Why do you think competency-based management of rewards is the least popular area of use
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1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 1400 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
6) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches only.
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SAMPLE ANSWER
Management and Rewards
Competences have largely been defined as an individual’s characteristics that act as basic prerequisites of work behavior. They revolve around values, knowledge abilities, work style personality, and attitudes. The importance of competences in recruitment, training, coaching, and skills appraisal cannot be underestimated (Ilhaanie, 2010). This fact does not mean that competences are easy to institute and manage. In order for an organization to be successful, the competences of individual workers must be superior, updated, and focused on improving value of the assigned organization. This paper develops an argument that tends to explain why competency-based management of rewards are the least popular area of use.
When organizations chose to eliminate activities that do not add value, they achieve lean operations. This strategy can be complemented by implementing a competence-based reward system (Ilhaanie, 2010). This system uses an employee’s competencies critical to the successful performance of individual roles, to determine the value of their work output.
A competence-based reward system will reward employees for their knowledge, skills, behavior and other characteristics important for organizational success and personal performance and not basically the work activities they perform (Holton, Coco, Lowe & Dustch, 2006). When an organization chooses the competence-based reward system, it must ensure the environment is right for its success. The organization must, thus, make known to the employees the knowledge and skills that are valued by the organization and which it handsomely rewards.
When the standard of competent performance is determined, it makes it clear to employees what training development will be valued. Thus the Human Resource department will points out the training and development resources that will bring the employees to the level desired by the organization (Holton, Coco, Lowe & Dustch, 2006). For example, when a programmer skills set are measured against a lead programmer required competencies, it could emerge that the programmer lacks Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP). The organization’s Human Resource Department will set in motion strategies to address this. One of which could be to enroll the programmer for ABAP training.
Proponents of Competence-based reward system point out that when it is designed to be the strand that runs between an employees’ pay grade and rewards to particular levels of competence provides objectivity in determining grades. A programmer with a proficiency in system and architectural languages should get a higher pay that one who has just system language. When this is the case, employees learn to associate personal development expectations with level of pay. The organization reinforces their employee behavior that support its mission and business priorities.
When an organization relies on a competence-based reward system, its recruitment strategy will borrow heavily from competence performance standards that link individual career progression and pay. This strategy will be perceived by employees as fair (Ilhaanie, 2010). To employees the ability to differentiate between job grades and titles makes them more confident in the organizations performance expectations. For example, a programmer may recognize that particular management, technical, analytical and communication skills required to obtain a promotion. This could make the employees satisfaction with the system given they view it as adequately addressing promotion and pay increases appropriately. This will benefit the organizations employee recruitment and retention efforts.
Competence-based reward systems do have some challenges, which make fuel critics’ view of the strategy. Given that employees are rated using a general criteria instead of specific accomplishment, these systems could introduce subjectivity in to the evaluation process (Shippmann, Ash, Carr, Hesketh, Pearlman, Battista, Eyde, Kehoe, and Prien, 2000). No two people can interpret leadership or ability to multitask in the same way thus it is possible to have inaccurate ratings.
This strategy, given the subjectivity of the evaluator, could be perceived as promoting favoritism. When an employee perceived him / herself as being more valuable than another, then discovers the other employee remuneration is higher, they could draw the conclusion that they are victims of unfair treatment (Ilhaanie, 2010). Unfortunately, the feeling of unfairness will more often than not result in dissention. This does not add value to the organization nor does it contribute its mission or goals.
Another challenge of competence-based reward system is the realization that establishing the specific competencies that actually result in improved productivity or job performance (Shippmann, Ash, Carr, Hesketh, Pearlman, Battista, Eyde, Kehoe, and Prien, 2000). For example, when a customer experience representative increases the number of enquiries handled in a day, it would be extremely hard to point out whether, the improvement is as a result of improved ability to multitask or increased attention to details thus helping resolve more issues.
In the development and implementation phase of the competence-based reward systems, they can be very complex and labor intensive (Hondeghem and Vandemeulen, 2000). This coupled with the financial investment that must accompany these systems – to cover training and support, could make the systems dear especially when compared to other reward systems.
With the rapidly changing environment, organisations are forced to move towards more responsive and flexible management models. Most organisations seek change in an effort to increase their performance. Competence-based management of rewards has emerged as one of the change strategies that have achieved the desired objective (Tett, Guterman, Bleier, and Murphy, 2000). Despite the competence-based management of rewards system being multifaceted and complex, its basic tenets are concerned with performance, view work as the context in which competencies are revealed, focus on people as opposed to jobs, emphasis on the need of behavioural evidence and reveal that there are several types of competencies that must be considered.
For most organisations, Compensation-based management of rewards has been introduced in the context of major trends or changes. This could include the changing role of managers, down or rightsizing or changes in organisations’ Human Resource practices (Kim and Hong, 2006). When the organisation sets out to develop a more inclusive method of selection, development, assessment or rewarding, it finds Competence-based management of reward to be the most ideal since it is more responsive.
Despite the benefits associated with competence-based management of reward, its implementation in the private and public sector has been selective. Organisations that have embraced competence-based management of reward have tended to focus mainly on management and senior and technical staff (Ulrich & Beatty, 2001). These organisations exhibit a high sensitivity to the competence-based management of rewards. They use both organisational and job variable as a source of competence, which aligns the strategy to the macro-level and personal orientation of competence. Indeed, organisations that embrace and implement competence-based management of reward are fully aware of the major benefits for employers, managers and organisations.
Competence-based management of reward can promote a better understanding of the requirements necessary to achieve high performance and personal development. For this group of employees, competence-based management of reward takes on a motivational role (Fleishman, Wetrogan, Hulman and Marshall-Mies, 1995). To managers, the benefits will be more technical. It offers to managers a more comprehensive tool for decision making and determining criteria in order to effectively manage selection, evaluation and development. It also offers managers a superior frame of reference to manage people.
It offers organisations better instrument for use in undertaking conventional HR practises. This is in addition to facilitating the match with people and enabling benchmarking in competence identification (Virtanen, 2000). When the organisation considers the benefit to be gained by aligning and linking individuals to its goals and values – strategic value, it gains more than having to adopt a more functional approach. Organisation must perform correctly the inference process from itself to competencies and their respective verification levels to derive the full benefits. Similarly, the same is true for its understanding of what competencies are and how best to exploit them for the benefit of the organisation.
Organisations describe Human Resource role as being predominately administrative and less strategic. Fundamentally, the changing role and competencies or HR professional is aimed at increasing effectiveness of HR practice (Gratton & Truss, 2003). It should not be lost that competence-based management of reward is not the best approach. It is the management, which if taken seriously, will provide the organisation a good pretext to experiment new practices and retain the most adequate. Generally, they are good instruments that reduce the knowing-doing gap. For the private organisations, compensation-based management of reward greatly enhances their conservativeness while nurturing innovation and experimentation with management practices and strategies.
Gratton, L. & Truss, C. 2003. The three-dimensional people strategy: Putting human resourcespoliciesinto action. The Academy of Management Executive, 17(3), pp.74-86.
Hondeghem, A. & Vandemeulen, F. 2000. Competency management in the Flemish and Dutchcivil service. The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 13(4), 342-353.
Holton, E. F., Coco, M. L., Lowe, J. L & Dustch, J. V. 2006. Blended Delivery Strategies forCompetence-Based Training. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 8(2), 210-229
Ilhaanie, A. G. A. 2010. Competence-Based Human Resources Practise in Malaysian Public Sector Organisation, African Journal of Business Management, 4(2), 235-241.
Kim, P. & Hong, K. 2006. Searching for effective HRM reform strategy in the public sector:Critical review of WPSR 2005 and suggestions. Public Personnel Management, 35(3), 199-215.
Shippmann, J., Ash, R., Carr, L., Hesketh, B., Pearlman, K., Battista, M., Eyde, L., Kehoe, J.,& Prien, E. 2000. The practice of competency modelling. Personnel Psychology, 53, 703-740.
Tett, R., Guterman, H., Bleier, A., & Murphy, P. 2000. Development and content validation ofa “Hyperdimensional” taxonomy of managerial competence. Human Performance, 13(3), 205-251.
Ulrich, D. & Beatty, D. 2001 From partners to players: extending the HR playing field. Human Resource Management, 40(4), 293–307.
Virtanen, T. 2000. Changing competences of public managers: Tensions in commitment. The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 13(4), 333-341.
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Why do you think competency-based management of rewards is the least popular area of use?
The following conditions must meet in the paper
1) I want a typical and a quality answer which should have about 550 words.
2) The answer must raise appropriate critical questions.
3) The answer must include examples from experience or the web with references from relevant examples from real companies.
4) Do include all your references, as per the Harvard Referencing System,
5) Please don’t use Wikipedia web site.
6) I need examples from peer reviewed articles or researches only.
Appreciate each single moment you spend in writing my paper
Best regards
SAMPLE ANSWER
Investment Analysis Paper on Ford Motor Group
Ford Motor Group is a multinational public company that’s based in Michigan in the USA. Its shares are traded in NYSE under the initial F. It majors in automotive production and its current Executive chairman is William C. Ford, Jr. while the CEO is Mark Fields. The current brands or models are Ford Focus, Ford Escort, Ford Cortina, Ford Sierra and Ford Capri. There are several other brands that Ford manufactures besides an array of trucks and other automobiles. The Ford Family owns 2% of the company while the employees number about 181,000. It has a market capitalization of $54.65 Billion and its shares are currently trading at $14.09 dollars with a yield of 3.5%. (Luenberger, 1997) Ford has outstanding shares numbering 9 million while the market prices of its shares are currently costing 14.1 which amounts to a total of $126.9 million in outstanding stock valuation.
