. Working closely with insurance personnel to understand their pain areas and their business requirements gave me a very good knowledge and insight on the insurance business, and helped me develop my interpersonal and communication skills. Analysing their working practices, identifying areas of improvements and making recommendations for automation developed my analytical skills. This experience was further reinforced when I attended a one-year study course with examination (See CV Training 1985 to 1986) for the attainment of an analysis and design diploma and a graduate membership with the Institution of Analysts and Programmers. Good formal training on internationally-renowned systems analysis and design methodologies, held in the nineties (E.g. SSADM, DSDM, BPR), further strengthened my skills and knowledge in process modelling and business analysis. This also taught me how to intelligently select a variety of techniques and approaches to be used in tackling different kinds of situations. I consider this training as a turning-point in my career because, through it, I discovered a profound interest in structured methodologies, which I continued developing over the years and still at it after thirty years. The in-depth knowledge in structured methodologies acquired in the previous years also turned me into a highly structured individual with good organisational skills who can organise himself and others. In 2005, as Information Systems Strategist at Air Malta, I proposed the setting up of a business process improvement function within my sphere of responsibilities. This recommendation was accepted. Over the next two years I worked on two assignments, namely, the reorganisation of the Airlines Commercial Division, and the Tour Operator Contract Management business process (See AOL1 Project Management Pg 2). A few months ago, in my role as Head of IT at APS Bank, I made recommendations to set up a new BPM unit in order to initiate a number of change programmes that would focus on improving the Banks working practices and introduce further automation. The recommendations were accepted and a change programme set in motion. In this AOL, I will demonstrate the use of my skills and knowledge in the creation of a business process management function at APS Bank and my experiences on the first change projects. Learning Trail My knowledge on business process management has developed over the years throughout a mix of implicit and explicit learning, formal training and on-the-job working experiences. The following is a diagram depicting my learning trail in business process management: Diagram 1: BPM Learning Trail Skills and Activities The following is a table highlighting the skills and relevant activities covered in this AOL: Skills Activities Gaining Organisational Adoption Establish Banks BPM readiness Research best practices Gain buy-in for adoption of new idea Setting up a Business Process Management Competency Centre Establish the organisation structure and services to be offered Select a methodology and toolset Establish a programme of works Deliver a BPM programme Execute a pilot project Execute the first project Promote first achievements and good results Formation of a BPM Competency Centre at APS Bank Gaining Organisational Adoption: APS Bank is relatively small in size and client base when compared to other local banks, but has a niche market and a rich banking history spanning over a hundred years of successful operation. My direct involvement in the preparation of the Banks IT strategy and its business strategy (See AOL 2 IT Strategy Definition), gave me a fairly good insight in its business model and working practices. When I looked at the evolution of the Bank over the past hundred years; its transformation into a commercial bank a few years ago; its fast growth rate; and the findings of a situational analysis; it became apparent that this fast change and constant evolution created operational silos and inefficient working practices. To me, these factors clearly indicated that the Bank needed urgent re-engineering to streamline and standardise its business processes; to realign the organisation structure; and to introduce automation to support this change. It was the perfect site for the adoption of Business Process Management (BPM). As Head of IT I firmly believed that reengineering a business process prior to automating it would be extremely beneficial, because the resultant computer-system would represent a streamlined and efficient process legacy working practices, duplication and redundant steps would be eliminated before embarking on systems development. I decided to research and explore the best possible approach to use in order to build up business process management capabilities within the IT Division. I was concerned about the Banks readiness to accept this culture change. I was aware that introducing and practicing BPM would bring about significant changes and possibly resistance to change. Having researched the subject, I discovered Gartners Enterprise Personality Profile (EPP) method to assess the Banks readiness for this change (Gartner: Elise Olding, Bill Rosser, Getting Started with BPM, Part 1: Assessing Readiness, Pg 3, 2007). On evaluation, I concluded that the Bank could be classified as a Cultural Moderate, whose definition by Gartner is: Cultural moderates operate in a more stable but sometimes disjointed fashion; they tend to seek parity with other enterprises. I could relate to this definition, because of the Banks: (i) operational silos; (ii) conservative outlook and low risk appetite; and (iii) tendency to follow market leaders and rarely venture forward into becoming innovators. The Gartner study also recommended that Moderates are more likely to respond to projec ts that will offer competitive advantage such as improved customer service. I used the results of this assessment to mould my next steps in obtaining organisational adoption. Subsequently, I also used this new knowledge whilst preparing the annual programme of works. The experiences and skills I had acquired in my previous jobs with MITTS Ltd when I set up a Rapid Application Development Unit (See CV Jan 1996 Aug 2000); an Information Management Unit; and an Enterprise Architecture Unit (See CV Sep 2001 Aug 2004); were extremely helpful. The aggregation of positive and negative experiences encountered during these assignments gave me a proved and tested approach to use in the creation of this new unit. My next step was to research approaches used in similar situations by my peers in the industry. I used Gartner research material and found tons of information on the subject. It was comforting to see that my approach was pretty close to the mark. I collected all the information I required and prepared a PowerPoint presentation that provided the rationale behind my recommendation to set up this new function. I then started my usual lobbying grand tour of influential people within the Bank. The first difficult milestone was to convince the CEO, who is a very thorough person whose focus on efficiency, discipline and achieving business results are high on his agenda. I therefore focused my presentation on the current situation and the added value that the new unit would bring. The CEO was interested in this new concept and instructed me to bring it up for discussion at the Executive Management Committee. I used the same presentation at the Executive Management Committee, but the results were different. Some heads felt that BPM was an invasive and meddling exercise in their methods of working they had difficulties accepting external parties telling them whats wrong and how to do things. Other heads questioned the need for any improvements to the current business processes. Others were concerned at their required level of involvement during a BPM project. In short, I realised that I had made a mistake I had rushed into this without having carried out the appropriate level of lobbying with the individual heads before meeting them collectively in a group I had not used my experience and intrinsic learning I had previously acquired. In the following weeks I had to make some corrections and therefore changed tact. In other meetings that followed, I emphasised on some key areas to try and convince the heads that this was good for the company, because: (i) the BPM Unit is to be considered as a consultant that provides re-engineering services to the Head and his division it is not an internal audit; (ii) the Head and his division will rarely ever have the time and opportunity to dedicate weeks of effort to reassess their working practices the BPM unit can do that for them; (iii) every decision or proposed change will be carried out with the division the BPM unit are only facilitators; and (iv) any move to change has to be fully authorised by the Head of the division. This painful but important exercise, that should have been carried out previously, was relatively successful the Executive Management Committee cautiously bought into the concept. My recommendation to set up the new BPM Unit was adopted by the Bank and placed as one of my targets in the new Business Plan. It was now important to tread carefully in the first one or two BPM projects in order to ensure full buy-in. Setting up a BPM Competency Centre: Two years previously, I had set up a unit within the IT Division (i.e. Client Services Unit), to act as a buffer between IT and its internal business clients. This unit is staffed by ex-business personnel who understood the Banks working practices; could speak the same language as their business clients; and who could therefore show empathy towards their business colleagues. Reviewing, understanding and proposing changes to working practices required a good doze of knowledge on banking. I therefore found it suitable and logical to set up the new BPM function under the umbrella of the above mentioned Unit. The objective was to ensure that BPM personnel inherit the mindset of customer care and relationship building. I did not want to start big, so I recruited two bank personnel who had a good mix of banking knowledge, as well as, a good IT know-how. The next step was to research, select and establish a methodology and a toolset that would eventually be used to deliver BPM projects. I consider the use and knowledge of methodologies to be one of my core competencies. In the nineties, I attended a number of good training study courses in methods, such as Systems Development and Design Methodologies (SSADM) and the Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM now known as Agile) (See Relevant Training Courses below). I have also acquired solid hands-on experience in the use of these methods, especially during the period 1990 to 1994, when I worked on large projects in the insurance and oil industries (See CV Jan 1990 Aug 1994). Therefore, establishing and documenting an initial approach to be used for BPM projects was not a difficult task to complete. In 1995, in my new job at MITTS Ltd (See CV Sep 1994 Aug 2000), I was given the opportunity to set up a rapid application development unit for the Government of Malta, whose raison dà ªtre was to deliver small computer-based solutions in a phased and rapid manner. This experience was an extremely positive learning experience because it taught me to: (i) understand the importance of setting a vision, which gave the team a shared and common direction to get there; (ii) understand the importance of heavily involving your personnel during the birth of a new unit I found that this approach instilled a feeling of pride, bonding, comradeship and ownership; and (iii) understand group development, whereby teams go through four phases of maturity as stated by Bruce Tuckman (Tuckman, Bruce (1965), Developmental sequence in small groups, Psychological Bulletin 63 (6): 382-99), namely the forming-storming-norming-performing. I therefore set out to use the above learning experience to create the new BPM function. I engaged the new recruits in the design of the BPM method, techniques and toolset through interactive workshops and proof-of-concept projects. At each step of the way we met, compared notes and discussed areas of improvement. We moved into a natural cycle of continuous improvement, whereby each step of the way was constantly being challenged and refined on the basis of each others experiences. This method proved successful, because the personnel were motivated and fully engaged. Deliver a BPM programme: As already mentioned above (See Gaining organisational adoption), the Executive Management Committee cautiously bought into the new concept of a BPM function. Some Heads were not yet convinced of its benefits and some others were sceptical of the whole concept. I was given the chance to prove that this was the right thing to do. I therefore embarked on an exercise to establish a programme of works for the next twelve months. During the business planning exercise, that takes place each year, I invited my colleagues in the executive management committee to propose pain areas which they felt needed attention and assistance to sort out. I kept in mind the Enterprise Personality Profile assessment I had carried out earlier (See Gaining organizational adoption section above), whereby I had concluded that a corporate moderator would likely à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ respond to projects that will offer competitive advantage such as improved customer service (Gartner: Elise Old ing, Bill Rosser, Getting Started with BPM, Part 1: Assessing Readiness, Pg 3, 2007). Surely enough, the heads proposed four areas that would focus on customer touch-points (e.g. customer on-boarding and the call centre) a very positive turning point and a show of trust. We now had a programme of works and some willing sponsors. Before embarking on the first official project, we decided to initiate a pilot project with the aim to: (i) Test the selected approach and toolset; and (ii) Increase the level of skills and knowledge of the newly set BPM unit personnel on-the-job training. We selected the IT service desk business process that included incident management, change management, service level management and service request management. We piloted the full BPM lifecycle and again used regular meetings to identify areas of improvement at each step of the way. This exercise helped us to fine tune the selected approach and gain enough confidence to proceed with the first official BPM project. During the first project we tried to apply all the skills and knowledge we learnt during the proof-of-concept projects we had previously undertaken. At this point, the approach, techniques and tools were already well refined. We made it a point to use a totally participative and consultative approach across each step of the way. We prepared a detailed project brief and plan and ensured the full involvement of key business personnel selected by the project sponsor (head). The plan and expected outcomes were authorised by the project board. The project proceeded well and the initial outcome was very encouraging. We had passed the first difficult test. Relevant Training Courses Period Training Course Training Institute 2011 Business Process Management Gartner Ireland Limited, UK 1999 Dynamic Systems Development Method Practitioners Course (DSDM) DSDM Consortium 1997 Dynamic Systems Development Method Practitioners Course (DSDM) ITP Limited 1996 Business Process Re-Engineering Parity Training Limited, UK 1992 Systems Analysis Design Methodology (SSADM V4) BIS Applied Systems Limited 1990 Systems Analysis Design Methodology (SSADM V3) BIS Applied Systems Limited 1985 1986 Analysis Design graduate membership after having attended a formal course study and examination approved by the Institute Institution of Analysts Programmers, UK Evidence

