Infection Control - Pandemic Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Infection Control - Pandemic Planning - Essay Example The 2009-H1N1or swine flu was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization in 2009 (CDC, 2010). This influenza A (H1N1) virus was the most major cause of human flu in 2009. As Patel, Panchal, Chavda, Modiya, Marvaniya, Modi, and Sen (2010) note, some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans and they result in a small percent of all flu-like illness and a small percent of all seasonal flu. Other strains are endemic in pigs and birds. This paper will discuss effective pandemic planning for the management of an outbreak of H1N1 virus on a cruise ship with 1970 passengers and 734 crew on board. Infection Prevention and Control The UK’s National Infection Prevention and Control Framework describes extensive measures to combat the outbreak of future infectious diseases. This framework strongly recommends the active involvement of individuals, communities, healthcare authorities, national and local governments, and other care givers to address effective infection prevention a nd control so as to minimize the risk of infectious diseases that can endanger lives (NHS Professionals Infection Control Policy, 2010). There is a wide range of national policy guidelines such as The Health and Social Care Act (2008), Essential Steps to safe, clean care (2007), National Patient Safety Agency Revised Cleaning Manual (2009), and Winning Ways- Working together to reduce HCAI in England (2003) now available for the prevention of healthcare associated infection and communicable diseases (As cited in NHS South East Essex and NHS South West Essex, NHS,  Infection Prevention & Control Team, 2011). These national policy guidelines suggest that the effective prevention and control of healthcare associated infections (HCAI) should be practiced in everyday life and applied by everyone on a continuous basis. As per the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual of Health Protection Scotland (2012), it is particularly important for communities to have awareness of the po ssibilities concerning an outbreak of pandemic diseases. This awareness is very vital to prevent the situations leading to diseases like swine flu and to treat the disease conditions effectively (NDMA, 2009). The framework specifically indicates that thoughtful staff engagement is paramount in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The prevention and control practices have to be initiated from the bottom line (local communities or regions) and spread to the national level. According to the NHS Infection Prevention and Control Policy (n. d.), Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Infection Prevention and Control Teams, general practitioners, nursing staff, domestic staff, all other staff groups, and all key healthcare institutions in the country are involved in the prevention of HCAI. Pandemic Planning Requirements The given case scenario is about the management of an outbreak of H1N1 virus on a cruise ship. A cruise ship is likely to carry passengers from differe nt territories, sometimes from different countries. In addition, people cannot always stay away from the affected people while they are in a ship. Hence, the likelihood of spreading the disease will be high. In this situation, high awareness of the H1N1 flu is necessary to prevent the spread of this disease effectively. Hence, the medical team in the ship must inform the passengers and crew about the potential causes that would lead to spread of this infectious virus. The

Assess critically the contribution Essay Example for Free

Assess critically the contribution Essay Taylorism is a form of job design, which stresses short, repetitive work cycles; detailed, set task sequences; a separation of task conception from task execution; and motivation linked to pay. Taylor argued that the principal objective of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee (1911). Fredrick Taylor’s five principles of scientific management: 1. A clear division of tasks and responsibilities between management and workers. 2. Use of scientific methods to determine the best way of doing a job. 3. Scientific selection of the person to do the newly designed job. 4. The training of the selected worker to perform the job in the way specified. 5. Surveillance of workers through the use of hierarchies of authority and close supervision. Taylor proposed this by measuring what workers did against the time taken, to develop ‘one best way of working’ (1911). By using quantitative methods a workers output could be accurately measured. At the time of its inception Taylor found that firms who introduced scientific management as he prescribed became the worlds most meticulously organised factories (Nelson, 1980). Managers are responsible for identifying the best cost efficient work practices and training workers to become highly productive and affective in their specific work task. Taylor argued that it stands to reason that an employee becomes more productive when working at their speciality and concluded with stating that there are more benefits gained for both employees and employers from dividing workers. With linking pay to each task performed, Managers can thus control the workforce and output and consistently achieve desired goals. The piece rate pay system  pays workers in parallel to number of items each worker has produced, hence also providing employees with an incentive to work. Henry Ford’s theory (Fordism) referring to mass production in industry (Marcouse, 1996) united the idea of assembly line and Taylor’s theory of division of labour and payment. Fordism focused on dividing jobs into unskilled and semi-skilled tasks. Whilst managers at Ford vehemently opposed any relation to Taylorism, it can be said that Fordism retained the faults of Taylorism of an autocratic work environment with little room for creativity as well as the benefits of the piece rate system relying on financial motivation. Criticisms of Taylorism: 1.Assumed that the motivation of the employee was to secure the maximum earnings for the effort expended; and neglected the importance of other rewards from work (achievement, job satisfaction, recognition), which later research has found to be important. 2. Neglected the subjective side of work-the personal and interactional aspects of performance, the meaning that employees give to work and the significance to them of their social relationship at work. 3. Failed to appreciate the meaning that workers would put on new procedures ad their reaction to being timed and closely supervised. 4. Had inadequate understanding of the relation of the individual incentive to interaction with, and dependence on, the immediate work group. Taylor did attribute ‘underworking’ to group pressures, but misunderstood the way in which these worked. He failed to see that these might just as easily keep production and morale up. 5. Ignored the psychological needs and capabilities of workers. T he one best way of doing a job was chosen with the mechanistic criteria of speed and output. The imposition of a uniform manner of work can both destroy individuality and cause other psychological disturbances. 