Market segmentation Essay

Market segmentation is simply a modern marketing strategy in which the market for your customers are divided in various several groups and segments based on some major key factors such as demographic, geographic, psychological and behavioural factors. By dividing the market, the sellers that that try to deliver good value to their customers will be able to have better understanding of their target audience and thereby make their marketing more effective. Market segmentation also helps to make the three areas of marketing which are, mass marketing, product differentiated marketing and target marketing. Market segmentation helps all these marketing types to customize their markets. Marketing segmentation cannot be complete without considering the following variables that assist it in segmenting its consumer market. Demographic segmentation The demographic segmentation divides customers into segments based on demographic values such as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation, social class and nationality. It is often used for reason that the variables are easy to identify and measure. Age and life cycle segmentation The consumer’s needs and wants change with age. Therefore some companies uses age and life cycle segmentation, where age and the life cycle determine the marketing approach. Gender segmentation Gender segmentation is used to differentiate the needs and wants between men and women due to the fact that men and women have different attitudes towards a product. The gender segmentation are applied clothing, hairstyling, and cosmetics. Income segmentation Income segmentation divides the market into different income groups. It is used in automobiles, clothing, cosmetics, financial services and travel. Generation segmentation Each generation is influenced by times in which they grow, marketers market to a generation by using icons and images that is relatable according to the  generation Social class segmentation This type divides the customers according to their preference in cars, clothing, home furnishing, leisure. Although taste changes but many company design products for specific social classes. Geographic segmentation It divides customers into segments based on geographical areas such as nation, states, regions, countries. Psychographic segmentation This is derived from two principal types of customers: personality profiles and lifestyle profiles. Behavioural segmentation It is based on customer’s attitude toward, use of, or response to a product and they are divided further into various variables like occasion, benefits, user status, usage rate, buyer-readiness stage, loyalty status and attitude. 2) ADVANTAGES OF ADOPTING MARKET SEGMENTATION The use of market segmentation and why it will perform better than a business that does not adopt it are listed as follows: It will help a firm to be able to separate its customers and be able to reach profitable customers in supplying value and better customer’s relationship which in return will bring profitable value back to the firm. It will be able to help a firm to be knowledgeable on the type of product and market needed to produce for its customers. It will enhance the market structure of a firm in helping it locate new market and new profitable product for its firm. Smart enterprises use segmentation to continually monitor, quantify, and qualify the changing customers, in part to stay ahead of the competition. Segmentation data provides organizations with information to develop timely goods and services that profitably serve customers.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Phrenology Essay

After fMRI was first introduced, it has been under criticism that it is not hard science. The most common technique, the BOLD (blood oxygen level-dependent) fMRI, measures the increase in regional cerebral blood flow in response to increased metabolism, which is to be caused from heightened activity of neuron firing (Menon & Kim, 1999). Some neurologists believe that this is an indirect way of measuring brain activity, and is not sufficient to support any idea. By many scientists fMRI is often compared to phrenology, a study that once gained popularity in the 19th century. Phrenology is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules (Fodor, 1983). This is similar to fMRI practitioners’ attempts to localize brain structure, matching the divided parts of the brain with certain functions. Judging whether fMRI is a new form of phrenology concerns two points: fMRI’s similarities to phrenology, and fMRI’s significance to be admitted as the ‘new form’. This will also lead to the question of whether fMRI scan is meaningful to be presented as evidence in court. The logic of fMRI is straight-forward. Brain parts that light up to a certain stimulus, is related to the function provoked by the stimulus. The fMRI machine measures increase in blood flow in brain regions. The regions with increased blood flow appear in brighter colors, in red or yellow (Dobbs, 2005). fMRI’s logic of relating higher blood flow and function is similar to that of phrenology, which relates size of lump to function. From this analogy we can say that fMRI can be considered some form of ‘phrenology. ’ Another reason that fMRI is compared to phrenology is for its limitations (Menon & Kim, 1999). MRI’s problem rise from the fact that it does not show interactions between parts. It takes a univariate approach to the brain, implying that only one factor is considered as variable. The current fMRI shows voxels’ activity as one sum, meaning that it cannot collect relational or sequential information of brain parts (Dobbs, 2005). Many neurologists believe that brain parts’ interaction is an important aspect, and fMRI’s lack of capacity to do so results in criticism. Compared with the old phrenology, fMRI shares the same view that brains have localized functions. However, fMRI takes a more scientific approach than the old phrenology. Although it has its limitation in presenting spatial information, it does contribute in relating brains structure and the mind’s function. Although the ‘old’ phrenology is labeled ‘pseudoscience’ and no longer acknowledged in the field of science anymore, it has had its contributions. It sparked the idea that mind can be localized, such as language and memory. In the same context fMRI can contribute, only much more than the ‘old’ phrenology. Although fMRI’s blood flow measurement and the actual neural activity do not perfectly correspond with each other (Dobbs, 2005), significant correlation can be drawn from the fMRI scanning. As for the usage as court evidence, I see fMRI scan valuable as evidence, for fMRI does show some level of correlation of parts of brains and certain activity. fMRI should not be criticized and banned from court just because of its possibility of erroneous conclusion (Hughes, 2010). Even witnesses’ testimonies are bound to be wrong, but their testimonies are accepted as evidence. Thus fMRI should be allowed to be presented as evidence in court. However, the juries should be made aware that fMRI scan is an arbitrarily interpreted output, and contain risks of erroneous conclusions. I believe fMRI will gain stronger grounds in the court later in the future though, with the advance of technology as mentioned above. Some compare neurologists with fMRI to molecular biologists with light microscopes (Jaffe, 2004), for the reason that the capacity of fMRI is not sufficient for neurological study. It must be taken into account that later light microscopes evolved to electron microscopes, meaning that also fMRI will offer improved spatial and temporal information in the future. Its potential must be acknowledged, and in the meantime there should be efforts to find complementary analysis methods (Hubbard, 2003).

Chester Company Essay

A unique and interesting problem arose when one company, a monopoly within the business-to-business (B2B) sensor market, split into six companies with identical products and equal footing within the market. As Director of Finance for Chester Company, one of the newly formed entities, it is important for me to identify a strategy that will enable the company to remain viable and be successful in the future. An in-depth analysis of the industry situation report provided good metrics to project future customer desires and total market potential. In order to be successful, the strategy that the management team develops must work within the identified parameters while attempting to predict how the other five companies in the B2B sensor market will proceed. There are only two segments of the B2B sensor market: low technology and high technology. The only product Chester Company offers currently fulfills the needs of both markets but this will change as the newly formed entities revise and develop products to meet customer needs. The high tech segment is appealing but will require continual investment in research and development to maintain the standards that customers expect. It will be easier to meet the needs of the customers within the low tech segment but there will likely be more competition for market share. 1. The strategy that I would like to see the management of Chester Company adopt over the next five years is that of â€Å"niche cost leader† (Capsim Management Simulations, 2012) for the low technology segment of the B2B sensor market and to obtain thirty-five percent of that market. This will be achieved by appealing to customers’ sense of thrift. To cut prices below the competition, management should retain the current product and not invest much in research and development. Production costs must also be greatly reduced. To do this, an early investment in automation is necessary as it will reduce labor expenses in future years which will increase the margin and profitability of the company. This investment will be financed through the issuance of stock and long term bonds. I also plan to provide the marketing department with a very generous budget in the first couple of years to aggressively target the market and increase the awareness and accessibility of the product early on. Short term borrowing will be necessary to finance operations and provide a cash cushion to prevent the need for an emergency loan. 2. There is a great chance for Chester Company to earn good profits within the low tech segment over the next five years. Although the price of the product must be kept to a minimum this will be offset by decreasing costs which increases the contribution margin. Also, there is greater demand for products in the low technology segment of the B2B sensor market which is expected to increase approximately ten percent each year. However, Chester Company shareholders may realize a loss in the first year due to the high marketing budget and cost of labor because the automation rating is low. Unfortunately, some sacrifices will need to be made early on to realize greater profits in the long term. 3. The product that is most important to the success of Chester Company is Cake; the product currently being produced. During the first year of business, this product will have the ability to appeal to customers across both segments of the B2B sensor market and will ultimately become the favored product of the low tech segment. Management will take advantage of the dual appeal of Cake in the first year by taking a portion of both the low tech and high tech markets in an attempt to retain some profitability. Ultimately, the product will be positioned so that it takes a large portion of the low tech market and will likely not take any portion of the high tech market by the fifth year. The plan that I developed focuses primarily on the success of the company for the next five years as there will be a lot of volatility in the market and further projections are impossible to make at this time. It is difficult to predict how the competitors within the B2B sensor market will be positioned which makes it essential for management to decrease costs as much as possible and increase market share within the low technology segment of the market. My advice to the rest of the management team is to avoid the appeal of developing a new product for either market early on and to avoid the high tech market altogether within the first five years because it will be difficult enough to remain profitable and succeed without squandering business assets on developing a product which will have little chance of being profitable within that timeframe.

