Argos Diesel Europe

Argos Diesel Europe The Case of the Floundering Expatriate 1a. Analysis of the case situation (what and why) 1b. Specific Cross Cultural Issues Argos Diesel Europe is experiencing cross-cultural challenges among various divisions of the company (Argos Diesel Europe, its European suppliers, local company employees and the new member an American expatriate). The company places high priority on achieving results, and it is conscious that in order to achieve their financial targets they must become an integrated team. However, the teams cultural diversity and lack of understanding for each others differences, demonstrates an intense friction and cohesiveness among members. Depending on the group members nationalities, each one has a different degree of expectation, motivation, participation and commitment. The main factors affecting the company from becoming an efficient cross cultural integrated team include: Lack of Open Communication among each other: ‘I tell you, Frank, theyre just going to have to join the rest of us in the postindustrial age, learn to do things the Argos way. * No direct confrontation to discuss the real issues and what can be done to improve problems (ex: Donaldson lack of cultural awareness and the effect on the company, group perception of him) (back talk) * Between Frank Waterhouse and Bert Donaldson (lack of communication as to what is expected from Bert, how he can better adjust to the culture, ways of solving friction between Bert and the team) * Between Frank Waterhouse and Bill Loan lack of understanding about each others necessities and overall company performance. Bill does not want to be bothered in solving the particular issues that the Zà ¼rich office is having. * Between Bert Donaldson and his department team * Between Bert Donaldson and the companys suppliers (as he delivered his speech, everyone in the audience was already familiar with his team-building plan) * Donaldson and Frau Schweri (manager) if proper communication was established at the beginning Frau Schweri could have assisted in setting up the meetings and familiarize Donaldson with the social/organisational etiquette * Arrival of trainers in Zà ¼rich Two year contract being offered to the trainers, â€Å"after Frau Schweri adviced him not to† 2. Lack of team collaboration * Lack of having an ‘open mind work approach * Individual vs collective attitude Examples: Franks self-centered attitude toward his own career plans in the US versus an overall attempt to ensure everyone in the team properly adjusts to changes in culture to ensure quality performance. Frank being one of the drivers for the European team program Emphasis should be on overall team performance and collaboration * Lack of response from managers to Donaldson multiple choice survey. ‘ * Group culture (not 1 way of doing things is better than another) everyone should cooperate and find a middle ground * Lack of synergy (no pattern of interaction that involves everyone) (Berger, 165, ch 165) * No formal support to Bert to ensure he becomes aware of the organization culture in Zà ¼rich / no support to Berts family (external and internal pressures) He is unintentionally offending colleagues No one confronts about the real problems (Waterhouse or Bert) * Team exclusion Bert is not part of Franks â€Å"inner circle† * Relationship conflict â€Å"interpersonal incompatibilities, including tension, animosity, and annoyance† (Chuang et al. 28) Between Bert and the European managers Between Bert and Jacob Hassler, VP of HR at Schwyz Turbines I told him I was interested in his ideas, so he pushed his chair back and said , ‘Please let me know what you expect. I reminded him that were on the same team, have only two more years for major change, gave him a week to get back to me with a few ideas, and you know what he said? He said, ‘Ja,ja. (Adler, p. 29) Between Bert an Ursula Lindt (regarding Berts reference to Bettina Schweri as a ‘secretary†, instead of referring to her with her appropriate title * All of them are back talking negatively about each other 3. Lack of understanding for cultural differences / cultural awareness * Lack of tolerance for individual differences (when things do not go as expected, European managers and administrative team I in Zà ¼rich becomes frustrated and complaint. Instead, they should be upfront and finding a solution/means to tell Bert what is expected of him, instead of seeing him fail. After all, the importance is to learn to overcome each others differences to ensure the company succeeds. * Stereotypes: ‘the American, ‘the Germans vs ‘the Portuguese * Difference in perception of time (punctuality, meeting duration, the ‘right time to be part of an international assignment) * Use of titles and names * Ways of addressing others (secretary versus manager) * Dress code (American trainers wearing Mickey Mouse sweaters) * Understanding of hierarchical organisations * Team involvement / management styles â€Å"management by walking† managers unresponsiveness to Donaldsons multiple-choice survey * Use of humor * Presentation style and amount of information covered (â€Å"bombardment of information†, not providing â€Å"enough background information†) * Networking (allow breaks in between presentations to allow people to interact) 4. Staff morale * Networking and socializing is a central part of Argos Zà ¼rich office culture * Differences in culture, work habits, and management styles are affecting the staff morale in the office 5. Culturally different leadership/working styles (Berger 162, cha 11) * â€Å"Management by walking† (Berts attempt to involve the entire department to obtain â€Å"ideas, plans, or solutions†) * Working habits (ex: working during lunch time and until midnight) * Presentation style, material covered, and duration (meetings running too short, or not allowing for enough breaks to network)  · Decision making (individual vs collective) 6. Difference in the levels of fluency of the common language * Everyone in the office, except from Bert is fluent in Swiss German * Berts lack of attempt to speak Swiss German is viewed negatively by the team As a leader it is expected to have basic command of the language Cross cultural issues and managerial issues The Case of the Floundering Expatriate Meeting 2 Thursday, October 22, 2009 2a. Action plan which Bert could present to his team on ways forward to address some of these