Information management systems ‘’Purpose and need for information systems in small and medium business enterprises’’ The WritePass Journal

Information management systems ‘’Purpose and need for information systems in small and medium business enterprises’’ 1. Introduction Information management systems ‘’Purpose and need for information systems in small and medium business enterprises’’ 1. Introduction2. Literature Review2.1WHY DO WE NEED INFORMATION SYSTEMS2.2 INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES2.3 OUTCOME OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES3. Research Objectives and Research Questions4. Research Design5. Data collection and analysis6. Time ScaleReferencesRelated 1. Introduction This project intends to investigate the impact of information system on the success of Small and medium enterprises. Almost all the successful big enterprises have embraced information system in their various businesses. It is generally believed, that information technology enables a firm to access information needed to make decisions, to make an efficient use of resources by reducing labour and manufacturing costs, to seize opportunities in its markets and to position itself effectively in relation to its contenders (Dirks, 1994).Unfortunately, it is the same environment both big and SME’s operate and there is a need for the small enterprises to survive in this environment. We live in a very competitive world with the competition becoming fiercer. It has become so volatile that it takes more than success to stay alive. The threat posed to SME by the big enterprises is such that they can be swallowed at anytime. One of the ways by which SME’s can achieve a competitive advantage in the era of globalization is through the implementation of IS in their organizations. Implementation and practice of IS comes at a cost and its increasing high cost is a concern to management, especially in SMEs sector. With lack of sufficient funds to acquire such skills smaller organizations often implement IS in a less than optimal way, thereby attaining fewer benefits than larger organizations (Delone, 1988). The decision to invest the few available funds on information technology need to be worth it as SME’s don’t have the luxury of fund big enterprises have. Traditionally, the success of Information Systems (IS) has been studied in the context of large organisations, most businesses, however, are small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) and they have increasingly adopted packaged application software to meet their information processing requirements. Small- and medium-sized enterprises exert a strong influence on the economies of all countries, particularly in the fast-changing and increasingly competitive global market (Anaroni 1994; Drilhon and Estime 1993). They have been a major engine of economic growth and technological progress (Mulhern, 1995; Thornburg 1993). Carrier (1994) said that SMEs are often more fertile than larger firms in terms of innovation. Most IS research focuses on large firms, yet the majority of firms in most economies are SMEs. It is amazing how SME’s form the bedrock of every country’s economy yet they always find it hard to survive not to talk of competing in an environment where the big enterprises have enormous edge. Though these SME’s can’t match the financial investment of the big enterprises, they need to find a way of balancing their investment to keep abreast of what is happening in their environment. Some SME’s have decided to overlook the cost of investing in IS as they 2. Literature Review Given the dominance of worldwide competition and high rate of technological change, there will be some challenges, which most SMEs are likely to have in common (Marri et al., 2000). Blili and Raymonds (1997) identified the need and usefulness of information systems strategies (ISS) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). In the transformational role, IS helps to Fundamentally redefine and alter the business processes and business relationships. These benefits could range from simple cost reduction to creation of new businesses or enhanced organizational capabilities (King and Teo, 1996; Feeny and Willcocks, 1998). Palvia and Palvia (1999) stressed on key areas of IT dissatisfactions that are: training and education, software maintenance, documentation and vendor support. According to them software Vendors and consultants can appropriately address these deficiencies. These issues can be addressed well by having a proper IS management in place in an organization. Poon and Swatman (1999) reported on internet use in small business sector as a part of IS management and found that although use of e-mail was very popular for business communication and documents transfer, there was almost no integration between the Internet and internal applications. 2.1WHY DO WE NEED INFORMATION SYSTEMS Information has become very important to the modern business organization that it is seen as its lifeblood. Information systems help an organization manage and make efficient use of its data to achieve utmost success. There has been more information produced in the last 30 years than during the previous 5,000. The information supply available to us doubles every five years. Information system enables companies to react, respond, cater, store, retrieve, disseminate, and control their new valuable asset that is information. In the years to come, a good information system within a company will be no longer an option; it will become a compulsory in determining success. The term IT is defined in broad sense as ‘‘technologies dedicated to information storage, processing and communication’’ (Ang and Koh, 1997). This notion of IT focuses on a combination of hardware, software, telecommunications and office equipments that transform raw data into useful information for speedy retrieval (Seyal et al., 2000). Blili and Raymonds (1997) identified the need and Usefulness of information systems strategies (ISS) in small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s). 2.2 INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES Many smaller firms now utilize computer-based information systems (IS). Top managers in these small firms have a crucial role to play in the development of IS, but the nature of this role differs sharply from that usually undertaken by the senior manager of the larger firm (Martin,J   1989) There is little doubt that advanced information and communication technologies (IT) are changing the way businesses operate and conduct commerce. As the advent of a more secure Internet and new transmission standards makes it easier and cheaper for businesses to conduct inter-organizational commerce.