Employee Discipline Essay

In keeping with the Mission of the Sisters of Providence, which requires respect, honesty, and justice in dealings with employees, PSJMC directs its disciplinary and corrective action efforts towards developing and coaching employees to achieve and maintain satisfactory conduct and performance. Although PSJMC may terminate the employment relationship at will without following any formal system of discipline or warnings, PSJMC exercises its discretion to use a progressive discipline to ensure a fair method of disciplining employees. The progressive discipline process is intended to give employees advance notice, when appropriate, in order to provide them an opportunity to correct any deficiencies in job performance or conduct. PSJMC is committed to providing a workplace that is free of harassment and discrimination (PROV-HR-4036 Policy). PSJMC does not tolerate any kind of unlawful discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment, or harassment based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, pregnancy, citizenship, ancestry, gender, marital status, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. Unlawful harassment, in any form including verbal, physical, or visual harassment will not be tolerated. The policy defines the procedure for reporting any occurrence of sexual or other unlawful harassment and applies to all employees and agents of the company as well as to nonemployees , including physicians, vendors, contractors, and others doing business with the company. Any employee or agent of the company who is found to have violated this policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including the possibility of immediate termination. This is an HR policy and is enforced by HR. PSJMC is committed to maintain a safe and productive work environment and expects employees to be reliable and punctual in reporting for scheduled work (PROV –HR 4687 Policy). Absenteeism and tardiness place a burden on the hospital and on other employees. In the rare circumstances when employees cannot avoid being late to work or are unable to work as scheduled, they should notify thei r supervisor as soon as possible in advance of the anticipated tardiness or absence as required by policy. Excessive absenteeism and tardiness is disruptive and may lead to corrective action, up to and including termination of employment. The policy does not apply to employees on an authorized FMLA leave, including intermittent FMLA leave, or other leaves protected by state or federal law including verified occupational injury or illness. This is an HR policy and is enforced by HR. PSJMC ensures and maintains a work environment that promotes the interests of employee safety, efficiency, health, and productivity. It also recognizes that employee involvement with drugs and alcohol can be extremely disruptive and harmful to employees, patients, and the public. It adversely affects the quality of work and the performance of employees, poses serious safety and health risks to the user and others, and has a negative impact on work efficiency and productivity. All job applicants receiving offers of employment shall be required to submit a drug-screening test as a condition of employment. Further, any employee observed with perceived impairment will be subject to a drug screening test when reasonable suspicion has been determined. The purpose of the policy is to provide a safe, healthy, productive and efficient working environment for employees, patients and the public. This is an Occupational Health and Safety policy and is enforced by HR (PROV-HR-4065 Policy). PSJMC complies with its ethical and legal obligations surrounding the appropriate use of social media. The policy aims to clarify what constitutes official Providence use of social media, to establish guidelines for the official use of electronic social networking, and to clarify the personal responsibilities and legal implications of personal use of electronic social networking while at work or while posting information about Providence (PROV-CE-1098 Policy). Social media may be used by Providence for business-related purposes and its employees for business and other purposes subject to the restrictions set forth in the policy. The policy is established to assure compliance with legal and regulatory restrictions and privacy and confidentiality agreements. This policy was created by the Office of the CEO and enforced by HR. Based off my research, PSJMC does an excellent job of ensuring that it has the appropriate policies in place to avoid legal litigation. That said, it is important that PSJMC look for more effective measures to educate employees about new or revised policies. The medical center relies on their intranet policy library as the policy depository and expects all employees to self educate. Most leaders and all of the employees I spoke to were not aware of several policies and did not know where to find them—resulting in a huge liability for the hospital as a result of poor implementation. When policies are violated or a manager needs to modify undesirable conduct after attempts of coaching, progressive discipline may need to be applied. The type of disciplinary action depends upon the nature and history of the employee’s misconduct. These disciplinary actions often include verbal warnings, written warnings, suspensions without pay, and demotions. Progressive discipline does no t mean that PSJMC does not fire an employee for a first offense; some misconduct is of such a serious nature that no second chance is warranted. Most undesirable behavior, however, does not result in immediate discharge, but rather in imposition of some lesser sanction. If the behavior is repeated, progressively more severe disciplinary action is taken, ultimately leading to termination. Managerial coaching is a growing alternative to formal discipline that attempts to get the employee actively involved in addressing performance slippage. Using company disciplinary procedures to address employee issues puts the ownership of the issue on the manager and human resources department. The employee will be asked to react to whatever course of action the manager and human resources group decides to take. A coaching approach puts ownership of the problem with the manager and employee. Any process of resolution is created between the manager and employee and it becomes the employee’s responsibility to find ways to solve the issue under the guidance of the manager. The manager-employee relationship is important in creating a productive workplace. Coaches try to work with their employees to improve employee performance and find the deep-seated reasons as to why conflict exists. This kind of interactive process can work to improve the manager-employee relationship. If a manager turns to official disciplinary action without attempting to interact with the employee, then that can damage the manager-employee dynamic and create a division that results in a decline in morale, loss of productivity and an increase in employee turnover. Union representation protects union employees from unfair discipline, wrongful discharge and preserves workplace rights. Unless circumstances warrant severe actions, PSJMC utilizes progressive discipline to address union employee disciplinary issues also. The progressive steps are specified in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and include, verbal counseling, written counseling, disciplinary suspensions without pay , and termination of employment. Union employees may request to have a union representative or steward present at any meeting if the employee believes that the meeting may result in disciplinary action. Copies of all written counseling(s) and all documentation are kept in the employee’s personnel file along with rebuttals. Corrective action or any reference to disciplinary action cannot be used against the employee for any purpose after twelve months—so, in essence progressive discipline has a twelve month window. If, the disciplinary action is grieved or arbitrated and the charges of the offense are determined to be without merit, all records are placed in a confidential envelope in the personnel file and cannot be used for progressive disciplinary action purposes. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a processes used for the purpose of resolving conflict or disputes informally and confidentially. The ADR Office at PSJMC offers all employees a resource that is informal, non-escalating and impartial . The goal is to identify possible strategies to resolve concerns before utilizing the traditional processes such as grievances and arbitrations. Although ADR does not displace those traditional processes it does reduce the number of grievances and formal complaints received by human resource and legal departments. Some of the ADR activities include serving as a sounding board, providing and explaining policies and rules, how to address or report unacceptable or illegal behavior from a coworker or supervisor, offering referrals to other resources, helping people help themselves around communication styles, help collect and analyze information, helping to draft a letter about their issues, coaching and role-playing. The activities handled by the ADR Office are vast and diverse. Overall, employees see this service as a benefit and the hospital executives view the ADR as a proactive measure to protect and mitigate risk. In addition to the ADR, PSJMC offers Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to assist employees with personal challenges that may affect their on the job performance. These challenges may fall into many categories including: drug and alcohol abuse, legal, marital, relocation, grief, abusive households, financial, childcare, eldercare, and outplacement services. Since all employees face serious problems at one time or another in their lives, and it is important to provide help during those times. EAP is structured to provide access to quality service providers. Participation in this plan is voluntary, and does not use information that impacts the employee’s chances of future employment or promotion. All contact, participation, and treatment remain confidential. All EAP services provided are available to employees free of charge. The cost of long-term treatment or rehabilitation services is provided as defined under the health care plans. To reduce liability requires that employers have solid policies in place, utilize coaching and progressive discipline consistently and know how to properly document disciplinary actions. The importance of effective documentation of disciplinary actions cannot be overstressed. Apply disciplinary actions is at times uncomfortable but is absolutely necessary in order to help defeat frivolous claims of discrimination and promote a healthy workplace. References Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. (2012). Mission. Retrieved from https://california.providence.org/Saint-Joseph/pages/About-Mission.aspx Providence Health & Services. (2009). Attendance and Punctuality, PROV –HR 4687 Policy| Providence Health & Services. (2012). Counseling and Corrective Action, PROV-HR-4053 Policy Providence Health & Services. (2012). Sexual and Unlawful Harassment, PROV-HR-4036 Policy Providence Health & Services. (2012). Drug Free Workplace, PROV-HR-4065 Policy Providence Health & Services. (2012). Social Media, PROV-CE-1098 Policy

Pinnacle Machine Tool Company Case Study Essay

The Pinnacle Machine Tool Company case is a case that studies the use of managerial decision making and different decision-making styles. Don Anglos, CEO of Pinnacle Company, a machine tool company, had a decision to make on whether to acquire another company. The company Anglos wished to acquire was Hoilman Inc., a company known for their cutting-edge sensor technology and communications software. Anglos had heard a creditable rumor that a rival company was planning a take-over of Hoilman, and by chance, Anglos knew Hoilman well because of previous talks he had with them about a possible joint-venture that never worked out. Anglos believed that by acquiring Hoilman, Pinnacle could develop new software that would enable them to provide top-notch service to their customers. For the four years that Anglos has served as CEO for Pinnacle, he has used his gut instinct while making many risky decisions and it has proven to pay off handsomely. He was able to increase profit revenue growth and increase market share, but through making those moves, he has chipped away at the company’s strong profit margins. Anglos recognized that it was time for him to change his strategy in order to help the company further; he wanted to transform the company into a high-tech service company in order to achieve growth and profit, and he believed that acquiring Hoilman would be a good place to start. However, some of Anglos’ colleagues did not feel the same way. CFO, Sam Lodge, insisted that the timing was not right to invest in Hoilman.

