Laura Ashley Holdings Plc Essay

1) How have changes relating to management and organisational structural affected a global organisation of your choice, over the last 75 years. Relate your findings to growth, distribution, and various external influences and strategies. 2) Undertake a SWOT analysis and explain its relevance in relation to your company and/or its sector Word Count 1250. Harvard Style Referencing. Bibliography Required. Global organisation Laura Ashley Holdings Plc has suffered differing fortunes since Bernard and Laura Ashley founded it in the 1950s. It has been involved in the designing, manufacturing, distribution and selling of garments, accessories, perfume, gift items, fabric, wall coverings, bedding, lighting, and furniture. Famed for its floral prints, the chain was highly successful during the early and mid 1980s but things changed in the early 1990s when various management and structural problems as well as those relating to growth, distribution, and various external influences such as global recession surfaced Laura Ashley herself died in 1985. There is a notable difference in the organisation up to and after this year. Up to 1985, it was a simply structured, steadily expanding organisation operating in a non-complex environment (complexity arises when there are numerous complicated environmental influences [Johnson and Scholes, 1989]). In the months and years after, many changes took place. Laura Ashley went public in flotation, acquired other companies involved in areas such as knitwear and perfume, made heavier investments in manufacturing and information technology (IT), moved towards segmentation with Mother and Child shops, exclusively home furnishing shops and unit shops (franchise operations). The organisation moved gradually away from vertical integration (it had always manufactured and delivered all goods itself) – The Guardian reported that Laura Ashley was withdrawing from manufacturing by the end of the year in 1998. In order to facilitate growth, there was a shift from the simple functional organisational structure to a more complex divisional structure (which was  re-organised with every change of leadership). The most notable chief executives of Laura Ashley who were in place whilst and after problems developed were Jim Maxmin (1991-1994) and Ann Iverson (1995-1997). Each of these people were responsible for major overhauls within the organisation. Vora (1998) states, â€Å"Laura Ashley has undergone various restructuring strategies and umpteen management upheavals, all to no avail, and all of which have decimated shareholder value and abused the brand name†. As highlighted above, the major problems of Laura Ashley began to manifest in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first fall of profits were reported in the year to January 1989. It is important, then, to look at its success before this – from its beginnings in the 1950s to 1985. One area to naturally consider is the key success factors of the organisation for this period i.e. what specifically can its success is attributed to. Key success factors are what an organisation must do well in order to be successful, be an effective competitor and satisfy stakeholder requirements (Thompson, 1997). Bearing this in mind, the key success factors of Laura Ashley up to 1985 are identified as high quality production, innovative designs, good brand management (the ‘Laura Ashley’ name was and is strong), well placing of stores, creation of good atmospheres in stores, general design and creative competencies, staff training, creation of a vertically integrated structure and oper ation within a simplistic organisational structure in general. Also, the Group’s IT capabilities factored into the success as it was a source of competitive advantage e.g. they were an early adopter of electronic point of sale (Heath, 1996 as cited by Johnson and Scholes, 1999). These factors may also be interpreted as strategic excellence positions (SEP’s), which can be described as the capabilities, which allow an organisation to produce better than average results in comparison with competitors (PUmpin, 1987). Thompson (1997) presents a particularly useful model that can be helpful in explaining the success of Laura Ashley up to 1985. The EVR congruence model, by Thompson, considers if an organisation is being managed effectively with regards to strategy. It represents the matching of an organisation’s resources (for Laura Ashley these would include plants, vehicles, IT systems  and locations) to the key success factors dictated by the environment (external factors such as opportunities and threats, stakeholders, competition etc). A determinant in matching these is the values of the organisation (again, in the case of Laura Ashley, these would include the lifestyle they promote/project, shop designs and atmospheres, product designs, the brand, staff training policy and the ‘family’ culture). If the congruence (fit) between these three areas is great, then this indicates effective management of resources (Hamel and Prahalad [1993] comment that it is important for organ isations to manage resources well in order to achieve objectives), strategy formulation and all-round success. It can be argued that the success of Laura Ashley up to 1985 can be attributed to greater EVR congruence. That is such things as the number of shops and plants, distribution systems, stakeholders, threats (including competition), products, level of vertical integration and so on fit together well in relation to the size, structure, culture and speed of growth of the organisation then. The key success factors are also indicative of this congruence. So that