Board of Directors
The directors of Ford Motor Group have impeccable academic backgrounds and experience that warrant their positions. The executive management of the Ford board as at the end of July 2014 were; Richard A. Gephardt, Ellen Marram, Stephen Butler, Kimberly Casiano, Edsel Ford, Mark Fields (CEO & President, Homer Neal, Antony F. Earley, William Clay Ford Jr., the executive chairman, James P. Hackett, John L. Thornton, Gerald L. Shaheeen, James H. Hance, Jr., William W. Helman John C. Lechieter, James H. Hance and Jon M. Huntsman.
Monitoring Potential of the Firm’s Board of Directors
Mark Fields, the current CEO and President, was initially appointed as the America’s President of operations in the year 2012. (Adams, 2008) The board is mostly concentrated in running the operations of the company from the head office. Almost 50% of its annual turnover is achieved in North America while the rest are from South America, Europe, Asia, pacific and Africa. The duties of each director are not included in the reports together with the salaries of other senior staff. The academic background for the senior positions office holders is not available on the 2014 proxy annual report. The performance of Ford Motor Group has not been very impressive and it was expected that it would have more financial problems in the current financial period. However, Ford has endured hard times before and it’s expected that it will come out of financial woes on its own.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Board Structure
The major strengths of the members of the board are the wide experience and skills the director’s posses. The executive chairman has been a director since 1988 and has also been the vice president at the commercial truck center before his recent promotion. He has also been the chair of the finance committee and the chairman of eBay Inc. The other board members are also equally skilled and experienced in automobile industry.
The board has also professional structures that vet all the qualifications of the directors before they are appointed. The nominating and governance committee scrutinizes all the background information on all the nominees before their names are forwarded to the board.
The major weaknesses of the board are the lack of clearly defined organization structures that spell out the role of each director and the hierarchy of the functions of their offices and their occupants. The structures are not clear and maybe they have their own system of operations but the structures have to be clearly drawn and the functions of each department clearly defined and addressed. http://corporate.ford.com/our-company/governance-hub/board-of-directors-801p
Ethical Concerns
The other ethical issues that may arise is that some directors like Gerald L. Shaheen who may have served as the president of the Caterpillar Inc before he retired may be having the connections with the group hence his interests may also be linked to the company. H e should be allowed to serve the interests of one company only.
The other issue is that the company has some former politicians in the board like the former governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. It reflects a little unprofessionalism to include some politicians in the board and who may have had different policies that may have been unpopular with some people hence it can influence the performance of the company negatively.
Competitive Financial Ratio Comparison
The net assets turnover for Ford Motor Group decreased by 2.5% in the year 2013 as compared to a 50% increase in the year 2012. GM registered a decrease of 13% in its net assets turnover in the year 2013 while in the year 2012 it experienced an increase of 6.5%. (Vance, 2003) The following table shows the complete analysis.
Ford Motor Group
2013
2012
2011
Current Ratio
Total Current Assets/Total current liabilities
2.11
2.32
2.26
Quick Ratio
TT C/ Assets – inventories /TT/ C Liabilities
1.98
2.18
2.15
Receivable turnover
Annual credit sales/average receivables
Inventory Turnover
Cost of goods sold/Average inventory
17.00
17.51
19.87
Asset turnover
Sales/Average total assets
0.75
0.73
0.76
Dividend yield
Div per Share / Current Share price
0.03
0.01
Dividend cover
EPS/ Dividend per Share
3.70
7.40
Net assets turnover
Net assets / total sales
1.24
1.27
0.85
Times interest earned
EBIT/Annual Interest Expense
9.45
11.83
11.63
Debt to total Asset
Debt/Assets
0.57
1.03
0.56
Book value per share
9.17
9.17
9.17
Interest cover
EBIT/Annual Interest Expense
9.45
11.83
11.63
Profit margin on sale
GP/sales
0.13
0.13
0.14
R.R return on assets
EAT/Total Assets
0.04
0.03
0.11
R.R com stock equity
Profit after taxes/Shareholders equity
0.27
0.36
1.35
Earnings per share
Profit after taxes-pref div)/No. of comm O/S
1.54
1.48
Payout Ratio
cash dividends/income
0.00
0.00
0.00
ROE
Return On Equity (ROE)
0.27
0.36
1.35
ROA
Return on average Assets
0.04
0.03
0.11
GM
2013
2012
2011
Current Ratio
Total Current Assets/Total current liabilities
1.31
1.30
1.22
Quick Ratio
TT C/ Assets – inventories /TT/ C Liabilities
1.08
1.02
0.95
Receivable turnover
Annual credit sales/average receivables
Inventory Turnover
Cost of goods sold/Average inventory
9.56
9.74
9.16
Asset turnover
Sales/Average total assets
0.93
1.02
1.04
Dividend yield
Div per Share / Current Share price
Dividend cover
EPS/ Dividend per Share
Net assets turnover
Net assets / total sales
0.27
0.24
0.25
Times interest earned
EBIT/Annual Interest Expense
23.33
-57.68
17.99
Debt to total Asset
Debt/Assets
0.04
0.02
0.02
Book value per share
Interest cover
EBIT/Annual Interest Expense
23.33
-57.68
17.99
Profit margin on sale
GP/sales
0.12
0.07
0.13
R.R return on assets
EAT/Total Assets
0.03
0.04
0.06
R.R com stock equity
Profit after taxes/Shareholders equity
0.13
0.17
0.24
Earnings per share
Profit after taxes-pref div)/No. of comm O/S
2.92
Payout Ratio
cash dividends/income
ROE
Return On Equity (ROE)
0.13
0.17
0.24
ROA
Return on average Assets
0.03
0.04
0.06
DuPont Identity
The following is the Dopont model breakdown for Ford and GM. The profit margin for Ford amounted to 13% of sales for both 2013 and 2012. The return on Equity was 27% in 2013 while in2012 it was 36%. The profit margin on sales for GM amounted to 12% in 2013 while in 2012 it was 7%. The ROE for GM amounted to 13% and 17% respectively for the years 2013 and 2012 respectively. The return on assets amounted to 3 and 4% respectively. The earnings per share for Ford in 2013 and 2012 were 1.54 and 1.48 respectively while the dividends per share amounted to 0.4 and 0.2 respectively. Both companies are heavily leveraged and Ford is the one that has the highest concentration of debt compared to GM.
The interest expenses for Ford increased by 16.3% in 2013 while in 2012 it had decreased by 12.7%. The interest expense for Ford in the year 2013 and 2012 were 829 million and 713 million respectively. GM interest expenses decreased by 31.7% in 2013 while in 2012 the expenses decreased by 9.4%. The interest expenses for 2013 and 2012 were 334 Million and 489 Million respectively
The net assets turnover for Ford’s decreased by 2.5% in the year 2013 as compared to a 50% increase in the year 2012. GM registered a decrease of 13% in its net assets turnover in the year 2013 while in the year 2012 it experienced an increase of 6.5%. The dividend per share for Ford in 2013 and 2012 was 0.4 and 0.2 respectively. This represented a return of 22% to the shareholders in 2013 while in 2012 it was 23%.
Table 1
Raw Data Ford Motor Company
Company Name
Year 2013
Year 2012
Year 2011
Net income
7.155B
5.665B
20.213B
Revenue
146.917B
195.058B
135.605B
Assets
202.026B
189.406B
178.348B
Equity
26.383B
15.947B
15.028B
Raw Data GM Motor Company
Company Name
Year 2013
Year 2012
Year 2011
Net income
5.346B
6.188B
9.190B
Revenue
155.427B
152.256B
150.276B
Assets
166.344B
149.422B
144.603B
Equity
42.607B
36.244B
38.120B
ROE Formula
(1)
Table 2
DuPont Analysis
ROE
Profit Margin
Asset Turnover
Equity Multiplier
TELUS
Year 2000
0.072621
0.71662
0.75
7.66
Differences or Trends
Ford Motor Group seems to be having better ROE and Profit margins than GM. However the asset turnover for GM is higher than Ford. The equity multipliers for Ford are higher than those of GM which means that Ford is more levered than GM.
Growth
Dividend Growth Model
This section will require a table or appendix or both. Add a comment or two regarding your findings – are they logical or feasible?
Table 3
Dividend and Stock Price Raw Data for Ford Motor Group
Ford Motor Group
Year 2013
Net income
$ 7.155B
Equity
$26.383B
Total dividends paid
$1.574B
Outstanding shares
3,881,659,802
Earnings per share (EPS)
$1.82
Dividends paid per share
$0.4
Stock price as of 2/11/2014
$14.07
Table 4
Growth Rate for Ford Motor Group
Analysis
Formula
Year 2013
ROE
Net income/ Equity
0.2712
Retention ratio
1 – (cash dividends/ net income)
0.78001
Growth rate in earnings (g)
Retention ratio x ROE
0.21154
Dividend Discount Model (DDM) = (2)
(3)
Growth rate
Ford Motor Group
2013
ROE
Net Income/Equity
0.2712
Retention Ratio
1-(cash dividends/net income)
0.78001
Growth rate in earnings
Retention rate X ROE
0.21154
Dividend Discount Model
Return rate R = Dividend /price of stock + g
0.23997
Price of Stock
Dividend/Return Rate R – Growth Rate g
14.07
Issues with Using the Growth Model
The dividend earnings growth trend has been calculated on average per year. There are financial periods where the dividend pay rate and amounts are similar has the growth trend is not reliable as the average would be very low. The general average however is 0.212%.
Reasonableness of Constant Growth
The growth rate number is logical as it reflects the general performance on the ground. The major problems with the calculation are the constant figures payable as dividends reflects a constant growth trend and the calculations reflect a zero growth trend. The company pays dividend as shown in the table above. It would be fair assume a constant growth trend for Ford Company.
