Category: Essay

Smart Technology and Strategy

Smart Technology
Smart Technology

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Smart Technology and Strategy

Introduction

As the global front undergoes gradual revolution based on technological advancements, companies are increasingly investing in technologies that promise to increase efficiency, lower costs and increase productivity. Smart computers, wearable devices, surveillance devices, smart sensors, GPS, voice and face recognition and smart programs are continually being adopted to enhance automation and perform tasks that would otherwise prove challenging for humans.

Notably however, there has been slow progress in adoption of smart technology among modern organizations, despite the promise of reduced costs, increased competitive advantage, efficiency in operations and increased profitability.  Similarly, organizations have been hesitant in adopting business strategies that endorse smart technologies. This is an interesting observation because it would be naturally expected that companies would strive to adopt technologies that will improve their competitive position.

Research however indicates that organizations are always willing to adopt new technology. The factors surrounding adoption of such technologies, positive or negative determine whether they will adopt the technology. This paper is an analysis of issues affecting organizations in the development of business strategies endorsing smart technologies.

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Discussion

Design

The functional attributes of a smart technology are critical in promoting customer satisfaction and will certainly affect the buyers purchasing behavior (Youngmo, Mingook and Sungjoo, 2014). Perceived usefulness will be based on the technology design and for smart technologies to be effective, they must be tailored towards the user’s needs and thus designed according to the user specifications.

According to Slaten (2015), organizations must analyze the needs of the company before embarking on any smart technology investment. This way, they are able to identify a design that will best deliver the intended objective while deriving the best value from it. Ho-Chang et al (2014) notes that failure to carefully consider the objectives of the organization will lead to bad investment and the company will soon incur more expenditure in upgrading their smart technology or fail to achieve expected outcomes.

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After-sales support

Technology is highly complex and the need for professionalism in maintenance of technological devices is inevitable. After-sale support remains one of the most important aspects of a sale in acquiring smart technologies because organizations need to be assured that providers will help them solve any issues that may emerge after acquisition of the technology. It also ensures that the smart technology is professionally installed and hence avoids instances where the technology fails to serve the intended purpose.

Organizations must choose vendors that offer the best after-sales package in order to benefit fully from maintenance service. Youngmo, Mingook and Sungjoo (2014), note that after-sale service maintenance is one of the leading drivers for adoption of smart technology, because customers want to be assured that they will not need to incur additional maintenance costs.

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Organizations are however faced with a new trend in smart technology, where after-sale service is often kept to the minimum. Smart technology is a strategic move from traditional technology, and is designed in such a way that users can trouble-shoot and solve problems through what is known as ‘do-it-yourself’ (TWICE, 2015). This is especially so where technology is imported and the seller may not be in a position to deliver the products or install them personally.

In such a case, smart technologies are usually accompanied by manuals that users can read to guide them through the system in order to come up with solutions for any issues encountered (TWICE, 2015). The company may also give additional guidelines on their website for customers to follow in addressing any issues. This means that in certain smart technology devices, there is minimal after-sales service compared to traditional modes of technology. This could pose a challenge to individuals who are not technologically savvy, such that they may end up paying for services

Marketing

Marketing plays a significant role in influencing customer behavior and decisions. In this relation, the ability of the marketer to provide the needed information and convince the customer determines whether they will purchase the product (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater, 2009).The smart technology market is highly saturated and there are numerous products in the market (Porter and Heppelmann, 2014). While some promise to execute the intended objectives, there have been claims of deceptive marketing where the word ‘smart’ has been deceivingly used to take advantage of customer naivety.

As a result, a significant number of organizations have spent high amounts of money to purchase technology that does not add much value to their organization. The same amount of money could have been used to get a greater bargain and more capabilities from smart technologies. Organizations are becoming increasingly aware of such marketing tactics and therefore take more time to do market research before investing in smart technology (Porter and Heppelmann, 2014). 

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Human Resource

Strategies that endorse smart technologies are highly influenced by the impact of these technologies on the organization’s human resource component. Adopting smart technologies requires a significant level of knowledge, which in most cases needs to be transferred to users before smart technology can be introduced (Shelton, 2014).

Based on a research by Avanade (2016), organizations expect significant changes in terms of skills requirement following adoption of smart technologies in order to effectively blend the technologies with humans. 61% indicated that they would require additional problem solving skills, 59% would require data analysis skills, 51% would need to improve critical thinking skills and 51% would require collaboration skills.

This would mean additional costs for training as well as more time consumed in away from work activities. Shelton (2014), notes that in order for a firm to consider a strategy that incorporates smart technology, it must ensure that all probable users of the technology have adequate knowledge and skills to operate and execute tasks using the smart technology. This not only has an impact on costs but it also requires that the company invests in a workforce that is technologically savvy and can therefore adopt easily to constant changes in technology (Mithas, et al, 2010).

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Avanade (2015) notes that one of the main issues affecting organizations in their decision to adopt smart technology is that they have not made adequate plans to address ethical workplace dilemmas. One of these is the fact that the use of smart technologies mostly involves adoption of devices and intelligent automation, such that computers can perform functions and make decisions that are technically done by humans.

This has raised ethical concerns based on the replacement of human capital by machines.  Avante (2015) postulates that the adoption of smart technology has to a great extent been viewed as a threat despite being presented as a strategy that could help retain critical talent within organizations. Organizations adopting smart technologies are basically replacing the need for a workforce and this could have an impact on overall levels of unemployment (Khandelwal, 2015). Developing strategy that incorporates smart technologies is therefore an issue for organizations because they must show responsibility for their employees’ job security.

Other ethical issues include the capability of smart technology to cause embodiment, where humans become detached from the real world due to their obsession with machines or their incapability to live without them; and excessive reliance on technology to enhance conscientiousness and thus limit critical thinking and ability to make decisions.

Guthrie (2013) refers to this concept as outsourcing of conscientiousness to machines, which can easily erode our capacity to understand and accept human faults and idiosyncrasies. It has been argues that human beings will soon be enslaved by technology and be unable to perform any organizational function without the help of their smart devices. This means that they would be out rightly incapacitated and unproductive as long as machines are unavailable.

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Security

The issue of technology security has been a major issue affecting endorsement of smart technologies in business strategy. While a company would be interested in a technology that increases efficiency and makes business easier, it is more concerned about the security of such systems, including their ability to protect vital information from intruders (Howard, 2015). This comes at a time when cyber crime has become highly rampant in the technology industry, with organizations losing confidential information to hackers and unauthorized users (Wedutenko, 2015).

Smart technologies are prone to security issues and high level protection measures are required to ensure that the organization’s data is safeguarded. Whether an organization is capable of securing its data to ensure that it is not used, shared or accessed illegally is quite uncertain. Organizations that consider adoption of smart technology must consider the issue of security and how it can be enhanced before actually endorsing it in business strategy.

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Security goes beyond protecting personal data from outsiders. Michelfelder (2011) raises an ethical issue of how organizations actually make use of the information they have to conduct activities that users would be opposed to. An example is the use of CCTV, body scanners, GPS and tracking devices which are either secretly placed to monitor employees or to make secret investigations. 

Facial recognition technology has also come under scrutiny, with concerns on whether individuals would actually be comfortable with their facial images being stored in databases (Michelfelder, 2011). According to Guthrie (2013), information gathered from these machines has on many occasions been shared and even sold to third party users. This further raises questions on whether people actually have any privacy in the modern world of smart technologies.

Cost implications

Smart technologies require a significant amount of investment, both in terms of acquisition and maintenance.  Slaten (2015) describes the field of smart technologies as one that is constantly changing and where new versions, modifications and advancements keep emerging. This means that once a company takes on the smart technologies path, it must be ready to continuously reinvent their systems, update software and upgrade hardware to keep up with the times (Slaten, 2015).

Consequently, maintaining smart technology is a capital-intensive investment, given that companies must strive to keep up with new advancements. Unlike assets, technology is not a onetime investment and users must be ready for regular changes that require investment. Failure to update would render current systems obsolete and this to a significant extent affects the firm’s competitiveness (Mithas, et al, 2010).

Furthermore, changes are often unpredictable and organizations cannot effectively budget for future financial requirements. This is a major issue impacting development of strategies endorsing smart technologies and companies have to consider the cost implications before such undertakings can be included in strategy.

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Smart technologies also require uninterrupted Wi-Fi internet connection. There are two cost implications related to this requirement. Firstly, organizations must source for reliable internet connection from vendors, which will ensure that their devices work effectively to address organizational objectives. This has a cost implication because the most reliable wireless internet providers are also likely to be more expensive. Secondly, internet failure could lead to a significant data loss, consequently costing the company.

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Conclusion

Smart technology remains an interesting component of technology and a great consideration for modern organizations. Adoption of smart technology however requires careful scrutiny to ensure that an organization can effectively understand the issues affecting endorsement of the technology into business strategy. This explains the slow pace in smart technology adoption that has been witnessed among modern firms.

In this discussion, various issues including human resource, design, after-sale service, security, marketing and cost implications are identified. These issues often inform organizations’ decision to endorse smart technology. An organization that seeks to include smart technology in their business strategy must effectively evaluate and balance these issues to ensure that the company will benefit from such an investment.

