Coach Inc Essays

Coach Inc Essays Coach Inc Essay Coach Inc Essay Coach Inc. : Is Its Advantage in Luxury Handbags Sustainable? Executive Summary Coach Inc. : Is Its Advantage in Luxury Handbags Sustainable? Company History ? Founded in 1941 by Miles Cahn, a leather artisan, who began producing women’s handbags; simple in style and resilient to wear and tear. ? Even after 40 years of business, coach was able to grow at a steady rate by setting prices about 50% lower than most luxurious handbags, adding new models and establishing accounts with retailers such as Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. After 44 years of family management, Coach was then sold to Sara Lee, a diversified food and consumer goods producer (acquisition strategy). ? Sara Lee left Coach’s strategy and operations intact but by 1990’s the company performance began to decline as consumer shifted preference to a more stylish French and Italian handbags such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. ? In 1996, there was a change in the management having Reed Krakoff as the new creative director, an ex Tommy Hilfiger designer. He believed that new products should be based on market research rather than on designer’s instincts about what would sell. Coach then conducted excessive research and held focus groups to ask customers about styling, comfort, and functionality preferences. They found that customers look for edgier styling, softer leathers, and leather-trimmed fabric handbags. These prototypes were tested in selected coach stores for 6 months before announcing the launch. This process allowed coach to launch a new collection every month instead of â€Å"2 per year† launch prior to Krakoff’s arrival, making it adopting an offensive strategy to improve its market standing or result in a competitive edge fairly quickly. The stores were redesigned to complement the contemporary new designs, the factory stores’ appearance were improved. ? The factory stores carry test models, discontinued models and special l ines that sold at discounts ranging from 15-50%. These discounts were possible because of the company’s policy to outsource production to 40 suppliers in 15 countries. The outsourcing agreements allowed coach to maintain sizeable pricing advantage relative to other luxury brands (outsourcing production line). ? Its attractive ricing enabled Coach to appeal to consumers who would not normally consider luxury brands, while the quality and styling of its products were sufficient to satisfy traditional luxury consumers. (Blue Ocean Strategy) ? By the year 2000, coach was able to build a sizeable lead in the accessible luxury segment of the leather handbags and accessories industry and made it a solid performer in Sara Lee’s business lineup. ? In October 2000, Sara Lee decided to launch an IPO for Coach as part of a restructuring initiative designed to focus the corporation on food and beverages. Offensive strategy) Coach’s Strategy and Industry Positioning ? Coach I nc. designed and marketed women’s handbags; leather accessories such as key fobs, belts, electronic accessories, and cosmetic case; and outwear such as gloves, hats and scarves. ? Licensing agreements (collaborative partnership to achieve product line extension): o Movado Group in 1998 to make coach-branded watches available in coach retail stores. o Jimlar Corporation in 1999, manufacture and market coach’s women footwear. o Marchon Eyewear in 2003, for coach branded eyewear ? Approach to differentiation: o Based on the market research design process developed by Krakoff o Procurement process and its outsourcing agreements also contribute for differentiation and high quality o Voguish image due to monthly new product launch o It sought to make customer service experiences an additional differentiating aspect of the brand. It also has a Special Request service where customers can order merchandise for home delivery if the particular handbag or color wasn’t available during the visit to the coach store (defensive strategy). Strategy: o Increase frequency of customer visits by regular product launch and sending out catalogs to strategically selected households (defensive strategy). The company’s market research found that its best customers visited a coach store once every two months and made a purchase once every 7 months. o They adapted to the fact that women usually use bags to complement their wardrobes the same way the used to use shoes. o Coach is a brick and click company, having its products sold on its web site as well as in the full-price and factory stores (web site strategy). Coach’s web site had 40 million unique visitors and generated $54 million in net sales. The company also sends promotional e-mail to 55 million selected customers in 2006. ? Functional area strategies: o RD engineering: making prototypes and test them with the consumers by keeping them in the factory stores for 6 months before the actual launch. o Production: outsourcing the procurement and manufacturing processes to 40 different suppliers in 15 countries. o Marketing and sales: extensive market research to find out consumer preferences about new styles, comfort and functionality. The retail distribution is both direct (full price and factory stores, internet sales, catalog sales and stores in Japan) and indirect (wholesale accounts with department stores in US and in international market outside Japan). ? Coach can be regarded as a fast-follower in the luxury bags industry. It can leapfrog its competitors such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. by quickly adapting new styles to its handbags which eventually became popular among its customers. Hence, in essence, it became the first-mover in the â€Å"accessible† luxury handbags. Coach’s Strategic Options in 2007 ? Key growth involved store expansion in the US, Japan, Hong Kong and China; increasing sales to existing customers to drive comparable store growth; and creating alliances to exploit the coach brand in additional luxury categories. ? Second growth initiative: increase same-store sales through continued development of new styles, the development of new usage collection, and the exploitation of gift giving opportunities. Agreement with Lutz Patmos to launch women’s knitwear collection and Estee Lauder Company for development of fragrance that would be sold in Coach. Analysis of Coach’s Outlook in 2007 Key Success Factors ? Increasing quality and styling ? Merchandising strategy; â€Å"trade up, trade down† ? Outsourcing to push down the price ? Selecting appropriate country for global expansion ? Counterfeiting block ? Store locat ions ? Good economic outlook to encourage shoppers to buy luxury goods ? Low shipping cost Environmental friendly products Strengths Weaknesses ? Customer loyalty Image delusion ? Frequent update of demand ? Equal service and quality between environmental unfriendly products ? full-price and factory stores ? Direct and indirect sales ? Differentiating its product placement OpportunitiesThreats ? The number of millionaires were product counterfeits expected to increase by 23% Italian and French handbags continue by 2009 to be favorites, hence pose as threats Chinese market for luxury goods in unfortunate case of global financial were expected to increase by 24% crisis/recession, sales will drop not to by 2014 making it the world’s mention the plunging of company’s largest market for luxury goods stocks ? Another rapidly growing market for luxury goods was India due to increase in household earnings ? Expansion opportunities in Japan ? Extension of customer service ( gift giving). ? Shift from core store to fashion store and fashion store to flagship ? Product line extension to knitwear and fragrance

A History of African Slave Traders

A History of African Slave Traders During the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Europeans did not have the power to invade African states or kidnap African slaves at will. For the most part, the 12.5 million slaves transported across the Atlantic Ocean were purchased from African slave traders. It is a piece of the triangle trade about which there are still many critical misperceptions. Motivations for Slavery One question that many Westerners have about African slavers, is why were they willing to sell their own people? Why would they sell Africans to Europeans? The simple answer to this question is that they did not see slaves as their own people. Blackness (as an identity or marker of difference) was a preoccupation of Europeans, not Africans. There was also in this era no sense of being African. (Indeed, to this day, individuals are more likely to identify as being African rather than, say, Kenyan only after leaving Africa.) Some slaves were prisoners of, and many of these may have been seen as enemies or rivals to those who sold them. Others were people who had fallen into debt. They were different by virtue of their status (what we might think of today as their class). Slavers also kidnapped people, but again, there was no reason they would inherently see slaves as their own. Slavery as a Part of Life It might be tempting to think that African slave traders did not know how bad European plantation slavery was, but there was a lot of movement across the Atlantic. Not all traders would have known about the horrors of the Middle Passage or what life awaited slaves, but others at least had an idea. There are always people willing to ruthlessly exploit others in the quest for money and power, but the story of the African slave trade goes much further than a few bad people. Slavery and the sale of slaves, though, were parts of life. The concept of not selling slaves to willing buyers would have seemed strange to many people up until the 1800s. The goal was not to protect slaves, but to ensure that oneself and ones kin were not reduced to slaves. A Self-Replicating Cycle As the slave trade intensified in the 16 and 1700s, it also became harder not to participate in the trade in some regions of West Africa. The enormous demand for African slaves led to the formation of a few states whose economy and politics were centered around slave raiding and trading. States and political factions that participated in the trade gained access to firearms and luxury goods, which could be used to secure political support. States and communities who were not actively participating in the slave trade were increasingly at a disadvantage. The Mossi Kingdom is an example of a state that resisted the slave trade until the 1800s when it began trading in slaves as well. Opposition to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade The Mossi Kingdom was not the only African state or community to resist selling slaves to Europeans. For instance, the king of the Kongo, Afonso I, who had converted to Catholicism, tried to stop the slave of slaves to Portuguese traders. He lacked the power, however, to police the whole of his territory, and traders as well as nobles engaged in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to gain wealth and power. Alfonso tried writing to the Portuguese king and asking him to stop Portuguese traders from engaging in the slave trade, but his plea was ignored. The Benin Empire offers a very different example. Benin sold slaves to Europeans when it was expanding and fighting many wars - which produced prisoners of war. Once the state stabilized, it stopped trading slaves, until it started to decline in the 1700s. During this period of increasing instability, the state resumed participation in the slave trade.