issues Given that one of the main cultural issues faced by Bert and his team is lack of communication, before any of the following actions are implemented, Bert needs to establish a group meeting between key members (Frank, Frank Schweri, main suppliers). The meeting, which will be lead by an external facilitator, will allow everyone to share their concerns, open communication channels, relieve frustrations, share their opinions, and reach a consensus regarding the actions that everyone needs to take. Thus, allowing the team to improve their work relationship, morale, and work atmosphere. More importantly, during this first meeting, the group will complete and discuss Belbins team roles self-assessment. Subsequent to this meeting, Bert will also suggest weekly staff briefs to discuss current issues, in an open manner. In addition, he will present the following set of seminars and training sessions to address the teams main cultural issues. These sessions will be placed on a year trial period (which correlates with Berts evaluation period). 1. Intercultural communication seminar This seminar will allow the group to acquire the skills and techniques needed for a successful communication process by: * Establishing open/direct lines of communication * Learning how to communicate effectively with a culturally diverse workforce * Recognizing the importance of active listening * Learning the significance of verbal and non-verbal communication (tone of voice, proxemics, body position and gestures, facial expression, and eye contact) (Thomas 2008). 2. Cross-cultural/diversity awareness training (Thomas 2008) This training session will allow the team to improve interpersonal interaction among each other by: * Raising ‘level of awareness and sensitivity to diversity issues (Francesco et al. 2005). How to manage diversity (short and long term focus) Usefulness of cultural values differences among different ethnic groups Establishing ‘cultural advisory groups (Francesco et al. 2005). * Learning how to interact with different cultures Create awareness of diverse cultural and individual working, communication, behavioral, and presentation styles * Learning to ‘manage diversity effectively to ‘develop a competitive advantage (Francesco et al. 2005). * Learning about social customs, business etiquette and protocols in different countries (ex: Switzerland, United States, Great Britain) 3. Improving staff moral seminar ‘we all matter This session will allow Berts team to: * Establish ways of improving motivation and overall teams engagement * Learn the correlation between motivation and productivity * Creating a dynamic, positive and friendly workplace environment  · Establishing ‘values which play importance on satisfaction, morale, and loyalty (Berger, 1996, p. 22) 4. Interactive events encouraging diversity and team spirit To encourage interaction among team members, improve communication, cultural differences understanding, staff morale, and overall dynamics of the team and the environment they operate under, the following events could be suggested to take place:  · Friday staff breakfast meetings These sessions will allow all team members to obtain updates and have clear visibility of everyones activities, project, and companys current status These meetings will encourage open communication changes, team building exercises, and staff moral improvement  · Quarterly team challenge events (including: city challenges, bowling, boat trips, etc) These events will allow team members to interact in a non-working environment Positive moral, interaction, communication, and team synergy will be the main emphasis * Informal family-staff picnics 5. Conflict resolution seminar (Thomas 2008) Through role play, group discussions, and the use of case studies, the group will be able to:  · Learn the ‘background to conflict and the contribution they can make to either calming or escalating a confrontation (The conflict 2009) * Learn various approaches to dealing with different cultures and difficult colleagues * Learn how to structure and control a conversation (The conflict 2009) * Learn how to manage unpredictability (The conflict 2009) * Learn how to make concessions and reach agreements (Thomas 2008) * Learn how to employ the use of assertive communication 6. Constant feedback and evaluation of progress and training/seminar sessions (will create interactive synergy) While all of the above training and seminar sessions are imperative in dealing with individual cultural issues and group differences, as a continuous and recurring activity, the group must have established feedback and evaluation procedures. The feedback/evaluation process will allow the group to: * ‘Review the learning within the team learn from mistakes and share success (Berger 1996, p.175) * Evaluate the set goals, progress, areas requiring further intervention, and the overall effectiveness of the training and seminar sessions * Provide individual and group feedback to ensure everyone obtains an equal and fair opportunity to develop with the group and contribute to solve their cross-cultural issues. While the above training sessions and seminars will be suggested by Bert, careful consideration must be given to the implementation, cost, frequency, time constraints, evaluation and overall benefit of such sessions. Nevertheless, if implemented effectively, this action plan will ‘create a set of rules for the team, and help them develop ‘a shared team vision (Francesco et al., 2005, p.205). These activities will allow the team to discover ways of embracing their diversity, and use it as a ‘sustainable competitive advantage that will ultimately lead to superior performance and effective working relations (Von Berger et al., 2005, p. 2). The Case of the Floundering Expatriate Meeting 3 Monday, October 26, 2009 3. Action plan for Bert on the steps he needs to take in his own cross-international development to ensure he interacts effectively in this and future interactive work groups. In order for Bert to develop as an effective international leader, he needs to consider his current condition and future prospects. Given that he was not provided with any cultural training prior to his move to Switzerland, and due to the current turmoil, misunderstanding, and demands of his current role, the most effective and less time constraining activities during the present time will be the following. (These activities will be given a trial period of six months followed by an evaluation). 