Literature Review on Change Management Research Paper

Literature Review on Change Management - Research Paper Example Managing change in an organization is a complex procedure which involves various factors which influence the transformation initiatives. The quality and change management are interlinked in a manner that it is extremely essential to administer quality of the ongoing project. If project is behind schedule or lacks some elements it is essential to introduce change management procedures after having proper consent from the management. Every manager perceives differently about the change management initiatives because of their personal experiences and the success factors which they have faced. Change management requires companies to tackle with every problem according to their priorities which allows manager to easily allocate resources and skills for resolving them (Sirkin, Keenan, & Jackson, 2013). These measures and indicators can easily be applied to any working organization for having enterprise change management. But it must be clearly defined that change management is different fo r every department of a business. ... nal Organisation The procedure which is being followed in educational organizations are quite different from what is being followed in business sector. The educational organizations have a lot of external pressure which they have on their learning curriculum. The courses and their associated areas require universities to cope with the changing procedures and develop strategies for implementing such change management practices in their daily official routines. Education sector requires proper funding from external sources for competing with the changing learning patterns being implemented worldwide. Students are now required to spend substantial time of their lectures and assignments and follow new learning patterns. Besides there are instances in which universities and colleges are emerging against litigation issues which has increased the scrutiny procedures along with conductance of external audits from third parties (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2002). Education sector is bound to follow th ese changes as it helps them in ranking their services and learning standards accordingly in comparison with other international universities. Educational sector needs to be aware of the change management procedures because it plays a central role in social and economic upheaval and in some countries it is considered as a major contributor of export and import. For remaining competitive with the changing business patterns it is essential that educational sector must respond to all these changes in a positive manner and design actions to combat with these forces appropriately. Change management procedures allow management of this sector to determine whether the key quality improvements and strategic developments have been identified and implemented as required. It is also useful for

Human Biological Systems, Gas Exchange & Transport Assignment

Human Biological Systems, Gas Exchange & Transport - Assignment Example Overall, this CNS control determines the depth and frequency of the respiration. (Schwartzstein & Parker, 2006, p.3) 2. Ventilatory Pump a) Muscles of respiration: there are two sets of muscles that are classified either muscles of inspiration or muscles of expiration. Diaphragm and external intercostal muscles are muscles of inspiration whereas internal intercostal muscle is the muscle of expiration. There are some accessory muscles that assist in forceful inspiration or expiration such as sternocleidomastoid, scalenus, pectoralis and abdominal muscles. b) Chest wall skeleton: rib cage provides the major skeleton support for lungs. c) Chest wall connective tissue: d) Airways: nares (nose), larynx, trachea, bronchus and bronchioles. e) Pleura: visceral pleura and parietal pleura. f) Spinal cord and peripheral nerves: C3, C4 and C5 spinal segments provide innervations to diaphragm via phrenic nerve. All the intercostal muscles get segmental innervations through intercostal nerves that run in the intercostal groove along with artery and vein. Most of the structures of Ventilatory pump, such as muscles and skeleton, ensure appropriate movement of the chest wall and adequate change in the intrathoracic pressure during inspiration and expiration. All the components of airway provide an uninterrupted passage of air to and from the alveoli. The passage is also lined with special epithelium that produces mucus and is studded with cilia (Hlastala & Berger, 1996, p.23). Mucus moist or warm the air whereas cilia traps any foreign particles and clear excess mucus. Parietal pleura line the chest wall and visceral pleura cover the outer surface of the lung. In between these two layers is a pleural space that contains a small amount of fluid. This pleural space plays a critical role in changing the intrathoracic pressure. Spinal cord and peripheral nerves provide a communication between controller and muscles of respiration. (Schwartzstein & Parker, 2006, p.15-23) 3. Gas Exch anger a) Alveoli: the terminal bronchioles are studded with hollow grape like structures called alveoli. b) Pulmonary capillaries: these capillaries originate from the branches of pulmonary artery and aggregate to form pulmonary vein. Terminal bronchioles and alveoli are the sites of gas exchange (no gas exchange take place in the rest of the airway and is referred to as dead space). These alveoli provide abundant surface area for adequate diffusion of gases. Understandably, alveoli are surrounded by thousand of blood capillaries to ensure effective transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide. TAQ 2: 1. Using annotated diagrams explain the processes involved in breathing in and out. Fig 2.1: shows the process of breathing and the structures involved. Breathing In: The process of breathing in is called inspiration. There are two important muscles, diaphragm and external intercostal muscles, that take part in this process. When a person breathes in, diaphragm contracts and chest expands inc reasing volume of the thoracic cavity and creating a negative intrathoracic pressure (fig 2.1). Therefore, air flows from a relatively positive atmospheric pressure towards the negative intrathoracic pressure and fill both lungs. Breathing Out: The process of breathing out is called expiration. Unlike inspiration, expiration at rest is a passive process and do not require muscle support. In fact, the elastic recoil

Refurbishment vs redevelopment

Refurbishment vs redevelopment Chapter 1 Refurbishment vs redevelopment Malaysia property market has experienced a drastic change in 2008. The property market moved from a boom at the end of 2007 to uncertainties due to increasing construction cost. Finally, the property market moved into a relatively quiet market towards the end of 2008. With all the banks trying to tighten their loan terms, obtaining loans for development of all types of commercial building have been difficult in the last three years. Yet, study shows that there is still a high demand for space in office building in area like Kuala Lumpur. From time to time, there are several developments of new office buildings in Klang Valley area. From the study done by JPPH, there is an increase of approximately 10 million square metres of new office space throughout Kuala Lumpur. Yet, the average vacancy rate in office space decreased to 18.6%. This proved that the demand for office building is still able to cater the increase in new office space. Study also showed that there is a new supply of approximately 280,000 square metres of new office space and additional 92,000 square metres of office being refurbished and repositioned in the year of 2009. So, building owners have to struggle to maintain the popularity and the competitiveness of their building. The current lack of new-build development raises the likelihood of grade-A supply shortages when the occupier market returns, creating investment opportunities for carefully targeted refurbishment. But, usually owner is in great dilemma when they are in such situation. As everyone know, the refurbishment of office space offers advantages over new-build which can facilitate the achievement of economic, social and environmental sustainability. But, redevelopment is the ultimate solution for eliminating all problems regarding the maintenance, changing tenants requirement and other probems. Making comparisons between refurbishment and redevelopment is also problematic because the term refurbishment can be used to encompass a wide spectrum of building works, from minor cosmetic improvements through to extensive reconstruction. But, in the majority of cases, refurbishment will be a quicker and cheaper means of restoring second-hand office space to grade-A specification. As a low-cost option, the refurbishment of office space should be intuitively attractive in an economic climate marked by a lack of development finance. But in many cases refurbishment is as costly as redevelopment and likely to carry with it greater risks and physical constraints. Problem statement Malaysian has been accused as a clever builder but poor manager. For example, certain office buildings in Golden Triangle are often looked deteriorated and relatively matured compared to other purposed-built office building. Example of such older office buildings are those office building located on the fringe of Central Business District, like Jalan Ampang. These older office buildings have a higher tendency to be left vacant due to its poor office building images. This will leads to lower rental rate to be paid by the tenants to remain its competitiveness. Other important characteristic of such office building also includes by low occupancy rate, lower quality of the building and services provided. Besides, recent office developments are very likely to adopt green features such as energy saving, reduction of wastage and water usage, as well as the use of environmentally friendly materials. This new trend in development had forced many owners evaluate the condition of their building and try to make several changes to the buildings to attracts more tenants. These efforts are important to attract corporations who fascinate energy-saving and environmental-friendly building. But making such decision is not easy. The owners have to evaluate the cost and benefit of each choice, and determine the solution he desires to improve the condition of his buildings. But other factors also have to take into consideration. For example, the rate of interest the bank would charge for development of different risk, the time of completion and others also greatly affect the decision-making of owner Objectives of study This study has three main objectives. There are: To determine factors influencing the decision-making in deriving a solution to the method chosen. To identify the benefits of building refurbishment or redevelopment to the building users. To determine whether tenant likes refurbished secondary office building or newly redeveloped building. Scope of study The scope of this study will focus on selected office buildings, both building which had undergo refurbishment and those which had undergone redevelopment. To ensure a more complete study, the newly constructed building is also considered as building undergone redevelopment. The respondents of the questionnaire are limited to tenants in Golden Triangle area only. As for the property manager, all property managers can be chosen as the interviewee. Building manager who are hired by owners and acted on behalf of them, will gives their opinions in owner perspectives (maximise profit) and current tenants will voice out their preferences in choosing a building space. Methodology All the relevant data are collected through primary data and secondary data. Primary data includes questionnaire, samplings, interviews and case study. In this study, respondents identified in questionnaire study are selected property manager who represents building owners point of view and some tenants within Golden Triangle area through sampling. As for interview session, interviewees targeted are property manager who are the representatives of building owners. Through this interview sessions, benefit of building refurbishment and redevelopment will be ascertained. Finally, case study of three similar office buildings will also be done as the quantitative analysis. All three building will be compared according to the cost incurred for construction and the benefit obtained. Then the differences in term of occupancy rates, rental and others will be calculated to represent the increment in term of market value. On the other hand, collection of data in this study will also includes references such as reference book, journal, articles, conference paper, property market reports, internet/ website searching and other sources. In addition, data will also be collected from books, magazines or newspaper article to obtain general information on building refurbishment and the effects of building refurbishment. Further details of methodology will be discussed in Chapter 3. Structure of Study This study consisted of five chapters. The brief discussion of each chapter is discussed as follows: Chapter 1 Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study. This chapter starts with an introduction of this study with a brief background. Besides, other things like problem statement, scope of study, methodology and others are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 is about the literature review. In this chapter, definition of building refurbishment and redevelopment, benefit of building refurbishment and redevelopment and others will be discussed in this chapter. Besides, factor influencing decision making of building refurbishment and the tenant preferences will also be discussed. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 is the methodology. In this chapter, methodology used to survey and interview in order to gather information needed. The structure of questionnaire is also discussed in this chapter. Furthermore, a brief discussion on the opinion of respondents of questionnaire and interviews will also be carried out in the last part of this chapter. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 is the chapter regarding research findings analysis. In this chapter, data gather will be analysed and presented in this chapter. An analysis on the benefit of building refurbishment and its value-enhancing ability will also be carried out by studying the information gathered through interviews, questionnaire survey, and secondary data. Chapter 5 Chapter 5 discuss about the conclusion and recommendation. In this chapter, conclusion from the findings and analysis of data in the previous chapter will be discussed and summarized. Besides, it also illustrate on the confirmation of the objectives and overall summary for the whole study. Other information included in this chapter is the suggestions for further study.