Annual Report
Potential Real Options
Stock Options for Employee compensation for the year 2013
Fair value per stock option
2013
2012
2011
5.03
5.88
8.48
Assumptions made
Annualized Dividend yield
3%
2%
–
Expected volatility
52.20%
53.80%
53.20%
Risk free interest rate
1.50%
1.60%
3.20%
Expected stock option (yrs)
7.7
7.2
7.1
Company stock options as at December 31 2013 (millions)
Outstanding options
Exercisable options
Shares
weighted av life yrs
weighted av Exc price
Shares
weighted av life yrs
Range Prices available in $
1.96 -2.84
15.5
5.2
2.16
15.5
2.16
5.11 – 8.58
23.2
3.1
7.29
23.2
7.29
10.11 – 12.98
29.1
5.3
12.58
19.1
12.56
13.07 – 16.64
11.3
2.8
13.86
9.8
13.71
Total stock options
79.1
67.6
These options are company specific and they are payable on the range of prices available and the average years the employee has spent in the company. The share prices are weighted as shown on the table above. (Garrison, Noreen & Brewer, 2009)
The stock options would have to be provided for as their prices are usually provided for employees only and not for the general investors.
Capital Budgeting Process
The options would have to be provided for when budgeting for capital projects. All projects with average returns that are less than the weighted average cost of capital should be rejected as the cost of capital would be more the profits of the project.
Beta
Expected Return – CAPM
The beta for Ford Motor Group according to yahoo business finance is 0.88. The current risk free market rate is 0.03%. The rate of risk premium is the amount that the expected asset’s rate of return is extra or exceeds the market risk free rate of interests. The risk premium for trading companies is the company stocks or their expected rate of return less the risk free rate of return.
Capm =
rf + β (rm -rf)
rf = risk free rate
3.00%
β = Beta
0.880
rm = return on the market
10.00%
Capm =
9.16%
(4)
The average historical equity premium is 6.9%, so 7% is an estimate for the risk premium (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2013).
The average Capm rate is equal to 6.52% as calculated in the excel formula which is attached. The expected return for Ford Motor Group is 7%. (Reilly & Brown, 2011) Using the model, the rate of return is 6.52%.
The cost of equity using the capital asset pricing model = Risk Free Rate + Beta * Market Risk Premium = 3+0.88*3= 11.64 (French, 2003)
Ford has outstanding shares numbering 3.88 Billion while the market prices of its shares were costing 14.07 which amounts to a total of $54.5916 Billion. (Black, Jensen and Scholes, 1972)
The Capital Asset Pricing theory suggests that the cost of capital depends largely on how the asset was initially. The cost of the debt capital, the cost of the equity capital and the weighted average of the two depending on the debt and equity financing represents the actual cost of capital.
Dividend Growth Model versus CAPM
The CAPM is 0.916% compared to the 0.21154 %. The differences are not so high but the most logical one is CAPM which is about 1%. However the general trend for the Ford Motor Group has been retrogressive at around -0.3. (Appendix B)
Debt and Equity
Equity
According to Modigliani and Miller (1958) the cost of equity capital is mostly determined by the asset’s cost of capital and not the other way round.
Ford has outstanding shares numbering 3.88 Billion while the market prices of its shares were costing 14.07 which amounts to a total of $54.5916 Billion. The Capital Asset Pricing theory suggests that the cost of capital depends largely on how the asset was initially financed (Bierman & Smiddt, 1966). The cost of the debt capital, the cost of the equity capital and the weighted average of the two depending on the debt and equity financing represents the actual cost of capital. (Black, Jensen and Scholes, 1972)
Table 5
Market Value of Equity
Company name
Year 2013
Shares outstanding
3.88B
Price as of 14.07 per share
Market value of equity
54.5916B
26.83B
CAPM
6.52
Debt
Interest payments that are payable by lenders are all deductible from the ones or a company’s taxable income while the payments to shareholders as dividends are not. Most tax systems encourage the companies to use debt financing instead of equity. (Black, Jensen and Scholes, 1972) The higher the interest rates the higher the incentive. The interest expenses for Ford increased by 16.3% in 2013 while in 2012 it had decreased by 12.7%. The interest expense for Ford in the year 2013 and 2012 were 829 million and 713 million respectively. GM interest expenses decreased by 31.7% in 2013 while in 2012 the expenses decreased by 9.4%. The interest expenses for 2013 and 2012 were 334 Million and 489 Million respectively. (Bodie, Kane, Marcus, 2008)
The capital structure for Ford is mostly made up of borrowed money. In 2013, the long-term debts amounted to $114, 688 million while in 2012 and 2011 the debts amounted to 105, 058 and 99488 respectively. The total stockholder equity amounts to $26,383 Million and $15,947 million for the same period. Ford Company is highly levered and it needs to cut down on borrowing. General Motor’s long term debts amounted to $6573 Million and $3424 Million for the year 2013 and 2012 while the total stockholders equity amounted to $42,607, $36,244 and $38120 for the years 2013, 2012 and 2011. Gm is relatively levered. (Markowitz, 1959)
The credit ratings for Ford currently are CCC+ from S & P performance of CC in 2012. Ford managed to pay its 9.9 Billion debts in the year 2014 and it helped to boost its credit rankings. Ford credit rankings place it in front of GM and Chrysler and they are currently fitting hard to avoid bankruptcy petition.
Table 6
Cost of Debt
Company name
2013
Long term debt
Current Portion of Debt
Total Debt
114.688B
–
114.688B
Cost of Debt %
7%
Tax Rate
40
(5)
Weighted Average Cost of Capital
Table 7
Weighted Cost of Capital Raw Data
Ford
Value $
%
Equity (Rs)
26.383B
18.7
Debt (Rb)
114.688
81.3
Total Value
141.071
100Rs
(6)
Ford
Value
%
Equity(Rs)
26.383
0.86635
Debt(Rb)
114.688
0.13365
Total Value
141.071
1
Rwacc
3.98%
Capital Budgeting Assumptions
The major assumptions are that the tax rate is 40%. Following the losses incurred by ford in its foreign branches no taxes were chargeable in 2013.
Competitive Review of Debt and Equity Mix
The average weighted cost of capital is higher for Ford than GM. In 2013, the WACC for Ford was 3.98% while for GM it was 3.16%. Ford Motor Group seems to be in a lot of debts compared to GM.
Competitive Review
GM
Value
%
Equity(Rs)
42.607
0.86635
Debt(Rb)
6.573
0.13365
Total Value
49.18
1
Rwacc
3.16%
Capital Structure Theories
According to Modigliani and Miller (1958) the cost of equity capital is mostly determined by the asset’s cost of capital and not the other way round.
Ford has outstanding shares numbering 3.88 Billion while the market prices of its shares were costing 14.07 which amounts to a total of $54.5916 Billion. The Capital Asset Pricing theory suggests that the cost of capital depends largely on how the asset was initially financed (Bierman & Smiddt, 1966). The cost of the debt capital, the cost of the equity capital and the weighted average of the two depending on the debt and equity financing represents the actual cost of capital. (Black, Jensen and Scholes, 1972)
Some theories of the Capital assets pricing model, have been applied in relation to heterogeneous beliefs (Merton, 1987) and risk free lending rate elimination (Black, 1972)
Summary
Ford Motor Group is a Gross Profit 7.9% in 2013 as opposed to 2012 when it decreased by 5% from the previous year. The GP for General Motors on the other hand increased by 70% in the year 2013 while in the year 2012 it decreased by 43%. The net profit for Ford for the same period increased 26% in 2013 while in 2012 it decreased by 72%. GM registered a 13.7 % reduction in 2013 while in 2012 it registered a further reduction of 32.7%. The total shareholder’s equity for Ford increased by 65.5% in 2013 while in 2012 it increased by 6%. General Motor’s shareholders equity increased by 17.6% in 2013 while in 2012 it decreased by 4.9%. In 2012 Ford Motor Group reduced its total liabilities by almost 70% while GM increased its total liabilities by 15.6% in 2013. The sales revenue for Ford increased by 10% in 2013 while GM sales for the same period increased by 2.1%. Ford total sales revenues increased from $133,559 million in 2012 to $146,917 million in 2013. GM sales for the same period were 152256 million and 155427 million from the same period respectively. The interest expenses for Ford increased by 16.3% in 2013 while in 2012 it had decreased by 12.7%, GM interest expense decreased by 31.7% in 2013 while in 2012 it decreased by 9.4%. (Bodie, Kane, Marcus, 2008)
The ratios for Ford also indicate that the liquidity ratios are above average for all the years for Ford Motor Group. The current ratios were 2.11, 2.32, 2.26 for the years 2013, 2012 and 2011. The quick ratios also indicated a positive trend. The Times interest earned for the year 2013 for ford were 9.45, 11.83 and 11.63 for the years 2013, 2012 and 2013. The interest cover for the same period indicated the same results like Times interest earned. (Drucker, 1999)
The ford Family owns 2% of the company while the employees number about 181,000. It has a market capitalization of $54.65 Billion and its shares are currently trading at $14.09 dollars with a yield of 3.5%. (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2013) The net assets turnover for Ford decreased by 2.5% in the year 2013 as compared to a 50% increase in the year 2012. GM registered a decrease of 13% in its net assets turnover in the year 2013 while in the year 2012 it experienced an increase of 6.5%. The dividend per share for Ford in 2013 and 2012 was 0.4 and 0.2 respectively. This represented a return of 22% to the shareholders in 2013 while in 2012 it was 23%.
Ford Motor Group has a great potential to return to great profitability and also be able to pay off all its outstanding debts. The Current ratios and the quick acid test ratios indicate that Ford Motor Group is has a stable liquidity and with the right leadership it would be able to make more profits like the earlier years. Given all these factors I would definitely invest my money in Ford Motor Group but I would be cautious besides I would also be requiring a plan on how the management of the company would be proposing to settle the huge loans that it owes several financiers. Ford may be earning some profits but it has a lot of debts that are four or five times its total equity. The classification of shares as common shares and also class B shares that have unequal voting rights is also some disquietedness among the shareholders.
Reference
Adams, S. (2008) Fundamentals of business economics. Financial Management (UK), 46–48. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database.
Bierman, H. and Smidt. S. (1966).The Capital Budgeting Decision—Economic Analysis and Financing of Investment Projects. New York: Macmillan Company
Bodie, Z., Kane, A., Marcus, A. J. (2008). Investments (7th International Ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill. p. 303.
