Visual Impairment Essays - Ophthalmology, Visual System, RTT

Visual Impairment Vision Impairments People catergorized as visually impaired range from individuals with mild visual losses to those with low vision to those who are totally blind (Winzer,370). Vision impairments does not necessarily mean a total loss of sight. Some visually impaired person can detect light, others can see shapes and forms, and others can see nothing at all. Generally, many different problems that interfere the retina to form image or the transmission of retinal images to the brain can cause blindness or vision impairment. It can be heredity or caused by disease or damage after birth. In some cases a specific reason cannot be determined. There are four major types of vision impairments. The first type are refractive errors. It is cause by the change of shape or size of the eyeball, conera or the lens. Myopia (short-sighted) and hyperopia (long-sighted) are two common examples. People with myopia or hyperopia cannot focus image accurately on the retina. Another example is astigmatism, it is caused by the abnormal curve shape of the cornera or the lens. And it can cause distorted or blurred vision. The second type are ocular motor problems. It is caused by irregular movement of the ocular muscles that control the movement of the eyeballs. It leads to the inability for the eyes to control focusing objects. Strasbismus is an example. This condition effects about 2 percent (2 out of 100) of all young children. Strabismus is a lack of coordinated muscle movement or focusing ability between the eyes, causing the eyes to point in different directions. One or both eyes may turn inward (crossed eyes) or outward (walleye). The eyes, the brain area that controls vision, and the muscles attached to the eyeball are involved. It result in the child that looks in certain directions, double vision (sometimes), vision in one eye only, with loss of depth perception. Strabismus can affect both sexes, all ages, but it usually begins during early childhood, frequently before age 5. If not corrected through therapy or surgery, crossed eyes can result in permanent loss of vision. The third type are eye diseases, it is caused by damage or disease before or after birth to one or more structure of the eye (Winzer, 374). One off the most common causes of blindness is cataracts. Cataracts are a clouding of the lens of the eye that keeps light from reaching retina. Resulting in badly blurred vision, double vision, sensitivity to bright lights and change in color vision. One eye is often more seriously affected than the other. It may be cause by chemical change in the lens. The exact cause is still unknown, but there are many factors that can accelerate cataract formation.These include an injury, either from a blow to the head or direct eye injury, other diseases exposure to radiation of any kind (x-rays, microwaves, or infrared rays) long-term use of a corticosteroid drug. A child may be born with cataracts or develop them at an early age. These cataracts, called congenital cataracts, may be caused by a genetic disorder such as down syndrome or from a condition the mother had during pregnancy such as German measles. The fourth type are other defects such as color blindness, photophobia or albinism. Color blindness is a inherited vision disorder which is often found in male rather than in female. Persons who have color blindness do not have one of the three cone cells which are responsible for receiving either blue, green and red. Therefore, people with color blindness are likely to confuse with red and green. But the condition is not serious enough to connect with visual impairments. Albinism is a hereditary disease. It must be pass thorugh from both parents, each of whom either has albinism or is a carrier of that trait. Albinism affects the production of melanin(Winzer,379). A lack of melanin in the retina, iris and choroid will cause the pupil to become in deep red color, the iris will become in grey, light blue or pink. A person with albinism will also suffer from photophobia, which is the extreme sensitivity to light. Bright light may decreases the person's visual acuity and may blinds the persons with albinism.

Business Term Paper

Business Term Paper Business term papers are written for various business term paper topics related to business. Business term papers are of various kinds such as international business term paper, business ethics term paper, business law term paper, trading business term paper, industrial business term paper, business strategy term paper and many others. Business term papers require a vast knowledge of business and its all terms. Business term papers are written for all the fields related to business such as marketing, economics, management, business communication, financial laws, ethics of business, business reports, business solutions, business problems, business challenges, business objectives, business promotion, business planning, business advancement, strategic marketing, business institutions and many others. Business term papers need to be written with full knowledge about the field and topic that you have opted for your term paper on business. How to write a business term paper is a question t hat is questioned by students who are linked to the business field of study. For writing an effective and grade winning term paper on business, all you need is to follow standard rules set by international educationists. What are the rules for an effective writing of business term paper? They are: You have to write a clear introduction and conclusion. The introduction should introduce the topic of your business term paper while your conclusion should summarize the whole argument of your business term paper or your conclusion can also predict some findings that you have justified in your discussion part of the term paper. Your business term paper should be divided into sections and paragraphs. The paragraphs should contain some ideas and these ideas should be divided as such that each paragraph contains one idea. One idea in one paragraph will make the term paper, a comprehensive one and many ideas in one passage will jumble down the whole paragraph. Your term papers on business should contain headings because headings also help out the readers in terms of understanding and also make the term paper a presentable one. Justify all you claims and thoughts with critical and authorial opinions but do not try to use the authorial opinions as your own as it make you guilty of plagiarism. Always give proper references in terms of in text citation, endnotes and footnotes and also give the full details of resources used on a separate works cited page. Be true to yourself and never try to copy something of a pinch’s size from sources doing plagiarism or your all-academic effort will be considered an academic dishonesty. If you consider yourself unable to write a business term paper on your own follow some tips on our blog how to write a term paper or buy business term paper from a reputable custom term paper service.

Supply chain work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Supply chain work - Essay Example Different products demand different supply chain and the difference may be in total depending on nature of products and involved organizations and managements. I, in this paper, outline supply chain for paper, and discuss the product’s transportation and storage through its current supply chain and possible improvements, planning and control for the product, and lean manufacturing ideas. Outline of the supply chain for paper Outline of supply chain for paper begins with the growth of trees, raw materials for paper, up to the nearest storage facility to the product’s final consumer. The first stage in the chain is identification of suitable seeds by a gardener for quality trees. The gardener then grows the seeds into seedlings and in a process that is informed of agricultural skills. The gardener tends the seedlings, in a nursery, for a period until a stage at which the seedlings are mature enough to survive in a real environment for its species’ growth. The young tree is then transferred into a designated location that may be a domestic environment or a forest at which it is planted. Care of the young plant transfers from the gardener to an expert in tree husbandry who cares for the young plant until its maturity time. The mature tree is the cut into logs of wood and chipped to align the material into the production process. Chipping converts the blocks of wood to â€Å"wood pulp† that is modeled into â€Å"raw paper† (Palgrave n.d., n.p.). Further processing results into â€Å"large rolls of paper† that is then refined to smaller packages. At this stage, the product has been developed and further processes relates to packaging in desirable shapes and sizes for ultimate utility. Cutting of the smaller paper rolls follows into development of â€Å"sheets of paper† that is then wrapped as the final product. Transportation of the products follows from this point into wholesalers’ warehouses and storage facili ties before further distribution to retailers’ warehouses from which the product is sold to consumers (Palgrave n.d., p. 8). The product’s supply chain outline identifies with features of the traditional supply chain. According to McKinnon et al., traditional supply chain consists of â€Å"suppliers, manufacturers, distribution centers, retailers, and customers† (2010, p. 102). Suppliers deliver raw materials to manufacturing companies that generate the finished products before delivery to intermediaries or retailers. Delivery to the intermediaries leads the products to retailers who offer the commodity to consumers. In the supply chain outline for paper, suppliers consist of the owners of the trees that are delivered as raw materials for the production process. The gardener, if operating independently from the tree farmer, can however be identified as a preliminary supplier. Processing companies that chip the delivered logs and process the raw materials into pa per and paper sheets are the manufactures under the traditional supply chain. Transportation companies and wholesalers can be considered as distributors and retailers and consumers complete the traditional supply chain outline. This means that even though the supply chain outline for paper has a long process with numerous players and activities, it identifies the structure of the traditional supply chain (McKinnon et al. 2010, p. 102; Palgrave n.d., p.