The theme of hope in the writings of Hemingway, Conrad

This essay will compare the theme of hope in the writings of Hemingway, Conrad, and Kafka in the novels, The Sun Also Rises, Heart of Darkness and The Trial.   The characters in the novels will be presented as hoping against the odds of love and either fulfilling their desire or running away from them, thus either gaining hope or the lack of hope.   The different avenues of hope will also be examined in that hope may turn into acts of desperation from a different point of view, and the narrator of some of the novels will be given consideration in presenting facts to the reader in their own point of view.Finally, this essay will discuss the nature of hope, and how the characters throughout the novels may either accept a hopeless state and be transformed from it, or accept hope as a gift despite the fact that reality and circumstances may deny them their desires.   The theme of each novel will ultimately coincide with transformations or realizations through hope.In Hemingway†™s The Sun Also Rises the narrator Jake travels through a myriad of landscapes from Paris, to Madrid and even San Sebastian.   It is through these landscapes that the reader may witness the rising hope that Jake has, or the desperation, and even at times, of the peace he has or longs for in such scenery.   The cast of characters suggests a spectrum of different avenues of hope: with Jake, his hope is to be with Brett, despite the consequences and the treatment he receives from her, uttering in the novel’s last line, â€Å"Yes, isn’t it pretty to think so† after Brett states that she and Jake would have had a wonderful time together.In this statement Jake reveals to Brett, and to the audience that although he and Brett do not manage to come together as a couple, that in Jake’s view of events they are joined together through consequences and circumstances.   This is not a fulfillment by the measure of typical novels involving relationships but for H emingway, the stunted acceptance of fate in the character Jake allows for imagination and realism to coexist.   This means that hope cannot come to fruition but that to still think, and in Jake’s mind to know, that to have been with Brett would have been his greatest adventure expresses not his lament that it never happened but that it could have happened and it would have been wonderful.   This un-fulfillment is Jake’s hope realized.With the character Cohn however, hope is a desperate emotion.   His hope is overpowering; it lies with being madly in love, or infatuation with Brett and the unrequited love of Brett drives Cohn into a furious temper for any man who is with her, or desires her.   Cohn repeated follows Brett around, which conjures up images of puppy love, and blind obedience, and when Brett’s fiancà © Mike tells Cohn again and again to lay off, Cohn refuses and tensions rise during the fiesta in Madrid.Cohn ignores rationality and knocks out Jake, Mike, and Brett’s new lover, the bullfighter Romero.   Recognizing his actions, Cohn insists on having Jake forgive him, which Jake does with reluctance and even wants Romero to shake his hand, which Romero refuses.   Here, then is Cohn’s ultimate slight; that hope, at least the kind that is desperate is unforgiving.Brett rebukes her fiancà © Mike for her new lover Romero.   An interesting scene in the book is when Brett receives Romero’s gift of a bull’s ear he had slain, a bull which had earlier slaughtered another man.   This ear signifies that Brett had to cut off a piece of herself in order to live the life she does, traveling and falling in love over and over and changing her mind and following a different lover around until regret or a new love shows up.   This ear resembles Brett’s hope – her hope of love in constant fury.She must not leave too much of herself with one man leastwise she become completely attached an d dependent, thus, the vivisected ear is Brett’s heart, torn off from its owner, and kept in a distant spot.   Brett does not hope with commitment, but with transitory lust for new things, places, and men.   Although Jake tells these words to Cohn about traveling to South America this following quote may be applicable to each character in the novel and the theme of hope, â€Å"You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.† (Hemingway 11).Hemingway’s characters in the novel suggest constant movement in order to escape something; to escape constancy in setting and environment, it is as though the characters feel that if they move enough their desires and regrets won’t be able to catch up. This is true especially for Brett and is true for Jake as well.   For Cohn, it is his outdated lifestyle which is anachronistic in the lifestyle of the age in which he is living that he is trying to escape but for Brett and perhaps Jake as well, it is regret that they do want to overcome them, â€Å"I thought I had paid for everything. Not like the woman pays and pays and pays.No idea of retribution or punishment. Just exchange of values. You gave something up and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was any good.† (Hemingway 148).   In final scene in the car when the two are alone together and Jake says it’s pretty to think so, this is the only acknowledgement of truth the reader receives from Jake concerning his desire for Brett.   Beyond the tomfoolery, bullfighting and fishing, when he is quite within himself, the mantra which pulses through him is regret.   He may hope beyond it, but it is all-consuming as it would have been for Brett if she had not hidden her heart away from such devices as feeling too much as Jake does, as it best exemplified with Jake stating, â€Å"Couldn’t we live together, Brett? Couldn’t we just live t ogether?† [Brett:] â€Å"I don’t think so. I’d just tromper you with everybody.†In Jake’s final line to Brett, hope is dashed and cynicism is revealed.   Jake has no illusions as to how his and Brett’s relationship would have been since Brett has no heart to give, or it is kept at such a distance, even Jake’s love could not call it into being.   This is the lack of hope of them, realism, cynicism, and love dashed.In Kafka’s novel The Trial, the main character Joseph K, or simply K lives through a series of unfortunate events of which the first he is accused of some ambiguous crime on his 30th birthday.   One year later he is killed in the name of the law and K, for his part does not object to the killing.   The absurd as a theme in this event is very overtly portrayed.   The ambiguous nature of the actions of the other characters in the novel prove to be ridiculous and a definite parody of real life trial situations.Th e trial itself is a charade because everyone in the courtroom including K already know the outcome; they are merely going through the actions because it is something of a tradition to do so.   Thus, the characters are focused, not on the truth of the matter, did K commit a crime, but merely on the trial itself and their part in the faà §ade.K’s looming fate is indistinguishable during the trial but when he is killed in the name of the law at the end of the novel he gives no protest.   The absurd as a theme is best translated in this action by Kafka’s character K.   K does not protect his own interest but does blindly what he is told to do because it is the law.   K does not question the intent of the actions, him being killed or at times even during the trial.   During the novel, K is increasingly not in control of his own fate.   This is shown when he kisses his neighbor after his landlady told him indirectly that he was perhaps having an affair with her.    It seems that the absurd grows into its own identity in Kafka’s The Trial through the way in which K is a definite pawn, adhering to other people’s wishes instead of examining his own wants.The absurd takes further shape in Kafka’s novel through the inability of the other defendant’s awaiting news of their fate when K is given a tour of the offices by Law-Court Attendant.   Almost everyone in the book is ignorant about their surroundings, their own actions, their fate.   Kafka deals well with disguising characters or scenes (when K goes into the Law-Court Attendant’s office he glances at law books that are in fact pornography) and leading the reader to believe one thing before he switches and tells the reader the truth behind the scene.Kafka was a master at leading the audience down one path only to change course right when the reader has a glimmer of understanding about the plot or the character’s intentions.   To emphasize this point K’s last words before he dies are â€Å"Like a dog† which describe how he dies.   In essence these words state that K was expecting to die, perhaps wanted it after the previous misleading year of his life during the trial and the ridiculous events in his life while the trial was persisting.   His words describe his death, but also his life.   He lived obediently, and as the clichà © goes, he licked the master’s hand that beat him.In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the audience is presented with the character Marlow whose hope overwhelms his morality in the search for Mr. Kurtz.   Marlow appears to be a Buddha type image (at least the early Buddha, Siddhartha) in that he is searching for hope through Mr. Kurtz.   Thus, Marlow is a character whose hope is tied up with a sense of adventure and courage mixed with either ignorance or just unawareness.   Marlow seems to have created an acceptance of people and in return expects them to sho w the same regard of acceptance in silence.The company seems to think Marlow’s stories are elusive to a point because, â€Å"†¦to hear about one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences.†Ã‚   (pg 10).   The company appears to discourage his story telling because of his disregard to the audiences wants.   At the beginning of his journey into Africa, Marlow appears to be the whimsical sailor.   An insightful sailor with thought patterns which reveal his character, â€Å"Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma† (pg 19).   Marlow presents himself to be a truth teller.   Being always ‘appalled’ by a lie.   Marlow becomes obsessed with the idea of Mr. Kurtz.   Only the want of a conversation with him led Marlow on hi journey.Marlow associated himself with Kurtz by becoming an outcaste in the eyes of the managers and the dark of his mindset comes out, â€Å"†¦but it was something to have at leas t a choice of nightmares.† (pg 105).   Then coming to base with reality when   meeting Kurtz’s Intended, Marlow says that, â€Å"His end †¦ was in every way worthy of his life† (pg 130).Following into Mr. Kurtz’s character, it is discovered that he is not fully developed, especially in regards to hope.   He is described as a misfit showing everybody up.   The ivory king so to speak.   An elusive devil with a charmed life.   Referred to as ‘that man’.   A genius of a man not forgotten only because of outrageous speeches and stunts, not for any significant contribution to humanity, nor for his character development or change towards hope.   Kurtz is a hard man to please and only a friend when he was in the whim of being a friends.Perhaps the darkness drove Kurtz crazy and thus the audience is forces to recognize how his lack of hope twisted his character development, â€Å"†¦it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with his great solitude-†¦(whisper) echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core†Ã‚   (pg 98).   Kurtz then was the abyss through which hope was lost.   He sucked away ideas, morality, self-preservation of an idea and the act of being a taking of hope filled Kurtz because he had no other thoughts of his own.   Solitude does strange things to a man as is witnessed by Kurtz’s character.Kurtz left behind him a ‘last disciple.’   A short but well formed character in the way of his obsession with Mr. Kurtz.   In the concept of hope, and the loss or lack of hope, Kurtz epitomizes this concept through is treatment of his lady.   She was in constant mourning and tears.   However, despite his treatment of her, she adored him.   Her life was with him.Conrad’s treatment of the novel, in his setting of the scene also suggests the lack of hope whic h prevails as a theme in Heart of Darkness.   Conrad creates the setting of the sea in the beginning of the book as a painting with souls included; lost souls.   He sets the mood by the setting by calming words and eloquent simplicity.   After this imagery the reader is taken into the journey of Marlow.The city is the first step in the path of discovering lack of hope in Conrad’s work.   The city is the first step in this and right away the reader is filled with the complexity and confusion of Marlow’s story as the setting of the company’s offices harbors a feeling of conspiracy.   A setting of foreboding, or darkness with two black barbed guardians is presented in the text, which further allude to the lack of hope in the novel.In the first introduction of the idea of Mr. Kurtz, the person taking praises him but eh scene leads the reader to conclude that the man brings a feeling of wickedness, and a lack of morality.   Perhaps Mr. Kurtz is the sea pe rsonified.   In fact the feeling of hope, or lack of hope can very simply be seen in the treatment of the females in the novel.   Just as in the character of Jake in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Mr. Kurtz’s character finds a reflection of himself in his female counterpart and how he treats that counterpart.There are only three somewhat minor female characters in Heart of Darkness: Marlow’s aunt, Kurtz’s mistress, and Kurtz’s â€Å"Intended.† Marlow mentions these female characters in order to give the literal aspect of his  tale more substance.  Towards the beginning of Marlow’s story he tells how he, â€Å"Charlie Marlow, set the women to work–to get a job.†He tells this in the context that he desperately wanted to travel in  the trade industry that he did what the unthinkable (in those times).   He asked a woman for financial assistance! The woman, his aunt, also surpassed the traditional role of women in those times by telling Marlow that she would be delighted to help him and to ask her for help whenever he needed it. This incident did not have much to do with the symbolic theme of the story; it simply served to tell the reader how Marlow managed to be able to travel to the Congo (with a little help). On another note, Conrad intended to illustrate Marlow’s opinion of women’s inferior role in society, which embodied traditional 19th century society.The two remaining female characters were acknowledged later in the story.   When Marlow reaches the Inner Station, he jumps ahead and tells a little about The Intended, Kurtz’s fiancà ©e (to say â€Å"I do† when he returned). The Intended woman does not appear until the very end of the story, in which Marlow visits her and lies to her about Kurtz’s dying words.   The last female character, Kurtz’s African mistress, was presented near the end of the novel. Her first appearance took place in t he scene with Marlow talking to the Russian.She appears later when Marlow and Kurtz depart on the steamboat.   After Marlow blows the whistle, she stretches her arms out towards the steamer, and that was the last time she appears. The limited depiction of female characters in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and the way in which the three female characters are referred to by Marlow reflect Marlow’s view of women as inferior. Marlow’s opinion of women manifests the typical 19th century views of women.Perhaps his choice to lie to the Intended was because of a similar female  influence on his life†¦his Aunt.   In a way Marlow compares the Intended to his Aunt in  which both women are weaker than him.   For a man in the early 19th century, he believes  that they are delicate  and â€Å"something† that needs to be tenderly cared for.   He says, â€Å"It is  queer how out of touch with the truth women are.They live in a world of their o wn, and  there had never been anything like it, and can never be.   It is too beautiful altogether, and  if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.†Ã‚   This he says before  ever meeting Kurtz or hearing of the Intended.   Upon lying to her (the Intended) he says,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"But I couldn't.   I could not tell her.   It would have been too dark  too dark altogether†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  Marlow protected her,  he allowed her to remain innocent of Kurtz and his actions and in  so doing enabled her sun to remain high rather than setting and forever engulfing her in  darkness.Through the characters of each of these three novels different aspects of hope and different ways in which hope is revealed, lost, gained, or ignored the truth is that each character in one way had the chance to hope.   Marlow’s hope and Kurtz’s hope was desperation out of the thing they could not own, a woman’s love.   K’s hope and Jake’s hope both began with cynicism, and K’s hope does not change at the end of Kafka’s novel, with the phrase pertaining to ‘like a dog’ while Jake also remains in the state of cynicism knowing that Brett could never love anyone because she was prepared to hope so high.Each novel had a point of revelation for the characters in which they must make a choice to continue to hope, to change, or to ignore hope and falter in the evolution of their own character.   Thus, when a character lost hope, they were doomed just as Marlow and Kurtz lost hope, or lost the illusion of their life and realized they never had hope for themselves, and just as Jake realizes that perhaps he never had hope for himself and Brett after all.WORK CITEDConrad, J.   Heart of Darkness.   Bentley Pub, New York.   2002.Hemingway, E.   The Sun Also Rises.   Scribner, New York, 1996.Kafka, Franz.   The Trial.   Trans.   Willa & Edwin Muir.   Shocken.   New York .   1995.

