Best Buy Case Study Essay Example for Free

Best Buy Case Study Essay Best Buy is a multinational corporation with over 4,000 locations nationwide. Circuit City was Best Buy’s only main competition for some years until it took over and ran Circuit City out of business. Best Buy’s market share increased after that however, other large retailers as well as e-tailers entered into the market. Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart and Apple became Best Buy’s new competition that caused a decrease in market sales in 2010. They all had the same thing in common after the Circuit City collapse and that was to increase electronics. They all had their own strategies to out-beat Best Buy. Although Best Buy acquired some more competition in a 2010 survey consumers still said Best Buy is the first to come to mind when they think about buying electronics. However, even though Best Buy is the first that comes to mind against the other competitors, depending on what the product is they will go to Amazon to buy it instead. Due to their strategy which focuses on three areas; customer-centricity, employment policies and exclusive branding, they are keeping up with the competition. Best Buy’s strategies may help them a majority of the time but they could change their strategies just a little bit. They should try what Wal-Mart does and price match ads with other stores so that way they are still getting the profits and keeping customers. In my opinion, Best Buy could improve their strategy when it comes to prices because they are on the higher end of prices. As a consumer myself, I do look at Best Buy first for my electronics but I usually go somewhere else because the prices are usually cheaper. Other than their prices I actually think their strategies are working out good for them and it shows in their rankings amongst other competitors. Consumer electronics is considered a mature industry because of the new trends. This industry hits record sales during the holiday seasons but still says rather well throughout the year as well. All companies associated with this industry try to keep up so they make their own products. However, due to manufactures cannibalizing their products their product life cycle has decreased. Manufactures started doing this to try to keep their consumers  loyalty. When prices start to fall for technology products this opens a bigger demographic; however by time the prices fall for the products they have come up with better products. In order to recapture the growth of Best Buy they should try to fix the prices to fit a bigger demographic. I think if they at least try to work with the consumers with the prices they would gain more customers. The problem is the fact that consumers go elsewhere when they see the prices and do a price match. Amazon became popular with electronics because people f ound out that they could get electronics of all kinds online. Also Amazon has an advantage over Best Buy because with Amazon there is free shipping on products, well on most products. I think if Best Buy tried to adapt some of Amazon’s strategy they can out beat them in the electronics department. If they could be like Amazon and have a limitless inventory online rather than just have their amount of availability on the showroom. If they did this I think they would see growth in their company. They pride their selves in having the most respected name brands in the consumer electronics industry so if they matched the prices with their pride in their brands I see a definite growth in their company. With Best Buy being a well-known company and is the first that comes to mind when talking about electronics, if they had a bigger choice when it came to the products than they might gain some more growth as well to go along with their already loyal customer base. At Best Buy, they offer a selection of energy-efficient products. These products were designed to help their customers around the world save some more money by using less energy. I think with Best Buy becoming more sustainable they are more able to maintain the interest of the stakeholders. With these products the shareholders play a big role in influencing their overall sustainability strategy. The stakeholders help with modeling Best Buy’s annual sustainability reports. So with them adding this strategy and allowing the stakeholders to get the chance to have a part in the strategy they are gaining their interest. Best Buy actually takes the recommendations from their stakeholders and they try to communicate with them in efforts to keep their interest in their decision to incorporate a sustainability strategy. I think this was a good move on their part because it states they were uncertain about Mr. Dunn’s five year growth strategy. The stakeholders  were worried abo ut Best Buy’s cash position and about if these strategies would work or not. Anytime when stakeholders have the opportunity to have a so in a company is a good thing. In conclusion, I believe Best Buy is a great company but can become a better one if they were to do some modifications with their strategies. With the constantly changing economy they need to adapt their strategies to the changes. I’m not saying they would have to always change their strategies but I think they should always try their best to make their strategies fit the customers as well as help the success of the company. With that being said I believe they will receive even better results for the company as well as the consumers.

Importance Of Wellness Programme In Organization

Importance Of Wellness Programme In Organization Unhealthy diet and lack of regular physical activity caused several bad health outcomes among employees, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic disease (Harris Fries, 2002). According to Conlin (2007) the insurance premium and absenteeism by sick workers cost businesses $15 billion a year in United States (as cited in Scarborough, Wilson Zimmerer, 2009). Besides that, about 70% of organizations health care costs were arising from preventable chronic diseases. According to Fries, Koop, Beadle, Cooper, England, Greaves, Sokolov, and Wright (1993) preventing employees chronicle illness is the best solution for reducing organizations health care cost. According to Quintiliani, Sattelmair, and Sorensen (2007) worksite has been recognizes globally as an appropriate setting to promote wellness programme. Stokols, Pelletier Fielding (1996) also suggested that worksites wellness programme could influence employees healthy behaviour. Through direct effort health education and increasing the availability of healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity; or indirectly through social support and social norms promoting health behaviours (Sorensen, 2002). Worksites wellness programmes were also a useful way of promoting a healthy diet and frequently physical activities to employees (Engbaers, 2005). Wellness programme has commonly focused on promoting worker health in reduction of individual risk-related behavior. For instance, tobacco use, poor nutrition and other avoidable health behaviours (LaMontagne, 2004).Employees performance increased more than 2.5 times once employees health and wellness managed well (Grimard, 2009). In 2004, The United States National Workplace Health Promotion found that many companies provide various type of worksites wellness programmes (Linnan, 2004). They found that 26% provided health education, and 30% provided supportive social and physical environments, and 23.5% provided worksite screening. However, the effectiveness of worksites wellness programme is effect by various issues, such as employees participation and the organizations implementation efforts (Kumar, McCalla Lybeck, 2009). According to Tsui (2008), the implementation efforts of wellness programme in Asian companies is far from desirable although the awareness of this issue is increased. 