1. Cultural awareness training * This training will allow Bert to learn ‘major aspects of the host country culture, including customs, traditions, everyday behaviors (Francesco et al., 19998) * By developing his cultural awareness, Berts way of thinking will expand, and global mindset will broaden Bert will build up an understanding on how to create an environment of equal opportunities, while being flexible and sensitive to others differences He will be more receptive in learning about the needs and wants of others, while sharing openly common goals and values 2. Become involved in coaching and feedback sessions Bert should discuss with Frank the possibility of obtaining an internal coach (possibly Frank himself). The goal for Frank, Bert, and the entire company is to reach successful results. Hence, it s to the advantage of Bert and Frank that bonds are established so that they can discuss openly their feelings, expectations, and more importantly a change of action. During these coaching sessions Bert can: * Access his complete a free online ‘Cultural Orientation Framework (COF) (www.philrosinski.com) in order to identify his ‘existing orientations and to examine other alternatives (Rosinski et al., 2008, p. 258). The COF can be used with his coach to: evaluate cultures, find out new ways to create solutions, ‘envision a desired culture, and learn to use diversity as a source of action and cooperation (Gilbert et al., 2008, p. 88). * Use the GROW Model of Coaching to: Set up SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goals for the short and long term Obtain a reality check to analyse his current situation Explore his options and alternative courses of action ‘Wrap-up, decide what he needs to do, his will to do, and by when (Gilbert, 2009, p.8) * Use the ‘Global Coaching Process to access his ‘desires, strengths, weaknesses, present situation and preferences in an attempt to evaluate the expectations of his group members (Rosinski et al. 270) 3. Interaction with team members A key to a leaders success is having the correct networking ability to connect and interact with others. Hence, while long working days, ineffective communication, and lack of cooperation has been present in his team. As a director, Bert should try be more charismatic, share a few lunch breaks with his team, or even try to interact outside of work. This will allow him the possibility to see his colleagues and team members in a richer cultural and analytical context. In future assignments it is crucial that Bert is culturally better prepared prior to actually relocating to a new country. In order to do this, Bert should suggest to the company that not only him, but all individuals and their families who will be embarking on an international assignment undergo the following programme: 1. Country Briefings 2. Reading assignments Focusing on the culture of the specific country or region How to interact and do business with different cultures Provide access to similar electronic sources to accompanying family members 3. Informal chats with employees who have acquired experience in a particular country 4. Basic language courses to employees and their families Twice a week for a minimum period of 5 weeks 5. In country training an development New expatriates should be assigned a mentor/coach with the particular country relevant experience. The coach/ mentor will not only assist the expatriate in his development and acculturation to the new corporate environment. He/she will also assist the expatriate and his/her family to get accustomed to the new country, help them find schools, jobs for their partners, etc. 6. Repatriation Within a month of Once return to their home country, after completing their international assignment, expatriates should be required to review their Personal Development Plans, success/failure of their assignment, and lessons learnt with their provided HR business partner and coach/mentor. (Eangle, p. 294) Berts current situation demonstrates to the company, that the culture of the organization must be adjusted in order to foster successful cross-cultural assignments where It needs to promulgate coaching, mentoring, and adapt to potential new ideas and ways of doing for their employees and their families prior to departure. While cost and resources might prove to be a challenge for the company, the overall success of expatriate assignments, lie on the success of the cultural awareness pre-departure programme. â€Å" An effective international manager needs to develop skills for understanding an managing diversity. Since different cultures have various approaches to diversity, it is important to understand these approaches and the potential impact they could have on the manager† (Francesco et al., 2005, pp 209). Working Together and Cross Cultural Issues Culture is central to what we see, how we make sense of what we see, and how we express ourselves, and there are various varieties that lie within. For example, Different Communication Styles where as a group we had diverse ways of doing that varied widely between us. One aspect of communication style is language usage. Across cultures, some words and phrases are used in different ways. For example, even in countries that share the English language, the meaning of yes varies from maybe, Ill consider it to definitely so, with many shades in between. Therefore we found that it took some time to agree with each other about certain points but always came to a conclusion or harmony in the end. Secondly we had different approaches to Completing Tasks From culture to culture; there are different ways that people move toward completing roles or projects. Some reasons include different access to resources; different judgments of the rewards associated with task completion, different notions of time, and varied ideas about how relationship-building and task-oriented work should go together, but found that everyone worked well together to find appropriate data that was relevant to the actual task and respected asked criteria. Finally we had a complete group where everyone had a particular role to complete, and worked well within the context to find an applicable solution to the case for answering adequately. References 1 Berger, M. (1996) Cross-Cultural Team Building: guidelines for more