Essay --

As children, we all have extravagant aspirations of what we want to do in our lives. I too pondered the million dollar question, â€Å"what will I be when I grow up?† Of course, like most young boys, I wanted to be a professional athlete, Hollywood actor, or astronaut. However, after a semester in this psychology class, my eyes have been opened to another possible future career. I have begun to consider a possible career in psychology, particularly counseling. The field of psychology really has peaked my interest and I enjoy it very much. Also, I am a very social creature, a people person, so a field that enables me to help people using the interesting field of psychology, is a prime job for me. Not everyone is cut out for a career in counseling. It is a very rewarding field, but with its fair share of drawbacks. You have to be extremely patient and dedicated to the person seeking your help. As a counselor, you must also be very warm and kind. It demands you to be tremendously gentle and considerate of your client’s feelings. Without making your client feel secure and safe trusting you,...

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Death-in-Life means to be living in a constant fear or thought of death, or a feeling that the soul is damned but the body remains. Life-in-Death suggests the idea that the soul will continue but the body will deteriorate. In the poem â€Å"the Rime of the Ancient Mariner† by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the paradox of death-in-life and life-in-death is a consistent theme throughout this piece of literature. The sailor’s corpses, the constant aging of the mariner’s body and the gamble of death and life suggest this theme in Coleridge’s poem.When a person’s heart stops pumping blood, the average amount of time for the body to start decomposing is four to six days. This average is dependent upon the temperature the body is kept; if it is hot and in the sun the body will decompose much faster than in colder climates. In Coleridge’s poem the sailor’s bodies are in the sun for seven days, yet they refuse to be subjected to the ravages of time. â€Å"The many men so beautiful / and they all dead did lie / and a thousand thousand slimy things lived on; / and so did I / †¦The cold sweat melted from their limbs / nor rot or reek did they: / the look with which they looked on me / had never passed away / †¦ Seven days, seven nights, / I saw that curse and yet could not die† (Coleridge, IV, 1817). The sailor’s corpses stay intact while their souls escape, leaving the mariner with the visible token of the living death that awaits. The wedding Guest proclaims to fear the Mariner because he looks so skinny and aged. â€Å"I fear thee and thy glittering eye, / And thy skinny hand, so brown. Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! / This body dropt not down. / Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide wide sea! / And never a saint took pity on / My soul in agony† (Coleridge, IV, 1817). The Mariner explains that his soul is trapped in his body and his body will continue to age but will never rot e nough to release his spirit. In â€Å"the Rime of the Ancient Mariner† the Mariner explains to the Wedding Guest of how his soul came to be doomed. He explains that when he was on the ship with his crew that he saw another ship approaching.This brought hope to the whole crew because they thought that their bodies were going to be saved. When the ship approached, the Mariner saw that it was Death and Life-in-Death. â€Å"Her lips were red, her looks were free, / Her locks were yellow as gold: / Her skin was as white as leprosy, / The Night-mare Life-in-Death was she, / Who thicks man's blood with cold. / The naked hulk alongside came, / And the twain were casting dice; / ‘The game is done! I've won! I've won! ‘ / Quoth she, and whistles thrice† (Coleridge, III, 1817).With Life-in-Death’s three whistles she eliminates the sunlight and replaces it with dark shadows. She took the lives of the men on the ship, except for that of the Mariner’s. She cursed him with an eternity of living death. He is condemned to walk to the Earth and tell his tale to whomever will listen. The symbolic interpretation when death and life in death went to steal the Mariner’s soul; is that of arriving on a ship, when in biblical terms wood means death and water means life.Life in death ironically wins the soul of the mariner. In â€Å"the Rime of the Ancient Mariner† by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Death in Life and Life in Death is a constant contradicting theme throughout this metaphorical anecdote. The mythical preservation of the sailor’s bodies, the damnation of the Mariner’s soul, and the gamble between death and life-in-death truly remind the audience of this continuous theme.Works Citedhttp://poetry.eserver.org/ancient-mariner.html

