Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that
influence.
The character is Helen Keller
Use at least three (3) quality references Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
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This paper is a continuation of 113908, 114068 and it would be nice for the same writer to complete this paper as it is a continuation. The writer will develop an evaluation plan for the EBP that we have been working and will continue to work on. I will also upload the first part of the EBP paper which will help in also creating the evaluation plan. Bear in mind that they is the second part that will be written in the days ahead. It is also important that the writer note that this EBP is done base on WORK DONE IN A CLINICAL SETTING AND NOT A HOSPITAL. So the evaluation plan and every other aspect of the paper should be written with that in mind. And also taking into consideration that we are educating the patients and not the nurses or Dr.
It is very important that the writer research and use the different steps of how to create an effective evaluation plan before engaging on creating one here.
For this paper you will focus on how you will evaluate your change.
Building on work done in the clinical practicum setting this week, and looking toward work with the EBP, address the following:
• Attach a copy of your evaluation plan.
After creating your plan, Give a summary of the plan, including rationale for your evaluation methods at the end on the paper.
Evaluation is an important process that contributes significantly to the general understanding educational behavioral change processes. It is focuses on improving a certain program. It is also of benefit to other people who could be conducting similar kinds of programs and would want to conduct an evaluation as well (Oermann., 2013). Diabetic patients require close monitoring and management from the care givers. The health services offered to them should be of quality. It is for this reason that evaluation of the education offered to them is important (Thayer et al., 2016).
Process Evaluation
For the education of patients with type II diabetes, a process evaluation will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the program. A quasi-experimental design method will be used to conduct the evaluation. During the process, evidence Based Practice (EBP) will be used in conducting the process evaluation whereby the researcher will go through research that has previously been conducted by other scholars on evaluation of patient education on type II diabetes. The nurse will then examine the acquired findings and compare them to those obtained from conducting a process evaluation on patients in his/her clinical setting.
What will be Measured
The researcher will conduct an in-depth study on several peer-reviewed sources on assessment of education to patients with type II diabetes. Evidence will be sought on patient factors that are thought to change with such a program. These factors include; patient knowledge on diabetes, self-care skills, diabetes self-efficacy, well-being, depression, and most importantly the patient intention for future behavior. According to Duru, the most important indicator of behavior change after patient education is the intention of the patients to make changes after they have left the program (Duru, 2013).
Additionally, the research will also involve gathering evidence on patient perceptions in other clinical settings on the program. This is significant because it determines the effectiveness of the program. The satisfaction of patients in the program will also be assessed since it is an important indicator of behavior change process (Lewis et al., 2016). Patient views on what areas of the curriculum they felt were well handled and which areas did not receive enough attention or received excess attention will also be examined. Moreover, program trends such as parts of the program that patients do not need and which ones they need more will be evaluated as well. This will be important to the researcher since it will help him/her to modify the program based on previous successes or failures of a similar program in other institutions.
Data Analysis
According to Lewis et al, one of the key successes of evaluation is the ability to analyze data to obtain meaningful results and apply these results to enhance the functioning of the program (Lewis et al., 2014). Statistical analysis will be conducted for appropriate interpretation of the data to instill confidence in the conclusions that will be made from the collected data. For instance, each outcome from the study will be evaluated and compared to similar aspects of patients that will have enrolled in the patient education program.
From this study, the nurse will then identify the strengths, weaknesses, and flaws of the education program that the patients have been receiving in his/her clinical setting and contrast them with the gathered evidence. It is at this point that the examiner will go back to the drawing boarding and come up with appropriate adjustments on the education program based on the evidence he/she will have acquired from the scholarly sources he/she will have gone through.
Summary
The evaluation plan will start with a thorough research on patient education on type II diabetes from the available scholarly sources. The researcher will note down how the program has been working in other institutions. The goals, challenges, interventions, and successes of patient education will be determined. Then he/she will use the quasi-experimental design method to compare the program in other clinical settings to what they have been offering to determine whether they are on the right track. If not, the researcher will identify where they could be going wrong and do necessary changes.
Quasi-experimental design method
This research method was preferred because the study involves determining the perceptions of the patients on the program they have been attending. It is an important method of study since it aids the examiner to conduct research without interfering with the behavior of the participants. Examiner gathers evidence from several sources regarding the views of the patients on whether the program is useful or not. The use of this method also offers unique insights that can be used to promote patient outcomes.
References
Duru, O. K. (2013). Evaluation of the diabetes health plan to improve diabetes care and prevention. Preventing chronic disease, 10.
Oermann, M. H., & Gaberson, K. B. (2013). Evaluation and testing in nursing education. Springer Publishing Company.
Thayer, S., Chow, W., Korrer, S., & Aguilar, R. (2016). Real-world Evaluation of Glycemic Control Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Treated with Canagliflozin versus Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors. Current medical research and opinion, (just-accepted), 1-38.
Lewis, M. A., Bann, C. M., Karns, S. A., Hobbs, C. L., Holt, S., Brenner, J., … & Burton, J. A. (2014). Cross-site evaluation of the alliance to reduce disparities in diabetes clinical and patient-reported outcomes. Health promotion practice, 15(2 suppl), 92S-102S.
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In project Part 2, we create a schedule and accurate budget for your project. You need to focus on detailed cost estimating, scheduling, and cost justification. Estimating includes specific assumptions made during the estimating process, as well as quantities, unit prices, hourly rates for tasks, and accumulated totals. You must justify all of your costs; this includes direct, indirect, variable, fixed, and overhead.
The CP-2 Project Proposal will be structured with the following sections.
•Cover page including assignment, project title, course, and student contact information
•Executive summary summarizing the content from the entire document with quantifiable highlights, such as overall cost, duration, and so on
•Project scope statement describing the project
•Resource loaded WBS and schedule with proper grouping, indenting, and coding for approximately 25 to 40 line items. This also needs to include a work package, deliverables, and activities, activity relationships, activity durations, and activity resources.
•Cost estimates for each activity. Capital cost estimates should include building, franchise fees, equipment, and so on, if required for your project.
•Cost assumptions including a list of assumptions made when deriving your estimates
NOTE: Each section should include the detail as described above, along with a proper discussion about the included data as well as the project manager’s analysis and interpretation of the information.
Submission Requirements
•The assignment should be submitted as two files: one MS Word file for the scope statement and documentation excerpt for the WBS; and one MS Project file containing the project WBS, schedule, resource loading, and budget information.
•CP-2 must include a cover page.
•As a guide, the body of CP-2 should be between five and 10 pages in length (i.e., not including cover page, appendix, and MS Project file).
SAMPLE ANSWER
Executive Summary
The proposed project is aimed at developing software that would centralize the operations of Sparkle Enterprises Limited onto a single management platform for the purpose of improving resource allocation, operations management, and prioritization of the organization’s different operations/programs. Successful execution of the proposed project would help to significantly reduce the organization’s schedule delays and cost overruns. This project would be carried out over a period of 6 months starting January 16, 2016 and completing it on June 9 2016 at a cost of $172,000. One of the deliverables is new software that is tested and fully operational free of errors and satisfies the stipulated specifications.