Pricey Game or Home Entertainment? Essay -- Sports, Venues, Base Ball

Throughout the United States sports has taken the consumer captive, by providing them with entertainment and pleasure. Sporting venues continues to rob their loyal fans by boosting the prices of tickets, merchandise, food, and beverages. Recently over the summer, I went to see a baseball game being held at Dodgers Stadium and was horrified at the prices that I saw. My ticket alone was $40, at this price that put me just below the nosebleed section of the stadium. During the game I went to one of the vendors and was flabbergasted to see the price for a hot dog was $6.50 dollars, a drink was $3.75 and a side of fries for $4.25. Once I made my purchase I stood back and found myself feeling as if I had been cheated. The Dodgers made over $240 million in revenue in 2010, why would they want to raise the prices of the franchise? Dodger stadium can hold over fifty thousand people, but they are continuing to rob fans with these head scratching prices. With these increasing prices more and mo re people have begun to stay at their dwellings to enjoy the game on their HD TV. Most people would choose to stay home near their refrigerator and watch the next game seeing as they have a great view, comfortable seats, and free food. These prices are not only seen in baseball but also in other professional sport institutions. With the staggering decrease of the current economy, sports franchises need to realize the value of a dollar to its loyal fans, and the practicality to the average family looking for entertainment. Today the average cost of a baseball ticket is $19.85; compared to back in the 1950’s being that the average ticket price was $1.54. This price fluctuation is due to the demand of the sport as well as, â€Å"[media] focus, player salary ... ...g events, the impoverished and lower class will be left out of the running. With the lowering of the economic stand point the all American traditions are failing to keep up with these desperate times. In my opinion all sporting events have become commercial and media oriented, rather than just going to a game to have fun and to bond. In the past families would go every Sunday to a game because it was affordable, but at this day in time they cannot even attend one game. It makes one wonder what the future of the sporting world beholds for the future generations. Will sporting events become underground or will they slowly disappear? Will the world stop revolving around the constant money symbol? Being such an avid sports fan, as I am, I perceive the future of sports becoming business or corporate orientated rather than the all American pass time it was meant to be.

Why Pursue a Master’s in Business Administration?

Pursuing a MBA will be able to prepare you for a lifetime of management responsibilities in a business. People choose to pursue a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) for a variety of reasons. Whether it is for an instant change in career path, future job development, justify a position/promotion, or to begin one’s personal business, pursing an MBA will provide someone with many rewards in a career and can expand their knowledge of controlling an industry and provide chances for employment, recognition, sponsorship and income increase. I decided to pursue an MBA to develop my business knowledge and enlarge my career options. I am a waitress in a full service restaurant and have been in the hospitality industry for about eight years. I am interested in furthering my career and exploring other options that has the potential to offer more financial benefits. I am not satisfied with just having a bachelor’s degree because over the years it has become equivalent to a high school diploma and that will not set me apart from my competitors. According to the gmatmbahelp website, having an MBA, which is recognized almost universally, will increase your ability to compete for jobs in more locations. One of the main reasons why people decide to pursue an MBA is because it frequently allows graduates to make a better salary. The common starting salary for MBA graduates is based on the number of years of work they have before starting their degree. However, it has been reported that some with less than three years of trade experience start out earning close to $70,000. This number rises severely as graduates build up additional practice in their fields. Having an MBA offers more financial possibilities than only having a Bachelors degree. At this time in my life I am uncertain of the career path I would like to take. I have little work experience and I am not sure of the industry I would like to pursue. But while I am seeking opportunities and different industries I think it is worth my while to gain a higher education. According to the Jungian 16/type personality test I am observant, cool and highly pragmatic person. The test scores states that I am a rational thinker with semi-procrastinations and the best time of day that I am productive is in the evening. I am motivated to manage, trustworthy, relaxed and handles conflict very well. So I plan to pursue an industry with those attributes so that I am effective and every area of my career. I am very excited to pursue my MBA and hope that it will give me a great advantage and opportunity over others. With the time being spent in seeking my future I can receive my MBA and became a step above those with just a bachelor’s degree. An MBA is a marketable and multipurpose degree. Those who only have an bachelors keep themselves at a stable place and it is often hard to advance in their career path. They also make it hard to market themselves in other industries when a change is wanted or needed. Even if an MBA graduate has to start out in a place that is fairly less on the company ranking than they would like, there are remarkable opportunities for development with the degree. Those who only own a bachelor's degree may find they can only go so far in the corporate world, even if their skills and employment conduct are past reproach. With an MBA, the opportunities are practically endless, and graduate students can even assume the role of head economic officer with good job performance. Pursuing a MBA will also assist me with developing the understanding and meaning of decision-making skills including communication, promotion, tactical preparation, financing, and management abilities. While there are many other company programs existing by universities, the MBA degree is rivaled for its capability to increase excellent common business skills in students. Students find the MBA degree a smart option because they can go after a wide range of positions, aggressive salaries, and almost limitless opportunities for improvement. These are just a few of the rewards that having an MBA degree can provide. Having an MBA can help increase my knowledge and awareness of the importance of human resources in a company from retention, hiring and firing, employee benefits, compensation, payroll, business ethics and etc†¦It can also help those who have an entrepreneur mind set to further their know-how as to getting started on their business adventure. I am very excited to pursue my MBA and hope that it will give me a great advantage and opportunity over others. I am a strong, rational and dominant person and I hope to become a great manager and leading example in my industry. And I want to reach my full potential with my education as I possibly can.

