Literature Review On Organisational Change Management Essay

Literature Review On Organisational Change Management Essay Part A Organisational Change: Organisational Change is the process by which organizations move from their present state to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness. Characteristically Change is vital if a company wants to avoid stagnation fast and is likely to increase further in the present competitive business Change is understood as doing things differently in order to cope up with emerging changes in the organisation environment. Change in any part of the organisation may affect the whole organisation. Change could be proactive or reactive. A proactive change has necessarily to be planned to attempt to prepare for anticipated future challenges. Generally it is initiated by management. A reactive Change may be an automatic response to a change taking place in the environment (John Lacovini, The human side of Organisation Change, January 1993, Page 35.) Change Management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams and organisations form a current state to a desired future state. Its major objective is to maximize the collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimise the risk of failure to change. The major obstacle to change management is Resistance to Change. (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour, 8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.520) T John Lacovini says, The secret to real success of any organisation is effective management of the emotional vulnerability that accompanies organisational change. Types of Change: Different types of changes require different types of strategies to be implemented for effective functionality. The three types of change that occur most frequently in organisations are Developmental Change Transitional Change Transformational Change Developmental Change: Developmental Change occurs when a company makes an improvement to their current business. If a company decided to improve their processes, methods or performance standards that should be considered as developmental change. Companies are continually processing developmental changes to some degree in order to stay competitive. This type of change should cause little stress to current employees as long as the rationale for the new process is clearly conveyed and the employees are educated to new techniques. When major change such as decision to close a division, streamline the business and organisation downsizing, make developmental changes unacceptable to the employees. The employees could see that the company attempted different strategies before determining that closing the division is the only option. Transitional Change: Transitional Change is more intrusive than developmental change as it replaces existing processes or procedures with something that is completely new to the company. The period when an old process is being dismantled and the new process is being implemented is called transitional phase. A corporate reorganisation, merger, acquisition, creating new products or services and new technologies are examples of Transitional Change. It may not require a significant shift in culture or behaviour but it is more challenging to implementing than a developmental change. The future of the organisation is unknown when the transformation begins which can add a level of discomfort to the employees. (Bernald M. Bass, From Transactional to Transformation Leadership, Training and Development, May 1991 Pages 87-92) The outcome of transitional Change is unknown so employees Amy feel that their job is unstable and their own personal insecurities may increase. Education and orientation at every stage of new process implementation should be commenced in order to employees insecurity. This will make the employees feel comfortable. They will feel engaged and actively involved in change. As the employees level of engagement in new process increase, their resistance to change may decrease. Management should be a cognizant of the impact and stress these changes will have on their employees. The company should continue to inform the employees of their status offer support in helping them deal with the personal adjustments they will be forced to make. Transformational Change: Transformational Change occurs after the transition period. Transformational change may evolve both developmental and transitional change. It is common for transitional and transformational change to occur in tandem. When companies are faced with the emergence of radically different technologies, significant changes in supply and demand, unexpected competition, lack of revenue or other major shifts in how they do business, developmental or transitional change may not offer the company the solution they need to stay competitive. Instead of methodically implementing new processes, the company may be forced to drastically transform itself. (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour,8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.525) Part B Resistance to Change: The goal of any planned organisation change is to find a new and improved way of optimal utilisation of resources and capabilities in order to increase an organisations ability to create value and improve returns to its stake holders. Yet employees do not always welcome changes as expected by the organisation. As per the 2007 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organisational changes fail majorly due to employee resistance and inadaptability to change. Figure   Reactions to change may take various forms. Active resistance  is the most dangerous factor in change management. Employees with Active Resistance may go against the change effort and object the change in several manners. Boycotting the organisation, tending to disrupting habits and raising slogans against the organisation are some examples for high negative resistance. In the opposite nature,  passive resistance  is calm and doesnt include violence in any aspect. Passive resisters are insecure about their position after change. Instead of clearing their insecurities with the management, they tend to look for a new job and leave the organisation. Compliance, is coping up with the proposed changes with little enthusiasm. Finally, those who show  enthusiastic support  are supporters of change, who understand the value of change and contribute to the effective implementation of change. They are the defenders to organisational resistance and propagate the new way to actually encourage others around them to give support and contribute to the overall change effort. The best example of resistance of employees to change is