Describe the main determinants of oral health inequalities. Discuss Essay

Describe the main determinants of oral health inequalities. Discuss dental public health strategies that can be implemented to tackle oral health inequalities - Essay Example Just as healthy body contributes in creating sound mind, similarly oral health is essential in maintaining a healthy body (Audobato, 2009). Due to this it can be stated that oral health and healthy body have a positive connection with each other. Surgeon David reported oral health as ‘silent epidemics’ and emphasized on the importance of oral health by creating a strong connection of oral health with other diseases. A human mouth is the main portal of a human body and bacteria which is present in the mouth causes and creates different systematic conditions. According to the doctors, dentists and physicians every part of the body is linked with each other. Thus if any problem exists in the mouth area then it causes adverse affects all over the body (Donaghy, 2006). An oral health disease also causes harmful effects on the physical and psychological well beings of the people and this further affects the overall quality of life. According to the study conducted in America it has been stated that 23% of 65-74 year age group suffer from severe periodontal diseases. But not all of them get cured because this facility is not provided to all as 5 % of the aged Americans live in long-term care facility where the this fac ility is not provided to them, thus inequality in oral health prevails. Generally individuals are reluctant in getting their oral problems cured because of the general cost associated with oral health, i.e. oral health issues are expensive to cure. The cost factor is the biggest factor for individual’s unwillingness all over the world. Thus, Oral health knowledge and awareness is not only important for the well being of the individuals but also for the well being of the society. A large population today enjoys all the services of dental and they are being taken care of their every oral health related problem. But with deep grief there still exists a

The Role the Bible in Regards to Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Role the Bible in Regards to Ethics - Essay Example The Bible gives Christians the answers to different morality aspects that often bring up arguments and disagreements. Such matters include: abortion, immorality, drug abuse, homosexuality, alcoholism, divorce and the family among other aspects of life that often bring up dilemmas. (London, 2009) The Bible talks about morality and ethics in specific and general terms. In the Book of Mark 7:20-23, the Bible specifies that it is what comes from inside of Christians that causes them to sin. The heart directs us to steal to kill and to rob; to be jealous to be immoral and to commit any form of sin against the Lord. The verse mentions specifically the acts that are known to be immoral and unethical in accordance to the Bible. In Romans 1:25-32 the Bible goes ahead into specifications that when men sin against the Lord and are involved in worshiping the creations of the Lord and not God himself; it results into acts such as homosexuality where men have a strong passion for each other instead of the natural relationships created by God. In verses 29-30 it goes ahead and specifies the evils that the Lord is against including: slander and malice, disobedience of parents, being proud and not keeping promises among others. (Clapp, 1996: pg 36) In the Book of 1 Peter 4:3, the Bible continues to specify on aspects such as drunkenness which it depicts as evil. In the same chapter, it is also stated that for every wrong that is committed, the Lord is going to judge human beings accordingly. Therefore, it is clear from the Bible that the wrong doers will be punished and those who are strong and they suffer physically for the Lord will be saved. II. Nature of the Relationship between the Bible and the Church in regards to Ethics Churches of the world regard the Bible not as a collection of verses by the ancient people but as the word of The Lord. The Bible is taken as God's voice speaking directly to us. It is the voice of the Lord to the congregation and to the entire world. This is an act of faith and is what interconnects the Bible to the church. The main purpose of the church is to interpret the word in the Bible to the congregation and let it known to individuals what is right and wrong in the eyes of the Lord. The church serves as an institution of direction to the believers on the path to follow in order to be righteous and to live a holy life and waiting on the Lord. In the book of Isaiah 40:8, the Bible states that all other things in this world will come to pass but the word of the Lord will stand forever and ever. The message of the Bible that was intended by God to guide our every step and our day's activities is preached in churches. What is right or what is wrong (ethics) is emphasized in the c hurch using the wordings of the Bible. (London, 2009) In the Book of Nehemiah 8:1-16, the people of Israel are gathered in the Watergate to listen to the word that the Lord had given to Moses for them. Ezra the priest at that time read the scripture out loud to the people and they listened attentively to every word. They stood up in respect of the word and they bowed down to the Lord and worshipped Him in song and Praise. Ezra discouraged them from being sad and he told them that the joy of