( Khazanchi,D 2005) 2.3 OUTCOME OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IT investments had a positive relation with the IS management practices. Increasing investments in IT and strategic role played by information systems (IS) make IT Implementation as an important research issue within the MIS discipline (Bostrom and Heinen,   1977). Schein (1992) and Zuboff (1988) outlined three major roles   that IS could play in an organization: (1) Automate; (2) Informate; and (3) Transformate. The automate role refers to mere replacement of labour processes by technology. In the Informate     role, IS provides data and information that empowers different levels of Management   and   Ã‚  organizational employees. In the transformational role, IS helps to Fundamentally redefine and alter the business processes and business relationships. These Benefits could range from simple cost reduction to creation of new businesses or enhanced Organizational capabilities   (King and Teo, 1996; Feeny and Willcocks, 1998). Palvia and Palvia (1999) stressed on key areas of IT dissatisfactions that are: training and education, Software maintenance, documentation and vendor support. According to them software Vendors and consultants can appropriately address these deficiencies. These issues can be Addressed well by having a proper IS management in place in an organization. 3. Research Objectives and Research Questions The general objective of the study is to ascertain the need for information systems in modern day small and medium business enterprise. How much are they loosing out as a result of their unwillingness to invest in information system or is the price being paid for the competitive edge provided by information system too expensive? It looks at the benefit accrued to the small and medium enterprises that have embraced information systems.I wish to create a relationship between the cost of investment in information systems and the gains accrue to small and medium organizations that have embraced it. I also intend to look at how small and medium entrepreneurs feel about the need for information systems in their business. It will also be interesting to know how much they are willing to invest in information systems even if they feel it is needed. 4. Research Design Research methodology involves qualitative method due to the nature of the work. It will be ideal to get detailed information about the operations of the small and medium enterprises because they have different challenges; these challenges affect the running of the organizations in different ways. I intend to carry out a series of one on one interview with a number of small and medium entrepreneurs. There are two categories of entrepreneurs that I wish to interview, those that have embrace information systems and those that are yet to. 5. Data collection and analysis Both primary and secondary data will be collected for this project. Primary data will be collected from SME’s especially through interview and It is intended to retrieve the required secondary data from available financial sources to measure the performance of enterprises that use IS and those that don’t use it, only data from regulated bodies will be processed 6. Time Scale Working to meet the project submission deadline, there will be critical reading of relevant materials, regular meeting with the supervisor and also to conduct interviews with some SME business owners. References Ang, J. and Koh, S. (1997), ‘‘Exploring the relationships between user information satisfaction’’,  International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 169-77.    Blili, S. and Raymonds, L. (1997), ‘‘Adopting EDI in a network enterprise: the case of subcontracting  SMEs’’, European Journal of Purchasing Supply Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 165-75. Bostrom, R. and Heinen, J. (1977), ‘‘MIS problems and failures: a   sociotechnical   perspective-part-the  Causes’’, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 17-32. Delone, W.H. (1988), ‘‘Determinants of success for computer usage in small business’’, MIS Quarterly,  Dirks, P. (1994), ‘‘MIS investments for operations management: relevant costs and revenues’’, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 35, pp. 137-48. Feeny, D.F. and Willcocks, L.P. (1998),   ‘‘Core IS capabilities for exploiting information technology’’, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 9-22. Khazanchi, Deepak,(2005) Information Technology (IT) Appopriateness: The contingency theory   FIT AND IT implementation in small and medium enterprises, The Journal of Computer Information Systems King, W.R. and Teo, T.S.H. (1996), ‘‘Key dimensions of facilitators and inhibitors for the strategic use of  Information technology’’, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 12 No. 4,   pp. 35-54. Martin, C.J. (1989), ‘‘Information management in the smaller business: the role of the top manager’’ Marri, H.B., Gunasekaran, A. and Grieve, R.J. (2000), ‘‘Performance measurements in the  Implementation of CIM in small medium enterprises: an empirical analysis’’, International Journal of  Production Research, Vol. 38 No. 17, pp. 4403-11 Palvia, P., Means, D.W. andJackson, W.M. (1994), ‘‘Determinants of computing in very small business’’,  Information Management, Vol. 27, pp. 161-74. Palvia, P. and Palvia, S. (1999), ‘‘an examination of the IT satisfaction of small users’’, Information   Management, Vol. 35, pp. 127-37. Poon, S. and Swatman, P. (1999), ‘‘an exploratory study of small business internet commerce issues’’,  Information Management, Vol. 35, pp. 9-18. Schein, E.H. (1992), ‘‘the role of the CEO in the management of change: the case of information  Technology’’, in Kochan, T.A. and Useem, M. (Eds), Transforming Organizations,OxfordUniversity  Press,     Oxford. Seyal, A., Rahim, M. and Rahim, N. (2000), ‘‘an empirical investigation of the use of information  Technology among small and medium business organizations: a Bruneian scenario’’, The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol. 2 No. 7, pp. 1-17. Zuboff, S. (1988), In the Age of Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power, Basic Books,New York,  NY.

