Michelangelos Sistine Chapel Ceiling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Michelangelos Sistine Chapel Ceiling - Essay Example The project was based on fresco, which was a contemporary complex form of painting. Frescos sometimes required carving and minor sculptures as well. Although the medium was thus a very challenging one, Michelangelo was a versatile genius. He was well acquainted with designing and crafting frescos and he was an expert in this field. However, the main complexities in this project involved altitude and complexity of the subject itself. In order to complement the twelve apostles to be painted across the ceiling, Michelangelo had to create over 300 figures. â€Å"The rectangular panels in the centre depict episodes from the book of Genesis. They are surrounded by prophets and other biblical figures†.What is more, the ceiling was at a height of approximately 68 feet from the floor. The surface of the ceiling was considerably curved. So Michelangelo might have wondered that how exactly his painting was going to be viewed and understood from below. Now on a curved surface, any proport ional two dimensional representations would probably look awkward. For example, if a human figure is made across a curved surface, then some of its portions would emerge nearer to the viewer creating disproportions. Michelangelo apprehended this enormous challenge of visual illusions even before he actually began the work. Consequently, Michelangelo started to create disproportional human figures. For example, if the middle portion of a human figure was to be created across the distal concave part of the ceiling, Michelangelo magnified it.

Population Advocate Role Essay Example for Free

Population Advocate Role Essay More than 50 million people in the United States have disabilities (Bauer, 2008). With the growing population and the careless lifestyle of some people, it is envisaged that more people would fall into this bracket. These disabilities include blindness, deafness, the handicapped, the mentally retarded and other ailments that does not allow people function as they would in the society. Although the government is doing its best to curb the rate of disability, it seems as if enough attention is not being given to those that are already disabled in our society. This is the job of the population advocate. The population advocate role has become a necessity in the human service field. This is because unlike other people of the society, these sections of the society have special needs and they need special attention. However, the question is who will take his/her time to attend to the needs of these people? The populations advocate for the disabled plays the role of speaking on behalf of the disabled section of the society. As a result of their condition, disabled people are often sidelined in the society and given little or no attention. The population advocate takes it upon himself/herself to see to the welfare condition of these people. The duty of advocacy should not be left to individuals and welfare organizations. It should be the collective responsibility of everyone as these people are also part of our society. People with disabilities have needs such as housing, treatment, short and long-term medical care, education, probation, and domestic violence. As an advocate, I can play a role by volunteering to take anybody with disability around me for treatment and ensure that he/she is treated like other patients. Apart from this, I would speak up, make a report to the police and rise in defense of the disabled whenever I see them being a victim of domestic violence. I will also make sure that I become a guide to the disabled person around me and become friends with them. I will also contact various welfare organizations to fund housing projects for the disabled in my community.

Gender and Sexuality in The Piano Essay -- Piano Essays

Gender and Sexuality in The Piano "THERE IS A SILENCE WHERE HATH BEEN NO SOUND THERE IS A SILENCE WHERE NO SOUND MAY BE IN THE COLD GRAVE, UNDER THE DEEP DEEP SEA." With these words, The Piano ends and leaves me in a state of confusion about what point the film was trying to express. The film by Jane Campion has been compared to the likes of Wuthering Heights and has been highly lauded for championing freedom of women’s sexuality and identity. Many critics, though, have debated on the final meanings of the film. This is possible because the film has such complicated characters, such as the main character Ada, who have intricate reasons for carrying out their actions. Campion created a film with a complex storyline that has no clear, easily extracted meaning. I believe that most critics have missed the film’s point when they try to argue what Ada’s expression of her gender and sexuality means. I would like to argue that while Ada does find a solution to the question of her identity and sexuality, this solution is not the feminist ideal of overcoming the status of Other and becoming a fully liberated woman that some reviewers claim it is. Nor is her solution an acceptance of the gender ideology prescribed by patriarchal society. Instead, Ada assumes a complex identity that falls somewhere in between these two extremes. The Piano demonstrates that although gender identity theories are complex themselves and help provide understanding, they fail to accurately and completely describe a particular person’s gender identity and sexuality because these can be combinations of many, perhaps even contradictory, factors. So, the movie’s representation of gender and sexuality is more Foucauldian, though some characters may still see thems... ...Winter 1998): 227-244.    Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.    Gillett, Sue. "Lips and fingers: Jane Campion’s The Piano." Screen 36 (Autumn 1995):277-287.    Hardy, Ann. "The Last Patriarch." Jane Campion’s The Piano. Ed. Harriet Margolis. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. 59-85.    Hoeveler, Diane Long. "Silence, Sex, and Feminism: An Examination of The Piano’s    Unacknowledged Sources." Literature Film Quarterly, 1998, Vol. 26 Issue 2, 109 116. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO Publishing. March 23, 2001 http://ehostvgw16.epnet.com    Margolis, Harriet, ed. Jane Campion’s The Piano. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000.    Sawicki, Jana. "Feminism, Foucault, and ‘Subjects’ of Power and Freedom." Feminist Interpretations of Michel Foucault. Ed. Susan J. Hekman. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 1996. 159-178.

A Description of Christian Teachings about the Roles of Men and Women E

A Description of Christian Teachings about the Roles of Men and Women The family is our basic social unit. It is the smallest and most common group in our society. It is found in every country and in every age throughout history. Sociologists often distinguish between two types of family. The first is the 'nuclear' family which is where husband and wife live alone with their children. The second is the 'extended' family, which consists of several generations possibly living in the same house and having relatives living in the neighbourhood. Christians believe that family is of great importance. In Genesis it says: "Living as a family prevents loneliness." Christians also belive it is their duty to care for all their relatives, including the elderly. Showing respect to each family member is of paramount importance, 1 Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not take care of his relatives, especially the members of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." In the book of Ruth it says that families must show loyalty to one another. The Bible shows that God intended, right from the beginning that men and women should join together for life as couples. The bond between a man and a woman produces new life when children are born, and this way God's creation continues. The Bible makes it clear that marriage should be taken very seriously, Genesis 2:18, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him." One reason for Christians marrying is that they can provide a stable background which helps people to cope with problems. It prepares... ...'t unfair because you have to get things for yourself. You can not fall back on other people you have to become independent. With choice comes consequence, good or bad, but the way you handle these consequences determines your level of maturity. Nowadays, people in the Christian Society are beginning to change roles, and men and women are becoming more equal. Many Christian parents have accepted changes in society and have adapted to them. Both men and women go to work, there are also some house husbands. There are different roles in society which are beginning to be shared by both men and women such as male equivalent maids. Some children in one parent families even have to take the role of a parent if a relative becomes ill. They have to grow up quickly and take on the burdens of holding a family unit together.

How would you describe Akio Toyoda’s leadership style?

Leadership is the process of directing the behaviour of others toward the accomplishment of some objective. Leadership style is the behaviour a leader exhibits while guiding organization members in appropriate directions. Today leaders are often eliminate unnecessary levels of organization and introduce work teams in order to enhance organizational decision making and work flow. In this case study, Akio Toyoda’s prove himself as today’s leader by making few necessary changes in organization to boost his way to make Toyota as number one auto maker in the world. Entrepreneurial leadership Akio Toyoda can be categorized in entrepreneurial leadership because of his critical role in Toyota. Toyota must have global outlook, interact with environmental changes to make its way to the top. Akio Toyoda as a senior managing director and was appointed as head of china business, when it was joint venture with troubled firm. He is impatient to see faster growth of business in China, work hard for a year to complete the merging of Toyota with a larger, more aggressive local firm by convincing top management and government officials to approve the deal. Once he succeeded, Toyoda’s next step was to revamp the management structure. Transformational leadership Akio Toyoda also can be categorized in transformational leadership by studying his action toward management structure he created. In China’s country department under his leadership, departmental heads will only answering to headquarters executives which isolated the managers and complicated coordination. This method making way for them to work closely with each other and report to an executive vice president who can make decisions for the China business instead of waiting for the corporate approvals. ) Where on the continuum of leadership behaviour would you place Yoshi Inaba, and why? Continuum of leadership behaviour that emphasizes decision making can be arranged into 7 type of behaviour: 1. The manager makes the decision and announces it 2. The manager â€Å"sells† the decision 3. The manager presents ideas and invites questions 4. The manager presents a tentative decision that is subject to change 5. The manager presents the problem, gets suggestions and then makes the decision 6. The manager defines the limits and asks the group to make a decision 7. The manager permits the group to make decisions within prescribed limits Yoshi Inaba helps Toyota managers grapple with decisions about balancing market share and profitability. He can be placed in and as the manager, who permits the group to make decisions within prescribed limits in the continuum of leadership behaviour. Yoshi Inaba can be characterized as a leader who makes decision by exercising little control and allowing subordinates much freedom and self-direction. He is becoming an equal member of problem solving group which is allowing his managers to fact finding some solutions in balancing market share and profitability, bring it in discussion and finding the best achievable solutions. The best example in this context is when an official from the U. S division described about competitive price cuts and warn him about the sales and profits which could be affected if he couldn’t give discounts for the rental car companies that buy in volume. He participates in discussion and suggested alternate solution by selling to businesses that buy in volume which contribute to higher profit opportunities. â€Å"Maybe we lose in terms of total volume,† but that’s acceptable because â€Å"it’s all about return† this quote explain to us of his participation and his way of acted as equal member in finding solutions.

