The claim that in 1914 states went to war Essay Example for Free

The claim that in 1914 states went to war Essay How valid is the claim that in 1914 states went to war due to fear rather then motives of gain?Austrias quarrel, Germanys warOne of the theories about the outbreak of the First World War is that nations went to war not to necessarily gain something but mainly because of fear which caused by many different factors. Europe before the war can be compared to a round-about with the countries involved, Germany being the central pole, speeding up and thus causing the nations into uncontrollable chaos resulting in them breaking off. The basis of the alliance systems started forming as early as 1871. France and Russia had been supportive of each other ever since France lent Russia money to start industrialization during the reign of Alexander II. The bond between these two great powers was strengthened by their shared enemies, the Central Powers. Their reasons to agree on such alliance, however, were very different. After the Franco-Prussian war of 1871, in which France lost Alsace and Lorraine, both rich in coal and iron reserves to the Prussians, there was a bitter, revengeful feeling in France-Revanchism. The French believed it was their right to fight a victorious war against Germany and retrieve Alsace and Lorraine. Germany was aware of this and Bismarck demanded 5 billion francs as war reparations, believing that this punishment will cripple France for years. Bismarck was, however, no economist, and Germany was to fear France ever since 1873, when last francs were handed over to Germany. German acquisition of Alsace and Lorraine meant that there must be a war between Germany and France Karl MarxAt the Algeciras conference in Spain, almost all great powers and other nations decided to support the French rights in Morocco during the First Moroccan crisis, leaving Germany without any potential allies except for Austria-Hungary. This conspiracy against Germany led to her fear of encirclement and their alliance, therefore, was not because of strong mutual sympathy or the Gross Deutschland ideal, but simply due to this fear of encirclement- Austria-Hungary was the only option. As Germany was relatively young, full of energy, ambitions, and primarily a respect-wanting country, its main potential gain- if a war was to break out- would be widening its colonial empire. This is understandable when we realize that in the 19th century power, respect and an empire were tightly tied together. From now nothing will happen in the world without Germany and its Kaiser Wilhelm IIGermany already had some colonies, but this number was relatively small and certainly not big enough to satisfy its aspirations. But even for these colonies a navy was necessary. Therefore, under Admiral Tirpitz, the great improvement of the German navy began with the goal of protecting their existent and potential colonies. However, it was obvious that the main goal is to tease Britain. This turned out to work well; Britain had always been dependant on its navy as it was the best and only way of keeping all prospective threats away from the islands. It could not afford to let Germany develop its navy so drastically, especially because of Germanys strategic position by the North Sea where Britain had her weakest point. This accumulated with Kaisers arrogance (especially Realpolitik- accomplishes the goal no matter how- murders, blackmail†¦) and clumsy politics (The Daily Telegraph affair) resulting in a strongly anti-German felling in Britain. Except for her colonial ambitions, another goal that would come out of a war for Germany was what Von Moltke called an immediate, preventive war against France and Russia, since Russia was planning on increasing her army from 1.5 to 2.0 million. Except for the threat of German navy, Britain was not affected by the actions on the continent too much- and it did not want to get affected. It remained in Splendid isolationism as Britains attitude towards continental Europe was described by Lord Salisbury. English policy is to float lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a diplomatic boathook to avoid collisions. Lord Salisbury. As Britain did not have much to gain from a war with the Central powers, it was not clear until the last moments whether it will stick to its promise and join the war on the French side. In the end, however, the British found something profitable in the war. There were many protests in Britain as socialist parties were emerging. Ireland also wanted its own rule and first suffragettes appeared. A short, successful war would have been a good way of moving the focus of the society on something else. The obvious potential gain was destroying German navy and causing a stop to its growth. This was, on the other hand, too risky, as this could inflict big damage to the British navy. Slavs looked up to Russia as the mother of all Slavs (this is called Panslavism). The goal of most Slavic nationalists, liberals and intellectuals at the time was to form a state in which all Slavs would live together. This very much concerned Austria-Hungary, Germanys main ally, as many Slavic nations were included in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It also had its own ambitions in the Balkans (annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908). Austria was worried as Serbia was growing stronger and stronger, wanting to form a state similar to later Yugoslavia. Russia supported this Serbian struggle. With Austria-Hungary and her support of the Central powers on one side and Russia with French, and perhaps even British support on the other, the Balkans formed a perfect conflict site. We have to crush Serbia like a viper Austrian commander in chief. Austria-Hungary and Germany thus had reasons for their slight paranoia. As and addition to this served the image of barbaric hordes from the steppes of Asia, charging the civilized central Europe. This visceral fear and the fact that with the population of 166 million people, Russia had practically unlimited human power reserves (and would be therefore practically undefeatable if there were an adequate amount of equipment) made Russia itself the biggest fear of the Central Powers, as proved by the Schlieffen plan, which stated that it was necessary to focus on Russia after quickly defeating France. We cannot compete with the Russian masses. Von MoltkeA perfect example of the fact that nations went to war mostly because of fear and not gain is first war declaration. This was caused by the Russian mobilization, which was a reaction to German aggression towards Prussia. Russia, however, was for now not going to precede any further then a mobilization. But fear and confusion led the Germans into the certainty that Russia is about to attack. German mobilization was then the obvious next step, and The Great War was about to begin. States therefore did go to war because of fear of different issues. But it must be remembered that without any perspective of profit, there would not be anything to fear in the first place. For example, Frances gain would be Germanys loss and thus reasons for war for all countries included both gain and fear aspects. It is, however, obvious that the many miscalculations of mainly, but not only, the German government caused severe confusion and uncertainty about who is actually the one in control, causing this to result in the dominance of fear reasons. Bibliography: my history teacher

Analysis of Information Technology in Public Sector

Analysis of Information Technology in Public Sector Chapter 1 Introduction Countries and governments in the world try to develop and extend their business and economies throughout built relation and agreements among them for the exchange and transaction for different kind of trades through out what call e-government to facilitate communicating and transmitting the information between these countries, and to achieve these, they need to adopt the information technology as infrastructure for e-government purposes (Traunmiiller and Klaus Lenk, 2002). So, information technology IT, digital and networking considered a crucial requirements for the companies to extend their operation scope in the global. So organizational spending on information technology (IT) and utilize the technology to support different strategic and operational objectives to give the strength for the competitive strategy (support the different aspects of business), (Venkatesh Morris Davis Davis, 2003). Therefore, Information technology can be defined in various ways Like information technology includes hardware, software and telecommunication equipment which is used to capture, process, and store and distribute information ( Global text -information system-Richard T. Watson -2007Â ¬chapter 1). Also information technology refers to office, computing machines, communications equipment, instruments, photocopiers and related equipment, and software and related services (Brynjolfsson, 1991). Even Information Technology (IT) refers to Any equipment, or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment which is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission. (DODD 4630.5, January 11, 2002). when the companies attempt to adopt the technology they face problems about the acceptance of the employees for the technology , some companies still cant predict the success from implementing new technology among the employees, some fail in adopting particular technology and some face resistance for accepting or adopting the technology, another companies didnt get the benefits that they expect from accepting or adopting the technology ,therefore, the companies turn to study the technology users conceptual about technology and the factors that could affect the acceptance for the technology (Alsohybe, 2007). Since information technology is supporting our economy throughout the reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business so no company can escape its effects. General Managers know the importance of information technology and how it effect in the work. As more and more they spend their investment capital and their time in information technology and its effects, an executive have a growing awareness that the technology can no longer be the exclusive area of IT departments or IS departments, Executives recognize the need to become directly involved in the management of the new technology since they see their competitors use information for competitive advantage, These In the face of rapid change, however, they dont know how (S Rivard, L Raymond, D Verreault, 2006). In order to help managers respond to the challenges of the information developing and how will advances in information technology affect competition and the sources of competitive advantage and what are the