Internal Business Process Perspective

Internal Business Process Prospective BUS 499 – Strategic Management Module 3 Case February 1, 2013 Duke Children’s Hospital fell into a crisis within the mid-1990s. Expenses were rising while dramatic reductions in net margin were occurring. Staff productivity fell and staff satisfaction was at an all-time low. They overcame the crisis by implementing the balanced scorecard. Their way of designing their scorecard catered to their business in healthcare. The higher officials of Duke Children’s Hospital made a three-step process in designing their balanced scorecard. The three steps of proven rapid-fire approach are to: get connected, get results, and get smarter† (Meliones, 2001). Step one consisted of establishing key linkages. By linking the mission, strategy, objectives, targets, key performance indicators, and initiatives across the organization, stakeholders within the hospital were able to stay on the same end goals. Each stakeholder was given informa tion to diagnose opportunities for improvement. There were three vital areas that helped the scorecard stay connected. Key performance indicators linked the business and clinical aspects of healthcare.Staff satisfaction was related to preserving or increasing quality of care. Regulatory area maintained the compliance of laws and procedures within the organization. Step two consisted of analyzing performance to get results. Data was collected to enhance the productivity and satisfaction of stakeholders within the hospital. The goal was to â€Å"improve performance in stakeholders while enhancing quality† (Meliones, 2001). This affects the customer perspective by increasing customer satisfaction. The key factor to help analyze data and improve efficiency was to implement new technology.By supplementing telephone calls with fax and email and setting up automated notifications, the â€Å"total denials decreased from fifteen percent to less than one percent† (Meliones, 2001 ). Step three consisted of gaining knowledge and strategic control of your organization by getting smarter. New ideas and approaches result in making new connections. The scorecard was updated accordingly to maintain the key goals. By implementing the balances scorecard, the hospital was able to track stakeholder’s performance data while keeping an eye on the effects of the business process.Each stakeholder was analyzed with their own data instead of looking at the department as a whole. This stopped stakeholders from pointing fingers at one another when a mistake within the department was made. Physicians, clinicians, and nurses were tracked in an integrated matrix to optimize performance. The balanced scorecard focused on the internal business process of â€Å"operations management, customer management, innovation, and regulatory and social clusters† (Niven, 2010). By making certain stakeholders adjust their performance according to data, an increase in productivity was accomplished in an intelligent matter.By increasing efficiency without compromising quality, cost per case was reduced and patient satisfaction increased. Duke Children’s Hospital became a well-known treatment center for children. Within the customer management, prospective patients were wooed by the increase in acknowledgements and success of the hospital. This may have helped gain and attract new customers. Innovation was a big factor within Duke Children’s hospital. Officials implemented â€Å"the use of technology to turn data into information† (Meliones).By updating their system of keeping track of financial and customer data, shareholders performance and satisfaction increased while gaining efficiency throughout the internal process. The regulatory and social perspective was readily focused in their step one of implementing their balanced scorecard. The hospital was ready to â€Å"facilitate regulatory compliance as a collateral benefit of routine cli nical practice† (Meliones, 2001). Employees of Duke Children’s hospital were the main characters affected within the change of the internal business perspective.Before the balanced scorecard was implemented, staff productivity was in decline and staff satisfaction was at an all-time low. The positive shift in staff satisfaction and productivity was seen after the step one and two of implementing the scorecard. Employees were connected with the same mission and strategy of the whole organization. After analyzing their performance results, stakeholders were able to improve the way they work and handle patients. Clinicians, physicians, and nurses were able to provide quality clinical care without dramatically affecting the financial performance.This aligned each stakeholder within the system into a single platform. The key was â€Å"to identify the key drivers of their performance and implement initiatives to optimize them† (Meliones, 2001). The customers of Duke Ch ildren’s hospital saw a major change in efficiency within the organization. Without cutting staff, the hospital was able to â€Å"improve their performance while enhancing quality† (Meliones, 2001). By implementing a new system of records, patients were able to pay bills on time without suffering through denial claims. Automatic reports gave patients the qualitative data they needed to for physicians and nurses to evaluate.The hospital was able to work in sync to provide excellent care for new patients. Duke Children’s hospital did a superb job in implementing, planning, and executing their transition to the balance scorecard. Officials of the hospital knew they had a crisis within their hands. If they did not change their ways, the future of the hospital would be at stake. By planning a three-step process of shifting their strategic management, officials were able to improve all perspectives within the hospital. â€Å"The cost per case was reduced from $14,889 to $10,500† (Meliones, 2001).This resulted in a $30 million reduction in cost within four years. The net margin shifted into the positive by $4 million from a previously negative $11 million, all within four years. Productivity and staff satisfaction grew to elevating levels. The significant transition of the hospital is clear evidence that the implemented scorecard positively changed the hospital. The three-step process was the framework that guided their goals. The strategy of Duke Children’s hospital should be guidance for all businesses in any industry to accept and try the balanced scorecard management system. ReferencesCQI (2012) Introduction to Quality. The Chartered Quality Institute. Retrieved August 24, 2012, from http://www. thecqi. org/Knowledge-Hub/Resources/Factsheets/Introduction-to-quality/ Meliones, Jon N. ; Ballard, Richard; Liekweg, Richard; & Burton, William (2001, April). No mission () no margin: It's that simple. Journal of Health Care. 27(3): 21- 30. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from the library: https://coursenet. trident. edu Niven, P. (N. D. ) Internal Process perspective. EPM Review. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from http://www. epmreview. com/Resources/Articles/InternalProcess-Perspective. html

