Saturday, August 31, 2019

Poetry and Time Essay

Slessor’s compact oeuvre details his struggle with time. However, his longing to be out of time merely highlights the supremacy of time over human life and nature. Slessor utilises familiar elements in an attempt to gain a better understanding of what he cannot comprehend. Moments captured out of time are short-lived illusions, though despite their brevity Slessor believes they are beautiful. In Out of Time, the first two stanzas in the third sonnet are Slessor’s illusions of a moment captured in ‘the sweet meniscus of time’. This moment is captured as Slessor remains ‘with the golden undertow’, moving against time for a brief moment. In this moment out of time Slessor observes a scene, which defies not only time but also other conventions such as gravity as the gulls rise ‘backward’. Slessor’s language in these stanzas (‘golden’, ‘sweet’ and ‘bubbled’) are contrasted against the harsh words (‘stabbed’, ‘pale’ and ‘faceless’) through the remainder of the poem and show through contrast Slessor’s awe at the beauty of the ‘moment’s world’. However Slessor is taken back to reality at the end of the third stanza by ‘the suck of sea’. When Slessor is ‘Out of time’ his disobeying time which has power even over nature. Consequently, under the instruction of time, the sea brings Slessor back to the constraints of time and reality as it continues its relentless pursuit of fate. In Five Bells Slessor struggles to comprehend the death of his friend: Joe Lynch. At the beginning Slessor is under the illusion that he may be able to ‘hear the voice’ of the ‘dead man’ despite the impenetrable ‘pygmy strait’ that he knows exists between life and death. Slessor is frustrated that Joe is trapped in a flood of time and that he himself is taken away by time, leaving Joe ‘anchored’. Despite this knowledge Slessor employs illusions and imagery as he tries to break the constraints of time and reach his friend. The first illusion is that of Joe ‘beating at the ports of space’, ‘bawling’ and ‘crying out [his] name’. This is Slessor trying to imagine what is beyond death. The second illusion is Joe trapped at the bottom of the sea as the ‘wet presses it’s dark thumb balls in’ and the ‘sea pinks’ growing between Joe’s teeth. Despite these attempts to bring Joe back to life so Slessor can ‘hear his voice’, Slessor is unable to be out of time and reanimate his friend. Rather all he hears is ‘bells, five bells coldly ringing out’, bringing Slessor back to reality. Slessor very effectively utilises illusions and strong imagery in an attempt to break the constraints of time in order to capture a moment or remember a loved one. However, inevitably Slessor is forced back to reality by the power and necessity of time and it’s relentless nature. Time is continuous; its relentless nature causes Slessor to leave memory behind as he is swept up in the ever-continuing tide. Out fo Time is structured as a poem composed of 3 linked sonnets, the first sonnet ends with ‘the golden undertow’ and the second begins with ‘the golden undertow’. This linkage is consistent throughout the remainder of the poem, with the last line of the last sonnet linking to the ‘yachts’ in the opening line of the first sonnet. This structure very effectively portrays Slessor’s belief that time is relentless as it continues onwards. Similarly, Slessor has used Iambic pentameter throughout the poem so that it is read consistently. This creates a measured rhythm and a sense of urgency that portrays time is measured and hurried. It is for this reason Slessor is unable to remain ‘out of time’ as we must obey time and time must continue in its pursuit of fate. Though Dutton claims of Five Bells, ‘the time of this poem is quite different to the time of all the others’ Slessor still discusses the continuous nature of time in this poem. He describes time as ‘moved by little fidget wheels’ consistent with Out of Time in its suggestion that time is measured. Slessor utilises the sea to comment on times continuous nature. This is appropriate as Slessor is very familiar with the Harbour and water and using this element helps him and his readers to grasp a better understanding of the incomprehensible. Joe and those dead are described in a metaphor of weed, as Slessor suggest ‘time bends the weed’ continuing on, whilst leaving Joe and the weed in it’s wake. Similarly, he states the ‘tide is over you’ and ‘the waves go over you’, using the constancy of a waters tide to effectively portray times continuous nature. Slessor effectively conveys his longing to be ‘out of time’ through his poetry. Although in exploring this using illusion he realises the continuous nature of time means that one cannot remain out of time for long periods of time.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Health and safety in a care home Essay

I have gained my A-Level qualifications at City Of Westminster College (Maida Vale) I have studied the following subjects English Literature, Psychology and Media Studies. I have also accomplished certificates at College Of North West London (Kilburn) in IT, English and Math’s. Therefore it is fair to say that I know how to use various Microsoft Office programs i.e. Words, Excel, and PowerPoint, I have gained my GCSE’s overseas in India, New Delhi as an international student following subjects included: Math’s, English, Social Science, Hindi and Science. I believe that I have gained valuable learning skills throughout my educational experience which has set a clear stepping stone into furthering my career. Not do I only learn in educational establishments but also I have learned a great deal on actual jobs that I have done previously. I have gained great skills such as being able to communicate with people from all walks of life, taking responsibilities for my du ties, being able to prioritize my work and take initiative. I have a positive outlook overall on life and believe that I can do anything if I set my mind to it.I have a friendly approach and a positive attitude towards work, I have always been keen on excelling my targets and to constantly perfect myself in any way that I can. I therefore find  feedback very important as it allows me to keep improving the quality of the work I do and review myself through someone’s opinion. As a Market research Interviewer (IPSOS) I spoke to participants from all walks of life about various important issues, this role required me to listen attentively to respondent, be empathetic, accurately input gained responses into the database and reach set targets on a daily basis. I find it important to always be up to date about the latest information, product knowledge and offer someone a service that will leave them with no further questions. I am a keen learner, and at the same time I like to mot ivate others to benefit from the opportunities they have available for them. Communication is very important and my main aim is always to articulate my ideas appropriately and in a way that is understood by everyone. During my time working for Beethoven Community Center as a community worker I have learned to multitask through taking up various duties i.e. by providing educational information for those that sought advice, interpret when needed for elderly residents whom could not speak English, help organize events and trips for local youth. I have gained strong organizational skills, being able to prioritize workload and have always taken full responsibility for all tasks. Having strong administration skills is essential as I had to maintain the database, input clients data acquired during sessions and provide fellow colleagues with up to date information. Being able to liaise with clients and fellow colleagues thus ensuring that everything went as agreed. I have good people skills as I have picked this up early on from working as a Social worker at Caxton Youth Club, I have developed a thorough understanding working with vulnerable people, assist youth with learning difficulties and provide the m with the right tools enabling them to better themselves. I am self motivated and have high level of energy which is a must when you’re working in any sector , as you are constantly on your feet assisting elderly and ensuring that their needs are met at all times. I am very tolerant and flexible to different situations mainly because working with people is always unpredictable. Therefore I find this no problem at all as I am able to adjust myself to different levels from young children to elderly people. I am a good team player as I listen carefully to others when they are speaking and can assimilate the messages into one vision. For  example, if my colleague is part of a project team, I’ll listen to the ideas and concerns of others. I am also patient and respectful to the voice of other team members and understand that to be a team player; I have to have an open mind to other points of view. I am quite flexible in terms of hours/days. I know that working in this field can be both stressful and rewarding however I am fully prepared for all the ups and downs. I can take ownership of projects and make sure that all boxes are ticked upon completion; I take my work at all times seriously. I am the type of person that likes to go the extra mile. I always ensure that I keep myself updated on the actual role I am fulfilling i.e. maintaining administration in the most efficient manner and ensure to being organized at all times. Being open for suggestions for example take negative feedback and transform that into something positive. I am fully aware of my surroundings and easily adaptable to environment and fellow colleagues. I am a quick learner and I want to help make a difference towards other people’s lives. I have gathered early on during my work experiences that I get a great satisfaction from seeing others improve from services provided by me. I have always completed training programs and I am someone whom sees her targets through and I hope that you provide me with the opportunity to prove this to you. I am an open-minded person and take suggestions on board that will help me better my work at all times analytical/logical approach to tasks and the ability to work under pressure. I am able to work well both on my o wn initiative and as part of a team. My main strengths are adaptability, dependability and the determination to get a job done as proven by my varied work experiences. I try to learn something new from every experience because I believe there is always room for self-improvement both personally and professionally.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Astronomy Frontier paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Astronomy Frontier - Research Paper Example Recent discoveries by the astronomers illustrate that BHs are the major partner to expand the galaxies. Before finding the activities of black holes, it is necessary to mention here the size and shape of BHs. A black hole is observed by three factors: All these three factors, mass, gravity and emission of radiations, are responsible to generate accretion. McClintock is of the opinion that this is common notion among the astronomers that accretion is one of the main originators of the universe. The accretion disks have powerful influence on galaxy. The energy, produced by the motion of accretion disc around black hole, generates stars development, builds or destroys galaxy structure, and reloads the large amount of elements which has a constructive engagement for planet construction. There is a great question, partially answered, that â€Å"what is the actual relationship between galaxy and black hole?† â€Å"Why are the black holes necessary for galaxy?† â€Å"Why do galaxies generate the black holes in it?† The astronomers have discovered that early galaxies (about 4 galaxies) were 30 times large to black holes in them. But every galaxy has black hole in center so it has been concluded that the black hole generates stars around it and then galaxy breeds (Cattaneo and Best 518–523). Practically, almost all the big galaxies congregate a BH in it. The black holes vary in size and mass. It can be in millions of cosmological masses. As the mass and quantity of black holes increase the galaxy gains a great change in it. The activities of accretion discs enable galactic nuclei to gain the heat and eject the heavy gases from it. Jeffrey E. McClintock, Ph.D., Senior Astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, says: â€Å"There is strong evidence that a supermassive black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way. Astronomers believe this black hole is a radio-wave source known as Sagittarius A* (SgrA*). The

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Management Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management Information System - Essay Example The Watchiloo has been designed as an embedded player for social network sites to allow for users to access advanced features. The first part of the article shall analyze how these devices can be used to communicate with their advanced features. The article shall also cover different aspects that are involved with the use of these devices such as the number of users for each and their price range. The second part of the article shall cover strengths and weaknesses of this article. Finally, the article shall then cover writers' opinion on the articles and recommendation on what can be done to improve them. Introduction High definition television has brought about some change in the mode of social networking. Thus, with the invention of high definition television (HDTV), there has been remarkable change in video and audio conferencing. Several versions of high definition televisions currently exist in the market including internet enabled ones with built in wireless internet connectivi ty and others with port for wireless or wired connectivity. Since invention of live chat tools by Google and Microsoft, Google+ hangout on air and Skype respectively, there has been increased need to include more users in chat sessions than the logical one user when used in personal computers or smart phones2. Main Themes The main idea of these articles is to analyze and ascertain the extent in which integration between HDTV and chat- enabled devices that have been manufactured. In this article, I shall focus on two essential devices that have been manufactured for this purpose. It shall also cover some issues relating to these devices such as Working capability of these devices The number of users which they support Their price range and connectivity and Their multimedia capability features There has been the invention of Watchitoo device, which was launched for enterprise purposes, and the Tely HD designed for multiple users for home use. These devices according to review articles are ultimately designed to allow for live online streaming of calls, pictures and messages for multiple users using their HDTV sets at the comfort of their homes. The Watchitoo device can allow connection of up to 25 users to the device at the same time and enable them make audio or video calls simultaneously. The Tely HD has been designed to allow family members or small groups of friends to convert their HDTV sets into a live chat device. They are capable of making definition video calls through their HDTV at the comfort of their living room without crowding to a small screen3. In addition, an attractive feature with these devices is that apart from traditional feature whereby devices are independent in communication, these devices have been essentially designed to be fully integrated with already established social networking sites and tools. The Watchitoo has been embedded into users own networking site services like Facebook or Twitter. This allows the user to make video calls and invite friends to chat with them very easily through these sites. The Tely HD has been designed to communicate with all Skype enabled devices in the market. The user can make Skype calls to other Skype enabled devices including other Tely HD televisions, smart phone, personal computers and any other device with inbuilt Skype capability in these devices4.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Past Experiences and Present Situation Personal Statement

