Curriculum Implementation Plan

This curriculum plan is meant to provide meaningful learning experiences to K-5 students of Bronx Studio School. As a matter of fact, it is based on the state of New York educational standards, but most importantly it is tailored to the unique academic needs of the school community who apparently happen to be in a high-needs situation. The young students, K-5 have been observed to be experiencing great challenges in coping with learning demands in their respect grades. Basically, Bronx Studio School is currently considered a high-need school, a title it earned starting from a few years ago.The root cause of this curriculum mess has been the prevailing culture of aloofness among the school’s key stakeholders that ostensibly has gradually grown over the recent years. Precisely, the school management whose one of the key responsibilities is to ensure that all the key stakeholders are actively engaged in all the school matters has terribly been failing in this key area over the ye ars. As a result there has been an evidential rift between the members of the teaching staff and the parents’ body for a period not less than two years in a row.As a matter of fact, the school leadership under the former principal was somehow lax in getting the parents informed in good time about the school plans and programs and hence it became a problem in getting them to support such programs whether financially or morally. For that reason, a lax culture was built among the parents fraternity. Again, the relationship between the entire teaching staff and the school principal was also on a frosty situation, the principal seemed aloof with their concerns making them feel as if they were on two parallel programs.Furthermore, this lack of concern on the welfare and competencies of the teaching staff culminated into a state of professional limbo where teachers stopped attending in-service as well as refresher courses as recommended by the state board of education (Wagner and Ke egan, 2005). Ultimately, it was very hard to address the real issues pertaining to the smooth discharge of meaningful instructions experiences to the young and needy students.Overall, the implementation of the curriculum became a problem as most of the times the students inherent needs and interest were barely addressed making them to grow apprehensive and frustrated by this apparent aloofness. In fact, it was by sheer luck that the school managed to survive the set state educational standards though it terribly failed to meet them on a number of occasions prompting the education board to put it on a high-needs alert in bid to get the mess sorted (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005).Even so, at the moment the major stakeholders seem to have realized their shortcomings and have now expressed their concern to working together as a team at least to turnaround this looming academic quagmire. The parents for instance are willing to work with the new school principal and the newly elected school c ommittee to identify the root causes of the whole mess so that it can be fixed permanently. Apparently one key issue that has been identified as being in a state of despair is the school curriculum.Key players’ have indicated changing the existing curriculum would help address mess while not seeming to directly to lay the blame on any member of the school community on what they did or even failed to do in the past. As such, the core props for this new curriculum plan will be made of the strong desire discard the old and seemingly retrogressive school culture and in its place put other strong ones built around purposive and integrative efforts from all the stakeholders (Wiggins and McTighe, 31). Nature of the CurriculumThis curriculum acknowledges the uniqueness inherent in every student and it encompasses all the evidential and unique experiences practiced in other better performing elementary schools within the district. For instance the curriculum recognizes that young and growing children are normally inquisitive, quiet, confident, self-determined, weak, easily distracted, etc. (Wiggins and McTighe, 2007). As such, it endeavors to address this sensitive aspect of the learners by putting in place staggered instructional experiences that suit every age group and every grade.Tasks are drawn clearly to ensure that the teachers do not deviate from its general and basic idea while addressing all the unique aspects, the weak dropped and the strong ones encouraged. In a nutshell, this new curriculum emphasizes on the holistic development of the unique but worthwhile characters of the learners to ensure that they grow and develop in a supportive, healthy, and safe environment (Follari, 2010). Furthermore, the curriculum recognizes that for children to succeed in school they must be exposed to a wide range of meaningful learning experiences.In respect to this it seeks to create all-round environments that allows for the development of physical, emotional, soci al, spiritual as well as cognitive structures of the growing learners. In a nutshell, the curriculum aims at developing all the aspects of the students’ bodies and brains, taking great care to also nurture their delicate souls that are very crucial in determining their future perception of the whole learning process. Conclusively, the curriculum will successfully improve the overall students’ performance and lift the school from a high-needs category to a performing one.After all, it seeks to gradually engage the students in critical content areas as well as in key language areas. Moreover, it will endeavor to create purposive learning and development activities capable of utilizing and nurturing the rapidly growing students unique and varied capacities. As such, learning will be aligned to such variances and through the utilization of learning areas and other teaching and learning aids (Oldfield, 2001; Pugh and Duffy, 2020).Students especially those with learning diff iculties will benefit much from this curriculum given that it is founded on the basis of the staggered child development stages. As a matter of fact, one of its key facets is that it acknowledges that students tend to behave different differently in different stages of their growth and development, as such teaching and learning should be aligned to suit those behavioral and developmental needs (Follari, 2010). To achieve this, it will partake of holistic and regular appraisal by the teachers and parents alike on the young learners.This will be done for individual learners, in groups and also in the presence of role models such as teachers and parents so as to determine their inherent needs and achievements as individuals and as members of social groups. Moreover, the curriculum also advocates for kind of learning where the learners respect one another as unique beings, with the respect extended to teachers, parents, as well as other members of the school curriculum. Such respect whe n reciprocated will go a long way in achieving success at school as the community level (Oldfield, 2001).That the curriculum will involve high degrees of involvement makes the achievement of such respect an easy endeavor. It wild involve a key figure such as a teacher, or even parents to ensure control as well as to offer support to the learners. To this end the curriculum plans to use parents as they are the most recommended as the have been noted to command huge respect from their own children. He offers that in bid to enhance respect the teacher should be guided by the learners and should not force adult values on the young learners (Renchler, 3-4).This curriculum is guided by the humble notion that learners have got different talents and that every learner needs to be treated in their own unique way so as to nurture and develop these inherent and unique talents. Briefly stated, the core pillars of this curriculum are; to assist the growing students to achieve the five most impor tant feats of being safe, healthy, being happy and successful, and developing social skills to relate with others well and attaining their optimum academic performance (Wiggins and McTighe, 27-29).To achieve these seemingly high targets the curriculum uses a set of tested and achievable benchmarks capable of bringing out the expected developmental and academic outcomes. It also seeks to create friendly environments that are home to everyone irrespective of their racial, gender, nationality, and disabilities (Oldfield, 2001). It also seeks to provide meaningful foundations that the students can use to create avenues for future academic achievements. This is enhanced through a systematic procedure that offers learners clear exit paths from one grade to another.Moreover, that the curriculum provides avenues for new and anticipated collaborations with stakeholders to improve the quality and purpose during the implementation process guarantees a higher probability of succeeding. Furtherm ore, the growing students are guaranteed of future success in their academic pursuits by the integrative provisions of the curriculum (Pugh and Duffy, 2020). Overall, the curriculum is not so challenging as to frustrate the growing students, yet it is not so easy as to hold back students desire to achieve more.In a nutshell, it promotes a typical ‘hands-on’ type of learning whereby the learners as well as the teachers use their hearts and brains in equal measures as they indulge in passionate classroom and outside-classroom activities (Wiggins and McTighe, 67). Curriculum Reflection the School Mission The strength of this new curriculum lies on the fact that it adheres to the revised school mission statement and visions. As a matter of fact, the revised school mission statement recognizes that children are unique and they tend to learn at different paces.As such, it revolves creation of meaningful learning experiences within and outside classroom situations and it endea vors to achieve so by creating integrative environments that brings on board as many stakeholders as possible. Most importantly, given that the underlying concept of this new curriculum is motivation of the learners so as to develop positive habits toward learners it can be argued that this curriculum reflects the inherent needs of the Bronx studio school young children and the Bronx community at large.Furthermore, that it seeks to integrate all the stakeholders, parents, students, community, experts, teachers, the local government, as well as donors the curriculum will most likely in the education of the young children in the neighborhood, it is anticipated that it will be very easy to engage the parents and other stakeholders alike in its implementation (Renchler, 3). Furthermore, it seeks to inculcate a positive culture that is built around quality learning experiences that embraces motivation of the individual learners.The paper recognizes on the need to develop new and rich tea ching and learning methods that can be easily tested to determine their efficiency. Furthermore it delves on sound teacher-learner experiences that seek to arouse and shape students proclivity in during their class interactions with their teachers and with fellow students. Overall, this curriculum main aims is to â€Å"turn the [school] mission statement into specific† (Wiggins and McTighe, 55). Curriculum ResourcesBasing on the fact that this curriculum will be integrative in nature with motivation as its key facet, it will require intensive methods and materials for maximum implementation. To this end it will require new books as well regular seminars for teacher. Even so, only a few new books will need to be acquired afresh as most old books which has been revised and modified will still be utilized. Since the curriculum is new it will need a lot regular appraisal and evaluation to determine its ability to meet the prevailing challenges facing the school, as such it will b e necessary to have as many teachers working on it regularly.This will require that the school leadership together with the representatives from the parents body to come up with a budget of the tune of about $100,000 which will be used in the overall acquisition of the materials and recruitment of new and committed teaching staff. Other school facilities such as, desks, tables, new classes, playing areas, etc. will need to be acquired or even modified incase of the existing one. This is necessary as the new curriculum is built on the provision of new learning and teaching experiences that can enliven classroom atmospheres and provoke the learners into thinking creatively.Additionally, learning areas such, class interest arousing corners, nature corners, as well as other learner engaging areas within the classroom or within the school compound will need to be procured. Evaluation of the Curriculum In order to ensure efficiency, this curriculum will be subjected to a rigorous evaluati on and assessment procedure that will involve many approaches. Precisely, it will be subjected to both formative and summative e evaluation methods with the view of identifying its both short and long term impacts to the school needs and mission statement.The evaluation will start from as early as during the developmental stages where the existing materials will be appraised and their worth determined in regards to their capability to providing the teaching and learning experiences that the new curriculum plans to engage. The existing materials that survives the cut will then be subjected to a revision to given them a new facelift in preparation for the rigorous work that they will be expected to serve. Upon the testing and revision of the materials the curriculum will be now ready for the next stage which will be the piloting stage.Here it will be tried practically implemented in various grades, with close scrutiny and monitoring coming from the curriculum development committee, me mbers of the school teaching staff together with a few selected parents’ representatives. Other willing stakeholders will equally be involved in the process so as to accommodate as many views as possible. The views as well as the results of the pilot stage will be subjected to a full review by the development committee where necessary adjustments will be carried out in respect to the responses given during the piloting phase (Wiggins and McTighe, 29-30).Afterwards the curriculum will be formalized ready for the final summative evaluation which will involve the overall effectiveness of the curriculum in light of challenges such as availability and use of key curriculum materials as well as its interactivity with the teachers as well as its effect to other existing curricula with the school district or even within the state. Moreover, efforts will also be made to incorporate the professional views of the renowned curriculum researchers who will be required to carry out snap res earch studies in view of indentifying the overall impacts of the curriculum in the local learners’ academic pursuits.Lastly, the regular assessment methods for the curriculum once it has been launched will be identified and with view of putting them on board to enhance the ease with which the overall curriculum will be tested (Ministry of Education and Training, 24). Why the Community Should Invest in the Curriculum The main reason as to why the school community need to support this new curriculum is the apparent causes of the existing academic failure among the students.It is apparent that the school has been experiencing problems related to the overall academic performance in the last two years due to poor relationships between the parents and the school and between the teachers and the school leadership. Consequently, these two main reasons have given impetus to about a dozen of other problems which have compounded the issue. Luckily, despite these recurring poor results t he school community has shown concerns of working together to sort out the mess. As a matter of fact, the development of this new curriculum was prompted by the parents’ body and given the impetus by the school teaching staff.As such, there is every reason to believe that the school community will be willing to support it financially and morally. The fact that it needs a huge amount of money for its development and implementation means that its success will be wholly dependent on the community support. Even so, that it seeks to change an ineffective curriculum makes it more appealing to the school community. After all the community has a got a reason to invest in the new curriculum given its numerous benefits in enhancing the creation of new avenues for renewed collaborative efforts between the school and the large school community.Moreover, the new curriculum was created in constant consultation with the parents and the larger school community where efforts were made to ensu re that their opinions are given audience in order to enhance a sense of responsiveness on their part, something that is terribly missing in the existing curriculum. Lastly, its learning by doing strategy will seek to create the elusive motivation among the students and ultimately it will enhance their confidence and interest to â€Å"learn to love learning for learning’s sake† (Renchler, 3).Work Cited Follari, L. M. Foundations and best practices in early childhood education: History, theories and approaches. Prentice Hall. 2010. Kelly, A. The curriculum: Theory and practice (6th ed. ). 2009. Ministry of Education and Training. Choices into Action: Guidance and career education program policy for Ontario elementary and secondary schools. 1999. [Web] retrieved from; http://www. edu. gov. on. ca. / 2 May, 2010. Oldfield, L. Free to learn: Introducing Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Education. Hawthorn Books. 2001 Pugh, G.and Duffy, B. (eds. ). Contemporary issues in the early years. 5th Ed. Sage Publications. 2010. Renchler, Ron. Student motivation, school culture, and academic achievement: What school leaders can do? ERIC Clearing House on Educational Management. 1992. Wagner, Tony and Keegan, Robert. Change leadership-a practical guide to transforming our schools. Jossey-Bass. 2005 Wiggins, Grants and McTighe, Jay. Schooling by design-mission, action, and achievement. ASCD. 2007. Wiggins, Grants and McTighe, Jay. Understanding by design. ASCD. 2005.

