Dear Grandma

Dear Grandma, Hello, how are you? I hope your doing well, I really do miss you. First I think it is amazing that you found this genetic testing kit online, it does sound very interesting. I do want to explain to you how exactly DNA works. According to (Freudenrich, 2013) in order for cells to function in the body, protein needs to be made. DNA regulates a cells activity, and it is able to do this in two particular steps: Transcription, and Translation. Transcription is a process where there is a copy made of one gene within the DNA.Transcription made possible by an enzyme (which is more a complex protein that works to make a chemical change in the body). I hope this is understandable so far. This specific enzyme is called RNA polymerase, I know, there are a lot of complex names. Well, in order for the RNA polymerase to make mRNA (which is the copy) it has to first bind itself to this specific DNA sequence of the gene, which is called the promoter. This unwinds the two DNA strands, an d uses one as a guide. It then matches new nucleotides (which a compound made up of a phosphate group, a sugar and a nitrogenous base. with their complements on the DNA strand and binds them together to form a complementary copy of the original DNA strand which is now called mRNA. This sequence stops when it reaches a stop codon (which is basically a nucleotide that tells the process to stop). The next process is translation where ribosomes in cells manufacture proteins. The mRNA that was made is then decoded by these ribosomes in order to make a certain amino acid chain, which is called a polypeptide. This polypeptide will then become a protein. Now that I have explained this, I should talk about how diseases can come about.In DNA, there could be an alteration of the sequences of bases. This alteration is called a mutation, which can cause a change in the DNA structure and therefore the way the proteins are being produced in the translation process. For example Grandma, one disease that can be found by genetic testing is cystic fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis is the disease that our cousin Jake has. He was diagnosed when he was five years old. Cystic Fibrosis is a disease that affects the lungs mostly and sometimes the intestine, liver, and pancreas. It causes difficulty of breathing from lung infections.Although it is treatable, it can get worse. If it does get worse, lung transplant is the last option. The reason a person would want to be tested for this because it is a hard thing to deal with in life. A lot of people, especially younger kids can’t participate in sports, or leave their bed. What kind of life would that be? The reason that some tests determine that you will definitely have a disease and that for some diseases will show if you have likelihood or not because some genetic disorders can be inherited, and some only develop in life according to (Humanillnesses 2013).In addition, some genetic disorders develop due to radiation or chemicals in the world. You know, I will honestly say there are advantages and disadvantages to this at-home genetic test kits. One advantage is that you do not have to make or have many appointments with a specialist of some sort to find this information out. It will take quicker to find the results and you won’t have to waste money on gas, and you will save time. Another advantage is that this allows people their genetic disorder information. This benefits the whole world; it benefits myself if I were to use it.It would also benefit me by knowing what my family, friends and significant others are likely to have. One disadvantage of these kits is that would they be accurate? Would we be able to accurately read this information and understand it by ourselves at home? I thought of this because in (Janice Lloyd 2012) article, she was describing how at home tests are unreliable. I don’t think I would be able to completely trust this product in a topic this important. Another disadvantage is that I’m sure there will be competition between companies about this at- home genetic testing kit. How will I know which companies are fake, or real?Or, how expensive will these kits become? I know you said these kits are apparently $100, but I’m sure if these kits become more popular they will rise in cost. That’s not fair for other families that won’t have this type of money to spend, which creates another problem for the health care issue as described by (Janice Lloyd, 2012) in another article. It mentions that it may be difficult for families to get long term, or life long insurances for some conditions. In a more detailed note, I do believe that companies should also freely market tests for conditions that cannot be cured.I think knowledge is power. So if more people are aware that they will definitely have a certain disease or that their children might have them, there will be, as a result, a more desirable cure for them. Therefore, a louder call for research to be taken place, because after all necessity is the mother of invention. Grandma, after writing the above to you, I will most likely choose to be genetically tested. I want to know if I have some horrible disease in my future. If I had something like Huntington disease, I would choose not to have children.I wouldn’t want to know that I had it and then have a child that tests positive for it and can’t live their life. It wouldn’t be right for me to do that. It’s not fair for any of my future children if this was the case. Bibliography: How DNA Works. (n. d. ). HowStuffWorks. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://science. howstuffworks. com/life/cellular-microscopic/dna5. htm Cystic Fibrosis. (n. d. ). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 13, 2013, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis Cystic Fibrosis. (n. d. ). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www. umanillnesses. com/original/Gas-Hep/Genetic-Diseases. html#b#ixzz2QOz8WqZ g Genetic testing and disease: Would you want to know?. (n. d. ). USA Today. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://usatoday30. usatoday. com/news/health/story/2012-04-09/genetic-testing-huntingtons-disease/54475708/1#. T9e3-dCAwCI. email Genetic testing: Does Kristen Powers have mom's fatal gene?. (n. d. ). USA Today. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://usatoday30. usatoday. com/news/health/story/2012-06-02/huntingtons-genetic-testing-followup/55345096/1? loc=interstitialskip

The Effecrs Of Employee Satisfaction Essay

This week’s reading covered regression and inferences about differences. Regression is a statistical measure that attempts to determine the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable and a series of other changing variables. This information helps determine what factors affect certain outcomes and which do not. This article was really interesting as it explored a very realistic question of whether positive employee attitudes and behaviors influence business outcomes or whether positive business outcomes influence positive employee attitudes and behaviors. At its core concept, regression takes a group of random variables, thought to be predicting an outcome, and tries to find a mathematical relationship between them. This relationship is typically linear and takes into account all the individual data points. The hypothesis in this study by Daniel Koys was that employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and employee turnover influence profitabil ity and customer satisfaction. Data was gathered from a restaurant chain using employee surveys, manager surveys, customer surveys, and organizational records. Regression analyses showed that employee attitudes and behaviors at a given ‘Time 1’ were related to organizational effectiveness at given ‘Time 2’ however additional regression analyses show no significant relationship between organizational effectiveness at Time 1 and the employee attitudes and behaviors at Time 2. Overall it was determined that employee behaviors have a more direct impact on organizational effectiveness than do employee attitudes, especially when the concept of organizational effectiveness includes profitability as well as customer attitudes towards the restuarant. Further research was conducted in a restaurant chain to determine the relationship between employee satisfaction on organizational citizenship. Employee satisfaction was measured using a survey of hourly employees. Organizational citizenship behavior was measured via a survey of the employees’ managers. Results from the study showed in Year 1, 774 hourly employees (average of 28 per unit)Â  and 64 managers (average of 2 per unit) responded to the surveys. In Year 2, 693 hourly employees (average of 25) and 79 managers (average of 3) responded. Customer satisfaction was measured by a survey conducted in 24 units. Surveys were distributed in the restaurants at predetermined times by the restaurant host/hostess and they collected 5,565 customer responses for Year 1 (an average of 232 per unit) and 4,338 responses for Year 2 (an average of 182 per unit). Based on results of the study it was determined that data supported the idea that human resource factors such as positive employee attitudes influence organizational effectiveness. The results showed that Year l’s outcomes account for 14% to 31% of the variance in Year 2’s organizational effectiveness. The results showed some support for the hypothesis that Year l’s unit-level employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover predict Year 2’s unit-level profitability but there was a stronger support for the hypothesis that Year l’s unit-level employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover predict Year 2’s unit-level customer satisfaction. In the reading it was noted that employee satisfaction had the only significant beta weight. Although this implies that employee satisfaction influences customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction may still affect employee satisfaction. There may be a reciprocal relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction but like all statistical results one can only conclude that data judging the relationship between employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness is still an open question needing continued research.