2.0 Definition of worksites wellness program According to Gold (2009) wellness programme was defined as a holistic approach that addresses the needs of individuals, whether its mental or physical needs or anything related to their family or work. Wellness programme focus on prevention, behavioral change and also offer tools for people to know their health risks and numbers, such as their cholesterol, sugar and body mass index. Offering them ways to learn the health information and solutions, focusing on three keys areas: healthy eating, helping people quit smoking, and let employees to be more active and really address their health needs. Wellness programme was being implemented by organization nowadays to create their worksites wellness programme (Craft, 1994). According to Wolfe and Parker (1994) Worksites wellness programme are long-term organizational activities designed to promote the adoption of organizational practices and personal behaviour conducive to maintaining or improving employee physiological, mental, and social well-being. (as cited in Ho, 1997). Sullivan (2000) mentioned that worksites wellness programme was a programme that intended to keep or develop employees health before the health disease occurs. From the perspective of a manager in an organization, wellness programme have the potential to reduce medical claims costs, decrease absenteeism, improve employee productivity, recruitment, and retention (Chang, Koh, Kang, 2005). For maximum impact on employee health, a comprehensive worksites wellness programme should focus on increasing awareness of wellness issues by providing employees health info rmation, supporting health management and promoting healthy work climates. Worksites wellness programmes included what consider being traditional efforts to maintain costs, including on-site fitness centers, healthy selections in company cafeterias, health assessments, employee assistance plans, and other programs that attempt to influence the organizational culture to ensure the workplace has a strong wellness culture (Kumar, et. al, 2009). 2.1 Importance of wellness programme in organization In recent years, there was a significant increasing trend for companies to introduce wellness programmes at the worksite (The Straits Times, 1994). According to Alsagoff (1993) in 1991, for example, the Singaporean employer had to pay S$252 in medical costs on every worker, which was a growth of some 6.8 per cent over the previous year. Worksites wellness programme is very important to a company as this can be proven by those companies which had made up their mind to adopt it, most of them mentioned that the primary reason in doing so was to increase employee productivity, to meliorate employees welfare advantages and morale, and to heighten the corporate reputation of the company (Wong, 1993). Worksites wellness programmes in the Western countries have a much older history and have been proven in many cases to be associated in a beneficial way to such essential opportunity costs as employee satisfaction, job performance, health care costs, absenteeism, and employee turnover (Shephard, 1992). Some companies have also savored nonphysical advantages such as enhanced employee spirit, health and generative, employee attraction and retention, and improved image for the corporations (Connors, 1992) after their employees reduced the rate of smoking and some of them even successfully quit smoking. Fielding (1994) studies conducted at Johnson Johnson showed affirmative opportunity costs, business-unit-wide, of health promotion programmes. These studies proved that effective wellness programme effects on uniform exercise participation, fitness levels, employee satisfaction, employees medical costs, smoker quit rates and on an indirect measure of productivity. Worksites wellness programme were also found to be very important in helping employees to having a better healthy lifestyle. A study of the Travellers Insurance Company health promotion programs reported a symptom of decreasing in health claims, absenteeism and employees insurance costs; an improvement in productivity; and a return on investment of roughly US$3.40 for every US$1.00 spent (Golaszewski Yen, 1992). Besides that, a cost-benefit study reported in the literature attributed minimized health care costs to Blue Shield and Blue Cross of Indianas health promotion programs, which resulted in a refund of US$2.51 for every US$1.00 of programs involves (Elias Murphy, 1986). According to Quick (1987), US organizations continue to lead almost European and Asian organizations in employee health promotion. This same goes to the issue in Singapore where the level of awareness or interest for corporate health promotion is low (Ministry of Health, Singapore, 1993). This is amazing in view of the high economic absenteeism rate arising from illness which is about seven days of medical leave per employee in 1991 and the huge amount of corporate medical expenses about $316 of medical cost per employee and annual corporate health care cost of around $416 million (Malik, 1993). 2.2 Effects of worksites wellness programme 2.2.1 Reduced employees absenteeism in organization The figure of sick hours and days an employee uses during a calendar year is referring to absenteeism (Leong, 1993). It is an important measure for monitoring the outcome of the effect of worksite wellness programme because it involved cost savings that may useable for company to development in other area. The economic effect of employee absenteeism are mainly from the costs of decreased productivity because of absenteeism cause from employees during working days, substitution of less experienced workers and the extra expense of hiring temporary workers. Every employee took an average of seven days of medical leave which causing in 10.4 million man days lost in 1991. Studies show that by implementing worksite wellness programme, absenteeism in the workplace can be deducted to at least 42 per cent (Gebhardt Crump, 1990). The latest research by using control grouping has found relations between reduction in absenteeism, health care costs and turnover rate and implementation of examina tion health promotion programmes (Klein, 1986). It has been forecasted that poor health and injury contribute for almost 60 per cent of all lost hours from work (Conrad, 1987). The main reason for absenteeism appears to be social psychological ones, which include work stress. As so, strategies oriented towards improving employee physical and emotional well-being have the possibility for impacting a main source of employee absence. There is much more pre-experimental type literature holds up the arguments that strengthen employee fitness level through wellness programs lead to reduction in absenteeism. At Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Ohio, USA, for instant, research indicated that as number of frequenly exercise increased, absenteeism in short term because of illness will be significantly decreased. This interpreted to about a day less of absenteeism a year for each frequent exerciser compared to non-exercisers (Lynch, 1990). An inversely proportional correlation between members involve d rates and the number of inattentive from work was also recorded at The Travellers Insurance (Shillingford Mackin, 1991). 