Article Review and Analysis Paper Available

Article Review and Analysis

Order Instructions:

It is very important that the writer read carefully the instructions here below and understand it well before engaging in responding to any of the 3 points below. Proper APA must be use throughout the entire paper, and the articles to be used for the paper must be properly cited.

Article Review and Analysis

In this course, you have learned methods for statistically manipulating research data and explored the importance of ensuring validity in the methods that are used to collect research data. Consider the various aspects of validity you have explored. How might you prioritize their importance?
With these thoughts in mind:

Review the article “Validation Guidelines for IS Positivist Research,” by Straub, Boudreau, & Gefen and focus your analysis on each of the following guiding questions. You should address each set of questions in a short paragraph. Be sure to refer directly to the article where appropriate.

• Briefly describe the types of validity presented. What are the critical differences among them? Assess the authors’ performance in explaining them.

• Select a previous article that presents a quantitative study. How would you assess the study’s validity? What information would you need in order to be able to do so, and is that information present in the article?

• Based on Table 8 on page 415 in the article by Straub, Boudreau, & Gefen, which positivist design contingency best describes the previous article you selected ? Which best describes your potential Doctoral Study (Effects of HRM Practices on Employee Performance)? Explain your selections.

I will email the reference article in this order form,, and for the other quantitative article, the writer will search for a suitable article of not more that 5 years old to be use in completing the paper,

SAMPLE ANSWER

Introduction

To provide complete and accurate view of research work, a given construct must draw confidence in its representation and ability to validate its own concepts based on its empirical findings (Straub, Boudreau & Gefen, 2004).

Content Validity

The construct would be more helpful and meaningful if the validities chosen reflect the heuristics presented in the study. Assessing content validity is very difficult as researchers are uncertain on how to rate the degree or level of completeness of their own research work. Content validity is basically sampling and evaluating the contents of research work for its validity (Straub, Boudreau & Gefen, 2004).

Construct Validity

Construct validity provides the measurement between constructs or operations. Construct validity appeals more to the content of the construct’s validity than the substance of the construct. It raises the fundamental question as to whether the construct fits in its application by the researcher in an attempt to capture the significance of the construct. The application of nomological network is applied to test if there are links similar to the ones existing on the construct literature. Construct validity focuses more on the likeness or differences of the construct linkages and their strengths on past literature (Straub, Boudreau & Gefen, 2004).

Predictive Validity

It is also known as concurrent validity and it establishes relationship between different measures and constructs through demonstration of posited measures directed on specific construct correlations. Predictive validity predicts outcomes for given variables but they also provide conceptual meaning applies to the constructs antecedents and ramifications. The goal of predictive validity is basically prediction while also reinforcing the concept of the theory base (Szajna, 1994).

The author has explained the differences as well as the similarities of the various validity measures. For example, the author has explained that predictive validity validates both the exogenous as well as the endogenous constructs based on the use of z-scores (Szajna, 1994).

The peer review research article by Klein and Olbrecht (2011) demonstrates the need to widen and work on more exploratory research work. The article summarizes the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The oral presentation and the other protocols provided as the basis of the research work requires more cognitive frameworks to present constructive and validated data. The intractable domains are also difficult to establish as the research relies on limited primary data. To assess the validity of the primary data I would require the questionnaires that were used to compile the research report (Straub, Boudreau & Gefen, 2004).

The non-theoretical work which bases its findings on the primary descriptive data would provide a basis for predictive validity. The predictive validity predicts outcomes for given variables but its conceptual meaning applies to the constructs antecedents and ramifications which are collaborated with the content validity. The research work can only be validated by confirming the constructs relationship with other research work from well established research streams. The article confirms that the validity of scientific that is based on positivist science needs based not only on highly biased observations but also on a series of random anecdotes that tests the intellectual constructs of the research presented. The article requires the rigor of intelligent, careful and thoughtful collection of primary data (Carrier et al, 1990).

The best description of my potential doctoral study is the exploratory that specifically probe the areas in HRM that are not well understood like valuation of human resources as a key element of a company’s capital structure.
References

Carrier, M. R., A. T. Dalessio, and S. H. Brown (1990). “Correspondence between Estimates of Content and Criterion-Related Validity Values,” Personnel Psychology (43) 1 (spring), pp. 85-100.

Klein, T. and Olbrecht, M. (2011) Triangulation of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Panel Peer Review Research, International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Volume 2, Issue 2, June, pg 345 -348.

Szajna, B. (1994) “Software Evaluation and Choice: Predictive Validation of the Technology Acceptance Instrument,” MIS Quarterly (17) 3, pp. 319-324.

Straub, D., & Boudreau, M., & Gefen, D. (2004) Validation Guidelines for Positivist Research, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol 13, pg 380 – 427.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography

Order Instructions:

DO NOT INCLUDE A TITLE PAGE……Thank you

following concepts when looking for appropriate resources:
•Variable cost per unit
•Direct labor costs
•Direct materials costs
•Cost based pricing
•Full costing

General guidelines for completing this assignment:
•You need to find at least three relevant and credible sources that can be used to support the concepts discussed in the case (Three sources is the minimum; having only three will not get you the highest grade.)
•The bibliography needs to be done as an APA formatted annotated bibliography. Please use the link below to see how an annotated bibliography is formatted.
•Each cited source needs to be specifically linked to the concepts in the case. Please do not cite random sources.
•Make sure your annotation captures the important point of the source. Please do not give a one-sentence summary.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography

Aurora, B.-B. C. (2013). The Cost of Production under Direct Costing and Absorption Costing: A Comparative Approach. Annals of the “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Economy Series, 2, 123-129.