Introduction Floyd

Defines communication competence as communicating in means that are effective and appropriate in a given situation. Practitioners of competent communication can be observed to share several common characteristics. I will attempt to surface 4 of these characteristics, with specific references made to Mr. Ian Low, flogger of The Silver Chef. Self-Awareness Self-awareness is defined as the awareness of how an individual's behavior affects others (Floyd, 2010).An effective communicator must be aware of his individuality and behavior and how others may be affected by his behavior, more specifically, whether it fits within the situation as well as social setting. Emotional intelligence would therefore be key and would allow an Individual to better comprehend the social behaviors and emotions of others, and In turn, translate Into competent communication. The Silver Chef blob was started in 2010 whereas 2 of the blobs he listed in his post, started a year after that in 2011.Despite being a more established food flogger, he demonstrates self-awareness in his posts and refrains from harboring on this fact. If he had, readers may not find his opinions to be credible. Adaptability This trait is defined as one's ability to modify one's own behavior to better suit a changing situation. A competent communicator must be able to adapt to changes in social settings and modify his own behavior appropriately. With reference to the blob, Mr. Low had previously posted a Top 5 Singapore Food Blob when he first started out as a food flogger.However, after 3 years of blobbing and galling more experience within the food community, Mr. Low Is adaptable enough to make a similar post, demonstrating adaptability as a communicator. Cognitive Complexity Being able to understand a given situation in multiple ways defines cognitive complexity (Floyd, 2010). To better understand what Is occurring In a specific situation, It Is Important for an Individual to be aware of the different perspective s. This would prevent him from misjudging what is going on in the said situation, leading to inappropriate responses.In his post, Mr. Low highlighted several aspects of The Dirty Stall such as short descriptions, simple cooking and infrequent blob posts. It would be easy to misconceive these facts and describe â€Å"alkaline† as lazy but Mr. Low demonstrates s a flogger who priorities quality over quantity. Ethics Floyd (2010) defines ethics as a set of ideas that guides us in deciding what is right or wrong. Fair treatment of others and honest communication are examples of ethical communication but cultural plurality may complicate one's understanding of ethical communication due to cultural differences.In his blob, Mr. Low demonstrated this when he admitted to not having met flogger â€Å"alkaline† in person before and that â€Å"alkaline† does not blob as often. It would have been easy to omit these facts to lend more credibility to his post but instead, he c ited to mention this fact. 494 words Question 2 The communication process possesses several key characteristics that would define it as being dynamic in nature. Apart from being irreversible, multi-dimensional and inevitable, communication is also transactional.Transactional communication involves simultaneous initiation and interpretation of messages by communicators (Dobbin & Pace, 2006). When an individual initiates a message, the initiator will look for feedback from other communicators. The initiator will then adapt his messages to the changing situation. This implies that communication can be a continuously changing process and that people may modify their behavior and messages throughout the process.With reference to the article, â€Å"1 in 2 Singapore residents do not have a close friend from another race: survey', I will attempt to provide examples to show how messages are coded and decoded effectively, or otherwise, to help me better understand the news reported in the ar ticle. Encoding and decoding of messages In the process of communication, encoding and decoding are two processes that enable communicators to initiate and interpret messages (Dobbin & Pace, 2006).Encoding is further defined as the initiation and creation of messages that enables a communicator to translate feelings, ideas and thoughts into symbols. Decoding refers to the interpretation of messages by deciphering symbols into comprehensible and meaningful feelings, ideas and thoughts by communicators. Effective