opportunities for investing in information technology. For that managers must first understand the information technology (Yen Subramanian chino, 1997). So this study is going to examine the factors that influence information technology acceptance in the public sector in the republic of YEMEN to enhance the accepting, adopting and the usage of information technology among the workers in the public sector. Beside facilitate the information transaction between the managements and between the government utilities with spotlight in the role of information technology strategies in these utilities to support the accepting, adoption for the technology. Even this study is going to examine the support of the government to adopt the information technology as government infrastructure toward E-government. Republic of Yemens Background The Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bounded on the north by Saudi Arabia and by the Arab Sea. Oman lies in the west of the Republic of Yemen and the Red Sea lies in the west of the Republic of Yemen. The total area of the Republic of Yemen is about 555,000 square Kilometer, and the population of the Republic of Yemen is 18 million. The official language of the country is Arabic and Islam is the official religion of the country. The ethnic groups in the Republic of Yemen are predominantly Arab, but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans. The Yemeni Rial (YR) is the official currency unit, but visitors can exchange most of the international currencies in exchange establishments or banks all over towns. Currently, the Republic of Yemen is enjoying a stable political, economic, and social system based on respect and openness with the rest of the world. This stability provides an opportunity for the country to improve its economy and service provision to its citizen and move along with the rest of the world. The Republic of Yemen has three national independence days: September 26, 1962 when the king of North the Republic of Yemen, at that time, was overthrown and making the country a republic instead of a kingdom, November 30, 1967 when South the Republic of Yemen, at that time, had become independent from United Kingdom. The Unification Day on May 22, 1990, when the Republic of Yemen was established by the merger of South the Republic of Yemen and North the Republic of Yemen. The legal system of the Republic of Yemen is based on Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law. The Republic of Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Arab World. It has reported strong growth since 2000, and its economic fortunes depend mostly on oil. (CIA The World Fact book Yemen profile about Yemen, 2005: Countries, L. D, 2009) Since the unification of the Republic of Yemen in 1990, the president was determined to establish a new way of governance. The government represented by the president initiated a plan to develop the new country infrastructure and build a democratic administrative system, which is responsible for the provision of public services to all Yemenis whether in the country or abroad. Since 1990, the Republic of Yemen has been trying to pursue a clear social strategy for developing new sources of income for its people, find new ways of investment in the country, reform the government, and establish new private sector participation to enhance the economical growth of the country (Ministry of Development, Republic of Yemen, 2000). The main objective of the government now and then was to improve the efficiency of the governmental administrative capabilities for better and improved services. The Republic of Yemen long-terms strategy aimed to develop a reliable and efficient administration and government by improving and reforming its ministries and institutions to deliver better public services for all its citizens and gain recognition around the world. However, not all the goals were aimed at improving the governmental functions were achieved. There are still problems facing the government plan to reform like, inflated bureaucracy, lack of collaboration between ministries and agencies, illiteracy, and a lack of direct vision of the future of the country. In its attempt to overcome these problems, the government of the Republic of Yemen has launched a reform project using information technology to implement e-government in the next couple of Years. The implementation of information technology will lead into collaboration between governmental agencies and lead to integrated databases that can be accessed by any agency any time thus delivering rapid and efficient service to the public. Communication and Information Technology in the Republic of Yemen Comparing to other countries around the world, The Republic of Yemen is still lagging in term of using information technology. Tables 1 and 2 compare the Republic of Yemen to other countries around the world and show that the Republic of Yemen is still one of the lowest countries in term of using computers and Internet, telephone usage, and e government readiness. This study was prepared by the National Information Center of the Republic of Yemen, which was submitted to the Republic of Yemens Presidential Office and to the Shura Council on June 2005 as part of a workshop title E-government between reality and expected goals in the Republic of Yemen (Alsohybe, 2007). Table l : Computers for Every 100 People and Internet Usage per 100 People for the World and for Some Countries Including the Republic of Yemen Country/Group PC Percentage (%) per 100 people Internet usage per 100 people The World 7.74 15.47 Arab World 2.04 5.57 U.S.A 65.89 55.14 Canada 48.7 51.28 Malaysia 14.68 31.97 Egypt 1.66 2.82 Yemen 0.79 0.51 Note: E-Government between Reality and Expected Goals in the Republic of Yemen, by (Yemen, National Information Center, 2005. Sanaa, Yemen, p.10). Table 2: E-government Readiness for Some Countries Including the Republic of Yemen Country Web Measurement Communications Human Resources General Indicator international U.S.A 1.00 .0770 .0970 .0913 1 Canada 0.873 0.668 0.970 0.837 7 Malaysia 0.490 0.302 0.830 0.541 42 Egypt 0.100 0_066 0.630 0.265 136 Yemen 0.054 0.040 0.490 0.195 154 Note: E-Government between Reality and Expected Goals in the Republic of Yemen, by (Yemen National Information Center, 2005, Sanaa, Yemen, p. Background of the Problem In the increasingly global today, information technology (IT) spread unpredictably that because IT considers substantial investment for organizations in all different aspects. Technology used to support the strategy and operational goals Countries and governments all over the world try to develop and extend their business and economies throughout built relation and agreements among them for the exchange and transaction for different trade aspects through out what call e=government to facilitate communicating and transmitting the information between these countries, and to achieve these, there is need to adopt the information technology as infrastructure for E-government purposes. (Traunmuller and Klaus Lenk, 2002) But unfortunately acquiring appropriate IT is not a sufficient condition for utilizing it effectively. Information technology importance for adopt E-government and in order to avoid the failure in adopting E-government. Also because the change in the environment and technology the companies trying to keep going with these changes. The companies spend a lot in investing in the technology in order to empower its internal, external performance and the productivity (Alsohybe, 2007). Some employees in the organizations not used the IT effectively or are not used, despite the extending in the investment in IT. This led the organization to inappropriate investment and west the opportunities even remain the company undeveloped. So the workers in IS and the management under pressure to locate the financial and organizational benefits from the IT investment. In order to help managers and IS practitioners to determine the factors or the motivators for IT usage and the acceptance of individuals for IT usage in order to reduce the cost and attain the maximum return of the investment in IT from the beginning (Lopez Manson, 1997; Dadayan Ferro, 2005). Problem statement The problem statements is that it is expected that all companies adopting, using effectively and having information technology, however, in the reality, not all the companies adopt, use effectively or use the information technology. However, in the reality, not all employees in those organizations accept, adopt, use effectively or use the information technology. That means there is a gap between the ideal or the maximum usage for the information technology among the Yemeni government employees and the reality or the actual usage for the information technology inside those organizations. This leads to investigate or examine the determinants and characteristics such as (individual characteristics, system characteristics, social characteristics, institutional characteristics) which are of effecting in using or adopting such technology. Many researchers in information technology IT and information system IS support the necessity for study the factors affecting the IT acceptance and its relation with the employees performance: The study was conducted by (Venkatesh Morris Davis Davis, 2003) to compare eight models and validate the new theory named the unified model The study recommended that: Future research should identify the underlying influential mechanisms potential candidates here include computer literacy and social or cultural background, among others. Even The role of social influence and its change over time and may help explain some of the equivocal results helping to clarify the contingent nature of social influences. Current theoretical perspectives on individual acceptance are notably weak in providing prescriptive guidance to designers. For example applying any of the models might inform a designer that some set of individuals might find a new system difficult to use. Even the study recommended future study include system characteristics and self-efficacy And task technology fit. The study said that further work should attempt to identify and test additional boundary conditions of the model UTAUT in an attempt to provide an even richer understanding of technology adoption and usage behavior. Even different user groups, individuals in different functional areas and other organizational contexts (public or government institutions) Another study was conducted in SAUDIA ARABI (AL Gahtani, 2004) to examine the technology acceptance theory in their culture recommended more studies in the technology acceptance with focusing in the social and culture factors and using different methodologies. Also the study which conducted by (Gorke, 2006) mention about the important