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References

Avanade (2015). Avanade Research: Smart Technologies Driving Significant Improvements in Revenue, Customer Experience and Employee Satisfaction. Retrieved from http://www.avanade.com/en/Press-Releases/smart-technologies-thought-leadership-release

Dale, J., & Kyle, D. (2015). Smart Transitions? Foreign Investment, Disruptive Technology, and Democratic Reform in Myanmar. Social Research, 82(2), 291-326. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=58&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Guthrie, C. F. (2013). Smart Technology and the Moral Life. Ethics & Behavior, 23(4), 324-337. doi:10.1080/10508422.2013.787359. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d82bb408-5b6c-44ea-a866-2f7eb90a1682%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4102

Ho-Chang, C. K., Chang E., & Prybutok, V. R. (2014). Information Technology Capability and Firm Performance: Contradictory Findings and Their Possible Causes. MIS Quarterly, 38 (1), 305-A14. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a6f12285-5097-428d-9cf9-88ae047f059a%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4102

Howard, C. E. (2015). Widespread use of wearable technology. Military & Aerospace Electronics, 26(9), 16-23. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3544eb1c-910c-48a5-bd65-da92aba5adf7%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4102

Khandelwal L. (2015). HR automated! (Cover story). Human Capital [serial online]. October 2015; 19(5):14-17. Available from: Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 9, 2016. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=61&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Michelfelder, D. (2011). Dirty Hands, Speculative Minds, and Smart Machines. Philosophy & Technology, 24(1), 55-68. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cf91625f-6f54-41e0-b596-b1b6e1173911%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4102

Mithas, S., Tafti, A., Bardhan, I., & Mein Goh, J. (2012). Information technology and firm profitability: mechanisms and empirical evidence. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 205-224. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=57&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Mohr, J. J., Sengupta, S. & Slater, S. F. (2009). Marketing of High-technology Products and Innovations Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Porter, ME, & Heppelmann, JE 2014, ‘How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 92, no. 11, pp. 64-88. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=51&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Shelton, H. C. (2014). Managing Human Capital in the Digital Era. People & Strategy, 37(2), 36-41. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=67&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Slaten, R. (2015). Smart Building Technologies. Alaska Business Monthly, 31(7), 30-35. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=50&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

This Week in Consumer Electronics. (TWICE). (2015). The Impact of Do-It-Yourself. TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics, 30(17), 16. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=54&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Wedutenko, A. (2015). Cyber attacks: Get your governance in order. Governance Directions, 67(10), 598-601. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=63&sid=94a7ff10-6f4a-4333-a7da-3936e5828dce%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4102

Youngmo, K., Mingook, L., & Sungjoo, L. (2014). Service-Oriented Factors Affecting the Adoption of Smartphones. Journal Of Technology Management & Innovation, 9(2), 98-117

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BitTorrent Sync Application

BitTorrent Sync Application
BitTorrent Sync Application

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BitTorrent Sync Application

Summary

            Given that private and professional internet users have rapidly become concerned with privacy and data protection the privacy that is accorded famous synchronization services of cloud files for instance Google drive, Drop box and one drive this matter has gained lots of scrutiny by the press.

Some of these services have been reported in the recent past to be sharing their information with government intelligence agencies without warrants/ BitTorrent has been observed to be an alternative by numerous people and by 2014 it already had 3 million users. 

This service is totally decentralized and provides most of the same functionality and synchronization that is a replica of cloud computing services. It employs encryption in the transmission of data and alternatively for storage remotely.

The significance of comprehending BitTorrent Sync and its consequent digital investigative implications to law enforcers and forensic investigators is critical to future evaluations.  Given the rise in home user bandwidth and the developments in professional and non professional computer power data volumes that are being created by computer machines are now increasing.  

For users of mobile machines accessing this data has been a tall order. With rapid connectivity and increased availability and internet access the notion of resilient storage,  high availability and off site back up has been moved from the domain that was mainly a preserve of large corporations and has become rapidly popular with users of computers as well as daily data consumers.

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Applications like Drop Box and Ever note control the reducing cost of hard disk storage witnessed in Storage as a Service (SaaS) providers for instance Amazon S 3. The key advantage of stemming from services like Apple iCloud, DropBox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive is the fact that their data tends to be stored in a fundamental extension of their machines with no necessity of user interaction upon installation.

It is backed up by a completely distributed data center model that is totally out of the financial reach of the ordinary consumer. This data can be accessed on various devices without necessarily reformatting partitions or wasting space through a creation of multiple copies of one file for all devices. DropBox and a number of other services have offline applications that permeate the synchronization of data to local folders to be accessed offline.

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Each of these services could be categorized as cloud synchronization services. This shows that as much as data is coordinated between user machines a copy of this data is remotely stored in the cloud. Most of this data can be freely accessed by government intelligence without a warrant.  Consequently, BitTorrent Sync offers this functionality without cloud storage and is thus believed to be the best option.

Given its advantages BitTorrent Sync application is now popular with those who want to replicate and synchronize their files. By the end of 2013 it had attracted 2 million users. This  work’s contribution entails a forensic evaluation of  BitTorrent Sync applications for clients left remnants upon installation, its behavior, and artifacts.  An evaluation of the network traffic sequence and file interactions employed as part of the process of interaction are also included.

This information can be of use to digital forensic investigators if BitTorrent Sync is installed on machines that have been subjected to investigation. It can be employed in the recovery of lost data, modifying this data or locating where it has been synchronized to.

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 By knowing the operational nature of BitTorrent Sync this could assist to get the right direction during digital investigations to extra remote machines where more relevant data could be replicated. This technology is applicable in several crime investigations including, industrial espionage, malicious software distribution and sharing of child exploitation material. The crime that is being investigated is what determines if the remote machines could be owned and put under operation by one suspect or by a cohort that has a mutual goal. 

The protocol is powerful because of the nature of file parts usage where each file is capable of being manipulated and controlled separately. Given that BitTorrent Sync at times tends to use a DHT in data transfers there is no leading authority that can be used to manage data authentication. Suspect files located on a system could be downloaded from several sources and uploaded to several recipients.

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Analysis

There are three unique settings that establish the resources employed in peer discovery as well as the available path for transmission of traffic. BitTorrent Sync employs such peer discovery techniques to ordinary BitTorrentprotocol.  The localized peer discovery packet contains a BSYNC and a ping message type which includes the 20 byte mutual ID of the advertised share, IP address of the sender host as well as the port.

The LAN hosts that receive the packet will drop it if they have no interest in the shared ID.  Hosts that show some interest show it through a UDP packet response to the advertised port.  This response lacks a BSYNC header and the field of data has only the responding peer’s ID.

The three IP addresses are hosted on the EC2cloud service of Amazon. A get peers request is send to the tracker server by the client. Upon reception of this request the IP address of the client is added onto a list of available peers that are active for the specific tracker shared ID. Given that the client requests this list because of the secret possessed by it, the server’s response always has one active peer which is employed in requesting the client’s information.

Peer discovery can be done by clients through the use of a Distributed Hash Table (DHT). In this alternative peers can register their details by use of the secret word and the port. By employing this alternative users could avoid employing any kind of tracking server but they could find peer discovery as being slow in nature.

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The option of using predefined hosts is the last and undetectable technique of peer discovery.  The user is capable of adding a list of IP addresses and port combinations to shared preferences.  This peer’s list is likely to be directly contacted without necessarily having to look into a BSYNC packet that ahs a ping type of message.  Just like peer discovery methods BTSync permeates the user to put together several alternatives that impact the manner in which data can be transferred between peers.  If no options are set the seeding host makes attempts to directly communicate with the replicating target.

The forensic analyses of these utilities are problematic in nature. Unless there is a complete up to date local synchronization the data’s entire picture could reside in temporary files. Multiple data centers and volatile storage for instance the RAM of the system.

Any forensic evaluation done digitally on these systems should have particular attention on the access method. This is mainly the internet browser that connects to the access page of the service provider.  This temporary access highlights the significance of real forensic methods while carrying out investigations on a suspected machine. 

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If power is disconnected from the suspect’s machine investigators will lose more than access to the clients open documents and this includes authentication documents stored in the RAM such as passwords. There is an extra approach to forensics during cloud storage investigations. This entails access by use of complete client application regardless of whether it has been interfered with by the user. 

Anti-forensic attempts could be applied through a deletion of synchronized folders and uninstallation of the application.  If Dropbox is employed with the application of the client it creates a localized folder which synchronizes contents that are stored in it through an online duplication of the folder. Dropbox usually provides a storage space of 2GB for free but one has the alternative of buying more space.

OneDrive is meant to be an absolute online storage facility with the alternative of synchronizing copies of files to the folder of a client.  Most cloud storage facilities offer a method of synchronization that involve a kind of periodic checking to establish if there are changes made to versions that are viewed at a local level. They can also be used to make a comparison of online and offline copies upon re-establishing communication.

Just like peer discovery methods, BitTorrent Sync enables users to configure several options that impact the manner in which data gets transferred from one peer to another. The seeding host makes attempts of directly communicating with the replication target. The traffic tends to be encrypted through default in case it travels out of the local LAN. There is an alternative in application preferences to enhance LAN encryption if it is preferred by the user.

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If there is a blocked communication between hosts in case they are on different networks safeguarded by firewalls or in LAN segments which are locked by inbound access managed links. When a seeder creates a share it leads to the generation of a master key. It is essentially the all access key that permeates the share owner to modify, add or remove the share contents. The only case in which the key can be distributed to another one is when it becomes a trusted collaborator.  The read only key permeates the receiving user to read the synchronized data but not to modify the source contents whatsoever.

When trying to recover lost data it is possible to find that BitTorrent Sync has been installed on a machine. As a result if anti-forensic measures a number of files may not be recovered from the localized hard disk. If the secret is recovered for some share it is likely that the suspect’s secret synchronization will help forensic investigators to recover the information that is lost from all nodes in the share that are still active.

Ordinary forensic analysis of file systems tends to identify synchronized artifacts that are left behind from a certain share combined with successive data synchronization.  The collected data should be stored in a digital evidence bag.

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Bipolar Disorder Essay Paper

Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder

Registered nurses play a central role in teaching patients, especially among those who are suffering from chronic illnesses such as bipolarr. Bipolar disorder is an illness that is normally misunderstood by patients and their families and most patients usually do not follow the administered treatment recommendations. According to Luciano et al, psychoeducation serves as a significant input towards substantially better outcomes (Luciano et al, 2015).

From the given case, a registered nurse should start by illustrating clearly the causes of bipolar. The nurse should make the family understand that there is no single cause of this condition but arises mostly as a result of interlinking of several factors. Generally, it is believed that bipolar runs in the family whereby certain individuals expressing particular genes are at a greater risk of developing bipolar disorder than others (Parikh et al, 2013).

This is absolutely true. However, the nurses should highlight clearly that some instances have been recorded whereby most children with a bipolar disorder family history do not develop the condition. Genes are not the sole risk factor for bipolar disorder other factors other than gens are also involved (Schulte et al, 2013). For instance, studies on identical twins have revealed that if one twin develops the condition, the other does not necessarily develop it despite them having similar genes.

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When offering this form of education, the registered nurse should make some adjustments considering the patient’s age. This is because the patient has just been newly diagnosed with the disorder and the education should focus more on how easily the condition can be managed if the patient sticks to the treatment recommendation, the patient should also be encouraged that other individuals’ of his age have since been diagnosed with the condition and won the battle against it.

The nurse should encourage the patient and his family that bipolar disorder can be treated effectively over the long term. She can use examples of patients in the hospital who have since been diagnosed with bipolar, put under medication and now are leading a normal life. The education will focus mostly on how proper treatment helps many patients with this condition achieve better control of their mood swings and associated symptoms.  

