Mock project (not real) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mock project (not real) - Assignment Example Understanding the aim of this procedure gives a rather proper platform for both doctors and patients as the former becomes informed on the topic of study consequently learning how to deal with smokers with problems. The latter on the other hand gets a feeling of satisfaction knowing that they have saved a person’s live in-directly as he may quit smoking. It has become an issue of importance to note that very many people in the contemporary world are succumbing to various diseases caused by smoking. It is after this that various medical organizations came up with the program aimed at having smokers reform and consequently live a long and healthy life. As stated in the brief, the analysis is of non-smoking patients, 10 of whom get into a program. These participants are rather important and should have no sign of ever having smoked not only in the near future but never having participated in such activities. The age of these non-smokers should be between 18 and 55 years. It is important to ensure that these participants do not take part in any regular physical exercises but instead live a rather normal lifestyle. This is in order to show the ones aimed at learning from the program that they too could go through such a lifestyle free of any drugs and not have it complicated by exercises. The manner through which this program should run is rather complicated but still understandable. The recruits should prepare to sacrifice six weeks and ultimately have determination and dedication towards having the program up and running effectively. Each of the recruits should prepare to begin having a rather simple physical exercise for only 30 minutes in a week and this is so to ensure that the patients do not find the lifestyle exaggerated. It is important to bear in mind that the physical exercise phase takes place in the laboratory where sports material related to the field of medicine. The

Nursing mentors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nursing mentors - Essay Example Therefore, sign off-mentors must undertake preparation program to meet the requirements to determine whether students the competencies required by NMC during sign-off. The nursing and midwifery professions involve handling patients in delicate situations. Thus, it is essential to have professionals with competence and efficiency in handling patients through the required abilities and skills. During the practice, students are expected to gain competencies through the NMC programs or standards. The program ensures they deliver the required services effectively and competently in their nursing profession without the necessity of direct supervision. Nonetheless, it is the role of the sign off mentors to ensure that students ascribe to these competencies. Mentors are provided with necessary support and framework to ensure that they efficiently assess students in order to ascertain their knowledge and skills. The students often undertake NMC approved programs to ensure that they are regist ered as qualified professionals. These processes determine that only qualified and competent nurses whoa are fit for practices are introduced into the professional field. The main aim of these competence testing and practices are to ensure that the public is protected from unnecessary damage orchestrated by incompetent nurses without sufficient competencies for practice (Burton and Ormrod, 2011, p.78). The NMC has also given the mandate to sign-off mentors to ensure that students being released for professional practice are competently assessed. For competent assessment, mentors are required to be part of the inter-professional learning and working. This enables them to undertake an effective confirmation of the students’ achievement of proficiency The students on their last placement require the sign-off mentors for their accountability towards supporting and determining the pre-registration of the nursing students. It is because of this that the sign-off mentors are require d to achieve certain criteria and must demonstrate the competence. The role of the sign-off mentors is also complimented by that of the student mentors in the NMC program. This body is responsible for not only confirming but also helping the students gain a breadth of experience in the process of demonstrating competence as either midwife or a nurse. According to the NMC, there are certain progression points where a student may not undertake but only the most qualified students. Therefore, they need to assess and confirmed if students have undoubtedly achieved the expected outcomes or met the competency level of the previous program is quite vital in the practice. Effective implementation can only be achieved if the mentors keep adequate and relevant records that appropriately help as supporting documents for them to identify whether or not a student has obtained adequate competence or proficiency. The some records should help towards promoting the students to the next program. Reco rds for guidance and regular feedback must be adhered to in order to support and justify the decisions in determination of proficiency or competence (Burton and Ormrod, 2011, p.105). Signing-off mentors often assist in investigating the health of the nurses or the midwives during the pre-registration process. This ensures that the health of these health providers do not interfere with the health of patients to be served by the same people. Nonetheless, the process sometimes also includes determining the