Facilitate Continuous Improvement Essay

Assessment Activity 1 1. You work for an organisation that does not actively encourage its employees to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility and exercise initiative as appropriate. What would you say to convince the organisation’s management that they should actively encourage employees to assume responsibility and initiative? Write a transcript of what you would say. â€Å"Although not encouraged, recently I decided to let our ICT Support Specialist head up the roll out of our new Antivirus solution. I presented him with the project and advised that he will be managing it and will need to source the resources required and also the process. The only information I provided was a deadline of 4 weeks to complete the project/rollout Firstly the feedback I got from the Support Specialist was incredibly positive. He was excited to run his own project and make his own decisions on how to complete it. It brought out a different side to an employee whom sometimes finds it hard to stay motivated. The project is in its final stages now and has ran very smoothly and is well ahead of schedule. I believe encouraging employees to make their own decisions does boost initiative and this is one example of how extra responsibility and the opportunity for a non-management employee to work autonomously brings in very positive results. This is something I would like to encourage to my department more often as I believe I can get excellent outcomes on upcoming projects. 2. Do you consider group decision-making to be a valuable tool that will aid in encouraging employees to participate in decision-making processes, and to assume responsibility and exercise initiative? Explain. I strongly believe any decision making process privileges that one can grant to employees can be very beneficial as stated above in the example. This shows trust in employees, and I believe giving employees extra responsibilities can have a very positive effect. In a group decision making environment, this also promotes team work. Having a department making decisions together is a great way to encourage this. Assessment Activity 2 1. Your organisation has changed the way it accepts payments from customers/clients to make the process easier for clients/customers. What would you do to ensure that the organisations continuous improvement processes are communicated to all stakeholders? I believe this is something the whole organisation should be aware of, this way any client facing employees can better explain this to customers/clients in the event questions or queries are raised. Stakeholders would include clients/customers so I believe a communication in the form of a letter/email should be sent out to all the client base explaining how the new payment process works and how it will benefit them. The most important part is to promote it as a positive change for the client/customers. Assessment Activity 3 1. Define sustainability and outline why organisations should develop workplace sustainability policies. Sustainability in a business sense is the management the impact the organisation has in it’s environment. The impact can cover areas that not only include the â€Å"environment† but also the staff, client base and even the finances of the organisation. Developing Sustainability policies is very important in a number of ways. It can be promoted by the organisation that they follow this policy in order to achieve a smaller carbon footprint, however at the same time this could be saving the organisation money. For example, the organisation decides to implement double sided printing, now this is reducing paper usage which is fantastic to the environment, however it is also reducing the amount of paper the organisation is purchasing, therefor reducing expenditure. 2. Research environmental management issues for the workplace and state why these issues should be taken into consideration when planning and managing an organisation’s operations. The main issue as with most organisations is their impact to the environment and their footprint. This can effect a number of areas within the organisation, including reputation to their clients/customers, general publics views/opinions, employees and even the companies finances. In an office environment such as Status Industries. The main concerns are overuse of paper and printing products, lighting usage and power consumption. These can all be addressed. See table on next page how Status Industries has engaged these issues with policies. Environmental Issue Impact Resolution Result Over Usage of Paper in printing Environment, Cost of Paper, Paper Wastage Double Sided Printing forced on all Xerox devices within organisation Dramatic reduction in paper usage. Cost of paper saved. Colour Printing Usage in office High usage of colour toners where not needed, cost impact as colour prints more expensive than black and white. Force default Black and White printing. Requiring staff to have to select colour printing if they require it. All Staff email sent explaining cost of colour printing over black and white Black and White printing increased. Less colour toner usage. Cost savings. Lighting Lighting currently on 24 hours a day. Expensive power bills and waste of electricity Timers installed on lights to switch off at 8pm every night and to be off over weekend periods Dramatic cost saving and less usage of power. Cost saving on replacing globes. Electricity Wasting Computers and monitors switched on 24/7, wasted electricity usage, expensive electricity bills Email sent out by management detailing a new policy to switch off PC’s at night when finished. Exclusions from this are staff whom like Reduction in power. Reputation from general public boosted as windows are on main road and public can see Monitors are left on at night time. Assessment Activity 6 You have been asked to develop strategies to ensure that systems and processes are used to monitor operational progress and to identify ways in which planning and operations could be improved. In particular, your organisation wants you to determine whether processes currently carried out by employees are as efficient as possible. How would you go about doing this? Firstly you could perform an audit of the current processes. Let’s look at a new employee process and how this is setup from at an IT viewpoint. The current process below Now there have been several flaws in this process. Mainly the communication breakdown with Human Resource and IT which has resulted in accounts not been created in time. There are ways to alter the current process and instil new procedures to ensure the process is more successful. The proposed changes are below: A timeframe of at least 10 days for Human Resource to allow for the completion of IT’s account creation and asset allocation (PC/Laptop, Mobile Phone) Accountability to one staff member in Human Resources to communicate with an IT staff member regarding any change to the process and vice versa. A written and ISO approved document on the procedure. This is from the beginning stages with HR to the finishing touches on the IT stages. This is to be given to all staff members in both departments and signed by each staff member. So it is on record as being understood by each employee in case further action/education/disciplinary discussion is required. Assessment Activity 7 You have determined that adjustments should be made in your work team. Changes need to be made to the way customer complaints are recorded and dealt with. How would you go about communicating the need for change to strategies to relevant stakeholders? Relevant stakeholders internally are first and foremost the executive team, they are the ones that make the organisational impact decisions. Changing the way customer complaints are dealt with is something they will need to provide input for. Once they have approved the said solution this should be communicated in several forms to the customer base. This can be done by posting letters, emails and on the main page of a website. In the planning stages communicating three different alternative solutions to Executive Management would be a good first step. Explaining and selling the reasons why this should be changed. The main goal in mind for making a change that effects customers, is to ensure it is a â€Å"better solution† A good example of this is a large organisation such as Telstra. They have a reputation for having less than satisfactory customer service via phone. Customers have complained about being transferred multiple times and not getting a solution. Telstra has made large steps to improve customer service and have introduced a â€Å"Chat† service. This is ideal for people who have a desk job and don’t have the time to be on a phone. You speak to one representative and can explain information a lot easier. This is a very positive step that other organisations in the industry have followed. Selling the vision to relevant stakeholders, explaining how it will benefit the customer base. Remembering please customers not only retains a base, it can increase reputation and perhaps even allow for expansion of customer base. Assessment Activity 9 2. Give examples of aids/tools that can be used to document the data from a checklist Several graphs and tables can aid the recording of this data and also to report on the data collected. Such Graphs that could be used in this instance are Pie Graph to show the amount of a certain defect on a certain shift to compare where most of the errors are occurring Line Graph to show where the peak period of errors occur Histograms to show similar to the above Example of a Pie Graph for the above table 3. Why do graphs and charts provide a good representation of data? Graphs and charts provide a graphical view of the overall picture. As shown above in the Table of Data and also the Pie Graph. Straight away by looking at the Pie Graph you can see the trend. When analysing data Graphs are the best way to do this instead of tables. It can be a quick reference guide compared to sifting through a large amount of numbers. On the subject of trends. Line Graphs can show this better than most methods in some cases where using a line graph is applicable. For example. To see how many defects over a 24 hour period took place in a factory environment. Here you can see where defects dipped and were at a minimum and also peaked and showed a maximum. From this data you can easily see where pain points are in a situation and then provide a possible resolution. Assessment Tool 2 1. How can an organisations continuous improvement processes be communicated to all stakeholders and how can individuals and teams be encouraged and supported to embrace it? Communicating change in any organisation is important. Stakeholders in certain situations depending on the scale of change could include almost every employee. Best practice is to have a seminar or training session to highlight the need for certain changes or continuous improvement. For example if the organisation wants to be ISO accredited in a certain area, then it becomes vital for all employees to play a part. Explaining the positives the improvement will entail will certainly sell the vision. 2. Having made a decision about what to do to improve an organisations processes, what should you do to plan for the implementation of that change? A Project Plan is always a good start. This can outline the schedule and resources required, identify the tasks and objectives associated. Communication again is very important with any change, to ensure all of the organisation (if applicable) is aware of the change. The key thing to remember is, people don’t like change if they haven’t been advised. 3. Explain the difference between Feedback and feed forward control. Feed-Forward Control is a measure that regulates inputs. This can be resources such as human resource, financial and material. This is a proactive measure to allow management to prevent issues instead of having to resolve them later. This is known to be a time consuming exercise, 4. What processes might be used to ensure that team members are informed of outcomes of continuous improvement efforts? Why is this necessary and how will this contribute toward further improvements? Reports can be sent to team members on a set time frame (monthly, quarterly) this could include data and graphs/tables. Graphs are a great way to visually see trends and also to gauge whether there has been improvement in  a certain area. It also determines where there are possible issues. It allows the team to strategize where and how they can improve. 5. What is continuous improvement? Continuous improvement is an infinite process to improve a service, product or process. Depending on the type of industry the organisation is in will determine what areas of will utilize this type of method. Let’s look at an IT department, who has an inbuilt database every employee uses for the day to day tasks. A prototype has been created of this software, and it is in production. However there will always be room for improvement for any software, so constant updating is done on the software, the applications team within the IT Department work each day on add-ons or improvements. What started out as version 1.00 has now turned into 2.34 in the space of 3 years. 6. What can you do to support improvements now and in the future? Improvement in an organisation comes with ideas from the team. This can be suggestions raised in meetings, feedback and communication. The only way to improve processes, products or services is to communicate with departments and key members of staff. Having evidence in front of employees such as graphs is a great way to visually demonstrate where improvement is needed in certain areas. Concentrating on weak points in the organisation is the key to improvement. Assessment Tool 3: Project Continuous improvement is common in most organisations in some degree. This is an exercise that can cover a number of areas. Usually the three areas are as follows Process Products Service Process in the context of continuous improvement can look at ways to improve the said process. Let’s look at the example of a crucial process in a majority of organisations. A login is required for every employee who starts with the company. This is for them to login to their desktop and perform day  to day functions. The process is as follows. The problem is with this process is communication is relied upon. There is no official area where data can be obtained. IT need to wait for HR to provide information, then HR have to wait for IT, The manager of a new employee has to wait for IT and HR. There has been several flaws with this. Improvement can be done is a number of ways. 1. Have a meeting with HR and IT to establish procedures and timeframes 2. Look at a more centralised system where details can be accessed. It was later decided a shared calendar on Sharepoint with email alerts when entries are created to be sent to all HR and IT staff. HR would enter a new starter on this calendar, IT would see the details and create the account. They would then add the relevant login details to the calendar and notify the manager. This is seen as a better process, but one that can still be improved upon. There can be a period of trial over a set timeframe to see if it can be improved even further. Taking as much manual labour out of the equation will reduce the amount of errors, oversights etc. Now looking at service. Customer Service or Service Delivery (in an internal environment) is extremely important in any industry. Good customer service means happy clients, more clients which leads to a successful organisation. Let’s look at the example of an ISP. They have 3 core call centre departments, a Sales, Billing and Technical Support area. How can we gauge what customers impressions are of the level of customer service? A good way is after a phone call to have a rating system where a customer can rate the level of service is received from 1-5. 5 being exceptional and 1 being appalling. This is the first step in continuous improvement in customer service. The survey could be on going or could be over a set period. Either way reporting could be sent on the results to managers/team leaders. There might be a number of trends identified. Staff with exceptional consistent ratings could be rewarded. Staff with lower or appalling ratings could be trained to improve their skill. Reporting for this survey could be time stamped, so graphs could be created when staff aren’t providing a good level of customer service. You may see a trend like Monday being the worst performing day or  Friday afternoon. Education, Training are a number ways to continue the improvement of customer service. As well as awards or rewards as stated above. The final area is products. If an organisation is in the business of developing and distributing products, their main concern with continuous improvement will be developing this product to ensure it is the best in their market. If in a mass production environment, quality control would be paramount to ensure product defects are at a minimum or non existent. Earlier in this document a graph was created showing defect levels over certain shifts. This is a great way to isolate where improvement is needed. Why did a certain shift have so many defects? Is there something wrong with the team who is assigned to these shifts? This may involve further staff training, disciplinary action or new staff members involved. Sometimes it could be as simple as making a clearly defined process to get a product complete without issues. Let’s look at the example of Microsoft. They are the pioneers of operating systems. According to data for the years 2004 – 2009, Microsoft on average has covered around 90% of the market across the globe. (see graph on next page) This is an extraordinary number and one that comes with pressure and responsibility to ensure its product is up to an elite standard. Microsoft will release Operating Systems every 4 years on average, however after the release they will continue to build on the operating system. Adding features, fixing bugs, improving the overall experience. Also it offers support to customers with forums such as Technet and the obvious customer support. The updating is the main part of continuous improvement. This builds towards the next version of the Operating System which in some cases not all, will be an absolute improvement over the predecessor. Example being Windows 8, they have received overwhelming feedback that consumers are not favourable of the start menu being removed. They listened and implemented a start menu of some description in Windows 8.1 and it will return in Windows 10. Risk Management comes into play with most decisions or implementation of a new process. With the three examples shown above a Risk Management assessment of some degree/scale would be included. For the example. Microsoft would need to investigate whether continuing support for an operating system would be viable. They will usually release a statement to  the public explaining how long their support and updates will be created for Operating System. Microsoft also would have weighed the pro’s and cons for implementing a start menu feature into 8.1. Customer satisfaction is a high priority, however if it isn’t feasible it would be a risk to implement it. As you’re using resources and time to implement something rather major. Wouldn’t this be better spent developing on the next version. How does continuous improvement affect employees? This question is very important. As employees are a major part of how well an organisation succeeds. An example of this would be an entrepreneurial firm which is small. Employees are driven to succeed because a sense of ownership due to it being only around 20 staff members, each is aware of their responsibilities and are directly accountable for certain roles. However the firm’s hierarchy believe the best way moving forward is to grow. As the growth takes place the sense of ownership has decreased. The culture will understandably change. Therefor it is incredibly important in the early stages prior to making major changes such as growth, that the organisation creates a culture that values accountability and to provide for accountability in organizational design. Communication in a small company will be different to a larger one. There would be little need for formal communication and any sort of reporting as they are all in th e same small location. They also understand what is important to communicate due to the scale of workload. The change here as it grows would need to be subtle. Explaining to current staff the need/requirement to implement different ways we must communicate. It is logistically going to be impossible to have a general talk with another colleague about something critical when they are in the East coast of the United States and you are based at Head Office in Sydney Australia. If this is educated earlier, it will provide a better understanding from long standing employees on how it will benefit the organisation, this once again comes back to the culture created. The employee will see this will a positive for the organisation. Attitude towards change can vary dependent on factors such as the average age and tenure with the organisation as well. Why do organisations feel the need to incorporate continuous improvement sometimes is dependent on the type of industry. The pressures of certain industries almost forces organisation to  implement continuous improvement. The Business Environment refers to the factors that affect an organisation’s ability to be competitive in their market. Kodak for example, were a leader in photographic/camera film. However the environment changed around them dramatically in recent years with digital photography taking over the market. Film was no longer the medium used. It saw a decline in revenue ($14.5bn in 1995 to $2.35bn in 2013) A lot of companies would not of survived something this dramatic. Kodak revolutionised and changed their way of thinking. Kodak had to shrink in size and effectively start again, go back to basics. It kept the best minds they had to brainstorm how to continue. Kodak is now a leader in photo print paper, packaging, commercial film and speciality chemicals. Although Kodak isn’t a good example of â€Å"improvement† there is an argument for continuity. Not many companies have survived when hit with a change of the scale photography went through over 10 years ago. It is a credit to Kodak they were able to adapt to change and strive to succeed with improvement to the way they work in their industry.

