Investigative report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Investigative report - Essay Example I would listen to customer as I walked around. It is important for you to note that Wal-Mart food chain stores are not as effective as you may think. The retail stores have a shortage of employees, a problem that people could hardly discover. Despite this problem, I observed that they stock a wide range of food and grocery products (Kipple, Adam and Wherry 23). During my visit to this Wal-Mart grocery store, I found that most customers prefer to shop there because the retail outlet stocks a variety of foods and grocery products. The food chain store stocks products such as cereals, soft drinks, fish, milk, fruit and vegetables. The list of grocery products on the shelves is endless. I found out that the retail store have a strength in availing products to the consumers on time (Kipple, Adam and Wherry 24). You should note that my observations were supplemented by consumer talks, which were not deduced from interviews. Indeed, I walked around the retail store just like any other consumer and never interviewed anyone. On another different note, the retail store had a shortage of employees ranging from the shop attendants, cashiers to the supervisors. The customers were hanging around the corridors and shelves because there were few shop attendants to direct them. Additionally, the same customers would line up for several minutes before they pay for the goods to the cashiers. There were many customers inside the retail store, not because they loved the store so much, but, due to the fact that employees were inadequate. I had thought that Wal-Mart is perfect and efficient even before visiting their food chain store. Being the leading grocery business in the US and the world, one might think that there are no problems in its operations. You should note that the retail store does well in stocking many types of products, but, has a shortage of employees to meet the customer needs. I will go beyond and remind you that Whole Foods is another company that deals with

Reasons For Failureof an Estimated 66% of all Change Initiatives Essay

Reasons For Failureof an Estimated 66% of all Change Initiatives - Essay Example Change initiatives come under different names such as total quality management, restructuring, cultural change and rightsizing among others (Ismail 2011, p. 3). The main drivers of change include mergers and acquisitions, innovation, technological change, decreased sales or market share and reorganization. Other drivers of change are globalization, a sense of urgency and the case when 75 percent of the leadership in an organization honestly gets convinced that the organization, as it is currently, is not an acceptable plan (Kotter, 1995, p. 3). However, the main motivation behind organizational change is to enable it to deal with a new and more challenging market by introducing changes to the way it conducts it activities. Despite the critical role that organizational change plays, failure to maintain significant change occurs time and again (Kotter 1995, p. 3). This is even despite the fact that a significant amount of resources is invested in such initiatives as highly talented hum an resources and high capital investment. As noted by Ismail (2011, p. 3), changes intended to target improvement of quality, enhance culture and turn around corporate collapse only end up giving lukewarm results. They assert that more than 66 percent of these change initiatives fail miserably (Ismail 2011, p. 4). The paper seeks to presents the reasons behind such high failures of organizational changes. Reasons Why Change Initiatives Fail According to Kotter (1995, p. 3), after observing various organizations – be they large or small organizations – introduce change, only a few have been successful. Most of these change initiatives fail during the course of their implementation. The basic lesson learnt from the successful initiatives is that the process of change goes through phases which require a considerable length of time. In case a step is skipped in the process of change, the organization can never get satisfying results (Harris 2006, p. 37). In addition, any m istake made during any of the steps can spell doom for the success of the initiatives. One of the major mistakes which can lead to failure of the change initiative is failure to establish a large enough sense of urgency. Every successful change initiative starts when some persons or a group in an organization assess the competitive situation, technological trends, market position and financial standing (Harris 2006, p. 38). After identifying any drawback in the performance of the organization, such individuals are able to communicate such information pointing out to the potential risks and the potential opportunities available. In organizations which go through successful change, such information is communicated in a timely manner and the organization begins aggressive measures to bring changes. However, some organizations fail right from this initial step. As stated by Cummings (2008, p. 37), people are the greatest impediment to change. Consequently, when a proposal to bring chang es to the organization are suggested, organization executives start feeling that introduction of changes can result in reduced morale among employees, the senior management will be apprehensive to such change proposed and that change may run out of control. Additionally, the executives may fear that the change could negatively affect the short-term targets of the business, that the stock prices would be negatively affected and that they can be blamed for causing

Ergonomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ergonomics - Essay Example Standards† written by O’Neill (2011) detailed the specifications for seating conformance to include elements such as the chair to the used, the chair seat height, the seat width, seat pan depth, seat pan tilt, the seat pan-backrest angle, and lumbar support. The detailed specifications, based on O’Neill’s (2011) discourse are as follows: (1) chair shall support the user’s back and thighs and must have a backrest that reclines; (2) the chair seat height shall be adjustable according to the user’s need to as much as â€Å"a range of 4.5 inches between 15 and 22 inches† (ONeill, 2011, p. 3); (3) the seat width shall meet the specified width of at least 17.7 inches; and (4) there shall be a support for the lumbar, as needed. The visual or eye standards should incorporate distance between the user and the monitor display. According to the Department of Energy (DOE) (2008), in the article entitled â€Å"Creating a Healthy Workstation Environment: Workstation Ergonomics Made Easy†, the optimum distance between the user’s eyes and the visual display by operators in seating position is 600 mm (Department of Energy (DOE), 2008, p. 7). Likewise, it was noted that special computer glasses that would assist in preventing eye fatigue and vision problems for long hours of monitoring visual displays shall be considered. It has been emphasized that the effectiveness of performance on undertaking monitoring of visual displays is affected by lighting. In this situation, it was stipulated that the operator does the monitoring in a dark room. According to ergonomic standards, light requirements actually vary depending on the performance of tasks. Since the operator focuses on monitoring visual displays from the computer, which already self-illuminating, less light is actually needed; but, it would help to provide focused task lighting (â€Å"a separate lamp†) (Department of Energy (DOE), 2008, p. 21) to assist in other tasks and prevent creating a totally dark