Technology Improves Transportations Research Paper

Technology Improves Transportations - Research Paper Example The researcher states that transportation today is one of the most crucial and basic ingredient of all the field of human life, especially of international trade e.g. shipping, agriculture, food industry, construction, traveling, tourism, and number of other business fields, that simply cannot go ahead even a single step without the support of transportation. The safe and secure carrying of passengers, speedy deliverance of products, and preservation of quality of different commodities are most important issues for the success of transportation companies. Due to this reason, users consult reliable companies which utilize the latest modes of transportation and technologies for efficient delivery. The use of latest technologies has introduced new trends in transportation industry and put certain direct implications on different actors associated with this field. These actors include infrastructure (e.g. roads, highways, bridges, railways, subways, tramways, airports, seaports etc), mod es of transportation (e.g. buses, cars, rails, trams, planes, freights etc), and functions pertaining to of transportation industry. Since users keep themselves continuously engage with new innovative services in all facets of life, therefore, by focusing on transportation industry, this research paper describes the development of modern technologies and their ultimate impact on the improvement of different aspects of transportation as well as enhancing easiness in transportation today and increasing it's flow capacity.... But its drawback is that it is much time consuming than other modes of transportations. It is basically the blessing of modern technology which enabled the construction of roads, airports, railways, subways, and trams. Asphalt compactors are used for speedy compaction and finishing of roads. Hydraulic Trucks have the capacity to lift 200 to 250 tons of loads due to having a swing-away lattice jib extension which provides it additional 30’ to 40’ of length. Besides these equipment, excavators, fork lifter, pavers, trenchers, crawler loaders, and some other miscellaneous machinery is used throughout the world to construct and repair the roads and highways in speedy way (Vehicle Valuation Services, Inc). Air transportation is one of the leading services in transportation industry. Heavy constructing technology is operated for the construction and re-carpeting of runways. Auto sweeper transports are being used to prevent the air traffic from Field Object Damages which may p roduce very serious outcomes for planes. The application of advanced crash tenders on airports, for rescue and firefighting services, have increased the transportation safety manifold. FLF Panther, Alvis Salamander, E-1, and MB are some most modern crash tenders presently in use at numbers of airports. Installation of Doppler Radars and Automated Weather Observation Systems, have also increased the safety of aircraft from any environmental effect (CopRadar.com). Improvement in Transportation Modes The world had never such huge numbers of transportation modes as today it has. In ancient times, human used to travel on animals. Today, it has automobiles, buses, rails, trams, subways, ships, and aircraft to go from one place to other or to cargo its products anywhere

LAW FOR BUSINESS Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

LAW FOR BUSINESS Assignment - Essay Example In general, compensation for economic loss resulting from damage to property can be recovered. As such, it is difficult to clearly distinguish between pure and consequential economic loss. This was demonstrated in Spartum Steel and Alloys Ltd v Martin &Co, wherein, the defendant had by inadvertence caused damage to an electronic cable in the plaintiff’s factory. The outcome of this act was a reduction in profits, and a general delay in the functioning of the factory. The court while awarding damages for the pure economic loss caused, rejected the claim for general damages (Speaight, 2009, p. 23). The compensation was with regard to the economic loss that was the direct outcome of the damage to property. The floodgates argument has several features. One of these contends that allowing recovery for pure economic loss in some instances would result in a plethora of lawsuits, which would effectively diminish the functioning of the courts. Furthermore, the imposition of widespread liability would unfairly and disproportionately burden a defendant. In addition, the defendant would be hard pressed to assess his potential liability on causing damage to the effects of a primary victim (von Bar, Drobnig, & Alpat, 2004, p. 124). The number of secondary loss sufferers becomes indeterminate and depends on all those who have an economic interest in the primary victim’s property. ... 19). On several occasions, the floodgates argument has been employed, in order to restrict liability. Thus, the House of Lords admitted this argument in Majrowski v Guys and St. Thomas’s NHS Trust. In this case, it was held that an employer could be deemed to be vicariously liable for an employee’s breach of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Moreover, in Conn v City Council of the City of Sunderland, the Appellate Court ruled that classifying an act as harassment would depend upon the place and context in which it had taken place. Consequently, it dismissed the plaintiff’s claim of injury as the language employed by the supervisor had been what was commonplace in that industry. In the case of Weller v Foot and Mouth Disease Research Institute, the inadvertent release of a virus from the defendant’s institute, resulted in a near epidemic of foot and mouth disease among the cattle of that area. As a result, the farmers in that area had to slaughter th eir cattle, and auctions could not be conducted. The auctioneers made a claim for damages. In its ruling, the court held that the auctioneers had merely undergone an indirect financial loss, and were therefore not eligible to claim damages (Harpwood, 2008, p. 87). Thus, the floodgates argument has been successfully contained by the judiciary. This is evident from the ruling in the above cited cases. Question Two: Extent of Accountant’s Liability to Non – Clients An accountant’s liability, with regard to clients and non-clients was determined through the judgement of the courts in the following cases. A negligent misrepresentation, despite being honest, can result in a claim for damages. This holds good, even if there had been no contract

