Michael Hill Stores Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Michael Hill Stores - Assignment Example Proper leadership has played the leading role in the success of Michael Hill’s jewelry business. The company has been able to overcome the challenges and setbacks within the business environment due to proper leadership and organizational culture. Michael Hill has grown internationally and become a leader in jewelry retailing within its regional markets. A transformational leadership style is applied within the company and it acts as a driving force to the achievement of company objectives and goals. Transformational leadership style has allowed the leadership of Michael Hill to understand and meet the diverse needs of employees. The motivation within the company is due to competitive compensation package that is provided to employees. The company has also been able to meet the various needs of the employees as postulated within Maslow’s theory of motivation. This has led to a highly motivated workforce. Political, social, cultural, economic and environmental forces are some of the factors which have defined and determined the company’s success within its various retail stores across the world. A culture of success and values for high performance characterizes the company, which can be attributed to the competitiveness of the company through its ability to meet the needs of its customers. Section 1: The Organization Michael Hill is a jewelry chain which operates its retail business in Australia, Canada, the US and New Zealand. The company has more than 2000 employees across its 240 jewelry retail stores across the world. The headquarters of Michael Hill International are situated in the city of Brisbane, Australia. Michael Hill started the company in the year 1979 (Jewellery World, 2011). Since then the company has grown significantly. This is due to the dedication of the company’s leadership which has enabled it to overcome the inevitable challenges within its business environment. The success of the company is also attributed to the fact that it provides its customers with unique jewelry products and high quality formulae (First10, 2012). Furthermore, the company provides a variety of designs for its retail stores and a wide range of jewelry products, which makes it attractive to the customers. More significantly, there is the commitment of the company to branding and advertising its je welry products and services (Jewellery World, 2011). Michael Hill International has a decentralized organizational structure in which the national subsidiaries are headed by the regional managers who define the nature of regional operations. Nonetheless, Michael Hill who is the chairman of the company, acts as the overall head or leader of the company (First10, 2012). The decentralized structure of the company demonstrates its organic nature. The organizational structure also makes the company be able to adapt to the different business environments and the forces within regional markets. This is in line with the decentralized functions such as marketing, branding and competitive strategies. The company is, however, guided by the common mission: to be the most recognized by people and focused

Emerging Professional Organizations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Emerging Professional Organizations - Assignment Example This is in response to the mandate that all American citizens should have an electronic record comes 2014. In Australia, there is a need for nursing students to acquire the skill in information technology with the same purpose of safe and quality care (Smedley, 2005). Having these kinds of organizations has its own advantages. One is that it contributes much to the success in the implementation of electronic system in the field of health care. Huge number of skilled members is needed to motivate those who are still pessimistic. Another benefit is that corroboration among members around the globe helps in educating others and provides support system to those who participates in this field. Further, effectiveness and efficiency in health care service would be improved. Although each organization claim they differ in their purpose, it is obvious overlapping of their goal do exists. Like for example the aim of Alliance Nursing Informatics (ANI) in educating their members is the same as the intention included in American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The same holds true in their desire for research where Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) have the same intention. Some organizations also tried to merge with others because of the same

Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay

Trifles by Susan Glaspell Essay The play Trifles emphasizes the culture-bound notions of gender and sex roles, specifically, that women were confined to the home and that their contributions went unnoticed and were underappreciated. This play is also about how we pursue the truth, interpret and explain it, and how we value it. As the title of the play suggests, the concerns of women are often considered to be mere trifles, unimportant issues that bear little or no importance, while the real work was carried out by the men. This play questions the value of men and womens perspectives by going through the crime scene, where a woman is being accused of killing her husband, where the different genders take on opposite views of trying to understand the accused widows motives. The play starts off with the neighbor, Mr. Hale, telling his account of what he knew about the murder of Mr. Wright. Mr. Hale went over to the Wrights house to try and convince his neighbor to install a telephone so that they all could receive the service. He knew that Mr. Wright would be a tough sale because Mr. Hale had previously approached him to set up one and Mr. Wright right out refused to buy one. So Mr. Hale decided that he would go to the house and try to sell Mr. Wright into going ahead and getting one by propositioning him in front of Mrs. Wright, hoping that in some way she would convince her husband to do it. But, when Mr. Hale got to the house and knocked on the door, no came. So Mr. Hale continued to knock and finally heard a voice inside that said to come in. When he walked in he saw a disheveled Mrs. Wright sitting in her rocking chair, unphased by the presence of her neighbor she sat there ignoring him until he asked to see Mr. Wright. She said you cant see him. Confused he asked if he was there and she said yes, and then said he was dead. He asked how and she said by a rope on his neck. Mr. Hale shocked by this asked where and she pointed upstairs, as if it was unimportant. When he hurried upstairs and discovered the body of Mr. Wright as Mrs. Wright described and called the authorities. When they show the men have their wives with them to look through the crime scene. The men and the women have two very different reasons for being there-the men, to fulfill their obligations as law professionals, the women, to prepare some personal effects to carry to the imprisoned Mrs. Wright. The man that talked to Mrs. Wright tells the sheriff she is only worried about her preservative jars being broken because of the cold weather. The county attorney goes over to a shelf in a kitchen and announces there is a mess where her fruit had frozen, breaking the jars well, can you beat the women! Held for murder and worryin about her preserves to which Hale replies, women are used to worrying over trifles Mrs. Wright was worried about her preservatives because she worked hard for them and that was something she really cared about that was about the only thing that her husband allowed her to do. Her husband already forced her to quit her passion of singing in the choir. The two women in the room move closer to one another as the county attorney goes around the kitchen, making comments that belittle the women in terms of how they are only concerned with tiny things that relate to their kitchen. The women do stand for her, not necessarily because they were good friends of Mrs. Wright but because they understand the nature of farm life. It becomes clear at this point that the women notice things that the men dont, for all their criticisms. They see that Mrs. Wright had bread set, for instance, an important detail that marks what she was doing before the event. They remember when she was Minnie Foster and see how sad her life was, presumably because her husband was an unpleasant man. The women wonder if she did it, but Mrs. Hale says no because she was worried about trifles (mocking what the men had said) such as her preserves and apron and they dont seem to think that the ordinary things she was doing beforehand show any signs of anger or sudden extreme emotion. The two women are also bothered by the fact that it seems the men are sneaking around her house while shes locked up in town and do not like the way they criticize her housekeeping skills, especially since she didnt have time to clean up. The women are standing over Mrs. Wrights pattern of a log cabin quilting project and wondering if she was going to knot or quilt it and the men laugh at this. However, what the men dont realize is this trifle that they are thinking about, the quilt, reveals a very important piece of evidence. Most of the quilt discussed is very neat and perfect but all of a sudden there is a piece that is all over the place proving that Mrs. Wright was not her usual careful self, which proves the point that she was in distress while she was quilting at that place in time. Mrs. Hale moves the stitching about to make it look better, she is more conservative and assured that the men have the best intentions. As she looks for a piece of string the two women encounter a birdcage that looked as if it had been forcibly opened due to the immense damage to it. The birdcage is an important find in the play because although the women remember someone selling canaries, they dont remember her having a bird or a cat that might have gotten to it but they do remember that in her younger days, as Minnie Foster, she used to sing like a pretty bird but stopped doing so when she married her husband. Before more about this is explored the women discuss how they should have come over to Mrs. Wrights house more often, how without children and with a husband who always worked and was bad company when he was at home, it must have been lonely for her. The women are getting ready to take the quilt with them and look for scissors and find a box. In it they find the bird with an obvious broken neck, like someone strangled it forcefully showing motive that since her husband killed her bird, about the only thing Mrs. Wright had left that she loved, she couldnt take the abuse anymore and just snapped killing her husband. The womens way of knowing leads them not simply to understanding; it also leads to the decision about how to act on that knowledge. At this point the County Attorney enters and asks (probably mocking them) if they thought Mrs. Wright planned on knotting or quilting it and they reply that she was going to knot it an obvious metaphor for the crime. In another metaphor, the Attorney asks about the bird, if a cat got it, which they reply was the case. The cat in this metaphor is Mr. Wright. Mrs. Peters tells a short beginning of a story about a boy who took a hatchet to her kitten which alludes to the fact that she would understand how Mrs. Wright would feel if Mr. Wright killed her bird. They could understand how still and lonely it would be without the sound of a bird for comfort which prompts Mrs. Hale to say something about her baby that died and how it was the same feeling. A result of understanding, the women are able to gain power the wives themselves having been devalued all their lives, for their low status allows them to keep quiet at the plays end. Because the men do not expect the women to make a contribution to the investigation, they are disinterested in the womens views or about their valuable findings, that solved the murder case, because they are seen unimportant they are able to hide the evidence of Mrs. Wrights motive. The wives see themselves as guilty of a crime since they never came to see Minnie and they take the box with the bird and put it in their purse. Then the men enter and say Mrs. Wright was, indeed, planning on knotting it knowing that she did kill her husband but they dont have the evidence to back it up. I believe that Mrs. Wright was pushed so far by her emotionally abusive husband that she couldnt take it anymore and had a nervous breakdown. Once she snapped, she killed her husband the way that he had been slowing killing her all those years through the marriage and also the way that he horribly killed her canary. Mrs. Wright has all the classic signs of having schizophrenia. She was detached from emotion, I believe she didnt realize what she was actually doing at the time, she gave one word answers, and showed signs of distress.