Past Experiences and Present Situation - Personal Statement Example In almost all the cases the rivals belong to one and the same group and community. Somehow, the individuals having experience of living and interacting with different people and cultural environment are in a position to adjust in every atmosphere; the same is applied to me. Since the nature of my father’s job demanded to settle down at different places, I also had to move along with him in various cities of my country. Hence, I sought education from three different cities, during which I came across the people having divergent family and cultural backgrounds. Somehow, my active participation in the curricular activities and unflinching co-operation with the fellow-students during classroom discussions, library consulting, group-participation, giving vent to ideas during examination preparations and others made me a popular student of all the educational institutions I attended during the course of time. Additionally, my keen interest in extra-curricular activities including debates and speeches, sports and games and long-tours and trips also proved me as a flexible and amiable person in the eyes of others. I had been the football player for the last many years at school and college levels and played at different positions in the playground. The sports made me learn patience, endurance, tolerance and respect for others even after winning or losing the game. During the sports, I experienced fluctuation of moods and several other pleasant and unpleasant situations; however, my patience and efficiency always supported me.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Accounting Theory (Australia) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting Theory (Australia) - Essay Example Presently, the Japanese Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are recognized by the European Union. The Financial Services Agency of Japan is also working to have common regulations with the International Financial Reporting Standards. The Business Accounting Council has come up with deliberations about the treatment of consolidated financial statement based upon International Financial Reporting Standards within the purview of Japanese Security Exchange Law. This measure has been presumed as the regulatory response of Japan as it involves the treatment of IFRS based consolidated financial statement prepared by issuers of both, Japan as well as foreigners, to be listed in the Japanese market. Japan and other Asian countries should participate more into the regulatory authorities for their own benefit. Their valuable presence in the committees would voice their needs and requirements. Presently, the Accounting Standard Board of Japan is trying to build up consensus over various financial regulatory issues among the Asian economies. Among the various regulatory issues, BASEL reforms have been very crucial for the transformation of the banking sector. It has been observed that there have been certain issues in terms of compliance of BASEL norms in Japan. The financial disorder prevalent in the last decade and the continuous postponement of resolution of non – performing loan (NPL) hindered compliance with the BASEL standards in Japan along with propagating political intervention in the economy of Japan that considerably hampered bank regulations. Today, it is almost certain in the periphery of the financial regulations that IFRS would make way for GAAP in due course of time as it has already adopted by European Union. Japan should focus more on accounting standards of IFRS rather than that of GAAP to be in line with the

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Competitive Markets & Free-Market Economies Essay

Competitive Markets & Free-Market Economies - Essay Example In the real world these four characteristics do not hold true. Products are not homogenous, there are some barriers to entry or exit, there is imperfect information available in the market and sometimes there are significant transaction costs. In 2010 the US dropped from the number one competitive market to the third most competitive market in the world. The number one position was occupied by Switzerland while Hong Kong came in and retained its number two spot (Pravda 2010). Although compared to other countries US is more competitive there are some industries where there is no competition. One example of such an industry is the space industry. There is just one company, NASA that is owned by government; operating in this market hence it has a monopolistic nature. It is very difficult for new firms to enter the industry given the large amount of capital needed to as initial investment. Hence it is a very non-competitive industry. Similarly there is also a non-competitive market that exists in the US defense and security industry with the FBI, CIA and police all owned by the government. There is no private competition in these industries as the government considers the matter of defense and security very serious and does not entrust these matters to private companies. On the other hand there are some very competitive industries that exist in the US. The banking industry for example is very competitive with many firms operating in the industry. A large amount of banks local and foreign, big and small are operating in America. Some examples of these banks include Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays and HSBC among others. Other examples of competitive industries include the clothing industry, automobile industry, beer industry, shoes industry and many more. The US has tried to maintain a highly competitive industry by promoting competition through its policies. The US encourages firms to enter different industries by eliminating or lowering trade barriers by passin g laws related to different industries, promoting trade through signing free trade agreements, lowering trade barriers and encouraging foreigners to invest in the country by providing them with more and more investment opportunities. In my opinion a country is competitive if there is a lot of competition among firms and they are free to choose their own industry to compete in. As the major characteristic of a competitive market is that there are many buyers and sellers in the industry hence due to their relatively small size in the market they are not able to influence market factors such as price. Hence if a market has many firms which have a small market share and are not able to influence market price, such markets can be considered as competitive. Similarly the other three characteristics of a competitive market must also be present in the market for such a market to be competitive. For a market to be labeled as a ‘

Saturday, August 24, 2019

History of bahrain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of bahrain - Essay Example Bahrain’s Economy With a 19.36 billion dollar GDP, and a real time GDP growth rate of 2.9%, Bahrain’s major natural resources include; oil, aluminum, textiles, natural gas, fish and pearls. Financial services are responsible for nearly 25% of the GDP, with government services holding firm with 14.8%. Oil and gas and manufacturing are lagging behind them with 13.1% and 12.4% respectively. Acknowledged as the first Gulf state to discover oil in 1931, their reserves are expected to last over a decade. Revenues from the state’s oil and natural gas capabilities account for an estimated 10% of the GDP. In addition, revenues from oil have been used to fund health and educational projects and accounts for an estimated 60% of the country’s exports. Bahrain is no stranger to economical successes since it was the important center linking trade routes between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley as early as 5,000 years ago. As reported by the US Department of State, in ke eping with its financial sector which is their largest GDP contributor, Bahrain holds a reputable regional and international financial business center that operates both on and offshore. Undoubtedly, Bahrain is a leader in its field with over 370 banking units offshore. In addition, regulations are being implemented to ascertain the title leading financial center in the Arab world. With reference to literature consulted it can be concluded that Bahrain has experienced a blossoming economy driven by its abundance of natural resources. Politics in Bahrain As mentioned before, Bahrain has been the subject to multiple ruling powers prior to their independence from the United Kingdom and a Constitutional Hereditary monarchy type of government. Bahrain was first ruled by Persia in the 4th century A.D, after which the Arabs took control until 1541, when the Portuguese invaded them. Then Persia regained control of these islands in 1602. By 1783 Shaikh Isa bin Hamad Al Khalifa took over and the al-Khalifas remained the ruling family until today. By 1820 Bahrain became a British protectorate. With reference to the US Department of State, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa acceded to the throne in March 1999, after the death of his father Shaikh Isa bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain's ruler since 1961-10 years prior to their independence. Shaikh Hamad channeled a democratic reform to transform Bahrain from a hereditary emirate to a constitutional monarchy shortly after he took the throne. His actions were publicly endorsed by his people. Bahrain was pronounced a constitutional monarchy on February 14, 2002. Now operating under a constitutional monarchy, it has an executive appointed by the King of Bahrain and a bicameral legislature with the Chamber of Deputies elected by universal suffrage, and the Shura Council which is also appointed directly by the King. Like many other countries, Bahrain has had their fair share of political unrest, which started as far back as 1994 and st ill continues today. Particularly this year, it can be said that Bahraini protestors were influenced by events in Egypt and Tunisia. Euronews.net reported that reasons for this political unrest are; a new constitution, the release of all political prisoners, an enquiry into torture allegations, freedom of speech and an independent justice system. Social Life 1.1 Education The Bahraini Government introduced a free

Friday, August 23, 2019

Ecological Ethics, Amber Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ecological Ethics, Amber - Essay Example tructive behavior poses a threat to the existence of species and the environment as a whole, and therefore it is obligatory that species need to be conserved simply because they were created and meant to exist (Ehrenfield,1972).However, simple intrinsic values are not considered when conservation and management strategies are designed and implemented. However, the fact is that where there is value of existence there will be ethics of conservation and this is where we get a glimpse of man’s anthropocentric approach towards conservation strategies. Species utilitarian values and ecosystem values are the core reason that drives man’s ethics of conservation. Man benefits from products and free services that natures offers and man is very much aware about the value and the effect of these products and services and hence man values biodiversity because of its mere utility (Alho,2008). On the other hand, it is also true that man values something because of aesthetic reasons. For example lions and tigers do not provide any direct service yet they are valued for the reason that they are top predators who have an aesthetic value as well. Whereas endangered animals for example the Indiana bat receives less hype simply because it has lesser impact on the people. This is where the concept of flagship species may be linked. Conservationists are aware of the values of each and every species yet they chose flagship specie such as the giant panda or tiger to symbolize conservation for the sole reason that larger animals have greater impact on the minds of

Changing Of The Status Of Women Around The World Over Time Essay

Changing Of The Status Of Women Around The World Over Time - Essay Example The authors have encompassed the entire globe in their work without neglecting any important area or region of the world. The authors have quoted the words delivered from the mouth of Gabriela Oviedo (426), Miss Bolivia 2003, who laments ethnic-racial discrimination to be observed against the South Americans and blacks, though her having the opportunity of winning the title of Miss Bolivia remarkably alludes to the rights enjoyed by women even in the backward countries of the third world. It remarkably reflects the revolutionary alterations in the traditional and conventional cultural values of the social establishment being observed at the global scale, under which the women used to be suppressed by the male dominant social setups. Women were restricted to domestic responsibilities in the Asian and African colonial states during the imperialism surge, and their intermixing with males was strongly a socially disapproved phenomenon, and separate dresses and hairstyle etc prevailed for women (534). It is, therefore, the countries were lagging far behind from the European nations because of the negation of women from the nation-building activities altogether. Somehow, the situation has observed significant alterations in modern times, and western attire and styles have made their sure headway in the former colonial states, where like the European citizens, men and women wear the same clothes and active participation of women in business, politics, military services and other social and financial activities have turned out to be the order of the day in contemporary era. Thus, penetration of the western cultural patterns into the oriental societies of Americas, India, and Africa has introduced imperative modifications in the individual and collective life of the people at large by discouraging and eliminating the elements of discrimination towards the female folk (Hansen & Curtis 536-7).

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Why did Islam spread so quicly Essay Example for Free

Why did Islam spread so quicly Essay Classical Empires arose in all cultures, once they had reached a certain level of technology and development. The most famous examples in history are the Persian Empires, the Greek empires of Alexander and his successors, the Roman Republic and Empire, the Mauryan and Guptan Empires in India, and the Chin and Han Dynasties in China. Other classical empires arose in Africa and the Americas, but little is known about these because they lacked a written language or because records were destroyed. They shared similar institutions, policies, histories, and fates. Empires are easier to create than maintain because empires are built on war. Classic empires always began in agriculturally rich areas, and had little need to worry about food. This allowed large populations. The location of their states began on the periphery of more civilized and developed states, but they went on to conquer older civilizations. Their conquests always shifted the focus of civilization and spread its culture. Most classic empires had a society with a strong warrior class and superbly organized and led militaries; their reputations for war and successes in battle served them well. Additionally, classic empires had governmental structures geared for war and were centrally governed. Usually one man made most of the decisions. Once classic empires were established, they had to maintain their conquests. And it is harder to maintain than create. Running empires required the standardization of policies, institutions, weights, measures, laws, and coins. This involved blending the best of the old, new, and foreign traditions and customs. Frequently, this meant road building, suppression of piracy, the building of a bureaucracy, and the construction of buildings to support an empire. The empire was ruled from one large and impressive city, glorified by the rulers. One result was the spread of trade and ideas, and the standardization of diverse cultures into one imperial culture with common institutions. But during the empire, class distinctions were sharpened between rulers, ruled, and slaves. Commerce flourished but was generally limited to two types of commodities – foodstuffs and luxuries. Nevertheless, culturally, classic empires were extremely tolerant – loyalty to the empire was most cherished and state philosophies and ideas were taught to all subjects. Subjects were to pay taxes and not revolt; they were allowed a  measure of self-government. Foreign loyalty to the conquering power was rewarded with admission to the imperial ruling class. And, revolts were punished severely. As historians and texts prove, these conditions made it difficult and taxing to govern such a large state. The ends of classic empires usually occurred in similar manners. The old empire became weak, lazy, and decayed. Old institutions and policies no longer governed well or were even remembered. Frequently, classical empires grew too large to easily maintain. While most empires’ decay began from within, they were destroyed by barbarians, who posed a constant threat to the settled empires. Often barbarians simply walked into the old empires, took the land, and settled. Often few people realized or even cared that the old state was dead. But the imperial culture created during the reign of classical empires always survived and was passed down to later g enerations. This culture became the basis for all modern cultural traditions.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Eye Care Institute Analysis

