Pan-Europa Foods

ASSIGNMENT I: Multi Projects Inc. EVALUATING THE CASE STUDY AND PROPOSING A SOLUTION Student Names: Clement Nsala, Thapelo Monyere, Samuel Phiri, and G. Chabane DUE DATE: 16th March 2011 Executive Summary This report evaluated the current problems being faced by Multi Projects, Inc. which is a well established consulting firm employing a strong workforce of 400 people and is enjoying good business from previous clients as well as targeting projects from growing companies. The report identified problems that are affecting the smooth running of the firm.It identified the main problems affecting the firm as over utilization of resources, poor communication and failure to call project kick off meeting. Other problems identified were, over reliance on one resource person, misrepresentation of facts by personnel as well as Problem of running a matrix organization structure. The report recommended the firm to continue using the matrix organizational structure and explore the possibility of creating a position for a programme manager, improve on its communication skills acro ss all functions.There is need for a management development programme for all their project managers. It further suggested the firm to develop more of their systems engineers support and expose them in challenging projects so that they gain the experience and exposure. There was another recommendation to manage people’s working hours and overtime carefully so that they are within legal limits. Introduction There are various organisational structures that firms can use to mange their business.These include functional, pure project and matrix type organizational structure. Matrix-Type Organisation Structure is a mixture of functional and pure project organisation structure and is used by companies that work on several projects at the same time. It is a structure that provides projects and customer focus as well as retaining functional experts and individuals can be assigned to various projects at the same time depending on the situation at hand.Both the project manager and the functional manager have responsibilities on the project team where the functional manager identifies who to be assigned to the project and how tasks will be implemented and where the project manager is the link between the customer, the project and the company. Multi Projects Inc. is a consulting firm with a complement of 400 employees which has a multiple projects running at the same time for various clients most of which are from previous projects due to its good reputation in customer satisfaction.It also needs to expand its customer base by targeting growing companies for future business and has adopted the matrix type organisation structure. Evaluation of the Case Study Although Multi Projects Inc. embarks on several projects at the same time and has a good reputation of satisfying its customers, it is faced with a number of challenges and upon evaluating the Multi Projects Inc. the following challenges were identified as discussed below. It has been observed that Multi Project s Inc. as been awarded a project by the Growin Corporation which it has been long proposed and no feedback has been heard for some time and it was good news to Multi Projects Inc. since it was also their wish to do business with Growin Cooperation. Upon receiving the news from Growin Cooperation, the project manager (Jeff Armstrong) who was drawing the project proposal on behalf of Multi Projects Inc. got too excited as he has been looking forward to embark on a challenging project as well as the Growin Cooperation Project.However, the Project Manager did not call a project kick-off meeting which its aim is to involve all stakeholders and map a better way forward to better handle the project within all agreed budgets and time frame. Project kick off meeting is the best opportunity for a project manager to energize his or her team. Although a project kick off meeting appears to be a simple meeting with stakeholders of the project, a successful project kick off meeting requires proper planning. Available: http://www. tutorialspoint. om/managementy_concept/project_kick_off_meeting. htm, 2011 The other challenge facing the firm is poor communication skills displayed by Jeff. It has been discovered that there are no proper communication channel and plans in the firm. This is evident because in the case study, Jeff displayed un professional conduct by knocking on everyone’s door and inspiring Tyler to his project despite the fact that he is engaged in another project which is of utmost importance to the firm. His approach was unbecoming and it is lack of respect for others in a work place.In a work place and for a company to achieve its objective, it should have a proper communication skills and plan in place so as to build trust and confidence for both employees and clients. Jeff has been seen interrupting Jennifer without considering what Jennifer was doing to tell her he wanted to have Tyler in the Growin’s project. This was not good communication a nd also lack of respect for others. Jeff also implied that Tyler wanted to work on the Growin Project whereas in the actual fact it was not the case. This was misrepresentation of facts which was a result of poor communication skills.Jeff Armstrong failed to display interpersonal relationship with his work mates/peers. The way he approached Jennifer about engaging Tyler on the Growin project was like giving her instruction on what to do in her department whereas Jennifer being Tyler’s functional manger was the one to assign a system engineer to that project. The way he approached Julie on the same issue also is a cause for concern as he interrupted her in her meeting. It has also been observed that Jeff was an ambitious and arrogant individual who would do anything he could to get what he wanted.This is unhealthy for an organisation and can lead to the possibilities of loosing existing and prominent clients. If all other managers go with Jeff, chances are that they may lose b usiness from both Growin and Goodold projects. Goodold awarded Multi Projects Inc. the project because they were promised that Tyler will be working on the project and once he is moved to the Growin Project, Multi Projects Inc. would not have honoured their agreement and Goodold may feel betrayed hence terminate the agreement. Another identified challenge was over reliance on one resource person to implement projects.Over reliance on one resource person is very risky for a company and was a result of lack of delegation and transfer of skills. It is very crucial in an organisation to transfer skills between team members so that the organisation functions fully under any circumstances. The dangers associated with gate keeping (keeping all to oneself) are that if the person that is being relied upon resigns from the company or otherwise, the firm is going to face huge problems in executing projects at hand as well as those, that it intends to acquire as this is going to lead to lead to not satisfying the customer or the project sponsors.It is very imperative for a firm to adopt an in house development aimed at skill transfer so that it positions itself better for any circumstance that may arise. If Tyler had transferred his skills to other team members, conflict regarding the Growin Project would have been avoided and hence assign one of the system engineers. Over reliance on one person is unhealthy for both the institution and an individual because he would be over worked and over stretched and in the final analysis the production would be lowered and customer satisfaction is compromised.Once customer satisfaction is compromised, existing, prominent and aspiring clients may lose trust in the firm and eventually terminate deals with them. Since Project managers in Multi Projects Inc. over rely on Tyler Bonilla and managers wanted him to work on their projects at the same time, it is likely to experience a situation where other projects would not meet deadlines th us resulting in schedule overrun. The effects of this schedule overrun will ultimately result in the executive spending more time in building customer relations.Another identified challenge was the Problem of running a matrix organization structure. A Matrix Organisation Structure is very good for organisations that are conducting multiple projects all at the same time. This type of organisational structure has a dual reporting structure which requires establishing guidelines for communication plans. If there are no guidelines established lack of balance of power between project and functional mangers may create conflicts between them regarding priorities, work assignments, technical approaches to the work and changes of team members between projects.It is stated in the ehow. co. uk that â€Å"drawbacks of matrix structure include unclear reporting channels and orders, according to the International Journal of Project Management. Since the workforce is responsible both to the depar tmental manager and the project manager, there is a danger of confusion and duplication of effort. For example, an individual assigned to a particular project may find it difficult to work efficiently because of conflicting orders given by the department manager†. Available: http://www. ehow. co. uk/list_6706504_basic-types-organizational-structures. tml#ixzz1G6J8UkEl Another challenge identified during the case study evaluation is that Multi Projects Inc. does not have the position for the programme manager who is the overseer of all projects in an organization. Projectmanagementcertification. com states that â€Å"the programme managers role include resolving any outstanding issues among project teams that cannot be resolved within the team as well as assigning project managers and assisting in project team staffing†. Available: http//projectmanagementcertification. org/managernotes/rules_and_responsibilities. html.If Multi Projects Inc, had this position conflicts ca used by Jeff would not have been experienced because the programme manager would have guided Jeff Armstrong on how to go about it rather than moving around and displayed his ignorance before his peers. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS 1. Project Kick – Off Meeting It is imperative for the kick off meeting to be called by the project manager so that he takes all stakeholders to the project on board. Project kick off meetings are aimed at avoiding conflicts that may arise during the project implementation as well agreeing with functional manager’s about resources allocation.Dennis Lock (2007:325) states that, â€Å"The first execution action of the project manager is usually to call an initial meeting, often called the ‘kick – off’ meeting, which gives the project manager the opportunity to outline the main features of the project to managers whose departments will work on the project, and to the most senior design staff and other key people†. This is the me eting Jeff Armstrong was supposed to call for after his appointment as the project manager so as to assemble his project team and get support and commitment to his project from the functional managers.A lot of issues regarding the project are discussed in this meeting and chief among others is the project risk. The newly assembled project team has to assess all the risks that they might face which might affect the progress of the project and then develop ways to minimize or overcome them. â€Å"If the organization is a matrix, the task is more difficult – even getting people to attend the meeting becomes a question more of invitation and persuasion rather than issuing a direct summons† Dennis Lock (2007:325). 2. Lack of Communication SkillsGood communication skills are an essential skill for project managers since they are the responsible for communication with the client, project team and executive management in the company. Meredith and Mantel (2003:137), defines the benefits of good communication as â€Å"In order to meet the demands of the job of project manager – acquiring adequate resources, acquiring and motivating personnel, dealing with obstacles, making project goal trade – offs, handling failure and fear of failure, and maintaining the appropriate patterns of communication – the project manager must be a highly skilled negotiator†.Suppose Jeff had practised some of these fine skills therefore there wouldn’t have been any conflict at all regarding the request for the release of Tyler for the Growin project. Jennifer as the systems manager was supposed to call for an urgent meeting with Jeff, Julie and all her systems engineers to explain the criticality of the Goodold project and solicit for alternative ideas regarding secondment of a systems engineer to the Growin project on a temporary basis until Tyler completes his assignment on Goodold project.Tyler is supposed to be sent for some short courses on delegation skills soon after the Goodold project. Julie was supposed to postpone her trip so as to attend this important meeting because it has an effect on her project. Clements and Gido (2009:310) state that, â€Å"Effective communication establishes credibility and builds trust†. Jeff needs to learn and improve on the soft skills of communication so as to gain credibility and trust among his new project team so that they could all pull together for the deliverance of the Growin project objective. Projectsmart. om states that, ‘communication is so important to project success that it has been referred to as the lifeblood of a project by more than one practitioner. Jack Vinson talks about the importance of communication across project interfaces – interfaces being boundaries between different groups within an extended project team. He views interfaces as constraints that limit project success. On reflection, I realised that many project communication issues I'v e encountered have, in fact, occurred at interfaces. In this post I explore the notion of an interface as an obstacle to project communication’.Available: http/www. projectsmart. co. uk/obstacle-to-project-communicatio. html Projectmanagementskills. com also states that ‘an accomplished manager in any capacity must be able to communicate effectively whether you are getting the latest budget figures from accounting down the hall or contacting the CEO of a large corporation with the updated schedule’. Available: http/www. projectmanagementskill. com/communication. html 3. Over – Reliance On One Resource Person / Lack of Delegation Tyler is expected to take advantage of the matrix organization structure that Multi Projects, Inc.Company is using so as to impart and transfer his knowledge and skills to the junior systems engineers in the company. Clements and Gido (2009:412) states that â€Å"The matrix type organization provides opportunities for people in th e functional components to pursue career development through assignment to various types of projects†. This is the opportunity that Tyler must be utilising in knowledge transfer, coaching and mentoring junior system engineers so that he doesn’t carry most of the workload. Failure to implement that will only cause him â€Å"burn out† due to working on too many projects and spending too many overtime hours.In his case he could delegate responsibility but still retains accountability so that he maintains the excellent reputation he has with the clients for Multi Projects, Inc. Company. â€Å"Great delegations build trust, develop skills in those to whom the tasks have been delegated and free the leader to work on other things†: http://www. teal. org. uk/EasyPrint/epdelegati. htm Tyler should be encouraged to meet regularly with Jennifer instead of once a month so that he keeps her updated on his progress and problems that he is encountering.This can help Jenn ifer realise what intervention methods she can implement so as to help him. She can send him to short courses on delegation among other development courses. 4. Lack of respect / Misrepresentation of Facts Successful project managers need to be very good leaders and managers as well at the same time. Jeff needs for to be a good manager so that he command trust from his project team members as well as work colleagues. Lack of respect and misrepresentation of facts can cause people to loose trust in him. Multi Projects, Inc.Company should be best, advised to run a competency based assessment system to evaluate all their project managers’ skills. It might not only be Jeff who in any case has showed his lack of respect and misrepresentation of facts which must be taken seriously because consultancy firms are more customers – focused. The project manager needs to gain credibility amongst customers as well as the project team that he is leading by being honest. Once a need is identified, amongst all the project managers for training and development, therefore there is need for training to be scheduled as soon as possible.This will ultimately transform Jeff to not only earn his team’s respect but also their trust and commitment, as well to the project. 5. Problem of Running A Matrix Organization Structure A matrix organization structure is a hybrid set up consisting of a functional and pure project type organizational structure. There is team work between the project manager who is responsible for delivering the project and the functional manager who is responsible for availing the resources needed to deliver the project. Multi Projects, Inc. Company is encouraged to continue running their business using the matrix organization structure.This set up is more customers focused and lines of communication are very clear and dual in nature. The project manager is the one who communicates with the customer and top management. When problems are imminent the project team communicates directly with the project manager as well as their functional managers. In this way there is a greater chance that problems will be identified and rectified on time. There is efficient utilization of resources and skills are transferred from project to project because people with common discipline are grouped together and learn from one another.Multi Projects, Inc. Company runs too many projects all at the same time and this matrix organization structure is more ideal for their operations. Clements and Gido, (2009) relates that, â€Å"It’s appropriate for companies that are working on multiple projects at any one time and projects that vary in size and complexity† for using matrix organizational structure. 6. No Position For A Programme Manager The programme manager is the head of the projects management office and project managers report to him as well as the projects support office staff.When projects come up in the organization, he assi gns a project manager to the project and at times one project manager can be assigned several different projects depending on the criticality of the project. If Multi Projects, Inc. Company had a position for a programme manager, the conflict that was caused by Jeff would have been solved amicably because one of the responsibilities of the programme manager is to resolve priority conflicts between projects competing for resources within the same organization. Clements and Gido (2009), re-enforces the importance of the position of