A Marketing Plan For The Company Apple

A Marketing Plan For The Company Apple Apple Inc has been very successful especially when it revolutionized its business and customer-focus by providing an operating system which was specifically designed with graphical user interface, even when it has been experiencing rigorous competition in both software and hardware marketing. Out of Apples major visions are its marketing strategies such as differentiation, unique design, own-store retailing, complete solution and brand loyalty that in turn have helped the company achieve sustainable competitive advantage and create its very own market with long-term profitability. Apple has been amazingly impacting the technology, society and the world at large and it continues to innovate to the date. Computer and digital music machines have long been presumed to be high-tech devices reserved for scientists, mathematician, intellectuals and professional musicians, but Apple, with its technology and innovation, has turned them into an essential tool of everyones daily lives. Framing of the Research Issue The main issue being discussed in this paper is the retail store marketing strategy adopted by Apple Inc and its impact on Apples overall business. This piece of research work is an attempt to explore and answer what is Apples retail-marketing and why Apple Inc has chosen this strategy? The paper will interpret the advantages of implementing the own store retailing strategy to Apple Inc and analyze how this has contributed to its business success. Apple Inc is one of the large multinational companies of today and its marketing strategies, that have helped it achieve this success, have gained increased popularity and attracted attention of academic and business experts. Companies use different strategies at different times. Some of them may turn to be highly useful while others may not be so. Due to a number of factors like globalization, fierce competition between firms, technological advances and changing consumer behaviour, business contexts have become increasingly complex (Grover and Kettinger 1995, p. 58 ) and companies therefore require adopting effective strategies to survive these challenges and complexities. Apples retailing strategy has been thus an effective ideology it used to survive competition and other marketing challenges. As Pearce and Robinson (2004, p. 6) stressed, strategic issues usually have multi-functional and multi-business consequences. Decisions regarding strategies like customer mix, competitive emphasis, organizational structure and customer focus necessarily involve a number of firms strategic business units, divisions and programs. These strategies will yield positive outcome when they are well structured and effectively managed. When it comes to Apple Inc, a number of marketing strategies it adopted has been found to be extremely beneficial to the companys success. This research paper relates to one of its strategies- own store retailing. Research Contexts, Scope and Limitations No area of marketing and economic development has perhaps been more popular than retailing. Retailing has long been a critical pillar of a strong economy (Findlay, Paddison and Dawson 1990, p. 21). Similarly, retailing has been found to be a powerful marketing element that contributes much to the economic and financial well-being of a company as well. Many large multinationals operate retail stores, may be as part of its Supply Chain strategy or to promote direct marketing of their goods or services to the customers, with an aim to seize enormous opportunities of retailing. Large scale retailers like Wal-Mart, Sainsbury, TESCO and others have been studied extensively to assess their effectiveness and find the secrets behind their success. Their marketing techniques and how their retailing helps them maintain long-term profitability have been studied by a number of researchers. But, the significance of retailing as a strategy being implemented by a particular large-scale company is seldom explored, except that some of the researchers have indentified retailing or own store retailing only as a strategy with no extensive research on its importance and contributions to the company. Rather than generally talking about the importance and benefits of retailing strategy adopted by Apple Inc, this paper aims to explore literatures regarding the same and articulate specific factors that explain why it is important to adopt retailing strategy to a company like Apple Inc and what are the major benefits of it. The researcher would like to learn different aspects of using retail marketing to a large-scale business, Apple Inc, and for this purpose, researcher would review and evaluate the literatures and examine how customers respond to this marketing facility, what consequences of such retail marketing can have on the reputation and customer satisfaction of the business. The researcher will review literatures to find relations between retail marketing of Apple Inc with a number of marketing variables like customer satisfaction, brand building, brand loyalty, customer relationship, value proposition etc. By reviewing the literature about Apples Retail-marketing, the researcher would establish the importance of using retail-marketing as a marketing strategy to enhance greater long-term profitability and gain sustainable competitive advantages. This research is merely about Apples retail-marketing and therefore the findings and conclusions of this research may not be directly applicable or closely comparable with other businesses or manufacturing firms. Statement of Research aims and objectives This research paper aims to illustrate the benefits of retail-marketing to Apple Inc and find out how retail-marketing has contributed to Apples unique success stories in recent years. The main objectives of the study are: To define and explain retail-marketing with relation to its implementation by Apple Inc. To study and interpret the literature review of the importance and benefits of using retail-marketing as a business strategy, To ascertain what literatures talk about Apples retail-marketing strategy and how this has helped the company achieve its organizational goals like gaining sustainable competitive advantages, To examine how retail-marketing is closely related with various other marketing variables like customer focus, customer satisfaction, better servicing, direct marketing, brand loyalty, brand equity and customer relationship marketing etc, To suggest some successful measures and techniques that can be used along with retail-marketing strategy in order to help the company achieve its business goals. To establish what results can bring a retail-marketing on the competitive advantages of a firm, from the case of how Apple has successfully used it. Structure of the dissertation The introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the structure of the research paper and an introduction in to the main issue being discussed in this paper- retail marketing of Apple Inc. The framing of the research issue, the scope and limitations of researching retail-marketing in relation to Apple inc, and statement of objectives of the research are detailed in the introduction. In order the research to be clearer, it is highly important to have an outlook into Apples business and its various marketing strategies. Second chapter will briefly examine Apples business overview, market-share, market strategies, competition rivalry and value propositions it delivers to its customers. The researcher considers various literatures to be reviewed in chapter 3 and discusses previous works and studies in retail marketing of Apple Inc. Chapter 4 provides an overview in to the theoretical framework and methodology that this research uses for studying retail marketing of Apple Inc. The findings and results of literature review will be discussed in chapter 5. The researcher will summarize and list out major findings, results, suggestions and recommendations, based on the research in the conclusion chapter. Chapter 2 APPLE INC: MARKET OVERVIEW In todays highly rigorous competitive market landscape, Apples hot selling of iPod, iPhone, 3G phone, and digital music players, directly or through its own-store retailing, promises to revolutionize the market opportunities of digital entertainments as well as to meet varying customer needs for advanced technology. Brand loyalty, unique hardware and software design, differentiation and own store retailing have been some of its strategies that helped the company gain greater competitive advantages. Porter (1998a, p. 29) emphasized that an effective marketing strategy take either an offensive or a defensive action in order to create a defendable position against major competitive forces. Apples marketing strategies, especially its retail-marketing and unique hardware design were more or less capable of establishing strong defense against major competitive forces like Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Microsoft etc. Walker (2003, p. 4) found that Apples management has guided the company to create a focal point for effective decision making which in turn has been extremely useful for the company in certain ambiguous and uncertain situations. Basically, a strong marketing vision, with support of certain effective strategies has helped Apple Inc maintain a very strong profitability and ever-increasing sales figures, as accounted to be $42,905 million in financial year ending of 2009 (Datamonitor 2010). Company Profile Apple Inc is a multinational company, headquartered in Cupertino, California, that is engaged in designing, developing and marketing of personal computers, severs, communication devices, network solutions, portable music digital players and relate accessories (Datamonitor 2010). It delivers its hardware and software products and services through its own-retail stores, online stores, sales force and third party sellers (Sander and Slatter 2009, p. 81). Apple Inc has always been prospering on innovation. It has ignited the personal computer revolution in early 1990s with the development of Apple-II, reinvented the personal computer within the next decade by the development of Macintosh and gained a very successful and deeply routed brand loyalty with its iMac by 1990s (Kerin, et al, 2005, p. 395). Finally, it identified vast opportunities for very new technologies that the market until then was less aware of them and developed new markets with iPod, Apple i-phone, and 3G i-Phone in very recent years. Apple Inc, through out its plants, offices and retail stores, employs 