Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Spectrophotometry

Spectrophotometry: is a device to measure the amount of light in the material used. this device consists of two parts: the first is the light source, and the second is the photometer . the work principle of this device : the liquid or material that we want to measure the elements inside is placed in a tub, this tube is then placed between the light source and the photometer . So that the amount of light passing through the sample is measured by photometer. when a photometer is exposed to light, it acquires or generates an electrical signal that changes with the amount of light absorbed by the liquid . this change in light absorption depends on the change in the concentration of the substance. the way work this device: this device it measures the absorption of light by liquid materials at different wavelengths, and thus can identify a number of unknown substances or calculate known concentrations of materials . Stepped flow Technique:is a rapid mixing device, to study the kinetics of quick chemical reactions in solutions . this device contains two reactants which are kept in separate reservoirs and are prevented from flowing freely . the interaction starts by installing the reactants in the device. these materials are then released to the mixing chamber, which mixes these interacting materials , the reaction is then monitored by observing the change in the absorption of the reaction solution . When the reaction progresses, it fills the â€Å"stop syringe† that expands until it reaches the point at which the interaction reaches a continuous flow , thus stopping flow or interaction sodium reacts strongly and quickly with water and produces a solution of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas, a colorless solution. During the reaction sodium can be heated and It may ignite and burn with an orange flame . Hydrogen gas released during the combustion process reacts with oxygen in the air . The resulting solution is basic because of the melting of sodium in the water. this interaction between sodium and water is an exothermic reaction. sodium reaction with water is the closest to explosion. Na +2 H2O ?2 NaOH + H2. this search used this interaction and because it is fast, it uses the stepped-flow techniques method to control it Rate=- (d[Na])/dt=-1/2 (d[H2O])/dt=1/2 (d[NaOH])/dt+(d[H2])/dt Spectrophotometry Spectrophotometry is a vary specific type of Spectroscopy which measures how much light is absorbed by measuring the intensity of the light beam that is not absorbed (transmittance).The word â€Å"Spectra† means the range of wavelength, â€Å"Photo† means light or photons and â€Å"Metry† is the measuring how much light a chemical substance absorbs which it calls the absorbance. But what we do is measure how much light of the original light beam gets through (transmittance). So, those are related to each other absorbance and percent transmittance mathematically.The basic way to works is the incident light which usually contain different kind of wavelength, for example when we see something have a red color that means the object is absorbs all colors' wavelength except red. It is helpful to know the color wheel because the color wheel will help you to understand or getting the idea of where in the visible spectrum you would except to see the best absorbance.The work principle of spectrophotometry in (Figure 1): Firstly, we have a light source typically white light contains all wavelengths. We want to collimate the light or make all the wavelengths parallel to one another so, the special collimator or lens can does that, then we pass the light beam through a prism to splits the light into its various wavelength so, for regular white light you get all the colors of the rainbow. Spectrophotometer does not just shine all that light at the sample, it shines a vary specific wavelength of light and we can choose that normally by moving a slit in the way of the one wavelength of light or color that we would like to shine through the sample. That particular color of light will then shine through the sample, some of it will be absorbed and some of it will be transmitted. (Io) is the incident light that is the first enters, and (It) is the amount of light that is transmitted through after some has been absorbed. The remaining light that gets through hits a photocell, photocell is a solid-state detector that picks up how much light, then it prints out on a digital display either absorbance how much was taken away or percent transmittance how much light go through and those two are related. Briefly,  you can determine the unknown concentration of the sample by using Beer-Lambert Law which states: there is a linear relationship between the absorbance and the concentration of a sample. Mathematical formula of Beer's Law is: A=?lcA  is the measure of absorbance.?  is the molar extinction coefficient or molar absorptivity.l  is the path length.-439528256528center842086600left221268Figure 100Figure 1c  is the concentration (which is required).There are special techniques for investigating fast reactions which have half-live less than a few secondsLet us take an example for the simplest fast reaction technique (the continuous flow method) which will be used to study the kinetics of the formation of the ferric thiocyanate complex FeSCN+22120900145742100 For the fast reaction between ferric and thiocyanate ions in an acid solution of constant pH, the observed behavior is consistent with the simple mechanism: center2191301Where kf is the bimolecular forward rate constant and kr is the unimolecular reverse rate constant. So, the rate law from this equation is:center27279960Recall that the equilibrium constant K is related to the rate constant by:15775923297435 Where the sign ? means the equilibrium (t=?) value:31439213903453641206384715300At any time (t), Using these relations, and then rewrite the equation in the form:1965852489141700To simplify the integration of this equation, we will choose the experimental conditions such that [Fe+3] ;; [SCN-]. This will allow us to assume that [Fe+3] is essentially constant during the reaction. The initial conditions are chosen so that [FeSCN+2]0= at t=0 we find:This an approximate solution which becomes exact only when [Fe+3] is constant. In real practice, [Fe+3]0 will be chosen to be ten times larger than [SCN-]0, so that [Fe+3] will be more by about 10 percent during the reaction.2803525690943500-569595690918400If a plot of ln](FeSCN+2)? – (FeSCN+2)[ versus t is linear, then the first order dependence on [SCN-] and [FeSCN+2] is confirmed. The rate dependence on [Fe+3] has been established as first order. -5779714625Schematic diagram of system for driving reactant solution.00Schematic diagram of system for driving reactant solution.452856889798Spectrophotometry setup00Spectrophotometry setupProcedure for an example of use Spectrophotometer technique in fast reaction: Firstly, turn on the spectrophotometer and leave it warm up before using. The wavelength setting should be 455 nm throughout the entire experiment. With both reagent stopcocks A and B and the vent stopcock V closed, slowly increase the gas pressure on the reagent solutions until Bourdon pressure gauge indicates about 500 Torr pressures above 1 atm. With the outlet stopcock C open, open and close the reagent stopcocks A and B several times to make sure that both solutions are flowing smoothly and to remove any air bubbles from the system. Use a beaker to catch the outflow from the capillary tube. Then set the capillary frame at the first fiducial mark which nearest to the mixing chamber, and carry out the three following steps:1- Open Stopcock A and allow the Fe+3 solution to flow for a sufficient time to remove from the capillary tube any solution containing FeSCN+2 species. Then close stopcock A and the outlet stopcock C.2- Open the outlet stopcock C then turn both stopcocks A and B to their fully open positions. Catch the outflow of solution from the capillary in a beaker until the flow becomes stable. Then quickly switch the outlet tube from the beaker to a volumetric flask and simultaneously start a timer. When It is full, stop the timer and record the time. Return the outlet tube to the beaker. Then carrying out the above flow rate measurement, you should determine the absorbance A of the reaction mixture and record that value together with the distance x from the mixing chamber. Work quickly to avoid any interference of the reagent solution.3- When both the flow and absorbance measurements are complete, close the outlet stopcock C and then close both stopcock A and B. This is a crucial step in the procedure. If A and B are left open, solution may siphon from one carboy to the other. After a few minutes, determine the absorbance again to obtain the infinite time value. Verify that this value does not change after one more minute. For the next run, move the capillary support frame so as to line up the second fiducial mark and repeat the first and third steps at this this new distance setting, be careful in moving the capillary support frame.Make two runs at each of the six or seven positions along the capillary tube. Use special care in making the absorbance readings at large values of x. If time permits, you should also take data at a different driving pressure. Either increase or decrease the gas pressure depending on weather you need more data at low percent reaction or at high, but it may not be safe to exceed about 700 torr overpressures.In this experiment, more of solution A will be used up than solution B if the Fe+3 solution is always used in the first step to make the zero adjustment of the spectrophotometer at each distance setting. The resulting change in the liquid level for A relative to that for solution B may change the relative flow rates of these solutions. This can be avoided by alternating the use of solution A and B for making the zero adjustments.References:1- Physical chemistry by  Gilbert William Castellan.2- msu.edu.3- Wiley online library. 4- UKessay.5- AliHayek.com Spectrophotometry 5448300-52387500-523875-53340000 Kinetics Chemistry Student Name:Saba Ahmad Bin Humaid Supervisor:Dr. Alia Abdulaziz Alfi Group Number: 41438-1439 Spectrophotometry is a technique which can be used for identifying reactants' concentrations.Spectrophotometry is an absorbance device which can measures the fraction of the incident light transmitted through a solution. More clearly, it is used to measure the amount of light that passes through particles of the sample and by differentiation of the initial intensity of light reaching the sample, it indirectly measures the amount of light absorbed by that sample. Spectrophotometers are made to transmit light of narrow wavelength ranges. A certain compound will not absorb all wavelengths evenly that's why things have different colours. Some compounds absorb only wavelengths outside of the visible light spectrum and that's why there are colourless solutions such as water. Because different compounds absorb light at different wavelengths, a spectrophotometer can be used to differentiate compounds by analyzing the type of wavelengths absorbed by a given sample. In addition of that, the amount of light absorbed is directly proportional to the concentration of absorbing compounds in that sample, so a spectrophotometer can also be used to determine concentrations of compounds in solution.To studying a compound in solution by spectrophotometry, you put it in a sample holder called a cuvette and place it in the spectrophotometer. Light of a specific wavelength passes through the solution inside the cuvette and the amount of light transmitted or absorbed by the solution is measured by a light meter. While a spectrophotometer can exhibit measurements as either transmittance or absorbance, in biological applications we are usually interested in the absorbance of a given sample. Because other compounds in a solution (or the solvent itself) may absorb the same wavelengths as the compound being analysed, we compare the absorbance of our test solution to a reference blank. The reference blank should contain everything found in the sample solution except the substance you are trying to analyse or measure.Briefly,-5143507591425003467100758190000  you can determine the unknown concentration of the sample by using Beer Lambert Law which states: there is a linear relationship between the absorbance and the concentration of a sample. Mathematical formula of Beer's Law is: A=?lcWhere:A  is the measure of absorbance.?  is the molar extinction coefficient or molar absorptivity.l  is the path length.c  is the concentration (which is required).There are special techniques for investigating fast reactions which have half-live less than a few secondsLet us take an example for the simplest fast reaction technique (the continuous flow method) which will be used to study the kinetics of the formation of the ferric thiocyanate complex FeSCN+22120900145742100 For the fast reaction between ferric and thiocyanate ions in an acid solution of constant pH, the observed behavior is consistent with the simple mechanism: center2191301Where kf is the bimolecular forward rate constant and kr is the unimolecular reverse rate constant. So, the rate law from this equation is:center27279960 Recall that the equilibrium constant K is related to the rate constant by:15775923297435Where the sign ? means the equilibrium (t=?) value:31439213903453641206384715300At any time (t), Using these relations, and then rewrite the equation in the form:1965852489141700To simplify the integration of this equation, we will choose the experimental conditions such that [Fe+3] ;; [SCN-]. This will allow us to assume that [Fe+3] is essentially constant during the reaction. The initial conditions are chosen so that [FeSCN+2]0= at t=0 we find:This an approximate solution which becomes exact only when [Fe+3] is constant. In real practice, [Fe+3]0 will be chosen to be ten times larger than [SCN-]0, so that [Fe+3] will be more by about 10 percent during the reaction.2803525690943500-569595690918400If a plot of ln](FeSCN+2)? – (FeSCN+2)[ versus t is linear, then the first order dependence on [SCN-] and [FeSCN+2] is confirmed. The rate dependence on [Fe+3] has been established as first order. -5779714625Schematic diagram of system for driving reactant solution.00Schematic diagram of system for driving reactant solution.452856889798Spectrophotometry setup00Spectrophotometry setupProcedure for an example of use Spectrophotometer technique in fast reaction: Firstly, turn on the spectrophotometer and leave it warm up before using. The wavelength setting should be 455 nm throughout the entire experiment. With both reagent stopcocks A and B and the vent stopcock V closed, slowly increase the gas pressure on the reagent solutions until Bourdon pressure gauge indicates about 500 Torr pressures above 1 atm. With the outlet stopcock C open, open and close the reagent stopcocks A and B several times to make sure that both solutions are flowing smoothly and to remove any air bubbles from the system. Use a beaker to catch the outflow from the capillary tube. Then set the capillary frame at the first fiducial mark which nearest to the mixing chamber, and carry out the three following steps:1- Open Stopcock A and allow the Fe+3 solution to flow for a sufficient time to remove from the capillary tube any solution containing FeSCN+2 species. Then close stopcock A and the outlet stopcock C.2- Open the outlet stopcock C then turn both stopcocks A and B to their fully open positions. Catch the outflow of solution from the capillary in a beaker until the flow becomes stable. Then quickly switch the outlet tube from the beaker to a volumetric flask and simultaneously start a timer. When It is full, stop the timer and record the time. Return the outlet tube to the beaker. Then carrying out the above flow rate measurement, you should determine the absorbance A of the reaction mixture and record that value together with the distance x from the mixing chamber. Work quickly to avoid any interference of the reagent solution. 3- When both the flow and absorbance measurements are complete, close the outlet stopcock C and then close both stopcock A and B. This is a crucial step in the procedure. If A and B are left open, solution may siphon from one carboy to the other. After a few minutes, determine the absorbance again to obtain the infinite time value. Verify that this value does not change after one more minute.For the next run, move the capillary support frame so as to line up the second fiducial mark and repeat the first and third steps at this this new distance setting, be careful in moving the capillary support frame.Make two runs at each of the six or seven positions along the capillary tube. Use special care in making the absorbance readings at large values of x. If time permits, you should also take data at a different driving pressure. Either increase or decrease the gas pressure depending on weather you need more data at low percent reaction or at high, but it may not be safe to exceed about 700 torr overpressures.In this experiment, more of solution A will be used up than solution B if the Fe+3 solution is always used in the first step to make the zero adjustment of the spectrophotometer at each distance setting. The resulting change in the liquid level for A relative to that for solution B may change the relative flow rates of these solutions. This can be avoided by alternating the use of solution A and B for making the zero adjustments.References:1- Physical chemistry by  Gilbert William Castellan.2- msu.edu.3- Wiley online library. 4- UKessay.5- AliHayek.com