Strategic Knowledge Management Technology Essay

The magnitude of the work or activity that qualifies to be a project differs in various states. however, it is very clear that however small the task may be, the need for a project management tool or technique is essential. this will help in the planning stages to achieve successful outcomes. Therefore, project management tool s is required in the project for planning and managing purposes though it is not restricted to business activities. Some of these projects may involve weddings plans and house relocation. Positive results are expected whenever an efficient project management tool is used to avert problem risks and failures. Project management may involve changing or introducing things hence involve in human resources, financial matters, security and various stakeholders among others. In a proper project management, there are about six major steps to be followed such as term of reference, planning, communication, monitoring and project completion among others. During this process, project management tools are fundamental in ensuring the success of the project. This study focus on the 2013 – 2014 relocation project en route projects, which is a consultancy project. There are several tools to be chosen and in this project are communication log a Gantt chart (called project time line) and risk management log (Young, 2003). Each of these tools has its procedures and its benefit as far as this project is concerned. The choice to use Gantt chart tool and its benefits The choice to use the Gantt chart in this assignment is almost obvious in the project management field. The tool is named after the founder Henry Gantt, who invented it a more than a century ago (1910). After the concept was outlined, it was remarkably implemented initially during World War 1. The major use of the Gantt chart at that time was by American general Crozier to manage complex weapon production and logistics operations. Since then, many people have used the tool, especially the work breakdown structure (WBS) that has been relevant until today. To start with, the reason to choose the Gantt charts in my project was that it is an easy-to-use graphical tool among operations and project managers when determining condition of projects. this project includes various activities during the process that require close monitoring over the period to ensure these activities are carried out as planned. As a consultant and the leading project manager, it becomes easy to pay close attention to the progress of the operations to ensure that the functions involved are completed by their scheduled date. Secondly, the choice to use the Gantt chart is intertwined to the efficiency and reliability it has on project management. That is why Gantt and pert charts remain the two major and commonly used graphical tools among managers in making diagrams on the activities engaged in the project. In fact, the existence of the tool since 1910 has proved major tool although in the recent years it has witnessed some drawbacks, as projects are not fixed whereas daily updating may be tiresome. Nevertheless, people have insisted on using the tool as people have faith on it. As a fan in diagrams and charts, i decided to use the Gantt charts for my project because it creates complexity. Pictures bring a bigger idea of a situation like this once you master the art of interpreting them. More so, picture or charts yielded by this tool are easy to understand once studied. In fact, Gantt charts helps in organizing thoughts. This is enhanced through the dividing and conquering concept. On the other hand, the decision to use the Gantt charts was based on its ability to show visibility of the whole project. Once the chart is creating, it was possible to place the chart in either a bigger version of actual version to see the progress. This helped in realizing and reminding me of the objectives as well as when various activities are supposed to take place in the process (Johnson, 2003). This does not require high intellectual ability when interpreting how the project is going on. Largely, the Gantt charts helped in demonstrating to my clients that i know what is doing in my consultation duty. This is reflected after producing nicely presented Gantt chart showing proper organization of high-level tasks as well as resources allocated to these tasks. It generally helped in sending the bigger picture on whether the needs of the project are met or not as well as determining if there will be a success in the project. Lastly, the Gantt charts helped in setting realistic periods. The Gantt chart had bars indicating when a particular task or set of tasks will be completed. As a result, it was possible in planning and arranging various functions in a proper perspective. This help in limiting the events during this projects that may end up using much time and resource yet they could not add any value to the project. By studying the charts, it became easier to focus real issues and saved much of my time (Wilson, 2003). According to Peterson (1991), Gantt charts are fundamental in the planning theory. Planning theory traces its background even during the ancient times. Even in the bible, it depicts how various individual and groups were connecting with agricultural pursuits through planning some of their religious practices. Similarly, governments and other economic groups are as well using the planning theory to determine the profitable times when there is need to allocate the scarce resources. More so, the entrepreneurs have used this to decide when to deliver good s and services. As a result, they have tried to avert risks that may undermine their activities through planning. The choice to use risk management log and its benefit On the second tool used for this project was the risk management log. it is worth noting that project risk management entails a process involved in identifying risks, analyzing risks, developing appropriate responses to risks, and monitoring risk triggers in which as a project manager i had to effectively utilize (Ward, 2003). As a result, it was possible to ensure that risk management is done and that risk triggers were monitored. The decision to use this tool alongside the Gantt chats was the capability to use the tool in identifying, managing, and ranking risks throughout the life of the project. The use of the risk management logs was preferred because it is very brief and direct on point. As a result, it could be easier to explain to the client on the progress of the project as well as explaining on why some activities may delay as risks engulf the functions. On the other hand, it will be easier for the client to realize the probable reasons for projects delay and understanding the risks and threats that may face the project (Rosa, 2013). The tool has a risk management worksheet helped in realizing the types of risks likely to be encountered during the project period. To start with, the general risks were categorized as well as the specific risk. The general risks are noted risks likely to recur throughout the life of the project without a specific date associated with it (Cerner, 2001). On the other hand, the specific risks encompassed risks being associated with a particular date when they may occur during the project period (Bouchaud, & potters, 2000). The clarity on these risks was based on the assumptions or risks based on the probability and the impacts on my project. Depending on the level of probability between probability and impacts on project, various risks were categorized as high, low, or medium. The emphasis should be given to the highly categorized risks to ensure success of the project. On the other hand, the risk management log was chosen because after categorizing the risks it was possible to formulate contingency plan of action on issues triggering the level of risks (smith, 1999). In this case, the tool played a crucial role in organizing various activities related to the en route project. The contingency plan of actions laid safety measures to avert the project failures led by adversities. .the tool demonstrated a clear picture of sequential commencement and closure of various activities involved in the project. The risk categories were determinant factor on the period used on various functions. The use of the risk management tool helped in realizing the risks or threats likely deter the success of the project. It started with risk identification to determine risks likely to affect the project and documenting the characteristics of those risks (wells, 1996/1997). Both the internal and external aspects of the project were tracked in which the emphasis on internal risks was on directly controllable items by the project team whereas the external risks were events happening outside the direct influence of the project team. The tool contribute a final document that is presentable and areas of much interest t=are bolded especially on the probability and impacts. There is a systematic arrangement of causal effects and the outcomes at various stages. This was beneficial in this project in making forecasts and projecting possible changes to avert high risks or threats. With the help of the triggers at the last column, to show ‘how do we know this may be starting to happen?’ Sometimes obvious, but often not. May be worth also noting my responsibility of keeping an eye on this to make alerts on the project. The presence of the ‘contingent actions’ president as to do if the risk does happen (Gottschalk, 2005). . It is useful to think about this at the beginning, as you may need to make preparations or alert people in advance. To repeat, this is all much more important for higher impact/probability risks. Conclusion The presence of various project management tools may sometimes be hard for project managers to chose (Howes, 2001). However, good choice of the appropriate tool will be a milestone in achieving a successful project. In this case, the use Gantt charts and the risk management logs were preferred for their ease and presentation to the client. They made it possible to explain to the client on various stages and expected threats during the project life. The link between the client and the project manager is fundamental to ensure the smooth completion of the project whereas the mutual understanding could help in developing trust and long-term relation to make the projects successful. References Bouchaud, J., & Potters, M. (2000). Theory Of Financial Risks From Statistical Physics To Risk Anagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gottschalk, P. (2005). Strategic Knowledge Management Technology. Hershey Pa: Idea Group Pub.. Howes, N. R. (2001). Modern Project Management Successfully Integrating Project Management Knowledge Areas And Processes. New York: Amacom. Johnson, J. (2003). Managing Time (4th Ed.). Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology. Kerzner, H. (2001). Strategic Planning For Project Management Using A Project Management Maturity Model. New York: John Wiley. Rosa, M. (2013). Business Process Management Workshops Bpm 2012 International Workshops, Tallinn, Estonia, September 3, 2012. Revised Papers. Berlin: Springer. Smith, N. J. (1999). Managing Risk In Construction Projects. Oxford: Blackwell Science. Ward, S. (2003). Transforming Project Risk Management Into Project Uncertainty Management. International Journal Of Project Management, 21(2), 97-105. Wells, G. L. (19961997). Hazard Identification And Risk Assessment. Rugby, Warwickshire, Uk: Institution Of Chemical Engineers. Wilson, J. (2003). Gantt Charts: A Centenary Appreciation. European Journal Of Operational Research, 149(2), 430-437. Source document

How the New Deal altered the role of the national government Essay

How the New Deal altered the role of the national government - Essay Example Majority of its legislation followed these purposes (Bryant). The New Deal changed the role of the national government, by expanding the power of the Federal Government and making it more responsible for the general welfare of the states. Since the U.S. became â€Å"united,† states enjoyed latitude in making laws and programs for their specific state needs and concerns. The Great Depression showed, however, that each state, or more so, a few ones, can generally impact the whole nation’s economic conditions. As a result, Roosevelt and his allies are convinced that they must change the national government from being a passive parent to a more aggressive parent handling the economy as a whole. After all, the Constitution states that the federal government has the power to regulate commerce between states and international trade and that it is authorized to generate laws that support the Constitution. Though the New Deal has been criticized as unconstitutional, it proved to greatly enhance the powers of the national government. During the New Deal of the Roosevelt administration, from 1933 to early 1935, the main goals were recovery and relief. The president and his advisers stressed the importance of the national government in creating laws that will stimulate the economy and provide new jobs. Roosevelt expressed to the American public about the alliances among â€Å"business and banking, agriculture and industry, and labor and capital,† in order to enlist them to the causes of the government (Bryant). On March 5, the president closed all the banks and called it a â€Å"bank holiday.† He influenced the Congress to pass a bill that helped the banks. That bill became law a few days later and the President asked the people to trust banks again and deposit their money once more into them. The banks reopened on Monday March 13th and Americans deposited their money again and the total effect was that they

