Riordan Manufacturing Executive Report

Riordan Manufacturing Executive Report Warren Buffet once said, â€Å"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. † With a company that has over five hundred employees, four locations worldwide, and $50 million in annual sales, placing the value on the organization is simple; look at the bottom line and see the profit. This is the situation at Riordan Manufacturing where the price it paid to do business was less than what it made, defining a clear value in what Riordan provides.Riordan’s Sales and Marketing department has a clear value; $50 million is sales to show of it. But how do we show the value for other departments within the organization such as Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) solutions? While the IS and IT costs and what Riordan pays for it are clear from looking at the financials, the value is not. This brings us to the question of what value does Riordan Manufacturing get out of its IS services and IT department. This question is th e problem that Riordan Manufacturing has had for many years.Recently, Riordan executive management hired a new Chief Information Officer (CIO) to improve its infrastructure and to answer this question. While management wants to use more IS and IT solutions throughout the organization, it has had trouble finding the perfect fit in all aspects of its operations. Even though IS and IT costs have risen, the puzzle pieces still have not come together; the value and benefit has not been clear to the company. As we will see throughout this review, it is time to focus and find the value that technology and information brings to the organization.It is time to find the efficiencies and savings that the company needs to clearly see the value. With Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), or Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, there has got to be value in the way they are used. There has also got to be value in using outside services such as Application Ser vice Providers (ASPs) than can help realize and utilize the value of these systems. Finding the best way to utilize technology will allow Riordan to find the best value in the IS and IT departments.Business systems analysis and recommendations Riordan Manufacturing prides itself on its public reputation as the leading edge manufacturer of plastic injection moldings that is backed by a powerful and innovative research and development team. However, internally, the organization is suffering greatly from severely outdated, labor-intensive, pencil and paper processes in the sales and marketing departments. Additionally, the business processes that are automated are departmentalized suited for the use of a single job function or department.Existing automated processes belong to the finance and accounting department as well as the inventory office of the manufacturing department. There is no connectivity between systems, and worse, attempts to establish communications between similar syst ems across the organization’s national and multinational locations have been fruitless. It is impossible for organization decision-makers to have a clear idea of the interworking of the organization and its financial health.Chief Operating Officer (COO), Hugh McCauley, has developed a comprehensive strategic direction for the organization decomposed into individual strategic initiatives and further broken down into various programs that are the responsibility of relevant departmental leaders to accomplish. Riordan’s COO has done an excellent job of initiating a strategic direction and smaller goals to ensure the organization maintains industry leader status, but the missing link that will truly drive each program’s success, is an information technology linkage.To remain ahead of competition and to transform into a more agile organization, it is recommended that Riordan’s management evaluate the benefits of enterprise-wide information systems. Enterprise-w ide information systems Organizations commonly implement enterprise-wide systems to improve access to information and as a result experience growth, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies. The benefits of enterprise-wide systems such as enterprise resource management (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) directly align with Riordan’s strategic direction.Proper implementation of these systems will add value to Riordan’s business model. However, enterprise-wide implementations are characterized by large investments and large time commitments. Therefore, the organization must evaluate which systems will help it achieve the majority of its goals, in a reasonable time frame. In doing so, decision-makers can determine if each system’s value is worth its costs and the order in which to invest in and implement each system. Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) Pros.An ERP system is a necessary investment for Riordan because it i ntegrates all departments and their respective functions across the organization into a single IT system (UMaine, 2009). There are three main benefits of ERP systems that directly address problems with Riordan’s operations. One benefit is a logical solution to a mess of incompatible applications currently in use by the organization. ERP also allows global access and sharing of organizational data as well. Additionally, implementing an ERP system will help the organization bypass the difficulties and expenses of replacing legacy systems (UMaine, 2009).An analysis of Riordan’s current issues with its Finance and Accounting department reveal an immediate need for an ERP solution. Riordan’s current process to complete the general ledger, income statement, and balance sheet is so labor intensive that accountants cannot complete the task until two or three weeks after month’s end. Additionally, external audits are required monthly. Riordan’s process docu mentation is difficult to analyze, making this important task costly and labor intensive as well. Compliance with new, stricter government regulations is also extremely difficult for this department.Riordan management finds these issues unacceptable and expects them to be addressed first (University of Phoenix, 2012). An ERP solution will correct these error-prone, labor-intensive processes through automation (Business-Software. com, 2010). This will help employees of the Finance and Accounting department complete Riordan’s financial statements in a timelier manner. Further, ERP will ensure that all workflows and procedures are formally documented, allowing external auditors to complete their job more effectively and produce timely and accurate feedback for Riordan management.ERP systems also ensure there is only â€Å"one version of truth† by feeding data to one centralized, integrated database (Business-Software, 2012). Not only does ERP help the organization deliver timely, accurate information to its customers and suppliers but is also necessary for regulatory compliance. Cons. Although an ERP system will lay the foundation for modern, efficient enterprise-wide business systems, Riordan must weigh the risks of implementing the system. The first risk is cost. For a multinational company like Riordan, the cost of installation can range from $30,000 to $500 million (Demand Media Inc. , 2012).Riordan will need to do an extensive financial analysis to determine if the organization has enough capital to expend on an ERP implementation as well as enough contingency funding to bail the organization out should the implementation fail. Another risk of ERP implementation is the level of complexity that and ERP system will add to Riordan’s processes. Riordan’s current staff may find the system to be too difficult to use and rebel against the system as a result. Riordan may also find that a portion of their existing staff may turnover as a r esult of the implementation and will need to hire a more specialized user base as a result.These specialized employees may require higher salaries than those they replace. To avoid this, Riordan will want to provide comprehensive training to affected users, but it will be a time-consuming processefficiency benefits of the system will not be measurable until the organization adjusts to the changes that the ERP system will bring (Demand Media Inc. , 2012). An important risk of ERP implementation to consider is data integrity. Because the ERP system’s database will be the single source of Riordan’s data, it must be accurate and secure.Integrating the ERP system with existing systems may require some software modifications. It will be important to ensure that the integration of system results in data that is single version of the truth as well as securing any new transactions between systems. It is also important to note that some ERP systems will be too inflexible to work with Riordan’s current business process and strategy (Demand Media Inc. , 2012). The organization must evaluate vendor and implementation options to ensure the ERP system help drive Riordan’s objectives, not hinder them.Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Pros. Riordan’s strategic direction and initiatives are highly customer-centric. Riordan’s strategy is to compete in its market by serving the top 15 customer clusters, and driving this strategy by providing the highest level of customer satisfaction to its 20 most important account holders. Additionally, the COO wants the organization to transform the Riordan brand into a significant competitive advantage (University of Phoenix, 2012). A CRM system is an excellent way to drive the success of this customer-centric strategy.CRM manages all aspects of an organization’s relationship with its customers to help increase customer loyalty, retention, and the organization’s profitability (UMain e, 2009). Additionally, CRM systems are synonymous with building brand awareness and loyalty. A modern definition of a brand is the summation of hundreds of small interactions between an organization and its customers (Yarmoff, 2001). A CRM system can capture the data that results from these actions for analysis by the marketing department. Marketing analysts can determine what is unique about the organization that draws customers to it, helping Riordan build its brand.In the upcoming fiscal year, Riordan is launching an aggressive sales and marketing program to grow its revenue, expand its customer base, and retain its best customers. The sales and marketing department will find difficulty in successfully completing this program considering their outdated, pencil and paper processes within the department. It will be difficult for Riordan’s marketers to target customers effectively by sifting through hundreds of paper files of historical sales records to conduct market analys is.It will be difficult for the sales department to document special customers’ needs, and ensure they are served throughout the organization’s order fulfillment processes by using the disparate sales systems currently in use. For back office analytical purposes, CRM can assist the marketing department in drawing upon data from a single data source to reveal trends, explain outcomes, predict results of campaigns, and identify the organization’s most profitable customers (UMaine, 2009).Analytical CRM helps the marketing department understand what Riordan’s customers like, dislike, and what appeals to them and indicate if Riordan is meeting or is capable of meeting customer’s needs. Analytical CRM provides this deep understanding of an organization’s customer base through data analysis and business intelligence tools (UMaine, 2009). It sends pertinent information to the marketing department for campaigns and to the front-end part of the system to provide the sales force with the information it requires. On the front-end, operational CRM can assist the sales representatives.Technology will include a contact management system, and opportunity management system. In this use-case, the CRM system will alert the sales representative regarding what the customer likes/dislikes to enhance cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. Front-end CRM will also help the sales representatives in resolving customer issues by providing web-based customer self-service tips and call scripting to better equip the representatives with handling the most common issues (UMaine, 2009). The CRM system can log recurring customer issues.This will assist Riordan’s sales representatives in solving difficult problems that have been previously addresses as well as assist management in targeting recurring scenarios that require improvement, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and retention rates. Cons. Like other enterprise-wide systems, CRM systems are characterized by expensive and difficult implementations. Riordan management has to ensure that the CRM initiative is well planned, historical data is input accurately, and ensure workflow is properly defined to reduce the risk of project failure (Gartner Research, 2000).Success will also be highly dependent on cooperation with the ERP and SCM initiatives, as they eventually will become integrated systems dependent on one another’s data inputs and outputs. Solutions must be chosen with compatibility and interconnectivity in mind. In CRM, over-automation is always a risk (Gartner Research, 2000). CRM is about bringing a company and its customers closer together, and some human-to-human interaction is necessary for customers to feel as if they are being heard. Finally, CRM systems are difficult systems to measure numeric outcomes and value (Gartner Research, 2000).Riordan management must define what unique, possibly intangible outcomes they want to measure from the CRM system to ensure it is providing its intended value. Supply Chain Management (SCM) Pros. As a manufacturer, Riordan would experience many benefits from the implementation of a SCM system. As part of its business strategy, Riordan is currently striving for supply chain excellence. The organization will drive this strategy by streamlining time-to-market processes, achieving 90% of customer requested ship dates, and reducing inefficiencies associated with its current shipping methods (University of Phoenix, 2012).A SCM system can help the organization achieve these goals as it manages the information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and profitability (UMaine, 2009). A SCM system captures data from the five phases of the supply chain management process; planning, sourcing, making, delivering, and returning. This data translates into complete visibility and awareness of one’s supply chain, and in turn, competitiv e advantages. A SCM will be most effective in the planning phase if Riordan leverages information from an ERP and CRM system.With that data, the SCM system uses metrics to forecast and accurately meet customer demand. Riordan will eliminate waste from its inventory by having the right amount of materials on hand to fulfill customers’ orders as they are placed, reducing costs stemming from holding onto excessive inventory. Developing insight across all inventory locations will also permit better sharing of resources on-hand to meet emergency customer needs. In the sourcing phase, the SCM system will provide vendor management capabilities. Riordan can input data about eliable suppliers it has partnered with in the past as well as suppliers that have provided inadequate services to document differences