Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Team Data Collection Essay Example for Free

Team Data Collection Essay BIMS, Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. is a corporation specializes in the services of food and housekeeping to corporations and institutions. The general manager, Barbara Tucker, has noticed that over the last four months the turnover rate has shot up to 64%. Not only is the turnover rate higher than usual, but also employees seemed unmotivated to do their job. There are more employees walking around doing nothing and more employees not doing their job well enough, resulting in complaints from the hospital administration in which they are working. Debbie Homer, HR manage, has developed an employee survey instrument to try to identify why employees are leaving and why each employee is no longer motivated. Overview Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc, BIMS, has a turnover rate of 64%. There is normally a high turnover rate; however, this is a big increase over the last four months. Barbara Tucker is concerned about this increase along with sick days more frequently used and employees wasting time instead of doing their assigned jobs. The cost of replacing workers and the lost hours due to sick time and malaise is causing BIMS to lose profits. Barbara Tucker agreed to allow Debbie Horner to conduct a study on workers satisfaction. Debbie Horner is a HR manager with experience in conducting such a study. Debbie Horner created a survey that focused on work conditions, shift hours, quality of training, pay levels, job security, and demographics. Debbie Horner hypothesized that the high turnover rate would correlate with the level of job satisfaction. Instrument for Data Collection The instrument to gather the data will be a 10 question work related survey and a four question demographic section. This survey will be given to all non-management employees. The 10 work related questions are given a numerical value starting at one for very negative to five being very positive, giving Debbie Horner a quantitative statistic. The four demographic questions will require a direct answer giving Debbie Horner a qualitative result. Types of Data The way the data is being collected is by handing out satisfaction surveys to the staff. The staff is to answer the questions based on a numerical scale  in reference to their satisfaction levels. The types of data being collected are quantitative data as well as qualitative data. The survey can gather more information as well as what is being collected, such as gender group and age range. This would fall under the qualitative data section. The results alone would be considered qualitative data. Level of Measurement There are different levels of measurement by which data can be classified. For this situation, the ordinal level of measurement would be useful for measuring the data. Ordinal measurement scales are for relative ranking and ordering the attribute into different categories. One benefit of using an ordinal scale over a nominal scale is ordinal scales more information and more precise data. The support for the office is Sally. She has been given the responsibility and the task of data entry, made some errors where she put in the number six instead of five for the rankings but was very accurate in the amount of time an employee has worked for the company. From these results, one could see differences in the employees that have worked here several years and those who have not. One can also see the difference in someone who is in a management position and someone who is not. Code the Data and Clean the Data In the case of the BIMS research survey the data is coded in terms of numbers. The spreadsheet created has been done so with all of the responses placed in a numerical data set. The spreadsheet has the question numbers at the top of the sheet and then following the lines of the data set the number responses file down the sheet. If there was any data missing when the information was entered, the decision  was made to just enter a zero. After entering the data, it must be reviewed to catch any errors. Cleaning the data is done with basic steps. Of course the data is imported from the source, but there should always be some backup involved in order to keep the integrity of the data. In some cases the next step would be manipulation or spellchecking. This depends on what kind of data is involved. However, in this case spell checking is not necessary, but manipulation is. For instance with manipulation, they may have to add a column or two, or even add a zero randomly for missing data. Below is numbers 6-10 on the data set, the data has been cleaned up by changing the number 6 to the number 5 thus correcting the errors Sally made. Where a question wasn’t answered a zero was added to indicate missing data. Conclusion Understanding that there was a need to increase productivity at Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc., information on how to increase productivity was an important plan to implement. It was the responsibility of the Human Resources manager, Barbara Tucker, to ensure that methods were used to observe the employees in their operative positions to find out why there was such an increased turnover rate. After collecting all of the quantitative data, there was a clear connection between the employees overall job satisfaction, and customer service. One of the most important components of Barbara’s management efforts was the use of a survey. The survey provided critical information that led to an increased effort in changes from upper management. The satisfaction survey provided critical clues as to the overall performance of employees. There were even some data issues that included opinions from employees who had been on the job for more than five years. Using survey tools are important to the overall  productivity of employees and upper managerial staff. Often times, employees may find it difficult to communicate with direct supervisors because they may be intimidated; however, developing the ability to express themselves through employee satisfaction surveys, they may feel more relaxed and open to further discussions. In summary, customer satisfaction surveys can provide critical information about what the market needs and what your company may need in order to move forward.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Young Goodman Brown - A Thematic Illustration :: essays research papers