6. Had too simple approach to the question of productivity and morale. It sought to keep both of these up exclusively by economic rewards and punishments. Incentive approaches under the scientific approach tended to focus on the worker as an individual and ignored their social context. Pay system may result in a worker valuing quantity over quality. 7. Functional foremanship was deemed to be too  complex and an unwieldy mode of supervision. (Huczynski, 2013) Ways to alleviate the negative effects of Taylorism especially to worker motivation and performance and find new ways to job designs came about following the introduction of the American psychologists Fredrick Hertzberg two factor theory of motivation. Hertzberg had the idea that there were two sets of factors that affected motivation and job characteristics: Motivators: These factors refer to the extent to which a job offers opportunities for achievement, creativity, responsibility, opportunities for personal growth. These are intrinsic to the job itself. Hygiene factors: These comprise issue as the nature of supervision and supervisory style, the level of pay, working conditions, and interpersonal relations. These are extrinsic to the job. For Hertzberg it was only the motivator factors that have the potential to generate satisfaction and motivation. If hygiene factors are improved, they do not result in improved motivation, but if removed, will result in demotivation. To raise levels of motivation and therefore performance, following Hertzberg theory of motivation, companies needed to ensure that the hygiene factors were in place, and to also ensure that the ‘motivator factors’ (i.e intrinsic motivators) were incorporated into the jobs. In particular, jobs needed to be designed in such a way that workers could be given opportunities for achievement, responsibility and personal growth. Criticisms of Hertzberg two-factor theory: Can job characteristics fall neatly into two categories of motivators and hygiene factors? Can a job characteristic be both? (Example can pay be a motivator as well as a hygiene factor-?) Blunt and Jones (1992) They point out that some studies from Nigeria have indicated that hygiene factors, in particular pay, supervision and working conditions, acted as motivators. Machungwa and Schmidt (1983) reported on a study conducted in Zambia and found that material rewards and the physical conditions of work appeared to have both motivating and demotivating effects. This was interpreted by Blunt and Jones in the following way: if material rewards were inadequate they were demotivating, but they acted as motivators if they were perceived as reasonable. This appears to directly contradict Hertzbergs theory, but Blunt and Jones consider that this is only likely to be the case in less developed countries, as Hertzberg (1987) himself appears also to argue. However, one study does not refute a theory. Hertzberg did his original work on qualified professionals, such as engineers, whereas the people surveyed in the study above were manual workers. This in itself might be enough to account for the difference. In general, we can expect professional or managerial workers everywhere to be more intrinsically motivated than manual wor kers given the different nature of the work that the two groups undertake, but as we shall see the way work is organized may compensate for such differences in the relative interest value of different types of work The theory is regarded as a Universalistic theory; that it will impact all individuals in the same way in all work situations. It does not take into consideration that some people may not have a desire for personal growth, and are therefore unlikely to be motivated by job enrichment initiatives that give them higher levels of autonomy and responsibility. Hertzberg theory was superseded by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham ‘the Job Characteristics Model’; which argued in a similar respect to Hertzberg theory, that if jobs are enriched this will lead to improvements in attitudinal outcomes (increased satisfaction and motivation) and improvements in behavioural outcomes (higher productivity and lower rates of absenteeism). Three critical psychological states: Hackman and Oldham argued that jobs should be designed in such a way that they are focused on the achievement of three critical psychological states: Workers must experience work as being personally meaningful-something that  they care about. Workers must experience personal responsibility for their work- accountability for their work. Workers must know if their work performance is effective-they must have knowledge of the results of their work activities. If these 3 critical psychological states are achieved, higher levels of satisfaction, motivation and performance will result from the worker. However this theory too has had its criticisms. Current literature now argues the importance and focus on team working, however one should acknowledge that the interest in team working is not something that is new to current times. Autonomous and semi-autonomous work groups were central to earlier theories of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Team working has now re-emerged as part of the lean production flexible working debates. An American Theorist, Harry Bravemen thesis known as the ‘Bravemen thesis argues to counter the popular view in social science and management literature that Taylorism has been superseded by human relations and other more sophisticated approaches; that there is in fact a tendency for workers and their jobs to become de-skilled through fragmentation, rationalisation and mechanisation. This argument of deskilling workers and jobs was continued in the context where it became known as McDonalization a term that came about after the publication of a book by Georg Ritz. McDonalisation is a form of work design aimed at achieving efficiency, calculability, predictability and control through non-human technology, to enhance organisational objectives by limiting employee discretion and creativity. He used the term to refer to the processes used at the growing number of fast food restaurants dominating the American market. McDonalds is a modern example of the Taylorised way of work. The tasks are de-skilled and simplified for an employee at McDonalds and limited by the  sophisticated technology of fast food preparation. Hamburger grilling instructions are detailed and precise, cooking times and the sequence of events dictated to make a burger. Drinks dispensers, French fry machines, programmed cash registers all limit the amount of time required to carry out a specific task and leave little room for the employee to do as they wish, little room for creativity or innovation to processes. This way of working ensures the aims of the organisation to achieve greatest efficiency, calculability, predictability and control all of the key elements described by the Ritzer’s ‘Mcdonalization’. Regardless of the fact that the de-skilling may lead to de-motivated employees, which may result in high absenteeism and high staff turn over; its ability to integrate new workers into the production processes and dismiss employees without losing knowledge form the organization allows the model to still be successful. Taylorism can also be illustrated in modern day call centres. A case study on a customer service call centre run by two British Companies, Martin Beirne, Kathleen Riach and Fiona Wilson found strong continuities with Taylorism, in relation to work design and operation. They found the work to be pressurized and highly paced with managements focus on productivity and cost minimisation. Most of the jobs were narrowly defined and closely monitored. The time duration of each call taken; the content of the conversation with each customer; and the advise also given to the customer was prescribed (from Beirne et al 2004). But modern day illustrations of Taylorism don’t end there. It is also seen in relation to ‘scientific selection training’. We’ve now moved away from an industrial economy towards a knowledge –based economy where an organisations competitive success depends on its talent. Much effort is devoted by contemporary organisations to select and recruit the right person for a role. Taylorism also placed importance and the introduction of scientific selection criteria by management to do a particular task. In line with his emphasis on scientific approach to selection, Taylor advocates scientific training as he argues that â€Å"it is only when business systematically cooperate to train the competent man†¦that it shall be on the road to national efficiency†. (Taylor, 1911: p 98). In the context of the knowledge  economy, organisations are generally encouraged to develop employees’ skills and knowledge. ‘Now one of the very first requirements of man who is to handle pig iron as a regular occupation is that he shall be so stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the grinding monotony of work to this character. Therefore the work man who is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real science of doing this class of work’. (Taylor 1911/1997 pg 59) â€Å"The task is always so regulated that the man who is well suited to his job will thrive while working at this rate during a long term of years and grow happier and more prosperous, instead of being overworked†. (Taylor 1911) Thus scientific management matched the worker to the job and in the process separated the conceptualization of work from its execution. It also provided safeguards against personal bias and individual favoritism, which is something that can still be applied to the current context of contemporary organisations. Taylorism is also found in the Saudi Educational system, for example metaphorically describing students as the ‘raw material’ of schools; controlling the movement of teachers students through class bells; conceiving of the curriculum as a product; dividing students into grades or dividing curriculum into units and individual lessons; describing the school facilities as a ‘plant’ are a result of a ‘factory model’ schooling that has its roots in the adoption of scientific management principles by educational administrators. Contemporary schools in Saudi are still largely influenced with its teaching and learning deeply rooted in ‘scientific management’ as seen with the following: 1. Schools are large and bureaucratized. 2. Students change teachers every year. 3. Teachers plan and teach alone. 4. Curriculum is fragmented. 5. Tracking students by ability levels. 6. Deskilling of teachers through alignment of teaching mandated curriculum and standardized tests. 7. Emphasis on monitoring /surveillance bureaucratic activity-scripted curriculum and scripted tests. Taylorism does not permit autonomy in work. Input by production workers in the organisation, planning, and direction of the manufacturing process was not allowed, requiring workers to do exactly what they were told to do and no more. This authoritarian approach to work can been illustrated in the schooling: That student’s are excluded from the planning, organisation and direction of the educational process. De-skilling of the teachers as their work is conceptualised by others (Ministry of Education who agrees the standard curriculum to be used in schools) and enforced by the bureaucratic outcome of accountability systems implemented in schools. The other way that Taylorism continues to influence the education system is through the use of individual rewards for individual effort (example the focus on a students individual test results). Taylor developed wage-incentive schemes emphasizing piecework and historically assembly line foremen attempted to stop any sort of worker inter action. Elton Mayo who introduced Human Relations theory based on his research at the Hawthorne electrical factory was to see how productivity will improve if the lighting condition changes and he followed Taylor’s scientific principles by testing the changes against a control, with part of the factory lighting being unchanged, (Kelly 1982). This lead him to conduct further experiments which vast doubts on Taylors assumptions about the importance of money in motivation (Marcouse, 1996). According to Huczynski and Buchan, the conclusions which can be drawn from Hawthorne studies are: 1. People at work are motivated by more than just pay and conditions. 2. Their need for recognition and sense of belonging are very important. 3. A person’s attitude to work is shaped strongly by the group in which that individual  belongs within the company. 4. The ability of the informal group or clique to motivate an individual at work should not be underestimated. (Huczynski and Buchanan 1991) . Another contributor to the Human Relations approach is Abraham Harold Maslow, an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslows hierarchy of needs. They range from physical social to psychological needs. Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfilment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people as those who were fulfilled and doing all they were capable of. The Human Relations models have changed management and how workers are in fact valuable employees and stakeholders of an organisation. The key difference between scientific management and the human relations model is highlighted when analysing the motivational techniques to increase productivity. Scientific management emphasises the use of financial measures in order to secure employers objectives whereas the human relations model argues that management should acquire the insight into the skills that will manipulate social factors in order to harness their employees social needs to managerial ends (Fincham Rhodes, 1999). Thus, behavioural science; motivation theories in combination with the humanistic theories of management, have added to Taylors principles and allowed for contemporary organizations to succeed where scientific management alone failed. Taylorism was an influential management theory of the late nineteenth