The author of this article stresses on the importance of managerial accounting with regards to balancing production costs and pricing of finished products in a company’s strategic management, especially to help managers in optimizing their decisions particularly those concerning operating activities. The emphasis of the author is focused on the role of managerial accounting in calculating costs (both fixed and variable), measurement of inventory costs as well as prices and prices of services and products. As a result, the system of cost calculation is prioritized in this article because it tends to vary on basis of the type of costs assigned to items and according to the costing theory two main systems of cost calculation adopted are: full cost accounting, which comprise of all production costs, and partial cost accounting comprising of variable costs that vary with output. Hence, considering that full as well as partial costing in production in terms of fixed and variable costs play a crucial role in determining the prices of finished products, this article provides valuable insights on how the balance between costing and pricing can be effectively achieved. The author outlines a comparative approach with regards to the differences between cost of production calculation under absorption costing and direct costing. This article further examines the impact of utilizing each of these systems of calculation on companies’ financial performance as well as financial position with regards to reported income statement and financial position statement. This article concludes by discussing the benefits of direct costing use in manufacturing companies for their internal reporting, bearing in mind that this method of costing is unacceptable for external reports that are presented to shareholders as well as other external uses. However, direct costing method is very important for companies to appropriately make production decisions. The article also fits very into Lipman Bottle Company case because of the insightful information it can provide to the company management to solve its production dilemma and settle on the most appropriate and profitable production mix based on informed decisions.

Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.

Authors of this article base their discussion on performance investigation of a full-cost heuristic within a service setting focusing on costs involved in providing a service eventually influence the pricing of such services. Based on the full-cost heuristic model, authors of this article state that service companies periodically determines the extent of capacity, prices as well as price discounts. In the context of price, the article examines a scenario of a stochastic number of customers placing orders for a service and reports that when in a certain period there are too many orders; a service company offers price discounts to customers willing to come back for the same service later. The authors of this article further examines how closely a company’s optimal performance can be approximated using two heuristic approaches that are distinct such as full-cost pricing heuristic and modified full-cost pricing heuristic. The results of the analysis full-cost pricing is the best-performing heuristic when conducted upon a program towards firm’s optimization on basis of constrained version in which prices are set using full costs in addition to adjustments on basis of nonlinear elasticity demand. However, the article also suggests that in settings where pricing choices and capacity choices are made before and after demand information respectively, modified full-cost heuristic may be perform relatively well but not for long before it starts to deviate. These pricing models are highly applicable to the Lipman Bottle Company situation since the company needs to determine it optimal performance by setting prices of products based on its capacity, full cost of production and demand meaning that full-cost pricing heuristic would be highly effective to optimize the company’s performance.

Ghaemi, M. H. & Nematollahi, M. (2012). Study on the Behavior of Materials, Labor, and Overhead Costs in Manufacturing Companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 19-24.

The authors of this article examines the relationship between sales income and production expenses by analyzing income statements information for Tehran Stock Exchange listed companies over a period of four years ranging from 2000 to 2003 and subsequently evaluate costs stickiness. In this article costs stickiness is used to refer to a situation where increasing production activities result to faster increasing of costs compared to how decreasing production activities result to decreasing of costs. The results of the study reported in this article show that overhead costs are sticky but direct labor costs as well as raw material costs are not sticky. This means effective management of overhead costs by production companies can significantly reduce operational costs hence directly influencing product prices as well as overall company profitability. Thus, Lipman Bottle Company can utilize the findings reported in this article to reduce its production costs, which is critical in eventually determining pricing, sale revenues and profits.

Kimes, S. E. (2010). Strategic pricing through revenue management [Electronic version]. Retrieved [24^th November 2015], from Cornell University, School of Hospitality Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/346

The author of this article examines the importance of revenue management towards strategic pricing, especially in manufacturing industries where capacity of inventory is relatively fixed and cost of production is characterized by low variable costs and high fixed costs. This article reports that in industries where revenue management is used, revenue increases are typically reported. The insights provided in this article are highly applicable to Lipman Bottle Company where pricing of finished products can be strategically done through revenue management.

Bibliography

Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Lipman Bottle Company Case Study

Order Instructions:

Do not include title page…thank you
I will attach the reading to the email

Here are the questions you need to answer for this case:

•Calculate the variable costs per thousand bottles for one-separation rounds, two-separation rounds, and two-separation ovals, assuming that all ovals are printed on the machine with the automatic feature for ovals.
•Do one set of calculations for the Albany area (scrap included) and another for New York–New Jersey (freight included, but not scrap).
•Only do one bottle size (the smallest) and assume the average order size is 10,000 bottles.
•Prepare a suggested price list for the Albany area. Consider only one-separation rounds and two-separation rounds or ovals, for only the smallest size bottle.

As a guide to completing this case you should consider the following questions:
•How did Mr. Lipman’s goal of a 30 percent margin (at capacity) affect your price recommendations?
•Which products should the company attempt to sell in New York–New Jersey? Explain.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Lipman Bottle Company Case Study

Summary

Lipman Bottle Company is located in Albany, New York and specializes in the distribution of bottles. The company operates in varied bottle sizes as well as printing, but printing is its main source of profits. The vive president of Lipman Bottle Company, Robert Lipman, aims to achieve a 30 (thirty) per cent revenue margin as well as expansion of their business in New York, New Jersey area. Hence, he requested for our services to carryout their costing information and product line review and provide suggestions on how they can increase company’s profitability as well as making a price list for their business which is located in the Albany area.