Looking At The Ethical Issues Raised In Research Social Work Essay

Looking At The Ethical Issues Raised In Research Social Work Essay Political and ethical values have great impact on Social Sciences. While conducting research, the researcher should always be aware of those issues that may arise during time of the research process. Ethics in social research means linking individual responsibility to broader moral principles and to professional codes of conduct. Research ethics helps: to maintain the profession integrity, maintain the standards that have been set already; protects the reputation of good research; acknowledges research context; seeks funding and approval for ethical research (Z, Oleary, 2004 p42). Thus, power, politics and ethics should be analysed thoroughly by the researchers during the research process. Harm to participants: social researchers should try to minimize disturbances to both subjects and subjects relationship with their environment. Maintaining privacy and confidentiality of the participants are vital things in the research process. Researchers should be fully aware of data protection act 1998 and be recorded accordingly. Informed consent: individuals should be powered to make free decisions and be given all the information needed to make good decisions. Researchers should explain about the research including who is undertaking and financing, and why it is being undertaken and how it is to be promoted. Invasion of privacy: the anonymity and privacy of those who participates in the research process should be respected. Deception: The involvement of research participants must be entirely voluntary. If the participants do not understand fully or remember, they might not do what is expected or withdraw due to misunderstandings. Thus, participants should be empowered by full information along with the nature of the research. Indeed, it protects participants as well as researchers.(Bryman, A, 2008, p118-129) Similarly, professional practice and ethical standards should be maintained during the process of research by choosing relevant research methodology. Likewise, reporting should be accurate, fabrication and falsification of data are considered as misconduct and interpretation of the data should be according to the general methodological standards. Furthermore, the researcher- researcher relationship should be maintained by not misusing the authority or role given and researchers should not list authors in their report without their permission. The research in fact should be guided by the accepted ethical standards(S, Sarantakos, 1998, p20-25). Meanwhile, the political dimensions of the research should also be maintained during the research process in order to avoid biasness. Likewise, the political consideration of research includes the issues of outsider pressures, researchers own political position, the applicability of research findings and use of them by those who are in power, choice of research topic and research procedures, sponsors influence, funding bodies and governmental policy towards social science research (Bryman A, 2008, p131), as well as credibility of findings all should be considered throughout the research process.(S, Sarantakos,1998, p27-29) Two empirical research studies have been selected and analysed from political and ethical point of view .Those studies are : (1) Factors That Predicts How women Label Their Own Childhood Sexual Abuse, and (2)Family Environment in Hispanic College Females with a history of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Both journals are derived from the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, vol 15(2) 2006 and; vol 16 (3) 2007 respectively. In both studies, all participants are females. Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a private crime, enshrouded in the Syndrome of secrecy (Furnish, 1991, p22). Ones personal appraisal of sexual abuse may depend on societal definitions that recognize extreme behaviours as abusive, but leave other behaviours. Although centuries of novels and autobiographies have dealt with the subject of child abuse in all its forms, society has been slow in term of recognizing the frequency with this committed assault. Since the last 20 years, research has understood the importance of CSA as a public health problem, yet the actual extent of CSA remains unknown. It is because of the efforts of a small number of researchers. The issues involved have been ignored, and there is correspondingly little mention of them in historical and anthropological studies (The political Consequences of Child Abuse, Alice Miller, The journal of psychiatry 26 (2) Fall 1998). For example, in May 2008 the world woke to the shocking news that a 71 years old Austrian man had imprisoned his own daughter in a small soundproofed windowless cellar of his family home for 24 years. During this time he raped her repeatedly and fathered seven children with her. Although around 100 people live on and off that house, none reported their c oncern to the authorities, preferring to turn a blind eye to what was going on. Moreover, most of the available information about CSAs distribution and determinants has not been based on methodologically valid and reliable measures. The lack of accurate estimates inhibits the development of effective preventive and treatment interventions. Similarly, S, Sarantakos (1998) illustrates further that data and materials already collected can only become available to researchers if the government allows it. The political bias may arises when