Sunday, August 25, 2019

Brand Management of Apple Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brand Management of Apple Inc - Essay Example Apple Company has made numerous advertisements in the media with the intention of creating awareness of its product to potential consumers. Advertisements by the company have played a huge role in creating consumer awareness of the product (Mehling 1997). In order for the company to reach that level, it has taken into consideration various marketing strategies. One of them is the use of 3 C’s marketing strategy. The three C’s in marketing refers to the corporation itself, the customers, and the level of competition in the market. A company’s foremost concern is the consumer awareness of the products that the company is dealing with. In customer-based strategies, Apple Company has achieved success through segmentation. Segmentation is done in consideration of the different ways in which customers use the products. Apple Company is the world’s prominent subdivision implementing company. The subdivision strategy applied by the company has led the company acqu iring surprising growth in sales, revenues, profits, and business rankings (Schick 1997). Apple Inc. has applied a vertical market segmentation policy, which involves making a product for each use case. Additionally, the Apple Inc. is able to sell the merchandises at the right price for only the moneymaking market section. Using this policy, the Apple has also been able to ascertain the market section that pays more, for the precise merchandise, which the company offers. Furthermore, nice and easy to use users practice in addition to high-class merchandises, which offer all-in-one amalgamation, symbolizes the Apple’s products. More significantly, the Apple disregards potential consumers who are not willing to pay for their... This paper stresses that the company has also used corporate based strategy to achieve high levels of success. The corporate strategy aims at maximizing the company’s strengths in relation to the level of competition of their products. Apple Company uses selective and sequencing strategy in order to win the competition in the smart phones markets. The company has gained a decisive edge in the development of high quality smartphones, thus, gaining a competitive advantage over its rivals. Moreover, the company operates at a low cost due to outsourcing of both labor and raw materials. Moreover, Apple Company is able to operate at a low cost and gain market leadership. Besides, it is able to produce cheaper than other companies, despite the fact that the company’s products are expensive to meet the expense and retain. Apple Company has also embarked on using competitor-based strategies in order to curb increasing competition. This report makes a conclusion that the company has also benefited greatly by investing in profit and cost structure differences. This has been done by exploiting the source profit difference. Such profits include profits from product sales and profits from services. Moreover, in implementing the 3C’s marketing strategy, the company has also employed tactics for flyweights since the company has invested heavily in mass media advertising. Furthermore, the company has invested in massive research and development efforts that have differentiated the company from other competitors.

Discuss the ethical issues related to information technology Essay

Discuss the ethical issues related to information technology - Essay Example Organizations should be carefully monitored in the way they use collected data and use private data. Censorship should not be used in a way to deprive human rights and should remain within confines of ethics. The price of reputation; protecting privacy online. (2013, Feb 23).  The Economist,  406, 64-65. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/business/21572240-market-protected-personal-information-about-take-price-reputation This article particularly ties with the learning of LO1 and LO2 in that it proposes some ways in which personal information may be protected. According to the article, many websites provide data manipulation services at the expense of the genuine and well intentioned internet users. For instance, a convicted rape criminal may have a better online personal image than a bank manager through information manipulation. It is proposed that a database depicting real-world reputation be set into place to discourage fake companies from manipulating private data. With internet providing rich or ‘big data,’ many web based companies are increasingly collecting and using private information for financial gains. Many companies collect and use personal information to target advertisement as seen in increasing junk mails. Companies are using social media information to discriminate employees. Within companies, employee emails and online activities are continually being monitored. On the other hand, intellectual property rights are violated every day. Intellectual property simply refers to the legal frameworks protecting intellectual resource such as business secrets, copyrights, trademarks, patented inventions and other intellectual resources to ensure such resources are managed and used ethically and legally. Understanding of intellectual rights marks the beginning to honoring them. For instance, whereas it may be ethical to keep a soft copy of a favorite music track, sharing it may be

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Dominos Pizza Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Dominos Pizza - Essay Example Moreover, the company performance is seen in the light of industry comparison as well. Trend analysis and vertical analysis are done to compare company’s performance with its base year 2008 and calculating indexes based on it. Various trends are observed and interpreted in light of market’s performance. Moreover, vertical analysis sheds light on company’s key title accounts in relation to the base title. Positive and negative trends are identified and analyzed to provide critical insight. Ratio analysis is done in detail to provide insight about company’s profitability, liquidity, capital structure, market performance and asset efficiency to help investors, creditors and management make decisions about the company’s future. Background: Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (Domino’s) was founded by two siblings from Michigan in 1960, where they acquired a store name DomiNick’s. It started as a product and after five years transmitted into a brand named ‘Dominos’. . It operates as a pizza delivery company in the United States and internationally as well. Domino’s has always seen itself as a growing organization which was evident by the urge to become international. In 1983, it went global and took a ride to become the leading pizza maker in the world. Domino’s employs around 10,900 people in their 9,351 stores worldwide. Domino’s is recognized internationally and in order to provide a common man to be a shareholder in the value Domino’s provide, it got listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as DPZ in 2004. Domino’s operate in a highly competitive market and to maintain its brand equity, continuous innovation and promotional activities assist heavily in reachi ng its objectives in adequate time. Domino’

Friday, August 23, 2019

Self harm and suicide Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Self harm and suicide - Coursework Example One of the most common myths is that by asking a person on what their suicide thoughts are they are prompted to actually commit suicide. This myth can be handled through knowing the fact that when an individual is asked about their suicidal thoughts their sense of isolation is lowered and they feel cared for and that there is available help. Another common myth is that suicide and self-harm happen without warning. The nurses being aware that most individuals before committing suicide they are verbal about their distress and pain can handle this myth. In addition, the myth that suicide only happens to specific people is common. The nurses bearing in mind that anybody is capable of committing suicide can handle the myth. Finally, the myth that people who talk about suicide are just attention seekers is common. Nurses need to know that in most cases patients will try to communicate before they actually commit suicide (Krysinska,