References

Luciano, M., Del Vecchio, V., Sampogna, G., De Rosa, C., & Fiorillo, A. (2015). Including family members in psychoeducation for bipolar disorder: is it worth it?. Bipolar disorders, 17(4), 458-459.

Parikh, S. V., Glenda MacQueen, M. D., MPs, N. P., & RNBN, J. E. (2013). Psychosocial interventions for bipolar disorder and coping style modification: similar clinical outcomes, similar mechanisms?. Canadian journal of psychiatry, 58(8), 482.

Schulte, P. F. J., Jabben, N., Peetoom, T., Postma, D., & Knoppert, E. (2013, June). Psychoeducation for bipolar disorder: a systematic review on efficacy and a proposal for a prototype. In BIPOLAR DISORDERS (Vol. 15, pp. 147-148). 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA: WILEY-BLACKWELL.

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Tensile Testing Laboratory Report

Tensile Testing
Tensile Testing

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Tensile Testing

Summary          

Tensile testing is undeniably the most imperative experimental method that is used in determining the characteristics or properties of various materials for the purpose of predicting their behaviours as well as how they would respond to tension in their real world engineering applications. The specific properties of material that are determined through tensile test include maximum elongation, ultimate tensile strength as well as reduction in area.

The material properties are imperative in the selection of materials for mechanical design. In this lab experiment, a tensile tester was used to determine tensile properties of specimens of three materials namely duralumin, PVC and aluminium.

From the obtained tensile test results, duralumin properties including tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation were 0.054 N/m2, 1.29231 N/m2 and 29.23 % respectively. In addition, those of PVC were 0.928 N/m2, 37.73585 N/m2 and 37.74 % for tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation respectively; whereas those of aluminium were 0.083 N/m2, 0.65789 N/m2 and 65.79 % for tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation respectively.

These properties show that both duralumin and aluminium are ductile and tough compared to PVC which indicate stiffness properties.  These properties are further illustrated in the stress-strain plots of each material. In conclusion, the tensile test results obtained from this lab experiment are useful in determining tensile properties of materials as well as providing valuable information concerning not only the material’s mechanical behaviours but also its engineering performance.  

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Introduction

The determination of the mechanical properties or characteristics of materials is done by performing laboratory experiments that are carefully designed so that they can be replicated under the same service conditions as nearly as possible. In real world applications of materials in mechanical engineering, there is involvement of myriad of factors in the determination of the nature in which application of loads can be done on a material (Czichos, 2006).

According to Ashby (2006) tensile testing is a fundamental test in material science where controlled tension is subjected to a sample until failure, and the obtained results often used for quality control and selection of materials for application. According to Hibbeler (2004), the specific properties of material that are determined through tensile test include maximum elongation, ultimate tensile strength as well as reduction in area. The material properties are imperative in the selection of materials for mechanical design (Davis, 2004).

Tensile testing is without any doubt the experimental method that is used in determining the characteristics of various mechanical materials with an intention of predicting the behaviours of such materials and how they would respond to tension in their real world engineering applications (Czichos, 2006).

The main objective of this experiment is to conduct an experimental tensile testing on various mechanical materials, i.e. duralumin, aluminium and PVC in order to determine and compare their characteristics, which can be used to predict their particular behaviours in real world engineering applications. The other main objective is to plot graphs describing the characteristics or properties of these materials as obtained in the tensile testing results.

As a result, graphs depicting the properties of these materials shall be plotted by stretching the samples of each of provided materials of known dimensions to destruction upon applying force subsequent to noting the ensuing elongation.

Thus, tensile test results obtained in this lab has many benefits because they enable a stress-strain diagram to be obtained, which is useful in determining the tensile properties of materials as well as providing valuable information concerning not only the material’s mechanical behaviours but also its engineering performance (Hibbeler, 2004).

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Theory

The topic covered in this lab experiment is focused to testing of tensile properties of various materials that have different compositions. Figure 1 illustrated below shows a machine used in tensile testing that resembles the one used during the laboratory experiment session. Tensile test is a destructive in nature, in which an axial is subjected to a sample of the material to be tested, and the specimen has to be of a standard shape as well as dimensions.

During a typical procedure for a tensile testing laboratory experiment, a specimen that dog-bone shaped is usually gripped at the top and bottom of the tensile machine on its two ends prior to pulling so that elongation occurs at a determined rate that is controlled up to its breakpoint (Hibbeler, 2004). Tensile testers vary mainly on the basis of pulling rate and maximum load, and their setup during an experiment could be varied for the purpose of mechanical testing of different materials through tensile test (Czichos, 2006).     

Figure 1: Tensile test 1 (A photograph of a tensile machine)

For analytical purposes, stress (σ) vs. strain (ε) is plotted from a tensile test experiment results, and this can be done either manually or automatically (Czichos, 2006). In the metric system, the usual measure for stress is Pa or N/m2, such that 1 Pa = 1 N/m2. From the laboratory experiment, the calculation of stress values is done through division applied force (F) by the cross-sectional area (A) of the machine, which is measured before the experiment is run (Hibbeler, 2004). Equation 1 and 2 below are used to calculate stress and strain values respectively.

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A typical stress-strain plot would look like figure 2 below, which is an example of a generalised and typical representation of a stress-strain curve for ductile metal materials (Davis, 2004). Figure 2 below indicates that the curve has four parts: elastic region, yielding region, strain hardening region and necking region, which occur in almost all materials except the strain hardening region commonly occurring in metallic materials (Czichos, 2006).       

          

In theory, even without the specimen’s cross-sectional area measurement during the tensile testing lab experiment, it is possible to construct a “true” stress-strain curve based on the assumption that there is constant amount of the material. Using this concept, it is possible to calculate both the true strain (εT) and the true stress (σT) using Equation 3 and Equation 4, respectively.   

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In the curve shown in Figure 2 above, the linear region, which is known as the elastic region depicts the region of the curve where the behaviour of the material is elastic. Equation 5 can be used to calculate the slope of the curve, which is an intrinsic property and is a constant of a material referred to as the elastic modulus (E). Its SI unit is Pascal (Pa). 

             Figure 3 shown below illustrates a typical stress-strain curve plot, and it shows that different materials, both metals and polymers portray varied properties under tension, which determines their greatest extent of deformation or ductility before fracture whereby some have very steep or relatively gentle elastic moduli.

According to Hibbeler (2004), mechanical properties of both metals and polymers are generally dependent on their molecular weights, extent of crystallinity, as well as glass transition temperature, Tg. For instance, if materials under consideration are highly crystalline and with a Tg higher than room temperature usually tend to be brittle, and vice versa (Davis, 2004).

On the other hand, when semi-crystalline polymers or materials are subjected to tensile testing, there will be an alignment of the amorphous chains usually evident for translucent and transparent materials, which have a tendency of becoming opaque after they turn crystalline.   

The stress-strain curve is used to give Young’s Modulus based on the run and rise of the slope, which is calculated similar to the gradient of a curve within the yield strength range prior to the material entering the ultimate strength phase subsequent to fracturing (Ashby, 2006)  

http://img.bhs4.com/d5/c/d5c6549d90f4b6585050489d433f06452f60fcde_large.jpg 

Figure 3: A typical stress-strain curve plot

Equipment and Procedure

Prior to beginning the experiment, the supplied guidance notes were carefully read after which the experiment setup of the tensile testing machine was confirmed to be alright. A photograph of the experiment is shown in Figure 4 below. Consequently, Figure 5 that follows is a detailed schematic diagram of a tensile testing machine showing the main parts.

Holding grips are used both at the top and bottom to hold the specimen in place firmly; load cell is used to provide the required weight depending on the sample material’s load range and sensitivity. In addition, the stationary base is used to ensure stability of the machine, while moving crosshead is used to adjust the load cell subjected to the material.

Figure 4: Experiment Setup Photograph of a Tensile Testing Machine

Figure 5: Detailed Schematic of a Tensile Testing Machine

Prior to starting the tensile test the safety guard was fitted followed by the selection of the specimen, which was then followed by the use of Dial Calliper for the width and thickness measurement of the specimen at gauge length as well as the cross-sectional area was determined.

The initial length of the specimen was measured and recorded or reference. The specimen was then fitted to the Tensile Tester followed by setting to zero the Dial Indicator, and the readings obtained for each specimen on the Vertical Scale were noted. Then the Load Nut was turned clockwise gradually in steps of 0.2 mm up to the length of 5 mm in a serial manner, and then followed by larger steps of 1 mm and 10 mm until the specimen broke.

The applied rate was kept consistent, i.e. 5 seconds were taken between each 0.2 mm of Load Nut turning followed by another 5 seconds for the readings to be recorded. The Dial Indicator value was recorded at each step, and for PVC specimen, this was done immediately after the load was change in order to obtain consistent results.

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The specimen elongation was checked by removing the specimen from the tensile tester and the broken ends were pushed together in order to measure the final length. The next step was conversion of the readings of the Dial Indicator into force values.  The extension of the specimens at each step was determined by subtracting the readings of the Dial Indicator from those of the Load Nut movement.

The obtained values of force and extension were consequently converted to stress as well as nominal strain values, which were subsequently plotted on the chart paper for each specimen, i.e. the steel, PVC and alloy. The yield points and tensile strengths for each specimen were noted from the charts. Finally, the elastic region gradients for each specimen were determined for subsequent comparison of the stiffness of the materials.  

Results and Discussion          

The tensile testing results are shown in table 1 below where the results of the three specimens are illustrated on properties such as force, extension, strain and stress. In addition, tensile strength, yield stress and percentage of elongation are calculated and included in the table for duralumin, PVC and aluminium respectively. Furthermore, the stress-strain curves for each of the specimens are plotted to illustrate the relationships between the two properties in Figures 6, 7 and 8.