government and funding bodies set priorities on issues they wish to be studied, promoting only what they consider as important and suppressing research in areas which they do not wish to see explored. Priorities are often biased, and certain minority groups and problems are neglected and certainly disadvantaged. The government appoints assessors of research grant applications to select the proposals that deserved support. But who are the assessors and who determined the parameter of choice? (S, Sarantakos, 1998). For example, Child abuse, that is actually neglected. Empirical sociological research studies based on data collected from children themselves are relatively few (Amit-Talai and Wuff, 1995; Mayball 1994a). The method used in the first journal How Women Label their Own CSA was cross-sectional followed by structured interviews. The study was supported by a grant from the Texas Academy of Family Physician foundation. The main objectives of the studies were: to compare victims of CSA who labelled their experiences as abusive with victims who did not, examining differences in abusive experiences, victim characteristics, perpetrator characteristics, and family relationships. Interestingly, it illustrates that despite the psychological impact of sexual abuse, many victims do not acknowledge that their experience were abuse. Abuse whether acknowledge or unacknowledged, is associated with more psychological and sociological adjustment problems (Varia et al, 1996). Layman et .al (1996) found that acknowledged victims of rape reported more post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms than unacknowledged victims, who had more symptoms than non-victims. Although CSA is widely prevalent in the United Sta tes, an estimated 16% of males and 27% of females report some experiences with unwanted sexual experiences during childhood (Finkelhor, 1994). Likewise, Stander, Olson, and Merrill (2002) discovered that self-identification as a victim of CSA was associated with threats-force, incest and younger age of onset. In addition to the characteristics of the abuse, other factors may affect how an individual defines the experience: victim characteristics (for example, gender, cultural background and education) and family environment. The study is a secondary analysis of the Childhood Experience and Adult Stress (CEAS) database conducted in the Family Health Centre of the University Health Centre-Downtown in San Antonio, Texas. In the study, 100 women were assessed for major depressive episode(MDE), panic disorder, agoraphobia, substance abuse, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder(BPD), bulimia and suicidal where only 68 women met criteria for at least one ad ult disorder; several had multiple co-morbidities. Re-using the qualitative data has several ethical and legal concerns. These include the use of whether and, if so, when researchers should seek consent to re-use data in secondary studies (Alderson, 1998). This could be done at the time when data are collected. However, information on exactly how data will be reused, by whom and for what purpose, is likely to be scant at this time. Alternatively, consent could be sought retrospectively, when particular secondary studies are planned. But this requires that participants identity and contact details are known and can be used for this purpose. Re-contacting participants also presents researchers with logistical and ethical difficulties where people might have changed address or may have died; being re-contacted may also be unwelcome to some former participants. In addition, whether or not researchers decide to seek fresh consent for a secondary study may depend on the data collection and the type of planned qualitative secondary analysis (Sage, social research methods, 2008). Moreover, in the study, researchers didnt do any attempt to re-contacting and taking fresh consent for the studies; which are relatively difficult task. Doing research under such situation brings conflict for future policy and practice. Likewise, the original study sought to identify predictors of mental health and mental disorders in women with a history of CSA whereas the second analytic research on the same data was to identify factors that predict how women label their own experience of CSA. Such research findings might not be reliable and replicable. Similarly, it has been observed that several women in the sample had not labelled their childhood sexual experiences as abuse. Therefore, this analysis was conducted by using dependent variable acknowledgement of abuse, in an attempt to understand how women subjected to sexual abuse as children come to define their experiences as abuse. A variable is a concept that can take two or more values where dependent variable is affected or explained by another variable (S, Sarantakos, social research methods, 1998, p73). Measurement relates to variables. In the study, several variables were associated with labelling in the bivriate comparisons, but did not reach significance in the logistic regression: (1) racial/ethnic background, (2) use of force/threats, and (3) duration of abuse. Hispanic was less likely than non-Hispanic whites to acknowledge the sexual activities as abuse. In the sample, only English speaking females aged 18-40 were approached where 65% of the women were from Hispanic family. Thus, these responses may have uniquely reflected local culture and values in a young adult cohort. The population of Sant Antonio has majority of Hispanic ethnicity and other dominant groups include non-Hispanic and African Americans. Those groups represented in the clinic population and in the sample were low income, which reflected the entire community. It is not appropriate to generalize whole population on the basis of findings of such limited study criteria. Furthermore, the sample included only those who were willing to tell and describe the childhood experiences of abusive activity in a face-to-face interview. One third of those who met the criteria were not willing to disclose and participate in the research. This