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Population Advocate Role Essay Example for Free

Population Advocate Role Essay More than 50 million people in the United States have disabilities (Bauer, 2008). With the growing population and the careless lifestyle of some people, it is envisaged that more people would fall into this bracket. These disabilities include blindness, deafness, the handicapped, the mentally retarded and other ailments that does not allow people function as they would in the society. Although the government is doing its best to curb the rate of disability, it seems as if enough attention is not being given to those that are already disabled in our society. This is the job of the population advocate. The population advocate role has become a necessity in the human service field. This is because unlike other people of the society, these sections of the society have special needs and they need special attention. However, the question is who will take his/her time to attend to the needs of these people? The populations advocate for the disabled plays the role of speaking on behalf of the disabled section of the society. As a result of their condition, disabled people are often sidelined in the society and given little or no attention. The population advocate takes it upon himself/herself to see to the welfare condition of these people. The duty of advocacy should not be left to individuals and welfare organizations. It should be the collective responsibility of everyone as these people are also part of our society. People with disabilities have needs such as housing, treatment, short and long-term medical care, education, probation, and domestic violence. As an advocate, I can play a role by volunteering to take anybody with disability around me for treatment and ensure that he/she is treated like other patients. Apart from this, I would speak up, make a report to the police and rise in defense of the disabled whenever I see them being a victim of domestic violence. I will also make sure that I become a guide to the disabled person around me and become friends with them. I will also contact various welfare organizations to fund housing projects for the disabled in my community.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Study On The Changes Of The Nhs Nursing Essay

Study On The Changes Of The Nhs Nursing Essay In the last five years, United Kingdom has experienced a significant change in its national health services (NHS). This paper therefore focuses on that change. The first section is a detailed description and the main objective of the change. Using appropriate models and frame works, the second section identifies the key drivers to the change and how their interaction has affected the issues addressed by management. Drawing upon the examples of best management practices, the third section assesses the appropriateness of the approach taken by management in effecting the change and how effective management implemented the change strategy. The final section examines the extent to which the change has been successful in meeting its objective and assesses the need for any further related change. 2. Organisational change overview 2.1 The National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the public funded health care system in the United Kingdom (UK) that provides the majority of health care to the UK residents. Its areas of health care coverage are the primary health care, in-patient care, long term health care, ophthalmology and dentistry. The Department of Health (DOH) headed by the Secretary of State of Health is the UK government department that is responsible for the NHS (Department of Health 2007). 2.2 Major change in the NHS Since 2005, the United Kingdoms NHS (UK NHS) has been implementing an innovative technology that will help patients stay healthy and maintain their independence. This technology is targeted at terminally ill patients with long term health condition that require regular monitoring. It also covers elderly people suffering from dementia and individuals with Down syndrome who may be at risk of injury. Thus, with this new technology, patients emergency room visits as well as unnecessary nurse visits to patients homes are reduced. Furthermore, this technology increases clinical efficiency and reduces the mounting financial cost of institutional health care in the UK. The implementation is said to be the worlds biggest trial of remote monitoring of chronically ill patients in their homes. Patients in New Ham, East London and Hull Yorkshire have benefited from this programme. This programme, funded by the department of health is been implemented by Philips, the worlds leading electronic companies. Philips electronics is hoping to prove to the NHS that it can immensely reduce the financial burden of institutional health care by implementing ultra-modern diagnostic equipment that uses internet technology to link patients from their homes to care providers in the hospitals. Since over 14.5 Million people in Britain have long term health conditions, it is expected that they will require regular monitoring (Department of Health 2007). I am a trained Electrical Engineer and have been providing tele-health equipment installation consultancy for Philips UK since 2008. I am directly involved in the implementation going on presently in Hull and New Ham. Patients in New Ham and Hull are been monitored at Home using diagnostic equipments linked via broadband internet connected to local hospitals and clinics. These patients are able to use the diagnostic equipments to take their vital signs and blood sugar level. Subsequently, the information is wirelessly uploaded to patients TV for their own monitoring and electronically sent via broad band to staff at the primary health trust. Further implementation is underway in Cornwell and Kent and will gradually expand to all cities in the UK as the department of health targets technology efficiency that could save the NHS Millions of pounds. Although the technology enables people to live independently in their homes, it is not intended to replace hospitals and care homes but to make better use of recourses and reduce financial burden on the system. 3. Drivers for NHS change Force field analysis by Lewin (1951) is a diagnostic tool used in looking at the variables involved in determining whether organisational change will occur. Once change priority has been agreed, a force field analysis can be used to identify actions that will enhance or deter their successful implementation. Applying Lewins force field analysis as shown in figure 1 below, it can be seen that the NHS Tele health technological implementation has some internal and external driving and forces. 3.1 Internal Drivers Among the strongest internal driving forces as can be seen in figure 1 below are; strong leadership and the need for accurate and consistent patients information availability. Strong leadership and commitment of top management are often cited as the most important factor for implementing a successful change programme (Bashein et al, 1994). NHS leadership is effective, strong and was able to provide a clear vision of the change programme. Other internal driving forces are the fact that the technology will aid patients to be independent and free up nurses and doctors to concentrate on other important task. This motivated medical practitioners in looking forward for the change. 