Research Korner

Business Creativity and Innovation

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION: POD-CAST AND VOD-CAST APPLICATION IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION   I. Executive Summary             This paper analyzes the feasibility of pod-cast and vod-cast application in teaching conditions.  In doing this, analytical tools used by organizations undergoing brainstorming are explained to properly identify the most suitable approach in this risky strategy.  It is found that the analysis tends to be multi-dimensional with the need to consider internal, external and other factors affecting the project.  This is aggravated by the newness of the idea seemingly an extreme course of action.  However, with the aid of such identification, a project plan in Figure 1 is created.  This figure shows that the project is feasible if right people, process, resources and control are tapped.    II. Introduction The issue is new to any educational institution.  It confronts the problem of uncertainty especially it is a teaching breakthrough.  However, many similar institutions have applied and used them in classroom situations.  There are also highlighted benefits of the teaching technology.  Pod-casting and vod-casting will replace the traditional personal teaching method within a classroom into virtual experience.  Thus, students and teachers can have interactive learning and higher understanding of the classroom events and necessary learning.  In contrast, this remains a very challenging innovation.  Displacement of the traditional methods requires relaxation of barriers embedded in social perception, laws, individual impressions and educational practices.     To address such difficulty, the situation in which the institution will invest on pod-cast and vod-cast technologies will be treated as a problem. Solutions will mitigate the barriers that can impede the benefits that can be derived by the institution.  Undergoing case analysis can also justify why substantial investment is necessary to fund the engagement.  Is the level of risk at par with the level of returns?  Consideration of technical, market and planning dimensions of the innovation can aid decision makers to decide rationally.  Also, the actual plan can be made which can guide the institution on the stages in which specific dimensions and their bottlenecks can be addressed.  In this report, the institution can measure its depth in acquiring the technology can how it can uplift its market position in the education sector.     III. The Creativity Process Analysis involves the separation of an intellectual or material whole into its constituent parts for individual study ().  A firm that fails to analyze strategies before implementation can adversely affect its operations.  Although hasty decisions can solve minor difficulties and problems in the short term, there will come a time that these small loopholes can hurt the operations of the company in the future.  Simple employee conflict can end at pointing fingers and shouting to each other in a press conference can result to a tarnished human resources’ reputation.  Such is crucial to the promotion of sound company culture and teamwork for the clients that may negatively influence sales.               On the other hand, given that a firm has formulated a policy that analysis is needed in every strategy formation and implementation.  Wrong use of techniques and processes that leads to misleading and false conclusions is as good as non-existence of analysis.   Identifying a competitive advantage from diversification with the use of internal organization data on available and exploitable resources is a limited consideration.  The presence of local policies in the targeted area, absence of primary suppliers and presence of competitor operations are not taken into the paradigm.  As a result, difficulties, if not failure, will be dealt upon implementation.               What is needed is a strategic analysis.  It is not a simple analysis that only requires focus to a specific factor of consideration.  Being strategic, the intention is to pursue a certain objective.  Such feat cannot succeed without providing a holistic approach to scan different reactants within and outside the firm.  But it does not mean that the firm should consider and study all the factors because it is costly, time-consuming and impracticable.  Besides, most effective decisions and strategies are those quickly made into operation.                 Because of this, there is a need for a firm to develop simple and practicable approach to strategic analysis but can contribute something of value to effective management.  This paper attempts to explain, analyze and interpret analytical models, techniques and processes in such a way to aid a firm to choose its own simple, comprehensive and effective strategic analysis towards effective management.   III. 1. Value Adding Analysis The process involves the identification of separate organizational activities like selling, production and employee recruitment and the assessment of their value added for the firm.  Value added results to additional money the firm receives from its products and services by managing linkages between organizational activities that can create competitive advantage.  The bottom line is to situate the primary (logistics) and secondary (procurement) activities in which it can cut cost, produce more or improve quality.  For example, the firm decided to transfer its logistics in the hands of a shipping company to cut costs in maintenance and repair expenses or forms linkage between its available technologies like software to train its human resources.   Value adding analysis aids the company to evaluate inefficient and unlinked activities it performs.  From the evaluation, it can take necessary remedial steps to create value added linkages.  As it cut back costs of production, it has greater control with the price of the product or service that leads not only to price stability but also flexibility.  As it lowers its price, it creates additional value to the organizational activities reflected in the increase of revenues, demand and customer base.  From strategic analysis of activities that can be improved and ultimately can reduce cost, the company is rewarded with savings.   However, not all value added factors are embedded within the company.  The failure of the firm to look outside the organization’s resources and technologies, it can be left behind by its competitors who dig into the advantages of information technology, strategic alliances and economies of scale.  With this limitation, the value adding capability of organizational activities can be offset by external factors.  It can no longer obtain competitive advantage since other firms not only exploited the value adding activities within the organization but also the value-added opportunities found in the external environment.   III. 2. Open Systems Analysis or Thermodynamics             To answer the limitation of the value adding analysis completely, this model emphasizes the external environment in which a firm belongs implicitly both at industry level and general environment.  No specific and obvious process to aid in strategic analysis was illustrated.  But it claims absolute assertion.  It argues that closed systems, one that disregards the environment, will face deterioration. Because of this, it should maintain relationship within the environment for its self-existence and as well as the whole system.  Thus, mutualism serves as the condition that balances and sustains harmony, if not continuum, in the whole system.               In applying to corporate world, the unpreparedness of the firm about political, economic and social forces can result to macroeconomic deficiencies of its strategies.  This is the effect of lack of knowledge and reactive tendencies of firms.  