is the fact that they may not have differed in the nature of their experiences because they did not differ demographically from the 100 partici pants. The CSA screening consisted of three main questions about their childhood sexual patterns. Women saying yes to any of the question were asked to complete a structured interview concerning the sexual abuse experience and their childhood environment and taken informed consent as well. The family-of-origin questionnaire describes the household environment throughout childhood. The 25-item parental bonding instrument assessed the quality of the parent-child relationship during the subjects childhood. The demographic questionnaire collected information on subjects gender, age, marital status, household size, educational attainment, occupation, income, and racial /ethnic background. The study has several limitations. Firstly, the outcome variable, acknowledgement of abuse had a single question and therefore may lack reliability. Secondly, the use of multiple comparisons may have inflation alpha level. Thirdly, the sample was small and unique, limiting statistical power and generalizability . In fact, the sample differed from other studies demographically. Finally, researching about traumatic childhood experiences biased politically because of the unattainable objectives. Furthermore, interviewing adult can result in data biased by poor recollection, re-interpretation of events, and failure to disclose. The study was funded by the private sponsor of the same study, so the applicability of the findings are surely related to political factors and it will totally depend on the sponsor to apply findings. The second journal family Environment in Hispanic College Females with a History of CSA sought to examine the family environments of a sample of Hispanic college women who reported childhood sexual abuse. The qualitative method with individual interview was used in the study. The main objective was to explore the relation of child maltreatment in ethnic diversity associated with cultural factors and prevalence through the study of Hispanic female college students .In the study, eighteen women, ranging from 20 to 49 years , were taken from a larger college sample. Those women were individually interviewed and administered the Family Environment Scale (FES, Moos and Moos, 1994). The qualitative methodology was employed to the study. The larger the sample size, the grater the precision (Bryman, A, 2008, p180). The sample size in the study were relatively small, in such circumstances, the scope of the findings of qualitative investigation is restrictive. On the other hand, the findings c an not be generalized to other settings because of its subjective nature and small sample size. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to conduct a true replication. The study illustrates that ethnic diversity and cultural factors which may affect the prevalence of such abuse, so, the victims emotional and behavioural response, as well as the disclosure of the sexual abuse should be ignored (Kenny and McEachern, 2000). Existing research that has examined Hispanic victims compared with victims from other ethnic group have found that Hispanic victims were more likely to have been abused by extended family members (Arroyo et al.1997) because of the given cultural value to the family with strict rules. However, good relationship among family members, caring each other, sense of obligation, loyalty and duty; because of those values placed in the family, they would not like to reveal the CSA, which would be marked as shame and guilt in the society. Furthermore, the participants were evenly distributed across all socioeconomic levels. However, it was impossible to analyze the data separately by Hispanic group because of small sample size. The project received approval from the University Research review Board and committee for human Subjects. Since the beginning of the research project, frequent announcement were made in a number of educational classes during the year. Potential participants were instructed to call the author and take an appointment for the participation. The participants who were participated in the research process were granted extra credit to their academic career. It implicated that they are just attracting and motivating the participants to participate and their motive was just to finish the research. In such circumstances, the research findings will be politically biased due to motives of the research funding. It does not actually seem to produce knowledge and generate theory. Such research would definitely have negative influence to future researchers. (May, T, 1997) Furthermore, the following questions can be asked in any piece of research: who funded it? How was it conducted and by whom? What were the problems associated with the design and execution and how were the results interpreted and used? This enables to understand the context in which research takes place and the influences upon it as well as countering the tendency to see the production and design of the research as a technical issue uncontaminated by political and ethical questions (May, T, 1997 p45-46) .For example, in the study, even after several announcement and with incentives (credit) there were only eighteen participants. During the process, informed consent was taken assuring confidentiality prior to the interview. Individual interviews were chosen owing to the sensitive nature of the material .The interview consisted of open-ended and closed questions about the demographic information including the participants potential history of sexual abuse. Following the use of a closed question, such as what age were you when the abuse began? further questions were elicited for more information during the interview. Furthermore, after interview, Family Environment scale (FES) was provided to the participants and allowed as much time as they like to complete. It is unstructured and often reliant upon the researchers ingenuity where conducting a true replication is almost