Teacher Qualification and Student Academic Achievement free essay sample

This study examines whether teacher qualifications are related to student academic achievement, specifically, we examine the relationship between fifth grade student achievement in mathematics and reading and various indicators of teacher qualifications such as teacher certification, teaching experience and teacher’s education level. This research design takes advantage of the National Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Class of 1998-19999 (ECLS-K). The analysis indicates that elementary school certification promotes student achievement in both fifth grade mathematics and reading, while teacher’s teaching experience matters more for reading than mathematics. In terms of teacher education, we found no significant effects on increasing students’ test scores. However, our results indicate that students’ race, their parents’ education level, and their socioeconomic status have a larger effect on test scores than teachers’ education, experience, or the general state certification. It took me a long time before I found the right data for this research. Without the guidance of Dr. We will write a custom essay sample on Teacher Qualification and Student Academic Achievement or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Liza Herzog, Senior Research Associate of the Philadelphia Education Fund, Dr Elizabeth Useem, a Senior Research Consultant at the Research for Action and Dr. Ruth Neild, a Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins University, this would not have been possible. I would like to add a special thanks to Professor Thomas Dee, Associate Professor of Economics and the Director of Public Policy Program at Swarthmore College, who suggested that I look at this particular data set (ECLS-K). I am extremely grateful for his advice, since this project would not have gotten this far without his help. I also thank my advisor Professor Saleha Jilani, who supervised the entirety of the project. Her patience and kindness with me over the months are deeply appreciated. Finally, I want to extend my gratitude to Professor Thomas Vartanian at Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work for his inspiration to study the education inequality in the United States, and also my family and friends for their continuous encouragement during my semester of completing this project. The bill outlined President Bush’s public education reform agenda, proposing the most dramatic changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which has tried to raise the academic performance of all students, since its enactment in 1965. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) includes significant new accountability measures for all public schools, such as closing the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students, achieving mathematics and reading proficiency for all students by the 2013-14 school year, providing a highly qualified teacher for every core academic subject, improving communication with arents and making all schools safer for students (Mantel 2005, Four Pillars 2004). To recruit and supply more â€Å"highly qualified teachers†, the law has increased federal funding for teacher training programs, such as the Troops to Teacher program that encourages military veterans to become teachers, the Transition to Teaching program that encourages experienced professional to become teachers, and Teach for America which recruits recent college graduates to teach in disadvantaged schools. Since teachers are arguably the most important education resource, recent interest in teacher labor markets stems in part from the recognition of the importance of teachers and the recognition of substantial differences across schools in the qualifications of teachers. A consistent finding in the research literature is that teachers are important for student learning and that there is great variation in effectiveness across teachers (Aaronson, Barrow and Sander, 2003; Rockoff, 2004; Rivkin, Hanushek and Kain, 2005, Kane, Rockoff and Staiger, 2006). Furthermore, many researchers believe that teacher quality is a key determinant of student achievement, and this has been explicitly acknowledged under the NCLB by requiring every elementary and secondary public school teacher be â€Å"highly qualified†. To be considered â€Å"highly qualified† under the NCLB rubrics, teachers need to have a bachelor degrees and state certification that has not been waived on a temporary or emergency basis. In addition, NCLB also requires these highly qualified teachers to be proficient in the subjects they teach, by having a college major or graduate degree in that particular subject, credits equivalent to a college major, passing a state-developed subject matter test, or having advanced certification. All these definitions of â€Å"high quality† and requirements of teachers reinforce the idea that as we raise standards for all students, we are placing even greater importance on the role of teachers. This research looks at academic gains among students during their elementary education and how their achievement is affected by the different teacher qualities, such as their teaching experience, their level of teaching certifications, their employment status, their education attainment (i. e. receipt of a master’s degree) etc, in addition to the effects of students’ schools and families impact their academic achievements. The two questions is explored in this paper are: * to what extent are fifth grade teacher qualifications associated with their students’ mathematics score? to what extent are fifth grade teacher qualifications associated with their students’ reading scores? This study is organized as follows. The next section provides a brief overview of the relevant literature on teacher quality. Then we discuss our econometric specifications and the ECLS-K data. The following section presents our results and the final section concludes with some discus sion of how these results relate to the prior literature and what they mean for current policies. II. PREVIOUS LITERATURE Kati Haycock, a teacher quality advocate, argues that there is clear evidence that demonstrate how â€Å"teachers have the single greatest effect on student