Analysis:

The calculations are carried out in order to find variable costs that the company incurs per thousand bottles distributed for several combinations. The Albany area’s variable costs, where scrap is included are summarized in Table 1 shown below. Also the New York, New Jersey area’s variable costs, where shipping costs with exception of freight costs are included is summarized in Table 2 shown below. In addition, data for 0-1 oz. and 1732 oz. bottle sizes are analyzed, as well as 5,000-9,999 and 100,000-249,999 order quantity ranges. Full details as well as calculations are presented in Exhibits #1 to 8, while the price list for the business which is located in the Albany area is presented in Exhibit #9 and calculations to determine the greatest profitability potential for New York, New Jersey area is presented in Exhibit #10.

Table 1: Variable costs for the Albany area

Table 2: Variable costs for the New York, New Jersey area

The goal of Mr. Lipman to attain 30 per cent revenue margin is illustrated in the calculations shown in Exhibit #9 presenting the break even, which implies that no loss or gain, the 30 per cent profit margin, and subsequently the calculation of price to enable the attainment of Mr. Lipman’s wanted margin of revenue. We subtracted the 30 per cent of obtained revenues; and the break even illustrated the remaining 70 per cent of the obtained revenues. As a result, we used the equation shown below:

Variable cost + Fixed cost/ Total machine-hours ($106,944/16,000 hrs) = Break even

Total price (Revenues) x (1-30 per cent) = Break even

Therefore, the prices that are suggested which were determined after calculations are presented in Exhibit #9. Through the price determination calculations, we found that the cost of 2 rounds separation was about two times more compared to cost 1 round separation. Through the price determination calculations it was also found that increases in bottle sizes was directly proportional to increases in cost (meaning bottle size increases were accompanied by cost increases) but order sizes were inversely proportional to cost (meaning the higher the size of an order the lower the cost).

In order to make a decision on the products that are likely to sell in the New York, New Jersey area, the first step involved looking at the shipping costs and the gross margin. To accomplish this, assumption that, Mr. Lipman was also interested in the extension of the 30 per cent margin on revenue into this business area was made. At first glance, a major difference was not noted as a result of the shipping costs difference between smaller bottles and bigger bottles since per truck load the difference was only $2.42. Subsequently, we also considered the number of truck loads that the company could be shipping alongside computation of the gross margin as shown in Exhibit #10. Through the calculations presented in Exhibit #10, we found that the bigger the 2 Round Separations and the bottle size resulted in the greatest potential for profitability for the New York, New Jersey area.

Exhibit #1

Exhibit #2

Exhibit #3

Exhibit #4

Exhibit #5

Exhibit #6

Exhibit #7

Exhibit #8

Exhibit #9

Exhibit #10

*Setup time / Median order size * 1,000

**Hours per 1,000 bottles + Run time / 1,000 bottles

***Total time / 1,000 bottles * Variable cost per machine hours (14.63)

References

Farris, P. W., Bendle, N. T., Pfeifer, P. E., & Reibstein, D. J. (2010). Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Garrison, R. H., Noreen, E. W., & Brewer, P. C. (2009). Managerial Accounting, (13^th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

McEachern, W. (2012). Economics: A Contemporary Introduction. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Schwartz, R. (2010). Micro Markets: A Market Structure Approach to Microeconomic Analysis. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Work Placement Report for Assistant Pharmacist

Work Placement Report for Assistant Pharmacist

Technical Report
The aim of the report is to give the reader an adequate account of the work carried out, as concisely as possible and in a manner which would allow the
reader to repeat the work satisfactorily. Adequate use should be made of references to relevant literature in support of claims and theories and when
referring to results of earlier studies by other workers where appropriate. Text should be written in the past tense and in the third person.
The report should be divided into the following sections:
Acknowledgements:
This should consist of a few words of thanks and appreciation to those who helped the student throughout the period over which the work was carried out.
Abstract:
This is a summary or synopsis of your placement work. It should be brief and self contained (half page to a full page in length) and should state the major
objectives and findings of the investigation / work undertaken. It should answer the following questions:
Why did you start the work?
What did you do and why?
What did you find?
What do your findings mean?
Remember that the abstract gives the reader their first impression of the work.
Introduction:
The Introduction introduces the study, sets the scene, and provides the reader with the insight into what will follow
A concise review of the topic(s) under investigation, with references to previous work done on the subject(s), should be presented where appropriate
The Introduction sets the study in the context of existing works in the area of research or in the context of the overall management of the organisation
for which the work was conducted
The main body of the chapter can be divided into a number of sections by using headings and sub-headings
It should be presented logically and in paragraphs
Sufficient background information should be supplied to allow the reader/examiner to understand and evaluate the results of the work carried out
This chapter justifies your project and it should be obvious to the reader why you undertook the particular work reported
It should include information on the structure and operation of the organisation and also information on the students role and responsibilities during the
placement.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Huckleberry Finn Freedom Quest Paper

Huckleberry Finn Freedom Quest

Using only the following source: Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, found in the norton Anthology of American Literature, by Nina Baym 8th Edition, discuss the
following prompt:
Although the freedom-quests of Huck and Jim in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are aligned for much of the novel, they aren’t identical- which is to say,
freedom means something different to the boy than it does to the man. Or does it? Aren’t there moments of perfect alignment where the differences disappear?
Discuss.

Use at least three (3) quality references Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Critical Analysis of a Single Article Research

Critical Analysis of a Single Article

The paper is to be a critical analysis of the essay KINGS LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL by Martin Luther King Jr. the authors main ideas should be stated in
the topic sentences of each paragraph. there should be at least 6 paragraphs. The intro should include the Author and title of the piece. 3 key summary ideas,
and a bit about the background of the Author. there should be 3 critical paragraphs about the key ideas of the essay, and then 3 paragraphs of analysis–
including the Authors writing style. no “I” statements should be made. This is basically a detailed summary of this Essay, and is to be critically analyzed
and presented. must use at least 2 in text quotes.

