Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Performance Management at Littleton Credit Union Essay

Performance Management at Littleton Credit Union - Essay Example The study will aim at providing performance management techniques which can act as a catalyst in improving the efficiency of the organization. The solutions provided in the study will help the employees of LCU to achieve their targets and objectives in a systematic method. The study will also give an insight into the difficulties faced by the organization in implementation of these techniques. Performance management techniques will help in addressing the financial and non financial challenges faced by LCU. Factors Affecting Performance Management Performance Management (PM) is defined as a systematic approach in improving the individual and team performance in order to achieve organizational goals (Baron and Armstrong, 2005, p.02). It also aims at developing the capacity of the employees and workers and providing guidance to the employees when it is required to deliver superior performance (Cardy and Leonard, 2011). There are several internal and external factors affecting the perfor mance of the company which requires crucial identification by the management of the organization (Thorpe and Beasley, 2004). These factors need to be critically examined by the managers of the organization to evaluate the influencing factors related to the performance of the employees. ... It is observed that the Carla Fredericks would serve for the post of CEO in Little Credit Union (LCU) and has identified certain challenges faced by the company. Providing solutions from the performance management perspective would enable the CEO to address the immediate concerns of the organizations in a systematic manner. Firstly, it was observed Acquiring financial investment from loan sharks for LCU is not an easy process because the loan sharks are doubtful on the organization’s ability to repay the loans. To address this problem it was suggested by the CEO and the other top level managers that LCU should get themselves credited with a credit rating agency to obtain credibility (Partnoy, n.d.). By obtaining credibility LCU the opportunities of obtaining financial resources gets widened. However, it was observed that the credit rating agencies provide credit rating to companies with a good management practices and high turnover. This is not possible in this case because LC U has not been able to yield profits and also attract high potential investors. Secondly, it has been observed that LCU is over staffed; the number of staff is high compared to the population of the town. An organization with a high number of employees does not necessarily mean that the employee productivity would also increase. An overstaffed organization can have negative consequence for example a high number of staff indicates that the management of LCU has been paying extra wages and salaries which has resulted in an increase in their expenditure. LCU management should focus on acquiring the right number of staff with suitable skills for the required position. It would be easier to design the key responsibility areas that would be required in each and every department of the organization and

Monday, October 28, 2019

A View from the Bridge Essay Example for Free

A View from the Bridge Essay In the scene it shows that he enjoys drinking (which is usual for a man in this time period), it also tells the audience that he is trying to drown his sorrow and that he likes Catherine which he is stressed about because he is afraid that Rodolpho would take her away from him. Marco is strong but silent unlike Eddie who thinks that you need to show off your strength to prove how manlike you are. This is shown to the audience through the scene where Eddie hits Rodolpho during the boxing match. Marco is more like Eddie than he is like Rodolpho, i. e. Eddie and Marco is both driven by their beliefs and protective of their family. The most important thing to Marco is his family back in Scilly; he has come all the way from there to America only because he cant earn enough money to support his children. Honour is also very important to Marco, which is way he kills Eddie in the end for telling on him to the immigration bureau. All these things about Marco are demonstrated to the audience by the way he works and the fight between him and Eddie at the end of the play. Marco and Eddie are similar in many ways, they are protective of their family, they stand up to what they believe in and they both want respect but in different ways. Marco wants his respect because Eddie told the immigration of his presence but Eddie wants his respect in front of the neighbourhood (because Marco took his good name). He also wants respect from his family because he thinks that being the man of the house you must have respect from everyone. Physical strength to Marco is not to show how manly you are but to Eddie he thinks its a way of telling people how tough and manly he is, so he challenges Rodolpho to a boxing match and hits him. Marco then shows him what strength is for, Here. He kneels, grasps, and with strain slowly raises the chair higher and higher, getting to his feet now. Rodolpho and Catherine have stopped dancing as Marco raises the chair over his head. This scene shows us that Marco is protective of his brother and physically stronger than Eddie. Rodolpho is a totally different man to Eddie and Marco. He can sing, make dresses, cooks and is very talented. Eddie and Marco both has plans for their future but Rodolpho just likes to dreams of becoming an American citizen, owning a motor bike and going to Broadway to sing and dance. Eddie is made uneasy by all the cooking and singing because at the time this wasnt what a man would do and it would be left for a woman. Catherine likes Rodolpho because she is naive and hasnt been allowed out of the house, whereas Rodolpho has came all the way from Scilly and he is different to Eddie which is the only man she has known is here entire life. Once we went to Yugoslavia. These are the reasons why Catherine is seduced by Rodolpho and the fact that he respects her makes him even more attractive to her. I think that the characters are very believable as men because in the 50s Eddie and Marco was the type of man you would find everywhere, but Rodolpho is a little less believable as a man because in the 50s this is not what a man would do (singing, dancing, cooking etc) and was considered as a womans. Catherine likes Eddie but only because he has brought her up and looked after her, because of this she feels that she must be responsible and stay by his side and obey his commands. While she likes Rodolpho because he is young attractive, different from Eddie and has travelled far and wide around the world, where she has only stayed in Brooklyn for her whole life. Masculinity is important to the play because if any characters behaviours where different then the play would have changed dramatically. E. g. if Eddie didnt love Catherine, then he wouldnt have told the immigration bureau about the two Sicilian brothers and if this never happened, Marco wouldnt have needed to seek revenge. In the end the real man is probably Eddie because he died for what he believed in but Marco could be considered as the real man because he too stood up to what be believed in and killed Eddie and also protected his brother when Eddie hit him. In the end, I think that the audience comes out thinking that Eddie and Marco are the real man, this is probably because that they both stood up to their beliefs and Eddie even died for what he believed in. Although people may think that Marco was wrong for killing Eddie, all he was doing was following his Sicilian unwritten code of honours. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Free College Admissions Essays: Biology and Psychology :: College Admissions Essays

Biology and Psychology University has always appealed to me because of the wealth of experiences it has to offer as a student. Although I enjoy English Literature and Chemistry: two of my 'A level´ subjects, I am especially keen to study Biology and Psychology. For me, the main appeal of the course lies in the variety of topics that will be covered. The aspects of Biology I find particularly interesting are neuroscience and how the immune system functions and responds. In Psychology, I am very interested in what makes people unique and how different factors shape our personality. I have had two work placements (East Barnet Library in June 1998 and WH Smith in April 2000), both of which proved successful and productive. These experiences especially allowed me to use my interpersonal skills to the full. In my references, both employers remarked on my willingness to learn, my enthusiasm and initiative as well as my ability to work independently and as part of a team. One of the most interesting posts I have held in school is Deputy Managing Director of the 'Young Enterprise´ company, "Opus 21", I found the experience both rewarding and challenging. We encountered some problems at first, but the team worked together to solve them and I felt a real sense of pride to see the company succeed. My skills were further put to use when I helped represent my school in the 'Team Technology´ competition at the 'Logica´ headquarters in London. This involved solving problems in highly realistic business situations, within a limited time. My group was Runner-up, winning one week of work experience with 'Logica´ and prize money for our school. Throughout my schooling I have been closely involved in charity work. Being sponsored to speak French for a day proved to be one of my most innovative (and amusing!) methods of raising money. I have a variety of hobbies outside school. When time allows, I find playing the keyboard and creative writing, such as poetry, a change from my studies. I enjoy using computers as a hobby and to broaden the skills I have gained from my RSA word processing course. My other pursuits include more physical activities such as attending the gym regularly, dancing and cycling.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Kant and Business