Globilzation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Globilzation - Essay Example Thus economic forces enabled international marketing to get energized and, which in turn, set in the challenging assignment of making commercial sense out of cultures to which wares were marketed. Devetak and Higgott explain how globalization has brought about a weakening of an intra national social bond. They further posit that ongoing process of globalization causes constant disruption in existing social bond. It is their view that "under conditions of globalization, assumptions made about the social bond are changing; .... the article concludes that the prospects for a satisfactory synthesis of a liberal economic theory of globalization, a normative political theory of the global public domain, and a new social bond are remote"(Devetak & Higgott 1999). Again, in a slightly different context, Phillip W.Jones makes a statement which is extremely relevant to the definition of globalization in present context. Jones states that," The logic of globalization contrasts markedly with that of internationalism. The latter, with its intrinsically democratic foundation, looks to a world ordered by structures supportive of that functionalism which is embedded in accountability. Globalization, by contrast, implies few logical imperatives in favor of accountability, but rather looks to the pursuit of interest on the global level through the operation of unfettered capitalism"(Jones,1998).According to Jones view international marketing efforts in new cultural milieu would fall in the category of 'globalization' as defined by him. However multinational corporations take a broader view of their international marketing efforts and venture in new international markets only after completing a thorough study of local cultures. New technological develop ments, improvements in communication, growth in transnational infrastructure and liberalizing of trade and capital flows have enabled entrepreneurs the globe over to deploy and run their capitals chasing markets the globe over. The globalization aligned attitudes of IMF and World Bank are exemplified with clarity by Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, when he says that," The key aim of today's policy makers has not changed compared to those at the Bretton Woods times - it has been, and still is, global prosperity and stability - but the environment in which we are acting has changed profoundly......Today we are striving for stability of the international financial system in a world of free capital flows with a growing importance of private flows and increasing trade and financial integration"(Trichet, 2004).As Roby says," world-wide output and trade have grown apace with market openings and the rise of efficient global business networks these past 15 years. An entrepreneurial class is energizing once-stagnant command economies" (Roby, 2005). It is at once apparent that this 'entrepreneurial class' is essentially limited in number the globe over and its population effectively determines the contours of globalization. Washington Consensus John Williamson, the person responsible for the phrase Washington Consens

A Conceptual Model of E-Business Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 22500 words

A Conceptual Model of E-Business - Coursework Example Considerable confusion exists in the literature concerning the various terminologies used to describe E-Business. Terms abound with vague descriptions having loose connections to existing management literature and even more cryptic relationships to evolving technology. Despite this, however, there is the relative consensus that the core components of E-Business are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and e-commerce. It is important to note that a business may not deploy every component or even attempt to link the three components. Some texts use the term 'enterprise Resource Management" or ERM as a comprehensive term meant to include all E-Business systems in one conceptual entity. It may, thus, be argued that these systems are distinctly different, serve specific functions and may or may not "add up" to a comprehensive organizational capability. Some texts use the term 'enterprise Resource Management" or ERM as a comprehensive term meant to include all E-Business systems in one conceptual entity. It may, thus, be argued that these systems are distinctly different, serve specific functions and may or may not "add up" to a comprehensive organizational capability. The objective of this research is to distinguish and develop a conceptual model of E-Business, on the one hand, and determine, or try to evaluate the potential social impact of e-business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Within the context of the stated, it need be noted that legal strictures have inhibited the development of e-business in KSA but, these restrictions are gradually being lifted. It remains, however, important to emphasize that lack of an e-business presence in Saudi Arabia implies that, rather than evaluate the actual effect within the country of focus, the study will look towards theoretical and empirical studies on the social impact of e-business for the determination of potential, and probable, effect. The Internet has emerged as a key business medium for both large and small firms. Firms are increasingly using the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW), and other web technologies1 to expand their markets, to conduct business transactions with customers and suppliers, and to enhance their competitive position.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 200

Summary - Essay Example Grouping together of the nodes forms an ad hoc network that exposes the system to errors. The allowance of each node to interfere with each others transmission causes hidden and revealed problems within a wireless network station. The solution for this problem is available using the IEE standard and Point Coordination. The wireless networks have more chances of undetected frame collisions at the MAC sub layer. Detecting the collision and retransmitting the lost frame is imperative practice in preventing the loss of data integrity. However, the wired (Ethernet) local data networks rarely experience data integrity issues. Therefore, collision control is unnecessary for the Ethernet and wired LANs. The wireless network faces transmission issues when signal problems occur due to signal-bounce. Consequently, this necessitates the need for the MAC layer to solve these challenges. The MAC sub-layer for wired segments does not need collision avoidance protocol despite not having much transmission capabilities as those in wireless LANs. The wireless LANs is prevalent than the wired ones as they have various benefits found at the MAC sub layer of the network

What I can do for RWU community if I was a vice president for them Essay

What I can do for RWU community if I was a vice president for them - Essay Example The most efficient means of gathering data from the chosen sample of students would be using questionnaires or surveys and semi-structured interviews. Questionnaires and surveys enable the capture of a lot of information in a non-threatening way especially if the questionnaire is elaborate, accurate and clear. (Carter, 2010) However, in the event of improper wording in the questionnaire, student responses can be biased and might not give the needed information. Therefore, this method needs to be complemented with semi-structured interviews, which would provide more information especially when it is conducted as if it is a conversation making interviewees feel relaxed. The next group of stakeholders of RWU community is the employees. The interests of RWU’s employees can be collected from them through the use of observational techniques and questionnaires. Through observation, the information regarding the conditions that the employees work in and the systems or operations they have to undertake on a daily basis can be easily acquired. This information can be evaluated and the needs of these important stakeholders reviewed and analyzed. However, the behavior of employees during the observation might not reflect their true normal behavior hence the need to use questionnaires which would help in collecting the required information quickly. (Carter, 2010) The questionnaires would have to be very detailed and clarity enforced in each question. For employees, their interests may be of a very personal nature therefore confidentiality must be guaranteed in order for the employees to reveal their opinions and interests in depth. The interests of the local community in Bristol, Rhode Island where RWU is situated must also be taken into consideration. For this to be done, focus groups can be used to collect the opinions of the people. Sampling of the local community needs to be done in a proper demographical scale to cater for the needs of all

MIDDLE RANGE NURSING THEORY Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

MIDDLE RANGE NURSING THEORY - Research Paper Example In the same way, it is necessary for nurses to understand the different concepts of nursing strategies and various psychological and philosophical aspects of quality nursing care. Theoretical frameworks including middle range theories clearly define the nursing standards for the modern world. This paper will provide an overview of the concept and evolution of Middle Range Theories of Nursing and their applicability in today’s healthcare scenario. Concepts: Origin and Development Middle range theories are precise and moderate, and possess limited number of variables; hence, they effectively define nursing care standards. To be specific, middle range theories can be effectively applied in the field of nursing research and practice as their practicality can be directly tested. To define, â€Å"mid-range theories stand midway between the all encompassing global grand theories that address the entire discipline and hypotheses and theories that are very specific to a particular phe nomenon or population† (Lenz, 2006, n.p). As compared to grand theories, Middle range theories are more concrete and narrow. To illustrate, they are written relatively at specific level with limited number of propositions and ideas. Theory of Human Caring (Watson), Theory of Interpersonal Relations (Peplau), and Theory of the Deliberative Nursing Process (Orlando) are some of the well known middle range nursing theories. With regard to the progress of middle range theories, they are based on the results derived from practice and research that can provide clear direction for casual practice and intellectual practice in the discipline further. The past century witnessed a notable level of progress in the middle range theories. Except a few, most of the middle-range theories have come directly from clinicians’ experience. The middle-range theory helps to mark certain condition of the related signs and future approach for symptom management in caring patients. The theory al so emphasis on the result of various expressions or conditions with regard to the patient’s performance, and encourages the clear evaluation of patient’s working outcomes. Lieher and Smith (1999), has listed â€Å"the relationship between the intellectual process and the source of content related to the development of middle-range theories†; they include â€Å"Inductive theory-building theory through practice, Deductive theory. Building from grand nursing theories, Combining existing nursing and non-nursing theories, and Developing theories from clinical practice guidelines â€Å" (Source: Approaches for generating middle range theory. Para. 1. As cited Peterson & Bredow, 2009, in p. 31). Middle range theories are of mainly three types; Middle-range descriptive theories, Middle-range predictive theories, and Middle-range explanatory theories. These variations could be analyzed on the basis of their characteristics and with most relevant examples. Among these, Middle-range descriptive theories usually encompass only a single main concept to classify a phenomenon. While doing so, it simply lists the generalities observed in individuals and groups, and these theories are normally tested by means of descriptive research. The interpersonal Relations (Peplau, 1952) is an example of a middle-range descriptive theory. Peplau’s theory focused on the therapeutic relationship between the nurse and the patient, which is termed as the Nurse-Client Relationship. In contrast, Middle-range expl

Polyproplene and KRATON Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Polyproplene and KRATON - Essay Example The thermoplastic stands up quite well to steam-sterilization and autoclaving, managing to resist physical damage and environmental stress-cracking when exposed to high corrosion chemicals in tests. This result is something one can easily expect due to the ability of the material to be fatigue resistant, have high tensile strength, and unbelievable elongation abilities. Such high material characteristics ensures an almost infinite flex life for polypropylene oriented moldings in integrated hinges, making it quite responsive to injection speed and pressure. The plastic also sets in a shorter time when placed in the mold, which ensures a higher production rate for molders. Polyprolene has proven to be excellent when considering is chemical resistant abilities, abrasion strength, dimensional stability, and high surface gloss. Such unique qualities makes the polymer versatile and suitable for superior strength, grease resistance, and moisture barring in film and fibers. While pre-drying is not necessarily required when molding Injection Molding Polypropylene is molded in standard screw making equipment as these can be done without alteration in normal conditions, filled resins may sometimes require pre-drying. The manufacturing process however, isnt as simple as it sounds. The molder needs to take note of additional considerations such as the cylinder temperature and injection pressure. These two of the most closely related variables that take the forefront of the molding parameters will be discussed in the succeeding paragraphs. The most advisable temperature range for cylinders are between 400- 570Â °F. Normally the temperature should be 25-50Â °F above the normal temperature when molding polypropylene. However it should not be molded above 570Â °F so the normal range for molding would be kept anywhere between 400-525Â °F. The cylinder temperature is best kept with the hopper or feed section lower than the nozzle at 30-50Â °F.