Eye Care Institute Analysis Ishan Narma Jyotismaya Shabeer Pk Khayapam Raising Ujjval Rana Nahid Zafar Ipshita Prasad Usha Deepthi INTRODUCTION: The LV Prasad Eye Institute was established in 1987, with a mission to provide equitable and efficient eye care to all sections of society. Started with a goal to be a leader in combating global blindness through the direct impact of patient services and the indirect impact of training it provided to eye care professionals, LVPEI by 2011, had become a world class eye institute encompassing services such as clinical care, education, research, rehabilitation and high impact rural eye care. LVPEI was the brainchild of Dr. GN Rao, who after working for 12 years in the United States, was greatly inspired by the quality of eye care provided there. Born in a small village of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Rao was very sensitive to the health problems of the poor and wanted to do something for them. His dream of serving the poor was shared by film producer L.V. Prasad, who wanted to support a project dedicated to enhancement of vision. L.V. Prasad donated a 5 acre plot of land to Dr. Rao to start an eye hospital, along with the equivalent of 1 million US dollars. Dr. Rao named the hospital after L.V. Prasad, to respond to his generosity. Additional funds were generated for the hospital from the United States through the Indo-American Eye Care Society and finally the hospital started operations in 1987. The hospital was built with a keen eye for aesthetics. Dr. Rao did not want the hospital to look or feel like one, instead wanting a sunny and pleasant place with wide corridors and soothing dà ©cor. Dr. Rao wanted to focus on the patient, keeping in mind his dignity, needs and comfort. LVPEI offered services for all types of eye care diseases, from routine cataract surgery to complex procedures such as retinal, corneal and oculoplasty services. Special service facilities were set up for the vulnerable age groups such as children and the elderly. Since it was established in 1987, LVPEI had provided outpatient care to six million and surgical care to more than 585,000 patients, 52% of them free of charge. LVPEI had reached a total of 17 million people, and had built permanent eye care infrastructure in 16 districts of Andhra Pradesh. Vision 2020 – The Right to Sight In order to address the problem of increasing number of global blindness, WHO and the International Association for Prevention of Blindness jointly launched a common agenda for global action: Vision 2020 The Right to Sight. Five conditions were identified as immediate priorities based on their high prevalence, and the affordability of interventions to treat them. These were Cataract, Trachoma, Onchocerciasis, Childhood Blindness and Refractive Errors. PYRAMID OF EYE CARE In order to attain the aim of making eye care accessible to everyone, Rao and his team developed the LVPEI Pyramid of eye care. The main emphasis of this model was to provide eye care at appropriate level, easily accessible and affordable without any compromise in quality. This resulted in the creation of facilities within the community which are linked to higher levels of care. The pyramid consists of 5 levels of care. They are, Community Level Care, Primary Level Care, Secondary Service Centres, Tertiary Care Centres and Centre of Excellence. Community Level Care: The community level care is provided by the vision guardians. They look after the health of 5000 people. They monitor the health of children and elderly by doing door to door campaigns and through other means. They monitor those patients who have had surgery and provide readymade near vision glasses. They also refer those who need eye check up to the appropriate centre. Primary Level Care: The primary eye care is provided at the Vision Centres, managed by the Vision Technicians trained by LVPEI. They screen people at the centre and children at school. They cover a population of 50000. They dispense spectacles as well as educate the people about their use. They also identify people for surgery advanced eye care. Secondary Service Centres: At this level, outpatient services are provided where diagnosis of all eye diseases is done. They perform eye surgeries and also serve as the referral source for tertiary care. They serve a population of 1 lac. There are 11 secondary care centres and 9 partner centres. Tertiary Care Centres: They provide highest quality medical and surgical eye care irrespective of the socioeconomic status. They serve a population of 5 million. They offer finest medical education and surgical training to eye care professionals and also conduct innovative research. Centre of Excellence: It is situated at Hyderabad serving a population of 50 million. It provides services like management of complex cases, training to subspecialists and trainers, rehabilitation, research and capacity building of training centres. This model of LVPEI is so efficient that the Government of India has adopted the same model for eye care service delivery in current five year budget plan. EDUCATION AND TRAINING LVPEI considers training and education as an important factor which can influence the quality of eye health service delivery. The training aims to upgrade the skills of ophthalmologists and equip new entrants to the field with the appropriate skills and knowledge. The institute develops human resources internally through training and education. All the clinical staff, support staff, ophthalmic technicians and eye care administrators undergo a training program before they are recruited for the particular post which helps to maintain quality care across all the levels of care. It has a comprehensive co-operative agreement of mutual benefit in education and research with the University of Rochester Eye Institute, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Wisconsin, Duke University and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in the United States and the University of New South Wales and University of Melbourne in Australia. This gives great opportunity for those who would like to excel in e ye care delivery. RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY LVPEI integrated research as a part of service delivery though it affected the clinical workload and productivity. It was 25 years ago, the research started at Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation (HERF), the research arm of the institute, with the support from Professor Brien Holden of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The research concentrated on molecular genetics of inherited eye diseases, molecular diagnostics for early detection, microbiology of eye infections, biochemical features of cataract and stem cell technology for reconstruction of the damaged ocular outer surface. Research is spread over the centres at Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. It not only conducts clinical research but also clinical trials. Each clinical research project and trial goes through a rigorous examination by Institutional Review Board (IRB), for its scientific and ethical aspects. Only those that are approved are taken up. The projects were supported by the grant s received from the Department of Biotechnology( DBT), Department of Science and Technology(DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), National Eye Institute(NEI, National Institutes of Health), USA. HERF is one of the four pillars of the multinational research and development group called Vision Cooperative Research Centre (operating from Sydney, Australia). It conducts research on a series of clinical studies. Research at the Institute aims to be â€Å"relevant, rigorous and cutting edge†, and hopes to become one of the most productive eye research groups in the world. Towards this aim, there are six initiatives. They are a new Academy for Eye Care Education, Child Sight Institute, Institute for Eye Care for the Elderly, Centre for Ocular Regeneration (CORE), Institute for Eye Cancer, a Centre of Excellence in Eye Banking. The start of SRUJANA (a Sanskrit term meaning creativity), centre for innovation was a milestone. It is a bilateral program between HERF and groups at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RURAL EYE CARE (ICARE) International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care (GPR ICARE), LVPEIs community outreach program, began in May 1998, with the aim of making high-quality, appropriate eye care accessible to all. Objectives LVPEI tried to develop high quality self-sustaining eye care services in neglected areas of India and other parts of the developing world and to train all cadres of eye care personnel for the provision of efficient eye care services. Its objectives include participating in planning eye health initiatives in the developing world to undertake operations and research projects. Also LVPEI collaborated with international NGOs like Operation Eyesight Universal (OEU), in turn to support the hospitals to scale up their capacity to perform affordable cataract surgeries and provide comprehensive eye care services around the world. This support of LVPEI helped the hospitals to increase the number of patients by 100 per cent. Organisational Excellence Rao gives the full credit of organisational excellence to the employees. It is achieved by constant nurturing of its employees by giving continuous education program and training activities at various levels. The culture of the institute is build around quality care. To instil quality consciousness, they conduct presentation once a month at 7am meeting on already audited files and will see how they had complied with the standards. This effort will reinforce the quality consciousness among the employees. Since the organisation is depending on their employees the biggest challenge in front of LVPEI is in finding right people at right position. According to them they don’t want to hire somebody to fill a slot, but need people with exceptional potential. Their recruitment process is unique as they try to bring young people from rural areas and train them both clinical teachings and the culture, which they are following in the institute. They always prefer to have fresh minds over personnel with previous experience, since the experienced people couldn’t follow the institute. LVPEI gives importance to individual growth and career development as well, as they allow doctors to allocate their time at hospital between patient care, education and research. LVPEI culture is highly patient centric, we can see it from their practices like, doctors directly go to the waiting room to fetch the next patient, instead of waiting for the nurse to do so. The closest parking area is reserve d for patients rather than doctors and the staff members. The founder of LVPEI, Gullapalli N Rao, did his graduation in medical science (MBBS) at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and completed his post graduation from AIIMS, Delhi in ophthalmology. He then went to the US in 1974 and came back in 1986 and established LVPEI in 1987 in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). The idea behind this institute is to help poor and needy people in terms of alleviation of blindness. By the technical knowledge and experience gained in India and US and his strong desire and passion toward the work for the poor and needy people develop his leadership quality. DR. RAO’S LEADERSHIP SKILLS As we are talking about the work done by Rao and his leadership under which LVPEI gets the highest level of honor in people’s mind, it is to be emphasized that this is achieved solely by strong desire. Dr. Rao displays basically three kinds of leadership – People oriented leadership Transformational leadership Contingency leadership In People oriented leadership there is a mutual trust that exists between the leader and the followers. Leader is very much concerned about the desire, demand and welfare of his follower and this gains him respect and popularity among the followers. Dr. Rao’s patient- centric approach is clearly seen from his own quotation -â€Å"Patient is king; his dignity, needs and comfort supersede everything also , regardless of whether he pays for it or is treated free of cost†. His nature towards the patients can be understood with the help of certain scenario described by his staff member and patients. For example, in terms of reducing the waiting time of the patient come for the treatment in OPD doctors of the hospital has to walk in the lobby to approach the patient. Another example is about the parking arrangement of the hospital where the area is clearly defined for the staff and the patients come for the treatment. Parking area of the patient is nearer to the hospital as compared to staff so the patient is given prior importance. There are mainly three kinds of qualities which we have observed in a transformational leader charismatic, inspirational and individual consideration. In case of Rao, he is a visionary in nature. He is totally devoted to his goal to alleviate blindness and plan and work accordingly to meet his desired goal. He is very professional and his communication skills are excellent and so people feel comfortable in approaching him. His long term planning quality makes him a charismatic personality. Rao is very good in technical knowledge and skills and these are built on the foundation of his hardworking and passionate nature. His hardworking attitude made him popular in the hospital under the name of ‘Task maker’ and he unwillingly became the inspirational model for many people. By rewarding the staff he motivates them to do best for the hospital and for the patients. He strives to resolve even the personal problems of his staff and provide moral support. Contingency leader is the person who responds according the situation required. In case of Rao many people give different opinion; some would say he is autocratic in nature, some would say he is charismatic but democratic in nature, and further some would say he is very supportive in nature. Actually he responds differently according to the situation required. He becomes autocratic when matters of policy making, decision making, task completion and quality of work are concerned; becomes democratic when we are talking about long term projects and providing help to the staff and he becomes supportive when his staff have any issues may they be personal or professional. Rao’s leadership might be different from other leaders but he is the one who has made LVPEI the pioneer institute for eye care in India. Apart from LVPEI, Aravind Eye Hospital has gained massive popularity among the people. All this has been possible by the transformational leadership of Dr. Venkataswamy, who started this not for profit institute on great Indian mystic Aurobindo’s philosophy. QUALITY MANAGEMENT LVPEI follows standard protocols and processes for providing best quality eye care. By having proper support from appropriate systems, the doctors are able to treat lot of patients in the OP. They are following data driven approach to monitor quality. They periodically review the programs to modify them accordingly and to implement policies. FINANCIAL VIABILITY LVPEI is under the supervision of two not for profit institutes, Hyderabad Eye Institute and Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation. Even after treating a large chunk of patients at free of cost, they managed to generate profit. The main source of income for LVPEI was through cross subsidization of treatment where the treatment cost of poor patients is covered by rich patients. They are receiving donations from like-minded organizations, who support its work. FUTURE OF LVPEI The Indian health care industry is entering into new era with significant changes in greater affordability, increased awareness in patients, and presence of more health care providers. The population opting for health insurance is about 2% in India and about 20-30% of insured patients visit urban hospitals for seeking health care services. Now-a-days patients’ requirements have shifted from good quantity of vision to good quality of vision. There are more specialized clinics that educate patients on various methods of eye treatment and their outcomes. Due to all the above issue LVPEI has been forced to restructure and reorganize its system of delivering eye care facility. ORGANIZATION LIFE CYCLE AND LEADERSHIP A FUTURE PERSPECTIVE Being a 27 years old organization, LVPEI has already reached a state of maturity in its life cycle, which is characterized by delay in decision making, being less proactive, less innovative and more risk-averse. LVPEI has a functionally based structure that is primarily led by doctors and exhibits as fairly centralized. So for this LVPEI has developed a bureaucratic style of functioning and decision making. Its focus is mainly on efficiency rather than novelty. The future head of LVPEI should to be an ophthalmologist having an outstanding track record and who could take forward the organization into a desirable state of its functioning. LVPEI prefers its future head to be a clinical scientist respected both nationally and internationally. COMPARING DR. VENKATASWAMY’S LEADERSHIP WITH DR. RAO Both the legendary leaders from India, who tried to held head up in the global eye care. The main attracting feature of Dr. Venkataswamy’s leadership was his clear vision about the hospital and its function, while Dr. Rao is very much concerned about the needs and welfare of his followers and this make him respectful among the followers. Dr. Rao put emphasis on quality care and highly patient centric approach in the institute’s culture, Dr. Venkataswamy believed in social marketing strategy for the development and expansion. CRITICAL ANALYSIS WITH ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL LVPEI has got a clear cut strategy for community outreach programs, but Aravind eye care lacks clarity on it. LVPEI focused on producing human resources internally, while Aravind eye care preferred persons with experience. LVPEI’s focus is on quality care, Aravind eye care focused on quantity, by increasing the number of patients. CONCLUSION Facing great challenges from both environment and leadership change, LVPEI had set a few goals for itself in the next five years, such as, strengthening its brand as a cutting-edge eye care delivery system, providing good quality of services and education, strengthening the ability of the institute to conduct breaks through clinical research, improving the ability of LVPEI to provide high level community health services, and improving its ability to enhance the capacity of LVPEI to become a role model globally in eye care health delivery system. Ultimately the main focus of LVPEI is to provide eye care facility to 200 million people directly by 2020. LVPEI also aimed to enhance the eye health policy across India and globally through providing quality eye health. Finally Dr. Rao articulated in his dream that, â€Å"when people talk about best eye institutes globally, LVPEI must come up for discussion† REFERENCES: http://www.lvpei.org/