computerisation. Change requires readjustment. Man always fears the unknown and a change represents the unknown(P Subba Rao, Essentials of Human Resources Management and Industrial Relations, Chapter 12, page 353) Factors causing resistance to change: Fear of Unknown: Such fear is due to uncertainty about the nature of change, feelings that one doesnt know what is going on and what the future holds. Loss of Control: Feeling that the change is being done to the person, worry that one has no say in the situation and events that are taking place. Loss of face: Feeling of embarrassment as a result of change and discerning it in such a way that the things one has done in the past are wrong. Need for Security: Worry about ones potential role after change and fear of losing job after change. Fear of Demotion: Employees may fear that they may be demoted if they do not possess the skills required to do their jobs, after change. Hence they prefer status quo. Loss of Power: Employees in superior cadre may assume that change may eventually result in the loss of their superior power. They give more prominence to maintaining prestige and status in the organisation, even if the change is for overall betterment of the organization. Fear of workload: Change in work technology and methods may lead to increasing workloads there by no proportional increase in salaries and benefits. This feeling creates resistance to change. Need for Training: Not all employees are interested in continuous learning and if the change necessitates relearning and continuous training, employees may resist to boredom to learn. Need for new social adjust: Any organisational change involves new social adjustment with various groups and sub groups.Some people refuse transfers and promotions, as they may need to need to break their current social comfort zone? Perceiving change as imposed from outside: Some employees may consider that change is enforced only for the development of organisation, not for their development. They perceive change as something imposed from outside on them. (Bernald M. Bass, From Transactional to Transformation Leadership, Training and Development, May 1991 Pages 93-95) Forces of Change: An organisation is affected by various forces to change. Internal forces: The forces inside the organisation which affect the change are as follows: Need to develop new products and new technologies in order to with stand in the ever changing competitive world. Focus on business diversification. Urge to implement bench marking standards in the organisation Business Process Re-engineering and Total Quality Management process implementation Cost Cutting strategies to with stand in recession times Company going for Public Issue External Forces :The forces outside the organisation which affect the change are as follows: Change in the employment and industrial laws of the country. Booming economy or recession situation. Business trends such as globalisation which helps to spread the commercial activity all over the world. Increasing competition makes companies concentrate more on customer satisfaction and customer excellence. Social, economic and political changes like terrorist attacks, political conflicts with other countries, UNO Regulations and World Bank policies. Demographic shifts like shrinking labour, droughts and drains, rising health care costs, rise in the number of foreign born workers force companies to concentrate more on matters of discrimination and civil rights. Part C: Approaches to Organisational Change Change Management Models: Management is said to be a change agent as its role is to initiate the change. It has to overcome the resistance in the organisation and make the change as a successful venture. Management must realise that resistance to change is basically a human problem and hence it must be tackled in a social and human manner. Several behavioural scientists and psychologies have studied group dynamics and organisation development and hence have proposed various theories and models to change management. They are described below. Levins Force Field Theory of Change(1936): Kurt Zadek Lewin (September 9, 1890 February 12, 1947) is a renowned psychologist and is recognized as the founder of social psychology. To his credit he was one of the first to study group dynamics and organizational development. Lewin proposed force field theory of change, which explains about various forces affecting the change and organizational equilibrium. Taken from www.change-management-coach.com An organisation at any time is a dynamic balance of forces supporting and restarting any practice. The forces supporting the practice are Driving Forces and the forces objecting the practice are restraining forces. When the forces are evenly balanced, the organisation is in a state of inertia and doesnt change. To stimulate an Organisational change managers must find ways to increase the Driving Forces and decrease the Restraining Forces. With these strategies an organisation overcomes inertia and implements change process. (John W. Newstrom and Keith Davis, Organisational Behaviour,8th revised Edition, Chapter 15, Page No.410,411) Change is introduced within a company by a variety of methods. The idea is to help change to be accepted and integrated into new practices: Adding new driving forces Removing restraining forces Increasing the strength of the supporting force Decreasing the strength of the restraining force Converting a restraining force into a supportive force A good example for this strategy is an urge for increased quality of products in an organisation is supported by forces like higher-quality work, increased company reputation and better customer satisfaction.Restrining forces being employees feeling irresponsible for the quality of product they produce. This can be overcome by implementing programs to increase employees pride, performance based hikes, providing better machines and training, quality of work life etc. Three Stages in Change: Behavioural awareness in managing change is aided by viewing change as a three step process: Unfreezing Changing Refreezing Stage 1: Unfreezing Unfreezing means that old ideas and practices need to be cast aside, so that new ideas can be learned. It basically means to have an open mind and flexibility to accept new changes. Its getting rid of old practices and accepting new challenges. Its basically breaking the current comfort zone and getting ready for change. So a manager must help employees clear their minds of old roles and old procedures. Only then they will be able to embrace new ideas. The Unfreezing stage is probably one of the more important stages to understand in the world of change we live in