in quality among vendors. Riordan can also capture pricing data to determine which vendors provide the best value for their products. This will make sourcing easier and more effec tive. The deals Riordan obtains from strong vendor partnerships could translate in more discounts for customers farther down the line in the supply chain. In the â€Å"make† phase of SCM, a SCM system can ensure Riordan is manufacturing its products in accordance with the organization’s quality standards.Managers can determine the desired quality levels, translate the quality levels into metrics, and have these performance metrics monitored with the SCM system. The system will indicate when manufacturing is in line with quality metrics, surpassing metrics, or below metrics. A good deal of Rirodan’s reputation is dependent on manufacturing high quality products, so performance metrics in this area are important. The deliver phase is important to monitor with the SCM system as Riordan is experiencing inefficiencies in its logistic processes.The SCM system will help Riordan deal with processes and controls of logistic process to create efficient and effective trans port and storage of its products as they are delivered to the customer (UMaine, 2009). A SCM system can analyze delivery times and help management determine where inefficiencies are occurring and why. The results may prompt management to create more conveniently located inventory facility locations to create more reliable transit times. The system will also help Riordan coordinate more effectively with its outsourced trucking company.The ability to share information between both parties will allow Riordan to load its trucks to 100% capacity, resulting in cost savings for itself as well as less trucks and drivers for its partner. Finally, the return phase of SCM will be most effective when combined with data from the CRM system. The return phase of SCM pertains to the process allowing customers to return defective and excess products (UMaine, 2009). It is important to capture why customers are returning products to serve them better in the future and learn from errors. It is also imp ortant forRiordan to be instantly aware that a return process has been initiated, so it can send out a replacement to a customer immediately. The customer may be dissatisfied as it is, so handling returns effectively can encourage the customer to continue using the company for future orders. This phase will help Riordan meet its goals of serving customers better as well as retaining them. Cons. Riordan must consider the many risks of supply chain management because this system is dependent on the cooperation of external business partners. The first roadblock is gaining trust from business partners.Riordan and its suppliers must be willing to exchange some confidential information in exchange for increase supply chain efficiency. Next a supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so if Riordan’s suppliers cannot provide quality goods in proper time frames, Riordan cannot get the most out of its SCM system (Wailgum, 2008). Internally, there will be resistance to change as well. Employees will need to adjust to stricter data entry requirements as well as higher scrutiny of their performance. Training will be crucial, as mistakes with the system will be made initially.A SCM system cannot absorb a company’s history and processes in the first few months (Wailgum, 2008) Management will have to be patient and continually feed the system clean data to reap visibility benefits. Recommendations The success of implementing enterprise-wide business tools is dependent on the creation of a single data source, populated by accurate and relevant information. To lay the foundation that will capture and integrate all information from Riordan’s unique workflows and processes, it is recommended that Riordan first invest in and implement an ERP system.Once this implementation is complete, and the organization is accustomed to the changes this system will bring, a CRM implementation can be considered. The ERP system’s centralized database will ser ve as the data source for the CRM system, making this implementation an easier transition for the organization. Once the CRM system is successfully implemented, a SCM implementation can be considered as Riordan’s financial health and strategic initiatives permit. A SCM system is recommended as the final enterprise-wide system to implement as it is reliant on information captured by both ERP systems and CRM systems (Wailgum, 2008).The success of these implementations will be dependent on a number of factors such as implementing the solutions in-house versus outsourcing the efforts, and implementing a performance metric system to ensure that the systems are continually providing the value intended. Outsourcing Models Riordan needs to consider outsourcing some of its business functions to reduce upfront cost and integration challenges faced while implementing enterprise applications ERP and CRM. There are many outsourcing models to consider and many benefits and advantages.There fore, a thorough analysis and understanding of outsourcing models is necessary for Riordan’s long-term strategic alliance with vendors. This section outlines outsourcing models and services provided by the application service provider or ASP and other outsourcing models. ASP Model Application service provider is one who has expertise in implementing and managing IT operations of the business applications over a secure Internet on behalf of its customer or client.ASP also known as Managed Application provider (MAP), or managed services â€Å"combine hosted software, hardware and networking technologies to offer a service-based application, as opposed to a company-owned and operated application† (Sans Institute, 2006). ASP services include end-to-end solutions necessary for executing and operation of ERP, CRM, accounting, payroll, cloud computing, and customized applications. In the ASP model, the provider typically identifies the applications common to many organization s (for example, ERP) and hosts them in their data centers.The access to applications provided via a browser-based or thin client software. According to Pearlson and Saunders (2010), â€Å"ASP not only provides access to software, but infrastructure, people, and maintenance to run it in a customized fashion for a client. † Hence, the objective of ASP is to provide a secure, error-free environment of application systems and infrastructure round the clock. The ideal candidates for taking the advantage of ASP are Riordan’s non-core applications, which relaxes IT resources and make them available for core applications.Another instance of ASP is Software as a Service (SaaS), which host multiple companies (multi-tenant) to use the same set of software and hardware, but still provide a user experience of single application. The application accessed via Internet, and provides rich web interface using technologies like AJAX and XML. The web applications delivered via SaaS is cus tomizable and integrates into in-house application using web services and ETL tools. For example, Sales Force applications from SalesForce. com are multi-tenant web applications used by many organizations as their primary CRM application.Engagement with ASP involves service level agreements (SLAs), which contains many clause and vendor expectations. SLAs consists of sections on â€Å"availability, accessibility, performance, maintenance, backup/recovery, upgrades, equipment ownership, software ownership, security, and confidentiality† (Pearlson & Saunders, 2010). ASP may provide cost-effective solution in their area of their expertise. However, for security professionals, the move to use the ASP model comes at an often-high cost. The ASP may be an expert in its domain, but its security function may be immature (Schoenfield, n. d. ).Hence, one should consider risk assessment and analyze the end-to-end solution of ASPs and their security models. Many ASPs available in the marke t, Riordan should evaluate them once the outsourcing requirement finalized. The table below provides list of ASPs and their domain expertise. Table 1 List of ASPs Application Service Provider Domain expertise Appshop www. appshop. com Oracle 11i ebusiness suite Applications BlueStar Solutions www. bluestarsolutions. com Managing ERP solutions with a focus on SAP Corio www. corio. com Specializes in Oracle Applications Outtask www. outtask. com Integration of budgeting, customer service, sales anagement, and human resources applications Surebridge www. surebridge. com High-tech manufacturing, distribution, health care applications USi www. usinternetworking. com Ariba, Siebel, Microsoft, and Oracle customer base Note. Adapted from â€Å"Information Systems Sourcing,† by K. E. Pearlson and C. E. Saunders, 2010, Managing and Using Information Systems. A Strategic Approach. Copyright 2010 by John Wiley & Sons Inc. According to Subramanian and Williams (2007), a complex scenario o f services provided by single or multiple vendors offer multiple benefits. The long term agreements are necessary to reap higher benefits.This model provides competence needed in the initial stage and provides better quality, increases productivity, and reduces cost as time progress. Service provider takes full end-to-end responsibility by investing on new technologies, mitigating risks to maintain business continuity and building high-level of trust. Figure 1. Services offered by managed Services. Note. Reprinted from Infosys White Paper (p. 5), by Subramanian and Williams, 2007, Copyright 2011 Infosys Limited Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing is a new outsourcing model introduced in 2006 by Jeff Howe in an article titled â€Å"The rise of crowdsourcing† in WIRED online magazine.In the traditional outsourcing model, the work of an employee outsourced to external service provider. In this model, the available skilled resources and ideas limited to service provider and its industry and domain experience. Crowdsourcing reach out to a larger community over the Internet to complete a job or task. Thus, organizations gain access to a wide range of skills and resources available online. According to Jeff Howe the definition of Crowdsourcing is the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.Companies and individual make an open call to perform a job for a small amount. Open call to an Internet community of collective intelligence can increase productivity. With the advancement of Internet and Web 2. 0, many websites like elance. com, odesk. com and guru. com provide abundant resources of freelancers available globally. Riordan can make use of this model where the projects need specialized skills and risk is very low. Resources picked on reviews and rewards obtained from past assignments.For example, Riordan’s websites along with dyna mic B2B and B2C pages using PHP and open source technologies is a good candidate of Crowdsourcing. Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing are low quality, communication issues, and researching for reliable resources with required skill set. Full Outsourcing Full outsourcing refers to outsourcing overall IT functions in an organization to an external service provider. This is similar to ASP model but the hardware and software remain on-site and vendor resources may collaborate with employee on-site or remotely, depending on the IT functions.For example, an enterprise may outsource helpdesk and desktop support. In this case vendor’s resources remain on-site to provide support on hardware and software issues. Some of software issues rectified remotely. Software development and maintenance happen in the vendor’s location. Companies typically choose this model if their perspective of IT does not support organizations strategic initiative. Doing so managers, and employees can concen trate on other value-adding assignment. Companies outsource completely to accommodate growth and respond to their business environment (Pearlson & Saunders, 2010, p. 09) with SLA’s and multiple vendors. Riordan should not opt for full outsourcing because of risk in exposing copyrighted material, formulas, trade secrets, and unique manufacturing methods to competitors. Selective outsourcing fit well for Riordan. Selective Outsourcing Selective outsourcing allows IT executives with options of retaining few IT functions in-house for strategic reasons. Selective outsourcing gives greater flexibility and often better service because of competitive market (Pearlson & Saunders, 2010, p. 210). According to Subramanian and Williams (2007), another name for selective outsourcing is â€Å"Strategic out-tasking. IT executive will have total control, manage projects, and review deliverables in-house. Only few IT functions like new application development, enhancing application due busine ss changes, fix non-critical issues outsourced and vendor take responsibility. Selective outsourcing is best suited for companies new to outsourcing. Riordan must outsource short-term assignments and small projects before venturing outsourcing in a bigger scale and when they cannot find resources with specific skills or to gain strategic advantage.Outsourcing versus in-house implementations Rose India Technologies PVT. Ltd (2011) defines outsourcing as â€Å"the process by which a company contracts another company to provide particular services†. These services and functions would be otherwise carried out in-house by the company’s own employees. The main reason companies outsource supply chain management are to reduce cost, free up internal resources, save time, to gain better control of managing functions, not enough internal resources to handle the job and share the risk with a partner.Some of disadvantages of outsourcing SCM include the underestimation of cost due t o communication, inadequate governance meaning that an in-house overseeing committee needs to be set up, reduction of technical, key information and crucial knowledge control, dimensioning leadership with the business relations managed by supplier, increase in business continuity, increased cost due to salaries raises in other companies, and unethical suppliers. Outsourcing SCM will save the organization money in IT expenditures.The system becomes is streamlined and use by all location, more energy and money is left for core business strategies. The vendor will handle the development and implementation of custom finance software along with an accounting package along with the establishment of a joint venture offshore back office operation of the company’s invoicing, revenue processing, and auditing services. Some IT functions should not be outsourced such as core business competencies, functions that are knowledge based, and are company proprietary information.Multidisciplina ry, Interdepartmental, factuality, and critical business function that may involve political risk should not be outsourced as well. Riordan should not outsource its core business function this part of the project should be done in-house so that Riordan maintain and controls these function to keep down all risk whether they are security risk or political risk. The reason most companies outsource ERP system is because they do not have the experience and the expertise to implement an ERP package.When it comes to implementation the supplier has a perfected system for installation and implementation, and most organizations do not want