Indiana Geology and Landscapes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Indiana Geology and Landscapes - Assignment Example The ice sheets carried with them sediments, which were a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and stones. When warmer weather finally arrived this mixed silt was left behind as the ice retreated north. arrived the advanced into Indiana and as outwash sand and gravel when the ice melted. The more uneven original bedrock was filled in with this accumulated debris finally producing a gently rolling, somewhat monotonous according to some, landscape. Â  There are hills and areas of higher land, as are shown in the relief map below but this is simply because these parts of the sedimentary rocks, which include limestone, dolomite, shale, sandstone, and siltstone, although they tip to the south west, were always higher in elevation than the intrusive ice sheets. This is especially so in the northeast of the state, although the highest point is actually in the south in Wayne County, near to the state’s eastern border. The rock there is the oldest in date, being from more than 440 million years ago. according to Indiana University, Department of Earth Sciences ( undated). Â  The same researchers state that the youngest rocks, mostly sandstone with some shale, coal, and limestone, referred to as the McLeansboro Group. This difference in the bedrock explains in part differences in the visible and invisible landscape. The dissolving of rocks such as limestone leads to karst landscapes with sinkholes and caves as in the Mitchell Plateau in Southern Indiana, as described by The Nature Conservancy, 2012. Stream rise and also disappear among a rolling landscape. The same site describes the Muscatatuck area with similar results from the dissolving of the bedrock, but in this case, the rocks concerned date from the Silurian and Devonian ages. ( See figure 4 ). Â  

Developing Successful Business Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Developing Successful Business Teams - Essay Example Therefore, the organisations in the present business world often emphasise and promote adequate cooperation among the team members to efficiently attain their desired goals and objectives as per the planning. Moreover, the firms also seek to promote credibility of the workforce and emphasise on adequate and effective communication processes among the members in order to obtain greater control and productivity of the organisation (Mickan & Rodger, 2000). Emphasising upon the emerging competition and striving performance of the marketers, the major objective of this report is to demonstrate and understand the primary features of a successful business team. Thus, the discussion of this report will be focused on highlighting and analysing the major traits along with explaining the major phases to improve the performance of a success business team. Additionally, the paper will also focus on assessing the monitoring processes which can enable the organisation to attain greater efficiency of a successful team. 2. The Features of Successful Business Team Defining the major characteristics of a successful business team always constitutes a broad consensus which represents a large number of attributes to enhance the level of efficiency within the workforce or staff members. A successful business team comprises a large number of attributes which accumulatively facilitates the organisation to proactively perform its each operation with clarity and efficiency. Understanding the ultimate goals of the team and the organisation on the whole is one of the fundamental characteristics of an effective and successful team. In this regard, the team members should be highly aware to prioritise the ultimate aim of the team which can generate adequate capability to achieve the stipulated goals as planned for the benefits of the organisation.... Additionally, the paper will also focus on assessing the monitoring processes which can enable the organisation to attain greater efficiency of a successful team. 2. The Features of Successful Business Team Defining the major characteristics of a successful business team always constitutes a broad consensus which represents a large number of attributes to enhance the level of efficiency within the workforce or staff members. A successful business team comprises a large number of attributes which accumulatively facilitates the organisation to proactively perform its each operation with clarity and efficiency. 2.1 Characteristics of a Successful Business Team a. Understanding the Team Goals Understanding the ultimate goals of the team and the organisation on the whole is one of the fundamental characteristics of an effective and successful team. In this regard, the team members should be highly aware to prioritise the ultimate aim of the team which can generate adequate capability to a chieve the stipulated goals as planned for the benefits of the organisation. b. Commitment Commitment towards complying with a common philosophy through sharing value to each member of the team can also efficiently attain the ultimate desires of the organisation. Moreover, it can also empower the members to increase their productivity substantially. c. Recognising Roles and Responsibilities It is also important for the members of a successful team to clearly identify their respective roles and responsibilities within the organisation. This particular factor tends to enhance the overall capability of the organisation in terms of accomplishing each task within the specified time in an adequate

Your own travel story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Your own travel story - Essay Example The people of this island are very well behaved, honest and hardworking. They are very much sincere towards their job and they do everything with all the heart. We started our journey in the morning from The Harbor Front by a ferry and reached The Batam Center exactly after 45 minutes of amazingly breathtaking ferry ride at the Batam Central. The total journey cost around 45$ per person. The beautiful beaches of batam along with the always smiling people of the island were there to welcome us the port. According to the visa policy of the island, citizens of Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia can gain visa free access to the country while citizens of other countries have to pay a visa fee of 10$ to get entry into the island and a 7 days visa upon arrival is stamped. When we reached the island first of all we hired a taxi for two days and it was decided that the driver will be our host for the next two days and it will be his duty to take us to all the famous places in the island and in return we will give him 150$. The next thing we had to do was to look for a place to stay overnight. As per the suggestion of our friendly host the place called Batamholiday apartments was probably the cheapest ones available there and they were self catering apartments. So we headed off to the apartments and rented an apartment for one night. After getting fresh it was time now to explore the island and the cultures is it and again following the suggestion of our host, we decided to visit the Galang Refugee Camp in the south end of the island. This is a Vietnamese refugee camp but closed down in the 1995. Although it is closed now and it has been years since it is but this place has been kept well preserved and it still feels like it was just yesterday when people used to live there and the place is still full of live. After getting a dose of history we decided to see some pieces of art present in the city and the driver told us there is a mosque in the

On Schizophrenia and Beautiful Mind Movie Review

On Schizophrenia and Beautiful Mind - Movie Review Example One example of this destruction is that of the birth of his first child, he becomes so paranoid that he presents a real threat to his wife and the child. Eventually his marriage ends in divorce, but later, when he begins to come to terms with his illness, he and his wife are reunited. However, unlike, the 1950's, when Nash became ill, today, medical science has made it possible for this genetic illness to be controlled in some cases such as Nash's without medication. Two factors help to make this possible. The first is the fact that if the affected individual receives medical help early enough, including cognitive therapy, he or she has a better chance of overcoming the disease. The movie is truthful in showing how, after Nash's acceptance of his illness, he is able to recognize that the voices are not real and to quit letting them run his life. The second is the fact that has become evident to scientists that the disease of paranoid schizophrenia improves in latter life. This is even truer if the afflicted has been treated early on. In the respect of normalcy, the movie presents a distorted view of Nash's life regarding his compensation for the disease in maturity. While he did go on to achieve greatness as a mathematician, there are scientists who believe that this was not in spite of his illness, but because of it. Nash believed this himself as he stated in a radio broadcast in which he was interviewed. (1) (All things Considered) Otherwise, according to him, he may have accepted mediocrity-instead, in 1994 he was awarded the Nobel Prize! However, the movie did portray the world of schizophrenic hallucinations such as hearing voices and/or these voices appearing to talk back to the individual; voices talking out loud among themselves; hallucinations which cause the interruption in the person's thoughts result in scattered speech, and paranoid hallucinations causing false perceptions about other people, including perceptions that cause the afflicted to become violent or fear violence from others. The onslaught of paranoid schizophrenia normally begins between " the ages of 15 and 34 with a preoccupation with one or more systematized delusions or with frequent auditory hallucinations related to a single theme. In addition to suffering from hallucinations and the presence of voices, the person affected usually suffers delusions of grandeurThe main course of treatment for the disease is the use of medicines which arecommonly called 'atypical antipsychotic'Compared to the older convention' antipsychotic drugs such as Chlorpromazine (Thorzaine), fluphenazine (Prolixin), haloperidol (Haldo), thiothixene (Navane), and others, these drugs have fewer severe side effects. They are equally effective as the older drugs for helping reduce the positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions, but may be better than the older medications at relieving the negative symptoms of the illness, such as withdrawal, thinking problems, and lack of energy. The atypical antipsychotic drugs include aripiprazole (Abilify), risperidone (Risperdal), clozapine (Clozanl), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine

Literature assignment about change management and flexibility Article

Literature assignment about change management and flexibility - Article Example For attaining a success by an organisation , change is pervasive and is constant. Change in customers’ needs , markets , economy and trends are the factors that can influence the performance of a business orgnisation. Hence , those business organisations that fail to adopt to changes will definitely fail to succeed. A business may witness resistance to change by its employees or by its managers. Hence , a business is to perceive and educate the employees to respond to changes to remain in the business. This research article will focus on how those companies failed to stay in the business which did not respond to changes by citing real-life examples to demonstrate how significant it is for business to manage the change. Today, business managers need strategic flexibility, which is the capability to comprehend major external changes and to fastly respond to it by earmarking the required resources and to acknowledge when a strategic decision is not giving a desired result. As the business managers face a highly uncertain atmosphere in this competitive world, and the strategic flexibility appears to be absolutely needed (Robbins, Coulter & Vohra 2010:175). To maneuver efficiently in this new competitive setting, to develop and sustain competitive advantage, a business needs a novel type of organization. To attain success, the 21st century business organization needs to exercise strategic leadership, developing economic core competences, spotlighting and nourishing human capital, efficiently employing new information technologies and manufacturing, using cherished strategies thereby employing cooperative strategies and accessing global markets, introducing new organizational cultures and structures, acquiring innovative cultures, and administering the business as a mixture of assets. (Hamel et al 1998:2). Ever increasing globalization and technology innovation offer major confronts to business