Merits and Demerits of Shakespeare

Merits and Demerits of Shakespeare In Preface to Shakespeare, Johnson has shown the merits and demerits of Shakespeare based on the plays he has edited. Here he gives the readers some sound ideas about the virtues and faults of Shakespeare. That Shakespeare's characters have am interaction with nature and that his works have a universal appeal are the major assertions of Johnson in favour of Shakespeare's merits and what he says about the demerit of Shakespeare is that Shakespeare tries more to please his audience than to instruct them which is a serious fault because it is always a writer's duty to make the world morally better.However, what Johnson has seen as the merits and demerits of Shakespeare are given below: Merits of Shakespeare: At first Johnson explicates Shakespeare's virtues after explaining what merit can be determined by the Shakespeare's enduring popularity. He proceeds thence to elevate Shakespeare as the poet of nature. â€Å"Nothing can please many, and please lo ng, but just representations of general nature† (7). He says, â€Å"Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life†. 8). Again he says that Shakespeare's characters â€Å"are the genuine progeny of common humanity † In the writings of other writers , a character is too often an individual but a character of Shakespeare has a universal appeal, and his characters are the representatives of the common people. Moreover Shakespeare is a prophet figure and from his writings we find the ideas of worldly wisdom and the principles which are of value in society and at home. He says, â€Å"from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence. (9) Again he says that by writings Shakespeare brings out the whole sphere of life. Moreover his heroes are like common human beings. And the qualities that are found in Shakespearean heroes can be found in every human being. As he says , â€Å"Shakespeare has no heroes; his scenes are occupied only by men, who act and speak as the reader thinks that he should himself have spoken or acted on the same occasion† (13) In his characterization and dialogue, Shakespeare â€Å"overlooks the casual distinction of country and condition,† striking at the center of humanity (15).The nature captured by Shakespeare's characters is exhibited in the â€Å"ease and simplicity† of their dialogues (10) Indeed, Johnson points out, the distinctions of character stressed by such critics as Voltaire and Rymer impose only artificial burdens on the natural genius of Shakespeare. He lays an enormous stress on Shakespeare's adherence to general nature. He states: â€Å"Shakespeare always makes nature predominate over accident; and if he preserves the essential character, is not very careful of distinctions superinduced and adventitious.His story requires Romans or kings, but h e thinks only on men. â€Å"(15) Johnson goes further in his defense of the Bard's merit, extending his argument from the characters within his plays to the genre of the plays themselves. In the strictest, classical sense of the terms, Johnson admits, Shakespeare's works cannot be fairly called comedies or tragedies. For this too, his plays earned harsh criticism from Johnson's contemporaries. Johnson, though, sees in the mixture of sorrow and joy a style which â€Å"approaches nearer than either to the appearance of life† (20).Demerits of Shakespeare: His praise for Shakespeare, which centers on the Bard's sublunary approach to character, dialogue, and plot, does not blind him to the poet of nature's weaknesses. Johnson airs Shakespeare's imperfections without hesitance. In doing so, though, he does not weaken his arguments; he simply establishes his credentials as a critic. As Edward Tomarken points out, â€Å"for Johnson, criticism requires, not intrusive sententiae, but evaluative interpretations, decisions about how literature applies to the human dilemma† (Tomarken 2).Johnson is not hesitant to admit Shakespeare's faults: his earlier praise serves to keep those flaws in perspective. Even without that perspective, however, Johnson's censure of Shakespeare is not particularly harsh. For the most part, Johnson highlights surface- level defects in the Bard's works: his â€Å"loosely formed† plots, his â€Å"commonly gross† jests, and- most ironically-his â€Å"disproportionate pomp of diction and a wearisome train of circumlocution† (Johnson 34, 35). The most egregious fault Johnson finds in Shakespeare, though, is thematic.Unsurprisingly, Johnson exhibits emphatic distaste for Shakespeare's lack of moral purpose. Johnson argues that he † He sacrifices virtue to convenience, and is so much more careful to please than to instruct, that he seems to write without any moral purpose † (33). In leading â€Å"his per sons indifferently through right and wrong† and leaving â€Å"their examples to operate by chance,† Shakespeare has abandoned his duty as an author as the righteous Johnson would have that duty defined (33). This is, in his eyes, Shakespeare's greatest flaw, though it does not supercede his other merits.Shakespeare's plots, he says, are often very loosely formed and carelessly pursued. He neglects opportunities of giving instruction or pleasure which the development of the plot provides to him. He says, â€Å"The plots are often so loosely formed, that a very slight consideration may improve them, and so carelessly pursued, that he seems not always fully to comprehend his own design. † (34). Again he says that in many of his plays, the latter part does not receive much of his attention. This charge is certainly true.The play of Julius Caesar clearly shows a decline of dramatic interest in its second half. He says, â€Å"It may be observed, that in many of his pl ays the latter part is evidently neglected. When he found himself near the end of his work, and, in view of his reward, he shortened the labour, to snatch the profit. â€Å"(35) Next, Johnson considers Shakespeare's style and expression. According to him there are many passages in the tragedies over which Shakespeare seems to have laboured hard, only to ruin his own performance.The moment Shakespeare strains his faculties, or strains his inventive powers unnecessarily, the result is tediousness and obscurity. However, Johnson adopts purely a neo-classical point of view which emphasizes the didactic purpose of literature as much as its pleasing quality. In this respect we can't agree with Johnson's condemnation of Shakespeare. Because all that we can expect from an artist is that he should give us a picture of life as he sees it.

Communication in Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication in Economics - Essay Example hased in by internet and there new governmental entities such as the City of Tucson City Council trying to impose similar sales imposition to raised their revenues. This paper provides an analysis of the pros and cons on the internet sales tax controversy. The government always wants to get their hands in any revenue generating scheme at any cost. The base by which critics refuse to recognize the right of a city such as Tucson to impose city tax sales is that most of the transactions are occurring outside their regional jurisdiction. If an online store is located in Toronto, Canada how does a government official justify that they have the right of collecting a sales tax from a Tucson citizen for purchasing good from that store. It is an outrageous claim by these city officials that such a transaction is legitimate. That is the as saying that a resident that goes to Canada on a tourism leisure trip should pay taxes to the cities on the purchase they make during their vacation. The timing and precise location of where the transaction took place is also an argument against the bureaucrats illogical idea. If the resident of Tucson goes outside the city borders with their laptop and makes a purchase in an online store in a different city t here is not way that Tucson would be eligible for a sales tax since the person was not in Tucson when the purchase was made. Their sales taxing system if approved would attempt and successful collect the tax due to the shipping address in Tucson which since the information taxing system does not differentiate between transactions since it is impossible to know where the actual took place when dealing with a virtual transaction. Governmental officials and lobbyist for taxing internet sales have a different perspective on the issue. To them not taxing internet sales is a discriminatory move against local merchants which are obligated to charge people sales tax, a move which raises the price of the items purchased. The merchants with

The Negative effect of Climate Change on Food Security in the Essay - 1

The Negative effect of Climate Change on Food Security in the Caribbean - Essay Example There is also the risk of islands disappearing in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. This can lead to production of large amounts of greenhouse gases which effect the Food adversely (Romeo et al. 2010). Deforestation and degradation of the land are intolerable practices in the agricultural sector. This causes large amount of carbon to be emitted in the atmosphere causing negative effects of climate change to occur. There is a need to harmonize the climate change and food security policies. In the Caribbean and Latin America alone, almost 53 million people suffered from hunger due to food insecurities caused by the negative climate change (Romeo et al. 2010). This needs to be monitored so that things can be improved and standardized for the betterment of the people’s lifestyle. Unfortunately the persistent issue of hunger in a world which is characterized by sufficient supply of wealth and food to feed the entire humanity along with the severe climate change has caused several people to lose hope. Romeo, C. C. M., Escajedo, S. E. L., Emaldi, C. A., & CaÃŒ tedra Interuniversitaria FundacioÃŒ n, European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics., BBVA-DiputacioÃŒ n Foral de Bizkaia de Derecho y Genoma Humano. (2010).  Global food security: Ethical and legal challenges : EurSafe 2010, Bilbao, Spain, 16-18 September, 2010. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic

Social Networking and Enterprise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Social Networking and Enterprise - Essay Example Introduction The use of social media for the enhancement of organizational performance has been highly expanded the last years. In fact, since the appearance of social media and social networking, the terms of competition in the market have been changed. Businesses tend to focus on social media and social networking even if risks have not been eliminated. In banks and financial institutions the use of social media has an important implication: it can threaten the data stored in these organizations’ IT systems (Business Wire 2012). The case of Wells Fargo proves that social media can be successfully embraced in banks, even if changes are required so that the relevant framework to become more effective. The potential benefits of social media and social networking for Wells Fargo are explored in this case. It is proved that the organization is highly developed in terms of social media; still, the development of certain policies could allow the organization to improve its social p resence, even in the long term. 2. Main Findings 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of social networking presence for Wells Fargo 2.1.1 Social Networking and Social Media in business environment Social networking has become a quite popular practice in organizations worldwide. In order to understand the potential value of social networking for modern businesses it would be necessary to explain primarily its general context, as described in relevant literature. According to Daft (2009) the term ‘social networking’ reflects a framework that offers to its users the potentials of ‘peer-to-peer communication and sharing of information’ (Daft 2009, p.312). In other words, social networking represents an ‘online community the members of which can interact and share personal data, information and opinions’ (Daft 2009, p.312, Figure 1). Waddill and Marquardt (2011) note that social networking refers mostly to the ‘online clustering of individuals int o groups’ (Waddill and Marquardt 2011, p.237). The terms under which these groups are developed are depended on the rules of each social networking site, as aligned with existing legislation in regard to online activities and communication. The organizations that employ social media and social networking in their daily activities are also known as social organizations (Bradley and McDonald 2011, p.18). These organizations are aware of the value of social networking and social media and are capable of using these frameworks not only for increasing their performance but also for establishing a long-lasting relationship with their stakeholders (Bradley and McDonald 2011, p.18). The level at which social networking is currently used in businesses worldwide is significant, but still there are prospects for further growth (Waddill and Marquardt 2011, p.237). In 2008 the business journal McKinsey Quarterly developed a survey in regard to ‘the use of second-generation web techn ologies, known as Web 2.0’ (Daft 2009, p.312). The survey showed that just a 28% of the organizations had incorporated social networking in their daily operations (Daft 2009, p.312). In regard to the other forms of advanced Internet technologies, such as blogs and wikis, the relevant percentages were significantly higher: 34%.

Job Design and Description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Job Design and Description - Essay Example Job description and design are tools that are used in structuring an organization. In an organization, the first stride to acquiring the appropriate person with the required skills into the right position is to get the job right. In reference to Lussier, a good description and design of job supports a manager to effectively run the organization (242). Job description arises from job design. An organization’s management should clearly state the job description and design before embarking on recruitment. Each job should have various requirements or essentials. These inherent requirements are the responsibilities and chores that should be undertaken to get the job done. These requirements stipulate achievement of the result rather than how to achieve them. For instance, an employee is obliged to take minutes in meetings. In this case, it is essential for all employees to take minutes of all the meetings within the organization. Needless to say, it is also necessary to understand that not all the tasks in a job description are integral prerequisites. For instance, though making coffee is not an essential receptionist’s task, he or she may be required to make some coffee for guests. It almost goes without saying that the job design and description is the foundation for getting the best and brightest employees. Job Design The ability of an organization to succeed in its goals depends on how well it can identify the various activities that must occur and the quality of the individuals selected to perform them. It is the responsibility of the management to ensure that both activities and personnel are appropriate. By carefully analyzing the purpose, responsibilities and qualifications of each job, the selection process can be made more efficient and fruitful (Lussier 242). Lussier defines job design as â€Å"the process of laying out job responsibilities and duties and describing how they are to be performed† (242). Designing a job requires answeri ng such questions as â€Å"what activities are necessary to accomplish organizational goals?† Answering this simple question is apparently more complex than one might expect. It requires detailed information in order to be useful. The goal is to be as comprehensive as possible in listing the tasks. Being too brief or too broad creates more work later in the process (Lussier 243). For example, a task for a circulation service point position should be more than â€Å"check out materials.† Job design should consider organizational requirements, individual worker attributes, health, and safety. Job design is a broad concept that not only involves human relations but also job satisfaction, motivation and interpersonal issues. Organizations can best achieve their objectives by designing work that motivates workers to attain their full capability (Lussier 243). A deep understanding of job design requires an understanding of behavioral science, organizational behavior, psychol ogy, human resources management, economics, and operations management. The process by which jobs are designed includes three sub processes: job analysis, job description and job segmentation. These subprocesses are related and their relationship is very essential in job description. Long before recruiting and selecting employees begin, the organization needs to carry out an analysis (Lussier 243). This analysis consist of â€Å"observing and studying a job to determine its proper

Read an article about a remedial action that Sony's management team Essay

Read an article about a remedial action that Sony's management team has taken following the PlayStation data breach and write - Essay Example The CIOs in many companies have to circumvent multiple layers of management to pass on information to the CEOs. Actually the companies can well use their CIOs for generating new product ideas and for grading the customer information, so as to decide which information needs to be deleted or saved for long term use. It was only in retrospect that Sony decided to create the post of Chief Information Security Officer. The truth is that many companies dependent on information for business, like the finance industry do unexceptionally always had the post of a CISO. This laxity on the part of Sony cost the company millions in terms of business and information. However, Sony is still continuing with its obsolete organizational framework, thereby depriving the CIO a ready and easy access to the CEO. In the contemporary economies information is not only the actual product, but it is a product that can be accessed, retrieved and transferred within a matter of seconds.

Mentoring, Americans with Disabilities Act, Flex-time, Workplace Assignment

Mentoring, Americans with Disabilities Act, Flex-time, Workplace Security, and Performance appraisal - Assignment Example The four phases are (Boreen et.al, 2000): A mentoring relationship is based on numerous factors that relate to the success of the process as preferred by both the mentor and mentee. The basic relationship requirements include (Boreen et.al, 2000): The process of mentoring provides significant influence in career development. In women and minority groups mentoring is regarded as a mandatory requirement. Women and minority are viewed as a weaker part of the human race. For this reason, they are exposed to limited career opportunities and resources. Through mentoring this gap is lessened as they are provided an opportunity to learn basic career requirements from experts. This also improves their succeeding probability. The ADA was created to respond to the plight of the disabled or otherwise challenged persons. The Act was signed in 2009 by President Bush. Main components in the Act focused on making work places comfortable for the disabled or other wise challenged persons. Additionally, public places and entities were also required to be observant of the Act (Schall, 1998). In the act the beneficiaries are described as people with physical disabilities. The act excluded the inclusion of people affected by drug or substance abuse and visually impaired people whose sight can be corrected by the use of an optical lens. The ADA has positively impacted the working environment as companies have become more sensitive in making working places comfortable to the disabled persons. To ensure compliance of the ADA, an employer should put in place systems and mechanisms that address the issues raised by the ADA. For instance, an organization should advice other employees against discriminating against disabled persons (Schall, 1998). Traditional work schedules were heavily demanding on employees as they had to work during many hours and the output displayed could not match the time taken to complete tasks. Working on full time or eight hour day daily on the