to assign full time staff to implementation thereby taking away from the day-to-day work as well as ERP package can be confusing and frustrating to employees due to false starts and downtime. Outsourcing ERP tends to be a good decision when it comes to medium to lager companies because more than likely outside help will be need for consultation, references, credentials, implementation, and monitoring and check consultants.Stress within the company is one disadvantage because employees must learn a new system, and process that may affect productivity and efficiency. The effect can be short and long term. Other cons such cost overruns during and implementation, converting, training and customized modules. The ERP system should be outsourced to a vendor can handle the testing and coding of the new system to insure it integrates with the existing or new MRP systems well verification and documentation leaving the IT Department free to oversee vendor and other IT functions ( Janstal,1999).Many ERP vendors and consulting firms, who have professional implementation and customization skills for manufacturing ERP software less adjustments, are necessary because they will design software specifically for Riordan Manufacturing. The cost for the production of ERP software purchase depends on the size and functions of the software and the extent of the adjustment (Baihaki,2009).The business of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is evolving and changing in the market on a constant and constant base to meet the growing and demanding need for new strategies that increase business profit margin by having an application that create interactive analysis of the customers’ requirements and leading to the customers satisfaction. C. R. M s’ are all over the market place the need is to choose one, implement, install and train. Simple jobs no need to outsource. Value of Implementations and Outsourcing RecommendationsSupply Chain Management Implementation Studies show that the effective supply chain management (SCM) enables organizations to perform better and maximize profitability by aligning their supply chains with the market demand (Baltzan & Phillips, 2010). SCM implementation helps the organization to reduce inventory levels, minimize order-processing costs, improve responsiveness to customer needs, and compress or der cycle time by streamlining and automating information flow among the different components of the supply chain process (Sumner, 2005).SCM implementation enables an organization to gain competitive advantage by reducing operating costs and increasing process efficiencies to meet market demands and to ensure timely delivery of products or services. Customer Relationship Management Implementation Intense market competition is forcing organizations to change their business models from sales-focused to customer-focused making customer satisfaction a paramount for the organization’s success (Baltzan & Phillips, 2010).Customer relationship management (CRM) implementation will enable organizations to gain insight into customer buying behavior and purchase patterns and develop business strategies to improve customer satisfaction and service quality (Baltzan & Phillips, 2010). Riordan can improve customer satisfaction, service quality, customer loyalty, profitability, and sales volu me by implementing CRM systems to manage its interactions with the customers efficiently. Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation Business leaders require access to real-time business information to make business-related decisions in an efficient manner to improve performance.Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation integrates organization’s business processes into an information technology (IT) system facilitating an integrated view of enterprise-wide business information (Baltzan & Phillips, 2010). ERP enables Riordan to streamline, automate, and integrate business processes to improve efficiency of business functions to reduce operating costs, improve customer service, increase revenues, eliminate redundancies, and improve decision-making (Baltzan & Phillips, 2010). Outsourcing RecommendationsOrganizations have to find ways to improve performance of business operations to sustain in the global competition. Outsourcing enables an organization to increase produc tivity, reduce operating costs, and improve flexibility by taking advantage of low labor cost regions and difference in time zones (Morello, 2003). Riordan should consider full outsourcing model for the implementation of SCM, CRM, and ERP systems to another organization while ensuring appropriate knowledge transfer to its employees during the implementation process.Service providers expertise in the implementation of SCM, CRM, and ERP systems will help the organization to streamline, automate, standardize, and fine tune business processes to increase efficiency of business operations. Knowledge transfer to Riordan’s employees during and after implementation process will enable the organization to gain and retain adequate knowledge to support business systems efficiently. Riordan can use the selective outsourcing model for ongoing maintenance of the SCM, CRM, and ERP systems.Outsourcing only the IT support services to another organization will enable Riordan to keep critical b usiness process knowledge in-house while ensuring round-the-clock IT support to its global business operations. Outsourcing redundant IT support services to another organization will help Riordan to concentrate more on business critical functions to increase productivity and improve operations performance. Providing Continued Value Once IT implementations are completed assessing the value of new systems is the next step.When companies invest in IT initiatives they want to see the added value to the organizations IT and IS departments. Setting up a process to measure continued value is essential in achieving this. For Riordan is recommend using IT metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure value. KPIs also known as Key Success Indicators will help the organization define and also measure progress toward organizational IT goals. KPIs are quantifiable measurements that are agreed upon, reflecting the critical success factors of the organization.If Key Performance Indicator s are going to be of any value there must be a way for it to be accurately defined and measured. Equally important, KPIs once defined should be consistent year to year. The organization should also look to set targets for each Key Performance Indicator. Once KPIs are defined a way to measure it needs to be set up to collect information, a target, has to be established. Below are some KPIs for Riordan in assessing success of IT initiatives: IS and IT implementation adds tangible value to organization Implementation reduce IS and IT costMeasuring Effectiveness Measuring the effectiveness of a system can show its value to the organization but also set a benchmark to continually assess the system year after year. Using Effectiveness IT metrics measures its effectiveness on IT systems from the standpoint of a business tool. The metric can measure how IT affects specific aspects of a business and the business process such as conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and sell-through increa ses. Specifically, the metrics goal is to show how well a company is doing in reaching its objectives.In constantly questioning, it determines if the right decisions are being made to reach these objectives. One way we can measure effectiveness is through surveys to IT, finance and HR departments. The survey giving to employees can give insight as to if the system is helping make work more productive to Riordan employees or caused increased difficultly. The surveys should look to answer these questions: Is the system increasing daily productivity? Does system work seamlessly with critical IT systems? Are there any disadvantages to the new system?Is the system easy to support? Easy to use? Is more staff training needed? Establishing benchmarks is a typical way of measuring performance of IT Effectiveness. Benchmarking puts IT in greater demand to align with the business and demonstrate the company economic value. IT benchmarks can show how competitive IS and IT services are, and if t here are ways to improve the process or increase efficiency of delivery of services. There are different models that can be used for Riordan to asses IS values. These are recommended:Peer/ industry comparisons Customer satisfaction IT effectiveness/value IT efficiency/cost Business IT process Cost benchmarking will address the problem of cost and quality of services. It can show what can be done to reduce cost and improve performance by showing best practices in the industry. Figure 2. Cost Benchmarking. Reprinted from IT Benchmarking: A Baseline for improving performance, by Ambuhl and Bitterman, 2004. A successful benchmark is valued by the actionable recommendation that yield immediate and long-term results.Be sure to outlining specifics in improving efficiency and effectiveness or it will have no significant value. Measuring Efficiency Measuring IT effectiveness is only one aspect to determining IT value. Efficiency IT metrics while similar has differences. This metric will meas ure the performance of an IT system. It measures performance such as throughput, speed, and availability of a system. This will also determine how well the newly implemented system works with established systems. To measure performance organized documenting and reporting process must be in place.Efficiency IT metrics can be used to measure the throughput, how fast information is travelling throughout Riordan’s intranet or the speed of transactions with its suppliers and customers. Additionally, it can measure traffic to a website. Traffic measures how many people come to a website in a given period of time. Additional benefits to the Efficiency IT metric, it not only measures the efficiency of a IT system for evaluating and improving its performance, but it makes sure the system is being used the right way, ensuring the effectiveness of the processes, and that they are in step with business objectives.Utilizing methods such as KPIs, Effectiveness IT metrics, Efficiency IT met rics, and benchmarking will help Riordan establish a clear dashboard, adding value to its IS and IT departments with every successful IT implementation. It will also show continual value of its IT systems by performance, which systems continue to add value and which do not. Conclusion As we have seen, Riordan Manufacturing’s utilization of information systems and information technology leaves a lot to be desired. With so much potential, they continue to have manual processes for tasks and information that can and should be automated and interconnected.Because of the lack of technology, executive management is not capable of seeing the big picture they need across the entire organization in order to make the best decisions. Because of this, it is hard for the company to see the value of the continued IS and IT investments. However, with the implementation of such systems as ERP, CRM, or SCM, value can be added, value can be see in the benefits they provide. While different sys tems may have a better fit within the organization, Riordan must determine what is best for them; they must determine how they will be used in the most beneficial way.With any major infrastructure change, there are new risks and costs to the organization. The correct hardware must be purchased; the right software must be installed; the business rules and requirements must be met; the systems must be maintained over time. Putting these puzzle pieces together might not always go as well as planned. This is why Riordan must consider some of the outsourcing solutions discussed. Deciding on using an ASP, running in a SaaS model, or installing and maintaining the systems themselves, each require extremely detailed analysis.While it is easy to see the cost of each of these systems and deployment methods, Riordan must continue to go back to determining the value of each system at the same time. If the value is a reduced IT staff; if the value is a more integrated system; if the value is a m ore productive manufacturing process, the systems will show their value themselves. Riordan Manufacturing wants to receive the value out of what they pay for. Yet we see that value is not a pay for what you get model, but value is in how you use what you paid for. References Ambuhl, C. , & Bitterman, M. (2004). IT Benchmarking: A Baseline for mproving performance. Retrieved from http://www. rfgonline. com/events/highperformance. pdf Baihaqi (2009). Riordan Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://riordan-manufacturing. com/category/riordan-manufacturing and http://riordan-manufacturing. com/category/riordan-manufacturing-mission Baltzan, P. , & Phillips, A. (2010). Business Driven Technology (4th ed. ). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Brook Schoenfield (n. d. ),’ Evaluating Application Service Provider Security for Enterprises’, retrieved from http://www. cisco. com/web/about/security/intelligence/asp-eval. tml Business-Software. com. (2012). Why do you need an ERP solution? Retrieved from http://www. business-software. com/erp/about-erp/why-do-you-need-an-erp-solution. php Demand Media Inc. (2012). What are the cons of ERP? Retrieved from http://www. ehow. com/list_6591648_cons-erp_. html Gartner Research. (2000). Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Perspective. Retrieved from http://lamarheller. com/technology/crm/whitepapers/crmdataperspective. pdf Janstal[v1] , S. (1999) Enterprise Resource Planning: Integrating Applications and Business Processes Across the Enterprise.Retrieved from http://www. dpu. se/CTR/ctrerp_e. html. Morello, D. (2003). The Organizational Implications of Offshore Outsourcing. Retrieved from http://www. gartner. com/resources/118100/118136/the_organizational_implicati_118136. pdf Pearlson, K. E. , & Saunders, C. E. (2010). Managing and Using Information Systems. A Strategic Approach (4th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Rose India Tecnologies Pvt. Ltd. (2011). Outso urcing Services – Outsourcing Company in India. Retrieved from http://www. roseindia. et/services/outsourcing/index. shtml Sans Institute (2006). Application Service Providers (ASP) Policy. Retrieved from http://www. sans. org/security-resources/policies/Application_Service_Providers. pdf Subramanian, M. & Williams, R. (2007). Outsourcing Models: Aligning Source Strategy to Business Objectives retrieved from http://www. infosys. com/global-sourcing/white-papers/Documents/aligning-sourcing-strategy. pdf Sumner, M. (2005), Enterprise Resource Planning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. UMaine. (2009). Enterprise Systems: SCM, CRM, & ERP.Retrieved from http://www. slideshare. net/mgraham213/enterprise-systems-scm-crm-erp University of Phoenix. (2012). Riordan Manufacturing intranet. Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Riordan/RioMfgHome002. htm Wailgum, T. (2008). Supply chain management definition and solutions. Retrieved fro m http://www. cio. com/article/40940/Supply_Chain_Management_Definition_and_Solutions#scm_abc Yarmoff, L. B. (2001). Strike up the brand. Retrieved from http://www. destinationcrm. com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/Strike-up-

