The significance of a cohesive culture to organisational performance Essay

The significance of a cohesive culture to organisational performance - Essay Example The report discusses several changes that are necessary in the workplace of BSG Ltd. to enhance commitment and productivity among the employees. Changes such as improvement of workplace relations, teamwork, employee motivation, career mobility, workplace learning and strong leadership strategies have been highlighted. All these changes point towards the establishment of a cohesive culture that can help the management of this company to address the emerging issues in the workplace. Some recommendations regarding the implementation of the highlighted changes in the workplace have been put forward in the report. They include; adoption of a leadership strategy that promotes a cohesive organizational culture, establishment of workplace relations, promotion of teamwork, identification of development needs, control of employee turnover and enhancement of employee welfare. The need to take the workers’ interests in to consideration in the course of change has been emphasized. The conclusion portrays the learning outcomes of the report regarding the need for a cohesive organizational culture. The changes and recommendations that need to be adopted by the company have been noted as a general picture of what a cohesive organizational culture entails. The group prefers employee focused leadership in the organization as indicated in the conclusion. Introduction This report addresses some issues that have emerged in BSG Ltd. leading to a fall in the profits of the organization below projections for the last two years in light of aggressive competition and a declining economy. The results of a culture/employee attitude survey in the organization indicated lack of cohesion amongst employees, low levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, low levels of trust between management and employees, poor team work, and a belief by many that there was little opportunity for advancement. An analysis of company data for the year ending 2010 revealed a 30% incr ease in pilfering, in both warehouse stocks, and stationery supplies. Staff turnover is an issue also, up by 15% in year ending 2010. The benefits of a strong cohesive culture have been emphasized, as well as the changes that need to be implemented by management to this workplace. Some recommendations have been put forward in regard to the implementation of the changes to make them acceptable by the workforce. Organizational Culture Hofstede defined culture as a tool that the mind applies to guide a person’s day to day activities and interactions with others. He portrayed culture as a collective aspect that occupies a particular social

Analysis of Fund Management in China Research Paper

Analysis of Fund Management in China - Research Paper Example    Therefore, retail investment funds are a type of mutual funds where various individuals pool their asset together in order to access investment opportunities that would not be obtainable to them. Retail investment funds in China Retail investment funds have gained popularity in the emerging market because in the fifteen years ago few people were unaware of the existence of the retail investment funds (Jeffrey, 2010). Individuals could not purchase listed securities in the market because extremely few countries had the stock market and others had relatively little trading. Fund management is the management of financial assets on behalf of a client that involves the selection, buying and selling of financial assets. Meanwhile, it involves the collection and re-investment of any income from assets that deals with any certificates and paperwork (Fraser, 2011, 87). The Retail Investment Funds involve offering details of the performance of the fund to the client that involves both ret ail and wholesale.   Over the past 20 years, the retail investment retail has promoted the fund's sector in emerging markets by working closely with institutional investors, investment banks and the government regulators. Mangal and Sunil (2011, P. 190) indicate that the retail funds play a key role in mobilizing large volumes of private capital for equity investment in the stock markets and stimulate the growth of securities market in China. Meanwhile, they assist in improving small and medium-sized corporate to access external equity and get management advice. The retail investment development and opportunities are gradually spreading to most of the population in China that attaches great significance in building real estate. According to Swati (2005, 56), the global recession affected China’s economy severely, but China is creating a favorable environment for retail funds investment schemes. Recently, Chinese people stand in line to purchase retail funds, but as the numb er of retail funds increase, the situation changes.  Ã‚  

Personal Nursing Research Interest on Asthma Paper

Personal Nursing Interest on Asthma - Research Paper Example Asthma is an incurable disease and individuals with this condition will need regular follow-up and monitoring of symptoms. During my postings in asthma clinic, I realized that patient education is the most important aspect of management of patients with asthma and without this, control of exacerbations and symptoms in asthma becomes difficult. Hence in this research article, I chose to discuss about patient education in asthma. The most common symptoms of asthma in an adult are wheezing, cough, nocturnal or exercise-induced cough, breathlessness, tightness of chest and sputum production (Brenner, 2009). The symptoms may be perennial or seasonal, continuous or intermittent, or during the day or night. Some of the precipitating or aggravating factors include viral infections, intense emotions, environmental irritants, exercise, pets or carpets at home, drugs like aspirin, additive foods, weather changes, stress and certain diseases like gastrointestinal reflux, sinusitis and rhinitis ( Brenner, 2009). Many patients have a family history of asthma or other allergy conditions. Treatment depends on the staging of asthma which again depends on the frequency and severity of symptoms. The main drugs for treatment are bronchodilators and steroids. These drugs can be given either oral, through metered dose inhalers or through nebulizations (Sharma and Gupta, 2009, Emedicine).