Paper for class MIS 2100 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper for class MIS 2100 - Essay Example Having qualified personnel who can utilize information systems is critical to the success and growth of an organization. As a student, I have realized how important it is for me to learn about these systems in order to guarantee success in the future business career. Secondly, prior to taking this class, I simply viewed business systems as tools used in businesses for daily operations. However, after taking this class, I have learnt that information systems are a major source of competitive advantage, especially in the current business environment. I have learnt that information systems help businesses reduce the cost of doing business, and this ensures that products and services are offered at a lower cost. Through information systems, businesses can be innovative and come up with new products and services that satisfy the needs of the market better and efficiently. Overall, by taking this class, I have learnt not only how to use information systems to carry out daily business activ ities but also use them to set the business ahead of the rest in the market. Finally, the MIS 2100 class has enabled me understand the ethical and social issues raised by information systems. By using technology to carry out business activities, organizations expose themselves to a great risk which may affect their operations and their relationship with the society. For instance, information systems pose major challenges on people’s privacy since personal information is exchanged through different computer systems before arriving at the final destination. Through this process, private information may be leaked to unauthorized parties, and this may lead to serious ethical problems. Through this class, I have learnt how to use such systems responsibly in order to avoid some of these ethical and social challenges. By taking this class, I have leant that although technology is beneficial to the business, it can cause serious problems if not well used. This might comprise the

Wal Mart s Competitive Advantage Essay Example for Free

Wal Mart s Competitive Advantage Essay Wal-Mart, likely the nation’s most popular discounter, entered the market at the right time, when the barriers to entry were low. Benefiting from first mover advantage, Wal-Mart moved into markets that were not already served by competitors and was able to set higher prices in these areas (6). Conversely, to compensate for low margins in areas heavily congested with competition, it cut costs (1). With an aim to offer low prices, the Company soon learned that it needed to trim its expenses and establish itself as a lean organization, eventually leading to profitability and strong competitive advantage. Refer to Exhibit 1 for Wal-Mart’s successful performance, compared to the rest of the industry, as well as the sections below for an explanation by expense item. Cost of Goods Sold Inventory logistics were positive. Turnover exceeded 4.5 in the mid-1980s, well above that of competitors and trucks were 60% full on backhauls (4). In addition, getting in the forefront of technology allowed for lower overhead costs. The use of UPC scanning increased: from 25 stores in 1983 to 91 stores in 1984 and 235 stores in 1985 (5). Even though the Company catered to a vast market, offering 36 merchandise departments across 70,000 SKUs, it was able to remain highly organized with a computerized system to track inventory, which set itself apart from its peers, as well as a central computer at headquarters, which was updated on a weekly basis (5), the accuracy of which led to efficiencies. The Company shopped around with its vendors, using around 3,000 of them, taking â€Å"no more than a fifth of its volume from any one vendor† (3). In 1984, the cost of inbound logistics was 50% that of the industry at 2.8% of sales (4). Still, Wal-Mart’s cost of goods sold was almost 2% higher than the industry average of 71.9%. Given the lack of distributors who would be able to offer competitive pricing, Wal-Mart built its own warehouse in 1970. By the mid-1980s, Wal-Mart’s five distribution centers served the rapidly expanding number of stores – over 850 stores, meanwhile racking on steep upfront expenditures. Operating Expenses Payroll Expense The Company was able to minimize employee costs by paying low wages (7), meanwhile keeping employees happy, in hopes of avoiding turnover costs. In 1984, Wal-Mart’s salary expense was approximately 1% lower than that of the industry. Unlike its competitors, the Company’s 12 regional VPs all lived in surrounding areas, enabling intimate visibility over a relatively smaller geographic network, which ultimately saved the Company about 2% of sales by not having to set up regional offices. However, contrary to intuition, this decrease in expenses did not adversely impact anyone at the Company. Instead, the offsetting increase in costs resulted in a company-wide benefit as Wal-Mart offered profit sharing, employee stock purchase plans, bonuses, and rewards for low shrinkage. With its â€Å"people-focused† initiatives, Wal-Mart was able to use intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to show employees how much they were appreciated. There was a huge emphasis on communication as management strived to be as transparent as possible with lower level staff. For example, executives came into the office for meetings on Saturdays, then disseminated the latest updates downward, starting with the regional managers, district managers, store managers, and so forth. With its personable CEO, who â€Å"kept a pledge to put on a grass skirt and dance hula on Wall Street to celebrate the achievement,† Wal-Mart was able to distinguish itself and was named one of the 100 best companies to work for in the United States (7-8). Advertising Expense Refer to Exhibit 1 for a high level summary, as well as Exhibit 2 for a more detailed breakdown, of the Company’s advertising expense compared to the higher industry average. Marketers placed a heavy emphasis on low prices with tag lines such as â€Å"we sell for less† (5) or â€Å"everyday low prices† (6). As expected, the cost of advertising was directly correlated with the launch of new stores (6), as well as the location of those stores (i.e. cosmopolitan areas would be more costly): after entering a new area and establishing itself, Wal-Mart would then scale back advertising in that area. Branded merchandise, which made up the bulk of the inventory, was mostly nationally advertised (5), thus quickly building brand awareness among consumers. Rental Expense Rental expense at Wal-Mart was 0.3% lower than that of the industry. A large part of this was attributable to the fact that Wal-Mart did not permanently lock itself down to a certain location; of the 859 stores in the mid-1980s, 812 were leased. With the flexibility to move during flourishing times, the size of an average Wal-Mart store went from 42,000 square feet in 1975 to 57,000+ square feet in 1985 (3). In addition, the Company made a smart decision to stay out of locations that could not be expanded, again showing the Company’s long-term, instead of short-term, mindset. Counter-Intuitive Comparisons After further analysis of Wal-Mart’s costs in 1984, we encountered findings in the data that was counter-intuitive to the costs that we would expect to see from the most successful discount retailer of its time. Naturally, the area in which we would expect Wal-Mart to exhibit higher than average cost savings compared to the industry average would be in Cost of Goods Sold. However in 1984, Wal-Mart’s COGS at 73.8% was almost 2% higher than the industry average. As mentioned above, Wal-Mart’s system contained over 70,000 SKUs, a number larger than most other discount retailers which would lead one to believe that a high volume discounter like Wal-Mart would achieve economies of scale to produce a COGS lower than the industry average. Next, due to Wal-Mart’s efficient distribution network, inventory did not back up in storage as quickly as other retailers. Wal-Mart boasted inventory turn 4.5 times in the mid-1980s, which was higher than the industry average. With reduced inventory levels due to the speed at which Wal-Mart was selling its inventory, this would lead one to believe that there would be a smaller amount of ending inventory to subtract from beginning and purchased inventory. Expansion â€Å"Being the first warehouse club to solicit and introduce the concept in a market can be a major competitive advantage† (9). As a result of the distinctive features mentioned above, Wal-Mart was able to set itself apart from its peers and rise to the top of the industry. In 1984, it started to diversify by starting three new ventures, the most notable of which was  Sam’s, a warehouse club. The Company expanded from three stores in 1983 to 11 stores in 1984 and 23 stores in 1985. It took what it learned from the Wal-Mart venture and applied it to Sam’s accordingly. Conclusion Over the years, Wal-Mart’s success grew and it distinguished itself from its competitors, thus enabling the Company to expand its operations and diversify into the warehouse club market with the now-renown Sam’s Club. David Glass (later Wal-Mart’s president and chief operating officer) summarized the Company’s history best when he said: â€Å" ‘We are always pushing from the inside out. We never jump and then backfill.’ † (3) Instead of becoming greedy and aggressively dominating the market, the Company did so steadily over time; by not taking on more than it could handle, the Company was able to strategically position itself. In the years to follow, Wal-Mart’s market value was twice that of its competitor, K mart, even though it was a third as large.

