Emergency planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Emergency planning - Essay Example Aiding the effectiveness of upstream and downstream business operations is the projects and technology constituent of Shell’s operations which essentially aims to enhance the innovative capacity of upstream and downstream operations (Shell 2013b). This report aims to develop an emergency management plan for Shell, as a means of assisting the successful attainment of the company’s goals with its operations in the Arctic. By acting as a plan of action in case of the emergence of potential hazards, disasters and threats that are associated with the commencement of the project, the creation of this report takes into account an assessment of various scenarios, procedures that should be initiated during disaster, recuperation from the consequences of disaster and frameworks for rehabilitation. The publication of Michael Porter’s second book titled Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance highlighted the critical role of competitive advantage in aiding business success and promoting advanced performance (Harmon 2003: p57). This strategic tool helps assess how activities conducted by Shell share an association with the strengths of its value creation process. The upstream business operations of Shell that are related to the extraction of natural gas and crude oil are categorized as the primary activities of the company as per the framework presented above. Henceforth, any imminent threats to Shell’s operations can be either operational or technological depending on the nature of business activity. The offshore activities of Shell in Alaska include exploratory drilling operations for uncovering the abundance of natural resources in the region. These activities constitute of: exploration phase, development phase and production phase (Shell in Alaska). Moreover, logistics as a primary activity are also taken into consideration to meet the

Learning Team Reflection Essay Example for Free

Learning Team Reflection Essay Training Plan Implementing an effective training plan is necessary in order for a company to be successful. A structured training plan for Landslide Limousines will ensure employees are aware of the company’s objectives and goals. According to Bradley Stonefield, the training plan for Landslide Limousine will entail three key components a set of needs assessment, types of training methods, and training evaluations strategies. Training offers reliable information and skill to an employee about the company’s prospects and procedures. Properly trained employees contribute to a company’s achievement of goals and ultimate success. Each team member chose topics to evaluate and research effectively and apply there relevance towards the team discussion. Our first communication with Bradley Stonefield informed Atwood and Allen that he wishes to hire 25 employees and have a location in Austin, Texas. The second conversation with Mr. Stonefield led to information regarding the annual net revenue of negative $50,000 in his first year and a growth prediction of 5% over a couple of years. Most recently, Atwood and Allen has learned that Mr. Stonefield predicts that his annual employee turnover rate will be 10%, and his concern on cost for the training plan. The needs assessment constitutes several aspects revolving around the daily operations, individual employees, environment, organizational and demographical information of a business. Operational Analysis Designing an operational plan for the Landslide Limousine service determines the efficiency of various aspects within the small business operation. The  process usually begins with a period of observations, the group of individuals performing the analysis watches and takes detailed notes on a day-to-day operation of the limousine business in the initial stage. Logical reasoning methods assist in compiling the information used in the process with various mathematical models and statistical analysis. Operational analysis aims to determine whether each area of the organization is contributing effectively to overall performance and the furthering of company strategy. Using the operational analysis to ensure that the business Mr. Bradley wants to start should align appropriately with the company’s strategic plan. By examining the current performance of the operational portion of an investment, and then measuring that against an established set of performance parameters and goals, operational analysis within the business can reveal the company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as any opportunities for improvement with the individuals he may want to hire for future employment. With all the detailed information our team gathered in order to best serve and provide the right information for this business, by conducting an operational analysis, this should seek to examine a number of functional areas within the business; including strategic planning, customer results, and business results, financial performance, and quality of innovation. Now, the objective process should principally be to reassess existing processes and determine how objectives improve, how costs minimized and even, on occasion, eliminating a task. Operational analysis can be a relatively simple process for the company and meaningful in assisting a new business venture. Through a few manageable steps in the process, Landslide Limousine needs to assess their productivity and possibly reallocate investments to ensure activities within the company are in line with the small business company’s strategy. Studies prove that establishing a schedule benefits the completion of the process. This process may outline the timeline and resources necessary for completing the operational analysis. Outline strategies and methods accordingly and adhere to them during the process. Collect information to provide key insights into actual performance in comparison with strategic planning and performance goals. Complete an analysis gap to identify and report performance, cost and benefits based on an analysis of the actual performance data. Demographic Analysis According to Bradley Stonefield, the demographic analysis that needs to be address is a specific population to describe the small business and its characteristics, such as income level, background checks, driving records, location and salaries. A demographic analysis is useful in a business plan, to describe the population where the business is located. Income level data is a good indicator of residents’ spending power. Income positively correlates with retail expenditures in many product categories. During market evaluation, retailers look at the median or average household income, and seek a minimum number of households within a certain income range prior to establishing a business or setting prices. Another common practice is to analyze the distribution of household incomes. Different businesses may avoid extremely high or low-income areas. Some specialty fashion stores target incomes above $100,000. Background checks often requested by employers for job candidates during e mployment screening, especially on candidates seeking a position that require high security or trust. Traditionally, background checks administered by a government agency for a nominal fee, but maybe administered by private companies. Background checks can be expensive depending on the information requested. Results of a background check typically include past employment verification, credit history, Driving history for a small business aspect and criminal history. Mr. Stonefield is interested in locating a limousine company within the Austin, TX area. A small business is unlikely to dominate any particular market in a city. However, strategic use of location-based marketing can make you a viral hit in your suburb or street and this may be all it takes to double the turnover in the limousine business. Location-based services can provide the company with information about how many people check in for a certain area or business, which has checked in most often and how many people have used an offer of this kind of service. This kind of information can be very useful in assessing the success of the company’s location-based marketing program. The average wage for a Limousine Driver is $12.85 per hour in the state of Texas in 2011. People in this job generally do not have more than 20 years’ experience. Pay for this job rises steadily for more experienced workers, but goes down significantly for the few employees with more than 20 years experience. Limo drivers have limited career advancement  opportunities. Some acquire supervisory or management positions, while others train new drivers or receive preferred shifts. Moving into a dispatching or managerial role is another choice for experienced limo drivers. Organizational Analysis Organizational Analysis for this company is a means of measuring how the small business will do and how to identify ways to improve the company in order to ensure success into the future of the company. A strategic way in preparing this aspect is to use the SWOT analysis. This stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These factors make up the bulk of the way the study and be analyzed and can give a in great details a pretty good indication of how Landslide Limousine will do and how it could be expected to do move forward in the future in making profits. The results of the analysis will help Mr. Stonefield be able to make good decisions and improve any efficiencies while without making any major changes. Strengths within Landslide services are usually the starting point for this company. Internal/external factors should include a stable workforce, methods and simple strategies are a way to mainstream the total aspects of all local business within the area is which this is a key aspect. Weaknesses can come from all different locations and can be widespread. This may include aging facilities, possible inexperienced/unprofessional drivers, outdated equipment, purchasing of quality vehicles fleets, price/packages, and areas of specialties. Opportunities should include new market creations, consumer based locations, overhead, and debts. Now, threats could possibly take on another aspect within the business. These can range just from local communities services to government products/services to the rules and regulations. Individual Analysis Certain ideals manifest in behaviors of individual members and affect group dynamics. Task functions include behaviors such as identifying tasks, coordinating, clarifying and summarizing. Individual Analysis based off different levels and/or services provided by the limousine service help to decipher if business needs are met. This type of analysis can be based off a wide stream of studies in business. This specific analysis can have more disadvantages than advantages needed in order to find ways to being a  business. Learning how to work effectively in a group situation is the key to success in many professions in business. Learning key ways to get the business from crawl, walk, run phase is another way employees have the advantage of learning how the aspects of business work in the community. Environmental Analysis This analysis scan can help assist in understanding the broader context in which individuals are operating in. By investing time, identifying key trends and environmental factors to obtain information for small business within the regions in which we want to base our business and all the studies that are included. Some small businesses and organizations frequently choose to review the external factors in the process, but it is important to consider the internal environment factors. These may include looking at the organization’s internal capacities and resources, and projecting how to change in the future to meet the organization objectives. Another useful component to the analysis phase is to survey external customers in the local area and ensure all aspects of the locations are covered. Challenges observed and/or anticipated, or missed opportunities, and even basis such as how others described your individual work to get the process started may have a short-time or long-term effect. Environmental analysis uses a series of ranks and assessments in evaluating employee performance, customer satisfaction, and overhead coat are all similar factors during the first phase of the analysis. Training Methods Appropriate training is liable to have a positive or negative affect on important issues in business. How a company conducts, training is a critical decision that every business has to make consciously. All features involved in effective training should be considered, such as, time, cost, training environment, and training cost. The delivery of the training is pertinent. If the delivery of the information is confusing to employees, the training does not occur properly and is a waste of time, resources, and capital (Ongoing Training: A Method for Success, 2012). Various approaches to training are utilized and implemented. Types of Media Considering the impression Landslide Limousines anticipates on making, Atwood  and Allen Consulting recommends technology-based training. Technology-based learning may prove to be beneficial. Basic methods of learning through technology include interactive videos utilizing a computer in combination with a digital video (DVD). Web-based training programs or internet-streamed videos such as â€Å"YouTube† videos are increasing, popular tools among training methods. The aforementioned method is valuable in illustrating scenarios that the trainer would like to emphasize. These methods are conducive within a large group of people. Learning Principles When opting to use technology-based learning, companies must ensure accessibility for employees. Learning principles, considered laws of learning, are discovered, tested, and benefit practical situations (Naval education and Training, 2010). The trainer must possess the capability of applying the principles while instructing. Most importantly, the trainer needs to be clear on the objectives of the training, and relate it to the work environment. There are three types of learners: visual, hearing and hands-on. Atwood and Allen Consulting recommend that Landslide Limousine combine the training methods and perform more interactive learning experiences that will accommodate the three types of learners. Using what the military medicine has called for years â€Å"See one, do one, teach one† (Naval education and Training, 2010). The trainer will teach the skill so the employees can see it, then the employees will demonstrate their knowledge displaying their proficiency, finally the employee will teach a new employee. Those that teach, learn. Trainers will be inclined to become familiar with the material, recall it accurately, and apply it effectively. This method is cost effective in the sense that when there is a time one employee must carry out the tasks of another, therefore causing no interruptions in business. This method works best for companies that are just beginning. Training for learning skills or fact The required training conducted is for skill and fact. The training enhances knowledge of skills that enforce relevant facts, in reference to training. Effectiveness of Methods The effectiveness of the methods of instructions can be verified by how the employee perform their duties, by employee’s questionnaires and/or testing,  and by comments done by the trainers themselves (Naval Education and Training, 2010). The effectiveness of these methods displayed through the performance of the employees. Training Evaluation Strategies Evaluation on training is of utmost importance. Here is where a business learns of training that works versus training that is of no use to the organization. In order to evaluate specific training, addressing certain questions alleviate concerns of risk in that course of training. Potential questions are: Did the trainees learn a specific skill, knowledge or performance? Did change occur and was it related to the training? Are the changes positively reflecting in productivity and to achieving organization goals? Will these changes occur with a different set of trainees using the same training criteria? (Chapter 8, 2013) Typically, training is a trial and error system. What may work for one individual may not necessarily pertain to another type of learner. As mentioned previously, people learn in different manners. Some need visual aesthetics to increase their ability to comprehend the training. While others’ need a more tactile experience and participate in the training. This is not an entirely new concept and has developed over the last decade to include the use of technology to enhance learning. The same can be said for training and evaluation strategies. The idea behind training evaluation is to recognize the criteria of the training are met within the company. Using pretests to determine a suitable new hire reassures current employees that the individual grasps the goals and concepts of the business. An example of a pretest is as simple as an application, a resume or orientation. All of this information allows management to decipher an individual based on experiences. Once training is underway, management will monitor and observe the associates reactions and the trainer’s methods of approach. This segment is extremely important considering the trainer. If the trainer does not connect with the class or leads them astray and off topic, the training becomes worthless and consumes the organization’s time and money. The trainer’s obligation shall remain cost effective to the company and stay on task to complete the training in a time efficient manner. Aside from management monitoring and observing, feedback is equally important, and can  come from employees, supervisors, managers, and customers. Collecting feedback for an organization is conducted a number of ways. Suggestion boxes placed randomly around the business provide anonymous suggestions from individuals employed in the organization or from customers who believe change is necessary. Feedback is also collected verbally either in a group of employees or individual basis. Sending surveys to clients containing pertinent information to the limousine service allows them to feel connected to the business and builds trust. The implementation of the feedback is the most important aspect to changing the current operational standards of the business. Manager’s need to rise above the concept of â€Å"if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.† Business evolution is constant and technology increases daily allowing change to happen more frequently, and not because â€Å"it’s broken,† but because a new element has become known and can be a useful tool in training. References Email from Traci: Performance Management Plan. (2015). Retrieved from University of Phoenix: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/Materials/IP/curriculum/sb/HRM531/assignments/week5/intro.asp Naval education and Training. (2010). Personal Qualification Standards for Master Training Specialist. NAVEDTRA 43100-7C Ch. 1. Retrieved from Naval education and Training website Ongoing Training: A Method for Success. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.lctmag.com/operations/article/41017/ongoing-training-a-method-for-success http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes533041.htm http://education-portal.com/articles/Salary_and_Career_Info_for_a_Limo_Driver.html http://www.studymode.com/essays/Individual-Analysis-Of-Working-In-a-712116.html

