Organisation and management coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organisation and management coursework - Essay Example The term hierarchical control defines the control which moves down from the top management’s control over to the bottom line workers of the company. There are several management levels which are decided and organized in order to create a more comprehensible organizational structure. Managers at each management level have control over the employees who are working directly under their surveillance. Organizations normally design organizational charts to show the structure of the organization, levels of management and easy structure of the employees working under the control of each manager (Reyazuddin 2010; Stokes 2002; Sisk 1973). Hierarchal Control Businesses are aimed to maximize the wealth of the shareholders. To pursue this goal the business activities are divided and the control is also spitted up to ensure that the work performance at each level of management is up to the standards. The hierarchical control enable the organization to improve the efficiency of the business ’s overall performance as the manager at each level of management is responsible and answerable for the performance of his division or workers working under his control. In order to improve his/her performance, managers put their best efforts to improve the work efficiency and quality at their level. Their efforts may be biased and may be aimed at the achievement of their personal interests but the result of those efforts, normally, helps in improving the business’s efficiency. Hence, we may say that hierarchical control helps organizations in achieving their major aim of maximizing profits i.e. by improving efficiency and quality of work. Hierarchical control provides the basis of coordination between employees. A number of people are involved in the running of the business. There is a need to control the operations of the business and control the operating activities that are performed by different individuals. The hierarchical control helps in identifying the place, position and responsibilities of each individual. The hierarchical chart provides the basic understanding of who is responsible for a particular work and to whom is that individual accountable. Hierarchical control plays a vital role in keeping the organization knitted and its operations controlled. The hierarchical management is provided fixed tasks and targets at each level. The work of one department, normally, does not interrupt the work of the other. The organizations operations are, hence, carried out more effectively. However, lack of communication in such organizational structures may end up creating difficulties at each level. The over/under production by one department may end up creating confusing and problematic situations for the other and so on (Stokes 2002). Hierarchical Control requires the managers to analyze and influence the performance of the employees working under their control. In order to improve the performance of their division or sector, managers tend to rely extensively on reward systems, motivational techniques, delegation of authority, exhaustive rules and policies and other attractive offers for the employees to improve their work quality. These offers and schemes are sometimes beneficial for the organizations in the short run. However, such schemes bring more benefit for the manager who is responsible for a particular task or division. His immediate attention and offers motivate the workers to perform their task efficiently and as accurately as the manager requires.

Phil 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Phil 3 - Essay Example This idea was suggested by the representatives of positivism, namely Ludwig Wittgenstein, who stated that things and events in a certain life can have meaning but life itself is meaningless. Simply stated, such context implies that the life of a person has certain meaning for itself and for others in the shape of events happening within it and the results of this very life embodied by achievements, heritage and ancestors. This theory, to my mind, has reason, as it is rather fare to define meaningfulness of a person’s life based on the actions and achievements. I think that the meaning of life based on such theory could be estimated both in positive and negative way: for instance, a person who devotes his or her life to crimes and destruction also therefore grants the meaning to it – evil proves to be the meaning of life, but it actually exists, even such life is meaningful. On the other hand, there are people whose lives acquire meaning through positive actions and even ts (at least, the positive dominates). For the second type we could provide two movies as an example. They are Amelie and Ikiru. The first one is Amelie, the French movie telling the life story of a girl working as a waitress and living in modern Paris. Amelie felt that something important was about to happen in her life, that’s why, being encouraged and inspired by this premonition, she gladly helped people to add joy and color to their lives. Once she found toys in the cache of her bathroom, they belonged to a â€Å"boy† who used to live in that apartment in 1950s – she found him and brought the toys back to him (he was already an elderly man). There were many things she did for others like writing a love letter to a neighbor on behalf of her husband, readjusting the alarm clock of a wicked greengrocer, substitution of shoes and toothpaste etc. Amelie lives with an open heart ready to lend a helping hand, to give

Image Quality Assessment Techniques Using Gabor Filters

Image Quality Assessment Techniques Using Gabor Filters A SURVEY ON IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES USING GABOR FILTERS Deepa Maria Thomas, S. John Livingson (DEEPA MARIA THOMAS, ROOM NO 303, DMR RESIDENCE, KARUNYA LADIES HOSTEL, KARUNYA UNIVERSITY, COIMBATORE-641114) Abstract-Image quality assessment has a very important role, especially because the impact that the quality of images have on a viewer is significant. This makes it important that visual information is assessed for quality every now and then. Images can be distorted with different types of irregularities like noise, blur etc. No- reference image quality assessment methods does not need a reference image for assessment, this is particularly helpful when there is no reference image available. Gabor filters are efficient is assessing image quality because their frequency and orientation representations is very similar to the human visual system. This is why Gabor filters are used in feature extraction , target detection as well as texture segmentation. This paper is a survey of some of the no- reference image quality assessment methods that make use of Gabor filters in their quality assessment methodology wither for feature extraction or texture analysis. Key wordsimage quality assessment, Gabor filter, no reference quality assessment. INTRODUCTION Images of good quality have come to be of great importance in our day to day life. Statistics suggest that an average person comes across 400 to 600 advertisements in a day. Pictures form a major portion of advertisements. Advertisement is just one area that makes use of images. There are a lot of image quality assessment techniques available today. No-reference image quality assessment (NR-IQA) is one of the types in which the quality is estimated without the use of any reference image, whereas full reference image quality assessment (FR-IQA) make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Gabor filter is generally used for edge detection and it has the advantage that the frequency and orientation representations are very similar to the human visual system. Or in other words, the image analysis by Gabor functions is similar to the human perception. A set of Gabor filters with different frequencies and orientations are also useful for extracting useful features from an image. GABOR FILTERS IN FEATURE EXTRACTION Use of Gabor filter is motivated by the fact that they are optimal in time and frequency. In addition these filters can approximate the visual cortex of some mammals as described in [1]. This is why Gabor filters are used in many applications like target detection, image segmentation etc.. Figure 1: Two dimensional Gabor filter Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabor_filter NR-IQA USING GABOR FILTERS No-reference image quality assessment is one of the types in which the quality is estimated without the use of any reference image, whereas full- reference techniques make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Described below are two no- reference image quality assessment techniques using Gabor filters. NR-IQA USING VISUAL CODEBOOK (CBIQ) The first step of this method [2] is codebook construction. It is built by dividing an image into BxB patches. All the constant patches are removed, for the rest of the patches Gabor feature vectors are computed. This is repeated for all the training images. Using this set, with a clustering algorithm the codebook is created. The input image is represented by the distribution of codewords from the codebook. The number of times the codeword is found and each time a nearest neighbor is found, the count is increased by one. If the distance between the vector of the feature and the nearest neighbor is larger than a predefined threshold, then it is considered as an outlier. In a case where a large number of outliers are encountered, then there might be some type of distortion which was not encountered in the training set. This image quality assessment technique is represented as CBIQ (Codebook Image Quality).The quality metric is Qm(I) and is given by, Qm(I)= where, H1(i) is the probability of the occurrence of the code words DMOS(C(i)) is the Differential Mean Opinion Scores of the codewords. NR-IQA BASED ON VISUAL SALIENCY GUIDED SAMPLING (IQVG) This method [3] is a no-reference image quality assessment method based on visual saliency. Visual saliency is what grabs our attention and it makes some parts of the image stand out from the rest. In this method firstly, a sufficient number of patches are sampled for which the mean saliency is greater than the threshold. Next, feature extraction is done by convolving each patch with Gabor filters. Using histograms the features are encoded, this gives an image representation. Using regression methods such as SVR the model can be trained. Finally, the quality of the test image is predicted automatically with a trained model. FR-IQA USING GABOR FILTERS The full reference method of image quality assessment is different from the no reference methods in that it does not make use of a reference image for quality assessment. Described below are two full reference image quality assessment techniques using Gabor filters. FR-IQA USING FEATURE SIMILARITY INDEX (FSIM) In this method [4] firstly, two image extractions are made namely, phase congruence (PC) and gradient magnitude (GM). PC is contrast invariant, this implies that the variations in quality due to contrast differences are not identified by PC. As a result of this, the GM needs to be extracted using gradient operators like Prewitt operator, Sobel operator and Scharr operator. Once the PC and GM are extracted for the reference image and the distorted image, FSIM can be computed to measure the similarity between the two images. The FSM can be calculated by combining similarity measure between images for both PC and GM given by where, is the similarity measurement of PC is the similarity measurement of GM and are positive real numbers The combined similarity is given by = . where, ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ² are parameters to adjust their relative weightage or importance. Finally, the FSIM measure is given as below FSIM= where, FR-IQA USING PERCEPTUAL METHOD (MIGF) One of the features necessary for good IQA is that it should be consistent with the subjective judgment of humans on the image. In this method [5] first, the features are extracted using a two dimensional Gabor filter which acts as a local band-pass filter with optimal localization properties. Next, divisive normalization transform (DNTF) is performed where the linear transform coefficient is normalized by the energy of a cluster of neighboring coefficients. This reduces the higher order dependencies in the extracted Gabor features. Next, the visual energy information (VEI) for each scale and orientation is given by where, ÃŽ » is the scale, ÃŽ ¸ is the orientation is real part of DNTF is the imaginary part of DNTF Once the VEI is calculated, the mutual information (MI) can be calculated as the difference between the VEI obtained from the reference image and distorted image. MI can be calculated using marginal probability distribution and joint probability distribution. The quality score is as described below Score= where, and denote the VEI of the reference image and distorted image respectively at scale i and orientation ÃŽ ¸. COMPARISON OF IQA TECHNIQUES: The table below shows a comparison between the four techniques described above. It describes the merits and demerits of the four IQA methods. TABLE – 1 COMPARISON TABLE CONCLUSIONS This work provides the comparative study of some of the IQA methods in image processing. The algorithms that were considered were both no – reference and full reference algorithms. All the IQA methods discussed here make use of Gabor filters in one way or another. This paper highlights importance of Gabor Filters in image quality assessment. REFERENCES: [1] Anjali G. (2012), â€Å"For image enhancement and segmentation by using evaluation of Gabor filter parameters.† IJATER, 2, 46-56. [2] Peng Y. and David D. (2014), â€Å"No- reference image quality assessment based on visual codebook.† Feature Similarity Index for Image Quality Assessment.† IEEE Trans. IP, 21, 3129-3138. [3] Zhongyi G., Lin Z. and Hongyu L., (2013),â€Å"Learning a bling image quality index based on visual saliency guided sampling and Gabor filtering.† ICIP, 186-190. [4] Lin Z. and Xuanqin M., (2011), â€Å"FSIM: Feature Similarity Index for Image Quality Assessment .† IEEE Trans. IP, 20, 2378-2386 [5] Ding Y., Zhang Y., Wang X., Yan X. and Krylov A.S. (2014), â€Å"Perceptual image quality metric using mutual information of Gabor features.† Science China Information Sciences, 57,032111:1-032111:9.