Civilization or people Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Civilization or people - Term Paper Example This essay attempts to prove that Hannibal’s victory at the Battle of Cannae should be attributed to the Carthaginian general’s tactical brilliance, and not to mere luck (i.e. the Roman army was seriously weakened by earlier battles). If Hannibal had exploited his triumph by attacking Rome, the Roman historian Livy believes, the Romans would have been obliged to bring peace claims. However, Hannibal decided not to attack Rome at the moment. Livy believes that this judgment was the ‘salvation of the Roman state.’1 The Battle of Cannae In 217 BC, Hannibal based his army near the Adriatic coast and kept on destroying villages in southern Italy.2 Polybius recounts that Hannibal was deeply informed of the problems posed by the Italian invasion and was aware that his main predicament would be resources.3 Rome was very weak at the time because of the massive losses it sustained the year prior. Still, Rome assigned Quintus Fabius Maximus as the new leader. Because Hannibal has a mightier cavalry, Fabius rested his army in the hills in order to reverse this advantage, resorting to the attack-retreat strategy. This was shrewd and successful given the changing balance of power after the defeats at Trasimeno and Trebia4: â€Å"The Romans hovered in the vicinity of the Carthaginians, cut off stragglers and foragers, and prevented them from founding a permanent base. The strategy avoided Roman defeat and dimmed Hannibal’s glory. It successfully kept Rome’s allies from declaring for Carthage, but it aroused great opposition among Romans themselves, for their state had thrived on a tradition of offensive warfare.†5 However, this was only a brief success. Fabius tried fearlessly to attack the Carthaginians in Falernia. He made sure that Hannibal was caught off guard. That moment, seeing his position as hopeless, Hannibal brought together all the animals in his encampment. He attached flares to each of them and made them attack the Roman encampment. Fear and bewilderment followed. Masked in darkness, with terror raging in the Roman encampment, Hannibal withdrew his whole army of 70,000 soldiers without any fatality on his side.6 Fabius had successfully held back Hannibal for six months, but the Senate decided to end his tenure as commanding officer and assigned two ambassadors, Varro and Paulus. They had realized that to confront Hannibal with not enough advantage would lead to a definite tragedy. Hence, they amassed a huge army: â€Å"Rome assembled the largest army they had ever placed in the field, eighty thousand infantry, and seven thousand cavalry.†7 Hannibal passed through the Aufidus River. The river was actually a barricade in case of defeat. Hannibal planned to take advantage of this positioning to tempt the Roman army to attack. Another lure, even though unintended, was that all of the elephants of Hannibal had been wiped out. It would be a war between two remarkably trained armed forces, th e Carthaginians being outnumbered by the Roman army.8 Both the Roman and Carthaginian armies were organized in traditional order, the cavalry on both flanks and the infantry in the middle. However, Hannibal placed his less reliable Spanish and Gauls foot soldiers at the forefront, while keeping his powerful African infantry on both flanks. This worked as bait for the attacking Roman army, who attacked the Spaniards and Gauls, pushing them, just like what Hannibal had planned. As a result, the U-shaped Carthaginian formation became bowl-shaped,

Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Example for Free

Thermodynamics Laws and Life Essay Introduction The universe is governed by the laws of thermodynamics. In other words, it affects the everyday lives of human beings. Every moment   a man exists, performs his daily activities or interacts with objects around him like every time he walks or drives a car or turn on an air conditioner, or use an electrical appliance, he   reap the practical benefits of thermodynamics (Sonntag 223). According to Sonntag in his book Fundamentals of Physics, â€Å"one excellent definition of thermodynamics is that it is the science of energy and entropy†. Another good definition would be that thermodynamics is the science that deals with heat and work and the properties of substance that bear a relation to heat and work†. As I understand it, thermodynamics had something to with anything that involves the use and transfer heat or energy, and the resulting work it produces. This means that without heat or energy then there would be no work to be performed. And when work is absent then there would be no human existence for life is closely tied with activities. Like all sciences, thermodynamics was established based on experimental observation. Out of this experiments evolved the three laws of thermodynamics (Sonntag 16). The Laws of Thermodynamics First law of Thermodynamics The first law of thermodynamics is often called the Law of Conservation of Energy which states that â€Å"energy cannot be created nor destroyed†. Furthermore, this law suggests that since energy cannot be created or destroyed it is merely transferred from one system to another in many forms. In other words, there is an idea of energy conversion like from heat energy to mechanical energy.   Because energy is not created or destroyed, in the universe as a closed system the amount of energy available is constant (there is no addition or subtraction of energy) . Energy is usually introduced into a system and from thereon undergoes energy transformation to perform some functions(Young 534-536) . In relating to life, a good example would be when a man takes in food (introduction of energy to the body through calorie), heat energy in the form of calorie is transform into chemical energy by his cells which in turn is transform into a mechanical energy so that a man is able to perform physical activities like walking, dancing or talking.   Man by his own self cannot create his own energy (he needs to eat to get energy) and that this energy through bodily processes is transform within his body to enable him to perform some bodily functions. What the first law actually is trying to say is that man just cannot get something out of nothing like he just cannot survive without first eating some amount of food; otherwise he will just fell dead. If only man can create his own energy then he does not need to eat. In the same way, the survival of other living things depend on getting energy from outside sources, for example plants need the energy of the sun for photosynthesis. For objects, in order for it to function, like for a plane in order for it to fly it needs the heat of combustion of its fuel to do work in propelling the plane (Young 534). Second law of Thermodynamics While the first law deals with the conservation of energy, the second law tells of the direction of conservation. In other words, how or where energy transformation normally proceeds. The second law settles the question why when you put ice into a hot cup of tea, heat will flow from the hot tea to the cold ice and melt the ice in the beloved beverage illustrating the unalterable reality that heat cannot be transferred from a colder to a hotter body. It is because natural processes that involve energy transfer must have one direction, and all natural processes are irreversible. That is why, man as human being that makes use of many bodily energy conversions can never go back to being an infant but must proceed to old age.   Or that a machine will go from new to old, it depreciates and lowers in value.   In a sense, the second law puts limitations into how heat conversion is achieved in real life. The second law further states that the direction of thermodynamic processes is more towards from an order to a disorder state or entropy. Entropy is the measure of the disorder or randomness of energy and matter in a system, the higher is a disorder the greater is the entropy. That is why in hot and cold bodies the process proceeds from hot to cold because adding heat to a body increases its disorder because â€Å"it increases average molecular speeds and therefore the randomness of molecular motion†(Young 574).   In other aspects, it is clear now why it is easy to mess up than to clean, and that the greater are the things present the messier it is. According to Young in his book University Physics, in a natural   irreversible isolated system (one that does no work on its surroundings) entropy is always increasing, or the degree of disorder increases with time( Young 541 and579) . This can be illustrated by man getting old. Although some scientific researches had created formulas to make man look younger than his age, this only controls the pace of his getting old, but eventually man had to surrender to the irreversible natural process of body deterioration that will lead to old age and ultimately death. As man increased in age, his body weakens, his cells degenerate and eventually he dies. And when a body decays and die it cannot be renewed again and bring back to life but it will rot on the grave . What the second law of thermodynamics is saying is that there are some things that I cannot control from happening for it is a natural process that needs or must occur and when it did occur it is impossible to undo. This reminds me in some sense of where man is heading in life. He always go towards the future and leaves behind a past. What happened in the past he can never undo for he can never go back to the past. That direction will be forever close to him no matter how much energy he is willing to spend to retraced back to that road. Critics in the biological evolution however, claimed that the theory of evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics, since evolution involves simple life forms developing on their own into more complex, more highly ordered organisms. But living things are not closed systems because they can interact with outside sources of energy like the sun and it has been shown â€Å"that energy and/or mass flow through a system can constrain it far from equilibrium, resulting in an increase in order†.   The organizing ‘work† is then primarily carried on by metabolic motor of DNA, enzymes, etc(  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ). Third law of Thermodynamics The third law touches on reaching a state of absolute zero (oK) or to avoid entropy by making temperature equals to zero.   At absolute zero the system has a minimum total internal energy (kinetic plus potential). This can only happen if all energy and matter are randomly distributed in space eradicating all thermal motion( Young 574). This however will never occur unless perhaps in few extraordinary, carefully-engineered situations. The third law of thermodynamics reinforced the fact that in life there are things that are unattainable and accepting this reality is a much better idea than to fight the laws of life. Conclusion The laws of thermodynamics just clearly put into much clearer terms the laws of life. Since thermodynamics is a science that deals with energy and energy transformations as well as the resulting work it produces, it has practical applications in life for life is an active use of energy. First law is a conservation of energy which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed meaning that energy is already in existence and needs only to be applied to a system, example a human system, in various forms to benefit life. The second law states that in a natural process there is a direction from which the conservation follows and this is usually to a more disordered state (entropy). The third law just simply states that if absolute zero is reached then entropy will be zero, but such is an impossible occurrence.       References Isaak, Mark. Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution. The Talk Origins Archive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   October 1, 2003. Retrieved December 3, 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.talkorigins.org/faq/faq-misconceptions.html Sonntag, Richard E. and Claus Borgnakke. Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 5th ed. New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1998. Young, Hugh D. and Roger A. Freedman. University Physics, Vol. 1. 9th ed. New York:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.