2.2.2 Increased employees job satisfaction in organization Job satisfaction has become a critical issue in the workplace. Job satisfaction impacts the wellfare of employees and exercises a significant effect on the organization. Because of its outcome for the organization, involvement in job satisfaction is particularly high, for instant absenteeism and turnover (Cherrington, 1989) and for the worker, such as physical and mental health (ODonnell Ainsworth, 1984). As so, it is very important to have a satisfied workforce to become a competitive advantage for organizations. Research has shown that satisfied employees with improved spirit are more likely to contribute and hardworking as a consequence of an increased signify of duty, responsibility and an obligation to the superior or employer (Shinew Crossley, 1988). The question mark then started to come into the scenario whether introduce to worksite wellness programme would be applicable to increase employees spirit sufficiently to result in better job satisfaction. Affirmation to this question mark can be provided and shown by companies such as Johnson Johnson General Electric. For instant, in 1987, General Electric Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA served and functioned as host for a research to examine and note the similarities or differences of employees recreation participation with those of employees fitness participation. Comparison of overall job satisfaction among different employees and absenteeism were chosen randomly from a total of 900 employees through computerized personnel file. Results showed that employees who involves at any stage showed high job satisfaction and lesser absenteeism rate than employees who never take part from the beginning until the end (Baun, 1986). 2.2.3 Reduced employees stress in organization Stress in organizations is a serious issue among management practitioners because of its nonadaptive phenomenon on organizational effectiveness. According to the 1993 World Labour Report from the International Labour Organization, in twentieth century stress has become one of the most concern health issues. In the USA, job stress has been approximated to cost industries around US$200 billion every year, and stress is estimated to price up to 10 per cent of the gross national product in the United Kingdom (Tang Harumontree, 1992). There is research prove that frequently links occupational stress with certain physical health symptoms and diseases. Different kind of cancer, heart disease, migraine, allergies, ulcers, depression and an increased tendency of minor ailments for instant flu and colds which have been associated with stress (Sethi Schuler, 1990). Nowadays, there is a growing body of experimental and clinical research confirming the notion that physical fitness can direct to significant reductions in job stress. Uniform and exact physical activity has been shown to lessen the percentage of heart attacks, heart rate, mental disorders, muscle tension , blood pressure all and stress-interrelated indications. Research showed that frequently doing exercise can assist individuals by improving the level of resistance to any stimulus, so that a person is less expose to the effects of stress (Tarkan, 1991). Experts also stated that the best way that stress can be reduced were through joining fitness centre, yoga classes and educational seminars (Mobley, 1982). 2.3 The challenges of wellness programme in organization The United States 2004 National Worksite Health Promotion Survey reports that a successful worksite wellness programmes have facing five challenges (Linnan, Bowling, Childress, Lindsay, Blakey, Pronk, Wieker Royall, 2008). The survey found the following challenges; incompetence to prompt the support from upper management , 38% ; inadequate funds, 48.2%; failure to engage high-risk employees, 48%; insufficient staff resources, 50.1% , and lack of employee interest, 63.5% . According to Birken and Linnan (2006) these challenges should be identifying and addressing them by employers during the planning process as following. 2.3.1 Incompetence to prompt the support from upper management- The different level of management in the organization has different perception for the challenges to implement the worksites wellness programme (Orlandi, 1996). For example, the line supervisor or middle managers believe that the cost, space and production conflict were barriers while the senior manager had less focused and putting fewer efforts to overcome this challenge. 2.3.2 Inadequate funds- The lack of funds are the challenges often occurs when insufficient staff resources exists. When the worksites wellness programme is lack of designated staff to monitor, some potential funding or sources of support will be passed over. In United States, The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention provided organizations opportunities to funding for worksite wellness program (www.cdc.gov, 2010). 2.3.3 Failure to engage high-risk employees- High risk employees are those that have more health risk factors or those that have already tight with a chronic disease or illness (Haynes Dunnagan, 2002). High-risk employees might face challenges to participating in worksite wellness program than low-risk employees such as they will feel ill when participate in physical exercise programs (Emmons, Linnan, Abrams Lovell, 1996). According to Loeppke (2009) employers should integrating more personalized approach to encourage high risk employees to participate in the programs. For example, the employers should conducting a health coaching by using motivational interviewing to help the high risk employees changing their lifestyle behaviour to obtain healthier lifestyle. 2.3.4 Lack of Staff Resources- Staff resources are barriers for any program or activity that are not linked directly with companys business operation. Organization should provide staffs that interested and willing to organize the wellness programmes externally-sponsored training programs and wellness education workshop. For example, North Carolina State Division of Public Health has cooperated with the North Caronila State Health Plan to provide training workshop for state employees and teachers who interested in organizing employee wellness programme (www.statehealthplan.state.nc.us, 2006). 2.3.5 Lack of Employee Interest-. Employees interest in changing their behaviour and commitment to worksite wellness programme is the biggest challenges to a quality wellness program (Bonvissuto, 2010). According to Young (2006) some employees does not recognize the impact of worksite wellness programme which can enhance their personal health. Employees will lack of interest to participate for the worksite wellness programme due to this factor. A survey shows some reasons the employees not interesting in wellness program (Bates, 2009). The reasons shows as following: Inconvenient times of the program offered Lack of child care support The company benefits through this program and how it will affect the employees not being explained The program purpose is not clearly explained by organizer The advantages of the program to the employees cannot convey by lower level management under their authority Employees are annoyed and mistrustful with employer The program cost money to participants Hawks and Richins (1994) found that women were more probable to withdraw wellness programme than men (as cited in Erickson Gillespie, 1999 ). Hochschild (1989) explained this is caused by the family responsibility of married women as they need caring their children and keeping house. This will affects working women interest in participate the worksite wellness programme as they need to spend more time to caring their children after working hours. 2.4 The implementation process in worksites wellness programme The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) was a United States not-for-profit organization which helped enhance the worksites wellness in the U.S (Hunnicutt Leffelman, 2008). WELCOA has become one of the important resources for worksite wellness in America and it have more than 3,200 organizations joined for its membership. Throughout the study of worksite wellness program for over 20 years, WELCOA Well Workplace model had defined seven critical steps for worksites wellness programme as following. 