34,300 employees around the world and offers a wide range of products and services including iPods line of portable digital music and video players, iPhone handsets, iPad portable multimedia and computer machines and software like Mac OS, iLife, iTune, iWork, and internet applications such as Safari, Quick time etc (Datamonitor, 2010). The companys inexorable efforts on ease of use, utility, customer value, simplicity, efficiency and fun have helped Apple Inc make iPhone, 3G iPhone, and other products seem to be a very different species from that of the competitors. These newer products have recently turned to be more approachable and ultimately very desirable that many or almost all brands in the market (Newsweek, 2007). Apples major competitors are Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard company, IBM, Lenovo group limited, Microsoft Corp, Motorola Corp, Nokia Corp, Oracle Corp, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba (Datamonitor, 2010). Apple designed a number of marketing strategies to compete with these large companies and grab a better slice of the highly competitive market pie. Market-Share Analysis Latest reports show that Apples share in the worldwide PC market is constantly surging, as more and more customers have continuously been preferring Mac PCs even when there were rumors of iPad and iPhone that have grabbed news-headlines. According to Gartners report, Apple has become the fifth largest PC seller in the US market for the first three months quarter in 2010. Around 1.398 million Mac computers were shipped by Apple inc and thus it stands just behind HP, Dell, Acer and Toshiba (Tilmann, 2010). Apple sold 1.4 million Macs in the first quarter of 2010 which remains to be highly impressive and has been recorded to be a very healthy 34% year on year growth. With 8% market share, Apple stays to be fifth largest in worldwide PC market (Kahney, 2010). The company has recorded a total revenue of 42,905 million US Dollars during the financial year ended in September 2009, showing an increase of 14.4 % over 2008 figures. The increase in sales has been mainly due to the growth in sales of iPhones handsets and third party digital contents and other utilities, through its online as well as own-stores. iTune stores too played an important role in its increased revenues in 2009. The operating profit of the company during 2009 has been accounted as $11,740 million, showing an increase of 41% over the same of 2008. The net profit also has been recorded to be $8,235 million, with an increase of 34.6% over 2008 figures (Datamonitor, 2010). Gartners (2010) research reported that Apple is the third largest Smartphone marketer in the world just after Symbian and Research in motion. In worldwide cell-phone marketing, Apple holds 2.7 % market share, being the seventh largest worldwide cell-phone marketer. It is observed that Apples share in worldwide cell-phone market has been growing with a 112.2% increase in mobile device sales. iPhone OS release and Apples focus for the new communication service providers in UK markets increase its opportunities and to gain greater competency in its markets (Gartner, 2010). Chapter- 3 LITERATURE REVIEW Company-Owned retail marketing Large-scale companies implement a number of different marketing strategies like its-own retailing, franchising, merger and acquisition and so on. Company-owned retailing is not a new marketing strategy, but has first been used by IBM in early 1980s. Mohr, Sengupta and Slater (2009, p. 326) found that IBM opened its first product centre and own-store retailing for the personal computer in New York City in April 1982. By 1986, the number of IBMs own stores had grown to 84. Gateway expanded aggressively in to its own stores retailing during the PC industry boom, but it had to shut all 188 stores in 2004. Sony also launched its own-stores retailing in United States to showcase its products to the customers and expanded them in 1996, and reached 57 stores by June 2008 (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater 2009, p. 326). Manufacturers own retailing thus has long been considered to be a strategically powerful tool to enhance better marketing. Many of firms adopted own-store retailing has found success where as many other failed to continue retail-operation. Gateway and IBM failed and others like Apple Inc succeeded with this direct retail channel strategy. Companies found it successful were able to cut middlemen costs and middle men profits and thus to make its products quite cheaper to the customers, to establish closer relationship with customers, to deliver quality services directly to the customers and create brand loyalty to enhance long-term profitability. Marketing mix and Companys own retailing Company-owned retail marketing strategy is closely related to the place element of the Marketing-mix concepts. Out of the four Marketing-mix Ps, namely product, price, place and promotion, place or distribution is a very critical element that determines the extent of businesss success. The channels a marketer chooses for marketing its products always largely influences its marketing effectiveness. The above depiction illustrates how theoretically and strategically Apple designed its marketing-distribution strategy through its own-store retailing. As Hill, OSullivan and OSullivan (2003, p. 243) emphasized, distribution addresses the issue of how to establish an appropriate and more profitable relationship with the maximum number of relevant customers at the minimum cost to the organization. A well-designed and developed distribution strategy can lead to coverage of a wider audience, accessing more numbers of customers and enabling existing customers to have a more satisfactory expedience. When it comes to Apples case of retail-marketing, there are three factors to be highlighted, a) profitable relationship, b) with maximum number of potential customers and c) at the least costs being possible by eliminating all middle-men involvement. It thus not only attracts wider audience but also delivers all those that can increase satisfaction of the existing customers. For a manufacturer, choosing own-stores for retailing is generally justified on the ground that it eliminates middle-men costs, reduces risks of handling inventories, enables closer relationship with consumers and delivers maximum satisfaction to them. But, Raysman (2002, 4- 4) argued that the most effective form of retail distribution is likely to be through third party distributors who are well-established in the market place and have a strong distribution infrastructure, though it is possible for technology product producers to sell directly to their own retail outlets. He justified his argument that selling through third party established firms can help the producer relieve from significant logistical concerns, and third party distributor will give the producer easy access to markets which may otherwise have been time-consuming and helps reduce the producers overhead expenses (Raysman 2002, 4- 4). Apple has virtually been integrating different distribution channels. It not only used third parties for sale, but also online stores and its own retailing stores in order to grab the maximum potential opportunities from the existing market. Third part sellers helped Apple spread of its valuable information over regions and countries, its won store retailing helped it maintain closer relationship with customers and deliver direct services to them. Retail marketing / Own-store marketing strategy of Apple Inc Apple Inc used a number of different distribution channels including own store retailing or retail marketing, online store, sales force and third party sellers. Among these channels, retail marketing remains to be a very specific and unique marketing strategy that helped the company overcome difficulties associated with big-box sellers and their staffers who are ill-informed of Apples products. More over, this marketing strategy helped the company establish stronger relationship marketing in order to create customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Apple opened its first own-store retail-marketing in McLean, Virginia in 2001. By June 2008, with phenomenal records of greater success throughout its stores, Apple operated 215 retail stores in six countries, they are USA, Australia, UK, Japan, Canada and Italy. By 2008, these 215 stores were able to contribute nearly 20 % or more as growing of Apples total revenues (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater 2009, p. 326). Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz (2005, p. 395) found that Apple has been thriving on innovation from Apple- II to Macintosh, to Apples PCs and iMac, but its step forward to starting its own store retailing in 2001 was merely a better promise to revolutionize its market landscape. As Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz (2005, p. 395) noted, beginning with one or two stores in 2001, Apple Inc has been able to launch more than 25 stores per year. By 2004, about half of the US population were residing within 15 miles of an Apple store. These stores created an atmosphere where consumers were able to experience the thrill of owning and using Apples complete line of Macintosh computers, wide range of entertainment equipments and utilities like digital cameras, camcorders, and the entire iPod family devices. Apples retail-stores were selling its products and services exclusively, targeting tech-savvy customers within its store-products presentation and workshop. These stores facilitated displaying of a full lines of its products, software and accessories and Genius Bar staffed by an Apple specialist (Kotler and Keller 2006, p. 485). These stores were friendly places where all of its customers, especially Mac and PC users are freely allowed to play with and explore Apples technology-lines and get software or useful utilities (insidecrm.com, 2011). Rationale Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2009, p. 339) found that Apples management has been dissatisfied with how third part distributors were selling the computers and others products of the company and this has been the main reason behind Apples thought of starting own-store retailing. Apple observed that some third party distributors buried Macintosh displays inside major retail stores, surrounded by PCs running the more popular Windows operating system by Microsoft. This brought their attention to hire a retail executive to develop a retail strategy. Mainly due to the disappointment regarding Apples resellers, the company