Summary Essay Globalisations Time Is Up

Summary of James Howard Kunstler’s â€Å"Globalisation’s Time Is Up† Within James Howard Kunstler’s article â€Å"Globalisation’s Time is Up† (Guardian Weekly, 12-18 August 2005), he goes against Thomas Friedman’s view that â€Å"globalisation is here to stay†(254), arguing that globalisation is rather unstable. With the supply of cheap resources and world peace, we have the formula for globalisation, subtract either and we are on a crash course. Kunstler builds on this theory by going over events, which time after time have all lead to the same solution.The period of 1870-1914 the â€Å"first phase of globalisation†(254) is described as the era of coal and steam power. This period brought hope; nations were tied together with booming trade, along with the abundant supplies of resources. The introduction of oil without a doubt would override the power of coal. This was closely followed with serious ramifications for those without oil, the First World War. Kunstler’s formula for globalisation proves to be correct in earlier days. Furthermore, the oil era is slowly approaching its demise. Also you can read this summary –  Protecting Freedom of Expression on the CampusIt has brought economies greatly dependent on its production power that we no longer see what will come of our â€Å"McHousing Estates†(255). The suburban housing along with all other oil dependent arrangements will cease to expand when the global oil production well dries up. â€Å"The American Suburban Juggernaut† (255), is Kunstler’s description of how America has misallocated its existence around the oil economy. With this being said he continues to support his theory, the bond of nations is now separating from one another simply to attain control of what oil remains in this world.The abused usage of the era, and the over usage of its resources has led America through a boom, one that will end with a bust leaving everyone scrambling for what is left. Kunstler ends his argument stating, â€Å"the world is about to become a larger place again†(256), we can take from his explanations that he is implying; the breakdown of local communities butchered by large chains, how shopping will simply fade away in the background of life, and the need for cars will be of little to no use. As a result all that had once become in the oil-short era will then restart a cycle known as globalisation.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Water Microbiology

Alyse Rose Microbiology Lab Bacterial Unknown March 25, 2013 Bacterial Unknown Report Each student was given an unknown bacteria to figure out. I was given the unknown bacteria S38. Everybody is supposed to do all sorts of test to identify the bacteria. The first thing I did was smear my bacteria on a liquid medium. I then proceeded to incubate the medium for 24-48 hours. 1. GRAM STAIN The next step I took in finding my unknown bacteria was to gram stain it.This is used to differentiate the bacteria. The different staining reagents are: crystal violet, grams iodine, acetone-alcohol, and grams safranin. Under the microscope it was a pink color, which means Gram Negative. Also, the shape was a rod. 2. KLIGER’S IRON AGAR (KIA) The next step I did was the KIA slant. This is for the Negative bacteria to see if they are in the Enteriobacteriaceae group. There are many different results than can occur, like: 1.Yellow slant/yellow deep- (A/A) glucose & lactose are fermented; if the bu tt has bubbles in it or is displaced, the tube is gas positive. 2. Red slant/yellow deep- (K/A) glucose but not lactose is fermented 3. Red slant/black deep- (K/A) glucose but not lactose is fermented and H2S2 is produced. The deep is acid (yellow) 4. Red slant/ red deep- (K/NC) neither carbohydrate is fermented. Peptone is degraded aerobically My result was a red slant and black deep. When is H2S2 is produced. Read Chapter 8 Microbial GeneticsThe deep is acid (yellow). Glucose was fermented and lactose wasn’t. 3. UREASE HYDROLYSIS TEST This test is used to see if urea is used. Proteus can be determined because there fast urease activity. Proteus is the ability to utilize lactose. My test resulted in a positive result. It was a pink color. In my end result, my unknown bacteria is Proteus Vulgaris. Gram Stain| Positive Gram Stain| Negative gram stain| KIARed slant/black deep| Urease Test| Urease Positive| Urease Negative| Proteus Vulgaris|