century. Despite its relevance to its time the influence can still be seen in todays twenty first century: educational institutes, service sector and the manufacturing industries. Though there are limitations to his method, this principle has a considerable profound and lasting influence to all contemporary organizations because of  Taylor’s â€Å"preoccupation with the efficient use of resources†. This philosophy can almost apply to every organization, despite its work structure, such as structures of team working or job enrichment; one of the ultimate goals should be improve efficiency. As Braverman says, â€Å"the principle of scientific management is not a failed system, but a set of guiding principles which continue to inform and influence the role and function of modern management†. Some of the methods he advocates, such as division of labour, scientific selection and training, have become the features of modern society. More primarily, as efficiency is one of the enduring needs of all organizations, his preoccupation with the efficient use of resources thus becomes the driving force behind the evolution of subsequent management theories and the root of management practice. References: Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D: Organisational Behaviour. Eighth Edition. Pearson 2013. Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D.,1991. Organizational behaviour An Introductory Text. Second edition. London: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd. Hertzberg,F., B.Mausner and B.Snyderman: The motivation to work (New york: Wiley 1959). Taylor F.W (1997): The principles of scientific management. Mincola, NY (original work published 1911). Braverman, H (1974): Labour and Monoploy capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. New York Monthly review press. Kelly, John. (1982), Scientific Management, Job Redesign, Work Performance. Academic †¨Press. Marcouse, I. et al. (1996), The Complete A-Z Business Studies Handbook, Hodder †¨Stoughton. Ritzer, George. (2000) The McDonaldization Of Society. Sage Publications Inc. Taylor, Frederick W (1911) The Principles of Scientific Management, Harper Bros. Fincham, R Rhodes, P (1999) Priniciples of Organisational Behaviours, Oxford Univeristy Press. Nelson, David (1980) Frederick W Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management, The University of Wisconsin Press. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-96. Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row.

Core Competencies of Ebay

Core Competencies of Ebay In this report, there is an analysis about the global company eBay. In the content, eBays core competency, value chain, and the challenges that eBay face will be illustrated and analyzed in order to get more understanding of the differences with the other companies. Also, there is a local company Charles Keith is selected to do comparison with the eBays globalized strategy. After comparing each other strategy, then there will be the critical analysis of it that whether the strategies are get used by each others. This analysis helps to illustrate an international business how it works like. Meanwhile, it gives the understanding about the core competency and value chain are the key components to create greater value to customers. Introduction In pace with fast growing of technology, convenience is given broadly by accessing the internet for chatting, e-mailing, video conferencing, even making online payment, online shopping, online auction, and other e-business activities. In todays competitive business market, eBay is one of the successful e-commerce online auction sites which was founded by Pierre Omidyar (Cohen, 2002). In 1995, eBay was officially built as an online trading platform that operates person-to-person trading in a web-based auction format forum by Pierre Omidyar. As a matchmaker, eBay provides a stage for sellers and buyers to connect in worldwide, however, it could be individuals and businesses involve in buying and selling variety of goods and service. Invisibly, eBay provides a place where buyers and sellers can conveniently meet, exchange information about goods and prices, manage sales at minimum costs, and made collecting and bargain hunting fun (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.14). In the worlds largest online market, as pioneer as eBay is, its virtual setting where capital, desire, and identity converge has progressed into a global economic, social, and cultural phenomenon (Hillis, Petit, and Epley, 2006). According to eBay self-characteristic which is leading a universal shopping destination on the internet virtually that has seen a driving force of global e-commerce. However, for surviving in the global market, eBay acquired PayPal in 2002, to enable any person or business with an e-mail address to send and receive payments online securely, easily, and quickly. Besides, eBay also acquired SKYPE to enhance its operation thus maintain a certain service standard (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Due to a global e-commerce business that eBay pursue, comparatively, challenges about translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion are probably to be seen as obstacles in development (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Core Competency of eBay In the case of eBay, the core competency which will be analyzed in here is similar to the companys internal factor strength. According to Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson (2009, p. 103), core competencies are resources and capabilities that seen as competitive advantage for the firm over its rivals, meanwhile, it is a value-creating strategies to satisfy customers needs. In order to meet customers prospects across time, constantly improve, innovate, and upgrade their competencies is needed. Being a strong core competency, it must have some significant components which are including the perceived customer benefit of the end product and difficulty of imitation (Hiebing and Cooper, 2004). For the sake of further developing and steadily keeping the first leader position up in the e-commerce industry, the core competencies of eBay have: An efficient distribution system with developed proprietary software In eBays own website, there are series of stages that allow sellers to design, build up, monitor, and organize their particular auctions to sell outstanding thematic goods for those buyers are willing to pay a premium price on it, whereas, buyers used eBays software to search products and place bids (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). A developed proprietary software which is scalable, full-bodied, user interface and transaction-processing system that handle all aspects of auction process (Figure 1). For example (Figure 2), it sends e-mails when users register for the service, place a successful bid, and outbid. Moreover, it sends daily status updates to active sellers and bidders and maintains user registration information, account information, current auctions, and historical listings (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000, p.32). It