The Benefit to Affordable Housing in Communities - Affordable Housing Research Paper

The Benefit to Affordable Housing in Communities - Affordable Housing Is Not a Detriment To Neighborhoods - Research Paper Example Affordable housing is an indispensable part of all communities they are not detriment to neighborhoods, and when they get done correctly they will have a positive economic impact. People require decent housing to be happy, healthy and successful. The in affordability of housing is a serious problem, mostly in the growing cities where the demand of affordable housing exceeds the stock of less expensive and older residences. Increasing the affordability of housing helps solve problems and achieve other planning objectives. These include: 1. Reduce the homelessness and its associated problems. 2. Flexibility and financial savings to lower income households. 3. Accommodating students, lower wage workers, hence supporting local economic development. 4. Allows aging in place. Affordable and accessible housing that are suitable for disable people allows residents to stay in their community through the changes. 5. Road and parking facility cost saving. The residents can help reduce parking c ongestion and the costs of parking to the government and businesses. 6. Increased levels of economic opportunity. An improved access to employment and education leads to increased rates of employment and wages. ffordability requires more than low mortgages and rents. True, affordable housing should [sic] affordable accessible housing, i.e. lower priced housing situated where the basic services are easily accessible without the use of automobiles. Affordable accessible housing allows the households with different incomes, needs and abilities to live as one in diverse and attractive neighborhoods. Affordable housing is, therefore, not detriment to the neighborhoods but offer the chance of people living together in harmony Affordable housing organizations become primarily concerned with providing help to many low and moderate income households to achieve significant and affordable housing. Housing, however, affects the surrounding neighborhoods they get located in, together with the li ves of the residents. Nevertheless, properly managed and designed affordable housing can have a positive impact on the property values in the surrounding areas. The impact of affordable housing on property values The major reason for the opposition directed towards the development of affordable housing is the idea that the surrounding property values will get affected. Having new affordable housing creates concerns over the development of poorly maintained structures, negative changes in the neighborhood ways of life and lead to increased crime. These problems should be weighed against the ways that the development of affordable housing projects could impact the values of the surrounding property values positively. These developments could take the form of rehabilitation of dilapidated buildings and vacant lots. Affordable housing could be maintained and managed well (Ahrentzen 17). Developments of affordable rental projects with nonprofit management get found to have positive impac ts

Legal skills assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Legal skills assignment - Essay Example Under the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007 Rule 1.05 it states 9. You must provide a good standard of client care and of work, including the exercise of competence, skill and diligence. Disciplinary action will not always follow where breaches of this duty are minor and isolated. At one point in the interview the solicitor is asked by the client to explain the time limits that the solicitor mentions. The solicitor in this case makes no effort whatsoever to explain the time limits and in fact seems to totally ignore the request for further information. As this was a specific request by the solicitor he should have explained the time limits straightaway or at least have told the client that he would cover this later. In explaining the time limits the solicitor should have explained that under the Limitation Act 1980 a claim has to be brought within 3 years of the date of the accident. The solicitor also spends time on telling the client about the number of accidents that occur as a result of people using mobile phones whilst driving. This is totally irrelevant in this case and would only be relevant if the solicitor were to be suggesting that the chances of success of the case were remote as very few cases in this area had succeeded. Instead of commenting on the number of accidents that occur in this way the solicitor should have encouraged the client by stating that this will add to the liability of the defendant as he was not fully in control of the vehicle at the time of the accident. The solicitor should have explained that this could be used against the defendant if they try to deny liability as they could use the fact to demonstrate that he was not fully concentrating on the road at the time. It is also a criminal offence to use a mobile phone whilst driving which could mean that the defendant would face criminal charges for being on the phone. This would a lso strengthen a case against the defendant for compensation. If the

DO GOOD ETHICS PAY FOR THEMSELVES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

DO GOOD ETHICS PAY FOR THEMSELVES - Essay Example The objections made by Tightpenny to the idea of ethics seem to be ill-founded since it can be shown that ethics are quite relevant to business and can actually help profits. Ethical responsibility and corporate social awareness have become important for modern business enterprises but today, a company has to do a lot more than simply support social causes. It must advertise that it is supporting social causes. The ease with which information can shared amongst people in countries like the UK makes it impossible for a company to lie about something or hide it for long from the public. Dark pasts and shady dealings soon come out and hurt the company in more ways than one. Therefore, remaining ethical and advertising about being ethical is quite important. In this sense, business ethics are important aspects of running any company and the reasons for that are not limited to legal requirements or government orders (Medawar, 1976). The reason for running an ethical business can be shown to come from the highly valued theory of ethical egoism which suggests that people should what would be best for them in the long run. This approach may be connected with the ideals coming from utilitarian ethics or the approach taken by universalism but the basic reason for companies acting ethically is that ethics are good for business. The basic reason for this situation is due to the emergence of ethical consumers. These consumers like to know that their buying decisions and the support they give to companies are responsible companies. This consumer will make purchase decisions which are influenced by knowing the operations of the company from s/he is buying products. While the idea of being ethical may have as many definitions as there are consumers in the market but in a broad sense, the consumer could be very hesitant when buying goods or services from an organisation that does not have high ethics. These high ethics include stipulations such as its

Development of an internet based housing demand database system for Essay

Development of an internet based housing demand database system for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements - Essay Example The research methodology employed assisted in obtaining data relating to the current business processes in the Department of Human Settlements (DHS), that is to capture the functional requirements of the system and the users’ perceptions of the proposed system to develop an internet based housing demand database system for the KwaZulu-Natal DHS for improved housing service provisioning. Cooper and Schindler state that the research design is necessary for fulfilling research objectives and answering research questions. Research design indicates the techniques to be used in gathering data, the type of sampling to be used and how to deal with time and cost constraints, hence the need to focus on a specific research design. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill explain that there are two approaches to research, each with its own underlying philosophy and views namely, the quantitative approach and qualitative approach. According to Neill, quantitative research is a type of approach that a ssigns numerical data to answers, confirms evidence and produces findings based on fixed closed questions. He adds that qualitative data sets are made up of non-numerical material such as transcripts or audio-recordings of interviews, field notes of researcher observations, records of conversations, and any kind of social text such as books, newspapers and advertisements. Qualitative research is typically used to answer questions about the complex nature of phenomena often with the purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from the participant’s point of view. ... Qualitative research allowed the researcher to identify the users’ view of the system and also allowed the researcher the opportunity to understand the users’ personal experience of the system. The following section discusses the target population of the study. 3.4Target Population According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), the population is the full set of cases from which the sample is drawn. The target population for this study was the employees of the housing demand database section, municipality employees and the IT section of the DHS. The target population for the study comprised of 70 individuals. As it was impossible to focus on the entire population, it was necessary to use a sample to obtain the relevant data. 3.5 Sampling According to Welman and Kruger (2005:18), great care should be taken to obtain a representative sample in order to prevent a biased result. There are two types of sampling namely probability and non-probability sampling. Welman and K ruger (2005: 56) explain that in the case of probability sampling, the probability that any element or member of the population will be included in the sample can be determined, whereas in non-probability sampling by contrast, this probability cannot be specified. This study used a non-probability sampling method. The advantage of non-probability sampling is that it is less complicated and more economical in terms of time and cost. The researcher opted for this sampling technique as this allowed her to focus on specific individuals that were familiar with the system (Saunders et al., 2009:237). To develop an IT system, it was necessary to gather the requirements from the users of the system such as data capturers, administrative staff, managers of

Analysis of Merck& Company Inc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analysis of Merck& Company Inc - Research Paper Example If a strategy had not been introduced for keeping Merck’s competitiveness at low levels, the following phenomenon would appear: the firm’s ability to face its rivals would be gradually decreased, leading to severe losses in one or more organizational activities. In other words, an aggressive strategy would be the most appropriate for the organization under current market positions. Figure 1 – Total revenue for Merck & Company Inc for the years 2006 up to 2008 (source: case study, p.132) At the same time, the firm’s profits for 2008 have been a bit lower from those of 2007, see Figure 1 above, leading to the assumption that a strategy for securing the survival and the further growth of the organization is necessary. In other words, the annual objective that the firm’s managers have set can be characterized as feasible, an assumption based both on the firm’s performance in the near past but also on the industry’s perspectives and demands . ... The above acquisition will help Merck to achieve two key benefits: to decrease its costs and to increase the range of its products, enhancing its competitiveness in the global market. In fact, acquisitions have been used by the firm for quite long, from 2000 onwards and have been proved quite effective in supporting organizational growth (case study p.130). c) Resource Allocation When referring to organizational environment the term resources can be used for reflecting a high range of organizational elements, including ‘money, material and technology’ (Morgan 169). In the context of strategic management, resource allocation is characterized as quite valuable for the achievement of organizational goals. In fact, resources can be vital even for the survival of the organization, under the terms that without the required resources all business plans can be led to failure (Daft, Murphy and Hugh 557). Indeed, resource allocation refers to the resources that are necessary for a ll operations of each organization, including ‘salaries, equipment, employees and so on’ (Daft, Murphy and Hugh 557). Because of its importance, resource allocation should be based on a plan incorporated in a firm’s corporate strategy (Schermerhorn 138). Changes on a firm’s existing resource allocation can lead to severe conflicts if the changes attempted are not welcomed by one or more groups of stakeholders, such as employees or suppliers (Griffin and Moorehead 514). For example, a decrease of the rewards provided to employees for their performance can result to employees’ protests; these protests could cause severe delays in the completion of