Course Project Part 2
Project Scope Statement
Project scope, as Schmidt (2011) pointed out, is the part of project planning in which a listing of exact project deliverables, goals, deadlines, costs and tasks are determined and documented. The documentation of a project’s scope defines the project’s boundaries, explains the roles of every member of the project team and spells out the procedures for how the finished work would be validated and approved (Patanakul & Shenhar, 2012). The document might be called the scope statement. The proposed project is aimed at developing software that would centralize the operations of Sparkle Enterprises Limited onto a single management platform for the purpose of improving resource allocation, operations management, and prioritization of the organization’s different operations/programs. All the company operations would be managed in this new software.
In the project, new software would be designed, developed, tested and implemented at Sparkle Enterprises Limited that would allow the company to track its operations and effectively manage all current programs, future programs and/or operations in its portfolio. By developing and implementing the new software, Sparkle Enterprises Limited would have a better leverage on its limited resources through prioritization of operations, efficient allocation of resources, and provision of proactive management oversight which is helpful in the identification and mitigation of risks prior to their adverse impact on operations. Therefore, successful execution of the proposed project would help to significantly reduce the company’s schedule delays as well as cost overruns. Relevant permissions and access would be granted to the administrator or a particular designated individual who will be in charge of updating, managing, and viewing programs and operations. All programs and operations would entail integration of a virtual dashboard including the important metrics for the provision of consistency in the methodology of measuring the performance of the programs and operations. Programs and operations dashboards will display budget data, schedules, assigned resources, potential risks, in addition to attained milestones.
On the whole, the project comprises all the work that pertains to planning, designing, developing/programming, implementing and installing the new software for Sparkle Enterprises Limited. This would entail gathering functional requirements for the software and obtaining input from the company’s departments and users of the system, server configuration, technical and conceptual design and coding work, testing, troubleshooting, and implementation of the new software across the company. The project scope will also include training and/or operational manuals as well as troubleshooting guides. Following successful completion and implementation of the proposed project at Sparkles Enterprises Limited, the expected deliverables include the following:
Deliverable 1: New software that is tested and fully operational free of errors and meet the stipulated specifications whose descriptions are in the Project Scope Description based on the functional requirements.
Deliverable 2: New tested and operational software template allowing users to enter software metrics and data consistently.
Deliverable 3: A complete and comprehensive user’s manual providing stepwise instructions on the usage of the software.
Deliverable 4: A complete as well as comprehensive troubleshooting guide providing corrective steps or measures to the software users.
With regard to cost and deadline, the proposed project would be carried out for a period of 6 months starting January 16, 2016 and completing it on June 9 2016 at a cost of $172,000.
The table below shows the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders and members of the project team:
Name
Designation
Responsibilities
James Daniels
Sponsor
· Approving or denying requests for scope change as appropriate
· Evaluating requests for scope change need
· Accepting project deliverables
Margret Daniels
Project Manager
· Measuring and verifying project scope
· Facilitating requests for scope change
· Facilitating the assessments of requests for scope change impact
· Organizing and facilitating meetings for scheduled change control
· Communicating outcomes of requests for scope change
· Updating project documents after all scope changes are approved
Mary Roberts
Steering Committee
· Providing assistance to resolve issues arising from the project scope that are beyond the jurisdiction of the project manager
· Monitoring the progress of the project and providing necessary support and tools especially when project milestones are in jeopardized.
Bob Williams
Team Lead
· Measuring and verifying project scope
· Validating requests for the project scope change
· Participating in assessing requests for scope change impact
· Communicating outcomes of requests for scope change to the team
· Facilitating change review process at team level
Dave Jacobs
Team Member
· Participating in the definition of change resolutions
· Evaluating the need for changing the scope and subsequently communicating them to the project manager appropriately
Tom Smith
Team Member
· Participating in the definition of change resolutions
· Evaluating the need for changing the scope and subsequently communicating them to the project manager appropriately
Resource loaded Work Breakdown Structure and schedule
A Work Breakdown Structure is essentially understood as a chart wherein the crucial work elements, commonly referred to as tasks, of the project are shown to illustrate how they relate to each other and to the entire project altogether (Killen et al., 2012). It is worth mentioning that the Work Breakdown Structure’s graphical nature helps the project manager in predicting outcomes basing upon different scenarios, which could ensure that the best possible decisions are made with regard to whether or not to adopt suggested procedures (Colber, 2014).
For the proposed project, the Work Breakdown Structure is illustrated in the chart below:
The resources required to complete the project effectively comprise human resources including the project manager, programmers and system analyst; financial resources; and computer hardware resources such as computers, servers, a router, cables, backup devices, disk storage devices, and universal power supplies (UPSs).
Schedule
Task Name
Duration
Start
Finish
1
Scope
107 days
1/18/2016
1/29/2016
2
Determining project scope
1 day
1/30/2016
1/30/2016
3
Secure project sponsorship
2 days
1/31/20116
2/1/2016
4
Order preliminary resources
2 days
2/2/2016
2/3/2016
5
Secure core resources
5 days
2/4/2016
2/10/2016
6
Scope complete
0 days
2/10/2016
2/10/2016
7
Analysis of software requirements
20 days
2/11/2016
3/9/2016
8
Conduct analysis needs
2 days
2/11/2016
2/12/2016
9
Draft preliminary software requirements
2 days
2/13/2016
2/15/2016
10
Develop preliminary budget
2 days
2/16/2016
2/17/2016
11
Review software specifications/budget with members of the project team
1 day
2/18/2016
2/18/2016
12
Integrating feedback
1 day
2/19/2016
2/19/2016
13
Develop delivery deadline
4 days
2/20/2016
2/24/2016
14
Obtain approval to proceed
5 days
2/25/2016
3/2/2016
15
Secure the required resources
3 days
3/3/2016
3/7/2016
16
Analysis complete
0 days
3/8/2016
3/8/2016
17
Design
30 days
9/3/2016
4/19/2016
18
Review preliminary software specifications
2 days
3/9/2016
3/10/2016
19
Develop functional requirements
3 days
3/11/2016
3/15/2016
20
Develop prototypes
14 days
3/16/2016
4/4/2016
21
Review functional requirements
2 days
4/5/2016
4/6/2016
22
Incorporate feedback
8 days
4/7/2016
4/18/2016
23
Design complete
0 days
4/18/2016
4/16/2016
24
Development
35 days
4/19/2016
6/6/2016
25
Review functional specifications
3 days
4/18/2016
4/21/2016
26
Identify design parameters
10 days
4/22/2016
5/5/2016
27
Implement prototypes
22 days
5/6/2016
6/6/2016
28
Development complete
0 days
6/6/2016
6/6/2016
29
Testing the new software
8 days
6/7/2016
6/16/2016
30
Training
4 days
6/17/2016
6/22/2016
As illustrated in the schedule above, the entire project would last a total of 6 months. The human resources who would be required to ensure effective completion of the project are as follows: 1 project manager; 1 team leader who will also act as the supervisor; 5 software developers/software designers/analysts who are the team members. Therefore, the entire workforce would comprise only 7 personnel.