provides convenience for both sellers and buyers to access eBay to check up the new status whenever. Figure 1: Auction Process (I) Figure 2: Auction Process (II) Global Reach With the mission of offering global trading platform where anyone could trade whenever at anywhere, eBay acquired the leading auction websites in 23 countries such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. People could find strange and cheaper products from eBay because of its global capability (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). An Extensible Strategy As a monopoly in Americas online auctions, eBays extensible strategy has provided variety of products, services, and markets. There are around 12 million online auctions set up in different countries and has divided into 18,000 different categories. Almost approaching 2 million of new items are provided for sale; likewise, there are 62 million registered users from eBay are glad to find the items here too. Thats why the competitors such as Yahoo and Amazon are hard to access in the auction market to grab the market share (Dror, 2003). Acquisitions and alliances with companies By associating Square Trade, Auctionwatch, AOL (Nerney, 1999), IBM (IBM and eBay Forge Broad e-business Alliance, 2001), Yahoo (Yahoo and eBay seal online deal, 2006) and acquired PayPal and Skype (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009); eBay has beneficially meet the customer satisfaction meanwhile obtain the greatest propagation to the users. Strong brand identity and recognition A powerful and highly recognized brand name commonly results in greater unit sales and allows the seller to charge a premium over off-brand competitors (Bunnell and Luecke, 2000). eBay could have strong brand recognition and well known by people are attributed by its global expansion and building up a strong user base. There is 67 percent market share from brand identity of eBay (Lee, 2007). eBays Value Chain Figure 3: Porters Value Chain Model In the Porters value chain (Figure 3), it is a model to analyze the organizational process as activities that the firm to has the competitive advantage and create value for the customer (Michael Porter Value Chain Model Framework, 2010). By analyzing the primary activities, eBay could able to see where the value can be added, thus, allow the business to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, value chain becomes an important key tool for any type of organization (Wickramasinghe and Lubitz, 2007). The margin (Figure 3) is as same as added value, while the firm is divided into primary activities and support activities. Primary activities offer the customer a level of value that exceeds the cost of the activities (The Value Chain, 2010) includes inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service. On the other hand, the support activities are supporting the primary activities to make sure these activities that a firm has the opportunity to create greater value. Also, a competitive advantage may be attained by reconfiguring the value chain so as to provide lower cost or better differentiation (The Value Chain, 2010). In the following page, there is a value chain analysis of eBay that how it works with the value chain (Figure 4). Primary Activities (Bidgoli, 2004 ) Inbound Logistics Internet Links facilitate posting of product information. Listings of products describe to customers. Operations (Value Creation) Database search engine allows easy access to products. Dynamic pricing allows for bidding to determine market price. Outbound logistics Distribution is facilitated or the responsibility of seller. Escrow system attempt to limit fraud. Marketing and Sales Having first mover advantages and advertising to create brand name advantages. Forums allow for community development. Service Database supported reports on sellers and buyers. eBay community that people interacted with each other under a set of shared rules and expectations. Support Activities (Gopaikrishnan and Gupta, 2007) Procurement Does not take possession of the items being sold, thus reduces inventory management costs. Secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. Technology Development Uses online option to innovate, to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. Includes internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, customer relationship management (CRM), and many other technological developments. Human Resource Management Developing a community whose members are unknown, trust among traders. Firm Infrastructure -Management Information System (MIS) for planning and control -Operated much like a newspaper-classified section, it facilitated person-to-person transactions but did not get ownership of the items being sold. Figure 4 -eBay Value Chain The function of value chain is to reduce the cost and create as well as enhance the differentiation. eBay configure with its value chain activities which around the global world, the aim is to maximize the perceived value for its global users and lessen the costs of value making. By having the primary activities, coordination of the value chain is significant with the use of supporting activities which integrated all the activities into a solid whole. There are several factors affected eBay to configure value chain globally are including cost/price issue, business environments, translation software, logistics, and customers needs. Cost/Price issue As operates a global networking, the currencies exchange rate, different wages rates in different country, inflation rates, and government regulations have deeply influenced the costs of the business expending as well as the price setting. Business Environment Value chain is configured in order to have strong competence to confront to the competitors like Amazon.com and Chinas website Alibaba.com. By operating flexibly, it would able to help eBay to increase the competitive advantage. Translation Software Due to eBay acquired auction web sites in many different countries, the language used in the website also would be different that each country has their own native language. Therefore, value chain helps to maximize the technology development and thus offer convenience to customer. Logistics Have shown graph (figure 2) and mentioned how the eBay works. There are inbound logistics and outbound logistics. Therefore, value chain is configured to control the operation and minimize the cost on the way that eBay operates its auction website. Besides, it maximizes the perceived value to users by creating value to them through the updates status. Customers Needs As mentioned before, eBay has the largest user base. To fully maximize the value to the customer and understand what they want, it is necessarily to configure value chain. By establishing those value chain activities, those have influenced and shorten the distance between the users. It is a key factor that influenced not only a single country but it is useful to be configured in all country that eBay entered. The more eBay expand the more eBay coordinate. Coordination is a crucial part in conducting