Diversity At The Work Place - 853 Words

Diversity at the work place has over the years become a matter of serious discussion. This is because there is a need to stop the common stereotyping that has been in existence over the years. There has been a need to guarantee that there is diversity at the areas of work to ensure that each individual is given an opportunity to work. This is only possible if there is an end in discrimination, this is because discrimination is the major factor that affects diversity in organizations. Looking at a worldwide established company such as Microsoft, diversity is a major aspect that they adhere to. This is because, being an international company, it needs set standards that other companies look up to. A wide range of people from different†¦show more content†¦Microsoft can also attribute part of its success to work diversity (Syed, amp; Özbilgin, 2010). This is because, being a worldwide company, it is expected to ensure that there is diversity. Through being diverse, the company has been able to attract more clients since there is no discrimination since the company has open up its doors in different countries with different beliefs. Through embracing diversity, it has been possible for Microsoft to broaden its services. Through having companies in different countries with different languages, Microsoft has created employment to individuals who market their products and services in foreign countries. This has been significant in ensuring that the company meets its overall business goal which is providing its services globally. Diversity also ensures that there are varying viewpoints. This is because every individual has an opinion regarding a particular matter that may be essential in improving service provision. A diverse work force ensures provides an opportunity for better services through thorough evaluation of the already existing ideas. Through this, it is possible for the company to meet all its clients’ needs as there is a larger perspective of all available issues. There is also an increase in productivity in a diverse working environment. This is because each individual is encouraged to work to t heir best capacity which results in high output. Microsoft has

Strategic Operation Issues Free Essays

string(215) " have they over estimated the man-hours or underestimated the man hours\? This is vital to get right as an overestimation results in an increased cost, making us less competitive, and therefore losing the contract\." STRATEGIC OPERATIONS ISSUES ASSIGNMENT TABLE OF FIGURES ABSTRACT5 PART A6 PART B8 PART C10 PART D11 PART E13 REFERENCE LIST15 ABSTRACT Company A is a global company and within it has several different business units, Company A , is a specialised service provider for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries throughout the world, this report focuses on Company A Tower Field Service Pty Ltd, located in Australia. Operations and process management are vital functions for the effective running of successful businesses, they need to be strategically planned and designed to prevent the loss of vital information, company standards as well as continually improve practises. These processes should be well documented and understood by all employees of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Operation Issues or any similar topic only for you Order Now The loss or relocation of individuals should not have significant impact on company functioning. This report shows how strategic operations functions can be used to improve processes and therefore increase business effectiveness. Key concepts in strategic operations issues, such as process design and analysis, total quality management and resource planning and control need to be well documented for the system to remain effective and to meet long term strategic goals. PART A Describe the organisation and the problem briefly, but well enough for the assignment examiner to understand what the organisation does and its relevance to this assignment; Company A is a global company with many business units located around the world; Company A is itself a division of Company B. Company A have extensive knowledge of all types of vessel and tower internals. Company A are a specialist service provider supporting customer’s needs for all their internal equipment installation, shutdown, maintenance or revamp requirements in the petrochemical, and oil and gas industries all over the world. It is Company A’s strategy to strengthen its ability to supply installation and maintenance services to its customers geographically leading to recent acquisitions, Oceania merging with APA creating APAC. This has resulted in the relocation of key personnel, within the company, to run new locations, consequentially losing experience and day to day operational knowledge. Due to an ill documented management system this knowledge and experience was not captured in processes procedures resulting in a gap in the operations of the business. This assignment focuses on Company A Pty Ltd, Australian Operations. PART B Briefly explain the background to this issue or problem by describing how it fits into the operations of the business. Its impact on the business could be demonstrated using a chart to show the functional relationships, and/or a process flow analysis to show how the operation or process that you are studying is integrated into the organisation; Company A’s work is varied and unpredictable, resulting in fluctuations and depressions in work frequency and volume (Figure 2. 0). Speed, cost and dependability are the important operational factors driving Company A’s market strategy in winning contracts. Whilst each project is different the process for quoting, receiving the contract and executing the job are essentially the same (Figure 3. ) . This process was held by a small number of experienced and long standing employees, when they were reallocated to run other locations, so was the knowledge of project, quoting requirements, Company A capabilities and experience. [pic] Figure 2. 