Death of a Salesman Essay -- essays research papers fc

Death of a salesman The Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller is a controversial play of a typical American family and their desire to live the American dream â€Å"Rather than a tragedy or failure as the play is often described. Death of a Salesman dramatizes a failure of [that] dream† (Cohn 51). The story is told through the delusional eyes and mind of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman of 34 years, whose fantasy world of lies eventually causes him to suffer an emotional breakdown. Willy’s wife, Linda, loves and supports Willy despite all his problems, and continually believes in his success and that of their no good lazy sons, Biff and Happy. The play takes place in 1942, in Willy and Linda’s home, a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of a slum. Willy has spent his whole life teaching and believing that you can achieve success by your appearance and by making yourself as amiable as possible. Eventually Willy begins to fabricate stories at himself to be able to live with himself be cause he can’t meet his own expectations. He falls deeper into his lies, making himself and his family suffer for it. (Thesis). In the play Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller proves he is America’s social critic when he criticizes Willy’s relationship concerning his family, his lack of success in achieving his goals and his dreams along with his inner turmoil and personal collapse which result in suicide. In the onset of the play, Willy told Linda that you â€Å"work a lifetime to pay of a house. You finally own it, and there is nobody to live in it† (Cohn 56). This quote shows how Willy strives his whole life to make a home for his family and by the time he sees the realization of that one dream, his family has drifted apart and he is alone with his haunting thoughts and his ghosts. Willy has such high expectations for himself and his sons, and when they all failed to accomplish their dreams, they were unable to accept each other for what they truly were. Willy raised Biff with the idea that success depends on whether or not a person can sell himself and not how smart a person is. Biff’s tragic flaw is his acceptance of Willy’s values and not creating any of his own. When Biff realizes his father is a fake, he becomes a lost individual and he does not speak to his father for 14 years. In Willy’s family it is always Biff who receives recognition, however, H appy strives for attention too... ...sm CLC.2 . Detroit: Indiana University press. 1971. 68-96. Bibliography Bloom, Harold. Major Literary Characters: Willy Loman. New York: Chelsea House, 1991. Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Cohn, Ruby. â€Å"The Articulate Victims of Arthur Miller†. Contemporary Literary Criticism CLC.2 . Detroit: Indiana University press. 1971. 68-96. Driver, Tom F. Saturday Review. Contemporary Literary Criticism. CLC.2.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Detroit: James Brown Associates. 1970. Magill, N Frank. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Vol.4 of Magills Survey of American Literature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New York: Salem Press. Inc, 1991. Murray, Edward. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Contemporary Literary Criticism.† Vol.6.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Detroit: Gak Research, 1987. Perkins, George, Barbara Perkins and Phillip Leiniger. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Readers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encyclopedia of American Literature. 1991. Simon, John. â€Å"Arthur Miller.† Contemporary Literacy Criticism. Vol.2. Detroit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NYM Corp. 1972.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Twilight 20. IMPATIENCE