Mystery Surrounding the Phoenix Lights: Evidence of UFO Sighting? :: Expository Essays Research Papers

Mystery Surrounding the Phoenix Lights: Evidence of UFO Sighting? Abstract    The events that occurred in Phoenix on March 13, 1997 still have the world at a loss. A triangle (boomerang) shaped craft with seven lights on the main body and one trailing behind the rest appeared over Phoenix. Some believe that they were just flares used by the military, but others think that it was definitely extraterrestrial. Much evidence has been found, but the mystery remains.    On March 13, 1997, an inexplicable phenomenon took place in the sky over Phoenix, Arizona. Thousands of people witnessed the occurrence, and a few dozen even caught it on camera. The event was so astonishing that the most world-renowned news source, CNN, broadcast it on national television. Disappearing, the mind-boggling event left thousands, or even millions, in disbelief at what they had just witnessed. What was it? The world may never know. The V-shaped object that appeared in the sky that night over Phoenix has left every UFO fanatic and scientist in awe. There is no real explanation for the bright lights that took the shape of a huge boomerang from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Many have tried to explain what no one can, but for every scenario, there is an equally crazy explanation that proves it to be false. To this day, there is still no explanation that is completely rock-solid and can explain this extremely odd occurrence. Have the inhabitants of Phoenix been the victim of a huge hoax, or have the people been witness to one of the most conclusive UFO sightings in history?    Witnesses There are many people throughout Arizona that say that they saw what is being called the Phoenix lights. Officials received calls and reports of the sighting from as far south as Tucson to the Northwestern reaches of Kingman. Dozens of people videotaped the action that was taking place, and a few even said that they saw the boomerang shaped UFO fly overhead before the sightings. News crews covered as many witnesses as they could find, trying to reveal some sort of clarity or explanation to what was seen to set every mind at ease. The most conclusive evidence of a UFO sighting came from a family that CNN interviewed and made their cover story. The Ley family says they saw the object fly overhead before any of the occurrences later that night. Tim Ley and his son said, "When it finally got here and we realized this thing was coming right over us, we really started getting antsy.