Use at least three (3) quality references Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Data Analysis and Interpretation Practicum

Data Analysis and Interpretation Practicum Order Instructions: This paper is critical and it must contain all the component listed below in the order. it is also important that the paper include the SPSS output file of the descriptive statistics analysis in a Word document.

Data Interpretation Practicum

This week, you will run descriptive statistics and a t test on your chosen dataset. This Assignment requires you to engage in data interpretation and to select the appropriate analyses for your hypotheses and for the data that you have at your disposal. Toward that end, you should consider which descriptive statistics will inform the reader and allow you to pursue your questions.

Your submission to your Instructor should include your SPSS output file of your descriptive statistics analysis in a Word document, along with each of the following elements: your SPSS output, including graphical representations; your narrative interpretation; the governing assumptions of the analyses you ran; the viable and nonviable hypotheses (null and alternative); and the relevant values (such as a P value indicating statistical significance or a lack thereof).

I will send the dataset via email same as the one use in previous papers in the past weeks.

Data Analysis and Interpretation Practicum Sample Answer

Introduction

The core purpose of this research study is to analyze the provided data so that insight can be obtained about the safety of people at different working sites. In particular, the research will seek to find out whether there exist any causation relationship between the rates of injuries in a working site, the gender of a supervisor at the site, the number of employees at the three different sites and the hours the employees are working. The research problem thus, will try to find the existence (if any) of the relationship between these variables. The significance of the study is that the findings can be applied in the practice of human management to assess the risk factor of employees at different fields. Nevertheless, this result can also be used by the insurance cover in calculation or determining the premium to be paid based on the risk factor of the clients.

On the same token, these variables will be analyzed to establish whether there exists any correlation between the individual supervisor’s genders contributes to the high injury rate in a site, increase the number of employees increases the injury rate and also if the increased number of working hours is positively correlated to the injury rate. The dataset provided will be analyzed using SPSS for Windows and the tables and graphs edited in accordance with APA writing style. The fundamental of this study is based on the hypothesis that are:

H₀: There is no significance difference in injury rate at a working site and supervisor’s gender, number of employees and the number of hours at work.

H₁: There is a significance difference in injury rate at a working site and supervisor’s gender, number of employees and the number of hours at work.

This hypothesis will act as blueprints in the analysis part (section). Furthermore, the hypothesis was also the key to the formulation of the research question, which is the backbone any successful research (Ho, & Carol, 2015). On the same, the research will seek to infer about the population characteristics based on the sample data provided at the 95% level of significance. Thus, at the end of this research a conclusion will be made about the relationship between these variables.

Analysis

To find out the general nature of data, that is the spread and distribution of the data set, the descriptive statistical analysis was performed ad the results were as tabulated in Table 1.

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics
		Number of employees	Site	Number of hours at work	Injury rate	Supervisors gender
N	Valid	51	51	51	51	51
N	Missing	0	0	0	0	0
Mean		24.0196	2.04	49960.7843	15.1755	.47
Std. Deviation		7.49531	.799	15590.23590	17.47447	.504
Variance		56.180	.638	243055455.373	305.357	.254
Skewness		.056	-.072	.056	2.046	.121
Std. Error of Skewness		.333	.333	.333	.333	.333
Kurtosis		.506	-1.419	.506	4.309	-2.068
Std. Error of Kurtosis		.656	.656	.656	.656	.656

This result indicates that all the data except the site were positively skewed, in other words, they are asymmetric and have a long tail to the right (Ho, & Carol, 2015). Furthermore, the number of employees, the number of hours at work, and injury rates have a positive kurtosis that indicates that these variables have a more picked plot relative to the normal curve (Blanca, Arnau, López-Montiel, Bono, Bendayan, 2015).

Table 2: Paired Samples Test
		Paired Differences					t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
		Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
		Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean	Lower	Upper
Pair 1	injury rate – number of employees	-8.84412	22.98329	3.21830	-15.30827	-2.37996	-2.748	50	.008
Pair 2	injury rate – number of hours at work	-49945.60882	15601.36168	2184.62760	-54333.56251	-45557.65514	-22.862	50	.000
Pair 3	injury rate – supervisors gender	14.70490	17.52681	2.45424	9.77541	19.63440	5.992	50	.000
Pair 4	injury rate – site	13.13627	17.55168	2.45773	8.19978	18.07277	5.345	50	.000

The decision rule, in this case, is to reject the null hypothesis when the t calculated is greater than the t_tabulated. In this case, t_{0.05, 50} = 2.021, which leads to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Furthermore, based on the p-value that are obtained from the analysis, the null hypothesis will similarly be rejected since the p-value < the set level of significance (O’Leary, 2013). Therefore, the inference made will be that there is a significance difference in injury rate at a working site and supervisor’s gender, a number of employees and the number of hours at work.

To test the nature of the relationship, Paired Samples Correlations generated after t-test analysis will be analyzed. The results were as illustrated in Table 3.

Table 3: Paired Samples Correlations
		N	Correlation	Sig.
Pair 1	Injury rate & number of employees	51	-.636	.000
Pair 2	Injury rate & number of hours at work	51	-.636	.000
Pair 3	Injury rate & supervisors gender	51	-.090	.532
Pair 4	Injury rate & site	51	-.074	.606

This result indicates that there exist a strong negative correlation between injury rate & a number of hours at work, and injury rate & number of employees (O’Leary, 2013). This means that when the injury rates increase the number of hours worked and the number of workers is expected to reduce, and the opposite holds. Furthermore, a weak negative correlation exists between the Injury rate & supervisor’s gender and also Injury rate & a site (Lowry, 2014).