Cost estimates for every activity
Developing an effective budget for a software development project is often contingent on developing all-inclusive software engineering schedule and cost models with the use of industry-standard estimation methods. Pinto (2010) pointed out that to accurately determine the budget for a software development project, it is important to first identify both the scope and type of the software product being developed by the project team. Developing software that has complex features and benefits would certainly increase the amount of time needed for testing. It also increases the costs linked to production of the software.
With regard to the financial resources needed for the current project, the total estimated budget is $172,000. This amount is broken down as follows:
Ref.
Project Expenditures
Quantity/units/days
Rate per unit ($)
Total ($)
1
Hardware costs
1.1
Computers
6
$500
$3,000
1.2
Servers
2
$3,500
$7,000
1.3
Backup devices
3
$1,500
$4,500
1.4
Disk storage
2
$300
$600
1.5
Universal Power Supply (UPS)
1
$450
$450
1.6
Additional processing services which could be permanent or temporary for instance through cloud services
1
$1,000
1,000
1.7
Router
1
$1,000
$1,000
1.8
Cabling / cables
7
$200
$1,400
$18,950
2
Personnel
2.1
Project manager
1
$13,800
$13,800
2.2
Team leader
1
$12,000
$12,000
2.3
Software developers, software designers, analyst making up the project team members
5
$13,800
$69,000
$94,800
3
Software requirements analysis
20 days
$500
$10,000
4
Software design
30 days
$500
$15,000
5
Software development and programming
20 days
$500
$10,000
6
Software testing and installation
35 days
$350
$12,250
7
Security application for the software
1 antivirus software and firewall
$1000
$1,000
8
Training
1 day
$5,000
$5,000
9
Contingency
N/A
$5,000
$5,000
$58,250
Total
$172,000
Cost assumptions
This current project would be carried over a period of 6 months. When deriving the cost estimates illustrated above, the cost assumptions that were made include the following:
The personnel would be paid not on an hourly rate, but on a monthly rate for a period of 6 months. For instance, the cost of employing project manager is $2,300 per month which adds up to $13,800 for the 6-month period, and that of employing one team leader is $2,000 per month amounting to $12,000 for six months.
Once the system has been completed successfully and deployed at Sparkles Enterprises Limited, a firewall and/or antivirus software would be installed, which would cost an estimated $1,000. This would help in protecting the new system against any malicious software from outside the organization.
The charges for software requirements, software design, software development/programming, as well as software testing and installation are essentially the funds which the project team members would incur in the course of the project. They are not part of the personnel fees.
The contingency funds amounting to $5,000 as shown in the budget is reserved for responding to any risks that are identified.
Indirect costs are the charges and other overheads which are shared out across different departments or many activities such as computers.
Direct costs are the expenditures that are exclusive to this particular project and consist of the resources that are directly involved in delivering the work and managing it (Wysocki, 2013). The following charges are examples of direct costs for this project: charges for software requirements, software design, software development/programming, software testing and installation, and training.
Fixed costs do not change in spite of how much output is attained for instance cost of the building, whereas variable costs change depending on the amount of resource that is utilized, for instance wages for the personnel involved in the project (Kendrik, 2013). If the duration of the project increases to 7 or more months, then the salaries would also increase.
References
Colber, V. (2014). Work Breakdown Structure. Moraga, CA. Bright ideas and concepts.
Kendrick, T. (2013). The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right, (3rd ed.). New York, NY: AMACOM Books.
Killen, C. P., Jugdev, K., Drouin, N., & Petit, Y. (2012). Advancing project and portfolio management research: Applying strategic management theories. International Journal Of Project Management, 30(5), 525-538. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2011.12.004
Patanakul, P., & Shenhar, A. J. (2012). What project strategy really is: The fundamental building block in strategic project management. Project Management Journal, 43(1), 4-20. doi:10.1002/pmj.20282
Pinto, J. K. (2010). Project Management: Achieving competitive advantage (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Schmidt, T. (2011). Strategic Project Management Made Simple : Practical Tools for Leaders and Teams. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons
Wysocki, R. K. (2013). Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
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Years of hard work and perseverance have earned you the job that you coveted—head chef at a fabulous and very popular restaurant. But as you go about trying to implement ideas that you think will improve an already strong business, you find that innovative thinking is not always happily received by management. And it is not just the restaurant manager you must convince; there is an owner and even some patrons who seem to be very influential in the decision-making process. It appears that innovative ideas must come with a virtual guarantee of success. If only there were ways to tangibly demonstrate the efficacy of your plans.
In a way, project managers face similar challenges. It seems that innovative thinking is encouraged but then resisted. Tangible means are needed to bring new successful ideas to the fore. This is where the Stage-Gate theory comes in.
In a 2 page word document, respond to the following questions:
• What are the benefits and limitations of using the Stage-Gate product innovation process in project management?
• How might a project manager utilize Stage-Gate theory to encourage, maintain, or discourage management support of a project?
o Be specific and provide examples and also use sources not older than 5 years pear review articles.
SAMPLE ANSWER
With an already healthy business, it is of importance to use a well-defined set of methodologies and strategies to reduce the risk of either getting a less-than-expected project return, or even a total project failure. The adoption of the stage gate theory is, therefore, necessary and have been adopted by many organizations to reduce the risk of new product development failure. In this theory and a strategic approach, it ensures that a project remains aligned with its initial strategic goal such that its value remains high to facilitate the progress of the project to the next stage. Sometimes, already flourished businesses and investments may deviate from its goal focuses due to small modifications brought about by the management or any other decision makers and, on the other hand, slight changes can lead to success that or turns around the project focus to a new level that can lead to a great success (Wang, 2013).
The stage gate model comes in handy with many advantages which in turn may lead to a total focus on the project’s goals and ensures that the project improves in its quality. One of the advantages of using the stage-gate product innovation process is that the initiative can be a source of competitive advantage. Competition is a necessary tool for any business or an investment that enables it to remain relevant in the field. Product development is also accelerated with the use of the stage gate methodology, which is necessary because of shortening the product life cycles (Newton, 2011).
Apart from the advantages of the stage-gate methodology, the increased chance of new products is another benefit of this strategy. This approach helps to improve the chances of any business in the identification of new products hence preventing early project failures and hence helping to redirect them. The stage-gate process helps to break down the broad and complex innovation processes into smaller manageable corporations and hence encouraging specialization within the project. It aids in realizing a shortened product life cycle (Wang, 2013).