Depression :: essays research papers

Depression Everybody has "the blues" or "feels down" from time to time. It's normal to feel sad for short periods, especially if something bad had happened in our lives. But those of us who suffer from depression have much more than "the blues", and our feelings can last for a long time. There are many sufferers of this illness; at any one time, 5% of Canadians are depressed, and 10-20% will suffer from it at one point in their lives. But family and friends who've never experienced true depression can have trouble understanding what it's like. Many people find it difficult to think of depression as an illness because their are no obvious physical symptoms. But depression is an illness, which is caused by chemical changes in the brain. Few people think that a physical illness is the sufferer's fault-and no one should think depression is, either. Like any other illness, depression has certain symptoms. Once these have been recognized, you can take measures to treat them. Some are: feeling sad, worried or depressed; feeling as if your life is dreary and unlikely to improve; had crying spells; become irritated over little things that didn't used to bother you; find you no longer enjoy hobbies and activities that once made you happy; feel a lack of self-confidence or feeling like a failure; lost your appetite, or are eating more than usual; have had trouble sleeping, or been sleeping too much; had trouble concentrating and making decisions; and thought about death and/or suicide. Knowing the causes for depression can help depressed people, friends, family understand how painful it is and why it's not possible to "snap out of it". It's still not completely clear why depression happens to some of us and not to others, but their are some triggers: stressful events or a loss, physical illness, hormone levels, and use of certain medications, drugs, or alcohol. Most of us think sadness when we think of depression, but there are other physical, emotional, and mental effects, too. Many depressed people feel helpless, and as if this is the way that they are going to feel forever. They have a lack of energy and a lack of interest in life. It's hard for them to ever imagine feeling happy or excited again. Some may withdraw and be less sociable. They may also become short-tempered and difficult to please. No one can do anything right. The world of depression is a lonely place to be. Physical problems can also occur. Some may have trouble getting to sleep or wake up a lot during the night.

