Changes in Business Environment

Anyone who is familiar with the major organizations in their area probably has observed firsthand how dramatically the business environment has changed in recent years. These changes have had a significant impact on organizational efforts to be successful. In practically every instance organizations have tried to more clearly identify and then focus on factors that impact their success. One factor that seems to be receiving more attention than any other are the people who work for organizations. What organizations are realizing is that their likelihood of sustained success is most dependent on learning to get the maximum out of their employees. Such a realization has had a significant impact on the practice of human resources management (HRM). What's more, business forecasters predict that the role of employees, managers, and HRM personnel are likely to see more changes in the decades ahead. Thus, individuals entering the business environment today (and tomorrow) require both an understanding of the importance of human resources and effective HRM to organizational success. As we move further into the twenty-first century, it's becoming absolutely clear that the effective management of an organization's human resources is a major source of competitive advantage and may even be the single most important determinant of an organization's performance over the long term. Organizations have started to realize that their success is dependent on their ability to attract, develop, and retain talented employees. Robert Reich emphasizes this point when he suggests that in the future, the organization's ability to attract, develop, and retain a talented workforce will be a critical factor in developing a high-performance organization. The long-term, sustained success of an organization in today's changing and challenging business environment involves top management's commitment to designing and implementing HRM programs geared to developing both high-performing employees and organizations. This means that top management anticipates the future need for employees and develops specific plans to obtain, develop, and retain the type of employees who meet the needs of a high-performing organization. Only by anticipating and working toward the development and retention of the right type of employees can any organization expect to be successful in a global, dynamic, and continuously changing competitive environment. An important element of organizational success is an HRM strategy where every manager is an HRM manager. For example, every manager must be expected to set goals for the development and satisfaction of employees. Second, every employee is viewed as a valuable resource, just like buildings and equipment. The organization's success is dependent upon high-performing employees, and without such employees there is no competitive advantage for the organization. Finally, through effective HRM programs the organization's goals are successfully integrated with individual employee needs. It is the thesis of this paper that HRM will continue to be an important element in achieving organizational success in the years to come. What makes one organization successful whereas another fails to make use of the same opportunities? For our purposes, the key to continued survival and organizational success lies not in the rational, quantitative approaches, but increasingly in a commitment to things like people, employee involvement, and commitment. Success for the organizations of today and tomorrow is being increasingly seen as dependent on effective HRM. Effective HRM positively affects performance in organizations, both large and small. Human resources management is the term increasingly used to refer to the philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices related to the management of an organization's employees. While a great deal of research has been devoted to identifying the sources of workplace stress and its links to adverse health and organizational outcomes, little has been done to focus on interventions to improve working environments. In reviewing the practice overall of stress prevention and intervention at the workplace, three conclusions may be drawn. First, although there is a considerable amount of activity in the field of stress management, â€Å"it is disproportionally concentrated on reducing the effects of stress, rather than reducing the presence of stressors at work. † (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992) To put it differently, stress management activities focus on secondary and tertiary prevention, rather than primary prevention. Whereas the latter involves interventions aimed at eliminating, reducing or altering stressors in the working situation, the former two are aimed at the effects of stress, with secondary prevention concerning the helping of employees (who are already showing signs of stress) from getting sick (for example, by increasing their coping capacity); and tertiary prevention concerning treatment activities for employees with serious stress-related health problems (for example, stress counseling/employee assistance programmers, the rehabilitation after long-term absenteeism). Second, most activities are primarily aimed at the individual rather than at the workplace or the organization, in other words, a worker-oriented approach, for instance, by improving employees' skills to manage, resist or reduce stress, as opposed to a job or organization-oriented approach, for instance, by job redesign or in some way changing the corporate culture or management style. Moreover, as Kahn and Byosiere (1992) conclude in their literature review: ‘Even the programs that aim at stress inhibition tend to address subjective rather