Black, F., Jensen, M.C. and Scholes, M. (1972) “The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Some Empirical Tests,” in Studies in the Theory of Capital Markets. Michael C. Jensen, ed. New York: Praeger, pp. 79–121
Black, F. (1997) “Capital Market Equilibrium with Restricted Borrowing,” Journal of
Business. July, 45:3, pp. 444–55.
Drucker, F. (1999) Management Challenges of the 21st Century. New York: Harper Business.
Fama, E. F, French, K. R (2004). “The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 18 (3): 25–46.
financial problems and make effective business decisions. New York: McGraw-Hill.
French, C. W. (2003). “The Treynor Capital Asset Pricing Model” Journal of Investment Management 1 (2): 60–72.
Garrison, R., Noreen, W. & Brewer, P. (2009) Managerial Accounting, McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Higher Education.
Khan, M. (1993) Theory & Problems in Financial Management, Boston: McGraw Hill
Luenberger, D. (1997). Investment Science, Oxford University Press
Modigliani, F. and Miller, M. (1958) “The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance, and the Theory of Investment,” AmericanEconomic Review, June, 48:3, pp. 261–97.
Markowitz, H. (1959) Portfolio Selection: Efficient Diversifications of Investments. Cowles Foundation Monograph No. 16. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Merton, R. (1997). “An Intertermporal Capital Asset Pricing Model.” Econometrica, September,
41, pp. 867–87.Merton, R.C. 1987.
Reilly, F. & Brown, K. (2011) Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, (10th Edition) South-Western College
Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., & Jaffe, J. (2013) Corporate finance (10th Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Vance, D. (2003) Financial analysis and decision making: tools and techniques to solve
Information Management Assignment: Sky High Airlines Report
Order Instructions:
The Assignment is a term paper for Logistics, Procurement and Supply chain management for Sanford university.
I need to submit it on 9 Nov 2014 and I am not a native english speaker so i need a paper that does not look plagiarized.
The total word is 1750. However, i will manage 100 words. Please use UK English Harvard business style APA 6
SAMPLE ANSWER
Information Management Assignment: Sky High Airlines Report
Introduction
Technology has become one of the strategies for attaining competitive edge in many companies. It is however important that companies carry out in-depth evaluation and analysis of technologies before adopting to overcome challenges inherent. This report provides an analysis and recommendations concerning introduction of an integrated booking system based on that of Fresh Air (South African airline) into Sky-High Airlines. The report outlines ways in which the new IT strategy will benefit Sky High Airlines. It as well identifies key challenges of Sky High Airlines transitioning to this integrated system. A detailed recommendation for effective implementation of the strategy is as well discussed.
Overview of Sky-High Airlines
The airline market share has reduced due to increased conglomerates of airlines focusing on low costs strategy. This competition has threatened Sky-High Airlines that provides luxury travel at a premium price to rethink its corporate strategy. Various options have emerged to counter the competition. Acquisition of Fresh Air by Sky-High Airlines to expand the market to South Africa is motivated by its leading booking system based upon open source technologies. The chief information officer of the company as well as CEO believes this technology is a source of competitive advantage. Some quarters such as CEO believe that the Sky-High Airlines should not adopt IT since its unnecessary expense that will cost too much money hence it should focus on traditional efficiency techniques and redundancies.
Ways new IT strategy can benefit Sky High Airlines
Significant number of research studies has linked firms’ investments in IT with overall competitive advantage as they pursue superior performance. Adoption of technologies in the operations of the companies remains an area of opportunity that Sky High Airlines need to take advantage of.
Integrating the booking system will benefit Sky High Airlines in many ways. The company will incur fewer costs in implementing the technology, as it will build on the already established open source system of Fresh Air. The fact that Fresh Air has a system in place; it will not cost a lot for the company. Furthermore, the time it will take to implement the technology will be reduced allowing the company to accrue the benefit relating to the technology (Orlikowski, 1992).
The firms’ competitive ability to create and capture value through positioning in the industry is improved. SHA stands a chance of competing favorably in the market courtesy of the technology. SHA will improve efficiency in its bookings, as customers will not have to experience delays in their bookings. The increased customer base is going to boost the profitability of the company making it compete effectively in the current market (Feller, Finnegan, Fitzgerald, & Hayes, 2008).
This integration will allow SHA to complement its previous accumulated resources, as the company will unlock its value from the existing underlying investments. This will allow the airline an opportunity to remain competitive in the market as it will accrue profits from the reduced resource utilization (Drnevich & Croson, 2013).
According to the flexibility-based theories, the firm has the ability to quickly respond to changes in an effective manner which ensures that there is improvement in the efficiency (prices minus cost). By SHA adapting to this technology it will improve in its efficiency hence the firm will minimize its costs of engaging in business. Customers will be able to use this technological platform to book their tickets easily. Flexibility will as well increase effectiveness by enabling them to seize every opportunity that will help it accrue extra ordinary profits. Through this booking system, customers will be able to make enquiry easily and well as follow up, on their progress without necessarily having to appear at the airplane physical premises
Key challenges of Sky High Airlines transitioning to an integrated system
Even though the company will accrue some benefits as a result of transitioning to an integrated system, there are a number of challenges the airline will encounter.
One of the challenges is resistant to change. Various stakeholders hold varied opinions about adapting to this new technology. For instance, the CEO is not supporting this technology because of fear of increased cost. Such resistant will impact on the transitioning making the process long.
Another key challenge is selecting the most appropriate system that will better meet the expectations of the company. There are various software packages available in the market that the company can adopt (Feller, Finnegan, Fitzgerald, & Hayes, 2008). The two options to choose from is packaged and open sources software. Packaged software offers rich propositions in terms of broad and diffuse implications and in generation of energy. Such software are selected through a linear model of activities that includes identifying the user needs, evaluation of software on the basis of needs and then selecting the most suitable package. Open source software on the other hand are produced/created by a consortium of experts and are not sold these two options have their advantages as well as drawbacks and therefore, it would require the company to agree on the best modality something that may take quite some time delaying the process of transitioning (Samoladas, et al., 2012). The users at their own wish use free/open source software; they can copy and redistribute the software and can as well modify it to suit their own use.
Recommendations on effective implementation of the strategy
Implementing the strategy in the correct way will ensure that it succeeds. This however will require SHA to take adapt to appropriate strategy.
The company will have to create a conducive environment whereby all the stakeholders agree and support the integration process. A section of the stakeholders has indicated some resistance and this is likely to be an impediment. To avoid such, they should be made to understand the benefit of integrating to the new system through practical demonstrations on how the system works (Drnevich & Croson, 2013). They should as well be convinced through examples of the companies that have embraced the technology and how it is working for them. This will help to increase the level of resistance.
It is also recommended that the company carry out a SWOT analysis about packaged and free open source software to adapt to before making an appropriate decision. Even though open sources software is preferred, its strength, weaknesses, and threats and opportunities must be highlighted and assessed. This will ensure that the best decision is reached making the process of implementation easy and successful.
To implement the project well, it requires that the company come up with a defined process of strategic systems integration planning (SSIP) that will provide basis on the successful integration of the new technology. This is a cost-effective approach that allows better decisions making and improve the productivity of the system. Once SSIP process is in place, it is then easier for the company to implement and integrate new IT the deliverables as they are easily defined, resources and assigned (ArcView Associates, LLC, 2009).
The first step is managing the SSIP and organizational change. This is the initial step but continues in the other phases and if well deployed it continues throughout the life of an enterprise. At the start, the scope, work plans, tracking and reporting of the program are established to manage the introduction of the SSIP to gain executive-level support and commitment. It is also important to define the project team for the initial SSIP phase. The team will be required to carry out various functions such as to manage the project, manage the process change and organizational change and ensure commitment through organization communication and executive communications. In SHA, the combined team of IT from all the branches of the airline, business representatives and customers must have insight in the business process (ArcView Associates, LLC, 2009).
The second phase is assessment of the current IT and business environments. The teams will review the current IT environment and business environment. They must engage leaders to understand the business direction, competitive situation, industry trends, and customer segments. To have a clear understanding of what the future has in store for the technology.
Internal IT environment require assessment including the data center telecommunications infrastructure, physical system architecture and infrastructure, deployed systems, applications users, application interfaces, and development process, access security, QA and test processes, databases and IT organization and management function among many others (ArcView Associates, LLC, 2009).
The industry trends should as well be assessed with attention focus to those that could affect current environment. The company is also required to consider and assess the IT solutions for their competitors. This will ensure that it avoids technology that is not going to be productive to their company.
The third phase is identification of opportunities and issue. Appropriate methodology should be adopted to develop process models may include high-level views and detailed data flow diagrams among many others (Basahel & Irani, 2009). Functional areas, process, functions, and inert process relationships should be defined. The model will be used in identifying the areas with gaps and to assess the maturity level of the new technology.
The fourth phase is development of an IT strategic plan that will provide an IT strategic direction (ArcView Associates, LLC, 2009). The plan with include application architecture, information architecture. IT team organizational structure and resources as well as technology strategy. The strategic vision is defined then reviewed and strategic options assessed putting into consideration the IT objectives, resource requirements limitations and business priorities of SHA .
The last phase is development of an IT tactical plan that will help in supporting the implementation of this technology (ArcView Associates, LLC, 2009). Various issues that could be an obstacle from IT, perspective or business are deliberated and amicable solution provided. Capacity of the SHA to accommodate this changes in process and business in IT facility while it serves its customers and operated effectively are considers and deliberated on. Other issues that SHA would assess include, impact of external entities, whether deliverables and priorities will be redefined, financial trade off, improved business processes and competitive level among others.
The development plan should illustrate the overall costs, benefits risks and impacts. It should as well show the alternatives of deployment considered and provide schedule for the required developments projects and migrations. By adhering to these recommendations, integration process will be smooth and SHA will be able to achieve its plans.