2.4.1 Capturing CEO Support- Gaining support from CEO is important to the process of developing worksite wellness programme. They found that some wellness programme that involved cost and tend to improve employees health failed to get a strong level management support. 2.4.2 Creating Cohesive Wellness Teams- After captured the CEO support the next process is create a cohesive wellness team. Teams are important to building successful wellness programmes. They help to distribute the responsibility for wellness throughout the organization. 2.4.3 Collecting Data to Drive Health Efforts- For the wellness team, their primary responsibility is to gather important data before start offering appropriate programmes. The data will be collected by using health risk appraisals, knowledge and interest surveys, and corporate culture audit. Data will clarify the specific area of health needs and interests within the organization so it is very important. 2.4.4 Carefully Crafting an Operating Plan- When the essential data have being collected, the organization has to develop health and wellness operating plan for employees. This operating plan will function as a roadmap and guidance to the company in order to having essential efforts and investment in workplace wellness. 2.4.5 Choosing Appropriate Interventions- After completed the first four processes, organization should begin selecting and implementing suitable wellness programme. These programmes include weight management, smoking cessation, physical management, stress management, and others. The selection of wellness programme is depends on what the companys data exposes. 2.4.6 Creating a Supportive Environment- Once choosing the appropriate interventions, organization should create a supportive environment for the programme. The employees will be supported and participated actively in the programme by having a supportive environment. The environmental interventions can be in the form of policies, physical modifications, incentives, and rewards. 2.4.7 Carefully Evaluating Outcomes- The final process for this model is carefully evaluating outcomes. The organizations should make the programme evaluation consistently. The evaluation targets include cost control, participant satisfaction, the participation rate, and behaviour modification. 2.5 The implementation methods of worksites wellness programme A survey shows that more than 81% of American businesses with 50 or more employees have offering worksites wellness programme (Homan, Nickelson, Zhu, 2007). The most popular wellness programme offered by businesses are smoking cessation, financial incentives, and physical activities or exercises. The selected program should be aligned with the organization factors which including: individual employee demographics, the company occupation, the employees health characteristic and companys objectives and goals. 2.5.1 Smoking Cessation Smoking is one of the most addictive habits, influencing behaviour of human beings and it is the biggest threats to world health (Yanbaeva, Dentener, Creutzberg, Wesseling Wouters, 2007). Peoples which smoke for life long will have a higher occurrence of common diseases such as atherosclerosis and lung cancer. Smoking cessation to employees is one of the methods which use by organizations in its wellness programme (Willemsem, Meijer Jannik, 1999). Smoking cessation in worksites is important as it will reduce non-smoker employee exposure of smoking and reducing workers tobacco consumption during working hour. 2.5.2 Financial Incentives Spaeder (2008) mentioned that worksites wellness programme also includes financial incentives and it applies in many companies (as cited in Kumar, et al., 2009). More than 70% of employees agreed that incentives programme motivate them to achieving healthy lifestyle. According to Cohn (2008), these incentives include cash prize, gift cards, or health insurance premiums. However, worksite wellness programmes financial incentives are bound by law (Mello Rosenthal, 2008). Under the provision of The United States Federal Law, The HIPAA Nondiscrimination Rules had determined the rules and regulations for employer which implementing incentives wellness programme in its organization (www.dol.gov, 2010). 2.5.3 Stress management The United States industry has been paid for employees stress-related absenteeism in high cost which affects more organization to develop stress management programme (Donovan Kleiner, 1994). Employees stress derived from these sources; physical, mental, and situational. Over work and poor diet are some causes that employees having physical stress. Mental stress can be found from employees mental state in mind such as fears. Situational stress is derived from employees interaction with outside world which including interaction with customers. The organization will determine the sources of stress facing by employees and implement appropriate methods to overcome their stress. Johnson Johnsons Live for Live programs which consist of stress management had significantly reduced employees absenteeism and health care expenditure( Ozminkowski, Goetzel, Bruno, Rutter, Isaac Wang, 2002). 2.5.4 Fitness programme Worksites fitness programmes are important for organization as it can lower employees absenteeism and job turnover (Wattles Harris, 2003). In United States, the fitness program offered by organizations such as on-site fitness centers has increased from 22% in 1985 to 42% in 1992. Besides reduce absenteeism and job turnover, participation in fitness activities can reduce employees risk of coronary heart disease (Cox Griffths, 1996). The majority of the regular exercisers reported they have less depression, stress and better sleep pattern. 2.5.5 Online Wellness Coach Some companies had also used online wellness coach to as their worksites wellness programme (Kumar, et al., 2009). The worlds biggest security company, American District Telegraph (ADT) had tackled employees health condition through their parent companys website, www.mytycohr.com. The major function of this website is enable the employees to check the companys wellness policies and apply health benefits that the company offers. The employees use this website as a guidance to manage stress, evade smoking, improving diet and other activities that will improve employees health. 2.5.6 Wellness Mentors Organization can also implementing wellness programme which conducting by the experts as worksites wellness mentors (Pollitt, 2007). Cadbury UK had implemented Nuffield Proactive Health (NPH) which conducted by NPH physiologist as their wellness programme. The employees who participated in this program were be given presentation from experts which covering various health and have an opportunity to reform positive team spirit during workout activities such as short-distance walk. The employees assessment for this wellness program was positive as 82 per cent employees increased awareness of their health and 52 per cent felt less stressed for works. 2.6 Case Summary This case study is about high absenteeism and healthcare cost by sick workers had effects some organizations to implement wellness policies. Wellness programme being designed as they found that about 70% sick workers healthcare cost was arise from preventable chronic diseases. As a result, one-third of small companies offer wellness programme such as onsite or offsite fitness centre, smoking cessation programmes, onsite health checks and others. Despite improving employees health, they will obtain impressive return on investment: which more than three dollars for every dollar they invested. Crown Laboratories had implemented wellness programmes as the employees absenteeism rate and healthcare cost was high. Its wellness programmes included onsite health assessments and smoking cessation even off hours to employees. Another company Weyco also implemented smoking cessation policy which the employees will be dismissing for failing stop smoking. Organizations smoking cessation policy may face employees dissatisfaction. Scotts Miracle-Gro Inc. had sued by its employees for alleging discrimination by law but the case is pending. 