20. IMPATIENCE When I woke up I was confused. My thoughts were hazy, still twisted up in dreams and nightmares; it took me longer than it should have to realize where I was. This room was too bland to belong anywhere but in a hotel. The bedside lamps, bolted to the tables, were a dead giveaway, as were the long drapes made from the same fabric as the bedspread, and the generic watercolor prints on the walls. I tried to remember how I got here, but nothing came at first. I did remember the sleek black car, the glass in the windows darker than that on a limousine. The engine was almost silent, though we'd raced across the black freeways at more than twice the legal speed. And I remembered Alice sitting with me on the dark leather backseat. Somehow, during the long night, my head had ended up against her granite neck. My closeness didn't seem to bother her at all, and her cool, hard skin was oddly comforting to me. The front of her thin cotton shirt was cold, damp with the tears that streamed from my eyes until, red and sore, they ran dry. Sleep had evaded me; my aching eyes strained open even though the night finally ended and dawn broke over a low peak somewhere in California. The gray light, streaking across the cloudless sky, stung my eyes. But I couldn't close them; when I did, the images that flashed all too vividly, like still slides behind my lids, were unbearable. Charlie's broken expression – Edward's brutal snarl, teeth bared – Rosalie's resentful glare – the keen-eyed scrutiny of the tracker – the dead look in Edward's eyes after he kissed me the last time†¦ I couldn't stand to see them. So I fought against my weariness and the sun rose higher. I was still awake when we came through a shallow mountain pass and the sun, behind us now, reflected off the tiled rooftops of the Valley of the Sun. I didn't have enough emotion left to be surprised that we'd made a three-day journey in one. I stared blankly at the wide, flat expanse laid out in front of me. Phoenix – the palm trees, the scrubby creosote, the haphazard lines of the intersecting freeways, the green swaths of golf courses and turquoise splotches of swimming pools, all submerged in a thin smog and embraced by the short, rocky ridges that weren't really big enough to be called mountains. The shadows of the palm trees slanted across the freeway – defined, sharper than I remembered, paler than they should be. Nothing could hide in these shadows. The bright, open freeway seemed benign enough. But I felt no relief, no sense of homecoming. â€Å"Which way to the airport, Bella?† Jasper had asked, and I flinched, though his voice was quite soft and un-alarming. It was the first sound, besides the purr of the car, to break the long night's silence. â€Å"Stay on the I-ten,† I'd answered automatically. â€Å"We'll pass right by it.† My brain had worked slowly through the fog of sleep deprivation. â€Å"Are we flying somewhere?† I'd asked Alice. â€Å"No, but it's better to be close, just in case.† I remembered beginning the loop around Sky Harbor International†¦ but not ending it. I suppose that must have been when I'd fallen asleep. Though, now that I'd chased the memories down, I did have a vague impression of leaving the car – the sun was just falling behind the horizon – my arm draped over Alice's shoulder and her arm firm around my waist, dragging me along as I stumbled through the warm, dry shadows. I had no memory of this room. I looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. The red numbers claimed it was three o'clock, but they gave no indication if it was night or day. No edge of light escaped the thick curtains, but the room was bright with the light from the lamps. I rose stiffly and staggered to the window, pulling back the drapes. It was dark outside. Three in the morning, then. My room looked out on a deserted section of the freeway and the new long-term parking garage for the airport. It was slightly comforting to be able to pinpoint time and place. I looked down at myself. I was still wearing Esme's clothes, and they didn't fit very well at all. I looked around the room, glad when I discovered my duffel bag on top of the low dresser. I was on my way to find new clothes when a light tap on the door made me jump. â€Å"Can I come in?† Alice asked. I took a deep breath. â€Å"Sure.† She walked in, and looked me over cautiously. â€Å"You look like you could sleep longer,† she said. I just shook my head. She drifted silently to the curtains and closed them securely before turning back to me. â€Å"We'll need to stay inside,† she told me. â€Å"Okay.† My voice was hoarse; it cracked. â€Å"Thirsty?† she asked. I shrugged. â€Å"I'm okay. How about you?† â€Å"Nothing unmanageable.† She smiled. â€Å"I ordered some food for you, it's in the front room. Edward reminded me that you have to eat a lot more frequently than we do.† I was instantly more alert. â€Å"He called?† â€Å"No,† she said, and watched as my face fell. â€Å"It was before we left.† She took my hand carefully and led me through the door into the living room of the hotel suite. I could hear a low buzz of voices coming from the TV. Jasper sat motionlessly at the desk in the corner, his eyes watching the news with no glimmer of interest. I sat on the floor next to the coffee table, where a tray of food waited, and began picking at it without noticing what I was eating. Alice perched on the arm of the sofa and stared blankly at the TV like Jasper. I ate slowly, watching her, turning now and then to glance quickly at Jasper. It began to dawn on me that they were too still. They never looked away from the screen, though commercials were playing now. I pushed the tray away, my stomach abruptly uneasy. Alice looked down at me. â€Å"What's wrong, Alice?† I asked. â€Å"Nothing's wrong.† Her eyes were wide, honest†¦ and I didn't trust them. â€Å"What do we do now?† â€Å"We wait for Carlisle to call.† â€Å"And should he have called by now?† I could see that I was near the mark. Alice's eyes flitted from mine to the phone on top of her leather bag and back. â€Å"What does that mean?† My voice quavered, and I fought to control it. â€Å"That he hasn't called yet?† â€Å"It just means that they don't have anything to tell us.† But her voice was too even, and the air was harder to breathe. Jasper was suddenly beside Alice, closer to me than usual. â€Å"Bella,† he said in a suspiciously soothing voice. â€Å"You have nothing to worry about. You are completely safe here.† â€Å"I know that.† â€Å"Then why are you frightened?† he asked, confused. He might feel the tenor of my emotions, but he couldn't read the reasons behind them. â€Å"You heard what Laurent said.† My voice was just a whisper, but I was sure they could hear me. â€Å"He said James was lethal. What if something goes wrong, and they get separated? If something happens to any of them, Carlisle, Emmett†¦ Edward†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I gulped. â€Å"If that wild female hurts Esme†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My voice had grown higher, a note of hysteria beginning to rise in it. â€Å"How could I live with myself when it's my fault? None of you should be risking yourselves for me -â€Å" â€Å"Bella, Bella, stop,† he interrupted me, his words pouring out so quickly they were hard to understand. â€Å"You're worrying about all the wrong things, Bella. Trust me on this – none of us are in jeopardy. You are under too much strain as it is; don't add to it with wholly unnecessary worries. Listen to me!† he ordered, for I had looked away. â€Å"Our family is strong. Our only fear is losing you.† â€Å"But why should you -â€Å" Alice interrupted this time, touching my cheek with her cold fingers. â€Å"It's been almost a century that Edward's been alone. Now he's found you. You can't see the changes that we see, we who have been with him for so long. Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next hundred years if he loses you?† My guilt slowly subsided as I looked into her dark eyes. But, even as the calm spread over me, I knew I couldn't trust my feelings with Jasper there. It was a very long day. We stayed in the room. Alice called down to the front desk and asked them to ignore our maid service for now. The windows stayed shut, the TV on, though no one watched it. At regular intervals, food was delivered for me. The silver phone resting on Alice's bag seemed to grow bigger as the hours passed. My babysitters handled the suspense better than I did. As I fidgeted and paced, they simply grew more still, two statues whose eyes followed me imperceptibly as I moved. I occupied myself with memorizing the room; the striped pattern of the couches, tan, peach, cream, dull gold, and tan again. Sometimes I stared at the abstract prints, randomly finding pictures in the shapes, like I'd found pictures in the clouds as a child. I traced a blue hand, a woman combing her hair, a cat stretching. But when the pale red circle became a staring eye, I looked away. As the afternoon wore on, I went back to bed, simply for something to do. I hoped that by myself in the dark, I could give in to the terrible fears that hovered on the edge of my consciousness, unable to break through under Jasper's careful supervision. But Alice followed me casually, as if by some coincidence she had grown tired of the front room at the same time. I was beginning to wonder exactly what sort of instructions Edward had given her. I lay across the bed, and she sat, legs folded, next to me. I ignored her at first, suddenly tired enough to sleep. But after a few minutes, the panic that had held off in Jasper's presence began to make itself known. I gave up on the idea of sleep quickly then, curling up into a small ball, wrapping my arms around my legs. â€Å"Alice?† I asked. â€Å"Yes?† I kept my voice very calm. â€Å"What do you think they're doing?† â€Å"Carlisle wanted to lead the tracker as far north as possible, wait for him to get close, and then turn and ambush him. Esme and Rosalie were supposed to head west as long as they could keep the female behind them. If she turned around, they were to head back to Forks and keep an eye on your dad. So I imagine things are going well if they can't call. It means the tracker is close enough that they don't want him to overhear.† â€Å"And Esme?† â€Å"I think she must be back in Forks. She won't call if there's any chance the female will overhear. I expect they're all just being very careful.† â€Å"Do you think they're safe, really?† â€Å"Bella, how many times do we have to tell you that there's no danger to us?† â€Å"Would you tell me the truth, though?† â€Å"Yes. I will always tell you the truth.† Her voice was earnest. I deliberated for a moment, and decided she meant it. â€Å"Tell me then†¦ how do you become a vampire?† My question caught her off guard. She was quiet. I rolled over to look at her, and her expression seemed ambivalent. â€Å"Edward doesn't want me to tell you that,† she said firmly, but I sensed she didn't agree. â€Å"That's not fair. I think I have a right to know.† â€Å"I know.† I looked at her, waiting. She sighed. â€Å"He'll be extremely angry.† â€Å"It's none of his business. This is between you and me. Alice, as a friend, I'm begging you.† And we were friends now, somehow – as she must have known we would be all along. She looked at me with her splendid, wise eyes†¦ choosing. â€Å"I'll tell you the mechanics of it,† she said finally, â€Å"but I don't remember it myself, and I've never done it or seen it done, so keep in mind that I can only tell you the theory.† I waited. â€Å"As predators, we have a glut of weapons in our physical arsenal – much, much more than really necessary. The strength, the speed, the acute senses, not to mention those of us like Edward, Jasper, and I, who have extra senses as well. And then, like a carnivorous flower, we are physically attractive to our prey.† I was very still, remembering how pointedly Edward had demonstrated the same concept for me in the meadow. She smiled a wide, ominous smile. â€Å"We have another fairly superfluous weapon. We're also venomous,† she said, her teeth glistening. â€Å"The venom doesn't kill – it's merely incapacitating. It works slowly, spreading through the bloodstream, so that, once bitten, our prey is in too much physical pain to escape us. Mostly superfluous, as I said. If we're that close, the prey doesn't escape. Of course, there are always exceptions. Carlisle, for example.† â€Å"So†¦ if the venom is left to spread†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I murmured. â€Å"It takes a few days for the transformation to be complete, depending on how much venom is in the bloodstream, how close the venom enters to the heart. As long as the heart keeps beating, the poison spreads, healing, changing the body as it moves through it. Eventually the heart stops, and the conversion is finished. But all that time, every minute of it, a victim would be wishing for death.† I shivered. â€Å"It's not pleasant, you see.† â€Å"Edward said that it was very hard to do†¦ I don't quite understand,† I said. â€Å"We're also like sharks in a way. Once we taste the blood, or even smell it for that matter, it becomes very hard to keep from feeding. Sometimes impossible. So you see, to actually bite someone, to taste the blood, it would begin the frenzy. It's difficult on both sides – the blood-lust on the one hand, the awful pain on the other.† â€Å"Why do you think you don't remember?† â€Å"I don't know. For everyone else, the pain of transformation is the sharpest memory they have of their human life. I remember nothing of being human.† Her voice was wistful. We lay silently, wrapped in our individual meditations. The seconds ticked by, and I had almost forgotten her presence, I was so enveloped in my thoughts. Then, without any warning, Alice leaped from the bed, landing lightly on her feet. My head jerked up as I stared at her, startled. â€Å"Something's changed.† Her voice was urgent, and she wasn't talking to me anymore. She reached the door at the same time Jasper did. He had obviously heard our conversation and her sudden exclamation. He put his hands on her shoulders and guided her back to the bed, sitting her on the edge. â€Å"What do you see?† he asked intently, staring into her eyes. Her eyes were focused on something very far away. I sat close to her, leaning in to catch her low, quick voice. â€Å"I see a room. It's long, and there are mirrors everywhere. The floor is wooden. He's in the room, and he's waiting. There's gold†¦ a gold stripe across the mirrors.† â€Å"Where is the room?† â€Å"I don't know. Something is missing – another decision hasn't been made yet.† â€Å"How much time?† â€Å"It's soon. He'll be in the mirror room today, or maybe tomorrow. It all depends. He's waiting for something. And he's in the dark now.† Jasper's voice was calm, methodical, as he questioned her in a practiced way. â€Å"What is he doing?† â€Å"He's watching TV†¦ no, he's running a VCR, in the dark, in another place.† â€Å"Can you see where he is?† â€Å"No, it's too dark.† â€Å"And the mirror room, what else is there?† â€Å"Just the mirrors, and the gold. It's a band, around the room. And there's a black table with a big stereo, and a TV. He's touching the VCR there, but he doesn't watch the way he does in the dark room. This is the room where he waits.† Her eyes drifted, then focused on Jasper's face. â€Å"There's nothing else?† She shook her head. They looked at each other, motionless. â€Å"What does it mean?† I asked. Neither of them answered for a moment, then Jasper looked at me. â€Å"It means the tracker's plans have changed. He's made a decision that will lead him to the mirror room, and the dark room.† â€Å"But we don't know where those rooms are?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"But we do know that he won't be in the mountains north of Washington, being hunted. He'll elude them.† Alice's voice was bleak. â€Å"Should we call?† I asked. They traded a serious look, undecided. And the phone rang. Alice was across the room before I could lift my head to look at it. She pushed a button and held the phone to her ear, but she didn't speak first. â€Å"Carlisle,† she breathed. She didn't seem surprised or relieved, the way I felt. â€Å"Yes,† she said, glancing at me. She listened for a long moment. â€Å"I just saw him.† She described again the vision she'd seen. â€Å"Whatever made him get on that plane†¦ it was leading him to those rooms.† She paused. â€Å"Yes,† Alice said into the phone, and then she spoke to me. â€Å"Bella?† She held the phone out toward me. I ran to it. â€Å"Hello?† I breathed. â€Å"Bella,† Edward said. â€Å"Oh, Edward! I was so worried.† â€Å"Bella,† he sighed in frustration, â€Å"I told you not to worry about anything but yourself.† It was so unbelievably good to hear his voice. I felt the hovering cloud of despair lighten and drift back as he spoke. â€Å"Where are you?† â€Å"We're outside of Vancouver. Bella, I'm sorry – we lost him. He seems suspicious of us – he's careful to stay just far enough away that I can't hear what he's thinking. But he's gone now – it looks like he got on a plane. We think he's heading back to Forks to start over.† I could hear Alice filling in Jasper behind me, her quick words blurring together into a humming noise. â€Å"I know. Alice saw that he got away.† â€Å"You don't have to worry, though. He won't find anything to lead him to you. You just have to stay there and wait till we find him again.† â€Å"I'll be fine. Is Esme with Charlie?† â€Å"Yes – the female has been in town. She went to the house, but while Charlie was at work. She hasn't gone near him, so don't be afraid. He's safe with Esme and Rosalie watching.† â€Å"What is she doing?† â€Å"Probably trying to pick up the trail. She's been all through the town during the night. Rosalie traced her through the airport, all the roads around town, the school†¦ she's digging, Bella, but there's nothing to find.† â€Å"And you're sure Charlie's safe?† â€Å"Yes, Esme won't let him out of her sight. And we'll be there soon. If the tracker gets anywhere near Forks, we'll have him.† â€Å"I miss you,† I whispered. â€Å"I know, Bella. Believe me, I know. It's like you've taken half my self away with you.† â€Å"Come and get it, then,† I challenged. â€Å"Soon, as soon as I possibly can. I will make you safe first.† His voice was hard. â€Å"I love you,† I reminded him. â€Å"Could you believe that, despite everything I've put you through, I love you, too?† â€Å"Yes, I can, actually.† â€Å"I'll come for you soon.† â€Å"I'll be waiting.† As soon as the phone went dead, the cloud of depression began to creep over me again. I turned to give the phone back to Alice and found her and Jasper bent over the table, where Alice was sketching on a piece of hotel stationery. I leaned on the back of the couch, looking over her shoulder. She drew a room: long, rectangular, with a thinner, square section at the back. The wooden planks that made up the floor stretched lengthwise across the room. Down the walls were lines denoting the breaks in the mirrors. And then, wrapping around the walls, waist high, a long band. The band Alice said was gold. â€Å"It's a ballet studio,† I said, suddenly recognizing the familiar shapes. They looked at me, surprised. â€Å"Do you know this room?† Jasper's voice sounded calm, but there was an undercurrent of something I couldn't identify. Alice bent her head to her work, her hand flying across the page now, the shape of an emergency exit taking shape against the back wall, the stereo and TV on a low table by the front right corner. â€Å"It looks like a place I used to go for dance lessons – when I was eight or nine. It was shaped just the same.† I touched the page where the square section jutted out, narrowing the back part of the room. â€Å"That's where the bathrooms were – the doors were through the other dance floor. But the stereo was here† – I pointed to the left corner – â€Å"it was older, and there wasn't a TV. There was a window in the waiting room – you would see the room from this perspective if you looked through it.† Alice and Jasper were staring at me. â€Å"Are you sure it's the same room?† Jasper asked, still calm. â€Å"No, not at all – I suppose most dance studios would look the same – the mirrors, the bar.† I traced my finger along the ballet bar set against the mirrors. â€Å"It's just the shape that looked familiar.† I touched the door, set in exactly the same place as the one I remembered. â€Å"Would you have any reason to go there now?† Alice asked, breaking my reverie. â€Å"No, I haven't been there in almost ten years. I was a terrible dancer – they always put me in the back for recitals,† I admitted. â€Å"So there's no way it could be connected with you?† Alice asked intently. â€Å"No, I don't even think the same person owns it. I'm sure it's just another dance studio, somewhere.† â€Å"Where was the studio you went to?† Jasper asked in a casual voice. â€Å"It was just around the corner from my mom's house. I used to walk there after school†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said, my voice trailing off. I didn't miss the look they exchanged. â€Å"Here in Phoenix, then?† His voice was still casual. â€Å"Yes,† I whispered. â€Å"Fifty-eighth Street and Cactus.† We all sat in silence, staring at the drawing. â€Å"Alice, is that phone safe?† â€Å"Yes,† she reassured me. â€Å"The number would just trace back to Washington.† â€Å"Then I can use it to call my mom.† â€Å"I thought she was in Florida.† â€Å"She is – but she's coming home soon, and she can't come back to that house while†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My voice trembled. I was thinking about something Edward had said, about the red-haired female at Charlie's house, at the school, where my records would be. â€Å"How will you reach her?† â€Å"They don't have a permanent number except at the house – she's supposed to check her messages regularly.† â€Å"Jasper?† Alice asked. He thought about it. â€Å"I don't think there's any way it could hurt – be sure you don't say where you are, of course.† I reached eagerly for the phone and dialed the familiar number. It rang four times, and then I heard my mom's breezy voice telling me to leave a message. â€Å"Mom,† I said after the beep, â€Å"it's me. Listen, I need you to do something. It's important. As soon as you get this message, call me at this number.† Alice was already at my side, writing the number for me on the bottom of her picture. I read it carefully, twice. â€Å"Please don't go anywhere until you talk to me. Don't worry, I'm okay, but I have to talk to you right away, no matter how late you get this call, all right? I love you, Mom. Bye.† I closed my eyes and prayed with all my might that no unforeseen change of plans would bring her home before she got my message. I settled into the sofa, nibbling on a plate of leftover fruit, anticipating a long evening. I thought about calling Charlie, but I wasn't sure if I should be home by now or not. I concentrated on the news, watching out for stories about Florida, or about spring training – strikes or hurricanes or terrorist attacks – anything that might send them home early. Immortality must grant endless patience. Neither Jasper nor Alice seemed to feel the need to do anything at all. For a while, Alice sketched the vague outline of the dark room from her vision, as much as she could see in the light from the TV. But when she was done, she simply sat, looking at the blank walls with her timeless eyes. Jasper, too, seemed to have no urge to pace, or peek through the curtains, or run screaming out the door, the way I did. I must have fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for the phone to ring again. The touch of Alice's cold hands woke me briefly as she carried me to the bed, but I was unconscious again before my head hit the pillow.