When the firms within an industry are exhausted with strategies limited within its own resources and capabilities, environmental scanning can provide it with competitive advantage like possible corporate tax exemption, economic recovery, transportation infrastructures, superior quality over competitor’s products and anti-discriminatory features of certain services.   If the firm is patient enough to review the outside world, it can exploit resources, issues and spill-over effects of the environment.       Although, long-term success and additional source of competitive advantage is attached to the use of the model, it can be tedious and impractical exercise especially when the firm is small- to medium- scale.  For some large firms, the model can only be useful when the firm is really large may be at the multinational level.  In addition, some critics attacked the model because of its strict externally-related view.  It overlooked the capability of the internal environment to stimulate the external environment.  Or companies may view different markets and therefore some factors in the environment are irrelevant to be confined in analysis.    In continuation, the model put concentrated emphasis in belief that the whole is greater than its parts.  Such stand is partly the result of its inception from the principle of Thermodynamics or the relationship of heat to mechanical and electrical work.  Because of this, the reality in business environment is bypass by the exclusivity and generalization.   III. 3. Strategic Skills Analysis This is the specific result of value adding analysis of a firm.  It analyzes human resource activities that transpire in recruitment, training and performance evaluation.  According to  (1997), the “process necessitates evaluation of employees' and applicants' knowledge, skills, and abilities intended as effective means of recruiting and maintaining a workforce that can meet the future needs of the organization and its customers”.  It provides the same goal as the original model of Porter that emphasizes the “much-needed” link between the firm and workforce.   The impact of such analysis is within the firm.  If potential and present employees will be evaluated, human capital that is suitable and can create synergy with the firm’s strengths or can contribute to improve its weaknesses will be hired and retained.  The analysis impliedly suggests segregation of the most effective employees and applicants from the mediocre ones.  Within the best performing group, future managers and supervisors are detected and protected by incentives and benefits to assure that they will remain existing and useful within the business coffers.   However, the analysis is confronted with underlying constraints and difficulties for effective results.  First, the management should realize that every poor performance can be improved.  The provision of good working condition and higher wages can serve as motivating tool while the absence of which can result to misleading conclusions about individual performance because skills are not maximized.  Second consideration is the period the firm is willing to dedicate to evaluate the performance of the employee or applicant.  Poor initial performance because of inexperience and lack of technical knowledge can be solved by providing initial training and hands-on experience.  Lastly, every human has the capacity to excel at the right time and at the right job.  Immaturity, emotional problems and inappropriate job description can undermine the potential of every aspiring and present employee to develop their skills.  Thus, skills analysis could lead to inconsistency behind these restrictions.   III. 4. Competitor Analysis In order to prepare for a battle, firms conduct a series of competitor analysis to know what areas are to be improved or expelled by identifying present and possible movements of other firms in the industry.  Afterwards, they will compare the surveyed resources, capabilities and strategies to their own to initiate decisions and counter-strategies resulting to some form of comparative evaluation.  This is a focused-type of complex adaptive model because its area is limited to a certain industry without concern with social issues.       It is a mind game.  Managers from other companies also conduct the same analysis only with varying approaches.  It can follow written procedures, use other competitor’s methods or explore in its own standards.  Since individuals are likely more willing to put their investments and efforts to low-risk engagements than high risks ones, competitor’s analysis helps the identification of such low-risks activities.  It serves as mind maps that draw the blueprint of other firm’s characteristics ( &  1995).  Hence, knowledge of them can generate competitive actions for the firm in view of larger market scope.  For example, as advertising campaign, a rival firm posted in banners in the vicinity of a residential area.  Because of competitor activities knowledge, a firm can avoid loosing sales by copying and implementing the same marketing strategy.   On the other hand, competitive analysis is limited to the tendency of a firm to believe on how much a competitor is similar or different from it.  At most instances, competitive analysis is gained indirectly from customers, suppliers, price movements and other strategy implementation of the competitor.  Since, it is a mind game, one can be trapped to incorrect perceptions which can result to inappropriate strategy.  Although it can serve as inference from multifaceted competitor movements, competitor analysis can create helpful but general and sometimes deceptive background of its intentions that can cause false knowledge in its competitive advantage.    III. 5. SWOT Analysis According to  (2003), it is commonly used in marketing and strategic analysis.  Strengths and weaknesses are internal and affect the company in the present; opportunities and threats deal with external factors and the future.  Because of its dynamism that it looks in several aspects about the firm, including the time horizons in which such analysis operates, it coincides perfectly with the complex adaptive system model.     SWOT analysis evaluates internal strengths of the firm like procurement or marketing or weakness in human resource handling.  On the other hand, opportunities can provide answer to the weakness or enforce the strengths while threats indicate potential aggravation the current problem.  The identification of these and putting them under analysis can simplify the process of finding solutions to internal problems or possibly find potential source of competitive advantage.  Certain government tax exemption scheme for employing certain number of employees can cut cost, hi-tech production machines can serve as fuel for expansion or financial liquidity can be used to gain additional revenue through investment or lending.  The use of such technique can result to such discoveries.   However, it is limited in accuracy that it oversimplifies the data gathered.  For example, strengths can turn to weakness while opportunities to threats.  Although one has the facts from the CEO of the organization, it would only represent a single viewpoint ( 2003).  The solution is to interview a large number of stakeholders that is involved in the business like the employees, suppliers, customers, experts and other strategic partners.  Because of this, the reliability of SWOT data is the basis of an effective evaluation.  The firm should pour some effort to conduct researches for the SWOT to be functional and useful.      IV. The Implementation Process Branding is an efficient and effective mechanism for a firm to implement marketing endeavors to satisfy customer and other stakeholder needs (, 1999).  The institution uses branding to deliver a message of modern style on its products.  With global acceptance of the quality and elegance of institution brand, the institution is able to effectively gain market presence in the industry ( & , 2001).  