learning† (Huang, Yi, Haycock 2002) since teachers spend a significant amount of time working directly with students. Highly dedicated and qualified teachers are needed to strengthen students’ learning experience and maximize their academic achievement. However, there are also a lot of different studies on teacher qualification that argues otherwise. The following literature review touches upon recent studies of teacher certification, teacher’s teaching experience, teacher’s education degree and assessments for teachers. No doubt, there is an acute need for teachers in high poverty schools in the United States, yet to improve the current programs, there are continuous heated debates on teacher assessments such as whether teacher certification improves students’ performance and whether teacher-intern programs such as Teach for America (TFA) where interns are allocated into poor performing schools and are asked to transform the classroom enhances students’ academic achievements. For TFA Corp members the criticisms tend to fall into two categories: first, is that most TFA teachers have not received traditional teacher training and therefore are not as prepared for the demands of the classroom as are traditionally trained teachers; and second, is that TFA requires only a short-term commitment, only two years of teaching and the majority of Corp members leave at the end of that commitment (Xu, Hannaway, and Taylor, 2007). This contributes to the vicious cycle of low teacher retention rate and enormous spending for training new teachers because the benefits of TFA’s teacher training are lost when TFA teachers leave. There are more than four studies done that included data on TFA and three of them are published in peer-reviewed journals. Looking at these four studies together, which will be discussed individually later, it shows that students of uncertified TFA teachers do significantly less well in both reading and mathematics than those who are new yet certified, and the negative effects in reading are most evident in elementary grades. On the other hand, when TFA teachers obtain training and certification, their students generally do as well as those of other teachers or sometimes better in mathematics. Furthermore, the problem with the retaining TFA teachers was also highlighted in the following studies. In Laczko-Kerr and Berliner’s (2002) study, they compared student achievement for 110 matched pairs of recently hired under-certified and certified elementary teachers from five low-income school districts in Arizona. These elementary teachers were paired up with students who took the mandated state achievement test, which is third grade and above, and were matched within schools and districts. Their study had two findings: first, it indicates students of TFA teachers did not perform significantly different from students of other under-certified teachers; and secondly, they found that students of certified teachers significantly out-performed students of teachers who were under-certified on all three subtests of the SAT-9 – reading, mathematics and language arts. Notably, the effect size favoring the students of certified teachers were substantial. Students of certified teachers outperformed students of under-certified teachers by about three months in reading on a grade equivalent scale, and about three months ahead in both mathematics and language arts. In addition, the study verified traditional programs of teacher preparation result in positive effects on academic achievement of low-income elementary school children. Therefore, concluding that policies allowing under-certified teachers to work with the most difficult to teach children appear harmful. Even though Laczko-Kerr and Berliner’s study did not control for prior year achievement at the individual student level, other studies that included this control also obtained similar findings such as the study by Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin and Heilig (2005). They used data from Houston, Texas which has information on more than 132,000 students and 4,400 teachers in grades three to five over six years on six achievement tests: the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), SAT-9, and Aprenda (for Spanish-speaking students) in reading and mathematics. In this study, students’ prior year achievement and demographic characteristics, classroom and school characteristics, and teachers’ experience and degrees were all controlled for and they found that certified teachers consistently produced significantly stronger student achievement gains than uncertified teachers, including Teach for America teachers. These uncertified teachers had significant negative effects on student achievement for five of six tests, with the sixth test showing insignificant but negative effects. Among the five tests showing negative effect of having an uncertified teacher, the study established that uncertified TFA teachers had greater negative effects than other uncertified teachers, by hindering their students’ achievement by one-half month to three months annually compared to a fully certified teacher with the same experience working in similar school. While on a positive note, TFA teachers’ effectiveness improved once they gained certification. TFA teachers who stayed long enough to obtain standard certification did about as well as other similarly experienced certified teachers. In mathematics, TFA students did significantly better than those of other certified teachers on the TAAS test, with no difference in the SAT-9 test but still marginally worse on the Aprenda test. Even though TFA teachers appeared to improve when they became certified in their second or third year, few of them stayed in the district or even continue to teach to exercise their effective teaching. In the third study by Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb and Wyckoff (2006), they examined how the entry requirements changes the teacher workforce and affect student achievement by analyzing the effectiveness of 3,766 new teachers who entered teaching in grades 4-8 through different pathways in New York City. The study found that, compared to the students of new teachers who graduated from teacher education programs, students of new TFA recruits scored significantly lower in