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from the 18th century, who put forward a new theory of morality. He was very much concerned with formulating a criterion of moral obligation that is different from the traditional moral philosophies of his time, which consisted in the development of good character traits that must be possessed by humans. Other moral philosophies rejected by Kant include utilitarianism, which determined morality based on the consequence of their actions (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001).Kant was able to formulate one supreme principle of morality, which he called the categorical imperative.   Kant thus wrote several works to explain his theory of morality, with titles such as â€Å"The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals,† â€Å"The Critique of Practical Reason,† and â€Å"The Metaphysics of Morals (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001).† His first work, The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals gave Kant†™s clearest explanation of his notion of the categorical imperative.Kant posited that the categorical imperative is the ultimate moral principle, which means that it could serve as the moral principle to guide to all human actions. Given the huge function of the categorical imperative, Kant provided that it must meet specific criteria. Hence, the categorical imperative should be objective, rational and freely chosen (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001). The categorical imperative was formulated, thus:â€Å"So act, that the rule on which thou actest would admit of being adopted as a law   Ã‚   by all rational beings. (Kant,1785).†Kant’s moral philosophy is centered on the notion of obligation. This is because Kant believed it is best to have an objective rationale for morality, rather than subjective factors such as pleasure. Moreover, Kant believed that the proper actions of man could be determined through reason alone (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philo sophy, 2001).Kant believed that moral obligation would be met when three essential elements are complied with. The first one involves obligation, which serves as the rational consideration for the human will. Second, this obligation shall be expressed in the form of a command that demands a specific course of action. Lastly, Kant demands thatthe moral standard should not be based on consequences of the act. (The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001).closely connected with the categorical imperative is the principle of universalizability, formulated by Kant as follows:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"So act, that the rule on which thou actest would admit of being adopted as a law by all rational beings (Kant, 1785).†This principle means that an action can only be considered an ethical imperative if his desired action could be formulated as a general rule for all humans facing similar circumstances in the future (Kant).Laws that could serve as an example of Kant’s ethical philosophy in th e business context are laws against job discrimination. There are many laws that prohibit businesses from discriminating employees on account of their age, gender, national origin, color, or religion. Examples of these laws are the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).All of these laws comply with the criteria set by Kant to his categorical imperative. These laws look at the notion of obligation and make the laws applicable to all people in similar situations. They also serve as definite rule of conduct that are based on reason and not subjective factors like emotions.ReferencesKant, I. (1785). The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2001). The Categorical Imperative. Retrieved    January 31, 2008, from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/categorical-imperative.htmlThe U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discrimination Questions And Answers. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from   Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Responsibility Essay Essay

Personal responsibility is holding myself accountable for my actions and accepting the outcome of those actions. Any decisions I make, no matter how significant they are, will affect my life and those around me. To me, accepting personal responsibility is the first step in taking control of my life. Someone who demonstrates personal responsibilities achieves academic success. My college success depends on my personal responsibility. This relationship exists because being responsible for my actions will directly affect my education. As a student, I need to have self-discipline or self-control. The ability to be in control of my emotions and actions will show great results in my academic success. The lack of self-control could lead to showing up late in class, turning in the assignment late, or being absent from class. This could also lead me to such as dropping out of school and not being able to accomplish my goals. As an adult, I have many responsibilities and decisions to make. Som e of these responsibilities are taking care of the household, running my own business, staying healthy and getting a college degree. When paying my mortgage, insurance, and utility bills, or paying taxes for my company, I am taking action and accepting responsibility to pay those bills on time. Also, managing my own business takes much commitment, dedication and self-discipline. I also need to keep myself healthy by doing regular exercise and eating healthy food. Keeping my health top notch will help me do my daily routines. To stay on top of my responsibilities, developing a plan, writing down my goals, and setting a date keep me on track. Plus, keeping everything organized helps me focus on achieving my other goals. The other goal I want to achieve is to finish my education and earn a college degree. As an adult student, I understand accepting personal responsibility is the key to success. Also, having a better understanding of personal responsibility will guide me through to my academic success. To become a successful student, I need to create a study plan, practice time management and set realistic goals. Crea ting a study plan is a good way to complete my goals in school. Time management is also critical; setting a schedule to study will keep me on the right course. Setting realistic goals for myself that are attainable can motivate me to do better in school. Planning ahead of time will help me through my academic success.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Human Resource Development Essay Example