This is due to its ability to differentiate its product from competition with the use of branding for value-orientation.  As a result, it is able to transfer excessive marketing and discount costs on providing new, dependable and stylish products (,  & , 1994).  Brand management is a business concept intended to protect the brand of institution from strategic or legal demise and continue harvesting profits from its establishment.             The brand management process (BMP) initially involves internal auditing and external scanning (,  &  2003).  Questions will emerge such as “Who the brand is for?”, “Where is the company now?” and “What is the market going or how competition going?” ( 2006).  For institution to carry BMP and improve performance/ efficiency, it should re-evaluate the positioning of its brand and its impact to stakeholders including competitors.  This is signaled by partially identifying the threat of loosing potential customers within the working class earlier as their products may be perceived too expensive.  BMP offers a platform to determine the weaknesses of branding and enhancement of its strengths as inputs are set for analysis.  As marketing is a battle of perceptions not products, the innovation and style focus of institution could be in a loophole.  In effect, the scanning stage of BMP can rationalize its current branding.               Second, the formulation of a branding plan will be developed.  As observed, corporate actions are identified to manage the nature of stakeholders which is almost dynamic at all times (, 2002).  This stage also post responsibilities to specific actors within the organization that can entail additional motivation to obtain desired member efforts regarding the additional tasks to consider.  Budgeting is also emphasized at this stage that can serve as a limiting factor regarding the extent of a particular branding strategy.  The third stage is the implementation process in which the plan is actually tried in the actual operations.  The institution is confronted with varying corporate performance, competitor’s retaliations (, , and ) and changes in the behavior of customer as well as employee regarding the plan.  If the firm has no learning curve to base contingent actions, it is only suited for the plan to impose loss limitation or performance targets to reduce the risk associated with the implementation.               Controlling is very important to maintain the lifeblood of the company which is observed in its financial resources.  Brand equity can be a useful measure to rationalize the effectiveness of the plan implementation (, 2000).  Controlling can be attained firsthand when direct marketing is implemented wherein there is a close communication between the institution and the customers.  However, the plan can be out of control (thus, leading to excessive marketing loss) if customer feedback is not obtained or repeat purchase takes ample time to happen.  BMP assures that institution can test the quality of the implemented plan by installing measurement techniques.  Lastly, evaluation of the plan performance is necessary to determine its overall effectiveness and usability in the future engagements of the firm.  Record-keeping is crucial to obtain accurate evaluation which is largely based on historical data, corporate reports and external conditions.  Since the plan can help the firm in two ways, that is to learn or readily earn, evaluation classifies the plan and identifies its weakness that can be polished to come-up with a more profitable one in the coming years.               On the other hand, the communication of institution is strong due to its primary focus to university students who have purchasing power necessary to buy the premium price of institutional innovation on pod-cast and vod-cast.  Since the ultimate end of an effective communication is the achievement of the sender’s purpose in delivering the message ( & , 2004), elements of communication within the institution’s strategy exemplifies satisfactory features.  First, the branding image of institution is simplified by its logo in which aid in consistency and ready impression from the intended market.  Aside from the logo, educational presentations that is usually the alley for marketing endeavors of institution is an excellent sender platform to arouse the interest of the receiver of the message.  Known celebrities can also be highlighted so that institution products can concretize its image.  Customer experience with the logo and presentations can build customer trust.    Second, the message is straightforward and in-line with the goals of the firm.  Institution enjoys the ability of their brand to be unintentionally marketed by the end-users through word-of-mouth.  This made institution messages simple and merely wants customers to be reminded that the firm is an on-going concern trend.  Third, the channel institution chose is diverse.  It has outlets all over the world just like other industry competitors.  Being visually observable through channels is important for institution to maintain and increase market share (, 2002).  This is because the supply of modern consumers is very sophisticated, brand-conscious and has high bargaining power.  In effect, the inability to access advertising outlets can pose inconvenience to customers that may lead to brand shifts.   Fourth, in relation to the channel, the customers of institution is typically located in the high-end market making a very high purchasing power due to them that pose lower switching costs for brand shifts.  Their dependence to institution products is quite independent because of the presence of different competitors.  In effect, institution should level its communication strategy with the competition if not better that can meet the convenience needs of the consumers.  Fifth, the feedback of customers should be collated for the purpose of improving or changing communication strategy.  The booming internet use can be an opportunity to obtain feedbacks that can be used to form a database.  Since a feedback is the determinant of communication success, the institution can pour large amount of investment in their website.        Bibliography Book Journal   Electronic Source               Figure 1: Gantt Chart of Promotional Campaign for the Year 2008 Activities Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1. Planning phase which includes developing promotional plan objectives as well as estimating both explicit (financial) and implicit (stress/ resistance from employees) costs   1                       2. Product Line, Distribution Channel and Supplier Assessment   2                     3. Rationalization/ Implementation of Product, Place and Suppliers     3                   4. Reconstruction of advertising outlet and to rationalized strategy     4 4                 5. Training of Personnel     5                   6. Media Advertising (website, print, TV, radio) that formally announces the institution’s use of value strategy     6 6 6               7. Publicity through fairs highlighting the rationalized products.  This would entail distributing “enrolment cards” particularly aimed for first time customers that avails them to great surprises in their first visit.       7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7   8. Sales promotions will be made available for current customers       8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8   9. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Promotional Plan which includes time data comparison of number of customers, sales and other costs.  9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10. Monitoring of economic indicators and effects to the plan 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11. Contingency Actions/ Reactions 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