Marketing opportunities
The airline has an opportunity to expand and accrue higher prices through marketing initiatives. To ensure that the company remains competitive in the market, it should adopt the following strategies. One is use the internet to market its services, second is to improve its services to attract more customers and lastly is for the company to increase its adverts on traditional media such as television, radio and print media. Internet has become widespread and many potential customers will be able to access to the company services through platforms such as social media, blogs and twitter among others. Improvement of services provided is yet another important market strategy that will help the company attract more customers who require value for their money. Using traditional media such as TV and radio will as well increase information supply in the public domain triggering increase in number of customers. These marketing ideas rhyme with the goals and future objectives of the organization of remaining competitive in the market. The company, through these marketing strategies will capture huge market base making it achieve economies of scale that will enable it gain a competitive edge. Increased number of customers’ presents an opportunity to the company to increase its branches and improve its services. It will be able to provide better services to the customers and carry out a growth strategy by expanding in other areas.
Assignment Brief Part B
Before handling this assignment, my knowledge on open source software was limited. I could not imagine that various software were available free of charge on the internet. As a business oriented individual, it is important to seek for more information pertaining to the requirements to start a business. This information is accessible through various platforms on the internet. Some of these sources are credible and provide in depth information on the best strategies, technologies, or networks to adopt in doing a business.
In any business, it is required that people innovate and use their skills and knowledge well to impact positively on their business. Regardless of the fact that open source software is available, it is not always that this software will work in an entity. It is therefore important to evaluate the organization needs and capability before adopting such software.
Through this assignment, I must attest to the fact that my level of knowledge about open source software has increased. I can now operate and even manage a company IT system smoothly to help it in attainment of their goals and objectives.
I have identified various issues that pertain to this assignment. One is that, it is possible to get grants and assistance to help already existing businesses to innovate and grow to achieve their success. This is an opportunity that many people lacks and if they can get such assistance, it is likely to improve the kind of software they adopt. It is also important for business to seek for advices and support to enable them engage in their businesses well. This support and advice widens the scope of thinking of the people in the business and as well may impact on technology.
References
ArcView Associates, LLC. (2009). Strategic systems integration planning.
Basahel, A., & Irani, Z. (2009). Evaluation of strategic information systems planning (SISP) techniques: Driver perspective, European and Mediterranean conference on information systems, Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Drnevich, P., & Croson, D. (2013). Information technology and business-level strategy: toward an integrated theoretical perspective. MIS Quarterly, 37(2): 483-509.
Feller, J., Finnegan, p., Fitzgerald, B., Hayes, J. (2008). From peer production to productization: A study of socially enabled business exchanges in open source service networks, Information systems research, 19(4): 475-493.
Orlikowski, W. (1992). The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations, Organization Science, 3(3): 398-427.
Samoladas, I et al., (2012). Exploring the quality of free/open source software: A case study on an ERP/CRM system. Department of Informatics, Aristotle University
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Day 5 respond to two of your colleagues’ postings, giving priority to those that have fewer than two responses so far. In your responses, be sure to address the following:
•Address the content of each colleague’s statement, as well as his or her alignment to the worldview types noted in the course text.
•Pose a follow-up question to each colleague for further Discussion.
•Link each colleague’s posting to other colleagues’ postings or to other course materials and concepts, where appropriate and relevant.
•Include proper APA citations for the course text, readings, and any external sources consulted in the preparation of your posting.
Colleague #1 ( Simon)
My personal worldview and research mindset
Research is the testing of a theory about something with the hope that such theory can be confirmed. Theory can also emerge from data that has been collected particularly when we are not beginning with constructs. Research helps in providing the needed information to avoid guesswork. Guess work brings about a lot of inaccuracies, which are avoided once a good piece of research work is done on a provided problem statement. The approach in the research design could be qualitative, quantitative or a combination of the two. In my own worldview opinion, a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches is a better option to be able to gain close to accurate information. In choosing the combination approach, the key purpose or objective is to come up with procedures that aid in translating the theoretical aspects into practice (Creswell, 2009, p.5). The four worldviews or paradigms of Postpositivism, Constructivism, Advocacy/participatory and Pragmatism are aimed at providing a broad understanding from which one can chose a worldview of their choice or a combination of the above as well.
The worldview research approach I prefer is that which encourages more open-ended questioning as the researcher listens carefully to what people say or do in their life settings in this case referred to as social constructivism (Creswell, 2009, p.8). Qualitative research being alluded to here is exploratory and used when the researcher does not know the important variables to examine. My background affects the way I look at research with a search for the truth that works using mixed methods research for better problem understanding. Of course it has to be noted that the research problem or issue being studied determines the choice of the research design. My personal experience is that of making up close observation that is best realized through the qualitative approach.
Qualitative approaches that I have narrowed down to and that I prefer in my worldview, give room for being innovative, creative and encourage critical thinking as well as being open minded with a passion that leads to a study of a lot of literature while paying attention to detail. In the video, it was suggested as well that one begins qualitative to develop a phenomenon, develop some hypotheses about that phenomenon from a qualitative work that can later be tested quantitatively. Regardless of whether qualitative or quantitative method is used, it should be noted that research is an engaging and tedious process, which calls for good planning, being methodical, designing and being one’s own skeptic. A character of humility is helpful to give room for others to criticize my work.
References:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Theory. Baltimore: Executive Producer.
Colleaque #2 ( kevin)
Personal Worldview
I am a serial entrepreneur striving to break out of the job class into the business class of society through innovative, disruptive technology commercialization. Through God’s grace, I have trained in multiple industries from software, photography, and transportation to arrive at a skill set capable of handling the responsibility of leadership over employee’s lives and families. The doctoral program will complete my educational background and bring the recognition necessary to secure the quality management staff and knowledgeable funding stream for a successful startup corporation.
My worldview closely resembles the postpositivist worldview, due to my search for knowledge through trail and error methods of accepting and rejecting a hypothesis. In addition, I strongly rely on scientific data and evidence to shape a refinement to the original hypothesis, but can see an intuitive leap through the raw data, which is where my idealism side manifests. Critical realism is my true worldview, which sees tendencies and searches for the underlying general cause to the phenomenon, rather than an observable positivist solution (Bisman, 2010). Many answers are unobservable, but still hold firm in the face of challenging arguments and I seek to add to the knowledge using this research method.
***** please answer each colleague individually along with 2 references each !!!!!
SAMPLE ANSWER
Personal Worldview
Colleague #1 Simon
It is good that you understand what research is and the purpose it serves. In addition to this, you need to be aware that research not only confirms theories, but also enables us to come up with new ones, adjust or accept existing theories, or nullify the theory altogether (Merrian, 2009). We also avoid guess work about what we are researching on because research uses scientific principles to come up with reliable conclusions in all fields. It is through research, you should be aware, that discoveries are made and unsolved problems find answers. Being conversant with the various research designs is useful if you are to select the most appropriate one for your kind of study. Apart from the three approaches you have mentioned, you should also be aware of advocacy/participatory research, whose main goal is to bring a positive impact upon the life of the research subject (Creswell, 2009 ). Your choice of a combination of quantitative and qualitative approach, also called pragmatic approach, is appropriate since it is more flexible since you may apply the techniques that are used in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The mixed method approach to research is also most ideal because it appreciates the facts that each method has its own limitations, and so employing both methods somehow neutralizes the likely biases. It also has the benefit of triangulation, which allows for the use of data from various sources. Worldviews are important and helps in appropriately selecting the type of research design. Social constructivism, as a world view, regards human being as living in different social realities and researcher’s goal in this case is to gain an understanding about what is being researched, as opposed to making predictions (Neuman, 200). The most preferred method of research by most social constructivists are qualitative methods, but to avoid bias because of its subjective nature and inability of generalization of results, mixed method increases research credibility. There are several questions few questions though that you need address. What research approach would you use to ensure accuracy and that you conclusions are not biased? How would you know that your theories are accurate?
Colleague #2 Kevin
Positivism worldview relies heavily on scientific evidences and this is especially suitable for you. Positivists view the world realistically and apply a great deal of science in testing of hypothesis. Your real world view is, however, critical realism, which is a pragmatic approach. Post positivists require that you carefully observe and measure objectively the reality existing in the environment (Silverman, 2010). The most appropriate research design in this case is quantitative research, since it is best suitable for your worldview preference. There is however more freedom of using other research techniques as you may prefer, as long as you meet your intentions. The data you collect here also needs to be subjected to statistical analysis. Unlike social constructivism, critical realism possesses explicit values, which are very precise. You need to know that you need to have a hypothesis, and not necessarily one hypothesis, but several of them can be used, and you need to establish their relationships through examining the variables, since your research relies on quantitative research method (Borg, 2004). Some questions worth considering here include what data collection method would you use for your research? What reasons would you have for your preferred data collection method? And finally, what types of questions would you include in your questionnaire?
References
Borg. B.L. (2004) Qualitative Research Methods.Boston: Pearson.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Merriam, S.B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
Neuman, W. L. (2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Silverman, D. (2010). Doing qualitative research (3 ed.): Sage.
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Nursing Leaders as Change Agents at the Public Policy Table
Order Instructions:
This paper is basically the conclusion of the policy change proposal paper so it is important that writer respond to the question below base on that assumption that she is an advance nurse practitioner. follow the question carefully and respond to the questions below detaily.
Throughout the policy change proposal paper, you have had many opportunities to debate public policy related to health reform. As an advance practicing nurse, explain how you see your role as a public policy change agent. Has your thinking changed since you started written your policy change paper from the first week, and if so, how?
SAMPLE ANSWER
Nursing Leaders as Change Agents at the Public Policy Table
Reforms are part of the public policy initiatives aimed at improving provision of healthcare. As an Advance Nurse Practitioner, I can say that my role as a public policy change agent has been beyond approach. I have participated in the reforms by providing information and suggestions on the best decisions to ensure that reforms benefit the target members of the society (Benton, 2012). Most of the time I have, depended on evidence based research to gather information about the need for reforms and the best strategies to inform the same.