Principles of Organisational Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Principles of Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example It is necessary that every employee realizes his or her contribution in the organization’s work and image. Motivation comes from within the person. Motivational factors could be implanted by the management externally; however the employee has to feel the urge himself. Hence it is a process to create the urge and define the path for him or her. Clarity of goals gives idea to the person what he is striving for. The real challenge for a manager lies in defining the path. If the goal is too difficult, it will give the air of impossibility and is discarded by the employee. On the contrary, if it is too lenient then it loses the attraction of challenge. Apart from this the manager needs to have a clear idea about the role every individual plays in the team to align his goals with those of team. A well-defined job description gives a clear idea of specific job roles, responsibilities. Group level – Leadership Leadership in an organization comes at various levels. It starts at one to one level, progresses to team level and then assumes the overall macro level of leading the organization. All the three aspects contribute to an employee’s growth in an organization. Appropriate leadership at appropriate level benefits not only the team but also the development of the organization as well. ... vides direction with the help of well-defined goals and structured path, which is further broken into objectives for departments, further down to teams and eventually to every individual playing as a team member. Hence it is also imperative that leadership at every level must identify future leaders who could take over further responsibilities of delivering the task to the organization. There should be a great stress on identifying leaders and developing them. It is the only way the human resource can be developed and made competent. Hence identifying leadership competencies is as necessary for a manager as to acquire them. Often it is also noticed that there are two leaders in the organization natural leaders and appointed leaders. Natural leaders tend to get better results. Alternatively appointed leaders could be trained to prove themselves but could be lengthy process. Organizational Level: Organizational culture and climate The culture of a group can now be defined as: A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. (Schein 373-374) (www.soi.org) Organizational climate is the set of characteristics that describe an organization and that distinguishes one organization from other organizations; are relatively enduring over time and influence the behaviour of the  people in the organization  (Forehand & Gilmer, 1964). (http://organizationalclimate.wordpress.com) Although similar, elements of both the concepts have different impact on an employee. Both the definitions state the congeniality in the environment