Promoting Team Effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Promoting Team Effectiveness - Essay Example Individual conflicts tend to be about personality differences in terms of preference, likes and dislikes, background and so on. These differences are natural and can be a double edged sword. If not managed properly the individual differences lead to team conflicts. Team conflict is characterized by constant disagreements, mistrust among team members, and formation of cliques which act against each other and so on. A case of individual conflict is a situation at the workplace whereby two ladies in a team fail to get along because they share affections for a fellow male colleague. In such a case this problem is purely individual. An example of team conflict is whereby members disagree about the sharing of responsibilities and work in the team. In such a case the problems emanate from the issues that are team related Decision making in a team can be difficult because it may be hard to reach a compromise whereby everyone in the team feels satisfied and like a winner. Additionally, selfish interests among team members may inhibit smooth decision making. However, in contrast, a team leader may experience problem of indifference or disinterest among team members in the area of decision making so that the leader feels disserted when making decisions. Further, a decision affecting team affairs may need to be discussed among team members and welcome their input on the matter which in turn complicates decision making. More often than not these problems of decision making stem from unclear team goals and vision, confusion over who has the final say, unwillingness to take responsibility, selfish interests among other reasons. As a leader, it is important to ensure that these issues do not extend to the point of breaking team spirit which takes so long to build. For example the problem of team members purs ing individual interests first may be resolved by elevating the team's common goal and urging members to realize that the team is bigger than their individual goals. The problem of disinterest or indifferentness in the process of decision making can be conquered by delegating duties more to team members such that they feel more competent to contribute ideas. Perhaps the problem may be that members do not feel valued in the team in which case the atmosphere within the team should change to be accommodating. Question 4 Participation is a strong aspect that attributes to effective teams. Some of the benefits of participation include greater performance/output, efficiency and effectiveness, cohesiveness, growth, innovation and so on. Given the crucial benefits of participation team leaders can devise various methods in order to stimulate/enhance participation, for instance at the workplace a manager may use delegation as a way of promoting participation. Where delegation is made part of the work culture then individuals are forced to step up beyond their comfort zones and participate in team activities. A manager may also reward system to members who show active participation in team activities so that others are enticed to participate too. Importantly, a warm atmosphere and trust in the workplace needs to be nurtured so that team members feel free and uninhibited to participate in activities. Criticisms, gossip and self centeredness should be kept at bay. Communication is also key in fostering parti cipation in the workplace. A team leader should be able to communicate to

Fortune 500 Company Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fortune 500 Company Analysis - Essay Example Fortune 500 Company Analysis Wal-Mart Corporation is the biggest global retailer and by the end of January 2010, the company had amassed more than $400 billion in revenues, $24 billion in operating income, and operate 8,500 stores with approximately 1 billion square feet of space (Datamonitor: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 2010). Through low prices and development, Wal-Mart grew from their Arkansas roots to a global market leader. Wal-Mart is the largest firm in the global general merchandise stores sector, creating a 31.5% share of the sector's worth. Despite considerable opposition in the retail setting, Wal-Mart became a global leader by providing discounted price products to their customers. Wal-Mart manages three business divisions in the general merchandise industry: Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and the international segment. Internet revenues are also an essential input to Wal-Mart’s achievement and the company’s Internet activities will continue to be a part of the future syne rgies of their business plan. Wal-Mart’s huge merchandise offerings and the wide blend of goods make it possible to differentiate them from the competition. Wal-Mart supplies branded and private label merchandise in several categories including groceries, recreation, electronics, apparel, wellbeing, interior design, and monetary services.