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

A Look At Leadership Psychology Essay

A Look At Leadership Psychology Essay In a changing corporate world, strong leadership is becoming necessity for their survival Bennis nanus,1985.Complexity and chaos are creating emerging concerns in solving problem in business world, which leads more attention to leadership. This in turn has increased arguments how leadership is different from management. Management focus on responsibities and reaching goals effectively and efficiently which means it is the activities that keeps organization running(Huey,1994).However leadership is a role to influence others and guiding them to go in right direction to effectiveness(Bennis Nanus,1985). Three skills required for managers to create success organization includes establishing direction, motivating and inspiring people and aligning people (Cohn,1998).This new leadership role, it puts more pressure on leaders to deal effectively in an environment in which knowledge is an economic resource. Knowledge includes explicit data and statistics as in history and tactic or inner sense. These are considered as key skills of leaders (White, Hodgson, Crainer, 1996).Self awareness is a foundation for tactic knowledge. In the White, et al(1996) self awareness involves the leaders being aware of their strengths and weakness and ability to accept them. Self analysis is a process of raising self awareness. So the key thing here is to collect sufficient and efficient information to make effective decision on ones future for a self managed development. By examining your strengths, weaknesses, skills and competences, a person can get a clear picture of what you are and what you have got. Now a days self awareness has become an important management trait in leadership training. Managerial self awareness is linked to effectivess of leaderships. Managers needs to aware of the areas that needs improvement to do their job well. Asking feedback is an important element in this process. Feedback is known to improve performances of the mangers by motivating to improve and directing to the strategies to improve performance(Ashford Tsui,1991).The credible technique or the developmental assessments used these days are multi-rater feedback or360 feedback or multisource appraisal, peer review and full circle feedback (Church Bracken,1997).This involves a range of raters like peers, co-workers, team leaders, self, supervisors, customers etc to provide feedback by filling a standard questionnaire. The underlying reason to this technique is the improved accuracy that is obtained by asking a wide range of people. This helps to improve future behaviour. However this was opposed by most traditional approach with only one rater that gives global and accurate results than having different rater groups having different way to rate a manager that leads to halo effect (Borman,1974;Zalesny Lirch,1989). Multi rater may not be 100% accurate.  People judge ones personality based on the role that they do and over the period they develop skills to suit the job. Top of that behaviours are interpreted differently by different people   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another limitation on feedback is that sometimes the feedback will be difficult for a person to accept that might bridge a gap in relationship. But these flattering feedbacks might help you increase management skills. It helps to remain cognizant of how ones performance is perceived. If the level of trust is high then people will give you flattering feedback. It is seen that managers who seek negative feedbacks are in more favourable light than managers who are interested in obtaining negative feedbacks. Impression management associated with active feedback seeking increases the perceives managers effectiveness (Ashford Tui,1991). Multi rater system takes over the self rating system as the way manager rates himself or herself is always biased and not reliable. This is human tendency to take credit for success and blame circumstances for failures. So the managers who are likely to access their competencies accurately are more aware of the jobs that they do. They are able to visualise how others see them and change their behaviour accordingly in future which in turn enhances leadership techniques. According to Flavell et. Al(1968), the ability to assess another persons capabilities and tendencies in a given situation and the ability to use this information to communicate more effectively is a skill that is developed with age. The characteristics of social judgement are a function of developmental phase of a human being. Mead (1934) argues that to be aware of ones selfhood, the person must first detach awareness from the inside of oneself and use the exterior vantage point of another person. Taking the role of the other is necessary in this framework, as the context of the self consists of the perception of the social other. Duval and Wicklunds (1972) theory of objective self-awareness takes exception to Meads theory by postulating that self-consciousness occurs because consciousness can focus its attention on the self in the same way that attention is focused on any object.In no way is it assumed that the individual is dependent upon the point of view of the other in the sense that Mead intends. If the object-like nature of the self has been discovered, and stimuli in the environment are such that consciousness turns in the direction of the self, the person will become objectively self-aware (Duval Wicklund,p. 31, 1972). In other words, a person does not need to use the point of view of another person to be self-conscious. Instead, the mature individual has one consciousness ability to focus on different directions. Duval and Wicklund (1972) define objective self-awareness as the state in which the self is the object of consciousness. On the other hand, subjective self-awareness is the state in which the self is not the focus of consciousness. A manager must not only be thoughts, feelings and limitations on himself rather he should be aware of others point of view and include the information in self appraisal (Duval Lalwani, 1999). This can be referred to as other-awareness (Figurski, 1987). Figurski (1987) identified four different kinds of person-awareness to bring clarity to the definition of self-awareness. As seen in Figure 1, the three dimensions of person-awareness are target, perspective, and content. Perspective or tacit awareness (egocentric or allocentric) interacts with the target or focal awareness (self or other) to get content of awareness. Four categories of attention result: self-experience awareness, self-image awareness, other-image awareness, and other-experience awareness. These can occur together in any combination or simultaneously. Figure 1. Figurskis Model of Person Awareness TARGET Self Other Self Experience Awareness (Internal) Other Image Awareness (External) Self Image Awareness (External) Other Experience Awareness (Internal) The figures indicate that people are aware of others experiences almost fifty percent of the time. The self proves to be the dominant focus of attention. Although managers are focusing the majority of their attention to the self, they are not able to accurately judge their own behaviours. As stated above, self-ratings are thought to be unreliable indicators of behaviour for various reasons. However, self-ratings are important as there are some characteristics like intelligence, high achievements status and locus of control are closely related to accurate self evaluation Mabe and West(1982). The greater the individuals level of self awareness the more similarity that is expected between the self assessment and the ratings provided by peers. Numerous other studies have linked various managerial characteristics to more accurate self-evaluations. The discrepancy between self- and other-ratings is also empirically unclear. For example, an elevation in self-ratings could be due to lower ratings in others rather than over-estimation by the self. Individuals who are self-aware are more likely to respond to information from past experiences, thereby becoming more effective and displaying more leadership strengths. There will be a significant relationship between overall managerial leadership effectiveness and congruence in self-other ratings. Individuals who are more self aware are perceived by their managers as good performers. This will be manifested in high performers receiving higher congruence in self-other ratings compared to average performing managers (Hypothesis 1a). In addition, there will be a correlation between the overall leadership measure and higher congruence scores (Hypothesis 1b). In the event that a manager is not self-aware, information on how others perceive the self is not utilized. According to the Figurski (1987) model, the allocentric perspective must be utilized in order for one to be aware of how the self is considered by others. Failure to consider the similarity or differences between the self and others results in perspectives that vary. Effective communication is in turn hindered, because the understanding between people is not clear. Conversely, those who communicate effectively are using information gathered from interactions with others. It is therefore expected that managers with higher communication scores will display more congruent performance data (as reflected in self-rater agreement). (Hypothesis 2.) Previous studies have found that different rater groups draw from different experiences when filling out an individuals performance review, and therefore results can differ by data source (Harris Schaubroeck, 1988; Borman, 1974; Zalesney Kirsch, 1989). Furthermore, individuals tend to focus more on feedback they receive from their managers versus peers or others. Data source (self, manager, peer, and other) is expected to explain variance in self-awareness levels. (Hypothesis 3.) Key Areas for Self-Awareness     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Being a very complex and diverse creature Human beings need to have an understanding in many areas to become self aware. The areas that has to be focused for self- awareness includes psychological needs, personality traits, values, habits, emotions etc.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Understanding our personalities can help us to find the solutions in which we thrive and help us to avoid situation which will give us too much stress and mental pressure. It could be in personal or professional life. For instance an introvert person can find it more stressful in sales job than an extrovert person. So either the person has to learn skills to match the job requirement or should look for other opportunities. So Awareness of personality helps to make a decision that will lead to less stress to lead a happy life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Every person has its own personal values. Awareness of own values will not misguide us to pay more attention to less priority things in a day to day and we would be likely finish what we think is important to us rather than feeling guilty on not finishing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Habits are the behaviours that are repeated routinely and automatically.  Personal habit may affect our effectiveness. For instance if a person who is a manager doesnt have a habit to consult staff in decision making process may affect his ability to build staff members commitment.    Knowing the psychological needs like esteem, affection, possessive, achievement, self actualization, power, control etc will help to understand their effect on interpersonal relationships. Emotional self-awareness is one of the five facets of emotional intelligence. Its about knowing ones feelings, what caused that feeling and how it impacts one thought and action. A person with high emotional self awareness can understand the internal processes of any emotional experience so can have a better control over it How Self-Awareness Makes You More Effective     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Self-awareness promotes skill development by the bridging the gap in management skills. It leads the managers to find effectivess and help in making effective decision, stress management and motivate oneself and others   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Self awareness makes a person aware of the gap between the current and future situation and helps enhancing the skills required for the future situation. Self awareness helps to utilise your strength and manage your weaknesses. For example someone gets tempered when conflict arises. If the person is aware of his weakness then the person should to not be in a situation when the conflict arises or practise to deal with the situation. That will help the person to handle its temper and not to affect others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Managers with emotional awareness are good decision makers. In these changing competitive environments intuitive decision makers can deal with situation with gut feeling and sixth sense. Emotionally aware persons can read their gut feeling and have better sixth sense that help them in decision making process. Jobs that dont suit a persons personality will give more stress than more compatible jobs. This is not like if your qualities are not compatible you cant go ahead with the job but you can put extra effort to develop the skills buy there are other alternative that will be less stressful.  Self awareness is very powerful in revealing what is important for a person to improve performance.   Understanding psychological needs increase motivation and get closer to the rewards that a person deserves.   Understanding what click a person, reason of behaviour, reason of excitement etc can make what triggers others as well. So knowing to motivate yourself can help in know what motivate others. In Summary   To perfect ones management skills the best way to start is getting self aware. With a sense of yourself and vision of what kind a person you are or what you want to become a plan of personal and professional development can be created, its helps to motivate a person, Help to manage stress and help in decision making and helps to lead and motivate others, which makes an effective leader. Knowing yourself is a slow process so we should try hard.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Silence Of The Lambs: The Battle Between Two Evils Essay example -- es

Silence of the Lambs: The Battle Between Two Evils   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the novel, Silence of the Lambs, we see two different extremes of evil. Dr. Chilton is evil in one respect, while Dr. Hannibal Lecter is evil in his own unique way. Dr. Chilton is the man with bad morals and feels the need to control people. He manipulates people into thinking and acting the way he wants them to. Basically he is the type of guy who takes advantage of his job position, who thinks of himself before others and only acts in ways that will benefit himself. Dr. Hannibal Lector, unlike Dr. Chilton, is unable to control his evil even if he wanted to. Dr. Lector is insane and feels the need to kill people just because he thinks they are boring and from his point of view, they do not seem suitable to be human beings. He understands the things he does are evil, but they do not phase him since he is insane. There is no question, Dr. Lecter is a truly evil man, but Dr. Chilton is the worse of the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Chilton must morally change and take responsibility for himself. Dr. Lector is not able to take control of his evil because of the way his distorted mind thinks. Although his mind is distorted, it is still a very powerful mind which he uses to see into the minds of others. He gets into their heads and plays with their minds, internally torturing them. He is a sick man and needs therapy and constant care in a hospital because he is too... Silence Of The Lambs: The Battle Between Two Evils Essay example -- es Silence of the Lambs: The Battle Between Two Evils   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the novel, Silence of the Lambs, we see two different extremes of evil. Dr. Chilton is evil in one respect, while Dr. Hannibal Lecter is evil in his own unique way. Dr. Chilton is the man with bad morals and feels the need to control people. He manipulates people into thinking and acting the way he wants them to. Basically he is the type of guy who takes advantage of his job position, who thinks of himself before others and only acts in ways that will benefit himself. Dr. Hannibal Lector, unlike Dr. Chilton, is unable to control his evil even if he wanted to. Dr. Lector is insane and feels the need to kill people just because he thinks they are boring and from his point of view, they do not seem suitable to be human beings. He understands the things he does are evil, but they do not phase him since he is insane. There is no question, Dr. Lecter is a truly evil man, but Dr. Chilton is the worse of the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Chilton must morally change and take responsibility for himself. Dr. Lector is not able to take control of his evil because of the way his distorted mind thinks. Although his mind is distorted, it is still a very powerful mind which he uses to see into the minds of others. He gets into their heads and plays with their minds, internally torturing them. He is a sick man and needs therapy and constant care in a hospital because he is too...