Human Resource Development Essay Example Human Resource Development Essay Human Resource Development Essay The pressure for an Organization to get it right is the key to competitive success. Companies now look to creative compensation strategies to create a environment that employees want to work for. Using point form, write a brief description of the organization, its employees, and its challenges. What is the organizations domain? Fit stop is a new business concept developed by Susan Superset, who after a serious sports related injury, became aware of a market opportunity in the personal retail sports supply industry. Susan with her undergraduate degrees in sinology and commerce, agonized that existing sport retailers marketed a limited range of fitness equipment and employed salesperson with very limited knowledge of the equipment being sold and gave little or poor advice on what to buy and how to use it. Suntans, business plan is to operate and compete in the existing retail market domain of large retailers. The domain consists of sporting goods stores, mega store, discount and department stores all retailing some of the same equipment. Its business objective is to sell all types of training, fitness, conditioning, and exercise equipment to the general public. Susan wants to start off with large stores creating a visible presence in the existing marketplace, competing along side other large retailers with similar products. Her goal is to breakout large stores in Ontario and branch into four provinces, her funding does not show a profit for a term of one or two years. She wishes to compete by her organizations ability to meet and exceed the demands Of consumers in the retail sports industry by providing personalized up to date training, conditioning advise, along with the latest and largest range of fitness and exercise equipment. The key strategy of the company is to be the most up to date and advanced supplier of new products and techniques. She believes this business strategy will set her business apart from the rest of the competitors in the retail sector and by providing information, education and personalized service to customers. The employees will be knowledgeable and highly motivated. By employing a manager with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and employing a fulfillment sinology and physiotherapist, to consul clients and to train staff, she will need to hire full time sales staff with a minimum level of grade 12 education, to engage in the high level of training each staff member will require. Employees will need to process a Strong concern for their customers, be innovative in developing solutions that fit their customer needs, and be continuous learners in the fitness industry. Susan challenge includes a needs to develop a compensation system to realize her organizational goals of positioning herself in the existing similar market place. And by her ability to compete in up to date and advanced range of equipment, and to develop her key strategy of exceeding customer arrive expectations by personalized, knowledgeable, techniques, customer service to each individual customer. What should the goals be for their compensation system (that is, what does the organization want and what do they need employees to do)? (Hint: see p. 10. What two questions will have to be answered when deciding on a compensation strategy? Fit Stops goals for their compensation system is to promote the organizations growth firstly with their entrance into the existing marketplace and their plans for future growth. The compensation system must support its management structure for the achievement of those goals. The organization must attract and retain the individuals with the attributes necessary for the tasks required. The organization through its managerial system must then support and guide the desired task behaviors for each individual in the organization. The compensation system must comply with all laws in the jurisdiction it operates and be seen as equitable for members Of the organization. The organization must achieve these compensation goals in a cost effective manner. Fit Stops key strategy of competing in the market place is exceed customer expectations by providing personalized training advice, consultation, and top customer service. Suntans initial thought of compensation is to match what her competitors are doing. By matching the compensation systems of organizations, she will be operating in the same pool of applicants as her competitors. Fit Stops challenge is to align its compensation system to its organizations strategy by firstly the ability to attract and retain and secondly to promote the desired employee behaviors. Fit Stop needs to have fully engaged employees, to provide the personalized service that it provides to its customers. Their employees need to be highly motivated and knowledgeable with a strong concern for their customers. Employees must be flexible and innovative to developing solutions, and keeping up with the latest in fitness and training trends. As trends develop they must also keep up and be motivated to learn and grow and operate as a team within the organization. Fit Stop must position it self as a organization that promotes the values of the latest in fitness technology and the employees will be seen as the dominate professionals in the fitness market. What do you think the employee needs are? Separate the needs into those hat can be satisfied by extrinsic rewards and those that will be satisfied by intrinsic rewards. Fit Stop needs to develop an attractive compensation system to attract and retain the dynamic qualified individuals within a cost effective manner. Initially the company does not see its profits for a year or two. To satisfy employee needs Fit Stop needs to establish a rewards strategy that includes both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to meet the needs of its potential employees, and the plan through which they Will be provided to present to potential employees, and to maintain the employee behaviors necessary for organizational success. Employees accepting a position with Fit Stop will first recognize the extrinsic rewards the company offers such as pay, general working conditions, coworkers and supervisory behavior. Through the compensation system the organization can present the components of base pay, performance pay, and indirect pay to match or exceed in the market place. Base pay based on time worked is fair to the employee as time is exchanged for monetary exchange. Performance pay would relate to organizational performance and advancement, and indirect pay such as dental and health benefits. To enter into the market Fit Stop must meet employee expectations of matching the existing competition market domain of compensation strategy. Intrinsic rewards such as growth and development, achievement, self esteem, that satisfy higher order human needs of employees will also factor in their decision to join the organization. This is were Fit Stop can exceed and provide high intrinsic rewards to their employees. Employees will receive many intrinsic rewards from the role they play in the company, the work they do and the same vision they share with other employees and the company. The value of information technology and advancement within the company will direct task behaviors and foster citizenship behaviors which can be valuable to organizational success. Additionally the intrinsic rewards the company offers will place the organization in the position of attracting employees more easily, as employees have a high level of prestige and public esteem. Analyze the organization and identify the key aspects of the organizational context. (Hint: input, output, resources. ) What resources are necessary for the transformational process (I. E. , human, information, physical, financial)? Fit Stop is an business organization with an objective to supply consumers with all types of training, fitness conditioning and exercise equipment. Managements role is to acquire the resources it needs to operate, combine and enact strategies to achieve the organizational goal of the company. The resources needed are human, the organizations employees, information, the technology and training needed, the physical, the retail location, and the financial, the budget the company operates with, these are the inputs in the organizational system. The resources management acquires and uses, rates the transformation and procedures used in the day to day operations Of the business, sales, training, staffing, etc to create the Outputs necessary to provide consumers with service and products. Those outputs are transformed to resource providers in the form of revenue to the organization. The purpose of the organizational structure is to generate the behaviors necessary to carry out the organizations strategy. This organization system creates the revenue to the company to achieve its goals of organizational success in the market place. Discuss each of the contextual variables and how they will influence the organization. For example, what type of environment will the company operate in? What is the nature of the people who will be employed? What type of technology will be used? What will be the size of the organization? Will the environment be stable or unstable, simple or complex, and what will that mean for the company? Managerial strategy determines the most appropriate reward strategy in an organization, so managerial strategy is determined by the contextual variables that affect the organization. These contextual variables are identified as environment, corporate strategy, technology, size Of the table environment of existing competitors, that mainly compete with price similar products . Fit stop plans to operate with a more dynamic environment that will differentiate itself by the high level of service expertise of employees and new products that are new to the market for customer needs. This will influence the organization to adapt a high involvement management structure for the entrance into new products and service and to maintain the edge over the competition. Fit Stops corporate strategy will be classified as differentiator as defined by Porter, the company strategy will depend on roving unique up to date products and service in the fitness field to a broad range Of customers. This attempt to differentiate itself will be dependent on innovation, creativity, and flexibility and are best suited to the high involvement managerial strategy. The organizational size of Fit Stop is one of continued growth and expansion in to new market locations. This market differentiation may call for different managerial strategies to accommodate a different operating environment, maybe to meet legislative requirements. The organization may choose to segment the companys operation, but will maintain the high involvement managerial strategy for the top management. The nature of the work force requires the management of Fit Stop, the store manager, the physiotherapist, seismologist will need to be well educated, highly skilled to educate motivate the sales team, and to monitor the performance of each individual in the organization. The management will high involvement as these positions will require a high level Of decision making along with the broad responsibility expected of these individuals. Technology will be mediating as in Thompson typology, the ales staff will need to connect with clients and form relationships. But also be non routine by Persons definition in that they will need to be more dynamic to offer new ideas learned from training sessions to clients. Client solutions will depend on judgments and intuition of the employee. Training learning sessions guided by management for sales staff is needed to pass on the informational technology. The sales staff and management will need to adopt high involvement strategies to be knowledgeable, committed, informed and flexible to realize the companies goals of differentiation in the racetrack. Discuss each of the six structural variables as they relate to this organization. Six structural variables are needed to generate behaviors desired by the organization. Job design is the manner in which the total tasks of the organization is divided into separate tasks. Coordination and departmental the coordination of the work of individual employees in the organization. Decision and leadership structure how the decisions are made and the structure of the process. Communication and information structure that designates the amount and kinds of information , and the control Truckee the processes in place to control employee behavior. The rewards system determines how the compensation will be directed and measured. These variables will relate to the organization as they will determine the framework of compensation and the benchmarks to deliver the compensation rewards. Fit stops job design is broad, goal setting, flexible and requires the involvement of team work, which requires the coordination of horizontal and vertical departmental of staff and management, this is also seen in communication throughout the company. The control structure s mainly self control and internal, with employee commitment fostering intrinsic rewards. Decision making and leadership is democratic and participative, employees are engaged. The reward system is highly intrinsic, rewards will be knowledge based, extrinsic rewards will be focused on group/ organization performance, knowledge based, and may involve profit sharing or stock options. Which managerial strategy will work best for this organization and why? The three different managerial strategies are classical, human relations and high involvement. Classical assumes that most employees are lazy and dislike ark but will be convinced to perform in order to satisfy their economic needs. The human relations assumes that employees dislike work but can be induced to work in order to satisfy their social needs. High involvement assumes that work an be intrinsically motivating to employees if the organization is structured properly. Fit Stop plans to enter into a established market environment with some large organizations, a key strategy is to be the most up to date and advanced supplier of new products and techniques. I believe the high involvement management strategy will work the best for the organization as this strategy makes a major effort to create jobs that are challenging and interesting and provide employees with autonomy over the planning and execution of work activity. Jobs are broader involve more elements. Training and learning new technologies are emphasized and advancement is encouraged. Employees are encouraged to contribute to the success of the organization. Citizen ship behaviors are encouraged as positive work behaviors. Fit Stop will need to attract, encourage and retain employees for future company growth. Fit Stops key strategy is provide the most potato fitness equipment and advice they will need to attract a high performance workforce, and they need to undergo a high level of training. There are two compensation strategies that the company could use. Choose one type Of corporate strategy (e. G. Defender) and one type Of competitive strategy (e. G. , focused low-cost producer) and describe why you think this is the best strategy for the organization to use. Fit Stop does have the option to develop two types of compensation strategies to be competitive in the chosen marketplace. Firstly the organization can choose to adopt the analyzer corporate strategy as it souses on explo iting new opportunities while maintaining a base of traditional products and services Fit stop, have determined that they will maintain a firm base of similar products and services, that exist presently in the marketplace. While exploiting new creative services and products to add to be more competitive. Thus fitting their key strategy to exploit new products and exceed customer service expectations. They could maintain a hybrid organization structure wherein the sales staff is managed by human relations compensation structure and a high involvement management for new reduce development. The company can maintain a base of products and services and differentiate itself enough to identify new markets. The other competitive strategy Fit Stop could adopt is the Differentiator corporate strategy in which is depends on providing unique products and set-vices to a broad range of customers.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Ode on a Grecian Urn essays

Ode on a Grecian Urn essays An ode is a relatively long, serious poem that discusses a noble subject in a thoughtful and dignified manner. John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn shows all the characteristics composing a Horatorian ode, a consistent rhyme scheme (ABABCDE followed by a final CDE varying in order), the ode follows a definite meter of iambic pentameter and consists of five ten line stanzas. At first glance, the poem brings forth a light tone, one of wonder and amazement about the beauty of the Grecian urn. However, a deeper insight into structure and the more important literary devices reveals the underlying meanings of the ode arising from which are far more serious themes and issues. The first stanza of the poem depicts the artistic talent of the pictures painted upon the urn, as the speaker seems to peer into the side of the urn whilst standing before it. The last of lines of the Stanza consists of seven rhetorical questions, the speaker asks: ... What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and trimbles? What wild ecstasy?(Line 9-10) The urn cannot respond to him, and his line of questioning is abandoned as he continues to peer into the side of the urn. One of the speakers principal points about the urn is that it is free from time, everlasting, never having to worry over death and aging. However with this the urn is suspended in time, unable to experience life because it is not life. The use of the rhetorical question highlights this, the urn is unable to return contact with the speaker, it is free from time, yet simultaneously frozen in it. The second stanza refers to a different picture that has been carved into the side of the urn. A young man seems to be playing a pipe to his lover as the sit together beneath a glade of trees. The speaker complements the piper in that his melodies are sweeter than a mortals: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter; therefore, ye pipes...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Rasmussen Surname Meaning and Family History