a value chains model that how it helps to combine all the activities and works with the core competencies effectively and efficiently. If the coordination is well done in the value chain, the market share of eBay will be boosted up absolutely. There are several factors affected eBay to coordinate the value chain activities are operational obstacles and national cultures. Operational Obstacles As acquired many leading auction website, the communication in verbal and nonverbal have set up a barrier towards success. It is because misunderstanding the particular local language will hinder the related information of the products or service. Besides, the currency exchange rate measurement systems also bring out the problem that has made users confused about the price indeed. The government regulations also acts as a main role in this factor that some countries have their own unique legal that some products are prohibited to enter. National Cultures Different countries have different culture attitudes and perceptions. For example, most of the Asian countries like China and Japan; they may not comfortable with purchasing the product through website that without touching the product in reality. Or even China, they already have their own local leading auction website alibaba.com. Therefore, coordination of the value chain is critical to be adopted in eBay to confront the dilemma. eBays Value Chain is Characterized as Virtual In the e-commerce business industry, eBay is a Web-based forum business that the firm is not producing any product and it just acts as a matchmaker or middleman to help its users who are either individuals or businesses to conduct the auction and provide a place for people connecting to each others in worldwide. eBay achieves competitive advantage and create value to the customer just only by keeping applying the extensible strategy to generate new products, services, and markets. Due to e-business matchmaker eBay special business characteristic, it supports communication to value-oriented buyers and sellers, sustains the principles of trust and safety, guarantees low fraud losses and high security to its community transaction process by delivering state-of-the-art information technology (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). In here, eBay is characterized as virtual value chain because of some reasons which are illustrated in the following. An online based only e-commerce business in the virtual marketspace eBay is centralized its business in an online trading platform that only posting information of product and service or other comedies to its users. In the E-marketplace, it providing information merely to the community is not counted as producing products; also, eBay do not has any ownership to the physical product. eBay just acts as a catalyst between the sellers and buyers (Bidgoli, 2004). No economies of scale and scope is applied to the virtual value chain (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) It is because eBay pursue a matchmaking service that charges the closing auction price to gain the revenue only. There is no input and output (Heterick and Twigg, 1999) As mentioned that there is no any product is produced by eBay and it is launched as an online trading platform that conducted in the forum. Creates value chain through five activities that different from the traditional value chain eBay gathering and organizing information of the sellers product into a database then buyers can pick what to bid on. eBay synthesizing the requested information to buyers also. Besides, eBay also gathers, organizes, synthesizes and distributes information about the complaint from both sellers and buyers (Rayport and Sviokla, 1995). From these several activities, these have created value to the users to show loyalty and trust on eBay. Implications to the Challenges Identified The challenges faced in the case of eBay are including translation software, digital divide, cultural attitudes about the e-commerce, government regulations, and the pace of international expansion (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Moreover, different currencies, customs regulations and inspections, and trade rules produce substantial barrier to eBay. Those are discussed in the below: Translation software As a global trading platform, eBay has to face the problem that describing the auction post into particular native language in order to be understood by those native languages of potential buyers. Yet, there is limitation of the translation software that usually imperfectly translates the native language has become obstacle for eBay to its global strategy (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Government regulation Each country presents unique cultural and legal challenges. It is a big issue that whether the product or service listed in the auction platform can be exported or imported to the countries (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). For example, a French judge was faced a problem that the Nazi memorabilia is prohibited to enter in France. The digital divide Mostly it will be faced in the developing countries like India and China that they mostly do not own their computer and the credit card as well. Due to the different level of economic condition and lack of internet access, it is hard to enter into the particular country and that would be a risk. Cultural attitudes about e-commerce In high uncertainty-avoidance cultures country like Japan, India, China, even the half of Asian are distrustful of e-commerce transactions. They tend to purchase the items that are new (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). Sadly, eBay was suffering in the problem that the online trading is not attracted by them. Pace of international expansion Due to expand the business to the overseas is seen to be too rushed; as a result, it brought out the difficulty for acquisition. The premium paid to acquire the foreign operation is getting increase (Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan, 2009). According to the eBays global strategy, majorly, eBay is carried out an AAA global strategy. These AAA represents acquisition, activation, and activity. There are some implications to the challenges in today and in the future are shown in the following: May lose the users as well as the customers loyalty If the translation software is not fixing well, it will probably influenced the users move to the another auction forum to continually their business. Invisibly, it gives the chances to Amozon.com to grab the market share from eBay. Besides, without the convenience that eBay gives, users will lose the patient to eBay and shift their loyalty to the competitors. May earn an additional price from the translation and market share from developing countries In the future, by helping the user translate the post meaning to him or her familiar language with a few dollars charges will help eBay to have another value chain activity to increase its value. Also, continually operate eBay auction forum in India and China would able to gain access into this tough market