Addressing the Nurse Shortage

Addressing the Nurse Shortage Introduction The global healthcare system is gradually receiving substantial international concern, with the need to improve services to meet human healthcare demands augmenting.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Addressing the Nurse Shortage specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite having great developments in its current healthcare provision, challenges facing the systems have become eminent with the public becoming heavily concerned with issues affecting these systems. Service improvement has always depended on several factors, including the levels of expertise in the healthcare system, the financial stability of the respective systems as well as the human resources related factors, among others. Precisely, human resource factors have always formed a larger accountability of performance in organizations. In this context, recruitment and retention of healthcare providers, including both doctors and nurses are part of the critical worries for health care providers. Over the past three decades, concern has risen about the overwhelming aspects in the recruitment and retention of the healthcare workers with researchers identifying gradual shortage of the labor force in healthcares. Therefore, for this rationale, this essay seeks to provide a comprehensive plan for recruitment and retention of nursing staff. Background to the problem (Global perspective) The global focus on the imperativeness of the healthcare sector at the height of human health needs remains a hotly contested issue across the world, both in developed and developing nations.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For three consecutive decades, research has invested heavily on issues affecting the recruitment and retention of healthcare workers, with several challenges established in this context. According to Scanlon (20 01), medical experts and providers in the healthcare are reporting significant facts on the contemporary shortage of nurses, with increasingly complex of patients’ care needs across the globe. Based on this report, â€Å"while comprehensive data are lacking on the nature and extent of the shortage, research expect the situation to become more serious in the future as the aging of the population substantially increases the demand for nurses† (Scanlon, 2001, p. 2). The problem has extended from the past three decades and is currently stretching in all parts of the globe, regardless of the geographical positioning, the status of the economy or environment of a given state or nation. Situation in developed economies Focusing on the developed economies, the situation of recruitment and retention of healthcare workers, especially the nurses who are core to caring services in the healthcare, remains a contention in leading economies of the world. A current empirical evidence drawn from investigative studies undertaken in several parts of the United States of America have revealed considerable realities over the challenges facing recruitment and retention of healthcare employees. For instance, for the next twenty years, estimates reveal that the healthcare sector in the United States of America might have a shortage of about 400,000 Registered Nurses (RNs) below the required number (Perrine, 2009).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Addressing the Nurse Shortage specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Recent research, conducted in the USA in 2004, revealed that human-resource-related factors, including lack of motivation were eminently the most outstanding reasons associated with nurse understaffing. Others included nurse burnouts, low salaries/remunerations, lack of ample time with patients as well as other demographic characteristics. Primary demographics in the USA include gender, marital statu s and childlessness. The USA government has noticed this issue as among the most severe problems affecting the welfare and development of the nursing sector, with efforts in improving the healthcare systems and calls from different healthcare organizations calling for more sobriety and sanity in these sectors. A similar situation is eminent in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and other parts of Europe with developed and developing economies suffering this menace. In Europe, employee recruitment and retention have augmented in the past two decades and the nursing sectors have felt the worst effect of this mayhem. Considerable empirical evidence has portrayed extensive correlation between nurse staffing and levels of performance in the healthcare system, especially nursing in the USA. Furthermore, â€Å"a recent Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) report to Congress found a direct relationship between nurse staffing levels in nursing homes and the quality of resident careà ¢â‚¬  (Scanlon, 2001, p. 5). This aspect forms a complete background to ascertain the contemporary issues affecting the entire globe.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Substantial empirical evidence is continuously reflecting on the augmenting shortage of healthcare employees in the USA for the past two decades and the problem might further surge depending on the predetermined conditions. Empirical studies, undertaken by several researchers pertaining to this problem around the USA in a decade ago, reveal considerable and reliable evidence on the prevailing situation. According to Hasmiller and Cozine (2006), throughout a number of decades, hospitals in the entire U.S. have consistently faced cyclical shortages of nurses especially in the year 2000 when an estimated number of 126,000 hospital nursing positions remained vacant. Subsequently, the trend commenced in 2004, when the hospitals witnessed approximately 4% drop in the number of nurses working in hospital from the initial 59% in the year 2000. Hasmiller and Cozine (2006) assert, â€Å"A broad set of factors related to recruitment and retention among them, fewer workers, an aging workforce, and unsatisfying work environments† (p. 268) are renowned contributive factors in this mayhem. Situation in developing nations The issues of recruitment and retention of healthcare employees, especially the nurses, remains a global controversy with its ramifications felt throughout the continuum of global healthcare stretching from developed to developing nations. Developing nations, including the entire Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the Asian continent have suffered from nurse staffing issues with the majority of them migrating from their countries in search of better labor remunerations. Arguments embedded in the research undertaken in developing nations indicate a considerable shift of carrier in healthcare sectors as well as complete migration from one country to another to explore better job opportunities. With the augmenting scarcity of healthcare workers, especially nurses, coupled with at least better remunerations in developed countries, job transfers are inc reasing from developed to developing nations. Anxiety is rising on how the two economies will manage the trend and as NGOs and government struggle to improve healthcare conditions in Africa and Asia, questions are rising on how they will curb the augmenting migration aspect. Research has cited nurse related factors as the reason behind poor healthcare provision in all economies, though developing economies are facing considerably more significant impact. A considerable amount of mortality and morbidity issues are directly relating to employment and retention of nurses with job satisfaction issues like wages, remunerations and salaries, as well as other underlying job factors in healthcare. Fatalities in the developing nations have sometimes associated with poor nursing practices attributed to factors relating to recruitment and retention of nurses. Hasmiller and Cozine (2006) stress, â€Å"Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in ho spitals and the quality of care for hospital patients strongly links to the performance of nursing staff â€Å"(p. 268). In fact, healthcare is an essential component in human life determining the quality of life, which no one should defy. The prevailing condition in developing nations seems to be gradually elevating depending on underlying economic conditions in each nation. Regional perspective (area of study) Regionally, the issue of nurse staffing, including the recruitment and retention of such professionals, remains compromised. The nursing staffing menace has and is increasingly becoming a mind seizing matter with its ramifications stretching from international paradigm to local and regional states in the U.S. Nurse recruitment and retention in the state of Tennessee in America has recently become a regionally debated issue with significant stakeholders in the healthcare sector, struggling to find possible remedies to avert the situation. Despite substantial efforts by the b oard of nursing and other dependent associations around the entire U.S. inclusive of the Tennessee to improve the state of healthcare systems through education, practice and licensure much remain anticipated. Since the emergence of the board of nurses in the early 1911, reforms and transformations undertaken have hardly managed to overcome the most vital issue of employment and retention of workers in the healthcare system. Healthcare system in the State of Tennessee suffers mostly from unprecedented nurse-patient ratio with the situation augmenting from each consecutive year, posing significant health hazards. Latest reports of the last two years documented by the incumbent board of nursing of State of Tennessee have revealed significant evidence on the underway problem, citing an increasing shortage of nursing staffs and escalating patient numbers as major healthcare concerns. The problem seems to have existed and augmenting each successive year for the past one decade as other re searchers acknowledged the issue since before. Scanlon (2001) postulates, â€Å"an important factor in the current shortage is the higher proportion of patients having more complex care needs, which increases the demand for nurses with training for specialty areas such as critical care and emergency departments† (p. 3). There is an influx in the populace the State of Tennessee in the past two decades with some of the available medical centers facing congestion from the demanding health care. Statistics indicate that the number of patients attended to by nurses is increasing with a ratio greater than the nurse population can manage to handle. Background of the Organization (AI medical Center) This study focused on drawing empirical evidence from a single organization to represent other organizations operating in the U.S. As reflected in the background, the study’s interest in the research problem is typically in the U.S. A1 Medical Center is the case of this study, whic h is essential to provide empirical evidence to the prevailing research problem. A1 Medical Center is a 188-bed medical and surgical center, which serves more than 52,000 emergency cases per year. It is renowned for its quality of emergency care, cardiac services, oncology services, orthopedic surgery, diabetic management, and obstetric services. The staff commits to a service culture of â€Å"I serve†¦with pleasure† with values of integrity, selflessness, exceptional patient-centered care quality, respect, visionary care, and overall excellence. The medical center focuses on hiring quality staff. Bound to this objectivity, nurses are always obligated to perform their duties diligently to ensure they meet the standards required to address the increasingly complex care needs. Currently, the high patient turnover in A1 Medical Center is threatening the ability of nurses to provide the quality care needed within the hospital. Nurses are forced to work extra hard with the nu mber of overtime working increasing consecutively. Problem Description As with many other medical centers, a key problem is the hiring and retention of medical staff and especially nurses. It is challenging to find nurses of the appropriate quality and quantity needed to provide patients with the level of care indicated by the company culture. The shortage of the nursing personnel forces the center’s management to ask the available nursing staff to work for long hours, coupled with making use of outside agency nurses to compensate for the shortage. This observation means that first; staff nurses are over-worked and second, outside agency nurses may not have the same commitment to the organization’s culture and values. Due to the biting shortage, the available staff and particularly nurses have to deal with an increasing workload in their places of work, which are also not conducive. Both those situations can have a negative effect on patient care and negatively influen ces the company’s budgets, since the per-hour cost of agency nurses and overtime nurses is higher than standard pay rates. Problem Statement The key problem is to identify a plan that will better the recruitment and retention of nursing staff both to improve overall patient care and to reduce budget costs. The Director of Nursing at A1 Medical Center has requested a plan to address these issues. The problem addresses three critical functional areas of the organization: management, economics (financial input), and human resources. In terms of management, the critical approach will be the creation of one or more nursing pools to allow nurses to be cross-trained to float among two or more departments, depending on need. The leadership portion will be addressed by establishing a process of daily rounds by leaders to inform them of needed resources and to encourage positive work environment and by providing training and support for transitioning to a transformational style of lead ership. The human resources aspect comes into play through active recruitment of quality staff and providing appropriate leadership training to improve overall leadership skills. Methodological approaches employed This study was simply an investigated report that followed all necessary approaches to ensure that the information contained does not portray any form of biasness or breach of respective laws governing research. To provide a comprehensive insight into the prevailing condition in A1 Medical Center, it was essential to acquire primary data to provide empirical evidence to the study. The research sought consent from the respective authorities before undertaking any investigative strategy in the study. The researcher sought prior permission to interrogate members of the organization, especially acquiescence from the top management officials, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and all the appropriate managers. The concession involved a permit letter from respective man agers before commencing with the study. Being a member of this medical center, which was the case study, I had reliable data to validate the research problem. I decided to find partners to assist in analyzing the problem and thus no need for questions and interview schedules since it was just direct conversation. Functional area attributing to the problem Organization’s management For one to understand better the confronting issue of recruitment and retention of employees, it is important to identify the functional areas, especially those related to internal matters of the company. Management has itself always affected the general operations of A1 Medical Center. Management in A1 Medical Center has been a critical issue in the past one year. Management has always been of good rapport with the subordinates and the only management factor that attributes to challenges in recruitment and retention of nurses in A1 Medical Center is policy-based, not leadership based. The prevailin g condition of work in A1 Medical Center and the increasing complexity in the Medicare is hampering the company’s ability to employ more nurses. Managers and directors in the hospital have always practiced good governance but have policy issues in the nursing field. Recruitment and retention of nurses in A1 Medical Center are suffering from policy-centered strategies that may assist in providing proper employment schedules. Organizational Economics The most important factor that affects organizational performance is the idea of how to manage economics. Economics in its broadest term means the science used to analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of either goods or services. Services form an integral part in the production and its contribution is measurable in terms of output provided by serving customers. Generally, economics has always been the key functional area in the success and development of all organizations. However, the most economics aspect affecti ng the recruitment and retention of nursing staff is the financial input. Financial instability of the A1 Medical Center is hampering its ability to recruit and retain nurses. The modern nursing generation has become more financially demanding than the traditional nurse professionals who seemed to view work as inherently valuable and thus more dedicated to their organizations. Perrine (2009) postulate, â€Å"A variety of factors, such as changes in social, economic, and public policy and shifts in society-wide attitudes influence the members of different generations† (p. 22). Recommended solution The augmenting nurse staffing menace is becoming a hotly contested issue at the helm of international healthcare environment, with a similar situation evident in A1 Medical Center. The nursing staff in this organization as stated in the problem statement is inadequate and the situation is simultaneously increasing from decade to another, a year to the other. As aforementioned, the sh ortage of nurses forces the center’s management to ask the nursing staff to work for long hours, coupled with making use of outside agency nurses to compensate for the shortage. Subsequently, the working conditions are deteriorating with fear surrounding the management on this overwhelming condition as nurses increasingly become impatient towards the management. Based on the prevailing condition, this is one of the reports needed by the management to make informed decisions on the recruitment and retention of nurses in A1 Medical Center. As the analytical review provided an analysis of the three different functional areas, recommendations on this study focused on the Human Resource Management, general organizational leadership and the financial sectors (economics). Recommendations on Human Resource Management Investing in research Research has been an indispensable component to the improvement of several sectors across the world with organizations realizing an existing proble m and seeking possible solutions towards averting such problems. In the contemporary world, the healthcare system has always relayed on research to examine critical issues affecting the system. Within the State of Tennessee and especially in A1 Medical Center, research has remained underutilized and thus some organizational factors remain unrealized. The Medical Center needs research to â€Å"explore, measure, and better define the relationship between nursing care and patient outcomes; to uncover why newly licensed nurses tend to leave a hospital after only a short time† (Hassmiller Cozine, 2006, p.271). Through research, the center will identify viable strategies for addressing nurse shortage. Providing Professional Training and practice Desperate situations call for desperate times and enhancing professional training is becoming a way of enhancing efficacy in all forms of organizations. In the situation where the current organizational financial status cannot accommodate the recurring expenses including wages, salaries and remunerations to improve nurse’s job satisfaction, it is essential for the organization to consider nurses professional training as an option. In respect to this aspect, professional nursing training and practice aids in improving the work efficiency among healthcare workers, which comes with a sense of job satisfaction as well. Hasmiller and Cozine (2006) refer to this aspect as transformation of hospital culture and states, â€Å" hospital nurses have difficult, demanding jobs; they need to feel inspired by their work and supported as professionals if optimal patient care is to be achieved† (p. 27). Professional training is one way of maximizing human resources in the sense that few people are capable of producing substantial outcomes in organization. Professional training and practice have proven significant in enhancing health workers competence in handling complicated conditions. One of the essential strategies that have proven imperative to improving the status of nurse profession and the organizational development as well is the establishment of training centers within the healthcare centers. Setting up professional institutions within the healthcare center will allow A1 Medical Center to expand its working capacity and reduce the number of nurses lost during post-studies. Several ambitious individuals capable of working with healthcare organizations across the State of Tennessee have lacked the opportunity to expend their knowledge due to financial constraints. â€Å"An important factor in the current shortage is the higher proportion of patients having more complex care needs, which increases the demand for nurses with training for specialty areas such as critical care and emergency departments† (Scanlon, 2001, p.17). To curb the growing shortage of nurses accurately in A1 Medical Center, the management on this organization must invest heavily in training new nurses as well as p roviding in-service professional training to the incumbent workforce. Improving wages and benefits there are diverse elements that propagate the eminent challenges that derail effective hiring process of nurses, including poor remuneration and the accompanying benefits. In the past, different researchers have pointed to motivational needs, and especially extrinsic motivational elements like material rewards, as the main driving forces behind successful retention of nurses. Salaries, remunerations, wages and other fringe benefits are core factors that determine the productivity of individual in any given organization. Human resource needs motivations through the well-cared environment as well as satisfactory job conditions that enhance the working morale of individuals in a given environment. â€Å"Low wages, few benefits, and difficult working conditions contribute to recruitment and retention problems for nurse aides† (Scanlon, 2001, p.8). It is essential for any organizatio n to understand that human capital is an important production aspect with financial resource factors equally contributing to the competency of workforce. A sustainable amount of physical resources achieved from an employer always acts as the source of hope and ambitiousness in employees and always increases individual competence and performance in the working environment. For the case of A1, a suitable plan improving employee’s wages and benefits must exist to help avert the nurse shortage that is threatening to subjugate the organization’s commitment in providing quality health care services. However, improving the wages and benefits of workers in A1 does not necessarily mean abnormal pay raise to the nurses. According to Hassmiller and Cozine (2006), â€Å"the morale of nurses employed directly by the hospital also might suffer when they work alongside agency nurses who earn higher wages and enjoy more flexible scheduling† (p.269). Therefore, despite the fact that it is apparent that attractive salaries and remunerations are solutions to stabilizing workforce through enhanced recruitment and retention plan, might attract problems within the labor force. Additional employee supports It is important for healthcare organizations to understand the imperativeness of supporting their staff in overcoming challenges related to their profession. In a bid to improve the recruitment and retention of nursing staff in A1 Medical Center, the management should acknowledge the importance of providing workers with additional support including improving the work environments, enhancing their professional skills and providing social support. For nurses to enhance their professional performance, the management needs to provide such support services as both material possession and social wellbeing of individuals affect their competence and performance. Firstly, A1 Medical Center may provide support in improving the work environment by enhancing the working f acilities. Another strategy under the provision of more employee support is to enhance the conventional work knowledge and other support services for nursing staff. Recommended implementation resources Physical resources For the recommended solutions to become effective, several physical resources are essential in the implementation of the recommended plan. Financial stamina of the company will determine if the implementation of the desired plan will finally become fruitful. The financial position of A1 Medical Center will determine the outcome of the proposed the implementation of the recommended plan in the sense that lack of proper financial capacity to accommodate the program will delay in addressing the nurse shortage. As postulated before, A1 Medical Center will require investing heavily in establishing a nurse-training facility, including a small institution, where new enrolled nurses can acquire basic knowledge in handling patients. Finance is a driver for every economic dev elopment across the globe and thus, it is imperative for A1 to consider their fiscal strength before carrying out the proposed plan. It will be appropriate for A1 medical center to find possible partnerships and financial sponsorship as means of providing financial solution to the implementation of the proposed plan. Human resource A properly planned plan can fail to work if the human resource available fails to undertake stringent measure to implement the plan skillfully. One of the renowned strategies frequently and successfully employed in the implementation of the proposed plan is setting up implementation committee and respective subcommittees. The effective implementation of the plan hinges on the commitment of the concerned committees. Any biasness or maliciousness between the implementation committee or in the subcommittees affects the quality of the implementation process. A1 Medical Center will need to set up a dedicated committee, including professional experts in the imp lementation of the plan. It will require the management of the organization to remain focused towards the implementation process to avoid further delays that may result from personal differences among the committee members. The Medical Center will have to develop a culture in researching as well as research institutes to ascertain issues affecting the organization. Long-term financial and organizational impact of the recommendation Future Financial Impact By A1 opting to address the nursing shortage through the provision of professional training and practice to the incumbent nurses, the organization will reduce the recruitment cost required to increase the labor force. Typically, it will become more economical for the company to increase the professionalism of workers and incur few salaries or wage costs than to increase the number of workforce with little skills. It sounds more economical to provide in-service training to workers who will further remain loyal to the organization on realizing the fringe benefits offered than to acquire voluminous workforce from outside the organization at much higher cost. More importantly, a strategy that involves setting up a nurse training facility seems to be a more appropriate long-term solution for A1 Medical Center. Training young and energetic workforce will enable the healthcare center to be more human-resource equipped than hiring or recruitment trained nurses. Despite ostensibly being a financial requiring project at its onset, the project will aid in reducing recruitment costs in the future. Future Organizational Impact The proposed plan is not a short-term running project and its ramifications might stretch to the foreseen future determination of the Medical Center. Investing in research is among the renowned global strategies that facilitate achievement of long-term organizational goals. Research in A1 Medical Center will aid in providing an enduring solution in the identification and analysis of problems affecti ng the medical center and other healthcare organizations as well. Setting up a research institute will, therefore, enable the organization to have a permanent solution in determining and solving organizational problems. Based on this report, setting up a nurse-training institute is another priority included in this recommendation. The institute will provide an everlasting solution to the nurse shortage in A1 Medical Center as it will enable the organization to produce its own workforce, thus, proving more competent in future. The salary and remuneration plan intended to provide a substantial reward scheme will enable the organization avoid miscellaneous expenses related to employees salaries and payment schemes. Conclusion Conclusively, the global focus on the imperativeness of the healthcare sector at the height of human health needs remains a hotly contested issue across the world, both in developed and developing nations. The stakeholders in the healthcare sector point to the div erse and sometimes complex patients’ needs as the factors that are responsible for the ever-increasing nursing shortage. A1 Medical Center is among the healthcare centers suffering from this menace. In an attempt to help avert this condition, this report recommended that the organization should invest heavily in research, develop a nurse training institution around the organization, and engage in providing nurses with professional training and practice that will eventually assist the organization in reducing the financial cost as well acting as an everlasting recruitment solution. In a bid to achieve the recommendations, the organization needs to increase their financial strength by either engaging in partnerships and other forms of sponsorships to help raise the needed amount to execute the plan. Reference List Hassmiller, S., Cozine, M. (2006). Addressing the nurse shortage to improve the quality of patient care. Health affairs, 25(1), 268-274. Perrine, J. (2009). Strategi es to boost RN retention. Web. Scanlon, W.J. (2001). Recruitment and Retention of Nurses and Nurse Aides is a Growing Concern. Web.