0 – Shows the variation and volume in work load throughout any given year. Reference: Reporting Figures (2009, 2010, 2011) [pic] Figure 3. 0 – Process Flow chart of Company A enquiry through to Project Completion PART C Provide brief specific details of the operational issue, problem or process that needs to be addressed. For example, this might includes: †¢ Key objectives, success factors and performance of the issue in question †¢ Opportunities or implications for changes to the process or techniques being used now †¢ Resource implications or constraints †¢ Technologies and/or manpower issues involved in the process etc. Company A’s core business revolves around winning contracts; these contracts are based upon man-hours that is, the time it would take to complete the scope of work provided by the client. Any deviation from the budgeted man-hours results in reduced profit margins, poor on time delivery, customer dissatisfaction and loss of reputation. Therefore it is vital when quoting for a project all quality, costs, man-hours and materials are factored in. The relocation of personnel and subsequent lose of experience and personnel knowledge outlined a gap between assumed knowledge and documented procedures, as whilst the process to quote and win projects was essentially the same, it was not well documented and new employees were unable to successfully quote for a project. This not only will affect Company A’s bottom line but will result in inconsistent quotations and impact on employee job satisfaction. This has brought forward the need for a documented, maintained and reviewed Quality Management System, whereby, procedures, standard documents and templates can be used which capture all associated costs, project, client and company requirements. PART D Analyse the problem using concepts covered in the appropriate part of this subject (this should be the major part of your work and your report). In analysing the problem, you should consider: the five main objectives of operations management; changes to performance or outcomes (such as quality, productivity etc. ; potential improvements relevant theory calculations where possible; and any information about the costs involved. As speed, cost and on time delivery are the key to being awarded contracts, high importance needs to be placed on these factors and would be where strategic planning would be focused. Whilst quality and flexibility play a significant role in Company A’s application, quality is usually fixed by the client a s they know what they want achieved, as is flexibility, what they want and when they want it is usually not negotiable, especially as they are working to deadlines for their customers. The quotes that are presented to the client not only need to meet the operations objectives of cost and speed, but also dependability that is, is what they have quoted an accurate reflection of what can be practically achieved, have they over estimated the man-hours or underestimated the man hours? This is vital to get right as an overestimation results in an increased cost, making us less competitive, and therefore losing the contract. You read "Strategic Operation Issues" in category "Papers" An underestimate would result in insufficient time to complete the project and the extra cost would be worn by Company A. Not only would cost be an issue, but that would affect our reputation as a specialist provider, decrease customer satisfaction and therefore be less considered by the client when submitting a quote next time. The number and variety of different manpower needed is based on specification of output as well as aggregated capacity that is the number of man hours is then used to calculate how many men/days it would take to complete the job based on a ten hour day. The data for estimating an enquiry has been developed over time, using past experience, company expectations and feedback from the contractors required to do the work. The man-hours required to complete standardised services have been established using the top down and bottom up approach, this knowledge however has not been transcribed to a standard document, in order for consistency in quotations, this should be developed. This will increase productivity, the time taken to complete the quotes and would also facilitate improvement. The structure of Company A having high variation in the demand for services, along with the volume and variety of when and where these services are executed makes capacity management and scheduling difficult, thus reducing capacity (Slack et al, 2010). Being a highly variable business according to Slack et al, 2010, process variability results in simultaneous waiting and resource underutilisations, Company A has managed this capacity demand in off peak times of the year with only hiring a core set of permanent employees, responsible for key operational issues, such as planning, customer liaison and information integration. When a job is awarded short term contracts are issued to trades personnel to complete the core mechanics of the project, once the project is completed the personnel are terminated, thus preventing underutilisation of resources. This however brings with it another problem that is the availability of obtaining the competent personnel for that project and also the lack of consistency with staff working for Company A . The availability of staff, location of the project and type of work, needs to be factored into the resource planning and quoting for the client. As stated in Slack et al, 2010, resource planning, is concerned with managing allocation of resources and activities for process efficiency and effectiveness in satisfying customer demand. The implications are seen in the three main operations objectives that is quality, speed and cost. If there is insufficient man power available to complete the work, the job will run over time, resulting in cost of poor quality, and reputation with the client. This can also affect the quality of