Business cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business cycle - Essay Example The business cycle occurs in five distinct stages, which include growth, peak, recession, trough, and recovery. Whenever the business cycle is at recession, the business general, economic performance is bad (Elwell 123). In fact, it results to adverse economic elements such as inflation, unemployment, losses to corporation, and decline in investment levels. On the other hand, period of growth and peak are desirable in that they are characterized by strong economic signals such as high employment levels, price stability, profitability of firms, and high investment levels. It is therefore, preferable that the economy operates on growth or peak season. Three key economic variables that characterize a business cycle Economists have unearthed three causes of a business cycle, which include employment, inflation, and interest rates. During trough or recession period, the interest rates are high, which means that the cost of acquiring capital for investing is business is high. This, therefo re, implies that less people are taking up loans for investment. With investment levels low, the unemployment levels in the economy will go down. As such, trends continue to soar; the overall effect is that the economy may go into a trough. In order to revive the economy from such adverse trends, the government usually comes up with expansionary policies such as increasing public expenditure as well as reducing the rate of capital to encourage investment and reduce the unemployment rates. The other factor that characterizes the business cycle includes the issue of inflation. During the times of recession or trough, the economy is characterized by price volatility. The price of goods and services usually go up making life difficult for the majority of households. Whenever, the economy has high prices, the business cycle is affected negatively implying indirect relationship between inflation and business cycle. The other factor that affects business cycle is the issue of productivity. During peak and growth period since the economic cycle, the economy is always characterized by high productivity. Hamilton (119) says that it is important that government of the day and the management of various businesses put in place deliberate measures to ensure productivity through quality education and training, investment in infrastructure, and better government policies that encourage productivity. The good business environment in developed economies such as United States of America examines why their economy is rarely affected by adverse economic cycle such as recession and trough. Characteristics of Recession Economic pundits refer to recession as a period exceeding two quarters in which an economy is grappling with a negative trend in GDP. The major characteristic of recession is a reduction in investment spending. During periods of recession, the interest rates are always high which in turn results to increase in cost of capital (Smiley 221). Increase in cost of capital makes it very expensive to service loans hence less money is available for investment. The other critical characteristic of recession is high unemployment rate. During recession, the level of

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Operations Management - Essay Example In opposite accord, British Airways is a full service airline model able to provide higher cost ticketing to consumers due to the strength of its brand under a premiumisation model in marketing. British Airways is able to maintain its competitive edge through operational structuring with emphasis on technology support, dependability, and high quality especially as it pertains to employee engagement with revenue-building consumers. Both airlines have significantly different operational strategies, giving each a unique competitive advantage stemming from operational strategy development and implementation. This report illustrates the unique strategic operational return on investments for both companies that continue to sustain these airline models. The operational strategies of Ryanair and BA For companies that maintain a broad and diverse supply chain network in order to provide products and services, such as British Airways, holding costs for warehousing and inventory management are significant. These costs include space, labour support, utilities, and even taxation (Heizer and Render 2004). For diverse procurement models, these costs are unavoidable as facility management requires expenditures for support labour and technology support on receivables and deliverables (Heizer and Render 2004). ... -fluctuating consumer demand in this industry that affect strategic planning and operational procurement (British Airways 2010; Anderson and Day 2009). Coupled with vendor-supplied materials needed to carry out its full-service model, it was no longer efficient for British Airways to maintain decentralised procurement strategies with products deliverable from over 80 different countries. The costs of procurement and warehousing were adding unavoidable, variable costs into the business model that continued to seize competitive cost advantages from British Airways. Low-cost, no-frills carriers were emerging in multiple consumer sectors that were able to negate high inventory holding costs and distribution costs associated with a diverse supply chain network. As it pertains to the costs of procurement, British Airways faced a trade-off situation: Continue to absorb costs by operating under a decentralised supply chain strategy to avoid change or to sustain and allocate capital resources to centralise supply chain strategies and eliminate redundancies. There were multitudes of opportunity costs associated with the existing supply network, therefore the business determined that implementation of appropriate procurement planning software (in this case SAP) were necessary to radically alter the supply network. The business changed its procurement strategy to include development of more strategic alliances with vendors, including involving suppliers during the early stages of product and service development, taking advantage of supplier expertise to assist in creating a mutually-rewarding procurement network. These are significantly important operational strategies for cost controls in supply chain strategies (Copacino 1996; Ragatz 1997). British Airways began to benchmark

Inductively Coupled Plasma †Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Essay Example for Free

Inductively Coupled Plasma – Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Essay The aim of this practical was to use an ICP-OES to perform a multi-elemental analysis of different types of tea. The elements that were analysed in the tea were copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. The sample is introduced into the plasma as an aerosol. Argon gas flows through three concentric quartz tubes in the plasma torch. This argon gas transports the sample from the nebulizer, acts as a cooling gas and is also a source of electrons and ions for the plasma [1]. A magnetic field is created around the plasma torch. The ionisation process is started by the ignition of the argon gas from a spark produced by a tesla coil [1]. During this process the plasma reaches a very high temperature and the sample is atomised. The atoms are then excited to a higher state. Since this is an emission analysis, the analysis is performed as the atoms emit energy and return to a lower energy state or their ground state. A spectrometer or monochromator is used to select the wavelength that is being analysed. The multi-element detector then gives us a readout that can be understand for each element that is analysed Explain the benefits and limitations of plasma over a conventional flame used for FES with photometry and AAS. The benefits of using plasma are that the chemical interferences are decreased due to the high temperatures that the plasma reaches and refractory elements can also undergo excitation. There are also many wavelength for different that can be chosen for analysis so you don’t have two elements that have wavelengths that are close to each other as this would interfere with the analysis. A limitation is that spectral overlap can occur and the preparation of the samples is a very long process compared to that of the flame spectrometry Data Show the calculations for you multi-element standard. Instrument: Perkin Elmer OES (optima 5300 DV) The preparation of multi-element standard 1000ppm solutions of (Cu), (Fe),(Mg) and (Mn ) were given. A working standard solution containing the entire four elements was prepared in the following way; 1 ml, 10 ml and 5 ml of Fe, Mg, and Mn were respectively added in one 100 ml volumetric flask. A solution of Cu was prepared separately (intermediate solution) by placing 1 ml of the 1000ppm Cu solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask and made up to the mark with distilled water, the resulting concentration was 10ppm. The formula that was used to calculate the volume of the 1000ppm Cu solution needed to prepare 10ppm solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask is; C1V1 = C2V2 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ equation 1 Where C1 is the initial concentration C2 is the final concentration V1 is the volume of the initial concentration V2 is the total volume of the initial concentration and the solvent The volume of the barium required was calculated as follows C1V1 = C2V2 1000ppm x V1 = 1ppm x 100ml V1 = 10 ppm x 100 ml 1000 ppm = 1 ml Then 1 ml of the 10 ppm Cu solution was placed in the 100 ml volumetric flask that contained the other three elements, and made up to the mark with distilled water, this was the working standard solution. Using equation 1 it is found that the concentrations of the elements in the working standard solution are as follows. Explain why the type of sample preparation carried out was necessary. The Acid digestion was suitable because a complete transfer of analyte into the solution in order for the determination step to be introduced in liquid form is highly desirable and this method completely transfers the analyte into solution. This thus means that the digested sample is a complete solution of the analyte and has a complete decomposition of the matrix however with minimal loss or contaminated of the analyte Explain what matrix matching is and what problems may arise if this is not carried out. Matrix matching involves preparing solutions in which the major chemical compositions of the standards, blanks and samples are made identical thereby cancelling out the effect of the sample matrix on the analysis results. While matrix matching involves matching the solvents, it also involves matching the concentrations of acids and other major solutes. In case where the standard and sample matrices are quite different or cannot be matched and interference occurs as a result, internal standards can be used. Comment on the correlation coefficient of your calibration graphs. The correlation coefficient measures the strength in the linear relationship between two variables. A correlation coefficient of 1 would mean a very strong linear relationship between two variables, which means the points form a perfect straight line. The correlation coefficients for the calibration graphs were very good. The calibration graphs for copper, iron, magnesium, and manganese gave correlation coefficients of 0.991539, 0.991005, 0.999874, and 0.999952 respectively. This shows that the samples were prepared very well and that there is a strong linear relationship between the emission and the concentrations of the elements. Compare the different elements in the different types of tea. Which tea would you recommend and why? The tea that seems to be most essential for human consumption is the green tea owing to the high content of each and every element present in it. It has high concentration of manganese which is a vital substance in the body as it is an enzyme activator; it keeps bones strong and healthy, and also maintains the health of our nerves. References 1. Dr L Pillay, Chem 340, Instrumental Analysis, ICP-OES notes 2. http:// www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrint dbod=77(accessed 16/04/2013) 3. http://www.chemplex.com/petrochemical/multielementMetal.aspx(accessed 16/04/2013)