Definition Essay Sample on Patriotism My Point of View

Definition Essay Sample on Patriotism My Point of View Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines patriotism as love for or devotion to ones country. However, the word patriotism strikes lots of mixed emotions all over the United States. Some people describe themselves as involved patriots because they fly their American flag outside in their yards, when others see the word patriotism as disgusting, the seed of racism. Patriotism to me, along with many others, means of course to have love for our homeland, our country, to support, serve and defend, to be inspired by, to change for the better and to care deeply for fellow Americans. After September 11th, a lot of people showed their love for this country by doing things like standing in line to donate blood, registering with the army, or even as little as wearing the American colors. Patriots support the countries authorities, laws, and interest. However this does not mean that true Americans should agree with whatever the President of the United States has to say and be blinded by what’s really going on in America. One of the biggest issues today is that people feel like the President has used patriotism with the American people to start a war with other countries. New posters in store windows along with billboards posted along the roads encourage the American people to become one and to show their love for their country. I believe that true patriotism doesn’t have to be encouraged but is something that we feel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. Patriotism is to be proud of where you are from, and to love everyone around you weither they are natives of that country or not. Patriotism is not to have hate for anyone that’s foreign, or to think your country is better or strong then others for no reason. On the other hand, patriotism to some people is a superstition that is artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of this self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit. Instead of being just a love of ones country, these people believe that the patriotic individual is blinded by what the government is telling us. That patriots will go along with any ideas the government may have if put in a manner that concerns their country. People that don’t believe in patriotism also believe that to be patriotic requires allegiance to the flag, which means obedience and readiness to kill father, mother, brother and sister. The September 11th attack is a perfect example to help support this idea behind patriotism. After hearing that another country would do such a thing, people everywhere signed up to go into the Army for war. Without really knowing what they were getting themselves into, young men, old men, even women were willing to just go kill others that had nothing to do with attack in a sense. If this point is raised then the patriotic people can raise the point that the people that did sign up might have been for war with this country but they were standing up for their country and the people that died in the attack. After all, that is the real definition of patriotism. I believe that there are different levels of patriotism. To have patriotism and to love the country that you where born and live, to love the people around you and to want to wave the American flag in your yard is to show your patriotism. To hate people of different races just because they aren’t from the land you love so much, or to go along with anything the government says without understand it just because they say it will do your country good, all of this is not patriotic. Different people have different reasons why they are patriotic and how they choose to be so. There is a long line of people in my family that has fought for our country and freedom, even some deaths. This is one reason why my family is so patriotic. Just because my family has a huge American flag flying high in the front yard 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long with a spot light on it, doesn’t mean we have the obedience and readiness to kill father, mother, brother and sister. We do it because we love the American flag and what it stands for. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on Patriotism topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

Accounting-System in Switzerland essays

Accounting-System in Switzerland essays Brainstorming: Accounting of Switzerland 4 We have chosen the Switzerland for several reasons. First of all Swiss accounting is neither examined in our textbook nor is it one of our native countries. This was one of the requirements of the exercise. Then we thought that Switzerland is interesting because of its cultural background. There are four languages spoken in the Switzerland, which is enclosed by 5 neighbours (Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria). The Swiss adopted the language of Germany, France and Italy and that led us to the assumption that the Swiss accounting probably might be influenced by at least one or even more of its neighbours. Another reason choosing Switzerland was the well-known banking secrecy and the importance of privacy and secrecy in general. To get informations about Swiss accounting we looked at the articles in newspapers, books, magazines and the Internet. Interestingly it seemed that even the professionals wrangle with the challenges of switching the accounting system. Because Switzerland isnt a member of the European Union it was interesting to examine to which extent the EU policy in terms of accounting influences Swiss accounting. Brainstorming: Accounting of Switzerland Switzerland has only very few natural resources and a restricted surface area (~ 41 million km ², 60% of the surface is alpine area) (source: derweg.org/laender/schweiz/schweieinf.htm). Foreign trade is essential for its wealth. The total population of about 7,200,000 and - associated with that - a relatively small domestic market is another factor which forced Swiss manufacturers to look for cross border trade. They need foreign markets in order to make investment in research and development worthwhile. The constitution of Switzerland was published in 1848 and guarantees freedom of the press and settlement, religious and association liberty. Paragon for the swiss institution was the institut...