Monday, July 29, 2019

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example Such an organization will have competitive advantages such as certified ISO 9000, reduction in costs, delivery on time, new technologies and CRM implementation. Marketing activities are important because they add value to CRM through tracking a customer’s activities. CRM, in current days, is considered a buzzword in selling and marketing activities (Bidgoli, 2010). There is tracking of cookies, which is similar to that of Google Analytics, which will allow an organization to build a digital trail of a customer interacting with the firm automatically. Google Analytics does provide the overall trends of the visitors while marketing automation will offer tracking at a micro level hence the organization is able to see the activities of its customers. For instance, a customer will open a paper, view the price information in the paper and this information is able to give sales representatives intelligence regarding their prospects. CRM can include capabilities of emails while market ing using automated software will offer comprehensive marketing system via the email. Most of the features of automated marketing include the abilities of sending blast emails that will display each sales representative, email resending tests among others. Traditional forms of marketing used to focus on the 4ps for increasing market share. The market share was increased through increasing the volume of transactions taking place between a buyer and a seller. On the contrary, CRM currently focuses on use of various strategies, procedures, tools and technologies available in promoting good relationship between customers and sellers for the purpose of increasing the sales volume, profit of the firm and creating customer satisfaction. Ways to Deploy CRM Solutions available for CRM today encompass more than just market automation and sales, but also building customer loyalty, mobile and internet business and Web 2.0 driven value of CRM in the society. Therefore, CRM has expanded to be a k ey predictor of the business activities done by enterprises. Options available for an enterprise to consider when deploying CRM include hybrid combination, RMS on the premise, on premise CRM that is managed by the vendors, etc. Organizations that employ o-premise deployment method lease infrastructure that include the operation systems. These applications will be installed in the organization’s data center and hence the entire package will be owned by the organization. The firm can customize the applications as needed because it has full control over all infrastructure and data. Siebel CRM product from Oracle Corporation uses this category and according to Gartner, this type of deployment makes up seventy percent of the total CRM market. Vendor Managed CRM deployment on the premise is similar to on-premise deployment although in this case, the vendor is responsible for providing the operational support for the entire application at the site hosting the application. The firm p reserves the ability of this application to function and they can customize the application to a specified extent. Modifications on this application can be done by mixing internal resources and resources supplied by the vendors. Use of server roles enables a company to deploy other servers to other servers for performance (Wolenik

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Hugos Portinari Altarpiece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hugos Portinari Altarpiece - Essay Example Evidently, the noble art piece symbolizes the birth of Jesus Christ. It predominantly showcases the coming of the blessed child and the sanctity of all the hardships experienced by Mary and Joseph in bringing the safe delivery of the innocent child. The relief after the enormous rejections and judgments came into great exaltations as everyone joyously stares at the young infant Jesus. Thus, the miraculous celebration doesn’t came to existence to them alone but a greater power helped them along the way through the guidance of God, the most high. On the other hand, this particular altarpiece upholds hidden symbolism and meaning within it, one that you cannot tell at a glance. Tomasso and his family transpired the characters of the nativity. Not only that, but different saints also appeared in this piece. Indeed, this piece shed some egoistic slate on it. The art of looking at their selves gives the Portinari family a sense of self-appreciation and fulfillment. Thus, in a way nar cissism bestowed self-admiration and chronic show-off that somehow defies the real beauty of the art of nativity. Raising of the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens Peter Paul Rubens painted in 1609-10 the famous triptych painting called â€Å"The raising of the Cross†. Obviously, the painting was influenced by the art of Michelangelo wherein you can recognize the muscularity of the bodies which reflects great strength, power and might. Aside from what we can recognizably see in the painting with all pulling and lifting of the cross which showcases the mighty rage of the people to crucify Jesus, the painting also reflects deeper message within it. The pain and suffering that the crucifixion is giving to Jesus is the same pain and suffering that we people brought to him. We may be in sympathy with Him but who really did these to Him? Who nailed Him? The answer is us. We did this to Him; all of our sins was lifted in the shoulders of Jesus. He paid for our sins in order for Him to save us from the painful suffering. We can simply put this in the verse, â€Å"For God so love the world that he gave his one and only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.† John 3:16. Caravaggism Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio has been popular due to his techniques of tenebrism and chiaroscuro which has been adopted by artists who wanted to follow his footsteps. â€Å"Chiaroscuro is a method of shading which is used to give figures a sense of three-dimensional volume. Tenebrism is where an artist keeps some areas of a painting totally black, allowing one or two areas to be strongly illuminated by comparison. Tenebrism thus allows the artist to control the 'action' in his canvas† (Caravaggism, n.d.). One of the artists who adopted this is Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velasquez. He was inspired and learned the potentialities of working in a limited palette, black and neutrals which has also been seen in his wor ks which are harmonies of grays and black but not compromising its quality and the famous edge of his works wherein he can give life to his paintings as if they where breathing and moving in action. His great skill in mixing color, light, space, lines and mass liven up every piece that he makes just like the technique that Caravaggio does in his works. Versailles for Louis XIV In 1682, when Louis XIV relocated the court and government permanently to Versailles, the place became the unofficial capital of the kingdom of France. The palace is now filled with splendid royalty and delight as art and nature has harmoniously emerged together and brought about excellence and vigor into the city. Aside from this is the overshadowing face of power and might as the great Louis XIV brought authority and greatness as it moved the central of power away

Saturday, July 27, 2019

The Civil Liberties and Unlawful Government Surveillance Personal Statement

The Civil Liberties and Unlawful Government Surveillance - Personal Statement Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that although new technologies have emerged, it has enabled the government to unlawfully spy on people thereby infringing on their individual liberties. Unlawful government surveillance should be fought because it interferes with the right to the constructive dissident opinion as well as increase anxiety in personal spaces. The principles of the First Amendment place values such as the freedom to expression, inquiry, and association at its core. It is essential to review the right to privacy in the context of advances in sciences and technology because these developments make private lives more visible. The right to privacy forms a fundamental part of the welfare of every individual. This is crucial at two levels. To begin with, it is notable that most of the developments that society enjoys today arose out of the capacity for an individual to have unmonitored behavior and thinking. For instance, most scientific innovations arose out of inten sive thinking, solitude, and privacy. At the second level, the entitlement to privacy highly benefits the individual since it eliminates anxiety and limits the government authority over the established individual liberties. The American nation is at the center of this debate because of terrorism linked surveillance. Government surveillance, however, never started at 9/11 terrorist attacks. As early as the 1960’s, the government adopted surveillance technologies that would greatly constrain the private space. The Fourth Amendment description of Bill of Rights forbids unreasonable searches unless a search is propped by a reasonable cause and is supported by a judicial action. The FISA Act of 1978, however, allows for the collection of information, without a court order, about the activities of individuals, which may be deemed harmful to the state. On the other hand, the UN recognized the detriment of such laws and counteracted by forming Article 17 of ICCPR, which prohibits unl awful searches of persons.

Friday, July 26, 2019

British Petroleum Company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

British Petroleum Company - Assignment Example This paper highlights that Shareholders and owners of BP have the major influence on other stakeholders and business. The cost cutting process may also be a direct result of their emphasis on reducing expenses so that profitability could be improved. Managers are the people who have been trusted with the responsibility of managing the day to day affairs of the firm. Managers of BP are persons responsible for ensuring that the manufacturing facilities at its exploration facility are in conducive form and do not pose any threat to the life of labors or others. Managers interact with the business on daily basis because managing the business is their day to day job. They also interact with other stakeholders through annual general meetings, board meetings as well as interacting with government agencies. The decisions of the managers directly affect the business and the managers as in this case. Managers decided to cost cut and reduce the expenses however; this has resulted into the significant risk issues for the firm. From this paper it is clear that employees are the individuals who work for the organization against certain wages. Employees for BP are the people who work at its exploration facilities and were hurt in different incidents due to security and risk lapses. Business partners of the firm are those firms or individuals who do business with the firm i.e. suppliers of raw material as well other material. Business partners of BP are American government, different other suppliers who have provided it resources to extract the oil from its Texas oilfield. They can influence the business and other stakeholders to the extent of their involvement in the overall affairs of the firms. In terms of safety and risk, business partners can only be limited to the installation and maintenance services provided by them.  

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Cultural Diversity Among The Catholic And The Amish Essay

Cultural Diversity Among The Catholic And The Amish - Essay Example The theologian's study, interpret and explore how human beings should work in the revelation of Christianity to the world and they discuss the foundational issues of faith. Philosophy is the second component of the religion. Philosophy investigates the fundamentals of human knowledge and experience. The third component is traditional liberal arts while the fourth component is the collection of subjects apart from the three subjects of theology, philosophy and liberal arts such as the study of life and natural sciences, the disciplines like computer science etc. Catholic higher education administrators claim that students should not only learn for the purpose of gaining a formal education but also should learn for knowing how to live life on the right path in a moral sense. The Catholic educational institutions are more welcoming and open towards all religions and they treat black, white and international students equally. Their colleges and universities, therefore, â€Å"demonstrated the values of openness and respect for diversity more effectively than other religiously affiliated institutions†. Catholics have the tradition of respecting both popes as well as priests and they read scriptures and also believe in the principle of â€Å"sticking together generally and in falling in line behind their leader†. â€Å"The political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, the fate of our Nation, homosexuality in the military, and scandals involving the Catholic clergy—are matters of public import†.... The theologians study, interpret and explore how human beings should work in the revelation of Christianity to the world and they discuss the foundational issues of faith. Philosophy is the second component of the religion. Philosophy investigates the fundamentals of human knowledge and experience. The third component is traditional liberal arts while the fourth component is the collection of subjects apart from the three subjects of theology, philosophy and liberal arts such as study of life and natural sciences, the disciplines like computer science etc. Catholic higher education administrators claim that students should not only learn for the purpose of gaining formal education but also should learn for knowing how to live life in the right path in a moral sense. The catholic educational institutions are more welcoming and open towards all religions and they treat black, white and international students equally. Their colleges and universities, therefore, â€Å"demonstrated the v alues of openness and respect for diversity more effectively than other religiously affiliated institutions† (Morey & Piderit, n.d., part. 2). Catholics have the tradition of respecting both popes as well as priests and they read scriptures and also believe in the principle of â€Å"sticking together generally and in falling in line behind their leader† (Portmann, n.d., p. 81). â€Å"The political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, the fate of our Nation, homosexuality in the military, and scandals involving the Catholic clergy—are matters of public import† (Phelps et al. 2010, p. 12). Catholics believed in the sin principle. â€Å"The first sin of disobedience resulted in death to the spiritual nature of