Euthanasia - Just the Facts essays

Euthanasia - Just the Facts essays One of the most public and controversial social issues today surrounds the issues of euthanasia. The outcome of that debate will profoundly affect family relationships, interaction between doctors and patients, and concepts of basic ethical behavior. With so much at stake, more is needed than a duel of one-liners, slogans and sound bites. Euthanasia is a rapidly growing social problem. The opinions on this topic are influenced by different groups and beliefs, such as religion, culture, governmental standards, and personal beliefs causing euthanasia to become a major social problem in the world today.. Euthanasia has been an intense issue all over the world causing a constant debate among differing opinions. Oregon and the Netherlands have legalized euthanasia giving permission to the physician for the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit. Purely at an objective point of view, euthanasia is definitely considered a social problem. Euthanasia is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as "the action of killing an individual for reasons considered to be merciful". Here, killing is described as the physical action where one individual actively kills another. Euthanasia is tolerated in the medical field under certain circumstances when a patient is suffering profoundly and death is inevitable. However, the word "euthanasia" is much more difficult to define. Each person may define euthanasia differently. Who is to decide whether a death is good or not? Is any form of death good? All of these questions can be answered differently by each person. It is generally taken today to mean that act which a health care professional carries out to help his/her patient achieve a good death. There should be no conflict between hospice and euthanasia, both are valid options in a caring society. Both are appropriate to different people with ...

the yellow wallpaper

the yellow wallpaper the yellow wallpaper Carolina Rodriguez Sylvia Herrera English Literature 16 September 2014 Respond Paper: The Yellow Wallpaper The yellow wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, this book is known for its feminists literary ties. The narrator wrote this during the Victorian Era. An era full of constrictment towards women.The story is a set of journals written from the point of view of a woman undergoing a -mental breakdown- defined as what we call "postpartum depression.† Gilman experiences oppression by marriage, society standards and her confinement in life. Her husband and physician prescribed her â€Å"the bed rest cure† which consists of isolation, confinement to bed, avoidance of any physical activity , and she is especially forbidden from working and writing. In the contrary, the narrator feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her get better and writes that she has begun her secret journal in order to â€Å"relieve her mind.† (Gilman 376) It is not that Gilman's husband is evil, John does loves her very de arly as he expresses over and over again, but seems to be wrapped around society standards. Gilman describes the room where she is to stay as a former nursery room where bars adorn the windows, the bed is nailed to the floor "looks as if it had been through the wars.† But she doesn’t mind that a bit "only the paper.† (Gilman 379) A yellow wallpaper covers the walls which she is repelled by. She then obsesses about the paper in which she sees frightful patterns and an imprisoned female figure trying to escape. As this story is from the Victorian Era , it reveals a lot of what women at the time were going through. Women had not yet been given the right to vote, they were to only care for the house the children and the husband, nothing else. Many of them felt trapped, metaphorically as if behind a wallpaper, like the narrator portrays. This is a story about what it really means to redefining yourself in literature in the process of writing in circumstances which are not considered normal. The narrator, through her journals, provides a lot of room for speculations that she is insane and though that it may be true, she is insane by the conventional standard. In the process of seeing a woman in the wallpaper she is seeing herself. Gillman new from the very beginning, she had something. "You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?" (Gilman 376) She is aware that she is not well and clearly wishes to be well again but her husband John is choosing to ignore her plea. She herself is baffled at her husband for his negligence, â€Å"If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency what is one to do?† (Gilmans 376). It is clear that she feels so alone due to her troubles since she spends every day of her treatment in seclusion inside the â€Å"atrocious nursery† (Gilman 377). What it was first a postpartum depression emerged to a mental illness. She was trapped not only within herself but also physically found herself stuck in a room that gave her no room to overcome her depression the way that she knew she should. She becomes private, hiding her interest in the paper and making sure no one else examines it so tha t she can â€Å"find it out† on her own what the markings meant. John thinks she is improving. But she sleeps less and less. The narrator describes her life at first as a vivid girl, but as she keeps writing, she describes herself as miserable. The pattern on the wallpaper remind her how she is trap in the house. As the pattern repasts and does not have a beginning or an end, her life does not have a meaning. She have dreams of being a writer but is unable to write because John hate when she writes. She knows she is to become a something in life, and enjoy her child through her depression. Gillman's insanity