Pfizer Company: A Presentation of Strategic Context

Pfizer is the number two largest biomedical and pharmaceutical research and development company in the world, boasting in excess of fifty Billion dollars per year in gross revenues. While the recession has hit many companies, the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sector has remained not only relatively insulated, but in addition to that the forecasting models for growth predict a profitable future. Pfizer has had its share of growing pains, a cause for reduction in gross revenues comes primarily from a growth strategy to acquire another large biopharmaceutical company, yet net retained earnings have continued to increase at a rate of six percent annual average each year over the last three years. After Pfizer’s acquisitions of Wyeth they saw a substantial increase in operating profit margins due to increased efficiencies between the two companies. Pfizer has recently acquired a biopharmaceutical company named Wyeth. By purchasing Wyeth which specializes in vaccines, Pfizer has broadened their customer base by expanding their product line. This business practice aligns with Pfizer’s current pro-growth Strategy. It is clear, in most part; Pfizer’s business Strategy aligns with the wild wild west model of Industry Ecosystems. Pfizer if a relatively fast growing company, in an industry that thrives on making fast and furious technological discoveries, and they have a very high rate of customer retention due to patent protection. Pfizer has many competing technologies in the market place for such diseases as cardiac health, mental health, and infectious disease treatments. Their drug Lipitor is by far the highest grossing drug the company currently has on the market. Cardiac disease is the most common and fatal disease that Americans face. Lipitor functions by lowering low density lipids (or fats) in the blood stream thus promoting cardiac and circulatory efficiency and health. Pfizer’s patent on Lipitor is set to expire in November of this year which would potentially result in reducing their total revenues for that drug significantly because other companies could then introduce a generic substitute. The net effect of Lipitor’s patent expiration on Pfizer’s bottom line could be a reduction as large as ten percent of total gross revenues. Pfizer would be expected to retain approximately twenty percent of users which equals four percent of Pfizer’s total Gross Revenues. Some customers ill continue to use Lipitor, for example: those patients whose insurance does cover name brand medicines or patience of physicians that reject writing prescriptions for generic substitutes. This problem is a perfect example of one of Porters Key strategy principals that Pfizer follows, analyzing and protecting a threat of substitute products. How Pfizer addresses the problem is how they exercise his strategy. The current estimated retail cost of Lipitor is around one hundred and seventy dollars per month depending on the prescribed dosage. After November of this year it is very possible that we could see a generic substitute on the Wal-Mart four dollar list. Part of Pfizer’s Business strategy has been to launch legal battles for patent protections and extensions longer than the November 2011 date, which would result in a prolonged period of increased earnings and profits. To continue with an analysis of strategy, Pfizer uses both a combination of the resource based view in conjunction with the industry investment prospective. An example of this would be Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth which catered to a much broader and diverse section of the drug market. The resource prospective would say that Pfizer already has massive research and development capabilities, drug production and manufacturing systems, and well established distribution channels for its already long list of products, making Wyeth a fit for the company’s growth and expansion strategies. What is different from the resource based view and supports the industry investment strategy is that Wyeth is a leading researcher, developer, and provider of vaccines, which is a very lucrative industry in and of its self. The numbers of users for vaccines are much larger than for a specialized product such as Lipitor, yet vaccines still have patent protections that help drug companies keep prices high. These two companies merged together have much greater and sustainable competitive advantages than either one by itself. One of the resources that will help to fend off threats to their product lines is their pooling of resources for their in house legal team. As new products emerge from the research and development scientists, their joint capacity to protect their drug assets and keep products in the hands of the end users will inevitably eep other drug companies from capitalizing on the opportunities to produce generics. Some of the more rare and inimitable products are the ability to produce huge financial gains for Pfizer if they pass through all the stages of FDA screening protocol. Some areas Pfizer is currently investing research and development dollars are, DNA specific drugs, new small molecule compounds, Stem Cell therapies, Amino Acid therapies. DNA specific drugs have huge potential for Pfizer because many side effects can be prevented, allergies can be detected, and a shorter time line for approval to the FDA can result from better drugs. New small molecule compounds are useful because they tend to have fewer side effects which equal fewer liabilities and risk for the producer, and can be easier to develop and manufacture. Stem cell research also opens up a great deal of opportunity for drugs that work well on the cellular and molecular level, but can even be toxic or fatal in the human body. The method of drug delivery is many times the largest hurdle in getting an effective drug to the reaction site to produce the desired effect. Finally, and quite possibly most interestingly there are over three hundred and twenty know amino acids. Our human bodies produce or utilize only twenty four of them. Many of the reaction mechanisms on the molecular level can be imitated or recreated by unnatural amino acids meaning that we may see a huge increase in effective drugs with decreased side effects by utilizing these products. In conclusion Pfizer has acquired a great addition to its company with Wyeth as part of its pro-growth business strategy. It is clear that they have used a combination of both resourced based and industry based strategy. By tapping into a broad mass market via a new product by a new company Pfizer will have a clear competitive advantage over companies like Merk and Novartis. Pfizer is definitely leveraging their human resource assets to prevent substitute products from entering the markets. I believe that by exercising these strategies Pfizer can prevent slipping into the creative destruction life stage of a company.