they can be developed to help ensure both present and future success, it is important key success factors are recognised and understood. One particular way Laura Ashley could do this is through a SWOT analysis. This reviews an organisation’s internal strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats in the external environment (Cole, 1996). This may be done for a particular moment in time or as an overview encompassing the past and present. As made clear, Laura Ashley has faced much change during its existence. Opportunities and threats come about as a result of constant change and the SWOT analysis can help to identify these and internal strengths and weaknesses relevant when dealing with change (Johnson and Scholes, 1989). This SWOT analysis can be used in relation to analysing the problems faced by Laura Ashley in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. They can be greatly attributed to the weaknesses and threats identified. For example, fluctuations in the economy had a knock-on effect on the sale of property and hence on the sale of household furnishings. Also, high borrowing, wastage and forced discounting meant that, despite sales increases, shops were making a loss. The reorganisations in 1988, 1991 and twice in 1995 had their effect too – they were costly and highlighted inefficiency. Chandler (1977) states that structures are not adapted until pressure of inefficiency forces the change and that this change process is usually a painful one – often carried out by a different chief executive each time. Upon and after his appointment in 1991, Jim Maxmin found that the organisation lacked a core identity, clear strategies, empowered staff, thorough market research, efficient logistics , and many problems in the US such as limited growth, poor management and delivery problems. He responded with his ‘Simplify, Focus and Act’ programme. This included reorganisation, institution of a Global Operations Executive (GOE) and Global Collection Development (GCD) which aided globalisation and marketing, encouragement to empower staff, an alliance with Federal Express Business Logistics to improve delivery and distribution systems, sourcing half of the organisations manufacturing to  the Far East (rather than in-house in Britain) and management replacement in the US. Before leaving Laura Ashley in 1994, Jim Maxmin commented that â€Å"throughout the entire organisation, people has embraced the principles of the Simplify, Focus and Act programme and set about sorting out the operational problems which have plagued Laura Ashley† (Maxmin, 1993 as cited by Warnaby, 1994). Ann Iverson was appointed chief executive of Laura Ashley in 1995. She was to spearhead the rush into the US and revamp the product range (Teather, 1999). Her observations found various problems – all of which can again be attributed to identified weaknesses. It was found that the product range was too broad, there was no ‘unified’ look to match globalisation, the supply chain was inefficient and problems continued in the US. Ann Iverson’s response included strengthening the alliance with Federal Express Business Logistics, opening larger stores in the US and reviewing marketing and sales. These changes were considered to be good as Laura Ashley restored dividend payments in 1996 for the first time since 1989. Ann Iverson was dismissed in 1997, however, mainly due to continuing problems in the US and the organisation’s image (Keynotes, 1997). Each of the changes mentioned came about from the organisation’s particular strengths (as identified) at the time. For example, whilst such things as restructuring and shop closures were happening, the strong name of Laura Ashley and strong customer loyalty were greatly relied upon. Bowman and Asch (1987) comment that the strengths of an organisation are a if not the determinant in how it handles weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Opportunities open to the organisation in dealing with its various problems can be identified as the opportunities in the SWOT analysis. Opportunities change and differ over time. For example, the alliance with Federal Express Business Logistics resulted from available opportunities at the time. A possible opportunity in the early 1990s would have been a speedier move away from vertical integration for example. Laura Ashley became totally vertically integrated in the 1970s and continued  to be so though gradually moved away from this in the 1990s – completely in 1998. Vertical integration can be backwards e.g. manufacturer purchasing/owning supplier and forwards e.g. manufacturer purchasing/owning retailer – Laura Ashley was both backwardly and forwardly vertically integrated – everything from the supplying of materials and manufacturing to distribution and retail. The main benefits of this throughout the organisation’s development included greater control, greater ability to differentiate, the opportunity to achieve economies of scale (higher margins), assurance of supply and greater synergy. Despite this, there were numerous disadvantages particularly that it was costly and greatly increased operational leverage as well as the need to keep up with technological change. This tied up capital having long-term affects. It meant that there was not full concentration of key strengths (design and retail) on which key success factors are dependent (Thompson, 1997). Furthermore, vertical integration was inflexible (cheaper manufacturers could not be sourced) and sensitivity to decreases in sales increased. It was the cost aspect that had the greatest impact – particularly in the face of costly expansion (especially in the US). Warnaby (1994) comments that vertical integration was responsible for financial problems in the early 1990s. The costs of vertical integration had an impact on the organisation’s ability to successfully expand internationally. Perhaps with the exception of a distinctive product look and the adoption of a divisional structure, Laura Ashley did not expand internationally applying Treadgold’s keys/strategies – each was applied/introduced incrementally as problems arose to highlight the need e.g. it was not until 1995 when Ann Iverson felt the need for a unified product look. This is indicative that the organisation was not particularly capable of embarking on such ambitious international expansion as it did. This is highlighted by the numerous problems faced by the organisation e.g. poor marketing/marketing strategy, inefficient logistics and lack of direction and clear strategy. Additionally, the paternalistic management style was not suited to rapid expansion and this coupled with high finance demands from vertical integration, reorganisation and early acquisitions further indicate poor planning in terms of development Laura Ashley has faced so many problems throughout its existence. Problems owing to management, organisational structure, logistics and rapid international expansion continuously came and went. In 1998 bankruptcy looked imminent but an injection of ?44 million in equity capital by Malaysian businessman Dr Kay Peng Khoo (giving his MUI property company 47.5% share ownership whilst the Ashley family retained just 9% [Gibbs, 1999]). He installed Ng Kwan Cheong as chief executive who made changes including the disposal of the problematic North American franchise (retail operations were sold to a management buyout team for $1 at the end of July, 1999 [Gibbs, 1999]), targeting of younger markets and investment in e-commerce (Abdullah, 2000). However, all of these changes looked to have no major impact in the Group’s success with sales steadily decreasing from 1998. Whether or not Laura Ashley manages to achieve the sort of success it enjoyed in the early 1980s under its new management remains to be seen – as does its survival. Chief Executive Ng Kwan Cheong refrained from placing false hopes, commenting in March of 2000 – â€Å"We have a lot of things to do. All I can say is we are moving in the right direction and things are changing† (Cheong, 2000 as cited by Abdullah, 2000). REFERENCES Texts  · Bowman, C. and Asch, C. (1987). ‘Strategic Management’. Macmillan Education.  · Chandler, A.D. (1997). ‘The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business’. Harvard University Press.  · Cole, G.A. (1996). ‘Management Theory and Practice’ (5th Edition). Letts Educational.  · Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1989). ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases’. Prentice Hall.  · Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1999). ‘Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases’ (5th Edition). Prentice Hall.  · PUmpin, C. (1987). ‘The Essence of Corporate Strategy’. Gower.  · Thompson, J.L. (1997). ‘Strategic Management: Awareness and Change’. International Thomson Business Press. Journals and Publications  · Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. (1993). â€Å"Strategy as stretch and leverage†. Harvard Business Review, 71, March-April, pp75-84.  · Keynotes (1997), ‘Keynote Market Report – Clothing Retailing’, 1997 Reports, p23.  · Treadgold, A. (1991) ‘Dixons and Laura Ashley: Different Routes to International Growth’. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management. Vol. 19(4), pp13-19.  · Warnaby, G. (1994). â€Å"Laura Ashley – An International Retail Brand†. Management Decision, Volume 32 (3). Other  · Abdullah, S.A. â€Å"Turning around Laura Ashley†. http://adtimes.nstp.com.my/archive/mar3.htm (09 December 2000).  · Gibbs, G. (1999) â€Å"Laura Ashley bids farewell† The Guardian Unlimited Archive. http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3904775,00.html (18 December 2000).  · Teather, D. (1999) â€Å"Banks push Laura Ashley to quit US† The Guardian Unlimited Archive. http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3855892,00.html (18 December 2000).  · Vora, K. (1998) â€Å"Lessons from Laura Ashley†. The Motley Fool: The Daily Fool, Evening Fool – Tuesday, 03 March 1998, (online) (cited 04 January 2001). http://www.fool.co.uk/DailyFool/1998/DailyFool980303.htm . BIBLIOGRAPHY Texts  · Cole, G.A. (1997). ‘Strategic Management’ (2nd Edition). Continuum.  · De Wit, B. and Meyer, R. (1994) ‘Strategy Process, Content, Context: An International Perspective’. West Publishing.  · Hatch, M.J. (1997). ‘Organization Theory’. Oxford.  · Palmer, A. and Hartley, B. (1996). ‘The Business and Marketing Environment’ (2nd Edition). McGraw-Hill.  · Palmer, A. (2000). ‘Principles of Marketing’. Oxford.  · Porter, M.E. (1980) ‘Competitive Strategy – Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competition’. The Free Press.  · Porter, M.E. (1985) ‘Competitive Advantage – Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance’. The Free Press.  · Wild, R. (1994) ‘How to Manage’ (2nd Edition). BCA. Other  · Framed-Art Wholesale. â€Å"Laura Ashley – The History† http://www.framedartwholesale.com/aboutLA.htm (20 December 2000).  · Herzog, J. (1997) â€Å"Laura Ashley closure a strategic decision†. Daily Yale News Online – Friday, 12 September 1997, (online) (cited 20 December 2000). http://www.yale.edu/ydn/paper/9.12.97/I-1lauraashley.html .  · Hoover’s Online. â€Å"Laura Ashley Holdings Plc Company Capsule† Companies and Industries http://www.hoovers.co.uk/uk?capsule/5/0,3042,90245,00.html?referer= (20 December 2000).  · Wetfeet. â€Å"Laura Ashley Holdings Plc† Company Profiles. http://www.wetfeet.com/asp/companyprofiles.asp (18 December 2000).  · Wright Investor’s Service. â€Å"Research Report: Laura Ashley Holdings Plc† Corporate Information http://profiles.wisi.com/profiles/scripts/corpinfo2.asp?cusip=C826EG930 (18 December 2000).