impossible. Furthermore, there are hardly any standard procedures to be followed (Bryman, A, 2008 p391). Not only that, the researcher him or herself is the main instrument of data collection, so that what is observed and heard and also what re searcher decides to concentrate upon is very much a product of his or her predictions. For example, some researchers are likely to empathize with other issues; while others choose to focus upon what strikes them as significant. Similarly, the responses of participants to such a qualitative research are likely to be affected by the characteristics of the researcher (personality, age, gender, and so on). Because of the unstructured nature of qualitative data, interpretation will be influenced by the subjective leaning of a researcher (A, Bryman, 2008, p391). Because of those factors, it is difficult, not to say impossible-to replicate such qualitative findings. The goal of the study was to learn more about the family experiences of the women who reported CSA to generate future directions for future research and contribute to the understanding of Hispanic womens experiences with CSA. The FES measure consisting of 9-item subscale was used to measure the respondents perceptions of the topic. The results highlighted some important areas for future inquiry. Some of the hypothesis was confirmed. The first hypothesis, that this sample would report elevated scores on the EFS of family conflict and decreased scores on Organization, was not supported. They did not demonstrated elevated scores on the conflict subscale of EFS because of focus on general conflict among family members. The second hypothesis, the organization of these families found some support, but the study showed a rather hierarchical structure with the father or parents at the top in most families; for example; male authority 50% and 39% of mothers made decisions. The third hypothesi s was regarding the issue of sexuality; these women would report repressed sexual attitudes in their homes seems to have been confirmed for example, majority of them reported that their parents did not discuss issue related to sexuality. In the study, all women were from a voluntary college population that is not representative of the greater Hispanic population; hence, making generalization to other groups is difficult. Similarly, the study used non-contact sexual experiences, so, careful examination of definitions of sexual abuse used in other studies should be made before comparisons are conducted. Future studies should focus on disclosure process including family reactions and level of parental support following disclosure. Likewise, comparing the responses of these participants to those who are not college students would be helpful for future comparisons. In conclusion, both studies used relatively small sample that contained especially Hispanic female individuals from varying subgroups. Making generalization to others is difficult. Both studies are retrospective in nature, which required women to recall past incidents of child abuse as well as other dimensions of their families, poses limitation. Re-evaluation of past experiences and error in recall may affect responding in unknown ways (Clemmons et al, 2003; Rafaelli and Ontai, 2004); some claims that retrospective studies probably underreport abuse (Bolen, 1998). Furthermore, interviewing adult about past experiences of childhood sexual abuse can result in data bias. In addition, it is difficult to measure validity and reliability of the research. To a large extent, both studies lack transparency from research process to findings. The power that exercised in the research and sponsors influences over procedures are highly remarkable in both studies.

Prejudice In West Side Story :: essays research papers

In the book West Side Story by Arthur Laurents there were many prejudices. Prejudice is a favoring or dislike of something without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. There were prejudices in West Side Story that had to do with the types of people, their races and sex. Sometimes prejudice can be in small doses and can be meaningless, other times prejudice can be very serious and cause death. Prejudice was the theme of this story, there are many examples.For instance, an act of prejudice in West Side Story was the Puerto Ricans disliking the Americans and vice versa. The PR's diskliked the Americans because the first day, Bernardo (leader of PR gang) was jumped by one of the Jets. The Jets wouldn't let the PR's come on their turf, such as Doc's store. The PR's were not wanted in the U.S. and they were given a hard time. The American's were prejudiced of the Puerto Ricans, so they did cruel things to them.Another act of prejudice in West Side Story was the Jets having prejudice against Anybody's joining their gang. They told her to go wear a dress, she wittily replied that she had scabby knees. She told them that she lurks in the shadows and even provided the Jets with important information. She had a haircut like a boy's and wore boy clothes. This could be a prejudice beyond having a girl in a gang, it could be that they have a prejudice against homosexuals, the fact that the stereotype of lesbians play a role in the character of Anybody's.There were little prejudices passed around in West Side Story. Some people saw through that, some people tried to stop that foolish behavior. Glad Hand, the administrator of the dance, he tried to get everybody to stop acting that way. Glad Hand made everybody split up across the room, and then whoever was directly across from each other danced together. Doc tried to stop the gangs from having the war council, he told them basically to grow up and stop their childishness. Doc and Glad Hand couldn't stop the fighting. Tony saw through the prejudice though, he loved one of the PR's and when the Jets found out, they were ashamed. Tony's love for Maria was so real, he didn't care what happened. He died.Prejudice plagues this world now and forever, as long as there is a difference in people there will discrimination and prejudice.