Rasmussen Surname Meaning and Family History Rasmussen is a patronymic surname meaning son of Rasmus, a Scandinavian form of the personal name Erasmus. Erasmus derives from the Greek ÃŽ µÃ ÃŽ ±ÃÆ'ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€šÃ‚  (erasmios) which means beloved.   Spellings of Rasmussen that end in -sen are most likely Danish or Norwegian in origin, while those that end in -son could be Swedish, Dutch, North German, or Norwegian. Rasmussen is the 9th most popular surname in Denmark  and the 41st most common last name in Norway. Surname Origin:  Danish, Norwegian, North German, Dutch Alternate Surname Spellings: RASMUSEN, RASMUSON, RASMUSSON, RASMUS   Famous People with the Surname RASMUSSEN: Saint Erasmus (Saint Elmo) - 4th-century martyr and patron saint of sailors.Theodore Rasmussen - Canadian neurosurgeon and scientist who gave his name to the rare disease, Rasmussens encephalitis.  Knud Rasmussen - Greenlandic anthropologist and polar explorer; the first European to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sledScott Rasmussen - co-founder of the sports television network ESPNLars and Jens Rasmussen - brothers and creators of Google Maps Where is the RASMUSSEN Surname Most Common? Considering its Scandinavian origins, its not surprising that Rasmussen is most prevalent today in Denmark, where it ranks as the 8th most common surname in the country. Surname distribution data from Forebears also identifies the surnames popularity in Norway, where it ranks 41st, as well as the Faroe Islands (12th) and Greenland (10th). WorldNames PublicProfiler also indicates that Rasmussen is by far most commonly used by people living in Denmark. Norway comes in a distant second. Within Denmark, the surname is found most frequently in Fyn and Stà ¸rstrom, followed by Aarhus, Vestsjà ¦lland, Vejle, Roskilde, Frederiksborg, Kà ¸benhavn, Bornholm and Staden Kà ¸benhavn. Genealogy Resources for the Surname RASMUSSEN Rasmussen Family Crest - Its Not What You Think: Contrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Rasmussen family crest or coat of arms for the Rasmussen surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.Rasmussen DNA Project: Rasmussen is a Scandinavian patronymic surname, meaning that your DNA matches will not necessarily (or likely) even be people named Rasmussen. This project will help you determine which Scandinavian and/or haplogroup projects are best to join for research into your Rasmussen heritage.RASMUSSEN Family Genealogy Forum: This free message board is focused on descendants of Rasmussen  ancestors around the world. Search the forum for posts about your Rasmussen ancestors, or join the forum and post your own queries.  FamilySearch - RASMUSSEN  Genealogy: Explore over 1.5  million  results from di gitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Rasmussen surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. RASMUSSEN Surname Mailing List: Free mailing list for researchers of the Rasmussen surname and its variations includes subscription details and searchable archives of past messages.GeneaNet - Rasmussen Records: GeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Rasmussen surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries.The Rasmussen Genealogy and Family Tree Page: Browse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Rasmussen surname from the website of Genealogy Today.Ancestry.com: Rasmussen Surname: Explore over 1.4  million digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Rasmussen surname on the subscription-based website, Ancestry.com.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Managing Financial Resources and Decision Essay

Managing Financial Resources and Decision - Essay Example Sole traders and general partners can have their separate properties answer for the liabilities of the business organization because of their unlimited liability when the business entities go wrong There is also anonymity, in the limited company as one can appoint nominee officers in said business organization. Such anonymity can be an advantage as to keep some sense of invincibility in some aspects as compared to revealing many possible weaknesses to those who are interested with the company. As compared with a partnership, many problems can be avoided in case of limited company. This would include defining who is in charge and who should own the business and in cases of resignation of a partner that could disrupt the business. Another advantage over the sole trader and partnership could come from better credibility brought from better transparency and certain anonymity in the market place. The effect of this could be some degree of ease in raising loans for the business. Lower tax liabilities compared to a sole trader could also arise. While a sole trader’s tax could reach as high as 40% of net profit, an owners of a limited company can so drawing a salary, which could in effect an avoidance of tax for a higher rate can be avoided Limited liability as an organizations are not without some of the disadvantages however. One is chance of ownership of assets being locked up in the company. There is also less privacy and more transparency because of the need to register company's accounts, officers and shareholders at Companies House. 2.2 Task 2 --The initial cost. Provide detail of items of expenditures you will need to obtain before you start trading. State how much capital will be needed on commencement, and how and where this initial finance would be obtained. Investigate a range of different sources of finance and comment on how they compare. State why the chosen sources of finance are appropriate for your business. The details of expenditures that tha t the owner would need to obtain before he/she starts trading include the following. He/she would need to spend for the place to rent. He/she would need a land and building which he/she can either buy or rent. In addition, he/she would need of course to buy for inventories to sell. He/she would need to pay for the salaries of sales and store personnel. Basically the amount of capital would be guided by the amount of revenues that the owner could be making per period. The higher the expected revenues, the higher would be the need for expenditures as the same could mean higher space to place goods for sale and serve the customers. The expenditures there could include but capital expenditure and non-capital expenditure. The different sources could come from my investment which can either be in the form of cash or property. Another source from loans which can come from suppliers who will sell the goods on terms. Thus

Friday, October 18, 2019

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Performance Management - Essay Example The analysis and better decision making can be done by discussing the components of cost and their effects on the overall cost and final decision to be taken. All the costs that can affect the decision, rather all the relevant costs should be considered in this case. It is important to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant costs for the decision making purposes as it allows better decision making for cost reduction and cost maximization. Additionally overheads allocation should also be done on fairer and activity driven basis so that better decisions can be taken. (DRURY, C. 2008; HANSEN, MOWEN, & HANSEN.2006) The company shall lay150 meters of pipe each week in-house to utilize its labour and machine, however decision has to be taken for the remaining 750 meters for small pipe and 300 meters of large pipe to be laid in-house or subcontracted. Direct Material Cost: The company has an option to subcontract the project where the material cost will be borne by subcontractor, charg ed by UGC in the price quoted. On the other hand the company if undertakes the project in-house the direct material cost will be ?45/per meter on small pipe and ?55/meter on large pipe. Direct Labour Cost: Company can use in-house labour by shifting labour from other departments, there will be no opportunity cost involved as the company has substitute labour to be used in other department on the same rate. The crucial think here will be to decide if it is cost effective to use in-house labor if they are paid on overtime basis or would it be beneficial to subcontract. Also which of the pipes, small or large should be laid by the limited labour provided. (PROCTOR, R. 2009) Variable Overheads: With increasing automation the labour hours and costs have decreased and companies have lost the traditional measure of allocating overheads and therefore activity based costing, that is assigning costs to cost drivers are now used. If company decides to complete the project in-house it will incu r variable overheads on per meter of pipe laid. Small pipe will incur ?5 while large pipe will incur ?10 on each meter of pipe laid. The variable overheads are allocated on the basis of meter, which is on the basis of activity rather than direct labour hours that is overheads are allocated on cost drivers basis. (KAPLAN & ANDERSON. 2007; HANSEN, MOWEN & GUAN, L. 2009) Fixed Overheads: Fixed overheads are irrelevant for decision making purposes and become unchanged regardless of the activity. In the scenario lease rentals are the fixed cost. These will be incurred by the company whatever decision might be taken and are irrelevant to the decision. If UGC subcontracts or undertakes the project in-house, in both the cases it has to pay the lease rentals for the machines. (WEYGANDT, KIESO & KIMME.2009; HANSEN, MOWEN, & HANSEN.2006) Detailed Analysis: UGC has decided to lay 150 meters of each type of pipe using the in-house facility. The remaining will be either subcontracted or will be d one in-house depending on the cost and availability of labour. Direct labour is the limited resource in the project and company has to take its decision subject to availability. After laying 150 meters of each type of pipe which it plans to do, UGC will be left with 72.5 hours of direct labour on normal rate and 100 hours on overtime rate of Machine E and 30 hours on normal rate and 90 hours on overtime rate of Machine J. UGC now has to decide whether to lay small pipe or large pipe in this remaining capacity. For this it shall consider the cost it will incur to outsource the pipes and the cost of utilization of labour on normal and overtime rates. It will cost UGC ?56.83/meter of small pipe and ?89.16/ meter of large pipe using the normal labour. UGC has to incur ?60.83/meter to lay small pi

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment Research Paper

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment - Research Paper Example Empowerment acts as a lubricant in reducing the workloads or job stresses of the employees with respect to their profession. Globalization and Liberalization has increased the requirement of empowerment because of the diversity of workforce working in the current organizations. Leadership styles are changing day by day in organizations because of the immense changes happening in the business world at present. Many of the traditional management concepts were given way for scientific management principles at present. For example, earlier, most of the organizations encourage autocratic management styles in their workplaces in order to derive maximum out of the employees. Moreover, traditional organizations encouraged only the individual works. However, modern organizations adopt democratic style management in their workplaces and they also encourage team work in their workplaces. Relationship building is accepted as the core of every organizational function at present. Without employee empowerment programs it is difficult for organizations to prepare their employees capable of meeting the present and future challenges. Most of the prominent organizations are working at an international environment at present. For example, most of the prominent universities have diverse instructors and students. For example, in many of the American and British universities, both the students and faculties constitute people from all over the world. Many Indian and Pakistani students and faculties are studying and working in these universities at present. Because of such extreme diversity in such campuses, the needs of the local students and foreign students may clash each other. Even the diverse faculties face difficulties in their profession because of the cultural differences between their country and that of other countries. Empowerment is the only way to prepare the faculties capable of meeting their professional challenges in diverse environment. â€Å"Empowerment is the proce ss of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes† (Empowerment, 2009). It is difficult for a person to achieve the desired targets in his personal and professional life without seeking help from other sources. Moreover, the complexity of the job functions are growing day by day and without proper guidance, it is difficult for the employees to complete their tasks independently. Some employees may have better ideas; however, in order to convert such ideas in to practice, empowerment is required. For example, it is difficult for a professor to excel in his profession if he fails to update his knowledge. A physics professor who is around 50 years old may not have many ideas about the current developments in electronics or computer science. The inventions happening in the electronic world is huge and without empowerment or training, that professor cannot update his knowledge. â€Å"Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in people for use in their own lives, their communities and in their society, by acting on issues they define as important (Page & Czuba, 1999) Empowerment is a general term which is applied in almost all the segments of life activities nowadays. It is now applied as a core concept in education, politics and economic circles. Human often tries to improve the quality of all the life segments. The quality improvement of life is not possible without empowerment. For example, nowadays people talk about quality education. Quality education is possible only if the educational aids