Introduction to Organisations and Management Essay - 9

Introduction to Organisations and Management - Essay Example The structure is strictly hierarchical and there is a long history of conflict with the unionised workforce that comprises the majority. There seems to be an issue of trust between management and workers. The changing business environment is putting pressure on the company to achieve more with less. The company has a number of issues in its ability to manage existing and new business requirements due to internal capability limitations – poor inter-department communication and coordination, lack of flexibility among teams and poor internal control mechanisms. The leadership is, in the meanwhile, focusing on personal plans. Watson represents a company that has omitted the task of creating a vision or strategy for itself. The owner believes in responding to situations after they arise, an attitude that runs through the organisation and stifles the capability of talented resources. This is demonstrated in the absence of unified focus at all levels in the company and that of Ã¢â‚¬Ë œclarity to business units’ to provide direction (Johnson, 2008, p. 304). The H&M Consulting Group employs a highly-skilled specialised workforce that can cater to business requirements of a diverse client group. The company is following a strategic path of inorganic growth through acquisitions and recruitment. The company follows a networked structure that utilises specific talent in teams to manage projects. Sophisticated information technology is utilised for effective coordination between and within project teams and to ensure resource availability to achieve project requirements. The workforce is self-directed. H&M has laid down well-defined mission and value statements and the workforce is focused on ensuring commercial success while taking care that core principles are met. The leadership is in constant contact with relevant issues with respect to corporate responsibility and seeks to find ways to ensure that it contributes to these larger goals. H&M represents a globa l organisation that draws strength from a strongly networked employee base. It represents a structure that is transnational as defined by Bartlett and Ghoshal as possessing ‘strong geographic movement†¦ global product responsibility necessary to achieve global efficiency†¦ worldwide functional management†¦ vital to worldwide learning’. Translated into management tasks, this includes ‘legitimising diverse†¦ capabilities, developing†¦ flexible coordination, building shared vision’ (Hoecklin, 1995, p. 42-43). Analysis The case is analysed on the parameters of organisation design, team work, leadership and management style and culture. Organisation design and structure The key to competing in a changing environment lies in the capacity to differentiate one’s offerings from the other players in the market. Differentiation may be based on niche service offerings that cover specific market needs or a diverse offering that covers var ied ones. Watson operates in the automobile components sector and has not opted for a strategy based on differentiation. H&M operates in a number of sectors that require specialised knowledge and skill thereby creating a niche for itself in a wide setting. The method to implement a strategy based on differentiation is through a careful assessment of the value chain within as well as among competitors and designing the organisation structure. Organisation structure that is based on the view of the value chain

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Computer network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Computer network - Essay Example Initially computer networks were used for military purposes, but today every a huge population of individuals as well as businesses use computer networks to communicate with each other. Computer networks have become quite wide spread and the sole reason due to which these network enjoy such popularity is that these networks allow individuals to communicate those pieces of information that once mankind could not even imagine to communicate. Even though, computer networks have become so popular, these networks have several disadvantages associated with it and this is the reason why these networks are even highly criticized. Computer networks are not a very old concept and they are not even a very new one. Computer networks that individuals experience in the era of 2015 came into existence during the period of 1940 when an individual named George Stibitz transferred information and data from a machine called Teletype machine to a calculator and then utilized the same method to send information from the calculator to the machine (Casey, 2011, p.608). This activity is the base of the computer networks that the society in the 21st century enjoys. During the period of 1950s the first and the foremost computer network was experienced in the shape of a radar system that was utilized by the armed forces and this radar system was recognized as SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) (Casey, 2011, p.608). By the period of 1960 the first ever computers were connected with each other (Casey, 2011, p.608). These computers were mainframes and these computers were used for the purpose of allowing users to reserve ai rline tickets in a semi-automatic manner. Approximately two years later researchers such as JCR Licklider became interested in connecting output based hardware with such as teletypewriters with a computer and for this purpose he developed a group called

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Why global warming is considered to be a threat to the ecological Assignment

Why global warming is considered to be a threat to the ecological balance in our planet - Assignment Example This leads to global warming which is responsible for the creation of extreme climatic conditions in different areas. These extreme climatic conditions pose a big threat to the ecological balance in our planet in many ways. According to Gosden, some species would face extinction since they may not be able to sustain the extreme climatic conditions caused by global warming. For instance, animals like penguins that can only survive in Polar Regions characterised by snow may face extinction due to the melting of snow in those areas due to global warming. On the other hand, global warming may cause food insecurity in different parts of the globe as a result of extreme weather conditions like flooding or droughts. The normal human activities can also be impacted by global warming. Overall, global warming is likely to impact on the entire ecosystem as a result of the disturbances likely to be caused by extreme climatic changes that may take place in the environment. warming.† The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/11202987/UN-climate-change-report-to-warn-of-severe-pervasive-effects-of-global-warming.html 01 November 2015. Web. 26 May

Monday, July 22, 2019

The Techniques Used in American Beauty Essay Example for Free

The Techniques Used in American Beauty Essay Throughout American Beauty, Mendes? use of set design and camera angles have been carefully structured to emphathise the ? lm? s theme of imprisonment. In the opening scene the audience? s introduction to the lead character is Lester Burnham taking a shower. Mendes (1999) states this is the ? rst jail cell the audience sees Lester in, a range of various jail cell type settings appear throughout the ? lm including Lester presented excessively behind glass, between frames and at work, where he is con? ned to a small cubicle in a very large of? ce (Appalachian, 2009). The effect of Lester imprisoned suggests he is isolated and removed from the world around him. The camera angles used exaggerate this and highlight Lester? s de? ation of power against the signi? cant people in his life. This technique is shown to de? ne the relationship between Lester and his boss, Brad. During a private conversation about budget cuts at work, Brad? s superiority is enforced as he shot from a low angle, whereas Lester is shot from a high angle, this creates the effect that Lester is far away from Brad, which demonstrates to the audience the vast power Brad has over him. Mendes (1999) describes Lester as â€Å"distant and isolated† in this scene. This technique is also replicated throughout the movie to emphathise Lester? s detached relationship from his wife, Carolyn and daughter, Jane. The scene where Lester is seen to delay his wife by spilling his briefcase on the pavement before entering the car, Carolyn, similarly to Brad is shot from a low angle again which enforces Lester? s lack of power and her superiority. Interestingly, as the ? lm progresses and Lester? relationships evolve, the camera angles also evolve in reverse and the audience begins to see Lester shot in a low angle and characters like Carolyn are shot in a high angle, indicating that Carolyn is now vulnerable. These altered camera angles give Lester a triumphant image. Another technique Mendes uses is colour. The use of colour is often an important technique utilised by ? lm directors to communicate themes and ideas to an audience. In American Beauty, Mendes powerfully uses colour to communicate that the characters are attempting to escape from their imprisonment. Initially the characters are seen in environments that are very dull and nondescript, as Mendes (1999) states when referring to Lester? s work setting. As Lester? s quest for escapement gains momentum, the vivid colour of red is gradually introduced more into this ? lm through subtle furnishings in the Burnham house and particularly integrated with Lester? s sexual fantasies. The use of the vibrant, red rose petal is ? rst introduced when Lester and Carolyn attend Jane? s cheer performance, where Lester loses himself as he enters his ? rst â€Å"tunnel of fantasy† (Mendes, 1999). Deschler (1999) states the rose is symbolic of American beauty, and the colour red symbolises passion and love. The signi? cance of the rose petal and the colour red is repeatedly seen throughout the ? lm in house furnishings such as a bouquet of roses on the coffee table and vividly in Lester? s fantasies about Jane? s friend, Angela, the increasing level of red in the ? lm is in conjunction with Lester? s progressing sexual drive and transformation. The ? ourishing presence of the colour red, acknowledges Lester? s ? erce lust and desire to be free. This is effectively conveyed during the scene where Lester visualises Angela in a vibrant sea of roses, touching herself seductively on his bedroom ceiling, also when Lester buys the car â€Å"he has always wanted† (Ball, 1999), which is a 1970 Firebird and strategically, red. Music is a powerful medium in ? lm and Mendes uses the soundtrack in American Beauty to articulate the character? s evolving personalities and relationships, and to set the tone of each scene, particularly noticeable during Lester? s transformation. Composer, Thomas Newman? score is described as â€Å"lonely and melancholy† (Mendes, 1999), which is an appropriate expression for Lester? s existence at the beginning of this ? lm. This is similarly demonstrated and supports to de? ne the initial relationship between Lester and Carolyn, as shown by the dull music that Carolyn chooses to play at the dinner table. When Lester? s journey to freedom gains speed, evidently his sense of self worth has increased as there is an optimistic lift in the genre of music that is played as the backdrop to Lester? s life. This melancholy music played at the beginning of the ? m, begins to disappear and is replaced by fast paced, rock music. Simultaneously as Lester? s lifestyle transforms into marijuana smoking and employment at a fast food restaurant, so does too his interest in listening to seventies rock music (Deschler, 1999). At the height of Lester? s transformation, an important scene where the soundtrack effectively communicates a liberating change in personality is when he is recklessly driving his 1970 Firebird, whilst singing along to Guess Who? s rock hit â€Å"American Woman,† he con? dently sings the lyrics â€Å"American woman, stay away from me† (Ball, 2009). This rebellious choice of song supports Lester? s new found freedom from his corporate life and could even suggest that Lester is newly unaffected by his wife? s judgements and bounds by recreating his lost youth. In many of the fantasy sequences involving Angela, the music composed is seductive and trancelike, which mirror? s the effect Angela has on Lester (Huffstutler, 2009), the technique of soundtrack is effectively used here to set a strong tone for the audience. In American Beauty, director, Sam Mendes uses the Burnham family to demonstrate the breakdown of a suburban family and possibly to encourage his audience to ? ook closer? and past what often appears, to be a seamless, picture perfect life. American Beauty effectively employs the techniques of set design, camera angles, colour and soundtrack to convey the meaning of this ? lm, which is to escape from imprisonment.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Kotter and lewins change and positive models