3.0 Question 1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of wellness policies such as the one that Crown Lab has implemented? 3.0.1 The Advantages of Wellness Programme The advantages of wellness programme is for organizations which offer wellness programmes to their employees are perceived more confidently by their employees in terms of their attitudes towards the organizations, job fulfillment stages and satisfaction with fringe benefits. One viewpoint is that employers who offer wellness programmes are deemed to be indicating care and concern for the welfare of their employees (Shinew Crossley, 1988) and the consequence is, improving employees attitudes and behaviour towards the organization. In terms of job satisfaction, employees in organizations with wellness programmes showing higher levels of job satisfaction than those with no wellness programmes, thus implying that wellness programmes may well have a positive impact on employees job satisfaction. This can be proven by the study by General Motor Company which shows that employees who involved in the fitness activities showed higher levels of job satisfaction than employees who did not take part (Baun, 1986). The reason is that frequently exercise improves employees state of feeling, self-image and self-esteem which in other land may direct to a larger amount of satisfaction with the work he or she does (Pritchard, 1990). Employees also uttered that they value wellness programmes as a vital and valuable fringe benefit, and the absence of such a gain may lead to better employee satisfaction. This can be viewed in the outcome whereby workforce in organizations with wellness programmes were notably more fulfilled with their fringe benefits than their counterparts in organizations with no wellness programmes (Schauffler Rodriguez, 1994). On the one hand, the Government has been promoting healthy living for example The great Singapore workout as a result causing people to be further health-conscious, and on the other hand, sarcastically, only a small number of organizations provide corporate wellness programmes for their workers and take it critically sufficient to allow it to be advantageous for their workers. 3.0.2 The Disadvantages of wellness programme. The first disadvantage of wellness programme is about privacy issues. Employees have true concerns regarding how their personal information will be handled. Many wellness programs have need of some sort of early assessment, and this evaluation can expose many wellbeing issues that the employee may hope to keep private (Lindsey, 1992). If an employee has an embarrassing illness or one that possibly will make him up to discrimination, he may not take part for fear of revelation. The second disadvantage is about the start-up cost incur in wellness programme. Many wide-ranging programs cost a good bit of capital to begin, which gets recouped after a while (Jackie, 1998). Although it may be an excellent proposal for an organization, starting an employee wellness program could not be a wise suggestion given your companys financial position at the time. The third disadvantage is the time constraint. According to American Heart Association (AHA) many single parents, employees with huge families and small children or those with an intense workload might not have the time to vigorously involvement in employee wellness programmes. If employee wellness is a true company main concern, then changes may possibly have to be made in work flow and procedures sequentially to let for involvement by employees. Lastly, the disadvantage of the wellness programme is the employee habits. Those employees who are health aware are by now exercising and watching what they consume. Companies arent going to alter their way of life with a wellness program. Those who need to adjust their lifestyle may keep away from joining as they are not actually motivated to make the changes crucially to be fit (Laura, 1999). In this situation, unless companies are doing a good job with promoting and recruiting for the program then companies will have an ideal wellness program that it should be. 3.1 Question 2 What are the ethical implications of policies such as this? How much control should companies have over employees lifestyles away from the workplace? Crown lab and Scotts Miracle-Gro companies throws up several ethical concerns linked with the position of organizations in the lives of their employees. One of the concerns is that commercial motives may break ethical norms in the use of information resulting since the monitoring of employee programmes. Fielding (1990) notes the significance of employee reliance that confidentiality will be maintained and relates this to concerns over employee observation and broader arguments over the right of privacy. This relates back to Conrad and Walshs (1992) concern over the ethics of screening for health and fitness. Ethical issues take place when employers have to make decisions among economic and humanistic alternatives for instance, possible sick time, lower output, or whether the human caring position is prioritized. Employees might be positioned in a difficult condition, whereby implicit pressure is applied to fulfill with an exacting healthy lifestyle communication. Next, Grant and Bris bin (1992) also stated that consideration have to be given to the expected objections which will be raised by the non-health a

Battle Of Long Island :: essays research papers

The Battle of Long Island took place on August 27, 1776. The American outpost of Colonel Edward Hand's sent word that the British were preparing to cross Long Island from Staten Island on August 22, at dawn. There were three frigates, the Phoenix, Rose, and Greyhound, and two bomb ketches named Carcass and Thunder, in Gravesend Bay. The frigates were anchored in the Namews. British generals Cornwallis and Clinton had a force of 4,000 men that included Von Donop's corps of jaegers and grenadiers. The force started crossing to Denyse Point and they were covered by the guns of the H.M.S. Rainbow. Two hundred men of Edward Hand's withdrew to Prospect Hill, destroying the property and supplies that the British might use. The British boats returned to Staten Island and landed in Gravesend Bay with more then 5000 men. By noon, they had landed almost 5,000 men and about 40 cannons safely on shore. The Americans couldn't defend themselves and were pushed back. The American forces were distributed on the evening before the battle. Their forces had a total strength of 550 in the area of Gowanus Road. To the left in the Flatbush Pass there were 1,000 troops, and to the right at Bedford Pass there was a force of 800 men with only 3 guns. In the early morning hours on August 27, the Americans fired on a few British soldiers who were near the Red Lion Inn. A few hours later, the Americans were attacked by 200-300 British troops. These attacks started the battle. General Howe was trying to distract the Americans so that Grant could attack; the plan worked. This lead to a battle between Grant and Alexander. Though Alexander only had 1,600 men, he was smart to organize his men into the open, European style, rather than just hiding them behind cover. Grant, on the other hand, had 7,000 men, which meant that they were superior to the Americans. At the end of this battle, there were only 12 dead, and 5 wounded. The Americans were waiting to be attacked again. The British had marched to Bedford, and were now behind the Americans. They had marched over 9 miles, with 10,000 men, and the Americans never detected them. Somehow the Germans (Hessians) on the British side began attacking the Americans. The Americans traveled along Port Road to Brooklyn because it was one of the few roads still open.