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Hotel Case Study Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hotel Case Study Project - Essay Example For this reason, private and institutional investors still favor the hotel sector in the United Kingdom. The demand for housing in the city is still high making the demand for hotels in central London also high. Development outside the capital is virtually at a standstill and those seeking to develop hotels are faced with many economic challenges. The investment products in the market are also unrealistically priced with the banks being the main regulators of the hotel industry. The Olympic Games were indeed a success story for London and realized a 41% growth in ADR in various pockets that were within the territory including Manchester. Bedroom supply has increased tremendously over the last ten years with the annual growth rate reaching 15.5%. To date, a total of 1,622 new bedrooms have entered the market but with the current economic crisis, this may be detrimental. The long term occupancy for a room outside London is about 65%. Â  In future, it is expected that 3,800 new bedroom s will come into stream by 2016, an expected 70% increase in supply. It is expected that the current market weakness will take a turn and create a demand which will catch up with the new supply. How to Position the Hotel in Terms of Possible Customer Groups and Hence Prices GreenCo will be set up in a place with several target groups in order to increase their customer base. It will have visitors from Manchester Business School who may be coming in briefly to either view the school or give lectures. The Oxford Railway Station will also provide customers in the form of visitors coming in who may need a place to stay. It will also engage in the development of offices that will seek to target business owners who may set international offices and in addition, require accommodation. It will target the business hotel user and as such, pricing should be carefully evaluated to ensure that it provides the lowest possible rates for rooms in the area. What the Likely Turnover of the Proposed H otel Is, and Drawing on Other Hotel Operators’ Financial Performance, an Indication Of Likely Profits UK Hoteliers are faced with widespread difficulties that have predicted a fall in occupancy and extra work for regional owners despite continued investor interest. The hotel team at PWC has predicted a 70% drop in occupancy in the regions, 79% drop in London as well as 1.2% drops in the average daily room rates (ADR). This is expected to have ADR in the provinces at $58 and $137 in the capital. Because of increased supply and greater competition, hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) will drop by 1.4% in the regions and 3.2% in London. This will leave RevPAR at $108 in the capital and $41 elsewhere. Despite this gloomy outlook, after the Eurozone crisis is felt and further new room supply enters the market further pushing down the prices, tour operators who previously avoided the capital are expected to return to the capital. With these estimations in mind, an estimated, the projected sales in 2012 for Holiday Inn in Stanstead Airport of 5 million with an occupancy rate of 73.5%. This is expected because this hotel is located near the capital as compared to GreenCo which is located in the province. Gold which also operates in an area similar to GreenCo expects annual revenue of 2 million. Drawing on the operation of other hotels, GreenCo is likely to receive profits of about 3 million. Any Additional Ideas on Marketing would be Welcome

Crimes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Crimes - Research Paper Example Murder is considered the most serious violent crime and its punishment is life prison, long prison life or capital punishment (death). Different states have different laws in relation to murder but the common division is manslaughter and murder. Murder is where the killer thought and intended to kill without a justifiable reason. In this case, the killer does not have a reasonable explanation to commit the crime. Murder can also take place under the felony-murder rule. Where one in the course of committing a felony such as robbery kills somebody else, he is charged with murder although there was no initial plan or premeditation. In this case, the person acted in a dangerous way and his behavior led to the death of somebody else. The difference between manslaughter and murder therefore is in the fact that there is no premeditation in manslaughter. Manslaughter is further divided into voluntary and involuntary categories. Voluntary manslaughter means that the intention to kill is there but it comes up suddenly due to intense emotions but it was not planned. In this case, there is no cooling off period between the action that brought the aggravation and the killing. There is no intention to kill but it happens due to carelessness or negligence. Voluntary manslaughter is not as serious as murder but it results to prison time. The only killing where the killer is released from responsibility is killing in self defense (Storing, 1981). Crimes against Property Crimes against property are those which involve theft without any force or threat directed towards a person. These include burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny-theft and arson. Burglary is where one enters into somebody else's property such as a building to steal something. Lacenny-theft does not involve entry into a person's property but it is the unlawful taking of property. Embezzlement involves the changing something that was lawfully acquired to conduct unlawful activities. In embezzlement, the property must have come to the suspect's possession through a fiduciary relationship. It involves an element of breach of trust. It is necessary to prove breach of trust by showing that the property in question was handled in a manner that is not consisted with the trust arrangement. The required mental state for one to be accused of embezzlement is that there must have had been an intent to defraud and convert the property in question. Other types of crimes against property include fa lse pretenses and receiving stolen property. In false pretenses, a person is deceived to give up his rightful ownership or possession of property with an intention of converting the property to personal use. Possession or concealing, receiving and buying of stolen property also constitute of a crime against property. Under the crimes against property, extortion is the only intent crime. Another word for extortion is blackmail. It involves the taking of

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Hotel Case Study Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hotel Case Study Project - Essay Example For this reason, private and institutional investors still favor the hotel sector in the United Kingdom. The demand for housing in the city is still high making the demand for hotels in central London also high. Development outside the capital is virtually at a standstill and those seeking to develop hotels are faced with many economic challenges. The investment products in the market are also unrealistically priced with the banks being the main regulators of the hotel industry. The Olympic Games were indeed a success story for London and realized a 41% growth in ADR in various pockets that were within the territory including Manchester. Bedroom supply has increased tremendously over the last ten years with the annual growth rate reaching 15.5%. To date, a total of 1,622 new bedrooms have entered the market but with the current economic crisis, this may be detrimental. The long term occupancy for a room outside London is about 65%. Â  In future, it is expected that 3,800 new bedroom s will come into stream by 2016, an expected 70% increase in supply. It is expected that the current market weakness will take a turn and create a demand which will catch up with the new supply. How to Position the Hotel in Terms of Possible Customer Groups and Hence Prices GreenCo will be set up in a place with several target groups in order to increase their customer base. It will have visitors from Manchester Business School who may be coming in briefly to either view the school or give lectures. The Oxford Railway Station will also provide customers in the form of visitors coming in who may need a place to stay. It will also engage in the development of offices that will seek to target business owners who may set international offices and in addition, require accommodation. It will target the business hotel user and as such, pricing should be carefully evaluated to ensure that it provides the lowest possible rates for rooms in the area. What the Likely Turnover of the Proposed H otel Is, and Drawing on Other Hotel Operators’ Financial Performance, an Indication Of Likely Profits UK Hoteliers are faced with widespread difficulties that have predicted a fall in occupancy and extra work for regional owners despite continued investor interest. The hotel team at PWC has predicted a 70% drop in occupancy in the regions, 79% drop in London as well as 1.2% drops in the average daily room rates (ADR). This is expected to have ADR in the provinces at $58 and $137 in the capital. Because of increased supply and greater competition, hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) will drop by 1.4% in the regions and 3.2% in London. This will leave RevPAR at $108 in the capital and $41 elsewhere. Despite this gloomy outlook, after the Eurozone crisis is felt and further new room supply enters the market further pushing down the prices, tour operators who previously avoided the capital are expected to return to the capital. With these estimations in mind, an estimated, the projected sales in 2012 for Holiday Inn in Stanstead Airport of 5 million with an occupancy rate of 73.5%. This is expected because this hotel is located near the capital as compared to GreenCo which is located in the province. Gold which also operates in an area similar to GreenCo expects annual revenue of 2 million. Drawing on the operation of other hotels, GreenCo is likely to receive profits of about 3 million. Any Additional Ideas on Marketing would be Welcome