Haidilao Touchpoint Essay

Haidilao is an emerging restaurant brand in China. I like it because it brings me delightful dining experience. When I am waiting for a table in the restaurant, the waiters will bring me some free food, and it also offers free nail art service for women and free shoeshine service for men. When I am ordering dishes, the waiter will even remind me how much food is enough for how many people. So every time I go there, I feel respected and delighted. Touch points: 1. Service and price: Haidilao is famous for its high-end service and ordinary price. In essence, it applies the excellent customer service in hotel industry to a hot pot restaurant. When customers are waiting for a table, it offers tea, food, nail art and shoeshine service for free. When customers sit down, the waiters will bring some hair bands, aprons, phone shells, hot towel and so on. There are even cosmetics and hand cream in the bathroom. Although most people won’t use the cosmetics, it still shows how considerate the company is. Many people call this abnormal service because it lets people fully feel the customer is God. 2. Food: Haidilao offers authentic Sichuan hot pot. The dishes are clean, fresh, and customers can even order half of a dish. They can also make their own sauce with the ingredients offered by Haidilao. 3. Employee: The waiters are very passionate. They always wear a smile on their face. They care about customers from the bottom of their heart. As I just mentioned, when you order too many dishes, they will remind you. 4. Culture: The culture of the Haidilao company is people-oriented and customer first. Many companies only think about how to satisfy their customers while neglect how to satisfy their employees. However, Haidilao cares about its employees very much. Although its workforce is mostly composed of young employees born in underdeveloped suburban areas, the CEO treats them like family members. Therefore, they are enthused and motivated to deliver extraordinary service to customers creatively. 5. Word of mouth: Haidilao is a hot topic in China. Many people post their experience in Haidilao online and there are many bewildering stories you can’t imagine, which makes people who haven’t been there more curious about it. 6. Media: Haidilao doesn’t do any advertising, but many media report the story of Haidilao because of the founder’s unique entrepreneurial values and compares it with Foxconn, which also increases its popularity.