today. Stage 2: Change or Transition Changing is a step in which new ideas and practices are learnt.This process involves helping an employee think reason and perform in a variety of new ways. It can be a time of confusion, disorientation, overload and despair. Patience is very important in this point. There should be hope, discovery and excitement to overcome to overcome all chaos and enter a new mode of development. Stage 3: Refreezing Refreezing means that what has been learned is integrated into actual practice. The new practices become emotionally embraced and incorporated into the employees routine behaviour. Successful on -the-job practice, then must be the ultimate goal of the refreezing step. In this step emphasis is on stabilising the work process after rapid change transition. (Lewin K. Force Field Analysis and Diagram. Online. www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_ lewin_force_field_analysis.html.) Even though the world has changed ever since Kurt Lewin has published the model in 1947, it is still extremely relevant and the foundation of several other new models.(John W. Newstrom and Keith Davis, Organisational Behaviour, 8th revised Edition, Chapter 15, Page No.409) Kotters Eight Step Model (1995): John P Kotter (1995) has designed an extremely helpful model to understand and manage change. Each step in the model is characterised by key principle, in which people see, feel and then change. Kotler explained them as principles of response and approach to change. These are explained descriptively in his highly appreciated book Leading Change (1995). The eight step process is described as follows: Kotters Eight Step Change model is considered as one of the worlds best change management models. It has simplified the change process immensely and concluded that every successful change effort is messy and full of surprises. Managers have to view change process in a see-feel view where major problems in the process are highlighted and there by easily solved. Pendlebury, Grouard and Meston -Ten Keys Model(1998): These Scientists have presented Ten Key Factors which can be adapted to any particular change situation. All these keys may be needed to be implemented either simultaneously of separately based on the change process. The ten keys are as follows: Define the Vision Mobilise Catalyse Steer Deliver Obtain Participation Handle Emotions Handle Power Train and Coach Actively Communicate (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour, 8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.520) Nandler -12 Action Steps: Nandler, has developed a management frame work of twelve action steps which is helpful for Managers and Executives to apply at every level of hierarchy during the change process.This is immensely helpful for leading and managing change at every corner of the organisation. The twelve action steps are as follows: Get support of key power groups Get leaders to model change behaviour Use symbols and language Define areas of stability Surface dissatisfaction with the present conditions Promote participation in change Reward behaviours that supports change Disengage from the old Develop and clearly communicate image of the future Use multiple leverage points Develop transition management arrangements Create feedback Kanter, Stein and Jick Ten Commandments(1992): Kanter, Stein and Jick have done a wonderful research on organisation change and proposed Ten Commandments on how to plan a change process. Analyse the need for change Create a shared vision Separate from past Create a sense of urgency Support a strong leader role Line up political sponsorship Craft an implementation plan Develop enabling structures Communicate and involve people Reinforce and institutionalize change Ghoshal and Barletts Model(1997) : Ghoshal and Barlett argue for the importance of sequencing and implementation of activities in a change process. The interrelated change phases are: Rationalization : Streamlining company operations Revitalisation: Leveraging reqources and linking opportunities across the whole organisation Regeneration: Managing business unit operations and tensions, while at the same time collaborating elsewhere in the organisation to achieve performance. They claim that while change is often presented as difficult and messy, there is nothing mystical about the process of achieving change with effective strategies following the rationalization, revitalization and regeneration sequential process. (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour,8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.540) Dumpy and Stance Contingency Model of Change(1993): Dumpy and Doug Stance developed the best change contingency approach. They argue that the style of change and the scale of change have to be matched to the needs of the organisation. Scale of Change Style of Change Management Fine Tuning International Adjustments Modular Transformation Corporate Transformation Collaborative Consultative Lowers Performance (Avoiding Change) Developmental transitions (Constant Change) Charismatic Transformation (Inspirational Change) Directive Task Focussed Transistors (Constant Change) Turnarounds (Frame-Breaking Change) Coercive They identify five change approaches: Development Transitions: They refer to situations in which there is constant change as a result of the organisation adapting itself to external and environmental changes. The primary style of leadership is consultative, where the leader acts in the capacity of a coach aiming to gain voluntary, shared commitment from organisational members to the need for continual improvement. Task Focused Transitions: In this, the change management style is directive with the change leader acting as a captain seeking the compliance of organisational members to redefine how the organisation operates in specific areas. Directive leadership means that the overall change is driven from the top; this may translate into a more consultative approach by managers operating lower down in the organisation who are required to implement the changes. Charismatic Transformation: With this model, people accept that the organisation is out of step with its environment and that there is a need for radical, revolutionary change. Helping to create a new identity and a paradigm shift in the way in which the organisation conducts its operations, the charismatic leader is able to operate symbolically to gain emotional commitment of staff to new directions. Turnarounds : This is aimed at frame breaking changes. Turn around change leaders as commanders utilizing their positions of power to force required changes through the organisation. Taylorism: It is associated