Classroom Scenarios Essay Example for Free

Classroom Scenarios Essay Mrs. Ross has her fourth grade students move their desks together into groups of 2 to do a group activity. She instructs them to pair with anyone they choose. Teresa raises her hand, â€Å"I don’t want to pair with Megan again because she doesn’t do any of the work. Can I have someone else? † Megan who is soft-spoken just looks down at the floor as the class waits for the teacher’s response. Mrs. Ross asks Teresa and Megan to come with her outside and instructs the class to carry on with the activity. 1. What level of mutual respect exists between students and the teacher in this scenario? How did mutual respect affect the classroom dynamics? How would you improve mutual respect in this classroom? A high level a mutual respect exists between students and the teacher in this scenario. Mrs. Ross had to trust the students at least a little bit in order for her to believe they could handle moving their desks around to do group work. Teresa showed respect for Mrs. Ross by raising her hand to properly voice her concern about her partner. Not only did she raise her hand, but she respected and trusted the teacher enough to feel safe expressing her feelings. Although soft-spoken, Megan could have found some way to negatively reply to what Teresa said. However, I believe she respected Mrs. Ross enough to know she could trust her to act in a fair and kind manner, so Megan waited quietly for her response. Mrs. Ross showed respect for the two girls when she asked them to come with her outside. She didn’t just ignore the issue or thoughtlessly assign another partner for Teresa. Mrs. Ross took the time to acknowledge their thoughts and feelings in private where she could assess the situation better without putting either of the girls on the spot. Finally, Mrs. Ross showed respect for the class when she trusted them to carry on with the activity while she stepped out of the class with Megan and Teresa. The class showed respect for Mrs. Ross by continuing to work while she steps outside the classroom for a moment. Mutual respect affected the whole classroom dynamic in a positive way. There was a feeling of cooperative learning. I am pleased with the high level of mutual respect shown in the classroom and find no need for improvement. 2. How well did the teacher handle herself in the scenario? What student-teacher interactions worked well and what did not work? How would you handle the situation? The teacher handled herself very well in this scenario. She could have chosen to react immediately to Teresa’s comment with disappointment and frustration, but instead she calmly asked the two girls to come with her outside. She even thought of the rest of the class and took the time to instruct them so they weren’t left hanging while she went out with Teresa and Megan. Teresa raised her hand, but did not wait to be called on before calling out to the teacher. It was good that she felt safe enough to express her concerns, but not good that she made Megan feel badly in front of the class. I hope, if I was a teacher given the same situation, that I would be able to handle myself in a similar manner. I would want Teresa to know in front of the class that she is to wait until she’s called on to speak, but discussing the rest of the details in front of the class would only put Megan even more in the spotlight and add to her discomfort. 3. What, if any, communication roadblocks are evident in this classroom? How could you remove the communication roadblocks? How would you communicate with the students to resolve this situation? I could not see any communication roadblocks in this classroom. It appears to me that the teacher communicated well with the students, and the students felt comfortable communicating with the teacher. To resolve this situation, I would remind Teresa specifically, as well as the class in general, to raise their hands and then wait to be called on before speaking. I would also ask my class to pay attention to all the instructions. The instructions Mrs. Ross gave told students they could choose their own partner. There was never a need for Teresa to comment on not wanting to be Megan’s partner as Mrs. Ross had already told students to pick their own partner. 4. What conflicts did you observe in this classroom? What conflict resolution methods could you use to resolve the conflicts in this classroom? Are there any peer mediation methods that you could use in this scenario? The conflict in the classroom was between Teresa and Megan. To resolve the conflict I would bring the two students together and have them work cooperatively on the issue with my guidance. I would want both students to feel free to speak their mind, feel listened to, and feel that they are an important part of the solution. I would want them to understand that they both need to be respectful, listen to each other, and try to understand the others’ point of view. As part of the process I would also expect them to work together to come to an agreement they both feel good about. I would not use peer mediation methods in a fourth grade class. 5. What changes would you make to help this classroom become more of a community? Why would developing this classroom into a community be important? I don’t see any changes I would make, but something I would talk to the class about to make the classroom become more of a community would be respect. I would plan a mini lesson on respect and how we treat others for another day. It would be important to help the class develop into a community because community members care about each other, look out for each other, and help each other when needed. I would want my class to work together cooperatively and build a positive learning environment where everyone would feel valued. Tenth Grade Classroom Scenario The bell has rung and Mr. Dunn’s tenth grade math class has settled into their seats. â€Å"Good morning! Let’s begin by having everyone pass their homework to the front of the class. † Tom walks into class 5 minutes late. Mr. Dunn asks, â€Å"Tom, do you have your homework? † Tom looks down at the floor when he answers, â€Å"No, I didn’t finish it. † Mr. Dunn asks, â€Å"Why not? You knew it was due today, right? † Tom just shrugs. Mr. Dunn asks the rest of the class, â€Å"Who else did not turn in their homework today? † Pamela did not do her homework, but is afraid to raise her hand. Mr. Dunn says, â€Å"Good job, class! I appreciate everyone who worked hard to get their work turned in on time. † Daniel chimes in, â€Å"Which is everyone except Tom! † The class laughs. Tom angrily gets out of his chair and storms out of the room as he says, â€Å"I’m sick of this stupid class. † 1.What level of mutual respect exists between students and the teacher in this scenario? How did mutual respect affect the classroom dynamics? How would you improve mutual respect in this classroom? There exists no mutual respect between the students and the teacher. Mr. Dunn’s only attempt at positive enforcement was telling the class â€Å"good job to those who did turn in their homework†. While this seems like praise to those who complied, those who didn’t are left feeling like failures. By Mr. Dunn singling Tom out and embarrassing him, he created a classroom of disrespect and the other students felt free to tease and laugh at Tom. Tom will now view Mr. Dunn as being indifferent if not an enemy and other students may fear if they do anything wrong they will be chastised and humiliated as well. We can see this playing out in the case of Pamela feeling afraid to admit she didn’t do her homework either. Students will not thrive in an environment where they do not feel comfortable and safe and where they risk public ridicule by their peers for not doing their work. To encourage mutual respect teachers should never single out a student in front of the class, but rather talk with him privately at a later time such as after class or when students are busy working. Before making any decisions about consequences for late work seek to understand the reason the student failed to follow through. Show concern and understanding when they are facing difficulties at home or otherwise. Use encouragement rather than negative words and discuss ways you can help them, such as creating a study plan. Make mutual respect a classroom rule that is enforced by consequences for violation. Never allow students to laugh at or embarrass another classmate or group of classmates. 2. How well did the teacher handle himself or herself in the scenario? What student–teacher interactions worked well and what did not work? How would you handle the situation? The teacher did not handle himself well in this situation. The student-teacher interactions were negative and the students were not willing to admit difficulties or problems to the teacher. None of the interactions described worked well. Tom left class because it was so negative. The teacher should handle this situation by having in place a policy for tardiness. The teacher should not waste time bringing attention to tardy students. Students should know what to do when they enter a classroom even if they are tardy. One way to handle tardiness – especially for older students like these ones is to have a required slip students must fill out when they are tardy explaining the reason. They should then have a place they put slips for the teacher to look at later. There should also be a policy for not having homework completed. If the teacher setup these policies at the beginning of the year he would not need to say anything when a student walks in late, the student would know what to do. The teacher put Tom on the spot by singling him out in front of his classmates, and then showed further disrespect by asking him why he didn’t do his homework. It is unnecessary to ask â€Å"you knew it was due today, right? † This statement doesn’t help the situation and is only demeaning to Tom. Most likely he knew the assignment was due and if he had forgotten he would have remembered as soon as Mr. Dunn asked for them. He should not dwell on something Tom cannot go back and remedy. The appropriate thing would be to talk to Tom privately and ask if he is having trouble remembering his assignments. He should show care and concern by offering to help Tom get organized and devise a way to remind himself to do the work. This teacher did not even take the time to find out why Tom had forgotten his homework. He may have had a very good reason in which case Mr. Dunn should consider allowing Tom to make it up. If Mr. Dunn had handled himself appropriately, Tom would not have been so upset as to get up and leave the classroom. Students should not be left feeling worthless and disrespected. 3. What, if any, communication roadblocks are evident in this classroom? How could you remove the communication roadblocks? How would you communicate with the students to resolve this situation? There were several communications roadblocks in place in this classroom. The biggest problem is that the teacher and students had no respect for each other. As stated before, if a teacher models respect for his students and sets in place policies for behavior and academics, his students have clear expectations and are more likely to respect one another. This saves teachers time having to deal with problems as they arise. After the rest of the class has received necessary instruction and direction, the teacher should talk privately with Tom about tardiness and missing homework. The teacher should take time to listen and allow Tom to maintain his dignity. 4. What conflicts did you observe in this classroom? What conflict resolution methods could you use to resolve the conflicts in this classroom? Are there any peer mediation methods that you could use in this scenario? The main conflicts in this classroom are created by the teacher. The teacher publicly humiliated a student in front of the class because he was late and did not turn in his homework. The teacher also created an environment where it is ok to belittle your classmates. To resolve the conflict the teacher should talk to Tom individually and apologize for the way he handled the situation. Mr. Dunn should let Tom see that teachers make mistakes too and that they should not be exempt from apologizing. He should address Tom’s homework including why Tom didn’t finish it and what plan they can come up with that would help Tom remember in the future. He should then talk with the entire class and admit his mistake, emphasizing the rules of mutual respect. He should remind the class it is inappropriate to make fun of or embarrass a fellow student. There is not any real need for peer mediation with the students if the teacher is more respectful the students will be also. 5. What changes would you make to help this classroom become more of a community? Why would developing this classroom into a community be important? The most effective way to create a community in the classroom is to set the tone the first day of class. Allow the students to get to know each other, have group activities and team work projects. Allow and teach students to respect individual differences and celebrate the multitude of talents and cultural practices among classmates. When students feel like they are part of a group they perform better in school, are supported by their peers to do well and do not miss as much school; learning in this environment can be enjoyable and fulfilling. Students should learn to help and encourage one another. Set specific rules that the whole class can decide on together. Ask students what they think a caring, respectful classroom looks like. Brainstorm class rules with them and have them vote on which ones they feel are the most important. Have the students sign their names to a pledge that they will abide by the rules and work together to make the class a nice place to be. Enforce consequences of violation of these rules with consistency. Never put students down or make them feel incompetent – especially in front of others. Listen to students’ needs and treat them with respect if that is what you expect from them. Emphasize promoting positive behaviors rather than fixing negative ones. Help students learn moral values and develop a good work ethic rather than doing things simply because they are told. Rather than punishing for poor behavior, look for ways to correct problems by discussing consequences and choices.