Business Creativity and Innovation

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION: POD-CAST AND VOD-CAST APPLICATION IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION I. Executive ...

Best Gift This Christmas

Written by rolan magno I think that the best Christmas gift that anyone can give is their precious time to someone close to them because the most happiest time in a person is when they are with their loved ones specially in an occasion like this because this is the time of the year that the family gets together except from other special occasion. A person will be missed by their family or loved ones on this time of the year if they are not with them at Christmas but sometimes there are some who can't celebrate this time because of their works because not all people celebrate Christmas like the people whose religions are Iglesia Ni Cristo, that's why not all celebrate this time of the year nevertheless I just don't say that they don't like to celebrate but because of their belief but I just mention them because of the fact that they just think that this is only a regular day of a year contrary to the beliefs of the Christians and Catholics that this is the time of the year that Jesus Christ was born. It is like celebrating the birthday of someone close to us because we all know that He is the savior of our sins and we celebrate His coming to the world to relieve us from our sins. So cherish this moment because our savior is born this day and don't forget to thank Him for all that He have done to us maybe you would say that believing in Him is just an simple thing but you can share this belief to your family and loved ones specially this time of the year that His coming to earth was dated long time ago. Hope you like what i have written here and share the gospel of god to everyone.

Best Gift This Christmas

Written by rolan magno I think that the best Christmas gift that anyone can give is their precious time to someone close to them because...