Thought and Hi Rachel

Rachel: Good evening Tom. It's nice to meet you. Please call me Rachel. Tom: Hi Rachel†¦ It is good to meet you too. Rachel: To start off why don't you tell me a little bit about why you think you are here today and what has been going on for you in your life. Tom: I think I am here because my friend thinks I am a drunk. Maybe I am, but I have a good reason. Rachel: What is your reason? Tom: Because my wife left me. We were married for 25 years, and she cheated. Rachel: I am very sorry to hear that Tom. I can understand how that would be hard to deal with. Tom: it is horrible!When I am up, I am thinking of her, thinking of her with someone else, and then drinking to make it go away. I am alone! Rachel: So would you say your drinking has increased since this relationship ended? Tom: ummm†¦. I guess it has†¦ probably more than a little. I mean the guys and I always had a few on sunday for football, you know. But sometimes I drink and I don't know why? Rachel: Would you s ay your alcohol use has affected your job at all, or other family or social commitments? Tom: Well I know I am sick and tired of being hungover in the morning and operating the crane.My family was my wife†¦. we ran from family and our love was all we had. It made us strong†¦ but not strong enough apparently. Rachel: Well we definately need to find you some better ways to cope with this. How would you describe your mood and how you have been feeling since this has happened? Tom: My mood has been getting worse. It's like the worst has happened but I have this nagging feeling that something unbelievably horrible will follow it. My body also has these pains and aches and I have no idea where they came from†¦Rachel: Well it is definately normal to feel this way after such a stressful occurence in your life. Although it is hard to remain postive, it is important. Do you have any other support in your life besides your wife? Anyone that you could talk to? Tom: Well Jim. He i s the one who said I needed to see a counsellor. He said I looked dissheveled. I trust him but I feeling like I am letting him down. Rachel: Well that is good that you took Jim's advice to come in and talk to someone. It can be very difficult to deal with something like this on your own.It is good to have social support in your life and someone who can be honest with you. Do you see yourself getting into a new relationship in the future? Tom: I can see that maybe I can move on but I am hurting. I have been too drunk to grieve! Rachel: Why do you think your wife cheated on you? Do you blame this on yourself? Tom: I never could give her brains and a body. I didn't have brains and my body is getting too old. She took off to the carribean with this lawyer. I wasn't good enough. Rachel: Im sure there are plenty of great things about yourself. This is not something you should blame on yourself.I think once you put yourself out there you will see that many people will find you attractive i nside and out. Challenging your negative thoughts in ways such as this is the first step to feeling better. You will prove your own negative thoughts wrong and will begin to build a new more positive self-concept. I know right now it may be too early to start dating but you should focus on other things you are good at or that you once enjoyed. Rachel: I wanted to ask you a little about your family history. Is there anyone in your family that has suffered from depression or alcohol abuse? Tom: My father drank alot.He was an angry drunk. His mother was sad alot of the time. She killed herself when my dad was 11 Rachel: Im sorry to hear about that Tom. I want to make sure you know that it is normal to feel the way you do right now. I would however suggest talking to your family doctor about taking an antidepressant to help you get back on your feet. It is not something you have to take forever but it can really help to get your life back in perspective. Unfortunately we are out of time for today but I would really like to continue talking to you about this another time. Tom: ok, thank you Rachel

Ethical Concerns of GPS System essays

Ethical Concerns of GPS System essays We all have heard of the Global Positioning Systems and the many ways it maybe helpful to everyday life. Although GPS is helpful, there are many complaints and issues that are brought to everyones attention in how it may be a downbeat. A concern, I feel, is the reliability of the GPS system. We all already know that technology has its effect of making everything in life so much easier, therefore it make us all a little lazier. But with this GPS system, I think the problem occurs when it takes away your ability to know on your own than to always have to rely on a device. It is like stealing away your knowledge and capabilities, or even taking away from the thought of having to learn on your own. I can recognize that with that issue, it can have an effect on cultural values. The reason why I state that is because in a lot of different cultures, mainly out of the states, I know that their own knowledge of navigation is a very resourceful value. Because of that, they are look upon as guides or someone that may be worthy and with this device they may be not as valuable anymore. Another major concern is that people are not comfortable with the thought of being tracked everywhere you go. [The CPSR Newsletter. Safety, Security and Surveillance] Invasion of privacy is the issue. With the use of surveillance cameras and GPS technology, public places are turned into systems where we are constantly being watched, to monitor your behavior and everything you do. I understand that the reason behind it is to provide safety and security, but it may be an uncomfortable thing to most. Personally, I have been in situations where I may just be shopping, minding my own business and I can feel someone following me to assure that I do not shoplift their products. A lot of people feel that way with just the thought of being able to be tracked or the sense of being monitored. So I can definitely relate to this compl ...