reading / language arts and about the same in mathematics (worse in grades 4-5 and better in grades 6-8). These results were similar to those of other teachers from non-traditional routes, including the New York Teaching Fellows, temporary license holders, and teachers from out-of-the-country. Like the Darling-Hammond et al. (2005) study in the Houston, TFA teachers’ effectiveness generally improved as they became more prepared and certified by the second year of teaching, the negative effects disappeared for elementary math. Unfortunately for reading, TFA teachers continued to exert a significant negative influence on their students’ reading scores. Just as the Houston study, most TFA teachers left after their second year and their retention rate by year three is as low as 27% and by year four only 15 %. This retention rate is about 25 percentage points lower than other non-traditional entrants and 13 percentage points less than college prepared teachers. Using the same database as Boyd and colleagues’ New York City study, Kane, Rockoff and Staiger (2006) compared entrants into New York City schools by different categories of initial pathway and certification status. Similar to the Boyd et al. tudy, this study found that, in math and reading, students of first year teachers from TFA, the NYC Teaching Fellows, and other uncertified teachers did worse than those of first year teachers who were regularly certified. As the authors sort the new teachers into different categories, they included teachers licensed through â€Å"transcript review† and temporary permits in the same group as college-prepared teachers, to mini mize the effect of teacher preparation. Once again, the study demonstrated a reduction or elimination of negative effects in math when teachers finished their training and certification and gained experience. However, in reading, the initially uncertified groups of teachers continued to have a negative effect for all three years (for Teaching Fellows and other uncertified teachers) and for two of the three years (for TFA). As the other studies have shown, TFA has an especially high attrition rate, by the fourth year, only about 10% of TFA recruits stayed in teaching, about 40% of other uncertified teachers remained, about 50% of NYC Teaching Fellows continued, and just below 60% of regular certified teachers kept onto the profession. There is a large number of studies on the relationship between student achievement and teachers’ characteristics, such as teacher experience, preparation, degrees earned, certification, and test scores and we touched upon a few of them in our previous section on teacher quality and qualification. Surprisingly, the majority of studies conclude that teacher education and experience not being strong predictors of teacher effectiveness, as measured by student gains. In the study of Chicago Public School teachers, Aaronson, Barrow, and Sander (2003) found that 90 percent of the variance in teacher effects on student learning was not explained by teacher characteristics, such as highest level of education, experience, credentials, and selectivity of the college that the teacher attended. In addition, there is an unexpected preponderance of evidence that suggests teachers who have completed graduate degrees are not significantly more effective at increasing student learning than those with no more than a bachelor’s degree. Five studies that Rice (2003) reviewed examined student achievement in a wide variety of grades and subject areas, and found that teachers having completed an advanced degree had no significant effect on student performance (Summers and Wolfe, 1977; Link and Ratledge, 1979; Murnane and Phillips, 1981; Harnisch, 1987; Monk, 1994). Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor (2007a) have also found that on average, elementary teachers who had completed master’s degrees were no more or no less effective than others at raising student achievement, other than elementary teachers with master’s degrees. This group of elementary teachers appeared to be less effective, on average, than those without advanced degrees if they earned the degrees more than five years after they started teaching. In terms of the effectiveness of teacher assessment, Margolis (2006) examined the impact of high-stakes assessments, of both K-12 students and new teachers, on teacher development of equitable teaching practices. Through exploring two studies of field experiences in Washington State—one of teacher interns and one of cooperating teachers, Margolis reckons that new teachers were receiving little support in incorporating multiculturalism, cultural responsiveness, and transformative pedagogies into their teaching requirements and that state level policies in response to the No Child Left Behind Act may be decreasing teacher attention to closing the achievement gap. His analysis points out that, in order to hold teachers more accountable, policymakers may want to shift their focus from creating complex assessment guidelines that evaluate teachers’ qualification to develop better teacher-student relationships that promote pedagogical change. III. MODEL Two basic ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are done to investigate the extent of teacher qualification influences fifth grade student’s grades in both mathematics and reading, controlling for student’s socioeconomic status and school characteristics.

Amazon Inventory Management Essay Example