Development and Reward System

Organizations today realize that employees are part of their competitive advantages. Along with effective business strategies and sufficient capital, investments for developing highly skilled human resources have been part of most companies’ road towards success. In order to obtain this unique competitive advantage, organizational management must be able to give sufficient motivation to their employees (Creech, 1995).One of the considered approaches of management in motivating their employees is through reward system. Primarily, the goal of this paper is to provide an analysis of the aims of organisation in setting reward system. In addition, this will also provide discussions of some of the trends in reward practice and the emerging laws that affect employee rewards.Aims of Organisation for Setting Reward SystemIn Human Resource Management, the employee reward policy is intended to align employees with organizational strategy by providing incentives for employees to act in th e firm's interest and perform well over time. Expectancy theory carries a clear message that employees must feel confident that their effort will affect the rewards they receive. Perceptions of equity are therefore crucial in an employee's decision to remain and produce valuable work.Equity is a multidimensional construct, embracing external equity (the degree to which a firm pays employees the rate they would find in the external labour market), internal equity (the degree to which a firm differentiates pay between employees on the basis of performance in similar jobs), and individual equity (the degree to which employees are rewarded proportionately to their individual performance) (Dean and Snell, 1993).Because of the changing demands of performance on employees in high- velocity companies, perceptions of equity in its three forms may become confused, as job roles and job interdependence become more varied and flexible. Since employees would expect that as their job changes, so w ill their rewards, designing reward systems in high-velocity environments presents a major challenge to organizations. In high-velocity environments, a premium is placed on individuals who are able to operate in ambiguous circumstances and who are able to take advantage of loose job descriptions provided by their employers.Organizations in high-velocity environments are willing to pay proportionally higher salaries to individuals who have such skills. We would expect, therefore, that emphasis on individually equitable rewards as a means of recruiting and retaining highly capable employees would be required (Gomez-Mejia and Welbourne 1990; Snell and Dean 1992).Employee Rewards Policy amended by the Human Resource Management can be classified under three broad headings: performance-contingent rewards, which explicitly reward through performance outputs; job-contingent rewards, where pay is contingent on job classification; and person-contingent rewards, in which pay is dependent on th e competencies a person has (Dean & Snell, 1993). Because both output orientation and job   classification may be difficult to measure accurately in high-velocity conditions, the prospect of person-contingent rewards, which may encourage the values of learning, flexibility, and creativity, would seem to be best suited to fast-changing conditions.In addition, Employee Reward Policy can be one of the greatest foundations of control available to a company in its quest to increase organizational performance and effectiveness, yet remain one of the most underutilized and potentially complex tools for driving organizational performance. The importance and complexity of linking reward strategies to business goals in a systematic manner has been a recurrent argument in the study in this field, as has the importance and difficulty of linking rewards to the longer-term view (Hambrick & Snow, 1989). In describing the strongest level of linkage the emphasis has been placed on Lawler's (1990) description of reward processes which are capable of reinforcing the behaviours crucial to business strategy like long-term versus short-term, customer focus versus financial results.Statement EvaluationPeople do work for money, but they work even more for meaning in their lives. In fact they work to have fun. This statement can be evaluated using the physiological needs of people. Human beings have needs which can be classified as physiological, safety and security, social, esteem and status, and self-actualization. This means that although employees work because they want to ear incomes, there are still needs that should be fulfilled to ensure their contentment and happiness in what they are doing.  If any of the needs is unmet, or unsatisfied a person, the individual can be motivated if provided with an opportunity to satisfy the unmet need or needs. The most motivating opportunities are the most valued. The most valued opportunities are those designed to provide satisfaction o f the most intense unmet needs. What needs are most intense varies from individual to individual. One person's most dominant need may be the need to be happy (Romzek, 1989).In order to motivate and encourage the workers and employees to render their performances and to help them enjoy more of what they are doing, the employers should are giving recognition to those employees whose works is exemplary or that employee who has contributes to outstanding achievements and accomplishments of the mission and objectives of an organization as a whole.   Rewards and recognition go a long way to keeping employees motivated, satisfied, and committed. Management should recognize employees for both their progress toward and achievement of desired performance goals. It should show appreciation for small accomplishment as well as big ones.The recognition must be ongoing to reinforce employees' need to feel that they're doing a good job.   Moreover, the best forms of recognition typically have l ittle or no cost (Nelson, 1998). The statement just justifies the saying that people become more devoted to work when they feel that their environment likes them and appreciate the things they are doing.According to Skinner (1953), the reinforcement theory suggests the behaviors of the employees directly impact the outcome of their work or their performance. Thus, an employee with a positive behavior will bring about positive outcomes, whereas those with negative behaviors will lead to negative results. Thus, the positive behaviors of the employees should then be reinforced by their managers so as to generate more positive outcomes.Trends in Reward PracticeBeing able to recognise the needs for highly motivated individuals, human resource management has been able to develop different ways in rewarding their employees. The trends in reward practice include the broadbanding and performance-related pay and competency based pay or skill-based pay. This paper will focus on the broadbandin g and performance-related pay. Broadbanding is a manner of reducing the number of narrow grades in a certain pay structure into a smaller number of broader bands. This reward practice is based on the view that narrow ranges cannot reward employees who have reached their range maximum but who are still performing effective. The main goal of this reward practice is to provide greater flexibility to reward the acquisition of wider skills as well as competencies without need to promote the employees in each case or situation (Payment Practices, 2008).On the other hand, the performance-related pay is a common term for various approaches to warding or rewarding discretionary payments to employees on the basis of their contribution to the company. Among this common approach include the pay awards for successful meeting work objectives or for showing work-related competences or the integration of the two.   it can be said that each of this reward practice can be helpful for motivating and retaining skilful employees (DeWitt & Hamel, 2002).For rewards to be valued, the human resource management must see to it that the Employee Reward Policy includes the proper scheduling on when would be the most accurate time to give the rewards. Generally rewards received by an individual soon after accomplishment of a goal, or soon after attainment of a given targeted performance level, are the most valued rewards and the rewards that serve best to install a desire for further achievement or continued good performance, when the reward is tied to performance in time that reward is closely associated with the performance. It becomes an extension of the performance. It has real meaning because one can vividly see that it was received for performance.Laws that Affects Employee RewardsIf the employers are thinking of giving employees special rewards as incentives for having good attendance records, there are some legal and laws which prohibits them to do so.   For instance, the royal mail introduced a reward system for staff which did not take time off sick. Under this system, employees with full attendance records will be included into a prize draw to win Ford Focus cars or holiday packages. In the staff incentive, this system can be perceived as a workable reward to let the employees minimize or totally avoid their absences. However, this kind of system has some serious ramifications from certain employment law. This can be attributed to the employment discrimination law (Coopers, 2005).Herein, the management of Royal mail can be given discrimination charges for disability or age. The success of these claims depends on the specific situation of employees and their needs. This discrimination of age or disability may happen if, for instance, an employee had time off associated to the age and disability and this was not taken into consideration by the management under the reward system. Herein, there is an existing law that says that the failure of the managemen t to set-aside such employee’s absence due to age or disability related reasons can be considered as less favourable treatment.   Hence, this would hinder the company to provide reward for those individual who have no absences for this would not be fair for other employees. In this regard, if the company would like to continue the reward system, they must have some list of exceptions in the reward system. In this regard, it is safer for employees to give bonuses and rewards based on the performance and not by the number of absences.ConclusionRegardless of the targeted employees, the organization today is attempting to become employers of choice.   In order to become one, the management of the organization shall create an Employee reward system where potential job candidates feel that it will be an accomplishment to earn a job with the organization, and that once they have a job, the individual’s performance will be rewarded.ReferenceCreech, R. (1995). Employee Moti vation. Management Quarterly, 36(2), 33+.DeWitt, G. and Hamel, G. (2002). alternative Compensation Plan. Legislative Finance Committee. Online available at http://leg.mt.gov/content/publications/fiscal/interim/financecmty_june2002/broadband_report.pdf Retrieve April 21, 2008.Dean, J.W.; Snell, S.A. (1993). â€Å"‘Integrated Manufacturing and Job Design:The Moderating Effect of Organizational Inertia.Gomez-Mejia, L.R.; Welbourne, T.M. (1990). â€Å"‘The Role of Compensation in The Human Resource Management Strategies of High Technology Firms'†, in M. A. Von Glinow and S. A. Mohrman (eds.), Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press.Hambrick, D.C.; Snow, C.C. (1989). â€Å"‘Strategic Reward Systems'†, in C. C. Snow (ed.), Strategy, Organizational Design and Human Resource Management. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press.Lawler, E.E. (1990). Strategic Pay. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Payment Practices (2008. Onli ne available http://pmf.haven gateway.org/remuneration_and_reward/pay_practices_in_the_uk. retrieve April 21, 2008.Romzek, B.S. (1989). Personal consequences of employee commitment. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 649-661Nelson, B. (1998). The Care of the Un-Downsized. Public Management, Vol. 80, April 1998.Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Free Press.Snell, S.A. and Dean, J.W. (1992). â€Å"‘Integrated Manufacturing and Human Resource Management: A Human Capital Perspective'†, Academy of   Ã‚  Ã‚   Management Journal, 35: 467-504.Coopers, RT (2005). Employment Law: Attendance Rewards – Legal Ramifications. Online available http://www.uedawn.com/article.cfm/id/57087. Retrieve April 21, 2008.