1984 and the Truman Show

island, where there is freedom and harmony within the community. Peter Weir in his film, The Truman Show, presented his version of utopia, a town called Seahaven. This essay will analyze the film as a critique of consumerism. The name of the city itself is, as Smicek points out, an anagram of, â€Å"as heaven,† that seems to, â€Å"replicate a saccharine of 1950 's American suburbia† (33). The main character, Truman, lives in the, â€Å"pastiche of Capra-esque small-town picket-fence America,† the suburban paradise†¦ the books such as 1984 to the recent movie Maze Runner. Many writers have brought up the heavy reliance of technology and how it can become devastating to the human race. The movie The Truman Show tackles the fear of the rise of technology, reality tv shows, and the social implications on Reality TV shows. . The rise of television in the 1950s, over half of Americans owned televisions, brought in new ways to entertain people. One of these ways being Reality Television shows. There was a spike†¦ cave and The Truman show. Allegory of the cave is a theory of Plato, who is a well-known philosopher in human perception. The theory talks about the disputable idea which many do not understand. It inquires (wrong word) readers to imagine and feel the prisoners in a cave all their life facing a blank wall where shadows are projected. The prisoners are chained up and have been there since their childhood. Whereas, in the movie The Truman show by Peter Wein. The movie is about Truman Burbank’s life†¦ The Truman Show The life of Truman Burbank has been broadcast around the world with tremendous success since the day he was born. A star for the mere fact that he exists, Truman has no idea that there are cameras in every corner of his world. he has literally been ON television from the moment of his birth. With the honor of being the first child to be formally adopted by a corporation, Truman has had every moment of his existence captured by television cameras. The Truman Show, a worldwide†¦ Fears and External Obstacles versus Freedom to Leave (The Truman Show 1998) Lauren: Yeah. I know. Look, Truman, I'm not allowed to talk to you. You know. Truman Burbank: Yeah, well, I can understand, I'm a pretty dangerous character. - When Truman met Sylvia first time Everyone in the world has different characteristics and personalities. When many different characters make harmony together, it leads to great wealth in our lives. Not necessarily money, but the quality of life. However,†¦ The Truman Show Critique NSCI 407 October 6, 2014 938077 True-Man? What makes a True-Man? This question can also be inferred as what makes a human being? As I studied in a religious class, human has a free will given by God, meaning we can make our decision based on the circumstances. Here, we should take our attention to an extraordinary life of one man whose name is ironically Truman but is having a difficulty in expressing his free will in film called â€Å"Truman Show†. Truman show represents a life†¦ I recently viewed, The Truman Show, I placed myself in protagonist Truman’s position. Truman’s entire life was public knowledge, from his secret crushes to deep, intimate conversations with friends and family. If I picture all my life being completely public knowledge in a situation where everything is exposed, but at the same time everyone surrounding me is pretending to be oblivious, It would lead to more secrets and lies towards me every day. For example, when Truman is talking to Marlon, his†¦ Adorno and Horkeimer many years ago claimed â€Å"culture today is infecting everything with sameness† (94). The Social Network and The Truman Show are films made 12 years apart focusing on different mediums one being reality television the other being social networking, yet they both contain the same ideologies regarding gender. Both films promote the same ideologies from the base of its makers to the characters within he film. Each film features and is created by white men, while women are shown as†¦ is Christof. In the movie The Truman Show Truman is living in a world where everyone knows his life is shown on worldwide television but him. He lives in a giant dome created by a man named Christof. He is also the director of the Show. He could be looked at as the god of this small world he created because he controls everything that goes on inside the set and he basically rules out Truman and the actor’s lives for them. Even though the viewers enjoy watching the show a lot of the viewers don’t really†¦ In the 1998 film, The Truman Show, featuring Jim Carrey as the main protagonist, it poses philosophical questions pertaining to Plato’s allegory of the cave found in The Republic. The main character of a fictional television show was Truman Burbank who lived in an alternate reality that was actually a television set that he perceived to be real. From his birth, to early childhood, teenage years, and adult life, Truman has been filmed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through a television broadcast†¦

Smart form Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Smart form - Coursework Example During the needs assessment, there was noted to be a problem with the integration of inmates back into the society despite having served their term in correctional facilities. They are discriminated on the basis of access to public facilities and resources, education and also in employment. The society and the government have not provided efficient measures to deal with these problems. Thus, the findings from the needs assessment revealed the need for an intervention program which will aid in reduction of recidivism by focusing on reducing the number of probation violations among women, which created overcrowded living conditions in the facility. The probation violations were the result of the connection that drugs played in the crimes to which the women were incarcerated for. This project improves current practice in the programs offered in different correctional facilities as it provides insights into the reduction of probation violation cases in correctional facilities. Furthermore, this will reduce the number of ex-inmates who re-offend as a result of probation violation. The society and the government will benefit by improvement in this field because crimes will reduce. While the society will be safer than before, the government will spend less money on correctional facilities. The life of the inmates will also be changed for the better. Project will provide insights on how to improve the lives of the inmates through provision of substance abuse rehabilitation, job training, training on life skills, housing search, provision of mental and health care services and time and stress management skills which will help the inmates cope with life after prison without relapsing into crime. It would impact my field of interest by lowering recidivism rates. This will reduce the number of prisoners who are rearrested. Consequently this means less responsibilities and costs for maintaining the

Legalizing Marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Legalizing Marijuana - Essay Example The first argument implies freedom of action, because those actions which do not harm others, should not be banned by the government. Use of marijuana as a means of relaxing is purely a personal choice, therefore, the prohibition of marijuana possession and control of the government should be abolished. Any democratic state can not legally prohibit the citizen to use these or other substances to manage their own health one way or another, so marijuana should be legalized. Everyone has the right to decide for himself whether he will use marijuana or not. The second argument implies misallocation of resources. Strengthening laws against marijuana is usually ineffective. Now the market for illicit substances is under complete and undivided control of organized crime, trafficking in extracting excess profits from illicit substances. Politics of prohibitionism not only revealed their inability to curb the process of drug use and reducing related victims, but on the contrary, contributed to enhancing the drug market. The fight against drug trafficking implies inefficient spending of billions of dollars. During the struggle the huge sums spent on paying the police, lawyers, courts, prisons, but the rate of use of the whole is not reduced, on the contrary, is growing steadily. I believe that the legalization of marijuana is the only one reasonable approach, the only approach that will bring the cannabis from illegal mafia economy sphere, completely indifferent to the health of their customers. Only in this way may lead radical fighting dru g trafficking, taking into account respect for civil liberties. Also I should mention that social tolerance has increased considerably over the last decade. The third argument is that marijuana has useful medicinal properties. Studies show that marijuana is less dangerous than tobacco, legalized drugs, and has a number of medicinal properties (for the treatment

Future considerations of nurse staffing shortage (is a huge problem Research Paper

Future considerations of nurse staffing shortage (is a huge problem that impacts quality and safety everywhere and is only going tmuch worse with an aging nursing staff and retirements.) - Research Paper Example Shortages in working staff also impacts on the nurses themselves as they become dissatisfied, stressed, and overwhelmed. Recent research shows that High patient to nurse ratio lead to job burnout and frustration and this in turn leads to higher turnover. An inadequate nurse staff force plays a negative role in the patient outcomes. The Agency for healthcare Research and Quality in 2007 conducted a met- analysis which found that shortage of registered nurses together with an increased work load poses potential threat to the quality of health care (Papas, 2008). To ensure and facilitate future improvements in nurse staffing, healthcare organizations must focus on maintenance, recruitment and retention. A case study by the Nogueras, recommended that policies need to be developed to ensure an increase in recruitment and retention of young persons into the nursing profession (Coshow, Davis & Wolosin, 2009). The nursing career and profession should be recognized as a faculty that poses high levels of pertinent technical and scientific knowledge as well as personable aspect. This will be more appealing to a more diverse applicant pool. It is also imperative for the nurse leaders to develop and sustain a working environment where the employees connect with their organization. This should be done with a focus on recruitment as well as retention of the employees. Researchers also suggest that health care organizations should focus on aspects that yield more satisfaction to the older nurses such as benefits and pay. This will aid in achieving job sa tisfaction and retaining the experienced veteran nurses (Zurmehly, 2008). It is the responsibility of the health department and the various health organisations to come up with strategies that will ensure there is sufficient replacement of the aging and retiring number of nurses. First there should be partnerships between

Discuss how social media can be used to build a brand community and Essay

Discuss how social media can be used to build a brand community and illustrate your answer with detailed examples of such use - Essay Example It goes without saying that technologies and social media, in particular, contribute to the development of the collective brand identities and, therefore, brand communities. The example of Apple Macintosh suggests that social media, including blogs, forums, and social networks, facilitate the creation and expansion of brand communities, through the creation of shared meanings, the development of groups and clubs, elimination of any formal hierarchy, and diversification of communication instruments and ties. Brand communities Brand communities are among the most popular topics of present day market research. The rapid advancement of technologies and social media, in particular, contributes to unprecedented growth of brand communities and groups. According to Muniz and O’Guinn (2005), â€Å"brand communities are nongeographically bound collectives of brand admirers who, through their ability to aggregate and community at very little cost, assert themselves as important marketpl ace collectives† (p.65). Brand communities are always about building and sustaining a common, collective identity in their members (Muniz & O’Guinn 2005). ... Needless to say, brand communities develop and operate through the subcultures of consumption which differ from brand communities but also share numerous common features with them. Subcultures of consumption Unlike brand communities, subcultures of consumption is a separate society subgroup, which self-selects as a result of developing shared commitment to brand, product class, or consumption activity (Heding, Knudtzen & Bjerre 2008). The basic features of a subculture of consumption include (a) social hierarchy; (b) shared ethos; (c) unique lexicon and ritualistic features; and (d) unique ways of symbolic self-expression (Heding, Knudtzen & Bjerre 2008). Subcultures of consumption exemplify a collective view of numerous brand communities and identities. In the current state of global marketing, brand communities are of particular importance for firms, since they primarily focus on shared brand meanings and do not normally reject the prevailing society’s culture (Wiegandt 2009 ). In this sense brand communities’ reliance on low-cost communication methods and social interaction implies that social media do play a role in their development and expansion (Wiegandt 2009). The Apple brand community presents a unique example of how social media and brand communities interact. Apple Macintosh, brand communities, and social media Apple is one of the most frequently cited objects of brand community research in professional literature. Much has been written and said about what works and sustains the culture of sharedness in Apple Macintosh brand communities. It should be noted that the Apple brand community displays a number of specific features. These