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Phase 3 DB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Phase 3 DB - Assignment Example This report includes the notes to the financial statement of the company and the comparative analysis of the new business expanse intent of the Apex Inc. It also discusses the profitable outcomes for the shareholders and the bondholders. Introduction Apex Printing Inc. is the privatized United States printing company which cater the printing of research papers, newspaper inserts, journals and magazines, periodicals and the advertisements that incorporate Sunday and weekly circulations of metropolitan newspapers. Apex Inc., headed by the CEO John Mathews generates a revenue of 450 million US $ per annum based on three main product lines namely the periodicals, inserts and the advertisements. This company holds long contractual relationships with several U.S retailers for the vast production on a large scale. Recently in a meeting with the CEO and Vice President of the Sales Administration James Simeon, an initiative was put forward in the intent of the further expanse of the product l ine of Apex Inc. and to carry out productions in a different streamline: food packaging and following a different preplanned strategy. The meeting was soon followed by another meeting with the CEO and the VP of Production and Supply Chain, Luke Stewart. ... Mathews. However Mr. Mathews pointed out that Mr. Stewart view on long term profit was only possible if the project has been carried out successfully and with the striving attitude to include perfection in it. To discuss further on the this proposal I hereby, the VP finance am required to submit an initiative report to the CFO of the incorporation in this matter highlighting the finance statement and the discussion of the project’s details and the end result and henceforth making a satisfactory attempt to persuade the shareholders and the bondholders for the gain of their valuable investment in this project. Method: The current profit-loss status of the Apex Inc. is not vary much commendable however one also refrain from grading it as below average. But, owing to the present circumstances and the new inceptive of the expanse of the business approved by the CEO, I am here to give you a brief description of the present state of the company and the cost to implement the newer pro ject in pursuit of stabilizing the incorporation’s profits. Given here are the formulas for the calculation of the net present value (NPV) and the internal rate of return (IRR) of the expanse of Apex Inc. followed by the cost description of the food packaging project. When cash inflows are even (NPV): NPV = R ? 1 ? (1 + i)-n ? Initial Investment i In the above formula, R  is the net cash inflow expected to be received each period; i  is the required rate of return per period; n  are the number of periods during which the project is expected to operate and generate cash inflows. When cash inflows are uneven: NPV = R1 + R2 + R3 + ... ? Initial Investment (1 + i)1 (1 + i)2 (1 + i)3 Where, i  is the target rate of return per period; R1  is the net cash inflow during the first

Monday, October 14, 2019

John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

John Steinbeck Essay Of Mice and Men (to now be referred to as M+M) is full of human suffering for a number of reasons. The foremost is that Steinbeck wants to paint a picture of the real life for men, and women, working in the unstable environment that was 1930s America. His book, although it is fiction, is based upon the reality of ranch life during the Great Depression. As Steinbeck released M+M in 1937, he would have had ample fact to base the novella upon truths. The book centres on the real tragedies of real men and the dream that was fantasised about and yet rarely achieved. By using reality as a base for his novella, Steinbeck allows the reader to empathise with the harshness and fear that is represented by ranch life. Although some parts of the book seem as though the characters have been through unbelievable scenarios, we must remember that to create the feeling of real human suffering, Steinbeck used a microcosm of all ranch workers. This is so we can see the full extent to which ranch life, the Dust Bowl and 1930s America, actually affected the masses. A main aspect of this suffering is the loneliness which all of the characters, bar George and Lennie, experience. In M+M Steinbeck has a small, yet effective, cast of characters, all of whom embody suffering in one way or another. The main characters are George and Lennie and Steinbeck uses them to express the longing for freedom. George is a victim of suffering in many ways. He suffers because he is bound to Lennie and must look after him. Although at points in the book, George expresses regret about having Lennie; he will not let him go for fear of being alone. George would rather look after Lennie than be on his own. Cause I want you to stay with me. George experiences the loss of jobs and therefore the loss of money through the Great Depression and also Lennies naivety, which often causes trouble for the pair, especially when coupled with Lennies strength. Reasons, for which, the pair was forced to run away from jobs in Weed. This, in turn, makes their lives harder as they struggle to stay financially stable and to find a place in which to live in relative comfort. George also suffers the loss of a dream. For a time, George has envisioned a house of his own in which he lives with Lennie. It has become a reassurance for the men, that everything will turn out right and that they should keep hope. It is the opposite of their suffering. Were gonna have a little house When George shoots Lennie all of this becomes false. There is no longer a sanctuary for the men because without Lennie the microcosm, their microcosm, of the American Dream cannot, and will not, come to fruition. This is where George experiences the mental anguish and suffering at losing both his best friend and his hopes for the future. Psychologically the suffering overwhelms anything that George has felt before and Steinbeck shows us the fragility of life and the unpredictability of the ranch. For Lennie, the suffering is that of a different kind. Due to his mental disabilities, he isnt affected by a fear of loneliness as the others are. To him, George will always be there. This does not mean that he feels no suffering throughout the story; in fact he perhaps suffers the most without realising it. Lennie is angry and scared when Crooks suggests that George might not come back. This is where Lennie suffers the most, he is victimised by Crooks and he doesnt know what to do. Crooks chooses Lennie to attack because he cannot do it to anyone else. In this there is a certain irony, as it is Lennies innocence and naivety which lend themselves to Crooks in bullying him. Spose he gets killed or hurt so he cant come back. Lennie shares the same ideals as George, especially that of the dream home they could have. In Lennies case, he is more preoccupied with tending the rabbits than what the benefits of not working could bring him. How I get to tend the rabbits. Lennie suffers as a child suffers; this is because, mentally, he is a child, despite the fact that he is physically a grown man. We see evidence of this child-like suffering when he blames himself for what has happened to their jobs, when he hallucinates by the brush. You do bad things He suffers from grief when he kills his mouse and his pup by accident and he also suffers at the hands of Curley, although he fights back, he still feels scared and vulnerable, as a child would. George is the one who tells him what he should do. Get im Lennie!.. I said get him. It is easy to assume that George uses Lennie for his own ends but, as we see in the story, this is not true. In fact when it comes to the ultimate suffering, Lennies death, George makes it more bearable for Lennie and shoots him with mercy. Steinbeck is trying to show that although ranch life was full of suffering, there were cases where true friendships/relationships might occur. However, Steinbeck also uses Lennies death to mean that hardly anything survived life on the ranch, whether it were friendships or people themselves. Slim and Carlson do not have their own cases of suffering, instead they symbolise the average ranch workers life. They suffer from low pay, poor quality of life and loneliness. The hardships of the ranches are shown in Carlson especially, as he has no feelings for Candys dog or Candy, only that the dog is making his life worse than it already is. God awmighty, that dog stinks. Although Slim suffers from the same difficulties as Carlson; he reacts in a different way. He is calm and considerate, embodying those who were kinder in the harsh life of the ranch.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Clinical Supervision in Practice and District Nursing