Jim Henson: The Mind Behind the Muppets :: Puppetry The Muppets Jim Henson Essays

Jim Henson: The Mind Behind the Muppets "Sure, Jim the creator was a genius. Yet I see Jim foremost as an appreciator. He appreciated the Muppet family and his own family. He appreciated flying kites with his children. He appreciated beauty and he appreciated fun." -Frank Oz (Readers Digest, 126) There is no doubt in Frank Oz's mind that Jim Henson was a creative genius. According to the model of creativity proposed by Howard Gardner, Henson can be considered creative in five of the seven intelligences: interpersonal, spatial, music, verbal, kinesthetic. He became a master at combining these intelligences to create Muppet productions full of wit, music, sight gags, bright colors, and meaningful messages. He also had the ability to coordinate all of the people who worked with him. Before, discussing how Henson's life fits into Gardner's model, I will present some influential events in Henson's life and his major creative works. James Maury Henson was born September 2, 1936 in Leland, Mississippi as the second son in the Henson family. During his childhood, Jim's maternal grandmother, a prolific painter and master of needlework, encouraged Henson to appreciate imagination, visual imagery, and creativity. She was a steady emotional support for him, constantly listening to his adventures and dreams. When Jim was fourteen, his parents finally acquiesced and bought a television set, after years of badgering from Jim. He always knew that he wanted to work in television; watching Burr Tillstrom, Bil Baird, Ernie Kovac, Spike Jones, and Walt Kelly influenced him greatly during his adolescence. In 1954, while Jim was still in high school, he began working for WTOP television station doing puppet performances on the "Junior Good Morning Show". "It was interesting and kind of fun to do -- but I wasn't really interested in puppetry then. It was just a means to an end," Henson later recalled about his first job (Finch, 9). At the University of Maryland, he studied art and continued doing puppetry for TV with a fellow student, Jane Nebel, whom he later married. Their show, "Sam and Friends", debuted as a five minute piece aired twice a day, right before the Huntley-Brinkley Report and the Tonight Show. Jane recollected, "We were just college students amusing ourselves, and we did all these wild things with puppets...I guess it had a quality of abandon and nonsense and of being somewhat experimental." (Finch, 15) Their show became very popular, partly because of its widely-viewed time slots, and it won a local Emmy in 1958.

Persuasion Theory Essay

One of the most deeply-debated, and researched, models of persuasion is the ELM (Elaboration Likelihood Model). Developed by Petty and Cacioppo (1981 to 1986). Based on cognitive processes, it â€Å"portrays receivers as active participants in the persuasion process. Receivers produce cognitions (thoughts, elaborations) in response to the stimulus of persuasive discourse† (Stephenson; Benoit; Tschida; 2001). Petty and Cacioppo argue there are two â€Å"routes† to persuasion: central and peripheral. The central route to persuasion consists of thoughtful consideration of the arguments (ideas, content) in the message, and occurs only when a receiver possesses both the motivation and ability to think about the message and topic. The peripheral route occurs when the receiver lacks ability and/or motivation to engage in much thought on the issue. Using the peripheral route, the listener decides whether to agree with the message based on other cues besides the strength of the arguments in the message, such as whether the source is credible or attractive, the number (but not the quality) of arguments in the message, or length of the message. † Petty and Cacioppo argue that subjects produce more favorable cognitive responses to messages with strong than weak arguments. Mitigating factors include source credibility, the state of the recipient’s thinking when the message is received, and method and medium used to deliver the message (i. e. , verbal or written; print or electronic), There is a considerable body of work, both pro and against the ELM. However, from the literature it seems we are once again left with the thought that the processes involved have yet to be rigorously tested as they relate to communication theory, let alone their effect on the Domino Model. â€Å"There have been relatively few rigorous tests of this assumption via path analysis or structural equation modeling† (Stephenson, Benoit, Tschida). American graphic designer Katherine McCoy suggests that persuasion might be considered more than just trying to convince an audience of the sender’s intention â€Å"The receiver’s motivation might also be an important factor. We know persuasion is necessary for distracted, unmotivated users. But it can also increase productivity for motivated users, for instance, through the use of prompts and cues for accurate use of spreadsheet software. In product design, persuasion/seduction can clarify operation sequences for smart products and enrich the user’s product experience. Persuasion provides motivation for those unmotivated through disinterest, unfamiliarity with the content, or lack of competence for a software tool or a product’s operation. There is a complex interaction between the sender’s intentions, message content, the audience/receiver’s motivations and the communications context. Here, the receiver’s motivation is paramount† (McCoy, 2000). But how accurately can we predict motivation? An airport monitor would seem to be purely informational. A traveler hurrying to catch a plane is highly motivated and will make full use of the flight monitor – no need to persuade this audience member. But when a driver in a hurry encounters a stop sign, that driver has a low motivation level. Although the content is informational, the driver may ignore it, making only a rolling stop. Thirdly, what happens when a junk food enthusiast encounters a food package with nutritional information? This audience member has low motivation and probably ignores message content completely. † In order to achieve persuasion, an audience has to be motivated; to want to absorb knowledge, change attitude and, in turn, have their behaviour affected. The American Marketing Association found that after a study of the major persuasion theories â€Å"to date, no single theory or framework that has been developed has been able to account for all the varied and sometimes conflicting persuasion findings. â€Å"Presumably, this is because the complex process of persuasion is intricately dependent on a myriad of contextual, situational, and individual difference factors, whereas the theories remain relatively simplistic and narrowly developed. The inability of existing theories to accommodate all persuasion findings need not suggest, however, that these theories are inaccurate. Rather, these theories simply may represent pieces of persuasion processes that operate in certain conditions that are not always clearly specified†. (Meyers-Levy, 2001). For good measure, highlighting the difficult nature of this area of study, the Association added an additional strategy that people are likely to employ in processing information. a third fundamental processing strategy in response to an advertisement, referred to as an â€Å"experiential processing strategy. where â€Å"judgments are not based on thoughts prompted by message content per se but rather on sensations or feelings prompted by the very act of processing† (cited in Strack, 1992). The Domino model is certainly simplistic, as it assumes that attitudes, and then behaviour, will be altered after information is provided. However, it doesn’t recognise that attitudes are formed early in our development and are inherently difficult to change (why is it that drink-driving, anti-smoking and domestic violence programs don’t seem to work? ). So it can’t be assumed that all people will change their attitudes just because they receive information. In fact, many people may not even receive knowledge from the initial message, particularly if they already have heard the message. Given the number of persuasion theories (and they are just that: theories) it is difficult to judge with any certainty their effect on the Domino model. The simplicity of the Domino Model is probably a result of the fact that public relations is, for the most part, an inexact science – a practice that relies on the foibles of human nature. It also flawed in that what applies to a target group, does not necessarily apply to all individuals in that group. Clearly, more quantifiable research is required before either the Domino Model, or any persuasion theory can be considered exact. In fact â€Å"to date, no single theory or framework that has been developed has been able to account for all the varied and sometimes conflicting persuasion findings. Presumably, this is because the complex process of persuasion is intricately dependent on a myriad of contextual, situational, and individual difference factors, whereas the theories remain relatively simplistic and narrowly developed† (Meyers-Levy, 1999). As Carl Hovland stated: â€Å"to change attitude you have to change opinion. That requires communication†. Whether any of the above theories affect the Domino model remain to be truly tested.