Yemen Conflict and the Role of the IGOs and the NGOs in the Yemen Confl

Introduction The conflict that took place in Yemen in 2012 was one of the most rigorous revolutions that took place in the Middle East during the Arab spring revolt. The conflict in Yemen started as a protest against social and economic conditions such as unemployment, corruption, and the proposal by the government to modify the constitution. As the protests proceeded, people of Yemen added more grievances and called for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. During this conflict, the government and military officials resigned from president Saleh’s government rendering the government powerless in dealing with the protestors. In January 2012, a major protest that involved sixteen thousand nationals took place in Yemen, this pressured president Saleh making him to announce that he would not run for reelection. However, the protestors could not hear any of this and they intensified their protests. The government’s relevant authorities opened fire on protestors, and many peo ple lost their lives with fifty-two protestors being shot dead in March (Amnesty International 10). Yemen Conflict and the Role of the IGOs and the NGOs in the Yemen Conflict The first IGO to be involved in the Yemen conflict was Gulf Co-operation Council, which tried to enter into a deal to end the conflict with president Saleh. However, president Saleh walked out of the agreement some hours before it was signed, and he did this three times. When president Saleh walked out of the deal for the third time, the Gulf Co-operation became frustrated and announced that it was withdrawing its mediation efforts in the Yemen conflict. President Saleh not only withdrew from the broken deal, but also refused to sign a transi... ...esses (Clark 128). Works Cited Amnesty International. Yemen: Human Rights Concerns Following Recent Armed Conflict. New York, NY: Amnesty International, 2011. Print. Caton, Steven C. Yemen Chronicle: An Anthropology of War and Mediation. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2012.Print. Clark, Janine A. Islam, Charity, and Activism: Middle-Class Networks and Social Welfare in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. Print. Little, Tom. South Arabia: Arena of Conflict. London: Pall Mall P., 2011. Print. Nefissa, Sarah Ben. NGOs and Governance in the Arab World. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2012. Print. Terrill, Andrew W., and Army War College (U.S.) Strategic Studies Institute. The Conflicts In Yemen And U.S. National Security. Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2011. Print.

Devising an Instructional Plan for Billiards Essay -- Gaming

Heather is a 45 year old female registered nurse who is seen regularly at a popular bistro establishment (sandwich shop); which offers billiards (pool) entertainment. Heather grew up in Barbados and did not participate in sports or activities such as bingo, hop-scotch, spin the bottle or billiards. Heather moved into my neighborhood last week; only one house away from me. After several times observing Heather at the bistro, she shared with me her interest of learning the skills of billiard so she can make the female team at the recreation center; that will be starting up within the next three or four months. Heather expressed she was less than a novice player with no experience; no natural ability; and no skills at playing billiards, but after observing the smooth techniques used in the activity, she wanted me to teach her some of my skills, and techniques. Diagnosis of the learning experience Learning Characteristics: Heather is a 45 year-old female with no previous skills, ability, or experience in playing billiards. She is very motivated to learn new skills so she can become a part of an all female billiards team. Heather displays a less than average ability for playing billiards (motor timing, perceptual timing, and eye-hand coordination) due to slight anxiety and rushing things. Heather is mentally and physically fit to take part in the activity and expresses she has no known impairments, except a slight anxiety attack at times. Heather is very excited to learn skills such as speed-accuracy trade off in order to become the best player she can be. Goal of Learning: Since Heather is less than a novice player with no experience at billiards, she will start at the program learning stage where skill refinement would be one... ...ding billiard stick at top, dominate hand holding stick at the rear. 2. Non-dominate foot planted close towards the billiard table. 3. Eyes remain focused on designated spot on cue ball that will strike a numbered ball. 4. Breathing is at a relaxed state (inhale air into the nose and exhale air out the mouth). 5. Processing any errors detection prior to executing the shot in order to make corrections. 6. Dominate hand extracts stick back and plunges stick forward in order to strike ball allowing it to hit another ball and that ball falling into a pocket. Works Cited Abraham, D. (2008). Energetic Games: Models of Self-research and Bioenergetic Development. Journal Of Conscientiology, 11(42), 133-149. Schmidt, R. A., & Wrisberg, C. A. (2008). Motor learning and performance: a situation-based learning approach. (4th ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

GCSE English Coursework (Love Poems) Essay

Love is a common stereotypical subject for poets, which has been used for many centuries. The poems we have been studying contain a collection of emotions all based around the theme of ‘love’. John Clare used the impact of your ‘First Love’ to create the impression of the effect being deathly ill. He creates images such as, â€Å"Are flowers the winters choice? Is loves bed always snow?† This shows me that although he really loves her, he can’t have her and he is thinking that flowers don’t stay forever when it turns winter and she doesn’t love him. Also he says things like â€Å"My legs refused to walk away†. This shows me that he is so astonished of what he is seeing, he can’t look away and she is so beautiful he thinks he could have her. In comparison to this John Clare also states that, â€Å"My face turned pale as deadly pale†. Which also suggests that John Clare’s first experience of his ‘First Love’ being some sort of illness. John Clare also creates the feeling of your true love being forever blossomed as he says things like: â€Å"Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower†. Suggesting to us that the poet clearly states he loves her as he compares her to a flower and the symbolisms behind flowers are usually passion and romance. The fact that she is a ‘Sweet Flower’ emphasises her living beauty as being a perfect flower. John Clare proves to me that this woman, to him, is his dream woman as he states, â€Å"Stole my heart away complete†. This clearly shows me that the moment he set eyes on her, he gave his heart to her forever and when he saw her he never wanted to be with anyone else ever again. At the climax of the poem it turns into a very sad ending, John Clare states that, â€Å"My heart has left its dwelling place and can return no more.