Table 1: Data collected from experiment 1     

DuraluminPVCAluminium
Load Nut movement (mm)Dial Indicator (mm)Force (N)Extension (mm)Stress σ N/m2Nominal Strain ԑLoad Nut movement (mm)Dial Indicator (mm)Force (N)Extension (mm)Stress σ N/m2Nominal Strain ԑLoad Nut movement (mm)Dial Indicator (mm)Force (N)Extension (mm)Stress σ N/m2Nominal Strain ԑ
000000000000000000
0.21.650.2-1.450.12121-0.87870.20.360.2-0.160.55556-0.444440.20.620.2-0.420.32258-0.67742
0.41.8650.4-1.4650.21448-0.78550.40.4950.4-0.0950.80808-0.191920.40.980.4-0.580.40816-0.59184
0.61.910.6-1.310.31414-0.68580.60.520.60.081.153850.153850.61.290.6-0.690.46512-0.53488
0.81.960.8-1.160.40816-0.59180.80.630.80.171.269840.269840.81.410.8-0.610.56738-0.43262
12.091-1.090.47847-0.521510.6110.611.63934111.521-0.520.65789-1
1.22.141.2-0.940.56075-0.43921.20.591.20.612.03391.03391.2
1.42.281.4-0.880.61404-0.38591.40.581.40.822.413791.413791.4
1.62.441.6-0.840.65574-0.34421.60.561.61.042.857141.857141.6
1.82.551.8-0.750.70588-0.29411.80.561.81.243.214292.214291.8
22.682-0.680.74627-0.253720.5521.453.636362.636362
2.22.812.2-0.610.78292-0.21702.20.532.21.674.15093.150942.2
2.42.892.4-0.490.8304-0.16952.40.532.41.874.52833.52832.4
2.62.922.6-0.320.8904-0.1092.60.522.62.08542.6
2.82.982.8-0.180.9396-0.0602.80.512.82.295.49024.49022.8
33.130.10.96770.032230.532.5653
3.23.113.20.091.02890.02893.20.53.22.76.45.43.2
3.43.163.40.241.07590.07593.40.493.42.916.93875.938783.4
3.63.193.60.411.12850.12853.60.493.63.117.34696.346943.6
3.83.223.80.581.18010.18013.80.483.83.327.91666.916673.8
43.2340.771.23830.238340.4743.538.51067.510644
4.23.254.20.951.29230.29234.20.464.23.749.13048.130434.2
4.44.40.464.43.949.56528.565224.4
4.64.60.454.64.55510.22210.122224.6
4.84.80.414.84.3911.70710.707324.8
550.3654.6413.88812.888895
660.3365.6718.18117.181826
770.2976.7124.1323.137937
880.2987.7127.58626.586218
990.2898.7232.14231.142869
10100.265109.73537.7336.7358510
Tensile Strength (N/m2): 0.054 N/m2Tensile Strength (N/m2):0.928 N/m2Tensile Strength (N/m2): 0.083 N/m2
Yield Stress (N/m2): 1.29231 N/m2Yield Stress (N/m2): 37.73585 N/m2Yield Stress (N/m2): 0.65789 N/m2
% Elongation: 29.23%% Elongation: 37.74%% Elongation: 65.79%

The figures below show the stress-strain plots for each of the specimens tested;

Figure 6: Duralumin Stress-strain plot

Figure 7: PVC Stress-strain plot

Figure 8: Aluminium stress-strain plot

From the tensile test results shown in table 1 above, duralumin properties including tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation were 0.054 N/m2, 1.29231 N/m2 and 29.23 % respectively. In addition, those of PVC were 0.928 N/m2, 37.73585 N/m2 and 37.74 % for tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation respectively; whereas those of aluminium were 0.083 N/m2, 0.65789 N/m2 and 65.79 % for tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation respectively.

These characteristics show that both duralumin and aluminium are ductile and tough compared to PVC which indicate stiffness properties. These properties are further illustrated in the graphs.

Two specimen of the materials, i.e. duralumin and aluminium produced gradients that are relatively the same in their elastic region mainly because they are both metals even though one is a pure metal while the other one is an alloy. The reason why there is a significant difference between tensile properties of the two materials and PVC (which is a polythene polymer) is that, the chemical compositions are totally different hence making them to behave differently under tension (Davis, 2004).

Constant temperature and force application rate are very important for PVC specimens because it is composed of polymers, which easily change even with slight variations of temperature or force and this makes it imperative to ensure that both temperature and force application rate are maintained constant in order to obtain consistent results (Czichos, 2006).

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Some of the important shortcomings of the experimental apparatus is that, when large forces are been exerted there is a likelihood of the equipment to flex resulting to some extent of displacement (Tarr, n.d.). This machine’s displacement is often mistakenly read and recorded as a displacement of the specimen, and can lead to false results. To address this challenge, the tensile machine should be firmly held on the bench to ensure that no flexing occurs when large forces are applied on the specimens (Ashby, 2006).

Conclusion and Recommendations

            By undertaking this lab experiment, I have learned a lot about the concept of tensile testing and my understanding on the same has significantly improved. For instance, I have gained more insights on how tensile properties differ between materials based on their chemical composition. In particular, the tensile properties of the three materials including tensile strength (N/m2), yield stress (N/m2) and % elongation varied considerably, especially between PVC and the other two materials (duralumin and aluminium) mainly due to their composition differences.                      

            The specific aspects of the procedure of this lab experiment that contributed immensely to my learning was about the extension or elongation variations observed between materials before they broke, whereby significant difference was observed between metal specimens and PVC specimens. Prior to doing the lab experiment I had difficulties in comprehending how the tensile testing concept is used in choosing materials for mechanical engineering applications.

However, after the lab experiment my difficulties were alleviated by understanding how tensile strength, ductility, stiffness and brittleness of materials can be determined through this concept enabling selection of appropriate materials. The lessons learned in this lab experiment can be applied in future by extending acquired experience and skills to other mechanical testing such as compression, tear and shear.

References

Ashby, M. (2006) Engineering Materials 1: An Introduction to Properties, Applications and Design. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Czichos, H. (2006) Springer Handbook of Materials Measurement Methods. Berlin: Springer.  

Davis, J. R. (2004) Tensile testing. 2nd ed. New York, NY: ASM International.

Hibbeler, R. C. (2004) Statics and Mechanics of Materials. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.

Tarr, M. (n.d.) Stress and its effect on Materials [Online] available from http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0124_seom/index.html. [Accessed 9 March 2016]. 

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The Impact of National Culture on Workplace Behavior

National Culture
National Culture

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The Impact of National Culture on Workplace Behavior

Culture

Culture is perhaps the most influential factors that impact the success of businesses across the world. Culture can be defined as a set of beliefs, values and assumptions that are held in common by a particular group of people. It is important for any business to understand the culture of its business environment as this is crucial to the success of the business. In this paper, the impact of national culture on workplace behavior is discussed.

Secondly, the paper critically analyzes the impact of national culture on organizational practices. Thirdly, the paper presents some of the factors that often act as change triggers in organizational culture. Finally, the paper presents a discussion on some current cultural issues that impact the operations of contemporary businesses.

National Culture and Its Impact

National culture can be defined as set of assumption, values and beliefs that are held by individuals or organization that have the same national identity. A comparison of the individual behavior people from two cultures in an organizational context can help to illustrate how national culture impacts workplace behavior. In this essay, the behavior of Indians and Americans in a technology firm is compared (Perlow, 2002).

There are significant cultural differences between Americans and Indians. American culture emphasizes on individual liberty while Indians believe in interdependence and mutually helping each other. According to Perlow (2002), these attitudes and beliefs can have a significant impact on behavior in the workplace.

According to Hofstede (1983) as cited in Perlow and Weeks (2002), American ranks highly as an individualistic culture while India scores 48 to America’s 98 on the individualistic dimension. According to Perlow and Weeks (2002), individualistic people are characterized by emphasis on independence and differentiation from others. On the other hand, collectivists’ individuals are interdependent and thrive on relationships. 

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The impact of individualism/collectivism is apparent in US organization contexts. In the US, an individual is supposed to make individual contribution to the organization which will be rewarded by promotion up the societal hierarchy (Perlow and Weeks, 2002). Workers in the US easily link individual effort and ability to rewards. For example, salespersons will work as direct competitors although they are from the same company.

In contrast, India is a collectivist society where group performance is more important than individual performance. In India, a group of salespersons from the same company are likely to work collaboratively as they pursuit market opportunities for their organization. According to Perlow and Weeks (2002), Indian children are taught to subordinate their own personal interests to those of the family and other social institutions.

Later in life, Indians adopt the same attitude where societal or group norms, belief, desires, needs, and values have more priority than those of the individual. People from collectivist cultures have increased pressure to act in an acceptable, effective and legitimate way. According to Perlow and Weeks (2002), the individualism/collectivism dimension has a great effect on the willingness of individuals to engage in collective or cooperative tasks.  

Perlow and Weeks (2002) found that Indian tech workers were more willing to help their colleagues who were faced with difficult task. The authors point out that Indian workers believed that helping fellow workers was an opportunity to enhance their own skills. In addition, assistance in task completion was greatly appreciated by Indian workers who were beneficiaries. In contrast, American workers considered assistance from colleagues an unnecessary interruption in their work. Furthermore, very few American workers were willing to help their colleagues who were experiencing difficulties in completing tasks that were assigned individually.

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The influence of national culture is an indicator of just how profound the impact of culture is in workplaces. Culture is an influential factor that impacts a number of workplace behaviors. According to () , how people work, behave, use language, solve conflicts and problem, negotiate and create relationship is dependent on their culture, and in particular their national culture. This change in behavior is driven by the common values that people from the same national culture posses.

Importance of Values

According to (), individuals learn both conscious and unconscious values from their national culture. People only become aware of their national culture values and beliefs when they are confronted by people with different worldviews, values and beliefs. National cultural differences make interactions and communication between people of different cultures especially difficult. According to (), there are significant variations across national cultures. Unfortunately, many people are biased to judge other using their own cultural norms as reference points or lens.

This biased view holds great potential for conflict, miscommunication and misunderstanding. () points out that diverse cultures lead to diverse behavior which may not be understood by everyone. There is need for contemporary workers to understand, learn and appreciate the culture of their colleagues from other cultural backgrounds and workplaces are becoming increasingly multicultural.

Individual vs Group behaviors and Values

According to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (), individuals can either be dividend into community or self-oriented. As seen earlier, Indians are community oriented while American are self-oriented. However, even in community oriented culture there is huge difference in the institution the culture identifies with. The Irish identify the Catholic Church, the French with family and country, while the Japanese identify with Corporations.

It may be assumed that the whole society is moving towards individualism but this is not really true. According to (), it is rare for a person to achieve an extraordinary feat without the assistance of other members of society. He notes that nobody has invented an new product on their own.

According to (), the best approach to survive and flourish in a multicultural environments is to adopt our individual values to the group. Culturally adapt individuals can adapt to fit into groups of different culture. Individuals can also behave in a “culturally intelligent” way by seeking to understand other and adapting behavior so that it can be easily understood.  () advises immigrants or expertriate who move into foreign nation to adapt to local national cultures.