The stroke rehabilitation ward for men through the accident and emergency after a fall at home. The WritePass Journal

The stroke rehabilitation ward for men through the accident and emergency after a fall at home. Introduction The stroke rehabilitation ward for men through the accident and emergency after a fall at home. IntroductionREFERENCESRelated Introduction This essay will discuss continuing care of a male elderly patient who was admitted into the stroke rehabilitation ward for men through the accident and emergency after a fall at home. It will also describe and analyse his care needs and how it will be carried out laying emphasis on mobility as a specific need.   Patients are admitted from other wards or accident and emergency but mainly from the acute elderly care wards, then transferred to the stroke rehabilitation ward for specialised care until they are discharged to their homes, or to a residential or nursing home. The conditions of each patient when admitted varies with individual, some might have severe cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or falls and confusion at home or other related cases. This essay is about a 72 year old Asian male whom I would refer to as â€Å"Musa† for the sake of confidentiality, who was admitted into the accident and emergency after being found on the floor of his bathroom by his wife who then called the ambulance. He was diagnosed with a left sided stroke which caused paralysis of the entire right side of his body, and was also diagnosed of irregular heart rhythm which is a probable cause of cerebral ischemia which means blood clot of an artery that prevents enough oxygen rich blood from getting into the brain then causes the brain cells to die. To prevent further clotting of the blood he was placed on wafarin   an anticoagulant, his past medical history stated that he suffered from osteoarthritis, and was prescribed pain killers. Musa was brought into the stroke rehabilitation ward by a porter, accompanied by his wife and daughter, this ward is mainly for rehabilitation which is the process of assisting an individual to maintain a high level of function, independence and quality of life in their home or in the residential homes. He was taken to his bedside, after he had settled, a staff nurse went to him ,the staff nurse introduced herself then sat down with them to start an admission process with the trust’s admissions pack (Walsh et al 2001), due to insufficient information about him she read through his transfer notes and continuation sheets from the accident and emergency where he spent approximately a day   the information gotten were not conclusive, so we had to check his blood pressure, it was 120/80 mmHg, his temperature was 65.5, his pulse rate was 120 and saturation was 70% the staff nurse had to give him oxygen of 4 litres through a facial mask. The admission pack contains relevant information needed to assess, plan and evaluate a standard of care that will meet all clinical governance standard and this package of care is based on Roger, Loper and Tierney’s activities of daily living (Roper et al 1996). These documentation and assessments, forms an integrated care pathway which the multidisciplinary team uses to check a patients progress over a certain period of time. The ICP also empowers patients and aids effective communication of information within the multidisciplinary team, in order to carry out proper interventions required for a patient and making sure it meets the required standard of clinical guidance (Middleton et al 2001). Once the assessment document was completed, it was discovered that so many care plans would be needed to correctly meet his needs, , he has got slight dysphasia and unable to communicate properly which a few stroke victims do suffer from (Alexander et al 2001) but no hearing problems was noted.   He was asked questions that needed short answers to aid his ability to express his feelings rather than relying on a family member, after this assessment he was referred to the speech and language therapy (SALT) who carried out strategies which included vocal exercises. It was also discovered that his mobility was very poor due to paralysis on his left side taking into account hazards, and a fall was one of the causes of his recent admission into hospital. When I started my placement on the ward he had already been admitted for 3 weeks and Musa was on fluid intake via intravenous infusion to maintain arterial blood pressure and the staff nurse in charge of his care maintained this intake at the correct rate. The malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) was used on admission and he scored 2 which is a high risk, the medical team was informed and a food record chart for 5 days was commenced and his weight was recorded and to be checked twice a week (Nutritional benchmarking group 2008). According to his records he is unable to chew food, and has been having difficulties swallowing, he was then referred to the dietician who assessed him and placed him on a stage 2 diet which is a liquidised meal, this type of food promotes a swallow reflex action because it has been thickened with thickener as un-thickened food can run down the throat too quickly for the trachea to manage, and sometimes patients gets choked. Mobility was a main care need identified, Musa is incontinent with faeces and