announced that it would begin opening and operating its own Apple stores. Steve Jobs conveyed his major concern that most resellers had been unsuccessful in making the products of Apple stylish and more appealing at customers level (Gitman and McDaniel 2008, p. 345). Most of the literatures, apart from the two mentioned above, stressed that Apples thought to start retail marketing has been mainly driven by its findings that third party resellers didnt deal with its customers in a way Apple expected how it should be. The retail stores not only must be able to sell the products to the final customers, but also, these stores must be able to deliver quality services, valuable information and facilitate customers entertainment etc. Apples stores were designed by considering all such important factors. What was predicted about Apple-stores? When Apple Inc first opened its retail-store in May 19, 2001, there were rumors and many experts and media predicted the failure of its specialty stores. They argued that Apples users already knew where to buy Apples products and therefore Apples investment in establishing retail-stores would bring nothing more that higher fixed costs (Gitman and McDaniel 2008, p. 345). Such specialty stores might increase Apples expenses and its products will be more expensive to the customers, as Apple might like to cover its costs by increasing the prices and this ultimately cause less-appeal to the mass consumer. Knowing Apples attempt to launch of retail stores in 2001, Business Week wrote Sorry Steve, Here is Why Apple Stores Wont Work. The street.com opined Its desperation time in Cupertino, Calif. Well known retail-consultant David Goldstein predicted I give (Apple) two years before theyre turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake (Jerry, 2007). A number of business experts and media were looking Apples retail stores quite surprisingly as an attempt for no use. They found nothing more than just add costs to the company and to the customers. But, the story was surprising to them that its design, outlook, services offered in-store and amenities being provided to the customers were extremely appealing to them and it finally added greater share of its total revenue. Those who predicted failure of Apples store might have generalized what was known about CompuAdd, IBM, Gateway and Microsoft. Dvorak (2010) stated that the retail-marketing has been tried by a few computer companies before Apple tried it out and they all except Apple failed for obvious reasons. CompuAdd, once a head-on-head competitor with Dell and IBM, rolled out a number of stores which in turn bankrupted the company. IBM opened few stores, even before CompuAdds stores. IBM aimed at more professional market and therefore had to shutter them all at once. Gateway opened many stores called Country Stores, but stores themselves were boring and ominous and they too created almost same story. Microsofts stores opened in 1999 were not up to the mark due to that there were no buzz or energy in the place. Apples experience of unique success with Retail-marketing Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak didnt realize that they were establishing one of the most multibillion-dollar PC industry of all times when they invented the Apple-I in a garage on April 1976 (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 247). The same story repeated for its retail-marketing as well. Apples retail-marketing, despite predictions of experts and media about it to be failure, has become one of its greater achievements to be unparalleled as a wise move. These stores achieved $1 billion revenues faster than any retail business in history, just taking three years to reach that success-point. Around 40 % of the people purchasing items from Apple stores are new customers (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 395). Gitman and McDaniel (2008, p. 345) found that Apple Inc, just three years after opening its retail stores, was attaining around one-seventh of its total revenues from its stores alone. More interestingly, customers attracted to these stores were not just current Mac or other Apples products users, but rather, half-of the Mac sold in these stores were to first time Mac buyers. Though Apples launch of a line of new retail stores in 2001 was met with major skepticism around the US, Apple has been able to turn its retail-stores to be one of the crowning achievements of the resurgence (OGrady 2008, p. 14) that many other large retailers failed to achieve. When Gateway announced closure of its line of retail-outlets in April 2004, Apple reached its retail-market growth by opening its 53rd store. OGrady (2008, p. 14) identified that this great success has been the result of effective strategic planning. Apple built a prototype store in one of its warehouse near the Apple campus to test the concept and possibilities and it arranged a combination of photos, videos, music and kids. By October 2007, it announced completion of 200 retail-stores throughout USA and other five countries. The Fifth Avenue location in New York was able to attract more than 50,000 customers per week. Apples store sales has become the top in the industry, with an average earning of $4032 per its square foot (OGrady 2008, p. 14). Twice (October, 2008, p. 28) reported that, TWICE was awarding Apples retail-stores the Award of Excellence in Retailing in the Best Vendor Retailer category in 2008. It opined that Apples retail stores, from just one in 2001 to reach 200 by 2008 is an excellent and rather a very unique success in retailing history itself. Twice (2008) found that Apple has been providing consumers a hands-on way to experience its products which are displayed in a variety of specific-categorized areas that encouraged customers to test and play with Apples products. These stores have also carried third-partys accessories and software titles that are compatible with Apple products. Twices (2008) observations about Apples stores designs, customer attraction, revenue-generating capacity and customer feedback have led it decide to give its award to Apples stores. As Twice (2008) observed, The Genius bar facilitated in Apples retail stores and moreover its sales growth of 40.5% in 2007 from the sales of 200 6 have been some other very significant factors that are highly impressive about Apples stores. Most amazingly, Apple stores have won Twices Excellence in Retailing Award four times from 2006 to 2010. Olenick (2010, p. 30) reported that Apple continued to pipe up TWICE retail awards as Apple took home the Best Vendor Retailer trophy, which was the fourth time it gained since 2006. As Olenick (2010) opined, Apple was able to take this award home due to its ongoing ability to operate unique destination stores and because of its merchandising excellence, store designs, customer service and retail innovation etc (p. 30). Apples retail-store design Apple always thrived on innovation. When it comes to its products, unique design created the brand Apple. When it comes to its retail-stores, design played pivotal roles in its success, even when many large-manufacturers own retail stores created failure-stories. For no doubt, Apples innovative store design has been one of the very powerful tool it strategically used to make its retail-stores winning. As Davis (2009a, p. 340) evaluated, Apple-owned retail stores have been designed and facilitated in a way that it has become a cultural phenomenon, with their bright lighting, clean layout, easy access to products and almost museum-like zeal for captivating its products-displays. Customers are automatically encouraged to play with its products and all of its stores have arranged an in-store Genius Bar which offers customers a place to ask questions and get answers for their doubts and troubleshoots. Jones, Comfort and Clarke-Hill (2009, p. 243) found that Apples stores, for instance one of its store opened in 2004 on Londons Regent Street, offer a variety of programs for customers. the 24,000 square feet store offers free basic getting started workshops, including showing customers how to set up a new Mac, connecting to the internet, sending e-mails, downloading or uploading photos and transferring music and television shows to an iPod etc. Apple stores have facilitated a Personal Shopping program which the company claims as new way to shop which is intended to give customers attention and allow them to take all the time they need to test drive the products they are interested in. As Danziger (2006, p. 12) noted, Apples retail-stores are clearly revolutionary in todays increasingly cluttered retailing environment and its very specific layout is the key to a unique shopping experience. the sparkling contemporary design showcases each computer and piece of peripheral devices, with minimum of products on displays. Customers are always welcome to get hands-on with computer machines, check their e-mail, use networking, and make test drive of the computer machines. This very different store design and layout is intended to guide the intellectual and emotional experience of the customers through the store (Danziger 2006, p. 12). Apple consistently listens to its network and customers at large. One of the very significant point in its store is Genius Bar, a tech-support station, which answers customers questions and deal with their troubleshooting and thus serves as Apples commitment to superior customer service. Superior customer service comes to life in the form of problem solving and helping build bigger loyalists out of Apples customer base (Davis, 2009b, p. 98). There are many strategic elements that the company planed carefully about the effectiveness of its retail store in any new location and carefully considered how each floor space can be converted in to long-term profitability. Floor (2006, p. 206) stressed that Apple opened its stores only when it expected them to be profitable within a short period of time itself. As Apple believed, using a computer is as simple as buying one would be. The store layout was so simple and logical and its design and fixtures are kept as simple as possible. Apples stores were white box with a lot of lighting, being equipped with materials like stone, metal, glass, transparent synthetic and beech-wood. Large pictures and glasses are used to differentiate departments within its stores. As the image above illustrates, Apple has designed its store in a way it can maximize net profit per square foot of the available space. Customers enter or exit the store from cashwrap area and all varieties of Mac and iPods are located in the