that their population all are quite high. Without knowing the country legal may get in problem eBay must respect and recognize to each country legal environment in order not to against with the countrys legal issue. From the experience, eBay must try to improve and enhance the relationship between each countrys governments. Gain learning experiences to the cultural attitude Before entering the particular country, eBay must do a critical Pestel analysis about the country so as to eliminate the chances to face the loss. Through the learning experiences in Japan, eBay learned the different cultural attitude and their behaviour. In the future, eBay is able to be knowledgeable before it decides to enter a new expansion. The Comparison of the Globalized Strategy The local company which is being picked up is Charles Keith. Charles Keith is a Singapore based fashion company. It is well known by selling the womans footwear and accessories. In today, Charles Keith has been over 170 franchises worldwide and be one of the successful story in the international chain. Its global expansion started at 2000, the outlets in 22 countries including Japan, Brunei, and Indonesia (Ramlan, 2010). In the following, there is a table (Figure 6) that showing a comparison of the globalized Strategy between eBay and Charles and Keith. Acquisition Franchising Activation Partnership with DBS Bank (Charles Keith ups ante by venturing into Asia, ME Europe, 2010) Activity Combination of affordability and design (Tan, 2009) Recruiting Japanese and others nationality (Tan, 2009) Standardization of employees and service Figure 5: Comparison of Global Strategy As a result, there is no similar globalized strategy between eBay and Charles Keith. It is because eBay and Charles Keith are serving in different industry and their value chain is totally different. Why? It is because eBay only offers an auction website for the buyers and sellers to make business transaction. Its value chain is virtual value chain. On the other hand, Charles Keith is doing business in fashion industry that they produce, design, and selling by themselves. It is a traditional form of value chain that has input, output, economies of scale or scope. If eBays acquisition strategy is applied into Charles Keith to develop its expansion to overseas, it will be succeeded in spending enough amounts and having a clear Pestel analysis before entering a particular country. While, if Charles Keiths franchising strategy is applied into eBay, it will not be succeeded. It is because the eBays business model and the whole operation are cannot be franchising due to its special e-commerce background. Secondly, eBays activation is encouraged to apply in Charles Keith because the strategy is aimed same perspective. In eBay, its activation is aimed at increasing the users participants like sellers and buyers. Therefore, to increase customers purchases, Charles Keith is possible to apply it. While, Charles Keith strategy that partnering with DBS Bank is encouraged to be applied in eBay in order to get enough investment. Activity of eBay also is encouraged to be used in Charles Keith in order to increase the volume of sales. While, combination of affordability and design is not encouraged to apply in eBay since they are different categories of business. Continually, the overseas recruitment is encouraged to be applied in eBay so as to get more understanding of the particular country culture. Lastly, that is about the standardization of product and service, in here, although the industry is totally different but they still can use same concept that is standardization to their service in both company. Conclusion In conclusion, by analysing eBay business, it makes a lot of understanding about the company working in the global world. Core competency and value chain actually are having some integration, this two components are the key components that the company how to create the greatest competitive advantage and create value to the customer. Thus, it benefit customer, as long as get used to it, the customers show the loyalty to the company too. At the last part of the comparison of the globalized strategy, that is an interesting part that actually the globalized strategy between this two company all are having the fundamental concept that is how to increase the customers and the market share throughout the worldwide.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Movie and Book Essay -- Movie Film co

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Movie and Book The novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", by Maya Angelou is the first series of five autobiographical novels. This novel tells about her life in rural Stamps, Arkansas with her religious grandmother and St. Louis, Missouri, where her worldly and glamorous mother resides. At the age of three Maya and her four-year old brother, Bailey, are turned over to the care of their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Southern life in Stamps, Arkansas was filled with humiliation, violation, and displacement. These actions were exemplified for blacks by the fear of the Ku Klux Klan, racial separation of the town, and the many incidents in belittling blacks. Maya knows that to be black and female is to be faced with violence and violation. This is brought into focus when she goes to live with her mother and is raped by her mother’s boyfriend. When Maya is faced with this catastrophe, tells who did this to her, and the man is killed, she believes her voice killed him. She withdraws into herself and vows never to speak again. Her mother feeling that she has done everything in her power to make Maya talk, but can cannot reach her, sends Maya and her brother back to Stamps. After Maya returns to Stamps and with the help of her Teacher-Ms. Flowers she begins to speak again. The culmination of the novel is when Maya describes her eighth grade graduation. Angelou, her classmates, and parents listen to the condescending and racist manner in which the guest speaker talks. After listening to his insults, Maya realizes "she is the master of her fate" which was expressed in the valedictory address given by her classmate. Maya becomes a single parent at the age of eighteen, bu... ..., the film portrayed the kids being overly whelmed with hatred when they received gifts from their parents. It was like they never knew their parents existed. Another example of the difference between the book and the movie is Mr. Freeman (mother’s boyfriend) was presented as being very reserved with the children. In the movie he was seen as warm, talkative, and friendly towards Maya and her brother. The film also showed Mr. Freeman’s manly behavior by confronting Vivian (Maya’s mother) at her job. However, in the book Mr. Freeman never left the house, he always sat and waited at home for her. Although reality involves a vast supply of details and you can not select them all. Many writers, directors, and artists, emphasis with this information and diminish other information in order to make the novels, movies, plays and etc. more vivid to our imagination.