effective communication and negotiation. London, McGraw-Hill, Chapter 2, 11, pp. 22, 175. Francesco, A.M. and Gold, B.A. (2005) International Organizational Behavior, Upper Saddler River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., Chapter 10, pp. 204-206. The Conflict Training Company (2009) Conflict Management Training. The Conflict Training Company Ltd [Online]. Retrieved from: http://www.conflict-training.co.uk/conflict_management_training.php?gclid=CPiegujYw50CFUtp4wodBnx8sQ [Accessed 17 October 2009]. Thomas, D.C. (2008) Cross-Cultural Management Essential Concepts, 2nd Edition, Los Angeles: SAGE Publications Ltd, pp: 131-137, 187. Von Bergen C.W., Parnell J.A. (2005) ‘Workforce Diversity and Organisational Performance, Equal Opportunities International, Vol.24, No 3/4, p. 2. References 2 Francesco, A.M. and Gold, B.A. (1998) International Organizational Behavior, Upper Saddler River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., p. 175. Gilbert, K. and Rosinski, P (2008) ‘Accessing cultural orientations: the online Cultural Orientations Framework Assessment as a tool for coaching. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. Vol. 1, No. 1, March 2008, p. 88 Gilbert, K. (2009) ‘Week 4: Coaching and Mentoring Across Cultures. International Management Competencies. Slides 8, 9. Rosinski, P. and Abbott, G (2006) Evidence Based Coaching Handbook; Putting best practices to work for your clients. MyLibrary [Online]. Available at: http://opac.brookes.ac.uk/www-bin/ejnls?CN=S0016895OX (Accessed: 23 October 2009).

Assess the Impact of the Suez Crisis on the Conservative

Assess the impact of the Suez crisis on the conservative party 1955-1959 The conservative party managed to recuperate after the Suez crisis, which was a major low point in the party’s history. But how could the party bounce back after such a major event? The conservative’s policies changed to cater of everyone with re-established the conservatives as a strong party. The Suez crisis greatly affected the conservative party as a whole. For an example the lack of trust with the party.Eden secretly colluded with the Israelis, even when this want known by the public the war between the Israelis and the Egyptians looked like a convenient excuse to seize the canal. However aside from this inconvenience the conservative’s social policies had changed increasing the party’s popularity. Such as the economic prosperity at the time. Things such as TVs were becoming increasingly common in people homes. White good such as fridges and washing machines were too becoming inc reasingly common this prosperity ment people didn’t want change because the quality of life was getting better and there was no need for a change in government.And, as a result of perhaps the most distinctive Conservative policy of these years, home ownership rose from some 30 per cent to nearly 50 per cent, as the famous pledge given in 1950 to build 300, 000 new homes a year was redeemed by Macmillan as Housing Minister after 1951 – giving substance to the great Tory ideal of a property-owning democracy popularised by Anthony Eden after the war, as did the increase in personal savings from under ? 200 million to nearly ? 2, 000 million.Welfarism was also a policy of the conservative party, it ment that the poor were looked after by the government more than before by being provided council houses and of course the free healthcare provided by the NHS. The post-war „baby boom? meant that there was in any case a need for more schools and teachers, but a series of r eports arguably both highlighted the importance of education and influenced policy development. The Education Act 1944 had laid the foundations for a system of secondary education grounded in the idea of selection through the „11-plus? xamination, with some children progressing to grammar schools and others to secondary moderns, and in some places technical schools. However, during the 1950s a number of local authorities began to introduce an alternative model, comprehensive schools, but the Conservative Party, including in its general election manifestos in 1955 and 1959 manifestos promised to defend and develop grammar schools. Following the White Paper Secondary education for all a major school building programme took place, albeit mainly of secondary moderns.Within higher education, university colleges such as Sheffield and Southampton were upgraded to university status, and even before the publication of the Robbins report approval was given for seven new universities, in cluding East Anglia, Lancaster, Warwick and York. The economic policy of the Conservative Party is to help create the conditions in which the British people can steadily improve their standard of living. By the end of the decade, things were not going well.Staying in the Middle East had led step-by-step to the confrontation with President Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, and the disastrous decision to seek his overthrow by force in collusion with Israel. The 1956 Suez Crisis was a savage revelation of Britain's financial and military weakness and destroyed much of what remained of Britain's influence in the Middle East. In the colonial territories, more active interference in social and economic matters, with a view to speeding the pace of development, had aroused wide opposition and strengthened nationalist movements.The economic policies of the conservative party were unconventional, such as using Keynesian economics, which was more on the socialist side. But sorting out unemployment was one of the reasons the party survived; it made them more popular with the working class. Keynes stated that Unemployment was due to a deficiency in the demand for goods and services. Governments could, by adjusting their own spending, overcome that deficiency. Control of the money supply and interest rates could also influence investment. Macmillan was convinced that this would solve the unemployment.The intervention in Suez was a disaster. US President Dwight Eisenhower was incensed. World opinion, especially that of the United States, together with the threat of Soviet intervention, forced Britain, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt. In Britain too there had been widespread outrage. A United Nations peacekeeping force was sent in to supervise the ceasefire and to restore order. The Suez Canal was cleared and