with the fine-tuning, paternalistic approaches to managing change. Dumphy and Stance their model indicates that medium to high performance organisations are likely to be using consultative and directive change management. (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour,8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.530) Huys Work on Change Management(2007) : Huy categorizes change into for ideal types: Commanding : Commanding change intervention is one where the time period is short term, abrupt and rapid. Change is usually implemented by Senior Managers who demand compliance from organisational members. Changes may well include downsizing, outsourcing and divestments. Engineering: This model is oriented toward a medium -term, relatively fast change perspective and often assisted by work design analysts who assists in changing work and operational systems. The change agent act as an catalyst in this process Teaching : This model takes a more gradual, long term organisational change perspective. Assisted by outside process consultants, staffs and taught how to probe their work practices and behaviours to reveal new ways of working. Socializing : This intervention is also gradual and long term. It sees change as developing through participative experimental learning based on self-monitored democratic organisational processes. Each ideal type has its limitations. The commanding approach may lead to resentment and rarely produces lasting behavioural change. The teaching approach is very individualistic and may not be aligned to corporate strategic objectives. The engineering approach may not encourage collaboration and spread of change across business units and socializing approach may lead to over focusing on individual work groups rather than on how they may operate as part of larger, corporate collective. (K.Aswathappa, Organisational Behaviour,8th revised Edition, Chapter 20, Page No.550) Part D Implementing Change: Implementation is the institutionalisation and internalisation of a change after it has been accepted by an organisation and a decision has been taken to accept and make it part of the on-going activity. Implementation is a multidimensional process whose end is stabilisation and institutionalisation of change. Support Training Resources Commitment Linkages Planning the implementation process: The objective of planning is to have an overall understanding of the nature of implementation. Planning process determines the entire process of implementation of change phasing. Phasing may be either temporal (in terms of time) or spatial (in terms of various units or the locations of the organisation) Processes: All processes involved in the implementation should be pre-determined. Various stages of the process include initiation, motivation, diagnosis, information, collection, deliberation, action proposal, implementation and stabilisation. Strategies: Management should formulate various strategies to implement processes. These strategies should focus on taking outsiders help, change agent, designing permanent organisational structures, unit/location of the organisation to be selected for initial process, openness with the environment etc.( P Subba Rao, Essentials of Human Resources Management and Industrial Relations, Chapter 12, page 358) Monitoring : It is the process of routine periodic measurement of programme inputs, activities and outputs undertaken during programme implementation. Monitoring is normally concerned with the procurement, delivery and utilisation of programme resources, adherence to work schedules to progress made in the production of outputs Implementation team : A broad based task group of implementation should be set up to look after the implementation of change programme and monitor it continoulsy.HRD department of the organisation may be asked to take up this responsibility.es and Minimum control: As monitoring is a delicate issue, control should be minimum in order to make the monitoring effective. Control attempts to develop new norms of creativity, diversity and experimentation. Feedback and communication: Implementation requires reviewing various processes and provides feedback. It involves getting data information and experiences and providing feedback to the people on how they are implementing compared to the design and plans. Action : Action covers all the minute details of what is implemented at different stages. This process involves various phases and steps for people and various group tasks in relation to change programme. Adaptation : Adaptation is the combination of two main criteria of effectiveness and implementation. It may be general or specific or both. Support : Various types of support from all concerned will be required for the implementation of change. The HRD department, Operations and management committee are some of main agencies which render major support. Institutionalisation: Institutionalisation is making change permanent part of the organisation and internalisation is stabilisation of change. (P Subba Rao, Essentials of Human Resources Management and Industrial Relations, Chapter 12, page 340) Part E: Evaluating Organisational Change The Balanced Score Card Approach: Since centuries Top Management has been depending only on financial measures to evaluate the performance after the organisation change. But this approach was not enough to provide information about overall effectiveness of the organisation.in 1992 Robert Kaplan and David Norton have published Balanced Scorecard in Harvard business review as a management tool for organisational development. Managers can get a comprehensive picture of the financial and operational measures using this framework. HR Consultants and OD strategists all over the world opine that Balanced Score Card is the best tool to enforce organizational change management and organizational development in todays technology driven world. They emphasize the principle that Businesses must develop in a multidimensional way viz., providing best value to its stake holders, achieving ultimate customer satisfaction, implementing bench marked business standards and developing a learning culture in the organisation. The scorecard facilitates managers to view critical performance factors and understand their interrelationships evaluating current performance and targeting performance to be achieved. Emphasis is on the organizational vision and long-term success. (Robert Kaplan and David P. Norton, The Balanced ScorecardMeasures that Drive Performance, Harvard Business Review, January and February, 1992.)   