What did my experience when I first went abroad or visited a different Essay

What did my experience when I first went abroad or visited a different culture than my own How did I overcome the cultural differences - Essay Example The plane trip was uneventful. When I arrived at the Vienna airport however I began to have a bit of culture shock. Everything was written in German—not in Russian! I heard lots of people around me speaking a language I didn’t understand. I went to a shop to buy some food and I could see all the magazines were different and there were many different types of food available that weren’t available in Russia. When I walked out of the airport I was surprised to see that the temperature was much warmer than it was in Russia. I wouldn’t be needing all the winter gear I had brought with me from Russia. I got in a taxi and explained that I wanted to go to a hotel in the downtown part of Vienna. It took quite awhile for the driver to understand what I wanted: communication with people was difficult. As we drove down the streets I noticed that there were many different models of cars on the streets. Many people had more expensive cars than they did in Russia, for ex ample. As I got to know Vienna over the next few days I realized it was a city of wonderful architecture and very friendly people. I was amazed at how clean the streets were and how green the parks were. A big difference was the quality of life of pensioners. In Russia many are very poor, but in Austria I could see they were well taken care of. Generally, people seemed to be happy and kind. I began to realize that I had been nervous about nothing. How did I deal with all of this? In the end I found my trip to be very enjoyable. In the beginning I had been nervous and unsure, but I made sure to keep an open mind. I was curious about Austria and I wanted to learn more. I didn’t necessarily think my own country was better—I wanted to learn. By keeping an open mind while traveling it is easier to adapt to a foreign

Personal Letter to University Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter to University - Personal Statement Example The best reason for me to pursue university studies (say, post-secondary education) is to correlate my career interests and personal interests under a single roof. My personal experience with inequalities in our (Afghanistan) society forced me to take a pledge to make use of every opportunity to serve the needy. As the wide gap between rich and poor is getting wider, the role of a social worker is crucial. Besides, as a person who represents third world countries, I am well aware of the fact that my responsibility is high. So, my plan is to acquire the skills and knowledge that the undergraduate program in social work can offer in order to make a difference in the world. Therefore, I have chosen to pursue a post-secondary education in Bachelor of Social Work because this course can help me materialize my personal and career goals. As a person with intense admiration towards social work, my preferred area of study is Social Work and I am applying for Bachelor of Social Work at the York University. My future career goals are deeply rooted in my personal experiences. For example, my personal experience in my motherland, i.e. Afghanistan motivated me a lot to pursue a career in social work. My ethnic identity as a person from Afghanistan, which faces the fame/problem of internal insurgencies, natural calamities, insufficiency in infrastructure development, poor living condition of the citizens, etc force me to be in the forefront of social work. I feel quite sure that a generation with education and unending aspiration towards social work can transform the future of my nation. Now that I have moved to Canada, there still remains the urge in me to serve the society within my private and public domain. Ming-sum Tsui in the work ‘Social work supervision: contexts and concepts’ makes clear that training programs conducted by universities transformed the formal social work scenario (Tsui 7). Thus, the most important motivation for my decision to

Information Gathering Obu Essay Example for Free

Information Gathering Obu Essay Every Research Report requires information as the basis for analysis. Information sources can be categorised as either primary or secondary data. There is no requirement for you to collect primary data within your Research Report; it is wholly acceptable to undertake your Research Report using only secondary data. The difference between primary and secondary data is identified below. Primary data is original data that has been collected by a researcher by whatever means appropriate in the answer of a specific research question. . e. it has been collected specifically for the Research Report. Examples of primary data include questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys. If you decide to collect primary data as part of your research work, then you should state and justify the following: ? The data collection techniques you intend to use e. g. questionnaires, interviews. ? Your sample size and an outline of your sampling strategy. ? The method you will use to select your sample and the likely response rate. If you intend to collect primary data from staff within your chosen organisation you must obtain permission to do this from a senior member of staff within the organisation. You should do this as early as possible during your Research Report, since if you are denied access to your desired information sources you may have to reconsider how to meet your project objectives and research questions. Secondary data is data that has been collected by others for their own purposes, but which may be used by a researcher for his or her different purposes. Examples of secondary data include reference material, books, CD ROMs and financial statements. You should always evaluate the appropriateness and relevance of secondary data sources. Information included in internet sources may not be reliable from an academic perspective and may not be appropriate for use in your Research Report. If you decide to use secondary data as part of your research work, you should state and justify your choice to do so. Where you use published secondary data you must provide precise references using the Harvard Referencing System. This is discussed in more detail in the following section. You must retain all of the information that you collected during your project work until you have received official notification of your RAP grade from Oxford Brookes University. This includes any questionnaire responses, copies of financial statements, extracts from journals, reports, magazines etc. Oxford Brookes University may wish to ask you to provide additional evidence of your information gathering following the marking of your Research and Analysis project.