Ateneo Entrance Exam Essay Essay

â€Å"I am pretty unextraordinary.† – Hazel Grace Lancaster (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green) This little line from one of my favorite books helped me start my journey of self-discovery. Before, I really did consider myself as someone very unextraordinary. To the world, I’m just an average girl that nobody will ever notice. Maybe I never will be noticed in an extraordinary way, but I’m determined to make my mark. But first things first, I had to discover myself and define who I really am. My first moment of self-discovery began, actually, when I first developed my love for books. And that moment happened way, way back when I was still a young child. Nothing made me happier than going to National, Power Books or Fully Booked to go see what new storybook, magazine or novel was available. To this day going book shopping, an activity most people my age would find as agonizingly boring, is an opportunity to expand my knowledge and vocabulary. The only thin g I need to improve on right now is, admittedly, my book choices. My Dad constantly reminds me to move onto more young adult publications and cut back on the children’s novels. Books are my first great love. Through them, I can go on fantastic adventures that become almost real in my imagination. I also relate to the characters in terms of their personalities and the things they do in the story. From the protagonist, antagonist and all the other characters in between, I can find someone or even something I can relate to in a book. My current favorite books are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, where I have learned a great many deal of new words such as hamartia, toroidal, prototypical, narcissistic, bacchanalia and so many other terms that were once too sophisticated for me to understand until I looked them up in the dictionary. The Fault in Our Stars is a heartwarming and yet also heartbreaking love story of two young cancer-stricken teenagers who find their own little infinity together within their limited number of days. I’d tell you more but I wouldn’t want to spoil the entire novel. Second in my favorites list would have to be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Here, I saw World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust through a young girl like myself, who was unable to read and write until she was given to a foster family in Germany. Liesel Meminger then later befriends Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man who hides in her family’s  basement to escape the Nazis. Again, I will not spoil this great work and you will have to read it yourself. This book really strikes me as something that can really make us all question our humanity. As almost all of us know, the Holocaust in World War II was the most horrifying genocide in the entire world. Millions of men, women and children all executed just because of their religion. If you ask me, Adolf Hitler must have been both insane and blind. Did he not know that in World War I, approximately 96,000 Jewish soldiers fought for Germany? It pains me to think that Hitler did not remember that. The Book Thief is most definitely one of those war novels that will have you questioning mankind’s humanity. As for a favorite book series, I would have to say that the How to Train Your Dragon series by British author Cressida Cowell. I admit, it’s a children’s book s series but I really enjoy reading the books. The series is funny, compelling and the books have helped me fine tune my imagination. In fact, this beloved series has been turned into two films and a TV show. But I’ll tell you all about it later. Indeed, through reading books of all kinds I have discovered things about myself I didn’t even know were there. I discovered that I have a talent for writing and storytelling. And I have grown to love these two hobbies, which I hope that I can turn into a job by becoming a writer or a journalist when I grow up. Aside from reading, I have also experienced being in academic contests in my school where I have begun to define myself as an intellectual. One of those contests is the Essay Writing Contest the school has every year. I never really win any prizes for my compositions but it’s always so much fun to compete. Through essay writing contests, my writing ability is steadily honed and constantly improved with every essay I write. So part of my journey of self-discovery has been accomplished through the means of books and writing. The other part is, hon estly, what I’ve been recently obsessing about. â€Å"Everything we know about you guys†¦is wrong!† – Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (How to Train Your Dragon Movie) That line from an animated movie by DreamWorks Animation has always been embedded in my memory. The first part of this essay focused on my love for books and how reading and writing have helped me discover who I am in terms of what I can do in this world. This part will now focus on who I truly am as a person. How to Train Your Dragon is a 2010 animated film directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders under DreamWorks Animation. Its story revolves around a  young Viking teenager named Hiccup (Yeah, I know. The name is pretty unusual.) who lives in the fictional dragon fighting island of Berk. In Berk, fighting dragons is as necessary as breathing air to live. However, Hiccup is the runt of the village and is physically unable to fight dragons and cannot live up to his father’s expectations. Incidentally, his father, Stoick the Vast, is the tribe chief. But when Hiccup creates an invention that shoots down an ultra rare dragon species known as the Night Fury and attempts to sl ay it, the young Viking then finds himself unable to do so. This then leads to him freeing it and establishing a forbidden friendship with the dragon, whom he names Toothless. In Hiccup’s world, befriending a dragon is the highest act of treason. And yet in the end, Hiccup and Toothless’ amazingly strong bond enables them to change the relationship between the dragons and Vikings of Berk. Yes, it is an animated movie. But it is not strictly for kids only. I had a real moment of self-discovery and self-definition when I watched this at my best friend’s recommendation. And I was immediately awestruck by the movie on so many levels. The detail on the animation was superb, the lighting was perfect, the music score was just phenomenally beautiful. But what really touched my heart was the story. I really relate to Hiccup. He is left-handed, physically not in the best of shape, intelligent and extremely different from the rest of his peers. I, myself, am also left-handed, physically weak, mentally strong and†¦different. I often look at my friends and other people and I can’t help but sometimes feel that I’m just too different. I don’t like all the things everyone else likes and sometimes I don’t even understand current trends and stick to the things I know. Like Hiccup, I am different. And also like Hiccup, I have embraced my difference. Thanks to this film (and its TV series and sequel) I have figured out who I am as a person. Everyone discovers a new trend and they all go along with it. Sometimes I do that but I’m more comfortable staying in my comfort zone. And when someone tries to change me, I steadfastly refuse to do so. I am an individual. And I am proud of it. I’m different from everyone else and that’s okay. Truth be told, we’re all different. We’re just scared to show the world our individualities. That’s  why I try hard to stay true to myself and make sure nobody and nothing turns me into something I am not. But I also remind myself to keep an open mind and broaden my horizons. When I experience new things, it helps me discover more interesting characteristics that help define myself as a person. And that’s exactly what Hiccup does. He accepts his individuality and tries to do things nobody has ever tried before. Throughout the film, TV series and sequel, Hiccup stayed true to himself and didn’t allow anyone to change him. If you must know, I have recently watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 and had another great moment of realization. In the second film, Hiccup is now a young adult and is currently trying to find himself. This is exactly what I’m doing right now, even as I write this. I apologize if this essay may seem haphazardly constructed. I must admit, my writing style does tend to confuse some people. But that’s essentially how I have defined myself as a person, through books, writing and dragons. And to tell you the truth, self-discovery and defining yourself as a person never stops. As the years go by, you will have more experiences, more moments that help you realize that there’s more to you than meets the eye. For me, I’m still pretty young so I still have a long way to go until I can complete my personal definition. In case some of you may not fully know me yet, allow me to tell you once again who I am. I am an individual with a love for writing, making stories, reading books, obsessed with dragons. And basically, I am different. And I am proud to be different.