Wagner Matinee Essay Example for Free

Wagner Matinee Essay During the 1800s there was an increase in immigration to the Great Plains due to an abundance of free land offered by the Homestead Act. Many individuals and families went west to seek their fortune and a home on what was once called the great American desert. Moving westward was a difficult process, and many were forced to leave their old lives behind completely. In A Wagner Matinee, written by Willa Cather, the characterization of Aunt Georgiana, a woman who leaves Boston to elope with a young man going west, is used to illustrate the theme; that sometimes decisions need to be made, and although one might regret it, one love must be sacrificed for another. One way that Cather uses characterization to illustrate this theme is through direct statements about Georgiana and physical descriptions. Right away Cather tells us that Georgiana is, or was, a pianist of some accomplishment. She once worked as an instructor at the Boston Conservatory of Music. For a woman to achieve this status in the time A Wagner Matinee is set was an extraordinary thing. The music she chose to give up was surely something she loved very dearly and was very proud of. The physical description of Aunt Georgiana shows the hardships she had to endure because of her sacrifice. The narrator of the story, Georgianas nephew Clark, describes her as having yellow and leathery skin, and wearing ill-fitting false teeth. These physical defects were the result of a pitiless wind and the alkaline water, along with other hardships of the Nebraska frontier. The most biting description of Aunt Georgiana is the repeated image of her hands. She was once a great pianist, but from work on the farm in Nebraska, her hands have been reduced to twisted knots of flesh, with oddly bent, tentacle-like fingers. This description best illustrates her sacrifice, as her hands were the most vital thing to her musical essence, and Cather does well to convey this through the repeated imagery. Georgianas statements throughout the novel also support the theme of regret and sacrifice. Clark recalls a time when Georgiana opens her soul to him, and says Dont love it so well Clark, or it may be taken from you. Oh! Dear boy, pray that whatever  your sacrifice be it is not that. By saying this she is referring to, of course music. Her advice to not love it so well is intensely pessimistic, influenced by the great pain she suffere d when she gave up her life ambition. Later in the only conversation that Clark and Georgiana share at the concert, she remorsefully makes reference to the music they are enjoying. And youve been hearing this ever since you left me, Clark? she asks. Clark calls the question the gentlest and saddest of reproaches. When she says this she is almost jealous of her nephew. Her wistful remembrance and longing is made clear through her words. Finally, at the end of the concert, she bursts into tears and cries out I dont want to go Clark, I dont want to go!† This is a very direct and clear example that her longing for the music she sacrificed is terrible and immense. However, Aunt Georgianas actions often speak volumes, and impart a greater insight into the theme than even her words can convey. She had lived on a farm away from civilization for thirty years, and so the transition back into the city was not an easy one. She is described as being almost in a trance when she arrives. Her state of being does not change throughout the story until she arrives at the matinee and she awakens. The only thing that connects her back to the city she left so long ago is the m usic. When the concert starts, it opens the flood gates to her memories. The very moment the first note is played her hand darts out and clutches at Clarks coat sleeve. She does not release it until that song is has come to an end. After this first ordeal she is able to calm herself somewhat, but the music still controls her, seeming to sweep her away to another world. As the concert continues, she fondly remembers her days at the conservatory as she pantomimes the action of playing a piano on her dress. Through these actions and others she demonstrates how dear to her the music that she left behind is. Thus, Cather uses the characterization to illustrate the theme of sacrifice. The vivid physical description presented makes the weight of Georgianas decision clear. Georgianas words also provide great insight into how she feels. Indirect expressions, which can be interpreted through her conscious and subconscious actions, are the most solid representation of how the theme is demonstrated through characterization. Aunt Georgiana is not a unique case, and although she is a fictional character, sacrifices like hers are inevitably made every day. Sometim es there is no middle ground, and no  matter how great a love is, it must be abandoned for what is believed to be a greater good. The regret and pain which accompany these sacrifices must be dealt with by each individual.