Service Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Service Management Paper - Essay Example The aspect of services marketing involves greater challenge considering the intangible nature of the offering. Efficient service management includes not only handling the regular aspects of the product mix but to also effectively manage the aspects of People, Process and Physical Evidence that are the most critical aspects of service marketing (Jack, 2005, p.177). In order to remain sustainable and profitable in the market it is very essential to create a distinction in these aspects in order to emerge as a formidable player in the market. Business organizations are spending huge amounts of monetary as well as human resources to analyse the gaps in the service delivery and consequently formulate a service mix that seeks to create a favourable distinctive image of the brand in the minds of the target market audience (Ellwood, 2002, p.44-45). The present study would analyse the crucial service marketing aspects of process, people and resource allocation in case of Virgin Trains so as t o have a batter and practical understanding of the importance of these aspects in ensuring profitability and long term sustainability in a service oriented organization in the turbulent and competitive business environment. Service Process Process is a very important part of the service delivery mechanism for any business organization. It signifies the actual manner and the entire back end operations that are in place right from a sales call to the final closure of a deal. Virgin Trains is one of the most popular rail companies in UK offering customers with a service of train travel from one destination to another across UK. The company in association and collaboration with players like Alstom and Bombardier provides excellent rail travel options to link various places across UK in a fast and convenient manner. Led by the legendary Richard Branson, the UK based group draws its competitive edge owning to its excellent service delivery mechanism that offers customers with a volley of services with high quality in the delivery (Virgin Rail Group, n.d.). The service delivery process at Alstom is highly innovative and backed by superior technology that gives fast, reliable and convenient support to the consumers. Innovations in technological aspects include presence of a bi directional mechanism for signalling that enables trains to move in either direction using a single tract without chances of collision. In addition to this the service process also involves use of a Public Performance Measure that is a tool that helps keep control over the timings of the train. This tool helps keep an efficiency level on the arrival time and delay of the trains ensuring that customers arrive at their destination on time. Other technological aspects include presence of a block based joint that helps generate additional safety in the running of trains. The company in 2008 also introduced the Virgin High frequency communication device system that helps in improving the communicatio ns part of the company with regards to transfer of information in a fast and accurate method. The company also has created ease for customers by having an online portal that helps customers to book their tickets from the web directly. Customers have flexible and multiple payment options that help

Should NCAA Division Football Players Get Paid Assignment

Should NCAA Division Football Players Get Paid - Assignment Example Putting aside for the moment that these athletes that participate in the more popular sports earn millions of dollars for the university and that other students reap these benefits as well, athletes are denied the same lack of restrictions to earn while they learn and as a result, should be somewhat compensated.    The sum of this stipend is arguable but a reasonable amount of, for instance, $100 per month does not seem out of line. â€Å"The problem is the athletes who help schools and conferences make that money do not see a dime of it. They may receive scholarships, but so do students who don’t help the school make money in any way. Players should get a stipend on top of their scholarships so that they see some of the money they helped the school make. If schools can profit off of student-athletes, why should those athletes not be paid for helping schools make money?† (Zivic, 2006). This paper will examine the various reasons why college football players should be paid. The NCAA alone makes more than $200 million each winter on the bowl games that follow the regular football season, an amount that doesn’t count the dividends the individual conferences enjoy. Now add up ticket and concession proceeds, corporate sponsorships and money gained from merchandise sales that without the presence of sports would not be funneled into a university annually. The athletes know that they generate literally many billions of dollars for their schools, yet are not allowed to earn even pocket change while at school, giving they're all for ‘ole State U. Athletes are allowed only the most meager of existence under NCAA regulations. Meanwhile, they witness other students with money enough at least for an occasional date and their coach earning a multi-million dollar salary but know that they are the ones that make the greatest sacrifices. â€Å"Athletes see what’s in it for everybody else.

Philippine Treasure Essay Example for Free

Philippine Treasure Essay After watching the documentary of Philippine treasures, I have been get more knowledge about our ancestors treasures remains and I think that the early Filipinos living in the Philippines already had an advanced civilization. Instilled something into me that we were rich, we were rich! We’re talking of gold here it is an opulence. During the early times, the Philippines was filled with gold. These gold were used for everyday clothing of the Filipinos, and even for accessorizing themselves. Our ancestors, the early Filipinos, were civilized enough to know how to process gold. They made many bowls, necklaces and earring out of gold. These gold were part of their daily lives. The Philippines is filled with natural resources, so there was abundance in gold. Some people were even dressed from head to toe in all gold. Also, the early Filipinos were able to craft a doll of a Goddess of Buddhism. This doll also called Golden Tara was a golden alloy, mixed with many other metals. This shows how the Filipinos were knowledgeable to creating alloys with different metal even before Westerners have arrived in our country. The Filipinos have even known how to sew shells and make clothes out of them! There are also several jars that represents the early Filipinos, these jars can be used for multi-purpose storage, because these jars can story many other things aside from water. All these many things were made even before the arrival of the Spaniards or other colonizers, so this shows that the early civilization of the Philippines was very unique and quite advanced. I like the show of Philippine Treasures. It really told us what are some things on this country or treasures are not yet seen by the FILIPINOS. Now I realized that we need to care and concern the importance of some ancient things. I also hope that efforts can be made by officials to preserve the Philippines historical artifacts, and to strengthen support for the National Museum. â€Å"Dont Gain The World Lose Your Soul, Wisdom Is Better Than Silver Or Gold. † ? Bob Marley