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example But if this concept of CRM is evaluated, it can be inferred that CRM does not include one important relation that the organization has. It is its employees. Keeping the above argument in view, CRM has being given a new definition by Reichheld. He has given a concept of Virtuous Circle sometimes colloquially referred to as closing the loop. A diagrammatic representation of this circle is given below: Reichheld has brilliantly explained CRM in one cycle. This cycle depicts that the key to customer loyalty is not the product or the service that is being provided, but the key is the organization’s employees. According to this circle, if the employees are satisfied with their jobs and the company, they can be easily retained by the managers. This would in return increase employee productivity meaning they would give better service to the customers. The customer will be satisfied with the company’s service and would become loyal. Loyal customers are regular customers of the company and in turn also refer the company and its product and services to other potential customers. Thus they serve as a means of word to mouth advertising. This increases the company’s profits and leads the company to growth. The company can then focus on investing the earnings in internal marketing such as rewards, benefits and compensations which would impact the employees. Besides this, employee empowerment, training and development all contribute to employee satisfaction. Thus this cycle goes on and on. John Moore has quoted in his blog ‘Reichheld on Employee Loyalty’ that â€Å"Many marketers view employee relations as a job solely for human resources—they see employees as tools. But employees—happy, rewarded employees—can work wonders for the company’s marketing efforts. There is no better spokesperson for a company, product, and brand than someone who is happy with

8th Journal Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

8th Journal - Movie Review Example Inhabitants of a coastal small village of Nuadkhibu live in expectation of a bright future. Before going to Europe, 17-year-old Abdalla visits his mother who lives in this settlement. The guy doesnt speak local language and seems a stranger to locals. He also doesnt like rural way’s archaism. However, having got acquainted with people closer, Abdalla starts feeling the call of the blood. Such description can create an impression that the plot is romantic, but if to watch the whole movie, it becomes clear that the movie depicts real events which happen when strangers come to a country and try to impose their rules. The inhabitants of the village suffer from religious political extremism. The religious political extremism is religiously motivated activity directed on violent change of a political system or violent seizure of power, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state, on initiation of religious strife and hatred for this purpose. As well as the ethno-nationalist extremism, religious political extremism represents a kind of political extremism. It is distinguished by certain characteristic features, which make it different from other types of extremism. The religious and political extremism rejects the possibility of negotiations, compromise, and consensus solutions of socio-political problems. Supporters of religious and political extremism are distinguished by extreme intolerance in relation to everybody who does not share their political views, including brothers in faith. For them there are no rules in the game of politics, no borders. The Malian city of Timbuktu appears in religious extremists’ occupation, and the followers of jihad commit crimes here every day. More than a half of the city is occupied by the newcomers, and women suffer more than men. Through the story of Kidan, Fatima, their daughter Toya and little herder Issan, Abdurrahman Sissako expresses a protest against the hard

Evaluating the effects that the alternative approaches may have on the structure and functions of WHSmith, and how they achieve their objectives Essay Example for Free