3.2 External Drivers The identified external driving forces as can be seen in figure 1 are Governments desire to reduce the cost of administering health care in the UK, New European Union legislation in support of tele-montoring and the recent economic recession. Since 2005 the UK government has been researching on ways of bringing down the cost of instructional health care. Limited resources availability as a result of the recent economic down turn and an increasing UK population has necessitated the need for a cost effective alternative as the status quo is unsustainable. Another external driver is the new European Union legislation in support of tele-monitoring. Figure 1: Lewins Force Field Analysis of health care change in the NHS DRIVING FORCES INTERNAL Strong leadership and shared goal across the NHS Accurate and consistent information availability Patients independency Free up nurses and doctors to concentrate on other important task. EXTERNAL Governments desire to reduce the cost of administering health care in the UK European Union legislation in support of tele-monitoring The recent economic down turn necessitating the need for fiscal responsibility Adapted from Lewin (1951 4. Main objectives in making the change 4.1 Reduce cost of administering health care in the UK As the case load in primary care in the UK is increasing in size and complexity and the number of people with multiple long term disease is also increasing, there is increasing financial burden of administering primary care in the UK. The tele-health technology will in the long run help to reduce the mounting financial burden of institutional care. 4.2 Reduce nurse visits to patients house. Prior to the implementation of the tele-health technology in the NHS, each patient with long term condition is assigned a care taker nurse whos duty includes regular house visit. The nurses are required to take patients vital signs, blood sugar level and other related data that are necessary in monitoring the patients health condition. Upon implementation of the tele-health technology, the required data are taken by patients and are automatically sent via the internet from patients house to the hospital through the diagnostic equipment. As a result, nurse visit to patients house is considerably reduced. 4.3 Maintain patients independent. The technology ensures that nurses only visits when it is necessary and as a result allows patients to leave more independently. From a medical point of view, it is usually helpful for patients to be independent as it can give them the agility they may need to remain healthy. 4.4 Reduce patients emergency room visits. As patients health situation is monitored on a daily base, doctors and nurses are able to know when a patients condition is deteriorating and therefore avoid emergency situation. In Hull and New Ham it has been noticed that emergency room visits by monitored patients is much reduced. 4.5 Increase in clinical efficiency The diagnostic equipment interacts with the patient through a user friendly interface. It provides reminders, collects vital data and asks questions that help assess the condition of the patients. It also gives warning when a patients condition is changing. This in general allows doctors and nurses to intervene more quickly and accurately and as a result increases the overall clinical efficiency. 6.0 How action required was planned Management tools for problem analysis are very crucial for success in change management. One of such tools is the Cause and Effect analysis. Cause and Effect analysis is also referred to as the Fishbone diagram because the diagram has a fish bone appearance. The technique was proposed by Ishikawa in the 1960s and as a result called the Ishikawa diagram. The diagram is used to determine the root cause of a problem and identify areas that changes can be made. (Ishikawa 1985) In applying the Cause and Effect analysis to the NHS in determining what change is required and what action is to be taken. The first step is to get a clarity and consensus on what the problem is. Among many others, the focused problem statement identified in the NHS is the mounting financial burden of institutional health care in the UK. The economic recession and increasing overseas debt is forcing the UK government to look for ways of cutting cost and saving money. This necessitated the need for fiscal accountability and cost cutting in the NHS (NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination 2008). In constructing the Fishbone diagram for the NHS, the problem statement forms the head of the fish bone alone with the fish backbone as illustrated in the figure 5 below. The next step is to brainstorm potential causes of the problem. The major causes are laid out as large bones connected to the backbone. In the NHS, the major causes identified as responsible for the increasing financial burden are staffs people, technology, procedures, and policy. The fish bone diagram is then developed based on the identified causes. The final step is to probe deeper into each cause. A question asking-technique included in Senge et al (1994) Five Ways model can be used. It involves asking repeated why does this happen until it is clear that the root cause have been found. The answers are then added as sub-bones to the cause as shown in figure 5 below. Fig. 5 Fishbone Diagram stage three Too many admin staffs Increased number of nurses Too many Doctors Increased ageing population More sick patients More hospital admissions Expensive bureaucracy Productivity failure Expensive medical equipment Increased drug prescriptions Pay increase by government Increasing fixed cost Inflation policy Staffs People Procedure Policy Equipments/Materials Mounting Financial Burden of Institutional Health Care. There is increased spending in the NHS as there are now more people been treated in the hospitals than ever before. This is the direct consequence of increase in population and immigration over the years. Increase in the number of sick people and the ageing population has also contributed to increase spending. These increases in people requiring attention have necessitated an increase in Nurses, GP consultations and a large increase in drugs prescriptions. (Slywotzky and Morrison 1997) Furthermore, pay increases offered by the government to medical practitioners were in many cases over generous. Economic inflation and increased cost of fix asses has in no little way affected NHS budget. The office of the national statistics (ONS) has shown that NHS productivity is falling as spending is increasing. As output has not kept pace with rise in spending it is important to implement an efficient and cost effective way of administering health care. As the tele-health technology will ensure that the increasing number of people requiring health care is efficiently covered with little resources, it will therefore provide an efficient and cost effective way of administering health care in the UK. Looking at it critically, it is important to know that cause and effective relationship may not be easily apparent and that an intervention in any part of a health care organisation will have outcomes in many others, not all of them anticipated, and not all of them desirable. Smith (1995a; 1995b) in his work on response to performance indicator highlighted that change can lead to unanticipated and indeed dysfunctional consequence. Additional technigues that was used. The NHS employed process modelling technique in order to gain understanding of how the current process works and provide a clear articulation of how the new process is to be different. The process modelling technique provided clarification of the expected process so that the NHS is able to plan the required action. Fig. 6 Current and expected process flow Current process flow Expected process flow Is he in the clinic? Doctor decides that a patient needs monitoring No Yes Specialist nurse visits patient for information and counselling Vital information register created for patient and care nurse assigned to patient Care nurse visits patient and takes vital readings Vital readings recorded in patients information register Doctor assesses patients register Necessary actions take for abnormal readings Process repeated daily Action suspended Is he in the clinic? Doctor decides that a patient needs monitoring No Yes Specialist nurse visits patient for information and counselling Tele-Monitoring equipment is install and doctors assesses patients information remotely Necessary actions take for abnormal readings The process flow in fig.6.0 above is a diagrammatical representation of all the staged involved in a patents monitoring task. It shows both the current and process and what the process is expected to be after the implementing the tele-health system. The current process requires 9 steps and would take between 12 to 24 hours to complete a cycle while the expected process will require 5 steps and would take 10 minutes to complete a cycle. With the process modelling technique, the NHS identified that in order to successfully implement the change; it must fundamentally re-think the way work is done and adequately prepare the organisation for change. How management implemented change Having understood the situation, knowing why change is needed in the NHS, who and what needed to change, it is important to examine how these insights and what framework can be used to deliver the results that are needed. The technique