Kashmir facing a natural disaster Essay

In nature’s biggest fury in six decades in the valley, more than 170 people have already lost their lives in the recent flood that struck the indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Witnessing human terror since ages, the valley is under the threat of floods due to a week long incessant rain which is affecting the rescue operations as well. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Sunday declared the situation a â€Å"national-level disaster†, and announced a special assistance of Rs 1,000 crores for the flood-hit state, from PM’s relief fund. River Jhelum flowing 14 feet above the danger mark. Homes, military bases and hospitals inundated in the region’s main city Srinagar as the Jhelum river overflowed its banks. Landslides triggered by heavy rainfall have damaged roads, dozens of bridges, buildings and crops. Land route has been stopped on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. The state government has closed all schools till September 7. Some 2,500 villages have been partially or completely submerged across the area, while thousands of people are stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued. A temple being washed away by the force of the flood. While the National Disaster Response Force teams have evacuated over 2700 victims to safer places, the Indian Air Force has also mounted massive relief efforts. Flood waters rose sharply overnight in Srinagar, a city of 900,000, catching many people living in low-lying areas unaware. This picture speaks volume about the prevailing flood conditions in the valley. The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi taking an aerial survey of the flood affected region in the valley. Five days of incessant rains in Jammu and Kashmir have left at least 170 people dead in the region’s worst flooding in more than six decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday declared the situation a â€Å"national-level disaster† and announced a special assistance of Rs 1,000 crores for the flood-hit state besides Rs 2 lakhs compensation from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured. Flood alert has been sounded in Srinagar , and all emergency services have been pressed into service to meet the eventuality of a flood. Two youths rescuing livestock from a flood hit area in Srinagar.

Examining Cultural Elements Essay

The following paper will look at the ways a therapist may be able to look upon and treat a family keeping all the cultural and the social boundaries, also known as the ethnocentric barriers aside. When looking at the view of the therapist, it may be important to look at the context of the family theories which have been introduced by sociologists all over the world. This idea was particularly introduced by the GAP or the group for the advancement of psychiatry. The association explained that it may be important for the families to be ascribed roles which are not specified when looking at the family. thus, if in any family which has an increasing amount of conflict, it may be helpful if it is somehow possible for the therapist to ensure that there are not any such roles put forward and emphasized. Note that in such a case particularly in a country with the traditional societal rules, it may be unlikely that such informality and the absence of clear cut roles would be possible. In such a case the therapist must allow for a setting and an environment such that the rigidity formed by the society is minimized so as to ensure an effective functioning of the family. This way neither the societal norms will be completely challenged, nor would there be any difficulty associated with the societal stereotypes. Another aspect which needs to be taken into consideration is that of the process of mystification. This process of mystification has been described as a process by which there are attempts made by one party to keep the other party in an awe state by maximizing the distance that they have between each other. When applying to the family life it implies denying the child’s experience by relabelling it. in other words if there is going to a conflict in the family, it may be very likely for the parents to blame the children rather than excepting their own mistakes because they lie in a superior position in contrast to the child. When talking about it with relation to the therapist, making sure that this element of mystification does not occur in a strict family environment where there may be a great deal of respect for the elders may be problematic. However, the therapist, by looking upon at all the aspects of the problem should make sure that such biases are not essentially a part of the experience he encounters when treating the family. perhaps, the therapist can take the family to a different setting, perhaps away from the present place where they are in order to ensure that such a problem does not occur that much. Apart from this, the therapist may also be able to effectively provide for therapy by looking at how the family has and follows the system of double blinds. By this we imply a system in which there are two contractory points. It may thus be very likely for an individual to take up one and not both the points. For instance how boys are told to be tough and at the same time not be harsh with their mothers. These situations imply that an individual can follow only one and thus a family conflict may very likely occur. In such a case, the therapist should easily identify the double bind situation and then allow for a dialogue or a discussion to take place between the related parties. After looking and keeping all the things into consideration there can be a presentation of the values and norms of the societies and then there can be an agreement reached upon. No only this, but an important thing that should be done by the therapists is to carefully observe the way these discussions take place. This would be more and way better than a mere speculation because the therapists may make an increasing amount of assumptions which may otherwise not be made in case of a proper observation. not only this, but it may also be important to note that by observing, it may be possible that other possible forms pf conflicts that occur within the family and may not completely be realized or perhaps are otherwise hidden are highly likely to come up. It should be noted that the observations by the therapist must also be made first and fore mostly, perhaps even before one to one counseling of the families occur. This may be so that there is an absolute certainty that there are no previous biases left for evaluation. Therefore, one may say that there may be numerous ways through which the cultural and societal biases can be avoided by a therapist. First and for mostly can be a clear evaluation of the conflict that occurs in the family with a particular look at the element of mystification as well as double binds. Not only this, but also observing the family to look and obtain additional data may also be very helpful. Reference: How the students’ culture effect their behavior www. literacynet. org/lp/hperspectives/culteffect. html Lyman Stone, How much does culture and lifestyle affect behavior? http://www. helium. com/items/493732-how-much-does-culture-and-lifestyle-affect-behavior What makes lives, what influences Behavior?