Performance levers in a Balanced Score Card : The Balance Score Card acts as a catalyst for driving organisational change within the organisation. It is dependent on four perspectives which are considered as performance levers for any organisation. The four perspectives of a Balance Score Card are as follows: 1. Financial Perspective How do we perform according to our shareholders? 2. Customer Perspective How do our customers see us? 3. Internal Organisation Perspective What should we excel in? 4. Innovation and Learning Perspective Can we keep on improving and adding value? Hence, the rationale of Balance Score Card is to give uniform importance to non-financial factors of business performance and balancing them with the financial factor. Therefore it is termed as a complete comprehensive framework which tries to bring a balance and linkage between the (a) Financial and the Non-Financial indicators, (b) Tangible and the Intangible measures, (c) Internal and the External aspects and (d) Leading and the Lagging indicators. (Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy, California Management Review, Vol. 39, No.21, 22 1996.) All the four perspectives of a Balance Score Card are explained briefly as follows: The Innovation and Learning Perspective This perspective emphasizes on developing a learning culture in the organisation.The key goals in this perspective are Employee training and self-improvement Grooming and communication Increasing quality of work life Developing skill and knowledge management The Internal Organization Perspective This perspective emphasizes on developing internal business processes in the organization. The key goals in this perspective are Value creating internal operations Innovative supply chain management Total Quality Management. Team building The Customer Perspective This perspective emphasizes on achieving customer delight. The key goals in this perspective are Reducing customer response time Timely updated information Taking regular customer feedback Achieving best vendor award from customer The Financial Perspective This perspective emphasizes on developing financial systems in the organization. The key goals in this perspective are Centralized and automated financial information system Developing financial corporate database Providing more value to stake holders Risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis. Increased working capital and current assets. (Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy, California Management Review, Vol. 39, No.21,22 1996.) Based on the above discussion, organsiations must develop scorecards fitting their current and future needs. Transformational leadership and strong commitment are required to initiate a change process, using Balance Score Card. Some of the worlds best Balance Score Card practises are as follows: GEs HR Score Card design and implementation HR Score card of Washington state HR Score Card of U.S. Department of Transportation Balance Score of Texas State Auditors Office (McKenzie Shilling, Avoiding Performance Measurement Traps: Ensuring Effective, Incentive Design and Implementation, American Management Association, July/Aug., 1998.)   All metrics to organisational performance

Functional Area Of An Organisation Information Technology Essay

Functional Area Of An Organisation Information Technology Essay There are a variety of functional areas in a structured business enterprise, depending upon its size and nature of service. Here in the Medication management System can be viewed in a broader manner as hospital is not the only one entity. The manufacturer, vendors, receiving staff, prescribing doctors, pharmacists, nurses and the clients are all involved and thus an integrated system is to be ultimately developed which benefits all users of the system at different levels. The information system does mean not only the software, but also the hardware, users and other related systems. So our objective is to identify all the functional areas of the organization as a whole and to develop a cost-effective and efficient system which would minimize the human drug dispensing errors and reduce the mortality rate in turn. For this we need to have a clear understanding about the different systems at different levels like manufacturer, vendor and hospital. Information needs within functional area of an organisation. Organisations have a number of people working together towards a definite objective, although they work in different functional areas. One output of one functional area can be the input of another area and the accurate timely information is necessary to get an error free result. Organisations completely depend on the information systems and advanced technologies which makes them excel and efficient. Functional areas of organisations are defined according to the type and nature of work that is involved in a department. The main functional areas of each and every organisation are listed below: Human Resource: Human resource management is one of the most important yet often underestimated aspects in the organizational operation. It basically is the operating system of the whole organization that makes sure that it run smoothly, coordination and cooperation takes place regularly and finally makes sure that everyone within the organization is satisfied with the working conditions. Superficially, it is supposed to do day to day tasks like recruitment, training payroll processing etc. but actually the scope for HRM is much more than that. Especially in the highly competitive markets of today, they can play a pivotal role in building a highly performing and competitive firm by nurturing and enhancing the skills of the employees and ensuring cooperation. This is a functional area where various personnel who administer and handle the drug are interviewed and selected. Financial Area: This functional area analyses various financial aspects of the employees and keeps track of the accounts receivable and payables. The financial advisors must plan in advance regarding the future financial objectives of the company. In order to achieve the desire profits. The finance department need to maintain the financial records in order to show these accounts while paying the tax. And another key function of finance department is to calculate the salary and payroll system which is the main function of finance department. Accounts are maintained for different vendors for which internal auditors and accountants are employed. Marketing and Sales: In this competitive world the organisation cannot survive without marketing the products. Organisation is investing a huge amount of money in order to market the products through different channels like television, radio and other medias. So that people came to know about the products and will buy