of farther research for determining the factors influence the decision of using particular system and the acceptance for any new system. Even the study (Yalcinkaya B.A M.S, 2007) which conducted in TURKISH in police office recommended for more studies considering other possible psychosocial or contextual variables that may affect behavioral intention of information technology usage. Beside The study (Almutairi, 2007) which conducted in Kuwaiti ministries to examine the technology acceptance theory in their culture found that there is needed to test the TAM in other culture to insure is it globalization of the model and the possibility to use in different cultures. More over The study was conducted in china (Kim lee law, 2007) This study makes an attempt to investigate the relationship between antecedents including information system quality, perceived value, and users acceptance of hotel front office systems (HFOSs) and the Results show information system quality affects users beliefs in HFOSs, it is important to realize that other factors may also play an important role in user beliefs. These factors include computer use experience and the study suggested Different studies can be performed on IT, targeting other technology systems .it is important to find factors other than perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived value that can affect the attitude towards technology acceptance. A few areas can be further examined in future studies in hotels as well as in other organizations. Even the study was conducted by (Smith, 2008) recommended more study for the technology acceptance within the private and the public sectors. According to (Agarwal, 2000) the importance of individual differences as a significant theoretical construct in technology acceptance is indisputable. Also, he recommends for farther studies in the training as individual difference variables. Even, the study supports that technology acceptance can be facilitated by utilizing other interventions that directly affect beliefs such as training and developing a learning culture. Also, in YEMEN the usage of the information is 10% from the system capability and that was not expected. So, there is need for investigate the reasons which inhibited the organization from getting the ideal usage from the system (wards from the minister of information technology and the vice general manager of the PTC public telecommunication corporation in Yemen KAKAL AL JABRI KAMAL HASAN, 2007). Therefore, there is a concurrent need to develop and gain empirical support for models of technology acceptance within the public sector, and to examine technology acceptance and utilization issues among public employees to improve the success of IS implementation in this arena and to explore the government role to support the adoption for information technology within the public utilities employees even as strategy or as logistic support. Even examine the role of the information technology strategy in controlling the factors influence the acceptance for technology to develop and improve the employees performance. This paper presents more comprehensive, by using model of technology acceptance and suggest testing it in public sector (Alsohybe, 2007). Research Objectives 1. To examine the status of technology acceptance and utilization issues among public employees to improve the success of IS acceptance and implementation in the following theory: To examine individual differences which are effecting on the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector. To examine which of system feature that influences in acceptance the technology To examine the social factors that influences the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector. To examine institutional factors which are influencing the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector. 2 To evaluate the role of strategy in affecting on the factors that influence the acceptance for any new technology. Research questions To examine the status of technology acceptance and utilization issues among public employees to improve the success of IS acceptance and implementation in the following theory: Is there effect for individual differences on the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector? Are there effects for the system feature on the acceptance for any new technology? What are the influences of the social factors on the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector? Is there effect for the institutional factors on the acceptance for any new technology among the employees in the public sector? What is the role of strategy in affecting the factors that influence the acceptance for any new technology? Purpose of the study The study plans to examine the status of technology acceptance and utilization issues among managers and employees in the public sector as individuals to~ improve the success of IS acceptance and implementation in this area. This study aims to explore the government role to support the adoption for information technology within the employees in the public sector. Even, the study will evaluate the strategy role in controlling the variables that influences the acceptance for the information technology, and explore the information technology company characteristics that have been used in public companies in Yemen. The government of the Republic of Yemen has an opportunity to improve the progresses and prepares its people to meet the challenges of accepting and implementing information technology in the work place to provide information and services for its citizens from any place at any time. By using IT, government of the Republic of Yemen will be able to overcome the communication problem, improve government efficiency, develop alternative sources of income, and improve the livelihood of all its citizens. The Yemeni government is committed to improve the way it is conducting its day-to-day work by adopting an information technology. Scope of study The study will conduct in the public sector in the republic of Yemen. The study target will be the managers and employees as individuals in the ministries and some utilities belong to the government. This will be achieved by survey Significance of the Study According to the study (Smith, 2008) which aimed to delineate IT differences between the public and private sectors. The study argued that private sector using the information technology more than the public sector that due to many reasons individual differences is one of these reasons, so this study was encouraged to study the acceptance and implementation of the information technology among the individuals in the public sector. Even, this study is trying to add the culture as independent variable for the technology acceptance model TAM, TAM2 and TAM3 as empirical study and contribution, this research will examine the acceptance and implementation of technologies in a very conservative and traditional society like The Republic of Yemen society where culture and religion dominate the way people live and perceive changes around them and can affect their acceptance or resentment of such innovation. Also, the study combined TAM, TAM2 by setting the attitude as mediated in the relation between the believes perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and the intention to use which was deleted in the technology acceptance model TAM2 and TAM3. Also, many studies were conducted to examine three variables affecting the technology acceptance such as individual differences, system feature and social influence and some studies examine individual differences, system feature and institutional factors, however, this study aims to examine the four factors because of the effect of each variable in the acceptance of the technology and its effect on the other variables. Also, this study uses mixed theories to give more explanatory power for the technology acceptance. Also, this study aims to predicting the behavior of the managers and employees for accept the information technology is critical issue for the companies because the important of the information technology in the government utilities in order to enhance its internal and external performance in facilitating the work flaw and smooth transferring of the information among the individuals in the different department in one unit even between the units in the public sector. Chapter 2 Summary for chapter 1 From-the -previous chapter which presents the problem statement, accept, adopting, using effectively and using information technology, however, in the reality, not all employees in those organizations accept, adopting, using, effectively and using the information technology, his means there is a gap between the ideal usage for the information technology among the employees of the Yemeni government and the reality of the usage for the technology inside those organizations. This leads to investigate and examine the determinants and characteristics (individual differences, system characteristic, social characteristics, institutional characteristic) which are effecting in accepting, adopting for such technology. 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1- The importance of Information Technology Rapidly advanced scientific and technological innovations, economic turbulence and uncertainty are some factors that underlie the importance of information technology investment. IT enables organizations to have the capabilities to do some adaptations proactively, so IT becomes an integral part, even a pivotal part of business activities and processes undertaken by any organization (Chau Hu, 2002), from that, question appears about the necessity to invest in IT in order to the organizations can get the benefits from adopting the information technology and to insure the success in the adoption, Agarwal and Karahanna (2000) see the success in this investment will be a valuable when IT utilized by the intended user in the way that contributes to the strategy and the operational goals of the organization, so the user acceptance of IT is the fundamental for the success of IT investment. The importance of technology comes from that Technology has an important impact on innovation and the development of societies and economies. This impact can be observed in three steps, the first step is substitution, new technology substitutes for the old. For example, consumers start substituting their fixed telephone lines with mobile telephones. The second step is the diffusion, when adopting the new technology is widely across society because it is law cost or better or more effective than the previous technology. The final step is transformation when the new technology ways start working and emerging because the new technology is diffused so widely in society. For example, the widespread adoption