He points out that a person could end up forgetting some aspects of the home culture. However, () argues that people working in foreign countries have no choice that to adapt to host cultures as this is the most practical thing to do. However, people will rarely lose their values even if they work in a foreign culture for years.

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Building Multicultural workplaces

People are likely to work with people from different cultural backgrounds in contemporary organizations. It is therefore important to build work environment where people from different cultures can fit comfortably. Success in building such an environment is dependent on the development of common trust, understanding and commitment.

It is important to genuinely connect with people from different individual culture and realize the potential their hold despite the obvious cultural differences. Some of the important consideration to make include:

  1. Is the person from a different national culture relationship or task oriented? Can I we collaborate in a task without first needing to build a relationship?
  2.  Is the person from a low-trust or high-trust society? With individuals from low trust society it takes little time to earn a person’s trust. In contrast, a lot of time and effort is needed to earn the trust of a person originating from a high-trust country.
  3. Willingness to share information should also be an important consideration when working with people from different national cultures.
  4. Does the person come from a direct communication or an indirect communication country? This is an important consideration when passing instruction to the concerned party.
  5. Research the persons cultural background: its is important for members of staff who will be interacting with a person from a different country to know the cultural expectations of their national culture.

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Building trust with people of diverse national cultures is a difficult undertaking that need skillful employment of cultural intelligence. Trust is achieved when cultural understanding, intercultural engagement, and intercultural communication are employed. Cultural understanding includes being aware of our won cultural bias and those of the other party. On the other hand, intercultural communication involves use of both verbal and non-verbal communication and communication styles that can be easily understood. According to (), emphatic listening and respect helps in earning the trust of people from different national culture backgrounds.

Factors that Lead to Cultural Change in Organizations

Leadership Change

Many authors agree that changes in top-level management can contribute or drive culture change in organizations Morgan (2012); Christopher (2012); Beer (2012).  Organizational culture is initiated by the founder of the organization, but it changes over time due to a number of factors (Beer 2012).  Organizational culture changes significantly once the management of the organization changes and some new ideas start to flow in these organizations. However, Beer (2012) points out that organizational culture remains the same in public sector organization despite changes in the top-management of the organization.

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Beer (2012) and Christopher (2012) argue that changes in organizational leadership can either have insignificant or significant changes on organizational culture.  According to Christopher (2012), the personal traits of the leader, the organization’s new strategy, and objectives influence the extent of changes in organizational culture at the onset of new leadership. In organizations where strategy changes significantly, the organizational culture also changes profoundly.

Technological Developments

Advances in technology have had a huge impact in organizations and in particular organizational culture. Technology has the potential to impact culture in different ways. For example, mobile phone, email and internet technology changed the way organizations communicate. On the other hand, technology such as CCTV enables organizations to closely monitor the conduct of workers at the workplace (Maude 2011).

For example, some organizations use strategically placed CCTV cameras to control lateness and absentia from work. Teleconferencing, email and video relay systems allow employee to work from the comfort of their homes or from remote locations.  For example, Walshe and Smith (2011) points out that technology has enabled clients to make online appointments with health practitioner instead of making physical visits. Overall, technology is changing the way work is done in organizations and therefore changing underlying organizational culture in the concerned organizations.

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Mergers and Acquisitions

Christopher (2012) and Moran et al (2011) have linked changes to organizational culture to the merger or acquisition of organizations. Mergers and acquisition bring together two or more organization with different cultures. Obviously, the cultures of some or all the organizations have to change to enable them to work together successfully. According to Moran (2012), the period immediately following a merger or acquisition is especially difficult as employee have to deal with the inevitable clash in cultures.

However, this clash in culture is temporary and new hybrid cultures soon emerge after the acquisition and merger is completed. Sometimes mergers and acquisition involve organizations from two different cultures. In such a situation, the cultural clash is more serious and need more able leadership to manage it.

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In the views of Christopher (2011), effective leaders assist greatly in enabling the emergence of a new organizational culture blend in the case of a merger or acquisition. He argues that leaders need to support employees at all level of the organization to accept and embrace the new cultural changes. Leaders should also raise awareness about the inevitability of change after a merger or acquisition and try to prepare all stakeholders to receive the impending change positively.

4. Changes in External Environment

Changes in the external environment can act as triggers for changes in organizational culture (Morgan, 2012; Primecz et al. 2011; Velo, 2012). According to, changes in the Political, Social, Technological, environmental and legal environment can influence organizations to change their organizational culture. For example, governments may make changes to official workers requiring workers to report to work at 9:00 am instead of 8: am. Organizations will have no choice than to change their policies to suit the change in official working hours.

Cultural Issues in Business Environments

Successful intercultural negotiations

Businesses are engaged in multiple situations where negotiations between the parties are necessary. According to (), language and cultural etiquette forms a formidable barrier to intercultural negotiations. () argues that it is imperative that businesses operating in multicultural environment use the language of the customer. According to (), foreign trade partners may use a different language, think differently and have different priorities while engaging in business negotiations.

For example, in some culture, business meetings are formal and parties are offended if they are addressed by their first names. In other cultures, business meetings are informal affairs where negotiating parties refer to each other by first name. Obviously, two parties from these two cultures are engaged in negotiations they would have difficulties understanding each other. () argues that successful negotiations depend on the previous knowledge of each other values and assumptions.

Differences in negotiation styles are as diverse as national cultures. For example, negotiations between an South American and a North American businessman will be characterized by considerable differences as the true have distinctly different negotiation styles. 

Differences range from the authority of a negotiator to approve a deal, to the level of relationship needed to start business negotiations. In some culture, it is necessary for organizations to build close and personal relationships with negotiators. These relationships are meant to establish fidelity and trust between the two negotiating teams.

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Religious Limitations

Religion moderates the behavior of communities more than any other cultural factor. Religion varies from nation to nation, within nations, and even within local communities. It is important for businesses to respect the religious norms that relate to their business operations. In particular, the advertising area of business is profoundly impacted by religions. For example, religious reason may prevent businesses from advertising alcoholic products, sanitary pads and other culturally sensitive product in some countries.

For example, the Koran (Islam’s holy book) ban the consumption of alcohol by believers. In some muslim countries, believer who are caught intoxicated are severely punished. The impacts of the alcohol ban on foreign businesses means they cannot market alcohol in countries where it is a banned. In addition, alcohol is a taboo subject in most of the Muslim world where people cannot discuss whether it should be legalized or stay banned.

Dressing and Dress Codes

Dressing is an important cultural consideration in businesses that operate across different national cultures. What is acceptable and decent varies from one culture to another. For example, KFC in the United States may be able to dress their female waiting staff in miniskirts and tight tops as this is acceptable in American culture. In contrast, if KFC operates a store in a conservative Middle Eastern country it would be considered indecent to dress their staff in miniskirts.

The backlash for breaking cultural dressing codes can be significant as some government can even cancel the operation licenses of organization that break local dressing codes. Cultural dressing codes also impact the dressing codes organization can use for their employees. For example, it is agreeable in many western countries for women to go to work in miniskirts as part of suits, but the same would not pass for decent office wear in the Middle East.

Furthermore, some communities require women to wear veils whenever they are outdoors. These points are important considerations for organizations who are developing dressing codes for employee in foreign offices.

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 Women vs. men relationships

Women/Men relationships are becoming an important cultural issue that has the potential to influence business operations. In some cultures, some products are for men while other are for women. Another good example is where buying decisions for some products are the preserve of one sex. In some cultures, women make the buying decisions for food items, household items, and sometimes for holidays as in the case of Britain.

For organization marketing to different cultures, it is important to pre-determine the role of women/men in making the purchases decision for the product that you are offering in the market.

Taboos

Taboos vary from culture to culture. For example, in some culture Dogs are considered pets and thought of consuming their meat would be unacceptable. However, the Chinese consider dog meat a delicacy and there are many butcheries stocking Dog meat in China. One of the taboos which touch on organizational culture has to do with acceptance of tattoos in the workplace.

In the United States, tattoos have gained wide popularity and are quickly being accepted in the workplace. However, some workplaces in the US have rules that prevent employees from having visible tattoos. According to (), the prejudice associated with tattoos has faded greatly in the last twenty years and few people feel tattoos can prevent them from securing a job.

Despite this over 31 per cent of Human resource managers assert that visible tattoos can impact a candidate’s chance of getting a job. In contrast, the stigma associated with tattoos is still high in the UK. Most hiring managers thought that visible tattoos on candidates’ bodies indicated they were “thugs” or “drug addicts”. They also argued that ultimately it is customer’s attitudes towards employees with visible tattoos that influence the hiring decision.

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Conclusion

There is little doubt that culture is a powerful force in business environments. Businesses cannot ignore the potent forces of culture in both their internal and external environment. In particular, businesses must remember that contemporary organizations have to work with employees originating from different national cultures.

It is important for them to consider the role differences in national culture may impact the behavior of employees. For example, organizations receiving employees from foreign cultures may need to use special communication strategies to engage and connect with the employees from different national cultures.

Organizations also have their own internal culture which may need to change from time to time. This paper discusses leadership change, merger and acquisitions, changes in external environment, and technological changes as the main drivers of organizational culture change.

The paper argues that good leadership can enable organization smoothly transition into a new organizational culture. Finally, the paper presents several cultural issues that impact contemporary business including negotiations, religion, dress codes and taboos.

http://hrbdf.org/dilemmas/freedom-speech/#.VuK_ShLfrGU

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2410897/Tattoos-taboo-employers-Those-considering-body-art-think-twice-looking-job.html

http://www.economist.com/node/21560543

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/11/tattoo-taboo-workplace/15449719/

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Operation Management Research Paper

Operation Management
Operation Management

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Operation Management

Introduction

Many companies emphasizes mostly in operation management. They are mainly alarmed with the company’s planning, organizing, supervising as far as manufacturing, production and other service are concerned. The operation management departments ensures that the company inputs are been transformed to outputs at an efficient and effective manner. Operation management runs across two fields of operations.

That is the supply chain management and the logistics. It helps the operations mangers to have the knowledge of comprehending the current supply chain management so that they can meet the clients demand in a timely manner. As far as logistics is concerned, the operation managers are very keen when using the resources available on a cost effective basis.