urine he has got a catheter and a pad which needs frequent changing he is unaware that he has already been, since he has got no control over his elimination, there was a fluid balance chart to record any abnormalities and stool chart   to determine and establish a pattern of his bowel movement which was used to aid his comfort. Due to his poor mobility, he might develop skin problems leading to pressure sores. In the falls risk assessment form in his folder, he is classed as high risk, his bed is in an observable area, his bed is kept at a very low position and re-positioning at each intervals. Musa’s notes stated that there was a multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT) held at the first week of his admission and the occupational therapist comes to the ward every other day to see him and when he is having a wash she tells the nurse to encourage him have a grip of the sponge in his right hand and with the help of the nurse’s hand would gently stroke the other arm to regain muscle memory and the use of the paralysed arm. The physiotherapist comes in to see him once a day and to encourage him to sit on his bed for a couple of minutes then increased it gradually from five to ten minutes then to twenty minutes and then to half an hour, by the end of 5 weeks he was assisted into a specialised stroke chair with side supports. This team meets every week to discuss Mr Musa’s progress, it   is in accordance with the new government guidelines on white paper â€Å"Saving Lives: Our healthier Nation† It lays emphasis on the values of cross departmental working in partnership   and as a team within the local, health authorities, private sectors and voluntary sectors (DOH 1999). Musa’s wife and all relevant personnel were present and discussions on how he has progressed or declined and what other care needs were identified or if there were any changes to be made to improve his recovery. The Physiotherapist suggested twice a day visit would be of advantage instead of once, an additional note was added to his care plans about that. With his family fully involved there was no signs of depression shown physically although the Geriatric depression scale was not used .With gradual changes to his care plans and subsequent meetings, the team felt he was fit to be discharged home and continue with the community stroke rehabilitation and a social worker was invited to the last meeting to arrange the possibilities of care within the community according to the patient’s wishes. Reflecting on this outcome it became a success seeing that the necessary assessments were carried out in the right ward (the rehabilitation ward) appropriately with the right documentation, and in accordance with the guidelines stipulated by department of health and the nursing models used also contributed to the positive outcome and quick result. In conclusion the relevant health professionals were involved in the continuity of Musa’s care, with his family and his wishes put into consideration. REFERENCES Alexander M F, Fawcett J N, Runciman. (2000). Nursing Practice, Hospital Home: The Adult. 2nd Edition. Spain: Churchill Livingstone British journal of community nursing (2001). Maintaining the dignity and autonomy of older people in the healthcare setting.. Department of Health. (1999). Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation. London, Stationery Office. Department of health (2001) The essence of care   patient-focused benchmarking for health care professionals. Middleton S, Barnett J, Reeves D, 2001. What is an integrated care pathway?   Available from: www.evidence-based-medicine-co.uk [Accessed: 25:11:2010] Nutritional Bench marking group (August 2006)   â€Å"The MUST† explanatory booklet. A guide to the Malnutrition Universal screening â€Å"Tool† National institute For health and Clinical Excellence 2010

The role of the graphic designer in todays society

The role of the graphic designer in todays society In today’s society, graphic designers carry out a myriad of artistic and professional services, which center on visual communication and presentation. Graphic designers normally employ different techniques to develop symbols, images, and/or words that create a visual representation of ideas and messages in areas such as market research, corporate identity/branding, poster design, advertisements, book layouts, motion video graphics, clothing/fabric design, product design, and many other areas.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The role of the graphic designer in today’s society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In solving visual communication problems, they often make use of topography, visual arts, and page layouts procedures to generate products that transcend frontiers and cultural divides. Among all the arts around us, graphic design is the most universal, powerful, and influential (Newark, 6). Since we engage with it in the streets, in almost everything, and even on our bodies, it is not just a modern or a capitalistic phenomenon. This paper examines its role in today’s society. Graphic design is a very new design expression technique, which was a spontaneous response to the vast communication requirements of the industrial revolution. As a product of the last hundred years, graphic design was developed in order to market the fruits of mass production to the increasing numbers of consumers. In the late nineteenth century, the growing reproduction technologies in Europe and North America presented the graphic designers with the opportunity of taking part in the transformation process. From then, having been revolutionized by the advent of computers, the field has been