Airline Consumer Engagement Marketing Essay The WritePass Journal

Airline Consumer Engagement Marketing Essay Airline Consumer Engagement Marketing Essay Airline Consumer Engagement Marketing Essay ). Other steps involve customer development and retention (Bijmolt et al. 2010). The processes aim at attracting loyalty to the services of airline companies by engaging in vigorous campaigns of the same. In general, airline companies engage consumers through a process that begins from a careful selection of the same and ends at retention. They also engage consumers through carefully planned advertisement techniques (Bijmolt et al. 2010). Consumer Decision-Making Process Making a decision involves engaging in a process that would help decide the right course of action in a situation with more than one alternative. Young (2010) people develop risk-benefit frameworks in most situations to analyze the options that are present. An individual would want to make decisions that impact positively on his or her life. The outcomes of situations depend on the nature of decisions that individuals make. Decision-making processes also apply in situations where consumers need to choose between products and services. The airline industry has several companies that offer same or similar services. The theories that explain decision-making processes include cognitive dissonance, consistency theory, commitment, certainty effect, choice-supportive bias, confirmation bias, the scarcity principle, and reasoned action theory (Young 2010). Cognitive dissonance theory maintains that individuals always seek to minimize the extent of discomfort in contradicting situations (Young 2010). According to the theory, individuals experience discomfort due to the conflicting ideas in their minds (Cooper 2007). It explains that an individual in such a situation is likely to take the easy option of eliminating the source of discomfort (Young 2010). Cognitive dissonance affects how consumers process information in relation to various products and services. Individuals will always have ideas that conflict with their pre-conceived perceptions about certain companies. The diversity in ideas results from the emerging trends, the shifting needs and social circles (Young 2010). In social circles, everyone tends to defend what they believe to avoid the uncomfortable situations. For instance, an individual may experience cognitive dissonance when he receives a message that contradicts the value that he attaches to an airline company (Cooper 2007). A friend may try to convince him that there is another company that offers better services than the company he has been using. Marketers may use the concepts of this theory to present consistent information when engaging consumers. Consistency theory asserts that lack of constancy in the relationship between beliefs and actions evoke uncomfortable feelings in individuals (Little-John Foss 2008). It affirms that people wish to engage in acts that are consistent with their belief and cultural system. The discordance in the relationship between the belief system and actions evoke uncomfortable feelings. An individual in such a circumstance is likely to change the belief and value system to accommodate the emerging trends. Human beings have predetermined belief and value systems that they use to evaluate decisions before making them. In other words, the choice that people make should always be consistent with what they perceive as right or wrong (Little-John Foss 2008). Any slight variation between the belief system and the course of action evokes the feelings of discomfort in individuals. The consistency theory explains why some people are particular about the flight attendants who serve them in an airplane. The theory may not find much application in customer engagement compared to cognitive dissonance theory. Most processes engaged in the provision of airline services do not contradict the belief systems of individuals. The theory of certainty result discusses how probabilities of outcomes influence the behavior of individuals (Secchi 2011). The theory maintains that people tend to develop less interest in situations which present low probability outcome of the desired results (Loughran et al. 2012). Similarly, an individual will develop more interest in a situation if the probability of achieving the desired results is high (Secchi 2011). Individuals make choices on the basis of the probability of the outcome of the situation. They perceive outcomes based on their past experiences or the experiences of other people. For instance, engaging consumers through social media provides a platform that consumers may use to present their feedbacks. Some of the feedbacks can be critical of a company’s operations. If so many people acknowledge the efficiency in operation of an airline company, then people are more to likely seek the same services. In other words, people want to get a hint of what would happen if they were to make a particular decision. The behaviour pattern is driven by the need to eliminate the negative feelings that come from disappointments. People have various expectations regarding how they want the outcomes of various situations to become (Loughran et al. 2012). Most airline companies use influential personalities in advertisements to create an impression of better past experiences. The personalities convince potential consumers that the services of the company were better. The aim of the advertisements is to influence consumers to develop positive opinions regarding the services of the company. Maximization utility theory predicts that human beings behave as if they were economists and were business-minded. It asserts that an individual is likely to make a choice of a product that offers the greatest value for the least amount of money possible (Kahneman Thaler 2006). In extreme circumstances, the costs of products and services are more likely to influence the purchasing behaviour of individuals even if the quality is compromised. Inadequate resources influence this type of a decision-making process (Kahneman Thaler 2006). In normal circumstances, people will want high-quality result for fewer inputs. It explains why people like to bargain when purchasing products and services. In the airline industry, people tend to go for companies that offer quality services at affordable rates. It can be argued that the understanding of this theory also affects the pricing strategies of various airline companies (Kahneman Thaler 2006). For instance, most airline companies have differ ent classes of passengers; first class, second class and third class. The first-class passengers can afford high charges for the highest quality of service. The low-class passengers are the people who wish to use airline services, but are discouraged by the high charges. Choice-supportive bias theory explains that most people twist their memories to convince the present result that the decisions they made were the best (Ross 2009). The theory asserts that most people manipulate their memories to prevent the feelings of disappointment that the result presents. The case happens in situations where an individual has to take an early stand in the matter that involves multiple options. Individuals will always want to remember less negative things about situations that happened (Ross, 2009). In a business environment, the choice –supportive bias theory occurs for consumers who have used a particular product or service for a long time. Such consumers will always talk negatively about other products or services. It is an advanced level of brand loyalty that results from effective consumer engagement strategies. Various companies understand that subjecting prospective customers through effective and consistent consumer engagement sessions influences th e way they perceive the services. Consumers would continue to stick even if their services were relatively poor compared other companies (Ross, 2009). The principle of scarcity affirms that individuals are more likely to go for services and products that are scarce in the market, especially if the demand is high. Individuals tend to associate scarcity of products and services with quality. The notion is that the services or products could be scarce because several people went for them (Siebert 2008). If many people went for them then, they must have been impressive. The abundant supply of a particular service or product may create the impression that it is less desired by people (Siebert 2008). Most people analyze situations to ascertain the behaviours of others towards various products or services (Siebert 2008). The aim is to avoid first-hand experience of disappointing results. Airline companies understand this principle and use it to increase the consumption of their services. They create a demand crisis then offer limited opportunities for utilization of their services. The strategy encourages people to book flights in advance to avoid a last minute rush. The reasoned action theory explains that individuals engage in certain actions because they planned to do so (Tanachart Islam 2010). It also explains that the intention originates from his or her attitude towards that behavior (Tanachart Islam 2010). In this context, the intention serves as the basis for prediction of a behavior pattern. Beliefs and values influence the formation of attitudes regarding certain patterns of behavior (Smith Biddle 2008). Understanding people’s beliefs system is important in understanding their attitudes. Understanding attitudes helps in predicting what an individual plans to do in a circumstance. An individual is more likely to engage in a particular action if he or she believes that it is the right thing to do in the circumstance. What other people think of the choice plays a central role in influencing the actions of the individual. The theory recognizes that there are factors that limit the influence of people’s intentions towards en gaging in a particular behavior (Smith Biddle 2008). For instance, the airline companies are aware that many people wish to use their services but are incapacitated by the lack of financial resources. The understanding has compelled the airline companies to develop different classes of service; high class, middle class and the low class. Cognitive dissonance theory, maximization utility, the reasoned action and the theory of certainty provide realistic concepts for predicting the behavior of consumers. Companies are more likely to use them in designing and implementing consumer engagement strategies. Conclusion Companies in the airline industry engage consumers through an integrated marketing approach. The approach is influenced by the diversified nature of the market. The engagement process begins from the selection stage and ends at retention of customers. There are various theories that explain how consumers make decisions regarding products or services. Such theories include cognitive dissonance, consistency theory, commitment, certainty effect, choice-supportive bias, confirmation bias, the scarcity principle, and reasoned action theory. References Ashworth, G. J., Kavaratzis, M., (2010). Towards effective place brand management: branding European cities and regions. Internet Resource. Bijmolt, T., Leeflang, P., Block, F and Eisenbesiss M., (2010). Analytics for Customer Engagement, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 341-356. Bowden, J., (2009). Customer Engagement: A Framework for Assessing Customer-Brand Relationships: The Case of the Restaurant Industry, Journal Of Hospitality Marketing Management, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 574-596, COOPER, J., (2007). Cognitive dissonance fifty years of a classic theory. Los Angeles, SAGE. Kahneman, D. Thaler, R.H., (2006). Anomalies: Utility Maximization and Experienced Utility, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 221-234. Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A. (2008). Theories of human communication. Australia, Thomson Wadsworth. Loughran, T. A., Pogarsky, G., Piquero, A. R., Paternoster, R., (2012). Re-Examining the Functional Form of the Certainty Effect in Deterrence Theory. JQ: Justice Quarterly, Vol. 29, No.5, pp. 712-741. Posavac, S. S., (2012). Cracking the code: leveraging consumer psychology to drive profitability. Armonk, N.Y., M.E. Sharpe. ROSS, B. H., (2009). Advances in research and theory. Amsterdam, Elsevier. Secchi, D. (2011). Extendable rationality understanding decision making in organizations. New York, Springer. Shakeel-Ul-Rehman Ibrahim, M.S.. (2011). Integrated Marketing Communication and Promotion, Researchers World, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 187-191. Siebert, H., (2008). Economics of the environment: theory and policy. London, Springer. Smith, A. L., Biddle, S., (2008). Youth physical activity and sedentary behavior: challenges and solutions. Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics. Tanachart R., Islam, S.N., (2010). Designing an Efficient Management System: Modelling of Convergence Factors Exemplified by the Case of Japanese Businesses in Thailand. Heidelberg, Physica. Young Sally, K 2011, Application of the Cognitive Dissonance Theory to the Service Industry, Services Marketing Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 96-112.