Wal-Mart’s Low Cost Strategy

Wal-Mart’s Low Cost Strategy Introduction Wal-Mart has achieved almost legendary status for its low-priced goods. The company aggressively maintains efficient distribution systems, lower labor costs, and firm-level economies that give it leverage with suppliers. Combined with managerial innovations and the big-box format, which leads to in-store scale economies, these advantages help Wal-Mart cut costs and passes savings on to consumers (2004; 2003; 2002). Labor productivity was 44% higher in Wal-Mart stores than in other general merchandise retail stores in 1987. In 1999, Wal-Mart still maintained labor productivity 41% greater than competitors (2001). The company's price advantage extends to groceries, particularly in the large footprint format. (2004) summarized the evidence on scale economies in grocery sales, arguing that larger stores enjoy cost economies, have more room for high-margin items, and may be more attractive to some consumers. A 2002 study by  found that the price of a market basket of grocery items at Wal-Mart supercenters was between 17 and 29% lower than prices at major supermarket chains in the same urban area (2003). Moreover, grocery chains competing in the same market will normally be forced to lower their prices in response. The aggregate savings to consumers of such price differences across a metropolitan area, as we see in the San Francisco study below, can easily amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Strengths and Weaknesses of Wal-Mart’s Strategy With Wal-Mart’s single purpose to bring the lowest prices to customers, Wal-Mart has turn to China. China's south was always famous for business savvy; that talent was enhanced almost from the day in 1980 when five "special economic zones" were formed, most famously Guangdong, which boasted the first "joint venture" firms. China's relentless improvement of infrastructure, and endless cheap labor, explains why Wal-Mart has relied its goods on the country. It's a complex market and certainly the opportunities are overwhelming. One of the strengths of the strategy of Wal-Mart in resorting to China in its goods is because with China, manufacturing of the goods are of low prices because of labor expenses are low in which in return would cause low prices of products. Reducing labor expense is the main cause of savings and in trimming the prices of the products. According to  (2005), more than 10 percent of what China ships to the U.S. ends up on Wal-Mart's shelves. With Wal-Mart’ strategy of outsourcing in China, the company has saved money. Lowcost-country outsourcing is a strategy that enables innovation. However, China lifted its restrictions on where Wal-Mart and other foreign businesses to open stores. Wal-Mart's stores are "in their infancy in China.   China’s Effects to the US China's influence and investments are expected to create U.S. jobs and opportunities that hearken to industries of old. China has also changed the business landscape through innovation, something upon which the U.S. once prided itself. However, China is responsible for the "China price"--the end result of low wages, thin profit margins and the utmost efficiency, offering a mixed benefit for consumers. Unfortunately, a typical U.S. resident who needs this China price most is someone who's likely lost a job because his company cut costs to compete with the China price. Another effect of China's growth is a spike in raw material costs. Copper, aluminum, zinc and oil prices have all increased due to China's demand. Recent gas price increases can also be attributed, in part, to a hefty demand from China's factories. Moreover, China's influence on the U.S. is more than economic. A mass of smog known as the Asian Brown Cloud has traveled over the Pacific via the jet stream to the West Coast, a grimy reminder of China's proclivity for using unwashed coal in its factories. Fishman writes that the Brown Cloud may also be responsible for altering weather patterns--reducing rain in Washington, Oregon and sections of the Midwest. Moreover, China's currency poses a pervasive problem for the U.S. The country is accused of undervaluing its currency, the yuan, to increase exports, as well as pegging the yuan to the U.S. dollar. U.S. legislators plan to respond with a proposal that threatens a 27-percent tariff on imports from China if the country does not revaluate its currency. However, aside from possible World Trade Organization violations, this plan may be a mistake for more than one reason. The currencies of the U.S. and China are inextricably linked, and radical change in any direction could negatively affect the entire global community. China accounts for only 10 percent of the total U.S. trade, and a 10-percent revaluation would reduce the dollar's "trade-weighted value" by only 1 percent, the article adds China's influence has ultimately paved the way for low interest rates and lower- priced products in the U.S. marketplace--a scenario that should be taken advantage of because it will not last forever. This has the potential to open doors for new businesses to form and new jobs to be created if innovation and perseverance lead the way.       Wal-Mart’s Price Points, is it Ethical? Wal-Mart’s strategy is unethical to the trade. The connection between Wal-Mart's everyday low prices and the outsourcing results to the loss thousands of American jobs and the transfer of whole industries from the United States to China and other countries. According to  the International Vice President of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), "Wal-Mart represents everything that's wrong with the WTO. Free trade doesn't come by making workers unfree. That's what Wal-Mart is doing/amassing great wealth by pitting workers against workers, driving down wages and lowering working conditions worldwide." American manufacturers have been forced to cut jobs or close doors when Wal-Mart replaces their products with imports. Wal-Mart trades in suppression of human rights. As the world's largest retailer with more than $130 billion in yearly sales, Wal-Mart is one of the largest outlets for imported goods in the U.S. Goods coming from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and other oppressive countries make Wal-Mart one of the world's largest traders in human misery. For nearly a decade, news reports have documented Wal-Mart's manufacturing and trading links to countries where sweatshops and child labor are prevalent. Wal-Mart is profiting from the lack of WTO protection against child labor, forced labor and employment discrimination by trading heavily with Communist China. Wal-Mart's price advantage in groceries stems in part from its employee compensation packages. Compared with supermarket pay and benefits in some of the larger metropolitan areas, Wal-Mart's are low. Wal-Mart is not unionized, while in many places the percentage of grocery workers belonging to unions is higher than the national average.

Wal-Mart’s Low Cost Strategy

Wal-Mart’s Low Cost Strategy Introduction Wal-Mart has achieved almost legendary status for its low-priced goods. The company aggre...