than objective aspects of the stress sequence; almost none consider the organizational antecedents (policy and structure) that intensify or reduce the presence of objective stressors' (p. 633). A third peculiarity in the practice of stress prevention concerns the lack of a systematic risk assessment (‘stress audit', identifying risk factors and risk groups) as well as of serious research into the effects of all these activities (Kahn and Byosiere, 1992). In the words of Kahn and Byosiere (1992): ‘The programs in stress management that are sold to companies show a suspicious pattern of variance; they differ more by practitioner than by company. When practitioners in any field offer sovereign remedies regardless of the presenting symptoms, patients should be wary' (p. 23). Against the background of (1) clear evidence of the relationship between psychosocial work characteristics and health , (2) national and international legislation that put the emphasis on risk assessment and combating risks by changing the stressful situation, and (3) the basic idea of prevention, that is, eliminating the stress producing situation (prevention at the source), the current practice of stress prevention and intervention seems disappointing. Given the current status of stress prevention, a question that deserves attention is why it is that companies express a preference for ‘post hoc' individual-directed interventions, as opposed to primary or job/organizational interventions. At least four factors seem to contribute to this rather one-sided ‘individual'-oriented approach : 1 Senior managers are often inclined to blame personality and lifestyle factors of employees who are absent from work or report health complaints, rather than the job or organizational factors, for which they are responsible. Senior management also often point to the potential role of stressful life events (family problems such as a divorce or the loss of a beloved), or responsibilities and obligations in the family life (raising children for example). Of course, on the micro-level (i. e. on the level of the individual employee) stressors at work are often accompanied by stressors in one's family situation, but because of the mutual influence and spill-over between both domains, the causes and consequences can hardly be disentangled. Furthermore, holding individual characteristics responsible for differences in experienced stress, one cannot explain why some occupations show significantly more stress complaints and higher sickness absence rates than others. A risk attached to this view is that the employee is regarded as being ‘guilty' of his or her own health problems, that is ‘blaming the victim', with the potential threat in the workplace being overlooked. 2 The second reason may be found in the nature of psychology itself, with its emphasis on subjective and individual phenomena. Many psychology-oriented stress researchers are primarily interested in stress as a subjective and individual phenomenon. To some extent, this may be a legacy of the strong tradition in psychology to focus on individual differences (i. e. differential psychology), and on individual counseling and therapy (i. e. clinical psychology). In this context, a warning seems appropriate against ‘psychologism', that is, the explanation of (a sequence of) societal events from an individual-psychic point of view. Because of this orientation, the potential impact of more ‘objective' or ‘collective' risk factors in the work situation (e. . poor management, work-overload and bullying), may go unnoticed and untreated. In stress research, there is a gap between what ‘theory' preaches (that is, properly designed longitudinal studies, involving a randomized control group, collecting both subjective and objective measures that are analyzed properly with statistical techniques), and what is possible in practice. One of the main reasons for this gap is the difficulty of conducting methodological ‘sound' interventions and evaluation studies in an ever-changing organizational environment. In the 1990s, not only the context of work is rapidly changing, but also ‘work' itself. Work organizations are in a constant state of change, due, in part, to new production concepts (for example, team based work, lean production methods, telework), ‘the flexible workforce' concept, the 24-hour economy, the increased utilization of information technology, and the changing structure of the work force (for example, more women working). These changes clearly affect the work behavior of employees, work group processes, as well as the organizational structure and culture. As a consequence, it is practically impossible to find two companies with comparable stress problems at the beginning of any intervention programme, of which the control company agrees not to undertake any action for a period of three or four years (the period a researcher might like to choose for an intervention project). A related problem is that it is often not in a company's interest to facilitate ‘sound scientific research' in the context of an ongoing business, involving interlopers from outside (i. e. researchers) and detailed data collection on the scene of sometimes confidential information. Senior managers can regard research of this kind as a nuisance to the primary organizational processes and objectives. 