From the analysis, it is clear that the research objectives have been achieved and also the hypothesis has been taken care. In this study, there was adequate evidence to reject the null hypothesis thus the inference that will hold is there is a significant difference in injury rate at a working site and supervisor’s gender, a number of employees and the number of hours at work.

Data Analysis and Interpretation Practicum References

Blanca, M. J., Arnau, J., López-Montiel, D., Bono, R., & Bendayan, R. (2015). Skewness and kurtosis in real data sample. Methodology.

Ho, A. D., & Carol, C. Y. (2015). Descriptive Statistics for Modern Test Score Distributions Skewness, Kurtosis, Discreteness, and Ceiling Effects. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 75(3), 365-388.

Lowry, R. (2014). Concepts and applications of inferential statistics.

O’Leary, Z. (2013). The essential guide to doing your research project. Sage.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Last Chance Hospital Case study Paper

Last Chance Hospital Case study

Order Instructions:

Last Chance Hospital- Case Study

Read the Case Study below. Answer the following questions:

What are some of the planning strategies that Russ might have used that would possibly have positively affected the outcome of the strategic plan execution?
Discuss some things Marvelous Marvin could have done differently as CEO in order avoid the current situation?
What political factors created bias and clouded judgments in this situation?
Who’s to blame for the bad outcomes of this strategic plan?
If you were one of the OR Director’s direct reports/managers, what should your involvement in the organization’s strategy have been?

Guidelines:

Assignment should be a minimum of 5 pages, excluding the title page and reference page.
Utilize a minimum of 5 references, only 1 can be the text book.
Fully answer all questions above and follow proper APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment through the Turnitin link located in the “Assignment Dropbox”.
Assignments that have a Plagiarism Rate from Turnitin of higher than 30% will automatically receive a 0. I strongly recommend that you submit prior to due date so you can correct if your rate is higher than this.
No Assignments will be accepted late, No exceptions!

Last Chance Hospital – Case Study

Last Chance Hospital (LCH) is a 254-bed, community hospital located in a small, affluent suburb, just outside of San Diego, California. The hospital has historically been well-received by the local community, which demographically has a higher concentration of older age groups than most other local areas. The greater San Diego area is densely populated, and over twenty-five hospitals operate in the larger geographic area. Historically, LCH had always been financially sound, and had managed to remain independent as their local competitors joined
larger systems. But that was then, and this is now. About a year ago, Last Chance Hospital undertook a strategic planning process to encompass the next years. At the time, the hospital was doing okay financially, but was starting to dip into their cash reserves more often than the Board of Trustees liked; LCH was in need of an ideal strategy to bring them ahead of the market before things got out of hand.
As the strategic planner for LCH, Russ Newmarket reported indirectly to the CEO, Marvelous Marvin, but his immediate boss was Courtney Graveyard – and she had a lot on her plate. LCH did not have a chief nursing officer, and as COO, Graveyard was responsible for all of the nursing departments as well as surgical services, facilities, and information technology. A nurse by background, Graveyard spent the majority of her time trying to find different ways to recruit much-needed nursing staff. During the development of the strategic plan, Russ called together the usual group of senior executives, Board members and key physician leaders. He diligently developed the SWOT using their input and applying their assumptions. During his market research, Russ
became aware of some patient-centric trends emerging across the country, but he was also aware
that LCH had always strategically catered more to physicians due to the notion that physicians were the ones who ultimately referred patients to the hospital. Through the strategy development process, it became clear that senior management was stuck on this physician-centric mindset. Russ, ambitious and eager to make a name for himself, found and presented valid information that concurred with management’s mindset. At the end of the planning process, Marvelous Marvin felt confident that their solo, physician-focused strategy would give them a market lead–the plan was to attract more surgeons–and increase OR volumes. Graveyard was under intense pressure from Marvelous Marvin to make sure the operating rooms were as efficient as possible
to handle the planned increase in volume as OR efficiency would be a key recruitment issue for
surgeons. The LCH physician recruiter was under the gun as well. The remainder of the executive staff breathed a collective sigh of relief that their areas were not part of the strategic initiative. Russ suspected LCH needed more of a strategy than attracting new surgeons, but he convinced himself that senior management knew best. After the Board approved the strategic plan, Graveyard immediately met with her OR Director, and charged him with increasing the efficiency of the ORs. She then turned her focus back to her first love, nursing. The physician recruiter hit the ground running, developing an elaborate plan to increase surgeon recruitment. From all appearances, LCH was on a roll.
Over the next several months, the OR Director was able to reduce the OR’s operating budget by 13%, a result that made Marvelous Marvin very happy. At the same time, Graveyard made great strides in increasing LCH’s exposure to and status in the nursing community, and was able to decrease the nursing vacancies by over 6%. In a time of nursing shortages, the Board was impressed with Graveyard’s results. The physician recruiter was having only
moderate success at recruiting surgeons however, and her targeted volume projections were noticeably under budget. Marvelous Marvin approved her request to increase her staff, adding approximately $250,000 to her budget line. Overall patient volumes were steadily decreasing at what was becoming an alarming rate, and thus the financial picture for LCH was in critical condition. Marvelous Marvin couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “Why isn’t the LCH strategic
plan working?”

SAMPLE ANSWER

Case study: Last Chance Hospital

Strategic management in health care institution is crucial in determining long-term and short-term performance. In most cases, effective measures are the ones that bring in short-term success and sustain it in the long-term. However, there are situations where strategies may offer varied outcomes for both short-term and long-term. For instance, they could result in unfavorable short-term outcomes but end up being fruitful in the long-term. Likewise, strategies may at first appear to yield much, only for them to end up being faulty in the long-run. This paper considers the case of Last Chance Hospital (LCH). The hospital has been running a physician-centered system for long. In the earlier days, the hospital had secured a desirable position in the market. In a bid to increase the efficiency in operating rooms (OR), the hospital enhanced its physician-centered system. Contrary to the expectations of the hospital, the move did not attract as much surgeons, and to make it worse, it resulted in decreased number of customers.