Reducing risks in Health Care

This article written by  (2006) asserts OR briefings and wrong site surgery which assumes a catastrophic event for a patient, caregiver and institution, the article explains evaluated impact of operating room briefings on coordination of care and risk for wrong-site surgery. The study design was appropriate in testing research validity and paradigms as case study design imposes a useful tool in research to the time out policy and that the inclusion of Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) to operating room staff is one reliable basis upon achieving a definite goal within hospitals, the items are enough to sanctioned effectiveness as there dealt to overall coordination and awareness of the surgical site. The analysis and interpretations have ranged certain responses although the tool for comparison was sort of complicated to apply but still goof percentage were achieved as the OR staff responses was reported. The article explains outcomes from such response rates of 85% from 306 of 360 respondents and 75% from 16 of 154 respondents. ( 2006) The research served right for the research vigor they were composed of surgeons (34.9%), anesthesiologists (14.0%), and nurses (44.4%). Agreeing to the indication that, surgery and anesthesia worked together into team as well as increased awareness of the surgical site and side being operated understanding from the article that OR briefings reduced risk for wrong-site surgery and improve perceived collaboration among OR personnel. ( 2006 , 2007  )     The core awareness provided by the article connects to OR briefing as one effective safety initiative designed to reduce wrong-site surgery and have useful implications in physician and nurse training. Thus, incorporating the OR briefing into residency training for surgery and anesthesiology residents, nursing training, and medical student training may prove beneficial in improving care coordination and reducing the incidence of wrong-site surgery. In addition, briefings help improve the teamwork climate in operating rooms by promoting consistent and structured communication, proactive planning for potential problems, and interdisciplinary collaboration between physicians and nurses in surgery and anesthesiology.     This particular article focuses on reports made by  linking to wrong site surgery cases from where a total of 150 reported cases were identified. The organization of case reports was the core basis for the standing of this article written by  and . These proponents was strong in there arguments as supported by observations and research studies as application of standard measures were known into percentage rankings in lieu to orthopedic surgery situation. Thus, the article mentions a particular program of great usage referring to “sign your Site” program as the program urged surgeons to talk to their patients prior to the surgery in order to confirm procedures to be done, which body part to touch and other factors to do. There was the use of survey methodology which serve as a good tool for research support and it was then noted that 60 percent of the surgeons were marking the surgical site and the article assumes that 1 out of 4 orthopedic surgeons will perform at least one wrong site surgery. It is then imperative to avoid the factors leading to wrong site surgery and there was a clear research finding like, the putting of outcomes into percentile ranks of the survey conducted. The strong and weak points can be seen into the limited flow of information and data based on the actual accumulation of the research approach. Truly, the possible prevention can be in knowing marking of surgical site, as well as creating a checklist wherein a possible time out is a must protocol upon ensuring that all procedures are set into correct place before operation will start officially.     The article is good in presenting the public and the readers that patient safety and security is a vital mission and vision by the OR team at all times following strict standards and regulations as approved by the health authorities of the hospital and health institutions in general. The article is emphasizing the contribution of  for the issue of reducing risks in health care and that it is just right to present factual information to the public when it comes to miss outs in OR even though it does not occur everyday but still it adheres to an alarming reality that bites people in majority. The authors is good in presenting ideas linking to patient’s role and that awareness strikes deep when understanding to the process are achieved and that trusts of patient should be preserved in whatever way the hospital can, thanks to JCAHO for imposing stop moment in hospitals and that time out policy have to be followed under all means upon doing the right thing into the situation. Indeed, verification comes into the picture as the article merits the importance of realizing goals and applying objectives in avoiding medical errors from every area of health milieu.     It can be that the article incurs a detailed discussion regarding wrong site surgery as a devastating problem affecting the patient, surgeon, anesthesiologists as well as nurses involved case to case basis. Agreeing to what the article noted that, ‘operating on the incorrect site is nontraditional patient safety issue but is of consideration because of what role anesthesia caregivers have in verifying correct and intended surgical procedure as about to take place. The article functions then as an advisory created and written for orthopedic surgeons and there incurs that concepts presented are worth the consideration of anesthesiologists involved. The article talks about executive methods of eliminating wrong site surgery such as for instance, surgeons initials are placed on the operative site as can’t be overlooked and if in manner be clearly incorrect if transferred to another body part upon surgery as well as patient’s records are a must have and be available in the operating area. Thus, Code of Ethics have to be included and if possible be reviewed accordingly as the article points out the useful means of ethical standards in surgery as the surgeons must be truthful in all circumstances. There talks about actions which emphasizes an ideal view of strategies in discovering of wrong site surgery, the article is an effective material to get involved with imperative institutions upon thinking of better recommendations on the issues known such as the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons believes in unified effort in surgeons, health providers and hospitals in initiating preoperative regulations to effectively eliminate wrong cases of surgery.      2006     The article is about hospital patient transformation adhering to time out policy, as the article focuses on the policy by which there assures that the highest levels of patient safety, both the nursing staff and security staff will positively identify patients who are delivered to or transported from all nursing units as the correct patient. In the article the role of nurses plays a critical part as the nurse will verify the patient identity using two forms of patient identification, will document the time of the patient’s arrival in takes down patient medical record and the emphasis of acknowledgement by the physician of the process. The article incorporated three step search strategy as utilized, step one have identified initial words from Medline that will be used to construct database into comprehensive search strategy one good search engine adheres to OVID information. The article discusses facility guidelines ensuring patient care and safety is maintained by verifying the operative procedure and the appropriate surgical site. There were actions will be taken to verify the correct site, correct procedure and correct person. The inclusion of protocol was applicable to the operative as well as invasive procedures that expose patients to harm. The article expresses sort of narrative method from where, one team will perform a pre-procedure “Time Out” to verbally confirm the correct person, procedure, side, site, patient position and immediate availability of correct implantable devices with the entire surgical team. The “Time Out was then completed even when procedure site marking does not take place. The one good learning found in the article can be that, a practitioner is of no exempt from the site-marking requirement when he or she is in continuous attendance with the patient and requirement for “time out” applies very well. There certain reports of wrong-sided procedures being done despite the continued presence of the person performing the procedure from time to decision to completion of the procedure, for instances when procedure is performed without assistance, there advise to enlist an assistant to participate in the “time out”. There was known involvement of operative team as well as the use active communication for