4 A fourth factor may be found in the discipline segregation within stress research, with a tendency of researching to neglect the collection of more objective data on the impact of stress and its prevention. Work and organizational psychologists concentrate primarily on ‘soft' outcome variables (e. g. motivation, satisfaction, effect and health complaints), and are well-known for their questionnaire-oriented approach. Traditionally, it has been observed that stress researchers are reluctant to co-operate with economists. For instance in order to study the potential ‘hard' outcome measures (that would include productivity, sickness absence rates and accident rates), as well as the financial effects of interventions. To put it differently, a history of gaining empirical insight in costs and benefits is merely lacking in stress research. Research in the field should in the future include some of the following: first, stress researchers should not only address ‘soft' outcome variables (for example, motivation and satisfaction), but extend their focus to also include ‘hard' outcome variables (for example, productivity and sickness absenteeism). Whereas work and organizational psychologists have often stated that an adequate stress prevention programme may positively affect productivity and sickness absenteeism, until now they have not laid down a sufficiently strong empirical foundation for this position. For too long, stress prevention advocates have based their arguments on a moral or humanistic appeal to the good employer (that is, on ‘industrial charity'), or on legal regulations (for example, working conditions legislation). It is beyond doubt that these are important and strong arguments. Still, it may well be that they are not enough, since these arguments are not those that primarily affect senior management, who are more ‘bottom line' driven. Second, in order to increase the impact of stress prevention in the workplace, more emphasis should be placed on such factors as the quality of product and services, organizational flexibility, continuity, absenteeism, productivity, labor market facets and improved competitivity; and for there to be a multi-disciplinary approach rather than the traditional mono-disciplinary one (for example, co-operation with economists and ergonomists). And finally, the demonstration of examples of good preventive practice is considered as a sine qua non for developing effective stress prevention procedures and for the involvement of both social partners in this field (i. e. employers and employees). Stress has always been a topic of concern for business and industry. Health educators, in response to this concern, have offered a variety of stress management or stress reduction programs. However, McGehee points out that her discussion is not about what stress is or how stress can be managed or the latest research in stress management. The literature on these topics is profuse and easy to locate. Rather, she is concerned with the nature of stress management programs inside companies that have decided to make stress management a part of their employee development. Her discussion includes the reason behind a management program, the format of stress management programs, the selection of a stress management program, work issues and stress management, and the management of the stress response. Although stress has been a constant concern, a serious and growing problem in industry today is burnout. Klarreich relates his health education program on burnout, which was extremely well received in his organization. He describes the nature of burnout, the myths associated with this phenomenon, and the societal and familial influences that contribute to this problem. He delineates a number of steps to â€Å"put out the fire. † These include self-appraisal, alteration of expectations, communication to establish social support, and determination of a behavioral option. He indicates that the healthy employee of the future will be a â€Å"hardy employee. † Achieving excellence in the workplace has become the passion of most North American corporations. Pulvermacher presents a unique health education program, which he delivers as a workshop, to many corporate employees. He states that pursuing excellence requires the application of several fundamental skills. He reviews effective goal setting strategies, methods for avoiding the trap of perfectionism, techniques for managing self-defeating attitudes and beliefs, harnessing stress advantageously, increasing one's self-discipline, managing conflict constructively, and communicating effectively. A variety of reasons for implementing stress management programs are ascribed to by the companies currently doing so. The major reasons include reducing health costs, improving productivity, and boosting employee morale. In many cases, stress management is part of a wellness program. Stress-related disorders, including certain headaches, stomach disorders, chronic muscular pain, cardiac and respiratory conditions, and psychosomatic complaints have been linked to a large percentage of doctor's office visits and hospital tests and admissions. One goal of stress management programs is to provide alternate ways to respond to stress, to prevent potential disorders, and ultimately to reduce health costs. Stress level has been found to be linked to worker productivity. At moderate amounts of stress, performance is at its highest. Stress in moderate amounts, such as from reasonable deadlines, a focus on quality, rational performance rating systems, a system of accountability, often motivates performance. When stress rises to higher levels and a number of stressors are affecting the individual, performance deteriorates. At times of high stress, an individual is not as effective in solving problems, and on-the-job performance is negatively affected. The goal of stress management programs in this case is to provide ways in which employees can cope better with increasing stress and continue to perform well on the job. Stress management programs are usually popular with employees. Attendance at talks and workshops shows that the topic is a popular one. Many companies decide to implement these programs as morale boosters because they â€Å"can't hurt anything. † Stress management has become an integral part of most preventive medicine programs. These programs attempt to include education and training in a variety of ways so that the employees can safeguard their health.