of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is employed in the NHS in order to implement the change that is needed. Davenport and Short (1990) defines BPR as a technique for redesigning the way work is done. They also stated that it enables organizations to rethink work process so as to improve customers satisfaction, reduce operation cost and become more competitive. In addition, Hammer and Champy (1993, p32) stated that BPR is the fundamental rethinking and redesigning of business process to achieve dramatic improvement in cost quality service and speed. In the health sector, Walston and Kimberley (1997) observes that over 60% of hospitals are involved in re-engineering initiatives. In the NHS, the re-engineering initiative of the tele-health system is focused on optimizing productive work time, automating process to increase productivity and quality and resource management. The steps that were employed to implement BPR in the NHS are show in the model below. Fig.6 Change process model Communication the need for change Effective communication is considered a major key to successful BPR change implementation (Jackson 1997). The NHS implementation process began with series of meetings between the NHS management and stake holders inside and outside the HNS that would be involved in the change process. The purpose is to communicate the need of the change and the technology that would be implemented to effect the change. The meeting also helped to ensure patience and understanding of the structural and cultural change that are needed. Cooper and Markus (1995) suggest that communication should be open, honest, clear and in both direction between those in charge of the change initiative and those affected by them. Effective communication continued in the NHS throughout the change process. This formed the base that prepared the entire organization for change. Preparing the organization for change Hammer and Champy (1993) stated that organizational culture is a major factor to consider in preparing for a successful BPR implementation. Organizational culture influences the organizations ability to adopt to change. In the NHS, management ensured that the organization can understand and can conform to the new values and management process that are created by the newly re-designed process. This is so that a culture which upholds the change is established. Benjamin and Levinson (1993) argue that preparing the organization to respond positively to BPR related change is critical to success. In preparing for change, the NHS ensured that adequate trainings were given to staff that are involved in the change process. The New Ham University in conjunction with tele-health engineers from Philips UK provided the required trainings to staff. This is in line with the suggestion made by Tower (1994) that training and education is an important component in preparing an organization for change. Bruss and Roos (1993) also state that IT skills and techniques are important dimension of training for BPR. Fundamentally rethinking the way work is done After identifying and analyzing core business process, the NHS was able to define key performance objectives and design new processes to achieve the objectives. Davenport and Short (1990) define a process as a set of logically related tasks that are performed to achieve a defined outcome. Patient monitoring involves process with a great number of intermediate steps. The objective of the NHS is to reduce the processes involved in to single process that takes part directly to the final outcome. The single process designed with the needs and wants of patients in mind will allow the NHS to gain important advantages in the following ways; It reduces process steps and the time it takes to accomplish task; Improving the accuracy of patients medical information; Eliminate human mistake inherent with complex and repetitive task; Improve NHS efficiency and effectiveness and drastically cut down the overall cost of health care Implementing new technology to achieve change In order to make changes, certain known elements are required Harrington (1991). These are elements that act as variables for processes to change. Thus, , adequate IT infrastructure is considered as a vital factor in successful BPR implementation Moad (1993). Also, identification of enabling technology for redesigning business process and proper installation of IT components contributes to building an effective infrastructure for business process Barrett (1994) . In the HNS, the IT based tele-health system aimed at people with long term condition is the enabler for achieving change. The equipment connected to users television allows user to measure their vital signs. The results are automatically sent over the internet to monitoring centre. The results are monitored daily by health care professionals who can take immediate and appropriate action if there is any abnormality in the result. The system is designed to be user friendly, clear and straight forward. After installation, the technician will go through the system with the user to explain how it works and how to use it. Users are also able to call the monitoring centre at any time should they have any issue with the system. Extent to which change was successful Despite the significant benefits gained from the successful implementation of BPR, it is noted that not all organization embarking on BPR projects achieve their intended result. Hammer and Champy (1993) estimate that as many as 70 percent do not achieve the dramatic result they seek. This in most cases is attributed to poor implementation of BPR rather than a problem with the concept itself. Implementation process is complex and needs to be checked against several factors to ensure successful implementation (Alter 1994). However, it is important to note that the process re-engineering change initiative in the NHS can be said to be successful as it has implemented a modern technology which can be the way of the future for in-home patient care in the UK. It has helped increase productivity through reduced process time and has also drastically reduced cost. It has also improved quality and greater patient satisfaction in the NHS. Comparing the periods before and after implementation of the tele-health technology in the NHS, there has been a reduction in GP and Nurse Visits to patient and also a reduction in hospital admission of patients with long term condition. General satisfaction with the tele-health technology and the use of the equipments is high for all groups of patients. Patients felt comfortable using the technology and did not find it difficult. They also felt it helped improved the awareness of their condition (Department of Health 2009). To the 1.75 Millions who now rely on the tele-health service in the UK, it offers peace of mind and the certainty that there is always someone to help them in times of difficulty. Resistant to change in the NHS Cultural Issue Johnson (1992) in his cultural web model shown in fig 6 below suggests that until the paradigm at the heart of culture is changed, there will be no lasting change. Based on Drennan (1992) definition that culture is how things are done around here it is a general believe that organizational culture is a very strong resistant to any change implementation program. Figure 6. Garry Johnson Cultural Web In the NHS, evaluation has shown that the central principles of BPR radical, revolutionary approach to change is fundamentally incompatible with the traditions, culture and politics of the NHS. This in no small measure is a major resistant to change in the NHS (Buchanan 1997). Threat to Status One of the resistant to change in the NHS is that many of its staff perceived the change as a threat to their personal position. This is in agreement with Hanner and Champy (1993) who argued that the fear of job loss by employees is a major resisting factor to the success of management change program. Dawe (1996) added that, change moves the whole organization as well as every single employee out of their comfort zone and as a result, there are always going to be some people who would try to resist the change process. This is true for the NHS as some of both its management and medical staff try to stop or ignore the process of change. This is because the management failed to make a compelling case for change to its staff. Some NHS employees believed that the change was initiated only for the sole aim of saving money