of the networking has led to interesting innovations in the communication patterns of individuals such as executives conducting business while waiting in airport lounges or traveling in trains DUTTA MIA, 2006)World Economic Forum. ICT offers more opportunities for economic development and plays very important role in international competitiveness, rapid economic change, and productive capacity of improvements for developing countries. ICTs offer the developing countries many opportunities, as it has done in the developed world, when it created unprecedented possibilities for them. Studies have emphasized that there is evidence of a strong linkage between GDP growth and ICT investment showing the importance of ICT investment for development. Acquiring IT to support business needs is clearly a crucial prerequisite to exploiting the potential of IT. Unfortunately acquiring appropriate IT is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for utilizing it effectively. Organizations (i.e., leaders and managers) make primary adoption decisions, yet it is individuals within the firm who are the ultimate users and consumers of IT. Thus, it is evident that true business value from any information technology would derive only through appropriate use by its target user group. In other words, systems that are not utilized will not deliver the returns anticipated by managers. Evidence suggests that individual users can exhibit a variety of different behaviors when confronted with a new information technology: They may completely reject it and engage in sabotage or active resistance they may only partially utilize its functionality, or they may wholeheartedly embrace the technology and the opportunities it offers. Obviously, each behavior has some consequential outcomes both negative and positive for managers (Agarwal, 2000). Also, Organizations have increased their investment in information technology IT for planning in order to increase the efficiency of their business processes. Support management decision making and improve productivity. So IT become important tool to attaining competitive advantage for the organization and improves employees productivity and efficiency (Kim Lee Law, 2007), besides, -Many researches investigate the relation between IT investment and increase the productivity and the performance in the companies one of studies (sircar et al, 2000) which found several organization success with the spending on the IT but others were failed. (Agarwal karahanna, 2000) argue in this result that IT investment will be successful when IT utilized by the organization intended user in the way contribute to the strategy and the goals of the firms. Thus user acceptance is the key for the successes of the IT investment (Darsono, 2005), Even, for more than two decades information technology has be en the focus for researcher in information system this is because IT considers as the key to lead the organization for the good performance so many researches focus in the initial usage for IT or continuous usage for IT. 2.2- The advantages and disadvantages from adopting informationtechnology 2.2.1 The advantages Information technology uses to support the competitive strategy in helping the companies to reduce the costs of the company to give special offer for its products and services and give better care about customers and suppliers and to develop unions among the company and the company with the environment around the company and increase the virtue of its investment in IT resources. By using the information technology the organization or the companies will be able to develop the value of its business throughout making the customer value the focus of its strategy which is to keep track of its customers preferences to supply its products and services anytime anywhere by using the internet or intranet and extranet(e-commerce websites). A lot of organizations/companies use information technology and internet to reengineering its business process because information technology can make integration for the organization to work for the same goal of the organization and this improves the design of the work flows or the requirements of the job even the organization structures even improve the efficiency and the effectiveness. Information technology provides the communicatio

Practitioner roles in supporting learning through play

Practitioner roles in supporting learning through play This essay will identify how adults can support learning through play and will analyse the value of this approach. It will consider historical and current perspectives of child development. The key areas of discussion will be learning through role play and supporting children with additional needs. It will recognise the importance of symbolic play, contingent response and the use of sustained shared thinking. Historically children were perceived in different ways, from evil and wicked to innocent and easily corrupted. Childhood has been constructed and reconstructed. (James Prout 1997:7) The behaviourist approach, views the child as a blank slate conditioned through external factors and places an emphasis on step by step learning. Psychologists such as Watson and Skinner considered children to learn by experiences given by adults to shape or mould them. Practitioners need to explain the boundaries for behaviour to children for them to encourage self control and enable them to think about their behaviour. Giving time out has been seen to discourage this. (Bruce 2005:47) The Nativist approach believes that children are pre programmed and will unfold in their development. (Bruce 2005:3) This approach sees the adult role as a facilitator offering help but not controlling learning. Rousseaus approach can be seen in todays view of adults observing and monitoring the early learning goals. He suggested that play was instinctive. The interactionist approach views children as partly pre programmed and partly blank slates. Kant originated this approach, and believed the adults role in supporting learning was to provide a suitable learning environment to explore. He also states that adults should supervise and assist when required. This view can be seen through the curriculum today which offers both adult led and child led activities. The importance of interactions between children and adults, through sustained shared thinking, is highlighted in projects like EPPE (2003) as discussed in child and childhoods. The different approaches discussed can be seen to have had an impact in practice throughout todays education, it is important that practitioners have a good knowledge of these approaches in order to understand how best to support learning. Historically all children play unless there are factors that prevent them from doing so, such as childrens health or living conditions. During the 18th Century children were sent to work, so would have had little time to play, however, this does not mean they did not. Play in the 1920s was a form of relaxation which was considered to be practice for life. (Bruce 2005). More recent thinking understands play as problem solving and creativity. Play underpins the delivery of the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, which aims to help children achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes of staying safe, being healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well being. (Dfes 2007:7) It suggests the role of the practitioner is one of observing and using the information gained to plan for childrens next steps in learning. Children need a challenging and interesting environment with a balance of adult led and child initiated activities, in order to problem solve and investigate through their play. It is the practitioners role to create and maintain this environment so that children develop their communication and creative skills. Childrens achievements are collected over time and learning diaries are produced, unlike the EYFS profiles (2003) these diaries have no emphasis put on testing children. Montessoris approach values the child, the environment and the teacher. She believed children were spontaneous learners needing adult support during periods of development. She stated the adults role was to ensure that the environment provides for the developmental needs of each individual child; observation serves as the key tool for establishing these developmental needs (Isaacs 2007:13) She believed in scaffolding childrens learning. In her opinion the role of the adult was to consider health and safety in the provision and to provide defined spaces for learning experiences and problem solving activities. She considered the child could lose their freedom if adults were too communicative with them. She stated that practitioners needed to have a sound understanding of child development and an ability to understand the need for real life experiences. Although her approach gives time for children to explore with little adult intervention she considered play to be unnecessary, believing toys were tools to enable learning. Her approach however, contrasts with the views of the EYFS, which states the importance of learning through play and the significance of social interactions between adults and children. Bruner suggests that good practitioners tune into the incipient intention of the child and act accordingly. (Bruce 2001:53) suggesting the childs developing plan or aim should be observed and then supported and encouraged. He values play and considers that when children play with other children this emphasises the importance of social and emotional well being and interactions. He stresses the importance of turn taking and social rules. He states that in a role play situation children are able to use problem solving and increase in language acquisition. He experimented using two groups; one being taught, the other playing and concluded that the group allowed to play outperformed the taught group as they were able to explore and problem solve. He views the adult role as scaffolding the child through their development by starting where the child is and supporting them to move on. A more recent view by Moyles (2001) considers there are emotional, physical and intellectual values in supporting learning through play. She describes four principles of play, as being functional, constructive, rule governed and socio-dramatic. In a recent study she found that effective practitioners are able to use their knowledge to support childrens learning by building on what children can do and by evaluating the process of observations and planning for next steps. She states that children should be supported in their play and practitioners should value the input by parents. It is important to be clear that play is not in place of planning, or indeed an easy option. Teachers TV discusses