Leaders: born or made

There has always been a difference opinion on whether leaders are made or born. At numerous times people have been heard to exclaim about someone that he or she is a person that is born to lead. People have tendency to believe that good and effective leaders are people who are naturally bestowed with excellent communication skills, persuasive ability, and born with knack to integrate them in any team structure. Further, there are also firm opinions that it is not possible for every one to naturally acquire the skills of seamlessly inspiring a group of people, set sufficient challenges, and make every one of the group to accept those challenges and strive together to achieve them.However, years of academic research among leaders from social, business and corporate world and political domain have brought out results that stand contrary to popular perception of leaders and their ‘innate qualities and abilities’ of leading people and show that effective leadership is an art that can be very much learned and practiced to perfection by anyone who devotes sufficient time and attention to it.   This paper takes the point of view that leadership is a quality that can be learned by anyone with ordinary levels of intelligence and smartness and looks into the range of skills, requirements and capabilities needed by a person to develop leadership qualities.Leadership: DefinitionLeadership is the attribute of inspiring people to channel their efforts towards achieving common goals and objectives (Rosenbach and Taylor, 1998, 1). Leadership is the recognition that attainment of the group objectives and goals can be accomplished through empowering individuals and encouraging them to overcome their rank and position in order to associate themselves and their colleagues with specific works, duties and responsibilities by setting directions, building commitment and taking challenges (Day and Halpin, 2004, 3). An important attribute of a leader is his ability to comm and implicit faith, confidence, and respect of his followers, irrespective of his position and power in the organization.. A leader motivates the employees by setting personal examples, and takes decisions that are quite unconventional, innovative and on the spot to resolve a deadlock. However, the most important quality of a leader is that he/she encourages leadership qualities their followers and help to create a multi-tier leader structure within the organization/group.Organizational leadership: Roles and necessitiesAs the corporate world becomes increasingly competitive and diversified, organizational focus has shifted on developing leadership talents among the employees to maintain their competitive edge.   Transnational companies, with their multi-level reporting structure, multiple communication networks, numerous levels of responsibilities and faced with significant differences in time, language and organizational culture are faced with the responsibility of leadership dev elopment among their employees to meet customers’ demands within the limited time and resources (Collins, 2001).  Organizations are managed by several forms of leadership based on the exertion of authority within the organization. Two main, but interconnected types of leadership in organizations are the transformational leadership and the transactional leadership, both having strong philosophical and ethical foundations. Transformational leadership gives followers the opportunity to assess the leader’s view, to seek explanations and provide solutions, while transactional leadership is more based on imposition, where followers are driven by the praise, promise or reward of the leader. In the transactional leadership, the followers are confronted by reproof, threats and disciplinary actions.Transformational leadership has become more popular in the last three decades primarily due to the changing global economy. Transformational leadership promotes equality, justice an d human rights through loyalty and fairness. Recent findings suggest that team performance and communication are improved under transformational leadership. Authentic transformational leaders are sometimes transactional too. The leader may present his opinion, plans and exhort agreement on them, which however may be in the mutual interest of all involved. I consider myself as a typical transformational leader open to criticism and discussion, unafraid of my decisions being questioned. After all only collective thinking and cooperation can bring results.Today the business world realizes that leadership is neither hierarchal nor stratified nor leadership is management. Instead leadership is about inspiring people to pool themselves together towards achieving common goals and objectives (Rosenbach and Taylor, 1998, 1. Leadership is about building commitment and taking challenges by timely distribution of specific works, duties and responsibilities and through setting directions (Day an d Halpin, 2004, 3). Its not surprising then that companies are ready to invest hugely in leadership development program, as a guaranteed way to emerge ahead than their competitors.Developing Leadership QualitiesThere are abundant examples from almost every quarter of business and public domains to show that with well help   designed training programs and experience even otherwise ordinary individuals can emerge as successful leaders in their own spheres. Leadership development process works on two levels. It is suggested coaching and mentoring involves practical and goal focused methods of individual and group learning and behavioral change. For obtaining most effective results and developing specific leadership skills coaching allows individuals to collaborate in methodologically assessing, understanding and solving the issue before them. It leads them to challenge the existing solution models and explore further possibilities through joint effort and accountability. Mentoring is an essential part of educational program, involves commitment and long term relationship between a senior employee and a junior employee where the latter helps in professional and personal development of the former.The second level of leadership development is action learning that requires participants to tackle   real life and real time organizational problems (ibid). Through a careful selection of objectives and problems, participants are trained on delivering organizational results, communication learning and management and develop general leadership qualities. It benefits participants greatly as it provides them crucial exposure and considerable experience within a short time. Along with these, modern organizations have also adopted the technique of job rotation, so that individuals have widest possible exposure and experience of company’s functional and organizational processes.It is vital to remember that the focus should not be on teaching leadership, instead gettin g participants to learn leadership. Every person has a potential to emerge in a leader by gaining   knowledge, purpose and experience and apply themselves more   effectively in their personal and professional domains Leadership is not a characteristic that can unfold in isolation. By its definition, it implies establishing coordination, cooperation, collaboration and orientation among the followers to achieve the designated objectives and goals. However, it is only possible when leaders can inspire their followers with respect, admiration, discipline, sense of emulation and confidence in the abilities of the leader while being helped to envision themselves as empowered individuals (Brown and Lord, 2004, 2).  Most relevant qualities of a leaderWithin every social, institutional or organizational structure, a leader is always looked upon the person with abilities to broach reconciliation and resolution in situation of conflict. A good leader exercises his control over most compl ex, demanding and otherwise impossible condition by exhibiting personal integrity, ethical and moral traits and values that other can relate to and get inspired to include them in their personal conduct (Laurie, 2000, 53). Another very crucial characteristics of leadership is that it produces new leaders from among the followers and hence, through a multiplier effect, results in empowerment of individuals and communities.Leadership helps the followers to discover and grow their internal abilities and encourage them to become an integral part of the process, not a mere tool. This causes a reinstating of self pride and confidence among followers and it earns leaders willing obedience of people who realize the integrity of the leader in creating a just, legitimate and encouraging environment where they see themselves as valued members and in turn lend their unconditional support to the joint cause under the leadership (Messick, 2005, 81)Arguably, there are no definite copybook rules to construct a leader. The difficulties, complexities, and challenges associated with a situation give impetus to leadership qualities in otherwise ordinary people who believe in themselves that they are capable of rising up to the difficulties as well as helping others out of it. Therefore although it might be difficult to ‘teach’ a person quality of good leader, yet one can expect to inculcate leadership qualities by observing styles and principles of successful leaders. It is said that a leader is a dealer in hope. Leadership is then about inspiration, motivation, encouragement and direction that pulls people to accomplishments that they would not had managed if left alone. However, effective leadership is a very challenging domain as it requires some impeccable personal and organizational traits that can be developed and realized through considerable experience, knowledge and self- discipline.  Quite often the leadership is situational and the leader is required to act purely through intuition and circumstantial requirements. However there are certain essential skills and characteristics that are rather mandatory for effective leadership are1 Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness is about integrity in action. Effective leadership is about achieving coordination in words and actions and following the age old principles of truth, honesty and personal integrity.2. Fairness: Leaders can’t afford to be biased or prejudiced or it would jeopardize the confidence of the followers in their secular character.3. Communication and listening skill. Leadership requires excellent communication and listening skill through which the leaders can articulate their views unambiguously and also hear the views of others to give them sense of participation and involvement.4. Initiative: Leadership is about taking initiative and orienting other people towards it. Taking initiative pulls the organization rapidly ahead.5. Good judgment: Leaders must have the ability t o process all information in the backdrop of their knowledge to make correct decisions6. Motivational capacity: Leadership is ineffective if it cant motivate people to the dream and vision of the leader. It is the most desirous quality of a leader and one that is hallmark of leadership.Motivation has a large role to play in developing leadership. According to Isaac, Pitt and Zerbe (2001) individuals aspiring for leadership are greatly assisted a motivational model, called as expectancy theory, that suggests that self interest prompts individuals to charter a course where they tend to maximize the chances of success and growth. Thus self interest acts as a motivation that spurs people to take upon leadership roles and aspire to meet needs of followers along with requirements of the organization (ibid). Also, when leaders meet with followers, it generally results in entire work atmosphere getting highly motivated and people are spirited with aspiration to transcend their present roles and step in the role of leaders (ibid).Leadership is influenced by both extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. In the former, motivational behavior is seen as product of external rewards and remunerations while the latter treat motivational behavior as result of internal drives such as enjoyment of work and inner sense of competence (Isaac, Pitt and Zerbe). In either case, individuals are motivated to assume leadership to maximize their self-interest.Leadership: Personal AttributesA good leader should be honest, loyal and committed to the goals of the organization he intends to lead. A good leader should not have a desire for wrongful gains or hidden agendas. This is why perhaps people emphasize on transparency in all dealings of any organization. Some leaders have a self plan and pursue them rather than acting in the interests of the organization. Committed to the cause of the organization or group and being live to the sacrifices and pains of your colleagues is a basic qu ality of a good leader. National leaders and particularly the freedom fighters of several nations had steadfast qualities and determination in them, which helped them carry on and ultimately succeed. A good leader is perhaps a good follower.There is never a stage in which one can have mastered everything and this applies even to leadership. Each day brings learning and experience of various types. A good leader is one who applies these learning and experience by identifying the most appropriate situation of their application.   perhaps the rights and wrongs of your own acts too. . A leader is accountable for his actions and should voluntarily open up to any questions or suspicions in his dealings. Similarly a good leader should also emphasize such qualities among his followers and make them accountable too. Simplicity is a mark of identity for any leader and projecting himself as a role model. A leader’s thoughts, actions and words should be a reflection of him, inspiring a ll who follow. A leader indeed should have uncommon qualities to successfully lead his organization.ConclusionLeadership is a quality that comes through effective utilization of experience, education, self-evaluation eagerness to learn and grow. None of these qualities require a transcendental genius or divine abilities to master. They are human attributes that are present among every one of us and given time, training and motivation to master them. The truth about leadership is that any person who has wholly ingrained the necessary leadership qualities as an integral part of their character would appear as one who is born with them.referenceCollins DB, 2001, ‘Organizational Performance: The Future Focus of Leadership Development Programs’, Journal of Leadership Studies. Volume: 7. Issue: 4.Day DV and Halpin SM, 2004, Leader Development for Transforming Organizations: Growing Leaders for Tomorrow,   (edit) David V. Day, Stanley M. Halpin, Stephen J. Zaccaro, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,   Mahwah, NJ.Rosenbach WE and Taylor RL, 1998, Contemporary Issues in Leadership, (edit) William E. Rosenbach, Robert L. Taylor, Westview Press,Boulder, CO.Brown DJ, Lord, RG,   2004, Leadership Processes and Follower Self-Identity,   Lawrence Erlbaum Mahwah, NJChampy J, Nohria N, 1999, The Arc of Ambition: Defining the Leadership Journey, Perseus Books (Current Publisher: Perseus PublishingCambridge, MA.Rosenbach WE and Taylor RL, 1998, Contemporary Issues in Leadership, (edit) William E. Rosenbach, Robert L. Taylor, Westview Press,Boulder, CO.