Self-handicapping Behavior with Decker and Mitchells Theory

Self-handicapping Behavior with Decker and Mitchells Theory Introduction As a part of initial few assignments, I took the series of self- handicapping survey suggested and designed by Prof. Phillip Decker and Prof. Jordan Mitchell to determine the self-handicapping behavior during general work situation, people management, and leadership role, and identified the traits and knowledge that I need to acquire, learn and practice to be a good team member and leader. But after reading through specific chapters based on identifying self-handicapping situation and behaviors relating to key managerial and leadership role such as accountability, tunnel vision, engagement, analysis and decision making; I have identified many more areas in my professional and personal life which I was practicing and was holding myself back, making excuses and creating obstacles for myself, about which I wasnt aware of. Some causes for handicapping are similar to the earlier findings of self assessment exercise like poor listening habit and low self esteem, and some of them I wasnt aw are of. I consider this as an opportunity or blessing in disguise, being an international student and moreover for a person planning a career shift, assessing my strengths and weakness, determining the behavioral aspects and personal approach techniques that handicap my progress honestly, at this point of time is very pivotal. Today as well, I find myself looking for excuses to this mentioned shift when I dont understand anything or I am unable to achieve the desired results and moreover create hurdles for myself which really affects my learning process adversely. So, during the course of this report I will be discussing my experiences and behaviors that I now recognize as self-handicapping my professional development and learning path with respect to most relevant and related key managerial areas; accountability, tunnel vision, engagement, analysis and decision making; devising a firm action plan to slowly and gradually incorporate a small, positive and permanent behavioral change in profes sional and personal lifestyle. Reading through the four book chapters, I took the brief self-assessment survey in the self-handicapping book by Dr. Phillip Decker and Dr. Jordan Mitchell to identify key management and leadership areas out of the four that I really need to focus on to bring around positive change in personal and professional approach following the recommendations and baby steps mentioned in the book. My Score Accountability 11 Tunnel Vision 15 Engagement 8 Analysis and Decision Making 7 Accountability At the start of the career, I was more focused on taking care of my responsibility and wasnt concerns about the accountability part or maybe at that time I didnt know the difference between being responsible and accountable in the true sense. It took me some time to learn the meaning of accountability through a fair share of good and bad experiences and bit of mentoring, now I understand that personal accountability is about understanding and accepting the task, taking actions to achieve agreed-upon results, answering and taking ownership of the results obtained, regardless of the outcome. In the book The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual And Organizational Accountability authors Roger Connors and Tom Smith defined personal accountability as, making a personal choice to rise above ones circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results; to see it, own it, solve it and do it. Based on the what they have mentioned and experienced, I infer that accountability is something you choose to demonstrate, it is not something that is consigned to you. Going through the chapter and relating to my professional experiences and management roles, I realized that I have been self-handicapping myself by not prioritize tasks based on the importance, avoiding accountability and in confronting peers, boss and customers at times, and most importantly due to lack of self esteem not taking difficult tasks and assignments which really dented my career progression and learning curve. In a group task or in a leadership role, I observe that at times I procrastinate and put stress on myself, teammates and subordinate. Also lacking to define the roles and task boundaries which tend to overlap and create confusions; moreover most of the times I find myself doing most of the correction works for my subordinates rather than managing resources which in the end, puts more pressure on me playing as the person who is responsible and accountable. The key skills that I need to work on in order to progress would be to reduce and eliminate the fear of accounta bility; plan, learn and improve self-efficacy. Personal Accountability Self-Handicap What is the Situation Triggers Impact on Others What to Do Specific Behavioral Plan of Action Timeline Assessment Lack of what/how question asking I avoid asking my senior/ boss regarding work related issues and try to find solutions by myself. Avoidance and Fear Due to lack of knowledge and self confidence, I procrastinate and put stress on my teammates. Also I try to find the answers to what I dont know myself or consult a peer and the resultant of the approach sometime works in the favor of the team and at times effects the task timelines. (Improve Self confidence, look, listen and learn new knowledge and skill sets) Start believing in my abilities by shifting locus of control internally, to enhance knowledge base and become more approachable. 1. Be assertive, come out of my comfort zone, reach out to people for knowledge and advice. 2. Take a honest self assessment of specifics management traits to identify the management traits where am I lacking, verify and validate the findings through third parties consultations such family, friends, peers and trustworthy seniors. 3. Find mentors and learn from their experience and knowledge. 4. Engage myself in constructive and supportive managerial/ leadership activities to increase self efficacy. 5. Take steps to create positive environment to promote free flowing ideas and exchange knowledge on management related subject matter. 6. Break-down the difficult tasks into smaller meaning parts, and as I gain confidence in achieving those goals and increase self-efficacy, aim at mastery completing complex, challenging and autonomous jobs. Mar-2017 Feb-Mar 2017 Feb- Apr 2017 Mar- 2017 Mar-2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Analysis my progress with respect to this particular dimension by noting how many times I went up to my boss for a question/ suggestion/ idea and the severity of impact of that on the task or project. Compare the findings with past results. Do a 360-degree feedback to verify and validate the applied behavioral changes. Take advice, rectify the approach if necessary and reassess. Personal Accountability Self-Handicap What is the Situation Triggers Impact on Others What to Do Specific Behavioral Plan of Action Timeline Assessment Rather just hide or do my old job Due to lack of knowledge on work related subject matter and conservative nature, I often dont participate voluntary or optional work related assignment for professional growth, like seminar training and during a business presentation or conference, I usually sit at the corner or at the end to avoid interaction and answering to a question. Expedient avoidance Due to my conservative nature, I have become really restrictive, I hesitate to share ideas or constructive dialogues with the team and likewise. At times feel left out in a group meeting. (Improve self- efficacy and facenew challenges) Improve the public image and socialize, so that they recognize me and my ideas. Create a positive image for me amongst the people around to remember. 1. Practice empathy towards work, people, environment and most importantly towards self. 2. Set small meaningful personal and professional daily targets for me like reading an article or writing a blog about things that interest me and professional related. 3. Present paper at a conference or work related seminar to boost the confidence for public speaking. Thoroughly practice and prepare for the subject matter. 4. Be visible on social media, and connect to profession related group and people, to share thoughts and idea about a subject matter and recent development to mark my presence in the professional circle. 5. Seek mentorship, to verify and validate my ideas before presenting. Mar-2017 Feb-May 2017 Feb- Apr 2017 ongoing Mar-Apr-2017 Take feedback from external sources and compare the findings with initial documents to identify the area that I have improved on and what needs further rectification. Observe and note small behavioral changes made that have made been made and evaluate whether they have become a habit or not and permanent part of the routine. Set new goals or re-devise the implementation part to improve on them. Poor presentation of self and speech in presentation, social media Avoidance and Fear Holding Other Accountable Self-Handicap What is the Situation Triggers Impact on Others What to Do Specific Behavioral Plan of Action Timeline Assessment Not holding peers accountable There have been many instances in my managerial career that at the time of job performance evaluation, my subordinates often respond to accountability questions by they werent aware of the criteria, even though I had mentioned to them in the initial project stage. Self Deception Such situation put too much pressure on myself on behalf of the team to get the things done, and at times finds myself getting things done for my subordinates and peers just to meet the project timeline. Deliberate Action Design proactive approach on task accountability for the subordinates and peers. Discuss and communicate with them before finalizing, and document them. 1. Hold a daily morning meeting with the team to review performance and discuss what needs to be done and how, so that peers can suggest better advice to complete specific tasks, prioritize and assign workload with realistic timelines and set accountability goals. Include buffer in the schedule to accommodate unexpected events. 2. Make daily meeting note or place a white board for everybody to see, on which task timeline with an accountable person is mentioned, and is updated every morning after the meeting. 3. Publicly acknowledge peer and subordinate performance. 4. Set daily personal task and note them down based on the priorities. Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 A good indicator of this change would be to evaluate peers and subordinates the task related approach and behavioral change in the daily morning. If I consider the things not improving, have a private talk with the person and try to understand his perspective. Instead of yearly performance review, have a monthly or quarterly review, to assess the performance, and correct them if required. Key behaviors and Baby steps: (derived from Self-Handicapping Leadership- the nine behaviors holding back employees, managers and companies and how to overcome them, by Phillip Decker and Jordan Mitchell) Most of the behavioral changes are focused on improving self-efficacy and regaining confidence to complete difficult tasks and face new challenges. Arrive at the next meeting/ class before time and prepare for it respectively. I heard an interesting technique for time management from a third person that Reaching a meeting 5 mins early is being on time and reaching on time means youre late., I will try to implement this philosophy. Be humble and honest in accepting my shortcomings. Enhance my understanding for the respective, seek assistance and push myself in questioning and analyzing regarding the unknown. Start writing a daily diary to self-analysis, what I have achieved and lost during the day, and mark positive events and their outcomes. Try to incorporate small positive behavioral change around my daily routine, like reading, writing and meditating. Resultant of these activities would be: I would feel confident when I walk into a meeting or class. The desire to learn and improve would push and drive me to accept my shortcomings and reach out people to overcome them. I would be better able to identify positive and negative behavior, devise a personal action plan for them. Incorporating small behavioral change around daily routine would soon become a habit and will have a positive impact. Tunnel Vision: Reading through the chapter and relating it to my previous professional and limited managerial experience, I consider tunnel vision as one key self-handicapping factor that executives and professional face as a hurdle in the growth and more importantly remain unaware about this shortcoming. We always ask our self why arent we getting a promotion and the other person is, even though I have more knowledge and experience, now I understand that the reason for it is tunnel vision. The top management looks at the person from various dimensions but the most critical and important one is they see whether the person takes into account the bigger picture and absolute goals when approaching smaller tasks, their understanding of what is happening beyond the boundaries of our particular job, department or organization. We need to avoid blindness in relation to information, internal and external environment, and understand the fine line between company vision and tunnel vision. During the process of identifying behavior and self-analyzing my work philosophy with the newly acquired knowledge and understanding of tunnel vision, honestly found out that I focus on whats in my inbox and isolate in my workplaces, working in my particular department, head down, and focusing on the specific job. I have little to no awareness of what may be going on outside of my little sphere. Often, restricting myself to useful information from the colleagues which could assist me in decision making. Reviewing and revisiting my 7-year career in textiles, I can well identify the decisions and approaches where I exercised tunnel vision. Switching jobs for small benefits and not taking into account the learning path early on in my career; which dented my resume and progress. Later on, in the managerial role due to my introvert nature, the team often got pressurize to meet the result and had to go though unnecessary efforts to meet the timeline. Digging into reasons, taking the self-assessment and analysis test, talking to friends, family and close acquaintances relating the findings to my previous limited professional experience; I found out the lack of self-confidence and self-efficacy in my abilities as one of the prime reason of self-handicapping and exercising tunnel vision. Due to the mentioned I never reached out to people and connected to them, exercised poor listening and writing skills which added to the misery and always procrastinated to make things even difficult for myself and people around me. During the action plan and baby steps, I would be primarily focused on improving my listening, writing and networking skills to open myself up to new idea and experiences which would help in the longer run. Implementing a behavioral change around my routine schedule, so that they slowly and latterly become permanent and a positive change. Tunnel Vision Self-Handicap What is the Situation Triggers Impact on Others What to Do Specific Behavioral Plan of Action Timeline Assessment Deal with procrastination I consider myself as not a good writer, and always try to avoid or take too much time doing it. I try to mask my shortcomings and indulge myself other non-related activities like social media to avoid the task at hand. Apprehension In a group project setting, due to my habits and I tend to put too much pressure on myself by procrastinating things, which is later transferred to other team members, resulted is there is a hassle to meet the project timeline and often we have compromise on the results. Face it I need to focus on building my self-confidence and writing abilities. I have to face my fear and take baby steps to convert my weakness into strength. Timely manage my work to effectively and efficiently get the required results. 1. Get out of my comfort zone and embrace myself for change. 2. Self assess and take professional help to identify areas where I need to improve, learn new skills and new perspectives. 3. Write a daily personal and professional to do list, in the order to priorities. 4. Identify and park/ block unproductive activities during work hours like face- book and whatsapp. 5. Find a method of meditation and exercise daily for 10-15 mins to self reflect on the changes happening, analysis them and gain positives out of them. 6. Set small meaningful personal and professional daily targets for myself to write a blog or personal article about things that interest me. Take feedback from close friends and family, also professional acquaintances like ex- boss about respective piece of writing, listen to the criticism positively and implement the changes gradually. Feb-2017 Feb-Mar 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Take 360-degree feedback to check the progress and rectify the shortcomings. Self-evaluates the consistency in the mentioned behavioral change. Honestly, answer the important question Have they became a habit and are they having a positive impact?, if required make necessary changes. Tunnel Vision Self-Handicap What is the Situation Triggers Impact on Others What to Do Specific Behavioral Plan of Action Timeline Assessment Ignoring people after get your way At times, I find myself so much into things that I blind side myself by not hearing to what others have to say or suggest and what is happening around me. Self Deception Due to my introvert nature, I restrict myself to new ideas from my peers and subordinate, create a perception about them without knowing their story and thoughts; which really effects my ability to approach them during an assignment and after also. Resultant of this affects group cohesion and ability to achieve better and positive team efforts. Look and Listen One of the reasons that I self-analyzed during the initial assignments that I am not a good listener and have low self-esteem which greatly impacts my people interaction. So my prime objective would be to improve my verbal and non-verbal communication techniques to gain self-confidence. 1. Practice being patience during a conversation and discussion. 2. Divert my full focus and attention to the speaker and to what they are saying. Avoid distraction from the surrounding. 3. Clear my mind, try to visualize what the speaker is referring to and not jump to conclusions. 4. Respect the person speaking and their ideas. Contain the urge to ask unnecessary questions and learn the art of supportive questioning through taking support from mentors and reading articles based on it. Monitor my self-talk. 5. Learn to use and interpret non-verbal communication through reading and observing the people and surrounding. 6. Every day, greet people around me with a simple smile or hello; and if the conversation follows, go with the flow. Have an open and casual discussion with team members. 7. Join team members during lunch and tea time and have a casual non-work related conversation in order to understand the person and likewise. Feb-2017 Feb-Mar 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb-Apr 2017 Feb- Mar 2017 Take different listening psychometric tests , and get it evaluated through third party to compare the finding with self analysis. Take 360-degree feedback to check the progress and rectify the shortcomings. Self-evaluates the consistency in the mentioned behavioral change. Honestly, answer the important question Have they became a habit and are they having a positive impact?, if required make necessary changes. Key behaviors and Baby steps: Â   Â   The baby steps are particularly focused on reducing the personal isolation, socializing and exposing me to new information, opportunities and challenges. Set up Google Alerts account and set a preference to the areas that I need to improve and profession related update, this will bring information to me. Take out 10-15 mins daily to go through the information. Seek advice and network with people not having same preference or profession, and share ideas and discuss on general issues this will give me more perspectives and new angles to approach an issue. Develop a regular questioning habit and a focus on finding the right questions to explore. Develop a habit to reassess my strength and weakness by taking into account external factors, if required take help from family, friends and close acquaintance. Resultant of these activities would be: Reading through profession related topic would really enhance my knowledge and by commenting on them on social media like Twitter and LinkedIn would improve the thinking process and articulating skills. Seeking advice and networking with non-profession related people will help me bring in information and ideas that will reinvigorate what I do and how I do it, providing me new interesting perspectives and ideas that will improve my general management and leadership skills. During the professional career shift, continuously reassessing my strength and weakness in connection to what is happening in the outside world would help me in providing a clarity that what I need to fight career tunnel and realign my action plan accordingly to focus my efforts towards better personal development.