reopened, but Britain in particular found it’s standing with the US weakened and its influence ‘east of Suez' diminished by the incident.Th e Suez Crisis strained Anglo-American relations, but as Cold War Allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) they continued to cooperate, and by 1962 Britain had adopted the US Polaris missile system. During the period of opposition between the conservsatives and labour, the feud between the Gaitskellites and Bevanites continued. In 1954 Gaitskell and Bevan ran against each other for the position of Treasurer of the Labour Party, which was seen as a stepping-stone to the position of Party Leader.Gaitskell defeated Bevan. Following Labour's defeat in the 1955 election, Attlee announced his retirement as Party Leader. In the leadership election, the Labour left rallied around Bevan, while the Labour right was split between Gaitskell and Herbert Morrison. Gaitskell defeated both, gaining almost sixty percent of the vote, and on December 14, 1955, became both Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. Harold Macmillan took over as Prime Minister after Eden had resigned over the Suez crises.Soon after his appointment, Macmillan took part in a Ministerial broadcast so he could introduce himself to the British people. After seeing his performance, Macmillan commented that he had the â€Å"appearance of a corpse looking out of a window† and decided to learn television techniques. With his government losing by-elections and behind in the polls, Macmillan was confident enough to create events for television. During 1959 he visited the Soviet Union and made brief tours of most European countries.In August 1959 he invited the BBC to No 10 Downing Street so a live informal discussion with the American President Eisenhower could be shown on television. Afterwards both leaders went on to a dinner party held in No 10. The broadcast gave the impression of a statesman like Macmillan who was above politics. The following week, Macmillan announced the date of a General Election, which he would win by a landslide victory. Macmillan knew that televi sion was an important part of politics.The conservative party’s reputation declined after the Suez crisis. However the conservative party managed to recover quickly, from foreign policy to housing the party changed radically, incorporating socialist policies such as Keynesian economics and increasing spending on the welfare state. Altogether the socialist side of the party played to their advantage and the party stayed in power for 13 years. The Suez crisis was handled badly by Eden but after his resignation everything improved from housing to the economy.

Health and Fitness Portfolio

Wendy Wu June 12, 2012 PPL1OF Health – Fitness Portfolio Reflection: Fitness is the condition of being physically fit and healthy, which is what we’ve learned and have been working towards for the entire second semester of this school year (2011 – 2012) in our grade 9 physical education and healthy living course. Through tests that we have completed three separate times during this semester, we can see the progress and improvements that we’ve made throughout the five months. These tests pushed us to do our best and see how we do when we are at our best.These tests were there so that the teacher and ourselves to see how well we were doing in six components: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and agility. Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability of one’s respiratory system (the heart and lungs) to provide oxygen and fuel for our bodies during sustained physical activity. This ability helps prevent any he art related illnesses, diabetes, etc. You could improve your cardiorespiratory endurance by continuously running, swimming, or cycling. In class, we were tested on this component by doing the beep test.The beep test consists of us continuously running from one point to another, stopping when reached the point and continuing after a beep. This cycle is continued until you feel like you cannot continue. The first time I completed the beep test was on February 21st and I received a 3. 5. After completing the test, I set a goal for myself the next time we do the beep test (which was in 8-9 weeks). This goal was to reach stage four of the beep test, meaning I had to run three more beeps to reach my goal. I thought this goal was â€Å"SMART† (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time).The second time I completed the beep test, I received a 4. 2, two more beeps over my goal. This means that I have improved by five beeps (0. 5). My goal for the last beep test that was in four weeks was to reach level 4. 5, which meant that I had to run three more beeps than the beep test I had just completed. June 1, was the day that I ran my final beep test of the year. I finished the test with a 4. 7, improving by five beeps. Completing the test with a 4. 7 means I had accomplished my goal and exceeded it. Overall, I had shown a steady increase throughout the semester when it comes to my cardiorespiratory endurance.I believe that this increase was because I was involved in track and field throughout the semester. For warm-up during track and field, we had to run four laps. I think this helped in improving my cardiorespiratory endurance. I can improve my cardiorespiratory endurance even more by running up and down the street in the mornings daily (or weekly) or swim laps every week to boost my cardiorespiratory endurance and the amount of air my lungs can intake. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle to contract repeatedly. This helps with sports and daily activities.Some sports or activities that need muscular endurance are weightlifting, stairs, etc. The main idea of this ability is so that we â€Å"feel the burn†. We figure out our muscular endurance by doing a test of abdominal crunches and push-ups. The first part is to see how many abdominal crunches you could do in a minute. The second part was to see how many continuous push-ups you could do. On the first test, I did 34 crunches in a minute and 20 continuous push-ups. After this testing, I set a SMART goal for myself of 35 abdominal crunches and 22 push-ups. The second test, I did 36 abdominal crunches and 22 continuous push-ups.With these results, I know that I have improved by 2 in abdominal crunches and 3 in push-ups, as well as showing that I had exceeded my goal by one with both sections of the testing. This led me to set my goals for the third testing which were to do 38 abdominal crunches and 25 continuous push-ups. The third testing results ended up to be 38 for abdominal crunches and 33 for continuous push-ups. This displayed an improvement on both tests, as well as accomplishing my SMART goals. In the abdominal crunches sections, I advanced by 2 crunches from last time and reach my goal.For my push-ups, I bettered myself by 10 push-ups and surpassed my goal of 25 continuous push-ups. In the end, these result show a steady increase for the first part (the abdominal crunches) and a slow increase that becomes greater for the second section of the muscular endurance test (continuous push-ups). I think there was an increase because in between the first and second testing, our class had spent a week in the weight room doing a new unit. The first half of the week, we focused on muscular endurance and I think that helped improve my results in the second test.The training we did in the weight room included bench presses, lat pull-downs, abdominal exercises, etc. I continued to do similar exercises before I went to be after the unit had ended, whi ch help improve my third test results. If I continue to do abdominal exercises and push-ups on my own time, my muscular endurance level would steadily increase. Muscular strength is the next component I am going to focus on. It is the amount or weight a muscle can contract once. This component increase muscle mass and increases your power, as well as helping with sports and daily activities like weightlifting, shot-put, javelin, discus, etc.We do a vertical jump test to determine our muscular strength level, which is when we are to stand against the wall with your arm extended to see your standing height. You would then jump with your arm extended to see how high you could jump and the difference between your standing height and your jumping height. I ended my first vertical jump test with 12 inches as my difference and set my goal for next time as 14† for my difference. My second testing result was a difference of 14†, which was my goal. During this test, I improved my muscular strength level by 2†. Then I had written my goal down as 16† for my next difference.I achieved this goal when I completed my third vertical jump and advanced myself from last time by 2†. Therefore, my overall muscular strength level had increased at a constant rate and improved because of the weight training unit we had done. Earlier I mentioned working on muscular endurance in the weight room for a part of the week; the other part was to work on our muscular strength. This helped me better myself in my muscular strength. I could improve my muscular strength level by doing weekly leg exercise like squats or free-weight/machine-weight/body-weight training with more sets than repetitions (reps).

Advanced Strategic Management - mHealth - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2368 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Case study Did you like this example? Advanced Strategic Management mHealth Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Advanced Strategic Management mHealth" essay for you Create order [ Advanced Strategic Management ] Contents Contents Introduction The Context and its Managerial Questions Stakeholder Map Analysis A Discovery Driven Strategy Virtuous Cycles via a Discovery Driven Strategy Product-Market Fit Customer Segment Customer Jobs Customer Pains Customer Gains Value Proposition The Hook Canvas Trigger External Trigger Internal Trigger Action Reward Investment Introduction As been discussed in assignment 2, we decided in our final project to research the business model and the winning strategy for a startup in the mHealth business. We identified 3 main areas for mHealth to be investigated: Wearable, Mobile App and BigData. In the first assignment, I discussed the business model for a typical mHealth mobile app. The most important part of a successful mobile app in general and specifically in mHeatlh app is customer engagement. In this assignment, I will research and discuss the features and the model that increase customer engagement and build a winning echo-system for the whole platform. As mHealth is moving rapidly and changes in that domain is aggressive, we decided to use the lean startup and discovery approach. That means minimum market research will be used and a more experimental and idea testing approach will be used instead. This discovery/incremental approach will give the statup the agility needed to steer its strategy as needed and faster time to market as well. The key aspects of the business model that will be discussed are Value Propositions and Customer Segments. The Context and its Managerial Questions The problem I am trying to solve is that despite higher mobile penetration rates across the worlds, the use of mobile technologies in healthcare is still behind expected rates and consumer expectations. mHealth stands at a significant inflection point with a big potential to play a significant role in the healthcare. From consumer point of view, mHealth is more convenient and can lead to reduce physician visits and hence cost. From assignment 2, there are current and promising potential for mHealth mobile app among both chronically ill then fitness and wellness conscious people. These 2 customer segments contribute to almost 60% of the total mHealth mobile users (research2guidance, 2014). The main challenge was how the business model and/or strategy will increase consumer adoption and engagement. The key success factor for a mHealth startup was building the eco-system that drive users to be engaged and locked-in. Stakeholder Map Analysis Before discussing the strategies, let us first plot the current stakeholder for such mHealth application on a stakeholder map according to their interest and influence. The stakeholders are: Chronically ill patients, Fitness Wellness Conscious People, Physicians, Hospitals, pharmaceutical Companies and Government entities. The key outcome from this map analysis is: chronically ill patients are the key player however the mHealth solution should meet the needs and specifications of both physicians and government regulations entities. The pharmaceutical companies on the other hand will be interested on both data and advertisements and should be