Erickson’s Psychosocial Development

Psychosocial Development Erik Erikson describes psychosocial development as occurring in stages. He describes the different stages according to personality traits shown at the various stages. I have Interviewed and made my observations of persons at the different stages as follows: Infancy (birth to 18 months) Trust vs†¦ Mistrust A one year old baby was observed during a session of breastfeeding. The baby is hungry and it is time for the mother to breastfeed him.She picks up her son and holds him gently on her lap telling him she is going to give him some milk and etches him on to her breast. The baby immediately calms down and sucks for a few minutes. While the baby Is drinking, the mother looks at her son lovingly and the child fluctuates his attention from the mother to what his happening around him. The above behaviors show the affection and loving relationship between the baby and the mother who Is very patient and gentle towards her son. This renders breastfeeding to be a wonderful experience to both mother and child. According to Erikson, the first stage of trust vs†¦Mistrust is shown in the above observations the baby fully trusts his mother who is caring for him with a lot of love, patience and predictability. This is shown in the fact that he calms down and is comfortable to look around him while he is feeding during the session. Early childhood (2 to areas) Autonomy vs†¦ Shame and Doubt A boy of two and a half years who Is still undergoing toilet training has been observed. The mother asks her son every two hours If he needs to go potty. The child is still inconsistent in his response but sometimes out of his own free will go to the potty and points to it.The mother pulls down the child's pants and gently asks him to it down on the potty. She tells him that he is now growing into a big boy and that she will be very happy if he uses the potty. The boy sits down for a minute on the potty whilst his mother brings his blocks to play with h im while he is sitting down on the potty. After a while the boy gets bored, stands up, runs into the kitchen and picks up a packet of biscuits. The mother explains to her son that as soon as he urinates in the potty she will give him a biscuit.The child insists on eating the biscuits immediately and does not cooperate. The mother looks frustrated since she has been ring to potty train her son for the past few months without success. According to this stage of Erikson, the toddler becomes more mobile and assertive on his Independence. I think that this has been shown In the above observation. The toddler seems to try to please his mother initially by sitting down on the potty. Which he likes at the moment. When his mother refuses to give him a biscuit he protests and wants to have his own way.On the other hand the mother seems to be at a loss on what to do next since she thinks that her son needs to be toilet trained in order to be accepted at his new school. The toddler does not see m certain of what he has to do yet. He still seems to be unprepared to be potty trained though he is showing first signs. He is showing he is bored and insecure when trying to use the potty. That is probably the reason why he went to fetch the biscuit so he will do something he likes instead of something which makes him feel less confident. The mother needs to be more patient and give more encouragement to her son regarding this issue.Introducing stories of other toddlers/cartoon characters being potty trained, and maybe singing some songs might help her son be more motivated, calm ND patient in his training. Preschool (3 to 5 years) Initiative vs†¦ Guilt A four year old girl was observed at play in a children's playground whilst her mother looked on. Initially the girl clutches her mother and does not want to go to play with the other children whom she doesn't know. The mother takes her daughter's hand and walks around the playground slowly with her daughter showing her the va rious activities and what fun it is to play with the other children.After sometime the little girl sees a little see-saw in the form of a bright colored snake. She moves towards it ND climbs onto it and starts playing. After sometime she climbs down and runs towards the slide. She climbed up the slide behind the other children and took turns for about ten minutes on the slide enjoying the activity and sometimes looking at her mother for approval. After some time she moves on towards the other activities and starts playing with the other children feeling happy and secure. The mother looks happy that her daughter is mixing with the other children and is enjoying herself.From time to time she encourages and praises her. When the child is told that it is mime to go back home, she does not want to obey and throws a tantrum. The mother starts shouting at the child, the child continues to cry and lies on the ground. The girl seems to be insecure and shy when we arrive at the playground but then seems to gain confidence and starts playing with the other children. She enjoys the activities but still looks at her mother for approval. According to Erikson during this stage children need to find a healthy balance between initiative and guilt.This girl seems to be going through this stage by not wanting to leave her mother on her own and by aging the initiative and going around the playground to have fun and play with the other kids. When it comes to leaving the playground the girl does not accept the fact that she has to go back home and tries to assert herself by throwing the tantrum in order to have her way. In my opinion, the mother should have prepared the girl better and warned her that they only have a few minutes left before going home. Industry vs†¦ Inferiority I interviewed a nine year old boy for this stage.The boy seems to be doing very well at school. He told me that he is one of the best boys in class especially in mathematics. He likes reading and doing his homework. In fact he asks his mother to buy him some workbooks to have work to do during the summer holidays. When asked if there is something he wants to improve on, he mentions that he would like to be better in football and art. He also mentions that he worries that he has not done his work perfectly as his teacher would like him to. He seems to like to please his teachers and be considered to be the ideal student.He also says that he enjoys going to school to play with his friends during break time. Although this boy seems to be doing very well academically, he still seems to feel mom insecurity when it comes to pleasing his superiors. The boy seems to be competent and satisfied with his achievements. He likes learning new things and skills. According to Erikson the child's peer group becomes more important and significant in the child's life at this stage in fact this boy emphasizes the importance of having friends at school and at the football he attends.Adolescence (12 t o 18 years) Identity vs†¦ Role confusion For this stage I have observed and interviewed a 17 year old girl. When asked who she feels she is, she says that she is happy about herself, feels that she is full of Lana and energy and she has a very promising future in front of her. She says she would like to become a teacher and later on have her own family. In my observations she seems to be confident and very sociable with different people. This adolescent seems to be secure and happy as she has the support of her family and friends.She is motivated to continue studying in order to reach her goal of becoming a teacher as well as to make her parents proud of her achievements. She feels self confident as a result of the support she receives from those around her. According to Erikson, urine this stage, children become more independent and begin to look at the future. In fact this is shown by this adolescent during the interview when she talked with enthusiasm about her future plans in terms of career, relationships and families. Young Adulthood (19 to 40 years) Intimacy vs†¦Isolation she is happily married and has two young children though she is kept very busy and hardly has time for herself, she feels very happy and satisfied with her life. She has also been qualified in a profession and she loves her work from which she has taken some time off for the moment to look after her young family. Besides her family, she has also kept contact with some friends and sometimes they call each other to meet. According to Erikson, this stage involves forming relationships and long term commitments with persons who are not family members.This woman seems to have acquired this stage in that she has established her professional career and settled down in her own family with her husband and children. Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years) Generatively vs†¦ Stagnation For this stage, I interviewed and observed a 46 year old woman. This woman has a family made up of a hus band and three children. She also has professional lubrications. In the past few years she has changed her career so she would be able to spend more time with her family.She said she feels useful and accomplished in both her family life as well as at work. According to Erikson during middle adulthood we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, and have our own families we also give back to society through raising our children and being productive at work. It seems that this woman has moved on in this regard. Maturity (65 to death) Ego Integrity vs†¦ Despair For this stage I have observed and interviewed a 77 year old man. During the interview, this man seems to enjoy narrating his past experiences and how life was in the past.