how practitioners should inform parents about the importance of play and how childrens learning can be supported. Practitioners need to communicate with children in ways they understand, if children feel secure and relaxed they will become active learners who develop independence. Adult support in Early Years education is important in that it may be the first time a child has played alongside others, Key people offer support to children and their families during their time at pre schools and work in partnership to inform planning and extend a childs interests and learning. The 1967 Plowden report considers the individual child and building on what they already know and understand. It states practitioners should have a flexible approach to the curriculum and monitor the environment. It states that play is central to childrens growth and development. The report is critical of testing and figures, stating not assume that only what is measurable is valuable. However, in 1976 the curriculum was shaped by political forces which discarded the child centred opinion of the Plowden report. The Thatcher years produced good test results in schools and with it the added pressures from OFSTED to use league tables and highlight results. New labour continued with this by introducing the literacy and numeracy hour. It was not until 20 years later that child centred education was highlighted again. The Rumbold report (Des 1990) states play as being an important part in childrens learning, and states that practitioners need to be sensitive and know when to intervene and become involved in childrens play. It states that children should be given time to play. Practitioners should watch children and use these observations to inform planning for assessment and extend learning. (Macleod-Brudenell 2004:227) In order to achieve this, the adult needs to plan the environment so children can explore, practice ideas, interact, take risks, think imaginatively, express anxieties or fears and communicate with others. Steiner considers the whole child, and believes that an important factor in childrens development is the social interactions children have with others. Through play he believes children can develop their feelings and ideas and make good relationships with others. He believes the adult should be supportive and not to use play as a tool to get a pre determined outcome as it will de prive children of freedom to choose open ended creative play. He states the adults role is to teach by example not instruction. Froebel considered the natural, spiritual, emotional and intellectual aspects of child development and states the important factor is to begin where the learner is (Bruce 2005 :26) He believed that through play the adult can observe what is needed to support and extend learning. However, Froebels work could be criticised because he limited his research to boys. He states that play is central to pedagogy. Froebel made a distinction between play and work and considers play is what children are involved in when they initiate the task and work is what they do when they fulfil a task required by an adult (Bruce 2005:19) Which shows that when a child is asked to do complete something by an adult, it means the child loses possession of their original idea. Role play can happen anywhere and is unrestrictive and impulsive. It is important for children to be able to imitate and explore the world around them. Children can be imaginative and creative in their play and escape into fantasy worlds. Children interact with each other and often play above their actual age, as suggested by Vygotsky. (MacLeod-Brudenell 2004:213) Practitioners should offer props to promote role play and through observing and supporting will have an understanding of when to become involved in their play. Inclusive practice involves practitioners offering ideas and asking open ended questions to extend childrens learning, communication and language skills. Research shows that sustained shared thinking is important in extending childrens learning and by practitioners having a special partnership with children in their settings. (EYFS 4.3) Therefore in order for the children to learn through role play adults need to respect and value the childrens play and consider the childs ideas and interests. As Inclusion is paramount to practice practitioners should be aware of discriminatory play and intervene sensitively if encountered. Sustained shared thinking is the process of working together to develop ideas and enable children to make connections in their learning. By using sustained shared thinking in play the adult can support the childs thought process. Through an awareness of the childs interests the practitioner can offer encouragement and ask open ended questions to support and extend learning. Piaget, a constructivist, considered how children played for enjoyment, and believed children assimilate or incorporate new knowledge with what they already know. This absorbing of experiences is described as schema, where patterns of repeated behaviour help the child learn. He believed children had to work through stages to learn, where they could experiment and explore. He suggested older children no longer need play as have developed abstract thinking. This view can be seen in todays education associated with key stages, where more emphasis has been given to play in the Early Years Foundation Stage. The National curriculum and EYFS reflect the Governments strategies to enable all children to access a relevant and balanced curriculum. (Moyles 2007:4) Since 1995 the law states children have to be assessed at age 7 and aged 11 and throughout the Early Years practitioners complete assessment files based on the early learning goals. Learning matters criticises Piagets approach by stating he may have lacked knowledge of the social impact, as children who are from different cultures, gender, race or social classes may need help to learn. Recent research into perspectives used in Early Years education has shown that there is a significant lack of information concerning learning through a childs viewpoint. Lindon, (2001) states practitioners should value the opinions of children and be more receptive to their views. More recent thinking by Chris Athey (1990) a constructivist, considers that schemas help children think for themselves and can be used to support and extend learning through play. She states practitioners should work in partnership with parents in sharing experiences and childrens interests. She believes children are active learners. http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/719740/Train-thought (15/1/10) Vygotskys zone of proximal development considered that in play children behave beyond their age. He believed children learn more from child initiated play as he believed children set their own levels in control of learning (Bruce 2005: 64). He understood the need for an environment that had clear boundaries for children, with adults who respond effectively and help children to think for themselves. He suggests play to have the skills children need to reach their potential. He believes children acquire language and learn through role play and through social and cultural interactions, stating the role of the adult is through guidance. Learning matters is critical of Vygotsky s views of zones as they consider them to be vague in their definitions. It is understood that the zones describe the adults role in supporting and extending what the child can do. Research has shown that children develop through adults interacting with them. Adults can support learning through contingent response where adults react sensitively to childrens behaviour. Children are seen to benefit from the social and emotional contacts with adults. Practitioners should actively respond to childrens positive behaviour and play giving praise and approval. Through the use of books, media and use appropriate language and communication practitioners support play and extend learning. It has been suggested by Postman that Childhood is disappearing, children have less freedom and less places to play. TV and computer technology has advanced and children are encouraged by their parents to stay in because of parental fear for their childrens safety. However, the Governments play strategy intends to improve and develop play facilities throughout the country. Practitioners should observe and use their knowledge to plan and provide for all individual children. Children who have any additional need which may include disability or a condition that affects their learning or development may need extra help within the provision. The Childrens Act of 1989 discusses that practitioners need to identify in need children, support their development and enable all children to participate in all areas within the provision. (Bruce 2005:40). The Act states that, children in need be categorised according to their specific needs. Early years Action is based on existing knowledge within the provision. If external support is needed the child is considered to be Early Years Action Plus. Therefore, practitioners need to be able to identify and support children. Individual play plans are useful in considering intended learning objectives and desired outcomes over a short period. Through play, practitioners can identify a childs interests, adapt the environment and modify activities to support the child. With support from parents the childs development can be monitored and reviewed. It is important to monitor and evaluate the curriculum linking this with childrens individual progress. Practitioners support children by formative assessment, whereby they collect information about individual children over a period of time, and summative assessment where they bring everything learnt about each child and decide on their next steps in learning. It is important that practitioners working with other professionals communicate and share information regarding children with additional needs. Children with Autism need more adult support within a provision to enable them to learn through play. The practitioner can use symbolic play to help the child develop skills needed to extend learning, as children with autism do not tend to use pretend play they use functional or repetitive play. The adults role is very important in helping the child to focus and become motivated. The practitioner can teach social skills by involving other children in play. It is important that practitioners offer resources that promote symbolic play throughout the provision. Play therapists use symbolic play to help children cope with fears or problems, as they are able to express feelings. Research evidence shows that childrens level of involvement in an activity is an indicator of their current levels of learning and development. (Moyles 