My role as a policy change agent has been as a leader. I took a leading role in guiding the team members and providing a conducive environment for the team to deliberate on the best options and decisions. This opportunity to me has opened my scope of thinking and understanding about public policy and the need to championing reforms in healthcare to ensure that quality care is accessed by all the people (Lockett et al., 2014).
This opportunity to write a policy paper has not only allowed me to explore on the public health challenges but it has changed my thinking in many ways. From the onset of the paper from the first week, I must attest that it has been a fulfilling experience. The opportunity has enabled me to think deeper and to analyze more information on the topic. This analysis allowed me widened my scope of thinking. Through brainstorming and closer interrogation of various literatures, it was possible to come up with different strategies that allowed me to come up with appropriate tactics and strategies to formulate and institute policy change at manageable cost (Jadelhack, 2012).
This experience has therefore, to greater magnitude helped me to have a deeper understanding of reforms in public policy and the appropriate strategies to implement the reforms to ensure success.
The decision about whether or not to screen for a condition can be quite controversial. However, even in the case of noncontroversial screening programs, such as blood pressure screening, there will always be factors that argue for and against the implementation of the screening program.
In preparation for this week’s Discussion, consider the following controversial screenings: genetic screening for breast or prostate cancer, mandatory HIV screening, and obesity screening of school-aged children. Consider the pros and cons of screening for each of these health issues.
Post by Day 4 a response to the following:
Please describe the topic you selected and give some background about factors that contribute to a decision whether or not to implement the screening program within the population at large or within a subgroup of the population.
Choose and “claim” a side to argue-either pro or con-and provide an argument, supported by scholarly evidence and properly referenced, for the side you chose.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Genetic Screening for Breast or Prostate Cancer
Factors that contribute to a decision of whether or not to implement the genetic screening for breast or prostate cancer within a population of adult patients are varied. One of the factors is the history of breast or prostate cancer. According to (Caltabiano & Ricciardell (2013), breast or prostate cancer have a history of how they are transmitted and how long it takes for the bacteria to cause symptoms in the body, what happens if treatment is given, and what happens if treatment is not dispensed. Another factor that can make the disease to be screened is because it has preclinical or asymptomatic stage, whereby, the individual is diseased but is not showing symptoms (Caltabiano & Ricciardell, 2013). Breast or prostate cancer takes many years to begin to develop and, therefore, screening is recommended. The other important factor that could lead to screening of breast or prostate cancer is because the treatment that could be provided at an early stage would result in a more favorable outcome for the individual, than if the treatments were administered after symptoms appear.
Miller, Ashar, Sisson and Johns Hopkins University (2010) attest that medical practitioners may not recommend genetic screening for breast or prostate cancer because of its respective cons. One of the cons is that normal screening results do not guarantee healthy genes in that, if a patient tests negative for the breast or prostate mutations, but the presence of mutation is not confirmed in a family member with the respective cancer, the patient is still considered high risk. Another con is that close monitoring with regular tests does not always succeed in detecting breast or prostate cancer (Miller, Ashar, Sisson & Johns Hopkins University, 2010). Some patients end-up being diagnosed with later-stage disease despite the best screening techniques. Another reason why a medical practitioner would argue against genetic screening for breast and prostate cancer is that for some patients, abnormal tests can trigger anxiety, depression, or even anger, which can complicate the disorder further.
References
Caltabiano, M. L., & Ricciardelli, L. (2013). Applied topics in health psychology. Chichester,West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Miller, R. G., Ashar, B. H., Sisson, S. D., & Johns Hopkins University. (2010). The Johns Hopkins internal medicine board review 2010-2011: Certification and recertification. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby/Elsevier.
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U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Order Instructions:
formed Consent
The concept of informing participants of what they participating in during a research study along with informing them of all possible side-effects, or outcomes, of their participation has only been in place for the last 50 years. The Declaration of Helsinki was the first documentation to state that any research involving humans needs to include informed consent of participants.
Review the historic perspective studies listed in this week’s reading. Then summarize one of the following explaining its role in the development of ethical research practices:
U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Jesse Gelsinger – Gene Therapy Trial
Ellen Roche – Asthma Study
SAMPLE ANSWER
U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
The following discussion will indulge in examining the role of U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the development of ethical research practices. One of the roles of HIPAA in the development of ethical research practices is enhancing education of health care researchers and patients. HPPAA suggests that the ability to share patient information across the continuum of health care increases the responsibility to protect that information. According to Nass, Levit, Gostin and Institute of Medicine (U.S.) (2009), not only should patients be informed about the practices for the use and disclosure of their information, but they must also be given written consent to use and disclose the information for treatment, payment and health care operations. Another role of HIPAA in development of ethical research practices is protection of patients involved in the research from harm and preserving their rights as an essential to ethical research practice (Nass, Levit, Gostin & Institute of Medicine (U.S.), 2009). This is because ethical health research is vital to improving human health and health care. Therefore, HIPAA requires research to obtain individual authorization in all situations where the individual to be studied may want to disclose information for the research.
HIPAA also has a role in developing ethical research practices by condemning discrimination and all other vices in conduction health care research. In fact, HIPAA provides that ethical research practice can only be felt if strict punishments are offered to those researchers who do not abide by the provisions of HIPAA and Privacy Rules (Grove, Burns & Gray, 2013). HIPAA dictates that failure to observe the set standards in research can lead to severe civil or criminal penalties, which can be as high as $250,000, and/or prison terms of 10 years for those who sell, transfer, or use individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage, malicious harm, or for personal gain.
Reference
Grove, S. K., Burns, N., & Gray, J. (2013). The practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence. St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier/Saunders.
Nass, S. J., Levit, L. A., Gostin, L. O., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2009). Beyond the HIPAA privacy rule: Enhancing privacy, improving health through research. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
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Mini-Case Study: Cash Flows at Warf Computers, Inc.
Order Instructions:
I have attached a documents containing information that will be use in completing this paper. It is critical that the writer pay attention to details for this paper and all calculations must be clearly shown where require. The writer must respond to the 3 questions asked in the mini case as indicated in the assignment requirement.
This case study, found on page 42 and 43 of the attachment , deals with a small computing firm that has developed a new, unique product and has decided to seek outside funding. You have been asked to help prepare the necessary financial statements. After reading the case study:
• Complete the financial statement of cash flows and the accounting statement of cash flows.
• Briefly answer the three additional questions referencing cash flows and expansion plans found on page 43 (2-3 sentences each).
Remember to include proper APA citations in all Mini-Case Study assignments.
Resources
• Articles
• Adams, S. (2008, February). Fundamentals of business economics. Financial Management (UK), 46–48. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database.
This article provides an analysis of the principal-agent problem and discusses some of the ways that many companies address the issue.
• Rappaport, A. (2006, September). Ten ways to create shareholder value. Harvard Business Review, 66–77. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database.
In this article, the author states his belief that there are certain principles that when followed will result in increased shareholder value for a company. He provides a review of the 10 steps he has found to be most important and provides a brief description of each.
• Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. (1997). A survey of corporate governance. Journal of Finance, 52(2), 737–783. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database.
The authors use a survey instrument to study how financial suppliers use corporate governance to assure that they receive a return on their investment.
• Almazan, A., Banerji, S., & DeMotta, A. (2008). Attracting attention: Cheap managerial talk and costly market monitoring. Journal of Finance, 63(3), 1399–1436. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database.
This article presents a new theory as to the best way to increase shareholder value by seeking market attention while the firm is undervalued
Readings
•Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., & Jaffe, J. (2013). Corporate finance (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
?Chapter 1, “Introduction to Corporate Finance”
This chapter introduces some of the basic ideas in corporate finance; namely, capital budgeting, capital structure, and cash flows. In addition, there is a discussion on maximizing the value of stock, one of the most important concepts in finance.
?Chapter 2, “Financial Statements and Cash Flow”
This chapter introduces and discusses basic corporate accounting procedures, as well as devices used to calculate a corporation’s cash flow from operations, changes in fixed assets, and changes in working capital.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
Cash flow statements final balance indicates the net cash flow in a business which reflects the balance of money which ultimately remains after deducting the total cash outflows flows from the cash inflows in a business for a particular financial period. (Vance, 2003) Payments and business expenses mostly form the cash outflows in a business while sales revenues, sale of assets and other incomes form the bulk of the cash inflows (Drucker, 1999). The company cash flows are as follows:
Table 1: Accounting Cash Flow
Table 2: Sources and Uses
Questions Answers
The Warf computer’s cash flow has a positive net cash flow. The cash flow from operations was the most active besides the cash flow from investing activities. (Garrison, Noreen & Brewer, 2009)
The cash flow of Warf computers indicate that the increase in fixed assets is much more that it was reported. These means that more assets were bought or alternatively the assets that had been reported as sold were still in the company’s record. (Ross, Westerfield & Jaffe, 2013)
The two methods of compiling the cash flow statement are direct and indirect methods. The indirect method is preferable as it reveals more information on the operations of the firm and it’s more commonly used. It starts with cash from operating activities which can be the net income of the company or the balance of the retained earnings in the balance sheet changes. (Khan, 1993)
Nicks expansion could be affected by the highly levered firm. The company has a lot of debts and its current assets and current liabilities are almost on the range of 1:1 when they should be 1:2 respectively as per the current assets and the current liabilities. (Vance, 2003)
The Cash flow coverage = Net cash flow/ interest Expense
The Cash Flow Coverage = 47/105
= 44.76 %
The interest coverage ratio is not sufficient. The net cash flow value is below the normal average of 50% and above. This ratio points out that the company is heavily indebted. (Adams, 2008)
However, the expansion strategy of Nick would receive a boost if the investment made would result in large profits for the company. The company has invested heavily on its fixed assets which increased by 30.5% from the year 2012 as per the balance sheet financial statements. The sale of stock to raise money for the expansion may work but the company needs to do more to generate and expand its revenue base. Advertisement and aggressive marketing strategies might do wonders for the Warf Computer Company.