Marketing Segmentation Essay Example for Free

Marketing Segmentation Essay Market segmentation is the process of dividing up a market into more-or-less homogenous subsets for which it is possible to create different value propositions. At the end of the process the company can decide which segment(s) it wants to serve. If it chooses, each segment can be served with a different value proposition and managed in a different way. Market segmentation processes can be used during CPM for two main purposes. They can be used to segment potential markets to identify which customers to acquire, and to cluster current customers with a view to offering differentiated value propositions supported by different relationship management strategies. In this discussion we’ll focus on the application of market segmentation processes to identify which customers to acquire. What distinguishes market segmentation for this CRM purpose is its very clear focus on customer value. The outcome of the process should be the identification of the value potential of each identified segment. Companies will want to identify and target customers that can generate profit in the future: these will be those customers that the company and its network are better placed to serve and satisfy than their competitors. Market segmentation in many companies is highly intuitive. The marketing team will develop profiles of customer groups based upon their insight and experience. This is then used to guide the development of marketing strategies across the segments. In a CRM context, market segmentation is highly data dependent. The data might be generated internally or sourced externally. Internal data from marketing, sales and finance records are ofte n enhanced with additional data from external sources such as marketing research companies, partner organizations in the company’s network and data specialists (see Figure 5.2 ). The market segmentation process can be broken down into a number of steps: 1. identify the business you are in 2. identify relevant segmentation variables 3. analyse the market using these variables 4. assess the value of the market segments 5. select target market(s) to serve. Sales forecasting: Slide #6 (p. 136-8) The second discipline that can be used for CPM is sales forecasting. One major issue commonly facing companies that conduct CPM is that the data available for clustering customers takes a historical or, at best, present day view. The data identifies those customers who have been, or presently are, important for sales, profit or other strategic reasons. If management believes the future will be the same as the past, this presents no problem. However, if the business environment is changeable, this does present a problem. Because CPMs goal is to identify those customers that will be strategically important in the future, sales forecasting can be a useful discipline. Sales forecasting, some pessimists argue, is a waste of time, because the business environment is rapidly changing and unpredictable. Major world events such as terrorist attacks, war, drought and market-based changes, such as new products from competitors or high visibility promotional campaigns, can make any sales forecas ts invalid. There are a number of sales forecasting techniques that can be applied, providing useful information for CPM. These techniques, which fall into three major groups, are appropriate for different circumstances. ââ€"  qualitative methods: customer surveys sales team estimates ââ€"  time-series methods: moving average exponential smoothing time-series decomposition ââ€"  causal methods: leading indicators regression models. Qualitative methods are probably the most widely used forecasting methods. Customer surveys ask consumers or purchasing officers to give an opinion on what they are likely to buy in the forecasting period. This makes sense when customers forward-plan their purchasing. Data can be obtained by inserting a question into a customer satisfaction survey. For example, ‘In the next six months are you likely to buy more, the same or less from us than in the  current period? ’ And, ‘If more, or less, what volume do you expect to buy from us? ’ Sometimes, third party organizations such as industry associations or trans-industry groups such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Institute of Directors collect data that indicate future buying intentions or proxies for intention, such as business confidence. Sales team estimates can be useful when salespeople have built close relationships with their customers. A key account management team might be well placed to generate s everal individual forecasts from the team membership. These can be averaged or weighted in some way that reflects the estimator’s closeness to the customer. Account managers for Dyno Nobel, a supplier of commercial explosives for the mining and quarrying industries, are so close to their customers that they are able to forecast sales two to three years ahead. Operational CRM systems support the qualitative sales forecasting methods, in particular sales team estimates. The CRM system takes into account the value of the sale, the probability of closing the sale and the anticipated period to closure. Many CRM systems also allow management to adjust the estimates of their sales team members, to allow for overly optimistic or pessimistic salespeople. Time-series approaches take historical data and extrapolate them forward in a linear or curvilinear trend. This approach makes sense when there are historical sales data, and the assumption can be safely made that the future will reflect the past. The moving average method is the simplest of these. This takes sales in a number of previous periods and averages them. The averaging process reduces o r eliminates random variation. The moving average is computed on successive periods of data, moving on one period at a time, as in Figure 5.10 . Moving averages based on different periods can be calculated on historic data to generate an accurate method. A variation is to weight the more recent periods more heavily. The rationale is that more recent periods are better predictors. In producing  an estimate for year 2009 in Figure 5.10 , one could weight the previous four years’ sales performance by 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively, to reach an estimate. This would generate a forecast of 5461. This approach is called exponential smoothing. The decomposition method is applied when there is evidence of cyclical or seasonal patterns in the historical data. The method attempts to separate out four components of the time series: trend factor,  cyclical factor, seasonal factor and random factor. The trend factor is the longterm direction of the trend after the other three elements are removed. The cyclical factor represents regular long-term recurrent influences on sales; seasonal influences generally occur within annual cycles. It is sometimes possible to predict sales using leading indicators. A leading indicator is some contemporary activity or event that indicates that another activity or event will happen in the future. At a macro level, for example, housing starts are good predictors of future sales of kitchen furniture. At a micro level, when a credit card customer calls into a contact centre to ask about the current rate of interest, this is a strong indicator that the customer will switch to another supplier in the future. Regression models work by employing data on a number of predictor variables to estimate future demand. The variable being predicted is called the dependent variable; the variables being used as predictors are called independent variables. For example, if you wanted to predict demand for cars (the dependent variable) you might use data on population size, average disposable income, average car price for the category being predicted and average fuel price (the independent variables). The regression equation can be tested and validated on historical data before being adopted. New predictor variables can be substituted or added to see if they improve the accuracy of the forecast. This can be a useful approach for predicting demand from a segment. Activity-Based Costing: Slide #7 (p. 138-40) Customer Acquisition costs Terms of Trade Customer service costs Working capital costs Activity-based costing The third discipline that is useful for CPM is activity-based costing. Many companies, particularly those in a B2B context, can trace revenues to customers. In a B2C environment, it is usually only possible to trace revenues to identifiable customers if the company operates a billing system requiring customer details, or a membership scheme such as a customer club, store-card or a loyalty programme. In a B2B context, revenues can be tracked in the sales and accounts databases. Costs are an entirely different matter. Because the goal of CPM is to cluster customers according to their strategic value, it is desirable to be able to identify which customers are, or will be, profitable. Clearly, if a company is to understand customer profitability, it has to be able to trace costs, as well as revenues, to customers. Costs do vary from customer to customer. Some customers are very costly to acquire and serve, others are not. There can be considerable variance across the customer base within several categories of cost: ââ€"  customer acquisition costs : some customers require considerable sales effort to move them from prospect to fi rst-time customer status: more sales calls, visits to reference customer sites, free samples, engineering advice, guarantees that switching costs will be met by the vendor ââ€"  terms of trade : price discounts, advertising and promotion support, slotting allowances (cash paid to retailers for shelf space), extended invoice due dates ââ€"  customer service costs : han dling queries, claims and complaints, demands on salespeople and contact centre, small order sizes, high order frequency, just-in-time delivery, part load shipments, breaking bulk for delivery to multiple sites ââ€"  working capital costs : carrying inventory for the customer, cost of credit. Traditional product-based or general ledger costing systems do not provide this type of detail, and do not enable companies to estimate customer profitability. Product costing systems track material, labour and energy costs to products, often comparing actual to standard costs. They do not, however, cover the customer-facing activities of marketing, sales and service. General ledger costing systems do track costs across all parts of the business, but are normally too highly aggregated to establish which customers or segments are responsible for generating those costs. Activity-based costing (ABC) is an approach to costing that splits costs into two groups: volume-based costs and order-related costs. Volume based (product-related) costs are variable against the size of the order, but fixed per unit for any order and any customer. Material and direct labour costs are examples. Order-related (customer-related) costs vary according to the product and process requirements of each particular customer. Imagine two