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Please answer the following questions.1. What does the acronym DAP in the field of early childhood education stand for? In one sentence, explain what the phrase means to you when you spell it out. (4 points)â€Å"DAP† – Developmentally appropriate practiceDAP refers to a framework designed to encourage young children’s optimal learning and development. Ensures that children’s goals and experiences are suited to their learning and development and challenging enough to promote their progress and interest. Best practice is based on knowledge and not on assumptions of how children learn and develop. DAP is the best practice to promote excellence in early childhood education.2. What three areas of knowledge must all early childhood professionals consider in relation to DAP? (These are outlined under the first DAP core: Knowledge to consider in making decisions.) (6 points= 2 points eac h)Below three areas of knowledge that must be considered by all early childhood professionals should consider in relation to DAP: a. Knowing about child development and learning.Knowing what is typical at each age and stage of early development is crucial. This knowledge, based on research, helps us decide which experiences are best for children’s learning and development. b. Knowing what is individually appropriate.What we learn about specific children helps us teach and care for each child as an individual. By continually observing children’s play and interaction with the physical environment and others, we learn about each child’s interests, abilities, and developmental progress. c. Knowing what is culturally important.We must make an effort to get to know the children’s families and learn about  the values, expectations, and factors that shape their lives at home and in their communities. This background information helps us provide meaningful, rele vant, and respectful learning experiences for each child and family.3. Describe an example of what a DAP activity or interaction looks like with children. (5 points)I quoted an example of teaching a Preschooler an example of DAP activity with Children: Good preschool teachers maintain appropriate expectations, providing each child with the right mix of challenge, support, sensitivity, and stimulation. With their knowledge, skill, and training, teachers can ensure that programs promote and enhance every child’s learning. DAP in preschool looks like:â€Å"In the dramatic play center, two 4-year-old girls are pretending to read menus. Jaimi, noticing that neither girl has taken on the role of waiter, takes notepad and pencil in hand and asks them, â€Å"May I take your order?† Over the next few days, more children join the restaurant play. Waiters set tables, take orders, give orders to the cook, and prepare checks for diners.† Jaimi is an observant, inventive, and intentional teacher. Her intervention sparks fresh play, tempting children to take on different roles, enrich their social and language interactions, and use writing and math for new purposes.4. List the five guidelines of DAP and explain what each one means in your own words. (10 points= 2 points each)These guidelines address five key aspects of the teacher's role:I. Creating a caring community of learnersThe early childhood setting functions as a community of learners in which all participants consider and contribute to each other's well-being and learning.Social relationships are an important context for learning. Each child has strengths or interests that contribute to the overall functioning of the  group. When children have opportunities to play together, work on projects in small groups, and talk with other children and adults, their own development and learning are enhancedII.Teaching to enhance development and learningTeachers use their knowledge about children in genera l and the particular children in the group as well as their familiarity with what children need to learn and develop in each curriculum area to organize the environment and plan curriculum and teaching strategies.Teachers develop, refine, and use a wide repertoire of teaching strategies to enhance children's learning and development.III.Planning curriculum to achieve important goalsEffective curriculum plans frequently integrate across traditional subject-matter divisions to help children make meaningful connections and provide opportunities for rich conceptual development. Curriculum promotes the development of knowledge and understanding, processes and skills, as well as the dispositions to use and apply skills and to go on learning.IV.Assessing children's development and learningAssessments are tailored to a specific purpose and used only for the purpose for which they have been demonstrated to produce reliable, valid information.Assessment of young children's progress and achiev ements is ongoing, strategic, and purposeful. The results of assessment are used to benefit children in adapting curriculum and teaching to meet the developmental and learning needs of childrenV.Establishing reciprocal relationships with familiesReciprocal relationships between teachers and families require mutual respect, cooperation, shared responsibility, and negotiation of conflicts toward achievement of shared goals.Parents are welcome in the program and participate in decisions about their children's care and education. Parents observe and participate and serve in decision making roles in the program.