the companys products. Nowadays the competition is really high; the companies are forced to give discounts and other promotional activities like holidays and gifts to push their sales. To conclude with, marketing is also a key part in achieving companys objectives. Production: Production is one of the main functional areas of a business organisation. All the products of a business organisation are developing under this functional area. The staffs under this functional area should enquire all the products should develop at the right time and the products have good quality. The organisation should buy good quality raw materials. These raw materials will be stored near to production area. Nowadays most of the productions are automatically with the help of robots and other machines. The operator need to check only the production line is correct or not. Production is also involves preparing items for despatch. The items should packed cleanly and very attractively. In this stage, the bar code system can be incorporated which should specify its batch number, product code/name, packing, lot number, date of manufacture, chemical combination, type of meds, route of administration, dosage.etc Customer Service: Customer service is the one of the most important functional area of organisation. This includes functions like answering the clients enquiries about the product and services, provide well information about the customers need, solving clients problems, Provide service after sales which include replace, repair etc, dealing with the problems of customer, analysis the problems of customer and store these problems etc. Comparison between the functional areas and information needed for each functional area Functional Area Functions and information needed for functional areas Human Resource The main functions of this functional area are recruitment, training, payroll etc. The information needed for this functional area are the information about the employees, their salary, about new vacancies, about new applications, employees in payroll, attendance, absence and overtime detailsetc. . Financial Area The main functions of Financial area are calculate the salary of employees, checking payrolls, recording money received, produce invoices, checking the payments received and chasing the overdue payments etc. In this functional area should have the information about income of company, expense of the company, salary of each and every staff,times sheet of work, attendance and overtime detailsetc. They also need to have the customers bills details, payment received and bills payable details to the vendors. Marketing and Sales The main functions of this functional area are Market the products through different channels like radio, mail television, producing publicity materials of their products such as catalogues etc., designing and promoting the website of company. This functional area should have the information about new trend of market, in what way the company can get maximum product, which is the good way to publish their product in market, in what way the company can improve their sales etc. Production The main functions of this functional area are buying raw materials, storing the raw materials, planning the production schedule, Checking quality of product throughout the production, packing the items cleanly and beautifully, storing the items very safely. The information needed for this functional area are list of available raw materials, Combination formula, Machinery and manpower availability, Quantity of each product to be manufactured which in turn is reported by the feedback from sales and marketing area, product details like batch number, packingetc. Customer Service The main functions of this functional are answering clients enquiries about products, solve clients problems, dealing with the problems of customer, analysis the problems of customer and store these problems etc. This functional area should have the information about what range of customer they have, the customers are satisfied with their product or not, what are the customers need for a particular product etc. Information needed for medical management system The medical management system is a complex system involving the manufacturer, hospital, and the administrator of medicines. Therefore, a well defined data flow has to be clearly identified. Identification of appropriate data that is involved in each system is a key factor for the success of this system. Several data are needed for the proper functioning of the system. First of all, the details about the following are absolutely necessary. 1) Prescription details 2) Product details 3) Patient details 4) Administering persons details. 5) The medical staff 6) The vendors of medicine INFORMATION SYSTEMS Different types of Information Systems An information system is a combination of hardware, software procedures used to generate information which is used to administer and control the day to day activities of users in an organisation. It consists of five categories. A) Office Information Systems (OIS) B) Transaction Processing System (TPS) C) Management Information System (MIS) D) Decision support system (DSS) E) Expert System (ES) Office Information System (OIS) It is a kind of information system that depends on hardware, software and networks to provide communication solutions and working efficiency among a staffs in an organisation. Office Information System is also known as Office Automation. In this kind of an environment the data processing is done electronically instead of manually hard copying it. For example In an organisation with several branches if a new line is released it can be updated through the OIS over the network. If they dont use OIS they would have to manually process it and post it to its branches. Transaction Processing System (TPS) TPS is a form of information system that records and processes transaction done in an organisation on each day. A transaction can be an order, a payment, reservation or a cancellation. TPS generally uses two type of transaction processing. a) Batch Processing b) Online Transaction Processing In a batch processing all the transactions are collected during the day and its processed as a group or a batch at the end of the day. In online Transaction Processing the transaction is processed as soon as it is entered into the system. In batch processing the invoice cannot be generated then and there. But in OLTP the invoices can be generated then and there. Management Information System (MIS) In an organisation various tasks are performed on a day to day basis which involves invoicing, monitoring track progress, generating sales reports etc. An MIS is a kind