† And this makes me feel very sorry for John Clare as his first love experience is marked clearly to me as being something very sad and upsetting. In comparison to first love is ‘Shall I Compare Thee?† by William Shakespeare which is another classic example of love poetry as it was usually used to show your emotions through songs or poems. â€Å"Shall I Compare Thee?† is a sonnet which reflects the mood of the poet. Its rhythm is iambic pentameter, having ten syllables to each line. The structure of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, In the first quatrain Shakespeare presents a question and an answer to the reader, then in the second, he continues to compare this person to a summer’s day, and not saying a summer’s day is not continuously beautiful. In the third quatrain it has a turning point with the word ‘but’, saying this person is described as superior to not only a summer’s day but to life itself. Finally in the ending couplet he talks about how this person immortally will last, through the ages in the poem’s lines. He uses personification in the line, â€Å"And often is his gold complexion dim’d†. He shows me that he is attempting to compare another attribute of this person with something compared with summer. It also uses a metaphor in the line, â€Å"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines†. This shows me that even though he said that this person is beautiful sometimes they can be too beautiful. In the line, â€Å"But thy eternal sommer shall not fade† Shows me that a person’s beauty will last for so many years after, and we are still reading it today. ‘Porphyrias Lover’ is linked to ‘My Last Duchess’; they are both written by Robert Browning and he connects them by his use of possessive words such as ‘Mine’ and ‘I’. He sets off the scene of a really bad, stormy night, which â€Å"Vexes the lake† which brings the poem to life as it makes the wind seem alive with anger, but this sets off questions in my head saying, why would Porphyria want to travel through stormy weather just to see an arrogant man? There is also the ‘Gliding’ entrance of Porphyria as the atmosphere changes from a gloomy, dark cottage to a warming feeling as she relights the fire and performs an erotic display of taking her wet, outer clothing off. The writer’s use of the words ‘Withdrew’ and ‘Let fall’ made the scene sound like a sexual tease. Porphyria comes up to the writer in this poem and offers him her bare shoulder; He tells us that he does not speak to her. Instead, he says, she begins to tell him how she has come over to him in really bad weather just to be with him. He realizes that she ‘Worships’ him and wants to preserve the moment forever so he strangles her, thinking that doing this she can stay with him forever and never leave him, but in doing this it makes me shudder as he says, â€Å"I warily oped her lids again, laughed the blue eyes without a stain.† This is making me feel like he is sort of playing with the dead body and making my original predicament of him as being a psychopath true. Then Robert Browning goes on to say, â€Å"About her neck, her cheek once more, blushed bright beneath my burning kiss†. This shows me that even though she is dead he thinks she can still feel love and passion and when he kisses her she still loves him. The writer in this poem is portrayed as a calculating villain who just stays in a passive stance as he â€Å"Debates what to do†, Being like this totally changes the atmosphere of the poem as the writer states, â€Å"I found a thing to do, and with all her hair, in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around and strangles her†. From this it doesn’t sound like porphyria put up much of a struggle and when he said, â€Å"That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good† This makes him sound like the grim reaper as he states that she is his and his alone. Robert Browning ends the poem in a peculiar way by saying that God agrees with what he has done because he hasn’t said a word, this shows me that he acts like a crazy person as he thinks killing someone, God wouldn’t care less and wouldn’t say anything about it. ‘My Last Duchess’ has a similar contrast of an egotistic nature as the duke portrays himself as a sycophant as he is back stabbing her by saying things about her, even though she is dead, to a person of a much lower class to him. By stating, â€Å"Since none puts by the curtain that I have drawn for you, but I†. Puts his character in a state of control this also links to when he says, â€Å"Will’t you please sit and look at her?† Even though it has a question mark when you say it out loud you realise it sounds more like an order given to the servant. When he says, â€Å"She ranked my gift of a nine-hundred years old name, with anybody’s gift.† This shows me that he is saying a nine-hundred year old title of the duchess made her think that she is very lucky and he is amazing, but when the duke sees her receiving cherries from a man of a lower class she had the same expression as she was: â€Å"Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er, she looked on, and her looks went everywhere.† As he thought that she was cheating on him and she loved every man that gave her a present but in actual fact she was being nice to everyone, even to those of a lower class to her. In this poem the duke is a boaster, he likes to drop famous names of people into the subject to make him sound really important, like when he says, â€Å"Fra Pandolf† by design, for never read, strangers like you. As he drops a famous artists name into the conversation, he also shows yet another strong arrogant word as he says ‘You’ like being something not worthwhile to speak to, or something that has come off the street as he speaks to this servant like a piece of dirt. After reading these poems, I have looked at the different qualities of ‘Love’ and how it can effect people and their actions and how there is a fine line between love and hate, and in love, hate is just as strong.