Kotter and lewins change and positive models Change management deals with adapting and controlling change. For an organization, change management is defining and implementing procedures and/or technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities. (searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition) There is always a need for the change to happen as the world is changing. Therefore, some models can help an organization to implement change successfully. Kotters Change Model John Kotter is a change expert who is a professor at Harvard Business School. Kotter introduced a famous change process that consists of eight steps in his 1995 book, Leading Change. Step One: Create Urgency For an organization to let the change happen, this step is a primary motivation for the things to happen. Therefore, the first task is to develop a sense of urgency. (mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM) Step Two: Form a Guiding Coalition For the change to happen, the change needs to be managed as well as led. Hence, there is a requirement for strong leadership as well as the support from important employees of the organization. (Strategies-for-managing-change.com/john-kotter) Step Three: Developing a Change Vision Developing a clear vision will help out to simplify the decisions, motivates employees to go for the change even it is hard for them, and helps to organize the actions in a hasty and well-organized way. (kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/Change Steps/Step3) Step Four: Communicating the Vision for Buy-in It is not about developing a clear vision, but the vision has to reach all the employees of the organization. For this to happen, the vision should be communicated in hour-by-hour activities. Communication can also be done through meetings, emails, and presentations. It should be communicated anywhere and everywhere in order to let the employee have a clear idea about the change to happen. While communicating the change be honest and concentrate on the emotional dimension of the peoples fears and concerns. (kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/ChangeSteps/Step5, strategies-for-managing-change.com/john-kotter) Step Five: Empowering People and Removing Barriers Removing barriers will help the people to do their best work and empowers them to execute vision. This will result in change to happen. (mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM, kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/ChangeSteps/Step5) Step Six: Generating Short-term wins Generating short-term wins will definitely encourage the employees. The employee confidence will increase and will adapt to the change as well as will be satisfied with his work. Organizing a change without looking at short-term performance is always risky. One cannot know where they stand and how far is the destination. (kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/ChangeSteps/Step6) Step Seven: Dont Let Up! There is always a chance for the resistance to occur even success occurs in the early stages. There is fear of change with everyone. Letting up will create problems and the momentum can be lost. Therefore, the organization has to consolidate gains and produce more change. (kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/ChangeSteps/Step7) Step Eight: Make it stick Culture is deeply rooted in an organization and is the hardest thing to change. Every associate of the organization indoctrinates into the culture of the organization without realizing it. Therefore, new approaches have to be anchored and should be deeply rooted in order to stay strongly in the culture. (kotterinternational.com/KotterPrinciples/ChangeSteps/Step8) Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of this model is that it concentrates on all aspects for the change to happen in an organization. Therefore, by concentrating on all aspects such as communicating the vision, creating a guiding coalition, generating short-term wins, and not letting up will definitely makes the change to happen. Culture is the hardest thing to change in any organization and with the help of this model, the cultural change can happen. On the other side, the first step speaks about the urgency but it does not concentrate on the purpose for change. Purpose with urgency can only play an effective role together for the change to happen. To implement this model the leaders should be experienced and associates of the organization should support the change. Lewins 3-Stage Model Kurt Lewin is a psychologist who recognized three stages of change. They are Unfreeze, Change, and Refreeze. Stage 1: Unfreeze This stage is an important one that involves reaching to a position of knowing that change is essential. In this stage, creating ideal environment is an important thing for the change to take place. Generally, people get used to the way they are working and they try to resist the change even the change is beneficial one, as it will initially cause discomfort. Therefore, the main theme of this stage is to shift people from this frozen state to an unfrozen state. (Change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin, London Management Centre, 2008) Stage 2: Change or Transition This stage is central to Lewins model and is a confusion period at the psychological level. In the transition stage, the changes are made that are essential. Employees will be unfrozen and will be heading in the direction of new way of being. Therefore, people are not clear about new ways that are going to replace the older ways. This clearly shows that this is the hardest stage as employees are not sure or fearful. The main goal of this transition stage is to move employees to the unfrozen state and keep them there. (change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin, London Management Centre, 2008) Stage 3: Refreeze This phase concentrates on elevating the comfort levels and bringing back the stability. It brings people to a stable and productive state from a low productive state. Refreeze is to establish stability after the changes occur. Finally people form new relations start to become comfortable with new changes. (Change-management-coach.com/kurt_lewin, London Management Centre, 2008) Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of Lewins model is that it is simple and easy to understand. This model concentrates on the fear of employees who oppose the change to happen. This is the main factor, which should be worked out by every organization to bring out change. However, on the other side, this model does not concentrate on each aspect. For the change to happen all the aspects should be considered such like the aspects covered in Kotters change model. The Positive Model The Positive model involves five phases. They are: Phase 1: Initiate the Inquiry Initiate the inquiry is to know the subject of change. It points up the associate participation to recognize the organizational issue they have the most energy to address. (Cummings Worley, 2009) Phase 2: Inquire into best practices Inquire into best practises is assembling data that is the best in the organization. If the subject is organizational innovation, then associates of the organization helps to build up an interview protocol which contains the information about the new ideas that were developed and carried out in the organization. The members of the organization conduct the interviews: they interview each other and let them know the information or stories about the innovations in which the members are personally involved. These stories are gathered to form a group of information, which describes the organization as an innovative system. (Cummings Worley, 2009) Phase 3: Discover the themes Discovering themes is about the members of the organization who look at the stories that are gathered previously which may include both small and large, to recognize a set of themes which are demonstrating the common scope of peoples experiences. For instance, the stories of innovation that are collected may contain themes about how much freedom each individual gets from the managers in exploring a new idea, how much support the coworkers provided to the organization members, or how to exposure to customers sparked ingenious ideas. No theme is small in case of representation; it is very important to describe all the core mechanisms that help to generate and support the themes. The themes symbolises the basis for moving from what is to what could be. (Cummings Worley, 2009) Phase 4: Envision a preferred future Members that scan the identified themes, challenge the status quo, and describe a compelling future. Based on the organizations successful past, members collectively picture the organizations future and develop possibility proportions- statements that bridge the organizations current best practices with ideal possibilities for future organizing. These proportions should present a truly exciting, provocative, and possible picture of the future. Based on these possibilities, members discover the relevant stakeholders and critical organization processes that must be aligned to support emergences of the envisioned future. The vision becomes a statement of what should be. (Cummings Worley, 2009) Phase 5: Design and Deliver Ways to Create the Future This phase illustrates the activities and the plans necessary to bring vision. It progresses to both action and assessment phase comparable to action research described earlier. Members of the organization make modifications, weigh up the results and make necessary adjustments, to move the organization towards the vision and nourish what will be. The course of action is continued by restoring the discussion about what the best is. (Cummings Worley, 2009) Strengths and Weaknesses The strength of this model is that it concentrates on the main issue and tries to solve the problem by using the best practises of the organization. The weakness of this model is that there is no urgency, which is essential for the change as sometimes the organizations might run out of time. If the change does not happen before the time passes away then the work made by the organization goes in vain. Conclusion The three change models Kotters change model, Lewins 3-stage model, and the positive model are different from each other. These three models can be used by any organization for the change to happen. Kotters change model is a brief model that concentrates on every small aspect. The only problem with the Kotters change model is that it focuses on urgency but not on purpose. Without knowing purpose of change, the urgency will have no reason and everyone will be doing things quickly without purpose. By considering the purpose, this model can be most preferable for an organization to implement change. This model makes sure that the change need to occur is communicated to everyone and concentrates on building the momentum with short-term wins. The culture of the organization can be changed that is deeply rooted. Lewis 3-stage model is a simple model it concentrates on moving people from their old style of working. People always have a fear of change, which is the biggest opposition of the change to happen. This model concentrates on moving people from a stage of freezing to refreeze stage. This model does not concentrate on all the small aspects. The positive model is different from Kotters and Lewins model. It enquires about the problem and uses the best practices of the organization to solve the problem. This helps the change to happen. However, there is no sense of urgency that is a major problem. When compared to Kotters model it is not as detailed as that model. Every model has some strength. Therefore, it is always better to go for the three models, opt for the best things from the models, and implement them for the change to happen. Speaking about best of the three models, my choice is Kotters change model as it concentrates on all the aspects for the change to happen.