and cutting cost, that there is nothing in it for them. As a result they were not motivated to support the change process. This is supported by Kotter (1998) when he suggests that failure to create a win over hearts and minds will reduce the impact of a change program. Privacy issue Another major resistant experience in the implementation of tele-health change program in the NHS is fact that some people for personal reasons do not like to be watched over. They did not welcome the idea of been monitored on a daily base as they felt it violate their privacy right. The NHS management was able to resolve some of this problem by identifying patients who has indicated such fears and assuring them that only authorized medical officials would have asses to their information and that monitoring was mainly for their own good. Patients who were still skeptical and would rather not want to be monitored were all together exempted from the program. Recommendation for future improvement The overall improvement in patient health condition and reduction in hospital admission observed after implementing the tele-health system in the NHS supports continuation and further improvement of the scheme. A recommendation for further improvement is that the NHS could develop an assessment and measurement system that would help to register the build-up of momentum and identify early victories. Success in management is of little value unless they are supported by best practices and hence Senge (2003) suggest that success depends on the application of best practice. Nelson et al (1998) argues that although measurement is essential if change are to be sustained, the measurement them self must be defined practically. In the light of this, the NHS could adopt outcome and cost measurement, qualitative and quantitative measurement and a balances set of process to build measurement into the daily work routine and display it so that it tell a story of where they are, where they should be and where they are going in the change process. Furthermore, the management of the NHS should be aware that resistant is part of the change program and that anticipation and planning for resistant is important in implementing a successful change program (Clemons 1995). It is observed that the NHS management communicated change information only to stakeholder that was directly involved in the change program. This was only able to disfranchise the other stakeholders and strengthened the resistant. It is important that communication with a wide range of stakeholders directly or not directly involved in the change program be made so that they become involved and motivated (Stanton et al. 1993). The major future challenge that the NHS may encounter is how to engender a culture of continuous change in which change is on-going, evolving and cumulative. It would require a major shift in assumptions made by the organization and its members. Many of the individuals and groups whose assumptions and behaviors must change if this cultural shift is to be achieved are perceived to be of high status and are used to the exercise of individual and professional autonomy. Conclusion As people are living longer and there are more and more people who are unwell, going into residential and nursing home and living with long term conditions, the NHS which is the public service most valued by the British people must be able to keep pace with these change in society. The Remote monitoring tele-health technology will enable the NHS to effectively cope these increases in demand for health care. It would also help to reduce the overall cost of administering institutional health care in the UK. Although there are still pockets of issues and resistant, the program is generally termed as successful as it is already yielding the desired objective of improving life and saving cost. This paper presented an analysis of the approach take by management to effect the change and how effective management implemented the change strategy. It also demonstrated the extent to which change was successful and made recommendations for future development.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Literature Review dependent variable is knowledge productivity.

Literature Review dependent variable is knowledge productivity. 2.1 Introduction This chapter is divided into six main sections. This first section provides an overview of the chapter. The second section is a definition of essential terms that used in this study. The third section discusses the background and the previous study that focusing on factors that influencing and contributing to the knowledge and research productivity. The fourth section discusses the models and frameworks of knowledge conversion abilities developed by past researchers. The fifth section highlights the theoretical framework, hypotheses develop for this study, and the final section summarizes the chapter. 2.2 Definition of Term There are 3 essential terms in this study. There are that are knowledge productivity (KP), organizational factor and individual factor. All these three terms will be frequently highlight and discuss throughout this study. 2.2.1 Knowledge Productivity According to Kessels (2001), Knowledge productivity involves signalling, absorbing and processing of relevant information, generating and disseminating new knowledge and applying this knowledge to the improvement and innovation of processes, products and services (Kessels,2001). Refer to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary), productivity define as a rate at which an organization make or produces goods, it usually judge by the number of people and amount of the materials produce. In the context of this study, knowledge productivity can be refer to the amount or number of knowledge produce or generated. Meanwhile, according to (Jansink, et.al, 2005) concept of knowledge productivity is related with training and research activity. Hence, for the purpose of this study knowledge productivity is referring to research productivity. Williams (2003), define research productivity as an effort of any scholarly research produced by a faculty member that contributes to the new knowledge. In this study the dependent variable is knowledge productivity. 2.2.2 Organizational/ Institutional factor According to Waworuntu and Holsinger (1989), organizational factor consist of the quality of research facilities, research collaboration, reward system and institutional prestige. Meanwhile, according to Long et.al (2009), organizational factors are the affective motivator for the research production. They list out research reward; research expectation and pressure to publish are research comes under organizational factor. Dundar and Lewis (1998) 2.2.3 Individual factor Early work with these factors included the effects of age, gender, socioeconomic status, and educational background (Dundar.H, Lewis.D.R, 1998) 2.3 Previous Study on Knowledge Productivity 2.3.1 Knowledge productivity Research has become the most important functions of universities all over the world. Knowledge is created through research conducted in the Universities. It is clear that faculty build and disseminate knowledge through the production of research (Dundar and Lewis, 1998). Faculty members or academician, the primary producers of academic research, play crucial roles in producing knowledge. According to Teodorescu (2000), professor at Research University are expected to produce new knowledge through research and use the latest result in their teaching. Research productivity or research performance is very synonym with the academician and University. Williams (2003), define research productivity as an effort of any scholarly research produced by a faculty member that contributes to the new knowledge. Research productivity always refer to the number of books, articles, technical reports, bulletins, and book reviews published, as well as presentations given and grants received through revi ewing curriculum vitae or other print materials (Rotten 1990). Meanwhile, according to Wilson (2001), research productivity defined by the number of the publication of publication in an academic refereed journal and scholarly books. Obviously, research productivity is a number of researches done which measure by the number of publication published. According to Gaston (1970), research productivity divided into two components. There are knowledge creation which is related to the