Comparison Between Jesus In Christianity And Mohammed In Islam Essay

Comparison Between Jesus In Christianity And Mohammed In Islam - Essay Example He was born in "Bethlehem" in Palestine (Knight, 2009a). Jesus was the son of "Mary". She gave birth to him without having a sexual relationship with any man ("Jesus and Mohammed", 2006). Jesus' message was to believe in God and to be peaceful with people. In order to deliver this message, he "performed miracles which include turning water into wine, walking on water, cursing a fig tree, healing the sick, multiplying a small meal to feed a large crowd, casting demons out of people, and raising the dead back to life". Also, Jesus was teaching people by telling stories (or "parables"). His message puts God's mercy before his punishment. Jesus started to gain followers. The Jews didn't like Jesus for 2 reasons: 1. The parables told by Jesus "condemned the pride and hypocrisy of Jewish leaders". 2. His message became popular because it focused on God's mercy ("Jesus and Mohammed", 2006). At the "Last Supper", Jesus expected that he will be betrayed and killed. "Judas Iscariot" was one of the people who believed in Jesus' message. He turned against him and cooperated with the Jews. The Jews decided to execute Jesus. They executed him by "crucifixion, which is a slow and painful death by asphyxiation". Jesus was 30 ("Jesus and Mohammed", 2006). Mohammed was born in 570 in "Mecca" in Arabia (Davidmann, 2003). He was "was born to the Quraish tribe. His father Abdulla died before he was born" (Boyce, 2003). His mother died when he was six years old. His grandfather, "Abd al-Muttalib" became responsible for him. Mohammad lived with his grandfather until he died when he was eight. After that, his uncle, "Abu Talib", decided to take care of him. With the help of Abu Talib, Mohammed had the chance to work for a woman called "Khadija". He worked with her caravan. Khadija was a rich woman. She also had a husband but he died. Soon after that, Mohammed married Khadija. Mohammed was 25 and Khadija was 40 (Gottheil, Montgomery, & Grimme, 2002). The first revelation came to Mohamm ed when was forty. He "received a call from the Angel Gabriel, and thus began his active career as the prophet of Allah and the apostle of Arabia" (Knight, 2009b). Mohammed told his wife, Khadija, what happened to him. She believed him. Mohammed started to preach about Islam, but not too many people believed him in the early days of his message (Davidmann, 2003). Early believers included "Mohammed's friend Abu Bakr, his cousin Ali, and Mohammed's slave Zaid" (Boyce, 2003). Mohammed began to preach about his message in Mecca.

Office Art Memo Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Office Art Memo - Research Paper Example From this paper it is clear that  the impressionist paintings include: A Matador, Young Woman with Ibis, and View of Vetheuil. ‘A Matador' impressionist art has color painted side by side with a little mixing, and it has a strongly colored ground. It was made by French, Edouard Manet. The ‘View of Vetheuil’ impressionist art was created in the year 1880 by Claude Monet, from France. The artwork also has a more vivid color with a light colored background. Besides, the painting is out- door with the shadowy effects detailed. On the other hand, the ‘Young Woman with Ibis’ impressionist work was an out- door painting and had no use of black color. The painting was made by a French woman, Edgar Degas, who was an impressionist. It was made in the year 1860 to 1862 and had an emphasis on natural light. The colors in the painting are placed side by side with no mixing.This discussion stresses that  there are several post-impressionist paintings and they in clude ‘Still Life with Teapot and Fruit’, ‘Tahitian Faces: Frontal Views and Profiles’, and ‘Road in Etten.’   Ã¢â‚¬ËœStill Life with Teapot and Fruit’ is non- naturalistic, even though simplified, and a trait that defies the principles of impressionist art. It has flowers hanging on their own without obeying the force of gravity. The artwork also has flat patches in bold colors, esoteric symbolism, and decorative line. Paul Gauguin, a renowned post- impressionist, made the artwork.

HR Training class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

HR Training class - Essay Example e management must evaluate; who needs the training, where the training should happen, when the training will happen, why the training should happen, as well as, how it would happen. To accomplish this, the management must conduct analysis-using information that relates to the organizational goals and objectives, jobs and other tasks, which the employees need to learn, competences that the employees must possess to execute their duties effectively, as well as, the employees that the human resource should train. An effective needs assessment, program would help the management to direct resources to the areas that have the greatest demand. The needs assessment, program should help in addressing the needed resources as far as customer service is concerned. It should as well help in evaluating the needed resources as far as enhancing productivity, achievement of organizational goals, as well as, improvement of the quality of goods and services are concerned. A needs assessment in customer service entails identifying the gap between what the human resource expects from the employees and the actual performance, as far as customer service is concerned. Needs and assess ment, therefore, helps in closing the gap. The assessment within the small retail business would include three levels, which this paper will justify their need. The first level is organizational assessment. Organizational assessment determines the current performance of the organization, as far as, offering quality services to the customers is concerned. The assessment will help in identifying if the employees possess the right skills, abilities, knowledge or competencies in customer service. The assessment helps in solving problems present in customer service. Different businesses have different customer service needs. For example, a manufacturing company would have different customer service needs compared to a retail business. This reflects the importance of assessing the needs. In other words, it would

Creative Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Thinking - Essay Example Brainstorming has become part of every management problem solving issue and lateral thinking is now part of any well-rounded planning process. Human beings seem to be born with the capacity to think creatively. Children, in the guise of play, begin to form their personality and their mind sets very early on in life. They creatively experiment with their own limbs as well as with the world around them. It is believed that this creative process in children is one, among many, reasons they can develop skills more quickly than adults. Their capacity for language acquisition is never greater than before the age of eight. A flash of insight, a clever way to do something, a realization of some truth about ourselves--all signal the activation of the creative mind. We deploy its enormous potential for creating new solutions in our lives when we free ourselves from many of our automatic reactions, reeducate ourselves to speak in original ideas not slogans, suspend judgment, avoid arguments and ego battles, listen more attentively, and think in terms of options instead of one right way. (Albrecht, 2002, p. 39) As illustrated by Einstein’s example, our brains tend to think in imagery. Words and language are the process by which we communicate and we are often forgetful about using imagery and our imaginations. Thinking in words, according to most researchers, comes after the brain has associated imagery with those words. Pattern recognition, which are brains are expert at, kick in but often concepts can become so concrete in words that we leave ourselves no other way of looking at it. By deconstructing that process with techniques like brainstorming, random input or provocation, derails our usually linear thought processes into more creative avenues. In the present study, imaging ability had a significant influence on creativity. Good imagers scored significantly better than poor imagers on

Marketing Communications Plan and Press Release for Viejas Essay

Marketing Communications Plan and Press Release for Viejas - Essay Example In this essay, the researcher develops a marketing communication plan for the Viejas Outlet Center in order to increase visitor numbers to the center so that it can survive the current recessionary downturn. The marketing plan includes such strategies, which will play their role in creating awareness among the public about the facilities and entertainment provided by Viejas Outlet Center as well as the new stores’ opening. The creation of a marketing plan is very vital for any business enterprise because it helps to create the entire business plan which is like the route map of the business. The major goals and objectives regarding development of marketing plan include increase in market share, achievement of market dominance, gaining competitive edge over the rivals, seasonal promotions, market penetration, and creating awareness among the public about the facilities and entertainment provided by the outlet. The researcher of this essay prepares a well structured marketing pl an, which will eliminate all flaws that exist in the existing marketing plans of Viejas Outlet Centre. Such modes of advertising will be used which will make every person aware of the new facilities and entertainment stuff provided by the centre. The researcher then concluds that in order to let the public know about the entertainment facilities to be provided by the Viejas Outlet Center, we will use different forms of media, such as, television, social websites, and radio regarding the openings of the new stores throughout the year.