coding and decoding Ideally, when messages are interpreted in the way they were meant to be conveyed, coding and decoding leads to shared meaning by communicators. This results in successful communication as the symbols would be meaningful and recognizable byExample 1 (Effective coding of article) Within the article, sub-headlines such as â€Å"No inter-racial and religious tension in Singapore† effectively summarizes the following paragraph into an easy-to- comprehend sentence. Effective coding of the article such as this, contributes to the effective decoding of the article by readers. Example 2 (Effective coding and decoding of postings) User Karl commented â€Å"the Divide and Conquer tactics deployed sure works, isn't it? Who is behind all this thing? † in reply to a post by another user Suffering Singapore.In reply User Suffering Singapore posted I was having that in mind and wanted to add to my posting but I thought that I should hear from others posters who share the same thoughts YES the divisive policies in the name of ethnic integration have created the reverse effect. What do you think? † In this example, Karl had effectively encoded his opinion that a â€Å"Divide and Conquer† strategy had been implemented leading to the problem previously highlighted by Suffering Singapore. This was then effectively decoded by Suffering Singapore, leading to shared meaning of the topic they were both discussing.Ineffective coding and decoding When messages are ineffectively coded and/or decoded, this could lead to the miscommunication as messages are misinterpreted. Example 1 (Ineffective encoding of article) When decoding the article's headline, communicators might misinterpret the article as focusing on an existing racial divide in Singapore. In trying to sensationalist the article to boost readership, the writer may not have effectively encoded the actual content of the article, which highlights several positives found in the survey. A reader may Jump to conclusions, assume the worst and let his opinions and feelings known n a post.Example 2 (Ineffective decoding of article) The article features a survey carried out with Singapore Residents on the state of racial and religious harmony in Singapore and focuses on several indicators such as inter-racial tension, discrimination and openness to embracing diversity. Several users have misinterpreted this article and user â€Å"BRB† in particular, comme nted the article as being racist in nature. The user posted â€Å"Wow.. This article is Just racist.. Why will my bestrides need to be of community something we never really thought much of or cared!.. â€Å"

Human Sexuality- Prostitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 1

Human Sexuality- Prostitution - Essay Example Out of this the aspect of sociological context is the most important of all because every move made by an individual is done as a part of the social structure and defining the social trends relating to sexuality and intimacy would yield the result concerning pornography. Fundamentally, it could be stated that the answers lies in the different sociological factors that has dominant influence on the human mind in relation to pornography like prostitution, adolescent malfunction, marriage, concept of love, homosexuality and various sexual perversions. It could be stated that the history of pornography can be traced back to the site of prostitution. It should be remembered that during the excavation at the site of Pompeii a roman brothel was found which an all kind of sexual activities depicted on the wall. One of them included a man having sexual act with a goat and several had polygamous scenario. In another site in India near Tamluk several terracotta plates were excavated that has varieties of sexual orientations engraved on it including woman having sexual act with a dog or fox. That site was identified as a brothel. Though the sex manual of 400 AD India (Crooks, 2005) was not pornography but a philosophy concerning sexuality, it should be remembered that the site of this text was a brothel in Pataliputra. Thus the connection between pornography and prostitution could be well established. It is obvious that the establishment of prostitution was often implemented by the local rulers for various motives but it is true at the sam e time that these prostitutions only yielded detrimental effects on the society by harvesting different sexual disease like syphilis more often than not.