References
Adams, S. (2008) Fundamentals of business economics. Financial Management (UK), 46–48. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database.
Drucker, F. (1999) Management Challenges of the 21st Century. New York: Harper Business.
financial problems and make effective business decisions. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Garrison, R., Noreen, W. & Brewer, P. (2009) Managerial Accounting, McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Higher Education.
Khan, M. (1993) Theory & Problems in Financial Management, Boston: McGraw Hill
Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., & Jaffe, J. (2013). Corporate finance (10th Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Vance, D. (2003) Financial analysis and decision making: tools and techniques to solve
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Resume for a nurse with masters degree that includes objective for a manager/surpervisor position
Order Instructions:
resume for a nurse with maters degree that includes objective for a manager/surpervisor position,
Work experience; worked in emergency depart 2006-2010), medical surgical unit (1997-2004), rehabilitation hospital 2006-2014, medical surgical hospital 2011-2014. home health care 2010-2012.
education– 1993-1996 RN, 2009-2011–BSN, 2011- 2013 MSN/MHA,.
Skills.Patient Care Team Leadership
Medconnect System Needs assessment
Strong clinical judgment Quality assurance
Chart analysis Patient/Family education
Epic Systems Resource advocacy
Medication Administration Venipuncture/blood draw expert.
Certificate;;;Registered Nurse License Active
Basic Life Support certification – Active
Member: Association of Rehabilitation Nurse
Committee member: NICHE Program
A self-driven, organized, result-oriented and detail-conscious individual who holds a bachelor of nursing degree from the University of South Queensland and a Masters Degree in Public Health from the same University. Has an overbearing interest in nursing and public health with a bias in emergency nursing and general home care. Enjoys working within a team environment and demonstrates the ability to be technically creative, communicate and interact with others and achieve efficiency and effectiveness in executing tasks. Displays an exceptional range of skills with additional strengths in the areas of problem solving, leading and managing others, together with a proven ability to build and maintain relationships.
Work Experience
Emergency depart (2006-2010) – During this placement, I worked mainly in the busy emergency department. I gained a good understanding of the wide variety of skills necessary for emergency nursing and also the pace of the ED. I developed a keen interest in emergency nursing and hope to specialize in this area.
Medical surgical unit (1997-2004) – I worked in the emergency department, oncology ward, and surgery. I learned to think outside the box and work under pressure as I developed skills of managing patients with special needs.
Rehabilitation hospital 2006-2014 – I gained experience in working in a hospital.
Medical surgical hospital 2011-2014 – Performed routine checks on equipment to ensure they are properly sanitized and cleaned.
Home health care 2010-2012 – Supervised junior nursing employees in their duties and assigned work accordingly.
Education and Qualifications
1993-1996 RN, Registered Nurse Program
2009-2011–BSN, Bachelor’s/ Master’s degree in nursing
2011- 2013 MSN/MHA
Key Skills and Competence
My key skills include Patient Care, Team Leadership, Med connect System Needs assessment, Strong clinical judgment, Quality assurance, Chart analysis, Patient and Family education, Epic Systems Resource advocacy, Medication Administration, venipuncture as well as being a blood draw expert. Memberships and Associations
Member: Association of Rehabilitation Nurse
Committee member: NICHE Program
Certificate: Registered Nurse License
Basic Life Support certification
Telenursing…the Future Is Now Paper
Guidelines and Grading Rubric
PURPOSE
The purpose of this assignment is to explore the specialty of telenursing as one example of the use of technology in various practice settings. Advantages and disadvantages for the patient and legal and ethical principles for the nurse of this technology will be explored.
COURSE OUTCOMES
This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes:
CO #2: Investigate safeguards and decision-making support tools embedded in patient care technologies and information systems to support a safe practice environment for both patients and healthcare workers. (PO #4)
CO #6: Discuss the principles of data integrity, professional ethics, and legal requirements related to data security, regulatory requirements, confidentiality, and client’s right to privacy. (PO #6)
POINTS
This assignment is worth a total of 200 points.
DUE DATE
Your completed Telenursing…the Future Is Now paper is due at the end of Week 4. Submit it to the basket in the Dropbox by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. mountain time. Post your questions to the weekly Q & A Forum. Contact your instructor if you need additional assistance. See the Course Policies regarding late assignments. Failure to submit your paper to the Dropbox on time will result in a deduction of points.
BACKGROUND
Our text (Hebda, 2013) provides us with a broad perspective on telehealth. However, the specialty of telenursing is only briefly discussed. Healthcare is readily embracing any technology to improve patient outcomes, streamline operations, and lower costs. This technology includes the use of various applications based in various environments where registered nurses indirectly provide professional nursing care.
SCENARIO
The following scenario serves as the basis for your paper:
Manuel, one of your colleagues, is considering leaving his medical-surgical position where both of you have worked for the past 12 years. In fact, he has an interview in two weeks for a Telenurse Specialist position at a nurse-owned home health agency. This agency monitors the elderly and those with chronic illnesses to keep them from being readmitted to the hospital. Manuel is doing some research on his own and knows that the hours sound great and the pay is comparable. One advantage is that he can work from home (telecommute) most of the time and only interface with the agency for required meetings.
Manuel knows you are enrolled in this course. You have discussed various concepts that you noted in your Syllabus including technology, privacy, confidentiality, interoperability, legal and ethical issues, and patients’ access to the World Wide Web, just to name a few. Manuel has shared that he does not know much about telehealth and the role of nursing in this “new” technology. He has asked you to educate him on the advantages and disadvantages to patients of telenursing. Frankly, he does not understand what he might be doing on a day-to-day basis. One concern is the technology that may be involved.
Manuel has indicated that he realizes the final decision about a career move will be his choice, but he is seeking your knowledge based on concepts presented in this course. He wants to be knowledgeable about the role of the professional nurse in this practice setting prior to his interview.
You tell Manuel that you will need to do some research and that you will get back to him about your conclusion and recommendation. You have heard of telenursing and how it can prevent patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and CHF (congestive heart failure) from being readmitted to the hospital, but you recognize that you will need to do much more investigation.
DIRECTIONS
1. You are to research (find evidence), compose, and type a scholarly paper based on the scenario described above. Reflect on what you have learned in this class to date about technology, privacy rights, ethical issues, interoperability, patient satisfaction, consumer education, and other topics. Your text by Hebda (2013, Chapter 25) discusses telehealth in detail. However, your focus should be on the professional nurse’s role in telehealth, such as telenursing. Therefore, do not limit your review of the literature to your text. Nurses in various specialties need to know about the advantages and disadvantages of telenursing as it applies to their patients. For example, when you discharge a patient from an acute care setting, will a telenursing service assist that individual with staying out of the hospital? You may need to apply critical thinking skills to development of your paper.
2. Use Microsoft Word and APA formatting to develop your paper. Consult the Publication manual of the APA, 6th edition if you have questions, for example, margin size, font type and size (point), use of third person, and so forth. Take advantage of the writing service, Smarthinking, which is accessed by clicking on the link called the Tutor Source, found under the Course Home tab. Also, review and use the various documents in Doc Sharing related to APA.
3. The length of the paper should be 4–5 pages, excluding the title page and the reference page. Limit your references to key sources.
4. The paper should contain an Introduction that catches the attention of the reader with interesting facts and supporting sources of evidence, which need to be mentioned as in-text citations. The Body should present the advantages and disadvantages of telenursing from a patient perspective. The Conclusion and Recommendations should summarize your findings and state your position on whether Manuel should accept the position should it be offered to him.
5. NOTE: Review the section on Academic Honesty found in the Chamberlain Course Policies. All work must be original (in your own words) unless properly cited. This assignment will automatically be submitted through Turnitin, a plagiarism detection system.
6. Submit the completed paper to the Telenursing…the Future Is Now Dropbox by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. mountain time at the end of Week 4. Please post questions about this assignment to the weekly Q & A Forum so that the entire class may view the answers.
GRADING CRITERIA
Category Points % Description
Introduction 50 25% The Introduction provides evidence of an information search including in-text citations of the sources of evidence. It catches the reader’s attention with interesting facts and supporting sources.
Body 100 50% Appropriate headings are used to delineate when the introduction ends. More than three advantages and three disadvantages are identified, discussed briefly, and supported by citations.
Conclusion and Recommendations 25 12.5% Appropriate headings are used, making clear the conclusion and recommendations based on solid evidence, privacy rights, and ethical principles, and so forth. Writing in the third person, state your position regarding whether your colleague should consider this position.
Scholarly Writing and APA Format 25 12.5% • Title page, running head, and page numbers. (3 pts.)
• Introduction, body, and conclusion/recommendations sections are clearly labeled. There is a logical flow between the sections. (10 pts.)
• Grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are correct. (2 pts.)
• Citations throughout demonstrate support of student’s ideas and opinions. (5 pts.)
• Reference page includes all citations. (3 pts.)
• Evidence of spell and grammar check. (2 pts.)
Total 200 100%
A quality assignment will meet or exceed all of the above requirements.
GRADING RUBRIC
Assignment Criteria A
Outstanding or Highest Level of Performance B
Very Good or High Level of Performance C
Competent or Satisfactory Level of Performance F
Poor or Failing or Unsatisfactory Level of Performance
Introduction
50 points Evidence of information search. Catches the reader’s attention with interesting facts and supporting sources that include citations to three or more scholarly sources.
46–50 points Evidence of information search. Catches the reader’s attention with interesting facts and supporting sources that include citations to two scholarly resources.
42–45 points Evidence of information search includes only one citation to scholarly resource.
No attention catching “hook” noted.
38–41 points Little or no evidence of information search. No citations provided and/or there is no attention-catching “hook.”
0–37 points
Body
100 points More than 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages from a patient perspective are identified and supported by citations.
92–100 points At least 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages from a patient perspective are identified and supported by citations.
84–91 points At least 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages from a patient perspective are identified and supported by citations.
76–83 points Only one advantage and one disadvantage from a patient perspective is identified and supported by citations.