On the other hand, the stage-gate process comes in handy with some limitations to a project or an investment that is already flourishing. Although at each stage the process is conducted in parallel, the stage-gate approach performs its process in a regular form regarded as the waterfall. Innovation is supposed to be carried out in an organized parallel manner, and it is according to some innovation experts. Another limitation of the stage-gate approach to a project model is that the framework does not deal with the discovery process and hence does not deal with the activities of the creation of new ideas. A tension normally exists between the creativity and organization within a project development, and they are crucial within a project development. For a successful organization, the gap between organization and creativity should not exist and hence a limitation of the stage-gate process in a project (Newton, 2011).
For one to manage a business properly using the stage-gate innovation process technique, there are some factors to consider. For example, the new manager should never ignore any advice from any board of managers since they are well informed of the previous lessons in the project progress. For a successful manager, a proper understanding of the process is essential for the maintenance and the striking forward of the business and the project. Being flexible helps in the encouragement and the support of the project at any level. The need to facilitate any project success includes a proper preparation of the software infrastructure. With this, the managers are able to encourage, maintain, and support the project.
Upon conclusion, several components are needed by any business when using the stage-gate innovation model for the realization of new product development and hence the success of the ongoing activities. An integrated approach using this model avoids the many unnecessary failures of projects and businesses.
References.
Wang, X. (2013). Agile and lean service-oriented development: Foundations, theory, and practice. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
Newton, R. (2011). The management book. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Information Resources Management Association. (2014). Software design and development: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, Pa: IGI Global (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, USA.
Meredith, J. R., & Mantel, S. J. (2012). Project management: A managerial approach. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
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following concepts when looking for appropriate resources:
•Variable cost per unit
•Direct labor costs
•Direct materials costs
•Cost based pricing
•Full costing
General guidelines for completing this assignment:
•You need to find at least three relevant and credible sources that can be used to support the concepts discussed in the case (Three sources is the minimum; having only three will not get you the highest grade.)
•The bibliography needs to be done as an APA formatted annotated bibliography. Please use the link below to see how an annotated bibliography is formatted.
•Each cited source needs to be specifically linked to the concepts in the case. Please do not cite random sources.
•Make sure your annotation captures the important point of the source. Please do not give a one-sentence summary.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Lipman Bottle Company Annotated Bibliography
Aurora, B.-B. C. (2013). The Cost of Production under Direct Costing and Absorption Costing: A Comparative Approach. Annals of the “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Economy Series, 2, 123-129.
The author of this article stresses on the importance of managerial accounting with regards to balancing production costs and pricing of finished products in a company’s strategic management, especially to help managers in optimizing their decisions particularly those concerning operating activities. The emphasis of the author is focused on the role of managerial accounting in calculating costs (both fixed and variable), measurement of inventory costs as well as prices and prices of services and products. As a result, the system of cost calculation is prioritized in this article because it tends to vary on basis of the type of costs assigned to items and according to the costing theory two main systems of cost calculation adopted are: full cost accounting, which comprise of all production costs, and partial cost accounting comprising of variable costs that vary with output. Hence, considering that full as well as partial costing in production in terms of fixed and variable costs play a crucial role in determining the prices of finished products, this article provides valuable insights on how the balance between costing and pricing can be effectively achieved. The author outlines a comparative approach with regards to the differences between cost of production calculation under absorption costing and direct costing. This article further examines the impact of utilizing each of these systems of calculation on companies’ financial performance as well as financial position with regards to reported income statement and financial position statement. This article concludes by discussing the benefits of direct costing use in manufacturing companies for their internal reporting, bearing in mind that this method of costing is unacceptable for external reports that are presented to shareholders as well as other external uses. However, direct costing method is very important for companies to appropriately make production decisions. The article also fits very into Lipman Bottle Company case because of the insightful information it can provide to the company management to solve its production dilemma and settle on the most appropriate and profitable production mix based on informed decisions.
Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.
Authors of this article base their discussion on performance investigation of a full-cost heuristic within a service setting focusing on costs involved in providing a service eventually influence the pricing of such services. Based on the full-cost heuristic model, authors of this article state that service companies periodically determines the extent of capacity, prices as well as price discounts. In the context of price, the article examines a scenario of a stochastic number of customers placing orders for a service and reports that when in a certain period there are too many orders; a service company offers price discounts to customers willing to come back for the same service later. The authors of this article further examines how closely a company’s optimal performance can be approximated using two heuristic approaches that are distinct such as full-cost pricing heuristic and modified full-cost pricing heuristic. The results of the analysis full-cost pricing is the best-performing heuristic when conducted upon a program towards firm’s optimization on basis of constrained version in which prices are set using full costs in addition to adjustments on basis of nonlinear elasticity demand. However, the article also suggests that in settings where pricing choices and capacity choices are made before and after demand information respectively, modified full-cost heuristic may be perform relatively well but not for long before it starts to deviate. These pricing models are highly applicable to the Lipman Bottle Company situation since the company needs to determine it optimal performance by setting prices of products based on its capacity, full cost of production and demand meaning that full-cost pricing heuristic would be highly effective to optimize the company’s performance.
Ghaemi, M. H. & Nematollahi, M. (2012). Study on the Behavior of Materials, Labor, and Overhead Costs in Manufacturing Companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 19-24.
The authors of this article examines the relationship between sales income and production expenses by analyzing income statements information for Tehran Stock Exchange listed companies over a period of four years ranging from 2000 to 2003 and subsequently evaluate costs stickiness. In this article costs stickiness is used to refer to a situation where increasing production activities result to faster increasing of costs compared to how decreasing production activities result to decreasing of costs. The results of the study reported in this article show that overhead costs are sticky but direct labor costs as well as raw material costs are not sticky. This means effective management of overhead costs by production companies can significantly reduce operational costs hence directly influencing product prices as well as overall company profitability. Thus, Lipman Bottle Company can utilize the findings reported in this article to reduce its production costs, which is critical in eventually determining pricing, sale revenues and profits.
Kimes, S. E. (2010). Strategic pricing through revenue management [Electronic version]. Retrieved [24th November 2015], from Cornell University, School of Hospitality Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/346
The author of this article examines the importance of revenue management towards strategic pricing, especially in manufacturing industries where capacity of inventory is relatively fixed and cost of production is characterized by low variable costs and high fixed costs. This article reports that in industries where revenue management is used, revenue increases are typically reported. The insights provided in this article are highly applicable to Lipman Bottle Company where pricing of finished products can be strategically done through revenue management.
Bibliography
Aurora, B.-B. C. (2013). The Cost of Production under Direct Costing and Absorption Costing: A Comparative Approach. Annals of the “Constantin Brâncuşi” University of Târgu Jiu, Economy Series, 2, 123-129.