Critical Appraisal of the London Ambulance Case The WritePass Journal

Critical Appraisal of the London Ambulance Case Abstract. Critical Appraisal of the London Ambulance Case Abstract.IntroductionSYSTEMS THINKINGLondon Ambulance ServiceKnowledge management in the London Ambulance Service Information Management Structure within the ambulance complexesA case with the London Ambulance ServicesStrategies to prevent future Crises in the London Ambulance ServicesConclusionRecommendation REFERENCESRelated Abstract.   This paper describes the case of the London Ambulance Services (LAS) Information Management System by using System thinking as the knowledge management tools and appraises its application in the delivery of the services of the organisation. The issue of some of the failures and successes of the LAS especially the issue bordering the failed Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system was also discussed and suggestions made on how the London Ambulance Services could improve its knowledge management in terms of information sharing in order to achieve great success in its daily operations. Keywords: Knowledge management systems; information management; systems thinking; London Ambulance Services; Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) Introduction Knowledge management involves the acquisition, storage, retrieval, application, generation, and review of the knowledge assets of an organization in a controlled way (Watson, 2003).The purpose of knowledge management is to enable an organization to control its information resources and knowledge resources by remembering and applying experience as this is considered as the basis of future economic competitiveness (Watson, 2003). Knowledge management spreads throughout an organization from the information management systems to marketing and human resources (Aykin, 2007). Information could be seen as the principal key substance to knowledge management in an organisation. Information is regarded as the content of what is exchanged with the outer world as we adjust to it, and make our adjustment felt upon it (Stahl, 2008). It encompasses storage of material resources, as well as the action of other people in the group (Aykin, 2007).   According to Davenport (1993), making information and communication significant and accessible would likely make it more controllable; and accessible information is also discussable which results to increased reciprocity. In a nut-shell, information management processes should include the entire information â€Å"value chain† which involves starting with the definition of the information requirements, then the collection, storage, distribution, receipt, and use of the information (Davenport, 1993). Information and knowledge management can be considered as existing along a continuum as they exhibit relationship with their context (Watson, 2003). Information management in an organisation can be enhanced by using the enterprise resource planning (ERP), because it is the system that brings together all the company’s major business functions together and could also be used to forecast future demands and also enable every one working for the company to have instant access to critical information (Marcic and Daft, 2008).   Knowledge depends on the information received, thus information increases knowledge value as is seen in IT/IS strategy (Wimmer, 2004). In any well structured organization such as the London Ambulance Services, the effectiveness of knowledge management would to a great extent depend on how vital information are being shared within the staff and the residents whom they serve.   This is because information is a vital tool which occupies a central position in managerial decision making and the more and higher-quality information will lead to better performance (Stahl, 2008). The potential benefit of extensive information sharing and wider cooperation has been seriously impeded by the unavailability of robust communications or transportation systems to support them. Advance information sharing can aid in resource assessment and contribute valuable information to plan the response effort more effectively, especially in the first few hours after the onset of the any emergency (Aykin, 2007). In order to make effective and innovative local decisions in an organization, subordinates must have information and training because information provides awareness of potential problems, opportunities, and available resources, training to use the tools they need to act effectively to meet the needs (Simons, 1995). SYSTEMS THINKING Systems thinking and system approach in an organisation was developed and has been in publication over the past 50 years (Macdonald, et al. 2006). It is concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information and forms an important part of effective information and administrative management (Ferreira, et al. 2010). System thinking is essential for the development of the effective organisation the learning organisation (Beardwell Ciaydon, 2007). It enables the ability to conceptualise complex dynamic realities within the systems and its external relationships, and then model them in a simple, coherent way that is yet pregnant with meaning and capable of further elaboration when necessary (Beardwell Ciaydon, 2007). In the case of the London Ambulance Service, system thinking would inevitably give an important insight into the role of information systems sequentially from data to capta to information to knowledge. Information systems serve people engaged in what they consider as meaningful action, as in actions which support another to yield a meaningful result (Sherwood, 2002). System thinking involves the conceptualization of a system which provides support by first defining the nature of the system (Currie and Galliers, 1999). Another benefit of system thinking is that it helps to reduce the complexity of real-world problems by providing a structured way of balancing a broad, complete view with the selection of the right level of detail, and as such, enhances decision taking within short time (Sherwood, 2002). London Ambulance Service The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is the only NHS trust that covers the whole of London and provides patients with the highest quality of care to ensure that patients who reside within London obtains the best health outcome in the world (www.londonambulance.nhs.uk).   The primary purpose of the LAS is to save lives and responds effectively to medical emergencies (london.gov.uk ). It is managed by South West Thames Regional Health Authority and is the largest ambulant service in the world as it covers geographical area of over 600 square miles, resident population of over 6.8 million people (comp.lancs.ac.uk). The London Ambulance Service (LAS) responds to all ‘999’ emergency calls for medical assistance in the capital and is staffed 24 hours a day in three eight-hour watches. The control room of LAS takes an average of 2000 calls a day and coordinates the despatches of vehicles from its fleets of ambulances, motor cycles and air ambulances (Stegwee and Spil, 2001). This efficiency is achieved by the help of MapInfo technology to help improve call handling and response time as it helps the LAS to plot the location of ambulance stations, hospitals and area of high priority calls, as well as planning of the crew deployment during emergencies (Nag and Sengupta, 2007).The service has received awards for information system management that may not be matched for years (Stegwee and Spil, 2001). According to Rowland and Macdonald, (2005), in order to maintain a high quality delivery of all its services, the members of staff from the senior management to the ambulance crew of the London Ambulance Service require the possession of qualifications, experience and qualities which include: theoretical training as would ensure acquisition of the necessary knowledge of the field in which they are required to work. a thorough knowledge of the hazards and failure of the equipment for which they are responsible. an understanding and detailed knowledge of the working practices used in the organisation for which they work, as well as a general knowledge of the working practices in other establishments of similar type. a detailed working knowledge of all statutory provisions, approved codes of practice, other codes of practice, guidance material and their information relevant to their work, and awareness of legislation and practices, other than those which might affect their work. Ability to advice others. the calibre of personality to enable them to communicate effectively with their peers, any staff working under their supervision, and their own supervisors. an awareness of the current developments in the field in which they work. an appreciation of their own limitations, whether of knowledge, experience, facilities, resources, etc, and a preparedness to declare any such limitation. Knowledge management in the London Ambulance Service The London Analysts Support site team (LASS) developed a dataset in consultation with the London Ambulance to ensure that their data is of good quality and suitable for crime analysis purposes. The team work with the London Ambulance Service to extract data suitable for crime analysis professionals there by making the service delivery of the London Ambulance faster and continuous (data.london.gov.uk). The support team identify incidents of assaults injury via a fairly sophisticated search through various codes and descriptions of incidents that occur in the process of responding to a 999 call. Although the information extracted from this group is highly important in identifying and tracking crimes, it is assumed to be secondary compared to the need to record accurate medical information. Hence, this could result to minor variations in the accuracy of the data over time and in different areas in London. Experts in crime analysis utilize the data collated to scan for issues, patterns and trends in general violent crime in London and carry out comparisons and variations with traditional sources of intelligence such as recorded data from the police (data.london.gov.uk). London Ambulance services together with other government agencies such as the police work together to ensure that information are securely shared to protect vulnerable adults, and to ensure that any signs of abuse are reported and investigated immediately in such a way that there is less risk of signs of abuse being missed. They do this by encouraging people to inform authorities of abuse, sharing information and investigating reports and incidents where necessary (redbridge.gov.uk/cms/news_and_events/latest_news/2011/april_2011/organisations_join_forces_to_p.aspx).   Through this cooperative effort, necessary information are efficiently managed and shared whenever cases of emergency occurs and helps in the deployment of necessary solutions to different cases. Information Management Structure within the ambulance complexes Information sharing is the key instrument that enhances the operation of the London Ambulance Services. The information management of each local ambulance station complex is controlled by the local authority and PCT area. An information sharing network is used to pass information urgently to assist various units’ representatives to access support in all cases as they arise. Through information sharing, local authority social services, primary care, mental health and acute trusts and other relevant agencies are networked so as to establish a regular forum to enable specific is plans. This forum enables health and social care workers to advice the London Ambulance crew of any patients that may be posing similar problems to the receptive agencies, and hence could enhance the setting up of an appropriate care pathway. In some cases, a conference may be held in order to get the patients to understand property their health situations. This is often done by the London Ambulance Services via writing notification to patient, carer and advocate inviting them to participate in the conference, and during the process, all the clinical issues will be resolved. A case with the London Ambulance Services In bid to increase the efficiency in the delivery of her duties to the large population in London, the London Ambulance Service introduced the Computer Aided Dispatch system to deliver that goal. This dispatch systems was hoped to stand out as it was highly innovative system that fully command and control functions of the LAS starting from the receipt of emergency call at the control centre, through decisions on which ambulance to allocate to the call, and to mobilize appropriate resources (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005). In this design, the call details would be captured online and tracking devices would be fitted to ambulances so that their locations could be monitored continually to enhance information flow via electronic link room to the control centre, and then to either mobile data terminal or printers on ambulance stations (Hall, et.al. 2007). This computerized despatch system was designed by System Options to increase the service delivery of the London Ambulance Service and was launched into operation on October 26th, 1992. This despatch system lasted just for few hours and then crashed because it was not capable of handling the information loads being placed on it, a problem being blamed on inadequate knowledge management parameter such as system thinking, as the staff and management were in continual conflict over information hoarding (Howcroft and Trauth, 2005; Dutton and Peltu 1996). Some of the problems the despatch system encountered included: lack of confidence in the system being able to automatically locate vehicle locations by staff both within Central Ambulance Control and ambulance crews due to lack of adequate training. Other problems identified were failure of calls to reach ambulances, failure to identify duplicate calls, poor prioritization of error messages, and loss of calls in the system (Day, 2002; cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf). All these problems made the system to close down the next day leading the London Ambulance Services to revert to semi-manual operation (Day, 2002). An inquiry which was ordered to determine the cause of the crash revealed that the system was very complex, making it difficult for any software house to develop a suitable solution (Day, 2002). Besides, System Options had good reputation but lacked sufficient experience for designing or developing packages for safety-critical command-and-control system, otherwise they would have identified the risk and plan measures to avoid it, or to ensure an effective action (Day, 2002; Duquenoy, et. al. 2007; and Clarke, 2001).   The finding of the inquiry team also revealed that the CAD software was incomplete, not properly tuned and not fully tested (cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf). The failure of the dispatch system was also blamed on the inadequate training given to the operators and inadequate testing of the system according to a press release in 1993.   During the training of the staff that was carried out in line with the operation of the despatch system, the ambulance crew and the central control crew staff were trained separately in different rooms which did not lead to proper working relationship between the pair (Mantas, 2004). The report of the press release about the staff training reads:   â€Å"Much of the training was carried out well in advance of the originally planned implementation date and hence there was a significant â€Å"skills decay† between then and when staff were eventually required to use the system. There were also doubts over the quality of the training provided, whether by the Systems Options or the LAS’s own Work Based Trainers (WBTs) (Mantas, 2004). This training was not always comprehensive and was often inconsistent.   The problem was exacerbated by the constant changes being made to the system (Mantas, 2004).   It was also reported that one of the reason for the failure of the London Ambulance Computer Aided Dispatch attributed to the complexity inherent in the system design which was intentional as those in charge of the system development activities had wanted to be in control of all possible outcome (Khosrowpour, 2003).   Besides, top management hoped to bypass the union, and also replace the controllers so as to reduce cost. For this reason, the staff of the union were not involved in the development of the system which resulted to the leaving behind the input of people who were most experienced with the way the ambulance service worked (Macauley, 1996; Rowbotham, et al. 2007). Strategies to prevent future Crises in the London Ambulance Services According to the document submitted by the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Wp85) published by the Department of Health in June 2005, outlined a vision of where NHS ambulance services should be within the next five years: Providing significantly more clinical advice to callers and work in a more integrated way with partner organisations; Providing and coordinating an increasing range of mobile healthcare services for patients who need urgent care; Continuing to improve the quality of services to patients with emergency care needs; Providing an increasing range of other services in primary care, diagnostic and healthcare promotion. In order to achieve the above vision, education and development needs for the ambulance service workforce has been redesigned including all the training courses to enable the service to cater for the need of the 800,000 patients it attends to each year (House of Commons Health Committee Report, 2006-7). This is why a school of thought has argued that systems thinking such as soft systems thinking could be a way of conceptualising the social processes in which a particular group of people in an organization can conceptualize their plans and actions they intend to undertake (Wickramasinghe, et al. 2009). This kind of basic thinking relevant to the provision of information systems may not have been properly applied in the provision of the London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Despatch system that failed. According to Currie and Galliers (1999), in order to ensure proper knowledge management and information sharing, any development of a strategy for the future computer aided dispatch within the London Ambulance Service (LAS) must involve a full process of consultation between management, staff, trade union representatives and the Service’s information technology advisers. It may be appropriate to establish a wider consultative panel involving experts in CAD from other ambulance services, the police and fire brigade. cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf. It is necessary that the geographical, social and political environment in which the London Ambulance Service operates in the delivery of her valued services be adequately carried along in the information sharing and information management of both the LAS management and staff via organizing of regular and open consultation with staff representatives (cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf). Furthermore, regular training for the staff of the London ambulance Services on the use of modern IT infrastructure that relates to their service delivery could be done regularly to enable the members of staff to keep abreast of all the updated information regarding the efficient delivery of their duties. This is because; an organisation that encourages learning among its staff promotes exchange of information between employees thus creating a more knowledgeable workforce. In addition, IT contributes to knowledge capture, information distribution, and information interpretation. Conclusion    Information is power, and as such, few people in an organization would like to monopolize it instead of sharing it to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge. Information flows are up, down, and across the organization as information is collected, shared, communicated, and debated (Rescher, 2003). Therefore, information sharing should be encouraged in the operations of the London Ambulance service as this will empower all the staff to be more productive in delivering their duties, and will avert any disaster in future when the organisation considers the design of another despatch system. It is a clear fact that computer-based information systems are essential to the operation of modern businesses especially in all transaction that entails the production of large information in an organization like the London Ambulance Service. Information diffusion means the degree of information sharing within an organization (Simons, 1995). Hence, in the case of the London Ambulance Services, information diffusion should be high so as to maintain free flow of information to everyone in the organization and not hoarding it or making it only available to selected few individuals. Recommendation Information sharing can be viewed as a firm’s willingness to share key information that is timely, accurate, responsive and useful with its staff, associated partners and final consumers of her services. Some of these ingredients of professional knowledge management were not adequately utilized in the circumstances that led to the failure of the London Ambulance dispatch systems. In subsequent future design of a CAD despatch system that will work, the LAS management or any other company that will be used, and the London Ambulance should consider conducting adequate training of all their staff as part of the product development and implementation cycle. System Options was reported to have had no previous knowledge of building despatch systems for ambulance services (Beynon-Davies, 1995), and as such should have not accepted the offer as it falls outside their professional competence especially as there was strict deadline to deliver the contract. Again, the Inquiry report findings reveal that System Options did not used PRINCE project management method which is the acceptable method for managing public sector projects, and the team had no previous project management experience (Duquenoy, 2007). This means that there was no proper knowledge management on the side of the London Ambulance Service as LAS should have ensured adequate project management experience of its contractor. System Options failed to properly apply proper system thinking techniques as it relates to realizing the CAD project within the proposed deadline. They entered the agreement and could not opt out as that would have been unprofessional (Beynon-Davies, 1995).   It is recommended that for a successful professional service delivery, CAD or IT/IS providing firms should maintain a cordial information and time management relationship with its clients. 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Knowledge management in electronic government:  5th IFIP International Working Conference, KMGov 2004, Krems, Austria, May 17-19, 2004 : proceedings. londonambulance.nhs.uk/talking_with_us/freedom_of_information/classes_of_information/who_we_are_and_what_we_do.aspx (accessed on 15/04/11) londonprepared.gov.uk/downloads/ccprotocol_may2006.pdf (accessed on 17/04/11) redbridge.gov.uk/cms/news_and_events/latest_news/2011/april_2011/organisations_join_forces_to_p.aspx (accessed on 18/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/health_professionals/caring_for_frequent_callers/patient_referral,_review_and_c.aspx (accessed on 18/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/about_us/what_we_do/dealing_with_major_incidents/our_experience.aspx (accessed on 19/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/talking_with_us.aspx (accessed on 21/04/11) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Ambulance_Service (accessed on 21/04/11) cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las/lascase0.9.pdf (accessed on 21/04/11) nhs.uk/Services/Trusts/PatientFeedback/DefaultView.aspx?id=29236 (accessed on 23/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/working_for_us/from_our_staffs_perspective/hitesh_patel_-_information_man.aspx (accessed on 23/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/talking_with_us/freedom_of_information/introduction_and_guide_to_the.aspx (accessed on 23/04/11) ambulex.com/Civica%20PR%20London%20Ambulance.pdf (accessed on 24/04/11) connectinternetsolutions.com/our_work/case_studies/london_ambulance_service.aspx (accessed on 24/04/11) http://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/~mdd/teaching/pm/London%20Ambulance%20PM%20Presentation.pdf (accessed on 24/04/11). lond.ambulance.freeuk.com/newsanthrax.html   (accessed on 25/04/11) londonambulance.nhs.uk/talking_with_us/freedom_of_information/foi_disclosure_log.aspx (accessed on 25/04/11) http://healthcybermap.org/HGeo/london_ambulance.htm (accessed on 25/04/11) dcs.gla.ac.uk/~johnson/papers/safecomp_best/ (accessed on 25/04/11) comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE7/CaseStudies/LondonAmbulance/LASFailure.pdf (accessed on 03/05/11).