Are Hybrid Cars Really More Cost Effective? Essay

If you listen to the car companies, hybrid cars are the best invention since sliced bread. While there are many reasons to buy a hybrid car, including a new tax incentive for US owners, it doesn’t hurt to have a good understanding of how they work. This article explores the myths, benefits and drawbacks of owning one of these new â€Å"green† vehicles. Are hybrid cars really more cost effective? What is a hybrid car? Basically, it’s a normal, fuel efficient car that has two motors ? an electric motor and a gasoline powered motor. It also uses a special system to store braking energy in an onboard battery. But why buy a hybrid? Why not buy a traditional gas or electric powered car? Keep in mind, one of the basic rules of science is the more complex the system, two motors instead on one, the more often it will break down. This is a hard question and, in the minds of some experts, not fully answered. The reason for two motors is in the strengths and weaknesses of both types. The electric motors use no energy during idle, they turn off. At low speeds, electric use less than gas motors. Gas motors do better at high speeds and can deliver more power for a given motor weight. That means during rush hour stop and go driving, the electric motor works great and, as an added benefit, does not produce any exhaust thus reducing smog levels. At higher speeds above 40 mph, the gas motor kicks in and gives that peppy feel so many car owners look for when driving on the highway. Another benefit of having the gas motor is it charges the batteries while it’s running. Many an electric car owner has been stranded just out extension cord range of an outlet. Hybrid owners can forget about this annoyance; the gas motors starts automatically when the battery gets low and proceeds to charge the battery. A hybrid no longer needs to be plugged into an outlet. All this new technology comes at a price: a hybrid car is not cheap. With two motors and all the ancillary systems to manage them plus a large battery and a regeneration system used to produce electricity during breaking. All of these systems must work together, adding complexity. While cars and, just as importantly, the computers that control them, have become more reliable, they still fail. Meaning owners of hybrids can expect more time in the shop and more expensive repair bills. Hybrids are the most gasoline efficient of all cars; they usually get 48 to 60 mpg (claimed). Not bad, but only 20% to 35% better than a fuel efficient gasoline powered vehicle like the Honda Civic that gets 36 mpg. But, when comparing prices, hybrids cost about $19,000 to $25,000 and hybrid cars cost anywhere from $14,000 to $17,000 ? now the justification to buy one is becoming less clear. Indeed, the difference in average annual fuel bills, $405 for a Honda Insight versus $635 for a Honda Civic, means you may never make back the added initial cost of the more expensive hybrid. Over a ten year period of owning a hybrid will save you only $2,300, less than the cost difference for comparably equipped cars. Much of the fuel efficiency comes from improvements in aero dynamics, reduction of weight and, the biggest change: a smaller, less powerful gas engine. In reality, any car will get substantially better mileage just by reducing the engine size. The biggest reason this is not done has to do with the customer, they simply want the extra power. But hybrid cars can offer more than just great gas mileage, they offer many other advantages as well. Even a small increase in fuel economy makes a large difference in emissions over the life of the car. Additionally, in large cities where pollution is at its worst, they make an even larger difference since they produce very little emissions during slow city driving and the unavoidable traffic jams. While the US has just started producing hybrids, the Japanese are already a step ahead. Honda and Toyota are the two largest producers with their hybrids, the Insight and Prius. US car makers are actually far behind. In fact, during recent introduction of a new hybrid by GM ?the Mercury Mariner, they admitted they had to license over 20 separate technologies from the Japanese. US car makers still are known for SUVs and trucks ? Ford has even introduced a hybrid version of its popular Escape SUV. Industry analysts say US hybrids are just token models, not a legitimate attempt to get into the market. The reason for hybrid introduction has to do with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. Current standards say that average mileage of the fleet of cars sold by an automaker should be 27. 5 mpg. This means that if an automaker sells one hybrid car that gets 60 mpg, it can then sell four less efficient cars, like SUVs and trucks that only get a poor 20 mpg. To offset perceived reliability problems, companies are offering strong guarantees: The Honda Insight has an eight-year/80,000-mile warranty on most of the power train, including batteries, and a three-year/36,000-mile warranty on the rest of the car. The Toyota Prius has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery and hybrid systems and a three-year/36,000-mile warranty on everything else. The motors and batteries in these cars do not require maintenance over the life of the vehicle. The engine in a hybrid doesn’t even need any more maintenance than in any other car. Due to the fact that hybrids have regenerative braking, brake pads may also last longer than those of a normal car. So what’s a smart car buyer to do? Are the savings in gas worth the extra headaches and substantially higher cost? Maybe, it depends on how you drive. If you drive majority of your time in the city, you may save enough to warrant the extra cost. Remember the gas motor turns on to charge the batteries if you use the electric motor all the time. Long-distance commuters and people with lead feet will see fewer savings. Then, there is always the environment ? something that’s always worth thinking about. A hybrid cuts emissions by 25% to 35% over even the most fuel efficient gas powered cars. The tax incentive is another big motive ? it can reduce your cost up to $3,400 depending on the cost of the vehicle. However, the tax break only applies to the first 60,000 vehicles produced yearly by each manufacturer. Toyota’s Prius, for example, will quickly reach that number of sales before year-end. Experts think in the end, hybrids are only a transition technology. The real cars of the future are Hydrogen or methane fuel cell powered cars. As for the environment, there are many ways to reduce emissions including using public transport, car pooling, riding a bicycle or even walking. Even just buying a smaller, fuel efficient car makes a big difference. So, think about what you’re really trying to accomplish before buying a hybrid ? don’t just throw your hard earned dollars at new technology for its own sake because it may be fashionably â€Å"green†.