work conducted, as personnel could be stretched, or there may be insufficient trades to complete the job to quality requirements. The variety of different staff used, results again in loss of experience and knowledge in the work that we do, being a highly specialised service, it is important to maintain highly skilled individuals. This variety could impact on the man hours budgeted as you would have to account for learning new skills, other variables such as a work ethic, availability of resources etc†¦ The use of detailed work instructions, inductions or retention periods could be a viable solution. PART E Provide brief recommendations for improving the process including comparisons of your recommendations against the current system, and details of changes needed to correct the problem or improve the situation. You should include a rudimentary action plan or relevant time frame for implementation of your recommendations. Bear in mind that your recommendations should be potentially cost effective i. e. you must argue the changes from the point of view of their potential to improve cost, quality, output, productivity etc. In order to overcome the operational issue of loss of resources and valuable information, a well implemented quality management system, based on ISO 9001: 2008 should be implemented, with detailed work instructions, procedures and processes. The current system as it stands is inconsistent, highly variable and not well documented. Creating documented processes and procedures, consistency, application and ease of use will be beneficial to new/old employees with all assumed knowledge being captured and enable with succession planning. The implementation of a quality system would be a time consuming process involving a number of resources as the time to collate, document, review and approve procedures and processes would be lengthy. The application of designated individual would cut down the time needed to complete this project. The impacts of introducing a recognised Quality Management System such as ISO9001:2008 would be far more beneficial than the initial cost/time taken to implement it. Not only would quality of projects be increased, due to standardisation of the processes, but costs would be seen in the reduction of double handling and waste. As all facets of the company would be documented the knowledge of what is presented to the client would increase and therefore cost, time to complete projects, quality of quotations and time to complete these would be reduced. The continuous review process would also enable consistent improvements and company growth. (Figure 5. 0) Having an externally certified system, which is not a prerequisite for winning contracts with clients, would see us as a better candidate against other competitors without certification and could increase our chances of winning contracts. [pic] Figure 5. 0 – Integration of Quality Management System into Business operations. Reference. Company A IMS REFERENCE LIST Slack, N. , Chambers, S. , Johnston, R. and Betts, A. , 2009, Operations and Process Management, 2nd ed, Prentice Hall Company A (2011), http://ctnet. Company A . com/desktopdefault. aspx, International Direct Contact Resources Business Unit Power Point, , April 2011 ———————– OFFER REJECTED – LOSS OF WORK PROJECT PLANNED PROJECT EXECUTED NO QUOTATION? SIGN CONTRACT CONTRACT REVIEW GENERATE PROPOSAL REVIEW OFFER RETURN TO CLIENT WITH A SUITABLE LETTER DECLINING QUOTATION ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER (CONTRACT) ACCEPTED ISSUE TO CLIENT REGISTER ENQUIRY AND QUOTE FOR JOB RECEIVED REQUEST TO BID FOR CONTRACT FROM CLIENT How to cite Strategic Operation Issues, Papers

Qualitative and Quantitative Design Methods †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Queston: Discuss about the Qualitative and Quantitative Design Methods. Answer: Introduction: Ontology and Epistemology are intrinsic to research methodology. Ontology is the foundation of knowledge. Research paradigm is constructed by the integration of ontology and epistemology. The characteristics of research paradigm are ontology management, epistemology and methodology. The ontology of positivist knowledge is that reality is present out there, it can be understood through the external intervention by the scientist (Ritchie et al. 2013). Result is understood as the outcome of current convention. Ontology raises question about reality and what is reality. Ontology emphasizes on what is knowledge and in what ways we perceive knowledge. This enables us to understand the quintessence of knowledge. A clear understanding regarding the philosophy of knowledge will guide the researcher to engage in better research. The ontological position of the positivists is that there is a single reality that is out there and the task of the researcher is to go out there and discover the real ity. The understanding of the positivist ontological position is that there is a fixed reality. This ontology informs the researcher to deploy quantitative research methods that facilitates measurement and quantification of the reality. Another ontological position is that of the constructivists or the interpretivists. Their understanding about knowledge is that there is no single reality. There are multiple realities. Reality is contingent about the perception of different individuals based on their distinctive social location. Since reality is multiple, the approach towards understanding the reality is to explore the lived experiences of individuals, groups, communities and sects. Since experiences of different individuals cannot be quantified, measured on generalized to a larger sample population, therefore qualitative research methods comprising of qualitative interviewing, in-depth and intensive interviews, oral history and participant observation are some of the pertinent tech niques deployed for the constructivist approach of research. The ontological framework of critical social science research is that there is social construction of