A Payment By Results system Essay Example

A Payment By Results system Essay Example A Payment By Results system Essay A Payment By Results system Essay One basic way of regarding todays competing organizations is to view them as a system. Doing so, there are multiple factors that need to be assessed in order for companies to achieve their objectives. Reward management is a crucial element for the present and future of a companys survival. The reward system that we will cover at the moment is Payment By Results. The perspectives from which we can evaluate the quality of this system are motivation, commitment and flexibility. We must bear in mind that each company has a specific strategy in a long-term basis; therefore all the decision-making should be compatible to the latter. Apart from that, limitations, in terms of environment have to be considered. Employees want to earn higher or extra pay. Managers must believe that the financial motive for work is extremely important, more so than non financial motives and the most effective way of harnessing this motive is by the use of Payment By Results system not simply by paying higher wages(Behrend, 1959). Using this system, with examples including piece rate and commission, employees earn one third more than colleagues on a time rate system (Cowling James, 1994). It goes without saying that every reward system can have benefits as well as drawbacks for every organization. These depend on a number of factors. Advantages As mentioned previously, companies have found it imperative to motivate their employees in order to engender their performance at work. According to this reward system, the extent of the additional income of the employees will be closely related to the quality of their work. Needless to say, this is an effective way of giving the right incentives to a companys workforce to encourage them to excel and perform to the optimum. Apart from that, the creativity and imagination of each employee will be enhanced, so the company will be able to strive in their field. Cost-effectiveness is vital when a company requires goals that will create beneficial results. PBR can reduce a companys supervision costs. Since they already understand that due to the policy of the company they will be paid according to their own results, it gives them an incentive to perform as if they were supervised. So, it is all about finding the right way to harness an advantage. And PBR can offer a very effective solution for a company, because it is easily transformed efforts into high earnings achievements (there is no cap in earnings to an individual; the skys the limit). In addition, the emphasis reinforces the psychological contract between employer and employee and implies that the company wishes to share with their workforce. By showing interest in offering the conscientious employees additional income, organisations can, in a discrete way, enforce their employees commitment and, moreover, make them believe that the company will provide them its full support. This entirely beneficial outcome is possible by being as objective as possible when assessing the individuals output. Taking into account the Proctor and Gamble (PG) case study, Bob Wehling, PGs Global Marketing Officer asserts that their main objective was to increase top-line sales growth. The tool they used to achieve this was PBR. Putting aside the commission-based agency remuneration, PBR was the system they fostered to pay their advertising agencies a percentage of the sales and increase their flexibility. So the advertisement business world found an ally for a more optimistic future development. The creation of a stable workforce is also a rather favourable goal, especially when occurs for the long-term. Making use of the PBR reward system companies can acknowledge the value of each employee and offer them benefits accordingly. Therefore, it is rational to believe that by doing so the employees will be highly satisfied by the behaviour and the recognition of their company. Disadvantages However beneficial can this reward system be, it relies heavily on sensitive criteria because the quality of individuals work is not the easiest thing to assess in many jobs. So, this can bring about many drawbacks. Someone might argue that it is in the companys hands to take such difficult situations in their stride by setting appropriate criteria for evaluation. Yet, problems regarding this do occur. Some companies do measure their employees outcome by sales (like the Procter Gamble case study) and others by the increased number of clients. However, what is vital for a company is that they should be aware of their employees average abilities and make effort in guaranteeing that the final quality of the products or services they provide is always more important than the quantity. Problems may also arise when it is difficult for internal or external reasons to install PBR or when the trade unions might feel upset or unwilling to accept the way by which they are evaluated. In addition, PBR is likely to bring about a friction between employees when it comes to team-work, due to the fact that on the one hand all will try to perform their best, but on the other hand the will try to improve themselves at expense of their colleagues. Again, it is the obligation of the organization to settle specific rules and roles in order to avoid a negative potential situation like that. Payment By Results system is expensive to install and maintain. Output cannot be easily measured data can be manipulated and falsely recorded. One important condition that should not occur is that increase in production or output must not be at the expense of quality. Money is not the only Motivator. Recommendations One could reasonably wonder whether PBR is a reward system that is worth installing and maintaining. Although there is no certain answer to a question like that, it is recommended that any company interested in using this system should take some things into consideration. For instance, the organisation must have clear and well-planned standards not only of the goals of a company, but in the regard to the procedures that an employee s outcome is measured. Apart from that, a healthy interaction is more than necessary, in order to bring about a balanced rapport between company, managers and simple employees. We note that all of these are mere recommendations and that each company, according to their culture, strategy, structure and power, can have a distinct way of installing a Payment By Results system.

All-purpose Corpus

All-purpose Corpus All-purpose Corpus All-purpose Corpus By Maeve Maddox Corpus is just one of thousands of everyday Latin words that have not only outlived their original speakers, but have replicated in English like amoebas. Latin corpus means â€Å"body.† It entered Old French as cors and passed from there into Middle English. From then on the spelling and pronunciation fluctuated until the various spellings and pronunciations took on meanings other than just plain â€Å"body.† Corpus and its plural corpora proliferate in medical terminology, giving such labels as corpus callosum and corpora striata, which name structures in the brain. Apart from learned uses, the word corpus has spawned several words that everyone is familiar with and a few that occur in literature. I’m going to look at seven of these words. 1. corpus [kohr-puhs] First there’s the word corpus itself. Although no longer used to refer to a living body, corpus still means â€Å"body† in a figurative sense. A corpus is a body of literature, a body of information, or an author’s body of works. In this sense, corpus means â€Å"collection.† There’s a subcategory of linguistics called corpus linguistics that gathers and studies collections of speech and text gathered from non-literary, non-academic sources. An example of the linguistic corpora studied is the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), an online collection of 450 million words gathered from U.S. sources, 1990-2012. 2. corpse [kohrps] Once the word for a living body, the noun corpse now means only a dead one. When it comes to choosing words for their emotional effect on the reader, corpse is probably one of the creepiest words in English. 3. corporation [kohr-puh-rey-shuhn] In 1534 a corporation was â€Å"a number of persons united, or regarded as united, in one body.† In 1611 a corporation was â€Å"a body of people legally authorized to act as a single person.† Eighteenth-century jokers called their abdomens â€Å"corporations.† I love this OED citation from Thomas Smolett (1721-1771): â€Å"Sirrah! my corporation is made up of good wholesome English fat.† In modern U.S. law, a corporation is an organization formed with state governmental approval to act as an artificial person to carry on business (or other activities), which can sue or be sued, and (unless it is non-profit) can issue shares of stock to raise funds with which to start a business or increase its capital. 4. corps [kohr] This incarnation of Latin corpus came into English a second time, again from French, this time in the expression corps d’armà ©e, literally â€Å"body of the army.† The term reflected a new way of using the army by breaking it down into smaller, more mobile tactical units. Such a unit was a corps. The word came to mean any body or company of persons associated in a common organization. In the current U.S. Army, a corps is a large unit made up of from two to five divisions. A division is made up of from 10,000 to 18,000 soldiers. Corps is also used in the name of one of the branches of the U.S. military, the Marine Corps, and government employees who serve abroad in U.S. embassies are members of the â€Å"diplomatic corps.† Corps is a popular name choice for civilian organizations that wish to suggest that their work and purpose have a military-like focus: Job Corps, Peace Corps, Mom Corps. The expression esprit de corps is used to describe the sense of enthusiasm, loyalty and devotion to a group that characterizes an organization like the Marine Corps. 5. corpulent [kohr-pyuh-luhnt] The adjective corpulent means â€Å"large, bulky, fleshy, fat.† A corpulent person has a lot of body. 6. corporeal [kohr-pohr-ee-uhl] The adjective corporeal is used to describe anything that has substance. A living person is said to be corporeal; a ghost is incorporeal. There’s a legal term, incorporeal rights, that refers to property that cannot be seen or touched, but may be owned and inherited, like copyrights, trademarks, and patents. 7. corpuscle [kohr-puh-suhl] The noun corpuscle is probably most familiar in the context of biology class. Corpuscles: Minute rounded or discoidal bodies constituting a large part of the blood.† The word comes from Latin corpusculum, â€Å"little body.† In English it can also mean â€Å"any minute body (usually of microscopic size), forming a more or less distinct part of the organism.† 8. corposant [kohr-puh-sant] This one isn’t so familiar an offspring of corpus, but it’s interesting so I’m including it. You may have heard of something called St. Elmo’s Fire. It’s a light-producing weather phenomenon. In the days of sailing vessels, sailors often saw the light playing eerily about the masts. The common name derives from the patron saint of sailors. The other name, corposant combines Latin corpus sanctum, â€Å"holy body† or â€Å"saint’s body.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should KnowItalicizing Foreign Words10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Auto biography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Auto biography - Assignment Example Along with a growing interest in and knowledge of electronics, Dath has shown his capacity for business and entrepreneurial initiative as well. Joining White Castle in 2004, Dath has worked his way up to Assistant General Manager and has developed all along his Having a sense of clear vision and direction, Dath has made most out of his experience at White Castle. His decision to enhance his knowledge of aeronautics and electronics made a perfect sense given his earlier interests and development. Currently attending New York-based Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, Dath streamlines his work and personal interests into a coherent career path. Vaughn’s vision and mission, moreover, only reflects Dath’s acumen for investment in skills, knowledge and experiences. Consistent to his continuous self-development, Dath has most recently (2009) received an A+ certification. Being trained at Vaughn as a pilot, flying remains Dath’s real passion. On global issues, Dath’s awareness of his chosen industry’s –i.e. aueronautics – implications for environment, has made his development of keen interest in green issues most evident in activities at Vaughn and