The case of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler, a dreaded figure in the 20th century, was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, popularly referred to as Nazi party.He was an extreme autocrat and led Germany from 1933 to 1945 both as a chancellor and head of state. Hitler was a veteran of the Second World War. As he rose to absolute power, he gained support by propping up German nationalism, anti-capitalism, anti-communism and anti-semitism using both his alluring oratory and cant.He sparked World War II in Europe when he re-armed Germany and invaded Poland in 1939. Hitler wed his long-time mistress Eva Braun at the fall of Berlin in 1945, but to avoid being captured by the Soviet army, the two committed suicide less than two days later (Joachim, 1974).But his regime has left many unanswered questions, even among psychoanalysts. The extreme heartlessness that marked Nazism and the Holocaust beats not only logic but also human understanding. It remains a puzzl e how Germans collectively went out of their minds under Hitler and perpetrated one of the greatest horrors in history.During the war, Hitler-led Nazi forces engaged in constant cruel acts. This included the systematic murder of up to 17  million civilians, about six million of whom were Jews targeted in the Holocaust. Roman victims are approximated to be up to 1.5 million, while others included the disabled, ethnic Poles, homosexuals, Soviet civilians and Jehovah's Witnesses.But was Hitler in his right senses as he oversaw all this? I believe not so. He is believed to have suffered from a mental disorder, particularly Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).BDP generally involves prolonged disturbance of personality function in persons over the age of 18 years, although it is sometimes found in adolescents. It is typified by depth and inconsistency of moods.It normally involves abnormal levels of instability in mood, black and white thinking, chaotic and unstable interpersonal rela tionships, self-image, identity, and behavior; as well as a regular disturbance in the patient’s sense of self. This disturbance can, in severe cases, lead to periods of dissociation. (American Psychiatric Association, 2001).The disturbances can eventually have an insidious negative impact on much of the psychosocial aspect of life and without proper therapy, self-harming is often an open possibility. (Gunderson, 2001). An insight into Hitler’s life shows a manifestation of the various components of this disorder.This is attributable to claims that he had empty human relations, was inflexible and single-minded, had no human feelings, oversaw malevolent behavior, and eventually committed suicide, among others (Toland: 1991).Emotional torture seems to have been one of the main reasons behind Hitler’s situation, and his subsequent inhumanity. There is a strong correlation between child abuse and development of BDP.   Majority of BPD patients usually have a histor y of abuse and neglect as young children, especially if they were emotionally, physically, verbally, or sexually abused by parents. Loss of a caregiver or loved one could also be a central factor. (Gunderson, 2001).And this could answer the origin of Hitler’s condition. The loss of a younger brother, Edmund, to measles in 1900 caused permanent changes in Hitler. He transformed from a confident, outgoing boy who found school easy, to a depressed, sullen and detached boy who always battled his own father and his teachers.As a child, Hitler’s also suffered abuse that included brutal sadistic beatings as well as constant verbal humiliation by his father Alois Sr. He once even tried to escape from home by constructing a raft with friends, and his father beat him so viciously that the dad even thought he killed his son (Dorpat: 1999).Hitler’s mother was on her part depressed and forlorn about her marriage and felt guilt over her incestuous bond with Alois. She also fa iled to discipline Hitler and contain his tempers.It is this abuse and neglect, and his parents’ emotional withdrawal from him that may possibly have made Hitler suffer from BDP at a tender age. This trauma subsequently left him badly unprepared for social, academic and job-related pursuits. (Waite, Robert, 1993)With BDP deemed to be a result of a problem with emotional dysregulation, experts have even developed Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a method of cognitive therapy in BPD treatment. Yet, central to the success of this therapy is the conviction that BPD is a biological disorder exemplified by sharp sensitivity to emotion and amplified emotional intensity.Other experts believe that any biological components of BPD are probably related to changes that occur on a biological level as a result of emotional and psychological trauma. (Linehan, 1993).This biological perspective could thus also effectively correlate Hitler’s emotional distress with his disorder. So me existing literature further suggests that traits related to BPD are influenced by genes.People with BPD influenced by genes often have a close relative with the disorder, although Hitler’s father’s brutal treatment of his son does not suffice a conclusion that he suffered from this disorder as well. The diagnosis of this disorder in Hitler could thus explain could strange behavior that was so characteristic of him later in his life.Individuals with BPD are extremely sensitive to the manner in which others treat them and often react strongly to perceived disapproval or hurtfulness. Their self-image can change swiftly from exceedingly positive to extremely negative. They often resort to impulsive behaviors that include drug abuse and general recklessness. And this was characteristic of Hitler.He was addicted to amphetamine after the late summer of 1942. This went in tandem with his sadistic, malevolent, and antisocial behavior clearly depicted in the Holocaust and the World War II. He also showed signs of splitting. He held an image of himself as ostentatious; omnipotent and triumphant on one side and felt inferior, mortified and defeated on the other, making his behavior very erratic. (Dorpat: 1999).It is believed the diagnosis of this disorder accounts for Hitler’s ruthless and destructive personality transformation and lack of human feelings. It also explains the fact that he was distant, self-contained, withdrawn and without friends.The cognitive aspect of BDP is to an extent manifested in the form of quasipsychotic or micropsychotic symptoms among those suffering from this disorder. These symptoms include inner voices telling them to commit suicide, depersonalization and paranoid feelings.This usually prevails in the defeated side of the split and is fanned vulnerability, despair and self hatred. The fact that Hitler went on to commit suicide probably shows a direct manifestation of the cognitive component of BDP. (Heston, 1980).   And these symptoms are often suppressed using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This form of therapy involves a therapist engaging with a client in a bid to change both behavior and thought patterns.   Hitler was nonetheless never subjected to this therapy.In conclusion, it is evident that BDP took toll on Hitler’s emotions and served as the base for his malevolence and anti-social behavior. The disorder, perhaps coupled with several other mental challenges, resulted in acute psychiatric problems and played a major role in molding his personal; behavior, which depicted a man not in charge of himself.ReferencesAmerican Psychiatric Association. (2001) Journal of Psychiatry.Dorpat,L.Theo, M.D.(1999). Trauma to Malevolence.Cambridge:MIT.Gunderson,G.J (2001). Personality Disorder: Washington:APP.Heston L. Leonard, M.D. (1980). Adolph Hitler:Doctors and Drugs. N.Y.Preston.Joachim, C. (1974). Hitler .NY:PrenticeJohn, T (1991), Adolf Hitler: N.Y:Doubleday.Linehan,M.M (1993). Borderline Personality. N.Y:OUPWaite, R.(1993). Adolf Hitler. N. Y: DaCapo