Diferencias entre asilo político y refugiado

Diferencias entre asilo polà ­tico y refugiado Los casos de refugiados y de asilados polà ­ticos tienen las mismas causas,sin embargo, la tramitacià ³n del reconocimiento de ambos estatus es muy diferente, por lo que es importante distinguirlas. En la actualidad, ms latinoamericanos obtienen la aprobacià ³n de estatus de asilado que de refugiado. El Salvador es el à ºnico paà ­s de la regià ³n cuyos nacionales sacan ambos estatus –asilado y refugiado– en nà ºmeros relevantes. Quià ©nes pueden solicitar ser refugiado o pedir asilo polà ­tico en EE.UU. Parte de la confusià ³n entre estos dos estatus nace del hecho de que tanto con el asilo como con la figura del refugiado se protege a la misma clase de personas. Es decir, a los personas que no pueden o no quieren regresar a su paà ­s de origen porque han sido perseguidas o tienen razones fundadas de llegar a serlo por cualquiera de las razones siguientes: RazaReligià ³nNacionalidadMembresà ­a de un grupo social (como por ejemplo gays, lesbianas o transexuales)Opinià ³n polà ­ticaPor haber sido obligados a ser esterilizados o a abortar. O sufrir persecucià ³n por haberse negado. Diferencias en pedir asilo y condicià ³n de refugiado Una de las principales es el lugar en el que se encuentra la persona que sufre persecucià ³n. Para solicitar el estatus de refugiado es obligatorio encontrarse fuera de Estados Unidos. Adems, el solicitante estar fuera de su paà ­s. A este à ºltimo requisito hay excepciones muy limitadas y establecidas expresamente por el Presidente de Estados Unidos. En la actualidad sà ³lo pueden solicitar el estatus de refugiado desde dentro de su propio paà ­s los cubanos, los ciudadanos de paà ­ses que formaron parte de la Unià ³n Sovià ©tica e Irak. Son circunstancias muy excepcionales y en inglà ©s son denominadas in-country processing. Los candidatos al estatus de refugiado son procesados en una primera fase por uno de los 9 Centros de Apoyo a la Reubicacià ³n (RSC, por sus siglas en inglà ©s), que tiene Estados Unidos en diferentes puntos del planeta. La mayorà ­a de ellos han llegado a un RSC porque han sido remitidos por el Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados, una Embajada de los Estados Unidos o una organizacià ³n no gubernamental. Otros llegan porque forman parte de un grupo calificado de especial preocupacià ³n humanitaria y, finalmente, los casos de reunificacià ³n familiar. Cuando toda la informacià ³n es recabada sobre el candidato, la misma se envà ­a al USCIS a Estados Unidos, que es quien debe aprobar la solicitud. El à ºltimo paso corre a cargo de una agencia de reubicacià ³n en EE.UU. que ser la encargada de apoyar al refugiado cuando se le autorice a viajar. Por el contrario, el asilo se solicita o bien en un puerto de entrada nada ms llegar (aeropuerto, puerto marà ­timo o frontera terrestre) ante un oficial de inmigracià ³n,(CBP, por sus siglas en inglà ©s), o bien ya una vez dentro de Estados Unidos. En este à ºltimo caso la peticià ³n debe presentarse dentro del aà ±o siguiente a haber llegado al paà ­s. A esta regla de los 365 dà ­as se admiten excepciones muy raramente cuando las circunstancias en el paà ­s de origen cambian dramticamente. Cabe destacar que algunos migrantes presentes en EE.UU. con TPS podrà ­an calificar para solicitar asilo porque en el caso de esta proteccià ³n especial el calendario de 1 aà ±o se considera congelado en la fecha en la que se le aprobà ³ el TPS por primera vez.  ¿Cuntos refugiados y asilados admite EE.UU.? En el aà ±o fiscal 2018, EE.UU. admitià ³ un total de 22.491 refugiados. Los 10 paà ­ses con mayor nà ºmero de refugiados fueron: Congo (8.883)Myanmar (3.555)Ucrania (2,635)Butn (2,228)Eritrea (1,269)Afganistn (805)El Salvador (739)Paquistn (441)Rusia (437)Etiopà ­a (376) Para el aà ±o fiscal 2019 el presidente Donald Trump ha fijado en 30.000 el nà ºmero mximo de refugiados que pueden ingresar al paà ­s. Los à ºltimos datos disponibles sobre asilo son el aà ±o fiscal 2016, segà ºn los cuales se aprobaron 20.458 estatus de asilo polà ­tico de los que 11.729 fueron asilos afirmativos, es decir, solicitudes aprobadas por USCIS. En 8.726 casos fueron asilos defensivos, es decir, aprobados por las cortes de inmigracià ³n o el Tribunal de Apelaciones migratorias (BIA, por sus siglas en inglà ©s). Los paà ­ses con mayor nà ºmero de casos aprobados fueron: China: 4.500El Salvador: 2.148Guatemala: 1.943Honduras: 1.513Mà ©xico: 920 En la actualidad hay ms de 733.000 solicitudes de asilo pendientes, estimndose en 721 dà ­as la media de espera para la vista (hearing, en inglà ©s). Informacià ³n para los trmites de asilo En los casos de asilo se estima que los solicitantes pierden en el 90 por ciento de las veces en las que no estn representados por un abogado. Por lo tanto, es extremadamente importante contar con uno con experiencia y buena reputacià ³n. La AILA es la organizacià ³n de EE.UU. sobre abogados migratorios y en su base de datos se pueden encontrar letrados por lugar y por tipo de especialidad migratoria. Adems, numerosas organizaciones de apoyo a migrantes brindan ayuda o referencia a buenos abogados. Se recomienda tomar este test de respuestas mà ºltiples sobre asilo para familiarizarse sobre los puntos principales de este estatus. Puntos Clave: diferencias entre asilo polà ­tico y condicià ³n de refugiado Causas de asilo y condicià ³n de refugiado: haber sido perseguido o tener razones fundadas de que si el solicitante regresa a su paà ­s ser perseguido por su raza, opinià ³n polà ­tica, religià ³n, pertenencia a un grupo social o nacionalidad o por razones de esterilizacià ³n o aborto forzado. ¿Dà ³nde se pide la condicià ³n de refugiado?: fuera de EE.UU. El trmite lo inicia un RSC, en la mayorà ­a de los casos el solicitante ha sido remitido por el Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados. ¿Dà ³nde se solicita asilo polà ­tico?: en la frontera de EE.UU. o en el interior del paà ­s, dentro del plazo de un aà ±o a contar desde el dà ­a del ingreso, salvo circunstancias especiales.Nà ºmero de refugiados admitido por EE.UU. en 2018: 22.491. Para el 2019 el presidente Trump ha establecido una cifra mxima de 30.000Nà ºmero de asilos aprobados: 20.455 (segà ºn à ºltimos datos publicados oficialmente, que son del aà ±o fiscal 2016) Este artà ­culo es informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Relationship Between Culture And Psychological Processes Essay

Relationship Between Culture And Psychological Processes - Essay Example Different cultures have different personalities, and this also differs between males and females (Mead). People of different cultures have personalities that connect them with their culture. Some communities share the same personalities between men and women while others have different personalities among the genders. According to Mead, culture is extremely powerful and determines the fate of a person. Ruth Benedict was also a successful anthropologist who was also an instructor on anthropological studies (Benedict, 3). Both Ruth and Mead studied culture and its relation to human personality, and human sexuality. She studied different cultures and how they mould the personality of individuals, and also tried to recognize the association between psychosomatic processes, and cultural processes (Meyerowitz, 1063). These two are interrelated as they influence the emotions and cognition of human beings. Culture and personality brought about a large group of people including anthropologist s and psychologists. They, however, had different views on the same topic of culture and psychological processes. While Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead were anthropologists, Sigmund Freud was a psychoanalyst but they all joined hands in exploring culture and human personalities. Mead and Benedict shared their views that culture is responsible for individual development and emotions of cultures. Freud tried to explain that psychoanalytic theory could be used in the study of culture. It focused on child and toilet training and their influence on the development of children. Human personality is plastic according to Sigmund Freud and can be changed in any environment including culture. If somebody relocated, to another are which practice different cultural activities, he, or she will adapt be forced to that environment. Their personality will change, as well. Individual behaviors are much controlled by their minds; they are not only controlled by culture. Psychology plays a crucial rol e in the way an individual acts and thinks and, therefore, it is extremely vital in the studying of culture and human personalities. Both Mead and Benedict worked tirelessly in order to prove that the biological aspect of individuals did not determine the culture (Benedict, 16). This differed with Freud’s theory which explained that, both biological and psychological aspects played a role in cultural development. Race and ethnicity, according to their research do not determine the culture too. They, therefore, chose to study the relationships of the native groups because they argued that the native groups had not been exposed to modernity incredibly much. They further explained that civilization had been brought about by the contribution of many races and could not be attributed to only one race. It takes different personalities in order to build an economy, social system and also political systems. These different personalities are from different cultural organizations. Each element of culture has its own history and some cultural traits are shared among different communities (Meyerowitz, 1065). Cultural traits are not limited by boundaries and can spread to a large area. Sigmund Freud found out that personality and culture could be explained through the use of the psychoanalytical hypothesis. This included use of examinations and interviews (Meyerowitz, 1064). The views of Margaret mead and Ruth Benedict on culture and human sexuality are related to those of Sigmund Freud in such that they believe that personality changes according to the area of residence and situations. Personality traits are largely based on the surrounding environment and can be acquired by anyone. Every human being s unique in nature, and they perceive things in different ways. This

Policing functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policing functions - Essay Example The local agencies are thereby encouraged to relate well with the people in their society. A better communication will lead to understanding among the people and the policing agencies. Most of their work includes stopping the planned happenings and attacks to which might affect the government like bomb attack and they are also involved in investigating on certain happening from the base. The state agency work in hand with the local agency and are used to handle state criminal investigations and also the state highways traffic laws. It provides law enforcement in regions that do not have the county representation. The Federal agency is used for private investigation and has agencies oversees includes the Federal bureau of Investigation, Bureau of prisons among others and they are also not considered as the national police force. These are mainly used for investigative purposes like finding the allegations of Terrorist attacks and also used in maintaining law and order. The Community p olicing The community policing put in place in the development of the community regarding their issues. This was not adopted well as some thought that it was put in order for people to put up their personal issues. The community policing main impact is to assist each person in the different units. Its impact would be able to solve the community’s problems at a fundamental level making it easier for everyone instead of it being complicated at the higher level. The police were to interact with the community in which theorists and practitioners stated about the six big stakeholders the media being inclusive (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2010). The citizens had complaints on the police practices in which the community wanted the police to be open and also be more transparent. They wanted transparency in accessing public entities like in the healthcare and education among others. This led to the formation of accrediting agencies like the Commission on Accreditation fo r law Enforcement Agencies which enabled the media to take part in the effective, ethical communications in the public and can be seen to lead to a better coordination among the people in the society. The Changing Media Media is one way of making everything being transparent and by the media being involved in the administrative works that is by the local, state and also federal, there will be a flow of activities and also crimes will be minimized. Corruption is experienced in different fields making it difficult for the laws to be reinforced from the fundamental units. This is because the administration units have a hierarchy from the local place where they are headed by the Sheriffs to the higher positions in the system. Law Enforcement in the Organizational culture Each and every place has a unique culture in its place of work depending on different law enforcement organizations. Some places are very strict in implementing law and order while other places the police administration is reluctant as their administrative power is not keen or is ignorant. From this we see that incidents like terrorists attack can be hard to change as it depends with different people with their own culture. It is difficult for people to adopting other cultures from what they used to and this policy will take time before it can be implemented fully by everyone. This can be seen by the federal law responded slowly to the methamphetamine epidemic as they had not experienced this