Nathaniel Hawthorne comes from an interesting background. He was born in Salem and later returned to live there. He was a descendant of William Hathorne, a puritan judge who persecuted Quakers, and John Hathorne, a puritan magistrate who participated in the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne's kinship to these two notables of puritan history makes the story "Young Goodman Brown," all the more interesting. Hawthorne alludes to John Hathorne when he writes about Goodman Brown's "fellow traveler" commenting on Brown's grandfather, who "lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem." "Young Goodman Brown" is about one man's journey through the woods with the devil and his encounters that make him doubt his faith in himself, his wife, and the community in which they reside. The theme of this story is that beyond any intangible evil, the evil that men do is ultimately the more damaging. Throughout the story Hawthorne uses setting and characters as symbols representing different aspects of good and evil and he uses the plot to develop the eventual win-over of evil over "Goodman" Brown's "Faith." Not surprisingly "Young Goodman Brown" takes place in Salem during the puritan era. The story begins with Goodman Brown departing from his wife in the village to meet with and take a stroll in the forest with a "fellow-traveler" the devil. The contrast between the forest and the town is symbolic. On the outside, it seems like a normal, religious puritan village, but when one goes in deep, one sees there is a center of darkness. The deep, dark forest in the puritan town represents the internal evil of the villagers. The forest is viewed as mysterious, unknown and inhabited by the devil, while the town is pleasant safe and where his wife, "Faith," is. During Goodman Brown's walk through the "dark forest," he sees and learns that many of his mentors and relatives have chosen the path of evil. The forest is where all the respectable people of the town go to vent their evil while outside of the forest, they seem like they are pure and good. Hawthorne adds to the symbolism by personifying the trees "which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through" as Brown "walks alongside a dreary road." Hawthorne uses the characters of the story also to represent good and evil. The names of the main character and his wife are ironic. Faith, in the literal context of the story, is Goodman Brown's wife.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