Banker, R. D. & Hansen, S. C. (2002). The Adequacy of Full-Cost-Based Pricing Heuristics. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 14, 33-58.
Ghaemi, M. H. & Nematollahi, M. (2012). Study on the Behavior of Materials, Labor, and Overhead Costs in Manufacturing Companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 19-24.
Kimes, S. E. (2010). Strategic pricing through revenue management [Electronic version]. Retrieved [24th November 2015], from Cornell University, School of Hospitality Administration site: http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/346
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Read the Case Study below. Answer the following questions:
What are some of the planning strategies that Russ might have used that would possibly have positively affected the outcome of the strategic plan execution?
Discuss some things Marvelous Marvin could have done differently as CEO in order avoid the current situation?
What political factors created bias and clouded judgments in this situation?
Who’s to blame for the bad outcomes of this strategic plan?
If you were one of the OR Director’s direct reports/managers, what should your involvement in the organization’s strategy have been?
Guidelines:
Assignment should be a minimum of 5 pages, excluding the title page and reference page.
Utilize a minimum of 5 references, only 1 can be the text book.
Fully answer all questions above and follow proper APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment through the Turnitin link located in the “Assignment Dropbox”.
Assignments that have a Plagiarism Rate from Turnitin of higher than 30% will automatically receive a 0. I strongly recommend that you submit prior to due date so you can correct if your rate is higher than this.
No Assignments will be accepted late, No exceptions!
Last Chance Hospital – Case Study
Last Chance Hospital (LCH) is a 254-bed, community hospital located in a small, affluent suburb, just outside of San Diego, California. The hospital has historically been well-received by the local community, which demographically has a higher concentration of older age groups than most other local areas. The greater San Diego area is densely populated, and over twenty-five hospitals operate in the larger geographic area. Historically, LCH had always been financially sound, and had managed to remain independent as their local competitors joined
larger systems. But that was then, and this is now. About a year ago, Last Chance Hospital undertook a strategic planning process to encompass the next years. At the time, the hospital was doing okay financially, but was starting to dip into their cash reserves more often than the Board of Trustees liked; LCH was in need of an ideal strategy to bring them ahead of the market before things got out of hand.
As the strategic planner for LCH, Russ Newmarket reported indirectly to the CEO, Marvelous Marvin, but his immediate boss was Courtney Graveyard – and she had a lot on her plate. LCH did not have a chief nursing officer, and as COO, Graveyard was responsible for all of the nursing departments as well as surgical services, facilities, and information technology. A nurse by background, Graveyard spent the majority of her time trying to find different ways to recruit much-needed nursing staff. During the development of the strategic plan, Russ called together the usual group of senior executives, Board members and key physician leaders. He diligently developed the SWOT using their input and applying their assumptions. During his market research, Russ
became aware of some patient-centric trends emerging across the country, but he was also aware
that LCH had always strategically catered more to physicians due to the notion that physicians were the ones who ultimately referred patients to the hospital. Through the strategy development process, it became clear that senior management was stuck on this physician-centric mindset. Russ, ambitious and eager to make a name for himself, found and presented valid information that concurred with management’s mindset. At the end of the planning process, Marvelous Marvin felt confident that their solo, physician-focused strategy would give them a market lead–the plan was to attract more surgeons–and increase OR volumes. Graveyard was under intense pressure from Marvelous Marvin to make sure the operating rooms were as efficient as possible
to handle the planned increase in volume as OR efficiency would be a key recruitment issue for
surgeons. The LCH physician recruiter was under the gun as well. The remainder of the executive staff breathed a collective sigh of relief that their areas were not part of the strategic initiative. Russ suspected LCH needed more of a strategy than attracting new surgeons, but he convinced himself that senior management knew best. After the Board approved the strategic plan, Graveyard immediately met with her OR Director, and charged him with increasing the efficiency of the ORs. She then turned her focus back to her first love, nursing. The physician recruiter hit the ground running, developing an elaborate plan to increase surgeon recruitment. From all appearances, LCH was on a roll.
Over the next several months, the OR Director was able to reduce the OR’s operating budget by 13%, a result that made Marvelous Marvin very happy. At the same time, Graveyard made great strides in increasing LCH’s exposure to and status in the nursing community, and was able to decrease the nursing vacancies by over 6%. In a time of nursing shortages, the Board was impressed with Graveyard’s results. The physician recruiter was having only
moderate success at recruiting surgeons however, and her targeted volume projections were noticeably under budget. Marvelous Marvin approved her request to increase her staff, adding approximately $250,000 to her budget line. Overall patient volumes were steadily decreasing at what was becoming an alarming rate, and thus the financial picture for LCH was in critical condition. Marvelous Marvin couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “Why isn’t the LCH strategic
plan working?”
SAMPLE ANSWER
Case study: Last Chance Hospital
Strategic management in health care institution is crucial in determining long-term and short-term performance. In most cases, effective measures are the ones that bring in short-term success and sustain it in the long-term. However, there are situations where strategies may offer varied outcomes for both short-term and long-term. For instance, they could result in unfavorable short-term outcomes but end up being fruitful in the long-term. Likewise, strategies may at first appear to yield much, only for them to end up being faulty in the long-run. This paper considers the case of Last Chance Hospital (LCH). The hospital has been running a physician-centered system for long. In the earlier days, the hospital had secured a desirable position in the market. In a bid to increase the efficiency in operating rooms (OR), the hospital enhanced its physician-centered system. Contrary to the expectations of the hospital, the move did not attract as much surgeons, and to make it worse, it resulted in decreased number of customers.
Effective Planning on the Part of Russ
Russ stood an appropriate chance to direct planning strategies at LCH. There are some strategies that he could have employed so as to land the hospital to prosperity. First, he could have utilized his knowledge of the emerging patient-centered trends. On his part, Russ had made a mistake by assuming that the senior management was right before questioning their awareness of the recent trends. The strategic planner should have explored the trends further, collected sufficient evidence either approving or disapproving the approach, presented it to the board and advocated for its consideration. By so doing, Russ would have ensured that the organization deeply understood patient-centeredness. According to Rhodes, informing an entire organization about alternative strategies is a basic step for effective strategic planning (2010). Second, Russ should have advised fellow planners at LCH to make their plans flexible. Such an approach could have enabled the organization to shift timely and effectively so as to overcome the presenting challenges. Russ could also have advised the organization to consider equally the views of all parties rather than just those of a few leaders. This would have presented a better position for contrary views that could have possibly been accepted by the organization. Again, when conducting a SWOT analysis for the organization’s strategy, the planner should have adequately considered the impending threats. Russ knew that other hospitals were focusing their care on the patient. On the other hand, LCH was heading to the opposite directions. It was almost unquestionable that the threats that the hospital was to face would have been severe. Lastly, the planner should have used his position to protect the competitive advantage of the organization. Shifting too much to physician-centeredness was definitely a deviation from competitiveness, more so from the perspective of the patients.