William Goldings Lord of the Flies :: Essays Papers

Lord of the Flies In the book â€Å"The Lord of the Flies† the author uses the conch as a symbol of unity. At the beginning of the story the conch was spotted by a boy named Ralph who did not know what it was, but the other boy named Piggy sed that it was called a conch. Piggy had an idea to blow it to get other people on the island to come to them. After Ralph retrieved the conch from the lagoon Piggy showed Ralph how to blow it. His first couple of tries were weak, then he bellowed into it. The conch made a deep, harsh noise . After a few blows boys started to come out out of the jungle . The conch is what first united the stranded boys together. The author also used the conch as a sign of power, because after the boys were together they decided that they needed a chief so they chose Ralph because he used the conch to call the others to them. Ralph also used the power of the conch to quiet the boys . When he wanted their attention and for them to be quiet he would hold up the conch and wait for them to be quiet and pay attention. He also used it to call the boys back to camp. At the beginning the boys went out to look for waterbut by the time they found some Ralph had blew on the conch to call them back to camp. The conch was used by Ralph to call the boys to a meeting. During the meetings a person could only speak if they raise their hand and hold up the conch . At the meeting to discuss the fire Ralph blew on the conch to call them to the meeting . After everyone was seated Ralph lifted the conch for them to be silent then he began to explain that they were on an uninhabited island with no grownups so they would have to look after themselves . That’s when Ralph made the rules about the conch at the meetings. He tried to boost there moral by making the island sound fun. In the book when Ralph notices that the conch has been paretically bleached by the sun and had become a creamy-pink color.

Nursing Recruitment and Retention

Nursing Recruitment and Retention To be a good nurse, you have to be a physically strong and emotionally stable person, and you have to be able to think on your feet. Though nursing is not an easy profession, it is very rewarding. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nursing shortage and nursing retention and recruitment strategies for facilities. The nursing shortage crisis is caused by nurse burnout, an aging Registered Nurse (RN) population, not enough nurses graduating due to a shortage of nurse faculty, and an increase of patients as â€Å"baby boomers† retire, grow older, and experience age-related illnesses.There are many challenges involved with the nursing shortage, including recruiting RN’s and then being able to retain those RN’s in order to provide adequate, safe staffing, Ensuring appropriate staffing is necessary for safe and competent patient care, as well as a healthy work environment. Once a nurse has been recruited, the challenge becomes how to keep them due to the high cost of nurse turnover. Many facilities offer benefits, such as mentoring programs, tuition reimbursement, and longevity bonuses, to help keep nurses from leaving.Nursing Shortage Defined The nursing shortage poses a significant problem for nurses, especially with job satisfaction and patient care. Most nurses use a holistic approach to patient care, meaning they care for the patient’s mind, body and spirit. This approach, however, takes more time and with the nursing shortage nurses feel like they are not adequately staffed to be able to give good, patient care. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA) there has been a nursing shortage since as early as 1999.In 2010, the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 2,737,400 registered nurses, with an expected 26% increase of nursing jobs by 2020. So what are some contributing factors that affect the nursing shortage? First, the agi ng baby-boomer population will have a major influence on the health care system and especially nursing. Currently the average age of a baby-boomer is 50-70 years old and will soon demand more age-related healthcare services, which leads to another contribution to the nursing shortage.In 2008, the average age of RN’s was 46, with many nurses expecting to retire between the ages of 60-65. Finally, faculty shortages at nursing schools limit the number of graduating nurses. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing website stated, â€Å"U. S. nursing schools turned away 75,587 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2011 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. † (para. 3) The nursing shortage cannot be fixed if we do not have enough students to replace those nurses who quit or retire.Effects of Burnout In addition to these causes, burnout often strikes nurses due to the high levels of stress, understaffing, increased workload and mandatory overtime. Burnout is a condition that shows itself as being fatigued all the time, irritability, insomnia and depression. According to the article Nurse Burnout and Patient Satisfaction, employers have an increased cost in personnel due to the fact that burnout leads to employees being absent, late to work, and an increase in the turnover rate.(Vahey, Aiken, Sloane, Clarke, & Vargas, 2010, para. 6) Nursing Retention and Recruitment Strategies In order to ensure safe staffing, hospitals need to focus on recruiting nurses and retaining their current nursing staff. To help build better teams and increase staff satisfaction, management should engage employees in nurse recruitment and nurse retention. The cost of recruiting and retaining nurses, however, can be expensive for facilities, especially high nurse turnover rates.The Online Journal of Nursing reports that the cost of turnover, for each nurse, can range between $22,000 to over $64,000. (Bland & Gates, 2007, para. 3). Factors that contribute to the cost of turnover include orientating and training new staff and covering for loss of staff, either thru travel nurses or overtime with current staff. As it can take years to develop the skill and training needed to work in specialty units, the loss of experienced nurses is especially costly. The retention of employees is dependent on reducing turnover.One positive aspect of the nursing shortage is that it has provided nurses the opportunity to find an employer that will meet their needs. Many things factor into the retention of a single nurse, among other things, nurses want safe workplaces with adequate staffing be able to give quality patient care, the flexibility to manage their work schedule around their home life, and a decent salary. Organizations need to cultivate a work area in which staff want to work in order to promote staff retention. Organizations also cannot afford to simply react to the workforce shortage.Attracting qualified nurses is one of the most important steps that can be taken to ensure a high standard of care. There are many different ways that organizations can utilize to recruit those qualified nurses. An online article for the American Organization of Nurse Executive’s publication Nurse Leader listed the top sources of new hires, and the top three included employee referral, organization’s website and general job boards. If staff satisfaction were made a priority from organizations, referrals from current employees could attract qualified, seasoned nurses.Other recruitment strategies include offering incentives, like salary, flexible schedules, education incentives and tuition reimbursement. (Brooks & Caffey, 2008) Conclusion Today’s society of aging baby boomers and nurses, faculty shortage due to low enrollment in nursing schools and the higher expectations of medical care are all helping cause today’s environment of nursing crisis. By ensuring that the needs of the hospital and nurses are met this leads to better patient care and better patient care leads to better patient satisfaction scores. Nursing Recruitment and Retention Nursing Recruitment and RetentionTo be a good nurse, you have to be a physically strong and emotionally stable person, and you have to be able to think on your feet. Though nursing is not an easy profession, it is very rewarding. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nursing shortage and nursing retention and recruitment strategies for facilities. The nursing shortage crisis is caused by nurse burnout, an aging Registered Nurse (RN) population, not enough nurses graduating due to a shortage of nurse faculty, and an increase of patients as â€Å"baby boomers† retire, grow older, and experience age-related illnesses.There are many challenges involved with the nursing shortage, including recruiting RN’s and then being able to retain those RN’s in order to provide adequate, safe staffing, Ensuring appropriate staffing is necessary for safe and competent patient care, as well as a healthy work environment. Once a nurse has been recruited, the challenge becomes h ow to keep them due to the high cost of nurse turnover. Many facilities offer benefits, such as mentoring programs, tuition reimbursement, and longevity bonuses, to help keep nurses from leaving.Nursing Shortage DefinedThe nursing shortage poses a significant problem for nurses, especially with job satisfaction and patient care. Most nurses use a holistic approach to patient care, meaning they care for the patient’s mind, body and spirit. This approach, however, takes more time and with the nursing shortage nurses feel like they are not adequately staffed to be able to give good, patient care. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA) there has been a nursing shortage since as early as 1999. In 2010, the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 2,737,400 registered nurses, with an expected 26% increase of nursing jobs by 2020.So what are some contributing factors that affect the nursing shortage? First, the aging baby-boomer population will have a major influence on the health care system and especially nursing. Currently the average age of a  baby-boomer is 50-70 years old and will soon demand more age-related healthcare services, which leads to another contribution to the nursing shortage. In 2008, the average age of RN’s was 46, with many nurses expecting to retire between the ages of 60-65. Finally, faculty shortages at nursing schools limit the number of graduating nurses.The American Association of Colleges of Nursing website stated, â€Å"U.S. nursing schools turned away 75,587 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2011 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints.† (para. 3) The nursing shortage cannot be fixed if we do not have enough students to replace those nurses who quit or retire.Effects of BurnoutIn addition to these causes, burnout often strikes nurses d ue to the high levels of stress, understaffing, increased workload and mandatory overtime. Burnout is a condition that shows itself as being fatigued all the time, irritability, insomnia and depression. According to the article Nurse Burnout and Patient Satisfaction, employers have an increased cost in personnel due to the fact that burnout leads to employees being absent, late to work, and an increase in the turnover rate. (Vahey, Aiken, Sloane, Clarke, & Vargas, 2010, para. 6)Nursing Retention and Recruitment StrategiesIn order to ensure safe staffing, hospitals need to focus on recruiting nurses and retaining their current nursing staff. To help build better teams and increase staff satisfaction, management should engage employees in nurse recruitment and nurse retention. The cost of recruiting and retaining nurses, however, can be expensive for facilities, especially high nurse turnover rates. The Online Journal of Nursing reports that the cost of turnover, for each nurse, can r ange between $22,000 to over $64,000. (Bland & Gates, 2007, para. 3).Factors that contribute to the cost of turnover include orientating and training new staff and covering for loss of staff, either thru travel nurses or overtime with current staff. As it can take  years to develop the skill and training needed to work in specialty units, the loss of experienced nurses is especially costly.The retention of employees is dependent on reducing turnover. One positive aspect of the nursing shortage is that it has provided nurses the opportunity to find an employer that will meet their needs. Many things factor into the retention of a single nurse, among other things, nurses want safe workplaces with adequate staffing be able to give quality patient care, the flexibility to manage their work schedule around their home life, and a decent salary. Organizations need to cultivate a work area in which staff want to work in order to promote staff retention.Organizations also cannot afford to simply react to the workforce shortage. Attracting qualified nurses is one of the most important steps that can be taken to ensure a high standard of care. There are many different ways that organizations can utilize to recruit those qualified nurses. An online article for the American Organization of Nurse Executive’s publication Nurse Leader listed the top sources of new hires, and the top three included employee referral, organization’s website and general job boards. If staff satisfaction were made a priority from organizations, referrals from current employees could attract qualified, seasoned nurses. Other recruitment strategies include offering incentives, like salary, flexible schedules, education incentives and tuition reimbursement. (Brooks & Caffey, 2008)ConclusionToday’s society of aging baby boomers and nurses, faculty shortage due to low enrollment in nursing schools and the higher expectations of medical care are all helping cause today’s e nvironment of nursing crisis. By ensuring that the needs of the hospital and nurses are met this leads to better patient care and better patient care leads to better patient satisfaction scores.