Evaluating the effects that the alternative approaches may have on the structure and functions of WHSmith, and how they achieve their objectives Essay Evaluating the effects that the alternative approaches may have on the structure and functions of WHSmith, and how they achieve their objectives When looking at effects that will arise due to alternative approaches WHSmith could change to help the company meet its objectives, I must look how these changes will affect the structure, how the functions will be affected and how it will help them to meet their objectives. When looking at the first alternative approach suggested to WHSmith the first problem that would arise would be that new members of staff would be needed. These could either be recruited by the training. Obviously, this training will need to be very intense as they will have to be able solve any problems that may occur in every situation so that customers will be kept happy and will feel that the store are trying their best to please them in the Internet cafe. Also the communications supervisor or current employees would need to be re-trained so that they will be able to either help run the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, or to become a technician so that if there are any problems in which computers encounter any problems or fail to work then either these new or current employees should be able to fix the problem. The managers may need external training as WHSmith, Milton Keynes will probably not have the correct resources to train up these managers efficiently, meaning they may need off-the-job training either at a branch that may have the correct training staff, or at a college where they can learn this management role. This will mean there will be an added cost to the business, as staff are being trained away from the store, but this should pay off as it will be affective and will allow the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be very well run. Also this will mean external communications will improve, as the store will need to have better links with the off-the-job training centre which may be a college so that both can communicate and ensure that the training given is correct to the line of work. This alternative approach of better meeting the objectives will mean that the organisational structure of WHSmith will change. This is because new levels will be created within the structure, which could either be adding new people to the sales staff part, which would not really make a big impact on the structure as it will still look the same, just there will be a few more people added to the bottom, which should be ok as communication is good in store and should not change due to a few extra employees. They could also consult with the manager about any thing that may need to be changed in this Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to help profits to be increased, and increase the amount of customers using the computer. However with a new manager or managers that may be needed within the store to help the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be run effectively, it will have bigger effect on the organisation structure. This is because they will need to be added to the sales and service supervisor management levels as they will be providing service to customers and also sales, as any food that may be on sale will count as sales towards the business, as it will increase the companies profit. This will mean the structure will become bigger, and will have a wider level where the sales and service supervisors, which will benefit sales staff as they will have more shop floor supervisors to consult if they cannot deal with customers for one reason or another. This will also benefit customers, as sales staff will spend less time looking for supervisors if they are needed due to their being more there. However with this widening of the structure taking place it will mean more wages will need to be paid out and the managers will have to supervise more line managers, which could prove difficult if there are lots of different problems, which may then mean more senior managers may need to be brought in to help keep the store running effectively and smoothly again increasing staff wages payments per month. But this may benefit the store in the long run as customers will be happier and this should bring in more income. This alternative approach will also affect the external communications. This is because if new computers are being bought in they will be very powerful, and will probably all have up-to-date equipment on. This would mean that the office could network up to the main computer, which would mean it would be much newer then the one that is currently in place at the moment. This could mean that if other stores are up-to-date with the same technology as WHSmith, Milton Keynes they could do video-conferencing with each other, and possibly with head office as well. Thus, the manager would not need to be called away from the branch for a meeting that is in, e.g. Aylesbury, as happens quite frequently. This would save a lot of time for him, which would also mean travelling costs and the time wasted driving there would be saved, as a result of this video-conferencing. Therefore, Ian wouldnt have to leave his office for these meetings to take place which would be a massive advantage. This would happen as a result of the computers being bought for the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, which would not be any extra cost to the store, as it would already be in place. Therefore the external communications would improve with other branches and head office as they could link up very quickly with each, and also see each other, which could not happen with any other form of communication. Also the external communications would improve because with this new computer in the managers office CDs could be produced which would have all pictures, details, prices and information of all products in store. These could then be sent to all regular customers who will have the technology to view this CD, meaning they could view products and order them at home, meaning they wouldnt have to go into the store. This would be very advantageous to disabled people. The internal communications will also be affected, as more levels of employees and managers on the shop floor will mean that more internal phones will be needed to enable good communication to still be present in store. This will not cost that much and will be very advantageous as customers will be kept happy, due to the inexpensive internal phones. Also new daily-briefings may be needed so that separate briefings can be held for sales employees who work in the main part of the store selling products, and one held for those who are going to be working in the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. This is so that sales staff do not have to listen to the briefing to the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ staff, as they will not need to know this information, as they dont work there. This will take longer for the manager to carry out, but will be effective as the manager will not have to waste time only talking to a few members of staff in a big group, who do not understand what they are talking about, which will mean they are sitting in the staff room getting paid to listen to irrelevant information. The separate briefings will mean either sales staff or Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ employees can be working and using the time more effectively whilst the other group are being talked to, which will save company time and money. The objectives that will be met from producing this Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is that most of them are to do with customer satisfaction which would not be a problem with this new change that could take place in store. Another objective could then be created from this new Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ within WHSmith, which could be something like, Try to help customers satisfy their every need in store which could then aim to be achieved along with the other eight objectives, of which five are currently being met. Specific objectives that will be met due to this Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ being produced are that WHSmith will be delivering the best in service, as they will have bought in lots of new staff and management to help ensure high standards of service are still being met. This will mean that customers will be kept happy, as there will be lots of staff at hand for their every need. Also the objective of providing value for money will be met because the prices for the goods in store will be low and satisfying for customers to ensure they will be happy in store and spend lots of money there. Another objective that will be met from the new Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is that they are continually raising standards of service in all areas of the business. This objective also interlinks with leading the industry in the innovative use of technology. This is because the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ will have brought in very hi-tech equipment, which will be available for customers in store. This kind of technology is not likely to be available in other rival stores which will suggest to customers, why bother going to these stores when WHSmith is providing new technology and low prices? This is what WHSmith wants customers to think so that these objectives are being met due to the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. The store is raising standards of service due to the new staff that are going to be employed in store so that service will be quickened up. Also the service will be improved due to their being more varieties of things to do in store, which will make customers have more choice whether they shop or go on the Internet which shows they are being considered throughout the changes in store, meaning service levels are being improved too. This shows that the opening of the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ would be good for meeting objectives, as a new objective can be produced and aimed to be met, as well as at least three current objectives being met even more then they are already, which would be a great achievement for the store as a whole. The effects that the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ will have on the functions of the business is that a new department may need to be created in store to enable the computer side of the Internet cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to be run smoothly. This department may be run by only a few people but will need to be in permanent contact with the shop floor to enable any problems that have arisen to be put right quickly. These problems could range from the computers freezing to any other list of problems that can occur from computers. This department will need to have highly skilled employees, who have had off-the-job training, so that any problems can be dealt with. This department could be called the ICT department as it is dealing with communications between employees and staff, and also technology from the hi-tech computers. This department will need to be in close contact with the finance department. This is because vast amounts of money should be taken from either the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ side of the creation, or from customers who are paying to use the computers. This will mean change will need to be kept at the tills as customers who spend small amounts of cash with a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 will not expect 50ps in change! Also money will need to be counted by the cash office either once or twice a day from the tills and receipts checked to ensure enough business is being bought in, and if it is not then why not. Another department that may need to be created within the store is a health and hygiene department. This is because the food that will either be created or bought in to the store will need to be of a high standard so that customers are kept happy and satisfied. It also needs to meet health levels so that customers do not get food poisoning from any food consumed in store. This department will also need to be in close contact with the head office of WHSmith to ensure that standards are being met and that they are happy with what is being done in store. This department will also need to be in close contact with the trading department. This is so that they can buy in extra goods that can then be dispatched to the Milton Keynes branch so that they can be sold. This will also mean that the external communications will need to be good so that the trading department will buy in the correct good to be sold. When looking at the idea of having a clocking-in system, this alternative approach to better help the store in all aspects, will obviously have a positive effect on WHSmith. One problem of bringing in this clocking-in system will be that the system will need to be installed in store. This will not be too expensive to do, but lots of cards (built in with chips) will be needed so that all employees can have them when they go into work. This will mean a meeting will need to be held so that staff can receive their cards and they will also need to be informed about what to do upon entering work with their cards. The first positive aspect this system will mean that staff will not have tick their name off a list by the managers office when they start and finish work stating the amount of hours they have worked. This is because the system will take down the name of the employee, the time they clocked in, the time they clocked out and the dates they have worked. This can then, if it is hi-tech enough, be linked up to a computer so that the hours worked of all employees can be sent to head office where pay slips are produced so the hours sheets will not need to be checked by the member of staff employed in that area will not have to check hours have been entered correctly be employees (and that someone hasnt put they have worked 8 hours when they have only worked 4!) This will mean that this member of staff will have more time in the other areas of worked they are employed in. However as this member of staff only works Sundays at this store, and works at other stores during the week checking the time sheets there, as they dont have clocking in systems, she may not be needed at the Milton Keynes branch. This will be an advantage to the store as it will save outgoings, (wages), on employing her. Also another positive aspect this will have on the store is that it will mean it will save lots of different time sheets being printed off, as 5 sheets are needed each week for employees to tick their names and hours off, which can add up over time. Also if there was a fire it wouldnt be too bad because before the paper would have been burnt, but now the clocking in system will be strong and will probably not be destroyed by a fire. This would have meant all staff members; hours would have been lost, which may have meant they didnt get paid for hours worked due to this fire. This will not happen now due to the clocking-in system. The organisational structure of the store will only be slightly affected by this clocking-in system. This is because one of the sales and service supervisors who used to check all the hours worked and that all the time sheets were correct on each Sunday will no longer be required. This is because the clocking-in system will automatically calculate the hours as it is linked up to a computer meaning there will be no chance of human error. This will make the structure of the store slightly narrower, but due to the organisational structure included in this coursework it cannot be seen as only two sales and service supervisors