Budget Hotels In Malaysia

Budget Hotels In Malaysia Abstract: The contribution of tourism sector to the economic development is pretty significant in Malaysia. And budget hotels play important role in tourism industry. Budget hotel is defined as a small hotel that is financed by one individual or a small group of individuals, and it is mangers are the same time its owner. Generally the characteristics of those budget hotels are that the managers do not operate through a formalized management structure. At present budget hotels are relatively few in Malaysia. This study tries to find the reason why there are so few budget hotels in Malaysia. We find that the shortage of budget hotels in Malaysia is due to the reason that positive externalities of budget hotels have not been effectively internalized. Externalities of budget hotels means that the development of budget hotels will attract more tourists and those tourists will bring more value to other sectors. When a positive externality exists in a market, the private marginal benefit cu rve is less than the societys marginal benefit curve. With positive externalities, the production and consumption are less than the optimal production to the society. Because the positive externalities of budget hotels have not been effectively internalized, the stimulation for budget hotel owners to supply more budget hotel services is not high enough. Through secondary research, we find that the hotel industry has important influence on the whole tourism industry and the externalities of hotel industry also have significant impacts on the tourism industry. This results means that there is possibility that the budget hotel or other hotels cooperates with firms from other industries and produce more value for customers and for themselves. Furthermore we discuss the needs and wants of budget hotel customers based on Maslows theory of human needs, which he named the Hierarchy of Needs. We classify the needs of budget hotel customers into three levels. The first level is safety, the se cond level is necessary facilities and the third level is the pursuit of happiness. Then we discuss how budget hotels should perform according to the three levels of needs. At last we discuss how a budget hotel is able to control its service quality so as to attract customers and establish customer loyalty. We argue that one characteristic of hotel industry is that the monitoring cost is very high and many behaviors of the servants cannot be easily observed. It indicates that stimulation may be much more important than penalty. Under such a situation, the sense of responsibility is of great importance in the hospitality industry. We argue that the sense of responsibility may arise from good communication between employees. Keywords: Budget Hotel; Externality; Tourism Industry; Cooperation Contents 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Objectives of this paper: 5 3. Literature Review 6 3.1 Price Theory 6 3.2 Determinants of tourism demand 8 3.3 Externalities of hospitality industry 9 4. Theoretical Framework 10 4.1 Classical Price Theory and Hotel Price 10 4.2 Externalities of Hotel Price and Cooperation between Industries 11 5. Research Methodology 13 1. Introduction Tourism is important for the economic development of many countries including Malaysia. The contribution of this sector to the economic development of Malaysia was 37% of GDP in 1970, and increased to 43% in 1980, 47% in 1990 and 53% in 2007 (Abdullah et al. 2011). In addition, the growth rate of this sector has been pretty rapid. The average annual growth rate was 9% during the 1970s, close to 7% in the 1980s, and 8.5% during the most recently. Figure 1.1 shows this trend with concrete data of arrivals and receipts of tourism industry in Malaysia. The significant importance and the rapid growth rate of tourism industry imply a much greater contribution of tourism to the economic growth of Malaysia. It is expected that the contribution of the services sector to GDP will increase up to 60% by 2020. The Malaysian government has recognized the importance of tourism industry and has placed the development of tourism industry at a very important place. At present, tourism has been designa ted as a priority sector in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Figure 1.1 the Arrivals and Receipts of Malaysian Tourism The Malaysia government tries to promote the development of this industry. But how could we improve the development of tourism industry? The first attention may be focused on the development of hotels or hospitality industry. The reason is that accommodation fee takes a very important weight in the expenditure of tourists, which implies that the development of hotels will pose great influence of tourism industry. The second consideration is that hospitality industry is related with many other industries. Hospitality industry is a huge industry, including not only hotels but also transportation, restaurants and so on. Without any hesitation, the hospitality industry is related to every aspects of peoples daily life. The correlation between hotels and other tourism sectors indicates that the whole tourism may benefit more if the hospitality industry could cooperate well with other related sectors. Therefore we hold the opinion that to promote the development of hotels and to make innov ation in strategies of hospitality industry is fairly important to promoting the development of tourism in Malaysia. In this study, we focus on issues related to budget hotels, because budget hotels play important role in tourism industry and the budget hotel industry has not developed very well in Malaysia  [1]  . According to the existing research, small and mediate enterprises, including budget hotels, are very important in tourism industry and all the business industries. For example, Abdullah (2011) find that firms with less than fifteen employees account for around 79% of all Irish tourism businesses, which is a characteristic of the tourism sector in many other countries recently. Sheldon (1993) find that over 90% of tourist accommodation establishments are represented by small firms in the world. And a similar dominance is reflected within Malaysia where owner operators account for the majority of all hotels. Morrison (1996) argues that the tourism industry has been dominated by the small business traditionally and this is still the fact in 1990s. There are several reasons leading to th e popularity of small hotels. The first reason is the low benchmark of entering into the budget hotel sector. It is not difficult to start up a small hotel business and the professional requirements related to this sector are relatively low in with regard to other industries (Lerner Haber, 2001; Szivas, 2001). The second reason is that demand for small accommodation is high, which enables small hotel providers to offer a wide quality range of products, facilities and special services to the market. The third reason is the flexibility of budget hotels. Budget hotels are small and the small size allows an owner-manager to respond quickly to demand shift and market change. In addition, the costs of budget hotels are relatively low because of the advantage of using family labor (Getz Carlsen, 2000; Lowe, 1988). Because budge hotels are very important in hospitality industry and hospitality industry is pretty significant for tourism industry, it is necessary for us to make clear the in fluence of budget hotel on tourism. Before analyzing the influence of budget hotels on truism industry and discussing the management of budget hotels, we need to make clear the definitions of hotel and budget hotel. A hotel is an establishment providing accommodations and usually meals and other services for travelers  [2]  . Generally there are several categories classifying hotels. Most often we may divide hotels into two subgroups, including star hotels and budget hotels. According to the view of Kim and Mauborgne (1997), there are two market segments in the budget hotel industry and the star hotel industry. Star hotels are generally more expensive than budget hotels while providing more services. Most star hotels have some amenities under certain star rating system, which usually includes private bathroom, color TV, telephone, air conditioner, refrigerator, safety deposit box, daily maid service, 24 hours front desk. The lowest level of star hotels is the one-star hotels, which are the most basic hotels providi ng all the basic amenities for all star hotels. But the rooms of one star hotel are relatively small. Some one-star hotels even do not provide refrigerators and safety deposit boxes. Budget hotels cannot be classified into those standard star rating systems and they are characterized with low price while providing less facilities. Generally these hotels do not offer ancillary facilities on top of the standard basic accommodation facilities. Maybe they are not clean enough, safe enough and do not supply something that you consider as essential for your stay. But many of the budget hotels have their own characteristics which depend on the operation of its managers. But the definition shown above is generally used in other countries than Malaysia. In Malaysia, budget hotels may provide better services than one-star hotels. For example, Malaysia Budget Hotel Dot Com (MBHDC), is an organization uniting some budge hotels, and it specializes in providing high quality and lowest price budget hotels in Malaysia (3 Stars and below)  [3]  . In the understanding of this organization, cheap hotels, youth hostels, low cost resorts, motels, guesthouses and rest houses are all in the category of budget hotels. Based on the definition of Morrison (1996) on a small tourism business, we may define a budget hotel as a small hotel that is financed by one individual or a small group of individuals, and it is mangers are the same time its owner. Generally the characteristics of those budget hotels are that the managers do not operate through a formalized management structure. It is not affiliated to an external agency on a continual basis for at least one manag ement function. In addition, it is small in terms of physical facilities, service capacity, and number of employees. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of hotel industry on the whole tourism industry, and to explore the possibility of making innovations in budget hotel industry, which may improve the development of tourism industry of Malaysia. This study tries to find the reason why there are so few budget hotels in Malaysia. We interpret this phenomenon with theories of price and externalities. It is found that the reason for the lack of budget hotels is that the positive externalities of budget hotels have not been effectively internalized. Externalities of budget hotels means that the development of budget hotels will attract more tourists and those tourists will bring more value to other sectors. Because the positive externalities of budget hotels have not been effectively internalized, the stimulation for budget hotel owners to supply more budget hotel services is not high enough. Through secondary research, we find that the hotel industry has important influence on t he whole tourism industry and the externalities of hotel industry also have significant impacts on the tourism industry. This results means that there is possibility that the budget hotel or other hotels cooperates with firms from other industries and produce more value for customers and for themselves. Furthermore we discuss the needs and wants of budget hotel customers based on the theory Maslows levels of human needs, which he named the Hierarchy of Needs. Then we discuss how budget hotels should perform according to the three levels of needs. At last we discuss how a budget hotel is able to control its service quality, attract customers and establish customer loyalty. 2. Objectives of this paper: Defining budget hotel and compare different concepts. Analyzing the influence of budget hotel price on tourism; Understanding customers wants and needs in relation to budget hotel accommodation; Investigating quality and methods to retain customer in budget hotels; Analyzing principles establishing brand loyalty for budget hotels. 3. Literature Review 3.1 Price Theory This study tries to find reasons why there are so few budget hotels in Malaysia. Because the supply of budget hotels is adjusted by price in a market economy, we need to use a proper price theory to explain this economic phenomenon. Therefore we need to select a best price theory that is able to help us to gain deep understanding about the shortage of budget hotels in Malaysia. Economists have for a long time been aware of the importance of price and try different ways explaining the mechanism of price formation. The existing economic thoughts on price are so rich and colorful that we often feel confused when evaluating different kinds of price theories. The evolution of price theory can be classified roughly as three classes, including Marxs theory of value, economic price theory and accounting theories of pricing. In order to understand the evolution of price theory, we need to start thinking from the exchange behavior. The reason of choosing exchange behavior as the starting point is that exchange is the foundation of the market economy. Exchange behavior is the most common phenomenon in a market economy. In fact there is no price if there was no exchange. But why do we exchange with others? Intuitively, we can get more utilities through exchange. In the process of exchange we can get something useful from others, at the same time we must be able to provide something useful for others. Otherwise the deal cannot be done. The great classical economists like Adam Smith and Karl Marx had paid much attention to exchange behavior. In his famous book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith (1776) wrote down the following words, which have been quoted by numerous economists. Man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favor, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me what I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is the manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offers which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love. Smith saw the pretty positive aspect of the market economy of compelling people to cooperate with each other through exchange. Smith recognized that to propose an exchange is intending to show other people that your goods or service is useful to them. When you finished exchange, it means the other person recognizes that your goods or service is of value. Exchange can be considered as the fundamental factor of the market economy. Karl Marx does provide a special way explaining value and price although Marxism is generally considered a way of engaging and transforming social reality (Tinker, 1999). Marxs theory of value is based on the analysis of exchange behavior. Karl Marx started his analysis on capitalism from the definition of commodity which was obtained from his analysis of exchange behavior. According to Marx commodities are the fundamental units of capitalism and capitalism can be viewed as a form of economy based on the intense accumulation of such objects (Bourguignon, 2005). He also pointed out A commodity is, in the first place, an object outside of us, a