Learning Activities Essay

Think about your own organization and the people related records that it stores Identify five records that would fit within any of the identified reasons for keeping records outlined above (you will find more information on these on p278 –p280 of the course textbook). Explain why your organization needs to maintain and use these records (provide examples of how they are actually used where you can). Training Records – At Enterprise we have a spreadsheet called â€Å"The Matrix†, this stores each employed persons training records. It is a basic excel spreadsheet with a column for names and a list of each of the available courses within Enterprise along the top. As soon as an employee has been on a course this will be inputted on to the spreadsheet along with the expiry date (if there is one) so we can ensure all personnel have valid records. Having this information available is very important, due to the nature of our work we need to show that we are keeping our employees safe by having valid training records. For example if there is an accident on site and an employee has hit an underground cable, we would need to be able to show that the person has valid training records for â€Å"safe digging† to our Health and Safety officer otherwise we as a company could be seeing as being negligent when we have a duty of care towards our employees, this could result in claims against the organization. Invoice Tracker – Every week invoices are sent in from our DSP’s to each of our contracts within the Trowbridge office. I am the project manager of shrouding and have 2 invoices sent in from each of the companies working for me. Leven’s & MOYAD construction. Once these invoices are emailed to me I will copy and record the information on to my â€Å"surveying† spreadsheet. This spreadsheet contains all site numbers ever worked on by each of my sub contractors and to what percentage that they were done on which day. Having  this information is vital to my contract I need to be able to check that each site is not being invoiced on more than one occasion as well as to the percentage that is required. Also on this spreadsheet it shows how much money will be due to be paid to both the contractor and Enterprise. Showing weekly turn over information and that we are hitting profit margins are essential on monthly meetings. Also if there was ever a dispute of pay, being able to refer to this information is important. Employee personnel Files – Each employee of Enterprise has their own personnel file. This file contains full name, address, date of birth, bank details, sickness and holiday absence details as well as written warnings (if they have any) and their signed Enterprise contract stating what their job role is and salary. These files are used when appropriate, usually when employees details need updating or they have booked holiday. Online Time Sheets – Every week every employee within Enterprise must fill out an online time sheet in order to be paid. The guys on site bring in a written version of this for the person who deals with time sheets to update their online version. This is so that any absence is recorded whether it be for half an hour or for an hour, this provides accurate attendance percentages and highlights regular patterns of absence. Curriculum Vitae – For every Job advertisement that is put on the job websites a large number of CV’s from potential applicants. These are all then filtered down to persons with most experience and knowledge of the role that we are looking to fill. These persons will then be asked to interview, if they are not successful we will still store there CV on file for six months. This is a helpful system and saves re advertising for the same job if a vacancy arose for that position. Learning activity two Again think about your own organization. For the five records you have identified above, identify and describe how the records are stored. Explain the rationale for this. Training Records – These records are stored on Microsoft Excel, this system allows us to filter out what’s relevant and what isn’t depending on the persons records we are searching. As soon as a course is booked for an employee the date of the course is put on the system till the certificate is received, at which point the expiry date ( if there is one) will then be entered in it’s place. Invoice Tracker – The invoice surveying data sheet is in Microsoft Excel, this allows easy copy and pasting of data from spreadsheet to spreadsheet. Once an invoice has been received all data from the invoice will be extracted by copying and recorded on to the surveying form by pasting in to the relevant columns. Employee Personnel Files – These are all held in a locked filing cabinet in alphabetical order. Any new employee will have an personnel file created on their day of induction. All of their personal information will be stored in here and updated when necessary. Online Time Sheet – The online time sheet is kept on our internal server database, It is a case of simply going in to â€Å"online time sheet† on the server, clicking on last weeks week, and inputting the hours worked during that day. CV’s – All CV’s received from suitable job applicants will be stored in a file on the computer. They will be copied from the Enterprise email inbox and pasted in to the file, or scanned if received through the post. Learning activity three Take one of the examples of areas of organizational activity that require accurate information to facilitate decision making. For this example: Identify and describe how the data is gathered Provide at least three examples of the sort of information that is derived and why it is useful Describe how the information is used to inform the decision making process Describe how and to whom the information is presented Draw up a list of these. Curriculum Vitea when advertising a vacancy: Once Enterprise have advertised a vacancy on the system, this will be logged on to the job centre website and other job search sites. With an Enterprise email to send all Cv’s too, there is also an address for those who are unable to send via email. All CV’s are automatically filtered in to a separate email inbox, and posted CV’S are scanned in to the system as well and will wait for review by the relevant persons. Once a significant amount of CV’s have been sent in the filtering process will begin, for example if we were advertising a Data input/Administration role we would look for experience in those titles from previous roles. Or a qualification in business administration. Filtering through this information is important so as to find the right person for employment. Once the CV’s have been filtered through they will be passed on to the office manager for review. They will then pick names from the persons filtered and make an appointment for interview. The interview is carried out by our office manager and a member of staff who will be training the potential candidate. The candidate will be asked a series of questions relating to their working background and what their skills are as well as a question on Enterprise this usually tells us straight away whether they had made the effort to do some research. This goes down very well with the office manager. Once all interviews have been carried out they will be filtered down to three potential employees who will go to the final stage of the Interview process which is a trial half day. The people who were not successful will be sent a standard letter telling them that their CV will be kept on file for 6 months. Trial half day consists of a member of staff who has a good knowledge of the role being taken on, And the potential employee. They will be shown what to  do and given tasks to get on with. Once all three candidates have been in for this, the office manager, the trainee and and a member of office staff will sit down and make a decision based on how well they got on, how quickly they learned the tasks and general attitude within the workplace. This person would then be informed of their success and will be given a start date. The two other candidates will be sent a standard letter informing them that they were unsuccessful on this occasion and that their CV will be kept on file. The short listed CV’s will be kept in a separate folder to the other batch of CV’s. Learning activity four Consider what data gathering methods you might use for a particular information gathering requirement. Cover: The specifics of the requirement The method(s) used Reason for using that particular method Any considerations in using the particular method Interviews – Potential employees, this method is perfect for getting to know the candidate, asking any questions not answered in their CV. Consider writing down all questions you are thinking of asking to avoid forgetting to ask. Surveys – Surveys are a good way to gather data from a large number of people when it’s impractical to meet them face to face, it is a good method of getting an opinion on a product, service or company. Surverys can be both formal where the results are due to statistical, reliability and validity. And informal where the results are anecdotal – Anecdotal The definition of anecdotal is something that is story-like or something that is based on stories and retellings, not based on provable facts. Observations – Direct observations are a good way of recording data, especially in a working environment, they are often done in conjunction with  another data gathering method that is used to fill