Critical Analysis of Quantitative Research Essay Example for Free

Critical Analysis of Quantitative Research Essay The researchers in this experiment aimed to â€Å"Investigate the quantitative differentiation of pulmonary dendritic cells in smoker with or without chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) to explore the possible role of dendritic cells in smokers suffering COPD† (Yan-wei, Yong-jiang, Xian-sheng, 2010). Dendritic cells (DCs) are inflammatory cells that are considered to be the promoter of immune responses; knowing this the researchers hypothesized that DCs may play an important role in the development of the disease. See more: how to write an analysis Subjects were broken into three groups based on an illness gradient: (control group, smokers without airflow obstruction, and COPD group as determined by the Chinese Society of Respiratory Disease). Samples of alveolar tissue were taken from these three groups and studied using immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence confocal laser scanning. The results from the experiment are portrayed using a one-way analysis of variance, Pearson’s r coefficient, graphs, and scatter plots. The conclusion of the data showed that â€Å"The quantity of the DCs significantly increased in smokers with COPD compared with non-smokers or smokers without COPD† (Yan-wei et al., 2010). A critical analysis of this article received a 31.5. The article was well put together and provided many up to date references as resources to give a better understanding of the research. The authors explained their methodologies in great detail and the production of their data was concise and easy to read. However, the study lacked when it came to representing a diverse population. The study also lacks in terms of providing evidence of the consent of the subjects and the evidence of the governing body of the experiment. The research that was done in this experiment allowed scientist to develop new hypotheses concerning dendritic cells and their role in chronic diseases such as COPD. The links that were made with this research between dendritic cells, lung capacity, and cigarette smoke could potentially be the forefront of new treatments and earlier diagnoses for COPD victims. References Yan-wei, S., Yong-jian, X., Xian-sheng, L. (2010). Quantitative differentiation of dendritic cells in lung tissues of smokers with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chinese Medical Journal, 123(12). Retreived from http://www.cmj.org/Periodical/PDF/200481469383420.pdf