Amazon Inventory Management Essay Example Amazon Inventory Management Paper Amazon Inventory Management Paper Introduction Launched by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon. com website started in 1995 and is today considered as one of the most prominent retail website on the internet with a record turnover of US$ 14. 87 billion in 2007. Jeff Bezos’s intention was to create an internet based company with the most dedicated product portfolio on the internet where customers could find anything they might want. Amazon’s success is based on technology, services and products (Jens et al. , 2003). Controlling inventory is known to be one of the toughest problems for companies. With 39 million active customer accounts and a vision such as being â€Å"Earth’s biggest selection of product†, Amazon has been putting a lot of effort to be as efficient as possible in their inventory management. The purpose of this report is to understand the evolution of the inventory management of Amazon and how it has affected the company’s growth. This case study is both a practice case and a problem solving case, so the first section of this report focuses on the practices used by Amazon in the 4 stages and then in the second section we will solve the problem regarding their product returns problem and provide recommendations. I-The 4 Stages of Amazon Amazon’s Inventory management can be divided into 4 stages: An initial start with no inventory Built warehouses to store inventory Entered into partnerships with distributors Entered into partnerships with retailers Initially started with no inventory In the first stage Amazon’s main objective was to create a virtual bookshop, where customers could have more choices than any physical bookshop in the world, but also, he did not want to spend time and money on building warehouses and deal with inventory because each warehouse could cost around $50 million dollars. First stage logistic process As shown in figure 1, customers used to order products from Amazon’s website, Amazon then forwards the order to the distributor, who in turn sends the product back to Amazon and finally, Amazon ships the product to the customer. Initially this didn’t look like a bad idea but it wasn’t long till Bezos understood that if he had to build on strong customer satisfaction and needed to have his own inventory. This left him with two choices, either improve information system flow throughout the supply chain or build warehouses to manage its own inventory (Hof, 1999). Built warehouses to store inventory In this stage the objective of Amazon was to build warehouses and gain better control over their Inventory and increase the range of products while reducing their logistics cost (Choen et al. , 2004). Figure 2: Second stage logistic process As show on figure 2, Amazon used to procure items from their distributor and store them in their warehouses. Customer makes an order and Amazon couriers it to them. This helped Amazon to maximise its storage capacity as well as decrease their logistics costs. However Amazon did face a major problem of managing a large inventory along with high warehouse maintenance costs. This left Amazon with two options, either to use its warehouses more effectively by boosting sales or outsource its inventory management. 3. Entered into partnerships with distributors This was a huge risk as Amazon had a very good reputation in providing superior customer service and if this task was outsourced; their hard earned reputation may be damaged (Saunders, 2001). On the other hand Amazon would now be able to concentrate on its core activities by reducing the need for warehouses. Figure 3: Third stage logistic process (Drop-shipment model) This model gave greater flexibility in terms of product range. They could focus their attention on listening to the market in order to be more reactive by discovering products Amazon’s visitors wanted and then being able to rapidly add them to the product list. On the other hand, there was no capital investment and no danger of suddenly having a warehouse full of outdated items. Figure 3 shows how drop shipment works. However, whereas Amazon was planning to extend this model to all other categories, the company started to encounter some problems (Julie et al. , 2004). Since Amazon uses drop-shippers as well as their own warehouses, split shipments became problematic. This reduced overall efficiency as 35% of Amazon orders were of this nature. 4. Entered into partnerships with retailers This led Amazon to enter the fourth stage where they entered into partnerships with other retailers. The process is illustrated in figure 4. Figure 4: Fourth stage logistic process They main benefit of this stage was that Amazon could expand its product categories while cutting cost incurred through shipping and operating their warehouses. Amazon used best practices from eBay to assist them in this stage as shown in figure 5. Figure 5: Best Practices from eBay 5. Further Analysis As we have mentioned above we have analysed and discussed the various stages that Amazon went through in terms of their business strategy, which also affected their logistics management. We identified that Amazon had different motives for modifying their logistics management when moving from one stage to another. When Amazon went from having no inventory to building warehouses, was primarily to grow their business as they wanted to offer a larger range of products to their customers. From there, Amazon then decided to enter into partnerships with distributors. The main motive behind this move was to improve its logistics efficiency. Finally they entered into partnerships with retailers. Again Amazon’s key objective was to grow the company as now they will be able to display the retailer’s products on Amazon’s website, thereby further expanding their product range. After our case study date Amazon has gone on to further increase the variety of products offered and at the same time improving their operations. This has been achieved by taking up the Six Sigma approach to its distribution operations and by applying lean manufacturing and Total Quality Management methodologies to its processes. Amazon now ships to more than 200 countries. Therefore they have begun to use a global trade management solution to provide customers with more information. They have also started to be a drop shipper where Amazon will handle inventory and shipping for other e-businesses. Many years back Amazon would have never thought of doing such an activity as having more inventory meant more costs. However, Jeff Bezos has seen the potential in doing this, as they have the experience and reputation in managing inventory and logistics, which other e-businesses find that hard to ignore. II-Conclusions and Recommendations 1. Conclusions We have learnt some important lessons when it comes to logistics management in e-businesses after considering Amazon’s case. Firstly, flawless logistics and fulfilment are key drivers of customer retention and long-term profitability. Like Amazon, all other e-businesses should get their corporate mind