What Are the Advantages of Jpepa?

Republic of the Philippines Department of Education Region IV – A CALABARZON Division of Laguna District of Liliw LILIW CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Liliw SUMMATIVE TEST IN SCIENCE VI I. Write the letter of the correct answer. _____1. Why plants called producers? They _____________. a. Consume food b. Make their own food c. Provide food for other organisms d. All of the above ______ 2. Why animals called consumers? They ______________. a. Do not eat plants b. Produce their own food c. Depend on other plants food d. Depend on plants for protection ______ 3.Which of the following can cause dead plants and animals to decay and turn into useful substances? a. Mosses b. Producers c. Consumers d. Decomposers ______ 4. Which of these materials is NOT needed during photosynthesis? a. Carbon dioxide b. Water c. Sunlight d. Oxygen _______ 5. The transfer of food energy from the producers to a series of consumer is called a. Food web b. Food chain c. Food cycle d. All of the above ________ 6. Plant gives off______ which animals and human beings breathe in order to live. a. Carbon dioxide b. Oxygen c. Carbon monoxide d. Hydrogen ________ 7.What activity can disturb the carbon dioxide oxygen cycle in an aquarium? a. Placing enough amount of water. b. Placing equal amount of plants and fishes. c. Putting too many fishes with small amount of plants. d. Placing the aquarium in a place where there is enough sunlight. ________ 8. Which is the correct sequence of organisms in a food chain? a. Rice grain chick hawk decomposers b. Chick hawk rice grains decomposers c. Hawk rice grains decomposers chicks d. Rice grains decomposers chick hawk ________ 9.What does a food web show? It shows a. A series of food links b. The role of the consumers c. A series of eating activities d. An interlink among food chain ________ 10. What is the role of producers in a food chain? a. They make their own food. b. They feed primary consumers. c. They replace nutrients in the soil. d. They provide oxygen in the air. ________ 11. Photosynthesis is performed by a. Herbivores b. Producers c. Primary consumers d. decomposers _________ 12. The role or profession of an organism in an ecosystem is its a. Habitat b. Consumption c. Ecological niche d. Production _________13.What happens in a food chain? a. Energy is lost to the air. b. Energy is transferred from producer to consumer. c. Energy is transferred from consumer to producer. d. Energy is increased from consumer to another consumer. _________14. Why are decomposers important? a. They break down complex wastes into simple materials. b. They provide carbon dioxide and oxygen to the soil. c. They deplete the soil of nitrogen and other minerals. d. They make the soil dry. _________15. What is transferred in a food web? a. Parasites b. Predators c. Energy d. Water II. Fill in the blanks. Choose your answer from the list below. 6. Plants are called_______________________ because they manufacture their own food. 17. _______________ ___ shows the path way of food from producers to a series of consumers. 18. When several food chains are interwoven and taking place in a particular community, a ___________________ results. 19. The chemical energy of food taken from the plants is trans fomed in the bodies of ______________________. 20. The_____________ is the main source of energy for all living things. ———————– Consumer Producers Sun Food Chain Food Web