An operation manager is mandated to know all the process of a company. Comprehending them make it easier for the operation manager to run them swiftly. Also, the operation manager must have the supply chain skills to run this operations and the skills related to logistics in order to integrate both the coordination and know-how of the organization work. This will make the operation manager to be successful when running company’s processes, (Gunasekaran, and Ngai, 2012).

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Kolak snack food limited is known to be the leading manufacturing company for snacks and crisps based products. Been the leading company, Kolak understands the interests of the company working in food services, retail, catering, cash and carry and specialty food sector to work with their trusted suppliers. For this reason, they have committed themselves by give their customer’s quality services from the sales of innovated crisps and snacks.

Putting the customers at their heart of operation, Kolak has been to grow and develop rapidly since 1984 and it is well known for its quality and flexible services and products for been the largest crisps and snack producers in Europe. The company has invested heavily in thee infrastructure with manufacturing machines and in people to. They aim at considering the finest inputs, flavors and ingredients and also restructure their supply chain so that they when they purchase their input, they do it at a cost effective way.

They consider their customers taste and preferences and when their customers select the brand of products they want, the company assure them of what they need since they have the experts, resources and they aim to deliver at a cost effective manner.

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With such a reputation, Kolak Company need to have a competent operation manager to ensure that the company brand name is maintained. Operations managers have a vital role in a company. They are meant to put everything in equilibrium according to the company policies and processes that run along all the company department.

Also they are meant to foresee the company’s plans on its onsite operations, (Burke, 2013) When launching a new product in the market, the operation manager should be flexible to coup up with challenges that will come with the product development and market development.  Some of the challenges the operation manager will have to deal with include the following, (Dekker, Bloemhof, and Mallidis 2012)

Competing practices- a new operation manager will find it difficult to manage a business that is highly competing in the global market and also that have competing activities within the company.  Various business procedures of the firm can have disadvantageous results on the company’s actions when they challenge the efficiency of the company distributing quality products and services. However, using the Kolak Company brand name, it will be easier for the operation manager to win the market since the company is well established.

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Sustainability-the operations manager have a task of coming up with long term customers and maintaining them, formulating a long term strategies employees that help them coup up with the company political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological environment. The strategies formulated is meant to minimize the negatives effects by eliminating wastes which aims to reduce the wellbeing of the clients.

The operation managers may face this challenge because the environment work are seemed to be more insular, (Teittinen, Pellinen, and Järvenpää, 2013). By doing so, the company can secure an opportunity that they should implement to the fullest and be in a position to meet the client’s needs.

Corporate reporting-in many organizations, the operation managers are accountable for issuing corporates reports to the top management. The reports given includes performance and financial data and they are involved to communicate this information to the shareholders. The challenges they face is when the company has not kept up to date and accurate reports for the business.

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Social responsibility-the operation managers oversee on how the organization is interacting with the community at large beyond the fact that they want them to buy the products. It becomes a problem to the operation manager to be able to organize projects that aims at involving the community to show them that the firm recognizes them and they are concerned about them and their customers beyond making profits and create awareness of their business and keep its brand name, (Tano, and, Data Tec, 2013)

 A new manager is be able to accomplish a fast fluctuating commercial and technological environment. To do so, the new manger should be able to address to the human side in a systematic way. It will involve the manager emphasizing on the transformation of peoples issues. The managers will have to step out of their cocoon, develop new skills and abilities and convince the employees on their tasks to handle.

The manager should be able coup up with the change and involve all the stakeholders, integrate all the changes and formulate a strategy that will help them to make an informed decisions. The strategic direction taken by the manager should be realistic and must be congruent to the company history and must be flexible enough to a capacity of a change, (Pérez-Feijoo, Martínez-López,  and García-Ordaz, 2015). For example the Kolak Company operation manager should try to use the product’s strength in order to overcome this changes and make their brand name to be well recognized and keep their reputation.

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Also, the manger should start at the top since change in an organization is unsettling for staff. The manager should come up with a new approach that will motivate the employees and at the same time challenge them. The approach should limit the employees from looking upon the top management team for direction, support and strength. 

The manager should be able to work with other people so that they analyze vividly on the direction they have to take for change, be able to comprehend the behaviors and the culture the change is inducing to the organization, and be able to find a solution to those changes, (Lunenburg, 2012). The new operation manager at Kolak Company should be able to communicate the dynamic changes that are facing the company operations. With a flow of communication, it will become easier for the company to know how they will deal with the internal or external environmental issues affecting the business.

In addition, the manager should involve every department of the company. The changes in the company running involve the changes in the company’s reengineering their plans and coming up with new targets that are to be implemented. The transformation of company activities must be part of the strategies that identify the management in the company and be able to roll the change down to the staffs so that they can help implement the changes throughout the organization, (Cameron, and Green, 2015.).

The changes that may be facing the Kolak Company may be outside their reach. The operation manager should involve every member of staff in order to come up with a plan that will help the company to adopt and coup up with the changes but keeps the company’s vision alive.

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The manager should make the change process as a formal case. To avoid questioning by the staff, the manager have to formalize the changes and write a new vision statement that will help create team work, (Scarbrough, and Corbett, 2013.)

The manager will to operate in a changing environment, should be willing to overwork during the time of change and be a fanatics who is willing to launch a serious figure amongst the work force in the kindness of change. The leader must be willing to own the company responsibility for overseeing change and coping with it in all the company’s department. The ownership by the manager will involve people who will help recognize problems and come up informed solutions.

The manager must be willing to motivate the so that they can work effectively and efficiently. Failing to coup up with the changes, the Kolak Company will face a bigger threat from any political, economic, social, technological, and ecological conditions that will hit the company unexpectedly causing a change in their operations.

The mangers who operates in a changing environment of commercial and technological change, should be able to communicate the message to the entire stakeholders. A good flow of communication from the top management to the junior staffs is aimed to communicate and pass the right information to the employees about the changes at the right time through communication from multiple and terminated networks, (Hayes, 2014).

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Lastly the manager is expected to prepare and plan for the unexpected. The manager should always review the company operations on their impact on a day to day activities. This will help the management to fully adopt to any unpredictable transformation.

Kolak Company have to formulate a strategy that’s abide to its marketing operation. The strategy may be as follows, (Bettis, Gambardella, Helfat, and Mitchell, 2015)

Operating location– The Company should come up with a strategic place where it is aiming to develop a market for its product. The decision about the market should be independent and should make sense regarding the company operations.

Customer analysis-the company through the marketing department should carry out analysis for developing their target market and gets the know-how on what their customers really needs. When a bigger number of customers are happy with the product offered, then the demand will vary as per the needs of them, (Lee, Chiu, Y.L, Wu, and Liu, 2014)

Competition analysis-the company should be able to analysis and understand the competition in the market.  This will help to create a distinction with their competitors operations.

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Analysis of capability and system of one’s own company– it will be of necessity when the company will have to achieve a continuous and a continuous abilities and also be able to come up with a stable system in order to offer a endless value to their client and show a different approach as compared to what the competitor is offering, (De Mooij, 2013)

Setting Quantitative targets– the company will set up a target they are aiming to achieve by the end of a certain period. The target will go hand in hand with the customers’ needs and if there is any change, the operations should be evaluated amicably, (Jain, 2014)

Aiming in context with the divisional strategies– each department in the organization should come up with their own plans that will help push the project onward.

Performance analysis-this will involve analyzing the gap between the desired performance and planned performance. It will encompasses on analyzing of the company historical performance that will help to forecast on future performance.

Choice of strategy– after a careful assessment of company goals, strengths, potential and limitations operations, the best alternative and strategy that will be congruent to the vision of the company will be implemented, (Gunasekaran, and Ngai, 2012)

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SWOT analysis

Kolak Company is best known for its snacks products. Producing another health product to the market will be a significant role to play since the company is well known by its brand name and the quality products it offers to its clients that come with efficient and effective services.

In the new market, the target market are the young populations who goes for snacks products. The company must be willing to meet the clients taste and preferences and fulfil they request when they order a special type of snack.

The company beliefs that the customers are the heart of the business. It means that the new product established will be according to the customers’ needs and it will be health so that it does not affect customer’s health issues.

The new product should be launched into a market where there is demand for a particular product. The company should be able to analyze the market gap in all its global markets and see an opportunity that will make them fulfill their target.

After establishing the customers’ needs and seizing an opportunity, the company will have to employ a competent person who will manage to administer quality services to the customers and be creative enough to know what the taste of the customer is. Also, the location of the business should be strategically placed such that it becomes easier to produce product with the new technology and also easier to distribute the products. With this, it will be easier to make profits due to better know how of the market, (Hollensen, 2015.)

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PESTEL Analysis

The Kolak Company should set up the market for the new product where there is political stability. This will ensure that the business is running swiftly and there is customers for the product.

Establishing a business in a political stable market, the Kolak Company is well assured that the economy of the market is stable and they make sales for their products.

The company should be socially responsible. They should interact with the community beyond the aspect of making profit. This will make the company to be well established and in return will be able to make maximum sales

Due to advanced technology, the company should set up the market for the new product where there is availability and accessibility of latest technology that will help them with ease of production, (Rachet, 2014)

The Kolak Company should develop a market in an environment that best suit its products and will be convenient for its customer’s hygiene.

To come up with a market, the company will have to adhere the government rules and regulations and it should have proper documentation before it starts operating.

It can be summarized that operation management in a company is well concerned with control, redesigning, the organization operation in the productions of goods and services. The operation manger should be competent in a way that he or she is very keen to ensure that the operations are handled in an effective way and at cost effective when meeting the customer’s needs.

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It can be concluded that the operation manager is the key person who is at the higher notch of maintaining the company operations. Any misinformation by the operation manger will eventually leads to unpredicted changes and this will alter with the company progress because of dynamic unexpected changes that may lead to the company incurring various cost when trying to control redesign, and oversee the company operations running swiftly. , (Belleflamme, and Peitz, 2015).

Having a competent operations manager, Kolak Company will be able to launch its new product in the market. Following the operation strategy and the operations manager has the skills of supply chain management and logistics, the company will develop the new product and develop a new market which it will be able to meet the customer’s requirements effectively and efficiently at a minimum hurdle rate.

It can be recommended that Kolak Company can launch the new product into the market. Having analyzed the market fully and the customers at the same time, the company through the operation management team can spear head the launch of the product that will be of high quality and will satisfy the customer taste and preferences.