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Parent-Child Relationship Essay -- Papers Parenting Children Essays

Parent-Child Relationships The topic I have chosen for my paper is that of relationship between parents and children. Some of the points that I will be discussing are child abuse, child neglect and how it can affect a child and the relationship with the parents. A parent-child relationship is a special relationship that has a huge effect on the way that the child will turn out. This relationship is formed through pregnancy, adoption, and step parenting. Parenting requires a great deal of adaptation. The parents want to develop a strong bond with their child but they also want to maintain a healthy marital relationship and adult friendships. Potential parents often ask themselves what they will be like when they are parents and try to recall some experiences when they were children. Mothers are the primary caretakers of the children. The fathers have had minimal care taking responsibilities. Many women, if they had a career before hand, have to give it up to stay at home with the child. Although, many fathers where the wives must work become important in the process of care taking because their role must increase to their children. Studies of human fathers and their infants confirm that many fathers can act sensitively with their infant (according to Parke & Sawin, 1980) and their infants form attachments to both their mothers and fathers at roughly the same age (according to Lamb, 1977). A number of studies have been done on the caretaker’s effects on the child and suggests that the effects may have been caused by child’s behavior as much as by the caretaker’s (according to Bell 1979). The child’s aggression level can be affected by the parent’s authoritarian discipline. â€Å"Parents differ widely in sensing the needs o... ...d friendships later in life and also a good upbringing. Bibliography: References: Daniel L., Davis (2000). The Aggressive Adolescent: Clinical and Forensic Issues Don Baucum (1996). Psychology. New York: Barron’s Company F.L. Marcuse. Areas of Psychology. New York: Harper and Brother’s Publishers Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc. Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc. GE Vol 5, No 3 - Parent-child relationships & Materialism http://www.mra.org.uk/globalex/issue19/pcrels.html Themestream: Parent Child Relationships http://www.themestream.com/tax/Society/Relationships/Parent_Child_Relationships Britannica: Parent/Child Relationships. http://www.britannica.com

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Conflict Between Science and Religion Essay

Conflict is a state of open, often prolonged fighting. Over the ages, conflict between science and religion has developed. Science and religion are commonly perceived as a mutually exclusive contradiction. Both methods and aims of science and religion seem to be different. While science is concerned with materials, religion is linked to spirituality. Science and religion have different aspects in life but also have their own importance and values to people. To choose between the two may be difficult for everyone. It is difficult for me to choose which side to be on. I believe in religion, but also feel science is true but with its limits. History tells us the two have always been in conflict since the beginning of time; religion reigned supreme in every life, but science slowly took its place. Today, science if more important than religion. Science tells us, the first cause is unknowable. But religion says it can be discovered though religious discipline, as God is self-revealed not self-existent. Science is a rational. It believes only on observations and experiments. Through sciences’ teachings, we learn not to believe until it is proven to be true via experiments. Religion, on the other hand, is faith, teaching us to believe and have faith in religious books and teachers. Hence all writings; the ‘Bible’, the ‘Gita’ and the ‘Kuran’ is all true as they are the Gods words. Gods’ existence cannot be proved, but felt through faith. It’s all a matter of faith, not experiments or observations. Science believes that nothing is true, but the truths are tentative. What is right today can be proven wrong the next hence begins experimentation and observations. At one time Earth was supposed to be motionless and the sun goes round it. A time came when science proved it wrong and showed that Earth goes round the sun. Likewise, Newton’s gravitational laws held the days till Einstein came up with the theory of relativity. This way science advanced toward truth as absolute. Religion and religious books are absolute truth. Criticisms of these teachings are violently condemned and know to be a heretic. In the past, those questioning religion were mercilessly punished and mistreated. Galileo’s example comes to mind during the controversy over heliocentrism and geocentrism, between the Catholic Church and empirical scientists. Galileo had many controversies, but the star that got him into trouble was the idea that the sun orbiting the Earth. Older views, inherited from Ptolemy, was that the sun and all heavenly bodies around the Earth, the centre of the universe. Later churches found explanations for geocentrism in Christian scripture: â€Å"You have established the Earth on its foundations; it cannot be moved†. (Blackwell, 2002). But the Churches and Galileo’s conflict was not allegiance to literal interpretation of the Bible. Science advances from particular to general principle and laws. As a result, Newton saw an apple falling. He observed numerous similarities and phenomena and on his basis of observation developed his famous gravitational laws. On the other hand, religion works from the general to the particular, with entirely different methods compared to science. Scientific theories are based on a much sounder foundation than the religious principles. Religion has lost ground since the advance of science. Truth has been subjected to analysis by science, one after another. In the end it’s all proven wrong. For example; religion believes that the universe is one of Gods many creation. Science disagrees with this and says that particle collision and explosion is what created the universe. To date this theory of science has been proven wrong with thousand of scientist working to prove â€Å"God Wrong†. People have lost faith in religion and to people science appears more rational and convincing, conquering their hearts with its practical values. The application of its laws provides man comfort and luxuries, religion has no such material. What religion has no one will know till u reach eternal faith and peace. Religion has one thing and one thing only power. Science has its limitations. Humans have a body as well as a spirit. Science only deals with the body; the body cannot do without the spirit. Science gives comforts, religion alone give men the courage to struggle against all odds. We may even face death itself, with a smile and open arms. Religion brings humans their wondered spirit. In the end, it is said religion is a social phenomenon, personal and individual beliefs. Religion may have been weakened by science as it is a phenomenon. Science has not touch religion at least in its personal and individual aspects. People today still have faith in the name of religion like Pope Benedict XVI who remain unshaken and make many sacrifices in religious beliefs. Therefore it would be wrong to say science has humans irreligious or a mortal enemy.

Outdoor Advertising and Product Placement Essay

The media tools that we suggest for Anlene is outdoor advertising which is under the traditional media channel. Outdoor advertising is any advertisement that publicizes the product and services at outdoor. There are more than 40 types of outdoor advertising, with billboards being the most widely recognized media. Types of outdoor advertising include bus benches billboards, taxis, poster and so on. Billboard advertising is one of the most popular ways of advertising outdoors because it seems everyone notices those big billboards when they are driving, being a passenger in a car, or walking down the street. Billboard advertising can be large and spectacular, making passenger major attention getting device. Anlene can be choosing a specific and great geographic area can works well for promoting the product. It can target the potential peoples in particular area. It is a large billboard advertising that can found in highway, traffic area, city area and so on. If Anlene can build a billboard on a potential placement, it can catch people’s attention and create a memorable impression. After them leaving the billboard, they will recall back the advertisement that driven past it. Driver must pay attention to the traffic as they travel by the billboard. Anlene can choose some area which normally occur traffic jam. When people stuck in slow-moving traffic, they will spend more time to look at the billboard. Driver usually read the billboard while passed at high speed so it should have large and clear word print or arresting image in brilliant colour. Anlene can use clear and simple billboard so that it can easily bring an impression and message to viewer. Since a billboard stay in the same place for a period of a month or more, people who drive by or walk past, they will see the same billboard a number of times. Since the people who see the billboard of Anlene number of time, it wills quickly gaining the popularity of Anlene brand. As we know, the colour of Anlene is already created an impression for customer which is green and white. Therefore, the billboard of Anlene is using green and white colour so that when driver view by far away, they automatically can notice that the billboard advertising is Anlene. Anlene can have a creative and using colour to attract the viewer, it have more impact. Digital billboard also kind of outdoor advisement, it can show the creative and the colour of Anlene to catch attention of people. But digital billboard more likely have to build in traffic area, airport and some of the place that can take a few minutes to watch it. Billboard is a 24 hour exposure advertisement, it is more catch more attention of viewer than others media tools. Product placement The second media tools we suggest for Anlene is product placement which is under alternative marketing tools. Product placement is an advertising technique used by companies to promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media. Product placements are often initiated through an agreement between a product manufacturer and the media company in which the media company receives economic benefit. A company will often pay a fee to have their product used, displayed, or significantly featured in a movie or show. Anlene companies are trying to promoting their products in popular movies and television shows. These advertisements can be seen in popular films. Due to the major success of advertising in movies and TV shows, the marketers move on to the next level and started to use web videos, video games, music videos and other entertainment mediums. Product placement offers several advantages to manufacturers, producers and movie stars. It provided Anlen companies with an opportunity to be associated with famous actors and to use movie footage and stills to conveniently advertise the products. As it pertains to the producers and actors, they earned substantial amount in fees as well as the chance to endorse brands in various film. When a star uses a branded product in a film, there’s an implied celebrity endorsement of that product. This can create a high level of awareness and a strong emotional connection to that product. A high profile star may draw more attention to Anlene product. It can change audiences purchase behaviours and creating favourable practitioners’ views on the brand. Product placement is and investment for brands that trying to reach audience. There are strong reasons for investors to expect that film product placement will increase consumer awareness of particular brand. Product placement can let people to recognize Anlene brand names that appeared in the movies. Anlene can place their product to fits with the image of film. When Anlene brand product placement is done well, it allows consumers to see the brand whether they watch their favourite film at home on television, by renting a DVD or online on their computer. The purpose is to achieving the audience exposure, attention and interest. It helps Anlene to increase their brand awareness and also make consumer create instant recognition in the media vehicle. High involvement is required to view a movie than for viewing television. A majority of movie watchers have a positive attitude toward this form of marketing communication, feeling it is preferable to commercials shown on the screen before the movie. More frequent viewers and they will enjoy movie more and pay more attention to product placement in the movie. Product and brands nowadays can expand into video games and even creating their own games. Active product placement in computer games can have positive effects. Anlene can exposure their product in a computer game can increase the brand attitude among consumers whose original attitude toward the brand is fairly low. Product placement within computer games has been found to be an effective mean of building high brand recall and even of influencing consumers less positively predisposed toward the brand.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Evaluate Thomas Jefferson Presidency

The election of 1800 was a tight race and a tie broken by the House of Representatives, led to the election of Thomas Jefferson as the third president of the United States. Thomas Jefferson was in office as president for two terms, serving from 1801-1809. As a whole, Thomas Jefferson had a very positive presidency even though there were a few setbacks throughout. There were many significant events that happened during these eight years and the most well known would be: the Louisiana Purchase, the undeclared Barbary War, and the trade acts imposed due to problems with France and Britain .All great things must come to an end and Jefferson was succeeded by John Adams. America is a superpower and Thomas Jefferson was a great impact to all that as been accomplished as a nation. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803, was the greatest accomplishment of Jefferson in his presidency. The French under Napoleon had a great deal of economic problems already and maintaining the land in the west was a lot to handle so they sold it to the United States. In addition, France was fighting Britain and they needed more money and they wanted to only sell New Orleans at first, but ended up selling the whole territory (Henretta).At the time they sold this territory for 15 million dollars which ended up being about two cents an acre(Holmes). This purchase was very positive because this territory doubled the United States territory and this was great for them in order with westward expansion and exploration of the west. This expansion led to Lewis and Clark to explore the new lands. They were sent to experience the plants, animals, geography, and to learn how this region could be exploited economically. Without Jefferson in power, this expedition that they set out on may not have been accomplished and the United States may have not been so advanced at this time.At the time of the purchase, buying it was deemed unconstitutional but Thomas Jefferson went through with it anyway. The purpose at th e time was to get French out of this region all together to protect our trade on the port of New Orleans. Also, it was to protect the free passage along the Mississippi River. Not only was this one of the greatest accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson's presidency, but may have been one of the greatest events in America's history. During Thomas Jefferson’s presidency another event that is very significant would be the undeclared Barbary Wars.During this time, a reason this is so remembered, Jefferson was spending a lot of the country’s money. The Barbary States were off of North Africa and leading up to this undeclared war, they were seizing the international ships and holding the crews hostage for ransom money. At the time, he wanted to avoid all out war which would increase taxes and national debt which at this point he was very right (Henretta). This was particularly dangerous for the country because at the time there was not a strong navy.Merchants were in danger eve ry time they went out on the water. As a nation, the United States defeated the Barbary States and that led to not paying the Barbary people money. These tensions may have been negative during the time, but as we look back on history, Jefferson did the right thing for the country and him defeating these pirates really reflects on his presidency being very positive for the United States. Lastly, major trade problems with Britain and France and relationships were very important to Jefferson’s presidency.With all of these problems many acts were passed in order to relive the tension. The United States wanted to be neutral during problems between Britain and France, but somehow always ended up right in the middle. One of the first acts that was imposed was the Nonintercourse Act(1806), and that halted importation of British products. This did little to no harm to the British so in 1809 trade with Britain was reopened. Another act that was imposed on America was the Embargo Act wh ich prohibited all trade and this really hurt New England the most.This hurt New Englanders so much that it caused many of them to side with Pinckney in the 1808 election. Even though some may have sided, John Adams won the election and succeeded Thomas Jefferson. This was a rough patch to his presidency, but despite the few foreign affairs he did a great job with dealing with France and Britain during these times. Thomas Jefferson was one of the very first presidents of the United States and his presidency is one of many that have made America the super power that it is.Each president that lasts the full two terms must have been liked by many to stay in the office for eight years so he definitely did something right. Jefferson purchased territory that nearly doubled America’s size, defeated the Barbary pirates in â€Å"undeclared war†, and although there were many foreign affairs during this time he handled them very well. He is one that is remembered and will continu e to be remembered through time for all of the positive things he accomplished. Thomas Jefferson had a very positive presidency and in eight years did a lot for Americans and has been apart of shaping the nation.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Chapter One Overview of Information Systems