Society Must Redefine the Meaning of Family Essay -- Argumentative Per

Society Must Redefine the Meaning of Family Society seems to have many different opinions when it comes to relationships and families and what is ideal. The ideal family may not exist anymore. We now have in our society families that are complete that do not necessarily contain the traditional material. The traditional family, as society would see it; usually consist of a married, mother and father and usually children. Moms are supposed to stay at home while dads work the forty-hour a week job. However, in our 2003 world, families exist in a lot of non-traditional ways. A lot of families now consist of single parent families, or same sex parents and their children, or even couples that are unmarried but live together. And even now, if a family contains what society sees as traditional as far as having a mom, dad, and kids, other aspects are not traditional anymore. Women now have more opportunity in the workplace than they have ever had, therefore, many moms are career moms and dads are sometimes staying at home. Years ago, t hese types of families were given labels for being dysfunctional or abnormal, however, this label is not holding up as well as it did years ago. There are many non-traditional families that are raising children in a loving, nurturing home with a substantial amount of quality love. Quality is the key in any relationship between anyone. Society is finding out that it is not the traditional image that makes a loving family, but the quality of a relationship that people give to each other is what really makes a family. In the essay "The Myth of the "Normal" Family", written by Lousie B. Silverstein and Carl F. Auerbach, they make references to the cultural idea of what a "normal" family should be and what i... ...sex relationships, or adults to children. People of any race, sex, or age that can offer unconditional love, strength, morals, values, and respect to others are more qualified to be called "normal" or having a "family" than any two people that are married, with or without children, that are not offering to others what is needed to become a real, normal, family. Families can be single moms, single dads, same sex parents, or even other relatives. What is important and what makes people have the most rewarding families are the qualities of their relationships. This type of family is the family that will stay together and function happily in our society. Works Cited * Silverstein, Lousie B., and Carl F. Auerbach. "The Myth of the "Normal" Family." * The Aims of Argument. 4th ed Ed.Timothy W. Crusius and Carolyn E. Channell. New York:McGraw Hill,2003, 352-355.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Eating at Fast-Food Restaurants Essay

Life is moving at a very fast pace in today’s world. Everyone is striving hard to compete with others and get to the top because of which a rat-race is going on all the time. Adults are busy with their careers and children with their academics because of which people rarely have time for one’s self let alone others. In spite of all this busy schedule, everyone still need to consume food in order to survive and since people don’t have time to cook so they just grab a quick lunch or dinner from fast-food restaurants which are now almost everywhere in town. Cause). It does not take long to make fast food and it is quick and hassle free to eat as the name suggests ‘fast food’, hence we can see that because of these factors the consumption of fast food is on the rise in today’s fast-paced world. If one is hungry and in a hurry, one can quickly grab a burger or a pizza and can eat it easily unlike the desi foods for which one need to be properly seated on a table to accommodate for its side-lines and so that the gravy doesn’t spill. Fast food like pizza and burger are delicious, kids love them, the adults find them the most appropriate kind of food when they are running on a tight schedule, all in all fast food does seem as the best food option available, but sadly it is not. Fast food may be considered very delicious and hassle-free but it comes with its own negative effects. Fast food is known to be the unhealthiest kind of food as it leads to many health related problems like obesity, diabetics and other heart related problems. The growing problem of obesity of kids and adults in the west is due to fast food only, as because of their tight schedule people there mostly consume fast foods because of which they fall prey to such health related problems. As fast food is usually very oily with a lot of cheese and when these things are consumed on a daily basis it deteriorates the health of a person. Hence, it is best for us if we consume fast food just to a certain limit instead of all the time, as everything has its own disadvantages in addition to its advantages.