BMW Harvard Case Studies

What is the strategic significance of the BMW Z3 launch? Firstly, the launch of the BMW Z3 is significant for the company as it helped the company inch closer towards their long term goal in becoming a global brand. Prior to the introduction of BMW Z3, the most common mindset of the general public about BMW is that the superior quality of their products are due to the fact that it was made in Germany. With the Z3 manufactured in Spartanburg USA, BMW can show that they can be a successful global company by manufacturing at strategic locations even when it’s not in Bavaria.Furthermore, this launch had helped people to associate the quality of BMW’s product to the company itself rather than its manufacturing location. Secondly, the launch of Z3 further supported BMW’s effort to reposition their brand from â€Å"Yuppie Status Symbol† to their much preferred â€Å"Ultimate Driving Machine†. As shown by the BMW Unit Sales History, this campaign was succes sful in helping BMW increase their unit sales in the U. S. and Worldwide by 10. 7 thousands and 16. 2 thousands respectively in a year. This is significant as the Z3 helped generate dealer traffic while stimulating interest in other BMW product line.Lastly, the production of the Z3 model also satisfied the needs of a certain segment in the market while simultaneously enabling them to become the pioneer of the modern roadster category by releasing it before their such as Porsche and Mercedes. The Z3 appealed to the Generation-Xers as it gives them a sense of uniqueness, it appealed the Gen-40s as the Z3 materialized their roadster car they’ve been dreaming of all their lives and lastly, the Z3 reminded the Baby Boomer of the roadsters of yesteryear. 2. How would you measure the overall performance of the launch?In my opinion, one way to measure the overall performance of the launch is by simply comparing the projected unit sales against the actual unit sales. However, another way of measuring Z3’s launch performance is by analyzing the publicity impact of BMW’s advertising campaign such as: 1 The GoldenEye Product Placement: This was a brilliant decision as it allowed them to, without any monetary fee, add attractiveness to the Z3 and reach foreign customers and younger generation who are generally harder to reach.In addition, the time gap between the movie’s premier and the Z3’s launch gave BMW the opportunity to build cars to exact customer specification. 2 Neiman Marcus Catalog: By offering a James Bond edition of the Z3 in the catalog, BMW had successfully created a buzz and excitement by requiring over 6000 customers to be on a waitlist to purchase the 100 cars that were available. 3 BMW Internet Site: The â€Å"Build Your Own Roadster† module was important as it generated buzz by building excitement, anticipation and awareness towards the Z3 and perhaps other models.4 Press Launch in Central Park: This particular activity resulted in extensive coverage in both broadcast and print news companies. This was a good decision as it increases the awareness of the product with a higher reach than many traditional advertising methods. 5 Jay Leno & Radio DJ Program: Normally, I would advocate against practicing these methods of advertising as they are a very risky and has a very large reach. However, the amount of word of mouth resulted from these methods suggests that this program was in fact successful.6 â€Å"Go: An American Road Story† Video: In my opinion, this method was unnecessary as the emotional and nostalgic content of the video contradicts with Z3’s new and exciting image. 3 What are your recommendations for the Phase 2 and why? After the success of the first phase, BMW now faces another problem as they must formulate a strategy that can both sustain the public interest and convert those interests into actual order. To preserve the public’s interest, BMW can maintain c ontacts with their potential customers by disclosing relevant messages through e-mail, mail, or phone.The content of these messages should be designed in a manner that will stimulate an immediate physical or psychological reaction. For instance, the message can include an information regarding the current state and development of the Z3 or perhaps the message can include an invitation to take the Z3 for a trial during a specific time window. To convert interests to actual order, I would recommend BMW to implement a more informative advertising rather than another awareness building, non-traditional marketing.For instance, perhaps now BMW can inform its audience about its financing option for the Z3 or the steps that they can take to pre-order the car. Should they implement another non-traditional marketing campaign, they may wane off the charm and effectiveness of their initial advertising, thus slowly turning them into a traditional marketing in the future. As non-traditional marke ting was essential to the success of Z3’s introduction, it would be within BMW’s best interest to prevent excessive non-traditional marketing so that they can continue to implement it for their future new product offerings.

Explain The Following Fixed Server / Database Roles That...

ASSESSMENT TASK1 THEORETICAL QUES. Q1. Explain the following fixed server/ database roles that exist in the sql server; a) Sysadmin b) Securityadmin c) Dbcreator d) Db_owner e) Db_accessadmin f) Db_securityadmin Ans.;- a) Sysadmin;-the sysadmin fixed server role can perform any activity in the server. The local administrator group are member of the sysadmin fixed server role. The users with sysadmin server role. The sysadmin a complete control of your server. There is a vulnerability database to run sql codes internal sql injection. b) Securityadmin; - fixed server role manage logins and their properties. They can AWARD, REBUFF, and REVOKE server-level permissions. The database level permission if they have access to a database. c) Dbcreator: - the dB creator stationary server role can create databanks, and can adjust and return their own databases. This role a login create database. This is typically normal user is a member of development teams and the like. The owner a given do anything within particular database. d) Db_ownre:- Stationary database role can perform all arrangement and repairs activities on the database, and can also drib the database you can add database other sql server roles into database role. Each member fixed database role can add other login to same role. e) Db_accessadmin:- db_accessadmin stable database part can add or remove contact for Holes logins, Windows groups, and SQL Server. It is going to allow nativeShow MoreRelatedWindows Sql Server Database Design And Optimization Essay5564 Words   |  23 Pages : Assessment: Windows SQL Server Database Design and Optimization ID NO : 14091138 SUBMITTED TO : Imran Sidqque SUBMITTED DATE: /july/2015 Diploma in Information Technology (Level 7) Assessment: Windows SQL Server Database Design and Optimization Subject Code: WD 602 Assessment: Task One Theoretical Questions Outcome 1 (1.1) Q1. 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