research activity and knowledge distribution which is related to the publication or productivity. Hence in the study, research productivity will be considered as knowledge productivity. Importance of Knowledge Productivity Research is a one of the product creates by academician. Research has a significant impact to career development of the academician. Previous studies shown that research productivity give the impact to academician profession. Research productivity is one of the criteria for promotion, reward system as we as their tenure ( Kotrlik, 2002). It supported by Bloedel (2001), stated that research productivity always serves as a main factor in determine successful of academician, especially related to the promotion, tenure and salary. Meanwhile, according Read et al (1998), criteria for the promotion had been change in recent year. Most of the academician who being promoted in recent year has conducted more research compare with academician promoted in a last few year. This scenario shows that the University has emphasize research productivity for the promotion exercise. Gibbs and Locke (1989), through their study which involved 93 University found that the most important criteria for the pr omotion and tenure decision are the research productivity. The productivity of knowledge or research not only gives the impact to the academician but also to the academician itself. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the important of research productivity to the University or higher institution. According to Blackburn et. al, (1991), research productivity not only important to academician, but also important for enhancing an institution reputation. Research productivity contributed to the University rank and performance (Henthorne et al.,1998). Study conducted by Olsen (1994), also found that increase in productivity led to high prestige for the institution. This supported by Boyer (1990). He found that research productivity not only give a promotion to the academician, but also improve university reputation and rank. Meanwhile, Kasten (1984) found that major criteria for promotion for academician is a research productivity. Influencing factor on Knowledge Productivity The important of the knowledge productivity in the academic environment has encouraged researcher to study and investigate influencing factor on knowledge productivity. Numerous studies have been conducted on the influencing research productivity in academic environment. The studies have identified and investigated numerous factors that influencing research productivity. It is important to identify the factors that have a relationship with research productivity to encourage research activity among the academician. According to Blackburn and Lawrence (1995), socio demographic and career factors as well as self-knowledge, social knowledge, behaviours and environmental related to research productivity. William (2003), identify environmental factors, institutional factors and individual factors are related to the research productivity. Zainab (2001) identify that individual and organization correlated with research productivity among academician in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Fox (1996) found t hat individual characteristics, environmental and reinforcing which included colleagues and mentorship influencing research productivity among academician in science faculty. Personal or individual factors seem a most frequent factor that has been connected with the research productivity. Wood (1990) proved that research productivity significant influence by personal variables. He has conducted a study among academician for Australian university. Through the study, he found that academic research activity is highly influenced by a number of personal variables, such as research styles and the freedom of inquiry (the choice of research topics). The personal correlates considered in studies are gender, age family background and personality traits. Age has been studied in previous studies with different results. Gender Gender is a one of the variable has been examined under individual variable. Most of the previous studies indicated that men are more productive than women (Bailey 1992; Vasil 1992; Billard 1993; Blackburn Lawrence 1995; Creamer 1998; Kotrlik et al. 2002). Blackburn, Behymer and Hall (1978) found that male academician published three times more than are women academician. These finding supported by study done by Cole and Zuckerman (1984). They found that on average male academician published 40% to 50% more compare that women academician. Same scenario also happens on the academician in ASEAN region. Study by Waworunto ( 1989), who focus on the Indonesia academician also found that male academician are more productive in doing a research. There are several reason have been highlight in the previous study on this scenario. According to Guyer and Fidell (1973), this is because of women academician more engaged in applied research compare than men who engaged more on theoretical resear ch. Applied research needed considerably more time to publish compare than theoretical. Cole and Zuckerman (1984) also provided a reason for their result of the study. According to them, women are less productive because of they do not have strong network on research and family obligations also prevent women to spending more time on research. This reason support by (Creamer 1998), indicated that, women naturally members often have family demands that compete with time to conduct research. Further, Gaertner and Ruhe (1983) found women academician are excited to perform better than men, however it caused greater stress to them and effect their productivity However, opposing result has been found by some researchers. They found that there was not a gender difference in productivity (Kotrlik et al. 2002; Teodorescu 2000). Consistent result also found by Rubin and Powell (1987) and also Omundson and Mann (1994). They found no difference in publication outputs for male and females. Meanwh ile Garland (1990) found that gender was not a significant variable on productivity compare with other variables such as rank, educator and type of institution. Age Many previous studies on research productivity have indicated that career publication and age have not strong relationship, although most of studies found that publication generally declines with age (Teodorescu 2000). Over (1982), found that research productivity slightly decrease with age. However, when productivity was investigated in groups by birth date, younger faculty members produced more research at an earlier career stage than older faculty members. He also found that many senior academicians remain quite active in research and their outcomes can be comparable to those of younger faculty members. These finding are significant with the study by Levin and Stephan (1991). They reported in his study that the life cycle effect varies significantly by field. Life cycle is related to publishing productivity and obviously scientists become less productive as they age. Generally, a persons age at first publication affects consequent research productivity. If academic lecturers submi t research for their first publication at a young age, then it is more likely that they will produce more when their age increases. Although many studies found relationship between age and research productivity, there are several studies found that there is no strong relationship between age and research productivity. Bland and Berquist (1997) found that shift workloads and emphasis have strong relationship with productivity compare with the age of the academician. Williams (2000) has studied academic lecturers in the Human Resource Development Faculty in the United States and found no significant relationship with age. Kotrlik et al (2001) also found the similar result. His study on the university agricultural education faculty members in the United States found that age did not significantly affect research productivity. Besides that, Ramsden (1994) also found age is not correlated with research productivity. Marital Status Luukkonen and Hieskanen (1983) indicated in their study that, married female academician are more productive. Kyvik ( 1990) who done a study among academician in Norway also found that married and divorce academician ( men and women) were more productive compare than single academician. Author also found that, women with