reality and that the construction of reality is subject to internal reflection. This ontological position influences the a critical and reflective orientation towards social issues. Therefore, Marxist method and feminist method are the key features of this kind of position. According to critical social science research, social realities are manifestation of the power structure and embedded in hierarchical relationship (Lewis 2015). The appropriate methods for this kind of approach is discourse analysis that engages in a perusal of the discourse itself and highlights the power that is manifested through discourse analysis, ethnography and action design research. Action design research is suitable for the temperament of this ontological position as it emphasizes on identifying the issues and seeking solutions management to the problem with the motive of social transformation or praxis. The term epistemology refers to the ways one can know the reality or knowledge and also explains the relationship between the knower and the phenomenon the person wants to know. It is ontology that informs the epistemological premise. Epistemology also emphasizes on the process of knowing and guides about future methods that can be adopted by the researchers. For example, the epistemological tenet of constructivism is subjective understanding of knowledge. According to this philosophy, reality needs to be interpreted with the aim of understanding the meanings imbued to the social action of individuals or groups. Theory, methodology and research design Ontology and epistemology determines guides and informs theory. Theory informs the methodological framework to be adopted for research and the methodical framework in turn gives shape to the research design. In social science research, there are three key ingredients, the first step is the construction of theory followed by the collection of data and followed by the designing of the research. The term theory connotes a testable proposition that have emerged either through the nomothetic (that is based on generalisable scientific laws) or the idiographic (that emphasizes on the subjective interpretation of reality) approach. A theory either emerges through the inductive of the deductive method. According to the deductionist approach, a researcher commences the research with a hypothesis based on the on intensive review of literature on the issue that is being studied. Then, the researcher goes into the field and deploys the survey or the questionnaire method to find the data. The aim of the researcher is to prove the hypothesis valid or invalid (Hughes and Sharrock 2016). The deductionists are inspired from the positivist foundation and tries to provide an objective account of reality. On the other hand, in the inductionist approach the researcher commences with broad research question and enters the field. During the course of the fieldwork and post the data collection, there will emerge the theory. This is also known as the grounded theory. Grounded theory makes use of qualitative research methodology. The foundation of qualitative research is that individuals experiences cannot be quantified and the researcher needs to adopt verstehen (empathetic understanding). This emphasizes that the researcher to understand the participants should put themselves in the shoes of the participant. This would facilitate in having a deeper and acuminous insight into the lifeworld of the individual. Methodology refers to the system that constitutes of a collection of methods th at are utilized by the researcher in the pursuit of their approach towards the research. It is important to understand that research is never pursued without reference to other studies. The ways and patterns in which the social scientist pursues the researcher is situated in the broader context of the paradigm (Neuman 2014). The selection of appropriate research design emerges from the epistemological position of the researcher and the ways the researcher is seeking to understand the given issue. There are two primary research designs. One is the quantitative research design and the other is the qualitative research. The specifics of qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approach to research As has been discussed in the previous journals ontology informs epistemology that in turn informs the methodology and that in turn influences the methods. Qualitative research design is premised on the understanding of interpretivism or constructivism or critical social science research (Glaser and Strauss 2017). In quantitative research design, the aim of the researcher is to measure the through the use of numbers. Quantitative research design entails grasping the objective reality, therefore estimation is done quantification of data. A key advantage of quantitative research is the precision and there is no ambiguity. The data generated from the quantitative research can be generalisable to a larger sample population. Some of the common methods in quantitative research are survey and structured interview. A survey involves studying a particular phenomenon through the use of questionnaire that comprises of both open-ended nad close-ended questions. A questionnaire with too many open- ended questions would make it difficult to code and quantify. A structured interview comprises of a set of questions pre-decided by the interviewer and is not subject to change or modification during the course of the interview. Survey is helpful in examining the number of people and their relation to the particular phenomenon. However, quantitative research has limitation in terms grasping the varied experiences of individuals. In that context, qualitative research is helpful. The data generated from qualitative research is not meant to be generalisable. It uses oral history, in-depth interview, qualitative interviewing, focussed group discussion, unstructured interviews among others that are considered to be compatible for the essence of the research. In case of quantitative