have been included, as I couldnt fit on the correct amount to the chart. This will mean slightly less wages will need to be paid out which again is another advantage of the system. This alternative approach will also affect the external communications. This is because the clocking-in system will mean that not as many communications will need to take place. This is due to the ability of the clocking-in system to calculate the hours worked by employees, and the days that they have worked. This can then be put into a database (like Excel) and this can be sent via E-mail or Electronic Data Interchange to Head Office. This will mean that less communication will be needed between the Milton Keynes branch and Head Office. This is because before the clocking-in system was introduced, one of the sales and service supervisors had to calculate all the hours worked by employees over the week, add these up and send a letter to Head Office confirming these hours worked. This meant that it took time for Head Office to receive the time sheets and there was also a chance that these hours could get lost in the post. This is why the clocking-in system can help affect this extern al communication with Head Office, because it is up to date and links to computers, meaning e-mails can be sent rather than post. Also the internal communications will be affected because the clocking-in system will help staff in store to know that they are going to be finishing when they are supposed to be. Also staff will know where other staff members are at a specified time as the rotas will be correct and will not be running 10 minutes late due to the unpunctuality of some staff. This will mean communications in store will be good and will help staff to feel happy, as they will not be working when someone else should be as they are late. The amount of internal communications can also be reduced due to the clocking-in system. This is because before when staff were late other staff members and the manager had to discuss people being late, and then this meant the manager had to speak to the employee. With the new clocking-in system in space it will mean the communications between the employees who were not late but wanted to tell the manager about those who were not on time will not be needed as the clocking-I system will be able to tell the manager exactly who was late and when. This can mean that, say, at the end of the month the manager can talk to all unpunctual employees as a whole about this problem, and what they are going to do about it in order for them to keep their job. This will mean that the manager will not have to talk to individuals, which would be very time consuming, and a waste of company time so the internal communications will help to be kept to only the most important matters about the store and customers not about staff being late. The objectives that will be met from introducing this clocking-in system are that staff can be kept inspired and motivated. The way this can be achieved is by using the system to see which employees turn up for work each day. This can mean that staff who turn up for work early on a regular or continuous basis can be rewarded. This could be in the form of giving them a choice of what work they want to do, or give them a higher discount on the goods in store. This will mean that everyone who is employed in the store will want to turn up for work early to enable them to get one of these rewards. These are only examples of rewards and could be changed by the store depending on different aspects, e.g. costs of supplying the rewards etc. This will mean that staff are turning up earlier for work each day, which will mean they will start earlier and will get more done throughout the day. This will mean that staff are being kept motivated as they will want to gain the rewards on offer by turning up earlier, and they will also be kept motivated as they can do things in store which will be picked up by the manager which may also help them to gain a reward of some description. Another objective that can be met from the clocking-in system is that the store will be delivering the best in service. The way this will be met is because everything in the store will be running to the correct time which will help to keep staff happy. This will mean they will be in a good mood when they come to communicate or serve customers. Therefore, the members of staff will provide a high level or even the very best in service to customers as they have no excuse not to. This will mean customers will be kept happy with the high service being provided, due to the clocking-in system keeping things running smoothly and to time in store. A final objective, which can be helped to be met due to the new system in store, is raising standards of service within the business. This ties in with the previous objective. The way this can be met is because with staff in store continually being punctual for work then this is the first step of raising service levels in store. This is because with staff all present in store customers will be able to be served easily meaning service is high. The way the clocking-in system will help raise standards of service will work in the same way, as punctuality is a key to helping service remain high. Also staff will be kept happy as mentioned in the previous objective, which will mean staff presence and pleasantness will help raise standards of service across the store. The effects that the clocking-in system will have on the functions of the business are that not much will really change due to this clocking-in system. This is because at the moment the only things that are present are times sheets, which are on the wall by the managers office. The store is too small to have a new department created and would be a waste of time and money creating it as it is not needed. This is because all the work takes place at Head Office as they create all the payslips relating to hours worked. The Milton Keynes store does not do this. If anything were to change in the area of the functions in the MK store it would be that the managers office may need to be increased in size. This is because the manager may need to employ someone (or keep the sales and service supervisor) to deal with the time sheets that have been sent to the computer in there using the clocking-in system. This is so that they can be sent to Head Office. Obviously, this change will not be very big so the effects the clocking-in system will have on the store is minimal, meaning no extra money will need to be spent to enable the system to be more effective, which is a good thing. When looking at whether the installation of more tills in WHSmith, Milton Keynes, it is obvious this will have a positive effect on the store. This was explained in A1 but will basically help to keep queuing times shortened which will please customers. This will not cost too much to do, but should be done after Christmas when the new tills are installed. This will ultimately help to increase the profits of the store. The effect that the tills will have on the organisational structure is that it will mean the Milton Keynes structure will need to become bigger. This is because if more tills are to become open it will mean new staff will need to be recruited and trained so that they can operate on either the old tills, or they could work on the new tills. This will mean that they will also need to be trained in other aspects of work around the store, as they would only need to go on the tills when it becomes busy. This will mean that the structure of the branch will become wider at the bottom which is where all the sales floor staff are. Therefore, it will mean the sales and service supervisors will have more employees to look after and support when they need help or are unsure what to do. This may mean that a new supervisor may be needed to help cope with the demand from the sales staff as the run up to Christmas can be very busy and demanding which could become very stressful on them. Because there are more staff it will mean that the internal communication will be affected in a negative way. The way this will happen is because there will be more sales staff than there has ever been working on the shop floor. As there will be an increased amount working it will mean that the senior people in the stores (manager, assistant manager, operations supervisor etc) will have more people to deal with. This can make it difficult to deal with individual members of staff or to talk to them, as they will not have enough time to talk to individuals. This may make some employees feel neglected and that they are not being recognised due to the fact that they have a lack of communication with these senior workers in store. This will not be because they do not want to talk with employees, it will be because they will not be able to as they are very busy people and have a lot of work to do. This may mean that more staff meetings may need to be held more frequently to help bring managers and employees together so that they can communicate with each other as this may be the only way to help everyone keep in contact. However, this cannot happen during work time as customers will need to be served and they cannot just leave the store unattended! This/These meeting/s may therefore have to take place after work one day when the store is closed. But will any employees want to stay behind work to have meetings? Very few may want to do this, meaning there will be a breakdown in communication in store, which will not have a very good impact on the working environment. This may mean employees may have to be paid money to stay for the meetings as overtime, which will cost the company money, which should not need to happen. This is why more tills will have a negative effect on the internal communication in store. The external communications will also be affected. The way this will happen is because there will be a better communication between customers and employees. This will be due to the increase in the amount of tills in store because new employees will be needed in order for the tills to be run successfully. This will therefore mean there will be additional members of staff to help accommodate customers needs, in any way that they need them to be sorted. This will mean that there will be more communication between employees and customers as there will be more of them, and it will also mean there will be stronger links between the two. This will therefore mean that communications between the two will be affected in a positive way as customers will be able to find help easier in store when they need it, which will also help them to remain pleased and will make them want to carry on shopping in Smiths for these reasons. The objectives that will be met from installing new tills are that it will show that the store is continually raising standards of service in the business. This is because the increased amount of tills in store will mean that it is proving to the customers that they are trying to help to increase service levels and reduce queuing times. This is a good thing because if they are showing they can improve one thing in store (amount of tills), it will show that numerous other things can be improved as well and will not take masses amounts of time to do, as the tills have not. The increased amount of tills will also show that more employees have been taken on and have been trained to high standards, meaning no matter which till the customer purchases their goods from they will still be served at a high level, which is a good thing and helps to prove that the objective is being met. Another objective, which is being met from introducing new tills, is that employees will be kept motivated. The reason for this is that with new tills it will mean that new employees will be needed. This will mean that the new employees will only need to go on the tills when it becomes busy. However, speaking from experience, working on the tills in store can become very tedious after periods of time. This is because of the same actions made possibly hundreds of times in a short period of time on busy days. This can make staff feel de-motivated as they become bored doing the same thing over and over. But due to these tills only being needed to be opened when it is busy, they will only need to be open for certain periods of time meaning the employees who work on these tills will be doing different work when the tills are shut. This can mean that when they are working around the shop floor they may enjoy it more and feel more motivated. But when they get bored of working around the shop they may be needed on the tills again. This will make them feel more motivated when they go back on the tills and if this process continues to carry on (working on tills and then on the shop floor) they may feel less bored and will enjoy their work more, which will in turn mean customers will be treated better, which means the introduction of more tills will help this objective to be met better. The effects that the increased amount of tills will have on the functions of the business are that it will mean that the cash office that is in store may need to either be increased in size or it may need to have more employees (of authority) working in there. The reason for this is because busy days (weekends) will mean the new tills will most probably be open for a majority of the day, if not all. This will mean there will be a bigger demand from employees to be kept up-to-date on their tills. The most important things that are needed on the tills are that change needs to be kept topped up in the tills, gift vouchers run out regularly and need replacing often especially at Christmas as they are given as presents a lot, phone vouchers also sell fast as well as stamps. Activation codes for magazine subscriptions are also kept in the till in few amounts and because there is an offer of 3 for 2 it encourages customers to buy 3, which means 3 activation codes are needed. This will mean there will be a bigger demand from the tills as there will be more that need to be kept toped up. The reason why vast amounts of cash, gift vouchers, stamps and phone vouchers are not kept in the tills is because if there was a robbery to occur in store it is very easy for the till to be removed from its case. This is made easier as notes, which are put in the counter cache by employees, are on the other side of the till when it is open. This makes the till an easy target for robbers to take which is why WHSmith, Milton Keynes does not run the risk of keeping masses of notes, coins or anything else in the till. This is why someone else may need to be employed in the cash office so that it can be run efficiently and so that tills can be refreshed when necessary, without any difficulty. The other function of the store, which may be affected by more tills, is the small function of the recruiting of new staff run by the training and communications supervisor. This is because she will need to employ some new staff so that the new tills can be run when they need to be, and are, opened in store. This will just be like any other recruiting done by Louise but will need to be done simply for the new tills. This will therefore only be a small effect and will not last very long but it will still affect the business, as increased wages will need to be paid out. This will mean that the time sheets will need to be updated by the sales and service supervisor in charge of them, unless they install the new clocking-in system. This will mean the new employees hours worked will need to be calculated and dealt with which is the other small effect these new tills will have on a function of the store. In saying this I feel that I have evaluated the effects that these new, or alternate approaches, will have on various aspects explained above in the store.