Is Bakhtin's concept of the carnivalesque a helpful model in analyzing Essay

Is Bakhtin's concept of the carnivalesque a helpful model in analyzing contemporary celebrity culture - Essay Example In this case, it can be claimed that people usually take part in a carnival, where regular human life rules, regulations, restrictions and hierarchy of the society are not applicable. Bakhtin has offered four specific categories for carnival event that include ‘Free and familiar interaction between people’, ‘Eccentric behaviours’, ‘Cannibalistic misalliances’ and ‘Sacrilegious’. In this regard, Bakhtin has emphasized these above mentioned human behaviours or approaches for ensuring freedom and opportunity of equality among the people. Bakhtin’s concept of the carnivalesque has manifested in forms of ritualistic acts and it plays a major part in case of carnivalistic life. Simultaneously, Bakhtins concept of the carnivalesque helps in case of identifying the popular culture of carnival (Karimova, 2010). In this essay, the objective is to identify weather Bakhtins concept of the carnivalesque a helpful model in analysing contemporary celebrity culture. In order to attain this objective, it is essential to identify the key aspects of the Bakhtins concept. Moreover, it is essential to identify the trend of the contemporary celebrity culture. Mikhail Bakhtins humour and his comic essence made him one of the most popular critics of the concepts of carnivals that are effectively practiced in the different segments of the society. According to HU (2012), Bhaktin’s conceptualisation of carnivalesque is majorly based on the dialogical genre of the different concepts. The study of Karimova (2010) implied that Bhaktin’s states carnivals to be different from real life that the people lead in this world. The rules, regulations and real life tantrums are missing in the festivals and carnivals that affect the concepts of festivity. Furthermore, Bhaktin’s concepts of carnivalesque are based on the concepts that bring together the opposites of the society. This focuses on the use of the different concepts such as the death and birth as well as rebels

GAP Corporate Strategy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

GAP Corporate Strategy - Article Example then the necessary strategic changes that have made in its corporate strategy to have better business. At the end I will conclude this discussion. Corporate strategy expresses the marketplace and the commerce in which an organization will perform its function. Competitive or company strategy describes for a given Corporate the foundations on which it will struggle. Corporate strategy is characteristically determined in the situation of significant the company's mission and proposal, that is, declaring what the corporation does, why it survives, and what it is future to become. Competitive strategy pivots on a company's abilities, powers, and flaws in relative to marketplace exceptionality and the equivalent abilities, powers, and flaws of its contestants.1 Corporate Strategy is apprehensive with the in general motive and range of the commerce to assemble stakeholder prospect. This is a vital level since it is a lot prejudiced by financier in the business and operates to direct tactical decision making all through the organization. Corporate strategy is frequently confirmed openly in a mission statement (Johnson, 2002). This section of the paper provides the introduction of the GAP Inc. ... What started as one brand has developed to take in Gap, GapKids, gapbody, babyGap, GapMaternity. Gap has turn out to be an intellectual icon by contributing clothing and accessories entrenched in cool, certain and casual style to customers in the regions of the world.2 Gap Inc. is a most important worldwide field retailer with a physically powerful group of brands and economic 2007 profits of $15.8 billion. GAP is dedicated to helping the wants of there customers while bringing excellence earnings and long term worth to our shareholders (Gap Inc, 2008). Gap Inc. is a top international field retailer presenting personal concern goods for men, ladies, kinds and babies beneath the Gap style, Banana Republic and aged Navy products, by means of a fourth products, Forth & Towne, commencement in 2005. established in 1969 by Doris and Don Fisher in city of San Francisco, California, Gap Inc. has grown-up from a particular store with a few workers to around 3,000 stores in the France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan, with approximately more than 150,000 staff. In the United States, clients may as well shop the corporation's online stores. A public corporation, Gap Inc. is operated on the New York Stock-Exchange and is established on the Cal vert community indicator, Domini 400 Social indicator, and lot of others (Gap Inc, 2008-a). Part 2 This part of the paper will provide the analysis and evaluation how external and internal factors affecting GAP Inc. How the GAP will cater then this will be addressed in this part. The Gap Inc is one of the world's leading apparel brands and was valued at US$7.7 billion in 2003 (GAP). They first wrote their

Conslusions on the psychological Affects of same sex parents ont he Essay

Conslusions on the psychological Affects of same sex parents ont he psychological development of Children - Essay Example However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding the social responsibility of the laws and court systems on the development experienced by children in the aforementioned families and how these culturally discriminating forces affect the sense of security that is necessary for successful growth. Therefore, the purpose of the proposed study is to examine previously recorded research that can be associated and correlated to determine the affect of living in a household that is not universally accepted as legitimate. By studying the research of a variety of topics related to this issue, a conclusion will be made in regard to the impact this issue has on the psychological influence on children raised by same-sex parents. Findings from this research will help clarify the social responsibility that may or may not be neglected by the current legal system. Findings from this research will help clarify what steps may be recommended to governmental agencies and law ma kers that will ensure the security and safety of these children in order to provide a more stable and secure environment to promote a successful development within the family structure. The issue of familial rights within homosexual partnerships have raised sociological questions that have proponents for and against marriage between couples of the same sex. As families of non-traditional forms are being created and sustained, the issue of child development within a non-traditional structure becomes a relevant social issue. The study of children who are raised in families that are comprised of two same sex parents who are also life-partners can answer questions of the affect that a non-traditional parental pair can have on the psychology created by that environment. In order to study the psychological affect of two parents who maintain a homosexual relationship on a child who is raised by those parents, one must take into consideration

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases - Essay Example A merger occurs when two firms integrate their skills and acumen with each other to take advantage of business opportunities or sidestep threats. Sometimes the decision to merge can be to increase size due to legal e.g. capital requirements, or to acquire efficiencies, talents or market access in a totally different but complementary field of business endeavor. In an acquisition, however, one firm is bought outright by another for a price that may be made public or disclosed to only the stakeholders and the relevant Government authorities. It is clear that both firms should get something out of the corporate deal or the effects are not long lasting. Indeed it has been noticed that many participant workers and managers are found ruing the past when things were much simpler and better- however they are forced to deal with the situation ‘as is now’ and have put in too much effort to unwind the deal again. One acquisition that took place in the healthcare industry between Se ptember-October 2010 was that of ZymoGenetics, Inc. being bought by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) for US$885 Million. With this acquisition, BMS hoped that it would gain inroads into the fight against cancer, hepatitis C, and other diseases for which ZymoGenetics already had some research products in the pipeline.

Discuss the Moral Considerations Relevant to the Killing of Human Essay

Discuss the Moral Considerations Relevant to the Killing of Human Being - Essay Example According to those who oppose this  practice, they argue that the foetus is a human being or a person from the time of conception. Hence terminating it is the same as killing a human  being  which in itself is not  moral.  The foetus acquires  human  characteristics remarkably early in its  life  such that by the tenth week, it already has acquired a  face, arms,  and also  fingers and toes.  Also, the internal organs and the brain activity can be detected by this time. As every human has the right to life, also does the foetus. Every woman has the right to decide what should be happening in her body, but the foetus's right to life always outweighs her right to  make  a  choice  as to what happens in her body (Thompson 45). Many people who support abortion have  various  premises to support their arguments. One is pregnancy due to rape. They argue that this is reason enough to terminate the pregnancy. However, one cannot say that those who  wer e conceived  through rape have less  right  to live than others. Pregnancy due to rape results in the conception of a  baby  that also has the equal right to life just like all the other conventional methods of conception (Thompson 56). Hence Judith wonders what will happen when the mother's life  is threatened  by the pregnancy, whether it is morally relevant to  abort  the pregnancy or not. ... This means that abortion is morally permissible in some situations while in others it is not (Thompson 58). Judith's considerations on the  morality  of human  killing  are similar to the argument of Dan Brock who argued about the  morality  of voluntary, active euthanasia. Provision of  relieve  from suffering is among the many ways doctors take care of the patient`s wellbeing (Brock 30). Yet from a third-person point of view, it  is not known  whether an individual`s quality of life is extremely low that it  is burdensome  for the individual. Hence an  individual  might  regard  the continuation of his life to be unbearable because of the severity of his suffering; and  want  a doctor to end his suffering  immediately  by ending his life. This means that an individual acting on his values is morally permissible if his doing so is consistent with permitting others to the same freedom. This is  mostly  self-determination and the  value  of  equal  liberty. Hence an individual`s  choice  of  voluntary, active euthanasia is  more  consistent with permitting others the same freedom. Therefore, an individual  choice  of  voluntary, active euthanasia and the doctor's fulfilment of this request are morally permissible. However, voluntary, active euthanasia involves the deliberate killing of individuals, which is wrong. Hence voluntary, active euthanasia is also wrong. Removing life-sustaining  treatment  also amounts to deliberate killing of innocent people yet it  is thought  as morally permissible (Brock 32). This  is only done  when it is  consistent  with the well-being of the patient and his  self  determination. Hence voluntary, active euthanasia is morally permissible when it is  consistent  with the autonomy and the well-being of the patient (Brock 35). According

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Recent Merger and Acquisition Cases - Essay Example A merger occurs when two firms integrate their skills and acumen with each other to take advantage of business opportunities or sidestep threats. Sometimes the decision to merge can be to increase size due to legal e.g. capital requirements, or to acquire efficiencies, talents or market access in a totally different but complementary field of business endeavor. In an acquisition, however, one firm is bought outright by another for a price that may be made public or disclosed to only the stakeholders and the relevant Government authorities. It is clear that both firms should get something out of the corporate deal or the effects are not long lasting. Indeed it has been noticed that many participant workers and managers are found ruing the past when things were much simpler and better- however they are forced to deal with the situation ‘as is now’ and have put in too much effort to unwind the deal again. One acquisition that took place in the healthcare industry between Se ptember-October 2010 was that of ZymoGenetics, Inc. being bought by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) for US$885 Million. With this acquisition, BMS hoped that it would gain inroads into the fight against cancer, hepatitis C, and other diseases for which ZymoGenetics already had some research products in the pipeline.