Social Psychology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Psychology - Assignment Example First, Bernice stood up in the wedding and announced to all the visitors that the reason for the wedding was the advice-seeker’s pregnancy. And that the pregnancy was done in purpose to tie down Simon. Second, during Bernice’s hospital visit when the advice-seeker gave birth, she once again reiterated that the pregnancy was just a rouse to tie her son down. The final straw for the advice-seeker was during the college graduation party of her husband. Bernice made reservations for everyone but the advice-seeker and her baby. And everytime conflict happens, the advice-seeker will get the same answer from her husband, â€Å"I can’t control my mother.† The situation shows high consistency in Bernice’s and Simon’s behaviour thus implying that the root cause of the conflict between the marriage is Bernice’s behaviour towards the advice-seeker. These situations also indicate low distinctiveness since in different stimuli and events, Bernice ha s the same reaction towards her daughter-in-law. Bernice’s behaviour indicates clearly resentfulness towards her daughter-in-law and Simon’s behaviour indicates clearly that Simon hasn’t come into terms that he should be supporting his wife and defending her and their marriage against her mother. The situation shows high consensus, low distinctiveness and high consistency. This leads to a conclusion that the marriage is continually being destroyed because of the behaviour and actions of the mother-in-law and the husband’s low response with his wife’s need of support against her mother’s behaviour. The marriage may then really be saved if the couple will not encounter anymore of the mother-in-law’s behaviour. The second situation tells about how a woman wanted to help out her friend in dealing with his son (Dear Abby). The deep friendship between the woman and the father started from the time

Application of Electrical Technology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Application of Electrical Technology - Assignment Example In industrial applications, the switchgear is constructed with high-voltage circuit breakers and they may be lined-up together with the transformers in one unitized substation (USS). Switchgear de-energize loads in order to allow work to be done and also to enable clearing of faults downstream power systems. In the construction of protection relays, the current coil of the relay is connected to the secondary current coil of the transformer. Moreover, the secondary voltage coil of the transformer is connected to the voltage coil of the protection relay. When a fault occurs in the circuit feeder, an increased mmf of a current coil of the relay is triggered. The increased mmf closes the normally open contact of the relay that in return closes and completes the DC Trip Coil Circuit. The mmf of the Trip Coil initiates a tripping mechanical movement on the circuit breaker that causes it to isolate the fault. A sub-station refers to a part of an electrical generation, distribution, and transmission that that performs the function of voltage transformation from high to low and vice versa. A power plant refers to an installation that is used for the production of electricity while a power equipment refers to any equipment that is powered by electricity. A ring is an electrical wiring technique that enables the use of wires of smaller diameter than the ones used in the radial circuit, but of equivalent total current. On the other hand, feeders refer to a set of electric conductors that transmit power from the primary distributor centers to secondary distribution centers or branch-circuit distribution centers. An isolation transformer is installed between an AC power source and medical grade equipment in order to protect patients and staff from electric shocks in case faults occur due to the defectiveness of a medical grade equipment or use of a non-medical grade.

Use of Information Technology in Human Resource Planning Essay

Use of Information Technology in Human Resource Planning - Essay Example LITERATURE REVIEW Jacoby, Nason and Saguchi (77) argued that Information Technology is widely used in various departments of an organization in the United States and Japan. They insisted that IT plays a major role in the departments of human resources, aiding in the managerial processes of recruitment of workers and making of job schedules. Another group of researchers; SchoI?nberger and Lazer (221) proposed that the introduction of IT related operations in an organization, especially in the HR planning promotes efficient management and allocation of duties to employees and identification of nonperforming employees as every employee’s tasks are known. The major department of an organization is the HR department argued Haines and Lafleur (525) and incorporation of IT or digitizing the department will increase productivity of the organization by a significant margin. In the Journal of Knowledge Management, Klaila (138) claims that transformation of the information system from manual to digital in the HR department can reduce the bulk of the paper work involved in carrying out different tasks in the department. IT makes it easier to store employee information as it provides secure databases that are only accessible to the authorized parties. As IT has progressed from the old and slow mainframes to much quicker LANs (local area networks), WANs (wide area networks) and the World Wide Web, the business world follows suit in moving from the manual operations to computerized platforms (Ashbaugh and Miranda 144). Planning involves laying down strategies of an organization that are to be followed regarding performing various tasks. The HR department can work in conjunction with other departments in carrying these tasks, for instance, staff training and recruitment and job allocation among others. In order to plan adequately for a foreseeable progress of an organization, good strategies have to be laid down to avoid the failure of an organization. First is finding literature about HR tasks and functions, HR without IT and its implications. Investigate on the transformation process from HR without IT to HR with IT, and finally, how the computerized HR department will affect the planning process of human resources. Research Philos ophy, Approach and Strategy The research is based on phenomenological philosophy describing a number of individual experiences about a phenomenon. In this research, positivism philosophy has been adopted as it provides the researchers with a clear view of the current system in comparison to the old system. It focuses around the actual facts that exist in the IT introduction from the researcher’s point of view, coming up with related conclusions on what should and should not be done to ensure a successful IT incorporation in the planning process of the human resources. This philosophy allows the researcher to provide their own views about how IT is beneficial to human resource planning, while directly correlating their views to the current deliverables of the system. The research also takes a deductive approach since it works from a proven theory that IT helps in human resource planning, sampling different rules and already proven facts about our theory through collection of d ata on these facts, then use these data to back up

Assess the different sources of the law in England and Wales. To what Essay - 7

Assess the different sources of the law in England and Wales. To what extent have external sources affected its development - Essay Example The public laws are used to enforce order among citizens and the state while private laws are used to enforce order between citizens and organization that fall in the private domain. These two laws are further broken down into civil law and criminal law (Goodchild, Embly & Slorach2013 P.34). As a sub branch of Public law , criminal law entails laws which define what is acceptable as appropriate conduct and a contravention of such laws is deemed an offence to not only the individuals affected but to the society as a whole. Civil laws fall within private laws and are used to solve disputes which arise in family matters in cases such as inheritance or domestic violence. They are also used in cases of probate and law as well as contracts, negligence and employment. Common law can be defined as legal precedent that is made by judges sitting in a court. Common law is constantly changing because the interpretation and knowledge of legal precedent and application of common sense as pertains to individual’s cases and available facts is bound to change (Antoine 2008, P.4) Common law can be traced back to three English crown courts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Wingfield 2009, P7). These courts were the Common pleas, the King’s Bench and the Exchequer. It was assumed in those times that the custom of the people was the law as stipulated by the Kings’ courts. Even though the decisions were based on prior judicial pronouncements, in cases where there were statutes stipulated to govern particular disputes, judicial interpretation of those statutes were sought in order to evaluate how the law would apply in such case scenarios. Judges in the courts are tasked with creating the common laws by delivering written judgments about the cases before them. The Magistrate courts or other lesser courts are however not allowed to make their own precedent as this would lead to confusion in different regions of England and Wales (Antoine 2008,

Use of Information Technology in Human Resource Planning Essay

Use of Information Technology in Human Resource Planning - Essay Example LITERATURE REVIEW Jacoby, Nason and Saguchi (77) argued that Information Technology is widely used in various departments of an organization in the United States and Japan. They insisted that IT plays a major role in the departments of human resources, aiding in the managerial processes of recruitment of workers and making of job schedules. Another group of researchers; SchoI?nberger and Lazer (221) proposed that the introduction of IT related operations in an organization, especially in the HR planning promotes efficient management and allocation of duties to employees and identification of nonperforming employees as every employee’s tasks are known. The major department of an organization is the HR department argued Haines and Lafleur (525) and incorporation of IT or digitizing the department will increase productivity of the organization by a significant margin. In the Journal of Knowledge Management, Klaila (138) claims that transformation of the information system from manual to digital in the HR department can reduce the bulk of the paper work involved in carrying out different tasks in the department. IT makes it easier to store employee information as it provides secure databases that are only accessible to the authorized parties. As IT has progressed from the old and slow mainframes to much quicker LANs (local area networks), WANs (wide area networks) and the World Wide Web, the business world follows suit in moving from the manual operations to computerized platforms (Ashbaugh and Miranda 144). Planning involves laying down strategies of an organization that are to be followed regarding performing various tasks. The HR department can work in conjunction with other departments in carrying these tasks, for instance, staff training and recruitment and job allocation among others. In order to plan adequately for a foreseeable progress of an organization, good strategies have to be laid down to avoid the failure of an organization. First is finding literature about HR tasks and functions, HR without IT and its implications. Investigate on the transformation process from HR without IT to HR with IT, and finally, how the computerized HR department will affect the planning process of human resources. Research Philos ophy, Approach and Strategy The research is based on phenomenological philosophy describing a number of individual experiences about a phenomenon. In this research, positivism philosophy has been adopted as it provides the researchers with a clear view of the current system in comparison to the old system. It focuses around the actual facts that exist in the IT introduction from the researcher’s point of view, coming up with related conclusions on what should and should not be done to ensure a successful IT incorporation in the planning process of the human resources. This philosophy allows the researcher to provide their own views about how IT is beneficial to human resource planning, while directly correlating their views to the current deliverables of the system. The research also takes a deductive approach since it works from a proven theory that IT helps in human resource planning, sampling different rules and already proven facts about our theory through collection of d ata on these facts, then use these data to back up

Why extrinsic reward systems may not work well in some organizations Assignment

Why extrinsic reward systems may not work well in some organizations - Assignment Example That need hierarchies can differ between organizations, cultures, and indeed, among individuals within the same organization and therefore should not be overlooked by a manager. Rewards must be examined and analyzed in terms of according the right motivation to the employees depending on their needs that majority of the personnel exhibit in the organization. Rewards consist of two types: the intrinsic (personal) and the extrinsic (material). According to the Business Dictionary, an intrinsic reward is an â€Å"outcome that gives an individual internal (personal) satisfaction such as that derived from a job well done† (Business Dictionary, 2010, par. 1). On the other hand, an extrinsic reward means â€Å"common, routine, or known-reward which, because it was expected by the recipient employee, does not lead to his or her greater satisfaction; these are analogous to hygiene factors† (Business Dictionary, 2010, par. 1). Some organizations do not provide incentives that would address to satisfy material needs or lower level needs of the employees (hygiene factors) because while Maslow’s theory suggests that all needs are motivators so long as they remain unsatisfied, in Herzberg’s scheme, only higher-order needs are motivators. In this regard, organizations tend to focus on giving intrinsic rewards such as recognition, advancement, achievement and responsibility that is perceived to be intrinsically rewarding to majority of their personnel in the long