Clinical Supervision in Practice and District Nursing CLINICAL SUPERVISION IN PRACTICE AND DISTRICT NURSING: A LITERATURE REVIEW The following research reports a systematic literature review of studies which have assessed the development, implementation and outcomes of clinical supervision within practice and district nursing. 1.0 ABSTRACT Background – The demands which are being placed on nurses within the modern health care environment continue to increase. It is important that effective measures are identified which provide appropriate education, support and quality control for nurses to ensure that they can meet these demands. One such approach is referred to as clinical supervision. Through this, a nurse can be supervised by a more superior colleague who can oversee their actions and make interventions when necessary. Aims – This literature review will critically review research which has assessed the development, implementation and outcomes of clinical supervision in practice and district nursing. This will enable an assessment of the effectiveness and efficacy of clinical supervision within this group of health care workers. Methodology – A systematic literature review was conducted. Relevant articles were identified via computer based searches, manual searches and internet-based searches. Results – It was found that clinical supervision was developed based on a set of standards but that more work is required to improve the dissemination of these standards, role definitions and to standardise the process of supervisor selection and training. A need was also identified for supervisors to me made more available for both nurses and the supervisors themselves. Finally, the perceived benefits of clinical supervision in terms of support, socialisation into ward culture, providing clinical experience and improving the nurses’ job satisfaction were discussed. Further research is recommended to developed standardised and validated assessment tools to enable empirical analyses of the effect of clinical supervision on nurse performance and the quality of care provided to patients. Conclusions – Clinical supervision is seen to be an effective way of providing support for practice and district nurses. However, more work is needed to ensure that it is more feasible and that it is not viewed as a form of control or assessment by the nurses. Keywords – Clinical Supervision Practice District Nursing Evaluation What do we already know about the topic? Clinical Supervision focuses on providing nurses with education, support and management (quality control) Health care workers perceive that clinical supervision aids support, skill development, team building, provides a monitor and helps colleagues to share information Little research has critically analysed the effectiveness and efficacy of clinical supervision for practice and district nursing What does this study add to the knowledge in this topic? Clinical supervision standards have been developed but they need to be more effectively disseminated, standardised and the roles need to be better defined This review highlights the need for there to be an increase in the availability of supervisors for both nurses and the supervisors themselves Standardised assessment tools need to be developed and validated to enable an assessment of the effect of clinical supervision on nurse performance and quality of care 2.0 INTRODUCTION The world of nursing has gone through a period of significant change over the last ten years. In the acute nursing environment, nurses are using increasingly more complex health care interventions and have to incorporate the use of advances in both medical technology and disease management. Within primary care, nurses are required to face the burden of chronic disease and to facilitate patients beginning to self manage their own health. Such changes have been made as a result of Governmental policy and strategic approaches (Wanless 2002, Wanless 2004). Such changes have resulted in there being a range of extra demands being placed upon the nurse, both during and after their training. The Royal College of Nursing (2004a and 2004b) acknowledged the change which is occurring and stated that nurses’ continuous education needs to be assessed and adapted to meet the changing role of the nurse. Changing have particularly taken place within the education of student nurses through the implementation of Project 2000 (UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting 1986)Nurses are now required to undertake tasks which were traditionally performed by doctors. Through these changes the need for effective CLINICAL supervision within nursing has become ever more salient. As a result of the potential effects which a supervisor nurse relationship can have on the nurse’s learning, their experience of training, their subsequent performance on the training course, their future effectiveness as a nurse and ultimately on the quality of the care which is provided by the nurses, it is an important topic to consider within the fields OF BOTH PRACTICE AND DISTRICT nursing. 3.0 BACKGROUND Much has been written about the practitioner as facilitator, supervisor, assessor and role model, and the overlay of role functions (Windsor 1987, Hughes 1990, Donovan 1990, Bailey 1992). Despite this, there is still a lack of consensus within the literature in terms of a clear definition of what is meant by the term ‘supervisor’ (Hagerty 1986, Phillips et al 1996a, Phillips et al 1996b). It has been argued that the task of defining the term supervisor is made more complicated by the fact that other terms are used, such as assessor, facilitator and mentor, to describe the same role (Phillips et al 1996a, Phillips et al 1996b). As a result of the wide range of aspects of the role which is played by a supervisor, it can be stated that a definition of supervisor can only be a general description as anything more specific would run the risk of excluding important elements of the position (Davies et al 1994). For the purposes of the following review, the definition of supervi sion which was provided by Zwolski (1982) will be adopted: ‘Supervision is a relationship which is aimed at guiding the novice towards an established place within the profession’ (Zwolski 1982) In the nursing profession the aims of the supervisor will be to form a relationship with their nurses which enables them to be successful during their training and throughout their subsequent career. Jarvis (1995) emphasised that it is important to focus on the supervisor’s role as a function and as a relationship with the nurse rather than being about them as a teacher or practitioner. Through this role the supervisor can help to narrow the gap between theory and practice (Pelosi-Beaulieu 1988, Armitage and Burnard 1991). Butterworth and Faugier (1994) theorise that the role of clinical supervisor has three key elements, namely Education, Support and Management (through quality control). However one conceptualises clinical supervision within practice and district nursing, the benefits of the process have been demonstrated through previous research. It has been found that nurses require their supervisor to provide a good role model and to provide a source of support, particularly in the earlier years of a nurse’s career (Gray and Smith 2000). Research has indicated that nurses tend to leave the profession because they cannot cope with the demands of training or the job itself (Fulbrook et al 2000) or because of more personal factors (MORI 2003). It may be that clinical supervision has a broader role to play here in reducing the probability that a nurse will leave the profession. Based on questionnaire research, Thomas and Reid (1995) identified five important benefits of clinical supervision. They were support, skill development, team building, monitoring clinical performance and the sharing of information. The following review will consider research which has focussed on the clinical supervision within practice and district nursing. 4.0 METHOD A systematic review aims to integrate existing information from a comprehensive range of sources, utilising a scientific replicable approach, which gives a balanced view, hence minimising bias (Hart 1998). In other words, a scientific approach will help to ensure that research evidence is either included or excluded based upon well defined and standardised criteria. This should ensure that the possible effects of researcher bias should be kept to a minimum. Brealey and Glenny (1999) also states that systematic reviews provide a means of integrating valid information from the research literature to provide a basis for rational decision making concerning the provision of healthcare. 4.1 SOURCES OF DATA The methodology employed within the research will involve obtaining data from three key sources: Computerised searches, Manual searches, and the Internet. Each of these data sources will now be considered in more detail. 4.1.1 COMPUTERISED SEARCHES Multiple databases, both online and CD–Rom will be accessed to retrieve literature because they cite the majority of relevant texts. (Loy 2000) The computerised bibliographic databases are:- MEDLINE EMBASE CINAHL PSYCHINFO British Nursing Info BNI Cochrane Science Direct(All Sciences Electronic Journals) However because articles may not be correctly indexed within the computerised databases, other strategies will be applied in order to achieve a comprehensive search (Sindhu Dickson 1997). 4.1.2 MANUAL SEARCHES A manual search will be performed to ensure that all relevant literature is accessed. The manual searches will include:- Books relevant to the topic from university libraries and web sites Inverse searching- by locating index terms of relevant journal articles and texts Systematically searching reference lists and bibliographies of relevant journal articles and texts 4.1.3 THE INTERNET The internet will provide a global perspective of the research topic and a searchable database of Internet files collected by a computer. Sites accessed will include:- Department of Health National Institute of Clinical Excellence English National Board of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Google 4.2 IDENTIFICATION OF KEY WORDS The selection of search terms is an important task. The search needs to be sensitive in that it should identify as many of the key articles as possible. It should also be specific in reducing the number of irrelevant articles which it produces. The search words were derived based on the research question, as recommended by Loy (2000). They were: Clinical Supervision Practice Nursing District Nursing Evaluation Effectiveness 4.3 INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA. In order that a manageable quantity of pertinent literature is included in this study, it is essential that inclusion and exclusion criteria are applied. These are outlined below: 4.3.1 INCLUSION CRITERIA The articles which are highlighted within the proposed searches will be assessed in terms of whether or not they meet the following criteria. Each article will need to be viewed as appropriate with regards to all of these constraints if they are to be included in the final analysis. From the pool of data which is obtained, the most appropriate articles which meet these inclusion criteria will be selected for use within the review. A literature review encompassing all methodologies will be applied (International studies will be included Available in English Relate to Clinical Supervision Relate to Practice or District Nursing 4.3.2 EXCLUSION CRITERIA The articles highlighted by the searches will also be assessed in terms of whether or not they fulfil the following exclusion criteria. If a potentially relevant article meets one or more of these criteria then they will be immediately excluded from the data set and will not be included within the analysis stage of the methodology. Articles relating to supervision in industries other than health care will not be included Literature in a foreign language will be excluded because of the cost and difficulties in obtaining translation. Research reported prior to 1985 will not be included within this review. 4.4 CONSIDERATION OF ETHICAL ISSUES Any research involving NHS patients/service users, carers, NHS data, organs or tissues, NHS staff, or premises requires the approval of a NHS research ethics committee (Department of Health 2001). A literature review involves commenting on the work of others, work that is primarily published or in the public domain. This research methodology does not require access to confidential case records, staff, patients or clients so permission from an ethics committee is not required to carry out the review. The researcher will also act professionally when identifying, reviewing and reporting relevant studies. 5.0 RESULTS The most relevant research which was identified by the methodology employed within this research will now be critically analysed. In order to structure the discussion more effectively, the analysis will address the three stages which should comprise the evaluation of a training intervention (Kirkpatrick 1979). Thus the discussion will consider the development, implementation and outcomes of clinical supervision in practice and district nursing. 