Scaffolding - A Instructional Strategy of Instructional Delivery for Special Education

Scaffolding - A Instructional Strategy of Instructional Delivery for Special Education Definition: Scaffolding is a word, like chunking, that describes how instruction is planned and delivered to students receiving special education services. All instruction is built on prior knowledge and students with disabilities often come without the same skill set or prior knowledge as their typical peers. A teacher is challenged to find the childs strengths and build on them to teach the important skills that will lead them either to academic or functional success. Often students with disabilities will not have the skill set their same aged peers have, and will need to have the components scaffolded to help them move on to an age appropriate set of academic skills.   A child who hasnt learned to write a multiple paragraph report may need to start at sentences, move on to a graphic organizer for a paragraph.   Once they can find the information and words they need, they may be ready to learn how to organizer their own paragraph.   Once one, then multiple paragraphs.   One of my autistic students with little independent language had strong counting skills. We used touch math as a way to teach him addition and subtraction, scaffolding on his strength in letter recognition, counting and memory of rote tasks.   He was able to do multiple addition and then subtraction problems without regrouping once he mastered the algorithms.   Ã‚   Alternate Spellings: Scaffold, Scaffolding, Scaffolded Examples Example 1 - Math: In order for Mrs. Stanley to help Roger learn the plane figures in geometry, she built on his interest in dot to dots. By repeatedly connecting the lettered vertices of the triangle, rectangle, square, rhombus, and other polygons, Roger was able remember both the names and criteria for each of the plane figures. Example 2 - Writing: Clarence is good at spelling and likes to write words he had memorized.    His teacher started to use that interest by creating graphic organizers where he could choose words for his sentences.   Next, his teacher finds out Clarences interests beyond electronic games.   Clarence loves African animals.   The teacher shows Clarence how to search for pictures of favorite animals and download them as jpegs.   Then Clarence learns how to place the pictures in a publishing program and add a caption.Once Clarence has found his favorite animals, the teacher will create a   note book.   Then he will guide Clarence how to do a web search to find facts about the animals on a fact sheet:   What kind of animal? (mammal, fish, bird, reptile, etc.)   What do they eat?   Where are they on the food chain?   A predator or grazer?   After Clarence has collected lots of information on the fact sheets, the teacher will provide a graphic organizer with the topic sentences for each paragraph in a graphic organizer.   Clarence will use the skill he gained f rom the first level of the scaffold (writing a sentence in a template/graphic organizer) to writing about each animal of interest.   Publish. Clarence drops pictures into the text and creates a book.   Spring for color printing, maybe even binding.

The Cultural Styled Approach

The Cultural Styled Approach When referring to linguistic repertoires, Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff (cited in Duranti 41) point out those linguistic repertoires emanate from the concept of practicing and taking part in the cultural practices of various social groups.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Cultural Styled Approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this context, we understand that an individual’s background experiences and interests regarding a given cultural group is the basic knowledge that prepares them to solve interpersonal conflicts and equally prepares them to understand various forms of language (Duranti 41). Cultural variation is a good approach adopted by Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff because it is an improvement from the deficit model approach which basically pits one culture above the other (Duranti 41). In a more liberal sense, the cultural variations approach is quite distinct, in the sense that, it compares one culture a nd another, based on the similarities and differences new cultures have in relation to the dominant culture (Duranti 41). These factors are embedded in linguistic repertoire, in the sense that, languages can be compared and profiled according to the similarities and differences they expose when compared to each other. Moreover, in the study of language, this approach can be quite beneficial, in the sense that, it better encourages the accommodation of foreign languages and cultures as opposed to the deficit model, because to a large extent, the deficit model introduced the concept of superiority or inferiority of a given culture in comparison to another (Duranti 41). However, the cultural approach of analyzing linguistic repertoires, adopted by Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff (cited in Duranti 41) also has its problems, in the sense that, it can be sometimes applied in overly static ways and similarly, in an overly categorical manner, such that it beats the real essence of its application. This approach is not essentially beneficial in the general analysis of linguistic repertoires because as Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff (cited in Duranti) admit: â€Å"Treating cultural differences as traits, in our view, makes it harder to understand the relation of individual learning and the practices of cultural communities, and this in turn sometimes hinders effective assistance to student learning† (40). Curiosity In analyzing language repertoires within various cultural groups, it is important to note that curiosity plays a big role in the understanding of various language varieties. Curiosity is therefore a major component of building language repertoire and it is basically the drive that encourages students and other people to learn different language components among various cultural groups (Meyer 109).Advertising Looking for essay on linguistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More From this analysis therefore , we see that curiosity builds a person’s interests, and even without much push, students who are extremely curious in practicing or learning a different culture are equally bound to learn various facets of linguistic repertoires quite fast (Meyer 109). Curiosity does not however, occur as a unique branch of language learning, but rather a branch of holistic learning; meaning that other practices in different cultures are also learnt in the process and language is just one of them. Curiosity is therefore the root of all understanding of language learning (Meyer 109). Interest in other Places An interest in other places definitely implies an interest in other cultures because different places hold different cultures and languages. Having an interest in other places would actually entail transcending geographical boundaries to learn global cultures and practices. However, it is appropriate for Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff (cited in Duranti 41) to note that there is an inherent probl em of overgeneralization when different cultures are analyzed. This is an inherent problem in linguistic studies (as well) because various cultures usually have slight differences in the way their people carry out their daily activities. No matter how similar different cultural groups may seem, it becomes increasingly important to understand the underlying differences of these cultural groups, especially with regards to their language differences. An interest in other places therefore means an interest in other cultures and consequently an interest in language repertoires. Family Families act as a basis for the continuity of linguistic repertoires, in the sense that, linguistic attributes acquired by previous generations are normally passed down to younger generations. Family therefore acts as an important segment of building up linguistic repertoires because it is the basic component of cultural practices, since families essentially uphold cultural practices in the first place (Gup ta 64). However, in the analysis of family as a basic component of linguistic repertoires; it is important understand it in exclusivity because as Gutià ©rrez and Rogoff (cited in Duranti 41) note, it is an important element of cultural analysis because as their article notes, there is a danger in over-generalizing personal traits and cultural traits. Such personal traits can be best conceptualized in the family setup, and from a broader sense; family backgrounds denote the misconceptions of cultural practices. Family setups are therefore quite essential in the analysis of linguistic repertoires because families also basically define the kind of linguistic varieties that are acceptable for people of a given cultural background. A cluster of various families therefore act as the bedrock which linguistic varieties are formed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Cultural Styled Approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More People with Different Styles of Speaking Analyzing people with different styles of speaking is also an important factor of influence in the analysis of linguistic repertoires because different styles of speaking represented by these people actually represent the different styles of language varieties (existent within a given culture). An analysis of the various types of people speaking in different styles is therefore an analysis of different linguistic styles and an analysis of the various types of linguistic repertoires. It is essential to observe different groups of language speakers because they can explain the various contexts of language varieties existing within different cultures. From a general perspective, the different linguistic styles to be analyzed also provide a platform for future researchers (and authors) to compare and analyze the various linguistic styles existent within a given culture. The same can also be said of the existent cultural practices. Communities O ften, various cultures are a representation of the practices of different communities encompassing a given culture. Different communities have different linguistic features and therefore various linguistic repertoires can be evidenced in terms of grammatical compositions, syntax development, word order and such like features (Benor 3). The same linguistic repertoires can also fail to apply in various communities, even though they may essentially hail from the same culture. Also, in analyzing cultural practices with the aim of determining linguistic repertoires, an emphasis of communal segmentations helps in the understanding of linguistic repertoires, in the sense that, students can be able to learn the level of openness within the community; the demographic distinctiveness the community possesses; the literacy levels; a community’s communal origins and the literacy levels of the community members (Benor 3). These variables always go a long way in understanding the linguistic repertoires existent within a given cultural setting. Geographical Boundaries Geographical boundaries within various cultural settings are bound to affect how different people react to various linguistic repertoires. Most importantly, it is critical to note that various geographical regions have different dialects and this fact amounts to a shift in ideological composition of different people within different geographical regions. When analyzed from a dialectological point of view, we can see that in the past, people who existed within different geographical areas exposed a number of differences in their phonological and morphological compositions and therefore a difference was equally noted in their linguistic repertoires (Benor 3). In the analysis of cultural linguistic repertoires, it is important to dig deeper into the influences of geographical separations between different cultures because it represents variations in language and behavior which are cotteritorial. Knowledge on Foreign Language Knowledge on foreign language is also critical in understanding linguistic repertoires because it reiterates the commitment to comprehending various linguistic varieties within a given cultural group (Ager 5). In a deeper level, knowledge of foreign language helps in the understanding of various language varieties within a given cultural setting because it provides a deeper insight into how a given culture works and how their people think (Ager 8).Advertising Looking for essay on linguistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Also, if there is evidence of information regarding a given culture (in a document format), and in the language of the said culture, it is easy to comprehend such documents in their own language when a person has knowledge of such language. This is an important tool in understanding linguistic repertoires. Ager, Simon. Why should I learn a language? 2009. Web.10 February. 2011. omniglot.com/language/why.htm Benor, Sarah. Framework for Comparative Analysis. 2010. Web.10 February. 2011. Web. Duranti,  Alessandro. Linguistic Anthropology â€Å"A reader. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. Gupta, Anthea. The Step-Tongue: Childrens English in Singapore. Singapore: Multilingual Matters, 1994. Print. Meyer, Bernd. Multilingualism at Work: From Policies to Practices in Public, Medical and  Business Settings John. New York: Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010. Print.