Comparison of Psalms, Sermons, and Parables Essays

Comparison of Psalms, Sermons, and Parables Essays Comparison of Psalms, Sermons, and Parables Paper Comparison of Psalms, Sermons, and Parables Paper Europe centered on Christianity and the Bible for centuries, and the holy book shaped the lives in all living during those times. Although the Bible nearly governed the people of Europe, most of them were never able to have access to it. The Bible was originally only available in Latin, the language of the Church, but during the Reformation of the 1500s, the Bible was translated into the vernacular languages for the common people to read. The King James Bible was the official English translation, and it was created by the consent of King James himself. Throughout the generations, the King James Bible has become an important part of life for English-speakers, often lending hundreds of phrases to the English language. The passages in the Bible all convey themes of faith, and three examples of such passages are the psalms, sermons, and parables. Although they all appear within the Bible, there are significant differences between all three of these genres, including a distinct form for each, a unique use of literary techniques, and different ways of communicating deep messages about life. While sermons and parables are both spoken passages that praise God, psalms are poetic religious songs that are sung to praise God. To keep the audience interested, psalms sometimes feature vivid metaphors, or comparison of unlike things. For example, in Psalm 23, phrase 4, a metaphor is used to strengthen the image of the psalm: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. (p. 277) The speaker is not actually walking through a valley of death; it symbolizes the person going through hard and evil times, but he or she is not afraid because God is with him or her. Using inference, the reader can denote the meaning of the metaphor I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever as a way of saying that he will go to heaven. Another example of word usage that creates an image is in the opening phrase: The Lord is my shepherd; He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. (p. 277) This creates a sense of peace and comfort to the listener, which is what the psalm is known for. A more serious example of a passage from the Bible is the sermon, which are speeches that offer religious or moral instruction. The Sermon on the Mount, a speech given by Jesus in Galilee, contains the basic principles of Christianity. Since sermons are rather serious and harder to understand, they usually contain analogies, or explanations comparing unfamiliar relationships to familiar ones to help people understand them. For example, in the 28th phrase in The Sermon on the Mount, the narrator takes the concept of clothing and not to concentrate on apparel, and compares it to the lilies in the of the field, which do not wear clothes but flourish anyway. The speaker wants the audience to speculate life as a lily or the green field, where just the necessities are used: food, air, and water. The analogy about birds in this sermon also makes people realize what God has given them: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not must better than they? (p. 278) This analogy compares the needs of the birds to the needs of the human, which is similar to the analogy of the lilies and the green field. Another element of the sermon is the rhetorical question, which are questions that are not meant to be answered. These kinds of questions are thought-provoking, and cause the audience to think about what the sermon is about on a deeper level: Is not the life more tan meat, and the body than raiment? (p. 278, 25) and Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you, o ye of little faith? (p. 278, 30) are examples of rhetorical questions used in The Sermon on the Mount. Both of these are also reprimand the audience and listeners in a way. They force the audience to think about what was said and realize what God really wants them to do. A parable also features religious or moral instruction, but unlike the sermon, they are lighter in tone and are told in the form of a simple story. Parables illustrate messages from which lesson can be drawn. The Parable of the Prodigal Son tells a tale about a man with two sons, the younger of them asks his father one day to go out into the world alone with a few possessions, but ends up wasting his substance with riotous living. p. 279, 13) After a while, a famine came upon the land, the younger son does not have enough to eat, and decides to return home. When he arrives, the father greets him like a king, and says to the servants to bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. (p. 279, 22) The older son, however, is not pleased with the manner of his return or the reaction of his brothers arrival from his father. The lesson learned from this narrative is that everyone is able to and has opportunities to make a change within themselves. We do not have to remain in a hopeless state. This parable also shows the attitude of the older son, who quarreled with his father that his brother messed up but was still given a fatted calf (p. 279, 23). The older son did not realize all the riches available to him in his fathers household. Instead, he chose to focus on the fact that he considers himself to be better than the younger son, and therefore could not share his fathers joy. The morale of this story is that both sin and self-righteousness (as shown by the older son) separate people from God, and that we all need Gods love and grace, no matter what state we are in. The metaphors used in the psalm, the analogy of the birds and lilies in the sermon, and the narrative used in the parable are all aimed at the original audience they were written for: the simple, rural folk. Although these three types of writings are quite different from each other, they all have a common purpose: to educate the people who choose Christianity as their religion about discipline, love, and Gods grace.

Psychological Observations of Children essays

Psychological Observations of Children essays Children are often referred to as the future, but what many do not say is that they are very much the present. After viewing 3 small children ages 3-5 for 20 minutes, I learned many interesting facts from there actions and what they said or attempted to say. This was an interesting assignment considering it was kind of hard not to interact with the children. One of the most peculiar things I found was the amount of energy this kids have, given a 20-25 viewing timeframe they did not lose any energy from there movement or anything else for that matter. Viewing these children, 2 females and 1 male, the females were ages 3, 4 and the male was 5. They were all related, not as sisters and cousin of each other. I viewed them in there home for about 20 to 25 minutes. The setting was the average living room, with wall to wall carpet, two couches and an entertainment center. In the center of the living room was a few toys, two trucks and a few legos, also a few dolls. The room was relatively open, for running around and disturbing the observer ( I was sitting on a chair in the room). There were several unique things about the children, and how they played into the theories of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohler. Along with actions of theirs that did not fit into either of the theories. Also there were behaviors common in all children, that I feel could be open for a new study. The first child is 3 years old from what her mother tells me and her name is Elise. Elise spent her time during my observing playing with the dolls with her sister and being chased by her brother. She was very loud like the other siblings, possibly because she is the youngest or maybe she has received little attention during her earlier childhood years. That theory falls under Erikson, for neglected infants. Also the issue of gender identity, seems to be developing in this girl. She plays with all of the dolls that her si ...