thing that by its properties satisfies human wants of some sort or another (Karl Marx, 1887). After noting that commodity exchange, Marx turned his attention to the question: why we are able to exchange two different products? His answer is that there must be comparable thing between the two different products. Therefore people are able to decid e the exchange ratio based on the amount of the comparable thing in the two different products. If this is true, then what is the comparable thing? Marx thought it is labor  [4]  . Although different products have different uses, they are all made through labor. The labor contained in a product is the value of this product. If one product cost more labor, then this product is more valuable. This is a perspective from cost. This analysis is reasonable at that time, but when the productivity becomes so advanced that a lot of different factors besides labor, such as technology and management skill, begin to make greater contribution to production, Marxs theory of value is hardly able to interpret various complex economic phenomenon. Then another class of price theory was developed and become more attractive. That is the price theory based on the concept of utility. The framework of utility-price theory became well established when Economics went into the 20th century with the development of mathematical analysis (Sandmo, 2010). A lot of economists moved their interest from cost perspective to equilibrium perspective when analyzing the price formation mechanism. In this framework the price of a commodity is decided by the equilibrium of demand and supply. Demand of a product reflects the utility of a certain product to some consumers, while supply reflects the cost of producing this product. If supply superiors demand, then price will go down. The result is a lower supply and more demand, which may lead to equilibrium between supply and demand. If demand superiors supply, then price will go up, which results in more supply and less demand. Equilibrium between supply and demand is also possibly to be realized (Man kiw, 2004). The price at the equilibrium is the equilibrium price. This price theory is widely accepted and applied to explain different kinds of price fluctuations. The neoclassic equilibrium theory of price is mainly static, which is hard to explain some modern price formation process, for example financial asset pricing. As the development of productivity, mainly the development of financial techniques, some new price theory taking time and future into account is necessary. Therefore a new class of theory, the core of which is the calculation of present value, has been developed to meet this demand. The theory argues that the value of an asset is decided by the future cash flow that this asset is able to bring (Jones, 2006; Thomas and Ward, 2009). And this theory has been applied widely to the pricing of financial or other kinds of asset. Because the entering benchmark of budget hotels is very low, the supply of budget hotel is mainly decided by demand. And this problem is not a dynamic pricing issue. Therefore, the neoclassical price theory is the best to be used to explain the shortage of budget hotels. 3.2 Determinants of tourism demand Because the supply of budget hotel is mainly decided by demand, we need to know more about determinants of tourism demand and know how to forecast the demand. It has been widely recognized that accurate forecasts of tourism demand is pretty helpful for managerial decision making. Archer (1987) argues that in the tourism industry the need to forecast accurately is especially acute because of the perishable nature of the product. Unfilled airline seats and unused hotel rooms cannot be stockpiled. Some scholars, such as Edwards (1985), publish some predictions for certain countries. There are also some organizations in the tourism industry that publish confidential predictions on tourism demand. There are a lot of review articles on tourism demand up to now, including Crouch (1994),Witt and Witt (1995), Lim (1999), Li et al. (2005), and Li and Song (2008). According to the reviews, the methods applicable to analyzing the influence of the determinants of tourism demand are relatively lim ited. Multiple regression method is the main methodology in this analysis (Witt and Witt, 1995). Tourist visits may happen for several reasons, including holidays, business travel, visiting friends or something else. The majority of existing studies of tourism demand analyze either total tourist trips or just holiday travel, with only a few concerning on business travel. In the empirical literature, tourism demand is generally measured by the number of tourist visits from an origin country to a foreign destination country (for example, Turner Witt, 2001; Kulendran Wong, 2005; Coshall, 2005; Rossello, 2001). An alternative measure is the tourist nights spent in the destination country. The third measurement is the expenditure of tourists in the destination country (such as Li, Song, Witt, 2004, 2006; Li, Wong, Song, Witt, 2006). But up to now there has not been a best method for tourism demand analysis (Li and Song, 2008). With regard to the researched countries, USA, UK, and France are the most popular researched countries while the research on Malaysia is very limited. The quantitative literature on tourism demand can be divided into two classes, including non-causal time-series models and the causal econometric methods, the difference between which is whether the model identifies any causal relationship between the tourism demand and its influencing variables (Li and Song, 2008). The causal econometric methods are useful for the present study. In the review of Li and Song (2008), there are 121 empirical papers on tourism demand in total. Among those literature, 72 used the time-series techniques to model the demand for tourism, while the others employ econometric techniques analyzing the causal relationship between tourism demands and explaining factors. 3.3 Externalities of hospitality industry One major hypothesis of this paper is that the shortage of budget hotels in Malaysia is due to the reason that the externalities of budget hotel have not been well internalized. An externality is a cost or benefit that is not transmitted through prices or is incurred by a party who was not involved as either a buyer or seller of the goods or services causing the cost or benefit (Bishop, 2012). We can understand externality as a consequence of an economic activity that is experienced by unrelated third parties. We can classify externalities into two categories including positive externalities and negative externalities. An example of the negative externality is pollution. A negative externality happens when an individual or firm does not need to pay the full cost of its production. If a good or service has a negative externality, it implies that the cost to society is larger than the cost paid by consumers. Because consumers make consumption decisions according to their own conditions , meaning they try to make their marginal cost equal to their marginal benefit, without considering the cost of the negative externality, negative externalities will cause market inefficiencies where too many goods or too much service are produced. A positive externality occurs under the situation that an individual/firm makes a decision without receiving the full benefit of production. The benefit to the individual/ firm is less than the total benefit to the society. Therefore when a positive externality exists in a market, the private marginal benefit curve is less than the societys marginal benefit curve. With positive externalities, the production and consumption are less than the optimal production to the society (Mankiw, 2011). There has been a lot of literature discussing the impacts of externalities on different industries or economic activities. For example, Katz and Shapiro (1985) provide an analysis on the influence of externalities on the competition in several important markets. They find that if there are externalities, then consumers expectations can influence the structure of the market equilibrium in their model. Azariadis and Drazen (1990) find that externalities can influence the accumulation of human capital. Henderson (1997) employs panel data for five capital goods industries and estimates dynamic externalities. He concludes that externalities pose significant influence on capital goods industries. Warziniack et al. (2009) develop a general equilibrium model measuring welfare effects of taxes for correcting environmental externalities and evaluate the impacts of externalities arising through exports. They find that externalities from exports are resulted in a number of sources. They argue th at taxes on the sector imposing the environmental externality often presents more negative effects than positive effects. There are many other literature studying the influence of externalities on other aspects of an economy, such as Devereux et al. (2007), Acharya and Volpin (2010) and Foster (2012). But there have been few papers on the externalities of hospitality industry on the development of the whole tourism industry. Most of the researches on externalities in tourism industry are related to city planning, location setting or taxes. For example, Chang et al. (2011) analyze the congestion externalities caused by tourism expansion and the wealth effect generated by the revenues from overseas tourism taxation. Schubert (2010) studies optimal taxation (subvention) when tourism is associated with multiple externalities. Chao et al. (2004) examine the welfare effect of tourism on the host economy. They identify three channels influencing domestic welfare by tourism, the most important one of which is the social externality accompanied with tourists. Calveras and Vera-Hernà ¡ndez (2005) place great emphasis on the presence of quality externalities among hotel establishments when they explore the role played by the tour operator in quality investments. These existing researches are helpful for my analysis of the externality effect of hospitality effects on the whole tourism industry and the welfare of lo cal residents in Malaysia. 4. Theoretical Framework 4.1 Classical Price Theory and Hotel Price Pricing is an art. How to set the price of a good at the best level and achieve the most profits is a hard challenge for any manager in any business field including the hospitality industry. According to the classical price theory of Economics, price is related to two aspects of goods and services: supply and demand. Price has a positive relationship with the supply of goods and services. The reason is that profits would be thick if price if high. As a result of the thick profit, more and more firms will enter this industry and supply more goods and services. At the same time, price has a negative supply with demand of goods and services, because a high price means a high cost of consuming the goods or service for the consumers. The positive relationship between price and supply and the negative relationship between price and demand implies that an equilibrium market state will finally be realized. Market equilibrium means that supply and demand of goods and services are equal to eac h other. The price at the equilibrium state is named equilibrium price. When price is higher than the equilibrium price, it means that demand is larger than supply. At this time, firms will provide more goods or services and price will go down. Similarly, when price is lower than equilibrium price, supply is larger than demand. Then firms will supply less because of the low profits, as a result of which price will go up. This theory fits the normal goods market the best, while remains limited exploratory power for luxury goods market and some other markets. Since hotel is a normal goods instead of luxury goods, the classical price theory in Economics is useful in the studying the price of budget hotel. In this paper one our main objectives is to analyze the influence of hotel pricing on the whole tourism industry. In order to answer this question we mainly analyze from the demand perspective, which means that hotel price influences the demand of hotels and the demand of tourism. The reason is that accommodation fee is the majority of tourism expenditure for most of the tourists. If hotel price is too high, fewer tourists will come and the demand for hotels becomes lower. And there is a second perspective that hotel price also influences the welfare of local residents. If the hotel price is set to be very low, then the profits of the hotel and the wage of local workers must be low, which implies that the welfare of local residents is low. As a result, there must be a best choice of price which is able to maximizing the welfare of local residents, and a best price that maximizes the profits of hotels. Price Quantity Supply Curve Demand Curve Figure 4.1 Classical Price Theory 4.2 Externalities of Hotel Price and Cooperation between Industries But there is a difference between the best price for local residents and the best price for hotels. The best price for hotels should be the one that is able to maximize the profits of hotels. This price is not necessarily the price maximizing the welfare of local residents. The price maximizing the welfare of local residents is the one that maximizing the gross income instead of profits of hotels. The difference between hotels best price and local residents best price exists because of the externalities of hotels. An externality (or transaction spillover) is a cost or benefit that is not transmitted through prices or is incurred by a party who was not involved as either a buyer or seller of the goods or services causing the cost or benefit. The externalities of hotels can be understood as the influence of hotel price on other sectors or industries. For example, if the hotel price decreases, then more tourists will come to Malaysia for sightseeing because of the cost becomes lower. More tourists imply more demand for local restaurants, entertainment industries and some other sectors. Similarly, if hotel price increases, fewer tourists will choose to spend their holiday in Malaysia and the local restaurants and entertainment or other industries would benefit less from tourism. Price Quantity Supply of Hotel Demand of Hotel Demand of Tourism Figure 4.2 Externalities of Hotel Price The logic of externality indicates that if the hotels and other sectors could cooperate well, the whole tourism industry would benefit more from the increase of tourists. Imagine that if the hotel price is set to be lower than the present level, which will attract more tourists and those more tourists may bring more spending on local goods and services. Those incurred spending may compensate the loss of hotel revenue. It means that the total benefits of local tourism increases although at the cost of hotel revenue decrease. A good cooperation between the hotel industry and other industries means that other industries are able to transmit part of the incurred revenue to hotel industry and share the increased revenue with hotel industry. There are some examples illustrating this good cooperation in tourism industry. In some states of Malaysia, the scenic spots are free and tourists do not need to pay gate tickets. The loss of tickets income leads to higher income of ot