set straight, meaning that they should understand that it’s all about the customer and a positive profit-margin. E-businesses should be able to provide customers with the 3R’s, which are the right product at the right place at the right time. At the same time they have to make a profit. So they key challenge is to be able to deliver both. Other e-businesses should consider outsourcing some of its activities so that they could direct focus towards their core activities. Amazon did this and was able to concentrate on other activities such as marketing its brand. After arriving at the fourth stage Amazon was faced with a major problem regarding their reverse logistics process. This has resulted in frustration among customers due to difficulties in returning a product to Amazon and the handling of returned products by Amazon was not very efficient. This was eating into their profits. Therefore a solution must be developed to tackle this issue. 2. Recommendations Amazon’s reverse logistics procedure is a very long process and required Amazon to allocate a lot of resources to make sure that it runs smoothly. These resources may be put to better use in attending to Amazon’s core activities such as product fulfilment. Figure 6 shows the reverse logistics procedure of Amazon. Figure 6: Amazon’s Reverse Logistics Process We would recommend that Amazon considers in outsourcing its reverse logistics to a third-party reverse logistics provider. There are certain factors Amazon will have to take into consideration if an outsourcing strategy is to be chosen (Rao, 1994). These factors are as follows: Amazon has to see if it is a company that handles a large inventory. Amazon has to see what the characteristics of the products that they offer. Amazon should look into the level of required customer service that has to be offered. Amazon should see if reverse logistics is considered to be a core activity in the company. We have answered these questions to see if our recommendation is appropriate for Amazon to consider. The number of products that they handle is unimaginable and they receive countless amounts of orders per day. For example, Amazon. com just finished its 13th Christmas season in 2007 and December 10th of 2007 was the busiest day with customers ordering more than 5. 4 million items on that day, which is 62. items per second (Chaffey, 2008). Therefore it is inevitable there would have been a large number of returns. Even their vision states that they want to offer customers anything they might want by having Earth’s biggest selection of products. The characteristics of the products that Amazon handles vary considerably. They handle products of different shapes and sizes. Larger items would take up valuable space. Amazon will have to offer good customer service to its buyers. If customers have a difficult experience when returning products and do not get a quick response, they may end up being dissatisfied and etaining first time buyers at Amazon may prove to be a failure. After analysing the company more closely, we realized that Amazon is more interested in getting the products to their customers in the most efficient manner. Therefore forward logistics could be considered to be a core activity with the company but is not the case for reverse logistics. After answering these questions, outsourcing their reverse logistics seems to be the best option as Amazon could then focus on their core activities. Bibliography Saunders. R (2001) Amazon. com way – Secrets of the world’s most astonishing web business, Capstone Bezos, Jeff (1998) A Bookstore By Any Other Name, viewed 20 March 2008, commonwealthclub. org/archive/98/98-07bezos-speech. html Jens, C. , Peter, M (2003) The Industrial Dynamics of the New Digital Economy, Edward Elgar Publishing Hof, R. (1999) Whats With All the Warehouses? , viewed 18 March 2008, ; businessweek. com/1999/99_44/b3653046. htm; Ordering from merchants, viewed 26 March 2008, ; amazon. com/gp/help/customer/display. html? nodeId=537794; Choen, S. Roussel, J. (2004) Strategic supply chain management, McGraw-Hill Julie, A. , Sokol Robert, J. Thomas (2004) State of the art, viewed 27 March 2008, ; accenture. com/Global/Research_and_Insights/Outlook/By_Alphabet/StateOfTheArt. htm; Rao, K. , and Young, R. R. (1994) Global supply chains: Factors influencing outsourcing of logistics functions. International journal of physical distribution and logistics management. Vol. 24. No. 6. Chaffey, D (2008) Amazon. com case study, viewed 20 March 2008, ; davechaffey. com/E-commerce-Internet-marketing-case-studies/Amazon-case-study;

Micro & Macroeconomics and their impact on daily life Essay

Micro & Macroeconomics and their impact on daily life - Essay Example The term ‘micro’ has been derived from the Greek word ‘mikros’ which literally means small. Thus Microeconomics studies economic actions and behavior of individual units and small groups of individual units. Hence, Microeconomics engages in microscopic study of the economy and seeks to determine the mechanism by which different economic units attain their positions of equilibrium, proceeding from individual units to narrowly defined groups. In a modern economy Microeconomic theories and postulates play a very significant role in understanding economic behavior of rational units of an economy. Operation of an economy: Microeconomics explains how a free enterprise operates and functions. Most economies of the world are mixed economies consisting of both public and private sector enterprises where the private sector is much larger than the public sector. Microeconomics explains how a market economy with millions of customers and producers decides the allocation of scarce productive resources among millions of goods. Efficient use of scarce resources: One of the principal problems faced by every economy is to ensure efficient employment of scarce resources between competing ends. Microeconomics helps to understand the mechanisms involved in this regard and assists policy makers to take rational decisions that would achieve economic growth with stability. Economic welfare: The whole structure of welfare economics is built upon the Microeconomic theory of Perfect Competition since maximization of economic welfare is possible only under Perfect Competition.