instrumental in serving various purposes to the society. To begin with, graphic designers have a role to brand the world. Since in most parts of the world branding has replaced corporate identity, many organiz ations have been compelled to place a higher value on a well-designed, well-managed graphic identity (Holland, 1). Therefore, designers play a requisite role in the different marketplaces of the world. Branding is a very essential element for any business since it focuses on meeting the needs and the desires of the consumers. The point of view of the consumers dictates the language, the voice, and eventually the design of the product. Therefore, in order to meet the ever-changing shift in consumer tastes and requirements, graphic designers endeavor to develop brands that are unique from others, current with the times, and are consistent in delivery. The greatest thing about graphic design is that it is far-reaching. That is why most companies are using it to build a strong identity in order to stay competitive in the market. Companies usually use graphic design to boost awareness of their company and to push their products to their fullest potential in reaching the customers.Adverti sing Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The companies that have succeeded have done so because they have used quality graphic design as one of their supporting themes. On the other hand, companies that have not taken an advantage of this have never succeeded in creating an additional traffic. A graphical logo is able to influence a consumer to either purchase or not purchase a product. Therefore, most organizations usually employ the services of a graphic designer to develop simple yet catchy graphical images with the aim of attracting any prospective consumers. The influence of graphic design is evident in the area of commercial advertising. It is employed extensively in conveying the ideas and purposes of the products as well as giving a sense of interest and wonder. As the designers communicate meaning by means of visual language, appealing products are generated to reach the targ et audience. This is not possible to be achieved in real life. For example, if someone is shooting a film and he intends to make something fly, he will use graphic design to achieve this purpose. He will computerize the image and graphically generate the image of an object flying. Graphic design makes them to look realistic. If it were not present, most things would be tasteless and uninteresting. From the very clothes we wear, to the technique of manufacturing various things, graphic design acts on our emotions and assists in shaping our feelings concerning the world around us. In this modern and fast world, an anti-reading trend is present that is difficult to control. Therefore, graphic designers promote literacy by means of their designs, which manipulate the elements and principals of various subjects to convey an idea in its visual form. Messages are usually being carried either through text or image and are received either through seeing or reading. The process of seeing is d iscerning, moving and sometimes realized against the will of a person. On the other hand, the process of reading is a bit more complicated. This is because the text’s written language signs must be decoded by knowing the proper sequence of the various sings. Without proper analysis of the language of the message, a person cannot successfully decode the information. This difference between reading and seeing has made graphic design to be an important field in our everyday’s life. Graphic images generate a coherent and interesting piece of work, which surpasses language barriers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The role of the graphic designer in today’s society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Graphic designers also have a social role in today’s society. This unique responsibility is derived from their anticipation to take part in the creation of a new world since inequality and various ev ils are on the increase. It is possible for art to form a component of every life on the planet. From the time of its creation, graphic design is continuously structuring itself in a self-directed and diversified way. This has been taking place in direct relation with the specific social fabrics of various societies in the globe. Therefore, it is important to note that this diversity is what will lead to the likelihood of the growth of graphic communication across the globe in the coming years. In a graphic communication process, there is a link between two propositions: the transmitting subjects and the recipients. They both have their various needs and expectations. These give the social dimension of graphic design in today’s society. Graphic design employs words and images for communicating by means of visual language. If it were not present in our world currently, so many things would be in a mess. Its absence would make things like newspapers, internet, and literature it ems, to disappear from the face of the planet since all things would have to be painstakingly written by hand. In the absence of graphic design, we would be forced to receive every information through the spoken word and this would make us to enter another period of Dark Ages. In such an instance, ignorance, prejudice, and superstition would be widespread. However, as long as graphic design is here to stay, its benefits will continue to be felt in today’s society. Holland, Deborah K. Design issues: how graphic design informs society. New York: Allworth Press, 2001. Print. Newark, Quentin. What is graphic design? Hove, England: RotoVision, 2002. Print.