Customizing the Spellchecker in Microsoft Word

Customizing the Spellchecker in Microsoft Word Customizing the Spellchecker in Microsoft Word The spellchecker in Microsoft Word is a useful tool (even if it can’t replace proofreading). However, to make the most of this tool, you may need to check its settings. And in this post, to help out, we’re looking at three ways of customizing the spellchecker in Microsoft Word: Setting the proofing language Adding and ignoring specific terms via the contextual menus Editing and creating custom dictionaries Read on to make sure that you can use the spellchecker to maximum effect. 1. Setting the Proofing Language The simplest way to customize the spellchecker in MS Word is to change the proofing language. If you are writing for a U.S. audience, for example, you will want to use American English. This will make sure the spellchecker looks for U.S. spellings (e.g., color instead of the U.K. English colour). To check the proofing language in Microsoft Word, all you need to do is: Select the text you want to spellcheck (use Ctrl + A to select all text) Look for the current language on the status bar The status bar in MS Word, including the proofing language. And if you need to change the language setting: Select the text you want to spellcheck Go to Review Language Proofing Language on the main ribbon (or Tools Language in Word for Mac) In the new window that opens, select the language required and click OK Selecting the proofing language. This will change the proofing language used for the selected text. 2. Adding and Ignoring Terms As well as changing the proofing language, you can add individual terms to the spellchecker dictionary. This is useful when Microsoft Word does not recognize a proper noun or a technical term, as the spellchecker will underline it in red even if it is spelled correctly. For instance, if we were writing about the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, we may need to use his surname a lot. And while Microsoft Word does recognize some famous or common names, it marks â€Å"Ricoeur† as an error. So if we want to use the spellchecker, we will need to fix this. To do so, we can right click the underlined term and select Add to Dictionary. It will then be added to the dictionary for all documents. Adding a term to the custom dictionary. If you don’t want to make a permanent change, you can tell the spellchecker to ignore words. For instance, you can click Ignore while running a spellcheck to overlook a single term. But you can also click Ignore All to stop the spellchecker from highlighting the term anywhere in the document. 3. Customizing the Spellchecker Finally, for complete control over the spellchecker, you can edit your dictionary. This â€Å"custom dictionary† includes any terms that you have selected via the Add to Dictionary option mentioned above. But you can also add and remove terms from the dictionary by: Going to File Options Proofing (or Preferences Spelling Grammar in Word for Mac if you are not using a Windows computer) Clicking Custom Dictionaries Selecting your custom dictionary (usually named CUSTOM.DIC) Clicking Edit Word List Adding or removing terms as required and clicking OK to confirm Editing the custom dictionary. You can also import and create custom dictionaries for particular documents by clicking New or Add in this menu. This can be useful when working to a specific style guide, allowing you to quickly import saved spellings.

QS-9000 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

QS-9000 - Research Paper Example The current trends in the supply chain management have shifted from the traditional enterprise boundaries to incorporate different companies in the supply network. Indeed, the three biggest automotive makers in the world, the General Motors, the Chrysler and the Ford came together to develop a supply network that would ensure customer satisfaction and process control in the automobile industry referred to as the QS-9000. This paper looks at the provisions of the QS-9000 and the benefits of automobile suppliers adopting the standards. In order to answer find out this, this paper will look at the history and the development of the QS 9000. It will look at the steps required for an organization to be certified as QS 9000 compliant. The various requirements of the organizations under QS 9000 will be discussed in detail while finally the paper will look at the benefits of organizations that are compliant with the standards. According to Hoyle (1996), quality system requirements 9000 (QS 9 000) refers to an international quality management system standards for the automotive industry. They were originally developed by and meant for the â€Å"Big Three† automobile giant companies in the American motor world which are  Daimler Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation. The QS 9000 was in line with the 1994 ISO-9001 Standards whixch embraced customer satisfaction and process control. According to the QS 9000, all suppliers in the automotive world are required to be quality sensitive and adhere to high quality production materials, quality production of motor spare parts, heat treatment and professionalism, in plating and painting of the automobiles (Chrysler Corporation, et al., 2009). The QS 9000 is divided into three sections that include all the twenty ISO 9001 elements, including a number of automotive requirements. Secondly, the systems requirements, which are defined by the â€Å"Big Three† automobile companies, meant for their own use referred to as â€Å"Additional requirements† and lastly, the customer specific requirements r-that which are unique to every individual manufacturer of cars or trucks (Kanholm, 1995). Kanholm, (1995) outlines a number of activities that are carried out by the QS 9000 include Quality Systems Assessment which is involved in making sure that products are safe and efficiently serves the purpose for which they were intended. Advanced Product Quality Planning and Control Plan is referred to as a framework that involves procedures and techniques that are used to develop goods and products in a particular industry, especially in the automotive industry. It is the process for development of system products for General Motors, Chrysler and Ford and including their suppliers (Kanholm, 1995). Production Part Approval Process is used for establishing confidence in component suppliers and the process they follow in production by making sure that the supplier properly und erstands all specification requirements and customer design records. It ensures that the process possesses the capability to make production that meets the requirements by the customers (Borror, 2009). Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis on its part involve reviewing any possible components, assemblies and subsystems to identify failure modes, their causes and effects. Measurement Systems

The strategic plan for NyShy Home Health Services Assignment

The strategic plan for NyShy Home Health Services - Assignment Example Moreover, the plan also has highlighted various organizational objectives including functional tactics, milestone tasks and implementations along with risk factors and their mitigating actions. Furthermore, the paper intends to highlight different challenging factors during the process of serving mentally challenged old age group people. Company Background, Organizational Mission, Vision, and Value Statements NyShy Home Health Services (NyShy) is well-known for associating the healthcare assistance services to the senior citizens above the age group of 50 years. The organization facilitates its intensive healthcare services for the people who are facing challenges in terms of behavioral and mental illness. The services of NyShy will be focused on providing homemaking assisting programs along with medical supports in a continual process for each person suffering from mental and behavioral ailments. ... The workforce of the organization will be associated with qualitative and interdisciplinary etiquettes in terms of serving each client under the operational process of NyShy. Organizational Mission, Vision, and Value Statements The mission, vision, and value statements of an organization encourage or draw its customers to be loyal towards the corporation for sustaining long-term commitment to be served by the products and/or services rendered by the company. Mission, vision and value statements can be considered as the major elements for the organization not only for the strategic plan purpose but they also enable to define the path that should be followed by the entire company. These also enable to provide a declaration of guiding principles for identifying the future steps that could be taken by the organization (Greer, 2012). An appropriate mission and vision statements along with effective value statement of an organization comprise encouraging aspects to increase the quality of the services that are rendered (McLeod, 2004). With this concern, the mission, vision and value of NyShy will be focused on transparent objectives for both the employees of the organization and its clients. The staff of the organization will be employed according to their quality and capability to serve the clients efficiently which reflects the enacted excellence of the mission, vision and value of NyShy. The mission, vision and value of NyShy is to deliver optimal healthcare service to each individual with extensive care from its workforce and the organization will also envision to be one of the leading healthcare service providers in offering community based mental healthcare programs/treatments. Moreover, the organization will be highly focused on the validation of mission, vision

Discussion Documents Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Documents - Assignment Example higher learning including: University of Phoenix where she earned her doctorate degree in Organizational Leadership and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the school of Business Management, Webster University where she earned her Masters of Arts in Management and the University of Alabama, where she did her Bachelor of Science in Education. Nita is Passionate about her job. This is evidently seen as she becomes a woman who is deeply committed to serving her people in the City and County of Denver. She is also considered to be a great asset to the CSA, City and County of Denver due to her exceptional leadership ability, strategic vision and broad management expertise. Nita is also an inspiration and a patriotic member of her city, Denver. This follows the fact that, at her appointment, she felt thrilled and honored to work for her people within her philosophy that leadership is always about ability to inspire others and see absolute relevance and importance of their

Module 2 SLP Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Module 2 SLP - Coursework Example The clipboard need to uses Mckinsey 7s framework. The framework got its name from a consulting company, Mckinsey and company, which had conducted research and industry (Pascale & Athos, 1981; Peters &Waterman, 1982). The model identified seven variables which the authors called ‘levers’ all began with the letter ‘S’. The seven variables include structure, strategy, system, skills, style, staff and shared values. Other variables exist but the 7S are very important because they can neutralize the effects of other variables and external environment (Elson 2012). Structure is the skeleton of the organizational chart. Strategy is the plan or course of action used in allocating resources to achieve identified over time. The framework defined system as a routinized process and procedures followed within the organization. The staffs are the personnel who perform vary activities in the organization. The key managers are also important in the way they behave to achieve organizational goal. The behaviour of managers is termed as style. Shared value is the glue that binds all the other 6S in an organization. Shared value has a significant meaning or guiding concepts that organizational members share. Most companies believed that the variables consisted of soft variables and important variables. It doesn’t mean that the soft variables were less important. It only meant that the other variables must be considered first before the soft variables can be put into perspectives. The soft variables include; skills, style and shared values (Elson 2012). It is also believed that the soft variables can only affect decisions internally when the other variables (structure, strategy and the system) could affect decisions both internally and externally when dealing with marketing and sales strategy in the region. The 7S framework doesn’t mention the external environment because they believe that the strength and