in the gaps and answer questions. Observations must be arranged with plenty notice to the person you are observing and the permission from management. Consider getting someone who can tell you what to look for with regards to what you are observing, for example the use of a new mechanical device in a warehouse. Learning activity five Explore the information under the link above, then tackle the following: List the eight principles of the DPA with a brief explanation of each What does the DPA say about the rights of individuals to access to data kept on them? List at least five measures you might take to protect personnel information The eight principles of the DPA Data Protection act are the following: 1: Processing personal data fairly and lawfully, It means that you must have legitimate reason for collecting and using personal data, you must not use the data in way that have unjustified adverse effects on the individual concerned, be clear on how you intend to use the data, handle the personal data in ways they would expect and make sure you do not do anything unlawful with the data. 2: Processing personal data for specified purposes, meaning you must be clear from the offset as to why you require the information and what you are going to do with it, comply with the acts fair processing requirements – including the duty to give privacy notices to individuals when collecting their personal data. You must also comply with what the act says about notifying the information commissioner and ensure that if you wish to use or disclose the personal data for any purpose that is additional to or different from the originally specified purpose, the new use or disclosure is fair. 3: The Amount of personal data you hold; Personal data should be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed. Meaning that you hold personal data about an individual that is sufficient for the purpose you are holding it for in relation to  that individual and you do not hold more information that you need for that purpose. 4: Keeping personal data accurate and up to date; personal data shall be accurate and when necessary up to date, to comply with this you should take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of any personal data you obtain, ensure that the source of any personal data is clear, carefully consider any challenges to the accuracy of the information, and consider whether it is necessary to update the information. 5: Retaining personal data; personal data processed or any purpose shall not be kept for loner than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes. Meaning review the length of time you keep personal data, consider the purpose or purposes you hold the information for in deciding whether and how long for to retain it, securely delete information that is no longer needed for this purpose or these purposes; and update, archive or securely delete information that goes out of date. 6: The rights of individuals; Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this act; the rights of access to copy the information compromised in their personal data; a right to object to processing that is likely to cause or is cause damage or distress, a right to prevent processing for direct marketing, a right to object to decisions being taken by automated means, a right in certain circumstances to have accurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed, and a right to claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the act. 7: information security; appropriate technical and organizational measures shall be taken against unauthorized or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data. It means you will need to design and organize your security to fit the nature of the personal data you hold and the harm that may result from a security breach; be clear about who in your organization is responsible for ensuring information security; make sure that you have the right physical and technical security, back up by robust policies and procedures and  reliable, well trained staff as well as being ready to respond to any breach of security swiftly and effectively. 8: Sending personal data outside the European Economic Area; personal data should not be transferred to a country or territory outside the #EEA unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level od protection for the rights and freedoms od data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data. Individuals who wish to access personal data on themselves commonly known as subject access; Can do so by writing a request to the company with possibly paying a fee, this entitles them to be told whether their personal data is being processed, they can request that they are given a description of the personal data, the reasons it is being processed and whether it will be given to any other organizations or people. The individual can also be given a copy of the information compromising the data and be given details of the source of the data. An individual can also request the reasons as to why any automated decisions are made for example a computer generated decision on credit. Whether to allow or deny. The individual is entitled only to their own personal data and not to information relating to other people. If I was running my own company the five measures I would put in place to protect the personal data are the following: Install a fire wall, anti spy ware and virus checking on all computers, this is a very common security implication, this would protect my computers from viruses which have the potential to download information from my computers to theirs. Anti spyware provides a monitoring service which stops programs being installed that can read passwords, bank details and other sensitive data. Protect computer files with passwords: Protecting files with passwords is a good way of keeping data restricted; I would ensure that only a few members of staff have the password and that it is changed on a regular basis. Disposing of computers; All old computers should be destroyed correctly, by using a recognized computer disposal service or by destroying the hard disk. Any old computers despite deleting the data, can still be accessed. Email information securely: Consider whether the email should be password protected. Learning activity six Look at the information provided under the link above, then tackle the following: What are the two ways that public authorities are obliged to provide information? What is the public interest test? What is a vexatious request? Try to interpret your answers using your own words Public authorities are obliged to publish information about their activities, as well as members of the public are entitled to request information from them. Public authorities must publish information proactively; The freedom of Information act requires every public authority to have a publication scheme. A publication scheme is a commitment by the council to make information available routinely, without waiting for someone specifically to request it. The publication scheme must state a promise to make certain levels of information routinely available such as who you are and what you do, the services you offer, organizational structure, policies and procedures, Contracts and reports, minutes of meetings, annual requests and financial information. Once the publication has been created it must first be approved by The Information Commissions Office ICO. Information in the publication scheme represents the minimum that must be shown, if a member of the public wants information that is not on this, they can still ask for it. Members of the publican request information from public authority and they have two separate ways in which they can respond: 1: Tell the applicant whether you hold any information that matches the criteria of what they have requested. 2: to provide them with the requested information Usually the request should be responded to within 20 working days. When receiving a request it must be in the form of a letter of email to be valid under The Freedom Of Information Act, the request must include their name, address and a description of the information requested, the act covered information not specific documents. The public interest test is a guidance document provided by The Information Commissioners Office,he has produced this series of good practice guidance designed to aid understanding and application of the FOIA The aim is to show some of the key areas of the freedom of information act and to help guide on how to respond to information requests. The guidance provided by the ICO is only a starting point going from research I found: section 1 of FOIA sets out the right to any person making a request for information to a public authority these are: The right to be informed Whether the information is held or not by the authority and if so then The right to have that information communicated to them. In principle it states that both these rights need to be treated separately. When applying the public interest test, consideration should be given first to whether it is right to confirm or deny whether the information is held and secondly whether the information should be supplied. To decide whether a request is vexatious you would need to look at the following: Can the request be seen as obsessive Is the request harassing the authority or causing distress to staff Would complying with the request impose significant burden in terms of expense and distraction ( with regards to employees) Is