Kristens cookie company Essay Example for Free

Kristens cookie company Essay From the given data we can draw the following Process Flowchart The case analysis yields the following points 1. The time taken to fill rush order will depend on whether there are any orders that are being processed currently or not. Accordingly we will have two scenarios a). No order is being processed when the rush order is received. The time in this case will be equal to the sum of the time required for all the processes. Time = 6 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 26minute b). An order is being processed when the rush order is received. In the worst case, the cookies will have just been put in the oven. Thus oven will not be free before (1 + 9)= 10 minutes. By this time, the washing of the bowl and mixing of the dough for the rush order will be done. This will take 8 min. Since oven will not be free for 2 more minutes. Thus total time for this process will be 8 + 2 + 1+ 9 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 28 minutes Every additional order of a dozen cookies will take an additional 10 minutes to fulfill (as the time taken for baking is the only bottleneck involved) 2. If we are open for 4 hours (or 240 minutes), the number of orders that can be filled will be: Every order will take 10 minutes, since the baking time (ie 10min) is the bottleneck, except the first order which will take 6+ 2 =8min in the beginning and the last order which will take 5+2+1=8 more minutes. Thus, [240 (8+8)] / 10 = 22.4 orders can be filled in a day. That is 22 orders or 22*12 = 264 cookies in a day. 3. I am performing the process of washing, mixing and filling the dough in the tray, while the roommate is putting the tray in the oven, packing, and collecting the payment Thus for each order I spend: 6 + 2 = 8 minutes Roommate spends: 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 minutes A problem of idle time arises when more than one order is to be fulfilled, now if 2 simultaneous orders come, then I will have an idle time of 2 minutes and the roommate will have an idle time of 6 minutes. 4. If we order 2 dozen cookies or 3 dozen cookies, then my time will be reduced for washing and mixing, since the dough for 3 dozen cookies can be mixed together. That is my time will be reduced by 6 minutes for a 2 dozen order and 12 minutes for a 3 dozen order. My roommates time will be reduced by 1minute for 2dozen and 2 minute for 3 dozen. It is the time required for collecting payment since now she will collect payment only once for the whole order. However the total time for the process is still the same, since the baking process is the bottleneck and this will not affect the process of baking ,If this time that is saved, can be utilized for some productive work, which can earn more than the discounts we give, only then should we give discounts for 2 dozen or 3 dozen orders. 5. The business can be run smoothly using only one food processor, but the minimum number of trays that are required are 2 trays. This can be explained as follows The total time required for fulfilling an order is 26 minutes, now if another order is taken before the fulfillment of the first order then we will need another tray in which to place the ingredient mix and prepare it for baking. If we have further orders then the first tray can be used again since it will have come back after the cooling cycle. 6. To make cookies in lesser time we can use 3 ovens or use an oven with a larger capacity. With 3 ovens we can make 3 dozen cookies in just 31 minutes as compared to 48 minutes taken with just 1 oven. This amounts to an increase of 35% in sales due to time being saved. Addition of an extra oven can also help in this regard; with an extra oven we can fill 28 orders in a day instead of only 22 orders. Thus the additional rent that we can pay for an additional oven will be an amount lesser than the additional profit made by tending to 6 extra orders in a day. The additional oven will be very useful since the main Bottleneck encountered in this process is the time taken to bake the cookies. Additional analysis 1. If I were to do the whole process by myself it would take me 36 minutes to fill 2 orders which come back-to-back. The problem in this case would be that there can be no parallel processing. Thus after every 2 orders the process of baking has to start afresh, hence the total number of orders that can be filled per day will be X = (240*2)/36 = 13.333 Therefore only 13 orders can be filled everyday as compared to 22 that can be filled by 2 people. Hence working alone would have the same costs but sales would decrease by close to 50%. 2. There will be no effect on the time taken to manufacture the Crash priority order that has come up; both the new order and the order already in the oven can be delivered on time. The only problem here can arise if we have other orders in queue when this order arrives, then those orders will have to be kept waiting when we attend to this order. We can charge the customer a premium which will be equal to the number of orders whose delivery time will be extended beyond an hour due to this order. i.e. if we have 6 orders in queue and 3 of them are delayed due to the new order then Premium charged= No. of orders unfulfilled due to the new order * price; 3. The entire process time taken here is 26 minutes; every additional order will take an additional 10 minutes. Therefore we can service 4 orders in the first hour and 6 orders in every subsequent hour, this holds good if we have to deliver within an hour. If that restriction is relaxed, then delivery time we promise will be determined by the number of orders already in queue and any work-in-progress The formula that we can use for determining delivery time will be Time = (No. of orders in the queue*10 minutes) + (Work in progress* Time remaining in baking) + 10 minutes (Baking time of the new order) + 8 minutes (time till packing) i.e. if we have 3 orders in queue and another order which has to be baked for a further 5 minutes the delivery time we can promise will be Time = (3*10) + (5) +10+8 = 53 minutes. This is how we can promise delivery. 4. The major factors that should be considered at this stage of planning the business are what prices to charge, how many orders to accept and what can the profit be, the business has no extra costs apart from the input costs. But to safeguard against breakdown of equipment we must add a maintenance charge for the machine maintenance, the other costs that can come into picture are the opportunity costs, i.e. if our time was utilized in other tasks what could have been the profit we could have made. Hence these are the important factors that must be considered at this stage of planning. 5. If the product was a standard product then the following changes could be made * We can have 3 ovens, this will be useful because if the product is a standard one then we will always make 3 dozen cookies every time we prepare a mix, thus it would be useful for us to have 3 ovens as it would considerably reduce our time and give faster output * We can increase the number of orders that we can service each night * The order-taking system will be changed since now there is no customization so we will only be required to ask the customer as to how many dozens does he/she want These are the changes that should be made if the product is changed to a standardized one.