Effective Planning on the Part of Russ

Russ stood an appropriate chance to direct planning strategies at LCH. There are some strategies that he could have employed so as to land the hospital to prosperity. First, he could have utilized his knowledge of the emerging patient-centered trends. On his part, Russ had made a mistake by assuming that the senior management was right before questioning their awareness of the recent trends. The strategic planner should have explored the trends further, collected sufficient evidence either approving or disapproving the approach, presented it to the board and advocated for its consideration. By so doing, Russ would have ensured that the organization deeply understood patient-centeredness. According to Rhodes, informing an entire organization about alternative strategies is a basic step for effective strategic planning (2010). Second, Russ should have advised fellow planners at LCH to make their plans flexible. Such an approach could have enabled the organization to shift timely and effectively so as to overcome the presenting challenges. Russ could also have advised the organization to consider equally the views of all parties rather than just those of a few leaders. This would have presented a better position for contrary views that could have possibly been accepted by the organization. Again, when conducting a SWOT analysis for the organization’s strategy, the planner should have adequately considered the impending threats. Russ knew that other hospitals were focusing their care on the patient. On the other hand, LCH was heading to the opposite directions. It was almost unquestionable that the threats that the hospital was to face would have been severe. Lastly, the planner should have used his position to protect the competitive advantage of the organization. Shifting too much to physician-centeredness was definitely a deviation from competitiveness, more so from the perspective of the patients.

Possible Effective Strategies that Marvin could have Applied

Hospital CEOs have the primary role to make strategies (Higginbotham & Church, 2012, p. 295). Marvin’s plans to have LCH stick to its physician-centeredness did not yield to his expectations. The executive made several mistakes in his projections. The greatest was an obsession with the institution’s cultural strategies. The obsession with the old ways blinded him so that he could not explore new approaches. The executive failed to notice the emerging trends of patient-centeredness. It is for this reason that he passionately advocated for the enhancement of physician-centeredness without any considerations for patient-centeredness. His obsession with old culture and ignorance about the new strategies placed him at the risk of making uninformed decisions. The other critical mistake that Marvin made was focusing on change rather than a sound plan. The executive purposed to institute change in the organization without necessarily fitting it to an efficient plan. For instance, Marvin pushed Graveyard to increase efficiency in the OR but did not necessarily establish how effective increasing the number of surgeons would have been in generating revenues for the institution. Considering that Marvin did not have efficient plans, it was not surprising that the organization did not manage to increase its surgeon staffing. Lastly, Marvin focused on short-term but did not address long-term problems. She addressed the problem of having many patients by thinking about increasing the number of surgeons. Definitely, sufficient surgery staffing meant facilitated service delivery to the institution’s large number of customers. However, centering too much on physicians at the expense of patients had certain long-term implications for the organization. First, the approach would barely be in the favor of patients, and therefore, it would have compromised their loyalty to the hospital. Again, the approach was contrary to that of neighboring hospitals. This meant that the institution competitors would have used the cons of the strategy in securing a larger market share. While advocating for the strategy, Marvin should have considered its impact on other competitors.

Political Factors that Influenced Decision-Making

The judgment developed at LCH concerning the strategy to adopt was impaired by political determinants. For instance, the influence of executives was too much and it was unbalanced with that of other stakeholders. The opinions of leaders counted more to decision-making than those of their juniors. An excellent illustration is the case of Marvin and Graveyard. Marvin was senior to Graveyard and he directed Graveyard to execute the plans of orienting service delivery to physicians. The interaction reveals that Graveyard’s opinions did not count as much as those of her senior. Another instance of political influence in the case is the position of Russ compared to that of the senior management. Though Russ had information about an alternative approach to service orientation, the weight of his opinion is compromised by the event that his seniors opted to stick to their old ways. Eventually, the strategic planner had to make a decision that impressed LCH senior staff by going by their opinion in undertaking his planning role. Al-Sawai noted that though leaders are expected to make strategic decisions for their firms, there is a need for them to do so upon considering the thoughts of their juniors (2013, p. 86).

The Blame

Different departments are charged with varied responsibilities in health care institutions (Al-Sawai, 2013, p. 85). In LCH, it could be argued that Russ and his department were charged with coming up with strategies for the hospital. However, there were other stakeholders playing within including Ms. Graveyard and her department. Russ was reporting to the hospital CEO through the COO. As such, the role of strategic planning was not placed on Russ solely, but Ms. Graveyard and Marvin counted more or less equally. On his part, Russ suggested a possible alternative that was the trend in running services in hospitals. However, the planner did not push enough to convince the management to buy his proposal. The case presents Marvin making uninformed decision, yet Russ had information concerning the patient-centeredness. It was upon Russ to gather sufficient evidence and advocate for patient-centeredness. In addition, the strategic planner should have informed the organization about the threats associated with their physician-centered approach. On her part, Ms. Graveyard was not proactive in determining the logic of implementing Marvin’s strategies. She should have evaluated the effectiveness of the approach in facilitating service delivery at the hospital as well as its possible impact on patients. Ms. Graveyard was heading service delivery and she should have been an advocate for the patients. Marvin is also to blame. As Farbrot noted, CEOs have the greatest impact on determining whether organizations would fail or not (2010). Marvin was too much obsessed with the old ways that he failed to appreciate the suggestions made by Russ. The CEO should have welcomed contradictory views and encourage their substantiation.