the request designed to cause disruption or annoyance Does the request lack any serious purpose or value You should be able to decipher whether the request is vexatious by looking at  these headings. Learning activity seven There are many methods of keeping records or information, some of which are computerized. Identify three types of records or information that relate to an area of business and inform decision making in that area. For each of the three types: Describe how the information/record is stored How reason for storing the information/record in this way How the storage method meets the requirements of the DPA Keeping records of employees sickness and absence, we keep his electronically on the system in a password secured file. Each person has there own line on a spread sheet and each day they are off that date will be marked in red, with a comment attached to it stating why the person was off sick. Any sick notes will be scanned in to the system and stored within that persons file. We ensure that this file is secure at all time and only management have access to it. Reasons for this is that we want to ensure other employees cant see other peoples absence and reasons for being off sick as that is private and confidential. The DPA states the following: obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes adequate, relevant and not excessive to the purpose for which the data are required accurate and, where necessary, kept up-to-date kept secure against unlawful or unauthorised processing, or accidental loss or erasure This is compliant with the Data protection act as we have only managers who have access to the file. We must keep this information as up to date as possible as absence and sickness in the work place can highlight problem areas that need to be looked at and resolved. Keeping CV’s – These are all stored in a file on the main system, these can be accessed by the nominated filter processors who are usally a member of the team which the vacancy is for, and the manager of that dept. This is so  they can access them when needed. CV’s are usually kept for a year and then disposed of. This is compliant with the DPA’s standards as we don’t keep information longer than we need to as well as having only a select few people who are able to access the information. Training certificate records – All certificates are kept in our personnel files, however our training dept at head office also holds a copy as when the training is carried out a copy of the cert is sent to them also. This information is recorded on our training matrix and updated accordingly. We store the certificates in this way so that we can see who requires training and when. Also if anything happens on site and our health and safety officer needs to see what training they have in place we can have it available as soon as possible for him. Our storage methods meet the requirements of the DPA by keeping the information secure, all our employees have access to their records when required. We do advise that when we receive a certificate that they come in for a copy to put in their own records at home. Learning activity eight Take one example from the context of your organisation where information has been sourced, collected, analysed and then interpreted to inform decision making. For this example: State why the information was needed (how was it intended to support decision making?) How was it sourced? What method of data gathering was used and why? Show an output from the analysis of the data (example: pie chart, bar chart) Sickness and Absence – The information is gathered from employees time sheets which are handed in weekly to the office manager the time sheet consists of a basic table on an A4 piece of paper that requires the employees to input their hours. This will then be handed in and inputted manually. This can then be printed off and used. Sickness and absence information is required once a month at the operations meetings, the operations manager will go through with the contracts manager as to why someone was off for a period of time whether it was due to sickness, was a doctors note provided or whether it is a reoccurring unauthorized absence. If it is an re occurring unauthorized absence; this will be highlighted with our HR Department at head office. Once this happens our HR representative Jo Betts will arrange an interview with the person to get to the bottom of why they are having this time off and whether an improvement program can be put in place. Usually they will be issued with a warning and put on an attendance watch if they cannot give a valid reason as to why they aren’t coming in to work. This bar chart is in my Evidence folder 02.07 document Learning activity nine Look at the example above – and considering the broad principles of a dashboard – describe how you might create a dashboard (or describe an existing dashboard What areas of information would/does it contain? From where would you source the data to populate the dashboard? Who would use the dashboard and why? I would create a dashboard based on training record information; it would show what percentage of employees had valid training records and what percentage have them but they are out of date.. I would also have an accident chart, we have a few accidents a month relating from hitting underground BT cables and water pipes, as well as employees having accidents from climbing electric poles. Due to the fact most of our accidents are fairly similar, I would be able to group them easily by title. We provide training courses for all of these incidents such as â€Å"pole top rescue† and â€Å"Safe digging practices†, so where an employee may not have a valid training record for this, and that employee was involved in the accident this would be a good way of highlighting why the accident happened in the first place and that he should not be carrying out that particular job without undergoing training. I would source the training data from the Training Matrix file system. This  information is kept up to date at all times and is readily available to me when I need it. The accident data is kept with our Health and Safety manager, I would request the information from him. The dashboard would be a great tool to take to Operations meetings where our health and safety manager goes over the level of accidents and training carried out for that month. He can then compare using a bar chart whether there are a higher percentage of valid training records for that month in comparison to others. Learning activity ten Read the information contained under the link above, then tackle the following: A Balanced Scorecard approach generally has four perspectives – what are they? What are the potential benefits of using a balanced scorecard? Why is feedback essential? A balanced score card is defined as â€Å" a strategic planning and management system used to align business activities to the vision statement of an organization† in more simple and realistic terms a balance score card attempts to translate the sometimes vague, hopes of a companies mission statement in to the practicalities od managing the business better at every level. To produce your own balance score card you must know and understand: The companies mission statement The companies strategic plan/vision The financial status or the company How the organization is currently structured and operating The level of expertise of their employees Customer satisfaction level. The four perspectives that the Balanced score card generally has are that of: Finance – in which covers the following areas: Return on investment Cash flow Return on capital employed Financial results Quarterly/Yearly Internal Business processes – which covers the following areas: Number of activities per year Function Duplicate activities across functions Process alignment (is the process in the right dept.)(When the organization’s business processes, quality definitions and measures are aligned to the strategy) Process bottlenecks Process automation (A general technology term that is used to describe any process being automated through the use of computers and computer software. Processes that have been automated require less human intervention and less human time to deliver) Learning and Growth – which covers the following areas: Is there the correct level of expertise for the job Employee turnover Job Satisfacti0on Training/Learning opportunities Customer – Which covers the following areas: Delivery performance to customer Quality performance for customer Customer satisfaction rate Customer percentage of market Customer retention rate. The benefits of using a balanced score card are that it enables you to see a mixture of financial and non financial measures each compared to a target value within a single concise ( expressing alot of detail in a few words†¦) report. Once the Balanced score card is implemented within the organization you should see improved processes. Motivated educated employees Enhances information systems Monitored progress Greater customer satisfaction Increased financial usage. However for any software to work effectively it should be: Compliant with your current technology platform Always accessible to everyone – Everywhere Easy to understand/update/communicate The balanced score card is only of good use when available to everyone, not by keeping it hidden. Feedback is essential and should be contributed to by everyone within the business Carol do I need to go on to discuss the 360 degree feedback here?