Two Forks Medical Mystery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Forks Medical Mystery - Essay Example She described the details of her older brother’s similar experience less than a month ago. It struck me then that the carrier who had infected Cam had possibly infected his older brother Cord. Nora was unable to listen to my reasoning as most cases of the Paratyphi-type are passed through visibly-uninfected carriers also known as ‘Typhoid Mary’. Since it was very early in the investigation (I had not yet interviewed the town’s people) it could not be ascertained that this was a case of ‘Typhoid Mary’ but nonetheless was a strong possibility. It appears that Cam Watanabe fell sick after possibly eating and drinking the food served at the restaurants on the fourth of July celebrations. Nick, one of Cam’s friends, accompanied Cam and their other friend Adam that very day. As he recollected in the County Sheriff’s car, he told Nora, the deputy and me what had happened. The boys went to a total of four eateries but I noticed Noraâ€⠄¢s frown when Nick mentioned Grapplin’ Bear. He noticed it too and abruptly ended the conversation. That gave me a hint as to selecting the most possible restaurant that gave Cam the bacterium.

Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lockheed Martin Corporation - Essay Example Ethics in sustainability, good citizenship, and asset responsibility are fundamental ethical standards that the corporation’ marketing team can use in convincing customers (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012). Ethical standards set by Lockheed Martin are among key aspects that help the company in luring large markets that it controls across the globe. Most of their ethical standards are elements that form good marketing gears for the marketing team. To acquirer long-term and continual market survival, the business must maintain high ethical standards. Tough rules on ethics are a good indication of competence and high standards of service provision.Lockheed Martin products face stiff competition from some of the major players in the aerospace industry such as Boeing. The only advantage that Lockheed Martin enjoys is customer confidence, even though Boeing also has its loyal customers (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2012). The competing companies, in many cases, violate their set ethics to com pete favorably. Although violation of ethics may be beneficial in the short run, it affects the continuous customer loyalty.

Two Forks Medical Mystery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Forks Medical Mystery - Essay Example She described the details of her older brother’s similar experience less than a month ago. It struck me then that the carrier who had infected Cam had possibly infected his older brother Cord. Nora was unable to listen to my reasoning as most cases of the Paratyphi-type are passed through visibly-uninfected carriers also known as ‘Typhoid Mary’. Since it was very early in the investigation (I had not yet interviewed the town’s people) it could not be ascertained that this was a case of ‘Typhoid Mary’ but nonetheless was a strong possibility. It appears that Cam Watanabe fell sick after possibly eating and drinking the food served at the restaurants on the fourth of July celebrations. Nick, one of Cam’s friends, accompanied Cam and their other friend Adam that very day. As he recollected in the County Sheriff’s car, he told Nora, the deputy and me what had happened. The boys went to a total of four eateries but I noticed Noraâ€⠄¢s frown when Nick mentioned Grapplin’ Bear. He noticed it too and abruptly ended the conversation. That gave me a hint as to selecting the most possible restaurant that gave Cam the bacterium.

Educational Philosophy Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Educational Philosophy Statement - Essay Example That is why the diversity of learners should be understood so as to allow uniform learning to occur. Knud Illeris’ learning theory understands the various internal as well as external factors that impact learning including cultural, societal interaction and the inherent development of illustration as contributing to learning (Illeris 2009). Since every learner goes through different experiences and may belong to diverse backgrounds it is important to bring them along the same level considering these differences. My efforts as a teacher, therefore, should remain to understand these differences and to create a learning atmosphere where the learner feels motivated to learn rather than lacking any relation with the material. Another useful theory is that of situated learning theory which is quite effective is that of Experiential Learning and it is widely being used in universities to enhance the learning process of students. According to Kolb, experiential learning is a process t hat occurs in stages (McGill & Beaty 1995). People learn well through experience. This is quite natural and this can be demonstrated by the example of an aged individual who possesses far more knowledge than a young and naive individual only because the older individual has greater experience. This theory suggests that learning also takes place from observance and reflection. This is why university students are often given assignments and projects for which they have to go outside the class and explore the situation so that the knowledge learnt is relevant and applicable in real situations. This has shown better learning outcomes. Effective Learning Environment Teachers play an important role in creating an effective learning environment. The teaching practices should involve methods that are helpful to student-centered learning. Thoughtful questions asked by students help in piquing curiosity which is significant for purposeful interaction with the learning material. Good questions motivate thought regarding the subject and are good for the learning process. Such questions should be valued through appreciation or any other form of credit (TeachThought 2012). My aim as a teacher would therefore be to acknowledge students’ efforts so that they get motivated and have a drive to excel even further. A variety of instruction mediums can be used including direct instruction, assignment based learning, peer to peer learning and so on. However good class rooms are very diverse and not every medium of instruction may suit the diversity. A variety of criteria should be used by the teacher in order to personalize learning based on interest, willingness, and other criteria. Gradually this would enable a teacher to know what is required by the student. Assessment should be constant and original and feedback about performance should be provided quickly (TeachThought 2012). Rather than a wholly grade-centered assessment, the focus should be on the understanding of con cepts. I feel that student-specific assessments can prove to be helpful as students may have different learning speeds and capacities. Taking them to be on the same level would be an unfair assumption. These will create an environment that encourages progressive learning thereby enabling students to learn more effectively. Professional Growth The learning theories indeed assist in the application in educational frameworks. These principles of learning can be taken into consideration for effective learning