How Magnets Work

How Magnets Work A magnet is any material capable of producing a magnetic field. Since any moving electric charge generates a magnetic field, electrons are tiny magnets. However, the electrons in most materials are randomly oriented, so there is little or no net magnetic field. To put it simply, the electrons in a magnet tend to be oriented the same way. This happens naturally in many ions, atoms, and materials when they are cooled, but isnt as common at room temperature. Some elements (e.g., iron, cobalt, and nickel) are ferromagnetic (can be induced to become magnetized in a magnetic field) at room temperature. For these elements, the electrical potential is lowest when the magnetic moments of the valence electrons are aligned. Many other elements are diamagnetic. The unpaired atoms in diamagnetic materials generate a field that weakly repels a magnet. Some materials dont react with magnets at all.The atomic magnetic dipole is the source of magnetism. On the atomic level, magnetic dipoles mainly ar e the result of two types of movement of the electrons. There is the orbital motion of the electron around the nucleus, which produces an orbital dipole magnetic moment. The other component of the electron magnetic moment is due to the spin dipole magnetic moment. However, the movement of electrons around the nucleus isnt really an orbit, nor is the spin dipole magnetic moment associated with actual spinning of the electrons. Unpaired electrons tend to contribute to a materials ability to become magnetic since the electron magnetic moment cant be totally canceled out when there are odd electrons.The protons and neutrons in the nucleus also have orbital and spin angular momentum, and magnetic moments. The nuclear magnetic moment is much weaker than the electronic magnetic moment because although the angular momentum of the different particles may be comparable, the magnetic moment is inversely proportional to mass (mass of an electron is much less than that of a proton or neutron). The weaker nuclear magnetic moment is responsible for nuc lear magnetic resonance (NMR), which is used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Make a Liquid Magnet | Bend Water with Static

Humanitarian Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humanitarian Operations - Essay Example t has become a policy, the US government continues to draw military personnel from the United States forces to implement various humanitarian operations. Many people regard humanitarian operation as beneficial to the United States forces, but this is partially true. Conducting Humanitarian Operations is not the role of the U.S. military and distracts our forces form their primary mission, which is to defend the U.S. interest. By conducting humanitarian operations, the United States reduces the number of personnel from its primary mission of defending its Interest. In recent years, the US government deployed a significant number of military personnel on humanitarian operation, but this has reduced the number of US forces defending US interest in other places. For instance, the US government sent a considerable number of personnel to provide humanitarian operation in the Libya against Kadhafi’s regime (Christopher, 2011). While the world welcome this move, many of the marine and air force personnel who went to Libya had to leave other duties elsewhere. This can be catastrophic is the personnel are required to report to their stations should an emergency occur. The potential harm of such an event underpin the negative impact of humanitarian operation in enabling the United States defend its interest as necessary instead of taking part in operations that undermine the deployment of its personnel. Humanitarian operation distracts policy makers in U.S government from providing meaningful direction on issues that allow the U.S military to execute their mission appropriately and successfully. During humanitarian operations, the U. S military and its policy makers who take part in these programs that do not have definite objectives, but more demanding due to the complexity in logistics (Carter & White, 2011). Because of this, the U.S military will have less time to address real issues that affect their primary missions such as defending U.S interest. Consequently,

Effects of Caffeine on the Human Body Research Paper