5.1 EVALUATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERVISION PROGRAMMES Whenever one is considering a health care intervention, it is important to first address the foundations upon which it was developed. In the case of clinical supervision, one must consider the relevant policies and theoretical frameworks. A set of standards which govern the preparation and role of supervisors were produced by the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (2004). The English National Board have outlined the five key aspects of the supervisors role: Assisting, Befriending, Guiding, Advising and Counselling (Anforth 1992). Research has been conducted with the aim of evaluating the supervision process from a theoretical perspective as well as those of the nurses and supervisors themselves. This research will now be outlined. Researchers have conducted reviews of clinical supervision of nurses and have highlighted some potential limitations. Andrews and Wallis (1999) reported that a range of different frameworks for conceptualising the supervisor role were prevalent and that more specific guidelines needed to be developed. They also found that supervisors often attended short and local courses whose effectiveness had not been evaluated. Furthermore, Wilson-Barnett et al (1995) stated that the continued use of terms such as mentor, assessor and facilitator, as well as supervisor, led to confusion of the specific nature of the role. Therefore, it appears that although standards have been developed regarding clinical supervision in nursing, further work may be required to ensure that they are more effectively disseminated. The process of clinical supervision needs to also be evaluated from the nurses’ perspective. Watson (1999) conducted semi-structured interviews with 35 nurses to investigate their perceptions of the clinical supervision which they had received. Two key findings were reported. Firstly, the respondents reported that they felt that the supervision process was not sufficiently defined by the English National Board. They also felt that the supervision process was not adequately clarified by their internal organisation. Standards were seen to be appropriate but they were not effectively applied to the practical situation. This research did employ a small sample and the extent to which the findings can be generalised to the UK as a whole may be questioned Having said this, these findings do demonstrate that nurses clinical supervision is based on appropriate standards but that the roles of supervision and the person being supervised need to be more specifically defined. The third and final area of evaluation concerns the supervisors themselves. Cahill (1996) reviewed the relevant research in this area and reported that there are a range of different supervisor selection and training procedures. This ensures that there is sufficient scope for different supervisors to be selected based on different criteria and for them to then go on and receive different levels of training. This lack of standardisation has the potential to mean that the quality of supervision provided throughout the UK may significantly differ. Further research in this field has been reported. For instance, Neary (1997 and 2000) interviewed 155 clinical supervisors. It was found that there was some confusion over the nature which the supervisor/nurse relationship should take. The supervisors were not clear on what their specific role was and the extent to which they should help their nurses. This causes problems in terms of competency assessment as the supervisors were not clear on what was expected of them and the nurses whom they were supervising. Therefore, issues regarding standardisation and role definition are prevalent within supervisor perceptions of this topic. This section has demonstrated that work is required to improve the dissemination of standards, role definitions and the standardisation of supervisor selection and training. 5.2 EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUPERVISION PROGRAMMES A relevant research study which has been conducted in this area involved nurses and their supervisors completing activity diaries for a week (Lloyd-Jones et al 2001). The data provided via the activity diaries were then analysed in order to determine the extent to which the nurses were adequately supervised and what happened when their supervisors were not present. It was reported within this research that the nurses did spend a significant amount of time away from their supervisor. It was identified that in the absence of a supervisor, the student nurse was often supervised, either directly or indirectly, by another qualified member of staff. Although this may be a good short term solution, it is unlikely to be standardised across organisations and to only occur when there is an appropriate member of staff available. More strategic approaches to clinical supervision may be required such that practice and district nurses have appropriate support when it is required. The importance of supervisor availability has been highlighted within international research. For example, Saarikoski (2002) collected data from 558 student nurses who were based in both Finland and the UK. They completed the Clinical Learning Experience and Supervision Instrument. The Finish students were found to be significantly more positive regarding their clinical experience and their supervision relative to the UK students. This difference was found to be significantly associated with the fact that Finish students spent a significantly longer amount of time with their supervisor. This methodology benefits from using a relatively large sample. Other research has focussed on the extent to which the supervisors themselves are adequately supervised. Aston et al (2001) conducted research which was commissioned by the English National Board. They collected information via documentation, one-to-one interviews and focus groups using samples of 76 lecturers and 46 practitioners. The research focused on the participants’ perceptions of the extent to which the supervisors of student nurses are adequately supervised, monitored and audited. It was found that supervisors believed that they were not sufficiently prepared, supported or monitored. They had a wide range of different experiences and they believed that there was a need for a more organised approach which would enable more consistent support and supervision to be available. It is important that the supervisors themselves are supervised so that they have someone to guide and advise them in their role and to provide them with the support that they need to effectively supervise their student nurses. The methodology used in this study benefits from having a relatively large s ample and because it obtained data from a number of different sources. This facilitated an overall view of the topic to be gained by enabling a more comprehensive approach. This section has demonstrated that further work is required in the implementation of clinical supervision to ensure that both practice and district nurses, as well as their supervisors, are appropriately supervised. 5.3 EVALUATION OF THE OUTCOMES OF SUPERVISION PROGRAMMES A key area of any evaluation will focus on the relevant outcomes. However, in terms of clinical supervision, this is not a straight forward task as there is a lack of clear and standardised assessment tools. Calman et al (2002) conducted 12 focus groups and 72 one-to-one interviews with nurses and supervisors to gain an understanding of their perceptions. It was reported that assessment tools were not seen to provide a fair reflection of a person’s ability and that the approaches taken varied significantly between organisations. As a result of this the research which has empirically assessed the effects of clinical supervision on both the quality of patient care and the nurses’ skill acquisition is limited. Having said this, questionnaire research involving 19 nurses has highlighted some of the perceived positive outcomes of clinical supervision (Earnshaw 1995). The respondents indicated that the supervision provided vital support, aided their socialisation in terms of ward culture and facilitated their gaining of clinical experience which helped to improve their skills. Thus, through both direct and indirect methods, clinical supervision can have positive outcomes in terms of the nurses themselves. However, one cautionary note should be made here in that further research by Cahill (1996) has revealed that some nurses view clinical supervision as a form of control and assessment rather than a source of help to them. Therefore, more standardised and validated assessment tools are required before confident conclusions can be made regarding the actual effects of clinical supervision on nurses’ skills and the quality of the care which they provide to their patients. There are some perceived outcomes of both a positive and negative nature which are associated with clinical supervision. Further work here would help to maximise and realise the perceived benefits and to minimise the effects of any possible negative aspects. Other relevant research has focused on the outcomes of clinical supervision in terms of the nurses job satisfaction. Gray and Smith (2000) interviewed 10 nurses at five different points in their careers. A positive correlation was found between the quality of the supervisor/nurse relationship and the nurses’ satisfaction with their learning experience within their role. Therefore, if a positive relationship can be facilitated between a nurse and their supervision then this should, in theory, help to improve the chance that the nurse will be satisfied within their role. Research has also investigated the longer term aspects of the relationship between clinical supervision of the nurses’ satisfaction with their career. One such study was recently conducted by Pearcey and Elliott (2004) and involved interviews with 14 student nurses. Four key aspects were associated with whether or not the student nurses would be likely to go on and seek a career as a nurse in the future. These factors included ward culture, the reaction to negative incidents, the student nurses perceptions of the qualified nurses/supervisors and how these people were seen to treat the trainee nurses. Thus the supervisors can help to improve the learning experience in each of these areas. This section has shown that improvements need to be made in establishing a standardised assessment to enable more accurate evaluations of the effectiveness of clinical supervision to take place. Nurse perceptions of clinical supervision do reveal that there are both positive and negative outcomes. One interesting finding merits consideration here. Andrew and Chilton (2000) interviewed supervisors and nurses regarding the benefits of a teaching qualification on the outcome of clinical supervision. The supervisors reported that they felt that it made them more effective in the supervisory role and that they provided better support as a result of the qualification. However, the nurses’ ratings of supervisors with and without a teaching qualifications revealed no significant differences. Thus more work is required in developing the training of supervisors to ensure that it has a positive effect. 6.0 CONCLUSIONS This review has considered research which has evaluated clinical supervision within practice and district nursing. The discussion focussed on the development, implementation and the outcomes of clinical supervision. In terms of the developmental factors, a need for an improvement in the dissemination of standards was identified along with the establishment of clearer role definitions. A drive towards a more standardised approach to supervisor selection and training is also advocated. As for the implementation of clinical supervision, the need for both nurses and supervisors to be supervised was identified. Research has demonstrated that supervisor availability is associated with the nurse’s performance and hence it is important that supervisors are available as much as possible. The final section of the discussion considered the outcomes of clinical supervision. The lack of standardised and validated assessment tools ensure that it is difficult to quantify the effects of clinical supervision on the nurses’ performances and ultimately on the quality of patient care. However, the perceived benefits of clinical supervision, such as support, socialisation, enabling clinical experience and enhancing job satisfaction, were identified. It may also have longer term benefits in terms of reducing the probability that a nurse will leave the profession. It is through working towards the realisation of the perceived benefits that clinical supervision can be made as effective as possible. Through this, more effective training programmes for clinical supervisors can be developed and the potentially negative view of clinical supervision as being about control and assessment can be replaced with a more positive image of aiding continuous improvement in nurse satisfact ion and performance along with the quality of care which is given to patients. 7.0 References Andrews M and Chilton F. Student and supervisor perceptions of supervising effectiveness. Nurse Education Today, 2000, 20 (7), pp 555-562 Andrews M and Wallis M. Supervision in nursing: A literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1999, 29 (1), pp 201-207 Anforth P. Supervisors not assessors. Nurse Education Today, 1992, 12 (4), pp 299-302 Armitage P and Burnard P. Supervisors or preceptors? Narrowing the theory/practice gap. Nurse Education Today, 1991, 11 (3), pp 225-229 Aston L, Mallik M, Day C and Fraser D. An exploration into the teacher/lecturers in practice: Findings from a case study in adult nursing. 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