Leadership and Management in Changing Context of Healthcare

Leadership and Management in Changing Context of Healthcare INTRODUCTION The National Health Service (NHS) Trusts face a range of challenges arising from a national approach to the modernisation of services as laid out in the NHS Plan. (DOH, 2000) The NHS Plan recognises that the NHS is capable of providing more effective and accessible care by the rationalisation of service delivery through merged organisations. Mergers illustrate the focus on organisational restructuring as the key lever for change as indicated by the ninety nine health care provider mergers in England between 1996 and 2001. (Fulop, Protsopsaltis, King, Allen, Hutchings, and Normand, 2004) However, in many cases, mergers have unexpected consequences and drawbacks including problems in integrating staff, services, systems and working practices, clashing organisational cultures and poor leadership capacity. This essay considers leadership and management in the context of a problematic merger of services from two hospitals onto one site. The essay focuses on the change management process within one department to highlight key leadership, team, and cultural issues that negatively affected the newly merged department. The microcosm of the department mirrors similar occurrences across the two merged hospitals. The essay concludes with a comment on the organisational consequences if a macro intervention is not implemented. Confidentiality has been preserved by anonymising the identity of the hospitals and departments concerned. BACKGROUND This essay explores a recent change process involving the creation of a psychiatric liaison team based in a NHS hospital Accident and Emergency Department. (A E) in January 2004. The change occurred because of the merger of two hospitals that resulted in a number of structural changes, including the amalgamation of a traditionally split emergency service into a one site A E department. The liaison team replaced the existing deliberate self-harm service which had operated in the one hospital for two decades. The new liaison team consisted of eight newly appointed G-grade mental health nurses, a team leader, and a consultant psychiatrist who had both previously worked in the deliberate self-harm service. The hours of operation initially were 08:00 to 22:00 and there were two nurses on duty on early and late shifts. During a four week induction period, the team participated in team building and training exercises and developed into a cohesive, effective group. The team created clear key performance indicators specific to the psychiatric liaison team, established an action plan to achieve the set objectives, and planned to carry out six-monthly reviews. The team developed a shared vision to provide high quality, person centred care to the A E department without breaching government’s four hour targets (DOH, 2001). The team leader’s leadership style was democratic, and she fostered collaboration and involvement within the team (Walton, 1999). The team members considered her an expert in the field, and respected her for it. In July 2004, the service manager attended a monthly team meeting. At the meeting she was informed that a major change was expected to the hours of operation. The service would be extended to a 24-hour service starting in September 2004. In order for the liaison team to cover a 24-hour roster there was initially be a reduction in the number of nurses on duty, however, more staff would be recruited if necessary after a six month service review. An exact date for the review was not given. The change had not been communicated as part of the strategy for the greater merger. The Department of Health (DOH) modernisation agenda for the NHS, (DOH, 2002) sets out to modernise services in the NHS, and introduced a three star rating scale against which each NHS Trust’s performance is compared against benchmark standards. Funding in turn is dependant on the star rating achieved. One such standard relates to delays in A E departments, and stipulates that mental health patients should have 24 hour access to services, and that patients should be assessed and treated within four hours of arrival. (DOH, 2001) The underlying rationale for the change was therefore that the psychiatric liaison service had to provide a 24-hour service in order for the hospital to comply with the benchmark. Management of the merged hospitals did not consider staff shortages or how the four hour target might affect the quality of service provision, particularly when staff are under constant pressure to discharge patients before they exceed the benchmark standard. (RCP, 2004) In th e service described above, reaching the necessary 98 % four hour target proved impossible, because the staff numbers did not match the requirements of the service. The service was therefore to be expanded without additional staff, implying not only changes in hours and shifts, but also changes in work patterns. The team members reacted negatively to how the change process was introduced. Concerns were expressed about the reduction in staff numbers and questions were raised as to how the staff would be able to cope. The sense of security and continuity were put at risk. (Walton, 1999) The service manager was not available to address the concerns due to an increased scope of responsibility because of the merger that was beyond her normal remit. Lack of two way communication between the manager and the employees meant that the manager lost a valuable opportunity to resolve the negative reactions, and laid the foundation for resistance to change (Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington, 2005). Within a month of the announcement, the team leader had resigned. A new team leader was appointed and was tasked to lead the team through the change. The team started gradually becoming fragmented, staff sickness rates soared, and morale plummeted. The situation reached a crisis point by December 2005, by which time two more staff members had resigned. The majority of staff had taken sick leave, and the psychiatric liaison service was left uncovered for several days. A number of mental health patients in A E waited for hours, sometimes all night, to be seen by a mental health professional. The A E department laid a formal complaint about the liaison team’s performance. In March 2005, following discussion with a union representative, the team took out a grievance against the team leader. The key issues of concern were the way the change process had been introduced, lack of two-way communication and the team leader’s unsuitable task-oriented, directive leadership style. The team leader was suspended and the Trust commenced a lengthy investigation into the change process. The investigation continues to date. ANALYSIS Cameron and Green (2004) suggest McKinsey’s 7S model as a diagnostic tool to identify interconnected and related aspects of organisational change. The model is problem rather than solution focussed, and hence useful for pointing out retrospectively why change did not work. The weakness of the model is that it does not explicit identify drivers from the external environment and accordingly key forces have been described by way of explanation. According to Burke and Litwin (1992), the external environment is any outside condition or situation that influences the performance of the organisation. Systems, Staff and Strategy Systems refer to standardised policies and mechanisms that facilitate work, primarily manifested in the organisations reward systems, management information systems, and in such control systems as performance appraisal, goal and budget development, and human resource allocation. (Burke and Litwin, 1992) Systems are the mechanisms through which strategy is achieved. Strategy is how the organisation intends to achieve a purpose over an extended time scale. Johnson, Scholes, and Whittington (2005) link it directly to environment (industry structure), organisational structure, and corporate culture. Leaders are the executives and managers providing overall organisational direction and serving as behavioural role models for all employees. (Burke and Litwin, 1992) The systems that the service had in place to support the staff prior to the merger had functioned efficiently. The psychiatric liaison team had monthly team meetings, weekly ward rounds and supervision, and twice daily handovers to ensure high quality service. Teams in this context mean â€Å"a group who share a common health goal and common objectives, determined by community needs, to the achievement of which each member of the team contributes, in accordance with his or her competencies and skill and in co-ordination with the functions of others.† (WHO, 1984) Under the previous team leader’s management, the team had achieved a mature and productive level of performance that fell within Tuckman’s model of team development of a performing team. (Mullins, 2002) The leader demonstrated characteristics of an effective team leader (e.g. good communication) and ensured that the team members’ views were passed on to the management. (Marquis and Huston, 2003) The team also developed team specific performance indicators to fit the Trust’s strategy, such as the goal to provide high quality care within four hours of service users presenting to the A E department. However, the new management of the merged hospitals did not take into account that the reduction in staff numbers would make it difficult for staff to find time to attend ward rounds and to supervise care. Lack of supervision had a negative impact on the quality of care provided, and staff shortages meant that the team did not reach the four-hour targets in A E department. The change process indicated a lack of sincere stakeholder consultation which would have alleviated the crisis in the department. (Iles and Sutherland, 2001) Structure and Style Structure is the arrangement of functions and people into specific areas and levels of responsibility, decision-making authority, communication, and relationships to assure effective implementation of the organisations mission and strategy. (Burke and Litwin, 1992) The NHS Leadership Qualities Framework (DOH, 2002, p34) suggests â€Å"leading change through people† with â€Å"effective and strategic influencing† is essential in a merger environment. This is supported by Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005) who suggest that strategic, transformational leadership is a key element within an organisation staffed by professionals and that a collaborative style is required to achieve transformational, lasting change. However, the new team leader’s leadership style was autocratic and the team members were no longer consulted about matters concerning it, which was inappropriate in team nursing approach associated with collaborative patient centric care. Marquis and Huston (2003) suggest that a democratic leadership style works best with a mature experienced team with shared responsibility and accountability. The change in leadership style meant that the team felt disempowered and uninvolved in decision making which did not allow ownership of the change process to emerge. Furthermore, the flow of information to the team slowed down and the team’s concerns about the change did not reach top management implying that communication channels in the new organisational structure were not functioning efficiently. Management style equally affects culture. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005) state that culture is the â€Å"taken for granted† assumptions that are accepted by an organisation or team. These work routines are not explicit, but are essential for effective performance. Ignoring these as the new team leader did, reduces motivation and performance, and stiffens resistance to change. Skills Skills are the distinctive capabilities of key people. (Cameron and Green, 2003) The nature of the team membership implied a range of key skills interdependent on the other for effective performance. A problem area in the skills portfolio was information technology skills. The Trust managing the merged hospitals had introduced a Trust wide electronic patient record system in accordance with NHS requirements. (DOH, 2003) This was implemented simultaneously with the decision to extend the working hours. The change aimed to improve the service user experience by allowing staff a 24-hour access to service user’s care and crisis plans. (DOH, 2003) The staff shortage meant that team members did not receive appropriate training on the system and the use of the electronic patient record system became a source of frustration and confusion. Lack of computer skills contributed to staff’s frustration and negative attitudes with the change process. Superordinate goals Superordinate goals are the longer term vision of the organisation and the shared values and guiding principles that that shape the future of the organisation and motivation achievement of strategy. (Cameron and Green, 2003) The team’s superordinate goals were initially created during the four-week team building period and aligned with those of the larger organisation. The team’s vision was to provide high quality, service user centred care. The team also considered change as a natural part of organisational development. However, the team became increasingly resistant to change when it felt that the organisation did not really care about its employees, their concerns, and the ultimate reason for the organisation’s purpose, being the patient. DISCUSSION OF CHANGE PROCESS Change management is art of influencing people and organisations in a desired direction to achieve an agreed future state to the benefit of that organisation and its stakeholders. (Cameron and Green, 2003) A number of models can be used to model a change management process. A popular model is Kurt Lewin’s forcefield analysis. A forcefield analysis is a useful tool to understand the driving and resisting forces in a change situation as a basis for change management. This technique identifies forces that might work for the change process, and forces that are against the change. Lewin’s model suggests that once these conflicting forces are identified, it becomes easier to build on forces that work for the change and reduce forces that are against the change (Cameron and Green, 2003). The difficulty is the assessment of strength or duration of a force, partlicularly when the human dimension is considered. The key resisting force in the change process was a lack of staff and poor leadership. The change process under discussion was largely motivated by external factors. However, due to poor project planning, Trust management failed to consider the internal factors that had a major impact on the change. In particular, the management failed to involve the necessary stakeholders at a local level to increase ownership of the change thus failed to consider the human dimension (Walton, 1999 and DOH, 2004). The new team leader’s autocratic leadership style did not fit the requirements of the task, or the culture of the team and thus sowed the seeds of resistance to change. (Hogg and Vaughan, 2002). The poorly managed change process became costly to the Trust due to the loss of human resources, reduced staff morale and lowered the credibility of the management. The change left the psychiatric liaison team feeling betrayed, and individual team members traumatised. As the change process progressed, it became evident that a thorough analysis of current resources and various dimensions of organisational change had not been carried out (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2005). The management had not prepared a clear plan for launching and executing the change at a local level. The NHS Modernisation Agency Improvement Leaders’ Guide (DOH, 2004) stresses the importance of taking into consideration the human aspect when planning a change project. Similarly, Walton (1999) argues that change initiatives should be thought through and planned as far as possible taking into account the psychological bonds that staff form with their work groups and their organisation as a whole. It follows then that no precautions had been taken to address resistance to change. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, (2005) state that there should be a clear communication plan to state how information about the change project will be communicated inside and outside the organisation. The team members were not given an opportunity to challenge and test the change proposal, or clarify what aspects of the change they could or could not influence. (Walton, 1995) Fulop, Protsopsaltis et al, (2004) suggest that change project should be presented as an opportunity to improve the quality of performance and that clinicians should should be involved on a consultative basis. Team members were aware of the consequences of extending the hours of operation without increasing the resources, however, there were no systems in place to communicate these views to the Trust management, a key aspect of the change process. The lack of key stakeholder involvement in the change meant that the management did not have access to the psychiatric liaison team’s valuable experience on the immediate and wider implications of cutting down resources. (Henderson, 2002) The team members felt that their concerns about the lack of resources had not been taken seriously, and this inevitably led to a feeling that the Trust did not care about it’s employees or their views. Strong emotions such as anger and frustration were expressed by the team members. The lack of formal communication channels, meant that the team members took them out on each other. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, (2005) confirm that at times of change, rumours, gossip and storytelling increases in importance and that team members engage in countercommunication, thus unconsiously spreading distrust, suspicion and negativity which leads to lowered staff morale and job satisfaction. Although the rationale for change was clear to everyone, the change was executed at such short notice that the team members did not have time to develop strategies to deal with it. The NHS Improvement Leaders Guide to Managing the Human Dimension of Change (DOH, 2004) suggests that clinicians go through phases of shock, denial, anger, betrayal, conformance and understanding before they finally develop comitment to the change. The team members were left in a state of shock after the service manager’s initial announcement of the impending change in July 2004 and then moved into a state of denial. The general opinion was that the management would sooner or later realise that the change could not be executed without increasing the resources and accordingly delayed the change process until more staff would be employed. When there was no indication of this in the weeks that followed, the team members became demotivated. The team failed to move on to the next stages in their reaction s to change, and commitment to the change process did not develop. The team leader’s task-oriented leadership style did not suit the context of the change process, and partly contributed to it’s failing. Cameron and Green (2003) suggest that leadership will be most effective when the leader’s leadership style, the subordinates’ preferred leadership style and the requirements of the task fit together. A directive leadership style therefore is ineffective if the subordinates’ preferred leadership style is democratic, even though the task is well defined within tight parameters. In addition, Hogg and Vaughan (2002) argued that the most effective leaders are those who are able to combine task and socio-emotional leadership styles, and organise team members to work towards achieving goals at the same time promoting harmonious relationships. The new team leader paid no attention to the team culture and failed to communicate to management about the impending issue. Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2005) suggest that power is a key element in a change process. Power is the ability of individuals to persuade or coerce others into following a course of action. The new team leader’s source of power was based on his hierarchal position in the Trust rather than on expertise or knowledge as shown by the previous team leader. The team members did not consider that the new team leader possessed appropriate expertise or personal characteristics. The team leader exercised coercion which was met with resistance by the team and for this reason the team members lacked respect for him. He was seen as an executor of decisions made by the management. The new team leader appeared to be more concerned about a successful completion of the change, was target driven and lacked sensitivity to employees feelings and concerns. The team leader used his positional power in a negative way, filtered information and gave the management a distorted view of how the staff were coping with the change process. The relationship between the team leader and the staff members eventually deteriorated to a point where communication broke down. Two staff members went on a long term sick leave, and two other staff members resigned. Following a meeting with a union representative in March 2005 the team members, including those who had resigned, made a decision to take grievance out against the teamleader. The key issues brought up in the meeting were the way the change had been introduced, poor project management and the team leader’s autocratic management style (Walton, 1999). CONCLUSION In conclusion, lack of stakeholder involvement, poor project planning and the teamleader’s unsuitable leadership style lead to the psychiatric liaison team becomimg fragmented, and resistant to change. No systems were put in place to ensure two-way communication with the employees. Lack of communication reduced the staff’s commitment to, and ownership of the change, and lead to a lower quality service provision and increased long waits in A E. The poorly managed change process became costly to the Trust due to loss of trained human resources, staff morale and credibility of the management. 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