Brand audit assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Brand audit assignment - Essay Example During this time, Cosmopolitan started to become more of a literary magazine, with the introduction of serial fiction and book reviews being published in the magazine for the first time. During this time, Walker not only managed to triple the magazines subscriptions, he also provided the magazine with a general direction that was continued when in 1889 John Brisben Walker purchased the magazine. During this time, top writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser began writing for the Cosmopolitan regularly and it became one of America’s leading literary magazines. From the early 20th century to the 1940’s, the magazine continued to grow in nationwide circulations and became a full-fledged self proclaimed â€Å"Four book magazine†, publishing a combination of a novella, six to eight short stories, serials, six to eight articles and assorted features. However, during the late 1950’s the magazine began to lose some of its l oyal readership when the paperback and television started to become household commodities and took the focus off magazines. The Birth of the â€Å"Cosmo Girl† It was only in the 60’s that drastic change ensued and the magazine started out on its journey to become what it is today: a leading magazine catering to the â€Å"fun, fearless woman† of today who seeks information and advice about sex, relationships, fashion and their well-being. The magazine as it is today was reshaped at a point when it had become a general interest magazine, with rapidly declining profits and mass market appeal. At the time this change happened, American society on the whole was going through a phase of tentative change, women all over the country were beginning to realize the power of their own femininity and were beginning to explore the limits of their own sexuality. The predominantly male oriented society was becoming more open to freedom of thought and speech and women were start ing to look at avenues of work that were previously dominated by males. During that time, Helen Gurley Brown, a newly married copywriter, wrote a fictional account of a single girl who was living the kind of new and exciting life that women of that age wanted to live, a life where they had the freedom to do whatever they pleased and be happy without a stable man or relationship in their life. This new book, â€Å"Sex and the Single Girl† encouraged women to enjoy their sexuality without guilt, a topic which interested the woman of the 60’s so much that the book became an instant best-seller (Benjamin, J., 2009). The success of the book, and the frenzy of thank you notes from women who wanted further advice on their personal issues gave Helen Gurley Brown the idea of creating her own magazine which would allow her to address these women directly and give them advice about their personal issues regarding sex, relationships and health. This idea lead her to the Hearst Cor poration’s aging â€Å"general interest† magazine for Men and Women, The Cosmopolitan. The owners of the magazine were already planning to close it down and gave her the reigns to try out her new format in the hopes that she could breathe new life into the magazines declining circulation. This decision proved to be a remarkably apt one as the magazine’

Engineering Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Engineering Strategy - Essay Example Having won National Bed Federations "Bed Manufacturer of the Year - 2011/2012" award and the prestigious Manufacturing Guild Mark (MGM) accreditation, this entity is engaged in producing customized and handcrafted comfortable beds, using sustainable materials of high quality. It is a British company originated within UK and operating in various territories outside it (Hypnosbeds.com, 2013). This paper is based on facts, figures and data of this company and provides a detailed critical analysis of its corporate objectives and manufacturing strategies. The paper provides the complete process of developing and designing an appropriate manufacturing strategy of the company, considering its overall corporate goals and coordination with other functions supporting its manufacturing. After proposing strategy, it is compared to the existing strategy and thorough evaluated for planned outcomes. Finally, dissertation focuses on the obstacles that the company might face during implementation pha ses, implications of communication and coordination of the entire plan and strategy across the organization and measurement techniques that management can deploy in order to assess the extent of achievement of planned objectives and identify any departures from initially forecasted results. A manufacturing strategy is a collaborative process of production, reformulation and utilization of inputs and factors of production, supporting overall corporate strategy and giving a competitive advantage to organization (Marucheck et al., 1990). This definition depicts the vitality of manufacturing strategy in ensuring success of business and achievement of manufacturing excellence. Manufacturing excellence is dynamic value adding process that enables satisfaction of customers and suppliers through continuous improvements that are compatible with overall corporate objectives (Roth et al., 1992). An optimal manufacturing strategy is capable of creating

Brand audit assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Brand audit assignment - Essay Example During this time, Cosmopolitan started to become more of a literary magazine, with the introduction of serial fiction and book reviews being published in the magazine for the first time. During this time, Walker not only managed to triple the magazines subscriptions, he also provided the magazine with a general direction that was continued when in 1889 John Brisben Walker purchased the magazine. During this time, top writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser began writing for the Cosmopolitan regularly and it became one of America’s leading literary magazines. From the early 20th century to the 1940’s, the magazine continued to grow in nationwide circulations and became a full-fledged self proclaimed â€Å"Four book magazine†, publishing a combination of a novella, six to eight short stories, serials, six to eight articles and assorted features. However, during the late 1950’s the magazine began to lose some of its l oyal readership when the paperback and television started to become household commodities and took the focus off magazines. The Birth of the â€Å"Cosmo Girl† It was only in the 60’s that drastic change ensued and the magazine started out on its journey to become what it is today: a leading magazine catering to the â€Å"fun, fearless woman† of today who seeks information and advice about sex, relationships, fashion and their well-being. The magazine as it is today was reshaped at a point when it had become a general interest magazine, with rapidly declining profits and mass market appeal. At the time this change happened, American society on the whole was going through a phase of tentative change, women all over the country were beginning to realize the power of their own femininity and were beginning to explore the limits of their own sexuality. The predominantly male oriented society was becoming more open to freedom of thought and speech and women were start ing to look at avenues of work that were previously dominated by males. During that time, Helen Gurley Brown, a newly married copywriter, wrote a fictional account of a single girl who was living the kind of new and exciting life that women of that age wanted to live, a life where they had the freedom to do whatever they pleased and be happy without a stable man or relationship in their life. This new book, â€Å"Sex and the Single Girl† encouraged women to enjoy their sexuality without guilt, a topic which interested the woman of the 60’s so much that the book became an instant best-seller (Benjamin, J., 2009). The success of the book, and the frenzy of thank you notes from women who wanted further advice on their personal issues gave Helen Gurley Brown the idea of creating her own magazine which would allow her to address these women directly and give them advice about their personal issues regarding sex, relationships and health. This idea lead her to the Hearst Cor poration’s aging â€Å"general interest† magazine for Men and Women, The Cosmopolitan. The owners of the magazine were already planning to close it down and gave her the reigns to try out her new format in the hopes that she could breathe new life into the magazines declining circulation. This decision proved to be a remarkably apt one as the magazine’

Extensional definition Essay Example for Free

Extensional definition Essay Success, a word that has a very subjective and ever changing definition. To many success is measured with the amount of cars one has or the size of ones house; to others success is just thriving with what is available. Although success has many different meanings across the world there is two that stick out; Thriving with what you have at your disposal, and being able to live comfortably and without any worries. If one was to ask a child that lives in California what is their definition of success; he/she would probably answer, success is having a lot of cars and a big house. This is generally what people in westernized countries define success as. But if you were to ask a child in a farming town in China what he/she would define success as. The answer would be, to make it through life with enough food and survive. This is what the definition of success use to be everywhere before there was so many amenities in life. The definition has changed drastically, and has evolved with the economy. Thriving with what you have at your disposal is what everyone does but some have much less than others and vise versa. This is one definition that has stuck with word throughout time; but is interpreted in many different ways. The other definition of success that sticks out is that success means being able to live comfortably and without any worries. A very close family friend has said this many times â€Å"Being a successful dentist has its perks, I don’t have to worry about anything besides my practice and it is a very comfortable lifestyle.† This gave me a new perspective on what the definition of success was at a young age. He unwittingly taught me that success is making life as comfortable and as worry free as possible. To do this one would think they need copious amounts of money to do this but that is wrong. Many people try to live outside of their means to make them look like they are successful but doing this they are actually doing more harm to their success than helping it. One does not need to make a six figure salary to have success. What one need is the right mind set, which is not to live outside of your means and everything you are not doing to better yourself is  harming your success in the long run. For example one does not need to take a loan out on a car, spend what you already have. doing this will instill upon you to not spend outside of what you have. Success, there are countless definitions for the word. The two that stand out are both subjective definitions, and they are completely different. Thriving with what you have at your disposal, and to be able to live comfortably and worry free. The definition of success changes with the economy and the living standards of the world. At the end success is what you make it.