considered. A Discovery Driven Strategy For a startup in mHealth markets a typical fixed strategy and planning will not be suitable nor realistic. mHealth market is highly uncertain, complex and fast-moving. A discovery driven approach (Rita McGrath) will be adopted as a suitable approach for such a turbulent and varying environments. Unlike conventional strategies that emphasize analysis, strategies that aim to discover and exploit new models must engage in substantial experimentation and learning i.e. a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"discovery driven,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ rather than analytical approach. These strategies are about insight, rapid experimentation and evolutionary learning as much as the traditional skills of planning and execution. Virtuous Cycles via a Discovery Driven Strategy A discovery driven approach can be adopted to generate a virtuous cycles. Virtuous cycles (Ramon Casadesus-Masanell Joan E. Ricart, HBR 2011) will be a very effective way for the mHealth startup for both discover and experiment the business model and its strategy. This is also aligned the lean startup method of developing products by Eric Ries (2011) As the main target is to build a sufficient customer base to sustain revenue and increase bargaining power over other stakeholders, mHealth services should be offered as freemium services to drive and attract customer base that is in turn increase the startup bargaining power and revenue as well. The right diagram illustrate how the virtuous cycles can help the startup. This kind of business model requires experimentation which requires initial investment to start this cycle. This is a typical virtuous cycle that is been used by most of others in the market. The challenge for the startup then is to quickly create and capture mor e value than others in the market do. For such a situation ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s tough to know which business model will do well unless combining a discovery driven strategy during this virtuous cycle. There are some key drivers to kick-start this virtuous cycle. One of these drivers is what free mHealth features to be offered that will successfully address consumer pains. For this, Osterwalder Pain/Gain model will be used to design the value proposition. I would use also the Hook Canvas by Nir Eyal as a complimentary model to the Osterwalder Pain/Gain to tackle the point from different angles. Product-Market Fit The purpose of the product-market fit analysis to facilitate in designing Value Propositions that match Customers needs. Customer Segment The chronically ill patients segment will be sliced even more. As long as we are focusing on patients segment with chronic diseases, a separate job/app/features for the top 4 chronic diseases will be created. According to Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (www.CMS.gov), conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis and diabetes were highly prevalent. The most common chronic conditions among Medicare beneficiaries were: High blood pressure (58%) High cholesterol (45%) Arthritis (29%) Diabetes (28%) The following chart from Statista mHealth Dossier. It shows the top drivers for mHealth adoption among patients. These drivers will help in building both product-market fit and HooK canvas. mHealth value proposition in general is towards better healthcare using convenient channel and innovative solutions. For the purpose of this assignment, high blood pressure segment will be used. There should not be key differences on the overall strategy for other chronic conditions. Customer Jobs Customer Job(s) is about what high blood pressure patients is trying to get done using the proposed mHealth platform. It is mainly about how they are currently manage their condition. Question Answer Significance Frequency What functional jobs are you helping your customer get done? Log HBP Readings Get Feedback Recommendations Communicate with his doctor Reduce costs Reduce Visits High High What social jobs are you helping your customer get done? Being Healthy High Med What emotional jobs are you helping your customer get done? Feel good/safe Minimize Worry High Med What basic needs are you helping your customer satisfy? Need for Care High Med Customer Pains Pain is more about negative feelings, costs and risks that High blood pressure patients could experience before and after or even during getting the job done. Question Answer Intensity What does customer find costly? Time to log it on paper Consultation Cost Searching Cost for Advise Recommendations High What makes them feel bad? Frustration Worry Med How are current solutions under-performing? Inconvenient (Not simple enough) Lack of recommendation Advise No Web Interface (Cloud) High What are the main difficulties and challenges that customer encounters? Understand and judge Readings Keep readings history to communicate it with doctors Med What negative social consequences does customer encounter or fear? Being socially inactive with family Loss of trust Med What risks does customer fear? Serious medical consequences (Heart Attack, Kidney failure) High What common mistakes does customer make? Forget prescription Not logging readings By-pass doctor visits Confused about what to eat and what not What barriers are keeping customer from adopting solutions? Simplicity Convince Learning curve Being a habit High Customer Gains The customer gains are about the expected and unexpected outcomes from using the mHealth solution. Question Answer Relevance Which savings would make customer happy? Money (Reducing Visits) Time (Reducing Visits) Effort (Logging Readings) substantial What outcomes does customer expect and what would go beyond his/her expectations? Simple and convenient way to log readings Giving Advise/Coaching/Recommendations will be a delight feature Web Interface (Cloud) will be a delight feature Communities will be a delight feature substantial What positive social consequences does your customer desire? Sense of belonging Sense of Care Being Healthy and Self-Control Less Significant What are customers looking for? Good and Intuitive Design Communicate their readings with Doctors substantial What would increase the likelihood of adopting a solution? Free Simple and Convenient Word-of-Mouth Positive reviews substantial Value Proposition Giving the above customer