The Role Of Managers In Staff Training Management Essay

The Role Of Managers In Staff Training Management Essay This paper explores how the organization benefited by training process. The purpose of this paper is to assess the benefits for the training and development in Retail organization. One of the most important resources of retail is their staff. In order to provide satisfactory service to their customer and able to face the future challenges, the staff should have proper skills which are continually develop.( Gower handbook,1991). It also outlines the special issue which identifies developments in the field of training for employees, recruitment, their transition to work, and their continuous development. Research objectives The research is focused on training and development on Marks and spencer with a view to wider application to other retailer in the country. Its objectives are to -Critically examine training needs in retail organization -Examine the role of managers in staff training and development -Examine approaches to training and development in the United Kingdom. Theoretical perspective relevant to the topics such as motivation Identify the approaches which could be adopted and make recommendations. Research Methods The research methodology will seek the answers to these questions as well as evidence as to which training needs have priority and which approach are most effective and relevant to the organization. The argument to be developed in this dissertation is that the most cost effective and culturally acceptable approach will be to identify training as an essential part of all manager roles and show how this might be implemented. The following are the types of research design that could be used -Research reviews -Qualitative research -Analysis of existing records -Ad hoc sample survey and regular surveys -Case study -longitudinal studies -Experimental Literature Review In order to explain the importance of training and development in an organisation the chapter is begin with the history of the subject, describe and discuses its definitions and benefits. It considers some model of training and development and some organisation of UK are using some of the models. History of training and development Human resources are considered by many to be the most important asset of an organization. Until now very few employers are able to exploit the full potential from their employees.(Jeff Lee,2005) Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is concerned with the contributions which human resource strategies can make to achieve organizational effectiveness and the ways to achieve those contributions (Jeff E Lee D, 2005). Strategic human resource development is the most current form of training and development where training and learning are strategically integrated vertically with organisational goals and horizontally to other HR activities (Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, thornhill and morrow 2007) Training and development can be identified as a planned process to improve the human capacity by modifying their skills, knowledge and attitudes. More recently the training and development term has been replaced by the term HRD (human resource development) which mainly focus on individual and organisational learning. The systematic approach training is described by as a cycle of four activities identify of HRD needs, plan and design HRD interventions to meet those indentify needs, implement the HRD interventions and finally evaluate the outcomes.( Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, thornhill and morrow 2007).This approach will be briefly discuss later part of the report. According to McCracken and Wallace, (2000) Strategic human resource development is a creation of a learning culture in which a range of training, development and learning strategies both respond to corporate strategy and help to shape and influence it. Based on the Garavans (1991) work, they redefined the nine key characteristic of SHRD practice. In their work they present SHRD as very strategically mature and compare with HRD and training where strategic maturity is absence. (Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, thornhill and morrow 2007) Key SHRD characteristics Integration with organisational missions and goals. Top management support. Environmental scanning. HRD plans and policies. Line manager commitment and involvement. Existence of complementary HRM activities. Expanded trainer role. Recognition of culture. Emphasis on evaluation Source: McCracken and Wallace (2000) Garavan(1995) state that many trainers find the tern SHRM difficult to accept, while they prefer the more softer term employee development or training and development. According to him HRD term is nowadays widely acceptable which means the planned learning and development of people as individual or group to benefit the organisation. McCracken and Wallace, (2000) state that, HRD is viewed as a strategic lever in organisations which helping the business to implement its business strategies. In their work they use the concept of training where they describe the level of sophistication which the organisation has with regard to training which helps to shape and formulate corporate strategy. McCracken and Wallace, (2000) suggested that the strategic HRD should shape and influence the organisational mission and goals. McCracken and Wallace, (2000) noted that SHRD should have a much more proactive and influential role which leads to a new model of SHRD which disguises the differences between Training which has a reactive and ad hoc implementation role in relation to corporate strategy. Organisation is very immature in terms of HRD and has no learning culture. Meanwhile HRD has a systematic implementation role which shows signs of corporate strategy. Organisation shows that it is beginning to develop a maturity in terms of HRD with the presence of nine Gravan (1991) characteristic and learning culture is also developing. Finally SHRD role is working toward shaping and responding to corporate strategy. The organisation has become strategically mature and there is a evidence of improved Garavan (1991) characteristic as well as presence of a strong learning culture (McCracken and Wallace, 2000).A model of SHRD which shows the continuum of HRD strategic maturity is portrayed below adopted from Millmore, Lewis, Saunders, thornhill and morrow 2007 work. HRD characteristic Training HRD SHRD HRD strategic maturity Organisation strategically is not mature in HRD terms Organisation is strategically is quite mature in HRD terms Organisation strategically very mature in terms of HRD. 1)Integration with Organisational missions And goals. 2) Top management Support. 3)Environmental scanning 4) HRD plan and policies 5)Line manager Commitment and involvement. 6)Existence of complementary HRM activities 7)Expanded trainer role. 8) Recognition of culture. 9) emphasis on evaluation. Little integration with organisation missions and goals. 2)very limited support. 3) Little awareness of environment. 4)Ad hoc responses to indentified problem. 5)Limited commitment and involvement. 6) Little or no horizontal integration of HR activities. 7) Lack of expanded trainer role. 8) little recognition of culture. 9)little emphasis on evaluation. Integration with organisational missions And goals. 2)active support 3)active environmental Scanning. 4)Systematically integrated with Organisational strategy. 5)line managers Commitment and involvement. 6)Existence of complementary HRM Activities. 7) Expanded trainer role. 8)recognition of Culture. 9)emphasis on evaluation. shaping organisational missions and goals. 2)adopt leadership role to HRD. 3)environmental scanning Done by senior management. 4)developed with strategy plan and policies. 5)strategic partnership with line management. 6)strategic partnership with HRM. 7)Trainers as organisational change consultants. 8)ability to influence corporate culture. 9)emphasis on cost effectiveness There are a number of reasons why training and development becomes an important issue for both organisations and management. All organisations in existence need a successful training programme to achieve their goal. It is an investment for any organisation which helps to improve its profitability, reduce its costs, increase the commitment and motivation of its people and release their potential. Training needs vary from one organisation to another and it is important to develop training techniques to meet training goals (www.ictknowledgebase). The Journal of E-learning (2008) stated that the purpose of training is to motivate their employees, to help their potential and develop them better with the current changing business environment of e-learning. The pace of change is increasing and it its really important for employer to keep up to date their employees. Skills gained yesterday are no longer appropriate for today. The combination of recessions, globalisation and changing technology has changed our live. Most of todays jobs demand multi skill. The days of needing one skill has replaced by the multi-skilled. Employees also need to prove their commitment to their job by developing own skills to maintain their marketability (Tony pont, 2003). The attitude of employers to training is also changing. Also there are still many employers see training as costly overhead, while many now recognise training is an investment for future.(Tony Pont,2003). According to training and development journal November 2009, A recent Accountemps/Robert Half survey found that in the past year, 26 percent of companies cut their professional development programs, according to senior executives. At the same time, 28 percent reported that their companies actually strengthened their training initiatives and 45 percent maintained the same programming. The survey also indicate that three quarter of organisation increased training level or kept training expenses at same level. After the industrial revolution, development of large organisations and systematic approach to manual work training began. Taylor and gilbreths works contributed to the importance of training by identifying the nature of job. Their research was to determine the most productive way of carrying out the work. In early 1930s hawthorns experiment in an electric plant in Chicago establish the fact what motivates staff at work place. After doing his research he was able suggest that management need to concern about the feelings and needs of employees. (Gower 1991). Defining the terms Manpower services commissions glossary of training terms (1981) identifies training as A planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behaviour through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future manpower needs of the organisations. Training does not only benefit the employees it is also beneficial for organisations. Training and development can be achieved by necessary attitude, skill and knowledge which can be affectively gained by a learner who can become more confident about their abilities. Training is about developing people and their skills and helping them to become more confident in their jobs. It is not only necessary to create a skilled workforce but also maintain the high level of skills which is demanded by constantly changing work environment (Reid Barrington, 2007). Training can be done by many different ways such as On-the-job training, informal training, classroom training, internal training courses, external training courses, on-the-job coaching, life-coaching, mentoring, training assignments and tasks, skills training, product training, technical training, behavioural development training, role-playing and role-play games and exercises, attitudinal training and development, accredited training and learning (Reid Barrington, 2007). Many different factors influence training responsibilities and roles. There are six major influences on training responsibilities and roles in the organisation such as the environment, goal and tasks, structure, technology and workforce of the organisation, and its political system. The political factors have such influence on the training role culture, commitment, expertise and interactions (Harrison, 1988). It is important for the trainer to identify the contribution of training to the business. They need to be aware of the close relationship between training and profit. Management must see training as an investment, which is needed not only to create a skilled workforce but also maintain the skills demanded by the constantly changing working environment. In order to add values to the business training should comply with the direction of the corporate and business strategy, which also need to help to meet business demand.(Tony pont,2003) According to Harrison, Development is the all-important process, through which individual and organizational growth can through time achieve their fullest potential. Education is a major contributor to that development process, because it directly and continuously affects the formation not only of knowledge and abilities, but of character and of culture, aspirations and achievements. Training is the shorter-term, systematic process through which an individual is helped to master defined tasks or areas of skill and knowledge to predetermined standards (Harrison, 1989 cited in Lundy Cowling, 1996). The explanation of differences in definition is that in the past the trainer knew the best and therefore they used to establish training needs for learners, they also set objectives; make up a training programme which will help learner to gain higher skills. But todays changing market individual is given more responsibilities to take care of their learning and development. It is necessary to consider the learners maturity, personal development and motivation.(Kenny and Reid 1986) Training and employee development is become a current trend of todays competitive job markets which makes employers more focused on organisational goals. Todays market is very competitive and an organisation has to fight for survival where training may largely be a matter of continuing to carry out long establishes routine. According to Armstrong (1996), Organisational Structure-Generally goals of an organisations and its total tasks and level of achievement of there tasks are crucial determinants of an organisations primary training needs. The organisations should therefore have a fundamental influence on determining what training activities, responsibilities and roles are to be performed. According to Harrison(1988), Organisational structure, Organisational technology and the workforce-Organisation need to plan training to improved job performance. There is a training cycle which is adopted by UK and based on a simple four stages model expressed as follows: First identify and specify the training need, then designa training programme, next implement the training and evaluate it. Having defined training strategy it is now necessary to define effective training strategy. Effective training Strategy: The term training strategy means that the overall approach chosen to assess training needs and the particular ways in which training will be carried out in the organisation for instance on the job, off the job etc. (Harrison, 1988). According to Mayo(2001)There are two main strategies which can be adopted in organisation total or comprehensive strategy and problem centred strategy. These two strategies are not against of each other. They are simple approaches which are the same in their general principle but might be fit in different situation. The Comprehensive strategy starts with strategy starts with an analysis of the corporate plan. This strategy is relevant for the organisation where the environment is relatively stable. And where longer term training can be developed with an acceptable chance. The problem centred apply in the organization where the environment of the organisation either unpredictable or competitive. Organisation like these needs training to help them deal with their immediate and pressing problems. Models of training and development For the purpose of this dissertation three models will discussed which is using by two UKs retail organisation. The models are the systematic training approach, strategic training and self development approach. The two uks organisations are Marks and Spencer and Tesco. Systematic training approach A system approach to training views the organisation as a complex set of subsystems and expects changes in one subsystem to acquiesce possible need to another. It is organisational approach but it can also help to produce individual or group plans such as early retirement training needs, a change in work requirements and learning needs.Armstrong1988 state that organisation need to adopt this approach to be successful and this means Identifying the training needs. Defining training objectives which must aim to achieve measurable goals in terms of improvement and changing. Preparing a plan to meet objectives and also the cost related to the whole process. Implementing the plans Monitoring and analysing the result And finally getting the feedback for evaluation Woods (1992)state that, avoid such problems and to provide complete guidelines, the training needs a systematic approach. He presented a the training cycle diagram which begins with developing the needs assessment, goes through training and implementation (identifying training objectives, contents, methods, implementation), and finally evaluating the program. As we are assessing the benefits of training needs and its benefits through organisation Woods training circle helps us to look at the four steps which should be followed by the organisation to gain the effectiveness. The first in the training process is the analysing the needs because every training program effect the work unit and organisation. The next step is identifications of training objectives. Woods (1992) recommended four categories of training goals: 1. Reaction-based: Investigates how employees feel about the issue. 2. Learning-acquired.: Examines how a trainee obtains knowledge about dealing with differences. 3. On-the-job behaviour: Analyzes the degree of behaviour change after the training. 4. Results-oriented: Measures the influence of training in improving technical skills for dealing with diverse people. The third stage in the training cycle is the establishment of the proper training content. The next stage is choosing and implementing the training program using proper methods. According to Harris and West, (1993).The methods of training vary substantially according to the circumstances of the company. Training can be done either on-the-job or in a place outside the workplace. On-the-job training can be effective when supervisors or trained instructors are involved in the actual work setting, while off-the-job training, including lectures, simulation and case studies, can be done without interrupting the everyday routine. While traditional methods are still useful, technology-based training using CD-ROM is increasingly in demand. The final stage of the training cycle is evaluation. Milkovich and Boudreau (1991) highlighted that training programs need to verify whether the training is successful in trainees performances in work settings. Strategic training approach Rothwell and kazanas 1989 state that the strategic training approach is based on the learners need for the future condition. This model is based on problem finding rather than problem solving. It will help reduce the gap between what the leaners need to know and what they should know. In order to identify the proper utilisation of this model, it is important to consider what needs to be done and what skills and knowledge needed. There is a difference between the skills and knowledge needed and the skills and knowledge currently employees have. Before implementing the plan it is necessary for employers to identify those gaps. The main aims of this approach is to identify training and non training needs.the training may be related to high cost but this cost can be avoid by selecting right training method. The learners need could be made through employee record, informal discussions, observations and interviews. To implementing this approach future learner expected to have the ability to learn, anticipation and motivation. They also require having some background skills and knowledge of strategic thinking. This approach aims to reduce cost; choice of method is depend on time, skills and available learning material. Training method can be selected from case studies, classroom lecture, role playing, group exercise, brain storming etc. Self-development training approach This model encourages managers to draw up their own self development plan. Reid, Barrington and brown (2004) state that, if managers are operating an environment where learning practice are encouraged, then thy should be focused on their own development without any doubt. But self development should not seen as alternative for the involvement of the managers. It is important for the mangers to show their staff that they take time to develop their own skills and competences. If management can prove staff their role as self developer, it will ensure their staff that self development is not as a responsibility but a benefit. Development is a step forward to a new level of potential where it requires external challenges and right internal perception of challenge. It is a self initiated challenges which need self discipline, creativity and learning. The primary motivation will come from self achievement, self fulfilment while reward and punishment should take as secondary. The self developer should be willing to take their own risk and able to judge where necessary. (Pedler, 1981). Assessing the benefits of an effective training and development strategy According to Armstrong (1996), A well-formulated training strategy should be able to influence an individuals Mind, Behaviour, Attitude, Communication, Critical analysis skills, Problem-solving, Interpersonal skills/relationship with peers and management, Working practices, Productivity, Performance, Time management, And motivation towards his/her responsibilities as an employee in an organisation. Those factors are important operationally and tactically, because in any organisation these are important aspects in relation to an organisations well being and successful functioning running, strategists and the top-level management of a company .According to Mayo(2001) Organisation may design and formulate Training Strategies, but it is the tactical and operational managers and their teams who eventually implement and execute those polices and strategies and it is necessary to understand that employees and workers at tactical and operational levels have the right training and developmen t given to them to enable them to successfully forward and reach the organisations aims, goals, and mottos. If the training strategy successfully enhances it will make all employees to give better contributors to the aims and objectives of the organisation, then the successful internal relationship between employees and the management of the organisation should make them a better organisation for their clients/customers and suppliers dealers.(Mayo,2001) There are so many debates going on now a day is training really useful for organisation or its just a waste of money. According to David (2008) training is just a waste of money and time for the organisation as because after giving trained employee a new area company just send them back in previous work role which is simply waste of time. He argues that before implementing any training programme it has to be well designed and effective which will help people to explore their experience, knowledge, self-awareness. For getting out the most from the training it is important to train people in their regular basic work where they can develop their skills. Before implement any strategy We have to ask ourselves a simple question which will help us to realise, at the end of the day who is the training strategy for, what is it for, and why is it there, what is it meant to accomplish and achieve for an organisation (David, 2008). The researcher learnt from various writers that most of the training and development benefits take long to occur. Most of the managers do not fancy opening up training oppurtunities for young graduates to fear of losing jobs. Most organization think that the planned training is expensive,they would rather have it an ad hoc basis. During the economic recession it is usually the training budget that is cut down. A well-designed comprehensive training strategy can bring about advantage to a business and an organisation, then no doubt its employees will be the ones who will be responsible for its practical implementation from top to bottom, and essentially its linked to the employee development incentive of any organisation. A training strategy cannot be successfully implemented by itself if employees are not developed up to standards that match the corporate scale of the business world at large and also an organisation. Training Strategy should enable the development and growth of its employees and use the potential, competencies, and the abilities that they seize and is inherent within them (www.icmrindia.org). Mullins (2005) distinguishes Groups and teams, and has mentioned that these two terms are often used interchangeably, according to him Teams tend to have more mutual understanding between each other collectively, and are more closely knit, whereas groups are a number of individuals assigned on a particular task, and the groups usually deconstructs once the task has been achieved, so the clear distinction here is that a team has mutual understanding, where as each person in a group is merely working towards their own individual goals and aspirations without actually showing much concern for the benefit of others in the group. If the training strategy successfully implemented it will improve the relationship between employees and organisation and help them better contribution to their aims and objectives of the organisation. Communication is an important tool for succession of training strategy. The way strategies are discussed, delegated, explained and communicated from the senior directors of a company to their employees, its help to understand both employees and employers each other need which will help them to implement the strategy more perfectly. Investing in and resourcing people developing them to a reasonable level will enable employees to feel valued and respected and cared for by their organisations, and this positive feeling will eventually reflect on their performance, and The training strategy should be benefiting two ways first of all it should up skill the standard of employee competence performance and these achievements should in turn enable employees to execute their organisations Training Strategy more effectively. (www.go2hr) Minimise cost and maximise positive outputs for the organisation should be the main objective of an effective training strategy, so a well devised strategy should take into account everything internal and external of relevance, importance, and matter that will be useful in approaching a good strategy as compared to a not so good one. The training strategy designed should also be of high efficiency; practical, feasible, and realistic in accordance with the nature of the organisation(www.go2hr). According to Hutchinson(2004) An effective training strategy should be to retain the best people in the organisation, and the Training Strategy should do this by balancing its corporate needs and providing the right level of employee development incentives to their staff, employees are the money maker of any organisation, they provide support and service if they feel that they are not valued by the organisation than the company would not be able to gain their target success, that is why it is e xtremely important that employees who are excelling in their role are provided for well during their time with their organisations. According to Truelove(2006) in any job role motivation is important factor in order for an employee perform towards their employer expectations. It is a complex matter because poor motivation may be due to many things such as boredom, lack of challenge, a feeling of being unappreciated. From the Victor Vrooms perspective in the motivation there are three variables which he calls valance, expectancy and instrumentality. Valance is important during motivating the people; it can be positive, neutral or negative personalities and circumstance will affect the perception of the outcome. In a training situation the perception is varied by person to person, may be highly valued by one person but no value for other. Expectancy is the belief that the individual has that he or she can achieve the outcome. The person will not feel motivated to do something if they feel that it is beyond them. So it is important to organise the training program which will help to raise expectancy level which will help to being able to achieve target. Instrumentality situation is linked to the expected outcome which can be actually achieved depend on the management promised. Its necessary to organise the course that will lead the employee towards their dream job. So in order for an organisation to benefit from its Trainings Strategy, organisations have to apply motivation dependent on the level of creativity and fun within the different job roles in their organisation. Examples may include fringe benefits, bonuses, and performance related pay. A Training Strategy can only be successfully implemented if an employee have the right knowledge understanding of the Training Strategy and has the development and training given to them. Benefits of Training According to the journal of Development and Learning in Organizations(2002)Global petrochemical group BP found that lack of training means lack of commitment. Few years ago when they look at their staff performance they found out that the turnover is nearly hundred people but the morality was low. People are not as loyal and dedicated they should be. Then the management decide to do a survey and they discover that lack of training is the main reason behind the poor performance. Taking into account this factor BP initiated a training program adding a NVQÂ  [1]Â  programme which attracts most employees and makes them committed to the programme. Its not only increase the employees pe