1. 1 Introduction When Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, saw a demonstration of the telephone in the late 1800s, he reportedly commented that while it was a wonderful invention, businessmen would never use it. Hayes believed that people had to meet face to face to conduct substantive business affairs, and he was not alone in that assessment.Few of Hayes's contemporaries could foresee the profound changes that would be ushered in by the telephone and other technologies of the day, including steam engines, production machinery; transportation technologies such as railroads and automobiles, and communication technologies such as the telegraph and telephone. As we are in the 21st century, we are once again experiencing an intense period of technology-enabled innovation, creativity, and excitement that has been spurred by the information and telecommunications technologies and associated changes in our life, work and society.We are now in  the information/kno wledge age — a time when information and knowledge are power. Leading industrial countries are transforming from industrial-based economies to information/knowledge-based economy. Information is everywhere. Information and knowledge have become critical, strategic assets for most organizations. We live in an â€Å"information society,† where power and wealth increasingly depend on information and knowledge as central assets. It is a new world of doing business.Business and other organizations all over the world are focusing on information and knowledge as their key strategic resources. All firms today, large and small, local and global, use information systems to achieve important business objectives, such as operational efficiency, customer and supplier intimacy, better decision making, and new products and services. A continuing stream of information technology innovations from the Internet to wireless networks to digital phone is continuing to transform the business world.These innovations are enabling entrepreneurs and innovative traditional firms to create new products and service, develop new business models, and transform the day-to-day conduct of business. In the process, some old businesses, even industries, are being destroyed while new businesses are springing up. In 2005, journalist Thomas Friedman wrote an influential book declaring the world was ‘flat’ by which he meant that the Internet and global communications had greatly reduced the economic and cultural advantages of developed countries. U. S. nd European countries were in a fight for their economic lives, competing for jobs, markets, resources, and even ideas with highly educated, motivated populations in low-wage areas in the less developed world. The globalization trend of the world economy greatly enhances the value of information systems to the organizations. In today's global business environment, information technology is creating new opportunities for organ izational coordination and innovation. Organizations require powerful information and communication systems to manage business on an international scale.Manufacturers are using information systems to order supplies and distribute goods faster than ever before; financial institutions are employing them to transfer billions of dollars around the world electronically; investors are using them to make multimillion-dollar decisions. This globalization presents you and your business with both challenges and opportunities. The challenge for you as a business student is to develop high-level skills through education and on-the-job experience that cannot be outsourced. Information systems will continue to change our business, society and lives.Information system and technologies will also play large roles in your career. Along with the changes in business come changes in job and careers. No matter whether you are a finance, accounting, management, marketing, operations management, or informa tion systems major, how you work, where you work, and how well you are compensated will all be affected by business information systems. When interviewing potential employees, business firms often look for new hires who know how to use information technologies and systems for achieving bottom-line business results.It is widely recognized that understanding information systems is essential for managers and employees because most organizations need information systems to survive and prosper. Employees will depend on the information systems to increase their productivity. Management will use the information systems to improve their decision-making processes. Thus the knowledge of information systems and the ability to put this knowledge to work can result in a successful personal career. The knowledge and skill you learn from this subject will be valuable throughout your business career. 1. Computer Literacy and Information System Literacy Today, computers are everywhere: at work, at s chool, and at home. Many daily activities either involve the use of or depend on information from a computer. Computer advances impact all individuals, families, organizations, and schools (see Figure 1-1). Computers already are an essential part of people's daily lives, as much as the automobile, television, and telephone. Computers are taking on many new roles — providing vast information resources, fast communications, effective learning tools, and powerful support for activities in businesses, schools, and homes.Information systems and technologies have become a vital component of successful businesses and organizations. They thus constitute an essential field of study in business administration and management. Almost any career in your future will involve a computer in some way. You probably recognize that it will not be easy to get through the rest of your life without knowing about computers and information systems. In today's technology-rich world, a great demand for computer and information systems professionals exists and continues to grow.The computer and information systems industries offer many rewarding careers and jobs, but require a unique combination of hands-on computing skills, creative problem solving ability, and an understanding of business needs. In preparing yourself to enter today's fast-paced, ever-changing, and information-intense business environment, you need to understand the new thinking in business. Managers and professionals such as engineers, scientists, or architects are collectively known as knowledge workers, since their main contribution to the activities in which they are involved is their knowledge and skills.The term literacy has been used to describe two types of knowledge that are key to succeed as a knowledge worker in today's information/knowledge-based business environment. One kind of knowledge is computer literacy; the other is information systems literacy. The knowledge and understanding of computer syste ms and the ways they function are called computer literacy. Computer literacy focuses primarily on knowledge of information technology. This knowledge includes an understanding of computer terminology, recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of the computer, and an ability to use the computer.It also stresses computer equipment and devices (hardware), programs and instructions (software), databases, networking, and telecommunications. The requirements that determine computer literacy change as technology changes. As you study about computers, you will become aware of their importance, their versatility, and their pervasiveness in our society. There is no better way to understand computer systems than through interacting with one. So being computer literate also means being able to use computers for some type of applications. However, no one expects you to become a computer expert.Today, information systems provide the communication and analytic power that firms need for conducti ng trade and managing businesses on a global scale. In addition to understanding computers, the modern knowledge worker should have information systems literacy. From an organizational perspective, an information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, to a challenge posed by today's dynamic environment. To fully understand information systems, you must understand the broader organization, management, and information technology dimensions of information systems (see Figure 1-2).Figure 1-2 Organization, management, and information technology dimensions of information systems Information systems are integral part of organizations. The key elements of an organization are its people, structure, operating procedures, politics, and culture. Organizations are composed of different levels and specialties. Different levels and specialties in an organization create different interests and points of view. Information systems come out of this cauldr on of differing perspectives, conflicts, compromises, and agreements that are a natural part of all organizations.Management's job is to make sense out of the many situations faced by organizations, make decisions, and formulate action plans to solve organizational problems. Managers perceive business challenges in the environment, they set the organizational strategy for responding and allocate the human and financial resources to achieve the strategy and coordinate the work. The business information systems in organizations reflect the hopes, dreams, and realities of the managers. Information technology is one of many tools managers use to cope with change.Information technology infrastructure provides the foundation or platform on which the firm can build its specific information systems. Each organization must carefully design and manage its information technology infrastructure so that it has the set of technology services it needs for the work it wants to accomplish with infor mation systems. Let us use UPS's package tracking system to identify the organization, management, and technology elements. The organization element anchors the package tracking system in UPS's sales and production functions (the main product of UPS is a service–package delivery).It specifies the required procedures for identifying packages with both sender and recipient information, taking inventory, tracking the packages en route, and providing package status reports for UPS customers and customer service representatives. The system must also provide information to satisfy the needs of managers and workers. UPS's management is responsible for monitoring service levels and costs and for promoting the company's strategy of combining low-cost and superior service.Management decided to use automation to increase the ease of sending a package via UPS and of checking its delivery status, thereby reducing delivery costs and increasing sales revenues. The technology supporting this system consists of handheld computers, barcode scanners, wired and wireless communications networks, desktop computers, UPS's central computer, storage technology for the package delivery data, UPS package tracking software, and software to access the World Wide Web. The result is an information system solution to the business challenge of providing a high level of service with low prices in the face of mounting competition.Therefore, information systems literacy is knowledge of how and why data, information, knowledge, computer, and information technology are used by organizations and individuals. It includes not only knowledge of computer technology but also aspects of the broader range of information technology. Information systems literacy can involve knowledge of how and why people use information technology; knowledge of organizations, decision-making approaches, management levels, and information needs; and knowledge of how organizations can use information systems to achiev e their goals.Thus, the key aspect of information systems literacy is knowing how to deploy information technology to help an organization achieve its business goals and to gain a competitive advantage. In general, knowing about various types of hardware and software is an example of computer literacy. Knowing how to use hardware and software to increase profits, cut costs, improve productivity, increase customer satisfaction, and improve management decision-making is an example of information systems literacy. Information system literacy includes a ehavioral as well as a technical approach to studying information systems. The field of management information systems (MIS) tries to achieve this broader information systems literacy. One of the main objectives of this course is to lay the foundation for information systems literacy. 1. 3 Data and Information Today, information is one of an organization's most important and valuable resources. Organizational information systems contain information about people, places, things, ideas and events within the organization and in the environment surrounding it.By information we mean data that have being processed into a form that is meaningful and useful to the recipient. Data are therefore the raw facts for producing information. The relation of data to information is that of raw material to finished product. The information systems process data in unusable form into a usable form that is information for intended recipient. As the simplified example shown in Figure 1-3, the student name, ID number, semester, curse codes, and course grades all represent data. The computer processes the data to produce the grade information (report). | | Figure 1-3 The process of transforming data into information| Organizational activities require information. Producing products, assigning workers, making sales, billing amounts due, and providing customer services are examples of activities that use information. Data represents real-wor ld facts, such as an employee's name, weekly sales, customer numbers, or product inventory. Data items are organized for processing purpose into data structures, file structure, database, and data warehouse. Data are simply raw facts and has little value beyond its existence.Information systems manipulate and process data to create information. The information in an information system take a variety of forms including text, numbers, pictures, sounds, animations and videos. The value of information is described most meaningful in the context of a decision. In other words, the value of information is directly linked to how it helps decision-makers achieve their organization's goals. If there were no current or future choices or decisions affected by a piece of information, the information would be unnecessary.It is cited frequently in explaining why information systems that collect vast amounts of data often fail to satisfy managerial information needs. The value of information might be measured in following three dimensions: * Content — information should be accurate, relevant, and complete * Time — information should be timely and current * Form — information should be provided at the appropriate level of detail and in the most appropriate form. More specifically, information should have certain characteristics to make it valuable.The characteristics of valuable information include being accurate, verifiable, timely, organized, meaningful, useful, and cost effective. * Accurate information is correct information. Inaccurate information often is worse than no information, because inaccurate information can lead to incorrect decisions. For example, you assume that your transcript correctly list your grades. If your transcript incorrectly reports low grades in your major courses, a potential employer might deny you an interview. * Verifiable information means that the information can be confirm by the user.For example, before relying on the c umulative GPA on your transcript, a potential employer might want to check that the GPA is calculated correctly. The potential employer can verify the accuracy of the accumulated GPA by calculating it from the individual semester GPA values. * Timely information has an age suited to its use. Your transcript, for example, has value for a potential employer only if the employer receives it in time to make a hiring decision. Although most information loses its value with time, some information, such as information on trends, gains value as time passes and more information is obtained.Your transcript, for example, gains value as you complete more coursework because it reflects your work ethic and dedication over a time period. * Meaningful information is relevant to the person who receives it. Because certain information is meaningful only to specific individuals or groups, unnecessary information should be eliminated. * Cost-effective information costs less to produce than the value of the resulting information. Most organizations periodically review the information they produce in reports to determine if the reports provide valuable information.Based on that review, the companies can determine whether to continue, scale back, or even eliminate these reports. The need for timely information can change for each business decision. Some decisions require weekly or monthly information while other decisions require daily information. Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation. In some industries such as insurance and construction, information that is a few days or weeks old can be relevant, while in other industries such as 911 centers and stock trading information that is a few minutes old can be almost worthless.Real-time information means immediate, up-to-date information. Real-time systems provide real-time information in response to query requests. Many organizations use real-time systems to exploit key corporate transactional informatio n. Real-time systems provide valuable information for supporting corporate strategies such as customer relationship management. The growing demand for real-time information stems from organizations’ need to make faster and more effective decisions, keep smaller inventories, operate more efficiently, and track performance more carefully.Nevertheless, timeliness is relative. Organizations need fresh, timely information to make good decisions. Information also needs to be timely in the sense that it meets employees’ needs, but no more. If employees can absorb information only on an hourly or daily basis, there is no need to gather real-time information in smaller increments. Many people request real-time information without understanding one of the biggest pitfalls associated with real-time information’s continual change. Imagine the following scenario: Three managers meet at the end of the day to discuss a business problem.Each manager has gathered information at different times during the day to create a picture of the situation. Each manager’s picture may be different because of this time discrepancy. Their views on the business problem may not match since the information they are basing their analysis on is continually changing. This approach may not speed up decision making, and may actually slow it down. Organizations must evaluate the timeliness of the information required for each business decision. Organizations do not want to find themselves using real-time information to make a bad decision faster.Information and knowledge are becoming the foundation for many new products and services. Information/ knowledge-intense products such as computer games require a great deal of knowledge to produce. Entire new information-based services have sprung up, such as Lexis, Dow Jones News, and America Online. These fields are employing millions of people. Information technology constitutes more than 75 percent of the invested capital in s ervice industries such as finance, insurance, and real estate. Knowledge is used more intensively in the production of traditional products as well.In the automobile industry, both design and production now rely heavily on knowledge and information technology. 