document process. From the article, it can be understood that time out policy is standardized procedure and documentation indicates the procedure was followed in its entirety without deviation. Achieving the National Quality Forum's “Never Events”: Prevention of Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, and Wrong Patient Operations   The article explains, “Never Events” of Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure and Wrong Patient Operations a study supported by Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins from the Annals of Surgery which is a review of surgical science. The article reviews evidence regarding methods to prevent wrong site operations and present framework that healthcare organizations can use to evaluate whether they have reduced the probability of wrong site, wrong procedure and wrong patient operations. Indeed, it can be true that few is known about effective policies to reduce never events and healthcare professional's knowledge or appropriate use of these policies to mitigate events. There was integration of PubMed and Google search which can be appropriate at the same time inappropriate due to the fact that Google search may impose unaccepted information and unacceptable by some Universities but the good point is there can be direct connection to PubMed as links to PubMed at some point is supported by  URL. The article is detailed in explaining framework to evaluate safety and whether the policy is being used appropriately. The outcomes presented is useful to orthopedic surgeons as well as the OR team as such time out implemented is justifiable as possible. Believing at some point that, there was no scientific evidence is available to guide hospitals in evaluating whether they have an effective policy and whether staff know of the policy and appropriately use the policy to prevent never events.   Aside, it is possible to dig up more on behavioral interventions as the article presents only limited evidence of behavioral interventions in reducing surgical procedures and others and the outlining of measures id imperative to be of used by healthcare from evaluation determining adverse events in operations are reduced. The need to address concerns and issues as needed from where healthcare lacks a structured approach to evaluate whether safety efforts are reducing the risk of events that cannot be measured as rates. The survey used present strong locations noted were even if the instrument did not specify time period but instead asked whether surgeon had wrong-site surgery, sadly the authors could not estimate the incidence of wrong site operations, or the impact of the “Sign Your Site” campaign instituted by the AAOS. There was exceedingly limited empiric evidence regarding how to prevent wrong site operations. None of the studies reviewed presented quantitative evaluations of strategies to prevent wrong site operations. The contribution of JCAHO deserves better recognition in health care as the organization states the marking should be clearly observable after the surgical preparation and draping are completed. Site marking will likely have high impact in preventing wrong site operations because it is a well-defined behavior.     The cases then serves a focal point for OR in relation to time out policy and recommendations were of good substance and the operative plan should be and must be a success. The article is good in describing points of such technology information. The need to evaluate whether policies and procedures are being appropriately implemented is important.  has received reports of wrong site operations occurring, even though a time-out was reportedly done. It could be that the time-out was done and the error could not be prevented, or the team went through the motions but did not execute an effective time-out. The compliance tool is what makes it effective as the authors are best in organizing vivid data in eyeing for OR briefings to better understand time out policy. Indeed, wrong site operations are preventable adverse events that often result in patient harm for one, study made by  (2006) wherein malpractice claims alone found that two thirds of wrong site operations could have been prevented by a site-verification protocol.   Patient Identification Errors   This article from the Journal of Urology indicating patient identification error among prostate needle core biopsy specimens adhering for DNA time out readiness, as the article tells the readers that patient identification errors in surgical pathology often involve switches of prostate or breast needle core biopsy specimens among patients, The method which adheres to root cause analyses was in right inclusion of meta analysis for the study and there found that patient identification errors in surgical pathology result from slips and lapses of automatic human action that may occur at numerous steps during pre-laboratory, laboratory and post-laboratory work flow processes. The article serves as basis in linking information from where time out policy is of immediate concern in health care from which A DNA time-out are efficient upon confirming patient identification before radiation therapy or radical surgery, may eliminate patient identification errors among needle biopsies. Qualitative method is of relevance to the overall research vigor presented in article as the method focuses on discovering the underlying systems that set the stage for error and recognizing cases into the study deemed useful into the time out application, detailed case analysis is of great inclusion in research so as to prove that the policy can reduce wrong situations and matters that may happen into the actual care agreeing that certain DNA analysis suits the root cause execution, supporting that there can be contributing factor to the failure of root cause analysis such as the inability to retrieve empty specimen containers to determine whether labeling errors had occurred due to lack of storage space sufficient to retain large numbers of empty specimen containers for lengthy periods. The respondents of the study was in direct utilization for the methods applied as there can be complete source of information needed in judging several cases of patient identification errors, challenging prospective studies be required to evaluate the true incidence of switching errors in academic and community settings are beyond the scope of the current study. Formal evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the DNA time-out may be performed after the true incidence of switching errors has been established.   Wrong-Side/Wrong-Site, Wrong-Procedure, and Wrong-Patient Adverse Events: Are They Preventable?   The article implies to wrong-side/wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient adverse events (WSPEs) which are devastating, unacceptable, and possibly outcomes in litigation, as the case occurs in common than realized, with little evidence that current prevention practice is adequate. The methods of several databases demonstrates that WSPEs occur with high numbers noted in orthopedic and dental surgery. The methods are ideally applied to prevent errors. The research is of strong impact of precise factors that contribute to the occurrence of WSPEs, as well as ways to reduce them. Discussing wrong-site, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient adverse events, are of real concern affecting health professionals of today and agreeing that prevention of WSPEs requires new and innovative technologies, reporting of case occurrence, and learning from successful safety initiatives meanwhile, reducing the shame associated with these events. The data indicate that current practices and guidelines for WSPE prevention are insufficient to prevent future events. The WSPE procedure are accurate as certain cases continue to occur outside the operating room (OR) in areas of health care. The studies found in the article are of enough amounts of diverse methodologies known. The retrospective chart review assumes effective domain made by  universal protocol. The interpretations are of calculated frequencies and the rates are of median range. Although WSPEs are probably relatively rare events, we believe they are substantially underreported and totally preventable. The increased use of conscious sedation for surgical procedures in ambulatory and free-standing surgery centers will likely increase these numbers. Most states have little oversight of freestanding procedure facilities and thus have little means to record WSPEs in freestanding outpatient clinics. The reporting was informative and of acceptable substance as such reporting of WSPEs will occur when health care providers feel safe to report them as well as team approach having explicit knowledge and attitudes required of surgical team. Truly, best-practice evidence-based approach to prevent WSPEs should be applied to recommendations made before their dissemination and enforcement by regulatory agencies.