How does Miller use the character of Alfieri to manipulate the audience? Essay

How does Miller use the character of Alfieri to manipulate the audience? What is his attitude to the events of the play? Miller portrays Alfieri as the symbolic bridge between the Italian and American cultures. Alfieri is seen to appreciate the traditional Italian customs yet he also abides by and respects American law. This causes sympathy for him as he is caught between the two paths and has to choose between them. This brings up a theme of the play; choosing between doing the right thing or being true to your feelings. Alfieri can sympathise with Eddie but he can not do anything about the situation that Eddie is in, as the law can not help him and he is not in a position where he is able to help. Miller uses Alfieri as a narrator in ‘A View from the Bridge; Miller has based Alfieri’s role in the play on the idea of a Greek Chorus. The main purpose of the Chorus was to begin and end the action that takes place in the play, as well as to link the different parts of the play together so it runs smoothly. This is one of the purposes Miller gives Alfieri in the play. Miller establishes a relationship between Alfieri and the audience, by having Alfieri speak directly to the audience. As he is the only character who addresses the audience directly, they feel closer to him than to any other character. Through Alfieri, Miller is able to influence what the audience think of certain characters at different points throughout the play. For instance in reference to Eddie, Alfieri says that â€Å"He was as good a man as he had to be in a life that was hard and even†. This description of Eddie directly influences the audiences’ opinion of Eddie. Miller can also manipulate the audience into feeling different things for characters, for instance creating sympathy for Eddie at the end of the play, â€Å"I confess that something perversely pure calls to me †¦ so I mourn him †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Alfieri also influences the audience by the way he explains certain events in the play. Alfieri provides commentary on what is happening in the play as well as providing his own opinion. The audience is influenced by his words as they have a close relationship with him. When Alfieri talks to the audience he is much more relaxed and talks about his private life as if he was talking to a close friend or relative. He is much more open as he is not being consulted as a professional, â€Å"I no longer keep a pistol in my filing cabinet.† This is not a subject that would come up when talking to someone who you have just met. This adds to the closeness the audience feel with Alfieri. However during his talks with Eddie he tries to be un-biased and give sound advice but he can not help but to like Eddie. This is because something about Eddie’s character and his actions appeal to him, not taking into account how self-centred or selfish theses actions are, â€Å"Give me the number of the Immigration Bureau†. Eddie reporting on Marco and Rodolfo is done for selfish reasons, but Alfieri admires it as he acted without hiding behind a superficial faà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ade due to his simplistic nature. Miller gives Eddie a person to confide in, someone he can look to for sound advice; a fatherly figure, when he created Alfieri. Alfieri serves multiple purposes throughout the play. During the play most of what Alfieri says is directed towards the audience or towards Eddie, this shows the audience that Alfieri is detached from the actual action happening in the play and can not directly influence what is going to take place. He is seen to omniscient, Alfieri can be seen as the person looking down from a vantage point on top of the bridge from where he can see everything but affect nothing. When Eddie goes to Alfieri for advice various times throughout the play, we can see that he feels he can express his feelings a bit better, but he is almost always disappointed as Alfieri only gives him advice that he feels is not right and there must be better solutions. In the end even this helpful advice is not enough to stop the events that befall Eddie. However this is subjective as, if Eddie had followed this advice it is unlikely that he would have had such a tragic demise. Events followed a tragic path because only Eddie holds the true power to stop things from happening the way they did. This is his fatal flaw. Alfieri’s inability to change the events, affects him deeply and he feels powerless and desperate as he can see how events will turn out and the one person who could change this; Eddie, is too set in his ways and does not heed his advice. When Eddie comes to Alfieri in Act Two he is described as having eyes â€Å"like tunnels†, the effect of the state of his eyes on Alfieri is that he seriously contemplates calling the police. This also shows Alfieri’s desperation as he is willing to turn to drastic measure to stop events, however he does not call the police and therefore events carry on as they were. There are some similarities between the advice Alfieri gives to Eddie and Marco even though they are two very different people with different temperaments and personalities. The gist of the advice he gives them, is that the law can not help them in the situation they are in, and it is better to â€Å"let it go†. The advice he gives them is what they should follow if they want to do the right thing, but it is not what each of them want to hear so they do not heed it. At the end of the play Miller, through Alfieri causes sympathy for Eddie and shows the audience Eddie’s redeeming quality, his love for his family and being â€Å"himself purely† in his actions even if his actions are not purely good. Alfieri can not help but to be drawn to Eddie and this causes internal conflict within him because he is torn between being true to his roots or to abide by the laws of the country in which he resides in. Alfieri whilst being omniscient is also impotent; this is a major contributing factor to the tragic demise of Eddie and the tragic ending of the play.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Why Are Teams and Groups Seen as Essential Features of...

Why are teams and groups seen as essential features of contemporary organisations? This essay aims to discuss why teams and groups are seen as essential features of contemporary organisations. Firstly, it will examine what exactly constitutes a group or team, then it will go on to discuss different types of groups and teams which exist within an organisation. Next it will explain why groups and teams are key to contemporary organisations in particular and finally, it will discuss the disadvantages associated with groups within organisations. Firstly, it is important to distinguish what exactly constitutes a team or a group. As Khan (2010) states, all teams are groups because the individuals in it have some kind of of unifying†¦show more content†¦Virtual teams allow the organisation to easily spread decision making to trusted individuals rather than only to top management. Groups can be essential to an organisation s level of productivity. If there is a high level of group cohesiveness the group will experience high morale and will become a desirable entity to be part of within an organisation which means there will be plenty employees willing to compete with each other for a spot in the group, which in turn raises productivity. Managers need to control the size of groups in order to stay at an optimum level of productivity and also offer incentives like bonus pay for good performance to enhance the desirability of the group even further. Groups also relieve some of the responsibility of the manager, as they do not have to keep a constant eye on each individual employee, they can trust that group members will spur on the productivity of the group in order to gain the proposed incentives. Groups can provide an organisation with more than one solution to a proposed problem because as Maier (1967) states, a group has a greater knowledge store than that of any individual. 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