Philips Vs Matsushita Case Study Essay

CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT: Philips vs Matsushita Philips and Matsushita are two principal consumer electronics companies that adopted two different strategies that lead them to some success, and later losses. Philips, as a multinational company, was more into a global organizational portfolio; whereas, Matsushita was focusing its operations in Japan. Unfortunately, both companies face loss of profitability even if their top managers were putting a lot of effort into the success of their respective business. Philips employed seven CEOs, and each used different strategy to reach the company success. Matsushita strategy was to turn the company into a cost containment mode, but the losing trend appeared by then. While Philips pursued its path into innovation and entrepreneurship by using their local resources to create new products, Matsushita was more focusing on a strategy based on standard products. Philips began closing useless plants and identifying businesses as either core or non-core. Purchasing the North American Philips Corp was to regain control and spending on basic research was to make the R&D the direct reasonability of the business. However, the spending was wasted; NOs were unwilling to use the new technologies developed. Matsushita, on the other hand, was more focusing on its subsidiaries; for instance, it implemented the operations localization that gave more power to the subsidiaries and more choice to their managers. After collapsing, the latest CEO decided to consolidate manufacturing facilities. However, it did not focus on innovation and did not develop new products. Nevertheless, both companies had many disadvantages in their strategies. For instance, Philips lacked the ability to deal with a changing international environment, exceeded by the competition in terms of price since it was offering the most expensive products in the market, and also, faced many problems internally like disputes between its NOs and its product divisions. On the other hand, Matsushita has a centralized production which led to losses throughout the years. Also, their cultural values were not adaptive enough to let the firm cope with the changing environment. Even by adopting strong strategies, Philips and Matsushita continue to lose profitability and now for sure, they need to restructure their businesses and risk should be spread in order to mitigate unforeseeable disasters.