IKEA Internationalization Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

IKEA Internationalization Strategy - Essay Example Ikea was not always an internationally recognized retailer even though in 1973 they become one of the best and major furnishing house in Scandinavia however, the founding members aimed to make the business grow globally. Since the foundation of the company in 1943, the founders have incorporated foolproof strategies to help in the growth of the business. IKEA’s founders were well aware of the fact that the implementation of business strategies have to be relevant to the consumer demands and might vary depending on the country they are launching the store in. The idea was not only to expand the business but also make sure that the companies come across as the iconic furnishing house that is highly consumer friendly. The makers were already sure about the quality of the products which was definitely world class, the major manufacturer of the products was done in Poland which proved to be 50% cheaper than it would have cost otherwise and taken full advantage of this, this extrava gant furniture company develop a very strong and fruitful strategy to expand the business. ... e expansion of the business was extremely fast-paced, IKEA came up with other consumer-friendly offers such as a lounge for food and wine within the store itself, this definitely helps the company to generate revenue faster internationally. However, it was in 1990 that IKEA realized that there is an immense requirement for some fruitful and modern business strategies since over the years many other furnishing business owners had stepped up the market giving IKEA a very tough competition. In order to make sure the company expansion took place rapidly the makes had almost forgotten to pay attention towards the products itself. They were selling most European styles furniture which seemed to be less preferred by American and Canadian. The furniture was simply not functional for them which was one of the biggest drawbacks. It was high time for IKEA to take some decisive action to help maintain the expansion of the company. IKEA decided to shift the tactics by redesigning the products acc ording to the demands of American consumers, pretty soon the company was able to regain its position in the marketplace by becoming the second largest furnishing house in the United States in 2008. IKEA International Business Strategy IKEA being a well established Sweden furnishing house aimed to grow the business internationally and it appears to be that IKEA took the biggest business risk by implementing the Global standardization strategy. Most business owners might not think of this strategy worthy of prior consideration but IKEA took a chance on it, their vital goal was not only to expand the business globally but make sure they earn the loyalty of the customers.  

I Need Time Management Advice Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

I Need Time Management Advice - Research Paper Example The steady decline is attributed to increased efficiency due to high level of technology, student evaluations methods and poor study habit among students. The students join colleges after they have achieved very good grades and above average performances leading to very high expectations but this are not to be realized in the long run because they fail to study immediately they set their feet on campus. The decline in the time of study affects all students equally irrespective of their race, sex, age, school size or their past performance. This is not limited to the type of school or the competency of the lecturers but the trend of the decline is widespread all over according to the research by the two economic professors which has elicited a number of varied reactions with some people doubting its accuracy. However the bottom line is that the declining trends is enormous and requires to be addressed urgently. Many reasons attributed to the trend include internet use, technological changes and change in campus demographic patterns, a claim that the two professors are quick to refute and instead they say that lack of challenge between both students and the lectures is the main contributing factor. There is a general decline in the workload that is given to students and as result they have a lot of free time to indulge in other activities other than personal studies and lack o self motivation to study. A research by Cooperative Institutional Research Program, or CIRP indicates that students develop poor study habits before they get to campus after which the trend worsens. Some have argued that the changing social patterns are responsible for the decline in the study time since some students are usually engaged in more than one activity at the time they are in campus as opposed to the early years where students devoted all their time to studies while in campus. It is also argued that technological advancements have

Energy Crisis Essay Example for Free

Energy Crisis Essay Every country in the world uses energy. For example: to cook. It is becoming one of the basic needs in life. But where does the energy come from? In the year 2008, 85% of the power that we are using was nonrenewable energy, which means that someday, these energies will be gone. However, right now, there are people who have started using renewable energy such as solar energy. There are more than 7 billion people in the world right now and it will keep rising while the energy resources are depleting. Even though there are many energies that are renewable, the renewable energies are harder to make use of, which is one of the reasons why not many people use them. Also, they require some advanced technology. If we don’t find something else to replace oil, coal and natural gas, we won’t have the energy to use in the future. One of the forms of the renewable energy is solar energy. Solar energy uses energy from sunlight to create energy for our home. Sunlight is a clean, renewable resource. There are many ways to get energy from sunlight, such as the photovoltaic (PV) panels, converting sunlight into electricity and solar electricity, using the sun’s heat to produce electricity. Solar cells, or the photovoltaic panels, convert sunlight directly into electricity. We can often find solar cells in calculators and watches. Since solar cells are made up of semiconducting materials, materials whose conductivity will increase with temperature, sunlight will lose their electrons, allowing the electrons to flow through semiconducting materials to produce electricity when sunlight is absorbed. Solar electricity is separated into three kinds: parabolic-trough, dish/engine, and power tower. Parabolic-trough concentrates the sunlight through mirrors. The mirror will be tilted towards the sun, heating the oil that is flowing in the pipe inside the panel. Heated oil will then be used to boil water to produce electricity. The dish/engine is a dish-shaped mirror that will collect heat from sunlight and transfer it to the fluid within the engine. The heat would cause the fluid to expand and produce mechanical power. A power tower system uses a large field of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto the top of a tower. This heat will melt salt that flows through the receiver and the salts heat will be used to generate electricity through a conventional steam generator. With different kinds of solar panel, the price varies in the range from $5,000 to $30,000, depending on the effectiveness and the amount of energy you use. Even though the solar panels are expensive, many people still use them since they think that solar energy is energy-efficient and green. One of the advantages solar energy has is being renewable. As long as there are living things on this planet, there will always be solar energy since we get solar energy from sunlight. Even though sunlight is not present at night, the solar energy could still be stored by charging the batteries during the day and be used at night. We could then get more sunlight on the next day. Moreover, solar energy creates absolutely no pollution or noise, unlike other machines. It doesn’t damage the environment by emitting greenhouse gases or polluting water, air or land. By using this source of energy, the air will be cleaner and it helps stop the global warming. Other than this, in the long term, the solar energy is much cheaper than the energy resources we are using now. Even though it is expensive, initially the maintenance requirement is very small and the service life is around 30 years. The main disadvantage of solar energy is that it is extremely expensive. This is mostly why nowadays, not many people use solar energy. The price is unaffordable. Furthermore, since our world is polluted, the rain or the clouds could block sunlight from getting to the panels, making it ineffective. With a cloudy climate, the panels will be able to produce sunlight at a slower rate and may require more panels to generate enough electricity for your house, which will require more money. Even though using solar energy in houses might not require huge amount of area, big buildings do. To use the solar panels to their maximum ability, they need to be in the sun. With bigger buildings, you will need many more panels and to get them to work to their maximum ability, you will need a huge amount of area for the panels to be in the sunlight. Even though solar energy has some disadvantages, the advantages still overweight the disadvantages since energies are running out and this solar energy is everywhere. If we can get all of the energy that was sent to this planet, we could light the entire planet for one year within an hour. But the problem with this is we cant. If we can find a way to harvest this energy, we can have as much electricity as we want until the end of the human generation. Right now, there are many renewable energies that scientists have found but they are not yet the best way to solve the energy crisis. Therefore, scientists are still searching for new forms of energy. Dark energy is another form of energy that is very useful to mankind. In the universe, it is composed of up to 74% dark energy. What is dark energy? Dark energy is the unexplained force that causes the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. Even though there is no evidence that the dark energy does exist, people agree that it does since they believe that the universe had a beginning, and is expanding. Other than dark energy, the underwater pressure can be another useful energy resource. Beneath the water surface, there is a potential constant source of unused hydroelectric power in the form of deep water pressure. According to Rick Dickson, he had invented a way to harvest this deep water pressure by transferring its pressure to air and then to a piston. The name of this process is called Ocean Pressure Electric Conversion. Therefore, as we know, the dark energy and the hydroelectric power are very powerful; if we could get dark energy by using a similar way to the way we get solar energy and harvest the water pressure, Im positive that we would never run out of energy again. Works Cited World Energy Crisis . World Energy Crisis . N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. http://planetforlife.com/. Disadvantages Of Solar Energy. Natural Renewable Energy Sources Clean Energy Ideas. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/articles/disadvantages_of_solar_energy.html. Disadvantages of Solar Power Solar Energy Disadvantages Disadvantages of Solar Energy. Go Green with Solar Energy. N.p., n.d. Web.