The Transaction Processing Systems

The Transaction Processing Systems It has been widely established lately that how important information system has become for business processes. According to authors, information system is a field that merges business management with computer applications to smoothen the process for business in more efficient a way. In simpler terms, information system bridges in data, people, procedures and computer software and hardware to analyse and gather information digitally. This typically helps in assimilating information in an organised way for better functionality and operations of organisations. Traditionally information system was considered as design meant to be carried out principally from a technical viewpoint. But with growing awareness and acceptance towards the system has made people realise that it represents various other and broadened viewpoints that culminates stakeholders in order to attend to their economical, institutional, political and other interests. Hence, it would not be wrong to say that a systematic and practical framework or information system is most likely to tend to the aim of reaching an integrated information model for an organisation. Information System Silver et al. (1995) defines Information Systems as one which is implemented within an organization for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people, and its development and implementation methodologies together determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved. Where a group of scholars believe that information connects with hardware, software, data, procedures and people; another school of thought advocates Information system to include people, business processes and Information Systems. Four conventional Classes of Information System Classification of Information system differs as per the business needs and the structure and level of organisations. The needs of information system vary as per the levels and decision structure needed at every level. Primarily, information need ranges in following management capacity- Strategic control, managerial aspects and operational functions. The following pyramids describe the functions of organisation and the levels of decision authority along with the associated classes of Information System. TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEMS The pyramid from bottom starts with lower management which deals with day to day operations of the organisation. This class of information system is handled by lower management who represents an organisation in daily routine and business such as attendance of employees, posting of entries in bank, processing of orders, evaluating overdue purchaser orders airline booking function etc. MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS The second category of information required by the middle management is known as managerial information. The information required at this level is used for making short term decisions and plans for the organization. Information like sales analysis for the past quarter or yearly production details etc. fall under this category. Management information system (MIS) caters to such information needs of the organization. Due to its capabilities to fulfil the managerial information needs of the organization, Management Information Systems have become a necessity for all big organizations. And due to its vastness, most of the big organizations have separate MIS departments to look into the related issues and proper functioning of the system. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS In simpler words, it is an interactive channel that integrates and collets information from varied source to enhance the non-routine decisions. The information generated here is not made available to lower level staff nor do they need it. For example, trends and figures of revenue generation which helps in deciding policies etc. These types of decisive data supported by information system are required by senior management only and are called as Decision Support Systems. EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS The top level of this hierarchical classification of information system concerns only topmost management and the data integrated by information system is here is handy for executives only. Executive Information Systems involves at strategic management level which is coordinated and handled by top management in an organisation. This category facilitates the management with relevant data and information in convenient format required for strategic planning that aims at developing plans and construct major decisions towards the organisational goals Banking Structure Implementation of Information System Banking is a vibrant sector which deals in with enormous data on daily basis. Technically speaking a bank caters to the money related transaction with customers. Generally it involves following services- Customers saving and Current account management Cheque services- collections and payments Credit and debit cards Handling of Loans, insurance, fixed deposits and other policies In competitive environment, any bank strives to provide best of services facilitating convenience factor and ease of use to customer to gain on competitive advantage. Banking structure has evolved tremendously since its inception. Where banking was started with manual maintenance of records on papers; now the sector has been computerised and IT have been playing quite a revolutionary role to bring transformation in banking. The different platforms that a bank extends nowadays are conventional retail bank outlet, ATM, online banking, Mobile Banking etc. In this versatile scenario of functions and services, information takes a centric position and a strategic handling and available of information gets very pertinent. Lately information system has been hotly debated for being a contributory tool to amalgamate all these functions by integrating all the information and data for required authority in right time and place. Information system and banking As has been explained above information system involves people, data and procedure. For any given bank or financial institution accuracy and timely availability of information is quite challenging. Inculcation of information system and technology tend to solve the maximum of related issues and bring in efficiency in the system and added benefits to ease the line of operations. For bank, an information system execute three basic functions- It receive data from different sources as input It generates information by processing the collected data It transfers the output to the concerned authority viz. Managers, sales executive, accountant, cashier etc. Functions of Information System in Bank A few typical business processes in bank that information system coordinates are- Bank account transactions Bank loans and insurance management Business forecasts Customer credits approval and credit terms Property tax evaluation Stock transactions Financial cash flow reports The following section will elaborate application of different information system in bank operations. TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEMS Every bank tends to rely on a system that can manage and integrate its routine operations in organised manner with accuracy. Bank in its operation involves encountering with numerous customers to deal in with their payment or deposit demands. As per Ralph (2008) in absence of such systems, recording and processing of such business transaction would consume plenty of time and absorb huge amounts of organisational resources. Data thus collected through these systems also end up making valuable repositories which can later also be used in decision making. However, primary use is to satisfy customers and provide a competitive advantage by improving services and reducing costs. For the same line of functions, banks deploy many type of transaction process system in order to capture and process the data necessary to update records regarding basic functions of the bank. For instance, bank TPS systems standardise the routine work linked with general banking transactions for the handling of deposits and withdraws, cashing of cheques, ATM online banking functions and other processes. TPS can be divided in two categories based on its way to process data- Batch Processing- It suggests processing of data within the preset limits for certain period of time such as daily, weekly or monthly. A conceptual figure of Batch Processing System The above conceptual figure illustrates how the batch processes system work for a bank in processing of cheques which are collected and then processed usually over specific period of time. It incorporates following 4 steps- Gathering information of business transactions in batches which in this case is cheques Recording the information on specific files and discs in input medium Processing of transactions (cheques for this case) as per defined process i.e. after verification, checking accounts etc and updating master file, reports and a variety of documents, for example customer paycheques or invoices. Capturing and storing batches of transactions data at remote sites, and then transmitting it periodically to central computers for processing. Real-time Processing- This involves instant transaction needs such as money withdrawal from ATM or cash counter or online banking transactions. It provides a direct interface between user and TPS allowing one transaction at time with immediate results. Following figure explains how transaction process works on real-time basis. A Typical Example of Banking Transaction Process System Customer Activity System Activity Enter A/c number Verify a/c no.- acceptable or not Enter password (****) Verify the password Enter withdrawal amount Verify if the amount is within the withdrawal limits Ledger Updates the transaction in bank records Remove Receipt Money Dispense Money Issue transaction Receipt Ready for next transaction To sum up, TPS in bank incorporates 5 activities- Data entry- accounts and customers entry Transactions- bank transactions- cheques, accounts and ATM transactions etc Report and Documents processing Database and Files processing Inquiry processing- Checking balance MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS MIS helps middle level managers with reports and information that further assists them in taking unstructured decisions. TPS takes into account data entry and usual transactions but MIS generates report on how transactions are done over a period of time such as monthly or quarterly reports. This data helps business assess the performance of bank and how much business they have done. Based on the data generated, sales policy can be framed to target for next quarter. For example, a quarterly report can reflect how many new accounts have been opened and how many have been closed. If any major discrepancy is observed in these figures as compared to previous quarters reports than a manager needs to pay attention. He will have to see if this is happening due to service offered by bank or if customers are dissatisfied and displeased with bank or due to competitors or its just like that. Based on the analysis and the resulting reason, a line of action can be planned by manager to improve the performance of bank in order to attract and retain new customers. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS Roping in around the definition given by authors like Alter (1980), Bonczek et al.( 1981), Keen and Scott-Morton (1978), DSS can be defined to be a system which- Enhances decision with data for decision makers rather than replacing them Utilises information, documents, and reports Solves problem with varying structure degrees- semi structure, unstructured Facilitates effectiveness and not efficiency in decision making process Velmurugan (2008) defines DSS as, an interactive information system that enables decisions making in unstructured or semi structured situations by facilitating information, models and data manipulation. Authors further argues that DSS method generally influences upper level management decision making with a reasonably low frequency and high potential consequences in which the time taken for thinking through and modelling the problem pays off generously in the long run. It can be differentiated with MIS on accounts that it requires a macro approach and not a target based decisions that are usually taken through MIS. As explained above that through MIS, manager can draft a sales plan to cover up falling customers for next quarter. However, with Decision Support system case is not so. It takes a broader view. If this decline in customers is observed for long term than senior management takes a note and based on reports takes a decision. It can be anything based upon the situation. For i nstance- hiring new staff or training the existing one if management thinks its due to employees inefficiency. Installation of new ATM machines if customers are withdrawing for not able to find out bank outlets. New software installation for online banking channel in case of painstaking effort that customer is facing while doing online transactions and so on. There can be number of other decisions that can be reached but everything depends on managers ability to think and to infer a decision based on the data drawn from DSS. In bank typically DSS can help in decision related to following areas- Cash management and debt planning Planning in mergers and acquisitions Capital budgeting Selecting RD project Evaluating financial risks Structuring optimal lease Financial analysis and diagnosis Real estate appraisal and investment Funding strategic product development Setting interest rates for money market deposit accounts Locating banks Managing portfolio Small business financial planning EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Executive Information System was first introduced in 1982 (Rockart and Treacy, 1982) to illustrate the kind of systems a few senior corporate officers were using on a regular basis to access information they needed. Watson et al (1991) characterises that EIS is an information system that equips topmost management with internal and external data that contributes towards the success factors of organisation without the need of intermediaries. This data is considered as very confidential and is made available to the topmost managers only who are capable to take major decisions for business process and structure of an organisation. In a bank EIS can assist executives with financial ratios and cash flow analysis that further enhance them to plan out capital investment decision based on trends drawn from EIS reports. It involves both internal and external data that gives a large picture of scenario before executive really think to bring in a major decision in the bank. Executive information system is a responsibility-oriented medium that blends budgeting and planning with control of performance reporting, and it can be considerably helpful to finance executives. EIS aids topmost management to focus on the long term goals by curbing in current year and beyond. This allows executives to monetize and plan with a visionary approach for years to come to expand business based on current operations and future projections generated from EIS reports. It would hence not be wrong to say that EIS is a significant tool for executives to analyse financial trends, ratios and review banks performance, its competitors and market trends. . Conclusion It has been widely accepted that information system is increasingly being adopted by more and more companies to streamline their business process in systematic way. Factors such as efficiency and cost cut and time saving are being mentioned as top advantages of information system. Broadly information system is accrued with following advantages- It enables company to keep a track of strength and weaknesses with the 360 degrees assessment of reports generated for revenue, employees performance etc Trackback of customers data and their feedback is useful for organisations to reach decisions for business Streamlining of information and availability to it whenever needed helps organisation to work efficiently The above discussion clearly reflected that how information system can be implemented in an organisation (particularly bank) and how that organisation can reap in benefits out of it. The four different classes of the system were defined and their implementation in banking operations has been illustrated in detail. A bank is a place with certain predefined standards and hence accuracy to them is very pertinent. Any failure in those on behalf of employees or any other reason can cost bank heaps not only on monetary terms but on brand image also. A customer deals with bank out of trust factor only. Henceforth, a flawless technology and apt use of these different information systems at different level is very promising for bank. This paper didnt discuss the limitations which might arise but an organisation should keep a vouch upon them as ongoing process. Cultural and technological concerns are cited as most typical limitations to the information system. Despite of this bottleneck that may arise in the process of acceptance of information system, it holds tremendous potential to automate the process in business and improve the overall functionality of organisations. References Bonczek, R.H., Holsapple, C. Whinston, A.B., 1981. Foundations of Decision Support Systems, Academic Press, New York. Keen, P. G. Scott Morton, M.S., 1978. Decision support Systems: An organisational Perspective. Addison- Welson Inc. MA. Mentzas, G. (nd). Towards Intelligent Organisational Information Systems. International Journal of Information Management. 14 (6), pp. 397-410. Narayanasamy, K. Velmurugan, M.S., 2008. Application of Decision Support System in E-commerce. Communications of the IBIMA Volume 5. Ralph, M.S. Reynolds, G., 2008. Fundamentals of Information Systems. Cengage Learning. Rockart J. F. Treacy M.,1982. The CEO Goes On-line. Harvard Business Review, 60 (1) Watson, H.J. and M.M. Hill (1983) Decision Support Systems or what didnt happen with MIS, Interfaces, 13(5), pp. 81-88.