children were more productive compare than that academician who doesnt have children. However the result showed that women who have only one child were more productive compare than women academician with two and more children. Through this study, author has provided some explanation for this finding. These findings because of married women have more energy and stamina compare with women without children. Married academician also gets a support from their husband or wife and their have more experience in social life. Authors also explain that family life have increase their self respect and being married neutralize the affect of sex since married women corporate more with their male colleagues. In contrast, Creamer (1998), discovered that there was either no significant effect or a positive effect on publishing productivity for married women. Interest, attitude and motivation (research skill) Wood (1990) found that personal or individual characteristic influenced research productivity among Australian academician. The personal or individual characteristic that has been study is the ability, energy, creativity, motivation, ambition and also self discipline. According to author, productive academician tended to be a senior academician because they ready with extraordinary workload, intellectually curiosity and like writing and puts time away for research. Productive academician also saw as a gamesmanship, who hard-nosed about the time allocated for research even though need to scarified other responsibilities such as teaching. Through this study, author found that less of productivity are because of the lacked of confident being judge by peer, adhere to such high standard that their work never get published and also lack of experience. Author also found that productive academician is a who have certain attitude and approach toward research such as they put greater stress of research activity and also working extra time on their research activity. Interest in research also was study by Behymer (1974) and found research interest to be the best predictor of research productivity. Meanwhile Noser et al. (1996) found attitude toward research to be related to research productivity. Sageemas N.W.,S.N, Wongwanich.S Bowarnkitiwong.S. (2009) also found capabilities in research skills and technique, funding skills, research management and research communication skills and networking and team work would produce high research productivity among Thailand academician. Bland, C.J. et al (2002) also have study motivational factor on research productivity. They found that academician who highly research driven is positively associated with research productivity. This result is significant with the study by Zainab (2001). She found view or perception on the research also positively associated with research productivity among Malaysian academician. Work habit Fox 1993 refer A recent study by Fonseca et al. (1997) of50 eminent Brazilian scientists in the field of biochemistry and cell biology, indicated that they are highly motivated, found pleasure in their work and able to face challenges effectively. High publication productivity reflects excellence. The eminent scientists have a common trait in that they were all highly productive. The scientists were also interviewed and their CV examined to identify periods of greater and lesser productivity. The peaks and falls were used as a reference point in the interviews. For each scientist two productivity scores were computed (a) total number of published papers and (b) sum impact factors (IF) of the journals in which the articles are published. The IF of a journal is the average number of citations received in one year by the articles published in that journal in the two previous years. These two scores were plotted along the years of each scientists career. The interviews revealed five groups of factors i nfluencing productivity: (a) human factors related to human relations in the laboratory, the quality of the working team, the relationship of the leaders to the students, the ability to exchange ideas, interact with other scientists, and the rapport among team members; (b) subjective emotional factors related to the ability to face challenges, motivation and pleasure at work.; (c) active material conditions related to facilities, equipment and money to buy chemicals ; (d) types of research related to having the freedom A recent study by Fonseca et al. (1997) of 50 eminent Brazilian scientists in the field of biochemistry and cell biology, indicated that they are highly motivated, found pleasure in their work and able to face challenges effectively. High publication productivity reflects excellence. The eminent scientists have a common trait in that they were all highly productive. The scientists were also interviewed and their CV examined to identify periods of greater and lesse r productivity. The peaks and falls were used as a reference point in the interviews. For each scientist two productivity scores were computed (a) total number of published papers and (b) sum impact factors (IF) of the journals in which the articles are published. The IF of a journal is the average number of citations received in one year by the articles published in that journal in the two previous years. These two scores were plotted along the years of each scientists career. The interviews revealed five groups of factors influencing productivity: (a) human factors related to human relations in the laboratory, the quality of the working team, the relationship of the leaders to the students, the ability to exchange ideas, interact with other scientists, and the rapport among team members; (b) subjective emotional factors related to the ability to face challenges, motivation and pleasure at work.; (c) active material conditions related to facilities, equipment and money to buy ch emicals ; (d) types of research related to having the freedom Academic rank Numerous studies have been done to correlate academic rank with the research productivity. Academic rank was studied by Bailey (1992), Dundar and Lewis (1998), Kyvik and Smeby (1994), Teodorescu (2000) and Vasil (1992). Each found rank to be a significant predictor of research productivity. Ramsden (1994) found seniority of academic rank to be correlated with research performance. Meanwhile Patterson and Barnes 1984; Bentley and Blackburn 1990) indicated that academician in higher rank have more productivity compare with lower rank. Similar result also found by Wanner,Lewis and Gregario (1981). They indicated found that rank has strong relationship with research productivity. Kyvik (1990a) indicated full professor produce more research because they have less teaching load then they can more on the research productivity. . Meanwhile Tien and Blackburn (1996) found slightly different result. Full professor publisher more than other rank of academician but there a no difference between assistance professor and associate professor. However, in contrast, Over (1982) also found rank has no influence. Same result also found by Gregario (1981). Gunne and Stout (1980) also found there is no significant relationship between rank and research productivity. Experience and Tenure Tenure also has been examined in previous study toward research productivity. Tenure is guarantee of their career as an academician and secures their position in the University. A tenured academician will have a more privilege and benefit compared that non tenure academician. This scenario will provide morale boot and secure working environment. Hence, there is no doubt tenure will affect the productivity of academician. Butler and Cantrell (1989) was studied tenure variables among business faculty members and it showed significant correlated with research productivity. Later Radhakrishna et al. (1994) found that tenured faculty members held publishing as significantly more important than non tenured faculty members. Another study was done by Bailey (1992) found that productivity level increase when academician moves from non tenure to tenure academician. However contrast result found by Teodorescu (2000). He found that tenure was not significantly correlated with article productivit y. Similar result also found by Bartlett et al. (2001). He indicated that the number of years a faculty member held a tenure track position did not explain a significant portion in variance for research productivity. Meanwhile experience also was