Famous Personalities Who Took Up Engineering Courses Essay Example for Free

Famous Personalities Who Took Up Engineering Courses Essay 1. Dolph Lundgren (Chemical Engineering) Before pursuing an acting career, Dolph Lundgren studied chemistry and chemical engineering. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) and a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering (University of Sydney) and was studying at MIT on a Fullbright Scholarship before finally deciding to quit and pursue acting. 2. Cindy Crawford (Chemical Engineering) Cindy Crawford graduated as the batch valedictorian during high school and attended the Northwestern University to study Chemical Engineering on a scholarship. She dropped out after a semester to go into modelling full-time. 3. Bill Nye (Mechanical Engineering) Bill Nye actually graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1977. After graduation, he headed to Seattle to work for Boeing. During his time in Seattle, he entered a Steve Martin look-a-like contest that eventually led to his dual careers: An engineer by day, stand-up comic by night. In a few short years, he began appearing on Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, and â€Å"Bill Nye the Science Guy† was born. 4. Tom Scholz (Mechanical Engineering) Before Tom Scholz founded the rock band â€Å"Boston†, he received both bachelors and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT. While he was a student at MIT he made his own pedals for his electric guitar and experimented with sounds. His first job out of college was as a senior product designer for the Polaroid Corporation, where he received his first of many patent credits. 5. Jimmy Carter (Nuclear Engineering) Jimmy Carter was the 39th US president and was also a nuclear engineer. Carter went to the Georgia Institute of Technology and graduated in 1947 from US Naval Academy with a general Bachelor’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering. In the navy, he focused on submarines. He was chosen for the nuclear submarine program and did graduate work in reactor technology and nuclear physics. 6. Scott Adams (Software Engineering) Scott Adams was never technically trained as an â€Å"engineer,† though â€Å"engineer† was on his business card. He worked as a software / telecommunications engineer at Pacific Bell. From 1989 until 1995, he worked his day job while doing the Dilbert comic strip mornings, evenings and weekends. 7. Neil Armstrong (Aerospace Engineering) The first man on the moon was an engineer! Armstrong majored in aerospace engineering at Purdue University, which he followed up with a masters in aerospace from the University of Southern California. Afterwards, he joined the navy and trained as a pilot. He later became a test pilot, and finally an astronaut before landing on the moon and uttering one of the most repeated and quoted phrases in human history. 8. Jorge Mario Bergoglio / Pope Francis (Chemical Engineering) Before entering the seminary, Pope Francis studied chemistry and graduated as a chemical engineer. 9. Rowan Atkinson (Electrical Engineering) Before becoming the famous Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson studied at the Newcastle University in 1975 where he obtained his bachelor’s in electrical engineering. Afterward he continued his studies, ultimately obtaining the degree of MSc in Electrical Engineering from The Queen’s College, Oxford. While studying at Oxford, he pursued acting on the side with a variety of clubs. It is from here that he was bitten by the acting bug and decided to forgo his career as an engineer. 10. Herbert Hoover (Civil and Mining Engineering) Before becoming the 31st US president, Herbert Hoover was both a civil and a mining engineer. Hoover started out at Stanford in 1891 and got a job as a mining engineer in Australia. He then went to work in the Chinese mining industry and started a few mining companies. Afterwards, he got more and more involved with government work, before finally becoming president. 11. Tom Landry (Industrial Engineering) One of the most famous coaches in NFL was an engineer. Tom Landry received his degree in industrial engineering from the University of Texas (where he played football) and the University of Houston, graduating in 1952. Before starting his coaching career in 1956, he first became a player in the NFL. 12. Ashton Kutcher (Biochemical Engineering) Before becoming an actor, Ashton Kutcher enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1996 where he majored in Biochemical Engineering. He was motivated to take this degree because he had the desire to find a cure for his younger brother’s heart ailment. 13. Ally Walker (Biomedical Engineering) Walker went to college with the intention of becoming a scientist or a doctor. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and obtained a bachelor’s in biochemistry. But, while there, she worked in the labs as a researcher on a genetic engineering project. But shortly after being a cast in her first film (Aloha Summer), her career in science was put on hold. 14. Herbie Hancock (Electrical Engineering) Herbie Hancock attended Grinnell College and double-majored in electrical engineering and music. Though he was an accomplished musician before he even got to college, music was not his first draw. 15. Sergei Brin and Larry Page (Computer Science) Brin and Page were two computer nuts who first met at Stanford University a decade ago while earning graduate degrees in computer science. Brin had a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Maryland while Page had an engineering B.S. from the University of Michigan. They didn’t get along at first, but their friendship grew as Brin and Page toiled in the dorm, seeking a new way to search the Internet. The fruits of their labor: Google, the Internet’s most popular search engine.