Who is Smarter? Essays -- Gender Equality Intelligence Education Essay

Who is Smarter? Who's smarter? There have been several tests given to young boys and girls to test their intelligence, the turnout has been that girls' overall average intelligence is higher than that of boys. Are girls just naturally born smarter or do the teachers have something to do with it? In David Thoma's article, The Mind of Man, he writes about how he believes that women teachers are the reason why boys score lower on tests and don't do as well as girls in school. "At kindergarten and primary school level, in which little girls out-perform the boys, the vast majority of teachers are female."(121) He focuses on the fact that boys are more rebellious and outgoing than girls. Thomas believes that becasue most boys have behavior problems the teacher becomes concerned with their social and not their academic life. Since girls tend to be more diligent and less rebellious, the boys are usually the ones that speak up more forcefully and are spoken to more often by teachers. "Surveys showed that woman teachers consistently praised girls more than boys, and equally consistently criticized the boys' behavior, often regarding it as a serious problem requiring remedial treatment."(121) He adds how women teachers always seem to find boys to be loud and aggressive. In a classroom setting little girls will usually be playing or working in a quiet orderly manner while boys would be doing the same thing in a noisy and disorderly way requiring more supervision. Thomas believes that because a female teacher has to constantly keep calling the boys' attention the teacher ends up having favorite, usually being girls because they are going through a process they have already been through. Although Thomas believes that traditional male... ...ects in their head. Females prove better at reading the emotions of people in photographs."(121) Overall, I don't agree with Thomas' statement that boys do bad in school due to female teachers. If this is the case then can we say that girls do badly with male teachers? What does Thomas mean by saying that boys need to behave in ways that are not natural to them? Does he mean that they need to behave in a disciplined manner? I believe Thomas kind of contradicts himself because he does say that "boys whose lives are led without structure and discipline do not find themselves liberated. Instead they become bored, frustrated and maladaptive. They fight. They misbehave and they perform badly, both at school and thereafter."(124) Works Cited Lunsford, A. Andrea, Ruszkiewicz, J. John. The Prescence of Others. Bedford/St. Martins: Boston, New York. Copyright 2000.

Childhood Obesity :: Obesity in Children

As the saying goes, â€Å"You are what you eat†, is there initially someone to blame for that reason? Over the years as our nation grows, so does the appetite of many Americans. In recent studies, as obesity rates in the U.S. continue to rise, childhood obesity is among an ever-pressing concern for the public health. Children between the age of two and five have grown in obesity rate and adolescents aged twelve to nineteen have tripled in that rate. Obesity has not only grown over the span of fifteen years but has become an epidemic among young Americans. But who has to be at fault for the increase of weight in youth? There are many accusations of different people to put the blame but has anyone truly looked at the people selling these fast/junk food products. It is said that fast food industries spend millions of dollars in advertising which pretty much dominate what we watch and hear. So the cause of this epidemic of obesity is not always parents or the lack of good nutritio n/exercise but also the tricks and schemes advertising do to lure in consumers into buying their products but foremost targeting the younger crowd. Marketing campaigns for fast food are stronger and louder than ever now days. It is among one of the fastest growing strategies in advertising. For instance, the marketing of food in the mass media, particularly television has saturated children with advertisements touting all manner of fast food, cereal, and candy (Malvasi, 30). In some cases, parents are put to blame for their children’s obesity, but we seize to realize the financial situation a parent can be in. Many single parents bring in a low income and do not have the money to [prepare a healthy home cooked meal. They relay on dollar menus not just for their lack of parenting but they have to feed their children somehow and that may be their only option. Also, if parents bring in low income it is more likely that they work long shifts, or even work two jobs.