Critical Analysis of the Use of Fate Imagery in The Tale of Kieu Essay

Critical Analysis of the Use of Fate Imagery in The Tale of Kieu - Essay Example In most cases, abstract imagery bears imposed characteristic. Fate imagery is one of the abstract imageries that have been traditionally used in literature all over the world from the very beginning of human civilization. In Nguyen Du’s â€Å"The Tale of Kieu† fate imagery plays a very crucial role in the development of the theme of the poem. I say this because in â€Å"the Tale of Kieu† fate has been portrayed as a villain that inflicts pains, sufferings and miseries upon the protagonist, Kieu. Indeed it is fate that takes a test of Kieu’s virtues and psychological strength. To a great extent, fate appears as a scapegoat which, in a number of ways, serves as the replacement of the oppressive patriarchy. Very often Kieu tends to blame her fate for the pains and sufferings in her life. In a male dominated society she is conventionally accustomed to accept the male hegemony as it is. Though her sufferings are mainly induced by her male counterparts, she fail s to acknowledge them as the root cause of her sufferings. She accuses fate of causing sufferings to women, while ignoring the inferior position women subjugated by men: â€Å"Since ages out of mind, / harsh fate has cursed all women, sparing none. / As I see her lie there, it hurts to think / what will become of me in later days.† (Line 106-110) Kieu believes that women are cursed by fate for ages. She is fully aware of the legacy of the social injustice that women have had to face. She knows that she is also destined to face the same fate: â€Å"As I see her lie there, it hurts to think / what will become of me in later days† (Line 109110). Indeed Kieu’s view of â€Å"cursed womanhood† is the reflection of what Confucian patriarchy teaches them to think of themselves. In Confucian women are viewed as some existence that is both physically and mentally fragile and frail. They are beautiful but weak. Therefore they should be under tutelage of their male g uardians such father, brother or husband. They should go against the decision of their male guardians. A girl needs the guardianship more than a boy does, because she is fated to be such. For Kieu, fate is somewhat that equals to God to a great extent. In some cases fate seems to be God’s decision. She believes that either fate or God is responsible for cursed womanhood. When Dam Tien’s lover mourns at her deathbed saying, â€Å"Harsh is the fate that has kept us apart! / Since in this life we are not meant to meet, / let me pledge you my troth for our next life† (Line 74-76), he essentially refers to heavenly decision. Indeed fate’s association with God’s decision is evident in the following lines in which she directly accuses God of being cruel: â€Å"How sorrowful is women's lot! -she cried / We all partake of woe, our common fate. / Creator, why are you so mean and cruel / blighting green days and fading rose-fresh cheeks?† (Line 82-5) I n these lines, â€Å"Creator† or God is directly held responsible for â€Å"women’s sorrowful lot†. Kieu considers God’s decision as women’s â€Å"common fate†. She believes that god is responsible for â€Å"fading rose-fresh cheeks†. Indeed the frequent of fate imagery in â€Å"the Tale of Kieu†, contributes a lot to the portrayal of the faith of Confucian society

Attitude Of Young Adults Towards Drinking Milk In Pkaitsan Essay Example for Free

Attitude Of Young Adults Towards Drinking Milk In Pkaitsan Essay

Reflection on Evidence Based Management

Reflection on Evidence Based Management As the worlds tallest peak, Mount Everest is natural wonder that many people attempt to conquer. However, successfully ascending and descending Mt. Everest requires a meticulous amount of planning, organising and ongoing decision making. In order to emulate the planning and decisions that actual climbers experience, groups of five students participated in a Web-based simulated climb of Mt. Everest, with every member being assigned different objectives to complete. As the teams marathoner, my main goals was to reach the peak without being rescued. I was also assigned the role to predict temperature ranges at each decision point. Unfortunately, only 11% of my goals were achieved. During my experience, the Mt. Everest Simulation gave participants an immersive opportunity to acquire an enhanced awareness of the impacts of decision making, organising and planning. Section 2: Planning and Controlling 2.1 Description of problem/issue Due to an input error in the decision making process, I accidentally climbed to the fourth camp when I was supposed to rest at camp 3. This resulted in my health as the marathoner to deteriorate and I was eventually rescued during the simulation on decision 6. This caused many of the team leaders and my own goals to be rendered invalid. This input error indicates a lack of concurrent and feed forward control mechanisms in our decision making. Additionally, the group did not realise that every member received different information with each decision round. The fragmented information included an article on altitude sickness, weather pattern data and wind speed charts. If these information resources were used to the fullest potential, temperatures could have been predicted more accurately and team decisions could have had better outcomes from improved awareness of risks. Consequently, this would have improved individual scores and in extension the overall score. 2.2 Management research evidence According to the research of V. Daniel (2000), firms that differ from traditional manufacturing firms such as those in the re-manufacturing industry requires far more complex planning and control in production activities. Re-manufacturing is a form of product recovery that emphasises value-adding products as opposed to just recovery of materials (ie. recycling). As such, the static nature of stochastic returns, return and demand rate imbalances and returned products with unknown conditions require careful planning and controlling in the remanufacturing processes (Daniel 2000). The article outlines that in a particular firm, before anything is done with received product, they are routinely assessed with a set of criteria (relating to product durability and functionality) to gauge re-manufacturability. The standardised criteria greatly helps firms establish better product control and predict variable costs. Generally, a re-manufacturing facility will be composed of three sub-sections w hich are disassembly, processing and assembly. Disassembly is where product information is disseminated, which then determines the kind of processing the product will undergo in the next step. The processing system is a generalised production area made up of smaller niche workstations, which allows flexibility in processing capacity. Due to high variability in times in the processing step, scheduling task allocations times in products can be done with simple rule-of-thumb techniques (Daniel 2000, p. 470). In another case of evidence, Hodgson (2004) examines the impacts of bureaucracy in post-bureaucratic organisations based on empirical work conducted in the IT department of Buzzbank, a UK telephone bank. In order to adapt to the environment of a post-bureaucratic structure, project management has been suggested as a solution. Project management is a process or set of processes that instigate planning, organising and controlling organisational resources to achieve goals within predefined limits (ie. time constraints). Project management is established with the aim of handling discontinuous work, expert labour and continuous and unpredictable change in a post-bureaucratic setting while providing the same levels of control and reliability of traditional bureaucracy (Hodgson, 2004, p. 81). The study showed that attempts to introduce bureaucratic controls into a thoroughly affluent post-bureaucratic structured organisation was met by uncompromising attitudes and sometimes heavy resistance . It is worth mentioning that the decision to introduce bureaucratic systems indicates managements recognition of and response to the risks that are inherent in post-bureaucratic work like the dangers of devolved control and excess autonomy in the workplace (Hodgson, 2004, p. 97). 2.3 Application of evidence to problem/issue The main problem identified with the planning and control aspect of the simulation was the input error and the loss of composure in the decisions that followed. The evidence gathered from the re-manufacturing industry can be applied to the Mt. Everest simulation in that both contain wide-ranging outcomes. Climbing Mt. Everest involves a multitude of crucial variables such as health (physical and mental), available supplies (oxygen, food, medication, communication etc) and external factors such as temperature. Like the re-manufacturing process, planning criteria for certain situations in the form of contingency plans is vital for raising the success rate of reaching the summit of Mt Everest. The structure of teams and decision making in the simulation is comparable to that of the re-manufacturing approach (disassembly, processing, assembly). Disassembly is present in the simulation where information is provided to each player after every decision round in the form of feedback controls . The processing part of the simulation can be seen in how each member is assigned a specific niche role while the group as a whole is equipped to adapt to varying circumstances. For example, if the group is together, the physician can administer medication to the marathoner should they experience an asthma attack. Therefore, the key to succeeding in the Mt. Everest climb is to keep the team together rather than separating at camps to keep group synergy, survivability and adaptability to its maximum potential. The downside to this, however, is that this would be a difficult feat to accomplish due to time constraints plus the requirement of foregoing several goals of some team members. Hodgsons work can likewise be applied to the Mt. Everest simulation in that a post-bureaucratic organisation shares some similarities with the group structure of the teams. Facets of post bureaucracy include: placing emphasis on the teams missions, fluid/flexible decision making processes, high need for internal trust and expectations of change. A project management style approach to control may help the groups performance as it facilitates post-bureaucratic characteristics yet maintains some control and reliability, which was stated earlier as lacking in some aspect. Although this course of action may reduce errors, introducing bureaucratic style controls to a team of largely autonomous individuals may cause backlash. This inner conflict resulting from implementing extra control processes is likely to cause team performance to decrease, so perhaps it would help the team more if control levels remain the same. Section 3: Leadership 3.1 Description of problem/issue For our team, we took a substitutes for leadership approach. During our simulation, the team leader was not responsible for all aspects of the decision making process; all members had active roles in determining what actions the team should take. In this case, the leadership problem is dependent on whether or not the climb is done in the simulation or out in the field. For the simulation the input error from section 2.1 was purely a technical fault and is not representative of real life situations. In any case, the input error was unlikely caused by any leadership related faults in the simulation. After the mistake however, there was a loss of composure and motivation in team members with an emphasis on finishing the simulation more quickly, which seems to indicate deficiencies in transformational and empowering leadership. 3.2 Management research evidence In management teams, there is reason to believe that the intersecting roles of knowledge sharing and team efficacy are directly related to the link between empowering leadership and team performance. Based on research by Srivastava, Bartol and Locke (2006), where 102 hotel management teams were surveyed, there is a positive correlation between empowering leadership to both knowledge sharing and team efficacy which supplement performance levels. Empowering leadership is characterised by a set of behaviours dictated by the distribution of power amongst a team with the purpose of raising motivation. Empowering leaders exhibit characteristic behaviour in the form of leading by example, participative decision making, coaching, informing, and showing concern (Srivastava, Bartol Locke, 2006, p. 1240). As a component of empowering leadership, knowledge sharing (sharing of task relevant ideas, information and suggestions) is of vital importance in a team environment as it allows cognitive re sources to be fully utilised. Conceptually, the various behaviours of empowering leadership will raise subordinate efficacy. For instance, participative decision making gives subordinates active input roles that enables higher learning and skill experience, thus improving efficacy (Srivastava, Bartol Locke, 2006, p. 1240). In another survey, Dong and Avolio (2000) examine transformational and transactional leadership in relation to the effects of trust and value congruence on follower performance. Using a sample of 194 students with varying conditions of transformational and transactional leadership, the experimental study established the theory that both direct and indirect effects affect performance as a result of transformational leadership conveyed by individuals trust and value congruence. Alternatively, transactional leadership only had indirect effects on subordinate results when conveyed by individuals trust and value congruence. The study argued that the influence of the leaders vision is especially powerful when it is congruent in their followers personal values. It is suggested that internalising a transformational leaders values in their adherents values results in increased value congruence and willingness to commit to the vision and mission of leaders. In the study, transformational leade rship notably had a strong positive effect on performance quality and conversely had a strong negative on quantity (Jung Avolio, 2000, p. 960). 3.3 Application of evidence to problem/issue Although communication was effective in that all members were given opportunities to voice an opinion, there could have been more traits of transactional leaders in the group. With a more structured and task oriented approach to decision making, mistakes such as those mentioned in section 2.1 could have been prevented. The research by Dong and Avolio (2000) however, argues that transformational leadership will improve team results by directly and indirectly through trust and value congruence. When value congruence, which is the level of homogeneousness between an individual and a larger bodys values, is made uniform among team members there should be an enhanced motivation to accomplish team goals. The simulations team goals, which are mostly synonymous with those of the team leader (All members reach the summit, no one gets rescued etc), can represent value congruence in the context of this simulation. Therefore, if the team leader took a transformational approach where all team mem bers standardised their values to the leader there would be an increase in team motivation and commitment to the goal at hand and performance quality, thereby improving the potential for better decision outputs. Similarly, empowering leadership is directly related to the teams performance through making progressions in knowledge sharing and team efficacy. The group lacked some skill with knowledge sharing as not all the data was distributed to the group in its entirety. This can be attributed to the groups lack of experience in these activities; the team leader was just as inexperienced as the other members. If team members had more experience and practice in activities such as the Mt. Everest simulation, it would enable all group members to develop characteristics of empowering leadership (ie. leading by example for a less experienced group member). With this in mind, the teams knowledge sharing capacity will increase which will lead to an increased ability to accomplish team goals. Improved team efficacy, which can vary greatly in effect, may include reducing individual errors during given tasks. Section 4: Reflection on Evidence Based Management 4.1 Thoughts about Evidence- Based Management According to Rouseaus study (2007), evidence based management is the use of the best available scientific research to make informed managerial decisions and encourage better or more efficient organisational practices. From this, it is inferred that evidence based management is simply taking a rational approach to managing given that the resource evidence is accessible. It is difficult to believe that this way of thinking about management has only been brought up in recent years. Research evidence has been practiced successfully in fields such as medicine, education, policing and psychology. According to J Pfeffer and RI Sutton (2006), Evidence based management can be split into a multi step process of demanding evidence, acquiring, appraising and aggregating said evidence, applying evidence to decisions and reinforcing continuous learning. I think that this step-by-step process can simplify and organise the information that can be used to deliberate on a decision, allowing faster and efficient action. 4.2 Evidence Based Management in future career If I were to pursue a career in management, an evidence based management approach would help greatly against issues in the trade. As I lack any real experience in a managing position, using an evidence based approach to management would allow me to augment my skills in the eyes of others and perhaps set myself apart from others who also share my lack of experience. Evidence based management represents a logical way of thinking about decision making that is justified by accepted facts, so there is no reason not to implement an evidence based approach in management fields. The only reason I might not pursue an evidence based approach is if I had executive role in a decision (ie. senior manager). Evidence based research levels out hierarchical powers, allowing anyone to match or surpass the decision making efficacy of those with experience with fact and evidence, thus removing the distinguishing power a leading representative might have had previously. The application of evidence based management also depends on the situation and research that it concerns. The evidence suggested may come in the way of the organisations or my own interests, making it more suitable to disregard the evidence supported course of action. Purely as a surplus maximiser, I would certainly use an evidence based management approach to resolve issues as long as it does not contradict my personal agendas. Bibliography/Reference List Daniel, V, 2000. Production planning and control for remanufacturing: industry practice and research needs, Journal of Operations Management, Volume 18 (Issue 4), pp. 467-483. Hodgson, D.E, 2004, Project Work: The Legacy of Bureaucratic Control in the Post-Bureaucratic Organization, Organization, Volume 11 (Issue 1), pp. 81-100. Jung, D.I Avolio, B.J, 2000. Opening the Black Box: An Experimental Investigation of the Mediating Effects of Trust and Value Congruence on Transformational and Transactional Leadership, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Volume 21 (Issue 8), pp. 949 964. Pfeffer, J Sutton, RI, 2006. Evidence-Based Management, Harvard business review, N.a (N.a), pp. 1-14. Rousseau, D.M Mccarthy, S, 2007. Educating Managers From an Evidence-Based Perspective, Academy of Management Learning Education, Volume 6 (Issue 1), pp. 84-01. Srivastava, A, Bartol, K.M Locke, E.A, 2006. Empowering Leadership in Management Teams: Effects on Knowledge Sharing, Efficacy, and Performance, Academy of Management Journal, Volume 9 (Issue 6), pp. 1239 1259. Wright, A, 2014, Lecture 2: Planning and Controlling, PowerPoint slides, University of Queensland, Brisbane. Wright, A, 2014, Lecture 3: Leading in Organisations, PowerPoint slides, University of Queensland, Brisbane. mgts1301 Introduction to ManagementPage 1