method probability, sampling technique is adopted whereas in case of qualitative research non-probability sampling technique is considered to be befitting. Apart from these two research methods there is someth ing called mixed methods. Mixed methods are also known as triangulation. Mixed method approach involves the deployment of both qualitative and quantitative research method (Hussein 2015). For example if a researcher is planning to conduct a study to understand the effect of ethnic violence on a community, then the methods of oral history, unstructured interview, archive analysis and survey all can be employed together to have a better understanding of the phenomenon. In case of a research that aims to understand the relationship between drug abuse and youth, the a quantitative research comprising of large scale cross-sectional research design and survey would be useful. In case a researcher is interested to understand the children of sex-workers and stigma in their life, then qualitative research methods comprising of qualitative interviewing and participant observation would be the most suitable method. Quantification would not be possible in such kind of situation as it will insen sitive and uncouth conduct a structured interview on their lives. Participant observation will enable the researcher to understand the trials and tribulations of the participants and the observation from the field will enrich the data. References Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L., 2017.Discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Routledge. Hughes, J.A. and Sharrock, W.W., 2016.The philosophy of social research. Routledge. Hussein, A., 2015. The use of Triangulation in Social Sciences Research: Can qualitative and quantitative methods be combined?.Journal of comparative social work,4(1). Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches.Health promotion practice,16(4), pp.473-475. Neuman, L.W., 2014.Social research methods. Pearson Education Limited. Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C.M. and Ormston, R. eds., 2013.Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. Sage.

Observation Of A Coach Essays - Aerobic Exercise, Fartlek, Running

Observation Of A Coach I chose to observe the practices at Cuesta College for Track and Field. I primarily focused on the distance team with Matt Sherman as the coach. When I arrived at the first practice I observed Coach Sherman talking to the team at the beginning of their practice. He was going over what they should focus on during their first track meet, which was coming up. His positive attitude stood out the most. He put his emphasize on having fun. He stressed the importance that they work as hard as they can to achieve their best performance but his final words were, Have fun! I started to realize what he stressed most for his team and that was to achieve the goals they set for themselves. For both practices I attended the athletes started out with a warm-up run. They then met as a group and had the team captain (Chris Schachter) lead in their stretches. I noticed strong team cohesion as they stretched talking about their activities from the previous weekend and the work out that they were going to have. After the stretching Coach Sherman gathered them together to explain the workout (both days a speed workout). As he explained he made sure each of the team members understood the exact instructions for the speed drills. One of the athletes (Karen Maas) had a question and he patiently answered it and encouraged more questions to make sure the team knew the exact workout. He had the lone male distance runner do 2 sets of 4x200 meter sprints on the track. He had the womens distance team go out to the ponds to run a 20-minute fartlek in which they ran a minute hard and a minute easy. I observed the male distance runner and when he finished his second set of 200s, Coach She rman suggested he run one more set of 200s. Chris was tired and was hesitant to do more but he ran them without incidence. When I talked to Chris after his workout I asked him if he agreed with Coach Shermans decision to make him run the extra set of 200s. He said, I was tired but I knew it would help me in the long run for the end of my races. Coach Sherman was my coach in cross-country and I noticed an incredible improvement during the course of the season. He really knows what he is doing out on the track. As far as athlete behavior and interaction with the coach, I noticed nothing but positive things. Coach Sherman is a young coach (24) and a student at Cal Poly, but despite the closeness in age he manages to uphold a great deal of respect from the athletes. They not only respect him as a coach, but also as a runner, and they know he empathizes with them. They talked to him about their personal lives as well as running and also had questions about nutrition. I could tell that the athletes felt comfortable asking his advice in different areas of their lives. Coach Sherman showed me a training schedule for this season and I could see that he was very knowledgeable in his skill development. I asked where he got all of his information for each of the detailed workouts and he talked of numerous books and articles on running. I could see that he put a lot of time and effort into coaching and that he was very enthusiastic with his job. I attended the first track meet at Santa Barbara City College. The womens 1500-meter run was up first. Coach Sherman was out on the track giving the female runners advice on their first race of the season and reassuring them that they were physically as well as mentally prepared to run this race. The girls looked a little more relaxed as they got to the starting line, but were still very nervous as to be expected. The top runner from Cuesta got 4th place in a very talented field of runners. Immediately after the race Coach Sherman was there giving splits, constructive criticism and praise. In the mens 1500 meter, Chris Schachter was the lone runner for Cuesta.