Bsa 375 Week 2 Dq Essay Example for Free (#375)

Bsa 375 Week 2 Dq Essay Week 2 DQ DQ1 1.How were the problems with the system missed? Problems were missed by failing to complete the SDLC. The application was developed based on information gathered from agents, but doesn’t seem that it was modified during the system implementation phase. 2.How might these problems have been foreseen and possibly avoided? The problem could have been foreseen and possibly avoided by creating use cases. Use cases will help develop detailed requirements along with expectations, and error handling. 3.In perfect hindsight, the widespread availability of such systems on the internet today, what should the company have done? The company should have taken some time to redesign or retool the application at the first sign of user displeasure. DQ2 1.What is the purpose of developing use cases during systems analysis? How do use cases relate to the requirements stated in the requirements definition? The purpose of developing use cases during system analysis is to help develop the practical requirements, and help understand exceptions, special cases and error handling requirements. Use cases will provide a comprehensive understanding of user interfaces. DQ3 1.A system development project may be approached in one of two ways: as a single, monolithic project in which all requirements are considered at once or as a series of smaller projects focusing on smaller sets of requirements. Which approach seems to be more successful? Why do you suppose that this is true? Be specific. You can answer from your experience or the reading in chapter 3 of this week’s materials. Bsa 375 Week 2 Dq. (2016, Mar 25). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Luxury Marketing- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Luxury Marketing- - Essay Example The GDP per capita as on 2012 is $49,000 that positions it at rank 16 as compared to other countries2. 1.2 Demographic UAE is considered to have the world’s third best demographic profile after Qatar and Macau (China). According to the reports of the International Labour Organization a quarter of the population is estimated to be 4.8 million and is categorised under non-working age who are dependent either on their family members or on support from the government3. 1.3 Social and Cultural After Abu Dhabi started to export oil, the society of the country also started to transform. Emiratis are traditionally conservative but UAE is considered to one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf. Other believes and cultures are tolerated especially in Dubai4. 1.4 Technology UAE has spent about $5 billion (Dh 18.36 billion) as an investment towards technological upgradation. The main aim behind doing this was to make UAE the fastest growing region of the world in spending towards info rmation technology5. 1.5 Political Politically the region remains authoritarian. Until 2006 it remained as the as the only country that do not have elected bodies. In 2012 restriction was introduced related to usage of internet. However the authority of UAE tries to reduce the dependency on oil export and diversify the economy by creating boom in the tourism, construction and business sector6. 2. Industry Analysis 2.1 Overview Fragrance Foundation Arabia has claimed that a significant growth has been marked by the regional and global fragrance industry and is seen to get almost double from US$ 17 billion in the year 2010 to US$ 33.5 billion by 2015. More specifically a research by Euromonitor International stated that UAE has witnessed a high-end sales growth of signature products at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.4% and reach AED663.5 million by 2014. The sale in the mass fragrance for the same period is also expected to be AED247.9 million7. This is a clear indication of tha t the market of UAE has a preference for luxury goods and more specifically high-end products. 2.2 Entry Barriers The major entry barriers are the competitors operating in the market like Clive Christian, Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent who are some of the prominent players in the oud-based fragrance market. In UAE there are 3000 brands operating8. 2.3 Trends The current trends suggests that previously about 70% of the business was dominated by oud-based perfume but now it has reduced to only 30% and rest are occidental perfumes9. As per the survey record of UAE Ministry of Economy the per month average household income of the residents is AED18,248.60. The report has also revealed that the AED11,241.20 is the average household expenditure of the resident in one month with most of the income spent on drinks and food10. The age structure of UAE is 20.6% of the total population is between the age group of 0-14 years (male 577,599 and female 551,346), 13.8% is between the age group of 15-24 years (male 449,258 and female 306,410), 61.5% is between the age group of 22-54 years (male 2,570,054 and female 798,070), 3.1% is between the age group of 55-64 years (male 127,569 and female 40,996) and only 1% is above 65 years (male 33,481 and female 19,189) as on 201311. 2.4 Success factors Lifestyle of the people has changed. Now they want to look good and in fact smell good. Strong economy has made the region and the fragrance sector more lucrative. Growth in the expat population also plays a major role in