The Healthcare Industry of America; An investigative look at HMOs Essa

The Healthcare Industry of America: An investigative look at HMO's It's no secret that Health Maintenance Organizations, known as HMO's, have made healthcare affordable for many Americans, but at what risks? Most employers offer some type of health care plan that is an HMO. Let's face it, given the choice among insurance coverage through your employer, in which he pays half the costs, or acquiring private insurance coverage outside your employer, most Americans choose to go with employer-provided HMO's. Why then, has there been so much controversy with HMO's? An HMO is an organization whereby the subscriber, or patient, is allowed to choose a medical provider from a list of doctors within a certain medical group. Each physician has signed a contract to see patients at a reduced rate. This type of plan does not allow the patient freedom to see just any doctor. All referrals to a doctor, other than the patient's primary care physician, must be approved by both that physician, and the insurance company. Most physicians add HMO's as a supplement to their practices. With HMO's, the patient has little or no co-payment depending on how the plan is set up. Most HMO co-payments range between $5 to $15 dollars per office visit. The doctor, may receive half or less than half of his normal fee from the insurance companies. HMO's are characterized with the tendency to over or under treat patients. HMO's put limitations not only on the income of the provider, but also on the type of treatment that may be done. If a patient is in need of a specialist fo r a specific ailment, the insurance company has to review and approve a referral and deem it necessary. The process involves the patient going to his or her general practitioner, also re... ...he pros. It helps immensely if you have the support of your primary care physician. If you have a hearing, find out how many people will be there and make up a folder for each one. a). Contact local lawmakers, senators, representatives. b). Contact your State Insurance Commission in writing about your complaint. Send copies of correspondence between you and your HMO. Let the HMO know you are contacting your State Insurance Commission. Works Cited Evans, M. Stanton. "If you're in an HMO, here's why." Consumers' Research Magazine, Dec. 1997 p10(6). Sherrid, Pamela. "Mismanaged Care." U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 24, 1997 p57(3). Lowenberg, Stanley C. "Hard Path to HMO reform." Los Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1998 pB(4) col. 1. Figueroa, Liz. "State Regulations of Healthcare Reform." Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1998 pB(6) col. 4. The Healthcare Industry of America; An investigative look at HMO's Essa The Healthcare Industry of America: An investigative look at HMO's It's no secret that Health Maintenance Organizations, known as HMO's, have made healthcare affordable for many Americans, but at what risks? Most employers offer some type of health care plan that is an HMO. Let's face it, given the choice among insurance coverage through your employer, in which he pays half the costs, or acquiring private insurance coverage outside your employer, most Americans choose to go with employer-provided HMO's. Why then, has there been so much controversy with HMO's? An HMO is an organization whereby the subscriber, or patient, is allowed to choose a medical provider from a list of doctors within a certain medical group. Each physician has signed a contract to see patients at a reduced rate. This type of plan does not allow the patient freedom to see just any doctor. All referrals to a doctor, other than the patient's primary care physician, must be approved by both that physician, and the insurance company. Most physicians add HMO's as a supplement to their practices. With HMO's, the patient has little or no co-payment depending on how the plan is set up. Most HMO co-payments range between $5 to $15 dollars per office visit. The doctor, may receive half or less than half of his normal fee from the insurance companies. HMO's are characterized with the tendency to over or under treat patients. HMO's put limitations not only on the income of the provider, but also on the type of treatment that may be done. If a patient is in need of a specialist fo r a specific ailment, the insurance company has to review and approve a referral and deem it necessary. The process involves the patient going to his or her general practitioner, also re... ...he pros. It helps immensely if you have the support of your primary care physician. If you have a hearing, find out how many people will be there and make up a folder for each one. a). Contact local lawmakers, senators, representatives. b). Contact your State Insurance Commission in writing about your complaint. Send copies of correspondence between you and your HMO. Let the HMO know you are contacting your State Insurance Commission. Works Cited Evans, M. Stanton. "If you're in an HMO, here's why." Consumers' Research Magazine, Dec. 1997 p10(6). Sherrid, Pamela. "Mismanaged Care." U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 24, 1997 p57(3). Lowenberg, Stanley C. "Hard Path to HMO reform." Los Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1998 pB(4) col. 1. Figueroa, Liz. "State Regulations of Healthcare Reform." Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1998 pB(6) col. 4.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Someone very special in my life once told me, "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off of your goals." Upon entering high school four years ago, the majority of us had one goal and only one goal in mind, graduation. Many of us have heard people say that high school is the best time of our lives, so we better enjoy it. With that in mind, we thought that the next four years were going to be a breeze and before we knew it we would be out of here. Well, that is when reality hit us ... Way back in the first few days of September in 1997, we all took our first steps onto the big campus of Conolon High School. For some of us it was exciting and exhilarating, for others it was scary and nerve wracking or even a little or very intimidating. Whatever the rush of emotions that came over us may have been, it was just the beginning. As lowly little Freshman, we had to adjust to high school life. Going from middle school to high school was a big transition whether we wanted to admit it or not. Some of us thought that the change would be easier if we got involved, so many joined athletics, leadership or a club or two; and then there were some that decided to just focus on their studies. Whichever path we decided to choose, we still had the same goal, to just fit in with everyone and start our long journey towards graduation. For our class, the class of 2006, graduation was not going to come easily. We were the class of "firsts", and it all started Freshman year. During that year we all first experienced sleep deprivation. We were not used to staying up late and then having to get up early. Then along came our Sophomore year. Our second year at Conolon introduced us to the wonderful world of rubrics. We we... ...onight is our night to shine and also our time to set new goals. After we leave tonight's ceremony a new life for us begins. It will be time for us to move on to bigger things and it will be our time to overcome more obstacles. We will move on to college, work, starting new careers and starting families. I have faith in each and everyone of you that you will make your dreams become reality. Just remember that if you stay focused on what you want, do what you want and be who you are, your accomplishments will be endless. All of the obstacles that we have encountered and come face to face with during our high school journey, just proved how determined we were to reach our goal of graduation. To add to the long list of "firsts" I would like to be one of the first people to wish Conolon's first class of the new millennium congratulations. Congratulations class of 2006!

Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases Essay

Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases Introduction Background information             Jim is an employee in a pulp industry that is situated near a river. This industry releases their waste to the river when it reaches so levels this is done by the foremen. When the waste is realized into the river it affects many activities such as fishing. Jim is newly employed as manager in the industry, after a while he is told about the issue that affect the river and orders water to be teted and found that the water had no problem and until to his knowledge when Ralph an environmentalist notified him that he was coming to see him. Romania secretary to Jim had knowledge on the money that is given to Ralph so that he does not report the matter to EPA who could impose fines to the firm and final shutdown. Ethical issues rise from this if Jim has to give money or not. Ethical and legal issues             Ethical issue refers to a problem, opportunity or a situation in which an individual or group should make a decision within a wide range of actions that stakeholders in an organization should decide if it right or wrong ethical or unethical. From the story the major ethical and legal issues Jim could have identified and ethical issues is paying $100 dollars because there industry released effluent into the river. The ethical question rises whether it was right or wrong for Jim to pay the money because other managers who were there also paid. It was unethical for Jim to pay $100 because it a lot of money, more so it would have been it would have promoted more disposal of effluent to the river which could cause more harm in the future (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell 229). Personal conflict/ pressures             Individual’s decision whether to do right or wrong thing depends on their personal values and principles they have set this include education, age, personal drive and locus of control. Locus of control in Jim’s case is applicable where the issue of giving out cash to Ralph is rather an internal control thing than external control. This is due to the thinking that his behaviour could owe him uncontrollable factors the benefiting from the money. The foremen believe it was right for them to release the affluent into the river once it reaches some level due to the plants outdated equipment. On the other hand Romana, stood her personal decision to give out money to Ralph because she thought she might lose her job due to the plant being shut down because of it being old. Freestyle person reflection             From my person point of view it was unethical for the company to pay out $100 to Ralph. This is because of the company’s serious side effects to the environment. If the company had evaded paying Ralph $100, EPA would have takes the initiative to shutdown and imposes fine to the pulp industry. The fine would have compensated the long time the industry has been polluting the environment, more so for the pulp industry to repair and replace outdated equipment. I also thing the industry does not have corporation culture and ethical culture. The industry did have the capacity to which to know where the problem is so as to repair it, this shows that the organization do not have leadership and corporate culture that promotes ethical issues in the organization. It is evident where employees have become resistant to change, despite many managers that have come to the industry for example the firm is aware about excessive disposal of waste and Romana things the firm c ares of the bottom line which is giving Ralph $100.             In conclusion, I consider the whole firm unethical due to ignorance and lack of corporate culture and ethical culture that should streamline all the employees to have moral behaviors and practices in order to ensure that the firm legally operates it duties. References Ferrell, O C, John Fraedrich, and Linda Ferrell. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases : 2009 Update. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Source document