Possible Effective Strategies that Marvin could have Applied
Hospital CEOs have the primary role to make strategies (Higginbotham & Church, 2012, p. 295). Marvin’s plans to have LCH stick to its physician-centeredness did not yield to his expectations. The executive made several mistakes in his projections. The greatest was an obsession with the institution’s cultural strategies. The obsession with the old ways blinded him so that he could not explore new approaches. The executive failed to notice the emerging trends of patient-centeredness. It is for this reason that he passionately advocated for the enhancement of physician-centeredness without any considerations for patient-centeredness. His obsession with old culture and ignorance about the new strategies placed him at the risk of making uninformed decisions. The other critical mistake that Marvin made was focusing on change rather than a sound plan. The executive purposed to institute change in the organization without necessarily fitting it to an efficient plan. For instance, Marvin pushed Graveyard to increase efficiency in the OR but did not necessarily establish how effective increasing the number of surgeons would have been in generating revenues for the institution. Considering that Marvin did not have efficient plans, it was not surprising that the organization did not manage to increase its surgeon staffing. Lastly, Marvin focused on short-term but did not address long-term problems. She addressed the problem of having many patients by thinking about increasing the number of surgeons. Definitely, sufficient surgery staffing meant facilitated service delivery to the institution’s large number of customers. However, centering too much on physicians at the expense of patients had certain long-term implications for the organization. First, the approach would barely be in the favor of patients, and therefore, it would have compromised their loyalty to the hospital. Again, the approach was contrary to that of neighboring hospitals. This meant that the institution competitors would have used the cons of the strategy in securing a larger market share. While advocating for the strategy, Marvin should have considered its impact on other competitors.
Political Factors that Influenced Decision-Making
The judgment developed at LCH concerning the strategy to adopt was impaired by political determinants. For instance, the influence of executives was too much and it was unbalanced with that of other stakeholders. The opinions of leaders counted more to decision-making than those of their juniors. An excellent illustration is the case of Marvin and Graveyard. Marvin was senior to Graveyard and he directed Graveyard to execute the plans of orienting service delivery to physicians. The interaction reveals that Graveyard’s opinions did not count as much as those of her senior. Another instance of political influence in the case is the position of Russ compared to that of the senior management. Though Russ had information about an alternative approach to service orientation, the weight of his opinion is compromised by the event that his seniors opted to stick to their old ways. Eventually, the strategic planner had to make a decision that impressed LCH senior staff by going by their opinion in undertaking his planning role. Al-Sawai noted that though leaders are expected to make strategic decisions for their firms, there is a need for them to do so upon considering the thoughts of their juniors (2013, p. 86).
The Blame
Different departments are charged with varied responsibilities in health care institutions (Al-Sawai, 2013, p. 85). In LCH, it could be argued that Russ and his department were charged with coming up with strategies for the hospital. However, there were other stakeholders playing within including Ms. Graveyard and her department. Russ was reporting to the hospital CEO through the COO. As such, the role of strategic planning was not placed on Russ solely, but Ms. Graveyard and Marvin counted more or less equally. On his part, Russ suggested a possible alternative that was the trend in running services in hospitals. However, the planner did not push enough to convince the management to buy his proposal. The case presents Marvin making uninformed decision, yet Russ had information concerning the patient-centeredness. It was upon Russ to gather sufficient evidence and advocate for patient-centeredness. In addition, the strategic planner should have informed the organization about the threats associated with their physician-centered approach. On her part, Ms. Graveyard was not proactive in determining the logic of implementing Marvin’s strategies. She should have evaluated the effectiveness of the approach in facilitating service delivery at the hospital as well as its possible impact on patients. Ms. Graveyard was heading service delivery and she should have been an advocate for the patients. Marvin is also to blame. As Farbrot noted, CEOs have the greatest impact on determining whether organizations would fail or not (2010). Marvin was too much obsessed with the old ways that he failed to appreciate the suggestions made by Russ. The CEO should have welcomed contradictory views and encourage their substantiation.
OR Director’s Direct Manager’s Involvement
Direct report employees are essential for efficiency of management in organizations. In the case scenario, direct report personnel to OR directors could have worked actively in helping managers implement their strategies. This would have involved giving instant feedback on adopted strategies and timely pointing out their shortcomings and strengths. This would have helped directors to learn the need to reconsider their strategies early enough and avoid heavy losses. The direct reports would also have facilitated interactions between managers by encouraging consultations. The move would have created high chances for the development of effective opinions. Direct reports would also have been involved in emphasizing the strengths of their directors. For instance, they could have pointed out strategies adopted by their managers that would most likely benefit their organization. In so doing, direct reports would have let their mangers know their strengths and how such strengths apply to specific tasks (Adkins, 2015). For the case of LCH, such strengths include advocating for patient centeredness.
Higginbotham, E. J., & Church, K. C. (2012). Strategic planning as a tool for achieving alignment in academic health centers. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, 123, 292–303.
Politics of the Future First Midterm Essay
Choose one of the topics below and compose an essay that answers the set of questions asked and demonstrates that you are familiar with assigned texts, lecture materials, and topics discussed in class.
Three criteria will be used in grading these essays, which will be worth a total of 20 points: (1) Familiarity with the materials presented (worth 8 points).
The essay needs to demonstrate that you are acquainted with readings and lecture topics. In other words, you need to prove that you’ve done the work. It is not important that every point and textual nuance be perfectly understood, but some evidence has to be given that these questions have been encountered and contemplated. (2) Comprehension of materials presented (8 points). Again, there is no single correct way of interpretation, but this does not mean that every interpretation is as good as the next. Do you understand what has been presented, and, just as importantly, how effectively are you able to make the connections between concepts and themes that may not always seem to fit together in some immediately obvious form? (3) Clarity of ideas presented in the essay (4 points). How effectively and precisely are you saying what you want to say? How does the essay flow? Remember that excessive mistakes in spelling, punctuation, syntax, and so on, may disrupt clarity of the essay.
It is important that your essay take a critical perspective. Key terms and concepts need to be defined and explained in the overall context of what the author is analyzing. This is a process involving not just reading the text, but engaging it. What is being said? How is it being said? What assumptions are being made in order to say it? Thinking about these kinds of questions will give your essay a strong analytic focus and a critical edge.
There are no correct or incorrect answers. However, this does not mean you are free to conclude your argument self-evidently true. The thrust of the essay
should always be supported by relevant data and must anticipate counter arguments. The truth of one argument cannot be proven by claiming that other analyses are wrong.
You are expected to draw upon both readings and lectures by citing specific arguments, examples, cases, etc., where necessary. Footnotes, endnotes, or other methods of citing sources should be used where appropriate. Since there is a single textual source for this essay, citation of page numbers parenthetically
is probably the easiest approach. For example: “As Virilio argues, knowledge has supported militarism and warfare for at least the past fifty years (p.