One Of The Hardest Things I had To Do - Original Writing :: Papers

One Of The Hardest Things I had To Do - Original Writing As we drove from the peaceful, secluded surroundings of Hertfordshire into the bustling hub of Heathrow's Terminal 4, it suddenly dawned on me how hard it would be for me to carry out this featà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It was the time I was most looking forward to. We had finally been allowed out of the school gates into our eight weeks of freedom. No work had to be handed in the next day, no teachers would moan how over worked, under paid they were and most of all it was not the winter. After careful deliberation my family and I decided to spend our two-week vacation in the all night city of Paris. We were looking forward to the 35oC weather, the theme parks built inside the over developed hotels and one of the greatest wonders of the world, the Eiffel tower. The hotel we wanted to stay at was called the Jolly Hotel Lotti. This hotel was like no other hotel I had ever seen. Not only did it have its own built in theme park with log flumes, roller coasters and any other ride imaginable but it also had twenty to thirty shops and restaurants all inside. To put it mildly, it was huge! On the 21st August, about a week before we left, we received a letter from the hotel's theme park. It told us that for one day only, they would be offering a free ride on the 'Screamer', for anyone who raised more than  £150 in sponsorship. Only when I watched the enclosed video in astonishment, did I realize what this 'ride' was. It was something I had always wanted to do, but had never managed to convince my parents that it was safe. I found out that it was the first bungee jump that allowed anyone over the age of nine to fly through the air at an exhilarating 80 mph at a g-force of 2.5, so you could understand what my parents' reaction would be to my interest.

Grandpas House Essay -- Observation Essay, Descriptive Essay

Grandpa's House As I walk in through the door, I begin to sense the feeling of warmth come over me. This is the feeling I get every time I arrive at my Grandpa's house in Price, Utah. It's where I spent the first five years of my life. This is my second home. My family and I live about four hours away from Price, but that still doesn't stop us from going to visit as often as possible. The drive there is rather boring, but it's worth being able to see the familiar landscape of my past. After driving through a small town known as Wellington, I know that I am within minutes of being able to glance at my second home. I wait with anxiety as the car makes its way ever closer to the bridge that crosses the river, which runs right by the property of my Grandpa. Ahead I can see the old house and all the rickety, old buildings and corrals surrounding it. The excitement mounts inside as I let myself out of the car and make my way up toward the front porch. As I gently touch the cold, handmade iron railings that line the wooden steps, I know I've reached my destination. As I stand in front of the dark brown, wooden door with its small, yet beautiful etched glass window, I remember all of the times that I have passed through this portal and entered the warm, comforting rooms inside. Before entering, I take a step back to admire this old, stubborn house. It's a two-story, white house with a three-car garage attached to it. My grandpa built the entire house from the foundation up and a lot of the items in it. After observing this scene for a few minutes, I continue to enter the house. I slowly turn the brass knob of the door and anticipate the feeling of acceptance inside. As I open the door, a flood of warmth passes over and through... ...e property. There are corrals and sheds, which are beginning to show the effects of deterioration. Several fruit trees stand in a small orchard, which is next to a garden plot. My Grandpa's shop can also be seen from the window. This is where my Grandpa likes to spend most of his time creating new inventions or fixing old items. As I depart from the kitchen, I walk into the living room. There is a terrifying ugly brown couch with a crocheted throw draped over it. Two more Lazy-Boy chairs sit by it. On the opposite side of the room from me is a stone fireplace with shelves built on either side of it. These shelves are filled with books on every topic one can think of. Subjects range from the Civil War to cooking and mechanics. Above the fireplace rests an old, dependable clock. As it strikes the hour with its dings and dongs, I know I am where I belong. I am home.