Becoming a Storm Chaser- Chris Caldwell Interview

Becoming a Storm Chaser- Chris Caldwell Interview How can I become a storm chaser? is one of the most frequent questions I get asked. Last year, I reported on the National Weather Festival and a new event called the Storm Chaser Car Show. This year, I had the opportunity to complete an interview with one of the participants in the show. His name is Chris Caldwell and he works for KOCO TV 5 in Oklahoma as a professional storm chaser. He is a member of the F.A.S.T. Team (First Alert Storm Team) and even runs is own website Ponca City Weather. Catch his video in the KOCO TV blog about building a chase car! Anyone can join in on the celebration on Saturday, October 20th, 2007. The events are part of the National Weather Festival which includes tours of the National Weather Center, vendors, amateur radio demonstrations, and fun weather-related kids activities. As for the cars of storm chasing, awards are given out in the following categories Most Hail DamageMost Working SensorsMost UniqueMost Cutting EdgeBest LookingMeatwagon Award If you have a car that meets any of the above requirements, you can register for the show for free! This year, there will be two separate categories for personal and sponsored vehicles. How Did You Get Started in Storm Chasing? When I started storm chasing there werent many people chasing at that time. I had done it as a hobby and anytime a storm would be within 25 miles I would go chase it! That was back in 1991. I got me interested in chasing when an F5 tornado passed right in front of me across highway 177 just south of Ponca City as I was on my way to Tulsa. At the time, I was driving a UPS truck. I was headed to the airport with next-day-air packages and as I got south of town I could see this massive mile wide tornado coming from the west. I was trying to hurry to beat it so I didnt have to wait for it to cross the road. I didnt quite make it and instead I sat and watched it hit a mobile home and it picked up a 24 foot stock trailer that was attached to a dual-wheel pickup loaded with cattle. I never did see where it landed. The mobile home itself just disintegrated. This storm actually had just hit the area that I had grown up in but I couldnt stay to make sure everyone was okay. I continued on to Tulsa and on the way I saw numerous funnels, at least 30, and as I approached the Hallet area I came across a 2nd tornado. By then it was dark. All the way over I had to slow down and stop since we were coming across power lines down all over the place. I was able to see the tornado near the Hallet exit only from the lightning illuminating it. I got out of the vehicle and a trooper was there getting everyone under the overpass bridge. But Overpasses are NOT Considered Safe You are right. Overpasses as tornado shelters are not considered safe. Little did we know back then that that was the wrong thing to do but we all managed to live even though the tornado went right over the top of us. I got away from there and headed into Tulsa. I kept seeing ambulance after ambulance heading west and then I saw why†¦There were people searching for survivors out in a field near a housing edition on the west side of the Tulsa Metro area. I made it to the airport some 2 hours late but they held the plane and I turned around and headed back home and saw even more rescue people heading west. I had heard there was several killed in that housing plan but never did hear a final count. It was this one night of tornadoes that got me even more interested in chasing. From then on, I started going to classes put on by the National Weather Service and I started reading all the books I could find on weather. What Kinds of Classes Were Available? There is no course you go and take to become a storm chaser. Most of it is learned by going out and chasing. I now chase for KOCO TV 5 in Oklahoma City and to chase for them you have to have some experience. They dont just throw people out that say ‘I want to chase.’ In fact all of their chasers have extensive chase time before they started chasing for them. My experience lasted from 1991 until 2002 before I started chasing for them. What is Your Favorite Part of Storm Chasing? Once a storm has shot up and it classified as severe, the chase is on. This is the part that I enjoy the most. Getting yourself in position can be hectic since we have roads to follow but the tornado itself has no highways or roads it has to stay on. I always try and get to the part of the storm that allows me the best photo opportunity as well as allows me to report back on what the storm is doing and where it is heading. I guess warning the public and letting people know its coming their way is the reason we are out there and indeed it is what I enjoy most. What is Your Least Favorite Part of Storm Chasing? My all means that would be night-time chasing. I have had...Continued on Page 2. What is Your Least Favorite Part of Storm Chasing? What is the Greatest Storm You Ever Chased? What About Close Calls? How Long Does it Take to Build a Chase Car? How About Storm Chase Vacations? What Do You Think of These? †chasecation† Anything Else You Would Like to Add? By the way, every year I attend several classes put on by the National Weather Service. One of these classes is done in an evening and then there are the more advanced ones that are 3 days long. This year I will also be attending the storm chaser convention since they have started doing seminars at it as well.

Hurrah for the Lowly BUG

Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG Hurrah for the Lowly BUG By Maeve Maddox When I lived in England, my colleagues quickly taught me that I must say insect (not bug) unless I specifically meant bed-bug. In the U.S., bug applies to every conceivable type of insect. Bug also does duty as both noun and verb in many contextsand not only in the U.S. NOTE: When I pick up quotations from the web, I dont edit them. Police bugged a safe house where Rosemary West stayed before she was charged with murder but she said nothing that incriminated herself, Winchester Crown Court was told yesterday. Will Bennett in The Independent (UK) I dont think surround sound headphones is a gimmick or only for the hardcore gaming i recenlty brought a pair so i can watch a full hd movvie with surround wuthout bugging the neighbours when a car blows up at 3 in the morning. Australian Forum user A bug tracking system is a software application that is designed to help quality assurance and programmers keep track of reported software bugs in their work. It may be regarded as a sort of issue tracking system. Wikipedia The most important part of reporting a bug is giving the programmer the ability to duplicate the bug on his machine. If we cannot find a bug, we cannot fix it. tech advice site Someone needs to put a bug in Coach Gs ear about this guy comment on sports blog They say the spell that he gets under From double-barrelled thunder makes his Eyes bug out like hes insane song lyrics The word bug as applied to scary insects probably derives from M.E. bugge something frightening, scarecrow, a meaning obsolete except in bugbear. The bogey-man [boogy-man in my family] is related. The words application to insects may have been influenced by an Old English word meaning beetle. Bug as a Noun bug defect in a machine may have been coined by Thomas Edison. jitterbug a swing dance of the 1930s. Also used as a verb. humbug - trick, joke, hoax. Dates from 18th century student slang and no one says it anymore. However, if youve read or seen A Christmas Carol by Dickens, you know the word. Bug as a Verb The verb to bug, equip with a concealed recording device entered the language as long ago as 1919. debug remove defects from a machine or software to bug meaning to annoy dates from 1949. to bug meaning to bulge dates from 1870s and may derive from a variant pronunciation of the word bulge. bug off go away! 1950s; derived from British slang bugger off, Bug as a Suffix The suffix -bug added to a word can create a noun meaning a person obsessed with Firebug, a fire-setter dates from 1841. Shutterbug, picture-taking enthusiast, 1940. litterbug irresponsible person who drops trash anywhere first recorded 1947, but the verb littering came later, in 1960. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesDisappointed + PrepositionWhat the heck are "learnings"?

Criminal Justice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Criminal Justice - Assignment Example When she was trying to help her, people came following the screams of the injured girl. The boy managed to lay the blame of the attack on Getrude and she had no defense due to her shyness. Soon, everyone believed it was her who attacked the girl and was labeled a â€Å"vampire† while other labeled her a â€Å"monster†. At first, it was very hard on her as she sat all alone feeling very hated and ashamed of her reputation. However, after some time, her attitude changed when she saw that people treated her with fear and she started developing a feeling of authority and importance. She later accepted the labels she was given and did her best to exceed the expectations of all her peers by being angry for no reason, hedonistic, impulsive and lacking self-control. She made it clear that anyone who wronged her will suffer the outcome. The labels she got, combined with the lack of family support and peer support when she was very vulnerable, propelled her to become unruly and