IT Systems Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

IT Systems Strategy - Essay Example Many organisations continue to invest heavily on information technologies with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of their operations and information systems. However, technology tools alone cannot be used to address discordant organizational information structures. According to Petrides (2004) such technology-focused problem solving strategies may in fact do the opposite, which is to prevent organisations from successfully capitalizing on their use of technology because they tend to overlook organisation-wide symptoms. One major area that the above strategies fail to capture is the information tacitly held by employees that is critical yet rarely documented. Knowledge is universally recognized as the most important strategic asset that an organisation has. The challenge though is that knowledge cannot be managed directly. According to Streatfield and Wilson in Henczel (2000) only the information about the knowledge possessed by people in organisations can be managed. This i s why the need for information auditing becomes critical. Good information management an essential prerequisite to knowledge management. Information audit will therefore be the first step in developing a knowledge management strategy or improving the strategy that Primark Stores Limited may already have to ensure that the organization is managing the knowledge it needs to manage to remain competitive and successful. There is no universally accepted definition of an information audit. According to the Association for Information Management in the UK, an information audit is â€Å"the systematic evaluation of information use, resources and flows, with a verification by reference to both people and existing documents in order to establish the extent to which they are contributing to an organisation’s objectives (Henczel, 2000, p.215)†. With regard to purpose, the information audit process will enable Primark Stores Limited to achieve the following four key functions: (1 ) to identify Primark’s information needs and assign each of these needs their level of strategic importance; (2) to discover and classify the resources and services currently provided to meet Primark’s information needs; (3) to map information flows within Primark and between Primark and its suppliers, buyers and rivals; and (4) to analyse inefficiencies, duplications or gaps and areas of over-provision so as to detect where changes need to be made. By fulfilling these functions, an information audit will enable Primark track and identify each resource and service that supports organizational objectives. The audit will also allow Primark to rate each resource according to its strategic significance. In which case, the information audit could be structured to include an examination of IT tools that can aid effective information management. At the corporate or strategic level, the results of an information audit will provide a knowledge base that can be used for making management decisions about information sources, identify strategic information needs via information needs assessment and can be used as the basis for formulating an organisational information policy. The Financial Director of Primark Stores Limited needs to understand that an information audit reflects the organisation in its entirety and how it works. The process is, preferably, conducted by an independent team so as to

Consider East Africa and its extensive trade route. Why is it Essay

Consider East Africa and its extensive trade route. Why is it important What does it say about the impact of Africa in the world What does it say about ancient Africa Pick your one focus, go deep - Essay Example Aksum and the Swahili Coast were the first to be mentioned as the important trade regions. The coast of East Africa is a part of extensive trade networks throughout the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. Aksum was located in Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is remembered for its splendid stone monuments, gold coins, and elaborate palaces (Ade-Ajayi 80). In the sixth century, the Aksumite kings extended their empire to the southern Arabia. International trade developed in that region where markets were established in urban areas concentrated along the coast regions full of wealth and power. The merging of Arab, African and Indian peoples along the coast of East Africa produced Kiswahili language and Swahili culture. Ivory, gold and slaves were the goods that were traded globally along the Swahili coast. The negative effect of the existence of the East African trade route was the slave trade. The slave trade was conducted by both Europeans and Arabs. European slave traders came in the 17th century, taking the African slaves into the islands of America and Indian Ocean. The slave trade in Africa caused social disruptions among people, depopulation of certain regions, and increasing of violence, as a result, of firearms trade (Ade-Ajayi 85). The slave trade ended later resulted to a justification for European colonizing the East Africa. Europeans began exploring East Africa in the 15th century. Vasco de Gama and other Portuguese explorers started the connection between the Europe and African Coast that later lead to centuries of trade and domination of Africa by Europeans. Other explorers came later including Christian missionaries. When the slave trade was deemed as illegal, Europeans had engaged into other types of trade (Ade-Ajayi 89). The industrial revolution in Europe needed cheap raw materials for its factories in which East African colonies provided large quantities of agricultural goods,

The Structure Of British Airways Management Essay

The Structure Of British Airways Management Essay British Airways is the largest international airline in the United Kingdom and is assigned in the operation of international and domestic carriage of cargo and mail, and the auxiliary services The British Airways Group comprises of British Airways, British Airways Holidays Limited, BA Connect Limited, Deutsche BA, and British Asia Airways, amongst others. Since privatization in 1987, British Airways have persisted to develop as competition in the market becoming the worlds first airline to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to let passengers to print online boarding passes. Structure of British Airways: As explained British airways flat structure encourages the company to have a corporate culture which can be described by applying the McKinsey 7S s model which includes Staff, Skills, Style, Shared Values, Systems and Structure and strategy. Before the privatization, British Airways had a more formalized bureaucratic structure with rules and procedures, as a result of its size and its activities. But a main change in the last years has been the decrease of its management levels and it now has a formal structure with responsibilities across different functions. Therefore the structure of British Airways is flat type because it has only one level of hierarchy