Costco Wiki

Costco From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Not to be confused with COSCO, a Chinese shipping company. Costco Wholesale Corporation| | Type| Public| Traded as| NASDAQ:  COST| Industry| Retailing| Founded| 1983 (Kirkland, Washington)| Founder(s)| James D. Sinegal Jeffrey H. Brotman| Headquarters| Issaquah, Washington, U. S. | Area served| Worldwide| Key people| Jeffrey H. Brotman (Chairman) W. Craig Jelinek (President, CEO & COO)| Products| Discount stores, Merchandise, Cash & Carry/Warehouse club| Revenue| US$ 88. 15  billion (2011)[1]| Operating income| US$ 2. 439  billion (2011)[1]| Net income| US$ 1. 462  billion (2011)[1]| Total assets| US$ 26. 761  billion (2011)[1]| Total equity| US$ 12. 002  billion (2011)[1]| Employees| 92,000 (2012)[1]| Website| Costco. com| Costco Wholesale Corporation is the seventh largest retailer in the world. As of July 2012, it was the fifth largest retailer in the United States, and the largest membership ware house club chain in the United States. [2][3] As of October 2007, Costco is the largest retailer of wine in the world. 4] Contents * 1 Location * 2 History * 3 Costco today * 4 Sales model * 5 Membership * 6 Policies * 6. 1 Return policy * 6. 2 Food stamps in the U. S. * 6. 3 Cash Cards * 7 Products * 7. 1 Kirkland Signature * 8 Services * 8. 1 Online shopping * 8. 2 Costco Travel * 8. 3 Costco Connection * 8. 4 Food service * 9 Animal Welfare Concerns * 10 Labor relations * 11 International * 12 Locations * 13 Other wholesale formats * 13. 1 Costco Business Center * 13. 2 Costco Home * 14 See also * 15 References * 16 External links| LocationCostco is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States[5] and was founded in 1983 in Kirkland, Washington[citation needed] with its first warehouse in nearby Seattle. [6] Today Costco has locations in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States. [7] History Logo used until the early 1 990s. Founded by James (Jim) Sinegal and Jeffrey H. Brotman,[8] Costco opened its first warehouse in Seattle, Washington, on September 15, 1983. [9] Sinegal had started in wholesale distribution by working for Sol Price at both FedMart and Price Club.Brotman, an attorney from an old Seattle retailing family, had also been involved in retail distribution from an early age. [citation needed] Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton had plans to merge Sam's Club with Price Club. [10] In 1993, however, Costco merged with Price Club (called Club Price in the Canadian province of Quebec). Costco's business model and size were similar to those of Price Club, which was founded by Sol and Robert Price in 1976 in San Diego, California. [6] Thus, the combined company, PriceCostco, was effectively double the size of each of its parents.Just after the merger, PriceCostco had 206 locations generating $16  billion in annual sales. [11] PriceCostco was initially led by executives from both companies, but then Sol and his son Robert Price founded Price Enterprises and left Costco in December 1994. [6] The Costco in Moncton, New Brunswick Entrance in Henderson, Nevada In 1993, when growing competition threatened both Price Club and Costco Wholesale, they entered into a partial merger just after Price’s earnings dropped to 40%. The new company, named PriceCostco, Inc. , focused heavily on international expansion, opening stores in Mexico, South Korea, and England.Despite best efforts to recover losses, sales continued to drop. Disagreement between the two leaders, Robert Price and Jim Sinegal, regarding company direction and recovery policies soon left the merger in tatters. In 1994, the breakup was formally announced. Sinegal continued to manage PriceCostco while Price’s breakaway company was named as Price Enterprises. In 1997, the name of Sinegal’s company was changed from PriceCostco to Costco Wholesale. The first Price Club location was opened in 1976 in an old ai rplane hangar,[6][11] previously owned by Howard Hughes, and is still in operation today (Warehouse No. 01, located on Morena Boulevard in San Diego). In 1997, the company changed its name to Costco Wholesale and all Price Club locations were rebranded Costco. [6][11] CNBC premiered its documentary â€Å"The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant† on April 26, 2012. [12] Costco today In the United States, the main competitors operating membership warehouses are Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club. [13] Although Sam's Club has more warehouses[14] than Costco, Costco has higher total sales volume. [15] Costco employs about 142,000  full and part-time employees,[7] including seasonal workers.As of September 2009, Costco had 55 million members. [16] Costco was the first company to grow from zero to $3  billion in sales in less than six years. [11] For the fiscal year ending on August 31, 2011, the company's sales totaled $88. 915  billion,[7] with $1. 462  billion net pr ofit. [17] Costco is 24th on the 2012 Fortune 500. [17] The ACSI (The American Customer Satisfaction Index) named Costco number one in the specialty retail store industry with a score of 83 in Q4 2008. [18] As of September 2010,[19][dated info] Costco's board of directors is chaired by co-founder Jeffrey H.Brotman and includes three officers of the company: CEO/co-founder James D. Sinegal, President/COO W. Craig Jelinek, and CFO Richard A. Galanti. There are also eleven independent directors: Hamilton E. James (the â€Å"Lead Independent Director†), Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. , Susan Decker, Richard D. DiCerchio, Daniel J. Evans, William H. Gates, Sr. , Richard M. Libenson, John W. Meisenbach, Charles T. Munger, Jeff Raikes, and Jill Ruckelshaus. In the United States, Costco is closed on seven holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.Sales model Typical Costco warehouse interior Costco focuses on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. These goods are usually bulk-packaged and marketed primarily to large families and businesses. Furthermore, Costco does not carry multiple brands or varieties where the item is essentially the same except when it has a house brand to sell, typically under the Kirkland Signature label. This results in a high volume of sales from a single vendor, allowing further reductions in price, and reducing marketing costs.If Costco management feels the wholesale price of a product is too high, they will refuse to stock the product. For example, on November 16, 2009, Costco announced that it would stop selling Coca-Cola products due to the soft drink maker refusing to lower its wholesale prices. [20] Costco resumed selling Coca-Cola products on December 14, 2009. [21][22] Costco also saves money by not stocking extra bags or packing materials; to carry out their goods, customers must bring their own bags or use the merchandise shipping boxes from the compa ny's outside vendors.Lighting costs are reduced on sunny days, as most Costco locations have several skylights. During the day, electronic light meters measure how much light is coming in the skylights and turn off an appropriate percentage of the interior lights. During a typical sunny day, it is very common for the center section of the warehouse to have no interior lights powered on. [23] Most products are delivered to the warehouse on shipping pallets and these pallets are used to display products for sale on the warehouse floor. This contrasts with retail stores that break down pallets and stock individual products on shelves.Costco limits its price markup on items to 15%. [24] Membership Costco in Tlalpan, Mexico City Costco is only open to members and their guests, except for purchases of liquor and gasoline in some US states because of state law; and prescription drugs because of federal law. [25] Memberships must be purchased in advance for one year. Purchases made at Costc o's website do not require a membership; however, a 5% surcharge is added to purchases made by non-members. Purchases made with Costco Cash Cards also do not require a membership, and there is no surcharge.Canadian and United States Costco locations only accept American Express, PIN-based debit cards (Interac in Canada), Costco credit cards, Costco Cash Cards, cash, checks, and EBT cards (food stamps). While Costco welcomes members to bring up to two guests, only the members may pay for items. American Express is the only accepted credit card (in the United States, Canada, and Japan) because they charge Costco very low interchange fees (a percentage of revenue from total sales made); as Costco's margins are low in comparison to other retailers[citation needed].Costco accepts Flexible Spending Account (FSA) debit cards for qualifying purchases at the pharmacy and optical departments in the US. Costco. com accepts the American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards. The website also accepts Bill Me Later accounts for payment. [26] As of November 2011, membership fees at Costco are $55 per year for a Gold Star (individual) or Business membership (older memberships are grandfathered in at $50 per year), which can be upgraded to Executive membership for an additional $55 per year. [27] Along with the additional benefits the executive membership offers (e. . home loans, car insurance, check printing services) Executive members also receive an annual â€Å"2% Rewards Check† of up to $750. 00 from Costco on all purchases made, excluding select items such as gasoline, tobacco, stamps and in some states, alcohol. [28] In Canada, membership is CDN $55. 00 a year for a Gold Star membership and includes a card for a spouse, or CDN $110. 00 a year for an Executive membership. [29] In the United Kingdom, membership is restricted to certain groups only. Trade membership is available to the owners or managers of businesses for ? 20. 00 (plus VAT).Trade members re ceive a complimentary spouse/partner card, and can purchase additional cards (at a cost of ? 12+VAT each) for employees. Qualified professionals such as solicitors, magistrates, accountants and engineers, as well as employees in certain specific sectors (such as medical services, education, local government, the civil service, airlines and banking) may apply for individual membership, which costs ? 25 including a spouse/partner card. [30] A Costco card issued in another country is valid in the U. K. ,[31] and as such, it would be possible for a U. K. esident to sign up elsewhere and use their card at home without meeting U. K. membership requirements. [citation needed] In Australia, membership is A$55. 00 a year for a business membership, or A$60. 00 a year for a Gold Star membership. [32] In Mexico, membership is MXN $450. 00 a year for a Gold Star membership, or MXN $1000. 00 a year for an Executive membership. [33] Costco is only open to members for all services and purchases. Me xican locations only accept cash and Visa Electron debit cards; purchases with MasterCard or Visa credit cards have a surcharge of approximately 4%.Purchases with the Mexican Costco credit card keep cash prices. Policies Australia's first Costco outlet, at Docklands, Victoria Return policy Costco memberships can be refunded in full at any time before they expire. [34] Costco guarantees almost all of their products with a full refund within a reasonable amount of time. Exceptions include televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, digital audio players, and cellular phones; these may be returned within 90 days of purchase for any reason for a refund.After 90 days those returns must be done through the manufacturer according to the terms of the warranty. Also excepted are tires (which are covered by their manufacturer's separate defects and treadware warranties) and batteries (which are covered by a 36/100-month warranty, where they may be replaced for free in the first 3 6 months and are covered under a pro-rated warranty for months 37-100). Costco has negotiated with manufacturers to extend the manufacturers warranty to two years for new TVs and computers (five years on TV's sold by Costco in the UK).Costco also offers a free â€Å"concierge† service to members who purchase electronics, to help answer questions regarding setup and use and avoid potential returns due to not understanding how to use the products. [34] Food stamps in the U. S. Until 2009, Costco did not accept food stamps. As of March 14, 2009, an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted Jim Sinegal, co-founder and president of the company, as saying, â€Å"Generally we don't have customers who use food stamps. [35] In response to the poor economy, as well as competitor BJ's Wholesale Club's decision in April to accept electronic food-stamp benefits chainwide,[36] Costco announced in May 2009 that it will accept food stamps on a trial basis in two New York City stores sta rting in June 2009 and depending on its success, might expand it to all New York City stores. [37] The company subsequently announced plans to expand the program beyond New York City, targeting first the â€Å"hard-hit areas likeMichigan, Indiana, and the central valley of California†, expanding to â€Å"half its roughly 410 U. S. stores by Thanksgiving†, and then going nationwide. [38] Cash Cards Costco Cash Cards can be purchased in the warehouse and members can