Advertising targeting children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advertising targeting children - Essay Example The researchers implemented a two-level Bayesian hierarchical linear model. The research concluded that all three methods – incentives, pledges, and competitions – were successful in improving students to increasingly incorporate fruits and vegetables into their diet. Further analysis of these results demonstrated that younger children responded more actively to incentives and pledges than did older children. While I had difficulty understanding the specific way the quantitative data was used, for the most part I understood the article. I appreciated this article as it is concerned with a socially responsible cause. I also felt that these findings could greatly aid students throughout their lives. Even though many of the students in the study may go back to poor eating habits, the very act of them practicing these habits at this age will for sure contribute to their developing strong habits in the future. Dar et al. (2011) examined the role and functions of fast food advertising on children. Within this area of investigation the research indicates that the Canadian government became highly concerned with the childhood obesity epidemic. Because of these concerns there is growing policy measures proposed that would prohibit or restrict fast food advertising on children. Subsequently this research sought to identify the effect of this advertising on children. The research implemented a quantitative research design. Specifically the researchers examined statistical data on household expenditures on fast food in a Quebec town from 1982 to 1992. This statistical data was compared to data from a town where fast food advertising had been banned. The difference between these figures was then used to determine the impact of the advertising. More specifically a triple difference methodology was used to examine these statistical findings. The researchers indicate that a ban on fast food advertis ing

The problem of using Facebook as a strategic marketing tool for Future Essay

The problem of using Facebook as a strategic marketing tool for Future Shop - Essay Example The company only has two main centers for customer relations and these are solely responsible for responding to customer issues posted ob Facebook. It can be noted that these centers are overwhelmed by the large numbers of customer queries posted on its social site. In order to solve this problem, the communication structure in the company should be decentralised so that each branch has the opportunity to monitor its own site in terms of responding to the needs of the customers in a timely manner. It is also encouraged that teamwork in the company should be given priority since it helps the members to develop a positive sense of belonging towards the organization. It is also important to treat customers as kings so that they can have a positive feeling towards the company. I feel honored to be given this opportunity to take part in this particular report. I would like to thank all people who contributed their ideas and views towards this report which is so enlightening. Should you ne ed any assistance, do not hesitate to contact me. Once again, I wish to say thank you all for your cooperation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.3 I. Introduction †¦.............................................................................................................................4 II. Future Shop and Facebook †¦.....................................................................................................4 1. Facebook: a successful marketing tool...............................................................................5 III. Facebook and Future Shop’s issue †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 1. Poor response system †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ...6 2. Lack of response from Future Shop†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ..8 3. Problem affecting Future Shop.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ...8 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.............................................................................................................8 Recommendations †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 Glossary.†¦..................................... ...............................................................................................11 References†¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦................................................................................................................12 List of illustrations Figure 1Customer response to market offering by Future Shop †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 Figure 2 A post to Future Shop†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 Figure 3 Response from competitor BestBuy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..7 Table 1 Facebook subscriber growth between 2011 to 2012†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...5 EXECU TIVE SUMMARY This report analyses the impact of Facebook as a strategic marketing tool by Future shop in its operations. Millions of people have Facebook accounts and this social site is very effective in linking people from different walks of life. Facebook as an effective marketing tool When it first used Facebook, Future Shop had only 95.000 subscribers in 2005 and there were only a few posts on its

American International Group (AIG) Research Paper

American International Group (AIG) - Research Paper Example This essay discusses that the CEO Greenberg ensured that he networked with everyone including the different presidents in power and hence built himself a fortress of support and built himself and AIG immunity from questions and outside auditing which would have discovered the fraud and illegal business deals that were taking place in the company and which led to the massive expansion of the company and its ultimate downfall. The rest of the executives offered their full support of the illegal Credit Default Swap (CDS) project which even though it brought in a lot of money than any other department in the firm, its activities and ethics were questionable. The executives even prevented external audit firms from coming to audit them as they did not want their grand fraud and illegal scheme to be discovered by outsiders even though that eventually took place. If only the firm had an organizational culture that necessitated external auditing, then they would not have initiated the program in the first place hence saving themselves embarrassment and government the bailout money. A stronger ethics program would have prevented Greenberg from calling in favors to prevent the firm from being scrutinized and the uncovering of the truth. The corporate executives were dishonest and harbored business deals that were not illegal but unethical. They also jeopardized the lives of millions of Americans through the unethical deal with CDS as many people whose money was lost in one way or another would have suffered. Their unethical conduct also out at risk the jobs of all their employees some of whom even had no idea what really that financial department that dealt with CDS was all about or that it even existed and hence were caught in the spur of the moment at the discovery of the truth. If the executives were ethical and honest in the company, the bailout would not have been necessary. A stronger ethics program would have prevented even the illegal department officials to carry out these illegal deals. The corporate executives should be the ones to set a perfect example to their employees and not aid in turning them criminals if they had put in place a stronger ethics culture within the organization. 3. What could AIG have done differently to prevent its failure and subsequent bailout? AIG should never have set up that department and the CDS financial dealings in the first place. This would have prevented the whole meltdown as it was. Even after its creation, they would have allowed external auditors or even external scrutiny to be carried out which would have unveiled the problem as early as possible hence preventing the government from having to spend over $180 billion bailing it out and preventing it from being fully bankrupt hence preventing other businesses and individuals in America from the already bad economic recession of 2008. The employees who were aware of the deal should have refused to participate in an unethical deal and even taken the init iative and report the firm to securities and exchange if the corporate culture had taught them how to be ethical. 4. Provide your thoughts/opinion about the importance of Corporate Culture in the Business world? Corporate culture provides guidance to all the employees in an organization starting from the top executives to the downright bottom employee in the chain of command (Flamholtz and Yvonne 3). This therefore ensures that no unethical behavior goes unreported to the necessary authorities hence preventing an embarrassing situation later on. A business has many stakeholders and a good corporate culture helps to define the roles of each of these stakeholders

Gendered Communications and Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gendered Communications and Relationships - Essay Example We are experiencing both physical and emotional intimacy, as long as being characterized by some levels of passionate attachment. In this relationship, the gendered nature is always dominating in our daily life activities. They are specific roles that me as the man I do play, such as security during outings and spearheading in different actions we want to participate in. When clearing our bills, I have to come in fully, or I have to chip in some cash so as to protect the image of my manhood. There are other roles that my partner, particularly plays in this relationship. She does laundry, prepare our meals, cleaning and preparing some items ready for my different daily functions that I attend to. Nevertheless, the roles are not too fixed and in case anything we allow flexibility in undertaking this role. For example, when she is unwell, I step in and perform her roles, such as cooking and laundry. The same also applies when am unwell, and she is around. The gender and sex characteristics have always played a part in the communication taking place between us. When it comes to launching an event or activity that always require some level of masculinity, am the one who starts the communication. For example, when we want to install some electric equipment in our room, am the one who raises the issue first, and the dialogue picks up. There are some of the most feminine issues that she is the one who dominate in when making decisions (Guru, 2014). She is the one who always communicates more with the kitchen and another dining activity. She brings a lot of her ideas when it comes to different types of utensils and cooking materials that we should put in place. This is mainly because all the activities in the kitchen lie under her roles. In this relationship, the feminine characteristics have been enjoying some benefits. She always enjoys the benefits that I offer to her as the man. When it comes to