that separates managing directors at the top of bottom-line employees. The organization has segregated management-level positions into ten departments and each department has own subordinates. British airways structure is shown in figure 2 in which its departments include Planning, Investment Alliances, Commerce, Ground Operation, Engineering, Flight Operation, IT, Finance, Law, and Human Resource. (British Airways, 2010) Figure 2: British airways organization structure, (British airways 2010) Description: Management structure diagram Sources: www.britishairways.com However market influences created a leaner, structure at the top of the management. As illustrated in figure 1, British Airways have a flat hierarchical structure that needs them to cooperate within all the levels of as strategic where the board of directors take a decision on the long term objective the information which flows to the managers in the tactical who furnishes the information to the operational level and the operational level (front office staff, flight stewards etc.) drives the data into meaningful messages to be operated conveniently and efficiently. Culture of British Airways: Mission Statement:                   To be the most exclusive and first choice airline for all airline travelers We recommend a new mission statement after a consultation process involving our group members. The mission statement can replace an existing statement, which had been drawn up in 1997 in the run-up to privatization, and many employees have received training in its meaning for their particular jobs. Their mission statement clearly shows that in every persons mind the first thing to come from traveling by air should be British Airways. Whatever it is called, a vision, mission or strategic intent, its purpose is to provide a guiding light for the future. Companies without a mission are prone to opportunistic. A unifying mission is especially important in large companies where staff and managers are expected to take decisions themselves, without constant referral back to headquarters or to their seniors. Aims: British Airways is to become the worlds first global airline Objectives: Like all businesses one of their objectives was to maximize profits however after September 11th they had to change their aim of having an increase in   security as this was the main issue globally and they needed to keep their customers safe after the horrific terrorism attacks in the USA. Objective:    To increase security to combat terrorism Specific To increase security for the safety of passengers and staff Measurable Hand luggage of passengers was reduced to a plastic bag, stop and search was also put into place and metal detectors as well as a regular anti-terrorism drills Achievable More security staff will be in place and they have the finances to do so. Realistic This objective is realistic as terrorism is a threat and they also have the finances to do so to ensure that all passengers and staff are fully protected. Objective: To increase profits by the end of the tax year 2009 Culture: The organizational structure of a company reflects its culture, its management style and its leader attitude in addition to the environment in which it has to operate. . British Airways have a more formalized structure with precise rules and procedures, due to its size and the global scope of its activity. A major change in the last years has been the reduction of its management layers, between the chief executive and the front line who interface with customers, from nine to five. It now has a small ad hoc group working in parallel with the formal structure, with responsibilities that cut across different functions, or in any case duplicated these functions. Corporate culture The organizational culture consists of the deep basic assumptions, beliefs, values and norms which are shared by members of an organization, arise from the organizations history and tradition and are modified by contemporary events. Management style and leadership at British Airways As clearly stated above, British airways had been bureaucratically, between functions and hierarchies. It has changed to a style of employees empowerment. This means management gets help from employees outside the formal structure and across functions. British Airways used to have a more autocratic style but at the moment company is delegating responsibility directly to key individuals. The management at all levels mutually responsive to relationships created with customers and stakeholders. In other words company is experiencing democratic leadership style. Interrelationships of functions with processes: The business process is a collection of interrelated activities and tasks that will create a service as well as products for the consumers of business. There are three types of business processes involve in British airways and they are management process, operation process and supporting processes. The management process of British Airways is all about the operation of a system which includes the strategic management and the corporate governance. Strategic planning in management process is very important because it includes business plans, risk assessment, risk management, financial objectives, management responsibility, continuity planning, quality control, IT threat, contingency plan, disaster recovery, and fulfillment. Operations: Another type is the operational process which is the most essential among all the types of the business processes. It generally comprises the core business of British airways which is transporting passengers fast, safely and comfortably. In addition to this, it also generates the primary value stream. Purchasing, sales, manufacturing and marketing functions are usually included in its operational process. These three types of business processes of British airways have their own distinctive attributes which add value to its service delivery process. SUPPORT ACTIVITIES FIRM INFRASTRUCTURE Structured hierarchy permits BA to build a massive amount of specialist knowledge in order to get a competitive advantage over economized firms. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Invested in the expansion of customer service training in 2007 drawing attention of the best employees. Speak Up view survey persuades employees to offer feedback (British Airways, 2008). TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT BA has included value in this group over smaller companies by reason of lack of resources that can be employed to create the service in an innovative way. (e.g. Individual LCD screens). PROCUREMENT As a result of the size and chronological business relationships and alliances, BA is able to influence suppliers and during economies of scale make efficiencies where competitors may fall short. PRIMARY ACTIVITIES: INBOUND LOGISTICS: Stock Control High quality training given by City the Guilds (British Airways, 2008). A continuous relationship with suppliers (e.g. Gate Gourmet. OUTBOUND LOGISTICS: Customer Service Large database of airport slots facilitates passengers to contact the majority of destinations from preferred airport. MARKETING SALES Marketing communications to all stakeholders. Brand consenting to for large budget to be spent in this field. POST SALE SERVICE The loyalty club card is offered. Bringing up to date communication on other services Interrelationship between the processes and functions of British Airways British Airways is one of the worlds largest aviation companies. Its portfolio of aviation transportation in which it is a global leader in air transportation The companys aviation operation and extensive airplanes of growth projects are located in all over the world, South America, Australia, North America and Asia. The purpose of the organization is to set out in a mission statement. To be the leading global aviation company through the operational excellence of world class assets in the most attractive commodities and a resolute commitment to safe and sustainable air transportation. In 2008 there was a downturn in world economic activity. This resulted from a loss of confidence in the world financial system. The downturn has led to a steep fall in aviation travelling prices such as airfares. By late 2009 these prices started to rise again as demand for aviation transportation increased. Sustainability Although Airline companies are affected by changes in economic activity, aviation is a long-term investment business. Firms like British Airways have to take a long term view of the business. This involves creating more routes which is a sustainable way over a long period of time. The company focuses on those routes in which it has a favorable position. It concentrates on various routes where sales of air tickets will be possible for many years into the future. It also looks at aviation projects where costs can be kept to a minimum but where there are opportunities to expand operations. There are several issues of sustainability facing British Airways. Key ones are: Securing energy supplies, such as airplanes and resources including fuels, for the future Managing emissions to minimize harm. British Airways uses large quantities of energy in its operations. It also generates the potential for energy, e.g. by purchasing the very latest planes which are eviromental friendly. A key aim of the company therefore is to do more with less. It must achieve maximum efficiency with minimum waste. British Airways believes that by operating in innovative and socially responsible ways it can do things better than its rivals. Doing things better in business is referred to as competitive advantage. Social responsibilities are those duties to all the stakeholders of a business, not just the shareholders. Embedded within social responsibility is the concept of sustainable development. Sustainable development involves using resources so that: Resources are available to meet the needs of people now Resources can be available to future generations The needs of the natural environment are respected. The success of British Airways is the best value comfort service provides for its passengers. And to build up this solid foundation in the marketplace, British airways utilizes its resources effectively and efficiently. In that manner operations management of British Airways plays an important role in transforming inputs (labor, capital, equipment, land, buildings, materials and information) into outputs (goods and services) that offer superior value to customers.

Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Essay -- William Shakespeare Plays

Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Much Ado About Nothing illustrates a kind of deliberately puzzling title that seems to have been popular in the late 1590s (ex "As You Like It"). Indeed, the play is about nothing; it follows the relationships of Claudio and Hero (which is constantly hampered by plots to disrupt it), and in the end, the play culminates in the two other main characters falling in love (Beatrice and Bena*censored*), which, because it was an event that was quite predictable, proves to be "much ado about nothing". The pronunciation of the word "nothing" would, in the late 16th Century, have been "noting," and so the title also apparently suggests a pun on the word, "noting," and on the use of the word "note" as an expression of music. In Act two, scene two ,Balthasar is encouraged to sing, but declines, saying, "note this before my notes; there’s not a note of mine that’s worth the noting." (53-54) However, Don Pedro retorts, "Note notes, forsooth, and nothing," playing on Balthasar’s words, and also demanding that he pay attention to his music and nothing else. In addition, much of the play is dedicated to people "noting" (or observing) the actions of others (such as the trick played on Beatrice and Bene*censored* by Leonato, Hero and Claudio); they often observe and overhear one another, and consequently make a great deal out of very little. Author The political and cultural events of the 15 century had a large influence on Shakespeare’s work. In Much Ado About Nothing, Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Don John, his brother, Borachio his servant, Bene*censored*, a young lord, and Claudio his best friend are all returning from war, and have been invited to stay with Leonato for a month. Shakespeare's antagonist Don John, bears much resemblance to Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V, half-brother to the King of Aragon who defeated the Turks at Lepanto and returned to Messina after his victory in October of 1571. Don Jo hn of Austria had many of the qualities that Shakespeare's Don John did, he was not on good terms with his brother, and although he tried with much effort to gain status, he was frequently humiliated in attempts to bring himself fame. Shakespeare was known to draw parallels between his characters and actual historical figures, in an attempt to produce a sort abstract history of the times (ex... ... if he does see Hero in another man’s arms, that he will publicly shame her at their wedding tomorrow. Later that evening, Claudio witnesses the encounter between "Hero" (who is really Margret and Borachio. The day after, Claudio publicly accuses Hero in adultery and refuses to marry her. Hero is shocked so much that she faints during that scene. So, "the love from the first sight", between Claudio and Hero has been destroyed so easily; only by a scene set up by Don John. Only selfishness is seen in this speech. Claudio publicly accuses Hero in cheating on him without trying to talk to her first. And even if she did cheat on him, why would he want to hurt her so much? This aspect presents the fact that he probably loves himself, but not Hero. It’s easy then, to doubt whether the love was ever real between the two characters characters. Why did it take so little effort to influence them? Bibliography Sources Buckler, John; Hill, Bennet D.; McKay, John P.; A History of Western Society; pgs 485-562; Houghton Miffin Company; 1999 Hieatt, A. Kent; William Shakespeare; Encarta 98; 1998 Shakespeare, William; Much Ado About Nothing; Bantam Books; New York, New York; 1993