Embedding Total Quality Management In Private Universities Management Essay

Embedding Total Quality Management In Private Universities Management Essay The previous chapter consisted of a literature review about TQM, the management approach that started in manufacturing and business and then extended over the service sector and particularly in higher education. Research shows that by adapting aspects of the TQM to fit their own needs, higher education organizations experienced a better ability to manage the process of quality, and maintain and enhance development. Vazzana.et al (2000), in their study about TQM in business colleges found that most PUs benefit from their attempt at using TQM to improve the quality of their universities. Similarly, Weller (2000) in his study of using the TQM tools to identify root causes of higher education attendance problems concluded that the application of TQMs tools and techniques to solve higher education problems as highly promising as it is in PUs areas. The purpose of chapter five was to give a general understanding of the subject. The present chapter is about how TQM has, and can be, adopted in the PUs, what benefits PUs can get from implementing TQM, concerns about, and case studies of some PUs which have implemented TQM and what problems and benefits have been encountered in this context. The chapter concludes with a proposed model for TQM in the PUs in Egypt. 5.2 TQM in Private Universities Context Ever more, the implementation of TQM has extended over industrial organizations and has turned deteriorating companies into world leaders. Although the origins of TQM are grounded in statistical analysis of performance, with statistical quality control being the principal tool for verifying the success of TQM measures, TQM lays importance on the human element of an organization (Deming, 1986; Juran, 1988). This makes TQM suitable for service sectors in general and particularly education. Although educational organizations have been slower to see the value of TQM, many of them are now using TQM to improve their administration and to face internal and external challenges. As Mangan (1992) notes: Faced with soaring operating costs and persistent public demands for accountability, a growing number of colleges and universities are turning to TQM and its principles of customer satisfaction, teamwork, and employee empowerment as a tool to improve how institutions are managed. There are three generic approaches to TQM in higher education (Harris 1994), Firstly there is a customer focus where the idea of service to students is fostered through staff training and development, which promotes students choice and autonomy. The second approach has a staff focus and is concerned to value and enhance the contribution of all members of staff to the effectiveness of an institutions operation, to the setting of policies and priorities. This entails a flatter management structure and the acceptance of responsibility for action by defined working groups. The third approach focuses on service agreements stance and seeks to ensure conformity to specification at certain key measurable points of the educational processes. Evaluation of assignments by faculty within a specified timeframe is an example. Lawrence and Mc.Collough (2001) propose a system of guarantees designed to accommodate multiple stakeholders and the various and changing roles of students in the educational process. Durlabhji and Fusilier (1999) states that customer empowerment in education requires greater input from students as well as from business community that will eventually employ them and this in term will streamline education and eliminate any rest of the esoteric academic that exist in business coursework. In his model of distributed leadership for managing change in higher educational institutions, Gregory (1996) suggests four dimensions of institutional leadership symbolic, political, managerial and academic. In managing educational change there has been general criticism (Iven, 1995) that government initiatives are being pushed by a narrow, employer-driven strategy. Policy makers do have an obligation to set policy, establish standards and monitor performance. They must articulate important educational goals (Fullan, 1993). Roffe (1998) considers that due to open competition, students are becoming more customers as well as consumers and expected to pay a growing share of the costs of education. TQM implementation in PUs, Osseo-Asare and Long bottom (2002) proposes enabler criteria, which affect performance and help organizations achieve organizational excellence. These criteria are leadership, policy and strategy, people management, resources and partnerships and processes. The literature contains infinite cases of Total Quality Management principles incorporation in education. The application ranges from school stage (Weller and Hartley, 1994 and Schmoker and Wilson, 1993) to higher education stage (Sahney et.al, n2004 and Wiklund et.al, 2003). Some studies focus on the feasibility of implementing TQM in educational. Anderson (1995) reported the results of a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of a TQM programme at the University of Houston, College of Business Administration. He found that the implementation of TQM had some positive results such as increasing the student perceptions of service quality. Moreover, some studies show that TQM is also used to solve some specific issues. Weller (2000) reported that TQM principles can be used to identify root problem causes for absenteeism. It also can help in identifying realistic solutions which yield positive results in academic and non-academic areas. The TQM pedagogical concept applied to higher education embraces all fields and levels of education and has an effect on the following: Physical facilities (buildings, sport complexes, open field etc.), Academic infrastructure (laboratories, library, documentation, communication, information infrastructure etc.), Curriculums, Examinations and evaluation systems, Supplying academic and administrative personal and their improvement systems, Research and publication, Institutional development plans (strategic planning), University industry society relations, Deming claimed his production system can be applied to service organizations as well as to manufacturing organizations (Evans and Lindsay, 1999). Figure 4.3 with reference to TQM applies Demings production model to higher education. This system depends on the answers to these main questions. Who are the stakeholders (customers and suppliers)? What are the inputs and outputs? What are the key processes? Stockholders Suppliers Stockholders Customers Families High Schools Business Sector Vocational Institutes Input Government Business Families Students Outputs Design Redesign Teaching Program Customer research Where are we now and where do we want to be? Process Figure 5.1 TQM in Higher Education System In figure 5.1 the stakeholders are the customers and suppliers. The stakeholder groups can easily be extended beyond the members shown in the groups as customers and suppliers. Suppliers include families, high school, Vocational institutes, and business. The customers include the business community, graduate school, society, student, and families. Universities have a large number of different customers as shown in the figure 5.1. University management should consider the relative importance of each customer group and balance and reconcile the interests of these diverse groups. Students as consumers of knowledge and services are considered to be the main customer. Accepting students as an important group of customers can be taken as a revolutionary change in the management of quality in higher education. That group of students, as the consumers of education, should include potential students, existing students and graduate students. The university has different priorities and services for each group of students who make up the main customer group and attempts to satisfy their different needs. For example, introductory courses for potential students, student counselling for existing students and alumni associations for graduate students. Processes include all facets of teaching, student counselling, and scientific research. The first process is to assess the educational needs of students in terms of their existing knowledge, future career opportunities, and the needs of the community and its future development. Other processes to be followed are planning curriculum for courses, including allocating resources, arranging facilities, administration and support, and finally teaching and learning. The quality of all these processes must be effectively and visibly assured. Like manufacturing systems, educational systems can include a means by which costumer research can be conducted to evaluate and improve supply. For example, by observing students, analyzing test results, and using other resources from student feedback, instructors can assess their own effectiveness and develop strategies for improvement. Some colleges and universities survey their graduates and their graduates employers to assess consumer satisfaction wi th their product. Feedback such as that mentioned, helps colleges, departments, and individual faculty members to redesign curriculum, improve course content, and improve services such as academic advising. While industry usually has a product or service, educational institutions do not have perceived products in the generally accepted sense. Education has many outputs and inputs but the results from the process stage are often difficult to quantify in the short term. The inputs to the educational system are students, faculty, support staff, buildings and equipment and other facilities. Outputs include people with new knowledge and abilities and research findings as seen from the figure 5.1. 5. 3 Quality Control of Higher Education Vevere (2009) referred quality control to verification procedures (both formal and informal) used by institutions in order to monitor commitment level to quality standards. Vevere schemed quality control of higher education as interconnected system as shown below in figure (5.2). Figure 5.2 system of external and internal control of higher education. Source :Vevere , Nina (2009) According to figure (5.2) above, external control institutions verify the commitment to standards that higher education institutions claim. It is a fundamental principle of TQM to integrate TQM internally within the institution of higher education and externally with international organizations of education (Tang Zairi, 1998). The International Accreditation Organization (IAO, 2010) is an independent and private education accrediting seeks to the finest global educational standards. IAO is a member of the International Education Accreditation Commission (IEAC), which is concerned with establishment, maintenance and improvement of standards of accreditation agencies across the globe. In each country, there is a local bodybodies coordinate and cooperate with international bodies concerned with higher education quality. In England, as an example, the Department of Employment is concerned whether graduates can satisfy the needs of employers (Harvey et al., 1992). In Egypt, few universit ies got educational ISO and highly satisfied standards of National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (NAQAA) for some specializations. 5.4 Benefits of TQM for Private Higher Education As the world is currently undergoing a dramatic change and education is considered the leading competitive change tool, so TQM as concluded in chapter four and explained in chapter five could be a reasonable approach for developing. The literature review of TQM is showing that many writers have encouraged the use of TQM in education. Sallis (1993) argues that an educational organization could benefit from applying the TQM approach both in human and financial terms. Sallis points out that some concepts of TQM like right first time cannot be directly implemented in educational organizations but educational organizations can still benefit from such a notion. He indicates that if an education organization applied TQM, mistakes will be minimized with clear systems and procedures, and good team work through careful and thoughtful planning. In this point, one can notice that although TQM originally started in manufacturing and it has somehow acquired business language, but it is still flexible enough to be adapted by PUs. Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) highlight the benefit of holistic organization in applying TQM. They mention that TQM is not concerned just with the outcome of education, but with the whole nature of education as a process for all stakeholders. Howard (1996) states the following ways in which PUs can benefit from implementing TQM: 1. Stakeholder value through customer focus. 2. Employee commitment and development through involvement. 3. Goal achievement through strategic planning. 4. Services improvement through continuous process improvement. 5. Cost reduction through elimination of unnecessary tasks. Howard highlights the benefits of TQM for PUs from three different dimensions: human dimension, financial dimension and planning dimension. In the human dimension, the stakeholders are satisfied and employees are committed; in the financial dimension, money and other resources are saved; and in the planning dimension strategic planning leads to goal achievement. Therefore, the literature on TQM argues that implementing TQM in PUs would save time, money and efforts through doing things right first time. TQM will also help PUs to demonstrate values for all stakeholders, provide better quality provision and communication and continue seeking innovation and improvement. 5.5 Obstacles about TQM in Private Universities According to Srivanci (2004) and critical issues in implementing TQM in PUs includes leadership, customer identification, cultural and organizational transformation. Deans and head of departments cannot eliminate unethical employment practices of lecturers like what is applied in public universities where rigid rules is deployed. Hence they do not enjoy ultimate authority in hiring and firing of personnel and allocating resources. Owlia and Aspinwall (1997) conclude that customer orientation is a more problematic principle of TQM when applied to PUs because of special nature of many academics whose motivation to work is often independent of market issues. Education consider as a provider of services. Its services include advice, tuition, assessment and guidance to pupils and students, their parents and sponsors. The customers and the stakeholders of the service are a very diverse group and need identifying. If quality is about meeting and exceeding customer needs and wants, it is important to be clear whose needs and wants we should be satisfying. The diversity of customers makes it all the more important for educational institutions to focus on customer wants and to develop mechanisms for responding to them. In PUs where the education process depends totally on the customers fees to run, a funding cut may lead to a reduction in service that may not accord with what customers are feeding back. This is not much important in public universities where it is supported from government. This is a very difficult issue to resolve and TQM does not provide ready answers to it in private universities. Cultural and organizational transformation in PUs main issue is under the frustrates the introduction of conventional TQM procedures is the principle of academic freedom as it plays out in individual professorial classrooms and their professional lives. Another important issues is that faculty members tend to work alone more often the together in projects since they gain more managerial and financial advantage at the opposite in public universities. The obstacles that cause unsuccessful adopting and implementing TQM in PUs academia are (but not limited to): The nature of the academia world, which makes the change process slow. The resistance of academicians to change, so to learn about the new method of doing things. The nature of some institutions as non-profit organization, which reduce the motivation to adopt new management methodology. The concentration of the academicians (in their readings and researches) on their narrow specializations. The TQM methodology and tools are relatively new especially in the developing countries. High turnover rate of staff, which prevents accumulation of experience and sustain the momentum of change. The absence of employees (units) who are specialized in TQM. The common administration problem, is putting a high rank and qualified personnel in the leading position depending on their previous experience not on their specialization i.e. the leaders of the institution could be specialized in art, physics, anatomy or any other field but not in management and specifically in higher education management. 5.6 Case Studies of TQM Implementation in Private Universities To review the experiences of some educational organizations with TQM, in order to gain appreciation from their experiences in proposing the TQM model for PUs in Egypt and in developing the implementation framework. As with benchmarking, it is better to learn from the experiences of others than starting from scratch. The literature covers PUs which have adopted TQM. For this study the case studies will be examined from the perspective of US and UK experiences where the two countries are well reputable in higher education. 5.6.1 US experience The first attempt to implement TQM in US higher education began in 1985. The movement spread quickly and in 1990, 78 higher education institutions were reported to be exploring or attempting to implement TQM. The common factor in US higher education is that it is being driven toward commercial competition imposed by economic forces. Competition is the result of the development of the global education market on the one hand, and the reduction of governmental funding that forces public organizations to seek other financial sources, on the other hand. For example, at Oregon State University the government cut funds by 35 percent. Some universities, such as Virginia Commonwealth University responded by decreasing staff salaries and increasing tuition fees. North Dakota University responded to such cuts by increasing the number of students without increasing quality. Competitive factors between universities did not allow for lower quality, so many institutions are looking to industry for ideas. Considering the similarities between experiences met in the commercial world and those faced in higher education, the TQM approach can be a solution for the do more with less. Today more than 200 private institutions of higher education are involved in TQM throughout the USA. There are many success stories in the US. The experiences of some US higher educational institutions prove that the effect of using TQM in private higher education is positive. 5.6.1.1 Oregon State University One of the most publicized success stories is that of Oregon State University (OSU). For a number of reasons the first pilot study was conducted at OSU. First, quality was considered a high-priority issue. Second, it has high probability of success. Third, management agreed that it was important. Fourth, no one else was working on it. Fifth, it was also important to the customers of the organizations. OSU, as leader of TQM in higher education movement, has had a real success; time has been saved, costs have been reduced, people have been empowered at all levels, and morale has skyrocketed. Oregon State University followed the following steps as a planning stage to implement TQM: Exploring Total Quality Management through visiting companies with TQM programs, inviting Deming to visit and explain TQM, reading key resources and attending TQM classes. Forming a pilot study team which was seen as a learning experience for the OSUs staff and a model for future teams. It consisted of 10 managers and front-line workers, a team leader, and a training officer/ facilitator. After the first pilot team experience, they began implementing TQM by focusing top management on strategic planning, including the following steps: defining the mission, understanding customers, identifying the critical processes of the president, developing the vision and identifying breakthrough items. Developing a training program, a quality manual and a recognition system. Establishing daily management system. Establishing standing cross-functional teams. 5.6.1.2 Northwest Missouri State University Northwest Missouri State University is another leader in TQM in higher education. It defines its success as: enrolment is now at capacity: the budget is balanced; faculty salaries are higher than average; and about 10% of budget has been shifted from administration to instructions. The implementation of TQM followed the following steps (Waller, L. D., 2000): Senior management began to learn about quality management. Developing internal expertise that was required rather than obtain some ready improvement methodology and rely on outsiders to provide the expertise. The management of the transformation became a full-time enterprise for those school district employees who were involved. The introduction of leadership training and development for principals-to-be. This was to provide this critical group with continuous improvement skills needed in the schools. A decision making process at the school level was introduced. Classroom Learning System was introduced based on Demings problem solving Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. 5.6.1.3 The University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania is committed to TQM in the Wharton School MBA; curriculum has been developed using TQM principles. Moreover this University has improved the method of recouping corporate research changes and reduced charges from $ 18 to $ 13 million. The university proposed an eleven-step model for implementing TQM The president adopts quality as the core of institutional value system and communicates this value, and works to develop commitment to it throughout the institution. The president promotes the value through frequent symbolic and substantive actions. Educate administrators and academic deans in TQM and customer orientation, in team/participative management. Identify customers needs and set performance objectives. Train and designate internal resource persons who provide technical assistance to the rest of the institution. Train faculty, staff, and employees in appropriate statistical techniques, process analysis, decision making, and customer orientation. Form quality teams to seek continual improvement in the process and identify individual quality champions. Define/delegate authority throughout the institution. Develop performance measurement systems to continuously monitor the progress of the institution; the measurement should focus on the stakeholders needs satisfaction. Institute incentives and reward systems and relate them to TQM objectives. Work continuously to reduce the resistance to change. 5.6.2 UK Experience The first TQM initiatives in UK higher education were later than in the USA; the first attempts were in the early 1990. 5.6.2.1 De Monfort University De Monfort University (DMU) has some successful results in implementing TQM. The Faculty of Design and Manufacture at DMU completely reviewed and revised traditional teaching menthols and courses, which were no longer appropriate for the end of twentieth century. Teaching staff became 30 percent more efficient with double the number of student, and effectiveness of the revised course content was widely reorganized by industry, student and other design faculties. In Leicester Business School at DMU, with the application of TQM, higher participation rates and increase in staff productivity achieved. The strategic plan for the implementation was rooted with the concepts of identifying the customers, understanding their needs and serving them well. The plan focused on the following steps: The establishment of a quality council comprising the universitys most senior academic and non-academic managers. The purpose of the council is to review the universitys processes and critical success factors in order to identify key issues for improvement. Raising quality awareness through a series of awareness courses. These courses provide early education and training for actual and potential council members. In addition to the awareness courses, there is specific training in quality management tools and techniques. Using quality function deployment to ensure the customer satisfaction. This method was applied in the Department of Vision Sciences. There were eight essential areas to consider: students wants and needs, skills necessary to meet the wants and needs, programme and course content to deliver the skills, organization and assessment of the programme, resources, implementation of the programme, monitoring discrepancies between goals and outcomes, and control of the system in changing circumstances. However, the experience of quality function deployment showed it to be a complex tool. De Monfort University did not use a particular TQM model but instead only used the TQM principles, tools and techniques whenever appropriate and possible, because was difficult to provide an objective assessment to its success or of its cost over the years. 5.6.2.2 South Bank University Total quality management initiative was launched in 1992 at South Bank University. This has involved a thorough and ongoing review both of the quality of service it provides for its students and the wider community and of its academic quality, particularly in the area of teaching and learning. South Bank University, decided at an early stage that it should reflect more accurately the principle that real quality issues involved the ongoing commitment of all staff, support and academic, at all levels. Students are rightly encouraged to be involved more actively in the learning process, to be critical and imaginative about their own learning. Within five years, linking TQM into the strategic planning process, South Bank started to establish a competitive advantage by achieving differentiation (of its courses) through the quality of the learning experience, if a way can be found of advertising this to potential customers. It is expected that up to ten significant quality improvement measures (for example in academic staff time saved by increased efficiency in validation procedures or in improved feedback from student course board representatives) will have been achieved at the cross-university level in response to common problems identified through the quality service agreements. Most importantly, there will have been a change in the culture of the institution where all staff accepts their personal responsibility for quality improvement as a natural part of their job. The quality management plan can be summarized as follows The vice-chancellor and senior executive take direct responsibility for leadership of the universitys quality plan. Quality commitment to all university elements. Continuous improvement is everyones responsibility. Deployment of resources to support quality management. Quality management responsibility is best handed by operational levels. Encouragement of the diversification of quality management forms. Development of staff. From the quality principles and mission statement, critical factors of strategic importance are identified: teaching and learning, research, community service, institutional management, priority resource allocation, enhancing technical and information support, and quality advancement procedures. These factors formed a framework for further actions in the quality plan. In implementing TQM, each faculty formed its own quality committee to provide leadership and to increase quality improvement at faculty level. Responsible officers (e.g. deans) are charged with ensuring that performance targets are achieved within the specified time. As a part of staff development, brainstorming is used to identify strengths and weaknesses. South Bank University learned that the commitment of the staff to the quality initiatives and staff development, in addition to the stakeholders involvement and empowerment are essential to the strengthening of a quality culture. The purpose of presenting case studies is to learn how they applied TQM and propose a model that suits the PUs in Egypt. All of the five educational organizations began to apply TQM as a means to respond to the great demand for change and improvement. Some used TQM to face the reduction of funding or the challenge of competitiveness. This is the case in the PUs; it faces challenges and needs to encourage improvement, as discussed in chapter four. In Implementing TQM, universities get used different TQM models according to their needs. TQM requires creativity, responsibility and participation from managers and staffing in an environment of collaboration and open communication. It requires commitment at the top level. It needs strong visionary leadership that will facilitate the cultural change toward continuous development. TQM also demands the establishment of an environment of teamwork. Another important issue about implementing TQM is that the top management play a major role in planning the organizations processes. The PUs as an educational organization should aim at satisfying stakeholders needs. Nevertheless, TQM demands time, effort and a willingness to change. It creates a learning organization where education, training and re-education are essential for TQM success. TQM requires staff at all levels to be motivated to do not only what is better but what is best by the involvement and empowerment of all staff. TQM is about believing that there is always a better way of doing the services of the organization. So, involvement and empowerment, training and education, and continuous improvement are characters of the TQM organization. The implementation of TQM seems to be more effective if it is steady and well-planned. It also needs appraisal using quality tools and techniques. This is a very difficult task but not impossible. It just needs time and patience and a view point. From the previously discussed case studies, it seems that TQM approach succeeded in educational settings and this success can be translated into the following results: Saving time. Saving effort in the long term. Saving money and resources. Establishing a quality culture. Identification of strong and weak points. Stakeholder empowerment and involvement. Communication empowerment. Better understanding of stakeholders and their needs. Building a positive teamwork environment. Raising authority delegation.