load them with money to make non-cash purchases at all Costco warehouses in the United States and Australia. Because Costco gas stations take only Costco Cash, debit cards, American Express, and Costco credit cards, people who can only pay for gas by check or cash must purchase a Costco Cash Card inside the building before filling up.A Costco Membership is not required to make purchases with a Costco Cash Card. A non-member may not purchase or re-load a Costco Cash Card; however, they may spend more than the total value of their cash card in-store provided they pay in cash or approved debit cards for the remaining balance. [39] Products Over the years, Costco has gradually expanded its range of products and services. Initially it preferred to sell only boxed products that could be dispensed by simply tearing the stretch wrap off a pallet. It now[when? sells many other products that are more difficult to handle, such as fresh produce, meat, dairy, seafood, fresh baked goods, flowers, clothing, books, computer software, vacuums, home appliances, home electronics, solar panels, jewelry, tires, art, fine wine, hot tubs, furniture and caskets. Many warehouses have tire garages, pharmacies, hearing aid centers, optometrists, photo processors, and gas stations. Optometrists working at Costco locations will see patients without Costco memberships. Costco Optical ranks as the fourth-largest optical company in the US. [40] A membership is required to fill a prescription at the optical department. Some locations have liquor stores, often kept separate from the main warehouse in order to comply with liquor license restrictions. In some states (such as Texas), the liquor store must be owned and operated by a separate company with separate employees. [41] In 2006, Costco lost a lawsuit against the state of Washington in which it was seeking to purchase wine directly from the producer, bypassing the state retail monopoly. [42] In Australia, Costco has to comply with regulations set by each state they choose trade in; their first store in the state of Victoria benefits from some of the most liberal lcohol licensing laws in the country, with retailers permitted to sell alcohol on shelves within the store, in a manner similar to most European countries, yet they have chosen to have a separate checkout within the liquor section. [citation needed] Kirkland Signature Kirkland Signature logo Kirkland Signature branded bottled water Kirkland Signature is Costco's store brand, otherwise k nown in the retail industry as an â€Å"own-brand,† â€Å"house brand† or â€Å"private label. † It is found exclusively at Costco's website and Costco warehouses and is trademarked by the company.The name derives from the fact that Costco's corporate headquarters was located in the city of Kirkland, Washington between 1987 and 1996. [43] Costco introduced Kirkland Signature as its house brand in 1995. The idea was to identify categories in which a private label product could provide brand name quality at discounted prices. [44] To counteract the consumer confidence problem common in store branding, Kirkland Signature sometimes relies on co-branding. According to Costco, while consumers may be wary of same-store-branding, they are less likely to be wary of brands that they are familiar with and trust. 45] Services | This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2009)| Costco acts as an investment broker and travel agent. Costco has an agreement with Ameriprise for auto and home insurance. In 2004 Costco offered an original artwork by artist Pablo Picasso on their online store; more recently[when? ] a highly regarded 1982 Mouton Rothschild wine was offered as well as other rare wines in rotation. [citation needed] Costco Photo Center is a multi-functional photography printing lab offering services at the warehouses as well as through their web site, costcophotocenter. com.The website provides free unlimited digital file storage with a current membership. Previous to May or June 2010, Costco had an agreement with Mypublisher. com for custom book and calendar publishing. Now,[when? ] they print the photobooks and calendars themselves. Online shopping The domain costco. com attracted at least 58 million visitors in 2008 according to a Compete. com survey. [46] Costco Travel Costco Travel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Costco Wholesale, and offers leisure travel to Costco members of the United States. [47] The program was esta blished in 2000 as a service to Costco members.Costco Travel's offices are located in Issaquah, Washington, adjacent to Costco's corporate headquarters. Costco Travel employs 290 travel professionals, all of whom are Costco employees. The program offers vacation packages to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Orlando, the South Pacific, the Desert Southwest and Las Vegas. [citation needed] Other products include cruises, guided vacations, theme park packages, houseboat rentals, hotel-only lodging and luxury vacation rentals. [citation needed] Select products feature additional benefits for Costco Executive Members. citation needed] The program is marketed directly to Costco members through various Costco avenues, including the Travel Guide to Savings (found in all U. S. Costco warehouses), online in the Travel section of Costco. com. [citation needed] Costco Connection | This section does not cite any references or sources. (September 2012)| The Costco Connection is a magazine se nt free to members of the warehouse club Costco and includes articles which regularly tie into the corporation along with business, health and social articles. Food serviceA food concession stand at the Costco warehouse in Overland Park, Kansas Most Costco locations have a food court, offering a quarter-pound 100% beef hot dog or polish sausage and 20  oz drink (with refill) for $1. 50, the same price since 1985. [48] In Australia the hot dog is made of pork and is sold at A$2. 49 with large soda. In Canada the price for a hot dog and 20 oz pop drink with refill is 1. 50 CAD. [49] In Mexico, the hot dog is made of pork, and includes a drink (with refill) for $25 MXN. In the UK, the hot dog is also made from beef and you also get a drink (with refill) for ? 1. 50.Costco sold more than 82 million quarter-pound hot dogs in its food courts in 2008. [49] Pizza is also available in most locations as cheese, pepperoni, veggie, or combo, and can be ordered to go at many locations. Frozen yogurt is also served in chocolate, vanilla, or swirled together. Also offered are berry smoothies, mocha latte freezes, chicken bake, turkey provalogne sandwiches, twisted churros, chicken Caesar salads, and in some locations, gelato. French fries are also offered in some locations. Due to slow sales, the pretzel was replaced by the churro. [50] The nutrition data for the Costco Food Court items is posted online. 51] In April 2010, certain Costco warehouses in the U. S. and Canada replaced their Coca-Cola drink fountain selections with Pepsi, accompanied with a change in labels on the disposable cups. [citation needed] Animal Welfare Concerns In 2010, Mercy for Animals conducted an undercover investigation at Buckeye Veal Farm, a veal supplier to Costco. [52] Immediately following the investigative release, Costco adopted a policy against purchasing veal from producers that use the crate-and-chain production method. [53] The case prompted Ohio decision-makers to vote in favor of a veal crate phase-out in the state. 54] In 2012, Mercy for Animals conducted an undercover investigation at a pork supplier to Costco, Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, and Kmart. [55] Before the public release of the investigation, Costco announced they would begin requiring their pork suppliers to phase out gestation crates. [56] [57] Labor relations While some former Price Club locations in California and the northeastern United States are staffed by Teamsters,[58] the majority of Costco locations are not unionized although there seems to be a move in 2012 to unionize some locations in Canada. 59] The non-union locations have revisions to their Costco Employee Agreement every three years concurrent with union contract ratifications in locations with collective bargaining agreements. Only remotely similar to a union contract, the Employee Agreement sets forth such things as benefits, compensations, wages, disciplinary procedures, paid holidays, bonuses, and seniority. The employee ‘a greement' is subject to change by Costco at any time and offers no absolute protection to the workers. As of March 2011, non-supervisory hourly wages ranged from $11. 00 to $21. 0 in the United States, $11. 00 to $22. 15 in Canada, and ? 6. 28 to ? 10. 50 in the United Kingdom. In the US, eighty-five percent of Costco's workers have health insurance, compared with less than fifty percent at Walmart and Target. [60] Product-demonstration (e. g. , food samples) employees work for an outside company. In the western U. S. , the company is called Warehouse Demo Services, Kirkland, Washington. [61] Costco also uses Club Demonstration Services, based in San Diego, California. [62] In Canada, demonstrations are done exclusively by Professional Warehouse Demonstrations. 63] Demonstration employees receive a pay and benefit package that is less than that of Costco employees. [64][unreliable source? ] International Warehouses outside the US are similar to those in the US. Layout, signage, and even parking lot markings are generally identical to warehouses in the US. [citation needed] Food court menus are tailored to international tastes, with poutine on offer in Canada, seafood-topped pizza available in Asian and Mexican locations, clam chowder in Japan, Taiwan ; South Korea, jacket potatoes in the UK and meat pies in Australia. 65] The merchandise mix available in warehouses is also tailored to local tastes, with a mix of both American and local products available. Map of Costco warehouses in the US. Locations As of October 26, 2012, Costco has 611 warehouses:[66] * 442 in the United States (including 4 in Puerto Rico) * 82 in Canada * 32 in Mexico * 22 in the United Kingdom. The latest to open is in Coventry. * 13 in Japan. The latest to open is in Kobe * 9 in South Korea. The latest to open is in Gwangmyeong * 8 in Taiwan * 3 in Australia The latest to open is in Sydney In 2005 the world's largest Costco was located in Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S. [67][68] Other wholesale formats Costco has experimented with other formats. Plans for Costco Fresh, a gourmet supermarket, were abandoned in February 2003. The membership-based format was to include a pharmacy, bakery, olive bar, deli, cafe, garden center and photo and optical departments, with products packaged in smaller quantities. [69] Costco Business Center Costco Business Centers carry restaurant, hospitality, janitorial, convenience store, and professional office supplies; items are offered in bulk or in smaller quantities, and selection for a given category of product is much broader. 70] Delivery is available. Unlike traditional Costcos, products such as clothing, sporting goods, jewelry, tires, hearing aids, and optical products are not available. [70] A limited assortment of over-the-counter drugs and toiletries are sold, though there is no pharmacy. Some locations have a gas station and/or food court. All except San Diego have a Print & Copy Center. As of October 2012, there are ten Costco Busi ness Centers, located in California (Commerce, Hawthorne, Hayward, and San Diego), Washington (Lynnwood, Fife), Morrow and Tukwila, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. [66] Costco HomeThe first Costco Home warehouse debuted in 2002 in Kirkland, Washington. The warehouse's concept was to combine the value, setting and members-only elements of Costco's warehouse clubs with the product array one would find at an upscale home store, such as Fortunoff or Crate & Barrel. The Costco Home warehouses sold furniture, housewares, kitchen products and accessories from higher-end brands such as Lexington, Ralph Lauren and Waterford[71] in a warehouse-club setting. Costco claimed that, similar to its main warehouses, it accepted lower margins in return for greater volume with minimal overhead.Over time, the concept was adjusted to include home electronics, some major appliances, office furniture, and a large selection of outdoor furniture and window treatments. Costco also partners with Glen tel subsidiary WIRELESS etc. to sell mobile phones and plans in Canada and Wireless Advocates in the US. On April 2, 2009, the company announced that it would be abandoning its Costco Home concept, closing the two existing stores in Kirkland, Washington and Tempe, Arizona on July 3, 2009, and abandoning plans for a third store on the West Coast. 72] The company cited cutbacks in consumer spending on home products and its interest in focusing on its core business as the main reasons. See also | Seattle portal| | Companies portal| * BJ's Wholesale Club * Bulk foods * Sams Club * Walmart * Privacy policy * About Wikipedia * Disclaimers * Mobile view * * The world’s fifth largest retailer by sales, Costco Wholesale Corp (Costco) known for its warehouse club model is also interested in coming to India and waiting for the right opportunity. [