2006) However, it is important that information is collected by multiple professionals before any judgements are made. The reflective practitioner considered how an over stimulating environment as stated by Elizabeth Jarman has an adverse effect on childrens learning. Therefore practitioners need to provide an environment that is accessible for all children and is interesting and enjoyable. Through quality improvement the provision is monitored and checked to see if the Every Child Matters outcomes are covered in planning. Practitioners who regularly reflect on practice and keep up to date with research can make improvements to how observations and planning is done and therefore extend childrens learning and development through play. Recent studies have shown how observations are useful in interpreting behaviours and understanding interests. (Maynard 2009:207) It considered what children like to explore and time spent at activities, as well as the social interactions and attachments made. Although target setting and literacy and numeracy strategies have meant there are more pressures put on teaching staff and children, it has been researched that less emphasis should be put on measurable results, tick charts and making children complete activities to get results. Practitioners now observe and use these observations to inform individual planning to extend a childs learning through play. Good quality teaching occurs when there is a good knowledge of how to observe play, knowing when to intervene and how to interact to extend learning. Through quality improvement the provision is monitored to make sure the Every Child Matters Outcomes are covered in planning. In conclusion play and the adults role in supporting learning through play has extremely important benefits for childrens happiness, physical, cognitive and social development. Childcare settings should be welcoming, have sufficient resources, practitioners should be good role models and allow children time for uninterrupted play. (Bruce 2001) Research has shown that interrupting childrens play affects cooperation and social interactions. (Broadhead 2004:3) Play can happen anywhere and is unrestrictive and impulsive. Children concentrate for long periods in their play, if given time to do so. Through play children can relax and let their imaginations create anything they choose. It is known children are active learners, who learn best when allowed to become deeply involved in their chosen activities. To become independent learners practitioners should let children investigate and problem solve for themselves. (Whitebread 2003:17) With highly qualified and experienced practitioners guiding and supporting them they can experiment and develop skills needed to help them move on in their learning. Practitioners should be good role models as suggested by Owen, who nurture children and provide a stimulating environment which is free flow. Trained practitioners are aware of the individual needs of the children in their care and understand the importance of play based learning. It is therefore, the role of the practitioner to plan, support, intervene when necessary and extend childrens learning. (Macleod-Brudenell 2004:50) Practitioners who regularly monitor the provision reflect upon theories and choose which seem fit for purpose as they extend learning as learning matters describes, practitioners should consider sometimes pointing out new horizons, sometimes setting a challenge, sometimes gently guiding and sometimes leaving well alone Therefore, the practitioner has multiple roles in supporting learning through play. They are described as being facilitators enabling learning to happen. They scaffold and support learning and development. They provide an encouraging environment for learning to occur and are able to adapt responsively to the needs of individual children. However, they should have regard for maintaining a balance of adult and child led activities. It is important for practitioners to understand how children learn and the significance of theoretical approaches. They should also realise the importance of emphasising play.

student :: essays research papers

1. How important were economic factors in explaining the colonisation of South east asia by the West in the 19th century? Economic factors: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Colonies = profit †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Desire for profit since earliest Spanish colonization -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dutch and British trade and profit motivated -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  although America and France had different motivations colonies needed to access raw materials eg tin in Malaya access to China, most proftiable market in Asia, given by colonisation of Vietnam 2.1 Merchant pressure Need to ensure trade concessions Some states reneged on trade agreements, eg. Burma Frequent attempts made by British to ensure King's cooperation, sent Residents, but King ignored all agreements, even extorted from merchants. Therefore merchants put pressure on Crown government to colonise Burma, only way for them to retain privileges and concessions. 2.2. Economic momentum - Led to competition among merchants for bigger markets - Competition caused by imperialist profit-gaining More concessions wanted once they are given - imperialism and trade factors had culmulative effect 3. Safeguarding Trade and Stability Anarchy and instablity disrupted trade, colonisation helped prevent this. eg. Burma King Thibaw was a weak king, responsible for anarchy eg. Tonkin Black flags from China caused trade disruption made protecterate by French Pirate bases colonised too. Pirates attacked trade vessels. eg. Aceh, colonised by Dutch 4. Economic Competition Placed importance on economic dominance mutal fear of losing out to one another in trade. Only colonisation gave solid footing in region and a share in trade eg. possiblity of Germany's interest in acuquring Northern Malaya concerned British eg. King Thibaw of Burma gave many trade concessions to French, British annexed Burma paritally to shut French out. 5. New markets for goods 1870s onwards, more and more European countries industrialising. Competition existed among European countries.Imposed tariffs on imported goods to protect embryonic industries. So Euro countries looked to cheaper Asian markets to sell goods and acquire raw materials. Political factors: 1. Status and Prestige France equaled acquistion of Indochina with increased prestige This due to past humiliation from defeat in Franco-Prussian war, produced great determination to retain prestige in rest of world through colonisation. 2. Protection of existing empire good example would be British colonisation of Arakan in Burma and later rest of Burma. Done to prevent turmoil in Burma from 'spilling over' into adjacent India, their empire. Would have serious implications on trade Proximity to 'turbulent frontiers' enough. Eg. Strife in Perak/Selangor. Secret society conflicts spread to Chinese secret societies in Straits Settlements branches. Protection from other European countries. Colonisation of Burma due to fear that French would border India if it gained control of it. Idealogical factors: 1. Religious reasons France and Spain French colonised Vietnam to protect French missionaries from persecution of Emperor Tu Duc.

The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in the Middle East Essay -- Palestine

The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in the Middle East The Arab world is not in a compromising mood†¦ Nations never concede; they fight. You won’t get anything by peaceful means or compromise. You can, perhaps get something, but only by the force of your arms†¦But it’s too late to talk of peaceful solutions† (Bard 1). The Arab League Secretary Azzam Pasha said this statement on September 16, 1947, eight months before the state of Israel was established. The Arabs held this mentality in a time when Israel was not yet a fact. This trait was hereditary in the sense that it was taught to their children, who taught it to their children, and so on. Those are the people who are living in Arab countries, and still despise everything about Israel and believe that, no matter what, negotiations are useless. This is especially true today with the Palestinians, for as Suha Arafat, wife of Yasser Arafat, stated, â€Å"I have always rejected normalizing relations with (Israeli) women†¦ They always invite me to their functions and I categorically refuse because I hate Israel† (Bard 2). This statement proves that though the Israeli’s try to normalize relations with the Palestinians, they refuse because they want nothing to do with Israel. From the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 to the present, there have been five wars, all of which have ended with peace treaties that did not do much. A peace treaty will never normalize the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Middle East because so many have failed in the past. May 14, 1948 was a victorious day for the Jewish people; the state of Israel was born. The excitement, however, was short lived because the armies of Syria, Iraq, Trans-Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon entered Israel the next day in an effort to erase it off the map. â€Å"The Arabs themselves expected the new state to be swept off the map in months if not weeks† (Ross 30). The majority of the Arab world fiercely opposed the state of Israel and refused to recognize it in any way. As Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League said on May 15, 1948, â€Å"This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre† (Bard 1). So it was; over 6,300 Israelis were killed in the War of Independence (Israeli Casualties in Battle). Rhodes Peace Pact did not force the Arabs to recognize Israel as a state, allowing its legal existence to be ignored. This peace treaty did not b... ...elly, Michael. Promises But Never Peace. 5 Apr. 2002. 7 Apr. 2002 .  · PLO. 2000. 24 Apr. 2002 .  · Podhoretz, Norman. Bush Must Face Truce About Arab Terror Against Israel. 7 Apr. 2002. 7 Apr. 2002 .  · Regan, Geoffrey. Israel and the Arabs. Minneapolis: Learner Publications Company, 1984.  · Reuters. Cleric Lauds Bombings by Women. 2 Apr. 2002. 9 Apr. 2002. .  · Ross, Stewart. Causes and Consequences of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Texas: Raintree Steck Vaughn Publishers, 1995.  · Silverman, Maida. ISRAEL: The Founding Of A Modern Nation. New York: Dial Books of Young Readers, 1998.  · Tessler, Mark. A HISTORY of the ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT. United States of America: Indiana U P, 1994.  · The 1956 Sinai Campaign. 23 Apr. 2002 .  · Vogele, William B. Arab-Israeli Conflict. 26 Apr. 2002 .