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References

Belleflamme, P. and Peitz, M., 2015. Industrial organization: markets and strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Bettis, R.A., Gambardella, A., Helfat, C. and Mitchell, W., 2015. Qualitative empirical research in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 36(5), pp.637-639.

Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: a complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

De Mooij, M., 2013. Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes. Sage Publications.

Dekker, R., Bloemhof, J. and Mallidis, I., 2012. Operations Research for green logistics–An overview of aspects, issues, contributions and challenges. European Journal of Operational Research, 219(3), pp.671-679.

Gunasekaran, A. and Ngai, E.W., 2012. The future of operations management: an outlook and analysis. International Journal of Production Economics, 135(2), pp.687-701.

Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Jain, S.K., 2014. Impact of advertisement on the consumer behaviour a case study of some selected fmcg products in union territory of chandigarh.

Lee, T.W., Chiu, Y.L., Wu, Y.S. and Liu, H.S., 2014, September. An intelligent image-based customer analysis service. In Network Operations and Management Symposium (APNOMS), 2014 16th Asia-Pacific (pp. 1-4). IEEE.

Lunenburg, F.C., 2012. Organizational structure: Mintzberg’s framework. International journal of scholarly, academic, intellectual diversity, 14(1), pp.1-8.

Patel, S.R., Hayes, A.L., Blackwell, T., Evans, D.S., Ancoli-Israel, S., Wing, Y.K. and Stone, K.L., 2014. The association between sleep patterns and obesity in older adults. International Journal of Obesity, 38(9), pp.1159-1164.

Pérez-Feijoo, H.M., Martínez-López, F.J. and García-Ordaz, M., 2015. Potential benefits of employee portals in public administrations: implementation and proactive behaviour towards the organization. Atlantic Review of Economics, 1, p.1.

Rachet, B., 2014. PESTEL analysis and Porters Five Forces For Innocent Drinks Company. Docs. school Publications.

Scarbrough, H. and Corbett, J.M., 2013. Technology and Organization (RLE: Organizations): Power, Meaning and Deisgn. Routledge.

Tano, M., Data Tec Co., Ltd., 2013. Operation management device to be mounted to a moving object, portable information terminal, operation management server, and computer program. U.S. Patent 8,421,864.

Teittinen, H., Pellinen, J. and Järvenpää, M., 2013. ERP in action—Challenges and benefits for management control in SME context. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 14(4), pp.278-296.

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Reducing Nurse Burnout Essay Paper

Reducing Nurse Burnout
Reducing Nurse Burnout

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Reducing Nurse Burnout

Introduction

Burnout has been identified as one of the main factors impacting the performance of home healthcare nurses. This mostly results from long working hours and many patients to attend to, such that they end up being too exhausted and stressed out. The nature of work that nurses do is also exhausting, given that it involves standing and running around all day, with insignificant breaks between one assignment and the other.

While the straightforward solution would be to increase the number of nurses so that the work is manageable, this may not feasible due to economic pressures, hence the need to come up with strategies to help the nurses manage their current situation better. This paper is a discussion of the impact of conducting stress management training and implementing a home care visit scheduling system to reduce burnout among nurses.

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Discussion

Stress management training

A stressed nurse is likely to have low productivity and energy levels and thereby more prone to burnout. Stress management training would be highly effective in helping nurses cope with everyday challenges and ensuring that they live a balanced life. Abel, Abel and Smith (2012), note that a majority of people are overwhelmed by stress because they are incapable of making proper decisions and plans to address their daily stressors.

Training would help the nurses in identifying their sources of stress and how these can be managed to make life easier. Training for example could help them learn how to prioritize issues and thus make proper personal plans based on the time available to them.

When people experience symptoms of stress including constant headaches, poor concentration, forgetfulness and insomnia among other signs, there is a significant likelihood that they are not aware that they are suffering from stress. Stress management training would provide nurses with an opportunity to understand stress, its causes and effects (Dhobale, 2009). This way, it is possible for the nurses to evaluate themselves and establish the stressors in their lives so as to deal with them.

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Knowledge of daily stressors ensures that they can be effectively addressed using various strategies in order to relieve the affected person (Dhobale, 2009). Once the causes of stress have been identified, it is easier to anticipate them and make necessary plans to ensure that they do not overwhelm the nurse again.

This in itself addresses the issue of burnout because absence of stress means that the individual has more energy to execute their duties. Dhobale (2009) notes that after training, self-management of stress through psychological techniques, physical exercise, breathing exercise, massage and indulgence in hobbies among other things is likely to be witnessed.

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Poor time management is a leading factor in triggering stressors as noted by Abel, Abel and Smith (2012). This is a common problem among home healthcare nurses and can be a major cause of stress. It is difficult for nurses to determine how much time they will spend with a patient because of lack of a properly laid out time plan. Stress management training places major focus on time management as a strategy to reduce stress.

Through this training, nurses would be taught how to schedule their home visits and how to plan their time to ensure that they only take the necessary amount of time to attend to a client. This will ensure that the nurses attend to more patients with lesser time, thus reducing burnout to a great extent. The fact that the nurse is likely to have adequate time for non-work activities in order to create a proper work-life balance leads to a reduction in the occurrence of burnout.

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Stress management training for nurses is not only useful to them but it can also help close acquaintances and colleagues. Milliken (2007) notes that the knowledge gained from the training may be passed on to other people, who would also benefit from better stress management. Assuming that the beneficiaries are mostly other nurses, the result would be a less burnt out workforce.

Home visit scheduling program

Designing a system that effectively schedules home visits would play a great role in reducing burnout among nurses. In the absence of a well designed system, nurses design their own schedules and often maintain unpredictable hours (Hall, 2011). In most cases, home visits are not well planned and nurses mostly end up spending so much time in one home and hence rescheduling consequent visits. They also have to travel frequently to keep up with the visits, hence increasing exhaustion.

Furthermore, a majority of nurses do not have a structured home visit plan to guide the visit and this often results in poor time planning (Mankowska, Meisel and Bierwirth, 2014). A system to schedule home visits would clearly indicate the number of homes to be visited each day, the number of hours to be spent in each house based on client needs and the issues to be addressed by the nurse during the visit. This would save time and thus reduce burnout.

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A scheduling system for home visits would ensure better coordination between healthcare workers and thus reduce conflicting schedules and information gap. Where there are different healthcare workers attending to the same patient, there may be conflict of schedules and thus difficulty in coordinating services (Pinelle and Gutwin, 2003). In the event that a nurse finds a patient being attended by another healthcare worker, they are forced to wait for them to finish with the patient or postpone the session and thus end up wasting a lot of time (Mankowska, Meisel and Bierwirth, 2014).

Due to the fact that each healthcare worker makes their own notes which are rarely shared because they are made on paper, it is difficult to track reports of other healthcare workers attending to the patient, which may bring confusion. It also becomes difficult for synchronous communication to be initiated because health workers cannot trace other healthcare workers’ schedules to know when they are available (Pinelle and Gutwin, 2003).

Such kind of communication breakdown can be addressed through the use of a scheduling system, which ensures that each healthcare worker logs in information concerning their sessions with the patient. Through the system, it is easy to follow schedules made by other healthcare workers, such that nurses can plan the most appropriate time to see clients to avoid time wastage, as well as identify the best time for synchronous communication (Pinelle and Gutwin, 2003). Improved efficiency is not only expected to increase productivity but it also reduces the probability of burnout among nurses.

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The home visits scheduling system is bound to improve efficiency in terms of number of homes visited per day and also save nurses long exhausting hours of travel (Mankowska, Meisel and Bierwirth, 2014). The system would cluster homes according to location in order to plan for effective travel. Visits would be scheduled in such a way that homes in the same area are clustered for same day visits as opposed to visiting different areas the same day. This would reduce the travelling time and also reduce exhaustion, consequently reducing burnout.   

Considering the fact that the system has all the information about clients in one place, the nurse can easily retrieve information and make well-versed decisions based on the information. This works better than using client files because not only is the information easily retrievable, the nurse can make updates and easily compare notes for different clients. Such information can guide the nurse on areas of care to concentrate on, based on client history. Availability of information at the click of a button would go a long way in reducing burnout among nurses and thus enhance productivity.

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Conclusion

It is undeniable based on the discussion that stress management training and introduction of a home visit scheduling system would be effective in reducing burnout among home healthcare nurses. Notably, training nurses on stress management will ensure that they are more aware of their daily stressors, why they occur and how to deal with them. Time management taught during this training is also highly important in promoting efficiency and reducing burnout.

The home visit scheduling system would make it easier for nurses to plan visits, avoid conflict visits and promote communication synchronization. Through this system, visits would be well planned and there would be reduced rescheduling of visits. This essentially translates into less burnout by the nurses. The stress management training and home visit scheduling would therefore impact home healthcare nurse burnout in a significant manner.

References

Abel, H., Abel, A., & Smith, R. L. (2012). The Effects of a Stress Management Course on Counselors-in-Training. Counselor Education & Supervision, 51(1), 64-78. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6978.2012.00005.x Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=a576b81a-91da-4e90-bca3-a6f0a26ae995%40sessionmgr114&hid=111

Dhobale, R. S. (2009). Stress Management Training: A Boon to Employee Wellness!. ICFAI Journal Of Soft Skills, 3(1), 39-44. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c67da53c-bbed-4343-b72b-da2da51c523f%40sessionmgr198&vid=0&hid=111

Hall, R. (2011). Handbook of Healthcare System Scheduling. New York, Springer Science & Business Media.

Mankowska, D., Meisel, F., & Bierwirth, C. (2014). The home health care routing and scheduling problem with interdependent services. Health Care Management Science, 17(1), 15-30. doi:10.1007/s10729-013-9243-1. Retrieved from eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&sid=a576b81a-91da-4e90-bca3-a6f0a26ae995%40sessionmgr114&hid=111

Milliken, T. F. (2007). The Impact of Stress Management on Nurse Productivity and Retention. Retrieved from www.medscape.com/viewarticle/562717_5

Pinelle, D. & Gutwin, C. (2003). Awareness-Based Scheduling in a Home Care Clinical Information System. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480053/

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative

The work of the initiative

            Based on Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee initiative, healthcare reforms that are effective and elemental, and considers the need for sensible and quality care need comprehensive guidance, insight, as well as information on the nursing roles required in the future. With this, it would be ultimately possible to ensure the delivery of ideal quality in healthcare. The need for changes in the various healthcare professions cannot be ignored if the essential healthcare reforms are to be effective.