John Steinbeck Outline Essay -- essays research papers

John Steinbeck Outline I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. II. John Steinbeck’s Life A) Family 1. His dad served as the county treasurer. 2. His mom was a school teacher. 3. He was one four children and was the only boy. B) Childhood and Adolescence 1.Born on February 27, 1902 2.Began telling stories as a child 3. Sent short stories to magazines under a false name 4. He was interested in biology, the study of human life 5. Large guy, advantage because he excelled in track and basketball 6. Wrote for the school paper 7. Was the president of his senior class C) Young Adult Life 1. Worked his was through college at Stanford University but never graduated 2. He moved to New York and got a job as a free-lance writer but failed, he then  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   moved back to California. 3. His first book was Cup of Gold but did not attract much attention 4. The novel Tortilla Flat was Steinbeck’s first success. 5. As His reputation as an author began to rise, his personal life took a Plunge. He got divorced but got remarried but that also ended in divorce D) Jobs 1. Worked on nearby ranches, he became acquainted with a migrant worker 2. Sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand, factory worker, construction laborer, and a caretaker III. Common settings and Issues A) Settings 1. The Red Pony- set in Salinas, CA in between two mountains, rural setting, on a ranch 2. The Pearl- se...

naturalism :: essays research papers

Naturalism in THE HURRICANE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Naturalism is the theory that one's surroundings and background determines their fate. THE HURRICNE has many naturalistic elements. Rubin Carter's background and surroundings are what determined his fate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trouble started very young for Rubin Carter. When he was just a boy he was sent to a juvenile home. Rubid didn nothing wrong, but because he was black it made it easier for him to get accused. As Carter got older, he grew stonger and wiser. He became a boxer. Soon, hte name stayed with him, Rubin the Hurricane Carter. He was an excellent boxer and had many things going for him. In a bar one night two men were shot and killed. But because Carter was black it was very easy for him to be accused. Rubin lost his case and went to prison.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hurricane has many naturalistic elements. The fate of Rubin Carter was determined by his background and surroundings. Because Carter was black, it made it easier for him to be accused of crimes wheterher he committed them or not. Therefore, based upon Carter's surroundings and background, his fate of being accused of a crime he did not committ and going to prison for it showes that THE HURRICANE has naturalistic elements. Naturalism is the theory that one's fate is determined by their surroundings. Antying that happnes to someone is due to everything around them. Such things as thier family, where they live, where they work, and so on. THE JUNGLE is an excellent example of a naturalistic piece of literature. Many of the characters fateswere determined by their surroundings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  THE JUNGLE is a very good example of a naturalistic piece of literature. The characters in the novel all have a fate which is determined by their surroundgins. One example is Jurgis. His fate of becoming an addict to alcohol was caused by everything surrounding him. Things that happened to his family and at his work caused him to start drinking. Many things went wrong at work. It was a very bad environment for him to work in. His injury kept him away from work which motivated him to drink. The death of his wife, Ona, and his child, Little Antanas also motivated Jurgis to start drinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another example is Little Antanas. His fate, which was death, was caused due to the poor living conditions that surrounded him. Everything that surrounded him was filthey.