retail customers, each purchasing the same volumes of product from a manufacturer. Customer 1 makes no product or process demands. The sales revenue is $5000; the gross margin for the vendor is $1000. Customer 2 is a different story: customized  product, special overprinted outer packaging, just-in-time delivery to three sites, provision of point-of-sale material, sale or return conditions and discounted price. Not only that, but Customer 2 spends a lot of time agreeing these terms and conditions with a salesperson who has had to call three times before closing the sale. The sales revenue is $5000, but after accounting for product and process costs to meet the demands of this particular customer, the margin retained by the vendor is $250. Other things being equal, Customer 1 is four times as valuable as Customer 2. Whereas conventional cost accounti ng practices report what was spent, ABC reports what the money was spent doing. Whereas the conventional general ledger approach to costing identifies resource costs such as payroll, equipment and materials, the ABC approach shows what was being done when these costs were incurred. Figure 5.11 shows how an ABC view of costs in an insurance company’s claims processing department gives an entirely different picture to the traditional view. ABC gives the manager of the claims-processing department a much clearer idea of which activities create cost. The next question from a CPM perspective is ‘ which customers create the activity? ’ Put another way, which customers are the cost drivers? If you were to examine the activity cost item ‘ Analyse claims: $121 000 ’ , and find that 80 per cent of the claims were made by drivers under the age of 20, you’d have a clear understanding of the customer group that was creating that activity cost for the business. CRM needs ABC because of its overriding goal of generating profitable relationships with customers. Unless there is a costing system in place to trace costs to customers, CRM will find it very difficult to deliver on a promise of improved customer profitability. Overall, ABC serves customer portfolio management in a number of ways: 1. when combined with revenue figures, it tells you the absolute and relative levels of profit generated by eac h customer, segment or cohort 2. it guides you towards actions that can be taken to return customers to profit 3. it helps prioritize and direct customer acquisition, retention and development strategies 4. it helps establish whether customization and other forms of value creation for customers pay off. ABC sometimes justifies management’s confidence in the Pareto principle, otherwise known as the 80:20 rule. This rule suggests that  80 per cent of profits come from 20 per cent of customers. ABC tells you which customers fall into the important 20 per cent. Research generally supports the 80: 0 rule. For example, one report from Coopers and Lybrand found that, in the retail industry, the top 4 per cent of customers account for 29 per cent of profits, the next 26 per cent of customers account for 55 per cent of profits and the remaining 70 per cent account for only 16 per cent of profits. Lifetime Value Estimation: Slide# 8 (p. 141-2) The fourth discipline that can be used for CPM is customer lifetime value (LTV) estimation, which was first introduced in Chapter 2. LTV is measured by computing the present day value of all net margins (gross margins less cost-to-serve) earned from a relationship with a customer, segment or cohort. LTV estimates provide important insights that guide companies in their customer management strategies. Clearly, companies want to protect and ring-fence their relationships with customers, segments or cohorts that will generate significant amounts of profit. Sunil Gupta and Donald Lehmann suggest that customer lifetime value can be computed as follows: Application of this formula means that you do not have to estimate customer tenure. As customer retention rate rises there is an automatic lift in customer tenure, as shown in Table 2.2 in Chapter 2. This formula can be adjusted to consider change in both future margins and retention rates either up or down, as described in Gupta and Lehmann’s book Managing Customers as Investments. The table can be used to assess the impact of a number of customer management strategies: what would be the impact of reducing cost-toserve by shifting customers to low-cost self-serve channels? What would be the result of cross-selling higher margin products? What would be the outcome of a loyalty programme designed to increase retention rate from 80 to 82 per cent? An important additional benefit of this LTV calculation is that it enables you to estimate a company’s value. For example, it has been computed that the LTV of the average US-based American Airlines customer is $166.94. American Airlines has 43.7 million such customers, yielding an estimated company value of $7.3 billion. Roland Rust and his co-researchers noted that, given the absence of international  passengers and freight considerations from this computation, it was remarkably close to the company’s market capitalization at the time their research was undertaken. Clustering (144): slide #9 Clustering techniques are used to find naturally occurring groupings within a dataset. As applied to customer data, these techniques generally function as follows: 1. Each customer is allocated to just one group. The customer possesses attributes that are more closely associated with that group than any other group. 2. Each group is relatively homogenous. 3. The groups collectively are very different from each other. In other words, clustering techniques generally try to maximize both within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity. There are a number of clustering techniques, including CART (classification and regression trees) and CHAID (chi-square automatic interaction detection).7 Once statistically homogenous clusters have been formed they need to be interpreted. CRM strategists are often interested in the future behaviours of a customer: segment, cohort or individual. Customers ’ potential value is determined by their propensity to buy products in the future. Data miners can build predictive models by examining patterns and relationships within historic data. Predictive models can be generated to identify: 1. Which customer, segment or cohort is most likely to buy a given product? 2. Which customers are likely to default on payment? 3. Which customers are most likely to defect (churn)? Data analysts scour historic data looking for predictor and outcome variables. Then a model is built and validated on these historic data. When the model seems to work well on the historic data, it is run on contemporary data, where the predictor data are known but the outcome data are not. This is known as ‘ scoring ’ . Scores are answers to questions such as the propensity-to-buy, default and churn questions listed above. Predictive modelling is based on three assumptions, each of which may be true to a greater or lesser extent: 1. The past is a good predictor of the future †¦ BUT this may not be true. Sales of many products are cyclical or seasonal. Others have fashion or fad lifecycles. 2. The data are available †¦ BUT this may not be true. Data used to train the model may no longer be collected. Data may be too costly to collect, or may be in the wrong format. 3. Customer-related databases contain what you want to predict †¦ BUT this may not be true. The data may not be available. If you want to predict which customers are most likely to buy mortgage protection insurance, and you only have data on life policies, you will not be able to answer the question. Two tools that are used for predicting future behaviours are decision trees and neural networks. Decision trees (145): slide #9 Decision trees are so called because the graphical model output has the appearance of a branch structure. Decision trees work by analyzing a dataset to find the independent variable that, when used to split the population, results in nodes that are most different from each other with respect to the variable you are tying to predict. Figure 5.12 contains a set of data about five customers and their credit risk profile. We want to use the data in four of the fi ve columns to predict the risk rating in the fifth column. A decision tree can be constructed for this purpose. In decision tree analysis, Risk is in the ‘ dependent ’ column. This is also known as the target variable. The other four columns are independent columns. It is unlikely that the customer’s name is a predictor of Risk, so we will use the three other pieces of data as independent variables: debt, income and marital status. In the example, each of these is a simple categorical item, each of which only has two possible values (high or low; yes or no). The data from Figure 5.12 are represented in a different form in Figure 5.13 , in a way which lets you see which independent variable is best at predicting risk. As you examine the data, you will see that the best split is income (four instances highlighted in bold on the diagonal: two high income/good risk plus two low income/poor risk). Debt and marital status each s core three on their diagonals. Once a node is split, the same process is performed on each successive node, either until no further splits are possible or until you have reached a managerially useful model. The graphical output of this decision tree analysis is shown in Figure 5.14 . Each box is a node. Nodes are linked by branches. The top node is the root node. The data from the root node is split into two groups based on income. The right-hand, low income box, does not split any further because both low income customers are classified as poor credit risks. The left-hand, high-income box does split further, into married and not married customers. Neither of these split further because the one unmarried customer is a poor credit risk and the two remaining married customers are good credit risks. As a result of this process the company knows that customers who have the lowest credit risk will be high income and married. They will also note that debt, one of the variables inserted into the training model, did not perform well. It is not a predictor of creditworthiness. Decision trees that work with categorical data such as these are known as classification trees. When decision trees are applied to continuous data they are known as regression trees. Neural Networks (147): slide #9 Neural networks are another way of fitting a model to existing data for prediction purposes. The expression ‘ neural network ’ has its origins in the work of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Researchers in this field have tried to learn from the natural neural networks of living creatures. Neural networks can produce excellent predictions from large and complex datasets containing hundreds of interactive predictor variables, but the neural networks are neither easy to understand nor straightforward to use. Neural networks represent complex mathematical equations, with many summations, exponential functions and parameters. Like decision