Why is College So Expensive Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why is College So Expensive - Research Paper Example Tuition, books and housing are enormously expensive and take the biggest bite out of the higher education budget but it doesn’t end there. It never ends. There are lab fees, dorm needs including computer, clothes and stereo, commuting costs, parking fees, tutoring and food. Forget entertainment expenses, no money left for that. College is expensive, very much so but just how expensive and why? According to experts, the cost to attend a four-year public university is about $16,000. That includes tuition, housing and general fees but not books. A private university is more than double that amount. Add to that other expenses such as dorm room accessories, electronics and clothing. Then there’s commuting which includes gas, maintenance and parking fess which can total up to $500 per semester. Tickets for outdated stickers handed out by the campus police push the cost higher. Getting a little tutoring help for that physics test will run about $30 per hour. The â€Å"luxuryà ¢â‚¬  of living on campus costs more than anyone can possibly anticipate. â€Å"The main reason why people who go to public universities end up in debt, is not the tuition, but the living away from home expenses, which at a public university, are three or four times more than tuition.† (Hacker, 2010) The price of books is another expense that is always higher than anticipated, shockingly so. The cost of books sometimes determines a student’s major. The difference in price of books can total $1200 depending on the field of study. (Beeman, 2011). There is a legitimate justification for why college textbooks cost more than paperbacks at discount book stores. Producing a new textbook is often very expensive. The market for these books is limited and has become increasingly so. In days past there were more buyers for new textbooks. Publishers could, therefore, distribute production expenses over a larger number of buyers. The relatively recent expansion of the rental and u sed textbook market has diminished the number of new books sold which has kept the price of new editions inflated. Publishers now generate updated editions. In this way they sell more books which acts to spread the production costs over more buyers. The total cost of college textbooks has actually fallen recently even as the price for new books has risen. (Weston, 2011). â€Å"Student spending on textbooks has been decreasing since 2006 because of the rise of electronic books, rentals and the used book market† (â€Å"Why,† 2011). During the 2010-11 scholastic year the average amount spent on books at a four-year college was $534. During the 2005-06 year that amount was $644. Students spend more on gasoline and going to the movies during the academic year and twice the amount on cell-phone use as they do on book expenditures. (Weston, 2011). Tuition costs are high for many reasons. Colleges have expenses which may or may not be obvious to the casual observer. The high-e nd salaries paid to employees have risen. The expense of employing well educated people began to increase substantially about 30 years ago for every industry. Colleges are an industry that cannot readily cut back on labor and much of its work force is well educated by necessity. (Goldstein, 2010). Salaries of faculty and supportive staff account for the largest piece of the college expense pie. The second highest expense can be classified as building maintenance which includes paying the electric bill, ongoing construction, cleaning and furnishing classrooms, libraries, gyms, labs, dorms, student centers and supplying computers, software, IT needs and books. (Trachtenberg, 2011) Colleges have been allocating more for support

Treatment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Treatment - Essay Example Which self-help groups (12-step and non-12-step groups) discussed in the textbook is available in your community or neighboring community? How many meetings of each group are offered per week and what are the venues? If a group is not available, state that. Most of the groups are the 12-step groups and majority of them meet three times in a week while others meet twice in a week. Since there are three groups, they each have their own venue to avoid clash of the days of the meeting but all these areas are in halls. One has the social hall, the other the gymnasium in the high school and the last one meets in the elementary school’s hall. Given your response to the above two questions, which groups’ meetings are feasible for a person to attend? That is, are all the self-help groups mentioned in the textbook represented in your community neighboring community? The most feasible for an addict that is still working is the 12-step group since daily presence is not needed, but if the addict is truly not-functional, then they can try the non 12-step program even if not available in the neighborhood as most are in-house like the St. Jude Retreat mentioned above. Not all the groups are available and only the 12-step group is but not the

Discuss victimization of Children that are exposed to domestic Essay

Discuss victimization of Children that are exposed to domestic violence and the long term impact - Essay Example Individuals who are directly targeted in domestic violence are not only suffering its adverse effects; others, especially children, are even experiencing the negative effects of this sort of violent behavior. Children are being exposed to this sort of violence in their everyday life in different forms; exposure might be in form of hearing, seeing, experiencing and being informed about such assaults. According to the US Census Bureau, during 2001 a total of 15.5 million children were living in households where domestic violence was taking place (McDonald, 2007). Children who are violated in cases of domestic violence are not only the ones being negatively impacted; even children who live in households where domestically violent activities are taking place are being negatively impacted. The degree of impact may vary according to factors such as age, sex, frequency, and whether the child has been directly abused or has experienced indirect abuse. The negative effects domestic violence on children are said to be short as well as long term in nature. Short term negative effects associated with domestic violence include: increase in anxiousness, depressing state of mind, and depreciated level of performance in academic life and self-esteem. The long-term negative effects associated with domestic violence are those concerning the way domestically violated children exhibit as they grow up. College going students that have been violated indirectly reported the various issues stated in the short term negative effects of this kind of violence as compared to those college students that do not experience intimate partner violence (Stark, 2009). Studies even report that individuals who have been abused sexually and emotionally in childhood have even reported the same kinds of abuse in their adulthood (Stark, 2009). The social learning theory states that if children observe

Todays Justice System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Todays Justice System - Essay Example However, there is no denying the fact that justice also happens to be a highly subjective concept, which is often susceptible to diverse interpretations. What may seem just to a person or a group may sound unjust or partial to many other. In that context, it will be interesting to have a look into the concept of justice as per Confucius, Machiavelli and Lao-tzu, to facilitate a bit better understanding of the contemporary justice system. The Confucian concept of justice is woven around the notion of 'gong', which if roughly translated means 'impartiality' (Cleary, 2000). Hence, Confucian dogmas strongly instruct the state and the justice system to resolve and solve the social conflicts and differences without resorting to any sort or form of discrimination or partiality. According to Confucius, the overall sense of direction and moral health of any society depends on the extent to which virtue and uprightness manage to permeate the social, commercial and personal spheres of life (Cleary, 2000). Therefore, the people only tend to develop a strong affinity with propriety if there prevails a sense of justice in any society. ... Therefore, the people only tend to develop a strong affinity with propriety if there prevails a sense of justice in any society. It is understood that justice to Confucius meant absolute fairness and total absence of any sort of favoritism. Thus, in the given context, the fair and equitable distribution and allocation of national resources and opportunities of growth constitute an integral part of the Confucian concept of justice (Cleary, 2000). Confucius favored a concept of justice that distinctly favored the marginalized and weaker sections of the society and ensured their well being and safety. Contrary to Confucius, the Machiavellian concept of justice is blatantly opportunistic. Machiavelli holds that the means are always subservient to the ends (Machiavelli, 1984). Thus, the direct premise of this line of reasoning is that the state or the political authority can resort to any line of action while dispensing justice, provide the delivered verdict or conclusion aid and abets the political authority in achieving its coveted and vested aims and objectives (Machiavelli, 1984). Therefore, according to the Machiavellian notion of justice, justice does not happen to be a means to disseminate a sense of fairness in the society, but a tool to further the interests of those in power. Justice merely dwindles to being a convenient tool rather then being an exalted institution and a reliable pillar of social stability. To Machiavelli, virtue and fairness meant any thing that furthered the narrow interests of the state (Machiavelli, 1984). In the Machiavellian concept of justice, pre servation and protection of the realm takes preponderance over everything else.Lao-Tzu's concept