1. 4 Information Systems 1. 4. 1 The Concept of System System concepts underlie the field of information systems. A system is a set of elements or components that operate together to accomplish an objective. Many examples of systems can be found in the physical and biological sciences, in modern technology, and in human society. A system (sometimes called a dynamic system) has three basic interacting components or functions: *   Input involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed.For example, raw materials, energy, data, and human effort must be secured and organized for processing. * Processing involves transforming processes that convert input into output. Examples are a manufacturing pro cess, the human breathing process, or mathematical calculations. * Output involves transferring elements that have been produced by a transformation process to their ultimate destination. For example, finished products, human services, and management information must be transmitted to their human users. The system concept becomes even more useful by including two additional components: feedback and control.A system with feedback and control components is sometimes called a cybernetic system, that is, a self-monitoring, self-regulating system. * Feedback is data about the performance of a system. For example, data about sales performance is feedback to a sales manager. * Control involves monitoring and evaluating feedback to determine whether a system is moving toward the achievement of its goal. The control function then makes necessary adjustments to a system's input and processing components to ensure that it produces proper output.For example, a sales manager exercises control wh en reassigning salespersons to new sales territories after evaluating feedback about their sales performance. 1. 4. 2 Information Systems An information system is a specialized type of system and can be defined in a number of different ways. An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated information technology components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute data and information and provide a feedback/control mechanism to meet an objective.From a business perspective, information systems can be defined as a combination of hardware, software, and telecommunications networks which people build and use to collect, create, and distribute useful data and information, typically in organizational settings. Information systems support managers and workers make decisions, control operations, analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products and services. An information system contains information about an organization and it s surrounding environment.The basic activities of input, processing and output in an information system produce the information that organization need for decision-making and operations. An information system also requires feedback and control components to meet an objective (see Figure 2-4). | Figure 1-4 An information system| In an information system, input is the activity of gathering and capturing raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. For example, in producing paychecks, the number of hours worked for every worker must be collected before the pay amounts can be calculated and checks can be printed.Processing involves converting or transforming data into more meaningful form. Processing can involve making calculations, making comparisons and taking alternative actions, and storing data for future use. In the payroll example, the required processing may first involve calculating gross pay. If weekly hours worked are greater than 40 hours, overtime pay must be determined. Then deductions are subtracted from gross pay to get net pay. Output involves producing useful information in a proper form such as reports, paychecks or documents, and transferring the processed information to the user.In some cases, output from one information system can become input for another. Information systems also provide feedback/control mechanism to allow people to evaluate the performance of the systems and make necessary changes to input or processing activities. Information technologies (IT) are tools used to build information systems. Information technologies include hardware, software, database, networks, and other related components. Information systems use and integrate these technologies to meet the information needs of different users.The information technology, then, must support the goal of the information system, which is to provide accurate, timely, relevant, complete, well-formatted information that users value. Computer architecture ensures a fit between information systems and technologies. Computers are valuable tools. As technology advances and computers extend into every facet of daily living, computers have become an essential part of organizational information processing because of the power of the technology and the volume of data to be processed.When we use the term information systems, we are referring to computer-based information systems (CBIS) — organizational information systems that rely on computer technology to collect, process, store and disseminate information. A CBIS is composed of hardware, software, database, telecommunications, people, and protocols/procedures, as shown in Figure 1-5. | | | Figure 1-5 The components of an information system| In a computer-based information system, hardware consists of physical computer equipment and associated devices used to perform input, processing, and output activities.Software is a broad term given to the instructions that direct the operatio n of the hardware. Database contains all data utilized by application software. Telecommunications is the electronic transmission of signals for communications and enables organizations to link computer systems into effective networks. Information systems personnel include all the people who develop, program, operate, manage, use and maintain the information systems. Protocols are standards and guidelines used for designing and deploying information systems.Procedures include strategies, policies, methods, and rules for developing, managing and using the information systems. Although computer-based information systems use computer technology to process raw data into meaningful information, there is a sharp distinction between a computer system and an information system. Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of modern information systems. Computer systems provide the equipment and software for processing, storing and distributing information. Knowing how computer systems work is important in esigning solutions to organizational problems, but computer systems are only part of an information system. Computers and programs alone cannot produce the information a particular organization needs. To understand information systems, you must understand the problems they are designed to solve, their architectural and design elements, and the organizational processes that lead to these solutions. In other words, to be information systems literate as opposed to computer literate, you must understand the broader organization, management, and technology dimensions of information systems. 1. 4. Enterprise System Architectures System architecture refers to the arrangement of software, hardware, and tasks in an information system needed to achieve a specific functionality. To support the volume and complexity of today’s users and application requirements, information technology needs to take a fresh appro ach to enterprise system architectures by constructing smarter, more flexible environments that protect from system failures and crashes. Enterprise system architectures include the plans for how an organization will build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and IT assets.A unified enterprise system architecture will standardize enterprisewide hardware and software, with tighter links to the business strategy. A solid enterprise system architecture can decrease costs, increase standardization, promote reuse of IT assets, and speed development of new systems. The right enterprise system architecture can make IT cheaper, strategic, and more responsive. Enterprise system architectures are never static; they continually change. Organizations use enterprise system architects to help manage change.An enterprise system architect is a person grounded in technology, fluent in business, a patient diplomat, and provides the important bridge between IT and the business. An enterprise s ystem architect is expensive and generally receives a salary of $180,000 per year on average. Companies that have created solid enterprise system architectures are reaping huge rewards in savings, flexibility, and business alignment. Basic enterprise architectures contain three components, as shown in Figure 2-6. | | |   Ã‚   Figure 1-6 Three components of enterprise system rchitecture| Information Architecture Information architecture identifies where and how important information, like customer records, is maintained and secured. A single backup or restore failure can cost an organization more than time and money; some data cannot be recreated, and the business intelligence lost from that data can be tremendous. Three primary areas an enterprise information architecture should focus on include back up and recovery, disaster recovery, and information security. Each year businesses lose time and money because of system crashes and failures.One way to minimize the damage of a syste m crash is to have a backup and recovery strategy in place. A backup is an exact copy of a system’s information. Recovery is the ability to get a system up and running in the even of a system crash or failure and includes restoring the information backup. Organizations should choose a backup and recovery strategy that is in line with its business goals. If the organization deals with large volumes of critical information, it will require daily backups, perhaps even hourly backups, to storage servers.Deciding how often to back up information and what media to use is a critical business decision. If an organization decides to back up on a weekly basis, then it is taking the risk that, if a total system crash occurs, it could lose a week’s worth of work. If this risk is unacceptable, then the organization needs to move to a daily backup strategy. Some organizations find the risk of losing a day’s worth of work too high and move to an hourly backup strategy. Two tec hniques used to help in case of system failure are fault tolerance and failover.Fault tolerance is a computer system designed that in the event a component fails, a backup tolerance can be provided with software, or embedded in hardware, or provide by some combination. Failover is a backup operational mode in which the functions of a computer component are assumed by secondary system components when the primary component becomes unavailable through either failure or scheduled downtime. A failover procedure involves automatically offloading tasks to a standby system component so that the procedure si as seamless as possible to the end user.Disasters such as power outages, floods, and even harmful hacking strike businesses every day. Organizations must develop a disaster recovery plan to prepare for such occurrences. A disaster recovery plan is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood. A comprehensive disaster recovery plan takes into consideration the location of the backup information. Many organizations store backup information in an off-site facility. A hot site is a separate and fully equipped facility where the company can move immediately after a disaster and resume business.A cold site is a separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a disaster. Security professionals are under increasing pressure to do the job right and cost-effectively as networks extend beyond organizations to remote users, partners, and customers, and to cell phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices. Regulatory requirements to safeguard data have increased. Concerns about identify theft are at an all-time high. Hacking and other unauthorized access contribute to the approximately 10 million instances of identity theft each, according to the Federal Trade Commission.A good information architecture includes a strong information security plan, along with managing user access and up-to-data antivirus software and patches. Managing user access to information is a critical piece of the information architecture. There is little doubt that security is a top priority for business managers, regardless of the size of their company. The main focus for most managers is preventing hackers, spammers, and other malcontents from entering their networks, and they are looking to enhance their network-security-management, intrusion-detection, content-filtering, and anti-spam software.Infrastructure Architecture Infrastructure architecture includes the hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provide the underlying foundation to support the organization’s goals. As an organization changes, its systems must be able to change to support its operations. If an organization grows by 50 percent in a single year, its systems must be able to handle a 50 percent growth rate. Systems that cannot adapt to orga nizational changes can severely hinder the organization’s ability to operate. The future of an organization depends on its ability to meet its artners and customers on their terms, at their pace, any time of the day, in any geographic location. The following are the five primary characteristics of a solid infrastructure architecture: 1. Flexibility: Organizations must watch today’s business, as well as tomorrow’s, when designing and building systems. Systems must be flexible enough to meet all types of business changes. For example, a system night be designed to include the ability to handle multiple currencies and languages, even though the company is not currently performing business in other countries.When the company starts growing and performing business in new countries, the system will already have the flexibility to handle multiple currencies and languages. If the company failed to recognize that its business would someday be global, it would need to red esign all its systems to handle multiple currencies and languages, not easy once systems are up and running. 2. Scalability: Scalability refers to the ability of a system to increase in size as demand warrants. If an organization grows faster than anticipated, it might all types of performance degradations, ranging from running out of storage space to a slowdown in transaction speeds.Capacity planning determines the future IT infrastructure requirements for new equipment and additional network capacity. Performing a capacity plan is one way to ensure the IT infrastructure is scalable. There are three steps you can take to meet the demands for service at your system: scale hardware vertically, scale hardware horizontally, and improve the processing architecture of the system. Vertical scaling refers to increasing the processing poser of individual components. Horizontal scaling refers to employing multiple computers to share the workload and increase the ‘footprint’ of t he installation.Improving the processing architecture is a combination of vertical and horizontal scaling, combined with artful design decisions. 3. Reliability: Reliability ensures all systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information. Reliability is another term for accuracy when discussing the correctness of systems within the context of efficiency IT metrics. 4. Availability: High availability refers to a system or component that is continuously operational for a desirably long length of time. Availability is typically measured relative to 100 percent operational.A widely held but difficult-to-achieve standard of availability for a system is known as ‘five 9s’ (99. 999 percent) availability. Systems, however, must come down for maintenance, upgrades, and fixes. One challenge organizations face is determining when to schedule system downtime if the system is expected to operate continually. Many organizations overcome this problem by having redunda nt systems, allowing the organization to take one system down by switching over to a redundant system. 5. Performance: Performance measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction.Not having enough performance capacity can have a devastating, negative impact on a business. People usually use IT metrics to measure the system architecture. Efficiency IT metrics measure the performance of the IT system including throughout, speed and availability. Effective IT metrics measure the impact of the IT system on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases. Application Architecture Application architecture determines how applications integrate and relate to each other.Advances in integration technology are providing new ways for designing more agile, more responsive enterprise architectures that provide the kind of value businesses need. With these new architectures, IT can build new business capabiliti es faster, cheaper, and in a vocabulary the business can understand. Web services promise to be the next major frontier in computing. Web services contain a repertoire of Web-based data and procedural resources that use shared protocols and standards permitting different applications to share data and services.The major application of Web services is the integration among different applications. Before Web services, organizations had trouble with interoperability. Interoperability is the capability of two or more computer systems to share data and resources. If a supply chain management system can share data with a customer relationship management system, interoperability exists between the two systems. Web services encompass all the technologies that are used to transmit and process information on and across a network, most specifically the Internet.A Web service is really a piece of reusable software code. A software developer can quickly build a new application by using many of t hese pieces of reusable code. For example, a ‘Deposit’ Web service for a banking system might allow customers to perform the task of depositing money to their accounts. The Web service could be used by a bank teller, by the customer at an ATM, and by the customer performing an online transaction through a Web browser. The trick to building Web service is finding the right level of granularity.An open system is a broad, general term that describes nonproprietary IT hardware and software made available by the standards and procedures by which their products work, making it easier to integrate them. The designs of open systems allow for information sharing. In the past different systems were independent of each other and operated as individual islands of control. The sharing of information was accomplished through software drivers and devices that routed data allowing information to be translated and shared between systems.Open system integration is designed to: * Allow sy stems to seamlessly share information. The sharing of information reduces the total number of devices, resulting in an overall decrease in cost. * Capitalize on enterprise architectures. This avoids installing several independent systems, which creates duplication of devices. * Eliminate proprietary systems and promote competitive pricing. Utilization of open systems allows users to purchase systems competitively. 