trees and clustering techniques, neural networks need to be trained to recognize patterns on sample datasets. Once trained, they can be used to predict customer behaviour from new data. They work well when there are many potential predictor variables, some of which are redundant. Case 5.2 Customer portfolio management at Tesco Tesco, the largest and most successful supermarket chain in the UK, has developed a CRM strategy that is the envy of many of its competitors. Principally a food retailer in a mature market that has grown little in the  last 20 years, Tesco realized that the only route to growth was taking market share from competitors. Consequently, the development of a CRM strategy was seen as imperative. In developing its CRM strategy, Tesco first analysed its customer base. It found that the top 100 customers were worth the same as the bottom 4000. It also found that the bottom 25 per cent of customers represented only 2 per cent of sales, and that the top 5 per cent of customers were responsible for 20 per cent of sales. The results of this analysis were used to segment Tesco’s customers and to develop its successful loyalty programmes. SWOT and PESTE (p. 154-5): slide# 10 SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis explores the internal environment (S and W) and the external environment (O and T) of a strategic business unit. The internal (SW) audit looks for strengths and weaknesses in the business functions of sales, marketing, manufacturing or operations, finance and people management. It then looks cross-functionally for strengths and weaknesses in, for example, cross-functional processes (such as new product development) and organizational culture. The external (OT) audit analyses the macro- and micro-environments in which the customer operates. The macro-environment includes a number of broad conditions that might impact on a company. These conditions are identified by a PESTE analysis. PESTE is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological and environmental conditions. An analysis would try to pick out major conditions that impact on a business, as illustrated below: political environment : demand for international air travel contracted as worldwide political stability was reduced after September 11, 2001 economic environment : demand for mortgages falls when the economy enters recession. social environment : as a population ages, demand for healthcare and residential homes increase technological environment : as more households become owners of computers, demand for Internet banking increases environmental conditions : as customers become  more concerned about environmental quality, demand for more energy efficient products increases. The micro environmental part of the external (OT) audit examines relationships between a company and its immediate external stakeholders: customers, suppliers, business partners and investors. A CRM-oriented SWOT analysis would be searching for customers or potential customers that emerge well from the analysis. Th ese would be customers that: 1. possess relevant strengths to exploit the opportunities open to them 2. are overcoming weaknesses by partnering with other organizations to take advantage of opportunities 3. are investing in turning around the company to exploit the opportunities 4. are responding to external threats in their current markets by exploiting their strengths for diversification. Five forces The five-forces analysis was developed by Michael Porter. 17 He claimed that the profitability of an industry, as measured by its return on capital employed relative to its cost of capital, was determined by five sources of competitive pressure. These five sources include three horizontal and two vertical conditions. The horizontal conditions are: competition within the established businesses in the market competition from potential new entrants competition from potential substitutes. The vertical conditions reflect supply and demand chain considerations: the bargaining power of buyers  the bargaining power of suppliers.  Porter’s basic premise is that competitors in an industry will be more profitable if these five conditions are benign. For example, if buyers are very powerful, they can demand high levels of service and low prices, thus negatively influencing the profitability of the supplier. However, if barriers to entry are high, say because of large capital requirements or dominance of the market by very powerful brands, then current players will be relatively immune from new entrants and enjoy the possibility of better profits. Why would a CRM-strategist be interested in a five-forces evaluation of customers? Fundamentally, a financially healthy customer offers better potential for a supplier than a customer in financial  distress. The analysis points to different CRM solutions: 1. Customers in a profitable industry are more likely to be stable for the near-term, and are better placed to invest in opportunities for the future. They therefore have stronger value potential. These are customers with whom a supplier would want to build an exclusive and well-protected relationship. 2. Customers in a stressed industry might be looking for reduced cost inputs from its suppliers, or for other ways that they can add value to their offer to their own customers. A CRM-oriented supplier would be trying to find ways to serve this customer more effectively, perhaps by stripping out elements of the value proposition that are not critical, or by adding elements that enable the customer to compete more strongly. Strategically Significant Customers (157) slide #11 The goal of this entire analytical process is to cluster customers into groups so that differentiated value propositions and relationship management strategies can be applied. One outcome will be the identification of customers that will be strategically significant for the company’s future. We call these strategically significant customers (SSCs). There are several classes of SSC, as follows: 1. High future lifetime value customers : these customers will contribute significantly to the company’s profitability in the future. 2. High volume customers : these customers might not generate much profit, but they are strategically significant because of their absorption of fixed costs, and the economies of scale they generate to keep unit costs low. 3. Benchmark customers : these are customers that other customers follow. For example, Nippon Conlux supplies the hardware and software for Coca Cola’s vending operation. While they might not make much margin from that rela tionship, it has allowed them to gain access to many other markets. ‘ If we are good enough for Coke, we are good enough for you ’ , is the implied promise. Some IT companies create ‘ reference sites ’ at some of their more demanding customers. 4. Inspirations : these are customers who bring about improvement in the supplier’s business. They may identify new applications for a product, product improvements, or opportunities for cost reductions. They may complain loudly and make unreasonable demands, but in doing so, force change for the better. 5. Door  openers : these are customers that allow the supplier to gain access to a new market. This may be done for no initial profit, but with a view to proving credentials for further expansion. This may be particularly important if crossing cultural boundaries, say between west and east. One company, a Scandinavian processor of timber, has identified five major customer groups that are strategically signi ficant, as in Figure 5.22 . The Seven Core Customer Management Strategies (158-9) slide # 12 This sort of analysis pays off when it helps companies develop and implement differentiated CRM strategies for clusters of customers in the portfolio. There are several core customer management strategies: 1. Protect the relationship : this makes sense when the customer is strategically significant and attractive to competitors. We discuss the creation of exit barriers in our review of customer retention strategies in Chapter 9. 2. Re-engineer the relationship : in this case, the customer is currently unprofitable or less profitable than desired. However, the customer could be converted to profit if costs were trimmed from the relationship. This might mean reducing or automating service levels, or servicing customers through lower cost channels. In the banking industry, transaction processing costs, as a multiple of online processing costs are as follows. If Internet transaction processing has a unit cost of 1, an in-bank teller transaction costs 120 units, an ATM transaction costs 40, telephone costs 30 and PC banking costs 20. In other words, it is 120 times more expensive to conduct an in-bank transaction than the identical online transaction. Cost-reduction programmes have motivated banks to migrate their customers, or at least some segments of customers, to other lower cost channels. An Australian electricity company has found that its average annual margin per customer is $60. It costs $13 to serve a c ustomer who pays by credit card, but only 64 cents to service a direct debit customer. Each customer moved to the lower cost channel therefore produces a transaction cost saving of more than $12, which increases the average customer value by 20 per cent. Re-engineering a relationship requires a clear understanding of the activities that create costs in the relationship (see Case 5.3). 3. Enhance the relationship : like  the strategy above, the goal is to migrate the customer up the value ladder. In this case it is done not by re-engineering the relationship, but by increasing your share of customer spend on the category, and by identifying up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. 4. Harvest the relationship : when your share of wallet is stable, and you do not want to invest more resources in customer development, you may feel that the customer has reached maximum value. Under these conditions you may wish to harvest, that is, optimize cash flow from the customer with a view to using the cash generated to develop other customers. This may be particularly appealing if the customer is in a declining market, has a high cost-to-serve or has a high propensity-to-switch to competitors. 5. End the relationship : sacking customers is ge nerally anathema to sales and marketing people. However, when the customer shows no sign of making a significant contribution in the future it may be the best option.You can read about strategies for sacking customers in Chapter 9. 6. Win back the customer : sometimes customers take some or all of their business to other suppliers. If they are not strategically signifi cant, it may make sense to let them go. However, when the customer is important, you may need to develop and implement win back strategies. The starting point must be to understand why they took their business away. 7. Start a relationship : you’ve identified a prospect as having potential strategic significance for the future. You need to develop an acquisition plan to recruit the customer onto the value ladder. You can read about customer acquisition strategies in Chapter 8.