A striking feature of weak states is that they face very few Essay

A striking feature of weak states is that they face very few challenges from the people living in them. Why do weak states persist - Essay Example Research and analysis revel that the major contributor of weak states’ persistence is international support and assistance. Political scientists’ perception about the concept of state relies on Max Weber’s definition which entitles state as a corporate group that: holds a certain jurisdiction; practices continuous organization; maintains monopoly of power over territory and its population, in addition to all activities in its jurisdiction. The concept is primarily based on empirical and de facto aspects of statehood. The test for Weber’s state is the claim to monopoly of force in its jurisdiction. It implies that if an internal or external group or organization gets the hold and monopolistic control of a certain jurisdiction, it becomes a state. When there are several groups contesting for the same territory, and none can get control over and practice monopolistic force, Weber attributes this situation as â€Å"statelessness† (qtd. in Jackson and Carl 2-3). According to Weber’s empirical approach to statehood, many African states can be disqualified from the status of being a state because they don’t practice monopoly of force over their territorial jurisdiction. Rivals to the national government effectively established monopoly in some of the cases. Absence of continuous control of a permanent political organization and anarchy exist in these states. Regardless of the lacking governmental control, anarchy, and uncertainty, these states persist as members of international society of states. If we consider that the empirical statehood led to the persistence of state, some of the African states must disqualify. However, they persist and none of the claimant governments who practiced de facto control could establish new states in the particular area (Jackson and Carl 3). States definition that is based on juridical attributes of statehood is Ian Brownlie’s. He defines state as a legal person authorized by international law.

Commercial Insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Commercial Insurance - Essay Example This is engineered by the employer themselves and requires that a substantial amount of the employee’s salary be directly injected into the scheme. It sometimes covers the individual’s family or the next of kin for all benefits as entitled to the employee. Covered here is the key employee policy. This is extended, by the employer, to that employee whose sickness or demise will greatly affect a business’s returns. The individual health plan sometimes also features a funeral expenses cover (Gevine, 1995). Pharmacy benefits to customers comprise the accessibility, and the ease of doing so, of quality medication upon prescription. Members of the scheme can access drugs, prescription or otherwise, anytime from participating medical facilities. The benefits with this program are that you are not only diagnosed but also given drugs recommended by your doctor without â€Å"buying†. The medicare plan is useful in that it allows for subscribers to access services such as change in dressing, regular checkups on weight and blood sugar levels at zero extra cost. Medevac plans also categorized here whereby the patient, if in a remote area is evacuated by plane or an ambulance and promptly accorded medicare. However, these might come at a cost to the average subscriber. This caters for prime US citizens. The plan seeks to ensure that even in old age, they will still access quality health care. It is also inclusive of advisory services in terms of diets, exercise routines, quality sleep patterns and healthy lifestyle which are exclusive of smoking or drinking. Stress management is also featured there. This is because, since these members are advanced in age, this might trigger morbid heart related complications (Gevine, 1995). Specialty packages cater for members with special needs to enable them acquire services without

Summaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summaries - Essay Example There is no safety net that ensures the society is not held hostage by a few individuals, and thus is not a fair system for those who are not able to make ends meet. This system satisfies the wishes and objectives of a few in the society who are able to manipulate their way up the social ladder. Feminists believe that the dismantling of the capitalist’s way of thinking will play a decisive role in liberating the underprivileged from oppression (Christian, 2011). Communism, on the other hand, is a revolutionary movement that creates a freer market, and classless, moneyless and stateless society. It is based upon common ownership of the means of production as principles that aim at establishing a social order. This brings together the social, political and economic ideologies. It is centered on the belief in the power of the people and pooling of resources and labor thereby encouraging collective ownership (Christian, 2011). It is a way of avoiding the exploitations that become prevalent through feudal systems. It brings the rights of the poor to the fore with each individual having a chance to exercise their rights. In this system the will of the people becomes the law. It equates all people while ensuring that everyone benefits from communal resources. Feminists see this as their liberation from the oppressive past as the communists built the foundation of the 1950’s and 1960’s liberation movements (Christian, 2011). Qn2: Karl Marx, communism & alienated labor Karl Marx believed in the need for the end of exploitation that was perpetuated by only a few individuals through the oppression of the rest in the society. He designed the communist way of thinking as a way of fighting the evils of capitalism and as a way of ending the status quo conflict (Christian, 2011). He believed communism was one best way of bringing people together and putting them in a position that would make it highly unlikely for humans to exploit fellow beings. Those wit h the private means of production would lose it to the community making it possible for the community to take over. Equity would prevail after oppression is done away with, which, in turn, would provide abundant opportunities with few limitations or barriers for people to achieve their goals. Each would give according to their abilities and receive according to their needs (Christian, 2011). The alienation of labor brought about by the class system would cease to exist as everyone would have a chance to provide for the communal needs. Workers will not be held captive by their bosses as they would become autonomous and self-realized human beings. Alienation made the workers express their social aspect through a production system that was unfairly owned and this meant that their goals would be directed by the highly privatized production system, and communism sought to break this ideology. Qn 3: Nietzsche and the Eternal Return The concept of the eternal return is based on speculation that the universe has been recurring and will continue to do so in a similar form. This process goes on for an infinite number of times within an infinite space. If time and space are infinite, then the world has had experiences that will be repeated over and over in an infinite proposition. Nietzsche posits that what has happened in the past will come to play again in the future. Thus, the cycle of the future emanates from the past cycles and this is a process that recurs more often

Case study of Union carbide and Bhopal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case study of Union carbide and Bhopal - Essay Example Most Americans considering its controversial nature overwhelmingly waited for the verdict on Martha Stewart’s case on 27th, December 2001.However, the question on whether Stewart committed the crime is open to question. Martha Stewart was found at fault for selling her ImClone shares. The US attorneys accused her of obstructing fairness and that she was deceitful to investigators. According to attorneys, Stewart was blameworthy of insider trading. I strongly do not accept as true that Stewart committed an insider trading crime given that she acted on her stockbroker’s knowledge. Sam Waksal, the ImClone CEO did not either clue-up Stewart or her stock brokers the defiance of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to appraise the untried cancer drug, Erbitux. Fascinatingly, Sam, on selling his shares, was just speculating on the decision that could be taken by FAD. He did not have the packed information and for that, could not reveal any to Stewart. Decisively, Martha did not commit insider-trading crime (Drew 707-708). Tight spot is whether the US Attorneys and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) used good decision in indicting Martha Stewart. Stewart, having been advised by Bacanovic who was her stockbroker to sell her shares if ImClon shares fall below $60 saved $ 45,673. Banacovic complained that his worksheet had been altered but was considered malice. Although, SEC filed a civil complaint against Stewart, the resolution arrived at in indicting her is doubtful. The issue was supposed to be inside trading but was twisted to conspiracy, obstruction and lying to the investigators. Martha overtly denied accusations against inside trading. Though she got a call that Sam was selling her shares and went ahead to sell her shares too before calling Sam, she was not a victim of inside trade. She just relied on her friend’s trustworthiness. Prosecutors must have had additional motive for pursuing the case. Instead of filling a suit of inside tr ade against Stewart, which was supposed to be a criminal case, the issue of inside trade was left and the suit was certainly turned to a civil case. The prosecutor must have had a motive of proving a point to the public that even celebrities cannot escape the rule of law. There was no enough evidence to rule the case. The government simply wanted to show that it was strict on business crime (Drew 708-710). I certainly do not concur with the jury that Martha was guilty beyond reasonable doubt. How even in a nonprofessional’s language, can failure to provide evidence by an individual’s guilt be termed as obstruction of justice? Surprisingly, no one stood on the courtroom as a casualty of Stewart’s action. The fact that Stewart kept mum was not enough to declare her guilty. Stewart postulates that she acted upon receiving information that Sam was selling his stock. The information that she got was from a competent individual whom she solely depended on for guidance when it comes to stock matters. Upon hearing the information, she decided to sell her stock. Like any other individual, she could have not waited any further but to save her money before loss. In addition, Sam although he was the CEO of ImClone, did not receive any information from the Food and Drug Administration that their drug was going to be rejected. He further did not leak any information to Stewart that could make her gain inside knowledge about the