Four Key Barriers to Communication Essay

There are four key barriers to communication. These barriers are Process barriers, personal barriers, physical barriers and semantic barriers. As a manager I plan to overcome all of these barriers using guidelines, tools, processes and procedures. Process barriers are a big barrier to communication. The process of communication involves sending and receiving a message between two people. Sometimes things go wrong during the transmission of information. To overcome these barriers I would work on my communication skills. I would make sure I am speaking slowly and clearly in easy to understand terms. I would ask the other person to repeat back to me what I said and make sure I use my listening skills to fully understand what they comprehended. I will also not use text messages or email to communication. I will rely on phone and face to face. Another barrier to communication is personal barriers. Personal barriers are related to trust and ego. If two people don’t trust each other the communication process will be distorted. I will use honesty and integrity to earn the trust of my employees. I will not let my ego get in the way of how I run my business. We will have a strict policy for honesty, respect and fair treatment of employees. Physical barriers are pertaining to distance time and work office noise. Sometimes because of distance and time companies use email to communicate. I feel that this is not as good as face to face communication because communication is often misunderstood through email. I will enforce a strict policy of actually talking to each other rather than emailing. Phone calls and Skype will be our primary form of communication at our company. Everyone will have their own office to cut down on background noises. Flex time schedules will be used to compensate for the time difference on the west coast. Sematic barriers are encoding and decoding errors because of phrases and jargon. Cultural diversity is a key contributor to sematic barriers. As a manager I will not allow any company jargon or phrases to be used. We will only speak in terms that the average person could understand. Also when hiring new employees they will be interviewed by 3 different managers with  different foreign accents. If they have trouble understanding different accents then they will not be hired. We will also encourage hiring a very diverse workforce from every culture.

Management Information Systems Essay

Information Systems Failure: The Case of Computer-Aided Dispatch (Cad) System at London Ambulance Service 1. Introduction The LAS covers a geographical area of just over 600 square miles and handles emergencies for a resident population of 6.8 million people. The CAD project is one of the most frequently quoted UK-based examples of information systems failure that took place in early 1990s. The prominence of this particular case is due to the ‘safety critical’ nature of this system and the claim that 20-30 people may have lost their lives as a result of CAD failure. 2. Description of the Manual Dispatch System The manual dispatch system consists of: a) call taking, b) resource identification, and c) resource mobilization. Call Taking: Emergency calls are received by ambulance control. Control assistants write down details of incidents on pre-printed forms. The location of each incident is identified and the reference co-ordinates are recorded on the forms. The forms are then placed on a conveyer belt which transports them to a central collection point. Resource Identification: Other members of ambulance control collect the forms, review the details on the forms and decide which resource allocator should deal with each incident. The resource allocator examines the forms for a particular sector, compares the details against information recorded for each vehicle and decides which resource should be mobilized. The status information on these forms is updated regularly from information received via the radio operator. The resource is recorded on the original form which is then passed on to a dispatcher. Resource mobilization: The dispatcher either telephones the nearest ambulance station or passes instructions to the radio operator if an ambulance is already mobile. A number of problems exist with the manual dispatch system. Most problems are related to the time-consuming and error-prone nature of activities such as: identification of the precise location of an incident, the physical movement of paper forms, and maintaining up-to-date vehicle status information. Therefore, a Computer- Aided Dispatch (CAD) system was considered as a solution to overcome these problems. 3. The Computer-Aided Dispatch System 3.1 Purpose The objective of the CAD system was to automate many of the human-intensive processes involved in the manual despatch system. 3.2 How the CAD system was intended to work The essential features of the CAD system are shown in Figure 1 which illustrates how the system was intended to work in practice. British Telecom (BT) operators would route all 999 calls concerning medical emergencies to LAS headquarters. A total of 18 ‘receivers’ were then expected to record on the system the name, telephone number and address of the caller, and the name, destination address and brief details of the patient. This information would then be transmitted over a LAN to an ‘allocator’. The system would pinpoint the patient’s location on a map. The system was also expected to monitor continuously the location of every ambulance via radio messages transmitted by each vehicle. The system would then determine the nearest ambulance to the patient. Figure 1: The structure of CAD system at LAS Experienced ambulance ‘dispatchers’ were organized into teams based on three zones (south, north-east, and north-west). Dispatchers would be offered details of the three nearest ambulances by the system and the estimated time each would need to reach the scene. The dispatcher would choose an ambulance and send patient details to a small terminal screen located on the dashboard of the ambulance. The ambulance crew would then be expected to confirm that it was on its way. If the selected ambulance was in an ambulance depot then the dispatch message would be received on the station computer. The ambulance crew would always be expected to acknowledge a message. The system would automatically alter HQ of any ambulance where no acknowledgement was made. A follow-up message would then be sent from HQ. The system would detect messages that would tell HQ when the ambulance crew had arrived, when it was on its way to a hospital and when it was free again. 