American International Group (AIG) Research Paper

American International Group (AIG) - Research Paper Example This essay discusses that the CEO Greenberg ensured that he networked with everyone including the different presidents in power and hence built himself a fortress of support and built himself and AIG immunity from questions and outside auditing which would have discovered the fraud and illegal business deals that were taking place in the company and which led to the massive expansion of the company and its ultimate downfall. The rest of the executives offered their full support of the illegal Credit Default Swap (CDS) project which even though it brought in a lot of money than any other department in the firm, its activities and ethics were questionable. The executives even prevented external audit firms from coming to audit them as they did not want their grand fraud and illegal scheme to be discovered by outsiders even though that eventually took place. If only the firm had an organizational culture that necessitated external auditing, then they would not have initiated the program in the first place hence saving themselves embarrassment and government the bailout money. A stronger ethics program would have prevented Greenberg from calling in favors to prevent the firm from being scrutinized and the uncovering of the truth. The corporate executives were dishonest and harbored business deals that were not illegal but unethical. They also jeopardized the lives of millions of Americans through the unethical deal with CDS as many people whose money was lost in one way or another would have suffered. Their unethical conduct also out at risk the jobs of all their employees some of whom even had no idea what really that financial department that dealt with CDS was all about or that it even existed and hence were caught in the spur of the moment at the discovery of the truth. If the executives were ethical and honest in the company, the bailout would not have been necessary. A stronger ethics program would have prevented even the illegal department officials to carry out these illegal deals. The corporate executives should be the ones to set a perfect example to their employees and not aid in turning them criminals if they had put in place a stronger ethics culture within the organization. 3. What could AIG have done differently to prevent its failure and subsequent bailout? AIG should never have set up that department and the CDS financial dealings in the first place. This would have prevented the whole meltdown as it was. Even after its creation, they would have allowed external auditors or even external scrutiny to be carried out which would have unveiled the problem as early as possible hence preventing the government from having to spend over $180 billion bailing it out and preventing it from being fully bankrupt hence preventing other businesses and individuals in America from the already bad economic recession of 2008. The employees who were aware of the deal should have refused to participate in an unethical deal and even taken the init iative and report the firm to securities and exchange if the corporate culture had taught them how to be ethical. 4. Provide your thoughts/opinion about the importance of Corporate Culture in the Business world? Corporate culture provides guidance to all the employees in an organization starting from the top executives to the downright bottom employee in the chain of command (Flamholtz and Yvonne 3). This therefore ensures that no unethical behavior goes unreported to the necessary authorities hence preventing an embarrassing situation later on. A business has many stakeholders and a good corporate culture helps to define the roles of each of these stakeholders

On Verbal and Non-verbal Communication Essay Example for Free

On Verbal and Non-verbal Communication Essay It is but human nature to try to understand another person. It normal for people to try to interpret another persons actions or words. Interpreting these types of communication means is however, difficult. Each has its own way to be interpreted. Non verbal communication is when person utilizes not his lips and voice when relaying information to another person. It is refers to actions gestures or movements a person does in order to send a message to another person. Usually, this kind of communication is utilized when meeting a new individual. Because too much speech seem to be inappropriate in first meetings, people tend to gesture via facial expression, arm movements, or even bodily gestures. Thus, people interpret this differently, via cues, unlike when the words are spoken (Brunswick Piscataway, 2009). On the other hand, verbal communication relies on the lips or mouth gestures as well as the voice of the person who spoke the words or uttered the information. To some verbal communication is more reliable as people are given the exact information needed to be received. However, there is a tendency for people to lie. Thus, there are those who listen to verbal utterances while at the same time keeping watch of non-verbal gestures. This points that interpreting verbal communication may be literal or based as well to the actions and facial expression that come along with the words (Brunswick Piscataway, 2009). It may thus be concluded that each kind of communication is interpreted differently. Verbal communication sends literal meanings at times, while non-verbal communication is sometimes vague. There is not exact way to point which tells more accurately, however if combined the message will be conveyed easier and faster. Both are also more trustworthy if done side by side. The gestures support the words and the words support all the actions.. While the quote insists that action speaks louder than words, knowing the nature man, it is still better to rely in both words and actions for a clearer interpretation. References Brunswick Piscataway. (2009). Social Perception: How we come to Understand People. Social Psych Lecture. Rutgers University.