Organizational Commitment: Job Satisfaction, Stress, Motivation

Today’s organization because of global competition and cost cutting had lead to great changes in the organizations leading to greater effect of organizational behaviors. Some organizations are losing employees to other organizations and some employees are losing their efficiency due to the lack of job satisfaction, or due to stress and/or due to lack of motivation, or combination of many factors. Colquitt et al has described various factor effecting employees and its organizations in organizational behaviors, 2nd edition. Controlling stress and self motivating is very important to achieve goals, and when goals are met moral is elevated. Job satisfaction leads to organizational commitment and job performance. Almost every organization faces some kind of brain drain when an employee leaves the organization. Human resource management and managers have developed many strategies to understand employees and their problems, to improve organizational behaviors by providing trainings to employees related to organizational commitment and engagement, as organizational commitment leads to better job performance and job satisfaction, which leads to better quality of product or service, which leads to more customers and growth in revenue. For an employee, job satisfaction may mean many things like good pay, frequent promotions, enjoyable coworkers, work, authority/status, moral cause, environment, etc (Colquitt et al. , 2010). An employee with high job satisfaction will have high positive feeling for the work and organization, and will have high motivation also. When an employee is motivated, attains job satisfaction consecutively performs better. Work related and non-work related stresses have an effect on organizational behavior. An employee has to control stress and reduce the strains caused by stress to take a better judgment and decisions. Every generation has been demanding something from its people, with time people also became very challenging and people who thrived and succeeded had always been role models for many ambitious leaders. Today’s work place has became more challenging as business is no more concentrating to a small group of people or region, rather businesses are done more globally, across continents targeting wide variant of people. Today’s organizations are facing more competition, has to deliver more quality and quantity for less cost is putting its management and employees on the edge to provide demanding work. Employees who are motivated work hard to meet the goals, when the goals are met their job satisfaction level increases. Last year I was working in a multinational company and their primary business was related to telecommunications and data hauling over optical fiber. Most of my projects and applications are supporting manufacturing and operations of the organizations, whose manufacturing was spread across mainly in USA, China and Thailand. Our team size was ten employees reporting to a manager. Every employee in the team was very happy, enjoyed the work, and took ownership of the project, worked with full commitment. On an average, every employee in the team was with the company for at least 5 years. Senior most employees in the team was working with the same organization for 13 years and youngest was 2 years. Even though every employee was committed to their work, had job satisfaction in various factors, few employees were stressed out and had negative satisfaction with regards to unfair promotions. As few employees felt that the manager was biased and showing favoritism to one of the employee, demoralized employee who were with the company, team for longer time. Even though every employee was very committed, showed high degree of job performance due to unfair promotions and due to lack of growth opportunity, it demoralized employees, forcing to either quit or underperform or just do the given job rather than deriving the best for the organization. What I noticed over the period is an employee who had stayed in the company for less than two years have high commitment, engagement, job satisfaction and moral anticipating that his work will be recognized some day and rewarded. In the case on employees who are more than two (2) and less than five (5) ears tend to lose their commitment, job satisfaction and moral as what they have anticipated never met or addressed. In our case, as in my team for more than five to eight years there was no promotions neither growth track nor visibility. During that time, when the manager showed favoritism by providing high visible projects and tasks to one employee while demoralizing that others are not capable to do the task, had deeply wounded and demoralized team spirit and motivation. After dragging feet for a while few employees either left and few just underperformed and continued to work for various other reasons. Few employees including me, confronted the manager and raised objection for not providing proper growth opportunity, as there was no improvement in the situation, unable to stay there at the same time, unable to underperform, I applied for different organizations and quit the company. For an employee job satisfaction can mean in many ways, for few high pay means job satisfaction, for few promotions and recognition, for few if their supervisor is polite and good, for few if their coworkers at work are friendly and helpful, for few if they like the work they do may bring job satisfaction (Colquitt et al. 010). According the Job characteristics theory, variety, identity, significance, autonomy and feedback play a vital role in job satisfaction as in the new job workplace, when I ask senior most employees who are with the company for more than twenty five years, their response is similar opportunity to switch to different tasks after few years, identity and engagement, significance and importance of the work and employee, freedom and independence to perform work and finally feedback and employee appreciation from managers and customers. It would be difficult to satisfy every factor to hundred percent but if every factor is addressed to a degree at least will lead to job satisfaction. The job responsibility puts an employee into stressful situation. If roles are conflicting or very ambiguous, it will lead into very stressful situation. If roles are conflicting, there can be a possibility of hurting the coworker and other team members, as in my case because of role conflict and ambiguity, confusion started among coworkers and ultimately the task was delayed and deliverables were delayed due to improper handling and uplication of work. To avoid coworker misunderstandings roles has to be very well defined to avoid conflicts and ambiguity. Motivation is very important for anything, our team was very motivated, took ownership of every project, worked to resolve the issue and did not wait for direction. Freedom to perform the task and utilizing the available resources primarily motivated the team. The company provided convenient if necessary hundred percent tele-working facility, employee can work almost from home that motivated few more than anything. Due to current recession, stable job motivates few employees and more pay sometimes satisfies and motivates. I like goal setting theory, as small goals will direct and drive to big goal. Working in IT for long time, I was able to complete entire project by breaking the project into small pieces and completing one piece at a time. Based on my experience, I think goal setting theory is the best and will provide step by step approach to the final goal. Organization and managers have to work with employees to understand the emotions of the employee, understand strong points, and understand the weak areas of the employee. Every employee may not be an expert in all areas. It is the responsibility of manager to use the resources properly. If a manager doesn’t utilize the resources properly then it will create a role conflict and stress related to work and coworkers. Employees have to communicate with managers and open the dialog, express the issues. Managers have to consider employees suggestions or issues and try to resolve the issues. It would be difficult to address all issues, but honest opinion and honest no is far better than political statements. Organizations have to provide required trainings and periodically conduct surveys to understand the trend of the employees thoughts and organizational commitment. Organization losing an employee is a lose for both employee and organization and not just for one. Employee has to rebuild the trust in the new organization, learn the business and gain knowledge and for organization has to have to hire a new suitable employee and train the employee to perform the job. Organizational commitment is very important and to achieve high level of organizational commitment employee has to have high level of job satisfaction and job performance. High job performance will lead to good recognition. Good recognition will lead to high job satisfaction. As an employee’s keeps attaining recognition their motivation will be high to take more job responsibility. Even though job satisfaction means many things to many employees, ultimately job satisfaction leads to job commitment. In the present world, due to recession employees are very demoralized because of many rounds of layoffs, outsourcing. HR and organizations are frequently conducting surveys and employee meetings to update the status of the company, which will help employees to open a dialogue and express their concerns to their managers. Managers have to provide an honest opinion and try to resolve the issue. Organization commitment is very important for organization and employee.