The Strategies to achieve competitive positions

The Strategies to achieve competitive positions Choose one of the four competitive positions mentioned in the strategy lecture and discuss, using examples, the marketing strategies an organisation would employ to achieve that position. Competitive strategies are chosen by firms depending on their roles in the market leader, challenger, follower or nicher. This essay will focus on firms who are market leaders and what marketing strategies are used to help them achieve that position. Every industry has its own market leader. Kotler, P. (2005) believes the market leader is one that has the largest market share or highest profitability margin in a given market for goods and services. Market leader often leads other firms in product innovation, price changes; distribution channels and promotion strategies. Good examples of market leaders would be Apple with their ranges of IPod, touch phones and tablet computer, Google with its search engine, social networking Facebook and Tesco (supermarket chains). Market leadership is extremely important. Almost every firm wants to be the first in the market. The reason is not only the revenue but it is because most customers prefer to buy from leaders. They perceive leaders to be better and they perceive leaders to be a safer purchase. Reference groups are great in influencing consumers behaviour. People tend to buy from where everyone else buys, this helps strengthening the leaders position. To become a market leader, a firm needs to own and control the relevant technology in whatever market it is in either through the use of patent or other proprietary protections. Moreover, it needs to adopt and implement better technologies directly, whenever they become available, regardless of whether or not any other organisations are currently using them. It is critical to be the first to use a technology or create a category for a product. Then make it an industry standard. Baines, P., Fill, C. Page, K. (2008) defined the two main strategies used by firms to achieve market leadership position are: Attack the market Defend the position Apart from expanding the total demand and protecting market share, the market leaders should try to expanding market share, even if market size remains constant (Kotler Gary, 2005). Forth strategy is proposed by Brassington, F Pettitt, S. (2006) who believed that companies should also seek stability and retention of customer base. In this essay, the four strategies will be analysed with appropriate examples of firms that applied those strategies successfully and firms that failed during competition. Attack the market Attack the market can be operated in different ways. The firms can create new uses, new consumers categories or increase frequency of use. This strategy is extremely popular as the dominant firm normally gains the most when the total market expands. In general, the market leader should look for new customers or more usage from existing customers. Every product has the potential of attracting buyers who are unaware of the product or who are still under consideration because of price or the products do not have some certain features. A company can search for new users among three groups: those who might use it but do not (market-penetration strategy), those who have never used it (new-market segment strategy), or those who live elsewhere (geographical-expansion strategy). Example: Johnson Johnson baby shampoo was losing market share due to birth rate declining, they had expand their customers segmentation, targeting adults which helped them regain their leader position. (New user) Kelloggs Crunchy Nut has expanded their ranges and introduced snack bars which increase frequency of use, relatively increase sales of the product. Defend the position/Protect market share The leader must constantly monitor the market because the market challenger is persistently trying to take away market share or worse, to replace the leaders position in the market. The firms can defend their positions in the market and their market share by monitoring their position, regular innovation; eliminate any weaknesses, price cutting and discount, increases promotion. Defend the position in the market is a difficult task for market leaders since they may be under attack from numbers of different competitors small to medium firms in the existing market or big players want to expand from a completely different industry. Although defence strategies may require a deployment of resources to defend different parts of the operation, it is hard of a challenger brand to dislodge a market leader if the market leader is actively defending territory. There are six different ways in defense strategy which are: Position defense (purely defensive is not enough, firms must take offensive counter-measure). It is considered as the least successful in the defense strategies. This defense was use by Mercedes until Toyota launched a frontal attack with its Lexus. Mobile defense (more than aggressively defend, stretches domain over new territories) E.g.: Legend Holdings, the top China PC maker Legend has announced a joint venture with AOL to broaden its business to provide Internet services in the mainland. Flanking defense (guarding territory is not enough, firms must create outposts/flanks to protect weak front and invasion base for counter attack) E.g. Gold Eagle is a flanking brand introduced by San Miguel in the Philippines as a defense against APBs Beerhausen. Contraction defense (strategic withdrawal: give up weak territories, concentrates strength and resources at more dependable areas). The market leader must make its own assessment to prioritise the importance of territories and should be willing to relinquish those that are not important to defend for those that are. E.g. Indias TATA Group sold its soaps and detergents business units to Unilever in 1993 or Ford retired T-birds and Probe to focus on Contour and Taurus. Pre-emptive defense (Detect potential attacks and attack the enemies first) Seiko with 2,300 watch models is considered as a successful example for this category while Heinz proved failure as they did not respond to Hunts attack which leaded to Hunt established a rival brand. Counter-offensive defense (Respond to competitors head-on attack by identifying the attackers weakness and then launch a counter attack) E.g. Toyota launched the Lexus to respond to Mercedes attack. Continuous innovation is considered as the best way to protect market share and is required for long-term leadership. When leaders become self-satisfied with their products or services, it becomes easier for the challenger to make progress. In large markets, small increases in market share can turn into great sales increases; a one-point gain in market share can be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. However not every firm understands the importance of continuous innovative process and often failed in retaining their positions in the market. Companies are hindered from investing and following through with innovation because they fear cannibalising established products (Tellis Golder, 1996). In order to protect mainframe sales, IBM obstructed its development of minicomputers and workstations while competitors kept making inroads into the mainframe market. Another reason why companies are less worried about innovation is that they are satisfied with their progress. Yahoo was satisfied with its social networking Yahoo 360Â  [1]Â  until the company started to lose market share to Facebook and Friendster in Asia. Thirdly, large bureaucracies can discourage innovations or slow the progress when companies bring new products to market. GM and IBM are well-known examples for this problem. Despite their technological strength and financial resources, both companies were slow to bring out new products because of their bureaucratic approval process. Firms that do well in continuous innovation are Apple, Procter Gamble. Apple was certainly not the first manufacturer to MP3 players but its iPod was totally different to anything else on the market at the time of its release. Apple has a large range of IPod from IPod shuffle, IPod Nano with stylish shapes or IPod classic for music lovers as they can hold a great number of files and IPod touch for multifunctional uses. The firm also introduced to its customers a range of IPhone from 2G-3GS and promising the new version of IPhone (IPhone 5) in 2011. Procter Gamble the worlds largest consumer products company- takes innovation seriously which shown in their heavily investment in innovative process. They outspend competition in Research and Development believing if they provide branded products of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the worlds consumers, consumers will reward them with leadership sales, profit and value creations. They are well-known for their open innovation outlook. As not all brilliant ideas are coming from internal, it is critically for firms to seek new ideas, innovations from outside. PG has introduced three different networks in which they encouraged their employees to interact with outside world or link different companies in different part of the world working towards a same goal. By doing this, they have received exceptional amount of new ideas, innovative products to increase sales and market share in consumers market. Expand market share Expand market share can gain great profits for the company but there is a drawback. Too many customers can put a strain on the firms resources, hurting product value and service delivery. Example: America Online experienced growing pains when its customer base expanded, resulting in system outages and access problems (Kotler Keller, 2006). Consumers may also infer that bigger is not better and assume that growth will lead to a deterioration of quality. If exclusivity is a key brand benefit, existing customer may resent additional new customers. (Kotler Keller, 2006) This strategy can be operated via the marketing mix. However this strategy can provoke antitrust action or anti-dumping charge. Vietnamese rice export market has received multiple charges on dumping issues in European market trying to gain more market share in short period of time. Economic cost such as legal costs needs to be taking in consideration. Wrong marketing mix strategy is also one of the problems firms face when expanding market share (for example: focus on unattractive segments). Successful example of firm in expanding market share is Starbucks. The company plans to continue to rapidly expand its retail operations, grow its specialty sales and other operations, and selectively pursue opportunities to leverage the Starbucks brand through the introduction of new products and the development of new distribution channels. Seek stability and retention of customer base Tesco is a great example for applying this strategy. They try to retain customers loyal via promotion and Club card which customers can save as they shop and spend the points on various products. Tesco seeks stability, it competes on prices with rivals such as Sainsburys and Asda, although it also focuses on customer service, how to deliver good service with reasonable price to the customers. It is important that leader firms understand their strengths and weaknesses, also have a clear view of their competitors in the market. Choosing the right defense strategy is critical in order to retain their position as leaders and continue to expand the total market and market share, as well as profitability. Market leaders should take innovation seriously in order to stay in the leading position.