145).”
Suggested length: About five pages, typed, double-spaced (about 1250 words). It may be longer–and very likely will be–which is fine.
Date due: Thursday, 20 February, in class. Late papers will have a mandatory deduction of five points per day, with the first five points taken off
immediately at the end of class (4:45 pm) on that date.
1. Paul Virilio states: “Globalization is the world becoming too small, and not too big” (p. 89). Critically and carefully analyze this, looking at the role
that speed plays in how we see and experience the world, how society is defined by and responds to speed, and how the world’s shrinkage contributes to a
collective desire to achieve what he calls “escape velocity.” What are we trying to escape from? Is this even possible? Where do we go then, that is, if
colonization leads to globalization, what is the next step or phase, according to Virilio? What possible danger might this pose to individuals, society, or
both?
2. Critically evaluate what Paul Virilio means by the “accident of science.” What has become accidental about science and scientific discovery, and what
relationship do accidents have to the speed with which research and development lead to technological change? He says that, “It [science] no longer has any
ethical or even any physical limit” (p.149). What is it about speed that contributes to accidents and what is it about accidents that make them inevitable as
science develops new (or different) technologies? What role might accidents play in militarism and war? How does this change the parameters of war and how
does it change the meanings of science? For Virilio, is the total accident—the ultimate catastrophe—unavoidable and thus inevitable? Does he offer any hope?
Do you have any hope? Why or why not?
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In your professional experience, have you been involved in the implementation of a performance management system? If so, you may have already posed questions about implementation to yourself, such as: how should such a system address employee engagement? What kind of online or technology-supported tools or approaches should be used? Are there specific practices or recommendations from management literature that can guide others?
In this essay, you will further explore the challenges of performance management implementation.
•Sharing alternative perspectives on the implementation challenges faced by managers and staff
•
•Synthesising specific recommendations for HR leaders to address these challenges
•
•Discussing the role of employee engagement in your recommendations and how it might be promoted. Include discussion about the relationship of the performance management system to other management processes and the viability of online or technology-supported approaches to performance management
Important note:
Please follow the exact instruction as provided above.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Perfecting Performance Management Implementation
Introduction
Observably, there are many challenges facing the implementation. One question that kept disturbing me was if employee engagement could have made the implementation smooth. In addition, online or technology-supported tools or approaches should have been used to make the implementation work easier. At the end, the implementation was full of flaws. Therefore, the following discussion will engage in illustrating how performance management can be made successful. This will be in the form of strategies from various literatures that give insights on the best possible approaches to handling performance management.
Discussion
One of the disturbing challenges during the performance management implementation in my organization was communication-related challenges (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,234). The organization embraces diversity. A proactive communication strategy was not used in the implementation. Communication challenge was observed in the implementation phase when there were observed conflicts between the employees. The presence of ineffective communication was observed by the failure of the managers to communicate adequately to the employees on the best approach to take after a method failed. In addition, more employees becoming resistant to the change observed failure of communication. The aspect that indicated that there was unclear communication was disorganized time frames upon which implementation was carried upon. Therefore, there was job confusion since every employee found himself or herself executing an assignment that was wrongly timed. Lawther & Martin (2014, p.219) argue that communication is important in an organization because it assist the employee to create a positive momentum. Sykes, Venkatesh & Johnson (2014, p.51) attest that effective communication is a prerequisite for a successful implementation since it enables the employee eradicate fears, take risks, and generate commitment into the system.
The other implementation challenge observed was the lack of leadership support (Van der Merwe & Nienaber 2015, p45). The top management in charged with the implementation never inspired the employees through physical and non-physical means. The leaders failed to encourage the employee in the effort to make the implementation successful. Van der Merwe & Nienaber 2015 (p47) argues that leadership support in implementing performance management is pertinent in creating a vision. Woodrow & Guest (2014, p.38) add that leadership support is crucial in ensuring that the employees are inspired. Some of the means the leadership can support the workforce in implementing performance management include rewards, sharing past successful implementations, and act as role models.
Another implementation challenge observed was the inability to keep the fire of the implementation burning (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,235). I observed that the employees were only interested in the implementation once in the organization. When the working hours were over, the employees forgot what they were doing and wait for the next day. The employees had no interest in the implementation a heart. Some of the employees argued that they wished if the implementation could come at a halt because it was just tiring them. Lawther & Martin (2014, p.221) argue that implementation of a project should be made a part of the employee. Van der Merwe & Nienaber (2015, p51) attest that there is a need to embed performance management as an ongoing process rather than a one-off event. This is where the concept of employee engagement is derived. The importance of employee engagement is that it enables an organization keeps the employee motivated towards the success of the implementation.
The employee, upon being engaged, finds himself or herself doing activities related to the implementation at non-working hours. This means that they take the implementation as a part of their mission, which they cannot like when it fails. Skes, Venkatesh & Johnson (2014, p.53) recommend that employee engagement can be achieved through online techniques such as video-conferencing. These online techniques will ensure that the strategy is communicated well as well as giving feedback to questions the employees might be interested in asking (Woodrow & Guest 2014, p.45).
The other challenge observed was poor monitoring. The monitoring method was blurred. The management failed to assess the progress of the implementation (Gao & Gurd 2015, p,236). Therefore, they were not able to find the emerging needs of the employees in the implementation. Lack of monitoring made the emerging problems to become huge irresolvable issues. For instance, it was observed that failure to monitor employee relationship in the implementation phase, the management was forced to halt the process first to mitigate a conflict that had arisen between the supervisors and the employee.
Lawther & Martin (2014, p.242) argue that monitoring should be made an integral part of the implementation. The author argued that monitoring enables the top management spot minor issues that could eventually lead to the dilemma in the implementation when not attended. Therefore, through monitoring, the management could have encouraged employee engagement, since it could have noticed the wrangles developing between employees and deal with them. Van der Merwe & Nienaber (2015, p48) add that monitoring revolves around earlier warning of a problem and taking a corrective action towards it.
Conclusion
In summary, the discussion has shown that the challenges that were present in my organization when implementing performance management system emanated from communication, problem, poor leadership support, ineffective monitoring, and inability to keep the spirit of the implementation burning. However, the discussion has drawn from the literature review that effective monitoring, effective leadership support, and good monitoring system are important in making implementation useful. This is because, at the end, they encourage employee engagement, which is very crucial in making performance management implementation successful.
References
Gao, T, & Gurd, B 2015, ‘Meeting the challenge in performance management: the diffusion and implementation of the balanced scorecard in Chinese hospitals’, Health Policy & Planning, 30, 2, pp. 234-241, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.
Lawther, W, & Martin, L 2014, ‘Availability Payments and Key Performance Indicators: Challenges for Effective Implementation of Performance Management Systems in Transportation Public-Private Partnerships’, Public Works Management & Policy, 19, 3, pp. 219-234, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.