of information system that generates accurate daily reports. So the authorities of the organisation can monitor and track the overall performance of the company by making decisions, solving problems and watch the track progress. This process is usually done by a type of MIS known as Management Reporting System. For example in an organisation when a sale is done the product which is being sold is first entered into the system, invoice generated and finally the product being deducted from the inventory. These data helps the managers to take decisions in improving the overall company performance. Decision Support System (DIS) A Decision Support System is used to help the staff in an organisation to take decisions when a complicated situation arises. This system collects data from within the organisation and from external sources such as the internet to help the staff in decision making. This information system needs to store huge volumes of data. These data as store in large databases called data warehouses. The data warehouse stores and manages the data required to help the staff in complicated situation. Expert System (ES) In an expert system the machine (computer) collects information and the knowledge from human beings and helps in the decision making process of the people who have less expertise and experience. They mainly use a technology known as AI (Artificial Intelligence). AI is the process of applying human intelligence to computer systems. An AI computer can sends problems and deliver expert opinion by analysing the users previous experience datas aiding to take a decision and complete the task. Office Information System is used to almost all the areas of an organisation wherever administration needs to be done. Transaction Processing System Financial Area Management Information system- HR Decision support Information system- Customer Service Expert System- RD The current trends in using MMS to solve the problems facing HHS As far as healthcare is concerned patient data is the most crucial and sensitive data. In the current situation the patients data is manually entered into a branch where thy walk. If the patient walks into a different hospital the treatment data is either e- mailed or a hardcopy is carried from the previous branch to the new branch. This procedure has some advantages than the old systems. If the patient carrying is carrying a hardcopy the data will not get destroyed or damaged unless carelessly treated by the customer himself. If the customers diagnostic data is e- mailed to the next branch the data will reach the new branch without any hassle and in seconds. In this case the customer need not carry a physical hardcopy of the files. These techniques will help the HHS introducing incomplete reports, wrong medical history and even patient deaths. INFORMATION PROCESSING TOOLS Various Software Tools Text processors Text processors are specific software, which comes as a part of the big software that is used to process documents, prepare presentation, and manipulate accounts and mange a database. One of the famous text processor software is Microsoft Office. It contains Word for document processing, Excel for processing spread sheets, Access for managing databases and Power point for preparing presentations. In an organisation preparing presentations for meetings, issuing invoices to patients, maintain accounts and managing patients database is crucially important. If Microsoft office can be used in such an organisation all these requirements can be met. Databases In medical environment, patient history is very important for the treatment of the patient. In a medical organisation software such as Microsoft Access can be used to store patient information. But Access cannot be used in a network and does not have much functionality and cannot be customised according to the needs of the organisation. In such a case specifically designed software can be used to manage all these functions. Client Server In a hospital there are different departments and functional areas, each requiring its on computer systems. A patient who is being treated for and ailment will be referred from one department to the other. So the staffs need to carry the reports and the data from every department from where the patient was treated as a hardcopy which is a big headache. In that case implementing client server architecture will be beneficial. In this architecture all the computers in every department will be connected to a centralised server which will store all the patients and database records. So if a patient is referred from one department to the other the next department can access the treatment history through the server. For this purpose the server and the clients need to have customised software. Current Information method used in HHS Currently the HHS uses a network blast infrastructure for data management. If a patient walks in to a hospital the patients ID and the treatment procedure is entered on to a system and then the prescription is given. When the patient walks into a different branch the details of the treatment from the previous branch is e-mailed to the new hospital for references. But as this information are stored and processed by computers errors can happen at any time, such as data lose, virus attacks, missing information, and incomplete reports and so on. The doctor who treated the patient primarily will exactly know what the patient is suffering from and about his vital statistics better than the latter one. As data a critical in a hospital these errors can cost a patient his/her life. In earlier times the information was processed as a hard copy which is given to the patient upon the completion of the treatment. If the patient loses this information his life is again at stake. The current proces sing methods need to be refined so that no patients will die in the future due to overdoses or incomplete report. The most modern method Information is very important and critical in todays world. In hospitals barcode technology is taking over the traditional information processing methods. In barcode technology the patient is given a wrist band upon being admitted in the hospital. The wrist band will have a unique patient ID which is in the form of a barcode. I.e. each patient is given a unique barcode. Software will be used to generate the barcode and will store the treatment data and the details of the staff and the doctor who worked with the patient throughout the treatment. The staff of the concern will also carry identification badges which will have unique IDs. When the patient is being given a medication by the staff it will be recorded into the system who gave the medicine, the type of medicine and the time. For this first off all the staff scans and enters their barcode into the machine then the patients barcode and finally the code on the drug. The doctors prescription will be entered into the system before the medicine is given. If there is a change in the medicine the system will sent out distress alarms to prevent misuse of the drug, thereby saving the patient and the staff http://www.teachmebusiness.co.uk/page29/page16/page18/assets/Functionalareas.pdf