Vitamin C Effect on Apple Browning | Experiment

Vitamin C Effect on Apple Browning | Experiment This experiment was designed to investigate the effect of Vitamin C concentration on the enzymatic browning of apples. Apple slices were dipped into Vitamin C solution of different concentration ranging from 0 mg to 100 mg. They were left under room temperature and conditions for 24 hours before the browning index was measured. There was a general decrease in browning index as Vitamin C concentration increased with 80 mg showing the lowest browning index. Pearsons product-moment correlation coefficient established a strong negative correlation between the two variables investigated with a 5% confidence level. The results supported the experimental hypothesis. Research and Rationale The browning of certain fruits such as apples, pears, peaches and bananas is caused by an oxidation process known as enzymatic browning which requires three factors: substrate, which consists of polyphenolic compounds; a polyphenol oxidase (PPO), an enzyme that can catalyze the first step in the reaction; and oxygen, a reactant.[1,3] Enzymatic browning is mostly undesirable but is inevitable when these fruits are subjected to mechanical injuries or processing. When fruits are sliced or the skin of the fruit is pierced open, the enzyme PPO which exists in the cells are released and exposed to the surrounding air. Upon contact with oxygen in the atmosphere, PPO reacts with oxygen and starts catalyzing the conversion of polyphenolic compounds into quinones. Quinones are not dark in color but are readily polymerized to form complex brown polymers. [12] 369words Prevention of undesirable enzymatic browning is of utmost importance to the food processing industries because browning of fruits will cause deterioration of quality, alteration of flavor and color of fruit products, causing industries to incur losses and wastage of food. Preventive steps include inactivation of enzyme by heat denaturation, the use of acid to inhibit enzyme activity and the use of bisulfites to interfere with browning.[1] In this practical, I am looking at the function of Vitamin C in preventing enzymatic browning. The function of Vitamin C as a natural antioxidant to the browning of sliced apples was first discovered by Dr. Szent Gyorgi, a Nobel Prize Winner. Vitamin C, a strong reducing agent and reactive species, prevents enzymatic browning by reacting with oxygen, inhibiting the PPO enzyme and disallowing oxygen to react with the phenolic compounds. Borenstein (1965), Sapers and Dougles (1987) and Sapers and Ziolkowski (1987) stated that ascorbic acid is a more effective inhibitor of enzymic browning than are sulfites or erythorbic acid. Besides that, Taeufel and Voigt (1964) stated that ascorbic acid is the most significant inhibitor of PPO because it has no detectable flavour at the concentration used which would interfere with the acceptability of the final processed product. Also it has no corrosive action upon metals, in addition to its vitamin value. The biggest advantage of using Vitamin C as a browning inhibitor is it is natural and healthy. [6] Vitamin C is the most widely used as a food additives in inhibiting discoloration due to enzymatic browning because Vitamin C has quite powerful reducing properties together with its obvious physiological acceptance and safety. Moreover, Vitamin C becomes a very common food additive due to its worldwide legislative acceptance and many of its technical uses. The availability of crystalline Vitamin C to a very high standard of purity in industrial quantities has undoubtedly been of assistance in the growth of the market. [2] Apples are chosen as a material in this experiment because apple is a very common fruit used in the food industry and is always included in our daily diet for its high nutritional value. Moreover, apples brown rapidly after being bruised due to their high polyphenolic compound contents. The pale coloration of apples gives an easily observable and clear indication of the amount of browning. Vitamin C is applied on the surface of cut apples to slow down the oxidation process. In the experiment, the amount of browning was indicated by the browning index of the apples. The higher the browning index, more enzymatic browning that took place. According to Eskin et al. (1971)[6] reported that food material must be treated with an adequate amount of Vitamin C to totally halt the browning process, otherwise browning is only slightly delayed, up to the point at which all the Vitamin C is oxidized. Therefore, the aim of experiment is to investigate the relationship between Vitamin C concentration and enzymatic browning of apples, determining the ideal concentration which inhibits enzymatic browning most effectively. Experimental hypothesis The higher the concentration of Vitamin C, the slower is the enzymatic browning of apples. Null hypothesis There is no significant correlation between the concentrations of Vitamin C and the enzymatic browning of apples. Planning A trial experiment was conducted to help me choose the most suitable methods to conduct the experiment, the best 2 quantification methods and the range of concentration of Vitamin C to be used in the real experiment. Methods involved Preparing Vitamin C of different concentration A standard Vitamin C solution of concentration 4mg/ml was prepared by dissolving two 500mg Vitamin C tablets in 250ml of distilled water and homogenised in a volumetric flask. Six different concentrations of Vitamin C solutions of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100mg with the same total volume of 25 ml were prepared by serial dilution method. To make Vitamin C solution of 20mg, 5ml of the stock solution was mixed with 20ml of distilled water. To make 40mg, 10ml of stock solution was mixed with 15ml of distilled water and so on. 5ml of buffer at pH6.5 was added into each solution. A control solution of only distilled water was also prepared. Preparing the apple cubes A total of 30 freshly cut apple cubes of dimension 2.0-2.0 cm were prepared. Each five apple cubes were dipped into one of the solutions prepared. The apple cubes were then placed on separate Petri dishes and left at room temperature and conditions for 24 hours. Collecting data The apple cubes were examined with 3 different methods. Firstly, the intensity of the colour of the browned apple cubes was examined using a colour scale from 1 to 9. The percentage coverage of browned parts of the apple cubes was also examined using a 2-2cm quadrat. Lastly, the apple cubes are homogenised in a blender for 2 minutes, followed by centrifuging at 10000 rpm. After filtering the solution, the browning index of the clear fruit juice obtained was determined by measuring the absorbance at 420nm using a spectrophotometer.[7,5] Trial results From the results obtained, I learnt that increasing Vitamin C concentration does have an effect on the browning of apples and the most preferable method of quantification was measuring the browning index. The results obtained from measuring the percentage coverage and colour intensity were less significant and these observations were very subjective. Besides that, I realised that the trial results were inconsistent and did not show significant difference in all the quantification methods used. This may be either caused by errors and limitations occurred during the trial experiment or the concentration of Vitamin C used was not high enough. However, according to Linus Pauling Institute in Oregon State University, the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C for normal healthy adult above age 19 is around 75 to 95mg.[4,9] Thus, increasing the Vitamin C concentration was not advisable. Therefore, subsequent experiments were carried out by using the same Vitamin C concentrations but steps were taken to ensure the errors and limitations were minimised. Vitamin C stock solution was heated to ensure complete dissolving but the temperature of heating cannot be too high to prevent breakdown of Vitamin C. Procedures were repeated once to get more reliable results and the number of apple cubes used were increased from 5 to 10. This could help eliminate any browning happening due to chance. Besides that, all the apparatus used for the cutting and handling of the apple cubes were cleaned thoroughly and free from rust as rust can accelerate the browning of apples. Apparatus Petri dishes, measuring cylinder, glass rod, beaker, boiling tubes, filter funnel, normal laboratory spectrophotometer, cuvette, pestle and mortar, water bath, knife, dropper, volumetric flask, blender, centrifuge, knife, marker pen Materials Distilled water, apples, Vitamin C tablets, label stickers, filter paper Variables Manipulated: Concentration of Vitamin C (mg) Serial dilution technique was used to make the same volume of lime juices containing different Vitamin C concentration. The Vitamin C concentrations used were 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100mg. The control was distilled water to allow comparison to be made. Responding: Browning index (ABS) The browning index was determined by blending, centrifuging, filtering and measuring the percentage absorbance at 420nm of the oxidised apple cubes. Controlled: Types of apples, pH of Vitamin C solution, surrounding temperature All the apples used in the experiment were of the same type, same origin and were bought from the same supermarket at the same time. The pH of the solutions was kept constant using a buffer at pH6.5. The apple slices were placed in separate Petri dishes in the laboratory under normal room temperature. Real Experimental Procedure Six different concentrations of Vitamin C of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100mg were prepared. Sixty apple cubes were cut with 10 apple cubes dipped into each concentration. The apple cubes were placed in different Petri dish and left at room temperature and condition for 24 hours. The apple cubes were then homogenised in a normal blender for 2 minutes centrifuged at 10000rpm and filtered. The absorbance of the clear apple juice at 420nm was measured using a spectrophotometer and the reading of the spectrophotometer was recorded as the browning index. The experiment was repeated once. Safety Precautions Gloves were worn when dealing with Vitamin C tablets to prevent the tablet from being contaminated. Vitamin C solutions were prepared in situ and sealed after the preparation to prevent any loss of Vitamin C due to oxidation. Care was taken when cutting the apple into cubes with knife to avoid cutting the hand. Knife and all the apparatus involved in the handling of apple cubes were cleaned thoroughly before the experiment and were make sure to be free from rust as rust can accelerate enzymatic browning. Apples were made sure to be healthy and not bruised when they were purchased. All glassware and apparatus were clean and free from laboratory chemicals. Special glassware and equipment, stored away from all sources of laboratory chemical contamination, and reserved only for food experiments was used.[8] Data Collection in Main Study Statistical Analysis There is a quite clear negative correlation between Vitamin c concentration and the browning index. This relationship was further proven by using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient[10,11] to test the linear dependence between the two variables being investigated. The correlation coefficient, r ranges from -1 to 1. A value of 1 implies that a linear equation describes the relationship between X and Y perfectly, where as Y increases, X increases. A value of -1 implies that when Y decreases, X increases. A value of 0 implies that there is no linear correlation between the two variables. The negative value of r indicates a negative correlation between the two variables investigated. The critical value for 5% confidence level = 0.811, which is smaller than the value of r calculated from the data of the real experiment. Therefore, the PMCC analysis showed that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between the concentration of Vitamin C and the browning index. The null hypothesis can be rejected. Data Analysis The graph showed that the increasing Vitamin C concentration brings about an overall decrease in the browning index of the apple cubes by 69 %. From 0 mg to 80 mg of Vitamin C concentration, the browning index decreases almost linearly. Although there was a slight increase in browning index from 80 mg to 100 mg, the value of Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, r = 0.942 re-affirmed that there is a strong negative correlation between Vitamin C concentration and browning index. The browning index is an indication of the proportion of oxidised phenols[7] during apple storage of 24 hours in the experiment. A lower browning index indicates a lower proportion of reacted phenolic compounds. In other words, the lower the browning index, the lesser the enzymatic browning taking place in the apple cubes. When the apples were cut into cubes, they were exposed to oxygen and enzymatic browning was initiated. By coating the apple cubes with a layer of Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid (AA) which is a very strong reducing agent, the process of enzymatic browning was inhibited as AA prevented O-quinone from being converted to its colored end product. Besides, AA competed with polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to react with oxygen. AA also formed a barrier to prevent oxygen from reacting with the substrate of the enzymatic browning process. The mode of AA action upon phenols can be summarized as follow: [6] O -diphenol +  ½ O2 O quinone + H2O O -Quinone + AA O- diphenol + dehydro AA A A +  ½ O2 dehydro AA + H2O With increasing Vitamin C concentration, more Vitamin C was made available to prevent the oxidation of phenols, thus the amount of oxidised phenols which contributed to the absorption at 420 nm was reduced and the browning index decrease. From the graph, the Vitamin C concentration that gave the lowest browning index was 80 mg. The browning index at this concentration was 86% lower than that of 0 mg. This showed that 80 mg was the ideal concentration which inhibits enzymatic browning happening in the apple cubes most effectively. Vitamin C concentration of 0 mg was used as a control in this experiment to show that Vitamin C did play a role in inhibiting enzymatic browning. The browning index at 100 mg was higher than that at 80 mg when it was expected to be lower. This may be due to another type of browning, known as non-enzymatic browning taking place in the apple cubes in which ascorbic acid was found out to play a role in some non-enzymatic browning. The non-enzymatic browning may have produced end products which also caused absorption at 420nm. As ascorbic acid affects non-enzymatic browning, the higher ascorbic acid concentration at 100 mg contributes to more non-enzymatic browning than that at 80 mg, contributing to a slightly higher browning index. [1] Evaluation In food processing industries, the average effective level of Vitamin C used for apple halves is 660mg/kg[2], which is also equivalent to 0.66mg/g. The total mass of all the apple cubes used in the experiment for each concentration was 45 g, so the ideal concentration of Vitamin C should be 29.7mg which almost three times lower than the ideal concentration obtained in the experiment. This may be due to errors and limitations which had arisen during the experiment. Apples are very porous and thus very difficult to treat. It is difficult to get ascorbic acid solution into sufficiently intimate contact with the fruit, which is important to maintain the quality of the fruit.[2] In this experiment, the apple cubes were only dipped into the Vitamin C solution and the solution did not have time to diffuse completely and reach every cell in the apple cubes. Besides that, this experiment was carried out under normal room temperature in which enzymatic browning occurs at a faster rate. The apple cubes were left at normal room conditions and constantly exposed to air, thus more ascorbic acid was needed to inhibit enzymatic browning as compared to vacuum packed processed apples. Moreover, a delay in adding ascorbic acid after the cutting of apples will cause permanent browning as the enzyme was not inactivated rapidly enough to prevent any appreciable oxidation to occur before ascorbic acid was added. [2] 3074 words The apples may be subjected to mechanical injuries during handling which may contribute to browning of the apples. Therefore, the apple cubes were handled as carefully as possible. A stainless steel knife was used to make sure there was no rust which could accelerate browning of the apple cubes. Different types of apples have different amount and types of phenolic compounds, substrates of enzymatic browning, which would affect the rate and amount of browning happening.[1,2] Apples of the same origin and type were bought at the same time at the supermarket to minimise this limitation. Further enzymatic browning may occur during the blending of apple cubes which may affect the final browning index. To prevent this, during blending, 50cm ³ of Vitamin C solution of that particular concentration which the apple cubes where dipped into was added. The quantification method used in this experiment has been simplified as the materials and apparatus available in my college laboratory was limited. The experiment can be improved using a more accurate and advanced method, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) assays [6,7] which measures the effect of Vitamin C on the activity of PPO directly so that the results obtained would be more reliable. Other improvements of this experiment include soaking the apple cubes longer in the Vitamin C solution and cutting the apples into smaller pieces to increase their total surface area to volume ratio for rapid diffusion of Vitamin C solution into the apples. Further studies on the type of food additives that affect the enzymatic browning of apples could have been investigated and their effectiveness compared. [6] Conclusion There is a negative correlation between Vitamin C concentration and enzymatic browning with 80 mg as the ideal concentration of Vitamin C which significantly reduced enzymatic browning by 86%. This was determined by the decreasing browning index as the Vitamin C concentration increases. Sources Evaluation Sources 1 to 4 are published books by food experts and also accredited universities. Moreover, books which are published are usually reviewed by other experts from that particular field prior to publication. Therefore, the information from these sources is reliable and factual. Sources 5 to 7 are online journals about Vitamin C and its effect on enzymatic browning, the quantification method of browning and the factors affecting enzymatic browning. These journals are peer-reviewed and so should contain sound scientific information. Furthermore, the information in these journals has been found to correlate each other, implying that they are highly regarded as reliable sources. Cumulative word count: 3349 words Sources 8 to 12 are websites which are well established and have many viewers. Therefore, the information they provide must have been screened and reviewed by experts to ensure they are sound and correct.