Reducing risks in Health Care

This article written by (2006) asserts OR briefings and wrong site surgery which assumes a catastrophic event for a patient, ...

Term paper on The impact of supervision on the staff performance in the Special Schools in Ghana

The Impact of Supervision on the Staff Performance in the Special Schools in Ghana Introduction Staff performance among the schools received the increasing interests and concerns among the researchers. The performance of every staff is expected to reflect in their ability to drive the changes within the schools and therefore can create an impact towards the school. Because of the lack of monitoring and guidance coming from the higher officials or often referred as the supervisors, the staff and their performance cannot be assured as effective in the schools. Definition of Supervision In connection in a relationship, organization or system, the supervision can be defined within a concept of “parenting”. This means that a senior manager is assigned to parent a person according to his task. This is important to ensure that there is continuity in the activity involved and who will be the one responsible towards that activity (Bossert, et al., 2004). This very same idea is supported by other author that the supervision comprises with the idea of coaching and guiding an individual to achieve his potential in an activity and perform well. Based on the various coaching theories, the supervisor should have the knowledge in the area of the staff and have to build the relationship. This is for the reason that supervisors should build the respect, trust, and collegiality that increase the interaction abilities of the staff. Both staff and the supervisor should engage in wide variety of activities. Through the help of the guidance and supervision program, the staff are allowed too experiment, practice, and learn through their mistakes. All of the experience that the staff can gather is effective reference or sources for his sole decision making. The school administration should thereby, promote the supervision initiatives with the aim of long-term professional development strategy (Burkhauser & Metz, 2009). The Rationale of Supervision of Staff Performance The performance of a staff in school for special children is important. Therefore the functions and roles assigned for them should be well addressed. The factors involved are the organizational structure in which they operate, their workload, and work management. With the appropriate supervision, the performance of the staffs can have a significant outcome according to the tasks or responsibilities given to them (Henderson & Gysbers, 2006). The purpose of supervision is to provide the standards necessary among the special schools in Ghana. Therefore, the common goal of staff supervision is to increase the knowledge and skills of the staff in order to facilitate the improvement in their performance (Burkhauser & Metz, 2009).    Indicators on the Impact of Supervision on Staff Performance Providing the education among the schools has been a noble opportunity, especially in the special schools. It is a great challenge for the educators and staff to provide the needs of the children. With the aid of the appropriate supervision, the staffs can achieve their highest possible performance. The indicators that are chosen for supervision involves three variables: 1.      Develop supervision guideline to highly facilitate the improvement of the staff. 2.      Decide on supervision schedules which are according to the time, place, and work situation of the staffs. 3.      Assign staff to supervision which means that the supervisor and staff should be at the same level of position or nature of work in order to facilitate the supervision. Suggestion for Supervision of Staff Performance The supervision on the staff performance can be developed by firstly maintaining the best approach the organization included in their system. Another is keeping the methods updated and using the tools such as the assessment methods and appraisal kits. These are important to determine the improvement in the performance of the staff even in a more complex environment. This will also help the staff to accomplish their job according to the goals of the organization. Conclusion There are many questions that can be asked on the efficacy of supervision, but in the examination on the school settings from various countries, the supervision and the associated actions or concern on supervision services depends on the situation of the country or their traditions, the specific roles and functions of the supervisions. Furthermore, the experience of teaching is also highlighted to create a successful drive on the control and support of supervision. The supervisors’ roles are also changed and sometimes called as the “advisors” of the staff which definitely creates a great amount of contribution on the total staff performance.  The supervision apparently, became important especially in guiding the staff in different services. References: Bossert, T., Bowser, D., Amenyah, J., & Copeland, R., (2004) Ghana: Decentralization and the Health Logistics Systems [Online] Available at: http://deliver.jsi.com/dlvr_content/resources/allpubs/policypapers/GH_DeceHealLogi.pdf [Accessed 30 July 2010] Burkhauser, M., & Metz, A.J., (2009) Using Coaching to Provide Ongoing Support and Supervision to Out-of-School Time Staff, Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Out-of-School Time Programs: The Role of Frontline Staff, [Online] Available at: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2009_02_11_RB_StaffCoaching.pdf [Accessed 30July 2010]. Henderson, P., & Gysbers, N.C., (2006) Providing Administrative and Counseling Supervision for School Counselors [Online] Available at: http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas06/vistas06.35.pdf [Accessed 30 July 2010].

Term paper on The impact of supervision on the staff performance in the Special Schools in Ghana

The Impact of Supervision on the Staff Performance in the Special Schools in Ghana Introduction Staff performance among the schools r...