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Abortion Essay -- essays research papers

Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in America today. Abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth. There are approximately 1.5 million abortions every year in this country. Abortion was made legal in the 1970s. However, pro-life activists argue that it is murder. Should the government have the legal power to take away a woman\'s right to make decisions regarding her own body? An abortion results in the death of an embryo or a fetus. Abortion destroys the lives of helpless, innocent children. In many countries abortion is illegal. By aborting these unborn infants, humans are hurting themselves; they are not allowing themselves to meet these new identities and unique personalities. Abortion is very simply wrong. Everyone is raised knowing the difference between right and wrong. Murder is wrong, so why is not abortion? People argue that it is not murder if the child is unborn. Abortion is murder since the fetus being destroyed is living, growing and moving. Why is it that if an infant is destroyed months before the birth, there is no problem, but if killed a month after birth, this is inhumane murder? Everyday, innocent, harmless fetuses that could soon be laughing children are being cruelly destroyed. One form of abortion is to cut the fetus into pieces with serrated forceps before being removed, piece-by-piece from the uterus by suction with a vacuum aspirator. Another form consists of bringing the fetus feet first into the birth canal, puncturing its skull with a sharp instrument and sucking out the brain tissue. The remains of the fetus or embryo, as the case may be, are put into plastic buckets and then sent to a dumpster where these precious bones and limbs are disposed. However, how and when an abortion takes place are of little significance to pro- abortionists and other defenders of abortion. Even former abortion practitioners have a new view on abortion. These changes of heart were caused by psychological, religious and scientific reasons. One doctor, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, performed 60,000 abortions and supervised 10,000. Scientific evidence and the use of an ultrasound convinced him he was promoting and participating what he now calls â€Å"the most atrocious holocaust in the history of the United States.† Other doctors refuse to perform legal abortions, saying they should save lives rather than destroy them. Abortion becomes particu... ... life movement will win, because when you hold up a picture of a six month old fetus being stabbed in the neck and all you say is ’choice, choice, choice’ you are going to loose.† In conclusion, a women’s right to choose can justify abortion, but it should be banned because it\'s immoral and life begins at conception. Women have been given the right to have an abortion under the United States Constitution, but this right is still being protested by the people that fight for the unborn\'s rights. It is immoral because it is simply defined as murder. Life begins at conception not at birth. Before a child is born it is given all its supplies to survive. Before birth the child’s heart beats, all its necessary organs have been made present, and gastric juices flow in the stomach. This is a child that dreams, feels pain, and thinks. Some women may look at having an abortion to solve personal conflicts, but in all, women that chose abortion are abandoning their strengths of creation, compassion, and ability to be a mother. After evaluating each side, especially that of the pro-choice movement, and debating each side, I feel pro-life is the movement I st ick with in most circumstances.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Employee morale Essay -- essays research papers

NON-TRADITIONAL WORKING HOURS IMPROVE EMPLOYEE MORALE & INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY Prepared for Mr. Robert Pigg, President Lakedale Manufacturing 1 Desert Storm Drive Niceville, FL 33870 Prepared by Human Resource Department Lakedale Manufacturing 320 Ardennes Street Arabia, NC 28357 Lakedale Manufacturing Human Resource Department 320 Ardennes Street Arabia, NC 28357 Mr. Robert Pigg, President Lakedale Manufacturing 1 Desert Storm Drive Niceville, FL 33870 Dear Mr. Pigg: Here is the report on the productivity and morale study concerning working hours you asked us to conduct. As you will see we have made recommendations to support the benefits of flexibility in working hours which will increase productivity and morale in the work place. This office is confident you will see the benefits in flexible working hours at the Lakedale Manufacturing Plant in North Carolina. We really appreciate the opportunity you have given this office to conduct a study of this magnitude. If you need additional information concerning this report or in implementing our recommendations, please call us. Sincerely yours, Gary Gobble Chief, Human Resources Department Laws and Regulations Policies and Procedures When it comes to laws and regulations, we must keep in mind that the relationship between an employee and the organization is a contractual one. The employee and the organization must agree on the terms and conditions that will govern their relationship. This agreement is made at the time the employee is hired for a certain position. Any change or modification to the original agreement must be agreed upon by both the employee and the organization. The laws and regulations that govern the contractual relationship come from several different sources and place constraints on the relationship. They may be statutory federal laws or state and local laws that supplement those found at the federal level. The constraints placed on the relationship are necessary. They seek to ensure a balance of power in the relationship as well as provide specific protections to both the employee and the organization. Up to this point Lakedale Manufacturing is in compliance with all federal, state and local laws. At this time the only legislation to mandate rights to alternative working time options is the Federal Part-Time Career Employment Act of 1978. This act made reduced-time options available... ...w skills and work at different tasks? Is there any specific schedule you need? Would you be available for over-time if needed? TIME REPORTING After we make selections of the teams we need to be define how we will record hours worked by these teams. How can we simplify the documentation process without having a mountain of paperwork? Since we already use Excel, we can design a flextime spreadsheet template for keeping track of hours worked by each employee. We can also buy the software from IT Resource Services. IT Resource Services offers this software in both the Mac or PC format. This spreadsheet automates all the time-consuming calculations necessary to track actual daily time worked and the balance of time accumulated under the flextime system. The spreadsheet can be printed at the end of each flextime reporting period to be submitted as the official report to Personnel Services. RECOMMENDATION To promote these family friendly programs, I recommend that we facilitate the team work project. I also recommend we begin the survey of our employees. To save time and man hours I believe we should contact IT Resource Services for procurement of the time keeping spreadsheet template.