Director of Census 2000 Speaks :: Free Essay Writer

Director of Census 2000 Speaks â€Å"Let’s take a minute to think about how America lives,† Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, director of Census 2000, said to a gathering of students at Boston University today. â€Å"We have people living in igloos, houseboats, tree houses and cabins in the woods,† Prewitt said. â€Å"America is not a neat little row of urban houses.† â€Å"The census is two things: a count and assigning geography,† Prewitt explained. â€Å"The purpose of the census is to let the government know where people are.† At its peak, Census 2000 will be the third largest advertiser in the United States. It has poured millions into making sure people know its out there and also making sure that people acknowledge they must respond. However, there are several demographic groups, such as Native Americans and Latinos that are difficult to reach Prewitt blames two things for an undercount: attitude and demographics. Demographically, residents who do not live in one place, such as traveling salesmen who primarily live out of a suitcase, are undercounted along with people who have no where to live at all. Likewise, Native Americans have been previously undercounted because the isolation of reservations makes it difficult and expensive for the Census Bureau to get a count. Attitudinal problems affect people who fear the government, such as illegal aliens, and people who dislike the government. â€Å"We’re trying to talk the country into responding and fulfilling their civic responsibility,† Prewitt said, given the sharp decline in citizen response since the censuses of 1960 and 1970. Census 2000 is not just the government’s scientific exercise or collecting data to redistribute funds and power; this year, the Census Bureau is in partnership with 90,000 community leaders across the country, and the Bureau and the community are sharing the responsibility of getting the right numbers in responses.

Purinex Inc. Case Study Essay

Executive Summary 1. Statement of Problem This study is commissioned to analyze the Purinex, Inc. financing plan, which is related to determine the best financing alternative for the company in securing additional cash needed to establish a partnership with a large-capitalization pharmaceutical firm. Gilad Harpaz, Purinex’s chief financial officer believes a partnership deal could bring the company to execute its mission, developing drugs for the treatment of sepsis and diabetes. However, the problem facing Purinex is that—while there is a chance for Purinex to secure a partner in the next four to twelve months, Purinex just has available cash to last around 11 months; furthermore, there is still a very strong chance that a different partnership would occur about one year later. In short, Purinex is now facing the challenge of the lack of capital to reach the partnership deals. According to the case, Gilad Harpaz is considering three options for Purinex to solve the problem. To help identify the feasibility and attractiveness of these financing alternatives, this study is based on the decision tree approach to evaluate the options. 2. Discussion As described in the case, firstly, the partnership deal would entitle Purinex to receive a combination of up-front fees, milestone payments, and royalties for the treatment of either sepsis or diabetes (see Appendix 1 for the detailed information). Secondly, due to the lack of capital, there are three financing options: 1) raising a one-time round financing from a Venture Capital (VC) firm, 2) simply waiting in the expectation that either sepsis deal or the diabetes deal would come through, and 3) undertaking another one-time round financing from a number of angel investors. It is needed to note that when Purinex seeks external funding investments either from VC firm or angel investing, the investors will acquire certain equity in Purinex (see Appendix 2 for the expected ownership percentage). Nevertheless, if Purinex chooses to maintain 100 percent control, it would lose the opportunity to secure a third-party partnership which is anticipated to occur about one year later. The reason is that Purinex has only $700,000 cash on hand which is good only for around 11 months. It is important to note that this study is based on the following assumption—the  combination of monies for each partnership deal will be received once Purinex successfully secures a partner. In addition, the probability of establishing a partnership with a pharmaceutical company for the wait-6-months option is estimated to be 25% since the achieved partnership chance for the next four to twelve months is about 75% (see Appendix 3 for the calculation). Furthermore, the expected value (EV) for each financing option is derived from the calculation of the EV of the partnership deal, and it is based on the standpoint of the founder’s equity interest. As a result, the decision tree for Purinex’s financing plan is shown in Appendix 4. One can notice that based on the potential return and risk level, the financing alternative for waiting 6 months is ranked as the highest risk option in terms of offering the highest potential return. The reason is that Purinex does not have to share its earning with other parties. Thus, once the partnership agreement is reached, Purinex’s founders can obtain the entire EV of $325 million. However, the major risk associated with this option is Purinex has far less opportunity to secure a partner. While there is a 75% chance for VC and angel financing options to achieve the partnership deal, this option just has a 25% probability. Furthermore, the VC and angel financing options still hav e the other chance—a 95% probability—to secure a different partnership about one year later. With regard to the VC option and the Angel option, it seems like the VC option provides a higher return for the sources of cash since this option just takes 3 months to complete the process and could offer Purinex $10 million, which enables Purinex to survive another 15 years. In addition, the VC option will improve 10% for the terms of either drug deal. However, this study would consider financing from angel investors is more feasible and attractive for Purinex based on the analysis of decision tree. The decision tree shows the fact that VC firms would require 40 percent of the equity in Purinex, resulting in the situation of having less EV. Perhaps the most important factor is that there is a very strong chance—a 98.75% possibility (100% – [25% * 5%])—that a partnership deal will come through during the following two years, and thereby raising $2 million form angel investors is quite enough for Purinex to secure the partnership deal. In addition to the analysis of decision tree, there is still a qualitative consideration that has impact on structuring the decision. Indeed, with the external financing,  the existing owners share composition will be changed that would trigger the control power issue and impose a significant number of restrictions on Purinex, including preferences for board appointments, antidilution rights liquidity, participation, and negative covenants. Therefore, choosing the angel option would offset this negative impact because Purinex’s ownership percentage will still be 89.74%, which is much greater than a 60% for the VC option. 3. Recommendation Fundamentally, the goal of Gilad Harpaz is to seek the best financing alternative for Purinex in securing additional funds in order to accomplish the partnership deals and maximize the value of Purinex today. Based on the presented analysis of decision tree, a major finding of this study is that Gilad Harpaz should try to adopt and implement the angel financing strategy which has a maximum EV along with lower risk. However, with this strategy, the issue of dilution in the founder’s equity interest is still needed to be considered. In addition, in order to pursue the future growth, Purinex should try to employ the partnership strategy to generate more sales at a short period of time. Hence, this study believes, based on the decision tree approach, the best financing alternative for Purinex is financing with Angel investors along with the partnership strategy.

Language Learning in Early Childhood Essay

Early childhood education and early schooling for young children usually starts at the age of three; however, language learning for all human begins at the very early age. Many new born babies start to communicate with meaningless words like pa and ba; perhaps, it is the first stage they want to begin learning how to speak. The question arises with a grappling impression of why it happens, and what pushes them to superfluously generalize those meaningless sounds. The reason behind this amazing issue is what has engaged many psychologists and linguists all over the area of language research projects around the world. Beginning to simply answer this question, Lightbown and Spata (2010), state that in very early stages children produce a specific group of repeated words to convey their thoughts: for example, a comfortable baby frequently repeats cooing and gurgling; however it is not the case with a hungry child. Moreover, they assert that the process of learning to communicate falls into different sequential stages, which is the focus of this paper. According to Lightbown and Spata (2010), as children grow up, the sense for communication eagerly start to discover many features of the language that gives them the idea of how meaning relationships are created through the language. A twelve years old month baby exactly knows the meaning of cookies; he/she is still unable to use an appropriate language to ask questions about that. To state the matter differently, the linguistic cognitive development gradually unfolds the puzzle of how language is manipulated to express ideas. Many children who could not produce correct grammatical utterances, they would learn that in later years as they hear complete sentences from the environment they live. Vygotsky (1976) (citing Lightbown and Spata, 2010), believes that a great deal of children language is acquired through interactions with families and friends; however, B. F Skinner, and American psychologist, explain the acquisition of language in term of behaviorism that marks learning of a language as practice of reproducing what children hear or receive in daily conversation. In addition to these two theories, Noam Chomsky, a well-known figure in linguistics; argue that children are innately capable of learning language; though, the surrounded environment provides them with fundamental contributions that help them learn the basic language rules. Although learning a language is a natural process, but things get worst if we think about negative aspects of language acquisition. In attachment with some biological types of obstacles in acquiring a language like deafness, articulatory problems, and dyslexia, there is one last hurdle oppositely functioning in course of language learning, which is called bilingualism. Children who face a different language during school periods, it is too difficult for them to maintain their first language, and they often lose the normal range of their native language. In this case, children are said to be caught in a confusing dilemma. They haven’t completely learned their native language not have been learning the other one. â€Å"To deal with the problem, we suggest the maintenance of the first language while a second language is being learned† (Lightbown and Spata. 2010, p 26). Indeed, it is concluded that language learning is a series of interconnected stages which is progressed within the first three years of child’s age. Many psychologists and Linguists have presented different ideas about language acquisition; however, they only partially understand about how language is learned. Besides, since Language is a social phenomenon, it must be the result of some interactive means of communication between human beings. Children have some kind of innate capacities that predispose them not only learn their native language but also enables them to learn languages that are spoken in the place they live.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