0–75 points
Conclusion and Recommendation
25 points Conclusion is presented with recommendation based on solid evidence, personal privacy rights, and ethical principles supported by citations.
23–25 points Conclusion contains evidence for recommendation, but may lack persuasive use of privacy rights and/or ethical principles. Includes citations.
21–22 points Indicates conclusion and recommendation but does not address privacy rights and/or ethical principles.
19–20 points Fails to include conclusion or recommendation.
0–18 points
Scholarly Writing & APA Format
25 points • Title page, running head, and page numbers. (3 pts.)
• Minimum of three sections including the Introduction, Body, and Conclusions and Recommendations. Each section has at least three sentences. (10 pts.)
• Grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure are correct. (2 pts.)
• Citations throughout demonstrate support of student’s ideas and opinions. (5 pts.)
• Reference page includes all citations and no errors in format are noted. (3 pts.)
• Evidence of spell and grammar check. (2 pts.)
23–25 points • Minimal error in APA title page noted.
• Minimal errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and/or sentence structure noted.
• Citations are present but not in correct format.
• References are present, with minimal errors in format.
• Minimal red or green wavy lines within document.
21–22 points • Some errors in APA title page noted.
• Some errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and/or sentence structure noted.
• Citations are present but not in correct format.
• References are present, with some errors in format.
• Some red or green wavy lines within document.
19–20 points • Multiple errors in APA formatting.
• Multiple grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors noted.
• Citations are missing.
• References are missing or incomplete.
• No evidence of proofreading prior to submitting paper.
0–18 points
Total Points Possible = 200 points
Please, in the references include the book that we work on in the class
Hebda, T., & Czar, P., (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
In the guidelines it is requested to explain my position as a nurse.
I work as a Care Manager in the city hospital and providing education to the patients with chronic diseases like COPD, CHF, Diabetes to prevent re-admissions. And the patienst with CHF disease I refer to TeleHealth program to monitor and help to prevent re-admissions within 30days. Aslo, if the patient referred to home care agency after discharge , this agency provide TeleHealth services.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Telenursing
Technology advancement has largely contributed improved quality of service deliver in healthcare, which has rapidly driven its adoption. Many countries such as the United States and Sweden have embraced technology in their healthcare, and many others are following suit with an aim of enhancing quality and reducing the cost of accessing healthcare (Peeters et al., 2012). Telenursing has become popular in rendering healthcare to patients in various settings to improve patient outcomes, lower costs and streamline operations. Telenursing involves use of technology in provision of professional care. Telenurses who have multiple clinical experience are expected to work independently, make decisions about need for further care, and give self care advice or refer patients to another caregiver (Madoc-Jones et al., 2007). The paper deliberates on specialty of telenursing incorporating case study involving Manuel. It further deliberates on advantages and disadvantages and legal, ethical principles for telenurses.
Case Scenario
Manuel plans to leave his medical surgical position for a telenurse specialist position to work for an agency that monitors the elderly and people with chronic illnesses, so as to help them from being readmitted. However, he has no knowledge and experience as a telenurse. Therefore, the discussion explores on the various aspects in telenursing as well as benefits and drawbacks to help Manuel become familiar with the role awaiting him. Manuel works as a Care Manager in the city hospital and providing education to the patients with chronic diseases like COPD, CHF, Diabetes to prevent re-admissions and patients with CHF disease. He will use TeleHealth program to monitor and help to prevent re-admissions within 30 days. In addition, if the patient referred to home care agency after discharge this agency will provide TeleHealth services.
Call System Software
One of the technologies that telenurses employ in executing their mandate is the telephone. Telephone calls allow the telenurse to provide support and advice to patients at their remote locations. It is important therefore for telenurse to understand how to use this software to impact on their healthcare (Ernesäter, Holmström & Engström, 2009). There are different communication gadgets that are essential in facilitating communication. Telenurse understand the functionality of these systems, understand, the etiquette when communicating with clients. Some of the technologies that relates to telephone call system include central scheduling that permits certain patients to call and schedule their appointments and simplify tests.
Others such as speech-assisted automated attendant systems recognize voices and reduce staff overtime and other problems such as dropping of calls or negative patient interactions (Boye, 2006). Other types of telephone technologies in health setting include self-registered kiosks, wireless connectivity, master patient index computer terminals and online bill pay. Other useful technologies that a telenurse must understand how to use include, electronic health records, social media, tablets, Smartphone and computerized physician/provider order entry and clinical decision support among many others.
Advantages of Telenursing
Since inception and introduction of the concept of telenursing, various benefits have become evident in healthcare delivery. Researchers indicate that telenursing technologies have proved efficient in promoting quality healthcare especially in management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and chronic heart failure among others (Joseph, 2006). The rate of mortality and re-admission has also improved through telenursing services. Patients are able to access vital information and advice that helps them to manage their health conditions. Computerized decision support system is one of the valuable sources of information as it allows users to search and gather relevant information that impacts on the quality of health care (Ernesäter, Holmström & Engström, 2009). Through the decision support systems, accurate information is accessed and important tips on management of different patient situations is addressed helping in assessing the condition of patients in the best way.
Telenursing has become one of the most cost efficient approaches to rendering quality patient care. A patient will not have to travel to a health facility to receive care as this is done through the telephone calls. The patients, therefore, save money that otherwise they could have used to move from one point to another. Another advantage of telenursing from the perspective of the patient is that it is one way of saving time (Ernesäter, Holmström & Engström, 2009). A patient will just be required to receive a phone at their remote locations. This therefore, saves them time that they could have spent moving to and from a health facility. The other advantage of telenursing is that it improves or rather increases patients self-care ability (Hebda & Czar, 2013). The patient is given an opportunity to take care of themselves through the advices they are given through the call. A medical practitioner does not necessarily have to encounter the patient and this makes the patients to take initiative to manage their health conditions.
Use of home telecare is instrumental in improving patient independence and safety as well as provides support for those with chronic illness. Patients need not to worry about the shortage of nurses, as through the technology, many patients can be accessed (Ernesäter, Holmström & Engström, 2009). Patients as well have an opportunity to call and inquire about various issues such as medication to enhance their healthcare.
Disadvantages of Telenursing
Even though telenursing has a number of advantages, it as well has some disadvantages that nurses must look out for when delivering healthcare assistance to their patients. One of the disadvantages is that there is a risk of miscommunication between the caller and the receiver, which is likely to impact on the patient outcome. This is experienced especially when there are some barriers in the communication processes. For instance, when the patient is in a noisy environment, this is likely to affect the communication process leading to inappropriate medical advice (Ström, Marklund & Hildingh, 2009). This requires that the caller and the receiver/ patient communicate in a noise-free environment. Other forms of barriers such as semiotic, language can be avoided by ensuring that telenurses improve on their listening and communication skills to enhance the process of their patient assessment.
Another problem is that telenurses cannot see the patient to whom they are providing care (Pettinari & Jessop, 2001). This may have negative implication on their assessments and formation of opinion about the credibility of the caller as well as on the health condition of the patient. A patient may not be able to ascertain whether the caller is specialized and experienced in rendering the health care services or not. Therefore, these perceptions are likely to impact on the quality of care as sometimes the patient may develop negative attitude that may affect their recovery process. The caller as well may not be in a position to understand the exact health condition of the patient trough cellphone conversation.
Further disadvantage is the likelihood of conflicts ensuing between what is best for the patient and limited healthcare resources available. Nurses fear making wrong decisions, but if the resources available are not adequate, it may lead to ethical dilemma as some of the health providers may be referred to the healthcare system compromising on the patient care quality (Holmstrom & Hoglund, 2007).
Telenursing technologies are prone to security threats and other communication problems such as network problems that are likely to interfere with the communication process. During such instances, patients are likely to experience problems especially when they require assessment and advice from their telenurses and this may jeopardize the patient health outcome.
Conclusion
Telenursing is one of the professions that have taken healthcare to another level. With telenursing, various benefits have become evident. Patients save time, costs, and it promotes quality healthcare. Some disadvantages that nurses must look into include security threats and communication barriers among many others.
It is important for telenurses to understand legal and ethical practices in their duties. Even though technology is beneficial, it requires adherence to ethical practices such as respect, independence, autonomy, honesty, and integrity. When communicating, it is important for telenurses to be respectful to enhance communication. They are as well required to providw appropriate assessment based on evidence research to impact on the healthcare of the patient. There are a number of legal aspects that are important that telenurses need to consider in rendering their care, such as confidentiality and privacy. They must protect the privacy of their patients when communicating (Bohnenkamp, McDonald, Lopez, Krupinski, Blackett, 2004). They must not disclose information about their patients to third parties without the consent of the patient. Telenurses must also consider legal implications that relate to in appropriate use of telephone and communication gadgets. They are required to use the systems in an appropriate manner to provide accurate and sincere information to avoid any legal implications/consequences.
The opportunity before Manuel, even though is complex and challenging, it is recommended that he accepts it. Having experience in clinical settings serving as a medical surgeon for 12 years indicates that he has requisite skills and competence to provide care to patients suffering from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and CHF (congestive heart failure). Furthermore, he has a passion and if he is determined, he is going to learn how to use technology to render care. As a nurse, he should as well be ready to face challenging scenarios and yearn to grow in his career. I, therefore, support that he goes ahead and takes the job to help promote quality of healthcare and impact on patient outcome among his target population.
Hebda, T., & Czar, P., (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Holmstrom, I., & Hoglund, A. (2007) The faceless encounter: ethical dilemmas in telephone nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 16: 1865–1871.
Joseph, A. (2006). Care coordination and telehealth technology in promoting self-management among chronically ill patients. Telemed J E Health, 12(2):156–9
Peeters, J et al. (2012). Factors influencing the adoption of home telecare by elderly or chronically ill people: a national survey, Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21(21/22): 3183-193.
Pettinari C.J. & Jessop L. (2001) ‘Your ears become your eyes’: Managing the absence of visibility in NHS Direct. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36: 668–675.