Customer Satisfaction In The Hotel Industry Tourism Essay

Customer Satisfaction In The Hotel Industry Tourism Essay The Study mainly reviews and discusses the topic of customer satisfaction and its application to the Hospitality and Tourism industries. Defines the concept and analyzes its importance to services and its importance to serves in general and to hospitality / tourism services in particular. Following a discussion on the dimensions and attributes of satisfaction, lists the main methods of measuring satisfaction and concludes with a review of global and cross-cultural issues that affect satisfaction in hotel industry. Customer satisfaction is the leading decisive factor for determining the quality and standard which is actually delivered to the customer through the product, service or by the accompanying servicing. (Vavra, 1997); Its simply stated, Customer satisfaction is essential for corporate survival Several studies have found that it costs about five times as much in time, money and resources to attract a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer (Neumann, 1995). This creates the challenge of maintaining high levels of service, awareness of customer expectations and improvement in services and product. Hayes states that Knowledge of customer expectations and requirements is essential for two reasons it provides understanding of how the customer defines quality of services and products, and facilitates the development of a customer satisfaction questionnaire (Hayes, 1997, p7). Furthermore, customer satisfaction is recognized as of great importance to all commercial firms because of its influence on repeat purchases and word of mouth recommendations (Berkman and Gilson, 1986). The researcher interest is to carryout a study of customer satisfaction at Express by Holiday Inn, London. Research Problem Customer satisfaction research is not an end into itself. The purpose, of course, in measuring customer satisfaction is to see where a company stands in this regard in the eyes of its customers, thereby enabling service and product improvements which will lead to higher satisfaction level. Satisfaction is not a universal phenomenon and not everyone gets the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality experience. The reason is that customers have different needs, objectives and past experiences that influence their expectation. The results of a customer satisfaction survey need to be evaluated to determine what needs to be improved. Goals should be as specific as possible. Hotels are often challenged on how to best increase guest satisfaction, and how to optimize both price and occupancy. Employee satisfaction, guestroom cleanliness, amenities, appearance, food and services all contribute to customer satisfaction, and increase customer satisfaction is a proven driver of guest retent ion and higher occupancy rates. Understanding customer experience through research is widely recognized as a key factor in improving long-term business performance. Express by Holiday Inn Hotel had a requirement to obtain daily feedback at an individual level by rooms/reception questionnaire in general for its GSTS (Guest satisfaction tracking system). It has to introduce web based questionnaire survey to create an opportunity to built feedback interface for general public to get provided a cost-effective and practical methodology so hotel future guest see the reviews in term of past feedbacks. In the customer arena, we believe that regular, quantitative measurement of customer satisfaction provides a much better lead indicator of future organizational health than profitability of market share change (Tom Peters, Management guru) Objectives of the Study The main objective is to conduct the customer satisfaction and its measurement in the hotel industry with special reference to Express by Holiday Inn Hotel, London. Subsidiary Objectives Analyses of costs demonstrating that customer retention is substantially less expensive than customer acquisition. Customer behaviourists in the area of lodging, restaurant, food services and tourism. Customer satisfaction is a psychological concept. Customer purchase goods and service with pre purchase expectations about anticipated performance. Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process. Satisfaction is not a universal phenomenon and everyone is not getting the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality experience. Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangibles. Significance of Study Customer Satisfaction measurement (CSM) consists of on two major roles Providing Information Enabling Communication with Customer The initial or primary reason for taking the time to measure customer satisfaction is based on to collect the information. It means that what customers say that need to be done differently or on the other hand to assess how well an organization is currently meeting its customer needs or requirements. But the secondary is not less important function of CSM in hospitality industry that by surveying customers. An organization is emphasis its interest in communicating with its customers. In hotel industry, its always finding out customers needs, pleasures, displeasures and overall well being. Though it is impossible to measure the satisfaction of every single customer needs. The customer satisfaction may different from organization to organization or hotel to hotel. Here we would like to quote Neumann (1995) five objectives suggestions as follows: To get close to the customer Measure continuous improvement To achieve customer driven improvement To measure competitive strengths and weaknesses To link Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM) data to internal systems Hypothesis Customer Satisfaction is a psychological concept. Customer purchase goods and services with pre purchase expectations. Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process. Satisfaction is not Universal phenomenon. Recognition of the employees who contribute to the Customers satisfaction Customer based improvement goals Plans for improving operational variables Incorporation of customer satisfaction skills into employees training programme Measurement and plan for improvement of employee satisfaction Importance of my Study To satisfy each and every customer or to meet his / her expectation every time is not an easy task especially in hotel industry. This work is to investigate and examine the psychology of the customer, their expectations and behaviour. Methodology My methodology of research will be based on experience, day to day operation of the hotel, customer complaint, customer satisfaction standard, theory, hypothesis, observation and confirmation. Universe of the Study The research would be conducted Hotels based in London, utilizing my own experience but the mainly focused on the Customer Satisfaction Measurement. Sample Design My sample will be comprised of the Customer Satisfaction Measurement in Express by Holiday Inn Hotel, London Data Usage In my research I would like to go for primary data collection, secondary data collection, quantitative and qualitative data collection. Tools of data Collection The data collection would include the use of questionnaire, scheduled interviews, guest feedback, and management feedback, guest services track system (GSTS), guest survey, and personal experience along with personal observation. In the questionnaire design, I will use the respondent completes short closed ended questions and long open ended questions. In the interview design, I would like to use personal forms, sharing their experience and work directly with the respondent. In the guest feedback, I would like to get the guest feedback while they are checking out from the hotel, compare their past and current experience. In the management feedback, I would like to get the information from management regarding the standard and complaint level of the guest activities in the hotel. Hypothesis Testing My hypothesis is Customer Satisfaction is a psychological concept. Customer purchase goods and services with pre purchase expectations. Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process. Satisfaction is not Universal phenomenon. I would like to test this hypothesis with my proper research along with my personal experience with respect to the Customer Satisfaction Measurement theory. Research Design and Timing Feb 2010 In the month of Feb 2010 I will finish my primary data collection (questionnaire, interviews, guest feed back, and management feedback, guest services track system, guest surveys, personal observation and experience) Feb 2010 In the month of Feb I would like to finish my complete data collection and I will systemize the data in the proper form according to the distribution of report. March 2010 In the month of July I would like to finish my final report writing and I will make it ready for the submission at the end of March 2010. Structure of the Report Chapter No 1 : Introduction Chapter No 2 : Literature review Chapter No 3 : Theory base (all theoretical background) Chapter No 4 : Analysis of the findings Chapter No 5 : Discussions Chapter No 6 : Conclusion and Recommendations Monitoring and Evaluation Feb, 2010 by Researcher Feb, 2010 by Supervisor March, 2010 by Researcher March, 2010 by Supervisor Literature Review My literature review comprises of theories, models, customers satisfaction surveys and related information. Brief and summarized form of my most important literature review is given below: Satisfaction Theories: Satisfaction Models: Satisfaction Surveys: Express by Holiday Inn Hotel Experience of Guest Satisfaction: Recently, numerous researchers have attempted to apply CS theories developed by consumer behaviorists in the areas of lodging in order to investigate CS applicability to the hospitality and tourism industries. The majority of these theories are based on cognitive nine distinct theories of customer satisfaction. The majority of these theories are based on cognitive psychology; some have received moderate attention, while other theories have been introduced without any empirical research. The theories include: Expectancy Disconfirmation Assimilation or cognitive dissonance Contrast Assimilation Contrast Equity Attribution Comparison level Generalized negativity Value precept Cognitive state of reward Customer satisfaction can also be defined as satisfaction based on an outcome or a process. Outcome definition of customer satisfaction characterizes satisfaction as the end-state resulting from the experience of consumption. This end state may be a cognitive state of reward, an emotional response to an experience or a comparison of rewards and costs to the anticipated consequences. Vavra also puts forth a definition of customer satisfaction based as a process, emphasizing the perceptual, evaluative and psychological processes contributing to customer satisfaction. In this definition, assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process. Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory Richard Oliver has developed the expectancy disconfirmation theory in 1980. According to his theory, customers purchase goods and services with pre-purchase expectations about anticipated performance. Once the product or service has been purchased and used, outcomes are compared against expectations. When outcome matches expectations, confirmation occurs. On the other hand when there are differences between expectations and outcomes then disconfirmation occurs. Negative disconfirmation occurs when product / service performance is less than expected. Positive disconfirmation occurs when product / service performance is better than expected. Satisfaction is caused by confirmation or positive disconfirmation of consumer expectations, and dissatisfaction is caused by negative disconfirmation of consumer expectations. Basically we may say that Customer satisfaction is a psychological concept that involves the feeling of well-being and pleasure that results from obtaining what one hopes for and expects from an appealing product and/or service. Satisfaction is not a universal phenomenon and not everyone gets the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality experience. The reason is that customers have different needs, objectives and past experiences that influence their expectations. Therefore, it is important to gain a clear idea of the customer needs and objectives that correspond to different kinds of satisfactions. This necessitates the segmentation of the market, because no service or product can offer everyone the same degree of satisfaction. Experience may result from changes in the perception of the actual quality of outcomes received, or from changes in the expectations against which these outcomes are compared. The components of satisfaction Most hospitality experiences are an amalgam of products and services. Therefore it is possible to say that satisfaction with a hospitality experience such as a hotel stay or a restaurant meal is a sum total of satisfactions with the individual elements or attributes of all the products and services that make up the experience. Reuland Model of Satisfaction There is no uniformity of opinion among marketing experts as to the classification of the elements in service encounters. Reuland suggests that hospitality services consist of a harmonious mixture of three elements: The material product in a narrow sense which in the case of a restaurant is the food and beverages; The behavior and attitude of the employees who are responsible for hosting the guest, serving the meal and beverages and who come in direct contact with the guests, The environment, such as the building, the layout, the furnishing, the lighting in the restaurant, etc. Reuland et al. (1985, p. 142) Czepiel Model of Satisfaction On the other hand, Czepiel suggests that satisfaction with a service is a function of satisfaction with two independent elements, the functional element, i.e. the food and beverage in a restaurant, and the performance-delivery element, i.e. the service. To prove the independence of the two elements from each other, the authors claim that restaurant clients are quite capable of having responses to each element that differ one from the other: The service was great, the food poor or conversely. (Czepiel et al) (1985. P. 13) David and Stone Model of Satisfaction Davis and Stone divide the service encounter into two elements: Direct Services Indirect Services For example, direct services may be the actual check-in/check-out process in hotels, while the indirect services include the provision of parking facilities, concierge, public telephones for guests use, etc. (Davis and Stone (1985, p.29) Dimensions of satisfaction In service organizations, the assessment of the quality of a service is made during the actual delivery of the service usually an encounter between the customer and a service contact person. Parasuraman identified the following five generic dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) that must be present in the service delivery in order for it to result in customer satisfaction: Reliability the ability to perform the promised services dependably and accurately. Responsiveness the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Assurance the knowledge and courtesy of employees as well as their ability to convey trust and confidence. Empathy the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers, and Tangibles, the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials. The model conceptualizes service quality as a gap between customers expectations (E) and the perception of the service providers performance (P). According to Parasuraman that service quality should be measured by subtracting customers perception scores from customer expectation scores: (Q = P E) The greater the positive score represents the greater the positive amount of service quality or vice versa. The gap that may exist between the customers expected and perceived service is not only a measure of the quality of the service, but is also a determinant of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Measuring the gap between expected and perceived service is a routine method of utilizing customer feedback. Measuring service quality via customer satisfaction Hayes states that Knowledge of customer expectations and requirements is essential for two reasons: It provides understanding of how the customer defines quality of service and products and facilitates the development of customer satisfaction questionnaires. (Hayes, 1997) Customer satisfaction is recognized as of great importance to all commercial firm because of its influence on repeat purchases and word of mouth recommendation (Berkman and Gilson, 1986). Satisfaction, reinforces positive attitudes towards the brand, leading to a greater likelihood that the same brand will be purchased again, but on the other hand dissatisfaction leads to negative brand attitudes and lessens the likelihood of buying the same brand again (Assael, 1987) Guest Expectation from Express by Holiday Inn Hotel Expectations can be described as a mutable internal standard which is based on a multitude of factors including needs, objectives, past personal or vicarious experiences with the same establishment restaurant, with similar establishments, and the availability of alternatives. To recapitulate what we have established by now is that an individuals satisfaction with outcomes received from a hospitality experience results from a comparison of these outcomes with expectations. Some hotels / restaurant attributes are more likely to earn guest complaints than compliments. Availability of parking, hours of operation, traffic congestion, noise level, and spaciousness of the establishment all appear in the top-ten complaint list. In contrast, guests express appreciation for high performance in some areas, but rarely complain when performance is so-so. The survey results suggest that guest react favorably to a clean neat restaurant, neat employees, ample portions, and responsiveness to complaints. The quality and quantity of service, food quality, helpfulness of the employees, and the prices of drinks, meals and other services appear in both the list of most frequent complaints and the list of the most frequent compliments. Cadotte and Turgeon attribute model of performance Cadotte and Turgeon divided the attributes into the following four categories: Satisfiers Dissatisfiers Critical Neutral Satisfiers were those attributes where unusual performance apparently elicited compliments and satisfaction, but average performance or even the absence of the feature did not cause dissatisfaction or complaints. Large-size food portions, smartly dressed employees, clean and neat restaurants are all examples of a restaurant satisfier. Normal food portions, regularly dressed employees and not so neat restaurants do not cause dissatisfaction. In contrast, large food portions and well-groomed and smartly dressed employees please the restaurant guest. Satisfiers, represent an opportunity to shine, to move ahead of the pack, and to stand out from the crowd Dissatisfiers were more likely to earn a complaint for low performance or absence of a desired feature than anything else. But an operation that exceeds the threshold performance standard apparently will not receive compliments on the attribute. Parking and excessive noise are good examples of dissatisfiers; they have to be provided and maintained at a minimum or sufficient level. But efforts to achieve a higher performance level will not be appreciated by customers nor will it cause them satisfaction. Dissatisfiers particularly require management control to prevent poor performance. Minimum standards should be established, and the focus should be on maintaining these standards. Be as good as your competition, but do not waste resources trying to be better. Critical attributes were capable of eliciting both complaints (dissatisfactions) and compliments (satisfactions), depending on the situation. Quality of service, food quality and helpful attitude of employees ranked high in eliciting both complaints and compliments. Critical factors deserve special attention, because of their potential for both hurting and helping a business. Like dissatisfiers, minimum standards must be set to avoid negative responses to your service. For the critical attributes, the objective is to raise performance beyond the norm Neutral attributes neither received a great number of compliments nor many complaints, therefore probably indicating that they were either not salient to guests or easily brought up to guests standards. Cadotte and Turgeon draw our attention to the fact that the classification of these factors is not permanent but constantly changes. Some dissatisfier type attributes were probably critical at one time. Higher industry standards, though, may have improved performance to the extent that most restaurants are able to meet guest requirements on these factors. For example, in warm climates, the availability of reliable air conditioning in hotels or restaurants was a critical factor; today, with the advent of modern refrigeration technology, all hotels and restaurants in such climates will have it. Having more of it will not satisfy anyone, but when air-conditioning breaks down, suddenly everyone becomes dissatisfied. Resources I would like to use limited resources for my research. I will use internet, complete media library, company visits, interviewing with different guests who are staying in different hotels or regular guests and frequent flyers, news papers, journals, books, telephone and other possible resources which are easily available and easily accessible. Possible outcome of my study I would like to say that my research work on Customer Satisfaction Measurement will bring new turn and increase the satisfaction level in Central Park Hotel Hyde Park, London. More importantly, my study will analysis the guest satisfaction level and will point out the main causes, how to improve and bring the level of customer satisfaction up to the mark. Limitations of the Study My study on Customer Satisfaction Measurement in hotel industry will be limited only as well as on Express by Holiday Inn, London and other Hotels in London.