Van der Merwe, MM, & Nienaber, H 2015, ‘FACTORS HINDERING STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION AS PERCEIVED BY TOP, MIDDLE AND FRONTLINE MANAGERS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTRONICS ORGANIZATION’, Journal of Global Business & Technology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 45-57.
Woodrow, C, & Guest, D 2014, ‘When good HR gets bad results: exploring the challenge of HR implementation in the case of workplace bullying’, Human Resource Management Journal, 24, 1, pp. 38-56, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2015.
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Designing Experiments
It is critical that the writer pay attentions to details for this paper and respond to all questions mentioned here. APA is critical especially when using tables. The writer must read on how to use tables in word document. The are 4 main component to address here and the writer must clearly address this 4 main points while expanding and addressing all component of the assignment.
While it is important to master the use of SPSS software to conduct data analysis, it is equally important to ensure quality in the methods used to collect the data analyzed. Recall the familiar adage, “Garbage in, garbage out,” and consider that if data is poorly collected, the analysis of that data will also suffer. Think about how the interrelatedness of the hypothesis, data collection method, and statistical analysis impacts research quality.
Having reviewed the readings from Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research, by Campbell and Stanley, consider the hypothesis you have chosen for your dataset from Week 3.
How might you design an experiment that will effectively collect data for this chosen hypothesis?
How will you minimize threats to validity?
Will it be a true experiment or a quasi-experiment?
Why or why not?
I will email the Dataset for this assignment.
SAMPLE ANSWER
The core purpose of this paper will be to establish whether there is any causation relationship between the number of employees, the gender of the supervisor and the number of working hours with a rate of injury rate at a particular site. Thus, the analysis will revolve around finding evidence on whether there exists any relationship. This will help in determining the trend of the rate of injuries in these sites. This research paper will follow the Experimental design procedures since the sample to be studied will be randomly selected (Grabbe, 2015). This is a necessary and a sufficient precaution taken to ensure that the researcher’s biasedness does not affect the results of the study. Furthermore, it reduces the effect of confounding variables.
The research will be guided by the following objectives.
To establish whether some sites are safer than others.
To determine whether the gender of the supervisor facilitates the increase of injury rates in a given place.
To ascertain the existence and nature of the relationship between injury rate and working sites and gender of the supervisor and if it does exist, which nature of the relationship.
In agreement with (Zikmund, 2012), the fundamental of good research is based on the research objective. This they act as a map for the analysis and also the inference of any study. The research will be a completely randomized design for simplicity and convenience purposes. The sample will be randomly selected from the three sites (Seattle, Boston, and Phoenix). The supervisors, in this case, will act as the treatment, and through randomization the experiment will control the effect of extraneous variables (Grabbe, 2015).
One of the purposes of using this design in this research is to reduce the variability (Zikmund, 2012). This will make it easier for the researcher to detect and establish whether there exist a relationship between different treatments. Furthermore, to eliminate the threat to internal and internal validity, replication in the data analysis will be conducted so that the results can be interpreted at a certain level of significance. This is because (Zikmund, 2012) stipulates that all results of the research study are useful when they are accurately and confidently interpreted.
The following research hypothesis will guide this experiment design: H0: There is no significance difference in injury rate at different working sites when different genders are managing. Versus, H1: There is a significance difference in injury rate at different working sites when different genders are managing. This hypothesis will act as the backbone of the whole analysis, which will help in making an inference (Grabbe, 2015). Furthermore, this hypothesis is like a summary of the objectives of the research. Based on this hypothesis the research question that will be answered in this study is: is there any significance difference in injury rate at different working sites when different genders are managing?
Some of the analysis that will be carried out in favor of answering the research question are ANOVA. This analysis will help in establishing whether there exists a significant difference between injury rates at different working sites when there is increased the number of employees or working hours. Furthermore, correlation analysis will be conducted to find out the nature of the relationship between different variables. Just because, correlation can be used to predict the behavior of one variable based on the other (Grabbe, 2015). Also, regression analysis will be performed to come up with a model that will help in predicting the rate of injuries using other variables.
References
Grabbe, J. W. (2015). Implications of Experimental versus Quasi-Experimental Designs. The Palgrave Handbook of Research Design in Business and Management, 141.
Zikmund, W., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2012). Business research methods. Cengage Learning.
McDermott, R. (2011). Internal and external validity. Cambridge handbook of experimental political science, 27-40.
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Please Answer the question respectively, each question page.
Q1 TIP/LEARNING: Think about why you move. Do you participate for skill or knowledge?
Meaning is individual. Rank why you do physical activity. Is it for Skill, Fitness, Knowledge, or Pleasure? Even though you
may do movement for prudential reasons, a better way to view movement is through skill and pleasure. Skill and pleasure should
be ranked above fitness and knowledge on their capacity to help experience the good life.
Propositions about significant living are not difficult to locate. The Bible, the Koran, scriptures, hundreds of sages of wise
people, and thousands of pop psychology and philosophy books can supply them…The fact is that we grow into stories and meaning
more than we encounter them as foreign propositions or theories. Cultural traditions, hobbies, dances, games, habits, crafts
and other activities point us in some directions and away from others. The skills we learn tell us implicitly that it is
important to do this and not that. Moreover, these activities come loaded with values—with etiquette, with ways of behaving,
with right attitudes and so on. By learning play and game skills, we grow into rights and wrongs, values and disvalues, things
that are important and other things that are not valuable…Games and play resonate with the dominant messages of our time and
place, and this builds a compass into our being that tells us the directions in which we should develop our personal stories.
(Kretchmar, R.S., (1993). Practical Philosophy of Sport, p.167)
**CHALLENGE: Try adding a(nother) fruit or vegetable serving to your daily food intake.
Reflection:
In what ways does your activity class contribute to your skill development? What do you participate in that contributes to
your skill development?
Q2TIP/LEARNING: What is the purpose of exercise? The purpose should be about helping develop and maintain a good life.
The Good Life refers to an overall life condition and set of experiences that we regard as desirable. While most everybody
aims at good living, there is considerable disagreement about what exactly it is. There are probably hundreds of ways to
achieve something called the good life, and there are undoubtedly many patterns that are comparably good. (Kretchmar, R.S.,
(1993). Practical Philosophy of Sport, p.111)
The good life is composed of experiences that are appreciated for their own sake. The good life must be meaningful or have
purpose. One event must be meaningful or have purpose. One event must be connected to another, and these events must be headed
somewhere important as in the development of a story line. Survival and long life, by themselves do little to assure good
living.
A good life should entail pleasure and fun, which is almost universal. Movement should bring meaning to your life. The good
life should be meaningful, and physical activity should bring meaning. (Kretchmar, R.S., (1993). Practical Philosophy of
Sport, p.224)
Reflection:
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