The North Face Inc Accounting Essay

The North Face Inc Accounting Essay Financial accountants and independent auditors commonly face challenging technical and ethical dilemmas while carrying out their professional responsibilities. This case profiles an accounting and financial reporting fraud orchestrated by the chief financial officer (CFO) of a major public company and his subordinates. The CFO, who was a CPA, took extreme measures to conceal the fraud from his companys audit committee and independent auditors. Despite those measures, the independent auditors identified suspicious entries in the companys accounting records that were a result of the CFOs fraudulent scheme but did not properly investigate those items. Shortly before the fraud was publicly revealed, a partner of the companys audit firm instructed his subordinates to alter prior year audit workpapers for the client to conceal improper decisions made by himself and his firm. History Hap Klopp founded North Face in the mid-1960s to provide a ready source of hiking and camping gear. In 1970, North Face began designing and manufacturing its own line of products after opening a small factory in nearby Berkeley. In 1980, North Face began sponsoring mountain-climbing expeditions across the globe. And North Face became the only supplier in the United States to offer a comprehensive collection of high-performance outerwear, skiwear, sleeping bags, packs and tents. Challenges Sales Growth vs. Quality Control By the mid-1980s, North Faces overburdened manufacturing facilities could not satisfy the steadily growing demand for the companys merchandise or maintain the high quality production standards established by management. New Era In July 1996, a new management team took North Face public, listing the companys common stock on the NASDAQ exchange. The management team established a goal of reaching annual sales of $1 billion by 2003. Later when the actual revenues and profits of North Face failed to meet managements expectations, the companys chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president of sales booked a series of fraudulent sales transactions. Barter for Success at North Face In December 1997, North Faces CFO Christopher Crawford negotiated a $7.8 million sale of excess inventory to a barter company in exchange for trade credits. Crawford knew that the authoritative accounting literature generally precluded the recognition of revenue on such transactions. Crawford, however, structured the transaction to recognize a profit on the trade credits. An Oral Side Agreement Crawford required the barter company to pay a portion of the trade credits in cash. To further obscure the true nature of the large barter transaction, Crawford split it into two parts. 1. On December 29,1997, a $5.15 million sale recorded($3.51 million in cash $1.64 million trade credit) 2. On January 8, 1998, the remaining $2.65 million portion of the barter transaction was booked. Consignments In the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 1998, Todd Katz, North Faces vice president of sales, arranged two large sales to inflate the companys revenues, transactions that were actually consignments rather than consummated sales. The first of these transactions involved $9.3 million of merchandise sold to a small, apparel wholesaler in Texas. Katz negotiated a similar $2.6 million transaction with a small California wholesaler a few months later. Erasing the Past Richard Fiedelman served for several years as the advisory partner for the North Face audit engagement and during early 1998 served for a brief time as the audit engagement partner. During the 1997 audit, the Deloitte audit engagement partner proposed an adjustment to reverse the portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction recorded in December 1997 because he realized that the profit could not be recognized on a barter transaction when the seller is paid exclusively in trade credits. The Deloitte audit partner passed on the proposed adjustment since it did not have a material effect on North Faces 1997 financial statements. While supervising the review of North Faces financial statements for the first quarter of 1998, Fiedelman allowed the company to improperly recognize profit on a portion of the $7.8 million barter transaction booked in January 1998 for which North Face was paid exclusively in trade credits. During the planning phase of the 1998 audit, Fiedelman convinced the new audit engagement partner that the prior year workpapers were wrong and that the previous audit partner had not concluded that it was not permissible for North Face to recognize profit on the 1997 portion of the barter transaction that involved strictly trade credits. As a result of Fiedelmans guidance, the new audit partner did not propose an adjustment to reverse the January 1998 portion of the barter transaction that had been approved by Fiedelman. Fiedelmans subordinates altered the 1997 workpapers to change the conclusion expressed by the 1997 audit engagement partner that North Face was not entitled to record profit on a sales transaction in which it was paid entirely in trade credits. Consequences The SEC sanctioned North Faces CFO, the companys vice-president of sales, and Richard Fiedelman for their roles in the North Face fraud. Questions 1. Should auditors insist that their clients accept all proposed audit adjustments, even those that have an immaterial effect on the given set of financial statements? Defend your answer. No. Clients are not prone to adopting auditors proposed audit adjustments, which forces auditors to somehow determine on an aggregate basis the impact that proposed and/or passed audit adjustments have on a clients financial statements. The most common reason for a client not to make a proposed audit adjustment is that the client disagrees with the need for the given adjustment. We dont want to see that audit engagements ultimately become a tug-of-war between client management and auditors over proposed audit adjustments. 2. Should auditors take explicit measures to prevent their clients from discovering or becoming aware of the materiality thresholds used on individual audit engagements? Would it be feasible for auditors to conceal this information from their audit clients? Yes. To the greatest extent possible, auditors should not provide clients with access to the critical parameters or facets of audit engagements, including materiality limits. According to this case, the CFO used the materiality to subvert the integrity of the entire audit engagement. It is often not feasible to conceal information such as materiality limits from client personnel. For example, auditors always have client personnel pull documents, prepare various schedules to which audit procedures will be applied, and perform other important audit-related tasks. In completing these tasks, client personnel can often determine the auditors intent and/or the scope or materiality limit of a given audit test. Likewise, clients have access to the professional auditing literature and professional publications that discuss the general guidelines that auditors use in making important strategic decisions during the course of an audit, including the selection of materiality limits for individual accounts or financial statement items. 3. Identify the general principles or guidelines that dictate when companies are entitled to record revenue. How were these principles or guidelines violated by the $7.8 million barter transaction and the two consignment sales discussed in this case? According to FASB 605 Revenue Recognition Revenues and gains are realized when products (goods or services), merchandise, or other assets are exchanged for cash or claims to cash. Revenues are considered to have been earned when the entity has substantially accomplished what it must do to be entitled to the benefits represented by the revenues. Generally, barter transactions in which a company receives trade credits in exchange for merchandise should be recorded at the fair value of the merchandises given up since the ultimate realizability or economic value of the trade credits is typically not determinable at the time of the exchange. So, even though the exchange element of the revenue recognition principle is satisfied by such a transaction, the realized element is not necessarily satisfied, meaning that any profit on the transaction should be deferred. In the case at hand, there was clearly some question as to the fair value of the excess merchandise that was being sold to the barter company. A conservative treatment of the transaction might have dictated that a loss or writedown of the merchandise was actually the most appropriate accounting treatment for the transaction. FASB 605-15-25 Sales of Product when Right of Return Exists prohibits a seller from recognizing revenue (or profit, of course) when the given customer can return the product and the ultimate payment to be received by the seller hinges on the customer reselling the product. Both features of the revenue recognition rule were violated by the decision of North Face to record the large consignment sales: there was not a true exchange since the two customers did not pay for the merchandise and the given transactions were not finalized until the customers resold the merchandise, meaning that the realized requirement of the revenue recognition rule had not been satisfied. 4. Identify and briefly explain each of the principal objectives that auditors hope to accomplish by preparing audit workpapers. How were these objectives undermined by Deloittes decision to alter North Faces 1997 workpapers? According to AICPA AU Section 339. 03, audit documentation serves mainly to: a. Provide the principal support for the auditors report, including the representation regarding observance of the standards of fieldwork, which is implicit in the reference to generally accepted auditing standards. b. Aid the auditor in the conduct and supervision of the audit. Both of these objectives were undercut by the decision of the Deloitte auditors to alter North Faces 1997 audit workpapers. First, by modifying the 1997 workpapers and not documenting the given revisions in those workpapers, the Deloitte auditors destroyed audit evidence, evidence that demonstrated that the 1997 audit team had properly investigated the authoritative literature relevant to barter transactions and proposed an audit adjustment consistent with the requirements of that literature. Second, the alteration of the 1997 workpapers affected the decisions made on the 1998 audit. That is, the auditors during the 1998 audit relied on the apparent decisions made during the 1997 audit and thus reached an improper decision on the accounting treatment that would be appropriate for the barter transaction recorded by North Face in January 1998. 5. North Faces management teams were criticized for strategic blunders that they made over the course of the companys history. Do auditors have a responsibility to assess the quality of the key decisions made by client executives? Defend your answer. Yes. Major strategic blunders by client management can create an environment in which client executives and their key subordinates have a strong incentive to distort their entitys accounting records and financial statements. More generally, the overall quality of top managements decisions affects the inherent risk present during a given audit. Event though assessing the quality of key decisions made by client executives is not often seen as an explicit audit procedure within an audit program, auditors need to be aware that the competence of top management and the wide-ranging implications of that competence to all facets of an audit.

Analysis of Lee the Last Years, Charles Flood Essay -- Robert E. Lee Es

In his extraordinary book, Lee the Last Years, Charles Flood gives a rare blend of history and emotion. After Lee’s surrender at Appomattox courthouse, he only lived a total of five years before his death. Some people might think that he was just a general, but the best years of his life were after the war because he changed the minds of the south and he changed education. Even though Robert E. Lee is best remembered for his military campaigns, this is a part of history not told in many history books because he did more than any other American to heal the wounds of the south and he served as a president for Washington College, which was later renamed after his death to be Washington and Lee University. The beginning of the book begins with surrender at Appomattax. On April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee signed the letter in which he accepted Grants terms for the surrender of the northern army of virginia. The terms required by Grant were generous compared to the what Lee expected. He feared that his army would face humiliation and prison camps, but the terms only required the release of the prisoners and the surrender of Lee’s army, with the prerequisite of the army laying down there arms. From this moment to the end of his life, Lee never allowed an unkind word about Grant to be spoken in his presence. Throughout the war, Lee had been awed by his soldiers dedication. He issued General Order Number 9, which was his last official communication to his army. The order told the army of his admiration and appreciation for them. The tribute was so eloquent that generations of southern school children would recite it as their counterpart to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. As Lee arrived back to his home in Richmond, his only desir... ...olds the story of a man dignified in history. This book is truly an admirable piece of litature. In conclusion, although some people might think that he was just a general; the best years of his life were after the war for two main reasons. First, he changed education. But most importantly, he changed the minds of the south. Without Lee’s character during his last five years, the south might have been in chaos. Lee shows evidence to the power of healing, and the difference education can make. This man truly represents what a true christian was, and should be studied for ages to come, but as the man he was, as opposed to the general. The last years of this mans life are by far the most amazing, and should get just as much attention as his years in the war. Works Cited Flood, Charles Bracelen. Lee the Last Years. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. Print. Analysis of Lee the Last Years, Charles Flood Essay -- Robert E. Lee Es In his extraordinary book, Lee the Last Years, Charles Flood gives a rare blend of history and emotion. After Lee’s surrender at Appomattox courthouse, he only lived a total of five years before his death. Some people might think that he was just a general, but the best years of his life were after the war because he changed the minds of the south and he changed education. Even though Robert E. Lee is best remembered for his military campaigns, this is a part of history not told in many history books because he did more than any other American to heal the wounds of the south and he served as a president for Washington College, which was later renamed after his death to be Washington and Lee University. The beginning of the book begins with surrender at Appomattax. On April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee signed the letter in which he accepted Grants terms for the surrender of the northern army of virginia. The terms required by Grant were generous compared to the what Lee expected. He feared that his army would face humiliation and prison camps, but the terms only required the release of the prisoners and the surrender of Lee’s army, with the prerequisite of the army laying down there arms. From this moment to the end of his life, Lee never allowed an unkind word about Grant to be spoken in his presence. Throughout the war, Lee had been awed by his soldiers dedication. He issued General Order Number 9, which was his last official communication to his army. The order told the army of his admiration and appreciation for them. The tribute was so eloquent that generations of southern school children would recite it as their counterpart to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. As Lee arrived back to his home in Richmond, his only desir... ...olds the story of a man dignified in history. This book is truly an admirable piece of litature. In conclusion, although some people might think that he was just a general; the best years of his life were after the war for two main reasons. First, he changed education. But most importantly, he changed the minds of the south. Without Lee’s character during his last five years, the south might have been in chaos. Lee shows evidence to the power of healing, and the difference education can make. This man truly represents what a true christian was, and should be studied for ages to come, but as the man he was, as opposed to the general. The last years of this mans life are by far the most amazing, and should get just as much attention as his years in the war. Works Cited Flood, Charles Bracelen. Lee the Last Years. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. Print.