The guidelines of the law :: essays papers

The guidelines of the law There are many different guidelines of this law that each state and school systems have to follow. The first of many is to hold states, school systems, and individual schools accountable for their test scores. â€Å"It sets a new standard for measuring achievement and has real consequences for schools that fail to make progress over time† (Heath, 2002-2004, para. 2). Each state will have to implement school testing and report their finding back to the government. The government will then send out the results from the tests. The government is very lenient on how the states set up their plans for improving their schools. School systems are allowed to build off their programs already in use. The government allows the use of systems that are already in place but it also states to send them their plans for improvement. If school systems fail to send in a report and a plan for change to the Department of Education, the government can take away their Title 1 funding (Hombo, 2003). The purpose of holding schools accountable for test scores is to show the teacher, parents, and other staff members what the school needs to work on improving. This will help to limit teachers passing children who are not up to the proper grade level because the person feels bad for the child because of his or hers living situation, (Sclafani, 2002-2003). The tests will be given to every student from grade four through grade eight. The National Assessment of Education Progress administers the test every two years. â€Å"NAEP has a new role: to act as a serious discussion tool in evaluating results of state assessments, and in providing a common base for comparison between states† (Hombo, 2003, p.4). This goes back to states being held accountable for their students test scores. States that do not receive the proper federal funding do not have to develop or implement the test (Boehner, 2001-2002). The No Child Left Behind legislation focuses on improving students reading levels, especially in the elementary years. â€Å"Only 32% of fourth graders are proficient readers who read at a fourth grade level,†(Heath, 2002-2004, para. 3). If school systems receive the money, they can then in turn apply for the Reading First Grants. These grants are used to pay for classroom reading instructions. They have to be used with programs that have been researched and are proven to work.

Arctic and Alpine Soils Essay -- Argriculture Research Papers

Arctic and Alpine Soils Proposal (Ant)arctic (high-latitude) and alpine (mountain) areas are affected by relatively similar climates, as latitude and altitude produce similar meteorologic effects. In these geographic regions where temperature is at such a pronounced extreme, climate would seem to be the leading factor of soil development. It is my goal in this research paper to answer the following question: How do the soils of arctic and alpine areas differ? This idea, taken largely from an abstract by Birkeland (1975), will be explored through the comparison of the soils of these two geographic regions, and an analysis of the soil development factors in those environments. Introduction Both high-latitude and high-altitude regions are subject to climates that are dominated by extreme cold for at least part of the year. This extreme characteristic creates within these regions a stark environmental contrast to most other geographic regions of Earth, pairing with climate a different and uncommon set of geomorphologic features on the thin surficial layer of the planet. Dokuchaev (1886 & ca. 1900; and 1899, as quoted by Afanasiev (1927); and Gerasimov (1956), respectively) made progressive early studies in soil science in the Caucausus Mountains and in Arctic Russia and applied a theory that drew an analog between vertical and horizontal zonality. He observed that biota and temperature changed drastically at increasing elevations in much the way that the same characteristics vary with increasing latitude. Dokuchaev then extrapolated that the variation in biota and temperature would also indicate similar changes in soil types, but did so without sufficient observed suppor t. While this hypothesis was a brilliant step in ea... ... problem. Biul. Peryglacjalny (Lodz) 22:285--294. _______. 1973b. Soils of the polar region of North America. Biul. Peryglacjalny (Lodz), 23:157-165. _______. 1977. Soils of the Polar Landscapes Rutgers, the State university of New Jersey. 637 pp. Tedrow, J. C. F. et al. 1958. Major genetic soils of the Arctic Slope of Alaska. J. Soil Sci. 9:33-45. Ugolini, F. C. and Tedrow, J. C. F. 1963. Soils of the Brooks Range, Alaska 3: Rendzina of the arctic. Soil Sci. 96:121-127. Walton, G. F. 1972. The high arctic environment and Polar desert soils. Ph.D. thesis, Rutgers University. 479 pp. Williams, P. J. 1957. The direct recording of solifluction movements. Amer. J. Sci., 257:481-490. Zakharov, S. A. 1927. Achievements of Russian science in morphology of soils. Russian Pedological Investigations, Soviet Acad. Sci. (Leningrad), Chap. 2 (47 pp.).

What´s Rituximab Therapy? Essay -- Alternate Treatment, Biology, Antib

A relatively newer biologic, rituximab provides an alternative strategy for treating the presenting patient. A genetically engineered chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, rituximab exerts it therapeutic action by selectively targeting CD-20 positive B-cells1212, 18. As CD-20 is expressed exclusively on pre-B and mature B lymphocytes; stem cells and plasma cells are not implicated in rituximab therapy. The over expression of B-cells expressing the CD-20 surface antigen in the synovium of RA-affected joints has been well established18. The potential mechanisms by which these B-cells contribute to the immunopathogenesis of RA are as follows: they can act as antigen presenting cells, secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines (including tumour necrosis factor-alpha), and generate rheumatoid factor (RF) and other auto-antibodies whilst also activating T cells12. Hence, the rituximab mediated depletion of B-cells is thought to prevent these potential mechanisms from occurring thus controlling the progression of the disease18. Rituximab therapy consists of two 1000mg infusions, given two weeks apart at intervals of no less than 2 weeks. The projected cost of a single course of rituximab therapy is around  £349211 and if clinically efficient would offer the patient a more convenient dosing schedule compared to Anti-TNF therapy. The annual cost does however depend on how often the patient is required to undergo a course of rituximab therapy11. An RCT aimed at investigating different rituximab dosing regimens in methotrexate resistant patients referred to as the DANCER trial, provides significant evidence conveying the potential benefit of rituximab therapy19. As part of the trial, patients received rituximab 500MG, rituximab 1000mg or placeb... ...50 (7): 754--766. 27. Kaneko A. Tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis: efficacy, safety and its place in therapy.Therapeutic advances in chronic disease. 2013; 4 (1): 15--21. 28. An M, Zou Z, Shen H, Zhang J, Cao Y, Jiang Y. The addition of tocilizumab to DMARD therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European journal of clinical pharmacology. 2010; 66 (1): 49--59. 29. Schmitt C, Kuhn B, Zhang X, Kivitz A, Grange S. Disease--drug--drug interaction involving tocilizumab and simvastatin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2011; 89 (5): 735--740. 30. Ding T, Ledingham J, Luqmani R, Westlake S, Hyrich K, Lunt M, Kiely P, Bukhari M, Abernethy R, Bosworth A, Others. BSR and BHPR rheumatoid arthritis guidelines on safety of anti-TNF therapies.Rheumatology. 2010; 49 (11): 2217--2219.