The Skin and Sensation Physiology

The Skin and Sensation Physiology The Skin and Sensation Physiology Introduction Skin is the largest organ of our body that protects us from microbes and helps to regulate our body temperature. It contains different kinds of sensory receptors that respond to variety of stimuli: mechanical, thermal and chemical. The general receptors of the body react to touch, pressure, temperature, pain and change of the environment. The encapsulated receptors which include free nerve endings may sense pain and temperature; Merkels discs, which sense light pressure and root hair plexuses that sense touch by the movement of the hairs. While the encapsulated receptors are enclosed in a capsule of connective tissue which are the Meisnner’s, Pacinian and Ruffini’s corpuscles. The density of skin receptors is greater in areas that are designed to sense our environment. These receptors convey the information to the CNS thus, any stimulus should be of threshold magnitude in order to detect. The sensory system have a limit of its sensitivity therefore, stimulus below minim um magnitude cannot elicit a response. The cutaneous receptors are scattered throughout the skin and the underlying fascia. These receptors are the mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, nocireceptors and proprioreceptors that are sensitive to a certain stimuli. Sensation is defined as a state of awareness of the internal and external environment. There are four criteria to be considered in order for a sensation to occur. First is the stimulus, the change in the environment in which we should be aware of. Next, there should be a receptor- a cell or organ which is sensitive to the stimulus. There must also have an afferent nerve pathway that will carry the signal to the CNS and lastly, there should be sensory cortex where the signals was analyzed and interpreted. Hence, this activity aims to demonstrate the sensation acuity using various models in tactile localization and adaption, to determine relative sensitivity of selected areas of the skin and to be able to understand the different features of sensation in relation to various stimuli, adaptation and after image phenomenon. Methodology Tactile Distribution: Two-point Sensibility Begin the test by asking the subject to close his eye. Using a vernier caliper, test the ability of the subject to differentiate two distinct sensations by setting the vernier caliper at the distance with points close together and gradually increasing one or two points until the subject has reached the sensation when the skin is touch simultaneously at two points. Record the distance in which the subject first felt the two-point threshold and repeat two trials for each body area listed below. Back of the neck or nape area Fingertip Forearm (supine position) Tip of nose Palm of hand Tongue Upper arm Thigh area Leg area Tactile Localization Begin the test by asking the subject to close his eyes. Using a pencil tip, touch the skin of the test subject until it leaves an indentation. Then ask the subject to locate the exact spot using the pencil tips. Measure the error of localization using the vernier caliper and repeat twice for each body location listed below. Observe the localization of improvement. Palm Fingertips Forearm (dorsal side) Forearm (ventral side) Lips Thigh region Touch Receptor Adaptation Begin the test by asking the subject to sit and close its eyes. Place a coin on the forearm (antecubital fossa) of the subject. Record the time of how long it takes until the sensation cease. Once the sensation has ceased, add coins of the same size and record the time of pressure sensation. Repeat the same procedure on the other forearm and compare the observations. Ask the subject to close his eyes. Using a pencil tip, run the tip over the strand of hair and slowly pulling it up until the hair spring away from the tip. Ask the subject in which the sensation is greater when the hair is being bend or when it springs back. Weber’s Law: Sensation Intensity Difference Begin the test by asking the subject to sit on a bench and place his hand on the arm rest with eyes close. Put the 2-inch square cardboard on the distal phalanges of his index and middle finger. Gradually add 10 gram weight in the cardboard and ask the subject if he felt the weight. After the subjects feel the weight, remove the cardboard unto the finger and add additional weight from 1 to 5 grams, until he felt the weight increases and compared it with the initial weight. Record the weight increment that produced an added weight sensation. Test other initial weights at 50, 100 and 200 grams and get the Weber’s fraction. Temperature Adaptation and Negative After-Image Prepare three 1000 ml beakers with ice water, water at room temperature and waterbath at 50oC and assign each container into cold, room temperature and warm water. Ask the subject to immerse each of his hand on the cold and warm water for two minutes. Record which hands adapts faster in the said temperature. Then rapidly immerse both hands in the waterbath. Describe the sensation on each hand. Referred Pain Ask the subject to place his elbow in ice water for 2-3 minutes. Are there any changes in sensation localization? Record your observation. Results Various models in tactile localization and adaptation were used on selected areas of the skin for the demonstration of sensation acuity and relative sensitivity of the skin. Also, various stimuli, adaptation and afterimage phenomenon were also applied to understand different features of sensation. The following tables show the results on each exercises performed in this activity. Table 1. Two-Point Sensibility. The table above displays the results taken from the tactile distribution procedure for the two point sensitivity of different areas of the skin. Each area was applied with tactile stimuli from the caliper tips and the distance was recorded once the person had made a distinction of two-points. For the head portion or medial part of