How to Select The Right Employees Essay example -- Employment Work Job

How to Select the Right Employees Hiring and keeping competent employees is critical to business success. However, you must develop a strategy to discover them. With the right employees you can accomplish many organizational goals. Fortunately, when a conflict arises in an organization, a good business team will know how to handle the situation. Whether a person is a manager, subordinate, or president, it is very important that you avoid a bad hire. The recruitment process must be handled carefully and taken very seriously. Objectivity, responsibility, qualifications, and a good offer make it possible to recruit potential employees. Recruitment in the public sector must be fair, open, and representative. Usually, the recruitment process involves a few steps. It includes advertisement, testing and screening, preparation, and decision- making. (Denhardt, Robert, Public Administration, Harcourt Brace and Co., Orlando, FL., 1999, pg. 213) The most scrutinized process of recruitment has been testing and screening. This process can happen through interviews, references, recommendations, and proper review of the applications. You can also use higher measures such as performance, assessments, job-related knowledge, and various tests. Without accurate screening, you are likely to hire someone that will not be productive to your organization. This is a fair process to attract prospective employees. Next, you must make sure that individual s have the appropriate qualifications that meet the job description. Then, after intense review you should be able to identify the best-qualified applicant. The standard recruitment process in the federal system has been described as "slow, unimaginative, and, unassertive. (Cohen, Steven and Eim... ...ring incompetent people. Bibliography Cohen, Steven and Eimicke, William. The New Effective Public Manager, Jossey-Bass Inc. San Francisco, CA, 1988 Denhardt, Robert. Public Administration, Harcourt & Brace Co., Orlando, FL, 1999. Falcone, Paul. 96 Great Interview Questions to ask Before you Hire, American Management Association, NY, New York, 1997 Greenberg, Jerald. Managing Behavioral in Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1999 Miner, Mary and Miner, John. Employee Selection Within The Law, The Bureau of National Affairs Inc., Washington, DC, 1978. Northcraft, Gregory and Neale, Margaret. Organizational Behavior, The Dryden Press, 1990 Stahl, O. Public Personnel Administration, Harper and Row, NY, New York, 1971 Whetten, David and Cameron, Kim, Developing Management Skills, Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1998