You ever wish there was a step-by-step guide to life? Something that can help you improve your self-image, build friendships, and most importantly achieve your goals? In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, it guides you to live up to your potential by inspiring and motivating you with positive strategies. In addition, this book is filled with quotes and stories about real people in real scenarios, making this relatable to any age group facing difficult situations. â€Å"Look at this as an opportunity to grow† (Covey 57). I have always been a huge procrastinator.I would put off my schoolwork until the last minute and then cram it all the night before. And to top that off I was also a Yes-man so I would worry about my friends’ work rather than my own. Definitely not a good combination. You can obviously notice the lack of performance I showed, especially in my grades. I went from being a straight â€Å"A† student, to a â€Å"B and C† average. I didn†™t pay much attention to it though because everyone else had the same problem as well. I was surrounded by procrastinators, leading me to think that what I was doing was acceptable.It was not until I started to read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens that I noticed my bad habit. I didn’t even consider it a habit until I read a part in the book and realized that it sounded so familiar. Like if they had used my own personal experience and wrote it down word by word. I never really put any thought to how a simple thing can cause such an effect to me, and not just in my school life, but also my personal life. It was that moment when I promised myself to change. Change into a better me because I am capable of better. I am capable of being a Prioritizer, instead of a Procrastinator.I am capable of living a healthy and balanced life. I am capable of achieving my lifetime goals and continuously live up to my full potential. But how can I make a change? Where do I even begin? Wh en my teacher introduced me to this book, I had finally found the solution to my problems. Because unlike any other book, this book feels like it speaks directly to me. Like if it was my very own personal mentor, but even better because it’s in the comfort of my own hands. It not only pointed out my flaws, but also suggested various forms of how I can make a change. I am habit† (Covey 1). Little by little, I was slowly improving my way of life. I highly recommend everyone to read this book, even if you feel that you’re perfectly fine. Just read it and if you can relate to any of the stories used in the book, then you know that you have to fix something in your life. Take it as a blessing. â€Å"These problems are real, and you can’t turn off real life. So I won’t. Instead, I’ll give you a set of tools to help you deal with real life. What are they? The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens† (Covey 5).

Augustinian Theodicy and Irenaean Theodicy Essay

The problem of evil is a significant and enduring philosophical and theological debate. A question is often raised and discussed: if God is both all-loving and all-powerful, then how can evils-including natural evil and moral evil—exist in our world? In response to the charge that the evils of the world are incompatible with God’s omnipotence and perfect goodness, the word†theodicy† is coined to deal with the problem of evil. Usually it is an attempt to show that it is possible to affirm the omnipotence of God, the love of God, and the reality of evil without contradiction. Two of the most well-known and most frequently discussed theodicies are the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy. The Augustinian theodicy was constructed by Saint Augustine (345-430 AD) and is the main traditional Christian response to the problem of evil. The Augustinian Theodicy holds the view that because God is perfect, the world was created free of imperfections. God cannot be blamed for evil and suffering since God didn’t create them, on the contrary, evil comes from angels and humans who act less than perfectly and choose through free will to sin and disobey God. Natural evil is an appropriate punishment because humanity destroyed the natural order, we have all sinned so we all deserve to be punished. Quite different from the Augustinian theodicy, the Irenaean theodicy which was created by Saint Irenaeas (130-202 AD) and later developed by John Hicks and Richard Swinburne doesn’t see the world as created all-good and describes an almost opposite process compared with the Augustinian theodicy. It holds that humans were initially created as immature and imperfect beings; they were created in the image of God, but not His likeness. Mankind’s goal is to achieve that likeness. Such perfection and likeness of God cannot be ready-made, it can only be developed through free will choices, and we can only become moral and develop through making moral judgments. Natural evil has to be created in order to help man progress. According to Irenaean theodicy, the suffering of the world will be justified with the reward of heaven, and this is a heaven for all, everybody will go to heaven by achieving the likeness of God. The following passages are mainly devoted to the discussion of the distinctions between the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy. First, the different theories of evil are where a foremost and drastic distinction emerges. In the Augustinian theodicy, the main philosophical position is the idea of the negative or privative nature of evil. Evil here is seen as a matter of privation-in each created being, evil is that which deprives it of the particular form or purpose which is natural to it. In other words, evil is not substance, not a â€Å"thing†, but a privation of good, an absence of good and a falling away from good. It always consists of the malfunctioning of something that is in itself good. For example, shadow is not a proliferation of darkness, but an absence of light. Since evil is a lack of something, it is not something that was created by God, but comes from angels and humans who act less than perfectly. When human being’s free will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil. So human beings are totally responsible for evil because evil is the result of hu man error. In the Irenaean theodicy, however, evil plays an important role in the gradual creation of a perfected humanity through life in a highly imperfect world. Then a question â€Å"Why can’t God just create us as perfect as in Augustinian theodicy?† is raised. To this question, John Hick gave a fully and vivid explanation in his book Philosophy of Religion. He cleverly points out: if the world were a paradise from which all possibility of pain and suffering were excluded, then the consequences would be very far-reaching, nothing bad, nothing suffering would exist in this world, no one could ever be injured by accident, people could do anything immoral they want without hurting other people†¦ As a result, in a world free of real dangers, difficulties, problems, obstacles, there will be no meaning for the real good qualities as generosity, kindness, love, prudenceetc to exist. God had to allow the possibility of evil, because if there were no such possibility man would not be free to choose good over evil. If there were no evil and suffering humans would always follow God’s law because there would be no difficulties in doing so. The evils in this world are required by a God of love who seeks the development of his free creatures from their original innocence into fully mature spiritual beings. In other words, we human beings learn to be morally mature enough to grow closer to God. Evil can lead us to the final goodness and perfection. In this regard, God is partly  responsible for the evil in the world. Second, Augustine sticks close to the biblical text, whereas Irenaeus ties his theory less to the biblical text. As the more authentically biblical view, the Augustinian theodicy is based on the Bible and does not contradict the scriptures; it follows the traditional Christian interpretation of the creation story in the Genesis: God creates the world perfectly in six days, Adam and Eve—-the ancestors of human beings—live in the Garden of Eden happily, until one day Eve is tempted by a serpent and eats the forbidden fruits and is finally driven out of the Paradise. By eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Eve commits the first sin. Augustine’s theodicy could be seen as consistent with this interpretation of the text. Moreover, he uses other Biblical ideas of God, and defends the perfection of God by maintaining that evil is a privation and not a substance, and that evil comes from human sinfulness. Humans deserve the consequences of natural evil and they are responsible for their own suffering through abuse of their own free will. The Irenaeus theodicy, on the contrary, is not compatible with biblical teaching. As a matter of fact, it is in many ways just the opposite of the interpretation of the Bible by claiming that God is partially responsible for evils. Third, in comparison to the Augustinian theodicy being a â€Å"Soul deciding† theodicy, the Irenaean theodicy is a â€Å"Soul making† theodicy. â€Å"Soul deciding† means that different consequences come as a result of the free will of human beings. So if a person chooses to do a morally wrong act a consequence will follow. A â€Å"soul making† theodicy is applied by irenaeus, which means to move from the state of imperfection through moral struggle toward eventual completed humanization. Besides the distinctions mentioned in the above passages, the Augustinian theodicy and Irenaean theodicy are often compared by people in many other aspects. For instance, Augustine leaves some people a long way from God whereas Irenaeus explains how everyone can reach heaven through moral struggle; for Augustine God is remote from man, having been distanced by his sin whereas for Irenaeus, as we make this progress we grow closer to God, reducing the epistemic distance between us and God; the Augustine’s theodicy is often thought of as a pessimistic and â€Å"tragic†Ã‚  theodicy whereas the Irenaean theodicy is generally conceived as a â€Å"comic† theodicy as is more positive and optimistic. Not surprisingly, the two theodicies also have some similarities, the most common one is that both of them trace evil back to human free will: for Augustine it is the reason why angels and human beings fall from the ultimate goodness of heaven, and what they use to disobey God, but for Irenaeus it is a part of God’s plan because it allows self-development, people also use this free will to disobey God and it causes suffering, but this suffering can help them to develop their character in order to choose to embrace goodness or evil. In conclusion, the Augustinian theodicy and the Irenaean theodicy are two sharply contrasted theodicies: the Augustinian theodicy which is also known as the â€Å"soul deciding† theodicy, stresses the role of the Fall, and sees evil as either sin or the result of sin; whereas the Irenaean theodicy, which regards evil as a requirement by a God of love to let his free creatures to develop from their original innocence into fully mature spiritual beings. Thus, our world becomes â€Å"the vale of soul-making†. Since the day of their births, the two theodicies have respectively received many praises as well as criticisms and challenges. Many deficiencies are found in both of the two theodicies. As a matter of fact, the problem of evil, far from being solved, is still open to discussion. References Day, Elizabeth. â€Å"Geneticist claims to have found’God gene’ in humans.† The Washington TimesWorld. 15 Nov 2004. Copyright 2004 News WorldCommunications, Inc. Hick, John. â€Å"An Irenaean Theodicy.† A John HickReader. Ed. Paul Badham. Philadelphia:Trinity Press International, 1990. 88-105. Ridley, Matt. Genome. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000