Treatment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Treatment - Essay Example Which self-help groups (12-step and non-12-step groups) discussed in the textbook is available in your community or neighboring community? How many meetings of each group are offered per week and what are the venues? If a group is not available, state that. Most of the groups are the 12-step groups and majority of them meet three times in a week while others meet twice in a week. Since there are three groups, they each have their own venue to avoid clash of the days of the meeting but all these areas are in halls. One has the social hall, the other the gymnasium in the high school and the last one meets in the elementary school’s hall. Given your response to the above two questions, which groups’ meetings are feasible for a person to attend? That is, are all the self-help groups mentioned in the textbook represented in your community neighboring community? The most feasible for an addict that is still working is the 12-step group since daily presence is not needed, but if the addict is truly not-functional, then they can try the non 12-step program even if not available in the neighborhood as most are in-house like the St. Jude Retreat mentioned above. Not all the groups are available and only the 12-step group is but not the

Todays Justice System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Todays Justice System - Essay Example However, there is no denying the fact that justice also happens to be a highly subjective concept, which is often susceptible to diverse interpretations. What may seem just to a person or a group may sound unjust or partial to many other. In that context, it will be interesting to have a look into the concept of justice as per Confucius, Machiavelli and Lao-tzu, to facilitate a bit better understanding of the contemporary justice system. The Confucian concept of justice is woven around the notion of 'gong', which if roughly translated means 'impartiality' (Cleary, 2000). Hence, Confucian dogmas strongly instruct the state and the justice system to resolve and solve the social conflicts and differences without resorting to any sort or form of discrimination or partiality. According to Confucius, the overall sense of direction and moral health of any society depends on the extent to which virtue and uprightness manage to permeate the social, commercial and personal spheres of life (Cleary, 2000). Therefore, the people only tend to develop a strong affinity with propriety if there prevails a sense of justice in any society. ... Therefore, the people only tend to develop a strong affinity with propriety if there prevails a sense of justice in any society. It is understood that justice to Confucius meant absolute fairness and total absence of any sort of favoritism. Thus, in the given context, the fair and equitable distribution and allocation of national resources and opportunities of growth constitute an integral part of the Confucian concept of justice (Cleary, 2000). Confucius favored a concept of justice that distinctly favored the marginalized and weaker sections of the society and ensured their well being and safety. Contrary to Confucius, the Machiavellian concept of justice is blatantly opportunistic. Machiavelli holds that the means are always subservient to the ends (Machiavelli, 1984). Thus, the direct premise of this line of reasoning is that the state or the political authority can resort to any line of action while dispensing justice, provide the delivered verdict or conclusion aid and abets the political authority in achieving its coveted and vested aims and objectives (Machiavelli, 1984). Therefore, according to the Machiavellian notion of justice, justice does not happen to be a means to disseminate a sense of fairness in the society, but a tool to further the interests of those in power. Justice merely dwindles to being a convenient tool rather then being an exalted institution and a reliable pillar of social stability. To Machiavelli, virtue and fairness meant any thing that furthered the narrow interests of the state (Machiavelli, 1984). In the Machiavellian concept of justice, pre servation and protection of the realm takes preponderance over everything else.Lao-Tzu's concept

Innovation Report on the Microwave Oven Essay Example for Free

Innovation Report on the Microwave Oven Essay The famous American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, once said: â€Å"Anything that wont sell, I dont want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success. † His perception was precisely accurate even to date, as the success of any product depends on the demand for it in the market’s economy. Inventions have continuously been reconstructed in different ways stretching technology to new lengths, which has changed the way we live today. When comparing the lifestyle of people in today’s world with those in the past, it is easy to recognize the way in which technology has changed us as; we now rely on it to assist in everyday activities. One such technological device, which is currently relied upon by many is the microwave oven. It is common to have microwave ovens in many different kitchen atmospheres; such as restaurants, offices and homes. At present, it is safe to say most families, over 95% of American households, own a microwave oven. Many of which commented that this device is difficult or impossible to do without it (Remich, 2007). According to a report by Lukovitz (2009), the economic crisis had an impact upon many Americans, which led them to change the way, they ate. This change led to many people eating at home but not necessarily cooking their own food. As the microwave oven gained popularity among households, the objective of this essay is to examine the origins of the microwave ovens in addition to the impact it has on the consumers. During World War II there were numerous radar related research projects being undertaken. These investigations were carried about using magnetrons, a vacuum tube which can produce microwave radiation (Gallawa, 2009). The invention of the microwave oven was therefore classified as a by-product of another technology since this was the method in which it was created. Dr. Percy LeBaron Spencer, a famous engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, was the first creator of the microwave oven in 1946 (Gallawa, 2009). While testing the vacuum tubing, Spencer realized the chocolate bar in his pocket melted and as such, he went on to experiment with popcorn, which popped, and finally with an egg, that exploded. A design was then fashioned to contain all the heat so as to cook food. This invention was to revolutionize the world of cooking from that day forward. Upon the early years of the product, microwave ovens were usually over five feet tall, weighed over 750 pounds and was priced at approximately $5000 each (Gallawa, 2009). A picture of such microwave ovens can be seen in figure one of the appendix. These microwave ovens needed plumbing upon assemble as the magnetron tube had to be water-cooled. During those years, the oven was not very popular; however, Raytheon Corporations thought differently and carried on to invest into the product. As the years went by, the improvements made the microwave oven more reliable and lightweight. Developments of new air-cooled magnetron were also undertaken eliminating the need for a plumber (Gallawa, 2009). As the microwave oven became recognized throughout the food industry, for less wastage and cutting costs, there were also new applications for their usage. Some industries used the microwave oven for drying potato chips, roasting coffee beans and other drying applications (Gallawa, 2009). The microwave oven was therefore becoming popular among many as the usage of it became endless. As with all great technologies, there is always room for improvement within the market and this is what was happening to the microwave oven. Thus enter the era of compact microwave ovens. Two years after Raytheon Manufacturing Company acquired Amana Refrigeration, they introduced the line of compact microwave ovens. Introduced in 1967 these compact microwave ovens, called the Radarange, were a countertop model priced at $495 (SMECC, 2007). An image of these compact microwave ovens can be seen in figure two of the appendix. This microwave oven also had similar effects upon the market as it was not popular and the company was not getting the sales it deserves as yet. According to Gallawa (2009), the first time the microwave oven sales exceeded those of gas ranges is in 1975. From this point onwards it was expected that sales of the microwave ovens would continue to increase especially in the next year. At present, microwave ovens come in many different styles and sizes adapting to the needs of the consumer. For instance some persons may prefer a convection microwave oven with a feature, which saves energy while others may choose a built in microwave oven to compliment their kitchen decor. Upon the invention of any product, there have been changes and modifications for improve its reliability in addition to adapting to the needs of the consumers. When emphasizing the change and innovation upon inventions created, Joseph Schumpeter (1934) made the following thesis; ‘They have employed existing means of production differently, more appropriately, more adventurously. They have â€Å"carried out new combinations†. They are entrepreneurs’ (Lumsdaine and Binks 2007). This interpretation attempts to explain the definition of an entrepreneur and analyzes them to be anyone who can make change upon an invention. Dr. Percy LeBaron Spencer can therefore be classed as an entrepreneur along the definitions of Joseph Schumpeter. He continued by explaining these changes can be categorized into two groups; discrete and gradual changes. The innovation of the microwave oven is a discrete change as there was no previous invention like this before its introduction to be compared to in the market. All associated risks involved with this type of change were experienced in the introduction of the microwave oven. As mentioned earlier, when the first microwave ovens were introduced, they were not popular and as such sales were not appealing (Gallawa 2009). The shareholders took a risk and continued the investments into the product. These risks were high and if there the innovation of the microwave oven was to be a failure this could have incurred large losses within the company. There was also a risk involved whether consumers would change their perspective about the use of microwave ovens within their homes. According to Gallawa (2009), there were many fears and myths about the use of microwave ovens as consumers thought they could make one blind or a person may die from the radiation poisoning. These fears and myths were the sole cause of the unfavorable reaction to the microwave oven in the earlier years. As these myths were tested to be false and fears were being overcome, consumes started to see the benefits of using the microwave oven. Reusch (2008) lists some of these advantages such as saving time in preparing meals, conservation of nutrition values in foods compared to using the stovetop, and it is easy to be cleaned. Thus, consumers began to purchase the microwave oven as a necessary kitchen appliance in the home. Even thought the stovetop is still the most popular cooking device among Americans, its usage has dropped from 53% in 1985 to 33% in 2009 (Lukovitz, 2009). Having gained a large consumer base over the years, the usage of the microwave oven has had a continuous increasing rate. Many companies have recognized the growing use of the microwave oven and as such they have prepared foods that are fully prepared by them. These foods range from pre-cooked entrees to organic and natural foods. Some foods may be packaged in a single serving meal pack that is easy to transport and prepare. Most of them also have a high nutritional value that can appeal to many persons whom are concerned about their health whilst eating good tasting and smelling foods. The use of microwave ovens has come a long way throughout its history. Starting off with an unfavorable initial reaction, the microwave oven has gained its reputation and is now a common way of preparing food. This was mainly due to its time saving feature in which it can cook foods as many people are working longer hours. The reputation gained from the microwave oven has also made it difficult for persons to go back to the original way of cooking and preparing foods. Many people of today’s age would prefer to use the microwave oven over any other cooking appliance. This is one kitchen appliance, which is considered a necessity to many people around the world. In conclusion, the innovation of the microwave oven was a successful invention that changed the way in which we prepared food.