OR Director’s Direct Manager’s Involvement

Direct report employees are essential for efficiency of management in organizations. In the case scenario, direct report personnel to OR directors could have worked actively in helping managers implement their strategies. This would have involved giving instant feedback on adopted strategies and timely pointing out their shortcomings and strengths. This would have helped directors to learn the need to reconsider their strategies early enough and avoid heavy losses. The direct reports would also have facilitated interactions between managers by encouraging consultations. The move would have created high chances for the development of effective opinions. Direct reports would also have been involved in emphasizing the strengths of their directors. For instance, they could have pointed out strategies adopted by their managers that would most likely benefit their organization. In so doing, direct reports would have let their mangers know their strengths and how such strengths apply to specific tasks (Adkins, 2015). For the case of LCH, such strengths include advocating for patient centeredness.

References

Adkins, A. (2015). Only 35% of US managers are engaged in their jobs. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/182228/managers-engaged-jobs.aspx

Al-Sawai, A. (2013). Leadership of healthcare professionals: where do we stand? Oman Medical Journal, 28(4), 285–287.

Farbrot, A. (2015, May 7). CEOs take credit for successful mergers but blame failures on culture. http://www.bi.edu/bizreview/articles/ceos-take-credit-for-successful-mergers-but-blame-failures-on-culture/

Higginbotham, E. J., & Church, K. C. (2012). Strategic planning as a tool for achieving alignment in academic health centers. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 123, 292–303.

Rhodes, M. (2010). Five essentials of an effective strategy. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/blogs/strategic-planning/2010/06/07/five-essentials-of-an-effective-strategy/

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Accident of Science Analysis Paper

Accident of Science

Politics of the Future First Midterm Essay
Choose one of the topics below and compose an essay that answers the set of questions asked and demonstrates that you are familiar with assigned texts, lecture materials, and topics discussed in class.
Three criteria will be used in grading these essays, which will be worth a total of 20 points: (1) Familiarity with the materials presented (worth 8 points).
The essay needs to demonstrate that you are acquainted with readings and lecture topics. In other words, you need to prove that you’ve done the work. It is not important that every point and textual nuance be perfectly understood, but some evidence has to be given that these questions have been encountered and contemplated. (2) Comprehension of materials presented (8 points). Again, there is no single correct way of interpretation, but this does not mean that every interpretation is as good as the next. Do you understand what has been presented, and, just as importantly, how effectively are you able to make the connections between concepts and themes that may not always seem to fit together in some immediately obvious form? (3) Clarity of ideas presented in the essay (4 points). How effectively and precisely are you saying what you want to say? How does the essay flow? Remember that excessive mistakes in spelling, punctuation, syntax, and so on, may disrupt clarity of the essay.
It is important that your essay take a critical perspective. Key terms and concepts need to be defined and explained in the overall context of what the author is analyzing. This is a process involving not just reading the text, but engaging it. What is being said? How is it being said? What assumptions are being made in order to say it? Thinking about these kinds of questions will give your essay a strong analytic focus and a critical edge.
There are no correct or incorrect answers. However, this does not mean you are free to conclude your argument self-evidently true. The thrust of the essay
should always be supported by relevant data and must anticipate counter arguments. The truth of one argument cannot be proven by claiming that other analyses are wrong.
You are expected to draw upon both readings and lectures by citing specific arguments, examples, cases, etc., where necessary. Footnotes, endnotes, or other methods of citing sources should be used where appropriate. Since there is a single textual source for this essay, citation of page numbers parenthetically
is probably the easiest approach. For example: “As Virilio argues, knowledge has supported militarism and warfare for at least the past fifty years (p.
145).”
Suggested length: About five pages, typed, double-spaced (about 1250 words). It may be longer–and very likely will be–which is fine.
Date due: Thursday, 20 February, in class. Late papers will have a mandatory deduction of five points per day, with the first five points taken off
immediately at the end of class (4:45 pm) on that date.
1. Paul Virilio states: “Globalization is the world becoming too small, and not too big” (p. 89). Critically and carefully analyze this, looking at the role
that speed plays in how we see and experience the world, how society is defined by and responds to speed, and how the world’s shrinkage contributes to a
collective desire to achieve what he calls “escape velocity.” What are we trying to escape from? Is this even possible? Where do we go then, that is, if
colonization leads to globalization, what is the next step or phase, according to Virilio? What possible danger might this pose to individuals, society, or
both?
2. Critically evaluate what Paul Virilio means by the “accident of science.” What has become accidental about science and scientific discovery, and what
relationship do accidents have to the speed with which research and development lead to technological change? He says that, “It [science] no longer has any
ethical or even any physical limit” (p.149). What is it about speed that contributes to accidents and what is it about accidents that make them inevitable as
science develops new (or different) technologies? What role might accidents play in militarism and war? How does this change the parameters of war and how
does it change the meanings of science? For Virilio, is the total accident—the ultimate catastrophe—unavoidable and thus inevitable? Does he offer any hope?
Do you have any hope? Why or why not?

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!

Perfecting Performance Management Implementation

Order Instructions:

Implementing performance management systems

In your professional experience, have you been involved in the implementation of a performance management system? If so, you may have already posed questions about implementation to yourself, such as: how should such a system address employee engagement? What kind of online or technology-supported tools or approaches should be used? Are there specific practices or recommendations from management literature that can guide others?

In this essay, you will further explore the challenges of performance management implementation.