Whole Foods Market Case Analysis

Whole Foods Market has received recognition as recent as January 27th 2011 when CNBC aired Supermarkets Inc: Inside a 500 Billion Money Machine. â€Å"Whole Foods is arguably the most influential, and by some measures, the most successful supermarket chain in the world. The specialty gourmet store has grown into a Fortune-300 company offering specialty foods and locally grown organic produce. † CNBC goes on to state that even â€Å"Established brands like Safeway, Giant Eagle and Kroger are cultural icons as familiar as our own street names, but they are under constant attack from brilliant upstarts like Whole Foods†¦1† From the general supermarket industry Whole Foods Market breaks down into even a smaller specific industry which is the natural and organic foods industry. This industry focused on proving customers with natural foods which is defined as â€Å"foods that are minimally processed, largely or complexly free of artificial ingredients, preservatives and other non natural occurring ingredients; and near to their whole, natural state as possible. 7. † Also â€Å"organic foods were a special subset of the natural foods category; to be labeled as organic, foods had to be grown and processed without the use of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, synthetic chemicals, artificial fertilizers, preservatives, dyes or additives or generic engenerring. † Also from the text book CEO John Mackey believes Whole Foods Market has been highly selective for finding the highest quality, least processed, most favorable and naturally preserved foods available. Whole Foods Market is an industry leader in natural and organic food retailing. The five forces model of competition, in written form, is provided as a key analytical tool to better understand the overall attractiveness of the industry. Rivalry among competing sellers is certainly strong and is expected to become stronger as more grocery retailers compete for loyal customers who desire the healthiest foods. The threat of substitute’s products is very high from other grocery retailers. For example, Publix has branded its own natural/organics products line named Green Wise and even a few stores that have a majority of its products natural/ organic. The restaurant industry should be considered but it is a very low threat because there are very few restaurants that are only dedicated to natural/organic products. The threat of new entrants entering the industry is fairly low. This is simply because grocery retailers have already got into the market to insure they would get their share. The bargaining power of suppliers is a medium level threat to the industry because industry members are competing for products to put on their shelves from the same suppliers. The bargaining power of buyers is definitely low because conventional retailers set the price consumers must pay to obtain the goods they want. Because of these threat levels the overall attractiveness of the industry high. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the foods they are eating and will continue buying natural and organic foods. There have been many main events and performance indicators that have occurred with Whole Foods Market recently, as stated in the Epilogue to January 2009 â€Å" Whole Foods Market planned on opening 15 stores , have annual sales of about 8. 3 billion, have capital expenditures of $400 to $450 million, and incur annual interest costs of $35 to $40 million. † The main elements of Whole Foods Market strategy are providing customers with the highest quality natural/organic products. Whole Foods Market has a strong growth strategy because they have 66 store in the stages of development and have future plan of acquiring more stores to expand their company further down the road. This growth strategy has helped them achieve their financial goals. Whole Foods Market can be assessed by using a simple SWOT analysis. This assessment will begin by examining the internal strengths and weaknesses. Internal strengths Whole Foods Market has two narrow markets that it serves, organic differentiation is the key-stone of whole foods mission, this means Whole Foods Market uses a focus differentiation strategy, highest quality brand reputation, dedication to the social ethics of organics, industry best customer service strong supply chain, and developing a private label of organics. Whole Foods Market has had experience in the natural/organic retailing industry since 1980. For the past 30+ years they have built over 300 large customized stores in North America and also in the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market is known to provide the highest quality of products. Weaknesses of Whole Foods Market include the high prices for their products; this is a direct result of the company’s focus on their availability of the finest products. The majority of Whole Foods Market inventory consists of perishable items. This can sometimes pose problems because, produce, milk, eggs have a short shelf life, Produce especially needs constant maintenance to be graded as well as pulling the damaged or bruised produce off the sales floor. Working as a roduce clerk for several years I know the importance decreasing the cost of throw away products. It hurts the company’s sales especially when you are dealing with pricy high quality natural and organic foods. Another weakness the Whole Foods Market faces is the high costs associated with expanding into different locations. The third part of SWOT is external opportunities that WFM faces in the industry. Over the past couple of decades more consumers have been becoming more health conscious and eating right. WFM can take advantage of this new outlook on the health food industry by acquiring new customers. Also, Whole Foods Market should spend more money on advertising to attract these health conscious customers. The final part of the SWOT analysis is the external threats that Whole Foods Market has to face. One of these threats is the increasing competition of already established grocery retailers. It’s very easy for these competitors to add natural and organic foods into their inventory. Another threat to Whole Foods Market is that their growth relies on building new stores and acquisitions of existing favorable buildings. If Whole Foods Market does not succeed in acquiring these store then the dominating grocery retailers will take more market share and slow the company’s growth. Evaluating Whole Foods Market using (S. W. O. T. ) analysis internally and externally helps you to develop an overall assessment of the company’s current competitive situation. Whole Foods Market is in good standings with the competition they seem to have a business model that is working for them and may need to emphasis a bit more on advertising and attracting more health conscious people with pamphlets at gyms. The Internally the company looks great with not to much to worry about but externally they must act now before the Wal-Mart starts taking their profits as well as other grocery retailers. One of the Key Success Factors (KSFs) of Whole Foods Markets is that it has a strong brand name because the company is well known reputation and far superior up against its main competitors. When a consumer shops at Whole Foods Market they know they will be getting the best quality possible. Another thing that gives them a competitive advantage, is the strong network of suppliers. This KSF has been a focus of Whole Foods Market to purchase their products grown locally to their stores. Information from wholefoodsmarket. com shows that each store has their own definition of â€Å"local† but the consumer just need to check with their particular store to find out where their quality goods are coming from. Another KSF is the access to locations rich in the target market. Whole Food Market has strived to establish stores in most metropolitan areas attracting more people. The Final KSF has been the company’s effective marketing communication. There are many Key Success factors (KSF) when stacking Whole Foods Market up to the competition. It seeks out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintains the strictest quality standards in the industry, has an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture, and the excitement and fun they bring to shopping for groceries, Whole Foods Market is permanently committed to buying from local farmers whose produce meet quality standards, particularly those who farm organically and are themselves dedicated to environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture. Whole Foods Market is greatly increasing their efforts in this regard by further empowering their individual store and regional buyers to seek out locally grown produce. From Investor relations Whole Foods Market states â€Å"Our success reaches far beyond the company by contributing to a higher quality of life. By offering the highest quality food available, we are helping to transform the diet of America, helping people live longer, healthier, more pleasurable lives while responding positively to the challenge of environmental sustainability. † In Conclusion, Whole Foods Market is the leader in this niche market of natural/organic foods industry and is facing strong competition from the big superstores such as Wal-Mart, Costco and many other grocery retail chains. The company is in a position to change people lives forever and future generations as well. As many companies are doing now is finding their consumers and keeping those customers for life. Not just what they just spend at the register each time but what they may spend over each person’s life span and if you are eating healthier you will definitely live longer in return spending more money with Whole Foods Market. Works Cited http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/locally-grown/ http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/values/green-mission.php