Effects of Caffeine on the Human Body - Research Paper Example It is widely believed that caffeine is a drug which causes addiction and has many harmful effects on the body. This paper aims to research the controversy of these effects. Some of the effects reportedly associated with Caffeine intake are rise in blood pressure, high level of alertness, affects on length and quality of sleep and stunt growth. Though it has also been observed that all individuals do not provide the same response to the stimulus of Caffeine, it nevertheless has been an issue of great concern whether there are any general and noticeable effects of Caffeine on the human body. Introduction: Caffeine is a chemical compound regarded as one of the three most used drugs of the world that affect the mood of the user. Caffeine is said to be a potent and quick-acting drug that produces the same effect on the human body as stress does (Connelly). Caffeine is present in numerous everyday intakes like coffee, tea, cocoa and energy boosting drinks. The amount of Caffeine in the ene rgy boosting drinks is dangerously high, which is one of the major contributing factors towards the hyperactivity following the intake of these drinks. These effects of Caffeine occur instantly and can prevail for 6-8 hours after the consumption. Caffeine is regarded as a drug because of its addictive nature and withdrawal symptoms. The usage of Caffeine-containing beverages and products is very common, such that it has become an everyday need for many people to carry out their day-to-day tasks properly. Research has proven that the effects of Caffeine on the body is differentiated by size (like built, weight etc.) and gender (Rhodes). However, these may not be the only factors influencing the onset of Caffeine effects. It is commonly believed that Caffeine does not affect every individual in the same way. The purpose of this research paper is also the analysis of the effects of Caffeine on the human body. Materials and Methods: Different assumptions will require different sample sp ecifications and methodologies. For analyzing the effect of Caffeine on Blood Pressure, we will need to take a sample of 6 fit individuals; 2 adult males, 1male child, 2 adult females and 1 female child. Before the start of the experiment, all 6 individuals’ Blood Pressures will be noted. Then, 1 adult male, 1 adult female and both the children will be administered with Caffeine (a cup of coffee) while the remaining 2 will be given placebo compounds (sugar). Immediately after administration, the blood pressure will be noted again for all 6 individuals and this will continue with 15minutes time span for the next 6 hours. For analyzing the effect of Caffeine on Alertness, we will require a sample of 4 individuals at minimum. Each individual will be assigned a task to perform (solve mathematics problems) under three different conditions; without the administration of Caffeine, with the administration of a certain amount of caffeine (a cup of coffee) and lastly with another admin istration of the same amount of caffeine as earlier, i.e., double the amount of caffeine (another cup of coffee) (O’Brien). For assessing the effect of Caffeine on Growth, we will require a minimum of 2 individuals. 1 will be administered with Caffeine products while the other will remain away from Caffeine. Visible effects of Caffeine will not be observable; however, we will be able to analyze the effect of Caffeine on growth by noting its effect on Calcium absorption (Ho and Provis). Observation and Analysis: In the first experiment regarding blood pressure, we will notice that those individuals who were given

Promise and peril Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Promise and peril - Essay Example The article also notes there are challenges in implementing pay-for-performance programs by managers. One of such is seen on the negative impact on motivation, self-esteem, teamwork, and creativity (Beer, and Cannon 4). The second challenge is that the program may lead the employee to forego other things that would help the organization in pursuit of rewards. Merit has also been shown not to be based on performance. The proponent of the program believes the challenges can be overcome through intelligent design of the program (Beer, and Cannon 4). The article also highlights the role played by managers in pay for performance programs. The article notes managers may opt for adoption, modification, or discontinuation of the programs (Beer, and Cannon 13). The article shows reasons for managers coming up with any of the decision. One influence for decision is on pragmatic commitment to finding ways of improving performance (Beer, and Cannon 13). Their goals are just driven by ensuring there is an improvement in performance but not just desire to apply the new programs. They also viewed the new tool as a combination of other tools that could be used in solving some of the challenge they face. Moreover, failure to gain result of the new tool makes manager adopts other traditional tools. Such tools include close supervision, clear goals, coaching, and training (Beer, and Cannon 13). The manager’s view these tools as being fundamental in management hence change of decision. Additionally, the manager viewed the new program as requiring more time to implement and attracted difficulties in setting performance standards. The new program has been viewed as advantageous. However, it faces the challenges of implementation by