Sustainable Development and Water Supply

Sustainable Development and Water Supply Throughout recorded history humans have used their surroundings to improve the way in which they live their everyday lives. In a very short time span, relative to the age of the earth, technology has advanced at unbelievable rate. With the incredible advancement of technology more resources are being used to create an environment that allows society to function and grow. People in a developed and technologically advanced society are living longer and healthier lives. Unfortunately this is increasing the population of the world; as the death rate decreases and the fertility rate around the world continues to increase. In societys quest to become further developed, natural resources are being depleted at an uncontrollable rate that may be impossible to escape from. Humans have disrupted the balance that is essential for life. Humans have been taking advantage of the resources that have been given. With the ever increasing population society will become more dependent of the resources t hat the earth will not be able to provide one day. Water is the basis for life, but the earth only provides a small amount of fresh water. This water is being used in abundance for unnecessary utilities. Much of the fresh water is also being polluted as factories dispose of chemicals and garbage in and around fresh water supplies. In addition, agriculture is a necessity that people across the world take for granted. Almost all of the fertile land around the world has been used, creating problems for future food consumption. Energy is essential in developing a sustainable society. Oil is being used to create most of the worlds energy, but it is essential to switch to new methods as oil continues to be depleted. Developing and changing the ways in which society functions is imperative to develop a sustainable earth that generations will be able to inhabit. The surface of the earth is covered primarily of water; almost seventy percent of the planet is covered in water. Within that seventy percent on two and half percent is fresh water while the other ninety seven and a half percent is undrinkable salt water. Nearly seventy percent of the fresh water is trapped in ice caps inaccessible to humans. Approximately only one percent of the worlds fresh water is readily available, being found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and underground sources that allow for easy and affordable access. There is only a small amount of fresh water that is available to humans, which is being used at a rate that is not sustainable for the amount of people on this planet. The water supply in countries all over the world is very low. In multiple third world countries, there is virtually no infrastructure to support the population of the country. They are not able to produce a sustainable way to provide water to citizens. The water that is available throughout the wo rld is also being polluted on an unimaginable scale. Factories in less developed countries do not always following all safety regulations. Large amounts of pollution from these factories are being dumped into nearby rivers and lakes as it seems like an easy solution to unwanted chemicals and garbage. This does not necessarily only happen in third world countries, it occurs all over the world and it is becoming a massive problem that might not have a solution in a few years time. There is only a small amount of consumable water on the planet and if the actions of humanity continue, it will become increasingly difficult to reverse these disastrous outcomes. Massive amounts of eco systems are suffering due to the pollution that goes into the water each and every day. Humanity must change to ensure that fresh water is available for multiple generations to come. Water must be a sustainable resource in order for humanity to function properly. In the current situation, the fresh water reso urce will be consumed in a short period of time. It will become increasingly difficult to make changes after this resource is depleted, that is why changes must be made soon in order to ensure a successful future. The population is growing at a rate that will make it difficult to supply food to people across the earth. Across the earth millions are malnourished due to the fact that countries do not have land or fertile land to grow food to feed their people. With the growth of the population more land will be used to build homes to accommodate. Today almost all of the fertile land is already in use to grow food. Some countries have been purchasing land from other countries that have an abundance of land but they themselves are unable to provide for their own people. Agriculture is one of the most important factors that will determine if the earth will be sustainable for future generations to inhabit. It is important that humanity uses their resources properly and efficiently to ensure a future for multiple generations to come. One of the solutions that have arisen is the use of indoor crop production which would allow for maximum space efficiency. Indoor food production would allow for multipl e floors to grow crops while still maintaining the normal size of a farmers field. Fly over Holland and youll find yourself looking down on a sea of glass; here, hydroponic greenhouses account for 50 percent of the value of all fruit and vegetables produced in the country a practical response to soil depletion, disease and salinization(Riley, Tess). The process of indoor farming decreases the plants vulnerability to soil degradation and disease. Ideally through this method it becomes simpler in the means of irrigation. Pipes are run throughout the building allowing sprinklers to water the planets any time of the day. This is the most plausible solution to the agriculture crisis. It will be difficult for the world to continue down the path it is heading. Pollution and over population will continue to affect how agriculture will be seen over the next decade. New solutions will become increasingly sought after to help this global crisis. Developing a sustainable way to farm will be of the up most important. Indoor farming is only a small piece of the puzzle to creating a sustainable agricultural base for humanity. In todays world, energy has driven humanity to the point where it is dependent for that of the smallest tasks. It is difficult to reminisce about what the world would be like without the use of machines that convert energy into electricity. Oil, since its discovery has been one of the, if not the most important substance on the planet. It is used in almost everything; from paint to clothes it has touched humanity in a very strong way. However, oil is not a sustainable resource. It is currently running its path toward depletion. In due course there will be no more oil on the planet. Oil contains a massive amount of energy that is harnessed and used for the production of electricity. Over half of the worlds electricity is created through the use of oil. It will be difficult to find a replacement for this resource. As oil is being depleted the world must turn to other sources of energy that will allow for sustainability. Alternative methods of producing electricity include solar and win d but current alternative energy sources currently only supply twenty percent of the worlds electricity. These alternative methods must be considered to be the future of harnessing energy once the oil reserves have dried completely. These methods do take a lot of space to produce electricity efficiently, but it may be a price that is willing to be paid in the near future. Creating a sustainable way to produce energy and electricity is very important for future generation to strive like current society has. Energy goals of the future are based around the process of fusion reactions. If scientists and engineers are able to sustain a fusion reaction and harness the energy exerted by the reaction then the energy problems of the world would be solved. It is essential that humanity continues to develop and explore new ways to create sustainable energy resources. It is imperative that society changes the way it functions as not all resources in the future will be at humans disposal. Change must be brought now in order to provide a sustainable society for future generations of humanity. On the contrary to some beliefs, the world is not in a sustainable state for future generations to inhabit. Todays society is on a course that will not end well. It is important for society to change their path towards sustainable development that would allow future generations to flourish. Current water situations should restrict the usage of certain tasks to help preserve what fresh water is available to us. Water is essential to all life, and as factories continue to pollute in what little fresh water is available it seemingly decreases a sustainable way of life for all. The advancement in the field of agriculture is important for humanity to survive. With almost all of the fertile soil already being used it is important to turn to other methods to create a yearly sustainable way to produce food. Indoor facilities will be depended heavily upon in the future for the production of the worlds food supply. Through the use of conventional oil, the world has become dependent on this sub stance. Alternative energy is the way of the future. One day it will have to replace oil because it is a sustainable way of producing electricity. It is important that humanity soon see how life cannot continue down its current path. New and improved ideas must be designed to create a sustainable environment that will allow for future generation to flourish as well as this generation has. Works Cited Human Appropriation of the Worlds Fresh Water Supply. Human Appropriation of the Worlds Fresh Water Supply. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2015. Riley, Tess. The Rise of Indoor Cropping. Triple Pundit People Planet Profit. N.p., 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.