•Sharing alternative perspectives on the implementation challenges faced by managers and staff
•
•Synthesising specific recommendations for HR leaders to address these challenges
•
•Discussing the role of employee engagement in your recommendations and how it might be promoted. Include discussion about the relationship of the performance management system to other management processes and the viability of online or technology-supported approaches to performance management

Important note:
Please follow the exact instruction as provided above.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Perfecting Performance Management Implementation

Introduction

Observably, there are many challenges facing the implementation. One question that kept disturbing me was if employee engagement could have made the implementation smooth. In addition, online or technology-supported tools or approaches should have been used to make the implementation work easier. At the end, the implementation was full of flaws. Therefore, the following discussion will engage in illustrating how performance management can be made successful. This will be in the form of strategies from various literatures that give insights on the best possible approaches to handling performance management.

Discussion

One of the disturbing challenges during the performance management implementation in my organization was communication-related challenges (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,234). The organization embraces diversity. A proactive communication strategy was not used in the implementation. Communication challenge was observed in the implementation phase when there were observed conflicts between the employees. The presence of ineffective communication was observed by the failure of the managers to communicate adequately to the employees on the best approach to take after a method failed. In addition, more employees becoming resistant to the change observed failure of communication. The aspect that indicated that there was unclear communication was disorganized time frames upon which implementation was carried upon. Therefore, there was job confusion since every employee found himself or herself executing an assignment that was wrongly timed. Lawther & Martin (2014, p.219) argue that communication is important in an organization because it assist the employee to create a positive momentum. Sykes, Venkatesh & Johnson (2014, p.51) attest that effective communication is a prerequisite for a successful implementation since it enables the employee eradicate fears, take risks, and generate commitment into the system.

The other implementation challenge observed was the lack of leadership support (Van der Merwe & Nienaber 2015, p45). The top management in charged with the implementation never inspired the employees through physical and non-physical means. The leaders failed to encourage the employee in the effort to make the implementation successful. Van der Merwe & Nienaber 2015 (p47) argues that leadership support in implementing performance management is pertinent in creating a vision. Woodrow & Guest (2014, p.38) add that leadership support is crucial in ensuring that the employees are inspired. Some of the means the leadership can support the workforce in implementing performance management include rewards, sharing past successful implementations, and act as role models.

Another implementation challenge observed was the inability to keep the fire of the implementation burning (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,235). I observed that the employees were only interested in the implementation once in the organization. When the working hours were over, the employees forgot what they were doing and wait for the next day. The employees had no interest in the implementation a heart. Some of the employees argued that they wished if the implementation could come at a halt because it was just tiring them. Lawther & Martin (2014, p.221) argue that implementation of a project should be made a part of the employee. Van der Merwe & Nienaber (2015, p51) attest that there is a need to embed performance management as an ongoing process rather than a one-off event. This is where the concept of employee engagement is derived. The importance of employee engagement is that it enables an organization keeps the employee motivated towards the success of the implementation.

The employee, upon being engaged, finds himself or herself doing activities related to the implementation at non-working hours. This means that they take the implementation as a part of their mission, which they cannot like when it fails. Skes, Venkatesh & Johnson (2014, p.53) recommend that employee engagement can be achieved through online techniques such as video-conferencing. These online techniques will ensure that the strategy is communicated well as well as giving feedback to questions the employees might be interested in asking (Woodrow & Guest 2014, p.45).

The other challenge observed was poor monitoring. The monitoring method was blurred. The management failed to assess the progress of the implementation (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,236). Therefore, they were not able to find the emerging needs of the employees in the implementation. Lack of monitoring made the emerging problems to become huge irresolvable issues. For instance, it was observed that failure to monitor employee relationship in the implementation phase, the management was forced to halt the process first to mitigate a conflict that had arisen between the supervisors and the employee.

Lawther & Martin (2014, p.242) argue that monitoring should be made an integral part of the implementation. The author argued that monitoring enables the top management spot minor issues that could eventually lead to the dilemma in the implementation when not attended. Therefore, through monitoring, the management could have encouraged employee engagement, since it could have noticed the wrangles developing between employees and deal with them. Van der Merwe & Nienaber (2015, p48) add that monitoring revolves around earlier warning of a problem and taking a corrective action towards it.

Conclusion

In summary, the discussion has shown that the challenges that were present in my organization when implementing performance management system emanated from communication, problem, poor leadership support, ineffective monitoring, and inability to keep the spirit of the implementation burning. However, the discussion has drawn from the literature review that effective monitoring, effective leadership support, and good monitoring system are important in making implementation useful. This is because, at the end, they encourage employee engagement, which is very crucial in making performance management implementation successful.

References

Gao, T, & Gurd, B 2015, ‘Meeting the challenge in performance management: the diffusion and implementation of the balanced scorecard in Chinese hospitals’, Health Policy & Planning, 30, 2, pp. 234-241, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.

Lawther, W, & Martin, L 2014, ‘Availability Payments and Key Performance Indicators: Challenges for Effective Implementation of Performance Management Systems in Transportation Public-Private Partnerships’, Public Works Management & Policy, 19, 3, pp. 219-234, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.

Sykes, T, Venkatesh, V, & Johnson, J 2014, ‘ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND EMPLOYEE JOB PERFORMANCE: UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF ADVICE NETWORKS‘, MIS Quarterly, 38, 1, pp. 51-A4, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.

Van der Merwe, MM, & Nienaber, H 2015, ‘FACTORS HINDERING STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AS PERCEIVED BY TOP, MIDDLE AND FRONTLINE MANAGERS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTRONICS ORGANIZATION’, Journal of Global Business & Technology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 45-57.

Woodrow, C, & Guest, D 2014, ‘When good HR gets bad results: exploring the challenge of HR implementation in the case of workplace bullying’, Human Resource Management Journal, 24, 1, pp. 38-56, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.

We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!