This judgment by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee initiative was based on the awareness that nurses have a very fundamental obligation of offering front-line services (Mason et al., 2011). In addition, they constitute the hugest healthcare workforce percent, and with considerably deep roles also involving the prevention of major medical errors. Following this judgment, the committee decided that in future, healthcare as well as nursing were required to collaborate.

This required developing a nursing workforce with the essential skill competencies and that met the capacity in numbers. This would go a long way in helping meet both the present and future needs in healthcare. The committee also had the responsibility of addressing the bottlenecks faced by nurses in their practice, in addition to the present and projected nursing shortage. As such, there can be promotion of sufficient and safe healthcare collaborate.

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            Considering that the educational opportunities are at the moment not adequate, there is a great need that they be increased, which would ensure that more nurses receive post-licensure exposure and training. In matters such as nursing education, retention, recruitment, and upcoming technologies, there is a need for novel solutions collaborate (Mason et al., 2011).

Ultimately, the role of the committee led to a landmark report where there was indication of fundamental initiatives for nursing in the future. An agenda and blueprint for action were the impact, and public as well as institutional policies would be needed at different levels. It would be necessary for nurses to acquire varying skills and knowledge for efficiency in various care settings. Different shareholders in addition to stakeholders would be needed (Mason et al., 2011).

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IOM’s significance

            In this, there is a detailed scrutiny of the nursing workforce. Basically, the recommendations made in the report reflect the fundamental intertwine between the diverse and slowly changing population of patients in various life spans, and the developing requirements of the actions of the workforce. The report asserts that nurses are well empowered to make major contributions to healthcare quality’s improvement in the United States.

Hence, it is important that they are sufficiently empowered, which would promote efficient, safe, and quality practice. The need for proper education as well as training cannot be underrated for this to be a reality. The education should be superior and encompassing of flawless academic evolution for the nurses to be equipped with the needed levels of education and training collaborate.

For the US healthcare system to be redesigned effectively, all nurses and experts should collaborate. More information infrastructure and detailed data collection are necessary for efficient workforce planning and policy making (Mason et al., 2011). Essentially, the report can be seen as a framework through which the delivery system would be overseen, in addition to the changes in the nursing profession. The need to collaborate with various stakeholders could not be ignored.

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State-based action coalitions’ role

            The state-based action coalitions’ significance as the driving forces for Campaign for Action cannot be ignored (Isaacs & Knickman, 2014).  Their aim is promoting sustainable and long-standing changes at local, regional, and state levels. Their foundation is the CCNA and RWJF. Hence, they can create and implement unique arrays of regional goals as well as campaigns as suggested in the IOM recommendations.

State-based action coalitions and Campaign for Action’s goals

            The goals advancement is dependent on the reality that they are made up of varying stakeholders, which ensures that different matters can be evaluated in detail (Isaacs & Knickman, 2014). Thereby, they have the ability and mandate to capture realistic and relevant practices, identify appropriate replicable models, identify research needs, and track the learnt lessons.

Initiatives of Texas Action Coalition

            Texas Action Coalition strongly asserts that the challenges in systems of health ought to be addressed from the basis. In connection to this, the state has taken up a leadership responsibility of ensuring that the expertise as well as the experience of nurses are used to the level best for patient care improvements. Moreover, it is necessary that nurses use their education and training maximally. There is also a statement on the measures for gathering data from the workforce. Nurses also ought to be heard and possess more solid training as well as education.

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 Advancing the nursing profession

            The initiatives promote nurses’ education and well-built training. As a result, nurses are empowered adequately, which better places them to offer the best considering their education in addition to training levels. Moreover, the initiatives ensure that experts in healthcare have superior interprofessional collaboration for coordination and improvements in healthcare. They also ensure bigger ranks in leadership, which promotes participation in the management teams, boardrooms, as well as policy debates (Battié, 2013).

Barriers to advancement

            Often, there is inefficient advancement because of inappropriate allocation of resources, which is the major barrier. Second, some of the stakeholders are reluctant to make contributions as needed, and this can be traced back to failing to include them from the start. With ineffective communication on everything that is going on, some stakeholders may feel as if they are not that important, which makes them reluctant to contribute. This is a major reason why failure is experienced.

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How nursing advocates can overcome them

            There is a great need for the nursing advocates to stress on the significance of collaboration as well as highlighting the vital link between healthcare and the nursing profession. In addition, whenever there are some intended changes, all the stakeholders should be included from the word go so that they can be aware of the changes and contribute as needed.

It is also important to first assess the available resources so that allocation can be based on how urgently they are needed and their availability. This would go a long way in promoting efficiency and ensuring that quality and safety are not compromised.

            The foregoing discussion has established that nursing is really important in the healthcare sector and that changes are needed based on various transformations in the sector. This can ensure that the services being offered meet the needs of patients and employees. Therefore, the relevant committees should keep ensuring that the needed changes are being implemented for efficiency.

References

Battié, R. N. (2013). The IOM report on the future of nursing: what perioperative nurses need to know. Aorn Journal, 98, 3, 227-34.

Isaacs, S. L., & Knickman, J. R. (2014). To Improve Health and Health Care: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology. Wiley.

Mason, D. J., Isaacs, S. L., Colby, D. C., & Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. (2011).

The nursing profession: Development, challenges, and opportunities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Human Beings and Being Human

Human Beings and Being Human
Human Beings and Being Human

Human Beings and Being Human

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There have been several definitions on human beings. According to scientists, human beings are Homo sapiens who belong to the animal kingdom. The scientists explore further and define a human being as a man, woman, or a child differentiated from other animals by superior mental development, an upright posture, and has the ability to articulate speech.

Kagan describes human beings as “rational animals” and the only species that have the ability to straddle the divide between matter and spirit (Kagan, 2016). However, this is contrary to what religions believe human beings are. For instance, Christianity refers to human beings as usnephesh, a word that is also used in animals (Noble, 2013). According to this religion, human beings are creatures that possess a spirit in them.

They are dust and when they die they return to the same dust same case to animals which have similar physiology and anatomy as that of human beings. According to Scupin, human beings not only inhabit the material world but also discern order within it, interpret it, act decisively upon it, and acquire meaning from it (Scupin, 2015).

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According to an evolutionary psychology perspective, human beings are like other primates. Although some individuals have strongly opposed that human beings did not descend exactly from chimpanzees; just like other primates they share a common ancestor and for this reason they have lots of similarities with some few unique elements that make them stand out as superior creatures to other primates (Tomasello, 2009). These elements include;

Bipedalism

As much as some animals may walk on two legs, the particular form of bipedalism among human beings is unique to their species as it aids them in propelling forward, having the walking gait as well as evolutionary functions (Gazzaniga, 2008).

Language

This is a unique aspect in comparison to other communication forms that are used by other primates since it allows human beings to generate an infinite set of utterances from finite set of elements. This language can only be acquired through social interaction since the grammatical rules and symbols of any specific language are largely arbitrary.

On the other hand, the known communication systems that some animals use express just a finite number of utterances transmitted genetically (Shotter, 2014). This is unlike human language that is unique and quite complex because it has evolved over time to serve other types of communication system.

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The Brain

According to Kagan , human beings are also defined as creatures with highly developed brains (Kagan, 2016). They can engage in abstract reasoning, problem solving, introspection, and language. The combination of bipedalism, this mental capabilities, and free hands for object manipulation has made it possible for human beings to engage in far greater use of tools than any other known species. Other features such as rationality and self awareness are unique only to human beings.

Being Human

At the most basic level, the meaning of being human has no difference to that of being a platypus, duck or an albatross, that is, be born, live, have ancestors, and die (Gardner, 2012). For one thing, being human means having the ability to abstract the idea of having ancestors to the idea of large social group prospering. Being human also translates to using tools to attain things that could not otherwise be achieved.

Human beings are able to invent numerous tools unlike other animals that have to wait for several to appear through evolution (Buss, 2015). For instance, recent tools have been developed to aid in cognitive and communication processes. Being human is associated with the understanding that other people are humans as well, share equal rights, and deserve to be treated in the same manner that you would like to be treated.

Individuals that oppose these rules have been described as wolves in human skins. Being human means that one acknowledges that ever individual deserves a certain form of respect regardless of their gender, profession, or material value (Badenoch and Cox, 2013). However, the same society that has influenced the better understanding of being human has been also fundamental in developing the sense of individualism among human beings.

This definition of human beings can make some individuals feel as if they are more superior to others. This is because it is based on the cognitive ability and physical ability and skills. It can result in some individuals identifying themselves with a certain group of people more than others leading to creation of hierarchy systems.  For instance, individuals with better IQ results treat those with poor results as lesser human beings in the society.

This is not a strange phenomenon since it is common in schools whereby bright students usually associate only with other intelligent fellows. People with disabilities such as the crippled are usually discriminated in the society since they cannot use their two legs just like the ideal human being (Louden, 2014). Moreover, the definition states that being human is having the ability to use tools and come up with new equipments and machinery that makes life easier.

This can result in exclusion of people/nations who are lagging when it comes to discoveries. Such people may be deemed to be lesser human beings. This is common in the current world whereby developed rich countries seem to be enjoying certain rights and may get away easily when they infringe certain human rights unlike non-developed nations which are normally punished heavily when they engage in similar actions.

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Conclusion

The human being is a sophisticated matter. Trying to understand life and its meaning to human can be a futile undertaking. However, it is of great value if human beings recognize understand the basic principles of living life to the fullest. Being human is to determine a balance between several extremes which can at times be avoided or pursued to better understand life.

Bibliography

Badenoch, B., & Cox, P. 2013. We human beings are hardwired to connect with one another throughout life, to seek the most attuned attachments avail.The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process,60(4), 1.

Buss, D. 2015. Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Psychology Press.

Gardner, A. 2012. Agency Uncovered: Archaeological Perspectives on Social Agency Power and Being Human. Taylor & Francis.

Gazzaniga, M.S., 2008. Human: The science behind what makes us unique. Ecco.

Kagan, J., 2016. On Being Human: Why Mind Matters. Yale University Press.

Louden, R. B. 2014. Kant’s impure ethics: from rational beings to human beings. Oxford University Press, USA.

Noble, D. F. 2013. The religion of technology: The divinity of man and the spirit of invention. Knopf.

Scupin, R., 2015. Cultural anthropology a global perspective. Pearson.

Shotter, J. 2014. From within the thick of it: Human beings doing being human in languaged worlds. Theory & Psychology, 24(4), 592-605.

Tomasello, M., 2009. The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press.

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