3.3 How the CAD system was built The CAD system was built as an event-based system using a rule-based approach and was intended to interact with a geographical information system (GIS). The system was built by a small software house called Systems Options using their own GIS software (WINGS) running under Microsoft Windows. The GIS communicated with Datatrak’s automatic vehicle tracking system. The system ran on a series of network PCs and file servers supplied by Apricot. 4. Events that Identified the Flaws of the CAD System On the night of the 26th October 1992 (Monday), things started to go wrong at the HQ of LAS. A flood of 999 calls apparently swamped operators’ screens and many of those calls were being wiped off screens for unknown reasons. Claims were later made that 20 to 30 people may have died as a result of ambulance arriving late on the scene. Some ambulances took over three hours to answer a call while the government’s recommended maximum was 17 min utes. Mr. John Wilby, the chief executive officer of LAS resigned within a couple of days of this event. A number of Members of Parliament called for a public inquiry. The Health Secretary initiated an inquiry and the findings were eventually published in an 80-page report in February, 1993, which immediately became headline news in both the computing and the national press. 5. Findings of the Inquiry The inquiry found evidence of poor management practice, high technological complexities and unfavorable operating environment involved in the implementation of the CAD system in LAS. Systems Options, the company responsible for developing the major part of the CAD system had no previous experience of building similar type of systems. This company, which had won the  £1.1 million contract for the development of the CAD system in June 1991, was found to have substantially underbid an established supplier (McDonnellDouglas). Hence, Systems Options was under serious pressure to complete the system quickly. The managing director of a competing software house wrote various memoranda to LAS management in June and July 1991 describing the project as ‘totally and fatally flawed’. It appeared that Mr. Wilby ignored what amounted to an over-ambitious project timetable. Furthermore, an audit report by Anderson Consulting which called for more finance an d longer time scales for the CAD project was suppressed by the project managers. The board of management of LAS was even misled by the project team over the experience of Systems Options and the references supplied by Systems Options were not thoroughly investigated. Due to the extreme time pressure to develop the CAD system within the allocated timeframe, the project team responsible for developing the system practically did not follow any standard systems development approach. As a result, the resultant software was incomplete and unstable. In January 1992, phases one and two of the project began live trials. In March 1992, phase two of the trials was temporarily suspended due to the discovery of system errors. In October 1992, phase three was terminated after two days of reported chaos described above. Questions were raised about the complexity of the technical system. In the manual dispatch system, communication between HQ and ambulances is conducted via telephone or voice radio links. In the CAD system, links between communication, logging and dispatching vi a a GIS were meant to be automated. The automation was completed but no performance testing was thoroughly performed due to the rushed approach to meet the deadline. The system was lightly loaded at start-up on the 26th October, 1992. Any problems, caused by the communications systems (e.g. ambulance crews pressing wrong buttons, or ambulances being in radio black spots) could be effectively managed by staff. However, as the number of ambulance incidents increased, the amount of incorrect vehicle information recorded by the system also increased. This had a knock-on effect in that the system made incorrect allocations on the basis of the information that it had. For example, multiple vehicles were sent to the same incident, or the closet vehicle was not chosen for the dispatch. As a result, the system had fewer ambulance resources to allocate. At the receiving end, patients became frustrated with the delays to ambulances arriving at incidents. This led to an increase in the number of calls made back to the LAS HQ relating to already recorded incidents. The increased volume of calls, together with a slow system and an insufficient number of call-takers, contributed to significant delays in answering the telephones which, in turn, caused further delays to patients. At the ambulance end, crews became increasingly frustrated at incorrect allocations and this led to an increased number of instances where they failed to press the right status buttons. The system therefore appears to have been in a vicious circle of cause and effect. There was also an apparent mismatch of perspectives among LAS management, HQ staff, and ambulance staff. The system has been described as being introduced in an atmosphere of mistrust by staff. There was incomplete ownership of the system by the majority of LAS staff. The hardware and software suppliers involved in this project reported low staff morale and friction between LAS management and workforce. In other words, an atmosphere of hostility towards the computing systems was observed. One of the reasons for low staff morale was that control room staff lacked previous experience of using computer systems. 6. Conclusion In summary, no single element of the case can be regarded as the sole cause for the failure of the CAD system in LAS. The description demonstrates that failure of information systems projects tend to be multi-faceted in nature. Discuss Questions: a) Discuss the CAD system in terms of Interaction Failure. b) What lessons can be learned from the failure of the CAD project in LAS?