1. 5 The Role of Information Systems in Business 1. . 1 Business Environment Business students frequently ask, â€Å"Why do we need to study information technology? † The answer is simple: Information technology is everywhere in business. Information technology plays a critical role in reducing costs, improving productivity and generating growth by facilitating communication and increasing business intelligence. Information technology is supplying the foundation for new business models, new business processes, and new ways of distributing products, services and know ledge.Companies are relying on information technology and telecommunications to conduct more of their work electronically, seamlessly linking factories, offices, sales forces, managers, customers, and suppliers around the globe. Understanding information technology provides great insight to anyone learning about business. Business students who understand technology have an advantage in business. | | | Figure 1-7 Seven major factors that affect today's business environment| Before discussing the role of information systems in organizations, let's xamine some of the most important factors shaping today's new business. These and other factors have altered the environment of business and posed new challenges to business firms and their management. To you, these factors can be translated into a substantial career opportunity, if you understand them and prepare yourself through education to take advantage of them. Figure 2-7 lists seven important factors including globalization, competiti on, information as a key resource, organization restructuring, end-use computing, electronic commerce, and virtual workplace.Emergence of the global economy means that business today is global business. The success of firms today and in the future depends on their ability to manage business globally. Business globalization greatly enhances the value of information systems to organizations and offers new opportunities to business. Organizations need powerful information systems and communications systems to conduct trade and manage businesses on a global scale. Obviously, globalization has increased competition. Information technology is another reason competition is heating up.Globalization and information technology bring new threats to domestic business firms. Customers now can use global communication and information systems to shop in a worldwide marketplace, obtaining price and quality information reliably 24 hours a day. To become competitive participants in international mark ets, firms need powerful information and communication systems. In the information age, information is so important that businesses must have information to be successful. The need to capture and record information about what customers want has led to many databases and data warehouses.These databases and data warehouses contain valuable information to help firms to throb with the pulse of marketplace. These databases and data warehouses of great economic value are based on new information technologies. Today, many organizations are restructuring in a variety of ways. The explosive growth in computing power and networks is turning organizations into networked enterprises, which allow organizations to redesign and reshape their structures, scope of operations, control mechanisms, work practices, work flows, products, and services.Many organizations have reduced the number of levels in their organizational hierarchies. In these flatter organizations, employees are empowered to make mo re decisions than in the past. Contemporary information technology can make more information available to line workers so they can make decisions that previously had been made by managers. Companies can use information and communications technologies to organize in more flexible ways, increasing their ability to respond to changes in the marketplace, to take advantage of new business opportunities, and to reduce the cost of obtaining products and services from outside the firm.Many organizations use information technology to recast the management process, providing powerful new capabilities to help managers plan, organize, lead, and control. One important trend is using information technology for enterprise resource planning. For example, more and more firms are using the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The ERP system is a business information system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, finance and human resourc es.The ERP system creates an integrated database to coordinate business activities within and across functional areas by sharing consistent information, and automates many business processes. Information and telecommunications technologies are creating new ways of conducting business electronically both inside and outside the firm. The Internet is emerging as the primary technology platform for electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is the computerized process of buying and selling goods and services through the Internet, networks, and other digital technologies.The Internet links millions of organizations and individuals into a single network, creating the foundation for a vast electronic marketplace. An electronic market is an information system that links together many buyers and sellers to exchange information, products, services, and payments. Many organizations are increasingly apply Internet technology to facilitate the management and coordination of other business processe s within the firm — publishing company's policies and work procedures, scheduling work flow, reviewing production plan, revising design documents, and so on, which is called electronic business.Information and telecommunications technologies have eliminated distance as a factor for many types of work in many situations. Many companies are using networked information systems to coordinate their geographically distributed capabilities. Works can be done wherever the employees are located. The term virtual workplace describes a technology-enabled working arrangement where work can be done at virtually any geographical location as along as the work site is linked to one or more of the firm's fixed locations by some type of telecommunications capability.Some companies are even using networked information systems to coordinate with other organizations such as suppliers, distributor, or even competitors as virtual organizations to create and distribute new products and services with out being limited by traditional organizational boundaries or physical location. Intensive use of information technology in business firms, coupled with equally significant organizational redesign, has created a new type of business: the fully digital firm. The digital firm can be defined along several dimensions.A digital firm is one where nearly all of the organization's significant business relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated. Core business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations. Key corporate assets–intellectual property, core competencies, and financial and human assets–are managed through digital means. In a digital firm, any piece of information required to support key business decisions is available at anytime and anywhere in the firm.Digital firms sense and respond to their environments far more rapidly than traditional firms, g iving them more flexibility to survive in turbulent times. Digital firms offer extraordinary opportunities for more global organization and management. By digitally enabling and streamlining their work, digital firms have the potential to achieve unprecedented levels of profitability and competitiveness. A few firms, such as Cisco Systems, Dell Computer Corporation or Google, are close to becoming fully digital firms, using the Internet to drive every aspect of their business.In most other companies, a fully digital firm is still more vision than reality but this vision is driving them toward digital integration. For today's managers, information technology is not simply a useful handmaiden, an enabler, but rather it is the core of the business and a primary management tool. There are four major systems that help define the digital firm. Supply chain management systems seek to automate the relationship between suppliers and the firm to optimize the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of products and services.Customer relationship management systems attempt to develop a coherent, integrated view of all the relationships a firm maintains with its customers. Enterprise systems create an integrated enterprise-wide information system to coordinate key internal processes of the firm, integrating data from manufacturing and distribution, sales, finance, and human resources. Finally, knowledge management systems seek to create, capture, store, and disseminate firm expertise and knowledge.Collectively, these systems represent the areas where corporations are digitally integrating their information flows and making major information system investments. For example, building only cars that customers order and building them in record time has been every automaker's dream. Now, it appears that Toyota Motor Corporation is coming close to making that dream come true. Toyota is using new software tools and Internet technology to drive its processes for designing a nd manufacturing automobiles and to integrate them with customers and suppliers.The company is moving toward a digital firm organization. In many organizations, end users are developing a growing percentage of information systems with little or no formal assistance from technical specialists. This phenomenon is called end-user computing. Information technology education programs at both the college and pre-college level and easy-to-use of both computer hardware and software have made more and more managers and employees have good computing knowledge and skills.End user computing involves you, as a future knowledge worker, in more than just developing a budget using spreadsheet software, creating a presentation using presentation graphics software, or using a system that someone else developed. It requires you to take an active role in developing systems that support your specific needs or the needs of a team. 1. 5. 2 Functional Areas in Business Understanding information technology begins with gaining an understanding of how businesses function and IT’s role in creating efficiencies and effectiveness across the organization.Typical businesses operate by functional areas. Each area undertakes a specific core business function. These functional areas are interdependent (see Figure 2-8). For example, sales must rely on information from operations to understand inventory, place orders, calculate transportation costs, and gain insight into product availability based on production schedules. For an organization to succeed, every department or functional area must work together sharing common information. Information technology can enable departments to more fficiently and effectively perform their business operations. | Figure 1-8 Common functional areas in business| To perform the MIS function effectively, almost all organizations today, particularly large and medium-sized ones, have an internal IT department. The plans and goals of the IT department must al ign with the plans and goals of the organization. Information technology can enable an organization to increase efficiency in manufacturing, retain key customers, seek out new sources of supply, and introduce effective financial management.Information technology is a relatively new functional area, having been around formally in most organizations only for about 40 years. Job titles, roles, and responsibilities often differ from organization to organization. Most organizations maintain positions such as chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and chief operations officer (COO) at the strategic level. Recently there are more IT-related strategic positions such chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief security officer (CSO), chief privacy officer (CPO), and chief knowledge officer (CKO).The CIO is responsible for overseeing all uses of information technology and ensuring the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objective s. The CTO is responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of an organization’s information technology. The CSO is responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems and developing strategies and IT safeguards against attacks from hackers and viruses. The CPO is responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information within an organization.The CKO is responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization’s knowledge. The CKO designs programs and systems that make it easy for people to reuse knowledge. All the above IT positions and responsibilities are critical to an organization’s success. While many organizations may not have a different individual for each of these positions, they must have leaders taking responsibility for all these areas of concern. It is not always easy for managers to make the right choices when using IT to support business initiatives.Most managers understand their business initiatives well, but are often at a loss when it comes to knowing how to use and manage IT effectively in support of those initiatives. Managers who understand what IT is, and what IT can and cannot do, are in the best position for success. Individuals anticipating a successful career in business must understand information technology including: * Information technology basics. * Roles and responsibilities in information technology. * Measuring information technology’s success. 1. 5. 3 The Role of Information Systems in BusinessIn 2007, American business invested over $1 trillion in information systems hardware, software and telecommunications equipment, more than half of all capital investment in the United States. In addition, they spent another $250 billion on business and management consulting and services, much of which involves redesigning firms’ business operations to take advantage of these new technologies. More than half of all business investment in the United States each year involves information systems and technologies. In 2007, more than 40 million U. S. usinesses had cot-com Internet sites registered. E-commerce and Internet advertising are booming. Companies today manage their operation and inventories in near real time in order to reduce their production and overhead costs and get to market faster. What makes information systems so essential today? Why are businesses investing so much in information systems and technologies? They do so to achieve the following six important business objectives: 1. Operational Excellence: Businesses continuously seek to improve the efficiency of their operations in order to achieve higher profitability.Information systems and technologies are some of the most important tools available to managers for achieving higher levels of efficiency and productivity in business operations, especially when coupled with changes in business practices and management behavior. 2. New Products, Services and Business Models: Information systems and technologies are a major enabling tool for firms to create new product and services, as well as entirely new business models. A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth. . Customer and Supplier Intimacy: Information systems can help a business know its customers and serves them well, the way they want to be served, the customers generally respond by returning and purchasing more. This raises revenues and profits. Likewise with suppliers: the more a business engages its suppliers, the better the suppliers can provide vital inputs. This lowers costs. 4. Improved Decision Making: Many business managers operate in an information fog bank, never really having the right information at the right time to make an informed decision.Instead, they rely on forecasts, best guesses, and luck. The result is over- or underproduction of goods, misallocation of resources, and poor response t imes. Information systems and technologies have made it possible for managers to use real-time data from the marketplace when making decisions. 5. Competitive Advantage: Information systems and technologies can help a business achieve a competitive advantage: doing things better than its competitors, charging less for superior products, and responding to customers and suppliers in real time. 6.Survival: Business firms invest in formation systems and technologies because they are necessities of doing business. Sometimes these necessities are driven by industry-level changes. Many federal and state statutes and regulations create a legal duty for companies to retain records. Firms turn to information systems and technologies to provide the capability to respond to these information retention and reporting requirements. Information systems directly affect how top management draw up long-tern planning, how managers make decisions, and what products and services are produced and how.In f act, information systems play a strategic role in the life of the firm. Figure 2-9 illustrates the relationship between businesses and information systems. | Figure 1-9 Growing interdependence between businesses and information systems| There is a growing interdependence between business strategy, organizational structure, operation rules and procedures, and production on the one hand, and IT infrastructure, IT strategy and information system management on the other. A change in any of these components often requires changes in other components.Existing information systems can act as a constraint on businesses. Often, what the organization plans to do in next five years depends on what its information systems will permit it to do. Developing new products and service, increasing market share, becoming the high-quality or low-cost producer, providing better customer service, and increasing employee productivity depend more and more on the scope and quality of information systems in th e organization. Businesses are not in the business of processing information for its own sake. Instead they rocess information in order to improve organizational performance and produce profits. From a business perspective, an information system is an important instrument for creating value for the organization. There are many ways in which information systems can contribute to firm value, including increasing the firm's return on its investments, enhancing the company's strategic position, or increasing the market value of the firm's stock. Information processing activities support management decision making, enhance the execution of business processes and as a result increase business value.Every business has an information value chain, shown in Figure 2-10, in which raw information is systematically acquired, and then transformed through various stages that add value to that information. From this perspective, information systems are part of a series of value-adding activities fo r acquiring, transforming, and distributing information that managers can use to improve decision making, enhance organizational performance, and ultimately increase firm profitability. | Figure 1-10 Business information value chain|