study by Rushton, Murray and Paunonen (1987). They found relationship between publication and experience and also age. The number of publication increase with the number of experience of the profession. The vast experience in research determine the research productivity in India ( Babu and sigh, 1998). Organizational / Departmental Organizational factor also defined as departmental by some researcher. Support from Time spend on research and teaching (64) Austin and Gamson (1983) indicated that extrinsic factors such as teaching load, administrative tasks, reward and opportunity could influence research productivity. Meanwhile clark,corcoran and lewis (1986) -. found that academician who allocated a smaller percentage of their time in teaching had a stronger research orientation. Calligro et al (1991) -. also found a similar result. They found academician who are productive spent more time on research. However Webster (1985) found that there was a little or no positive correlation between research and teaching. Same result found by Feldmen (1987) . Fox (1992). has study of the academic role, time allocation for research and teaching, teaching load and also time administrative. The result indicated that publication productivity was not related to teaching. Other study by Blackburn et al ( 1991) also indicated interest in research need not necessary predict high productivity in research. Discipline difference wood Department size Graduate student supervision Departmental prestige Culmulative advantage Leadership Role of the leader in organization in influencing research productivity and performance have been studies previously. According to Friedrich ( 1985) Friedrich,G.W.(1985). Renewing the commitment to Scholarly.Annual Meeting of the speech communication assocaition) leader can help to create healthy climate for scholarship by setting realistic goal, identify area where they can excel and be a more individual approach when dealing with staff. McKeaachie ( 1983) McKeaachie, ( 1983). Faculty as a renewal resources. In: College faculty: versatile human resources in a period of constraint, study on the fuinction of leader in encouraging research activity. Leader who respected research performance among academic staff provided an environment that encourage research activity. Boice (1988), found the important of leader in encouraging writing through forming discussion group, highlight good writing habit and conduct a research workshop. Barnhill and Linton (1992), indentify how leader can promo te research. They found that promoting a balance between teaching and research, identify the best undergraduate for the staff requirement,ecourange under represented staff to perform, provide clear research goal, encourage team research group, and also identify the need for the research. According to author, leader also should have a leadership criteria such as lead by example,lead pro actively, encourage inter disciplinary research and also research collaboration. The done by Fonseca et al 1997 -.) also found the relationship between leader and research productivity. Beside the environmental factors mentioned above, the leadership of an institution or department leaders are important factors affecting research productivity. Leadership is a relationship between leaders and their constituents and a subtle process of mutual influence that fuses thought, feeling, and action to produce collective effort in the service of the purposes and values of both the leader and the led (Bolman Deal 1991). Kerr (1977) reviewed the literature on leadership and found that leadership plays an important role in research universities because the leadership highlight staff morale and self-esteem. For Gardner (1995), who studied leadership from the perspective of the cognitive psychologist, leaders are persons who, by word and/or personal example, markedly influence the behaviours, thoughts and /or feelings of a significant number of their fellow human beings (p.6). Leadership in academic organizations can be understood as taking different forms depending on how leader s view their institutions. A university can be viewed as a bureaucracy, a collegiums, a political system or an organized anarchy (Chaichanapanich 1998). Generally, leadership has a weak relationship with academic productivity, even when the Chair of the faculty lends moral support or provides monetary backing for the research, because faculty members continue to be more concerned about their teaching, their research or their scholarship. Indeed, it has been observed that faculty staff members valued more highly the assessment of their colleagues and their students than the support of their leadership (Blackburn Lawrence 1995) Colloboration / knowledge sharing Financial Financial element is a important in research productivity. Amount of funding will influence amount of research or knowledge produce. Salisbury (1990), Foncesa et al (1997) found a significant relationship between financial support and research productivity. Wood (1990) also indicated that adequate and continued funding is very important factor in ensuring successful of the research. Warner, Lewis and Gregario (1981) have compare the publication number and amount of grant and they found that amount of grant have resulted in greater productivity or articles. Again, this result shows the positive relationship between fund and productivity. Facilities ( library, electronic support, Library play the important in research. Capabilities of library to provide the resources influenced research productivity. Electronic facilities Schefermeyer and Sewell (1988) indicated that using of email among academician to communicate and seek other for research collaboration have open opportunity to increase research productivity. Almquist (1992) Almquist, E.(1992). Listening to users:case studies in building electronic community.Fox institution annual conference, found that the scientists used IT facilities for different phases of their research especially at the subject identification and also find a similar research or literature. Meanwhile, Bruce (1994)- found that over 80% of Australian academic believed that network access give them benefit in conducting research and 63% believed it can helped increase their publication. Massy and Zemsky (1995). suggested that the availabilitiy of IT facilities provided greater access to the resources and it increase the productivity of research. Huges (1999) investigated the telecommunication environment that support research productivity and found that a networked environment he lped to promote information about research productivity. 2.4 Theories, Framework and Model of Previous Study 2.4.1 Zainab Awang Ngah (2001) Exploratory study to examined the factor that affecting the research publication of academic engineering and scientist from UKM and UM. This study aim to identify problem as well as increase understanding of factor that conducive for a productive academic research environment. The study identifies total number and type of research publication published.Examined the endogenous factor such as personal,home,academic background,attitude,view and problem faced and how these are related to publication productivity. Examianed exogenous factor, academic staff information used and disseminated behaviour, problem associated with publsihng articles or in obtaining library materials. The sample population comprises 125 academic engineering and 311 academic scientis from UKM and UM. Data collection and information about the staff are obtained from questionnaire, university calendar and interview. The results are reported in descriptive statistic and tested for significant and correlation using the chi square for nominal type variables and the spearman rank test. The result generally show that in more cases the correlated are significant related to publication productivity. The significant correlated ( Masuk kan model nya (diagram disini) 2.5 Theoretical Framework Organization Factor Top management Slack Resource Knowledge sharing culture Training Technical infra Knowledge Productivity (Dependent variable) Individual Factor Research motivation Attitude toward research Research skill 2.6 Chapter Summary Conclusion The diversity of factor influencing research productivity is well documented in published literature. However, difference in finding about the relative relationship of research productivity and various variables remained.