Growin Up In the Hood :: essays research papers

Growing Up In the Hood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Is it a coincidence that highly urbanized areas are full of crime and always statistically higher than small towns and rural areas? A child that is being brought up in a metropolitan area that is full of violent crimes is flooded in a sense and has nothing to do but to breath in some of the negative influences that go on around him. Therefore, I believe that the most influential scene in a child’s life is the neighborhood that he grows up in. Parents cannot constantly watch over their children, ask about whom they are hanging out with, constantly check where they are, and find out what they are getting themselves into? (Statistics p348)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When a child is growing up he is frequently asked what he is going to do for money when he gets older. The more this question is asked to them, the more they feel like they have to have money to be happy in life. After many tries of trying to make a stable life at a low paying job, a criminal life maybe more appealing to them at they may start living life under the gun. As stated by William Wilson in When Work Disappears, â€Å"Neighborhoods plagued by high levels of joblessness are more likely to experience low levels of social organization, they go hand in hand.† In Chicago for instance, in 1990 there was only one in three in the twelve ghetto communities that had held a job in a typical workweek of the year. When there are high rates of joblessness bigger problems surface such as violent crime, gang violence, and drug trafficking. (Wilson P356-362)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These crime-ridden communities (or ghettos) are springing up all through the country, mainly in and around major metropolitan areas. These areas are the most populated, so that means that within these areas are the most people there to be influenced by the crimes committed by fellow people. In Male's reading he shows statistics that prove the fact that once the poverty factor is taken away then teen violence disappears. He later adds, â€Å"That if America wants to rid of juvenile violence than serious consideration needs to be given to the societally inflicted violence of raising three to 10 times more youth in poverty than other Western nations.† (Males p386)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As stated by Elijah Anderson, â€Å"Just living in a low-income area gives most residents less hope for there own future.

Discipleship Essay -- essays research papers

Discipleship Teachers around the time when Jesus lived thought that learning was such that the people who wanted to learn should come to them to be taught. But Jesus felt differently and rather than waiting for people to come to him, he went out to find them and then chose them to be his followers. He called them disciples and this word means one who learns. But Jesus chose his disciples carefully as we are told in Mark 1:16-20 and also in Mark 3:13-19. In the first passage, Jesus appoints his first four disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus said to them â€Å"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.† (Mark 1:17) In Mark 2:13-17, Jesus calls up the fifth disciple, Levi who was a tax collector, and Jesus later renamed him Matthew. But Levi was not called in the same way as the other four disciples. Jesus was with him at the tax collector’s booth and Jesus simply said, â€Å"Follow me† (Mark 2:14) and he rose and followed Jesus. These five men responded immediately to Jesus and this is very surprising as he is a man who they have never met before. It is quite clear that this idea of discipleship for the first disciples is very important and that Jesus is planning on building his faith in them and he wants them to spread the word around to the people. (Mark 3:14) Jesus appointed 12 disciples in total and this number was significant because each one represented one of the twelve tribes of Israel. (Mark 3:13-19) Jesus gave them the authority to cast out demons and preach to his people and they were known as his companions. It seems strange for him to choose those specific people as his twelve because he could have chosen from many of his disciples, but he chose a specific twelve to be his companions and apostles. When Jesus chose his apostles, there were two unusual choices: Levi and Simon the Zealot. Levi was a strange choice because he was a tax collector who had managed to get more money out of people than they need pay and so many people hated him and many other tax collectors. Simon the Zealot was an unusual choice because he was a zealot and although they had a strong belief in God, they hated the Romans, and being ruled by foreigners. In the mission of the twelve, Jesus calls them to him and sends them in two’s saying that they have the authority over evil spirits. (Mark 6: 7-13) Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave th... ...o Pilate, JesusÆ main enemy, or trouble, was the Roman Empire. Their religion was polytheistic; they had, among many others, a god of war, (Mars), a god of wine, (Bacchus), and a goddess of love, (Venus). They also believed that their Emperor, at the time Caesar, was a living God. This included Jesus, one of his titles being "King of the Jews". At the time of JesusÆ death, this number was sizeable, and as the early church grew, after the resurrection, the followers grew in number too. Literally. All of the people who attended these secret meetings, to tell or listen to the tales of Jesus Christ, were disciples. They were risking their lives to spread the good news. Stephen was viciously stoned to death after his great speech at the Sanhedrin (Acts 7), and Peter was crucified. There are many examples of modern day disciples around. Oscar Romero was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of El Salvador. Endangering your own life by fighting oppression, injustice, and going up against bigger powers, or giving your life to helping others. There are still some people today who take the faith as seriously as the first Christians do, but not many. TodayÆs society is too materialistic.