segment pain, gain and jobs, the value proposition of the blood pressure mHealth platform will be to relieve these pains, create gain and deliver the customer job in a convenient way. The Hook Canvas The above figure illustrates the hook canvas model by Nir Eyal. The purpose of this model is to increase customer engagement through 4 major steps: Trigger, Action, Reward and Investment. The key concept of the hook canvas is to attach users through the most powerful force that is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Habità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . Patients with chronic conditions/diseases are already formed a daily habit of taking measurements, log it, taking prescriptions and follow up with their physician. This customer segment are the most ready segment to form a habit by using a convenient mHealth mobile app. The question will be, what will be the strategy for each step to form a habit of using the mHealth mobile app and increase customer retention. Forming customer habit improve business outcomes through: Increase customer lifetime value Provide pricing flexibility Reduce customer churn and increase retention Increase a businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s defensibility Trigger Understanding the HBP customer can help drive and forming the desired habit of using the mHealth platform. There are 2 types of triggers: External and Internal. External triggers as the name imply is any event like notifications, reminder, buttonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Whereas internal triggers are initiated within the user as a factor of their perception or emotional status. Negative emotions is considered a very powerful trigger compared to positive emotions. External Trigger Nir explains that effective triggers are well-timed, actionable and stimulate curiosity. In the HBP mHealth platform, the external triggers can be emails and notifications. Additionally, the more closely the external triggers to the internal ones the more it become effective. These type of external triggers include reminders for taking the measures at specific/ideal times. These external triggers are well-timed, actionable and can stimulate curiosity by asking specific questions to the patients regarding their mode, diet, weightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Family members and friends can be external triggers as they are care about the health of the HBP patient. Internal Trigger Internal triggers are powerful than the external ones. Internal triggers can be stimulated by time and the basis of forming a habit. Negative emotions triggers should be emphasized here. Negative emotions like fear of heart attack, lose job, away from family should be linked to the platform. Action Triggers should motivate people to take actions through the platform, actions then should be as simple as possible to adopt more customer. Technology and/or product must significantly reduce the steps to complete the measuring task to increase adoption rates. This can be achieved by a very simple, intuitive and convenient user interface to enter the measurements. A research in this area is essential. A very interesting place is https://coglode.com/ . This where a one can start leverage cognitive shortcuts to initiate simplistic actions. Reward à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Variable rewards seem to keep the brain occupied and providing an opportunity to plant the seeds of new habits,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  says Nir Eyal. Rewards can be categorized into three type à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" tribe rewards, hunt and self. Tribe rewards can be best achieved through comparing the measurements with others in the same conditions (Age, Sex, Weight) and give the users a sense of self progress and achievements compared to others. Hunt rewards can be achieved by providing promotions in prescriptions, doctor consultations and discount for appointments. Self-rewards can be achieved by providing goals and advises to achieve these goals. The goals can be lowering blood pressure through diet, exercise, anger managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ This will give the users a sense of achievement and progress towards their personal goals. Investment Nir describes investment as future rewards that makes the next action more likely. Users can invest in time, money, effort, content, personal data, social capital or even emotional commitment. Investment is the thing that guarantee customers lock-in and retention. Additionally, investment features in the mHealth platform will protect the copycat from rivals and give a competitive advantage that cannot be replicated. Cloud data is one of the features that will give the users a sense of investments. Historical readings and user actions will be saved on the cloud and the more the users use the platform the more investment in terms of personal data. Social features like communities, comments, likesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are also can be seen as an investment from the usersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ point of view. Users can not switch to other applications and ignore their relationships and their history that has been built already. Crossing the Chasm In 1991 Geoffrey A. Moore argued that there is an existing gap between early adopters of any new technology and the mass market. He explained that new concepts and technology get pulled initially by early adaptors then fail to get the attention of the mass market. This kind of situation is highly applicable for the mHealth platform desired. There should be a strategy or at least initial thought about how we can take such a startup and technology and cross the chasm to the mass market where the real money is. The strategy will be mainly: Focus on early adaptors and to select a specific customer segment (High Blood Pressure Patients) rather than all chronically ill patients. These early adaptors should be delighted as possible to the word of mouth will help crossing the chasm Marketing hype play an important Role here. How marketing will going to position the platform is very crucial. The positioning should be unique and focus on social and emotional aspects as well Reward and delight features will attract conservative people in the mass market 1 | Page