the body, the nape area or the back of the neck, the tip of the nose and the tongue got a threshold of 10mm, 8mm and 4mm, respectively. For the upper extremities, the fingertip, the palm of hand, the forearm in supine position and the upper arm got a threshold of 2mm, 8mm, 31mm, and 34mm, respectively. Lastly, for the lower extremities, the thigh area and the leg area got a threshold of 32mm and 36mm, respectively. Out of the nine different areas of the body where the stimuli was applied, the fingertip is noted to be having the most sensitive area while the leg area is the least among them all. Table 2. Tactile Localization. The table above displays the results taken from the tactile localization procedure of different areas of the skin. Two trials were performed and their difference measures the error of localization on each area. The fingertips and the lips received no error of localization since the subject had pointed the exact location of the indentation twice. This amount of error was followed by the palm having an error of localization of 1mm since the subject had pointed the indentation from a distance of 6mm on the 1st trial and 5mm on the 2nd trial. This was then followed by the thigh area, the dorsal part of the forearm and finally the ventral part of the forearm having an error of localization of 5mm, 6mm and 16mm, respectively. Noticeably, the fingertips and the lips had the least error since it received no error at all as compared to the ventral portion of the forearm that had the most error of them all. Table 3.a. Adaptation of Touch Receptors. The table above displays the results taken from the touch receptors adaptation procedure applied on the right and left forearm. The subject had a coin placed on its forearm with the time recorded once it can’t feel the weight of the coin anymore. The right forearm’s distinction is 5.1 seconds for one coin and 9.3 seconds for doubled while the left forearm’s distinction is 4.5 seconds for one coin and 8.8 seconds for doubled. This shows that the subject’s left forearm adapts faster than its right forearm. The difference of time in distinction was measured through subtracting the seconds felt by the right forearm to the left forearm. Having doubled coin received a less difference of time in distinction than having a single coin since the recorded seconds are 0.5 seconds and 0.6, respectively. It is also noticeable that the sense of pressure is shorter when there is only one coin then, returned but got longer after the addition of coins. Table 3.b. Adaptation of Touch Receptors. (++) = felt most; (+) = slightly felt; (-) = not felt Another adaptation procedure was performed using the subject’s hair and the results are being shown on the table above. Its hair strand was bent and sprung back using a pencil tip. The subject responded that the sensation felt greater when the hair was sprang back and least when it was bent. Table 4. Sensation Intensity Difference. The table above displays the results taken from the sensation intensity difference procedure of the fingers using Weber’s Law. Different initial weights were given to the subject’s two fingers which response was recorded after adding additional weights for the intensity difference. The Weber’s fraction came from the quotient of the two weights as how the formula displays on the table above. It is noticeable that the 10g weight got the most Weber’s fraction of 0.3 as compare to the other three weights – 50g, 100g and 200g – that got the same 0.1 Weber’s fraction. Table 5. Temperature Adaptation and Negative After-Image. (+) = adapts faster; (-) = adapts slowly/not adapting The table above displays the results taken from the temperature adaptation and negative afterimage procedure of the two hands exposed on different temperatures. With hands in each beaker, the hand that is placed on warm water adapts faster than the ones in the cold water. When both hands were transferred onto the third beaker containing room temperature water, the ones exposed on cold water earlier adapts too slow – â€Å"like it had gone numb† as compare to the ones exposed on warm water earlier. Table 6. Referred Pain. (+) = present sensation felt; (-) = no sensation felt The table above displays the results taken from the referred pain procedure applied at the elbow and had affected the sensation of the arm. After the elbow was dipped on an ice water for 2 minutes, the subject responded that the sensation had a change in location. It was then recorded that the location of the sensation is now felt on the upper arm. Discussion Conclusion The skin, the largest organ of the body and its somatosensory system or touch system, allows the human body to perceive the physical sensations of pressure, temperature, pain, experience texture and temperature and perceive the position and movement of the bodys muscles and joints. Using various models and procedures, several accounts were recorded including the lips and fingertips as the most sensitive and the more intense weights and temperature as the slowest to be adapted. These are all due to the receptor cells found in the skin that can be broken down into three functional categories: mechanoreceptors that sense different ranges of pressure and texture, thermoreceptors that sense and detect changes in temperature, and nociceptors that sense pain ranging from acute and easy to tolerate to chronic and intolerable. Literature Cited Boundless. â€Å"Skin and Body Senses: Pressure, Temperature, and Pain.† Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 06 Oct. 2014. Retrieved 16 Jan. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/sensory-processes-38/skin-and-body-senses-pressure-temperature-and-pain-165-12700/ Experiencing Sensation and Perception. Chapter 12: Skin Senses. Retrieved from January 17, 2015. Available at: http://psych.hanover.edu/classes/sensation/chapters/Chapter 12.pdf. Touch. Retrieved from January 17, 2015. Available at: http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/634/Touch.html