Stock Market Recap Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stock Market Recap - Assignment Example Analysts’ opinion predict significant and consistent rise in price that could reach a high of $ 114 per share in the next one year but $ 95 is most probable. Risk of loss is minimal as a low of $ 80 is forecasted in a year. The forecast further suggest long-term price increase (CNN 1). Forecasted earnings per share that show steady increment (Nasdaq 1) also supports possibility of sustainable price increment to inform the decision to purchase more shares for long-term investment. Telsa Motors promised continuous rise in stock prices and this informed its selection. A one-week consideration, before purchase, informed this and saw an increase by $ 13. Information on possible launch of a new product by Telsa influenced the positive price change, positive experience with the proposed product is likely to sustain stock price increase, and the speculated rise in prices informed the selection. I would hold the current shares. Telsa Motors stock prices have gained, steadily, over the past eight weeks but a review of its trend before the eight weeks and investor analysts’ opinions suggest high risks. Divine (1) reports that previous discount initiatives could have influenced the current trend and that the trend may not be sustainable. A one-year forecast on the stock price also identifies greater risk of loss and analysis recommend hold of the stock (Markets 1). Two factors that suggest sustained price increase of The Walt Disney Company informed its selection. Announcement of a movie influence positive price changes and while rise is likely to last for a while, opening of Disneyland Park in Shanghai is likely to influence further price increase. The two events informed a short-term investment prospects in the company’s shares. I would purchase more of the company’s shares because of the company’s internal factors that suggest

Biolopy and Sociolization of Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biolopy and Sociolization of Crime - Essay Example In relation to crime, gender roles play a major role in increasing the participation and prevalence to crime by men more than women. From the perception of the society, males are viewed as masculine and dominant. From the creation of this perception, men tend to increase their show of dominance in the society. Crime is often depicted as a masculine activity a perception easily supported by the need by men to show their social dominance. On the other hand, the perception of the society on the female gender role is not inclusive of complex or hard tasks. Similar to males, women tend to abide by this social classification (Renzetti & Edleson, 2010). The same trend is also visible from the biological creation of both males and females. Biologically, males are built for dominance, strength and authority. For this reason, the participation in crime by men becomes a common occurrence (Renzetti & Edleson, 2010). For women, their gender role as defined by biology is depicted by their less dominant body and social presence. Women tend to view crime as a gender role that is less fit for their biological

Change Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Change Project - Essay Example Change is always good and all people pursue change but only a few succeed. What is needed to enable one succeed is to first trust and belief that it is possible to transform one’s ways. It is common to her people claim that people do not change. Such claims are made by people who do not belief that change is possible and therefore are categorized in the group of individuals who find it difficult to alter their ways. It is important to note that it is not enough to belief in change alone. It is also crucial that one beliefs in self and his or her abilities which will facilitate the actions which favor change. Change occurs through various processes or mechanisms. Emotions are the major drivers of change. These are the feelings within an individual and they are caused by thoughts, experiences or influence from other people or even situations. The emotions of a person stem from the mind through reactions to various stimuli within our environment. Good emotions drive a person to change so that the good feelings are retained. Negative emotions also lead to change as a way of avoiding what leads to that change. For example emotions which arise from a person’s experience of an accident results to a positive change of behavior in pursuit of avoidance of such a situating in the future Psychological Perspectives on Four Types of Change (Whitbourne 49). Behavior is another mechanism involved in the change process. The behavior of a person includes the normal actions and reactions of a person during various situations and desires. People commonly relate change to change of behavior. This demonstrates the central role of behavior in the change process. Therefore change in behavior is partial or complete alteration of one’s way of doing things as a result of either internal or external motivation. Changing behavior may be very difficult because it requires a powerful will of the mind for it to be possible. Without