Term Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Term Project - Research Paper Example Authentic leadership is â€Å"a pattern of transparent and ethical leader behavior that encourages openness in sharing information needed to make decisions while accepting followers’ inputs† (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009, p. 423). On the other hand, transformational leadership consists of â€Å"leader behaviors that transform and inspire followers to perform beyond expectations while transcending self-interest for the good of the organization† (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009, p. 423). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of the most prevalent theories on motivation (Fisher, 2009). This theory suggests that people are motivated by five level of needs, which are physiological, security, social, ego, and self-actualization (Ibid.). As such, workers are motivated by the needs that math the level that they are currently at. Consequently, leaders must be able to identify the level that workers of their department are working at in order to offer specific oppor tunities fitting the identified level (Ibid). The different leadership styles are thus seen to be an important consideration in motivating employees and consequently improving organizational performance. If a relationship between these variables is found, organizations may set up the proper methods to encourage higher level management to enforce a particular leadership strategy and thereby improve the productivity of their respective organizations. This study aims to find if this relationship indeed exists, that is, if leadership styles contribute significantly to employee motivation, and translate this motivation to organizational productivity. This research study aims to answer the following research questions: R1: Is there a relationship between leadership style and motivation? R2: If such a relationship exists, which relationship style motivates employees the most? R3: Is there a relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity? R4: If such a relationship ex ists, which relationship style leads to the highest organizational productivity? With these research questions in mind, the following research hypotheses will be tested for significance: Ho1: There is no relationship between leadership style and motivation. Ha1: There is a significant relationship between leadership style and motivation Ho2: There is no relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity. Ha2: There is a significant relationship between leadership style and organizational productivity. Methods The research study will use a quantitative survey design, as it aims to find if there is a relationship between leadership style, motivation and organizational productivity. A quantitative research study is one wherein the variables used are quantifiable or measurable, and relationships among variables can be found through the use of appropriate mathematical and statistical tools (Creswell, 2003). A survey design for quantitative research uses a set of struct ured questions in order to derive the required information (Agresti & Finlay, 2009). A pre-piloted questionnaire will be given to the respondents in order to identify the leadership style of their superior, the level of motivation that they have at work, and their level of organizational productivity. The respondents will be taken from a list of employees of Ford Company. Stratified random sampling will be used in order to ident

Stress, a hazard in the workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stress, a hazard in the workplace - Essay Example Recent medical research has indicated that stress can ultimately be just as harmful as smoking a pack of cigarettes each and every day. With such a high level of impact with regards to human health and the increasing level to which systemic and/or self engaged stress motivates and defines the workplace, the following analysis will engage the reader with an understanding of how stress can create an ultimate hazard with regards to a toxic workplace alongside the medical ramifications and human resources repercussions that this necessarily entails. As a means of understanding this and seeking to define the negative ramifications and positive ameliorations of stress within the workplace, from a human resources perspective, the following analysis will attempt to engage the reader with a more full and complete understanding of the many unique dynamics of this issue (Richards, 2013). It is the hope of this author that such a discussion will provide a more definitive level of understanding a nd a clearer approach to stress reduction and practices/policies that are beneficial in effecting such an end. Identification of Factors and Discussion of Approach: Firstly, it must be understood that stress impacts directly upon workplace efficiency and productivity. A number of different studies have indicated a statistical correlation between a high stress workplace and a precipitous drop in efficiency and/or productivity that is exhibited as a byproduct of this. Moreover, unlike the counterpart, direct physical injury, stress in the workplace is something of a silent killer (Spruill, 2013). Ultimately, many human resources divisions have come to realize that a high level of unnecessary stress, exhibited within the culture of a specific firm or organization, engenders a greatly increased risk of a litany of different health concerns. For entities and businesses that operate within the United Kingdom and Ireland, a culture that exhibit a high degree of unnecessary stress necessari ly will cause a tangential loss in productivity and time out of work as a result of health concerns brought on and facilitated by such a high level of stress. For those entities and organizations that operate outside United Kingdom, the employer might be required to provide medical insurance for the stakeholders; thereby not only decreasing the efficiency and productivity that the firm is able to exhibit but also losing further money as a result of the stress that is exhibited as part of the company culture. In effect, the reader should come away with the fundamental understanding that stress within an organization can drain the organization of potential, efficiency, and resources. As such, with a high level of unique cultural stress ingrained within the culture, the human resources Department of any given organization or firm has no alternative but to seek a manner through which to redefine and reengaged the stakeholders as a means of slowly seeking to affect a gradual change withi n the culture (Stress and Coping, 2013). Overview of Research: Whereas there are litanies of different studies that help to engage the reader with an understanding of the negative repercussions that stress within an organization necessarily entails, there are relatively few analyses and discussions with regards to the manner through which a human resources department might seek to change the culture that surrounds